AUTHOR'S NOTES: That's it on battle scenes from here on out; the Snowbirds' war is over. Of course, the story's not quite over yet.
REVIEWER'S CORNER:
Rogue (the only one to review this time; what's up with that?): The body count rises a bit in this chapter too. Thanks for the compliments as always. As far as other stories from me, well, you never know, but if I write anymore Snowbird stories, they'll be one-shots. After writing some pretty bleak stories, I'd like to get back into writing silly fanfics…I still have an Inu-Yasha story that is begging for some attention.
MUSIC CORNER: "And Winter Came" by Enya is good, as well as the End Titles from Patton, and finally "No Sacrifice, No Victory" from Transformers.
Grunwald Plain
Sudeten, Tamar March, Federated Commonwealth
17 January 3052
"MechWarrior. Hey, wake up."
Danielle Blackthorn opened her eyes, rubbed them, and blinked. She couldn't see who it was, but the sun haloed the figure. "Are you an angel?" she croaked through dry lips.
The person sniffed a laugh. "That's something I've never been called." She bent over, and Blackthorn saw that it was an older woman, a MechWarrior. Her nametape read Rhialla. "Are you all right, girl?"
Blackthorn blearily sat up. "I think so."
"Good. Hey, you, wake up—" Marion abruptly saw the blood on Terrence Newbury's body. Blackthorn had fallen asleep across it. "Shit." She turned and yelled, "Medic! Get over here!"
A medic from the Sentinels Light Infantry hurried over, hopeful. There had not been many wounded. He went over Newbury, felt for a pulse, then shook his head at Rhialla. Someone else yelled for a medic, and he put a hand on her shoulder for a moment, then dashed off.
"He's dead?" Blackthorn said in a small voice. Marion said nothing, but arranged Newbury's body, straightening out the legs and putting both arms over the chest. "Oh God…he's dead. He's dead. I tried to save…too much…I fell asleep…oh my God, he's dead."
Marion reached out and drew her into an embrace as Danielle Blackthorn cried helplessly into her shoulder.
Sheila found her father first. Salvage crews had found the upper half of the Battlemaster and had cut him out of it. Gently, they lowered him out and laid him on a stretcher. Sheila rushed forward. "Dad? Daddy?"
Calla reached up and touched her face. "Hey, squirt."
Sheila gripped his hand. "Sorry I was late."
"Bullshit. You were right on time." He bit his lip. "Damn, this hurts. How bad is it, Doc?"
"Well, it's not good. Don't look at it," Doc Rabbit cautioned him. Sheila recognized the doctor now; his face was covered in dirt and his coveralls stained with blood. "Two broken legs, Calla, and that right arm doesn't look good. I wouldn't be surprised if you had some cracked ribs, too. All that aside, you're lucky to be alive. Not too many folks survive an engine explosion."
"Getting too old for this shit," Calla groaned. "Where's Arla?"
"Right here!" Arla Bighorn-Vlata picked her way through the wreckage and knelt at her husband's side. "You old…look at you, Calla!"
"Doc told me not to."
She leaned back on his haunches. "We're getting too old for this shit." Sheila noticed that her mother was also covered in blood, and was bleeding herself from several scratches. She had dropped her naginata, which was drenched in red.
Calla noticed it too, even as he winced from Rabbit putting in an IV. "You okay, baby?"
"I'm all right. Just some scratches." Arla's eyes were distant. "The Elementals broke through a sewage tunnel, without their armor. Caught us by surprise, but there weren't enough of them." She glanced down at her knuckles, which were split and bloody. "We managed to surround them, but they wouldn't give up. The fighting became hand-to-hand…this one Elemental, I think he was the commander…he had an axe. Killed two of mine before I killed him." She touched the naginata. "He didn't die well, that one."
The medics raised the stretcher, and Sheila helped her mother up. "Go with Dad, Momma."
"We have much to discuss."
"Yes, but later."
