Met a Girl Who Sang the Blues

Posted on Tue Jun 28th, 2022 @ 6:07am by

Mission: The Lost Brother
Location: Wagnor's Quarters

{ON}

Soran sat in quarters playing his harmonica, he stopped and stared at the instrument. He grew up playing a renolo, an Angosian mouth organ similar to the harmonica. He lost his renolo after escaping from the Tasian prison transport. He tried to have one replicated, but none of them sounded right. So he learned the harmonica and put most of his people's music behind him. Too many memories.

He sighed "Computer play Wagnor 078"

An old Angosian folk song began playing and Soran took a deep breath and let music take back…

The Sun on Roth IV was getting low in the sky as Soran sat with some locals. They'd spent the better part of an hour with their musical instruments trading tunes and playing with one another. The universal translator made some of the lyrics seem off, but he was getting the gist of it. He liked the Rothins, they'd spent three months arming and training them for the coming conflict with the Talsion union. He'd spent his days teaching combat and survival skills in his evening's jamming with local musicians. It was some of the most pleasant time he spent in the armed forces. That was all about the change they were being rotated to special assignments. They were just waiting on two new comrades.

"Wagnor! Get off your ass!" Commander Lemfoe called out with a grin. "We've got people to meet!"

Lemfoe led him near the landing pad as a transport shuttle landed. The shuttle's Bay doors opened with a hiss and two figures in full military kit with their visors down stepped out. One of them was about Soran's size. The second was about half a head shorter and even in full armor her elegant curves were visible. Soran smiled, recognizing his old friend's familiar gate. She raised the visor, her Emerald green eyes glistening in the fading light.

"Ren! How are you…" She began.

"Hold up!" Lemfoe interrupted. "Do it right! Report!"

"Third Hadar Thatha Othlin, Sir!" Thatha motioned to the other one. This is Second Hardar Fran Damter we're reporting for duty, Sir."

"I take it you and Wagnor are friends?" The Commander inquired.

"Yes Sir."

"Well that's just peachy seeing as he's gonna be your battle buddy. The medical and Comm. always formed the rear of my team."

Thatha grinned and swatted Soran's butt. "At least one of us has a rear."

"Wagnor!" Lemfoe barked. "Is your comrade always this much of a smart ass?!"

"No Sir," Soran was fighting back a smile. "Othlin is normally worse; she prides herself on busting balls Sir."

Lemfoe got in Thatha's face. "Well you seem to have a big pair of balls yourself, girly!"

"That statement is a non sequitur, Sir!" Her expression remained calm. "I bust balls out of spite with a dash of envy."

The commander guffawed and the other men began laughing as well.

"Wagnor, show these two where they can stow their gear." Lemfoe instructed.

"Yes Sir," Soran nodded and then led them to the barracks…

The sky was darkened by the clouds of an incoming storm, as the Angosian strike team made their way through the thick forest. 'It's funny they'd send strike teams with the peacekeeping forces' Soran thought. He'd spent the last month fighting some of the same people he'd armed and trained. He had Kepek in a fireman's carry, they'd been attacked by a large predator while on their recon mission. The feline had dropped out of a tree and landed on Kepek's back. They'd made short work of the beast, but Kepek was hurt badly. His comrade was stable, but he wasn't going to be walking anytime soon. Now they had their helmet lights on to scare off any other beasts, They moved quickly hoping not to run into snipers with their heads illuminated.

"We're not going to make it to the pickup, Sir." Damter said.

"Have any other brilliant observations, Gunny!" Lemfoe said dryly. "Keep your light out of my eyes."

"We got waylaid by a fucking animal! It wasn't even the enemy what the hell! Fuckin' Hell!"

"We're all animals and we're in the cat's territory." The commander stated Then… "Shhh!"

They could hear something moving in the brush ahead of them. Before seeing a light emerging from the trees. A small young soldier stepped into the clearing. Marild was the newest member of the squad. A fresh faced kid just out of Defense School.

"Marild, Report."

"There's a large civilian structure at the top of the hill, it looks like a resort of some kind." Marild stated.

"Life signs Kido?"

"The windows are shuttered and there's no exterior lights or sentries." Marild answered.

Lemfoe looked up. "Othlin?"

"The COMM channels and sensor nets are down with the storms," Thatha explained. "We're moving blind."

"We'll have to chance it," Lemfoe sighed. "With any luck we can wait out the storm luxury."

Lemfoe put a hand on Soran's arm, "I'll take Kepek up the hill."

He nodded and silently shifted his unconscious comrade to the Commander's shoulders. He was exhausted. None of them had slept in almost eighteen hours. They were all battered and bruised; he'd done his best to keep his comrades up in one piece.

"Watch our six," Lemfoe ordered.

