Part 15

    "So best guess says these things were in orbit somewhere?" Kevin assumed, snapping Blanchard out of her reverie. "Space is vast, and the chances of hitting something in all that black is... well, pardon the pun, but astronomical."

    Blanchard laughed, her voice carrying out. It was a nice sound that didn't fit in with all the death and gore around them. "My god, that was a bad one LT. Any chance you could dad joke these things to death?"

    Kevin smiled. It felt strange here.

    "Anyway," she continued, "I think we should get back to the bridge. Let Andere know we're done." She stepped out of the blast doors, checking her blind spots, and started down the hallway without making sure Kevin was following, which he felt should be to his credit, he was. They moved quickly and silently throught the ship, following the line back towards the bridge. As the reached the halfway point, or nearest to it that Kevin could tell, Blanchard stopped at a hall that branched off. She let her gaze linger, mulling something over for a moment before speaking, low, barely audibly. "We could try to flush them out of comms..."

    Kevin barely heard, almost asking what she said before she repeated it.

    "We could flush them out of comms!"

    "Do you really think that's the best course of action right now, Corporal?" His reply was terse, authoritative, nothing that he had memory of being, but it flowed out naturally. "Let's just get back to the bridge, give our reports and reassess."

    "Second option sir: I can go check comms while you report to Andere. We can cover more tasks that way, get ship-shape faster." Before he could start to argue, she continued, "Come on, I did fine without you until now."

    "I don't think that's a good idea."

    "Come on sir, divide and conquer like old times." Blanchard was almost pleading now, if Kevin let this go any longer, she might have actually gotten down on her knees to beg him to go.

    He thought about her argument, knowing full well that even as her superior officer, he probably wasn't going to win this fight. He had a feeling she got her way quite often. Thinking about what she said about  the comms bay earlier, and he formulated something of a plan, and caved to her pleading. "Fine, but if it looks like you might be in over your head, you high-tail it back to the bridge, and we'll hit it together." She saluted, then extended her arm, fist outstretched towards him. He returned the salute and bumped her fist in return. 

    "I'll be safe, sir." 

    She raised her weapon and started down the perpendicular hall, skirting around some mushroom caps and disappearing into the dark. He waited for a moment in case he heard anything worrying: the sound of gunfire, a scream, or the snarling of one of the toothy monstrosities. After a moment he continued on to the bridge, unaware that moments before would be the last time he would ever see his friend.