Chapter Thirty-Six: Headstrong, Part One

0403 Hours, January 4, 2561. Rebel Facility, Planet Puget. "The Battering Ram," Outer Colonies. Day Seventy-Seven of the Dark Side of the World

"Colonel, we're on approach. Hitting the LZ in five."

Even a week after his arrival, the sound of Willis's voice over the COM forced me out of my thoughts. Along with it came the memory of everything else - and his professionalism with me was a mixed bag of cold insult, admirable behavior, and a dagger to the heart. I took in a deep breath to recenter myself, then answered the hail.

"Acknowledged."

That's what we were down to now - sixteen years together, thirteen of marriage, four kids, and we could only manage a handful of curt radio addresses to one another.

I'd had hope at the start that that could change given time, but Willis had kept his distance back at the main camp, speaking directly to me only when our duties necessitated it, and during briefings, again as needed. The one time we'd nearly bumped into each other in the mess hall one evening, my husband had picked up his tray and left before we could even make eye contact. That had definitely hurt.

I'd come to the sad conclusion that he either still needed more space and time...or there was nothing left there for him to want to salvage. By now, I was leaning very heavily towards the latter.

Unconsciously I rubbed my hands together, feeling the comforting hardness of my wedding band on my finger inside my left glove. I hadn't yet removed mine, either, but I did wonder - often - if I'd still be married by the end of this. And how both of our lives would change if we weren't.

And the kids...

"Natalie."

I quickly turned around to find Ethan standing behind me, arms folded across his chest with his rifle slung behind his back, staring straight ahead into the forest around us.

"Word of advice: don't overthink. Stay focused."

I frowned. "Easy for you to say. Are you nearing the end of your thirteen-year union?"

"No, but I've had a pretty bad case of unrequited love for the last two years. And counting."

"Touché."

It wasn't the same, but I wasn't going to argue that now - not with what was at stake. Here we hoped to initiate the endgame with Laraza, and the Prometheans, and Puget itself. And with the intel brought back by Cal and my ex, there were strong indications that this depot could hold some answers for us.

I hoped so. I really needed something to celebrate. Something in all this to finally go right.

New year, new life, I thought. Here's hoping it gets better.

"Captain Sakato, report."

He answered in an instant. "Wolverine-One and -Two ready and standing by, ma'am. On your order."

"Excellent. Major Mullen?"

"904th in position, Colonel."

I hesitated a second before checking in with the last leader. "Major Hawk?"

"Armor deployed, ma'am. Wings on station, ready to provide air support at your command."

"All right, then. Let's get this party started. Kenji, you're up."

"Yes, ma'am. Armor, you heard the lady. Let's roll!"

"Right up behind them, Wayne."

"Understood, Colonel."

"Hawk - "

"I know what to do."

Willis was firm and, just so there was no misunderstanding, cut the connection right after that. As things were getting underway at this point, I didn't press, and clicked off myself.

Beside me though, Ethan frowned. "Cooper...be careful he doesn't cross into insubordination territory."

I sighed as I folded my arms across my chest, anxiousness filling me just a little. "Relax. He wouldn't do that."

"That's funny," my ex said matter-of-factly. "Because he almost just did."

There was no high ground in the forest, and nowhere safe for our command group to maintain position while the op was underway. Things could turn at any moment, so I'd taken a company of Brewer's Marines with us as extra protection. Even knowing we were still, in some sense, in the thick of things, I tensed up as I heard - and then watched - our two tanks rolled by, one after another on the 904th's flanks. In the meantime, I kept an ear on the main channel, but didn't butt in this time. I'd only do so as necessary.

"Getting close," I heard Sakato say over the COM. "Both units, open fire on my mark. Three, two, one...mark!"

The twin tank salvos launched in unison then, combining into one loud blast that reverberated through the forest. And lifting my rifle up, I watched through its scope between the trees as both massive rounds landed squarely against the rebs' fortification - hopefully housing the weapons depot we were after. Each one smashed large holes through the façade...and let the enemy know without a shadow of a doubt we were here.

"Knock, knock, motherfuckers," I said under my breath.

Not surprisingly, the response from inside was almost immediate. Rebels already on the outside began firing back first, then I watched as more came pouring out of the building. Four heavy machine guns opened up on our side alone, sending bullets flying off the Scorpion tanks' armor. I quickly gestured to Brewer's Marines around me, knowing the tanks would need a moment to reload their cannons.

"Snipers up! Get after the gunners first!"

Sharp cracks sounded through the forest, hitting two gunners at once; I watched through my scope as their bodies erupted in red and then slumped atop their guns. My own trigger finger twitched outside the guard, but I knew we were too far off for me to hit anything from this distance. Luckily, by then the tanks were back in business, and a second pair of ear-shattering salvos lit up the last two gunners.

"Great work, Marines! Push up!" I said into the COM.

The Scorpion tanks did so, as did Major Mullen's battalion, coming up right behind them as ordered. Yet for all the arsenal we had at our disposal this time, the rebs seemed to have some tricks up their sleeves, too.

