Seeing the entrails of two Oprit fighters ripped out of their abdomens was too much for Shiya. She jumped up, obviously intending to rescue her kinspeople. I lunged and grabbed her by the waist and swung her back behind the boulder. As we toppled to the ground I saw two rockets streaking toward the assault ship. It burst into flame and tumbled out of the air over a kilometre to our north.
The rockets had not been fired from the ground. I had no doubt a cloaked Beag-Liath ship had intervened. Moments later a blinding white light burst out of the crashed ship. A small mushroom cloud billowed skyward. One of their fission nuclear bomblets had detonated. What Ipos had told me was correct. This war had taken on a new level of barbarity.
I looked again to see if Davel had survived and saw him
