"We are in place and ready, wolf hag. Mines are defused." Lucendra said quietly over the communicator.

"Right on time. Good job," The wolf hag sounded as if saying these words physically hurt her, "I already told you, report to the scout. She is the one in charge of tonight’s mission." Kayleen angrily snapped back at the warrior.

A group of sixteen wolfkins was currently busy sneaking into the camp of raiders. Border patrols were usually in charge of apprehending criminal elements sneaking into the Wastes from the Ravaged Lands. Using the military against mere smugglers or small bands of raiders was like using a bomb against an insectoid drone, it will work, but at the same time, this was a waste of resources.

Sadly, due to the war in the lands of Oathtakers, the resources of the state became strained. A convoy of humanitarian aid that was sent by Iterna, through the lands of Reclaimers, was found to be destroyed near the refugee center Gamma, with precious food and medicine destroyed. The raiders were still not found. Having to deal with a stream of refugees put a toll on the border patrols, allowing smuggling operations to resume in full. Recently, border patrol captured a large group of criminals, who were busy transporting captured children back to the Ravaged Lands. The leaders of the group cracked during the investigation and admitted that they were planning to sell kids to illegal pleasure houses in the city state of Pearl.

This enraged Wyrm Lord, Scorpio, and Ivar. Lesser wyrms were enraged that border security had become so frail, making the state look bad. Wyrm Lord was enraged by the heinous level of such crime, the Wastes banned slavery over a century ago, during the reclamation of the land by the Dynast. Ivar immediately involved military units to bolster the ranks of border patrols, while Scorpio called in the ruling government of Pearl, unleashing the police upon illegal establishments. Right after this, the black wyrm put a hit list on the leaders of smugglers, allowing criminals to devour themselves for the sake of bounty. With the ones who were buying slaves in hiding, Scorpio saw little reason to risk the lives of soldiers to solve this problem. With the permission of the Dynast and Wyrm Lord, Scorpio invited agents of Iterna to help track raiders involved in an attack on the convoy.

Meanwhile, Ivar wanted a demonstration. Hideouts of smugglers across the border burned as Alpha unleashed her pack. Only a few of the groups that were crushed by packs of wolfkins were involved in human trafficking, most of the criminals were busy selling moonshine and drugs. Naturally, after taking samples and video evidence for the court, everything else was burned away on the spot. Caught criminals will face several years in prison, but aside from that, their lives were safe. Only the fools who tried to resist the law lost their lives, Ivar's goal was not unrestricted cruelty, but a demonstration of power and the futility of smugglers' efforts. Even human traffickers were taken alive, Annie saw Virginia during the evening news, the wolf hag rescued five slaves and put down a raider group made of thirty fighters. The usually bold wolfkin looked miserable, as she tried to answer questions from journalists, clearly hating every second of being in the spotlight and always looking to Alpha for answers. Smugglers involved in this operation will most likely be given life sentences and will be sent to work at some remote mines.

All these events led to today’s night. Right after they dared to assault one of the trader convoys near refugee center Gamma, agent Angoro called for help from Dragena to find and neutralize a group of raiders. The trade convoy was made up of eighteen trucks and one large sand cruiser, an all-terrain vehicle that reached nearly eighty meters in length. At noon, two APM hit the side of the sand cruiser, with an interval of fifteen seconds. After the first explosion, the rest of the convoy immediately ran, following the orders of the caravan master. The first explosion exposed the generator, the second missile set the generator aflame, flooding all decks with smoke. Fire protection systems ended up being disabled when the generator finally exploded, leaving most of the sand cruiser in the dark. Part of the crew died at once. Part died slowly as a result of being locked in various compartments and unable to open doors when fire reached them. Some desperately tried to put off the fire, following the instructions of a mechanical voice, but the damage was simply too great for them to handle. This is when raiders hit, stealing whatever they can and retreating, leaving people choked to death within the coffin of steel. Annie and her pack arrived shortly after, tearing out door after door between compartments and saving whoever they could, while lieutenant Angoro was busy locating retreating enemy forces. Thankfully, Pack A saved almost everyone they could, nearly five hundred people. Dead people numbered in the dozens, and their charred remains called for swift retribution.

Tracking down foes was easy enough, like a group of madmen, they retreated to the border of Oathtakers, not bothering to cover their tracks well. According to survivors of the convoy, the group of raiders was made up of at least ten armed people, and they took eight hostages with them. Dragena approved Kayleen's decision to keep Annie in charge and the decision that this would be a good time to test green recruits in actual combat. Kayleen took two scouts with her, along with veteran soldiers and Annie with her Branded pack, the once weak and frail cubs were no more, now their bodies were up to the standards of the Wolf Tribe. The results were so good that Kayleen was thinking about changing the nickname of the Annie’s pack to something other than Branded. Lucendra might have been the weakest warrior in Dragena’s pack, but she earned her position by right now, although Kayleen often complained to Annie that Lucendra spent too much time tinkering with mechanical equipment instead of physical training.

