Chapter Three
Out of respect he gave orders for Wash to come up for the meeting, their perimeter had been breached. He had already dressed down the second shift, they were off now, likely licking their wounds; but it would have been far worse if they'd lost those kids.
The only reason he could think of was ransom, they would have paid whatever supplies were required to get those kids back; it was a tactic the Sixers had used before. But it would have stung and bolstered their enemy's confidence; not a good situation.
Ever since they let her out of the infirmary Wash had walked the patrol routes along their perimeter, she might not be able to remember exactly what she was, but her body knew. He had watched her hobble that route the first morning, the same as she had the other night, they walked it together because she needed to move.
What she didn't remember Nathaniel Taylor did, she'd served beside him most of her career; the best cadet of her year. Ordered to take on a rookie he'd had the pick of the lot, and surprised everyone when he took the girl. But while most knew the military ran in his family, they didn't know it had been his mother's footsteps he had followed into uniform. Wash had been a chance he was willing to take; one that had paid off tenfold.
Now the woman leaned against the far wall, her usual cargo pants and weapon belt were absent, but she still tied her hair back with precision and favored dark tank tops. As others discussed the situation, he studied her, he missed her, they had worked closely for a long time; and he relied on her.
It had only been a few days since she had been released but he knew the longer it took, the less likely it was that her memory would return. He could admit that he was struggling to keep all the pieces together just now. Guzman was out on the patrol following the Phoenix and Shannon wasn't exactly skilled with military administration.
"That sector was badly damaged, it wouldn't have been too hard to sneak in." Shannon sighed as they studied the camp.
"They must have been scouts, we've searched the area and if anyone else was there they've gone now." He added, having overseen that himself.
"And what about the hatchlings? Where did they get the things? What are they?"
"They're Slashers, only two or three weeks old." Malcolm Wallace added. "They will have to be caged for now, they will be excellent research specimens, and then euthanized; when they grow up, they will become impossible to handle. And now that they have had human contact they can't be safely released; they're predators."
"No invasive research, we'll sort out the rest later." He didn't exactly trust Wallace's research ideas, while he wasn't a fan of Slashers, he wouldn't see the critters become the science department's play things. "And we'll double up the patrols, spotters too."
As everyone nodded and began to move out, he watched Wash, she was even stiffer then before; the stairs couldn't have been easy for her. He lay a hand on her arm before she got to the doorway, forcing himself to stop before he crossed the line. They were used to keeping their distance, but it was even more difficult when she had no memory of what they had been.
Taylor walked down with her, at first a steadying hand on her elbow until she leaned on his arm; using him as a crutch along with the stick. "I'm glad you were out there today."
"I'm not an invalid." She said quietly, moving away as soon as they reached the ground; a frown on her face. Wash was watching him and looked away quickly when she realized she was caught.
Before he could say anything else, she left, people moved out of her way as she crossed the square. Barely an hour passed before Malcolm Wallace was on the comm complaining. "We are supposed to be conducting research with the hatchlings, however that is impossible if we cannot have access to them."
"Malcolm." He sighed, the man never failed to be a headache.
But, as he heard Jim Shannon snickering at the conference table across from the desk, he rose; there was no sense arguing over the open comm. Crossing to the science division as he paused before the doors, he heard the distinctive squeaks and growls, following those noises around the side of the building instead.
Wash sat on a bench with the two little creatures at her feet, butting their heads against her shins as she used a knife to cut hunks of meat off a slab she must have bought from the market; tossing them at the hatchlings. Quietly he joined her, now he knew why Malcolm was upset, the scientists were more cautious and watched from inside the building.
Wash glanced at him and cut another chunk of meat off and held it a moment; the babies jumped for it eagerly. When one caught the end of the strip, she let it go. "They're not science experiments."
"No." He was trying to guess where her mind was. "But they are predators."
"So are we." She dropped the last piece of meat and the little critters played tug of war with it. "But for the most part we've managed to carve out our own territory."
