“Level Seven.” Todd sighed as the lights flashed amber. “Again.”

  “How many times is this, boss?” Ka asked, her face hollow with fatigue.

  He shrugged. “I’ve lost count.”

  “I bet the replay can tell us,” Gary suggested.

  “It is our eighteenth attempt,” Piet told them. His face was gray with exhaustion and he frowned. “Perhaps our nineteenth.”

  “Here they come,” Jimmy murmured, and began to fire. He tapped Gary on the shoulder. “You’re up.”

  The man leapfrogged past him as Angus and Henry mirrored the move on the other side. Reggie and Darren were next, and Todd and Drusilla remained to cover Piet and Ka as the two worked to prepare a surprise for the Dreth pirates about to crash out of the ceiling.

  “Explosives are fun.” Ka grinned as she and the explosives expert raced past them to join the rest of the team.

  They crossed the junction and closed with the main body of Dreth that marched toward them. Piet and Ka repeated their magic trick at the junction and each worked a corner before they changed places to complete their tasks.

  This time, Todd and Drusilla were joined by Gary and Angus. Twin roars came from either side of the junction as they finished and the four of them bolted toward the main battle. Across the junction in the section of the corridor they’d just left, hatches opened in the ceiling and the fourth squad of pirates dropped through.

  They weren’t all Dreth. Some of them were Meligornian and a few were human, although none of them were female. Todd, Dru, Gary, and Angus opened fire and Piet lobbed a grenade.

  “Bowling for bastards!” he shouted, and Todd chuckled.

  “That’s a little young for you, isn’t it?”

  Piet unhooked another grenade. “I have nephews. What’s your excuse?”

  Now that he thought about it, the man had a point. “Cousins?” he suggested.

  He didn’t have any, but it sounded good.

  Piet, however, saw right through him. “Uh-huh.”

  He pitched the next grenade around the corner and they headed into the battle that raged behind them. Todd glanced at Piet and looked around, surprised when Dru stepped in. “I’ve got him. I’ll hand him back at the end.”

  “Hey! I’m not a parcel.”

  “No, but you’re useless in hand to hand,” she snapped in response and slapped a pistol into his hand. “Keep my back clear.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And don’t call me ma’am. I work for a living.”

  “Sure thing…boss.”

  “Don’t make me come back there.”

  “I’m right beside you.”

  “You are,” she said and reached over to slap Piet upside the head.

  They’d been moving as they spoke and reached the rest of the team. Up until that moment, those ahead had exchanged fire with the pirates. As soon as the others caught up, they took the fight to the Dreth.

  They staged their fire, leapfrogging from stanchion to stanchion until the hostiles realized what they were doing. Hand to hand was agreeable, it seemed, because the pirates charged but continued to fire as they attacked.

  Henry went down, and Angus snagged him by the collar, dragged him to one side, and left him there so he could cover Darren’s back. There was nothing he could do until they’d cleared the pack.

  Todd shot the pirate who got past them and heard Henry’s moan of pain as the Dreth crumpled on top of him. “Quit your bitching. You’ve got cover now.”

  “Thanks a lot, boss,” his teammate mumbled and sounded anything but happy.

  Ignoring the man’s griping, he followed the team into the melee and synced with one or the other as he needed to. As the fight progressed, he noted the way they worked together, alternating between blades and firearms. He stayed close to Drusilla to cover her when Piet was close to being overwhelmed.

  He covered the others, too—anyone close enough for him to see and protect. At the same time, he scanned for more threats. Gary and Jimmy hauled Angus back when he stepped into a sword and handed him to Reggie as they targeted his attacker.

  They ended up fighting back to back until Drusilla and Ka shot their opponents. The team then returned the favor to fire past their female counterparts to eliminate the pirates coming in from behind.

  It didn’t take them long to clear the hall, retrieve their wounded, and reach the next junction.

  Before they could move ahead, four more squads of pirates appeared to block each exit. Their mood went from jubilation to disbelief in seconds.

  “Aw, man!”

