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On the Rim, Ch 6: Coal "Cole" Nine

2019 copyright comidacomida

Cole spent the night alone laying in bed staring up at the stone ceiling above his head. He tossed and turned for over an hour as he played out the events in the day, culminating in making a fool of himself trying to talk to Grizz, one of the security officers helping to keep the group safe. The young Stallion had always had a tender spot for men in uniform and it'd gotten him in all sorts of trouble in the past.

Not usually one to overextend himself socially, the Horse decided to take a chance and the object of his affections didn't even seem to notice his advances. Then again, he reasoned, he wasn't that overt, and perhaps Grizz just hadn't noticed his interest. He finally fell asleep convincing himself that he hadn't made a complete fool of himself and that it would be smarter to just buckle down and focus on survival; interpersonal relationships only complicated things. Rubbing the long scar on the side of his neck that served as a constant reminder to him of that fact, he ultimately fell asleep.

Despite the late night, Cole woke early, as usual. He pushed any lingering thoughts of self-defamation from the prior night and instead chose to get started right away with the numerous activities on his shift. He stopped by the section of the dig reserved as the kitchen long enough to grab a handful of berries from the ice box for breakfast and got right to it. The Stallion made ample use of the pneumatic pick to continue the expansion required for the pending 'guest room' before anyone else awoke and only stopped when everyone was called to the front of the cave.

Missy was busy talking with the security team and Overseer Simpson, but she started again once everyone arrived. "I saw some little lizard-men things heading this way while I was out scouting this morning. They're heading right towards us so they must know we're here, and they have weapons."

Overseer Simpson immediately took over the conversation before questions could be asked. "Dr. Zimmerman, I want you inside with me. Cole, you're by the door in case anyone gets past our primary defenses... do you still have your side arm?"

The Stallion was surprised at her direct order followed by the question. In response he only held up his weapon followed by a "Y-yeah-- yes, Ma'am."

She didn't even slow. "Berna-- Duct-Tape. Did Captain Archibald give you a weapon?"

The Fox shook his head. "Not yet, Ma'am... I understand if he might be a little hesitant since I just joined up wit--"

Overseer Simpson cut him off. "Then you're inside with us. Everyone not on guard, follow me-- everyone else, Captain Archibald is in charge."

Three of the group retreated into the cave system, leaving Cole and three others out in the open. Glancing around, the Stallion realized that the lone exit to the valley was the side from which the hostiles would be coming and he felt his heart begin to beat powerfully in his chest. The Overseer told him to stay in the back and she didn't have to repeat the order; he really wasn't interested in getting anywhere near the front lines. Thankfully, Captain Archie didn't seem to mind that ideal. The Dog walked right up to him. " No combat experience?"

The young Horse shrugged. "Just VR and in sims."

Grizz chuckled off to the side. "Better than nothin' I guess."

Cole felt his ears burn in embarrassment, but the Captain didn't give him time to process it, slapping him on the shoulder with a plastisteel gauntleted paw. "Then you stay in the back... hell-- hide behind the boulder here if you have to and you don't fire unless they're coming past you. Got it?"

The Dog had just given him a free pass to be a coward; although Cole didn't like the idea of failing to contribute he also couldn't argue with the improved chances of survival it provided him, especially since he didn't have any of the security spec body armor the Captain and Corporal wore. Despite himself, the Stallion couldn't help but say "You two be careful... we need you."

The two security officers didn't bother with a reply, instead, they began pushing together several chucks of stone into a make-shift half-wall and took up position behind it. Missy, who had almost gone unnoticed by the Stallion spoke up from beside. "I'll be careful too-- thanks for your concern."

Jumping in surprise, Cole turned to regard her. Roscoe, the oddity-incarnate pet wolf padded over and licked his elbow, offering a reaffirming "uf" before trotting off after the Lynx, who went to join the two armed and armored security officers. The fact that the woman was not only a civilian, but also didn't have any sort of armor wasn't lost to Cole and it only made him feel more embarrassed for hiding in the back, but it made him no more eager to join the front line, and so he remained behind cover, drowning in his own thoughts... but that all ended once the Captain shouted "Here they come!"

Cole convinced himself to hazard a glance at shout of "Open fire" followed by the sound of the first discharge of a security rifle. Carefully peeking out, the Stallion saw a swarm of over a dozen of red-scaled, meter-tall humanoid lizards racing toward the front line. The vast majority of them had what looked like wooden and stone weapons; some had bows, but their clothing and armaments suggested no great amount of scientific advancement... until Cole saw one lighting what looked like a rag stuck into a bottle. The Stallion barely had enough time to shout a warning. "Cap'n! Look out!"

The glass bottle came sailing in and the Dog spun in response to the cry, shooting the bottle out of the air. The fluid inside ignited immediately and, while most of it disbursed all along the ground safely, some small amount made it to the Captain, splashing down onto his leg and burning him. Growling in response, the Dog popped back up and, with a quick three-round burst, downed his assailant before the lizard could light another flame bomb.

Providing him cover, the Corporal downed two of the lizards in rapid succession as they went to take aim at the exposed Dog and then each officer took down another in a fresh hail of gunfire. By that point the rest of the little humanoids turned and fled, shouting to one another in a language that Cole didn't understand. He did understand the Captain's orders though. "Missy-- hold here. Grizz-- you're with me."

