The wait was agony.

Screams and explosions could be heard faintly in the distance. Aubrey and the other students watched the hologram wall as the battle played out.

The Azrael had sent a substantial force. Their warships pounded the meager Alliance fleet, which scrambled in defensive patterns.

A fleet of Netzach carriers hovered near the Azrael flagship, an enormous vessel that sat just out of range of Bavel’s main weapons system. The carriers were packed full of Malkuth class fighters and battlecruisers which streamed out like a river of metal.

The Alliance forces were inflicting heavy casualties in the enemy, but the supply seemed never-ending. The shrapnel and chunks of broken ship that now floated around Bavel would take the spider-shaped Scaver ships months to clean up.

A squadron of six Juggers hovered near the edge of the battle, occasionally firing at any ship that got too close, but staying clear of the fight. Aubrey was puzzled. Why hold your greatest strength in reserve?

The minutes ticked by as the battle raged on.

“Where are the reinforcements?” Aubrey asked.

Jon shook his head. “I don’t know; seems like they should have been able to jump here right away.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” James asked. “We’re not the only location under attack. The Azrael must be mounting a massive offensive. The other Alliance forces are too tied up to come.”

The students began to whisper again.

“They’re not coming?”

“We’re all going to die.”

“What if they’ve taken the Sothis system? What if Taranis has fallen?”

Their voices died down as they saw the Juggers explode into action, blasting towards the Azrael flagship. Aubrey’s eyes narrowed. Why had Nam Rood chosen this moment to strike?

Then she saw them. The Xaphan.

Seven horrifying, pale giants, their pasty white skin gleaming in the starlight. Each of the creatures was unique, like some Lovecraftian nightmare made flesh; long tentancled arms with wicked, barbed hooks held within its suction cups, a long jagged maw with razor sharp teeth, and sharp, black bony protrusions melded with long mechanical tubing and wires.

Particle canons and laser blasters seemed to grow out of their bodies, molded from their flesh, protruding at strange angles. The beasts roared silently in the vacuum of space, their size dwarfing even the largest of the Juggers that sped towards them.

They could hear the coms of the Jugger pilots crackling in and out as the melee began.

“Fire all missiles, target Adriel,” Nam Rood commanded.

A salvo of missile fire streaked through the gulf between the Juggers and the Xaphan. Adriel was the largest of the creatures, a mound of ivory tentacles and black bone. The missiles hit hard, biting into the hardened flesh, scalding and exploding the beast.

The Xaphan fired back, their bright red lasers cutting one of the Juggers into seven pieces. Aubrey winced as she heard the death screams of the pilot as her spinner was sliced in half.

Several Jackanape fighters swarmed the Xaphan. The tiny ships darted and weaved between the monsters which swung their enormous tentacles, smashing several of the small ships apart. Aubrey had a hard time telling which pilot was talking through the chatter.

“Watch your port side, Kulla.”

“Pull back, you’re too close!”

“Osun, you’ve got a Malkuth on your tail, three femtosecs behind you.”

“I can’t shake him!”

“Coming to you.”

“Mandrake, engage with your Paranymph blades.”

Aubrey watched as the Juggers and fighters coordinated their attacks against the Xaphan. Adriel floated motionless, now dead, drifting listlessly away from the battle. Giant globules of blood wobbled and trailed behind it.

Another Jugger took heavy core damage from particle beam and was forced to retreat from the melee and return to the hanger.

“We’ve got to fall back,” one of the Jugger pilots shouted.

“Negative, Yamuna,” Nam Rood answered. “You’ve got to hold them there.”

“Yes, sir,” Yamuna replied, his voice steady.

The fight was not going well. Three Malkuth battlecruisers had penetrated the Alliance fleets and made their way to the Academy’s central asteroid. Aubrey watched as the ship doors opened and a stream of dark purple creatures, which resembled a strange mixture of an octopus with the face of a spider, poured into Bavel.

The monsters stood twelve feet off the ground, although Aubrey estimated from their head to the tip of their longest tentacle, they’d be upwards for fifty feet long.

The creatures slithered rapidly along the ground - their mass of tentacles, which split into smaller limbs like a tree branch and ended in wicked green claws, dragged and pulled, rolling like a bucket of fish with too little water as they moved.

