Battlefield Regulation 3 – Rest, Food, and Medical are Required to Maintain Performance

I make it to my apartment without any further problems or running into anyone. A sigh of relief escapes me once I’m back on my own floor, back alone like I’m used to being.

Putting away the food from Chaisee means seeing the single remaining pastry in the fridge from Yilmaz and I hiss as I close the door. There’s no one here to hear it and still it’s only a quiet noise.

There’s too many variables. Too many what ifs and maybes and three days is far too much time to waste. Three days could see him dead or far beyond where I can make sure the idiot is okay.

For – I don’t know how long – I stand there in my kitchen with the taste and texture of cotton in my mouth, teeth bared to the open air, eye processing nothing.

I don’t want to fail Yilmaz again. It feels like my whole life has been building up to this, this chance to actually be the companion hero I once shouted about wanting to be. There’s stubborn water gathering in my eye and I rub it away, half glad that only one of them can cry anymore.

(That part wasn’t Yilmaz’s fault, but thinking about that is beyond me right now.)

I could take off and try to handle all of this alone. Get out of the LAGOON, find Yilmaz, find somewhere to hunker down and pretend that we’re not the highly trained folk we are. I’m a Special Commendations Riptide Agent right now after all. I probably already have new codes for the transport decks and all of the trappings I once looked forward to. If I picked the right transport I could sell it for scraps and that would be a pretty pile of money. I could pull this off. I could be gone by morning. I could-

Betray the fragile trust that Chaisee and Rehema have put in me by going back on the plans we made together? Leave them here to be targeted even harder in my place?

I lean back against the fridge and shut my eyes. Count as I breathe. Ten down to one. The static in my vision fades. Count again and I can close my mouth. Once more and the cotton is… not gone, not really, but not so overwhelming. Yilmaz had called this something that I can’t remember. Both the event and the calming technique. He taught me the latter.

I can do this. The right way.

I can.

…But there is a nugget of a thought in there that’s worthwhile. What are my new perms as Special Commendations? Did the Duce hand me tools that I can use to handle this situation?

Stepping away from the fridge sees me stagger, legs weak from who knows how long I stood there. It makes me even more eager for my couch as I make my way to it. Once I’m sitting, I pull up the feed in full and go looking for – there!

Private feed from @LAGOONofficial. I open it and am blasted with digital streamers.

Hello and Welcome, Special Commendations Member! Due to your placement during the Riptide Exam, you have been awarded additional permissions and a higher base rank. Your placement during the Riptide Exam was: Second.

Despite everything, a shiver of excitement trills up my spine. I’d really scored that well? I shake myself and keep reading. The message goes on to list off what I get now versus what a regular new Riptide Agent gets and at what point a regular new Riptide Agent will also get the same things. All of which I expected.

And I was right during my line of panic thinking. I have new codes for the transport decks and the training decks, plus access to higher difficulty areas in the training decks.

There are a few other things I get immediately as Special Commendations that could be quite useful in this situation. Like the ability to designate a squad – a group of Riptide and/or non-Riptide that go on missions with me. The others would have to agree, but that would make things easier. There’s also the ability to transfer myself nearly autonomously to another LAGOON. I’d need the approval of specific individuals for each LAGOON, listed also in the message.

The skeleton of a plan rattles together in my head. I can make use of both of those. Take Chaisee, Rehema, and Sara with me to another LAGOON while the Duce is still scheduled to be staying here. The different airships are autonomous unless he’s present, which is why he rotates through them on a set schedule. He’ll be here for the next half a year, then he’ll go to the northernmost LAGOON for the same amount of time. So either of the other two could give us up to a year or a year and a half before the Duce comes around to be a problem in person.

It’s kicking the can down the road. But it keeps a safe roof over our heads and settles most of my other concerns. Depending on where we go– no.

Of the other two, there’s only really one answer. Sure – both the homes of the Lion of Steel and the Lightning General are options. But the former is more dangerous for one key reason.

Racism.

Rehema is nearly as dark skinned as I am. Chaisee can pass for tan under the right lighting, but Sara is darker than her by a few shades. And our goal is Yilmaz.

Who is also black, like me. Even if the tone isn’t the same.

Jolvi – the Lion of Steel – isn’t the one in charge of transfers. But they are the one who is most well known. Like myself. I can’t speak to their LAGOON’s power structure but there’s a very good chance that their word and their attitude hold power.

