As soon as I notice the gun, it fires. Too late to dodge. The projectile smashes into my side and sends me careening off course. I slam into the ice, and the power source rolls free from its wrappings. Before I can grab it, another hit sends me sliding and dents my armor, making it difficult to breathe for a dizzying few seconds. I struggle to my feet and launch again, rolling out of the way of the next shot, but one of the enemy soldiers has already reached the power source.

Off to my left, an exosuited soldier goes down beneath a wave of enemies. One pulls out a knife—a Primus blade like my own—and takes aim at the back of the suit’s neck, right at the pressure pads where the armor is weakest. Directly ahead, the Isolationist picks up the power source.

A sharp breath, a split second’s hesitation.

I take aim at the woman holding the objective and fire as the knife comes down on my soldier’s neck. Both bodies jerk in dying throes at the same time.

I launch forward, skimming across the ice, and grab the fallen power source. Part of me wonders if I should take off now, head back to the outpost alone, secure the objective above all else—but my suit is damaged, the propulsion weak and shaky. I won’t make it. It’s almost a relief to have that choice taken from me. Now, I can focus on the fight.

We’re terribly outnumbered, but aside from the one fallen suit lying facedown on the ice, my team is holding their own. The enemy has no machinery, no exosuits like us, only their uniforms and their weapons. My team, armored in their suits, cuts right through them. But another volley from the antiair gun sends one of my group sprawling to the ground, their exosuit dented and smoking. They’re immediately swarmed with enemy soldiers. I aim the pulse rifle built into my suit’s right arm and take down five of them with a single burst of laser-fire as I fly past. These are easy kills, but that gun up on the ridge is a problem. If we lose our suits, we lose our one advantage.

I fly directly for the cliffside, dodging antiair shots as I go. One clips my leg, but I hold my course. At the bottom of the cliff, I touch down and jump directly upward. The suit propels me over the edge.