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MISSION: NULLIFY
Trial and error felt more fraught when lives were at stake.

Cuq, France had been a disaster, but it had proved a theory: the nodes could be destroyed. That knowledge proved invaluable to them, reigniting the guttering flame of hope that they had been harboring for these past twenty years. Their first true win since claiming the Mnemosyne.

Doss had wanted to capitalize on it, coordinate attacks on several more known nodes. If they could take down the Veil piece by piece, didn’t they have an obligation to do so?

Bishop and Verin had disagreed. The losses of Cuq had been massive, the effects long term and permanent. How could they rip everyone in the signal out of their stupor only to drop them into a situation worse than death? It wasn’t humane. It wasn’t who they were or what they stood for.

And so Cuq stood as a testament to what they could achieve, and what that achievement could cost.

It’s why this mission was so important: if the new protocols combined with the stabilized version of the Neuroclast could mitigate the risk…

Command buzzed with nervous excitement, last minute preparations being made and confirmed for the hundredth time as they all waited for the signal. Doss stood with her strategists, looking over the plans to use Squadron 1 to take the attention off of what was happening on the ground — their first test run of this at the end of the year had confirmed that there weren’t any Bots stationed in Lammu, but that data point was weeks old at this point, and Ground Forces was stationed as close to the node as they could get to try to make themselves targets if it came to it.

They prayed it wouldn’t come to it.

Bishop’s voice sounded over the intercom, cutting through the low-grade chatter: “Phase 3 complete. Theme song loaded, and we’re ready to rock n’ roll.” Static crackled before the first few notes of Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name sounded.

“de Vries,” Doss said into her headset as everyone present held their breath: “Deploy.”

–

An 80% reduction in casualties — the first time in twenty years that they’d helped more people than harmed, though the mission still wasn’t complete. Lim and Murphy had managed a near flawless takedown, coming out with only cuts and scrapes despite the large, smoldering crater they left in their wake, only to be met with three Bots.

The dizzying promise of success swept through Command as Doss shouted instructions to de Vries as the pilots continued to evade drone maneuvers and to Dawson against the Bots. On the ground, Reid directed evacuees into the waiting Blackbirds, scattering them to the winds once the cargo bays were full.

And from up high in Mnemosyne, Verin watched, expression tight.

Success was almost certain at this point. The Neuroclast had held, the taper protocols had allowed a gentle come down. And now they just needed to get everyone out.

That would be fine for Lammu, but what about the larger Pres cities? They didn’t have the resources for such a large-scale extraction, even if they were able to procure Outlander cooperation. There had to be another way, something that would allow for less disruption for the newly unVeiled.

A voice cut through her thoughts. “The last group is gone,” Bishop announced. “Withdraw.”

Doss slammed her hand on the console. “Not yet. We can take out these drones.”

“Get them out, Lyra.” Verin’s voice was soft but firm. “Take out what you can as you go, but priority is getting them home safely.”

The way Doss’ hand tightened into a fist was not unnoticed by her, and for a moment, Verin thought she might argue. Instead, she gave a short nod and issued a curt: “de Vries, pull back. If you can take any of those fuckers down, do it, but only if sight is clear. Copy.”

A cheer sounded out as one of the drones went down, but a tense quiet enspelled Command as they watched Squadron 1 make their way back to base, drones hot on their tails, but once they were out of former Finnish airspace, the drones fell back as expected.

Flurries of confirmations went through those watching, Ground Forces going underground to safety, Lim and Murphy making it to the rendezvous point to be picked up once a Blackbird was free, evacuees being accounted for in strongholds throughout eastern Russia and Iceland. There was still so much to do before the night would end, but a long night felt surmountable.

Mission: Nullify was a success.