Moon Designation: D2404

  Moon Class: Delta

  Environment: Rocky Plateau

  Atmosphere: Mildly Toxic

  Before he could locate the source of that voice, a waypoint popped up on Daniel’s HUD, alongside another line of blue text: ”Report to your captain and reinforce an existing company.”

  Daniel’s squad did as ordered, moving through the throngs of soldiers toward a group on the far side of the hangar. Of course, Emily didn’t receive the same orders, but she followed Daniel and the others. When he caught her eye and raised a questioning eyebrow, she just gave a small smile and a shrug. She wasn’t technically required to participate in the battle. In theory, Emily could have remained on the ship. The ship’s captain wouldn’t have allowed her to run around unsupervised, but she could have stayed in the brig. Instead, she was coming to fight with Daniel and his squad, apparently of her own volition. Her shrug seemed to say: “Not like I have anything better to do, do I?”

  Daniel was grateful to have the backup.

  He was not grateful to catch sight of another face. Harold Goldstein’s brown eyes looked away from Daniel as the two men locked eyes, the smaller man’s round face pinched in trepidation. Daniel realized with some annoyance that Goldstein would be assigned to his company, since they were technically in the same group. He was a potential liability that Daniel would have to find a way to deal with.

  As they approached their new group, Daniel examined his assigned company. The Pioneers were disheveled, their uniforms and faces covered in dust and grime. Many wore bandages on their arms and chests, indicating strained stimulant supplies. It wasn’t unusual for Pioneers to tolerate superficial wounds even while they possessed the means to heal them, out of a desire to ration their medical supplies. Despite their ragged look, Daniel noted that each of the soldiers wore a hard look, their eyes narrowed with severity as they sized up this group of newcomers. They didn’t look like a force that had given up. Rather, they looked like hardened veterans trying to see if the new fish would be useful in the ongoing campaign. What exhaustion the veteran Pioneers possessed was covered up and held at bay.

  The arriving squads, including Daniel’s, lined up in front of these men as the waypoints instructed them to. Standing up straight, Daniel tried to look imposing and reliable as he waited to be addressed, and he didn’t have to wait long. One veteran stepped out in front of the others to inspect the arriving soldiers, and Daniel looked over him with interest. He was short and well built, arms obviously hirsute and burly as he crossed them over his chest. The man’s figure reminded Daniel of Jordan, but that was where the similarities to his old friend ended. The veteran was brown skinned and dark-haired, the long midnight locks coming down in dreadlocks behind his stocky figure. That alone told Daniel a lot. Military regulations prohibited that sort of hairstyle, but those regulations were relaxed for people of high status or power.

  Beyond that, however, the man didn’t look like a wealthy scion. His face was that of a longtime boxer, with a thoroughly broken nose and squashed features. His square jaw and thick neck muscles gave off the aura of a guy about to punch your lights out. As if all of that wasn’t menacing enough, one of his eyes was a glowing orange, while the other was a deep black. The heterochromia was unnerving to look at, especially because the skin surrounding the prosthetic eye was scarred like it’d been badly burned. The veteran’s gaze flickered assertively from face to face as he stood there with a stoic expression. A feral grin soon broke that expression, his orange eye glowing even brighter as he suddenly took on a manic look and belted out: “Well, now, I may be able to use you fools! You may be behind the 8-ball on your Enhancement, but those eyes have some fight! I can work with that.”

  He unclasped his arms before continuing: “At ease, Pioneers. My name is Arthur Moravan. I’m your captain now. Welcome to the finest company in the 208th Pioneer Division!”

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  That final sentence prompted a few cheers and claps from the veterans behind him, though Daniel felt a bit of dark humor there. There couldn’t be more than 120 of them, and a casualty rate of 40% was far from outstanding. If this was what the best Company looked like, what was the worst one? As if sensing their misgivings, Moravan continued to elaborate: “Don’t be scared off by our low numbers or battered condition. We haven’t been at full strength for a while now. Strained Imperial resources, other priorities, blah blah, you know the drill. Endless excuses. But with you gents on board, we can start to turn things around.”

  He pointed to three other figures in the crowd behind him, saying, “Those right there are your Lieutenants. First Lieutenant Alron and Second Lieutenants Jameson and Arrivo. Talk to them if you need something.”

