Fifteen minutes didn’t feel like much.

  By the time Kaden’s chrono rolled over, the sharp edges of sim-pain were gone, but the echoes stayed: a ghost ache under his ribs, a phantom sting in his calf. The armor hadn’t gotten any lighter.

  AP: 5/5

  Full, at least. It felt like a joke, looking at that bar and knowing his legs still hurt.

  Jax gathered them again at the edge of the grid, near the same start hatch. Helmets were back on, seals locked. The sim deck’s overhead lights glared down on plating and paint scuffs.

  Tanaka stood a little ahead of them, Bulwark shield mag-locked to his left arm, its scarred viewport catching the light. His shotgun sat tucked behind its profile on a tight sling, ready to come up around the edge.

  “Second run,” Jax said. “Different job.”

  She looked up to the control gallery.

  “Sim control,” she called. “Secure-and-extract this time. Opp frigate. One captured shock marine somewhere in the layout. Beacon active. Pain feed stays full.”

  The tech’s shoulders slumped theatrically, but his hands moved over the board.

  “Copy,” he said. “Scenario loaded. Friendly beacon placed. Opposition moderate. Ready when you are.”

  Jax glanced back at Theta-3.

  “Listen up,” she said. “You’re going in after one of ours. Sim version, but treat it like it’s real. There’s a friendly shock marine in there with a compromised suit and a low signal. Aurora’s going to give you a general direction, not a map.”

  Her gaze settled on each of them in turn.

  “Tanaka, same as before. You’re the wall,” she said. “Shield first, gun second. Navarro, you keep the corridor locked down. Vos, finding the hostage is on you. You use every tool Aurora gave you—doors, cameras, whatever the Opp was kind enough to install. Mercer, you stabilize the package and keep anyone who drops from sliding off the edge.”

  She paused.

  “Hostage has a pulse when you find them,” Jax said. “I expect them to still have one when you get back here. Clear?”

  Kaden swallowed. “Clear.”

  “Control, link Theta-3,” Jax said. “Same feed settings.”

  Kaden’s HUD pinged again.

  SIMULATION NODE REQUESTING LINK: "VALIANT / 3RD SHOCK / DECK A – TRAINING"

  ACCEPT? [Y/N]

  He accepted.

  SIM STATUS: STANDBY

  A new marker slid into the top of his vision, faint, pulsing slowly.

  FRIENDLY BEACON: SIGNAL WEAK – DIRECTIONAL ESTIMATE AVAILABLE

  “Stack it up,” Jax said. “Same order.”

  They fell in at the hatch.

  “Control,” Jax said. “Start. Theta-3, breach on go.”

  The ship fell away.

  Opp metal folded in again: darker walls, ribbed supports, cold light. The hum under Kaden’s boots shifted to that lower, different pitch.

  ENVIRONMENT: OPP FRIGATE – APPROXIMATE

  OBJECTIVE: LOCATE AND EXTRACT FRIENDLY MARINE (SIM) – STATUS UNKNOWN

  SIM STATUS: LIVE

  The beacon marker at the top of his HUD sharpened into a rough cone pointing ahead and slightly left. Distance: unclear.

  “Check,” Jax said over comms. “Tanaka?”

  “Stacked,” Tanaka said. The Bulwark covered his torso and most of his thighs, a moving wall of composite.

  “Navarro.”

  “Stacked.”

  “Mercer.”

  “Stacked.”

  “Vos.”

  “Stacked.”

  “Breach,” Jax said. “Go.”

  The hatch irised open. Tanaka pushed through, leading with the shield. Navarro slipped behind him, keeping a narrow lane to shoot past his right side. Kaden followed, then Vos.

  Kaden’s HUD showed a faint wedge pushing them forward and left.

  BEACON VECTOR: AHEAD / PORT

  “Vos,” Jax said. “Talk to me.”

  “Beacon’s forward and left,” Vos said. “Weak. Could be behind bulkheads or deeper in the hull.”

  “Then find me a way that doesn’t run us straight into every gun on the ship,” Jax said. “Use the hardware.”

