Rilte grabbed Bauleel by the shoulder. "How can you be sure this isn't a trap, and that it isn't Terem over there disguised as a Guardian?"
Bauleel showed him the results on the scanner. "It's a human male, infection free, weak vital signs. Besides, I seriously doubt even a Terror could run himself through with a pike," Bauleel replied. "Come on, he needs our help."
She walked over to the man, pocketing the scanner and pulling out her medical scanner, activating it as they approached the injured man.
"Now that I recognize," Rilte said. Bauleel wasn't surprised. "How's he look?" he asked, looking over her shoulder at the screen.
"Not good." They reached the man, and Bauleel knelt in front of him. She pulled out her emergency first-aid kit and handed it to Rilte. "His right lung is collapsed, he's got a list of assorted broken bones, and he's severely dehydrated. Can you prep a high-dose anti-plague injection, as well as a general antibiotic and a painkiller?"
"Sure, if you've got all that in here," Rilte replied, opening the kit. "You sure keep this well stocked," he said, prepping the shots.
"You can never be too careful." Bauleel handed the scanner over to Rilte and wetted a washcloth from her canteen. She wiped the blood off of the man's face and neck, revealing a number of bruises and cuts. She thought she recognized the man. Captain Tiine, wasn't it? Rilte administered the injections into the man's neck, who let out a quiet groan in response.
Bauleel felt behind his back. "Well, that explains why he's sitting here. This pike is driven into the wall itself." She dug through her backpack for a moment, then pulled out a loop of wire with wooden dowels attached to each end.
"What's that?" Rilte asked.
"Standard issue wire-saw." Bauleel looped it around the pike within an inch of the Guardian's chest. "Can you move his hands onto his lap and hold the end of the pike for me?"
Rilte obliged, managing to keep the pike steady while also watching the scanner for any changes in the Guardian's condition.
Once he had the shaft stabilized, Bauleel pulled back and forth on the dowels, and the razor-sharp wire sliced through the shaft of the pike. Rilte laid the massive pole to the side as Bauleel stored the saw.
"Now comes the tricky part," Bauleel said. "Has the painkiller taken effect yet?"
"I can't say for sure," Rilte replied, consulting the scanner. "But his breathing and heart rate have slowed."
"Good. Okay, now you get a firm hold around his waist, and I'll get under his arms like this," Bauleel instructed, running her hands under his armpits and gripping her fingers around his chest.
"You're serious?" Rilte asked. "This could kill him."
"If we don't get him proper medical attention soon, he'll die. Now, put your hands around his waist. Then on my count of three, pull. We'll lay him down and see if he survives the extraction," Bauleel explained.
Rilte did as she'd instructed, although Bauleel could tell from his dubious expression that he didn't think this was the best course of action. "I'm ready when you are," he said.
"All right then. One, two, three!" Bauleel said.
They pulled the Guardian off of the pike, producing a long, sucking sound as the haft ripped from his chest inch by inch, chunks of blood and tissue embedded in the wood. Blood flowed out of the wounds in front and in the rear of his torso as they laid him flat on his back. He groaned, and for the first time since they'd arrived opened his eyes. Although he was too far gone to focus on them, he muttered "no, no, no" under his breath.
"It's okay, he's gone now. You're safe," Bauleel reassured. She watched Rilte rescan him. "How does he look?"
Rilte frowned and shook his head. "Unless you've got a med lab in that backpack, I doubt he'll be breathing much longer," Rilte replied.
"If you're up for carrying him, he might have a shot," Bauleel answered.
"Where to?" Rilte asked.
"There's a med facility on the second floor. At least there used to be a few years ago, and assuming Terem didn't smash every piece of equipment in sight ... "
Rilte handed her the med scanner and canteens. "You seem to know this place well," he commented as he sat the man back up, and then hoisted him over his shoulder. The unconscious Guardian groaned.
"I've been here a few times before," Bauleel replied as she followed Rilte back inside and down the staircase. "Besides, Guardian outposts are all built based on the same floor plan. So if you've seen one, you've seen them all."
