CHAPTER 18

The woman kept giving her strange looks and Taylya should have been used to it by now. She had been to Earth on many an occasion and most of the human’s there would always stare at her. Strangely enough, as Taylya discovered, they were not really fixating on her ears as she might have thought. It seemed as if they were in complete disbelief that they were actually seeing what they were. At first it actually bothered Taylya, since she had been dealing with humans, even those from Earth, since she was a child. Now she just shrugged it off and even in a case like this. The Rangers had been here long enough. They had seen enough Fey, why was this woman so bothered by the sight of an elf?

As the Lynx chopper banked with those in front of it and they made a low pass over the oval shaped dome of the temple of Meylissak, Taylya finally caught her mistake. This American Lieutenant was not actually staring at her. She was looking, and worried, about their pilots!

Since the doors to the chopper were closed, they could somewhat hear each other. Taylya leaned forward and explained to the the woman, “they always make a pass over the temple before flying out of Uea-Au. The Shpvissik think that it brings them good luck.”

After Taylya said that, she glanced quickly towards the cockpit and mumbled under her breath, “lets just hope our pilot doesn’t sneeze.”

Another solider, carrying one of the big weapons that they called a Barrets, leaned towards the door so that he could get a look. His expression was very child like as he exclaimed, “that is so fucking cool!”

The woman Lieutenant, the one with the sour attitude, the one that Taylya had brought here to this chopper, sneered at her fellow soldier, “shut up Foster, nobody cares what you think.”

At least this woman was not staring at Taylya anymore. That was of some relief and that was even if the Major was not completely convinced that it had been their pilots that were at the heart of this woman‘s concern. She did not seem to bother anyone else though and that included this Foster, who took his reprimand with a grain of salt, “chill out Lieutenant.” The guy then looked to Taylya, “hey Major, is it true what they say? That Way Out used to be like, the capital of some ancient empire called, um, I can’t say it but it sounds really familiar like…”

Taylya knew exactly what the American was talking about, “yes, it was the capital of an ancient empire. Yes the name sounds a lot like Atlantis. If that has anything to do with your legends, well, I have no idea. You would have to ask a scholar.”

The woman Lieutenant replied, “he thinks he is.”

Finally Taylya just had to ask, “what is your name Lieutenant?”

The only response she got was, “why?”

Despite the fact that it irritated Taylya more than their smell, which the diesel fumes helped a little with, the elf kept her polite demeanor, “we are the ranking officers on this chopper. Maybe we should know who each other is.”

The woman pointed to her name tape, “Vega, says so right there.”

“I can read English Lieutenant,” Taylya replied, “I mean your first name.”

The woman’s eyes rolled and she looked away, obviously uninterested in giving an answer. Foster was more than happy to do it though, “it’s Lolita.”

Vega drove a knuckle in his shoulder, with force, and then said, “one more out burst like that Specialist and I’m going to article fifteen your ass. Got it?”

Foster was grabbing his arm and he locked eyes with the officer and snapped back in a sarcastic way, “aye, aye, sir.” The exchange confused Taylya. As she knew it, the British were not that different than the Fey when it came to military protocols. They even shared a very similar rank structure. As far as Taylya had seen, the Americans had practically copied the British system, almost entirely. That was why she wondered about how they acted a lot of times. Quite often, as the case was now, they seemed to ignore their ranks. It was a maddening contradiction and a bit worrisome to Taylya.

This Specialist Foster was a good case in point. He was not even a non commissioned officer yet, he showed little fear in directly addressing an officer, even a foreign one like Taylya. No one in the Noveus-Faeyu would be so brazen and, if Foster had been in the Olyan-Notae, they would have probably shot him by now. Still, Taylya was currently serving with these people and this operation was under American command. She had to, at least somewhat, play by their rules.

She nodded to the guy with the big gun and, so, Foster then asked, “I’ve just been wondering. I mean I’ve tried reading as much as I can find about your history and stuff. Only problem is, a lot of it isn’t translated and I can’t speak your…”

“What is it Specialist,” Taylya snapped.

