Ipino looked at Desohta before he looked at Micha. Rennick had made a mistake, but might easily been any of them. in the end he had not only gotten free, he had managed to catch his target and help the wounded. Such was life under Micha. Never settle for what was easily done.

  Micha considered the panther as he waited for her to comment. She exhaled. “Well, that was succinct. What do you think commander?” she continued before he uttered a word. “ I know, I know. It was a mistake on his part, but that was not all that went wrong. Since you insist on bringing it up, lets continue to assess, because his was not the only contributing factor in this disaster.

  “Well? No?” she arched a brow.

  “None of us ensured the targets had been secured.” Ni’yell spoke up.

  Micha nodded once. “No, we did not. What else?”

  “We failed to secure our weapons,” Ipino grimace.

  “That is also very true.” She sighed. “As weapon’s master that fell to you.”

  Ipino winced. “Yes, Alpha.”

  “I’m sure there is more, but let’s consider Mai-Roon,” Micha flicked a finger at the mousy woman.

  “Did anyone even see her move?” Ni’yell wondered. “She had been over with Thannen. How did she end up near the exit?”

  “An excellent point. Anyone?” the petite woman arched a brow at her team.

  Mai-Roon sneered when no one answered.

  “I did,” a voice groused from behind the shifter brothers. “But with the door closed between the pilot compartment and the rest of the shuttle there was little I could do.”

  “That’s fair Max. what can be done to remedy that?”

  “Better comms units?” Max mused. “There is a new one that fits in the ear and can manage up twenty buds through the main unit.”

  Micha seemed to consider that. “come up with any option that works for us. We might have to settle for one unit per team to start,” she turned to Ipino and Desohta. “Report.”

  Three days earlier

  Ipino stepped forward, a growl slipping free, to free Rennick from the dipshit Thannen when Desohta put out an arm to halt him. Looking at his brother he frowned. Desohta shooke his head in warning.

  “No point in both of you getting caught,” Desohta whispered.

  Looking back at the panther he was just in time to see him make a burst at his freedom. Just as fast as it started, it was over. Rennick the worse for his attempt. Still Micha was not worried. Instinct was strong in the older wolf and wanted to punish the insolent for touching his pack, but his brother was right. Space was limited and the hance of getting caught was too high.

  Fortunately, there was no where to escape.

  Or there was not supposed to be anywhere for them to go. Unfortunately, the commander thought to waltz aboard. For what, Ipino was only able to guess, but it doubtful it was to their benefit. It never was.

  When Micha and her small team has rescued him and saved his brother’s life Ipino had had no idea what to expect. She had provided a safe, or as safe as possible, place to recover, provided food, shelter and medical care. As Desohta got better she made sure he was given exercise and after a time was included in training as they were able. She ensured they had what they needed to improve themselves. Then she had told them they were free to go where they chose.

  It was not something Ipino knew how to handle. The compassion was a foregin experience. What was more she asked for nothing for all the time she invested in them. since they had been given time to decide what they wanted to do Ipino considered everything. Not nearly as much as his brother, but enough to see the way the other members of her team treated her. He was pretty sure there was little they were not willing to do for her. That alone was not rare, it was the fact that she asked them for nothing she was not willing to give herself that baffled the older shifter.

  Desohta often spent his free time monitoring the healer Micha refered to as Medic. Ipino caught him asking questions about why the healer did things differently from other healers, where he got his knowledge and how he could learn? It was the first time his little brother showed a true desire to achieve something more.

  The one time Ipino tried to discuss where they were going to go, Desohta had told him he was free to go where he wanted. He was not leaving. He was where he needed to be. Ipino had been angry and reactive. He almost left, but he felt the need to confront the tiny woman.

  Micha had listend to everything he said. Every. Hurtful. Word. When he finished she asked Ipino what frightened him more: an unhappy brother or being alone. As she had walked away, she told him it was time to decide for himself what he wanted to do. Desohta was not the only one Ipino needed to care for. Ipino had been stunned. Had stood there like a fool, thinking about what she had said. Gave it so much thought he brain hurt.

  In the end he had wanted to be better. His failure to protect his brother kept pinging around in his brain. Micha had offered them the chance to be better, stronger, faster. It was not a hoice he was willing to pass up. For once he made a choice solely on what he wanted and needed.

