Reede

by Veronica Scott

  Darik rubbed his chin and his eyes glowed in the firelight. “Yeah, the failsafes destroyed the entire lab.”

  “You and Nicolle escaped.” Reede was matter of fact as always.

  “Thanks to MARL15 or we’d have been toast as well. Later there was something though. I was kinda preoccupied at the time, but I have a hazy memory of watching the Khagrish take a couple of bodies away with them. Could have spread the disease through careless handling.” The soldier sounded as if he didn’t care, which Fallyn supposed he probably didn’t, as much as the Badari hated the Khagrish.

  “Does it really matter?” She was anxious to refocus the discussion on the topic of her ship and the module, rather than the details of a past mission before she’d even arrived on the planet. Maybe someday she’d have time and leisure to ask Darik to share the story because it sounded interesting but in the current circumstances Enishiggama’s flu or whatever she had didn’t interest her. And how the scientist caught her malady had no bearing on the topic at hand. “I recommend we hike to my ship tomorrow. It’s fairly easy to snap the hardware in and out of the mainframe. Scout ships are all modular units, quick and easy to build and repair.”

  “Assuming that part of the ship survived the crash,” Reede said, forehead creased in a frown as he watched her. “My orders are to get you safely to the valley. Nothing was said about detours to the wreck.”

  Fallyn was pretty sure from what she’d observed of Reede and his fellow soldiers so far, the warrior had a lot of latitude and authority. She opened her mouth to push but the alien AI beat her to it.

  “Taking her to the valley if she can’t provide enough specificity as to co-ordinates will be a waste of time and we’ll have to embark upon a second expedition to the same location,” MARL20 said. “Inefficiency isn’t part of my design.” A large red blotch throbbed in his upper right quadrant.

  Like he has a headache. Fallyn smothered her grin and hastily drank more tea. Not a good plan to tease an alien AI.

  “Duly noted.” Reede exchanged a long suffering look with Darik. “But you raise a good point, if we have to send out another patrol, the shipwreck will have been exposed to the elements even longer. All right, we’ll go up the mountain tomorrow and evac from a location south of the site after collecting the module. Hopefully intact. Darik, you and I’ll map out the route after dinner.”

  Fallyn sat in on the discussion of the planned climb to higher altitude. Apparently her ship had crashed in a meadow at the edge of the tree line. Fred must have gone for the first open space he’d seen. He didn’t want to lose the ship, didn’t want us to be on foot in hostile alien terrain. The landing must have gotten away from him, or else the ship was more badly damaged than he’d realized. She’d suffered a head injury from when the Chimmer ship attacked them and her memories of the descent were sketchy but Fred had been fighting the controls. She remembered that much.

  The trek was going to get rough but she had no doubt the Badari could accomplish the ascension. She’d do her best to keep up. Heights didn’t bother her and she’d been trained on mountaineering. All recon scouts were. The altitude might not help her headache but she kept the problem to herself, not wanting to give Reede any excuse to change his mind. She did see the healer, Timtur, studying her as if he might have reservations but he didn’t say anything either.

  Fallyn had no memory of getting out of the crashed ship. She supposed the partial amnesia explained why it was so important to her to see the wreck for herself and to accept there was no way to get home. After all, these soldiers didn’t have spaceworthy ships of their own. Flying a Chimmer ship was a longshot at best. Maybe the damage to the Stinger wasn’t as bad as the locals thought. A forlorn hope, she admitted reluctantly, but flickering in the back of her mind.

  For the rest of the evening, she sat by the fire and played cards with whichever soldiers weren’t on guard duty, using the oddly shaped deck. The rules of the games weren’t too far removed from similar human pastimes and they used pebbles to make wagers.

  “We don’t get paid,” Darik said to her, “And the Sectors paymaster doesn’t make deliveries here for your people either, so the fortunes won and lost don’t count.”

  “You’re angling for an easy out because I’m beating you two out of three times,” she said with a laugh, relishing the easy camaraderie after being in solitary confinement for days. “Is there any more tea?”

