“Sir? Captain?” Miram looked over, still more than a little lost.

“They”—he gestured to the Bandit One telemetry—“either ordered the ship scuttled or blew it remotely when they decided they weren’t going to try and take us. Now they’re running upwell as fast as that ship will carry them, which is probably faster than we can follow, since they’ve dropped a lot of mass and we have to wait to pick up our Marines.”

“They wouldn’t have . . . would they?” she asked, unbelieving.

Eric tilted his head slightly. “Yeah, I think they would. How long until the Marines are back?”

Miram shook off her shock and checked the reports on her console. “At least forty minutes, sir. They’re taking prisoners.”

“Good. At least we got something out of this.” Eric stood up. “Get me a full damage report within the hour. We’re going to have to decide if we can return to Earth or if we need a full repair bay at the Forge.”

“Aye sir.”

He sighed. “Probably have to be the Forge. We can comm Earth using the FTL relays at least. Commander, you have the bridge.”

“Aye Captain, I have the bridge,” Miram answered instantly.

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 15

► Lieutenant Milla Chans sealed the seam of her uniform jacket and pushed back the still-damp flop of hair that was plastered to her forehead, feeling much better now that she’d managed to escape the tender care of Doctor Rame and gotten a proper shower. Steph was still in the medical center under an enforced stay, much to his disgust, while being treated for chemical burns to his throat, air passages, and lungs.

The Marines had rounded up the alien troopers, disarming them as much as possible, and bundled everyone onto the lander for dustoff within minutes of the destruction of the alien frigate. That flight had been about as far from comfortable as anything she’d ever experienced.

Since they couldn’t exactly strip down the alien troops on the surface of the moon, and the lander was too small for those sorts of acrobatics, the Marines had crammed fourteen prisoners against the raised ramp and held no less than ten battle rifles on them at all times until landing back on the Odysseus. This meant that everyone else was crammed into the other side of the lander, just as tightly packed.

Very unpleasant, to say the least.

Milla tried not to think too hard about the Marine colonel’s warning to the prisoners, reminding them that they were stacked against the landing ramp and if they gave any trouble . . . Well, the lander’s cockpit was sealed, and explosive decompression was overrated.

It wasn’t the physical discomfort that had mostly bothered her, however.

No, it was the prisoners.