Sky Hunter (8 page)

“
We can’t help him,” Djari said. He
glanced up at the woman. “I’ll try to find something for the pain
until…” he trailed off and stood up. For a moment he just gazed
over the rows of pallets. Perhaps he meant to say something more
but then he turned and walked away.

Nova covered the boy’s injuries and then
motioned to the woman who had come in here with him. The others had
gone, leaving only the quietly weeping Bellac at his side when Nova
turned her attention to another casualty.

And so it went. Victim after victim needed
medicines they did not have, water they had to ration, equipment
that just did not exist in this part of town. Nova did what she
could, using her rudimentary training to patch up laser burns,
bullet wounds, lacerations and broken bones. There were just two
actual doctors here and a handful of medics. Even the basic scanner
in her lost data sleeve was more adept than the single diagnostic
tool they had here. She worked at Djari’s side to move victims,
clean equipment and tools, carry out the doctors’ orders and
distribute what little food was brought in by the locals.

“
Sunshine,” Djari whispered when, hours
later, she walked past him to fetch more saline from their meager
stores. He gestured urgently.

She squatted beside him to peer at an
unconscious Bellac that had just been brought in. Her hair was dyed
a muted tan color and she wore a patched set of fatigues. Nova
whistled soundlessly when Djari parted the rebel’s jacket to expose
a belt studded with concussion charges. Unfortunately, the weapon
they belonged to was not also with her. They worked quietly as if
seeing to some injury while slipping the blunt cylinders into
Nova’s trouser leg. She flinched when she felt Djari’s fingers
brush over the bare skin of her calf but he had been working with
the ill and injured for so long that he probably didn’t even
notice.

She rose, hoping the charges wouldn’t rattle
as she walked. Djari caught her hand. “Bring back a splint for her
arm.”

She looked down at the Bellac, frowning.

Djari squeezed her hand. “She’s not a rebel
right now,” he said. His soft grey eyes shifted to their patient.
“She’s someone who’s going to be in a whole lot of pain when she
wakes up. Let’s not add to that.”

“
Are all farmers as big-hearted as you
are?”

His brows drew together and he released her
hand. “Sometimes I think it’s only us farmers that care about any
living thing these days. Would I do anything less for her than I
would for some livestock?” He patted a damp cloth on the woman’s
face where a massive bruise was forming. “Would anyone risk this if
they didn’t have some reason, some cause, whether I understand it
or not?”

Nova nodded. “I’ll hurry.” She made her way
to the corner where Reko was resting uncomfortably on his
pallet.

He tried to sit up when she lowered herself
beside him but soon gave up. “Nice of you to visit,” he said.

“
How are you doing?” she said, tugging
on the cuff of her trousers.

“
Like there’s someone chewing on my
ribs. Doc doesn’t think they can stitch that up. Going to be one
hell of a scar.”

“
Maybe it’ll be a dashing one. You can
brag about it.”

“
What have you got there?”

She briefly held up one of the charges. “Are
you up to a bit of tinkering?”

“
I think so. Not exactly my field,
though.”

She tucked all but one of the cylinders under
his blanket. “Easy. Open this end; I’ll try to find you something
to pry it with. There will be two wires in there, leading to this
ring. Pull out the one that looks coppery. Might be hard to see in
this light, so be careful. It’ll make the thing explode on impact
without the gun. Convert only half of these, just in case we do get
our hands on a pistol for it.”

He looked doubtful. “Can those explode on
me?”

“
No, you have to bash them hard enough
to break.”

“
So you say. Are there a lot of rebels
here?”

“
Hard to say. Some are easier to spot
than others. They’re not talking much if they are.”

“
Try to get some intel, anyway. I feel
totally useless lying around here, not knowing what’s going on out
there. Did I hear Rhuwacs earlier?”

“
Yeah, there are a few of them outside,
making sure we don’t leave. There are two other Union soldiers
here, both badly burned and going nowhere. At this point I’m
guessing we’re all hostages. I’m not hearing a lot of artillery
now.”

