Sister, Sister

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By William S. Frisbee Jr.

 

Mist clung to the jungle like a tenacious parasite. Trees speared the sky in a near futile attempt to reach the life giving sunlight while vegitation that wasn't trying to climb up the trees hunkered down between them waiting for the mist to burn off.

Birds, or lizards, screeched at each other in the tree tops but down closer to the ground it was much more quiet and solemn. Some light filtered down from above but there was precious little of it and the spectres that stalked thier prey had to rely mostly on their sensors and expierence.

Corporal Jason Drake held up his left fist while his other hand held the assault rifle steady. An unconcious thought activated his boosted reflexes and around him the other marines boosted theirs. Other wraiths in site and out of site froze, computers analyzing and passing on his signal to the other warriors as an icon on their heads-up-displays.

A large gecko like lizard scampared through the brush nearby but Jason ignored it, his attention focused intently to his front. Another signal sent the members of the squad to take cover, enemy detected, to the front, prepare for hasty ambush.

Another group of shadows was stalking the undergrowth but they had yet to detect the TriStar Marines.

'Third team, envelope left,' Jason signaled and Corporal Kaiser, in charge of third team slipped off to the left followed by his warriors. First fireteam stood fast and second fireteam moved up to first teams right.

The beamers carried by the Marines were silent but the second they opened fire the Krell started screaming and firing their own weapons. Thier accelerator rifles made a rapid puffing sound as they fired everything they had.

Jason saw movement where a Krell camoflauge poncho failed to conceal his legs from sensors, and Jason fired several shots at it. After sustaining damage the camo poncho failed and the Krell collapsed, now fully visible to Jason's sensors.

The marines rapidly gained fire superiority over their surpised opponents and Jason stopped firing to evaluate the situation.

First and second team were doing an excellent job of pinning down the Krell survivors but Jason didn't know how long that would last.

"Company sized element!" Kaiser said minutes later. "Flanking won't work from here."

Jason thought nasty things about the Krell for a split second. He could see where Kaiser was in relation to the rest of the squad and from the looks of it his squad had encountered the lead elements as they were travelling in a forty five degree angle from the direction his squad had been going.

"Okay, pull back," Jason said switching active frequencies.

"You have priority," a voice said when the new frequency activated.

"Amen," Jason muttered. Semi-intelligent computers had already reported to battle command that Jason's squad had made contact with a Krell unit. Full AI's in conjunction with humans were evaluating the situation and deciding how they could help.

"Request Artillery strike to my front, at least three hundred meters from me and along thier axis of advance," Jason said.

"Aknowledged," the operator said. "Can you define their axis of advance?"

Jason dropped back behind a massive tree and called up the HUD map which appeared to float in the air in front of him. His marines lit up in green along with an occasional red spot. Using his left hand he traced a line where he thought the Krell column was.

"Aknowledged," the operator said. "Shot over."

"Shot out," Jason replied shutting down the HUD and looking back toward the kill zone. Battle command had the coordinates of his squad and unless one of the rounds was bad and fell short, Jason knew his people would be safe from friendly fire.

Jason didn't see anything moving but apparently Corporal Conner did because he was directing his team to concentrate on a big burning tree. A red blip appeared briefly on his sensors as a Krell trooper tried to get in a shot. Metal pellets, fired by the accelerator rifle slammed into the tree not far from Jason. It was like a little explosion and Jason ducked back out of reflex before realizing the Krell had probably been firing blindly, and poorly, at a suspected Marine location.

The TriStar Marines wore complete battle suits that either bent light around them or absorbed light and other electromagnetic radiation. The battle suits also had strength augmentation and light armor. Of course the armor didn't provide much protection from a direct hit.

The Krell were conscript troops, mostly slaves with internal bombs to prevent thier escape or disobediance. As conscripts their equipement was usually simple and cheap. Thier poncho's absorbed or bent electromagnetic radiation and their helmets had fewer features than a Marines. Thin, gangly bird lizards, the Krell were still a respectable foe. The slave/conscripts had little choice but to fight bravely and tenaciously.

