"Elma's comm device. Lin Lee Koo speaking."
"Lin? What the hell are you doing, playing around with the colonel's comm link?"
"Oooo, salty words. Did salty man crash his skelly again? Let Tatsu see!"
Doug's growl came over loud and clear on the device. Lin swiveled to keep it out of the reach of her bouncing Nopon sidekick.
"You don't play with someone else's comm link," Doug started, his tone the same as that when he lectured new BLADES on the finer points of skell weapon safety.
"Stand down, Doug," Lin snapped. She tried to look superior and professional. "Elma specifically asked me to pick up her messages while she was busy. Sort of as her assistant."
"Well, I need to talk to her. So pass me over."
"Nope, no can do. She's really really busy."
Tatsu interrupted. "Elma taking a long bath with the bubbles that smell good but taste like adsecula rump."
"ER, um," Doug was coughing hard. And blushing? Hard to tell with the resolution on these devices. But definitely interesting, thought Lin.
Lin kept a very adult, very serious look on her face. "We ran into some nasty environments on the way back from our last mission, and the colonel just had to, well, tidy up."
"Millesaur poop all over Elma. She look good with purple hair, but smell terrible."
"You didn't need to tell him that!" Lin shrieked.
"It true, though."
Doug groaned again, and grimaced. "Look, we need some skell fuel up here. It isn't urgent, but pronto would be good. I don't like having no choice except fighting on foot if I can help it. Could you get her to send somebody up as soon as she can? Maybe Cross?" He sounded like a kid, asking for 10 more minutes of screen time.
"No can do. Cross is over at Biahno Lake, testing something for Meredith and Co."
"Lucky cuss. I am so sick of beating off these … gah, gotta go, kiddo. I'm sending the coordinates now." And his rugged face blinked away as the screen dwindled to nothing.
Lin was staring at the coordinates, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Hm, that's right by the base camp on the road to the Noctilum entrance. Not all that far. Lots of little suids out that way too." She tapped the comm device to her chin, then jumped up on her toes. "It'll be perfect. Let's do it."
"Do what?" asked Tatsu.
"Let's deliver the fuel ourselves. We can be there and back before dinner time."
"No no no, Linly talking crazy talk. Elma would be so angry."
"The colonel will never know. I told you, we could be back before dinner time. We could be back even sooner if we took a skell." Her voice was an excited sing-song now.
"Meh meh meh! Elma will skin Tatsu and cook him, and she is not as good a cook as Linly. Linly want Tatsu dead but doesn't want to be accused of murder."
"Fine, no skells. I don't think I could get one past Alexa's team anyway. I think she's more worried about them than she is about me. It's like no one trusts me sometimes."
"Linly talking about sneaking out of New LA. Very trustworthy."
"I don't need your back talk. If you don't want to come, then don't."
"Linly have homework! She has duty to teachers!"
Lin puffed at her bangs, a short frustrated gesture. Even though she was a BLADE, and a practical genius when it came to developing skells, somebody had decided she still needed to take high school classes. Oh the indignity of it! She'd already pounded out all the math, chemistry and physics they could throw at her during the long trip on the White Whale, even with doing her share of all the repairs that the ship required (it had been sent up partially incomplete, in the correct idea that their time for fixing things on Earth was long over). But she still had about 3 years of other subjects to complete. Biology was currently on hold; knowledge about Miran fauna and flora, and their basic makeup, was too incomplete to make more than a few weeks of study, much less a full year. Sure, they could cover Earth-based systems, but that was perhaps a waste, or worse, a misleading subject. No one could decide if she needed a foreign language, or which one. H.B. had suggested Latin. She had suggested he stuff it, well, she had thought that, and it probably had shown on her face.
That left English, Social Studies, and something like art. Art was actually okay. It felt like a fluffy version of drawing schematics for those wonderful amazing skells she loved so much. And if most of her work was related to the mechanized suits, no one said much about it. She always put in some nice background, or sky, or squished prone, to show she had at least an idea of foreground and perspective.
But today's homework wasn't art, and it wasn't due for another 24 hours, and she wanted to go out, and she wanted to do it now.
"Come on, Tatsu. It'll be fine. I've got a jump on it and I only need to polish off the edges." And the beginning. And the middle. And end. She hadn't put a word of her essay together, although she had done the research. Most of it. Enough of it, anyway.
She banged on the bathroom door. "Elma, Tatsu and me want to go out for a bit. Your comm is on the kitchen island."
A muffled voice could be heard, a little tired and more than a little resigned. "I'll be out in a second. Go on. And if you're going by the commercial district, get me a berry muffin."
"Meh meh!" Lin could hear Tatsu, still complaining, as he trotted behind her. She quickly checked to see if he was really as scared as he sounded. They'd never left New LA on their own before, not at this distance. She saw the ringed city, resting in its blue crown of unmelting ice, across the green plains, somewhat lower and almost too far away.