To his credit, Rilte didn't stop once to catch his breath. When they reached the second-floor, Bauleel led him past the blood-encrusted room and down a short hallway to the medical facility. The door was wide open, revealing more blood covering shards of glass and overturned tables. There were four crèches along the outside wall of the room. Bauleel inspected them, noting that the first one's cover had been smashed in by a nearby chair, the second one's cover was cracked, and the third's cover was open, displaying an unfortunate combination of miscellaneous debris from the room's destruction. The last one was in the corner of the room, and besides some blood spatter and dents to the metallic casing, it appeared to be in good working order.
Bauleel used a towel from her backpack to wipe off the crèche and then opened it. It appeared untouched on the inside. "Go ahead and lay him down. I'll get it running."
Rilte carefully laid the Guardian in the crèche. "But the power, it's still off?" he said, breathing hard from carrying the man.
"Not a problem. Although these units need occasional recharging, and thus why you often see them plugged in as a matter of course, their batteries are designed for extended periods of autonomous use. See!" She exclaimed as the interface loaded on the access panel screen. "Can you help me cut his clothes and pull his boots off?"
Rilte once again assisted her, and the Guardian was nude in short order. Bauleel then checked the crèche's stats. Everything looked to be in order, so she keyed the diagnostic and triage setting, and the crèche's cover slid closed. "Let's see what survival percentage he rates today," Bauleel mused.
Bauleel could see red lights flood the interior of the unit as the sensors kicked in. Soon enough a number of gauges on the screen displayed orange and red colors. A red light started flashing, accompanied by a soft beeping. Bauleel investigated. "Let's see ... he's dangerously dehydrated, which we already knew, but what we didn't know is that this crèche is low on saline."
"So, what, we get some from the other units?" Rilte replied.
Bauleel laughed, invigorated by the prospect of saving the man. "No, silly. We get a new cartridge from their medicinals supply pantry, which should be in that room," she pointed to a nearby secured door.
Bauleel walked to the door and pressed her hand to the doorlock. After flashing green, the door swung inwards. The small room was pristine with supplies neatly stacked and set in rows.
"Luckily for us, Terem doesn't have security clearance," Rilte quipped.
"Yeah, real lucky," Bauleel replied, her right hand rubbing her sore left shoulder. "I guess he didn't have the motivation to borrow it from someone this time." She walked into the pantry and located the stack of saline cartridges.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Rilte said.
Hefting a cartridge up under each arm Bauleel walked out of the pantry and back to the crèche. She opened the service panel and keyed in the appropriate sequence which caused the supplies drawer to slide outward from the base of the unit. Bauleel lifted the empty cartridges out of the drawer and replaced them with the full ones. She tossed the empties onto the floor as she pushed the drawer shut and then closed the service panel. The crèche stopped beeping.
"I know, Rilte. I'm just feeling a bit worn out," she replied.
"Understandable. I'd recommend we have a seat but ..." Rilte gestured at the filthy furniture.
Bauleel had an idea. Walking back into the supply cabinet, she located some thermal waterproof blankets and threw them over a nearby couch. "It doesn't make it go away, but at least we can sit for a momen
t without getting bloody."
"For which I'm in your debt," Rilte replied, sitting down.
Bauleel checked the gauges on the crèche again. "Good news. He's got a whopping eighty-five percent survivability rating. Some systems still orange, but no more reds. It seems to think he might regain consciousness within a few hours even. Hopefully, he'll feel like talking."
"Fantastic. I've always been amazed at how effective the crèches are."
"That's Juggernaut technology for you. There's a reason they live at the top of the food chain."
"Why don't you sit down?" he suggested.
Bauleel dumped her backpack on the couch and flopped down, suddenly very weary.
"So, what's the plan?" Rilte asked.
"Ugh, I'm too tired to have a plan."
Rilte smiled. "Right, how is it I don't believe you? So, what's the plan again?"
"Simple. We rest up and wait for the Guardian to recuperate. In the meantime we'll beef up our supplies a bit, get a few maps, food, etc., assuming of course that Terem didn't manage to destroy everything he could get his hands on. I would have preferred a pair of horses to help us carry what we need, but as we're fresh out of those, we'll have to make do. I'm hoping the Guardian wakes up before we leave so we can find out what happened ..."
