The crackling fire of weapons ceased slowly as each Roughneck finished off
the bugs they were fighting; whilst conditions were not ideal they were as
close as they got on the planet they were on. It was the opening days of
the Jakava campaign; Jakava was a planet much like Tesca Nimerosa, it had
the same luscious tree covering and the same sort of temperature.
It was hot by Human standards but cold to Skinnies, keeping them entrapped in the thermal suits they wore; not that any Skinnie ever complained about it, they chose to be there to help with the fighting but it was clear that they disliked the endless suffocating feel to the suits.
Fortunately, they were stationed at a base that was designed with both races in mind. Meaning that T'Phai and other members of his kind could escape to their own rooms and be in vaguely acceptable temperatures, one of the first things T'Phai had mentioned was the fact that it was good of the Human's to go to such extents for the comfort of their officers.
"Are you ok?" Rico queried, despite his usual strength and reserve T'Phai was leant against a large Oak like tree with his large splayed hand covering his left side gently, his breathing sounded a little painful, hollow and raspy. He looked up at Johnny wearily. The erstwhile colonel moved his hand to display the slight bump on his suit, which was surrounded by T'Phai's blood. Rico hissed between his teeth sharply, the Skinnie had obviously broken one if not more of his ribs, he was lucky the suit had not ruptured.
"Doc, get over here now!" Rico yelled, T'Phai lowered his hand back onto the invisible wound shakily. The other squad member joined them, squatting loosely besides the injured being. He made the same noise Rico had upon seeing the bump that revealed the injury.
"I think you may have broken a rib," Doc guessed. T'Phai gave him a look that conveyed the exact thing the Rico was thinking. 'Of course he's broken a rib, what else could it be?' "Do you think you could make it back to base?" Whilst the base itself was no more then a half hours march LaCroix realised that the fracture T'Phai had was painful, rib fractures were known as one of the most painful kind. If it got bad then even walking would be unbearable, not that T'Phai would admit that was so because he was a seasoned officer.
"I believe so," T'Phai murmured in a whisper soft voice. There was a pause as they all thought, none of them were naïve enough to believe that the fractured rib would remain underneath the suit for long and if it snagged even the smallest hole in the suit then T'Phai would be a corpse - they had to think of a way of securing it.
"Pouch bandages," Rico said suddenly, the other two looked at him in confusion. "The sticky bit of a pouch bandage is sticky," Doc gave him a look which clearly said 'well you don't say Einstein' so Rico continued. "It'll stick to suit together, just in case." Doc nodded thoughtfully and drew out a bandage.
"What do you think?" He asked the Skinnie, "Will it work?" T'Phai's expression was neutral to the point of uncertainty; he did not know whether it would. Doc placed the bandage over the bump gently, being careful not to drive the bone back into T'Phai's body.
He did not take his eyes off the Skinnie whilst he did so, T'Phai was shaking, the wound had to be very painful and breathing even more so.
Just after Doc had stepped back Brutto marched up to them, this left Dizzy, Razak and Gossard watching their backs against the likely return of bugs. "Ok boys lets break up the mothers meeting the LT wants us on the bounce back to base!" Doc stood motioning that T'Phai should stay where he was.
"T'Phai's broken a rib sarge; we're concerned about suit integrity."
"He can't fight anymore then?"
"No,"
"I . I am ." T'Phai stammered out, standing on his uncertain shaky legs. ". sure I could ." His legs gave way and he fell to the ground with an exclamation of pain and a resounding crunching sound. The four humans present flinched.
T'Phai felt temporarily blinded by the pain he felt, seeing a multitude of stars before his eyes; Doc moved to his immediate side checking him for additional wounds. He wore an expression of disgust on his face; he found the colonels attempts at standing disturbing.
"That was stupid." Rico could not help but say, is he had broken a rib as badly as T'Phai had then he would not be trying to stand or persuade Brutto that he could continue fighting.
"Yep,"
"Definitely," Doc and Higgins said from either side. None of them would normally argue with T'Phai, arguing with a seven foot something being who could crush your head in a second was often considered unwise, but the seven foot something being did not usually have a piece of bone poking through his rib cage and the threatening risk of death due to exposure.
Brutto marched over to join Razak, the two men spoke in hushed tones of their return to base. Returning to base with an injured team member was acceptable but T'Phai's injury made their return all the more hazardous. The Bugs were opportunistic hunter and they were more likely to hunt an injured being rather then a healthy one.
"Alright team let's move out!" Razak roared not looking at T'Phai aware that the other being would not want everyone making a fuss of the wound. Doc helped T'Phai to his feet taking the Skinnies right arm to help him along; with traditional strength and masculinity, T'Phai pulled away.
Doc noticed the weakness of the tug; T'Phai's strength was diminishing.
~*~*~
It was clear to everyone that the walk back was agonising for T'Phai; none of the others had ever heard him moan before but now almost every uneven step prompted a moan from the injured being, it was clear to all that things were miserable for him.
The sky had become black and heavy with cloud, as Higgins had told them all several times it was going to rain. Unfortunately for many of them the rain on Jakava was cold, even the Human's disliked this rapid change in climate yet with high magnetic interference there was not any sort of forecasting available there was no way for them to plan ahead.
This would cause implications for the injured being; the water would increase his weight enough to be noticeable making breathing more of a huge effort. The soil would turn to mud so being hard to move in making his footfalls even more difficult. Moreover, if any water got into his suit through its weakened fibres, no matter how small the amount, he was likely to get hyperthermia again.
Razak called a halt, Doc watched with concern as T'Phai lowered himself to the ground. "What's going on?" The medic asked softly, Razak then called loudly for silence. All eight beings were listening hard and the only noise three of them could hear was the wheezing noise T'Phai was making, the others could easily hear the click of approaching bugs.
In a flurry all the bugs appeared, forming a loose circle shield around their wounded member the Roughnecks were reaching for their weapons; Gossard and Rico, having taken over from Doc when T'Phai had been injured, charged the Marauders weapons. "Don't fire," Razak ordered, in case the bugs were on the rare task of passing through. T'Phai reached shakily for his weapon, giving another involuntary groan as he brought it to rest in front of him.
The Bugs squealed in malicious delight as if sensing the Skinnie's painful reach throwing themselves towards the unit; what tiny gaps were left in his shield allowed him to see the action but T'Phai did not try to shoot it was hurting too much.
With a mighty clap of thunder the rain started, huge drops of water crashing down upon them; within minutes, the area was muddy and they were all soaked. When the bugs were finally dispelled some fifteen minutes later, Doc went to T'Phai's side.
Due to the rain the stickiness of the bandage had failed, there had been a rapid down pour, which had caused the durable adhesive bandage to loose its tackiness, "Can we get a little shelter over here?" Doc called out, both the Marauders stood in the way of the rain allowing Doc to put a new bandage onto T'Phai's side. As an after though he dug around in his pockets for a piece of plastic to cover that with, he did not want to risk the suits breaking on the now very short trek back.
Shuddering uncontrollably, the Skinnie reached to put his weapon into his pack; Doc took it from him and stored it on his pack securely. "Couldn't we put him in one of the Marauders?" Higgins asked from where he was sitting on Doc's right, the reporters face was damp and red, Doc shook his head regretfully.
"No, the motion of the thing would do more harm then good." Higgins nodded ruefully, the marauders 'waddling' would make for an uncomfortable trip back to base, more then likely wounding the Skinnie further. Doc looked into T'Phai's weary dark eyes, waiting for him to nod and say he could continue. When it came, Doc was surprised, whilst there was now only a little way to go it was still very rainy and muddy; Doc nodded back to T'Phai helping the Skinnie up with a detached preciseness about him.
~*~*~
There was no way of changing a med. Tank for the Skinnie; it would take too long and by that time it would probably be too late to help him anyway. Due to the nature of the base, it had a special, albeit small bay for his kind meaning that he could be treated without wearing his suit.
Like an observation window inside some of the hospital facilities one of the walls was dominated with a window with panels and sensors that meant doctors could monitor the patient without entering, the room's airlock was just to the left hand side of it. The bay was about five meters by five meters, which made for a small space when you though of all the complex equipment it took to heal anything.
Through the small air lock, a female doctor emerged her long golden brown hair cascading down her shoulders, her helmet tucked under her arm from being in the Methane filled room. "I am Doctor Ellen Baxter; I'm the chief medic dealing with the private. We did not remove the broken rib because it was not completely disconnected from his rib cage. He needs to heal the Rib himself, which could take a while.
Within a week or so, the private can be returned to his quarters but until then he'll need to heal here, from what I understand quiet rest helps with the healing process."
"What do you mean from what you understand?" Razak demanded annoyed with her impreciseness. Baxter backed away from the soldier nervously. Higgins stepped in front of his CO.
"She means that the Skinnies are insanely secretive about themselves sir," Higgins told him softly; whilst most of Higgins observations lingered on the obvious this one was less so. "All that I ever found out is that they need to rest quietly to heal quicker."
"How long until he's back on duty?"
Baxter lowered her head as if to think on Razak's question but they could all tell she did not want to say. "About three months," She told them expecting the shouts that she gained. "That fracture will be painful for that long; at least it is in Human terms. Rib fractures are known for being ludicrously painful!"
Razak seemed in a state of shock; with the bug war going as badly as it was they would need experienced men like T'Phai. "SICON will need an incident report and an initial treatment synopsis."
~*~*~
"Let's start this simply, does anyone remember what happened?" Razak asked over mess that evening, they were trying to piece together what had occurred and the best way to do this was get several reports of the same thing.
"I saw the colonel hand to hand with one of the bugs," Diz told him; this was unhelpful because T'Phai was strong enough to do hand to hand conflict with the bugs, no it had to be something bigger.
"It flung him against a tree," Gossard said - again this was nothing unusual, T'Phai was thrown around a lot with nothing more then a scratch before.
"Yeh and I heard a crack," Higgins informed Razak; the reporter came in handy when it came to filling in reports due to his knowledge gained from being a reporter. "It sort of echoed I though I'd stood on a bug or something."
"Now it's mentioned I think I heard something too," Doc offered, his eyes closed to better recollect the memory. "He didn't shout out though, that wound looked painful. I suppose he must have had shock pretty bad."
"And finally I found him against that tree." Rico chimed in, feeling it was all he needed to complete the report Razak left. "That can't be all that happened to him, T'Phai's used to being thrown around!" Dizzy nodded thoughtfully.
~*~*~
Report Concerning the injury of Private T'Phai, Squad leader Lieutenant Jean Razak.
From what can be ascertained the rib fracture was caused in a hand-to-hand combat situation. The Private was thrown against a tree by a bug. Injury was not immediately found because there were no vocal sounds of pain. Injured unit member found by Private Juan Rico.
Razak looked at the tiny report; there was no way that just being thrown against a tree would cause the rib fracture in his officer. He considered what Doc and Higgins had said, both had heard cracks but there was nothing saying that they heard the same crack. The two had been a fair way apart; T'Phai might have hit the tree several times, hard; in which case a fractured rib was understandable. He wiped the report clean and started over.
