6. Defending Earth-Transfer Orders

"Sergeant?" a little voice asked, interrupting Captain Clark.  He shifted his feet and looked at his watch.

"Hi, Kimby, would you run and get us some coffee?" I asked the waif.  She was the younger sister of Private Andrews.  They had the same moss eyes.

Blood was washed over his eyes.  She had seen it coming, seen how he moved to slowly after stunning a Peregrinie.  Seen how it had fallen, crushed, and trapped Andrews beneath its bulk.  She had also seen the other three Peregrinies react to the first one's fall.

The closest Peregrinie had raised its front legs to bring the two black, glittering with red, clawed hoofs directly onto Andrews skull.  Instead of crushing bone, the alien found steel.  My sword reached taller than I and batted the hooves away.

It responded in kind.  I ducked, but not quite fast enough.  The edges of the claws kissed my cheek, leaving behind a second ragged smile of blood.  But soldiers had rallied around Andrews.  We pressed back and allowed the strongest to lift the alien.

Andrews spent the next several weeks casted and bedridden.  I was given stitches and the promise of an impressive scar.  Once he was released from his bonds, he went back to training.  Some people make a mistake and they die.  Andrews had a second chance.  It was not a mistake he would make again.

Word spread, mostly from Andrews, that Helena had saved his life.  Kimby soon became Helena's second shadow.  She would run errands for Helena, run errands, and practice every movement until it was just like Helena's.  At night, Kimby made attempt after attempt until she too could lift a longsword.

The girl would be one of the best some day.  Better than any of them were now.  She will have grown with a sword in her hands.

"Do you see it?" Helena asked Captain Clark.

"I can retire in peace seeing a child like that.  In fact, I have been pleased with everything I have seen thus far," he began to pat his pockets until paper crinkled.

"I have orders for you to transfer," and he handed her the wrinkled papers.  They were orders for her to report with Captain Clark at the Aurora Defense Base outside of Denver.

"This is unexpected, sir," she leafed through the packet.  Everything was in order.  Tomorrow morning she would have to leave the place she had dared to call home.

"I'm putting a team together.  We need someone with your skills and abilities," and that was the only explanation he could give her.