The smell. It was always there thought Mac as he stood in the bay of the repaired TALON class medical transport. The smell of hydraulic lube, seal foam bandage and blood.

Touching the comm panel next to the loading ramp he remembered how many times he had stood there before during the final moments of an approach to an LZ in some god forsaken hole on whatever planet the current battle was being fought on. Fought over because of some nameless strategy by the unseen authority known as "High Command" determined it was vital to the cause. Planets and places lost to history already except to those that were there and had survived, or those that were still there and buried under a simple marker.

Places like Twin Bridges on Essayons,Hilltop 215 Alpha or Whiskey South on Santo. Whiskey South.... It started with the summons from the bar during downtime on the platform station orbiting Athens. No big deal, it had happened before. Vasily and Mac followed Chief Ellis back to their TALON class medical transport SAGANAMI TWO FIVE for a hurried launch and hook up to a Special Forces Command and Logistics Ship for transit to Santo. The rapid transit under cloaking was spent in quick and dirty briefs and rushed sim time. A Special Forces insertion team had gone missing during a covert intel mission. Suddenly after eight standard days they commed for emergency extraction with wounded. Their dedicated MEDEVAC lost it inbound and wound up a smoking crater. The team was able to clear the area and were now holed up low on everything except Alliance hunter teams.

Strapped in to the medics seat with pre checks complete, the insertion began with the familiar lurching disconnect from the carrier followed by the steady build up of gees. Chief Ellis had a habit of going straight for max descent remembered Mac. After all, the Chief reasoned, if they were picked up on sensors, no Alliance scan tech would believe anyone would come in at such an angle and speed. As medic, Mac actually rode backwards with his back to the forward bulkhead so his feet would be higher than his head by the time they hit atmo. The heat would be building at that point and the shaking and lurching was hard sharp and fast. The ride was referred to as the "Vomit Comet" or "Riding the Beast" by the select transport and Medevac crews that did it. It was a mark of pride to do it regularly, and within this small community the crew of SAGANAMI TWO FIVE was one of the even fewer crews that had done so time after time and survived.

As the high gee pullout began and the ship transitioned into the high speed low level run to target, there was always that smell of burned carbon and synthetics. The eggheads said it was a miniscule amount of ablative material from the skin of the ship burned off in the descent. It was always present in the background like a subtle presence, never overpowering or strong in any particular way-just there.

At least it was until Chief called for the final inbound pre insertion check five minutes out from the LZ. That was Mac's cue to move to the rear of the compartment to the comm panel and activate the ramp control.

As the ramp opened he usually got a first look at whatever mudball they were on. No matter what the terrain or environmental conditions they always shared two common features. They all appeared as wildly moving scenes through the frame of the reinforced ramp access. Then there was the smell of ambient atmo after the recycled and scrubbed ships air.

Santo smelled of heat and dried baked earth. The dust swirled in the open bay as they cut along under a ridgeline headed inbound. Mac remembered seeing a little dust devil as they sped by when the first rounds impacted the ship.

"TAKING FIRE!" cried Vasily the crewchief "ROGER, hang on!" responded Chief Ellis as a series of small explosions erupted in the port side of the cargo bay destroying one of the medical equipment lockers.

"SAGANAMI TWO FIVE, This is BLACHORSE ZERO SIX, I have two wounded and four ambulatory. we are taking fire from our front, small arms at present. let me know when you want me to mark my poz over".

"BLACKHORSE this is NAMI TWO FIVE eta approximatly 2 minutes out, go ahead pop smoke and I'll identify over". "ROGER, popping smoke."

Leaning out the side access hatch into the buffeting slipstream Mac could see the first wispy tendrils followed by a burst of an intense purple cloud.

"Chief, smoke at 010 about a klick and a half," Mac said over the comm.

"BLACKHORSE 06 I see grape over"

"Roger grape! Nami we are all on the smoke ready to go!", came over a background of confused yells and the hisss-CRACK of laser fire.

The ship gave a sudden lurch as it was hit on the left wing, warning alarms sounded and Chief Ellis felt the ship want to dip down and to the left.

"VAS, give me stab boost and seal the port wing tank!"

"Done Chief."

"Hang on guys here we go!"

The transport screamed into the LZ on max power. As it quickly settled with the bone jarring thump, the SF team appeared out of the swirling remains of the purple smoke cannister.

"COME ON!" yelled Mac over the sound of rounds impacting the ship, "MOVE!"

The first two passed by dragging a third between them. The radio operator was next with a large soldier carrying another over his shoulder with blood streaming everywhere. As they ran up the ramp and collapsed onto the floor Mac gave Vasily a thumbs up. Vasily yelled "UP!" Nami shuddered at full military power as the Chief released it from its earthly prison.

In the treatment bay the smell of smoke from the now spluttering signal cannister and from exploded ordanance competed with the unwashed grimy bodies of the insertion team and the growing pool of blood from the two wounded soldiers.

Mac looked at the first patient as the deck tilted crazily in response to the Chiefs evasive manuevers. Not good, he had been hit some time before and it looked like there was some underlying bone and tissue damage for sure. Sealing the wound with seal foam to stop any bleeding he moved over on all fours to the other. It was then over the whine of the drives that he heard the screaming. Gut shot, real bad. Shock was setting in also. Definitive care was needed soon.

"Chief, As soon as you can, let the ship know we are inbound with two wounded, one urgent the other priority. Requesting trauma team protocol on arrival"

"Got it Mac, begining climbout in 30 seconds,strap in and report secure in the rear."

"Stand by Chief."

Mac reached for his aidbag and grabbed two large one shots. Pulling the soldiers dirt encrusted pant legs tight he pressed the electrolyte loaded syringe against the leg and injecteed the anti shock mix. Grabbing the second loaded with tranq he pressed and injected that as well instantly cutting off the anguished screams. As he sprayed the seal foam into the bloddy mess that was the soldiers abdomen, he heard the climbout count begin. Mac just got into his seat and activated the deck suppressor to keep their passengers from being thrown everywhere when he heard the Chief announce "ZERO- CLIMBOUT"

Climbout was worse than the riding the beast inbound. On the way out you had passengers and no matter how tough they were the climbout would shake them to the core. Maybe it was all the adrenaline that would dump after days or weeks living on the edge behind the lines. Moving slowly and in silence, living like an animal only moving at night to avoid detection. The sudden violence of a hot extraction, wounded, and the chaos must be the reason that some do what they do. Some sit and shake or just stare as if nothing mattered any more, their eyes seeing right through you.

"Passing Atmo", reported the Chief from the pilots station. "Docking in twenty minutes, ensure all weapons are safe" "Roger Chief" said Vasily as he moved throughout the bay ensuring their passengers weapons were safed.

The lurch and jolt again as hard dock capture occurred followed by the sudden pressure as the outer lock pressurized. The green light illuminating and Vasily opened the hatch. The rush of surgical med techs into the compartment, a hurried brief of injury descriptions, actions taken and then they are gone followed by the uninjured team members being escorted by others to debrief and downtime. The shifting over to main buss ships power always dimmed the interior lights for a moment.

Bandages and seal foam on the deck along with discarded pieces of equipment, puddles of blood

and the smell....