Part 2
The image of the hostile grid remained suspended above the tactical platform.
Dense jungle covered nearly every visible kilometer.
Mountain ridges broke through the canopy in long, uneven lines. Rivers twisted beneath layers of green too thick for orbital cameras to penetrate completely. Mineral deposits glimmered faintly along the exposed cliffs.
David recognized the terrain.
Not the exact path.
The jungle had been too dense for that.
But he remembered the pressure of it.
The humidity gathering beneath his armor.
The smell of mineral dust and decay.
The canopy swallowing sunlight until every direction looked the same.
Commander Vance expanded the grid.
Old mission markers appeared across the projection.
Forty-eight entry points.
Squad boundaries.
Extraction beacons.
Recorded monster contacts.
Gamma Squad's previous route illuminated through one section of the jungle.
David leaned forward.
Their path appeared almost insignificant from above.
A thin blue line winding between ridges and thick vegetation.
Yet he remembered every meter of it.
The Vale Raptors falling from the canopy.
The Mineral Strikers erupting from fractured stone.
The panic spreading over squad communications when Sigma encountered the Yellow-tier predator.
Then the Ravager had entered Gamma's grid.
Commander Vance touched the controls.
Helmet-camera footage appeared beside the map.
The image shook violently as the wounded creature crashed through the undergrowth.
Bone plating covered its body.
Crystal spines rose from its back.
Its left flank remained blackened from the sonic damage inflicted by Sigma Squad.
The footage paused as the Ravager caught a fleeing Vale Raptor in its jaws.
The Blue-tier creature died almost instantly.
Its core was exposed.
Consumed.
The briefing room remained silent as the Ravager's body began changing.
Muscle expanded beneath its hide.
Its wounds sealed.
The crystalline spines along its back thickened and spread.
Major Holt stepped closer to the projection.
"This encounter provided Planetary Defense Command with the first complete recording of accelerated core evolution on Kharos Vale."
The footage resumed.
The creature's designation changed.
**RAVAGER PRIME**
**ESTIMATED TIER: EPIC**
June shifted in his seat.
"I remember that part."
Lucian glanced at him.
"I doubt any of us have forgotten."
June's expression lost the small trace of humor it had carried.
"No."
"I suppose not."
Commander Vance changed the recording.
The Ravager Prime fell.
Gamma Squad stood wounded around its body.
Then the trees beyond them began collapsing.
The Vale Tyrant entered the image.
Even as a holographic recording, the creature seemed too large for the jungle surrounding it.
Layered armor protected its body.
A horned skull rose above the undergrowth.
Molten amber light burned beneath the reinforced plates covering its chest.
The display identified it.
**VALE TYRANT**
**TIER: LEGENDARY**
**ESTIMATED LEVEL: 18**
Mira watched the footage without blinking.
Nyra's hands rested quietly in her lap.
Castiel's gaze remained fixed on the creature's movements, studying them again despite having lived through the battle himself.
David watched Lucian being struck.
June thrown into a tree.
Nyra's blades failing to penetrate the armor.
Castiel's weapon barely marking the horn ridge.
Then he saw himself move.
Not as he remembered it.
From the outside.
A blood-covered cadet forcing himself to stand while the Vale Tyrant raised one massive forelimb over Lucian.
The recording showed David crossing the distance.
Both daggers driving into the seam beneath the Tyrant's rib plating.
Nyra followed.
Castiel struck from above.
Lucian extended one final blood-thread into the exposed cavity.
The creature collapsed.
The footage stopped.
No one spoke.
Commander Vance allowed the silence to remain.
"That battle ended your first deployment."
The tactical projection returned.
A record appeared beside Gamma Squad's route.
**CONFIRMED ELIMINATIONS**
**1 Legendary-tier Vale Tyrant**
**1 Epic-tier Ravager Prime**
**6 Blue-tier creatures**
**Recovered Cores: 8**
Another display opened beneath it.
**PLANETARY CLASSIFICATION SHIFT**
**LOW YELLOW TIER**
**TO**
**HIGH BLUE TIER**
June stared at the words.
"We caused that?"
Major Holt answered.
"You contributed substantially."
