Chapter 137: Good Vodka Makes Good Comrades.
"OK Sasha you and your people can use this area here as your staging area, there's a bunk room through there with eight beds in it though I am not quite sure if our new friend here will fit given her umm large size," General Redfield said glancing up at Lucile who peered down at the human female with a large golden eye before glancing where she had indicated into the bunk room.
"I will adapt, I can nest almost anywhere," she said with a very obvious defiance in her voice as if the mere thought that she would be defeated by human-sized furniture was truly unthinkable to the massive Valkyrie.
"Well umm yes right-ho, as I was saying this will be your primary planning and staging area, we have another room through here that you can use as an armoury and I am in the process of having some Power Armour frames brought over so you can work on your suits courtesy of our new friends in the Brotherhood," the General continued gesturing to another room off the side of the main one.
"This will be fine General, we Cossacks do not require much space or maintenance, we are very used to operating with what we have on our backs but your efforts are of course appreciated," Sasha said.
"Right, well then I'll let you all get settled in and get this place set up how you'd like and then we can start getting down to brass tacks," General Redfield said.
"What do tacks made of brass have to do with our mission here?" Lucile asked in obvious confusion.
"It is an American expression, it means that we will be getting down to the details of our mission here," Sasha explained to the confused-looking condor who simply ruffled her thick head feathers in obvious annoyance which made her look like she brielf had a mohawk.
"Then why does she not say this? You humans are as confusing as you are annoying," Lucile huffed with a clack of her large hooked beak while the rest of her team simply stood in silence observing the proceedings.
"Ahh come on now big girl, you will soon see that some of us humans can be downright fun!" Ivan said patting the massive condor on the shoulder and making her feathers fluff up again in annoyance.
"You and I obviously have very different definitions of the word 'fun' human," she snarled and undeterred Ivan simply shot her a grin.
"Oh come now big girl don't be so grumpy, you are starting to remind me of Natalia when that time of the month rolls around, just less violent," Ivan said about a second before there was a loud metallic clonk from the stone that Natalia had pitched at his head bouncing off his shoulder pauldron.
"Damn, I missed," Natalia growled as Ivan turned his characteristic grin towards her now.
"See what I mean? It seems Valkyrie women and Russian women have a lot in common yes?" Ivan continued while directing his comment towards the two eagles in the Valkyrie group.
"I'm not answering that, I like my beak attached to my head thank you very much," the bald eagle said making Ivan roar with laughter.
"Don't mind Ivan, he is not happy unless he has managed to get at least one person to fly off the proverbial handle or is not face down in a pool of his own sick," Sasha said making Ivan scowl at him.
"Oh come now Sasha don't talk like this yes? You will make our new comrades think we are nothing but a bunch of American yahoos who do not know dangerous end of rifle from their own ass!" Ivan said clomping his way into the room to look into the bunk room closer.
"Take no notice, he might come off as an oaf but on battlefield he is as cold as ice and solid as rock, is no better I assure you," Sasha said.
Celine made a huffing noise and ruffled her feathers back into place as she watched the curious Russian investigating the room.
"I will save my critique for after our first engagement but let us say I am not setting my standards perch high," she said quietly.
"He might be an insufferable oaf but Sasha is correct, when bullets fly he is totally different person, he plays hard fights harder, just do as I do, if he annoys you find thing to throw at him until he goes away," Natalia said clomping past the big Condor girl with large box of weapons in her hands.
"Now this is advice I like, it seems the females of your species give sage advice human, perhaps there is some hope for your species after all," Celine said making Sasha sigh heavily, this was going to be a long attunement period, he could already feel it.
As it turned out the General had been spot on when she'd said about the bunks not fitting Celine, so while the others had set about grabbing themselves a bunk she had gone to acquire herself a second mattress and some more blankets, before returning and setting herself up a nest in a quiet corner of their central command room.
At first she hadn't noticed Sahsa who was now out of his power armour and doing the same in another corner but when she did finally notice him she looked at him curiously.
"Why are you in here too human, the beds will fit you easily?" she enquired as she watched him setting up.
"You have obviously never heard Ivan's snoring, it is easier to sleep under artillery fire than bunk underneath him, Natalia is fine as she could sleep through atomic fire but I prefer to have some privacy when I sleep, is long story," Sasha said with a shrug.
