Major Bansen led Domrik down the steps into the armory. It looked nothing like he had imagined. It was more like an expansive underground laboratory. Scattered throughout the rectangular expanse were tables piled with an assortment of gadgets and equipment, many of them sprouting mechanical arms from the sides. One of them moved with computerized precision, red light flaring as the Aetheric welder bit into a chunk of technological hardware. Bays lined the walls, most of them framing a suit of power armor. Red targets spanned the far wall, each charred with the burn marks from past Aetheric abuse.

A pair of Guard soldiers leaned against one of the tables, their conversation hushing as they both swiveled their gazes to see who approached. The man closer to Domrik failed to conceal his frown and the hints of disappointment on his face. He grabbed the uniform cap from the table and shifted it back onto his curly red hair, finally managing to neutralize his expression before it lingered too long. The tall man stepped to the side, away from the table, revealing the other participant of the conversation. She stood a head shorter than him, but her grown gaze held no less poise. Her dark olive skin was smooth under the stark white lights embedded in the ceiling. They flashed brief salutes, the fingers of their right hands grazing their eyebrows, palms forward.

"Lieutenant Avosta," the Major called, addressing the man who towered over them all. His distant gaze passed over her head. "I am assigning you to test field duty. Make sure everyone is suited and ready by the time Captain Faekin is done with the Specialist here. He will need as much time as possible for training."

"Yes, ma'am," Avosta said, blinking once, then dropping his salute. As he strode past her, Domrik couldn't help but catch a whiff of the same disapproving energy he'd sensed when he met them first in the hangar.

The Major's head twitched to face Faekin. "Captain, notify me if the need arises."

With no further comment, she turned and headed toward the exit. Faekin dropped her salute the moment she was released from the Major's gaze. Her stony expression melted into a more friendly appraisal. She extended a hand and spoke as they shook. "Welcome Specialist, it's my job today to show you exactly what you're in for. I hope you know what you're doing, 'cause I sure don't."

"It's an honor, Captain," Domrik replied.

She cast a glance past him, pondering for a moment. "I'll be honest, I'm not one for fancy titles. It's Minni when nobody else is around." She leaned in. "And it's not 'cause I'm short."

The corner of Domrik's mouth curled against his will. It was tempting to count her as an ally, but he had to refrain from coming to conclusions. These people were good, and although her energy wasn't nearly as negative as the Lieutenant's, it was still murky. Good actors could be found anywhere.

"I'm not the tallest of my kind, either," Domrik said, gazing at the nearest power armor display. "So, where do we start?"

Minni shifted her sleeve back and tapped her wristpad. Nothing appeared, though her eyes twitched back and forth as if she were reading. "You started as soon as you entered the armory. The system scanned your body and recorded your metrics like height and weight. Your undersuit is being fabricated as we speak. It'll be done in about five minutes."

His gaze jumped repeatedly between her sleek wristpad and her face. It must have been a military-grade wristpad. Nobody could see the projection but her. He blinked as his mind finally processed her words. "That fast?"

She shrugged. "What else can I say? We get the best-of-the-best tech. Anyway, now we find you a chunk of metal. Let's see here…"

He strolled after her, noting the different sizes of armor they passed. Each suit was decorated with gashes and scrapes. Some had gleaming new limbs that stood out from the rest of the suit. All sported the trademark orange-on-blue color scheme.

She stopped, still looking at the space above her wristpad. From behind her, he caught the faint flickering of a screen, but nothing was legible. She poked around on the screen. "Size D8. You ever been in power armor before?"

"No, ma'am."

"It's pretty simple," she said. The entire suit opened up like a lopsided metal flower. The inside was filled with straps and clamps. It looked more like a torture device. "Just slot yourself in, and the suit does the rest."

He approached the contraption with caution, then turned around to back in slowly. The metal clamps were cool against his skin. The inner skeleton of the suit made minute adjustments as he put each of his limbs into place. The last was his head, and it was a brief shock to have a clamp close around the base of his neck. Fortunately, it was padded.

Minni observed the process with folded arms. "Looks like this'll do. Hardly any adjustment required. Your undersuit is almost ready. This way."

All the clamps opened at once. Domrik popped out instinctively, glaring back at the armor. It really did feel like a torture device. As if he needed more of a reason to doubt his decision. With a heavy gut, he followed the Captain around the corner.

