A Learning Experience (4/5)
Title: A Learning Experience
Character/Pairing: Wash/Taylor, Guz, Reynolds, Malcolm, Reilly
Word Count: ~3600 for this chapter
Genre: Friendship, Romance, Adventure
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It’s nice that Nathaniel trusts her with training them how to survive here, but sometimes the newbies feel like they’re more trouble than they’re worth.
Author’s Note: Pre-Series, after the Fifth Pilgrimage. Set in the context of my other stories, a look at how Alicia and Mark became friends despite the age and rank differences.
SO sorry this took so long - work and the holidays have done me in free time-wise. And I lied. There’ll be one more, an epilogue of sorts, and it’ll be a little smutty…
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Disclaimer is as usual - no profit, not mine, just borrowing.
Alicia jerks awake at the sound of a dino off in the distance. It’s a cawing noise, one she recognizes as belonging to one of the herbivorous types. She blinks as she looks around, inwardly cursing herself for falling asleep. She shivers slightly, as the mist off of the rivers has left everything slightly damp.
It surprises her to realize that the sun is already rising in the east, just barely peeking above the horizon. Checking her watch, she sees that it’s well after six a.m. She is relatively certain that Nathaniel is probably already on his way here.
She’s still sitting up, her back against the rock wall and a blanket wrapped around her. Feeling something warm and heavy on her leg, she looks down, and she can’t help but smile. During the night, Reynolds abandoned his makeshift pillow in favor of her upper thigh. Her hand still rests on him, now nearer to his elbow than his shoulder.
He looks so damned young when he’s curled up on her like this, and she feels a wave of protectiveness wash over her. She can’t remember ever getting so attached to a younger soldier before, but there’s just something about the kid that pulls at her heartstrings. She knows it’s at least in part due to their shared orphan status.
She also knows how hard it is to be on your own, and she has to admire the kid’s courage in coming here entirely by himself. For her, the only reason she isn’t alone is Nathaniel. She finds herself hoping for Mark to find someone himself, despite his youth.
She reaches down and pulls his blanket up higher around him, and she relaxes again, now fully awake, her eyes scanning the area for predators. She’s not happy with herself for letting her guard down enough to go to sleep, but she also knows that they were and are pretty safe here. She’d managed to stay awake well into the night, and she hadn’t seen anything during that time.
She rolls her neck, trying to stretch it out. As she shifts against the rocks, she winces as she feels every single bump and bruise she got when she bounced against the rocks and her harness. This time her movements rouse Reynolds, who stirs and then goes rigid as if he suddenly realized that he’s using her as a pillow.
He jerks up into a sitting position, blinking and blushing hard. “Ma’am! I’m so sorry! Please don’t kill me!”
She gives him a bemused grin at that. “Mark, seriously? Don’t kill you?”
“The guys all told me you’re a hard ass, and they also said that you shut down any guy who makes an advance.” She lifts an eyebrow, and his eyes widen comically. “Oh God, why do I keep saying stupid shit? No, I wasn’t making an advance. You’re like my very scary older sister!” She can’t help the amusement in her eyes at that, and she cocks her head and crosses her arms across her chest. He holds his hands up, blushing even harder. “Not that you’re old! Or actually scary!” He stops and hangs his head. “On second thought, never mind. Just kill me.”
Unable to suppress it, she starts to laugh. “Take it easy, soldier. I won’t kill you, I know you weren’t getting fresh, and I’m aware that I’m not that old. I am, however, pretty scary when I want to be.”
“No arguments from me on that last thing.” Reynolds mutters quietly as he stands and stretches, wincing as she had earlier.
She chuckles again. “How’s your head, kid?”
He feels the bump on the back of his head. “Not bad. Still a little sore to the touch, but no real headache anymore. And damn, I am hungry for something other than a protein bar.”
She nods and shakes two of the anti-inflammatory pain pills into her hand. “Good. Take these, they’ll help with the soreness and the bruises. I hear you on being hungry. The bars’ll keep you alive, but that’s about it.”
He takes the pills and dry-swallows them while looking around. She’s about to say something when her comm, still in her ear, crackles to life. At first, the voice over the radio is garbled and unintelligible, but a moment later, it sounds again, still scratchy but now understandable. “Taylor to Washington, Wash, are you there? Reynolds?” She can hear the concern in his voice.
Alicia grins and taps her comm on, glad to realize that it actually survived being dunked. “Washington and Reynolds here, Commander.” Reynolds reaches up and taps his on as well.
