Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews everybody! You guys are all great, and it's your feedback that keeps me writing. ;-) Anyway, Ch. 10 is here, and comments are always appreciated. It's been a hectic week so far but I've managed to at least start the next chappie. In the meantime, hope you enjoy this and peace!
Chapter Ten: Shipping Out
0800 Hours, September 13, 2552. Europa Base, City of Cote D'Azur. "The Agonizing Wait and the Good News," Planet Sigma Octanus IV. Day Thirty-Four of the Invasion of Earth
Over a month of pure chaos went by before the first bits of reliable information about Earth came through. The whole of Europa Base had been in an uproar for thirty-four days, with everyone trying to get news about loved ones, fleet movements, and battles. But today was finally the day us military personnel had waited for: deployment orders began to arrive straight from High Command, and the first unofficial casualty lists were released.
Fighting a crowd of several hundred Marines, Helljumpers, and a smaller number of Navy crewmembers, I tried to get a glimpse of the huge sheets of names posted around the mess hall. So far, I'd managed to figure out that the papers on the left side of the hall displayed the names of the presumed dead in alphabetical order, while those on the right were categorized by continent. Seeing as there was a decidedly large group of people in front of the North America sheet, I chose to attempt a gander at Europe. There were masses of soldiers everywhere around the hall, but it was my best bet at the moment.
I took a deep breath as I looked it over, praying silently that I wouldn't find my husband's name on the list. The reports weren't as accurate as one might hope, and there were always some people on the list that didn't belong or ones that should be on the list who weren't. Unfortunately, that was all we had to rely on for the time being. It was always better than no information at all, though.
"Excuse me, Captain, but may I ask who you are searching for?"
Turning around at the sound of the voice, I found myself looking at a civilian government employee. After a second of confusion, I realized that she was probably here to help move the line along.
"Hawk," I responded quickly. "William in Europe, Gabriel in North America."
The woman nodded and glanced down at her datapad. "City and country?"
"Skagen, Denmark and St. Louis, Missouri, United States," I replied. My heart was pounding so hard by now I could hardly hear her when she spoke next.
"No William Hawk from Denmark," the civvie announced. "Actually, none in the whole database. But there is a Gabriel Hawk listed for North America."
Oh, God, I thought. Not my son. Please, please, not my little boy. No, this can't be happening…I suddenly went cold all over, and it took me a while to realize that the woman was still speaking.
"Captain? I am required to inform you that this does not confirm Gabriel Bryan Hawk's death, as it is an unofficial report of casualties. I am also obligated to let you know that…"
I stopped listening then, mostly because I could already feel my chest tearing into a million pieces. She'd used my son's name and the word "death" in the same fucking sentence. No, he's not gone, I thought to myself with mounting panic. Gabe, my little two-year-old son, he can't be…
It was only as I was about to go into true hysterics that my brain finally registered the name the woman had said. Gabriel Bryan Hawk, not Matthew. Strange.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat the name for me?" I asked the woman. "I'm looking for Gabriel Matthew Hawk. Was he it?"
The civvie scrunched her eyebrows and shook her head. "No, Captain. The middle name is Bryan. Forty-eight years old, emergency physician working on one of the orbital platforms."
Holy shit, I thought, letting out a long sigh of relief. It's not him, it's not my kid. My Gabriel's still ok.
"T-thank you," I said in a shaky voice. Geez, lady, you almost gave me a full-blown heart attack, I wanted to add. Once I'd inquired about my mother and discovered that she wasn't on the list, either, I walked away in better spirits. Now that I knew there was a good chance my family members were still alive, the sick feeling I'd had for the past month began to gradually subside. Their well-being wasn't a certainty, not by a long shot, but at least I hadn't found their names on the casualty lists. That knowledge alone was enough to give me hope.
