[AN] Howdy folks! I had hoped to get this out before the New Year, but t'was not to be, alas. I did get a hugely wondrous gift, however, in the form of amazing fan art!

Many huge shoutouts to willoghby over on tumblr for sketching the scene from Chapter 3 where Asami is showing Korra the access hatch on her wrist. (FF hates URLs for some reason, but if you have a look at willoghby's feed you'll see it easily enough )

Beyond that, thanks all for your many kind comments and constructive criticisms, and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

:)

PS - for some reason FF is eating the reviews people are sending me. I'll get them in email, but they aren't showing up on the site (which makes it hard for me to reply). I've complained at the (theoretically) responsible parties, so hopefully it will get fixed soon.

If we have not struggled

as hard as we can

at our strongest

how will we sense

the shape of our losses

or know what sustains

us longest or name

what change costs us

— Kay Ryan

—

Kuvira and the twins are waiting for us in the airlock. Kuvira seals the ship up behind us, then thumbs her comm. "Wee, they're in. Get us going towards the asteroid field."

"Copy that, Boss."

I shove Varrick at Wei. "Lock him in the brig and get your ass to one of the guns. Bumi will be along in a minute."

He grins mirthlessly and grabs Varrick by the scruff. "You got it, Major."

I turn to Kuvira. "Okay, you want the boat or a fighter?

She rolls her eyes. "Please, like I want to try and steer this tub in a firefight."

I give her a tight grin and nod. "Saihkan, you up for a brawl with Boss, here?"

"Does General Amon shit in a foxhole?"

"Ew, Captain. Okay, let's get Mad to the Doc and then you get to a fighter. I'll swap with Wee. This thing may fly like a bathtub, but at least it flies better than a troop ship." I take a breath, trying to think quickly. "Wing, after you oversee fighter launch come meet me in the cockpit. Oh, and somebody find Song and get him on the main gun."

Asami is standing in the middle of sickbay when our little group staggers in, a hypo in her hand. Her face is pale but shows no other signs of emotion. Bolin has started to wake up from the punch to the head and is struggling weakly as Bumi straps him into a medi-bed. The hypo hisses as Asami presses it against Bolin's next and he instantly quiets down.

"A sedative," she explains at my questioning look. "I need to keep him out until I can assess the damage to his implants and see if we can restart the R.A.a.V.A. TBI protocols." I see one of the R.A.a.V.A. cases wedged under the bed, and she grabs the cable and slots it into his implant. "Raava, can you please start running some diagnostics?"

"Yes, Doctor Sato," intones the AI. "Please stand by."

"If you fine folk will excuse me," Bumi says gravely as he heads for the door. "I have a gun to man."

Saikhan lays Opal down on another medi-bed. She's gone from semi-conscious to out cold in the run through the derelict's corridors back to the ship. Asami starts cutting her out of her flight suit and we all wince when we see the blackened burns on her arm and shoulder.

"Looks worse than it is," Asami reassures us after a moment's inspection. "But I have no doubt it hurt a great deal and she's likely suffering from shock. The medi-bed will be able to help expedite her recovery but it's likely to be at least a day before she's recovered enough to be mobile."

"Thanks, Doc," I tell her. "You have like maybe three minutes to make sure you're all secured. It's likely to get bumpy really, really soon."

She bites her lip, then nods. I grip her hand hard, wanting desperately to stay with her.

"I'll be back," I promise quietly.

"I'll be waiting," she replies.

—

"Status, Wee." I say as I rush into the cockpit.

Jinora points at the scanners. We're moving at top speed and I see two ships nearby. "They're following us, but not overtaking us. Haven't seen any fighters yet, but if it's our friends we know that they have at least some. We're still way out of gun range, thankfully."

I grunt as I strap myself in. "Let's keep it that way. You get your tail down to the hanger, I want at least one full unit flying for this."

"Dropping stick." She releases her straps and heads out.

"Taking stick. Fly straight, Lieutenant," I mumble.

She smiles. "Ferrets forever."

I take a deep breath and thumb my comm.

"Bumi, Song, Wei, you guys in place?"

"We're set, Major," Song replies.

"We've got a bet on kill count, should it come to that," says Bumi.

