Prelude The blood was spreading again, her blood. Rosa looked down at the growing red blot on her blouse, she tried to press it with her left arm. There was no arm. Relentlessly her life seeped out. Still she could see clearly, more red entered her vision. It was a turban. With a sharp breath Rosa awoke. Above her the ceiling of her chambers, her recovery room, her cell. She closed her eyes again and laid back, feeling her limbs, resisting the urge to touch all her limbs, to ensure their existence. She sat up. The room was dark, still she could see clearly. Next to her was the sleeping form of Amikha, who had been so much to her since her rescue. A friend, a tutor, a lover. Rosa was glad she didn´t wake him, as his own demons made sleep hard to come by. She was fiddling with her left shoulder, checking it´s presence. As she noticed it she stopped and left the bed. Her step was light and silent, her balance perfect, her mind clear. Being fully awake and aware immediately was still new to her. The bathroom mirror showed her face, the only part of her she always recognized as being original. The mirror laid bare her mechanical shoulder, contracting her muscles Rosa imagined the whirring sound of servos, which was not there. Entering the shower, she enjoyed the sensation of water and movement on her body. Unasked pictures of the attack appeared, her working at the refugee shelter, the men entering with fire in pursuit. The grenade… She snapped out of her flashback, the cold water cooled her down. As she left the bathroom Amikha was still sleeping, it made her smile, only alongside her he could relax enough to sleep in. Stealthily she dressed in her training uniform and left her chambers. The corridor greeted her as green alley today, with some birds singing in imitation of an outside. It was well enough for her. Her comlog reminded her of the three appointments today, one check-up, one training session, one test. First breakfast though. --------------------- Entering the small mess hall, she met several Ghilim and a Janissary, saluting was still unfamiliar for her. Yet everyone encouraged instead of scolded her when she did it wrong. Not very hungry she settled for fruits and tea. Taking a seat on an empty table Rosa first drew in the scent of the tea before she started. Suddenly a plate with roasted meat smashed down on the opposite half of the table. Rosa was startled, even though, in hindsight, she had seen him coming. Bashur Gürum was a broad, elderly man and till now she never had seen the Janissary talk. “You need some meat for your muscles, child.” Rosa was so taken by surprise that her only response was a weak “What?” He pushed a plate full of meat towards her. “Your muscles need the proteins, you are still rebuilding strength.” There was no patronage in his voice, only honest concern. “I, I would never kill a creature of Allah to satisfy my hunger.” He smiled. “Neither would I. All lab grown, pure protein, iron and fat. All the things you need.” He heartily took to his own plate. Rosa hesitated, then checked the mess hall logs for the daily diet. He was right, still she did not want to eat it. “Don´t worry child, I´ll eat it.” He pulled the plate back. “But you have to watch your diet. I don´t want you to collapse in the field.” She smiled weakly. “Thanks, I will.” “You are nervous.” It was a pure statement, yet she eagerly admitted. “I, I never wanted to be a soldier.” “Yet here you are. Don´t worry child. You have what it takes.” She held his look, he appeared honest. “How, how do you know that?” “I saw what happened, you took that blast to save a child. That was no accident, it was courage. I followed your recovery child, after all I carried you out of that mess. You will do good.” “That was you? You got me out of there?” He gave her a nod. Suddenly she felt relieved. “Thank you. I never knew who did.” He waved her away. “Armahur did the work, he stitched you back together. I just kicked in some faces in our way.” “Still you rescued me and I am thankful.” “Thank Allah, he guided our hand that day.” Both were quiet for a moment. “Listen I will be on your first mission, I made sure of that. Whatever happens we get you home.” He stood up with a smile. “Will you help me look out for the others out there as well?” Rosa hesitated for a moment. “Yes, yes I will!” “See you in the briefing then.” He gave her a nod and left. Pondering the strange morning, she finished her meal in silence. ----------- “Come in.” The door slid open and Rosa entered the small medbay on level 2. A tall woman, almost two heads larger than Rosa turned to her, her uniform clearly marked her as a doctor. “You are my 10. Rosa Shaharazar?” “Yes, if you are Dr. Zenirah.” “Yes, Mercella Zenirah, you can call me Mercella. Come sit down.” Rosa sat on the pointed out chair. Mercella took the one on the opposite side of the table and pushed a button on the desk. Rosa could hear the small hissing sound as the chairs diagnostic system started to assess her condition. “So, Rosa, I can call you Rosa, can I?” “Yes, that´s fine with me doctor, ah, Mercella.” “Nice. I prefer a personal touch to these meetings, also chances are good that I will have to put you back together soon anyway.” Rosa swallowed hard. “Oh, sorry, that was insensitive of me. You never have been in the field. I apologize.” Rosa nodded her thanks. “All your readings are fine so far. Nothing to worry about. I heard you adapted very well to the treatments.” “Yes, I did.” “We all were worried about you, you being injected with the base agent for the Sunur programme was never intended. Normally there is an arduous screening process to make sure the recipient can handle the changes. The decision to administer it on site was a desperate one, but it saved your life. Just...” “Just that you can not simply stop midway and we have to bring the treatment to full circle, otherwise we face the likelihood of complete system failure. Yes, I now the speech. I