The alarm went off at 0500.
Kai was already awake.
He'd been lying on his bunk for the past hour, staring at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the base stirring around him: boots on metal floors, murmured conversations, the distant hum of equipment being loaded onto transport vehicles.
The whole colony felt like it was holding its breath.
He pressed his hand flat against his chest, feeling the slow and steady pulse of the Shard.
He had no idea what today held for him, but he got up anyway.
—
By 0545, Squad Talon was assembled at the eastern transport bay.
Kai stood at the edge of the group, checking the straps on his gear for the third time. Jace was doing the same thing two feet away, though probably for the fifth time.
Brick was eating ration crackers like it was just another Tuesday. Sera stood perfectly still, arms crossed, watching the transport lines load.
Drake appeared from the briefing tent and moved straight to them. No small talk.
"Final check," he said. "Jace, barriers?"
"All functional. Six deployable, two long-range."
"Brick, support loadout?"
"Packed heavy. Extra medkits, got a reinforced shield rig."
"Sera, scout range?"
"Full visibility up to three hundred metres in standard conditions. Less in collapsed structures."
Drake nodded. His eyes landed on Kai last. "Rookie."
"Ready," Kai said.
Drake held his gaze for a beat longer than he needed to, then gave a single nod. "Stay behind me until I say otherwise. Your job in the early phase is support. Use your earth manipulation to clear debris, create cover, and redirect movement. Do not go loud unless I call it."
"Understood."
"Good." Drake turned to face the transport. "Let's roll out."
—
The launch was something Kai had not been prepared for.
He'd heard about large-scale Guild operations in stories, in debriefs, and in the exaggerated accounts older Hunters told over drinks.
But nothing prepared him for seeing fifteen squads, nearly two hundred Hunters, moving in coordinated formation through the colony's eastern gate at the break of dawn.
The sky was still dark purple at the horizon. The air was cold enough to make his breath fog. And stretched out ahead of them was District 12, a skyline of hollow buildings, collapsed bridges, and years of silence.
Even from a distance, Kai could feel it: the wrong kind of quiet… the kind where things were watching.
The senior commander's voice came clearly over the comms network. "All units, advance. Strike teams, hold formation. Eastern and Northern squads, mind the ambient density… the dimension is very unstable there. Watch your footinf and and keep an eye on your readings."
And then they moved.
—
The first hour was almost routine.
Squad Talon worked through the outer residential blocks in tight rhythm. Sera would move ahead, identify Echo positions, and relay coordinates. Jace would drop barrier fields to funnel and contain.
Brick would push forward as the wall, drawing aggression. Drake would cut clean and fast, eliminating targets before they could scatter.
And Kai filled in the gaps.
He pulled stone from crumbled walls to block flanking routes. He collapsed unstable floors above clusters of Stalkers before they could drop on the squad. He shored up a section of ceiling that was about to give when Brick got thrown through a partition wall.
Small, precise things. He used only what he needed, kept the energy draw minimal, and the System stayed quiet in his chest.
"Nice," Sera said after he sealed a stairwell just as a pack of Shriekers came pouring down it. "How'd you know they were coming from there?"
"Vibrations through the floor," Kai said. "They're light, but fast. I felt the pattern."
"Hunter instinct," Drake said, not breaking stride. "Good. Keep it up."
By mid-morning, they'd cleared six residential blocks. Three hundred metres of territory, reclaimed building by building. The comms were alive with progress reports from other squads… most of it positive.
The outer ring of District 12 was falling faster than projected.
Kai started to let himself breathe.
That was a mistake.
"Contact!" Sera's voice was flat and controlled over the comms, which somehow made the situation feel even worse. "Upper floor of the industrial block, northeast sector. I'm getting a reading there."
"Classification?" Drake asked.
There was a pause… one that lasted a beat too long.
"Sera," Drake called sharply.
"Upper A-rank," she said. "I'm confirming now. Drake, the shape… it's not matching anything in our catalogue for this district. This isn't what intel said."
Kai heard Drake exhale slowly. "Everyone hold position."
They gathered at the edge of a collapsed overpass, using the rubble as cover.
Sera had her scanner up, and Kai leaned in to look at the display over her shoulder. The heat signature was massive: humanoid, with broad-shoulders, standing on top of what used to be a three-story industrial building, three blocks north.
Even at this distance, the silhouette made his stomach drop.
Every inch of it was covered in armour. The black plates of this material didn't just reflect light; they seemed to absorb it. And around the figure, shadows moved strangely, pooling upward, curling against the air even where there was no wind.
"Dreadknight," Brick said quietly. It wasn't a question.
"That's a Dreadknight," Jace confirmed in an unpleasant voice. "Those are A-rank minimum. Sometimes higher. The shadow aura suggests—"
"I know what it suggests," Drake said. He was already opening a channel to Command. "Command, this is Squad Talon, Eastern sector. We have a Dreadknight confirmed in the industrial complex, northeast quadrant. Requesting immediate reinforcement, A-rank or higher. Please confirm."
Static. Then: "Copy, Talon. Nearest available unit is seventeen minutes out. Hold your position."
"Seventeen minutes," Jace said, his voice dropping to almost nothing.
The Dreadknight moved.
It stepped off the rooftop slowly, dropping four stories and landing without a sound. The shadows around it spread outward like ink dropped in water. It turned its head, and even from far away, Kai felt strongly that it was staring right at something specific.
Sera grabbed Drake's arm. "Drake. The civilian support units. They're staged two blocks behind us for resupply. That thing is heading in their direction."
The reality of the situation hit Kai hard. Civilian workers: medics, engineers, support staff, they had no combat rating… no combat gear. If the Dreadknight, got to them before reinforcement arrived…
"We have to hold it," Drake said.
Nobody argued. Nobody breathed.
Drake looked at each of them in turn. Then he looked at Kai. "This is what A-ranks are for, rookie. We hold it for seventeen minutes. You and me, front line. Sera, you're watching our flanks… that thing might have shadow-phase capability. Jace, maximum barrier coverage on the civilian staging area. Brick, support and distraction."
"Copy," they said, near enough together to sound like one word.
Drake rolled his shoulder, and his dual blades came out. "Move."