Even as the Captain and Corporal sprang over their cover and raced off after in hot pursuit of the lizards it was obvious that Missy didn't plan on listening; she hopped up and ran after them, smg at the ready. Slipping back down with his back against the bounder behind which he hid, Cole just let out a long, exhausted breath; he couldn't remember when he was last so tired after having done so little.

Cap'n, Grizz, and Missy were back in a matter of minutes, each with one of the lizard things over a shoulder; there had been eleven in all and three had survived to be taken prisoner. Cole glanced after them, looking at the creatures hanging off of the group; they were dressed in ratty clothes; two had tribal-looking garb and one had a ratty and tattered shirt that was human sized, which fit it as if a child were wearing a parent's top. Cap'n lingered only long enough to knock Cole out of his musings when he said "Go get Doc... I need my leg tended to, and these three need to stay alive long enough to be interrogated."

The Stallion went immediately to do as ordered; he found Doc and the Overseer in the side cave that was to be the guest room. He relayed the information immediately and Ms. Simpson wasted no time as she addressed the Doctor. "Dr. Zimmerman, get some of our medicine for the Captain, and any useful medicinal herbs that Ms. Drunn found for us, and meet me at the holding room... Cole?"

He immediately gave her is full attention. "Yes, Ma'am?"

"Bodies?"

The Horse didn't quite understand. "I'm sorry?"

She elaborated. "Are there bodies?"

The question, despite it being reasonable considering the situation, made his skin crawl. "Yes, Ma'am."

The Overseer already had a plan in mind. "If those bodies stay around long enough then we'll have a health problem. See if you can repurpose a thruster from the shuttle for cremation. Get some help if you need to strip and burn them-- we'll do what we can with their personal effects."

The Doctor looked as squeamish about it as Cole felt. "Ma'am? Are you sure we should be looting corp--"

She interjected, but her response was surprisingly sympathetic. "We're trying to survive in a hostile environment, Chris. I appreciate your concerns, but we can't afford to worry about treating the belongings of the dead with deference and respect when we can't guarantee that we'll have sufficient supplies for ourselves."

Grizz happened to pass by at that very moment and he added in his two cents. "Besides... THEY attacked US."

Cole was able to keep focused on building a cremation oven, which helped him from obsessing over the discussion; that also meant he wasn't on 'corpse retrieval' detail, which included Grizz, Missy, and Duct-Tape. Missy and Doc spent time in the holding cell with the three prisoners along with Captain Archie. The Stallion had the crematorium ready about the same time as the three emerged from their time with the prisoner. The Overseer called a meeting shortly thereafter.

She started by explaining that she believed in complete disclosure, and began to share what they'd learned from their talk with the lizard people. Apparently they came from among natives to the planet, who had spent several decades fighting to maintain their lands against incursions from pirates. As far as they were concerned, any outsider was a pirate and they weren't interested in hearing differently.

The three prisoners were named Ark, Trig, and Enna, and they were all treated for their wounds. As with the pirate, the Overseer planned to release them once they were mobile. Captain Archie was strangely silent at the announcement, though Cole did notice that he and Grizz exchanged exasperated glances. With little more to be said, Ms. Simpson answered a few unrelated questions and sent everyone back to 'work as usual'.

That afternoon consisted of more work for Cole, first assisting with the disassembly of a few chunks of spacecraft that had fallen from the sky, and then brainstorming with the Overseer and Duct-Tape when it came to how best to implement hydroponics with the current power set-up. Finally, the Stallion joined Grizz and Missy as they went out to do some mining at the metal node that the Lynx had found the prior day.

By the time evening approached Cole finally began to feel his lack of sleep from the prior night. Settling down in the common room, he sat patiently and quietly as Doc and Missy brought in a fresh meal made of some wild bird, berries, and rice. Toward the end of dinner, the Overseer turned to the Captain. "Alright... give the prisoners any leftovers we have from tonight's meal and once they've eaten take them to the edge of the valley. Remind them we don't mean any harm and if they leave us alone we'll do the same."

The Dog looked like he wanted to object but, in the end, he simply nodded. "Yes, Ma'am. Come on, Grizz."

The Bear stood and pushed his chair in. "Copy that."

As Captain Archie passed by he reached out and patted Dr. Zimmerman on the shoulder. "Thanks for the help today, Doc... you got a great bedside manner, and a sure touch. Makes me a little less worried about getting hurt if I know we got you around."

Based on how Dr. Zimmerman's face reddened the Stallion couldn't help but chuckle internally; apparently Cole wasn't the only one who realized that the compliment could have been misinterpreted any number of ways. The Horse's eyes remained on the Doctor a few seconds longer; Chris Zimmerman was a handsome man, only a few years Coles' senior. If the laborer didn't fully realize that Doc was WAY out of league then he might have been willing to risk embarrassing himself just as badly as he'd done with Grizz... but Cole wasn't quite THAT stupid, so he said nothing, and simply enjoyed the show, feeling empathically pained, but also reassured that he apparently wasn't the only one hopelessly lost in the social quagmire.

It wasn't the end of the night, however, as the uptick in humor was met by an equally painful punch to the gut. Just as the Stallion was heading to bed, he saw Corporal Grizz come back through the entrance to the cave system. Cole was almost able to work up the will to say hello when the Bear was intercepted by Missy. The Lynx was in his arms immediately, their muzzles pressed together hungrily. The two stumbled into Grizz's room even as they were undressing one another and the door slammed behind them. They were not quiet and, to make matters worse, Grizz's room was next to his own. It was another long, sleepless night.

In the morning, Grizz asked Cole to make him a bigger bed. The private humiliation only grew.