I still don't own anything. Note: there have been changes to the story. You don't have to read the entire thing through, but you should read the new chapter ten.
While You Were Sleeping
Chapter Fourteen: Extraction
Shinji shoved the heavy elevator doors open and nodded to Pierce. The older man nodded as well and brought his Mk. 46 machinegun up. Shinji hefted his heavier Mk. 48 and swung around the corner. The three guards didn't have a chance as Shinji let loose with a withering rain of .30-caliber rounds. "Clear."
"Clear," Pierce said. Shinji climbed into the hallway and glanced back at Pierce. The man was moving far too easily for someone who had been shot twice. It must have been the drugs.
"Get ready to move," Shinji said as he pressed his shoulder against the wall next to the door that lead to the outside. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the detonator that had been set to the same frequency as all the M2s and claymores they had set outside. He thumbed the button and nearly fell to the ground as the earth shook. He kicked the door open and moved out into the courtyard. The sight that greeted him was one that he thought he would only see after he died.
"Wow," Pierce managed. Everywhere was fire. Vehicles burned, men burned, the very earth burned. The torrential rain did nothing to hamper the inferno.
"Yeah," Shinji said as he began jogging towards the tree line. He could hear Pierce's labored breathing. His body still hurt, even if he couldn't feel it. "Can you make it to the LZ?"
"Watch me," Pierce growled. Shinji nodded and they hit the tree line. Running through a forest at night without any kind of illumination except for a glowing compass was never easy. Doing it with a wounded man was just plain stupid. If he was smart Shinji would have left Pierce behind. 'No one ever accused me of being a fucking Einstein,' he mused.
(:ii:)
"God damn it," Durst growled as the medic continued to suture the cut just under his eye. "I let my feelings get in the way Doc."
"Yeah," the doctor agreed. "You should have just had them shot." Durst chuckled mirthlessly.
"At least you're honest."
"I get paid for my abilities, not my tact sir," the doctor said. "All done. Try not to do anything too stupid. You'll end up pulling your stitches."
"Right," Durst said. He looked around the battered control room. Pierce and Nagisa had really gone overboard with the remote controlled bombs. 'Just like I taught them.'
"There's a clearing ten miles this way," the Sergeant Major standing beside Durst said as he tapped an area of the map. "That's the only logical place for a LZ."
"Not very big," Durst said.
"NERVs VTOLs can land in it," the Sergeant Major.
"Yeah," Durst said. "Do you think that Sin was telling the truth? Maybe NERV really wasn't involved like we think they were."
"Respectfully sir," the Sergeant Major began, "that doesn't mean shit. We've been throwing ourselves at the Genesis for a year now. We've lost a lot of good men to them and vice versa."
"You don't think we could back out if we tried," Durst said.
"It wouldn't matter," the Sergeant Major said. "No matter what, the Saviors can't thrive while Genesis is still around and I don't think they can either while we're still around. Hell, they were recruited specifically to destroy us."
"I suppose you're right," Durst said. "Within a year the Genesis has become our driving force. This isn't about destroying NERV anymore. That would be the icing on the cake. Our real goal is to destroy Genesis."
"That's how I see it sir," the Sergeant Major said. "Let the Crusaders take care of NERV. They're just full of idiots, bigots, and xenophobes trying to return to Christianity's past of my religion of death. My personal opinion, take it for what its worth."
"I take all your opinions for what they're worth," Durst said. "They're actually worth a hell of a lot to me. Send all the defenders to that clearing. I want that fucking jet blown out of the sky!"
(:ii:)
"Star Oh-One to Crow Oh-One." Gambit growled in annoyance and squeezed his throat mike. 'Come on your bastards. Don't be dead,' he thought desperately. "Star Oh-One to Crow Oh-One. Respond now." A burst of static sounded painfully in Gambit's ear.
"Can any one hear me?"
"Copy that Crow Oh-One," Gambit said. "Where the hell are you and what took you so long to respond?"
"We're en-route to the extraction point," Pierce said. "And I'd like to see you fix a God damned radio while running through a dark forest."
"Roger that Crow Oh-One," Gambit said. "We've run into a bit of a bad spot here."
"What's wrong?" Pierce demanded.
"We're taking longer then I thought," Gambit said. "This weather is starting to piss me off. How far away are you?"
"About ten minutes," Pierce said. "They're running us down sir."
"We'll be there in twenty," Gambit said. "What are you looking at?"