Vega sneered, “he’s always fucking like this.”

“Ok,” Foster shook it off and went on, “why are you guys fighting the Orcs?”

The question actually left Taylya speechless. She thought about it for a minute and discovered that she did not have a good answer or, at least, not one she thought these human’s would understand. Taylya also found that she had been put on the spot as well. It seemed that quite a few in the crew compartment had heard the question and now wanted an answer. That included the big, burly looking, Master Sergeant by the name of Breathed. That guy was obviously air sick, about to puke, and even he put that on hold to listen.

Taylya did not know what else to do but tell them the truth as she knew it, “I think the real question is, why would we not be?”

That answer did not seem to go over all that well with the Americans. She was sure they had taken it as some kind of condescension on her part, or maybe, even stupidity on the part of her people. At least Foster tried a follow up and tried to reach some kind of understanding, “well, I mean they are intelligent right? I mean, they use tools, they have the power of speech. They can’t all be dumb brutes, can they? Has anyone from Feyland ever tried to negotiate with them?”

“Specialist,” Taylya replied in a way that tried to sound reasonable, “your people are only used to dealing with other bands of humans. It’s not the same when you’re dealing with another species. The more different they are, in biology, the harder it is to reach an understanding with them. The Orcs, from what we know of them, do not have genders like we do. They are not warm blooded creatures as are we. They do not give live birth and…”

Vega’s eyes snapped up and looked directly at the elf, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

Foster answered the question, “she means they lay eggs, dumbass, um, sir.”

Vega’s nostrils flared, “stop calling me sir or I’m going to kick your ass out of this chopper dip shit.”

Foster ignored the Lieutenant and went on, “what I’m saying Major, is that you’ve managed to come to an understanding with, like our pilots here. They lay eggs don’t they? I mean, that is what that temple, the one we flew over, that’s what they do there, right?”

So, this Foster had done as he claimed. Taylya was impressed. He had managed to read and digest more information than she might have given him credit for. It was yet another difference between the Fey and the Americans. Someone like him would have never been left as an enlisted man in the Noveus-Faeyu. It was yet another example of how upside down the Americans were.

Taylya was also at a loss to answer his question. She had to admit, “yes it is true, to a point. The Shpvissik, or dragons as you call them, are the exception and not the rule. You would have to ask them why their species is so cooperative and, I am sure, they would not have a satisfactory answer.”

Staff Sergeant Scott Renier, who was sitting on the far side of the compartment, started to laugh now, “what they got here is a genuine race war.”

Foster digested what he was hearing and then said, “I guess you could say that. Sounds to me, like, on one side you got the egg layers and on the other you got the mammals.”

Vega rolled her eyes again, “you are such a nerd Foster.” After she got no reply she snapped at him, “so explain to me what all that means?”

Foster tossed it around in his mind before saying, “the Orc’s, well, let me put it this way, some of our people back home think they’re what dinosaurs evolved into. They lay eggs, their infants are born hardier than ours, they don’t have to drink their mothers milk like our infants do.”

Once again, Vega rolled her eyes and then she sarcastically replied, while pointing at her chest, “you’re telling me that this whole war is over tits?”

“Yes Lieutenant,” now it was Foster’s turn to be sarcastic, “five different species are fighting over the chance to get in your bra.”

Sergeant Breathed started laughing on that note and, this time, he really did puke in the chopper. That was the main reason Taylya was ever so thankful to hear the hissing accent coming in over the intercom. She understood enough of it to know that she should look out the window. There was the flare and it almost magically hung in the air since you could not see the parachute it was dangling from.

Taylya hissed at the pilot through the intercom and the chopper began to bank. She looked to the Americans she was with and held up one finger as she told them, “get ready!”