  “Copy,” Vos said.

  They advanced. The first stretch stayed quiet; no Opp contacts, just the sharp edges of the alien hull and the faint hum of systems. Kaden watched his arcs and the small movements of the squad: the way Tanaka kept the shield slightly angled, viewport scanning, shotgun muzzle resting just outside its shadow.

  At the first side hatch, Jax spoke again.

  “Vos, panel on your right,” she said. “See if the Opp are feeling generous.”

  Vos stepped out of the column, gloved hand finding a recessed node on the wall. It glowed faintly under his touch. His HUD flashed something only he could see.

  Kaden’s own feed picked up a brief note.

  CPL. VOS – SKILL: RAPID OVERRIDE (R1) – ACTIVATED

  AP: 8 → 6

  The panel sparked, then steadied. Vos’s voice was calm.

  “I’m in a local node,” he said. “Short-range system access. I can see corridor layouts within this block and a couple of automated guns.”

  “Show me routes,” Jax said.

  A translucent schematic popped into the corner of Kaden’s HUD: a simple line map of their section. Their position blinked as a green dot. A red cone marked the beacon’s approximate location, deeper into the ship, two decks over and forward.

  Two other icons glowed red: turrets.

  “Two ways to the beacon,” Vos said. “Long way and short way. Long route goes around this cluster, no turret coverage, more open corridors. Short route cuts through a security corridor with a ceiling gun halfway down.”

  “Can you do anything about the gun?” Jax asked.

  “I can probably blind it or make it ignore us for a few seconds,” Vos said. “Not a full shutdown. Might flip it on their infantry for a moment if timing’s right.”

  Jax didn’t hesitate.

  “We take the short route,” she said. “We’re here to learn. Mark the turret.”

  The schematic updated. One corridor turned red halfway down its length.

  “Done,” Vos said. “I’ll need line of sight to its control line before I can do anything more.”

  “Back in the stack,” Jax said. “Tanaka, follow his map. Vos, you call the intersection where you can touch the turret. Mercer, keep an eye on your AP. You’ll need it at the end.”

  They moved deeper. The beacon cone ticked slightly more precise with every step, narrowing as they got closer.

  First contact came at a simple cross-corridor. Three Opp moved from right to left at the far edge; half a dozen meters out.

  “Opp, three, crossing left,” Navarro said.

  “Let them go,” Jax said. “You don’t have to fight everything you see.”

  They held. The Opp boots faded. No alarms yet.

  Vos pointed as they reached the next junction.

  “Turret corridor ahead,” he said. “Control path runs above the ceiling between these two nodes.” He tapped the wall.

  A faint icon pulsed in Kaden’s HUD where the turret was supposed to be.

  “Tanaka, you’ll have to step into its covered lane,” Jax said. “Vos, when I say now, I want that gun doing anything except shooting my marines. Navarro, be ready to finish anything it leaves standing.”

  “Understood,” Tanaka said.

  “Got it,” Vos said.

  They turned into the security corridor. It was narrower and straighter than the others, with ribbing on the ceiling where the wiring ran. Tanaka kept the Bulwark up, covering as much of his body as he could, shotgun tucked in behind its right-hand edge.

  Kaden’s HUD pulsed a quiet warning.

  AUTOMATED DEFENSE: ACTIVE – AHEAD

  “Turret is live, tracking,” Vos said. “Identifies us as hostile. I’ll need three seconds once it sees us.”

  “That’s two more than I like,” Jax said. “Tanaka, Anchor when you cross its line. Go.”

  Tanaka took a breath Kaden could hear over comms, then stepped forward.

  LCPL. TANAKA – SKILL: SHIELD ANCHOR (R1) – ACTIVATED

  AP: 5 → 3

  The change was visible even from behind. His stance lowered, feet braced wider, shield planted more solidly in front of him. He became something closer to a fixed emplacement than a man.

  He reached the midpoint of the corridor.

  The ceiling hatch dropped open. A compact turret unfolded, barrel angling down. Kaden’s instincts screamed at him to flatten himself against the wall behind Tanaka’s shield.

