Neptune's Massif (31 page)

"There is nothing wrong with nationalism until it begins to create rifts between races that should be working together. A few of the most badly damaged ARC ships had to be left at our station because ARC didn't have the resources available to take them back to one of their repair facilities. We had no idea they had even been considering it, we had already scheduled them for refit and upgrades. When they were finished, and I let them know they could retrieve them, Admiral H’joles asked me why we had not only repaired the ships but did what we could to improve them. I at first didn't understand his question. I mean, he is working to defend us, so why
wouldn't
we do it?"

"The answer to your question, Councilor, is simple; why are we willing to do all of this for you? Because you
need
it." Ian said. "We are building more of our stations and will be building more of the ships we've designed. We simply don’t have the people to crew them, so why are we building them? Because the ARC needs them. Those ships, after we have rebuilt your fleet, will be given to ARC. Of course we will modify them for the specific species that will be crewing them, but those ships are needed to defend us, so they will get built. Who crews them is irrelevant. That they are needed is what is important." Ian looked at each of the Council members. "We already consider ourselves a part of ARC simply because they are fighting and dying for our freedom, not just their own. Nationalism shouldn't even be a consideration. We all fight together, or we will all die apart; it really is that simple."

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M
ercy Medical Center Complex

Psychological Trauma Ward

Ascension, Planet Atlas

Centauri System, Sol Sector

––––––––

“C
indy? Honey we’re home,” Shannon told the mute woman. Cindy hadn’t spoken since the fight on New Talos. In fact she had yet to express any emotion. It was like she was gone, and her body was acting on automatic. She would follow instructions, but nothing else. She had to be told to eat, she wouldn’t do it on her own. The only thing Cindy did on her own was use the restroom. For all intents, she was catatonic.

Ian and family followed the medical shuttle down to the Medical Center where Cindy would be treated. Beth and Shannon had ridden with Cindy. Beth to monitor Cindy's physical health, while Shannon continued trying to reach her friend mentally. Also on the shuttle were Colonel Ty Anders and a fully armed and armored Major Corvis.

Ian and Jenny held their children back while Cindy was taken from the shuttle in a hover chair. Major Corvis remained within two steps of her at all times. When the medical interns accepting Cindy tried to block Major Corvis from following, Ty stopped them.

"This is a security issue. Raptor Command Authority. A Raptor team member will remain with the patient at all times. No exceptions."

"That is against hospital policy, Sir," the orderly replied.

"I will accompany you and explain it to your administrator. If the officer gives you an order follow it, he is trying to keep you alive, do you understand me?" Ty said.

The orderly was about to argue the point but changed his mind and nodded. "Yes Sir, but you will have to clear it with the administration."

Ty nodded and the procession continued into the facility. Ian and his family followed them inside.

Once in the treatment room, Cindy was helped into a bed and made comfortable, while Ian and family waited outside. Very shortly, a very upset looking professional came storming down the corridor. "What's going on here?"

Ty stepped up to the Doctor. "We have brought you a new patient, Doctor. I believe you already knew this?"

She nodded angrily. "Major Williams was to be transferred from the
Star Dancer
to this facility for psychological treatment. Nothing was said about all of this? Why is that armored soldier in here? Get him out of there this instant! The sight of him could be very detrimental to the mental state of the patient!"

Ty read her name tag. “Dr. Roberts, have you not been briefed on exactly what and who she is?”

“I assumed she was a soldier like any other, is there something I haven't been told?" the Doctor snapped back.

Ty ignored her offensive attitude. “Do you know what a SEAL team is on Earth? By that, I mean what they
really
are, not what the media says they are."

“The U.S. Navy’s special forces group, trained in anti-terrorist tactics and special weapons training. What of it?”

“That’s pretty accurate. Now, consider the enemy that we are fighting here; they are stronger and in some cases faster than a normal human soldier. We needed Special Forces teams that could counter the enemy on their own ground, without support from anyone and usually far behind enemy lines. What kind of training do you think we would have to give those people?” Ty asked her.

The doctor paled a little, “Do you mean that she is...” she gestured to Cindy.

Ty nodded. “She is the most senior commander of those teams. She has received the most training and knows more ways to kill every species we know of than they probably know of themselves. She has been trained to attack, infiltrate, and capture ships the size of
Star Dancer
and bigger, more importantly she has been trained to survive indefinitely in a hostile environment. We have trained her so that she will automatically do whatever it takes to survive and complete her mission. If she ever decides that someone needs to die, they will die. Something has made her mentally unstable. Now, with all of this in mind, do you still want me to remove the guard?”

“Is one guard enough?” She asked.

"The only people guarding her will be those that have had the same training she has. If at any time, one of them tells you to do something, do not argue with them, or ignore them, because they are most likely trying to save your life. Is this understood?" Ty said in a very no nonsense manner.

"Perfectly, Colonel. Now that I understand the situation better, will your men need anything from us?" the Doctor asked.

"No, they will do nothing but keep watch over your patient. They will not need to eat, nor will they need to use the head. For the duration of Major William's stay with you, the guard will remain with her at all times, in all situations, even in the shower or the bathroom. No exceptions. They have been briefed on their duty here, please try to stay out of their way," Ty said and it was very clear he was giving an order.

"I understand, Sir, but surely the patient deserves some form of privacy..." the Doctor tried to counter.

"No, she does not. She cannot be given any opportunity to harm anyone or herself. If she is given that opportunity, she will take it," Ty replied.

"There has been no indication that she is suicidal," the Doctor asked.

