Dazed, Ellen tried to get up. When she fell, she hit her head hard on a rock. Wearing her helmet had probably prevented worse.
As she stumbled to the side, someone hastily pulled her to her feet.
"Keep running, we're almost there!" Alex yelled at her over the noise, pulling Ellen aside with a jerk as a large boulder fell off the wall in her direction. They continued to sprint.
-On board the shuttle-
"Damn, Greg, you shouldn't have let them go that way!" August cursed, staring at the monitor where five dots were moving rapidly across the digital map.
Van Hagen gave him an ice-cold look. "Still Lieutenant Commander to you." Then he looked at the screen again. "The newbies need to learn what consequences their decisions can have."
"Don't you care if they get killed down there?"
The LC just shrugged. "It would only show that they are not fit for service in the Alliance after all."
August's jaw dropped in disbelief. He had never liked Gregor Van Hagen, but now he was starting to hate him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the five dots suddenly stopped moving.
-On Rayingri-
Ellen could already see the end of the canyon in front of her. She and Alex were behind Holly and Jenkins, which is when they saw Holly get hit by a rock right in front of them and fall lifeless to the ground.
"Shit!" Ellen exclaimed. Without really thinking, she picked Holly up off the ground and slung her over her shoulder. The extra weight slowed her quite a bit, but the tremor finally subsided and less debris rained down on her. Finally, after they reached the exit to the rescue, the ground beneath them was calm again, and she gently laid Holly on the ground.
Suddenly Ellen got pretty sick. She yanked off her helmet, took a few steps to the side, and threw up.
"You okay?" Alex asked ,patting her back. Ellen just snorted in response and straightened up again. She knew the symptoms - she might have a minor concussion. She was a little dizzy, but she couldn't abandon her team now, and that thought drove her on.
Concerned, she crouched down next to Holly and scanned her with her omni tool. Her suit wasn't transmitting any critical vital signs. She was unconscious but stable. Her helmet had kept the worst off, and apart from her flat pulse and unconsciousness, everything seemed fine.
"Are you guys alright?" Ellen asked around.
Casey approached her. "We are fine."
Ellen nodded in relief and wanted to get up, but felt weak in the knees. Alex, who seemed to have seen this coming, was right next to her and grabbed her left arm.
"It's okay," Ellen murmured. "We have to go on before we lose any more time. Jenkins, you will carry Holly, but please be careful with her."
Casey looked like she was going to object, but Alex shook her head. "She's right, Cas. The exercise will continue, just as it would on a normal mission."
Jenkins mumbled something as he picked Holly off the ground, but Ellen wasn't listening. She got a headache and didn't have the energy to deal with a nagging Jenkins.
The beta-team slowly plodded forward again. The sun shone mercilessly down on them, and there was no shadow in sight. After the gorge only a hilly landscape lay ahead of them. Marching through the reddish wasteland, Ellen berated herself for exposing her group to this danger. She couldn't have known, but surely their superiors had reasons for giving them a route. What would they do with her once they were back on board the Rome? This was her first command and she already felt like she had failed before the mission was even over.
Because Jenkins had to carry Holly, they made slower progress, which is why it took them another half hour to finally reach the probe. Casey, who was the best at decryption on the beta-team, immediately set to work cracking it. In fact, she was finished a short time later and, relieved, pulled the small model of a shuttle out of a compartment.
Ellen nodded wearily. "Well done. We'll be on our way back immediately."
At this, Alex and Jenkins, who had used the short time to sit down and rest, groaned.
"I know, I'd like to take a break too, but Holly needs to be taken care of," Ellen replied, lazily leading the way. Her head was pounding harder, but she didn't want to let it show. 'A leader must show no weakness,' Grayson's voice said in her head. One of many slogans that had been preached to them during basic training.
For the way back, she decided that the given route was the wiser choice, and she was right because there were two more earthquakes. Finally, after about two hours, they reached the shuttles' landing site. Ellen looked around in surprise because none of the other teams were waiting for them.
"I can't believe it!" Alex exclaimed in relief. "We are actually the first group!"
"The first?" Van Hagen asked, raising an eyebrow as he stepped out from behind one of the shuttles. "No, you are the last. Great work, Webber." He glanced at her with an ice-cold stare.
"It's not her fault, sir," Casey replied sheepishly.
Ellen looked down at her boots, embarrassed. "No, he's right."
She would like to sink into the ground. Her first mission had gone horribly wrong.
"Off to the shuttles, we were expected back on the Rome an hour ago," Van Hagen hissed and opened one of the shuttles for them.
After they were seated and buckled in, Alex leaned over to Ellen and murmured, "Arrogant ass. Didn't even ask how you or Holly were."
They had laid Holly across three seats and strapped in so she wouldn't fall off during the flight.
Exhausted, Ellen leaned back in her seat and noticed that Norah was looking at her worriedly from the other side of the shuttle. None of her team seemed to be injured as they all sat across from them and chatted brightly.
Ellen smiled tightly and shrugged wordlessly. At this, Norah rolled her eyes and snorted, which probably meant something like 'don't play the heroine now'. And even if she didn't feel like it at all, Ellen had to genuinely laugh.
"McGill and Webber to the medbay, everyone else has the rest of the day off," Van Hagen said sourly after they were back on board the Rome. "And Webber, I'll expect you in the conference room afterwards."
Ellen winced internally, already dreading what would await her there. She shuffled to the elevators with Lieutenant August, who was carrying Holly. Just before the doors closed, Lauren hopped into the cabin.
