"The Eden Campaign"
Episode 208 - Old Times (Episode Written by Ensign Calvin and edited by Fixx)
Day 4 (4 SBW)
"When I first landed on Eden with the Wolves, I wasn't prepared for the sight I saw. During the three years I spent with the Roughnecks on over a dozen worlds, I had never seen devastation like I did on Eden. Bodies of the fallen were like the grains of sand on the beach and many wept openly. Our LT pushed us forward, the battle zone, three miles from the center of the city, was one of the most uplifting sights I had ever seen. Men and women fighting against the odds with anything they could just to stop the onslaught on a seemingly invincible machine."
- Dr. Robert "Paperboy" Higgins, from: The Roughneck Chronicles
LOVELL A-19
[The tide has turned,] the Bug Queen said, nestled in safe confines on the Lovell Asteroids. Countless reports were streamed back psychically via her brain bug generals relating the news that the humans were down to controlling the 10 mile radius deep in the heart of the capital city.
New Buenos Ares, the last bastion of hope for the humans on Eden. The humans had heavily fortified the perimeter of the city, but the onrushing tide of warriors had proved to be overwhelming. Dismayed and demoralized, the humans were forced to flee into the aging perimeter left from the first war ten years ago, controlling a thick triangle territory of burning buildings.
Yet all this did not matter to the Queen. Nothing did, now that the human known as Carl Jenkins had been disposed of. Victory was eminent. For a brief moment, the Queen felt a twinge of pity and sympathy for the pathetic humans, and that startled her. She shook herself, clearing her mind of all these unwholesome thoughts. The human race must be exterminated, together with the Tophetti.
She was sure that soon she would make her final move and then, all would be silent.
EDEN
Governor Williams glanced out into the city through his binoculars. It was an unpleasant sight. The bugs had them completely surrounded, and the MI garrison was powerless to stem the tide and defend the weak and innocent. He zoomed in on a housing estate some five miles away, watching as a group civilians stood their grounds against the unstoppable tide of gnashing mandibles. The civilians were pathetically armed and stood little chance, but yet, stood their ground.
It was a short and bloody scrap, as the civilians tried to make their presence known, they would not go down without a fight. The first warrior had fallen under the constant firing, but they were soon out of ammo and rushing them with knives and clubs, anything they could pick up. The remaining warriors had advanced menacingly, an uncontrollable lust for blood driving them forward. Claws engineered genetically to kill, against knives destined for the chopping board. He was glad it was over quickly.
Colonial Governor Williams paced up and down his study in anxiety. He had desperately tried to get Fleet on the horn, but so far, there was no response. He stared out of his window and heard faint sounds of Morita and auto cannon fire, together with death screeches of the Warriors rushing in. Suddenly, he heard the sounds of plasma fire. He quickly found his commlink, and barked out, "Murphy, Lindsey, Ryan, report! What is your status?" Williams tried to relax, but his nerves couldn't.
He hadn't seen battle this bad in years, and the garrison stationed to hold off what was left of a supposedly dwindling species was not enough to stop the water.
* * * * * *
Lt Murphy, leader of Murphy's Marauders, glanced quickly around him before reporting. "Murphy responding? What's the 411? Blue Zone is hot, but the bugs are still being contained. I would sure like to have reinforcements, sir! I don't really fancy 5 troopers and 25 citizens going against about 5 million bugs! Over and out."
Murphy cut the transmission, as he suddenly had more things to contend with. There was a slight breakthrough made by the bugs. He thumbed his grenade and threw it into the area after making sure no human was in its blast radius. Blue Zone is the long left flank of the electric fence defense perimeter, spanning 5 meters.
"Join the Mobile Infantry, see the galaxy." chuckled Murphy bitterly, as he emptied his clip of pulse rounds into the sky darkened by a swarm of Hoppers that had seemed to come from nowhere.
"Open fire! Air Attack Incoming! Evens, maintain the perimeter!" Murphy's sergeant called out to the field commissioned soldiers. Quickly, every other soldier had their weapons trained on the cloud of death heading for them.
Soon the sky was raining flying arachnids, as each of the pulse round took out a section of the insects' appendages. Twitching bug body parts began landing all over the area. The portable chain gun turrets, SICON's response to the flying bug menaces, began spewing out bullets at a high rate of fire. The hulking steel turrets have artificial intelligence, and they fired with deadly accuracy. Waves and waves of warriors were getting scythed down by the chain gun turrets along with the incoming air menace.
The only problem, as if it was any surprise, was ammunition. There simply weren't crates and crates of chain gun rounds for the steel beasts to consume. Murphy heard the faint whirring of the turrets, signaling that it was out of ammo. Murphy grumbled something intelligible, and lobbed 4 thermal grenades into the sea of warriors.
* * * * * *
Lt. Lindsey of Lindsey's Lancers fired a mini grenade from her Morita before patching through to Colonial Command. Red Zone was held by her, which was the horizontal line of the defense perimeter spanning 2 miles. It was the main entry through the electric fence, the most coveted place for the bugs.
"Awful crowded here, Williams. Mind sending me more troopers? Heck, I could use more civilians. The marauders assigned to me were not enough! I need 2 more here, ASAP. Do you get me? The fence had shorted out, repeat, the fence is gone. The bugs are breasting through in waves 2 miles long! I CANNOT hold with 5 troopers, 33 citizens, and 2 Marauders! The plasma wall rockets had been used, and you have 10 minutes to save our butts!" yelled Lindsey into her commlink.
The dazzling blue light and heat emitted from the plasma wall forced Lindsey to survey the area through her snoopers, but she grinned for a while. The warrior bugs were milling in confusion, pushing each other into the plasma fire. The Hoppers were unable to decelerate, zooming straight into obliteration. She glanced off to her right side, and faraway, she could just make out Lt Ryan and his squad of Rangers fending off the bug hordes.
* * * * * *
Lt Ryan, leader of Ryan's Rangers, let loose a hail of rockets at the incoming warriors. He heard the familiar expelling of plasma bug charges and screamed through his commlink for his troopers to take cover. The troopers and citizens dived to the ground for cover, as the sea blue plasma shots engulfed sections of the electric fence together with some of the Warriors.
"I'm having a trouble feeling for my ammo clips, Governor, best suggest you fill up my ammo pouch up, pronto!" spat Ryan, trying to control his fury against his badly trained and equipped "squad".
