against the ground, lower her head, and hope the drones had an even less lucky time aiming than she had.

next squeeze if the trigger, miraculously, struck a drone, as did the third. By the fourth she was back to missing, but the fire did succeed in dividing the swarm’s focus.

Which, specifically for Tora, was not ideal. When plasma began to blast up the hillside toward her, she had to lie flat —

Tora hissed a curse as she braced herself and leveled her sidearm toward the drones. She was still not seeing straight, and between the concussion and her shaking arms it was difficult to center her aim. When first she pulled the trigger she hit nothing but the dirt ten feet past the hostiles. The —

recovering as quickly as she would have liked — not that a swift recovery was very possible given her condition. In truth, she was lucky just to still be conscious. It was just her trademark stubbornness and belligerence that kept her going.

It was a relief that Marcus was able to dispatch the immediate threats with relative ease. With her aim still unsteady, she was not going to be of much use with nothing but a sidekick. Even so, she kept her position and remained on lookout until the rest of the survivors were rallied.

She was not —

back up at Marcus it took a second for her to find her voice.

“Go on.” She adjusted herself just slightly, ensuring the best angle she could take in current state and position. “I’ll do my job.”

Certainly she would try.

It was a small relief for the movement to stop and to be placed on the ground. Not that a moment of rest was finally upon her. With hands that still trembled with adrenaline she took the weapons, then turned her gaze to the firefight happening downhill. She meant for no delay, but after looking —

Thamk