  “Now,” Jax said.

  “Working,” Vos said.

  CPL. VOS – SKILL: RAPID OVERRIDE (R1) – ACTIVE

  AP: 6 → 4

  The turret’s barrel started to swing toward the biggest target, Tanaka’s shielded mass. It hesitated, stuttering mid-turn like it couldn’t quite decide what it was seeing.

  “Come on…” Vos muttered.

  The turret locked past Tanaka instead, over his shoulder, down the corridor behind them. It opened fire.

  Sharp, mechanical cracks filled the air. Simulated rounds tore into the junction they’d left, slamming into the forms of two Opp that had just stepped into that space. Their armor flared as the system registered friendly-fire hits.

  “Turret is spoofed for five seconds,” Vos said. “It thinks anything in that rear cone is hostile. After that, it’s back to us.”

  “Move,” Jax said. “Tanaka, straight through. Keep that shield between you and the barrel. Rest of you, stay tight.”

  They went. Tanaka kept the Bulwark angled up, viewport giving him just enough sight to move. Kaden focused on the rectangle of cover in front of him and not on the gun overhead. By the time they reached the far end, the turret was already beginning to twitch back toward normal behavior.

  AUTOMATED DEFENSE: RESETTING

  “Turret back to hostile,” Vos said. “It’ll ping us if we come through again.”

  “Then don’t,” Jax said. “Keep pushing. Beacon?”

  “Stronger,” Vos said. “Ahead and one deck down.”

  They descended via a ladder shaft, mag-boots gripping each rung. The beacon cone in Kaden’s HUD tightened further, pointing them down a shorter side corridor toward a heavier door set into the wall.

  “Signal’s right behind that,” Vos said.

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  The door was different from the others: thicker, with more banding and a recessed panel glowing faint blue.

  “Guarded?” Jax asked.

  “Not actively,” Vos said. “No moving signatures right on top of it. Might be patrols nearby.”

  “Open it,” Jax said. “Carefully. Navarro, cover the corridor. Tanaka, shield up with her. Mercer, you’re on the package as soon as he has it.”

  “Yes, Staff Sergeant,” Kaden said.

  Vos stepped to the panel and set his palm against it. The light under his glove brightened, then flickered.

  CPL. VOS – SKILL: RAPID OVERRIDE (R1) – CHAINED

  AP: 4 → 2

  “More secure,” he said. “They really don’t want us in here. Or out.”

  The panel fought him for a moment. Kaden heard a faint stutter in Vos’s breathing, saw the tension in his shoulders. Then the door cycled with a slow, heavy clunk and slid aside.

  “Door open,” Vos said.

  “Navarro, corridor,” Jax said. “Tanaka, shield and muzzle with her. Mercer, go.”

  The room beyond was cramped: Opp metal walls, low ceiling, a single bench bolted to the deck. A human body sat slumped against the bulkhead, armor scorched and scored. Their helmet was still on; their squad tag flickered.

  SIM ENTITY: FRIENDLY MARINE – 3RD SHOCK / SIGMA-2

  STATUS: CRITICAL / NON-AMBULATORY

  Kaden moved in, boots clanking softly. The beacon that had filled his HUD now shrank to a single, steady marker over the marine’s chest.

  He dropped to a knee.

  “Mercer on the hostage,” he said.

  Up close, the damage looked ugly even in sim. The chest plate carried a deep blackened crater; a leg plate was fractured with a bright red highlight where the sim said the round had gone through.

  PRIMARY INJURY: THORACIC PENETRATION – SEVERE

  SECONDARY: FEMORAL DAMAGE – SEVERE

  BLEED STATUS: CRITICAL

  The marine’s vitals flickered in his HUD: fast, weak pulse. Breathing shallow.

  “Breathing weak,” Kaden said. “Chest hit. Leg as well. They’re bleeding out.”

  He felt Aurora waiting, like a cursor over a button. The Field Stabilize prompt pulsed at the edge of his awareness.

  SKILL AVAILABLE: FIELD STABILIZE (R1)

  He keyed it.

