To Vera it was like dejá vu. The darkness covering all of her senses and just starting to dissolve very slowly was broken by faint sounds she could not identify. But this time those sounds weren't telling of some disaster that had happened, and she didn't feel like lying amidst a field of rubble. It was a soft underground she felt, and she herself was covered with something equally soft. She didn't notice any smell of burning - in fact she didn't smell anything but a faint odour of some odd chemical substance. Those sounds that she had noticed at first turned out to be some electronic beeping. The circumstances were much better than before, so she opened her eyes.

Her headache was gone.

This was the first thing she came to realize, even before she could perceive her surroundings. White walls, bright artificial lights, several devices all around her. She looked down on herself. It was a real bed she was lying in, and she was covered by a real soft blanket. All in white. As she was moving, a blue ray of light went over her body and seemed to scan her. A computer next to her had several lights blinking, but when the scan was complete, many of those lights switched from yellow to green. A good sign. Vera examined the machines and devices around her, and as the mist in her head vanished completely she knew that she was in a hospital. Apparently it was the medical centre of Coock City. She had been here before.

When she turned her head to the right she found that she was not alone. "Hey, you're awake" a happy voice came from the bed to her right. She glanced over there and saw a skinny blond girl with a broad smile looking herself over to Vera. "I was afraid you'd sleep through the whole day."

Vera blinked at the girl. The memories of past events were still persistently staying out of her head. "How long have I been sleeping?"

The girl shrugged. "They brought you in this morning. Now it's almost dinner time. Shall I get the nurse?" she then asked helpfully.

This wasn't necessary anymore. The door at the far end of the room opened, and a tall bulky figure stepped in. For a short moment Vera's heart stopped beating - she feared that Whitmore had found her. But this person wasn't Whitmore. The beard was as bushy, but carefully groomed and cut, and instead of a clean shaven skull this man had hair that ended in a tiny plait on the back of his head. In addition his face was far more friendly, and Vera found that he smelled a lot better.

"Well, someone has awakened" he stated with a friendly smile. He took a quick look at the displays beside Vera's bed before turning to Vera herself. "Do you know where you are? And can you tell me your name?"

Vera looked around. "I'm at the Coock City Medical Facility, and my name is Vera Lippson. Why? Are you going to quiz me afterwards?"

The big man laughed. "No, no quiz, Vera. But you have been suffering from a head concussion and several other small injuries when you were taken here. I just wanted to make sure that nothing worse has happened to you." He offered his hand. "Call me Chris! I'm the nurse around here."

"Hi Chris!" Vera took and shook his hand.

"So, how do you feel?" Chris gazed at the displays again. Vera could see them, too - the medical personnel used several kinds of scanners to examine and survey every aspect of her body. Some of those displays she couldn't understand, but from what she could gather she was in pretty good shape.

That was what it felt like, too. "Pretty good" she answered. "Nothing hurts, I'm not dizzy... Concussion, you say?"

"Yep." Chris pointed to one oh the displays showing her head. "Don't worry, we had that cured very quickly. Hopefully you won't feel any of it anymore. Your hands should be back to good shape as well, although the fingers of your right hand may seem to be a little stiff for a while. I hope you won the fight." He winked at her.

Thoughtfully Vera brushed over the knuckles of her right hand, and it slowly came back to her. Jesper who had asked her to hit him... "It was a draw" she then said. For her this issue was far from over with. "How did I get here anyway?"

"A member of the mercenary academy brought you here" Chris told. "He apparently found you somewhere in the wilderness, lying unconscious near that crashed shuttle.  He said that you were extremely lucky that he had found you at all. The search groups had already left the area where you had been."

The shuttle! Vera bulged her eyes and grabbed Chris by his arm. No matter if it was impolite or not to do that, she had to know. "What about Tammy?" she asked worried. "Has she been rescued? Is she all right?"

"Easy!" Chris gently loosened her grip around his arm. "I don't know who Tammy is, I'm sorry. She's not on this station though. But if you like, than I'll go ask for her. The important thing is that you get some rest now. You have been through a lot."

Disappointed and worried Vera sank back into her bed. After all that happened she still didn't know if Tammy was still alive. "Yes please!" she said to the nurse. "The sooner, the better."

"I'll check" Chris ensured her. "But I think there might be some other people waiting for you to join the living again. Shall I let them to you, or do you need some more time?"

For a short moment Vera's blood seem to freeze in her veins. Do Johnson and the others already know that I am here? But this thought was stupid. If she was found by a mercenary of the academy, then of course that would be her parents. Or maybe some of her friends. No one she had to be scared of. But right now she couldn't handle her parents being here. "Tell them that I feel fine, but I do need some rest now."