Ha! 5 men a squad! The top dogs up in SICON are mad! Ryan picked up 2 mini rocket launchers and fired 2 salvoes of 3 rockets each. The death screeches produced by the warriors were oddly satisfying for Ryan. His sergeant rushed to him from the far side of the trench.
"We have three more plasmas on their way from the east."
* * * * * *
Williams rapidly issued orders to his aides, glad and relieved to hear his "generals" at the frontlines responding. The 4 Tactical Fighters that made it to the last airstrip in the defense perimeter took to the air, screaming at top speed towards Ryan's coordinates. From the Federal Armory emerged the last 2 duck marauders, and these 2 great steel beasts hunkered towards Lindsey's Red Zone with a detachment of 18 citizens. No civilians were dispatched, as they were not officially subjects of SICON yet. A frown creased Williams' forehead, as the long range commlink beeped to signal a response from Fleet. Finally! Williams straightened his uniform, and switched on the transmission. An officer saluted Williams, and Williams replied,
"I need backup from any available squads aboard your ships! I also need ground bombardment around this defense perimeter, ASAP!"
The officer held up his hand. "Governor," He said. "I understand your anxiety, but you being an ex-SICON officer understand that there is certain protocol that we must first abide by. Now I ask that you calm down and pay close attention to what I have to say. Understood?"
Williams took a deep breath and sat himself into his chair as explosions ripped the ground apart across the street.
"My name is Commander Dubois of the Jean Razak; I am speaking on behalf of the Ticonderoga, Threshold and Harry Lee per the orders commanding officer, Admiral Carmen Ibanez, in command of the SIS Jean Razak-"
Williams interrupted. "Yes, yes, I know. All formality..."
"This formality has a purpose at the moment Governor." Dubois said with ice in his voice. "As of 2600 hours Eden standard, you are ordered to prepare evacuations of the city and its surrounding areas by Sky Marshal Redwing-Zim."
"Evacuate!" Williams shouted.
"Yes, we will be sending in several squads to help with said evacuations." Dubois let his words hang then his demeanor seemed to change. "We'll be dropping in the Roughnecks within the hour. We don't have long to get you and what people we can off."
Williams sat back in his chair biting his lip and looked away. "I'll order preparations."
"God's speed Governor." Dubois said and the transmission was cut.
* * * * * *
The 4 Tac Fighters streaked towards their targets, flying over the defense perimeter. "Eagle 1, Eagle 2, Eagle 3, this is Exterminator 1. Do you read?" said the leader of the small aerial squadron.
"Ah, we heard you loud and clear. All Eagles responding." crackled the transmissions back to the lead pilot.
"All weapons armed. Bogey's incoming, permission to engage?" shouted Eagle 1, bringing up the air to air missile console.
"All fighters engage the bogeys with care. Remember our mission priority." replied Exterminator. The 4 fighters deployed defensive maneuvers, swerving about to dodge the onrushing hoppers. Missiles lanced out from their ports on the fighters and cut through the air towards their targets, soon causing large clouds of organic debris to spread through the air. Homing chain gun ammo spewed from each of the fighter's twin turrets, maiming and bringing down almost more and more of the enemy, but their supply seemed infinite. With stunning agility and grace, several hoppers dodged and sidestepped the whizzing bullets and screaming missiles. 4 hoppers latched onto Eagle 1 and the fighter began to descend rapidly, due to the increased weight.
"Mayday, mayday, Exterminator. Eagle 1 is down! I'll try to return to New Buenos Ares as best as I can." said Eagle 1, as he used the emergency evacuation button. The hatch was blown away, as the pilot seat shot straight up into the sky. The fighter crashed into the ground and imploded, shredding the 4 hoppers on it with flaming shrapnel.
Eagle 2 and Eagle 3 weren't faring as well either, as each aircraft had 2 hoppers lodged on either wing.
"Stabilizing the aircraft Exterminator 1. Eagle 2 will try to return to base immediately-" both aircrafts' comm. transmissions were cut as a single plasma shot pierced through the hulls of both aircrafts. The aircrafts rocketed straight into each other and collided, creating a fireball that melted the titanium welding of both aircrafts.
I'm the only one left, Exterminator 1 thought as he gripped the steering controls tightly.
Exterminator managed to pilot his fighter and launched four more missiles, which impacted the plasma bugs in a matter of seconds. The result was a simultaneous explosion that rocked the area in a rapidly expanding wave of plasma flames. The fighter was downed, and Exterminator managed to pull off a successful landing. The pilot blew open the hatch, and took up the Fleet modified Morita near his seat. He checked the ammo in the clip. 200 rounds.
Goddamn Fleet for not putting in spare ammo clips for downed pilots, and putting in partially used clips. He hopped down onto the mat of grass, and tried to get his bearings.
"Exterminator to Eden HQ, do you read? Repeat, do you read?" whispered Exterminator fiercely into his commlink. All he got was static. And warrior bugs. Angry warrior bugs. He panicked and began pulling the trigger, shooting blindly at the encircling warriors. 2 fell, and the Morita beeped incessantly to tell him the inevitable. He flipped the Morita and held it like a bat. The first warrior with jaws open to greet him was smacked heavily to the ground by his wide swing. He was preparing to swing the Morita again, when a warrior bit off his arm. His screaming was quickly drowned out by the warrior's massive call of victory over yet another prey fallen.
JEAN RAZAK
Carmen handed over a pad to Rico who quickly scanned and handed it back. He nodded.
"Order's understood Major?" She asked softly.
"Explicitly Admiral." He said saluting.
She began to walk away when his next words caught her.
"But we're the only squad." Rico looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"For now," She replied looking down. "We need a beachhead, executive decision. The Roughnecks have more veteran combat time than any other squad in the task force, and this is an extremely dangerous situation."
"So only one squad?" Rico asked crossing his arms.
"Listen Major, I think you have more important things to worry about. Suit up Major." Carmen said and left the briefing room.
Rico clenched his fists in a silent rage at the audacity of sending one squad into a situation so hopeless. He went into the pre-drop room where Zim had been refreshing the troopers on arachnid tactics and all useful information.
"This is going to be a full blown battle people," Rico interrupted, then entire squad turned to face him as he spoke. He walked through the middle of the room and stood in front of them. "Alpha Squad, you haven't faced battle like this in over eight years, beta squad: never."
Rico took a deep breath. He could feel the anxiety making the air sticky. He smiled. "But hey, we've gotten out of worse."