  PVT. MERCER – SKILL: FIELD STABILIZE (R1) – ACTIVATED

  AP: 5 → 4

  Warmth prickled in his hands as Aurora tightened his focus. The background noise dipped: hum, heartbeats, even the press of armor—all pushed back behind the hostage’s vitals.

  “Stay with me,” he said. “You’re not done yet.”

  He popped a trauma seal from his rig and slapped it over the chest wound marker. The HUD acknowledged it, modeling the sealant spreading, slowing the simulated bleed. He hit an injector port at the marine’s neck with a volume expander, then another at the thigh plate for coagulant.

  TREATMENTS APPLIED: TRAUMA SEAL / VOLUME SUPPORT / LOCAL COAGULANT

  STATUS: CRITICAL → STABILIZED / NON-AMBULATORY

  The marine’s vitals climbed a fraction.

  “Hostage stabilized,” Kaden called. “They can’t walk. We’re carrying them out.”

  “Good work,” Jax said. “Vos, any change outside?”

  “Contacts forming up further down the corridor,” Vos said from the doorway. “WASP can give us a better picture.”

  His HUD flickered again.

  CPL. VOS – SKILL: WASP SYNC (R1) – ACTIVATED

  AP: 2 → 1

  Kaden saw the drone marker detach from Vos’ back in his peripheral vision. The little machine unfolded and slipped out into the corridor with a faint hum. A moment later, data came back as ghostly outlines in Vos’s feed.

  “Two fireteams,” Vos said. “One coming from the way we came in. Another trying to circle around from the far side. Ten, maybe twelve bodies total. No heavies.”

  “Turrets?” Jax asked.

  “None in this block,” Vos said. “Just rifles and whatever passes for grenades.”

  “All right,” Jax said. “You’re not holding this room. You’re moving. Tanaka, shield front. Navarro just off your right. Mercer, you’ve got the hostage. Vos, you anchor the rear.”

  Kaden slid his arms under the downed marine’s harness, grunting as he hauled them up. Even as sim-weight, they were dead-heavy with armor.

  LOAD: +85 KG – MOVEMENT PENALTY APPLIED

  His legs protested.

  “Up,” he muttered. “Come on.”

  The marine’s boots scraped the deck as he got them over his shoulder in a rough fireman’s carry, med rig shifting with the extra strain.

  “Got them,” he said. “I can move, slower.”

  “Good,” Jax said. “Opp will push hard once they realize you’re leaving with something they wanted. Expect pressure on the way back.”

  They stepped out of the room.

  The beacon marker in Kaden’s HUD shifted to sit squarely over his own chest now that he carried the marine.

  “Hostile movement,” Vos said. “First team coming from straight ahead. Second team’s circling, but we have a window if we move now.”

  “Then move now,” Jax said. “Tanaka, take us out. Shield high.”

  They advanced.

  The first contact came at a T-junction. Opp shapes appeared at the far end, weapons up. Tanaka planted the Bulwark.

  LCPL. TANAKA – SKILL: SHIELD ANCHOR (R1) – ACTIVE

  AP: 3 → 1

  His feet locked, shield absorbing the first volley. Impacts sparked across the outer face; the viewport shivered with light but held. He leaned into it, becoming a wedge.

  He slid the shotgun around the right edge and fired in short, brutal blasts, each shot taken from behind cover. The first Opp in his lane went down. Navarro leaned past his right shoulder, careful not to expose herself beyond the shield’s edge.

  PVT. NAVARRO – SKILL: CONTROLLED BURST (R1) – ACTIVATED

  AP: 5 → 4

  Her rifle chattered in tight bursts, rounds slipping into gaps Tanaka couldn’t see around the shield’s profile.

  “Opp falling back at the junction,” Vos said, watching through WASP. “The second team’s changing direction; they’re trying to cut us off near the ladder shaft.”

  “Can we beat them there?” Jax asked.

  “Maybe,” Vos said. “If we don’t get bogged down here.”

  “Then don’t,” Jax said. “Navarro, keep them suppressed. Tanaka, you buy space, then we peel.”

