The hatch blew inward on a rush of alien air and color.

  It wasn’t like the sims. There, the breach cut always opened into a clean, well-lit corridor, lighting balanced, everything built for human eyes and human doctrine.

  Here, the first thing Kaden saw was wrong angles.

  The Opp corridor was too narrow and too tall, the ceiling spined with cables and conduits that drooped like metallic vines. The walls were a patchwork of armor plates and inset panels, some pulsing faintly with internal light. The illumination came in strips: thin bands of cold white and bruised violet running along the upper corners, turning everything below into hard contrast and deep shadow.

  Beyond the hatch, the deck dipped a few degrees left. Gravity felt slightly skewed, like his inner ear was lying.

  And there were already things shooting at them.

  Tanaka was moving before Kaden’s brain caught up. The heavy surged past the lip of the hatch with his shield snapping up to cover the opening, the slab of composite ringing as the first Opp rounds smashed into it. Sparks spat back into the pod.

  “Contact front!” Jax barked, already pushing behind him.

  A heartbeat earlier, with the cutter still screaming and the plug about to drop, she’d spoken quietly on squad net.

  “Breach Order. Stay on my timing.”

  Kaden’s HUD flicked.

  [JAX – SKILL: BREACH ORDER (R2) // ACTIVE]

  It wasn’t a rush so much as a click. The moment between deciding to move and actually moving shrank. Tanaka surged, Navarro rose, Kaden felt his own legs push him forward, and it all slotted together like they’d drilled this exact breach instead of just the idea of it.

  Now, as rounds hammered the shield, that same quiet synchrony held.

  Kaden’s world compressed to drills and habit.

  He rose from the bench, harness clips snapping free, SMG swinging up. Navarro slid to Tanaka’s right, her shoulder almost brushing the pod’s frame. Vos stepped left, half a meter behind Kaden, the Wasp’s cradle on his chest lighting a soft green.

  The air tasted sharp through the filters. Something metallic and hot, layered under the standard recycled tang.

  “Anchor's up. Stay with me,” Jax said.

  It was just words. Jax couldn’t flip her Anchor ability on and off, but Kaden felt some of the static in his head flatten, the worst of the jitter smoothing out. Part Aurora, part familiarity with her voice, part the way her presence slotted everyone into their place.

  His RES held. Navarro’s breathing in his ear stayed fast but not ragged. Tanaka’s movements stayed sharp in the crosshairs of Kaden’s peripheral vision. Breach Order and Jax’s steadying effect together made the squad feel like one unit instead of five people trying not to trip over each other.

  “Tanaka, hold that doorway,” Jax snapped. “Two meters, don’t drift. Navarro, right lane. Vos, Wasp out. Mercer, left lane and watch that ceiling.”

  “Copy,” Tanaka said.

  “Got it,” Navarro answered.

  “Wasp away,” Vos said.

  The little drone kicked free of his chest mount and shot low and right through the breach, a fist-sized blur of matte metal hugging the wall. Aurora tagged it in Kaden’s HUD as a pale ghost icon, data feed line linking back to Vos.

  The corridor beyond the hatch came into focus in pieces as Kaden stepped sideways and leaned into his own lane.

  Opp marines were already dug in.

  They were further down the corridor, maybe eight or nine meters out, using the architecture the way Kaden had only ever seen Hegemony troops do in training footage. One crouched behind a rib of structural bracing that jutted from the left wall like a half-grown fin. Two more were pressed into shallow recesses on the right, armor outlined in violet sheen from the strip lights.

  They were taller than humans by a head or so, limbs proportioned just a little off: longer forearms, slightly reversed knees under segmented greaves. Their helmets swept back in ridged crests that fused into the plating along their necks and shoulders, echoing the feathered crown structure Kaden had seen in stills. No beaks, no monstrous faces, just hard, angular visors with pale slits of light where the eyes were.

