Nellie and the Nanites - Bk2- Ch.17 (Patreon)

Chapter 17

Like a Grown Up.

Nellie lurked in the shadows once more while they transferred their cargo to Crush-Cha and his people. Her feelings about the man were complicated. She was still pissed at him. He did try and kill her, after all. Despite that, she wanted to help him and wasn’t even sure why. Sure, he had been a friend when she needed one, but that didn’t really remove the fact he had turned on her.

At root, Nellie decided, it was her own guilt. She still felt guilty about killing Tor-Am. She had her reasons, and everyone’s reaction to her being a nanite host certainly proved them valid… but Tor-Am hadn’t deserved to die.

So, yeah, pissed at Crush. But she got why he reacted the way he did. Honestly, she’d love to run over and tell him who she was and try and explain everything… like if he said he understood, she could stop feeling so shit about everything.

Yeah, she smirked to herself; more likely, the planet would get nuked again. Great plan, Nellie.

Plus, he’d definitely shoot her.

Things were going pretty smoothly overall; the cargo was almost loaded when Nellie saw a tiny glint in the distance. It was barely a fraction of a second, but it was there. Most people would miss it, but most people didn’t have nanite-empowered eyeballs.

“You guys got a sniper here?” Nellie said, moving into cover before pointing at the distant light. “Or are we about to get attacked?”

“We have someone on overwatch, yes,” Crush-Cha answered calmly. “Just a precaution.”

“Fuck it, dump the rest. We are leaving,” Nellie ordered.

“We meant no offense,” Crush-Cha said with an apologetic smile. “It is to protect us, nothing more.”

“No, it’s not,” Nellie said to him hotly. “It was in case you needed to shoot us; otherwise, you would have told us about it when we landed.” She saw the one called Five flinch when she said that. So, she was right.

“Of course not,” Crush-Cha said.

“Your man over there gave the game away, Crush. We are leaving. Now!” Everyone piled into the shuttles and was off the ground in seconds. Crush and his people had more than enough supplies to last their people for now, so Nellie just ground her teeth and forced herself to keep going.

“Bloody two-faced gecko,” She muttered to herself. “You try to do someone a favor!”

“You can’t help how people act, only how you do,” Lucy said as she slid into the co-pilot’s seat. “We can give the rest of this stuff to the village. They can always use more stuff.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Nellie sighed.

They flew on in comfortable silence for a while, Nellie’s mind swirling with emotion. Was that an overreaction on her part? As they flew toward the village and their next stop, this time to hopefully recruit a few people for Duke’s place, Nellie decided that she didn’t really care if she had overreacted.

He overreacted when he tried to kill her. Maybe she wasn’t quite over that yet.

Landing two shuttles in the crowded village turned out to be more of a chore than she had expected, which at least took her mind off Crush being a total gun-happy idiot. They had to wait while part of the landing bay was cleared. It had been settled as space became even more of a premium in the village. The place was getting to be stuffed to the gills at this point, which might make their reason for a visit a little more welcome than she had expected. Lucy volunteered to watch the shuttle while she and Salem dealt with the Mayor. Nellie thanked her and gave her a quick kiss before she headed out of the shuttle with a promise to be back soon.

Nellie was almost clear of the shuttle before realizing she had done it.

===<<<>>>===

“That sure went to shit fast,” One said mildly as the shuttles flew away. “Think Four fucked up?”

“Sometimes snipers get spotted,” Three said with his usual gruff tone, “Fact of life. Even the best of ‘em. Bad luck is all it was.”

“Let’s hope we can still contact that Duke guy Salem mentioned,” Two said as he motioned for Four to come down. “Shall I call for pickup?”

“Boss?” One asked.

Crush-Cha was frowning at the rapidly vanishing shuttles. There was something about that woman that was familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Something about the way she called him ‘Crush’ stuck in his mind. His memory for faces was near perfect, and he was sure he would have remembered her. She didn’t ring a bell exactly… but there was something there; he just didn’t know what.

“Boss?” One asked again.

“Yeah, call for pick up. We don’t want to be stuck out here too long for some passing Fed to find.” Crush tucked the feeling away to examine later. “Tell four I want a report on everything they saw immediately.”

“Yes, Boss!” The squad chorused and got to work. In no time, their few vehicles were rolling into view, and loading took all of his attention. Crush had grown up around soldiers, and they never changed. Turn your back on supply for a second, and at least half would have added a little extra something to their packs. It wasn’t stealing, as they saw it, more like an equitable redistribution of available supplies to a deserving target. At least, that was what he had told his sergeant when he was caught. It hadn’t helped him any more than it would help anyone he caught.

It was just the way it was.

