by Chris Hechtl
He looked up in time to see the bags slam into the log where the harpoon grapnel had lodged itself into. Bast flashed red and pointed urgently to the grapnel, the load and twisting winds, plus the slippery trunk was pulling it out!
Jethro lunged past Sabu to get to the line as the rest of the team careened down. Some dropped like Jethro did, a few trickled pee or other substances and slammed into the packs and gear. The load on the bottom was enough to momentarily weight it down, long enough for Jethro to get to the grapnel and grab it with both hands.
“Frack!” Sabu swore. “I may have twisted my ankle. What do we do?” He demanded.
“We need to get them down quickly,” Jethro grunted. “Secure this end,” he bellowed, voice dropping low into his command voice. “Lock into it and get it secured around the log or something else,” he said as the log shifted towards the line.
“Dez! Drop your chute and slide!” Jethro ordered when the last of the other sliders were down.
“Got it!” Dez said, letting her chute go. The canine had the presence of mind to wrap her arms and legs around the line and slid more or less under a controlled situation. When she got within five meters of the ground she unhooked, twisted and dropped to the ground and logs below. “That was cool!” She yelled then howled.
“Tyler …”
“I'm having a bit of trouble here,” Tyler said as the Skyhawk pulled off and away. “I'm all over the place,” Tyler said.
“If I release you, I don't know where you'd end up.
“Yeah, like Dorothy,” Tyler said over the radio.
“Frack,” Jethro said, doing his best to pull the rope in hand over hand. Getting a grip on it was almost impossible, the rope was slick as were his gloved hands. When the others saw what he was doing they rushed in to help.
The bear wrapped the rope slack around his waist and acted as an anchor.
Bast put up an image of a lightning bolt and then a graph of a building static charge. To Jethro it was rising rapidly, too quickly for comfort.
When the winds shifted and the line went around a pair of pine trees, Tyler was yanked down suddenly hard. He was smart enough to dump air, then recover in time to come down onto some brush and mud.
“Tyler! Release the chute! Cut the lines free!” Jethro bellowed.
“Huh?” Tyler said muzzily. “Give me a minute,” he coughed weakly. “I got the wind knocked out of me,” he wheezed.
“We don't have a minute!” Jethro snarled, swiping the rope with his claws. He turned to see Sabu unlinking the rope. “Get it out and get clear!”
“Why?” the bear asked, untangling himself.
“Lightening! Don't ask stupid questions!” Dez snarled, moving to help. They managed to get untangled just as Bast flashed her final warning.
“Hit the dirt!” Jethro bellowed, dropping flat to the ground. The others did the same as the air crackled and a bright blinding flash went off. It was like a bomb, he could hear the thunder rolling immediately.
He felt like he'd been burned or frozen, his flesh tingled. He slowly rose to all fours and coughed. Water dripped off his muzzle to the ground. He wiped the water out of his eyes and then sat up. “Status?”
“We're all here. Despite your crazy plan,” Dez said. “I think.”
“Dez, Tyler, headcount. Get on anyone injured. The rest of you get the gear sorted out,” Jethro ordered. He raised his hand to his helmet, indicating he was talking on the radio. “SAR 1 to control, we're on the ground,” he said. He repeated it but only static came back.
“Either the storm is blacking us out or we've got com issues from that lightning. Either way, we're on our own for the moment,” Jethro said. Bast nodded. “Great. Okay people, get with it. Use your sensors and implants to find people. Smell, sound, anything. Try to stay quiet. Fan out and we'll search from a grid pattern using this as our center until we find something better. Move out,” he ordered, signaling the direction with his hands.
<(>~^~<(>
Shanti and Rah saw the shuttle come in, then the drop. It was intense, scary, and jaw dropping. “Cool,” Rah and the cubs said, eyes wide in wonder.
“I so want to do that,” Rah whispered.
“I don't,” one of the cubs said, snuffling as he turned over to burrow into his mother's pelt.
