The Fifth Reich: Beyond The Stars

by J Palliser

  "Okay, let's see." Casana carefully maneuvered the metal so as not to touch any undamaged flesh. She delicately drew it across the torn muscle tissue, cauterizing it shut. "Got it. Now I need something to stitch the laceration closed with..."

  ***

  Cave Campsite, 2000 hours equivalent local Having finished working on Ensign Morgan, Casana washed her hands in the water while Zira and Dejah picked through the salvaged equipment. The storm still raged outside, sending bursts of light through a small hole in the wall of the cave. Emergency lights had been set up to provide maximum illumination of the chamber, reflecting off the water to form shimmering, shifting patterns on the ceiling of the cave.

  Sonya was sitting on a rock next to Ensign Morgan, staring down at the young woman. Did that just happen? she asked herself. It's impossible. But I saw it. Casana had no medical training, but she worked on Morgan like a skilled surgeon. She couldn't explain it, and that bothered her. Sonya tried to shake the thoughts, and walked over to Zira and Dejah. "What do we have?" she asked.

  "Very little," Dejah answered. "Much of the equipment is damaged or destroyed, including my modified scanner, the medical scanner, the emergency beacon, and most of the medical equipment."

  "Can you repair any of it?"

  "Yes, but not all of it."

  "Which ones?"

  "Any of them."

  "What?" Sonya said, confused. "You just said you couldn't!"

  "I said I couldn't repair all of them, but any of them can be repaired."

  "What the hell does that mean?" Sonya cried in frustration. "If I use parts from other pieces of equipment, I can repair any of them, but there are not enough parts to repair them all," Dejah explained.

  "Why the hell didn't you say that in the first place?" "I did," Dejah responded. Sonya threw her hands up, turning around and walking back towards Ensign Morgan. As she sat back down, she noticed the Ensign twitch slightly. Sonya knelt over her, and Morgan slowly turned her head to one side.

  "Bloody hell," she murmured, wincing.

  "Stay still. You're hurt," Sonya said softly.

  "I noticed," she said, moving a hand to her side. Her eyes opened, revealing dark emerald-green irises.

  "Good, you aren't paralyzed then!" Sonya teased, causing Ensign Morgan to chuckle and wince in pain.

  "God, no jokes! It hurts to laugh," she smiled. "Fine, fine. Hey, Casana, she's awake!" Casana finished washing the blood from her hands and came to kneel next to Ensign Morgan.

  "Can you hear me?" she asked calmly.

  "Yes."

  "Good. Do you remember your name?"

  "Ensign Kara Morgan."

  "Where were you born?"

  "Swansea, British Isles, Earth," Kara said.

  "I think she's okay," Sonya said.

  Casana ignored her. "Do you know where you are?" "Oh, come on, Casana," Sonya said, crossing her arms.

  "I need to make sure short term memory is intact," Casana snapped at Sonya.

  "What, do you think she guessed where she was from? Who would guess that?"

  "Hey!" Kara said with a scowl.

  "That's long term."

  "And by the way, when did you become a doctor?" "I'm not," Casana replied, still examining Kara. Sonya grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her around. She was furious, more so than seemed appropriate even to her.

  "Bullshit! You just performed emergency surgery with a flashlight and a hot piece of metal!"

  "Wait, what?" Kara asked, but was completely ignored. "I performed a simple procedure on someone who was going to bleed to death if I didn't. It didn't take any more knowledge than basic anatomy," Casana explained, trying to remain calm.

  "I'm not talking about knowledge," she snapped. "I'm talking about skills. The way you moved her flesh around, the way you positioned the gauze, the way you cauterized the muscle. You did all of it like it was routine." Sonya paused, staring at Casana. Then, in a low, accusatory voice, "Like you had done it a thousand times." Casana stared back at her coldly.

  "Uh-oh," whispered Zira, who had just noticed the confrontation, as she tapped Dejah's shoulder. They both stood, but remained near the small pile of equipment in the center of the camp.

  "Stay out of my affairs," Casana growled, turning back towards Kara. "Stay off the torpedo loading controls," Sonya sneered. The cave was still for a moment, with only the sound of distant thunder occasionally breaking the silence.

  "What the hell does that mean?" Kara asked, but was again ignored.

