Red Rain

By Thalia Drogna

The NX-Theta had docked at Water's Edge and now the MACOs were unloading the supplies that they'd brought with them, including what Trip had managed to scrounge from Enterprise which wasn't much since they hadn't had a lot of room.

"What happened to your head?" asked Darwin as Trip walked past him carrying a box of medical supplies.

"We ran into some trouble on the way here," said Trip. "Took some fire and I lost my balance while I was trying to restore power to the thrusters. I cracked my head on the console on the way down."

"He told us that the floor came up and hit him," said Rush with a smirk, as he walked by, carrying a box of phase pistols.

"So Colonel are you going to tell us how you came by this place, the design definitely isn't human," said Trip.

"Let's get everything off the ship and then I'll show you around," said Darwin.

"Colonel, any news on Kanatova?" asked Hathaway.

"Sorry, Major, she hasn't been in touch," said Darwin.

"She'll turn up," said Fenner. "She's always made it home before."

"I wish she'd hurry up," replied Hathaway.

When all the boxes were stacked in the cargo bay, Darwin led the MACOs on a tour of the facilities. There was a level of accommodation, each MACO had been assigned a spacious set of quarters that were far larger than any Trip had ever been assigned before. It reminded him of the apartment he had rented in San Francisco when he'd been working at the Warp Five Complex. Each suite of rooms had a double bedroom, study, living room, kitchen and bathroom. Compared to his quarters on Enterprise it was palatial.

The next stop on the tour was the generator room, a big power plant that produced enough energy to keep the entire station going for several years. Trip was fascinated by the inner workings of the station and how the power plant worked, but he knew he'd have plenty of time to examine it further later. They moved through the hydroponics bay and arboretum, the Colonel giving a brief description of how they could grow their own food if necessary once the supplies they'd brought with them ran out. They passed through levels of laboratories and a sick bay, finally coming to what Darwin referred to as the War Room.

The War Room was the control centre for the whole station. This was where the station's impressive weaponry could be controlled and fired from. Not only that but it had a large table in the centre big enough for everyone to stand around and look at the display that formed the table top. The room was lined with computers and consoles that monitored the station's functions. Trip was in heaven, examining everything and working out which systems were monitored from which console.

"This is a goddamned fortress," said Trip, looking at the weapons readouts.

"Right, and like a fortress we have to be ready for a siege," said Darwin. "We don't know how long we're going to be here. This space station used to be a Tellarite deep space outpost so it was designed to be occupied for long periods of time in possibly dangerous conditions. It has everything we need to protect ourselves, including early warning sensors and some impressive weaponry. Carter, you're on weapons detail, make sure that they're all working."

"Yes, sir," replied the Armoury officer.

"Trip, I want you to check out the power plant and make sure it's working how it should. I also want you to check the air and water recycling. If anyone needs repairs made, Trip is in charge of that too. Anything you need, let me know," said Darwin, catching Trip's eye.

"Yes, sir," said Trip, leaning on the edge of the table.

"Fenner, Rush, you're up here, check that all our control systems are in good working order. If we can't operate the weapons then we'll be sitting ducks for anyone who comes calling," said Darwin.

The two MACOs nodded at their commander in reply.

"Hathaway, you're on inventory, I need to know what we've got and what we haven't. Especially medical supplies and food, but also weapons," said Darwin. "When you're done with that I need you to familiarise yourself with the War Room command functions."

"Yes, sir," said Hathaway.

"Have we any idea who we're up against, Colonel?" asked Carter.

"No, Lieutenant, but once we've completed the systems checks we are going to find out. I suggest we start by going through the mission files. We need to get together a list of everyone who could be out to get us," said Darwin. "We are also going to put together everything that we've learnt from the attacks so far. I want everyone to go through your own mission reports and logs as well. Any one piece of information that we have, could be the one that solves this thing for us, so don't leave anything out. I'm not facing this enemy on their terms any longer. Three of us are dead and I won't lose anymore men to this."

There was a chorus of "yes, sir" from the assembled group. Everyone was about to go to their assigned tasks when suddenly a warning siren sounded.

"Sensors have picked something up," said Trip, going over to the sensor displays. "It's a ship, looks like a small freighter. It's armed."

"How many people?" asked Darwin.

"Just one," replied Trip.

Carter had already moved over to the weapons control console. "I've got a target lock," said Carter.

"Rush, try opening communications," said Darwin.