heard it over a dozen times by now.” Mercella smiled. “Of course you have. I am used to deal with soldiers and you are not yet one. Again apologies.” “It´s fine. I mean I guess I am a soldier now, so why should you treat me any different?” “Because it is the person who matters to us, not the application.” Rosa sighed. “Yeah. I know. I am sorry.” “Don´t be. This course was thrust upon you, it was not your choice, but there are many here who want and will help you through it.” Rosa acknowledged the affirmation. -------------- “Fire!” Her hesitation lasted only the fraction of a second before Rosa pulled the trigger. The gun did not buckle in her firm grip and three bullets hit her target. She ducked immediately beneath the table in front of her. “Enemy on the second level on 11.” The call came from the huge Al Fasid to her right. She looked up, a man was on the balustrade, she got up and ran towards the wall. The man fired in her direction, her heart missed a step, then she darted to cover behind a pillar. The man fired to her right, she saw the Al Fasid getting hit, as he stood before the hostage. “Get up there!” She felt fear and anger rise, then quickly leaped on the pillar, her hands easily stuck to the plastic and a few seconds later she was on the balcony. The man turned to her, she pulled up her gun and fired the shotgun. At this range she couldn´t miss. He went down, she took a quick look around. “Upper level clear!” “Ground clear!” “Good. End of simulation.” The lights went on and all attackers and civilians appeared translucent as the holograms they were. “Assemble.” Rosa jumped over the railing, held on to the pillar and basically walked to the ground. Her nimbleness still amazed her, she did not feel any fatigue, even though the simulation had run for 20 minutes of intense firefight. The small team of five soldiers assembled in the middle of the room. Besides her there were Gunnar the Al Fasid, two Ghilim and a Tuareg. Their instructor today was a Mukthar, Lt Khadiv, he looked unimpressed. “Reshnar. Assessment.” “We got boxed in. As a result we almost could not protect the civilians. My vantage point was too easily compromised. Hamar and Bushta were taken by surprise, as we neglected the back entry. As a result, Shaharazar had to come free me up, leaving only Rhasim as our front trooper. We managed from there, but got lucky not to lost hostages. All in all mediocre.” “Thank you Reshnar. That´s why I love asking Tuaregs, they don´t bullshit you. They call things by name. Rhasim, you have something to say? Spit it out.” The large man clearly was agitated. He turned to Rosa, she did not like that. “We almost lost a hostage, because the new girl hesitates too much, Sir. She is damned durable, but shies away from bullets. Sir.” “You want me to jump into bullets?” She asked with shock. “Yes, I do. Because I do it too, we can take more of them then the others.” She riled away somewhat. “That is quite enough Rhasim. Get back in line. Avoiding bullets is generally the best idea, we all agree on that. When in doubt take your head down, still better one of us takes it than a civilian. What now Rhasim?” “Nothing, sir.” “Good, enough for today, get cleaned up and rest up. Tomorrow we do something more challenging. Dismissed.” They all saluted and the Mukhtar left. Rosa and the Ghilim were clearly relieved, Gunnar was still angry, the Tuareg did not seem to care. “Hey girlie.” The tone of the Al Fasid made her spine cringe. She took a heart and faced him. “What?” Don´t hesitate, out there you get people killed. I give a crap what you were before, now you are a Namurr. Act like it!” “And for you that means eating bullets.” She was surprised by her own forcefulness. Instead of answering he drew his pistol and shot her point blank. She felt her reflexes kick in, but was so surprised that she did not move. The bullet hit her squarely in the chest, without thinking she fell into a backwards roll and came to her feet in a low stance. Instantly she darted forwards between the legs of the armoured man, slashing at cables with her blade. Lightning crackled over his bulk as she emerged on the other side. Rosa was as astonished as the Ghilim in disbelief she stared first at her hand - when did she draw the blade? – then she touched her chest, which was fine, no blood, just a little soreness. “Ha, see. That´s what I am talking about.” Gunnar laughed in his disabled suit. “Are you insane? You could have killed her!” Murat barked angrily. Thevos was at her side and checked for injuries. “No, I couldn´t. Namurr are too tough for that. One hit will never take her out.” “Still, you are sick. I will tell the Lt.” “Please don´t.” Again Rosa was surprised by her own voice. “I am fine and, and he has a point. I do not trust my skills enough. But I must, otherwise I will endanger you all.” Thevos looked approving, not of the events but of her resolve. And resolve she felt, resolve to do better. “Gunnar. Do not ever do this again, not to me nor to anyone else.” Her tone was sharp, all four looked at the Al Fasid, who did not smile anymore. “Happily not, if you don´t fuck it up.” All four squinted at him. “Okay, promise. No more shooting comrades.” Rosa turned away, for some reason she felt good and terrible at the same time. __________ Entering the training course, after a short meal and cleanup, Rosa was greeted by a familiar face. “Armahur!” Her voice was full of joy and before he could say anything she hugged him firmly. “Good to see you too.” He gently loosened her embrace and adjusted his turban. “As I see you are doing well, even though that hardly is the proper salute for your training officer.” “Ohh, Rosa Shaharazar reporting as ordered.” She threw a salute. “Sir.” She could feel his smile beneath the turban. “Better. Be at ease. How are you adjusting?” She shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Don´t know. All the orders and ranks stuff still has me confused and. And the idea