Char dragged the back of her hand against her face, barely wincing as her gloves’ adjustment tabs hit the brushburn at her temple.
“All you did was smear the blood,” Butler said, not bothering to look up the shadowed corner where he was checking his rifle. “Again. It’s not camouflage paint.”
“Nervous habits are not rational,” she reminded him. “This bolt hole won’t last long. Town’s not big enough.”
Rapid, distinctive clicks came from the shadows as he worked the action. “You need to lock down your reactions if you want to survive. Try channeling them into action.”
She swallowed at the quiet censure, even if Butler’s tone had been carefully neutral. “I’ll see if I can pick up the rest of the squad’s location signals, Corporal.”
“Good.”
She felt rather than heard his relief. Given his family’s generations of service to hers, outranking her must be as odd to him as it was to her — another intangible test, she was sure, though why the Space Corps preferred to see how they handled it rather than simply separating them into different units was beyond her ken.
“Jamming net’s still blocking comms, but there’s less interference. I’ve got three pings. Two on the move, Staff Sergeant Iniitji surrounded by heat signatures.” She studied the screen. “Pilot and shuttle remain secure, but the path is blocked.”
“I saw Jensen and Hip go down during the ambush.” Butler loomed suddenly from the shadows. “Murphy’s been riding with us this whole trip.”
She kept her reflexes locked down and wondered if he was testing her, too. “Assuming Iniitji gets captured, they’ll probably take him…here.” Char pointed at the lower lefthand corner of her screen. “Six klicks outside town. Closest secure location. That’s where they’ll take him for interrogation until a transport can get him.”
He made a noncommittal noise and headed to observe the street.
Char tucked the screen away. “Town hasn’t been pacified into a proper outpost yet. The Kardan won’t use local systems until they can verify control. So if we can link up with Gilping and Cortez, we can get to their temporary camp first.”
A long, skeptical pause as he studied the view through gauzy curtains. “You want us to head to where they have the most personnel?”
“And supplies,” she argued. “We already got what we came for. Destroying a field cache would be a bonus.”
Butler patted the chest pocket where the data file was secured. “And they’re after us for what we already stole, you may have noticed.”
“Think about what Iniitji carries in his head. We can’t leave him behind. Blaze a false trail, dead-drop a copy of the files for the pilot, break Sarge out of jail, blow up the supplies, and hightail it off planet.”
“Sounds complicated.” Butler faded back from the window. “Normal foot traffic’s just ceased. Time to move.”
“Complicated doesn’t mean it won’t work.” Char grabbed her gear and slung it over her shoulder.
“More to go wrong,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t have a better idea. We’ll work out the possibilities on the way to link up with Cortez and Gilping. Let’s move. Head for the roof.”
***
Leigh and I traded this week – with Murphy apocalypse training. Check out more over at MOTE!
