FSE

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We receive some info on what has happened to John since his last memory. Will the rescue team react to harshly.

Feedback is always appreciated. Hope you enjoy! And Things and stuff © Mick39, I think I have to put that somewhere.

Occupational Hazard

-Chapter 2-

Velas managed to coax the human back into his treatment room where they were now conversing, she was surprised to find he spoke her language fluently, Kelanis hadn't mentioned that to her. Then again his existence alone caused most to trip up. Her wish to keep things quiet about his discovery, hadn't quite worked out. All thanks to the stuck up head of security who acted like the whole situation was a danger to everyone's health, wanting to have the human secured in a cell like a prisoner. She did feel a little on edge since he was armed, but as long as she could keep him calm he displayed no urge to turn hostile. Hopefully.

“So…" John started. “How long have I been here exactly."

“Well since Kel dropped you off." Velas replied, grabbing a nearby tablet. “You have been unconscious for two days, your body seemed to be suffering from extreme stress, blood loss and sleep deprivation."

John hummed in response, those three things had been quite familiar to him.

“Well, not much I could do about that." He said simply, giving a small grin. “Sleeping in cots or the back of a Humvee for the past few years."

“A what...Humvee." She asked, intrigued. “What is that."

John thought for a moment how to explain, she obviously wouldn't understand. But he remembered the photo of him and a couple of friends standing in front of one. He reached into the pocket on his pants and removed his wallet, found the photo neatly tucked in with his now useless money. With the photo in his hand he hesitated a moment and sorrow filled his mind, he couldn't open it, he simply handed the photo to Velas and rubbed his face to clear the bubbling emotions.

The hesitation in his movements didn't go unnoticed by Velas, nor the empty look in his normally bright blue eyes. It was hard to judge his emotions physically, missing the tail or ears her people had. But she was starting to pick up on certain things, how the fur above his eyes moved was one. Also the look in his eyes was another.

With the paper in her hands she began to carefully unfold it, what she saw brought a smile to her face. It included John and two other humans, men by her guess, with their arms draped across each other's shoulders. They were positioned next to what she guessed was this so called 'Humvee' and indeed it didn't look very comfortable. It also sent a chill down her spine when she noticed the large weapon on top, from what she heard from the scientist analyzing his rifle, it was a projectile weapon that upon impact would fragment inside one's body, causing severe internal damage.

She didn't want to imagine what the even larger version atop the Humvee would to to someone. She focused back towards the smiling humans.

“Are these friends of yours." She pointed them out to John

“Were friends of mine." He replied, looking towards the ground. “Just another K.I.A for a pointless war."

“K.I.A…?" She asked hesitantly, fearing the answer.

“Killed in action…"

“Ahh...sorry for bringing it up." She fiddled with her tail. “I hope he's not mad…"

“You learn to live with it…" He said, shrugging his shoulders. “Or you don't."

“Or you don't?" It made her sad seeing him like this, head held low, eyes staring blankly at the ground. She tried to think of a way to cheer him up.

“Hey, how about we go and find you a nice bed we talked about earlier." She said, brushing the wrinkles out of her coat. “Besides...you could use a wash."

“What?" He asked, only to jerk his head back when he lifted his arm to investigate. He infact had not showered since the day before heading out for patrol. “Alright you got me there but I'd like to have a few of my questions answered."

“I understand, we can discus as we walk." Velas informed, quirking her head. “Besides you are a new species we haven't encountered before, so we have a lot of questions for you as well."

“Deal."

-~-

After the course of a few minutes, exchanging names, and discussing a whole manner of topics. John was extremely confused.

“Wait, so there's you."

“Sergal"

“Then there's the bird people."

“Nevrean"

“And...Robo-cats..."

“Talyxians, although they are part robotic they can still reproduce naturally." Velas added. “Most of them are part of what you would call our 'Police' force."

“Uh huh, that's...different." John replied, it was going to take him a while to get used to things. “Anything else?"

“Yes actually, there's a reptilian species called the Ra'nark though they are quite rare around here." She stated “Prior to you they were our most recent discovery."

“Yea, why not." He said, smirking. “Add lizard people to the list."

“Indeed, although you seem to be the most intriguing out of them all." She said.

“You're kidding…" He said with a humm. “How am I so different."

“I'm glad you asked." She replied, giving a small grin. Showing off some of her teeth. “You are the first species that does not have a tail, you have smooth skin, no claws dull teeth. And most of all you seem very self destructive."

John gave a huff, face becoming emotionless. “Humans are very self destructive."

An awkward silence fell upon them as they continued walking, they turned down another hallway as John thought of something.

“By the way." He started. “Where is that other Sergal, the tan and white one."

“Ohh, Kelanis. Umm I'm not sure." She replied, rubbing her snout. “Last I heard the head of security wanted to talk to her."

“Let me guess, about me." John smirked. “Anyway I wanted to thank her for saving me."

“If you want I can call her and see if she wants to meet up with us." She asked.

“Sure, that's cool." He said. “As long as it's not a problem for you."

“No, no. Not a problem at all." She stated. “In fact she probably wants to see how you are doing, she hasn't seen you since you arrived."

“Really?" He mumbled. “Whys that."