Arla gathered Sheila in a hug. "I am so glad you're alive." She pulled back and kissed Sheila on the cheek. "My beautiful, beautiful daughter. Come to the hospital when you're able." She kissed her again, then left to follow Calla to a waiting ambulance. "Don't launch any attacks without my permission," Calla called out, and Sheila waved back, considering herself very lucky that her family was intact. She went to find Max.
She found him, sitting on the foot of his Battlemaster, staring at nothing. He brightened a little when he saw her. "Hi, babe."
"Hi." Sheila found herself smiling. His greeting had been so like her own father's to her mother. They had grown up fast. She took a seat next to him. "Dad's busted up, but he's going to make it. Mom's okay. So's your mom…did she come talk to you?"
"No. But I know what she's going to say." Max picked at a tiny piece of armor that had peeled up from his 'Mech. "My father's dead."
Sheila gasped. "Are you sure? Who told you?"
"Cathy Houndlikov. She came by a few minutes ago, looking for you. She told me. He bought it at Avalanche Pass. She said he saved everyone, bought the Sentinels enough time to get here."
"Max…" Sheila embraced him, tears spilling from her eyes. "I'm so sorry." She hated saying it. Words were useless. She noticed he wasn't crying; Max was just blank.
"Marcus Drax is dead too." He listlessly motioned at a downed Phoenix Hawk. "Chi-Li got him before we could come help."
Sheila buried her head in her hands. "Oh God. Not Marcus. Not him." He had been the last of her Command Lance, after Kaatha's death and Felisanna's self-exile. "Not all of us."
They held each other for a long time. Eventually, someone spoke. "Excuse me," Senefa Malthus said. "May I sit?" Her face was red and she was sweating. Without waiting for permission, she sat down heavily on what had been part of Chi-Li's Mad Cat.
Sheila looked up. "You disobeyed my orders."
"I had noticed that, aff."
"Where's Tam Seneca?"
Senefa smiled wanly. "Swearing eternal vengeance on me back at the Minerva, I would surmise. I did pull a pistol on him, after all." She leaned backwards, pain on her face. "If you want to punish me, make me walk around a little more. It hurts very much."
"I should have you strung up!"
"You will have to get in line behind Captain Baron, quiaff? He has already threatened to do exactly that. Again, he has a good reason, as I threatened him with his own gun."
"I never should've left you alone with them."
Senefa chuckled. "Neg, you should not have."
"Come here, dammit." Senefa stood and painfully hobbled over. Sheila scooted over and patted the foot. "Sit down. How did you pilot that Loki all the way here?"
"It was not easy."
"You saved my life," Sheila said after a moment.
"Aff," was all Senefa said. Sheila knew that Senefa had to be aware of who she had killed. She showed no emotion. Sheila wondered if there was any emotion to show.
Sheila leaned back herself, Max's arm still around her. I'm lucky…no, I'm blessed, she thought. My parents are still alive. My battalion is still intact. I have my husband and my best friend. And we've won, in that we've survived. She stared up at the sky. Why, God? Why me? I mean, I'm glad I'm alive, but why have you blessed me…and not others?
"Well, this is a hell of sight."
Sheila sat up to see Elfa Brownoak standing there, hands on hips. Her dress, the only clothes she had left that fit, were decidedly out of place on a battlefield. "Great," Sheila groaned. "Everybody's disobeying my orders today."
"What? Tooriu radioed that we won the battle—in fifteen minutes, no less—so here I am. Moore brought up his tanks. Figured we might need them. And as your second, I approved it."
Sheila got to her feet. "Whatever, Elfa. I'm too tired to argue. Come on, all of you. Let's find Mira and get back in the war."
Max helped Senefa up and offered her a shoulder. When even that didn't keep Senefa from gritting her teeth audibly in pain, Sheila clicked her tongue and took the other arm. "We're a hell of a battalion, aren't we?" Elfa remarked.
"You should be sitting down," Max said. "In your condition—"
"Oh, fuck my condition!" Elfa snapped. "I belong here, dammit. We all do. Matter of fact, I look a hell of a lot fresher than you lot. Follow me, idiots."
