<A couple of Casaba-Howitzers in the right place could take out at least half of the Jellies. – Falconi>

<Can the Wallfish get close enough? – Kira>

<Let Sparrow and Gregorovich worry about that. – Falconi>

Thudding along next to her in his power armor, Trig looked nearly as worried as Kira felt. “Just stick close to me and you’ll be fine,” she said.

He flashed her a sickly grin. “Okay. Just don’t stab me with your suit.”

“Not a chance.”

A pair of booms shook the air, and two Jelly ships pierced the cover of clouds and descended through the sunset sky on pillars of blinding blue flame. The vessels disappeared behind the towers near the eastern edge of the settlement, and then the roar of the rockets fell silent.

“Move,” Koyich barked, although none of them needed urging. They were already running fast as they could. Hawes, Nishu, and the rest of the search teams rejoined them and took up formation alongside Kira and the others.

The radio crackled in Kira’s ear. One of the two Marines who had gone ahead said, *Sir, made it to the target. It’s locked up tighter than a bank vault. No obvious entrance.*

“Cut your way in, if you can,” said Koyich between short breaths. “Whatever you do, defend that position at all costs.”

*Roger that.*

For a moment, Kira worried about the Marines damaging the staff. Then she shook off the worry. If they couldn’t get into the building, the point would be moot regardless.

To her left, Sanchez said, “Movement! Four hundred meters and closing.”

“Damn they’re fast,” said Nielsen. She racked the slide on her snub-nosed rifle.

Kira activated the targeting program on her blaster. A bright red crosshair appeared in the center of her vision.

Then Sanchez swore in a language Kira didn’t recognize, and her overlays failed to translate. “They just took out my drone,” he said.

“Mine too,” said another Marine.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit,” said Hawes. “Make that three.”

“We have to get off the street,” said Falconi. “We’re sitting ducks out in the open.”

Koyich shook his head. “No. We keep pushing forward. If we stop, they catch us.”

“Two hundred and fifty meters and closing,” said Sanchez. They could hear noises among the buildings now: thumping and clattering and the whine and buzz of drones.

Kira reassessed her mental hold over the Soft Blade. Only what I want, she thought, doing her best to impress the notion on the xeno. No matter how chaotic things became, no matter how much pain or fear she might end up in, she wasn’t going to let the Soft Blade inadvertently hurt someone again. Never that.

Then she willed the xeno to cover her face. Even though she was wearing the skinsuit helmet, she wanted the additional protection. Her vision went black for the length of a blink, and then she could see the same as before, only now with the addition of the hazy, violet bands of the local EM fields. Thick loops emanated from the walls of several nearby buildings, marking places where the power was still on. (Why hadn’t she looked before?)