"Good luck with that General," I warn. "Song's a very good shot."

"Now you tell me."

I feel a shudder under my feet and see that Kuvira's team have launched their fighters.

"Boss to mothership," says Kuvira over the comm.

"Go ahead, Boss."

"I'm having Saikhan and Opal drop back. They're fully loaded with cherries. I'll take point and make sure nobody is out in front."

"Copy that, Boss."

I call out my final check. "Sickbay, you guys strapped in down there?"

There's no response.

"Sickbay?"

"Reporting for duty, Major."

I whirl around to see Asami slide into the co-pilot's seat, Wing right behind her. He smirks at Asami but takes his place at the Nav station.

"I couldn't not know what was going on," she says, avoiding my gaze while she straps herself in. "And I realized they'd be safer in sealed stasis, just in case." Her eyes finally meets mine, and I can see her fear but also her determination. "Also, I'm really bad at waiting."

I snort, one eye still on the long range scanners. Sealed stasis mods can be the only way to survive a catastrophic event in space. Your body is essentially put on pause and can last a long time, in theory so you can eventually get recovered. I've heard of some stasis pods recovered as much as a hundred years later, though I can't imagine the shock it must be to be the person who's been out for that long.

The two blips tailing us turn into eight.

"Boss, fighters launched!" announces Wing. "Looks like six birds."

"Six birds confirmed," Saikhan comments after a moment.

"Boss to mothership, think we should try a hail before we start shooting?"

"Too late for that!" says Jinora, her voice tight. "Incoming missiles."

"Fuck, how rude," Kuvira growls. "Blow some cherries and give those missiles something hot to target."

"Copy that, I'm on it," says Saikhan. "Cherries away."

On the scanner two blips break away and are heading straight for us. "Gunners, you've got incoming."

"Copy that," says Song, sounding nonchalant.

"Sweet mother fuck and a half," I hear Kuvira swear. "Saikhan you've picked up a tail, swing left."

"I got it," reports Jinora. "Two coming towards you boss."

"I see them."

The ship shakes as Bumi, Wei, and Song open up with the guns, the tracers bright in our viewports. I switch over the comms from the fighters so I can keep it open for the gunners. Out of the corner of my eye I see Asami jump, holding a white-knuckled grip on her chair. There's a distant explosion of light and I hear a whoop from Song for target destroyed.

"Song!" Bumi shouts. "The second one is out of my gun range, watch for it—"

The tracers are still flying, but now the ship is shuddering in a way that causes my stomach to ache. The alarms are flaming red on the console and I see that the emergency hatch seals have fired, indicating a fire or a hull breach.

"Shit! Gunners, status!"

There's a pause, then the comm crackles.

"Main gun took a hit," shouts Wei, his voice is muffled and shaky. "I got the fighter but it was too close and it crashed right into us."

"Song?"

There's a pause, then Wei says somberly, "I don't think so, Major."

"Fuck. Bumi! You better be there old man," I call, but there's still no response.

"Wing," I start to say, but he's up and moving before I can finish.

"On my way."

The comm crackles again. "Boss to mothership."

"Read you, Boss." I fight to keep my voice steady, but I can't completely keep the waver out of my voice.

"We got all but one of the fighters," says Kuvira, her usual sarcastic banter missing. "The last one is retreating and the big ships appear to be slowing up. Saihkan's fighter is smoking hard though, he needs to come in."

"Copy that." I look over at Asami. "I need to keep this boat going and we're a tad short-handed. Can you operate hanger controls?"

She immediately starts unstrapping herself, but her hands are shaking and she fumbles a bit before she's able to stand up.

"Hey," I say softly. "Just breathe okay? You're holding it together pretty damn good for a civilian."

She nods and straightens up a little. "I'll get him in," she promises, and hurries out the door.

I eye the scanner and confirm what Kuvira had seen; the two big ships tailing us are definitely slowing up. I check our distance to the asteroid field and start to relax slightly when I see that even if they go top speed now, we can still outrun them to the safety of the field. Big clunky troop ships are way to big to risk flying in all that mess, and the asteroid field is getting close enough to home where reinforcements for us should start to become a worry for them. On the other hand, very little they've done has made sense so far.

