Prologue

“The meek shall inherit the Earth. The rest of us are going to the stars.”

—Robert A. Heinlein

The ground bucked, spitting lava. Luca threw himself behind a boulder just as the Slagmaw, a metallic construct, slammed its molten fist where he’d been standing. The heat was a physical press against his armor. This entire cavern was collapsing, and they were running out of time.

“Danny, on your left,” Luca yelled into the comms, his voice cracking. “Draw its fire!”

Through the haze, Danny’s bulky silhouette appeared in his heavy power armor, swinging a war hammer to get its attention. Good. That left the construct’s head exposed. Luca shouldered his sniper rifle, the stock already warped from the heat, and put a round straight into the machine’s molten crown. It sparked and ricocheted into the ceiling. Not even a scratch.

“It’s not working,” Emily cried over the link. “The armor’s too thick!”

“We need to expose the core!” Luca shouted back, frantically scanning the battlefield. His eyes landed on Ryan, near the far ledge. “Ryan, you’re up! Create an opening!”

Ryan didn’t answer. He sealed his visor, ripped a grenade from his belt, and charged straight for the monster.

He was supposed to plant the grenade and roll clear. That was the play. Instead, the Slagmaw’s hand lashed out and caught him mid-stride. A scream tore from Ryan’s throat as its red-hot grip crushed through his armor plating, nearly tearing his arm clean off. Blood and scorched metal sizzled on the ground as he crumpled.

“RYAN!” Luca skidded to his side, his boots struggling for traction on the hot stone. He grabbed Ryan just before the machine could finish the job.

Danny saw what was happening and roared, slamming a fist into his armor’s chest plate. A pulse of red energy rippled out from his suit, the [Taunt] ability, forcing the construct’s burning eyes to lock onto him.

“Come on, motherfucker!” Danny screamed. “Try me!”

As the Slagmaw swung toward the new threat, Luca dragged Ryan back.

“Shit… looks bad, doesn’t it?” Ryan gasped.

“Just hold on,” Luca said.

Danny dodged a clumsy swing and brought his war hammer down in a brutal arc. The blow cracked the construct’s chest plating, but it wasn’t enough. The metal was already sealing itself shut.

Zoe closed the distance at a dead run and planted herself at Danny’s shoulder, closer than any sniper had a right to be. She jammed her rifle barrel into the crack Danny had made and fired point-blank. The round punched straight through, and its chest split wide open, exposing a brilliantly glowing core.

“NOW, EMILY!” Luca yelled.

From across the cavern, a devastating barrage of energy bolts slammed into the exposed core. Blue energy wrapped around Emily’s twin blasters as her [Power Surge] ability kicked in. The Slagmaw construct bellowed and began to crumble inward. Its core pulsed, once, then twice.

“Take cover!”

The explosion sent a shockwave that threw Luca to the ground. He covered Ryan with his body as molten debris rained down around them.

His interface flashed with the familiar, anticlimactic notifications of a completed mission.

[Mission completed! Pyroclasm Defeated]

[+ 0 XP]

[+115,000 credits]

Emily was already at Ryan’s side, spraying his mangled arm with a [Quick-Clot] applicator. “You idiot,” she said, hands shaking as she worked.

The exit portal shimmered into existence behind them, but Luca’s eyes were locked on the wreckage of the metallic golem, its innards a tangle of cabling and half-melted gears spilling into the lava. There, nestled in the cooling rock, was a sleek, impossibly advanced piece of technology.

“Holy shit,” Zoe whispered over the comms in disbelief.

Ryan, despite his arm, tried to push himself up. “We got it,” he rasped, a bloody grin spreading across his face. “We actually got the damn thing.”

[Item Acquired: Vanguard Faster-Than-Light Displacement Drive]

His best friend was bleeding out on the floor of a collapsing volcano, but there it was. Their future.

Finally. It had been two years to the day since the first FTL drive had been found. And now they had their own.