Kiera woke up warm and comfortable. Locke's arms were around her. She felt safe. A fit of coughing woke her lover up with a jolt. He immediately sat her up and rubbed her back until the fit subsided. That's when she realized how tired she was. Locke got up and fetched her some water, giving him her first real view of his naked body. She quite liked what she saw.
"Thank you," Kiera said, accepting the water. "For last night, too. I really needed that."
"I think I did, too," Locke said. "I've been stressed since I received the news that we were to get ready for a jump. Hearing that I wasn't supposed to rescue anyone, that if I killed you I'd get millions of credits and be set up for life. That there were squads that had taken some special assignment…"
Kiera wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss, "You are okay with what happened last night, right? You said that ork woman didn't give you a choice…"
"Definitely okay with it. Not my first time in a cave, but my first time with someone I wanted to sleep with, someone I chose. You didn't force me to drink a mixture that would enable you to rape me, so the two instances are nothing like." He kissed her back.
"Good, I was worried about that when I woke up," she started coughing again, "By the way, why did you send Vandreg after me?"
Confusion crossed Locke's face, "Who? I didn't send anyone after you. That storm hit and I tried to get to you as soon as possible. Everyone was ducking to get into cover. Morrison was hit by lightning but he was still alive in his armor. I helped bust him out then came straight here, hoping you were fine."
Of course Locke wouldn't have sent the oaf. He probably saw an opportunity and snuck off so he could do whatever he wanted with her. She started to cough again, her whole body shaking. Her lungs burned. Locke laid her down and covered her again with the blanket.
"Go back to sleep, Kara," Locke said. I'm going to see what our status is then I'll be back. Stay with her, pup."
The pup crawled under the blanket and curled up with Kiera. He was comfortable to snuggle with, but she missed being in Locke's arms. She coughed again, the motion wracking her ribs and leaving her even more tired. The pup whining, and a shout outside were the last things he remembered before passing out.
=+=
Kiera stirred when she felt some taken off of her face. She was comfortable, relaxed, and warm. Her eyes fluttered open and saw someone standing over her, a datapad in their hand. She took a deep breath and sighed, it didn’t hurt anymore and there was no threat of a cough.
“Sorry for waking you,” Locke whispered, “You finished your course of medicine. Pneumonia is all taken care of, go back to sleep.”
“Where are we?” Kiera asked, looking around. They were in a small chamber just big enough for the bed and someone to stand on either side of it. The wall by the foot of the bed was a translucent aqua color.
“An Expedition Auxiliary Base, provided by Major Farosh of the MCC. He delivered this and a rover. Alyxia’s team saw a light beacon after the storm and it was close enough to investigate. There was a rover with it. They immediately left to rendezvous with Dax’s squad and then our base,” Locke said, “The Major saved our lives. This planet seems like it’s actively trying to kill everyone, and it's succeeding.”
“No offense, but why isn’t Tamalyn or one of the other medics doing rounds?”
“Tamalyn is off with a team searching for anyone that landed to the North of the forest, including your squad. Spaulding is in recovery. Marko’s on the other side. That last storm that came out of nowhere nearly wiped everyone out. The ridgeline base was inside some caves, they’d been attacked by rak’gar and were running low on weapons. They didn’t know what else was on the hills and didn’t want to risk the trek. That, and Lacy Carmichael didn’t want to leave the hot springs and they didn’t want to miss their chance to sleep with her.
“With the rover we were able to find our other missing cadets. Gargax killed the thing that was haunting it. The team is supposed to get an image to verify what it was.”
“What are the numbers,” Kiera said quietly.
“We have ninety confirmed survivors from one hundred and eighty-seven deployed cadets,” Locke said, “Twenty MCCs and thirty-two ASF. The armor made a lot of difference. We’ve also met up with most of the lifeboats. Their numbers aren’t that great either. Thirty Navy, Nine intelligence. None of the starfighter pilots made it.”
Kiera sat up, her face losing all color, “Are you sure?” she asked, her eyes pleading, “None of the starfighters?”
“None so far,” Locke said quietly sitting on her bed and wrapping his arms and hugging her, “The search team is going to look north of the forest. Starfighters can range far. Tamalyn is with them at Gargax’s insistence.”
There had been forty-four Mecha Combat Corps cadets that went for survival training. Over half of them were now dead. Kiera knew about half of the total class on a first name basis, and a few were ones she actually considered friends. Part of her didn’t want to know who had died, but if she really wanted to live in this life she would have to get past all her fears and insecurities.
