10:25 pm

Deep within the clouds, Jade's heart pounded to a crescendo as she hurtled through the dark sky. Below her, the rugged mountain terrains loomed, brightly lit by a large facility that stood out like a sore thumb. As she descended, Jade's mind raced with thoughts of the mission. Her small team had spent the past two days studying the facility's layout, memorizing entry points and planning their approach. But now, as she hurtled towards the ground, all that training and preparation felt distant and hazy, overshadowed by the adrenaline-fueled excitement of the jump.

'Focus. You've done this a thousand times already.'

Jade's accelerating heart slowed as she recalled Suzuki's encouragement. That's right. She had done this a thousand times already. All she had to do was repeat what she learned. Finally collecting her emotions, Jade looked at the barometer on her wrist and began turning on the Rapid Descent Kit.

As Jade approached the ground, the Rapid Descent Kit slowed her descent. Eventually, she landed softly just outside the facility's perimeter and quickly looked around for signs of danger. Fortunately, none of the enemy's forces appeared in the vicinity, allowing the other three to land beside her without incident.

Jade switched on her Gladiator, removed the RDK unit and covered it with foliage to reduce the chances of detection. "Activating cloaked network." She waited a moment for the AI to give the all-clear and then sent a message to her teammates. "Network active. No one can tap in if you're thirty meters from me."

"Good work." Akiyo, in her dark green Berserker, stepped forward. She crouched and observed the facility seated at a slightly lower elevation. A large mast stood a few meters ahead of a small white building. Enemy Gladiators, which intel revealed they called 'Shivs,' stalked the few helipads and dirt roads leading up to the relay station. "Everything seems to match with the intel."

After confirming the base's layout, Akiyo turned to the others. "We have two missions. First and foremost, we must upload the daemon to the network to prevent the remote pilots from alerting the space station. Next, we must remove the mast to disable the aliens' long-range communications." She looked at Jade. "Jade, you and Kai will infiltrate the compound and upload the daemon. Kairi and I will take care of the mast once the daemon is active. Any questions?" No one indicated, so she said, "Move out, and good luck."

Following her command, four Gladiators blended into the dense foliage and approached their objectives.

****

10:32 pm

Elsewhere, Usman, in a dark-gold Berserker configuration, removed his RDK unit as he swam underwater. The water was murky, but Usman and the other trainees pushed on, their Gladiators allowing them to breathe and see underwater. The group swam in unison, their movements coordinated and precise.

The saboteurs reached the dam's base from both ends. They attached the charges to strategic points, ensuring they securely fastened the explosives. After securing the explosives, they quickly retreated and surfaced a couple hundred meters from the dam.

Usman walked out of the river and looked at his teammates gathered a few meters away from the bank. Being the odd one out of a team made of a single squad felt strange. Still, his underwater training proved invaluable in the past two days. His expertise helped them choose the correct explosives and plan the optimal entry and exit routes.

Usman shook his head and looked to the north. "Now, we wait."

****

10:35 pm

Further east, in the skies above the alien headquarters, Suzuki and Natsu attached themselves to the orbital elevator and surveyed the busy base below. Fortunately, the layout matched the intel. However, the number of guards was much larger than in their simulations. Still, while challenging, it was nothing Suzuki and Natsu could not handle.

Gugugu! The orbital elevator suddenly trembled, sending reverberations through their bodies. Suzuki turned to Natsu, who had set up a private network. "Feel that? I think the elevator just descended."

Natsu nodded, her eyes fixed on the ground where several aliens approached the base. "Seems like it. They're gathering with some equipment. I think they're going to transfer them to the space station."

Suzuki's eyes narrowed. "This is off-mission, but can you send one drone into the elevator?"

"That's too risky." Natsu hesitated. "If it gets caught, we'll ruin the plan. What are you thinking?"

"I have an idea. If it works, everyone will get massive points, especially you."

Natsu turned to look at Suzuki. Unfortunately, his visor rendered his expression unreadable. "Don't try to tempt me. Tell me your plan, and I'll consider it."

Suzuki glanced at the ground to see that the aliens had started moving equipment out of the elevator. Presumably, they would load the elevator once they finished before it took off. Knowing he did not have time, he quickly revealed his plan.

Natsu's eyes were as wide as saucers when Suzuki finished his summary. "You.... You're crazy!"

"Maybe. Look, we don't have much time. Are you in?"

Natsu only wasted a breath before replying, "I'm in." She summoned her bee drones and activated them. The drones whirred to life and then buzzed towards the compound, with one in particular headed to the elevator below. The secret bee drone silently flew past the alien guards into the elevator and took a position at a high corner.

