Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles
Even though it was against her daughter's wishes, General Anne Possible managed to convince SICON command to give the Protectors some R&R time. SICON command agreed to give the Protectors 3 days of R&R and Kim's mother had made sure, for her daughters sake, that it was about the Grand Canyon, not on the surface of Klendathu.
"I can't believe she would do this to me. I can't believe it" Kim complained as their transport docked aboard the Grand Canyon
"Hey, Kim, maybe this isn't all about you" Bonnie interrupts Kim's little rant
"Huh?" Kim looks over at her squad, Bonnie is stretching her arms out, Pvt. Hellena looks like he's sleeping on the chair, though Kim doesn't know if that's possible, those chairs are not built for comfort.Pvt. Mallak has his helmet off and his head is leaning back against the bulkhead. Pvt. Timbers and Pvt. Volcors are in near the same situation, tired and not looking very alive at the moment. Maybe I have been pushing them too hard Kim thinks as the final docking sequence finishes and the side door opens, letting the troopers out.
"Where's the L.t.?" Bonnie asked as she walked into the mess a few hours later as the rest of the squad is eating dinner
"Last I heard, she was in the simulator. Apparently hasn't left since we got back" Pvt. Timbers answers. Bonnie shakes her head and walks out.
"WHO WANTS SOME MORE?!" Kim yells out at the holo-bugs. She is going through a simulation of one of the deadliest ground battles of the war - one of the battles on Pluto. M.I. lost over 1000 troopers in the 33 hours and even though they inflicted three times as many casualities on the enemy, in the end, the battle was considered a major loss. Nothing was gained, no ground, no new info on the bugs that SICON didn't already know at the time. It was the first real proof that this war would be devestating. And because of all that, Kim decided that it might be a good way to help her relieve some stress - fighting a battle that was destined to lose.
The holograms shut down just as she was about to take a ridge
"What the..?" she looked around to see Bonnie at the holo-projection controls, her arms crossed. The computers voice came on
"Lieutenant Possible. 2.5 hours. 459 enemy kills"
"Well, I think you just set a new record there, L.t. Longest time in a simulator" Kim looks over at her friend
"What do you want, Corporal" she asks when she emerges from the holoprojection room
"You, to take a break and get some rest"
"No. I blame myself for what happened" Kim turns away
"It wasn't your fault"
"I know that, but something tells me otherwise and I can't shake it"
"Go get some rest. You've been awake for three days straight"
"I can't do this without Ron. We've been supporting each other for so long. I was always there for him and he was always there for me and now everything's changed"
"I know. This war has changed us all"
"Not what I meant"
"How about this, you go get some sleep and we'll chat in the morning?" Kim sighs "Either you go quietly or I call your mother" Bonnie grins
"Fine, you win. I go get some rest" Kim gets up "But blackmail me again, Corporal, and I'll have you discharged from service, clear?"
"Yes, sir" Bonnie grins again
Kim does sleep, she spends all of the next day catching up on some must needed rest.She spends the day after catching up on her paperwork and her final day of R&R she stays in her quarters, save for a briefing with General Possible. As she spends some time alone, she begins to realize how much she's missed being able to do nothing. This war has kept her busier than she has ever been before, she can't remember a time when she didn't sleep for 3 days in a row.
That evening, all of Delta Squad can clearly tell that the last few days of R&R have done wonders for Kim, it is clearly obvious that she feels better, but in truth, she doesn't. The last few days gave her a chance to reflect and to better hide her true emotions, at least for now.
"Listen up, apes. We're being transferred back to planetside basecamp"
"I thought we had one more night or R&R, L.t."
"No. We have an early morning ground mission. We'll be taking a truck so we need to be on the ground before sun-up. So grab your gear, we leave in ten!" the troopers all stand up and wander off, heading for the locker room.
Klendathu, morning of day 116. Bunk room of Delta Squad.
"RISE AND SHINE SOLIDERS! Strategy room in ten. MOVE IT!" Kim enters and exits quickly.