Celine seemed to accept this and went back to building her bed nest, which to Sasha's eye made him think of the pillow forts that he and his sister would build when they were children back in the metro tunnels in which they were raised.
Once they had sorted out their bedding situation and had stowed their weapons and armour in their new armoury the team decided to have their first real sit down so that not only could they get to know one another, but so that the two very different teams could get a handle on their counterparts.
The first thing Sasha noted was like his own team the Valkyries did not stow their sidearms in the armoury along with their long rifles, it seemed the two groups already had a starting point of common ground beginning with their adherence to basic military doctrine.
As Sasha chose a seat he was quite surprised to see that Celine grabbed the seat next to him at the table and he wondered if that due to her rank and status as the leader of her group she felt that she should be seated next to him as the overall leader of the team or whether there was something else at play but this did present him with an opportunity to build a bridge as his true American comrades were always so fond of saying.
"OK first order of business, I wish our Valkyrie brothers and sisters to feel both valued and welcome among us, we are here to fight same fight and to battle same enemies, we are all on same side so while I have been made overall commander of unit I am making Celine second in command of unit, you all answer to her and she answers to me, is this understood?" Sasha said and he could already tell from the look on both Natalia and Ivan's faces that there was going to be some contest here.
But there was also a look of surprise that was being shared among the Valkyries, though the horned Owl female who was sat directly opposite him always seemed to have wide eyes so whether that was a surprise on her face or simply her resting expression was up for debate.
"But Sasha..." Ivan began but Sasha held up his hand to cut him off and he turned to him and gave him a warm smile.
"You have all had to take orders from other members of the Brotherhood before yes?" he said.
"Well yes..." Natalia began but Sasha once again got in before she could begin her ramble.
"Well then this is no different, as I have already said, we are all on same team now, we are comrades and more importantly, brothers and sisters in arms, our fight is their fight as theirs is ours, we fight for same cause against same enemies, we will undoubtedly shed blood together and I am making sure that it is known that we Cossacks respect our allies and value them, it matters not whether you have feathers or fur all our blood is red and we live, breathe and fight together as is Cossack way, this is the end of it, I have made my decision and Hunter Furytalon is now second in command of unit, you will follow her orders as you would follow mine and I am positive she will pay same respect to us and to me," Sasha said turning a very pointed and loaded look at the still surprised looking Condor.
"The Silent Eagles uphold the values of Valkyrie honour, we are its chief guardians and the pinnacle of what Valkyrie Featherguard strive to become, we will not let you down and this starts with me, I take your trust and will prove that we are worthy of it Master Knight," Celine said bowing her head slightly.
"Good! This is very good, see I say that non-humans make good allies and already they strive to prove my words true, now onto second order of business, team make-up, I will split team into two groups of four, this should be enough to handle most problems I think as if Silent Eagles are as good as Valkyries say then they should be able to keep up with a few ground-based mammals I think," Sasha said shooting a smile of challenge at Celine who clacked her beak but gave him a dark smile in return as if rather amused by his description.
"Count on it mammal, remember my ancestors hunted your kind for food so it will be no problems," she said.
"Well technically I think they hunted coyotes and rabbits and humans are related to monkeys so not quite," Ivan said with a shrug causing Celine to shoot him a somewhat angry look.
"Both have fur and both are mammals yes?" she said.
"In as much as you can call a Seagull a bird of prey because it can spot a chip at two hundred meters yes," Ivan shot back making Cleine clack her beak in annoyance.
"I have friends who are of the Seagull genus, choose your next words more carefully human unless you wish me to begin calling you monkey from now on?" Celina said.
"He's been called worse," Natalia said causing the rest of the Cossacks and some of the Valkyries to chuckle.
"Of that, I am not surprised," Celine said.
"Hey now, we just meet these people and you already begin slandering my good name? This is an outrage!" Ivan said in mock outrage all while wearing a smile that he aimed at Natalia.
"Alright let's get back on topic, I will lead team one, this will be made up of myself, Malina Celine and Edmund," Sasha said indicating both the large condor and the large Bald Eagle.
He then turned to the others and in another display of unity, he decided to place a Valkyrie in charge of the second team.
