If Control or Command knew what he was doing they would chew his ass for breakfast. But Warrant Officer Brent already had foreknowledge about his fate. He lowered the chopper near the overturned derrick and silenced the rotor.

On the side of the rig he read TRISH.

He drew out his Snub pistol and checked the magazine. Satisfied, Brent slapped the mag back into the receiver and holstered his sidearm.

Why the hell am I doing this?

He slowly entered the forest with that grim thought gnawing at the back of his mind. But he couldn't just leave Echo squad here to die.

Back in the cockpit the comm channels were static with Gears from the convoy still under attack.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ops Center, COG Head Quarters, Jacinto-

Anya sat in the bitter darkness; only the light from the display screen lightened up the room. She and the rest of the staff listened in on the onslaught of the remaining Gears of the invasion force.

The Ops room doors hissed open and Chairman Prescott and Colonel Hoffman walked in.

"What is the status on the operation?" Prescott asked. "Have they made it to Landown yet?"

For a minute the only response he got was a cold dead silence. Then finally, Anya removed her headset and said, "The entire force is gone, sir."

A sudden ache hit Prescott at his heart. He nearly clenched his chest but checked himself. This was no time to look weak, he told himself.

"The population cannot know about this, sir." Hoffman cut in. "If they got a sniff of this defeat the war against the grubs would be over. This operation must be kept secret."

"And what about the Gears' families?" Prescott asked, nearly thrown back by Hoffman's solution. "Won't they ask questions?"

"This is war, sir." The Colonel said. "MIA is no stranger to war. We will have a private ceremony for the soldiers who lost their lives today."

"I'm sure there are survivors still out there." The Chairman said. "We should send out search and rescue choppers-"

"There's no doubt," Hoffman cut him off. "But we can't risk the birds."

"Sir, the Colonel's right." Anya said. "We can't afford loosing any more helicopters and letting the population get suspicious."

"Damn it!" Prescott slammed his fists hard on the center data table. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Those poor men and women just lost their lives and no one will ever remember them."

"Not true, sir," Hoffman said, standing tall. "The COG will remember 'em; each and every one of 'em."

The staff all turned their attention to the Chairman and nodded. This gave Prescott a little bit more hope. He nodded back.

Suddenly, the ear piercing alarms sounded and the dark Ops room was lit by the flashing red hue light bulbs. The Horde were attacking again.