She approached a compartment embedded in the wall. The tinted glass door opened down, and she scooped out a length of dark fabric. Turning toward him, she wordlessly offered the suit. He took it gingerly, half-expecting it to be some sort of illusion. The material was still warm from the fabrication process, and it was about as light as the shirt he wore. Orange-trimmed padding protected the joints and sensitive areas. He held it up to his shoulders. It looked to fit him perfectly. "Incredible."

"Just wait until you try it on. Feels like you're wearing nothing, but when every ounce counts, we're not ones to compromise. The fabric is partially Aether-resistant, and the pads have stores of nanites trained to your DNA, should you ever get injured."

Domrik raised his eyebrow. "Is that an automatic process?"

"It has to be," she replied. "You can't manually trigger a healing process if you're unconscious."

He nodded silently. He knew he shouldn't have skimmed the paperwork with the Major. Something like this wasn't nearly enough for him to change his mind, but the fewer surprises, the better. He had to trust that they invested in the highest-quality, least-buggy nanites.

Minni showed him to the small room where he could try on the suit. Unlike most one-piece suits, it had a zipper on each side, curving over the shoulder blades and ending at the collar. He wouldn't need anyone's help to get it on or off. He gazed at the person in the mirror. He felt another wave of where did I go wrong pass over him. He shrugged it off. There was no turning back now.

As he exited the room, he felt the truth of Minni's statement about feeling naked. His arms and legs still registered the subtle movements of the air they disturbed. If it weren't for the visual confirmation, he'd feel much more self-conscious. He ran his fingers over the sleeves. "This was assembled in under five minutes?"

Minni checked her wristpad. "Four minutes, thirty-eight seconds. You can thank the United Eredore Accord. It's mandatory for each Guard base to carry at least one nanoprinter."

"I don't know that bit of history," Domrik admitted.

"I wouldn't expect you to. It's not taught in public schools yet. Back in '98, all Eredoran states had a conference discussing strategies for recruitment. Eventually, a draft was agreed upon, but not without a long struggle. Any Senator holds the right to declare an immediate draft of any able-bodied man and woman should the need arise. Trellendek outnumbers us three-to-one, and if they get enough cohesion going between their factions, they could pose a serious threat to both Sylga and Eredore. We needed a way to produce suits quickly, and so we got engineers to create the nanoprinter. It fabricates objects using an army of trillions of nanites."

"Did the public have a say in the Accord?"

She shrugged. "They elected the Senators, and it was the Senate that made the decision."

"I can't imagine that went over well on the news."

"It didn't, because it wasn't announced on the news. It was quietly passed as only one of thousands of regulations already in affect."

He scowled. "So all of Eredore's citizens are unwittingly waiting to be called to war."

She made a face and shrugged again, turning and gesturing for him to follow. "What can I say? Ignorance is bliss."

Domrik sped up to appear next to her. "How many people know about this?"

She was silent for several steps, then her gaze flicked in his direction. "Enough."

He wasn't sure if that was an answer or a warning.

Minni spent the next ten minutes helping him get acquainted with the armor. He learned the basic controls of how to mount and dismount, as entering and exiting the armor was called. The inner heads-up display, or HUD, was simple and easy to navigate. It was much more of a challenge to get used to movements due to the armor's restricted range of motion. He lumbered awkwardly out of the bay, keeping the faceplate split open so he could watch his steps with his naked eyes. Minni mounted her own armor and she led the way out of the armory. Domrik was amazed at how fluid her movements were. He had to try to keep up with her casual stride. She watched him constantly, providing support when it looked like he might fall. He got hard looks from passing soldiers, but he paid them no attention.

The training field was just a courtyard nestled between a pair of buildings and the bordering fence. The Captain stopped at the entrance, sarcastically wishing him luck. He responded with a thumbs-up, then waded to Lieutenant Avosta waiting in the middle.

The training was rigorous and ruthless, though Domrik didn't hold it against anyone. He was the reason they were diverting from their usual routine, and they were making sure the time would be worth it. The first lesson was all about how to use coms properly, and all the different scenarios that could arise, as well as how to respond properly. He was sure he'd forgotten half of it by the end of the lesson.