"Yes, sir," said Rush. "This is Water's Edge Deep Space Station, please identify yourself." There was static over the open channel. Rush tried again, "this is Water's Edge Deep Space Station, please identify yourself."

"Michael?" said a voice in return.

"Kana?" said Rush.

Darwin sighed "Proper radio protocol, Corporal, please. Doctor, we're all pleased to hear your voice. You're cleared to dock."

"If that were possible then I would be happy to dock, Colonel, unfortunately I have no idea how to pilot this thing," said Kanatova.

"How did you get here if you're not flying it?" asked Fenner.

"Auto-pilot," replied Kanatova. "It's not fast but it was the best I could do given the circumstances."

"Fenner, go and pick up Kanatova," said Hathaway. Kanatova was the only member of the team who didn't even have rudimentary flying skills, everyone else had either picked them up along the way or been trained to fly before joining Special Projects. Fenner dashed from the room to take out a shuttle to pick up their final team member.

"We'll see you in a bit Doctor," said Darwin, "Fenner's on his way to collect you. Darwin out."

"That's it then," said Rush. "The gang's all here. Bring on the bad guys."

Kanatova found Trip in the generator room, running a complete diagnostic of the whole power grid. He was lying half way out of a jeffries tube.

"Trip?" said Kanatova.

"Yeah, what is it?" asked Trip. He sounded busy. "What's broken now?" So far he'd had five requests to fix things and he was having trouble keeping up. At the Colonel's request he had prioritised repairs to life support and weapons, everything else was going to have to wait.

"I just came down to say hi," said Kanatova. "I haven't seen you in person for about three years now, and I thought you'd be polite enough to stop what you were doing to say hello to an old friend."

"Sorry, Anna," came Trip's muffled voice from the jeffries tube. "If I don't get this circuit fixed we won't have any air-recycling."

"Rush told me about your head as well," said Kanatova.

"It'll keep," said Trip.

"Trip, get out here now," said Kanatova.

Kanatova grabbed Trip's leg and pulled him out of the tube. "Anna, I have to finish this..." he said trailing off as he emerged. "Fine, let's get this over with." He knew he couldn't win against Kanatova, her and Phlox came from the same school of thought when it came to patients not doing as they were told.

"You're not in uniform," she said, slightly surprised. She'd never seen Trip on duty without his Starfleet jump-suit on.

"Didn't seem right to wear it," said Trip. He was wearing jeans and a grey t-shirt, both of which were now pretty grubby from crawling around inside a jeffries tubes.

"You left without permission?" asked Kanatova.

"Yeah, so I kind of burned my bridges," said Trip.

"Fenner said you took a bad knock, I want to see you in sick bay as soon as you're done here. I need to run some scans of that thick skull of yours. You are in big trouble for ignoring medical orders as well," said Kanatova.

"Rush ratted me out, huh?" said Trip, giving the Doctor one of his most disarming smiles.

"He was concerned for your health, which is more than you seem to be. Come on then, show me, I want to see it," she said in her typically blunt fashion. She'd learnt a long time ago not to be taken in by Trip's smile or his little-boy-lost look.

"Show you what?" asked Trip.

"The scar, of course," said Kanatova as if Trip were being unusually dim. "I want to make sure that Starfleet quack treated you properly."

Trip rolled his eyes and pulled up his t-shirt to reveal three, inch long scars on his abdomen in a horizontal line. "Phlox is okay, he did a pretty good job."

"They have healed well," said Kanatova, grudgingly, as she gently pressed either side of the middle scar. "Klingon knife wounds can be difficult. The three blades can cause a lot of damage."

"Yeah, I know that. I was on the receiving end," said Trip. He dropped his t-shirt back down.

"From what I heard, you were lucky not to have got yourself killed," said Kanatova.

"The Colonel wanted me to kill that Klingon," said Trip, "but I just couldn't."

"So he stabbed you instead," said Kanatova.

"I won't kill again to save myself, Anna. I refuse to. You know how much each life I took cost me," said Trip.

"I know, but you may have to if we're going to get out of this one alive," said Kanatova.

"No," said Trip. "That's not who I am anymore."

"If that isn't who you are, then what are you doing here?" asked Kanatova.

"I couldn't let them come after Enterprise just to get to me," said Trip. "And you guys saved my life more than once while we were out in the field. I couldn't stand by and just let you be killed one by one."

"You don't owe this Unit anything, Trip," said Kanatova. "You saved our lives by being in the Thak Tikh's engine room more times than I can count." She paused, trying to gauge how Trip looked. "How are you sleeping?"

