The Flin Wars Ch. 03

Once again this is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. As always, any mistakes are my own and any constructive criticism is always welcome. In this chapter I start using the made-up language, so I'm sorry in advance. Yes, the sex is coming.

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Date: 231908.20

Time: 2016.10

Location: Flin Carrier Island O8 level

'O5 ready for breach, over.' I heard in my ear.

'Roger, all levels ready for breach. Breach in 3.. 2.. 1.. Breach.' Bobby said and my visor darkened as the cutting gel began to melt through the armored hatch on the flag bridge. It took just 10 seconds to cut through, then 2 DC men moved in and quickly pried out the still hot slug of steel. 6 Breachers swarmed through the hole weapons up.

'Clear, clear, clear, clear, clear, clear. All clear.' The Sargent said as the intel POs quickly entered the space, I slipped in behind them and looked around the bridge.

Drops of blood floated in the airless space, the 10 individuals that floated had obviously died of blunt force trauma from slamming into equipment when the island separated from the hull and the artificial gravity failed. About the only thing that were working were the emergency lights and a few pieces of equipment that had emergency battery backup.

Exiting the bridge, I went over to the Admirals cabin and pried the door open and walked in my pistol up and ready. The main room was empty and clear, as I stepped into his sleeping area and saw the life pod in the corner, welded to the deck. It was working but several warning lights were lit. 'Medic to my location.' I said and knelt down, shining my head light into the interior. A small dirty, scared human face stared back at me. 'Brenda get your ass in here now. DC team to me ASAP.' The medic had just walked in as I called out.

'Oh shit.' I heard her say as she rushed over to the pod and began to check it over. 'Fuck, we gotta get this thing out of here now, sir.' She told me as Brenda and 3 other Marines filled the door weapons up.

'What the fuck Sir?' She asked, then saw the pod. 'Oh shit.' and was pushed out of the way by the DC team.

'Ripper 6, Crusher 3-5 we got a live one at position 4, over.' Brenda said over the command freq. '3-5 this is 6 hold your pos. I'll be right down.' Bobby said. 'Roger 6' Brenda replied and looked over at the pod as the teams tried to stabilize and free it.

'This thing is fucked up.'

'Check the connectors, see if we can cross connect.'

'Repair 7 Bravo send a pod pack over to my position, yesterday.'

'Her stats are failing we need to get her out now.'

'Check the scrubbers, see if they're clogger.'

'It's welded to the deck back here; we're going to need 5 minutes to free it safely.'

'The back-up systems are failing, looks like it hasn't been services in a while.'

'CO scrubbers' levels are near lethal levels we need to change it.'

'She's starting to Fib here, we gotta go now Sir.'

'Give me that O2 bottle hose, we have a connector threaded on.'

'Cutting here standby.'

Bobby came in and caught my attention, I switched freqs. 'Yeah Sarge.' He smiled at that. 'We need to go private, right now.' I looked back at the mad scramble around the pod then back at him. 'Rip it out and haul ass?' I asked as the DC crews started to cut it free. 'Sounds like a plan, let's do it, we need to go.' He said and pulled back out of the crowded compartment. I switched back to the primary freq.

'You got 60 seconds to get it free, then I'm going to have to rip it out.' I said. One DC team kept their heads down and continued their work to cut it free, the other worked with the medics to swap out several filters and attached an O2 fitting, helping to stabilize and save the trapped girl.

'We have her stabilized Sir we just need to cut her free now.' The female medic said. 'I'd rather not bounce her around too much Sir, 2 minutes 3 tops.' HM1 Doc Bashier said. He was an old school medic with 4 tours as a FMF medic and 2 as an IDC Corpsman. This was someone who when he spoke, people listened.

I looked around as people where quickly packing up their gear for the move. 'Okay Doc, but let's step it up you got 2 minutes, 3 tops then we gotta go quick.'

'Roger that Sir, alright people you heard the man this ain't a Sunday social let's go, let's go.' He barked. Within 90 seconds I heard 4 'Freed' and watched the pod float up as 2 DC men and the medics guided it out the room.

An intel PO bumped my elbow and held up his bag. 'Were done here Sir the bridge and berthing spaces have been cleaned out; we're headed down now Sir.' He said. 'Okay make sure you have all of your people.' I told him as he headed out. On the command overlay inside my visor I could see green dots headed down towards the crossing point. I looked over at the DC team as they packed the last of their gear up. 'Let's go boys, we don't wanna miss the hover tram. it's a long walk home.' I said and followed them out the door. Bobby was waiting for me by the ladder as I made one last check for anyone left behind.