  Tanaka fired two more times over the shield’s edge, driving the remaining Opp out of line of sight. The corridor beyond looked open—for now.

  “Go,” Jax said. “Don’t wait for perfect.”

  They moved. Kaden’s legs burned with every step, the hostage’s weight dragging on his shoulders. His HUD showed his stamina trending down, armor complaining about stress on the joints.

  They reached the ladder shaft. Vos’ drone feed showed distant movement: Opp coming around a corner on another deck, closing fast toward where the shaft would emerge.

  “They’ll be on us at the top,” Vos said. “We can’t avoid that.”

  “Then you slow them,” Jax said. “Anything in their systems you can use?”

  “Trying something,” Vos said.

  His AP indicator flickered.

  CPL. VOS – SKILL: RAPID OVERRIDE (R1) – LAST USE

  AP: 1 → 0

  “Found a local door cluster,” he said. “I can lock two hatches on their route and force them to detour. It won’t stop them, but it’ll buy thirty seconds, maybe more.”

  “Do it,” Jax said.

  They started climbing.

  Hauling adult armor-weight up a ladder with another marine slung over his shoulders was its own kind of hell. Kaden’s arms screamed. His mag-boots clanged on the rungs. The hostage’s armor scraped against the sides of the shaft.

  MUSCULOSKELETAL STRAIN – ELEVATED

  He ignored it and kept moving.

  They emerged onto the deck below the sim-flagged extraction line. The corridor here was broader, with a long straight shoot toward where their entry hatch waited.

  “Contacts incoming from the far end,” Vos said, voice tight. “They’re moving faster than I’d like, even with the detour.”

  “Tanaka, set the wall,” Jax said. “Navarro, you’re on his right. Mercer, keep the hostage in his shadow and do not stop moving unless I tell you. Vos, if you’ve got anything left besides your legs, use it.”

  Kaden checked his AP out of reflex.

  AP: 4/5

  They started down the corridor.

  Opp shapes appeared at the far end, more than before—eight, maybe ten. Muzzle flashes bloomed. Rounds streaked toward them.

  Tanaka stepped forward, Bulwark up. Impacts hammered into the shield’s face, lighting up armor-integrity warnings across his HUD.

  The first hits he soaked. The next volley skimmed higher, exactly wrong: a tight grouping at the shield’s upper edge, where the viewport and armor seam met. One round clipped the lip of composite and deflected; another struck just above his gorget, near the neck and shoulder.

  Kaden saw his status spike.

  LCPL. TANAKA – STATUS: CRITICAL / UNCONSCIOUS

  Tanaka’s whole body jerked. The Bulwark dipped, then slammed forward as his legs gave out. He collapsed behind it, the shield tipping with him and crashing down at an angle that still blocked part of the corridor by sheer mass.

  “Tanaka’s down,” Navarro snapped. “Front, center. Unconscious.”

  “Navarro, you own the front,” Jax said, immediate. “Use the shield if you can. Mercer, status on Tanaka. Is he salvagable?”

  Navarro stepped up without hesitation, shifting to the gap on the right side of the fallen Bulwark. She pressed her shoulder to the shield’s edge and started firing past it.

  PVT. NAVARRO – SKILL: CONTROLLED BURST (R1) – CHAINED

  AP: 4 → 3

  Her bursts were steady and sharp, using the fallen shield as hard cover, turning the corridor into a narrow shooting lane.

  Kaden spared a look at his HUD.

  LCPL. TANAKA – CRITICAL / UNCONSCIOUS / VITALS: UNSTABLE

  “We’re close to the hatch,” Jax said. “Mercer, I need a call. Can he live long enough for us to drag him, or is this a KIA?”

  Kaden’s throat tightened.

  “He’s saveable,” Kaden said. “Pulse is weak but there. If I hit him with something now and we move fast, he should stay in the green.”

  “Then do it,” Jax said. “You do not drop the hostage in the open. Work off his ports and move. Vos, you’re dragging him once Mercer hits him.”

