You're not wrong. 500 might be me overestimating a bit. It's still only my opinion, so you can choose to take it or leave it. You possibly could have dropped part of the beginning, starting with the paragraph "the mission", and therefore have a few more words for the description of the area and the firefight at the end, weaving in some of the information you lost. As it is, you do have some great descriptions throughout. Specifically loved the line "cables spilled from its torso like ruptured veins". Overall, it is still a good read. I'm being picky and offering feedback. This may or may not be the place for it. You don't have to take it. I'm a nobody on the internet.