The New Holland Incident

'Oh God, not again!' Vas screamed to herself internally. The young Lohi wasn't sure if she could survive having another one of her tubes blown out! Desperate to insulate herself from any more unnecessary trauma, Vas quickly fished the tablet from her bag as an idea started to form in her mind. The security cameras were still queued to this section and a short few taps later she was looking at a top down view of the cargo bay and the surrounding corridors. The diagram showed her everything she needed to know.

"Wait!" She cried out as loud as she dared, waving her arms in a comical attempt to get the Marines to notice her. Fortunate for her they did as Southers stopped and turned to look at her. "The door is unlocked! At least from this side!" Vas exclaimed, pointing enthusiastically to the access panel next to Edan. "See? It's not green it's yellow! Yellow means unlocked! No need to explode it! Safer, yes... sir?"

The message seemed to have been received as the Marine Leftenant pocketed the explosive brick and appeared to issue a new command to the other two. He then looked back at Vas and gave a sweeping forward hand motion towards the hallway he had asked her to cover. Getting the hint the young pilot set aside the tablet and shouldered her rifle, turning and focusing down the way they had just come. Of course this meant that she never got to see Edan and Lynn breach into the room, but that didn't stop her from hearing it. The cargo bay access doors retracted into the ceiling with a low whir and hiss. Vas thought she could hear hushed and confused murmurs before the tell tale bangs of the Marines weapons filled the air. A single concussive whistle joined the fray, accompanied by the shrieks and screams of the confused and frightened prisoners held within the room. Next and authoritative tone, Sergeant Lynn urging the hostages to calm down. Telling them that they were with the British Royal Marines and that they were there to help.

Cries of relief now supplanted the shrieks of terror, echoing their way into the hallway. Vas wanted to turn and look so badly, but her focus remained on her hallway. She did allow herself a moment to relax however. She had been squeezing her rifle so hard that fingers had started to lose blood flow, causing a prickly, tingling sensation. She flexed them as best she could and continued her watch. An air of excitement had begun to fill the local atmosphere. The now former hostages began to talk louder. Some weeping, some laughing. Some were saying some fairly heated words, although Vas couldn't quite make them out. The Lohi woman had become almost so engrossed with trying to listen to the conversations behind her that she almost didn't hear the sounds of footsteps approaching her. From her hallway. A sudden tightness filled her chest as the somewhat irregular 'clomps' on the metal decking started to draw nearer.

They were just outside of her line of sight now. She choked up on her rifle, attempting to still her hands from shaking. A somewhat futile attempt thanks to the combination of her frayed nerves, the weight of the rifle and her own lack of muscle. Not to mention her own whole inexperience with this kind of ordeal. Vas almost depressed the trigger as soon as the first figure made it's way into sight. She was glad she didn't. What appeared were four black-clad individuals. Two arms, two legs, and tall. Vas let out both a mental and physical sigh of relief as the squad of Royal Marines marched up on her corner. She lowered her rifle and turned back to where Leftenant Southers had been just a short few minutes ago.

"Leftenant Southers!" She shouted, unable to see the Marine leader but knew that he would undoubtedly be able to hear her. "More of your soldiers are here!"

As she turned back the lead approaching Marine gave Vas a quick head nod and continued on past her. Just as the final soldier was to pass her, it stopped, turning towards her instead and making a noise that was no doubt supposed to attract her attention. It succeeded. Vas turned and looked up at the black armor clad soldier. If she didn't know better she could have mistaken this one for Edan, or Sergeant Lynn. The British appeared to like uniformity and ambiguity in their armor. The young Lohi couldn't help but wonder if all Humans were like this.

"Miss Hiteal? I've been asked to relieve you of this position." The new Marine stated, slightly digitized voice filtering into her translator. "The Leftenant has requested your presence in the cargo bay."

"Oh, of course." Vas replied, grateful that she no longer had to watch this particular hallway, but all the same a little nervous that she was being summoned by the Marine leader.