"Alright, here is our target. An outpost on the edge of SICON controlled territory has ceased all communications with command"
"Gee, I wonder why" Volocrs puts in
"Anyway. This outpost is vital. It's purpose is to warn base camp of an impending attack. Now that it's offline, base is vulnerable" Kim looks around at her squad "We move out in ten, grab your gear and head to the garage. MOVE IT!" the troopers stand up and walk out. All of them except for Bonnie
"Kim, did you check in on..."
"Please don't, Bonnie" Kim puts her hand up to stop Bonnie from speaking Ron's name
"Kim, what...?"
"I've nearly lost my best friend. If I start thinking about him now, it might jeporadize the mission by making my mind wander and I will not have that, clear?"
"Sir, yes sir" she says and wanders out, heading for the truck garage.
"Everyone set?" Kim asks as they are about to board the truck, they all nod "Good. Rockwaller, you're driving, Pvt. Hellena, you're on the turret" Bonnie and Max climb onboard the two person cab, Max takes the back seat and warms up the vehicle's defense turret.
Once inside, Kim contacts the base command station
"Basecamp command, this is Delta team leader. Requesting permission for mission start"
"Copy Delta leader. You are cleared for mission start"
"Thank you command. Delta leader out" she turns to the trucks internal comm "Bonnie, get us out of here"
"Right, L.t." inside, the squad can hear the trucks engine starting.
The trip to the outpost takes just under an hour and Kim tries to keep herself under control, but her mind keeps drifting back to Ron and she can't figure out why. She keeps imagining herself standing with him, holding his hand as he comes out of the healing tank, she looks into his eyes and they embra...
"Lieutenant!" Pvt. Timbers shakes Kim about, trying to bring her back
"Huh? What?"
"We're coming up on the outpost"
"Oh, good. Alright everyone, check your gear, I DO NOT want any screw ups. We get in, we check around and once I give the all clear, we radio fleet to send down the new detachment and personell, clear?" the troopers all nod that they understood. Bonnie pulls the truck up beside the entrance to the outpost.
Kim turns to her troopers before heading inside
"Alright, teams of two. I want this whole building secured. You find a hole in an exterior wall, seal it off" she looks at them, trying to decide who to assign with who "Mallak and Timbers, you two take the east loading door. Hellena and Volcors, climb down the cliff and enter through the guardpost. Rockwaller, you're with me, we will climb up to the landing pad and enter from there. I want this building cleaned from top to bottom. Check in every five minutes" they just stand there "Move it, apes. We got a job to do"
As Bonnie and Kim jump jet up the side of the building to the high up landing pad. Pvt.s Max Hellena and Adrianne Volcors are repelling down the cliff the outpost sits on to get to the small guard position on a ledge overlooking the pass that leads directly to the main basecamp. It doesn't take long, seeing as the ledge is only a couple hundred feet down.
"L.t., this is Private Volcors, we are in position, ready to breach"
"Same here at the loading door, L.t."
"Good. Bonnie and I are almost in position. Hold for my signal"
The seconds tick by...
"Okay, ready. All units, breach NOW!" three troopers open up three seperate doors and move into the structure.
"Team 2, clear!" Pvt. Volcors reports
"Team 3, clear!"
"Ok, Team 1, clear" Kim looks over at Bonnie "Well, I guess that happened. Alright, apes, move in and secure primary areas. Do not compromise suit intergrity until I give the order. If you locate a breach, seal off doors in the area. Move out"
"Team 2 moving"
"Team 3 moving"
Kim and Bonnie start wandering down the stair way that leads from the landing pad and after they reach the bottom they come across the main control room for the base.
Pvt.s Volcors and Hellena are going through the barracks for the soliders stationed here
"I got something!" Adrianne calls out to her partner, who rushes over
"What is...Ugh"
"Yeah. Dead bugs" The main locker room off to the side of the bunks is filled with bug carcasuses
"L.t., Volcors here"
"Go ahead" Kim answers
"We got bug bodies just off the main bunk"
"Copy. Any M.I. troopers?"