'Clear, let's go sarge.' I told him as we made our way to the O5 level to pick up 1st Lt. Gabby Brinks who was just finishing her final sweep. 'Clear Sirs, ready to evac.' She said and headed down the ladder as we followed her towards the boarding gangway that connected the Island to our ship. 6 Marines guarded our end, and I knew that 20 others were standing by on the other side, just in case.

'Report Marines.' Bobby barked out. 'Sir, with the exception of the 9 of us all others have evacuated back to the Arc Royal. The air lock is clear, and the life pod went through 7 minutes ago.' The Sargent said.

'Very well. Let's clear out and get aboard.' Bobby said.

'Sir.' The Sargent said, turned and pointed at the Marine closest to the boarding tube then at the tube. The Marine nodded and ducked into the tube, followed by the remaining Marines until only Bobby and me remained. 'Never thought I'd get to see the inside of one of these things.' I said looking around.

'Guess there's a first time for everything.' He said and tapped my shoulder pad. 'Let's go private, beers getting warm.' Yes, it was. I followed Bobby down the tube and into the airlock, as I began to close the hatch, I could see the flex tube being retracted. Good leave no evidence behind that we had been inside.

I could feel the pressure change as the space filled with breathing gas once again and I knew we were being scanned for any possible contamination.

'Clear of contamination, recompression complete, cleared to enter.' The ships AI Francis said, and the inner hatch opened with a slight hiss. no matter how carefully you try to equalize the pressures one side will always be slightly higher than the other. Stepping into the hanger bay I popped my visor open, and the noise of hundreds of voices hit me. It seemed as if everyone who could get free was here watching. The Intel teams were counting their bags and grabbing spare hands to help them take their haul to the entrance of their labyrinth. From there it would disappear into the maze of locked cubicles that made up the Intel center.

The squadrons pilots and crews were clustered around Hawkeye as he recounted what he'd seen on the primary bridge, I could see they were hanging on his every word. I should have gone over and broke it up, but why? This would help cement his standing in the squadron plus it gave him a boost over a few of the other new pilots. The ships 1MC system saved me.

'Commander Bishop, please report to medical, Commander Bishop, please report to medical at once.'

Brenda appeared at my side with another Marine close by. 'I'll check your weapons in Sir.' She said as I pulled the mags and safe/cleared both weapons. 'I'll be down later for my pistol and to turn in the suit.' I told her. 'We'll be there Boss.' She said as I headed for the hatch, I knew would lead me to the ladder well.

'Down ladder make a hole.' I said and slid down on the hand railings the headed inboard through another hatch and headed for Medical. Coming in through one of the starboard side doors a medic spotted me and waved me to him. 'Commander. Bishop, this way Sir.' He said and led me to a door then opened it.

I could hear a young girl screaming as several medics, Nurses and 2 Doctors tried to corral her. 'Ke'Ta, Ke'Ta, Naachaa Naachaa, Ke'Ta, Ke'Ta, Looookii, Looookii.' She screamed over and over again. I knew enough of the Flin language to understand that she was screaming for her Master, her Ke'Ta to rescue/save her from these invaders.'

'ENOUGH!!!' I roared, freezing everyone. 'Ta Ke'Ta zi Tote, La\ Ke'Ta na soe.' I said. (Your Master is dead; I am your Master now.) I pointed to the exam table. Zu, Na soe, sidh. (Sit, Now slave.) I watched her drop to her hands and knees and crawl to the table, then stand and sit on it. Her head was down, and I could see she was crying.

'La\Ke'Ta na soe sidh, oost zytu'u ka.' (I am your master now slave, you will obey me.) I growled out, 'S"hee Ke'Ta.' (Yes Master.) she whispered.

'Oost gla pyr' totah/ iq x'unn oost jor erss oost sidh, trivaa\\ lo.' (You will allow these people to examine you and do as they tell you slave, understand me.) I growled yet again.

'S"hee Ke'Ta, sidh naer zytu'u Ke'Ta rooya.' (Yes Master, slave will obey master's commands.) she whispered yet again. I walked over just as they layed her down and covered her naked body with a sheet and blanket.

I watched as they began to check her over and cleaned several spots on her arms to draw blood and start an IVs. Her body was rail thin and I could see several scars, bruises and fresh injuries. One of the nurses scanned her left wrist area. 'No tag, DNA ID her please Fran.' She said.

'What is your name slave.' I asked her. 'Tri'tra master.' she quietly replied. I nodded, worm, and if I remembered correctly slime worm. 'You are no longer Tri'tra, I will call you Karen.' I said.