He nodded, slightly taken aback; were things starting to fall back into place for her? "We've always taken the approach of conservation, using tranq darts and sonics to drive them away rather than to kill."
"And what approach will the Phoenix take?"
"They do have the option; the gun stores they looted were primarily rigged for tranqs. We can convert any gun into a tranq gun, but we have the slides to switch it back to normal operations; they didn't take the slides." And that had been a relief, the mercenaries had cleared out of here fast once the portal was destroyed, likely hoping to find a new one in the badlands quickly.
The weaponry left in storage was primary designed for dealing with predators. A tranq hit would leave somebody with a nasty hang over, they were less lethal and any weapon the Phoenix didn't have was a good one. But this was a job to them, they only cared for the money that could be made here; not the opportunity of a new world.
"They aren't afraid of human contact." She murmured, reaching down to grab one, quick reflexes kept her from getting bit but when she tucked the critter into her lap it stilled. "And we know they communicate with each other, we know they have some pack mentality; at least for hunting. We could learn a lot from them without any tests."
"They will become dangerous." Nathaniel perked, she knew that, he wondered whether the scientists had been discussing it or she had put it together.
"So are we." She shot him a sly smile, stroking the creature in her lap.
He nodded, leaving her with the young slashers he went in to speak to Malcolm; just a little troubled. He'd known Wash nearly twenty years, he could read her pretty well; but he couldn't figure out exactly what she was thinking with those things. The woman was smart, and she had good sense, he could tell she was making a plan and he was more inclined to give her the time to reveal herself than to cater to the science division.
"Observation only." He cut off Malcolm Wallace's complaint as soon as he stepped in the door. "We learn what we can from watching them grow and watching them interact with each other; no further testing."
"But Commander, with Lieutenant Washington handling them like that we cannot possibly get reliable results and in her current state…" The man drifted off under a hard stare.
"Lieutenant Washington still outranks you and even in her current state she can handle herself." Wash's current state was not exactly clear and would continually change as she healed.
…
She spent a few more taros in the market, bought another fillet of fish that afternoon and took the little slashers back to her unit. The backyard was fenced in, backing onto the interior horticultural plots not too far from the Command Center, the trees and ferns would give the little ones some cover for the night; certainly, better than a cage. Alicia sat on the back step and cut hunks of meat, tossing them to the babies again; they were not nearly as desperate this time.
Inquisitively they sniffed at her and gave her shoes a nip or two; she gave a light kick to discourage their teeth. These little dinosaurs were young enough that they didn't fully understand their world, let alone know how to attack. When she relaxed the one, she had held before took a running jump and landed in her lap; claws digging into her thighs. But then it circled and curled up.
"Is it wise to handle them so much?" She heard his voice and looked up as he stepped into the yard, side stepping a charge at his knees from the other before sitting beside her.
"Probably not, but realistically we can't rehabilitate them. They don't know how to be slashers yet and we don't even know where their parent's territory is to release them." She stroked the one in her lap, it was already the size of her day pack, probably weighing thirty or forty pounds; but it would grow to be a powerful predator. "Is Malcolm whining?"
"He's always whining, but I've got more important work for him just now." He shrugged, not at all concerned by the scientist's demands; he hadn't wanted her to leave with them.
"If they have to be put down, I will do it myself; but they are not a threat yet." Alicia shifted the little slasher in her lap, the barb developing on its tail digging into her leg; the little one gave a contented hum. In truth she wasn't sure what she was doing, but in her jumbled mind there had been a few clear moments since she woke; unable to move.
