“Epsilon point clear,” a voice reverberated through the comm. “Advancing to next.”

Noted. I sat on the floor, focusing on a mental representation of the colony. Thanks to a few algorithms from Rad, I had managed to break through the trooper’s cypher encoding, granting me access to their entire combat strategy. Taking out one of their recon teams had also helped.

“Zeta point clear,” another voice reported. “Moving on.”

They moved in standard three-man teams—one advancing, two protecting his back—each armed with enough firepower to take out a full squad of Cassandrians. So far, they had managed to take over a third of the colony, systemically advancing towards the target’s location in a grid-like pattern. If I had a fraction of my weapon systems, I could have easily incapacitated all of them. In my present body, things were considerably more difficult.

“Two heading your way,” Kridib said through comm. “I’ll take one, you wait fifteen, then head to the target.”

“Roger.” I glanced at the three unconscious bodies in the room.

My simulations had correctly predicted their actions to the point where I was able to surprise the entire recon group. As most troopers, they had chosen to go for the optimal vantage point, which was the tallest building in the colony. Careless, especially considering that they could have easily determined my whereabouts simply by asking Radiance. On the other hand, they couldn’t be certain whose side she would be on. I couldn’t be certain, either.

Bursts of gunfire sounded from the vicinity. Kridib had started his thing. Even now, the thought of it felt like nanites drilling through my body.

“Group five, taking fire!” Shouts filled the comm. “Moving to regroup. Change cypher.”

The comm went silent. I attempted to brute force through the communication protocols. When my first five attempts timed out, I chose not to continue.

“They’re using comm countermeasures.” I went towards the door. “Heading out.”

There was no response.

“Kridib?” I asked. Still silence. “Rad?”

Whatever had severed the troopers comm links was disrupting all other forms as well. From here on, I could only rely on myself. As my first captain liked to say, “millions of simulations are no match for the real thing.” More often than not, the battlefront had proved him wrong, although there would always be those key instances that turned a battle upside-down.

If Aurie were here, she’d say it was like old times, even if it rarely was. Looking back, I had never appreciated her for the backup she was. Each of us had saved the other a fair number of times, though at the time, I had taken it for granted—an inevitable part of the job that was merely a means to the overall goal. Now, I missed having her around. She had been a partner I could rely on. Kridib remained questionable. He was efficient at killing, but little else.

The sound of gunfire intensified. Three new teams had joined in, focusing their attacks on Kridib. If standard ground tactics were observed, the remaining groups had already started their dash towards the captain’s mansion. Most likely Fleet Colonel Nitel was personally directing the charge from orbit. From what I had seen, he was the sort of person who liked to hedge his bets. Either way, I didn’t have time to worry about it. Grabbing a spare sidearm, I counted to three thousand and ran out.

The street seemed abandoned, brightly lit up by the colony’s emergency illumination system. Radiance had successfully destroyed most of the local generators, disrupting the entire energy grid. That had caused whatever backup systems there were to kick in, transforming the colony in a dome of light.

A single shot hit me in the shoulder, detaching my entire arm.

Sound suppressors. I rushed along the street. Smart play.

My nanites flooded towards the area of the wound, blocking all affected arteries. I knew that my body was supposed to feel pain, but the sensation was far less than having half my decks blown out… and it barely compared to killing a person. My hand fastened round the pistol grip. Given the distances within the colony, I could hit almost any target, given a chance. My greatest hope was that I wouldn’t have to.

An explosion flared a few steps away, blinding me with incandescent light. Whoever was fighting me was using flashbang rounds. They had proven to be inefficient against the Cassandrians, but the fleet kept producing them in huge quantities. In contrast, they were extremely efficient against people. Depending on the circumstances, a well-placed shot was able to cripple an entire squad of soldiers. I, however, didn’t need eyes for orientation. In space, sound,sight, or smell didn’t matter; there was only gravity.

A second shot grazed my leg, inches from the knee. I ignored it and ran up the street. More gunfire erupted, accompanied by a loud explosion several hundred meters away. Kridib was trying win me more time. Based on my calculations, that gave me a thirty-seven percent chance to reach the target’s house. If he managed to draw in another team, the chance increased to forty-two—high, considering my history.

