"Man down! We're coming in! We need covering fire!"
Mel was screaming into her headset as the raiding party fled back through the forest. She was hysterical, a state Kine was willing to allow her. The weight of Ken's body over his shoulders, as he staggered as fast as he could, kept his mind focused on the task at hand. The teen was still moaning in pain, which Kine figured had to be a good sign. Much better than dead silence.
There was a sound behind them. Lessa wheeled around, dropped to one knee, bringing the pulse rifle up to her shoulder. She let go with a long burst into the trees, a faint cry coming back. She was on her feet again, catching up with the others a moment later.
A break in the trees ahead showed the grey bulk of the shuttle, their pace increasing in unspoken unison. The top turret spun towards them, letting go with a ten second spray of fire over their heads in a ninety degree arc. It swept back in the other direction, the sound of wood exploding behind them more frightening than comforting. The shuttle's side hatch opened, Amanda standing in the doorway frantically waving them in. Her relief at seeing that it wasn't Kine that was hurt instantly turning into horror as her brother burst past her and all but dropped Ken to the floor. Mel and Lessa were right behind him, Lessa slamming the butt of her rifle into the hatch controls as she passed.
"Go! Go!" Not caring if she was heard, Lessa tossed her rifle on the floor and dropped down beside Ken. Med kit out, she grabbed the first painkillers she saw and slammed the needle into him. Mel dropped to her knees on the other side of her friend, hands touching his face while softly chanting his name. Ken was still grimacing in pain. As Lessa ripped open his shirt, Mel looked at the charred torso and wailed in despair. Lessa didn't even know where to start…
****
Kine tossed his exhausted body into the copilot's chair next to Ger, grabbing the radio. As the shuttle made a full power takeoff, causing those in the back to quickly grab something, Kine paused a second to gather his thoughts.
That, as his sister would say, never took long.
"Teddybear to Liberty! Man down! Have aborted! Request you level target!" Ger looked over at him with an uncomprehending gaze.
"What the hell happened?"
Two missiles passed over the ship, heading down. Flipping on the rear camera, Kine and Ger saw a square kilometer of forest go up in flame. A moment later, a series of secondary explosions erupted in a line due south. Kine let out a sigh, slumping down in his seat. Gods…
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
He was instantly out of his seat and in the cabin doorway.
Ken's face was contorted into a horrible scream of pain, eyes open, but it was obvious that for him the pain was over. Lessa sat back on her heels, another shot of pain killer in her hands, unneeded. Amanda leaned against the exterior hatch, head bowed, crying. But it was Mel that his eyes focused on. The half bald young woman was sitting with Ken's right hand clutched in both of hers. Even from a couple meters away, Kine could see the tears literally flowing off her face, puddling on the floor. She just kept chanting.
"Ken, my love, my Ken…" Finally, the black of space replacing the blue of sky around them, she gently released his hand and placed his limp arm down next to his body. Leaning down, Mel placed a gentle kiss on Ken's cheek, and sat up. Her left hand going to her side, she drew her weapon and placed it to her ear.
Lessa was at her instantly, one hand going for the gun, the other Mel's elbow. She barely made it, twisting the teen's wrist until the gun fell from her fingers. Mel was knocked to the ground, Lessa half on her, half on the dead boy, trying to pin the struggling girl's arms to the ground. Kine was quickly over, grabbing her wrists, while a shocked Amanda grabbed the gun. Mel screamed in rage, legs kicking out frantically.
"Let me die! Get the fuck off of me and let me die! My Ken!"
****
Eventually, Mel stopped struggling, collapsing into a crying, exhausted heap. She curled up, almost in a fetal position, next to her dead friend. Kine and Lessa slowly struggled to their feet. Kine sighed.
"We were going to lose someone sooner or later."
Lessa closed her eyes, almost falling back against the smooth cabin wall.
"I… I've never lost someone I've tried to save before. I've… seen so many I've known die, and killed so many, but…" She looked down at her hands, hands covered with streaks of blood and charred skin. "Why is this the first time my hands have felt dirty?"
