"File download at ninety-eight percent!" Maya’s voice shrieked through the tiny earpiece, nearly deafening Rafi with a burst of high-pitched static. "Do not let them break that door!""Ninety-nine!" Tika yelled, her fingers clawing at the auxiliary override pad on the main desk as the heavy oak double doors of the Warden’s suite exploded inward in a blinding flash of orange fire and splintered wood.The shockwave knocked Rafi flat against the obsidian floor, his breath venting in a harsh gasp as smoke choked the opulent room. Through the haze of pulverized drywall and carbon dust, the academy’s automated defense grid came online with a deafening, mechanical roar. Ceiling panels slid back with pneumatic screeches, dropping twin-barreled kinetic turrets that immediately locked their glowing crimson target-acquisition sensors onto the huddled group of cadets."Hostile targets confirmed," a synthesized, emotionless voice echoed from the overhead speakers. "Initiating lethal sweep protocol

"Keep moving! If we stop to catch our breath in this wind, our blood will freeze in our veins before we reach the valley floor!" Rafi shouted, his voice cracking against the howling gale of the wasteland.Tika stumbled through a waist-deep snowdrift, her breath pluming in jagged, white clouds. "Maya’s coordinates said there was a settlement half a day's march out. This is hour fourteen! Are you sure we aren't walking in circles?""I’m sure," Rafi lied, squinting through the driving blizzard as ice caked the edges of his collar. "Just keep your eyes on the ridge line. If Maya’s data pad was accurate, the mining camp should be nestled right behind that jagged outcropping of black stone.""If it isn't, I'm using your skull as a sled to slide back to the academy," Arga wheezed from the rear of the ragged line, half-dragging an exhausted cadet whose boots had worn through miles ago.Dimas shouldered past Arga without a word, his massive frame cutting a crude windbreak for the smaller stude

"Stop moving, Dimas, or I’ll staple your uniform shut right through your skin," Tika warned, pressing a heated medical clamp against the bruised flesh of the larger boy's side with ruthless efficiency.Dimas gritted his teeth, his massive frame tensing against the edge of the cot. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?""Every second," Tika replied deadpan, tossing the bloody gauze into a metal bin. "Consider it payback for every drill you made me run during our first semester."Rafi stood by the reinforced viewport of the scavenger hab-unit, wiping condensation from the frost-rimed glass. Outside, the blizzard howled across the jagged wasteland, turning the landscape into a blinding expanse of white chaos."How’s the reconnaissance feed, Maya?" Rafi asked without turning around.Maya didn't look up from her jury-rigged terminal setup, her fingers flying across a salvaged glass tablet with frantic speed. "It’s not good, Rafi. The local weather towers are picking up high-altitude thermal s

"Not open terrain," Tika corrected, grabbing a heavy wrench from her tool belt and slamming it down on the metal crate. "The Valley of Spikes. The natural choke point three miles north of here. If we wire the canyon walls right, we can drop half a ton of loose shale on their heads before they even clear the ridge.""And if they survive the avalanche?" Arga asked, his eyes narrowing as he checked the magazine of his rifle. "What's plan B?""There is no plan B," Rafi said, his tone absolute. "We let the terrain do the heavy lifting, then we finish off whatever’s still breathing. Dimas, Arga, grab the tripwires and the heavy explosives we scavenged from the corporate transport. We have less than an hour before they’re on us."The wind howled outside the hab-unit, but inside, the air crackled with cold, sharp purpose. No one argued. No one hesitated. The ragged band of cadets had finally shed their fear, replacing it with the chilling efficiency of hunted animals turning on their hounds.

"More incoming!" Arga yelled, his rifle spitting flame into the whiteout as a second wave of corporate enforcers surged through the cascading rubble of the ravine.Rafi didn't answer. He lunged over the frozen ridge, his combat knife sinking into the hardened ballistic plating of an advancing tracker with sickening force. The enforcer grunted, swinging the butt of an assault rifle in a brutal, blind arc that grazed Rafi’s cheek and drew a hot line of crimson."You're slipping, Blackwell!" a sharp, metallic voice cut through the howling gale.Rafi spun around, blocking a downward slash of a heavy combat machete with his forearm guard. Sparks sprayed into the snow as he locked eyes with the lead hunter—a scarred, veteran operative whose academy insignia had long been scratched off his chest plate."I’m just getting started," Rafi snarled, shoving the operative backward with a violent kick to the chest.The hunter stumbled but recovered instantly, lunging forward with terrifying speed. H