Neige shouted. "Haze, med kit now! Thorne, perimeter!"

Terra kneeled beside Kori, placing a hand on her shoulder. Face paling, Kori wheezed, gurgling with every labored breath. A growing crimson stain spread across her t-shirt as blood streamed from her throat wound.

Terra locked eyes with the woman and spoke in gentle, but firm tones, "Kori, my name is Terra. I am a psi-surgeon and I can help you. Do you understand?"

Kori nodded, unable to speak. Terra glanced up to Neige, silently asking permission to continue. He nodded, and at Terra's direction, lifted his wife and laid her across the bench seat. A tear traced his otherwise emotionless face.

Haze placed the combat medical kit beside her and opened it. Red rivulets streamed from an upper arm gash, but that would have to wait.

Kori and Neige's daughter screamed for her mother, grabbing a leg. The little girl's shrill, trembling terror cut into Terra's heart. Will picked up the little girl, cuddled her in his arms as she reached out toward her mother. With a teary-eyed glance back to Terra, he slid out the back of the truck carrying the sobbing child.

Kneeling on the floor, Terra put her hands on Kori and closed her eyes while guiding the aura view into the wound. A dart had ripped across her trachea, entering from the front and exiting out the back, causing heavy bleeding. Fortunately, other vital parts were unharmed. A centimeter or two in any direction might have been instantly fatal.

Terra leaned over, catching the wounded woman's desperate eyes. "Kori, your windpipe is torn. The good news is that the major arteries and spinal column are undamaged. But the trauma is making it hard for you to breathe. I am going to make a temporary hole in your lower neck so you can get some more air. I will be as gentle as I can, but it will hurt. Okay?"

Kori firmed her lips and made a curt nod as Neige squeezed her hand.

Digging out a length of sterile tubing from the medical kit, Terra handed it to Haze, instructing, "Cut me a piece of this for a trach tube, about ten centimeters long."

With focus on Kori's lower neck area, Terra located the area for an incision. Narrowing her force to a razor point, Terra pierced the skin. Kori stiffened from the sharp pain, but could not cry out beyond a burbling gasp. Terra inserted the tube and let the incision seal around it, then secured it with pieces of white tape. Air whistled through the tube while color return to Kori's face.

"Kori, that part is done," Terra said, moving strands of hair from Kori's face. "Next, I am going to seal off the bleeding and drain some of the fluid in your lungs. Are you with me?"

Kori nodded.

Terra slid back into the aura, narrowed her focus, and searched the wound area, carefully sealing off the bleeders one-by-one. Next, she collected excess fluids in the lungs and trachea, then telekinetically pooled it in one small area. With a tiny incision, she pushed it out of the lungs and into the body cavity, finally sealing the hole. Visibly relieved, Kori relaxed her body and face.

"Okay, Kori, last part. I am going to fix the windpipe itself. We are almost done."

Back in the aura, Terra closed rips in the trachea and some of the surrounding cartilage, cauterizing them with micro-focused heat. After inspecting her work again, she backed out of the aura. She braced herself against the bench seat and took a deep breath.

"Kori, we are done," Terra reported with a satisfied smile. "You are going to be okay, but we still need to get you to a medical facility. I'm going to leave the trach tube in for now till we are sure your windpipe will hold up. Don't try to talk, you won't be able to."

Kori reached up to grasp Terra's hand and silently mouthed the words thank you.

Terra cleaned the wound area with antiseptic and bandaged it. After a search through the well-stocked medical kit, Terra found what she sought and gave Kori and injections of an antibiotic and a pain killer. Neige covered his wife with a blanket and folded another for a pillow, then bent down to place a soft kiss on her forehead. Will came back carrying a sleeping little girl and handed her to Neige, who cradled her in his arms.

Terra stared a moment at the apparent contradiction. For such a tough-looking guy, he is amazingly tender.

Terra spoke softly to Neige so as not to wake his daughter. "We should get Kori to a hospital where they can monitor the healing and lung function. She will probably need some respiratory therapy and more antibiotics as well."

Neige nodded, as stoic as ever.

Terra asked Will, "How long did that take?"

"Around twenty minutes, I think."

