Chapter 2
The Oblivious Hero



The escape pod broke through the atmosphere and went screeching across the planet. The heat of the small craft caused a malfunction of the air conditioner, making the inside hot. 
The Major had set his sights on the research station near the edge of the volcanic fields. Unfortunately, it was still a thousand kilometers from their supposed crash site. And yes, they would crash. The Major was not a good pilot, no matter how much he said he was.
“Sir, you should have let me drive.” Turco said. The vibration shook him so that his words were rattled. 
“The last time that you drove, we landed safely and it was no fun.” The Major retorted. “This vibration is so much more fun.”
The Waking Flight’s escape pod came from passed over the pod and sent a shock wave that threw the pod end over end. Further causing more vibrations. 
Corporal Dermal vomited as the flipping pod rolled into the ground and halted suddenly 
‘The first person I always check after the Major pilots is myself’ was the first thought that went through Turco’s head. The next thing that went through his head was a canyon that stretched to the far horizon. He groaned in pain as he shook himself awake. He unbuckled himself and went to check on his subordinate. Dermal was limp in his straps but he had a strong pulse, Turco decided to give him a minute to wake up. 
The Major on the other hand looked manic. His face was stretched to the fullest eyes wide and bulging. His breathing was steady though. Turco tore the Major out of his seat, his manic expression remained. Turco slapped him a few times to wake him up. The manic expression left his face and his eyes and mouth shut. He groaned. 
“Good,” Turco said, “you’re alive.” He moved back over to Dermal and shook him awake. Dermal groaned. “Yea.” Turco said in mock excitement, “You’re alive.”
Turco dragged both men out of the crashed ship and out onto the dirtsert dirt. Dirt all around no plants at all. A misleading view from space.Turco thought it was a desert.
Many people would have been considered lucky to land in this marsh. Turco, however, not seeing any plants or animals and pools of water all around, this heaven was showing to be a hothouse environment. This place would get uncomfortable real quick.
Turco start a more in depth study for wounds and breaks on both of the injured men. 
Major Quinn had a gash across the back of his head and several small bumps along both of his wrists. Turbo thought it might have been microfractures when his arms braced his body in the crash.
Dermal’s right arm was broken and the right sight of his face was swollen. He was probably jolted against his harness and got knocked around. 
Turco, finally checked himself, his head body and arms felt fine. His upper left leg felt a little funny, but he was able to walk on it for now. Other than that he was awake and using the small aid kits in the crash packs, he began to treat the other two. 
First, Dermal, he set the bone and using two rods from the crashed pod and bandages to splint it together. His face would just have to wait til they got to the research facility. 
The Major’s arm was wrapped and stabilized. His gash was stitched up, Turco hadn’t had much experience doing stitches so he was pretty sure it was going to leave a nasty scar. Turco bandaged the Major’s head and moved him to the shade of the pod.
Turco looked back to the inside of the pod. He noticed that the homing beacon had not been turned on. He switched on and heard a high-pitched beeping as the call for help made its way into the radio waves.
Turco went back outside to hear the groan of Quinn as he was waking up. The Major was rubbing the newly applied bandages as he sat up. 
“Take it easy, sir.” Turco said as he approached Quinn’s side.
“Where are we lieutenant?” Quinn groaned as he laid back down as if deciding that it was a good idea.
“We crashed landed on planet HarBack of the research division. Per your orders, sir.” 
“I don’t remember ordering a crash landing.” Quinn said.
“No.” Turco replied. “But you are the one that insisted on piloting the ship. Thus resulting in the crash. I swear I have never known you to land one of those life pods correctly, sir.”
Quinn felt his broken arm and remained silent while Turco tended to Dermal.
Turco moved over to Dermal and set his arm with an audible pop and made Quinn cringe at the sound. Dermal moaned loudly as Tuco splinted the arm. Turco checked his head and found a small bump on it. 
“Is he all right?” Quinn asked.
“His broken arm is the worse. He has three broken ribs and probably a concussion, he’ll live.” Turco turned his attention from his two patients and looked to the skies, for he thought that he heard the engines of a lifepod flying around.
There in the blue sky was a life pod flying toward his crashes pod.
“Good news, major, we’re getting a ride. From a life pod that didn’t crash.”
    The Major gave Turco a thumbs up.
