"We can't fight what we can't touch," Preslan said, her usually calm voice tight with frustration. "This is impossible."

  "Nothing's impossible," Tae countered, still staring at his screen. "We just need to find the right approach."

  The lab doors slid open with a pneumatic hiss. Everyone spun toward the entrance, weapons raised.

  Max limped through, dragging his damaged leg behind him now. "Apology. I was delayed. Question. How can Max assist⁠—"

  An Asura warrior materialized directly beside him, carrying a jagged blade.

  The weapon descended toward Max's head.

  Energy flickered around the Intellect—a barrier of some kind. The blade struck the shield and deflected, sending the Asura warrior stumbling. Before it could recover, it vanished again.

  "Observation," Max said calmly, as if he hadn't just nearly been decapitated. "Hostile presence detected. Multiple phase signatures present. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha."

  More shimmers filled the air. Five Asura warriors materialized throughout the lab, blades striking simultaneously.

  Casey's armor took a direct hit to her chest, the blade scraping across the golden surface with a sound like fingernails on glass. The armor held, but the force knocked her back into a workstation.

  Hayden saw another Asura appearing near Natalia and moved without thinking. He dove forward, his shoulder catching her midsection and driving both of them to the floor as a blade swept through the air where her head had been. His duster took the follow-up strike across his back, the Cheni material beneath absorbing most of the impact, though he felt the bruising force.

  He rolled to his feet, microspear ready, but the Asura were already gone.

  A cry from across the room—Preslan had taken a blade through her shoulder. But instead of blood, Hayden watched in fascination as the nanocyte-infused flesh simply reformed around the wound.

  "That would have hurt if I was still flesh and blood," she said, her voice steady despite the disturbing sight of her shoulder reconstituting itself.

  "This is ridiculous,” Casey said, her gloved hand touching the scuff mark on her armor where the blade had struck. "We can't fight them. We can't even touch them."

  "Multiple hostiles converging on both station cores," Keesha announced, her projection now flickering constantly as she coordinated defenses across two massive structures. "I'm losing Stackers and hellions at an unsustainable rate. We need a solution. Now."

  "We need to close that portal," Natalia said from where she'd returned to her terminal, her fingers flying across the interface even as she kept glancing around for the next attack.

  "Closing the portal won't help with the ones already here," Queenie pointed out. "We're past prevention. We need active countermeasures."

  Nicholas, still cradling his injured wrist, moved back to his station with determination. "Maybe if we begin closing it, they'll retreat to avoid being cut off from their realm."

  "Or maybe they'll accelerate their attack to secure the stations before we succeed," Joseph countered.

  Gant let out a frustrated growl that was pure animal irritation. "Where is Abbey with those blockers?"

  "Her shuttle just docked," Keesha reported. "They're moving through the station now, but there's significant Asura activity between their position and the lab."

  "Of course there is," Casey muttered.

  They waited, tension ratcheting higher with each passing second. Hayden kept the microspear ready, though he'd yet to have a chance to use it effectively. The Asura appeared and vanished too quickly, never staying solid long enough for a counterstrike.

  Then Max tilted his head, the gesture oddly human despite his synthetic nature. “Notification. Sheriff, behind you!”

  The warning gave Hayden just enough time to spin around as an Asura warrior appeared directly behind him, blade already descending. Max's warning had provided the split-second advantage Hayden needed.

  The microspear thrust upward, catching the Asura in what passed for its midsection. The creature's black eyes widened—the first expression Hayden had seen from one. The blade fell from its grasp, clattering onto the deck. It tried to phase, but the microspear was already embedded, its killing tendrils spreading through alien flesh.

  The Asura shuddered, caught between dimensions. It couldn't fully phase with the Relyeh weapon inside it, couldn't fully materialize without accepting death. For a moment, it flickered like a broken hologram, existing in multiple states simultaneously.

  Then the microspear's tendrils found something vital, and the creature solidified completely, its weight suddenly real as it collapsed. Hayden yanked the weapon free, and the Asura crumpled to the deck.

