Alpha unit counter-fire slammed into the K-9 truck’s titanium plating, sparks flying like Christmas lights in the total darkness of Oasis. The air reeked of ozone from the EMP Juri had released, but inside the bone-conduction field, Juri’s voice was sharp. Filled with an abnormal urgency for an AI. “Jax! There’s strange military cipher traffic on Kael’s local frequency! Ouroboros’ highest frequency is active in the Sanctuary Isles region!”
My worst fear was confirmed mid-attack. I was behind a nearly destroyed container wall. In front of me, eight soldiers who should have died in the Kael catastrophe were now lined up neatly on the escape route I’d just taken. They wore familiar black and gray logistics uniforms, but with a modified shoulder patch: a Golden Triangle. Not the coiled Ourobo