Soran nodded and moved to the back of the squad and they moved up the hill. The forest was deathly quiet as it began to rain hard. 'This storm is going to be bad.' He thought. He didn't know who's bright idea it had been to knock out the weather control systems. Then again wartime wasn't known for allowing the geniuses to rise to the top. The death toll from the natural disasters was almost as high as the war casualties.

"Don't look so serious Ren, we're about to get out of the weather." Thatha nudged him as he came up alongside him.

"That's an excellent way to get shot, Thay," Soran snapped.

"With those red eyes can you shoot straight?" Thatha grinned.

She paused at the look on his face, "It's going to be okay, the cosmos can't piss on us all time."

Soran just shook his head as they approached the structure, he disabled the lock on the front door. The door swung open and they rushed in quickly as a gust of wind drove the rain sideways soaking their backs. The large hall was poorly lit with red emergency lights and they suddenly found themselves looking down the barrels of several rifles. The militia holding the weapons were shouting in an alien language.

"Hold your fire!" The Commander shouted. "No sudden moves."

"The translation circuit is out," Thatha reported

Lemfoe tried to speak the native tongue, but they didn't seem to understand and continued to shout while everyone pointed weapons at each other. Soran noticed a flute hanging from the belt of one of the militia men. He let go of his rifle, raised his visor and pulled his renolo from his boot.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Lemfoe growled.

Soran ignored him and began to play his instrument. The one with the flute lowered his rifle and began to play. The tension in the room began to melt, as all of them slowly lowered their weapons.

Thatha took helmet off and began to dance. Soran watched in wonder as she began the traditional folk dance that accompanied the tune. He knew she served a lot of her time off Angosia III, but to know this dance she'd had to have spent time with the Rothins. Putting down this 'rebellion' must be as hard for her as it was for him, but she's never said a word.

Several of the men began clapping in time with the music. 'How she could move like that after trudging nine clicks through heavy forest.' Soran mused, he put her ankle into a compression bandage two hours ago. Thatha danced herself over to a female militia member and took hand inviting her to dance and both of them began pulling the others into the jig.

This continued until an old woman in civilian clothes stepped into the hall and clapped her hands for silence. She and Lemfoe seem to be able to communicate. Apparently the resort belonged to a government bigwig who ordered them to stay to protect the property. They'd decided that some rich man's property wasn't worth killing over. So they offered them the eastwing until the storm passes. Two of the militia men carried a stretcher for Kepek. Soran and Thatha insisted on carrying their comrade themselves. The old woman spoke broken in Angosian. She said she'd bring the "Funk and Ghosts."

Lemfoe let out a laugh, "I believe our gracious host meant food and liquor."

A young woman led them to a dining room and showed Soran a bedroom to put Kepek. After settling him in then checking his vitals they went to the dining hall. For the first time since they were dropped on this rock they were eating good food and felt generally secure. Soran began to play the renolo and Thatha stood up and began to sing, he felt tears. After all the death and destruction he'd seen and done; to hear her beautiful voice… It was as if the gate of Utopiapla had opened and sent an Engel to this forsaken planet. The room had gone quiet except for them, when they finished the song there was a silence that followed.

Thatha moved to Soran with a silk handkerchief, she wiped his tears. "There's no smoke in here Ren."

Lemfoe coughed, "Hey Othlin you look tired, why don't you take the suit upstairs. Wagnor, help her change that bandage. I'll keep an eye on Kepek."

"Sir?" Soran inquired.

"Never thought I'd say this, kids," The commander smiled. "But your Tom fuckery saved lives back there, including our own. So you get the night off, do whatever."

Thatha helped Soran to his feet and grabbed a bottle. Damter whispered to Marild as they moved to the stairs.

"You shit kickers got something to say?" Lemfoe demanded.

"No Sir"

Soran followed behind Thatha up the stairs, she paused on the first landing.

"How's that ankle?" he asked.

She looped an arm around his neck and hooked her legs over his arm. "Much better now."

Soran laughed and carried her up to the suit. That was their first night together…

Soran wiped away the tears, he missed his friends. Kepek survived his injuries, but walked with a limp and never returned to active duty. Soran visited him at a Federation hospital after the Angosians began receiving Federation aid for their veterans. Lemfoe was the closest thing he'd ever had to a father. So he volunteered to lead the search missions to find him when he went MIA a few months later. They never found Lemfoe's body, but everyone thought he was gone. Soran's team was the last to give up the search. Marild survived long enough to be promoted to Second Hardar before dying in a skirmish on Davin III and Damter died at the second battle of Janlee. Thatha died in Soran arms, he played the tune she sang that night at a makeshift battlefield memorial for the fallen.

Soran found himself wondering why he survived, when they were gone? What made him and Kepek special? Soran wondered what would have happened had they met in a different life. Would they have been friends without going through hell? Would he and Thatha be married with kids? Then he put the harmonica away. These were futile questions. He knew that, so why did he keep asking them.

{OFF}