The lifepod converted skiff had five people on aboard. Two marines, from what Turco could see, two navy dock workers, and a pilot.
Turco walked out into the sand. He felt the sunlight hit him and it forced the water in the soil to rise. ‘Ah the humidity.’ Turco thought. His hand was on his holstered pistol as the skiff landed. 
“Careful with that weapon sir,” One of the marines said, “I’d hate to get shot after having escaped the last battle.” 
“Did you all see anything useful on the way down?” Turco asked as he came closer to the skiff.
“The crash of Waking Flight is just over the horizon there.” The marine said. Her name was Jonson. Her brown hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, as if to compliment her brown eyes. She wore the marine battle armor exoskeleton. As hard as steel but as flexible as cloth. 
Both marines seemed to have a standard load out: an assault rifle, two grenades, a standard medic kit and extra ammunition attached to the belt. 
The dock workers, both women, had on standard cloth coveralls. Both had a small tool bag strapped to their back, and one had a small pistol holstered across her chest.
The pilot had only his helmet and jumpsuit. Although he appeared to have more battle experience than the others.
“As I am sure that you discerning eye can see, there are not alot of us left, sir.” Jonson said. “The five is that are left came from the dock where the battle was fircest. We were close to an escape pod waiting for the order to abandon ship, it was like hell on that deck. Fighting grunts and men hot lead and shrapnel flying everywhere, it was a nightmare, sir.” She was rattled and that was to be expected, but she had survived and there was some hope in that. 
    “Well, there are only two courses of action that I can see at the moment.” Turco said. “We can either go back to the ship and hope that the radio equipment is still in working order. Or go to the research facility on this world and maybe they have some way of contacting Whiskey. I personally don’t hold much hope for the ship since the bridge was badly damaged before we left.”
    “The Major and Corporal are in no condition to go galavanting around Waking Flight.” One of the dock workers said as she continued to tend their wounds.
    “So we go to the research station.” Turco said. “There we can turn over our wounded, make a camp, and get back in touch with Whiskey Base.”
“Yes, sir.” Five crisp salutes were given and two groans from the Major and Dermal.
“Let’s strip the second pod for anything useful, like weapons, rations, and fuel.” Turco ordered. “Then we will head off to last known position of the station.” 
Everyone started moving except for Jonson. “Last known position, sir?”
“The station operates on a hovercraft. It floats across land and sea and the reported volcanic plains. Its last position was far away on the other side of the world. We were supposed to deliver supplies them, but a crash landing happen.” 
The able bodies worked hard to strip the crashed pod, and to move Dermal and the Major into the skiff.
Then all loaded up and good to go, the skiff left the crash site and took off toward the last known coordinates of the research station. 
The journey for the most part was uneventful. Turco did take note that the landscape did not stay a bog but changed to a desert the further from the white clouds the they got. 
They saw the wrecked destroyer. It had stayed mostly intact, but they saw no activity around the craft.
As the got closer to the volcanic lands, the pilot caught wind of a Whiskien homing beacon. Turco ordered that they make their way towards it. 
The first sight they had of the research station was slightly awe-inspiring. For the station looked to be a the sizeof a small city. With spires and structures that reached towards the skies, but it moved at an incredible speed for its size. 
Turco click on the skiff’s radio and spoke into it. “Whiskey Research Station, this is Lieutenant Turco of the Waking Flight. Our ship has crashed, can you provide assistance?”
It seemed that the reply took a bit longer to come out, and it almost seemed like someone was fumbling with the microphone like they had forgotten where it was. 
“Roger that lieutenant. This is the Stallion Be advised that the destroyer was carrying much needed fuel. We will be landing near the destroyer so that we can send in recovery parties.”
“Roger that Stallion. We will meet you there.” Turco  directed the pilot to land at a likely spot big enough to accommodate the Stallion. 
The skiff set down about a kilometer away from the crashed ship giving it just enough room to beat a hasty retreat. 
The Stallion could be seen in the not too far off distance. The pilot, Lance Corporal Stan Wince, could be heard giving the coordinates of the skiff relative to the crash. 
Turco looked at the wreck and determined that the ship probably could still be salvaged but would fly on its own without a major refit.
