Old and new

I wake up to the sound of my comm link beeping. I look at it with dull eyes to barely make out Angelina's commander number. I open the channel and lay back to listen.

"Liz has been pulled back from her recon mission. The objective was achieved, but she sustained some bad injuries in the process. In her attempt to rescue capitves caught by the Cagnors, one of them stabbed her from behind. Reinforcements arrived in time and stabilized her, but she is being sent back here for recovery. I need you two to assist her till she is back on her feet. And no simulators, you know how she is." The message ended and the room went silent. I sat up and headed straight for the communication room. Val was nowhere to be seen in the halls so it would give me some time to focus.

I reactivate the power, the sun's red light peeking over the horizon as dawn began to break. I redial the radio and contact the medical station.

"She was shipped out just last night." The medical officer informed me, "She should arrive within the next half hour. We issued a minor prescription of pain medication and stabilizers, but keep an eye on her. We caught her twice trying to leave the field hospital."

"Roger that." I cut the connection and tried to hone in on the transport for confirmation. The pilot confirmed his location and I marked it on the map. Be another ten minutes before the pilot would radio in for landing sequence, so I went to the mess to get coffee going. It's gunna be a long day keeping Liz occupied.

In case your wondering, Liz is our marksman. She is highly skilled with practically every gun and hasn't missed a shot, despite her left eye injury from an unfortunate sniper fight. She was originally left handed, but the shot from an unknown sniper shot her scope and the glass shards cut her eyes severely. She never got sight after that, she she learned to shoot with her other eye. She had been given permission to return home for her injury, but she denied it. Matter of fact, her background file was missing. Even Angelina almost turned her away for lack of info, but high command insisted on her joining us.

I was heading for the outer door when I heard Valerie's room open. I glance to the right, only to advert my eyes instantly with my cheeks burning up.

"Val for the love of god, put some clothes on!" I yell, doing well to look away as I head for the double doors. She proceeds by grabbing me from behind, her chest pressed hard against my back. My heart is thumping as I swallow a lump.

"Well good morning to you too techy. Where my coffee?" She said, pretty groggily too as she had just gotten up.

"Liz is en route to us for recovery, so I need to clear the landing pad before the ship gets here. Then I'll get coffee going." I stated, but Val refused to let go. Then I caught a wiff of her breath and gagged.

"Dammit, quit drinking Angelina's bourbon. You know how she is." Val giggled and got heavier as she went limp over my shoulders.

"Nuttin wrong with a little nip. You should try some too, you're more than legal mister 25." She flashed the bottle in my face, nearly half empty. I looked at it with wide eyes before shrugging her off and locking eyes.

"Half?! Are you nuts? That's also her last bottle so she is going to gut you after smashing your face in." I forgot about her nudity for a few seconds before looking away quickly. She giggled and hiccupped before taking another swig. I snatched the bottle in mid tilt, Val protesting and trying to grab it back. She was too tipsy to stay balanced and fell on her face, laughing uproarishly before going quiet. I watched her for a few seconds before realizing she had passed out.

"Great." I mutter as I recork the bottle and left it in the mess hall. I headed straight for the landing, the platform radio clicking right as I arrived. I answer the transmission and give the landing codes. He responded properly and appeared over the mountain. I grab the beacon lights and guide him down. My hair flew in every which way as the jet exhaust powered down, the side hatch opened up with a few field medics and a sleepy Liz at the entrance. They helped her down the ramp, much to her disagreement.

"I got it." She growled, shouldering her helpers off. She took one step and fell to her knees, the medics grabbing under her arms and pulling her up. I stepped up and waved them off, grabbing her left arm over my shoulders and escorting her inside.

"I got it from here." I yell over my shoulder, "Now get out of here before you get tracked. There was a warning from Recon seven about two aircraft spotted twenty miles west."

"Roger." The head medic replied before ordering them in. They loaded up and took off quickly, hurtling over the base and into the horizon at a rapid speed. I struggled to keep Liz upright, the sedatives starting to kick in and making her eyes droop. I managed to get her into her quarters and into her bunk. I didn't have much trouble with her afterwards as the meds took over. She snored gently as I pulled the sheet over her, shutting the light off and pulling down the blackout sheet on her window.

I lock the door behind me and proceed to the mess hall. Stepping over the unconcious Val, I grab a pitcher of water and throw it on top of her head. She sputters and gasps, sitting up right and shaking her head. I instantly regret it as she bares her chest out with streams of water running down her front. I head back to the mess as she recollects herself and went looking for a towel. I set the pitcher down on the counter next to the bottle of bourbon. I turn on the coffee maker and wait for the prompt.

"One Reginald, no milk, two sugars. One black, two milk, four sugars." The machine whirs and bubbles as it preps the drinks. They finished pouring when Val walks in, rubbing a towel over her hair. She got some clothes on, but they were still insanely skimpy.

"Thanks for the wakeup call. I get bored if I don't got something to do." She says as I hand her a cup. She blows on it before sipping it, while I set mine aside as I reopen my comm link to answer another transmission from Angelina.

"Prep for another arrival, command is sending us a new recruit. Clean out the back room and get ready for a scouting mission. We got intel there are a squadron of Cags digging something in Sector 48. None of the recon teams could get close enough so we need a small insertion team to observe and report. They are calling us because we are the only ones close enough and dumb enough." I could almost feel the heat from that last sentence as the transmission. But the thing that caught our attention was the beginning. Who got rejected to our level?