Chapter Six: Forging Ahead

0459 Hours, February 10, 2558. Qamar Island Ridge, Planet Khan. "The Next Step," Outer Colonies. Prologue to the Dawn of the Prometheans

Staff Sergeant Porter and his squad continued to hold a fairly tight formation around me even after the skirmish was over, much to my chagrin. I didn't complain though, since I knew they were just doing their jobs and trying to keep my ass safe – no easy task when I was never much one for staying out of the thick of things.

Already geared up for the climb down to the beach themselves, my aide's squad and I both stood waiting for Captain Sogaard's first platoon to begin their descent. In the brief lull, I pulled back my battledress sleeve a bit to check my watch in the dark. Almost 0500. The sun should be coming up in another hour or so, I thought.

And it was also time for me to take my meds. I wasn't sure how long or involved our expedition might be, so I knew it was better to take them now than possibly end up having to go without later. Quickly, before anyone else noticed, I pulled one of the bottles out of my battledress pants and shook out a small pill. Then I stuffed the container back in my cargo pocket and pulled out the other, frowning as I realized that this one looked like it was starting to run low.

The first had my birth control pills in it; the second contained my meds for the nightmares. Without the latter, I wouldn't've so much slept as woken up crying and shaking earlier – not helpful for a field officer of any rank, much less mine. I knew I'd have to ask Willis to get me more from the Suave Affair next time he went up for supplies. I couldn't afford to have a PTSD episode in the field.

As for the meds I took for more intimate matters, I breathed a discreet sigh of relief when I saw that I still had a pretty decent supply. I'd stopped taking the birth control pills for a while when Doc Reynolds said he'd rendered them more or less useless by way of other drugs when he'd been treating my gunshot wounds, so there were plenty left.

Unfortunately the medic had imparted that key information to me a little late, but thankfully nothing had come of it. Otherwise I would've been aboard the Affair now, manning a desk instead of down here on the ground, where I preferred to be – although I'd found out yesterday morning before the assault that my husband would've liked that. Willis was all for having another kid, and while I wasn't against it myself, I'd told him it needed to be at the right time. Clearly, this was not.

"Colonel Cooper?"

Startled out of my thoughts, I turned faster than I should have, rapidly shoving the second pill bottle deep in my pockets as I did so. I relaxed when I saw it was just the spook, though. Being an ONI operative, he already knew everything there was to know about me – maybe even more than I did myself. With him, I knew there was nothing I needed to hide.

"What do you need, Cal?" I asked, unhooking my canteen from my web belt and taking a long swig to chase down the two pills.

"We're ready now, ma'am," Lieutenant Caleb Lloyd answered. "Sogaard is going to let her platoon get established on the beach first, then once the area's secure she said they'd send for you and your squad. If all goes well, it should take less than four minutes."

I chuckled humorlessly at that as I put my canteen away. "It wasn't too long ago that I was in Sogaard's position, you know. Even with a company command I would've been going down to that beach first along with my Marines. It sucks to have to sit back now and wait for things to get settled before I go in."

"I understand, ma'am. But if you don't want to think of it as being for your own protection, think of it as insurance for all the Marines here on the island instead." He looked at me with his blue eyes in the dark. "We need you, Colonel. All of us."

"What all of us really needed was the late Major Hayden here with me," I replied quietly. "He knew the ropes even better than I do and had five years' worth of experience on me. He should've been the one to take over."

"Well, the major's not here anymore, ma'am. We've got you, and I don't think anyone here thinks you're a lesser substitute."

Except for Major Warfield, apparently, I thought. But that was enough second-guessing for one day; it was time to get some work done. I stuck a thumb between my DMR's strap and my shoulder and glanced over at the edge of the ridge again, watching as the first squad of one of Sogaard's platoons began to rappel their way down to the beach. I knew it wouldn't be long now until the rest of the platoon was with them, and then, it'd be my turn.

Just as Lloyd had said, only a few minutes went by from when the Marines touched sand to when the highest-ranking among them, a second lieutenant, hailed me from beneath the ridge.

"Colonel Cooper, this is Second Lieutenant Gage Embers," the Marine said over the COM. "Shore's all clear, ma'am. No activity so far."

"That's good to hear, Lieutenant," I responded. "Wait one and hold there for now. We'll be down shortly."

"Yes, ma'am."

