Blade. Scrapper. Part 6.. Damantha Makarova
cautiously approaching the camp.
Wolfin and Hunter moved quickly, but avoiding being noticed. For a bit they seemed to stop and ascertain their surroundings, but then Wolfin jolted forward and dragged a soldier behind some boxes, breaking his neck. Hunter moved in, catching another one and hurriedly hiding the body next to the first one.
Lindon smirked, seeing them move through the camp slowly, methodically and relentlessly. Noticing a guard, who almost noticed his comrade being dragged off by Wolfin, the Veluthian pulled the trigger. The silent projectile hit the unsuspecting Terran in the forehead, but as he swayed to fall, Hunter caught the body and pulled it away.
Serena watched Lindon shooting from time to time, helping out their friends, and her head kept pounding with pain so hard that she closed her eyes.
Everything fell back, muffled and distant, and the woman realised that she must have lost consciousness only after someone was shaking her to wake up. Slowly and painfully she swam out of the darkness that caged her mind, and when she forced her eyes open, she saw Lindon – pale and panicking before her.
Seeing her meet his gaze, the man breathed out with relief and leaned in, connecting their foreheads.
«Shit, Serena…» he exhaled.
Only then the woman managed to grasp at reality, noticing that her helmet was off – Lindon must have tried waking her up for quite a while.
«I’m fine…» she whispered, feeling her head pounding again. «I’m sorry, I dozed off.»
Lindon cupped her cheek and calmed his breathing, then looked over his shoulder and gathered his thoughts:
«Can you get up? Wolfin and Hunter finished clearing the camp. They set up some grenades to destroy the place once we leave…»
Serena had to take a few moments to collect her bearings, but then pushed herself up. Lindon, though, still weak and pained, helped her straighten and held her as she took another moment to understand if she was able to walk at all.
She looked at her belt and remembered the stims Hunter gave her.
«I’m good. I’m fine, Lindon.» the woman took two syringes and gave herself a shot, and then another – to Lindon. «Let’s go…»
Lindon grabbed the rifle and they both headed down the path to meet up with Hunter and Wolfin. And though Serena was holding Lindon to help him walk, he felt like she too needed the support, and tried his best not to lean on her too hard.
By the time the two reached the camp, Wolfin and Hunter were already approaching, dragging a man between them. Serena frowned, seeing the man’s face, and tried hard to remember where she saw that face. It took her a bit, but then she finally grasped at the memory.
«Deezer?» Serena exhaled, looking at the heavily wounded Veluthian.
Wolfin frowned:
«You know this guy?»
«Yeah… It’s… Deezer Laoni. We served together back in the Academy.» the woman stepped up as the men stopped. «What the…»
She cautiously touched the man’s chin, raising his head and saw his eyes fluttering open. He was extremely weak, bloodied and definitely in no condition to recognise her.
«Shit! You’re right!» Lindon tilted his head, barely standing up next to her. «Deezer?»
The man’s eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness again.
«We’ve already called Lyssa to pick us up.» Wolfin nodded aside. «We’ve disabled the scrambler and found a closer exit than the one we took to get to you.»
Serena wanted to nod, but closed her eyes, forcing down a wave of weakness washing over her.
«Good… I’m not in the mood for a long walk.» she exhaled.
Chapter 8. Debriefing
Serena still felt the dizziness washing over her. She should have stayed in bed for a couple of days, but the Veluthian captive they saved from the Terran camp finally awakened and she was informed of it. She ordered Lyssa to tell her when that happens and not let anyone else speak with the man before her.
Now, walking through the ship towards the medical bay, she cursed her stubbornness and lack of reason.
Walking inside, she first approached the syringes and capsules and gave herself a double shot of some stims. Only when nausea stepped back, allowing her body to stop searching for something to lean on, Serena turned to the man in the medical pod.
«Hello, Deezer.» she said to the man, who looked around in confusion. «Glad to see you back with the living.»
The Veluthian frowned deep and struggled with his mind before a faint spark of recognition appeared in his brown eyes. Serena tilted her head and twitched her brow:
«You don’t remember me? I am Captain Serena Dal Thara-Lyss. We served together a long time ago at the Academy.» she said.
«Yes… I remember.» the man whispered, sounding coarse. «Where am I?»
«You are currently on my ship, MSS Lyssandra. My crew and I rescued you from a Terran camp on Kargalan. Do you remember anything about that?»
The man frowned, and tried to push himself up to sit. Serena gave him a bit of time to sit up, and when he finally looked at her again, his frown grew deeper:
«Kargalan… I was stationed at our outpost… I was… captured…» he grasped at his head, but then his eyes grew wide. «Wait… the kids… we had five regiments of Academy students stationed!»
Serena stepped up and put her palm on his shoulder, meeting his gaze.
By the way she looked at him the man immediately understood what she was about to say:
«I am sorry to report that all Veluthian students were found dead.» she whispered. «Please refrain from speaking about this with my crew.»
Deezer looked down, shocked at the news, then swallowed hard and took a few moments to gather his thoughts:
«Captain…» he breathed out, looking up at her again.
«Please, don’t worry about anything right now. You are safe and what I need from you is to tell me what those Terrans wanted from you.»
The man took a few moments before taking a deep breath:
«They were interrogating me about our forces. They weren’t interested in those we had on Kargalan, but wanted to know where else we had outposts and training grounds.»
Serena frowned, leaning over the medical pod – more to support her weight than for any other reason.
«So they were trying to find out other places like the Kargalan outpost?» she asked cautiously.
«Yes.» Deezer shook his head. «They were furious to get nothing from me. I didn’t tell them anything except my name and rank.»
«And you are willing to undergo memory extraction to prove this?»
«Of course! Anything to help…» the man straightened.
Serena nodded and took a few seconds to think, before asking:
«When you were captured… what exactly happened?»
«The attack came at night.» Deezer tensed up, remembering. «The trainees were out in the wild on a training run. The outpost seemed quiet, but at about 3 in the morning I heard something approaching and when we scanned the surrounding plains we saw a vehicle of Terran make approaching. At first we thought nothing of it – we’ve had Terran visitors before, but…»
The man fell silent and Serena saw his eyes squinting at the memory.
«But..?» she asked.
«As the vehicle approached, no one answered our calls. We were on high alert, and geared