Every let the tension subside and smiled. The drop klaxons began to blare through out the ship and everyone quickly stood. All were in full power suits, ready to take the fight from the vids to the enemy. The desire to actually do something had reached a fever pitch. The older Roughnecks were at each other's throats while the younger ones were unsure of how to take out their aggression. Rico had taken them into the VR Room and trained with them for a few hours each day, every time increasing the difficulty to get them ready for more than they had ever encountered.
Each trooper moved quickly with refined intuition towards their drop ship, it was a routine drill that Zim had had them running for the past week while Rico and Gossard drew up some ideas for what they may encounter. They decided that nukes would not be used inside the city limits, which was where they most likely would be dropped. Doc had issued morphine caplets to everyone,
"Only take them if you need them," He had said quietly to Rico. "This hasn't really been done on this scale in a long time, we're bound to get injuries, and I may not be able to get to everyone if it gets really nasty."
Grenades had been issued to all troopers with orders to drop them while still in the air to clear a hole inside the bug horde to allow for safe landings.
"And that's when the fun begins," Rico whispered.
"Eh? You say something Major?" Murphy asked turning around as he pulled himself into the drop ship.
"Just talking to myself private," Rico said pulling himself in right behind him.
"Just like the vids right Major?" Murphy asked. Excitement and fear were mixed together on freckled face with a smile of shear enjoyment.
"Not exactly Private," Rico said with a smile. "Just watch your tail down there; you have a bunch of geezers following you around."
"I heard that!" Gossard called from inside the ship.
"Hey Zim, think you could move your elbow?" Max yelled as the two strapped in next to each other.
"Boy, do not make me hurt you!" Zim yelled in his face. "Do have to treat you like a little kid again and make you raise your hand to speak?"
"Hey Zim, you got a dunces cap for him too?" Doc laughed. Muniz chuckled lightly beside him.
"Same for you greenie!" Zim shouted down the row, making Muniz quickly quiet. Murphy strapped himself in between L'Ioo and Gossard.
"Ready for a rush kid?" Gossard asked with a malicious, wide-eyed grin. "You know, if you get hungry down there, the bugs make for a good meal, a little stringy, but overall, kind of like beef."
Kepler vomited inside his helmet as he listened to everyone's banter. He took it off and looked at Rico who was standing on the command daises. A map of the City major and suburbs popped up on the holographic screen. Kepler cleaned out his helmet and sat it next to him.
"Helmet on Private." Rico said turning to him.
"But Major, it smells..." Kepler began before more laughter.
"Should have thought of that before you felt the need to hurl," Rico said turning back to the full squad. "All suits will remain in perfect integrity until we achieve our mission objectives."
Kepler slowly replaced his helmet and breathed in deeply. He began gagging as Rico continued the briefing.
"The Lieutenant has briefed you on everything you need to know about the enemy, his strength and the city. We are landing a mile outside the main city defense perimeter." An isosceles triangle with red, blue and yellow sides traced itself out, the longer side was red. "We're landing the sector designated by the Eden garrison as Red Zone; it's the most stretched out and in need of back up. It is also the area under heaviest attack."
The transport lurched and Rico grabbed the railings as they were rocketed from the launch bay of the Razak. Rico continued his briefing.
"Tankers have been spotted by orbital imaging, so watch you butts guys, we're landing in the belly of the beast." The ship stopped shaking, there was a moment of weightlessness before the artificial gravity took over. "Check your gear, we drop in five." Rico stepped down as the squad all released their restraints and began to prepare for the drop. He quickly approached Kepler who was still in his seat, holding his Morita like a child holds its blanket.
"You okay Private?" Rico asked kneeling next to him and speaking softly as to not startle him.
"Nervous sir, that's all." Kepler replied quickly. "Is it going to be that bad down there?"
"Most likely," Rico glanced at Kepler's leg. "How's your leg?"
"Ship's doctor on the Threshold said it'd be okay. Doc and the Razak's doctor checked it, said I should be okay as long as I don't twist it in any awkward directions."
"Just be on the bounce." Rico said. He took a moment with each trooper, making sure everyone was going to be up to the task. He stepped aside with Zim.
"What do you think?" He asked.
Zim smiled. "Home sweet home." He looked around as everyone was loading supplies onto their belts and making final checks on their suits. "I doubt everyone will make it through though."
"Think so?"
"It's a possibility," Zim looked down for a moment. "The young ones are too nervous; the old ones are too rusty."
"Just like riding a bike Charlie." Rico said with a smile. Then the alarms began to sound.
"This is it people!" Rico bellowed. Every trooper quickly rushed into the drop compartment and stepped into their drop suits. Gossard stopped and looked at his.
"No Marauders." He noticed then stepped inside. The pieces all slid into place and locked. Everyone sat there, suspended in the stillness as the alarms blared.
Rico took a breath. "Live forever apes."
"Ho!"
EDEN
Lindsey put her hand to the com and increased the volume. "Say again command?"
The shooting and screaming was intense. The street corner where she'd made her small command post for the two dozen troopers was alive with activity as the marauders shot continuously into the coming warriors who were squeezing their way down the narrow street. The buildings were all aflame and crumbling under the constant barrage.
"The Roughnecks will be landing in your sector Lieutenant!" the voice shouted back elatedly. "Major Rico is actually here."
"Copy command!" Lindsey said with a satisfied smile. She looked up as the sonic boom echoed through out the city; she could see nine streaks of fire burning through the clouds heading in her direction. The troopers present all began to let out cries of triumph and fought with a newfound strength.
The great Major Rico was here at Eden. The Roughnecks.
* * * * * *
Rico glanced at his chronometer. "Jettison pods... now! Lob the grenades!" he shouted into his mouthpiece.
Drop suits burst into hundreds of tiny parts, revealing the troopers within them. They quickly began to lob their grenades beneath them into the milling mass of warrior bugs.
The jets fired and each trooper maneuvered around the burning hulks and landed just as the heat wave generated from the grenades passed. They quickly produced their Moritas and began firing on the stunned enemy. The electric fence was a mile away from them, and in that one mile, there was still a sea of warriors to contend with. Hoppers swooped down like eagles drawn to preys from the reddening sky above.
A plasma shot erupted dangerously close to the Roughnecks as the moved quickly towards their objective, which signaled the presence of plasma bugs too. Rico growled and screamed for his troopers to double time. He sprayed his Morita into the sea of warriors, which was confused at the sudden arrival of more humans. Several warriors dropped and Rico found a clear path between him and the fence.
