On their way down from the plateau Elsa had the opportunity to see how dangerous her new teammate was. In typical super-sized Vitalian fashion a creature had burst out of hiding. Its skin was mottled light and dark browns, blending it in perfectly with the loose rock and dirt of the ravine. The head had a reptilian mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. The body was snakelike with the exception of its twelve pairs of legs.
It curved its body around them, blocking their forward movement. Fiona dropped the Marine taking enough care only to insure that his head didn’t smack into the ground when he hit. Elsa’s bow hit the ground at the same time but Fiona was already moving.
The Marine jammed her spear into the foremost shoulder of the creature and used it like a pole to vault up onto its tubular back behind its head. It reared back, trying to throw her, but Fiona had repositioned the spear and pushed cross-wise into the alligator / centipede hybrid’s mouth. It chomped down but the placement of the spear prevented it from bringing the full strength of its crushing jaws to bear on the overgrown toothpick.
While the beast tried to snap it into kindling Fiona held on with one hand and pulled one of her arrows out of her quiver. She jammed it into the creature’s eye, pushing it in until it convulsed violently and threw her free. The convulsion provided the extra power needed to snap her spear into three pieces, but that was the only damage it would ever inflict again.
Fiona picked herself up and brushed the dirt off, then took Elsa’s offered spear. Dinner for them that night had been allipede meat. Elsa’d found the flavor strong and the meat chewy, but her body had craved it even if her brain had been repelled at the thought of eating the raw meat.
“Over here!”
Elsa was roused from her musings by the sound of Tarn’s voice. Several people rushed over, including Tarn and Klous as well as Jess, Wesley, and two of the other survivors from Elsa’s FIST team, Barry “Meat” Mitchell and Ben “Shorty” Stevens. All of the men were shirtless and carrying primitive weapons. Jess was dressed as she’d been before, in a primitive halter top and skirt that was downright modest by Vitallian standards.
“Where’d you find this guy,” Tarn asked when he led the group to meet them.
“The spitters missed him,” Fiona said. “We figure he was thrown from the shuttle when it crashed.
“Spitters missed him?” Tarn didn’t sound convinced.
“He’s alive, isn’t he?”
The large man grunted and turned to where Jess was conducting a basic examination of him. She looked over at Else to get a nod of approval before she spoke up. “He’s burning up,” she said. “Dehydrated too. His pulse is hammering away and it looks like he’s suffering from a concussion. He’s muttering gibberish, nothing he says makes sense.”
“It’s not even English, just moans,” Wesley added. “What the hell happened to him? I haven’t seen anybody get sick here yet, but if this is a virus it could wipe us all out!”
“He was talking earlier,” Elsa said. “Claimed he was Private Azarin Irons. But he hasn’t been with it very often. Usually he’s staring into space or talking to ghosts.”
“Let’s get him to the creek and get some water in him. That’ll help. If he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink, might be he just needs to get more of the local bacteria in him.”
Jess frowned at Wesley’s suggestion. Elsa caught her look and redirected her own eyes to Fiona. “Kira calls it the spirit of Vitalis, Wes here thinks it’s all about bacteria and symbiotic parasites or something.”
“Symbiotic parasites?”
“He and Jeremy have been hanging around together too much. They’re both techs at heart.”
Elsa was tempted to share a laugh with her but things had changed. She wasn’t just a grunt anymore. She didn’t dare let other people do the strategizing and thinking. Kira had made that abundantly clear even if she hadn’t come right out and said it. They were the endangered species on Vitalis. Not thinking long term and appreciating every bit of knowledge that existed could be the thing that turned endangered into extinct.
“We’ve got a bunch of hardware we salvaged from the shuttle too,” Elsa said, gesturing with her thumb at the packs on her back. “Meat, think you can lug this up to Radio and see if he can’t hook something up to reach the Desperado.”
“Sure thing, Gunny,” the larger of the two FISTs said. He helped her take the type of packs off. “Shit, you figure out how to bring the whole shuttle back into these?”