Captain Sakato and I both found that out the hard way as several rockets streaked towards the lead tank.

"Wolverine-One, they've got heavy! Watch it!" Sakato yelled.

To the snipers, I said, "Sharpshooters, redirect fire!"

Things seemed to be in a deadlock for a few minutes - it was clear that despite us getting the drop on them, the rebels were ready this time, and had definitely prepared. As two of the rockets exploded against Wolverine-One, a third narrowly missed Two, and I heard Captain Sakato shout frantically over the radio.

"Evade, evade, evade! Be careful that they don't - !"

A fourth rocket shot from a tube a split second before one of our snipers tagged the bastard in the head, but by then it was too late. It hit the lead tank yet again, and while it was barely smoking before, a dark plume now spiraled up from the front hatch, and a small fire started to blaze.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath. "Kenji!"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Have them stick as close to the trees as possible! Keep them hard to hit!"

"On it!"

Already a stray rocket had blown up against a tree rather than hitting its intended target, sending charred wood shards everywhere. But those bounced harmlessly off the tanks' thick armor - whereas high-explosive rounds from a launcher did not.

Now that the fighting was fully underway, I finally clicked the COM to my channel with Cal.

"Lieutenant, sitrep."

"Still no sign of the Prometheans, ma'am."

I turned back to look at Ethan, and he stood firm.

"They're there, Colonel. Lloyd, tell your team to keep their eyes peeled."

"Yes, sir. Ma'am? Orders?"

I released a breath. "Go. Let me know what you find, and when you've got a visual on the cache."

"Roger that."

Besides throwing everything we had at a frontal assault - no sneaking around this time - our play here was to send in Lloyd's ONI team into the facility while everyone else was occupied out front. I hoped that meant the cache would be lightly guarded, and thus easier to destroy. And I hoped we'd get some leads on the return of the AI-bots, too.

"So now we wait," I said, mostly to myself, but Ethan picked it up via our shared link.

"Look on the bright side, Cooper," he replied. "You've already lasted longer in one place than you did last time."

"Yep. I suppose that's progress."

Crouching in the woods under the protective cover of a large tree, far from the fight, I kept one knee to the ground as I watched my Marines' progress via the holomap on my datapad, surrounded loosely by my security detail. It sucked to be this far back, but I knew now it was for the best. At first I thought maybe over time I might get used to it, but quickly realized I'd never want to. I made a silent vow to myself then and there that if I ever felt like staying behind rather than being up front with my men, that would be when I finally threw in the towel and called it quits. Retirement sounded like a good idea once I lacked the very motivation that made me who I was as a leader.

Then and only then, though.

"Mullen, Sakato, Lloyd, Hawk - give me some updates. How're we doing?"

"Moving forward, ma'am!" the commander of the 904th answered first.

"Keeping 'em busy, Colonel!" Captain Sakato replied.

"All right. Hawk?"

"Skies are clear for now. Standing by."

That only left Caleb...and I didn't hear him respond.

Oh, hell, I thought. Dani just got you back, buddy. Don't make me -

"Colonel?" came his voice, finally, and I relaxed just a bit. "We've made it inside. But we're pinned down in here as of now. I think we just...discovered the hornet's nest."

I frowned. "Of what? Prometheans? Rebs? Jackals?"

"A little of all three, but mostly our AI adversaries. It's...a mess in here."

Crap. "Any progress to the cache?"

"Negative, ma'am. We need - "

There was a loud shriek and then an explosion. For several seconds, I heard nothing but static.

"Lieutenant? Lieutenant? Cal!"

No answer.

I waited a minute longer to be sure, but once the connection cut on the other end, I knew they were in trouble.

"Dammit. Ackerson, gear up."

"Colonel?"

"Grab your team, too. We're going in after them."

My ex hesitated. "Ma'am, I just want to say..."

"Yeah, I know. Not advised." I sighed and gave him a look. "I've sat on my hands as long as I can, okay? And now Cal's neck-deep in shit. We're going."

After gathering my security detail, I had Ethan's team of spooks take point, and followed them into battle - leaving Major Brewer's company behind for now as rear guard. It was then I clicked my COM again.

"Cal? I don't know if you can hear this, or if you're still alive, but we're coming to help. We're pretty far out, so it'll take some time...but just, please, stay alive."

I couldn't bear losing one of my last friends right now. Not with everything that was going on with Willis, and starting to finally come to terms with my internment, and the mission being up in the air.

Come on, I thought to myself as I brought my gun up as we jogged through the snowy woods. Give me something to work with here. That's all I ask. Please don't let this entire deployment consist of one big pile of misery.

Yet it seemed my pleas to the big man upstairs went unheeded, because the next thing I heard over the general channel was not what I was expecting. At all.

"Colonel, this is Flight Leader!" Willis suddenly cried. "Keep your heads down! We've got enemy air support incoming!"

Oh, right. Because I didn't have enough on my plate right now.