Their six eyes glowed a bright blue, and their fanged mouths dripped a thick white substance. Their long, external mandibles chittered and snapped. Along the top of their heads, several rows of long, green horns jutted at odd angles. A fan of bony protrusions ran along the sides of their jaws.

“Ralyians,” Shamesh said in horror.

The strange creatures were met with heavy weapons fire from a squadron of Alliance soldiers. The Ralyians flexed their faces, extending the horns and the bony frills that ran along their mandibles, revealing strange bioweapons, similar to what had been engineered into the flesh of the Xaphan.

The firefight intensified. Both sides took heavy casualties as plasma and lasers lit up the battlefield. The Alliance soldiers were horribly outnumbered, and were forced to retreat deeper into Bavel’s labyrinthian hallways.

With a beachhead established, more Azrael ships arrived, dropping more ground forces; a hoard of Valaphar, their spider-like mechanical legs allowing the enormous creatures to skitter across the floor, walls, and even ceilings.

Aubrey turned her attention back to the Jugger fight. The two forces seemed evenly matched. Three more Xaphan floated languidly, thick streams of blood flowing out of their wounds, forming great blue globes that danced and spun through the empty space.

Two more Juggers had taken critical damage. One had retreated to Bavel, the other, faced with critical systems failures, had dove straight into a nearby fleet of Azrael cruisers and exploded its weapons cargo, taking out seven ships before they could drop their payload of soldiers.

“Sir, we can’t hold them much longer.”

“You have to,” Nam Rood replied. “If those Xaphan land on Bavel, all is lost. You will not let that happen.”

“Yes szzzzzrrrr-“ The pilot’s com was cut off as one of the Xaphan crushed the spinner of his Jugger with its tremendous tentacled arm and tossed it aside like a child’s toy.

“All fleets, concentrate your firepower on those Xaphan,” Nam Rood ordered.

“But, sir!” a voice protested. “That’ll mean the enemy will be able to land with impunity.”

“Let me worry about that, soldier. Just focus on those remaining Xaphan.”

The Alliance fleet cut off their current contact, turned, and unleashed on the Xaphan. The Azrael warships followed in hot pursuit, while their carriers launched more ground troops, taking advantage of the opening in their defenses.

Aubrey felt Bavel lurch and groan. She watched the screen in fascination as the eight circular sections that extended from the central asteroid retracted. Thick blast doors covered the openings as Bavel transformed into a hardened metal fortress.

“Are they closing that thing up?” one of the pilots shouted.

“Of course they are, what did you expect?”

“But we’re still out here.”

“Yeah, and we’ll do our duty. For honor and glory.”

“For honor and glory,” came the trembling reply.

Aubrey had trouble following what was happening; the chaotic mess of missile and laser fire was so thick around the Xaphan, a whirlwind of shrapnel and destruction. Ships exploded, Xaphan blood gushed; Aubrey could only stare in wonder at the horror of real war. This was no game. No theory. This was death, ugly and cold.

Soon, the laser fire slowed. The last of the Juggers limped away from the melee, its main rocket thrusters having been destroyed.

“Please, for the love of the Five, let me in!”

“For honor and glory,” came Nam Rood’s response, as a volley of Azrael missiles tore the last Jugger to pieces.

“They’re coming out of the walls!” a soldier shouted. “They’re coming out of the damned walls!”

“Sir, we’ve got a Valaphar incursion on the east wing.”

“Can you hold them?” Nam Rood asked.

“No, sir,” came the response. “But we can slow them down.”

Aubrey and her friends flinched as they heard gun fire directly above them. Aubrey paced.

“I can’t take much more of this,” she said. “We should be up there helping.”

“You heard Professor Enos,” Eshcol said, his massive granite claws rubbing together nervously. “It’d be suicide.”

“If we stay down here, we’re dead anyway,” Nube said. “What do you think the Azrael will do when they find us?”

“I heard they inject nano-bots under your skin that disassemble your bio-matter from the inside out,” Shamesh said, a shudder running through her Gaberlunzie suit.

“Or worse,” Nergal added. “They’ll ship us off to Jericho.”

A silence fell over the group.

“What is Jericho?” Aubrey asked.