of shooting someone still scares me.” He gave her a knowing look. “I would be worried if it did not. The path Allah has chosen for you is still new for you.” “Well, technically you have chosen this path for me, by injecting me with the Sunur treatment.” “Allah guides all my deeds, so the choice was his. If it would have been mine, I would have chosen to do so as well, otherwise you would have been lost to us.” She sighed, then smiled weakly. “It is, what it is now, no? So let´s do this. What are we doing training officer Alabad?” “Hmm, well said. Activate your comlog intense biomonitor system, then we start with this wall.” He pointed at the sheer wall of the room, which was basically featureless, only at the top there was a small ledge, a cable canal, well out of reach. “Get up there.” “Yes, sir.” Rosa said with a smile and ran at the wall, jumping the first few feet, her arms and shins easily stuck to the surface and she crawled all the way up to the ledge. Once there she planted her right shin onto it and folded herself into the small space beneath the ledge and the ceiling. All the way she never felt any vertigo or instability, it was like walking on the ground. She smiled down at him. “Good, come down.” She crawled down the wall, face forward, and soon stood before him again. “Evasion test.” Rosa gave him a nod and walked to the middle of the room. She faced the wall to her left, which was riddled with chutes, all of them connected to large container of steel balls. Without warning one of the shot a ball at her at high speed, with surprising ease she sidestepped it. Another one followed, then a third, a fourth. Then two at once and finally four at once somewhat spaced apart were shot at her. She dodged all of them easily. Rosa smiled at him, she felt really good. “Good. Now let us make it a little bit more difficult.” Her head snapped back to the wall, where three balls in rapid succession were shot at her, she ducked beneath the first, rolled out of the way of the second and jumped over the third. As she hit the ground a fourth one hit her in the shoulder. She cried out, more of surprise than pain and rolled backwards. More balls followed, the patterns became more dense, the balls came in quicker succession. She dodged, jumped, rolled, ducked out of the way, but here and there she was hit. After some hits she started to feel pain. It slowed her down, another hit followed. Her concentration slipped, another hit and another one. Then she just threw up her arms to protect herself. “Enough. Relax.” The balls stopped. With a cry of exhaustion, she collapsed on the floor. Tears escaped her eyes. She felt sore and it hurt in several places. He stood next to her. “How do you feel?” Rosa could not look at him. “Useless, hurt, defeated.” Every word came with a sob. “Come, stand up.” He grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her to her feet. Despite the pain, she did not waiver one bit. “Dry your tears. Here have a look at the rankings.” She did as told, it showed the time till first hit, time till collapse and the number of balls evaded. She was ranked as number three. “See, this was your first time and already you bested many of the units finest. Here number one is a Namurr as well, only that she had years to adapt to her new condition. Number two is our nimblest Khawarji, so be proud.” Her pain faded alongside her tears. A weak smile arose. “This test is designed to fail, you cannot beat it, only endure it. You did good.” She hugged him again. “Thank you.” She started crying again. “That much for protocol.” He hugged her too, before loosening her embrace again. Rosa opened her mouth but was cut short by a siren. All lights went red for a moment and a voice resounded through the entire station. `Attention all personnel. This station has been set on crimson alert. All personnel report to your superiors and prepare for deployment. Assignments will follow individually. May Allah guide our hand through this crisis.´ Rosa saw how Armahur repeated the last phrase. It took her some seconds to retrieve the info what crimson alert meant. She swallowed. “Go get cleaned up and prepare yourself. Soon you will be in the field. I will inform you, when the briefing will be.” She nodded, then saluted and left for her chambers. All the pain was gone, though some fear remained. __________ The corridors appeared as such, no soothing forests on high alert. Her chambers were empty Amikha most likely preparing himself. She undressed and donned one of the field uniforms from her locker, trepidation fueling her haste. As she was barely finished a summons appeared on her comlog, she was to come to the commanders´ office. Dumbfounded she read it again. Why would the commander want to see her personally? Her trepidation intensified. Nothing to be done about it. She zipped up her uniform and left. Most people she met on the corridors appeared calm, but her heightened senses helped her see their stress, anxiety and sometimes eagerness. Two guards stood before the commanders´ office, one of them was Amikha. Rosa willed herself to a formal salute and announced herself as summoned. He returned it formally and opened the door for her. Approval and pride shone in his eyes, she was thankful for the support. The office was small, one door to the right hinted at more, but in here there was a desk, three chairs and a holo-wall to her right. It showed images all over the place. Behind the desk sat a middle aged man with dark hair and remarkable bland features. He did not look up when she entered. Stopping two steps from the desk, she saluted. “Rosa Shaharazar, reporting as ordered.” “Sir.” She cursed inwardly. For a moment he did not react, but still studied the readout in front of him, then he swiped it away and looked at her. His eyes were of a dark brown and she felt inspected. His look was one of questioning awareness, she felt as if he´d see through any falsehood immediately. She tensed. “At