Caroline and Julie were lead down the main hall of the ship passing bye several doors all of which had signs telling what was behind the door. And also a map of the ship with all of the emergency exits highlighted.

"Judging by the map here this isn't really a big ship." Julie said. "Yet you have so many signs to where things are."

"Well most of this ships crew couldn't find their zippers with out help." Williams said.

"Then why are they on the ship?"

"They are all good fighters and we can get into some hairy situations in out line of business."

They were led through a door plainly marked mess hall and the smell of eggs, bacon and coffee reached them in waves. There were around twenty crew members in the mess hall talking amongst them selves. Julie and Caroline looked at each other and rushed the counter. Several crew members stepped away from the counter as they pushed past them grabbing at anything that was in reach.

"Think their hungry?" Williams asked.

"Yeah." Dr. Anderson said.

The rest of the reaction team all formed a more civilized line and waited to get their meal. Julie and Caroline sat at the nearest table with two empty chairs and started shoveling food into their mouths. Williams and Dr. Anderson soon joined them at the table with small plates of food.

"When was the last time you ate?" Dr. Anderson asked as he opened a sugar packet for his coffee.

"Well before we went into hyper sleep it was three days." Julie said.

"Three and a half." Caroline said with a mouth full of eggs.

"That's right they attacked right after lunch."

"Those bugs?" Williams asked with mock belief.

"That's right." Julie said.

Williams looked at Dr. Anderson and shrugged his shoulders. They ate the rest of their meal in silence. After Julie and Caroline had finished eating Williams led them towards the bridge to tell the captain their story.

"Attention attention Dr. Anderson Please report to medical the soldier is coming around." Kevorkian said over the Ships intercom.

"Well let's go see your friend first then we can get the whole story." Williams said.

They turned around ad headed right down the hall into a door also marked clearly as the medical room and for the illiterate there was a big Red cross on the door as well. The room was solid white filled with white beds with curtains that could surround each of the beds for privacy if needed. The whole room had a kind of rubbing alcohol clean smell that is synonymous with hospital wards and dental offices. Sanchez was sitting up in a bed near the door with a hospital gown draped around her to spare her from a possibility embarrassing moment. And Nurse Kevorkian listening to her lung sounds.

"Hey Jules." She said seeing Julie walk through the door.

"I hate it when you call me that." Julie said sitting next to the bed.

"Cry baby."

"How is she?" Dr. Anderson asked.

"Well there is nothing I can do for these slashes or the burns but other than that she is in prime condition." Kevorkian said.

"Ok get her something to wear so we can go see the captain."

She was soon dressed in a spare work suit that the technicians wear when working in greasy areas in the ship. Her short brown hair was matted and missing with a few burn marks where the hair was missing.

"You look like you went through hell." Williams said.

"Not far from it." Sanchez said.

"Let's go to the bridge. The captain is waiting."

Sanchez started for the door of the medical room limping slightly from the lacerations on her right leg. The look on her face was one of pain but she was determined not to let the pain win. She was a Marine damn-it and she was going to live up to the title if it killed her. Julie walked right next to her to lend an arm if needed as they made their way to the bridge. Captain Michaels was looking over the flight recorder for the emergency ship trying to find anything that could shed some light on the situation when Sanchez and the other walked in.

"Sir here are the members from the ship we recovered." Williams said.

"Ok thank you." Michaels said. "Have a seat." Three chairs were brought over and set in front of them.

Julie stood beside the chair Sanchez was about to sit down in to be sure she didn't collapse. She sat down with a grunt and looked at Julie as if to say "Thank you."

"I've been looking over the flight recorder from the ship you were in but other than the time you were in the ship it doesn't tell me anything."

"How long were we out?" Caroline asked.

"You went into hyper sleep eighteen hours age."

"That's all?"

"You got lucky. Now can you tell me what the hell happened to you out there? Judging from the looks this young lady you have been through one hell of a fight."
"Yes sir, we were." Sanchez said. "I'm a Colonial Marine attached to the 183 CMEU out of gateway station. We were deployed on a training mission to LV288 near the planet Ryushi. Ever since a botched rescue mission to LV426 several years ago Colony rescue simulations have become a standard part of training. And the Corp. believes that mock Missions in a real Colony is the best training for the real thing."

Michaels settled in his seat for what he knew was going to be a long story. Williams and Dr. Anderson also pulled up some chairs to listen to the story.

"We arrived at the Colony at 13:30 hours and deployed as if it was a real mission…"

Colony on LV288 four days ago-

Lt. McCarran sat behind the monitors in the APC watching everyone's movements from their shoulder mounted cameras. Sgt. Slagg took point being the only member of the team with actual combat experience followed by Corporal Sontarow then PFC McNickel. They formed the forward assault group. Pvt. Roland aka. Jinx, Pvt. Sanchez and Max the Synthetic formed the rear guard. Roland and McNickle were the newest members of the team and fresh out of Basic training. Sanchez had been with the team for almost a year and this was their first training mission as a complete unit.

"Command this is Alpha unit we are moving in on the complex."

"Rodger that Alpha unit. Roland keep your distance." McCarran said seeing that she was only two meters away from Sanchez. "Maintain a three to five meter distance."

"Yes sir." Roland said.

She moved to her right making the necessary distance. Max was watching a scanner for movement and also keeping an eye on the left flank as they moved forward towards the colony door.

The mission situation was that the colony had been taken over by revolting colonist that had broken into the small armory and stole all of the weapons. The inventory list that was obtained by HQ stated that there were seven pulse rifles with almost two hundred rounds each, twelve small caliber hand guns and fifty blasting caps used for demolition. Most of the colonists are reportedly being healed in the center of the complex however some of them had managed to barricade themselves in small rooms using furniture and heavy equipment. A small group overpowered several of the terrorists and made their way to the communication room and called for military assistance before being caught.

"Max anything on the scanners?" Slagg asked.

"Not a thing. Nothings moving." Max said.

"Ambush?" Sontarow asked.

"I don't know. But it's too damn silent." Slagg said. "Watch for anything. They may not be moving to keep the scanner from picking the up."

Suddenly the scanners picked up movement from all around the group less than twenty meters away. The whole unit saw armed men and women emerge from behind crates and out of cranes. Gunfire erupted from all directions from the Marines and Terrorists. Then just as suddenly as it began it was over. The Terrorists had won.

"Command this is Alpha unit we're all dead." Slagg said lowering his still smoking weapon.

"Nice work Alpha Unit. Hey Slagg can I have your stereo?" McCarran joked.

"Not a chance sir."

The team all stood up and dusted themselves off and looked at the advancing group of colonists. A Female with a ski mask walked up to Sanchez with a sidearm in her hands and fired one more round.

"The fucking fight is over." Sanchez said.

"You were twitching." She said pulling off her ski mask.

"Jules?"

"I hate it when you call me that." Julie said with a smile.

"You know her?" Slagg asked.

"She's my little sister." Sanchez said.

"It's been five years Andrea I'm not so little anymore."

"Yeah well I'll always be able to kick your ass."

"Yeah well I stopped dragging my knuckles on the ground a few years ago. That's reserved for cavemen like you."

Sanchez gave Julie a loud grunt before slinging her weapon over her shoulder and giving her sister a hug.

"It's been too long." Julie said returning the hug.