_NOTE: 55 hours to relocation site.

As Dante re-enters the drill team's cart behind Cassie and Nadia, Clint and Kabela seal the hatch- silencing all of the distant explosions and grinding of the drill beam.

“Drill is primed to the North East, Sir,” Siv calls out.

“Loading a charge,” Rebecca adds, typing away at her computer before the loud rise of energy surges through the train. It sounds like a rising vibration that would rattle the entire train, but Dante can't feel an ounce of it.

“Fire when ready,” Captain Hammond orders.

“Sixty percent till charged, Sir,” Rebecca adds.

“Just a burst, Sir?” Siv asks

“You heard the Heir. Draw a line,”

“Copy that,” Both Siv and Rebecca exclaim.

“What do you need from us, Heir?” Dante asks.

“I need you to watch and learn,” Cassie grins, “Not much else for you to do right now,”

“Yes, Heir,” They confirm.

“Thirty percent till charge,” Rebecca calls out, “Preparing to fire,”

A high pitched hum starts rising as the drill beam prepares to fire.

“Ten percent,” Rebacca continues, as the energy levels of the drill beam exceed Dante’s technological knowledge.

There is so much energy, Dante can feel it surging through the train cart- a part of him wants to reach out to it. His body is naturally drawn to available, concentrated energy. Any Zo’an’s body would be kicking for some of that energy but could anyone handle it?

Probably not, Dante imagines himself getting hit by a blast from the drill beam.

“Drill beam charged,” Rebecca announces, “Firing,”

A loud, high pitched buzz ripples through the cart as the sound continuously fires whilst Rebecca and Siv make live adjustments.

“Rotating,” Siv announces, using the beam to do as Cassie said, and create a line of fire on the ground, to the East of the Krix.

“Marked,” Rebecca announces as the high pitched whirr comes to a sudden halt.

The small image of the drill beam’s feed shows on Dante’s HUD, revealing the distant view of their garrison's shield- and beyond it is a large flame wall running to their North East.

“Good work!” Cassie says.

“Drill beam on cooldown,” Rebecca calls out.

_DRILL BEAM: 10 minute cooldown.

“Good work, Drill team,” Commander Preston’s voice briefly appears in everyone’s ears.

“Let's move to the front lines, Recruits,” Cassie says with a grin on her face. “Open up,”

“Yes, Heir,” Clint and Kabela call out, “Permission to do maintenance, Captain?” Kabela asks.

“What for?” The Captain asks.

“Routine maintenance that we couldn't complete before the relocation, Sir,” Kabela answers.

“Why now?” He follows up, “Will it not hold?”

“It is in a healthy condition, Sir,” She answers, “I would prefer it were in perfect condition. And it’s not often there are three Zo’ans nearby,”

“Hmm,” He grunts, “Alright, Suit up and escort them up,”

“Yes, Sir,” Clint and Kabela confirm before getting out of their seats to suit up.

Each of them puts on a helmet, and a bulky best that has various pockets and strap with tools and equipment all offer it. At their waists, they strap a belt with a bungee-like cable at the belly button.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

After opening the hatch and heading out before the Zo’ans, Kabela and Clint link their cables to a small bar, running along the bottom of the walkway.

“Chord, linked,” Kabela says, followed by Clint saying the same.

“We’ll make a call if we need you to turn around,” Kabela says to Cassie.

“Just listen out for panicked screaming,” Clint chuckles.

“You’ll be alright,” Cassie says, “We’re waiting on a pickup, so go get started,”

“Yes, Heir,” They both respond, before heading towards the massive barrel of the drill beam.

Dante then notices the bright orange glow of the flaming wall Cassie had ordered them create. Like a skyscraper of flames, it creates a safer route for them to pass through to the East. Dante would never have imagined the drill beam was such a capable weapon. The overwatch labs at the academy made it clear how important the vehicle was, but numbers on a screen don't do it justice.

“Did someone call for a Taxi?” Cal’s voice comes into Dante’s monitor.

