"Are you okay, Sergeant?"
"Fine, sweetheart." I grinned back and winked at her. She looked away blushing and smiling some more. Oh yeah, I'm in there. The female star ship officers, they're real ladies. And a real lady likes a bit of rough, doesn't she? Maybe when we get some place with a roof and most importantly, beds, Jia and me can spend a little time getting to know each other better.
Then I shivered again, parts of the dream still clinging to me. No. Not any part of the dream. Things I didn't dare to dream.
****
Late the next afternoon we found the infantry unit, bivouacked in a clearing in the woods. Their officer had talked to some other officer who said they should listen to Ilyan, so we got a cautious welcome, some food and told to make it quick.
Ilyan must have rehearsed that speech of his a lot, gave it near word for word the same as the first time I heard it. The grunts looked unimpressed to start with. But it's my experience that nothing short of a tank crewed by naked women makes a grunt look impressed.
I was listening to Ilyan, taking it all in again, when Maiga elbowed me in the ribs.
"Pay attention," she whispered. Well that's rich. She didn't seem to be listening to him at all.
"I am!" I shot back at her.
"Not to him, stupid. Keep an eye on the crowd."
Stupid? I'd remember that one. The crowd? Why did I want to pay attention to them? I frowned at her not understanding.
"Security," she hissed. "Help me out here, Jadeth, for fuck's sake."
Hell, she's right. Much as I hate to admit it. High Command must be trying to track down Ilyan. Who knows where they might have one of their special ops boys or girls. I started paying more attention to the situation than to Ilyan. I looked around the crowd of grunts, looking for someone my gut told me didn't belong. Or even someone who belonged but looked like they had a little plan they were about to execute. Execute, hmm, not the best choice of words.
I edged away and started to stroll inconspicuously around the audience, establishing a perimeter. Some of them glanced at me, but most were riveted on Ilyan now. I watched them, watched their movement, and watched every hand that reached for something. Reaching for a candy bar, reaching for a quick scratch, or reaching for a weapon? How fast could I get to someone on the other side of the crowd if I saw them draw? Not fast enough. We needed someone on the other side and someone on the back.
I tensed as one of the soldiers shouted something out, but then relaxed. Just a question. Ilyan had finished his speech and invited questions. I stood and half listened to him, but mostly I watched the crowd.
After the Q&A, things broke up. A bunch of grunts surrounded Ilyan, and I tensed up again, but saw Maiga at his side, so that looked okay. Some of the others talked to Tesla and to the other officers of the weirdo squad, firing more questions at them. I kept my distance, keeping an eye on the whole scene.
A grunt wandered up to me and nodded. He got out a hip flask and took a drink. He looked about forty, skin tanned brown by the sun of who knows how many worlds. His face wore a burnt in expression of total cynicism and his arm wore sergeant's stripes. I still had my stripes showing. I'd thought about ripping them off, like the rest of Ilyan's group. Not an easy thing to do though. I'd worked bloody hard for those.
The other sergeant passed me the flask and I drank, rum burning my throat. I hadn't been rascally drunk for at least a month, wished I could change that tonight, but guessed not.
"This nutter on the level then?"
"Yeah," I said. "I think so."
"Why'd you think so?"
He wasn't asking me about the evidence. He'd already heard that hadn't he? And he'd ask one of the officers if that's what he wanted. I knew what he was asking me.
"Gut feeling."
He nodded. Sergeants had years of training in thinking with their guts. I trusted mine more than my brain at times. He nodded, took another swig at his flask, and walked away.
Had what I said made a difference to him? Ilyan figured I'm useful for talking to blokes like that. Had I done my job? We'd see I suppose.
****
I don't know how many units Ilyan had seen before I tagged up with him, but it must have been a few as the next day he decided it was time to move on. Our next destination Ayokidishi. Suits me. I like the Okis. They may look like something you'd find at the bottom of a pond and hit with a stick, but they knew how to party. A lot of their planet is desert now, not swamp as it had been centuries ago, so they had become the galaxy's experts on the subject of cold drinks. How we'd get there I didn't know, but the officers could sort it out. I'd go where they told me. Well, where Ilyan told me. Maiga could stuff it.