Quinn and Dermal both groaned in pain as they tried to adjust themselves for comfort. Jonson moved to restrain Quinn and one of the dock hands moved to Dermal’s side.
There they waited. An hour passed. Turco had relayed The Major’s, Dermal’s, and his own injuries to the Stallion so that they could prepare their medical suite accordingly.
The research station did not look particularly big from this distance, but if it was anything like the other stations that Turco had seen, then the distance helped maintain its hidden size. The trapezoid box floated towards them. The three stories all had windows that ran all around it. This floating building only had one annex tunnel connection, which probably allowed to connect to other buildings in the area. Turco once knew a researcher that had called the seperate buildings, wagons, presumably because most stations were given names that reflected quadrupeds that pulled wagons in more primitive cultures
Finally the Stallion pulled up next to the skiff. As it set down the ground around it shook revealing that the sand floor was just barely covering a solid rock. The planet seemed to get more interesting by the minute. 
Turco, Jonson, and the rest helped move the injured parties to the Stallion’s surface entrance. More than anything Turco just wanted to radio home and return there as quick as he could. 
Upon entering the Stallion, he had a sense that getting home might become a much larger problem than first realized. 
What looked like large animal claws had raked the inside of the of the darkened entry halls, leaving bloodied streaks. The metal looked to be an inch thick and the holes across the metal were gouged clear through. A few pools of still sticky blood lay littered all over the entrance. Turco unslung Dermal’s rifle and held it at an almost ready position as a dark shape could be seen approaching him.
“Please don’t shoot.” A female voice called out to Turco.
“Identify yourself.” Turco called back.
“My name is Doctor Mandy Groves. I am a biologist that was sent to HarBack to study the indigenous life forms.”
Turco lowered his rifle if only slightly. And the Doctor approached him cautiously. As she moved into the light Turco was slightly taken aback as she was more beautiful than she had seemed in the dark hall. She was wearing a purple sweater and blue pants under a blue lab coat. Her tousled brown hair had a pencil stuck in it and her reading glasses were just sliding down her nose. She had a candy pop stuck in the side of her cheek. The rings under her blue eyes had said that she had had a few sleepless night recently. Her thin figure was lithe but strong. 
“I am Lieutenant Darrell Turco of the recently crashed ship. What happen here?” Turco asked expecting one of a creature to jump out of the shadows.
“Failed science experiment. An animal had an adverse reaction to an injection. We released back into the wild where it promptly exploded. Don’t worry too much about the landscape.” 
“Are your medical facilities operational?” Turco asked as the rest of the crew made their way further in. 
“Yes, after we get them settle we will need to send out teams to the wreckage to retrieve the fuel. We used what little we had left to get us as close as we could.” 
Turco made sure that his crew got to the elevator and that they made it to medical alright.
“Their first aid has been done quite thoroughly.”  Mandy said in the elevator up. “Which one of you attended to them?” 
Jonson and the others pointed to Turco, who halfway raised his hand. 
Now that Quinn and Dermal were being taken from his care, Turco was beginning to remember the strange pain in his leg from Quinn’s crash landing. 
“Well, it appears that we have another doctor in our midst.” Mandy said as Turco’s eyes rolled back into his head and he fell into the floor of the elevator. 
The elevator made a ding as the doors opened into the medical floor.
Turco woke to someone with soft hands slapping him in the face. He blinked and woke back up. He woke up much faster than anyone could have predicted and stood straight up looked around and saw all the startled faces. Except for Jonson, who looked like she was waiting for something to happen. When Turco’s eyes settled on Jonson and he noticed how calm she was, he then felt two stabbing pains in his right leg. He cried out in pain and anguish and he collapsed back onto the soft bed from which he sprang.
“New record, Lieutenant. Shortest time ever. Sir.” Jonson stated as Turco looked at her with eyes that could kill. She was on the verge of smiling, but she never quite got there. 
Mandy and Stan, who were now holding Turco down, looked from Turco to Jonson. Mandy asked the most obvious question in her mind. “Did you know that he was hurt?”
“No.” Jonson answered. “But he has done this kind of thing before. One time he went three days with only a basic bandage around a bullet wound to his lower torso, all while serving under Quinn there. Quinn expects the damn near impossible and Turco more times has succeeded in delivering. It’s only when Quinn is out of danger that Turco will start looking after himself.”
