The room would ignite with dust and smoke as the round went off. Kairo felt himself falling backwards thanks to the forward momentum of the mortar-driven marine. For a few seconds there would be scrambling in the smoky blackness.

“Marines, report!” Kairo ordered, apparently unfazed by the attack.

“Apothecary, here,” and then silence came back over the short comm. Kairo could feel the weight of the other marine atop him and moving slightly, he noted that the power-armor had gone loose and would only moan as hydraulics and servos gave way under the weight of the power armor. The marine was clearly down.

“Brother, Ptolomes is down.”

“I am checking his status now,” the Apothecary reported as he leaned down over the wounded marine. The explosion had ripped apart the backpack and torn into the seam in his upper and lower torso armor. The medical scanner quickly linked up with the marine’s armor and started to report the brother’s condition. “We have three pieces of shrapnel, two are non life-threatening, the third has lodged itself between his two hearts. One is punctured. The other is still intact. I am going to force him into hibernation in order to lower his heart rate. He cannot be treated here.”