Seth and Niles both glared at him, but he had expected they would not be pleased and he did not care that they were not.
Danika, contrary to what he had hoped, merely stared at him in surprise. "What?"
He did not know how she could have failed to hear him when he was walking directly beside Seth, but he repeated his assessment of the situation. "Seth is point man. He should take point and I will carry you."
"I do not mind carrying Danika," Seth growled, "and since I sparred with both you and Niles, I am weary and that might adversely affect my judgment or my reflexes. You should take point."
"Oh! If you're tired, maybe ...."
"I am notthattired," Seth said before she could finish.
"If you are tired," Dane said angrily, "then I should carry Danika! It will not help her if you drop her! Then you can take rear position and Niles can take point."
"If I am only third man," Niles snapped angrily, "then I am the least valuable member of the squad! I should carry Danika while the two of you guard our retreat."
"What a thing to say!" Danika gasped, appalled. "Everymember of the team is valuable! Maybe I should just walk?"
Seth glared at Dane. "Now see what you have done? You have made her feel as if she is compromising the team when it isyouwho are the problem! You should be at point and on guard against the possibility of another attack instead of arguing!"
"We killed all of them!" Dane said angrily. "And then we checked the perimeter with our infrared. There were no heat signatures indicating the possibility of others nearby!"
"Then it cannot matter who takes point," Seth said smugly.
Dane glared at him, wondering if he could punch him in the face without risking further injury to Danika. Finally, reluctantly, he decided he could not.
They met up with Reuel, who was leading three squads. Reuel assessed them. "There was an attack?"
Seth felt his face heat. "Aye. The primitives attacked from above. Danika was wounded."
Reuel's gaze searched her and came to rest on her face again. "How did this come about? Were you not wearing your hab-suit at the time?"
Danika's face turned so red it felt like it was flashing. "I was, Sir."
"Take her to sickbay. We will continue with a sweep of the area." He met Danika's gaze again. "I will expect a report, Captain."
"Aye, Sir. I mean, yes, Sir!"
Not surprisingly, they created a stir when they reached camp since Danika hadn't managed to convince Seth to put her down.
Not that she hadn't tried! But he was damned hardheaded!
As embarrassing as the encounter with Reuel had been it paled beside the discomfort of being carried into camp like somebody mortally wounded when she barely had a scratch to show for her encounter with the primitives--well, and a host of multi-colored bruises forming. She definitely looked like she'd been in a fight but, just as clearly, she was still pretty much intact.
The medic looked downright confused when he'd stripped her suit to her waist to examine the wound. "This is the wound?"
Seth glared at him. "I could not determine how deep it might be or if it had damaged her internally. Beyond that, the weapon that caused it belonged to a primitive and I am certain that the wound must be thoroughly examined for foreign substances and the possibility of bacteria."
The medic glared back at him. "I am a medic. I do not need instruction."
Seth thrust his jaw forward belligerently, narrowing his eyes at the other man and clenching and unclenching his fists suggestively.
Danika held up a hand. "Ok. Now that we've established that my wound is probably teaming with filth and bacteria, do you think we could focus on that?"
"This was a projectile like those used in the previous attack?" the medic asked her.
"I didn't actually get much of a chance to examine it ...."
"It appeared to be bone," Seth responded at almost the same time. "Those used before were tipped with stone ... mostly."