"Some very athletic infantry," Pierce said. "By now they know where we're going. You're probably going to be dealing with some Defenders sir."
"Shit," Gambit growled. "You hear that Major?"
"Defenders!" the pilot called back. "Those are SAMs, aren't they?"
"Of course," Gambit said. "What fun would this be if they're weren't any?"
"You people have a really fucked up definition of fun," one of the crew chiefs said. Gambit grinned brightly at the man.
"Copy that Crow Oh-One."
"We won't be able to hold for long sir," Pierce said.
"There's a hill in the middle of the clearing," Gambit said. "Actually, it's more like a lump. Take it and hold it. We'll be there as soon as we can."
"Roger that sir," Pierce said.
(:ii:)
"He wants us to stand on a dirt mound and wait?" Shinji demanded.
"Pretty much sir," Pierce said. Shinji sighed and cursed as the top of his boot caught on a root. He managed to regain his balance and kept running. They burst from the tree line and Shinji turned sharply. He leveled a long burst through the trees and turned to sprint after Pierce. He made it up the hill, boots slipping on the wet grass, and took a deep breath.
"Been a while since I've run that far," he gasped.
"Yeah," Pierce said. Shinji looked down at the rest of the field. The hill really was on two meters at its tallest point.
"Take the flank," Shinji ordered.
"Funny thing sir," Pierce said as he looked around the woods with his NVGs. "We don't have a flank."
"They've surrounded us already?" Shinji asked.
"Well we were slowed down," Pierce said. "You should have left me."
"I already told you," Shinji growled. "I don't kill my underlings."
"See where that got us?" Pierce demanded. Shinji grinned at the man and moved into a prone position with his Mk. 48 resting lightly on its bi-pod. He could hear them coming. He stared through his weapons scope and saw nothing but trees. "Some men had the Alamo in Texas, some men had a Bastogne in Belgium, we have a god-forsaken lump of dirt in the middle of no where."
"It's our god-forsaken lump of dirt sir," Pierce said. "I plan to keep it that way for the next ten minutes."
"See that you do," Shinji said as he pressed the stock of his machinegun to his shoulder. "Here they come."
(:ii:)
"Alright men," Gambit said as he looked around the plane. "This bitch of a mission just got harder."
"Good," Caesar said. The other nodded. Gambit had to chuckle.
"That's right front line swine!" he snapped. "The harder the better! After all, who wants to live forever? Do you want to live forever?"
"Sir, no sir!"
"That's right," Gambit said. "We're just mercenaries after all. Money is everything. The soldiers watched your back are everything else. Right now two of them are fighting for their lives! We will not leave them to die. It's a strange thing to meet a mercenary with a code, but we have one. That code tells us that we are never going to leave our own behind. Do you understand?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Gambit nodded.
"Check your shit! When we hit dirt I want guns blazing!"
(:ii:)
"God damn it!" Shinji cursed as his Mk. 48 went dry. He snatched for his SOCOM and put two .45-caliber slugs into the closest man before finding another target. "I'm out!"
"Hurry up!" Pierce roared as he moved to cover. Shinji quickly unclipped his last belt box from his harness and loaded the end of the belt into the machinegun. He holstered his SOCOM and swung the machinegun around.
"Done!" He squeezed the trigger and sent a string of bullets flying into the charging soldiers. "How's our time?"
"Two minutes!" Pierce yelled. Lightning crashed and Shinji stared at the hoard of humanity rushing at them.
"Great." He pulled one of his few remaining grenades from his belt and tugged the pin out. He looked around for the best spot and lobbed the heavy little steel anti-personnel weapon. He swept the machinegun across another group of men and took careful aim at a man with an anti-tank launcher. Shinji fired first and the man fell straight back.
"Incoming!" Shinji glanced over his shoulder and heard the familiar roar of an H-Jet. "Shit that thing is low!" Pierce yelled.
"They're dropping in!" Shinji cried. "Give them cover."
"Roger that!" Shinji plucked his last two grenades from his belt and pulled the pins. He hurled them as far as he could and ducked down. Something landed painfully across his legs and he immediately snatched for his SOCOM.
"Chill out Skipper." Shinji turned fully and stared at the man.
"Caesar?"
"How are you doing sir?" the younger man asked as he raised his rifle and began firing. Shinji grabbed his Mk. 48 and emptied what was left of the ammo.
"You have an extraction plan?" he demanded.
"Of course." Shinji glanced to his side and saw Gambit kneeling beside him. "Hope you guys don't get airsick."