Sheila, who hadn't been sure if she would ever smile again, smiled at that.
They reached Mira's command post a moment later. It wasn't much: d'Argentan had driven one of his Long Toms forward, and they had opened the rear hatches and spread a tent out. A table had been set up, and was covered with maps. Mira gave them a nod as the four walked in, and found herself smiling at Elfa. "Well, well, Elfa. Either you ate a chicken franchise before you got here, or you're about ready to pop."
"Don't mention food right now," Elfa replied. She went around next to Mira and accepted a hug. She spotted Tooriu walking past the CP. "Hey, lover! Get that gorgeous ass in here!" Tooriu's face split in a huge grin and he pulled back the flap. The two embraced, Tooriu tipping Elfa's head back and nearly smothering her in a kiss. Sheila saw Mira's face working, and went over to her. She bent close to her mother-in-law's ear. "Max knows," she told her.
Mira rubbed at her eyes. "That's fine…saves me the-the…" Her fists bunched. "No, dammit, I can't let go, there's too much—"
"Mira." Sheila touched her shoulder. "I'll handle it."
"Alpha Battalion is at Eger, Beta is out on the river," Mira hurriedly said. "Snowbirds have the left flank, with Ceta's tanks on the right. What's left of the ComGuards is behind us. The Gray Death Legion is parallelling the 94th Striker, should be here soon." She pulled Sheila's head down and kissed her forehead. "Thank you. God bless you." Then she went out behind the Long Tom. Max quickly followed. Sheila wanted to as well, but the Sentinels needed Commander Arla-Vlata right now, not Sheila. She heard great heaving sobs, and Max's voice, softly comforting his mother.
Nearly an hour passed quickly; Sheila didn't even realize it had until she noticed that the chronometer in the Long Tom's crew compartment had changed and it was getting dark outside. Reports straggled in and were handed to her, enough for her to put together what was left of the regiment. It wasn't much. Alpha Battalion reported 35 percent losses; Beta, 45 percent. Ceta was battered. Gamma had nearly ceased to exist: only two lances were still operational. Officer casualties were particularly high. The Snowbirds' luck had held. Only one of theirs, Marcus Drax, had died. The Sentinels were still a regiment, but only just. Clan losses were equally high, she knew, but it wasn't much comfort.
"Sheila. Want some sandwiches?" Elfa proferred a plate of them. "It's peanut butter on toast, but what the hell."
Sheila's stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten all day. She took two of the sandwiches. "Thanks, Elfa."
"Nada. Hey, I just heard from the SLI. They found Yesukai Shambag."
"How much was left?"
"Physically, she's actually okay. Mentally, beats me. Someone knocked out her 'Mech, and they found her huddled up under its leg, crying uncontrollably. You just never know with these Clanners. SLI turned her over to Kazumi; I suppose it's not very Christian to hope that he shoots her…" Her voice trailed off.
Sheila wolfed down one of the sandwiches, took a updated sick list from a MechWarrior she didn't recognize, and abruptly realized Elfa hadn't finished her sentence. Instead, she was staring straight ahead, her face pale. "Elfa?" Sheila asked. "What's wrong?"
"Uhm…I'm not exactly sure." Slowly, she looked down, then back up at Sheila. "I think my water just broke."
Sheila's eyes widened. "You…what?"
Elfa gripped the sides of the table. "Uh, Sheila? I think I'm going to into labor here. Request permission to be relieved of my duties?"
Sheila didn't answer, but stuck her head out of the flap. "Medic!" she screamed.
Mira and Max, sitting next to the Long Tom, jumped. "What? What's wrong?" Max asked.
"Elfa's having her babies!"
"What, right now?!"
"Right now!"
Mira dusted off the rear of her pants. "I knew this was going to happen. As soon as I heard Elfa was pregnant, I knew this was going to happen. I'll find Doc Rabbit; medics don't know how to deliver kids, much less twins." She hurried off.
Max did the same. "I'll find Tooriu!" he yelled over his shoulder.
