Chapter Text
By any means necessary. Those four words had been drilled over and over into Doc’s head for the last year or so of training. It was a big year, they all said. 5500. The bureaucrats loved putting in big events at nice even years, so none better than the turn of the century. To them, the turn of the century might as well have been no different than Doc’s New Years. God knows how long they’ve been alive.
But those four words kept floating around Doc’s head. She figured that was the intention. She’d seen war, yes, plenty of it. Hundreds dying as a ship’s steel bends and roars, snapping apart with a deafening scream. She’d always tried to distance herself from it, though she could never forget the last moments of any man she failed to save. She hated war, but she figured on the front lines she could save as many from suffering as possible. But that was different. Charge shots, laser beams, bullets, those are more common than anything else in the galaxy. What stuck out to her was the choice of the words ‘any means.’ There were horrible, barbaric weapons out there, and nothing in the board’s guidelines restricts a single one of them.
From how it sounded, they could glass a whole planet and as long as they could setup a civilization afterward, they’d be honored as heroes.
That.. just couldn’t be right.
She figured that was Diablo’s problem to figure out though. She was there to help people.
The recruitment ads were sent to everyone across the Board’s settled territories and planetary governments, though good positions were only really offered to the officers. Diablo was one such officer, though he had to fight like hell for it.
Diablo had a certain charm to him, a gruff yet charismatic way of speaking. He could get almost anyone riled up to follow his cause. Convince almost anyone in whatever he was fighting for, to the point some would lay down their lives for it. Everyone was sure he’d certainly have been more than a lieutenant if he was a bit more right in the head.
That charisma is how Diablo managed to convince the higher-ups to settle this nowhere planet. Only took him so far, though, he got the smallest possible squad with the smallest possible amount of resources, on a planet with comparatively barely any people.
Doc had overheard Diablo negotiating it over comms, and offered to provide her medical skills as the colony doctor. She believed she could make a better impact as a doctor helping civilize a planet, bringing health and medicine to the underdeveloped people of the world. Far better than just tending to soldiers.
Jack was the last to join the group, a miracle he joined, really. He was the most experienced of the three, this being his second time to be part of a launch group, specializing in plants for the most part. A quiet, anxious fellow, he didn’t talk much. Doc got along well with him, they became good friends over the course of their training, if you could call it that.
Their training, or ‘boot camp’ as they tend to call it, was hardly training at all. Doc wasn’t briefed on any practical skills to prepare for making a whole new colony. She wasn’t sure if this was due to being seen as a lost cause group, or regular procedure. The group was expected to rely on their previous skills, or learn them on the journey. If they got out of this, they’d be experienced settlers for the next mission, and possibly important enough for the Board to actually care about.
Doc had a lot to think about as she waited in the loading bay. Everything had been loaded up rather quickly, there wasn’t much to load. Some packaged food, some medicine, some steel, and rather generously, a pug. A couple weapons were provided too with some ammo, though it wouldn’t do much against any more prepared threats. A shame they didn’t have a good craftsman with them.
Jack was on the bench next to her, and Diablo across from him. Practically curled into himself, Jack was on his data tablet messing around with whatever he could find to pass the time, while Diablo sat back smoking a cigar.
Doc looked over at him, a bit of judgement and concern in her voice, “Are you supposed to smoke in here? Isn’t there fuel in here.”
Chucking, Diablo responded with a friendly remark, “Gonna be my last one for awhile, Doc, gotta enjoy the moment.”
Doc couldn’t really argue with that, so she went back to sitting patiently, right before the ship slowly came to a halt. The big, bright ‘LOAD’ sign flicked on above the drop pods. Doc and Jack stood up, Diablo threw out his cigar, and they loaded onto the drop pods.
With a mechanical click, and the dull hum of metal moving, the pods launched with an abrupt thunk. It was cramped inside, with barely any leg room due to all the supplies loaded in, didn’t help Doc was rather lanky.
The fall was much slower than Doc expected, and was quite smooth until she hit the atmosphere. After that, it was a mortifying experience. Metal shrieked and groaned as the entire pod shook, Doc clinging to her seat for dear life and trying to steady her stomach. The full force of gravity was hitting the pod at once, slamming into the atmosphere’s air resistance.
Just when Doc thought she was going to pass out, vomit, or both, she was forced deep into her chair as the pod’s thrusters suddenly kicked on, countering the momentum. This only made the pod shake harder, though.
After a couple agonizing minutes, the pod slammed into the ground, sending the supplies in the pod everywhere. The doors slowly hissed and abruptly swung open.
Doc’s eyes burned as she adjusted to the sun coming into the pod. She, on shaky footing, unbuckled herself and pushed herself up, rising to her feet. She carefully stepped outside and looked at her new surroundings.
It was.. beautiful. Lush fields extending for as far as Doc could see, the warm air embracing her as the sun beamed down on her. It was the kind of sunny day she wished would never end, and always missed after she enlisted. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
Doc looked around for her fellow squadmates, and saw them out in the fields nearby, just as enthralled as her. After basking in the sun for a moment, she moved out to approach them.
Diablo walked up with a swagger and extended his arms out triumphantly, “Gentlemen!” his ever gruff voice opened with a proud, joyous tone, “A colony, as promised, and I have delivered!”
…
…
“Do you remember him, Doc?” Trebo questioned solemnly.
“As clear as ever,” she answered.
“I wonder what he would do now.”
Doc paused for a moment.
“I think..” she collected herself, “I think it’s best we move on.”
Trebo, at this remark, simply shook her head, and walked away.