The fugitive natives persistently studied English. They have more or less learned to pronounce basic words, prime numbers, and the correct pronouns. Itami did a good job training the natives, who seem to have already gotten along here despite the fact that they were allocated a separate part of the compartment.
After all, they are alien creatures and could well be carriers of alien diseases, which is why they were aloof from the rest of the crew. Nevertheless, they were pleased that they were safe with us, but one native girl named Niana seemed to doubt that we should be trusted and constantly looked askance at us and doubtfully accepted food and filtered water from us.
Fred calmed us down after he scanned the bodies of our guests. Moreover, he developed a medicinal drug for them in his warehouse mini-laboratory, after which the green spots began to disappear from the natives.
Over time, more and more people got back on their feet, but some of the crew members with more severe injuries were still eight and they needed full treatment, and not the first aid that Fred provided.
Alza suddenly ran up to me, tapping her finger on my uniform while I was resting after interrogating Yasmi. Turning to her, I saw a dark-haired girl who for some reason uttered the following words so touchingly and with an accent:
"I love you."
"Huh?"
My jaw at that moment almost dropped from what I heard, and Alza, seeing my expression on my face, moved back restlessly, asking Itami, who, in turn, was grinning sarcastically behind the girl’s back.
"Can I say this?"
Alza asked the signalman, and I immediately became indignant.
"Hey!"
I turned to Itami jumping off my bed.
"What kind of jokes are these?"
"Pff~! Excuse me... sir!"
The signalman could barely contain his laughter. Only those who observed this situation could not hold back their laughter. At that moment the whole compartment was laughing because of the awkward situation in which I found myself. Alza shrank into a corner seeing the reaction of those around her. Some fighters even clapped their hands with laughter, they were so amused by the situation.
"Sir, are you getting married?"
One of the soldiers laughed, and Alza’s face showed a grimace of fear and misunderstanding. What was happening surprised her so much and at the same time frightened her that she whimpered, saying something in her own language. At that moment, the same dark-haired native man, Ripun, ran up to her. He hugged her and reassured her, muttering something in his own language, and then adding in English:
"Saying that to a person."
He said, tightly squeezing the girl’s palm, looking at her face almost closely. Alza for some time did not understand the gesture of her relative, friend, or who he was for her, I did not yet know, but then she widened her eyes as soon as she realized what the words that she said to me meant. She turned to me and almost panickedly shouted:
"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"
"Okay, okay! Calm down!"
I waved my hands in front of her.
"I'm not mad, okay?"
«Me only need to be angry at one person!»
I was mentally annoyed, looking sternly at the signalman. The entire compartment continued to be filled with the noise of laughter and this reinforced my anger.
"ITAMI!"
I screamed at the top of my voice, looking sternly at the signalman.
"Here."
He stood at attention, barely hiding the grin on his face.
«How I want to punch him for this!»
I restrained myself from hasty actions, but fortunately I calmed myself down by unclenching my fists.
"You will no longer teach English to the natives."
Itami sighed in relief in response.
"SO THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED!?"
I screamed and the soldiers around me raised a new wave of laughter because of Itami’s actions and my reaction to her. Even Uwon, who appeared, whose smile never left his face, laughed. I was the only one who was gloomy and dissatisfied with all this. All I could do was growl from the fact that my own subordinate was making such a brazen joke about me.
«They don't understand how important these words are to me. They're making fun of me.»
“Come on, Boris, don’t be so angry.”
Uwon patted me on the shoulder and then changed his tone to a more serious one.
"Emergency meeting."
Uwon's message brought me back to reality, and I went after him before the soldiers started making new jokes. The humanoid tactical droid, as always, displayed a projection map of the area in the pilot’s compartment, and what we saw on it did not suit us very much, namely a whole detachment of natives that was strictly heading towards our shuttle between the thickets in a line.
"Two hundred and seven natives will be here in four hours."
Uwon said.
"Looks like the time has come."
Uwon turned away from the projection and turned to Fred and me. His facial expression said it all, but despite this, he still ordered:
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"Start packing. It's time to leave the shuttle."
"Yes, sir!"
Fred and I sang. After that we got down to business. I went to the compartment where we were all resting and gave the platoon orders to collect things, weapons and other supplies, and also ordered them to prepare to leave this shuttle, and apparently forever.
We decided not to test the defenses of our small fortress, because this time we did not have a chance to fight back. We cannot afford to use suppressive fire, and this is exactly what the natives will do if they decide to lay siege to the shuttle.
The seriously wounded will have to be carried on their backs, as will all additional equipment that we will need in the future. One fighter took with him a whole replicator in case we somehow managed to find a source of energy, although we cannot hope for this in the coming days. I’m not even sure if there is a person among us who could assemble a generator or could find application for microelectronics used in a replicator.
The fugitive natives looked around and did not yet understand what was happening and actually stopped studying English together with Itami. Frankly, he achieved good results and the natives were still able to ask more or less simple questions. Just one of them named Zaden with a bald head turned to me with a very clear question:
"Leave?"
I nodded, answering him:
"Yes. We. Leave."
I spoke, simultaneously making gestures with my hands.
"Here. Will. Dangerous."
Looking at my hands, Zaden seemed to understand me and hurried to the other three natives, warning them in his language about the imminent departure, after which they began to collect their things. I would like to tell them not to take their rags with them, but who knows how they will react to being forced to leave behind their things that protected them along the way.
It may even be that for the natives these things could be sacred, but we did not know this, and therefore we simply allowed them to do what they did.