~*~*~
A week later, medical wing,
Ellen Baxter spent very little of her time on herself during that week, she had never dealt with a rib fracture in a Skinnie before and she found it very fascinating. It seemed she was all but living in the various powersuits the MI had donated to the medical bay. She had just entered to start work that day and her patient was already awake. "Does it still hurt?" She queried well aware that the answer would be yes.
"Yes it does, when will I be able to return to my quarters? None of the other doctors will tell me." The taller being asked, his powersuit had been scrapped entirely, he was wearing the practical equivalent of trousers that Ellen had dug him out from stores. So they could easily check T'Phai's wound his chest was left bare save the tight bandage, which was partly used as support.
She had had to stop the other medics from conducting tests on the wounded being over the past week, she was curious too but the Skinnie was a colonel on Tophet and poking him around would not go well for the Human/Skinnie peace treaty so she had stemmed her curiosity for a later date.
"If your feeling up to it tomorrow," She commented with her back to him, she felt uncomfortable in the powersuit but she realised it was only a fraction of the discomfort a Skinnie felt, they sometimes had to sleep in their suits. "You'll have to stop by for checkups but sure you can go tomorrow."
"When can I return to duty?"
"A little keen aren't we? Not for a few months yet it will be painful for that long." Baxter informed him he looked a little dazed. "And you know that, you've broken a rib before?" She raised her tone of voice at the end of her sentence to denote it was a question.
"Yes, on Tophet when I was training."
"I thought as much, which side?"
"My right,"
"How long was it before you were on duty last time?"
"About two months,"
"Only two months?" She sounded amazed T'Phai gave a pointless nod because her back was still to him. "I'll let you back on duty when we both think you're ready." She turned and motioned that he should sit, he lowered himself onto the bunk painfully. Ellen had let T'Phai stand and walk when he felt ready to, not that there was a lot of room for him to do so the room was tiny, but he seemed to relish the chance to be up and moving rather then laid on a bunk.
"I can see about some pain relief for you, I realise it's a little long in coming but you used all we had here already. We could always try you on a human drug I suppose." She suggested hopefully, she had had to send for new drugs due to the amount T'Phai had required just after he had first came in; for a supposively stronger race, he had used a lot of the stuff.
"I will keep using what you get me from Tophet if that is alright." Ellen nodded; there was no way of knowing if the drugs would make the Skinnie feel worse or not. "Is there any way for you to get me a new suit by tomorrow I can not leave without one."
"I know that," She tried to keep the tone of the snap from her voice. "I probably can't, I've got a lot of other stuff to do. You could ask the other members of your unit, two of them are getting suited up as we speak and I think Flores is outside." This got his attention and he reached for the blanket besides him, Ellen helped to drape it about his shoulders so covering him slightly, he seemed to be timid when it came to others seeing his upper body.
He looked to the window as the doctor left, just as Dizzy looked up with a smile as she saw him watching her. "Sorry about not coming in, even with the suits it's a little too hot for me." She told him via the linkup the room shared with the outside bay, he nodded slightly, he shared that sentiment in part; it was a little too cold for him even with the suit on out on patrol sometimes but that was the price he paid for defending that which he loved.
The airlock hissed open and Rico and Doc entered the latter carrying a box. "How are you feeling?" Rico asked cheerfully, they both stood a little way from T'Phai but not blocking Diz's view at all.
"Not much better then I did yesterday," T'Phai admitted to the young man, who had stopped by briefly the day before to see how he was. Doc put the box on the cot besides the Skinnie; T'Phai looked at it with curiosity written all over his features.
"We sent news of your injury to your family on Tophet - it took us over a day to learn how to say everything in your language but your clan sent you some things, and there's a new suit in the bottom." Doc told T'Phai cheerfully, T'Phai's face gave the slightest hint of lighting up as he looked shocked, he reached for the box and Doc put it on his lap. Both of the other Roughnecks knew how good it was to get letters from relatives.
"Thank you,"
Aware that it was the only think the creature could think to say Rico smiled. "Don't mention it, I think we all threw something in, didn't we?" Johnny asked uncertainly, Diz nodded. "Even Brutto?" Again, she nodded, listening to the conversation over the comm. Linkup.
T'Phai looked around himself vainly for the locket that contained the images of his wife and children, his eyes falling onto every surface in the room. "It's ok T'Phai," Diz assured. "It's in the box; I found it just after you got hurt." He looked at her, looking relieved; that locket was all he had of his family and it meant a lot to him.
"Thank you, I feared I had lost it." His broad hands were holding the box like a life preserver, he slowly removed the lid and lying on top was the locket. "Thank you all, I have no way of repaying your generosity and kindness."
"It's ok," Rico assured, "We've got to go, this was just a flying visit we've got patrol." Saying their goodbyes the other Roughnecks left. T'Phai looked at the box on his lap and smiled, he had not expected anything of this sort and it was pleasant to get some thing from home.
~*~*~
The lid did not remain on the box very long for T'Phai's curiosity got the better of him in less then half a day - he lifted the lid from the box. Removing the locket, he placed it lovingly on the small table besides his cot. Lying underneath it were various note and letters from his family, including ones from his children, he put these on the bed besides him. There were various edible treats from his family and something his sister had cooked - after giving this a thoughtful sniff he decided not to eat it, he had never really trusted his sisters cooking.
All of these gifts reminded him of his home, upsetting him slightly because he was so far away. He had never thought he would miss his home so badly; he was a soldier, evidently one that the Human's had thought useful because they had assigned him to the Roughnecks yet he wanted nothing more then to go home to his family and see his children again.
And L'War of course,
Shoving these thoughts to the bottom of his mind T'Phai turned from the letters and treats and started looking at the gifts from the unit. There was a book from Higgins, a personal joke that he shared with the reporter because T'Phai's speech had been learnt from books and not from it being spoken him; with a smile he put it besides him.
Next there was some chocolate from Dizzy, another joke; Diz had once given him some chocolate thinking that it would affect him just like in humans, she was wrong T'Phai had spent the rest of the day on what she called a chocolate high and they all found it impossible to speak with him. None of them had ever seen a Skinnie go pink before and if he had anything to say about it then they never would again, he placed the thick bar besides him.
He opened Gossard's present with a dubious look on his face, he sniffed it, not recognising the smell. The foodstuff inside the bottom of the bag was dark brown and shiny, it did not look like a Human, let alone an injured Skinnie, should eat it.
From Razak there was a hand written note explaining that he would be by later. From Brutto there was a plain chain and a note explaining that he should put the locket on it because he had nearly lost it before, T'Phai did so threading the chain through the hole in the top of the locket.
Finally, there was a bag of red, tasty looking apples from Rico; apples were one of the fruits T'Phai could eat. Rico and he had once sat in mess for about five hours with the Human testing which fruits the Skinnie could eat, the conclusion of this was one very unwell T'Phai and only two fruits, apples and grapes.
T'Phai started to put everything back into the box, "My you've quite a hoard there," Baxter enthused upon entering the bay; he had not heard her enter. He put the letters into the box before realising that he would need the suit from the bottom of it, his expression conveyed his error and Ellen recognised this and helped him to empty the box again.
When they had emptied the box again Ellen pulled the neatly folded suit from its bottom and laid it out on the cot besides him, "It looks different," She commented her head held to one side as she surveyed it. He looked at it too, taking in its various curves and shape yet barely remembering the one he had worn before.
"No, it is the same as my old one was, the colours are just a little more pronounced." T'Phai told her, he picked up the bag with Gossard's present in again and noted the look of curiosity on the doctor's face. "It is the gift that Gossard gave to me; do you know what it is?" She took the held out bag from him and peered inside.
With obvious delight, she gave a slight chuckle, "It's liquorish, I knew Goss was hoarding that stuff!" She gave the bag back to him with a smile. "I don't know how your insides are going to deal with that! You could give it a shot but I'd wait until your better," she gave it back to him and he peered into the bag again.
~*~*~
It was not until a week after T'Phai's attack that things started to have an effect on Razak, during the after accident debriefing Brutto had said nothing; usually he said something even if it was not relevant. Nothing said that Brutto knew anything but Razak did not believe in consequences.
Rather then question the other man he went down to the medical bay, he peered into the window; T'Phai lay on the cot with his back to the window but he was awake, Razak could see the light shining off a note in his three fingered grasp. A grey haired man came to Razak's side. "Can I help you sir?"
"Yes I want to speak to him," Razak told the doctor motioning T'Phai slightly with a tip of his head. After a brief discussion, Razak suited up, entering the air lock.
When he entered, T'Phai was up and pacing thoughtfully a letter held limply in his grasp, the note looked like that of a child and Razak guessed that it was one from T'Phal or M'Rette; T'Phai must have been feeling very alone in the tiny room with only letters of his kind to keep him company. "Private T'Phai, I know it's late but I have to speak with you," T'Phai turned to him, sorrow still written over his features making Razak feel that he had intruded into something he should not have. The ex-colonel moved back the bed, sitting slowly a hand held to his chest.
"How can I help you?" He pushed the letters safely from view so that he would not be compelled to look at them. He looked up at Razak. The Roughnecks leader lent against a panel.
"I filled in the incident report a week ago but something just doesn't seem right, can I hear what happened from you?"
"Of course, I have been thinking of it myself."
~_~_~
T'Phai shot at a bug about to attack his CO, shooting one of it's legs from under it - it had the desired effect of distracting it, drawing it away from Razak meant that it came for him. Showing considerable intelligence it knocked his weapon from his grasp and out of his grasping range, there was no way T'Phai was going to get that weapon back.
With a shout, he went hand to claw with the bug, distracted briefly by a shot fired at something behind him the bug smacked him hard in the chest; T'Phai saw Brutto look over at him and motioned that he was fine. He grabbed one of the bug's legs and shoved it inside the fowl creature. With a shriek of pain, the bug pushed him roughly against a tree winding him badly.
Whilst still hurt by being winded Brutto and another bug slammed into him, crushed feebly against a tree and the combined weight of Brutto and a bug T'Phai felt something give, feeling the blood starting to pool beneath his shirt. Exhaling sharply the Skinnie fell collapsing against the tree.
~_~_~
"After a minute or so Rico found me there," T'Phai finished. Razak nodded thoughtfully, closing his eyes briefly. The Skinnies hand had strayed on to his chest since describing the actual crushing moment, as if supporting himself.
"So Brutto was involved?"
"Not really, I was to fault."
"But Brutto was the one who crushed you along with the bug."
"I do not know, my attention was focused elsewhere," His hand returned to the point over his fractured rib, he looked at Razak. The doctor tapped on the window and tapped his watch slightly, time up. "I believe they are planning on sending me back to my quarters early tomorrow, the doctor is keen on my getting some sleep first though."
Razak tried to think of something to say but he could not think of anything, he left the bay leaving T'Phai with his letters, which he read repeatedly until he finally fell asleep.
~*~*~
It was very early the next morning when T'Phai woke - with the partial assistance of a male nurse he pulled on the new suit; finally, with no assistance, he pulled on his helmet. "Are you alright with this?" Ellen asked, she watched as he sat down with a hand clasped on his rib cage. "We can keep you here for a while longer it you'd like." T'Phai looked into her blue eyes; her brief experience with him had taught her that the eyes were important to his kind; his were currently highly emotive, so much so that she could nearly get his answer.
