77 was headed for an abandoned base in the Hastian mountains. It had been the first outpost they’d built when the Space Corps sent them to protect the colonists on this little world, but it hadn’t lasted long.

Unfortunately, it turned out they had built it next to a very active nest of hoppers.

Little to nothing had been known about the giant insectoids when they first came—they hibernated for much of the Hastian rotational cycle, only coming out to make trouble about three months out of the year. But since a month on Hastwas twice as long as a month on Old Earth, the big bastards were active for a good part of the time.

The base had been built during the hopper hibernation cycle and was subsequently abandoned when the nearby nest came to life. In a single night, more than seventeen sentries were found headless and half-eaten around the perimeter of the camp.

As for the settlement of colonists a little higher up the mountain—it had been a fucking massacre. A night of terror, which the troops the Space Corps had sent could do little to alleviate. That had been before the cyber soldier program was started and since unenhanced humans were ill equipped to deal with the huge insectoids, the decision to abandon the base and move was an easy one.

It soon became apparent that hoppers gravitated to higher altitudes, which was why the colonists now preferred to take the low ground. All of the military bases were built there now too. Let the hoppers have the fucking mountains if they wanted. It was far easier to deal with the occasional stray that happened to come down to the lowlands than a whole swarm of the damn things.

The hoppers were still in their active cycle right now, but the abandoned base was the only place 77 could think of that the CO wouldn’t follow. He and his crew of rogues should be safe there once they got the perimeter fence working again and Pike would think twice before sending a battalion of men—even cyber soldiers—through hopper-infested territory.

Of course, you’re going to have to run through that exact same territory to get to the base, whispered the little voice in his head. What if you run into a whole swarm of them at once?

If that happened, they were probably fucked, 77 admitted to himself. One or two, they could handle since part of their cybernetic armor was a titanium alloy neck-guard, which made it damn hard for the hoppers to bite off a cyber soldier’s head. Still, the big bastards had been known to take off a foot or a hand or an arm and a leg if they couldn’t reach the head, which would incapacitate a soldier, even if it didn’t outright kill him.

Just have to watch out for them and hope our luck holds, 77 told himself. Just keep a sharp eye on the sky and—

As if in answer to his thoughts, he heard 80 bellow, “Incoming! On your six, Captain—hoppers! Big ones!”

77 whirled to see five of the monstrous grasshopper-looking insectoids flying overhead, their shiny, blue metallic hides glinting in the sunlight. Nothing as big as a fucking horse with a mouth full of teeth like a shark ought to be able to get airborne in his opinion but then, nobody had asked him.

“Pulse rifles up,” he shouted. “Gut them in the sky. If they land we’re fucked!”

Every man in his unit raised a rifle, and the air was filled with silent but deadly rays, the hot, burning scent of lasers hitting oxygenated air…and alien flesh.

Garbled shrieks and squeals like a pig from Old Earth being butchered filled the sky and greasy, slimy black guts rained from above to patter on the lush blue jungle vegetation. In the blink of an eye, the monstrous hoppers came crashing down heavily around them, their multiple, serrated limbs twitching in protest.

But not all of the hoppers were fatally wounded.

The biggest one—about the size of a fucking Clydesdale—landed right beside Unit 85 and Claudia.

77 saw her cringe backward as the massive animal made a snap at her, its long, curving fangs meeting just inches from her face. A protective rage rose in him then—so hot and hard he could hardly breathe.

No, you don’t, you fucker. She’s mine! You touch her and you die!

The rage didn’t make sense—Claudia was a traitor. He should feel nothing for her—at least, the CyBRG device at the back of his neck tried to tell him so. None of that mattered, though. The rage felt like a red curtain dropping over his vision, and it filled him with fury.

MINE!

With a low roar, he pointed his pulse rifle at the monster and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Either his rifle was jammed or out of charge—he didn’t have time to find out which. 85was trying to roll out of the way of the charging hopper but having Claudia on his back was slowing him down considerably. And it was clear that the diminutive doctor was the hopper’s prey of choice.

It was reaching for her again, its jaws peeled back to expose the nightmare fangs that reminded 77 of those deep-water fish back on Old Earth—the ones that lived so far down toward the bottom of the ocean they never saw the light. Long, thin and almost translucent, the curving fangs dripped saliva as the hopper reached for that first tantalizing bite, which happened to be Claudia’s pretty head…

77 was in motion almost before he knew it. Throwing down the pulse rifle, he reached for one weapon that would never be out of charge. A long, serrated hunting knife, the blade the length of his forearm, with a hardened leather grip that fit to his palm like another piece of his hand.

