"He said he was Steven Cardell?"
"That’s the name he gave me," Terra said with a nod.
"Terra ... Steven Cardell is dead. He died when the Ops took that Crusader tank."
"It appears as if someone seeks you in his name, Commander. Or perhaps death isn't what it used to be," Mikkaill frowned.
Terra could feel herself tremble, but she kept her voice steady even though her face, too, grew pale. "Garth ... you are being moved to a different room tonight and ..for all practical purposes... you have ‘checked out’. I don't want any interference with your treatment. I need to talk to the other nurse who was on duty He said she gave the information that you were here."
"Why don't you check Garth out permanently? As in have him die. Can't hunt a dead man." Bliss said in a very soft voice. Terra looked at her in surprise
Mik laughed softly, the concept of Bliss' words were just all too familiar to the Leader of the Legion. Bliss seemed to understand that this other Freemen wasn't just anyone, but if he was going to laugh at her ideas then his opinion didn't matter to her. She offered him a small shrug. He smiled at her warmly. "It's not a bad idea. But it would have to happen in transit."
"Damn, this is just all too fast," Garth said with a sigh. "A month ago I was just a normal soldier...now, I'm a hunted man." Mik looked at Garth with an expression that said he was never a 'normal' soldier and the Commander grinned somewhat sheepishly. "Yeah ... I know ..."
Mik was pleased to see him grinning. "And I came to see how you were." He chuckled at the irony and hoped that Garth had no idea just *how* he had come along this evening. He imagined that his Commander would be none too pleased to know his Leader had carried the pay off goods himself to the One-eyed mercenary Garth had gotten his wedding bands from.
Buoyed by Mik's subtle praise, Bliss ran with her idea. "Convenient attack by the Church? Garth go boom?"
"The Church would know it hadn't attacked ... something more local," Mik said, smiling, "I imagine."
Terra’s countenance remained pale and grew more so, if possible. "Perhaps ... we should all go get a hot tea ... in the cafeteria?" Her fingers twisted the band which had only recently graced her finger.
"Whoa...wait a sec. ..." Garth protested.
"Plenty of that around to happen," Bliss smirked up at Mik.
"Whoa... Hold it..." Garth interrupted again. "That'll never work... Besides ... Who the hell is looking for me? The Church already thinks I'm dead..."
"Do they, Garth?" Terra asked, wondering and thinking perhaps they didn't.
"But you're not -- certainly someone may have taken note of that?" Mik interjected.
Bliss was not to be put off. "Why shouldn't it work? Freemen moved you to keep you safe and ooppsiees … lost ya."
"What if … entries were made that you … died … during treatment," Terra said softly, wincing at her own words.
Garth ran an unsteady hand through his hair. "I wish everyone would stop talking so fast and a the same time. How could they know I'm alive? The Church killed the project."
Mik patted his shoulder as he sat in his wheel chair. "I don't know everything."
"I don't expect you too, though … " Garth chuckled. "I do wonder sometimes."
Mik sidestepped that with a noncommittal grin. "Perhaps Terra's idea is a good one? A bit of tea?"
"Yes, let's." Terra said and Garth said tea sounded good on the heels of that. Terra stood and wheeled Garth toward the cafeteria leaving the guards to tend things in the lobby. All entrances were effectively sealed up and watched for now so they both felt they could relax even if they weren't sure how secure they were.
"I don't know anything," Bliss complained. "I don't even know what's going on."
"Bliss … you could use some food," Terra threw over her shoulder. Garth took her hand and in quiet tones they talked about what the Cardell impersonator had done to her and how he was a dead man walking. Terra assured Garth she'd had all her vaccinations so that the scratch on her cheek was, at worst, an annoyance. But she privately planned to thoroughly test herself for any invasive germs, viruses and bacterium as soon as possible.
Bliss dragged herself to her feet, nearly tumbling over face first. Mik deftly caught hold of her, offering support. She steadied herself against him but not with much luck. "Thanks," she murmured.