Two years ago Jason might have felt sorry for them. Then he had seen the atrocities commited by the slave troops against unarmed human civilians. Men, women and children had been mutilated and tortured to death when they were captured by Krell troops. Now, with the Krell losing the battle, they had less chance to attack non-combatants.

A blinking red light on his heads up display indicated artillery was about to impact. Small explosions followed by much larger ones shook the jungle as the jungle penetrator rounds flew over the Krell and fired their submunitions strait down.

Krell yelling and screaming could easily be heard over the sound of the impacting rounds.

"Flanks standby," Jason said needlessly. His squad had been fighting on Kongo for nearly a year and there wasn't a single marine that wasn't an expierenced veteran who knew his or her job.

"We are sending reinforcements to help with the BDA" -battle damage assesment- "they will be arriving by grav carrier."

"Aknolwledged," Jason said and switched frequency back to his squad.

When the artillery rounds had started landing nearly everyone had stopped firing and taken more effort to find cover. Just because the artillery rounds were made with the most advanced technologies didn't mean there weren't faulty rounds or the Krell would respond in kind.

"A-C reports," Jason said pulling up the squad display on his HUD. The icon for Winters in third team was flashing yellow indicating he had a suit breach.

"Winters got scorched on his left arm but it's minor," Kaiser reported when the other two team leaders were done giving Jason an Ammo-Casualty report.

"Minor my ass!" Winters muttered forcing a smile out of Jason. Rounds continued to hammer the jungle in front of them but Jason knew it was unlikely the Krell would try to attack through it; they might be stuid sometimes but they weren't suicidal.

Jason passed the information to battle command, who had it anyways and got an estimated time of arrival for the reinforcements.

"Alright people," Jason said on the all hands frequency. "We've got reinforcments coming, E-T-A is five minutes."

As the squad waited and listened to the artillery pulverize the jungle most of them downgraded their reflexes.

Jason downgraded his until his sensors picked up the magnetic enomoly of an approaching grav carrier. Sensors pinged it as friendly and Jason relaxed again. Smaller signatures erupted from the carrier and sped forward, over the heads of the Marines. The second they passed Jason's squad the artillery fell silent. Jason caught a glimpse of a winged recon drone before it disappeared.

The grav carrier hadn't even touched the ground before marines were pouring out and deploying. Another grav carrier crashed through the jungle behind the first one and began spewing out even more troops.

The second the grav carriers discharged their troops they slid back up and out of the jungle, dodging the few trees that were too big for them to plow through.

"Good job Drake," Lieutenant Mathews said coming up to Jason.

"I'll let the squad know," Drake said with a smile. The company had been patrolling the jungle for close to two weeks without making contact. Jason was beginning to think the Krell really had withdrawn like the peace treaty called for them to do. Of course the Krell weren't sending in supplies or fresh troops but that didn't keep the troops left behind from trying to wage a guerrilla war.

Guerrilla war was not a Krell speciality but the jungles of Kongo made it so much easier for them to hide from orbital surviellance and attack satellites. Had this been Branard or Appacho then they would have been cut to pieces by orbital weaponry because there was no place for them to hide their troops or their tracks from orbital survielance.

On Kongo the Krell were hidden from above by the mists or the triple canopy jungle and could move around without drawing orbital fire. That meant the Marines had to go into the jungle and hunt them down the hard way. Even a year after the Krell had sued for peace and stopped landing troops and supplies, there were still Krell hold outs. Several thousand Krell were thought to be hiding out in the jungles, building fortresses and hidden factories. A state of the art SAS, Survielanc/Attack Satellite, network insured the Krell planetside recieved no help from their bretheren but from the way things were going they really didn't need any.