“When the enemy captures soldiers of the Alliance, they are taken to a prison city deep in the heart of the Azrael empire. They’re tortured, manipulated, and reprogrammed via biotechnology that is injected into the nervous system. These soldiers are used as living weapons and spies against the Alliance,” Twiki said coldly. “Once you go to Jericho, you’re never the same. It’s far better to die in battle, than become a husk of what you once were, with those… things, slithering around inside you.”

Aubrey felt her skin crawl. A loud explosion rattled her teeth, and several students screamed in terror.

“I’m going out there,” Aubrey said flatly.

“Don’t be stupid,” Twiki laughed.

Aubrey ignored the barb as she turned to her team.

“My friends. I have no doubts about your courage. You’ve proven yourselves to me time and time again, both on the battlefield and off.”

She looked each of them in the eye as she spoke.

“What I am asking of you is no small thing, and I will not look down on any of you if you decide to stay here. But this moment, this moment right here, will echo through our lives. This moment when we remembered that we need each other. This moment, when faced with an insurmountable enemy, and against all odds, we stood, and we fought. We fought, not knowing that we would win, but knowing that we would likely lose, and we still fought anyway.

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“So I am asking you to fight. Fight with me. Fight with everything you have, so that on some distant day, when today is but a faded memory, people will still say that this was our finest moment.”

“I’m with you,” Nube said as she stood.

“As are we,” Ado quickly followed.

“I am yours to command,” Amur stood.

“And I,” Mamre joined them.

“Me too,” came the calls, as the rest of her team stood.

“What’s the plan?” Mardon asked as he joined her ranks. His team followed, along with several of the students under Twiki’s command.

“James,” Aubrey asked. “Can you get the doors open?”

He slid his aglets onto his twisted fingers. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“We have a distinct advantage over the enemy,” Aubrey said. “We know the interior of Bavel, and we can control the battleground from here.” She turned to Mardon. “James, how many student Juggers are available?” she asked over her shoulder.

James pulled up the engineering bay. The older students had powered up their Juggers and were moving into defensive positions just outside the main hanger bay.

“Looks like five.”

“Who are your best Jugger pilots?” she asked Mardon.

“Myself and Atana” he answered, gesturing to a female Heruka who sat nearby, her head sack inflating.

“Alright, the two of you will come with me, Amur, and Jon to the Jugger bay. James, I’m going to need you to upload Amur’s interface program to one of the Juggers as quickly as you can.”

“On it,” he replied, his aglets dancing.

“Hold on,” Twiki said. “I’m not going to let you hog all the glory.” Aubrey eyed her. “Besides, I’m the best damn Jugger pilot at this school.”

“Alright, Jon, stay behind and command the ground forces.”

He glanced at Twiki, distrust painted on his face, but returned his gaze to Aubrey and nodded his head.

She pulled up a schematic of Bavel and marked a route to the weapon stores.

“We’ll need to make our way here, and arm ourselves with whatever the other soldiers haven’t taken. I’d recommend a mixture of heavy artillery and pulse rifles. But take whatever you can get.”

He nodded again.

“From there, the five Jugger pilots split off from the main force, and make their way to the engineering bay. The rest of you, we’ll split the soldiers into three squads. Nube, Paltit, and Kingu, you’ll each lead these squads under Jon’s command.”

She turned to James.

“James, I need you to stay here. Be our eyes and ears. Feed us what we need to know, and control the battlefield. You can open and close those blast doors. Herd the Azrael where we need them to be, and protect our soldiers.”

James nodded his head stiffly as his aglets continued their dance.

“Anyone who doesn’t wish to join the combat, at least assist James. We need to understand the flow of the battle, and make sure we don’t get cut off or cornered. Always make sure we have an escape route where we can fall back if we need to.”

She turned and looked at the room full of grim faces. “Stay frosty, listen to your commanders, and you’ll make it through alright,” she said. “James?”

He opened the door, and Mamre poked her head out.

“All clear, let’s move.”

#

Aubrey’s heart raced as she sprinted down a corridor carrying a standard issued Gobemouche rifle; the glowing blue plasma globe that hung from the center of the rifle crackled and spat. Twiki, Amur, Mardon, and Atana were on her heels.

“Now where?” she asked.

“Left at the next junction,” James answered in her ear.

She rounded the corner and slowed to a stop at a set of blast doors. “Are you going to open the doors?” she asked.

“Yes, but there are two Ralyians on the other side,” James answered. “I was hoping they would move, but they seem to be attempting to interface with the main computer A.I.”