  This close, Hayden could see details that distance and motion had obscured. The creature wore dark, segmented armor that seemed to be grown rather than forged, with sharp edges at every joint. Its skin beneath the armor was a mottled gray-black, with a texture like rough leather. The blade it had carried wasn't metal but something organic, as if bone had been shaped and hardened into a weapon. Its face was angular and predatory, with unblinking black eyes set deep in their sockets.

  Hayden turned to the Intellect. “Max, how did you know it was coming?"

  Max's head tilted again, processing. "Explanation. Sensors detect dimensional fluctuations approximately zero point four-seven seconds before full materialization. Pattern recognition allows prediction of emergence point. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha."

  "You can see them coming," Gant said, his excitement evident. "Before they fully phase in."

  "Affirmation. Limited warning, but consistent."

  "Can all the Intellects do this?" Hayden asked, his mind already racing through tactical possibilities.

  Max's head shook. "Negation. Standard Intellects lack necessary dynamic adjustment to sensor arrays. Clarification. Max is smart. Max is free. Max thinks outside the box.”

  “We have more Intellects with us,” Preslan said. “From Cheni Station. Can they be reprogrammed to use their sensors this way?”

  Max turned his attention toward you. “Salutations. It is good to see you again, Preslan Juno. And you, Joseph Cross. It has been a minute. Information. Intellects can be reprogrammed. Estimation. More time than we have. Hahahaha.Hahaha. Haha.”

  “Keesha, how many Shard Intellects do we have?" Hayden asked.

  “Just the one, I’m afraid,” she replied immediately. “What do you have in mind, Sheriff?”

  “They don’t seem to be able to phase when something from this reality is connected to them.”

  “So we take a page from the Relyeh playbook,” Casey said. “Overwhelm them with sharp objects.”

  “Something like that,” Hayden agreed. “It’s just a thought. Might not be effective at all.”

  “Sheriff!” Keesha called out. “Abbey’s in trouble!”

  CHAPTER 3

  Mitchell's voice burst through the comms, raw with urgency and punctuated by the sounds of combat.

  "We need backup!" he cried between ragged breaths. The sound of flesh striking armor echoed through the transmission. "Under heavy attack—" A grunt of pain interrupted him, followed by the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the deck. "Multiple hostiles! Abbey's down. We're overwhelmed⁠—"

  The transmission cut to static for a moment, the white noise somehow more terrifying than the sounds of battle. When it returned, Mitchell's voice had taken on a desperate edge that Hayden had never heard from the usually composed colonel. "Now! We need help now! They're everywhere!” Another burst of static swallowed his words.

  "Dispatching all available Stacker clones to your position," Keesha responded immediately, her projection solidifying as she focused on coordinating the response. "ETA forty seconds. Colonel Williams, can you hold that long?"

  No response came through the comm.

  Hayden stepped forward, already calculating the fastest route through the station. His mind ran through the deck layouts, emergency protocols, choke points where Mitchell's team might have tried to make a stand. "Max and I are⁠—"

  The words died in his throat as thin beams of red laser light suddenly erupted from Max's chest, cutting through the recycled air like accusatory fingers. The beams painted eight distinct spots across the lab floor—three of them centered directly on Hayden's position, the others scattered around the room where the others stood.

  Hayden's body moved before conscious thought engaged. Years of survival in the wasteland, countless firefights against trife and hellions, had honed his reflexes to a razor's edge. His hands dropped to his holsters.

  Both revolvers cleared leather in a motion so fluid it looked like a single movement, the grips finding their place in his palms like they were extensions of his body. His fingers squeezed the triggers in rapid succession, muscle memory taking over where thought would have been too slow. The specialized rounds left the barrels with sharp cracks that echoed off the lab walls. He was firing at empty air, at spots on the floor where nothing existed.

  Until something did.