The Human forces that had fought the Krell were more than angry about the Krell truce but the politicians held the military in check, unwilling to renew the war. The peace treaty had said the Krell would cease landing troops and supplies and withdraw major military units. The peace treaty also required them to abandon all slaves.

According to the Krell they had abandoned all slaves, lesser military units and slave keepers to the Human Hegemony. The didn't order those abandoned units to surrender, in fact they had ordered them to continue resistance. A minor technicality according to the politicians.

"The drones have spotted a potential prisoner," a voice said over the comm. "Looks like an officer. Verifying area is clear for troops. . ."

"First squad," the Lieutenant said. "Prisoner snatch, might be an officer. Stand by for coordinates. . ."

* * *

"I heard the Army is getting chewed up down there," Corporal Price said entering the squad bay.

"You thought the doggies could handle it Corporal?" Morgan asked looking up from his vidplayer.

"Not really, but I did think they would be doing better," Price said sinking down into his rack.

"All hands, jump stations," the ship intercom said. "All hands, jump stations. Secure for jump."

"Amen," someone muttered. Jason felt the same way, the battalion had spent far too much time on Kongo and now it was time to leave. Laying back in his rack Jason closed his eyes. He had been a corporal for several years, now as a blooded combat vet he would be picking up sergeant in no time. The Lieutenant had promised him sergeant when they got back to Shelley, the planet where the First Battalion, fifth Marines was stationed. As senior Corporal it was his due and besides he had commanded the squad since Sergeant Bergholts had died three months ago.

"Prepare for jump in one minute and counting," the intercom said. Jason looked around to make sure everyone was in their rack. It was where Marines spent most of their time on board ship anyways. General Quarters, Battle Stations, Fire Stations, Flight Stations (unless they were the ones leaving) all meant the Marines were to return to quarters and get in their racks. For an infantryman that was exactly where he or she wanted to be.

Satisfied everyone was in place Jason closed his eyes. When the Vincent entered hyperspace they would be in temporal stasis for about one week. Jason felt it was only right that he sleep for a week.

The count down finally commenced and then Jason heard a buzzing as he felt the ship vibrate. "Five, four, three, two, one, ze-"

* * *

"-ro," the ships intercom said. "All times have been reset to Tristar standard. Exactly one hundred and sixty seven hours have passed, please make a note of it."

"AHhhhhhh!" someone yelled. "When are they gonna feed us! I haven't eaten since last week."

Some people chuckled at the old joke but most of the Marines just ignored it.

"Always thinking about yer stomach," Winchester said. "I haven't slept in over a week so shutup so I can sleep!"

Jason tuned out the bantering, it would still be awhile until they sounded "Clear from Jump stations." The navy liked to keep the Marines in thier racks and out from under foot.

Wristcomps started beeping as the units mail was downloaded from the Tristar System net. Jason was only partially surprised when his chimed. He was expecting some mail from his sister Tanya telling him where she would be working at. She should have graduated last week from medical school. She had several different places lined up but the last time he had talked to her she had still been undecided.

Punching his code in the screen on the rack above him, just inches from his face, Jason watched Tanya's face appear. Her hair was blonde like his and she also had high cheekbones. She looked very similiar to Jason, except for his mustache and serious face. She was thin but with well defined curves, where he was broad and muscular. She was smiling as he pressed play.

"Hi there Drake sensie," she said. Her nickname for him since he had first started studying martial arts in junior high school.

"I made my decision!" Jason smiled. She seemed so full of energy and enthusiasm, like usual, it was one of the reason he loved her. "It's great! I'll get to travel all over the place and go where my medical skills are needed most. I get to travel to exotic new lands, meet interesting new people and heal them!

"Now our family is well rounded. You kill, I heal." Jason lost his smile. It was one of the arguments he alwasy had with her. She didn't oppose his joining the Marines but she didn't like it, she thought he could have joined the Police or something. In that respect she was so much different than him. He liked the challenge but she didn't see it that way, she thought he liked the combat. She had always been something of a pacifist, probably because of her sheltered life. As her older brother he had been the one that got in fights for her, and whenever she needed him, he had been there. She didn't really understand why he spent so much time and energy studying the martial arts because she had never been the defender, only the defended.

