Junebug was already running when Neil's comm reached her. She raced through the night towards the village, leaping rocks and boulders, weaving between trees. Eight hundred meters didn't seem like a long distance with a stabalized rifle, but covering the same distance at night in thick jungle was another matter. Soldiers died in battle and Junebug could accept that, had given orders that got her people killed in many times in fact, but Quetzalli was different. The girl hadn't voulnteered for combat, hadn't trained to kill, all she had done was to try and help strangers in need. 

"No no no no," Taya whimpered over the comms. Another untrained civilian and that alone prevented Junebug from tearing a strip of her hide, even so her voice was not gentle when she replied, her high rank allowing her transmission to step on the girls.

"Taya get the jeep airborne and bring it into the village ASAP!" Junebug snapped as she leaped a small stream, rifle across her armored chest at high porte. For a moment she had a curious flashback to an assault course back in her officer orientation.

"I... Captain I don't think I can fly..." Junebug cut her off with a snarl.

"Lonney, take control of the Jeep and bring it in to Neil's coordinates," she snapped. Something caught her leg and she went down, instinctively she turned her momentum into a roll and regained her feet in a moment. Still six hundred meters to cover. Neil was saying something over the channel but it didn't seem to be directed at her.

"Capt'm It be miles outsidea ma normal..."

"Lonney I swear by the stars if you don't get that Jeep moving in the next three seconds, I'll have you locked into a Trakalian Opera voice for the rest of your operational life!" The AI didn't respond but Taya screamed over the comm and she heard the sound of the fans in the jeep spinning up.

Thirty second later the sound of the jeep coming up behind her was audible and she vectored it too her, running for the clearest approach. Lonney was eveidently taking her at the spirit of her command and crashing through the underbrush with little regard for the jeep beyond survival. When it reached her it was covered with broken limbs and trailing vines like a brides wedding gown. It slowed as it approached her and Junebug dived across the hood before pulling herself up over the splinter-shield and into the drivers seat. Taya clung on for dear life in the rear compartment both arms wrapped around the gun pintle and shaking violently. There was no time now to worry about the young woman and Lonney was already accelerating in the second it took Sayeeda to grasp the controls. With a flick of her wrist she shoved the throttle through the gates, cranking the fans well beyond anything remotely like safe operating speed. At full power the jeep had enough lift for a few meters of true flight and it lurched out of the trees like a stumbling horse. Junebug expertly feathered the fans to prevent an out and out smash when gravity caught up to them  and then they were on a straight approach through what must have been a water course in the wet season. Dirt and gravel kicked up in a wide tail as she raced for the village.

The locals, those that hadn't already fled broke and ran in pewling terror as the Jeep howled out of the darkness like some primordial demon. Junebug set it down hard at the edge of the sports field, dust billowing up in a vast donought as the little vehicle bounced twice, scrubbing off momentum as the skirts gouged an inch deep trench in the hard packed earth. Without hesitating Sayeeda leaped from the still moving vehicle and sprinted the last few meters towards Neil and the stricken Quetzalli. Another figure, the Shaman who had been with Wetumpkah was running into one of the older huts at the base of the destroyed pyramid but there was no time to worry now.

Quetzalli was very pale and her breathing was shallow and ragged. Neil had her hands pressed around the axe buried in her stomach and blood slicked both of them. The girl's eyes fluttered open as Junebug slid to a stop on her knees tearing of one of her web pouches and upending it in the dirt. The small first aid kit was hopelessly inadequate to the task. 

"Bug," the girl said, lifting a trembling finger to point at a nearby phosphoresent insect, not unlike a terran firefly although several times larger.

"Bug," she said again somehow managing to sound proud of herself despite the pain in her voice.

"Yeah yeah, now you are a fucking linguist," Junebug retorted as she pulled her knife from her belt and powered it on. With a few quick strokes she cut away the girls shirt, the fibre weave was good against blunt trauma but provided little protection against a truely modern cutting implement. It was immediately clear that though the weave had saved her life the situation was still pretty bad. Blood welled up around the axe blade and the pressing hands in rythimic pulses and had already stained her the top of her pants completely. Worse was the slight stink that Junebug new came from perforated intestines.

"Goddess damn it," she muttered more to herself as she grabbed an air powered infuser from the pile and shoved a plastic vial into the loading port.

"The Shaman went to get a blessing," Neil said. He sounded disconnected, like he was going into shock. Stars that was all she needed.

"Neil stay with me, move your hands, move your hands curse you," she said. With infinite reluctance Neil lifted his hands from Zalli's torn stomach. Sayeeda jabbed the infuser against her skin and pulled the trigger with a soft hiss of compressed air. Zalli screamed and twisted as Junebug fired the infuser again.

"Hold her!" Junebug snapped triggering the infuser again and again in a clock wise circuit around the gaping wound. Zalli began to calm as a combination of vasoconstrictive drugs and powerful local analgesics kicked in. The blood flow slowed noticeable though the grayish loops of intestines pressed against the axe blade. Zalli moaned something in her native tongue that Junebug couldn't translate and her eyes began to flutter.

"No, no, no!" Sayeeda cursed pulling a long adrenaline needle from her kit and measuring the appropriate number of fingers with one hand as her other hand gently shook Zalli by the chin, trying to keep her awake.

"Stay with us here," Junebug instructed and then with casual violence drove the needle down into the girls heart. Zalli bucked as though hit with an electrical shock crying out in pain. She wailed and tried to grab her stomach but Neil dutifully kept her hands pinned. They were going to have to take the axe out. There was no way she was going to make it to the auto-doc over rough terrain with that thing jouncing around and tearing her guts to ribbons.

"Neil I need you to pull the axe free and ill hit it with a sealant," she explained, loading another vial into the infuser and pulling the trigger once to clear the residue of the old charge.

"But... she will die," Neil said sounding perplexed. Junebug grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him violently.

"She's dead for sure if you don't!" she yelled. Neil nodded mechanically and gripped the axe handle just behind the head. His movements were languid and distant, like he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"Pull!" he heaved the axe free with a horrible sucking sound that released a gush of blood and a few more slithering centimeters of intestines. The infuser fired like a spray can coating the area in a seal of pale liquid that hardened in moments into a sterile bioplastic film that sealed the blood and organs where they were. 

"We need a stretcher or something to move her, find some poles," she commanded.

"Junebug." It took a moment for her to recognize Taya's voice but she relegated it to the background, a problem for another time.

"Junebug." This time more insistent. With a snarl on her lips she whipped her head around to see Taya standing a few feet away staring down at Zalli. Reluctantly she followed the young woman's eyes. Quetzalli was still, her eyes glassy and empty.

"She's gone," Taya stated numbly. Junebug laid a blood stained hand on Quetzalli's throat, smearing crimson across her dark skin as she searched for a pulse. Nothing. God Damn it. Her heart sank inside of her. God damn it.

[@POOHEAD189]