"Team two will be led by Ava and will be made up of the rest of you, I am making Natalia second in command of that team, when teams operate as one I am in charge and Celine will be second, is this understood?" Sasha said glancing at the large horned owl who was called Ava Nightwing.
Everyone around the table nodded and once again Celine seemed to both approve of his choice in assigning their second team under one of her own but also of the whole layout as a whole.
"Good then we have our first thing to drink too," Sasha said reaching under the table and producing both a bottle and a series of glasses before placing them down before him.
"Now you're talking!" Ivan said rubbing his hands together in glee.
"Is this that Vodka of which you spoke earlier?" Celina asked leaning down to peer at the clear liquid closely.
"Indeed it is my new friend, it is customary among both the Cossacks and further at large the Russian people to welcome new friends and changes in life with a drink to show camaraderie and togetherness, it shows that we are all one and no one is better than anyone else, we are all same," Sasha said twisting the cap off the bottle before pouring very deliberately equal measured into every glass and handing them out, deliberately leaving Ivan till last as he was way too eager.
Once everyone had a glass in hand Sasha held out his own towards the centre of the table and at first the Valkyries looked confused until they saw all of the Cossacks doing the same so they simply copied them.
"To new friends and comrades, may we go forth together and show our enemies the errors of their ways with the fire of our determination, to differences and similarities!" Sasha said.
"And many many bullets!" Ivan said making some of the others laugh.
"Or in our case, just the one," Celine said copying her new allies in clinking her glass against all of theirs though Sasha noted her eyes never left him as she did.
Now came the truth of the test as all of the Cossacks downed their vodka in a single gulp all of them slamming their glasses down as the powerful liquid hit them like a shovel, but it did at least warm the heart on its way past.
But the combined look on the Valkryies' faces, as they attempted to emulate their new comrades was one that Sasha would take to his grave, a look of pure surprise mixed with horror.
"It tastes like paint thinner!" Ava exclaimed and Sahsa noticed this was the first time he'd heard the horned owl woman speak.
"I think it took some of the lacquer off my beak!" Alex the golden eagle exclaimed turning his head at an angle as if he was trying to examine his long hooked beak.
"You lacquer your beak?" Natalia said raising an eyebrow.
"Your human women paint your lips red I don't see how this is any different, some of us want to have a nice shiny beak to turn the boy's heads," Alex said giving her a bit of a grin.
That made Sasha laugh as somehow he'd not envisioned any of them as gay but it appeared that just like with Ven and Gregory appearances had once again pulled the wool over his eyes, he really had to stop making assumptions with people, maybe this was a good lesson for life as a whole.
"Give the boys a few of these and I get the feeling they won't worry about how shiny your beak is more like they'll be more worried about why the floor suddenly looks so fucking close," Ava said slamming her glass down on the table.
"Ahh now she gets it!" Ivan said sounding triumphant as he gestured to the large horned owl girl.
"I'm pretty sure we use something similar to this to degrease engines back home," Celine said smalling her glass down hard enough to make the whole table shake and doing a damn good job of showing off the surprising strength in those wings of hers.
"We don't waste good Vodka on such things we just use a pair of Ivan's old underpants, unfortunately, they tend to rust the metal as well," Natalai said making the large Condor woman bark a laugh that sounded like a screech but the grin on her beak made it obvious that she was highly amused by this.
"I wondered why they had more skidmarks than usual," Ivan shot back making a few of them grimace while the others simply laughed as Sasha poured a second round.
"I think the image of Ivan in his pants or just said pants alone are enough to warrant another drink but unfortunately I do not believe there is enough Vodka left in all of Mother Russia to erase such a thing from your brain," he said handing out the drinks and making sure he gave Celine hers first which by the smile he got in return was a gesture that did not go unnoticed.
"Can't hurt to try though right?" she said before saluting everyone with the glass and downing it.
"It doesn't get easier on the second one," Ava said making a hoot noise as she finished it.
"Good Vodka never gets any easier, that's what makes it good, is Vodka's job to kick you in balls and remind you that you still yet live!" Ivan said as he downed his with a flourish.
"I don't have any balls," Ava shot back making Natalia laugh.
"Well kick you in the tits then, I'd say if it kicks you in the ovaries it might have kicked you too hard," Ivan said making the Horned Owl first wince then laugh.