Terra's eyes widened. I've never done that complicated a procedure so quickly before!

Pulling out of her thoughts, Terra pointed to Haze. "You're next. Let's see that arm."

Fortunately, his wound was not severe. While Terra cleaned and dressed it, Haze turned to Will. "Is there anything this woman can't do?"

Will grinned. "Sunrises. Not a morning person."

Thorne came in the back of the truck and reported to Neige. "The area is secure. All enemy combatants are down."

Thorne turned to Terra, shaking his head. "How did you do that?"

She shrugged. "It was sort of a reflex action. I just pushed."

"Terra, you rolled an armored personnel carrier and took down everyone in it. That was one hell of a push!"

Glancing at Will and back to Thorne, she responded. "I don't understand. I am just a T3 Talent, and shouldn't be able to apply that much force."

"Hell, that was not T3, more like high-end T1."

Neige interrupted, growling, "Save it for later. Get underway and make for Holme."

Once they reached the main road and the lurching motion over a rocky road ended, Terra leaned against Will, settling into his arms. The ride would be more comfortable from now on. Will bent over and placed a series of soft kisses along her neck, sending pleasant tingles down her spine.

He whispered, "You were exceptionally amazing, Terra Lorr."

With a purr, she smiled and snuggled further into Will's embrace. "What happened inside?"

"After I neutralized the Talent, it was essentially over. Thorne and Neige took down the guards during the confusion. These guys are ruthlessly efficient. I did not have to draw my sidearm at all. It took a while to find Neige's wife and daughter, though. They hid in a closet when the shooting started. I don't think we left anyone else alive in there."

Terra chided her husband with a playful voice. "I noticed you with the little girl. Ever consider becoming a father?"

Will laughed. "It has crossed my mind recently. Do you know of any good women I could breed?"

*****

Within a few hours, they arrived in the town of Holme. In the moonlight, Terra could just make out several abandoned homes and warehouses. Apparently, this town was once larger and more prosperous. Thorne pulled the truck behind a rusty metal building and Haze went inside through an equally rusty door, coming back out with a gray-haired woman in a white coat, pushing a gurney. She ducked into the back of the truck.

The woman halted, putting hands on her hips. "Kori, how did you get mixed up in all this?"

Kori opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it, apparently remembering she could not.

The older woman cast her eyes on the bandages on her throat and the makeshift trach tube. "Come on, let's get you inside."

Neige handed his daughter to Will, and then he and Haze assisted Kori onto the gurney. Terra grinned at how tightly the little girl hugged Will. Definitely good father material.

Thorne stayed outside to keep watch while the rest followed the woman inside. While the building appeared dilapidated on the outside, inside it held a well organized, although small, medical clinic.

After transferring Kori to a padded examination table, the woman switched on a bright light and pealed back the bandages. "Hmm, what happened here?"

Terra answered. "She took a dart through the throat, tearing the trachea along with parts of the thyroid cartilage, maybe some tendon damage as well. I had to put in an emergency trach tube so she could breathe. There was a lot of bleeding, but fortunately, the carotid arteries were untouched. I sealed up the major bleeders and the trachea tears. Some fluid collected in her left lung, but I drained it into the body cavity."

The woman tilted her eyes up to Terra, looking over the top of her glasses. "And you are?"

"Oh, my name is Terra. I have training in psi-surgery."

"Well, Terra," the woman said, "I am fairly sure you saved Kori's life. Pleased to meet you. My name is Mavis. I run this, shall we say, off the books medical facility. Neige and his men get frequent customer discounts."

Mavis turned and spoke to her patient. "Kori, I'm going to get you to a nice soft bed, and then start an IV with some antibiotics and painkillers. You will be my guest for a few days while we watch for any complications, but I think you will be fine."

Kori reached out to Terra and drew her down into a tearful hug before Mavis wheeled her out. Liege took his daughter from Will and followed them.

On the way out, Mavis turned to Haze, pointing at the bloodied bandage. "Come back later, Haze, so I can check out your arm."

Haze turned to Will and Terra. "How would you like a good bed and bath? We have a safe house nearby."

Terra let out a huge sigh. "That would be so wonderful."