Epyc Ro tightened her helmet to her forehead, double-checked her position, and resumed her mad sprint. From her spot on the ridge, combatants dug in with machine charge rifles. It would take a sustained squad rush to get them from below the hill.

“Time to put a hurt on them!” Epyc Ro yelled to anyone linked to the sound of her voice, since it was impossible to be heard over the roar of weapons fire. Her emi reached out with an awareness, a battle-honed clarity, and the chaos and confusion coalesced, grew almost still, and within that stillness, she moved. Layered in sweat and dust, she careened down the slope. Energy surged through her system, her muscles growing light even as her head cleared. Endorphins lifted her head into a euphoric cloud.

The rest of the remaining squad fell in line behind her rushing to help Fela.

Anitra ran with complete abandon. Despite her bravado, she prided in her precision and attention to detail. Ducking behind a few jutting stones that littered the field like grave markers, she took up a position above her captain. Anitra deployed her DMX-3000 with the ease of a steady breath. She outscored the entire unit when it came to marksmanship. She often bragged that she honed her skills in endless hours of linkages, her rondavel being a museum of gaming consoles. Hers was the gift of controlled fury, mostly because if she got too pissed, she blew her shot. The two CO/IN operatives spraying the charges, erupting fountains of dirt around Epyc Ro, suddenly slumped over in their perches.

Robin barreled to Epyc Ro’s side, always appearing out of nowhere right when she was most needed. Turning to Epyc Ro, she winked. Her body dropped out of view as she tumbled backward without breaking her pace. Robin rose like a fog around ships floating in a lake. Her Busta fired, and the two drones locking on to their positions shattered behind them. She whirled.

Epyc Ro felt it, too.

The tenor of the patrol changed, the way the temperature dropped before a storm. The cross fire slackened with an abruptness that made her wary.

The enemy troops withdrew.

The Hellfighters converged on Fela’s last-known position, but the commander was gone. Slouched to the side, concentrating on whispers only she could hear, Chandra’s unfocused gaze never failed to unsettle Epyc Ro.

Chandra scanned for any trace evidence. Her eyes still vacant, she shook her head. <No traces, Captain.>

“What do you mean?”

The rest of the squad turned to Chandra.

<No enemy contacts or signals. There has been a complete ordered withdrawal.>