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On the Rim, Ch 58: Kurta's Highest Priority

2020 copyright comidacomida

Kurta had long-since grown accustomed to days on Planet A being all-sorts-of-crazy so when she recognized a day beginning as 'normal' the possibilities fell within a rather wide bell curve. That being said, her day began as normal. The group was busy right from the get-go, which was to be expected since a good number fo the party was out delivering supplies to a friendly neighbor. For her, that meant extra work.

Although her specialty was veterinary medicine, the animals among the group were in great condition, meaning that she was usually assigned to help out with work detail, sent to 'clean something', or occasionally assist with forays out into the plant life surrounding the small valley in which the cave system was located. That day, she did a little of all three, starting with the scouting.

Her partner that morning was Jackal. The teen was definitely not an experienced security officer and as far as she was concerned it showed. Captain Archibald was training him, which meant that he was probably decent in a fight, but Kurta knew enough of security to be aware that the amount of talking he did to her was not exactly the norm when out on patrol. He also had a tendency to gossip or, more specifically, try to get her to talk about everyone, but mostly about Ben.

At first she thought it was cute; the boy had taken to the Dog like a puppy looking for a replacement mama. After about a half hour of Jackal complaining about his concerns regarding Archie's possible connection to the Wolf, her opinion changed; as far as she was concerned Jackal was more like the only child upset that his dad had a girlfriend. The teen was no longer his commanding officer's whole world, and it pissed him off. As their shift ended, she said as much. "You know, the two of them were together before you even entered into the picture. You need to suck it up and get over yourself."

Apparently that wasn't what Jackal wanted to hear. Scowling, he stated "You really need to work on reading the room."

She couldn't help herself. "The room? I just see a brat upset that someone's taking attention away from him."

Maybe it wasn't the nicest way to end the conversation, but it worked. Kurta and Jackal went their separate ways; he started beating relentlessly on a melee practice dummy and she entered into the cave system. Once Desiree ran up to her, tail wagging and panting everything became right in the world and the self-possessed teen was a world away. She spent the next hour alternating between tending to her beloved pet and straightening up the main room.

By the time various members of the group were passing through the central hall heading to and from the kitchen for mid-day snacks, Kurta had the place cleaned up nicely. There were a few comments about it as people took notice heading from one place to the next, but she was more interested in having a clean living space than any special recognition. What she did take notice of, however, was when everyone passing through stopped simultaneously; being a veteran of many psychic waves herself she realized immediately what is was an the content expressions on every male's face let her know right away that it was one of the rare ones.

Leo, who was closest to her, patted Kurta on the shoulder as he walked by. "I'm heading out to do a patrol. Make sure someone comes and gets me when dinner's ready."

She slapped his paw away. "Don't touch me."

Whether from the psychic wave or his own casual indifference to the moods of others, the Lion just laughed, his tail thrashing back and forth mirthfully. "Geez... chill-- just being friendly."

Padding languidly outside, he came to a stop in the doorway, letting out a whistle as he gazed at something beyond. Kurta wasn't the least bit interested in whatever he was staring at until the light streaming in past him began to fade then, all at once, went dark. Jackal's voice called from outside. "Hey! It's an eclipse!"

Considering Planet B had two moons, the idea of an eclipse wasn't all that impossible, or even improbable; she'd seen them before. Leaving the rest of the base to go sight-seeing, Kurta retreated further into the base to focus on double-checking the fabrication bench, fine-tuning it to make sure it would be available for use in the case that it was needed. While it was true that a large portion of what the group was needed late came from trade, she was never content to rely on others when everything they needed to be independent was available.

She spent the rest of the afternoon working providing general servicing to the equipment. It was normally Duct-Tape's job, but the Fox had been so busy installing the magnetic shield that some of the maintenance had gone incomplete. Between the electrical retrofit and the installation of new equipment Kurta often wondered how anything got done. Her contribution to keeping the base up and running continued as the sky lit back up after the end of the eclipse, and through its darkening again.