Mine does in ways it took a while for me to understand. I am no longer ignorant of the fact that this LAGOON is known for being more reticent with outsiders than the other three. Nor am I ignorant of the way I have been casually asked questions that turned out to be relevant to transfers. The LAGOON’s opinions as a whole soured on McCrae when I punched him, and while it doubtless will sour further when word starts to spread about the files on the Lodestar… I know already that many will be looking for my reaction to it all.

And while I can trust Jolvi to do their job on the battlefield? That’s as far as my trust goes.

So Mao’s LAGOON it is. She is the Lightning General, and the one in charge of transfers. Considering I have a pen pal arrangement with her, I already have a line directly to her that’s routed through the Lodestar. A product of a moment where both of us agreed that our concerns about privacy in the LAGOON might have merit.

So I can reach out to her ahead of transferring myself – provided the others like the squad idea. Thinking about her means I check our feed to see if it’s my turn to respond. It isn’t, so a second message to her would clue her in to the urgency.

I breathe and sink into my couch. Having the skeleton of a plan means that my brain slows down enough for exhaustion to catch up. Means I can breathe again. I make it to my bed before sleep claims me.

—

The next day… nothing happens that furthers our suspicions. I take my lunch in the Mess with Chaisee and listen as she chatters on about the fact that the dye company she uses for the green in her mohawk is raising prices on all of their golds. And debating idly if she should be stockpiling her greens and maybe some other colors, what if the golds are just first?

I don’t understand why she’s so invested in this and open my mouth to tell her as much when she shows me the company logo.

…It’s the company that Yilmaz uses for the gold streaks in part of his hair. That can’t be a coincidence.

Early morning, the day after that, Rehema winds up pinned under a collapsed skyway. Another ankylosaur was there and managed to get everyone loose with easy speed, so all Rehema has are a few cuts and some nasty bruises. Which means they’re up on their feet helping others get settled by the time we get there. While Chaisee focuses on Rehema, I note that the skyway looks the same as the one that collapsed above me the other day.

There’s no signs of older damage.

There are over two dozen injured this time around, which either means the target was someone else or the one behind all of this cares less and less about collateral damage. I make a mental note to cross reference the list of injured again.

And there’s no corresponding fiend attack either, though I can’t keep myself from looking into potential training deck breaks while making sure that Rehema is okay.

There is a fiend attack that evening. Chaisee gets cornered by a fiend none of us have seen before and that isn’t registered to any of the training decks a few hours later. She gets out of it with just some damage to her mohawk, though she chalks that up to the amount of folks that jumped in to help her when it happened.

Later, over the feed that we’ve routed through the Lodestar, she sends me a blurry picture of what looks like a metal glint.

petty_in_pink: so i didn’t include this before, and i didn’t get a clear picture but doesn’t this look like the other 2?
SilentYowl: I can’t say for certain, but it looks like it could be.

I compare and contrast what I can see of the photo with a growing frown. It’s not a clear enough picture to tell for sure and without knowing more about the fiend in question it’s impossible to tell if that’s just part of how it normally looks. I add a message to that effect.

SilentYowl: I need to know more about this kind of fiend before I can say for sure.

We’re close to when Sara will be released from the infirmary.

I don’t have much in the way of contacts to ask about the fiend or the metal objects, but I reach out to those I can. Nothing comes of that.

And then… nothing. Sara’s stay has to be extended by two more days and both of those days pass quietly. No new mishaps or attacks. Chaisee theorizes that maybe this is because McCrae finally lost access to the feed and is proof that he’s the one behind all this. Rehema isn’t so sure. Neither am I.

I’m worried that it instead means that our enemy is building up to something larger. Perhaps even for when Sara is released from the infirmary.

When I share this concern with the other two, Chaisee decides that this means we should all go to pick Sara up. I try to argue but it’s a lost cause already.

Besides, Chaisee declares, this way it’ll be easier to convince Sara that I’m on their side for sure.

So that’s tomorrow then. Tomorrow after two days of quiet. Either something will happen or nothing will. Each of those is equally concerning.

I pace in my apartment and debate coming up with excuses not to go. I am not looking forward to it. Everything I have ever heard about Sara indicates that she’s sweet, extremely friendly, and very tactile. An extrovert in full swing.

…The opposite of me.

And I have learned from Chaisee that Sara is very sensitive to implications.

Three days into five and it still doesn’t feel like I’ve had enough time to prepare. I’ve come up with dozens of scripts and none of them feel right.