  "What did you say?" Casana whispered, her back still to Sonya. "I said, stay off-" she was cut off as Casana whirled around, striking her in the jaw with the back of her first. Sonya was taken off guard and stumbled backwards, nearly falling to the ground. As she regained her footing, Casana hit again, this time to the stomach, dropping Sonya to her knees. She quickly recovered, and charged forward from her knees, catching Casana in the stomach and driving her backwards.

  "Gah! Holy fuck!" cried Kara as they tripped over her legs, sending them both tumbling to the ground next to her. Sonya ended up on top of Casana, straddling her stomach, and punched her in side of the head. As Sonya drew back her hand for another strike, Casana reached up and grabbed the back her head, pulling it forward into a powerful head-butt. Sonya was dazed for a moment, but recovered quickly and clasped her hands together over her head.

  Before she could bring it down, something seized her arm, and Sonya was hurled backwards through the air, striking a boulder and knocking the wind out of her. As she struggled to get to her feet, still on her hands and knees, she looked up to see a large, black boot swinging towards her. It stuck her in the face, sending her to the ground, landing on her back, unconscious.

  Casana tried to stand but was stopped by a searing pain shooting through her arm and shoulder, and slumped to the ground.

  18

  Seventeen

  Cave Campsite, 2030 hours equivalent local Kara groaned as she laid her head back against the rock. She was seated against a small boulder a few meters from the "campfire", a large pile of taser-heated rocks. "It's a bit hard," she said to Zira, who had helped her into this position. Zira reached into the survival kit and removed a sleeping roll.

  "Use this," she said as she tossed it to Kara. "Thanks," she replied, slipping it behind her head. "So, what the hell was that all about? I mean, they weren't fighting over whether or not Lieutenant Shen is a doctor, were they?"

  "Very observant," Zira answered dryly as she watched Dejah prop up Casana against a boulder on the other side of hot rocks, next to Sonya. They were both unconscious, with their hands restrained behind their backs. "They have a bit of a history."

  "Yes, I gathered that, too. What kind of history?" "Lieutenant Mueller holds deep romantic feelings for Lieutenant Shen, but they are not mutual," Dejah explained. "Several years ago, Lieutenant Mueller expressed those feelings to Lieutenant Shen, but was rejected. She has since repressed those emotions, which appear to have manifested as aggressive and antisocial tendencies." She finished with Casana and looked back at Kara. She was wide-eyed.

  "Oh, that's bloody brilliant! So, we're stranded in a cave with two feuding non-lovers, very little food, and no equipment?"

  "It gets worse," Zira said.

  "Naturally," Ensign Morgan sighed. "See, before Sonya told Casana how she felt, she caught Casana and her boyfriend, who was under Sonya's command, going at it on the Photon Torpedo Loading Console in the Main Torpedo Bay, which he was supposed to be guarding."

  "Nice."

  "At the time, Sonya outranked them both. She tore into them like a Drac drill instructor."

  "And they've been fighting ever since?" Kara guessed. "No, they made up. Almost got into a relationship, too. Then Casana... changed."

  "God, this is like a Greek Tragedy," she sighed. "Incorrect. In most Greek tragedies, most or all of the principle protagonists die before the end of the story," Dejah corrected her, kneeling over the med-kit.

  "That's still a possibility,
" Kara pointed out dryly. "We hope to avoid that. Hence this little intervention," Zira explained, getting to her feet. "Ready?" she asked Dejah, who retrieved two hypo-sprays from the med-kit.

  "Yes. Here is Sonya's dose," said Dejah , holding out one hypo-spray for Zira.

  "I'm gonna do this manually," she smiled Dejah pocketed the hypo-spray, and went over to Casana. She bent over and pressed the spray head against Casana's neck, and a sharp hiss signaled the delivery of the stimulant. Almost immediately, Casana breathed in sharply and stirred. "She is regaining consciousness," she said to Zira. "What do you mean by 'manually'?"

  Zira just grunted and stood over Sonya. "Hey, you in there?" she said. "I do not believe that is sufficient," Dejah said. "Call it 'fair warning'," Zira scoffed. She nudged Sonya with her foot, at first gently, then harder. When this proved ineffective, she squatted down next to her. Zira looked at Sonya's face for a moment. "You've earned this one, sir," she sighed. Zira drew her hand back and slapped Sonya hard across the face. Sonya's eyes immediately opened. "Dipshit," Zira muttered, sitting back down next to Kara.

