The small cabin wasn’t crowded, but with Ven and E.E’s added mass it was significantly smaller than usual. The pair were opposites in many ways, Ven had brown skin and green hair, looking like someone had crossed a tree and a short neko. E.E. on the other hand was a pure white with black eyes and the hulking mass of a she-bear. Ven was sitting in the cabin’s chair while E.E. sat beside the nest where Aliset slept and Sacre brooded over her. Their conversation was cut short by Aliset’s stirring.
A hand slipped out of Sacre's coils, followed by a rumpled, glazed eyed and very hungry looking young woman. Then again three of perhaps four days of complete nonresponse would do that to a body. "Head hurts… Lovey, my head's loopy, might have something to do with not being able to think straight when you're here."
Clearly, she hadn't noticed the Kodian and the twig in the room, yet. Her writer's jiggle the handle advice there is to give her some bootup time.
“Funny, I’ve always found her glare discombobulating.” Ven said from her seat.
“That’s only because you screw up more often than you breathe.” Sacre said with her serious sounding humor. Ven gave a little chuckle as Sacre looked back down at Aliset. She gently caressed Aliset’s face. “Don’t worry about anything honey, I’m here.”
"Hey, pretty…" Her voice trailed off as she settled back on her knees, letting her responses melt into Sacre's touch. "Sorry I fell asleep. Nice shirt. Wife material?"
“I sure hope so, I’m getting married when my girlfriend gets back.” Sacre said, shifting to give Aliset room.
"Is that before or after our big heroic rescue mission? Cause I'd like to meed the girl capable of making you giggle like a school girl." She offered a big grin, then turned as though to get up and get herself some form of coffee, freezing as she locked eyes on E.E's form. "Oh! Hi… ahm. Friends of Sacre?"
“No, I’m a burglar with an exceptionally bad sense of timing.” The large white bear rising for the door. “I’ll go grab us some coffee and some grub.” She said to Ven and Sacre.
“Thank you, thank you.” Ven said scooting closer.
“Why did you say thank you twice?” E.E. asked.
“Because Sacre won’t at all.” Ven said with smirk. E.E. laughed and headed out the door.
"I mean, you right. Though she seems more chipper when I'm on… Did I miss galley duty?"
Ven held up her hand with the fingers close together. “Just by a little bit.”
"You been holding her together, Ven?" Aliset gave a soft smile, her brain audibly grinding into gear and starting to work. "Or is PT gonna suck for a bit?"
Yes, Ali, play it off like you knew she was there and didn't hear two of your worst pickup lines. "Cause I just had some really weird dreams and feel like I worried some folks. Everybody okay?"
“Whoever kidnapped you had the good sense to return you very far away from a very tuned up squad of badasses. So unfortunately, yes.” Ven replied as E.E. returned carrying coffee, some bowls, spoons, and jug of something.
E.E. handed out the cups of coffee, just the way that each of them liked it before settling down next to Aliset. “I made something…” there was a hitch in the planned delivery. “That I’ve made before for when someone’s not feeling too well. Salmon Noodle Soup.” She explained pouring bowls for everyone.
"Ooh!" Aliset perked, smiling widely as she moved herself over Sacre's tail to claim a seat at the edge of the bed. Looking up at E, though, her brows furrowed before dismissing the thought. Last thing she needed was to start calling people on being less okay than they actually were. Especially given her situation. "I should probably get my salts. Aah… Ven, they're in the desk behind you, looks like a salt shaker in the top drawer. Don't eat it."
Reaching behind herself, she idly scratched Sacre's tail, thinking as she looked at her hand, remembering the blade going through it. "I'm sorry I came back a killer. Both of them were accidents. I tried. I couldn't stop it."
Sacre hugged Aliset, “It’s ok, we’re all professionals here. My first was a slaver.”
“Terrorist.” E.E. added.
“Collaborator.” Ven said.
"I'm pretty sure Theo was already dead when I hit the door to try to get him out. Found vacuum on the other side. That machine used a child's corpse like a sock puppet."
Picking up the bowl, Aliset sipped some of the broth. Sure, she had stiffened at Sacre's touch, but quickly softened, relaxing into it. "But I'm also pretty sure I'm just telling myself that to make myself think my first wasn't a child. And if I am right, then my first was a prisoner. Probably more of one than myself. At least, according to my culture, I know most of you didn't kill people."
“Sounds like someone else killed the child and the second was an enemy combatant and self defense. Both pretty well justified even if you were a civilian. Being in the right isn’t the same thing as feeling good about what happened. Part of the reason I joined the army is because I was unsettled by what I did.” E.E. offered gently.
"Thanks, boss. That means a lot. Really." She offered a smile again. "The worst part, though, was the isolation. Tsulrati aren't wired to handle things on our own. If we're alone, we're probably already dead. I wasn't expecting isolation. But they let me keep my telepathy. That helped. So what did you all get into? I wasn't told much. And I'm kinda almost naked. Sorry about the mess."