  “I’d suggest getting a few hours of sleep after you finish this hand,” Reede said, materializing from the dark where he’d been checking on the perimeter and the guards. “Despite Timtur’s healing powers, you’re still recuperating from the ordeal you’ve been through and tomorrow will be rough going. We’ve fixed you a bedroll over here, in the lee of the boulders. The night wind gets pretty cutting at this altitude.”

  “Thanks. When’s my guard shift?” she asked, making a bet and drawing two more cards.

  “I appreciate the offer but we’ve got it covered for tonight. You concentrate on resting up. Darik will show you where to sleep.” He nodded and moved across the camp, going out of sight.

  Yawning, she finished the game, losing by a few points, and then curled up gratefully in the warm bedroll. MARL20 took a position close by, which she wasn’t so sure she appreciated. “Is he watching me or—”

  “You are the incipient source of vital data,” MARL20 said in his birdlike voice, going all pink before magenta washed through the display. “I need to remain close to you. Offensive action isn’t my strength but MARL Primary would expect me to safeguard your knowledge.”

  Darik shrugged. “There you have it, I guess. He’s not guarding you, just your knowledge.” With a wink he walked away.

  Fallyn peered cautiously at the AI a final time before closing her eyes. Despite the tea and the false energy it provided, she was bone weary and felt herself dropping into sleep with no problem. She was a soldier embedded with allies—a squad of tough, efficient warfighters like herself and the knowledge gave her the necessary inner peace to let go and sleep as she hadn’t been able to do since the crash, other than last night in the cave.

  Fallyn smiled sleepily to herself.

  Reede was watching over her.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  In the morning a gentle hand on her shoulder and the sound of her name brought her wide awake, heart pounding.

  “Hey, easy, it’s only me.” Reede slid his arm around her shoulder and gave her a reassuring hug that ended all too soon. “Time to rise and shine and have your delicious nutrition bar breakfast. We’re going to hit the trail shortly but I wanted you to have as much sleep as possible. Bad dreams?”

  She ran one hand through her tousled hair. “No dreams at all, which is a good thing.”

  “I want Timtur to check you over one more time before we break camp,” he said, watching her closely. “Your head’s bothering you again, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe a little. I need to eat.” She wasn’t about to admit to any weakness capable of derailing the day’s planned activity.

  “See the healer first.” His voice had the snap of a command but he immediately softened the effect with a smile. “I’ve got something for you.”

  Blinking, she pushed away the blanket and held out her hand as he fished for the item in his pocket . Reede dropped a tiny metallic earpiece into her palm. “What is this?” she asked, turning it over.

  “We’re telepathic amongst ourselves,” he said. “Which is partly why I didn’t want you standing guard last night. We can communicate silently. But then it occurred to me to ask MARL20 if he could manifest a field com for you. Our human allies use them when we’re downrange on an operation. It’s not as good as telepathy but a tactical advantage.”

  “Manifest?” She glanced at the hovering ovoid, which was a serene pale pink this morning, with a few isolated green whorls.

  “MARL Primary can manufacture a limited amount of stuff—we’re not sure how he does it. MARL20 said he doesn’t have the specific capacity but he
could make this one for me as a favor.” He tapped his own ear. “I have the corresponding unit.”

  “Thank you,” she said to him, inserting the device into her ear. Addressing the AI, she repeated her thanks. “Much appreciated.”

  “Reede assured me this would assist us in shortening the time required for this side trip,” MARL20 said. “I can’t manifest any more so don’t lose it.”

  Reede winked at her.

  “I’ll do my best,” Fallyn said.

  “I know it bothered you not to be able to take your share of the duty last night.” Reede rose, towering over her, and moved away. “Now we’ve partially solved the problem.”

  The healer arrived so fast he must have been waiting close by. Fallyn shook her head. Gotta get back on my game here. Situational awareness at all times. Which was hard to achieve with Reede in the vicinity, damn him for being a distraction to the woman inside the soldier. She took the ration bar and unwrapped it. “Not my favorite flavor.”