"Let me help?" he said gently.
She regarded his face, a good, kind face with bottomless gray eyes, soft seeming dark skin and aristocratic features. He was genuine and didn't judge her by her body's weakness. "Please," she whispered. He slipped an arm around her waist to steady her more and moved with her slowly toward the cafeteria doors. He went only as quickly as she was able to move.
"Name's Bliss Lovejoy, you got one?"
"Ricohh Mikkaill Gideonn," he told her. "Your servant." His chuckle was rich and low as he helped her to a chair. Terra asked the group for their votes on water or tea. Garth chose water, Mik and Bliss tea and Terra went to fill the orders, getting herself some juice. "Ricohh Mikkaill Gideonn. Now there is a mouthful."
"Call me Mik, if you like." He said a careful eye on her progress into the chair.
"That'll do," Bliss nodded. When Terra returned with their drinks they all had a bit before going on.
Terra turned to Bliss. "By the way… I don't think I thanked you."
"For what?"
"Had you not threatened to kill him, I might not be sitting here."
Bliss offered a dark smile which Mik found he liked the look of. "It wasn't a threat."
Terra nodded. "I know," she said quietly. "It was lucky for him the guards came. You know love?" she said turning to Garth. "I will gladly learn to use a weapon."
"After the pregnancy..." he told her as he sipped his water. "I'll teach you some self-defense."
Mik's long fingers slipped to his cup of tea and he soaked in the warmth through the ceramic. Garth's words about a pregnancy brought a distant, and momentary frown. Mik's youthful face looked slightly older under the shadow of that expression and Garth asked him if he were all right, calling him sir. It was natural to do that and the others were sure then that this was indeed the Leader of the Legion of Freemen. Mik offered a single nod in response to the question. Garth had Terra go through everything that had happened, again, so Mik then turned his attention to Bliss who was again rubbing the back of her neck. In the back of his mind he quietly pondered what they might do to solve the problem of his Special Ops Commander. He couldn't have assassins wandering around trying to murder this man. They had only recently come to learn how vital he might just be to them. But in the foreground of his thoughts was a lovely young lady who seemed the worse for wear.
Mik lifted his tea to his lips to sip. He glanced at Bliss as she rubbed her neck, then his eyes closed in a slow sip of the tea. He enjoyed the heat of it tremendously before his eyes opened again. Bliss realized she was doing it yet again and lowered her hand, grabbing the glass in front of her. She looked at Mik with another shrug. "Serious bad vibes in my skull," she told him.
"Were you injured?" he asked as he sat with her at the cafeteria table, his hand wrapped around the ceramic cup, swirls of steam rising from the soothing tea.
Bliss grinned. "Only when I dumped my bike a couple days ago." She lifted her white cast on her left arm.
"I'd sign if I had a pen," he grinned back.
"You look tired," Terra said. Knowing the girl was about to keel over helped her accurately assess this serious medical condition. She smiled at her private joke. "I’ll make sure you have good food tonight."
"A good night's rest would not hurt either," Mikkaill said as he looked Bliss over carefully.
"I don't do that very well," Bliss told him.
"Rest?" Mik regarded her steadily through steely gray thoughtfulness.
She nodded, then joked with Garth about how it was a good thing she had tried to escape the hospital that night. Otherwise, she might not have met him, nor known Terra nor cared when the man claiming to be Steven Cardell had threatened her. Garth smiled weakly his head still trying to absorb all the night's variety of events. He berated himself for not having been there to protect either of them and how he couldn't have lived with himself if anything had happened to her and the children she was carrying even now.
Mik told him he was speaking nonsense. "If this man had found you in your chair, he might very well have killed you."
"Yes." Terra said, believing it. "That’s true Garth."
"He could have tried. After all, I am a super-soldier..." He said it with some pride and then looked at Bliss as if suddenly realizing he hardly knew her beyond that very day and what was wrong with him anyway for mouthing off like that.