  Todd tightened his jaw, pivoted, and evaluated the situation in four hasty glances. “We got through the last junction. What did we do right?”

  “What?”

  “You heard. Quickly! What did we do right?”

  The others exchanged puzzled looks.

  “Piet kept the pirates off my back,” Drusilla snapped.

  “Dru kept them off my front,” the explosives expert added, then glanced at him. “And the boss covered us both.”

  “He covered me, too,” Darren interjected.

  “And he buried me under a Dreth,” Henry stated, although it was hard to tell if he meant that as a compliment or condemnation.

  Reggie chuckled. “Gary and Jimmy were like a machine,” he told them. “It was like they knew where each other was all the time. They killed everything that came within reach.”

  Gary scratched the back of his neck. ‘Yeah? Well, you and Angus made sure we didn’t face too many at once, and Ka—that girl was like a blender all on her own.”

  “I wasn’t exactly on my own,” she protested. “You were right beside me.”

  “Well, except for a few Dreth who were dumb enough to get between.”

  “Good,” Todd interrupted. “Now, you’re getting it.” He gestured to the pirates who approached. “How do you think that’ll work here?”

  “Damn fine if we can make it so we only face one squad at a time,” Gary answered.

  “I have spare grenades,” Piet told them. “We could thin them out with those.” He paused and frowned in thought. “And I could rig another burst if you could keep them off me long enough.”

  Ka came to stand beside him. “I can help.”

  Gary and Jimmy exchanged glances. “We can do that.”

  “And the rest of us will deal with…the rest of them,” Reggie offered and volunteered everyone else. “No wuckin’ furries.”

  “And there he goes again—speaking colonial.”

  “Who gives a fuck? Let’s obliterate these bastards. I’d like to not die this time.” From the sound of it, Angus wouldn't have much of a choice about that, but the others took his point.

  Todd looked over at him. “Are you good?”

  The man shook his head. He had one arm clamped over the hastily bandaged gash in his middle and his cold skin shone with sweat. “Nah, boss, but I can buy you time.”

  He grabbed his shoulder. “Not yet.”

  Angus glanced at the Dreth coming up behind them and moved with the team as Piet and Ka pushed forward to set their little surprise up. The pirates guessed what they were doing and broke into a jog as she levered off another wall panel and he crouched at her feet.

  Gary tapped Jimmy and Reggie slid alongside them. “We got this?”

  They grinned as Todd dropped to one knee, activated the force shield in his armor’s wrist band, and used it and his body to shield Ka and Piet as they worked. Angus crouched beside him and interlocked his shield as they both opened fire at the oncoming Dreth force.

  Ka finished her part and stooped to speak to Piet. “Do you need me here?”

  He shook his head. “Thanks, Ka. Go do your thing.”

  She yelled a challenge to the Dreth, held her fist suggestively in front of her, and tugged upward before she rolled it to point a finger at the leading pirates. One shouldered his rifle and fired at her, only to have Gary block the round with his shield.

  In reply, she drew two fingers across her tongue and flicked them towards the pirate.

  “Is that the haka?” Gary asked, wide-eyed.

  The woman laughed. “Nah, mate. That’s pure nightclub suck-this speak.”

  “Do it again. It’s making him really, really pissed.”

  “You wanta join me?”

  “I’d love to, but someone’s gotta shield your stupid provocative arse.”

  As if to prove his point, another series of rounds pounded into his shield and he staggered.

  “I think it’s time we made him work for his hits,” Ka shouted, and Jimmy and Reggie roared their agreement.

  Before Todd could stop them, they’d advanced to meet the pirate squad. After that, he was too busy. The pirates attacked from all sides—or tried to. Ka and Piet had chosen their site well.

  They were close enough to the junction to affect everything in it and far enough down the corridor to bottleneck the incoming hostiles. Todd and Angus maintained a steady rate of fire and Henry and Darren joined them.

  Darren kept his arm around the wounded man’s waist, and Todd realized Angus wasn’t the only one they might lose in this round.

  “Are you nearly done?” Gary called back.

