Rusty's Igloo
"Convoy will move out in 2 minutes, mount up!"
It had been 3 weeks since the fracas at Glamourama, and every weekend since, Rusty and Sal had linked up with Liana and Ember. Now though, the brutal reality of a training exercise clouded out all thoughts of Saturday night fun.
The entire student body had been transported to Fichina for winter maneuvers in a training area colloquially known as the 'frostbite farm'. Each year saw an average of 10% of the cadets hospitalized for cold weather injuries, with the occasional death by hypothermia. It also saw a large number of cadets resign and depart the Academy all together. Truely, it separated the wheat from the chaff. While Rusty had been assigned the relatively comfortable job of truck driver, Sal had been designated one of the 'snowmen': cadets who would spend the night outside on the perimeter.
"You ok pal?" Rusty asked his reptile friend.
"I don't know mate…I really don't know. Us reptiles ain't built for this." Sal responded, the akita sensing the unease in his roommate's voice.
"Take my seat in the truck. I can manage."
"Naw…I can't do that to you mate."
"Take it ya big lug" Rusty said, giving the larger croc a playful shove. "I am built for this," he continued, flashing his best blustery smile.
"Take care mate!"
"Can do!"
As Rusty and the other snowmen watched the convoy roll away, they were quickly given their orders by the Officer in Charge (OIC).
"Welcome to hell cadets!" A Siberian husky barked. "Your mission is to form a perimeter along the edge of the ravine and prevent enemy forces from penetrating into our rear. OPS says a snowstorm will be here in 5 hours, so get a move on! Remember, 100-yard spacing between positions, and keep your chemlights on."
'Enemy forces, what a joke' Rusty thought, annoyed at having to protect against a 'notional' enemy. 'They could have at least gotten someone to play the OPFOR…but I guess no sane person would be stupid enough to be out here in this. No one except us, that is.'
Rusty and the others trudged through the snow towards their planned defensive line. As they were on a mountain, the Akita was treated to a wondrous view down the slope. He could see for miles down into the valley and the many peaks beyond.
'Won't be seeing anything when that storm blows in,' he grimly thought.
While all the cadets quickly used their E-Tool to dig a foxhole in the snow, Rusty took it one step further. His family mansion rested on a winter-habitat space module, the preferred domain of his snow fox father. For as long he could remember, his father had taken him out camping in the snow every month. Using the skills his father taught him, Rusty cut the snow into square blocks and ringed his position. It took him 4.5 hours to finish, but the akita now had an igloo ready for action.
"Attention cadets" his radio crackled, the voice of the husky from earlier coming through. "Storm will be here in 30 minutes. Hang your chemlights and hunker down. Radio checks every 4 hours. Remember, you can quit at any time!"
"That bastard," Rusty grumbled. "He's probably in a nice warm tent." Rusty pulled out a chemlight and cracked it, causing the plastic stick to glow green. Hanging it on a branch he'd shoved into his igloo, the akita looked up and down the line. Darkness was just beginning to creep up, the sun setting behind the peaks. Rusty retired to his igloo to wait out the coming storm.
"This is snowman 8 checking in," Rusty said into his radio.
"Copy that snowman 8" came the response.
Having checked in, the akita prepared himself some much-needed sustenance. In no time at all, Rusty set up his field stove and started preparing a hearty meal. While the wind outside would blow out the stove's light or the swirling snow would bury the pot, Rusty was able to quickly make some boiled ramen, doing his best to ignore the rapidly increasing wind outside. No sooner had he wolfed it down than the radio crackled again. This time it was one of the cadets in the command truck 'running' the operation.
"Snowman 8, snowman 9 has not checked in. Boss wants you to check on them."
"Why can't a truck go check on them?!" Rusty growled into his radio. He could barely hear the speaker over the wind outside…and they wanted HIM to go out there and check?
"Convoy's buttoned up for the night. You're the closest to their position. Confirm Order!"
"Roger that, moving out" Rusty said with a snarl. "Those bastards!" he grumbled.
Leaving the comfort of his snowy abode, Rusty looked down the line and saw a gap in the perimeter: snowman 9's chemlight was out. Trudging through the howling snow as fast as he could, the akita reached the position in 2 minutes. Looking down into the hole, he saw a female jackal wrapped up in her sleeping bag. The girl was shivering madly and chattering away. After checking her pulse, the akita soon reached a decision.
"I'm gonna call the Cadre to pick you up."
"NO, please, don't" the desert dog stammered out.
"You won't last another hour out here!"
"I…I can do it. I HAVE to do it" she weakly whined out.
"Oh yeah, how many fingers am I holding up?" Rusty said, annoyed.
"F-F-Four!"
Rusty then shoved his paw closer to the jackal's face, showing her the truth.
"It was two. Now shut it, I'm calling them in."
"Please don't…please…I can't get kicked out. I have to graduate!" she weakly said, soon beginning to cry.
"You crazy bitch!" Rusty snarled, not wanting to be out here any longer than necessary! Looking around, trying to decide what to do. He quickly pulled out his radio.