“One more time,” Crush said to Four; the trooper fidgetted as they began their report for the third time.

“I deployed to my marked observation nest five minutes earlier than ordered to ensure the shuttles could not see me. Once in position, I constructed the hide and ensured I was covered on all sides with foliage. Once the shuttles arrived, I observed each one of the personnel until I had an assigned threat reading on each one. I established a provisionary fire order accordingly and moved on to my secondary objective.” Four said in a bored –I’ve just said this twice– monotone. “I was able to get a basic scan on the target, an unidentified female, low Brackta identifiers, and no tail. Faint scaling on the skin, nothing more. She was relaxed but was determined to remain out of sight. I was close to getting a clearer look at her face and repositioned the rifle for a better angle. Deviation of less than one percent. At that point, she seemed to pause and peer in my direction.”

“Stop, that’s enough,” Crush shook his head. “Say it with me, Four,” Despite his mention of Four, the whole squad parrotted the next bit, “A sniper that moves when they don’t have to is an idiot, a target, and a corpse, in that order.”

Four looked suitably abashed, and Crush sat back. His job as squad leader was done for now, and he could think about the strange woman for a while as the transports rolled back to base.

No matter how many times he tried, Crush could not remember ever seeing that face before. The same went for the voice. It was not one that he knew off-hand. Someone from a long time ago was the most likely explanation, but that didn’t feel right somehow. It was like a nagging itch at the back of his mind. He knew he knew her; Crush just didn’t know how.

There was definitely something familiar about how she said his name; it was so familiar, but…

The comm unit crackled and ruined his concentration. Something was causing an uproar back at camp. Over the next few minutes, Crush and his squad were glued to the comm as news came in from resistance forces all over the place. The Feds were pulling their forces back to the cities. Their own long-range scouts confirmed it. Fed shuttles were moving, their landcraft forming convoys as they moved out of ALL of their forward positions.

One of their scouts even reported being sighted and ignored by a passing convoy.

“Did they pack everything up?” Crush asked the scout, the delay of a few seconds feeling as tense as he could remember feeling.

“No, they left pretty much everything behind. I can see buildings with the doors open, and, uh, confirmed I can see supplies and stuff inside.” The scout sounded excited. You could almost hear the smile stretched across her face as she spoke.

“Confirm they saw you? Confirm you are in armor?” Crush asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Confirm, Confirm.” The scout replied. “I even had my weapon out. They just drove on past.” A brief pause. “Did we drive them off? Is this it?”

“I fucking doubt it,” Crush-Cha growled over the comm line and sat back, his face twisted with worry.

“What’s with the bad mood, Boss?” Five asked as the others tried to shut him up. “Isn’t this a good thing? The Feds pulling out, I mean?”

“The Feds leaving is good,” Crush said bitterly, “The question is, why are they leaving?” He looked at his squad. “What do they know that we don’t?”

Getting back to base didn’t do anything for Crush-Cha’s mood. Everyone was celebrating; they had broken open bottles –soldiers always find something to drink– and they were dancing and singing like the war was over.

Brix was almost as bad as the rest. When Crush explained his worries to his friend, the big man simply patted him on the back and told him not to worry. Apparently, the man believed anything bad for the Feds was good for them.

Crush really wished he could believe that.

As he sat on the wall and watched the troops party, his sinking feeling turned into cold certainty. Something was coming, and whatever it was had the Feds scared. Scared enough to pull their forces back behind the huge walls of the city.

“One, to me,” Crush called over the comm line.

“One here, on my way.”

He was pacing back and forth along the wall, eyes scanning the area, when One turned up. He saw her standing at attention and ordered her to take the squad and secure the supplies they had brought in. It took less than twenty minutes for her to contact Crush with the news the partying troops had raided the supplies.

“Damn it, I should have put a guard on it from the start,” Crush muttered.

“Sir?” One asked.

“Nothing, One. Guard the rest of the supplies like your life depended on it,” Crush ordered.

“Does it, Boss?” Three called over the comms.

“I think so,” Crush said and closed the comm line. He spent the next few hours waiting for the other boot to fall. Waiting for the first bit of bad news that would herald the storm he was sure was coming.

“Dragon’s teeth, my head hurts,” Brix groaned when Crush reported to him the following day. “What the hell were we drinking last night?”

“No idea,” Crush-Cha answered curtly. “I didn’t drink.”

“Still got a stick up your ass about the Feds pulling out?” Brix groaned and emptied some water over his head. “I’m gonna find whoever brewed last night’s drink and shoot them just as soon as I can stand the daylight.”

“Well, there, I have some good news for you,” Crush kicked the door behind him open. The yellow camp lights were running low on power by now. They were solar-powered, so they normally would recharge during the day.