“Can you get me the roster of who we have lost, please?” Kiera asked.
Locke tapped the datapad, “It’s been transferred to your PUC. Get some rest.”
She was left alone to look over the list. She recognized every mecha cadet. Several of them were in her classes. Sam’s name was on the list, he had joined their study group that semester. Soren was there as well, Dandelion's replacement. She'd liked Soren, he gelled well with their squad and would hang out with them after classes. He had offered to help Corbin with his piloting when he learned that Corbin was as green as they came. It was with Soren's help that Corbin made the Red Squad.
Kiera fell back against the bed, letting the tears come. There had been little that had gone right ever since they had been shot down on this planet. Not all the cadets had been accounted for, and there were too many dead. She didn’t know who was responsible, but the base was proof that her instructors were doing their best to help and find their cadets. of that. From what Locke said it sounded like the majority of the cadets were injured. The ASF cadets who could still use their armor were likely running the base. How many of the remaining Ninety were injured? She pressed the nurse call button on her bed and waited.
“Hey, Kiera, how can I help?” Locke asked, stepping through the wall.
“How is everyone? Gargax, Riley, Isaac?”
“Gargax is being treated for extreme exhaustion, torn muscles, hypothermia and various injuries to his face, hands and arms. Riley, and Isaac, and pretty much everyone not in armor got pneumonia and Riley broke an arm. Their treatments should be finished in a little bit and the med gel will have Riley as good as new in a couple hours.” Locke looked tired, if he’d been tending to those who were sick and injured it wasn’t a surprise.
“When have you last eaten or slept?” Kiera asked.
“I’m fine. I can get you some crutches if you want to go get something to eat or have a shower. Base is being run in two shifts on an eight man skeleton crew.”
“Why don’t you join me for some food and then take a nap,” Kiera said, “If you can show me what to look for I can take some of your rounds.”
“You need rest, too. You caught pneumonia yourself, and had some frostbite...”
“Locke, let me rephrase. Have whatever meal it is with me, then climb into my bed and cuddle up with me and sleep with me. I do mean sleep this time. We can do the other kind of sleeping once we're off this planet. In an actual bed, like the one I have on Orlan." He really was a special guy, putting everyone ahead of himself. "Wait, did you get pneumonia?"
“Not as bad as everyone else, and I took my medication already. That is a hard offer to turn down,” Locke said.
Locke brought her crutches and ate with her in the mess hall. The crag wolf pup was overjoyed at seeing her and promptly jumped into her lap and fell asleep. Sixty-two people out of the ninety that had gathered were injured or sick. If it hadn’t been for the base that number would have been a lot higher. After they ate Locke took her back to bed and climbed in with her. When they woke up, he gave her the tour.
The medical bay was where most everyone was, there was survey gear and clothing for different kinds of weather as well as clothing they could change into to wear around the base. The shower area had several heads along a wall with a drain on a tiled floor and nothing separating them. One of the rooms had couches, dedicated datapads with games on them, a billiards table and a viewscreen. There were two suites of bunks that were like the ones on the Everlight, an armory with charging stations for armor, weapons, clothing for a variety of environments and two trunks with combat uniforms.
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The prospect of a hot shower was appealing. Showering with one leg would be difficult. “Locke, would you help me shower?”
“Whatever you need, Commandant,” Locke said. He returned with a uniform and a robe, not knowing which one she would want to change into after drying off.
“Did you call me “Commandant?” Kiera asked.
“Yeah,” he said, helping her undress, his eyes didn’t rove over her body and he made no motion to cop a feel, although she certainly wouldn't have minded either. “It’s what the Academies used to give as a rank to training officers, but when they started DNOA they brought in actual officers to train everyone and the rank fell out of practice. I figured since everyone is following you, that means you’re our leader. Calling you “Princess” might catch the attention of some of the dunderheads that haven’t realized who you are, and…well Commandant just seemed more appropriate.”
“I like it,” Kiera said, “I guess that means you’re my commanding officer since all of ASF listens to you. How does the rank of Commodore sound?”
Locke laughed, “Since it's coming from you, I’ll take it.”
Kiera smiled at him, and then kissed him. The base shook and if it wasn’t for him then she would have fallen down.
“That was some kiss,” Locke said.
