Just in case, he tagged each of them in turn and sent orders to his outlying units to check on them as soon as possible.

More often, it was parts of the Drasin that flew out of the miniature holocaust, legs here, bodies there, and so forth.

Brinks had those tagged as well, but on a lower priority.

The rumbling sound died out slowly, the crackling thunder softening as he looked over the scene at maximum magnification.

“We counted thirty-eight drones there, sir.”

Nero nodded, looking at the information. Whatever those other soldiers had done, it had ripped through the Drasin group like nothing he’d ever seen. Fiery explosions were actually rare in combat. They normally were rather subdued events with a lot of noise, assuming you weren’t in space, but very little else, other than smoke or shrapnel.

This, though, was something else.

The computers had registered at least twelve confirmed kills in that instant conflagration, and the tally was going up as the smoke cleared.

Across in the other control pit, Rael Tanner looked at the faceless visage that had been Milla Chans and waited for information that only she could provide him.

After a long moment, the face nodded and the armored hands came up and pulled the helmet off again.

Milla Chans looked a little pale, which Tanner could understand well enough, but in control as she spoke. “It was them, Admiral. They managed to group many of the Drasin together in one place…Major Brinks assures me that they analyzed the building structure for any danger before he ordered the attack.”

Tanner forced himself to nod as if it made much sense to him. “Ithan, what are their intentions?”

“Sir?”

“Why are they helping us?”

Milla looked confused for a moment. He thought he saw her shrug, but it was hard to tell through the armor she wore. “I don’t know for certain, Admiral. All I know is that their captain told me that he wouldn’t—couldn’t—stand by and watch an entire planet die. He saw what happened at Port Fuielles, sir—and at Duorkin.”

Tanner winced.

“Port Fuielles as well?” he asked painfully.

“Yes, sir,” Milla said. “The Odyssey rescued five hundred survivors…But that was all.”

Five hundred.

Tanner closed his eyes, whispering a few words for the loss of fifty million people.

He shook his head. “Ithan, I think you should come to the command center. We need to communicate with these people, and for the moment, you are our only method.”

“Of course, sir.” Milla bowed her head. “I will arrive as soon as possible.”

“Good,” he told her. “I will await you.”

Bermont hit the rooftop running, letting the chute soar up and away from him as he skidded to a crouch by the edge of the insanely tall skyscraper and looked over at the clearing smoke that obscured the place he had just left.