“I know she is,” Ty answered as he turned to the window into the room. “Or at least will be when she comes back to us. I’ve seen this type of thing before. What she went through has happened to special ops soldiers on Earth. This is a form of what they call combat fatigue. We can’t know the exact mental state she was in when she snapped, or what it was in particular that set her off, but it will come tumbling out when she, uh, wakes up. Just hack into the database at Bethesda. I’m sure there are thousands of cases on file,” Ty answered, his eyes never leaving the slumped form of Cindy he could see through the one way glass.

The Doctor nodded and walked into the room, motioning the family to follow her. “Cindy? I’m Dr. Roberts. I’ve been asked to help you get through this. But we thought you might like to say hello to your children before we get started.” Dr. Roberts stepped aside to allow the children, Ian and Jenny to enter.

Dr. Roberts’ words elicited the first response anyone had ever seen from Cindy in almost a week. Cindy slowly turned her head to look at the children.

"They're safe?" Cindy asked quietly.

"Yes honey, the children are safe now," Shannon replied. "You made sure of that. The bad men are all gone now and the children are safe."

Cindy smiled, laid her head back, and fell asleep.

Dr. Roberts looked at Shannon. "I think you should tell me the circumstances in which she was injured."

Ian nodded. "Go ahead, Shannon. I'll make sure she gets clearance."

Shannon nodded to him. "Yes Admiral." She turned back to the Doctor. "Do you have an office we can use, Doctor?"

––––––––

A
dmiral's Office

TDF
Star Dancer

High Orbit, Planet Atlas

Centauri System, Sol Sector

––––––––

I
t had taken the better part of a week to finish their part of the restoration of New Talos. Ian had left the Talosian ships and Marines there to assist the authorities in rebuilding and returned home. He had a promise to keep, and there was a lot of work to be done before he could do it.

Ian was very surprised though, when the whole Talosian attitude towards them seemed to change, basically overnight. Some of that could be accredited to Noren and Goya influencing the others, but not all of it. Goya told Ian that it had been the Talosian ships and troops he had led in the liberation of New Talos that had effected the largest change.

The soldiers and sailors talked to their families, and their families talked to their clans, who in turn spoke to their Houses. Goya went on to tell Ian that it wasn't just the attitude toward the Terrans that had changed either; there was a massive rethink of the Talosian roll in the war being undertaken by the Talosian people. They were learning that they could not remain isolated from the other races and still try to fight.

Another surprise awaiting Ian was a formal request by ARC High Command for the training and equipping of four non-human Raptor teams. The request had already been approved by the Terran Council and only needed his approval. ARC already had over two hundred applicants for the project. In a side note, Fleet Admiral H’joles stated that he had little doubt the effort would be a success and hoped that more personnel could be sent for training in the future.

The Admiral also reported that of the ships the Terrans had refitted and sent back to ARC, all had participated in at least one battle so far. He went on to say that although all took some damage, none of that damage effected their combat effectiveness. The captains and crews of those ships were very pleased with the results. A report issued by the chief engineer of the cruiser claimed that analysis of the damage absorbed by the ship during combat should have been sufficient to have disabled the ship at the very least. Instead, the energy from enemy weapons had been rechanneled and used to strengthen the ship's defenses and energy weapons during the combat. He continued by stating that it was his certainty that, had the ship not been rebuilt by the Terrans, it would have been lost with all hands in the battle previous to that report.

That made Ian feel good about helping ARC. They had saved lives and kept a ship in the fight. He edited out that part of the message and had Mel send it to Commodore Hawkins at Pleiades One where the work on the cruiser had been done. He included a commendation for everyone that had been associated with rebuilding the ARC ships.

In order to deal with the rest of the message, Ian called Ty to get his thoughts on the matter. Ty nodded at him and told him that he had already worked out the details with ARC and the Council. The Project had simply been awaiting his approval when Ian returned from New Talos.

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" Ian asked.

"No reason to, Sir. We had other issues we needed to focus on. Nothing could have been done with this until we returned here anyway," Ty replied.

Ian saw more stress on his face than normal. "Ty, she's getting the best care we can give her. We'll get her out of this."

Ty nodded. "I know, Sir, but I'm still worried. Combat Fatigue isn't the joke a lot of people think it is. I know Cindy will come out of this eventually; I'm worried more about how she'll react once she does. Different soldiers react in very different ways to this sort of trauma. Even if she wakes up, we could still lose her."

"In what way?" Ian asked. The therapists hadn’t mentioned this.

"Sir, I've had a lot of experience with soldiers in this condition. She's one of the worst I've ever seen. None of them are the same afterward. There is a very good chance she won't be returned to her team. We can't take that risk," Ty replied. "Before this happened I was thinking about making her my second in command. She was that good and the other teams not only respect her, but look up to her." He shook his head. "Perhaps the promotion will still be feasible; as long as she doesn't go into combat herself anymore. We'll just have to see what happens when she wakes up. Everything depends on what caused the mental breakdown to begin with."

Ian nodded. "She's always been a very strong woman, Ty. I have to believe she'll come back to us intact and ready to kick ass."

Ty nodded. "That's another worry; whose ass will she want to kick? Will she be able to differentiate between us and the enemy? Try to imagine someone with her training and abilities that can't tell her friends from her enemies."

Ian nodded. "Is that the reason you placed the armored guards on her?"

Ty nodded. "Yeah, they'll handle the situation, if it becomes necessary."

Ian had no more than gotten off the comm with Ty than Commodore Hawkins called. Ian was rather melancholy after his talk with Ty, but accepted the call anyway.

"Commodore, I take it you received my message?" Ian asked by way of greeting.

"Yes I did. I wanted to call and thank you for sharing that with us. I'm sure it'll really boost morale on the docks," Isaak replied. "Not that morale has been an issue, but it's stuff like this that really makes the workers feel like part of the team. It'll inspire the others to work harder in order to show them up too!"

"I've only just started getting into all the reports I missed while I was gone. I take it we're still ahead of schedule?" Ian asked.