Hard cuffs held her wrists and ankles to the table, a strap around her middle; voices speaking in a language she couldn't understand. The table had rotated, a needle pushed into her spine, into the back of her neck over and over, her head hurt, and she hadn't been able to think straight. She had been a science experiment for the Russo-Chinese until the unit came for her; her CO had been the one to release her. She had given him a black eye when he freed her wrists, it had been nearly twenty-four hours for the drugs to wear off, it was then she began to recognize the unit she had spent years with. Taylor told her it was 2134, early in the land wars; it felt like yesterday. There were many moments like that, all twisted together, the memory vivid but the order of events impossible to be sure of; with pieces missing.
Commander Taylor was the only member of that old unit she was still with, the others had stayed in the future; she had come back here with him. She still wasn't exactly clear on what he was to her, he was always there, and he mattered but he had Ayani. His wife had been her friend, one of the few women who came around barracks and didn't shy away from her.
She was spec ops, she was one of a handful of women who could say she had always been SO; Taylor had scooped her out of boot camp. She had only been with the unit a week or two when she met Ayani, a petite redhead with sharp green eyes who bossed her CO around without hesitation; holding tight to the hand of a young boy. Taylor treasured them, he was unusual for a military man.
He'd gone back to work and Alicia nudged the young slasher off her lap and crossed the yard to his door; she knew the code instinctively. He was strict, that was typical for a CO, but he controlled far more than her working hours; he expected all the soldiers of his unit to live by an honor code. It wasn't hard, she'd been used to rules; the community had plenty of them.
She had come in here before, he had reached for her; he had expected to hold her. There were so many flashes of memory with him, and it was confusing because she knew this man; she knew how much he loved his wife. But as bare and empty as her place was, this felt like home; the only room in her place that was lived in was the workout area.
Quietly she walked back, opening the door to the office; they had spent hours back here working. It was an escape from the Command Center, here she wasn't his second or his subordinate; they planned and argued here. A map dominated one wall, it had been generated from drone imagery, but details had been added from exploratory projects that started as they began to settle here. It was all marked out and she stepped closer, she had led many of those expeditions; each serving a different purpose.
Those projects had been hard, Casey Durwin had reminded her of that; she remembered the day he lost his legs. She remembered thinking that they would lose him on the way back, they'd lost a few men that way; but then predators had been their only threat. Many people had told her that the Phoenix had come, they wanted her to remember; but she couldn't.
She knew of the Phoenix, mercenaries for hire, they'd been around for awhile, working for whoever could pay the organization had originated during the water wars her grandfather had served in. She had seen one with her own eyes today, but she had seen more in the incident; desperation and fear. The Phoenix liked combat, they'd fire guns and drop bombs; it was where they excelled.
Today's tactics were Sixer, guerrilla warfare meant the Phoenix were adapting; it probably meant that they had to. It meant they hadn't found a way home yet, and they didn't have a way to resupply; the colony would become a target again. But the Sixer had recognized her as he fell, in his face she read fear and just maybe that would give the colony an advantage.
Alicia slipped down to the next door and swallowed hard, mixed emotions flooding in with the memories. She'd made the furniture in this room, Nathaniel had tried to help; but mostly he'd just gotten in the way. But it should not be hers.
It had been many years since Ayani died, she knew that had been 2138, the doctor was concerned about the injuries she had sustained around that time; those days were mostly blank. Somehow, she knew that it was her CO who had told her about those days too. Sometime after that things had changed between them.
A photo of Ayani and Lucas sat on the night stand, it was old as Lucas was still a child in it; she frowned as she recognized the notebooks sitting next to it. They were hers. The stand side was hers, one of those notebooks, it was made from the stems of a plant they used in the infirmary; they grew them for the leaves which had antimicrobial properties.
Sitting on the bed she opened it, the last entry wasn't that long ago. Her hand writing sloped, it was a notation about a patrol she had been on, flipping back she read more; easing onto her side. Alicia read for a time but eventually drifted to sleep; finally sleeping soundly.
...
He stepped into the unit and frowned, the bedroom door was open; stepping back he glanced towards Alicia's unit. There was no movement inside, but the two young slashers prowled about the back door; he could see where they had slept in the ferns. It was only as he saw a shadow on the bed, he realized where she was.