"That's a negative. Moving on"
Pvt.s Mallak and Timbers have moved in through the main supply door and into the complex from top of the cliff level. Timbers whirls around, hearing a sound. It's just a falling container
"Well, that was anti-climactic" She says
"You got that right" Mallak grins and looks through a side door. He quickly turns around and his his comm "L.t."
"Yeah?"
"I count three M.I. casualties here"
"Understood"
"I can't acess the computer" Kim groans "It's been encoded. Though why the troopers would encode their computers is beyond me" she looks at Bonnie, who is covering the entrance
"Well, we had one trooper turn. Maybe high command figured that it might happen again"
"Good point. Can you?" Kim points to the computer system
"Sure. But I thought you said you could do anything?" She shoots Kim a smirk as the two switch positions and Kim takes over guarding the door "This is gonna take a couple minutes"
"Lieutenant, this is Private Hellena. Can you come down to the bunker, level 4, please. We found something you might wanna see"
"I'm on it. Bonnie, you gonna be okay?"
"Yes, L.t."
"Just checking"
As Kim heads down to the underground section of the base, she passes team 3
"Find anything more?" she asks
"Negative, Lieutenant. Nothing aside from a few more bug caracsuses"
"Alright, head up to the control room and get Corporal Rockwaller to locate where the base has been breached. Then go start sealing it up"
"Copy that, L.t." they walk off, heading to Bonnie's location.
"Alright, what do you have?" Kim asks as she enters level four of the underground bunker, Pvt. Hellena speaks
"Bugs broke in though the med center. Five dead"
"What's so special about that?"
"We found a new bug, one we haven't seen before. I checked against the intel database and it wasn't recognized" he leads Kim over to where a bug is laying upside down, dead. Kim is amazed. The bug is a dark orange/light brown colour that looks like a cross between an arachnid warrior and a Kamakazie flyer.
"Wow. This is interesting" As Kim stands up, she walks over to the main hall "Bonnie, radio base. We need evac and a spec ops team in here.
Once the outpost is secured and sealed, base assigns the Protectors to watch the base until reinforcements arrive to take over, which is supposed to take all night.
"Alright, apes" Kim addresses her squad in the briefing room "Command is putting together an evac and operations team. They should be here every early next morning. Corporal Rockwaller and I will take first watch. The rest of you seal off every unneccesary room and then get some sack time" the troopers nod and walk off "Corporal, take the cliff ledge. Check in every ten minutes"
"You got it, L.t"
"And if you do see bugs, do not engage until you have..."
"Reported in. I know the drill, Kim"
"Good. Just checking"
The night is uneventful, all three watches come and go and soon Pvt. Hellena, who is on last watch with Pvt. Timbers, hears the familiar sound of a transport ship, inbound from either base camp or the Grand Canyon, not that it really matters which one.
"Lieutenant Possible?" a man in a similar powersuit walks up to her outside
"Yes. You are?"
"Lieutenant Growman. We'll be taking over from here. You're free to leave"
"Thank you, Lieuteant" Kim puts her hand on her helmets comm "Private Hellena, you can clear off the ledge" no response "Private, do you read? Over"
"Lieutenant, we got a big problem down here" he responds finally
"What?"
"We got bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. Over"
"Copy, Private" Kim has a look on her face of terror "This is Delta Leader to all Deltas, report to the cliff ledge watch position on the double" she runs off, Bonnie behind her "Private Hellena, what bugs can you see?"
"Uh, we got Warriors, Kamakazies, Blisters, looks like some of those new bugs and two Plasmas"
"Copy that. Lieutenant Growman, this is Delta lead"
"This is Growman. What do you need?"
"Get every combat ready trooper on the cliff, we got inbound bugs. Tell command that this is an R-Triple D situation. And tell fleet we might need an airstrike at a moments notice"
"Understood Lieutenant. Where are you?"
"Heading to the cliff watch position. Delta lead out"
Kim has only ever seen this many bugs in place once, when she was fighting the holo simulation of that battle on Pluto, and it is scaring her. Though she tries not to show it.
"Alright, we do this right. Private Hellena and Corporal Rockwaller, you are on sniping duty. Privates Timbers and Mallak, break out the javalins, you're on anti air guard. Private Volcors, you're with me on the rifles, take out anything that nears the bottom of the cliff. You read me apes?"
