Back to part one


"We should just keep going,"  Trin growled as he all but dropped his end of Rizzan's carrier.  "It's only 5 metras more."

Larraq looked at Trin's shaking hands.  The temperature had finally stopped rising at optimum plus 7.  Not quite bad enough to bring on the "living death" but close.  They were all suffering from the early stages of heat delirium but no one was in danger... yet.

"Five metras, in this area, at night is not a very good idea,"  Galt explained patiently to the young cadet.  "The predators in this swamp are nearly all totally nocturnal.  And all of them are poisonous."

Galt looked around the camp area.  "We'll need fuel for a fire.  I suggest we spread out and gather some while there's still light."

The group broke up into teams of two.  Larraq and Morsa headed off away from the others.   Larraq was busy picking up pieces of wood when he heard Morsa start to swear.

"DREN!"  Morsa cursed as the tremors caused her to drop her collection of wood.  "I hate this!"  She growled clenching her hands together tightly.  As though she could stop the tremors by sheer force of will.  "I frelling can't even pickup a piece of wood!"

Larraq tried to reassure Morsa, "Don't worry about it.  The sun's nearly below the horizon.  Once it gets dark, the temperature should drop quickly."

"That's the only thing that's gone right so far."  Morsa groused. "Unless we freeze, of course."

"Of course," Larraq shook his head.  Then grinning he said,  "Then again, the way our luck is going.  The predators on this planet might get us."

Morsa barely stifled a laugh,  "Or we might fall into a sinkhole and drown."

"Or the signal beacon might not be there and we'll never get off this rock."

"Hmph!"  Morsa started to giggle, an odd sight for the usually stoic Cadet.  After a moment Larraq joined in her laughter and the two of them enjoyed the relief the laughter brought.

"Why the Frell are we laughing?"  Morsa asked.  "We're neck deep in dren here."

"Because screaming in rage and frustration only makes your throat hurt."

Morsa snorted.  "That's true."

The two cadets went back to the tedious task of gathering wood.  It was nearly dark before they managed to gather all the wood they could carry.  As they got back to the campsite, Larraq noticed Trin feebly batting Soliva's hands away from his face.

Finally Soliva grabbed Trin's hands and shoved them to the ground.  "Trin, if you don't stop scratching.  It's going to get worse!"

"What happened?"  Morsa asked.

Trin tried to scratch at his neck again, only to be stopped by a sharp wack to the back of his head by Soliva.  "If you see a waist high bush with bright orange circular leaves.  Stay away from it!"

"Toxic?" Larraq looked Trin over.  His face and hands were covered in red blotches.  Soliva was trying to spray a topical anaesthetic over the blotches but Trin kept trying to scratch. Finally she reached into her medkit and pulled out an injector.

Before anyone could stop her, Soliva tapped the end of the injector against Trin's neck.  There was a soft hiss and Trin's eyes rolled up into his head.  Soliva eased him to the ground and started applying the spray.

"Have you frelling lost your mind!?"  Galt shouted in disbelief.

"It was a simple tranquilizing agent."  Soliva explained. "I've done this hundreds of times before."

"In simulation!  You've never actually used it on a living sebacean before."  Galt checked Trin's vitals.  "He seems to be in fine.  Next time wait for instructions!"

"Yes Instructor."  Soliva's voice sounded contrite but even Galt could hear the resentment underlying.

"Soliva, you are going to make a very good med-tech one day.  If you don't get broken for insubordination first."

"Yes sir."  This time the reply was even more subdued.

Larraq began setting the wood into a rough pyramid.  Once he had it arranged to his satisfaction, he pulled out his hand weapon and adjusted it to its lowest setting.  A quick burst of energy and the pile of wood burst into flame.  The flames quickly created a circle of warmth that the remaining cadets huddled around.

"Larraq, I want you take first watch.  Soliva, second.  Morsa, third. And I'll get the last."  Galt instructed as he pulled out a thermal blanket from his backpack.  The others followed suit and soon Larraq alone was left awake.

*****

The next morning Larraq opened his eyes to see a small furry animal sitting on his chest.

"FRELL!!!"  Larraq's yell woke everyone up.  They stared as he began shooting wildly into one of the nearby trees.

"Would you calm down?"  Galt said evenly.

"CALM DOWN!?"  Larraq shouted, "It could have killed me!"

"It was a harmless aboreal herbivore."  Galt explained.  "You scared it worse than it scared you."

Larraq stared incredulously at the instructor.  "You knew it was there, didn't you?  You let it crawl on top of me like that."

