Page 66 of Warrior’s Mate

She reached over the housing and forced the wheel another turn. The gap narrowed. A gloved hand punched through it.

Maelis recoiled. The Sargan tried to force the door back. The mechanism screamed.

She looked at the emergency flood lever. If she pulled it, the channel behind the sealed gate would receive a surge from the reserve cistern. The old system was intended to flush contamination out of the pumping network. It would also hit anyone still in the corridor.

She had seen at least three Sargans. She did not know if there were civilians behind them. Choice among bad outcomes.

No commander to resent afterward. Maelis pulled the lever. Water thundered somewhere inside the walls.

The Sargan's hand vanished from the gap just before the door slammed shut. A deep roar traveled through the pipes. Then silence.

Maelis stood with both hands on the control housing, breathing hard. She did not know who had been in that corridor. She might never know.

There was no time to make the decision clean after making it necessary. She limped after the others. The western outlet emerged beneath a broken irrigation bridge in the Yaran orchards.

Sunlight had turned copper through the smoke. For one terrible instant Maelis thought they had escaped underground only to surface inside another Sargan position. Then a Farseek recognition beacon flashed from the ridge above them.

A patrol craft descended. Not Kaiven's. Relief still nearly dropped her to her knees.

The pilot came over the external speaker. "Ground group, identify." Maelis lifted her terminal.

"Wasaytu civilian evacuation group. Twenty-eight survivors. We have wounded and one woman in active labor."

A pause.

"Twenty-eight? We had your tunnel section listed as lost."

Maelis looked back at the people emerging from the outlet one by one.

"Correct the list."

The words came out sharper than she intended. The pilot answered quietly. "Yes, ma'am." Maelis's comm suddenly found a network.

Messages flooded the screen all at once: emergency notices, casualty updates, route closures, military commands. Her device struggled to sort them. One priority message sat above the rest. DARATU, KAIVEN — STATUS REQUEST / REPEATED

She opened the channel.

"Kaiven."

Static. Then his voice.

"Maelis?"

She closed her eyes.

"Twenty-eight alive. Yaran orchard outlet. We need extraction."

For several seconds he said nothing. When he did, the commander's control was still there, but something rough moved beneath it.

"I have your coordinates. Transport is coming."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes."

She heard weapons fire behind him.

"That did not sound all right."