Chapter Eleven: Not a Moment Too Soon
"Hey. You're not falling asleep there, are you?"
Snuggled against Willis's bare chest under the covers, head resting against his shoulder with an arm wrapped around his middle, I almost was. I was comfortable, warm, satisfied, and fatigued - the perfect recipe for a restful sleep. Still, though I didn't open my eyes, I responded to my husband's amused question.
"Kind of," I said. I let out a contented sigh and murmured, "I'm really going to miss this."
I felt Willis's chest move beneath me as he chuckled. "Me, or this?"
"This." Moving my head up, I opened one eye and flashed a wicked grin at him. Willis shook his head, then grinned back and kissed me.
"Should've known you were only after the physical with me," he teased. "My mom warned me about girls like you, but I couldn't resist."
I laughed, then hugged him harder as I kissed him back. "Of course I'm going to miss you, Will. Part of me wishes you were coming planetside with us, but I know you'll be safer here, so I'm grateful for that."
My husband raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm not as fragile as I look, you know."
"That's not what I meant, I just - "
He squeezed the arm around my shoulders. "I know, honey. It's okay."
I swallowed. "You know what I went through in the last months of the war, in Ecuador...thinking you and Gabriel were gone - "
"Natalie, I know. I said it's okay. I was just teasing." He kissed the top of my head. "You don't need to think like that, Coop. I think you're building this mission up in your head more than anything else. You'll see when you get down there what it's going to be, and I bet it won't be half as bad as what you've dreamed up. Until then, there's no point going around in circles, right?"
Finally, I sighed. "Right."
Willis leaned back against his pillow and put the arm that wasn't around me behind his head. "Are you hungry?"
"A little. I haven't eaten since this morning, but then again I haven't had much of an appetite these days." Too stressed out, and too busy.
"Well, I'm starving." He leaned over to kiss me again. "Want to come with me to the mess?"
"Sure."
After getting clean and dressed again, I found myself sitting alone in the chow hall, sipping on a bottle of water and picking at my food as I waited for my husband to arrive. With my thoughts bouncing around between the mission, the health of my Marines, and the well-being of my three kids back on Mars, I wasn't paying too much attention to my surroundings when a figure suddenly took a seat across from me at the table.
"Long time no see. How're you holding up there, Major?"
It was Hayden. I hadn't seen my best friend for several days because of the constantly changing duty shifts and all the prep work we'd had to do with our own battalions lately. I grinned at him.
"Hey, Oliver. Pretty good."
He chuckled. "Guess you can't complain when you're one of only a handful of Marines who gets to bunk with their spouse, huh?"
The grin didn't leave my face. Instead it got wider. "Nope."
I didn't elaborate. Willis arrived a few seconds later and sat down beside me, immediately digging into his meal.
"Damn," he said. "I'm famished." Then he glanced up, swallowing his food quickly. "Oh, Major Hayden. Sir."
"Willis." Being ever the bright one, Hayden looked from me to my husband and a corner of his lips curled slightly upward. "I was just - "
Suddenly the deck beneath us shuddered, stopping whatever my friend was going to say in mid-sentence. Our trays didn't fall off the table, although they came dangerously close to landing in our laps, along with our drinks. For a moment, all three of us were too stunned to even react.
Finally, Willis said, "What the hell?" He was halfway up from the table when the deck shook a second time. He fell back hard onto the ground as Hayden and I rocked in our seats. I looked down at him the moment the quaking stopped, concerned.
"Honey?"
"I'm fine," Willis replied, pushing himself back up to his feet. "I don't know what the fuck that was, but I should get to the hangar bay. I've got a feeling we might be suiting up for this."
"Be careful, Will."
"Always am."
While my husband dashed out of sight, I turned to find dozens of pairs of eyes on me and Hayden, even though neither of us knew what was happening, either. Since no message had come yet from the bridge, however, I knew it was up to the two of us to get things organized below decks, just in case.
"Marines, don't just sit there and gawk!" I shouted. "Head for the armory! Grab a weapon and gear up! You'll receive further orders as you go!"
My best friend stood as well. "This half of the mess goes with me!" he yelled, indicating the right side. "The other half goes with Major Cooper! Move it!"
The chow hall was a flurry of activity all of a sudden, with tens of Marines scrambling from their meals to the outside. I lead my group down to the port side weapons lockers, while Hayden went off to the starboard side with his group. I recognized several of my own men among those with me, though my unit and Hayden's had mixed now, and over half our Marines were berthed on other decks. It didn't really matter; what mattered at the moment was stopping whatever was attacking us.
Once we reached the armory, I motioned the rest of the Marines inside a squad at a time, then grabbed the nearest NCO I could find by the shoulder.
"What's your name, Sergeant?"
"Uh, Walter, ma'am," the noncom replied. She looked young, but must've seen action before given her rank. I hoped.
"Get these Marines in and out on the double, Marine," I ordered. "I don't want them crowding the place because then we won't get anything done. Just keep a steady stream going, and no loitering. We don't know what's going on yet, so we've got to be prepared for anything."
"Yes, ma'am!" She turned to the rest of the men and women rushing to pick up guns and ammo. "Marines! I want one line on the port side, one on the starboard! You go in one and out the other! Grab your weapons and mags and move the hell out!"
Now that that was established, I moved over to the bulkhead and slammed the side of my fist into the ship's intercom, hoping to get the message out below decks. No doubt they'd felt the ship lurch, and whatever officers were down there had the situation under control, but I wanted to provide everyone with a clear set of instructions if I could. My frustration rose when I saw the light on the intercom flash red - it wasn't working.