“Once word got out of your discovery she has been under a lot of stress." She replied. “Between the jealousy from other research facilities, our leader wanting to meet you, and our lovely head of security who thinks you are a huge threat to everyone."

“Huh...well…" He started, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I owe her an apology then as well."

Velas smiled. “Ohh don't worry about it, this happens every time we make a big discovery."

“If you say so." John replied, returning her smile. “Gosh when is the last time I smiled..."

“Anyway, here we are." She said, pointing towards a sign that read 'Scanner/Cleanser'.

“Scanner…?" John asked.

“Yes, basically once inside you will be cleaned, of course, but you will also be scanned so we can get an idea of your anatomy." She replied.

“Uhh...ok. I guess." He mumbled.

“Don't worry, it won't hurt. But it might tickle your bare skin." She reassured him by patting him on the shoulder. “Besides Kel might faint if she smelled you."

John hummed in response, entering the room after she opened it for him via the panel of the wall. He was slightly hesitant at first but since they hadn't done anything bad to him while he was asleep he could put some trust into them. This whole situation seemed so...FUBAR, before he thought he was hallucinating but now he was starting to believe it was real.

One thing he knew for sure, there was nothing better to settle his mind with than a nice hot shower.

-~-

Velas watched John disappear through the door, once it was closed she brought up her wrist communicator so she could give Kelanis a call. There was a few second delay before she heard a familiar voice.

“Hello, Velas?"

“Hey, Kel. Where are you-"

“Oh my god are you ok? We saw what happened and there a team heading to you now."

“Woah, woah. What, you saw what?"

“We saw you get attacked, are you hurt, where did he take you?"

“I'm fine, i'm fine. Don't send anyone this is a big misunderstanding. He was trying to break down the door when I opened it and he ran into me. It was a accident!"

“Oh god, when we got to you're room and you weren't there I was scared he took you hostage."

“No, no. He's really nice, although it seems he has some unstable emotions. He's had a rough past is my guess."

“Oh? Well i'm glad you're ok. Where did you go then?"

“I brought him to the showers he...smelled...bad. And i'm running a scan to map his body structure."

“Ok, i'll meet you down there in a few."

“Yea you might want to, the data is very interesting."

-~-

John sighed, activating the last stage in the six-stage wash. Starting with a rinse to clean him of all the dirt and grime on his body, then proceeding to decontamination which consisted of some yellowish goo that had a very bad smell, rinse again, wash which was similar to normal soap, rinse again, then finally dry.

Besides it being more advanced than the conventional showers it still had all the familiar traits. The thing he really enjoyed was the multi directional spraying. “Nothing like 360 degrees of heaven."

Sadly though, all good things must end, he activated the drying sequence to finish everything off. He was expecting to receive a towel, instead he was met with what felt like a tornado of hair dryers coming from all directions. Which happened to dry him in seconds.

With that done he exited, put his fatigues back on since he had no other clothes. He remembered Velas telling him they were going to meet back up in some gym like area so they could do some activities and perform some test.

As he opened the door he noticed the area looked similar to a school's gymnasium, in fact most of the lines were in relatively the same places. John also noticed three figures in the center, two of which he recognized. The first one being Velas, the doctor. Then Kelanis, the one who saved him and the one with nice car. Then...security guard?

“I wonder if that's the head of security Velas was talking about." John thought.

As he got closer he noticed Kelanis holding a box of what he guessed were his belongings. It was Velas who spoke first.

“Enjoy the shower." She asked

“Yes ma'am." He replied. “Although the scanning part was kinda cold."

“Ahh, yes. That is just a side effect of having no fur to keep you warm." She added. “You're body structure is very intriguing by the way."

“Umm...thanks." He mumbled. “Soooo, what are we doing here anyway."

“I'm glad you asked." The male sergal responded. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Nevak and i'm the head of security at this facility and have been for three years...you?"

John took that as a que to introduce himself as well. He stood, back as straight as an arrow, giving them all quick salute. “Corporal John Clarke, United States Marine Corps."

“So I was right about the military." He said looking over towards Kelanis.

“Yes sir. Been in service four years now, been fighting in Iraq most of those." John replied almost robotically.

“Iraq, is that a planet or a star system?" Nevak Asked.

John chuckled. “What, no. Iraq is a country over in the Middle East."

“Middle- Wait we need to start from the beginning, if you wouldn't mind." Nevak suggested.

“Uhh, sure." John replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “Where to start?"

“So I was born on May 14, 1985, in Jefferson, Oklahoma. On...planet Earth…" John started.

“What was the current date before you got here?" Kelanis asked.

John quickly looked at his watch to check the date. “It is February 23, 2007."

“So that would make you 22 cycles old, correct?" Kelanis questioned.

“Correct although we measure our age in years normally." John replied.

Nevak cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. “This is irrelevant." He mumbled into Kelanis' ear, then turned back to John. “Please, continue."

“Actually besides being terrible at school nothing really interesting happened till I joined the military after high school." He pointed to the box Velas set down earlier. “And I've got a camera in their that can explain better than I can."

“As you wish." He pushed the box over to John with his foot. “Please, enlighten us." He added with a smirk.

“You might regret saying that…" John mumbled.

He hated to put the burden of what he saw onto these innocent people, but it was the easiest way to show what he has been through.

He would just have to keep his emotions in check.