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Chapter Six
The happy mood was over as soon as the Marines and the RAF pilots were briefed the next morning to be assigned to yet another Op. During Meg's time in the infirmary, the jets of the nine-eight had arrived and the pilots had exchanged a lot of data about the jets. Especially Wang had spent a lot of time with Mullen, discussing minor and major problems concerning the HUD and LIDAR of the British jets. As Mullen and Wang entered the O-room they were arguing about some detail in the technical manuals and Vanessa exchanged a glance with Shane. "Do you think they'd ever get tired of studying these graphs?" she asked and Shane shook her head. "Don't bet on it!" she answered and took a seat between Vanessa and Cooper. During the briefing in which Ross informed them that their mission was of prior authority and compartmentalised, Shane wondered if there was ever an assignment which was not considered a code red. As if the pilots would sit down to a nice comfy talk with the Chigs, she thought and smiled at the irony of it. She pulled herself together again, as she noticed her mind drifting off and listened intently to the Commodore's remarks. The Wild Cards had been assigned to a ground Op with the nine-eight as airborne support. They had to secure yet another hill on Nox and several squadrons were assigned to it. Shane mused about this but she was not really worried for she knew that Chambers' crew would not let them down and she could count on each of her Marines as well. But if Coop starts complaining again, I'll gonna throttle him, she thought and grinned at that. The preparations for the Op were quickly over and done with. After so many months in combat the Marines knew what they were doing and when they picked up their gear each one of them knew that they were ready for battle. As always McQueen had accompanied them to the flightdeck, receiving their salute before they boarded the ISSCV. As usual he had told them to look alive as soon they would encounter a Chig and all of them were determined to heed his words.
Back down on Nox the Wild Cards found themselves in the midst of a hairy-assed furball fight. Each of them remembering the words of their drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Bougus. The squadrons had to dig trenches and duck whenever the Chig bombers strafed the area and the natural darkness of the planet made it difficult to recognise either friend and foe around mount MS-7990. Every half hour the five-eight had to establish a com-channel to all the joining squads in the vicinity to make sure that they were not killed by friendly fire.
Paul switched to yet another com-channel to give the 58th position and groaned when he received only the statical over the headphones.
"Vansen, can't raise the three-four over the radio," he stated matter of factly, being beyond sympathy for the erased squadrons after three long, unnerving days on Nox.
Vansen nodded and raised the binocs to her eyes again. Making a mental note that she would kick the asses of Fleet-Com later, she searched the area for any enemy movement. Right now, everything seemed calm and quiet, but during their sojourn on the planet she had discovered that this was just the sign of the beginning of another attack.
"I thought we'd strafe the whole area, sending in the nine-eight and the thirty-two," Cooper said.
He was standing some yards away from Shane and the others, scanning the area through his NVGs. As usual, he had taken point, the most dangerous position of the whole squad. Only an experienced sniper could take such a place to reassure the safety of the squad.
Yeah, either a sniper or a madman, point's always a good place to die! Cooper thought, lifting his M-590. But he knew that the Cards relied on him. They trusted him.
"Let's move on," Shane said and came over to Cooper. "The nearest gun-nest is about 500 to the west. We should be able to bait them if we split up," she gave her friends a cursory once over.
"Any volunteers?" she asked, her voice devoid of any emotion. Splitting up was always a dangerous move for a squadron, especially if two of them would bait the Chigs away from their nests.
"Count me in," West said and stepped forward.
"Yup, me too," Hawkes nodded. If West wanted to risk his neck he wanted to make sure that he didn't get it broken along the way.
After Shane had briefed the two Marines the squad split up. Watching the rest of the Wild Cards advance onto the gun-nest in a wide circle, West checked his ammo-strips. After they had made sure that the Cards were safely on their way, West and Hawkes quickly ran for cover across a wide expanse of underbrush.
Immediately they were sought out as fitting targets and they had to dodge the bullets from the snipers.
"Hey, you needin' practice?" Cooper yelled at the Chigs. West pushed him forward as another volley of shots surrounded them.
"You mad, or what?" Nathan asked through clenched teeth, as they threw themselves unto the hard ground behind a small boulder. "You could get us killed!"
"For crying out loud, West, you think I'm dumb?" Coop retorted, scanning the area through the TS of his weapon.
"Gotcha!" he said as a lone Chig came into his sight of vision. "Should we give 'em a calling card?"
"Definitely, my mom always told me to be polite!" Nathan replied and adjusted the TS to the target. Slowly, his finger touched the trigger of his M-590 when he noticed a movement at the edge of his vision. When he turned towards it, he gasped. A Chig patrol was coming straight towards them, only a few yards away from their hide-out.
"Shit!" Nathan exclaimed but Hawkes had already raised his rifle and fired.
"We've to get outta here!" he shouted and they both fell into a run. The area rose to a steep rise and soon both Marines were out of breath.
Shane scanned the area again, watching the Chigs who were patrolling in front of the gun-nest. "I don't understand!" she said. "By now Hawkes and West should have taken them out!"
Damphousse crept up beside her and raised the binocs to her eyes.
"I count seven Chigs patrolling," she said breathlessly. "What's Cooper doin'?"
She broke off when they heard sniper fire. Through the binocs she could see that another Chig patrol was advancing to a couple of hills on the east. Paul had joined them at their look-out and he could just make out West and Hawkes chasing like rabbits across another strip of rocky terrain.
