"Take two people to watch your six and get to it," Walker said. "Let me know if you establish a link. We're trying to get word up as high as we can that we've not seen any large forces down here despite all the bombs going off."

"On it." Juuvon jogged back and grabbed two other Marines before running past them again to the control panel up ahead, which monitored and controlled the section's environmental systems.

"Top notch tech, but a complete pain in my ass," Walker said. "He'd outrank me already if he could learn to keep that mouth shut." Enders didn't reply. He made his way back down the wide corridor, peering into the gloom as the weak emergency lights did little to brighten the space. They'd kitted up for a light, fast recon, and in the normally brightly lit base, had forgone the low-light optics for their helmets. Some of the Marines scanned the area through their weapon's optics, using the thermal modes to make sure nobody was coming up behind them.

Enders moved over to the wall and slid down into a crouch, making himself a small profile and staying out of the way of Walker's squad. The day started to catch up to him. Seeing Hann get hit had rattled him, and his brain had switched to autopilot for a bit as he was running and gunning with 3^rd Squad, too consumed with working to reflect. Now that they had a peaceful moment, he thought back to when he woke up this morning in his rack, thinking the worst thing that would happen to him that day would be a surprise inspection.

"Sergeant Enders!" Walker shouted, waving him up to where he stood by his techs. Enders climbed to his feet with a groan and jogged over to the control panel.

"Anything?"

"We broke through," Juuvon answered.

"And?" Enders prompted.

"Those bombs we've been feeling were placed to destroy the transmission lines and power junctions that feed the orbital defense batteries," Walker said. "They were powerful enough that the engineering teams said it will likely be weeks before we can reroute power, and that's if we can break through the enemy stronghold to get to the powerplant complex."

"Shit," Enders said. "They're landing more troops."

"Probably." Walker nodded. "The 3^rd Platoon LT we were talking to said the bulk of the enemy force is clustered in the C&C hab. The Old Man wants us all moving back towards them. We're going to try and retake the com center."

"Why?" Enders asked. "By the time help gets here it'll all be over."

"They don't tell us shit." Walker shrugged. "All they said was it was imperative we get into the com center."

"At least we have a plan, even if it's a pointless one," Enders said.

"Let me round these animals up, and we'll get moving."

* * *

"All those charges look like they were placed to blow the high-power lines to the defense batteries."