"I get it now," said Trip, angrily. "You just came to check up on me, make sure I'm not cracking under the pressure."

"So, you are not sleeping well?" asked Kanatova ignoring Trip's anger.

"No, I'm not sleeping goddamned well," said Trip. "There, satisfied?"

"Bad dreams or just insomnia?" asked Kanatova, businesslike as usual.

"A bit of both. It's not been right since I saw the Colonel. Just before Arroya died, I had a really bad one, woke up screaming. You remember New Copenhagen?" asked Trip.

Kanatova nodded. "It's not easy to forget."

It had been an unusual mission for them because New Copenhagen was a human colony and usually Special Projects stayed away from the outposts of humanity. Originally it had been begun as a mining outpost and was one of the earliest colonies to be established. However not everything had gone smoothly at the colony. The miners and their families had erupted into civil unrest. New Copenhagen was on Earth's doorstep in galactic terms and the news reports that were being beamed back home were making the politicians nervous. Special Projects had been sent in to make sure the conflict was resolved quickly and not necessarily by diplomatic intervention.

Trip hadn't liked it from the beginning, this wasn't what Special Projects was supposed to be there for. The Thak Tikh had ended up being the closest ship and the powers-that-be had decided that they wanted this settled quietly, a small team of men infiltrating the Governor's residence and neutralising the threat.

It had begun as a dispute between two rival politicians, but it had quickly escalated into something more violent, turning into a civil war between two opposing factions. There were bitter disputes over land and rights, but also over political ethos. The Rebels and the Loyalists, as they had been labelled, had already been fighting for a full six months when Special Projects arrived on the scene. Long enough that some truly terrible atrocities had been committed in the names of their respective causes.

"Well, boys and girls, this is going to be a tricky one," Darwin had said at the briefing. Trip didn't think he'd ever heard such an understatement in his entire life. "The Rebels are currently holding the Capital and we have to take it back from them."

"So we're supporting the Loyalists?" asked Rush.

"The clue's in the name," said Hathaway. "Loyalist, as in loyal to Earth."

"Oh, right," said Rush.

"What's the plan, Major?" asked Hathaway.

"We have orders to execute Gerard Larsen. He's the leader of the Rebels and once he's down it should be an easy matter to help the capital fall to the Loyalists," said Darwin.

"We're just going to kill him? In cold blood?" asked Trip.

"That is what we're here for," said Darwin. "He has a list of war crimes to his name as long as my arm."

"But he hasn't had a trial or been convicted of anything," said Trip.

"No, he hasn't, but we have the authority to execute him and that is what we're going to do," said Darwin.

"It just doesn't sit well," said Trip.

"Which is why you're staying here and sitting this one out," said Darwin.

"Yes, sir," said Trip.

"Kanatova, Didier, Dempsey you're staying here too. We're only going to need six of us for this. We're going for stealth not force on this one. Dempsey's in charge until we get back," said Darwin.

Darwin continued to outline their plan, while Trip considered what they were doing. The MACOs left for the surface, Fenner piloting them down in one of the Thak Tikh's shuttles. Trip waited on the Thak Tikh knowing what was going on down on the surface and hoping that everyone would come back.

It was about six hours later that they received a hail from the planet.

"Arroya to Thak Tikh, come in Thak Tikh." Trip could hear the stress in her voice.

"Arroya, this is Tucker. What's going on down there? You were supposed to be back an hour ago," said Trip.

"The mission's shot, Lieutenant. Major Darwin and Captain Hathaway were captured," said Arroya. "Rush has been injured. The shuttle was hit. We've got no way out. We need you down here, sir."

"I'm on my way down," said Trip. "Kanatova, sounds like we'll need you." He didn't wait for Arroya to reply, he and Kanatova ran for the shuttle bay, leaving Didier and Dempsey to take care of the ship. He made it down to the surface in record time and located the four MACOs who were hiding out at the Loyalist's base. Rush had a nasty looking phaser burn on his shoulder which Fenner was doing his best to deal with. Kanatova took one look and immediately took over. Standing with them was a man he didn't recognise.

"What happened, Corporal?" asked Trip.

"We were infiltrating the enemy base according to plan, but they were waiting for us," said Arroya.

"Waiting for you?" asked Trip.

"Yes, sir. Someone told them that we were coming," said Arroya.

