“TAKE COVER!”

The squad scrambled behind some of the mining equipment. Others used the building exterior or the few kinetic shields still up.

Haseul peaked out of cover, firing at the shooter. She caught a glimpse at the armor when her shot connected. Gleaming orange amidst stark white and black. “Cerberus!” She shouted into her coms.

The enemy operatives were hiding in the excavation sites, using the natural rocks as cover.

“Vivi,” Haseul said, “Take the high ground. Hyejoo, cover her.”

Affirmatives echoed in her coms before the duo went silent.

Haseul peeked out of cover to fire a couple more rounds. A good chunk of their shots hit the rocks. The enemy was using the tall mineral rocks to their advantage and it was working.

A soldier stood up out of cover, firing shots at her. Haseul grunted as she ducked in time. Her cover rocked as it was under fire. A loud sniper round rang out on the battlefield and the rocking stopped. Haseul resumed firing now that her position was cleared.

“Sooyoung, Hyunjin, Jiwoo; flank them. The rest of us will draw their fire.”

The squad focused their fire on the brunt of the attackers. The three heavy-hitters trailed off to the side, using the tall mining drills and rocky environment to remain out of sight.

The exchange of thermal bullets continued for a few minutes before the excavation site was rocked with fiery explosions. Haseul held in a chuckle, remembering that Jiwoo grabbed extra inferno grenades before they boarded the Kodiak.

“MOVE UP!” Haseul yelled when she saw the enemy’s attention being split. Their tactic was working. “Vivi, cover the three.”

Vivi stayed put, her rifle sights primed and already covering her isolated teammates. Hyejoo was crouched next to her, her trigger finger twitching as she remained on the lookout.

The remaining squad members ran to close the gap. They took advantage of the enemy’s split focus, easily getting in shots.

The exchange of fire went on for a bit longer. Each side traded bullets and blows as they went back and forth. The match remained a stalemate—until Vivi’s assist gave them the leverage.

The Alliance squad slowly gained the upper hand as the number of Cerberus operatives dwindled.

Haseul darted forward, a command already spilling from her lips. They needed to act now lest they lose the high ground they just gained.

“Close the distance—H-LINE formation!” Haseul yelled out the order, holding a fist up and punching it forward. “Concentrated fire!”

The command prompted the squad to dash forward, closing the distance between them and the remaining number of soldiers. The squad stood in a single horizontal line, like a firing squad, concentrating all of their shots on the enemy ranks.

A haze of smoke unfurled from the combined heat and thermal bullets. It obscured the entire field.

“Hold your fire!” Haseul called out. Her eyes darted back and forth once the shooting stopped. She then held a hand to her coms. “Vivi—I need eyes on the smoke.”

“Give me a sec, Cap.” There were a few clicks on the other end. Haseul assumed it was the Commando switching her scopes for the thermal vision.

The excavation site was quiet. Haseul could hear the wind howling and some of her team’s heavy adrenaline-fueled breathing. She shifted her defensive stance but kept her grip on her weapon firm.

“Sooyoung, anything on your side?”

“Negative. Just the smoke and dirt.”

Finally, the smoke cleared. The Cerberus operatives were all down, their black, white, and orange armor battered and dusty.

“Search them.” Haseul gestured with her assault rifle. She radioed their lookout, “Vivi—sweep the area before you and Hyejoo rejoin us.”

“Already on it.”

Sooyoung and Jungeun flipped the bodies over before searching them. Jinsoul and Chaewon scanned the excavation site with their omni-tools. Yerim and Hyunjin trailed behind them, covering them just in case something happened.

“Nothing on them.” Sooyoung called out to her Captain, prompting her to look over.

Jungeun remained kneeling on one knee as she took a look at the omni-tools of the operatives. It’s a possibility, she thought. She bit her lip in contemplation before deciding to voice out her idea. “Hey, you think we could extract the data?”

Jungeun had gestured to the omni-tools. Haseul considered it for a moment before bobbing her head. “Yes. Good idea. Yeojin, Heejin—take a look at it. See if you can get any intel out of the hardware.”

Yeojin and Heejin went to work, their hands flying over their own omni-tool interfaces as they tried to gain access. The omni-tools on the Cerberus operatives glowed in time.

“Captain, I think we found something.”

Jinsoul’s voice was heard through their shared coms channel. Sooyoung waved a hand at her to get moving, silently telling her that she’ll watch over the data extraction process. Haseul nodded as she radioed back, “I’m on my way.”

The Captain jogged over to where her four teammates were clustered around a part of the excavation site. Jiwoo followed her Captain while the others continued the data extraction.

“What did you find?” Haseul arrived with Jiwoo in tow.

Jinsoul had her omni-tool out, the interface showed the radar beeping at the ground in front of them. “This area’s different from the rest of the site. Ground looks like something’s buried.”

“Time to dig then.”

Haseul grabbed a nearby shovel and dug into the icy ground. Hyunjin grabbed another shovel to help, seeing as the ground was partially frozen. After a few laboring grunts and small mounds of dug-up ice and dirt, a loud clunk was heard. Haseul and Hyunjin dropped their shovels to use their hands to brush away the dirt. Once cleared, it revealed a small nondescript metal briefcase. It looked roughed up on the outside but was still intact.

“Let’s get it back to the ship. Cerberus was probably after this.” Haseul huffed as she and Hyunjin dusted off their armor.

Whatever is inside, they were willing to die for it. Haseul eyed the dried blood stains near the dig site. Either from Cerberus operatives or the mining outpost workers.

The team walked back to where the others were, who were now standing a few feet away from the operatives on the ground. The omni-tool of one of the Cerberus operatives was up in smoke. It crackled a spark every now and then.

“What happened?”

Heejin frowned as she waved her hands, trying to clear the smoke. “Some kind of fail-safe. It kicked in before I could extract anything. Yeojin managed to get something from the other operative though.”

The small soldier brought her own omni-tool tool up, “It’s not much though. Very vague and encrypted too.”

“Send it to the ship. Our specialists can start decoding it.” Haseul looked around the area once more. “There’s not much left here. We can leave it to the Alliance if they want another sweep.”

“Good work team. Let’s head back to the ship.” Haseul grinned easily now that she felt the danger had passed. “Not bad for our first official mission.”

The squad cheered at her words. The senior officers were all smiles at the energy, Hyejoo and Hyunjin even high-fived. The team morale was high as they made their way back to the Kodiak.

/