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her people. Only, on nights like these, she wished she didn’t have to be like the onom turtle. Alone.
    According to Kenda prophesy, their exile from the water would not be permanent. One day their savior, the Kiera-Nen, Nen’s chosen one , would appear and lead an army against their enemies. Would lead them home. That story had been enough for her to cling to as a child, but now that promise was beginning to sound as empty as any of the Shasir’s.
    As it slowed, the spinner dipped beneath Ama and let her wrap her arms around its neck. With long, languorous pumps of its tail, the animal turned and carried his passenger back in the direction of the Naida .
    Praise you my brother , Ama thought, stroking the slick fur of the spinner’s belly, a long-absent sense of calm returning. She would swim for hours tonight, to wash away the day.

    “I have the target,” the lead trooper called. Moonlight washed over the valley, the water gurgling as if issuing threats, or so Seg imagined, though the others were more used to it and did not seem perturbed. “Do I acquire?”
    “Hold,” Kerbin ordered, her voice terse. “Flankers, clear?”
    The flankers chorused that their areas were clear, there were no witnesses lurking around to reveal the existence of the recon squad once they made their move. Seg glanced at Manatu, who sat immobile, eyes flickering constantly in a state of ready vigilance. He glanced at Kerbin; her stillness mirrored Manatu’s.
    First acquisition was rife with peril. Aside from the potential for their presence being revealed early and compromising the mission, there was the tremendous uncertainty as to what they were really facing. All the troopers sat as still as stone pillars. Vigilant.
    Kerbin’s head jerked in a slight nod. “Acquire.”
    “Moving.”

 
    S eg stared at the film overlay in his palm, cupped toward his chest
so the faint light didn’t give away his position. The thermal readout indicated the relative positions of the trooper and his prey. The stunner the trooper carried required him to move within an arm’s reach of the target; a heavy dose of voltage would handle the rest. Through the audio pickup, Seg could hear the trooper’s regulated breathing, the water, and a faint splashing as the trooper’s target moved through it. He sucked in a breath, wondering if the trooper would have to enter the water and risk exposure to whatever hostile fauna lurked within.
    His stomach clenched, muscles locking in a small spasm that made him shudder. Time was crawling. Couldn’t the trooper move any faster?
    On screen, the trooper’s icon moved in on the target. The audio pickup caught the sound of the stunner discharging. There was a loud splash, a muttered curse, then the sound of sloshing water.
    The trooper had entered the water; Seg’s stomach tightened further at the thought.
    “Acquisition made,” the trooper reported. A long pause followed and then, “Going to need some help hauling him back. He’s a heavy bastard.”

    Ama paused only to squeeze the water from her hair before she finished climbing the rope ladder dangling from the stern of the Naida .
    “Enjoy your swim?”
    She gasped; the disembodied voice came from somewhere midship. She shook her hair forward and smoothed it to cover her dathe as she squinted into the dark.
    The outline of a man stepped to the portside, his walk casual, his posture relaxed.
    “Whoever you are, get off my boat before I throw you off!” Ama’s voice faltered slightly. In her anger and hurry, she had left her knife, over-clothes, and nove below deck, in her quarters. The forbidden seft, hidden in the transom, could have her sent to Correction and therefore was for only the direst of emergencies.
    “I think you are mistaking me for a threat, Captain Kalder. This is a friendly visit.”
    Now she recognized the voice. She took a step back as the man stepped forward, hands raised to show his innocent intentions.
    “Judicia Corrus,” she said,