“They have got to be insane,” Shanti said, shaking her head. She checked. They were alive, but the mother had been injured by debris. She had been bleeding heavily from a head wound and seemed a bit loopy. One of her legs had been trapped and she was still covered in the mud the cubs and Rah had dug out from around her. But she was alive and breathing. They all were, which was lucky.
Shanti was stuck too, her right arm was trapped under a log. She could wiggle her fingers and wasn't in pain, but it was firmly stuck in there. Rah and the cubs were the only ones free.
“Over here!” Rah called out, waving.
“Go. Be careful, but go,” Shanti ordered.
Rah turned back to her, eyes wide. “Are you sure?”
“Get them over here. We can't get out on our own,” she said, indicating the shattered debris around them. “And we need help,” she admitted.
Rah sized her up and then stroked one of the cubs on the head. “Gotcha,” Rah said. “I'll be back in a minute. You take care of your brother, mom, and my sister okay?”
“Okay,” the cub snuffled into his mother's shoulder.
“Okay,” Rah said softly as she moved out. She had a kink in her tail and moved slowly, but she seemed more or less intact. She was favoring her left side however Shanti noted.
“The mud is rising!” one of the cubs yowled, eyes wide in fright.
“Calm down, just keep calm. Quit thrashing so you don't sink faster. Just, oh hell,” Shanti breathed as she felt herself sinking as she tried to move. The mud clung to her like cement, making it almost impossible to move her lower torso. Her boots were probably stuck in with suction.
<(>~^~<(>
Bast had Jethro's senses and implant sensors up and finely tuned so she was the first person to note Rah's approaching heat signature. They had found a dozen people, four of them bodies. The location of the bodies had been marked for later retrieval. The living was what they had to concentrate on.
Tyler had the base camp since he had some damage to his ribs and thorax. He was functional, but Jethro wanted him to take it easy and keep an eye on the eight shell shocked civilians they had recovered so far.
Sabu had insisted on keeping to the search despite favoring his left ankle. Jethro nodded, silently admiring the cat.
Seeing Rah moving was good Bast noted, recognizing the cat's thermal profile despite the weather. But she was breathing hard and was calling out. She put a karat on Jethro's HUD to direct his attention to Rah's thermal profile.
Jethro looked up and turned his head in the indicated direction. His ears swiveled with his head movement and locked onto the approaching Neo. It was a cat from the thermal signature he noted. His enhanced hearing picked up labored breathing and someone talking. “Everyone quiet!” He said, waving. He pointed the blade of his hand directly at the approaching Neo.
“Got something?” Dez texted over his HUD then her ears swiveled as well. She winced when a fat raindrop got her in the eye, but kept looking at the approaching Neo.
“Help! They are trapped!” Bast put in a text file on Jethro's HUD.
“Left flank, that way. Move,” Jethro ordered, moving out as well. “The rest of you continue your search,” he ordered.
<(>~^~<(>
Shanti felt hands pulling at her, digging at the mud. They got her head up enough to breath. She coughed, sure she was almost dead. “Rah, help,” she said weakly.
“She's busy,” a familiar voice said. Jethro's senses picked through the muck to see the log trapping her arm and pinning her down. He reached down, felt the log, then when he got as deep as he could go with his chin above the muck he dug his claws in and pulled up. “Move! Shanti, pull your arm out!” He grunted.
“I don't think I can,” she said weakly as she struggled feebly.
“Move, sis,” Sabu said, pulling on her free arm. She felt helping hands digging and pulling at her body. Her trapped arm slipped out from under the log and then she was free and in her brother's arms.
“Get her out,” Jethro said gruffly, moving with them.
“You take her. You're stronger than me,” Sabu said.
Jethro started to protest but gave up and took the cat. He felt Shanti's arms wrap around him as he worked her body this way and that to break the suction trapping her lower torso. Sabu dug at the mud, helping to free her. Then they got her out.
Shanti felt the hands, the warm body and shivered uncontrollably. She coughed, coughing up mud. “I must be a mess.”
“You are. But you're alive. Nothing a good shower and a long hot bath can't cure,” Jethro said. She chuffed and laid her head on his shoulder as they got out into the dawning light.
