Eve looked at JS's wound from which a rivulet of blood flowed. She was very worried. For the first time since she'd known him, she felt some hesitation in JS when he opened his mind to engage the Rogue crew and the pilot of the lead aircraft. "How are you?" Eve whispered mentally. "If our ship yells again, I'll be totally bollocksed and we go tits up!" "Would you stop trying to do everything by yourself?" Eve murmured with a hint of concerned frustration. "I can help shield you from the ship, while you concentrate on the plane. We are one, now." "All right!" nodded JS relaxing a bit. After that sudden sharp cry, the ship hadn't shown any signs of life, but JS's headache was still monumental. While he focused on the take-off and his position as a wingman, Eve began to "massage" and stretch his nerve endings and neural ganglia as she had been taught. She felt that his mind reopened, relaxed and almost purred. Taken his place in formation, JS turned toward her and smiled. But Eve also felt that the loss of blood was weakening him. "I can dab your wound, can I?" JS clenched his jaw but nodded. Eve began to dab his wound with the pieces of towel she'd used as a padding for the suit. At once she exclaimed: "Jay, the tattoo's nanostructures are... er, the nanocritters are healing the wound. It bleeds less where there's the tattoo!" "So they're useful for something, besides giving me a crazy tickle!" JS grinned, but she could see that he moved his left arm clumsily. They flew in V formation for a while then JS thought: "Eve, we must disengage before someone discovers the truth. I realized that if I focus on someone and send a thought, he perceives something like a sensation, an unconscious feeling. Well, we have to focus on the lead, I'll think about a drone entering the atmosphere of New Mars, and you must reinforce the pressure of my thought. All clear?" After a moment of "mental fire", JS yelled on the radio: "I saw a drone entering into the atmosphere, sir. I saw a flash." "I also saw something, like a reflection." The lead called the flight leader: "We saw a drone penetrating the atmosphere of the planet, sir. I ask permission to investigate." "Go!" The lead leaned toward the planet below, tailgated closely by JS, while the rest of the flight continued its search in the outer space. JS entered the atmosphere and immediately noticed that the controls of the Scythe had become stiff and the aircraft was difficult to maneuver. "Damn it!" the Rogue pilot exclaimed, "she doesn't respond to the controls easily and drinks too much fuel in the atmo." "We shall report," said JS who served as a wingman and who had struggled to keep the aircraft in line against the Martian winds. His shoulder had started to bleed again. It was time. JS cocked his weapons and hooked the target. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" the Rogue pilot yelled, his alarms sounding. JS's missile reduced him to confetti. JS motioned to Eve to take the stick and called his base on New Mars. Given his position he ordered: "Send two fighters to escort us and prepare the landing platform, we are coming." "Also prepare a MedLab!" Eve cried. Eventually they managed to land. JS took off his helmet and looked at Eve staring at him, her lips tight and a worried expression. "Hey, we made it!" and added to his land crew: "Hide the plane." "You're as white as a wash cloth!" Eve said, "how are you?" "I had better times." JS murmured closing his eyes, "and worse ..." ----- Thank you to all people who appreciated the previous picture! Thank you for viewing and drop a note if you like! Credits: Serrge: Shadow Space Fighter Cyllian Strange Worlds