  Reality began to shimmer at two of the marked positions, the air itself seeming to tear like fabric. The Asura warriors materialized directly into the path of the bullets, their twisted forms solidifying just as the rounds reached them.

  The first took a round through its elongated throat, the shaped charge detonating with a wet crack. The explosion nearly decapitated it, sending a spray of dark ichor across the pristine lab equipment. Its body spasmed once, clawed hands reaching for a wound that had already killed it, before collapsing in a heap of armored limbs.

  The second warrior caught a bullet in its chest, directly where a heart should have been if the things had any relation to human anatomy. The explosion created a cavity the size of a dinner plate. It managed half a step forward before its legs gave out.

  But the third⁠—

  Pain exploded across Hayden's chest as the creature's blade found him before he could adjust his aim. The Cheni armor beneath his duster absorbed most of the impact, the advanced material designed to stop bullets and energy weapons alike. But the Asura blade was of a material the armor couldn’t account for. It punched through the protective material, leaving a gash across his ribs that immediately began to flow with blood.

  The pain was sharp and immediate, but Hayden had been hurt worse. He'd been shot, stabbed, burned, and more. Pain was just information, and right now it was telling him to move.

  His leg came up instinctively, his boot catching the Asura warrior in its armored midsection with enough force to crack ribs on a normal opponent. The creature stumbled backward, its too-long limbs flailing for balance. For a moment, its black eyes locked with Hayden's. There was intelligence there, cold and calculating, mixed with surprise that its prey had fought back so effectively.

  The stumble took it directly into Gant's path. The furry alien had already launched himself from his position near the terminals, claws extended and teeth bared in a snarl that would have been comical if not for the very real danger those natural weapons presented.

  But the creature had already begun to phase out, its form becoming translucent like a ghost in an old story. Gant's claws passed harmlessly through the space where solid flesh had been a heartbeat before. The Asura vanished completely, leaving only a few drops of ichor on the floor to mark where it had stood.

  Around the room, more chaos.

  Queenie had positioned herself perfectly, her years of combat experience showing in how she'd instinctively moved to cover both the scientists and maintain clear firing lines. Her enhanced reflexes allowed her to track the shimmer of materialization better than purely human eyes could manage. Her rifle was already shouldered, the weapon tracking smoothly to follow the distortion in the air.

  She fired once, the plasma bolt leaving the barrel with a soft whine-thump. The superheated energy caught the Asura warrior directly in the face, before it had even fully solidified. There was no scream. The creature simply collapsed, twitching once in what might have been surprise before going still.

  Casey fired at another materializing form, her shot going wide as the creature twisted away. The shot struck the wall behind it, leaving a glowing crater in the metal. The creature vanished before she could adjust her aim, but not before fixing her with those cold black eyes. A promise of violence yet to come.

  "Son of a bitch!" Casey swore, already swinging her rifle to track where she thought it might reappear.

  Nicholas, still favoring his injured wrist from a previous encounter, barely managed to dodge the Asura that appeared near him. He threw himself sideways with a grunt of pain, his damaged hand sending spikes of agony up his arm. The movement was graceless but effective, taking him out of the creature's reach.

  Gant, recovering from his missed attack, launched himself toward this new threat with a speed that belied his small stature. The Asura warrior had a choice—press its attack on the injured Nicholas or phase out to avoid Gant's claws. It chose survival, vanishing just as Gant's claws would have opened its spine.

  "We need to help Abbey and the others," Hayden said, pressing his hand against the wound on his chest. The blood flow was already slowing, his enhanced healing working to close the wound from the inside out. In a few minutes, it would be nothing but a scar. But they didn't have minutes to spare.

  "The Asura are approaching the QDM on Yidra's station," Keesha reported, her voice tight with concern.

  "What can we do?" Hayden asked, frustration bleeding into his voice. He was used to problems he could shoot, enemies he could track and hunt. These phase-shifting nightmares were something else entirely. "We can barely hold them here, and that's with Max spotting them for us."