He nodded. “Maybe they’re talking. I sure
would like to see the inside of a real hospital right about
now.”

She rose to return to work. “You and a few
dozen others. I’ll bring you some water.”

The hall had grown dark and stifling once the
promised sand storm reached the town and the windows were shut
tightly against it. Thankfully, the weather also seemed to have
halted the battle and the arrival of new casualties diminished.
Nova helped to deliver a baby amidst the chaos; a new experience
that left her both shaken and amazed. Hours passed and they seemed
like days. Blood, tears, filth. Nova moved numbly through her
chores, resolved to let her body do the work and keep her mind from
taking in what she saw here. She felt completely unequipped to
comfort those who came in more shell shocked than injured and left
those to the more gentle ministrations of Djari and his people.

His capacity for caring for these broken and
frightened people seemed infinite. Nova found herself watching and,
she realized, learning more from him than the doctors. His smile
was sincere and applied at just the right time, his touch soothing
and cool, his voice calm. His patience remained when Nova herself
wanted to shout at a hysterical husband or snap at a helper for
making errors. But he was as fatigued as anyone else here and she
saw an expression of despair and even anger creep over his face
more and more frequently.

Not wanting to act the officer among these
people, Nova finally enlisted Coria’s help to organize the
exhausted workforce into shifts so that some of them could get some
rest.

At long last, she was able to return to
Reko’s corner to check his wound.

“
What’s going on, Nova,” he mumbled
when she replaced his bandages.

“
Still the same. Did you get those
charges done?”

“
Yeah. Under my knee. Get anything
useful?”

“
Not much. Air Command is sniping at
the front line to keep them busy but the bombing has stopped.
Rebels keep shoving civilians and Rhuwacs at them. We’ve seen this
before.” She looked at her hands that burned and had turned rough
with the use of the harsh disinfectants. She had seen battle and
she had been part of it. What she had not seen were places like
these, hidden away behind the front line where people came to die,
to have shattered limbs removed, to await arrest by Air Command who
rarely backed out of a battle once begun. To know that they existed
was a long way from living in one.

He nodded and accepted a cup of water.
“Command’s not going to risk pissing off the governors by taking
the town back by force.” He squinted up at her. “No offense,
Lieutenant, but you look terrible.”

“
Thanks,” she said. She pulled up a
blanket she had found somewhere and curled up beside him. “I could
sleep for a week. What do you think Command will do with this
place?”

“
Wait them out, maybe. Cut off food
supply. By now they’re probably evacuating as many of the locals as
possible. Could end up dropping a little dust if the weather
clears.”

Nova groaned. The dust he referred to would,
when dropped from overhead, blanket the town in a relatively
fast-acting aerosol drug that would temporarily incapacitate rebel
and civilian alike. Its effectiveness depended on how intent their
enemy was on taking revenge on the locals before succumbing to it.
She had been deployed for that tactic just last year, over
Tannaday. It had left her feeling intensely unclean.

“
It’d be a last resort,” he said. “They
won’t like the idea of more coilers in here somewhere and the storm
isn’t going to let up for a while. We’re definitely looking at
no-fly. Did you get anything useful from the rebels?”

“
Not much. Sounds like they’ve pretty
much used up the Rhuwacs they brought. The tether hasn’t been
compromised but that’s no surprise. Someone said that one of the
transformers got blown, though.”

“
Any objective?”

“
Same crap. They’re trying to get
Bellac’s governors to give up on the Union. Refuse the alliance and
keep the jumpsite neutral. Without a Union relay station at the
gate. As usual, they’ve got nothing to bargain with.” Nova closed
her eyes but an image of a little girl that had come in earlier
kept appearing behind her lids. There had been blood in the stiff
little braids on the child’s head. “I have no idea why this blew up
today, though.”

“
Yes, seems odd. Unless someone really
fouled up, I don’t see the win here.”