ease Shaharazar. Take a seat.” Relieved she did as told. “Thank you, sir.” “You probably wonder why you are here.” It took Rosa a moment to realise that this was a question. “Eh, yes. Yes, I do, sir.” “I just have been reassigned to the Human´s Edge due to the developing situation here. Most personnel on this station I know by heart, having served alongside them already. You are an anomaly.” She remained quiet. “Are you angry about your situation?” “What? Sir.” “Are you angry, about your situation?” “I don´t know if I understand the question, sir?” “You are here because none of your savings or earnings would be enough to compensate for the cost of the Sunur treatments. You never agreed to the treatments in the first place, so you are in debt for something you never wanted. Are you angry about this?” Rosa took a moment to answer and closed her eyes. “No.” She looked at his questioning gaze. “You could not ask me this, if it weren´t for the treatments. So the question would be moot. Being angry would be being ungrateful.” An imperceptible nod was his only reaction. “That is a logical answer, but feelings are not logical. Moving on. You accepted a term of service in the Sword of Allah to compensate for the cost, which also put you into range of adequately equipped medical facilities to supervise your development. You never intended to be a soldier, yet now you are forced to commit to the fact, that you will have to shoot, and maybe kill, other humans. Are you angry about this?” She took even longer to answer this time. He waited patiently. “I, I think not. Sad, I think I am sad about that. I..” She stopped talking and stuttered for a moment. “Permission to speak freely, sir.” “Granted.” “I resent the fact that we have to fight at all, they are just people like us. You found me at a shelter, because I want to help people, not harm them. My life was supposed to be one of peace, not of war.” Rosa closed her eyes to capture her tears. Still she sobbed a little bit, he did not stop her, but waited for her to gather herself. When she looked up again he was standing at the holo-wall. “Come here.” She got up and stood beside him, the wall highlighted a screen a burning building was there, around it a throng of people. “That was the home of a small family of settlers. It burns because some Submondo smugglers used the backyard as stash. Some Tunguskan mobsters got wind of it and set it on fire.” Another screen lit up and showed an image of three bleeding men in handcuffs. “These are the mobsters, I had them apprehended this morning” The building lit up again, she saw a figure crouching out of the fire, it was a Naffatun, he was burned all over, but beneath him she saw a blanket. Before he was sprayed with coolant she saw a child in there. “We got everybody out in time, we were lucky.” Rosa wanted to speak, but couldn´t. “The Sphere is full of people, who hurt other people. We are here to stop as many of them as we can. That is why you are here. That is what I ask of you. To give us some of your youth to protect others.” He returned to his chair. Rosa remained for a while, again he gave her all the time she needed. When she returned to the desk he looked up and studied her face. “Good. That is all I need to know. Be ready Specialist Shaharazar, I will soon call upon you.” For the first time her salute did not feel forced. For the first time Rosa felt ready.
Day one in the Field The Rifle in her hand still felt unreal. As Rose pressed herself to the wall looking around the corner into the dark room ahead of her, she thought of the briefing. “Listen, you move out in 5. You move to restart a life support module on the outside of the Xarak Batteries. The Control module has shut down and in three hours a whole section of living quarters will lose heat and power. We will not let that happen. Lt. Ücüncü, you will lead this one. Hakim Ücüncü, you and Specialist Shaharazar will take point on repair duty.” She remembered how her heart skipped a beat at these words, but the Mukhtar had given her a reassuring nod. “Visuals are low and the IFF seems weird, you all register as neutral. Kefra?” The Voice of the Mukthar came lowly over the com line. “Checking.” While their Hacker proved their link Rosa looked to the side. Bashur was standing there, he donned the small version of the Jannissary armour to provide fire support. He tilted his head toward her. As promised he had her back on this one. She felt a little bit better. “I can´t clear it up. Someone has a strong interference in place.” “Affirmative. Be cautious then not to shoot one another or our comrades from of Strike Force Sandstorm. Be ready we have intel about alien activity in this area. Remember we have civilians in the AO, mostly they should be in their barracks right now. Move out.” That was the Lt. Rosa sprinted into the dark room, everything was visible in outlines and somewhat blurry. As she passed the first power unit, she focused on her mission. Get these running again. The control modules were up ahead. Her Vision lit up with signals. “Incoming from ahead and left.” Rosa raised her weapon and aimed in the half-light of the large room. She saw two large figures. “Ganymed.” She shouted in their direction. The figures stopped. “Houseboat.” She sighed in relief. Bashar was at her side suddenly and the two large men, Azra’il if she recalled correctly stood before her. “Good to see you Sandstorm.” “Likewise Shahb.” A smaller man came to the front, he had a multi eyed helmet. “Our IFF is down, we have a solution.” He held up a comlog. “This is rigged to cycle to all frequencies to break the interference, but it will take some time and has to be brought to one of the modules.” “Incoming blips on 12.” “Everyone spread out, you take the high positions.” He nodded to the Azra’il they moved. “Give it to Shaharazar, she can stay low and make a run for the module in time. No one will stop her.” The man looked at her and Rosa instantly felt