"They came out of nowhere," said Fenner. "We didn't see them until they were already on the Major and Captain Hathaway."

"Who's this?" asked Trip, indicating the unknown man.

"This is Gabe Denning, he's the leader of the Loyalists," said Arroya.

"I'm sorry about your Major and Captain, Lieutenant Tucker. The Rebels have spies everywhere," said Denning.

"Yeah, well perhaps you should have told us that before you let my friends walk into a trap," replied Trip.

"There wasn't anything we could do, sir," said Carter.

"I know. You would have done it if there was. Start from the beginning. You came down to the planet and hooked up with the Loyalists?" said Trip.

"Yes, sir," said Arroya. "We were taken back to their base of operations and shown how to infiltrate the Governor's residence from their intelligence."

"So you followed their plan?" asked Trip.

"Yes, sir. The Major pointed out that they knew the layout better than we did and had been planning this for weeks," said Arroya.

"Sounds reasonable," said Trip. "But the Rebels were waiting for you when you got there?"

"They waited until we were inside the complex and then they ambushed us. Hathaway and Darwin were leading so they were taken first, we managed to escape. The Major gave us just enough warning that we were able to get out."

"Were they hurt?" asked Kanatova.

"I don't know. We got out of there as quickly as we could to make sure at least one of us would be around to get help. Captain Hathaway was putting up quite a fight when I last saw her, so I guess she didn't go down easily," said Arroya.

"Arroya, you're with me. We're going to get them out," said Trip, a look of determination settling on his face.

"What about the standing orders, sir?" asked Carter.

"What about them, Carter?" asked Trip. They all knew which standing order he was referring to, the order to kill any member of the team who was captured. Killing was usually quicker than a rescue attempt and guaranteed that no information would fall into enemy hands. Darwin had ignored the standing order to rescue Trip from a prison camp on Kellaris, and Trip wasn't about to let an opportunity to repay the favour go. Despite the standing order, the unspoken code was that they never left anyone behind.

"They know the location of this base," said Denning. "We can't let that information fall into the Rebels' hands."

"Then we'd better get them out of there," said Trip. Denning didn't look happy but he kept quiet.

"And the shuttle?" asked Arroya.

"Carter, Fenner, do your best with it. I'll be back as soon as I can," said Trip. "If two hours go by without hearing from us, take the working shuttle back to the Thak Tikh and get out of here. Look after Rush and be ready to go as soon as we get back."

The MACOs nodded.

Arroya and Trip made their way across the colony to the Governor's residence which was where the Rebels had set up their base. The Governor had been killed in the first week of the uprising, along with his family. Denning had been his deputy and now led the Loyalist movement, he'd managed to escape before the Governor's residence had been taken.

"Where are they being held?" asked Trip. They were hiding in the gardens of the residence. Arroya had done a good job of getting them through the outer defences, but now they were faced with the guards who patrolled the perimeter.

"They've turned one of the out buildings into a cell block. It's where they keep their political prisoners," said Arroya.

"And the Major and Captain Hathaway?" said Trip.

"It's our best bet," said Arroya.

"Can we get past the guards?" said Trip.

"Shouldn't be a problem. We can cause a diversion and then slip past," said Arroya. She was already planning out on her padd the size of explosive and where it would be best to plant it.

"You've been spending too much time with Rush," said Trip.

"He may be a pyromaniac but he has his uses," said Arroya, the ghost of a smile on her lips. "If I plant a charge over there then that should draw them away from our position."

"Go for it," said Trip, it was the only plan that they had. He watched Arroya move around the edge of the garden into position and plant the charge. She crept back to his side and they waited for the explosives to detonate.

There was a large explosion and suddenly guards were running everywhere. Trip and Arroya ran towards the cell block.

"Okay, let's split up and search," said Trip as they reached the cell block.

Arroya nodded, "I'll take left if you take right."

Trip ran down towards the right, while Arroya ran left.

"Trip!" shouted back Arroya, "I've got Hathaway!"

Trip continued down the cells, looking in each for his CO. Finally he found him.

"Trip! What the hell are you doing here?" said Darwin. "You know the rules, no rescues." He looked as if he hadn't been treated too gently, but he wasn't badly injured.

"Yeah and Kellaris didn't count," said Trip, wryly. "Get back." He pressed an explosive charge on to the lock and Darwin moved to the other side of the cell. Trip moved a little to one side and set off the shaped charge that blew out the lock. He kicked the cell door to free it. "Come on Major, time to get out of here."

