"The archivists say that, in the beginning, the world was perfect. No sadness or grief. No diseases. They say that it was green all around with flowers as far as the eye could see and that when one flower shed its petals, two more sprang up in the place where the petals first touched the ground. But the one thing that gets me every time is when they look at me and tell me to my face that there was no violence or hatred. Not even war. When they tell me that no one ever died, I know it’s all just a lie." 

 The comm in Ronin’s helmet chirped once and Skeith’s voice came through the chatter. "You’re talking pretty philosophical for a guy about to visit that same despondency upon a group of hapless scouts. You want to sit down and talk this out right quick or finish the mission first then discuss personal philosophies?" Skeith Harlock had been assigned as their jumpteam’s resident psion, so Ronin hadn’t really expected much from him beyond inane techno-babble and the occasional witty retort those first few months. He wished now that he’d been right. 

 The Visanti scouting party came into view and Ronin nuzzled the stock of his rifle and synced the scope with his helmet’s HUD. When the simulated crosshairs popped up, he whispered into his comm, "On my mark." Beginning his pre-fire ritual by slowing his breath, Ronin laid the pad of his finger on the trigger. The Insurgency scout crept closer. On either side of him and hanging about twenty feet back was his backup: five other raiders all surrounding a captain. The captain walked differently though. He knew the lay of the land. "Captain’s blackguard." 

"I’ll fucking kill him..." A third voice whispered. Electric was never happy to hear about traitors. None of them were. Sometime after first contact, the Imperial Queen, Vesoriana, took it upon herself to replace the lost ranks of her royal guard with humans she considered to meet or exceed the potential of those justicars she’d already lost. Some of those exhibited the potential well enough and these human trainees became known as Paladins. However, some of them became tempted by the Insurgency instead. Taking their experiences with the Paladins and receiving additional training based on the Insurgency’s own military tactics, these humans became known as Blackguards, the historical opposite of Earth’s paladins of old. "Traitors. The whole fucking lot of them..."

"Objective is the same. Data retrieval is priority." Skeith responded. "On your mark, Ronin." 

 The ranger counted it out. One, two, three. The scout disappeared behind an old rusted out car and, for just a moment, Ronin lost him.  When he appeared again, the ranger pulled the trigger and the rifle bucked, silently firing a single particle  of hard light that bore a pin-sized hole through the Visanti’s skull, dropping him instantly. "Mark," he declared into the comm as he swung the rifle around and took aim at the front raider. The particle accelerator in the lightrifle kicked in again and fired off a second shot, dropping the lead raider. 

 The hunt was on. Ronin broke from cover and leapt without a second thought from the cliff he’d been perched on, sliding the rifle across the magnetic holster at his back. Setting the kinetic jumpers in his suit to queue upon nearing the ground, he waited. It seemed like forever that he fell, but when the jumpers whirred to life, his HUD reported that only seconds had passed. Using the momentum from his fall to throw himself forward into a roll, he recovered deftly, propelling himself himself into a forward charge. Within minutes, he was joined by the other two members of his jumpteam. 

 Vaulting across the hood of the same rusted out vehicle where he’d lost sight of the Insurgency scout just moments prior, he fired of a quick three burst volley that acted as more of a distraction than an actual attack. The ploy worked. The Visanti dove for cover and the Blackguard that acted as their captain began barking orders. Somewhere nearby, he heard the familiar BZZT! sound of Electric firing up the X302 tesla coils contained within the revolver he’d fashioned out of an old arc cannon he’d acquired somewhere and his own standard-issue sidearm. He’d done the same to his frame-suit as well, modifying it to deliver the impact of a stun baton with nothing but a touch. Moments later a simple pew pew signified Electric had entered the fray. 

Meanwhile, the beauty of Skeith’s role as a psion was that he didn’t have to carry any weapons. Outfitted with a neural-cranial transmitter during training, psions were capable of manipulating the nanites in their frames telepathically. This gave them the ability to shape the nanites into whatever they could imagine. Some overloaded the nanites, simulating fireballs from ancient fantasy stories. Some mimicked lightning by setting stun parameters to overcharge. Some civilians called it magick and most named it psionics. Fringe science or witchcraft didn’t matter much. The name stuck. 

Choosing now to fashion a force grenade then was easy. Getting it to land amidst the Visanti and explode, thereby tearing a path straight through the center of their formation to the Blackguard leading them, would be the tough part. Not for Skeith, of course, but for most anyone else. The grenade exploded and Ronin slid underneath the blast, finding the gap between the ranks and landing just feet away from the Blackguard. "Imperialists," the Blackguard said. "Don’t you see that everything that’s happened to Earth is because of the Queen and her socialites? Humanity would’ve been just fine if she hadn’t brought her goddamned problems to our doorstep!" 

Ronin’s rifle stayed trained on the captain as Electric and Skeith cleaned up. The captain eyed them for a moment, trying to gauge where the three stood on the subject. When no irregularities showed up, though, the blackguard must’ve known their stance was clear, so he moved to withdraw a large machete. Electric was too quick though and an electrified punch to the captain’s gut sent him reeling. Electric bent near, slapping a hand down on the Blackguard’s shoulder. "Be glad that was only on stun, turncoat."