Suzuki studied the video feed shared by Natsu. The base's security did not appear to be tight. The guards neither scanned nor looked through the boxes sent into the elevator. Then again, it made sense. Only the aliens used the elevator. Without any external threats to worry about, their security had gotten lax.

Suzuki intended to take full advantage of this lapse in judgment.

"I'll lose the feed once it rises past seventy meters," said Natsu, drawing Suzuki's attention. "It'll continue recording, but we won't know what happens when it gets to the apex until when or if it returns. It shouldn't be discovered with its capabilities, but it's still a risk. Are you sure you want to go through with it?"

Suzuki nodded. "I'm sure."

"Alright." Having confirmed Suzuki's resolve, Natsu threw the matter to the back of her mind and focused on the other feeds. "Help me plot the route. We don't have much time until Mission Go."

"On it."

***

10:35 pm

Jade and Kai moved stealthily through the bushy trees surrounding the mountain base, their hearts pounding in their chests. They knew any wrong move could spell the end of the mission. With every step, they carefully scanned their surroundings, keeping a watchful eye out for potential threats, of which there were many.

The sounds of approaching footsteps forced them to stop. Jade quickly clambered up a tree, followed closely by Kai. The duo watched with bated breath as two patrolling Shivs walked below them, speaking a strange language that sounded like a series of clicks.

Even though she did not need to, Jade held her breath, the tension palpable as they waited for the all-clear. Fortunately, the guards soon moved out of sight, and the trainees resumed their mission, moving quickly towards the relay station. They knew they had to act fast to avoid detection and meet the time limit, but every step felt like an eternity. Every rustle of the grass, every crunch of the earth sounded like the symbals of the heavens.

Fortunately, through a mixture of their camo modules and careful manoeuvring, Jade and Kai made it to the building without detection. Jade led the way to the back, where security was slightly less. Perhaps because there were no aliens in the flesh, the base lacked any windows, which would have been their preferred entry point.

Jade, however, was prepared. First, she controlled a small drone to fly to an external camera hanging over the back door. "Accessing Security Protocols." Jade's Level 5 Hacking kit came into play as the drone began hacking the security system, using the camera as an entry point. "These fucking idiots are too cocky!" Jade spat while inspecting the security protocols. Initially, she wanted to gain control of the cameras to swap out the feeds. Shockingly, she found the camera systems linked to many other security systems, including the base comms and personnel files. Did they think humans were too primitive to hack their systems, so they did not bother breaking them up?

"Then again, I doubt I could have completed this hack without the kit." Jade swapped out the feed as intended and then looked at the two guards standing by the door. She identified their callsigns on the roster and sent them messages. Thankfully, the hacking kit placed and then downloaded the alien's language, making the transmission possible.

'Krrukkt.' The Shivs at the entrance looked at each other, exchanged a few words and then walked towards the north.

"What did you do?" Kai, skulking next to Jade, stared at the guards in disbelief.

"Told them they're needed at the gare to help search for possible trespassers."

"Is that alright?"

"Only way they'll vacate their spots. Alright. Let's go. You're in charge of the building."

Kai grinned as they walked to the backdoor. "Leave this part to me."

Kai opened the door to meet a dimly lit hallway. The mainframe they needed to hack sat on the top floor, but they would have to get past a group of heavily armed guards. In this tiny space, stealth was no longer an option. They needed to quickly move through the building and upload the daemon without allowing the enemies to alert the rest.

She raised her electro-disruptor pistol, a sleek silver weapon that emitted a low hum and fired at the first Shiv she spotted. The Shiv convulsed as the electrical charge jolted through its body, dropping its gun and falling to the ground. Kai was not afraid that the pilot would awaken in the space station.

Once the Shiv fell, Jade dashed over and placed her hand on the suit. The suit could not block her hack, with most of its systems fried. She promptly disabled the logout function, temporarily locking the pilot's consciousness in the machine.

'60 seconds until system reboot.' Jade forwarded the AI's prompt to Kai. They only had sixty seconds until the Shiv rebooted. Once it did, the pilot would definitely log out and warn the rest. They had to hurry!

Kai nodded. Gun raised, she dashed down the corridor and up a flight of stairs to meet a door. She slowly pushed the door open, peering inside to assess the situation. Five Shivs sat in a round workstation, typing unknown commands. Hundreds of mainframe computers arranged in concentric circles surrounded the Shivs, their low hum the sole sound in the vicinity.