'Kahren Master?' she said, puzzled by her new human name. 'Yes Karen.' I told her and watched one of the Docs slip a needle into one of her IV line. Karens eyes fluttered shut and her body went limp.

'She's horribly abused Sir; initial scans show several broken and improperly set bones. Nothing that's to disfiguring or life threatening, they can be addressed at a later date.' He told me as I caressed her dirty hair with my armored hand. For her age she's about 25 pounds underweight and God only knows what else is wrong with her. We're going to keep her asleep for a while and try to stabilize her blood chemistry, it'll take a day or 2. Go shower, change and do what you need to do, we'll call you if anything happens Commander.' He told me and guided me to the door. I looked yet again at this poor child and knew this is why I was fighting so hard. I started to head for the exit when one of the Docs sitting in the triage window called me over. 'Commander.'

He said, 'Yes Sir.' a few more time to someone on the phone and hung up still looking at me. 'The Admiral. would like you to report to his in-port cabin Sir.' He told me. I looked myself over, battle armor, no shower or shave, over 16+ hours awake so far, and the end was still some where far away, I just knew it. More than likely after the jump and God knows what else. I really hate long line periods.

'He said he didn't care how you looked or were dressed, Sir.' He said and smiled. 'Thanks Doc, let him know I'm on my way up.' I said.

'Yes Sir. Commander, we'll take good care of her for you.' He said as I headed out the door and for the lifts.

While waiting for the lift Bobby and Gabby Brinks joined me. She had short blond hair, lite blue eyes, pixey like features and a slim body. 'How is she John?' Bobby asked. 'Messed up, but the docs are pretty sure she'll be okay with a bit of time and a lot of care. They're trying to stabilize her blood chemistry right now.' I said and took my helmet off and scratched my head, I really needed a shower. 'I gave her a human name, Karen, he had been calling her slime worm.' Bobby and Gabby both shook their heads as the lift arrived and we stepped on, I hit the button for the O3 level.

'Any idea what this is all about Sirs?' Gabby asked. 'Nope but when a guy with 2 stars tells you to show up,' Bobby said, 'you drop what you're doing and show up Lieutenant.' Bobby and I both started laughing.

The Marine Guard standing outside the door popped to attention and knocked on it. It opened quickly and the 3 of us walked in. The Admiral was sitting in a chair watching the rescue of the pod from what looked like my helmet cam. It took less than 6 minutes from start to the pod being pulled out, according to the time stamp at the bottom of the screen.

'John, nice rescue. I know the hardest part sometimes is just standing back and letting the experts do their jobs.' He said and turned to face us. ' Have they IDed her yet?'

'No Sir, I heard one of the nurses ask Fran to run a DNA ID on her Sir.' I said. 'I have no idea how long it might take, I'm sorry Sir but that's not my area of expertise. For that kind of information, I would suggest that you ask the SMO to step up here Sir.'

'Yes, quite right, quite right.' He said nodding with a thoughtful look on his face. 'You see young lady, even us all knowing Admirals need to be reminded of certain things, from time to time.' He said looking over at Gabby smiling. 'Allen, would you call Medical and have the SMO come up here at his earliest opportunity.' He asked his Flag Lt. 'Yes Sir.' He replied and walked over to the phone to make the call.

'Does she have a name John?' The Admiral asked. 'Yes Sir, I've named her Karen after my grandmother. The Flin Admiral was calling her slime worm and had abused her badly.' I told him shaking my head.

'Yes, well John perhaps she'll have a better life now.' Loki said as Allen came back in. 'The SMO will be here in a few minutes Sir.' he said. 'Thank you, Allen.' Loki replied smiling. 'Please sit everyone and let me review the helmet cams, and now that my 'experts' are here I'll be able to ask any questions if I have them.' He said and pulled up Gabbys helmet cam and watched the entry into the comms room and it's clean out. Gabbys voice directed several men to check the floating bodies for additional intel. A set of code keys and several more data pads were found on a Flin CDR, he was clearly the Flag Comms Officer.

During all of this the SMO slipped in and sat next to me, he showed me his data pad. From what I could understand it looked like we had managed save Karen just in the nick of time. 'I'm going to put you down as next of kin and guardian John. This way all the boxes are checked, and nobody gets a case of ass over this.' Captain Berry Li MC whispered to me. I nodded and tapped his arm then gave him a thumbs up.

The Admiral finished watching the vids and turned back to us. 'Ah my favorite saw bones, Doc Li. How's our newest crew member?' He asked.

'At the moment Sir she is asleep and one very sick little girl. We've started 2 IVs to equalize her blood chemistry.' he spent the next 15 to 20 minutes describing Karens problems and the things that would have to happen to fix them.

