Casserine (8 page)

“Apparently, you saw me after the Med Officer on the Gibraltar. Risling told me the Doc took one look at my head wounds, and shook his head. He bandaged me, because I was still breathing, doped me up, and told the Med Personnel on duty to keep me warm and quiet, because I didn’t have much time to live. When they arrived at base, I was still alive, and you took over.”

“You did have a couple of mean looking creases, but.”

“The Doc from the Gibraltar told Risling I had cracks in my skull. He swore the Doc to silence, and now you know why we have to go back to base every once in a while.” Jake paused for a moment, and sat down on his favorite chair, while Adrian sat on their couch next to him. “Risling ordered me to keep you out of the loop, and see if you underwent the same gradual changes. You were right about my not feeling the same misery when I return to Casserine after being in normal gravity. I’ve been pretending for a while now.”

“Have I been changing,” Adrian asked in a hushed voice, enthralled with Jake’s revelation.

“No,” Jake replied. “Risling has a theory my changing has to do with the venom I absorbed from the Queen at Omaha. They told me on the Med ship off Omaha, if the Queen had been able to inject the stuff into me, I would have been dead. Remember when I told you she opened me up pretty good, right through my armor?”

Adrian nodded.

“The Queen had the stuff on her mandibles too. The stuff made me more sick than the wounds did, but when I started to recover, I recovered really quick. A colonist shot me up when I was stationed at the Tarawa Jump Gate, during the border war we were pacifying at the Bedford Colony. He put a blaster round right through my armor, and into my left shoulder before the stun grenade I threw nailed him and his buddies.”

“Doc Parmitage, our on site Med Officer, told me to start thinking about what to do outside the Marines. That freaked me, but three days later I was released back to active duty, and he just told me I had been lucky. I took another even harder hit on Rigel, later on during the same mission, and recovered.”

“So, maybe we could use you to make some kind of vaccine,” Adrian said excitedly. “I could.”

“They’ve been trying, Hon,” Jake interrupted. “No luck, and on top of that, they rounded up some of the poison off the Bugs at Omaha. When they applied even a tiny amount to a person’s skin, it caused violent seizures and death if not treated. The volunteers they tested the theory on never developed any heightened healing power either.”

“So, some condition in the cave with the Queen, along with the thousands of variables, from your adaptations growing up on a farming colony, to serving in the Marines on Omaha, combined to make you a DNA one-in-a-million shot. I can understand Risling’s interest, but not the secrecy,” Adrian commented.

“Everything’s on a need to know basis in the service,” Jake pointed out. “You know that as well as anyone. If Risling hadn’t kept it quiet, some government guy would have nailed him for it. He takes orders just like we do. I am sorry I couldn’t tell you about it though.”

“Forget about it,” Adrian replied. “After all, I’m only your wife.”

“Uh oh.”

“Just exactly who did you think I would be selling your secrets to, from Casserine, pray tell,” Adrian asked, smiling menacingly.

“Risling has been tracking your progress too, and he wanted the process to be as close to a clinical one as we could get. He felt if you knew about what they were tracking, it might cause some slight change. I know it sounds farfetched, and that you think I betrayed you in some way only you can imagine, but I did what I was told. Risling’s reasoning sounded plausible, and I couldn’t think of any way it was detrimental to you. After all, you volunteered to come here.”

“Jarhead justification.”

“I can see you have no intention of accepting any explanation for my actions in this, do you?” Jake asked, as he shifted over to the couch. He wrapped his arms around Adrian, who had crossed her hands over her chest, and turned her face up in the air away from him.

“Correcto.”

“How about if I showed you something, Risling ordered me in no uncertain terms, not to tell you,” Jake offered, kissing her softly on the back of her neck.

Adrian turned in Jake’s arms, warding him off as he tried a more romantic tact. “Show me, but it better be good.”

“How about I take you through a few exercises first, just to help you readjust to our gravity after your time on board the Tennyson,” Jake urged, opening Adrian’s top a little to force his way to her neck.

“Later.”

“Now,” Jake said, picking her up off of the couch, and heading towards their bedroom.

“Beast,” Adrian said, pulling his head down to her as Jake paused to kiss her passionately.

“Hussey,” Jake replied, pulling away. “At least the crew on the Tennyson won’t be able to hear you scream this time down.”

Adrian’s startled gasp, as she slapped him with her open hand, evoked a laugh from Jake who set her down on the bed. He forced her onto her back, holding her hands to the sides of her head. “You promised me you were never going to mention that again, Jake. How did I know the Tennyson had a policy of open com units in all the storage areas on the ship?”

