[Current Objective: Survive Landing.] [Survival Probability: 3%.]
The drop-pod slammed into the mud with the force of a meteor.
The impact gel inside the pod hardened instantly to protect my spine, then liquefied again. The hatch blew off with a hiss of explosive bolts.
"Move! Go, go, go!" the Sergeant screamed.
Private Miller stumbled out first, his rifle shaking in his hands. He took two steps into the grey fog and opened his mouth to shout.
Don't go left, Miller.
Miller went left.
A crimson laser beam from an Ascendancy drone cut through the fog. It should have taken Miller's head off.
Clang.
I was already there. I had stepped out of the pod a split second before Miller, grabbed his collar, and yanked him back. The laser scorched the air where his nose had been a millisecond ago.
"H-holy—!" Miller gasped, falling onto his backside in the mud.
"Get up," I said, my voice filtered through my helmet. "Run to the crater at 2 o'clock. Do not stop until you hit the water."
"How did you—"
"Go!" I shoved him.
I didn't watch him run. I turned my attention to the ridge line.
[Ouroboros Interface: Passive Scan.] [Threat Detected: Type-4 Spider Tank. Distance: 400m.]
In Life #4,800, that tank killed me with a railgun shot to the chest. In Life #4,801, I tried to flank it and got stepped on. In Life #4,802, I realized the tank has a blind spot in its sensor array every 12 seconds when it vents heat.
I checked my internal clock. System time: 06:05:12.
Venting in 3... 2... 1.
I sprinted.
To the rest of the squad, it must have looked insane. I ran straight into the open, dodging laser fire that hadn't been fired yet. I slid under a fallen concrete pillar just as a plasma grenade vaporized the ground I had been standing on.
"Unit 7!" Vesper's voice crackled in my ear. She was watching the feed from the command ship. "You are breaking formation. That is a suicide vector."
"Negative, Command," I panted, sliding through the mud. "I'm flanking."
"There is a tank on that ridge, Specialist. You cannot flank a tank with a standard-issue rifle."
"Watch me."
I reached the tank's blind spot exactly as the vents opened. Steam hissed out, blinding its rear sensors. I didn't shoot the tank. I shot the cliff above it.
I fired three rounds into the loose rock formation I had identified five lives ago.
The rocks crumbled. A ten-ton boulder slid loose, crashing down directly onto the tank's turret. The impact crushed the sensor array. The tank spun wildly, firing blindly into its own troops.
"Target neutralized," I said, reloading my railgun.
Silence on the comms.
Then, Vesper's voice returned. It was quieter this time.
"Noted, Unit 7. Proceed to waypoint."
I looked down at my shaking hands. The adrenaline was fading, leaving the familiar hollow feeling in my chest. I saved Miller. I destroyed the tank.
Only 9,000 more enemies to go.