Earth Star(49)

‘We’ll foam the landing area for you, Drago, but a more immediate concern is your air supply,’ said Nia’s voice.

‘My cockpit is punctured, so I can forget ship air,’ he replied. ‘Just waiting for my suit diagnostics to … Ah, just finished. Impact suit is fine. I’m down to suit-recycled air, but I’ve got the standard six oxygen booster cells on board. That means I’m good for twelve hours, but I’m thinking of moving after six.’

‘This is Medical team,’ said a voice I didn’t recognize at all. ‘We’ve been checking your suit telemetry, Major. Are you aware your left arm is broken?’

‘I was aware it wasn’t working too well,’ said Drago. ‘Something exploded when the sphere’s beam hit, my impact suit triggered and protected me from most of the debris but … Wait!’

I gasped. I’d seen it too. There was definitely a movement on the sphere. ‘Oh nuke!’

‘The sphere is closing the cover on the meteor defence beam,’ said Mason Leveque. ‘We regard that as good news. In fact, we’ve been busy recalculating now we know the sphere has significant offensive weapons that it hasn’t deliberately used against our fighters. If we get out of this without the sphere using the beam again, then threat assessment is significantly down to 61 per cent.’

‘I’ll do my best to make sure I don’t get shot then, Mason,’ said Drago. ‘Anything to help your percentages.’

I relaxed again, glanced at Fian, and gave a breathless giggle. ‘I was scared to death for a moment there.’

Fian seemed more interested in me than the screen. ‘You’re naturally worried about Drago. He’s quite a hero.’

I nodded. ‘He’s done an amaz job. Someone like Maven would never have stopped the attack. If we’d destroyed the sphere, then at best we might never communicate with the aliens, and at worst …’

I took a proper look at Fian’s face, and turned down the volume on the wall vid. ‘What the chaos are you thinking? I’m not going to throw myself into Drago’s arms just because he kept his head in a crisis, and he’s interested in Marlise not me.’ I waved my arms impatiently. ‘We’ve discussed this ten times already.’

‘I know that,’ said Fian. ‘I’m not feeling threatened by Drago any longer. I’m just thinking he’s pretty zan, just like you, and I’m not.’

I grinned. ‘You’re just as zan, and far more sensible, which is exactly what I need. Just ask Candace. Now, please don’t misinterpret this, but when Drago heads back, I’d like to go over to the Attack area and see him land.’

‘I’d like to be there too,’ said Fian. ‘The man’s far too sickeningly aware of his charms, but … He will make it back, won’t he?’

I wrinkled my nose. ‘A broken arm and recycled air. He’ll have bruises from the impact suit material triggering as well. He can’t open his suit to inject himself with meds, so he’ll be uncomfortable, but he’ll live. The air is going to be the worst. He’s in the same situation as someone buried on a dig site. I’ve never been buried long enough to really suffer from recycled air, but I’ve heard the stories about it. Drago has oxygen booster cells, so he’ll be able to flush his air supply every hour or two, but even so …’

I shrugged. ‘If Drago’s serious about sticking it out for six hours, I admire him for it, but I doubt the Colonel will let it go on that long. If Drago passes out, they’ll have problems recovering his fighter, and surely two or three hours will be enough to let the sphere calm down. It’s already closed the cover on its weapons.’

‘Well, whenever they order Drago back, we can go and welcome him,’ said Fian.

‘That’s zan,’ I said. ‘I want to see how they handle Drago coming in with no shields and no hovers.’

Fian burst out laughing. ‘Major Jarra Tell Morrath, are you telling me you want to go and welcome that poor man back simply so you can watch a crash landing?’

‘Oh, I do want to see Drago safely home, it’s just that …’

‘Amaz!’ said Fian. ‘You’ve done the impossible, Jarra. You’ve made me feel sorry for Drago Tell Dramis.’

I giggled, relieved that Fian had calmed down. It was nardle the way he had these silly spells, when he didn’t seem to believe he was good enough for me. Fian was solid and sensible and all the things I wasn’t. He looked like Arrack San Domex and had great legs. Add in the fact he was human, and I was an ape, but he wanted me anyway, well … What more could any girl want?