  Together, they had told her they wanted to stay with her. She had shrugged and warned them that staying with her was not going to be the easy path. Neither had been deterred.

  Now he was feeling just as helpless as when Desohta had been captured with him. Just like then there did not seem to be anything he was able to do to assist his packmate.

  He stepped forward as their targets took their hostages and left the shuttle. Once again he was halted. This time by Micha.

  “Rennick will deal with Thannen,” Micha sighed. “The problem is saving the commander before he ends up completely broken,” she turned to face Ipino and Desohta. “You two will retrieve Mai-Roon; preferably before the ccommander dies,” she finished dryly.

  Micha headed for the pilot’s compartment and rapped a code that had the door opening. “Let’s go, we need to get the ship under control before Black Heart does something that sets them off further. I need you two to secure the ships main computer.”

  The fox-like face nodded, then turned to his partner. Mitah secured the shuttle as they spoke. The gentle behemoth looked like he wished he was anywhere but there at the moment. Fortunately, each member of the team knew how to pull their own weight.

  Micha turned to the exit. “Let’s go deal with the fallout.”

  Ipino moved to the weapon’s locker and withdrew an assault riffle for himself and a short rang sniper for his brother. Desohta reached into the miscellaneous locker and withdrew a set of restraints, then handed them to Ipino. Then they moved to the armour locker. There he outfitted them both with a chest protector and thigh guards. Outfitted the shifter brothers joined Micha.

  Outside the shuttle was a small army of confused soldiers. They were obviously there for them. why, Ipino did not care. He had more important things to worry about. Besides he trusted his alpha to sort things out.

  Without waiting for further orders, Ipino and Desohta set out to find their target and the missing commander.

  Desohta

  Desohta kept one step behind his brother as was their way. Ipino was the one to strike fast and hard. while Desohta preferred to strike from further back and aimed for decisive shots. As a healer his goal was to end a fight as quickly as possible. He knew that was not always going to be the case, but Micha had instilled in them the need to aim for a quick end. Every shot fired had an impact and the longer a fight wore on the higher the risk of casualties to bystanders.

  He liked to think that his brother was the wrecking ball and he was the one the pieced everything back together. It was what worked for them.

  As they searched the ship for signs of Mai-Roon and the commander, they weaved their way through soldiers who were confused or panicking at the lack of command several times they calmly explained that there was a command structure and that it had not collapsed; all they needed to do was find whomever was their immediate leader and find out what or where they needed to be.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Finally they found a small group of soldiers that had seen Mai-Roon and the commander.

  “Yea,” one avarian soldier stated; his feathers ruffled stating his agitation. “She made the commander kneel and lick our boots.”

  “So awkward,” the other avarian soldier sighed. “Its not like he does anything, but once you save him our lives are going to suck. Its not like he’ll forget we were part of his humiliation.”

  Ipino growled low. “Something needs to be done to protect you.”

  Desohta winced. It’s not that Ipino was wrong. His brother was simply taking the situation as a personal problem. He needed to redirect it before Ipino got some bright idea. “Go to the officer above you and tell them what happened. See about being transfer to another ship once this situation has been resolved. This way the officer in charge can tell the commander you’ve both been dealt with and will soon be off the ship.”

  Both avarians saluted. When Ipino asked which direction Mai-Roon left in, both soldiers pointed to the right.

  Thirty minutes down the hall they found a bunch of soldiers in bad shape. Desohta leapt into action. He quickly triaged each of the soldiers and determined which were able to wait and the ones that needed to be dealt with immediately. Next to him, Ipino did as he was told. Each of the soldiers had broken bones to some degree or another.

  Desohta catalogued the injuries. Three busted arms, four busted ribs., two damaged dorsal ridges one fractured pelvis and three leg breaks that had punctured through the skin. Desohta used the knowledge he had received from both Medic and Micha to stabilized each break as best he was able with so few supplies.

  “What happened?” Ipino queried of one of the soldiers.

  “The commander…” the soldier with the damaged dorsal ridge winced. “Was with that woman. something wrong with her. Kept tittering like everything was some kind of joke. She threatened to break his fingers. He yelled at us to do something…”

  Ipino looked around. The evidence of their attempt obvious to anyone willing to look. “Did he look like he was a captive?”

  None of the soldiers were willing to answer, which Desohta considered its own answer.

  Ipino sighed. “Anything else we can do for them?”