The caravan arrived just after dark. Although they all looked road-weary (except for Missy, who never seemed to be happier than when she'd just returned from a long time away), but none the worse for wear. All of them disbursed, heading off into their various rooms to put their gear away and, presumably, wash up. It was, after all, almost time for dinner. Kurta herself was almost to the point of getting ready to eat when her final productivity was interrupted by a cry from outside "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

Kurta ran immediately for the exit, grabbing her charge rifle on the way. The woman rushed through the opening, letting out a high pitched whistle as she did; moments later she was joined by Ajax and Desiree. Several plasma bolts fired overhead and, as she arrived at the front, Kurta slid into position behind one of the defensive embankments. Jackal and Leo were already in position; Kurta made the third, and her quick glance revealed at least a half dozen foes. Leo spoke up before she could. "Robots."

The first few seconds of the engagement were dedicated to suppressing fire as the three attempted to keep their opponents from getting any closer. Jackal, who was on the opposite of Leo from Kurta, was spending just as much time cursing as he was firing; he also talked to himself, but she wasn't interested in wasting any of her attention on that. Leo, on the other hand, was all business, and he claimed the first kill, downing a robot with a clean burst of charge shot into its head.

Kurta kept her own shots quick and relevant, working more to pin down her opponents than to get any kills. Reinforcements were coming, and that meant that her job was to hold out until then. Leo, however, didn't seem to have the same thought in mind; when one of the robots started rushing their position he popped right up and began spraying with his rifle. Despite the insanity of exposing himself to the enemy, his form was excellent, and round after round impacted against the thing's plastisteel plating until, at length, its armor gave way and it collapsed into scrap.

The Lion glanced her way with a smirk on his face but, in slow motion a pulse round hit him square in the chest. Unlike a glancing blow, the shot hit true and Kurta watched as a red spray bloomed out of his back. He remained standing for a few seconds until he wobbled, and collapsed. Kurta was not pleased to lose a third of their defense team, but things only got worse when she realized that she'd have to discard her gun and provide him medical assistance. Setting her charge rifle aside, she moved to save the idiotic Gen's life.

The shot had passed cleanly through him and, surprisingly, seemed to miss the most critical of organs. The watery wheezing from the Lion was a bad sign, as was his laboring breath; it didn't take long for her to realize that one of his lungs had been in the path of the shot. After that, her entire focus was dedicated to treating his punctured thorax in the hopes that field medication could keep him alive.

She only realized that her position had been overrun when Roscoe sprang up, jumping between her and the robot that had been about to strike her with plastisteel spurs; a moment later, Missy was by her side and, with the Lynx's help, managed to drag Leo away from the front. Jackal, who fell back with them, leveled his gun and dispatched the robot the wolf was distracting. By then, however, another four robots were already invading the spot they'd just abandoned.

Grizz and Cap'n were set up a short distance back, utilizing the same fallback technique they'd created during the last robot attack. The Dog downed three in rapid succession, each shot displaying perfection in marksmanship while Grizz focused on suppressing them. The last robot standing got through, however, and bore down on Kurta; Desiree and Ajax jumped it. The construct lashed out with its combat blades, attempting to defend itself, but the combined teeth of the two animals fought it to a stand-still... until it scored a hit.

Kurta winced when she heard Ajax yelp, and her stomach lurched when she saw the last three inches of its muzzle fall into the ground, accompanied by a cascade of red. The robot pushed past and Desiree, still latched onto one of its other arms, was dragged along the ground. Her weight didn't seem to dissuade the synthetic opponent at all-- at least, not until Grizz closed the distance. The robot wasn't able to keep up with him as the Bear knocked it over, pulled off a leg, and then beat it until it stopped moving.

Combat was over, but Kurta wasn't ready to celebrate. Leaving the rest of the party to see to Leo, she ran to where Ajax was stumbling, obviously out of sorts due to the pain. He growled at her as she approached, but after a few soft words, he let her come closer. Although he had always been an independent wolf, he didn't do much more than whimper as she scooped him up. She'd fought to keep busy during the day, having no idea just how hectic a night she'd have. Rushing past everyone into the base, she made her way straight to the medical bay; Ajax may have just been a wolf, but he was still part of the team, and if Doc objected she had no problem with putting him in his place.

Fortunately, Chris was just as concerned, and willingly helped her get set up until his attention was taken away by Leo. She was okay with that since, after all, she WAS the group's veterinarian. Gently stroking her wolf, she told him he'd be fine since she wouldn't accept any other result.