Looking at the other women now, Harris noted that Colt looked as if she was pushing herself to get through the pain, to squeeze as much fitness into her body as it would allow. Packham was clearly in Brown and Smith’s court, wanting the run to be over. She held a tortured look as though someone had just killed her beloved pet. To her credit, though, she wasn’t giving up.
When the run finally came to an end, he waited for them to gather, then addressed them, eager to start this very important day.
“Breakfast is at 0630, soldiers. We have a very big day ahead of us. Our ETA for the Darwin, if I’m not mistaken, First Sergeant Hunter, is 2330, is it not?”
“Yes, sir! That is our ETA!” Hunter responded.
“Alright,” he nodded at the team, “so we’ve got a lot to do before then, to have this ship and crew ready to board that station. We need to brief on our plan of attack and prepare for all contingencies!” He looked around at them, sweaty and puffing. “Now, Sergeant Louis, as per our discussion last night you will give me another fifteen laps—”
“What?” Louis exclaimed.
“—and First Sergeant Carter, seeing how Sergeant Louis is unable to attend to his mess duty, you will take his place. Do you understand?” he said firmly.
Harris watched as Carter hung his head back and gave a deep sigh. He looked over at Louis who was clearly pissed off.
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND?” Harris yelled, not standing for any bullshit this morning. It was obviously pretty loud, as he noticed both Packham and Welles flinch.
“Yes, sir,” Carter and Louis chimed reluctantly.
“Dismissed!”
Louis took off running and Carter made his way to his room. Harris, satisfied, turned and headed for his quarters, but as he did he heard Hunter ask McKinley, “What was that about?”
Harris paused and turned around. He saw the rest of the troops looking at McKinley, waiting to hear his answer. Harris gave the lieutenant his best Do not say a word! look, which McKinley seemed to register because he disappeared into his room.
Harris went back to his quarters and showered. As the water flowed over him, he found himself mulling over yet another strange dream he’d had last night, involving Sibbie and Etta. They just stood there and stared at him, Sibbie clutching onto that phone for dear life. He figured his recent thoughts of Holly and family gifts must’ve manifested this dream from his subconscious. It niggled at him, but he cleared it from his mind. He had other things to focus on here.
He began planning what training he would put the troops through today, and what needed to be done before they docked at the Darwin that evening. All the information from the files ran through his head. The station’s setup, its crew, the scant information he had on the programs they were running, and of course, Professor Sharley and his controversial background. He thought about his own crew, their strengths and their weaknesses. He thought about the female recruits and his orders to have them remain on the ship. He pictured Welles’s eager face again, saying, “I can’t wait to board her.” Unfortunately, she was not going to get that chance.
After his shower, he headed straight for the mess, and noticed that his soldiers were quiet, treading carefully after his explosion at Louis and Carter earlier. When breakfast was announced, he headed up the queue, Colt joining his side.
“Morning, captain.” She gave him a friendly smile as Carter filled his plate.
He looked down his shoulder at her. He admired her courage, for going where the others feared to tread.
“Morning, corporal. Sleep well?” he replied.
“Yes, sir. Like a baby. Although Welles did wake me up, talking in her sleep, but I just went back out again. I’m good like that.”
Harris looked down the line at Welles. He noticed she was standing next to Doc, who was talking about something, then they both laughed.
“What was she talking about … in her sleep?” Harris asked curiously.
Colt shrugged. “I don’t know.” She chuckled and waved it off. “She’s been dreaming aloud every night since we got on here. I just roll over and go back to sleep.”
Harris focused his eyes on Welles again in study, then headed for the tables.
Breakfast went quickly and quietly. He thought the troops seemed a bit tense this morning. He wasn’t sure whether he’d brought that on, but knew it was to be expected when soldiers faced a boarding with potential unfriendlies. There was bound to be anticipation and edginess in the air. He hope their morning training session would help get some of that out of their system.