The nurse nodded then turned to the girl in the other bed. "You hear that, Miate? The same goes for you, so don't annoy her all the time!"

"Oh rats!" the girl answered, but it was apparent that she saw the joke in it. "Could you please see if dinner is already on its way then?"

"That won't be long, don't worry!" Chris turned away to leave, but stopped in front of Vera. "Do you need anything else? Or do you have some more questions?"

Vera glanced at him silently. How about twelve heavily armed men and an armored shuttle? It was eating her up inside. The children were held prisoner by Johnson, and when he would have achieved his goal she didn't know what he would do to them. She didn't know either how far this agreement with this Foster person really went. There was just one thing she did know: If she didn't do anything about it, then nobody would.

There was one matter, though, that kept her mind occupied. "I have a quick question: Do you know anything about Clocdrazyn?"

The smile apruptly vanished out of Chris' face. "Where did you get that? Did someone give it to you?"

"No, no!" Vera assured him. "I've only heard of someone who is supposed to take it. I've understood that it's some kind of drug. But what does it do exactly?"

Chris snorted. "Apart from making people addicted and insane, you mean?" He let out a deep sigh. "I've once had a patient high on that stuff. Allegedly - and this is really nothing but rumors - it enhances reaction capability and performance of certain muscle strains. Better reflexes, faster movement. As I said, those are just rumors. The only thing I could tell about it is how this stuff wrecked my patient's life."

"Had he been nervous all the time and couldn't sit still? Something like that?" Vera remembered Sykes' behavior in the camp until Johnson had called her to order.

"Worse" Chris replied. "Sure, it was nearly impossible to keep my patient in bed. But he jumped at the nurses, attacking everything and everyone, so we had to secure him in the end. That only made him loose it even more. The drug triggers waves of paranoia, so you feel chased by everything around you. At the same time it heightens your violent tendencies, so you won't refrain so easily from hurting or even killing someone. It's just plain evil."

He kept staring at her mistrustful as if he wanted to ask her something. Vera could very well guess what he was about to ask. "I haven't taken it. And I'm not going to do so."

"Then I'm relieved. Stick with that!" Chris simled again. "Anyway, all that we found in your bloodstream during the examination was some medication against allergies. Our decontamination system would have purged it from you, but I reprogrammed it for keeping it in your blood. Dog allergy, correct?"

"Correct." Vera knew what they were capable of in the medical centre, but it still amazed her what they were able to find out by just applying a thorough scan. She then wondered if Chris had also been able to see what she had consumed the last two days - if there really had been gold fish in it... She looked at her hands that seemed to be completely cured. The scratches from the crash had totally vanished, only the fingers of her right hand were a little harder to move. Of course, since she had knocked out Jesper with it. Shortly she thought whether Chris had also been able to see that someone had tied her up before. Had he perhaps told the authorities about that?

"Now get some rest, Vera!" Chris told her. "Miate, remember what I said! If you are going to be the best behaved patients on my station, then I'll see to it that you will get a really nice dessert for dinner."

"Super!" Miate gave it a broad grin. Vera nodded at Chris thankfully, and he left the room. But this resting idea didn't suit her well. Too many things were happening in the world outside, too many unanswered questions kept her occupied. What had happened to Tammy? What about the other children? What had become of Butter whom she had not seen or heard of since the attack? And how to stop Johnson and his henchpeople? Vera gazed at the ceiling, then turned to the displays next to her bed that showed a scan of her body. Almost all of the indicators showed green. So she was well. Well enough to take on those scoundrels?

Not without any help, she thought.

Dinner arrived. Her roommate Miate showed great appetite while eating which surprised Vera a little considering her low weight. She herself didn't feel like eating much yet. But Chris had been right about one thing: The dessert really was nice.

Chris then returned to her, bearing good news: "Your friend Tammy is lying two stations from here. If you're feeling well enough we can go there together. Your parents are already waiting there as well."

Joyfully Vera jumped out of her bed. Just to find out that she was wearing nothing but one of those ugly hospital nightgowns. There was no way she would leave the room like that - people would be able to see her. But Chris showed her the locker where someone had already placed some clothes for her. "What about the things I was wearing before?" Vera asked him.

"We burned them" Chris replied grinning. "Nah, just kidding! But your things had been torn up and dirty, so I gave them to your mother so she could take care of them."

Vera picked from the clothes in the locker and went into the bathroom to get dressed. This time she hurried - she could barely wait to see how Tammy was. About one minute later she was on her way beside the big male nurse. The way through the medical centre wasn't long - just a long hallway, a short set of stairs and then a lift taking them two floors up to another station that hardly looked any different from Vera's. Perhaps it was just less colourful. Chris led her to the specific room and let her enter while staying on her heels.