She has to smile at the sound of Nathaniel’s audible sigh of relief. “What’s your condition, Lieutenant? And how is the private?”
“We’re both fine, sir. Just some bumps and bruises.”
“What’s your position, Wash?” His voice is back to normal, clearly more relaxed now that he knows she’s all right.
Given the use of her nickname and ranks and his formal chain-of-command voice, she guesses that they’re on an open channel and keeps it fairly formal herself. “Sir, we’re on a ledge just above the water line at two rivers. We’re almost directly over the convergence. I hope you brought a grappling gun and lines, Batman. Getting across the water is going to be a challenge without them. Swimming in this yesterday was pretty tough.”
She hears the comm click, indicating what she guesses was a switch to a private channel. His words and the reduction in wind noise on the line bear that out. “Alicia, you fell in? Reilly wasn’t sure what happened. Are you really all right?” He sounds concerned again.
She steps away from Reynolds. “I’m really all right, Nathaniel. I didn’t fall far. I unhooked to climb down after Mark, and my boots slipped on the rocks. It was just too wet from all the mist coming up off of the water. We’re still a little damp right now from the mist. A hot shower and some tea are definitely on my agenda for later today.”
“Copy that, Lieutenant. You just let me know if you need company for the former.”
She laughs softly. “I’ll do that, Nathaniel.” She hears a click again, knowing that their conversation is now public again. “What’s your ETA, sir?”
“We should be there in less than half an hour, Lieutenant. You and the private sit tight until then. We’ll come to you.” His voice is once again formal.
“We’ll be waiting, sir.” She looks over at Reynolds and gives him a wink. “Hope you brought breakfast, Commander. I’m pretty sure we could both eat the north end out of a southbound carno at this point.”
She grins when she hears laughter over the comms, from Nathaniel and from the others listening in on the connection. “We figured that, Lieutenant. We’ve got breakfast and coffee.”
“Bless you, sir. See you soon.”
“Yes you will. Make sure you’re all packed up and ready to go, Lieutenant. Taylor out.” She can still hear the laughter in his voice, and she chuckles, shaking her head.
She looks over at Reynolds. “OK, kid. Let’s get everything back in the pack.”
Ten minutes later, they have her pack repacked, with the only things left out being the small rock drill and bolt hammer Alicia has for setting clips in the rock face, rock anchors and carabiners and the straps they’ll need to attach their harnesses to the line. Alicia has also changed back into her mostly dry fatigues and slipped her boots on. They’re both sitting at the edge of the overhang, harnesses on and their legs dangling over the edge, when they hear the telltale sounds of vehicles crashing through the trees.
A moment later, a rover and a rhino emerge from the tree line and head up the river towards them, skidding to a stop at the convergence, on the bank directly across from their perch. She and Mark are a good ten to fifteen feet higher than the opposite bank, and Alicia guesses that the others will shoot a line across to let them clip in and let gravity take care of the rest. They’ve still got their harnesses from yesterday, so it should be pretty easy to almost zip line across the rapidly moving water.
Alicia is surprised at first to see the rhino. They have fewer of them than they do rovers, but she then realizes that Nathaniel and Guz had no idea if they’d need medical attention or not. Nathaniel climbs out from behind the wheel of the rover, and she sees one of the medics from the clinic climb out from the rhino, followed by Nurse Ogawa.
The group is filled in by a few of the younger soldiers, all in need of some OTG time. She smiles a little at that, and then she catches Nathaniel’s eye. She can see him visibly relax at the sight of them, and she feels somewhat guilty again when it becomes obvious how worried he was about her and probably Reynolds as well.
She reaches up and taps her comm. “Good morning, sir. Any thoughts for how to get us across?” Her words are for the soldiers’ benefit. She knows he wouldn’t have come without a plan.
“You sure you don’t want to swim, Lieutenant?” She can hear the teasing in his voice and chuckles from the soldiers and medical personnel, and she does her best to shoot him a glare from fifty feet away. He must be able to see it, because he holds up his hands in a conciliatory manner and then gestures to the soldier who’d been in the rover with him, another young guy named Dunham.
Dunham reaches into the back of the rover and comes back with a crossbow they modified a while ago for just this purpose. The bolt has a line attached to it, a strong, light nylon rope which will bear their weight. Nathaniel takes it and looks up at Alicia. She turns and briefly surveys the rock face. She then turns back, indicates a point on the rocks.
