"So how's the new girl working out?" Kellerman asked as he gathered the dishes off the table. "I never realized just how disorganized I had things until she took over. She started a fresh book and copied two years of accounts into it, fresh and clean, cross-referenced it all for symptoms and treatments and all sorts of other little odds and ends. She's got a real gift for it," Cafferty, holding the cup of post-dinner homebrew spirits in two hands, took another cautious sip. He was surprised at, well, how much better it was than the usual brew of the Kellerman household. "Hey, this is some good stuff Kellerman," he remarked, looking down into the mug. "Got some advice from the neighbors. Damn weird, man, damn weird. Bust a few heads, and suddenly we're not the scum of the 'verse any more. Hell, if I'd known it'd be that easy, I would've started the fight myself." "How's the hand?" Cafferty saw that he was still favoring it. "Sore, but damn, did it feel good. Remember the e-club back on Pybban? The one with the really fragile walls?" Cafferty laughed and took another drink. "Wasn't that the walls were fragile. Just isn't a wall in the 'verse that can stand up to your head when three Marines are there to give you a good push. So there we were out on L-42, and the Browncoats were dug in behind that berm, we're waiting for the air support to come in..." Jian-Ku was coming through the door, and chimed in. "So Sergeant Bailka says 'Kellerman, get up here and we'll ram you right through the berm!' What the hell was that about, anyway?" Cafferty and Kellerman cracked up "Hon, I got something to confess. I'm the result of a secret government medical experiment," Kellerman said, once he got himself straightened up. "I've known about that since I met you," she returned, straight-faced. Kellerman looked wounded, Cafferty started snickering again. "If you're going to tell these old stories all the time like a couple of local geezers, you really should let me in on the secrets," Jian-Ku grumbled as she settled in at the table and poured herself a drink. Kellerman put his rag down and grabbed a chair for himself. "If you're not working," he said piously "Then I'm gonna pour myself a cup of this finest brew I've ever made. "I cooked," she shot back. "You insisted on cooking," he said with a smug smile. "Something about not wanting to punish poor Caff any more than what he's already suffered." "Self preservation," she replied tartly. "We're going to have dirty dishes in the morning." "So I'll wash them then," Kellerman said, an edge coming into his voice. Sensing a nastier tone coming into the discussion, Cafferty decided to change the subject before this developed into one of their screaming-and-breaking-things arguments. "Yeah, I might bring Yinna out here sometime. She's been watching you since you came into town, Jia," He ran a hand over his face, lips already growing numb from the stout brew. Yep, good stuff. Kellerman never had brewed anything that snuck up on a person like this batch did. "Really?" Jian-Ku said, curious. "Why?" "You're a liberated woman. She thinks a lot of you," Cafferty answered. "Oh yeah, everyone admires my woman. I'm always having to club the yokels I find sneaking around the barn hoping to get a glimpse," Kellerman said, grinning. Like a storm, this couple could blow up in a hurry, and settle down just as quickly. Or sometimes the storm could rage all night and leave lots of property damage behind. "Y'know Caff, you're not getting any younger," Jian-Ku started. "She'd probably be a good wife for you. She's probably not bad in the sack, too." Cafferty was taking a drink while she spoke, and it promptly diverted itself down the wrong pipe. He started coughing furiously, leaning over the table and holding himself upright with a deathgrip on the back of his chair. "Hey, I'm just suggesting." Jian-Ku said as Kellerman braced him and helpfully pounded on his back, plow-strengthened arms aspiring to drive his spinal column through his ribcage. "Yeah," Cafferty croaked when he could breathe again. "Not like that," He coughed again, received another backslap and held up his hands in abject surrender. "Gonna kill me there, Kellerman. Damn." "Hey, sorry. See if I ever try to help you again," his friend said. "Here, have another drink." "Thanks. Anyway, not like that Jia. Strictly professional. She works for me, I pay her." "OOOOOOOOOOOOOH," said Kellerman, with what passed for enlightenment dawning on his face. Cafferty saw Jian-Ku's foot lash out under the table in a quick blur. "AH SHIT! What the hell was that for? I didn't say it!" Kellerman yelled, clutching his shin. "For being male," she said coldly. "I thought you loved my manly charm," Kellerman said, pulling his pants-leg up to examine the damage. A glorious bruise was already forming. "I do." "I do not understand you, some days." "I know. You're not supposed to," Jian-Ku said with malicious satisfaction. ----------------------------------------

Walking the twenty kilometers home was an adventure all in and of itself. He was welcome to spend the night with his friends, but he felt that his responsibilities required him to be back at the office and available in case of emergencies. Besides, one of the major charms of this place was the clear, starry nights, the three moons circling and the brilliant constellations. Over there, that was the Stallion, with Canopus serving as the North Star for the locals. They told the children it was the Sky Horse, around here, and that was the single-most popular subject of fairy tales probably on the whole planet. The Sky Horse would come and take the best children to the stars, the land of make-believe where everyone was happy, food was always plentiful and nobody ever, ever got sick. Cafferty would sure be out of work there. He laughed out loud at the thought of having to get a 'real' job. As strongly as he was tempted to find a nice spot to curl up on the ground and sleep it off, he forced himself to finish the walk. Besides his job, there were still the occasional bandits and cutthroats in this area. There were lights still burning in town, and people milling around. Unusual for this time of night, in a place where people lived by the 'early to bed, early to rise' formula. He rubbed his eyes and made