Chapter Forty-One: Reckoning, Part One

After speaking briefly with Laraza and updating Captain Rhodes on the Excalibur, I stood waiting for Doctor Leedom to exit the blown-out tunnel on the beach. By now I was itching to get back up top - not only to help in the fight, but because I knew it was only a matter of time until the Remnant zeroed in on the explosion. I also wanted her out because Travis and his demo team were all set to go inside to rig the room, and I wanted her gone before the charges started getting placed.

I watched from close to the shoreline, never turning my back on the ocean waves as my dad had taught me when I was three, but at an angle so I could still watch for any signs of trouble from the flanks or above us. My DMR was slung behind my back for the moment, but I kept my right hand on the grip of my holstered sidearm, ready for whatever came.

What approached shortly though wasn't anything to fear - it was my brother, walking over slowly but purposefully. Now that I was calmer, I sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, feeling like a sack of shit for how I'd snapped at him. Especially since the intense hurt I'd felt when I'd dreamed about him amongst my dead friends back on the mainland this morning was still fresh in my mind.

"Travis? What's wrong?" I asked him, anticipating a problem. "Is the ordnance good?"

"Yeah, it's all good. I just came over to see if you were doing okay. You look...I don't know. A little distraught."

"More like preoccupied," I answered. "I have a lot going on in my head right now."

"I bet. Running the whole show can't be easy."

"It's not, but it's my job." I pinched at the bridge of my nose and added, "Listen. I wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier. Leedom said something about the baby and I lost my head."

Travis's face went from impassive to angry in an instant. "That bitch."

"I know. I'm glad you said it and not me. It wouldn't be very becoming of my position."

"Screw that. She's the one going after you at the lowest possible level." My younger brother fumed for another minute but then suddenly smirked at me and asked, "Want me to go punch her in the face for you?"

I chuckled. "No, thanks. I've got it handled. If you really want to do me a favor though, just make sure that portal's good to go in a timely fashion once she's out."

"Of course, Nat. I'll get it done."

He turned to leave then, but I called out his name to stop him.

"Hey, Trav?"

He spun around and said, "Yeah? What?"

"I love you, little brother. Stay safe."

This time when he smiled, it was genuine. "Love you too, big sis. I hope you try not to get into anymore scrapes, too."

And with that he was gone.

With the lead scientist out of the way and the prep work on detonating the portal started, I was able to finally leave the beach along with Porter's squad. Up top things hadn't gotten any better - in fact, they were only getting worse.

It seemed like the ex-Covies were really moving in now. Since we'd returned from the tunnel entrance, their numbers had increased by at least twofold. I wondered for a minute if the explosion had been like a beacon for them, but I also knew that their knowledge of the portal's presence alone was a big motivator. The Storm most certainly had other ways to get to Earth if they really wanted to, but this was by far the simplest, fastest, and most direct route. I was glad that we were now shutting down that avenue for them.

I ducked my head along with Porter and everyone else as a sudden blast from above rocked the dirt. I couldn't immediately tell if it had originated from one of the Phantoms continuing to harass the area, or if the ordnance came from the Remnant ship that had reappeared above us now in orbit. I supposed in the end there wasn't much of a difference; both posed a serious threat to us ground troops, and both needed to be taken out as soon as possible.

The best way to do that was to start getting the defense and counterattack rolling planetside. As soon as the debris from the blast cleared the area, I straightened up and gripped my DMR tighter in my hands, quickly opening a regiment-wide channel. "Marines, this is Lieutenant Colonel Cooper! We need to tighten up the lines before the Storm break through! Machine gunners, I want you front and center, right now! Heavy weapons, try to keep the upstairs traffic alert! Major Collins and the rest of the wings up there could use the help. Everyone else, do what you can to bolster those flanks! We cannot let the Remnant penetrate the perimeter, is that understood?"

Acknowledgment lights flashed across my HUD, and I suddenly felt a rush - like we just might be able to pull this off. "All right. Semper fi, Marines! Let's work our magic so we can go home."

"Oorah!"

I cut the line to the chorus of voices and felt ready to take on the world. Unfortunately, the pumped feeling didn't last long - only a few minutes later, our own side of the lines started to see increased foot traffic. And it was the worst possible kind. While my aide's squad and I opened fire right away, I noticed that some of the Marines closest to us froze. Up ahead, a line of Grunts came running for all of us, as they had when we'd first landed on the island - with glowing blue plasma grenades in each hand.