assessed, though not in a condescending way, more in the can I trust her to do this way. “Alright Kid, take it and take cover, we pave the way.” She took it and acknowledged his orders. Bashar ushered her towards a small building he went on top of it. The door easily opened inside she saw no one. Probably they were on shift. She had to rely on the coms to know what was going on. “Smoke on 12. I am under fire.” That was Bashur. “Returing fire. No effect.” “I see a TAG. Returning fire” One of the Azra’il. “Impact, Repeat impact. It retreats.” “Incoming missile. Returning fire. Hostile deleted.” The other Azra’il. “Enemy repeater. I am compr” -The first one “We have a bogey. On 2 marching towards the tower. I can´t get a bead.” – Bashur “Returning fire, No effect. He hides beneath me” – the second Azra’il. “Back on track.” – the first one. “Depyoing Sensor. Hostile found.” – That was Kefra. “Attacking. I´m h..:” “Friendly down, deploying Malware. Hostile neutralized. Rafiq on march.” – Kefra again. “Identification of close Civilian. It a Nomad analyst. Marked on map.” One blip went green for a moment and then returned to grey. “I am hit. Enemy sniper ahead. Request support” – Bashur, she was worried. “Got you. Enemy down.” – The first Azra’il. “Shooting repeater. No damage.” – Farukh, “Got it” “Rafiq got eyes on Civilian. Registers identical to the analyst. Antipersonal discovered” Again a blip flickered green to grey. Another blip was added as a warning. “Watch them closely.” – the Lt. “Smoke cover redeployed.” – Bashur. “Activity at the left module.” “Recycler 4 active, they helps us?” “Doubtful, temperatures are dropping fast, they don´t want to die.” “Tag neutralized.” – Bashur. “Remote. They get it back online. Incoming Bogeys, one dropped deployables at the central module. Moving to supress movement on 10.” The first Azra’il. “TAG neutralized. Engaging bogey. No success.” – Bashur. “Data spikes from the hostile in the barrack on 2. Open a path.” – The Sandstorm Lt. “Affirmative. Path clear.” – The second Azra’il. “Engaging with Rafiq, hostile down, Data spike gone. Sending Rafiq to module. Rafiq hit by mine. Module activated. Cycler 1 active.” “Mine on central module, withstanding impacts.” “Affirmative. Engaging hostile on 11. I” “Lt down.” Rosa swallowed and drew a deep breath. The comlog in her hand signalled readiness. “Am I clear to move out? Package ready.” “Negative.” – The Lt. “Rafiq under attack, disabled.” – Kefra. “I am hit. Taking cover.” “Me too, keeping low.” – both Azra’il. She tensed. “Hostile mo.” “Djanbazan out retaliating. Hostile down. – Hakim Ücüncü “Path to module clear, another hostile down. Bogey out of sight.” – Bashur “Smoke deployed.” – Farukh. “Move Shaharazar, left module.” She snapped into action running low out of the door. It still was dark outside. Holding her rifle sideways she slid towards the downed Lt. Swooping him up, she was surprised how easy that was, she left him with Zinaril for the Doctors to revive him. Sliding along the wall of the building she kept put of sight from the enemy. Darting past she could not take a look. The module was right in front of her. She awaited to be shot all the time, but nothing happened. At the module, she first fired it up. Activating the Cycler, preventing their wounded from freezing to death, also two of the hostiles in the zone. She felt very relieved about that. “The Lt. ist dead.” The message stopped her for a second, then she plugged the comlog into the module. Only seconds later the lights turned on and their IFF all to blue. She was shocked. “All units cease fire. Cease fire. We have friendlies.” Rosa shivered, it still was cold here, she saw a Nomad close by collapsing from the cold. She rushed over to carry him into the warm zones. He did not move. Reaching the warm zone, she saw the breaches in the ceiling and the damaged heat exchangers. They were right on time to save these people. “Consolidate. I´ll sort it out with the Nomad Lt. And Someone find out who tampered with the Medkit. Aleyna, get everyone else stabilized.” Rosa leaned at the wall, she saw Bashur, his chest still bleeding. He gave her a thumps up. She smiled.
Aftermath The blood was spreading again, her blood. Rosa looked down at the growing red blot on her blouse, she tried to press it with her left arm. There was no arm. Relentlessly her life seeped out. Still she could see clearly, more red entered her vision. It was a turban. With a sharp breath Rosa awoke. The sight of her chambers ceiling immediately calmed her down. She held her left arm above her and made a fist, released it, made it, released it. Still she imagined the sound of little servos. Fully awake Rosa sat up, she was alone. Amikha was on shift and she only had a check-up on her schedule, besides being on Standby for new orders. Even after yesterdays deployment she did not feel any soreness or fatigue. Would she ever feel tired again? Did she want to? As she walked into the shower she checked her messages. In there still was the summary of the missions debrief for her consumption. She hesitated a little bit, but finally opened it. The number Four in it terrified her. Four people had died because they could not identify the Nomads in time. She closed the report. A breakfast would help, hopefully. ___________ The mess hall was rather empty. Most people were on missions or resting right now. With a tablet in hand she looked for well know faces, she found a hardly known instead. “May I join you?” The blonde man looked up at her, feigning surprise. His grey eyes were attentive and hard, then softened somewhat. “Well, you saved me, would be real shitty to say no. No?” He shoved a chair from the table. Rosa sat down. He was strange. “I am Rosa. Rosa Shaharazar. I never got your name.” He gave her a strange look. “John Cena. Nice to meet without bullets.” “Yeah, I like that better too.” “Well wouldn´t have met ya, if hadn´t. So I ‘m fine.” Rosa felt her jaw drop, she gasped