"As much as I'd like to—" Kiera started to say when the base shook again. Kiera only fell because Locke was still holding her. "We need to get to the command module."
Locke helped her into the robe, and carried her to the command module. The base continued to shake every few minutes.
“What’s going on?” Kiera asked as soon as they were in the module.
“There’s an eborsisk that’s taken an affront to our base,” Robyn said, “He attacked our lifeboat and froze a lot of our people. Cadets Dax and Larenthal seemed to pacify him by talking and healing him. No idea what’s got him attacking us now. A couple of the ASF wanted to go out and shoot him. He’s seventy feet long!”
Kiera looked at a monitor showing the outside of the base and a large two headed winged creature was on top of the base, striking the beam emitter with its tail. Lightning arced from the horns on both of his heads, causing frost to form on the emitter and the lights in the base to flicker.
“Shut off the light signal,” Kiera ordered.
Robyn nodded and on the screen the beam narrowed and vanished. A screen popped up identifying the creature as a cryoebersisk. An expletive came from the other side of the room and Kiera gaped at the description of the beast. A two headed dragon-like creature that could expel super cold nitrogen from its mouths, freezing what it touched and could expel nitrogen rich lightning from its horns. The cryoebersisk was known to cause storms while flying and dropping the temperature of the rain enough that anyone caught in it had an increased chance to catch pneumonia.
This creature was responsible for all the rain, the deaths caused by it, and the perpetual cold they experienced. Kiera watched as the cryoebersisk ceased its attack on the beacon generator and took a step back from it, causing the base to shake slightly. He lifted both heads suddenly and turned to look at the nearby ridge. With twin roars that sent lightning coursing over its body, it opened its wings. The cameras failed, and the base shook.
“Emperor’s Beard,” the other cadet swore, “Eric wanted to go out there to fight that thing. That’s an incarnation of death. Is that thing native to this world?”
“I can’t imagine that the Empire would be able to wrangle that thing,” a third cadet said He tapped on the comm, <<”Bravo Squad situation is over, back to your stations.>> Bunch of dumbasses"
Kiera didn’t comment, she was too busy reading the information on the cryoebersisk, the thunder cryoebersisk; specifically the engagement protocol when one was encountered. The official orders were to not to engage at all, that applied to all branches including the navy starfighters and the mecha corps. There was too much risk involved. She pulled up the information on the planet they were on which only confirmed her suspicions that this was not what was intended. Pantaurus was a preservation world in the Pangea system, Animals that were deemed dangerous or rare were often transported to this world, thanks to its different biomes. Spark grass had been imported as it was easily digestible and made it difficult for sensors to pick up anything from orbit. There were also scramblers in the atmosphere that provided their own communication and sensor blackouts. There was a bestiary listing all the various flora and fauna that could be found on the world, including numbers. Rangers from the Preservation Society would visit the world every few months to update the information. She noticed that Gold-leaf seppa and golden Snap Dragons were on the lists.
She skimmed the entries, pausing on two of them, the brakenskarv and a Bird of Paradise. One, a dangerous abomination created by an illegal genetic engineering program. The Preservation Society managed to win a case to take possession of it and released it on the planet in a dense forest on the southern peninsula; the same peninsula that the cadets were dropped down on. The same forest that Kiera and Riley had landed in.
The Bird of Paradise was rumored to be able to extend life, its feathers could be used in compounds to increase blood flow, speed and muscle recovery, and its body emitted an aura that augmented the surrounding environment. The bird attacked by either superheating or superchilling its feathers and claws, and couldn’t be tracked using thermal scanners. Other varieties of the Bird of Paradise existed and a note mentioned that should an eborsisk and a Bird of Paradise occupy the same territory the eborsisk would usually leave. Kiera could really use one of those birds right now.
Kiera turned away from the console. As long as the cryoebersisk was in the area the Everlight wouldn’t land to retrieve them, not that she expected it to. There was nothing in the base they could use to drive it off, or get it to fly back to its normal territory which was further north. Why was it here? They didn’t prey on any of the creatures on the peninsula. Was it the destruction of the Calm Before the Storm that attracted his attention? Or the falling lifeboats? She asked Locke to take her back to the showers. There were a lot of questions with no answers but one thing was clear: they had to find some way to drive the cryoebersisk away if they ever wanted to get off the planet.
