Between worlds three, p.28
Between Worlds Three, page 28
The woman sneered at the plant-woman. “The colonels' orders were for the Human to report to her. Now. Ma’am.”
That was the moment that Jason noticed the Shil’s accent. Upper crust. With a distinct aristocratic cut. More obviously, he realized she was wearing an exo-piloting suit. Which was essentially little different from a marine outfit, barring a few extra ports. Hence why he hadn’t noticed immediately.
Well, it seems that given the discord in the regiment, Gremp’s called in her people to act as ‘bully boys’, he thought tiredly.
Because of course she had.
Avilla glared at the woman. “Pilot, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the champion has a spike sticking out of his arm. He needs medical attention, not a grilling.”
The pilot was unmoved. “My – and by extension, his – orders are clear. He comes with me. Now.”
Avilla scowled, her leaves puffing up a dark red, before she suddenly wilted.
“Report to the medical tent when she’s done with you Jason.” With those final words, she marched off.
To be honest, Jason didn’t know why he was surprised at her sudden capitulation.
It wasn’t like they were friends. They were barely even colleagues.
Still, just because Avilla wasn’t about to defend him, didn’t mean he was about to go along with this.
“Yeah,” he muttered, standing up and dusting himself off as best he could with one arm. “I think I’ll have that meeting with medical before going to see Gremp.
“Your orders were to head there now.”
And they were semi-reasonable orders. In his time underground he might have uncovered valuable intel. And as visually off putting as his injury was, it wasn’t life threatening. His suit had seen to that.
Hell, it wasn’t even that painful. Though that might have been combat-stims and adrenaline talking.
The point was, he could afford to go meet Gremp before going to get it checked out.
…He just didn’t want to.
“Yeah, I’m sure it can wait five minutes.”
Predictably, the Shil didn’t like that. “Listen here, male…”
She surged forward clearly about to grab him, only to stop suddenly at the unmistakable whine of a weapon charging up. Followed by many more.
Given that he was just as surprised and alarmed by the sound as the Shil, Jason turned around with not a little haste. And was greeted by the sight of not just Nora and Yaro, but damn near the entirety of Underground Attack Group One, not quite aiming their weapons in the Shil’s direction.
Ah, good old Human social dynamics, he thought.
“As I said.” He turned back to Shil, who was turning an interesting shade of lilac. “Give me a minute.”
The woman glanced back and forth between him and his people, before swearing something about ‘traitorous aliens’ and storming off.
“Are you ok, sir?” It was one of the Marines who asked.
He resisted the urge to remind them that he wasn’t an officer. Not even close. He resisted it though.
“I’m fine.” For a given definition of the word. “I’d go report in with… whoever’s in charge of you now before she does though. We don’t want our esteemed leader to think she’s got a second mutiny on her hands.”
The people around him shuffled uncomfortably as if just realizing what they’d done. But they did as he said, making their way toward the barracks. Or the medical tent, as needed.
Which was good, because as much as he felt like suddenly throwing military discipline to the four winds on account of the regiment’s no doubt imminent demise, that didn’t mean he wanted everyone to do the same.
Which was probably for the better, because Yaro looked like she was having a mini internal freakout over what she’d just done. Nora just looked like she always did.
And he found he didn’t care. Which he supposed was in keeping with his character. It was well established that he had stopped giving a shit… about a lot of things, the moment he felt his ass was on the line.
And now it was very much on the line. He was going to die – along with everyone else here – unless some manner of miracle happened.
“How the fuck are we going to make it out of this alive?” he muttered.
He hadn’t expected an answer. Which was why he was so surprised when he received one.
“I might have an idea. For you. Not everyone else. And maybe a few of your friends.”
Jason wasn’t the only one whose head suddenly snapped around at the strongly accented Shil.
“Maybel,” he said slowly, taking in the familiar blue form of the Ufrian woman. “What are you doing here?”
She shrugged. “I walked in with the rest of your soldiers. I guess the gate guards didn’t notice me.”
Either she was lying, or that was an excellent example of just how quickly military discipline in the regiment was going to shit.
Maybel didn’t even look slightly like a Marine. She looked like a Greek hoplite. If that Greek hoplite had breasts, red eyes, and was bright blue.
Not that Jason cared even slightly about that. He was much more interested in something else.
“You said something about a way for us to save ourselves?” he asked.
◆◆◆
Naturally, the moment Maybel laid out her plan, Yaro had refuted it.
Loudly.
“You can’t be serious?” The wolf woman whirled on him. “This is insanity. Ancestors, she might not even be telling the truth. This could just be a ruse to make off with a valuable male before the Edixi move in.”
Well, Jason couldn’t totally argue with the latter part, even if it stung his pride. He couldn’t deny that beyond him being male, his technical skills would be of value to the Ufrians if they could hide him from the Alliance and the Roaches.
Jason glanced over at Nora for her opinion, but the Scandinavian woman simply stood in silence.
Sighing, he turned back to Yaro. “Yes, it’s a risk. A big risk. But we’ve got to try.” He gestured around – with his left arm. “Because we can’t win this. If nothing changes, we’re all going to die here.”
