I'm getting kinda desperate and starting to believe no one is reading this story. I'm about to give up and forget about it, unless I'm convinced to keep it going somehow. Please R&R.

Chapter 4

I sat for hours, my brain aching and hurting as I attempted, in vain, to come up with a plot to rescue my squad. I must have dozed off because I was greeted by the kind voice of Dingo.

"Sir, wake up," he screamed into his COM. I opened my eyes to see his visor less than two inches from mine. I shoved him away, slowly picking myself up and dusting my armor off.

"The hell, Dingo," I chided, obviously not happy with him. "These COM units work fine, you don't have to scream to be heard." He shrugged and went back to sulking by himself. No doubt he thought he'd be called a hero if he was the one to discover the commanding officer hurt.

"Order, sir," Ice asked, cradling his left arm. I looked him over and just shook my head.

"No, soldier. Right now, we rest. I can't mount an assault with your arm in that condition."

"Or Hawk's leg," Cobra said, gesturing towards Hawk. Hawk merely shrugged as he sat on a stump, his right leg elevated on a fallen tree.

I turned to stare at the large, concrete building in front of me, my mind racing and reeling to come up with an answer. It drifted back to training and a familiar scenario I had to put my team through.

We were all 12 or 13, and we had just been through augmentation. That was the most painful time in my life, and none of us wanted to relive it. In our training, we were locked in battle against Marines with tranquilizer guns. We were armed only with sticks. Our training missions were getting closer and closer to impossible, but we overcame them all. Sneak into an enemy base undetected? Piece of cake. Eliminate a target without being caught? Walk in the park. Recover a lost teammate from the hostiles? This one was a problem. We did it, alright, but it took a while. Back then, we were unarmed, unshielded and immature. Our group had fallen apart at the seams. Our current mission was four years later, and we had everything we needed: brains, brawn, speed and skill. So why was this so hard?
"Cobra," I called without turning, "call command. Ask to borrow two of their Hornets." Cobra nodded and immediately established a link with HQ. "Ice," I said, also in a demanding tone, "contact the nearest base. Ask to use their Ionic Tunneler." He nodded as well.

"What can I do," Dingo asked, jumping to his feet. I looked at him for a moment as if considering what I should have him do.

"Sit your ass down and shut up," I responded, figuring that was the best answer to his question.

"But I want to do something," He whined. If he wasn't before, he was really starting to get on my nerves now. Normally, I tried to be a good leader. Impartial, neutral and non-judging. But with Dingo, all those qualities seemed to leave me.

"If you really wanna do something, Dingo, go get yourself killed by charging that base head first. I wouldn't advise it, personally." He stared daggers at me through the visor, I could tell. After a moment of silence, he shrugged.

"Maybe I will." He began to walk off into the forest, then stopped, waiting for me to call him back. When no sound reached his ears, he continued, glancing back every hundred feet or so.

"You think that was smart," Lynx asked. I shrugged.

"Look at it this way. If he comes back, we have another man to infiltrate the base. If he dies, we have one less whining Sergeant to deal with. Either way you look at it, it's a win-win situation." Lynx laughed.

"I guess you're right. I never thought of it that way."

"Tunneler confirmed, sir," Ice reported.

"Hornets inbound," Cobra confirmed.

"Good," I concluded. "Lynx, if you had captives in a place like that, where would you keep them?" He hesitated for a moment, thinking of the best response.

"On the top floor," he asked, not quite sure the answer was the right one. I nodded and patted his shoulder, giving him credit where it was due.

"And Ice, what would be the best strategy to rescue said captive?" He hesitated too, but not as long.

"Dropping in on the roof?" I nodded again, patting his shoulder.

"Correct. Meaning all the guards are where, Hawk?" He responded quicker than the other two.

"The top floor, waiting for the drop-in!" I nodded.

"Which means, we tunnel in as a diversion to remove all the other guards," I heard Dingo say.

"My god, Dingo, you may have a brain in that head after all," I commented.

"I'm a lot smarter than you give me credit for, sir. By the way, I heard all that win-win bullshit earlier."I paused for a moment at those words.

"I know," I replied.