An earsplitting clap of thunder pierced the ground to the left of the transport causing Sergeant Reilly to jump and grip the steering wheel tighter and erupted with another string of imaginative curses. Beside her, Allen Terrall, another Sergeant laughed.
"I don't know why Guzman asked me to join him or why I agreed. It's been raining for four days without letup," she grumbled and hit the wipers as the lead vehicle went through a puddle and sprayed their vehicle with mud and muck.
"We're getting close to Fickett so should be home in time for the weekend," Allen was tired of the rain also.
"What do you make of Guz's attitude?" Reilly asked Terrall to ride with her alone so she could talk to him about the situation involving Guz's infatuation with Wash.
Terrall looked out the side window away from her and then back to observe her profile as he answered, "We all knew Guz wanted Wash. He feels the Commander stole her right out from under him and gave him a promotion as a consolation prize."
"Yeah, that's the way I see it also," Reilly agreed, "but with a slight alteration in your summation. Wash wanted Taylor all along and hid it well."
"What makes you think that?"
"Women's intuition. I saw the way she looked at him with her eyes while keeping her face totally neutral."
"Oh, that again, an answer without details or logic. How about she went for the leader because of his power. I bet that's closer to the truth," Allen went with his succinct theory.
"No matter how the Commander and Wash came together, it hurt Guz. He really thought he had a chance with her and has been very quiet on this trip. I'm worried about him."
Allen switched his focus back to Guzman, "I think he read too much into the relationship that obviously was more in his mind than a reality. You may not be aware of Washington's effect on men…"
"I've seen it for years. She doesn't affect me that way so I'm an impartial bystander," Reilly wished she had the ability to do that to men, and Wash seemed oblivious in her ability to manipulate the men around her with a look or smile. Or maybe she knew quite well and used it for her objectives. Reilly wasn't sure which it was now that she considered the options.
"All she has to do is dress the way she does, walk her walk, and any male over fifteen will follow her to hades and back. I know, I've been under her sway for years. She gives me the word and I dump my wife without so much as an apology. Not a man around who hasn't fantasized what she'd be like in bed," he chuckled, "including Taylor it seems."
"She can make rags look good," Reilly agreed. "She seems so cool to everyone. It took me a long time to get her just to talk to me and then only a little bit. She keeps a distance between herself and everyone around her. I met her when she came back to the colony after overseeing the building of the outposts. The old timers wouldn't talk about her, but seemed worried about the Lieutenant that was OTG. I was so surprised to find she was a beautiful and fairly young woman. The Commander latched onto her right off and she was totally standoffish to the rest of us. I saw the first emotion from her when Tate died. She actually cried a little, but only in private. I walked in on her in the Command Center and she dried her eyes and was all business, whereas the Commander was a wreck at losing his best friend."
"I came in on the fifth and she was a fixture by his side," Allen continued where Reilly left off. "I was here a year before she addressed me personally. She likes to issue orders through the Sergeants and keeps a layer of protection between herself and the lower echelon. It wasn't until I became an officer that she noticed me."
"She noticed you and every other soldier and knew all about you. Like you said, she is a private person. I understand her abilities to survive OTG may be the best in the colony, even surpassing the Commander's. That's why she teaches survival classes to the newbies."
"I heard she does that to personally gage the abilities of the newcomers and get to know them. Ever notice she never opens up about herself when teaching, but everyone knows she's second in command right off?" Allen still didn't know her very well and knew nothing about her life before Terra Nova and mostly what he knew was his observations and what others said about the second in the colony.
The lead vehicle stopped and soldiers piled out. Reilly and Terrall joined them and were glad the rain stopped even if temporarily.
"According to our navigation, Fickett is over that hill," Guzman pointed to a steep hill of sand and low shrubs dotting the incline.
"What's the plan?" Reilly was ready to go get him and head for home.
"We spread out and ascend the hill, keeping down at the top so as not to tip him off that we're here. He should be alone, but I don't have a clue why he'd be deep in the badlands," Guzman issued his orders and led the way.
Within minutes they scaled the hill, boots sinking in the sand causing them to slide back one step for every two taken. Crouching and keeping low shrubs between him and Fickett, Guzman edged over the crest of the hill. He dropping on his belly and motioned the unit to do the same and another signal with his hand for them to remain where they were and he alone belly crawled to the edge where he could look down. Only down wasn't very far and they were almost flush with what was on the other side. What he saw left his mouth gapping as he stared at what looked like an old bomber from the future. The fading star on the vertical stabilizer was large and white. He took a surreptitious video of what he saw, the plane, Phoenix Soldiers, Sixers, Lucas and Fickett. His mini plexpad caught a flash off the mirror on a Phoenix solar panel. Mira was nearby and her gaze never stopped for long on anything and was scanning the hill when the flash hit her in the eyes. She lifted her binoculars and spotted Guzman.