  “One second,” Desohta removed his pocket book and pen and quickly jotted down all of the injuries along with everything he had done for each soldier. Handing it to the highest ranked soldier, he stood. “We well send someone to get you. Do not move or you risk making everything worse. The pill I gave each of you will help with the pain for six hours. Hopefully you are with the healers by then. Once we have our target, we will swing back to ensure you were not forgotten.”

  Each soldier point behind them. Desohta acknowledged their assistance as Ipino started forward. Again, time became something that existed outside of their world. Around them chaos sprang up/ soldier racing for escape pods that were not responding.

  Ipino lifted a fist and halted. Desohta followed suit. Over head a warning blared that the ship was going to self-destruct. There was likely nothing that they were able to do about the count down. They both knew that Max was the genius that was going to deal with the computer problems.

  Their job was simple: catch Mai-Roon.

  Turning the corner the both froze. to call the insanity around them pandemonium was likely an understatement. The solders were fighting each other as though their lives depended on it; and there in the middle of the madness stood Mai-Roon, the commander at her side.

  Commander Aventis stood there like nothing was wrong. He made no attempt to escape, no attempt to salvage his command. Beside him Mai-Roon cackled with glee.

  Ipino

  Ipino took aim at Mai-Roon. Their orders were to capture her with the commander preferably alive. The first shot fired was interrupted as a soldier crossed the bullets path. The bullet grazing a groove in a dorsal ridge. As the bullet finished its path the tip of the ridge sheered off. The howl of agony that followed was intense enough to hide the shot fired.

  It was not, however, effective at shielding the brothers from the onslaught. Everyone wanted the rifles they were holding.

  He gave thanks for the constant hand to hand training that Micha had demanded. It allowed him to dance with the soldier, rather than shoot them. he ducked and weaved with the ease of a seasoned ballerina…whatever that was…he aimed his strikes to take down each soldier with the minimum damage. The dance felt endless, the number of soldiers unending and through it all was that irritating laugh. Mai-Room might look weak, might seem innocuous, but Ipino knew better. Just as he knew his brother was tending to the wounded even as he fought.

  Ipino had to admit that Desohta’s training had been harsher than the rest of the team. At first it pissed him off. None of the other member of the team were pushed that hard. he had confronted Micha about it and Desohta had snarled and told him to butt out. Micha had answered Ipino anyway.

  “The life,” she had stated. “Of an emergency responder of the field of battle is two-fold. They must know when to fight and when to address the wounded. He is no good to anyone if he is too focused on the wounded and loses many if he waits for the battle to end. You are right the training in ruthless. None of us can even compare, but Medic is stronger than Desohta and believes it is possible for him to become as strong. That does not happen by taking the easy path.”

  The proof of Desohta’s training was on prominent display. Ipino had never been prouder.

  Focusing back on getting to Mai-Roon, Ipino left the rest to his capable brother. He continued to slip through where he was able and taking down those that chose to fight him. All the while he kept an eye on the woman he was after. Caught up in an grapple with an avarian that was babbling nonsense, he watched as Mai-Roon snapped a palm strike to the commander’s face; breaking his nose.

  The commander toppled to the floor like one of Micha’s crash test dummies; limbs sprawling everywhere.

  Ipino instantly looked for signs of life and gave a sigh when the commander breathed weakly. Thumped in the shoulder Ipino gave ground to adjust to the bruiser that joined the melee. It had become two on one and none of them was going down. Distracted Ipino turned his back to Mai-Roon.

  Mai-Room saw an opening to take down the shifter that was apparently hunting her. She attempted to strike Ipino while he was distracted. Her fist flew straight and true.

  Ipino found himself caught between a big bruiser of a bear and the lithe frame of an avairan; both desperate to get the rifle on his back. Lunging at the bruiser in attempt to push the bear back, Ipino, unknowingly, managed to duck the incoming strikes from all his attackers. Bracing his feet, he reassessed the fight.

  The unseen strike from Mai-Roon snaps a fist in the sensitive beak accidentally and took the avarian out of the fight. The avarian dropped like a toppled barrel of oil; feathers strewn everywhere as though a pillow had exploded. Surprised by the knockout, everyone paused. Ipino scanned the room to determine the situation at present.

  Desohta

  Desohta flipped between stabilizing the injured and halting the panicked strikes of the standing soldiers. He was specific with the harm he caused and cautious with his compassion. The battlefield was no place to go soft.