That's when Celine decided to enter the fray with a surprise of her own, she pulled out a bottle of an oddly thick-looking purple liquid from her bag and placed it on the table.
"Since we have endured the paint thinner you call a drink I do believe it time you try something from our home, this is the drink of true warriors and it will put feathers on your chest guaranteed!" she said grabbing the glasses and beginning to pour the surprisingly thick looking purple liquid into them.
"Is that this fluff the tail feathers you mentioned?" Sasha asked and Celine looked at him with a raised eyebrow as she handed him his glass and he looked curiously at the thick liquid it contained.
"Good memory human and yes it is, I brought a bottle of it from home as it was my intention for me and my team to raise a glass to our first victory where we would show you ground dwellers the might and superiority of the Valkyrie race, but now after being shown both honour and respect by you I feel it would be better served in how you say building these bridges of which you speak, you have surprised me but in a good way and I feel that this endeavour the Elders have set us upon may yet have merit," she said as she finished pouring and began to hand the glasses out.
"I'll drink to that, I too will admit that I had my doubts about working side by side with non-humans but I recently have had an experience which has gone a long way to changing my mind about the merits and abilities as well as the trustworthiness of non-human species, now I believe that if this Seven of which the Free Peoples speak so highly of can do this, then we Cossacks can to, so since this is your toast Hunter Furytail I'll let you lead it," Sasha said raising his glass in preparation.
Celine smiled and nodded before doing the same and all of those gathered joined them.
"Here's to new beginnings and honourable allies, may we all fight for a future that we can all enjoy in peace," she said.
"Well said big girl, салют!" Ivan said and as one they all downed their glasses though Sasha noted that Celine's eyes never left him as the thick liquid hit his tongue, she was obviously gauging his reaction to their native drink as he had guaged her it theirs.
The drink was both sweet and sour all at the same time, it initially had a strong hit of sourness that mellowed rapidly into a pleasing sweet berry taste, it did not quite have the kick to the teeth that Vodka did, more of a subtle sneakiness that Sasha felt would lull one into believing that it was not as potent as one believed before sneaking up and smacking you across the head, but it was pleasant all the same.
"Interesting, this drink makes me think of a French liqueur I had once but that was made with oranges, I do not believe I have tasted this type of berry before, what is it?" he asked as Celine nodded her approval at his handling of their native drink.
"It is made with predominantly a type of strawberry that grows in our floating farms mixed with both cranberry and blueberry, but we do not juice the berries, instead they are ground into a thick paste that is then mixed with an alcoholic cream that is made in a special distillery," Celine said as she finished her own glass.
Sasha held out his glass towards to indicate that he would like a second shot and she once again nodded her approval of him embracing their traditions while doing the same with his.
"You seem to know a lot of its production?" Sasha said and Celine nodded.
"My family runs one of the biggest breweries in our territory and before I joined the Featherguard my father wished me to take over the business and when my service to my people is at its end I do still wish to return to that life, but until that day comes I will leave it in the capable hands of my younger brother," she said.
"Ahh you too know the joys and pains of siblinghood," Sasha said before receiving a kick under the table from his sister whom he shot an evil grin to.
Celine laughed upon seeing this and nodded her large head as her crest of dark feathers ruffled in what he guessed was a gesture that while unknown to him was mirrored among all the Valkyries around the table.
"It is rare for Valkyrie families to have only one child, though I understand that this is not the case with humans?" she asked and Sasha nodded.
"Many human families do have more than one child though in this modern world it, unfortunately, is often due to necessity rather than wish, this world is cruel and harsh if you wish your family heritage to move on into the future it is often a necessity to have more than one child to ensure this should the worst happen, which is unfortunately quite often the case, I have seen too many burial urns inscribed with 'Killed by Feral Ghouls,' or 'Lost to an accident' by grieving parents to say any different," he said sadly and Celine bowed her head and nodded.
"No parent should have to bury their young, but then this is why we all here fight is it not? So that we can bring about a world where this is not the case?" she asked glancing around at them all and getting a chorus of nods in return.
"This I will drink to," Ivan said and everyone at the table raised a glass in salute to this.
The group knocked back a few more drinks and got to know one another better over the course of the evening and by the time they all stumbled back to their beds and nests Sasha felt that real progress had been made towards the two groups meshing into one.