So we headed for the nearest spaceport, reaching it a couple of days later. Soldiers filled the streets, humans and lizards, looking like they'd come to check out some new and exciting drinks they'd heard about. We didn't get a second glance while we sought out a place to sleep, eventually checking into a small hotel. Lizard run, but catering to humans.
Ilyan must have sneaked his money away when he left Earth because he paid for rooms for all of us. A shared one for him and Maiga and another share for Rish and Tanashi. I wondered who else might be paired up as he specified the arrangements to the clerk, but the rest of us got a room each.
My first priority in that room involved a lot of hot water and soap. I must have stayed in the shower for at least an hour. Just stayed under it for the sheer pleasure, long after I got clean. Finally I shut it off and lay on the bed dozing for a while, until someone knocked at my door.
I got up and wrapped a towel around my waist. I had no clothes to put on. The staff had taken them all away to wash and the lizards hadn't yet twigged on to the idea of providing bathrobes.
Ilyan stood at the door, in clean clothes, hair washed and still damp at the ends. He looked startled by my near nakedness and his eyes widened, perhaps at some of the scars I had. There's one across my left side that scares the crap out of most people. A doc once said it looked like someone tried to take out my kidney with a potato peeler. Funny thing is I didn't even get that one in combat.
"Ah, Jadeth," he said, pulling himself together. "I just wanted to check everything is satisfactory."
"Satisfactory? Oh, the room. Yeah, I guess. Come in." I opened the door all the way and he walked in, looking around.
"I know it's rather basic," he said, sounding apologetic. "But I thought we should keep a low profile."
"It's fine," I said. "Better than a lot of places I've slept."
Low profile is good though. We had to be careful, him and Tesla being wanted men and the rest of the squad deserters. Me too, I suppose. Strange to think of that. I've been AWOL a couple of times, but never imagined I'd become an actual deserter.
"Are you okay?" Ilyan asked. "I knocked a couple of times earlier. Were you sleeping?"
"Been in the shower." I jerked a thumb at the bathroom. "First one for ten days, thought I'd make the most of it." I sat down on the bed and he took a seat in a small armchair.
"I know what you mean." He sounded heartfelt. Then he frowned and looked around, wrinkling his nose. "Is that horrible smell coming from outside?" He glanced at the closed window.
"Ah, no." I grinned. "That's my boots."
"Oh! I'm sorry." He looked mortified and I had to laugh.
"Don't worry. I know the stink'd knock over a camel."
"I'm sure the hotel staff could take them and -"
"No," I said, maybe a bit too quick. "I, uh, I don't let the boots out of my sight."
He stared at me, and then he grinned. "And I thought a soldier's weapon was his best friend."
I leant back on one elbow arranging the towel so he didn't get a view of my personal "weapon".
"Nah, me and a new rifle can get to know each other in a day, but me and those boots go back years." It's true. Once you broke in a good pair of boots you had to hang onto them. They'd see you through anything.
"Well, I'll leave you alone," he
said standing up. "I'll get some food brought up to the rooms soon."
He seemed more in his element here, in even a "rather basic" hotel room. Civilization, proper food, showers, beds. That's his world, not hiking through the wilderness. Yet he gave all that up.
"We'll get on our way tomorrow. Jia and Vimal are working on finding us transport to Ayok."
"Okay."
"Goodnight, Jad." He strode to the door. I sat up suddenly.
"Where are you?" I asked. "Which room? Um, for security," I finished lamely. He stopped, hand on the door handle, looked at me.
"Two doors down," he said after a moment, pointing to the left. He smiled. "Don't worry about me. Maiga will make sure I'm okay." Then he frowned. "Actually, well Tesla is next door here, between us. If anything happened… well, like I said, Maiga would take care of me. Can you look out for Tes?"
"Um, sure," I said, though couldn't imagine that Tesla would do anything but hide under the bed. "I'll see he's safe." Did Ilyan know about the cosy little chat Tesla and Maiga had by the fire a couple of nights ago? I wondered.