"Clearly he wasn't here for anyone else." Mik told Garth quietly. Bliss lamented how at 17 she'd managed to make the man go away, and yet he'd called her a child. Mik let his eyes wander over her again when she wasn't looking.
"Garth," Terra asked, her question distracting the Leader of the Legion from his perusal. "How would he know about Steven … your dead friend?"
"She's right. He claimed to be someone you knew once. Why that man? Why that background? More than likely, my friend, you have those answers. If he'd been here to kill, he'd have done so."
Terra nodded, agreeing with Mik. "He ... he said he would GET you. He didn't say...kill. Love? How. Was Steven … well how did he die?"
"Steven died of plasma burns...the Ops had been assigned to capture a Crusader-Class tank...he got injured in the process. I carried him back here myself." Mik looked grimly at Garth. He was all too familiar with events of that nature in the life of a soldier.
"So ... it was against the Church?"
Garth nodded and Mik said, "Whatever his affiliations, if any at all, he won't let them be known with certainty. Especially if this is some sort of personal vendetta. To threaten the Union of Medics so openly ... would jeopardize the amnesty of hospital grounds."
"Garth, I can delete some of the records ..."
"Do what needs to be done."
"Logically speaking, Garth must have something he or who ever he works for wants."
Garth winked at Bliss. "I think they want me ... but … for what I am, not who. Who I am hardly matters."
"The identity of the Freemen in that battle could have been obtained by the Church, I'm sure."
Terra regarded Mik solemnly. The notion that her hospital compatriots might be untrustworthy disturbed her greatly. "Yes … there is possibility our records were accessed. Or access was given freely. I NEVER give out such information. But then not everyone is like me."
"You know of anything that can't be bought or stolen Mik, including information?
"Very little, I'm afraid, Bliss."
"Hospital information, Freemen information, it can all be gotten for a price." She sounded far older than her 17 years allowed for at that moment. Mik felt a surge of kinship with her then. "Of course the same can be said of Church info, if you know who to ask."
Garth sipped his water. "This has to be the church...somehow they've found out I'm here... Somebody has noticed ... that their precious Super Soldier 3459 is still alive and kicking."
"At least we can do something about this," Terra began.
Bliss took her little box out of her pack then, opening it to look inside. Mik watched but said nothing. He turned to Lowinn. "You need to find yourself a safe haven, Garth. Until you're well." He knew very well that he was suggesting going into hiding to one of the last men on Sabatt who would ever consider hiding.
Garth sat back in his wheelchair. He put his hands on the table palms down and frowned darkly at Mik. "Hide? You must be joking?"
Bliss tilted her head at him as if he'd grown a third eye. "You and Terra should both hide."
"I'm going to find this guy and grab his throat and throttle him... See how he likes it… The mutated freak."
"He has the Church behind him," Mik said softly.
"You gonna do that sitting down?" Bliss asked Garth, lifting a pale brow. Mik glanced from her to him and wished to Lurudd he had said that.
"You a comedian now?"
"Nah, just terribly practical." Then Bliss took a glass vial out of the box and turned it around in her hand.
"Garth," Terra was saying. "We should move the treatment up to tomorrow. And we will change rooms. I have everything I need ... and I can either just delete your file or list you as discharged."
Mik drew his brows together. "List him as discharged. It wouldn't be a lie."
"We can do that." Garth sighed. "Please Gods, just give me a normal mission."
Bliss held out the vial to Garth and Terra. "Wedding present," she said simply. "Fruit tree." In the vial was a small sprig of green suspended in a clear gel. "Or it will be, someday. When it grows up."
"That's … incredible." Terra whispered.
"Where...where did you get this?" Garth asked. Mik watched, a small smile tugging at the corner of his rich mouth.
"From home." Bliss said and closed the little box carefully, putting it back in her bag. "My Gran was a botanist." Bliss bit her bottom lip. "That's one of her mini trees. She was always playing with plants. Trying to make them more radiation resistant."
