The mining site was worse than Chris had imagined.


    The prefab structures were barely enough to be considered a base –– just a simple workshop for drone maintenance and a cramped living space with open showers, bunk beds, and the cheapest rations available. Out in the open, completely exposed, sat two massive storage containers meant to hold the mined perchlorate salts. A dangerous material with no containment, no hazmat protocols, and no defences.


    Chris froze.


    So did the others.


    There were no gun emplacements, no security measures, nothing. They were at the lowest point in the crater, which meant every possible enemy would have the high ground. It was a death trap.


    Chris had no idea where to start. There is nothing we can do, this is pointless.


    Neither did Jania. Neither did Zeph or Max. They all just stared at the base.


    Null didn’t care. To him, this was a normal scenario. Bases like this were a staple of his super-soldier missions. Many times, he had been deployed to locations just like this, a place to fight and die. A place designed to test their limits.


    So he acted.


    Without waiting for input, Null entered the mining pit, interfacing with the mining drones. Infy connected instantly to the drones and set them up to work.


    Null’s synthetic voice rang out over the group.


    "We need earthwork defences. We are not helpless. Come help"


    Chris blinked as the meaning sank in.


    The drones.


    They weren’t just for mining, they could  also move earth.


    It took most of the afternoon, but by the time the sun began to dip, the terrain had changed entirely.


    A trench now surrounded their base, a deep-cut barrier reinforced by a solid earth wall on the inner side. It wouldn’t stop a serious assault, but it would force the enemy into predictable approaches.


    Null hadn’t stopped there.


    Max had been given five shield drones for his suit he refused to wear. They were small floating discs designed to generate personal barriers. Null had repurposed them, embedding them into the earth wall itself, angling them at 45 degrees above the trench. He had maximised the area they could cover but reduced their effectiveness.


    The result?


    A ring of overlapping shields that almost formed a dome. It was enough that any incoming shots would have to hit something first.


    Chris stepped back, taking it all in. It wasn’t perfect but in just a few hours, Null had turned an exposed pit into something defensible.


    Chris let out a slow breath. “Okay… that’s impressive.”


    Jania nodded. Zeph gave a small, approving nod. Even Max, still irritated, let out a quiet, reluctant, “Huh.”


    That was only the beginning.


    Null continued working without pause, directing the drones to dig holes for the two massive storage containers. Burying them slightly would provide some protection. Once that was done, he sent the drones back to their primary task of mining.


    Chris exhaled, still mentally kicking himself. He had frozen earlier, letting the sheer lack of preparation overwhelm him instead of thinking his way through it. He knew better. He should have adapted immediately, but instead, he had hesitated.


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    Jania pulled him aside while the others worked, her tone softer than usual. “You’re being too hard on yourself.”


    Chris gave her a tired look. “I froze, Jania.”


    She grinned. “Yeah, you did. And then you got yourself moving after Little Man kicked you into action.” She patted his shoulder. “Don’t compare yourself to him. This whole thing is about getting experience and he was way more than you. Learn from it and move on.”


    Chris let out a breath “Yeah. You’re right.”


    Jania smiled widely. “Of course I am.”


    With that, he pulled himself together and started assigning roles.


    Zeph would implement her security measures, setting up random system wipes for the mining drones, an encrypted secondary signal, and baiting the enemy with the primary network.


    Max was in charge of placing the vibration sensors around the perimeter to detect any tunnelling attempts.


    Jania would guard him while he worked.


    Chris would protect Zeph while also setting up a schedule for sleep rotations and lookout duties.


    Null had the most unpredictable task. He would scout the area and gather intelligence on what they were up against.


    Chris doubted the first attack would be overwhelming. The competition had to be balanced, and sending an unstoppable force too soon would ruin the challenge.


    Still, that didn’t mean they could get comfortable.


    For the first two days, nothing major had happened. There had been no attacks, no sabotage, and no signs of enemy movement. The mining drones had done their job efficiently, and the first container was nearly full. An automated transport was scheduled to arrive soon to collect it.


    Despite the lack of external threats, tensions had begun to rise within the team. The shared living space had led to a few minor incidents, mostly caused by the challenges of mixed-gender accommodations. It was nothing serious, but it added to the strain of waiting for the inevitable conflict.


    No one had heard from Null since he left to scout. Chris wasn’t worried, but Max was convinced he had been eliminated.


    “He’s dead,” Max said flatly, leaning back against a crate. “Or captured. Either way, he’s gone.”


    Chris shook his head. “If Null was eliminated, they would have announced it.”


    Max scoffed. “Or maybe they’re leaving him out there to mess with us.”


    Chris ignored him. He had a different theory. Null’s absence wasn’t a sign of failure—it was why they hadn’t been attacked yet. No way they would have taken him down, and if they did we don’t stand a chance.


    The enemy was out there. They were waiting. And if Null was still alive, he was either keeping them occupied or gathering intel.


    Either way, the silence wouldn’t last forever.


    The attack came exactly when expected, just as the first shipment was scheduled for pickup.


    It was the obvious choice. The best time to strike was when they were preparing to transport the mined materials. Everyone knew it was coming. The only question was how the enemy would hit them.


    Jania was thrilled. She had been eager to push her new suit to its limits and finally had a chance to do so. She had spent plenty of time testing it, but nothing compared to a real battle.


    Chris had braced for an infantry assault or maybe a sabotage attempt. Instead, the enemy came in the worst possible form.


    A swarm.


    Thousands of AI-controlled drones filled the sky like a living storm, metal bodies glinting as they descended in waves. They were small but fast, darting unpredictably as they converged on the base.


    The moment the swarm came into view, Jania’s gun roared to life.


    Bright streaks of gunfire tore through the sky as she fired as fast as the suit’s cooling system would allow. Drones exploded in bursts of flame and metal, but for every one she took down, ten more took its place.


    Chris and Max tried to help, but their stun guns were useless against something with no nervous system to overload and with EMF shielding.


    They had no dedicated anti-air defences.


    The base’s fortifications, the trench, and the angled shields did not matter against an enemy that could simply fly over it.


    They were trapped.


    Chris clenched his teeth, scanning for anything they could use, anything that could turn the fight around. But there was nothing. They were going to be overwhelmed.


    Then, he saw it.


    A dark shape moving in the distance, cutting through the sky fast.


    Null.


    But he wasn’t alone. He was piloting something.


    Chris squinted through the chaos and barely made out the form. It was a half ship, half mech, its twin cannons firing rapid bursts into the sky. Null’s twin railguns attached to his suit also roared to life, glowing hot from overuse, charged and fired in devastating arcs, the four weapons were ripping through clusters of drones at a time.


    For a moment, hope surged.


    But even that wasn’t enough.


    The swarm shifted, focusing on the transport ship. Despite Null’s best efforts, the sheer numbers were too much. The drones tore into its engines, sending it plummeting toward the ground.


    Chris watched, helpless, as the shipment crashed back into the dirt.


    The container didn’t rupture or disperse any toxins, but the loss was undeniable. The enemy had won.


    And just as quickly as they had arrived, the drones disengaged and vanished into the sky.


    The attack was over, but Chris wasn’t disheartened. He looked around at all the free resources they had gained and was already forming plans for the next pickup.