"Shit," I muttered. At least now I knew why we had no word from the bridge. This was bad news.
A Marine behind me tapped my shoulder just as I was about to turn around. "Major? First Lieutenant Samuel Enson, ma'am. I'm in Major Hayden's unit. If you need some help rallying the troops, I've got it."
I gave him a once over to size him up, noting he was already squared away in his gear with an SMG in his hands. He was obviously a put-together kid. "All right, Lieutenant. Get the Marines who are geared up and armed organized down the hall. I'll come issue orders as soon as I get myself equipped."
"Yes, ma'am."
Ignoring Sergeant Walter's line, I pushed through into the armory and grabbed the nearest body armor, strapping it quickly on my torso as I moved to locate a weapon. Since we were on the ship I didn't have my sidearm on me, which I regretted - it wasn't going to do me any good sitting unloaded on the table in my quarters. Same went for my two combat knives. I'd have to make do with whatever I picked up here.
Thankfully I was able to find the gun of my choice as I scanned the racks - an MA5D, the rifle I'd just practiced with at the range earlier in the afternoon. Though I'd been firing it just for old time's sake, it turned out to be a boon for what was going on now. I paused in the doorway to pick up five clips of ammo, gripped a helmet on the armor racks up above, and stepped back out.
I was making my way over to the geared up group when the ship gave another hideous heave, throwing me hard into the bulkhead. Groaning when I hit, I heard a metallic thunk when the side of my chest plate connected with the wall. I braced myself with my hands and was able to stop myself from falling down, although many of the Marines still in line and in the armory weren't as lucky.
"Get up and get moving, Marines!" I cried once I'd straightened up. "We don't have all day, now go!"
The line started going much more quickly after that. It was pretty clear by now that these weren't just isolated hiccups - something out there was hammering us.
Another reason I hated being on ships: I didn't like getting assaulted by an enemy I couldn't see or fight back with my own hands. Here, we were all just plain vulnerable, completely at the mercy of physics and the structural integrity of the ship.
A few seconds later I made it down the corridor, where the Marines who were ready stood awaiting orders. I rapidly went through the ranks and sectioned them off into squads, then pushed forward the first three. "Lieutenant Enson?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Take these Marines and head for the port side life boats. If we're going to get boarded, that's a good place to set up defenses. Make sure you've got at least two SAWs on hand, and maybe a thirty cal as well if you can get it."
He nodded. "Understood, Major."
"The rest of you, on me. We'll grab whoever's left in the armory and that will be our fourth squad. We're heading for the hangar bay."
With friendly ships flying in and out, the hangar bay was another hot zone for possible enemy boarding action. As easy as it was for our ships to launch out, enemy ships could slip in - if they managed to outmaneuver the defense cannons outside. I knew from my studies of naval battles at the Academy that it was tough, but definitely not impossible.
I craned my neck out of reflex to search for Willis, but I didn't see him at first glance, and I didn't have time to look more throughly than that. He was either here or in the starboard side bay or already in space; he was a seasoned pilot and Marine, so I knew he could hack it either way. I still worried about him, but I pushed it to the back of my mind now as I focused my full attention on getting the Marines with me set up.
"First squad, bring your SAW gunner forward and cover those decks! Second squad, set up behind the crates! Third, I want you up top with any mid-range weapons you've got and provide cover fire for the Marines below! Fourth, you're with first up front, any SAWs go to you!"
Pulling on my helmet then, I waited for just an instant for it to sync up with my assault rifle as I racked the weapon. The ammo counter popped up on my HUD, indicating a full load of thirty-two rounds. It'd have to last since it was my only gun.
The thought made me frown. If we did get boarded, I didn't want ammunition to be an issue when we were sitting on such a stockpile inside the ship. I jogged up to the closest Marine and tapped him. He turned around and glanced up from his crouch, looking bewildered that he was being addressed.
"Ma'am?"
My HUD supplied his name as Lance Corporal Drako. I motioned for him to stand and said, "Marine, get yourself and a teammate back to the armory. I want both of you to bring up a crate of ammo each. Hoof it, Lance Corporal."
"Yes, ma'am!"
I opened a COM channel then to all the Marines, broadcasting on the general channel. "This is Major Cooper. Comms are down across the deck and we currently have no contact with the bridge, so we're preparing for boarding action. Officers and NCOs, make sure your Marines are wearing helmets - those are the only method of communication we've got right now. Focus your efforts on the hangar bays and lifeboat areas of the ship, and if you're on a separate deck, keep me apprised of any changes, understood?"
Acknowledgment lights winked green on my HUD. I cut the connection and opened up another channel, this time a private one to Major Hayden. "Oliver?"
"I can hear you, Cooper. What's going on?"
"Nothing yet here. How's your side looking?"
"Clear as day, but that doesn't mean it won't change. Still don't know shit about what's happening; couldn't get an open channel to the bridge."
"Same here. We'll just have to sit tight for now and see."
He sighed on the other end. "I sent up a fireteam directly to the top to find out the situation, but it might be a while before we hear back. The elevators are down, too, so they're going to have to climb a shitload of stairs."
"Damn." I gripped my rifle tighter. "Okay. I guess that's better than never knowing. You'll tell me if shit comes your way?"
My best friend chuckled. "'Course I will, Cooper. Always ready to spread the joy and cheer this time of year."
I snorted. "I would say keep it to yourself, but in this case it's definitely better not to be in the dark. I'll do the same if it hits the fan here first. Cooper out."
Come on, I thought to myself, growing impatient as I half-stood behind a tall stack of metal containers close to the other Marines. If you're going to board and try to shred us to pieces, just fucking do it already.