Twenty meters forward, fifteen meters right, seven up to the second floor of the colony’s medical facility. I said to myself, choosing the second sub-optimal route.

Images of the colony’s layout flashed in my mind, displaying every element on the way as if I were looking at it. The sound of gunfire had faded, replaced by a constant buzzing in my ears. If I managed to survive all this, I’d have to spend a few days in medical to get my eardrums replaced. That and get a new arm.

The academy hadn’t remotely prepared me for this level of ground intensity, and neither had any of the soldier stream files I had access to. Everything there was unrealistically neat and tidy, aimed at illustrating certain points. Reality was always messy, far more on the ground than in space.

Another shot grazed me, this time on the shoulder blade. Instantly, I moved my arm in the estimated direction of the shooter and emptied my entire clip. More than likely Kridib had fallen, allowing all remaining troopers to converge on my location. My only chance was to reach the mansion and hope there were medical supplies to patch myself up. Alternatively, I could risk going through the medical facility. Provided the building didn’t deviate from the architectural blueprints, there was a high probability I could find some emergency nano-shots and—

“Simulation seventeen completed,” Radiance’s voice echoed in my head. “Great work, teams! Target has been extracted.”

The brown darkness before my eyes disappeared, displaying a view of the colony. Moments later, that faded out as well, replaced by the grey nano-mist that filling the Simulated Reality pod.

“Nine out of ten,” the white-haired sergeant laughed from the hall outside. “Nice try, ship-kid. Almost died at the doorstep.”

Nine out of ten… nine losses and a single case of me reaching the captain before the troopers could rescue him. Definitely not the success rate I was accustomed to. Kridib’s performance was marginally better—he had managed to score double digit kills each time, though that didn’t change the final outcome.

“Better delete your morals, kid.” The sergeant moved to my pod. “You won’t get far without killing.”

“I’ll be more homicidal next time,” I said. The man couldn’t even imagine the amount of Cassandrians I had killed. “When do we start the debriefing?”

“Ten minutes,” the man grunted with a smile. Despite the initial cold reaction, he and the rest of the company had opened up to me in their own way. It was only normal considering in two hours most of us might end up dead.

During the course of our training simulations, I had committed every single soldier to memory. Radiance couldn’t grant me access to their files, so I had composed new ones the old-fashioned way. I knew that seventeen of the people had families, twenty-one more were married, and eleven had dedicated their life “to the job.” It was also obvious that three-quarters of them were unmistakable psychopaths. The fleet continuously kept an eye on them to ensure everything went smoothly; the fleet kept an eye on everyone, more or less.

I stepped out of the pod and stretched. The advances in technology still hadn’t managed to solve the comfort problem. Almost immediately another trooper took my place, ready to start his own SR scenario. I was curious what missions he’d be training on.

“You should have run to the target when the shots started.” Kridib approached.

“It didn’t do much good last three times.” Starting the simulated scenario separated was a serious strategic flaw, but that was the way the Flight Colonel had set things up. I still failed to see the reasoning. “Superior numbers area thing.” If you had spent any time fighting Cassandrians, you would have known.

“I’m not dragging back a corpse.” His tone was calm, but I could feel the displeasure. “We’ve no data on the weapons they have down there.”

No info. I was starting to get tired of that phrase. We had all of the fleet’s resources at our fingertips, and yet didn’t know the exact number of colonists we’d encounter nor the weapons they had. The estimates went anywhere between five and twenty thousand. Given the possibility that all of them might spontaneously turn on us at any point, making our way to the captain was going to be messy. That was, if he hadn’t turned as well.

“When we get there, I’ll be taking the lead.” I added a cold edge to my words. “No fake simulations, no near misses, I’m going to kill actual people. You’ll only provide backup.” Good thing I no longer had a crew.

Kridib froze. The scant emotion visible on his face disappeared completely. I could tell he understood what I meant and that he didn’t like it. It was the same look Sev had given me when I had refused him a request for money after he had moved out. There was disbelief in that look, along with knowledge that nothing could be done on the matter.

“I’m not bringing you back,” Kridib repeated, then stood up and headed towards the exit.

“What’s that about?” the sergeant asked.

“Constructive criticism,” I replied.

“Better be. You made a lot of mistakes out there.”