  The nearest one pivoted, bringing a compact rifle to bear. Muzzle flash strobed white-blue. Rounds chewed at Tanaka’s shield and screamed off the pod frame.

  Tanaka didn’t flinch. He dropped his stance and planted his boots, shield angled forward, body braced.

  Kaden’s HUD pinged.

  [TANAKA – SKILL: SHIELD ANCHOR (R1) // ACTIVE]

  The heavy took another step into the corridor, letting his shield eat the line of fire. Behind him, the air filled with the flat crack of human weapons returning the favor.

  Navarro leaned into the space just over Tanaka’s right shoulder, the butt of her rifle snug into her shoulder, cheek welded to the stock. Her shots came in precise, controlled strings, short bursts that stitched tight patterns at the edge of Kaden’s vision.

  [NAVARRO – SKILL: CONTROLLED BURST (R1) // ACTIVE]

  An Opp marine jerked as her rounds found him, armor plates sparking and then buckling. He slumped sideways behind his cover, rifle sagging.

  “Right recess, down!” she called.

  “Left brace still hot,” Vos said. “Wasp sees at least two more.”

  His voice had gone into that clipped, almost bored register he used when everything was actually very serious. A small window opened in the corner of Kaden’s HUD, Wasp’s eye view painting a jittery, low-angle sweep of the corridor: Opp boots, spatter on the deck, muzzle flashes.

  Kaden stepped out to the left of the hatch, staying just behind the arc of Tanaka’s shield. His SMG settled into the pocket of his shoulder, sights lining up with the left side of the corridor where the bracing ribs threw deep shadows.

  Get low. Short bursts. Don’t chase.

  He squeezed the trigger.

  The weapon bucked, controlled and familiar. His rounds punched into the edge of the brace, sparking off composite, then tracked lower as an Opp leg shifted. One of the enemy marines recoiled, dropping to a knee. Another darted across the corridor, crossing the open space with a speed that didn’t look entirely natural.

  Kaden watched the blur of motion, the way the Opp’s body seemed to lean into a momentary distortion in the air, a slight shimmer along the wall that his HUD couldn’t fully resolve.

  “Aurora’s not flagging that,” Vos said in his ear. “But did you see—”

  “Later,” Jax cut in. “Tanaka, one step more. Vos, tag their lanes.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “On it,” Vos said.

  Wasp zipped up toward the ceiling and then along it, hugging the angle where wall met bulkhead. Its feed zoomed in on an Opp crouched behind another rib, this one closer than Kaden had realized, maybe five meters out on the left.

  [WASP – TARGET MARK]

  A faint outline flashed around the Opp on Kaden’s HUD, not a clean silhouette like the sims, just a pulsing suggestion: here. Behind that plate. That angle. His sight picture tightened around it.

  He fired another short burst.

  This time his shots caught the Opp square in the upper torso as it leaned to return fire. Plates dented. Something gave. The enemy’s rifle snapped up reflexively, rounds going wild high into the ceiling. One of the strip lights exploded, showering sparks and darkened shards.

  “Left close, hit,” Kaden said.

  “Finish it,” Jax snapped.

  Tanaka’s shield took another deafening impact as one of the Opps found a better angle. Kaden saw the heavy’s arm flex, shoulder dipping under the blow, but his stance didn’t break. With Breach Order humming in the background, their timing stayed tight, no one stumbling into anyone else’s lane.

  AP pips flickered at the edge of Kaden’s vision. Wasp’s status icon ticked as Vos fed it more power.

  [VOS – AP: -1]

  [WASP – MAINTAIN (30s)]

  “Mercer, I said finish it,” Jax repeated, sharper.

  Kaden adjusted a fraction right, aimed for the shadow where the wounded Opp had dropped. He exhaled and squeezed. The burst punched through the gap between plates at the side of the helmet. The Opp jerked and then slumped, limbs tangling awkwardly.

  “Left close, down,” he said.