"But…but…" Sheila realized she was alone, and ducked back into the CP. "Elfa, lie down!" She was nearly doubled over.
Senefa, who had hobbled off earlier to find something to eat, picked this moment to arrive. "What is going on in here?"
"I'm in labor, you Clanner moron!" Elfa gritted out. "I can't lay in the mud, Sheila! I need some place clean!"
Sheila made a split-second decision. "Get in the Long Tom!"
"It's not clean in there!"
"It's cleaner than out here!" Sheila helped Elfa into the crew compartment. There was a shelf where ready ammunition was kept; the Long Tom had fired off all of its shells, and the crew had also left to eat dinner. The floor was muddy, so Elfa couldn't be put there, but the shelf would work. Elfa shut her eyes and puffed. "I feel a contraction coming on!"
"Senefa! Help Elfa get her underwear off!" Sheila searched frantically for something that might work to prop Elfa's feet up. "We might not make it until Doc Rabbit gets here!"
Senefa did as she was told, her face a shade of pale green. Elfa couldn't see over her swollen belly. "Senefa, how does it look? Am I dilated?"
The Clanswoman bent down. "Ah…aff. You are indeed dilated, and you…uh…" Senefa put a hand to her mouth and ran outside. Sheila and Elfa turned in her direction as they heard Senefa vomiting next to the Long Tom. "What's with her?" Elfa asked.
"The Clans have a real problem with natural childbirth. Congrats, Elfa—I don't think anything's ever grossed out Senefa before."
Elfa snickered. "Well, I'm glad I accomplished that—" She suddenly grabbed Sheila's left hand. "Oh, shit! Another contraction! Big one!"
"Um…breathe! Breathe, Elfa!" Sheila had absolutely no idea what she was saying, and was glad that Elfa had grabbed the artificial hand, and even that was creaking alarmingly. After a tense minute, Elfa's color and her breathing returned to normal. "Yikes. That was bad. Where the hell is—"
"Elfa!" Tooriu burst into the back of the Long Tom. He checked Elfa over quickly, frantically. "Are you okay? Max said the kids are coming—"
"Let me through, dammit!" Doc Rabbit shoved Max out of the way; he had been staring at Elfa from the hatchway, alternately fascinated and bewildered. Sheila stepped back, and Rabbit bent down. He nodded. "Yep. Won't be much longer."
"Can we move her?"
"Well, she's not having her babies in the back of an artillery piece, that's for sure. I got an ambulance waiting. Max, grab that stretcher off the side of the vehicle—"
"I got it, Doc." Tooriu reached under and gently gathered Elfa into his arms, muscles bulging under the T-shirt he wore. Grunting, he followed Rabbit out; Sheila, doing the same, saw that Mira and Rabbit had pulled up an ambulance to the back of the CP. Along with the horrified-looking Long Tom crew, a number of Sentinels had gathered near there. Some of them immediately walked up to Sheila, proferring after-action reports and datapads, and Sheila realized that they were looking to her for decisions. She motioned them over to the tables, sat down, and began checking over the paperwork and datapads. Max took up a position next to her, acting as her filter, slipping easily into the team they formed in running the Snowbirds—except now Sheila was essentially running the Sentinels as a whole.
Senefa returned as well, still a bit green, and waited patiently until Sheila had a break. "Will Elfa be all right?" she asked.
"I suppose," Sheila answered. "I mean, I really don't know anything about childbirth…except what they taught us in sex ed, anyway."
Senefa's expression was quizzical, then she said, "Ah," apparently coming to the realization that Sheila's knowledge was not much more than her own. "Why have they not taken her back to the hospital in Reichenberg?"
"Doc Rabbit said the hospital was swamped," Max replied. "Said Elfa might as well give birth in the ambulance, since it's safer, quieter, and cleaner."
