Alicia followed the girl into the trees and down to the river, following her carefully as they picked their way across river rocks into the mouth of a cave. The girl shook her head when Alicia started to follow her in, she appeared a second later sitting in a wooden boat of some form; a mode of transportation Alicia had only ever read about.
Uneasy in such a small boat she did as told, sitting in front as the girl paddled down river, the current helping them along. The water roughened and they passed a fall, staying to the far edge of the river; clearly a route this girl had used before. Watching the banks Alicia spotted patches that were worn, and she didn't think they were animal watering holes.
Suddenly the girl tensed and they angled sharply to the shore; the girl's hand grabbed at her back; shoving the rifle around her. Taking the hint Alicia shifted the harness and raised the weapon; looking through the scope for something she could identify. And she did, a Phoenix soldier held a struggling man, a knife to his throat. Alicia took aim and fired, both men fell but she knew she had hit one.
Realizing she was going to be guided by a hand grabbing at her Alicia stepped into knee deep water and followed the girl when a hand pulled at her cargo belt. Clearly she was not going to take a sniper's nest and pick them off; her rifle would be little use.
A quick decision she slung it off and showed the girl. "No good in close."
Hands again, taking it from her and sliding it into the roots of a tree. Alicia nodded, taking her knife she slashed a mark deep into the bark; she had to be able to find it again. Trading knife for a glock Alicia knew she was going to have to make it count; she only had nine shots. She wouldn't use her sonic unless she had to.
Moments later she flashed back to Terra Nova a little over a year ago, crouched in the underbrush as she counted the soldiers in this camp. People were being dragged out of their homes, men separated from women and children shoved aside. They had invaded this little camp, and would destroy it. Somehow the alarm had not gone up yet, the man she shot had not been in this hive of activity; perhaps he was their sentry.
The moment she started firing they would be on her, but she noticed that only a few carried sonic weapons; she saw an awful lot of knives. She would have to fight, perhaps some could get away. "You cannot stay with me. Leave me here, get people out. You take them that way. The woman you saw with me, curly hair. She will find you."
Alicia slid one of her tags from the chain on her neck, she had to hope Reilly would understand what was happening when her tags separated. That her guys were close enough to help. The girl stared at her for a long moment before closing the tag in her hand.
She waited a ten count after the girl had disappeared. Then she fired, she took three shots straight out; the three she saw with sonics. The shots were clean kills and she was moving, another two went down. There was at least one more sonic in use as blasts were hurled in her direction but Alicia moved fast, cutting in an arc opposite of the direction the girl had disappeared.
She shoved the pistol back into the holster as she pressed against the back of a hut; her knife in hand she took out the soldier that made to charge past. Circling around the other side she took out her pistol again; she needed to get all their attention. Not unlike another time she had fought them; only this time she was going to do more than buy time. She was going to win.
When she made it back to the clearing she had watched before only a few men remained, they struggled against the Phoenix; clearly not willing to flee. But the children and most of the women had disappeared. As one child appeared and a mercenary darted after him and scooped him up fury burned inside her.
Alicia raised her pistol and stepped into view; he saw her face a moment before he died. To use a child like that, she knew they were not above it but it made her furious. She had only two bullets left and she didn't know how far out help was or how many were left in this camp. Alicia raced between the huts, in a weaving path. She came to the far side of the camp and found a rhino parked.
Hitting the ground she dove under it, sliding out her knife she popped the line that ran to the power converter free; disabling it. Belly crawling to the edge she heard her pursuers muttering curses; clearly looking left and right not up or down. She rolled out the far side and hid a moment.
Blood hammered through her, hot and angry Alicia did not try to control the hate she felt towards these mercenaries. It should be something she tried to control. She hated what they would do to these people, what they had tried to do to Terra Nova and what they would do to this land given the chance.
Pulling out her sonic she ducked through the hide hanging in a door way. A noise made her freeze, Alicia swept the room slowly, a wizened old woman was curled into the corner, wrapped in hides and hands covering her face. "I am not with them. I will not hurt you and I will not let them hurt you."
Her tone was hard, she didn't know if her words softened it. But Alicia reached down to her ankle and slid her backup knife free; extending the handle to the woman. From the wreckage in the room it had been searched, likely weapons taken. The woman took it and Alicia peeked out before moving to the next.
She was done scrambling, it was time to fight like a soldier. Methodically, systematically, she would sweep every inch of this camp, the Phoenix could only flee on foot and by now there had to be Terra Nova soldiers close by; she had disabled their transport and if she found any others she would do the same to them.