  “Almost.”

  “Couldja hurry?”

  “Why?”

  The sound of rapid-fire rifle shots interspersed by the meaty thud of blades clearing flesh answered him.

  “Oh, no reason.” Gary’s attempt at casual failed miserably.

  “Almost clear,” Reggie reported but shouted in horror, “Ka!”

  Her shriek of pain was cut short by a burst of fire and a Dreth roar of victory.

  “Gary!” was a shout followed by a thickly brogued roar, and Reggie’s next shout was a battle cry to match it.

  Todd didn’t have time to look back. He was too busy doing his part to hold the pirates away from Piet. “I don’t want to rush you,” he began as the small man pushed to his feet.

  “Done!”

  He rose out of his crouch and reached down to drag Angus with him. The man slipped out of his grasp. “Sorry, boss. I’m staying right here.”

  Henry dropped beside him. “Do you care for some company?”

  “I’d rather you ran.”

  His teammate pulled his hands clear of his bandages to show red on both. “I’m not really going anywhere. You?”

  Angus raised an equally bloodied paw and gripped his fist. “Nope.”

  He looked at Todd. “Get moving, boss. We’ll see you in the Real.”

  Todd would have argued but Darren caught him by the collar and dragged him back as he fired past him at the oncoming Dreth. “Don’t waste it, Lance. You need to grab Piet.”

  “No one is grabbing me,” the man retorted and hurled three grenades past them in quick succession. “We have thirty seconds.”

  It wasn’t enough time to go back, let alone manhandle two recalcitrant Marines hell-bent on becoming heroes. Todd unslung his rifle and began to fire as he moved back as fast as he could. Beside him, Piet and Darren kept pace and they proceeded one rapid step at a time.

  Henry and Angus continued to fire and the Dreth were unable to ignore them. The two went down in a flurry of blades seconds before Piet and Ka’s little surprise detonated.

  To Todd’s surprise, it sent a pulse of flame and gas into the junction along with the deadly burst of static. Then, the wall began to explode.

  “What did you do?”

  “I found a life support junction.” Piet smiled happily but caught sight of the chain of explosions that surged toward them. His smile slipped. “Run!”

  Ka was dead, and Drusilla and Gary were tag-teaming to eliminate one of the two last Dreth while Gary, Jimmy, and Reggie faced another. They reached the end of the level in the same moment that Piet’s small run of overkill reached where they were standing.

  “Well, fu—”

  They came round in the recovery room and Gary regarded Todd with bleary eyes.

  “Not again, boss.”

  He managed a shaky smile. “Nope. This time, we’re gonna do something entirely different.”

  “You are a fucking liar,” Gary told him thirty seconds later.

  “Shut up and fly,” he snapped. “I’d like for us not to explode before we reach the pirate ship.”

  Now that they were working as a team, he wanted to try them on something similar to the situation they’d be going into. He’d ordered the AI to drop the wave simulation and run a more typical pirate scenario.

  Ka and Gary flew to his starboard, and Dru piloted Reggie to port. Henry and Angus were in one of the ships behind them, and Jimmy and Darren made up another. Piet had managed to snag a solo flight and brought up the rear.

  Todd didn’t want to think what the man might have dragged along with him, but the thought made him glad they were all in battle armor. It would give them half a chance if the mad bomber breached the hull.

  “To be clear…” Jimmy’s voice interrupted his thoughts, loud and clear over the comms, “this isn’t another wave scenario.”

  “Nope,” he replied.

  “So we actually stand a chance of winning this one.”

  “Keep working as a team and you might.”

  Whoops of relief greeted that, and the team flew faster.

  “Now, we’re gonna get some!”

  At One R&D HQ, Garach dropped to one knee and yanked Amy’s legs out from under her. Stephanie sighed. “Let’s speed this up.”

  Frog looked into his popcorn tub, then at Vishlog. The big Dreth shrugged.

  “I’ll take that as permission,” she told them and stood.