Charging forward, he buried the knife to the hilt in the hopper’s head, bringing down all his weight on the damn thing until the insectoid’s top and bottom jaws were locked together—pinned by the sharp silver blade.

It jerked against him, its massive body thrashing and its oddly jointed legs kicking out in all directions as it tried to free itself.

“Oh no you don’t,” 77 grunted. He twisted the knife brutally and drove downward, yanking the alien beast to the forest floor, where it came to rest right at the tips of Claudia’s dainty little feet.

It seemed to take the curvy little doctor a moment to unfreeze. When she did, she managed to take a step away from the still-twitching hopper. Its compound eyes, as big as dinner plates, glittered like jewels as it made a last rattling squeal.

“Oh,” Claudia gasped, looking at him with wide eyes. “Oh, Drew, thank you! You…you saved me again.”

Her words brought back an avalanche of memories—much more real and concrete than they had been before when the little voice was only whispering them to him. This time 77 could actually smell the scent of charred hopper guts—an oily, rancid odor like burning tires mixed with month-old garbage—could clearly see the tears in her eyes and hear the tremble in her voice.

The past and present seemed to blur together and for a brief, disorienting moment 77 was Drew again—not a cyber soldier but Captain Andrew Fisher of the Space Corps. And Claudia wasn’t a traitor. She was a frightened female he wanted to comfort. In fact, the urge to pull her into his arms and hold her close was so strong he was actually reaching for her before he realized what he was doing.

Of course you smell burned hopper guts, whispered the little voice sarcastically. You just fried five hoppers—well, four anyway since you knifed the fifth. You’re going to wind up frying more in a minute—unless they get you first—if you don’t get your ass moving out of here.

And don’t forget, Claudia isn’t for you. You might have thought so for a minute there back at the tree when she let you touch her…taste her. But she’s a traitor now. And even if she wasn’t, don’t forget what you are, buddy. You’re not Andrew Fisher anymore—you’re Unit 77 and you can’t fucking change that.

“Move it out,” he told the others, picking up his discarded pulse pistol and yanking the knife out of the dead hopper. “We need to get where we’re going before more of those big bastards show up.”

There were nods of assent and then they were on the move again, running through the trees and vines, heading for what 77 (Drew) hoped was safety.

He’d saved her. Again.

Claudia looked at the dead hopper on the ground in front of her and fought the urge to be sick. It had almost killed her. She’d seen the hunger in its huge black eyes as it had lunged for her again and again. Unit 85… Josh, she had to fight shakily through her memories for his name… had tried his best to evade it, to protect her, but she wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t fast enough, not hampered by carrying her. She’d been facing her own death, just counting down the seconds until those jaws had fastened around her neck and sliced her head clean off.

But Drew had been there. Again. Moving faster than she’d ever seen any man move, he’d taken on the creature practically with his bare hands. He thrust a big knife into its brain and slammed it down into the dirt. His face had been a mask of fury, nothing like the cold expressionless smoothness of his cyborg half.

For a moment she’d thought he would hold her against him, comfort her like he had the last time he’d rescued her. And she’d wanted that, with every cell of her being. Needed it. Needed to feel the safety and security she’d only ever felt in his arms. He would protect her…

But then he’d looked up at her and it had slid back into place. The pain seeing him pull back, retreat into his emotionless state felt like the hopper had actually managed to rake her with its claws and tear her heart in two. So much so that she had to look down to check she wasn’t bleeding.

He’d turned away, and she’d realized she was on her own. Her legs wouldn’t stop shaking as she wrapped her arms around herself. Any protest died a swift death on her lips. He’d threatened to leave her out here with these… things. A death sentence. She wouldn’t last five minutes out here alone and she knew it.

Her gaze fell onto some body armor that had been trashed in the hopper attack. Damaged now, it had been field stripped of anything useful and the remains discarded. Useless. If she fell apart now, she was useless to them… and they discarded anything useless.

85 stepped into her peripheral vision again and she forced herself to get it together.

“Doc?” he said, crouching again so she could climb onto his back. Trying to quell her shivers, she did, her knuckles white as she gripped her hands together, arms wrapped around his neck. Closing her eyes as he set off, she tried not to think. Drew didn’t trust her anymore. The rogue cyborgs weren’t her friends… and the only reason she was being kept alive was to ensure 78’s survival.

Her eyes snapped open to seek him out. Carried just ahead of her by a group of four units, who kept passing his stretcher between them, he was awake, a rifle in his hands as he watched the skies above them for more hoppers.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Even strapped to a board, he’d survived the hopper attack. So, for now, she was as safe as she was going to be…