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Planet Veracruz; Vespucci System; Republic Of Liberty
Tensions were felt everywhere on Veracruz and there were good reasons for it - Liberty Navy already sent two taskgroups their way and Armed Forces tried to break their way in through Magellan.
Defensive preparations were made in both Kansas and Vespucci to hold off lawful attackers at best of their ability, but there was always a possibility of defeat, and Liberty Navy was not as keen on taking prisoners as Liberty Police Inc. was. Memories of battle in Bering were still quite fresh and their foes were keen on throwing more and more forces on them.
Battlecruiser Roanoke moored itself at Mooring Fixture above Planet Veracruz and crew took this as an opportunity to shut some of its powerplant down and do the much needed maintenance.
But as large diameter hoses and cables were connecting to Roanoke's external ports, Grizzly shuttle left its hangar bay and made its way to the surface and landed on one of its smaller landing pads.
Virginia stepped out of her shuttle and looked around herself with a long sigh. She hated this place - not because how it looked like, but more because of what it represented. Military dictatorship was something she despised, especially after she was introduced to ideas of Liberty Free Republic.
Finding Dr. Holiday's vessel was not hard for her - there were not as many flying hospitals around. As soon as she found her direction, she lit her vanilla flavoured cigarette and made her way towards his ship.
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Loaded with pharmaceuticals, his ship was being off loaded by a crew. He was accepting no payment for the medicine stating "that others need these more than I do." Doc himself wasn't near his ship when Virginia would arrive. The loadmaster passed the message that he was escorted to where he could give medical aid at a nearby building which was being used as a makeshift hospital. Those who could leave did so. Those who needed medical attention now received it. Some medics assisted with a make shift triage.
He was no stranger to this and to the observer, they wouldn't think that he was affected by carnage. The missing limb, the open wound or someone barely alive and bloody. Truth was, it did but he just knew how to deal with it. Crude jokes were common in the form of a wisecrack as they broke up the insanity. Even the two guards who escorted him took a knee to help out if it only meant moving someone on a stretcher. When Virginia would arrive, she would find him treating a terrified child.
The child tried to turn into his mother for refuge but didn't have the strength.
"It is OK," Doc spoke in a soft voice, "My name is John and I am here to make you better. Please, tell me what hurts."
The stare the child gave was long. Finally, he pointed to a spot on his abdomen and simply said, "Ouch."
It was then Doc began joking, pointing to anywhere but the spot and asking "here?" Eventually, the child realized it was a joke and he managed a snicker and relaxed. A scan revealed some internal bruising but nothing too serious. The mother explained that the child had been stepped on during a hurry up after he had tripped when they tried getting to the landing pad.
"It will heal in a few days," he explained. "Let him rest. In the meanwhile, I will give him something for the pain."
With that, he administered a hypo injector with a light pain killer and the child simply replied with a thank you at the instant relief. Doc ended the treatment with the only thing he had for a child, a small bar of chocolate. With a smile and a pat on the arm, Doc rose to his feet to greet Virginia.
"Captain Belle I assume," with an extended right hand.
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Virginia was dressed in her usual attire of dark longcoat with brown roller shirt under it, militaristic cargo pants and heavy boots. Her posture was straight and proud - a norm for someone who has to keep up appearances on a bridge and lead by example. She could be easily described as typical Libertonian beauty - long blonde hair, blue eyes and holstered gun at her side.
"The one and only.", Virginia replied and drew from her cigarette before shaking with Dr. Holiday's hand. Her hand was cold, perhaps a sign of low blood pressure, not that uncommon with relatively young and stressed women as herself. "Pleasure to meet you, Dr. Holiday.", she continued, "My apologies for somewhat dramatic communication, but situation is quite mess as you can see and it won't get any better.". She said with a grim certainty - there were no signs of remorse or sadness in her deep and strong voice - it was a simple statement.
Virginia drew from her cigarette again and exhaled a small cloud of vanilla scented smoke as she looked around her, "I hope you haven't run any difficulties around here, have you?".
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"You have nothing to apologize for, Captain," with a soft smile. He then took a few steps away from the triage area to further chat.
"Respectfully, I would like to keep the smoke away from the patients," he commented. Noticing her cold hand, he just gave a doctor's look up and down the young woman before him. "You should give those things up. As the recipient of a double lung transplant, I do not miss them."
As they spoke, one of the guards helping him asked for direction. "She should be OK," he said of the patient, "one of the medics can take care of her and prepare her for boarding." He then turned back to the Captain.
"As you can see, your staff has been most helpful and most professional so to this point I have had no difficulties." He took a glance around and turned back to her. He spoke with a soft nod of his head to start. "This reminds me much of the evacuation of Gran Canaria." His face became more serious. "Thousands of Cretan men, women and children who were making lives working the land fled when Bretonia took over the planet. Most of those who did not flee or could not flee were slaughtered. I do not want to see a repeat of that." He then cleared his throat and shook his head to let the building anger of that go.
"When my ship is unloaded, I have a young man who can take 3,600 people to safety and I can pretty much take them where they want to go. My assistant, Billy Garand, is unloading right now and can fly the ship so that I can stay here as needed unless you rather me not."
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"I'm fine with my habits.", Virginia drew from her cigarette and walked away from patients with Doc Holiday. Her tone and expression explained without any doubts that she isn't going to give up her favourite flavored death sticks any time soon.