a little bit. “By the Observance. No, damn kiddo, I was joking. It was a terrible mess. But, I and some more ‘d be paste without you. Thanks for hauling me ass out it, by the way.” “I, I” she closed her eyes for a moment “I am glad that you are okay. And your friends. “She thought of the wounded they had carried back, three Nomads among them. “Dah, them be fine, yours are the best doctors around.” He seemed to have guessed her thoughts. “What´s troubling you kiddo?” She gave him a quizzical look. “How that could happen and how we prevent shooting each other next time.” He laughed. “Well new to politics, aye?” “Politics?” “This one was someone messing with our stuff. But next time maybe your boss and my boss have to slug it out. Boom. Shooting again. No thing to do about it. No trouble either. I like ya, I´d aim for the legs.” Rosa blinked at him not knowing what to say. Silently she ate a bit not before long her comlog relayed a message from Dr. Zenirah, her schedule opened and Rosa could come in now for her check-up. “I, I have to go.” He barely looked up. “’kay, see you around.” She was glad to have an excuse to leave, he really unsettled her. -------------------------- When she entered the Medbay Rosa was met by a an empty chair in Mercellas’ office, then she heard something in the storage room. There she found the doctor sitting on the floor surrounded by field medkits. “Ahem, is everything okay?” “Oh, Rosa, I didn´t hear you there.” “What are you doing?” Mercella swiped a tube of blood plasma over a scanner in her hand. “Well, as someone tampered with the medkits from Sandstorm, I check everyone of ours.” “And?” “Everything is fine so far.” Unless someone tampered with your scanner too. Or not?” Mercellas’ eyes widened at this remark and she rose in terror. “Oh, no, you are right. I have to check the scanner.” Rosa took a step back, regretting her remark. “Let me. I am a technician, or at least was on my way to become one.” “Thanks. Shall we go to my desk?” Mercella led the way and Rosa opened the diagnostic hatch of the scanner. Nothing seemed out of place, she hooked it up with her comlog to scan for frequency anomalies, everything was in order. She placed it on the desk. “The Scanner is okay.” Mercella gave her a nod in thanks.” “So,” Mercella was all business and calm again, “how do you feel?” Rosa shrugged “Fine. I am fit, awake and nothing hurts.” She drew in breath. “Still shaken from firing on friends.” “Friendlies, not friends, or did you know some of them before?” “Sorry, I am still bad with military slang.” “It´s fine, as are your vitals as I see. Feeling ready to return out there?” “I think so, yes. Probably next time I will come into a fight. I hope I am ready for that.” “Hmm, I see, but that should work out. Bashur is awake if you want to talk to him.” With a smile of thanks Rosa rose and went into the next room. There were several beds, all connected to monitoring stations, six of them were occupied. Next to one a Tuareg woman was sitting, she acknowledged Rosas presence with her gaze. Somehow Rosa felt being scrutinized and thanked at the same time. She was sitting next to the Zhayedan, who was sleeping in his new body. Bashur was awake and smiled at her as she stepped next to his bed. “Good to see you child. You did good yesterday.” Her gaze wandered to his wounds and the wounded Nomad woman on the next bed. “Don’t worry, that will heal, it takes more than that to take me down.” “Hmm, thank you. For looking after me out there.” “Anytime child, but you will do fine. What troubles you?” He looked to the Nomad. “Oh, they will live. Thanks to you no less. You saved them.” She felt relieved at his praise but still sighed. “I just wished that we had not fought at all with them.” “Me too, but that happens on the frontlines child. It is easy to say we are friends in a boardroom, outside you have to care for your own skin first and do as much right as you can.” Rosa closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. “I guess you are right.” “Don´t worry, you get used to it.” “I hope not.” He gave her a short, approving laugh for that. She went over to the Nomad, she looked dangerous even in her restorative sleep. What only could be tribal markings adorned her face, her long bridled hair was still red with some blood and even now her muscles seemed tense, ready to spring into action. Yet her face looked peaceful under the monitors showing her strong vital signs. Rosa felt much better. With a nod to Bashur she left. Standing on the corridor, which still was a corridor thanks to the ongoing alert, Rosa wondered what to do. She never had such a clear schedule in her time here before. She felt restless, she left for the sparring room. The sparring room was rather small only two spaces were laid out as training areas and two benches next to a water spender. Only one person was present. Sheila ibn Zafir one of the Nahab, Rosa always was amazed at them in training. They were so agile, controlled and fast. He noticed her immediately. “Oh, our newly baptised Namurr. Welcome, welcome.” She gave him weak hello to this greeting. “What brings you here? Can´t sleep? Can´t rest?” “No, I, I don´t know to be honest.” His face widened to a smile. “Ah, you are looking for a distraction and deep down you want to become better. Come here I´ll show you something.” She hesitated, then shrugged. “Maybe, why not.” Rosa slipped out of her shoes and joined him on the mat. She tensed all her muscles to warm up, it was so easy to do this. “Ready? Come at me.” She looked into his smiling face searching for an opening, then feinted with a left kick. Her right hook followed quickly. He spun to his left around her arm, grabbed it and hurled her across the room with his momentum. Rosa squeaked in surprise and ran up the wall in order not to smash into it. With a backflip she landed on her feet. Before she could re-orient herself his shin connected with her head. Rosa rolled with he blow, but her head really hurt. Before coming to her feet Rosa kicked out to keep him at bay. She rolled over her back to regain her footing. He darted towards her, feinting left and right, she struck to her left, he came up right, grabbed her arm as he swiped her leg. She fell backwards, he sat down on her arm. Pinning her down. She screamed in frustration. “I see you start to like it.” She growled at him. He let her go and straightened. Rosa massaged her shoulder and stood up. She felt elated even when somewhat sore. “Show me more. I want to be better prepared out there.” He turned to her. “Gladly.” With these words he came at her.
