A/N: Sorry but another short chapter while I take some time to plan out the next steps in the story.
Veruha Village, Loreto Department, Peru, South America
Adrian sat in the shade beneath a thatch roof, the mid-day sun beat down against his bare face with an unlit cigarette loosely dangling between his parted lips. He looked down at the bandages wrapped around his torso, he scoffed at the sight; it was pathetic, he was an ODST, the best of the best and here he was taken down by some half-assed inbred hick. Everyone made mistakes sure, but it didn't stop him from feeling like a damn fool, when he got back to Gibraltar he'd work on his form, go back to basics for a bit, get the rhythm back into him. It was in the last few hours he really started to crave his old squadmates, they'd been together for so long they were practically inseparable, they could read each other's movements without having to speak. Alone they were strong, bootcamp on Reach made sure of that, but together…together they were an unstoppable force of nature, ODSTs were forged in the flames of hell, they had an almost symbiotic connection to each other. Laughing children caught his eye as a group ran past him, sharing a soccer ball between the six of them, villagers went about their daily work as if a deadly firefight hadn't just broken out the day before. Sighing he gingerly began to stand, they'd spent an extra day here than they'd originally planned, apparently Dr. Ziegler wanted to spend more time caring for the people here, they'd get extracted in another hour but until then, he didn't have much to do. Even McCree was taking the time to relax, the cowboy sat stretched out in a chair with his legs propped up on a nearby table, his hat covering his face as he presumably dozed off.
"Oh Mr. Kasporov, how are you feeling?" Zielger's voice spoke up from the side, turning he saw her walking around the corner, seemingly frustrated with the technology in her hand.
"Feeling like I won't die, so that's a plus. Thanks for your care Doc."
She flashed him a smile, "Its my duty, but I'll always be happy to care for you."
"Sounds like your asking me to injure myself."
"Well you are keeping my job relevant." They shared a laugh over that, before her smile quickly turned to a frown of anger as she shook the device in her hand, "Verdammt! Useless piece of technology."
"Having a bit of trouble?"
She gave a sigh of defeat, "I'm trying to organize info on the patients I've had here with any medical spikes in the area and compare the data, but this blasted piece just…it's frustrating."
"Mind if I have a look? Tech was my specialty in my squad."
"Gladly." She handed the device off to Adrian as he began to fiddle with the machine commands, "I believe I recall you mentioning something about your specialization, but I must admit it comes as a bit of a surprise."
"I may be blunt but I'm not an idiot." He teased, mirth brimming at his words. "Despite appearances, I'd consider myself fairly educated compared to the rest of my squad…though I suppose that's not saying much. I do enjoy reading, got high marks my first two years in high school, had the war not broken out I probably would've gone to college."
"You're first two years of high school, did you slack off the last two years?"
"Heh nah, summer of my second year is when I joined the army."
"That…you've would've only been a child. Is it so desperate in your universe that they recruit kids? Though I suppose we aren't one to talk when we have little Miss Hana Song in our ranks."
"Legally no, technically yes. When I joined back in 39' -2539 that is- there was already a draft for all people over the age of twenty-one. It wasn't the wide-spread crisis it is now, but people could see the writing on the wall, how desperate it would become, so when I went to join, they weren't focusing too much on my age. The recruiter even said that I should go back outside, have a birthday, come in and apply again. I was sixteen when I joined…Shipped off to bootcamp and…never…looked back I suppose." He shrugged, he'd gotten so absorbed in telling his story he'd slacked off from fixing her device, turning back to it he continued to fiddle with it. A silence fell between them before Adrian remembered that he'd wanted to patch up what he'd said previously.
"Ah listen Doc, I uh- I apologize for our spat yesterday. It wasn't professional, but more than that it was uncalled for…this isn't my world. You were right, I'm not in a position to say what's right or not."
She was pleasantly surprised, she didn't think he'd be one to apologize but she wouldn't stand here and say she was flawless either, "I should also apologize, in the moment I said somethings that were…far too personal to your situation, things that I have a woeful lack of understanding in." She said sincerely.
He gave a grin, "Eh no one's perfect Doc, but you're pretty close to it as one can be, so I wouldn't worry about it too much." He offhandedly remarked as he stared at the tablet, not noticing her faint blush before she quickly wiped it from her face. "Here you go, should be good as new."