“Made a drop on Gashmere against the anti-xenoists. Really weird stuff happened. When we got back up here we learned that you were missing and we spent pretty much the whole time till you showed back up trying to find you. So not much.” Ven said.
"This wasn't the AXL. I promise. I saw a couple of these types of scapegoats on Shurista, back when I was a post girl. It's multilayered. It's in my briefing to Fletcher… Aah, shit, I don't remember the debrief. Did that happen? It's all a bit foggy."
“Yhea, I was reading the digests as they came out.” Sacre said, petting Aliset gently.
Ven shrugged, “I’m a grunt. I shoot who they tell me to shoot.”
"I'll keep that in mind. Itami's gonna be pissed. Also, I'd like to read those digests and the shipyard report. Maybe I can get some kind of further operational knowledge, unless it says stuff I already said. Also, subdermal tracker, next time."
“Most of it’s the stuff you said or things they were able to figure out from it. Sometimes I think a subdermal tracker might be a good idea regardless. That way I don’t have to follow the trail of devastation.” Sacre said, trying to be a bit more light hearted.
"I'm at my best when I'm scared, though!" She gave a lighthearted chuckle, sipping more of the soup and then chugging her coffee. "You spent time on Shurista, and now I'm an immigrant with an inferiority complex, so devastation is taking it easy. Maybe I should go get a ranger tab. I'd look good with one."
“I never needed one, I always thought that going into battle without armor was a faster way to commit suicide. I supported a unit of them once, and never really felt the need to get any special forces qualifications. If you want one, it’s pretty hard and it’s a lot of ground combat.” Sacre offered.
"Who's the best shot of the fleet crew," Aliset countered, looking o Ven and E.E. for validation. "I get it, it's not gonna be easy. But I have to build my skills to defend my home and friends. So get me in shape and get me to Ranger, Arctic Warfare, CSAR, any school that will take me. Next time I have a bad idea, I want to be trained to pull it off."
Ven seemed amused, “I guess we’re going to be special farces then.”
"Looks like. Sorry. I'm scared of not being able to protect Sacre if I have to. I couldn't protect Nic, Lev, or the kid. I'm not losing her, too." The facade had cracked, and she took a deep drink of her soup, hiding her face behind the bowl while she put the mask back on. "Shuristan fear hits different."
Sacre patted Aliset gently on the back. E.E. nodded as well, “I know how that feels.” The big Kodian added.
"Thank you. Everyone. Sorry for scaring you. The mission was a resounding success. But I think Sacre's gonna want me to go to Medical for body scans before she can give me an RTD."
“And I don’t think you are ready to RTD yet.” Sacre added.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Standing, Aliset picked up her coffee mug and moved to the maker on one wall, starting herself another cup. "Is this the whole Senti brains and trauma thing? Cause I'm up. And I'm…. I'll be fine. Better when I sink my knife into that psychopath's neck."
Sacre rose from the bed as well and reached out to massage Aliset’s shoulders. “I know I wasn’t fine when I was in your shoes.” She said.
"You're still healing from that," again, she stiffened until she realized who it was, then looked down towards her coffee. "I knew what I was doing. It was the entire plan. Get captured. Get intel. Get out. Return acquired intelligence to the Admiralty. Mission accomplished. Not according to plan. But no plan survives first contact."
“I wasn’t talking about my first time.” Sacre said very softly.
Aliset's head turned as her brows furrowed. "Sorry, I feel like this is something you and never had a good time to talk about. What happened?"
“It started with a bad drop, we were riding herd on a ranger squad when they ran into some special forces that just happened to be practicing in the AO. We went in to get them out and got trapped as well. We got sold in Kuvexia. However, our command structure was intact, so Sacre taught us how to pass messages between the groups. We worked together, and managed to gather a lot of intelligence before we were rescued.” Ven explained.
"Ah. I'm not sure I would have survived that." What could she say to a tale like that.
“The Kuvexians wanted to keep us alive, particularly the ones who were particularly rare, unique, or beautiful. They would have found a way, which made it worse in a way.” Ven said.
“More importantly, even being trained didn’t stop all of us from getting hurt pretty deeply from what happened. We have leave for a while longer, I want to take you to Yamatai and show you around there and wait until I have more information to clear you.” Sacre explained.
"I'd… I'd like that. It would be nice to see Marigold. And I have to make a couple phone calls. One to a devious snake you call dad. Medical, first. I need scans and blood tests. I don't know if I was drugged."
Sacre nodded, “Allright, let’s get you checked out.” She said, moving towards the doors.
"Lemme put some pants on, first! Damn, you want me walking around with my coochie out in this weather?" Aliset threw her coffee back, slipping past Ven to gather a uniform and hastily throw it on before hugging Estrid's fluffy and warm form. "Thanks, E. Your soup's amazing. Now I just gotta not trip on Sacre's tail and hope she doesn't get ideas from my would be killer's autopsy report."