The Admiral had Allen call several other people in, to him it didn't matter if you were an officer or enlisted. If he thought, you might have the answer he wanted to talk with you. During all this the call to jump stations had gone out and we jumped out of the area and were headed home. I knew we were getting 'out of Dodge', wherever that was, and headed for Starbase Pentel 616. It would be a week at high warp speeds, so for the next 7 days paperwork here I come. Oh Joy.

'John? John, you feeling alright?' Loki asked. 'You look a bit wrung out, Doc?' Doc L ran his scanner over me, looked at the numbers and snorted. 'In my professional opinion Sir, He needs a hot shower, about 30 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and about 3 or 4 good stiff shots. Not necessarily in that order.'

Loki shook his head at this. 'We could all stand with some more sleep, and the Gods knew we could all stand with a good bender or 2.' He shook his head yet again. 'Hell, when we reach the star base the first round of drinks is on me. Hell for the strike team I'll buy their first round too. 93 days is to long for just 3 section duty and material condition Yoke set at all times. I suspect the rest of the crew is in the same general condition?' He asked looking at Doc Li.

'Yes Sir, crew efficiency is down 11%, but this is not significant and long line periods generally have a 9.5% to 13.25% drop in crew efficiency statistically based.' Doc Li said and looked around the room. 'Most likely we're all a little 'wiped out' so to speak.' I looked around the room and for the first time I noticed the dark circles under the eyes of almost everyone there.

'Well let's break this up then. John, I know you have a ton of things to do, as does everyone else here. Thank you everybody and pass that along to your people from me. Thank you again everyone.' Loki said as we all stood, thanked him back, picked up our gear and headed out.

'Going to stop down first or head to debrief John?' Bobby asked once we were out in the door. I looked down the passageway, weighing my options. 'Hell, all I really want to do is shower, collect my pet and crawl into my rack.' I checked my watch, 2339. Shit I'd been on the go sense 0510 this morning. 18+ hours and still another 2 or 3 to go. Have I mentioned that I hate being a Squadron Commander? If not let me now mention that I really do hate being a Squadron Commander sometimes.

'Hey if ya wanna drop it off in the morning I understand, besides I know where ya live you goofy shit, so I'm not worried about it.' He said and headed for the lifts, Gabby in tow. 'See ya in 6 hours asshole.' He called out as I just snorted and headed for my stateroom. 1 level down and forward 10 frames.

God I was tired as I entered my berthing space, being a Squadron Commander does have its advantages. I had my own personal head and shower area, and my bunk was larger than the standard rack most slept on. Stripping out of the power armor I stacked it by the door then skinned out of my skin suit. It was great to wear under flight gear or battle armor, but after 16 to 18+ hours it got hot and uncomfortable. Right now, it felt good to take it off. Showering quickly, I dried off and headed for my bunk.

Kneeling in the middle of my bedroom is my pet Am 'An 'Flower', 6 years ago I had disabled a long-range shuttle during a LR mission and managed with 2 other fighters to tow it back to our lines. It had been a medical transport on a return mission to the La Certa Sector, several battles had been fought near ADS 16402 and a planet named Top Hat P1.

She had been one of the medics aboard out of the personal, I had had first choice and had had her ever sense. At that time, I had been a hot shot Lt. with 38 confirmed kills, and I had just gotten numbers 39 and 40 during the flight and capture.

'Master, flower is pleased to have her Owner home again.' She quietly said as she knelt in the 'Nadu' position. 'Does Master require a massage or, perhaps something else Master?' I smiled to myself thinking how I loved how her body would move under me and all the other things she would and had done for me. Including teaching me her language. I looked her lithe naked body over, uuugh I had the urge to throw her onto the bed and bury my cock deep into her. Normally I would have been harder than Battletanium, God I must have been more tired than I thought I was. I held out my hand and lifted her to her feet when she took it. She barely stood 4'6" and I was 6'4".

'No pet, Master is tired and needs sleep.' I said as she removed the towel from around my waist and dabbed a few wet spots on my chest and abdomen. 'Pet will prepare Masters bed then.' She whispered and turned the sheets back. I crawled into the sheets, and she covered me up. Aaaah .. Ye Gods it felt good to lay down. I shouldn't be this tired at 29, well almost 30 in 26 days, maybe Doc Li was right. All I needed was a bit of sleep and a couple of stiff shots, plus my plugs cleaned and the oil changed. I sighed yet again, closed my eyes and let sleep claim me. Tomorrow's problems would just have to wait.