Alicia turned rounded a hut just a two Phoenix soldiers turned the corner, she launched herself at them; feeling a knife graze her side. A blow to the throat dropped one and her knife the other. She continued, she pushed everything else from her mind; she could not remember and could not think of the past. It would only weaken her. She heard an engine rumble, cautiously she made her way back to the clearing.
Two rovers sat there, her men pouring out of them; weapons drawn. She saw their eyes find her, and saw a mix of reactions in their faces; she knew what she must look. "Sweep the camp, there are survivors hiding in some huts; do not harm them. One is armed, she is scared; she is not a threat to you. Any mercenaries you find you deal with. We are not taking hostages."
There were nods and she watched as the divvied into pairs and began to spread out. Reilly stayed behind, Jenkins was notably absent. "Ma'am, are you hurt?"
"No." She murmured, but her anger was fading and her energy gone; right now she hated herself. This was what she hated, this type of fighting.
"You look rough. Do you want my armour?"
"No." She replied in a hard tone, but did look down and realized in the adrenaline she had taken more hits than she realized. Her armour had served its purpose but hung off her in spots and gaped open in others. She was filthy and blood stained, and not all of it belonged to the people she killed.
"The Commander wants you to radio him. You've lost your com." Reilly told her, offering the one she had been wearing; her husband would have something to say.
"Wash to Terra Nova Command." She took it, moving a few feet away, for some semblance of privacy.
"Command to Wash sit rep." Her husband's voice was tight, his tone dangerous; she wasn't sure how much time had passed.
"Phoenix invaded a camp in the foot hills. Situation under control, doing a sweep now before preparing to return to base." Alicia reported quickly.
"There is a group holed up in a cave down hill, Jenkins and Logan stayed with them. How did you get here so fast?" Reilly asked.
"The girl brought me by some kind of boat, not a raft but low in the water; looked like a hollowed out tree." The word escaped her, Alicia didn't want to search for it.
"The kid has your rifle." Alicia smiled numbly, didn't surprise her even though the girl would have no idea how to use it.
The next hours were busy, survivors were coaxed out to the clearing, dead mercenaries hauled out of camp to a grave her soldiers dug; Alicia let Reilly take the count. Right now she could not think about the number of lives she had ended, or the lack of remorse she felt.
But she felt the shift in how her men looked at her, in the murmurs she heard and the way they jumped to her orders. They were nearly done when Jenkins and Logan turned up, surrounded by people; again Alicia did not try to count.
She watched the older woman she had given the knife to be embraced by another, somewhat younger; perhaps a daughter. But the cry she heard as the woman launched herself at a man; possibly the man she had first seen; she couldn't be sure. All around her families reunited, some eyed the soldiers skeptically and she caught some others pointing at her.
"Are we leaving them here?" Reilly asked hesitantly.
"I don't know." The girl they had first met approached and held out her rifle, Alicia took it and slung it over her back. "I need to talk to you."
The girl shook her head and darted away, returning a moment later, bringing the man with her. The old woman followed, stepping between them she offered the knife to Alicia in the same way it had been offered to her. Nodding she took it and tucked it in her belt. There was fast words in a language she didn't understand.
"We will not make you come with us but more of those men might come." She told them, hoping they understood.
"You live on falling river." Alicia stared blankly at the man. "High walls, many candles; many people."
"It may not be safe for you to stay here, can you move your camp? Or come with us? Just until it is safe again." Until Terra Nova found a way to keep the mercenaries on the far side of the badlands.
"Mine and my mother. We come." The man said, even as Alicia looked around she saw that it was only her soldiers who stood idle; around them the camp buzzed with activity. "On the river."
"We have vehicles, we can drive you."
"We camp at the high walls; we come by river." The man spoke firmly. "You go. We come."
…..
Nathaniel paced the gate, various reports had come in, and the soldiers at the outpost had already submitted some reports. The sun was high in the sky when he got the call that his wife's team was ten out; off the track. It was a long hour before he went down to the gate.
He found it hard not to worry, he had expected her home last night and even after she had assured him they were safely at the outpost for the night he worried. Yet he could not stop her from her job, she was good at it and leading teams OTG was something that she enjoyed. And something he knew had always been one of her duties, ever since they had arrived she was often the one going on the OTG trips; that was just the structure of the military.
Something that was deeply engrained in them both that he often caught himself thinking of it even though they were no longer bound by those rules. And it was something he knew they would not turn away from, even if some rules were bent a bit more. He would feel better when duty was done and they could go home for the day; and put everything else aside.
