Chapter Seven: Not a Love Letter, But Close

The next three days passed in much the same way as the first: it was hot, we had Reynolds check on the platoon, another night patrol, a short company briefing or two, and many interruptions when I was either eating or asleep. I went down the lines to talk to my platoon members, listening and encouraging, and rotated teams of four to the observation post. I also focused as much time as I could on Beesner, making sure he kept busy and was coping ok.

On the fourth day, I spent the morning in Kingston's command post, discussing plans on how our relief was to arrive the next day. It had been decided by Battalion HQ that Bravo would maintain its position until our relief came at 1400 hours tomorrow. This would prevent us from leaving the lines entirely unattended while the next group showed up.

It was noon now. I walked under the direct rays of both suns as I made my way to the hole I shared with my aide. Soon, I would have to go to the medic's tent so that Petty Officer Reynolds could make his first check of the day.

"Lieutenant Cooper!"

A Marine in full battle gear came running towards me, trailing sweat the whole way. He stopped in front of me and I noticed that his insignia was not the same as mine; he was from a different unit.

"What do you need, Lance Corporal?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"Mail, ma'am," the Marine said. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant…I was supposed to give you this a few days ago with everyone else's, but it got lost in the shuffle. Took me a while to find you guys all the way out here." He dug in his pack and handed me five rectangle-shaped cartridges. "Here you go, ma'am. Again, I apologize for---"

I waved a dismissive hand at him. "No worries. Thanks for tracking me down."

The lance corporal brightened. "You're welcome, Lieutenant." And just as quickly as he'd arrived, he was gone again.

I continued towards my hole, which was now only a few yards away, happily holding my letters. Unfortunately, only official notices, messages, and news came up on military datapads. For any unauthorized messages, everyone had to wait for the mail to show up.

Jumping into my foxhole, I placed my rifle in its usual spot and looked at the five cartridges. One was from my mother; strangely, the address was on Earth, not Mars, but I was sure she'd explain. Three others were from my siblings: my older brother Lieutenant Commander Mark Cooper, my younger brother Second Lieutenant Travis Cooper, and our little sister Officer Cadet Allison Cooper. It was the final letter, however, that put a wide grin on my face.

"Hey, you finally got your stuff, El-Tee," Beesner said, sitting up from his slumped position. Seeing my expression, he gave me a quizzical look. "Who's that from?"

"My husband," I replied, pulling my datapad out of one of my pockets.

Beesner coughed and I glanced up at him for a second. There it was: the private's cheeks turned red as my home planet.

I shook my head, trying hard not to laugh at Beesner's expression. I leaned back in the hole as I took the small, thin card from the cartridge and placed it into my datapad. I pressed a button and waited to see the video letter; after a five-second load time, a Marine's face, serious, appeared onscreen.

"Lieutenant William 'Willis' Hawk here. December 31, 2551. 2147 hours, location classified," he said, beginning the video with the customary information first. Then his face broke into a big smile as his real message began. "Hey, Coop, it's me. Just waiting for the New Year to ring in, wishing you were here. My squadron and I have been on maneuvers all day, even though it's New Year's Eve, but at least they gave us the night off. I'm trying hard to stay relatively sober so this message will be coherent."

I laughed. God, I missed him.

"We flight-tested new prototypes this week, and of course it's all stuff I can't talk about," Willis continued with a wink. "But we also flew practice missions with the standard birds, and training's been getting tougher and tougher. I've got the feeling that there may be something big coming up soon, but who knows.

"Besides the training, me and some of the others pilots have been on combat runs a couple times. Mostly routine, but I'll admit it has gotten a little hairy out there. Try not to worry about me, though. I think I know what I'm doing." Willis chuckled a bit and grabbed a beer bottle from somewhere off-screen. He took a drink and then raised it towards me. "Well, I'm just getting increasingly intoxicated, Cooper. Cheers, babe, and I hope you're having a wonderful New Year's Eve as well, hopefully not out on the lines. I haven't heard from you in a couple of months, and I must confess it's got me a little worried. But I know I would've been notified if something happened, so maybe there's no reason for me to fret just yet.

"I miss you like crazy, Natalie, and I love you." My husband grinned. "Semper fi, do or die, Coop! And here comes 2552!"

The message ended.

My eyes were suddenly itchy, and not from all the sand that blew twenty-four hours a day. I hadn't seen Willis---face to face---in seven months, and I hadn't been able to send messages because of the wounds I'd been recovering from. Apparently at the date of his message, Willis had not yet received the news of my near-fatal experience, and I felt awful to make him worry. Just after getting discharged from the hospital and before coming planetside, I'd sent him my first message since the incident. I told him I had recovered and was getting placed back on the line, but he probably wouldn't get that message for at least two weeks. In the meantime, he would have received an official letter telling him that I'd been wounded in action. And that was all he'd know until my new message reached him.

"Bee?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"You're one of the bravest kids I know," I said, putting Willis's message chip into my pocket. The young private was getting through a horrendous time in his life---one without his family---with an astonishing amount of dignity and stoicism. I was no psychologist; I had no idea if that was a good sign or a bad one. I just knew I admired the hell out of him, because I knew I could never go on with life with all my family dead. Family was more important than anything else in my mind.

And right now, to save my family from the Covenant, I had to be separated from them...and it was slowly killing me every day.