Rise And Shine

Coldness was all I felt for what felt like eternity, then something colder gripped my mind with a simple phrase "Come on soldier, one more mile!". Electricity jolted my mind and tensed my body as my eyes shot open and my lungs gasped for air, with a sharp intake my throat felt raw. Coughing and having my spine go rigged I looked around in panic, then a firm gloved hand pressed down on my left shoulder. My focus snapped to a man kneeling in front of me clad in a brown uniform, His armor was stream lined yet had so many items attached to it. Stitched on the front of the cloth armor was a sargent's triple chevron ranking, even though all his equipment looked light and flimsy he carried a lot of it.

"Easy there buddy your are alright, can you talk?" he asked me a simple question in high gothic that carried an accent I never had the grace to hear. My eyes lingered on were his face was, it being covered by a black mask that covered everything except for his eyes which were a piercing green with gold flecks. Some form of protective glasses cover his eyes and I noticed the vox head set attached to his light weight helmet, Mustering up my voice I tried to answer the NCO's question.

" Yes.. sire.. cough!" was what released from my throat as it reminded me of its raw nature, seeing my struggle the sargent took his canteen and help me take a sip. cool water ran down my throat and eased its inflamed state, running the tip of my tongue to moisten my lips I mustered more energy. "Thank you sir, I owe you my life" thanking him seemed like the best thing and chance of getting out of this hell alive.

" Thank me again when we are safer and not out im the open" He replied with what I could guess was sarcasm, I relaxed from his easy going nature realizing that I would not be shot for not dieing like I sould have. Taking the initiative I examined his handy work and found the blood bag and IV set up was better then what I could do with my training, confusion colored my eyes as I wondered what he was. He was an NCO yet was trained in the field dressing the wounded like I was, he had no insignia of a platoon medic, only I could presume was his Regiment symbol attached to his right arm shoulder guard. A Regimental Flag was on his left, with all this a burning question worked its way to my lips.

"My I ask who you are sir, I don't recognize any of your regimental markings and you don't look like a regular Guardsmen's" I tentatively asked, This sargent cocked his head to the side like I just spoke some form of xeno language.

" One hundred and first airborne, first battalion, second company, first platoon, United States Army" He clipped off in oder, the response was all to familiar. I did not recognize the regiment but I new that air born like the Elysian shock troops were not regular ground troops, this explain his equipment and even his medical training. He did not mention his name how ever or rank, but being a sargent made it clear he was in charge of a squad. "And what about you?" his question cought me off guard, my training kicked in reminding me that I was still addressing a superior.

" Corporal Jenkins sir, Elonian first Regiment, first company, second platoon, Platoon field medic." I clipped off in short order, from the nod of his head I gauged he understood at most of what I listed off. "What happened here, were is the rest of your platoon?" He rattled of in quick order while he checked the blood bag, moving to take the IV out of my only good arm. "We were reinforcing a squad of Sororitas in evacuating civilians to the under ground shelters when our position was assaulted by all side by insurrection forces" I answered as he checked me over for other wounds.

" We were ordered to fall back and regroup at the Arbite station just north of here for a counter attack, I was treating the wounded when a crazed rebel charged past the gun line and took my arm off trying to get to the other wounded" I finished my recount with waving my stump for added effect. "I know a thing or to about zealots my self, yet it seems your men left you for dead seeing you weren't moving." His tone sounded reprimanding twords my fellow Guardsmen, I couldn't blame him how ever seeing as his regiment was to elite to just leave men behind.

"well corporal lets get you out of here, You will be getting a commendation for this or I don't deserve my stripes!" his exclamation raised my mood to a higher degree, no one in my regiment had received a commendation and I had a feeling he had some clot with the higher ups. "Yes Sir" I barked out getting to my feet, with his help I grabbed and resupplied my pack with what ever was left on the chimera. Before leaving he smeared some form of cream on my stump and bandaged it to make sure nothing got into the wound.

He pulled my Lasgun over his should for me, before standing with some effort. That's when I noticed the wound on his right upper thigh, he had bandaged it cleanly yet it still mad it hard to walk. He snapped me out of my small trance of thought by offering me his side arm, " I need you to cover me as we go, I cant look every were at once." His logic was sound given the fact that he could not run if we encountered anything along the way.

Nodding, I grabbed the handle of the Pistol only to admire the craftsmanship of the weapon. It was a stubber like weapon but with so much more angles and precise mechanism, what ever world he came from had the most skilled mechanicas weapon smiths. " Alright quick lesson, this button releases the magazine, this switch allows you fire and make the weapon safe to handle, any questions?" his quick lecture on how simple it was to work the weapon in my had left me only able to nod my head in response.

Nodding his own head in what I assumed was approval he hobbled to the ramp of the troop bay peering around for any signs of the enemy. motioning with his left for me to join him I stacked up behind him "follow my lead and stay close, we will be moving cover to cover heading north" his instructions were clear just unusual to what I had been trained to. Goes to show the difference in training between ground regiments and special regiments, with a quick motion he was hobbling out to the sand bags that were on a street corner heading to the north.

Snapping out of my thoughts I dashed to ketch up with him, Following him was easy enough as we moved tween tank traps, concrete blockers, and finally the sand bags. Kneeling behind the sand bag wall he took a moment to look through the object attached to the Rifle he wielded, It was the first time I had the ability to examine it. It was more sleek then a Lasgun and the metal was a tan color, the stock looked odd with a perforation down its length at A diagonal angel. It had similar switches to the pistol he handed me, the magazine was boxy and relatively the same as A Lasgun. How ever there was this odd device that protruded from the left side of the barrel housing, it was not alone how ever as another handle also protruded from the bottom of the barrel housing as well just in front of the magazine.

