Kira shook her head. She had lots of experience with bees on Weyland, but no hornets. They hadn’t been cleared by the colony terraforming board.

A faint smile curled Sparrow’s lips. “They’re little bullets of hate and fury. Hurt like a sumbitch too. So Berk is ordered to stand underneath the hornet nest and poke it with his rifle. And then, while the hornets do their best to sting him to death, he had to clear the jam in his gun, strip it, give it a good field cleaning, and put it back together. And the whole time, one of the sergeants is standing nearby, covered head to toe in an exo, shouting at him, ‘Are you angry now?’”

“That seems … rather extreme.”

“Better a bit of discomfort in training than a Marine who can’t keep it together when bullets start flying.”

“Did it work?” Kira asked.

Sparrow got to her feet. “Sure did. Berk ended up being one of the finest—”

Footsteps sounded, and then Tatupoa poked his square-shaped head around the corner of one of the racks. “Everything alright with you? Got concerned what with all the noises over here.”

“We’re fine, thank you,” said Sparrow.

Kira dabbed the last traces of sweat from her forehead and stood. “Just exercising.” Her stomach knotted again, and she winced.

The Marine stared at her, skeptical. “If you say so, ma’am.”

3.

Kira and Sparrow were quiet as they returned to the ship’s central shaft. There, Sparrow rested for a moment on her crutch. “Same time again tomorrow,” she said.

Kira opened her mouth and then clamped it shut. They would be jumping to FTL not long afterward. She could survive one more session with Sparrow, however difficult.

“Fine,” she said, “but maybe play it a bit safer.”

Sparrow pulled a stick of gum from her breast pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it in her mouth. “No deal. Terms are the same. You stab me; I shoot you. It’s a nice, simple arrangement, wouldn’t you agree?”

It was, but Kira wasn’t going to admit it. “How the hell did you survive this long without getting killed?”

Sparrow chuckled. “There’s no such thing as safety. Only degrees of risk.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Then put it this way: I’ve had more practice than most dealing with risk.” There was an unspoken implication to her claim: because I had to.

“… I think you just like the thrill.” Once more, a needle of pain shot through Kira’s abdomen.

Sparrow chuckled again. “Could be.”

When they arrived at sickbay, Hwa-jung was waiting for them outside. In one hand, she carried a small machine Kira didn’t recognize. “Aish,” the machine boss said as Sparrow hobbled up. “You shouldn’t walk around like this. It’s not good for you.” She wrapped her free arm around Sparrow’s shoulders and shepherded her into the room.

“I’m fine,” Sparrow protested weakly, but it was obvious she was more exhausted than she was letting on.

Inside, Vishal helped Hwa-jung lift Sparrow onto the exam table, and there the small woman lay back and closed her eyes for a moment.