Ok this chapter is where I will take a definite trip into AU country, but don't worry to quote Mira "you'll see"!
It was a couple of weeks after the Malcolmus Incident, and Ben's humiliating unfortunate incident of getting locked inside a small cupboard and practically getting pissed on by a fellow soldier, Jim and Kono off course had laughed so they almost fell over, Elisabeth didn't laugh though even IF she had to struggle to keep a straight face throughout the event, and she had made Jim and Kono NOT to tell anyone about it, Jim wanted to tell just to get even for Ben not taking his side about Corporal Mark Reynolds, but relented when Elisabeth threatened to banish him to the doghouse for the foreseeable future.
All four of them were now standing in front of Commander Taylor in his office.
"We seem to have lost communication with outpost three they haven't checked in for two days" Taylor said.
"Could it be faulty com sir?" Kono asked, and rubbed a bruise he got from Ben when they were sparring before they got the call to report to Taylor.
"It could but I'm still going to there to check it out myself, together with Doctor Shannon, I'll take another soldier with me" Taylor explained.
"Beg your pardon sir, but in that case you should take a proper security detail" Kono said seriously, Taylor raised an eyebrow.
"And why is that lieutenant?" Taylor asked.
"Because you are the most senior officer around here sir, if this turns out to be nothing but a faulty com as I said then no problem what 'so ever, but STILL it could be a ruse by the sixers and therefore we risk losing you if this turns out to be an ambush, not to mention you are taking our chief medical officer" Kono explained plainly.
"I agree with lieutenant Lao sir" Ben concurred stoically.
"What is this, mutiny?" Taylor asked chuckling, "Alright I'll take except for Private Brady, I'll also take Sergeant Shannon with us, is that satisfactory, LIEUTENANT? There are after all more soldiers at the outpost." he continued with mock annoyance
"Well I guess so sir" Kono answered with a grimace.
"Well then, Sergeant Shannon get Brady and get yourselves geared up." Taylor said turning to Ben.
Ben saluted, "Yes sir." and turned and left the office and marched off to first squad's barracks.
Jim turned towards Taylor and glared at him.
"What?" asked Taylor innocently?
"Now you got little brother as WELL as my wife out there!" he protested.
"Don't worry Sheriff, I'll bring them both back alive." Taylor said calmly.
The first squad was under Taylor's direct command, and usually were the ones to follow him when he went OTG.
Ben stepped in through the open barracks door, inside he could see the soldiers going about with various chores, some was polishing their boots or armour or doing weapons-maintenance, two was in the process of playing a game of chess, when they saw him they shot up and stood stiffly at attention
"OFICER ON DECK." one of them yelled, which got the attention of the rest except for the fool taking a nap on his bunk.
"At ease soldiers." Ben said and looked around.
"I'm looking for Private Brady?" he asked, almost everyone started slowly turning their heads to the man snoring on his bunk, Ben walked over and watched the man, he had a pair of earplug microphones in his ears that were connected to his tags, the other soldiers looked a little anxious after almost two months in Terra Nova Ben had apparently built up a reputation as a real hard-ass when it came to discipline, and no one wanted to end up on HIS bad side some of the soldiers were even calling him Sergeant Slaughter behind his back especially after he had Privates Foster and Curran run around the compound in full battle gear with him after he had found the two fighting over something about a debt.
and EVERYONE knew why he was sometimes harsh with Corporal Reynolds and most knew the reason for this, the corporal had been late more than a few times because he had been spending time with Sergeant Shannon's niece, he was also more than a match for most in the sparring ring, even Reynolds had gotten his ass wiped across the floor more than once, plus the fact none of the soldiers had ever seen the man crack a smile.
Ben approached Brady's bunk and yanked out the earphones out of his ears,
"ON YOUR FEET SOLDIER" he shouted, Brady's eyes shot open and when he saw Ben looming over him he flew to his feet barely avoiding crashing into Ben and stood at attention,
"Gear up soldier and report to the East gate" Ben ordered and turned around and walked out of the barracks with eyes following him anxiously.
As soon as Ben left the barracks the soldiers calmed down except Brady who scrambled to gear up.
At the Shannon house Elisabeth was getting ready for the OTG when she saw Maddy coming out of her room sulking,
"I'm sorry sweetheart, this OTG was not planned but I have to go to see if there may be an emergency at the outpost" Elisabeth said,
Maddy looked over to her mother and with a miserable expression,
Elisabeth understood why, it had been planned for the young Mark Reynolds to meet Maddy's parents this evening, though Elisabeth hadn't even met the young man yet she thought he was very sweet with all this old fashion meet the parents ritual, even though Commander Taylor had instituted such rules so that if a soldier wanted to be with a civilian girl he had to have the patience to go through an entire set of courtship rules, and this Mark Reynolds seemed an honourable boy.
...
Maddy had been baking a lemon pie, Elisabeth wondered how she found any lemons though and had even managed to make lemonade, all those years having been at home due to a lack of social life and help taking care of Zoe, Maddy had become brilliant at cooking, not the life Elisabeth had wanted for her genius daughter and it was one of the many reasons why she was so happy Maddy had found such a seemingly kind young man, she already knew he had to be brave with Jim, Ben and Josh and maybe even Kono to keep an eye on him, though she DID feel that the Shannon men might be a little overzealous in protecting Maddy.