  Kneeing over a wounded dragonling, Desohta roll the warrior onto his side and braced a knee to keep the air way open in case the warriors stomach chose to revolt. He proceeded to set the bones in the tail, thankful the dragonling was unconscious, to prevent damage to the nerves and prevent to much shifting in the center of balance. He ripped a strip of the soldier’s shirt to wrap the open wound where the bone had protruded in the hope of preventing infection. Before Desohta moved to the next wounded warrior, he assessed the situation.

  Standing, he dodged a strike that might have knocked him out and retaliated with a strike to the sternum; knocking the air out of his attacker. Not looking back, he moved to the next soldier in need. Desohta moved with the fluidity of a wave, gentle but persistent in his motion. The give and take of his steps allowed Desohta to prevent the more serious injuries from ending many more lives.

  Each lost life hits Desohta personally.

  Mai-Roon and Ipino

  Mai-Room frowned as the avarian slumped to the floor; her attack should have stunned the shifter hunting her. Instead, it completely missed its mark. She was uncertain whether her opponent had gotten lucky or had more skill than she expected. His stance was unusual and unlike anything she had seen before. It left her incapable of reading his ability level. Fortunately, she was not going to have to worry about his shifting during the fight since it took too long and left a shifter vulnerable to attack.

  She assumed that the miss was a fluke. Mai-Roon was obviously the more skilled combatant.

  Ipino need to shift the flow of the fight and decided to remove the bear from the fight. With a swift and powerful kick he bagged the brute in his no-no parts. The bear dropped like a sack of thagoh-noobs (a root vegetable Micha often called a potato).

  Free to strike her target, she attacked Ipino while he was distracted and aimed for the back of his neck.

  Instinct kicked in and had Ipino stumbling forward; barely dodging the strike. He lost his footing in the stumble and rolled several times before landing on his feet.

  Mai-Roon snarled, but did not wait for him to stop moving before she struck out with a kick to his kidney. His motion caused the attack to graze Ipino’s hip. Remembering his training he focused on where Mai-Roon was as he stabilized his stance and braced for the next attack.

  Not waiting for Ipino to gain his balance, Mai-Roon attacked with a whip kick to the head.

  Ipino raised his forearms in an attempt to block the incoming attack. The strike caused him to stagger to the side and left him dizzy and shaking his head to clear the ringing. Needing time to clear his head, Ipino stumbled away to allow him to regroup.

  Mai-Roon followed the last attack with a front kick that was aimed at knocking him down and missed because of his sifting stance. She growled her displeasure.

  Ipino had had enough. The bitch needed to go down. If he was not able to overwhelm her as he was than he just needed to do a partial shift. The sift came of fast. He let his features look more wolfish and cause his frame to become larger; he was going to tower over her. His hands took on clawed features; his finger thickening and nails elongating. His nose and mouth lengthened into a mini snout; his teeth sharpened and his shirt tore along the back, arms and shoulders as the snapping of bones extending in the shift, allowing him almost two extra feet of height, was heard by all that were still conscious.

  Mai-Roon maintained a neutral face even against her surprise as how quickly he completed a partial shift. The beast man before her was nearly mammoth in height and size. His arms alone were bigger than her thighs. How was she supposed to take him down. She needed something to negotiate with, but she was not going to take her eyes off the beast. Deciding to back up, she prepared to grab the first body she came across.

  Ipino launched his body at Mai-Roon from a motionless position; like a missile at point blank range.

  Mai-Roon barely managed to get her arms up, in a feeble attempt to block, before Ipino was on her. He had left her no time to react. The full weight of the partially sifted wolf brought Mai-Roon to the floor like the fall of Napoleon at waterloo. She was utterly defeated. Her head impacted the floor hard enough to stun the mousy woman and allow Ipino to secure her.

  Desohta

  Having dealt with the panic, Desohta set the soldiers that were able to work assisting the wounded. He also organized the walking wounded to get them on their way to the medbay and hoped that healer might be sent to fetching the triaged wounded and take over the organization of moving the severely wounded back to the medbay.

  Taking a moment to asses what he had left to do. He spotted his brother in his partial shift. Mai-Roon was down and hopefully out of the fight. He turned to answer a young soldier that needed to know who was going next. Determined to prevent any furth loss of life he set to work.