Fic: The Summer Intern (cont.)
Mar. 19th, 2011 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalContinued from the last scene
"What?" the First One exclaimed. "Do y' know what happened exactly?"
"Not yet, I just got the initial report from Emergency Services. One of their neighbors reported hearing a big bag and seeing smoke from the direction of their farm. ES came in with Civil Protection and a scan saw their bodies in the middle of the fire."
He nodded grimly. "Get Skyler and bring my flyer over to my house, we can be there in..." The First One cursed. "Fragg! I can't go myself. I'm bion linked to the doe that Meribeth brought in. I can't leave the village without her and she's in no shape to be dragged along."
"I'll go myself and give you a full report when I get there. How does that sound?" Freya offered.
"Good, but it ain't enough." The First One turned on his heel and pointed to Nan. "Vix, you're going to go with Freya."
"What? Why?" Nan exclaimed.
"Backup for Freya. You'll both be representin' the Region's interests in t' investigation. I'll sign off on it while you're in the air."
"But what am I supposed to be doing?" she asked.
The First One smiled grimly. "Freya is gonna to be looking at the investigation fer me. Yer gonna look at who's lookin' at Freya."
"Yes, sir," Nan replied, still confused.
* * *
Skyler dropped his flyer down through the treetops and eased it barely a half meter from the edge of the First One's porch, popping open the side door for Nan to leap across and enter the cabin. It was only moderately terrifying, with both Ranger Freya's paws and Skyler's tail grabbing her arms to haul aboard as the flyer tilted sickeningly.
"Strapped in?" Sklyer asked, easing back away from the porch as he waved goodbye to the First One with his tail spade.
Nan pushed the last clip of her five point harness in place. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Hang on then." Skyler shoved the throttle forward and Nan was shoved back into her seat again as the flyer shot skyward and leveled out, a brief shudder of the airframe marking their transition to supersonic flight. She pulled her claws out of tough nylon fabric of the straps as the acceleration eased when they reached cruising speed.
Nan glanced over at the ranger, who was looking uncharacteristically pensive. "Are you all right, Freya?" she asked.
"I'm fine," she replied. "I was just wondering if you'll be all right. Have you ever been involved in a criminal investigation?"
"No," Nan admitted. "Have you been involved in many as a Ranger?"
"It's part of my job, though I haven't had to deal with a murder investigation since I was on Bolt Hole."
"When were you on Bolt Hole?" Nan asked in surprise.
"I did twelve years in the Service as a Military Protection officer. Did two tours on Bolt Hole after the GSA re-pacified it. Ugly work most of the time, though it had its moments."
Nan glanced out the canopy. The ground was invisible under what seemed these days to be a perpetual cloud cover, a field of gray the same color as a ferin's skin, which skimmed past as Skyler pushed their flyer to its maximum safe speed. "Do you really think that the buck we talked to last might have attacked the Furrows? I thought that using their bion to seriously injure or kill another being was unpleasant to them."
Freya looked uncomfortable at the question and said nothing. Instead it was Skyler who replied, glancing back briefly from his controls. "That's true," he said. "Some ferin are, um, different though."
Nan looked over at him. "What do you mean?"
Skyler turned away from her, concentrating on his controls, but kept talking. "Ferin are like anybody else. You leave them alone, they'll as like leave you alone. Hurt 'em enough though and it can make them twisted inside. Sometimes, if they get hurt long and hard enough, when the folks who control them make a slip, they lash out. Make 'em hurt as bad they hurt the ferin. Give 'em a little taste of power." His eyes flickered, glancing at Nan's reflection in the windscreen in front of him. "Sometimes they learn to like that feeling, the hurting."
"Is that true?" Nan asked Freya.
The ranger nodded reluctantly. "I've seen it," she said. "Not in any ferin born and raised here of course. Back on Bolt Hole though, I once helped break up a ferin fighting ring. They'd put bucks or does in a shielded cage, then send in something nasty like a starved grass chaser or a flock of La Vick's Vampires and make them dodge about until they got the order they could use their bion to kill their opponent."
"That's sickening," Nan said, feeling her stomach turn at just the thought.
"Yes," Freya said simply. "The big money though was when they set ferin on each other. The owners would give the order to fight until one of them stopped moving, or was dead."
"Holy Den Mother bless, you didn't actually see any of that, did you?"
The dark furred ranger nodded solemnly. "I was working undercover, trying to find out who the ring's backers were. Saw one of the ferin on ferin fights, about two days before the MP's broke up the ring. I could hear them crying and screaming at each other that they were sorry, that they didn't want to do this to their friend." She squeezed her paws into fists. "All I could do was watch it happen."
"What happened to the ferin that were part of the ring?" Nan asked.
"They were given sanctuary here on Newspring of course. I think most of them faded into the forest. The human officer who was overseeing the sting wasn't happy about that though. He wanted to gun them down like their were rabid animals."
"What stopped him?"
Freya gave her her a ghost of grin. "Me, putting my gun into his ear and telling him I'd fragg him before I'd let him touch them. To his credit, I think the fellow thought he would be just putting them out of their misery. He wasn't a bad sort really, he'd been as sickened by what was going on as any of us. He was just, ah, misinformed."
Nan nodded. "Did you get into trouble over that?"
"I got court martialed and dishonorably discharged, once the Human federation officer reported it to his superiors and they raised a stink. Of course the Board of Inquiry that drummed me out offered to send me here to the Region to be a Ranger in practically the same breath, so it worked out. Politics." She almost spat that last word.