«These are the first natives who are at least neutral towards us. I wouldn't want to lose them. Maybe in the future they will become a bridge between the inhabitants of this world and the entire 127th Army.»
I thought, fearing for the lives of the fugitive natives.
"Move!"
One soldier pushed Yasmi forward, pushing her forward with the muzzle of an assault rifle.
"What's happening?"
The saint was perplexed. She was dressed in an orange overalls of engineers and put a naval cap on her head. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back. She looked quite surreal now. There is no other way to say beauty in work clothes.
"We are leaving."
The soldier answered the saint and hurried with the captive to the landing compartment.
"Be a good girl and follow my instructions!"
"How dare yo...! AY~!"
Yasmi tried to object, but the soldier almost knocked the girl to the floor with his butt.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH! NOW GET UP!"
To be honest, I didn’t feel sorry for her. She killed Lieutenant John and did not deserve mercy, but at the same time I also felt bitter, feeling guilty for the murder of her unborn child. She didn’t even understand that her child had died, which was not surprising. According to Fred, the fetus was only three weeks old. Yasmi may well not have known that she was pregnant.
At this time I was putting on my equipment. It is a pity that I will have to leave the battle suit here due to the fact that the energy inside it will come to an end too quickly in the future. I put on a heavy backpack with all the filtered water we had. Uwon collected other small electronics. Apparently he came up with something once he did it, but he hasn't shared those ideas with me yet.
After about an hour, the gathering of the entire combined platoon was completed. Fifty-nine people, of which only forty stood on their feet at the lowered ramp with weapons in their hands and heavy backpacks on their backs, decorated with camouflage in the form of bushes.
For security purposes, one detachment was allocated for protection, which will guard the rest of the combined platoon, wrapped in light equipment for mobility, protecting our caravan from attacks, so to speak. If they make a surprise attack on us, they will be the very first to receive the enemy's blow.
The natives were surprised to see how many animated bushes they saw, and Yasmi apparently managed to guess what was happening and already voiced it out loud:
"Sod sees everything. He sent great warriors to punish you barbarians. They will soon be here and put your sinful souls to rest with white flame."
«She won't calm down like that.»
I sighed sadly.
«Apparently my step-by-step interrogation method was a complete failure. This means she can be killed.»
Nevertheless, we can still use her as a hostage in front of the native Empire and that is the only reason we leave her alive.
“Well, yes, soon your relatives will be here, but we will not be here soon.”
I answered the saint while watching the sappers install explosives in each compartment of the shuttle, discharging a space-earth rocket from the wing of the shuttle.
“When your relatives are here, it will be hot.”
"What are you talking about?"
Yasmi was perplexed, and instead of answering, I followed Uwon with my gaze. He walked at the head of the platoon next to Fred and a sniper from his group. He stood closest to the exit and before commanding the «movement» he decided to turn to us and make a speech:
“You know, I am not General Zeonid to make fiery speeches in front of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. I am a simple citizen of the republic that serves it, protects human civilization, I was not born to be a leader and was not going to be one, but today I will lead you and tomorrow I will lead you and after and after tomorrow too I will guide you through it."
Uwon pointed his pistol towards the rain-drenched jungle.
“I’m sure the moment will come when I make a mistake or one of you makes a mistake. I’m sure we will face clashes with the enemy, trials on the way to the republic, and before it to the 127th Army. Know and remember that we are all people and we are characterized by certain things, bad and good. Know that we are not animals that are ready to succumb and live only by instincts, we are people, creatures that were able to fly into space and stay there. We will always be people no matter how we have become very different from each other due to life on different planets. We must stand side by side defending our common values, ideas, freedoms and most importantly ourselves. Cooperation is one word, the slogan of our state of the Republic of Earth, cooperation for the sake of the prosperity of all human civilization as such, and war is only a tool, a weapon for protecting this idea, these values."
Uwon chuckled for a brief moment before continuing.
"Forget about human rights and freedoms, they don’t exist on this planet. Also, there is no republic here, we are strangers here and there are few of us here. All that awaits us outside, behind the skin of the shuttle, behind this jungle, is a world alien to us, which will not be welcome to us, and we will not be happy about it, because this is not our home and will never be. I am sure not many of us will get out of here alive, we will leave some, some will be too weak or stupid and will eventually die, nevertheless you will remain people, you will remain those who boldly set foot on other planets and saved on them his humanity, defending the republic, his true home. My order before leaving will be very simple: just be human."
Uwon's sudden speech brightened our mood and even made us think in many ways. And will we really remain human on this planet? Or will we succumb to its nature and become part of it? I’m scared to think about it, scared to admit to myself that this could really happen to me or to my people.
There is a civilization on this planet, there are signs that someone from outer space has already been here, there are many strange phenomena, secrets, anomalies, the nature of which is not yet really clear to us. Behind this ladder, behind this incessant downpour, a mysterious planet awaits us, a whole world in which we must not live, but survive. We are a threat to this planet, a contagious infection and therefore we should not be here.
«I will definitely remain human.»
I assured myself, instinctively clenching my fists, determined not to stray from my path.
«I will either die here as a human or return home, there is no third option.»
At that moment, lightning flashed, and the sound of an incessant downpour filled the landing compartment even louder.
"Follow me!"
Uwon ordered with a wave of his hand and was the first to jump into the dirty water.
"Yes, sir!"
The united platoon responded in unison and marched out from outside the shuttle, activating the flashlights on their foreheads one after another, beginning to move deeper into the green hell drowning in the poisonous rain.