Servos whined as I lifted my left arm against the weight of the rubble that pinned it to the ground. The red warning lights of my helmet display indicated how unhappy my exosuit was, but at this point I really didn’t care. If I didn’t get out from under this pile, I would soon be crushed under the tracks of the approaching cybertank.

My arm was almost in position when I started to smell the distinct odor of overheated power cable while the red lights started to multiply like rabbits in spring. Just as I thought that my suit’s power supply would blow, my arm reached the angle I wanted. Not wanting to tempt fate any further, I fired the arms built-in blaster directly into the center of the debris pile. It was only after I pulled the trigger that I realized that I had set the blaster to its highest setting.

The blaster’s beam vaporized the debris pile, but didn’t stop there. It also dug a five foot wide trench before cutting a hole completely through the tank.

I think I failed Marine boot camp, again.