  She ate the last handful of popcorn as she walked onto the mats, nibbling one piece at a time as she approached the fighters. They glanced at her as she approached and backed away from each other as if by mutual agreement.

  The three of them were breathing hard—even Amy and Elle. Garach looked exhausted but as stubborn as when she’d first walked in.

  “Okay, Garach, here’s the deal.” She gave him a stern look.

  He tilted his head to look at her without losing sight of either of the girls. For a moment, he looked hopeful that she might call the fight and give him a graceful way out. She smiled and some of the Morgana peeked through, and he shivered.

  “So far,” she began, “they’ve gone easy on you to see if you would be smart enough to learn but apparently not. So, you have two options. Option one, you can admit you’ve had your ass kicked—”

  “I’m still up,” he snapped and cut her off before she could continue.

  Stephanie nodded. “Okay, I see it’ll be option two.”

  He stared blankly at her, and she continued.

  “Option two is where I allow all three of you to do whatever you want and I heal you if you get hurt. The last team standing wins.”

  “Oh.” Vishlog nodded, his voice soft. “That will hurt.”

  Garach looked from Stephanie to Amy and Elle. “Okay, so anything except kill them?”

  The two bodyguards rolled their eyes, but she kept a straight face.

  “Yes,” she told him. “Neither side is allowed to kill the other.”

  The air around her shivered and his eyes widened. He watched as she folded her legs and rested her elbows on her knees, taking the lotus position without touching the mat.

  He looked in disbelief as she floated five feet off the mats and elevated another two. She met his gaze. “I’ll watch from here.”

  When the three of them continued to stare, she flapped both hands at them. “Shoo! Go. I don’t have all day.”

  As if her words were a signal, Amy pounced, drove her elbow into Garach’s back, and swung both hands like a club into his ribs. He staggered back, surprised by the force of the blow. Nothing she’d delivered before had even come close to that.

  The woman bounced back on her toes and attacked again, using a fist and kick combination that made him backpedal furiously to escape. He managed to keep his feet under him and assumed a defensive stance.

  So, it would be like that, would it? He lifted his lips in a defiant snarl but realized he’d lost sight of Elle. Hastily, he turned his head, caught a glimpse of movement, and ducked in time to avoid her attack.

  His counterstrike was more instinctive than planned, but he caught her across the ribs with a horizontal sweep of his forearm and still managed to block Amy’s next kick. This time, he trapped her ankle in his hand and forced her foot down.

  Unfortunately, he had no chance to take advantage of his grip. The other woman had repositioned and now spun a kick toward his head. Garach ducked and twisted sideways, releasing Amy’s leg as he did so.

  He’d barely regained his feet when they were on him again. It was obvious that they’d held back. Now that they didn’t, he could see why they’d been made bodyguards. He might have to admit they were warriors, after all.

  But not if he could kick their asses.

  The young Dreth darted forward to meet Amy’s attack, swept her fists aside and landed a hard punch on her jaw—or, at least, that had been his intention. She jerked her head aside and he grazed the side of her face with his knuckles as she arced away.

  The onslaught meant Elle had moved out of his sight again, and she attacked with a vengeance. He dropped to one knee to avoid the foot aimed at his chest and barely missed a strike to his head instead.

  He pushed up and moved forward while she recovered. The maneuver brought him face to face with both women as they closed. Amy was bleeding from a split lip and Elle moved more carefully than before.

  If he could hit her again, he might be able to take her out of the fight. At the same time, he almost felt guilty for hurting her. Then, he remembered Stephanie was standing by to heal and the guilt went away.

  Garach shuffled forward to meet them and tried to remember the move Vishlog had attempted to teach him when the two women had arrived. What was it Amy had said? His stance was too narrow?

  He widened it and lashed out as she scooted in. She jumped back and he caught a flash of movement on his left. Pivoting to face it, he was barely in time to sweep Elle’s first blow aside.

  Her second one caught him in the ribs Amy had battered earlier. Something snapped and he gasped and twisted to avoid her next assault. Pain seared through his chest as Amy’s foot thumped into the back of his knee.