He enlarged the planetary data recorded during the final hours of the operation.
"Your squad eliminated two of the strongest known predators operating inside the eastern jungle region."
"Other squads eliminated dominant creatures within their assigned grids."
"Those losses reduced the concentration of high-tier monster cores across the planet."
Castiel followed the changing figures.
"The total threat calculation fell below the Yellow threshold."
"Correct."
Major Holt changed the projection again.
"Kharos Vale did not become safer because the environment changed."
"The jungle remained the jungle."
"The predators remained dangerous."
"What changed was the balance of power within the monster population."
Several large icons disappeared from the planetary map.
The overall classification shifted from yellow to blue.
Commander Vance stepped forward.
"The competition was terminated because the primary objective had already been exceeded."
"You were sent to eliminate monsters and survive."
"Instead, the participating squads lowered the threat classification of an entire planet."
Her eyes moved across Gamma Squad.
"That accomplishment is why Supreme Commander Voss authorized your return."
The map widened.
Hundreds of grids appeared across Kharos Vale.
Many had already been cleared by military teams and colonial forces.
Others remained marked with monster concentrations.
The eastern jungle contained more active grids than any other region.
Commander Vance highlighted several of them.
"This time, you will not be restricted to a single survival zone for a fixed number of days."
"You are entering an organized reclamation campaign."
One grid enlarged.
A dominant monster signature appeared near its center.
Dozens of lesser contacts surrounded it.
Commander Vance pointed toward the largest marker.
"The strongest creature controls the territory."
"It hunts competing predators."
"It consumes their cores."
"With every core absorbed, it moves closer to evolution."
The simulation began.
A Blue-tier predator consumed one core.
Then another.
The number beside its signature increased steadily.
When the required threshold was reached, the creature's classification changed.
**BLUE**
**TO**
**YELLOW**
The planetary threat estimate rose with it.
Commander Vance continued.
"If the monster population is left alone, dominant predators continue feeding."
"Blue creatures become Yellow."
"Yellow become Red."
"And given enough time…"
The projection darkened.
The final classification appeared.
**BLACK TIER**
No one needed her to explain what a Black-tier planet meant.
Humanity did not build settlements on Black-tier worlds.
It evacuated them.
If evacuation remained possible.
June watched the simulation reset.
"So killing the strongest monsters keeps the entire planet from climbing again."
"Yes," Major Holt said.
"And once the strongest creature is removed…"
The dominant marker vanished.
The smaller contacts immediately began separating.
Some moved toward neighboring grids.
Others divided into smaller packs.
"They lose the force controlling the territory," Castiel said.
Major Holt nodded.
"The remaining creatures are still dangerous."
"But they become easier to isolate."
"Easier to track."
"And easier to eliminate."
Commander Vance changed the projection.
Military markers entered the grid.
The operation unfolded in stages.
First, the dominant predator was located and destroyed.
Then the larger packs were hunted.
Afterward, smaller teams advanced through the jungle, removing scattered threats and collecting exposed cores before another predator could consume them.
When the last hostile signature vanished, the grid changed from red to blue.
A single word appeared beneath it.
**SECURED**
"This will be your operational pattern," Commander Vance said.
"Enter the assigned grid."
"Identify the dominant monster."
"Eliminate it."
"Clear the remaining high-tier threats."
"Then work downward until the grid contains no organized monster population."
"Once the section is secured, you will advance to the next assignment."
The map pulled back.
Different squads appeared across Kharos Vale.
Alpha Squad.
Delta Squad.
Sigma Squad.
Vanguard Squad.
Gamma Squad.
Each received a separate group of grids based on its performance, composition, and previous combat records.
Commander Vance looked directly at David.
"Your squad's first assignment lies in the eastern jungle."
A section began pulsing.
**GRID H-09**
The terrain resembled the region they had crossed during their original deployment.
Dense canopy.
Mineral ridges.
Deep ravines.
Very little open ground.
David studied the projected boundaries.
"What do we know about the dominant monster?"
Major Holt opened the intelligence file.
"We know it exists."
"That isn't much," Lucian said.
"No."
Holt enlarged several reconnaissance images.
