Three weeks after the tunnels stopped burning, Gorrah Ironblood walked the length of Junction Six and counted the scorch marks.
Fourteen. One for each position where a Dominion soldier had planted their feet and fought. The stone underneath was discolored — thermal residue from the Crimson Wyrms that had baked into the rock at temperatures high enough to alter the mineral composition. In some places, the boot-prints were visible: seared outlines where a soldier's stance had shielded the stone beneath from the worst of the heat, leaving lighter patches in the darkened floor.
She counted them because Brennan's after-action report had said twelve soldiers standing, two wounded, one KIA, and she wanted to see the numbers with her own eyes. The tunnel told the same story the report did, and neither version was comfortable.