“I’m sure I’ll make plenty more.” I cracked my shoulder. The sensation of my recent SR experience was still lingering in my mind. “No need to worry, Sarge. I’ll either reach the captain or die trying.”

“Yeah…” The man nodded a few times. This was probably the first time he had gotten such a reaction.

“I still don’t see why I don’t get a proper weapon. The outcome would have been different with heavy gear.” That was another annoyance. Radiance had set the SR so that I couldn’t use anything other than a simple sidearm. Anything else would jam or fall apart in my hands.

“Orders from the top.” The white-haired man shrugged.

“Will I get something better when I land at the colony?”

“No.” The sergeant’s expression became deadly serious.

Just because you’re a cadet doesn’t change the fact that you have a core in your head, I could almost hear him say. It would have been too much to hope otherwise. Even with the recent political changes, this wasn’t a decision that could be made in the next few years.

“Do I get a pistol?” I tilted my head.

“One.” The word was drenched with reluctance. “Flash-bang ammo. Thirty-six rounds”

At least I was considered trustworthy enough to merit a pistol. Or maybe they were scared that I might go rogue and turn on my team?

“Just be sure to—”

“Cadets Elcy and Sapro are ordered to the bridge,” Radiance’s voice filled the room. “Immediately, if possible,” she added in typically cheeky fashion.

The humor wasn’t lost on the troopers, who bombarded me with stupid jokes in kind. I couldn’t help but smile. For a moment, it almost felt as if I were part of a team; granted, these were the type of people the rest of humanity generally avoided. If Cass were here, she’d probably say that from here on, all I had to do was to work my way up. I wasn’t sure her advice applied to people, but one thing was certain: after this mission, I was one step closer to being assigned to the front.

“Get moving, kid,” the sergeant said. “Don’t keep the flight-col waiting.”

“Roger that.”

The corridor outside the hall had changed since the last time I had walked through it. The walls were still covered in black nanites, but now they led in a new direction, taking me to a direct access elevator ten steps away.

“I see you’ve redecorated,” I said as I entered it.

“Flexible frame.” Radiance laughed, her voice oozing with smugness. “All current gen classes have it.”

“I see.” And a few metric tons of nanites, I’d bet. I remember hearing about such research during my last tour. The theory at the time suggested that ships could do away with most of their internal structures as long as they had vast quantities of advanced nanites and detachable supportive segments. That would make them efficient when it came to deck organization, though extremely energy-hungry and quite insecure, in my view.

“Your design was cool for its time,” the ship quickly added.

“Good to know.” Had I been this arrogant? No wonder that the Sword was always grumpy. “Anything you can tell me about this sudden meeting? Or will that be a surprise?”

“Probably some last-minute details. The Flight Colonel likes being mysterious.” There was a moment’s pause, followed by laughter. “Joking. I’m joking. It’s your final mission brief. We’re less than an hour away from the system, so he’ll fill you in on all the confidential need-to-know details. If I’m lucky, he might even fill me in.”

“Rad… you need to work on your humor.” Most of the jokes were completely lost on me, even if the crew seemed to be enjoying them. “Is Kridib there?”

“Only a few minutes. There was a lot of shouting between him and the Flight Colonel. I’ve no idea what about. The entire conversation was quarantined.”

Quarantined? I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or joking again.

“The Flight Colonel doesn’t like him much. This isn’t the first time they’ve yelled at each other.”

“Good to know I’m not the only one.” No one told me they knew each other. “Anything I should be worried about?”

“You’re already in the Flight Colonel’s bad books, so that’s a no,” the ship laughed. “You’ll be fine. You’ve gone through much worse than this. He’ll probably give you the same old boring speech, then send you to get some sleep.”

Radiance’s naivete was downright scary. There was no way for me to know how much action she had seen, though I suspected she had seen her share of destruction. For all I knew, her hull could have been drilled with holes and there’d never be a mark. Very likely that was the reason for her almost careless attitude. When one changed her internal composition on a daily basis, having parts blown off didn’t seem such a big deal. Unless…

“Radiance,” I began. “Have you—” Had she what? Lost crew? Five decades ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated asking the question. Right now, I wasn’t as convinced.

“Have I what?”

