“No,” Britney said. “Nada. Zip. Diddly. And since I’m a professional ‘intel puke’ I have to point out that while they may not talk, this room is not what I’d call secure. But thanks for asking. Now I’ve got a question.”
“Shoot,” Wilson said, sitting down with a diet coke in her hand.
“What’s eating Mike?”
“You’re on first name basis already?” Bathlick asked. “I called him Kildar for a couple of weeks before I remembered he’d told me his name.”
“We’ve met before,” Britney said. “Where is… not an item of discussion. Even in a secure room. Ever.”
“Okay,” Wilson said, nodding. “Interesting. But to answer your question… Jeeze, where to start.”
“The Rite,” Kacey said, taking a gulp of water. “Which is one fucked up thing in my opinion. And I’m all for people screwing.”
“What right?” Britney asked. “A right to what?”
“Rite, R-I-T-E as in religion,” Wilson replied. “The Keldara have some really weird customs—”
“Really weird,” Bathlick interjected. “Really really weird. Like having parties on top of their graveyards…”
“It’s a very ancient and… unusual culture,” Tamara said, shooting a glance at her friend. “Do you know what the right of droit du seigneur is?”
“The…” Britney paused then her eyes widened. “Oh. Not really?”
“Really,” Tamara continued. “The Keldara, though, have sort of made it their own. The girls who are getting married get… presented to the Kildar, first. Keep in mind that they are getting married to his team members. He then gifts them with a dowry which, I understand, was the reason they first gave for it. Mike wasn’t really thrilled with the idea. Okay, virgins, sure, great. But not the fiancées of his team members.”
“I got it,” Britney said, unconvinced. “But he just couldn’t help himself, right?”
“The pressure all came from the Keldara,” Bathlick said flatly. “Tell her the rest.”
“For the Keldara it’s a breeding program,” Tamara continued. “The Kildars have always been warriors for centuries. If they weren’t, apparently they were… taken care of. Quietly. So they’ve been breeding for warriors for generations.”
“And it’s worked,” Kacey said. “They’re about as dangerous as the tiger that’s their totem. More. I swear the kids are like little sharks.”
“But the point is that the Kildar gets first crack,” Wilson said. “And… Have you met Stella yet?”
“Yes?” Britney replied.
“You might have noticed that she’s a bit pregnant,” Tamara said. “Her husband is the guy who guided you from the airport, Vil, one of the team leaders by the way. The child is the Kildar’s.”
“They make sure they’re right at ovulation when they put him to stud,” Kacey said, cackling.
“That’s…”
“Weird,” Tamara said, nodding. “But that’s the Keldara. And it’s apparently worked. Even the women…”
“The women took on a Chechen force of about their own number during the last battle,” Bathlick said. “They slaughtered them, the Chechens then being in prepared defenses. Keldara girls took five dead, about fifteen wounded. And just slaughtered the fedayeen. About a hundred. No quarter. Mostly chopped them up with axes. Then they got out shovels and filled in the trench. That’s the women.”
“The men took on about forty times their number and did much the same thing,” Tamara said. “But we were talking about the Rite of Kardane. That’s what the Keldara call it. Anyway, sometimes things… go wrong.”
“Might have gone right,” Kacey said, looking at her water. “Sometimes I wish this was beer.”
“The Kildar participated in the Rite with a young lady named… Gretchen Mahona,” Tamara said, swallowing and closing her eyes for a moment. “She was our crew-chief.”
“Didn’t have a fucking clue how,” Kacey added. “But God she was willing. And good. Damn she was good.” She took a drink of water and tossed the bottle across the room, dropping the bottle in the trash for three points.
“And unfortunately, the Kildar…”
“Fell in love,” Britney said, connecting the rather obvious dots. “And Gretchen…”
“Got blown all over the inside of the bird by a 12.7,” Kacey said. “Nothing we could do. We were loaded to overweight with wounded and had to… Fuck.”
“We had to fly right through the fire,” Tamara said. “Three bunkers, interlocked. We were moving about as fast as a person could run. Very high altitude, we were only making it on ground effect as it was. She was engaging the bunkers with the mini…”
“And she got blown away,” Kacey said, jerking to her feet and pulling out another bottle of water. “Literally. Made a hell of a mess.”
“The Kildar has not taken this loss well,” Tamara said delicately.
“He went on a two-month bender,” Kacey said bluntly. “Up until yesterday, no, two days before, he was nose deep in a bottle. I’m surprised he was able to recover so fast.”
“Mike’s… got a thing for women,” Britney said.
“Oh really?” Kacey asked. “Do tell? He’s only got a harem of teenaged girls and a harem manager that’s one hell of a fox. I think we were luck of the draw, but…”
“That… wasn’t what I meant,” Britney said. “I shouldn’t have said that much. But… Yeah, I can see that hitting him pretty hard.”
“He’s only here because of Adams and Vanner getting hit,” Tamara continued. “And he feels guilty about that as well.”
“Might have a point,” Kacey said. “I’m not sure that would have gotten him. He’s got the touch. I’ve got it for flying but he’s got it for… shit like this.”
“I’ve heard,” Britney said. “We did a little catching up.”
“You keep dropping these hints,” Kacey said. “He wouldn’t ‘catch up’ with just anybody. Catch up about what? As far as anybody in the Valley knows he just appeared fully formed! Give, girl!”
“I can’t,” Britney said. “Let’s just say that he saved my life and leave it at that, okay?”
“So you gonna save his?” Kacey asked.
“I’d be open to suggestions how,” Britney admitted.
“Screw him,” Kacey said.
“You think that will fix things?” Britney asked, blushing. “I mean, as you mentioned he has… Did you say a harem?”
“Screw him and then get him to open up,” Kacey said, ignoring the question. “He won’t fucking talk about it! He’s gone all macho on everybody. Big boy that doesn’t need to talk. He’s fine. He just needs a drink or two. Or a hundred. He needs to get it off his chest. He won’t talk to Anastasia, he won’t talk to the harem, which is what it’s there for, he won’t talk to even his oldest friends. Maybe he’ll talk to you.”
“Methinks my overly testosteroned friend has a point,” Tamara said.
“I’ll… consider it,” Britney said. “Just that. I… don’t have sex with anyone much these days.”
“Some issues there, too,” Kacey said. “Bad boyfriend?”
“Oh… worse than that,” Britney said with a sigh. “And not something I can discuss. I have a counselor. I work with it. But it’s… Heck, most people I could probably talk about it…”
“Hints and hints and hints,” Kacey said. “Thank God I’m not an intel puke; it’d be an itch I couldn’t scratch. Me, I don’t give a fuck. If you can get the Kildar back in shape, more power. If you can’t, at least find me a target.”