"Maybe I can give you an injection," she said smiling to Ellen, who was grateful to have her around. Lauren was a good-natured and loving person, and with her around, things didn't seem so bad.
Arriving on the fourth level, their path led them down a short corridor and to a wide door that slid open in front of them of its own accord.
"Hey Doc, I'm bringing some patients over," August said, carefully placing Holly on one of the beds.
The medbay was a large room with four beds and several closets along the walls. In the farthest corner was a small desk against which the doctor in white overalls was leaning.
Doctor Lopez, a slim man in his forties with a brown complexion and dark eyes, looked up in surprise from the datapad he had been examining.
"Injured? And that after a practice mission?" he asked with a slight accent. He put the pad aside and walked over to Holly, whom he quickly examined using a few scans.
"Krieger, glad you're here. If you wish, you can record your comrade's symptoms."
Lauren eagerly scanned Ellen from head to toe with her omni tool. Ellen felt dizzy again and lay down to be safe. Only then did she realize that she was still wearing all of her battle armor.
Doctor Lopez approached her. "Then I'll take a look, Private..."
"Webber," Ellen replied.
"The scans show a mild concussion, Doctor," Lauren said matter-of-factly. "From personal experience, I can say that Private Webber has a stubborn head, so she won't mind it much." She winked at Ellen and Doctor Lopez giggled. He performed a few tests on her and nodded contentedly.
"You need some bed rest but should be fit again soon. I'll inform the commander to spare you from guard duty for a few days."
Ellen nodded, thanked him and made her way to the armory alone, where she finally shed her armor and slipped back into her ship's uniform. She did all this slowly and carefully so as not to overwhelm her head.
She longed to wash away the dirt from Rayingri and any bad memories from the mission, but Van Hagen would be expecting her, so she went straight to the conference room.
"There you are, Webber," snapped Van Hagen, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.
Ellen saluted. "Yes, sir."
"Actually, no debriefing is required after a training mission, but you managed to arrive with two injured and well after the others. Do you have anything to say about this? Although that can't be much, after all I monitored your communication..."
"I figured we'd win easily by taking the shorter route, sir. I didn't realize how dangerous it could be."
He slowly stepped towards her and stood in front of her with a scowl.
"You put yourself and your team in danger. Do you have any idea what could have happened? You've been incredibly lucky, don't you know that?"
"Yes, sir."
"I wish I could give command of the beta team to someone else! But that decision is not mine. But believe me, if I hear of one more misstep-"
"What are you doing here, Greg?" Lieutenant August asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway. "Does the Commander know about this conversation?"
"Do I have to remind you again not to talk to your superior like that, Lieutenant?" Van Hagen replied with a dark twinkle in his eye. Surprised, Ellen looked from one to the other.
"As you wish, Sir! Private First Class Webber didn't know any better because the teams hadn't been informed that Rayingri was prone to earthquakes. I think you were responsible for compiling the information on the planet, weren't you?
Loud and angry, Van Hagen replied, "Leave, Lieutenant."
August couldn't say anything against that, he had to obey orders. With one last look at Ellen, he said, "I'll go see Commander Lance." After that, he left the conference room.
"Don't get used to someone else fighting your fights, Webber," Van Hagen said, turning back to Ellen. "And now get out of my sight."
Agitated, Ellen left the conference room and was already expected by Alex.
"How bad was it? August just came at me like mad."
"Bad. But I don't seem to be punished."
Alex smiled at her encouragingly. "But that's good. It will be better next time, I am sure!"
Together they made their way to the crew deck. Jenkins walked past them with John O'Malley without even looking at them.
"We definitely would have won if I had been the leader," Jenkins said loudly enough for Ellen to hear.
"What did you say, pig cheek?" Alex exclaimed indignantly. Jenkins turned to them, smirking. "You heard me."
Ellen wanted to say something, but Alex forestalled her. "Be careful, you bum. There's a reason she got promoted and you didn't. Accept it or you'll have to deal with me. Your comments really annoy us all."
"She only got promoted because she sucked up to Grayson."
Ellen felt anger well up in her. She had always done her best and the promotion was well deserved, everyone knew that. Jenkins' comments just hit a nerve, though. She tried to stay calm and not let him provoke her. Her head was pounding with pain.
"You can talk as much as you want, but the hierarchy won't change," Ellen said coolly, taking Alex's arm and turning to leave.
Jenkins laughed. "Can't you do more? You just leave? What a coward. Leave your guard dog Zhao here, she seems to have a bit more bite."
That was enough for her. Without considering the consequences, she lunged at him and punched him to the ground with an uppercut.
"PRIVATE WEBBER!" Van Hagen yelled, suddenly standing behind them. With an angry glint in her eyes, Ellen turned to him.
"Yes, Sir?"
"You will be placed under arrest. I hereby suspend you from active duty for a week!" he said, grabbing her and dragging her with him to the elevator.
"Sir, he insulted her!," John said, who was helping Jenkins back to his feet. Ellen could swear John had to suppress a little laugh because she knocked out Jenkins.
"I don't have to explain myself to you, Private," Van Hagen replied coldly, before the doors closed on them and Ellen was alone with him in the elevator car.
"What were you thinking? You can't just punch your subordinates in the upper jaw if something doesn't suit you! I'll talk to the Commander about it, and you'll be lucky if you don't lose command of the beta-team after all!"
Ellen barely listened. She didn't care what he said, because even if she herself was surprised by what she had done, she didn't regret it. It had been necessary to finally set things straight, and she wouldn't apologize for it. Also, Van Hagen had just told her himself that she had to learn to fight her own battles, and from now on she made up her mind to do so.