"Guess who I'm working for?!" she said. Jason shook his head, she loved guessing games too. "C'mon, you can figure it out. I know you can." Jason rolled his eyes, even in her vidmail she expected instant responses.

"The Interstellar Red Cross!" she said brightly and Jason felt sick. In some of the combat zones he had seen IRC stations and the conditions had been deplorable. He thought very highly of the Interstellar Red Cross but to think his innocent, sweet baby sister would be working in such a station. Sometimes they were dangerous. The IRC went all over known space providing care and comfort in warzones as well as natural disasters. Jason sincerely hoped she would be posted aboard an IRC Hospitol ship, he just couldn't imagine his sister in a filthy, unsanitary field hospitol like he had become used to seeing.

Also the IRC was not a national organization, it was international and she wouldn't recieve full protection from the Tristar Alliance if she got into trouble.

"I'm being shipped out tomarrow to a planet called Naga. Oh, this is going to so great!"

Jason jammed the stop button and stored the message for later. It ruined his whole mood.

 

 

* * *

*

 

 

Tanya stepped off the IRC transport and the heat hit her like a wet, damp blanket. The thick, humid air was full of all sorts of unpleasant scents and sounds as she walked across the gangplank to the dock.

She wrinkled her nose wishing the smell would go away but there was no such luck. It was immediately obvious that this place needed specialists of all kind. She could tell from the smell that sewage was dumped in the street or the ocean, along with garbage. The water between the dock and the ship had quite a bit of floating garbage in it. It was disgusting.

"Miss Drake?" and elderly gentleman asked as she came ashore.

She nodded and he continued. "I'm Doctor Kyle Barret."

"Doctor Barret!" she said fondly as if he were a good friend. "I've heard so much about you. It is going to be a real honor working for you."

Doctor Barret smiled sadly. "I'm really sorry to rush you and all but I just recieved word we are needed at the station. More wounded have just come in."

* * *

Jason punched up Naga on the ships database, confirming his fears. Naga was a warzone out in the middle of nowhere. Nobody really cared enough to take sides among the warring factions but the Peace Corps was there to insure weapons of mass destruction weren't used. Jason read the reports and shook his head, the Peace Corps was there for two reasons, to insure weapons of mass destruction weren't used and to protect the space port so the pollen harvests could be sold safelty to offworld interests.

It was obvious what was going on. By keeping the port open the different factions could sell their pollen harvests for weapons and the offworld merchants could get a cheap price for the pollen which was used for crystal treatment.

Wanting to punch something Jason made his way to the onboard gym. Why did she have to go off and do something stupid like that. Briefly he wondered how hard his mom had fought to keep her from going, she might still be crying.

* * *

Tanya felt more tired than she could ever remember feeling. It had been bloody, nasty work trying to save as many victims as she could. Some faction, she wasn't sure which, had bombed a village full of women and children. How could they be so cruel?

She staggared to the bathroom to clean up and wished for more modern intstruments. The equipment Doctor Barret had must have been at least a hundred years old and showing its age. She scrubbed the blood off her hands and only then did she realize that she had worked on living, breathing patients, not some virtual reality simulation. She felt sick and raced to the toilet to vomit.

A female nurse found her there, kneeling before the toilet sobbing. Gently but firmly the nurse helped the new medico to her feet and got her cleaned up.

* * *

"I don't care!" Tanya yelled at Doctor Barret. "They need someone with medical training! Women and children need our help!"

"No!" Doctor Barret yelled back. "Palu Village can get over run any day. The Aswad Sahm have no respect for the IRC, if they don't kill you outo of hand they will enslave you."

"But there isn't enough transportation to bring them here. They need help there damn it. I know the danger Doctor. I've had a rude awakening since I've come here but I've also found out what it really means to be a medico. People need my help and I took an oath to help them, so did you. You stay here. I promise I'll be careful."