As I rattled off a flurry of tight bursts from my rifle, I opened up the COM again and yelled, "Sharpshooters, aim for the explosives! Make sure they all go up before they reach us! The rest of you, just target the bastards, now!"

Finally Brewer's Marines started getting involved too, bringing down Grunt after Grunt and eliminating several from their lines when either a fallen alien's 'nade exploded beside the rest, or a bullet hit one of the explosives head-on, causing a chain reaction. For my own part I targeted mostly the bodies, adjusting my scope to hit either the torso or gut, but on one of my shots I just got damn lucky. The trio of rounds I fired from my DMR had just the right trajectory at the right moment and I ended up tagging one of the plasma grenades myself. I had to say, it was pretty damn satisfying to see three Grunts go up in smoke along with it, plus a fourth pal who was injured in the blast. I put the little fucker out of his misery quick with another trigger pull, then ducked out for a moment to reload.

The sounds of tens of weapons going off simultaneously didn't stop when I turned back to the fight. They had diminished, though, and now I knew why - as I looked out at the expanse of hard, packed dirt and sand of the ridge, I saw that all the Grunts who'd been gunning for us now were dead.

And close by but further ahead, there were three Marine bodies lying beside fragments of the Grunt who'd made it the farthest forward before its death. Or at least, what was left of the Marines. The ground there was soaked in red blood like a pool, almost overtaking the smaller puddle of sky blue next to it. As always, the sight hit me first...and then there was the smell.

It took everything I had not to let my breakfast from earlier fly - that was something I was determined not to do in front of my men. But any enthusiasm I'd had just a few minutes ago, the adrenaline rush, all of it was gone at seeing the complete bloodbath before me. Further behind the mess of the dead Grunt and three dead Marines were just rows and rows of Grunt bodies, guts, and more blood.

Carnage like this wasn't new to me in the least, and all around us, the battle continued to rage - but once again, like I had many times before in countless scenes like this, I felt some small part inside of me die. None of these were things that were supposed to happen, or things that you were supposed to see. But for us, it was almost the norm. And right now, I sincerely wished it wasn't.

I looked away then before I lost myself to the moment. I couldn't afford a lapse right now, and neither could the other fifteen hundred Marines under my command. They were counting on me not to let them down, to lead them the right way so we could see this through. Together.

And as long as I was still alive and breathing, I always would.

It wasn't too much later that the fighting on the ground started to take a backseat to what was going on up above us. There wasn't much we could see from here, but Captain Rhodes had just messaged me to let me know Laraza's stealth ship had indeed shown up and the mission to destroy the Storm ship was a go. With the naval battle about to begin, that left it up to me to make sure things here on the ground stayed on course.

Moving forward now with Staff Sergeant Porter and the rest of my security detail, I opened up a COM channel to our air wing commander, Major Erin Collins. "Flight Leader, this is Ground Actual," I said. "We haven't seen too much craziness down here the past few minutes. What's the situation with those Phantoms?"

The response was quicker than I would have thought, which was a nice change of pace. "Phantoms have been eliminated, ma'am. There weren't that many left to start with, but they were vicious as hell. We finally managed to beat them back, and now without support from their ship, they're goners. Nothing but bits and pieces on the ground now."

I found myself actually smiling a little at the news. "Excellent work, Major. That's good to hear."

"Any new orders for us, ma'am?"

"Just be sure to have our backs. Be careful where you fire though - we're starting to all get kind of clumped now. Go for the big open spaces where you see the Remnant or Prometheans and have at it. I'll try to get my battalion commanders to paint some targets for you, too. God knows there's still plenty of aliens on both sides to go around."

"Not over yet, huh, Colonel?"

"Nope. Not by a longshot, Collins. But we'll keep at it."

"Yes, ma'am," she replied. "And just to let you know, we really miss having Major Hawk up here. I'm sure with his help we would have thinned out the bastards in the air a lot sooner."

I smirked a bit. "I'm sure you probably would have. For now, though, he's still recuperating on the mainland. Doctor's orders."