When Taylya’s boots hit the ground and she rolled out in the hastily formed perimeter that was made up of the disembarking rangers. It was a very anticlimactic event. Taylya had known that the first waves had already gotten here and roped in but, you always followed the protocol and it said that you formed a hasty defense until the chopper was airborne again. That did not take so long since the skids never really touched the ground. Then Taylya was free to get to her feet.

Hoop was standing around, his gear bundled in a little pile, his weapon slung, and his funny dark glasses were propped up on his forehead. He looked more like he was spending a day in the park as opposed to a war zone. He was in stark contrast to the newly arrived rangers and, even worse, Hoop knew it. He made some slow and drawn out claps like he was applauding them and he said as they passed by, “if I had a big card with numbers on it then I’d rate you guys at an even six on that landing and deployment.”

The Rangers ignored the banter and Hoop ignored them ignoring him. He simply pointed towards the red ribbons, tied off at the tree line, like he was some kind of air crewman guiding a plane to the hangar, “if you folks will be so kind as to follow the yellow brick road to the red line…”

Taylya let the others go on and then Hoop squared up with her. He broke out with a stupid grin and said, “your pilots didn’t sneeze on you, did they? Hope they didn’t go poopy in the cockpit nether.”

“Smart ass,” Taylya replied. She dumped some of her gear on the ground and then took a knee. She watched the other choppers coming and then asked, “what’s the situation?”

Hoop directed the next stick to their staging area and then he took a knee with Taylya, “I think we standing on the Orc equivalent of the Super Highway here, Tay-Tay, and you bet your brass buttons on that.”

“This far south?” Taylya was almost in shock. When she next looked at the woods, she did so long and hard. She took a deep breath and then said, “where is everyone?”

Hoop stood back up and played traffic cop one more time before he looked back down at the elf and answered, “Anders is at position Bravo. Charlie and Jamie are over at the other El-Zee.” Now Hoop had his own question, “what about Cross and Avery?”

“Cross is back in England,” Taylya said as she stood back up and held out an open palm.

Hoop knew what she wanted and protested as he handed over a smoke, while asking, “when did you start smoking?”

The human had to give up his lighter next and Taylya took a deep inhale of the lit cigarette before telling Hoop, “I started right when you told me that I have a better than even chance of dying today.” She then answered the rest of his question, “as for Avery, he’s Ander’s problem right now.”

Hoop blinked but, after considering, he realized it did not surprise him too much, “he went on that mission, huh? I guess Anders deserves it after that bullshit he pulled.”

Taylya raised an eyebrow to that, “what did he do this time?”

Hoop had to wait again. This time there was more confusion than usual in getting the latest stick to their staging area. Taylya had almost forgotten about their conversation when he came back and said, “I think he’s fucking some little elf girl.”

The way Hoop said it, angered Taylya somewhat, “and what are you doing Mathew?”

“Told you not to call me that,” he then gave his nickname for her, “Layla!” She slapped him. He had expected it, so, they moved on. Hoop then told her, “as for what I’m doing, I’m fucking a big elf girl.”

Taylya did not bother to respond to that. She simply puffed at the smoke and then asked, “and where did Anders find the time, I thought you…” Suddenly Taylya realized something and asked with alarm, “didn’t you guys stage out of Nordhalt, Horshen’s village?”

Hoop shrugged, “yeah, what about it?”

“The elf girl,” Taylya now felt very alarmed, “the one that Anders…”

“She came with us,” Hoop told Taylya. “She’s up with Anders right now. She’s the daughter of a couple missionary looking elf’s. They…”

Taylya violently grabbed Hoop’s shirt and her fist balled up as she tugged on it. Hoop did not seem to notice or care. Taylya was the one who was upset as she asked, “what was her name?”

Again, Hoop only shrugged, “Cami?” Taylya let go, grabbed her gear, and began stomping off as she swore in her own language. Hoop had to yell out to her, “mind telling me what that was all about?”

Taylya yelled back, “NO!”

Hoop went back to directing traffic as he mumbled under his breath, “are goddamn women the same in every species.”