"They're retreating further away from us!" he yelled and cocked his gun at the nearest Chig following the Marines.
Suddenly the radio came to life and Wang yanked the earphones onto his head angrily.
"SPACECOM, five-eight reporting in," he announced and strained his ears to receive the message, switching the button to 'all hear'.
"Five-eight, here Queensix," he heard the voice of the Colonel. "Abort Op immediately, repeat: abort Op immediately!"
Shane snatched the radio away from Wang.
"Negative, Queensix. Two officers in combat sit. They need immediate back up!"
"Negative, Wild Cards. Retreat to EVAC point immediately. Extraction on 1805 hours. Queensix out!"
Shane sighed and checked her watch. If they started out to the EVAC site immediately they could make it just in time. When she looked up, Vanessa and Paul were staring at her.
"We can't leave West and Hawkes alone up there!" Paul exclaimed.
"You heard McQueen, we have to move out now!" Shane said and took off her NVGs wearily. "I hate this as much as you ..."
"Shane ..." 'Phousse said pleadingly but the determined look on Shane's face made her shiver.
"Try to raise them over their coms," Vansen said matter of factly and after Paul had established a secure channel, she took a deep breath.
"Jack and King, do you hear?"
"Copy, Queen of Diamonds, loud and clear," Cooper announced.
Shane closed her eyes for a moment.
"Retreat to EVAC site. Repeat: extract at 1805!"
"Good joke there, Shane," Cooper laughed. "And howda ya think we should make it? We're kinda busy right now!"
The Marines could hear gun-fire in the background and Paul groaned.
"Negative, Jack of Spades. Extraction at 1805!" Shane replied, bracing herself for the yelling she was about to hear over the com.
There was a long pause before Nathan's voice was heard.
"Copy, Queen of Diamonds ..." Nathan said slowly. "Awaiting new orders on seven-seven-four."
"Affirmative. Seven-seven-four," Shane replied. "Semper Fi and look alive!"
"Semper Fi," Nathan answered, clearing his throat.
"Shane?" That was Cooper's voice.
"Yeah, Coop?" Vansen asked.
"Tell ... uh, tell Chambers ... tell her I'll be seeing her!"
"Yes, I will, Coop," Shane replied. "Semper Fi!"
"Yeah. Semper Fi, do or die..."
Shane closed her eyes. Ever since she had gotten their orders the knot in her stomach had grown and she felt extremely sick. The Marine Corps didn't leave their Marines behind, and yet this was exactly what she was doing. She was about to leave two friends, her best-friends.
Tyrus Cassius McQueen sat at his desk and tried to concentrate on Achilles' return to the battle field. Usually, reading Homer's 'Iliad' calmed his troubled thoughts but tonight it didn't help. Ever since Fleet-Com had ordered them to retreat he had a hell of a headache which had only increased when the ISSCV had landed on the Saratoga and the Marines had filed out slowly. He had been waiting for them on the mid-deck but when they had seen him, they had just brushed past without as so much as a nod.
Wearily, he rubbed his eyes and stood up. He paced the floor of his quarters restlessly when he heard a knock on the hatch. Before he could ask who was there the hatch was pushed open and crashed into the metal wall of his quarters. Chambers stood in the doorway, clutching her fists at her sides. She entered with a determined step and only paused a few inches in front of her CO.
"How could you do this?" she demanded angrily, suppressing the urge to claw her nails into his face.
"Fleet-Com ordered us to leave ..." McQueen started lamely but Megan shook her head and cut in:
"To hell with Fleet-Com! You know as well as I do that those two Marines are going to die down there if we don't do something ... "
"Ross and I have already made plans, Meg. We will assemble a rescue team as soon as Fleet-Com gives their ok. ..." he stated wearily.
"Hah, Fleet-Com gives a shit about rescuing the Marines. I was on Acheron, I have seen how quickly Fleet-Com makes decisions, Uncle Mac. When they finally decided to rescue the seven-two, three of us were dead ..." Meg closed her eyes for a moment, forcing back the memories of that incident. The seven-two had been assigned to a transport-mission on the fringes of the battle. An easy task they had thought but the Chigs had changed their attack-plans and the pilots had found themselves in the very first wave of attacks. They had to make a crash-landing on one of the in-numerous moons in the Procyon sector. For five days the pilots had had to keep in hiding, always aware that one false move could mean their deaths.
She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to remember the frightened look of James Woolfe, after he had received a shot to his stomach, clutching at what had remained of his guts. The dying had taken long and all Meg could do was holding James in her arms and listening to him as he told her that he was too young to die, that he wanted to have more than ten years of hurt and pain.
Big strong Woolfe ... She had been his mother, his friend and as he was about to take his last breath she had also been his lover.
She licked her lips and she could still feel the metallic, salty taste of his blood on them. When he had asked her to kiss him she had obliged, kissing the bloodied lips of the dying man. Back then, Meg had lost her innocence about the war. Seeing her fellow crew-men die and not able to do anything about it, had left a deep, soaring pain inside of her.
McQueen watched his godchild's agony. To see her like that touched something deep inside of him. He had been in the same hell in which she was right now.
"Meg," he pleaded and touched her shoulders. "Trust me, we'll get West and Hawkes out of there no matter what ..."
"Aye, it just stands to question if they return dead or alive ..." Chamber replied wearily and turned away.
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