Kandara walked forward as slender white rods began to slide up out of the bruised flesh of Arntsen’s forearms. “Shit!” She shot two mini-grenades at him. His body ruptured, spraying gobs of skin and organ across the laboratory.

Two of his projectile peripherals fired on her as they sailed through the air—one embedded in his wrist, another rooted in a long chunk of humerus bone that spun like a baton. Her armor’s outer layer locked, deflecting the impacts. Even so, they were powerful enough to shove her back toward the broken door. Helmet sensors revealed his peripherals that had survived the grenades, splashing them like a cloud of gold embers across the lab. Kandara’s arms moved as if she were karate-chopping an invisible foe, using her gamma lasers to kill the small devices before they could attack her.

Once they were reduced to smoking cinder points, she went over to Fasan’s headless corpse and began a precision strike on his peripherals.

“Kandara, what’s your status?” Jessika asked.

“Still active. You can restore Eóin’s network now. Arntsen and Fasan have been eliminated. Tell whatever cleanup crew you send to be vigilant. I’ve disabled their peripherals, but they might have left other hostile systems behind.”

“Understood. Kandara, we’re worried about Kruse. Hir altme is offline.”

Kandara walked out of the lab. “I’m not surprised. Sie was completely exposed to the drone explosion.” She scanned around the ramp, her suit sensors picking up the moaning and cries of pain. “There are casualties. You can allow the paramedics in.”

“Opening the hubs to Eóin now,” Oistad said. “Can you get a visual on Kruse?

“I’m on my way down now. Do not open any portal doors to Bremble. It’s imperative that Cancer remain isolated.”

“We’ve got that. But what about Kruse?”

Kandara looked over the balustrade to see police in dark armor entering the atrium in a tactical formation. Debris from the shattered ramp was piled high on the prim black-and-white tiles, while the air remained hazed with dust.

“Kruse is dead. I can see hir. Sie was caught by the blast and the rubble. My sensors can’t find a pulse.”

“Holy fuck!” Jessika cried. “No!”

“Are you sure?” Tyle asked.

“Pretty much. Have you found out how the weapons drone was being controlled?”

“What?”

“The weapons drone in Eóin. You shut down the local network, yet it was being controlled. How?”

“Kruse is dead?”

Kandara cursed inside the privacy of her helmet as she arrived at the bottom of the ramp. This was what happened when the ops team weren’t true professionals. “Yes,” she ground out. “But the operation is still ongoing. Now where’s my route to Bremble, and how does Cancer still have access to the network?”

The police watched warily as she hurried through them on her way back to the hub. In front of her, the first paramedics were arriving, each with a tight cluster of medical bagez rolling along at their heels.

“I have three possible routes to Bremble for you,” Jessika said. “Coming through now.”