She graciously accepted the tablet, a bright smile on her face as everything was working as it should, "Thank you! I was quite worried earlier about losing my work, but this is a great help."
"Anytime."
They walked toward the temporary clinic she had set up, the conversation having took on a lighter note of Adrian's accent.
"I must confess, I'm interested in your accent, its faint but sometimes when you speak it comes out stronger than usual."
"My colony was home to mostly Russian immigrants; my late ancestors came from Russia sometime in the 2300s. Specifically where I don't know, my grandma always wanted to return to a family estate that we supposedly had, but we never did."
"That's very interesting, can you speak any?" She tilted her head, an inquisitive look in her eyes.
"Dah malen'kiy -a bit-, my grandma was insistent that I learn it, I'm generally still fluent but more complex conversations can get overwhelming. I imagine its vastly butchered compared to the Russian here, save for maybe the writing, that hasn't seemed to change much in my universe. Regardless of a colonies' origins, eventually it splinters and takes on its own mannerisms, accents, and language."
"That must make diplomacy a pain, is there a unifying language that everyone speaks?"
"Not really, though English, Chinese, German, and Spanish are the most common, high-ranking officials in the government or military have subdermal implants, one function of these implants is translation."
"Amazing, do you have one?"
Adrian nodded, "Not as complex as high-ranking officials though. All military units have a small implant that helps with IFF, vehicle control, as well as radar and tracking, ODSTs have a slightly more advanced one that coordinates with our helmet's HUD or our squad's information. We have prototype translation software in our helmets, helps to organize units and squads among large battalions."
"Faszinierend, damit du mich verstehen kannst?"
Adrian nodded, "Yep, understand you loud and clear, the software doesn't go both ways however, so I can't speak back."
"I'm sorry I just find it so fascinating to be able to learn about all of this."
Adrian shrugged, "I get it Doc, besides not like much else is happening until we're picked up."
When they entered the clinic, Adrian spotted his ODST armor in the corner, still bloodied from his earlier skirmish. Walking over to it, he began to gingerly remove the bandage from around his waist before beginning the long process of equipping his gear. Being outside of it made him feel raw, naked, he'd worn his armor for so long it was practically a second skin for him. In the corner of the temporary clinic were a stack of the crates he'd seen in the mine; McCree had probably gone earlier to collect them. It looked like his hunch was right, there was an assortment of supplies for a later group to move in, but now it was being used to help the people of the village. He looked over to Doctor Ziegler, she was talking with someone of the village, while using the device he'd been meddling with earlier, tying into their previous conversation from earlier it looked like she was fluent in Spanish. Though he supposed being multilingual would be a very useful trait for someone in her profession, especially if it were common for her to travel across the globe. Looking around for something to do but finding nothing, he sat down on top of one of the crates and reached into the pocket in his chest armor. Feeling past his flag, he felt further back until his fingers brushed across what felt like a barely perceptible pocket, reaching in he felt the object he was looking for. Held within his grasp as he pulled his hand back was a small, palm sized book, it would be an understatement to call it well-used. The pages were heavy tattered, the cover showed intense wear, despite this none of the lively color had faded from the book. On the cover laid an image of a vibrant yellow desert, dunes laying as far as the horizon with a single man walking on top the dunes, a camel in tow; above him was a clear blue sky that slowly morphed into an endless expanse of space littered with glowing stars. In bold blue lettering outlined in white, the worlds The Land of Darkness laid within the void of space on the cover.
Flipping to the page he marked, his eyes slowly skimmed across the page, taking in every detail as he read it, it didn't last long however as he felt eyes on him. Looking over his book, he saw Dr. Ziegler staring at the book with curious eyes, she only realized she had been staring when he put the book down.
"I was curious at what you were reading, is it interesting?" She walked over closer to him as he picked it up to show her.
"Well I've already read it before, many times in fact." Adrian handed her the book, she lightly flipped through it, dozens of notes were scrawled in the borders of the book, a mix of English and Russian.
"Hmm I can't tell." Angela joked, in the back of her mind she wished she'd spent the time to learn Russian, most of the longer notes were scribbled in it and her curiosity was piqued as to what Adrian would write about in such detail. Turning to the cover page, she saw the publishing date marked 2482 from Golden Publishing, New Harmony. "Is it a favorite of yours?"