She shouldered her rifle and picked up her tablet in her bag. The new Marine seamlessly slipped into her position as she left. No further conversation was required apparently. Two more of the new Marines had taken up positions on the sides of the cargo bay door frame, inside this time instead of outside like Lynn and Edan had been. As she walked into the room, Vas found herself searching her surroundings for the location of where the last of the Siven guards had been dispatched. Attempting to remember where she had seen it from the eyes of the security camera, she turned to the most likely location. To her satisfaction she did indeed see a red and black covered quadrupedal figure laying down on the deck. Her curiosity was about to get the better of her when her attention was redirected by a familiar voice.

"Miss Hiteal?" Leftenant Southers called out. He was standing beside Sergeant Lynn and one of the other new arrivals. Edan was crouched, medic kit open and on the floor to his side. "There is someone here who would like to speak to you."

The Marines moved out of the way and allowed the woman to join them. Edan was just finishing off wrapping a bandage, not unlike the one around her head, to the head of what looked like a Kai'ani sitting on the floor. A Kai'ani who was wearing a Trivate Charters command jumpsuit.

"Commander!" Vas blurted out, running and dropping to her knees in front of the older woman. "Thank God! I thought you were dead!"

"Not dead, just blind." Her commander responded, forcing a smile.

Vas gasped. She hadn't noticed until just then that the bandage that Edan had wrapped the woman's head in was covering her eyes as well. She reached out and grabbed one of her commanders hands, slightly startling the Kai'ani in the process.

"I'm glad that you were able to get away Vas. And that you were able to find help." The Commander stated, clasping Vas's hands back.

"Well, it was more that they found me. But I have been helping them clear the ship." Vas attempted to explain. "I saw Matha, he's alright. The British Marines have taken him back to their ship."

Her Commander smiled and let out a light chuckle. "That's a relief. I would have hated to have to explain to his mate and children that he was killed under my command. Haishaiea already doesn't like me, always accusing me of attempting to claim Matha. She would probably try to kill me if he were dead."

Vas cracked an awkward smile and let out a halfhearted laugh. Kai'ani family and mating rituals were very odd to her, but that didn't really matter at the moment as a thought popped into her head. She turned to who she assumed was Southers.

"Leftenant, let me introduce you to Ki'hael, Commander of the Trivate Charters transport ship Hyande Val-Askanse." She turned back to her commander. "Commander, this is Leftenant Southers of the British Royal Marines. He commands a group of very honorable and very deadly and efficient warriors They've come here to save us." The Lohi finished saying with an air of admiration for her new allies.

"Yes, we've already been introduced. But thank you Vas." Commander Ki'hael said.

"Speaking of saving," Southers spoke up, "We need to get you lot moving to the evac shuttles."

"Yes, of course Leftenant." Ki'hael said, attempting to stand from her previous position on the deck. She had probably gotten the same kind of dose of painkiller drugs that Vas had as the normally very stoic Kai'ani captain seemed to be having trouble balancing herself. Edan took hold of her and steadied her as she rose. "Please lead the way."

A short series of commands later, the Marines began to escort the all female prisoners out of the cargo bay. The Marine team Bravo took the lead while Southers, Lynn, Edan and Vas herself stayed in the rear to help pair up those too wounded to walk on their own with a partner. Eventually everyone was able to move and the Marines were free to provide whatever security the group required. Sergeant Lynn moved up more towards the middle of the group while she, Southers and Edan remained in the rear. Vas using her terminal to scout the path ahead. Everything was going smoothly. They left the cargo bay without delay and began walking back through the corridors of the ship to where the Marines had parked their escape shuttles. The group had neatly rounded another corner when Edan froze. Vas was just about to ask the young man what the matter was when a concussive shot rang out through the corridor just behind them. The Marine medic yelled something Vas couldn't understand and launched himself towards the nearest bulkhead.

He raised his rifle and began unleashing its fury. Vas was about to turn to see just what the Marine had seen when a red hot searing pain shot through her thigh. Vas collapsed to the floor, screaming and gripping her leg. There was some kind of disconnect between what she perceived her body as doing and what she was thinking. On the outside she was on the floor, hands desperately attempting to make the pain in her leg stop. On the inside however, her brain was still trying to process what had just happened. She went over the events again. Edan yelled, a loud noise followed by more loud noise, and a red hot pain in her thigh. 'Oh God' Vas thought as the pieces clicked and she began to realize, 'I've been shot'. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. Through the haze she was able to look down the hallway. Approximately four figures were hiding behind the arches in the bulkhead. She recognized the red and black armor. A group of Breten Hvas had caught up to them apparently. Really quite inconvenient in the grand scheme of trying to leave this ship with as much haste as possible.

