Raymond
had already removed a series of straps from the back of the second Shukurae and
used them to lash Heather’s sleeping form across his chest. With the
strength and poise of a professional ready for anything that life threw at him,
he made his way up the back of the second warrior and settled himself in
place. With his off arm he threaded his arms through the straps and with
his dominant arm, he held on tight to Heather. “Let’s make this happen.”
The
second Shukuare shook a bit, testing Raymond’s strength. Satisfied with
Raymond’s grip, the pair of warriors sprang into action, stooping over for the low
clearance, and raced out of the building. As they hit the front door,
they were met by a dozen or more Shukurae who ran with them through the network
of buildings. They were greeted by periodic gunfire, which they returned
twenty-fold.
The
retort from their weapons made Chloë’s ears ring, but she refused to feel sorry
for herself. These soldiers were putting themselves in harm’s way for
her. Not for her father, not out of fear, not for money. They were
doing it because they thought it was the right thing to do. Chloë cursed
herself for ever thinking ill of the Shukurae. She cursed those tutors of
hers that had ever put such thoughts in her head. She would never think
of the Shukurae the same again, and she knew the mental image of Watzkel’s motherly
caress of Heather would never leave her. Some images of war were hell;
some were of hope.
The
exchange of gunfire quickly subsided. Chloë was not too surprised by
that; the Shukurae were far more professional, precise, and were just far
better equipped than their counterparts. Their escorts soon deposited
them at what she had to assume was the Shukurae’s barracks: oversized
furniture, high ceilings, and an arsenal suitable for invading small
planets. Everywhere there was motion, but nowhere was there confusion or
panic; there was a sinister grace to how these people made war.
Professional was the word that gripped Chloë’s mind; then she looked over at
Heather and that word fell to the wayside. Noble. That was the only
word that seemed to fit.
Others
quickly helped the trio from the harnesses and one gingerly carried Heather to
the back of the room. Once again Chloë was fascinated to observe how
carefully and delicately the Shukurae handled Heather.
“You
are very careful with her,” observed Chloë. “I take it the Stratford
family means a lot to you.”
The
Shukurae turned his pale, blink-less eyes to Chloë, “Who are the Stratfords?”
Chloë
was shocked, “Um, Ivy Stratford and her husband Llewellyn. You’ve heard
of them, yes?”
The
Shukurae smiled as he shook his head, “Sorry my lady, I’ve not. The LC
probably has; she’s seen a bit of action alongside the Taik.”
“But
you went through all this effort to save her.”
His
grin broadened further. “You two girls were kidnapped. What more needs to
be said? We would not tarnish our honor by serving a kidnapper.”
Chloë
was confused and impressed. “You didn’t help us because she was a Highlander?”
He
shook his head again. “I did not know she was a Highlander until you said so
just now. No one should have to suffer the fear of kidnapping. No
one. Even if a Gelkin had been kidnapped, we would not sit by idly.”
Chloë
just laughed and gave up as she hugged the towering mass that was the Shukurae.
“Thank you. Thank you for being everything Heather said you people were
and more so: honest and noble doesn’t even to begin to cover it.”
The
Shukurae laughed, and his ears softened and drooped. “You are most welcome, my
lady. Now let’s see what we can do for this young lady here.
Heather is her name?”
Chloë
beamed and nodded.
“No
signs of trauma. Brain activity is relaxing. Adrenalin levels
appear to have spiked and are falling. Heart rate is normal. Blood
pressure is low, but not very low. Do we need to wake her? She will
recover more evenly if left to a natural sleep.”
“Then
let her sleep,” interjected Raymond. “I’ll carry her if we have to move
her, but we are in no hurry to be anyplace.”
“I
can carry her, little kitty. Don’t worry about that.”
Chloë
almost busted a gut at the ‘little kitty’ comment. Watching Raymond’s
expression as he fought to remain civil was likewise priceless. Chloë was
now certain that the Shukurae meant no disrespect by the comment; working
across languages was always prone to small misunderstandings and
mistranslations.