Darwin followed Trip down the hallway where they found Arroya supporting Hathaway. She looked badly beaten up and was holding her arm in an awkward position which suggested that it was broken. Trip took one look at Hathaway and knew that they had to get her back to Kanatova as soon as possible.

"What's your escape plan?" asked Darwin.

"We didn't have much time to plan this," said Trip. "I'm hoping that the guards are still going to be distracted by our diversion."

"I could set a second charge," said Arroya.

"Sounds like a plan. I guess that's why you're the infiltration expert and I'm the engineer," said Trip.

"Do it," said Darwin, and Arroya ran off towards the perimeter in the opposite direction from where they wanted to go. They huddled in the doorway while they waited for Arroya to do her stuff.

"Nice plan," said Hathaway as she lent against Trip. He couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Could have been better," said Trip. Then in the distance they heard the sound of an explosion.

"Time to go," said Darwin tersely.

"Yes, sir," said Trip. They made towards the exit from the cell, Hathaway's injuries meant that they couldn't move very quickly. Trip was practically pulling her across the lawn of the Governor's residence. It slowed them down too much and the lawn was as far as they got. They were suddenly surrounded by guards who had seemingly come from nowhere. They were disarmed before any of them could even contemplate resistance and tied up, with their hands behind their back. Hathaway had cried out as they pulled her broken arm behind her so that it could be tied to her other arm. Trip knew that for the Captain to have admitted that she was in pain it must have hurt a lot. Then they were shoved towards the main building of the complex.

The rest of the complex was nowhere near as sparse as the cell block. It was ornately decorated in a style the befitted the residence of the Governor of the colony. They were brought into the office which had previously belonged to the Governor, and Trip, Darwin and Hathaway were forced to kneel on the floor in front of the desk. Hathaway was barely conscious now, she'd lost a lot of blood and the pain of having her broken arm tied behind her back couldn't be helping.

"Gerard," said Darwin. From which Trip took the man standing behind the desk to be Gerard Larsen, the leader of the Rebels.

"I hear that you tried to escape. As you can see all that happened was we captured another of your men," said Larsen. "You will tell me what I want to know eventually."

"We're never going to tell you anything. We don't even have the information that you want," said Darwin.

"The Earth government sent you here, Darwin. I know what their motivations are in this. They want stability and they don't care at what cost. Oppression and fear is nothing to them. But Earth is some distance away and if they were able to send more men then they would have done so. I'm more interested in where Gabe Denning is hiding," said Larsen.

"We told you before, we don't know," said Darwin.

"Now come on, Major Darwin, you don't expect me to believe that the Earth government sent you here without telling you how to contact the Loyalists. We know that Earth has maintained contact with the deposed government," said Larsen.

"Robert Darwin, Major, 1345579," said Darwin.

Larsen hit him across the face. A trickle of blood made its way down Darwin's chin from the corner of his mouth.

"Name, rank and serial number won't get you out of this one, Darwin. You're not a prisoner of war, you're a spy. Like your two friends here," said Larsen. "We would have no quarrel with Earth, if they would stay out of our little war. If you co-operate then I'm prepared to let you go. You can return to your ship and leave peacefully, we'll take care of the nest of vipers that Gabe Denning commands."

"The answer is still no," said Darwin. Larsen circled around the group kneeling on the floor. He grabbed Trip by the hair and pulled back his head.

"Perhaps one of your men would answer the question," said Larsen.

"Go jump," said Trip. "We're not answering your damn questions."

"Oh I think you will," said Larsen, letting go his hold on Trip's hair. "You will have heard the news that the Governor and his family were killed in the raid on this complex."

"It isn't a secret," said Darwin.

"Not all his family were killed," said Larsen. "Bring them in." This was directed to one of the guards standing by the door. He ushered into the room two young girls who clung to each other. They were most definitely twins, they looked so alike. Both girls were quiet and looked as if they might burst into tears at any moment. Track marks from earlier tears could be seen on their faces. Both girls had pretty, long blonde hair, which fell down their back in waves of curls, and wide blue eyes that stared at the three people kneeling on the floor.

"This is Keisha and Kaira, the Governor's daughters," said Larsen. "They're ten years old. If I don't get my answer within the next minute, either Keisha or Kaira will die. I don't care which it is but it will be one of them."

Darwin stared at Larsen, trying to gauge if he was bluffing, but his steely eyes didn't give anything away. Trip turned to look at Darwin. Darwin could see the frantic desperation in Trip's eyes and knew he was thinking of giving up the Loyalist base.