By now, the Roughnecks had carved out a hole in the bug hordes and were standing in a tight circle. Rico motioned for Muniz and Kepler to use the rocket launchers. There was not a moment of hesitation, as Muniz and Kepler expertly loaded the caches of 3 missiles into the 2 launchers.
"Fire in the hole!" whooped Muniz, as a rocket streaked from his launcher into a group of warriors. The rocket barreled deep into a warrior's carapace, and exploded, throwing warriors everywhere. The temporary hole caused by the explosions quickly began to fill with more warriors looking for their kill. Rico looked about and finally thought of an insanely dangerous plan, one he'd pulled off in his younger days. It was risky, but it was the best chance for all of them to make it through.
"Jump jets! Use them and use the warrior carapaces to step on! Make a path to the perimeter! Move apes, Move!" exclaimed Rico. He activated the jets and began bouncing on the confused bugs.
His troopers were quick to follow Rico's example and began bouncing across the heads confused and shaken bugs who were still trying to recover from the rapid concussions of the grenades and rockets.
Rico slid in through the front gate of the electric fence, as he saw most of his troopers scaling the fence. Lord bless the guy who invented rubber and insulated suite, thought Rico as he took out a charge. He set the fuse for a two minute detonation, and spoke in the all comms.
"two minutes till a big boom! Take cover people!" laughed Rico, as he threw the charge. It flew in a wide arc, and landed a few hundred meters away from him. He sprinted the remaining distance to safety and ducked down. Rico smiled a lady he had never met, yet wearing the rank of the lieutenant. With a brilliant flash of light, a huge fireball generated by the charge incinerated a large number of the warriors and hoppers, creating large heat shockwaves which traveled all about.
Debris from the ground was falling for a few moments on troopers who had hid behind the barriers hastily set up days ago. Rico stood up and flipped his snoopers down. The bugs were in complete confusion and in retreat for the moment. He smiled warmly at the Lieutenant beside him, presumably Lindsey. Lindsey blushed and saluted Rico.
"Nothing like a brief victory, eh Lieutenant?" Rico asked.
"I suppose sir." She said quietly putting down her hand. Rico smiled again and moved beyond her.
"Doc, begin assessing the wounded, I want them ready to move! Gossard, find someway to get this entire perimeter up and working!" Rico shouted, Lindsey was wondering what was going on. "Zim, you, L'Ioo, and Kepler check our north perimeter, get back to me ASAP. Brutto, you Murphy and Kepler, to the south, same orders!" He watched as they all split to carry out his orders. Rico removed his helmet and turned to Lindsey who was awe struck and confused.
"I want as many as the wounded out of here, ASAP, radio for the same to the other squads. I want their Zones ready to collapse."
"Collapse, sir?" Lindsey asked.
"We're falling into the inner city. Easier to defend, we have three more squads who will be dropping into the city within the next three hours as back up. I want everyone ready to move by that time." Rico said, he looked into the burning city. "We're leaving."
"Leaving, sir?" Lindsey was getting angry. If he was getting at what she thought he was getting at, there were going to be major problems.
"We're to have this planet evac'd in the next few days."
"But, sir!" Lindsey yelled.
"Listen Lieutenant, there are bugs all over this galaxy right now; we cannot hold this line with our supplies! We are ordered to evacuate the planet! Now, you will assist or I'll have Lieutenant Zim put you under arrest until we can get off of this rock! Am I understood?"
Lindsey was taken back. "Yes, sir!" she quickly replied.
"Good, secure your perimeter." He turned to Doc who was bent over a dying man. He approached him slowly and kneeled. The young man recognized Rico and smiled.
"A-are you Major Rico?" He wheezed holding out his hand. Rico took it.
"Massive burns and fractures," Doc said quietly. "Internal bleeding, ruptured kidneys and a pierced lung. They say he kept fighting though, until someone pulled him away."
"Yes, I'm Major Rico son." Rico smiled and gripped the young man's hand tighter.
"You're going to take E-Eden b-b-back?" he coughed heavily, heaving blood out.
"I gave him what morphine I had to ease the pain. He's not even MI. He snuck onto a truck I heard, and they needed him so he stayed."
"Yes, I'm going to take Eden back." Rico said brushing some blood encrusted hair away from the kid's eyes. The young man closed his eyes. "Rest." Rico said.
"He's gone." Doc said. Both stood and took in the scene around them. Rico turned to him.
"We need to get out of here." Rico said. He began to help Doc get the wounded ready to move while the remaining fighters took the lull to get ready for the move. Rico had Lindsey radio out for the move and made sure they all made a one mile radial perimeter around the Eden HQ. Things were going to get tricky.
JEAN RAZAK
Captain O'Hare looked back at Carmen over the link. He shook his head disappointedly. "It'll take two hours, but yeah, we can do it."
"Good, there's only one city you have to worry about, just get the people out of there. But watch out," Carmen said smiling.
"I know, bugs are on the move, about a day away?" He asked.
"Yeah, so you should have time to get everyone off safely."
"And if they don't want to come?"
"They don't have a choice." Carmen said looking into Michael.
"Understood." He took a breath then held up a data pad. "You get this?" He asked pointing at it.
"Yes, I got it." She replied quietly.
"So you know what this means?"
"Yes," She said pulling out a small disc and inserting it into the transfer port. She activated the port and began the information transfer which Michael quickly received. "New rendezvous point, with two additional task forces."
Michael read the information. "I can't believe this is happening."
"Believe it Captain," Carmen said as Michael continued to scan the info. She looked at a clock on the corner of the screen. "You have your orders Captain, best get to them."
"Of course sir," He said without looking up. Carmen cut the feed and lowered her head. The news was that bad. SICON reported massive insurgences of bugs galaxy wide, and the mobilization of troops were made too slow. Retaking Eden and Klendathu by force are now options that the severely weakened Mobile Infantry cannot consider. There were simply too many planets, yet too little trained veterans to take care of these planets. She had to act fast if she were to even extract the soldiers on Eden. The bugs were constantly replenishing their fallen with more of themselves, and MI could ill afford to do so. She signaled her aides to send down a signal for immediate evacuation soon after the defense perimeter is abandoned. All is lost if the defense line breaks.
"For everything there is a
season,
A time for every purpose
under heaven:
A time to be born,
and a time to die;
A time to plant,
and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill,
and a time to heal;
A time to break down,
and a time to build up;
A time to weep,
and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek,
and a time to lose;
A time to keep,
and a time to cast away;
A time to rend,
and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
and a time to speak;
A time to love,
and a time to hate;
A time for war,
and a time for peace."