Chloë
quickly turned her attention to the front of the room as she saw Watzkel enter
the room. She was new at reading Shukurae facial expressions, but she
found Watzkel’s expression to be positively frightening. That probably
didn’t bode well for Reinhardt.
Watzkel
laughed as she was handed a commlink. “I think it would be best if the rest of
your people surrendered, Reinhardt. We will provide medical aid for those
that do.”
“I
think it best that you surrender the two girls if you wish to make it off this
rock,” came the defiant reply.
“Negative.
We are fine. Our emergency beacon was able to transmit through your
primitive attempt at jamming, and we have confirmation on our extraction
vehicle. By the way, poor shooting by your troops. The plasma lance
that breached the front door almost seriously injured the girls.”
“Lies!
All lies!” came the shrieking reply.
“False.
We find subterfuge unnecessary,” grinned Watzkel. “We repeat our earlier
offer: we will provide medical aid and safe passage to those troops that
surrender.”
A
barrage of obscenities erupted from the commlink. Watzkel laughed at the
reply initially until she noticed Chloë’s horrified expression. “Hey,
watch your language! You are upsetting Lady Chloë’s sensitive ears,”
admonished Watzkel.
Chloë
turned away, embarrassed. Sensitive ears. There was so much she had never
been exposed to. She had truly lived a sheltered life and her softness
and her simple view of life and the worlds around her truly made her feel insignificant.
Princess. She hadn’t done anything to earn that title; she was just born
with it. She had never earned anything in her whole life. She
watched Heather mumble and roll over on her makeshift bed. Correction:
she had earned a friend, and a good one at that!
Watzkel
passed off the rambling diatribe on the commlink to another trooper and
approached the trio in the back of the hall. She clapped Raymond on the
back and he recoiled under the force. “You did a good job, palace
guard. You made do with what you had available, and you safely
transported Lady Heather here.”
Raymond
looked a little disgusted with himself. “All I did was grab her and hold on for
dear life. Your troops did all the heavy lifting.”
“Don’t
sell yourself short; you also did an excellent job disarming Reinhardt’s
guard. It takes no small amount of guts to disarm someone empty handed.”
Raymond
just stared at Heather. “Thank you, I guess. It’s just Heather… I mean
she’s the one that did all the heroic stuff: disarmed the first guard, soaked a
shot to protect one of your people.”
“If
you want one piece of advice,” began Watzkel with a grin, “since you seem
determined to be hard on yourself: next time Heather tries to be heroic, stop
her. She is not a professional soldier, you are. Someone is going
to need to save her from herself.”
Raymond
offered a feeble attempt at a laugh. “Stopping Heather from doing much of
anything is more than a bit difficult.”
“I
know,” grinned Watzkel. “That is why it is up to us professionals.
If it was easy, it wouldn’t require our services.”
Raymond
finally relented with a more sincere laugh. “Yes ma’am! I will consider
it a professional challenge.”
“That’s
the attitude! Now,” continued Watzkel as she looked over to Chloë, “if I
understand correctly, you are
Princess
Chloë Amsterval of Bervik III but
House Stratford of the Three Dales of the Highlands has granted you sanctuary?”
Chloë
nodded, “Yes ma’am. That is correct. I left…”
“She
left Bervik III because she was being forced into an illegal marriage: she was
both underage and an unwilling participant,” interjected Raymond.
Watzkel
cocked an eye at Raymond, “Yet your serve her father.”
“I
am
employed
by her father. My
duty
is to protect Lady Chloë
to the best of my abilities.”
“Well
spoken,” grinned Watzkel. “So you do not fear her father’s wrath if
things do not go according to his wishes?”
“I
fear
something bad happening to these two young ladies. What her
father does is secondary.”
“When
things come to an end, if you find yourself wanting for employment, we’d be
proud to have you serve alongside our unit,” offered Watzkel. “You
do your planet proud.”