“We might not!” Yaro shook her head. “We have the home ground advantage. We still have some tanks. Our losses are bad, but this situation might be recovered.”
He shook his head. “That’s unlikely at best, and even if we did pull off a conventional victory, how many people would live to see it?
“People dying is part of the job,” Yaro hissed. “You can’t save everyone!”
She took a step back. “This isn’t the Whisker, Jason. You can’t just go running off and doing your own thing in search of some kind of… ideal ending. Gremp isn’t Tisi. She will execute you if you try this.” She paused. “And she won’t be wrong to do it. A military needs to work together. Discipline alone is what allows it to function.”
Jason scoffed. “Did you hear what’s going down with our tankers? Not a lot of discipline to be had out here.”
Yaro whirled on him again. “Then reinstate it! That’s your role.”
“I can’t!”
Yaro almost jumped at the sudden shout. Not that he blamed her for that. He was a little surprised himself.
Just as he was surprised by the deluge of words that even as he thought, seemed to spill forth from him. “I don’t know how! Because I’ve got no training. No experience. Because I was shoved into this role because it was politically convenient. Because the Imperium is full of shit. Full of shitty people doing shitty jobs. Merit takes a backseat to backroom politics. So no, I can’t fix this.”
He looked away, his shouting reduced to a bitter muttering. “This isn’t destiny. I don’t have some secret talent inside of me. This is a shit situation that I don’t have the tools to rectify.”
Admittedly, perhaps some small part of him was searching for an out here. He wasn’t a brave man. Not in the conventional sense. Despite what people might believe, his actions had been more borne of desperation than bravery.
More to the point, He didn’t want to die on some insignificant mudball for an empire that he didn’t care for – and that didn’t care for him.
“…But if what Maybel is saying is true, I might have a shot. At really fixing all of this.”
Yaro sagged, before seemingly taking another tack. “Then take her to Gremp! Get her consent for this.”
“You think she’d agree? After I just sent her little goon packing.” He laughed. “She’d dismiss it out of hand even if she wasn’t already focused on getting Dobry and his people back under control.”
Yaro actually growled, stomping back and forth. Then she seemed to come to some kind of resolution. And with it, a certain sadness seemed to wash over her.
“Perhaps you’re right, Jason.” She stood up to her full intimidating height. “But that’s not your call to make. It’s Gremp’s. And she has the right to make it. So you’re going to meet with her. And you’re going to explain this plan of yours. One way or another.”
Jason's heart seemed to seize in his chest, as the wolf woman advanced on him.
“Don’t do this, Yaro.” He took a step back. Then another. And another.
He had no way of fighting her off with his arm out of commission. Hell, he didn’t know if he could fight her off if he were in peak condition.
“I’m sorry, Jason.” The woman seemed to wince at his words, but she didn’t stop her advance. “You leave me little choice. A pack cannot survive a lone operator. You need to trust the system to work. I will take you to Gremp and we will explain- Gah!”
Then she dropped, like a puppet with her strings cut.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Sorry Yaro, but I agree with Jason.”
Jason’s eyes widened in surprise as Nora stepped away from Yaro’s prone body.
“The fuck did you do?” he asked, rushing over to check on her. He winced as the action jostled his injured arm.
“Calm down,” Nora said. “I just hit her with a sedative.”
Feeling that her pulse was still beating strong, Jason sighed in relief. Glancing back up, he saw that Nora was brandishing a now empty syringe.
He exhaled. “Why the fuck do you even have that?”
She shrugged, stowing the used needle away in a pouch at her belt. “I borrowed a few from medical. Given you’re… you, I figured I might have to break up a fight non-lethally at some point. And given that most folk walk around in armor that can easily bounce a stun-shot, and I don’t have an MP override, I decided I needed a means of taking someone down without physically having to wrestle them.” She glanced down at Yaro. “Because, between you and me, I don’t think the odds would have been in our favor if she’d decided to make this physical.”
Clever, Jason admitted mentally. Those needles would go right through someone’s suit.
Sighing, he stood up and dusted himself off. “So, I assume you’re with me?”
“Nope. I’m staying here. Yaro was right on that point at least: a military can’t function if everyone decides to just run off and do their own thing.” She paused. “No matter how they might feel about their commanders.”
“Then why did you…” He trailed off, reduced to awkwardly gesticulating to where Yaro lay on her back.
“Because you’re also right.” Nora leaned down, running a hand through the downed woman’s fur with surprising delicacy. “Gremp would never go for what you’re planning - and we’re all probably going to die here unless something changes.” She shrugged. “So I might as well let you have a shot at saving us all.”
Jason stared at her oddly, only belatedly realizing that in aiding him, she’d just betrayed someone she likely thought of as a friend. Hell, she was probably closer with Yaro than she was with him.
“You’re an odd woman Nora,” he said finally.
“I don’t want to hear that from you of all people.” She looked back up at him, features twisting into an odd little smile. “Now, you better get going before someone comes over to ask why we’re both standing over a passed out Rakiri.”