Her boots were still on, he suspected that she hadn't intended to stay; likely putting things together in her own mind. Dropping onto the end of the bed he shifted one of her feet into his lap; Alicia bolted upright. She was confused, but she relaxed slowly as he eased the boot off her foot.
"Have you been sleeping at all?" He took off the other boot and rubbed her leg; she didn't pull away.
"Some. I didn't mean to stay." Alicia sighed, eyes scanning the room.
"You should stay, this is your home; this is our home and being here might help." Or at least he wanted it to help; this was the only home they had shared together. But he saw where her eyes had landed. "I will never forget Ayani, and I cannot forget what happened. But I love you."
"You had to tell me what happened that day." She muttered quietly, looking at her hands. "How did we happen?"
"Slowly." He took her hands, he suspected all the memories of the last twenty years made things a little complicated.
Ayani and Alicia had been better friends than the two of them at the start; Ayani had been thrilled that there was a woman on his unit. Where Ayani was shy Alicia was fearless and where the soldier tended to be reserved the other woman craved excitement. He and Ayani had married young, they'd had their son young too and it was not his rookie who encouraged the trouble those two found; but he'd never had to worry about his wife's safety on their adventures.
"I can't do this, it is all jumbled together, us and her, the two of you; she was my friend." Alicia whispered, he saw the pain in her eyes; and wrapped an arm around her.
"I never figured it would be me who remarried, but she knew I wanted her to be happy even if I had to leave her; I choose to believe she would have wanted the same for me. I know she was thankful for what you did for her; and for our son. She died in a horrible way, but she died knowing her son would live; she wanted that. I know she would have been glad that you did not let losing her unhinge me." Just as he knew Ayani would be horrified at what Lucas had done, at all that he had done; she would have loved Terra Nova and the dream behind it. And he was glad to know Lucas' mother would never know what he had become, what Lucas thought would avenge her. "I am thankful that you have always encouraged me to keep her memory alive; that you have always been there. She was gone four years before we began anything, what we have is based on friendship, trust and time made it something more."
He had lost Ayani in the last year of the land wars, but she had not been left, tortured and mutilated among the dead in base camp that day because his soldier had been in their home. Wash had taken a sonic hit late the night before and he'd left her behind when the unit moved out before dawn for an op. The base was supposed to be safe, it was in an area they had believed was secure; many soldiers brought their families in.
Ayani and Lucas had been excited to come, his work took him away far too often and he hadn't discouraged them. The difference between him and many of the other families was he did not find his loved ones slaughtered in their homes; he was one of only a few who got someone back. He got them back because the enemy had expected civilians and got a soldier.
As best they could piece together was Alicia had delayed them, unwilling to leave unfinished the living civilians had been rounded up and taken along; used as bargaining chips. Ayani and Lucas had not been alone, he had not been the only soldier given such a horrific option; but others came home to find their loved one's tortured bodies. Lucas said Ayani had been tortured, but they had not had the time to kill her that they had on base; he had seen the bodies they left behind. It was months before he returned to combat, but he did have the small comfort of knowing the men who had killed his wife died; after the dictator they had served lost the war.
Wash rested her cheek against his chest, and each time she murmured a memory, sometimes only a few words, he helped her place it. There were moments when it struck him, just how much they had shared even before they married, what he felt her was different from what he had felt for Ayani; but it was not less.
He nearly snarled when his comm chirped, he felt her tense as he tapped it to open the channel; but she didn't move. "Go."
"Have you seen Lieutenant Washington? She was supposed to meet Elisabeth this afternoon for some tests but she didn't show and she isn't home." Shannon's voice rolled into his ear, Wash was close enough to hear and she twisted around him to look at the clock, wincing.
"She's fine." It hadn't been intentional, and the sleep had probably been good for her.