Ever since the day that Annie managed to win against the wolf hag, Kayleen has stopped daily beatings, creating a sort of confusion in her pack. The wolf hag clearly felt uneasy, having been limited to normal punishments and words, but she, like all members of the Wolf Tribe, quickly adapted to her new circumstances. The weakest members of the pack were getting additional training courses, once Kayleen had free time. The wolf hag could no longer lay claw or paw on her subordinates, so she tired them all out with drill exercises until they were half-dead. Annie herself, too, was subjected to grueling training, Kayleen worked with the scout for hours, showing her how to transition from one hit to the next. Carty, finally released from the hospital, was teaching Annie how to make precision hits and evade or deflect attacks. Kayleen, instead, was showing Annie how to tough through damage, linking her individual strikes into a flurry of blows, ensuring that when one attack fell, you could always follow up with another.

And on this night, The wolf hag declared that Annie would remain in command of the mission. Annie was now responsible for inspecting the combatants' equipment prior to the mission, making decisions about weapons and gear, deciding how to approach the enemy location, and deciding how the wolfkins would reach the target area. The wolf hag was always nearby, when Annie made a mistake and forgot to include the drone, it was Kayleen who reminded her about it, but primary the scout was the one in charge of tonight’s operation. Kayleen also gave Annie codes to call back up in case of an emergency. At least one wolfkin pack was busy monitoring the area, ready to arrive and help allied forces via high-speed plane. The Alpha team, the pack in which Virginia served, was in charge of the area where Annie and her allies were. And the scout would rather die than call for help from her rival.

Drones of Angoro tracked enemy forces to a small location surrounded by stone cliffs on all four sides. Annie requested two armored personnel vehicles for this operation, one was meant to bring wolfkins in and out of the area, the other carried a small squad of border patrol members along with a medic team. Prisoners were supposed to be loaded onto the first armored vehicle, while hostages would be escorted out on the second vehicle. To the surprise of the scout, Hans ended up as a driver for a second vehicle, the mishappen person just shrugged his shoulders at the question, saying that as long as payment is good, he is fine with driving even into a warzone. Pack K, pack under the command of Kayleen, was made of Branded. Pack C was Carty's pack, and Pack U was Ultis' pack, a quiet and competent scout who was rarely involved in domination fights and was perfectly content with her current rank. Annie tried to get to know Ultis better, but aside from helping with combat training, Ultis was unwilling to spill any more beans about either her past or hobbies.

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Upon arrival at the destination, Hans unleashed a stealth drone of wolfkins, following orders from Annie. The small machine flew up in the skies, stopping over the enemy camp. Inside each helmet of a wolfkin was a micro display, which transmitted all the information coming from numerous armor sensors directly to the retina. The data stream from the drone was delivered directly to Annie via her armor. The raiders kept eight hostages in a cage, mercifully allowing people to keep their clothes against the heat of the day. Mines surrounded the enemy camp, yet the discipline of the foes was lacking. Out of fifty visible foes, only fifteen carried weapons, simple shotguns and rifles, and armor. The rest were hired hands, people who maintained vehicles and ensured that stolen goods were not lost. Aside from that, several workers were busy burying large metal crates filled with something into the ground, most likely filled with drugs. Once raiders leave this place, they will most likely send a signal to criminals from locals who will dig out the crate and sell drugs in nearby cities. Annie threw these thoughts out of her head, such things were not important. The lieutenant and his people will take care of the crate.

Dirty looking tents were filling the surface of the natural clearing, several people were cooking food on bonfires, uncaring about the chance that smoke would give out their location. Surprisingly, bandits used large trucks for transportation, instead of more mobile all-terrain light vehicles like the ones most other bandit groups used. Annie understood the answer to this soon enough. Several large missile launchers were installed on the back of the trucks. These were not ugly and old missile launchers, instead these weapons were almost pristine in their condition, giving sharp dissonance when compared to old and ugly trucks that served as chassis to carry proud means of destructions.

Now where did you get such shiny things? Or from whom? Annie wondered, sending the image to Angoro and asking him to check this information. If someone discovers a long-lost stash or bunker from the Old World and now sells weapons of destruction instead of surrendering them to authorities, he or she will be apprehended and prosecuted.

