The first real section of the Combined Ops Training was a debrief on Umiak, not what they were but how to fight them effectively. Hand to hand was out of the question, a man even in armor could be killed with a knife. Those things couldn`t. Still, the DU rounds, explosives and flame should all be fine... Probably.
Next was the demonstrations of Squad Level Tactics, it was vital that if the two races were to work together that they would be able to interpret each-others tactics thus avoiding friendly fire incidents.
They Humans squads performed as expected, excellent. The Loroi however, they moved somewhat like a synchronized swimming team. They seemed to have a sixth sense for what everyone else was doing, not really odd considering they did have a sixth sense. The strangest thing was it was all done silently, no orders, no observations, nothing. They must have shared information between each-other constantly, it was slightly disquieting. Charlie had seen that kind of level of teamwork before. Back in the day when Charlie was still a Tanker, there was a joint training exercise with Special Force Recces. They were completely silent as he drove them around in the simulated battlefield.
It made him uncomfortable, it reminded him of robots.
To Charlie anyway, all the joint training made it seem like war ran in Loroi veins, much the same as it did Human.
More spectacular was Sonni showing some of her telekinetic powers. Charlie was getting used to it by now, he after all, had seen the most of it. Yet, this was an order of magnitude greater than before. He found himself both frightened by the displays power and awed it`s natural beauty. It`s best described like a fire, dangerous, barely contained and yet some how, one could stare at a fire burning for a few hours and not get bored. She seemed powerful, graceful whenever she used any sort of metal power. Still she appeared to get tired out by it, which was strange, except for that time she had a head wound Charlie hadn`t seen her fatigued at all. Maybe it was some kind of placebo, maybe it made her mind tired which in turn made her body feel tired. It was hard to say really, it did make Charlie glad that she was on his side.
Charlie ate lunch with Sonni that first day of training, and proceeded to eat lunch with her everyday.
They sat alone together, Charlie may have sat alone anyway, it seemed that nobody want to be around him for some reason. It was most likely due to his seeming being around Sonni a lot. Lots of people thought something was happening, but nobody would have the guts to say something like that to his face. Well, maybe Anderson. And if the rank a file knew, it was a sure bet the Staff Sergeant knew. But he didn`t show it, but it was odd, Roland was quite direct person, maybe he was too much of a good guy and said nothing. Maybe he didn`t know anything at all and dismissed it as the usual baseless rumors. It made Charlie feel a little isolated. It was nice to have company, he really enjoy being around her anyway.
But Charlie still felt like he had a sign stuck to his back. The sign probably read;
Do not disturb.
Do not approach.
Do not stare.
Nobody dared or was even bothered to join them. It gave them a chance to talk about just about anything, and they did. Charlie learned more in those lunch meetings than by just observation of Loroi in general. In particular their family system was difficult to understand. They had mothers and fathers just like Humans, and he knew from experience in the Medbay that babys came from the same place, although he only had a decent view of his boots, he was sure of that much. But Nurse Costello assured him later that everything was "the same". Even though they had mothers and fathers it seems like they are all orphans. Taken away to some government orphanage and given two choices.
1. Join the army.
2. Join the army.
Still, family is family. There`s are different types, as they seem close to their "sisters". Throughout most of lunch they had hold hands. It wasn`t something did out of hand, Charlie knew others could see, if they bothered to look, he just didn`t care. Maybe Loroi can turn off this power, but whenever his skin made contact with hers, something happened. At first it had been frighting, scary and mostly a fatiguing experience. It was confusing and hard to sift through what was happening. It had happened a few times since then, each time it was less scary and confusing. It was actually pleasant, very much so.
If Charlie closed his eyes, his brain told him she was still holding his hand and sitting across from him. But it also somehow said she was sitting right next to him, on both sides. It also somehow registered that she was there in his mind with him. A warm light, light that had weight and density. Form and structure, but at the same time it didn`t. If light had meaning, this light was kind, gentle and caring. It also had a familiar feeling about it, a feeling his himself could identify, it felt the same feeling in his chest near his heart.
It wasn`t all serious though, Charlie had a chuckle when she described running naked through tall grass when she was younger. Charlie had to try and explain the joke. There were still places in South Africa that were just grass. But whatever grass she ran though wasn`t the same as veld. Veld grass was rough and abrasive. It would be worse more men, with everything just hanging out, it wouldn`t be fun running through all that. She didn`t really understand, but it didn`t matter. Charlie learned a lot of "Maia", it seemed a lot like Earth, a nice place. She told him of other worlds too, Charlie didn`t really have the same experience having only ever lived on Earth and trained a little on the Moon. But it was nice to hear of all the places she had being too.