Damaged drones lay scattered through the jungle.
One had been torn apart.
Another had been crushed against a mineral ridge.
A third had simply stopped transmitting after entering the southern canopy.
"Long-range scanners have detected repeated fluctuations consistent with a high-tier core."
"The readings move."
Nyra studied the routes.
"How large is its territory?"
"Unknown."
"Species?"
"Unknown."
"Tier?"
Major Holt hesitated.
That hesitation answered more than the data did.
"Current projections place it above standard Blue classification."
June leaned back slightly.
"Yellow?"
"Possibly."
Castiel's expression tightened.
"Possibly implies the readings are unstable."
"They are," Holt confirmed.
"The creature may be masking its output."
"Or it may be consuming cores faster than our scans can measure."
The room became quiet again.
David kept his attention on the jungle.
A creature strong enough to control an entire grid.
Intelligent enough to avoid reconnaissance.
Hungry enough to continue evolving.
Commander Vance watched him examine the terrain.
"Your first objective is not to engage it."
David looked up.
"It isn't?"
"No."
"You will enter through the northern boundary and establish a secure route through the canopy."
"You will identify nesting regions."
"Track the movement of high-tier packs."
"Determine where the dominant predator hunts."
"Only when you understand the grid will you decide how to attack."
David nodded slowly.
The old mission had rewarded aggression.
Eliminate as many monsters as possible.
Collect the cores.
Survive until extraction.
This was different.
He would have to manage their route.
Their supplies.
Their rest.
Their exposure.
One mistake would not simply reduce a score.
It could place all five members of his squad inside the territory of something they did not understand.
Commander Vance stepped closer to the hologram.
"Your previous deployment proved Gamma Squad could adapt after a battle began."
"This operation will determine whether you can control the conditions before it does."
Her gaze settled on David.
"And that responsibility belongs to you."
David felt the command insignia resting against his collar.
Only days ago, Lucian had placed it there.
*You've had the squad for a while.*
*And me.*
*This just makes it official.*
Then the quieter words.
*Take care of them.*
David looked beside him.
Lucian sat with his arms folded, studying the northern approach.
Nyra was already examining lines of sight along the ridges.
Mira wrote notes on terrain hazards and potential treatment zones.
June watched the movement patterns of the monster contacts.
Castiel tracked the failed drone routes.
They were waiting for orders.
His orders.
David looked back toward Commander Vance.
"Understood."
She held his gaze.
"Say it properly, Squad Leader."
David straightened.
"Gamma Squad accepts the assignment."
Commander Vance nodded once.
"Good."
Major Holt changed the display again.
Six individual deployment profiles appeared.
Weapons.
Armor.
Core capacity.
Medical supplies.
Communications equipment.
Each had been updated according to their tournament performance and the hazards expected inside Grid H-09.
Commander Vance faced the entire squad.
"You leave in six days."
"Until then, you will study this terrain."
"You will review every available recording."
"You will train for jungle movement, limited visibility, and high-tier coordinated attacks."
"You will prepare multiple routes."
"Multiple extraction plans."
"And more than one method of killing the creature controlling that grid."
June raised one hand.
Commander Vance looked at him.
"Yes, Cadet Kade?"
"How many methods would you consider enough?"
"More than the number you believe you need."
June lowered his hand.
"That sounds expensive."
"It will be."
A faint smile moved through the squad.
Commander Vance did not share it.
"Fortunately, every core recovered during this operation belongs to you."
June sat straighter.
"Suddenly, preparation feels affordable."
Lucian looked toward him.
"We have not collected anything yet."
"I'm planning ahead."
"That may be a first."
"It's literally why the strategy divisions recruited me."
This time, even Major Holt's expression shifted slightly.
Commander Vance waited until the quiet laughter faded.
Then she looked across Gamma Squad once more.
"Last time, you entered Kharos Vale to prove you could survive it."
The tactical map rotated behind her.
Grid after grid waited beneath the jungle canopy.
"This time…"
"You are going there to take it back."
No one answered with excitement.
No one needed to.
Gamma Squad looked toward its new leader.
David rested one hand on the black mission folder before him.
Then nodded.
"We'll be ready."
A