Aubrey gestured and her fellow soldiers took up firing positions along the corridor.

“Ready when you are,” she said.

James slid the blast door open, and the five students opened fire. The monstrous beasts were taken by surprise. The hot plasma fire cut through their purple skin, spewing orange blood and guts across the hallway before they could react.

“Nice work” James said as they moved through the corridor. “You’re almost there, and the path is clear.”

He marked the directions on her HUD, and they moved quickly and quietly through the hallway.

“Mardon,” she whispered as they ran down a hallway. “This is a strange time to ask, but why didn’t you use our Jugger software?”

They rounded a corner. Mardon smiled. “Because I wanted to win or lose on my own terms.”

Aubrey smiled.

Twiki snorted. “How incredibly stupid of you.”

“I think it was honorable,” Aubrey said as they pushed further down the hallway.

Aubrey felt a twinge of guilt leaving the other soldiers behind. She worried for their safety. Alzar fed her updates, and a small section of her HUD was dedicated to a video feed following their combat.

So far, no major injuries, and they had managed to drop an entire squad of the Valaphar. But it was only a matter of time before their luck ran out.

“Aubrey,” James said. “I think you should see this.”

He shared a vid feed with her. The Azrael forces now waited just outside the main hanger which led to the engineering bay. The thick Baldric doors were being pummeled by heavy weapons fire from the Azrael carriers.

“How long will they hold?” she asked.

“I’d say maybe ten more minutes,” James said.

“Hurry” she shouted to the other students as she sprinted down the hallway. She rounded another corner, and sprinted through the next set of blast doors as James slid them open. It slammed shut behind the group as they passed through.

“Aubrey, what on earth are you doing?” Nam Rood demanded, his voice rattling her skull.

So he finally noticed us. “We’re helping.”

“Foolish child,” he chided. “Don’t you get it? The Azrael aren’t here to conquer an important military target. They’re here to kill you.”

Aubrey slowed her running.

“The students of Bavel are the future military commanders. You are their target, and now you’re running headlong into battle with them. This is exactly what they want.”

Aubrey stopped. Of course. He was right. How could she not have seen it?

“It’s too late now,” she said. “If those Xaphan break through the outer doors, you’re going to need all the firepower available, or we’re all dead anyway.”

Nam Rood was silent for a moment. “Alright, get loaded up quickly.”

“Aubrey!” James shouted. “You’ve got five Valaphar headed your way. I’m sorry, they burned through the blast door. It’s like they knew where you were headed.”

A blast of plasma cut the air above Aubrey’s head. Its heat singeing her hair. She dove hard to the left behind some crates. James created a mobile platform, which appeared from the ground to block the additional gunfire from the Valaphar soldiers that skittered up and down the walls with nervous energy.

“Light ‘em up!” Aubrey shouted, and her comrades opened fire. Twiki caught one of the Valaphar in the mouth, and the plasma burned a hole clean through the back of its glass container, spilling its brain to the ground. Its body slumped, collapsing to the ground.

“Nice shot!” Mardon shouted.

“I know,” Twiki said, grinning.

Aubrey watched as one of the Valaphar screeched, opening a ferocious blast of weaponry that caused the five of them to drop behind their cover. One of the other creatures stormed forward and pulled its dead companion back. Thick tears of milky liquid streamed from its enraged mechanical face.

“Keep firing,” Aubrey said. The five of pressed their attack with rapid gunfire. James continued to provide cover for them as they advanced, while shifting the floors under the Valaphar, throwing them off balance.

Mardon hit another square in the eye. Its skull lit up a brilliant orange as its insides burned away. The smell of burnt hair filled the hallway. Another loud screech, and the Valaphar began to retreat, pulling their dead comrades with them.

“Push forward!” Aubrey ordered, and the five of them pressed the Azrael back further, until the enemy disappeared behind a blast door. James slammed it shut.

“Nice work,” he said. “Now keep moving, down the corridor to your left.”

Aubrey turned and sprinted. The corridors twisted and weaved; Aubrey flinched as she rounded each corner, half expecting to run headlong into one of the creatures. But she trusted James, and knew he would keep her safe.

She checked the status of the other students. Several injuries, but they were still holding their ground, and had taken out another group of Ralyians. She smiled as she watched Nube and Paltit control their squads with military precision.