  As they were joined by Dejah, Sonya began to struggle against her restraints, still not fully conscious. "May not want to do that," Zira called out. "We had to use some electrical cables to tie you up, and it has a tendency to bite into the flesh."

  "What the fuck!" Sonya yelled when she realized where she was. She pulled hard against the restraints, trying to break free, but they cut into her wrists, and she cried out in pain.

  "Told you."

  "Chief Zira, I am ordering you to untie me," Sonya said in her most commanding voice.

  "Nope."

  "What the fuck is wrong with you?" she shrieked.

  "We'll get to that," Zira said, noticing that Casana had opened her eyes. "You awake, Lieutenant?"

  "Yes," Casana said weakly. "Wait, why are my hands tied behind my back?"

  "We concluded that the two of you would most likely resume your confrontation when you awoke," Dejah said.

  "They didn't want you two fighting anymore," Kara smiled. "I begged them not to."

  "See, we are going to deal with this little spat you two are having. Right now," Zira added.

  "She fucking hit me! Why am I tied up?" Sonya yelled, her face red with anger.

  "What did you expect? You pushed and pushed until I responded!" Casana yelled back.

  "Slut!"

  "Bitch!"

  "This is going swimmingly," remarked Kara.

  "Clearly, there are deeper issue putting stress on your relationship," Dejah observed. "What fucking relationship?" Sonya screamed back at her. Her eyes were beginning to puff up and turn red as she fought back tears.

  "Our friendship," Casana said.

  "We don't have one!" Sonya barked at her.

  "And why is that?" Casana said angrily.

  "You hurt me, then led me one, then hurt me again! What did you think was going to happen?"

  "I thought you would be reasonable!"

  "Reasonable? You fucking cried in my arms, begging me to be with you!"

  "And you said 'No'!" Casana screamed, tears rolling down her face. "Because I didn't want a comfort-fuck, I wanted you!" Sonya bawled, tears flowing down her cheeks. She cried silently for a few minutes, the whole cavern quiet.

  "This is better than theater," Kara whispered to Zira, who shushed her.

  "You said you wanted me," Sonya finally whispered.

  "I did want you," Casana said, her own tears flowing. "But then you left. And when you came back, you were a whole different person. And you wanted nothing to do with me."

  "It's not that simple," Casana said softly.

  "Yeah, actually, it is that simple," Sonya said, looking at Casana for the first time. "You came back, and you didn't want me."

  "I couldn't."

  "Why? Why couldn't you?" "I can't tell you," Casana said, looking at the ground. "They made me swear not to tell anyone. And if we were together, you would find out eventually."

  "What did they fucking do to you? It's like you were brainwashed!"

  "It's not brainwashing!" Casana screamed, taking the others by surprise. "Uh huh," Sonya said condescendingly. "Let's take a look at the facts, shall we?" Casana's face grew pale as Sonya said this. "Setting aside your little change of heart, you leave a carefree, smiling, bubbly, energetic little ball of cute. When you came back, you had the energy, but now you're concerned about everything, like your always looking over your shoulder. You don't use the transporter, you keep to yourself off-duty, and you don't even get your yearly physicals."

  "I have a waiver," Casana explained. "A waiver? I have never heard of anyone in Kriegsmarine getting a waiver on their yearly physical. Hell, the Kriegsmarine Chief of Staff has to get one!"

  "I can't tell you!" Casana yelled.

  "Why not?"

  "Because, they'll kill me!" The cave was again silent, Casana's words echoing off the rock.

  "What?" Sonya whispered.

  "They will kill me," Casana repeated. "They would do anything to protect the secret. ANYTHING."

  "Who? Who would kill you?" Sonya asked.

  "The Commission. The ones who gave me... this."

  "And what is 'this'?" Sonya demanded.

  "Ma'am," Zira interrupted, getting to her feet. "She can't tell you." "Maybe not. But you can," Sonya said, turning her head to look at Zira. "You told me so. Don't you remember? My first day aboard, you told me that Casana was special, that the Arcadian's have a secret. What is it, Chief?"

  "Sonya-" Zira began, but Sonya cut her off. "Goddammit, Chief, you told me you know what it is!" "I told you to keep her close, ma'am!" For the first time that Sonya knew of, Zira yelled. "I told you that you would see a new person, and that that person would be one of the most valuable friends you could possibly have! And what did you do? You pissed it away!"