Chapter 19
Bast kept track of the Search and Rescue progress, marking off grids as they finished searching them. The Marines, Mounties, and Rangers worked tirelessly to recover everyone left alive.
Shanti insisted on helping once she'd recovered and gotten the worst of the mud off. They didn't have a definitive headcount on who had lived or died; it was depressing that they may never know the full count of the dead or missing.
Bengali and the other Rangers arrived behind the construction crews. They set up a base to triage and care for the survivors as well as the rescuers. Many rescuers were injured in their zeal to aid others, or dropped from exhaustion when they over extended themselves.
Shanti nearly passed out before Sabu made her take five. “It's all over but the crying now,” he said.
“The first twenty-four hours are critical!” she said, glaring at him. Sabu snorted. “What?” she demanded.
“It's past the seventy-two hour mark, sis,” Sabu said, pushing her down onto a stump as he handed her a cup of steaming soup. “Eat. Rest. You need to keep up your strength to help others.”
“I …”
“I know. It's hard. Do it,” he ordered. She grunted and downed the soup then gasped at the heat. The gulp did help a bit, but then she felt a bit nauseated since she hadn't eaten much in so long.
“Take it easy! Slowly,” Sabu urged.
“Shouldn't you be helping others? Not nursemaiding me?” She demanded. He eyed her for a long moment. “Seriously, bro, I'm okay. I'm a bit battered, but I'm on my feet.”
“Barely,” he said in rejoinder. But I'll check the camp then eat and crash too. You finish that slowly, then find a place to bed down.”
“Fine,” she snarled.
When he was gone, she took another sip and then looked around the camp wearily. She was surprised to see the gunny moving logs and directing others to set up a better shelter. He was like iron, unbreakable. Incredibly strong, stronger than he should have any right to be. No cat was that strong! She shook herself. “Get a hold of yourself, gal,” she murmured to herself.
Jethro finished up and seemed to roll his shoulders, then went over to the chow line. He got a cup of soup and then went looking for a seat. Instinctively Shanti moved over when he came close. “Do you mind?”
“No, sit. You could use a rest,” she said gruffly.
“I think the same of you, ma'am,” he said quietly as he sat. He groaned slightly. “But we're getting there.” He breathed in the steam and then exhaled slowly. “I don't know what it is; I don't care. As long as it's warm and protein,” he said.
“Pretty much what I thought. Just don't ask what the protein is and you should be good,” Shanti teased.
He snorted. “I wasn't about to,” he said. He took a gulp, then another.
“Easy there. You need to take it easy or you'll get nauseated like I did,” Shanti warned, putting a hand on his arm before he could take a third gulp.
“Okay,” he said slowly, letting his arm drop back to his lap. She let her hand linger a moment before withdrawing it. “Are you okay? I meant to check in on you and Rah, but Sabu said you were okay.”
“Yeah, we're good,” she said quietly. She looked at him and then away. She felt herself thawing towards him. “Thanks for saving me,” she said quietly.
“You'd do the same for me,” he said with a shrug. He took a smaller sip of the soup and then wiped at his muzzle with the back of his hand. “I think it's good to just take a breather. We've all been running full pelt for the past three days. Even those of us with implants are almost done in,” he said.
“You have implants?”
“Every Marine does. It comes standard.”
“Oh, so that's how you were tossing logs like jack straws,” Shanti said.
Jethro's ears flicked. “I work out too. Implants and training. Bend and use the knees,” he said, flexing his right leg. She looked down at it. He was wearing pants, which was surprising to her. Most of the Neos were nearly naked, just wearing a harness or the minimum gear to get by despite the cold wet weather.
“Here,” Jethro said, taking his light windbreaker off. He wrapped it over her shoulders.
“Thanks,” she murmured, turning away. But when she did she caught his scent in the jacket. For once a male's scent didn't bother her.
She realized she was thawing to the gunny but wasn't sure what to make of it. Was it her hormones, the stress, or his timely rescue? “Where is Rah?” she asked suddenly.