Elsa smirked. If Meat was impressed with the load that meant something. He’d been the strongest Marine in FIST team three previously. “Spend a few days naked in the jungle here and you can play with the big kids too.”
He did a double take, then grinned and headed for the ladder and the rope that hung beside it for hauling up supplies.
“Good job out there,” Tarn’s gravelly voice said behind her.
Elsa turned and nodded, then offered the large man a smile. “I never thanked you for saving me.”
He shrugged. “Yeah you did, when we was out there. Maybe you had a head full of ideas that ain’t worth a damn here, but you thanked me.”
Elsa laughed. “Okay, I never thanked you for hauling my naked ass back to Treetown.”
Tarn’s lips stretched from ear to ear. “I’m not sure who should be thanking who for that.”
Elsa’s cheeks reddened.
“Why ain’t Kira back?” He asked, ending the awkward moment.
“She went looking for more survivors and to plan a diversion.”
“Diversion?”
Elsa nodded. She caught Fiona’s eyes and saw the Marine give her a very slight nod. Elsa looked away so she wouldn’t betray anything. She took a breath to buy some time then realized she didn’t need it. If this was how her life was going to be, she might as well embrace it. “Yeah, we figured if we killed a few in another direction it might confuse them and buy us some time.”
Tarn thought the idea over for a moment then nodded in agreement. “Kira come up with that?”
“Elsa did,” Fiona said, coming behind her. “Spend some downtime then we’ll hook up later and do some training, okay?”
Elsa raised an eyebrow. Downtime? She was a Marine FIST, there was no such thing as downtime while the mission was on and Vitalis was a nonstop mission. “I’m going to check on Radio and see how he’s doing. If we can contact the Desperado we need to do that right away before the comm gear blows up again.”
“I’ll come with you,” Klous said. “It looks like our new guest is in capable hands.”
“Coral, back to your post,” Tarn said. “I’ll drag the new guy to the stream. You, Ben, come with us.”
Ben looked at Elsa. She gave him a nod. “We’ll catch up later, Shorty.” He smiled and turned to help guide the patient to the river.
“Shorty?” Tarn asked, staring after the tall FIST. “Isn’t he too tall to fit in FIST armor?”
“Upper limit,” Elsa said. “Maybe a little more, but he doesn’t complain. I heard you used to be a FIST.”
“I used to be a lot of things, didn’t you hear?” Tarn growled.
Elsa held up her hands. “Calm down, tiger. Two things in life are certain, death and girls will gossip. Better get used to it.”
Tarn stared at her a long moment before he chuckled. “Okay, maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime.”
“Come on up when you’re done with Private Irons. If Fiona hasn’t kicked my ass clean into tomorrow by then we can maybe get to know each other better.”
Tarn looked at her, his eyes wide for a moment. A grin made its way onto his face then he turned and started barking orders at the two healers and Shorty to get them moving.
Chapter 12
“This is going to take some,” Gresham admitted. He was sitting kneeling on the smooth floor of a room carved out of one of trees. His satellite radio was on the floor in front of him, disassembled into the major components. Numerous other spare parts lay around him, including all of the open cas
es Elsa and Fiona had retrieved.
“How long?” Klous asked.
Radio glanced up at the former pirate captain, then looked to Elsa. Klous swore and threw his hands up in the air. Elsa nodded to the communications specialist. “I’ve got to rig up a new power converter to bypass the parts that got damaged when the power pack blew. Could take me a few hours.”
Klous swore again, then turned and walked out. He returned a moment later. “You…Elsa, right? You’re not running things around here, got it? You’re fresh meat for the grinder. If you make it another week you might stand a chance of making it a month. If you make it a month, you’ve got a chance at two months. Every day is a gift on this planet. We can help you, but you need to understand your place!”