He nods and starts setting up his shot as Alicia herds Reynolds to the far edge away from the target Alicia indicated to Nathaniel. A moment later, the crossbow bolt with the line attached comes zipping over. It bounces off of the rocky face and drops to the surface of the ledge. Almost immediately, the weight of the line begins to pull it backwards towards the edge, down to the water.
Alicia is ready for that, and she lunges forward, catching the bolt before it can slide off of the ledge. She calls Reynolds over and hands him the line to hold. In minutes, she has three anchors set into the rocks and she attaches the line. At the other end, they have the line tied off on the rhino.
She clips some extra anchors and her drill and hammer to her harness, and then she uses a carabiner to clip her pack to the line. “We’re sending the pack first, ma’am?”
Reynolds sounds a little puzzled, so she looks up at him. “I want to see how well the line holds. I haven’t climbed here, and I don’t know how well the anchors are going to hold in the rock. Based on what I can see of the rock composition, they should hold fine, but this place has surprised me before. Better to have the pack end up in the middle of the river than you or me.”
He nods quickly as she sends the pack down to Nathaniel and the others. “Excellent plan, ma’am.”
She snorts. “So glad you approve, Private.” He looks freaked out again at his own words until he sees her smirking at him. She grins. “Gotcha.”
The line holds steady for the pack, so she looks up at Reynolds. “You’re next, kid.” He opens his mouth to argue, but she holds her hand up, making him remain silent. “That’s an order, Mark. First, it’s my call. Period. Second, if the line gives at all under your weight, which is somewhat heavier than mine, I’m the one who knows how to reset the anchors. Now clip in and go.”
“Yes ma’am.” She can tell his acquiescence is reluctant, and while she finds it a little sweet, she’s also internally rolling her eyes at her apparent acquisition of yet another overprotective male. She helps him clip in and checks his harness before waving at Nathaniel that Mark is coming down. He looks slightly disapproving - her alpha overprotective male - but she just gives him a hard look until he nods.
Reynolds steps off of the ledge and heads down, his long legs making his boots skim the surface of the water just before he reaches the opposite bank. Dunham catches him as he gets to shore. Mark gives her a wave that he’s all right, and she turns and checks the anchors.
One of them is slightly loose, and she takes her hammer and taps it back in, pulling on it to test it. Satisfied that the line is solid, she turns back and clips her strap to the line. She pulls on her fingerless leather gloves, also dried after their dunk in the river yesterday. She looks down and sees that Nathaniel has taken Dunham’s place.
She nods at him and he nods back, ready to catch her at the end of her descent. She steps off of the ledge, zipping down towards him. She relaxes her body as she nears him, and he catches her easily. She knows he’s the one who wanted to catch her because it gives him the opportunity to hug her to him in front of the others without raising any questions about their relationship.
Seconds later, she collides with him. He stumbles back a few steps, but keeps his feet beneath them. As she guessed he would, he wraps his arms tight around her. In response, her arms instinctively wrap around him. He waits a beat before setting her on her feet, and she breathes an, “I’m OK,” in his ear when he’s holding her.
When he puts her down, she immediately steps back, mindful of their audience. She gives him a smile. “Nice catch, sir.”
He snorts and the men around them chuckle. Gesturing to the rhino, he says, “Food’s in the rhino. Grab some and a thermos of coffee for us. You’re with me, Lieutenant, the rest can go in the rhino.”
She nods, not surprised by his order. “Yes sir.”
Less than five minutes later, they’re underway. She’s settled in the passenger seat of the rover, holding the thermos between her knees and munching on a muffin. Instead of trying to yell over the wind noise, he just opens a private channel for them to talk over comms. “How did Reynolds do?”
She smiles. “He did better than I expected. Struggled at first, but since it was his first time facing a predator, I’m all right with how he did.”
He stiffens a little. “How did he struggle?”
She sighs at that. “Nathaniel…”
“Don’t Nathaniel me, Alicia. You know I need to know.”
“He froze, Nathaniel, at the sight of the slashers. But this was the best possible time for that to happen. We were going over the edge no matter what. We were cornered, and we had two sonics and my pistol. That was it. We were completely humped,” she pauses but continues before he can say anything, “We already talked about it. He won’t freeze again. I’d stake my life on it. And you know I wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true.”
“OK, Alicia. I’ll trust you on this one.”
She nods, relieved. “Thank you. One thing I figured out - we need to add something to the training. These kids seem to think that the only way to call a predator encounter a win is to kill the predator. I made it clear to Reynolds that all you have to do to ‘win’ is survive.”
“Damn, it never occurred to me that they’d think otherwise.” He shakes his head.