"SIR, YES SIR!"
"Move out" all six troopers move to their assigned positions, taking their assigned weapons "Nobody waits for my order, fire as soon as you have target lock. But make every shot count"
Bonnie and Max open up first, sniping as many targets as they can hit, which is a lot. Almost the whole front line of bugs are killed before they can get within 500 meters of the cliff. Lucas and Pauline are targeting the Kamakazies, making quite a few kills
"SNIPERS, if they pass within 100 meters of the cliff, let them go, we'll handle them"
"Yes, sir"
"Lieutenant Growman to Lieutenant Possible"
"This is Possible, go ahead Growman"
"Fleet transport has just arrived with reinforcements. No need to be heroes down there. We're taking up lines along the cliff" Kim looks up and sees streams of pulse fire and rockets flying out from over the top of the cliff
"Aww, but we like being heroes" Kim grins to herself
"Delta"
"Relax. I've set charges to the ledge. If we need to retreat, we can blow the door and block the bugs out"
"Good to know. Growman out"
The siege lasts for several hours more and M.I. sustains heavy injuries and only a few fatalities. Luckily a few medics have arrived and are in the base infirmary, treating the wounded.
"L.t. Why are you here?" Bonnie asks as she lays down on the med bed
"I was relieved for a few minutes. I figured I'd come down and see how you are doing" she looks at the trooper
"I'm fine, L.t."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. All it was, was a Kamakazie thorn got imbedded in my side. Doc says I'll be out of here in a couple hours"
"Good, we're gonna need you out there"
"I hoped so" Kim looks over into a dark corner of the infirmary and spots a healing tank
"Someone found it when they turned the lights on"
"So, not one of the new troopers?"
"No. Poor trooper was left here when the base was attacked. He died in that tank. Talk about irony, huh?" It takes Kim a minute to remember that Ron is in one of those tanks and when she does her eyes widen. "L.t.? You okay?" then it hits Bonnie like the Kamakazie thorn "I'm sure he's fine, Kim. Kim?" too late. Kim's mind has already wandered back to her fallen friend and all the mental realaxation that the last 24 hours had given her to stop thinking about him has vanished "Kim? Kim?"
"I'm okay" Kim sits up from the bed
"No, you aren't" Kim sits back down "You're right. Why can't I stop thinking about him?"
"You feel guilty for what happened to him. You feel like it's your fault"
"What are you, a psychic?"
"No, I got checked for psychic powers when I enlisted" Bonnie grins "It's just obivous" before Bonnie can explain why it is, Kim is called back to duty.
19 hours into the siege and Delta Squad's replacements finally arrive, allowing the team to go back to base.
"Lieutenant Possible"
"Lieutenant Haragah" Lieutenant Sarah Haragah, Beta Squad. The two Lieutenants had to pair up squads for a mission during the early days of the Klendathu campaign and the two discovered they had something in common - a mutual dislike of each other. They discovered that when one of Haragah's orders nearly got Bonnie and Max killed.
"Took you long enough to get here" Kim said
"I figured that you could handle it" Sarah smirks
"Well, on the bright side, we did take out most of the bugs. Don't think you'll get to be a hero today" Kim says with a slighty evil grin
"Good, means less work to do. More time to sit around"
"Doubt that" Kim hands the other Lieutenant a computer pad
"What's this?"
"Orders. came in an hour ago. You are to secure and then occupy this outpost until relieved. Have fun" Kim smiles and heads up the transport ramp, leaving Sarah Haragah with a frown on her face.
The transport touched down on the base pad in the very early hours of the morning of day 118 of the Klendathu campaign and Kim immedietly headed over to the hospital to check on Ron as the other members of the squad headed over to the barracks.
"Ah, Lieutenant Possible"
"Any change?"
"No, I'm afraid not. The medically induced coma we put him in, he refuses to come out of"
"That's Ron alright" Kim grinned
"Sir, I don't want to be a kill joy here, but you might want to fill out KIA papers" Kim looses all control she has at the mention of those words
"NO! AS LONG AS HE STILL HAS A HEARTBEAT, HE IS STILL ALIVE, GOT IT?"