One more door, and they were in the engineering bay. Aubrey slowed as they moved past the massive bulkhead Mazle-Din had shown her.

“Why are you stopping?” Twiki snapped.

“You know where the Juggers are,” Aubrey answered. “Or do you need me to hold your hand the whole way?”

Twiki’s lip twisted in a sneer as she and Atana continued down the hall. Both Mardon and Amur hesitated.

“I’ll be there in a minute; I just want to see something.”

Mardon continued, but Amur still waited, watching her.

“Amur, go!” she ordered. He relented, tearing after Mardon toward the Jugger bays.

“James,” she said. “Any way you can open this bulkhead?”

She waited a moment as James did his work. The bulwark hissed and slid open.

“Thanks.”

There, floating in its enormous tank, was Mik’iel, the Seraph Jugger. Aubrey stared at the thing in wonder, and felt the same pull she had before. Something in her chest, like a string attached to her heart, drawing her in.

She clambered up the metal ladder that ran along the side of the holding tank. At the top, she swiped her hands along the control panel, and the sealed container rumbled and hissed as it slide open.

She dipped her hand gingerly into the thick liquid. It was warm to the touch, and had the same consistency as maple syrup.

“Alzar, what is this stuff?”

“Liquid air,” he replied. “Not too dissimilar to the liquid from the kyphosis chamber, but far less dense. Completely breathable, with nutrients and nano-cleaners to boot.”

Aubrey peeled off her uniform and dove into the warm liquid. She swam through the thick solution as best she could, until she came to the spinner.

At the touch of her hand, a small opening appeared, sucking her inside, along with a fair amount of the liquid air. She coughed, her body wracked as she regurgitated the solution from her lungs. The spinner hummed and the lights on the control panel lit up.

“My word,” Alzar said.

“What’s wrong?”

“It took the best and brightest engineers three years to learn how to turn this thing on. It just started with your mere presence.”

Aubrey moved into position, and sunk her hands into the control panels.

“Release the spiders,” she said, and felt the familiar burning sensation as the nano-bots poured out of her fingertips. Her hand jolted, as a shock of electricity ran up her arm.

“Ouch!” she exclaimed. “Alzar?”

“It looks like your system is not quite compatible with the Seraph technology” he replied. “Making some adjustments.”

Aubrey felt the rush of new senses, more intense than what she had felt with Archon. It was somehow brighter, more tangible. Her vision stuttered and jittered. Everything felt disjointed. She lifted one of the Jugger’s elegant hands in front of the spinner, examining it as it moved. The three fingers extended and flexed sluggishly under her commands.

Another jolt of electricity, and Mik’iel was inert.

“I’m sorry,” Alzar said. “I don’t think this is going to work.”

Aubrey sighed as the nano-bots re-entered her body, and the control panel released her limbs.

“It was worth a shot,” she said.

A short swim later, Aubrey pulled herself out of the thick liquid, and was startled to see Professor Shakkara standing there, watching her.

“How did you do that?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “I tried to interface, but the system was incompatible and shut down before I could do much of anything.”

Shakkara watched her closely as she slid back into her uniform. “No one has ever been able to get it to move before.”

Aubrey looked up at him, puzzled. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you be fighting?”

Shakkara’s head sack inflated. “Well, yes, we were. We mean, we are,” he stammered. “We were heading towards the engineering bay when we noticed the bulkhead open.”

Aubrey swung onto the ladder and descended. She glanced up at Shakkara, whose eyes darted nervously.

“Are you coming?” she asked.

“Er… yes,” he answered. “Yes, we’re coming.”

He hesitated a moment, looking back at the control panel for the Jugger containment chamber, before swinging onto the ladder and following Aubrey down.

As they exited the bulkhead and made their way towards the Jugger bays, Aubrey slid on her aglets and sent James a quick note. “James, lock down this bulkhead. Do not let anyone else enter it. Especially any faculty.”

“On it,” came his reply.

As if in response, Shakkara snapped his fingers.

“Oh bother,” he said dramatically, “we forgot something in there.”

Aubrey hesitated.

“Don’t worry, young lady, we’re quite capable of retrieving it.” He grinned. “You scuttle along now and get ready. The Xaphan are going to burst through at any moment.”

Aubrey turned and walked away, smiling to herself as she heard Shakkara cursing under his breath as he worked at the control panel.