"Oh yeah. I bet the hospital's a madhouse," Sheila stated. It would be crammed with casualties, with blood everywhere, and the noise would be horrible—yelling doctors, screaming patients, various medcomps and assorted equipment beeping and shrilling for someone's attention. In the books she had read in the Nagelring, no one quite mentioned that. She had the impression that a field hospital was one like on the tridee, where patients suffered heroically and quietly in an antiseptic, bloodless ward, with doctors working professionally and efficiently in equal reserved silence, and nurses standing by to pat down the doctor's brow and hold the patient's hand. The really badly hurt patients would be administered an anaesthetic, naturally. The reality, she had learned on Kagoshima and elsewhere, was far different. Wounded men and women screamed in horrible pain, the floors would be slicked with blood. Doctors and nurses would indeed work professionally and efficiently, but the nurses were too harried to be patting down anyone's brow, and doctors cursed and yelled like anyone else under stress. Sometimes, surgery had to be carried out in a hurry, with no time for anaesthetic to take effect, if there were any; they had actually run out on Kagoshima. It was definitely no place for someone to be brought into the world.
More Sentinels had gathered, and Sheila saw that most of the Snowbirds were there as well. They weren't all here to deliver or take away reports, either: obviously the news of Elfa's labor had spread across the battlefield. Max made the suggestion that someone start passing out food packs—it was getting on towards dinner, and darkness was spreading across the field—and the Sentinels gathered around the CP sat exhausted in the mud, eating. The ambulance itself was quiet. Conversation was muted, not so much out of respect for Elfa so much as it was that everyone was simply exhausted. Sheila checked in with the perimeter: even the Clans were quiet.
Everyone jumped when Elfa's shriek pierced the air, followed by a cry of "Gimme morphine, dammit!" Sheila and Max exchanged a look, then headed over to the ambulance. Sheila opened it, only to have Rabbit snap over his shoulder, "Close the pneumonia hole! I'm delivering kids here!" Sheila slammed the door, but not before she got a glimpse of Elfa, her face as red as the heat alarm in a 'Mech cockpit, her blond hair frizzed out of a surgical cap, her legs ridiculously up in straps hanging from the ambulance roof. Crammed in beside her was one of Rabbit's nurses, whose expression was one of boredom, checking her watch; Mira, who was holding Elfa's head, and Tooriu, who was busy sucking oxygen from a mask, his face pale as a sheet.
"Maybe we should post a guard," Sheila said. She smiled at Max. "Maybe not being able to have kids is such a bad thing after all." She touched his face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He led her around the other side of the ambulance, so the gathered Sentinels couldn't see them. "Mom and I had a long talk. She'll…we're going to be all right." He sat down on the running board. "Seeing Elfa reminds me that we have our own daughter to go back to."
"I've been thinking about that too." Sheila stared down the hill. 'Mechs still burned and smoldered. She was reminded of what Wellington had said after Waterloo: next to a battle lost, there is nothing so melancholy as a battle won. "I think we've fought our last battle, Max. Of this war. The Sentinels, even the Snowbirds…we're all used up. We can't give any more than we already have."
There was a long silence, and then Max said, "We'll come back from this, Sheila."
"Sure we will." Mira came around the other side of the ambulance, her hands still encased in surgical gloves. "I wasn't just jerking Kazumi's chain. We'll come back stronger than ever." She leaned against the ambulance between them. "But it won't be Calla or me leading them. It'll be you two."
"Us?" Sheila exclaimed.
"Specifically, you," Mira added, looking at Sheila.
"Me? Mira, I've been at this for all day! I can't command a regiment!"
"Not right now, no. You'll need some time." Mira gazed into the night sky, where stars had begun to appear. "Sheila, your father and I…our time in the sun is coming to an end. We grew up and trained to fight people like House Kurita. The Clans are a different opponent, completely different. All we've been able to do is hold them off long enough to retreat. I think here, on Sudeten, if the FedCom was willing to make a fight, we could keep this planet. Don't get me wrong: Hanse Davion is right to do what he's doing. We're going to stop these guys. The Jade Falcons and the other Clans can't afford too many more 'victories' like this one. And after seeing Wiessler's ComGuards—I think ComStar, or parts of them, are eventually going to throw in with us, and if they all fight like him, then we're going to stop these bastards.