"Of course, sir"
"Good" she walks out and runs into Bonnie on the way
"How is he?" she asks
"The same. Still in a coma"
"Kim, I didn't want to say this and believe me, I'd be the last to say this, but it's been two weeks with little change" Kim turns away and Bonnie puts her gloved hand on Kim's shoulder "It might soon be time to accept it" As Kim walks away, a tear rolls down her cheek.
After a meal and a long mother-to-daughter chat, Kim heads back to the hospital, she has been up for the last couple days and she can feel the effect it's having on her, what with her mind constantly drifting back to Ron. She can't get the image of the dead trooper in the tank back at the outpost out of her head.
Bonnie and the rest of the squad are in the simulators, playing some sports and finding that doing almost the same thing they've been doing for the last two days, but without all the killer bugs, is actually relaxing.
The next morning, when she walks in to check on Ron, Bonnie finds Kim asleep in the hospital, at the foot of his tank, obviously having collapsed from exhaustion at the foot of his tank. She spots a doctor and asks why they didn't move her
"Frankly, we tried. Everytime, she woke up and we nearly became patients" is his answer. Bonnie leans down infront of Kim, placing her arm around the Lieutenant and lifting her up
"Cmon, K. Time to get up" before moving her to the bench, she turns around and looks up at Ron, floating in the tank
"You are a loser, you know that. I guess I was right back in highschool after all. Look what you are doing to her. I just know that she's going to be recommend for psych eval, or worse. She could be Section 8'd! I can see it. If you really care for her, you'll at least give us a sign or something, anything at all" she looks around, nothing happens. "I thought as much" Shuffling Kim around to get a better hold on her, Bonnie works her way over to the bench and plops her squad leader down with an "OOMPH", stirring Kim a little.
"B...Bonnie?" came a voice from behind her
"No way. There is no freakin way that actually worked" she walked up to the tank "Ron?" she could tell that even though he was awake, he was weak
"Heh, that'd be Sergeant Stoppable to you" she grinned and sarcastically saluted
"How ya doing?"
"I've been better"
"I bet" Ron looks over at Kim
"How is she?"
"Not good"
"Really?"
"She hasn't been doing well since you got in there. She really does care for you"
"I know"
"I don't think you really do" Ron looks around, as if trying to get his thoughts together
"I heard what you said"
"When, just now?"
"Yes. I was dreaming. I was back at school and everything went dim, then I heard your voice, telling me off"
"Just like old times, huh?"
"Yeah"
"I didn't mean it, I was just..."
"Upset and needing someone to blame for what Kim has been going through?"
"Yeah"
"It's ok"
"Well this is, uh, I'm gonna go get the doc"
"Okay" As Bonnie runs off, Ron takes a good look at Kim, who is still sleeping, but sitting upright.
"RETAKE THE MOUND ENTRANCE!" Kim orders her squad as they pass through a ridge on their way to secure a stranded squad. It has been four days since Ron woke up and Kim was feeling almost like her old self again.
"L.t. Bugs on our six!!" Kamakazies and Warriors.
"I see them. We can't hold. Call for an air strike and evac. We've cleared this mound anyway"
"Hey, Ron" Kim smiles as she walks up to the tank after arriving back at base from their mission
"Kim"
"How you feeling?"
"Better. Doc says I'll be out in a couple days"
"Good to hear. Squad needs it's Sergeant"
"And what about you?"
"What does that mean?"
"Bonnie says that when I was in that coma, you weren't youself"
"Ron, you're my best friend. Isn't it natural when someone almost loses their best friend to go a little crazy"
"I guess. But from what Bonnie told me..."
"Can we not talk about it now, please?" her eyes gleam over and he agrees.
--
Note: Ok, so that is the end of the Klendathu campaign, but not this fic!
I promise more K/R romance to come as well as the possiblitiy of a couple more KP characters being added.
Next chapter: beginning of vacation time and then the Homefront Campaign later on.