Despite having his own battle ahead, Nick couldn't keep his eyes off the display showing the progress of the fight. He was horrified when Level 5 got wiped out, but astonished when the last of the invaders inside the dungeon died. They did it. They actually stopped them.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one reacting to something. The pilot of the shuttle was on the move, heading back towards the exit ramp where the guard was supposed to be. Nick had the immobilized guard propped against a wall, but didn't expect that to fool the other alien for more than a moment or two. He was going to have to shoot the pilot.

"Petra, can you fly the shuttle?" he whispered. He hadn't wanted to kill the pilot at least until they were aboard the mother ship, but he might not have a choice pretty soon.

< Yes. >

Nick breathed a sigh of relief, then tensed again as he lifted his unfamiliar weapon. He had test-fired it at rocks a couple of times, but he hadn't really practiced with it. Can I really do this? he fretted, watching the pilot approach on his scan.

"Petra, tell Kathy I am on the shuttle."

"Ktheg!lik is dead," Petra replied calmly.

Nick felt a chill. "What?"

"Ktheg!lik is dead," Petra repeated.

"Revive her!"

"I don't know that word, Nick."

"Make her not dead!" he snapped. "Heal her!"

"Error. Too small resources."

"Use the stuff you used on me!"

"Goldaskian warrior un-make 89% of 'the stuff'."

"Use what's left!"

"Too small resources."

"Try!"

"Supply too small to heal Ktheg!lik. Supply can heal Gen!aoa, Ala!fak, and Gozzna!n. Please say who Petra heal."

Nick stared at nothing.

"Please say who Petra heal."

Kathy is dead.

He glanced at the scan, and saw three blinking green lights. While he watched, one of them started flashing more quickly.

"Heal... those three... you said."

"Petra cast heal on Gen!aoa, Ala!fak, and Gozzna!n."

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Nick stared at the bulkhead in front of him.

Kathy...Ktheg!lik...is dead.

He couldn't pronounce her name, but he could think it correctly. Some part of his brain latched onto that one fact. I never learned how to say her name.

She died, and I never got to call her by her name.

There was a shout, in the invaders' tongue. Nick looked up. The pilot was in view, marching closer quickly. He wasn't wearing armor. Nick had kept his stealth on, but the pilot still slowed, alerted that something was wrong.

Nick lifted his weapon, aimed at the pilot, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened except for a loud click. Furious, Nick pulled the gun closer and fiddled with the controls.

"O, gog," the pilot half-moaned, then turned and ran.

Nick fired a dozen shots at the cowardly invader, missing every time before it turned the corner. Nick growled a curse and started running after him.

"Petra, trap him!" Nick shouted in a moment of inspiration. Petra definitely knew the word 'trap', and hopefully was clever enough to improvise. He turned the corner to find the pilot slamming into a closing hatch. The crimson alien whirled, looked around wildly, and drew a dagger.

Nick kept his distance. Not going to give you a chance to use it, fucker. He shot and missed twice, then forced himself to aim slowly. When his third shot hit, the pilot screamed and started to charge at him, leading with the dagger. Nick fought his instinct to hurry, and aimed while the pilot crossed half the distance between them. He fired, and the alien's face was destroyed. It fell to the deck only six feet in front of him.

The blue light on his HUD went out.

Well, Nick thought coldly, that answers that.

More shouting, coming from behind him--the guard from the dungeon entrance. "Petra, trap the guard." He turned and headed back the way he came, gun pointed ahead of him, prepared to kill again. He had just reached the corner when the gun barrel was shoved to the side hard enough to hurt his wrist. There was a loud noise, different from the one his gun made...used to make. Nick looked at the ruined barrel and scowled. You shot my gun, you fucker. They'd done it through his stealth, too. This one will be tough.

"Petra, print me a...never mind." Nick went back to the pilot's body and pulled the dagger from its death grip. It felt comfortable in his working hand, but he knew that he wasn't an instant ninja just because he was mad, no matter how mad he was. Fury did not actually bend the universe—people just felt that it ought to. Nick used to think that was a stupid urge, but now he understood.

Pushing the feeling down, he ran for the hatch the pilot had tried to use. "Petra, open this hatch and close it behind me." Four shots followed him through before it closed, but by some miracle they all missed him.

That miracle was probably called, "Even for pros, it's harder to aim while running," dumbass.

He forced his voice to be steady. "Petra, call all the surviving fuakalas. Translate for me.

"Hello. This is Nick.

"I killed one guard on ship. I stopped one guard on ship. One more guard. I need help. Guard is trapped. I am trapped. Please help. I wait."

He waited.

On his HUD, he watched the three blinking green dots stabilize. He wondered where Ktheg!lik's dot had vanished. Later, if he could bear to watch, he'd play the recording.

After five minutes, Nick asked, "Petra, did you send my message?"

"Yes, Nick."

"Why aren't they responding?" he wondered aloud.

"Ktheg!lik ordered turn off all displays."

Nick sighed. "Turn all displays back on, Petra."

"Yes, Nick."

"Resend my message."

"Yes, Nick."

"We hear you two times, Nick. Can you hear me?" Nick recognized the voice.

"Jenkins? Uh...Geh kin? Sorry. Yes, I hear you."

"Good. We have two problem. You have one guard, we have one guard. Petra print gun for guard armor, but twenty zegs wait is bad. We throw balls at guard go here, but we maybe die. You know more good what do?"

Nick was no warrior. He'd never served in the military. He'd never studied tactics or strategy or whatever. But he had seen a lot of movies. He considered a dozen possibilities, most of them ranging from bad to suicidal in real life, before hitting on one that might work. He felt the beginnings of a savage grin if Petra gave him good answers to his next questions.

"I have an idea."

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