Doctor Barret sighed wishing he could present a tougher arugment. Tanya could be so persuasive when she wanted to be and Barret just didn't have the strength to argue. He hadn't slept in over two days and he knew it was affecting his decision making. The problem was he didn't know if it was making him too careful or too reckless.

"Be careful," Barret finally said. "Think of your brother and mother before you do anything careless."

Tanya paused, and almost decided to stay but some moaning in the next room caused her to make her decision.

"I promise to be careful," she said with a tired smile.

"You are one of the best assistants I've had," Barret said. "Most of the others left as soon as they could but you have stayed and done well. Please be careful, I've grown too fond of you to lose you. You are like a daughter to me," Barret said saying more than he thought he should have. He blamed it on his lack of sleep and paranoia.

"Thanks," she said and gave him a peck on the cheek. Before Barret could say anything else she was gone. Looking at the chair the Doctor thought about how nice it would be to just sit down for a few moments and rest his eyes.

The moaning in the next room grew louder so he popped two stims and shuffled for the door.

"Are you going to Palu?" Tanya asked a woman wearing filthy combat gear and sitting in a grav jeep. The woman looked Thai but as far as Tanya knew she could have been hispanic.

Tired eyes looked at Tanya and the woman rubbed her near bald scalp. Tanya didn't know if the blood on the woman's hands was her or she had helped bring in the casualties. The blood, mostly dry now still managed to mix in with the dirt and grime but the driver didn't seem to care.

"Ya," she said. "Why?"

"I want to come with you. Help with the wounded there," Tanya said.

The woman gave Tanya a blank look and shrugged. Tossing her bag into the back Tanya climbed into the seat but the driver remained silent and still.

"What are we waiting for?" Tanya asked.

The woman pointed at the IRC entrance and two young boys that had been admitted less than an hour earlier shuffled out and began to climb into the back of the jeep.

"What are you doing!" Tanya said. She had personally worked on the shorter of the two. A piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in his left bicep but even though it hadn't been that serious it had still been painful.

"We solda'men, we fight," he said. Tanya was shocked into silence as the grav jeep rose up and started speeding back toward Palu village. The two boys couldn't have been older than fifteen. That was a violation of the IRC charter to work on combatants. The IRC had to be completely neutral otherewise the different factions might start targeting the IRC. The Interstellar Red Cross was here only to help noncombatants like women and children.

It was too late now, Tanya thought as the jeep flew over the rice paddys that surrounded the starport city. Several Peace Corps sentry towers speared the perimeter ground of the city protecting it against the warring fraction that might try to bring the war into the city.

The wind blowing in her face cooled her down but still the sun, high in the sky blinded her and made her wish for some sunglasses or a visor. She could ignore the heat now after having spent a little more than a month here on Naga but she would still sweat oceans. She took a sip from her water bottle and offered it to the driver but she declined. Both the soldier boys in the back were sleeping and Tanya began to think about much danger she was now in.

OUt here in the jungles there were no Peace Corps patrols, only different warring factions and there weren't many that hadn't been accused of various atrocities. Some had even shot down Red Cross flyers like the one she was in.

Tanya closed her eyes and wondered how far away Palu village was. For a second she was tempted to ask the driver but feared to break her concentration. Tree tops flashed by in a blur of motion and Tanya wondered how hard it would be for someone on the ground to shoot them out of the air.

Would the Peace Corps send a rescue team to find them? Tanya knew it would be even worse at Palu. For the first time she wished Jason was here to help her. He knew all about combat and warfare, he would know how to keep her safe. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to stop the tears. He had been a warrior for longer than she could remember. School had been tough for the two because their mother couldn't afford a better school or life style. There had been ample learning opportunities of course, but every society had its lower class and that was where Tanya and JAson had grown up.

