Chapter 15: A Night Errant.

As the 'briefing' ended Richard slowly rose to his feet. He was sick to his stomach and his mind was busy rebelling against what he had seen. The corporal was right Richard had been better off before he knew the details. Thousands of living breathing human beings tortured for amusement, slowly carved up, or fed to vicious larvae while they were still alive, still screaming. He had seen the truth in her eyes, had seen the real emotions in her face and had seen the tears and shaking as the larvae fed.

She had stopped the parade with a flick of a switch and a pronouncement that it was enough for the day and they would resume tomorrow. He welcomed the relief nut knew he wouldn't sleep tonight, and was having doubts he ever would again.

"We'll start aagain in the morning at oh-eight hundred local time" she had pronounced and waved him towards the door.

No sooner was he gone than Ranma stepped into the room, somehow knowing she would need him. Without a word he wrapped her up in his strong arms and kissed her gently. She let the tears flow and he stood there keeping her safe in the universe of his embrace. As the sobbing subsided he lifted her up into his arms and without a word carried her to their room.

He didn't let go of her till the morning.

A corporal led the way back to his room. Unaware of his surroundings he had stumbled blindly to his room and was now lying on his bed trying to shut out the screaming. As he lay there, still clothed in his borrowed coverall he wondered how the soldiers coped. How did they stay sane knowing what awaited them if they fell behind.

There was a polite knock on the door. Richard immediately leapt up suddenly afraid that Nabiki had changed her mind and he was being sent back to the cell. The silence stretched out.

"You awake doc?" came a voice he only barely recognised.

"Yes" the doctor tried tentatively, resisting the urge to give a sarcy answer.

"I've got some ten-year-old medicine here," the voice, which he now recognised as the Scotswoman's husband's, added. He opened the door and indeed there stood the tall Englishman, holding a bottle of scotch. "Permission to administer treatment?" the man asked. The doc only nodded. "I still remember the first time they showed me that lot," the English commando said, opening the bottle and looking around for cups. "Scared the crap out of me." He added giving up and taking a pull straight from the bottle before offering it to the envoy. "I'll tell you what Jack told me. It won't make it better, it won't make it go away but just for tonight it'll help you not care."

Richard nodded and took the bottle before knocking back a belt of his own. The whisky was good and the warmth spread through his body, immediately banishing a lingering cold. He took another belt and passed the bottle back.

"You've got some questions" the man said. The doc nodded. "Questions you don't want to ask Nabiki?" again Richard nodded. His guest took another slug and said "Fire at will."

"Was it true" Richard asked, studying the man in front of him.

"That and much more." The man replied, "They don't tend to concentrate on the picture they film, the machine is really meant to record the pain." The doc swallowed and reached for the bottle.

"You've seen this yourself?" Richard asked. His companion nodded.

"Too many times for comfort," the Englishman expanded. "Though twice it was worse than any other times."

"Why?"

"Because I knew the faces," he explained.

"Who were they?" Richard asked.

"The first time was a girl named Sakura," he said with a look of pain flickering across his face. "She was psi-ops, and part of the first Beta-Commando." He reached for the bottle and took another drink before continuing. "I was fresh in from the British forces and not qualified for active duty but even then I had noticed her. She was an angel in human clothing. You know one of those people who is always happy, helpful and bright. She was a little ray of sunshine dancing through our darkness. I guess I loved her, a lot of us did.

"Beta went out on what was supposed to be a small op. No more than five bugs and a burnt wreck. It didn't work that way. The team was bounced even before they left the ship.

"By the time Alpha arrived on a rescue op all that was left was gore. They had even taken the bodies. You can see the mission tape but I wouldn't if I were you; they had repainted the inside of the skyranger with bits of my friends. But the worst was to come.

"I transferred to Alpha to complete my training and with them we busted a base wide open. The place was the normal version of hell on earth, bodies in jars, on tables, still twitching some even screaming. It was only as I turned a corner I recognised one of the 'bodies' there was Sakura, stripped of skin and flesh completely sown one side of her body. I could see her lungs being inflated by their machine. Worse I could see her eye staring at me with recognition in it. She cried one last tear and I scattered her brains across the room." As he ended he took another long drink. "I killed my angel, and it hurts to this day."

"Is that why there's an angel on your commando's symbol?" Richard asked.

"Maybe," the man replied, "But don't you dare suggest it to the wife."

"As if I don't know" came a voice from the door. "Can I join you?"

"Please" said the envoy, offering her the bottle.

"No thanks," she said pulling a face, "that stuff's bleurgh!" She also pulled a bottle of vodka from behind herself though. As she sat she wrapped an arm around her man, idly running her hand across his shaved hair.

"So what was the second time?" Richard asked.

"Remember the feeding pool?" he asked, Richard shuddered and nodded. "The second time it was Saotome Nabiki on the wall and I had a really good view because I was next to her." Richard's mouth dropped open.

"You mean?"

"For five days" he agreed.

"And she?"

"Was right there next to me" he answered.

"Holy shit" Richard swore, and he rarely did. For a moment silence reigned. "So is that typical?" he asked.

"What, hanging on a wall for days?" the Englishman joked. "No most of the time they make us work around here."

"How can you joke about it?" Richard asked, genuinely incredulous.

"Therapy and the love of a good woman" he replied.

"Good answer" Laura said, but tell me where she is so I can knock her block off." He just leant down for a kiss.

"So is that normal?" Richard asked, "The pairing up thing?"

"Sort of," Laura replied. "In the beginning they tried to stop us but it just wasn't worth the effort." She took another drink, "It started off with a few people sneaking into other people's beds for comfort. Even Marines need to be held sometimes. The shrinks found out first of course but as far as they were concerned it was good for us."

"Sexual healing" her husband joked, getting a dead arm for his effort.

"As the brass wised up they just let it happen." The Scotswoman continued.

"You've got to remember, we aren't an ordinary force. By the time I joined X-Com I was already a veteran of two wars and several 'peace keeping' actions." The husband took over, "every active agent is trained to a professional level that is unhuman. We are about as elite as it gets and that includes being able to tell the difference between personal and important."

"Ow" Richard answered, at the same time noting his bottle was half-empty. "Where does Ranma fit into all this."

"Simple" Laura said, "He's the core the rest of us orbit. He will probably never know how good he is at leading people, at making them more than they ever dreamed possible but he manages anyway." Richard raised a questioning eyebrow, either that or he was off his face.

"He has this way about him" Laura continued, "He acts like miracles are easy and when you follow him suddenly they are. If that man told me to headbutt the moon out of orbit I would try, and I would probably succeed."

"Wow" Richard offered, "Quite a guy?"

"Yeah but mines better," she argued, "I'm biased of course, but hey it's a woman's prerogative."

-

Ranma was awake long after Nabiki finally fell asleep. The truth was he just plain didn't want to move. He was at an awkward angle but he was lying there in bed with the most amazing woman the world had ever made and their own little miracle. The woman who owned his heart, and their child. Just that phrase was still enough to give him the shivers. He was a husband, a father; just the idea of him having a family was completely alien to him. His young life had been empty of anything approaching familial feelings and after that he had spent years expecting to end his days in pain and hurt having left nothing behind but memories. Instead he had come to realise that he had a real chance to survive through this one, grow old and die peacefully in bed surrounded by descendants.

The idea was more than a little unnerving, but right now he just didn't care. Everything was alright with the universe lucky enough to have his wife and daughter in it.

So he lay there soaking up the warm comfort of their bodies and holding them gently in hands that could crush rocks. And he had a huge smile on his face.