  "Observation," Max interjected. "Max cannot be present in multiple locations simultaneously. Limitation. Max is singular, not plural. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha."

  "We need to buy time," Tae said.

  "How?" Casey asked. “Max is right. He can't be everywhere at once, and these things are hitting us on multiple fronts."

  "Intellects," Joseph replied suddenly, his eyes lighting up with realization. "Keesh, get me Admiral Shri."

  "Intellects won't be able to detect the Asura before they materialize," Keesha pointed out, but she was already opening the communication channel.

  "No, but once the Asura appear, the Intellects can engage them. It might slow them down, force them to be more cautious."

  The comm channel opened with a soft chime. "Admiral Shri, this is Colonel West. Priority communication."

  "Go ahead, Colonel."

  "Shri, it's Cross," Joseph said, taking over the conversation. "We need Intellect deployment to Yidra's station. As many as you can transport. The Asura are making a push for the QDM. If we lose the power source for the portal generator, we lose the war before we even start fighting it."

  There was a pause, barely a heartbeat, as Shri processed the request. "Understood. I'm dispatching two warships loaded with Intellects immediately."

  Another voice cut into the communication—Caleb's, tight with determination. "Wild Card is en route as well. ETA four minutes."

  "Cal," Hayden said. "There's nothing you can do against them. Standard weapons don't work."

  "We'll see about that," Caleb replied, and Hayden could hear the grim smile in his voice. "Besides, I don't consider myself a standard weapon.”

  The comm clicked off before Hayden could respond.

  The lab doors slid open. Hayden spun toward the entrance, instinctively reaching for his revolvers once more. But it was the rest of the Rejects entering—Bastion supporting Ruby's damaged form, her synthetic skin torn to reveal the advanced machinery beneath. Benhil and Pik followed close behind, both splattered with ichor and sporting various cuts and bruises. Olus brought up the rear, a pistol in each weathered hand.

  "Well, this is cozy," Benhil said, surveying the multiple Asura corpses on the floor with a whistle. "Nothing says safe haven like interdimensional corpses and blood splatter. Really sets the mood."

  "The party's just getting started," Queenie replied. "What happened to Ruby?"

  "She took a sword in the gut for me," Bastion replied, carefully lowering the android to a clear spot on the floor. "I never knew she cared."

  "I don't care," Ruby answered, her voice crackling with static. "I was trying to get out of their way, but you got in my way."

  Despite the situation, Bastion smiled. "Sure, Ruby. Whatever helps you sleep at night. Oh wait, you don't sleep."

  "Everyone else okay?" Hayden asked.

  "No, only I'm Okay," Pik answered with forced cheer. "But the rest of us are unharmed. Mostly unharmed. Well, somewhat harmed but still functional."

  "Alert!" Max called out, his voice cutting through the banter. His laser array activated again.

  The spots appeared across the floor—twelve positions marked in rapid succession, their placement forming a rough circle around the room's occupants. Hayden's revolvers were already up. He tracked two spots near Natalia's position, ready to prioritize her safety over his own.

  Casey had her rifle trained on a mark by the door, her breathing controlled and steady. Queenie had moved to cover Preslan and Tae, understanding instinctively that the engineers were their only hope of closing the portal. Even the newly arrived Rejects had their weapons ready, each picking a target.

  The air began to shimmer simultaneously at all twelve positions.

  Again, the room erupted in violence.

  Hayden's revolvers fired in sequence, the reports blending into a continuous roar. He dropped two Asura warriors before they fully solidified, the Axon rounds tearing through their materializing forms with explosive force. Casey's rifle caught another mid-materialization, the plasma bolt burning through its armor and into the vital organs beneath. The creature's scream was cut short as its lungs vaporized.

  Pik's massive cannon thundered. The Asura it targeted didn't just die—it ceased to exist, transformed into a spray of ichor and armor fragments that painted the wall behind it.

  Bastion, positioned near the door, put three shots into a warrior's head in a tight grouping. It went down hard, its blade clattering across the floor.