The gate began to rise, logs clanking together as they were pulled up and the rover rolled through. Reilly drove, Alicia was shot gun but immediately he could tell things had been worse than any had said. All faces were grim but his wife's was cast straight and blank; a look he had seen before. She'd killed, he knew that from the reports but seeing her he knew it had been brutal.
When she stepped from the rover he saw that she was favoring one knee, her armour was on but patched and he wondered what it hid. She would be professional, it was her way of coping as she processed things.
The soldiers were dismissed and one of the guards took the rover around to the bays. Alicia watched before turning and walking with him towards the Command Center. He calmly adjusted the path towards the infirmary. She briefed him quickly.
"We've put extra men on the towers along the river." He told her, watching her and wanting to see some reaction from her.
Alicia would pull into herself and evaluate the events of the past day. When she had sorted it out for herself she would talk. He understood that she was the only one who fully knew what had happened in that camp and she had fought alone.
As they arrived at the infirmary Elisabeth Shannon was hurrying out, she saw them and redirected; word had travelled fast. "She's steady Doc, we'll just get checked before we head home."
"You've done something to that knee and your side." The woman reached out and as she reached for her side his wife snapped a hand around her wrist.
The doctor withdrew, brown eyes filled with concern as Alicia moved past her. He nodded to the doctor and she murmured to him. "I've cleared the second exam room for her."
He guided Alicia back to it and began to strip off her armour, Alicia was stiff but he ignored it. The doctor stepped into the back of the room and watched. She sat on the table silently, he nodded to the doctor and rubbed a hand over his wife's shoulder.
The doctor placed a hand on her knee, and he saw that the fabric was snug around out. The fabric was cut away and the doctor set to work, slowly Alicia eased into his side. He turned so that her cheek rested against his chest. Elisabeth murmured something about a prick and he watched as Alicia drifted to sleep; he lay her back slowly.
"You have seen her like this before?" Elisabeth Shannon demanded.
"There is an important difference between Alicia and I. Alicia is a soldier and a medic. She will never kill in cold blood and in that we differ; I know I can." He had accepted that about himself just as he knew Alicia could accept that about him but never for herself.
"She was defending those people. She was doing her job." Elisabeth murmured, now Alicia was unable to stop her the woman pressed a palm to her cheek.
"Remember the history with the Phoenix and give her the time to decide it for herself. She did what she had to and know she needs to check herself; it is what she does. Killing makes her feel out of control, even if she is doing it on an order; the few hours she spends like this allows her to regain herself and keep going. The sooner she can do it the sooner she will move past it." It was her way of debriefing herself and putting the past aside to keep living. She would still do her job and should they need her fight just the same but she needed this time.
He watched the doctor work, his wife lying still as her knee was treated and the wrapped in ice and the doctor moved on to her side. A shallow gash had been stitched and judging by the work Alicia had done it herself; but her body was battered. The stitches were removed, the wound cleaned and pressed with soothing ointment before being restitched; it would reduce scarring.
Considering the body count she had come out lightly, he wouldn't press her to talk about it tonight. Instead he handled shift change and then took her home, reassuring Elisabeth that she would rest; he would try and keep her leg elevated and iced. He wanted to wrap her in his arms, to tell her that it was alright; she was alive and those people were too because of her. But it wasn't time.
Now she needed quiet, settled on the couch with Boxer's head in her lap; she rubbed an ear reflexively. Nathaniel settled on her other side, he rubbed her back; accepting the silence between them. Eventually she did turn into his arms and disgusted at not being chosen Boxer abandoned them.
He held her, pulling her up and stretching out on the couch he held her cheek into his neck; murmuring a reassurance. "You did your job; they are safe."
He hoped it was true. Wondered if they would make good on their word and come down to the colony; but then they had no way of knowing how long that journey would take. Perhaps some of them would be able to tell them more of what had happened before Alicia arrived.
"One grabbed a child as a shield." She replied, he figured she must have settled it for herself. "They weren't crossing the badlands to attack the colony; they were looking for those people."
"Why?"
"We were too late, some had already been taken, and they were taking women. The Phoenix aren't trying to go back; now they are trying to settle. We are going to fight them at every turn or they will allow history to repeat and someday this world will be like the one we left." She sighed, and he couldn't help but smile a little. Their dream was that this colony would be the start of a civilization that would care for the world.
"We will fight and we will win. We've won before and we've beat them before; and we will again." He promised, what he didn't say was that by now their numbers had to be hurting, but the colony was growing.