Ecclesiastes 3:01-08
Episode 208 - Old Times (Episode Written by Ensign Calvin and edited by Fixx)
Day 4 (4 SBW)
"When I first landed on Eden with the Wolves, I wasn't prepared for the sight I saw. During the three years I spent with the Roughnecks on over a dozen worlds, I had never seen devastation like I did on Eden. Bodies of the fallen were like the grains of sand on the beach and many wept openly. Our LT pushed us forward, the battle zone, three miles from the center of the city, was one of the most uplifting sights I had ever seen. Men and women fighting against the odds with anything they could just to stop the onslaught on a seemingly invincible machine."
- Dr. Robert "Paperboy" Higgins, from: The Roughneck Chronicles
LOVELL A-19
[The tide has turned,] the Bug Queen said, nestled in safe confines on the Lovell Asteroids. Countless reports were streamed back psychically via her brain bug generals relating the news that the humans were down to controlling the 10 mile radius deep in the heart of the capital city.
New Buenos Ares, the last bastion of hope for the humans on Eden. The humans had heavily fortified the perimeter of the city, but the onrushing tide of warriors had proved to be overwhelming. Dismayed and demoralized, the humans were forced to flee into the aging perimeter left from the first war ten years ago, controlling a thick triangle territory of burning buildings.
Yet all this did not matter to the Queen. Nothing did, now that the human known as Carl Jenkins had been disposed of. Victory was eminent. For a brief moment, the Queen felt a twinge of pity and sympathy for the pathetic humans, and that startled her. She shook herself, clearing her mind of all these unwholesome thoughts. The human race must be exterminated, together with the Tophetti.
She was sure that soon she would make her final move and then, all would be silent.
EDEN
Governor Williams glanced out into the city through his binoculars. It was an unpleasant sight. The bugs had them completely surrounded, and the MI garrison was powerless to stem the tide and defend the weak and innocent. He zoomed in on a housing estate some five miles away, watching as a group civilians stood their grounds against the unstoppable tide of gnashing mandibles. The civilians were pathetically armed and stood little chance, but yet, stood their ground.
It was a short and bloody scrap, as the civilians tried to make their presence known, they would not go down without a fight. The first warrior had fallen under the constant firing, but they were soon out of ammo and rushing them with knives and clubs, anything they could pick up. The remaining warriors had advanced menacingly, an uncontrollable lust for blood driving them forward. Claws engineered genetically to kill, against knives destined for the chopping board. He was glad it was over quickly.
Colonial Governor Williams paced up and down his study in anxiety. He had desperately tried to get Fleet on the horn, but so far, there was no response. He stared out of his window and heard faint sounds of Morita and auto cannon fire, together with death screeches of the Warriors rushing in. Suddenly, he heard the sounds of plasma fire. He quickly found his commlink, and barked out, "Murphy, Lindsey, Ryan, report! What is your status?" Williams tried to relax, but his nerves couldn't.
He hadn't seen battle this bad in years, and the garrison stationed to hold off what was left of a supposedly dwindling species was not enough to stop the water.
Lt Murphy, leader of Murphy's Marauders, glanced quickly around him before reporting. "Murphy responding? What's the 411? Blue Zone is hot, but the bugs are still being contained. I would sure like to have reinforcements, sir! I don't really fancy 5 troopers and 25 citizens going against about 5 million bugs! Over and out."
Murphy cut the transmission, as he suddenly had more things to contend with. There was a slight breakthrough made by the bugs. He thumbed his grenade and threw it into the area after making sure no human was in its blast radius. Blue Zone is the long left flank of the electric fence defense perimeter, spanning 5 meters.
"Join the Mobile Infantry, see the galaxy." chuckled Murphy bitterly, as he emptied his clip of pulse rounds into the sky darkened by a swarm of Hoppers that had seemed to come from nowhere.
"Open fire! Air Attack Incoming! Evens, maintain the perimeter!" Murphy's sergeant called out to the field commissioned soldiers. Quickly, every other soldier had their weapons trained on the cloud of death heading for them.
Soon the sky was raining flying arachnids, as each of the pulse round took out a section of the insects' appendages. Twitching bug body parts began landing all over the area. The portable chain gun turrets, SICON's response to the flying bug menaces, began spewing out bullets at a high rate of fire. The hulking steel turrets have artificial intelligence, and they fired with deadly accuracy. Waves and waves of warriors were getting scythed down by the chain gun turrets along with the incoming air menace.
The only problem, as if it was any surprise, was ammunition. There simply weren't crates and crates of chain gun rounds for the steel beasts to consume. Murphy heard the faint whirring of the turrets, signaling that it was out of ammo. Murphy grumbled something intelligible, and lobbed 4 thermal grenades into the sea of warriors.
Lt. Lindsey of Lindsey's Lancers fired a mini grenade from her Morita before patching through to Colonial Command. Red Zone was held by her, which was the horizontal line of the defense perimeter spanning 2 miles. It was the main entry through the electric fence, the most coveted place for the bugs.
"Awful crowded here, Williams. Mind sending me more troopers? Heck, I could use more civilians. The marauders assigned to me were not enough! I need 2 more here, ASAP. Do you get me? The fence had shorted out, repeat, the fence is gone. The bugs are breasting through in waves 2 miles long! I CANNOT hold with 5 troopers, 33 citizens, and 2 Marauders! The plasma wall rockets had been used, and you have 10 minutes to save our butts!" yelled Lindsey into her commlink.
The dazzling blue light and heat emitted from the plasma wall forced Lindsey to survey the area through her snoopers, but she grinned for a while. The warrior bugs were milling in confusion, pushing each other into the plasma fire. The Hoppers were unable to decelerate, zooming straight into obliteration. She glanced off to her right side, and faraway, she could just make out Lt Ryan and his squad of Rangers fending off the bug hordes.
Lt Ryan, leader of Ryan's Rangers, let loose a hail of rockets at the incoming warriors. He heard the familiar expelling of plasma bug charges and screamed through his commlink for his troopers to take cover. The troopers and citizens dived to the ground for cover, as the sea blue plasma shots engulfed sections of the electric fence together with some of the Warriors.
"I'm having a trouble feeling for my ammo clips, Governor, best suggest you fill up my ammo pouch up, pronto!" spat Ryan, trying to control his fury against his badly trained and equipped "squad".