  “Good,” Jax replied. “Navarro, cross-cover. Don’t let the right lane wake up.”

  “I’ve got it,” Navarro said.

  Her next burst chewed into the far right recess where one of the Opps had been hugging cover. An armored arm spasmed out, rifle spinning away, then disappeared back into shadow and didn’t reappear.

  “Contact moving!” Vos called.

  Wasp’s view swung. Two Opp marines further down the corridor broke from their positions at the same time, peeling back in a coordinated retreat. One moved with normal, if fast, strides. The other again pushed through that strange shimmer in the air, its pace doubling for three or four steps before dropping back to something more recognizable.

  “They’re falling back,” Vos said. “One of them’s got a trick. Speed bump or something local.”

  “They’ve got Aurora too,” Jax said. Her tone was flat. “Anything we can do, assume they can do something like it. Don’t get cute trying to trade tricks.”

  She moved past Tanaka, staying just behind his shield, rifle snug to her shoulder. Her helmet turned slightly as she scanned the angles with the ease of someone who’d done this too many times in too many ships.

  “Tanaka, hold where you are,” she said. “Mercer, with me left. Navarro, keep that right recess. Vos, give me five meters ahead. If you see another shimmer like that, call it before you stare.”

  “Copy,” Vos said.

  Kaden edged forward, staying as close to the left wall as his brain would let him. The deck’s slight tilt tugged at his balance. The lighting didn’t help; the broken strip above them flickered, throwing quick pulses of darkness down the corridor.

  He stepped over the first Opp body.

  Up close, the armor was even stranger. Plates layered like overlapping scales, with tiny channels between them that pulsed faintly with cooled blood and leaked fluid. Where his rounds had punched through, there was a mix of dark Opp blood and a viscous coolant-like substance.

  The helmet’s faceplate was opaque, no expression to read, just a dead, pale stripe where the eye slits had been.

  He realized he was staring and forced himself to move on.

  “First contact, first bodies,” Jax said quietly, not looking back. “Don’t get stuck on them. There’ll be plenty.”

  Tanaka advanced a half-step behind them, shield still covering most of the corridor width. Navarro’s shots came in intermittent bursts from his right, keeping the far shadows from getting too comfortable.

  The corridor opened slightly ahead where a side passage branched off to the left, a shallow T-junction. Opp rounds spat down from that angle suddenly, a tight burst that skipped off Tanaka’s shield and chewed into the deck at Kaden’s feet.

  He jerked back, boots sliding a fraction on the slight tilt, shoulder hitting the wall harder than he meant to.

  “Side passage!” he shouted.

  “I see it,” Jax said.

  She pressed into the corner where main corridor met side branch, free hand slapping the wall for balance. Bullets smacked into the bulkhead around her, throwing up flecks of composite.

  “Tanaka, angle to me,” she ordered. “Give me a sliver.”

  He shifted with a controlled pivot, rotating the shield just enough to cover more of the side passage while leaving a narrow lane for her to shoot through. Rounds hammered into the shield’s outer edge, making the composite ring.

  “Vos, what’ve we got?” Jax asked.

  “Two in the branch, maybe more further back,” Vos said. “Wasp can’t push any deeper without getting swatted.”

  “Then we’ll swat for it,” Jax said. “Navarro, rake that corner, one-second burst, then off. Mercer, you and I are cross-stepping. Don’t crowd me.”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” Kaden said.

  His heart rate spiked for a beat and then steadied. Trauma Response tightened the world: distance markers, angles, the exact timing of Navarro’s breathing just before she fired. Breach Order kept his step landing in unison with Jax’s without him having to think about it.

  “On your mark,” Navarro said.

  “Mark,” Jax said.

  Navarro leaned out and poured a burst into the edge of the side passage, rounds sparking off metal and biting into whatever was unlucky enough to be there. The instant she pulled back, Jax and Kaden slid opposite ways, Jax a half-step right to widen the angle, Kaden left to keep his lane clear.