"We have company," she shouted and brought the rifle slung over a shoulder up and fired at him. As soon as the rifle dropped off her shoulder, he was backing off and motioning for his unit to run. They jumped down the hill taking large leaps with each bound. Even so bullets rained around them before they reached the vehicles. Guzman saw several of Terrall's unit shot and helped snag falling bodies and heave them into the armored Rhino's. The motorcycle and its rider led the way as they sped off and out of bullet range, racing at a blinding pace for several klicks until Guzman called a halt.
The only medic was busy moving among the injured doing triage. Two were dead and three had life threatening injuries and four more were slightly wounded. Those he instructed others to help. It took him ten minutes to stabilize the three so they could move again and those transferred into Guzman's Rhino so he could monitor the medic's efforts. He instructed the motorcycle to make a large sweep and head back to the forest. They were two days into the badlands and he was sure being pursued and he needed to keep going, but knew he'd lose his wounded if he didn't stop soon. He looked for an area they could hole up and radioed his lead to head to what looked like a rock formation in the far distance. Guzman hated that the wet ground left tracks an easy trail for them to follow. He needed to find some hard surface to lose their pursuers, but nothing was showing up and the sun was descending, casting long shadows.
He called for another stop so the medic could replenish fluids and suture one gaping wound shut. He called out to the Lieutenant if he didn't stop the bleeding Private Hollis wouldn't stand a chance.
Guzman posted guards and called a meeting with Reilly and Ter0rall. "We're sitting targets out here. We need to make the trees or rocks and will keep moving until we do," were his first words to them.
"With the rain, these arroyos will start sending water from the higher hills," Terrall reminded him.
"That would be a blessing at this point and may be the only way to stop them. Water's coming and we need to put as many ravines between them and us that we can."
"Got a sighting, Sir," Corporal Mendenhall rushed up. He'd been on the motorcycle leading the unit to hopefully safer grounds. He handed the binoculars to Guzman who looked at the vast expanse they'd traversed. Sure enough, a line of vehicles topped the last ridge several klicks back and were picking up speed on the flats. Guzman's group was on the far edge of the plateau and ready to drop into more hill country and he hoped they wouldn't become stuck.
"Let's move it people," Guzman ordered and watched his soldiers finish their business and climb back into the units.
The ground hardened and they entered a new part of Terra Nova not explored even by Fickett. Arches emerged and large slabs of rock started hiding their tracks. Guzman called for another halt and instructed them to split into two groups and meet up in twenty klicks. Two Rhino's each split into the land of arches while the motorcycle made clear tracks up an embankment and took off in a different direction. Guzman ordered the corporal to switch with Reilly, the only woman on this trip, and ordered her back to the colony for help and transferred the footage he recorded to her mini in case his unit didn't survive.
Nathaniel's arm tightened around Wash's body as he was pulled from sleep and a dream of her. He groaned and looked at the time on his radio, three AM, "Taylor."
"Sir," the voice of Sergeant Davis, who was in charge of the colony that night, went a long way in bringing him back to the land of consciousness. "Sergeant Reilly just came through the gate and fell off her motorcycle in exhaustion. She's here in the clinic and won't sleep until she's spoken with you personally."
Totally awake now, he scrambled out of bed waking Alicia when he pulled the covers off her in his haste. By the time he dressed and headed to the door she was on his heels. They drove straight across the colony and slid to a stop in front of the Infirmary. Striding in, their soldiers parted for them. Reilly was lying on a bed and arguing with a nurse. "Report, Sergeant," he let her know he arrived.
"Sir," she sounded weak and looked exhausted. She filled him in… "and I rode that damn bike almost non-stop for four days to get here."
"You did a good job, Soldier," he took her mini plexpad and looked at the information Guzman wanted to get to him. Alicia was looking and he angled the unit so she could see. "Looks like Fickett joined up with them," he ground his teeth together in aggravation and shifted his gaze from the screen to back to Reilly. "You are under orders not to disclose the content of this to anyone."
"Only Guzman saw what was on the other side of the hill, Sir. I was too busy trying to get here to watch it. When I stopped due to exhaustion, I rested or slept. Nobody else knows what was over that hill as we were instructed to stay back."
Nathaniel looked at the nurse, "Knock her out for a standard twenty four hours." Outside Nathaniel made his choice, "I'm taking three units to fetch them home. Wash, you're in charge til I return."