"Mom I don't even know what to wear tonight, I mean if I dress too nice he might think I'm going too fast, or if I dress to simple he may think I'm not taking it seriously and never speak to me again, and what if I babble too much like I always do?" Maddy rambled with a trembling voice; Elisabeth tried not to laugh and instead gave her very nervous daughter a hug,
"Do not worry sweetheart, I'm sure you will do great" Elisabeth said
"You know what, when we get back from the outpost we WILL plan so both I and you father can meet this young man properly" as she was hugging Maddy Josh came out of his room and rolled his eyes,
"Or maybe me, Dad, Uncle Ben, Uncle Kono or all of us will beat up on the guy if he gets too frisky?" Josh said with a bored look, at that Maddy glared at him,
"JOSH!" Elisabeth scolded her son, Josh had always been teasing Maddy but it had gotten a bit too much lately,
"Or maybe Mark will beat up on YOU Josh?" Maddy said venomously, Josh scowled at her and promptly left the house,
"Why have Josh gotten so mean lately?" Maddy asked
"He left a lot of friends in the future, and he is having a hard time readjusting to our new life" Elisabeth explained, and stood up from the couch and again smiled reassuringly
"Now I have talked to your father and told him to go easy on Mister Reynolds" she assured Maddy which started laughing,
"Since he's a grownup shouldn't he know that already?" Maddy asked still laughing,
"Well men only age as far as seven then they just grow sweetheart" Elisabeth laughed,
There was a knock on the door and Elisabeth walked over and opened it to reveal Ben standing there in full gear,
"Liz you ready to move out?" he asked politely,
"Yes" Elisabeth answered and turned to Maddy
"Maddy your father will be home soon, and again don't worry you will do fine" she said and smiled at her still nervous daughter,
After her mother closed the door Maddy went to take a shower with those products she had gottenand then she would go to her to her room and start going through her wardrobe to try and figure out WHAT to wear for her date with Mark.
Ben and Elisabeth walked to the gate where Taylor and Brady was waiting with a rover and a military dirt bike, Elisabeth got into the rover with Taylor and Ben while Brady got on the bike, and the gate opened and the team drove out away from the colony
"This is your second OTG mission Sergeant, you excited?" Taylor asked Ben as he was driving,
"Ecstatic sir." Ben said stoically while at the same time watching the jungle, he WAS interested there was something about this jungle with all its apparent dangers that appealed to him very much.
Elisabeth had never seen Ben like this he was totally different…. True he was always a little on edge but now he seemed as if his every sense was on high alert, he seemed both calm and on edge at the same time as if THIS was his true home….out in the field,
"Was THIS what it was like for him in Somalia and Cuba?" She wondered, and as if he knew that she was looking at him he turned his head and looked back at her briefly before turning back to scan the surrounding jungle, she wondered what happened to that little boy she comforted when his mother had just died what had happened to the young man that sacrificed his own future in order for her daughter to even be allowed to be born, a young man or boy really that got sent to Somalia where he had his innocence ripped from him and almost turned into a shell of a man….a ghost.
...
Later when Jim got home with Zoe from the infirmary, Zoe had apparently gotten some cold virus so he sent her straight to bed and for once she didn't even complain, Zoe barely got to her and Maddy's room before Maddy burst out,
"Daddy is this okay for a first date I mean it's not too much is it?" Maddy asked, she was wearing that pale red dress from their second day in Terra Nova,
"You look fine sweetie." Jim said honestly and smiled reassuringly at his daughter, and apparently FINE was not enough as Maddy pouted and went back to her room probably to change when she got back out after about ten minutes she had changed into a black dress that simply was way too short and appeared way too tight for his liking,
"What about this one daddy? She asked anxiously, Jim wanted to say NO, but couldn't as he remembered what Elisabeth said before, "This is her first date so be nice." he remembered her saying,
"You look beautiful pumpkin." he said again honestly even though he wanted to say something else.
"That Reynolds kid BETTER be nice and keep his hands to himself or I'll cut them off." he thought. Then he remembered that the OTG team should be due for their first check up soon,
"Look sweetie could you watch Zoe while I go to the command centre for a while I promise I WILL be back in time to meet Mister Reynolds." He said honestly and walked out the door leaving a pouting Maddy behind.
Maddy pouted for a while before she checked the watch it was at least two hours until Mark was due to arrive so she decided to put all her cooking skills to good use and start on dinner.
..
It was early afternoon when they finally got to the outpost,
they stopped just outside the fence and realized the fence gate was wide open,
"WHAT idiot would leave the gate open like that?" Taylor grumbled, his suspicion that something was amiss only got bigger as he ordered Sergeant Shannon and Private Brady to check the surroundings for possible intruders while he entered the outpost with doctor Shannon behind him,
Ben and Brady search around until Ben found a pair of boots common to the science department with at least part of its owner still inside them, then his com beeped,
"Taylor here, Shannon have you found anything?" Taylor's voice queried
"Yes sir! I may have found a pair of boots that looks like the kind used by the science department" Ben answered.
"So we have a scientist running around barefoot out there somewhere?" Taylor asked
"Not exactly he's still in the boots….well his feet anyway." Ben answered deadpan,
"Okay you and Brady get inside, don't forget to close the gate on your way in." Taylor ordered.
Ben turned to Brady who was a few yards away,
"Brady we're to go inside the outpost but secure the rover first I don't want to risk someone stealing it if this IS a sixer ploy." Ben ordered,
"Yes sir" Brady acknowledged,
After having secured both the rover and the gate into the compound surrounding the outpost and into the outpost itself.