“I know. I think they all know our, yours, mine and Guz’s that is, reputations as soldiers, taking territory and fighting land wars. They just are extrapolating that to fighting the dinos.” She shrugs. “At least this particular mishap showed me a weakness in our training.”
“Glass half-full, then?”
She shrugs again. “Better than half-empty.” Tired from staying awake most of the night before, she snuggles down into the seat and closes her eyes. Before she drops off, she makes him chuckle softly when she mumbles, “Wake me up if we run into something that wants to eat us.”
They are blessedly predator-free for the drive home, at least she assumes so when Nathaniel nudges her awake when they’re just a few minutes out from the gate. She sits up straighter, blinking, and as she stirs, she realizes that he covered her up with his jacket at some point.
She shoots him a questioning look, and he shrugs and gives her a sheepish smile before opening the private channel again. “You were all pulled in on yourself like you do when you’re cold.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
They pull through the gate, and the rhino pulls in close behind them. Alicia hears Guz’s voice yell at the guards to close the gate. She rolls her shoulders against the stiffness building in them and climbs out of the rover. She’s surprised to see not just Guz, but Reilly, Curran and, most surprisingly, Malcolm standing there waiting for them. Reilly and Guz step forward first, Guz wrapping her up in a hug.
He steps back with a grin. “Glad you’re all right, Wash.” He nods at Reynolds, now emerged from the rhino. “And you even kept the FNG alive.”
Alicia can hear the teasing note in Guz’s voice, and she snorts. “Kid did OK, Guz.” She looks over at Reynolds and gives him a smile.
He blushes lightly and looks down. “Thanks, ma’am.”
She turns to Nurse Ogawa. “Did he admit that he hit his head yesterday?” Mark looks up again, his face actually looking somewhat betrayed. “Time to get checked out, kid.”
He scowls a little, but then he straightens up when the nurse takes his arm. “Yes ma’am.”
Laughing, Guz looks down at her. “What about you?”
She shakes her head. “Just bumps and bruises. I’ll be fine after a shower.”
Nathaniel nods. “Head home and get cleaned up. Come by the command center later to debrief.”
“Yes sir.” She gives him a mischievous look, one he returns.
Before she can say anything else, Malcolm steps forward. “Lieutenant, might I accompany you home? I’d like to speak with you.”
She blinks in surprise and shares a quick look with Nathaniel, and then she nods. “Of course, Doc.” She shoulders into her pack and heads for home, beckoning to Malcolm to join her.
As they walk, Malcolm is silent at first. Eventually, Alicia says, “Doc? You had something to say?”
“Yes. I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I don’t think I really understood why the training was necessary until there were actual predators involved.” He hangs his head slightly.
“Don’t worry about it, Doc. Just, you know, try not to let it happen again. I’ll give you a free pass this time, though.”
He looks relieved. “Thank you, Lieutenant. And you can call me Malcolm.”
“And I think I already told you to call me Wash.” They arrive at her door. “This is me. Please excuse me, Malcolm. I’m tired and in desperate need of a hot shower.”
“Wash, wait.” He puts a hand on her arm.
She gives him a surprised look. “What else do you need, Malcolm?”
He suddenly looks exceedingly nervous. “I was wondering if you’d let me buy you a drink some time, a thank you for looking out for us.”
“That’s not necessary, but sure, Malcolm, I do sometimes go by Boylan’s. You can feel free to pick up a round for me if you’d like.” She gives him what she hopes is a cordial smile.
“Actually, I was really asking if I can come by and get you to take you out for a drink.” He gives her a direct look.
“Oh.” She’s puzzled for a moment before understanding hits her and her eyes widen in surprise. “Oh. Malcolm, I’m very flattered. No. Thank you, but no.”
“You don’t date scientists?” The look he wears now is something of a wounded puppy look, and what she really wants to do is tell him she’s already seeing someone, but she knows she can’t because of the potential rumor mill.
She tries to think fast. “Not exactly, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to fraternize with people who I also have to protect.” She hopes that will mollify him.
He sighs. “Understood.” He pauses, his face going hopeful again. “Friends then? Maybe I’ll even get you to change your mind.”
“Don’t count on the latter, but friends is fine by me.” She gives him another smile, trying to be kind but really wanting to escape.
“Fair enough. I’ll see you later then, Wash.” He waves a little and head off towards his new lab.
She goes inside her house, dropping her pack by the front door and leaning heavily against it. She runs a hand through her hair and blows out a breath. “Next time Nathaniel’s taking the newbies out.”
