Epyc Ro scouted the perimeter, not focusing on the violence of combat. The bodies that lay scattered about the area. The insurgent whose arm was shorn off. Who caught a charge directly in his midsection, the explosion separating head from limbs. Sent arms and legs tumbling, branches caught in a windstorm. Chests exposed as if fists punched straight through them. Faces frozen in various stages of the rictus of realization that their time was done.

“Have you thought about what your last word will be?” Anitra guessed at the turn the captain’s mind had taken.

“What?” Epyc Ro sat on the edge of her stone, staring at each of them in turn.

“You know, you look down and see that a sniper laser has painted you.” Anitra aimed an imaginary weapon, locking in on a target. She fired, making a whining sound. “Or you hear the wail of an incoming ballistic too late. What do you say?”

“Jesus, that’s morbid,” Robin said.

“Calling on your savior. I can see that. It’s a little late since he’s obviously summoning you home, but that’s all right, I guess,” Anitra said.

“Oh shit,” Epic Ro said.

“Lacks a certain poetry,” Anitra said.

“Momma,” Robin said.

“‘Momma’?” Anitra fixed her face as if she’d eaten sour fruit dipped in spoiled milk.

“I read once that the top two most common words are either momma or no.”

“What’s your momma gonna do?”

“What kind of question is that? It’s not like saying no is exactly going to stop a bullet either,” Robin said.

Epyc Ro shook her head and circled the wreckage. A CO/IN all-terrain vehicle had been overturned by an explosion and abandoned. Its occupants dangled from each door. Inspecting the vehicle, she saw the regalia of the passenger was more formal than the driver.

“Chandra?” Epyc Ro called. “Can you examine this vehicle? Forensic protocols. See if you can determine where it’s been.”

<Soil is consistent with the local hills. However … > Chandra examined the tread. <Noticeable traces of iridium.>

“Consistent with kheprw crystal processing.” Epyc Ro turned to the Mzisoh. “Is there a production site near here?”

“Two ridges over. A facility,” Ellis said. “They haven’t made a secret of it. Almost as if they want us to know, daring us to try to come for them.”

“Then let’s not disappoint them,” Epyc Ro said.

“Once we get there, we’ll have to get inside,” Anitra said.

“We can’t just Cupid shuffle up to their door and hope they let us in,” Robin said.

“Why not?” Anitra asked.

“I hate that look in your eye. What are you thinking?”

“We pose as security bringing Ellis in as a prisoner. They let us in.” Anitra held her arms up to signal the end of her brilliant plan.

The HOVA unit paused long enough for the plan to settle in before they burst out laughing.