- DD DD DD DD DD DD DD DD DD -
Keeping his gun trained on the approaching woman, Elzer took the lead. "Your weapons? You supplied Dread these archaic rifles?" As he said this all weapons were trained on the rather small woman as she walked boldly towards them, as if they were friends. She wore what looked like an old police bullet proof vest without the identifying patches. Her face was obscured by a helmet and googles. Blonde wisps of hair could be seen sticking out of the helmet. A rifle was slung over her back.
She stopped for a moment and removed her googles, squinting her blue-gray eyes against the dirt swirling around. "Give Dread? What the hell are you talking about and where are my men? You have one minute, and I blow us all to kingdom come."
"Grenade! Tank yelled and they all moved back. The woman held her finger on the pin looking every bit serious.
"Easy there. We have no clue what you are talking about. There were NO men here. No human soldiers. Only mechs. And they were carrying your weapons. They shot at a couple of our teammates. We had to evac them to a hospital. That is really all we know." Scout yelled back at her, hoping she would hear the truth in his voice. He really didn't want to die today.
The woman stared at Scout for moment longer and then put the grenade back into her front pouch, within easy reach, but not a threat at the moment. "You haven't seen any men wearing the same vest as me? Nobody? And these things had all my rifles?"
"Yes Ma'am." Scout replied taking a step closer to hear her better over the wind that was picking up and swirling the dirt and dust even tighter around them. A storm was coming. Just what they needed. "We were just cleaning up and trying to figure this mess out ourselves. I'm Scout, this is Tank, Elzer, Jimbo and Clutch."
"My team calls me Mayhem. You can call me Aeryn." The woman shook hands with each man but still was tense. " So, what are your plans with my weapons? I need to find out what happened to my men."
- KT KT KT KT KT KT KT KT KT KT -
Matt Masterson leaned against the wall, his head back and his eyes closed. Jennifer was still in surgery and Carter had just gone back into Jon's room. That meant Jon would be erupting again shortly. With his arms folded across his chest, Matt breathed deeply, forcing himself to calm down. He hated having Jon restrained, but with the way he was acting, they'd had no choice.
"Major?" A woman's voice broke through his thoughts.
Matt straightened, his attention fully on her.
"I'm Lanie Patterson, one of the doctors here. Devon Cape and I are the ones taking care of Corporal Chase. She's out of surgery, but not awake yet. There was the obvious tissue damage from the bullet and a bit of bone fragmentation. We were able to repair the bone and the tissue will heal. We did have to give her some blood, but overall, her prognosis is good."
Matt wanted to hug her for giving him such good news, but instead shook her hand gratefully. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to us."
She smiled, pushing some strands of brown hair behind her ear. "We couldn't save so many lives here without the technology we've been gifted. Every day, I marvel at what Dread has and what we don't. To Dread, something like a tissue regenerator likely means so little, given all of the mechanical soldiers he has. But to us, it means allowing people like your corporal and captain to recover from their injuries far more quickly and with a much lower risk of infection."
He knew most of the medical outposts like this were scraping by, making do with outdated and malfunctioning equipment and less than adequate stocks of antivirals, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. To have something like a tissue regenerator here? Matt only now realized just how fortunate they were to be in this place. But they were 'gifted' it? He was now more than just a little curious about this. "Who gave you a tissue regenerator? And how did they get their hands on one?"
"Her name is Aeryn. I don't know how she got the regenerator. She said that she only wants to help rebuild what Dread has destroyed. She's a lone wolf, doesn't like to rely on anyone except herself. Never told us where she was from, just showed up here one day with some medical supplies and asked if we could use more. She drops by at least once a week with something we can use. She works very hard to find things of value for us and we help her in any way we can. Sometimes with food, sometimes with medical care. Sometimes, it's just a bunk for her to rest." Patterson's voice carried the gratitude their entire staff held for the woman.
Matt understood that gratitude as well. "I'd very much like to meet her one day to thank her for everything she's done here."
"Maybe you'll see her." Patterson squeezed his arm. "I'm going to see how Corporal Chase is doing in recovery. We'll let you in when she's awake."
Matt thanked her again. Maybe this was the news that would finally calm Jon down.
Elzer wanted answers. He didn't like what his gut was telling him about their current situation and the storm on the horizon wasn't helping. There was no way he was going to simply give the rifles back to Aeryn, regardless of what she'd said about them belonging to her and her group.
Beside him, Scout had flipped down the visor on his helmet. Several moments later, it slid back up.
"Scout?"
"Scans of the data ports indicate these mechs were not in communication with Dread. Their memory cards have been completely wiped and reprogrammed. They were communicating with a hive mentality and the signal for their behavior is coming directly from you, Aeryn. You want to tell us what's really going on here?"
- DD DD DD DD DD DD DD DD DD -
Aeryn's smile went from sweet to sour in a matter of seconds. The rifle was in her hands, and she was firing it before anyone could stop her. As she fired, she dove for a pile of her mechs as cover. "I want my weapons NOW."