Character/Pairing: Wash/Taylor, Guz, Reynolds, Malcolm, Reilly
Word Count: ~3600 for this chapter
Genre: Friendship, Romance, Adventure
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It’s nice that Nathaniel trusts her with training them how to survive here, but sometimes the newbies feel like they’re more trouble than they’re worth.
Author’s Note: Pre-Series, after the Fifth Pilgrimage. Set in the context of my other stories, a look at how Alicia and Mark became friends despite the age and rank differences.
SO sorry this took so long - work and the holidays have done me in free time-wise. And I lied. There’ll be one more, an epilogue of sorts, and it’ll be a little smutty…
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Disclaimer is as usual - no profit, not mine, just borrowing.
Alicia jerks awake at the sound of a dino off in the distance. It’s a cawing noise, one she recognizes as belonging to one of the herbivorous types. She blinks as she looks around, inwardly cursing herself for falling asleep. She shivers slightly, as the mist off of the rivers has left everything slightly damp.
It surprises her to realize that the sun is already rising in the east, just barely peeking above the horizon. Checking her watch, she sees that it’s well after six a.m. She is relatively certain that Nathaniel is probably already on his way here.
She’s still sitting up, her back against the rock wall and a blanket wrapped around her. Feeling something warm and heavy on her leg, she looks down, and she can’t help but smile. During the night, Reynolds abandoned his makeshift pillow in favor of her upper thigh. Her hand still rests on him, now nearer to his elbow than his shoulder.
He looks so damned young when he’s curled up on her like this, and she feels a wave of protectiveness wash over her. She can’t remember ever getting so attached to a younger soldier before, but there’s just something about the kid that pulls at her heartstrings. She knows it’s at least in part due to their shared orphan status.
She also knows how hard it is to be on your own, and she has to admire the kid’s courage in coming here entirely by himself. For her, the only reason she isn’t alone is Nathaniel. She finds herself hoping for Mark to find someone himself, despite his youth.
She reaches down and pulls his blanket up higher around him, and she relaxes again, now fully awake, her eyes scanning the area for predators. She’s not happy with herself for letting her guard down enough to go to sleep, but she also knows that they were and are pretty safe here. She’d managed to stay awake well into the night, and she hadn’t seen anything during that time.
She rolls her neck, trying to stretch it out. As she shifts against the rocks, she winces as she feels every single bump and bruise she got when she bounced against the rocks and her harness. This time her movements rouse Reynolds, who stirs and then goes rigid as if he suddenly realized that he’s using her as a pillow.
He jerks up into a sitting position, blinking and blushing hard. “Ma’am! I’m so sorry! Please don’t kill me!”
She gives him a bemused grin at that. “Mark, seriously? Don’t kill you?”
“The guys all told me you’re a hard ass, and they also said that you shut down any guy who makes an advance.” She lifts an eyebrow, and his eyes widen comically. “Oh God, why do I keep saying stupid shit? No, I wasn’t making an advance. You’re like my very scary older sister!” She can’t help the amusement in her eyes at that, and she cocks her head and crosses her arms across her chest. He holds his hands up, blushing even harder. “Not that you’re old! Or actually scary!” He stops and hangs his head. “On second thought, never mind. Just kill me.”
Unable to suppress it, she starts to laugh. “Take it easy, soldier. I won’t kill you, I know you weren’t getting fresh, and I’m aware that I’m not that old. I am, however, pretty scary when I want to be.”
“No arguments from me on that last thing.” Reynolds mutters quietly as he stands and stretches, wincing as she had earlier.
She chuckles again. “How’s your head, kid?”
He feels the bump on the back of his head. “Not bad. Still a little sore to the touch, but no real headache anymore. And damn, I am hungry for something other than a protein bar.”
She nods and shakes two of the anti-inflammatory pain pills into her hand. “Good. Take these, they’ll help with the soreness and the bruises. I hear you on being hungry. The bars’ll keep you alive, but that’s about it.”
He takes the pills and dry-swallows them while looking around. She’s about to say something when her comm, still in her ear, crackles to life. At first, the voice over the radio is garbled and unintelligible, but a moment later, it sounds again, still scratchy but now understandable. “Taylor to Washington, Wash, are you there? Reynolds?” She can hear the concern in his voice.
Alicia grins and taps her comm on, glad to realize that it actually survived being dunked. “Washington and Reynolds here, Commander.” Reynolds reaches up and taps his on as well.
She has to smile at the sound of Nathaniel’s audible sigh of relief. “What’s your condition, Lieutenant? And how is the private?”