"Thank you for your care but I feel I must return to my quarters now," T'Phai thanked; he took her hands gently in his own and spoke in his own dialect. Realising all of a sudden what he was doing he stopped. "Sorry, I get a little caught up in my thanks sometimes. I can translate it if you would like."
"No, no I prefer it like that," She stroked her hand gently against the inside of his, feeling the pads of his hands beneath the suit. On Tophet, there were reasons for these invisible pads but no Human would ever know them. Aware of what she was doing she dropped his hands and turned to one of the panels. T'Phai stood and went to her side.
"I have made you uncomfortable, I have forgotten how humans view touch, I am sorry." T'Phai apologised, "The gesture was meant as nothing more then polite." She turned to him, looking relieved; feeling a little silly that she had felt he had a crush on her; he was a married man after all, then again in Human's that meant very little sometimes.
Ellen knew the pain of parental divorce well, her own father had had an affair before she was born and her mother had thrown him out and Ellen had only met him once yet she never wished to see him again. She hoped to whoever was out there and watching that T'Phai's children, or anyone else's, would have to go through that.
"I think being away from my unit has caused me to forget what is acceptable."
Ellen gave a nod and a slightly weak smile, "That's understandable I suppose. You're going to need a medical check up once a week but besides that you're clear to go today." He nodded slightly, "Tuesday good for you?"
"What day is it today?"
"Friday - by the Human calendar."
"I assumed you were using the human system of measuring days, Tophet has no Tuesday's and Friday's." She watched him agonise over these new words, he rarely used them and they were not simple words. He felt that the Humans had far too many names for things; it was easier on Tophet where the days did not matter.
"Why don't you use a talk box?"
"I prefer to learn a language and I would feel uncomfortable speaking in my own dialect around Humans who are not as forgiving and polite as you are. Many of your kind still see my own as . monsters," he said the word with venom. Some of his kind had felt the same about Humans who had shot many Skinnie's during their campaign on Tophet but war is like that. "Often it is someone who has lost a loved one, I understand because I fight the bugs for the same reason."
"I lost my very best friend and my boyfriend to Skinnies, doesn't mean I want revenge on all of you though, you certainly wouldn't be sitting there if I did. Being mind controlled means you loose the responsibility for that." She told him evenly, he looked surprised. "Your unit lost Jenkins and they don't treat you like a Skinnie anymore." With this, she motioned the box besides him.
"They used to; I caught hyperthermia before they all trusted me."
"Well, they knew who you were and that you were to fault."
"Most Humans I have met know who I am; I was the centre of your offensive on Tophet." He ignored that she had said he was to fault for CJ's comatose state; he was not sure that he was to blame for that himself. Admittedly the control bug that caused CJ to use his mental powers was from the back of his neck and he had entered just when they were about to capture it.
Nevertheless, he had been so angry, the bug had violated his body making him do some awful things and he was supposed to watch as the foolish Humans did the same thing. All he knew was that he wanted to kill it for all the Humans and Skinnies he had been forced to kill; for all the members of his kind he had sent into the mines.
"We're not getting rid of you today are we?"
"Pardon?" he asked as the doctor snapped him out of his depressed thoughts. He felt a connection to the youthful human, something unexplainable. Perhaps it was friendship, which was a word that humans used a lot; the Skinnie had never had a human friend, he had companions in the Roughnecks of course but none of them saw him as a friend. He felt that the one thing he had ever needed upon leaving his home world was a friend.
"It's just that you can't carry that box yourself,"
"Yes, I believe that Higgins has said he would take it."
~*~*~
Ever since she had been a little girl, Ellen had been obsessed with aliens, she even had one as an imaginary friend, which caused children to leave her alone, and she grew up a very lonely little child. She met her best friend a year before Tophet where they were both posted; she had been his medic when he had died.
She had watched as the Skinnie constrictor blast had tightened on his body making it impossible to breathe, she had watched as he had reached for her hand and she had watched as the engagement ring fell from his grasp. His name had been Liam Galen and he was going to ask her to marry him that very same morning.
Ellen had felt insanely angry, not working for a whole month whilst she grieved for him. They had done everything together; even drills and transfers and suddenly this huge part of her life had gone missing.
Then she had realised that there was only race to blame and it was not the Skinnies. One race which they had all been fighting for so long! T'Phai and his kind had been fighting for just as long, if not longer against this scourge, so there was no way of blaming them.
It was hard to describe but Ellen felt a connection to T'Phai, who had lost someone too, unlike Ellen he did not yet know if L'War was alive or dead. He had to live with that uncertainty for the rest of his life, either that or when they found her which was not very likely.
He was also a very loving father, having asked twice in one day if he could send notes to T'Phal and M'Rette. He did everything for them and it was clear by the way he had treated the notes from the two that he missed them a lot.
Perhaps she had found the one thing she had been longing for her whole life,
An alien who would be her friend.
~*~*~
True to what they had agreed a few days before T'Phai arrived on Tuesday ready for his medical exam. "How are you in yourself?" Ellen asked formally, not yet sure if he wanted her as a friend; she did not know all that much about him and he was a very large and very strong being, there was no way of telling just how a Skinnie would view a Human asking to be friends with them.
Due to the fact that they were now meeting outside the room they had been in when T'Phai was first injured he wore a suit whilst she wore her usual uniform, the plain grey of a doctor; Liam had always used to say it brought out the colour of her eyes really well, making the blue seem clearer.
She had just been monitoring the Skinnie in the lab room, another soldier like T'Phai but one who had somehow managed to catch a Human cold; she had concluded that the Skinnie had caught it whilst attaching her helmet a week before.
"I am feeling no better then I did," he admitted, she watched as he sat on the cot she had motioned. "Are you sure there is no way to heal this quickly?" She looked at him with partial sympathy in her large blue eyes, whilst Ellen had never broken a rib before she knew several people who had due to her profession.
"I'm sorry, there's no way to change a tank and I'm sure your healing fine."
"It does not feel like it,"
"Yes well no one forced you to go breaking your ribs did they?" Not until after the sentence had been said, did Ellen realise what she had said, she turned to him a hand clamped to her mouth. T'Phai regarded her with childish curiosity, his head cocked to one side ever so slightly, Ellen had never seen him use this expression before 'Why did he have to go and look so sweet, man I've had puppies that have pulled that.' She thought.
"Sorry, I . forgot who I was talking too." She admitted softly, rarely did she forget whom she was talking too and doing so with such an obvious alien was stupid. T'Phai's face was neutral again and she could not tell whether his kind showed any emotion besides that which leaked out via their fluidic black eyes and the tiniest slips they gave in their expressions.
Ellen had never been naïve enough to believe that this was because they did not feel emotions like humans, it was just because they were more controlled then the Humans around them. She was prone to being a little emotional at times.
"That is not an easy thing to do, the only similarity I hold with humans is that I am a biped."
"Are you taking the micky out of me?" She asked good humouredly, aware that he was. 'Two counts, he's a loving father and he's got a great sense of humour, well he's got a sense of humour in the least.' He did not give her a sign as to what he was doing but he was certainly teasing her. "Well fine then, if your going to be like that you can't have my treatment or the drugs I got you from Tophet!" he looked a little shocked, evidently not used to the Human's humour.
"I need those Dr. Baxter,"
"Ohh so now you're going to be all formal and nice? Now you've finished teasing me?"
Both looked at each other, both understanding that they would be friends from now on. The short light-hearted exchange between them had worked in making them form a connection, no matter how loose that connection was.
"It's a shame your not eating Human food right now, I make a mean lemon meringue pie!"
To Ellen's great delight, he pulled a face exactly like the one she had seen on one of Higgins videos, the reporter loved to show those things off; it was the same as the one he had pulled when Razak had asked for a parking lot. Moreover, to top things off he made the noise too.
~*~*~
Whilst it was not the most conventional way to start a friendship it worked, soon they were telling each other secrets and had an understanding of one another. Ellen soon realised when T'Phai was hurt, when he was pouting and when he was ready to rip someone's head off, this particular one was used the least, T'Phai had an incredible amount of patience.
A month was soon up; it was good for all to see T'Phai about again even if he was not doing squad work. One day Higgins found the Skinnie sitting in the general rec. room, he looked a little miserable, especially for the standings the unit knew him by. The Human slid into a seat opposite the Colonel, who looked up. There was not a separate recreations room for Skinnie's but the aliens seemed to like being around humans anyway, but saying that they did not seem to mind being alone either.
"Are you alright?" The reporter asked making sure T'Phai watched him slip the camera into his pocket; this would be a private conversation, Higgins had long since learnt when things were not to be intruded upon. T'Phai looked at him directly, his large black eyes watching him steadily.
"They may have found L'War," Higgins looked a little blank. "My mate," Higgins face lighted with understanding.
"Alive or dead?"
"Dead," T'Phai's voice was soft, filled with emotion and his bottom lip was twitching. Whilst he had been thinking of this all morning he had not yet told anyone else, saying that she was dead aloud made things harder. "My mother is going to identify her today,"
Higgins held a respectful pause, before continuing. "Do you want it to be her?" The Skinnie looked at him, his expression making it clear that he did not understand "Maybe if it was me I would want to know either way, so I'd know whether or not to be grieving or looking for her." T'Phai sighed visibly.
"I am not sure; perhaps it would be for the best."
"Well I hope you know soon," Higgins said honestly standing, whilst missing L'War was one thing waiting to hear if she was dead was another. He touched the Skinnies shoulder loosely and left. Ellen entered, she looked as if she had been running, and she stopped by his table.
"I heard about L'War,"
"Yes, I left a message for you,"
"I know that bozo I just got it!" She sat besides him and looked up at him. "I hope it's not her," Her tone changed dramatically from that of someone jesting to that of a concerned friend, her hand rested on his gently but he tugged away unused to touch, what with being back around the unit again; he had not noticed Higgins touching his shoulder. "Do T'Phal and M'Rette know yet?"
"No," T'Phai told her softly, "I wanted to be sure first." Ellen nodded; there was no reason to upset his children if he was still uncertain. T'Phai's life revolved around his children, he fought for them, he wrote them everyday and he spoke often of them with Ellen, there was no way he would upset them with a maybe. "When will you know?"
"My mother has promised to contact me as soon as possible, that could be days away." Ellen recognised the distress in his voice but she was the only one who would, none of the others would be able to hear it. She rested her hand on his again and he did not try to pull away this time.
"Come on, I can't leave you here alone. I've got an hour of shift left but that's it for today, we can go and test your shoulder again." Ellen tried to draw his attention from it, T'Phai's left shoulder had been getting weak for a while now due to his lack of action; he did not use it due to his injured side. He went with her, letting her make him forget his woes briefly.
At least on the outside.
~*~*~
The next morning there was a message from his mother saying that it had not been L'War; T'Phai was not sure how to treat the news. Perhaps it would have been better if it were her corpse on Tophet, at least then he would be sure of her being on that part of the planet at least, rather then not having the faintest clue of her whereabouts.