Nothing dangerous that she could see. She scanned upwards, on the off chance that some indigen was flying down on them, but that was clear too. The weather was perfect, no rain, barely any wind. Plenty of time until evening. The best opportunity to escape the same old rooms and same old people.
Lin Lee Koo was determined to enjoy this chance to the fullest. Even hauling the extra fuel canisters, it was an easy run. Seven canisters for her, one for Tatsu, because the squat little xeno was already hauling who knew how many kilos of junk in that mysterious backpack of his. It definitely wasn't weaponry, because she'd never seen him fight anything. Somewhere deep inside it were snacks, he always had snacks, and he always busted them out at the absolutely worst possible moment. Actually, he passed them around constantly, so it was natural that sometimes this would coincide with the worst moment. Mira was full of bad moments.
But not today! Today was going to be fun. She already could see the path to the base camp. They'd dump the canisters there, let the team there know to trot them over to Dougie, and then she and Tatsu would have a chance to, well, just explore. Poke around. Maybe hit the beach.
It worked even better than she'd planned. The base camp was 100% Harrier, itching for an excuse to meddle with Doug's little indigen pounding problem. They were practically peeling out of the camp before she'd handed the cylinders over.
Which left a free afternoon of relaxing.
"So, what'll be? Beach or climbing? Or…," Lin said slyly, "how about a barbeque?"
"Meh, meh, meh, how many times does Tatsu have to say…"
"Relax, small fry. I've been wanting to make some suid short ribs, and if we catch one, we can take it home for dinner."
"If we catch one, we go home?" He made no effort to hide his eagerness to return.
"I promise, furball."
"Teen Team Tatsu will catch one pronto."
Lin was too experienced to attack whichever pig-like creature was closest. Their packs were loose, but when threatened they could coalesce rapidly. Singly they were weak indigens, but a crowd of them could be deadly. Large sows were easy to approach, but packed a wallop, and called for reinforcements quickly. The little males were super aggressive, and would sometimes attack a skell on sight just because. They also tended to move more quickly. But they had the tastiest meat.
Lin ran towards an open green space, prime suid territory, and started hunting, Tatsu bouncing behind her. A little bit of sneaking, a little bit of back tracking and she found exactly what they needed. Four meters away stood a smallish brass suid, located some distance from the group, with a rock blocking the line of sight of the others. "Come on, Tatsu, let's punch first and ask questions later."
She had miscalculated badly. For one thing, she'd somehow thought that Tatsu would be a help. If you had asked her directly, she would have laughed at the very idea of him landing a blow or providing a buff. He was no heropon, that was for sure. But no one had asked. Instead, her brain did the understandable calculation, two party members, twice as many hits, damage spread out a bit. Instead, he danced behind her, making an attractive target that unfortunately was being shielded by the only other party member, namely Lin Lee Koo. She never quite tripped on him, but she certainly couldn't dodge as well as she needed.
That was nothing. The suid was really small, and her shield was new and upgraded. It would have been fine, except for the fact that, well, the suid was REALLY small. Not just smallish male small. Small, as in baby suid small. It couldn't hit for much, but it squealed plenty, and that brought mama suid round the corner of the rock. With her came a male, and another female, and then a cascade of irate indigen.
"Run now?" asked Tatsu.
Lin was torn. She really wanted that suid sirloin, but if they left now they might be able to try again once the pack wasn't so aggravated. As she hesitated, a male suid darted past her and clipped Tatsu. The round Nopon rolled for some distance in a flurry of "meh's." That decided it. She raced toward him, shouting, "Let's go!"
Staying straight on the road wasn't going to work. This was the suid's home territory, and they would follow any threat within it. They needed to get to a different location, and it had to be close enough that Tatsu wouldn't fall behind. Uphill was the answer.
She legged it up towards the nearest bluff. If she could jump up it, she could pull Tatsu to safety. Luckily, she was getting pretty good at climbing (Cross was a monster for finding every possible peak to explore). It was looking good, plenty of outcroppings, it would work.
She should have noticed that the suids had dropped back faster than she'd expected. She was concentrating too hard on swerving and blocking any possible attacks on Tatsu. Looking backwards had prevented her from seeing the red furred simius directly ahead of them.
"Linly! Watch out!" This time, Tatsu did trip her, plowing into her legs and knocking her down and sideways. The simius' arm swooshed powerfully just past them, and the animal spun clumsily from the momentum. Flat on her back, she hit it directly with her gattling gun, pushing it back a few steps. It wasn't going to buy her much time. The animal reared up and howled, shaking its four fists and pawing the ground.
"Meh meh meh," squealed Tatsu, his helpfulness at an end.
They couldn't fight it. Well, they could but they wouldn't survive. Already, she felt weakened, maybe by the shock. Oh help!
