Mara's throat tightened as she watched another squad go down under heavy fire on the grainy drone feed. The holoprojector cast a ghostly blue glow across the faces gathered around the makeshift command table—faces pulled tight with the same mix of determination and barely-contained grief she felt churning in her own gut.

"Squad Seven is pinned at Junction 4C," Korrn's voice crackled through the comm. "Requesting permission to redirect Squad Nine for support."

Mara's fingers flew across the control interface, bringing up a tactical overlay of the northern sector. Squad Nine's position blinked red near one of their few remaining ammo caches. "Negative," she replied, hating the words even as she spoke them. "We can't leave that position exposed. Have Seven fall back to—"

The feed from Junction 4C dissolved into static.

Don't think about the faces. Focus on the mission. The mantra had become her lifeline over the past hours as casualty reports continued to stream in. She forced herself to breathe, to maintain the calm exterior her people needed to see.

"What's the status on Blake?" Elder Therin asked from his position near the door. The old scavenger's weathered face bore fresh worry lines as he studied the tactical displays.

"No contact since he breached the outer wall," Mara answered. "But the initial disruption gave us the opening we needed. We have to make it count."

The northern defenses had been their biggest concern during planning. Breaking through should have cost them dearly in lives and resources. Instead, a single, precisely placed shot had torn reality apart and left a gap big enough to pour their forces through. Mara still wasn't entirely sure what she'd witnessed, but she couldn't deny the results.

A series of red indicators flashed across the central display, drawing her attention back to the present. Three more automated turret emplacements had just come online, their firing arcs creating deadly overlapping fields of coverage.

"Those defenses are tearing us apart," growled Jace, one of the clan champions who'd pledged warriors to their cause. "We need to find a way to shut them down."

"Working on it," Mara replied, though she shared his frustration. Their tech specialists had been trying to breach Rax's security systems since the assault began, but something was actively adapting to their attempts, learning and countering each new approach.

A burst of panicked chatter erupted over the command channel. "Contact! Multiple hostiles at Sector Six! They're... by the stars, what did he do to them?"

Mara's blood ran cold as she pulled up the relevant feeds. The drone footage showed a group of Rax's elite guards engaging one of their forward positions. But something was wrong. The guards moved with impossible speed, shrugging off hits that should have dropped them instantly. Strange purple light leaked from seams in their armor as they tore through the defender's lines.

"Fall back!" she ordered. "All units in Sector Six, fall back to defensive positions!"

But it was already too late. The camera feed filled with violence as the twisted warriors carved through her people like they were fighting children. Every movement was a blur of unnatural grace and brutality. Where they passed, they left only broken bodies and spreading pools of blood.

"What manner of devils are these?" Elder Therin whispered, his voice shaking. "I've heard tales... whispers from the deep wastes of one called Malrik who twisted flesh and spirit into abominations. But surely..."

"Later," Mara cut him off, though she filed the name away for future reference. "Right now we need solutions. Redirecting heavy weapons teams to Sector Six. All units maintain distance and focus fire. Do not engage in close combat."

The next hour passed in a blur of tactical adjustments and damage control. For every meter of ground they gained, it seemed they paid twice over in blood. Yet slowly, inexorably, they pushed deeper into the compound. The sight of her people fighting together, standing firm despite everything Rax threw at them, filled Mara with a fierce pride that almost balanced the horror of watching them fall.

"Ma'am!" One of the drone operators called out. "You need to see this."

Mara moved to his station, leaning over his shoulder to study the feed. The camera showed a team of six fighters—she recognized Sara's second-in-command among them—taking cover behind a partially collapsed wall. They'd been trying to flank one of the turret positions when a second automated defense system had activated behind them, catching the squad in a deadly crossfire.

Chunks of their cover disintegrated under the sustained barrage. One of the fighters tried to break for better position only to be driven back by a burst that peppered the ground at his feet with smoking craters. They were trapped, and their protection wouldn't last much longer.

"Get me a line to their squad leader," Mara ordered, already running calculations in her head. If they could coordinate with the teams in adjacent sectors, create a distraction...

The operator's fingers flew across his console. "No response. Their comms must be down."

Mara watched helplessly as another section of wall turned to powder under the turrets' relentless fire. One of the fighters pressed himself flatter against the ground as debris rained down around him. Through the drone's lens, she could see the terror on his face as he realized they were running out of both time and options.

The wall wouldn't last another minute. And when it fell...

The turrets' firing servos whined as they adjusted their aim, compensating for the degrading cover. Mara's hands clenched into fists at her sides. She couldn't look away, couldn't stop watching as—

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The guns fell silent.

For a moment, Mara thought the feed had frozen. But no—she could see her people moving, could see the dust settling from the last volley. The turrets had simply... stopped.

"What's happening?" someone whispered behind her. "Did they jam them?"

Before Mara could respond, another operator called out: "Ma'am! Reports coming in from all sectors—defensive systems are going dark!"

Mara's breath caught as she processed the implications. On the main display, status indicators for Rax's automated defenses began winking out one by one. Turrets, motion sensors, automated doors—entire security subsystems simply ceased responding.

For thirty endless seconds, the compound fell into an eerie silence broken only by the sound of distant fighting and the wind whipping through broken walls. Mara's people stared at each other in confusion, hardly daring to believe their sudden reprieve.