But why didn't she see them coming? She had been scanning the rooms ahead of the group, so this shouldn't be happening... It clicked in her mind a moment later. Ahead of the group, she hadn't looked behind them since they had left the cargo bay. 'Stupid, stupid girl!' She mentally chastised herself. You were so concerned with where you were going that you didn't check where you had come from! Stupid! And now you're shot, good job idiot. Her thigh felt like it was on fire. She was just about to attempt another look at it when suddenly and unceremoniously she began being yanked backwards. A new pain temporarily eclipsed the fire in her thigh. She was being dragged backwards by her tendrils! The sensation of the muscles and soft tissue tearing was enough to make her scream out even more. She attempted to swat at whatever was pulling her, but it was no use. Her hands simply collided with what seemed like an immovable material. An agonizing couple seconds passed before the sensation let up and she stopped moving.

Her hands immediately went up to comfort the parts of her that had just been violently assaulted, completely forgetting about her open leg wound. Writhing on the ground, Vas turned to see just what in God's Great Hell had just caused her so much pain. The emotionless and black visor of a Royal Marine staring at her was what she found. A quick identification discovered that it was Southers. Against what should probably been her better judgment she quickly sat up and began hitting him.

"Miss Hiteal," Southers began, voice as calm and collected as always. "Please st..."

"You! You... offspring of a carrion worm!" Vas spat, continuing to pound, ineffectively, on the large mans armored chest. "Why would you do that! You don't pull someone by their tendrils!"

"I'm sorry Miss Hiteal, but it was the only way to move you out of the line of fire." Leftenant Southers explained, grabbing both of Vas's wrists and effectively pacifying her. "Now, are you going to remain calm so Corporal Lavigne can treat you?"

The sound of an explosion rocked through the hallway, causing Vas to snap back into the reality of the moment. She attempted to scoot herself backwards, only to feel a sharp pain lance through her body as she attempted to move her injured leg. She fell back to the deck and gripped her thigh. With tears rolling down her cheeks she attempted to move her leg to a more comfortable position. Every little movement was met with stabbing pain. She pulled back her hands to see the bright red stain on the right leg of her jumpsuit. Vas began to hyperventilate.

"Oh God, no no no!" The Lohi pilot stammered as she looked at her bright red coated fingers. She turned and grabbed Leftenant Southers by the closest thing she could get a handle on, mind racing. "Please! I don't want to die! Please don't let me die!"

"Miss Hiteal, I don't plan to let you die." Southers replied, attempting to calm the hysterical alien woman. "You're going to be fine. Just please calm down." The Marine turned his head to look off in the direction that he had just pulled her from. "Corporal! Medical emergency! Get over here!"

"Aye!" Vas could hear Edan's voice reply. "Moving, cover me!"

Vas watched as the Marine Medic bolted from his cover, dashing in a line straight at her. Sergeant Lynn, who she was now aware had rejoined them, began a frenzy of shots from his rifle. Even with the amount of projectiles that the Sergeant must have been firing at the pirates, they were apparently not dissuaded from returning the assault. Vas could hear the sounds of the Breten Hvas rifles releasing their own volley of ammunition, along with the popping of the projectiles narrowly missing the running Marine. She was almost positive that Edan would make it across. As the Marine had almost crossed the threshold to her side of the hallway, he was knocked off balance. A couple of short lived sparks shot out of the back of his armor. Edan finished the crossing by diving past Lynn, hitting the deck with such force that Vas could feel the vibrations in the floor plating beneath her. Edan didn't move. For what seemed like the longest few seconds of her life, Vas watched as the man she had come to know simply lay on the ground, unmoving. She felt a scream building in her chest, but just as it was about to release, Edan moved his head.

"Son of a bitch!" The man exclaimed as he pushed himself up, touching the spot just behind his shoulder where he had just been hit. "Fucking prick nearly took my head off!"

