Kadance: Another Tale

26

Kelan works with Bugs on the commander. But nothing they do seems to work on bringing him out of his comatose state. That goes on for two days, then they reach Dayla.

Kellan wakes up and gets ready to head down to Dayla with the others. Kelan does her best to stop him, even pulling Bugs into the fight. But when Bugs notices the determination set on Kellan's face he backs off. When Kadance remarks that he was invited to go down he is cleared to return to duties.

It doesn't take Kellan long to prepare to go down and he is in fact the first one there waiting to board the shuttle. As the others join him they try to get him to join in their conversations, but to no avail.

"Commander, what are the conditions we are likely to see down there?" Jayse isn't going to let Kellan not answer him that question. Anything he can learn about the conditions is good.

Kellan shrugs, "I honestly can't answer that Jayse. Before we left there was seismic activity all over Dayla. I have no idea how that has affected things down there. Also, since Sareen cursed the very air, I have no idea how that will be either. But since we've all been granted passage, I'm sure that we'll be able to breathe it without harmful effects. I wish I could tell you more, but...things have just changed too much for me to do so.

"Before we came and screwed everything up, Dayla was the most beautiful planet I've ever seen. Some of the purest and sweetest air, with the smell of the most delicious flowers and plants. Now?" Kellan shrugs and there are obvious tears in his eyes. "WE fouled the air. WE destroyed the plants. With the curse, I have no idea what the air will smell like. Jenk said that the toxins we polluted their planet with will cut their life expectancy. Dayla has no reason to treat us right. I have hope that answers will be given, but I wouldn't dream of asking for them, not now."

Jayse replies thoughtfully, "She already has given us some. Tommy and I remembered the planet that will help our needs." Jayse smiles nastily, "Kadance has already bullied her company into getting ready to mine it. We've already sent a security force to set up a compound for safety and get things ready for the miners that will be coming."

"We've also received some coordinates for other worlds that we didn't know before. We think that those are coordinates for some of the shifter worlds. Sigma is being prepared to take a look at the planets and give a report to HQ. We should have word back in the next month or so. If they are then they'll be planning some invasions to those planets and the war will hopefully begin to end once and for all." Tommy says coming up to the other two. He'd heard what Jayse had said to Kellan and had to add in his portion as well.

This makes Kellan look at Tommy with wide eyes. "They are sending in Sigma already? They just barely graduated."

Tommy chuckles and Jayse smirks. "Our kids have been doing undercover work for more than two years. Some of the most talented of Tommy's kids have been infiltrating supposedly secure locations for more than four years. It was a last ditch effort HQ had to keep them from being too bored. It didn't really work, but at least they were occupied and didn't cause mischief at Camp." Jayse says holding back his own laughter.

Both Jayse and Tommy have been far more lighthearted than they had been since Bandro. Ever since they held the knives they have been more like who they were before the loss of Sigma. That's not to say that they aren't still touchy about certain subjects, but they are far less likely to kill without hesitation.

Tommy sobers as if he can read Kellan's thoughts. "Bandro was hell. I wouldn't wish anyone, not even my worst enemies, that kind of hell. I know that that's exactly what we'll be giving the shifters, but we'll be doing our best to send them all on their way and not leave any survivors. 

"Reactivating Sigma will either be the best thing Command has ever done or the worst mistake possible. I'm still not sure which it will be. Our children and children of our closest friends are all in one Company. The mental impact of losing even one of them could be worse than what you've experienced with Dayla, Kellan. We could be damning our children to an infinite hell by placing them all together. But like with Kadance, the possible outcome of good as opposed to the possible outcome of bad is heavily in favor of the good.

"When Tory was killed and I lived because he saved my life, it almost sent me over. That far more than losing my arm hurt. To this day, more than losing Sigma, it was losing Tory that gives me pain. He wasn't even twenty years old yet. He should have lived, he shouldn't have been the one to die and yet, I know. I know, that he would have preferred things happening the way they did. He would have wanted to be the one to save me and die in my place. 

"How many of our children will be dying in the place of their siblings and cousins? How many will save their friends but lose their own lives doing so? There is a very good reason Command kept families out of the same companies. Now we are breaking so many unspoken rules to make the finest fighting unit ever. And there is no doubt of that even without them having fought yet.

"None of them are less than the best. Jayse's children are incredible fighters and pilots. The things they can do with those aircraft are amazing. Things that the designers had thought impossible. Borden's kids can get people so mind screwed they have no idea which way is up or what color the sky is. The intelligence kids are almost as good as me and with time I fully expect them to be better. As does Baron.

"As for the ghosts and demo kids, my kids mostly although the others are damn near as good, they are damn near invisible. You could be standing next to them and wouldn't see them. Even I have trouble spotting them. And well, if I told you the rest then it would get us all in trouble.

"Our children in the medical teams are as brilliant as my daughter was when she saved Jayse and I after Bandro.

"Jannsen has told you that he finds it spooky just how our children work together. It really is. There is no communications to monitor. There are no orders given. There are actions taken and objectives achieved. There is absolute radio silence. There is no need for signals." Tommy shakes his head in wonder. He's still not sure how the children do it and it bothers the hell out of him that he doesn't know. "They are like the collective mind that some insects have. They just know what needs to be done and who needs help when they need it. They are scarily efficient. I blame Kadance for that. I have never met anyone as efficient as she is. It's positively terrifying and all of our children have inherited that trait. Even the ones that just entered Camp. I have no doubt that the ones she's carrying now will as well."

Jayse has remained silent through all Tommy's speaking although some of his words make him turn a bit white. Memories are hard to deal with at times and the ones about Bandro bring up memories of the final grace he had to give the other member of Sigma that had survived Bandro initially. Rory is never far away from their thoughts. Just like Tory isn't.

Jayse shakes off the memories and claps his hand in a friendly manner onto Kellan's shoulder. "Enough of the depressing thoughts and memories. It's time to board our flight to potentially toxic death." Jayse laughs as Kellan turns white. He looks down at his hand. It still doesn't hurt and it's not because of medication.

Kellan rather thinks that Sareen or Dayla has a hand in the pain not being there. He also suspects that they are healing his hand, because there is no pull on the stitches now like there should be.

Kellan shakes his head and looks up to the shuttle and finds the others already starting to load up. He jogs to catch up to the others and does up the safety restraints once he finds an empty seat.