****
The shuttle Teddybear was slowly drawn inside the Liberty. The outer doors had barely closed before the cruiser's main engines ignited, breaking it from its orbit around the moon Revell. Air was recycled into the small bay around the craft, the inner door rolling back to exposing the shuttle to the large hanger that filled the bottom of the cruiser. As hydraulics pushed it father into the hanger, allowing access to all sides, teens seemed to appear from nowhere to converge on the ship. It had barely stopped before the side hatch opened, revealing Kine carrying Ken. There was silence, apart from the winding down of various motors and the usual hum of the spacecraft, as the crowd parting for Kine and the others as they came to stand on the deck. Mel was held up by both Lessa and Amanda, oblivious to all.
Two young fourteen year old twins, dressed in white medical staff outfits, cut through the crowd pushing a stretcher on wheels. Their grey eyes were wide, horrified, on seeing Ken. Lessa waved her new staff over, impatient at their delay. Kine carefully lay the body down on the stretcher as soon as it was close. He took his light jacket off, covering Ken's face.
"Take him to that small room with the bunk beds in the back that we never knew the purpose of," Lessa told Bell and Bella. "I think we can now guess what was to be stored there." She shifted a bit to lift Mel up, as the girl was starting to feel heavy. "And bring another stretcher for her."
"No… no… I'm… OK." Mel raised her head, removing her arms from around Lessa and Amanda (much to the relief of the twelve year old, who had been getting crushed but didn't feel right saying anything) as she stepped forward. "I'll walk with them."
Lessa nodded. Slowly, the three girls started to push Ken across the bay towards the elevators. As he passed, comrades reached out to touch him, others standing at attention in salute. Most had one thought foremost in their mind:
"It wasn't me this time."
Lessa looked up and saw Don entering the bay. He stopped and let the funeral party go by, face expressionless, before walking over to the still gathered crowd. Shelly was with him, distraught. Lessa wanted to tell her this wasn't her fault… well, not much her fault. That would have to wait. Don spoke.
"Everyone… spread out and find somewhere to sit. Kine, Lessa… Brat…" This broke the tension a bit, drew out some chuckles, as well as a "Fuck You!" from Amanda. Don went on with a nod, and slight smile, pulling over a box of parts to sit on. He sighed.
"You three have a seat and report. Are you OK? Need anything?" Kine waved away the drinks two boys had rushed over, and sat on the deck leaning back against the shuttle. It was still cold from space, and that seemed to wake his mind up a bit. He felt Amanda sit and press her body against his, leaning her head against his shoulder. He put an arm around her, and with Lessa leaning against the ship, drink in hand, he looked at Don and started.
****
The month since leaving Xanth had been rather successful, on all fronts. Between Don's cautious audacity, the tactical skills of Kine, the combat abilities of Lessa and others, and Sean's contacts and picking of targets (as well as his natural hatred of risk), they had managed to keep themselves going while restocking the ship, with gold to spare. Their numbers had even increased by ten over what they started with, although some of those were of questionable utility. After visiting a couple of the other moons of Xeres, they had struck out for the heavily contested world of Baal. In the extreme rear of the front, behind Rebel lines on that world, there was rumor of a sex slave camp. As well, on Baal's smallest moon Revell, Federation controlled for the most part, they also had word of an abandoned camp. The slavers had pulled out when the Rebels withdrew from the moon, or so the story had gone. Don had decided, before doing anything foolish, they should case it out so as to know what the active camp might be like.
"Abandoned, my ass," Kine spat. "It was occupied alright."
"But we just!?!" interjected a boy, eyes widening.
"No, no," Kine reassured, "there were no slaves there that we saw. That's one reason we got in so much trouble: with no one to guard, there were no guards or patrols. We walked right in only to finally notice the parked vehicles and people coming out of the mess hall. Our fault, totally." He looked at Lessa apologetically. "We should have done a perimeter sweep first like you wanted, but I wanted to save time…" Kine shrugged. "Lessa left us for a bit to draw them away and buy us time, but we hit a group on the way out and lost Ken."
Don sighed.
"You did your best, probably much better than I would have." He looked down at his legs. "I still can't run worth shit." This drew some laughs, the non-athletic nature of their leader a running, if respectful, joke. "But," he continued, "did you at least get a good look at the place? Could we hit one like that fully guarded, with some chance of actually rescuing kids alive?"
Kine thought for a moment, but it was Lessa who looked Don in the eye and answered.