He assumed she was on Tophet anyway; she had gone missing before the Humans had arrived and the only other way off the planet was by transport bug, which no Skinnie would do.
He had guessed that she must have died in one of the mines, the Roughnecks had found him underground after all; and he gave an involuntary shudder as he thought about it. He was not quite sure why the bug had made him go down that hole, probably because he was becoming more and more unmanageable perhaps it knew the Roughnecks would be there but there were too many maybes and probably's for T'Phai to know.
At about midday Ellen buzzed his door; he knew it was she because she had the annoying habit of ringing it several times in a row very rapidly she enjoyed doing it! He found that Ellen got insane joy through doing things, things that often seemed to be incredibly childish, such as ringing the door chime too much. He stood and latched his helmet opening the door to meet her visage.
"Hey," Ellen greeted, she had a half day and had promised to spend it with him. "I think your chime's broken!" T'Phai looked at her, slumping his shoulders slightly, she knew all too well that the bell worked fine. "So, want to go for a walk?" They left his room and headed outside the base, sitting in a safe enclosed courtyard.
"It was not L'War,"
Ellen looked at him; he looked sad, sad even for him. She rested her hand on his shoulder pad gently; she knew why he was so upset, if it had been L'War then he could start to get to grips with the fact she was dead but now he did not know if she was or not.
L'War's being Missing In Action had started to effect Ellen too, as dumb as it sounded to herself and to others she felt she knew T'Phai's mate due to the number of times he had spoken of her. She knew T'Phal and M'Rette too, having once spoken to them via him and with him; they had both looked at her as if she was something incredible, which she was to them, she was the first Human they would ever see.
"Oh," Ellen did not know what to say and T'Phai seemed to understand that. "I'm sorry," Things seemed to digress, neither of them spoke and T'Phai was looking up towards the sky, showing his emotions even more, things seemed hopeless.
"I've got some spare comm. time left, you take it. Speak with T'Phal and M'Rette, wish her a happy birthday!" Ellen was hoping to break her tall friend out of his morale shattering depression, seeing him in such a desperately hopeless mood made Ellen feel bad.
T'Phai looked at her, his features amazed; whilst Ellen acted like a child she was selfless, she had told him how she was going to speak with her mother that week using up the same comm. time she had given him. "Don't you dare say you don't want it! I've got thirty minutes extra and I don't want any of them left."
"Ellen, you can not give me all of the time you have collected; what of your mother?"
"I wrote her, and I know you'd do this for me." Ellen meant it as a joke; T'Phai used his communication time when he got it, so he never had any. She saw this as fair, if she had a child, she would contact it as soon as she got her comm. time.
"I would,"
"Well that's settled then; just make sure you wish M'Rette a happy birthday from me." She smiled widely at him; T'Phai shook his head, which always looked a little strange inside his helmet.
"No, you can wish her one yourself; I want you to speak with them both."
"How am I going to do that Einstein? I can't speak your language in the least!"
"I can translate for you, please, it would mean a lot to her. If she records it she can show it to her friends, they would be impressed if a Human were wishing her a good birthday." Ellen saw the enthusiasm in his previously sorry face and nodded slightly, she may as well make the child happy it was not as is she was going to see her parents again any time soon.
~*~*~
The light-hearted nature of his conversation with M'Rette and T'Phal had left T'Phai in a good mood, knowing they were not only safe but also happy made him feel good. Ellen had laughed so hard that she had cried, making M'Rette and T'Phal giggle in delight, they had never seen anything cry before. Ellen then sang happy birthday to M'Rette, which did not translate all too well.
M'Rette was delighted, giggling even more when her father had translated the song; watching Ellen double over. Ellen then started dancing about in time to the short song, making both children laugh; she stopped whenever T'Phai turned around to face her.
When they had finished with the comm. time, they went and sat in Ellen's room, primarily because T'Phai felt it fair if she got to take her helmet off considering the fact that he had already had a chance to take his off whilst talking to his children.
"I've never laughed so hard," Ellen admitted. T'Phai nodded, whilst Ellen was a very happy-go-lucky and giggly person she had never quite laughed that much in his presence. "They're great kids T'Phai, T'Phal even speaks like you do, well I think he does, just sounded like you were sneezing at each other to me!"
"It did not sound like sneezing,"
"Ok it didn't quite sound like sneezing."
"M'Rette is much taken by you,"
"You mean she likes me? Of course she does! Everyone loves me!"
"I do not love you,"
"I meant liking me a lot love, not literal love, I hope you like me I want that comm. time back if you don't!"
"I cannot give you that back I have already used it,"
"Oh ha ha Mr. Funny!"
"I was not aiming to be funny,"
"Oh I got you, that time's gone and you can't give it me back."
"Indeed,"
"Ok, M'Rette's a great kid, they both are." Ellen enthused, realising that they behaved a lot like their father must have done when he was younger, and she saw much of how she imagined L'War to be in the two, especially M'Rette who was emotive and caring openly whilst T'Phai and his son hid what they were really feeling. They made a very sweet family, no matter where you were in the universe there were always cute families.
"It has not been easy on them both, losing their mother and then losing myself to the war; whilst they know I am alive they do not know precisely where I am or whether or not they will ever see me again." He sighed looking down, all his military reserve vanished as it often did when he spoke of his family, and they were the only thing keeping him where he was.
She found it amazing that someone as centred and militarily minded as T'Phai was could sit and seem so defeated by homesickness. She had often had to help cheer him up after conversations about his family, it sometimes worked but at others it did not, which then made her depressed too.
"They aren't going to lose you; you've got the best damn doctor in the universe." He gave a very soft snort, Ellen was not someone who thought a lot of herself or of her skills but she was a good doctor and they both knew it. "If you did die I'll go to Tophet myself and tell them, I wouldn't want Razak or some other LT telling my family I'd died; I'd want someone who knew me, knew my achievements."
"Thank you, I would go to Earth and tell your family,"
"That's what I was aiming for," Ellen teased slightly. "Do you know when you next get some home time?"
"I do not, it was one of the terms of my contract, any time I am assigned to Tophet it is for military reasons." T'Phai informed her maturely, even for him he was being very mature and she recognised his absolute reserve in signing the contract despite the fact he could not return home unless ordered.
He missed his home, just like all the other Skinnie's Ellen had met; they all missed being on Tophet - they missed the heat, being able to breathe freely and they all missed the beings they had left behind, be they relative, lover or friend. T'Phai occasionally met someone he had known, he had even once introduced her to a being he called a friend but he missed T'Phal and M'Rette badly and they both realised that nothing was going to stop that.
Whilst she had no children of her own, she had young cousins and such, she loved them all dearly but the connection could never be as close as that between T'Phai and his young. She watched him write them letters everyday and she had seen him in communication with them.
If he did not have T'Phal and M'Rette, T'Phai knew he would have nothing besides the newly found friendship between Ellen and himself. Whilst he would never tell her, and she would never tell him, the support she offered helped him to keep going with his efforts in the Roughnecks.
"All this talk of death has made us forget what is important," T'Phai insisted, hoping to snap both of them out of their thoughts. Ellen looked at him from the corner of her eyes; he was giving as much of a grin as he could. "Come, we shall celebrate birthdays, I assume they mean the same on Earth as they do on Tophet?"
"That depends on what they mean on Tophet,"
~*~*~
It appeared that they did, both of them passed the rest of the day speaking about Birthdays in the past; both of them were enjoying themselves thoroughly, letting themselves forget the terrible war waging elsewhere. T'Phai handed Ellen something small and circular from his personal effects, "It is edible, I have taken the gamble of eaten Human foods I believe it is time you tried one from Tophet." Ellen took it from his hand and slipped it into her mouth. "Do not chew it strait away, I did so once and I will never do so again."
She sucked it thoughtfully, it had an odd taste much like a sherbet lemon but more varied; there was no sherbet in it but something smooth and flowing; which tasted oddly like lime. T'Phai nodded, to say she could now chew it. "Man that's good, what was it?"
"Carlaock, I am not sure what it translates too; they are amongst my favourite foods."
"I can see why, what is it? A sweet?"
"What is a sweet?"
"Chocolates a kind of sweet, uh . liquorish are, it's a sugary food that you eat despite your diet."
"No, it is a fruit, they grow on Tophet for a brief period per year, I have had to ask my mother for the time they come into season." He told her softly, they were sat in a corner of her room and he was more then happy doing so despite the fact that he had to wear his helmet. "She had been saving these for me for some time."
"How long do they keep for?"
"Once off Tophet not long at all; on Tophet they will keep for a month or so, if stored correctly as long as a year but it seems they disagree with Oxygen much like my people." Ellen nodded slightly, he gave her another one but she declined.
"Nah, they're yours, it'll be a while before you get some more."
"I would not offer this to you if I did not want for you to have it." Ellen took it from his out held hand, looking at it this time. It looked like a small strawberry, all bumpy and rounded like one but it was purple and blue in colour; if she ever found out how they tasted so good she would patent the flavouring and make herself ludicrously rich. "I have some stored properly in my room, I can eat those ones whereas you cannot, some of the things we use to store them in are poisonous to Humans."
"What like arsenic?"
"No, no, I believe that is a poison to my race too - unsurprisingly enough no one has been keen to try that one out."
"I wonder why," She murmured sarcastically. "If I were a Skinnie I wouldn't want to test it!" T'Phai nodded in agreement; he certainly would not want to risk any damage to himself for the sake of pointless science, there were more important things to be discovered over the fact of whether or not Skinnie's could eat arsenic!
~*~*~
A month later.
"Good, now try that one." Ellen was running checks on T'Phai, clearing him for duty finally. The two were once again outside the cell designed for the treatment of his kind, which now contained the corpse of a less then fortunate alien who had died of an infected bug bite. Ellen had been the main doctor treating the being and she had told T'Phai how guilty she had felt, he assured her that she had done her best.
The tall being lifted the object she had motioned with his weaker arm and she nodded. "Better, good, I think your ready for duty, not unless your happy sponging off Earth for a while longer."
T'Phai looked as indignant as he could, which was not much over how he looked usually, Ellen smiled slightly letting him know that she was joking with him. "Your sense of humour has not improved," Ellen licked the end of her finger and run it through the air near his helmeted head with a hissing noise; he looked at her as if he felt she had gone insane.
"It's a Human gesture, it means that what you said was a hot comment, very good and very slicing; I'm impressed, your leave hasn't slowed your wit!" She explained ending in a joke; T'Phai's wit was natural and it seemed he did not mean to be funny or sarcastic half the time.
"When am I going back to the Roughnecks?"
"Later today," She said in a friendly tone. "Your squads got good old fashioned night shift," He looked at her, he did not like night shift. Being from Tophet he was unaccustomed at going out at night, he seemed to close in when it was dark and she supposed that was because he was from a species that loved sunlight so much. "Off you hop colonel I don't want you cluttering up my bay anymore!" Realising it was a joke T'Phai left her.