Then the turrets moved.

Servos whirred as weapon barrels pivoted to track new targets. For a heart-stopping instant, Mara feared they'd somehow made things worse. But when the guns opened fire again, they weren't targeting her fighters.

On a dozen different feeds, Mara watched Rax's troops dive for cover as their own defensive systems turned against them. The turrets showed a strange sort of... intelligence in their targeting. They held their fire when Rax's people retreated or surrendered, only engaging those who pressed attacks against rebel positions.

A murmur of disbelief rippled through the command center as everyone processed what they were seeing. The confusion slowly transformed into something else—a growing wave of hope that culminated in a spontaneous cheer as they watched a particularly nasty heavy weapon emplacement tear apart a position that had been giving them trouble for hours.

Mara remembered Blake's quiet confidence when he'd outlined his part of the plan. She'd been skeptical—who wouldn't be? The idea that he could somehow subvert Rax's security systems had seemed like desperate wishful thinking at best.

"I'll get someone on the inside," he'd said with that mysterious half-smile. "Someone who's very good with systems like these. Trust me—when the time comes, you'll know."

Tears welled in Mara's eyes as she watched the tactical situation transform. All across the compound, Rax's forces fell back in disarray as their own defenses turned against them. Many simply threw down their weapons and surrendered, having lost their taste for fighting when the odds shifted so dramatically.

Her people were quick to capitalize on the advantage. Years of resentment and fury fueled their advance as they pushed deeper into the compound. But they showed mercy to those who yielded—Mara had been very clear about that. They would not become the very thing they fought against.

"Perimeter teams reporting in," Korrn's voice crackled through the comm. "Western approach is secure. We're beginning to—"

"Someone get up here now!" The shout cut through the command center's atmosphere of cautious celebration. One of the junior operators was frantically waving for attention, his eyes wide as he stared at his console. "You need to see this!"

Mara crossed to his station in quick strides. "What is it? What's—"

The words died in her throat as the operator transferred his feed to the main display. The massive screen flickered, then filled with shaky first-person footage of what appeared to be a bunker or command center. The image quality was crystal clear despite the erratic camera movement, revealing details with unforgiving precision.

Rax stood amid the ruins of his sanctum, his much-vaunted cybernetic arm sparking and leaking fluid. The leader's face twisted with rage and fear as he gesture sharply, sending sheets of metal flying through the air. But his attacks seemed focused on someone off-camera—someone who was very clearly winning the fight.

The footage jumped and stabilized, providing a perfect view as one of Rax's altered warriors—a massive brute whose muscles bulged grotesquely beneath split skin—seized the leader's cybernetic arm and simply tore it free. Rax's scream of agony echoed through every speaker in the compound.

What followed was brutal and swift. Mara fought the urge to look away as she watched Rax's own warrior crush him beneath its bulk, driving them both onto a forest of metal spikes. The leader's final desperate attempt at defence became the instrument of his own destruction.

The footage held on the grisly tableau for a moment before cutting to black. In the sudden silence, Mara became aware that she was trembling slightly.

"It's playing on every screen in the compound," the operator reported quietly. "Even the big display panels on the outer walls. Everyone can see..."

"Rax is dead," Mara finished. The words felt strange in her mouth, like speaking a myth or legend. How long had she dreamed of this moment? How many nights had she lain awake planning, hoping, fearing?

The command center erupted in a cacophony of voices as the news spread. Reports flooded in from all sectors as Rax's remaining forces threw down their weapons or fled into the wastes. The battle was over. They had won.

Mara closed her eyes, fresh tears tracking down her cheeks. They had won. But the cost... the cost had been so very high.

A gentle touch on her shoulder pulled Mara from her dark thoughts. Elder Therin's weathered hand squeezed once, grounding her in the present moment.

"The wounded need direction," he said, his voice carrying the weight of experience. "And Rax's warriors—those who haven't fled—they're lost without their master's control."

Mara wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. The elder was right. Victory meant nothing if they couldn't hold what they'd won.

"Get me a channel to all sectors," she ordered, straightening her spine. The command staff snapped to attention, their earlier celebration forgotten in the face of her renewed focus. "Sara, report to the eastern medical station. Your skills are needed there. Someone tell Korrn I want a full sweep of the compound—secure any weapons or tech that could pose a threat. And someone find me those supply manifests. We'll need to account for everything before—"

A burst of static cut through her instructions. "Multiple casualties at Junction 3B," a breathless voice reported. "Heavy bleeding, possible augment rejection. Need immediate evac!"

"Understood." Mara's fingers flew across the tactical display, marking priority zones in red. "Redirecting medical teams now. Elder, can you coordinate with the clan heads? We need to establish clear chains of command before—"

More reports flooded in, each demanding immediate attention. Mara processed them with practiced efficiency, delegating tasks and redirecting resources where they were needed most. The victory euphoria had faded, replaced by the grinding reality of what came after.

She caught glimpses of the aftermath through various drone feeds—the wounded being carried to makeshift aid stations, shell-shocked warriors wandering aimlessly through the wreckage, small fires still burning in the deeper sections of the compound. So much damage. So much to rebuild.

But they were alive. They were free. And for the first time in years, they had a chance to build something better.