…If Yilmaz were here he’d know how to bridge the gap without upsetting Sara or making me feel like I need to hide in my den instead. Chaisee is trying her best but she’s still new to me.

It’s frustrating but all I can do at this point is get some sleep and hope that it goes well.

…Sleep is an evasive creature.

So much so that I’m operating on an amount of sleep that Yilmaz would complain about and doing my level best to hide it when I meet up with Chaisee and Rehema in the morning. Nothing happens on the way to the infirmary – easing Chaisee’s worries and ramping my own up in the same fell swoop. Rehema sticks close to me, ears twitching at any sound that catches their attention.

They have a theory about the skywalk collapses and I am hoping very much that they are wrong.

When we get to the infirmary, Sheila is the one at the desk. I give them a nod and a quick smile and they return the latter as we approach.

“Good to see you three.” Sheila says. “Sara is ready to be discharged and with all three of you here I’m confident in doing so.” they type something on the computer in front of them. “I was just about to reach out and inform Chaisee that due to recent events, we’re currently requiring two people to come and get anyone who has had – or does have to for the foreseeable future – to stay for more than an overnight.”

They must see the alarm in likely all of our faces, because they make a small gesture for us to lean forward. Once we have, they speak again.

“Two incidents that I’m glad I was watching out for. Someone mixed up her pain meds and damn near poisoned her. They claimed it was because of the missing medication stock confusing them, though those are different use cases entirely.” Sheila frowns. “And some weird small fiend I’ve never seen before got set loose in the back. It was taken care of but I’m concerned that it’s connected.”

Small mystery fiend? And I’d heard something about missing medication when I was in the infirmary nearly a week ago. I frown. “When were these?” I ask. If they happened in the last two days, then it means attention shifted from us to Sara as an easier target. If they happened before… then it adds weight to Chaisee’s suspicion.

Sheila rattles off the dates and times and I set to matching them up. The fiend bit is looser and less understood since they only heard about it when they came on shift, but even the fuzzy timeline gives me something to work with.

Chaisee and Rehema are both already looking at me when I stop mouthing the times and comparing, so I just speak. “They stopped around the same time as that last fiend attack on Chaisee.” I say, still pitching my voice low even if the infirmary is mostly empty.

“Hmm.” Chaisee tilts her head, then nods. “Thank you for looking out for her, Sheila. We really appreciate it.”

They nod. “Of course.” they pause for a moment and then lean in even closer, whispering even softer. “If you hear anything about the missing medication, could you let me know? I’ve got a list I can forward of what’s been lost. The timing of this with all these incidents has me concerned. I’ll send you all a request on the feed later. Look for furnominalRuins.”

“Will do.” Rehema nods sharply. Chaisee and I also nod.

And then Sheila resumes their normal seating and we all lean back as they walk us through the new procedures.

I find myself wondering if Yilmaz would reach out and invite Sheila as well to a potential squad in a bid to get them out of here. It might hamstring this LAGOON (like my leaving might, though I’m sure it’ll be fine) but Sheila has been so keen on helping us that I don’t want to leave them with a target on their back. I leave a mental note for myself later, I can talk to them through the feed about it.

With the paperwork handled by Chaisee and Rehema, we’re waved through. I follow the two of them and keep a lookout for anything, anything at all that might clue me in to the small fiend. If it left anything behind, if there’s any… more of them.

A notification flickers in the corner of my eyes. It’s pale orange. Urgent, but ignorable for a while – the orange will darken and then flip red when a response is required imminently. I tend to avoid letting notifications change color like that at all if I can help it, but I need to focus on my impending meeting with Sara. I’ll deal with the notification when the meeting either ends or goes foul.

My first impression of Sara is that she’s… big. And possibly some kind of chimera, which catches me off guard. My absent investigating of the three of them never turned up that information. Then again, I’d been very careful not to look into more than surface level.

Round bear ears curve up out of wavy hair that bounces as Sara herself bounces up to Chaisee and picks up the ankylosaur in a bear hug. This is – I can guess – normal for them. Chaisee’s tail is limp and unworried and Rehema hasn’t budged from right next to me. A long, sort of skinny tail wags back and forth behind Sara.

“Missed you!” Sara shouts, voice booming in the small space that is this patient room. “Heard you got attacked, you okay?” she puts Chaisee down, immediately tilting her head this way and that as she leans in close. Sara starts sniffing Chaisee loudly before nodding as if satisfied and leaning back.

