Chapter Thirty-Five: The Great Divide
In the morning I awoke with a groan - and a faintly familiar sensation of an ache in my head and my gut.
Hangover, I thought to myself, squeezing my eyes tight as I pressed a hand to my temple. Great.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, all things considered. But it put a definite damper on the start of a day that already wasn't the best.
For a moment I leaned back into my pillow and just stared at the ceiling. Two years ago I never would have been in this position. Now my husband all but hated me, and I couldn't even look around the room or go into my closet, half cleared out for him, without being starkly reminded of that. Of the fact that he was missing, my heart hurt, my bed was empty, and today I'd have to face all of that head-on at the briefing.
I finally forced myself up and swung my legs over the side of the bunk. Better to get it over with, I thought with a sigh. But first things first: coffee. And probably some aspirin.
A half-hour later, the painkillers I'd had at breakfast were finally kicking in. Two cups of joe had me buzzing, and I thought I was as ready as I'd ever be to resume my duties.
Walking into the command tent and seeing Willis first thing threw all of that confidence out the window.
"Colonel," he said to me, and never had the rank sounded worse, more painful. I swallowed hard on the lump in my throat and tried my best to take it in stride.
"Major. You're here early."
At that he scoffed and lowered his voice, so that only I could hear. "Let's not do the small talk," he said. "I'm only addressing you because I have to, as a professional courtesy."
"Right."
If that didn't spell things out clear as day, I didn't know what did. Obviously, he'd had no change of heart overnight.
As we stood by the main console, I checked my watch. Ten minutes to go before everyone else was due to arrive. Aides and some junior staff officers maneuvered around us, but beyond that, it was an uncomfortable wait in silence.
I almost breathed a sigh of relief when Major Brewer and Lieutenant Lloyd came in. Captain Kenji Sakato, commanding officer of our newly arrived armor company, followed shortly thereafter.
It was the last person who walked in that I was most apprehensive about. I practically held my breath when I saw him stride into the command tent, and I did all I could to keep from glancing at Willis to see how he'd handle it. My husband said nothing, however, and his expression didn't change. He simply folded his arms across his chest as he stood on the opposite side of the holotable, focused intently on the image it displayed.
After over a decade and a half together, though, I could read Willis very well. There was a slight tension in his stubbled jaw that gave away just how hard he was trying to keep cool, and not cause a scene over Ethan. I guess that was the best I could hope for at this point.
Since everyone was now here, I gave a slight nod to my XO, and she quickly turned to the rest of the personnel inside the tent.
"Marines, clear out. You will be allowed back in once we're done."
In less than a minute, all had left except for the six of us. At that, I began.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm going to jump right in. Our mission a month ago to destroy the rebels' weapons cache was obviously a bust," I said. "But yesterday morning, Commander Ackerson, Lieutenant Lloyd, and I were able to get a new lead from our prisoner." I looked over at Ethan, and gestured for him to proceed. "Commander."
"Yes, ma'am." His first action was to turn his attention squarely on Willis and Captain Sakato. "For our new arrivals, besides the depot - which is our intended way of going after General Laraza - we've also discovered the presence of the Prometheans on-planet."
"We've been briefed," Willis said tightly.
"Perfect. So you know we've got a new wrinkle in all this to contend with." Ethan reached out and manipulated the hologram before us. "What you're seeing now is an estimate of where we think the cache has moved. It has the added benefit of having potential clues as to how - and from where - the Prometheans came to Puget."
"It's not for sure," I amended. "We have yet to recon the area and confirm Promethean presence there. But it's worth a shot, and it's more of a lead than we've had in weeks. I'll be sending both spooks out to observe and collect intel tonight. We should know by tomorrow exactly where we stand on this." I finally glanced up. "Questions so far?"
"Numbers, ma'am? For the Prometheans?" Captain Sakato asked, and I shook my head.
"No hard stats yet, unfortunately. So far, as you probably know, we've only seen them once at the old depot. I will say, however, that their numbers there were...significant. It's why we were forced to scrap the mission altogether and try again later, once you and Major Hawk arrived." I released a sigh. "Which brings us to here, now."
I changed the display myself this time, a zoomed out view of the new location. "The former depot was always going to be difficult to deal with from the start, due to its proximity to Cordonnes. The new place won't interfere much with the local population, but it comes with its own hardships. As you can see, its in a thick forest about forty klicks from here."
Sakato frowned. "Getting armor that far without the enemy knowing will be...damn close to impossible, Colonel."
"Yes. Which is why I plan on using it sparingly, and having our air unit help bring you guys in." I looked over to Willis. "How many tanks do you think you can airlift in, Major?"
"Without giving away our approach? Two, maybe three, tops, ma'am. That's if you still want the rest of us wings ready to provide support to the ground troops, too."
"We'll definitely want that. Captain, can you prepare two of your armored units for this?"
"Yes, ma'am. What's the timetable?"
"I'd like to go in right away once our intel's available. No more time to waste. I want us in before they get wind that we know, or that we're coming."
A brief silence fell then, and I could practically hear the gears turning in everyone's heads. This was going to be a tight fit, both in terms of time and equipment. Everything had to go smoothly, everyone work perfectly in sync, for this to work.
After intense scrutiny of the holomap in front of us, my husband finally reached out and pointed to the new structure that we thought might house the cache. "I don't see any clearings for us to land the armor, Colonel."
He'd gestured with his left hand, and I noticed he still wore his wedding ring. That was something, at least. But I quickly forced my brain to shift focus and concentrate.
"There aren't any," I responded. "The best I could find on the map is here, about two hundred meters down."
I pointed to the spot and Willis studied it for a moment.
"All right. That'll have to work."
"You got it?"
"We'll get it done."
"Good. Anything else? Anyone?"
No one made any other remarks, so it was time to wrap this up.
"Very well," I said. "I was going to have us brief the battalion commanders and XOs after this, but let's wait until Lloyd and Ackerson return from their recon. We'll have more information to give them then. Dismissed."
Predictably - and quite painfully for me - Willis was the first to leave. Captain Sakato followed suit, then Lloyd. Major Brewer remained, but stepped out briefly to let our aides and staff back inside.
That left just me and Ethan alone for a minute, and I took in a small breath to brace myself.
"Wow," my ex commented, and I could hear the amusement in his voice. "He's really mad at you, Cooper."
"Yeah, you think?" I tried my best to keep busy, but finally gave up and looked at him. "Do you have to be so blatantly excited about it? Can't you at least fake being upset for me?"
"Nope."
Ethan said it smugly with a straight face, and I shook my head.
"Right. Thanks for that. And for helping to create this problem in the first place."
His expression went serious, but he shrugged. "We can't help who we love, Cooper. You know that."
"Yeah, and you made sure to go after the one person you could never have, didn't you?"
"Like I said, not my choice." Now he smirked faintly. "And anyway, I never made you kiss me. You made that bed all on your own."