Next was movement and power usage. The Lieutenant had him run wide circles around the courtyard to get used to the feeling of effortless running. Domrik fell a handful of times, mostly due to miscalculating his strides. Every movement was assisted by the motors in the joints, giving him the illusion of lightness. Jumping was an intense experience, especially the first time. It was hard to predict what soaring five meters into the air would be like. It took a dozen attempts to not land on all-fours. He got used to it after a few minutes.

Flying was another step up in difficulty. The screaming of the engines in the arms and legs was obnoxious, even with the sound canceling of the helmet. An hour passed since the start of the flying lesson before he could stop floundering around in the air like a windblown leaf, and that was with the auto-stabilization function active. The Lieutenant had disabled Domrik's ability to toggle it off. The training wheels were sorely needed. Domrik never made it past ascension, hovering, and descent practices. The thruster controls were so advanced, it was like balancing four pencils at once.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The combat session lasted two minutes when Domrik demonstrated his offensive and defensive abilities. No further instruction was needed.

The grueling training session drew to a close when the bottom of the sun graced the horizon. Though he hid it from his tone and body language, the Lieutenant had been a consistent burn of frustration and contempt, and he remained so as he gave his final pointers of the day. "You have consistent stabilization issues due to your inexperience with flight, so I will have your stabilization active for the duration of the mission. On the miniscule chance you need to use it, it may just save your life."

"Thank you sir," Domrik said, cringing internally at the subservient response.

The Lieutenant nodded. "And as a reward for your studiousness, we break for dinner. The mission begins in an hour."

The food options were less than Domrik had hoped for, but he was grateful nonetheless. During the meal, he was bombarded with questions about the mission and how he convinced the Commander that it was worth it. Why the Commander had chosen not to divulge his abilities, Domrik didn't know. He revealed far less here, knowing that each person who knew his true abilities would be another person seeking to utilize them. He used a twisted version of the truth: He had access to inside information about a highly-classified underground complex. The answer seemed satisfying enough to discourage further inquiry, though they looked no more satisfied than before. Secretly, he hoped they detected nothing, just so that he could get away from their calculating gazes. Maybe there was another way to save Jase.

By the time night settled on the base, they had suited up and made sure their Aetherite stores were topped off. They stood lined up on the runway before a Guard Jet titled Kazzner. All faceplates were split open. The Commander walked out with the Major, both looking dead ahead and saying nothing.

"At ease," the Commander said, his gaze lingering on Domrik. He swiped a finger on his wristpad and a projection of a map shimmered into being. "I'll keep this brief. We have an unorthodox mission as you all know. The Kazzner is armed with the latest sonar, radar, and lidar instruments."

That won't be enough, Domrik wanted to interject, but instead he kept listening.

"You will scan the entire area of the Antiga Nature Preserve a total of ten times, or until 0700 rolls around. Whichever comes first. You will then return and hand the data over to our analysts. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir!" the team shouted in chorus, overwhelming Domrik's murmur of the same phrase.

The Commander's posture straightened. "Guard well."

The five soldiers snapped their salutes. "Stay vigilant!"

Domrik shot a concerned glance at the Commander. They hadn't taught him their standard protocol, so they shouldn't be surprised when he failed to show the proper respect. Whether on purpose or by accident, the Commander gave Domrik no reaction. The two commanding officers turned and left the way they came.

The soldiers filed onto the Kazzner with Domrik bringing up the rear. The interior of the craft was more spacious than it looked from the outside. The cargo bay was lined with clamps and straps, as well as groups of seats for passengers. Straight ahead from the cargo ramp was a narrow passage to the front of the ship. The cockpit was two pilot seats surrounded by tinted windows providing a wide-angle view of the runway. Behind the pilot seats, four passenger seats lined each wall flanking the passage opening. The Captain inserted herself into the right pilot seat.

Lieutenant Avosta waited for the other three soldiers to take their seats, then ushered Domrik to sit next to him. The restraints swung down over the shoulders and across the chest. Avosta indicated the handholds on the sides. "Hold on tight, Specialist. Kazzy shakes more than you think."

The Captain was positioning the info projections and selecting icons. "He's not supposed to know her true name yet, Lieutenant."

He lowered his head melodramatically. "Shit, it slipped out."

Domrik snorted. "Why not?"

Avosta looked at him. "Only official Team Seven members get to call her that."

The Captain leaned back in her seat and glared at Domrik. "So don't tell the Commander or the Major."