“It certainly gave them something to laugh about and share all over the galaxy,” Jake said, kissing Adrian’s bright red face. She had blushed crimson at the memory of the first time the Tennyson had been able to dock for an extended period on Casserine.

“The lightness of the change in gravity, and.and we were in there alone…I.” Adrian stammered her explanation.

“A justification?” Jake asked, needling her as he continued his lightkisses.

“Oh Jake,” Adrian whispered. “We must be the laughing stock of the base by now, not to mention every ship in the quadrant.”

“What you mean we, Ke-mo sah-be?” Jake asked, spinning their Lone Ranger word gag back on her.

“Why did you have to bring that up again? I had finally managed to block the memory enough so I could face the Tennyson crew. I’ll never be able to go back on board for dinner,” Adrian added, cringing under Jake’s touch.

“Relax Hon, we’re famous now.”

“Oh my God,” Adrian said in a hushed tone, still reliving their tryst in the storeroom of the Tennyson, delivered by sound to the immense entertainment of the Tennyson’s crew.

Jake pulled her top off as she struggled weakly. He paused long enough to remove his own, and then returned to his mate. “Remember when we came out of the storeroom?”

“Oh…my…God.”

“You couldn’t understand the applause, or why everyone was lined up in the corridor outside. At least not until Jenny, that ensign from supply, ducked into the storeroom and shut the hatch. When her voice came over the ship’s intercom, shouting testing, testing, testing.”

“Oh…my…God.”

“I thought you were going to pass out,” Jake laughed, stroking her sides as she shuddered.

Adrian slapped both hands to her face as Jake slipped the rest of her clothes off and his own. “I am not going back on board ever,” she vowed.

‘With your talent for blocking out everything you don’t want to hear, you’ll be fine,” Jake replied, returning to their previous embrace as Adrian still kept her hands over her face. “I thought you were magnificent.”

Adrian peaked out from her fingers. “Really?”

“I was the envy of every man on the ship,” Jake confirmed, continuing his ministrations. “Let’s see if I can attain a level worthy of another recording for the Tennyson.”

“Oh…my…God.” Adrian gasped. “They record their com systems. Oh thank you for that added humiliation, you boob.”

“Anything to please my little sidekick,” Jake replied, as Adrian pulled him closer.

Chapter 7 

Revelations

Adrian exited the shower, just as Jake came back into their room. He held his gear knife loosely by the handle as he waited for her to come out of the bathroom. She toweled her hair dry, walking provocatively towards Jake. With only his shorts on, Adrian could see the effect she had on him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You planning to cut me up, Romeo?”

“Not on your life,” Jake said, pulling her close with his free hand. He kissed her gently, engulfed and captivated by her scent to the point he pitched the gear knife to the floor. Adrian cried out as he embraced her feverishly, kissing her with abandon.

“God, I love you,” Jake whispered in her ear.

“Is that a club…in your pocket, big boy,” Adrian replied in a contrived husky voice, she had heard on a tape of an old time starlet, named Mae West, “.or are you just glad to see me?”

“Let’s skip the dinner,” Jake said, lifting her up in his arms and burying his face in her neck.

“Hey, easy there my love,” Adrian said, gripping Jake’s face in her hands. “Put me down. I don’t want to take another shower. We’ll be late for dinner, and I’m starving. C’mon now. Use a little of that Jarhead will power.”

Jake relented, returning Adrian to her feet, but retaining his hold on her. “Did you see we were to be in full dress uniform?”

“So?”

“What do you think that’s all about?”

“The new commander probably believes a more formal tone adds to the discipline and morale of the crew. Tim told me this was her first command,” Adrian explained.

Jake nodded thoughtfully. ‘Tea, okay, I can buy that.”

“You should be proud to wear what you’ve earned,” Adrian pointed out, as she moved from his embrace to their closet.

“I am proud,” Jake agreed, retrieving his knife from the floor. “I just don’t like to.”

“Show off,” Adrian finished.

“Maybe,” Jake admitted.

“I love to see you in your uniform. Maybe we could play horny Marine, and ravished nurse later when we get back,” Adrian offered, as she swayed a little, looking at Jake over her shoulder.

“Oh baby, are you going to regret that offer,” Jake said admiringly.

‘What did you plan to do with the knife?” Adrian asked, as she put on her uniform.

“I was going to show you what I had promised Risling I would not show you.”

Adrian walked over, pulling her uniform blouse into place. “So show me. I didn’t think it would have anything to do with knife tricks.”

Jake laughed. With the knife in his right hand, he slashed it across his left forearm. Adrian gasped, lunging forward to stop him, but it was too late.

