Reunion (Kingdom Lost Book 1) by Chris Kennedy

Author:Chris Kennedy [Kennedy, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2025-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Helen’s slate buzzed as she left Clouvel’s room, and she pulled up the message.

Hey, Rocket, sounds like you had a busy day. I’m getting all sorts of congratulations for your performance in stopping today’s attack. I haven’t heard anything from Clouvel. Are you two in a debrief or something?

—Rivera

Hellen winced, not sure how to reply to that. While she was considering her options, a new message came in.

Sounds like you took my dropship into harm’s way. Dare I ask its condition?

Hellen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Finally, she sent:

The dropship is pretty trashed, sir. Sorry about that. The landing gear got shot off… all three mounts. It’s also full of holes, and a good number of the systems are inop. The maintenance people here are going to work on it overnight to at least get it flyable so I can bring it back in the morning. Hopefully. There’s a lot of work needed. Clouvel, however, got hit while we were on the deck and is in Medical. They say she’ll need at least two weeks before she’ll be able to return. Since I’m not qualled, I guess I’ll need a pilot to come over and fly back with me, too.

Rivera’s response came in quickly.

All three mounts? Not sure how that’s possible and can’t remember that ever happening before. Looking forward to hearing that story. Can’t send anyone to get you tonight, but we’ll send someone over on a shuttle in the morning. Get a room and make yourself comfortable. Well done, bringing the ship back by yourself.

—Rivera

Hellen smiled at the message, although it wasn’t particularly helpful. She had a change of clothes and a spare set of toiletries in her bag—that was something Clouvel had told her to always do, as you never knew for sure that you’d land in the same place you took off from—so she could at least get comfortable for the evening. She grabbed her backpack from the dropship and went to see the billeting personnel for a room.

She wasn’t hungry, nor did she want to be around people, so she decided to just turn in early. She went to her room, showered, and got into bed… but then couldn’t sleep. Hellen lay there, trying to sleep, but all her mind wanted to do was keep reliving the mission, especially all the things she’d seen while she was on the planet. Parsons’ leg spurting blood. A nearby mech with a hole in its chest. So much death and destruction. After an hour, she finally gave up.

“Still not too late,” she said, looking at her slate. “Maybe I’ll go have a drink and see if anyone I know is out and about.” There was a handful of people from the company on the station for meetings, training, and other endeavors. The odds of finding one of them out at a bar were pretty low, but they were non-zero, and it beat tossing and turning for hours on end. Even if all she found were a couple of beers, that would at least help her sleep.

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