"I think that's all of them," Vetra said. Sara straightened, letting her biotics dissipate slowly. Sam sounded in her head, on their private channel. There are no living hostiles in the area. But, Pathfinder, Liam is not moving.

Her heart skipped a beat.

She scrambled over the rocks and lush, poison greenery, looking for a flash of white and blue in the undergrowth of Havarl. Vetra, of course, hadn't heard any of Sam's comments but she saw Sara scrambling and followed.

There.

Half under a fern, gun still in his hand. It looked like he'd gotten knocked back, maybe his shields got taken out by a Roakar sniper or something. She fell to her knees, stupidly reaching for his throat like she was going to find a pulse through her thick gloves, and then she remembered her scanner.

It was just a matter of time. What, you think you can kill dozens of enemy combatants and not lose a single man? You're not superheroes.

Breathing. Alive. Her scan showed a fully functioning heart, circulatory system fine, nervous system up and running, only a small fracture in his shoulderblade and a cut on the back of his head that honestly wasn't going to be too big of a deal- okay. He was going to be fine. He was knocked out, but it didn't look like he had swelling under his skull. He hadn't cracked his head, just cut the skin above the back of his neck.

While she was kneeling over him, scanning him, his eyes fluttered open.

"Idiot," Vetra hissed. And it was good somebody said it, because she couldn't talk past the panic in her throat. And he was surely an idiot. "What did I tell you about letting your shield run down?"

"I's what its for," Liam grumbled. He sat, wincing, and looked around. "All good, then?"

"You seem to be down approximately four hundred milliliters of blood," Sam noted. "And I believe you have suffered a fracture to your scapula."

"Nothing Lexi can't patch," Liam assured them. He stood, slowly, careful not to move his back too much. It made him stiff. The entire back of his armor was coated in blood. It looked like a lot more than a couple milliliters. But he offered her a hand to help her stand like it was nothing. Like he was fine. She didn't take it.

"Here," she said, rising to her feet and slipping around behind him. "We need to stop that bleeding."

It was a relatively small cut. Head wounds always bleed like none other. It didn't take much medigel.

"Foolish. Reckless," Vetra hissed, clearly not done dressing him down. "You took yourself completely out of the fight with that idiocy."

"It's called flanking," he protested.

"What if they'd had reinforcements? Me and Ryder would have been trying to hold that shitty position with just the two of us. They were about to move up the ridge- we wouldn't have had cover for that. What good are you to anybody when you're knocked out?" Vetra said. Liam swayed. Scowling.

"Sorry. I'll try to get shot less," Liam drawled. His sarcasm lacked a certain edge. But maybe that was just in her head, because she was staring at the sticky, red blood that should have been inside Liam's body.

"We need to get out of here." Sara cut across the bickering. Her voice sounded calm, which was crazy, because she was the furthest thing from calm. But it was a good trick. "Sam?"

"I have contacted Kallo. He should be sending down an orbital station. We can evacuate form there," Sam said. And sure enough, before he was even done talking, she heard the jets.

He's been reckless, even for Liam. Seems like he's trying to impress somebody, Lexi had said.

She got her people back on the Tempest. Had Lexi take charge of Liam's injuries, talked to Vetra until she calmed down. But she wasn't calm herself. Sam kept noting her heart rate in their private channel. Asking if she needed assistance.

She didn't. She needed to know that no one was going to get killed trying to look cool for her.

She found Liam in the crew quarters, sipping out of an unreasonably large cup. He gave her a rakish grin.

"You ever donate blood, Ryder?" he asked. She sat down, elbows on her knees, right next to him.

"Donate it? Is that slang for something?"

"No, it's—I wasn't sure, see, in crisis response sometimes we'd be out places they didn't have synthesizers. Had to take blood from a living person if somebody needed it. Only take about five hundred milliliters at a time, unless it's a real emergency. Don't want to drain anybody dry," he said. He took another big sip out of his cup. "This feels about like that. Funny the things you get reminded of. Anyway, I'm supposed to drink an ice runner's cargo worth of water. Doc's orders."

"Liam. . "

"Uh-oh. What? Don't tell me you're with Vetra on this."

"You could have gotten yourself killed."

"Could get killed lots of ways."

"It's worse than that, and you know it." She took a deep breath. What good was it to have her own personal internal computer if it couldn't feed her lines in awkward situations? She wished she'd told Sam to help her find the words for this. Too late now. Probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. "You're a good shot, and you've got plenty of tricks up your sleeve besides those omniblades. You should keep to cover unless you absolutely have to be in the open."

"I didn't see that second wraith," Liam shook his head. "Could have been more careful. But no guarantee that sniper wouldn't have taken one of you out before I got to him with ammo alone. This didn't look thought out, but it wasn't random. I had a plan."

"I just want you to be more careful about your own safety," she said. She made herself smile and punch him in the arm. Just a couple of soldiers, palling around. "I already think you're cool. You don't have to charge a sniper's nest to prove it."

"Noted," Liam said, and he smiled, but it wasn't a palling around kind of smile. It was something surprised and soft. Something that made her chest tight and her cheeks warm. She stood up, an idiot smile spreading her lips. She hadn't had much free time at all since Evfra sent them to Kadara and she got sucked hard into local politics. Hadn't had time or brain space to explore this weird thing she had going with Liam. But it did keep popping up.

"Drink your water. You piss Lexi off, I can't protect you from the consequences," she said. Light, and funny, and friendly. All the things she was trying really hard to be.

"Quite right," Liam said, and they waved each other off. She retreated to her cabin.

Your heartrate still hasn't dropped back to homeostasis, Pathfinder.

"I know, Sam," she whispered.