Raymond
just stared at Watzkel with disbelief. He knew what he had heard and he
knew the Shukurae would never joke of such things. His brained churned as
he fought for words before feebly settling for, “Thank you.”
“Reinhardt
just punched out of here in the light cruiser,” barked a trooper from the front
of the building. “Unclear what happened to the other craft.”
Watkel
turned her attention to the news at hand. “Okay, let’s do a slow round up
of his remaining troops and then carefully,
carefully
, inspect the
remaining craft.”
“You
anticipate that they were damaged or booby-trapped?” asked Raymond.
“Well,
you would expect otherwise from him?” asked Chloë. She was annoyed that
Reinhardt had gotten away, but she was glad he was gone. It was a curious
mix of emotions.
“Do
you need my help?” offered Raymond.
Watzkel
grinned, her triangular teeth flashing in the light while her stout tusks
framed her face. “It would be best for you to stay with the two young
ladies. But I do appreciate the offer.” She stared at him for a
bit. “What is wrong, Lord Raymond?”
Raymond
allowed himself a simple laugh at the form of address. “I just feel bad that
everything I was told about you as a people was wrong: it was jaded, one sided,
and horribly unfair to you.”
“Then
blame your teachers. Experience has taught you otherwise; pass on the
knowledge.”
Raymond
smiled. “Yes ma’am! I will indeed!”
Within
the hour the trio found themselves back in the earlier dwelling. There
were a few holes here and there, but the place
felt
much nicer knowing
that the guards outside were now on their side. Raymond shooed away the Shukurae
trying to help and carried Heather back inside by himself. Chloë helped
with the doors, and they soon managed to get Heather up to her bedroom.
Chloë sent Raymond downstairs while she slipped Heather into her nightgown and
tucked her in bed. Chloë quickly returned to the lower level where she
found Raymond patiently waiting. A quick smile and Raymond relaxed into a
chair.
“They
said that of the three remaining ships, they can probably get one operational
inside of a day,” Raymond began. “And if our tails still end up in a
knot, they have a human heavy assault landing ship that will be here in eight
days.”
Chloë
giggled at the thought of being around humans. They had no fur! A
simple crop on the tops of their heads but were otherwise naked! She
could easily let her childish emotions get the better of her, but she knew the
humans were well respected for their craftsmanship, cunning, and
technology. Only the Taiks of the Kulpgurie lands produced finer
starships.
“Just
say it,” grinned Raymond. “We are all thinking it.”
“Naked!”
Chloë laughed. “I just can’t help it… furless, tailless, no claws, and
they couldn’t smell things if their life depended on it!”
“You
forgot to add ‘night blind,’” grinned Raymond. “But in daytime their
vision is actually much sharper than ours. Very good at details.”
“Did
not know that,” nodded Chloë a bit more subdued. “But there is a
lot
I
don’t know it seems…”
“Tell
me about it!” interjected Raymond. “I think I’ve learned more in the last
two hours than I did in two years at the academy.”
Chloë
grinned, glad that she wasn’t the only one out of her element. “So what
is the plan?”
Raymond
thought for a bit. “Well, obviously we wait until Heather is better.
Contact her parents to let them know she is safe. After that, things are
open: do you wish to head back to the Highlands, or do you wish to go and see
your mother?”
Chloë
smiled as she watched Heather slowly climb out of bed. The medic
said
she would be all right, but that didn’t diminish Chloë’s, or, for that matter,
Raymond’s, concern for the giddy Highland girl.
“Do
you need a hand up?” offered Chloë cheerfully.
“No,
I’m fine,” replied Heather as she rolled out of bed and swung her feet under
her. Two timid tests later and she carefully stood up, only to collapse
back into the bed.
Chloë
laughed and grabbed Heather’s arm, and helped her to stand, “The first thing to
learn, lovely Heather, is when to ask for help.”