"Never in my life," Shinji said as he drew his SOCOM and opened fire.
"Good," Gambit said as he clipped something to the back of Shinji's harness. "This is going to be rough."
"Incoming!" Shinji saw a ball of light fly from the forest and streak towards the H-Jet. The 20mm radar-guided gatling gun snapped around and opened fire. The missile exploded brilliantly, the shock wave slammed into the H-Jet.
"Shit!" Shinji was jerked off his feet as the rope attached to his harness and the H-Jet went taunt. There was no way in hell he could win a tug of war with a god damned multi-ton aircraft. Gambit was beside him screaming into his throat mike.
"Get us the fuck out of here!" Shinji felt something slam into his chest armor and fired his SOCOM twice at the man who had shot him. Suddenly all contact with the ground was lost and Shinji was soaring through the air. He looked around wildly and realized he was fifty meters off the ground and rising. "Well how's that for an extraction plan?" Gambit yelled.
"Couldn't you have just sky hooked us?" Shinji managed. A mechanical whir sounded over the wind and Shinji felt the rope holding him jerk as he began to be winched up. In a matter of seconds a pair of strong hands grabbed his shoulders and dragged him into the H-Jet's hold. "Major?"
"Hey Skipper!" the pilot called. "Hope you don't mind putting up with a NERV flyboy for the time being!"
"It's fine," Shinji said. Everything started to fade around the edges of his vision. "I'm going to take a nap now."
(:ii:)
"Thanks," Gambit managed as the crew chief dragged him into the H-Jet. He managed to stagger over to one of the benches and sat down. "I think I'm too old for this."
"Probably," Caesar said. "Oh shit. Medic!" Gambit turned and stared at Pierce and Shinji. Both were slumped over on the deck and even in the dim light he could see a blood pool beginning to from under them.
"Damn it," Wrath growled as he dumped his vest and immediately kneeled next to Pierce. He jerked the older man's vest off and swore again.
"How bad is it?" Gambit asked as he climbed to his feet.
"Pierce is pretty damn bad," Wrath answered. "Two abdominal wounds that look like they've been bleeding for a while. Someone get Nagisa's gear off!" Ron was already kneeling beside Shinji's side before the doc had finished talking.
"Shit. He's got a bullet wound in the chest," Ron growled as he pulled the other man's chest armor off. "Looks like a through and through."
"Well there's some good news," Wrath said. "We need to get these men back to NERV is we want any chance of them pulling through sir."
"Shit," Gambit cursed. He had really been hoping to avoid that. The plan had been to hook up with the rest of the Genesis. "Are you sure?"
"I wouldn't have said anything else if I wasn't," Wrath said. Gambit nodded.
"Major!"
"What's the matter?" the pilot called.
"Change of plans," Gambit said. "We're going back to NERV. I want you to tell them that we kidnapped you." He heard the pilot laughing.
"I may work for NERV, but I have some honor," he said.
"He'll figure a way to weasel out," one of the crew chiefs called. "Like the man says, he's a NERV officer."
"I heard that," the pilot called.
"Can you give me the headset?"
"What frequency General?" the co-pilot asked as he handed the headset to Gambit.
"Thirty-three," Gambit said. The man nodded and twisted one of the dials. Gambit slid the headset on.
"This is Sky Eye to Exodus," he said, "Exodus respond."
"This is Exodus," a voice said. "Go ahead Sky Eye."
"We have a problem," Gambit said. "Crow Oh-One is down. We're headed back to the twin Charlie."
"Crow Oh-One is down," the man said.
"All of Crow Oh-One is down," Gambit said.
"Roger that," the man said. "If we don't hear from you in twenty-four hours we'll assault the twin Charlie."
"Roger that," Gambit said. "Keep someone listening for me."
"Roger," the man said. Gambit pulled of the headset and handed it back to the co-pilot.
"To NERV we go."
"To NERV we go," the pilot repeated. "Time to start praying I don't get flayed alive."
"Amen," Gambit said.
End
(:ii:)
Author's notes. Whoa Sea Biscuit. Before you start threatening, which I know you want to do with good reason, look on the bright side! Some author's only update once a year.
Here's the story ladies and gentlemen. I had some problems with my computer and all my stuff was erased. That includes what I had already written for this chapter. When something like that happens my ADD kicks in and I just start doing other things. So. . .oops. My attention span just kind went into negative numbers.
Don't worry. I'm adding this to my list of weekly updates.
P.S. If you kill me there will be no one to write this story. . .so nyah.