From her perspective on the ground, she noticed a low opening in the uneven bluff, not quite a cave but perhaps it would provide some protection. "Tatsu, head that way!" The small xeno spotted it at about the same time, and made for it quickly. Lin Lee braced herself and focused on the simius. It hit her straight on, a sort of plowing head butt, but her shield was ready. The momentum actually pushed her towards the cave, and then she felt Tatsu grabbing her shoulders and giving a sharp pull.
The space was low but blessedly deep. Tatsu wedged himself at the very back, and Lin pressed up against him. She could barely see him, although she could feel him puffing and shaking beside her. Whatever light the small entrance provided was blocked as the simius reached in with first one, then two, then three arms. It was going to get stuck if it pushed in any farther. But it wasn't going to be able to quite reach them.
"Is Teen Team Tatsu safe?" whispered the team namesake.
"I … think so," Lin answered slowly.
They stayed there, in silence. For a long time, the simius was snuffing at the cave, reaching in with this or that arm, and grabbing the air repeatedly, but with less fury.
Suddenly, Tatsu piped up again. "Linly crying?"
She was. Crying very hard, actually, quietly, but her body was shaking even harder than Tatsu. She gulped and pressed her eyes against her knees, but she couldn't stop. Tatsu cuddled up to her, clucking gently. "Linly is okay," he murmered. "Friend Tatsu here to protect her."
She kept on crying, rocking back and forth just a little. "Meh, meh, Linly …"
"I can't do it. I just can't do it."
"Fight simius? Meh, that job for dumb Harriers. We go home and fix things. Maybe fix dessert?"
"No, not that." She raised her head. Her voice was squeaky, and hiccuppy, but she wasn't shaking as much. Still, the tears were dripping off her chin, making Tatsu's fur damp. "The stupid homework."
"Not for genius Linly. No silly problem too hard for her."
"The essay's supposed to be about voting systems. On Earth. There AREN'T any voting systems left on Earth. There's no EARTH left on Earth. I can't stand it, having to learn about things that will never be there anymore." She pressed her head against her knees again, breathing hard.
She felt Tatsu bump her head with his own silly tufted one. "Nopon caravans always follow voice of leader. Work great with good leader, like darling mamapon." He sighed, lovingly. "Big problem when leader is a stupid head. Maybe this human idea is useful for Nopon. Maybe Linly can teach Tatsu."
Lin looked at his face. The simius had moved away from the cave entrance, so she could see him fairly well now. Even with his glasses completely covering his eyes, he looked sincerely interested. Goofy little guy, he could take his role as ambassador between humans and Nopon very seriously sometimes.
"I think we can go now. At least, let me check."
Lin shimmied out, carefully, shield at the ready. Some distance away, the simius was relaxing, flopped on its back, limbs spread every which way. Its jaws moved rhythmically, making juicy smacking noises. It didn't seem to care that minutes ago it had been in a murderous rage. She gestured to Tatsu, and the pair carefully and quickly moved back towards the road. The sun was setting, and they needed to high tail it back to New Los Angeles.
Luckily, there were no further incidents on the way home. Right before they reached the barracks, Tatsu danced in front of her. "Linly's face all messy!" He passed her a soft tan cloth, embroidered with blue flowers, from somewhere in his satchel, and Lin scrubbed her face until he was satisfied. Calmly, all too calmly, they walked into the common room and right into Elma's laser like gaze.
"Doug called to thank me for the fuel," said the colonel briskly. "Strangely, he was rather upset when he learned YOU had brought it. Beside himself, actually."
The faces of the two teens fell for a moment. While Tatsu bounced with great agitation, Lin pulled herself up. "We took it to them. We left New LA without permission. We won't do it again."
"Oh, that is fact, no question. I know you're a BLADE, but you are also part of my team. I am your commander, and I am responsible for your safety." She looked pointedly at the mud on Lin's knees and the wilder than normal cowlick on Tatsu's head.
"We had to hide from an indigen. For a little bit." Even to her own ears, Lin sounded weak and very young.
"You are confined to barracks for the next week. You are to stay in New LA for two weeks. You will not leave on a mission until given direct permission. Possibly in two weeks, possibly never. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Linly have homework to finish anyway."
Elma looked coldly at Tatsu. "Caravan Leader Koko wishes you to call her. At once. I believe your mamapon has something to say about this little episode."
"Meh meh meh meh meeeeeeeh!" wailed the xeno.
Lin didn't spare him as much sympathy as he deserved. She was just so very glad to be home, and safe, and with people who cared. Someday, she'd make barbeque suid, and it would be very tasty, but for tonight she'd make spaghetti with plain tomato sauce. It was the fastest meal she could whip up. She needed all the extra time possible if she wanted to get cracking on that essay.