Free The Swarm by Orson Scott Card

Mazer got his own feet under him and stood, his equilibrium still unsteady, the ship drifting slowly to one side beneath him, causing the canvas of stars around him to shift disorientingly to one side.
    Mazer reached Sham just as Sham reached the surface. A piece of shrapnel had sliced through Sham’s calf, leaving a gaping hole in his suit. The wound was open and purpling but spilling no blood. The suit’s self-sealing mechanism had saved Sham’s life by abandoning his leg from the knee down. Kaufman and Rimas gathered around him as Mazer shouted orders over the radio for an emergency EVAC crew.
    By the time the medic ship arrived and pulled them all inside, Sham’s leg had turned black, and his breathing was shallow. The medics cut his suit free and began working on him at once, but Mazer knew that there was little chance of saving the leg. They docked at the space station, and Mazer followed the stretcher to the medical wing. Nurses turned him away at the operating room and told him he was not allowed to wait here. They would contact him once there was news.
    Mazer hovered there in the corridor for a moment until he realized he was still in his suit. He looked a mess.
    He left and showered. By the time he was back in uniform a message on his wrist pad informed him that Shambhani had lost his leg and was now in recovery. He was not allowed any visitors.
    Mazer went straight to Colonel Vaganov’s office. The room was empty, but he saw Vaganov in the adjacent conference room through the large glass windows. Vaganov was facing an Asian woman Mazer didn’t recognize. A civilian, by the look of her. Business suit, formal demeanor.
    Mazer couldn’t hear their conversation, but the woman seemed to be the one directing affairs. After several minutes Vaganov nodded and then turned on the holotable and made a call. In moments the head of Ukko Jukes, the Hegemon of Earth, materialized in the holofield. A brief conversation followed. At one point Vaganov played a series of vids in the holofield for Ukko. Each one showed a different breach team conducting a test with the GD on a different target. The cubes were all live and successfully ripped holes in the hulls. Mazer noticed that in every test, all four cubes were lit and operative.
    The last vid was of Mazer’s team. Vaganov paused the vid on a close-up shot of the four cubes in place, with only three lit and ready to fire. Then he played the rest of the vid, which was edited. It cut back and forth between various cameras in a way that minimized the violence of the explosion. The concluding shot was of the hole in the side of the ship. Shambhani never made an appearance. No emergency EVAC. No rescue. No wounded leg.
    The Hegemon nodded his approval, spoke briefly, and then ended the call.
    Mazer watched as Vaganov and the woman shared a celebratory handshake. Then Vaganov escorted her out. They found Mazer in the corridor and Vaganov looked surprised. “Captain Rackham, the man of the moment. I present to you—”
    â€œHea Woo Han,” said the woman, offering her hand. “You did excellent work today, Captain. Thank you.”
    â€œMs. Woo Han is the director of research and development at Gungsu Industries,” Vaganov said.
    Mazer understood. Gungsu was the Korean defense contractor that had designed the gravity disruptor. In the past few years they had gone from being a relative unknown in the weapons industry to a major player in the market.
    â€œColonel Vaganov also shared with me your design for the nanoshield,” said Woo Han. “We’re intrigued. My engineers will want to discuss the project with you. A collaborative exploration of the tech is in order, I think, with you assisting our team as a WAMRED liaison. Colonel Vaganov can share with you our proposal.”
    Vaganov nodded. “Gladly.” He turned to Mazer. “Wait in my office, Captain Rackham. After I escort Ms. Woo Han back to her ship,