"Thanks...Bliss. I think I've made a worthy ally tonight... Of course, I've also made an enemy."
"I don't think you are the only one."
Terra smiled. "It's been quite an eventful night." She took the vial and closely examined the sprout.
Mik was lost in thought as if part of his attention was focused elsewhere. He was aware of all that went on here, around him, however and he murmured, "I think you had the enemy long before tonight..."
"They never have liked me and the Ops have they?"
"You boys have done them a great deal of damage." The young leader chuckled, his eyes flashing momentarily.
"We try."
Mik leaned toward Garth, hoping the ladies were distracted by their discussion of botany enough that he could present this quietly. "Terra works in the research lab, right?"
"Yeah...why?"
"Labs tend to deal in occasionally .. volatile materials ... "
"I suppose they do."
Mik looked at him intently. "And you've just engaged yourself to the hospital's chief researcher... "
"What are you getting at, Mikkaill?"
"You know … Things have been known to be knocked over in the midst of amorous embraces." He was certain Garth would understand his line of reasoning and the need for subterfuge. "It could be a vehicle for your apparent demise, Garth." He wrapped his hand again around his teacup and leaned back in his chair.
Garth's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
"Always."
"I can't... We can't... I won't have that ... it's ..."
"Can you think of a better, more efficient way? It makes perfect sense. You're there, one thing leads to another … boom. It gives the Church more to gnaw on than just your death. It gives them rumor, millions of details to ponder in their corrupt little minds. What were you working on together, that sort of thing. It will distract them from the possibility of the explosion being a ruse. So much to crow over that they wouldn't look twice through the ruins."
"The ... ruins?" Terra said. Bliss and she had turned to listen despite the men's low tones.
"Well," Bliss interjected, quick on the uptake. "You'd have to actually blow something up." She was enjoying that Mik had actually taken her suggestion of faking Garth's death seriously.
"Not too much ... just enough."
Garth nodded. "I can see this...but you are asking an awful lot of me, Mikkaill."
"You don’t think … just writing ‘demise’ on his records would be good enough?"
Mik shook his head and Garth said, "They can probe ... and if we're being tracked, then anyone who falsified a record – anyone else's name who appears on the documents is going to be questioned, followed, hounded until the Church gets what it wants. We have to put the burden of this on ourselves."
Mik rose from his chair. "We can provide a body."
"A body?" Garth hadn't really recovered his color and became almost pasty at this suggestion. "How? Never mind."
"Would have to be two bodies wouldn't it?" Bliss asked.
Mik shook his head. "Terra needs to ... live ... to be seen living, even grieving." Bliss nodded. He knew how cruel his words were. It was decided that Terra could get everything together for the ‘event’ in a week. Garth's medications, the equipment … all of it could be moved to a secure, secluded location over time and then the "accident" could happen. As soon after his procedure as was possible they decided. Timing and planning were highly important.
"What matters is that the two of you are in the lab together at the time of the explosion. Terra will have to give an award winning performance so that anyone around her will believe what she says about what happened and how it happened."
Garth nodded. "If the explosion occurs...you come staggering out of the lab...not looking good..." he turned to Mikkaill. "We get a body...can we make it up to look like me?"
"No need. Burned beyond all recognition." Mik paused. "You've been in that chair too long, my friend."
"Yeah, I have... Never thought I'd go out this way."
Mik gave his shoulder a light squeeze. "We're trying to keep you from going out at all."
Terra’s expression changed and she rose to leave the room suddenly. Bliss surmised she was gonna be sick and Garth said that that sort of thing came with pregnancy. But when she returned she told them that she had quickly gone to alter her records. If the church wanted Garth for what he was, they might go after her even if he was dead to get the DNA of his children. She had changed her blood test results to show she wasn't pregnant.
"I’ll leave around the 6 month," Terra said. "I'm going with you. That way, there is no record of their births … except by us."
"Their…?" Mik echoed and a light dawned and he slipped his hand over his mouth. His thoughts ran distantly and back again and the tremor of his dark amusement was shared far away.
