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guiding her with a firm grip on her elbow.
    Outside, it was easier to breathe, and relief at being out of the wreck drained some of the tension from her tight muscles. Some, but not all. They were still a long way from being safe, her mind speeding ahead to calculate how long it would take a rescue party to find them out here and what medical issues might need to be dealt with in the meantime. Half an hour ago, her biggest concern had been pulling off this almost moronic con job before anyone worked out she wasn’t really IPC.
    It wasn’t screwed up enough that just over a month ago, she’d discovered the UAFA agent in charge of her team had really been a shape-shifting alien known as the Reidar.
    No, it had gotten even more messed up when she’d met Rian—one of her oldest friends—at some out-of-civilized-space waystation bar. He’d convinced her to take the position as Graydon’s admiral’s assistant in order to trap or trick the captain admiral into Rian’s custody, so he could ascertain whether or not the Reidar had replaced his oldest friend. There were too many reasons why finding out if one of the IPC’s most respected captain admirals was really an alien—much more important than whether or not she’d get busted for infiltrating the IPC under false orders.
    If Rian’s suspicions turned out to be right, it would be the confirmation they didn’t want to get—that the Reidar were already well into their plans to invade by replacing government and military officials with alien body doubles.
    Not like she had the entire fate of the universe sitting on her shoulders or anything…but if it turned out Zander wasn’t himself any longer and the Reidar had already infiltrated the IPC, then the human race were facing a horror the likes of which had never been contemplated except in books and movies.
    Yep, the problems just kept stacking up. Not only were her IPC orders and clearances entirely forged and fabricated by a couple of Rian’s crew, technically she was on extended leave from the Universal Armed Forces Agency. If they found out about this little off-the-books assignment, her life and career would be screwed sideways.
    Though none of that mattered right at this moment, when all she could worry about was whether this planet had any top-order predators that ate humans. With the comms not working and the shuttle having gone down without time for them to send an emergency transmission, there was a good possibility the authorities and Swift Brion crew had no idea they’d crashed. She hoped a recovery ship was already en route, but there was every likelihood they could be in for a long wait to be rescued.
    Her head spun, and she blew out a long breath as she reached the log near Nazari and the officer.
    One thing at a time, Mae. If she tried to think of everything all at once, she wasn’t going to be able to continue hanging on to her calm so successfully.
    While the captain admiral went to check on the young officer again, she set the packs on the ground and crouched to take inventory. A shuttle like those used by the Swift Brion should have everything they’d need to stay alive until a rescue team arrived.
    The first pack held survival gear. Yeah, they needed that, but it wasn’t her initial priority. Medical supplies were the most important thing. Luckily, the next two packs had two different sets of med items. She dug for a scanner, because they couldn’t start fixing anyone until they assessed the extent of injuries.
    “Lieutenant, what kind of packs do you have?” the admiral asked, leaning over to look into the first bag she’d opened.
    “Survival and two medical. I don’t know what the others are—I didn’t get that far.”
    Graydon crouched down next to her, his shoulder brushing hers as he pulled the unopened bags closer to rummage through them with increasingly rough, jerking movements.
    “Damn it to hell, where’s the goddamn emergency transponders?” He threw the pack down and