"Yes, if we hit them hard with everything we have."
****
Bell had never seen death before.
Loss, yes. Sorrow, starvation, misery, all had been there at various times. Pain, too. But... not death. Her parents had been gone for as long as she had memory. The war had never come to her city. Her mind... was numb.
She looked at her twin. Bell had not known Bella as a child. Had not bonded with her sister in the ways she had read was the norm. Thus, in some ways she was still a mystery. Not now, though. Bella's expression mirrored her own, eyes wide, lost.
Bell sighed. She now understood the others on the ship in ways she never wanted to, and hated the knowledge.
Her sister wrapped her arms around herself. Seeing the sense in such an action, Bell did the same. They stood next to the covered body of Ken, still resting on the stretcher in the main room of sickbay. Mel had stopped them here, eyes pleading. To refuse anything to her, now, or ever...
"Are you OK, Mel?"
Bell was surprised she had found her voice. It even sounded... calm. A shiver went through her, though, her mind feeling faint. She'd have to sit down soon.
Mel didn't answer. She stood on the other side of the stretcher, hand stroking the covered face of their friend. The two sisters traded a glance. Bella nodded.
"Can we get you something...?" Bella seemed to fade off, as if realizing the only thing their friend needed it was beyond their power to give. Mel, though, took a deep breath, and let it go.
"I was an idiot." The sisters stayed silent. Mel raised her eyes to then, reaching her right hand over. The two took it in theirs. Her hand was cold. "I never slept with him. Did he tell you that? He asked, but I..."
"He told us he loved you." Bell could feel her sister shoot a worried glance at her, but she wasn't evil enough to tell Mel Ken had refused their advances, saving himself for his friend. It would only hurt her. As it was, she saw Mel close her eyes, felt her hand squeeze theirs.
"And I loved him. I was just... it never was the right time." Mel sighed, pulling her hand back. "Time..."
"He'd want you to go on," Bella said. "Be happy."
"Yeah," Mel said, some of her dry humor returning. "Well, that's easy for him to say."
****
"We could still leave, you know."
Amanda stood in the doorway to their cabin, leaning against the door frame as Kine collapsed onto his bed, face first. He rolled onto his back, looking up at his little sister. She still had on her "war" outfit, as she called it- loose fitting brown pants and jacket with a tan t-shirt. Her gaze stayed on him as she unbuckled her gun belt. It fell to the floor with a thud. He closed his eyes.
"Not this again. Close the door." She stepped forward and did so, kicking the belt further into the room. He opened his eyes and met her gaze. She looked so sad…. "No, we can't leave. Not yet, at least."
"WHEN? I almost… I could have lost you today!" Amanda shuffled over to the bed and dropped to her knees next to it, reaching over to take her brother's left hand in both of hers. He rolled over onto his side to face her.
"You could have lost me countless times in the past few…" He trailed off at her expression, realizing this was, in fact, the point.
"I want to be safe. I want YOU to be safe, Kine! Let's just go somewhere where we can live and play all day!" She was trying not to cry, but it was hard. When her brother reached out with his free hand to stroke her soft cheek, tears did flow and wet his fingers. His fingers traced the path of the tears back up to their source, trying to stem the flow.
"Where, Amanda? You heard about the uprising on Xanth. I don't know if it reached Seneca, but it's no safer now than any other place. At least here we can protect ourselves."
"But you keep LEAVING!" She was rubbing her face against his hand. Giving out a groan, Kine sat up on the bed and swung his legs over the edge. He pulled Amanda up into his lap, and she buried her head into his chest as he wrapped her in his arms, slowly rocking her back and forth.
"Shh, it's OK… it won't be forever. Just… for a little longer. I need to see this through. Then… we'll see." He didn't know if she believed him. Hell, Kine didn't know if he believed it. He stroked her blond hair, no longer in pigtails but in one long braid down the back like Lessa had started doing… "Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?"
Amanda sniffed, trying not to get snot on her wonderful brother's shirt. Looking up with eyes that, for once, weren't trying to be childish and needy yet were that way anyway, she bit her lip.
"Could… could we have flowers in here? Real flowers? I'll water them and take care of them…"
"I think we can do that." He looked over at her painting of a green park on the wall next to her bed. "Yeah, we can do that. Maybe even turn an extra room or two into a garden. I can't promise when..."