“What the hell time is it?” Brix groaned.

“The sun came up over three hours ago,” Crush said. “I could tell because it stopped being pitch black and became merely fucking black out there.” Through the door, Brix could see several troopers staring blankly up at the sky, which looked slightly lighter than last night, from what he could tell. Before he could speak, Crush went on, “I waited a few hours, but I think this is as bright as it is going to get.” He propped himself on one corner of Brix’s desk and smiled coldly.

“This is why the Fed’s pulled back?” Brix asked.

“This?” Crush shook his head slowly. “Nah, this affects the cities as well. I would be willing to bet it is related, though.”

“Good thing we got those supplies in then,” Brix rubbed his eyes as his brain kicked a few more brain cells into action.

“Pity about a third were nicked for the party last night,” Crush said with a savage growl. “Still,” He clapped Brix hard on the back, “Don’t worry, eh?” He marched out of the office, not waiting to be dismissed.

Brix would need at least another few minutes to pull himself together. In the meantime…

“GET UP, YOU LAZY BASTARDS!” He roared at the sleeping soldiers lying around the camp. “UP! COME ON YOU PATHETIC EXCUSES FOR SOLDIERS! THE WORLD’S ENDING!” He marched back and forth, roaring at the hung-over soldiers and feeling vicious glee at each one that threw up or winced.

Crush was in a bad mood, so he did what officers had done since the dawn of the first commission.

He spread the bad mood around.

===<<<>>>===

Nellie was pacing back and forth while she tried to make up her mind. It wasn’t like she had ever expected to be in this position, especially in another sector of the galaxy. She was a damned cyborg, for god’s sake. A nanite-infused, upgraded, bad-ass. Nothing should scare her at this point. She had space-walked on the outside of a space station in the middle of a battle. Nellie had fought pirates… in space. Nellie –not to put too fine a point on it– had hunted and killed invaders in an alien world!

Compared to all of that, this should be simple. All she had to do was knock on the damn door. Her fingers hovered for a moment an inch from the door, and then she went back to pacing again. It was simply ridiculous.

Nellie stopped pacing and slid down the wall of the rusted-out hulk that was her living quarters. She was scared to knock on her own door.

How pathetic was that?

Nellie’s mind had been in a spin the last day or so, ever since the ‘incident’ in the shuttle. Nothing in her life had prepared her for something like that. All her life, she had been certain about two things. First, she was straight. She had tried a few dates with women and didn’t feel a thing towards them, although she did make a few good friends. Secondly, she had always believed that sexual attraction was a fixed issue. If you liked men, then that didn’t change. If you liked women, same thing.

She had to go halfway across the universe, or more, to be attracted to a woman for the first time, and what was even more confusing was that she was falling for her as well.

Lucy had everything that Nellie had ever wanted in a partner. She was kind, caring, funny, loyal, strong, and the list went on… The only hangup had been Nellie’s own belief that she was not attracted to women. That idea was now firmly out the window. The very fact that in the middle of a hostile invasion on an alien world, while hiding from certain death, all Nellie could think about was the feel of Lucy’s lips on hers was proof that she was, in fact, attracted to at least one woman.

So, she liked Lucy, she was attracted to Lucy, and she was pretty sure she loved Lucy as well. That made things simple, right?

Wrong! That made everything terrifying. Hence, walking back and forth for over an hour outside her own door. What made everything worse was that she knew that Lucy knew she was there. How could she not?

With cold certainty, she knew that Lucy would never mention it if she walked away from the door. The choice was hers, no pressure.

Nellie stood, took two shaking steps toward the door, and knocked before she could chicken out again.

“Come in!” Lucy called, her voice coming from beyond the door instead of in Nellie’s ear.

Pushing open the door, Nellie saw Lucy sitting on the bed, her legs on the floor as she leaned back on her arms.

“Hi,” Nellie said and cringed at her own awkwardness.

“Hi,” Lucy smiled at her, melting her heart.

“So, uh, about earlier?” Nellie foundered.

“Yes?” Lucy prompted.

“I liked that,” Nellie said, nervously brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “A lot.”

“Me too,” Lucy said, her voice slightly breathless for a moment.

“I like you, too,” Nellie said lamely. “A lot.”

“Me too,” Lucy said.

“So, uh…” Nellie found all her words gone. Why were the words gone? She merely swallowed nervously.

“Okay, my turn,” Lucy said. “I love you, I want you, get in this bed?”

Nellie laughed for a second and then started to pull off her clothes in a rush.

“Whoa!” Lucy reached out and grabbed her hands. “Let me do this; it’s more fun that way.

“Uh, sure,” Nellie squeaked.

Lucy was right. It was much more fun that way….