Ellen returned to her proper duties, smiling widely. She had a fair few Human patients, one of whom had a bad rip fracture and was in the medi tank, she gave a slight chuckle to herself, of all the things to happen to a patient with a bad rib fracture making him your best friend was not the worst outcome.
~*~*~ END
It was hot by Human standards but cold to Skinnies, keeping them entrapped in the thermal suits they wore; not that any Skinnie ever complained about it, they chose to be there to help with the fighting but it was clear that they disliked the endless suffocating feel to the suits.
Fortunately, they were stationed at a base that was designed with both races in mind. Meaning that T'Phai and other members of his kind could escape to their own rooms and be in vaguely acceptable temperatures, one of the first things T'Phai had mentioned was the fact that it was good of the Human's to go to such extents for the comfort of their officers.
"Are you ok?" Rico queried, despite his usual strength and reserve T'Phai was leant against a large Oak like tree with his large splayed hand covering his left side gently, his breathing sounded a little painful, hollow and raspy. He looked up at Johnny wearily. The erstwhile colonel moved his hand to display the slight bump on his suit, which was surrounded by T'Phai's blood. Rico hissed between his teeth sharply, the Skinnie had obviously broken one if not more of his ribs, he was lucky the suit had not ruptured.
"Doc, get over here now!" Rico yelled, T'Phai lowered his hand back onto the invisible wound shakily. The other squad member joined them, squatting loosely besides the injured being. He made the same noise Rico had upon seeing the bump that revealed the injury.
"I think you may have broken a rib," Doc guessed. T'Phai gave him a look that conveyed the exact thing the Rico was thinking. 'Of course he's broken a rib, what else could it be?' "Do you think you could make it back to base?" Whilst the base itself was no more then a half hours march LaCroix realised that the fracture T'Phai had was painful, rib fractures were known as one of the most painful kind. If it got bad then even walking would be unbearable, not that T'Phai would admit that was so because he was a seasoned officer.
"I believe so," T'Phai murmured in a whisper soft voice. There was a pause as they all thought, none of them were naïve enough to believe that the fractured rib would remain underneath the suit for long and if it snagged even the smallest hole in the suit then T'Phai would be a corpse - they had to think of a way of securing it.
"Pouch bandages," Rico said suddenly, the other two looked at him in confusion. "The sticky bit of a pouch bandage is sticky," Doc gave him a look which clearly said 'well you don't say Einstein' so Rico continued. "It'll stick to suit together, just in case." Doc nodded thoughtfully and drew out a bandage.
"What do you think?" He asked the Skinnie, "Will it work?" T'Phai's expression was neutral to the point of uncertainty; he did not know whether it would. Doc placed the bandage over the bump gently, being careful not to drive the bone back into T'Phai's body.
He did not take his eyes off the Skinnie whilst he did so, T'Phai was shaking, the wound had to be very painful and breathing even more so.
Just after Doc had stepped back Brutto marched up to them, this left Dizzy, Razak and Gossard watching their backs against the likely return of bugs. "Ok boys lets break up the mothers meeting the LT wants us on the bounce back to base!" Doc stood motioning that T'Phai should stay where he was.
"T'Phai's broken a rib sarge; we're concerned about suit integrity."
"He can't fight anymore then?"
"No,"
"I . I am ." T'Phai stammered out, standing on his uncertain shaky legs. ". sure I could ." His legs gave way and he fell to the ground with an exclamation of pain and a resounding crunching sound. The four humans present flinched.
T'Phai felt temporarily blinded by the pain he felt, seeing a multitude of stars before his eyes; Doc moved to his immediate side checking him for additional wounds. He wore an expression of disgust on his face; he found the colonels attempts at standing disturbing.
"That was stupid." Rico could not help but say, is he had broken a rib as badly as T'Phai had then he would not be trying to stand or persuade Brutto that he could continue fighting.
"Yep,"
"Definitely," Doc and Higgins said from either side. None of them would normally argue with T'Phai, arguing with a seven foot something being who could crush your head in a second was often considered unwise, but the seven foot something being did not usually have a piece of bone poking through his rib cage and the threatening risk of death due to exposure.
Brutto marched over to join Razak, the two men spoke in hushed tones of their return to base. Returning to base with an injured team member was acceptable but T'Phai's injury made their return all the more hazardous. The Bugs were opportunistic hunter and they were more likely to hunt an injured being rather then a healthy one.
"Alright team let's move out!" Razak roared not looking at T'Phai aware that the other being would not want everyone making a fuss of the wound. Doc helped T'Phai to his feet taking the Skinnies right arm to help him along; with traditional strength and masculinity, T'Phai pulled away.
Doc noticed the weakness of the tug; T'Phai's strength was diminishing.
~*~*~
It was clear to everyone that the walk back was agonising for T'Phai; none of the others had ever heard him moan before but now almost every uneven step prompted a moan from the injured being, it was clear to all that things were miserable for him.
The sky had become black and heavy with cloud, as Higgins had told them all several times it was going to rain. Unfortunately for many of them the rain on Jakava was cold, even the Human's disliked this rapid change in climate yet with high magnetic interference there was not any sort of forecasting available there was no way for them to plan ahead.
This would cause implications for the injured being; the water would increase his weight enough to be noticeable making breathing more of a huge effort. The soil would turn to mud so being hard to move in making his footfalls even more difficult. Moreover, if any water got into his suit through its weakened fibres, no matter how small the amount, he was likely to get hyperthermia again.
Razak called a halt, Doc watched with concern as T'Phai lowered himself to the ground. "What's going on?" The medic asked softly, Razak then called loudly for silence. All eight beings were listening hard and the only noise three of them could hear was the wheezing noise T'Phai was making, the others could easily hear the click of approaching bugs.
In a flurry all the bugs appeared, forming a loose circle shield around their wounded member the Roughnecks were reaching for their weapons; Gossard and Rico, having taken over from Doc when T'Phai had been injured, charged the Marauders weapons. "Don't fire," Razak ordered, in case the bugs were on the rare task of passing through. T'Phai reached shakily for his weapon, giving another involuntary groan as he brought it to rest in front of him.
The Bugs squealed in malicious delight as if sensing the Skinnie's painful reach throwing themselves towards the unit; what tiny gaps were left in his shield allowed him to see the action but T'Phai did not try to shoot it was hurting too much.
With a mighty clap of thunder the rain started, huge drops of water crashing down upon them; within minutes, the area was muddy and they were all soaked. When the bugs were finally dispelled some fifteen minutes later, Doc went to T'Phai's side.
Due to the rain the stickiness of the bandage had failed, there had been a rapid down pour, which had caused the durable adhesive bandage to loose its tackiness, "Can we get a little shelter over here?" Doc called out, both the Marauders stood in the way of the rain allowing Doc to put a new bandage onto T'Phai's side. As an after though he dug around in his pockets for a piece of plastic to cover that with, he did not want to risk the suits breaking on the now very short trek back.
Shuddering uncontrollably, the Skinnie reached to put his weapon into his pack; Doc took it from him and stored it on his pack securely. "Couldn't we put him in one of the Marauders?" Higgins asked from where he was sitting on Doc's right, the reporters face was damp and red, Doc shook his head regretfully.
"No, the motion of the thing would do more harm then good." Higgins nodded ruefully, the marauders 'waddling' would make for an uncomfortable trip back to base, more then likely wounding the Skinnie further. Doc looked into T'Phai's weary dark eyes, waiting for him to nod and say he could continue. When it came, Doc was surprised, whilst there was now only a little way to go it was still very rainy and muddy; Doc nodded back to T'Phai helping the Skinnie up with a detached preciseness about him.
~*~*~
There was no way of changing a med. Tank for the Skinnie; it would take too long and by that time it would probably be too late to help him anyway. Due to the nature of the base, it had a special, albeit small bay for his kind meaning that he could be treated without wearing his suit.
Like an observation window inside some of the hospital facilities one of the walls was dominated with a window with panels and sensors that meant doctors could monitor the patient without entering, the room's airlock was just to the left hand side of it. The bay was about five meters by five meters, which made for a small space when you though of all the complex equipment it took to heal anything.
Through the small air lock, a female doctor emerged her long golden brown hair cascading down her shoulders, her helmet tucked under her arm from being in the Methane filled room. "I am Doctor Ellen Baxter; I'm the chief medic dealing with the private. We did not remove the broken rib because it was not completely disconnected from his rib cage. He needs to heal the Rib himself, which could take a while.
Within a week or so, the private can be returned to his quarters but until then he'll need to heal here, from what I understand quiet rest helps with the healing process."
"What do you mean from what you understand?" Razak demanded annoyed with her impreciseness. Baxter backed away from the soldier nervously. Higgins stepped in front of his CO.
"She means that the Skinnies are insanely secretive about themselves sir," Higgins told him softly; whilst most of Higgins observations lingered on the obvious this one was less so. "All that I ever found out is that they need to rest quietly to heal quicker."
"How long until he's back on duty?"
Baxter lowered her head as if to think on Razak's question but they could all tell she did not want to say. "About three months," She told them expecting the shouts that she gained. "That fracture will be painful for that long; at least it is in Human terms. Rib fractures are known for being ludicrously painful!"
Razak seemed in a state of shock; with the bug war going as badly as it was they would need experienced men like T'Phai. "SICON will need an incident report and an initial treatment synopsis."
~*~*~
"Let's start this simply, does anyone remember what happened?" Razak asked over mess that evening, they were trying to piece together what had occurred and the best way to do this was get several reports of the same thing.
"I saw the colonel hand to hand with one of the bugs," Diz told him; this was unhelpful because T'Phai was strong enough to do hand to hand conflict with the bugs, no it had to be something bigger.
"It flung him against a tree," Gossard said - again this was nothing unusual, T'Phai was thrown around a lot with nothing more then a scratch before.
"Yeh and I heard a crack," Higgins informed Razak; the reporter came in handy when it came to filling in reports due to his knowledge gained from being a reporter. "It sort of echoed I though I'd stood on a bug or something."
"Now it's mentioned I think I heard something too," Doc offered, his eyes closed to better recollect the memory. "He didn't shout out though, that wound looked painful. I suppose he must have had shock pretty bad."
"And finally I found him against that tree." Rico chimed in, feeling it was all he needed to complete the report Razak left. "That can't be all that happened to him, T'Phai's used to being thrown around!" Dizzy nodded thoughtfully.
~*~*~
Report Concerning the injury of Private T'Phai, Squad leader Lieutenant Jean Razak.
From what can be ascertained the rib fracture was caused in a hand-to-hand combat situation. The Private was thrown against a tree by a bug. Injury was not immediately found because there were no vocal sounds of pain. Injured unit member found by Private Juan Rico.
Razak looked at the tiny report; there was no way that just being thrown against a tree would cause the rib fracture in his officer. He considered what Doc and Higgins had said, both had heard cracks but there was nothing saying that they heard the same crack. The two had been a fair way apart; T'Phai might have hit the tree several times, hard; in which case a fractured rib was understandable. He wiped the report clean and started over.
~*~*~
A week later, medical wing,
Ellen Baxter spent very little of her time on herself during that week, she had never dealt with a rib fracture in a Skinnie before and she found it very fascinating. It seemed she was all but living in the various powersuits the MI had donated to the medical bay. She had just entered to start work that day and her patient was already awake. "Does it still hurt?" She queried well aware that the answer would be yes.