=+=
“We should disassemble the beacon, take it somewhere else in the rover and then reassemble it and activate it,” Locke said, “They’ll see the beacon and if Paragon Squad is as good as they say, they’ll figure out pretty quickly what we did.”
It had been two days since the base had been established and most people had recovered from the pneumonia and had their other injuries properly treated. All the cadets had been briefed on their current status, including the numbers they had left and the supplies on hand. Getting ninety people to agree on a course of action was borderline impossible, so Kiera suggested that each sub academy selected two people to represent them and take command responsibility. The medics would select a representative as well to make the command staff an odd number and establish their own chain of command. Locke and Riley had been selected to lead from ASF, Kiera and Corbin from the Mecha Corps, Kida and Robyn from the Navy, Natalie Garner and Jaina Seisman from Intelligence, and Tamalyn from medical. The search party had returned but the news was grim.
Hailey and Jin had died. The anticoagulant that was in the kalashtar’s wounds was caused by a bacteria. The external wounds had been treated and healed, Hailey died from internal bleeding, nothing that Koda would have been able to treat. Pneumonia claimed Jin’s life. By the time they reached the cadets Koda was unconscious, his wounds were infected and he was in the early stages of pneumonia. If Tamalyn hadn’t been there he might not have survived. He was in medical, recovering. There was still no sign of Liandra, or any of the NSF pilots.
The news had devastated Kiera. She and Hailey were roommates; they studied together, ate together and kept each other motivated, Hailey happily tutored anyone who needed it, and wanted to go out for another girl’s night. They talked about relationships and crushes, and had an unforgettable night together when they were both stressing over finals. Kiera was teaching Jin how to fight a weapon in each hand, and he was teaching her to play an Eladrin tactical game, Entana!, that involved piece placement and strategy to capture an opponent's treasure. He knew more about botany than everyone else and hosted study sessions in preparation for their survival training. He was quiet, reliable, and comforting to be around. She was relieved Koda survived, and visited him even though he was unconscious.
“How many people would we need to do that?” Kiera asked.
“Two,” Corbin said, “Gargax and I can handle it. That beacon will be easy for me to carry and If Gargax thinks it can be powered up with a button then that's that.”
It almost seemed too simple, too straightforward. Two men, one incredibly strong and the other able to make anything work through belief that defied all laws of science. They would have to take the beacon several hundred kilometers away, the rover would make that job simple. There wouldn’t be any way to communicate with them, or to know if they ran into danger or other unforeseen problems. Like if the eborsisk attacked them.
“All squads move in groups of five,” Riley said, “That’s standard protocol.”
“Agreed,” Kida said.
“Anyone who goes will be required to wear armor, and I’ll volunteer to go with them,” Tamalyn said, “My healing ability will be more useful on a mission than here.”
“We have five branches here,” Jaina said, “One from each could go.” Jaina was an andopalaxian, a people with black striped pink skin, gills on their necks, and antennae over their eyebrows that gave them an excellent sense of smell. They didn’t have a nose, just a small bump between their eyes and mouth. Some people found it odd, but Kiera thought her pseudo nose was cute. It also let her wear her glasses easily.
“Speaking of,” Riley said, “Where’s Kinsley? She and Yarin went to investigate that IR beacon that’s on the ridge.”
“No clue,” Jaina said shaking her head, like Kinsley the tips of her black hair were dyed pink, “She was likely caught in that same storm that took everyone by surprise. The rover team didn’t find either of them. The only person that is capable of going on a mission from Intelligence is Simon Rhode, but he just wants to sit and catalog everything that happened here. He also wants nothing to do with leading."
"Which means that he's going, even if it's under protest," Natalie said, sharing a smirk with Jaina. Natalie was a blonde haired human who was missing her right hand. A bandersnatch had bitten it completely off and the group she was with reacted quickly enough to keep her from dying.
“That just leaves us,” Kida said, “My command group managed to survive, most of us, anyway,” she frowned, waves of sadness poured off of her. They had lost Ben. He protected Kida and Robyn from a rogue ASF attack. Robyn, Kida and Calvin managed to take them down, their power armor was depleted quickly. Calvin had taken a bad hit, but survived the attack thanks to the med gel in one of the intact survival kits. “Sage Whistler is my helmsman, he can drive. Calvin’s in recovery, Robyn is better off helping us here. Edgar’s my operations officer, he’s keeping this place running,” she continued after taking a moment to compose herself.
“It sounds like a plan,” Kiera said, “Let’s get it done.”