Terra sighed. "Why can't they allow us to remain neutral?"
"No such thing as neutral, if there was you wouldn't be involved with a Freemen."
Mik grinned widely at Bliss. "Indeed." They discussed how he didn't want to go to the hospital basement to be hidden for the procedure or the recovery. It had to be away from the hospital for the protection of the staff. And the Freemen base was out as well.
"I refuse to be a burden on Mikkaill... We'll have to find some place."
Bliss rose slowly to her feet. "Friends aren't burdens."
"No, but a soldier that can't fight is … on his troops. Besides, if the Church wants me bad enough, they will find me. And I won't be the reason we lose lives."
"For now. The further you are from a Freemen base the safer you'll be," Mik told him.
"Exactly." Lowinn sighed. "Dammit. I should be fighting this battle not running from it."
If the hospital didn't need you, Terra, we could make it a double accident, then you could be there to see him through his recovery. But you … You can't fight in the condition you're in, Garth. And if the Church believes you dead, you'll be far more useful to the Legion when you do heal."
"Oh? What can I do then? That I don't do now?"
Bliss, so tired that she slid off the chair and sat on the floor with a thump understood where it seemed the Commander did not. "Be sneaker Garth. Can't kill a ghost."
Mik didn't want to be harsh, but it was necessary to say, "At the moment, you do nothing but sit here in that chair. And should the Church find you and kill you, you'll be doing less than that."
"You're lucky I have a sense of humor," Garth muttered, looking from Bliss to Mik.
Terra sighed. "But this ... man didn't want him ... dead. He seemed to want him very much alive which would make perfect sense for genetic testing … " They all seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Mik said, "I stand reminded. But knowing the Church wants Garth alive, my dear, makes it no better."
"That is precisely why I think it is the Church. I think they want to start the SS project again."
"Try to breed a better soldier, like my Gran was trying to breed a better plant," Bliss quipped.
Mik nodded slowly his dark head regal in the motion. "If they do that, Garth ... where would we be?"
"On the losing side," Lowinn said. He saw the distant look come into Mik's eyes … a look he'd seen in the eyes of his Legion Leader before – the man some Freemen called Ric, some Mik and others only ever "sir" – and the Commander turned to Bliss. "Bliss, this has to stay here...you can't go repeating this to anyone..."
She peeked up at him from the lip of the table. "Yeah. I'm young, not stupid."
"We'll talk soon," Mik said abruptly.
"You leaving?"
"For now," he said cryptically and then looked down at Bliss as she tried to leverage herself off the floor using the closest chair. "Do you need a helping hand to your room?"
"I think so, my body won't work right."
Terra told her they'd have her medications waiting in her room for her. Mik was smiling and in two steps was beside the struggling Bliss. He slipped an arm around her back, the other beneath her knees. "Upsy Daisy."
Bliss blinked up at Mik and blushed to the roots of her hair. Garth grinned knowingly. "I'm too heavy to carry," the girl insisted.
"Fear not. I've no ... amorous intentions." The Legion Leader told her and winked.
"Better not," Garth said. "You might end up like me... Twins on the way..."
A low laugh, rumbled in Mik's chest while Terra’s cheeks colored with her own blush. Garth didn't know how right he might be … "Yeah, it's a good thing," Bliss said. "I'd probably fall asleep on ya."
He couldn't help saying it. "Oh ... perhaps ... then again, perhaps not." Bliss’ eyes grew owlishly wide at that teasing barb. Mik moved toward the doors with his burden, his goal the elevator beyond in the lobby.
"Bliss, just hang around here...remember our deal."
"I will, I gave my word."
Garth nodded, smiling. "Honor ... is the second tenet of the freeman."
"You tell me your room number..." Mik was saying as they vanished from sight down the hall, "and I'll give you door to door service, honor – more or less – in tact." Bliss couldn't help but laugh softly as the cafeteria doors swung shut on the sight of them.
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