Chapter 8: Second Chances

Once the station was secured, and they were certain that no more Bugs were hiding out in service tunnels or air ducts, the state of emergency was lifted. The crimson glow was finally replaced with the warmth of the sunlamps, the barriers returning to their recesses in the deck, and the cool breeze once again rustling the leaves of what trees remained.

The damage to the station was extensive but mostly superficial. Besides for the breaches that the boarding craft had punctured in the hull, there was no serious structural damage. Just bullet holes, and plasma burns. The strange, alien vessels were still lodged in the deck, being inspected intently by groups of people wearing hazmat suits who had erected cordons around them. How were they even going to remove them? Perhaps they would need to be dismantled, or rather dissected, and carried away piece by piece. I didn’t envy the guys who would have to clean up the mess. Casualty reports were still coming in, but the general consensus seemed to be that they were lighter than they could have been.

I felt elated. The battle had been both terrifying and exhilarating, a sweeping victory that had perfectly demonstrated the merits of mixed unit tactics. But more than that, the skirmish had postponed the Borealan exodus from the station, it had given Raz and I a few more precious hours together.

She loped along beside me, a jovial spring in her step. Borealans were apex predators, sculpted by evolution to be efficient killers, and fighting seemed to make her happy. The prospect of being permitted to stay on the Pinwheel for a little longer certainly contributed to her good mood, too. Her pack had seemed reluctant to leave her side now that she was the Alpha again, but she had shooed them away, and they were giving us some space. There were only two of them now, the third had been shipped off to one of the medical facilities to have her wound treated.

Our new comrades chatted, their spirits high as we made our way back to the armory, intending to return our weapons. After that, we were headed back to the barracks to get some much-deserved rest, while some preferred to celebrate the victory at the recreation center. Marines and engineers were still running around all over the place, and while the attractive décor was somewhat marred by the smoke damage and the charred trees, things were well on track to getting back to normal.

“I guess we can spend a little more time together, Stanley,” Raz said as she took my hand in hers. She squeezed it tightly, her soft fur tickling me, and I felt my cheeks start to warm. She leaned down closer, whispering so that the other recruits couldn’t hear. “You’ll have to help me work off some of this stress while we have the time...”

The bite on my neck suddenly began to ache, and I quickly changed the subject.

“About that ... we should talk to Vasiliev if he’s still at the armory. I think I have an idea.”

When we returned to the armory, Vasiliev was waiting for us. His injured shoulder had been bandaged, and there was a medic nearby that was tending to him. The engineer was nowhere to be seen, but after seeing the damage to the torus, he likely had more important places to be. There were Marines milling about now too, returning weapons to the racks on the walls, or making adjustments to their configurations. Some of their armor had battle damage. I could see chest plates that had successfully dissipated the energy of a plasma bolt, leaving a dark smear where the ceramic had partially melted, and there were scratches where Bug daggers had glanced off them.

Vasiliev rose to greet us, giving us a rare smile.

“Welcome back, recruits. I’m glad to see that you’re all accounted for, and in one piece.”

“Are you alright, sir?” I asked, and he nodded his head.

“My shoulder looks like an overcooked pizza right now, but besides that, I’ll be fine. Some of the Marines have been talking, they tell me that you fared well out on the torus.”

“We kicked Bug ass, sir,” Harry said as his Krell friend gave an appreciative rumble. The medic noticed the reptile now, muttering to himself as he walked over and began to examine his wounds, the recruits parting to let him pass.

“Damned Krell,” the medic grumbled as the alien cocked his head at the human curiously. He opened his bag and withdrew what looked like a large tube of toothpaste, squeezing a mound of green-tinted gel into his gloved hand. “There’s walking wounded, then there’s walking around not even caring that you’re wounded. Keep still while I apply the cooling gel, you oversized iguana.”

“Sir,” I began, getting the Sergeant’s attention. “Have you heard back from the other recruits yet? Did they make it to safety after we were separated?”

“Everyone is fine,” Vasiliev replied, “the other Staff Sergeants led the recruits back to the barracks and took refuge there until the fighting was over. We were the only group that even attempted to make it to the armory. In hindsight, it would probably have been far safer to just stay where we were...”

