“Hey mon cher . . .” He grinned, laying it on a little thick. “Not that it’s not always lovely to see you, but I am a little busy.”

“Cute, Bermy,” she told him flatly, making him cringe a little. He hated it when she called him that. “But this is business.”

“Alas, love, you never call just for fun.”

“Admiral’s orders,” Susan told him, “fall back and stand by for evacuation orders.”

“That’s what we’re doing, love,” he told her, quizzically. She had to know that. He’d put the Odysseus into the loop. It was standard procedure.

“Not from Dallas. We’re pulling off world,” Susan told him, and he suddenly noticed that her face was more pale than normal, and her tone was grim. She wasn’t just trying to be professional in the face of his flirting. She looked downright ill.

“Off world? Susan, we just got here,” he protested.

“Those are the orders, Lieutenant,” she told him. “Fall back with your unit, and stand by for evacuation orders. We’ll need you to run security while we pick up some people.”

“Pick up? Susan, what the Christ is going on?”

“It was a trap, Lieutenant. There are more Drasin coming. A lot more.”

“Oh merdre,” Bermont swore, thinking furiously. “I need to get the captain.”

“Pardon me?” Susan scowled, both irritated that he still hadn’t acknowledged the order and now puzzled. “What captain?”

“There’s only one for us, love,” he grinned. “Found him down here kicking ass and taking names . . . Alright, almost getting his own ass kicked too, but he was doing alright for a flyboy.”

“Captain? The captain?” Susan leaned in, her face growing larger. “Sean, he burnt up with the Odyssey . . .”

“If so then he left one pissed-off and ass-kicking ghost,” Bermont said. “I’ll find him and begin falling back. We are doing that anyway. I’ll contact you for new orders once we’re clear of Dallas.”

Susan blinked, shook her head, and managed to stammer out the appropriate response.

“Roger that, Lieutenant,” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Be careful.”

“Never careful, love, just damned good at what I do.” He grinned. “Bermont clear and out. Ciao.”

The signal went off and he brought the tactical network back to the front. “Alright everyone, fall back by the numbers. Get any civilians you see out of the city and meet at the Gamma point. We’ve got new orders coming down the pipeline.”

His team acknowledged as he swept the street he was on, then refocused on his HUD. “Does anyone have the captain’s location? I don’t see his IFF on my screens.”