"Why?"

"They're not apart of Team Seven, are they?" she said as she took hold of the ergonomic joysticks at the end of each armrest. They were each topped with a spread of red buttons and lodged in a ball-and-socket joint with an incredible range of motion. "And it's a damn good thing we're not recording yet, so shut your traps unless you have something useful to say."

She angled the joysticks inward, then after a sequence of icon selections, a low growl emanated from behind the ship. Domrik's faceplate closed automatically, startling his attention to the HUD displaying front and rear views. The metal around Domrik began to tremble as they accelerated down the runway. The Lieutenant wasn't joking. The rattling threatened to jar Domrik's teeth out, though it eased up once they were airborne.

"Initiating data scan and recording now," the Captain announced over coms. "'Cause why not?"

"It's more data for your analysts," Domrik commented.

"They'll only love us more."

A trio of miniaturized windows appeared on his HUD. He opened them and saw the same landscape scrolling below them in differing levels of detail and texture. They continued to rise until they reached a kilometer in altitude. He brought up the Preserve map and noticed the grid-like pattern of their fight plan. Their ETA to crossing the boundary looked to be about half an hour. He used that time to try and visualize Jase's position again, but without the help of blasphia, Kazzy's shuddering and roaring was too distracting. He opted to engage the team in small-talk instead. None of them were interested enough to keep the exchange going for more than a few minutes. He eventually gave up and listened to the craft's continuous rumble.

There came moments when his mind drifted to Kelly or the Augmentor Bow, but he never lingered for long. This was a continuation of the heist, in a way, and it served as a kind of payback that he had to do this alone, with nobody he could trust. Sure, the Team Seven seemed nice enough. Minni was charming with her quirks. Avosta was overbearing, and the other three were aloof on purpose. That was a reasonable spread of personality to be expected of military personnel. But that didn't mean they wouldn't turn on him in a heartbeat. In a way, Minni's warmer attitude put him more on-edge than the others. Sometimes Domrik considered his intuitive abilities to be a social inconvenience, given that he could see the stark contrast between people's inner worlds and their outer shells. They often looked nothing alike.

He was thankful he couldn't hear their thoughts.

When Kazzy finally crossed the boundary, Minni slowed the craft to a crawl. Stillness settled over Domrik as he watched the three ground scans simultaneously. The lidar and sonar didn't pick up anything significant from the surface. He wasn't surprised. The ground-penetrating radar was difficult to interpret, given that it had an extra depth displayed in 3D. As far as he could tell, it was picking up dirt and boulders, nothing that looked artificial. His gaze occasionally hopped to the visible spectrum view that showed golden rolling hills scattered with a variety of trees cast in dim moonlight. Minni had brought them down to below forty meters for better sensitivity. A line of agitation swept across the ground behind them, the trees and shrubs disturbed by the exhaust of the downward-facing Aetheric engines.

After the first pass of twists and turns, nothing significant had shown up on any of the scans. Still, Domrik had found his gaze continuously drawn toward the visible spectrum view. Something had bugged him for the past fifteen minutes, but he couldn't put words to it. He magnified the view so it took up his entire vision. Another minute passed. There was that feeling again. Something wasn't right.

"Permission to sit up front, Captain," Domrik said over coms.

It took a few seconds for her to respond. Her voice was perplexed. "What for?"

"I need to see something," he said, sensing the testing gazes the other soldiers trained on him from behind their visors.

"You got seven different cameras," she retorted.

"I want to use my own eyes. Your analysts won't lose anything. Your Commander trusts me for a reason." He wasn't entire certain that was accurate, but it was enough to get her to lower her head in contemplation.

"Fine."

The restraints popped open automatically. He held the side of the seat for support as he stood. After a few uncertain steps, he slid into the copilot's seat and signaled his faceplate to split open. After closing down the seat's restraints, he peered as best he could at the ground below, which took some effort from the angled position of the chair. His eyes took a few moments to adjust, then he blinked several times to make sure he was seeing correctly.

"Stop," he commanded.

Minni's helmet twisted toward him. "Specialist, nobody here's taking orders from you."

He glared back at her. "With all due respect, Captain, you won't need scans if you let me show you what I see."

A few more seconds of simmering silence followed before the ship pitched gently upward, slowing their momentum to a standstill. Minni's visor split open, revealing an irritated look that demanded now what?