Heather
grinned back sheepishly as Chloë helped her to a nearby chair, “Yes,
ma’am.” Heather stretched and squirmed before settling into the
chair. “What happened?”
“What
do you last remember?”
“Um,
sweeping someone’s legs and then a whole lot of pain!”
Chloë
made a motherly frown. “Apparently, you got yourself in over your head!
Watzkel said you soaked a plasma lance into the Live Steel armor of yours.”
“Watzkel?
She was the Line Centurion?” asked Heather as she rubbed her head.
“Yes
indeed,” replied Raymond from the doorway. “And you scared her
horribly. Not that we weren’t all scared out of our wits ourselves.”
Chloë
smiled at Raymond and beckoned him into the room. He smiled and sat in a
plump chair across from Heather.
“You
were scared for me?” teased Heather to Raymond.
“He
has hardly left your side for the last day,” replied Chloë.
“I
was out cold for a day?” asked Heather incredulously. “It shouldn’t have
been that bad… I mean I got my armor up and…”
“You
took a square hit from a half megajoule plasma lance,” growled
Raymond. “You should
not
have tried to soak that, regardless
of your armor. You had determined that knocking the Shukurae over was
enough to get him out of harm’s way; why didn’t you
grapple
him instead
and pull
both
of you to the ground?”
Heather
started to look indignant, but quickly switched her mood as the practicality of
his statement hit her. Finally, she offered a faint, “Ohhhh… yeah.
That would have been a better choice.”
“You
have great skills, Lady Heather,” admonished Raymond, “but you lack the
experience necessary to use them efficiently considering the high stakes game
at hand. Don’t worry about other people; we have far enough of us
worrying about you. Just take care of yourself. Heroes are fine;
I’m just not going to have any
dead
heroes on my watch.”
Heather
stared at her feet, totally serious for the first time that Chloë could
recall. “I guess that was kind of stupid, wasn’t it.”
“You
are a wonderful girl, full of talent. But you are naïve of the true
dangers out on the battlefield. I don’t have half the raw talent you do,
Heather. But I have tons of experience. Let us do our job.”
Heather
suddenly flashed a grin. “Okay, who is ‘us?’”
Raymond
permitted himself a quick chuckle. “The Shukurae and I.”
“Those
‘hideous’ Shukurae?” teased Heather.
“Heather!
Don’t you dare tease Raymond about that,” scolded Chloë. “Your
description of the Shukurae was terribly wrong! Noble, honorable and all
that… that’s a load of crap! They are
way
better than that!”
Heather
looked shocked at Chloë for a moment before bursting out laughing, “Yes,
ma’am! Well… if I had told you how wonderful and awesome they were in the
first place, you never would have believed me!”
Chloë
blew a raspberry and they all had a good laugh.
“Okay,
so what’s the plan then?” asked Heather. “Do we have a ride off this
rock?”
“They
hope to have one of the ships operational later today. If it subsequently
performs well on the shake down run, they may be able to get us ‘off this
rock,’ as you put it, late tomorrow. If things don’t go so well, there is
a human ship already en route.”
Heather
bit her lip and grinned. “Humans…”
Raymond
rolled his eyes. “We already covered that joke… Oh wait! You missed it
because you were unconscious and scaring us all half to death!”
Heather
blinked, “Um, sorry.”
“Jokes
and teasing aside, Heather, Raymond thinks very highly of you,” began
Chloë. “Please, oh please, do think of those around you. None of us
want you hurt like that again.”
Heather
flashed a quick grin at Raymond before regaining her composure, “You are right
of course. Both of you… I’m just a kid…”
“Well,
I’d say ‘young lady,’” began Raymond. “But please, please let those of us
around you help you.”
Heather
smiled civilly and nodded to Raymond. “Like Chloë said when I first woke
up, I need to learn to ask for help.”
“Excellent!”
beamed Chloë. “And now back to fill in the unanswered question: we are
planning on taking the ship back to the Highlands. But first, dinner, of
course!”
“Of
course!” beamed Heather.