Elsa recoiled from the flustered man. Her eyes narrowed and she saw Radio grab a laser splicing tool and turn to face the man. “I never said I was in charge,” Elsa said, stepping closer to Klous so that she was inches from his face. She had to crane her neck up to look him in the eyes but her four inch height disadvantage didn’t bother her in the least. “Corporal Sampson has a laser splicer he can take your leg, arm, or neck in a matter of seconds. And he’s flanking you. You might want to stand the fuck down and throttle the testosterone down.”
Klous glanced at Radio, in particular the tool-cum-weapon in his hand. “This isn’t a pissing match, this is about what you’ve earned and what you’ve got rights to! We saved your asses, don’t forget that!”
“Tarn saved my ass. He’s a Marine, we don’t leave our people behind. Kira and Fiona saved the corporal here and my other teammates. What did you do again?”
Klous took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring as he did so. He let it out in a rush, but Elsa noted he seemed to shrink a little as he did so. His shoulders drooped just enough to show he’d let some of the tension out. “You’re right, I’m frustrated at how stranded and helpless we are. Living courtesy of the good nature and charity of others isn’t my style. We have to make contact with the Terran Coalition if we want to have a chance of long term survival. You show some respect and fall in the proper place and I’ll see to it you’re well taken care of. I respect what you and your team can do probably more than anybody here. There will be a place for people like you in the future of Vitalis.”
“Corporal, get that comm gear fixed,” Elsa said, her eyes never leaving Klaus’s. “And Corporal, keep in mind that we’ll always be Marines, but our current situation makes the chain of command and Uniform Code of Military Justice irrelevant.”
Klous dared to let a slight grin slip onto his face. She saw Gresham nod out of the corner of her eyes, then he went back to working on the equipment. Elsa leaned closer to Klous and spoke her next words in a quiet voice that carried an air of deadly intent. “You’ve got a beautiful woman and a good looking kid. Where I come from that makes you about as wealthy as a person can get. Next time you get the urge to get in a Marine’s face, you think about what Sasha’s gonna tell your son when his daddy don’t come home for dinner.”
The color drained from Klous’s face and his eyes widened. Elsa gave him a smile then stepped around him and walked out of the tree and onto the first bridge she saw. Her skin was tingling with pent up energy. She’d smelled a bitter scent in the air that she instinctively knew was fear. Klous’s fear. Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to threaten what was possibly the second most influential member of the colony, but it sure had felt good!
She walked around the platform of another tree and heard something that sounded familiar. Peering over the edge of the railing she saw Kira talking to Sharp thirty feet below her on the jungle floor. She called out to her and waved, then hurried around the tree to the knotted rope that served as an emergency escape. She kicked it over and scrambled down it using only her arms to slow her otherwise rapid descent.
“Hey!” Elsa said, hurrying up to Kira. Sharp was already walking away. “When did you get back?”
“Just a few minutes ago,” Kira said, turning to face her. She glanced up then back at Elsa. “Be careful, Klous is a scumbag in my book, and seeing the look on his face a moment ago I take it you told him as much?”
Elsa’s jaw dropped, confirming Kira’s suspicion.
“Yeah, well, he takes care of his people and does what he can to get more people thinking his way. As long as Tarn and I stay loyal to Sharp there’s no chance anybody would ever try anything, but we’ve got a hunch he wouldn’t mind trying.”
“Yeah, he kind of told me that,” Elsa said.
“And what did you tell him?” Kira asked. She smirked before adding, “I know you said something, what was it?”
“I suggested he remember what’s important in his life and remember that before he tries to pick a fight with a Marine next time.”
“Klous doesn’t pick fights,” Kira said with a frown.
“Yeah, he didn’t exactly pick a fight. He just tried to put me in the place he thought I should be in. I just cut through all the red tape.”
Kira chuckled in spite of her shaking head. “Remember the number one rule here? Human life is sacred. We don’t act out or threaten another human. Even the dirbags.”
Elsa blushed at the reminder. She let her head drop, accepting the rebuke. “I forgot. I’m sorry. Years of training to not take shit from people. Is this going to cause any problems?”