"Like hell I am. I'm going with you. I'm your highest ranking medic outside a doctor," she confronted him in front of his soldiers who were gathering at the summons of Sergeant Davis.
He felt torn and looked at her in silence while he weighed his options, one: have her be mad at him and safe here or two: take her and worry that a stray bullet might take her away from him.
Jim Shannon rushed up before Nathaniel made his decision. Jim saw the Commander intently looking at Wash so waited for them to resolve whatever he almost interrupted.
"Okay, but you'll follow my orders, understand?"
"I do and will get our packs," she jumped in the rover and took off.
Nathaniel looked after her and shook his head, "Shannon, this will never be easy. I want her to stay here where it's safe, and know from bitter experience they might come back and I won't be here to protect her like last time. At least out there, I'll be able to watch out for her. If I had to do the eleventh all over again, she'd be by my side."
"I take it I'm staying behind?" Jim was shrewd in his calculation of the events even though he hadn't been told any details.
Nathaniel handed him Reilly's mini, "Take this off Reilly's unit and erase it. It's top secret. I want you to find out all you can about what we're looking at and have a report for me when I return."
Jim pocketed the unit without a word. Rhinos were lining up and he saw Reynolds bustling around, "What happened?" He asked the Commander.
"Guz is penned down by a combination of Phoenix and Sixers. It might get messy. Wash is going with me. I'll have nightmares if we are parted this time."
"Where are you headed?" Jim felt the weight of command settling on his shoulders and knew he wouldn't get anymore sleep tonight.
"Badlands. Reilly gave us Guz's last coordinates when she split off," he went to oversee the loading of the transports and look over his soldiers for preparedness. Jim could hear him issuing orders as he moved among his troops.
Alicia rushed through the house to a spare bedroom and grabbed both backpacks that were always ready for extended OTG. She grabbed a couple cloth bags and emptied the crisper of perishables for them to eat. She knew the market would be raided for food and Nathaniel would leave messages to all the vendors hit and have Colony Financial reimburse them. She locked the place and drove at a dangerous pace directly across the colony to the front of the convoy and stayed behind the wheel.
Nathaniel looked around at the colony and hoped it wasn't occupied when he came back, and with them gone, the enemy might return. "Shannon, if the Phoenix return, don't fight, but take as many vehicles and weapons as you can and leave. In your case, take your family at the first sign of trouble," he spoke as he walked to the front of the line and climbed in the passenger's side of his rover. He looked at Wash, "Let's go."
By seven in the morning, the sun was trying to penetrate through the clouds, but Nathaniel didn't think the sun would win as the rain heavy clouds were grouping along the mountains. Three hours into a four to five day run, Nathaniel was starting to fidget. He looked sideways at his bride and sported a playful grin, "I had half a dozen queries if you were coming. Seems like our troops think I'm too hard on them when you're not around to keep me mellow, and you've done a fine job of that since our wedding."
His teasing words and tone made her smile back in his direction, "We have been holed up entertaining ourselves, haven't we, what with me laying down the law, no OTG in the rain."
He reached over and placed his large hand on her thigh and gave a squeeze that edged higher until her hand covered his. He chuckled, "Our honeymoon did get interrupted and I insist we continue. One of the Rhino's is ours. I seem to remember one of my favorite memories was in the back of one."
"Can't be better than the last four days."
"It's comparable, but a bed you wandering around naked all day is hard to beat also," he pulled her hand off the wheel and kissed her knuckles before letting her resume steering with both hands. She was the lead vehicle and driving at a breakneck pace, sliding around corners in the mud and gunning it through the straight stretches.
The following afternoon Reilly entered the Command Center and approached the Commander's desk. She waited patiently while Shannon finished writing on his pad. He finally looked up and gave her a smile.
"How you feelin, Sergeant?"
"So sore I can barely walk or lift a fork."
"Take the rest of the week off and report on Monday unless we have an emergency."
"Thank you, Sir," she paused before leaving. "I heard a couple nurses talking. Did the Commander and Wash get married?"
Jim let his face light up with a huge grin, "They did, on Saturday. That reminds me, Chad in the market has a plate of food from the wedding and a piece of cake set aside for everyone OTG. The troops in the outposts have been fed and what's left goes to Guzman's OTG unit. Since you're back, go and get some of the best food you'll ever eat."
"Are there any vids of the wedding?" she was sorry she missed the colony's largest event.
He nodded. "It's already on your plexpad and you can plug into a screen here if you want to view it in a larger format. In fact, if you're not too tired, get a plate of food and come back," he pointed to a table with a pop-up screen in another section of the center. "Eat and watch up here. You won't disturb me."
Reilly smiled, "I'll be right back then."