"Could she stop by the clinic tonight?" Shannon asked after a pause, not surprised he knew where she was; the doctor likely wanted to verify his assessment for herself.
"She'll head over now." He confirmed when the woman next to him nodded, Alicia's comm hadn't been replaced since the occupation and her unit had been empty all afternoon; there hadn't been another way to contact her.
As they crossed the living room the little slashers noticed the movement and came to watch through the door. She paused and sighed. "They must be hungry again; I don't even know how often they should be fed."
"Go see the doctor, I will ask Malcolm and pick something up for them at the market." Nathaniel laughed, nudging her towards the door; he had yet to figure out her interest in the little things.
He did go by the science division and the market, as he doubled back towards the infirmary she walked out with the doctor. Nathaniel dropped back, he remembered the hug Zoe had given him when they believed she had died, the little girl had given her a hug in the hospital before realizing that the woman didn't know her.
He knew that Alicia was frustrated, but it was also hard on those who wanted to help; and those who felt connected to her. Dr. Shannon had tried to prepare her family, fully aware that Wash's condition was unpredictable, but the colonists and the unit she had trained were another matter.
They wanted to help her just as much as he did, lengthening his stride Nathaniel waited until the doctor turned towards her own place before catching up. "Malcolm thinks the slashers should eat a little bit every six hours."
"Then they're pretty hungry now." Wash sighed.
"What did Dr. Shannon say?" The doctor ran tests almost everyday.
"Nothing, the scans today were the same as the last set; my problem is in my head." He heard the frustration in her voice and when the gate closed behind them, he rubbed her back; she only tensed for a moment.
"It will get better." He promised, his words drowned out by the squeaks and squeals of the two little slashers racing from their nest to meet them.
He lifted the bag he carried a little higher, handing it over to her as they sat on the back step; he smiled as she slid a knife from her boot. He watched as she cut chunks off, the little slashers ate eagerly; the little female cautiously pulled the strips from her fingers. Both let her touch them, bumping her hand and shins with the protuberances on their heads.
He wondered if they could sense her mood, he could, and he didn't know how to help her. She needed time to heal, but more than that he suspected she needed a sense of balance; this was the longest she'd been off since stepping through the portal. "Come back to work tomorrow."
"Is that a good idea?" She glanced at him, eyes flat.
"Yes." There were a few months blank in nearly twenty years of service, he would help her where her memory failed.
He suspected it was easier to cope with the physical limitations on her body; she knew what to do there. She spent a lot of her time walking the patrol routes and using the workout equipment in her unit; trying to ease the stiffness in her body.
Leaving her with the little slashers he put the rest of the meat in the steri bin and took out some xiph kebobs to put on the grill. He wasn't sure if she would come in, but after awhile she did; shoving the knife back into her boot.
It felt good to have her home, and to have her beside him again; finding their rhythm together. In the morning they dressed, and he watched her consider her weapon belt and armor before leaving them on the hook. He didn't comment, she needed to make those choices without pressure; he already knew that her reflexes were reliable.
They fed the little slashers before heading up to the office, he saw the soldiers on duty trying to hide smiles as she walked with him. Today she refused to lean on him, leaning heavily on the rail as the soldiers watched, inside the office he got her to review the drone footage; the patrol in the badlands had sent it up.
Shannon walked in and paused as he saw her, he watched as Wash glanced at the man and gave a quick nod before turning back to her work. Shannon stood for a moment, he knew she didn't remember the man, she was polite but not familiar and more interested in the notes she was making on the drone footage.
Nathaniel motioned the man over to his desk and listened to his report; the work crews would be focused on the north side today. When shift changed more than a few soldiers slipped by; glancing through the open windows. They worked quietly for a few hours before the comm crackled; the north towers calling to each other.
They had a slasher outside the fence, it had braved the mines to pace the fence. He could only think of one reason it would have come and gave order to hold, calling for a scientist to meet them at the fence. Wash rode with him and as he considered whether or not to let her try to climb up to the tower, he heard the distinctive calls of the slasher.