“Klous may go bitch to Sharp about it but and the Captain may say something to you, but nothing serious. Especially since you’ve got four of the best human fighters on the planet jumping when you say how high.”
Elsa couldn’t help but grin. “I’m not an officer, just a gunnery sergeant.”
Kira’s scornful look drew another laugh out of Elsa. “As far as those Marines care you’re the Supreme Commander of the Terran Coalition Armed Forces.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Fuck. I didn’t ask for that.”
“None of us asked for this. Fighting it doesn’t make it go away, it just gets you dead faster.”
“I know, I just…aw fuck it. Okay, so what about you? Why are you telling me about all this dirt? Seems like you’re putting a lot of trust into me and it looks like there’s some pretty high tensions running between the trees above us.”
“There are,” Kira admitted. “And I’m telling you because I’m asking a lot of you. Doesn’t seem fair for me to do that without leveling with you about things. I hope that showing you I’m willing to trust you that you’ll feel the same way about me.”
“Damn you, it’s working.”
Kira grinned. “Good. What you got going on in a little bit?”
“Fiona wants to try to pound me into the ground. She called it training.”
Kira chuckled. “Excellent. I’ll let her then. When she’s done beating you up I’ll take over. We’re going to make you hurt like you’ve never hurt in your life.”
“Can’t wait!”
“Gunny! I got something!”
Elsa’s head napped around and up, staring up at the bridge above them. Corporal Sampson was waving at her. Elsa swore and turned back to the knotted rope. She climbed it the same way she’d dropped down, using only her arms to maximize speed. Kira was right behind her.
A few moments later without even breathing hard Elsa stood behind Radio while he fiddled with the controls and tuned in the unit to the Desperado’s communication spectrum. “The trees are offering some interference but I can still get a signal through. It just puts an extra delay in the transmission.”
“Desperado come in, this is Marine FIST team three, operating leader Dark Angel.”
Several seconds passed before a legible but slightly distorted response came over the radio. “Authenticate, Dark Angel.”
“Our gear’s destroyed, we have no means of authentication and the comm. gear is rigged with parts of our equipment and spare parts from the assault force.”
“What’s your status, Dark Angel? The transmission is coming miles away from the research target.”
“The resea
rch station is compromised. Indigenous life forms have overrun and killed the majority of the civilian and military personnel. Those that got away were rescued by the survivors of two ship crashes years past.”
“Can you confirm coordinates, Dark Angel? We can dispatch a recovery mission.”
“Negative!”
Elsa turned to see Kira shaking her head. She stared at Elsa until the Marine swallowed and turned around. “Repeat, do not launch a rescue attempt. The survivors from the ships and the research station have discovered biological changes that make it dangerous for humans on this planet.”
“All the more reason to rescue you!”
Klous and Captain Sharp rushed into the tree, stopping when they both realized communications had been established.
“Negative,” Elsa repeated. “Human life is possible down here, but infection occurs. The specifics have yet to be identified but we’re under quarantine at the moment. Based on what occurred to the Explorer I believe that any direct exposure to the atmosphere of Vitalis is deadly should the exposed individual leave the planet. Contagion is extremely probable.”
“Kira! Captain! Come quick!”
Kira jerked away from the communications and hurried to the platform railing to look down. “The survivors, you’ve got to see this!”
Kira turned back to Sharp. “Captain?”
“Go!”
Elsa ground her teeth then clapped Radio on the shoulder. “Keep them around,” she whispered before she turned and ran after Kira. She leapt over the railing, one hand catching the rope Kira had kicked over and swinging on it as she lowered herself to the ground. Sharp swore, having been narrowly missed by her flying body.
Jeff led the three across the jungle floor to the stream where Shorty, Meat, and Tarn were staring at two men that were flopping around on the ground. Jess and Wesley were trying to contain them, each applying all their weight to hold the frenzied Marines down.
“”What the fuck is going on?” Elsa shouted as she ran after Kira. For all of her speed the huntress was pulling away from her and making it look easy.
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