“That one,” Jethro snorted. He pointed to where she was sleeping across from them. Rah had staked out a pile of backpacks as her own personal mountain. She'd curled up on top of them with a blanket covering her. “She's got more sense than the both of us,” he admitted.
She looked over to her sleeping sister and couldn't help but smile fondly. “Maybe.” She sighed softly. “I'm shocked she's not out there running us even more ragged than we are now,” she admitted, flipping her ears to her sister.
“Don't tempt her. I think Sabu made her take a lie down. Either that or he spiked her soup,” he said.
She looked down at her soup cup. It was almost gone. She shivered. “He wouldn't dare,” she growled.
Jethro chuffed softly. “You're the one to talk. I know he looks out for both of you. He's doing a good job, but he can't be everywhere.”
“True. He doesn't need to look out after us. We can take care of ourselves,” she growled.
“I think he knows that. It doesn't stop him from feeling it. I'm glad you realize you can take care of yourselves. You're pretty tough.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He flicked his ears in a shrug. “I'm serious. You didn't panic. You kept your head and kept the civilians contained. Rah did a good job going out after us.”
“Yeah. That was training though,” Shanti stated. “And Luck.”
Jethro's ears flicked in amusement. She smiled slightly, then froze. “That was you? That dropped?”
“Yeah. You're brother landed right behind me,” Jethro admitted.
“You guys are insane!” She said, wide eyed.
He chuffed in amusement. “Maybe a little overconfident. They do say Marines have more balls than brains,” he said.
She stared at him for a moment, then blinked. After a moment she snickered. Her hand went to cover her mouth as she chuffed in raw laughter. “Gods of space that's Sabu all right. No wonder he wants to be a Marine. He'll fit right in,” she said.
Jethro flicked his ears, smiling ever so slightly at her humor. It was good to hear her laughter, she was letting some of the stress of the past couple of days out. He felt a yawn coming and couldn't help it. He yawned.
Her laughter quieted down and then she yawned too. “Damn it, that's catchy,” she said, smacking her lips together.
“Sorry,” he murmured.
“Don't be. I knew I was tired but …,” she started to rise than sank back onto the stump turned bench. “Damn.”
“Your body knows what it needs. Listen to it,” Jethro said before h
e could stop himself. “And wasn't it you who was making jokes about balls and brains a moment ago?”
“No, that was you. But …,” she interrupted herself with another yawn. “Damn it,” she cursed softly.
“Sleep. You're safe here,” Jethro said. He lifted his arm as she snuggled into his side wearily. She nuzzled Jethro, much to his surprise.
Bast realized she had stopped blocking out the leopard's scent. Jethro got a face full of it. His lips curled back, mouth opened slightly as scent glands on his tongue, sinuses, and cheeks drank in Shanti's scent. Instincts kicked in, a quickening, but one he fought down.
She would be in estrus every month until she either mated or died he realized. Or she got some sort of proper birth control going, something that shut off her ovaries until she wanted to mate. He'd heard the stories about the local medicine. Some sort of plant extract that had a high risk of infertility or even sterility if it was used.
He understood her love of family, which was probably why she didn't take the medication. Or was she taking it? He wasn't sure. She nuzzled him again.
Dez saw them together and blinked. She smirked, but Jethro caught her eye and gave her a warning look. She flicked her ears in humor and came over with a blanket. She handed it to him silently. He nodded his thanks and then draped it over the female.
Jethro refused to take advantage of her, as some tomcats would in the situation. It was natural, a part of the process, but he had a streak of honor in him. When his senses told him she was out cold, he picked her up gently and then carried her to her sister's side. He helped her to bed down next to her. She instinctively cuddled with her sister. He spent a moment rearranging the blankets over them and then went back to work for a while before more weariness crept into his muscles. The fatigue became too much so he too eventually bedded down nearby.
<(>~^~<(>
Rah's stirring woke Shanti. First she had a tickling tail under her nose that made her sneeze, then her sister's loud yawn made her crack her eyes. “Gods of space my body hurts all over,” Rah said, scratching at herself.