"Something tells me those are wife's orders, too. But I'm just happy to know the major's up and mobile, Colonel. That's a very good sign, especially after what he endured."

"Yeah, it is," I responded somberly. "Good luck, Major. Cooper out."

Next I got on the radio to both Brewer and Harris, making sure that they were holding their sectors down well and checking in on how they were faring. My former XO imparted to me that he was pretty busy keeping the Prometheans occupied by the blown-up ruins, while my current second-in-command was on the opposite flank of my position on the ridge, fighting the Storm. Caught in the middle was Major Warfield, presumably fighting both, and I hailed him now.

"Major, let's have your sitrep. How're things progressing in your area?"

When he finally responded, I could hear heavy gunfire in the background. "We're holding them off, but barely! We've got Prometheans on our ass and Storm troops trying to take us head-on!"

"All right, Cole. Take your Marines and press forward, as hard and fast as you can. Leave the Prometheans to Harris; he'll handle it, and I'll send them over our air support to compensate. Right now, we need our heaviest load here against the Remnant. That way you and Brewer can focus on keeping the alien bastards at bay. Major Collins has freed up her birds in the air so that should give Shawn a considerable advantage even with the 904th's withdrawal."

Instead of acknowledging the command, Warfield immediately snorted and said flatly, "No."

"What was that?"

"I said no, Colonel. Right now the 904th's acting as a buffer, for you and for Harris. If I push my Marines forward you'll both get crowded out. I won't do it."

I tried to keep my temper in check in light of what I was hearing, and attempted to go for reason. "Cole, I'm ordering you to do it. It's not a suggestion, and certainly not a discussion. This is what I want from you, right now."

"And I refuse."

"Yeah? Then you're refusing a direct order. You're sure you want to go that route, Major?"

"What you're proposing won't work! I know that for a fact. So yes, Colonel, I do refuse, in the interest of my battalion as well as the remainder of the regiment."

Honestly, I was floored. Warfield had been a pain in the ass to deal with from the start, but refusing a direct order...I never thought he'd do it. Now he had though, and so he left me with no choice. Obviously he didn't trust my judgment, didn't think I'd do the right thing for my men - and now, he'd proven to me that I couldn't trust him to carry out my commands. It didn't matter that he had no knowledge of the portal to Earth we'd found. The fact that he refused alone, that he still thought I had no clue what I was doing, that I wasn't protecting something vitally important or making changes in my Marines' best interests, was enough.

I sighed and said evenly, "Duly noted, Major. In case you were wondering, that was your very last strike. For refusing an order, and a number of other infractions I can and will list in my report of this since I took charge as lieutenant colonel, I'm stripping you of command of the 904th Infantry and demoting you to captain. We'll get the official paperwork straightened out later, but as of now, you're the XO of the battalion - not CO."

The sudden silence on the other end was palpable. I could almost feel his anger from here, but I was just as mad. And I was tired of dealing with a man who thought he could do better when he'd only just gotten a small taste of a fraction of the responsibility I held.

"You...you can't do that," he said in an almost-whisper.

"I definitely can, and I just did," I retorted plainly. "You're a good field officer, but I will not tolerate gross insubordination from any of my commanders - at any level. It's obvious the job you were given is not one you were prepared to handle, so now you no longer have it. Do I make myself clear?"

The former major exploded into a fierce tirade then, none of which I had the time nor patience to hear at the moment. I cut him off with a curt, "That is all, Captain Warfield," and opened a channel instead to his former XO - now CO of the 904th. "Captain Mullen? This is Lieutenant Colonel Cooper."

"Ma'am?"

"Congratulations, Major. You're now in charge of the 904th Infantry Battalion."

"Uh, wow. I mean, yes, ma'am. What about Major Warfield, though?"

"Captain Warfield has been demoted, for gross insubordination. Apparently he couldn't handle the rank and found it very difficult to take orders from his superiors. I know you're young, and it's a lot of responsibility, but I'm counting on you to be different, Mullen. You're more than capable. Make us proud."

"I will, Colonel. Thank you."

"And Wayne?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Your first order of business will be to do what Warfield couldn't. Push your men forward through the Remnant's lines. We've got something down on the beach that's very precious that we need to protect. We could use the help."

"Yes, ma'am," the newly promoted Major Wayne Mullen said. "Right away."