“We’re both fine, sir. Just some bumps and bruises.”
“What’s your position, Wash?” His voice is back to normal, clearly more relaxed now that he knows she’s all right.
Given the use of her nickname and ranks and his formal chain-of-command voice, she guesses that they’re on an open channel and keeps it fairly formal herself. “Sir, we’re on a ledge just above the water line at two rivers. We’re almost directly over the convergence. I hope you brought a grappling gun and lines, Batman. Getting across the water is going to be a challenge without them. Swimming in this yesterday was pretty tough.”
She hears the comm click, indicating what she guesses was a switch to a private channel. His words and the reduction in wind noise on the line bear that out. “Alicia, you fell in? Reilly wasn’t sure what happened. Are you really all right?” He sounds concerned again.
She steps away from Reynolds. “I’m really all right, Nathaniel. I didn’t fall far. I unhooked to climb down after Mark, and my boots slipped on the rocks. It was just too wet from all the mist coming up off of the water. We’re still a little damp right now from the mist. A hot shower and some tea are definitely on my agenda for later today.”
“Copy that, Lieutenant. You just let me know if you need company for the former.”
She laughs softly. “I’ll do that, Nathaniel.” She hears a click again, knowing that their conversation is now public again. “What’s your ETA, sir?”
“We should be there in less than half an hour, Lieutenant. You and the private sit tight until then. We’ll come to you.” His voice is once again formal.
“We’ll be waiting, sir.” She looks over at Reynolds and gives him a wink. “Hope you brought breakfast, Commander. I’m pretty sure we could both eat the north end out of a southbound carno at this point.”
She grins when she hears laughter over the comms, from Nathaniel and from the others listening in on the connection. “We figured that, Lieutenant. We’ve got breakfast and coffee.”
“Bless you, sir. See you soon.”
“Yes you will. Make sure you’re all packed up and ready to go, Lieutenant. Taylor out.” She can still hear the laughter in his voice, and she chuckles, shaking her head.
She looks over at Reynolds. “OK, kid. Let’s get everything back in the pack.”
Ten minutes later, they have her pack repacked, with the only things left out being the small rock drill and bolt hammer Alicia has for setting clips in the rock face, rock anchors and carabiners and the straps they’ll need to attach their harnesses to the line. Alicia has also changed back into her mostly dry fatigues and slipped her boots on. They’re both sitting at the edge of the overhang, harnesses on and their legs dangling over the edge, when they hear the telltale sounds of vehicles crashing through the trees.
A moment later, a rover and a rhino emerge from the tree line and head up the river towards them, skidding to a stop at the convergence, on the bank directly across from their perch. She and Mark are a good ten to fifteen feet higher than the opposite bank, and Alicia guesses that the others will shoot a line across to let them clip in and let gravity take care of the rest. They’ve still got their harnesses from yesterday, so it should be pretty easy to almost zip line across the rapidly moving water.
Alicia is surprised at first to see the rhino. They have fewer of them than they do rovers, but she then realizes that Nathaniel and Guz had no idea if they’d need medical attention or not. Nathaniel climbs out from behind the wheel of the rover, and she sees one of the medics from the clinic climb out from the rhino, followed by Nurse Ogawa.
The group is filled in by a few of the younger soldiers, all in need of some OTG time. She smiles a little at that, and then she catches Nathaniel’s eye. She can see him visibly relax at the sight of them, and she feels somewhat guilty again when it becomes obvious how worried he was about her and probably Reynolds as well.
She reaches up and taps her comm. “Good morning, sir. Any thoughts for how to get us across?” Her words are for the soldiers’ benefit. She knows he wouldn’t have come without a plan.
“You sure you don’t want to swim, Lieutenant?” She can hear the teasing in his voice and chuckles from the soldiers and medical personnel, and she does her best to shoot him a glare from fifty feet away. He must be able to see it, because he holds up his hands in a conciliatory manner and then gestures to the soldier who’d been in the rover with him, another young guy named Dunham.
Dunham reaches into the back of the rover and comes back with a crossbow they modified a while ago for just this purpose. The bolt has a line attached to it, a strong, light nylon rope which will bear their weight. Nathaniel takes it and looks up at Alicia. She turns and briefly surveys the rock face. She then turns back, indicates a point on the rocks.
He nods and starts setting up his shot as Alicia herds Reynolds to the far edge away from the target Alicia indicated to Nathaniel. A moment later, the crossbow bolt with the line attached comes zipping over. It bounces off of the rocky face and drops to the surface of the ledge. Almost immediately, the weight of the line begins to pull it backwards towards the edge, down to the water.