Between delicious bites, Reilly watched the prodigious event unfold. It was edited like a documentary with interviews and music for sound effects. It started with Tom Boylan talking.
Standing in his bar with a huge grin, Boylan was being interviewed by Shelly Gamble a teacher for the secondary level students and self-proclaimed archivist for the early days of the colony.
"I was quite surprised when the Lieutenant asked to have the wedding and reception here. The only time either one darkened my door was to do damage to the joint. But this will be the largest event to date for the colony and I'm honored to host such an occasion."
'Typical Boylan,' Reilly thought, 'plugging his name for posterity so they maybe will forget he was working with the Sixers.'
The next scene was the his bar decorated and the food arrayed along one wall with a large cake decorated with white and cream frosting with purple flowers in sugar and the camera stopped and focused on the cake until fading to another scene.
Reilly reached out with her finger and scooped part of the purple flower that was on her piece into her mouth. It was as tasty as it looked on the table.
"Shelly, get that camera out of here," Elizabeth ordered and threw a hand over the lens.
A voice off camera spoke, "No, this is for history, the bride getting ready, now I need access to her." The scene ended like that, with obviously no intrusion into the room Boylan had set aside for Washington to dress in.
An earlier shot of Washington talking to Shelly replaced the failed attempt to access the bride. Shelly was in front of the camera and someone else was working the controls. "Lieutenant, the colonists have many questions for you and I've written a few of the most pertinent down," Shelly was holding a plexpad. "The first is how long have you and the Commander been an item? That is the most asked question so I'll start with it." She paused for Wash to answer.
Alicia looked steadily back at the teacher. She was wearing her usual tank top with her polished black leather jacket over it, but the tags were missing. "Not long. We'd been friends for years. It wasn't until the failed eleventh attempt that we became more."
Reilly could see the strain in Wash's face to have to answer something she felt was personal.
Shelly went to the follow up question, one of several depending on the answer, "That's vague. The Commander suspended you. You buy a house across the colony, as far away from him as you can get and the next thing we as a community hear, is you two are dating. Something had to have happened for you to go from outcast to girlfriend."
"He, umm, invited himself over at the end of each day and we would talk. I guess that's where it started, just talking," Wash paused debating whether to add more detail and came down on the side of more. "We were fighting one minute and being cordial the next, it was confusing. In the space of two weeks, we must have had months' worth of fighting and apologizing. It's kind of like our relationship is stuck on fast forward so getting married swiftly is part of the course we are on."
Shelly smiled, happy to get additional information without a pry bar. "It is sudden. Why ARE YOU getting married today and not waiting…..for say a spring wedding?"
A hint of a smile creased the faint lines down each side of Alicia's nose, "We're not young and don't need a long courtship to get to know each other so we don't make a mistake. We've had years together as friends and it was a small step for us to change the nature of our relationship."
Shelly looked strained, "But what about passion and romance. I've seen you and the Commander exchanging kisses in the market. Is he the man who turns you on?"
Alicia let out a small laugh, "Uhh, he is passionate and our intimate relationship is fine, just not open for discussion."
"So no little bones of something sexy he does for you?" Shelly pushed.
"He's a good kisser."
"I'm a great kisser," Nathaniel stepped up behind Alicia and put his hands on her shoulders. The interview was conducted in her back yard and he slipped, with his usual stealth, unseen until in the camera's view.
She spun around, "You're not supposed to see me before the wedding, Nathaniel."
"I miss you."
"You cursed our wedding. Something bad will happen now," Alicia tried to push him away and the camera caught their tussle, her hands on his chest and his arms wrapping around her waist and drawing her close leaning over for a kiss, which she obliged and seemed to forget the audience.
Shelly stood by beaming at the footage she was getting for history.
Nathaniel broke off, "I was told that Ms. Gambler wanted to interview me and used it as an excuse to barge into your home and see you."
Alicia shook her head at him and poked him in the chest, "This isn't proper, and you're getting the blame for showing up like this if our wedding is cursed."
"How droll," Shelly muttered, wanting to get them interacting. "Commander, now that you're here, I have a few questions for you and the both of you together."
Nathaniel turned to Shelly with an arm around Alicia's shoulders, where it stayed.
"Commander, over the years you've shown considerable restraint in showing affection to Lieutenant Washington. When you came back to the colony after the invasion, you punished the Lieutenant and then started openly dating her. This is for history, Commander. What were you thinking?"
Nathaniel allowed a broad grin and a sideways look at the woman he obviously adored by the way he looked at her. Then he turned back to Shelly, "One has nothing to do with the other. Work, I'll not discuss, but the dating part, and in a few hours, this woman will be mine is all I'm thinking about today. I've been in love with her for years, but we put the colony before our personal desires. Now I have the perfect mate and the time is right."