  “Yes, Staff Sergeant,” Kaden said.

  He shifted the hostage’s weight just enough to free his right hand again, muscles burning.

  PVT. MERCER – SKILL: FIELD STABILIZE (R1) – RAPID USE

  AP: 4 → 3

  Aurora steadied his hand. Tanaka’s vitals sharpened in his HUD overlay despite the chaos.

  Kaden took two quick steps, using the Bulwark’s fallen bulk as cover, and jammed an injector into a port at Tanaka’s neck seam. Stabilizers and pain management flooded the sim-feed version of the marine’s body.

  STATUS: CRITICAL / UNCONSCIOUS → CRITICAL / UNCONSCIOUS – STABLE – EVAC URGENT

  “Tanaka stabilized,” Kaden said. “Still out cold. He won’t be walking.”

  “Good,” Jax said. “That’s enough. Vos, get a grip on his harness and take him. Mercer, keep the hostage moving. Navarro, hold the lane and don’t overextend.”

  Vos slid in behind the Bulwark, grabbed Tanaka under the shoulders by his harness, and started dragging him backward. The shield scraped and bounced, still acting as a crude barrier between them and most of the incoming fire.

  Kaden resettled the hostage higher over his shoulder and forced his legs to move.

  The last stretch was ugly.

  Navarro’s bursts kept the Opp at the far end from mounting a full push, but rounds still chewed the air. One shot clipped the edge of her shoulder plate; she hissed, adjusted her stance, and kept shooting. Another sparked off the deck by Kaden’s boot.

  Behind him, he could hear Vos’ breath and the harsh grind of the Bulwark’s lower edge as he dragged both shield and marine.

  The extraction hatch appeared ahead of them, outlined faintly in his HUD.

  “Last ten meters,” Jax said. “Stay on your feet.”

  They didn’t run—couldn’t—but they moved as fast as armor and weight allowed. Navarro backed toward the hatch, her fire never quite stopping. Kaden’s lungs burned. Vos’ breath rasped in the squad channel as he hauled Tanaka.

  They crossed the threshold.

  The Opp corridor dissolved. Valiant’s sim deck slammed back into place: familiar steel, grid lines, the control gallery overhead. The pain faded, leaving only fatigue in its wake.

  SIM STATUS: COMPLETE

  RESULT: OBJECTIVE ACHIEVED – HOSTAGE EXTRACTED / FRIENDLY CASUALTIES: HIGH BUT STABLE

  Kaden staggered, then eased the simulated hostage off his shoulders. The marine’s model stayed limp but breathing in his HUD readout. Vos lowered Tanaka as gently as someone could when they’d just dragged him behind a shield.

  Tanaka lay still, eyes closed, sim flag still reading UNCONSCIOUS. A second later, the sim quietly released the status; his eyelids fluttered as Aurora let his awareness come back.

  Kaden popped his helmet seal and pulled it off. His hair stuck to his forehead with sweat.

  Navarro leaned back against the bulkhead, then finally stripped her own helmet, exhaling hard. Vos sank down beside Tanaka, rolling his shoulders. Tanaka blinked at the ceiling, then pushed out a slow breath.

  Jax walked over, her own armor looking almost untouched.

  “All right,” she said. “Let’s talk about that one.”

  She nodded at Vos first.

  “You got us there,” she said. “You piggybacked their systems, marked the turret, turned it on their infantry, and forced their reinforcements to take the long way. That’s good work.”

  Vos exhaled once, a short, tired sound.

  “Still almost wasn’t enough time,” he said.

  “‘Almost’ still counts,” Jax said. “Now you know where the edge is.”

  She turned to Navarro.

  “You stepped in the second Tanaka went down,” Jax said. “You used the shield when it fell and didn’t try to be a hero in the open. Bursts stayed controlled. That’s what I want.”

  Navarro gave a brief nod.

  “Shield made it easier,” she said. “I wasn’t going to complain about extra cover.”

  “Don’t,” Jax said. “Use what you have.”

  She looked down at Tanaka then.

