The case hummed in his hand as he ran.

"Next Hoplite, launch–!"

He raised a hand to block out the light as soon as he heard the Hoplite's jetpack fire. Not that it helped much, as the blue barrier flared to life in air, ten times larger than the bearer's physical shield.

"Hoplite 33 swap out, Hoplite 16 you're next–"

He could hear the tension in his captain's voice. One barrier placed wrong and the case - and him - would be shredded, and the rest of the planet soon after.

Conscious of his feet still padding through soft dirt and grass, he squinted under the nearest Hoplite's barrier at the specks of light swarming in the distance, growing in every direction. Kilometers at a time.

Frederic's voice came through the headset. "And to think they said no Rainfire system could maintain a field this big. Hah."

Abruptly, a jetpack fired from a nearby trench. Avian make - the sound gave it away instantly. A single soldier - "I see him. Launching." Frederic.

A shotgun report a moment after Frederic's 'pack firing. A scream, and explosion as the avian's side maneuver box detonated.

"Rainfire projectiles incoming, ten seconds." The captain's voice again. Terse. He looked ahead. Ten meters? Twenty? He wondered briefly why the activation site had to be at the top of a hill, of all places.

"Brace for - Hoplite 16, your shield's not–"

He dove into the activation site crater. The start of a grunt from Frederic, cut off by static. He looked up out of the crater, almost lazily, as a blackened boot flew overhead. It hit the dirt with a heavy thump that indicated it wasn't empty.

"Carrier, the case."

He slammed the case onto the concrete in front of him, opened it mechanically. Green light spilled out. "Anyone can activate this?" His voice was steady. Surprising.

"Anyone." He could almost see the captain nodding at him. Trying not to bite a hole in her glove again.

He looked across the landscape, at the dozens of lights speeding overhead, at the millions of glowing bullets accelerating across the plains lit as though it were day, and plunged his arm into the case up to the shoulder.

[sorry for the delay, i spent most of yesterday with a headache that intensified whenever i looked at a screen]