"But Sheila, Max, my generation, we've fought our wars. You've proven that you can beat the Clans, in a straight-up fight. We were lucky today, that you showed up exactly at the right time to break them, and that their leadership wasn't as good as it should've been. Cavell Malthus got obsessed with taking down Calla, and Shambag got herself tied down in a secondary fight. Chi-Li was a bastard, and I hope he burns in hell, but if he or that Kazumi character had been in charge, we'd be hauling ass for the DropShips right now and devil take the hindmost. But somehow, Sheila, I think you could take a Chi-Li or Kazumi in a fight. You wouldn't have needed as much luck because you can make your own. I think you're going to get the opportunity to show that you can fight a regiment as well as you can a battalion. Matter of fact, I think I'm going to recommend such to your dad."
"I can't…my God, Mira, I'm not yet twenty."
"So?" Mira grinned. "I'm not saying you're going to have to run the show by yourself, Sheila. You've got good people here. Marion Rhialla. Maysa Bari. Mike Whelan over with Alpha/4. D'Argentan. Mikkansia Jackson. Art Sterling. I can go down the line. And neither I nor your father, nor your mother, will ever be far away." She patted Max's shoulder. "And your best is right here. My son." She tousled his hair. "And such a son." She stared up at them. "Well," she said, biting back her tears, "let's stop there before I become too maudlin. Shall we see what Elfa has delivered? I don't hear her screaming or telling Tooriu that she's going to cut his throat for getting her into this, so we must have some new recruits to inspect."
Sure enough, when they came back around the ambulance, Doc Rabbit was leaning against the doors, half-asleep, ignoring the fact that everyone around the CP was staring at him. "Well?" Mira asked.
Rabbit tiredly regarded her. "In case you didn't know, it's twins." He stripped off his surgical gloves and let them fall to the ground. "Boy and a girl, both healthy as horses. I thought I'd let the happy family have a moment. Elfa's going to be okay. She had a little tearing; nothing serious. That's what all the yelling for morphine was about." He laughed softly. "Mira, you had an easy time with him." He pointed at Max. "But Sheila, your mother was twelve hours in labor with you. I remember her saying that if you didn't hurry up, she was going in after you herself with a knife. You were one of my worst."
"She's always been a pain," Max quipped.
"I'd laugh, but I'm too damn tired."
"Get some sleep, Doc," Sheila said. "That's an order."
He sketched an ironic salute. "Yes, Commander." Rabbit wandered off into the crowd, people shaking his hand, slapping his back, and hugging him as he went.
The doors to the ambulance opened, and Tooriu, beaming, motioned them inside. "Check these out," he said to Sheila, Max, and Mira—and Senefa, who had come up, her curiosity overpowering her revulsion. They climbed into the ambulance, crowding in. Elfa's cheeks were wet, her hair was tousled, and she was ectastically happy. "Aren't they beautiful?" she sniffled. She peeled back the blankets they were wrapped in, revealing the scrunched up faces of a boy and a girl, their eyes closed. "Everyone, meet Ethan and Kayleigh."
"They look like you two," Sheila said, then winced at saying something so profoundly dumb.
"Well, I hope so," Elfa remarked. "If they looked like someone else, Tooriu and I would be having a serious discussion." She saw Senefa staring at the babies like they were unexploded ordnance. "C'mere, Senefa. Take a closer look at some real freebirths."
Senefa did. She put on her gloves, reached out, and touched the boy's face. His eyes opened a little, a tiny hand reached up, and grabbed at her finger. Senefa winced. "Strong. They will be warriors, I think."
"Like his father. Probably hungry all the time like him, too." Elfa exchanged a kiss with Tooriu, then reached up and handed the babies to him. "Go on, Tooriu. The whole regiment's out there. Go show them."
Tooriu stepped out onto the stairs of the ambulance. "Hey, Sentinels! Check 'em out—my kids, born in battle!"
The cheer roared over the battlefield, a place and a people that had seen so much death now seeing life.