Vas let out a mix between a cry of joy and an unexpected laugh at the translation of the seemingly random words. She had been certain that he had been killed from that hit. But then again, she had been just shot in the leg and wasn't dead yet.

"Enough of the theatrics, Corporal." Leftenant Southers commanded. "Miss Hiteal is injured and requires immediate assistance."

Edan jogged over to her and knelt down, disengaging his medical kit as he did so. "Let's see the problem." The Medic said, nearly immediately moving to look at Vas's thigh.

"Gunshot wound to the right thigh." Southers explained. "She's slightly delirious and in shock."

"I'm not delirious! You almost pulled out my tendrils! They've gone numb!" Vas fired back, now acutely aware that the normal 'feelings' of some of her middle back tendrils were no longer there. Attempting to flex the muscles only ended in pain.

"Is that as severe as an open gunshot wound?" The Medic asked in a dead serious tone. It took a second for Vas to remember that Edan legitimately didn't know that broken tendril muscles were painful, but not necessarily life threatening.

"No." Vas replied, clenching her jaw at another wave of pain coming from her leg. "Bleeding is worse."

"Copy that." Edan said with a short nod. He dropped his armored gloves to the ground and began to feel around Vas's thigh. She let out a cry and jerked her leg (which in turn led to more pain) as the Marine medic poked around the front and back of her wound. "Well, some good news. Had you been Human, that shot would have ruptured your femoral artery and there would be a fountain of blood shooting out of your leg." Edan said, giving Vas a mental picture that she would have rather not had at that particular moment. "And some more good news, it's a clean through and through. So we won't have to go fishing for the bullet."

Vas supposed that was good news. At least she wouldn't end up like Rent and have a piece of metal stuck in her body. It was little consolation however as she watch Edan remove a dual bladed cutting tool from his medical kit. Vas let out a whimper at the sight of it. Noticing this, Edan spoke up.

"I'm just going to cut off the fabric of your pant leg. I need clean access to the wound." The man explained, and without waiting for the Lohi's consent, began cutting away at her jumpsuit. He had nearly removed the pant leg up to her waist before he finally finished and withdrew two new items from his kit. He tore open a small packet and produced a powder covered looking piece of cloth. "This is going to hurt a little." The Marine said before quickly pushing it into her wound.

He hadn't lied. Whatever was on that cloth caused an immediate burning, shocking pain. The incapacitated woman cried out and tried to jerk her leg away. Edan however held her firmly in place. Next she watched as he produced a bandage not unlike the kind he had used on her head already, and began wrapping her thigh. Once again she felt the familiar sensation of the wet bandage contract and constrict her as it dried. The pain began to subside, if only a little. Whatever painkilling medication the Human's used was beginning to seep into her bloodstream, causing a mixture of a warm and fuzzy feeling that paralleled the sharp and stabbing one that was still very much present. Vas wasn't given much time to dwell on the mixture of conflicting sensations as Edan began to hoist her off of the floor.

"Time to go." He said as he picked her up and seemingly effortlessly draping her over his shoulders.

This was definitely a day of firsts for the young Lohi. Never before had she been so easily picked up and carried. Human's must have been much, much stronger than she originally figured. Either that or she simply weighed less than she thought. In hindsight, either answer worked for her. She watched as the bulkheads of the ship passed her by, her head swimming with medication, consciousness beginning to slip. The gunfire of the Marines and the Siven pirates seemed to fade more with every passing second. It was getting hard to tell how long they had been walking for. Vas barely registered the moment when she was no longer being carried.

She was sitting up, back against a wall. There was a numbness to her tendrils that she hadn't remembered being there before, and a pressure on her chest that seemed to be compressing her tightly. Her eyes were heavy but she struggled a glance. Something was wrong, but she couldn't quite place it. The big black robot man was holding her tightly. It was a little uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as the stinging wind that was hitting her exposed parts. It was getting harder to breath. As if the air was being pulled out of her lungs. Something was shoved over her face and tied around her head. She tried to resist, but lacked the strength. She must have blacked out because she awoke to find the big robot man carrying her again, abet much more aggressively this time. It was easier to breath now and the whipping wind had lessened.