* * *

Nova awoke a few hours later to the sound of
roars and curses outside. There were no windows at this end of the
building but she made out Rhuwacs and the voices of their handlers.
She pulled her blanket over her head for a moment to block the ugly
noise, hoping what she was hearing didn’t mean the end of a
captive’s bid for escape.

She sat up, eventually, blinking and rubbing
eyes that stung from exhaustion and the dust still hanging in the
air from last night’s storm. The light of dawn had found its way
into the hall and some of the others moved among the injured,
waiting for their turn to sleep a little. She rose and bent over
Sergeant Reko. But he had not awoken to the noise and when she
touched his face it was hot and dry. She cursed quietly and checked
his injury.

“
Morning, Sunshine. How is he
doing?”

Nova looked up when Djari joined her. He
didn’t look like he had slept much these past few hours, either,
but his striking smile seemed to brighten this corner. “Got
infected,” she said and bit back another profanity. For some reason
it seemed to her that this man probably didn’t care much for foul
language even among soldiers.

He checked Reko’s temperature by touch.
“Maybe today we’ll get out,” he said. “It’s been quiet.” He
shrugged when another Rhuwac bellow seemed to shake the walls.
“Except for them, anyway.”

“
Your optimism is spooky, you know
that?” Nova dipped a cloth into a basin of almost clean water to
cool Reko’s face.

He watched her use the rag to wipe the back
of her own neck. “What else is there?” he said quietly and she
wished she hadn’t spoken. “How else can you live like this? How can
anybody?”

“
Nobody is
supposed
to.” She
hesitated before placing her hand on his arm. “You’re right, we’ll
get out. These things run their course.”

He gazed at her without speaking and somehow
that made her blush. Glad for the inadequate light, she dropped her
eyes and pulled her hand back to fuss with Reko’s bandages. “So
what’s a Human civilian doing all the way out here in Shon Gat? You
seem a little out of place here.”

“
I am,” Djari agreed. “I was born on
the base at Siolet. My father was killed when I was still very
young. My mother eventually took up with a Bellac farmer and moved
out to the Tangmak Rift.
Anai
root and some
livestock.”

“
You’re a long way from
Tangmak.”

“
Know why I’m here?” He looked as if
about to reveal a great secret. “Trying to get to the skyranch.
I’ve asked for work up there. I already talked to some
administrators. I know what Bellacs like and I know how to grow it.
I’ve been studying up on moisture recyclers, hydroponics, soilless
farming. I had a little lab and got interested in organic
chemistry. I’m practically hired already!”

“
You’ll like it up there, I’m sure,”
she said, touched by his excitement. “I’ve lived on a skyranch or
two. They try to make them interesting enough for the workers and
engineers. It’s like a little town up there. And with the jumpsite
so close you’ll meet some interesting people.”

The sound of harsh voices startled both of
them. She peered into the gloom to see several Centauri and a few
Bellac, all seemingly in good shape and not part of the medical
team, walk among the injured. One of them was barking orders at the
others.

“
What could they want now?”

“
That tall fellow is Phann Arter, one
of their leaders. He came in from Camomas with his group a few days
ago. Looks like they’re removing the rebels that can walk on their
own. Maybe they’re leaving. Or maybe they’ve run out of
fighters.”

“
Air Command isn’t likely to let them
leave. By now the town will be surrounded.” She scowled. “None of
these here are in any shape to fight.”

“
Maybe not by your standards. But his
people are fanatics.”

She stood up. “I can be pretty fanatical,
too.”

“
Where are you going?” he called after
her when she strode into the main section of the hall and toward
the bellowing Centauri. She did not reply; thinking about this
would only change her mind.

“
Are you in charge here?” she said to
the heavily armed rogue. He was of a heftier build than was common
among his towering but generally slender people, adding a
frightening dimension to his surly demeanor. It took a moment for
him to realize that she was addressing him.