Slashers used that sound to call to each other, to call others for a hunt; they didn't need to climb to the tower. Just outside the fence an injured slasher paced back and forth; Nathaniel frowned. As Dunham climbed down to report he watched it, the thing had locked its attention onto his lieutenant; and she was watching it right back.
"It keeps making that sound, but we have no other large heat signatures in range; it is badly wounded." The young man reported, glancing to the fence as Wash approached it; they both watched her lean on the rails. The slasher fell silent.
The creature scented the air as the science rover rolled up, Malcolm and his sidekick took their time getting out; casting long looks at the dinosaur. Neither were keen to approach, the slasher was still studying Washington, the soldier stared right back as the creature tilted its head inquisitively; did it smell it's hatchlings on her?
"Please tell me we are going to put that thing out of its misery." Malcolm muttered as the slasher raised its head and called out again.
"No." At least not if they had any choice, he had called the science division to get someone who would be able treat it.
"Someone has tried to cut the barb off her tail." Wash muttered, joining the group; disgust clear on her face. "Shot twice, one in the shoulder and one in the back."
"It only came here for its hatchlings; put them out there and maybe it will go away." Malcolm's sidekick was still staring at the slasher; clearly both scientists were afraid of it.
In the state it was in he doubted the dinosaur would survive long without help, it's tail, usually a nightmare, was a chief line of defense and offense necessary for hunting. And as vocal as the slasher was it didn't seem eager to attack, it watched and called; searching.
"I'll do it." Alicia Washington murmured, glancing back towards the fence before turning for the rover.
She disappeared, he took a tranq gun and his pistol, firing a couple shots into the air to force the dinosaur back before trying to get a dart into its underbelly. He got a hit and waited, the slasher called out over and over again but staggered backwards and stumbled before dropping onto its side.
Wash reappeared, a heavy med kit slowed her stride; he kept his weapon trained on the slasher as she approached. The dinosaur tried to lift its head to sniff at her, but it was unable to fight the tranq. Wash knelt by its tail and the dinosaur nearly sighed as she slathered a thick cream onto the injured end, it had both antibacterial properties and pain relief; she sprayed a liquid bandage over it all. Then turned her attention to the gunshot wounds, digging the bullets out of its flesh and using more medicated cream and liquid bandage to protect the sites.
As she finished the dinosaur did manage to move its head, knocking her backwards as it cried out; this time small cries replied. Something moved in the underbrush and as Washington scrambled backwards, he raised his aim; waiting for a target; two more hatchlings burst out and raced to their mother.
"They are skinny." Wash murmured as they slid back through the fence, she was moving towards the rover; Malcolm joined them.
"At that age they need to eat small amounts frequently; if she has been unable to hunt…" The man trailed off as Alicia Washington lifted down the young pair of slashers, removing the cover from their cage and a slab of meat. "You cannot be serious."
When let free the two little ones scrambled to rejoin their family, needing help to get through the fence as their mother called desperately to them. The dinosaur tried to lift her head, sniffing them over as they butted her shoulder and climbed over her. Wash glared at Malcolm before sliding through the fence herself.
She kept her distance this time, cutting strips for the young ones first before tossing the last of it to the adult slasher. Nathaniel kept the weapon trained but the tranq was holding, he winced as Wash crossed to the creature and kicked the meat close enough for it to grab; the babies darting in for a little extra. The food was gone in about two bites and as Wash turned back one little slasher came darting towards her; the little female wanting to play.
When it couldn't climb into her lap the young slasher followed her back to the fence; yipping unhappily as it tried to scramble through. Inside the fence she knelt and reached back to pet it, the creature cried in protest each time she stood up. He ignored Malcolm muttering in the background, his attention on the soldier playing with the little slasher; he wasn't so sure it was a matter of attachment that had Wash crouched by the fence.