Keeping my weapon slung behind me, I quickly adjusted the strap so that it was positioned diagonally across my back now instead of just hanging off my good shoulder, barrel pointed low. After that, I joined my aide and his squad at the edge of the drop to the beach.

"With your permission, ma'am, I'd like to send my squad down first," Porter said to me as I approached. "We'll provide cover for you and the spook till you're on the ground."

I smiled wryly at the overabundance of caution. "You gonna wrap me up in a bulletproof pod, too, Josh?"

The staff sergeant briefly grinned back. "Can't say it wouldn't've helped a little when you got shot at the outpost, Colonel."

"Touché, Staff." I finally let out a sigh and nodded. "Okay. Let's do it your way then. Lieutenant Lloyd and I will follow."

"Understood, ma'am."

Again I watched with impatience as even more Marines descended to the shore without me. It didn't take long for Porter and his squad to get down, though, and soon Lloyd and I were pulling the ropes under our haunches, preparing to push off.

Once the grip was tight beneath my gloved hands, I said, "Cal? You ready?"

"Affirmative, Colonel," the spook replied.

"All right. Let's go."

We both pushed off with our boots and let the rope go for a while as we shot down toward the beach. About a fourth of the way down both of us pulled hard on the rope again, stopping our rapid descent and swinging back toward the face of the cliff to push off a second time with our feet. We did that twice more till we finally reached the bottom and let go.

I opened up a channel to Captain Sogaard then, glad to have my boots back on solid ground. "The initial scouting party's hit the sand, Captain. Go ahead and send down the rest of your company as soon as you can. We'll get started in the meantime."

"Acknowledged, Colonel."

"Make sure the sharpshooters up on the ridge continue to keep a lookout for us as well. Our field of vision down here's pretty limited because of the outcrop."

"Yes, ma'am."

As soon as the connection cut, I looked around myself for the first time while I tore off my gloves. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore was much louder here on the beach, as expected – that'd make it hard for us to listen for anything hostile that might be approaching. We wouldn't hear it until it was too late. I realized then that while we were down here, we'd have to rely more on our extra sets of eyes up on the ridge than I would've liked.

There was also the minimal threat posed by the rocks and tide itself – closest to the water there was only wet sand, but when the tide rose, we'd be clambering on top of the uneven rocks that made up the ground near the cliff. They'd be wet, too, and slippery. It'd be tough terrain to fight in if we had to.

"Ma'am, what are your orders?" Second Lieutenant Embers asked then. "Which direction to do want us to go in?"

Stuffing my gloves back in my pockets, I pulled my DMR off my back and into my hands again, holding the rifle loosely as I replied. "Take half your platoon to the right, Lieutenant. That's where most of the Storm bastards ran off. I want you to recon only while you're on your own, though. You let me know the moment you've got eyes on and I'll send you some backup before you're clear to engage. We'll have more men down here by then to spread out."

"Yes, ma'am."

"As for the rest of your Marines, they're coming with me for now. I noticed some other Remnant troops run this way, underneath this overhang," I said, pointing upward at the formation several feet ahead of us. "There's got to be a cave or something that way and I want to find out if that's where they were coming from."

"Got it, Colonel. We'll get it done."

"I know you will, Embers. Good luck."

The young second lieutenant nodded and jogged over to the right then to gather two of his squads before setting off. The remainder he sent my way, as ordered. Once the Marines were assembled, I had the most experienced fireteam take point, while Lieutenant Lloyd and I followed close behind. Porter's squad surrounded the two of us, and the rest of Embers' Marines made up the rear guard.

The ocean waves to our left appeared a dark green in my night vision as we marched carefully across the beach, our boots sinking lightly into the water-saturated sand. Meanwhile, gentle undulations licked at the shore, washing away some of the alien blood that colored the area after our brief skirmish – but not the bodies. Those remained throughout the shoreline beneath the ridge, too heavy to be carried out to sea while the ocean was so placid.

Among the corpses and chunks of alien flesh, a few human bodies were sprinkled here and there, too – Marines who'd been shot and were unlucky enough to have fallen forward off the cliff. I wanted to avert my eyes as I saw the red blood mixing with the blues and purples of the Remnant's in the water, but I couldn't. It was a scene I'd witnessed many times before in my near-eleven years as a Marine, and I suddenly found it strange that even after all that, the sight still made me uneasy.

"Poor guys," Lloyd murmured beside me.

"Yeah," I said just as softly. "Getting shot's bad enough. Landing on those rocks is worse."