Following orders of Annie, the packs spread out around the area. Carty and her pack took the north approach, Kayleen took the west, while Annie and her pack were busy at the south and east. Mines were removed and all were ready for the attack.

"For the record, I still think that we should have started with lethal force. No need to risk your lives over something so… mundane." Lieutenant Angoro said over communication. He was along with soldiers of the border patrol, attending the mission in person this time. Soldiers of the border patrol took positions behind the wolfkins, guarding medics. They were not supposed to join the fight.

"Agreed." Kayleen and Carty say in unison, giving signals to Annie, showing that their packs are ready to start the mission. Ultis merely sent her own signal, stating that her pack was ready, and she was not against a bit of training.

"You said it yourself, lieutenant. This mission is mundane. We are here to save hostages and to hone our skills," Annie responded, sending a command to begin the operation, "So let us save everyone and put our skills to the test, everyone."

Despite all the recent developments, the power armor of the Wolf Tribe was still a bulky thing. It made the wolfkins stand head and shoulders taller than their usual height. And yet, the newest models of power armor have really great noise suppressors installed. At the cost of increasing energy consumption, for a short while, wolfkin could move in utter silence, as devices installed in the armor consume all internal sounds, such as sounds of servo motors, shifting of exoskeleton, and movements of artificial muscles. The only sound that armor could give was the sound of friction of metal against stones and stones, and all wolfkins were trained to avoid it. Whatever little noise they were making on the move, ended up being deafened by the drunken singing of the enemies.

First crawling, then moving on all fours, the wolfkins approached the outskirts of the raider’s camp. Carty and Ultis shot a sedative from sniper rifles, poisoning the pots with stew over bonfires. The wolfkins waited for a moment in the shadows of the tents, the crimson light of the helmets turned off. As one of the raiders came across the usual patrol route, Lucendra appeared behind the man, knocking him out and putting one paw over his mouth. Even outside of armor, wolfkins could easily reduce the bones of a normie to dust with a single punch. Taking foes alive while in armor, required precision and control.

Annie waited until one of the camp's guards came close to a tent, the one scout was hiding behind. Grabbing the unsuspected man by his feet, the scout jerked the foe back, slamming the head of the bandit onto the ground and dragging the man into darkness. It took Annie a few moments to strangle the bandit into unconsciousness, but as she glanced at the camp once more and moved to secure the weapon of the foe from the circle of light, she confirmed with her own eyes that no one in camp noticed or heard anything.

Through sensors in her armor, Annie saw how Kayleen and her team knocked out workers who were busy digging the crate. Their unconscious bodies were dragged back into darkness. Through the lenses on Carty’s helmet, Annie saw how several people who had tasted the stew lazily lay on the ground, as the sedatives slowly took effect on them. Other thugs laughed with drunken voices and kicked sleeping comrades.

One by one, the wolfkins were busy taking down their foes. To the eyes of an outsider, their movements might look slow. Yet in just under two minutes, the wolfkins were close to the center of the camp, where cages with prisoners were. People were dragged behind tents and knocked out. Annie and others charged into tents themselves, knocking the lights out of still-asleep men and tying them up. Lucendra dragged a trio of partying thugs from the rocks into the newly cleared tent, and the young warrior and other male Branded knocked out three targets before any of the drunks could even scream.

Annie knocked up one of the workers and came close to the cell with hostages. Only one guard was near the large metal cage that stood by the side of a single clean tent in the area. A woman in a camouflage cloak, a long rifle in her hands. She was one of the few people in camp wearing something resembling power armor. Annie released her claws, thinking about quickly killing the foe. Then she retracted her claws, according to information that her armor projected onto the retina. So far, packs have been capturing enemies alive. It would be a shame to break such a good score first.

Like an arrow shot from a bow, Annie leaped forward, almost soundlessly landing behind the woman. She grabbed the foe by the shoulder with her left paw and tore the weapon away with her right paw, before the woman could react. After slamming the confused bandit into the ground, Annie made a crack in the helmet of the enemy with a single hit of her knuckle of her middle finger. The ring and index fingers slid under the crack, widening the gap just enough for Annie to see the scared face of the woman. She tried to scream, but the paw of the wolfkin had already slid into the crack fully, shutting the woman's mouth shut. The second paw of Annie closed around the neck of the bandit, tearing through the armored collar with claws and choking the woman with fingers. The raider desperately tried to reach for a gun on her belt, but Annie was on her, blocking the gun with her own leg. By Annie’s standards, she was barely holding the neck of the woman, acting as gently as she could, yet it was enough to fully block her ability to breath. Tears and panic appeared in the eyes of the bandit, while consciousness was leaving her. Annie turned her head to the side, just in case the raider should vomit while unconscious.