Chapter 12

Day 526, Endeavour, Terra Prime

Alex heaved a sigh of relief as he collapsed into his chair, it was good to be home, even if he did have a splitting headache. Though he'd managed to avoid pushing himself to the brink of death he was still feeling the aftereffects of so many transits in quick succession. Sighing he pushed himself up and began to remove his armour, looking forward to a nice long shower. He could have had one at anytime, a quick hop back home would have been easy, but he had refrained while out in the field, wanting to suffer the same as his troops.

Alexander frowned as he unstrapped his gauntlets, most of his men were still in the Falling Skies universe with a handful of 'stay-behind' militia members to act as guides in their mission to make the alien invader's lives hell. He should be with them but Clayworth had convinced him, Alexander snorted, no the experienced soldier had taken Alexander aside and ordered him back to Endeavour. Alexander understood the reasoning as Clayworth presented it; if he got himself killed they'd be trapped in a wasteland with no chance of evacuation or resupply, he was literally irreplaceable as far as they were concerned, Alexander had trusted no-one with the truth of how he was able to move between worlds.

Shaking his Alexander still felt the nagging itch in the back of his mind that Clayworth simply didn't think he was up to leading soldiers. 'He might be right' Alexander mused as he removed his breastplate, Alexander had proven he could keep his head in a firefight a dozen times over in the last two years, but as far as leading went, he still had a lot to learn, that's why he was leaning on Viriathus, Clayworth, Matt Campbell, among others, so much.

Alexander thought back to his grandfathers, the unionist and arch-conservative bantering away as they took their mutual grandson fishing, they rarely had agreed, despite being close friends, but one of the few things they did agree on was the value of delegation; "Alex, don't think you can do everything yourself, find people to help you, there is no shame in it" his paternal grandfather once said, followed quickly by his maternal grandfather who had said "Just make sure you pay them a decent wage! Nothing breeds loyalty and hard work like good pay and conditions!", another thing they both agreed one, one for moral reasons, one for partly moral, partly practical reasons, after all staff turnover cost time, productivity, and money, better an ounce of prevention than a pound of cure.

***

A few hours later Alexander was feeling much better after a hot shower, a good nap, and a filling meal. He had a few hours before his first check in with the forces still on the Falling Skies world, they'd agreed on twice daily check-ins, Alexander would hop somewhere remote, chosen at random, send out a coded comms burst and see if they needed anything. It was highly unlikely that the Aliens would be able to intercept Star Wars hypernet communications, the FTL technology orders of magnitude more complex than anything they'd seen from them, but there was no point getting complacent.

Alexander closed his front door behind him and headed to his pushbike, Matt had ribbed him about it, claiming that a 'Lord' should have a limo, but Alexander had snottily replied that bicycles didn't require petrol that he'd be forced to cart through the ether. Since then they'd taken off in Endeavour, the nice wide roads providing an excellent surface for them; and they were a hell of alot easier to import then mechanised vehicles, Alex could carry two dozen in a single trip.

Pushing off he started to paddle towards the hospital, he felt he should check in on the new refugees, and more importantly keep an eye on Tom Mason. He was worried that the former Professor would be a thorn in his side, he was fiercely pro-democracy, the last thing Alex wanted was him stirring up trouble.

Waving to a few passersby Alexander turned the corner, it was less than a kilometer to the hospital from his house, it sat overlooking the park like his building did. It was a large gleaming white building, built from sandstone quarried on Terra Prime and hauled to Endeavour overland, it was three stories tall with massive overhangs providing shade; it reminded Alexander of his hometown, it should, he'd modelled it on the hospital he'd seen almost every day on his way to school.

Skidding to a stop he parked his bike in one of the provided racks out the front near the parking lot. The lot was full of people, a mix of the refugees and people from the community offering aid. He scowled as he noticed something that annoyed him.

"Oi you!" Alexander bellowed, pointing at the group of kids playing on the transit point, "Can't you lot bloody read? See that sign? It says 'Transit Point - Keep Clear'"

The young people standing on the transit point froze as Alexander marched towards them, only to be intercepted by Tom Mason, "Hey, calm down, what's the big deal? It's just a painted circle"

"What's the big deal?" Alexander ground out through clenched teeth, "The 'Big Deal', as you put it is that those children are putting themselves and others at risk, those 'painted circles' are designated transit points, you know the places where I appear with people and things from other bloody universes! Do you know what happens if someone is standing there when I appear?"

Tom pulled back, nonplussed, "well no"

Alexander snorted, "I don't know either, but I'm guessing it's bad, that's why we've got places put aside for quick transits, normally I check before I make the jump, but places like this?" Alexander swung his around, indicating the hospital, "if I'm coming here chances are I'm in a hurry"

Tom nodded, "I get it, no need to scream and yell about it"

Alexander blinked, "No need? Those aren't babies, or people from a pre-industrial world who can't read English, those people are from a modern world, you'd think they'd know that signs like that aren't there for fun! We don't have a lot of rules around here, and we like it that way, but the ones we do have are there for a reason!"