Charlie had done similar things, back when he was a Tanker, Skinny dipping was a test of courage. Mainly it took guts because it was done at night, in peoples pools while they were unawares.
Charlie told her most of his history. How is family had migrated from England hundredes of years of ago to South African to become Gold Miners. And when the Gold ran out they became Land Owners, they remained wealthy ever since. His farther had meet his mother when he need an account to do the books on the all properties.
There wasn`t even that much, went to School, joined the army, went to university, got selected for the TCA. But she was curious to everything, not unexpected considering he was the same. Charlie tried to tell her as much as possible about Earth and her peoples. All of the different languages and customs of the different peoples, it was a lot of information, more than could be touched on in a few lunches. He also tried to tell her about all the different types of biomes and animals.
It was surprising to hear that Sonni had anything like some kind of bad reputation. Loroi Military must take a much grimmer view of such things. TCA wasn`t much different, on paper anyway. In practice however, it was more of a don`t do anything stupid kind of policy. If it was mostly quiet, low key and didn`t bother anyone, it was ignored, to a degree anyway. Everybody has a hobby.
It showed a measure of trust that she'd been willing to speak about something like that. Charlie could share at least some of the sentiment, he'd have been broken up on the inside if he thought his own dad saw him as a failure. It was the reason he did anything originally, he went to the same school, joined the army, attended the same university and would have gone on to become an Officer in the SANDF if he hadn`t joined the TCA, in honesty Charllie didn`t want to be an Officer. But he would have to make is farther proud. Whatever the reason for starting out with Military Service, Charlie genuinely enjoyed the discipline that it brought. Charlie could understand a little of want she felt about it, and therefore didn`t press to hard.
Charlie still found it hard to grasp Loroi`s concept of aloneness, they didn`t seem to really have it. All due to their telepathic natures. Humans could still feel very alone even when surrounded by dozens of people. He did fully understand her desire to find someone, someone who cares. Deep down everybody feels the same. Everybody was looking for somebody.
She explained that she'd tried and failed to find what she was looking for, every time she though she'd found something it turned at it wasn`t or before she could find out war might take them away. It wasn`t an enviable existence, to lose people to war or get pushed away. Charkie didn`t understand completely, he'd never been looking for anybody, he'd just been doing what he thought would make his farther proud. He'd just been working towards that goal, he'd never really given much thought to anything else. He understood the attachments thing, it would be a problem if a Marine would pick a friend over the mission, with stronger feeling missions would get troublesome. Understanding wasn`t the same as agreeing, Charlie couldn`t pick the mission over one he knew. It was one of the reasons he was unlikely to ever be a good Officer, he found it too hard to make the hard choices. It would be hard to lose a friend, and harder to lose someone like Sonni. It was making the upcoming mission difficult, it was making Charlie nervous. It was funny, but Charlie still got tense anytime he was close to Sonni.
And thats how to went, day in, day out. Train hard, enjoy lunch, train hard again. And once in the evening, if spaceships had such a thing, they were conveniently alone. Alone enough that he felt a lot more at ease, they often talked a little more. And when it was time to part ways, they did so tenderly.
Things were a lot more subdued the day more the Op was to take place. Nerves mostly, these kinds of Assault Boarding were very risky. You would either repel the Boarding party or if you did not intend to surrender you scuttle the ship. A Human Captain might surrender, whatever passed for an Umiak Captain wouldn`t, Loroi doctrine was clear on that much. Even if they didn`t detonate the ship, close quarters fighting like was brutal. The likely vicious fighting was likely to claim more than a few lives. Nobody was truly afraid, but the truth was it wasn`t going to be easy.
Charlie found himself taking Sonni back to her quarters, he felt tired, she seemed tired. They were both quiet, both thinking about things. Charlie didn`t want to lose anybody, but it might be unavoidable. Fatalities might be high tomorrow, perhaps Sonni was thinking the same. Charlie didn`t bother to ask. It didn`t surprise him that the walk was over so quickly, given the Training Hall and Guest Quarters proximity. It wasn`t enough time to muse over anything really.