“Blasted thing. Why won’t you open?”

Aubrey sprinted through the vast Jugger engineering bay. Three more Juggers, piloted by students, stood near the main hanger doors. Ean Natum, the battle school student commander, piloted one of them, a hulking Jugger with enormous, long arms that nearly dragged on the ground as she moved. She turned, and nodded her head to Aubrey.

“I reviewed the vid of your battle,” Ean said. “Not bad for a first year.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Aubrey replied as she continued to run.

“Get loaded into one of the Juggers and climb in the ring,” Ean said, rolling her Jugger’s shoulders like a boxer before a match. “Let’s see what you’re made of.”

A thunderous crack echoed through the vast chamber. The entire floor shook, knocking Aubrey to the ground - hard. She skidded a few feet before bouncing off of a supply crate.

She glanced in terror as the main bay doors, which stood over a thousand feet tall, bent inward as another jolt rocked through Bavel. Another blow, and the edge of the door collapsed inward. A bright white tentacle slid across the opening. Several ground soldiers opened fire into the gap.

A rapid succession of missile explosions further bent the door in, while an unseen source heated the metal until the left edge glowed red hot. Aubrey ran through the chaos as foot soldiers carrying heavy mounted Interfenestration guns, rail guns that could punch a hole through six feet of solid steel, scrambled to find defensive positions.

Several of the Jugger support structures shook and collapsed as another loud explosion rocked the room; Aubrey dodged the falling beams that clattered and bounced as she sprinted.

With one final blow, the massive bay door shattered. Huge chunks of re-enforced steel and Baldric plating soared through the air. Aubrey watched in horror as a chunk of the door fell on a nearby soldier, crushing him flat under its weight. Blood and meat spraying across Aubrey’s chest.

She inhaled sharply, looking down at her hands, now covered in viscera. She slowed her breathing as the world around her grew silent.

She focused on her breath, slowly in through the nose, out through the mouth. Her hands stopped shaking, and the tears that had been welling up in her eyes dried. She remembered the words her father had told her when she was a child. “Crying and screaming never got anyone anywhere. You want something changed, roll up your sleeves and get to work.”

She held her hand up, shielding her face as tiny fragments of metal rained down like sleet. She pushed forward. One of the enormous Juggers stepped over her, its foot narrowly missing her head as it charged toward the opening.

Two Xaphan appeared, their tentacles gripping and bending the remainder of the door as hundreds of Ralyians poured through the opening at ground level.

The white giants bellowed. Black drool rained down on the floor as they slammed their massive tentacles into the closest Jugger.

The soldiers on the ground fired, hoping to use the door as a choke point to stem the tide of Ralyians who flooded in through the shattered remains. Two separate battles raged; a firefight on the ground as unfathomable giants warred above them.

A flood of Valaphar poured through the cracks in the door further up, their spider-like bodies clattered across the metal surface.

Aubrey ducked to her left as she felt the force of Ean’s Jugger slamming its body into one of the Xaphan. Ean fired a rapid burst of particle beams into its chest. Her weapon barely singed the Xaphan’s pale skin. Wrapping its tentacles around Ean’s leg, it lunged forward, throwing the giant Jugger against a wall.

Aubrey rounded the corner where she saw Amur, Twiki, Mardon, and Atana, already in Juggers, running their diagnostics. Glancing around, she spotted the last free Jugger, a mid-sized, squat machine with fusion jump jets, a rotary auto cannon, and missile launcher. The word Chimera was painted in blue across its broad chest.

“What took you so long?” Mardon asked.

“She’s scared,” Twiki answered, her own voice wavering.

“I’d be stupid not to be,” Aubrey shot back as she entered Chimera’s spinner. “Now let’s get into this fight.”

She stuck her hands and feet into the control console. “Alzar, release the spiders.”

Rockets on the side of the spinner fired, moving it into place as its nerves intertwined with the Jugger body. Aubrey felt the familiar rush of sensory input as her Jugger came online.

She flexed her hands and shook her shoulders. “Let’s go.”

“Aren’t you going to run through diagnostics?” Amur asked.

As if in response, a chunk of a Jugger arm crashed to the ground next to them, torn free by one of the Xaphan.

She turned, and charged into the chaotic melee, Amur and Mardon on her heels, guns blazing.