After the terrifying sprint through the forest, the men decided to rest.
Victor and Felix set up a few sentries while the majority of the troops slept in the cave, lulled to sleep by the constant roar of the waterfall.
Dominic and Mike took turns watching Rico and administering him new biofoam every hour on the hour. At the moment, the wounded marine was sleeping peacefully while Dominic made himself comfortable not far away. He removed all his armor and rested nearby to get more comfortable. A mossy rock seemed good enough, and he leaned against it, cleaning his filthy battle rifle.
You've had a tough day haven't you, girl, he silently said to the weapon.
They'd all had a tough day. The decision to activate the beacons could've compromised the whole mission and put the whole universe at risk. But, thankfully, they'd successfully recovered Omega squad and were safely hidden in their hideout.
Honestly, they wouldn't be truly "safe" until they were back aboard a frigate headed home. But the cave offered them a safe haven.
After a night of rest, dawn broke. Dominic tried to remember if it was the second or third. It didn't matter. They might be there a hundred before they finished the mission… or were killed.
He needed to stop thinking about it. Thankfully at that moment, Mike walked up. "Hey, man," said the tired marine.
"Hey," replied Dominic. "Want to switch?"
Mike had been a sentry for a better part of the night, and the dark circles under the man's eyes were evidence enough of his exhaustion. He sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "Um, yeah. You mind?"
Dominic was already getting to his feet. "No, it's no problem. Sleeping beauty here is gonna need a new injection in a few minutes here. He'll let you know when."
Rico would always awake in a large amount of pain when the biofoam began to break down. The few minutes he was awake for were painful and exhausting. Dominic didn't blame the man for sleeping the whole day.
Mike nodded and looked at his best friend. As Dominic turned to go to the mouth of the cave, the other marine asked, "How much biofoam do we have left?"
Dominic slowly turned. "Maybe enough for a few more days." He motioned around the cave as he said, "I don't know if anyone else here has some but Rico's not the only wounded one here." He looked back at Mike. "We need to find some more. Soon."
Mike nodded silently and smiled sadly. "Well, we'll keep an eye out for some… you better go."
The other marine nodded and walked to the mouth of the cave, where two other marines were already sitting. They sat perched atop two boulders getting misted by the waterfalls' downpour. Dominic greeted them. "Hello, boys."
The two others turned and nodded to him. One looked at him curiously. "No armor?"
Dominic had almost completely forgotten he'd left it there. Instead, he sat down in only his filthy shirt and pants. He shrugged. "Yeah. Besides I doubt any of them know we're here so I don't think we need to worry about snipers."
The man nodded and looked out at the forest in silence.
Hours dragged by. By noon, the humidity was almost too much for Dominic to bear, and he simply removed his shirt. The water from the waterfall felt good on his bear skin, and he was filthy enough to justify twelve showers.
Other marines had rotated through for the other two after a few hours, and Dominic considered doing likewise. Really, he wanted to find Felix and see what they were planning as far as the whole mission was concerned. So far, all they'd done was group together in a cave, get in a huge battle, and then sit for hours licking their wounds. It was a miracle they weren't all dead, but they needed to get moving now.
After a few more hours of thinking, Dominic got to his feet and headed back inside the cave. He shivered as he entered. The cave was colder since the waterfall acted as an air conditioning system, filling the cave with its cool air. He put his filthy shirt back on as he sought out his captain.
Finally, he found the man leaning over a flat rock serving the leaders as a table as they looked over a map. The map was basically useless. It had very little detail since humanity knew very little about Doisac. Still, it was all they had.
Dominic waited patiently for a good moment before clearing his throat. Felix looked at him quickly and then at the rest of the leaders. "Fellows, you'll have to excuse me."
He followed Dominic a ways before stopping him. "How's Rico? And don't bullshit me. Tell me the truth."
Dominic had hoped he would be the one asking the questions. He sighed and said quietly, "He's not doing well. He's surviving only because of the biofoam. And pretty soon we're going to run out or he's going bleed out even with it. He loses a little more blood each time we have to change it."
"Think he'll make it?"
"I have no idea," he replied honestly. "But, if he's going to last even a week, we need to find more biofoam. Without he'll die within minutes."
Felix digested this with a nod. He glanced back at the rock table and then back at his XO. "I'm guessing you didn't come over just to tell me that Rico's dying." Dominic shook his head. "Then what's up?"
Dominic shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously. "Sir… Felix, I was wondering what we're doing as far as the overall mission goes."
Felix seemed angry then. He growled and sighed as his shoulders sagged. "Dom, we can't do anything right now. The brutes will be out there on high alert for a while because of that battle. And we have wounded that need tending to. Just right now, we're getting ready to move."
"What are we going to do once we're done preparing? Are we going to send out scouts or… what?"
Felix nodded. "Probably. We'll send out groups of maybe two or three, groups small enough to get around undetected, to go look around for their major cities."
"What if their major cities are on the other side of the planet?"
"They aren't."
"How do you know?"
Felix growled again. "We know because of the intelligence gather by our superiors, Dom. All major cities are within a hundred miles of where they dropped us. Got it?"
Dominic simply nodded.
Felix sighed and wiped a sweaty hand across his face. "I know you're concerned about Rico. But… there are more important things happening here. I love Rico, he's a great man. But we knew there'd be losses, and there already have been hundreds of losses, but we need to press on. Okay?"
Dominic nodded again.
"Just trust us. We want to get off this rock just as much as you guys. But you gotta trust our approach."
With that, Felix turned and walked over to the rest of the leaders. Dominic had to count to ten several times before he calmed down. He walked back to the entrance of the cave and stood near the waterfall, letting it soak him as he thought.
Felix was an outstanding officer. Much better than that idiot Victor. But sometimes…
He left that thought unfinished. Blaming Felix and getting mad at him wouldn't make the mission go any faster. As he thought, he realized he wished he was a captain. He wished the others would listen to him. He wished he could prove he was better than Victor.
His time would come. In the meantime, he had to trust Felix and the others. They had more experience and they knew what they were doing. He just had to be patient.
That was all he really could do.
