► A small boulder exploded ahead of them, and Steph drove Milla to the ground, rolling behind another as the shrapnel rained down around them.

“Laser!” she gasped.

“Yup.” Steph rolled clear of her and brought his rifle up to rest on the barrel. “High powered too. Reminds me of your people’s stuff before the Drasin.”

Milla shot a glance at him, mostly hidden behind her visor. “Our hand weapons were designed to be nonlethal against people. That was not.”

Steph paused, looking at her briefly before focusing back over the sights of his rifle. “Nonlethal lasers? How the hell did you manage that?”

Another crack signaled the other side of their boulder popping as a laser superheated the stone and vaporized the liquid contained within.

Milla ducked. “Do we really have time to explain photon lattice theory right now?”

“No, probably not,” Steph admitted as he settled a little and took a couple deep breaths. “They’ve got us zeroed in. Check around. See any cover we could retreat to?”

Milla did as he asked, but shook her head. “Nothing close.”

“I didn’t think so,” Steph said. “Okay, have you been taking tactical courses?”

“Some, but not open combat. Nothing like this.”

“Welcome to real-world combat 101,” Steph said. “Unfortunately, we’re going to have to skip the beginner stuff and move straight to the advanced course. Withdrawal under fire—definitely advanced-placement courses here.”

Milla nodded, surprising herself somewhat because she wasn’t shaking. “What do I do?”

“Find a boulder you can cover behind,” he told her, cutting her off when she tried to repeat what she’d said earlier. “I know there aren’t any close. Just do it.”

Milla cast about, looking for the largest, and closest, boulder she could find. They were strewn over the plateau in haphazard fashion, like some giant had left its toys lying out after a particularly enthusiastic game night. She found one that looked large enough and was hopefully not too far away.

“Okay, I have one.”

“Good,” Steph said. “When I open fire, you run.”

“But . . .”

“You run!” he snapped. “Get to cover, then you do what I tell you to do. Okay?”

Milla jerked her head up and down. “Okay.”

“Get ready.” Steph took a breath, settling his rifle down and dropping the fire selector over to burst mode. “Run.”

The rifle barked, sending three high-velocity rounds downrange and bucking back into Steph’s shoulder. He didn’t bother trying to see if he’d hit anyone. That wasn’t the point. Instead, he just shifted and fired another burst.

This wasn’t his preferred battle rifle, but rather a lightweight, medium-caliber weapon loaded with high-velocity, low-mass rounds. Not particularly lethal, but the rifle did pack a lot of bullets in each magazine.