“Soldiers!” he called out, once the eating was done. “Yesterday I gave you some target practice and we found out those of you who can shoot straight. Today we will see who can shoot in the field, under pressure, and work as a team to accomplish their mission.” He eyed them all. “I’m breaking you into two teams. One will start from the cargo hold and make their way in attack mode to reach the flight deck and rescue our pilots, Hunter and Packham. The other team will have the mission of defending their prisoners on the flight deck and intercepting the attack. Whichever team’s left standing at the end, wins. We’ll be using the laser-fire rifles on training mode for this one. Each of you is to wear a target vest. For you new recruits, so you know, if you get hit that vest will light up like a star and then you will sit the rest of the exercise out. Understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Ok, First Lieutenant Walker, and Second Lieutenant McKinley, step forward.”
Doc and McKinley moved to stand either side of him.
“These are your two team leaders,” Harris announced. “Doc, you will be on attack, and McKinley will be on defense. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!” they answered.
“On McKinley’s team defending the prisoners will be: Staff Sergeant Brown, Sergeant Louis and Corporal Colt. On Doc’s team attacking the flight deck will be First Sergeant Carter, Corporal Welles and Private First Class Smith. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir!” they replied.
“I will be in my office watching the exercise over our surveillance cameras, so that will be the only room out of bounds. All other rooms will be accessible for the exercise. Weapons store crew, collect the laser-fire guns and vests and bring them back here to the mess hall. The rest assemble in your teams!”
*
Carrie’s heart began to pump with excitement. She and McKinley collected the vests and laser-fire rifles from the store, locked them into training mode, then headed back to the mess. McKinley was silent. She could see his mind ticking over, planning his defense already. She watched him carefully, trying to sharpen her own mind. They made it back to the mess and divided up the guns and vests amongst the crew. McKinley took his team to the flight deck to discuss battle plans, while Doc called his to the cargo hold.
“Alright,” Doc began, as they gathered around him, “if I know McKinley, he’ll send some of his crew out to intercept us and stop us from getting anywhere near the prisoners. So, we will make our way up to the flight deck, in a two-by-two formation. Carter, you and I lead. Welles, you and Smith take the rear. We check every room between here and the flight deck, and try to take out McKinley’s men, so they don’t come up behind us.” He turned to Carrie. “Welles, I hope you’ve got your sharpshooting eyes in today!”
“Yes, sir,” she nodded firmly.
“Okay, let’s not give them too much time to get in position!” With that Doc turned around, raised his gun and began to ascend the stairs, with Carter close at his side; Carrie and Smith headed followed a few paces behind. When they made it to the top of the cargo hold stairwell, Doc and Carter got into position. They exchanged a nod, then opened the door and sprang out. Doc aimed his gun north, whilst Carter aimed south.
Satisfied the corridor was clear, Doc disappeared from the doorway, and a few moments later Carter followed. Carrie and Smith quickly moved to take up their positions in the doorway, mimicking their north–south coverage. She saw Do
c and Carter taking cover in the nearest doorway, which was Doc’s medical rooms. As soon as Carter saw them, he turned his gun to face north with Doc.
Carrie and Smith moved over and lined up against the wall behind them. Doc motioned for them to stay put and continue their coverage of the corridor, while he and Carter prepared to check out the rooms. They opened the door, swiftly took their positions and entered, whilst Carrie and Smith moved up to take cover in the doorway and control the corridor. A few minutes of nervous silence passed, but soon the two soldiers emerged; the rooms were clear.
Doc motioned for them to stay put, whilst he and Carter moved on to the next room, the general store. The room wasn’t large, so they cleared it quickly. They then crossed the corridor, under Carrie and Smith’s cover, and cleared the medical store in the same manner. Continuing the two-by-two cross-cover, they took it in turns to move up the corridor, and while Carrie and Smith sheltered in the doorway of the general store, Doc and Carter crossed back over the corridor yet again, and stopped outside the next room up, the mess hall. Doc turned, motioned for Carrie to come forward, so she swiftly ran over to them, under Smith’s cover.
“I think if they’re going to have someone waiting for us it’s going to be here,” he whispered. “When I open the door I’ll go north, and I want you to go low and south to the counter, Welles. They’ll be hiding there somewhere. Okay?”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered.
Carter moved forward out of the doorway, so Carrie could get into position. Doc had his hand over the door lever, gun at the ready to face north. He hit the button and the door slid open. She suddenly heard the whizzing of laser-fire and ducked. Recovering quickly, she raised her gun in the direction it had came from, fired three blasts back, then took cover back behind the wall. There was silence for a moment, then she saw the screen on her gun light up red with the register reading, 01. She saw the corresponding red glow from behind the counter.