  The three men either waved or gave a solemn nod in response, and Moravan wrapped things up: “With that said, let’s move out! That mining equipment won’t defend itself.”

  Their groups joined together, and they worked to get their Codices connected so that they could more easily communicate. After that, they began walking toward a large set of double doors connected to the side of the hangar. At the same time, several others did the same as the veteran companies received their sorely desired reinforcements. The Pioneers filed into a broad, dimly lit hallway, boots clanking across a shoddily constructed metal floor. The ground sloped downward, and they didn’t have to wait long before the hallway transitioned to an underground cavern.

  That transition left the electric lighting behind, and the Pioneers walked in darkness before they suddenly spied a soothing, sky-blue glow. It wasn’t the light from their Codices, but rather the light of several crystals that were sticking out from the walls and ceiling up ahead. As they passed by, several of the soldiers reached out in awe to touch the glowing rocks, only to yelp out in surprise. Curious, Daniel opened his Codex’s notifications log, which read, “Ampshards: Luminous crystals that draw upon Psionic particles in the earth to generate electricity. Useful in power generation, but tricky to store and transport. Not a sustainable source of power individually, but effective in certain circumstances. Can grow up to Gamma class.”

  One of the Second Lieutenants, a narrow-faced white man named Jameson, launched into an explanation unprompted, “Careful with those shards. They can’t do much at this level besides give you a little zap, but they’ll get much stronger as we go deeper. They’re pretty useful for powering the bases, though.”

  The pathway began to branch out into many smaller routes, and the larger Pioneer group did the same. Each company broke off from the others and moved toward its assigned location. It wasn’t long before Daniel’s company was on its own, and that’s when he saw something that chilled him to the bone. Up ahead, he caught a glimpse of Harold Goldstein talking in extremely hushed tones with First Lieutenant Alron. His voice was masked by the natural sounds of the other soldiers, but when Daniel focused, his enhanced hearing was enough to pick up what his ‘squad mate’ was saying: “…killed the Lieutenant! He’s a danger to the group.”

  Daniel fought the urge to sigh, glaring daggers at Goldstein instead. This guy was seriously trying to disrupt the mission with this? When Goldstein finished his diatribe, Alron looked up and turned his gaze on Daniel. The Lieutenant’s flaming orange eyes glittered with shrewdness over a hawklike nose, his face narrow and thoughtful. Unlike most of the other veterans, the lieutenant was unblemished and sophisticated looking, appearing like a successful young businessman sizing up a new subordinate. He visibly dashed off a message with his Codex, then responded to Goldstein, “The captain has been informed.”

  Sure enough, Daniel soon saw the company’s captain moving toward him, the CO’s orange eye blazing as he studied the younger man with an unreadable expression. When he got close, the captain stopped and gestured toward a side passage, saying, “Come with me.”

  Daniel felt his stomach tie into knots as he followed his CO through a dark cavern, the light so low that it wasn’t easy to see even with his enhanced sight. The rest of the company kept moving toward the objective, but the captain seemed unworried about getting lost as he continued onward in total silence.

  The duo eventually came to a small underground room, and Daniel’s nerves were officially on high alert. His muscles were tense and ready for action, and he surreptitiously typed, “Nuntius, if you see him make a move against me, or detect that he’s about to attack, activate the Makiel Protocol.”

  Nuntius pinged him back, ”Understood.”

  Now Daniel felt better, but he remained guarded as he watched his captain stop and turn around to study him. The man’s face was completely stony as he commented, “We shouldn’t be interrupted here. Explain yourself.”

  Daniel did so thoroughly and honestly, starting from the beginning. He considered emphasizing how irresponsible and destructive his former commander had been but thought better of it. Captain Moravan seemed like a man who wouldn’t appreciate spin. Instead, Daniel related the events as dryly and factually as possible, hoping the truth would be a decent shield. Daniel also mentioned the Archangel System and its Protocols, briefly explaining their capabilities and history. The captain didn’t react or show emotion throughout the whole ordeal. He allowed a pregnant pause to linger after Daniel finally finished, studying the young Pioneer for a while. Finally, he opened his mouth and commanded, “Turn off your Codex’s camera. Authorization 559 Golf Echo Mike 74”