Alicia is ready for that, and she lunges forward, catching the bolt before it can slide off of the ledge. She calls Reynolds over and hands him the line to hold. In minutes, she has three anchors set into the rocks and she attaches the line. At the other end, they have the line tied off on the rhino.
She clips some extra anchors and her drill and hammer to her harness, and then she uses a carabiner to clip her pack to the line. “We’re sending the pack first, ma’am?”
Reynolds sounds a little puzzled, so she looks up at him. “I want to see how well the line holds. I haven’t climbed here, and I don’t know how well the anchors are going to hold in the rock. Based on what I can see of the rock composition, they should hold fine, but this place has surprised me before. Better to have the pack end up in the middle of the river than you or me.”
He nods quickly as she sends the pack down to Nathaniel and the others. “Excellent plan, ma’am.”
She snorts. “So glad you approve, Private.” He looks freaked out again at his own words until he sees her smirking at him. She grins. “Gotcha.”
The line holds steady for the pack, so she looks up at Reynolds. “You’re next, kid.” He opens his mouth to argue, but she holds her hand up, making him remain silent. “That’s an order, Mark. First, it’s my call. Period. Second, if the line gives at all under your weight, which is somewhat heavier than mine, I’m the one who knows how to reset the anchors. Now clip in and go.”
“Yes ma’am.” She can tell his acquiescence is reluctant, and while she finds it a little sweet, she’s also internally rolling her eyes at her apparent acquisition of yet another overprotective male. She helps him clip in and checks his harness before waving at Nathaniel that Mark is coming down. He looks slightly disapproving - her alpha overprotective male - but she just gives him a hard look until he nods.
Reynolds steps off of the ledge and heads down, his long legs making his boots skim the surface of the water just before he reaches the opposite bank. Dunham catches him as he gets to shore. Mark gives her a wave that he’s all right, and she turns and checks the anchors.
One of them is slightly loose, and she takes her hammer and taps it back in, pulling on it to test it. Satisfied that the line is solid, she turns back and clips her strap to the line. She pulls on her fingerless leather gloves, also dried after their dunk in the river yesterday. She looks down and sees that Nathaniel has taken Dunham’s place.
She nods at him and he nods back, ready to catch her at the end of her descent. She steps off of the ledge, zipping down towards him. She relaxes her body as she nears him, and he catches her easily. She knows he’s the one who wanted to catch her because it gives him the opportunity to hug her to him in front of the others without raising any questions about their relationship.
Seconds later, she collides with him. He stumbles back a few steps, but keeps his feet beneath them. As she guessed he would, he wraps his arms tight around her. In response, her arms instinctively wrap around him. He waits a beat before setting her on her feet, and she breathes an, “I’m OK,” in his ear when he’s holding her.
When he puts her down, she immediately steps back, mindful of their audience. She gives him a smile. “Nice catch, sir.”
He snorts and the men around them chuckle. Gesturing to the rhino, he says, “Food’s in the rhino. Grab some and a thermos of coffee for us. You’re with me, Lieutenant, the rest can go in the rhino.”
She nods, not surprised by his order. “Yes sir.”
Less than five minutes later, they’re underway. She’s settled in the passenger seat of the rover, holding the thermos between her knees and munching on a muffin. Instead of trying to yell over the wind noise, he just opens a private channel for them to talk over comms. “How did Reynolds do?”
She smiles. “He did better than I expected. Struggled at first, but since it was his first time facing a predator, I’m all right with how he did.”
He stiffens a little. “How did he struggle?”
She sighs at that. “Nathaniel…”
“Don’t Nathaniel me, Alicia. You know I need to know.”
“He froze, Nathaniel, at the sight of the slashers. But this was the best possible time for that to happen. We were going over the edge no matter what. We were cornered, and we had two sonics and my pistol. That was it. We were completely humped,” she pauses but continues before he can say anything, “We already talked about it. He won’t freeze again. I’d stake my life on it. And you know I wouldn’t say that if it wasn’t true.”
“OK, Alicia. I’ll trust you on this one.”
She nods, relieved. “Thank you. One thing I figured out - we need to add something to the training. These kids seem to think that the only way to call a predator encounter a win is to kill the predator. I made it clear to Reynolds that all you have to do to ‘win’ is survive.”
“Damn, it never occurred to me that they’d think otherwise.” He shakes his head.
