Fic: The Summer Intern (cont.)

[jeriendhal]

"Nez, are you sure you need all of this stuff?" Nan asked, as they headed down the path to the landing pad. Her roommate carried a heavy, bright red gym bag with a specialized insulated compartment slung over her shoulder, stuffed with medical equipment and medications for any illness that could possibly befall a ferin, from a sore throat to injuries requiring field surgery.

"It never hurts... to be prepared..." Nez muttered, listing to one side as she tried to shift her grip on the bag, even her wazagan strength barely able to keep hold of it. Nan grabbed one end and helped to carry it, gaining her a grateful look from her roommate. Nez went on, "Seriously though, this is the first time I'm going to be permitted to examine and treat a ferin without direct supervision. I've got to be ready."

"You sound like you're hoping the joey was injured," Nan teased.

"Bismalla! I would never!" Nez protested. After a moment's thought she admitted, "Well, maybe just a sprained tail joint or something."

"Ha. Healer's Oath my fuzzy tail."

They reached the landing pad, where Ranger Freya and Skyler were already waiting, Freya looking uncharacteristically impatient.

"Do you think you'll really need all of that stuff?" she asked, as Nez heaved the bag into the flyer's cargo compartment. Skyler closed the cargo hatch and hopped into the pilot's seat to warm up the fler's power plant as the rest of them strapped themselves in.

"Best to be prepared for anything," Nan answered for Nez. Once they were strapped in, conversation paused for a couple of minutes as Skyler indulged in a military regulation takeoff, slamming everyone back into their seats as he climbed to a thousand meters and leveled off. "Do we have any more details on what happened?" she gasped, regaining her breath as the g-forces eased off.

"Nothing so far," Freya said. "The troupe haven't replied to the messages we've sent requesting updates on their search for the joey."

"Isn't that a bit odd?" Nan asked.

"Not necessarily," Skyler said, looking up from his instruments. "Some of the arboreal troupes can be really twitchy about talking to outsiders, especially non-ferin. Even the ones you can convince to carry a satcom for emergencies don't like to use it unless they absolutely have to."

"But what's the harm with just talking to people?"

"People are the cause of most of their troubles," Freya noted. "It's the in-betweeners and the civilized urban dwellers that are the most comfortable talking to vulpine. If it weren't for the First One's presence on the planet we wouldn't see the others at all."

"If they're so good at hiding, how are we supposed to find them to help them?" Nan asked.

Skyler grinned. "We cheat. Even if the troupe has turned off their satcom we can still track its position while its on standby mode. The signal is encrypted so it can only by identified by local scanners belonging to the government though."

"Nice," she said. Nan looked out the window at the heavy cloud cover below them, that masked the vast forest below. After a moment she asked. "Skyler, I've been meaning to ask. How do you fit in around here? I mean, you're a nice fellow, but I've never seen you hanging about with the other ferin. Don't you have a troupe of your own that you belong to? You're too young to be an alpha I think."

Skyler glanced back at her, the grin still on his face. "How old do you think I am, Nan?"

"Er, perhaps mid-twenties, early thirties," she ventured. It was so hard to tell with most ferin, unless they were very old like the First One, or had led extraordinarily harsh lives like the missing buck.

He chuckled. "I'm fifty-six."

Nan's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yep. I'm city ferin. My troupe specialized in entertainment around Vulpine Prime's capitol when I was growing up. Dancing, singing, music. Mostly modern stuff, but we made good money doing recitations of the Family Ballads and such."

Skyler's rare combination of matching violet hair and eyes finally made sense to Nan. In a sudden flash of insight she exclaimed, "You were part of Violetta Starlight's Entertainers, weren't you! They're famous!"

"You got it," he sad proudly. "Give me a chance to look it up and I could give you a tonal recitation of your whole family history for you, back through the Time of Subjugation and beyond, with an interpretive dance and a flute solo thrown in."

"I don't understand though," she said. "How did you end up on Newspring?"

"I liked singing and dancing, but what I loved was the idea of being a pilot. So as soon as I was of age I kissed my dam and Aunt Violetta goodbye and joined up with the Service. Trained up as Stingwing pilot and served for about fifteen years, working my way up the ladder. Had the idea of being promoted to Group Captain and getting my own squadron."

Nez, who had been listening quietly, looked at Skyler in puzzlement and said, "I didn't know there were any ferin leading fighter squadrons."

Skyler's smile turned down slightly. "There aren't. I wanted to be the first. I was told by my CO, who was a nice guy by the way, that, ah..." He cleared his throat and his voice took on a rough Plains Country accent, "'Ferin are fine soldiers, Skyler, but they just aren't very good at being leaders.'" His voice changed back to normal. "I finally got it through my head that my chances of rising higher than Leftenant were pretty poor. So I mustered out and headed down here. The First One saw my record and hired me on as the Administration Village's chief pilot. I guess in a way he's my Alpha Buck, like he is to pretty much everybody around here. Never felt the need to join up formal like with any of the local troupes, honestly."

"Oh," Nan said. After a moment she added, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked. "Hey, I'm happy. Got a cushy job. Meet lots of interesting people. My life could be a lot worse."

Nan nodded, then turned her face away to look at the dark clouds below.

TBC

Comments

[mjkj.livejournal.com]

Wow nice :)

Skyler's background is really a nice touch - yeah, how can someone lead if it just takes a direct command from the right person and all is gone ... and the fear thereof hinders them to become leaders...

I really liked it :) - also Nez overpacking :D

mjkj

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Thanks Michael. Poor Nez. (rubs palms evilly)

[mjkj.livejournal.com]

Oh, there seems to be some bad things ahead for her...

...will she really need all of that?

Will she find a massacre?

Now I am curious and waiting for the next update...

mjkj