Chaisee offers her a thumbs up.

“Good. Good.” Her gaze goes to Rehema next, who also gets treated to a round of loud sniffing and a hearty clap on the shoulder. Not a bear hug though. After that, Sara leans back against the bed with visible relief.

…I feel like an intruder. These three are friends, very good friends, and then there’s… well, me. I take a step back without thinking about it.

A mistake, because the movement means that Sara notices me with the swift attention of a predator.

Her tail stills. So does she. A red flush starts to creep up her ears as she places Chaisee between me and herself. She hunkers down in a bid to make herself smaller and gives Rehema a pout when they don’t also move.

“That’s Kukali.” Sara whispers loudly at Chaisee. “Why is Kukali here?”

I cannot make a guess as to what her tone means. I can come up with half a dozen theories in the span of half a heartbeat, but I get the feeling that none of that will be anywhere near as helpful as offering a polite little wave.

Sara’s eyes wordlessly track my hand.

“She doesn’t hate us, for one.” Chaisee says, leaning up to pat Sara on the head gently. “And she’s not behind the attacks. I sent you a message on the feed, did you have a chance to read it?”

“No.” Sara shakes her head slowly. “I got distracted.”

I hold still and try not to force eye contact. At minimum, Sara has bear in her chimera. Anything more than that? I don’t have enough information to make a guess at. I could check the feed for rumors or her profile, but I don’t want to spook her. “It’s true.” I say. “I’m not a very social person. I never could work up the nerve to actually come meet you three. I was…” I pause. My tail flicks. All three of them are here now and the next thing that feels right to say isn’t going to put our plans at risk. It’s just difficult to say. “I was afraid of how you three would react to… me.” I drag in a breath, glance to that dreadful ceiling and find one of those stray specks of red paint. “I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if I drove you three off, not with how highly Yilmaz spoke of you.”

I have barely admitted this to myself. I knew I’d only have the ability to say it once and all three of them needed to hear it. While I did plan this meeting like a battle, I hadn’t… actually intended to share that now. If at all. But it feels like the right words. That’s what matters.

And I spook when suddenly Sara is in front of me, staring at and sniffing me like all the world’s truths can be found in those two senses. And then she leans down to look me eye-to-eye. I don’t understand what she’s getting from this, but playing along seems the best way to convince her of my lack of hatred.

Sara holds that eye contact for much longer than I am comfortable with. I can feel my tail starting to lash and my lip raising involuntarily by the time she looks away with a chuckle that sounds nervous.

“Right! Sorry, sorry. I forgot that you’re feline.” she says, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand. “Didn’t mean to activate the whole… instinct challenge thing.” she glances at where my tail is still lashing. “I forget sometimes, even with Hema. See, the eye to eye thing is different where I grew up.” she ducks her head, looking away. “Oh, thank you for not attacking me though!”

I take a deep breath. And another while shoving those instinctual reactions down with a steady mantra of it being an accident and thus fine. I’m used to needing to do this for one reason or another so it takes hardly any time. “I believe that is what friends do.” I say, offering a smile I don’t feel.

That seems to help. Sara beams like she wasn’t just cowering behind Chaisee. “It is!” she says. “And it’s okay to be scared. Everybody gets scared sometimes.” if she notices the irony in that statement, she doesn’t give any indication of such. “It’s so nice to finally meet you! And you can’t drive us away by the way. You couldn’t then and you absolutely cannot now.”

That last bit is said with a heavy certainty. Heavy enough that the words initially parse as a threat and I tense. But before I can say anything or even work myself down from the tense posture in order to continue winning her over – Sara is making the purr gesture at me while wearing a wide, friendly smile.

…Is this it? All that’s needed to convince her? Chaisee spoke as if there were some kind of great trial I needed to prepare for. I find myself floundering in response, unsure of what to say or even how to say it.

Chaisee takes charge on that matter. “Alright then! Lets get you fully discharged and then go eat!” she gives me a quick wink. “I just got a brand new shipment from off LAGOON this morning. Fresh papayas!”

…That feels distinctly like a bribe or a reward and I’m not sure which she means for it to be. I’m also not sure which I’d be more annoyed with. Something to ponder I suppose.

I give Sheila a wave on the way out. She returns it with a wave of her own and the gesture for feed.

