She kept an eye on her bearing, staying right on one hundred and twenty degrees as she rounded one of the aquajade trees. Her HUD was keeping track of her position vis-à-vis the rest of her squad as they searched the bush for any sign of a quetzal. Supposedly they’d pick up an IR trace or be cued by the drones flying on their flanks.

Best of all, despite Corporal Abu Sassi’s constant chiding, she felt invincible. Sure, she could see the thorncactus and claw shrub as she strode through. The stuff kept trying to snag her feet and legs, the spines sliding harmlessly across the gleaming armor surface. Same with the bite ya bush and gotcha vine. She got the biggest kick out of the tooth flower. She’d poke her rifle barrel into a pod. Watch it snap shut around the steel. With the advantage of her servo-powered armor, she’d yank the gun free, breaking spines from the pod in the process.

The only real concern so far was news that Colonel Creamer had been relieved of command by Supervisor Aguila. What was that all about? Not that she or the others cared so much. The Colonel had been a pain in everyone’s ass for the nineteen months they’d had to live under his alleged leadership. Sunny Valdez had called him “Colonel Cob” once. An allusion to the fact that Creamer had a corn cob up his ass. It had stuck, to be whispered around the gun room.

“Head’s up, people,” Abu Sassi’s voice came through the helmet com. “Got a stream up here. Keep your orientation as you cross. Don’t linger. Bottom’s soft.”

“Crap!” came Sasna Firiiki’s irritated reply. “Bottom’s muddy. And there’s something that looks like a leech clinging to my boot.”

“That’s probably a slug,” Abu Sassi replied. “Nothing that will get past your armor. But people, listen and learn. If we were out here without thick boots or armor, we’d be cutting that thing out of Firiiki’s leg with a combat knife. No anesthetic, no wait to evacuate. You cut it out immediately. Believe me. The pain and blood is easier than being eaten alive from the inside.”

“No shit?” Bambo Asaana queried from his end of the line.

“And to think the Colonel kept telling us that duty on Donovan would be like a day on the farm,” Huac Than could be heard muttering into his com. “Almost sank up to my ass in the creek. Gonna have to scrub armor for an hour to get the shine back.”