Chapter 9

"Good God!" exclaimed Rush, as he lifted a large branch, finding a rather large snake beneath it.
He jumped back as it curled up into a striking position.
"I don't need this," commented Rush, backing away from it, "first a war, and now this."
He left the area and headed back to the clearing where the suits were at, about 200 feet from him.
"This is definitely a better surrounding than the artificial scenery within the colonies," he commented, gazing at the trees above.
He tripped over a rock in the path, dropping his arm full load of wood, and hitting the dirt, face first.
"Damn it," grumbled Rush, wiping dirt off of his face and gathering his load of firewood.
Rush rose to his feet, stepping over the rock, and continued on his way.
He entered the clearing, seeing that Rachel had been hard at work. There was a tent set up, in between the suits, all the needed supplies were unpacked and in place, and she had fresh water in a container on the table right outside of the tent.
"Wow," commented Rush, looking at the tent, "seems like you have been busy."
She stepped outside, wearing only here shorts and undershirt.
"Not really," she replied, seeing his arm full of firewood, "you look like you had a fight with a tree to get that wood," she added, looking up at his dirty face.
"Yeah," he replied, embarrassed, "I won, as you can tell," he finished in a playful manner.
"Just put it over there and take a break," she said, pointing next to the freshly made firepit.
Rush did so, setting it down, and plopped down in one of the chairs to the table. Rachel handed him a cup of water.
"So," Rush started, "how long are we staying here?"
"Don't know," she answered, "depends on what Dr. Ciao says."
"He is the one who gives you orders, right?" questioned Rush, taking a sip of water.
"Right," replied Rachel, sitting down in the other chair, "He tells me what to do, so it gets passed down to you."
"How long have you known this guy?" asked Rush, setting his cup down.
"About 8 years," answered Rachel, looking at Rush, "Since my father died, he has been like a father to me."
"I see," stated Rush, "must be hard for you."
"It is," she said, sadly, "I think about him almost everyday."
Rush stood up, and started walking towards Dreadnought.
"Where you going?" questioned Rachel, watching him walk towards his suit.
"Nowhere," he replied, continuing walking.
Rush hoisted himself up on his suit with the lift and jumped around to the back of the suit. He pulled out a chest-sized box that was attached to the suit. He pulled out a small rod with a round object on it. He jumped down, closing the cabinet, and it slid back into the suit. He walked towards the stream that went past the clearing.
"What do you have?" asked Rachel, never seeing anything like it in her life.
"This?" replied Rush, holding it up, "A fishing rod," he added, extending it out with the push of a button.
"What are you going to do?" she questioned, watching walk towards the stream.
"Fish, of course," he replied, "Have a fire started when I come back."
"Who the hell does he think he is, giving me the crap jobs while he has fun," she thought, slightly peeved by Rush.

"Sir," informed LeGraud, "one of the USC cruisers escaped."
"No matter," replied Fielding, as a medical officer was stitching his wound, "Unless the are incredibly foolish, they won't attack being this severely outnumbered."
"Hold still, Sir," said the young, female medical officer, still stitching the wound, "I can't stitch it correctly if you keep moving."
"Sorry," he replied, looking at her, holding his head straight.
Priss was studying screens, assessing the ship's situation.
"X.O." stated Fielding, the Med officer finished with his wound, "come here for a minute."
Priss walked over to him, still holding his clipboard style PDA system.
"Yes, Sir?" questioned Priss, as if nothing happened.
"About earlier, when we were attacked," said Fielding.
"Think nothing of it, Sir," replied Priss, "You knew what you were doing and it seemed like the odds we're stacked against us."
"Not that," answered Fielding, "the gun thing."
"Again," stated Priss, "You were doing what you thought was right at the time, and I did seem a little mutinous at the time, also."
"I was completely out of line, Richard," informed Fielding, sincerely.
Priss knelt down next to the Captain.
"Don't worry about it," he said, quietly, "I understand, this is your ship, you're the captain, not me."
"Anyways," said Fielding, "back to business, status report."
"We are still at 10 capacity on the starboard engine, 80 on the port because of cooling issues from overuseage, main cannons are offline for repairs, multiple hull breaches, main shields are drained, back up shields are critical, air leaks from some of the hull breaches, and all sub-critical systems are offline due to power outage," informed Priss, scrolling through his PDA system.
"What is our combat effectiveness?" questioned Fielding, just to hear how bad the ship's condition is.
"Until repairs are made," said Priss, reading his PDA, "we are currently at 31 combat effectiveness."
"I guess it is time to link up with the Solomon fleet and get some repairs," stated Fielding, with a laugh.

"So," asked Rachel, "any luck?"
"You tell me," said Rush, setting 3 big fish down on the table where he had laid a newspaper.
"Wow," she commented, looking at the fish, "those are pretty big."
"Nothing really," stated Rush, proud of his work.
"Good, now what?" she asked, seeing how Rush wanted them prepared.
"I'm thinking some sushi and put one over the fire," he said, "I'll prepare the sushi, you can grill this one."
Rachel did so, picking up the fish, quickly skinning and filleting it, and put it on the grill rack over the firepit she had set up earlier. Rush was cleaning the fish, almost ready to make rolls out of the fish.
"Where did you learn how to fish?" asked Rachel, rotating the fish on the fire.
"Not where," informed Rush, cutting up the fillet, "my father taught me how."
"I see," she replied, watching the fish cook.
"Yep, he taught me a lot of things," added Rush, rolling some of the sushi.
"Do you see them often, your parents I mean," questioned Rachel, taking the fish off of the grill.
"Not since I joined the USC military," he answered, "I don't make it out to Side 7 that often anyways."
"Side 7," she stated, looking at him, "my parents used to live there, what colony was it, mine was S7-CN0045."
"S7-CN0023," answered Rush, setting the prepared sushi down on the table, "when this madness is done and over with, I will be paying them a visit."