  "What was I supposed to do?" Sonya cried, staring to tear up again. "Someone I loved, really loved, was suffering, and I couldn't find out why, I couldn't stop it, and I couldn't understand it!" she yelled. Sonya struggled to her feet, her hands still bound, tears rolling down her face. "What was I supposed to do? Let it go? Stand there every day and watch as Casana suffered? Pretend it wasn't real? And then, in the turbo-lift?" She was screaming now, at the top of her lungs. Sonya turned to look down at Casana.

  "You remember that? When we happened to end up on the same turbo-lift? You looked so miserable that it made me sick! I stopped the turbo-lift, and you just came apart! You slumped down on the ground and begged me not to hurt you! God, you were pleading like I was going to kill you! Do you remember what I did?" she screamed. Casana opened her mouth to respond, but didn't get the chance. "I held you in my arms. I held you, and I let you cry, and I tried to encourage you, and what did you do?"

  "You kissed me," she whispered. "You leaned up and you kissed me. And it was glorious, like nothing I had ever experienced. I wanted you so badly, to lay you down and cover you with love. I wanted to push you down and rip your clothes off, to make you smile and laugh and scream in joy! But I didn't. I didn't because it would have been me taking you. It would have been me, coming in when you were hurt, and taking what I wanted. And I wouldn't do that. But I had to do something."

  "Do you know what I did after that?" she asked. Sonya turned to look at Zira. "Do you, Chief? Dejah? I'll tell you what I did." She turned back to Casana and fell to her knees. Sonya stared into Casana's eyes, tears on both faces. "I'll tell you," she whispered. "The next morning, I escorted Kurzon to the Exobiology Lab. I sent you ahead," she said, looking at Zira for a moment before turning back to Casana. "I needed to do it alone. When we were in the turbo-lift, I stopped it. And I let him have it."

  "I tore into him with all the rage I had. I screamed in his face. I told him that I wasn't going to come to my ship, hurt my friend, and get away with it. I told him to be fair, or he'd answer to me. I threatened him." Sonya paused, letting the idea settle in. "I threatened a Arcadian Ambassador under my protection
."

  "I risked everything, my career, my future, my life, for you, Cassie. And when you came back, you stuck a knife in me," Sonya finished. She hung her head, looking at the sand, watching her tears fall. Suddenly, her hands were free. She looked up, and saw Dejah cut Casana's hands loose, and Casana threw her arms around Sonya.

  "I'm sorry, Harry," she cried. Sonya wrapped her arms around Casana, pulling her tight. "Don't call me ' Harry'," she whispered into Casana's ear. Sonya felt her take a deep breath as Casana rested her head against her chest.

  "That is HOT," said Ensign Morgan, smiling broadly. Casana giggled, bringing a smile to Sonya's face. They held each other for a few moments as their friends looked on. Finally, Casana pulled away to look Sonya in the eye.

  "I need to tell you something. Something important," she said. "I need to tell all of you."

  "Are you sure about this?" Zira asked her. "Chief, people as old as us know that nothing can stay a secret forever. Someday, everyone will know. That will be a proud day for me, but I can't go on without telling you all."

  "Even me?" Kara asked. Casana looked at her hesitantly. "It would be unwise to move her," Dejah said. Casana looked up at her questioningly. "And it is still unsafe to leave this area." Casana looked back at Ensign Morgan.

  "I won't tell. Promise."

  "I don't know," Sonya said. "Aww, come on, Mom, I wanna see how it ends!" Kara begged.

  "Okay, fine," Casana relented. She turned to Sonya and took a deep breath. "Okay, here it is." "I am Casana Olan, but I am also more. I am many in one." Sonya blinked in confusion, but didn't interrupt. "I am two individuals, merged into one. The first is Casana Olan. I have all her memories, skills, and knowledge. The other is Shen. Shen is here." Casana took Sonya's hand and guided under her shirt and over her stomach. Sonya felt something inside move ever so slightly.

  "Holy shit," she gasped unconsciously. "Shen is a sentient. The sentient come from subterranean pools on Arcadia. There are very few of them, and they live for a very long time. The sentients are joined with a host, like Casana Olan, to form a single being. The two share experiences, thoughts, and emotions as one mind. When the host dies, the sentient is removed, and joined with another host, carrying with it all of the memories, skills, habits, emotions, and quirks of all previous hosts."