"Major Korra," says Raava, surprising me.

In all the excitement, I had forgotten the AI, but apparently Bumi has figured enough out to think of using her. "What's up, Raava?"

"I am passing along a message from General Bumi. He asks me to report that his comm unit has been damaged and is non-functional, but that he and Sergeant Wing have recovered Sergeant Song and ensured that there is no further danger to the ship. Sergeant Wei is currently the only gunner."

"Recovered? Is Song okay?"

"I am unable to determine that from the information currently available to me. I can report he is non-responsive, but not whether that is due to loss of consciousness or if he is deceased."

"Your beside manner is for shit, Raava," I growl.

There's a brief pause. "I am not able to parse your meaning from this statement, Major."

"Never mind. Can you please advise Doctor Sato that they're en route to sickbay?"

"Yes, Major Korra."

We're now down two and we were already short-handed as it is. I sigh and thumb the comm.

"Mothership to Boss."

"Read you loud, Avatar."

"Song's out of commission, and for all we know Saikhan took some damage. I'd like to keep you and Wee out there but I think you'd better get back to the ship."

"Dammit, seriously," Kuvira curses. "How bad is Song?"

"Don't know yet. We're almost to the field, we should be safe enough in there before we make a fast run for home. Asami's running hanger control."

"Copy that. Doc better not slam the door on us."

I snort. "Don't piss her off and she probably won't."

I stare at the scanner. The two ships are now actively traveling away from us, in the direction of the Omega quadrant. I make note of this for future reference, still befuddled by the seemingly inept attempt to intercept us.

"What is your game, Amon?" I mutter.

—

Kuvira has relieved me in the cockpit, pointedly referring to my growing whiskey tab; I think I now owe her about three cases. As I walk into sickbay, my stomach drops. Near the far wall a bodybag is strapped to one of the medi-beds. Saikhan and Bumi are sitting on a bed near the door, both looking a little worse for wear. Bumi is holding a cold pack to his eye and his flight suit shows some scorch marks. Saikhan is bleeding from a couple of places and his flight suit is off, showing off a lovely bruise on the left side of his chest and a big bandage wrapped around his thigh. Asami is bandaging a cut on his arm as I approach.

"Hope you gave as good as you got," I say to Saikhan.

He grunts, then winces as Asami starts taping up his ribs. "Yeah, my target was in very small pieces when I was done. I think I got hit by a piece of the fighter Boss took out. Slammed into the side of my cockpit and ruptured one of the hydrogen lines."

"You have two cracked ribs and that laceration on your leg needs to be watched," says Asami, stepping back. "Normally I'd tell you to rest for the next couple of days, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen."

"Thanks, Doc, and yeah, probably not."

There's a hiss as she presses a hypo into his thigh. "This will help with the pain for the next twelve hours or so, but then it's going to hurt like hell, I'm afraid. Be careful of those ribs."

She turns to Bumi, but he waves her off. "I'm fine, doctor. I've been hurt worse in a bar brawl."

Saikhan snorts, then winces, pressing one hand to his ribs. "Can I get two shots?"

I leave him negotiating with Asami and approach the body bag. It's matte black and stamped with a serial number under the United Forces golden phoenix, and now it holds the body of another friend. Another man lost under my command, three more injured. Right now I'm not feeling like Izumi's faith in me was well placed.

Saikhan and Bumi come up behind me, and Bumi claps me on the shoulder.

"Some day soon we will drink excessively in his honor, but first we have to survive long enough to get to a bar."

I can feel Saikhan looking at me. "What do you think he'd say to you now, Major?"

I manage a smile. Song had never been a man to say much, but I was pretty sure I knew this one. "Keep my head out of my ass and focus on the mission."

"Sounds like you paid attention in training at least some of the time—"

Suddenly the klaxons go off, alarms blaring and the emergency lights blinking furiously.

"Avatar, you better get up here," demands Kuvira over the intercom. "We've got problems!"

Notes: Trivia - this poem snippet is particularly special to me because the author, Kay Ryan, was the official Poet Laureate for the United States a couple of years back and she lives in my town. Very cool lady (and a great poet)...