Ha! 5 men a squad! The top dogs up in SICON are mad! Ryan picked up 2 mini rocket launchers and fired 2 salvoes of 3 rockets each. The death screeches produced by the warriors were oddly satisfying for Ryan. His sergeant rushed to him from the far side of the trench.
"We have three more plasmas on their way from the east."
Williams rapidly issued orders to his aides, glad and relieved to hear his "generals" at the frontlines responding. The 4 Tactical Fighters that made it to the last airstrip in the defense perimeter took to the air, screaming at top speed towards Ryan's coordinates. From the Federal Armory emerged the last 2 duck marauders, and these 2 great steel beasts hunkered towards Lindsey's Red Zone with a detachment of 18 citizens. No civilians were dispatched, as they were not officially subjects of SICON yet. A frown creased Williams' forehead, as the long range commlink beeped to signal a response from Fleet. Finally! Williams straightened his uniform, and switched on the transmission. An officer saluted Williams, and Williams replied,
"I need backup from any available squads aboard your ships! I also need ground bombardment around this defense perimeter, ASAP!"
The officer held up his hand. "Governor," He said. "I understand your anxiety, but you being an ex-SICON officer understand that there is certain protocol that we must first abide by. Now I ask that you calm down and pay close attention to what I have to say. Understood?"
Williams took a deep breath and sat himself into his chair as explosions ripped the ground apart across the street.
"My name is Commander Dubois of the Jean Razak; I am speaking on behalf of the Ticonderoga, Threshold and Harry Lee per the orders commanding officer, Admiral Carmen Ibanez, in command of the SIS Jean Razak-"
Williams interrupted. "Yes, yes, I know. All formality..."
"This formality has a purpose at the moment Governor." Dubois said with ice in his voice. "As of 2600 hours Eden standard, you are ordered to prepare evacuations of the city and its surrounding areas by Sky Marshal Redwing-Zim."
"Evacuate!" Williams shouted.
"Yes, we will be sending in several squads to help with said evacuations." Dubois let his words hang then his demeanor seemed to change. "We'll be dropping in the Roughnecks within the hour. We don't have long to get you and what people we can off."
Williams sat back in his chair biting his lip and looked away. "I'll order preparations."
"God's speed Governor." Dubois said and the transmission was cut.
The 4 Tac Fighters streaked towards their targets, flying over the defense perimeter. "Eagle 1, Eagle 2, Eagle 3, this is Exterminator 1. Do you read?" said the leader of the small aerial squadron.
"Ah, we heard you loud and clear. All Eagles responding." crackled the transmissions back to the lead pilot.
"All weapons armed. Bogey's incoming, permission to engage?" shouted Eagle 1, bringing up the air to air missile console.
"All fighters engage the bogeys with care. Remember our mission priority." replied Exterminator. The 4 fighters deployed defensive maneuvers, swerving about to dodge the onrushing hoppers. Missiles lanced out from their ports on the fighters and cut through the air towards their targets, soon causing large clouds of organic debris to spread through the air. Homing chain gun ammo spewed from each of the fighter's twin turrets, maiming and bringing down almost more and more of the enemy, but their supply seemed infinite. With stunning agility and grace, several hoppers dodged and sidestepped the whizzing bullets and screaming missiles. 4 hoppers latched onto Eagle 1 and the fighter began to descend rapidly, due to the increased weight.
"Mayday, mayday, Exterminator. Eagle 1 is down! I'll try to return to New Buenos Ares as best as I can." said Eagle 1, as he used the emergency evacuation button. The hatch was blown away, as the pilot seat shot straight up into the sky. The fighter crashed into the ground and imploded, shredding the 4 hoppers on it with flaming shrapnel.
Eagle 2 and Eagle 3 weren't faring as well either, as each aircraft had 2 hoppers lodged on either wing.
"Stabilizing the aircraft Exterminator 1. Eagle 2 will try to return to base immediately-" both aircrafts' comm. transmissions were cut as a single plasma shot pierced through the hulls of both aircrafts. The aircrafts rocketed straight into each other and collided, creating a fireball that melted the titanium welding of both aircrafts.
I'm the only one left, Exterminator 1 thought as he gripped the steering controls tightly.
Exterminator managed to pilot his fighter and launched four more missiles, which impacted the plasma bugs in a matter of seconds. The result was a simultaneous explosion that rocked the area in a rapidly expanding wave of plasma flames. The fighter was downed, and Exterminator managed to pull off a successful landing. The pilot blew open the hatch, and took up the Fleet modified Morita near his seat. He checked the ammo in the clip. 200 rounds.
Goddamn Fleet for not putting in spare ammo clips for downed pilots, and putting in partially used clips. He hopped down onto the mat of grass, and tried to get his bearings.
"Exterminator to Eden HQ, do you read? Repeat, do you read?" whispered Exterminator fiercely into his commlink. All he got was static. And warrior bugs. Angry warrior bugs. He panicked and began pulling the trigger, shooting blindly at the encircling warriors. 2 fell, and the Morita beeped incessantly to tell him the inevitable. He flipped the Morita and held it like a bat. The first warrior with jaws open to greet him was smacked heavily to the ground by his wide swing. He was preparing to swing the Morita again, when a warrior bit off his arm. His screaming was quickly drowned out by the warrior's massive call of victory over yet another prey fallen.
JEAN RAZAK
Carmen handed over a pad to Rico who quickly scanned and handed it back. He nodded.
"Order's understood Major?" She asked softly.
"Explicitly Admiral." He said saluting.
She began to walk away when his next words caught her.
"But we're the only squad." Rico looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
"For now," She replied looking down. "We need a beachhead, executive decision. The Roughnecks have more veteran combat time than any other squad in the task force, and this is an extremely dangerous situation."
"So only one squad?" Rico asked crossing his arms.
"Listen Major, I think you have more important things to worry about. Suit up Major." Carmen said and left the briefing room.
Rico clenched his fists in a silent rage at the audacity of sending one squad into a situation so hopeless. He went into the pre-drop room where Zim had been refreshing the troopers on arachnid tactics and all useful information.
"This is going to be a full blown battle people," Rico interrupted, then entire squad turned to face him as he spoke. He walked through the middle of the room and stood in front of them. "Alpha Squad, you haven't faced battle like this in over eight years, beta squad: never."
Rico took a deep breath. He could feel the anxiety making the air sticky. He smiled. "But hey, we've gotten out of worse."