2nd day in the field Rosa was in the shower when the call for deployment came. Despite her heightened stability she almost slipped as she scrambled out of it. Amikha threw her uniform at her and she quickly donned it while reading the first info on the mission. They where headed into Ikari held territory to secure several persons. Hostile reaction was expected. She swallowed hard at the thought of fighting again, especially humans. Together they left for the armoury. ____________ “Listen up. We are going in to secure these people, we have questions for them, especially about the state of our medkits.” Rosa could see Mercella looking grim at these words from the Lt. “So only shot their bodyguards and only if needed. We don´t know what else is going on, but we have multiple signals in the area of unknown origin so be ready to react. We have three primary targets approach with caution. In addition the whole area experiences a power fluctuation and the grid is damaged in several places, so be careful not get electrocuted. We are in this with Sandstrom, they will deploy on the left flank we´ll take the right. Questions?” Farukh their smoke launcher carrier raised his hand. “Yes. Hamar.” “I lethal force authorized?” “Yes, if threatened reply with prejudice.” No one said anything after that and soon later they were there. The Lt. ordered her to take position behind a large sign and the Ghilim scattered around her. Her display showed a lot of unidentified signals. “Contact with heavy armed hostile, Gyah.” That was their Djanbazan Umran. “Shihab down, repairing.” Violet “Damned sparks, I am back.” The Umran. “Heavy resistance, possibly Yu Jing.” Sasa the Azra’il. Rosa could see the flashes of gunfire and booms of explosions through the flying sparks around her. “Engaging heavy. Down. Engaging light. Down” That was Aleyna, the Mukhtar were advancing. “Hostile spotted, appears to be of criminal background. Down. Possible contact. Indeterminable.” They were making good ground. “Path clear, destroying remote. Argh.” “Shila?” “Shila down.” “Engaging hostiles” “Salazar wait!” The Lt. warning came to late as the Khawarji was hit by a missile. Rosa could still feel the heat. She was shocked, afraid and angry at the same time. “Heavy return fire. Mordai down. Holding position” – Junis the Al Fasid. “Movement. Hostile down.” Ghezirah, the missiles darted past Rosas position. “Heavy argh.” Again Junis. “We are under fire, seeking cover. One down.” Amikha! Her heart stopped for a moment. “Renewed at” Ghezirah was cut short by the explosion. What was going on? “Cover compromised evad” Her heart stopped again as his transmission was cut off. The sound of more exploding missiles came from his position. She cried. “Attacking Yu Jing position.” The transmission of the Nahab broker her torpor for a second. “One hit, one down, engaging.” “Enemy engaged, attacking bodyguards, What?” “Djanbazan down” “I have a target, he knows nothing.” The cold voice of the Tuareg came over the comms, proceeding to next target.” “Enemy on the move they are Brigadas.” Mercella reported in as she ducked away. “The Iblis?” came the question from Sandstorm. “Who?” asked the Lt. “Give me a visual.” That was Sal. “Iblis confirmed. High attack priority. Saisduni is neutralized.” “Alright. Let´s get some payback.” “Hostile neutralized. Target freed, Nahab down as is his opponent. Yu Jing neutralized their own.” Sal. Suddenly a hand landed on Rosas shoulder it was Farukh, he looked grim. She became grim too. “Hamar cover Shaharazar, attack on Iblis on the right flank. Namurr solo. Go!” She did not have time to think about her fear. Farukh smoked the way and she ran, something saw her, she felt it, instinctively she ducked, something flew by. She was at the large building. Violet was hiding behind a car nearby. She ran. Readying her weapons. She was to shoat a man. She missed a step. A man who had hurt men, a man who had killed Amikha! Rosa growled as she reached the corner. Slowing without a thought or problem she just peeked around to see the Iblis. He was a tall man in red armour, as he saw her he fired, she discharged the Marat. Rosa felt the impacts and staggered back behind the wall. Checking her breast, she was not wounded. She peeked again. He did not move. “Iblis immobilized.” “Take him dow – argh.” Sal was hit in mid-sentence. Her hesitation evaporated and she raised her rifle, aiming for his legs in the last moment, lightning raced over her from the building, she felt it cramp her muscles, she kept firing. He collapsed in his armour. Her display went dark, fried by the lightning. No one could hear her now. Another armoured figure came to save his comrade, she hid. She saw Violet retreat, she should have seen her taking him down. Rosa climbed the wall and crouched beneath a balcony. She could not leave. Amikha was still out there. She needed to get him back.
