"I have to tell you, boss," Preese shouted as they piled out into the ethereal light of the facility, "that this has been a really, really weird day!"

Their first experience of following a Scraegan through a freshly dug tunnel had been a story of claustrophobia and nerve-shredding anxiety as he and his squad journeyed with Grunn into the darkness, submerging beneath thousands of tons of rock and dirt, spaced out evenly among the Scraegan pack to ensure they had diggers on either side of them.

Seeing the beasts dig first hand was an awesome sight, their massive bodies twisting in a corkscrew motion, blunt claws and shovel-shaped heads tearing through the planet like paper. It also underlined just how vulnerable the Hunter-Killers were in these depths.

Not carrying anything that even resembled digging equipment, they had to stay closed behind the leading Scraegans to avoid the worst backwash of torn up dirt. If part of the tunnel collapsed, a Scraegan could just dig through it, but without them Ryke knew just how easily they could have become trapped down here.

But it had been the quickest way to cut right through the labyrinth, avoiding the twisting ravines that he'd traversed with a human army just a few short months ago. The rest of the squad had taken a bit of convincing once it became evident what Grunn Rut-Rut was suggesting, but in the end there hadn't been a lot of choice.

As he thundered out into the shining, eerie blue behind Grunn's powerful form, Ryke immediately decided that Preese was right. This was a very weird day.

"Copy that, Deadbolt," Ryke agreed as the feet of his Hunter-Killer struck the solid, unyielding surface of the cavern. After such a long time spent trudging through Rychter's badlands it was startlingly solid, so much so that he had to take a second to reset his footing.

He also needed a second for his eyes to actually take in where he was standing. The massive spine of the communication transmitter filled the chamber with an electric glare, disappearing up through the dizzying shaft all the way to the surface. Seeing it in pictures and diagrams didn't do anything approaching justice to the sheer scale of the thing. On the other end of the cavern was the dark alien control structure, half-immersed in the thick rock of Rychter.

Right in front of him he saw a tiny band of diminutive human figures, insignificant against the vastness of this place. Beyond them he saw the enemy – more than a dozen flame-furred warriors bursting loose of tunnels and charging across the cavern towards them. More enemies piled from the passages on the opposite side of the chamber.

"Everflowing bloody River," Fenix gasped as they spread out from the tunnel mouth. "What is this place?"

"Biggest damned antennae you ever did see," Scantlin agreed.

"Focus up!" Ryke barked, cutting off the chatter. "Eyes on your HUDs, people. We've got live hostile targets and friendlies in the kill zone. Acknowledge?"

The Hunter-Killers' own brand of discipline quickly reasserted itself, and a series of crisp confirmations rattled through the comm from his pilots. He took a breath, nodding as they tightened up their formation into a skirmish line, with Grunn's warriors moving out just ahead of them, bellowing and roaring as they caught sight of their foes.

Ryke's optics swept over the little group of humans in the middle of the cavern, and his heart almost leapt out of his throat when he managed to identify Ivy amongst them, the slim-built engineer lugging a heavy cutter as a weapon. Kelso was there too, but he was limping badly, shuffling away from the onrushing pack of Scraegan rebels.

It took all his self-control not to just charge off into oblivion there and then. At the last second his training kicked in. If he really wanted to help them, and get everyone out alive, he needed to do this like a soldier, not a lover.

"All pilots, move in," he barked, stomping forward until he was alongside Grunn. "Let Grunn and his pack take the lead and engage. Our priority is the survivors. I want a clean cordon, and by the bloody Riverlords be careful what you're shooting at. Make me a path and get those people out of there!"

"Copy that, boss," Preese barked. "You heard the man. Let's go be heroes."

Catching Grunn's eye, Ryke gave an exaggerated nod with the head section of his mech. The Scraegan leader returned the nod, then his attention was completely consumed by the traitor beasts racing across the cavern towards them. He thrummed his warhammer in one hand, and along the line of the allied pack, furnace cannons boiled into life.

Then they charged.

Grunn at their head, the Scraegans stampeded out across the open space, moving with surprising speed. There was an animosity sizzling beneath the surface, some innate, inbuilt hatred of these fire-coloured cousins that drove their allies forward.

"On my lead!" Ryke roared and sprinted off after them.

Furnace shots began scything back and forth, adding trails of boiling orange to the blue of the mast chamber. At this range there wasn't much chance of a killing blow, but he saw the survivors scatter in all directions, caught in between the two opposing forces.