"Thank you, Jadeth." He smiled at me. "I know I can rely on you."
Chapter 6
"Our best chance is this troop transport heading to Ayokidishi," Vimal explained, as we left the hotel in the morning. "Maiga's set up fake ID details. We're a special unit accompanying," he nodded at Ilyan and Tesla, "on an intelligence mission. Classified, of course, so no-one can ask us any questions about it."
"Well done, Vim," Ilyan said. Vimal actually blushed at the praise. So damn young.
"Well, Jia did a lot of it." He glanced at her with a shy smile and she smiled back. She's not much older than him. Shit, if those two paired off that left me a choice of Rin or Tesla. Marvellous.
With a few hours to kill before the shuttle to the transport left, we headed to a market, for a quick shopping spree. The large number of Earth troops on the planet meant we found as many stores and stalls catering to humans as to the native Muaan Qacia.
We split up, though didn't stray too far from each other. I searched around and picked up some essentials. I really wanted a new Snapper of course, but I had no chance of finding a military spec one here. At least not with the money I had. I'd wait till the transport ship, felt sure I could snaffle myself one there.
Someone approached too close behind me as I rummaged in some bins on a garment stall. I spun around ready to strike, but it was only Ilyan. I relaxed as he backed off, looking alarmed.
"Sorry," I said. "Gotta watch yourself around here. Thieves everywhere."
He looked around at the bustling crowd.
"Of course. Can I talk to you a moment, Jadeth?"
We wandered over to a stall selling hot coffee and little cakes. He bought us small cups of their strongest brew along with a couple of cakes each. I looked around, searching for Maiga. She's meant to be keeping an eye on him, isn't she? Anything could happen in a crowd like this. Anybody could get close to him. I spotted her by a stall, talking to Tesla. Should've known.
"I need to toughen up," Ilyan said.
I turned back to him, watched him eat one of the cakes in small bites and chase it down with a sip of coffee, holding the tiny handle of the cup between his thumb and finger. He may have a point.
Still I said, "Toughen up?" with my eyebrows raised as if not sure what he could possibly mean.
"It's important I talk to the troops on the front line. I want them to see how committed I am, that I'm prepared to suffer the same hardships as them. But a day's hiking leaves me exhausted, and that's without even carrying a pack the size of that thing you have on your back right now."
"You do okay," I said. "You don't complain all the time like..." I didn't finish.
"I slow the group down. We both do, Tesla and I. We need training, and we need pushing." He smiled wryly. "I've told Maiga to push me like she would anyone else, but... Well our personal relationship means that's not really going to happen."
That surprised me, frankly. She seemed pretty damn pushy to me. If what I'd seen so far is her holding back what the hell is she like with someone she's not shagging? I glanced over at her and Tesla again. Holding back with him too?
"And it's not only the hiking," Ilyan went on, handing his cup back to the vendor, along with a coin for a refill. "I should be able to fight. I can't rely on others to protect me all of the time. I need to be able to defend myself, with weapons, or unarmed."
"Didn't you have any basic training at all?" I asked surprised. Was reading the only thing he'd done at school?
"Of course. But a very long time ago, I'm afraid. And I never kept in practice." He looked at me, with a serious expression. "Jad, you can teach me these things. And you can push me and make me work and get fit."
I frowned. Training wasn't really my bag. But he needed to know these things, or else he could be a sitting duck.
"I'll do what I can," I promised him.
"Tesla too."
I suppressed a groan. Great. At least Ilyan wanted to work. Weasel boy would complain even more if I started ordering him around.
"Can we start right away?" Ilyan said, bringing my attention back to him.
"Huh?" I said. "Well what do you suggest?"
"Let's swap packs."
I stared at him. Did he have the smallest clue what this thing weighed?
"Are you mad?"
"That's something that's occurred to me," he said. "Come on, let me try."
"It'll hurt you."
"Let me try," he persisted.
"Masochist." I grinned suddenly, seeing the funny side. We stepped off the thoroughfare, away from the smell of coffee and cinnamon, into a cold and damp little alleyway and each of us slid our packs off our shoulders. His looked about half the size of mine and when he handed it to me it felt like less than half the weight. I held it with one hand while he had to grab mine with both his hands and looked alarmed.