"Yes it does, when will I be able to return to my quarters? None of the other doctors will tell me." The taller being asked, his powersuit had been scrapped entirely, he was wearing the practical equivalent of trousers that Ellen had dug him out from stores. So they could easily check T'Phai's wound his chest was left bare save the tight bandage, which was partly used as support.
She had had to stop the other medics from conducting tests on the wounded being over the past week, she was curious too but the Skinnie was a colonel on Tophet and poking him around would not go well for the Human/Skinnie peace treaty so she had stemmed her curiosity for a later date.
"If your feeling up to it tomorrow," She commented with her back to him, she felt uncomfortable in the powersuit but she realised it was only a fraction of the discomfort a Skinnie felt, they sometimes had to sleep in their suits. "You'll have to stop by for checkups but sure you can go tomorrow."
"When can I return to duty?"
"A little keen aren't we? Not for a few months yet it will be painful for that long." Baxter informed him he looked a little dazed. "And you know that, you've broken a rib before?" She raised her tone of voice at the end of her sentence to denote it was a question.
"Yes, on Tophet when I was training."
"I thought as much, which side?"
"My right,"
"How long was it before you were on duty last time?"
"About two months,"
"Only two months?" She sounded amazed T'Phai gave a pointless nod because her back was still to him. "I'll let you back on duty when we both think you're ready." She turned and motioned that he should sit, he lowered himself onto the bunk painfully. Ellen had let T'Phai stand and walk when he felt ready to, not that there was a lot of room for him to do so the room was tiny, but he seemed to relish the chance to be up and moving rather then laid on a bunk.
"I can see about some pain relief for you, I realise it's a little long in coming but you used all we had here already. We could always try you on a human drug I suppose." She suggested hopefully, she had had to send for new drugs due to the amount T'Phai had required just after he had first came in; for a supposively stronger race, he had used a lot of the stuff.
"I will keep using what you get me from Tophet if that is alright." Ellen nodded; there was no way of knowing if the drugs would make the Skinnie feel worse or not. "Is there any way for you to get me a new suit by tomorrow I can not leave without one."
"I know that," She tried to keep the tone of the snap from her voice. "I probably can't, I've got a lot of other stuff to do. You could ask the other members of your unit, two of them are getting suited up as we speak and I think Flores is outside." This got his attention and he reached for the blanket besides him, Ellen helped to drape it about his shoulders so covering him slightly, he seemed to be timid when it came to others seeing his upper body.
He looked to the window as the doctor left, just as Dizzy looked up with a smile as she saw him watching her. "Sorry about not coming in, even with the suits it's a little too hot for me." She told him via the linkup the room shared with the outside bay, he nodded slightly, he shared that sentiment in part; it was a little too cold for him even with the suit on out on patrol sometimes but that was the price he paid for defending that which he loved.
The airlock hissed open and Rico and Doc entered the latter carrying a box. "How are you feeling?" Rico asked cheerfully, they both stood a little way from T'Phai but not blocking Diz's view at all.
"Not much better then I did yesterday," T'Phai admitted to the young man, who had stopped by briefly the day before to see how he was. Doc put the box on the cot besides the Skinnie; T'Phai looked at it with curiosity written all over his features.
"We sent news of your injury to your family on Tophet - it took us over a day to learn how to say everything in your language but your clan sent you some things, and there's a new suit in the bottom." Doc told T'Phai cheerfully, T'Phai's face gave the slightest hint of lighting up as he looked shocked, he reached for the box and Doc put it on his lap. Both of the other Roughnecks knew how good it was to get letters from relatives.
"Thank you,"
Aware that it was the only think the creature could think to say Rico smiled. "Don't mention it, I think we all threw something in, didn't we?" Johnny asked uncertainly, Diz nodded. "Even Brutto?" Again, she nodded, listening to the conversation over the comm. Linkup.
T'Phai looked around himself vainly for the locket that contained the images of his wife and children, his eyes falling onto every surface in the room. "It's ok T'Phai," Diz assured. "It's in the box; I found it just after you got hurt." He looked at her, looking relieved; that locket was all he had of his family and it meant a lot to him.
"Thank you, I feared I had lost it." His broad hands were holding the box like a life preserver, he slowly removed the lid and lying on top was the locket. "Thank you all, I have no way of repaying your generosity and kindness."
"It's ok," Rico assured, "We've got to go, this was just a flying visit we've got patrol." Saying their goodbyes the other Roughnecks left. T'Phai looked at the box on his lap and smiled, he had not expected anything of this sort and it was pleasant to get some thing from home.
~*~*~
The lid did not remain on the box very long for T'Phai's curiosity got the better of him in less then half a day - he lifted the lid from the box. Removing the locket, he placed it lovingly on the small table besides his cot. Lying underneath it were various note and letters from his family, including ones from his children, he put these on the bed besides him. There were various edible treats from his family and something his sister had cooked - after giving this a thoughtful sniff he decided not to eat it, he had never really trusted his sisters cooking.
All of these gifts reminded him of his home, upsetting him slightly because he was so far away. He had never thought he would miss his home so badly; he was a soldier, evidently one that the Human's had thought useful because they had assigned him to the Roughnecks yet he wanted nothing more then to go home to his family and see his children again.
And L'War of course,
Shoving these thoughts to the bottom of his mind T'Phai turned from the letters and treats and started looking at the gifts from the unit. There was a book from Higgins, a personal joke that he shared with the reporter because T'Phai's speech had been learnt from books and not from it being spoken him; with a smile he put it besides him.
Next there was some chocolate from Dizzy, another joke; Diz had once given him some chocolate thinking that it would affect him just like in humans, she was wrong T'Phai had spent the rest of the day on what she called a chocolate high and they all found it impossible to speak with him. None of them had ever seen a Skinnie go pink before and if he had anything to say about it then they never would again, he placed the thick bar besides him.
He opened Gossard's present with a dubious look on his face, he sniffed it, not recognising the smell. The foodstuff inside the bottom of the bag was dark brown and shiny, it did not look like a Human, let alone an injured Skinnie, should eat it.
From Razak there was a hand written note explaining that he would be by later. From Brutto there was a plain chain and a note explaining that he should put the locket on it because he had nearly lost it before, T'Phai did so threading the chain through the hole in the top of the locket.
Finally, there was a bag of red, tasty looking apples from Rico; apples were one of the fruits T'Phai could eat. Rico and he had once sat in mess for about five hours with the Human testing which fruits the Skinnie could eat, the conclusion of this was one very unwell T'Phai and only two fruits, apples and grapes.
T'Phai started to put everything back into the box, "My you've quite a hoard there," Baxter enthused upon entering the bay; he had not heard her enter. He put the letters into the box before realising that he would need the suit from the bottom of it, his expression conveyed his error and Ellen recognised this and helped him to empty the box again.
When they had emptied the box again Ellen pulled the neatly folded suit from its bottom and laid it out on the cot besides him, "It looks different," She commented her head held to one side as she surveyed it. He looked at it too, taking in its various curves and shape yet barely remembering the one he had worn before.
"No, it is the same as my old one was, the colours are just a little more pronounced." T'Phai told her, he picked up the bag with Gossard's present in again and noted the look of curiosity on the doctor's face. "It is the gift that Gossard gave to me; do you know what it is?" She took the held out bag from him and peered inside.
With obvious delight, she gave a slight chuckle, "It's liquorish, I knew Goss was hoarding that stuff!" She gave the bag back to him with a smile. "I don't know how your insides are going to deal with that! You could give it a shot but I'd wait until your better," she gave it back to him and he peered into the bag again.
~*~*~
It was not until a week after T'Phai's attack that things started to have an effect on Razak, during the after accident debriefing Brutto had said nothing; usually he said something even if it was not relevant. Nothing said that Brutto knew anything but Razak did not believe in consequences.
Rather then question the other man he went down to the medical bay, he peered into the window; T'Phai lay on the cot with his back to the window but he was awake, Razak could see the light shining off a note in his three fingered grasp. A grey haired man came to Razak's side. "Can I help you sir?"
"Yes I want to speak to him," Razak told the doctor motioning T'Phai slightly with a tip of his head. After a brief discussion, Razak suited up, entering the air lock.
When he entered, T'Phai was up and pacing thoughtfully a letter held limply in his grasp, the note looked like that of a child and Razak guessed that it was one from T'Phal or M'Rette; T'Phai must have been feeling very alone in the tiny room with only letters of his kind to keep him company. "Private T'Phai, I know it's late but I have to speak with you," T'Phai turned to him, sorrow still written over his features making Razak feel that he had intruded into something he should not have. The ex-colonel moved back the bed, sitting slowly a hand held to his chest.
"How can I help you?" He pushed the letters safely from view so that he would not be compelled to look at them. He looked up at Razak. The Roughnecks leader lent against a panel.
"I filled in the incident report a week ago but something just doesn't seem right, can I hear what happened from you?"
"Of course, I have been thinking of it myself."
~_~_~
T'Phai shot at a bug about to attack his CO, shooting one of it's legs from under it - it had the desired effect of distracting it, drawing it away from Razak meant that it came for him. Showing considerable intelligence it knocked his weapon from his grasp and out of his grasping range, there was no way T'Phai was going to get that weapon back.
With a shout, he went hand to claw with the bug, distracted briefly by a shot fired at something behind him the bug smacked him hard in the chest; T'Phai saw Brutto look over at him and motioned that he was fine. He grabbed one of the bug's legs and shoved it inside the fowl creature. With a shriek of pain, the bug pushed him roughly against a tree winding him badly.
Whilst still hurt by being winded Brutto and another bug slammed into him, crushed feebly against a tree and the combined weight of Brutto and a bug T'Phai felt something give, feeling the blood starting to pool beneath his shirt. Exhaling sharply the Skinnie fell collapsing against the tree.
~_~_~
"After a minute or so Rico found me there," T'Phai finished. Razak nodded thoughtfully, closing his eyes briefly. The Skinnies hand had strayed on to his chest since describing the actual crushing moment, as if supporting himself.
"So Brutto was involved?"
"Not really, I was to fault."
"But Brutto was the one who crushed you along with the bug."
"I do not know, my attention was focused elsewhere," His hand returned to the point over his fractured rib, he looked at Razak. The doctor tapped on the window and tapped his watch slightly, time up. "I believe they are planning on sending me back to my quarters early tomorrow, the doctor is keen on my getting some sleep first though."
Razak tried to think of something to say but he could not think of anything, he left the bay leaving T'Phai with his letters, which he read repeatedly until he finally fell asleep.
~*~*~
It was very early the next morning when T'Phai woke - with the partial assistance of a male nurse he pulled on the new suit; finally, with no assistance, he pulled on his helmet. "Are you alright with this?" Ellen asked, she watched as he sat down with a hand clasped on his rib cage. "We can keep you here for a while longer it you'd like." T'Phai looked into her blue eyes; her brief experience with him had taught her that the eyes were important to his kind; his were currently highly emotive, so much so that she could nearly get his answer.