So I check it as I follow Chaisee, Rehema, and Sara. Sara is telling Chaisee and Rehema about all of the weird stuff she saw while in the infirmary and the two of them are sharing gossip back her way. It’s a social exchange I know happens when reuniting after a benign – or close enough – separation so it doesn’t need my attention.

The first thing I see when I check the feed is that the notification from earlier has grown to a stark shade of orange and gone through one icon change. It hasn’t turned red yet. The next thing is the friend request from furnominalRuins that I’m expecting. I accept it and tune back into the conversation.

It doesn’t seem like I’ve missed anything. Good, because I’m realizing that I’m not connected to the hallway cameras. I must have forgotten to do so – I correct that now, unable to settle the itching under my skin until I do.

Sara is telling Chaisee about how she got so bored that she started guessing folks Moreau Bases while laid up, though that’s totally not any of our faults because it was safer that way. She’s particularly proud of getting most of them, but she got Sheila wrong – guessed kangaroo and got a headshake and a “Pretty far off.”

Chaisee shakes her head when Sara asks if she knows.

“They’re a kinkajou.” I say, blinking when Sara jumps at the sound of my voice. “Their bio on the feed says so.” I add because I don’t want her to think I’m better at guessing for some reason.

“Friend request?”

I nod in response to Rehema.

“Right. Your eye. It lets you do that while you’re walking.” Sara says, immediately turning around so that she’s walking backwards so she can look at me. “That’s so cool. I think I’d get really lost if I tried to multitask.”

“Everyone has different skills that they’re good at.” I respond automatically. Too late to take it back – Sara’s face has lit up. Chaisee’s got this proud and smug expression that makes me flick my tail and look away from them all.

Rehema has mercy for me. They change the subject by pointing out that Sara is multitasking right now – walking backwards and talking at the same time.

We make it to Chaisee’s apartment …safely. I wish that made me feel less suspicious.

It does add weight to Chaisee’s theory! I forcibly point that out to myself.

Once the door shuts, Sara lets out this long and high pitched whine. “What are we gonna dooo?” she rounds on the rest of us, mouth pulled tight and eyes already watering. “What-”

“Breathe.” Chaisee and Rehema say at the same time. Rehema dips their head, so Chaisee continues. “And figure out what we each want to eat. I’m not about to let panic devour our appetites and leave us starving. As for the rest- we wanted to get you caught up before we started making plans in earnest, and we figured if Hema and I got the measure of Kukali, then that’d save us all some time.”

She gives me a look after that almost like she expects me to be offended. I not instead because it makes sense.

“I made a skeleton of a plan.” I say and defend it without thinking – “I couldn’t get to sleep that night without having at least a loose scaffolding to hold on to.”

That doesn’t get anywhere near as upset a reaction as I expected.

Sara even actively exhales and sits down on the carpet, looking at me like I’ve just handed her some kind of gift.

“You and Maz…” Chaisee shakes her head, but she’s grinning as she does so, so I assume that I’m not actually in trouble. “Okay. So walk us through what you came up with.”

So I do. I even mention why I’m considering Mao’s LAGOON rather than Jolvi’s – though Chaisee laughs at the fact that I use their names.

“Do y’all have like, a LAGOON’s popular feed or something?” she asks, still laughing softly.

I blink, shake my head. “No. I’ve run into Jolvi during some of my Riptide Exams and and met Mao during my very first one. I’ve been occasional penpals with Mao since then and Jolvi still winds up commented on in our LAGOON’s feed.”

Somehow that response makes her laugh harder until I swear I can hear something click in her head and she sits up fast. “Penpals? With Mao? Isn’t she illiterate?”

My tailtip flicks. “She’s trying to learn.” I say, half aware that my tone has gone all frosty in defense.

Mao isn’t like Yilmaz. She’s not someone who knows me better than I know myself. But she is someone that thinks like I do. Our letters back and forth have remained simple – largely talks about weapons and tactics. Nothing personal. It’s easy.

Chaisee opens her mouth, shuts it, ducks her head. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude, promise. That’s cool though, and I know she’s on the Lodestar, so I figure you plan to reach out to her through there?”

I nod. “Right. If you three are alright with the idea of being labelled my squad, I can send her a message soon.”

“Food.” Rehema says, reminding us all that we haven’t eaten anything yet.

Eating will give them a chance to think it over, anyway. Having time to think is a good thing.

And maybe, just – just maybe, this will all be unneeded and home will become safe again. Maybe we’ll even get a chance to rest.

I should have known thinking like that would jinx it.