"Santa Paws, this is snowman 8, snowman 9 is consolidating with me."
"Copy that"
Rusty scooped up the Jackal in her sleeping bag, and carried her back to his igloo, doing his best to protect her face from the driving snow. Upon entering, he wasted no time in taking her out of the soaked sleeper and removing her wet outerwear as well. The jackal, now in her bra and panties, was too cold and weak to protest.
"Take this" Rusty demanded, draping the jackal in his own coat, before stuffing her inside his dry sleeping bag. He then cranked up the heat on his stove and put some water on to boil.
"Snowman 8, come in."
"WHAT?!" Rusty snapped into his mic, long past the point of radio etiquette.
"We've lost contact with the rest of the line, Boss wants a sweep!"
"Let me guess…no trucks?" Rusty mocked.
"No trucks! Confirm Order!"
"Copy that, asshole!" Rusty finished, dropping his mic. Doing a quick stretch, the akita made for the exit.
"Y-y-you're not going out there again, are you?" The jackal said, her eyes wide in fear.
"I know, pretty crazy huh?!" Rusty said, putting on his most cavalier smile.
"At least take your j-j-jacket" she said, trying to take it off and hand it to him.
"Keep it" Rusty ordered, silencing the female's objections with a stern glare. "My dad was a snow fox. I can't run around in this naked like he could…but I can manage. Stay in the bag! I'll be back as soon as I can."
After leaving the igloo, Rusty immediately felt the icy blast against his chest. This storm was tough, but he was tougher. His highlights and tail weren't the only things he'd gotten from his father. His fur was much thicker than a normal akita's. For a winter-acclimated dog like him, this weather was miserable, but far from fatal, he just had to keep moving. Looking down the line he saw that most of the other chemlights had gone out. Not wanting to stay out any longer than necessary, Cadet Sharana quickly got to work. An hour later, he'd finally finished his grim task.
"How is it?" his guest asked, as soon as he crawled back into the shelter.
"Like shite!" Rusty answered, shaking the snow off his fur.
"Is everyone else ok?" she asked, causing Rusty to shake his head.
"The entire line is gone: 12 hypo stage-ones, 11 hypo stage-twos, 5 hypo stage-threes, 2 frozen solid and one missing." Rusty somberly said. "There were clothe tossed around his hole and tracks towards the cliff face…fooker musta cracked. I radioed them in as I found them…it's just us now."
Rusty then turned to his stove, the water was boiling so the canine tossed in some hot cocoa mix. A minute later he was offering it to the jackal, helping her take small sips. When the cup was empty, the akita hung a fresh chemlight outside before entering his sleeping bag. It was a tight squeeze with another animal in there, but the two melded together to fit.
"Let me know if you need anything else" Rusty said with a yawn, the exertion finally getting to him.
"You've done more than enough, kind Sir." The jackal quietly mewed. "Thank you for your aid, may I know the name of my savior?"
"Rusty"
"Thank you, Sir Rusty. From the Kemal Clan in general and Jasmine in particular. We thank you!"
"I'm not a noble, Rusty's fine" the akita said, drifting off. "Rusty Sharana."
The jackal's eyes snapped wide open! She didn't recognize him, being from a different squad, but she DAMN-sure recognized his surname. Sharana! Rusty F-ING Sharana! The PRINCE of the Colonies had saved her from freezing to death…and was now spooning with her? THIS was the man she'd heard denounced in the mess hall? HE was the one slandered outside the classroom? Rusty…THIS RUSTY, was the monster from beyond the gate?!
Jasmine's noble family was minor compared to most of the other cadets at the Academy. As a result, the shy jackal was almost always in the background. She struggled to even get noticed, much less make friends outside her squad. Jasmine's mind raced, trying to square this circle: trying to make sense of 'what she'd been told' vs 'what she'd just witnessed'. The answer swiftly came to her and the canine snuggled up to her protector in response.
'You ARE a noble Rusty. You're more noble than anyone here!' she thought, before drifting away to sleep herself.
The next day saw the sun rise over the snowy peaks, casting its light on the frozen mountains as it had done since the dawn of time. The storm was gone and the winds were still. Yet whereas twelve hours earlier there'd been a prepared defensive line, there was now only a half-covered igloo rising above the drifts. The foxholes of Rusty's comrades long-since blown away.
Rusty woke up 30-minutes before dawn, a habit he'd picked up while at the academy. The akita tried to leave the sleeping bag to get his radio but was quickly stopped by the low growl of his still-sleeping guest. It seemed the jackal didn't want her personal furnace to leave. Stretching to the max, Rusty was able to grab the mic and complete a radio check. Confirming to the wider word that they were still alive.
"Congrats snowman 8" The radio crackled, the husky OIC's voice once again coming though. "You and 9 were the only ones outside the trucks to make it through the night. We had a betting pool going on here and I scored big. Well Done!"
'Those bastards!' Rusty thought, bearing his fangs. 'Is this a training exercise or a fookin gameshow?!'
"I'm putting you both in for the Cornerian Arctic Tab. Wear it with pride, you've earned it! Base out!"