Domrik pointed. "You see that valley between those hills?"

"Yep."

"Do you notice anything unusual?"

"Nope."

He flicked his head. "Glide closer."

Kazzy moved begrudgingly toward the valley he indicated. He kept giving instructions on where to fly, a little to the left, now a little forward. The Captain's impatient scowl had worsened by the end of it. "Get to the point, Specialist."

He pointed down. "Now land."

"Absolutely not," she scoffed. "It's called a Preserve for a reason. A wildfire is the last thing we need."

"Can you light metal on fire?"

The question gave her pause once again. She looked at him quizzically. "Why is that relevant?"

"Because you will be landing on metal."

She brought up a window showing the downward-facing view. "Alright, show me metal. Where in this picture is metal?"

He traced a circular pattern on the image. "See how most of the shrubs are reacting to the engines? This craft's engines are shooting hurricane-force winds toward the ground. Everything is being thrashed all over the place, except—"

She cut him off, her voice soft with wonder. "Except a patch right below us."

"Because those shrubs and grass don't exist," he explained.

"Team, tell me you're seeing this," she said. They each confirmed the observations.

Domrik couldn't keep the smile off his face. It was a small confirmation that he wasn't losing his mind, but it was one step closer to rescuing his friend. And one step closer to encountering the unknown. Both prospects excited him. "So why don't we land and see what's up? Or down, actually."

Minni's period of hesitation was shorter, but still substantial. The view steadily zoomed in on Domrik's chosen landing zone. The three ongoing scans revealed nothing interesting about the terrain, aside from the fact that the surface directly below them was unusually flat.

It was an impressive illusion, one that was able to fool state-of-the-art sensors, but not Domrik's naked eye. The fescue was even animated to look like it swayed gently in the wind, but as soon as he'd looked out the cockpit window, he'd spotted half a dozen hexagonal landing zones glinting in the moonlight.

When Kazzy was twenty meters over the metal, Avosta spoke up. "Captain, I advise against this maneuver. We don't know what we're flying into. We should complete our given mission and return for a follow-up investigation."

"Not necessary, Lieutenant," she replied. "This is the investigation. We have hardly deviated from our flight plan. A short touchdown is hardly breaking mission parameters."

"It's certainly bending them," he mumbled. "If this is indeed a hidden landing pad, then—"

"Then whoever created it is in violation of a dozen national laws, and is therefore protected by none of them!" Minni stated with just a few meters of descent left.

"We could be landing in hostile territory!" Avosta insisted as the craft shuddered from the soft landing.

Domrik and Minni looked at each other as the engines powered down. The Lieutenant had a point. She frowned, narrowing her eyes at the scans. "Five minutes. I think that's enough time for a stroll-around. Damn you Specialist for your sharp eyes. Now my curiosity's got the better of me."

"Captain, this is not safe," Avosta said. "We should leave."

"This is valuable data, Lieutenant, and have we not trained for dangerous missions?"

Domrik leaned toward her. "I agree with the Lieutenant, actually. We all remember the cloaked fighter that attacked Ridgemire. Whoever created this pad has access to similar technology. We may need backup."

Kazzy trembled as if in agreement. The crew was suddenly alert for the cause of the disturbance. The surrounding ground appeared to be rising. Minni's eyes went wide. "Shit, we're sinking!"

The Lieutenant's voice was both scornful and startled. "Get us outta here!"

Her hands were a blur over the screens waking Kazzy up again. She seized the controls as the engines flared to life, but Domrik put a hand out, pointing up with the other. "No, we're too late. It's closing on us!"

"Hold on, I can—"

She was cut off by the violent rocking of the ship as it snagged on the edge of the iris closing over them. Red indicators flashed over the ship's diagram. Structural integrity was compromised in several areas. She flicked a hand to silence an alarm. Domrik gripped his restraints against the sudden lateral motion. The view spun wildly around them before stabilizing. Minni let out a nervous laugh as the ground fell away. "Told you."

"Mark coordinates," the Lieutenant breathed, relieved.

"Already done," the Captain said, selecting an icon. "Commander, this is Team Seven Captain Faekin reporting. We're returning to base. Our mission was cut short, but was no less fruitful."

"Copy that, Captain. What is the reason?"

"We can confirm. The Specialist is special."