A cry of joy sounded, and before Vera could grasp it she was locked tight in a firm hug. The dark waves of her mother's hair fell over her shoulders, and tears of joy wetted her freshly put on t-shirt. "I've been so worried about you" Helen sobbed, hugging her daughter even more firmly.

"Umph" was all that Vera could say at the moment, having not expected that kind of greeting. "Mom? Mom, you're crushing me..."

"I'm so sorry, I can't help it." But after a short moment Helen let her go, and Vera was able to breathe again. She also saw Igor standing at one side of the room and looking at her shortly before turning is look to the floor in embarassment.

But more important... "Tammy!" Vera cried out in happyness and stormed towards the bed. The young woman in it was up and well. A few scratches remained in her face, but she smiled and raised her arms to receive a hug of her own. Vera was more than willing to grant her one. "Tammy, you are all right! This is great!"

"I was going to say the same about you" Tammy admitted. "I'm sorry for sending you out in the wild all by yourself. It was stupid of me."

Vera looked at her with a serious face. "No it wasn't. It was the best chance we had. You couldn't have known better."

"Yes, I could" Tammy replied. "I didn't think of the emergency transmitter every shuttle has on board. It triggers instantly when the shuttle is heavily damaged and going down. They had found me a few hours after you had gone. Had you stayed with me, then they would have rescued you, too."

Vera looked at her astonished. So Vanna had been right after all. Staying with the shuttle would have been her best option. On the other hand though... "Never mind that. I think I found out who is responsible for making us crash in the first place."

"Ahem..." The sound of someone clearing his throat came from the other side of the room - from someone Vera had not yet noticed. Igor looked up and pointed towards the two men having stood there in silence until now.

"Vera, those are two officers from the Colonial Security Branch who would like to talk to you on this matter. Lieutenant Garrett and Sergeant Hammond. They are investigating the crash. Tammy already told them that you have been under attack."

"No time for that now!" Vera countered vigorously. The longer they kept standing around, the less time she would have left to save the children. "We need to go back to the academy ASAP."

"Whoa, easy, young lady!" Lt. Garrett had taken a step forward, his hands raised in a soothing manner. "What exactly are you talking about?"

Vera let out an impatient sigh. It figured that the grown-ups would react that way. "The same people who have shot us down have captured some children and are holding them hostage. We have to go back and rescue them. That's what we need the mercenaries for."

Garrett gave her an indulgent smile. It looked so fake on him that Vera would have loved to knock one of his teeth out. The only thing keeping her from doing that was the fact that her hand had not fully recovered yet. "Don't you think we security people could handle this sort of thing better?"

"No you can't" Vera replied ice-cold, turning to Igor then. "Dad, we need to go back to the academy. Please!"

"First you're going to answer those men's questions" Igor declared strictly. But this time Vera wouldn't budge an inch.

"I won't answer one single question until we are at the academy" she stated stubbornly, giving her father a penetrating look.

Her mother was shocked about this reaction. "Vera" she exclaimed appalled. "That's no way to behave."

Vera looked from one to another. "There are lives at stake here. Why don't you just get it?" She turned to the officers. "As soon as we're at the academy and preparing for the rescue mission you can ask me any and all question you've got on your mind. But not before that!"

"Vera!" her father called her out, his voice significantly raised, but she turned back to him and yelled with all her anger and determination: "No!"

"Ehm..." Chris stepped into the conversation from his place at the door. "If you could all turn down the volume a little before my bosses come to inquire what kind of war we're having here, it would be much appreciated." He gazed at Vera, examined her. "As for Vera, she is well enough to be released from here. So if you're planning to interrogate her, and she wants to have this interrogation elsewhere, then why don't you make it so?"

Only at this point Vera realized that she had gotten the attention of every person in that room. Even Tammy looked at her in some sort of disapproval. She could understand it - none of them knew what she had been through. None of them could know what was at stake now. She crossed her arms sullenly, looking into the faces of each of them. Everyone should know that she had noticed it - and that she didn't care.

Finally Igor gave in with a deep sigh. "So, what do you need to have her released?" he asked Chris.

"The formalities are done already" the nurse explained. "All it takes is your thumbprint, and she's free to go."

"All right." Igor spoke to everybody present, starting with Vera: "You: We're not done yet. Helen, go help pack her things! You two" he said in the direction of the officers, "we will meet at the mercenary academy in one hour. Hank Bodderias can show you the way to our briefing room. And you..." He pointed with his index finger at Tammy, but then realized that his commanding tone was inappropriate at this moment. He hesitated only for one second though: "Get well soon!"