The Severed Lands, Sector 13

3025 A.E., March 4th, 0:28 a.m.

The moon was a full one that night, shining determinedly through the thick canopy of trees overhead.

Elliot shifted her position yet again, shuffling ever so slightly to the left to get a better view of the shadowy building. Just recently, her squad had been assigned to dispatch rebels who were thought to use the building as a meeting place. Initially, they had all been excited to receive such an important task— until they realized it was located in the Severed Lands. The untamed, largely unmapped, and generally untouched area of the universe that the Conseians stayed away from. There was a reason for that, too. Rumors of beasts and monsters prowling the undergrowth at night had turned into nursery rhymes meant to teach children to stick with adults and not wander off at night.

Even now, Elliot could recall the haunting melodies.

Step by step, the Hollow Man creeps,

Counting your breaths as you sleep.

Somewhere off in the distance, a twig snapped. Elliot winced and shuffled around a bit more, redirecting her focus to the building entrance again. Her earpiece beeped.

“You alright there, Elliot? You’re shuffling around an awful lot.” Andana’s voice sounded concerned. Although she was always concerned. At some times, it was wordy about Riad’s sleeping habits, at others, about Adell’s increasing fascination with Earth’s history—which was actually quite amusing. From what Elliot could make from Adell’s occasional rants, it was war here, war there, wars for everyone. With all the wars they were having, it was obvious that extinction was imminent, and yet, despite knowing about their own violent tendencies, the earthlings still wanted to fight. Elliot was glad the people who had been chosen to make the expedition to Conesian were peaceful and set strict regulations straightaway.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Elliot’s just scared of the dark.” Despite the jab, Elliot smiled at the familiar voice.

“Shut it, Mia.” Mia laughed her weird, raspy laugh; one of the side effects of having genetically modified appendages, she’d explained. Mia was from an experimental facility all the way over in Aezanium, Sector 6, but thankfully, the government had the good sense to shut them down a few years ago. Cyborgs were often looked down on, considered “less” than natural people, but when it came to an extremely powerful one? The higher-ups made an expectation against their own prejudices and let Mia claw her way to the role of captain of Squad V4.

“Watch your tongue, Elli.”

“Sorry, Captain.” They both knew she didn’t mean it. Their past friendships considered, apologies and welcomes and thanks were mostly sarcastic.

Elliot peered forward into the darkness again, trying her best to catch a glimpse of Mia’s silver-tipped tail through the bushes. Sure enough, across the clearing, titanium sparkled slightly in the moonlight.

“Mia, your tail’s twitching again,” a singsong voice whispered into the earpiece. Adell had beaten her to it. Over the months, it had become a tradition for them to point out whenever Mia’s tail moved, either consciously or unconsciously. Andana did it out of worry because she was worried Mia’s spine might get sore, Adell did it because she knew it pissed Mia off, and Riad just did whatever her older sister, Adell, did. Elliot…well, she was the first one to point it out, and she would be the last.

Mia grumbled something under her breath, but sure enough, the silver stopped gleaming.

Elliot grinned.

“Movement at the front door.” Riad’s sharp voice snapped them back to their present.

Elliot’s hand hovered around the handle of her Glock, her eyes focusing on the entrance of the building. Unfortunately, with only probable suspicion of foul play, they were only allowed to carry a handgun and a blade of some sort.

Sure, while violence was looked down upon, but it wasn’t unnecessary.

The door swung open. Elliot’s hand snatched the gun from her belt, her finger positioned over the trigger as she cocked the gun to where the rebels would emerge. Her breath steadied in the frozen air, her head beat slowing, as she anticipated the moment when the…

She paused. The door was open, but no one was coming out. She lowered the gun, eyes narrowing. She clicked on her earpiece.

“It’s not just me, right?”

“No one’s there.” Andana sounded hopelessly confused, and Elliot couldn’t blame her. Their first actual mission, and it was a dupe.

Suddenly, there was a piercing sound that shattered the night. At first, Elliot couldn’t tell what it was. But then she recognized it was a scream. Riad’s scream.

She scrambled to her feet, thawing her frozen limbs as she sprinted through the undergrowth to Riad’s position. Ahead, she could hear grunts and shuffling footsteps.

“Hold on, Riad! I’m coming!” she shouted. A branch latched onto her arm, opening a cut. Crimson dripped down her arm. She hissed at the sharp sting, but there was no time to check on it as she exploded into the clearing.

Two dark-cloaked figures were trying to pin Riad down, but she was giving them a catfight. Elliot’s eyes latched onto one of the figures, and without thinking, she raised her gun again and shot them in the knee. They stumbled to the ground, blood leaking. The other figure paused for just a second, but it was enough for Riad to slam the side of her dagger into their head, effectively knocking them out.

“Thanks, Elliot.” Riad bent over, hands on her knees, gasping for air. “Do you have any idea what just happened?”

Elliot stalked over, looking down upon the figure who was currently clutching their injured knee in pain. Her eyes were shadowy when she looked back up at Raid.

“We’ve just been played.”