The heavy plasteel doors of the primary surface lift slid shut, sealing the Vanguard squad inside the pristine transport car. The sickening stench of the medical pavilion was instantly severed, replaced by the sharp, metallic tang of filtered air. With a deep, resonating hum, the massive elevator engaged.The sudden vertical acceleration pressed Cyrus and the soldiers heavily into the grated floor. The lift was a high-capacity industrial model, designed to move heavy munitions and full platoons rapidly from the subterranean depths to the surface fortifications.Sergeant Rael leaned against the polished metal wall, his chest heaving as he rested his damaged cybernetic arm. He looked at the five Ash Walkers. They were battered, their matte-black armor scorched and scored by kinetic fire and thermal blades."Check your mags," Rael ordered, his voice raw but steady.The metallic clatter of magazines dropping and sliding back into receivers filled the small space. It was a grim tally. The

The heavy plasteel doors of the transmission spire were sealed tight, their surfaces pitted by the relentless ash storms that battered the Terminus Ridge. Cyrus stood before the massive entryway, the howling wind attempting to tear him from the exposed gantry. Behind him, the five Ash Walkers maintained a tight perimeter around the disabled Aegis barricade, their sidearms drawn. Their kinetic rifles were slung over their shoulders, their magazines depleted.Sergeant Rael limped forward, cradling his damaged cybernetic arm. He inspected the Vanguard terminal set into the reinforced bulkhead. The screen was dark, the power conduits ripped out and replaced by a hardened knot of green biological resin."We are locked out," Rael shouted over the gale. "The Othari have physically severed the primary access relays. The biometric scanners are dead.""We do not have the time for a subtle entry," Cyrus replied, keeping his voice steady despite the punishing cold. He looked back at the disabled

The heavy bio-metallic scales of the central node parted with a wet, tearing sound, peeling back like the petals of a rotting flower. The blinding crimson light inside intensified, casting long, distorted shadows across the open-air platform.Cyrus held his ground against the howling wind, the thirty-pound tungsten-carbide rod gripped tightly in his hands.Suspended within the core of the transmission node was not a machine, but a specialized Othari bio-form. It was a Node Weaver—a grotesque amalgamation of alien biology and repurposed Vanguard neural circuitry. The creature had no legs; its lower torso was fused directly into the primary power feed of the parabolic dish. Its upper body was gaunt and elongated, wrapped in pale, translucent flesh that pulsed with the rhythm of the deep-space beacon.The Weaver’s faceless visor turned toward the Vanguard squad. It raised two elongated, multi-jointed arms."Open fire!" Rael commanded.The five Ash Walkers raised their Vanguard sidearms a

The roar of the dreadnought’s biological engines was a physical weight, pressing against Cyrus’s chest as he sprinted down the length of the control bunker's gantry. The air in the subterranean silo was superheated, thick with the stench of burning ozone and scorched biological tissue.Thirty feet of open air separated the edge of the ferrocrete gantry from the rising hull of the alien leviathan. Beneath that gap lay the catastrophic inferno of the ship's thrusters.Cyrus did not break his stride. He tracked the velocity of the ascending dreadnought, watching for the narrow window of opportunity. The ship was tearing free from its umbilical clamps, violently shuddering as it ripped massive chunks of the Vanguard facility from the bedrock. The walls of the silo groaned under the immense friction.He reached the edge of the gantry and pushed off, timing his jump with the dreadnought's upward surge.The thirty-foot gap closed rapidly beneath him as the dreadnought continued its violent a

The violent shudder of the Aegis-class dropship reverberated through the pressurized troop bay, a jarring contrast to the smooth hum of its sub-light engines. Climbing out of Terminus's gravity well required immense thrust, and the Vanguard dropship's automated launch system was pushing its thrusters to their absolute limits. The heavy plasteel hull groaned, fighting the violent atmospheric turbulence and the toxic ash storms that choked the dying planet below.Cyrus sat strapped into the reinforced crash webbing near the front bulkhead. He kept his right hand wrapped firmly around the thirty-pound tungsten-carbide rod, anchoring the heavy blunt weapon against the metal floor so it wouldn't become a lethal projectile in the violently shaking cabin.His enhanced perception tracked the micro-fluctuations in the dropship’s trajectory. Every time the vessel banked to evade the towering columns of atmospheric thermal drafts, Cyrus adjusted his core balance instinctively, absorbing the crush