The team had all gone out for various contracts.
Sophie took Diana and five recruits to handle a Category Three infestation in the western industrial zones. Kelvin went with another group to investigate unusual energy signatures near an abandoned mining facility. Sam stayed at base coordinating logistics and monitoring communications.
That left Noah with Seraleth and three recruits—Valencia, Marcus, and a newer member named Kira—heading toward a settlement request that had come in marked urgent.
The coordinates led them to the edge of a dried lakebed, where buildings clustered around what remained of a water source that had probably sustained the region decades ago. Now it was just cracked earth stretching for miles, broken only by a thin stream that barely qualified as water. Heat shimmered off the ground, distorting distant shapes into wavering mirages.