"Thank you for your care but I feel I must return to my quarters now," T'Phai thanked; he took her hands gently in his own and spoke in his own dialect. Realising all of a sudden what he was doing he stopped. "Sorry, I get a little caught up in my thanks sometimes. I can translate it if you would like."
"No, no I prefer it like that," She stroked her hand gently against the inside of his, feeling the pads of his hands beneath the suit. On Tophet, there were reasons for these invisible pads but no Human would ever know them. Aware of what she was doing she dropped his hands and turned to one of the panels. T'Phai stood and went to her side.
"I have made you uncomfortable, I have forgotten how humans view touch, I am sorry." T'Phai apologised, "The gesture was meant as nothing more then polite." She turned to him, looking relieved; feeling a little silly that she had felt he had a crush on her; he was a married man after all, then again in Human's that meant very little sometimes.
Ellen knew the pain of parental divorce well, her own father had had an affair before she was born and her mother had thrown him out and Ellen had only met him once yet she never wished to see him again. She hoped to whoever was out there and watching that T'Phai's children, or anyone else's, would have to go through that.
"I think being away from my unit has caused me to forget what is acceptable."
Ellen gave a nod and a slightly weak smile, "That's understandable I suppose. You're going to need a medical check up once a week but besides that you're clear to go today." He nodded slightly, "Tuesday good for you?"
"What day is it today?"
"Friday - by the Human calendar."
"I assumed you were using the human system of measuring days, Tophet has no Tuesday's and Friday's." She watched him agonise over these new words, he rarely used them and they were not simple words. He felt that the Humans had far too many names for things; it was easier on Tophet where the days did not matter.
"Why don't you use a talk box?"
"I prefer to learn a language and I would feel uncomfortable speaking in my own dialect around Humans who are not as forgiving and polite as you are. Many of your kind still see my own as . monsters," he said the word with venom. Some of his kind had felt the same about Humans who had shot many Skinnie's during their campaign on Tophet but war is like that. "Often it is someone who has lost a loved one, I understand because I fight the bugs for the same reason."
"I lost my very best friend and my boyfriend to Skinnies, doesn't mean I want revenge on all of you though, you certainly wouldn't be sitting there if I did. Being mind controlled means you loose the responsibility for that." She told him evenly, he looked surprised. "Your unit lost Jenkins and they don't treat you like a Skinnie anymore." With this, she motioned the box besides him.
"They used to; I caught hyperthermia before they all trusted me."
"Well, they knew who you were and that you were to fault."
"Most Humans I have met know who I am; I was the centre of your offensive on Tophet." He ignored that she had said he was to fault for CJ's comatose state; he was not sure that he was to blame for that himself. Admittedly the control bug that caused CJ to use his mental powers was from the back of his neck and he had entered just when they were about to capture it.
Nevertheless, he had been so angry, the bug had violated his body making him do some awful things and he was supposed to watch as the foolish Humans did the same thing. All he knew was that he wanted to kill it for all the Humans and Skinnies he had been forced to kill; for all the members of his kind he had sent into the mines.
"We're not getting rid of you today are we?"
"Pardon?" he asked as the doctor snapped him out of his depressed thoughts. He felt a connection to the youthful human, something unexplainable. Perhaps it was friendship, which was a word that humans used a lot; the Skinnie had never had a human friend, he had companions in the Roughnecks of course but none of them saw him as a friend. He felt that the one thing he had ever needed upon leaving his home world was a friend.
"It's just that you can't carry that box yourself,"
"Yes, I believe that Higgins has said he would take it."
~*~*~
Ever since she had been a little girl, Ellen had been obsessed with aliens, she even had one as an imaginary friend, which caused children to leave her alone, and she grew up a very lonely little child. She met her best friend a year before Tophet where they were both posted; she had been his medic when he had died.
She had watched as the Skinnie constrictor blast had tightened on his body making it impossible to breathe, she had watched as he had reached for her hand and she had watched as the engagement ring fell from his grasp. His name had been Liam Galen and he was going to ask her to marry him that very same morning.
Ellen had felt insanely angry, not working for a whole month whilst she grieved for him. They had done everything together; even drills and transfers and suddenly this huge part of her life had gone missing.
Then she had realised that there was only race to blame and it was not the Skinnies. One race which they had all been fighting for so long! T'Phai and his kind had been fighting for just as long, if not longer against this scourge, so there was no way of blaming them.
It was hard to describe but Ellen felt a connection to T'Phai, who had lost someone too, unlike Ellen he did not yet know if L'War was alive or dead. He had to live with that uncertainty for the rest of his life, either that or when they found her which was not very likely.
He was also a very loving father, having asked twice in one day if he could send notes to T'Phal and M'Rette. He did everything for them and it was clear by the way he had treated the notes from the two that he missed them a lot.
Perhaps she had found the one thing she had been longing for her whole life,
An alien who would be her friend.
~*~*~
True to what they had agreed a few days before T'Phai arrived on Tuesday ready for his medical exam. "How are you in yourself?" Ellen asked formally, not yet sure if he wanted her as a friend; she did not know all that much about him and he was a very large and very strong being, there was no way of telling just how a Skinnie would view a Human asking to be friends with them.
Due to the fact that they were now meeting outside the room they had been in when T'Phai was first injured he wore a suit whilst she wore her usual uniform, the plain grey of a doctor; Liam had always used to say it brought out the colour of her eyes really well, making the blue seem clearer.
She had just been monitoring the Skinnie in the lab room, another soldier like T'Phai but one who had somehow managed to catch a Human cold; she had concluded that the Skinnie had caught it whilst attaching her helmet a week before.
"I am feeling no better then I did," he admitted, she watched as he sat on the cot she had motioned. "Are you sure there is no way to heal this quickly?" She looked at him with partial sympathy in her large blue eyes, whilst Ellen had never broken a rib before she knew several people who had due to her profession.
"I'm sorry, there's no way to change a tank and I'm sure your healing fine."
"It does not feel like it,"
"Yes well no one forced you to go breaking your ribs did they?" Not until after the sentence had been said, did Ellen realise what she had said, she turned to him a hand clamped to her mouth. T'Phai regarded her with childish curiosity, his head cocked to one side ever so slightly, Ellen had never seen him use this expression before 'Why did he have to go and look so sweet, man I've had puppies that have pulled that.' She thought.
"Sorry, I . forgot who I was talking too." She admitted softly, rarely did she forget whom she was talking too and doing so with such an obvious alien was stupid. T'Phai's face was neutral again and she could not tell whether his kind showed any emotion besides that which leaked out via their fluidic black eyes and the tiniest slips they gave in their expressions.
Ellen had never been naïve enough to believe that this was because they did not feel emotions like humans, it was just because they were more controlled then the Humans around them. She was prone to being a little emotional at times.
"That is not an easy thing to do, the only similarity I hold with humans is that I am a biped."
"Are you taking the micky out of me?" She asked good humouredly, aware that he was. 'Two counts, he's a loving father and he's got a great sense of humour, well he's got a sense of humour in the least.' He did not give her a sign as to what he was doing but he was certainly teasing her. "Well fine then, if your going to be like that you can't have my treatment or the drugs I got you from Tophet!" he looked a little shocked, evidently not used to the Human's humour.
"I need those Dr. Baxter,"
"Ohh so now you're going to be all formal and nice? Now you've finished teasing me?"
Both looked at each other, both understanding that they would be friends from now on. The short light-hearted exchange between them had worked in making them form a connection, no matter how loose that connection was.
"It's a shame your not eating Human food right now, I make a mean lemon meringue pie!"
To Ellen's great delight, he pulled a face exactly like the one she had seen on one of Higgins videos, the reporter loved to show those things off; it was the same as the one he had pulled when Razak had asked for a parking lot. Moreover, to top things off he made the noise too.
~*~*~
Whilst it was not the most conventional way to start a friendship it worked, soon they were telling each other secrets and had an understanding of one another. Ellen soon realised when T'Phai was hurt, when he was pouting and when he was ready to rip someone's head off, this particular one was used the least, T'Phai had an incredible amount of patience.
A month was soon up; it was good for all to see T'Phai about again even if he was not doing squad work. One day Higgins found the Skinnie sitting in the general rec. room, he looked a little miserable, especially for the standings the unit knew him by. The Human slid into a seat opposite the Colonel, who looked up. There was not a separate recreations room for Skinnie's but the aliens seemed to like being around humans anyway, but saying that they did not seem to mind being alone either.
"Are you alright?" The reporter asked making sure T'Phai watched him slip the camera into his pocket; this would be a private conversation, Higgins had long since learnt when things were not to be intruded upon. T'Phai looked at him directly, his large black eyes watching him steadily.
"They may have found L'War," Higgins looked a little blank. "My mate," Higgins face lighted with understanding.
"Alive or dead?"
"Dead," T'Phai's voice was soft, filled with emotion and his bottom lip was twitching. Whilst he had been thinking of this all morning he had not yet told anyone else, saying that she was dead aloud made things harder. "My mother is going to identify her today,"
Higgins held a respectful pause, before continuing. "Do you want it to be her?" The Skinnie looked at him, his expression making it clear that he did not understand "Maybe if it was me I would want to know either way, so I'd know whether or not to be grieving or looking for her." T'Phai sighed visibly.
"I am not sure; perhaps it would be for the best."
"Well I hope you know soon," Higgins said honestly standing, whilst missing L'War was one thing waiting to hear if she was dead was another. He touched the Skinnies shoulder loosely and left. Ellen entered, she looked as if she had been running, and she stopped by his table.
"I heard about L'War,"
"Yes, I left a message for you,"
"I know that bozo I just got it!" She sat besides him and looked up at him. "I hope it's not her," Her tone changed dramatically from that of someone jesting to that of a concerned friend, her hand rested on his gently but he tugged away unused to touch, what with being back around the unit again; he had not noticed Higgins touching his shoulder. "Do T'Phal and M'Rette know yet?"
"No," T'Phai told her softly, "I wanted to be sure first." Ellen nodded; there was no reason to upset his children if he was still uncertain. T'Phai's life revolved around his children, he fought for them, he wrote them everyday and he spoke often of them with Ellen, there was no way he would upset them with a maybe. "When will you know?"
"My mother has promised to contact me as soon as possible, that could be days away." Ellen recognised the distress in his voice but she was the only one who would, none of the others would be able to hear it. She rested her hand on his again and he did not try to pull away this time.
"Come on, I can't leave you here alone. I've got an hour of shift left but that's it for today, we can go and test your shoulder again." Ellen tried to draw his attention from it, T'Phai's left shoulder had been getting weak for a while now due to his lack of action; he did not use it due to his injured side. He went with her, letting her make him forget his woes briefly.
At least on the outside.
~*~*~
The next morning there was a message from his mother saying that it had not been L'War; T'Phai was not sure how to treat the news. Perhaps it would have been better if it were her corpse on Tophet, at least then he would be sure of her being on that part of the planet at least, rather then not having the faintest clue of her whereabouts.
He assumed she was on Tophet anyway; she had gone missing before the Humans had arrived and the only other way off the planet was by transport bug, which no Skinnie would do.
