She left her Marines to it, glancing down to where Commander Michaels was groaning on the ground. There was a spatter of blood inside his oxygen mask, possibly from the pressure wave. She also might have landed a little harder on him than she’d intended.

Deirdre opened comms to the lander. “Bravo Bravo Bravo. I say again, Bravo Bravo Bravo.”

“Roger, Code Bravo,” the pilot of the lander responded. “Dustoff in three, Colonel. Medical on standby.”

The Marine lander’s reactors whined in the distance, closing fast as Deirdre knelt by the commander.

“We’ve got dustoff inbound, Commander,” she said. “You good?”

“I feel like someone dropped a couple hundred pounds of hard suit on me, Colonel.” Steph chuckled from where he lay. “Guess I’m lucky that whoever was wearing it couldn’t have added much more than another hundred or so.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Commander. Besides, I’m one eighty and not remotely ashamed of it.”

“Noted.” He grinned under the spattered oxygen mask. “That would explain the pain in my kidneys.”

“Are you alright, Stephan?” Milla asked, approaching cautiously while she kept an eye on where the Marines were disarming the still-stunned enemy troopers.

“I’ll live,” he said from the ground. “But Milla?”

“Yes, Stephan?”

“Next time, get someone else to do your check flight,” he whined. “I don’t think I want to be flying with you anymore. You’re way too dangerous for this fighter jock.”

The sound of the Marine lander’s retros scorching the ground nearby swallowed any response Milla might have made. A medical team jumped clear of the vessel with a stretcher between them and rushed over. Deirdre had to hold Steph down as he tried to get to his feet.

“I’m not that badly hurt,” he protested, his struggles ineffective against the armored gauntlet.

“Ask me if I care,” the colonel said dryly. “You’ve got internal bleeding on some level, so you ride.”

He slumped back down as the corpsmen arrived. “Fine.”

Deirdre left them to it and got to her feet, looking toward Milla.

“Lieutenant Chans,” she said, “you look like you can walk.”

“I can.”

“Good.” She smirked slightly. “It is the more dignified way to get to the lander after a crash.”

“Hey!” Steph struggled free of the corpsmen for an instant. “I was shot down!”

“Meh, whatever lets you sleep at night, Commander.”

►►►

AEV Odysseus

► “Was that us?” Eric asked, though he knew the answer.

“No sir,” Sams swore. “I triple-checked. We did not engage.”

Miram looked lost. “What happened then? Accident?”

Eric shook his head. “Not likely. Either they blew their own reactor, or . . .”

He fell silent, eyes drifting to the telemetry display at the scanner station. “Where’s Bandit One?”

The scanner tech looked over the numbers. “Bandit One is three light-minutes out and . . . opening, sir.”

Eric grimaced, his teeth gleaming in the computer lights. “Cold-blooded bastards.”