“That’s a relief,” I sighed. Some of my good friends had been separated from me during the chaos, it was good to know that they hadn’t been caught in the open. I couldn’t wait to relay our story to them, they had missed one hell of a party. “There was something else that I wanted to ask you about, sir,” I added. “You said that you’d heard about the role that we played in the battle?”

“Yes, I was made aware of the performance of your mixed squad. I already know what you’re going to ask me, Stanley.”

“Sir, with all due respect” I continued. “You have to acknowledge how well we fought together. The Krell were like walking pillboxes, we had covering fire no matter where we ended up. Raz and the Borealans are successfully integrated, they worked alongside the other species, they followed orders. They practically won us that fight, our squad would have been overrun by the Bugs if it wasn’t for them.”

“It’s true that your squad saw fewer casualties than most,” Vasiliev conceded, “but the decision has been made. The Borealans are being sent home, we’ve already had this conversation, recruit.”

“What?” Harry asked, frowning at the Sergeant. “The cats are being sent home? Why?”

The was a low murmur as more of the recruits mirrored his confusion.

“The Admiralty has already expelled the Borealans from the integration program,” Vasiliev explained. “Our orders are to continue to integrate the Krell, but the Borealans are being sent home on the next jump carrier. They’ve been written off, deemed too antisocial to be of use to the Coalition.”

“Sarge,” Harry continued, “I get that the cats can be hard to get on with. Hell, we all heard about what happened in the mess hall. But they fought with us today, they pulled our asses out of the fire. If you’d have been there, if you’d have seen how they fight, you-”

“You’re wasting your breath, recruit,” Vasiliev interrupted. “As I already explained to Stanley, I’m not high enough in the chain of command to overturn the decision. It comes straight from the top. The Admirals have been keeping a close eye on the program, and the conduct of the Borealans has crossed a line.”

The other recruits seemed almost as displeased by his words as I was. The Borealans had been disliked initially, everyone had banded together to stand up to them, both in the recreation center and during the mess hall brawl. But Raz and I had solved the puzzle, bringing her pack into line in the process. If we could do it, then so could others.

I looked to Raz, dejected. I had hoped that the decision might have been overturned after word of her pack’s exploits had spread, but it seemed that the higher-ups had upheld their decision. Even though we had achieved all the goals of the program, it didn’t matter, it was too late.

“It was worth a try,” Raz sighed, her smile faltering. I felt guilty for souring her good mood, perhaps it had been futile to press Vasiliev about it.

The Staff Sergeant and the Marines suddenly snapped to attention, saluting us. I was momentarily confused until I realized that they weren’t saluting ‘us’, they were saluting someone behind us. I turned to see a short man with a greying beard standing in the doorway, his hands clasped behind his back, two Marines flanking him to his left and right. He was wearing a pristine, white uniform in contrast to the blacks and blues of the soldiers, a Navy cap perched upon his head. I recognized the golden wreath that was emblazoned on it, and my eyes wandered down to his breast, which was decorated with numerous colored ribbons and medals. It was an Admiral, I had never seen one in person before.

The recruits and I saluted, the pack of Borealans following suit after a moment, the gesture unfamiliar to them.

“I-I’m sorry sir,” I stammered, “we didn’t see you.”

“At ease,” he grumbled, his voice gruff and gravelly. He lifted the rim of his hat with a gloved hand, peering up at Raz from beneath a pair of bushy eyebrows. The Admiral was an older man, hunched with age, and so the alien was close to twice his height.

“You must be Miss Elysiedde,” he said. “When I last spoke with your father, he was very interested to know how your training was progressing.”

“You ... know my father, sir?” Raz asked. I was relieved to see that she remembered the appropriate honorifics.

“Indeed I do,” the Admiral replied as he walked into the room, his two bodyguards following after him. The group of trainees parted to let him pass, still standing as straight as boards despite his order for us to be at ease. His presence was commanding, despite his stature. “I’m on friendly terms with the Patriarch, he was very insistent that it be ‘your’ pack that was sent to Fort Hamilton in order to take part in the integration program. It was one of his conditions during our negotiations. He seems to have placed a great deal of faith in you.”

Raz swallowed, the mere mention of her father seemed to have put her on edge. Of course, she had failed the mission that he had assigned her, putting the alliance in jeopardy in the process. At least that was how she saw it, and how her father would probably take it, if it was accurate or not.

I had to wonder what an Admiral was even doing on the torus, shouldn’t they be on the central hub?