Jason smiled wryly at that, but put her words into action as he turned to leave, pausing only for a moment.
“Take care of her for me,” he said finally.
“I will.”
Satisfied, he continued on his way. Maybel fell in beside him, having watched everything that had gone down in silence. If the woman had any thoughts on the little ‘mutiny’ that had just taken place, she was keeping them to herself which he was thankful for.
He didn’t know if he could handle having a third person giving him a list of reasons why he sucked today.
Instead, her first comment was on something far more pertinent. “This isn’t the direction of the gate.”
He shook his head.
“We’re not going anywhere until I get this metal prong out of my arm.” He wouldn’t be able to do much of anything until he got it removed. “We’ll just have to hope that I can get that done and dealt with before Gremp sends out a second set of goons to arrest me for… mutiny or whatever.”
He didn’t know exactly what she’d charge him with. She had so many delightful options to pick from after all.
The Ufrian woman nodded slowly, keeping her head low as they walked deeper into the base. Not that it stopped her from catching the gaze of just about everyone they walked past. Ufrian’s might have been a fairly common sight outside of the compound, but they were a lot rarer in it.
Probably should have had her meet me outside, he thought.
Oh well, there was nothing for it now.
“Then we leave?” she asked anxiously.
“Not quite,” he murmured, eyes drifting over to the burnt-out remains of Cleff’s Command Unit. “We’ll need to grab a few things first.”
◆◆◆
In the end, removing the prong had been a relatively simple procedure that had barely taken five minutes. The pair had gotten it done and been out of the base before anyone had come looking for him.
Sure, he’d been questioned by the marines at the gate as he exited, but a quick reference to the fact that he was the Champion had seen him through.
It had likely helped that he was with Maybel. A marine sneaking out with an Ufrian in tow held certain connotations; the sergeant in charge had likely not seen any reason to look into it too deeply. Even on the eve of what might be the regiment’s final battle, he didn’t doubt more than a few soldiers were sneaking around for a bit of last minute loving.
It was an unfortunate reality of their mixed unit regiment, at least for Jason whose job it had been to try to curtail that kind of thing when it interfered with the unit's smooth operations.
Which was far more often than he might have liked. From soldiers skipping out on guard duty for a bit of fun, to lovers' spats boiling over, he’d spent more time than he’d care to tally, dealing with the fallout that came from attractive young men and women being cooped up together for long periods of time.
And yes, he was well aware of the hypocrisy of him being the one to complain about that fact.
Still, in this case it worked in his favor.
“Why did you change out of your magic armor?”
Jason winced again as Maybel helped him out of the boat and onto the docks of her hometown. For all that Imperial medical science bordered on magic, it couldn’t change the fact that less than an hour ago, he’d had a rather sizable hole in his arm. The fact that it was now filled with bio-foam numbed the pain some, but he was still reminded of the injury every time he chose to use that limb.
“Gremp could lock me down remotely if I was still wearing it.” He wrapped his newly borrowed cloak around him as the pair of them made their way down the wooden streets.
The town was curiously empty relative to the last time he’d been here. Few boats plied the waterways, and what few pedestrians he saw were furtive and hurried as they flitted from destination to destination.
It was a peculiar change, but he had little time to dwell on the cause for it as he and Maybel hurried on. Besides, in some ways it worked in his favor that the streets were so empty. Ignoring the fact that the tattered hood about his head was a paper-thin disguise, he found he was feeling just a little vulnerable without his armor.
“If Gremp could do that, why was she having trouble with your ‘tankers’?” Maybel whispered as they strode across a bridge and into the fancier part of town.
Jason resisted the urge to roll his eyes, because of course she’d heard about that.
“In theory,” he began. “The jamming we’re currently suffering makes that feature impossible. Still, I’d hate for it to suddenly drop - for some reason - and for me to suddenly be reduced to a statue.”
Admittedly, removing his suit had been an act of paranoia on his part. Even if the jamming let up, the signal would still have to reach all the way underground. Still, knowing his luck, it would, and he’d be in the middle of swimming or something when it did.
He didn’t exactly fancy rolling the dice on that happening.
Besides, it’s not like a suit would do me much good if I ran across an Edixi patrol...
Beside him, Maybel shivered. “Armor that can imprison the user? You outworlders are a strange people. An Ufrian brave would never stand for their chief to have such power over them.”
Jason shrugged, only to squawk in surprise as an arm locked around him and dragged him up against a wall.
“Hey, what’s the-”
He rapidly silenced himself as his eyes landed on what Maybel had seen.
An Edixi patrol.
The pair of shark women were walking through the town with the casual pace that came to soldiers on patrol. While their eyes seemed to continually swivel about as they scanned their environment, their pace was unhurried.
Well, shit… I guess that explains why the streets are so empty. The Alliance must have garrisoned the town.
“What do we do!?” Maybel hissed. “They’re coming this way.”
Sure enough, the pair of soldiers would walk right past the small alcove that he and Maybel had sequestered themselves in. And even a casual glance into the darkness showed that it was a dead end.