“Took you long enough,” Cassie says, turning to face a long humvee, drifting in their direction.

“I'm always on time,” He chuckles as the humvee speeds up beside the train and lines up with the three of them, “Hop on,”

Cassie jumps onto the top of the Humvee, opening a hatch at the top and entering. Nadia and Dante follow suit, and make their ways inside.

“Where to?” Cal asks as the vehicle speeds up, overtaking the train.

“North of the shield,” Cassie says.

“Ooh, taking the recruits to show ‘em how it's done?”

“What, them? Bait if I need any,” Cassie and Cal both laugh.

“How’s the drill?” Cal asks.

“You separate from the engineering unit for five minutes and you're already thinking about the drill?”

“Engineering unit is always positioned behind the drill. Every single one of us are prepared to go down with the ship, Heir,”

“Seems rather unnecessary,” She chuckles.

“It’s the most beautiful thing ever built. We did that,” Cal voice softens.

“I’m fully aware-”

“You know, the old model didn't use treads. It used tires- We’d have to rebuild that son of a bitch from the ground up after every assault,”

“Cal, you don't need to explain all of this,” Cassie sighs.

“Of course I do. This is history that I’m talking about and I ain't living with recruits that don't know no history,”

“I thought Clint and Kabela were the maintenance team for the drill?” Nadia asks

“On board and during assault, sure. They take good care of it. But, us engineers built that bad boy,”

“Then why follow behind it in battle?”

“Because they're overly sentimental engineers,” Cassie rolls her eyes.

“We’ll die before we let that drill get disabled,” Cal says with pride, “Even if we have to rebuild that bastard in the middle of battle!”

“Sweet,” Dante grins.

“Fortunately they haven't had to,” Cassie adds, “Kabela and Clint do a great job,”

“When the OWS gave us the blueprints for the new model, we were completely out of our league. It took us twenty attempts over three years to get a working build. We almost gave up each time, but the OWS believed in our abilities- otherwise it wouldn't have given us the blueprint or it would've made changes. In the end… We built a goddamn masterpiece,”

Cassie sighs, having heard the story a million times before saying, “Don’t forget to mention the fact that we were the first-”

“We were the first squad to pull it off. Out of hundreds of squads, we showed them all that we are the best engineering unit in the entirety of the military,” Cal smacks his hand against the steering wheel in excitement, “Future Zo’ans will be reading about us at the Academy someday,”

“When did you finish the build?” Dante asks, drawn into Cal’s story.

“Eight months ago,” He says, peering at Dante through the rear view mirror, “Not all squads have upgraded yet- So it’s no surprise the Academy doesn’t know yet,”

“Nice,” Dante says with a grin, “That’s pretty cool!”

“It’s impressive,” Cassie shrugs, “But you science folk love patting yourselves on the back for doing the same thing over and over again,” She rolls her eyes, dramatically waving her hand in a circle.

“You wouldn’t get it,” Cal huffs, “Your mind is designed for slicing with those blades of yours- You can’t comprehend the beauty of creation,”

“Ooh, there’s that god complex,”

“Whatever,” Cal chuckles, “Stop messing with me,”

“No, there was a lot of god complex in that statement you just made,” Nadia jests.

“Pretty cocky, don’t you think?” Cassie grins as glances at Nadia and Dante behind her.

“Very,” Nadia says.

“So Cocky,” Dante chuckles.

They share a laugh as the Humvee draws nearer to the shield dome. Dante peers out the window to the sight of the oceanic shield glistening in the sky as the glow of the setting sun glistens beyond it, as if the flames created by the drill beams reach up to the heavens.

It’s a pretty cool story that Cal told them, it certainly sounds like the type of story the Academy would love to push to the general public and the students. The engineers receive blueprints from the OWS when it completes designs for upgrades or new technology. Figuring it all out must be a mission considering it advances science in ways the engineers don’t entirely understand. But that’s what makes them experts- They figure out the impossible.

The engineers probably made the shield too, Dante wonders as he looks out the window.

How long did that take to build?