Thankfully Celine didn't snore though it did seem she had forgotten which end of the bed each part of her body was meant to go as when he woke in the morning he saw a mass of tail feathers sticking up out of the mess of sheets over on her side of the room.
As he roused himself and got to his feet to head towards their shower block he noticed that it wasn't only her tail feathers that were stuck up out of the mess of sheets and pillows that made up her nest fort, there was a surprisingly round and feminine ass sticking up with them, though covered by what looked to be some sort of traditional Valkyrie underwear made of a thin cotton.
Sasha shook his head and forced himself to stop staring as he headed into the shower block with his towel and shaving kit in hand.
The shower block was a modern addition to the old fort and while it did kinda look out of place it did at least have hot clean water thanks to the Fort's two industrial-grade water purifiers that were sat in the bay outside, which he'd noticed on the flight in.
So once she'd shaved off his stubble and trimmed his moustache and beard down to an appropriate level befitting a professional soldier, he stripped down and stepped into one of the open cubicles to take much much-needed, revitialising shower.
No sooner had the head-clearing hot water begun to flow over his bare skin than he heard the door open and he turned to glance over the top of the horseshoe-shaped cubicle and he instantly noticed Celine dressed only in her underwear and holding a small bag and towel.
As soon as she heard the sound of running water her large groggy-looking eyes swept over the room, instantly picking him out amongst the steam.
"Good morning, i hope your head does not feel too much like marching drum?" Sasha said to break the tension that he instantly felt spring up when she saw him.
"I will admit it has been quite some time since I felt the need to pluck out my tail feathers and to stuff them into my skull to stop my brain bouncing around inside of it like an errant egg in a nest," Celine groaned causing Sasha to laugh though thankfully for her not loudly.
"Yes, nights among the Cossacks can indeed lead to many mornings like these, especially when Ivan is involved and is in charge of setting the pace, a mistake you only try to make once," he said rubbing soap into his long hair.
Celine hesitated for a moment but then seemed to draw herself up and strode with as much faux confidence as she could muster towards the cubicle opposite him, but he noticed that she seemed to be deliberately trying not to look at him despite picking the only cubicle that thanks to its position had a perfectly clear view of him as all the others would be blocked by the small wall sections that surrounded them.
She stripped off her underwear and now it was Sasha's turn to try to force himself not to look, while as a professional soldier he was indeed used to mixed showering he had not exactly seen quite a specimen of a woman before.
Celine was built like a bodybuilder, despite having thick plumage covering her body her muscles were blatantly obvious under her feathers, especially once the water hit them as the wet feathers gave her the appearance of being covered in a coating of coloured oil that flowed down her flesh.
She was a blend of exotic and familiar that both confused and appealed to his senses in a way that he did not understand fully but could not bring himself to reject outright, was this how the members of the Free People felt when they looked at their preferred partners?
But it seemed that Sasha was not the only one whose curiosity was eating them alive as more than once out of the corner of his eye he caught her large golden eyes glimmering as she glanced over at him.
"Try to make only once?" Celine said suddenly and it was obviously an attempt to break to slightly awkward silence which had thickened the air between them much like the steam.
"Pardon?" Sasha asked being snapped back to reality with a twang at the sound of her deep voice.
"You said it is a mistake you try to make only once, that seems like an odd turn of phrase to me," she said and Sasha nodded.
"Ahh yes, well try as you might to keep reigns on him Ivan has this way of somehow breaking free of them and somehow he seems to be able to drag everyone along with him despite the power of their will, as I am sure you noticed last night when both those bottles of ours hit the floor empty, just be glad there were so many of us or that egg in your skull would most likely be scrambled this morning," Sasha said and Celine snorted a laugh that sent a spray of water into the air from her beak before visibly wincing at the jolt of pain it caused her.
"Somehow I can believe that, if he fights as good as he drinks I suddenly find myself glad that we did not come up against him during the conflict between our peoples," she said and now it was Sasha's turn to laugh.
"Oh trust me, for all of his very obvious faults he is both a good man and a better soldier, he knows his duty and he does it far beyond what most would say is the best of their ability, I have personally seen this man charge headlong into fire to rescue a downed comrade many times, he cares not if he is hurt only that he brings back his comrade, he may be a joker and the worst drunk you will most likely ever see, but he is damn fine soldier and a good man, despite rough edging," he said.