his onto where the 'paving' started when one of the local matrons recognized him. "Doc! Your friend shot himself!" He stared at her, the words having to cut their way through the alcohol fog that cast webs over his thoughts. Panic clutched him. "Zip? Is he dead?" he said, the words coming out slurred. "He ain't dead, but you gotta get in there. The shepherd and Yinna done what they could, but he needs a real doc." "I ain't..." he started to say, stumbling toward his office, but he managed to stop himself before the words 'a real doctor' came out. Gorram Zip. Gorram Navy for dumping him like that. Gorram freighter jockey that Zip had hitched a ride with who just left him in the gutter at the spaceport. There was a murmur in the crowd as he made his way toward the building. "He was yellin' and screamin' and sayin' he was gonna do it, doc..." "Stood up on the second floor of the bar and was wavin' the iron around..." "Gotta be dead by now, put it right in his mouth..." Not caring for niceties, Cafferty shoved anyone too slow to get out of his way and made it through the door. The shepherd was standing by the door, the one known around these parts as the 'new shepherd' ever since he replaced the last one about twelve years ago. "It's bad, doc," he said softly, pale and shaken. "He got your other pistol out and..." "It's loaded with snake shot." Cafferty said. That gorram idiot! The shepherd looked at him strangely, and he realized that he'd spoken out loud. "Miss Davens is with him right now. He passed out finally. It was... bad. He can't move." "I'll see what I can do," Cafferty said, staggering to the door. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's amazing as hell what the human body can survive. Cafferty had seen plenty of it. He'd seen people drop dead from wounds that were remarkably minor, and he'd seen bodies practically destroyed, but still hanging on stubbornly to that last faint spark of life. Zip was hanging on by a thread, waking up for brief, painful intervals. He was paralyzed from the neck down, and could only moan incoherently. Yinna was as good as her word, resolute as a rock in caring for the wounded man. She hadn't known what was wrong with him before, and didn't really understand it when Cafferty explained. Oh, she understood the mechanics of it, the disease that had rotted away the sensitive parts of his inner ear, the inadequate mechanical replacement the naval doctors had installed that left him with a lifetime of pain, regular nausea and chronic migraines. But she didn't really understand what it was like to have his life stolen from him. She was young, facing a future of potential and dreams. Cafferty hated to think that she would understand someday. He got a ride to the local Alliance post a few hours later, knowing full well that he couldn't do a damn thing for Zip. Adrenaline had cleared the fog away, but at this point he was practically staggering from the fatigue and stress.. Used to be able to get plastered, clear it up and function straight enough to fool a sergeant into thinking I was clean, he thought. Gorram it, I'm not that old! "I'm sorry, but we are not authorized to release Alliance assets for local concerns," the young officer informed him. He wasn't Miloslaw's favorite 'Lieutenant PX' but he might as well have been. Young and well-scrubbed, he wrinkled his nose at the soiled, bloody and disreputable-looking figure in front of him. I must look like hell, Cafferty realized. "Zip... Paulsen isn't just a local concern," he said, trying to play it straight and calm. "He's a Navy vet, living on disability. He fought in the war. Can't we do something here? You've got a real doctor." "Mr... Cafferty," the lieutenant said, condescendingly "The rules are clear in this matter. Alliance military facilities and services are for active-duty Alliance personnel. Let's be honest, there are a hundred different problems on this planet, and we only have so many resources." "Where the hell were you during the war? Grade school?" Cafferty exploded. "I was on ruttin' Kassa Hill when you were getting your diapers changed, you ruttin' twit!" When the words were out of his mouth he realized just how native he sounded, but plunged on all the same. "You're here because people like him and me put it on the gorram line! The Browncoats did a damn good job of knocking our skips down, boy, and he kept going in until our people let him down!" "MR. Cafferty!" the lieutenant said, using his school-taught command voice and rising to his feet. "That will be all!" He pressed a button on his desk and a pair of skyscrapers in uniform came into the office. Cafferty whirled, ready to fight. His ardor was dampened a bit when he recognized one of them as being the man whose ribs he'd kicked in a couple of weeks before. This could get ugly, he thought. "Corporal, escort Mr. Cafferty from the post. If he resists, use your discretion." Great. The walking mountain had just been given free reign to kick the shit out of him or maybe even shoot him if he so desired. He hadn't looked so big when he was on the floor at the bar. But Cafferty had been drunk then, and caught up in the moment.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- They'd contented themselves with simply throwing him out. Literally. The wagon-driver who'd given Cafferty his ride had looked ready to start the war all over again, and spent the ride back fluently cursing the Alliance in English, Mandarin, and a couple of languages that Cafferty didn't recognize. He didn't respond, nursing his own anger. He couldn't even say what they fought for anymore. Back during the war, they were 'saving' the natives from their 'corrupt' governments. As time went by, they'd found out the natives weren't so interested in being saved, but it didn't matter because he learned quickly that you were fighting for your fellow Jaegers anyway, and everything else was a pretty speech that wouldn't get you a bottle of booze at the e-club.

Zip took three more days to die, and he died hard. That night, at Kellerman and Jian-Ku's place, Cafferty drank himself blind and cried on the table. It was the first time he'd cried about anything since the day they'd announced the war was over, right before the Jaegers were set to make another drop into a combat zone.