Chapter Thirty-Five: Joint Operations

I was back in my bra, pants, and socks when I propped myself onto the bed of the Warthog again to pull on my boots. Beside me, Willis was doing the same, also currently shirtless. Even though we'd both just been thoroughly satisfied, it was still a sight to see.

He caught my lingering stare as he stood with one hand leaning on the 'Hog while he tugged on his own boots and grinned. "Sorry, Cooper, but we don't have time for more right now." He finished putting them on and leaned forward to kiss me, hard. "Unfortunately."

"Damn," I said as I kissed him back. "I really need to talk to the brass about their timing on briefings..."

Willis chuckled but it was cut short when we heard a sudden noise coming from the entrance to the room, startling us both. Someone had just walked in.

My husband and I stared at each other for a moment, caught in panic, when I gestured at him and hissed, "Hide!"

"Where?" Willis asked in a low voice.

"Uh...under the 'Hog! I'll deal with this, just give me a sec."

I hopped off the back of the jeep as quietly as I could and picked up my T-shirt from the ground, pulling it on over my head fast. I was still missing my jacket, but I figured that was the least of my concerns at the moment. For now, I focused on fixing up my hair as quickly as I could, tossing the remainder of Willis's clothes at him underneath the vehicle, and moved to intercept the intruder.

Well, I guess really we were the intruders. Whatever.

I briefly found myself wondering if whoever had just come in was the officer in charge of the motor pool - which, thankfully for us, meant he hadn't been doing his job very well - or one of the enlisted technicians. The latter was obviously easier to handle, but I prepared for both contingencies.

When I got to the entrance, walking loudly now so as not to arouse suspicion that I was trying to hide my presence here, I called out, "Is this what passes for a motor pool on this LP? Where's the OIC?"

Bingo. The new arrival immediately made herself known. The young tech took one look at the rank insignia on my camouflage cover and jumped to.

"Colonel. I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't notice you here. Anything I can help with?"

"Yes, Lance Corporal. You can tell me where your commander is. I'd like to see them about some vehicles I might need soon."

"Y-yes, ma'am. He's on break right now, but I'll go get him for you right away."

I nodded. "Good. Thank you."

The young Marine instantly turned around and left, going to look for her CO, and I breathed a sigh of relief, hoofing it back to where my husband still lay under the 'Hog. I leaned down and poked my face in beneath the vehicle, smiling wide. "She's gone. We're clear. Hurry."

Willis didn't need to be told twice. He pushed himself out from the ground and reached for his shirt, pulled it on, then zipped up the rest of his flightsuit. I finally found my jacket and donned it, too, before grabbing my gear.

We moved back to the entrance then, paused just a moment to listen and make sure no one was coming back inside just yet, then nodded silently to each other to continue on.

"Nice work, Coop," Willis said to me as we snuck out of the room. The smirk on his face was almost as infectious as mine. "That was some pretty good improvisation back there."

I snorted. "Your wife is a woman of many talents. I nearly shit myself thinking someone important had just come in. We got lucky."

My husband gave me a sideways glance and a wink. "In more ways than one."

I laughed for the first time in a long time and shoved at his side with both hands. Despite everything going on at the moment, I was suddenly in a good mood. "Stop it. We have some very serious crap to deal with right now. Let's get ready for the briefing."

We'd made our way up to Willis's quarters for a minute to make sure everything about our appearance was in order before returning to the main floor, where the briefing would be held. I'd also dumped my helmet, weapon, and pack in the room, tired of lugging it around, while Willis had enough time to get a shave in. His face was smooth now and up to standards, which would make our meeting with the higher-ups that much easier.

When we finally walked in, we saw that Major Brewer and Lieutenant Lloyd were already waiting there, as was my husband's CO, Major Collins. I checked my watch to be sure we weren't late, and let out a mental sigh of relief when I saw that we weren't. Everyone else was just early.

"How many more are we expecting?" Willis asked the group beside me. It was Caleb who answered.

"Should be two more, sir. I heard we're getting a speech from the general in charge of groundside operations."

My husband frowned. "Who's the other?"

"Um, Commander - "

A man with the insignia of a major general walked into the room then, and all of us stood rapidly at attention, staring straight ahead. He took a moment to check out the location before finally glancing over at us. "At ease, Marines. Lieutenant."

All of us relaxed our postures, waiting to hear what he had to say. The general scratched at his head for a minute, then released a sigh and looked up.

"I'm Major General Nicholas Eckhart, commander of ground forces in the North American territory. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, ladies and gentlemen," he said, his expression grave. "The situation planetside is not going in our favor. And out here, things are very precarious. I'll explain why."

He pulled out his datapad and set it on the table, then projected an image that included Earth, its moon, and our listening post. The general began by zooming out and including the locations of the Home Fleet, our orbital defense platforms, and the enemy ship floating out in space. He pointed first to LP Alpha.

"This is where we are currently. Home Fleet is formed up here, here, and here, covering many possible angles - everything the orbital platforms can't handle on their own. We really don't have any expectations of getting overrun in space. The problem is that this ship that's positioned nearby...we're not too clear on why it's here. It appeared seemingly out of nowhere, we formed up an immediate defense, but so far it hasn't attacked us yet."