Interlude Suddenly the lightning went down and with it the lighting. As darkness befell the tunnels Rosa slowly crawled to the edge of the balcony. She could see the Nomads retreating, carrying away their wounded comrade. Despite all she was glad that he was alive. Their flashlights bringing light to the black. It scattered enough to illuminate everything quite well for her. The woman readily came with them, Rosa tried to memorize her face. She looked like a woman from Bourak. Silently she climbed down to the ground. She heard the Nomads retreat and similar sounds from the Yu Jing position. Hastily she took cover behind a container as the Nomad sniper turned towards her. She heard heavy footfalls closing in. She looked around there was nowhere to take cover. Raising her weapon she slowly breathed in. “Nothing here. They are all gone. What a waste.” The steps moved away again. She released her breath with barely a sound. Rosa waited for a moment, listening to the retreating Nomads, she looked around. The containers were scorched, then her sight fell on two burned bodies. Suppressing her shriek into a deep moan Rosa stepped towards them. They clearly were dead. She took to her knife, she had listened to the lecture about emergency removal. Without hesitation she cut into the burned flesh and soon was at the spine. To her surprise her hands were still and she removed the cube with no difficulty. Her ammo bag was nearly empty and she stored it in there. The cubes of the other Mukhtar fit easily as well. Lovingly she touched the bag before she sneaked along the buildings towards the other area of fighting. It was deserted as well, the Yu Jing soldiers had taken the corpses and the third target as well. Suddenly she heard something. Voices? Steps? She hurried up the building to her left, the wall, being rough and riddled with holes, posing no problem at all. Sliding over the railing on the roof she almost tripped over the form of Shila. Down there she saw people coming. Ikari? Scavengers? Aliens? What if Fadime was still down there? She peeked over the railing. The Nahab was not where he fell, she could see that. But what about the Tuareg? Rays of light were coming out of the tunnels, she had to hurry. But first Shila. She gently opened the helmet of the Azra’il. Shila slowly opened her eyes after Rosa gave her an emergency shot from her field kit. “What?” “Shhs. There are people down there. I don´t know if they are friendly.” Shila moaned silently. “Can you move? I want to look for Fadime before they find her.” “Yes, I think I can. You get Fadime, meet me at ground level.” When Rosa hesitated Shila squinted at her. “Go!” Without further words Rosa went over the railing climbing down head first. Several men were inside the cave by now. She could hear them talking. They clearly were searching for someone and they did not sound friendly. They were too close. One of them almost at the building where Fadime should be. Rosa took her only pistol magazine and hurled it towards far away from her. She reached the ground before it did. Immediately all light cones turned around, someone even fired. “Hold fire, idiot! We are looking for our people!” “Sorry, boss!” Now the way to the building was clear and Rosa treaded lightly. The men were walking to the other side now, she felt happy about her good idea. When she reached her destination she entered without hesitation and stopped in midstride. Rosa starred into the eyes of a surprised Nipponese. His eyes were just as wide as hers. For a split second she was frozen, he raised his gun, her head snapped forward. With a dumb sound it connected with his nose, cutting short his cry as a side effect. He stumbled backwards she jumped at him grabbing his head to silence him. She used her momentum to wheel onto his back catching him in a choke hold. She he flailed and ran backwards into a wall. It hurt, but not enough for her to let go. He clawed at her arms, as he found no purchase he drew his knife and stabbed blindly. Rosa squeezed as hard as she could and jerked her head out of the way. “Go to sleep. Go to sleep.” She whispered in a low voice, then he hit her arm with his knife. The Pain was sharp and sudden. Rosa bit her lip instead of screaming, her arms cramped. He fell to his knees and keeled over, her weight coming down on him ended his struggle. Frightened she released her grip. No blood came out of her wound and shallow breathing out of him. Rosa drew a deep breath, she was shaking. With a grimace she pulled the knife from her arm, she coughed in pain, some tears ran down her cheeks. The knife hit the ground with a bright clank. She cursed herself. Quickly she stepped to Fadime, there was breath. Heaving the woman on her back she ran towards the back door, or rather the hole in the wall, probably new from the fighting. The lights were coming closer. Outside again she made towards Shila’s position. Voices of alarm were coming from her old position. Someone even shot again, before being shouted down. Mashallah no light cone crossed her on her way. At the building she opened the door and looked into a gun. “Thank his grace. It’s you.” Shila looked bad and very pale. “We have to go. Come the tunnel is right there.” The wounded woman nod shoed Rosa on. A minute later the tunnels had swallowed them. Rosas comlog was still fried as was Shila’s so they moved slow and cautiously. After half an hour they reached small cavern filled with crates. Several of them had blood smeared all over them. Still it was the best hiding place so far. Shila broke down at the first ones, quickly putting Fadime Rosa checked her vitals. With relief she found a pulse. She had to do something! While pulling the Azra’il behind the crates she saw something blink at Fadime’s hand. The comlog! Rosa basically jumped to the Tuareg and took the comlog. With her fingerprint she could access the basic functions. “Come in. Saisduni are you there?” “I am here. Where are you?” “Who is this? Where is Saidsuni?” “Sorry, this is Specialist Shaharazar from Shahb. Saidsuni and saba Mordai are with me. They are wounded, please hurry.” “Understood. Stay where you are. I have your location know. Have faith.” “I will.” Rosa lowered the comlog. Hope stirred in her chest as well as fear. With the new adrenalin she hid all of them behind the crates and took her weapon. Then she waited to be found, hopefully by her comrades first.