"Sorta? It's not the worst story I've ever read, but it has a…personal connection that makes it worth reading." Ziegler didn't press and for that Adrian was thankful.
"What's it about?"
"It's about an ancient merchant on Earth from someplace called Baghdad, he returns to his home to find it ransacked by bandits, his wife killed, with nothing left to his name he sets out to travel to new lands, to find a purpose for everything that had happened. As he travels, he meets tribes of people he'd never heard of in his life, he documents their lifestyle while continuing to question his role in the world. Eventually he comes across some early Russian Vikings, eventually falling in love with one of the Vikings, he finds a new purpose and with the help of the Russians, avenges his family. Though in the end he's torn between his old life and his new one, it has an ambiguous ending that hints that he might eventually return to Baghdad but it's left up to the reader. Apparently, it's based on some old merchant from the same time period, but I've never had the time to really look into it, a damn shame because I've always been curious about it."
"Hmm, I think I may know the book its based off."
Adrian turned to face here, surprise etched into his features, "No shit?"
Snickering at his surprise, she nodded, "I'd have to look into it more, but there's a famous Muslim traveler named Ibn Fadlan, he was a merchant during one of the later Muslim Caliphates. Fadlan traveled across the Middle East, even reaching the tip of the Volga river where he meets the Rus, early Russians, and during his travels he writes down everything he knows, its actually the only information we have on a lot of Viking practices. The story you're reading seems like a purposeful retelling of his travels, just a bit more spiced up with interesting events, I should be able to find it if you like."
'Well that'd be pretty damn great."
"I do have a request though; I'd love to read your book. Its completely understandable if you don't want to lend it, but to be able to say I've reading something from the future…its…surreal."
Adrian retracted his hand a bit, bringing the book closer to him, looking at her bright blue eyes then to the tattered book he held, he sighed and handed it over to her. "Why not, I would say to be careful with it, but it can't get much worse. I'm sure it'll actually be safer in your hands than mine."
A wide smile graced her lips, "I'll try not to use it as gauze. As soon as I have some free time back at the base, I'll look into getting you the Ibn Fadlan's book."
"Much appreciated Doc."
Their conversation drifted into the mundane, time seemed to fly by until an encroaching rumbling could be heard throughout the village. Walking outside they saw the Orca flying over the canopy before slowly lowering itself into the middle of the village, the back hatch opened up as a dozen Overwatch grunts came out of it bringing with them more supplies.
"They're here to guard against any Talon retaliations, you saw it yourself, they were packin' quite a bit." McCree spoke up as he came nearer to them, it made sense of course though it seemed a slight cruelty that the uninvolved villagers were trading one military force for another, but he understood quite well the necessity.
"By the way I've been meaning to ask, your get-up aside, that's quite the peacemaker you've got on your hip."
"I'll let your comment about my clothes slide since I reckon you have a good taste in guns. Its custom made, got it modeled after the Colt Python." His voice taking on a lighter tone as he talked about his prized possession, Arian let out a low whistle. Colts were still a famed collector's item in his world, granted revolvers themselves were easily outpaced by any modern firearm so they were never used for any practical purpose, but they were still something to behold.
"Its larger than a typical Python, what's it take?"
"The original Python takes .357, this takes .50 FMJ."
"It doesn't fuck around."
"No it don't. Expressly made with the purpose of packin' one hell of a punch." Adrian gave a nod of appreciation, he wasn't as much into gun as others, but he could appreciate a work of art when he saw one, especially when they were so vital to his survival. Back at base maybe he'd see if McCree would let him fire off a few shots, it'd be one hell of a story to tell his squad back home.
As they boarded the Orca, Adrian noticed that McCree wasn't following suite, "What's wrong cowboy. All of a sudden you afraid of flying?"
"Someone's gotta stay here and keep these whelps in check, 'specially if Talon decided to send one of their big shots."
"Try not to get yourself killed; it'd be a shame to lose that magnum of yours. Though I suppose you dying wouldn't be so great either." They shared a brief chuckle before Adrian turned to head back into the drop ship. Taking a seat, he could hear McCree barking orders outside, looking towards Doctor Ziegler he saw that she was already reading The Land of Darkness, fully engrossed in the short time she's been reading it. He still wanted, still needed to get back to his universe as soon as possible, but he thought to himself that maybe his time here wouldn't be as awful as he first thought.