Larsen grabbed one of the girls, as if to accentuate his point, and pressed his phase pistol to her head. She began to cry and so did her sister.

"I'll only ask you one more time, Darwin, where are the Loyalists hiding?" asked Larsen.

Darwin just looked Larsen in the eye and said nothing.

"Major, you can't," said Trip. He'd never seen anyone quite as scared as the little girl that Larsen now had firmly in his grasp. Her eyes were pleading with them to save her life.

"Not a word, Lieutenant," said Darwin, through gritted teeth.

"If that's how it's going to be, her death is on your hands, not mine," said Larsen and he pressed the trigger of the phase pistol. The girl fell to the floor, a smoking hole in the side of her head, all life draining out of her. Her sister screamed, a high pitched cry of agony and grief.

"You bastard!" said Trip, attempting to lunge at Larsen but guards stepped in before he could even get close. One used his rifled butt on Trip's shoulder to make sure that Trip returned to his place on the floor.

"You know that I'm not bluffing now, where is the Loyalist base?" asked Larsen. "There is another girl," he added pointedly.

Hathaway took that moment to keel over sideways and while attention was focused on her there was the sound of an explosion outside, followed by a series of smaller explosions and finally, the doors of the Governor's office were blown off their hinges. Larsen was blown over by the blast and landed hard. Trip and Darwin were already up on their feet and making the most of the distraction to disable as many guards as they could before the smoke cleared. They were at a disadvantage with their hands tied but leaving their legs free had proved to be a mistake for the guards.

Arroya ran through the disintegrated doors her phase rifle taking down the remaining guards.

"Come on," she said, grabbing Hathaway up off the floor.

"The other girl," said Trip, "where is she?" Trip began searching.

"Trip, we have to go," said Darwin.

"Not until I find her," said Trip, determination in his tone. She had been standing to one side of the door, so wouldn't have caught the full force of the explosion. He moved towards the wreckage of the door, pulling away the body of a guard as he searched. He took the guard's phase pistol, having had his own taken from him. He pulled away a plank of wood from the door that now lay on the ground and saw her. She was curled up, eyes closed and shaking. He touched her arm and her eyes sprang open.

"Keisha?" he asked and she nodded back at him. "Come on, honey, we have to get you out of here," he said softly to her and picked her up in his arms. She clung to him as if he was the only thing in her world at that moment.

"Hold it," said a voice behind him. Trip didn't even hesitate, he spun around, phase pistol in his hand and fired on Gerard Larsen. He didn't check the setting of the weapon he'd picked up from the guard and wasn't even that sorry when it turned out it had been set to kill. He'd fulfilled their mission objective after all.

They escaped without any further problems, using the chaos that Larsen's death and Arroya's explosives had created, and made their way back to the Loyalist's base.

Trip had held Keisha the entire way, not wanting to trust her safety to anyone else. When they reached the base he had refused to let her go even then. Keisha had fallen asleep in his arms and Trip just sat clutching her to him, looking at her. He sat at the back of the cave which the Loyalists were using as a hiding place and rocked his charge gently, hoping she would sleep a long time so that she never had to wake up to the nightmare of life.

Kanatova came over to see Trip after some time had passed. She put a hand on Trip's arm and he looked up at her.

"She's the Governor's daughter. She saw her sister killed in front of her," said Trip.

"I know," said Arroya. "Darwin told me what happened. Trip, you have to let me look at her, she could be hurt."

Trip nodded. He loosened his hold slightly so that Kanatova could scan the little girl.

"She seems fine apart from a few cuts and bruises, which will heal given time," said Kanatova.

"Good," said Trip, gently.

"You need to have your shoulder looked at though," added Kanatova.

"Later," said Trip.

"You're going to have to give her over to someone else to look after soon, Trip. We need to leave. The Loyalist have plans to launch a counter attack to follow up on Larsen's death. We don't need to be caught up in the middle of a war," said Kanatova.

"I thought we already were," said Trip.

"Maybe," said Kanatova, "but you know as well as I do that the Thak Tikh isn't any place for a child."

Trip nodded sadly. He did know.

Kanatova had brought over a woman who had promised to look after Keisha and Trip had given her up. They took the two shuttles back to the Thak Tikh and it was back to business as usual. Except of course Trip now had another two deaths on his conscience. Like everything else, if he didn't think about it, it eventually became another numb part of himself.