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“Second boarding party accounted for,” Pirra said over her system.

It hadn’t gone as smoothly as the last, with Squad Two being caught in their pincer as the Hev had pulled back.  The fight had gotten messy, and the boarders scattered.

But none had escaped.

The Hev were in their territory, and even more than their technological edge, this was their biggest advantage.  The ship tracked everything; even if somehow they could avoid sensors, the ship would know if a door was opened or hell – even detect the movements of air where it didn’t think there were beings.

The Craton was a smart ship.

Pirra felt a swell of pride at that thought, and her mind jumped for a moment to Alexander – who she checked again and confirmed was safe deeper in the ship, in one of her many bunkers.  Short of a direct hit by a relativistic projectile, he’d be safe in there . . .

But she couldn’t spend more time on him now.  Not only because of the more important work, but because she couldn’t let her guard down.

“We have two down,” Kiseleva told her.  “Lal is injured, and Suarez is KIA.”

Pirra took a deep breath.  “Is Mwanajuma looking at Lal?”

“Yes,” Kiseleva said flatly.

“And how about you?” Pirra asked, noticing the human woman’s limp.

“I am fine.  There is no blood, is just minor sprain,” she replied.

Pirra was not convinced, and checking the woman’s vital signs, she saw that the woman’s suit was administering some decently strong painkillers to keep her going.  But nothing seemed broken or bleeding, so that was good.

“Go to Squad Three.  Send Zivai and Guoming to reinforce squad two.  Come back with Hesson.  If you still think you can fight then, you can stay.”

Kiseleva frowned severely, but nodded.

She looked to the rest of her squad.  “Najafi, LaMarr, you’re with me.  We’ve got another Hev boarding team on the scopes, and-“

A boom shook the ship.

“What the hell was that?!” LaMarr asked.

Pirra’s system flooded with new data.  “Looks like a Hev boarding pod just detonated.  On the Equator Ring . . . damn, it’s done a number on the local systems.”  She shook her head.  “We can’t account for the whole group.  We need to go check it out – make sure none of the boarders are still alive.”

They were currently holding a crossroads from the outer parts of the ship to the inner, where they’d ambushed the last Hev group.  Pirra made a chopping motion down the hall.  “Open this blast door, we can meet-“

The door began to open, too quickly, she thought.

Even before it was open more than a crack, her drones began to fire.  She hadn’t even registered what she was seeing, when a muzzle flash blinded her.

Stumbling back, she had caught only a glimpse of the Hev’s weapon as it lifted – and suddenly she was thrown back.

Shots were going off above her, and she heard voices calling out over the radio, drones whizzing by above her.

Above her?  She realized she was on her back, and moving – someone was pulling her.

Tilting her head back, she saw that it was Kiseleva, dragging her away.  Others rushed past on the flanks, firing.  Second and third squads had arrived to reinforce them.

The firefight was intense, but brief.  In only a handful of seconds, the fire stopped, and she looked back towards the now-open blast doors, seeing an entire unit of Hev on the ground.  All of her team was still standing.

“I’m all right!” she said, before she was even sure she was.  If her armor hadn’t held, she’d be dead.

Her faceplate was cracked, she could see it now.

Kiseleva stopped and looked down at her face.  “You look in one piece.”

“I think I’m fine,” she said.  “Thank the sky for armor . . .  Is anyone else hurt?”

“No,” she heard Jack Lal call.  He had bandages on his upper arm, but seemed all right.  “The one that shot you was the only one who got a shot off.  I think something was distracting them.”

“You were very lucky,” Kiseleva said to her.  “The officer only had a pistol.  If he’d had a rifle . . .”

“It was just a pistol?  It looked . . . a lot bigger than that,” Pirra said.

“I imagine so, when you’re staring down it.”

Pirra got to her feet, a little shaky, but forcing herself not to show it.  She could have nightmares later.  Right now she needed to focus.

“We didn’t know about this squad,” she realized.

Hesson leaned out of a room.  “They were using cutting frames to go through the walls and avoid chokepoints,” he said.  “Still, the ship’s systems should have known about them and been tracking them . . .”

Pirra’s stomach twisted.  She turned on her radio.  “Commander Pirra to all commands; some Hev are evading the ship’s tracking through means we’re not yet sure of.  Have everyone keep their eyes open.”

Kai Yong Fan’s voice came back to her.  “We read you, Commander.  Be advised that Hev bodies may be rigged with biological or chemical weapons that activate on death.”

Her eyes widened.  “Everyone back out of the corridor!” she called.  “The Hev-“

“Shit, I’m getting the warning!” someone called.  “Some kind of poison cocktail.  Shouldn’t be an issue unless your suit is compromised, though-“

Pirra snapped her gaze to Lal.  His eyes had gone wide.

Then hers fixed onto the cracks in her own helmet.

“Move!” she barked.

They moved, and she ran a diagnostic over herself.  Her vitals were elevated, and her system began to figure out what the hell the chemical compound was.

“Jack, are you okay?” she asked.

The man coughed.  “I think I got a whiff of something, Commander, but-”  He lurched, and began to spasm.

“We need a med unit down here,” she barked.  “Anti-tox team!”

Kiseleva put a hand on her shoulder.

“It won’t affect you,” she said calmly.  “It’s designed for humans.”

Pirra’s eyes went back to Lal, who was foaming at the mouth.  Med drones were hovering around him, and two heavier ones lifted him.

His vitals were dropping fast.

A drone was checking her, and she saw the confirmation of what Kiseleva was saying appear.  The compound had been identified, and while it was toxic to her kind in large doses, in small amounts like she’d gotten her body would detoxify it in a few hours.

Pirra watched for only a moment before tearing her eyes away.

“We have a job to do still,” she said, her voice hoarse.  “Spread out the drones to search for stealth Hev teams.  I don’t want a single one of them getting past us.  And get me a replacement helmet.”

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