Chapter Five: Black Zone Simulation

Mira had an eighty-nine synchronization rate and ranked first in tactical coursework, but she was not the kind of person who made herself obvious. She watched, calculated, and let others reveal their mistakes first. Rafe frowned. "Reason?" Leon said, "Yesterday, she was the only one who understood what I did." Mira looked at him. "How do you know?" "You were not watching the mech. You were watching the loop." A brief silence followed. Mira closed her terminal. "Third Squad, I take tactical command. Rafe handles frontal suppression. Ilya, electronic scouting. Tao, convoy protection. Leon..." She paused for half a second. "You break unreasonable situations." Rafe gave a cold snort, but did not object.