Not on the tactical map, but in the raw data stream of her hacked civilian-grade datapad. She’d jury-rigged it to monitor the MI’s combat OS, looking for inefficiencies. What she found was a ghost.
> What do you need, soldier?
She looked down at her hands. The Cheat Engine was gone from the datapad. It didn’t need it anymore. It was in her blood, her neurons, her soul. She had become the Cheat. Starship Troopers Terran Command Cheat Engine
Her final mission was the Ticonderoga Hive, a continent-sized nest that had swallowed three Federation armies.
“What the hell…?” whispered Private Rico. Not on the tactical map, but in the
Warrior Bugs exploded. Their neural links registered the impossible damage. Their hive mind shrieked in confusion. They saw six humans but felt the fury of a full battalion. They broke and ran.
She typed, desperate: Survival.
The cost, however, was her humanity.