When Jason had gone off to join the Marines she had cried for days because he had left her. She knew she would never be a warrior and she had no interest in joining the military so she had done the exact opposte, she had become a healer. She had begun to live her dream of healing the victims of injustice while Jason fought for Justice. Now she found herself living in a nightmare and Jason wasn't here to help her.

A tear escaped, and Tanya took a deep breath. It had to be lack of sleep that was causing her to be so emotional and with all the stress her period might be beginning early. Leaning back Tanya tried to relax and banish the fear and self pity she didn't know she had fallen asleep until an explosion rattled the jeep.

"Doctor this way, you come yes?" a little Asian man said gripping Tanya's arm. Looking around Tanya saw the driver climbing out to help put some stretchers on and the two boys had already disappeared. They must have just arrived.

Several massive ribs jutted up into the sky where they could collect the pollen from the great trees at the edge of the village. Around her were a combination of stone and grass huts. Some were shattered and the rest looked like they were ready to fall apart. Another explosion erupted from near the edge of the jungle and several people started yelling and screaming.

Crouching lower to the ground Tanya followed the near frantic little Asian into a nearby stone building that leaned up against one of the 'rib's.

Inside the building were all manner of people clutching injuries or helping the wounded. The smell of infection and vomit made Tanya gag. She saw one man who had already bled to death propped up in a corner. An older woman, her face partially burned sat next to him, holding his blood covered hands and talking to him as if he was still alive.

The sound was also deafening, a steady buzz of moaning, screaming and yelling. It was choas and Tanya didn't know where to begin. What medical supplies she saw were outdated, and in some cases they were taking the bandages off the dead to use on those still living.

Tanya wanted to run screaming but her eyes fell on a little girl, her arm bent at the wrong angle as she sat there holding it and screaming loudly. Tears clouded her vision as she got to work.

Tanya glanced toward the doorway at the sunlight that filtered through. She tried to remember if it had gotten dark yet and a numb portion of her mind remembered that it had and they had used candles to provide illumination during that time.

CAsualties still came in and Tanya no longer cared if the wounded person was a soldier or not. She was too tired to care and she felt like a zombie going about its task.

When the explosions and gunfire stopped outside she didn't even notice. She did notice when a soldier in an unfamiliar uniform came in and started shooting her patients. Screaming she threw herself at him without thinking of the consequences.

* * *

"Corporal Drake reporting as ordered First Sergeant," Jason said coming to stand attention before the First Sergeant's desk.

"Have a seat," the First Sergeant said.

"Thank you First Sergeant," Jason said sitting down in the offered seat.

"I have some bad news son. Your sister has died on some planet called Naga," First Sergeant Fisher said. "I'm really sorry."

Jason sat there frozen, unable to speak as he stared at the First Sergeant. A ping from the First Sergeant's console informing him he had e-mail waiting broke Jason's spell.

"How," Jason paused and tried to steady his voice. "How did it happen First Sergeant."

"She was providing aid to the dying and wounded in a village called Palu when it was attacked and over run by religious fanatics. She was accidently killed in the fighting. I'm arranging for you to take emergency leave so you can go home and be with your family."

Jason nodded, not trusting his voice to answer. "Did they recover her body?"

"No," First Sergeant Fisher said.

"So how do they know she's dead?"

"Son," Fisher said patiently. "Naga is an interstellar dumping ground. It's technology level is nil and there are so many different factions fighting it out not even the natives can sort it all out. I would say it is impressive that they were able to confirm her death rather than classify her as missing. Recovering her body under fire could have been impossible, I don't know, I wasn't there."

"So she could be alive?" Jason asked earning a scowl from the First.

"Do NOT grasp at straws Corporal Drake," Fisher said. "It might take a few days to make arrangements for you to go home to be with your family but pack your bags anyways."

"Thank you First Sergeant," Jason said.

"Dismissed."

"Aye First Sergeant," Jason said retreating his heart in the pit of his stomach.

 

For more information please contact me at warcat@usmc.net