Savoy grimaced. “I can’t say I like the thought of turning tail, sir.”

“Not our call,” Brinks replied. “In the meantime, we’ve got twelve hours to try and get a handle on the situation. I’m open to suggestions, Lieutenant.”

Savoy frowned. “We should redirect one or more of the carnivores back to the Odyssey for rearming. Right now they’re equipped with air-to-ground missiles, but if we load them up with some bunker busters, we might have a chance—maybe at taking the nest out with minimal risk.”

“Time to rearm?”

“An hour, including flight time,” Savoy responded.

Brinks considered it. “All right. But we’ll keep our drones where they are and have the commander detail two more with the appropriate hardware. That’ll save us some time and let us keep on with our own work.”

“Yes, sir,” Savoy said.

“In the meantime, do what you can. Miss Chans is being transported to the local alien command center now. With luck, we might be able to get some coordination with the locals,” Brinks said, glancing over his shoulder. “Their medical facility seems competently run. Makes me wonder why their military is just a fuckup.”

“Sir, I’m not sure if I’d put it that way, exactly,” Savoy replied, a little cautiously.

“Are you kidding, Lieutenant?” Brinks snorted. “They’re getting their butts handed to them.”

“That’s true, sir. However, it’s not due to a lack of power. Bermont’s little test with that laser rifle proves that.” Savoy shook his head. “And while they’re a little rudimentary by our standards, sir, they’re probably on par with most conventional forces I’ve seen.”

“I suppose you’ve got a theory for why these Drasin things are kicking ass and taking names, then?”

“Sir, they seem to be two steps ahead of their opposition,” Savoy replied. “Nothing more than that. Power-wise, they appear to be at parity with each other…The Drasin simply seem…I don’t know, more prepared. Like they knew what they were getting into and packed for the job.”

Brinks pushed the thought aside. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter at the moment. What did matter was the situation as it stood, so the major just had to play the cards he was dealt.

No matter how badly the hand sucked.

“Admiral!” someone shouted, a twinge of shock and fear in their voice, causing Tanner to spin around just as the doors to the rear of the command pit burst open.

Burst being the operative word, since the heavy metal doors literally were pulled off their equally heavy hinges as a hulking figure stepped through, paused, and looked around. For a crazy moment, Tanner could have sworn that the figure seemed chagrined.

Then she spoke.

“Oops,” a decidedly tiny and feminine voice came from the hulk, sounding embarrassed, as if she had just accidentally jarred someone’s elbow, or something equally inane, rather than having just ripped two security doors off their hinges.

“Ithan Chans, I presume?” Admiral Tanner asked calmly, his voice causing the guards to pause and lower their weapons, just slightly.