The Commander's Lieutenant

Part 43

Two dog-tags hung on a chain, and a small silver ring gleamed beside them.

'Whaddya say Taz? Promise to keep me outta trouble?' Up tilted his head, trying to look at Taz's face as she looked down. 'Taz? Are ya okay?'

Shit shit shit I screwed it up... Dead God damn it I lost her. He clenched his teeth and started to stand, ready to run out the door. Up took a single step, and felt her hand on his wrist. He turned around to see Taz looking at the ground. She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, and looked up at him.

'Jou remembered my name.'

Up laughed, and rushed forward to grab Taz in a hug. He spun her off the ground, then gently lowered her down. She backed up, trying not to smile. Taz couldn't help it anymore, and the biggest smile Up had ever seen spread across her face. She nodded, biting her lip.

'Sí.'

2 and a half years later, Taz and Up were practically inseparable, indestructible and respected by every other officer. They only had one year to go, and the entire ship was buzzing with excitement as the next lot graduated.

'Dat's gonna be us, Up!' Taz nudged him with her elbow, not moving her eyes from the stage.

Up put his arm around her shoulders, and looked down at the chain hanging from her neck. He reached down and read the inscription, something Taz had done every day since she got them. She tugged at them when she was nervous or angry, which was usually at the flirty girls hanging off him between classes. The ring still hung between the tags, their little secret.

As if a second nature, Up always blew them off without even knowing they were flirting. Taz was standing in the corner of the gym, lifting weights. A few newcomers stared on, but didn't dare approach her. They could practically feel the anger coming off her as she stared across the gym at Up. A tall red-head was leaning on the wall beside him as he ran on the treadmill, occasionally brushing her hand along his arm. Not a single smile or flinch crossed his face, which was starting to irritate the girl. She flicked her hair and popped her gum, and finally Up had enough.

He hit the big red button to stop the machine, and jumped off to land right in front of her. Up's eyes skimmed over her as though she was just another part of the wall, much to the girl's disgust.

'Newbies.' Taz scoffed under her breath, continuing with her weights.

By the time she raised her eyes again, Up's were focused solely on her as he walked. Taz dropped the weight and quickened her pace to meet him halfway, almost bumping into him as they stopped. He put his arm around her waist, and they walked out of the gym. The newest batch of idiots stared, and the red-head girl flicked her hair arrogantly.

'They are so not dating. That gremlin baby is so not his taste!' She whined. 'I would be so much better at anything it could do.'

Taz's ears pricked up, and she stopped abruptly. Up looked down and saw the snarl on her face. He leaned down and whispered into her ear. 'Have fun.'

Taz's snarl turned to a grin, then quickly to a sneer as she turned. Up held the door open as everyone ran out, except the new girl. She was twirling her hair around her fingers, still popping her gum. Clearly, the girl had not gotten the message about Taz. Up shut the door behind him and started to walk away, but decided it was probably best if he didn't let Taz kill the girl.

He gave her about thirty seconds, then re-opened the door to see a smiling, red-faced Taz. 'Lunch?'

He took her hand, and they walked off to the mess hall. They saw the girl the next day at dinner, and she stayed far away from both Up and Taz. The final year of their Level 2 training, Taz and Up were sent to the front lines no less than four times, each time barely escaping death due to ignorant orders. The last assault was different, though.

Taz, Up, Stewie and Evans had been dropped on a planet called "Kara" and only had one mission: Take down the robot comm tower, and destroy as many of the damn things as they could in one day. They wandered through miles and miles of bright green jungle, before finally hearing metallic whirs and metal gears crunching. Taz grinned under her helmet- revenge was about to be theirs.

There was a static in Taz's comm mic, and Evans' voice echoed into her skull.

'Up, Taz- Stewie's gonna take out the tower. It's about ten klicks north-east, so I'll take him that far. He's the best techie turned Lieutenant I ever trained, and I trust him. But I want your call, guys.'

'Aw thanks, Evans!' Stewie cooed sarcastically.

'Shut it, Stewie. Taz? Up?'

'I think yes.' Up said after a second.

'Same.' Taz agreed. 'Now go- catch you guys later.'

Stewie and Evans nodded, then took a right into the dense jungle. Stewie's visor was clearly too big as it kept slipping and he tripped over more than one root, but Evans walked as though the ground was made of snakes.

Taz dropped to the ground two hours later, lying in a puddle of her own sweat and blood. A few robot parts lay scattered around her, fizzling out of commission. A smile spread across Taz's face as Up's silver helmet came into view before her.

She weakly pressed her comm button, laughing into the speaker. 'Done already?' Taz breathed.

Up nodded and grabbed her hand, flicking his visor up. He had a smile, but it was short-lived. 'Only 500. The brief said there were at least 700.'

'Only 500? Jou crazy? We killed dem all ALONE Up! No help!' Taz was about to start cheering, but realised something was wrong. 'Where's de other two?'

'Shit.' Up turned on his heel and took off running, Taz right beside him.

They ignored every spur of pain that ran through their legs, lungs and any other body part the robots had gotten to. The large green tower rose up in front of them, the small orange ball no longer glowing.

'At least dey got de tower!' Up shouted to Taz- their comm mics had stopped working.

Taz nodded- her lungs hurt too much to talk. She never liked running, and apparently neither did her body.

They slowed down a little as they reached the compound, only a few robotics noises coming from inside. Taz tapped her helmet twice and yanked her dog-tags. Up nodded, and waved her on. They worked their way up to the door, held their breaths, and ran in firing. It only took five minutes to destroy the last hundred robots, but it still rendered them almost breathless. They had just finished a full on battle, not to mention the marathon in between.

'Self Destruct in five minutes.'

'HIJO DE PUTA! WHO SET OFF DE SELF DESTRUCT?' Taz screamed. She whirled around, looking for any sign of life from Evans or Stewie.

A small voice called weakly from the corner. 'Me.'

'Evans!' Up ran over with Taz on his heels, skidding to a halt by her.

There was a large piece of metal splitting her in half from the waist down, but it had been so hot, it cauterised her wound as it separated her.

'What happened? Where's Stewie?' Up grabbed her hand, trying to stop her from moving or seeing her own state.

'Th-there was an-an ambush waiting. F-for us. They waited u-until we got to the... control room. Stewie pressed the final keys with hi-his last... breath.' Evans took a deep breath in, and pressed her hand to her stomach. 'I hit the... self destruct. I didn't know i-if I could kill them all, and I cou-couldn't get through. Please- get out. And k-ki-'

Taz put her hand on Evans' head, hushing her. 'I'm sorry.'

Evans whispered thank you, and Taz pulled her trigger.