Knowing they had little time left, Kai activated her cloak and sneaked into the room. Hidden from view, she skulked to the centre of the five Shivs and pulled out a second pistol. Bzzt! Before the guards knew what was happening, Kai took advantage of their obliviousness to quickly fire at them. From close range, there was no chance of missing. The guards convulsed and fell to the ground one by one, followed soon by Jade's Imprisoning Touch.

'30 Seconds until reboot.'

Only thirty seconds remained by the time Jade disabled the final Shiv. Without wasting any more time, she interfaced with the mainframe. Jade had the daemon ready to go, but first, she needed to connect with the space station. The relay tower was directly related to the station, but she had to clear a few firewalls and mask several signals to allow the daemon free reign. They only had one chance at this. If she failed, the security protocols would notice her intrusion and warn the aliens.

No pressure.

As the seconds ticked past, the room was silent except for the hum of the computers and Jade's intense breath as she assisted the hacking tool in tearing down the security protocols speedily but stealthily. Finally, just when they had five seconds left, Jade's HUD flashed green. She promptly took out a black flash drive. This tiny drive contained the Terrabytes of code that made up the daemon. It was a piece of black tech that Jade had failed to decipher even after numerous tries, made even more annoying by the fact it cost the trainees a combined 300 million yen. All she could do was plug it in and hope for the best.

It had to work!

Inconveniently, Jade could not know if it worked, so she could only give the signal. She quickly contacted her team leader. "We're done. You have two sec—"

BOOM!

Jade stumbled as a terrible explosion rocked the earth sending intense reverberations through the building. She did not need to guess to know what caused it. Akiyo had blown up the mast! As of this moment, the Shivs lost their long-range communication.

Ten seconds after Jade uploaded the daemon, a Shiv barged into the room with its gun raised. It angrily roared something, but Jade did not bother to look at it. A red-hot sword pierced its chest from behind and cut upward, slicing the Shiv in twain.

"Finish the rest," said Jade as she walked over to interface with the empty machine. Kai grinned as she approached the paralyzed Shivs with her sword. Jade, meanwhile, checked the logs, gratified to see a logout followed by a log-in less than two seconds later. That was not enough time to report anything to the relevant authorities. It was more likely the pilot logged out but found it could not return to its body in the space station and thus logged back in.

That was enough to prove the daemon had worked. But there was something that made her frown. Jade returned to the mainframe and checked the daemon, the results bringing a scowl to her face.

Kai noticed her hesitation. "What's wrong? Thought you said it's working."

"It is," confirmed Jade. "But there's an issue. We miscalculated. The daemon's perpetual. The aliens will regain their ability to log out if someone removes it."

'Change of plans,' Akiyo called after receiving Jade's report. 'We'll clear this base and defend it until the mission ends. Kai, guard the daemon. Jade, send the signal, then help us secure the perimeter. We could use extra eyes."

"Roger." Jade nodded, understanding Akiyo's decision. Compared to a Stalker, a Sentinel was a poor choice for close combat. Kai's Stalker stood a far better chance of combating enemies than her Sentinel. On the contrary, she would be indispensable in monitoring the surroundings with her drones.

Before she left, Jade held out her fist to Kai. "Thanks for the assist."

Kai's visor briefly folded to the side, revealing his pale lips and skin. The young man's lips slightly curled upward as he raised his fist and bumped Jade's. "Good luck out there. Give them hell."

Jade raised her Gauss Pistols. "Oh. I plan on it. You won't see a single Shiv to kill."

"That's the way it should be."

With those words, Jade nodded and quickly exited the building even as she sent out the signal that mobilized Armageddon on the mountain range.

***

10:45 pm

Western Dam.

'Go!'

Usman's eyes narrowed at the single-word transmission on his HUD. Short, precise, to the point. It was time to get the party started. He and the others in the demolition team activated their detonators without hesitation. A massive explosion rocked the dam, sending debris and water high into the air. They watched in awe as the gigantic dam began to crumble, the water surging forward in a massive torrent.

The ground shook beneath their feet as the water rushed downstream, destroying everything in its path. The demolition team could hear the sound of trees snapping and buildings collapsing as the water surged forward. Countless Shivs cried out as the raging torrent swallowed or crushed them beneath its weight.

From a safe distance, Usman looked in horror at the destruction left in the river's wake. It was a scene of utter devastation. The once peaceful valley turned into a raging water dragon, destroying everything in its path. Even worse, that dragon was nowhere near satisfied. It seemed to surge in power as it rushed east, promising certain doom to anything in its path.

"Good luck, Suzuki." Usman looked towards the east, where a massive structure pierced the heaven. "I hope everything keeps going smoothly."