  “You hit the point where the System takes the choice away from you,” she said. “That neck shot would’ve killed anyone. Up to that, you did your job. That’s the line. Don’t try to go past it.”

  Tanaka swallowed once, then nodded.

  “Felt like getting kicked by a shuttle,” he said.

  “That’s how you know the sim’s honest,” Jax said.

  Finally, she faced Kaden.

  “You had a lot on your shoulders, literally,” she said. “You stabilized the hostage, kept them moving, and still found the window to keep Tanaka from sliding into a sim KIA. You didn’t stand in the open to do it, and you didn’t try to fix everything at once.”

  Kaden let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

  “Picking who gets help first feels wrong,” he said quietly.

  “It always will,” Jax said. “But you did it. Hostage first, then Tanaka when I asked. You had your answer ready. That’s what I need from you: clear priorities and no hesitation once you decide.”

  His HUD pinged softly.

  SIM REPORT – PERSONAL: MERCER, K.

  ACCURACY: 41% (REDUCED – LOAD CARRIED)

  REACTION TIME TO FIRST CONTACT: 0.8 SEC

  TIME TO FIRST CASUALTY CALL: 1.9 SEC (IMPROVED)

  FIELD TRIAGE DECISIONS: ABOVE BASELINE

  AP USAGE: EFFECTIVE – NO OVERDRAW

  A second notification slid in underneath, smaller but sharper, like Aurora wanted him to notice it and then forget it.

  SKILL PROGRESSION: COMBAT MEDIC TRACK – CHOICE UNLOCK: 3%

  Kaden frowned at it for half a heartbeat. Choice unlock. Whatever that meant, it was a long way from done, and Jax was still talking. He shoved it into the back of his mind for later.

  Up in the booth, the tech leaned on the rail.

  “Secure-and-extract complete,” he called down. “Hostage alive, all friendlies out, minimal simulated KIA. Not bad for a day’s work.”

  “Not bad,” Jax agreed. “Not finished either.”

  She looked back at Theta-3, taking in the way they sat or sprawled against the bulkhead.

  “Strip helmets,” she said. “Then you hit the mess. You’ve got thirty minutes to put something real in your stomachs and top up fluids.”

  Navarro’s shoulders loosened a fraction in relief. Tanaka let out a low breath that might have been a laugh.

  Jax didn’t let it linger.

  “After that,” she went on, “you report to the gym. Strength and conditioning, full kit. I don’t care that you’re tired. You won’t get to pick your fatigue level when it’s not painted decks and simulated bullets.”

  She let that hang there.

  “If you can move clean when you’re smoked,” she said, “it gives you an edge when the rounds are real. That edge is the difference between doing this again tomorrow and getting your names etched on a bulkhead. I’d rather see you in the gym.”

  She gave a small nod, the closest thing she offered to approval.

  “You’re still rough,” she said. “But for two runs, you did all right. You brought everyone back. That’s the standard. Mess in thirty. Gym after.”

  She turned away, already bringing something up on her HUD as she walked.

  Navarro slid down the bulkhead to sit on the deck, helmet in her lap. Her short hair was plastered to her skull, face damp.

  “That was better,” she said after a moment. “Still awful. But better.”

  Vos stretched his legs out, leaning back on his hands.

  “I’m out of AP,” he said. “If there’d been one more turret in there, we’d have had to walk straight through it.”

  “Then you plan for that next time,” Tanaka said, still on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes. “We won’t always get lucky with their wiring.”

  Kaden sat down next to where the hostage sim model had been; it was already dissolving, scenario shutting down.

  His AP bar sat almost empty.

  He flexed his fingers. They still shook a little, not from Aurora this time but from plain old fatigue.

  He thought about the weight of the marine on his shoulders, the flat line of Tanaka’s status going UNCONSCIOUS and then inching back from the brink, the way Navarro had moved into the gap without looking back, and Vos’ drone feeding them routes through someone else’s ship.

  And that tiny notification: choice unlock 3%.

  Theta-3 still wasn’t smooth. But for a few minutes in that corridor, it had felt like one unit moving together instead of strangers in borrowed armor.