“Forget it.” I moved closer to the elevator door. “I’ll ask you later.”

Seven seconds later, I was at the bridge. The room seemed much smaller than I imagined—plain and unassuming, covered in the usual layer of black, with an unusual lack of people. When I was a ship, there used to be an average of fifteen people on my bridge. Here, I could see only four.

“Elcy, come here.” The Flight Colonel waved at me to approach. He was the only person sitting, a large container beside him. The word Agora covered the metal, written in dark green letters. “Captain Marcus Verellian, Lieutenant-Commander Owa Lin.” He briefly presented the others. Uncertain on the appropriate protocol in present circumstances, I gave the captain a salute, only to receive a nod in return.

Kridib was given no introduction, though at present he didn’t seem to care. If anything, the Commander was the only one who seemed displeased with the casual nature of the meeting. Judging by the state of her uniform, she was Fleet Command, through and through, probably having to give up a higher-ranking position in order to take the assignment. The captain seemed much more relaxed.

“Radiance, isolate the bridge,” Flight Colonel Nitel ordered.

“Done and done,” the ship said, earning a smile from Captain Verellian.

“Everything said here is strictly need-to-know,” Nitel continued. “It is not to be repeated, discussed, or shared in any way or form with anyone outside of this room.” He gave me a brief glance, awaiting confirmation. I nodded. “As of ten minutes ago, System Four remains dark. We’re an unofficial mission, so we can’t rely on any fleet support. If we find a Scuu presence, we’re to avoid, engage, or flee depending on the situation.”

We’re expecting Scuu? I asked Radiance.

Possibly. They send a few probes every now and again. Nothing serious so far.

From everything I had learned during my time on the front, there was no such thing as “nothing serious” when dealing with the Scuu. Unlike the Cassandrians, each of their actions were carefully planned. According to rumors, fighting a single ship could be no less difficult than fighting an entire armada. Despite that, everyone present was treating it as a casual occurrence, Radiance included.

“The mission remains the same: locate the target, appraise him of the situation, and bring him aboard, without casualties if possible.” The fleet commander turned towards the wall. “Radiance, show a map of the colony.”

An image covered an entire wall of the bridge, complete with a full legend of the structures.

“This isn’t the layout we trained for, sir,” I said. It wasn’t even close. The SRs we had spent hours fighting in had us in a standard circular layout of buildings. The one on the wall resembled a thin line of houses between two mountains. “It’s nothing like the colony in SR.”

“None of the colonies are anything like their SR representations,” the Flight Colonel replied in a bored tone. “This is the most recent scan, taken a month ago. It’s believed that the captain is somewhere in the northern quadrant.” A quarter of the buildings lit up in green. “The exact building is unclear.”

So, I’m going in blind. Apparently, being given a standard combat assignment was too much to ask. Sadly, this was the only type of mission that had the ability to give me a clean slate.

“After the green light, you’ll be dropped a few miles north of the colony. Atmosphere is breathable, so you won’t need to worry about outer perimeter defenses. Your mission is the target, nothing else. Got it?”

“Yes, sir!” The target is my mission. However, in my experience, people didn’t stress about something if it was remotely close to the truth. Given that I was going to be armed and entering through the back door, I expected there was more to the mission than that.

“We’ll be following your progress.” The Flight Colonel gave a glance to Kridib. “That is all. Questions?”

“One, sir,” I quickly said before Nitel could have a chance to end the conversation. “Is any agency involved?”

“Any agency?” Nitel’s left eyelid twitched. The motion lasted less than half a second, but I had noticed, and more than likely Radiance had as well. “What makes you think that?” There was a marginal shift in his tone. The posture of the remaining participants had tensed up as well.

“There’s an unusual lack of information regarding the colony, sir.” I paused for a moment. “And the system in general.”

“Oh.” Relief returned to the Colonel’s face, to the point that the corners of his mouth half-curled into a smile. “That’s normal for colonies in this sector. Get used to it, cadet. During this assignment, you might as well be blind.”

“Yes, sir! Understood!”

It seemed that the BICEFI weren’t involved. Whatever was causing problems on the colony didn’t have to do with third-contact artifacts.

Or maybe it does, and they just don’t know. I recorded the map to memory. In two hours, I was going to find out.