"Ah, this might have been a bad idea." He strained even to lift the pack.
"Too late to change your mind," I said, smiling, teasing. I slipped his pack onto my shoulders easily. "Ah yes, I like yours much better. Here…" I took my pack from his hands. "Turn around." He obeyed and slipped his arms though the shoulder straps when I held the pack up. When I let go and the weight settled on him I had to put my hands out to stop him stumbling backwards.
"Shit!" He gasped. "I think my arms are going to fall off!"
I laughed as he turned around looking outraged.
"We make men and women carry this weight into combat?" He shook his head. "Insane."
"You get used to it." I found the sternum strap that fastened around the body. It was caught up behind his back and my hand brushed his ribs as I retrieved it. Not a spare gram of fat on him, I noticed. I put that down to the effect of poor food and too little of it the last three months, as much as to the extra exercise. I fastened the strap securely.
"That keeps it from sliding around," I said. I adjusted the shoulder straps, moved the padded sections to the right places. "These go over the bones, stops it chafing."
"I never knew carrying a pack was so technical," he muttered, with a quirky look. He looked down at the sternum strap and then winced. "My hair is caught under it!"
I rolled my eyes. "Don't be such a girl." I said and then added, mock sternly. "And get a haircut, soldier."
He saluted me, grinning.
"Sir, yes, sir."
"That's the worst salute I ever saw," I said, not entirely kidding.
Ilyan looked past me and smiled. I turned to see Maiga standing watching us.
"My dear," Ilyan said to her. "I have new respect for you and all soldiers, that you can carry what appears to be a house on your back."
"What's this in aid of?" she asked, coming up to us. Ilyan hitched up the pack and winced as the weight settled again. "You'll hurt yourself. Take it off." She glared at me. I just looked back at her with my blankest expression, the one reserved specially for officers. "Take it off him," sh
e told me.
"No," Ilyan said. "It's fine."
I could see from the strain in his face that he was in pain. But he said no. He said it's fine.
"FIGMO." I said to Maiga and walked off feeling her eyes trying to burn the back of my head off.
"What does that mean?" I heard Ilyan ask as the two of them walked after me.
"Never mind," she said, tightly.
"GMO is 'got my orders'," I called back. I looked over my shoulder and smirked. "I'll let you work out what the F and the I stand for."
Chapter 7
I'll give Maiga her due; she'd faked up good IDs for us that took us first onto the shuttle, then the transport. We met minimal security on both.
Minimal like, "You human?" "Yep." "Welcome aboard." Well why not? We're all humans. We're all on the same side.
Though the transport could carry thousands of troops, this run held only a few hundred. But the cargo holds were full to bursting of hardware, from small arms to tanks. Even the unused barrack rooms had been converted to temporary storage.
The chief blanket stacker allocated us a couple of small barracks room, one for the men, one for the women, and gave us some tables and chairs so we could pretty much live there. Ilyan wanted to get out and talk to the troops aboard. But Maiga said we should lie low for a couple of days at least and check it out first. Seemed sensible. Our faked orders about an intelligence mission guaranteed our privacy too. Nobody liked to mess with field intelligence operatives. If you upset them they just looked at you real hard, like they were committing your face to memory, and made a note of your name. Most grunts would prefer being shot.
Maiga didn't look pleased at splitting up from Ilyan when we got to our accommodation. She gave me a look and beckoned me over. I took my sweet time strolling across to her. She didn't mince words.
"You're pissing me off, Sergeant, a hell of a lot. But Ilyan likes you and I think he'll listen to you. Even when he won't listen to any of the others."
I'm pissing her off huh? Nice. "Why would he listen to me?" I asked, slow-burning defiance in my tone.
"Because you're experienced. Because you know how to stay alive. Keep him in that room and take care of him." She glanced around, making sure no-one else could hear, and then she bent closer to me. "If anything happens to Ilyan when you're on guard then I will personally cut your balls off, you understand me?"