Every let the tension subside and smiled. The drop klaxons began to blare through out the ship and everyone quickly stood. All were in full power suits, ready to take the fight from the vids to the enemy. The desire to actually do something had reached a fever pitch. The older Roughnecks were at each other's throats while the younger ones were unsure of how to take out their aggression. Rico had taken them into the VR Room and trained with them for a few hours each day, every time increasing the difficulty to get them ready for more than they had ever encountered.
Each trooper moved quickly with refined intuition towards their drop ship, it was a routine drill that Zim had had them running for the past week while Rico and Gossard drew up some ideas for what they may encounter. They decided that nukes would not be used inside the city limits, which was where they most likely would be dropped. Doc had issued morphine caplets to everyone,
"Only take them if you need them," He had said quietly to Rico. "This hasn't really been done on this scale in a long time, we're bound to get injuries, and I may not be able to get to everyone if it gets really nasty."
Grenades had been issued to all troopers with orders to drop them while still in the air to clear a hole inside the bug horde to allow for safe landings.
"And that's when the fun begins," Rico whispered.
"Eh? You say something Major?" Murphy asked turning around as he pulled himself into the drop ship.
"Just talking to myself private," Rico said pulling himself in right behind him.
"Just like the vids right Major?" Murphy asked. Excitement and fear were mixed together on freckled face with a smile of shear enjoyment.
"Not exactly Private," Rico said with a smile. "Just watch your tail down there; you have a bunch of geezers following you around."
"I heard that!" Gossard called from inside the ship.
"Hey Zim, think you could move your elbow?" Max yelled as the two strapped in next to each other.
"Boy, do not make me hurt you!" Zim yelled in his face. "Do have to treat you like a little kid again and make you raise your hand to speak?"
"Hey Zim, you got a dunces cap for him too?" Doc laughed. Muniz chuckled lightly beside him.
"Same for you greenie!" Zim shouted down the row, making Muniz quickly quiet. Murphy strapped himself in between L'Ioo and Gossard.
"Ready for a rush kid?" Gossard asked with a malicious, wide-eyed grin. "You know, if you get hungry down there, the bugs make for a good meal, a little stringy, but overall, kind of like beef."
Kepler vomited inside his helmet as he listened to everyone's banter. He took it off and looked at Rico who was standing on the command daises. A map of the City major and suburbs popped up on the holographic screen. Kepler cleaned out his helmet and sat it next to him.
"Helmet on Private." Rico said turning to him.
"But Major, it smells..." Kepler began before more laughter.
"Should have thought of that before you felt the need to hurl," Rico said turning back to the full squad. "All suits will remain in perfect integrity until we achieve our mission objectives."
Kepler slowly replaced his helmet and breathed in deeply. He began gagging as Rico continued the briefing.
"The Lieutenant has briefed you on everything you need to know about the enemy, his strength and the city. We are landing a mile outside the main city defense perimeter." An isosceles triangle with red, blue and yellow sides traced itself out, the longer side was red. "We're landing the sector designated by the Eden garrison as Red Zone; it's the most stretched out and in need of back up. It is also the area under heaviest attack."
The transport lurched and Rico grabbed the railings as they were rocketed from the launch bay of the Razak. Rico continued his briefing.
"Tankers have been spotted by orbital imaging, so watch you butts guys, we're landing in the belly of the beast." The ship stopped shaking, there was a moment of weightlessness before the artificial gravity took over. "Check your gear, we drop in five." Rico stepped down as the squad all released their restraints and began to prepare for the drop. He quickly approached Kepler who was still in his seat, holding his Morita like a child holds its blanket.
"You okay Private?" Rico asked kneeling next to him and speaking softly as to not startle him.
"Nervous sir, that's all." Kepler replied quickly. "Is it going to be that bad down there?"
"Most likely," Rico glanced at Kepler's leg. "How's your leg?"
"Ship's doctor on the Threshold said it'd be okay. Doc and the Razak's doctor checked it, said I should be okay as long as I don't twist it in any awkward directions."
"Just be on the bounce." Rico said. He took a moment with each trooper, making sure everyone was going to be up to the task. He stepped aside with Zim.
"What do you think?" He asked.
Zim smiled. "Home sweet home." He looked around as everyone was loading supplies onto their belts and making final checks on their suits. "I doubt everyone will make it through though."
"Think so?"
"It's a possibility," Zim looked down for a moment. "The young ones are too nervous; the old ones are too rusty."
"Just like riding a bike Charlie." Rico said with a smile. Then the alarms began to sound.
"This is it people!" Rico bellowed. Every trooper quickly rushed into the drop compartment and stepped into their drop suits. Gossard stopped and looked at his.
"No Marauders." He noticed then stepped inside. The pieces all slid into place and locked. Everyone sat there, suspended in the stillness as the alarms blared.
Rico took a breath. "Live forever apes."
"Ho!"
EDEN
Lindsey put her hand to the com and increased the volume. "Say again command?"
The shooting and screaming was intense. The street corner where she'd made her small command post for the two dozen troopers was alive with activity as the marauders shot continuously into the coming warriors who were squeezing their way down the narrow street. The buildings were all aflame and crumbling under the constant barrage.
"The Roughnecks will be landing in your sector Lieutenant!" the voice shouted back elatedly. "Major Rico is actually here."
"Copy command!" Lindsey said with a satisfied smile. She looked up as the sonic boom echoed through out the city; she could see nine streaks of fire burning through the clouds heading in her direction. The troopers present all began to let out cries of triumph and fought with a newfound strength.
The great Major Rico was here at Eden. The Roughnecks.
Rico glanced at his chronometer. "Jettison pods... now! Lob the grenades!" he shouted into his mouthpiece.
Drop suits burst into hundreds of tiny parts, revealing the troopers within them. They quickly began to lob their grenades beneath them into the milling mass of warrior bugs.
The jets fired and each trooper maneuvered around the burning hulks and landed just as the heat wave generated from the grenades passed. They quickly produced their Moritas and began firing on the stunned enemy. The electric fence was a mile away from them, and in that one mile, there was still a sea of warriors to contend with. Hoppers swooped down like eagles drawn to preys from the reddening sky above.
A plasma shot erupted dangerously close to the Roughnecks as the moved quickly towards their objective, which signaled the presence of plasma bugs too. Rico growled and screamed for his troopers to double time. He sprayed his Morita into the sea of warriors, which was confused at the sudden arrival of more humans. Several warriors dropped and Rico found a clear path between him and the fence.
By now, the Roughnecks had carved out a hole in the bug hordes and were standing in a tight circle. Rico motioned for Muniz and Kepler to use the rocket launchers. There was not a moment of hesitation, as Muniz and Kepler expertly loaded the caches of 3 missiles into the 2 launchers.