At that I frowned, folding my arms across my chest and stealing a quick glance at Willis. "Sir, if I may...in that case, what is it exactly that our Navy and pilots have been fighting up till now?"

"Mostly small Storm craft, Colonel. Lichs. Based on reports, apparently they came in with the large Promethean ship. We're not quite sure what the connection is there yet, but of course we have spooks and senior staff looking into it. Major Collins's air wing and several others have managed to stop many enemy aircraft from entering the atmosphere, but of course not all could be destroyed in time. That's where things get dicey for our ground troops."

"And the ship out here, sir?" Lloyd asked.

The major general turned to face him. "Obviously this is classified information that cannot leave this room, but we have a Special Forces operation getting underway now to attempt to board it, and thus gain the intel we need on why it's here."

The ONI operative nodded. "Yes, sir."

General Eckhart returned his attention to the projection. "Anyway, as I was saying, everything that's happening in orbit is having a ripple effect to our forces below. So far, we see no indication that the Promethean fighters groundside have any connection to the ship that's suddenly arrived upstairs. It seems to be just a terribly timed coincidence, since we know the enemy in the Carolinas emerged from the portal on Requiem." I got the inevitable look in my direction. "Colonel, I heard you had your hands full out there. I'm sorry things came to this."

"No one more than me, sir," I replied.

The general nodded. "I don't doubt that. But now that the shit's here, we need to find a way to contain it, and ultimately stop it." Again he gestured to me. "That's where you come in, Cooper. You're going to be second-in-command down there."

"Yes, sir," I said, surprised. "Who's in charge planetside?"

"You'll be working with Brigadier General Aiden Bolowsky. Might've heard of him. He's pretty famous from the War."

A creeping grin formed on my face. I definitely remembered the name. "I have, sir. I was lucky enough to meet him several years ago. Good guy and a damn fine leader, General."

"That he is. It'll be up to the two of you, then, to keep the Promethean and Storm assault from spreading until we get things figured out upstairs."

"Understood, sir."

It was a huge undertaking and a massive responsibility, but with someone that well-known at the helm, I felt that our odds were pretty good. I still worried like crazy about my kids, and the amount of ground Willis had told me the enemy had already taken, but I was nothing if not determined to take it back.

"General, where is the 52nd deploying exactly?" Brewer asked then.

Eckhart cupped his chin in his hand. "Charleston, for now. The brass wants you right at the source to start, but realize that that may change as the battle goes on. HighCom definitely doesn't want to see the enemy go further south than Savannah, and if they need you more down in Georgia to stop that, that might just be where you get moved to later on. All depends on how things go." Yet again, the general turned to me. "The main thing is that we need that portal shut down yesterday, and the city cleared."

"Yes, sir," my XO and I said in unison.

"So, Collins and Hawk, now that the Onward Journey's brought back the remainder of your pilots, you'll have a full air wing again to go on the offensive. That's great news for us upstairs, in case that boarding mission doesn't go as planned. For now you'll stay here at Alpha on standby, awaiting orders in case the SpecOp gets rough. Colonel Cooper?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You and your Marines leave tonight. Lieutenant Lloyd and Lieutenant Commander Ackerson go with you. Questions?"

Beside me, I felt Willis immediately stiffen in anger at the name. Carefully and out of sight, I placed my hand on his arm to calm him down.

"Sir, if I may ask, where is the lieutenant commander?" I said. "Shouldn't he have been here with us?"

"He requested that I brief him beforehand in private," General Eckart answered. "Out of respect for his late father, I honored his request."

Still confused, I pressed, "Did he give a reason, sir?"

"Nothing that is your concern, Colonel." He looked at all of us in turn then. "You're dismissed."

As soon as the briefing was over, I could tell something was brewing just beneath the surface. Willis had lost his cool and collected demeanor and was frowning now, brows knit, not saying a word.

Then he finally spoke when we were once again walking down the hall.

"That fucking asshole didn't show up because of me," he said. "He's a damn coward, even now."

"We don't know that. The general wouldn't say what was up, and I suppose that's their business."

My husband came to a sudden halt and turned on me fast. "Are you defending that prick?"

"No," I responded, a little offended that he would think that. "I just meant it could've had something to do with the special op they're planning, or maybe something else we don't even - "

"What happened on Requiem, Natalie?"

Willis stood with his hands on his hips in front of me now, clearly agitated. It almost felt like he'd been wanting to ask me that question since we'd first seen each other, but had been too preoccupied or too emotional to see me again out of the blue to have given it much priority before. Now, it was obvious he wanted some answers.

In the moment I threw my hands up, beginning to get angry myself. "Jesus, Will. If you don't trust me by now, with someone like Ethan fucking Ackerson, I don't know what to tell you. Eleven years we've been married, and I've never given you a single reason to think - "

"I do trust you," my husband said grudgingly. "It's him I don't. He has a way of manipulating people and spinning his words that I just can't stand. And if he said or tried anything with you - "

My husband stopped mid-sentence then, and I wondered why until I slowly turned around.

Standing there in the hallway, wearing a wide smirk on his face, was Ethan Ackerson himself.