Title: Trojan

Genre: Action/Adventure

Spoilers: None really.

AU/Cannon: AU

Author: Seadragon

Dedicated to: The story I wrote, and lost in Europe.

Ship: Not telling!

Slash: None.

Summary: After a mission that claimed the lives of all her partners, Holly must face anger and hate at work. Tears fall in secret, where no one will see them. When the enemy from the first mission returns for revenge; no one believes her, to fight it; she'll need a little help.

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Chapter 3: Tag Along

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"Holly!"

Holly opened her eyes and groaned. She had a pounding headache. Her right arm, the one in the cast, was throbbing. And to top it all off, she was lying on the floor of the OPs booth.

"What in the name of Frond was that Foaly?" Holly demanded

"Sorry about that. The potions got mixed up, it was a memory potion." Foaly sounded genuinely apologetic, something that didn't happen too often.

"Well it worked." Holly commented sarcastically

Holly could feel tears welling up in her eyes once again. She had relived the end in her memories, trapped by her own mind. She had had to relive something she hoped never to think about again. If that wasn't torture, she didn't know what was.

"Captain Short? What are you doing on the floor?" Commander Root was at the door, staring at her.

"Passed out." Holly said simply.

"From what?" Root said suspiciously.

"A memory potion." Holly glared at Foaly, who gave a nervous smile.

"Ah, right. I see." And that would be a flat out lie. "Well Short, you are needed in the Recruitment Office, as Foaly will have no doubt told you. So, if you're ready to get off the floor, lets go!"

"Sorry sir." Holly jumped to her feet and brushed the dirt off her uniform. "Eww, don't you ever clean in here?"

"Nope." Foaly said blatantly. "With a budget as small as mine, you don't have money to spare for cleaning."

"Keep it up donkey boy, and your precious budget might become invisible!" Root shouted, going a lovely shade of red. Foaly frowned; he really didn't appreciate budget jokes, especially from Root.

"Now, Captain, can we go?!"

"Right away sir." Holly followed Root out of the OPs booth with a sigh and resigned herself to babysitting duty.

"Now Holly, this recruit you are going to be dealing with is very capable. But he's not exactly streetwise. His name is Laton Rewmifs, pronounced Lay-ton Rew-miss. I know you are quite good, so I want him to do his training with you."

You mean you want to get me out of here, Holly thought. But she was grateful, she wouldn't mind having something to keep her busy, though she wasn't particularly happy with babysitting some recruit.

Quite a bit too soon for her liking, they arrived at the RO, or Recruitment Office. The second time she had been there in one day. Root opened the door for her and she stepped in.

She was thankful for Foaly's height potion once again. Since some of the workers at Police Plaza were quite a bit taller than elves or sprites, the place had to be designed for larger beings. But thanks to Foaly, the common height of an elf, sprite, dwarf or anything else of similar stature, was anywhere from five feet upwards.

To makes things altogether easier, the potion was mass-produced and distributed to every diminutive citizen in Haven. Holly herself was five foot six, and very grateful. She used to have to jump to reach doorknobs, and listen to Foaly's not so quiet snickering.

Inside the office were Recruitment Officer Thorn, and someone who was obviously the new recruit Laton Rewmifs.

Laton had very, very, blue hair and solid black eyes, and skin the same color as Holly's, very tanned. He was about five foot nine, an average height for male elves. On one wrist he had a thin silver chain with a flat star in the center.

Holly and Root sat in the two unoccupied chairs and Holly stared at her hands.

"Laton, this is Captain Holly Short, you are going to be working with her. Everyday you meet her at the office, and do whatever she has planned. You will go with her on missions, to do paperwork, or to the grocery store. Anything." RO Thorn said.

Laton nodded. Holly nodded. Root nodded. Smiles all around.

As they discussed the details, Holly noticed Laton staring at her cast. She avoided his eyes and continued to listen to Root and Thorn.

"What happened?" Laton said suddenly.

"I was shot." Holly said shortly.

"Why don't you heal it?"

"No ones magic is working." Root said. "No one knows why, so Holly has to wear a cast and wait for it too heal."

"Oh." Laton fell quiet, seeming to be listening.

Holly settled herself in her chair and adjusted her sling. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they were done talking. "Any questions?" Thorn asked.

"One. Laton, can you use a gun?" Holly asked.

"He has been through basic training Captain." Thorn said. "His marksmanship is quite satisfactory."

Holly nodded. A question popped into her head almost immediately. "What if I have to ride the flares?" She asked. The pods were only designed for one, and they were both over five feet.

"Foaly has recently designed two man pods, or I guess in this case, two person pods. They go on line tomorrow." Root added.

"That all?" Holly asked. When she received a nod she stood up and saluted the Commander. Laton followed her cue and she left the RO. Root followed them and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Holly, they'll forget sooner or later." He whispered to her before brushing past them.

Holly sighed. She wished she believed him, but she didn't. It just didn't seem possible. They all blamed her for their friends and/or families deaths, and didn't care who knew it. They weren't likely to drop it, just like that.

"What's wrong Captain?" Laton asked her and she looked up.

"Call me Holly." She took a deep breath. "I don't really want to talk about it."

Laton shrugged and followed her to her office, which wasn't really big enough for two people, but they would live.

Live.

Would she never be able to use that word again without feeling guilty?

"One minute, I need to find another chair." Holly muttered and pushed past him into the hallway. She looked both ways before stepping into Trouble Kelp's office, which was right next to hers.

She was about to pick up his chair when she saw the picture on his desk. It was Holly, Grub, Trouble, Mulch, Root, Foaly, and the rest of the team. She bit her lip sharply and tasted the coppery blood.

Her eyes filled with tears and threatened to overflow. She sat in the chair she had been about to take and picked up the picture.

"Come on Holly! Get in the picture!" Foaly yelled.

She had happily obliged, filled with the excitement of the day. They had all been awarded medals for the second goblin rebellion, not quite as large as the first, nor as serious, but still worrisome.

They were all in their uniforms, well except for Mulch and Foaly; they just had the medals pinned to their shirts. Foaly's medal clashed horribly with his neon orange shirt with its vibrant yellow pockets, buttons, and collar.

Despite the memorial service of the three officers who had died, they were all smiling, proud of themselves, and happy.

Gone were the worries of the old days, when they knew that somewhere the goblins were just preparing for retaliation, they were free for the time being. But they all knew that the LEP was not a job for those seeking rest and relaxation and they would be back to the dangers and fears of day to day life soon enough.

But for the time being they all had huge smiles on their faces.

If only they knew what was going to happen within a year, tearing them all apart completely. Maybe they could have prepared for it, but it wasn't likely. No one can prepare for slaughter.

But for now they just lived for the moment, knowing that the time would come when someone left, forever. In this line of work you couldn't count on people to be there on a day-to-day basis. You just had to hope, and pray.

And if you were lucky, your prayers would be answered and you would all live to see another day, once again defying the clutches of death, only to be returned sooner or later, and not be so lucky.

They all knew it would happen, but they stayed optimistic. They had this day at least, they didn't have to worry about being killed, and they were free just to enjoy themselves.

Something that wouldn't happen again for a long time…