Scout was thanking whatever God there was that he and Tank were both powered up. Despite knowing the bullets could pierce their soft suits, they took the brunt of her first shots, with one whizzing by so close to his helmeted ear that he could hear its scream. Pushing Elzer behind them, he and Tank hit the ground behind the same pile of rocks that Power and Pilot had used unsuccessfully hours earlier, their blood still staining the dirt and rocks. Clutch was down not moving, his eyes already glassy and blood spreading underneath his body. Jimbo turned and while the others gave cover, ran to the jumpship to start her up for a quick getaway. They had all stepped into a shit storm now.
"You have one minute to surrender, or I will end all of you." Aeryn screamed at them over the swirling dust storm, the wind picking up and making visibility near impossible.
Scout and Tank shared a look with Elzer. "We need to get out of here and to your captain. Whatever we have stumbled into today is bigger than we thought. Any ideas?"
"Stay behind us and run. We have to time this just right." Tank told him, readjusting his weapons.
Suddenly it was quiet. Nothing but the wind. Then the unmistakable sound of mechs moving reached their ears. Peeking over the top of their meager cover, Scout's mouth dropped open, and he was visibly shaken. "Guys, we need to move NOW!" The sound of the jumpship's engines firing up told him it was now or never.
Tank and Elzer took one look at his face and together rose firing their own weapons at Aeryn's location. Except now she was standing, surrounded by the same mechs that they had thought they had destroyed. Some were missing parts, but all were rising like zombies and surrounding the small woman who had an almost peaceful look on her twisted features. "Bring them back alive if possible. Otherwise bring their bodies. Get our weapons back!"
The machines lurched forward in synch, taking shots and falling, and yet some still rose or crawled. The men turned and ran, giving up all pretense of fighting back. Hitting the steps Scout screamed, "Go Jimbo. Get us the fuck out of here NOW!"
The ship launched into the air, her engines grinding in a way that was sure to get them all in trouble later. As it started to get some height, it was rocked by grenades being thrown at it from the ground. The ship shook and rolled but stayed true and within a minute they were too high for Aeryn to do any more damage.
"What the hell? " Elzer asked the other two men. "Jimbo, radio ahead. Tell them we are coming in hot and that we have a major situation."
Jonathon Power glared at the medic from Elzer's team. The man had been a pain in his side since they had met. Yet in the back of his mind, he knew without his help, Jennifer would likely have died of blood loss. Still the man had manhandled him to the bed and cuffed him with a grin earlier and in Jon's mind that made them even." Uncuff me."
Doc smirked. He couldn't help it. Power made it too easy. "I promised to play nice Captain. I came with news on Pilot."
Jon stood, his arm twisted slightly behind him by the cuff. "Jennifer. Is she okay?"
"Easy there, Kid. She's doing great. She is out of surgery and in recovery. She is not awake yet, but they repaired all the damage, and she will be fine with some therapy. I am guessing she will be up before she is supposed to be." Carter's grin grew larger as he saw all the tension drain out of Jon and a small knowing smile crossed his face. "So, time for you to relax and me to give you a piece of advice."
Jon sat back down and rubbed his bandaged hand over his face. Looking up sheepishly, he said, "I guess I went a little nuts. Thank you."
"Captain, take some advice from an old man. There is never a better time than now to confront what you don't want to. Don't be left with regrets. Nothing is more important in this war than having that human connection to make you want to see another day. Do you understand what I am saying?" Doc asked, his voice soft and serious.
Jon was quiet for moment and then looking Abraham in the eye, he nodded, his throat suddenly closing around the denial he was going to say.
Seeing that Jon had really heard him, Doc leaned over and as he uncuffed him, he couldn't help but tease. "Be good or I'll use these again. Your Major is outside the corporal's recovery room which is down the hall to the right. Go see her and remember what I said. And don't forget to take care of that hand. Its bandages will need to be changed."
Jon got up and offered his good hand which Doc shook. " Thank you. We..."
He never got to finish as Hawk, fully powered up, burst into the room. " Captain, we have a major problem!"
Jennifer was barely awake when she heard a great deal of commotion coming from the hallway. Opening her eyes, she was thankful someone had thought enough ahead to dim the lights. The room she was in was small and held her cot, a chair and the machines that were monitoring her recovery. Groaning, she tried to sit up, recognizing the grogginess from the pain killer she was given, and pulled the light sheet back. Her thigh was wrapped with thick white bandages and already the black and blue had spread down her leg. She noticed a pair of crutches leaning against the wall in anticipation of her need. She hated crutches.
First thing first, enough of the pain killers. They were stronger than any she had been given before and were leaving her feeling almost high. Her thoughts kept filtering in and out of her mind. Taking a deep breath, she reached over and, grimacing, she pulled out the IV line from her hand. Immediately, the alarms started sounding. Twisting, she snatched the power cable from the machine, effectively turning it off and hopefully buying herself some time.
"Damned things," Jennifer gasped out as she inched her body to the edge of the cot to get up. She had to get up. Something was telling her to move. There was danger here. Her gut was churning, and it was not just from the meds that were moving through her bloodstream.
She lurched up using her good leg and arms to catch the wall. Dragging her bad leg behind her, she used her left hand and grabbed the crutches. After a few minutes and by now panting, she finally was able to use the crutches to support herself. Now to find Jon and a weapon.