A voice flooded into my helmet then, cutting off whatever the spook may have replied. It was the Marine at the head of the column.

"Colonel, we've reached the overhang. Or, you know, under it. There's a cave entrance here, ma'am. What do you want us to do?"

"We go inside, Sergeant," I answered without hesitation. "Let's see if those ex-Covies are home." Or maybe our new friends…

My night vision dulled as I took my first steps inside the cave – and I also noticed that the temperature dropped by about ten degrees. It was freezing in here.

"Damn," I said to the Navy lieutenant next to me as we walked, searching the walls ahead for activity. "Should've brought a parka. I'll have to pack that next time."

Lloyd chuckled. "Doesn't help when there's water dripping on our heads, too, Colonel. Feel that?"

A wet smack landed on my bare hands and I shivered again. Other large gobs pattered against my uniform and helmet, though I couldn't feel those quite yet. It'd take a large amount of droplets to penetrate military-grade clothing and equipment.

"Yeah," I responded. "I'm pretty sure it's not raining in here, so where's it coming from?"

"The ceiling, ma'am."

"Great," I muttered. "A dark, dripping cave. Any more omens you'd like to add to the list?"

"How about that?"

I glanced up and almost jumped when a series of lights suddenly lit up the narrow passageway – and nearly blinded me in the process. I quickly switched off my night vision and raised my rifle, but in moments saw that there was nothing to aim at. Not in here, at least.

"Sergeant? Any contacts?" I asked the Marine up at point.

"No, ma'am!" he answered in agitation. "But someone's gotta know we're here!"

"Not necessarily, Marine. Could be automatic."

I looked over at the spook and we exchanged a glance. We'd both seen the same thing inside the ruins, in the big room where the portals were. I knew what this meant before Lloyd even said it.

"This must lead back to the main chamber, ma'am."

I frowned. "But we checked that out. It didn't look like there were any outlets from inside."

"That just means they're hidden pretty well. If you remember, Colonel, we didn't really get a good look at anything when we were in there, just a cursory glance until the Prometheans attacked topside again and we all had to rush out."

"Fuck. So now the Storm have access to this and we don't?"

It was a rhetorical question, and the ONI operative didn't answer. Lloyd had warned me about this earlier, when we'd first approached the ruins, but it hadn't looked like anything like this was possible after going inside. Now it seemed it was. That meant that the 8th Engineers weren't as safe as I thought, and that we really didn't have the only entrance to the portals covered. The Remnant still had access. I knew we had to shut this down right away.

"Marines, keep heading inside," I said over the COM. "I'll send another platoon in after you for backup. Let me know when you reach the end. I want this cave mapped out, now."

I waited for the acknowledgment lights to wink green across my HUD. Then I grabbed Staff Sergeant Porter by the shoulder as he walked past and turned him around.

"Staff, your squad and the spook and I are leaving. I need to make sure no one goes in after these Marines while they're scoping things out. The Storm are still out there."

"Yes, ma'am."

When we emerged back out onto the beach, I flipped my night vision back on. The considerably warmer air was also a welcome relief. The implications of what we'd just found, however, were not. I opened up a channel to Second Lieutenant Embers.

"Find anything yet?" I asked him.

"That's a negative, Colonel. No sign of the Storm bastards, although I'm not sure where they might've disappeared to this fast."

"I've got some ideas," I muttered. "Make sure there's no caves along the shore over there, Lieutenant. If you find one, tag its location and sent it to me immediately. Then sit tight. Do not go inside without my express order, is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Cooper out."

I cut the connection then and instantly ordered the remainder of Sogaard's company, still on its way down, to maintain watch at the cave's entrance. If the passage did lead to the main chamber beneath the ruins as Lloyd supposed, and I believed it, then we'd have to find a way to keep the Storm from using it. I knew the task was easier said than done, but we couldn't afford to give the ex-Covies that kind of advantage – especially not with the Prometheans still roaming the island somewhere, too.

Although I hated to leave all this to my Marines and not help out more myself, I knew I couldn't be in two places at once – and there were still other things I needed to get into motion for now. Much as I was reluctant to do so, I had to leave the rest of this up to Captain Sogaard and possibly Major Warfield, while I needed to return up to the ridge.

With an exaggerated sigh, I looked over at the spook again.

"Cal? Ready to climb back up?"

He flashed me an equally dismayed expression.

"Well, if we have to do it, no time like the present, ma'am."