"Fire in the hole!" whooped Muniz, as a rocket streaked from his launcher into a group of warriors. The rocket barreled deep into a warrior's carapace, and exploded, throwing warriors everywhere. The temporary hole caused by the explosions quickly began to fill with more warriors looking for their kill. Rico looked about and finally thought of an insanely dangerous plan, one he'd pulled off in his younger days. It was risky, but it was the best chance for all of them to make it through.
"Jump jets! Use them and use the warrior carapaces to step on! Make a path to the perimeter! Move apes, Move!" exclaimed Rico. He activated the jets and began bouncing on the confused bugs.
His troopers were quick to follow Rico's example and began bouncing across the heads confused and shaken bugs who were still trying to recover from the rapid concussions of the grenades and rockets.
Rico slid in through the front gate of the electric fence, as he saw most of his troopers scaling the fence. Lord bless the guy who invented rubber and insulated suite, thought Rico as he took out a charge. He set the fuse for a two minute detonation, and spoke in the all comms.
"two minutes till a big boom! Take cover people!" laughed Rico, as he threw the charge. It flew in a wide arc, and landed a few hundred meters away from him. He sprinted the remaining distance to safety and ducked down. Rico smiled a lady he had never met, yet wearing the rank of the lieutenant. With a brilliant flash of light, a huge fireball generated by the charge incinerated a large number of the warriors and hoppers, creating large heat shockwaves which traveled all about.
Debris from the ground was falling for a few moments on troopers who had hid behind the barriers hastily set up days ago. Rico stood up and flipped his snoopers down. The bugs were in complete confusion and in retreat for the moment. He smiled warmly at the Lieutenant beside him, presumably Lindsey. Lindsey blushed and saluted Rico.
"Nothing like a brief victory, eh Lieutenant?" Rico asked.
"I suppose sir." She said quietly putting down her hand. Rico smiled again and moved beyond her.
"Doc, begin assessing the wounded, I want them ready to move! Gossard, find someway to get this entire perimeter up and working!" Rico shouted, Lindsey was wondering what was going on. "Zim, you, L'Ioo, and Kepler check our north perimeter, get back to me ASAP. Brutto, you Murphy and Kepler, to the south, same orders!" He watched as they all split to carry out his orders. Rico removed his helmet and turned to Lindsey who was awe struck and confused.
"I want as many as the wounded out of here, ASAP, radio for the same to the other squads. I want their Zones ready to collapse."
"Collapse, sir?" Lindsey asked.
"We're falling into the inner city. Easier to defend, we have three more squads who will be dropping into the city within the next three hours as back up. I want everyone ready to move by that time." Rico said, he looked into the burning city. "We're leaving."
"Leaving, sir?" Lindsey was getting angry. If he was getting at what she thought he was getting at, there were going to be major problems.
"We're to have this planet evac'd in the next few days."
"But, sir!" Lindsey yelled.
"Listen Lieutenant, there are bugs all over this galaxy right now; we cannot hold this line with our supplies! We are ordered to evacuate the planet! Now, you will assist or I'll have Lieutenant Zim put you under arrest until we can get off of this rock! Am I understood?"
Lindsey was taken back. "Yes, sir!" she quickly replied.
"Good, secure your perimeter." He turned to Doc who was bent over a dying man. He approached him slowly and kneeled. The young man recognized Rico and smiled.
"A-are you Major Rico?" He wheezed holding out his hand. Rico took it.
"Massive burns and fractures," Doc said quietly. "Internal bleeding, ruptured kidneys and a pierced lung. They say he kept fighting though, until someone pulled him away."
"Yes, I'm Major Rico son." Rico smiled and gripped the young man's hand tighter.
"You're going to take E-Eden b-b-back?" he coughed heavily, heaving blood out.
"I gave him what morphine I had to ease the pain. He's not even MI. He snuck onto a truck I heard, and they needed him so he stayed."
"Yes, I'm going to take Eden back." Rico said brushing some blood encrusted hair away from the kid's eyes. The young man closed his eyes. "Rest." Rico said.
"He's gone." Doc said. Both stood and took in the scene around them. Rico turned to him.
"We need to get out of here." Rico said. He began to help Doc get the wounded ready to move while the remaining fighters took the lull to get ready for the move. Rico had Lindsey radio out for the move and made sure they all made a one mile radial perimeter around the Eden HQ. Things were going to get tricky.
JEAN RAZAK
Captain O'Hare looked back at Carmen over the link. He shook his head disappointedly. "It'll take two hours, but yeah, we can do it."
"Good, there's only one city you have to worry about, just get the people out of there. But watch out," Carmen said smiling.
"I know, bugs are on the move, about a day away?" He asked.
"Yeah, so you should have time to get everyone off safely."
"And if they don't want to come?"
"They don't have a choice." Carmen said looking into Michael.
"Understood." He took a breath then held up a data pad. "You get this?" He asked pointing at it.
"Yes, I got it." She replied quietly.
"So you know what this means?"
"Yes," She said pulling out a small disc and inserting it into the transfer port. She activated the port and began the information transfer which Michael quickly received. "New rendezvous point, with two additional task forces."
Michael read the information. "I can't believe this is happening."
"Believe it Captain," Carmen said as Michael continued to scan the info. She looked at a clock on the corner of the screen. "You have your orders Captain, best get to them."
"Of course sir," He said without looking up. Carmen cut the feed and lowered her head. The news was that bad. SICON reported massive insurgences of bugs galaxy wide, and the mobilization of troops were made too slow. Retaking Eden and Klendathu by force are now options that the severely weakened Mobile Infantry cannot consider. There were simply too many planets, yet too little trained veterans to take care of these planets. She had to act fast if she were to even extract the soldiers on Eden. The bugs were constantly replenishing their fallen with more of themselves, and MI could ill afford to do so. She signaled her aides to send down a signal for immediate evacuation soon after the defense perimeter is abandoned. All is lost if the defense line breaks.
"For everything there is a
season,
A time for every purpose
under heaven:
A time to be born,
and a time to die;
A time to plant,
and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill,
and a time to heal;
A time to break down,
and a time to build up;
A time to weep,
and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek,
and a time to lose;
A time to keep,
and a time to cast away;
A time to rend,
and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
and a time to speak;
A time to love,
and a time to hate;
A time for war,
and a time for peace."
Ecclesiastes 3:01-08