  Timtur laughed. “Since they all taste the same, I can safely agree. May I?” He held up his hands, which had a faint green glow at the fingertips in the morning light. “Reede is concerned you have a headache.”

  With an effort she kept her tone level and light. “You could give me meds for it if you have any but sure go ahead with your own methods, might as well try everything.”

  “We do have a limited human first aid kit,” he said, resting his hands at her temples and then sliding his left hand to the back of her neck, tilting her head down. “I’ll get you an inject as soon as I’m done but I prefer to apply the healing energy first.”

  “Whatever magic you’re doing feels good,” she said. There was a cool tingling all over her skull, not unpleasant, almost as if she had an ice pack. The pain, which had been nagging at her, receded.

  “I wish I could do more for you but the goddess didn’t equip me to treat humans.” He drew his index finger over her forehead and then sat back. “All done. Still need the med?”

  “Nah, save it for later.” She attacked the remnants of the ration bar with more enthusiasm.

  Timtur lowered his voice and leaned closer. “Reede can be a bit overwhelming and driven at times and he wants to get this side trip over with today. He’s not going to be happy until we deliver you safely to the valley. But if you can’t match the pace he sets today or have any other issue, let me know.”

  “I’d speak up, don’t worry.” She wasn’t afraid of Reede. Yes, he seemed determined to achieve his mission objective but he’d done nothing but be considerate of her. Fallyn had no reluctance to speak to him directly if she had an issue. She found it interesting the healer assumed she might be less than comfortable with Reede. As she finished the ration bar and helped pack the last few items in the camp, she studied the interaction between Reede and the squad and saw nothing but appropriate military style discipline. Yes the men joked amongst themselves and included their commander in some of the comments, but it was clear he was in charge. Respect obviously flowed both ways between them.

  She could see where a civilian might not understand Reede and the way he carried himself. Perhaps the colonists in the valley weren’t at ease with him. I’ll find out soon enough. Get this over with and then we’ll be flying to their home base as promised.

  The Badari set a good pace but took enough breaks for Fallyn to maintain parity with them. She was sure the soldiers could have moved much faster without her but speed wasn’t the point here. They kept to cover as much as possible and watched the sky as they moved, but there was no sign of the Khagrish mounting a pursuit, which Fallyn found puzzling.

  She asked Reede what he thought during one of the breaks when he came to check on her and urge her to drink more water to stay hydrated. “I figured Dr. Enishiggama would want you back pretty badly, and at least when I was first captured they tended to regard me as an important acquisition, although the interest waned.”

  “The Khagrish brought in a security chief for the entire planet,” Reede said. “One of us killed him and I think the death threw the organization into a tailspin. The assassination would account for why you were left languishing in the cell after you moved from the medlab.”

  “Lucky for me,” she said, capping her canteen.

  “I don’t have an explanation for you about the scientist not pursuing us. Who knows why the Khagrish do or don’t do anything? We need to get in and get out before she does make a move. Of course it may not occur to the enemy I’d be hiking up here. Even I didn’t know you could talk me into it.” He grinned and moved away.

  By midafternoon the climb became much steeper and Reede had them rope themselves together, although there was no actual rock climbing required but the terrain was treacherous.

  He dropped back to her side. “We’re just about there. I know this may be traumatic for you, seeing the site of the crash and the wrecked ship.” He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll be right by your side, I promise.”

  “I’ve been wrecked before,” she said, trying to quell the tremors in her gut. Fred died here.

  As if reading her mind, Reede said, “Yeah, but this time you lost a teammate, which is especially rough.”

  “I’ll be fine.” She gave him a smile to offset the annoyance in her voice but he simply nodded and continued to hike beside her. His presence was reassuring as he’d amply proven she could rely on him to understand the wildly swinging emotions remembering the crash and her partner’s death brought on.

  They left the gear and supplies in a small grotto below the meadow, which Darik and Camron camouflaged and then the team moved out cautiously, climbing the last steep ridge to the actual crash site.

