Location:Mid Ring, Vel'thari Containment — Southern Tunnels
Date/Time:Ashbloom, 9942 AZI — Day 167, 198 days remaining
Realm:Lower Realm, Doha
The exoskeleton's left shoulder joint ground when she moved it.
Six dead Ravagers on the tunnel floor. The mantis beside her, blade-arms folding back to stillness. Amber fluid cooling on the chitin walls. And Jayde's left arm operating at sixty percent, the cracked actuator housing leaking hydraulic fluid in a slow drip that pattered on the stone like a metronome counting down the time she had before the joint seized entirely.
The patrol was half-finished. The southern tunnel network was still unmapped past this point. Going back to base meant the scouting run was wasted — she'd have to repair the exoskeleton, fabricate a replacement housing, and come back tomorrow. Another day lost. Another day the colony had to adapt to her patrol patterns.
She looked at the mantis. The mantis looked at her.