Chapter 5
Bauleel jolted to awareness, her head resting against Rilte's shoulder. She'd been having the nicest dream of eating pancakes with thick, sugary syrup and blackberries on top. Her head felt thick and dense, and she wondered why Rilte was slumped next to her on the couch. Orienting herself, Bauleel remembered where they were and realized it was morning again. She looked over to Rilte, his gentle smile warmed her.
"Sleep well?" he asked.
"I guess I did. I must have passed out right after collapsing onto this couch," Bauleel replied.
"You sure did. And before you're taken unaware, you should know we have company."
"What?" Bauleel exclaimed, shooting up and scanning her surroundings. The pain in her shoulder and back reminded her to add painkillers back on her to do list.
"They arrived in the middle of the night. I didn't wake you because you were so tired, and they seemed willing to wait until morning to get answers," Rilte explained.
"So you said nothing?" Bauleel asked. Please, please, please tell me you kept your mouth shut!
"Nothing. I motioned to you and begged off, making it clear that I didn't want to wake you up," Rilte replied.
Bauleel took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Good. Thanks for following my advice."
"Hmm, I didn't know that was just advice. I wonder what an order sounds like from you then."
They heard footsteps outside the door. "Shut up, or you'll find out," Bauleel warned.
A moment later three Guardians stormed into the room, two men and a woman, all looking upset. Bauleel recognized the short, black haired man in front but not the other two. Rilte stood up, standing next to her as the arrivals approached.
"If I remember correctly, it's Lieutenant Commander Leelu?" he addressed Bauleel.
"That's correct. And you're Sergeant Baryu, right?" Bauleel replied.
"It's Master Sergeant Baryu now, but that's affirmative," he answered, extending an arm in greeting.
Bauleel grasped his forearm in the traditional Guardian greeting. "Congratulations. This is Corporal Rilte, my trainee."
The Master Sergeant shook arms with Rilte. "This is Sergeant Taine," he motioned to the tall blonde with him, "and Private Jarua," he pointed to the red-haired man behind Taine.
They all exchanged brief greetings. "Now that that's out of the way, can I suggest we dispense with rank and get down to business?" Bauleel requested.
"As you're the ranking officer, Lieutenant Commander, it's up to you," Master Sergeant Baryu replied.
"Then please, call me Leelu. Down to business. You're still stationed here at the outpost?"
"Yes, all three of us are. We left a few days ago to deliver medicinals to the farms north of here and check their fortifications. There was nothing out of the ordinary to report. We were headed back this direction when we received the alarm yesterday afternoon. I assume you sent it?" Baryu asked.
"I did," Bauleel confirmed.
Baryu dipped his head. "Once we received your signal we picked up our pace, watching for signs of anything unusual. We came across nothing on the way back except a couple of the horses that had escaped. Jarua insisted we collect and bring them back with us despite the time lost."
"It didn't take much time to round them up, Lieutenant Commander," Jarua explained. "And I worried what might happen to them out there on their own like that."
"Jarua is our stable master," Baryu replied. "And it seemed a practical conservation of resources at the time, but now I doubt the wisdom of that decision. I'd guess we spent about an hour rounding up the eight horses we found."
"Let me assure you that you made the right decision," Bauleel replied. "Trust me, by the time we'd arrived, discovered the state of things, and then activated the beacon, it was already too late for those who perished here. Getting back an hour earlier wouldn't have made any difference."
"We're lucky you showed up when you did, Leelu. Otherwise, I doubt Captain Tiine would still be with us," Baryu replied, glancing in the direction of the crèche.
"Speaking of the Captain..." Bauleel approached the crèche, assessing the readouts. All of the gauges displayed green and yellows now. A dark red keloid disc on his chest was the only external evidence of the hole the pike had torn through him.
"Why don't we revive him and get a first-hand tale of what happened here during the attack?" She activated the awakening routine. His immune factors were sky-high, so instead of opening the crèche and slowing his healing, Bauleel turned on the speaker. The sound of his breathing filled the room.