“Jake, what. “ Adrian grabbed his left arm, but the only indication of the knife slash was a faint red line, disappearing while she watched. She took the knife from Jake, and tested the edge with a sock she took out of Jake’s drawer. Adrian split the sock in two with one swipe.

“Hey, use your own sock,” Jake protested.

Adrian turned back towards Jake, amazement plainly etched on her face. “How can this be?”

“The Med Officer, Risling has keeping track of me, thinks it has to do with the Queen’s poison, and weird radiation you have been tracking from Casserine’s core. Add to the mix, years in this heavy gravity, plus Casserine’s mixed up atmosphere, and there you have it.”

“Have what, some kind of mutating DNA soup inside of you? Are you all right? Maybe we should get the hell off of Casserine, Jake.”

Jake put his arms around Adrian, pulling her to him. “I’m fine, and your reaction explains why Risling didn’t want me to tell you about it. He knew you’d be worried, and so did I.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” Adrian whispered, with her face next to Jake’s chest.

“You won’t lose me. I’m just assimilating into Casserine, or she’s assimilating me. So far, nothing but good has come of it. Remember when I took a header off of the stanchion in the fuel cell bay?”

“Yea,” Adrian acknowledged, looking up at him. “I thought you would have had a broken back the way you landed, but all you suffered was the wind knocked out of you.”

“My bone density has increased ten fold. You haven’t seen me on a scale for a long time, although I’ve seen you obsessing with it a lot lately.”

“Don’t turn this on me,” Adrian retorted, pushing him away. “What about your weight?”

“I weigh over twice my normal weight, but I am no larger than I was when I came to Casserine.”

“I guess we’ll have to patch the floor the next time you fall,” Adrian joked. “So you’re telling me you’re becoming invulnerable?”

“No, I can still be pierced, or blasted, or probably blown up,” Jake laughed, “but I don’t plan on experimenting with any of those. I’m just a little harder to damage, and I don’t lose any of my added strength when I leave Casserine, even if I’m gone for an extended period.”

“You understand why this seems a little scary to me, don’t you?”

“Believe me, I understand,” Jake replied. “My weight didn’t increase the last time we were checked out at the base, so I think whatever’s happening to me has stabilized. Doc Lee at the Base told me not to have anything happen he needed to operate on, because they’d have to cut me open with a laser cutter on max.”

“That’s not funny, Jake,” Adrian said, moving back into his arms. “I’m glad you told me. We better finish getting ready, or we’ll be late. I need to process what you’ve told me.”

“I didn’t get to spend much time with Tim. I missed him in the hanger bay.”

“He handed me the packet. I think he’s looking forward to seeing you at dinner. He’s so young. You two sure get along well. I think he idolizes you.”

“Tim was on Omaha,” Jake explained.

“No way!” Adrian exclaimed. “How old was he, three?”

“He was only sixteen. Tim was a gunner on one of the Drop Ships. He hosed the Bugs down so we could get on. Most of the ship’s crew personnel we lost at the mining colony were killed trying to pick up Marines. They wouldn’t leave us to be eaten, and until they were ordered not to do it, they would plunk down right in the middle of hell. The Drop Ship crews saved a lot of us grunts, but they couldn’t afford the losses.”

“So what did they do?” Adrian asked, cringing at the thought of what it must have been like.

“If we were overrun, they hovered and blew everything away.”

“Good Lord!”

“There was no other way, Adrian,” Jake continued. “Dropping in to try and save an overrun position was suicide. Tim was transferred on the Drop Ship our platoon went out on missions with. He worked the deck gun on one of the last times a Drop ship attempted a rescue. Second division was on the verge of being overrun, and called for help. The Drop Ship Tim was on answered the call. We heard the transmission over.”

“Why didn’t you just blast them from the air?” Adrian interrupted. “Why land anyone?”

“We were bait. The things would only come out from underground when they could get at a bunch of us. We needed intel on the things. They wiped out an entire colony, except for a few people who made it to the tankers. By the time a Cruiser made it to the orbiting tanker ships, the Bugs were gone.”

“Anyway,” Jake went on, “I belonged to Third Division, and we were out playing hide and seek with Second Division. When they called for help, we went in to cover their flank. By the time we arrived, the Bugs were almost to the Drop Ship, and had cut off half of Second Division. It was a massacre. We hit them with everything we had, and managed to keep them from overrunning the ship. We didn’t have particle beam weapons at the time, and our Pulse blasters were overheating.”

“Tim’s laser canon overheated on the ship, and he came out to cover the rescue with his pulse blaster. The kid didn’t even have any armor on,” Jake said, shaking his head at the recollection. “He may be young looking, but he’s been to hell.”

“Where was your air support?”