He had guessed that she must have died in one of the mines, the Roughnecks had found him underground after all; and he gave an involuntary shudder as he thought about it. He was not quite sure why the bug had made him go down that hole, probably because he was becoming more and more unmanageable perhaps it knew the Roughnecks would be there but there were too many maybes and probably's for T'Phai to know.
At about midday Ellen buzzed his door; he knew it was she because she had the annoying habit of ringing it several times in a row very rapidly she enjoyed doing it! He found that Ellen got insane joy through doing things, things that often seemed to be incredibly childish, such as ringing the door chime too much. He stood and latched his helmet opening the door to meet her visage.
"Hey," Ellen greeted, she had a half day and had promised to spend it with him. "I think your chime's broken!" T'Phai looked at her, slumping his shoulders slightly, she knew all too well that the bell worked fine. "So, want to go for a walk?" They left his room and headed outside the base, sitting in a safe enclosed courtyard.
"It was not L'War,"
Ellen looked at him; he looked sad, sad even for him. She rested her hand on his shoulder pad gently; she knew why he was so upset, if it had been L'War then he could start to get to grips with the fact she was dead but now he did not know if she was or not.
L'War's being Missing In Action had started to effect Ellen too, as dumb as it sounded to herself and to others she felt she knew T'Phai's mate due to the number of times he had spoken of her. She knew T'Phal and M'Rette too, having once spoken to them via him and with him; they had both looked at her as if she was something incredible, which she was to them, she was the first Human they would ever see.
"Oh," Ellen did not know what to say and T'Phai seemed to understand that. "I'm sorry," Things seemed to digress, neither of them spoke and T'Phai was looking up towards the sky, showing his emotions even more, things seemed hopeless.
"I've got some spare comm. time left, you take it. Speak with T'Phal and M'Rette, wish her a happy birthday!" Ellen was hoping to break her tall friend out of his morale shattering depression, seeing him in such a desperately hopeless mood made Ellen feel bad.
T'Phai looked at her, his features amazed; whilst Ellen acted like a child she was selfless, she had told him how she was going to speak with her mother that week using up the same comm. time she had given him. "Don't you dare say you don't want it! I've got thirty minutes extra and I don't want any of them left."
"Ellen, you can not give me all of the time you have collected; what of your mother?"
"I wrote her, and I know you'd do this for me." Ellen meant it as a joke; T'Phai used his communication time when he got it, so he never had any. She saw this as fair, if she had a child, she would contact it as soon as she got her comm. time.
"I would,"
"Well that's settled then; just make sure you wish M'Rette a happy birthday from me." She smiled widely at him; T'Phai shook his head, which always looked a little strange inside his helmet.
"No, you can wish her one yourself; I want you to speak with them both."
"How am I going to do that Einstein? I can't speak your language in the least!"
"I can translate for you, please, it would mean a lot to her. If she records it she can show it to her friends, they would be impressed if a Human were wishing her a good birthday." Ellen saw the enthusiasm in his previously sorry face and nodded slightly, she may as well make the child happy it was not as is she was going to see her parents again any time soon.
~*~*~
The light-hearted nature of his conversation with M'Rette and T'Phal had left T'Phai in a good mood, knowing they were not only safe but also happy made him feel good. Ellen had laughed so hard that she had cried, making M'Rette and T'Phal giggle in delight, they had never seen anything cry before. Ellen then sang happy birthday to M'Rette, which did not translate all too well.
M'Rette was delighted, giggling even more when her father had translated the song; watching Ellen double over. Ellen then started dancing about in time to the short song, making both children laugh; she stopped whenever T'Phai turned around to face her.
When they had finished with the comm. time, they went and sat in Ellen's room, primarily because T'Phai felt it fair if she got to take her helmet off considering the fact that he had already had a chance to take his off whilst talking to his children.
"I've never laughed so hard," Ellen admitted. T'Phai nodded, whilst Ellen was a very happy-go-lucky and giggly person she had never quite laughed that much in his presence. "They're great kids T'Phai, T'Phal even speaks like you do, well I think he does, just sounded like you were sneezing at each other to me!"
"It did not sound like sneezing,"
"Ok it didn't quite sound like sneezing."
"M'Rette is much taken by you,"
"You mean she likes me? Of course she does! Everyone loves me!"
"I do not love you,"
"I meant liking me a lot love, not literal love, I hope you like me I want that comm. time back if you don't!"
"I cannot give you that back I have already used it,"
"Oh ha ha Mr. Funny!"
"I was not aiming to be funny,"
"Oh I got you, that time's gone and you can't give it me back."
"Indeed,"
"Ok, M'Rette's a great kid, they both are." Ellen enthused, realising that they behaved a lot like their father must have done when he was younger, and she saw much of how she imagined L'War to be in the two, especially M'Rette who was emotive and caring openly whilst T'Phai and his son hid what they were really feeling. They made a very sweet family, no matter where you were in the universe there were always cute families.
"It has not been easy on them both, losing their mother and then losing myself to the war; whilst they know I am alive they do not know precisely where I am or whether or not they will ever see me again." He sighed looking down, all his military reserve vanished as it often did when he spoke of his family, and they were the only thing keeping him where he was.
She found it amazing that someone as centred and militarily minded as T'Phai was could sit and seem so defeated by homesickness. She had often had to help cheer him up after conversations about his family, it sometimes worked but at others it did not, which then made her depressed too.
"They aren't going to lose you; you've got the best damn doctor in the universe." He gave a very soft snort, Ellen was not someone who thought a lot of herself or of her skills but she was a good doctor and they both knew it. "If you did die I'll go to Tophet myself and tell them, I wouldn't want Razak or some other LT telling my family I'd died; I'd want someone who knew me, knew my achievements."
"Thank you, I would go to Earth and tell your family,"
"That's what I was aiming for," Ellen teased slightly. "Do you know when you next get some home time?"
"I do not, it was one of the terms of my contract, any time I am assigned to Tophet it is for military reasons." T'Phai informed her maturely, even for him he was being very mature and she recognised his absolute reserve in signing the contract despite the fact he could not return home unless ordered.
He missed his home, just like all the other Skinnie's Ellen had met; they all missed being on Tophet - they missed the heat, being able to breathe freely and they all missed the beings they had left behind, be they relative, lover or friend. T'Phai occasionally met someone he had known, he had even once introduced her to a being he called a friend but he missed T'Phal and M'Rette badly and they both realised that nothing was going to stop that.
Whilst she had no children of her own, she had young cousins and such, she loved them all dearly but the connection could never be as close as that between T'Phai and his young. She watched him write them letters everyday and she had seen him in communication with them.
If he did not have T'Phal and M'Rette, T'Phai knew he would have nothing besides the newly found friendship between Ellen and himself. Whilst he would never tell her, and she would never tell him, the support she offered helped him to keep going with his efforts in the Roughnecks.
"All this talk of death has made us forget what is important," T'Phai insisted, hoping to snap both of them out of their thoughts. Ellen looked at him from the corner of her eyes; he was giving as much of a grin as he could. "Come, we shall celebrate birthdays, I assume they mean the same on Earth as they do on Tophet?"
"That depends on what they mean on Tophet,"
~*~*~
It appeared that they did, both of them passed the rest of the day speaking about Birthdays in the past; both of them were enjoying themselves thoroughly, letting themselves forget the terrible war waging elsewhere. T'Phai handed Ellen something small and circular from his personal effects, "It is edible, I have taken the gamble of eaten Human foods I believe it is time you tried one from Tophet." Ellen took it from his hand and slipped it into her mouth. "Do not chew it strait away, I did so once and I will never do so again."
She sucked it thoughtfully, it had an odd taste much like a sherbet lemon but more varied; there was no sherbet in it but something smooth and flowing; which tasted oddly like lime. T'Phai nodded, to say she could now chew it. "Man that's good, what was it?"
"Carlaock, I am not sure what it translates too; they are amongst my favourite foods."
"I can see why, what is it? A sweet?"
"What is a sweet?"
"Chocolates a kind of sweet, uh . liquorish are, it's a sugary food that you eat despite your diet."
"No, it is a fruit, they grow on Tophet for a brief period per year, I have had to ask my mother for the time they come into season." He told her softly, they were sat in a corner of her room and he was more then happy doing so despite the fact that he had to wear his helmet. "She had been saving these for me for some time."
"How long do they keep for?"
"Once off Tophet not long at all; on Tophet they will keep for a month or so, if stored correctly as long as a year but it seems they disagree with Oxygen much like my people." Ellen nodded slightly, he gave her another one but she declined.
"Nah, they're yours, it'll be a while before you get some more."
"I would not offer this to you if I did not want for you to have it." Ellen took it from his out held hand, looking at it this time. It looked like a small strawberry, all bumpy and rounded like one but it was purple and blue in colour; if she ever found out how they tasted so good she would patent the flavouring and make herself ludicrously rich. "I have some stored properly in my room, I can eat those ones whereas you cannot, some of the things we use to store them in are poisonous to Humans."
"What like arsenic?"
"No, no, I believe that is a poison to my race too - unsurprisingly enough no one has been keen to try that one out."
"I wonder why," She murmured sarcastically. "If I were a Skinnie I wouldn't want to test it!" T'Phai nodded in agreement; he certainly would not want to risk any damage to himself for the sake of pointless science, there were more important things to be discovered over the fact of whether or not Skinnie's could eat arsenic!
~*~*~
A month later.
"Good, now try that one." Ellen was running checks on T'Phai, clearing him for duty finally. The two were once again outside the cell designed for the treatment of his kind, which now contained the corpse of a less then fortunate alien who had died of an infected bug bite. Ellen had been the main doctor treating the being and she had told T'Phai how guilty she had felt, he assured her that she had done her best.
The tall being lifted the object she had motioned with his weaker arm and she nodded. "Better, good, I think your ready for duty, not unless your happy sponging off Earth for a while longer."
T'Phai looked as indignant as he could, which was not much over how he looked usually, Ellen smiled slightly letting him know that she was joking with him. "Your sense of humour has not improved," Ellen licked the end of her finger and run it through the air near his helmeted head with a hissing noise; he looked at her as if he felt she had gone insane.
"It's a Human gesture, it means that what you said was a hot comment, very good and very slicing; I'm impressed, your leave hasn't slowed your wit!" She explained ending in a joke; T'Phai's wit was natural and it seemed he did not mean to be funny or sarcastic half the time.
"When am I going back to the Roughnecks?"
"Later today," She said in a friendly tone. "Your squads got good old fashioned night shift," He looked at her, he did not like night shift. Being from Tophet he was unaccustomed at going out at night, he seemed to close in when it was dark and she supposed that was because he was from a species that loved sunlight so much. "Off you hop colonel I don't want you cluttering up my bay anymore!" Realising it was a joke T'Phai left her.
Ellen returned to her proper duties, smiling widely. She had a fair few Human patients, one of whom had a bad rip fracture and was in the medi tank, she gave a slight chuckle to herself, of all the things to happen to a patient with a bad rib fracture making him your best friend was not the worst outcome.
~*~*~ END