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"Don’t look at ht between the eyes Dropped her before I could blink And then we heard them Calls out in the dark One after another after another So tiny sparks

Pipe bomb

"Grenade!"

The blast took out Gandolfini, Montano and Parker, the second would’ve taken off s if I’d moved a little slower I could see shapes in the dark--dozens of theantries above The explosions lit up the hangar’s belly like fireworks on Terra Day, lit up the body of that ten-year-old girl with a bullet in her face and a bloody knife still clutched in her hand And I did what any officer with a brain would’ve done Battlefield co down suppressing fire as I grabbed McNulty and slung his arm around my shoulder The hostiles were smart--I’d heard scuttlebutt that Phobos turned youto cut off our retreat A dozen VK pulse grenades talked them out of it, cleared us a path back to the airlock McNulty was cursing beneath his breath the whole ti hih--I thought his vest saved him from the worst of it

It wasn’t until we’d sealed the secondary airlock behind us I realized horong I was As the Kerenza rookies gathered about us and babbled, XO Myles’s voice rang in ma, this is Comm Lieutenant McCall, report status, over!"

"Coma At least forty hostiles in the bay Henderson, Parker, Gandolfini and Montano are down McNulty is injured Over"

"Sigh, over?"

"Coative They’re sealed outside airlock 2 Cycle us through, over"

"Sigma, Comm You said you have a squad ma Affirmative McNulty took a knife wound It’s not serious, but he--"

"Is his suit intact, over?"

McNulty looked at ma--"

"Is his suit intact?"

He had blue eyes, McNulty Pretty as oceans

"Lieutenant, is his suit intact?"

"… Negative"

"Winifred, you cannot bring that h the airlock, do you understand h"

The battlefield coht then Made it hard to breathe Impossible to speak It’s not the bullets that kill you It’s moments like these

One piece at a time

In the end, McNulty spoke for ed, over"

I found et it, LT" He patted his rifle "If they h the airlock before you co for theeant"

He smiled then "’Course you are"

The airlock cycled open behind us A full detach, suppressors and VKs trained on us--just in case we tried to bring McNulty through Cold as the belly of the void, little Lia Myles Not sure what I ever saw in her

McNulty gave us a salute I could still see his smile No fear in his eyes then Just duty

He’d have ood dad