"What?" the First One exclaimed. "Do y' know what happened exactly?"
"Not yet, I just got the initial report from Emergency Services. One of their neighbors reported hearing a big bag and seeing smoke from the direction of their farm. ES came in with Civil Protection and a scan saw their bodies in the middle of the fire."
He nodded grimly. "Get Skyler and bring my flyer over to my house, we can be there in..." The First One cursed. "Fragg! I can't go myself. I'm bion linked to the doe that Meribeth brought in. I can't leave the village without her and she's in no shape to be dragged along."
"I'll go myself and give you a full report when I get there. How does that sound?" Freya offered.
"Good, but it ain't enough." The First One turned on his heel and pointed to Nan. "Vix, you're going to go with Freya."
"What? Why?" Nan exclaimed.
"Backup for Freya. You'll both be representin' the Region's interests in t' investigation. I'll sign off on it while you're in the air."
"But what am I supposed to be doing?" she asked.
The First One smiled grimly. "Freya is gonna to be looking at the investigation fer me. Yer gonna look at who's lookin' at Freya."
"Yes, sir," Nan replied, still confused.
* * *
Skyler dropped his flyer down through the treetops and eased it barely a half meter from the edge of the First One's porch, popping open the side door for Nan to leap across and enter the cabin. It was only moderately terrifying, with both Ranger Freya's paws and Skyler's tail grabbing her arms to haul aboard as the flyer tilted sickeningly.
"Strapped in?" Sklyer asked, easing back away from the porch as he waved goodbye to the First One with his tail spade.
Nan pushed the last clip of her five point harness in place. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Hang on then." Skyler shoved the throttle forward and Nan was shoved back into her seat again as the flyer shot skyward and leveled out, a brief shudder of the airframe marking their transition to supersonic flight. She pulled her claws out of tough nylon fabric of the straps as the acceleration eased when they reached cruising speed.
Nan glanced over at the ranger, who was looking uncharacteristically pensive. "Are you all right, Freya?" she asked.
"I'm fine," she replied. "I was just wondering if you'll be all right. Have you ever been involved in a criminal investigation?"
"No," Nan admitted. "Have you been involved in many as a Ranger?"
"It's part of my job, though I haven't had to deal with a murder investigation since I was on Bolt Hole."
"When were you on Bolt Hole?" Nan asked in surprise.
"I did twelve years in the Service as a Military Protection officer. Did two tours on Bolt Hole after the GSA re-pacified it. Ugly work most of the time, though it had its moments."
Nan glanced out the canopy. The ground was invisible under what seemed these days to be a perpetual cloud cover, a field of gray the same color as a ferin's skin, which skimmed past as Skyler pushed their flyer to its maximum safe speed. "Do you really think that the buck we talked to last might have attacked the Furrows? I thought that using their bion to seriously injure or kill another being was unpleasant to them."
Freya looked uncomfortable at the question and said nothing. Instead it was Skyler who replied, glancing back briefly from his controls. "That's true," he said. "Some ferin are, um, different though."
Nan looked over at him. "What do you mean?"
Skyler turned away from her, concentrating on his controls, but kept talking. "Ferin are like anybody else. You leave them alone, they'll as like leave you alone. Hurt 'em enough though and it can make them twisted inside. Sometimes, if they get hurt long and hard enough, when the folks who control them make a slip, they lash out. Make 'em hurt as bad they hurt the ferin. Give 'em a little taste of power." His eyes flickered, glancing at Nan's reflection in the windscreen in front of him. "Sometimes they learn to like that feeling, the hurting."
"Is that true?" Nan asked Freya.
The ranger nodded reluctantly. "I've seen it," she said. "Not in any ferin born and raised here of course. Back on Bolt Hole though, I once helped break up a ferin fighting ring. They'd put bucks or does in a shielded cage, then send in something nasty like a starved grass chaser or a flock of La Vick's Vampires and make them dodge about until they got the order they could use their bion to kill their opponent."
"That's sickening," Nan said, feeling her stomach turn at just the thought.
"Yes," Freya said simply. "The big money though was when they set ferin on each other. The owners would give the order to fight until one of them stopped moving, or was dead."
"Holy Den Mother bless, you didn't actually see any of that, did you?"
The dark furred ranger nodded solemnly. "I was working undercover, trying to find out who the ring's backers were. Saw one of the ferin on ferin fights, about two days before the MP's broke up the ring. I could hear them crying and screaming at each other that they were sorry, that they didn't want to do this to their friend." She squeezed her paws into fists. "All I could do was watch it happen."
"What happened to the ferin that were part of the ring?" Nan asked.
"They were given sanctuary here on Newspring of course. I think most of them faded into the forest. The human officer who was overseeing the sting wasn't happy about that though. He wanted to gun them down like their were rabid animals."
"What stopped him?"
Freya gave her her a ghost of grin. "Me, putting my gun into his ear and telling him I'd fragg him before I'd let him touch them. To his credit, I think the fellow thought he would be just putting them out of their misery. He wasn't a bad sort really, he'd been as sickened by what was going on as any of us. He was just, ah, misinformed."
Nan nodded. "Did you get into trouble over that?"
"I got court martialed and dishonorably discharged, once the Human federation officer reported it to his superiors and they raised a stink. Of course the Board of Inquiry that drummed me out offered to send me here to the Region to be a Ranger in practically the same breath, so it worked out. Politics." She almost spat that last word.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-21 10:01 am (UTC)I hope Freya and Nan are able to spot any schemes...
...and wow for background information...
mjkj