"How long have you been in love with her?"
Nathaniel grew somber and answered while tightening his grip on her shoulders, "That would be when I started thinking of her as soon as I woke in the morning and my last thoughts at night were of her. It was about a year after we came here and when she was OTG for an extended time. I had so much to do, any personal desires on my part had to be put on hold. After the eleventh, and I thought Wash was dead, my world ended and I came back to the colony wondering how I would be able to pick the pieces of my life up and go on. Providence gave me a second chance with her when that idiot son of mine couldn't shoot straight. I had no hesitation in putting myself ahead of the colony for once. She wanted me as I wanted her and we decided to forgo the months of courting and jump to the marriage and begin our lives together."
"Is that the way you feel, Lieutenant?"
"Yep."
At Shelly's surprised look, Nathaniel laughed, "I'm the loquacious member of this family."
"Do you see any changes in leadership after your marriage?" Shelly wanted more romance, but neither party seemed willing to discuss feelings.
They exchanged a glance and once again, Nathaniel answered, "The changes are already in place, so no, you won't see more."
Shelly looked at her pad and back to the Commander, "With you advising the colonist to have children, are you taking your advice?"
Reilly stopped chewing, waiting for that answer.
Nathaniel's hand squeezed Wash's shoulder and again he answered and she was perfectly willing to let him. "I plan on filling the colony with beautiful daughters that are off limits to those young boys running around, at least until they are their mother's age now," he ended with a grin and wink into the camera.
Reilly laughed as Wash rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"We plan on starting a family right away," Alicia finally got a word in.
"Something to do with my advanced age," Nathaniel laughed.
"More like my biological clock, since you waited so long to start another family," Wash let them see a glimpse into their personal interaction that was carefully closed off to the public.
"But you can give me a dozen kids, right?" he pretended to be serious.
"How about one or two?" she turned and they were holding each other looking into each other's eyes.
"We're under no constraints here. I want a minimum of four."
"As long as we count Lucas."
He shook his head, "No, the next ones are ours," and he leaned down for a kiss. The scene faded to the wedding.
Nathaniel was standing with Jim Shannon on the steps in the bar, about three up from the bottom. He was wearing his dress uniform and looked sharp. The wedding march music started and Alicia was tracked across the room by cameras to where she and Elizabeth took their places on the steps and before the chaplain. The vows were simple and military. Nathaniel's strong 'I DO' carried across the room. When Alicia went to say her part a clap of thunder drowned her out.
"I need you to repeat that, Alicia," the chaplain explained.
"I'm not saying I DO again."
"Thank you, that's all I needed. Please ignore everything except the I DO," Chaplain Franklin had the room in stitches and Wash turned to glare at them. Even Nathaniel was laughing.
I now pronounce you husband and wife. Nathaniel kiss your wife before she does bodily harm to me," Franklin took a step back as Alicia took a halfhearted swing at him and continued the motion until her hand settled on the back of Nathaniel's head, drawing him in for their kiss.
Nathaniel took her in his arms and planted a long kiss while the room clapped. They mingled and ate and cut the cake. Alicia smiled and danced with her new husband. Shannon asked for a dance and they exchanged partners. Nobody else was allowed to take her to the floor. A storm was heard in the background all evening. Finally, Nathaniel was seen to whisper it was time to go and his rover was parked at the top of the stairs.
"Thank you for coming to our wedding," Nathaniel roared above the crowd and led his wife, dressed in a strapless, white gown up the stairs and into the rain. An outside camera caught him holding the door as she swiftly got out of the rain. The final scene was Nathaniel rushing to get in and driving off. Nobody was waiting in the rain to see the newlyweds as it was pouring with lightning crashing all around and the thunder rolling non-stop until it faded into a blank screen.
Reilly finished her cake.
"What did you think of the wedding?" Jim joined her at the now blank screen.
"I'm still a little in shock they actually got married, and so soon," she gathered the empty plates up and stood.
"I believe they rushed the wedding to start a new chapter for the colony. They are serious about growing the colony with children and having a future for mankind and are willing to set themselves on the front row by having babies as an example," Jim had given it some thought and that was what he deduced.
"Are you going to have more?"
Jim smiled, "If Elizabeth thinks she can and wants to. I can't think of a better place to raise a family, you?"
Reilly nodded, "I haven't settled on one man, but now would be the time to start a family. We may have the Phoenix and Sixers around for the rest of our lives and if we don't procreate, they'll have won."
"Take time off and recover, Reilly," Jim left her and went back to work.