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the eylau sequence.extinction
 
.03 RECOVERY
Sandan Tyler paced along the training floor at the Australian Armed Forces Academy. His wards were a variety of injured line officers, intelligence operatives and academy post-graduate students. The former had mostly been injured on duty and the later had mostly suffered at the hands of the drill instructors. The intelligence operatives Sandan was never sure about - they did not talk much. The center was as much a morale builder as anything - recovered combatants had a way of becoming suicidal and Sandan's program pretty well eliminated that little problem.

As he absent mindedly wandered past a dark, fully uniformed figure there was a loud snap of bamboo being cut with a single swift blow. A chunk of it cartwheeled through the air and bounced off the floor in front of Tyler. He looked over with a smile and walked on. The dark figure continued, recoiling with serpentine grace back into a center balance position. It brought a razor sharp short sword back up into striking position and stood absolutely still... the fingers of the right hand rolled slightly as the figure adjusted its grip. Then without warning the figure pivoted and with another deft blow it slashed diagonally downward at the thick bamboo pole behind it. "Bang" the blow reverberated through the room as another large piece of bamboo flew clear.
The figure stood and looked around, there were a dozen pieces of thick bamboo on the smooth wooden floor.

Still breathing heavily, Nengghi walked calmly over to the table nearby and gently laid her sword on its side. Pulling open her uniform hood, she held up her arm and peeled the uniform back to expose all five slender fingers on her right hand. She held her arm out and looked at the short nails and tiny wrinkles at the joints. She fanned them a couple of times and curled her hand into a loose fist. Smiling slightly, she checked her knuckles and wrist for any signs of scarring.

As she held her hand up for scrutiny, Tyler walked back up to her; "Looking for age spots Nengghi?" he asked gruffly.
She smiled ever so slightly and dropped her arms to her side.
"That's my girl. How to you like your new sword?"
"Good". she replied, "It has nicer handle. It cuts better."
"You've probably taken the bloody thing apart and put it back together already. Well, enjoy it, it's yours now."

He watched her slide her hand back onto the sword's inlaid handle. It was good to see her enjoying her new-found mobility again. Now if he could just talk her into rebuilding her left hand, but she quietly resisted. Well, she got full mileage out of her right hand, so that was fine with Tyler. "Go get some food, you need to eat." he added. She gave a single curt nod and walked out of the room.

As she walked away, Tyler looked down and pushed thoughtfully on one of the floorboards with the tip of his foot. After a few moments of consideration he cleared his mind and looked up to his next student.


Next: 04. To be continued


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