Eddie Campbell appeared at Alex's shoulder, slightly out of breath, she'd obviously been called by a cornered member of the community, "Everything alright Alex?"

"Fine now Eddie, just explaining to Tom here why we keep the transit points clear" Alex said, trying to get his temper under control.

Eddie touched Alex on the elbow, "Well if you're done with the show Dr. Das needs a word, something about running low on a few things"

Alexander grimaced, noticing he'd drawn a rather large crowd, this wasn't good, he looked like a lunatic, but the idea of appearing inside someone or something was a recurring nightmare of his, "yeah, alright, I'll go see what Rishabh needs"

He turned and started towards the main doors of the hospital, grateful to hear Eddie and Tom both hustling the offenders out of the transit point.

***

Alexander stalked along the ground floor of the hospital, looking for Dr. Das, internally berating himself for losing his temper, he recognised there were better ways of handling the situation without metaphorically shooting himself in the foot.

As he walked into Accident and Emergency department he pulled up short, noticing a familiar figure sitting on a gurney.

"Dieter! What happened?" Alexander exclaimed as he rushed over.

Dieter Hoffmann, waved down Alexander's concern with his left hand, his right arm was bound and immobile against his chest, "I'm fine Alex, just a small burn on my forearm"

"What happened?" Alexander repeated, his face filled with concern.

"Just an accident, I wasn't paying attention and brushed a bit of metal with my arm after a test, the heat went right through my protective suit" The German Aerospace Engineer, late of the European Space Agency, said with a grimace.

Alexander nodded firmly, "Right, I'll see what I can do to find better safety gear for you and your people"

"No, it's alright, Salvador and I just need to go over the safety procedures again, we've already got better equipment than I ever dreamed was possible, and you've got more than a enough on your plate already" Dieter said shaking his head and giving the crowded A&E department a pointed look.

Alexander grimaced but didn't argue, "Anyway I've been meaning to pay you a visit, see how you're faring"

Dieter brightened at the change of subject, "Wonderful! We've almost cracked the Ion thrusters, the basic concept we understood well enough, but the designs you brought us were highly refined, give us another few months and we should be ready to start making our own versions!"

Alexander grinned at the Engineer's enthusiasm, "What about the hyperdrive?"

Dieter's expression darkened, "Not so good there, Hoshi and her team at still struggling to get their heads around the math, we know it works, even outside it's native universe due to our scaled tests, but the hirnrissig things just don't make any sense!"

Alexander nodded seriously, hiding his grin, "Understandable, remember it's from a civilization that's been in space for thousands of years, but I have every confidence that you'll get there"

The pair chatted for a few more minutes before Alexander excused himself as he caught sight of Rishabh Das.

"What's up Doc?" Alexander said as he snuck up behind his target.

"Very original Mr. Harlow" Rishabh said, turning slowly, he was a tall man at one hundred and ninety five centimeters and rake thin, he looked like he'd bend like a palm tree in a strong wind, his salt and pepper hair gave him a distinguished air, and a pair of penetrating brown eyes sat in a gaunt and deeply lined face. All in all he looked like a man so deeply involved in his work he forgot to eat or sleep, and it wasn't far from the truth, Alexander had heard that despite his abrasive bedside manner the entire community loved and respected him, his tireless devotion to his craft inspiring them. Of all the people Alexander had recruited for Endeavour he considered Rishabh Das his best choice.

"I heard you were looking for me?" Alexander said with a sheepish grin.

"Yes" Das said brusquely, snapping shut the clipboard he was writing in, "It seems we underestimated the amount of supplies we'd need for this group of displaced people. Most of the problem with malnutrition can be resolved over time with a good diet, though we'll have to make sure they take it slow so they don't cause any more problems now that they've got access to abundant food, which is always a real danger when dealing with people suffering starvation" Das paused, his eyes going dark for a moment, before shaking his head and continuing.

"We've already started dealing the general issues, such as flea and tick infestations, we're going to need more supplies for dealing with that, and we're short on calcium and insulin for dealing with the moderate dehydration most of the group are suffering from. But the biggest issue is going to be dealing with the mental problems that come from being a warzone, we'll need a lot of anti-anxiety medications, escitalopram is my preference in this case"

Alexander held up his hands, "Doc, I'm not a bean counter, you don't need to sell me on this, I'll get whatever you think you need"

Dr. Das blinked owlishly at Alexander, before giving a bark of laughter, "I sometimes forget I'm not working in the healthcare 'industry'" he spat the last word with derision, "any more." He snapped open the clipboard and started writing quickly, after a few moments he ripped the piece of paper off the board and handed it to Alexander who folded it without looking at it.

Alexander said his goodbyes to Dr. Das and headed off, hiding a sigh, he was dreading the amount of trips it would take to get his hands on everything they needed. After a quick glance at the note, 'shit, first I need to find someone who can read this!'

A/N: I'd like to thank my cousin who is studying medicine for all his help in researching what would need to be done for a large group of refugees. Thanks mate!