"And," she added, fingers playing with a button on his shirt as she prepared to press her luck, "can I have a pet?"
"But we already have Wendi and Sirenia," Kine replied, faking confusion, "why do you need a third?"
The sibling on sibling violence that followed was too graphic and tickle filled to describe.
****
Lessa was staring at Don again.
This, he thought, was getting silly. OK, so the young woman, for some unknown reason, liked him. Big fucking do. That didn't mean she had to find reasons to hang around him, talk to him, LOOK at him… couldn't she have whatever stupid romantic feelings girls had someplace else? Here he was, trying to have a quiet dinner in the cafeteria, digesting not just the food but what the day's disaster meant, and Don could just feel her dark eyes on him. He did not WANT to be looked at. Glancing up, their gazes met and she smiled at him.
OK, that does it.
Don grabbed up his tray, and walked out. He'd eat in his cabin from now on.
****
Lessa let out a groan as Don left the cafeteria. What had she done now? She had no experience with this. Hell, she didn't even know exactly what THIS was! She grabbed the mug of fruity alcoholic drink in front of her and drained half of it. Little Wendi walked by the table with a pitcher. Seeing Lessa's mood, she placed the entire pitcher down with the handle turned towards Lessa and walked away. This, at least, brought a bitter laugh from the teen.
****
Shelly entered a short while later, looked around, saw her friend, and waved. Not waiting for a response she went and picked up a tray of today's meal (some sort of meat with brown gravy, and green and orange former plant things) and a mug and headed over to her friend. She passed a table with Rich and one of the twins (Bell?), and pretended not to see them. Shelly plopped down next to Lessa, taking a swig of her drink. Looking over at the half empty pitcher, she raised an eyebrow.
"Having a good day, are we?"
"Boys are fucking assholes."
Shelly laughed and raised her mug in toast to that, eyes noticing Rich was leaning very close to the dark skinned newcomer.
"Yes, and the almost men aren't much better."
Lessa looked over at the almost man in question, and shook her head.
"So, it's over?"
"It never really started, to be honest." Shelly let out a sigh. "Once I wasn't in the mood to fuck all the time he started looking elsewhere, and, really, I didn't mind."
"I have noticed you haven't been such a, um…"
"Slut?"
"How about physically outgoing woman?" They both laughed at that, Shelly raising her mug again as they both toasted and took another drink. Looking around the room she saw LOTS of drinking. Couldn't blame them- Ken had been liked. Shelly turned and regarded her friend.
"So… Don problems?"
Lessa slammed her empty mug on the table.
"Why does the first guy I ever get interested in have to be one that hasn't hit puberty yet?!?" Shelly had to chuckle at that.
"Maybe we should ask Sean to make sure he doesn't swing that way before you get all bent out of shape."
Lessa blew a raspberry at her, putting her elbows on the table and head in her hands.
"Why do I care, Shelly? I don't want to, but… I can't stop thinking about him. He's not even hunky! But every time I see him… you have to help me." She turned to her friend. "Please. You're the expert."
"Ha! Look, Lessa, I'm as clueless as you are when it comes to romance." Her eyes softened as she looked at her best friend's beautiful face. Lessa blushed and lowered her eyes, as Shelly gave a self deprecating chuckle and went on. "I mean, I can give you all the pointers you want about how to please a male in bed, can even pull a random boy into the room to help demonstrate certain things, but… I honestly can't help you with the steps before that point because I've never been there either."
They both lapsed into silence, Shelly deciding to start in on her cooling dinner. Lessa refilled her mug and took a swig.
"Why did you stop spending time with Rich?"
Shelly put down her fork, and gazed out unseeing into the room.
"After seeing that video… and after we decided to try and stop that… I finally decided I'll try… TRY, I have to stress, as I've already backslid a number of times… try to link the act of love to actual love."
Lessa actually sat up in her seat when she heard that, looking at her friend in a new way. She was impressed, or as much as she could be in her increasingly drunken state. Seeing this, Shelly got a sly smirk on her face.
"So… if you and Don ever do get together, I assume I can join you for a threesome?"
The rest of the juice was out of the pitcher and over her head before the sentence was even finished.