There was nothing he could do about it. They either fought the enemy here and now, or all the survivors would be as good as dead.

His cannon rumbled into life, snapping arcs of armour-piercing shot over the heads of Ivy and the others as they tried to retreat towards the friendly side. Shells from the Goliath mechs exploded among their foes, and both sides accelerated into the crush. Ryke kept an eye on the HUD, doing his best to mark the positions of the survivors.

It was going to be close.

Far too close.

*

Caught in the crossfire, Ivy and the survivors had little choice but to run for their lives as furnace cannon shots carved smoky smears into the cavern floor. What felt like seconds later the melee erupted all around her.

Captain Kenyatta died as the two sides slammed together.

Ivy saw it; saw her commanding officer simply vanish as a close range furnace blast from the enemy pack swallowed her. There was no scream. At this distance the shot blew her to pieces, leaving a smoking, oblong blast mark and scattered bones and limbs.

She stared, trying to comprehend it. Huge bodies smashed together all around her, the titans of this world fighting for dominance, and her caught in the middle of it.

Insanity.

That was the only word that rang in Ivy's mind. How had this happened? How, by the Watching Lords and the Everflowing River, had Corporal Ivy Shanklin found herself on foot, in the midst of a battle between Scraegans, Hunter-Killers and... more Scraegans?

The sheer absurdity of it rooted her to the spot for a few precious seconds. Then an errant blast threw her off her feet.

Ivy tumbled head over heels; she hit her head on something sharp and rolled several meters. Blinking, she saw red. Dazed, she raised a hand to her skull. It came away slick with crimson. Trying to clear her vision, she managed to locate the cutter again lying a few meters away, and dragged it back towards her.

Through bleary eyes, she examined it. Still working.

"Ivy!"

Kelso's voice punched through the ache behind her eyes and she looked up to find him shuffling back towards her, his grenade launcher raised. Twisting around, Ivy saw the Scraegan he was aiming at trudging wrathfully towards her, wielding a mallet with a head bigger than her torso.

Kelso shot a grenade into its chest.

The explosion made the beast stagger for a second, interrupting its advance towards Ivy. Instead it turned on him, and hefted its mallet.

"Everflowing," Ivy coughed, her mind clearing again as the pain settled to a low throb.

Their attacker trudged towards Kelso and swung in a vicious downward arc. He just managed to avoid it, pushing off his good leg and sending himself sprawling onto his back, the grenade launcher clattering out of his grip as he fell. The head of the mallet smashed deafeningly off the surface of the cavern floor, making the pain in Ivy's skull spike.

The Scraegan had no such problems. It hefted the weapon again and took one step forward, ready to smash Kelso into oblivion.

Move, Ivy. MOVE.

She dragged the cutter around, wiping blood from her eyes as she fumbled with its control mechanisms. The battery whined with power and she lurched to her feet, stumbling towards them. The Scraegan didn't look at her, didn't register her tiny body as a threat, even when she got within a few meters of it.

Just close enough to use the cutter.

Its huge arm started to descend, and Ivy took aim. Her hands snapped tight around the control mechanisms and she squeezed the trigger with all her might.

A beam shot out and sliced a deep gouge in the Scraegan's wrist. The beast let out a low, snarling growl of pain and its paw opened sharply, sending the mallet clanging harmlessly off across the cavern floor.

Ivy shifted her footing, running on sheer adrenaline as the warrior turned towards her. Those dark eyes fixed on her, and the Scraegan's brutish face crumpled with indignant rage. It rotated its bulk, one enormous fist rising to smash her into a pulp.

She stepped towards it and screamed, not with fear, or panic, but with unbridled rage. Her fingers curled around the cutter's trigger again and sent another scorching blast of energy right into the warrior's face. Her aim was true, and the beam tore right across the brute's left eye and along the side of its skull.

The eye disappeared in a sizzling pool, and the Scraegan howled in agony, reeling backwards and pawing at its head.

Ivy let out a shuddering breath, her bowels turning when the reality of what she'd just done slammed home. On shaking legs, she staggered over to Kelso and grabbed the shoulder of his jacket.

"C'mon," she coughed. "We gotta go!"

She managed to wrestle him upright for a second, but his injured leg gave out almost instantly, further damaged by their brush with death.

"Drown me, I can't!" he snarled, shoving her away. "Go! Now, while you can!"

"Kelso-," she grabbed the front of his jacket, "shut up! You've got one bloody leg left don't you?"

"I'll slow you down."

