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"Hurry," Holy cried over TEAMCOM. She raised the bottom edge of her shield a half meter. "Under—quick!"
Ash jumped, dove under their feet and behind the energy shields.
Light surrounded him, and the floor to either side melted and blasted away.
He stood between his teammates and snapped on his own Jackal gauntlet.
Mark joined them.
Ash hesitated, waiting for Dante to get there. He then realized his grim mistake. He wished his friend was here by his side… but he was gone, and Dante would have wanted the team to keep their heads. Fight. And win.
Ash watched the swarm of enemies surrounding them. There were about forty Sentinel pairs. They could have all fired, and blown Team Saber to hell, but instead they looked wary… like they were thinking this through.
Which was the one thing he couldn't let happen.
"Get their attention," Ash told Mark.
Mark nodded, and hefted their only SPNKr missile launcher. He angled it at a cluster of Sentinels at four o'clock.
The missile streaked through the air and hit a pair dead center—mushrooming into thunder and smoke. The Sentinels, behind their shields, were untouched.
The hovering Sentinels ceased circling and seven aligned one behind the other to form a line pointed at Team Saber.
"Tighten it up, guys," Ash ordered. "Olivia, eye on our six."
The Spartans huddled as close as they could.
"All clear behind," Olivia whispered. "Best exit vector at nine o'clock."
There was no way a few Jackal shields could withstand a combined energy blast that had leveled an entire granite mesa.
Then again, they wouldn't have to.
The seven Sentinels adjusted their aim and their spheres glowed red, amber, and then glistening gold.
"Stand by," Ash whispered over TEAMCOM. He crouched lower and gritted his teeth.
The drones contracted and the glare from their spheres intensified.
"Go!" Ash cried.
The Spartans of Team Saber jumped, rolled, and scattered.
The Sentinels fired a culminated beam of energy that struck where Team Saber had been a moment ago—a direct hit on the glowing dome of the force-field generator.
Ash turned away, but the concussive blast rolled through his body. Shrapnel cut into his back, and skin blistered.
He focused on the second NAV marker on his heads-up display: the one thing that mattered now.
He ran toward it, a tiny platform three hundred meters away—the only way out.
Around him the air paused, and then rushed backward toward the generator with hurricane force. He turned, curiosity overcoming the instinct to flee.
Where the silver dome had been there was a blackened crater of twisted metal. The Sentinels had moved in, projecting their shields over the open wound, but the crater's edges crinkled as atmosphere sucked inside.
More Sentinels rushed toward the breach, trying to hold it.
A silver flash overwhelmed Ash's senses. There was a double explosion and a giant hand swatted him. He tumbled ten meters and slammed to a halt flat on his back.
Dazed, he slowly got up. The Sentinels were gone. The crater they had tried to hold was now a smoking rift a hundred meters wide.