  Fallyn was in the middle of the column, so by the time she stepped onto the open, grassy area, with Reede by her side as promised, the first soldiers had already deployed into well-chosen positions to keep watch. She took in the long scar in the grass, the upturned soil, the bits and pieces of the ship strewn randomly across the open space and then what was left of their trim vessel, crumpled among a pile of uprooted trees at the far edge of the expanse.

  “He did the best he could at getting down in one piece,” Darik said in admiration.

  Fallyn fought to breathe. “The flight deck is more or less intact, based on what I can see from this vantage point. We should be able to scavenge the astro module.” Her voice sounded distant in her own ears and her peripheral vision was growing dark as if night had fallen too soon. Her knees were wobbly and she clutched at her pulse rifle, determined not to commit the ultimate faux pas by dropping her weapon like a rookie.

  “Hey, just inhale and exhale, we’re in no rush.” Reede picked her up, weapon and all and carried her into the shade of a small tree. “Focus on me, Fallyn, stay with me here.”

  She shook her head and tried to speak but her throat was clogged with unshed tears. Flashes of memory assaulted her, as if she was in two or maybe even three places at once—in the crashing ship, in the meadow writhing in pain after Fred dragged her to safety and here with Reede. It was all too much and the pressure built inside her till she feared her heart might explode.

  “Keep a sharp lookout,” Reede said to someone and then he was holding her close to him, one huge hand cupping the back of her head in a comforting manner and the other clasping her waist, providing an anchor in the whirling madness engulfing her. Frantically she grabbed him, her hands digging into his strong arms.

  “Make it stop,” she said. “I can’t—I can’t—”

  “Ssh, I’ve got you, you’re safe. You don’t have to do anything right now but breathe for me. There’s plenty of time.”

  His voice rumbled in his chest under her ear and she also heard the steady thumping of his heart. She attempted to comply with his repeated commands to regulate her breathing and each time she inhaled, his scent—male mixed with the crisp clean aroma of a forest and a hint of exotic spice which made her feel warm at her core—brought her calm.

  “Do something for
her,” Reede said over her head, presumably to the healer. His voice was tense and demanding. “She’s suffering pretty badly here.”

  Fallyn shivered at the sudden coolness of Timtur’s fingers on the back of her neck and then the blackness swallowed her and she let go of the terrifying memories.

  When she awoke, she lay still, testing her mental state and listening to what was going on around her. Men’s voices, quiet and muted, the smell of a fire, the aroma of more delicious cooking. A breeze cooled her cheeks and she threw aside the blanket covering her and sat up.

  Reede was right there, setting aside his mug of tea and kneeling by her side. “How are you?”

  She pulled her knees to her chest and looped her arms over her legs self protectively. “I’m sorry—I don’t know what to say. How long was I out?”

  His voice held no trace of annoyance or judgment. “Four hours. Timtur decided it was best if you had a solid slug of time to reset your mind, maybe to allow your subconscious to process the memories a little.”

  Her cheeks were flaming red and anger at herself, mixed with embarrassment, roiled her gut. She swallowed hard but no words came.

  As he always seemed able to do, Reede put his finger on her emotions. “No shame, soldier, remember what I told you last night? We’ve all been there, all had to deal with memories of missions gone bad. We understand.” His voice was soft. “Get some tea inside you and we’ll go up there again. You’ve seen the ship now, so the wreck won’t be as much of a shock this time. And we’ll keep moving, make it an in and out grab.” He handed her a mug of the tea and pivoted to the others. “Darik, come brief Fallyn on what you observed.”

  Darik moved to join them and sat cross legged next to Reede. “I did a recon run while you were out. The ship’s banged up pretty badly but she came down tail first, so the flight deck and control room are mostly intact.” He made a hand motion as if to indicate the relative iffy value of ‘intact’. “The hull is cracked open on the far side from us so we can get in without too much trouble. MARL20 went with me and he thinks if we can access the controls, he might be able to activate the navcomp and extract what he needs.” He glanced at Reede who indicated for him to continue the report. “We waited for you to make the entry attempt, lieutenant.”