"You mind chiming in to let me know what''s going on down there?"


    "That''s what I thought," "Until you started burning yourself at both ends."


    "Am I? It requires tremendous strength and focus to maintain so many illusions convincingly. Not to mention the toll on your Nanobit reserves."


    "The question isn''t whether you . It''s whether you . We''re smack in the middle of a Sector Nine desert. Where are they supposed to go?"


    "Let''s regroup,""Board my ship. We can reassess from there. Set up a new point of contact, on our terms."


    "Pace yourself, Parallax. The situation is still evolving. Did  know Razor was going to turn on us? Because I sure didn''t."


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Also,  just happened. There''s a vehicle headed this way, at a southeast trajectory. It''s moving at a pretty fast clip. I think it''s...oh."


    Oh.


    Oh fuck.


    what the hell is wrong with me? I literally asked for this, fought for this, and thank God it worked.


    There''s no time for this. Not now. Later, I can-


    Oh, sure. ''There''s something behind you.'' Oldest trick in the book.


    SERAPHIM INCURSION DETECTED.


    INCURSION GRADE: FIVE.


    POTENTIAL NUCLEAR-LEVEL THREAT.


    THREAT ASSESSMENT: DO NOT ENGAGE. SEEK SHELTER. AVOID DETECTION IF POSSIBLE.


    DO NOT ENGAGE.


    DO NOT-