“I know. I think they all know our, yours, mine and Guz’s that is, reputations as soldiers, taking territory and fighting land wars. They just are extrapolating that to fighting the dinos.” She shrugs. “At least this particular mishap showed me a weakness in our training.”
“Glass half-full, then?”
She shrugs again. “Better than half-empty.” Tired from staying awake most of the night before, she snuggles down into the seat and closes her eyes. Before she drops off, she makes him chuckle softly when she mumbles, “Wake me up if we run into something that wants to eat us.”
They are blessedly predator-free for the drive home, at least she assumes so when Nathaniel nudges her awake when they’re just a few minutes out from the gate. She sits up straighter, blinking, and as she stirs, she realizes that he covered her up with his jacket at some point.
She shoots him a questioning look, and he shrugs and gives her a sheepish smile before opening the private channel again. “You were all pulled in on yourself like you do when you’re cold.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
They pull through the gate, and the rhino pulls in close behind them. Alicia hears Guz’s voice yell at the guards to close the gate. She rolls her shoulders against the stiffness building in them and climbs out of the rover. She’s surprised to see not just Guz, but Reilly, Curran and, most surprisingly, Malcolm standing there waiting for them. Reilly and Guz step forward first, Guz wrapping her up in a hug.
He steps back with a grin. “Glad you’re all right, Wash.” He nods at Reynolds, now emerged from the rhino. “And you even kept the FNG alive.”
Alicia can hear the teasing note in Guz’s voice, and she snorts. “Kid did OK, Guz.” She looks over at Reynolds and gives him a smile.
He blushes lightly and looks down. “Thanks, ma’am.”
She turns to Nurse Ogawa. “Did he admit that he hit his head yesterday?” Mark looks up again, his face actually looking somewhat betrayed. “Time to get checked out, kid.”
He scowls a little, but then he straightens up when the nurse takes his arm. “Yes ma’am.”
Laughing, Guz looks down at her. “What about you?”
She shakes her head. “Just bumps and bruises. I’ll be fine after a shower.”
Nathaniel nods. “Head home and get cleaned up. Come by the command center later to debrief.”
“Yes sir.” She gives him a mischievous look, one he returns.
Before she can say anything else, Malcolm steps forward. “Lieutenant, might I accompany you home? I’d like to speak with you.”
She blinks in surprise and shares a quick look with Nathaniel, and then she nods. “Of course, Doc.” She shoulders into her pack and heads for home, beckoning to Malcolm to join her.
As they walk, Malcolm is silent at first. Eventually, Alicia says, “Doc? You had something to say?”
“Yes. I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I don’t think I really understood why the training was necessary until there were actual predators involved.” He hangs his head slightly.
“Don’t worry about it, Doc. Just, you know, try not to let it happen again. I’ll give you a free pass this time, though.”
He looks relieved. “Thank you, Lieutenant. And you can call me Malcolm.”
“And I think I already told you to call me Wash.” They arrive at her door. “This is me. Please excuse me, Malcolm. I’m tired and in desperate need of a hot shower.”
“Wash, wait.” He puts a hand on her arm.
She gives him a surprised look. “What else do you need, Malcolm?”
He suddenly looks exceedingly nervous. “I was wondering if you’d let me buy you a drink some time, a thank you for looking out for us.”
“That’s not necessary, but sure, Malcolm, I do sometimes go by Boylan’s. You can feel free to pick up a round for me if you’d like.” She gives him what she hopes is a cordial smile.
“Actually, I was really asking if I can come by and get you to take you out for a drink.” He gives her a direct look.
“Oh.” She’s puzzled for a moment before understanding hits her and her eyes widen in surprise. “Oh. Malcolm, I’m very flattered. No. Thank you, but no.”
“You don’t date scientists?” The look he wears now is something of a wounded puppy look, and what she really wants to do is tell him she’s already seeing someone, but she knows she can’t because of the potential rumor mill.
She tries to think fast. “Not exactly, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to fraternize with people who I also have to protect.” She hopes that will mollify him.
He sighs. “Understood.” He pauses, his face going hopeful again. “Friends then? Maybe I’ll even get you to change your mind.”
“Don’t count on the latter, but friends is fine by me.” She gives him another smile, trying to be kind but really wanting to escape.
“Fair enough. I’ll see you later then, Wash.” He waves a little and head off towards his new lab.
She goes inside her house, dropping her pack by the front door and leaning heavily against it. She runs a hand through her hair and blows out a breath. “Next time Nathaniel’s taking the newbies out.”