Charlie had taken her as far as her room, she surprised him by asking if he want to come in. Charlie followed with out any hesitation. She went to her bed and sat down on the edge. She looked a little more tired than usual, clearly, events had be weighing on everyone heavily recently. Not really knowing what was bothering her or what to do, Charlie was left standing there like a statue. Not knowing what else to do, he gathered up his courage and approached. He sat the on the bed next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. Even though his jump suit she felt cold, it took a moment for his brain to register this was normal. She didn`t push him away, she seemed happy with it. It wasn`t all the comfortable sit up like that for a long time, Charlie leaned back to lay down he pulled Sonni down as well. She didn`t resist, the bed wasn`t that big, so he pulled her close too. Neither said anything, it was a quiet gentle moment that may as well have lasted forever. It was honestly the closest he'd been to her, It was a little cold though, but he didn`t mind. The smell of her hair was hard not to notice, he wondered if it was natural like that. It smelled practically the same since he first smelled it. He felt heavy, tired, his eyes started to close. His eyes opened again sometime later, Sonni was still where she had been, pulled close to him. He knew he had fallen asleep, but for how long? He didn`t move, at all, he didn`t want to wake her up if she was sleeping. He guessed from her breathing she was sleeping, he turned his head slowly as possible to see the clock.
Two hours forty minutes plus change he'd been sleeping. Charlie just lay there thinking about everything. Sonni came to mind first, she definitely meant a lot to him, almost everything actually. But those thoughts brought up darker ones.
Questions of loyalty.
Would he choose her over the mission if it came to that? Or worse if a Human friend was in trouble and so was she, then what?
Charlie didn`t have answers.
He spent more minutes just pondering what he'd do, not finding and real answers it anything.
He did know one thing, he would do his utmost to keep her safe. He'd only known her for a few days, but it felt real, and thats all that is important really. He knew she was sleeping, or he whispered as softly as he could.
"I know you've been hurt before, so I won`t run away and I'll do my best not to die. It might not last forever, or for even very long. But as long as it does, I'll do everything I can to keep you safe and happy."
With that he tried to free himself, she was almost holding on in her sleep. Charlie found it endearing. But with gentle effort he'd freed himself without waking her. There was a spare blanket in the storage cupboard. He didn`t know if Loroi got cold in there sleep or even used blankets, but he felt cold, so he covered her with it. He got as far as the door before looking back, just to make sure she was still sleeping. He left the room without noise, silently as a ghost. Luckily the hall was clear, see his chance he crept towards Crew Quarters. He made it to his own bunk, there were people still awake doing their own things, reading and such. Charlie fell into his own bed, fatigue was starting to set in, but his mind didn`t want to sleep. he stayed up the entire night looking at the ceiling, pondering the world.
Charlie had eaten little breakfast, he wasn`t hungry, he did have two of coffee and he figured it would be good enough. He wasn`t feeling rested at all and this was making it worse.
Charlie shouted again, his mood worsening.
The shouting was meaningless, Corporal Harris was simply not here.
Turning on some of the other Corporals like some fearsome beast.
Charlie sighed in defeat, none of them had the slightest clue. It wouldn`t be do anyone any good if they were down a man before even starting. Giveing up for the time being Charlie turned to see what the Loroi were doing. The Humans must look silly, shouting and making noise because someone was late. They worked to their tasks, gearing up in silence. Charlie had to remind himself once again that is normal for them, he still found it unsettling. The worst part was they even geared up that one Loroi whom had a child. Yellow Sun, she'd had a child Amber Eyes, maybe. It didn`t seem right, if she was killed, the baby would be orphaned. He remembered that their children were basically orphaned anyway, though, sent away to a government training camp. Even so, it send callous to send the new mother to fight. They did their checks, like robots, there was no messing around. Nothing out of place, much like a drill team. Strange that they left there hair to flow free. A fashion statement? A scare tactic? Was it more comfortable?
Charlie mused over it for a second, before seeing Sonni. He instantly beamed a smile on seeing her, and with no helmet on it was a very visible smile. It was an easy smile to track with line of sight alone, and it drew snickers and quiet laughs along with soft conversation. TCA Rumor Service was at it again. Charlie turned his is to face his annoying enemies. His glare that his shot them was as deadly as Plasma. It might have killed them where they stood, if they were not armored. They cleverly quieted down, unwilling to face yet more wrath. He turned back to the Loroi section, there were no snickers this time.
He hadn`t seen her since last night and wanted to speak to her, but he didn`t have the time. He needed to find Staff Sergeant Roland, and find Harris.