Before she could argue with him any further, Ivy felt the shadow fall over her. Against her better judgement, she looked back over her shoulder, and found the Scraegan warrior looking down on them. Its nostrils flared with rage, its remaining eye wide as it glared down at them. The furnace cannon lashed to its arm was already primed – she could feel the heat.

"Ivy..."

"I..."

She didn't know what to do. She froze, unable to drop Kelso and leave him to his fate, but knowing that any other course of action meant that she was going to die.

Then another Scraegan came out the chaos and slammed into their foe like a rocket. She saw the flash of grey fur, and the glint of a serrated horn, the metal ripping a gouge in the enemy warrior's shoulder and sending it stumbling. The leader of the Scraegans that were – apparently – friendly, raised a long warhammer in both paws and swung, the head cracking off the enemy's skull with a gut-churning clunk.

The Scraegan rebel spun drunkenly backwards, right into the path of a Hunter-Killer mech. The war machine stepped forward decisively and the pilot rammed their warblade right through the remaining eye-socket of the enemy, killing the creature instantly. The Hunter-Killer ripped itself loose and twisted towards her.

It's loudspeakers boomed and out came the voice of Ryke Vannigan.

"Sorry we took so long."

It was the sweetest sound she'd ever heard.

*

Ryke could barely control the smashing of his heart inside his ribs. He felt sore; breathless; terrified – all bottled together in a horrible cocktail. He'd been inches away from losing them both in a single moment.

"Stay back," he told them through the comm, turning to shield their bodies with his mech. Grunn stumped over beside him and loosed a furnace shot into the charging pack of enemies. His cannon erupted with renewed fury as he pumped rounds into their foes.

Kim's slender Raptor mech loped up to join him in their combat pairing a moment later, spattered with blood from a fresh kill. He looked back to Ivy and Kelso. They were upright now, Ivy supporting his brother with an arm held tight over her shoulder, the cutter now abandoned on the valley floor. He saw the fear in her eyes as two of Grunn's pack lumbered past them, but these warriors were their allies now.

In another time he would have killed everything in here that wasn't human.

Three more of the flame-coloured enemies came piling into the crush, heavy weapons swinging. Ryke took a solid blow on his shoulder shield and slammed his warblade three times into the warrior's torso. It clouted him with its cannon arm in response, and he twisted aside with the impact, allowing Kim to rake the creature with shots. He glimpsed Grunn kill another with a crushing hammer blow to the throat; the other Scraegans wrestled the third attacker to the ground where they clawed and stabbed at each other like wild things.

He looked back again. Ivy was still standing there supporting Kelso, blood running down her face, eyes wide.

"Ivy, go," he barked, pointing with the Hunter-Killer's bulky gauntlet. "Get to the tunnel. We'll keep you covered."

She looked like she didn't want to; like she didn't to leave his orbit right now. But then Kelso leaned in and said something to her that made her start. Ivy blinked several times and nodded. Then she rotated, turning Kelso from the fight and struggling off through the sea of broken bodies and blast marks.

"Lockjaw – all units," Ryke barked over the comm between shots. "Status on friendlies?"

"Medea here – we've got three following," Qadira replied quickly.

"Deadbolt, two more, boss."

"Avalanche. Four friendlies free and clear – covering as they head for the tunnel."

That made eleven. Eleven survivors from the entire expedition. Looking around, Ryke couldn't see any stragglers still in the killing field. Several bodies, but no survivors.

He took a deep breath and refocused, examining the HUD as the lines reformed. The initial charge from Grunn and HK-Rupture had managed to clear enough space for the last survivors to get out of harm's way. He could see the slow moving spec of Ivy and Kelso, their signatures merged on the display as they trailed behind their comrades.

They were out of the fighting now, though. That was all that mattered.

Further ahead, the enemy packs were reforming, licking wounds and letting out barks and growls of challenge. There were plenty of them in fighting shape, and they didn't look like they were about to back down.

The feeling was mutual. The mechs of HK-Rupture reformed their line, with Grunn's warriors filling in the spaces in between, forming a wall between the fire-furred enemies and the fleeing members of the dig team.

"The friendlies are all clear," Fenix declared, anger sharpening her words. "Think we can take the training wheels off now, Sarge?"

"Took the words right out of my mouth, Riptide," Erin concurred.

"I count fifteen," Kim put in. "But long range seismics are going crazy, sarge. We're going to have company real soon. If we want to do this, we'd better do it quick."

"You heard her," Ryke growled on the squad-wide. "HK-Rupture, you are weapons free. Let's finish this and go home."