"how far north is this Arbite station?" His question brought me back from my admiration of his weapon, " About ten blocks or so, there were other forward positions along the way as well sir." I answered with respect. "what kind of positions are we talking about?" Another question was raised in my direction as I to looked down the street, " Three or four corner hold like this one, one Head Quarters position in a commercial block, and finally the Arbite station itself which acted as a motor pull and armory." I recited back to him from a briefing I had with my CO.

"Are all the positions set up to be one directional?" This question made me look in his direction and notice he had not taken his eyes off that device on top of his Rifle. " I think so.. I over heard my company commander stating that they had the advantage in numbers, and we need to control the flow or something." my answer seemed to satisfy his line of questions for the moment. With An 'ooof' he was up again moving forward to a building corner, I not wanting to be left behind quickly followed trying to mirror his movement.

We followed the same method going up the street, every window was scanned every, corner checked, each intersection position was approached in a slow manner. I was getting used to his tactics they felt more right then what they trained us in back on the transport ship that brought us to this planet, one I have come to really enjoy is having a full amount of kit from all the scavenging. For example when we passed through the second intersection control point, I returned the master crafted pistol back to the sargent that saved me. In exchange for a Laspistol which I took from a second lieutenant that was from a sister platoon of my regiment, at least the laspistol felt more my speed in terms of handling.

While we advanced and scavenged I quickly noticed the lack of bodies, there would pools of dried blood and even burt corpses but the number of physically intact bodies of the fallen was to low. This fact also looked to puzzle the sargent that saved me, we scavenged vary little from the actual dead more from left behind supply's and equipment. This continued as we went on, how ever one visible change did come from our advance down the deserted and destroyed street. Smoke was rising in the distant north blotting out the norther horizon, and the damage we saw seemed to intensify we began to see more dead this time only they were not guardsmen.

The first group of dead rebels were clustered around the gothic support pillers that held up a habitation block, we came to a halt using the closest one that connected to the side walk. taking cover the sargent I have yet to ask the name of peered around the edge of the pillar to get a clear look at what was in front of him, " I am to assume that jerky pile clustered around that sand bag emplacement is the rebels your regiment was deployed to deal with?". The tone of his question made it sound more light hearted then what it true meant, taking a moment to steady my self I to leaned out of cover to get a clear look at what he has asked me. The group of rebels were spread out across a small sandbag wall and were all burnt or torn apart from bolter fire, "Yes Sir, those corpses fit the description that was given to us is during or company brief, they look to be the zealot faction of the rebels that charge to get into melee." My answers seemed to not help keep the sargent in his light hearted mood.

Lifting his rifle and peering down the device attached to the top he sept his weapon from left to right and back again, with one hand he motion for me to follow his lead and with a grunt he push off the column. with as much speed as he could muster we rushed to the same sand bag position and when we arrived he bagan to check out the slain rebels, he would comb through them flipping them over with his good leg. Each time checking to see if any were alive, I chose to keep my attention down the the street for any movement that seemed out of place. It took some time to check the dead and when he finished a deep sigh released its self from the last one he checked, I snapped my weapon and sight to the sound. To my surprise underneath some of the dead was another guardsmen from my company and regiment, then I saw the uniform and gulped in fear.

She was missing her infamous hat and trench coat but those black jack boots and red sash were all markers of the company commissar, I remembered her name as well Scarlet Madeline before enlisting she and I were friends back home. Now how ever we were worlds apart, The sargent made a clicking sound "Hello beautiful and what is your name?" his casual tone made me blink in disbelief. Never have I heard any guardsmen of any rank address a commissar in such a manner, "I am starting to believe you have a death wish Sir." my open out right comment would have been considered as out of order.

"You call it a death wish I call it having character, now lets dig her out and see if we can save her life." his answer to my statement was as casual as all of his others, leading me to understand that was just his personality. His response also reminded that she was still alive and may need our help to keep alive, Holstering my laspistol I helped him remove the dead covering my friend. With Sarges help I managed to extract Scarlet from the small pile of corpses, dragging her to the sand bangs I sat her up and got my medical supplies out. Sarge kept his eyes peeled posted up to my left as I began my examination, Her carapace chest plate and rigging was cracked and torn and all of her under uniform was cover in dried blood making it impossible to know if she was injured.

Having one hand was more difficult in removing her armor and dressing her down, I started with her arms and then legs noting the burns that were only in the first degree I counted about half a dozen across her limbs. Taking out Gauze, bandage wrap, and burn lattice gel I dressed her burns how ever getting the bandages on was to difficult, " Sir I need your aid, I cant wrap her up with one hand." He nodded at my request and slung his rifle around his left shoulder and crouch walked over and began to help wrap the bandages, then after finishing with the bandages he re-assumed his watch down the street.

Now that the burns were dressed I moved on to her torso, Removing her black dress uniform blouse I was struck with concern. bruises littered her ribs and stomach making things more difficult, they could be surface based or internal bleeding. Acting with heist I pulled out an injector and searched for any form of insert that would help coagulate any open arteries, after finding what I needed I double checked its description. 'Bio sealing foam' was printed bright in Yellow low gothic, making sure the insert was secure in the injector I carefully began to treat the bruised locations. With each injection her breathing was less shallow which confirmed my suspicion of internal bleeding, I checked her pulse and counted off under my breath.

" How is her condition jenkins?" Sarges words almost distracted me from my count.

" I have her internal bleeding under control, and her heart beat and breathing have regulated. Moving now for an adrenal injection to get her back on her feet." I reported with pep in my voice.

" Make it quick corporal, we have guest to entertain!" His order snapped my attention over the sand bags down the street, I saw Rebels advancing down the street. Not normal ones to they were the zealots that were armored and carrying tools of slaughter.

knowing we could not run with the Sargent's leg left, me dreading what came next,"Well... shit".