"I haven't heard of Gran Granaria nor I know where it is, but... circumstances are probably the same.", she paused for a while and looked around her, "These people are going to end up in prison or worse if we allow blueshirts to get a hold on them. That's how things are around here.".
She studied his face and body language for quite some time now. She was a careful observer and tried to get as much nonverbal information about others as possible. It felt as if she was trying to see something on other's face which wasn't apparently there.
"I'm not asking you to risk your men and ship for ferry away any actual combatants, just those whose only crimes are that they have been living and working on this planet peacefully.", she closed her eyes for a short moment as she drew from her beloved cigarette and tried to calm her thoughts and worries about this whole situation. "It'll be smuggling people under authorities' noses - are you still in, Doc?", Virginia asked him seriously.
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"I'm fine with my habits." Doc just gave a friendly chuckle, smiled and replied, "Fair enough, Captain."
He then listened to her talk about the presumed fate of her people. In an instant, memories of what Bretonia did to Gran Canaria forced a deep sigh from him. He had no trust or even like of Bretonia after that dark chapter of his history. The very thought brought out his displeasure right before Captain Belle. Taking out his datapad, he sent her some information about it. "A news report," he started. "Also, there is this old transmission that scratches the surface. I can dig up more if you like?" he stated.
"So yes, the Bretonian Crown are conquerors. They cannot win a war against an equal enemy as evidenced by their losses to both Kusari and Gallia but if they can bully people weaker than them, they will do it."
"It'll be smuggling people under authorities' noses - are you still in, Doc?"
He pondered this for a moment but confidently replied with "deal me in. If it matters, I have easy passage through Liberty space, Bretonia too for that matter. Not to sound condescending but I have a lot of friends who owe John Holliday a few favors but first...."
He then turned to those needing medical attention, "....I have work to do."
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"Sure thing, Doc.", Virginia nodded at Doc Holiday and took a last, long draw from her unfinished cigarette before dropping it on the floor and stomping it with her heavy boot, "After you.".
She followed Doc Holiday back to his patients. Even though her facial expression was calm and emotionless, keeping up her charade of commander who never lets her emotions to get in the way, there were still some emotions she felt about all of this. These were the people she fought for, to protect them and yet still she was met with fear, disdain and disgust - she was an another cog in military junta for them and nothing more. She was one of those who brought their civilian government down, upheld martial law and now was responsible for Liberty Navy coming their way.
"Best course of action will be to go through Inverness. I've secured a deal with Auxesians to let you pass without an issue, use Freeport fourteen for any logistical purposes and they might be even happy to lend you a hand as long as you will avoid Coronado - that's their condition.", she continued briefing Doc about the whole ordeal that was laying before them, trying to not miss any details, "And your destination Bethlehem or Planet Erie, depending on you and your options at given situation. There are people and communities ready to assist on both places as soon as the whole operation begins.".
In the meantime as he was tending to his patients, she was reading information about whole Planet Gran Canaria situation on her handheld device, hard to tell whether it was out of politeness or actual curiosity.
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"Planet Erie," he commented, "Liberty may control it but the population is largely Zoner so there will be safety there. Besides, I own a small home on it so I can look after people."
His face sunk a bit as he mentioned the home. Not so long ago, it was to be a home for his now lost fiancee. He finished his thought, "so long as no one creates a disturbance there, things will be fine. At least the Bretonians are not close by." It was very obvious that he didn't like Bretonia. He said nothing of it but secretly he wished he could be governor of the planet.
He again tended to patients, his ship still being unloaded.
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Virginia groomed her long blonde hair out of her face with left hand and kept herself out of the way of medical personnel as possible. A something rather unusual for her since usually it was up to others to get out of her way or get into some verbal or even rarely physical dispute. "There is a dissent with Liberty control over the planet, Doc, but it's still miles better than this.", she said as Doc Holiday was treating or examining his patients, "Plenty of people to hide among, if anything. Lower hundreds of millions, if I recall it correctly.".
She watched him closely through most of their meeting - posture, facial expression and even paid attention to his voice and its tone and color. "It's good that I've contacted you instead of some smugglers.", Virginia said quietly and slowly with her voice, "You do really care about them, don't you?". She said it without any ill intent in her voice - it was more like Doc's examination of his patients than anything else, "Now I know that it isn't about money, but getting them into safety.".
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In the middle of taking a young girl's vital signs, he replied back with "it never was about money. Med Force Enterprises is about making sure those who need help get help regardless of who they are, where they come from, how much money they make or do not make or even what side of the law one walks. Despite what I may think of someone makes no difference. I have treated Bretonian officers, Corsairs, Revolutionaries, Rogues, civilians...." He paused to inform the child's mother that her daughter was fine and gave them both boarding clearance before standing up to again talk to Virginia. "Some hate me for aiding their enemies, some respect me for treating everyone on an equal plain. Money?" He shook his head. "Most of what I make goes to the Enterprise. I live in quarters on whatever station I am working on and the only residence I have is a small cabin on Erie that is but an escape."
He chuckled a little. "Money? John Holliday's front door does not have a long line of suitors looking to be his next squeeze. My life is rather lonely."
One of the guards yelled to him. "Dr. Holliday, your ship is ready for boarding. Shall I begin?"
"You are clear, Suh," he replied, his light, ancient, southern drawl coming through. With that, the first passengers were loaded.
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