Prologue

The optic neurolink disconnected, and Rei frantically looked around the cockpit. The comms were spitting static. The back-up video feed was nothing but snow. The link to the drone was dead. Dauntless, the 15-meter-high Sun Wukong-class mecha, was flying blind.  

She had just stepped out from behind a skyscraper, one of the decaying ruins that jutted from the irradiated sands like the fingers of a dead giant. Then the electronic countermeasures hit. She needed to step ba- 

A tank shell tore through Dauntless’ left arm, ripping apart the hydraulics and duralloy like aluminum foil. Rei pivoted with the blow, the mech twirling backwards like a ballerina, right into the rusting steel of the skyscraper. Smack. 

As Dauntless lay in the sand, battered with pocks and scratches from the impact, Rei activated the EPM systems. The comms whined as the mech’s systems attempted to defeat the jamming. Between the static, a faint voice came through.  

“Rei? Re... can … hear me?” 

“Sergei! I am pinned down and being jammed. Video is down, comms are barely holding. I need immediate EPM from you.”  

Half a klick away, in the belly of an APC, Sergei unleashed a torrent of Russian profanity. His commander, Major Shen was looking over his shoulder at the computer screens as they ran their programs. 

“What the hell is going on? This place wasn’t supposed to be occupied!” 

“Your intel was off Major, there’s someone in there with an EW suite and a big gun. Rei’s optics are gone, I’m trying to...YES!’ 

In Dauntless’ cockpit, the video-feed faded back in. Rei reactivated the optic neurolink, and Dauntless’ eyes became hers.  

“Sergei, optics are back online. I don’t know if they’ll hold.” 

“They won’t. You need to find the source of the jam...hold up, I’m getting the drone back online...” 

In the corner of her vision, a small screen popped up. With a thought she enlarged it. A birds-eye view of the ruined city block. She saw Dauntless getting back on her feet, her left arm mangled and leaking hydraulic fluid. The drone passed over, scanning the sand-covered street.  

“THERE! 70 meters out!”  

A black Scythian-class tank, emblazoned with the gold kolovrat, turret aimed at Rei’s position. “VALKYRIE mercs, must have the same idea we do. Sergei, do your thing!” 

Sergei hammered at the keyboard as the APC’s EW suite spooled up. The tank turret was shifting its gaze, aiming its AA-gun towards the drone.  

“Sergei...” 

“Give me a...THERE!” 

The AA gun fired at the empty air 20 meters to the right of the drone. It fired again, and again, and then the tank turret began to spin, the operators panicking at the legion of phantoms being picked up by the sensors.  

“REI, DO IT!” 

Dauntless rounded the corner, rail cannon clutched in her working arm. The targeting suite honed in on the tank. The armor was thick, and if the shot wasn’t perfect the tank would retaliate. And it wouldn’t be an arm shot this time.  

The tank commander had poked his head out of the hatch. Dauntless leveled the rail cannon. The commander gave a shout. Dauntless’ mangled left arm was used as a brace. The turret began to swing around. The targeting software gave a firing solution.  

A railgun round cut through the air, directly down the barrel of the tank. The ammunition cache in the tank exploded. The turret flew upwards, arcing through the sky, before slamming into the sand.  

“...This is Rei. Target down.”