“He should have passed out from sheer pain.” Stan stated. “I know I would have.”
“Those Whiskiens are hard to kill, I suppose.” Jonson said.
“I thought Whiskiens had more sense than that.” Mandy said as she looked back at Turco, who had now closed his eyes.
“I do have enough sense to know when a subordinate is making fun of me, Sargent.” Turco said through a pained groan.
“No offense intended, sir.” Jonson said. “It’s just I have seen you doing near impossible things with the greatest of ease.”
“Well never, mind that.” Mandy stated. “Turco, I am going to have to sedate you so that I can set your bone. And it’s going to hurt, a lot.”
Mandy picked up a needle and injected him. The pain killer worked quickly.
Mandy began to say, “Have a good sleep.” but no more was heard after ‘Have’. Turco was out in an instant.

Dreams filled his mind. 
Dreams of thousands worlds,
Worlds filled with new species,
New people,
New cultures,
New Technologies,
Worlds that fit into the palm of his hand,
Worlds available for the taking, 
Life unending,
A god-hood that all would be envious of.
And none would wish upon their worst enemies.
And it seemed that he was destined for it,
But did he really want it?

Turco woke up groggily. The pain in his leg remained, and he wondered why was he awake.
“Water.” He called to nobody in particular.
Nobody answered.
Not a sound was heard.
His scratchy throat begged for some liquid goodness. 
“Water.” He called out again, he tried to do it louder, and he was unsure if he succeed.
Still quiet.
He opened his eyes and saw that the medical room had two more beds in it, their sheets were ruffled and messy. Someone had just gotten up. The bright lights of the room stung his eyes forcing him to squint.
He sat up and swung his own leg over the bed and did a quick check over his body to make sure that all his faculties were still working. He no longer felt his pistol on his left leg. he looked around his room for it and found it on the table next to his bed along with an empty glass that may have at one time contained water. He strapped the pistol back onto his leg and felt disappointment at the glass.
He got up, stood on his own two feet, ‘Why is the floor always cold?’ thought to himself. And continuing to squint ha made his way to the stairs and to try and find somebody. 
He tried the elevator before the stairs, but when he push the button to summon it, not even power could be heard turning on. So down the stairs he went.
He vaguely recalled some problem with power earlier.
On the next floor down, he poked his head in the door and looked around. He saw animals and test tubes. Red stripes and brown stripes. Something fuzzy and fluffy moved by him without paying him any mind, but still no people.
He sighed. Exasperated. And went down the stairs again. He felt more of a searing pain in his right leg as he hobbled down the stairs. 
Pain, he recalled something stupid had happened to him with what should have been easy.
He opened the last door in the stairwell because there were no more stairs.
He he saw signs that people should be here. Beds, kitchen and couches. A crew quarters for the people that should have worked here. And almost what sounded like screaming in the back. 
He limped into the room. He kicked a high-powered rifle, like Dermal had on the destroyer. He kicked it with his right leg, fresh pain shot up his leg and out his mouth. 
This sound caused the attention rather large to become focused on him.
Turco picked up the rifle and began to use it as a crutch as he continued to make his way back to the back. Even squinting, as he was, he could clearly see large part of the back room had been barricaded.
“Water.” Turco called out to the people in the barricade.
Then Quinn, Dermal, and Mandy Groves all poked their heads out from behind the wall and stared, unbelievingly at Turco as he just stood there in the middle of the carnage that he stood in the middle of. He just stood there, squinting his eyes and using Dermal’s rifle like a crutch. blood stains and claw marks could be seen all around him, as well as a large looming creature coming up from behind him.
“Turco! Look behind you!” Quinn yelled at him.
Turco turned around ever so slowly to see the large fuzzy, fluffy, red and brown striped, razor teeth tiger stare back at him eye to eye.
The tiger roared a blood curdling roar and as it reared back to lunge onto Turco, Turco quick as lightning unholstered his pistol and fired six consecutive into the mouth of the tiger. The penetrating explosive rounds of the pistol buried themselves into the soft inner flesh and blew up at the base of the skull of the animal. The body slumped over onto its side and lay still.
Quinn came out from behind the wall and came over to Turco, he was followed by the other two.
“Major, can I please get a cup of water, sir?” Turco asked as he himself collapsed, once again onto the floor.