"Can I ask what made you stop?" Baryu asked.
"It wasn't luck, I'm afraid. We're part of Commander Graeber's special task force dealing with the Terem Zebio situation. We tracked him going in this general direction and needed to restock our supplies. I'd thought Rilte and I could rest up here overnight and get a pair of horses to continue our search."
"Anything else you need to add to that list?" Captain Tiine's weak but gravelly voice sounded tinny and artificial over the speaker.
Bauleel's lip curved up into a half-grin before she could stop herself. Ow. "Yeah, now that you mention it, I need some updated maps of the settlements in the area, travel rations, a clean change of clothes, and enough meds to restock my kit from all the juice we poured into you yesterday."
"You're welcome to anything you and your two new horses can carry," he replied. "Hey, why not take a third horse and load it up with extra supplies. There's even a fresh batch of sweet rolls in the larder, which someone should eat. Not like I'm gonna be stopping you."
"It's good to see you're feeling better, Sir." Baryu stepped closer, into Tiine's line of sight.
"You too. And let me tell you how good it is to see some of my team still alive," Tiine replied. "Baryu, could you draft a message to Chieftess Raza for me, summarizing what I'm about to tell you?"
"Yes sir," Baryu replied, digging out his comm unit.
"Can I assume I haven't been unconscious in this contraption for a few weeks?"
"No Captain," Bauleel replied. "I found you yesterday afternoon and put you straight into the crèche. You've only been in there for...sixteen to eighteen hours now?" She glanced at Rilte, who nodded agreement.
"Thanks for that, Lieutenant Commander. I was serious just now, about the horses. Not the sweet rolls though. I've changed my mind about those."
"I'll restrain myself when it comes to selecting our travel rations," Bauleel answered, reminding herself to not grin again.
"Good. If I remember correctly, I was only outside on that pike overnight...I think. It's hard to be certain when you're in that much pain. Anyway, I'll start at the beginning. The night before you found me everything was business
as usual. We'd had a nice dinner, some had already retired for the evening, while others of us sat playing a friendly game of poker in the main room on the first floor. Hmm, Baryu?"
"Yes, Sir?"
"Omit that last part, about the poker, from the Chieftess' report."
"Already done, Sir," Baryu replied.
"Where was I?" Captain Tiine continued, exhaustion evident in his strained features. "Oh yes, I'd just gotten dealt a royal flush when Private Verine came running down the steps. She'd been keeping watch on the roof, and said that someone was approaching the gate on horseback, carrying what appeared to be an unconscious person with them. As you can imagine, everyone jumped up eager to investigate. I never got to finish that hand." He sighed. "A bunch of us ran to the perimeter fence, and we opened the gate for this boy carrying an injured Guardian."
"With the efficiency of a finely-tuned machine, soon the unconscious Guardian was up in the medical facility receiving treatment, and the boy was wrapped in a blanket with a cup of hot tea. He'd been quiet through all of it. We'd assumed he was in shock. It never occurred to anyone to scan him, not with the injured man to treat. After all, who'd ever heard of a terror being able to maintain their sanity or solidity for minutes at a stretch? Much less playing the part of a hero?"
"When he does finally speak, he asks, 'Who's in charge here?' I answer, tell him I'm the Captain of this outpost and how impressed I am that he managed to bring the Guardian in for treatment and would he like to tell us what happened to both of them? He then looks me right in the eye, and I swear I felt a chill slide down my spine all the way down into my toes. He says to me, 'you've got to understand if you'd left me alone none of this would have been necessary.' I stupidly asked him, 'what wouldn't have been necessary, son?'"
"That's how it started. He was on the attack and Guardians were falling like leaves in autumn. Multiple sleeper darts hit him, but I couldn't say whether they had any effect. I jumped into the fray, managing to land a single blow on his neck before he knocked me unconscious. I came to sometime later, up on the roof. It was down to the two of us and that pike he had in his hand. Blood oozed from his clothes, and I remember seeing Bruoh's moonlight reflected in the puddle at his feet. He explained to me everyone was dead. I had no reason to doubt him. He said I should pass along a message for him to whoever came looking." Captain Tiine paused.
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