"Of course, " Galt answered. "It was harmless.  Probably one of the only truly harmless species on this planet.  I wanted to see how long it would take you to wake up.  If it had been hostile, you'd be dead now."

"Frell," Larraq swore as the other cadets looked nearly as embarrassed,  the creature managed to sneak into the center of their camp without anyone waking up.  The only one to notice it's movements had been their instructor.

"Let's just get moving before something else happens."  Morsa suggested.

"An excellent idea, Cadet Morsa."  Galt agreed.  He packed away the remainder of his equipment while motioning for the others to do the same.

"5 more metras,"  Larraq overheard Trin mutter to himself.  Trin was still scratching at the remaining red blotches on his face. "Only a few more arns."

"Relax Trin,"  Larraq tried to reassure the other cadet.  "What could happen now?"

Suddenly, almost as though the planet was answering his query, it began raining.  Larraq looked up into the heavy downpour and sighed.  He heard Morsa snicker behind him as he grabbed his end of Rizzan's carrier.

*****

"Finally,"  Morsa sighed as the locator beacon came into view. She slumped to the ground as Galt entered the code to activate the beacon.  Now all they had to do was wait for the Command Ship to send down a transport to pick them up.

"If I never see mud again in my entire life, I'll die content."  Larraq growled.

"Don't be a nerfer, Larraq."  Soliva replied,  "At least we all survived."

Larraq was about to reply when a large insect suddenly reared up near her.  Yelling he tackled her out of the way.  The insect reacted to the sudden movement with a typical response.  It lashed out, striking Larraq on his outstretched hand.

"Have you lost what's left of your frelling min..."  Soliva's voice trailed off as she saw the look of pain on Larraq's face.  "What happened?"

Galt pulled out his knife and hurled it at the insect.  He picked the knife along with the impaled insect and examined it.  "Firesting. Very nasty.  It's poison causes unbearable pain in the victim."

"Dren,"  Soliva checked her medkit.  "Will Neuro-lev work?"  She asked.

"It'll help."  Galt thought about it.  "Double the standard dosage."

"That strong?"  Soliva looked dubious, "Will that stop the pain?"

"No,"  Galt answered, "But it will keep him from minding too much."

"Right,"  Soliva pulled out the injector containing the Neuro-lev, She twisted the dial until it showed double the standard dosage. Then she quickly injected the dose into Larraq's neck.

Larraq's reaction to the drug was almost immediate.  His face turned from being twisted in pain into an almost beatific smile. Then his entire body went limp as the drug took full effect.

"I wonder how he can stay conscious with that much Neuro-lev in him?"  Trin asked.

"The pain is still there," Galt explained, "As soon as the Firesting's poison wears off, he'll collapse."

A couple of arns later, the transport finally arrived.  Galt ordered the Cadets on board, and reported to senior instructor.

Through the haze of the drug, Larraq heard the Senior Instructor chastising Galt.  "This was unacceptable.  Three cadets out of five injured?  You'll have to run the exercise again."

"Sir."  Galt answered stiffly, "I must inform the Senior Instructor that I found the conditions of this test an unfair assessment of basic survival skills.  Sharrd V is a high risk planet and normally only used for the Advanced Survival Exercises."

"Basic?"  The senior instructor looked at the information he had, "This wasn't an advanced class?"

"I think I can explain sir."  One of the transport flight coordinators interrupted.  "There were two exercises scheduled at the same time.  Unfortunately, I got the files mixed up.  As a result..."  the coordinator shrugged helplessly.

The last think Larraq saw before the Neuro-lev put him completely under was the normally icy calm Galt decking the flight coordinator.

*****

"You aren't joking are you?"  Aeryn asked smiling.  "I always wondered about that."

"About what?"  Larraq asked.

"Somebody told me that Instructor Galt had a reprimand on his file.  I looked it up.  I wondered why a decorated officer would have an official reprimand after retiring and becoming an instructor."

"Galt asked that it put there himself."  Larraq explained.  "He felt that even though it was considered justified, he shouldn't have lost his temper that way."

"He always stressed staying in control of yourself."  Aeryn agreed, then she smiled,  "You know it could have been worse."

"How?"  Larraq wanted to know.

"You could have been with Instructor Malthia."

Both Aeryn and Larraq started to chuckle.  Malthia was regarded as a brilliant pilot and a fantastic flight instructor.  No one could come close to matching the records she set during her years as a active officer.  But it was common knowledge that she had no sense of direction.  Rumor had it she had actually once gotten lost on her way to her own quarters.

Finally Larraq's laughter tapered off.  Curious he asked. "So Lt.  Have you ever flown anything sexier than a Leviathan?"

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