Checking my watch as I exited the mess hall, I noticed that it was past 0800 hours---I was late for the battalion briefing. Major Phillips had sent the company commanding and executive officers messages early this morning, telling us that we'd get our new orders at the meeting. This was good, because I was curious to find out just when the hell we were finally going to Earth. We had been out of the most crucial battle humanity would ever fight for more than a month, after all; surely we'd get to join the fray and do our part soon. I swear, the moment I get there I'm taking out every Covie son of a bitch I lay eyes on, I thought, anger suddenly bubbling within me. I wasn't going to let them extinguish my whole species. Not now, not ever.
I was practically fuming by the time I reached the 102nd Battalion briefing room. When I sat down roughly next to Lieutenant Lewis, I noticed that the other captains and XOs had arrived before me. I didn't like coming in late, but I'd had to check to make sure my family was alive and well first. Then, and only then, could I move on to my other important duties.
After I got settled, the first thing my best friend did was lean over and whisper in my ear, "Is everything all right, ma'am?"
"Yeah. They weren't on the list, thank God. Otherwise, I really doubt I'd be sitting here right now, Dean. I'd probably be in the middle of a nervous breakdown of epic proportions," I answered a bit too harshly. Those aliens really knew how to push my buttons, and I couldn't wait to take out all my pent up rage on them. Still, it wasn't very fair to Lieutenant Lewis.
Dean's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, but the first lieutenant still managed a small smile. "Of course, sorry. Stupid question. I'd certainly know it if you had lost someone, wouldn't I?"
I was about to reply to my buddy---and apologize for my brusque manner---when Major Phillips suddenly spoke.
"I'm going to make this fairly short and quick, because we've all got a lot of work to do," he began. "So, here goes: we're leaving for Earth in ten days, as part of a wave of fresh reinforcements. Regiment is splitting up the battalions, and it looks like the 102nd will be traveling to Europe for their first fight. But before I reveal where, I'll give you a rapid rundown of what's happened on Earth so far."
The major turned off the lights in the room and began to project images from his datapad on the far wall. Some were soundless clips of battles on and around Earth, and some were still shots. All, however, shared the same characteristic of being absolutely shocking to see.
"A bunch of shit hit the fan when a relatively small group of Covenant ships were found near Io. The bigwigs got understandably panicky, so they had UNSC military personnel prepare to be on the lookout. Only problem was that the brass didn't actually tell the troops they were expecting Covies to show up---didn't want everybody else to freak, too. Sadly, that plan obviously backfired, because the supposedly alert Navy and Marines were caught with their proverbial pants down."
Major Phillips paused in his narration to show a still of one of Earth's Orbital Defense Platforms blowing up in space. "This used to be Athens Station. The only reason it even lasted as long as it did was because a couple of squadrons were out on practice maneuvers that day. Pure coincidence, and a helluva fortunate one. The squadron lost a lot of pilots in the ensuing explosion the Covies caused, but at least the ground forces and HighCom were notified of the situation in time.
"Make no mistake about it, the Covies are currently both on the surface and in orbit. A fair amount of other UNSC orbital stations have met the same fate as Athens, as well. But the UNSC military has managed to hold on for now, and this will hopefully continue until we arrive to relieve some of the Marine forces."
Phillips halted the cycling images on the projector, leaned against the table, and looked each and every one of us in the eyes before he concluded, "Well, it's time to saddle up, boys and girls. We're going to train our asses off for the next several days and prep everything we need to get into the fight fast. You'd all better get your companies squared away, Captains, 'cause we're going to be killing some alien mother fuckers at UNSC Foxtrot Base soon." The major grinned. "That's in Lienz, Austria, which means Europe for those of you who failed geography in grade school."
When Major Phillips was done talking, I just sat there with what must have been a really dumb look on my face. I couldn't believe what my battalion commander had said.
Willis, I thought to myself. At least I'll finally get to be near him again and be on the same planet, even if I won't see him. Plus, I'm finally bringing Bravo Company into the fight, too, I thought with glee. What I didn't immediately take into account, however, was the fact that we'd be departing from Sigma Octanus IV in close to two weeks. And so very much could happen in that amount of time.
In other words, there was no guarantee that anyone I knew would still be alive when I reached Earth.