“On the other side of the planet with First Division. They joined the party a little late. We underestimated them, and they made us pay the price for a long time.”

“How could one Queen birth so many?” Adrian asked. “You did say there was only one Queen, right?”

“The scientists on the command ship studied the corpses we dragged out of there for their labs. They told us eventually how these things could keep coming in the thousands. The Queen created more eggs in times of threat to the Bugs. Somehow, the Queen could sense if its colony’s existence was in danger of extinction. She would then go into a super procreation mode. The maturation time accelerated too. That was the way they finally located her nest.”

“So, that’s when you met Tim?”

“Yep,” Jake answered. “Russell, Stassinas, and Corey were all on Omaha too. They crew on the Tennyson, and they all did time on one of the Drop Ships we had flying back and forth from Omaha’s surface. Thousands of our casualties happened during the time we were learning the way they attacked. The Bugs could come up right underneath our troops, and disappear before the cruisers could vaporize them.”

“You were telling me about Tim. He came out after his gun went bad on the ship without armor, to cover the men coming aboard.”

Jake nodded. “Yea, the cruiser finally made it to the action, and began wiping out the Bugs. They disappeared underground, as usual, but one came up underneath Tim, knocking him twenty feet in the air. He lost consciousness when he hit the ground. I made it to the Bug before it made it to Tim. I pulled him up on my back, and headed full tilt back to the Drop Ship, with my squad covering us. Tim came to while I was boarding. We had already met, but he and I were pretty close after that. We’ve kept in touch. He came to visit me on the Med ship a couple of times before I was shipped out. Imagine my surprise when I saw him aboard the Tennyson about six months before I met you. He introduced me to the other vets from Omaha.”

“Jake, did they make any vid discs of the war on Omaha? I’d like to see them, if I can get a hold of any.”

Jake smiled, and shook his head with a look of resignation. “Funny you should mention that. When rumor began circulating, a board of inquiry would be convened at base over the way the war was handled, somehow all record of the battles disappeared.”

“So much for research, but still a great story, Jake. I better get you the package the General gave to Tim. You’re supposed to see it first.” Adrian went to retrieve the package while Jake began dressing. She returned with the packet, and handed it to Jake.

“I’ll be right back,” Jake said, going into the other room. There were three discs in the packet, and one said see first, eyes only, Major Matthews. One was marked Lieutenant Byers, while the third disc label read
Starship Troopers.
Jake sat down at his desk, putting on the audio headset attached to the viewer. He put in the first disc. General Risling’s face appeared, and Jake heard his familiar voice.

“Well Major, I have a surprise for you,” Risling began with a smile, Jake did not think had anything to do with happiness. “Here’s what I want you to do. Take this old movie,
Starship Troopers,
on board the Tennyson, and play it for the ship’s crew. Make sure everyone gets to see it. I want you to comment on it to the ship’s crew after everyone has had a chance to see it together. I think you’ll understand why after you see it.”

Risling paused, and ran a slightly trembling hand through his short-cropped gray hair. He looked away from the screen for a moment before continuing. “Jake, there’s been another Bug attack on the new mining colony at Bougainville. We lost five hundred men, women, and children there. About two thousand escaped on the ship we have ready to go at every colony since Omaha. Bougainville lies in the same approximate sector as Omaha, and boasts the same rich deposits of Zirillium Crystals.”

“We have a Marine force there now doing recon on the location of the nest. Tell no one about the attack until after the movie. The Tennyson will be heading to Bougainville next with the cargo of fuel cells from Casserine. When you get back from the Tennyson, call me. The disc I earmarked for Lieutenant Byers explains about your condition, and lets her in on my reasoning for keeping her out of the loop. I hope it smoothes things out for you. Risling out.”

Adrian came into the room a few minutes later to find Jake staring at a blank viewer. He sat so still, she thought at first he must have dozed off, until she noticed his breathing. It sounded almost as if he were gasping for breath, only much quieter. She hurried over, and put an arm around him.

“Jake, are.”

He launched up out of his chair, throwing Adrian back a few feet, and nearly overturning the desk. As Jake spun to face her, she saw the wild rage etched into his face. His fists were clenched so tightly, they were the epitome of white knuckled tension. His head swiveled back and forth, as he searched for some unseen enemy. When he realized where he was, and his eyes focused on a very frightened Adrian, Jake’s countenance of fury changed instantly to one of concern.

“I’m sorry, Adrian,” Jake rasped out haltingly. “Are you all right?”

“What the hell was on that disc, Jake?” Adrian asked, hurrying over to Jake, and wrapping her arms around his waist. It felt as if she were hugging the rock surface of Casserine. “What did Risling have to say?”