The sky above the camp was a brilliant shade of orange as Sirius Blake jogged toward the morning briefing. The rising sun glinted off the sleek metallic structures of the Terran Defense Corps training facility, casting long shadows across courtyards and obstacle fields. Heat shimmered over the simulator domes like invisible waves.
> "Environmental scan," Sirius whispered, tugging at the straps of his exo-vest.
> "Temperature: thirty-seven Celsius. Humidity: sixty-four percent. Survival probability during endurance drills: seventy-one percent. Recommended hydration protocol: 1.2 liters over the next hour," ARI replied.
"Hydrate, survive, don't trip over my own feet. Got it."
Around him, recruits gathered, their faces pale and sweat-streaked even before the day began. Groans carried through the lines as the instructors approached. Sirius chuckled. Everyone looked terrified. Everyone but him.
---
The voice of Instructor Cole cut through the crowd like a blade.
"Recruits! Today's mission: endurance and survival drills! You will traverse the High-Intensity Obstacle Circuit — full combat kits, minimal med support. No AI aid. Fail, and you repeat until you succeed… or collapse. Move!"
The words rippled like a shockwave. No AI meant no ARI overlays, no glowing pathways to follow, no quiet reminders whispering into their ears. Sirius smirked.
"Okay, looks like I get to test what I've got without training wheels. I like it."
> "Recalibrating baseline enhancements. Neural reflexes and stamina retained. Neural dexterity recalibration possible post-drill," ARI noted.
"Good enough," Sirius whispered. "Bring it on."
---
The course began brutal. Collapsing walls, jagged terrain, sudden gouts of flame from thermal vents. Recruits stumbled, cursed, froze. A few scraped hands and knees bloody on sharp gravel.
Sirius flowed through it like a kid on a playground. His eyes weren't just on the obstacles — they were on the systems behind them. Loose hinges. Strained pistons. Faulty circuits. Machines whispered their secrets, and Sirius listened.
A groan behind him snapped his attention. A recruit tripped near a support beam trembling under its own weight. Without hesitation, Sirius yanked it into place before it collapsed.
> "Minor Mission available: Stabilize obstacle beam. Estimated completion: ten minutes. Reward: focus enhancement plus one percent," ARI whispered.
Sirius grinned. "That's my kind of work."
Sweat poured down his face as he braced the beam and wedged it secure. The recruit scrambled free with wide eyes. Sirius jogged off like nothing happened, already catching up to the pack.
---
Ahead, he spotted a girl crouched over a fallen training drone. Her movements were precise, hands sure as they coaxed life back into the sparking circuits. White streaks marked her tied-back hair. Aria "Whisper" Kade.
Sirius slowed. "Quiet type, huh?"
Whisper glanced up, eyes sharp but kind. "And you're loud enough to give the Hivebugs a migraine," she said evenly, then returned to her work.
Sirius barked a laugh. "Name's Renegade. And hey, if the bugs had ears, they'd thank me."
Whisper's lips twitched — not quite a smile, but close.
> "Social bonding potential: positive trajectory," ARI murmured.
Sirius ignored her and jogged on, grinning.
---
The final stretch loomed: a vertical cliff face bristling with hooks, ropes, and magnetic anchors. Recruits clipped on and began to climb, full combat kits dragging them down. One by one, bodies faltered, groans echoing up the wall.
Sirius moved steady, anticipating weak anchors and shifting mid-climb. Below him, a mountain of a man strained upward, his armor plates creaking with each pull. Rurik "Bear" Ivanov.
Sirius smirked. "Finally, someone I can't lift."
Bear's eyes met his briefly, calm and unshaken despite the weight. "Don't slow me down," he rumbled.
> "Observation: Bear exhibits high physical endurance. Cooperation probability with Renegade: sixty-eight percent," ARI said.
Sirius chuckled. "Oh, we're going to have fun."
---
Halfway up, the cliff roared. Projected Hivebugs burst from fissures in the rock face. Turrets along the ridge sparked and died. Recruits screamed.
Sirius froze for a fraction of a second. Then he was moving.
"Turrets first!" he shouted, sprinting across a narrow ledge. His hands dove into the nearest panel, rerouting power even as holographic mandibles scraped the air. Sparks illuminated his face in bursts of white-blue light.
"Bear!" Sirius yelled. "Block the path!"
Bear didn't question. He tore chunks of debris free and slammed them into place, buying seconds. Whisper darted between recruits, patching burns from thermal vents, her movements surgical.
> "Minor Mission available: Stabilize turret array and reinforce shielded path. Estimated time: fifteen minutes. Reward: stamina enhancement plus one percent," ARI whispered.
Sirius's fingers flew. Circuits hummed back to life. The turrets roared, their barrels spitting light as they shredded the swarm.
Jinx's voice carried faintly from above. "Show-off! You make obstacle courses look like puzzles!"
"Everything's a puzzle," Sirius shouted back. "You just have to know where the pieces go!"
Stone's grunt followed. "Doesn't matter how flashy it looks. He got it done."
> "Reward applied: stamina enhancement plus one percent," ARI confirmed.
Sirius leaned back against the cliff wall, grinning through the sweat and smoke. "Effective is my middle name."
---
By the end of the drill, the recruits were scattered, bruised, and dust-caked. The instructors lined them up for debrief.
Cole paced the line, eyes scanning each one. When he stopped before Sirius, his voice carried.
"Blake. You didn't just survive — you stabilized collapsing structures, kept turrets online, and shielded recruits who should've been dead weight. That's what a field armorer does."
Murmurs rippled.
Sirius smirked. "Thanks, sir. Means a lot coming from you."
Cole's eyes narrowed slightly. "Or maybe you're just too lucky. We'll see how long that lasts."
The words cut colder than praise, suspicion threading the tone. Sirius kept smiling, but inside, ARI's voice sharpened.
> "Warning: Instructor Cole's interest in you is heightened. Probability of discovery risk: increased to seventeen percent."
Noted, Sirius thought grimly.
---
Back at the barracks, Jinx reenacted his favorite "heroic pistol shot" for anyone who would listen. Stone polished his carbine in silence. Whisper checked her med-kit inventory. Bear, stripped to the waist, methodically cleaned soot from his gauntlets.
Shade lingered in the corner, as always, half in shadow. His eyes slid briefly to Sirius — sharp, calculating, unreadable — before shifting away.
ARI whispered, "Observation: Shade monitors you more than the others. Motivation: unknown."
Sirius shivered faintly, then forced a grin. "Let him watch. Maybe he'll learn something."
---
That night, Sirius lay back on his bunk, hands blackened with grease and dust.
> "Log today's enhancements," he whispered.
> "Stamina plus one percent. Focus plus one percent. Neural dexterity recalibration: plus zero point five. Squad cohesion: improved," ARI reported.
Sirius exhaled, satisfied. "Not bad for a day's work."
He glanced toward the others. Jinx laughing too loud. Stone steady as a wall. Whisper meticulous, Bear indomitable. Sparks somewhere in the maintenance bay, probably cursing at a rifle. Shade silent, always watching.
Misfits. But misfits with potential.
"One day," Sirius murmured, "we'll be more than recruits."
> "Acknowledged. Forecast: high probability," ARI said.
Sirius smiled. The Hivebugs were still out there. The war still raged. But as long as his weapons worked, as long as his squad held, as long as ARI whispered at his back, Sirius Blake — Renegade — was ready.
And the real war hadn't even started.