"I look forward to seeing this on the battlefield as I am certain that the Minutemen will not wish to waste time putting us out there to help sort out the mess that this region seems to be in at the moment," Celine said turning her back to him so that she could wash the soap that she had been rubbing into her thick feathers off.
Sasha couldn't help but let his eyes now roam over her back, she looked like carved marble thanks to the slick oil-like effect of her wet feathers and even from here he could easily see that despite her size and species, Celine was all woman.
"Undoubtedly, the General seemed to be positively frothing at the mouth with anticipation when she learned that she would be getting a detachment of Brotherhood and Valkyries to put into battle," Sasha said forcing himself to tear his eyes away from Celine's curved rear end.
"I wonder what she will have us doing first?" Celina asked shutting off her shower and taking her towel down from the rail above her head.
"She wants power armour to outfit her soldiers, she asked for our help in acquiring some and if there is one thing that Cossacks do better than any other branch of the Brotherhood it is make use of old equipment and make it better than was before, it is how you say a speciality of ours, old does not mean weak," he said.
"Ahh yes that accused armour of yours, I do often forget how fragile humans can be without it," Celine said with a smirk as she dried herself off now standing rather boldly before him and he could actually tell by her body language that she seemed to be daring him to look at her, so Sasha decided to fight fire with fire.
He turned around to face her as he shut the shower off and retrieved his own towel from the rail, as he did he instantly saw her eyes flick down his body and dart about before she managed to recentre them on his own.
"We may not have the natural armour of a Claw, or the cloaking ability of a Nightstalker, or even the flight ability of your own race but what we do have is an ability to recognise our flaws and to work to improve upon them, we know that we are vulnerable so we combat this with our technology," he shot back and she fixed him with a smirk.
"So where would you be without your technology hmm?" she asked her deep accent really adding an almost sultry note to that final part.
"Probably in same place, you would be without your wings," Sasha countered and that one stumped her.
"You have fire in your belly human I will give you that, but time will tell if you have it where it truly counts," she said turning away with a flick of her long tail feathers leaving Sasha standing there in confusion.
He couldn't help wondering why she seemed to be so combative at times, it was like she was fighting her own prejudices or some part of her pride kept trying to push her to remember that she thought that they were better than humans were and it did not like that she was beginning to understand that they were truly no different where it really counted, but as she had said the proof would be in the field.
Once he was dried off and dressed in a fresh uniform he headed out to join Celine in their new command centre where General Redfield was already waiting for them.
"Ahh good you're both here, should we wait for the rest of your team or do you want to begin?" she asked.
"No you can begin we will work out logistics of how to do what needs to be done later," Sasha said gesturing for her to take a seat along with Celine.
"Alright, the first order of business is as we briefly touched on yesterday to get my people properly outfitted for the task at hand, if there is going to be a conflict like the Free peoples seem convinced there is going to be, the Minutemen need to be better outfitted to fight it," the General said.
"Equipment will only go so far General, training will need to be implemented to handle this new equipment as well," Sasha cautioned and the General nodded.
"Of course and I have no doubt that we will be calling on your expertise in this area once we have what we need, now you said that you might have a lead on an old prewar cache when we spoke about this yesterday, care to elaborate?" she said turning to look at Sasha.
"We know of old prewar transport hub, which is part transport, part storage, lots of old prewar power armour suits there, mostly T45's but I believe there will probably be T51s as well but no better than that but is no problems, we can show you how to make most of these suits, when we are done they will go toe to toe with Enclave suits no problems," Sasha said.
"That's what I like to hear, so what's the plan?" she asked.
"Well we will move in and clear the site of hostiles, is underground so will most likely be crawling with Feral Ghouls as they like dark places, once is clear we will take stock and inventory and set up transport if there are too many to move it might end up being better to capture site and fortify it, make it Minutemen outpost, would be much easier than trying to move hundreds of suits through air yes?" Sasha said.
The General nodded while scratching her chin, "I like the sound of this, alright I'll leave you two to hash it out, keep me apprised of what you need and we'll make it happen," she said and with that, she got up and left the table leaving Sasha and Celine alone.
"Well let's get to work shall we, we have war to win?" he said and she nodded, it was time to really show what they could do.