Now that was something that got his attention. 'An Arctic Tab?!...but I'm just a cadet!' As far as Rusty knew, no cadet had ever been awarded a tab prior to commissioning.
"Mmmm" the jackal said, slowly stirring awake thanks to the commotion.
"Good news Jasmine, we got tabbed!" The akita excitedly said.
"Can we go back to sleep?" She daintily huffed.
"No-can-do Jasmine" Rusty cheerfully said, jumping out of the sleeping bag. "We need to celebrate, I'm gonna make us the best field breakfast EVER!"
True to his word, the akita quickly set about preparing a meal using only the packed rations he'd brought. Jasmine's skepticism was quickly erased by the succulent smell coming from Rusty's stove.
"Rusty, how do you know how to do all this?"
"Do what?" He innocently asked.
"The igloo, the food, the…the rescue" she finished, blushing.
"Well, my dad taught me the igloo. He loves the snow and we camped out every month." Rusty said, stirring the pot. "My mom taught me how to cook. She had to learn when she was 9, and insisted her children learn too." He added ripping open a pepper pack and pouring it into the pot. "As for the rescue, well…I kinda winged it. If you weren't better by the time I got back checking the others, I would've called it in." He admitted.
"Thank you for pulling me in here Rusty. You've no idea how much you've done for us."
"Oh….us?" The akita said, pouring them both a bowl of the broth. "Do tell, I gotta feeling we'll be here for a while."
"You do?"
"Yeah, they may've been warm all night in the convoy, but after that storm I'm willing to bet they'll need to spend the next 6 hours digging the trucks out of the snow." He finished with a chuckle before passing Jasmine a bowl, eager to hear her out.
"Well, you see Rusty. My family house is based in Corneria's desert." Jasmine started, taking a sip of Rusty's stew. Overwhelmed by the flavor of it, the hungry jackal quickly took several more sips before resuming her story. "We rank lower in the peerage, but we've held a Senate seat since the unification of the planet over 1000 years ago…Yet last year, my father was forced to resign under pressure." Jasmine continued, tears starting to drip into her bowl. "A majority of the Senate wants to open up the desert for development, 'resource extraction' they call it. They say it's to reduce Corneria's dependence on Colonial imports, but it's a lie! They just want to line their pockets. When my father protested, his Senate colleagues denounced him and had him censured."
Rusty listened to Jasmine intently, his eyes never leaving her face even as he ate his soup. His mother had warned him to distrust Centers, yet throughout the jackal's story, he couldn't pick up any trace of a lie. Taking another sip, he listened on.
"It's all up to me Rusty, they're counting on me! Father, mother…everyone back home!"
"So…you're an only child?" the akita probed, causing the female to nod her head.
"My father can't set foot in the Senate while censured, but the family seat remains. Legally, it can only be removed if there is no heir to take it."
"I get that," Rusty said, taking a sip from his canteen. "But why are you here?" He questioned, waiving about the igloo. "Surely you'd be more comfortable at a normal school?"
"It doesn't work like that." Jasmine said, shaking her head. "To assume my family seat I need to have a previous record of service to the Cornerian Union. The law states that I can either spend a decade in the civil service, or have served as an officer in the military."
"Is your father sick or something? Can't you just do your time in the ISS or Revenue Bureau?"
"He's fine Rusty…and that's the problem! We're worried someone will try to kill him before I can legally take his seat. If that happens the entire population of my province will be deported. They're good people Rusty, they don't deserve to lose their homes!" Jasmine wailed, tears still dripping into her bowl. "...Three more years…three more years and I can take my father's seat and save them!"
Rusty took the final sip from his bowl. He had to admit, she spun a good yarn. Though he couldn't detect any lies, he followed his mother's wisdom of caution. Things were always more than they appeared, and one misstep could get you killed.
"Well, I wish you luck!" He simply said, moving to clean the pot so he could boil some more water for coffee. "Might wanna brush up on your arctic skills though. If you're wearing the tab people will expect you to know what you're doing."
At 3 p.m. the convoy finally returned to the perimeter line. The driver's door of the first truck swung open before the vehicle even stopped. A large reptile jumping out.
"Rusty. RUSTY! You ok mate?!"
Rusty swaggered out of his igloo, sipping coffee from his canteen cup. Naked from the waist up, the cool breeze felt good on his thick golden-brown fur.
"Of course Sal! Built for it, remember?" Rusty said, jokingly flexing his biceps with a laugh. The akita was soon gasping though as the croc ran over to wrap him in a tight hug.
"I knew it mate! Those other blokes said you couldn't do it…were up all night taking bets on when you would tap out, but I didn't listen to em!"
"T-thats great Sal" Rusty wheezed. "Uhhh, can you loosen your grip a bit buddy?"
Realizing he was likely crushing his friend, the embarrassed reptile quickly let go.
"Sorry mate, got a little cited, that's all."
"Nothing to it man, let's go home."
Author's Notes:
Well, now we're on to chapter 3, and although its longer than 2 I still fear that my pacing is too fast. Looks like Rusty got a much-needed win. Hope this held everyone's interest. Don't forget to leave a review.