Ushkov shot her a final glare at her as Edwyn turned away. Kyra blew the scowling man a kiss that made his face turn blotchy as it mottled with rage. Several of the nearby troops snickered though Edwyn either didn’t hear or pretended he didn't. It probably wasn’t a smart move to antagonise someone who might be in a position to save her life, but then it wasn’t like the odds of any of them surviving the next few hours were anything anyone would bet on.

They moved through the forest of diseased trees in a loose knot. In theory they ought to have spread out into a skirmish line, but with their limited training the comfort of being close to other humans was more of a concern than the proper tactical deployment. Distant gunfire continued to boom, though the volume of anti-air fire seemed to be slackening, replaced instead by the distant booming of artillery striking something well over the horizon.

They reached a more or less intact lander beside which a stocky looking female sergeant was shoving men into a loose tactical column. The stenciled name across her back read ‘Reyes’. As their group emerged from the trees she spun to face them with a look that hovered somewhere between rage and relief. 

“O’Byrne, glad you could be bothered to join us,” she snapped, arching an eyebrow to indicate her surprised that so few had returned with him.  She must have been hoping for the extra bodies from the second dropship, and it clearly stung for her to see Edwyn returning with fewer troops than he had began with. The remaining soldiers in her column looked back and forth, muttering to each other in tones of concern. 

The original plan, as it had been explained to Kyra anyway, was that two full platoon would be involved in their attack. It looked as though they had only half a platoon left, unless the other two dropships had been forced off course rather than destroyed.  As the thoughts formed in Kyra’s mind a communications tech ran forward, a heavy comm array strapped to his back.

“Sergeant! Captain Brady says we are to continue as ordered, pick up stragglers as we go!” Kyra remembered seeing Brady, a fat an unhealthy looking officer, the sort of rich mans by-blow who was good for nothing else but shoving into a uniform and shipping far away from public embarrassment. She wondered if he was on the ground or if he was safe in one of the troop ships in orbit. Assuming the troop ships were safe of course. Intelligence hadn’t said anything about a Corporate Fleet in the area, but then Intelligence hadn’t said anything about their being enough soldiers on the ground to shoot the dropships to shit either.