  Opp fire snapped past the gap, high and wild, catching the wall just above Kaden’s head. His ears rang, the sound flattened by the helmet but still ugly.

  He saw a fragment of movement: Opp armor at knee height, a muzzle dipping as the owner flinched away from Navarro’s burst.

  He fired three-round bursts, low to high, tracking the shape.

  One round went into the deck. Two hit center mass. The Opp folded forward, armor clanging.

  “Left in the branch, down,” he said.

  “Right side still there,” Vos warned. “Wasp’s reading muzzle flash further in. At least one.”

  “Tanaka, hold,” Jax said. “We’re not feeding them a column. Navarro, shallow angle, don’t overreach. Make them nervous.”

  Navarro’s next burst came in shorter, more precise. Kaden saw chips fly from an Opp’s cover. A return shot sliced back, carving a glowing groove along the edge of Tanaka’s shield.

  The heavy grunted. “Holding,” he said. “They’re not shy.”

  “That’s fine,” Jax said. “They’re also not used to this. Vos, on my call, I want Wasp in, ping low-right and bounce high-left. If they track it, I want their muzzles off us for half a second.”

  “Risky,” Vos said. “But fun.”

  “Welcome to shock work,” Jax said. “Mercer, be ready. If Wasp draws fire, you hit whatever shoots at it.”

  Kaden swallowed once and nodded, even though she couldn’t see it. “Yes, Sergeant.”

  He watched the Wasp icon on his HUD skitter along the ceiling near the branch, poised just on their side of the corner.

  “Navarro, one more taste,” Jax ordered.

  Navarro poked out just enough barrel to throw another burst into the branch. Rounds came back, chewing at the shield and wall.

  “Now,” Jax said.

  Vos’s breath hitched once in Kaden’s ear. The Wasp darted into the branch on the HUD, dropping low and then flaring up near the far wall.

  The Opp took the bait.

  Muzzle flash bloomed in the feed, pointed just a little high as the shooter tracked the drone’s climb. Rounds tore into the upper section of the side passage, punching holes, sparks and debris fountaining.

  Kaden was already moving. He leaned out, sights snapping to the bright origin of the muzzle flash. The Opp was half in shadow, armor catching just enough of the violet strip light to outline the torso.

  He fired.

  His first burst chewed across the Opp’s chest plates, catching between two pieces of armor. The second went higher, punching into the side of the helmet. The enemy snapped sideways, weapon bucking.

  The Wasp jolted as a stray round nicked it; Kaden saw its icon flicker, but it wobbled back into line, stabilizing.

  “Branch right, down,” he said.

  “Wasp’s dented but alive,” Vos added. “Whoever that was, they’re not shooting anymore.”

  “Good,” Jax said. “They’ll have friends deeper in, but not enough to matter right now. Tanaka, push just past the junction. Navarro, slice right as we pass, make sure nothing cute is waiting in the first five meters. Mercer, left wall, keep your barrel low, I don’t want you crossing our lanes. Vos, find me an arrow to weapons off this main corridor.”

  “On it,” Vos said. “Pulling what I can from local nodes. Wasp, go high again.”

  They moved as a unit, past the first bodies and the cooling heat of the breached hull. The deck vibrated faintly under Kaden’s boots, whether from internal systems or far-off impacts he couldn’t tell.

  Behind them, the pod stayed locked into the Opp hull, a makeshift doorway back to the relative safety of Valiant. Ahead, the corridor stretched into a ship that had not been built with humans in mind.

  They’d breached. They’d survived the first volley. Opp marines had gone down and stayed down.

  No sim timer was going to fade this out.

  Kaden’s hands stayed steady on his weapon, field of fire clear. His HUD ticked quietly in the corner, tracking vitals, AP, distance to the next junction.

  First contact was done.

  Now they had an entire hostile ship’s worth of problems waiting further in.