“Fucking bitch!” came Louis’s French mutter.
Doc continued scanning the room. He entered carefully and she followed. They cleared the rest of the room, mess hall kitchen and stores included. All they found was Louis giving them his dirtiest glare.
“Good work,” Doc said quietly to her, as they headed back for the door.
While Smith quickly crossed the corridor to nestle in the doorway of the medical store, Carrie stayed at the mess entrance, and they both provided cover for Doc and Carter as they prepared to clear the next room diagonally up the corridor, the comms room. As soon as Doc and Carter had entered the room, Brown suddenly dived out of the next door up ahead — the training facility — shooting wildly. Carrie and Smith immediately took cover in their doorways, while the firing soldier ducked back inside the training facility.
Doc slowly opened the door of the comms room and made eye contact with Carrie across the corridor. She indicated there was one unfriendly in the door diagonally opposite him. He whispered something to Carter, then motioned to her indicating that Smith should move up and join her. She quickly turned and conveyed this message to the private. As Smith began to move up, Brown swiftly jumped out again and shot at him. Carrie returned fire, as did Carter through the doorway. The corridor suddenly seemed to be glowing red. She looked around at Smith and saw he was part of it. Brown had got him. She looked over at Brown, who came out of the doorway glowing as well. She looked at the reading on her gun, but it wasn’t her. Then she noticed Carter’s gun glowing 01.
Once Brown and Smith removed themselves from the scene, Doc motioned for Carrie to cover the south corridor, while Carter covered north and he moved up to the training facility door where Brown had been. They then took it in turns to provide cover, while Carter joined Doc at the training facility and Carrie moved to the comms room doorway. They proceeded to then carefully check out the training facility and the weapons store in the same manner, in quick succession, but they were empty. The only room left unchecked was the captain’s office, but they knew that was out of bounds for the exercise. That meant there was only the flight deck left to check.
Doc motioned for Carrie to join them, crouching outside the flight deck door.
“This is the tricky part,” he said, breathing a little heavily from the excitement, a slight sheen of sweat on his brow. “The other two must be inside with the prisoners. We’ll open the door and stand back while they fire at us, then Carter and I will go in, cross-cover, and I want you to go in low through the middle, Welles. Knowing McKinley, he’ll probably be keeping the prisoners close, so make sure you don’t hit the prisoners. Make sure you aim for Colt and McKinley.”
They nodded, and moved to stand at the door, Carrie checking the corridor behind them again just in case. Doc looked them both in the eye, and mouthed, “One, Two, Three!”. He hit the door lever and they threw themselves back flat against the walls. The doors opened and laser fire whizzed through the air for a few seconds. The moment it stopped, Doc nodded to Carter and they both entered the room with a drop and roll, under heavy crisscross fire with their enemy. Doc slid behind the chairs on the upper level to the left-hand side of the aisle, and Carter stopped on the right-hand side. As they did, Carrie snuck in low, and took up a position beside Doc. She looked down to the bottom tier and saw McKinley holding Packham well and truly in front of him, crouched behind the bottom row of chairs. Colt was crouched too, but over to the left-hand side, while Hunter sat in the pilot’s chair behind her, casually watching the action.
Doc motioned for both her and Carter to provide cover while he made a move down to the second tier to the captain’s table. He counted to three and moved forward shooting. McKinley and Colt fired back and Carter, shooting while he moved, followed Doc. He stopped suddenly, however, and looked down at his vest which was now glowing red. Everyone saw McKinley’s gun glowing.
“Fuck it!” Carter muttered, pulling himself up. Doc looked over at him, his eyes flashing disappointment, then anger. Carter slowly turned and disappeared from the room.
Doc looked up at Carrie. He indicated that he would cover her as she moved to where Carter had been. He quickly jumped up shooting and then dropped back out of sight, whilst Carrie rolled over to her designated spot. She caught her breath a moment, while Doc looked around trying to figure out their next move. She noticed McKinley motioning for Colt to move around to the left side of Doc, but the medic saw this too. He watched her make her move, then quickly flung his body out around the row of chairs and shot at her. She tried to pull back, but the room swiftly glowed red again, and Doc’s gun lit up. Colt sighed, looked sheepishly over at McKinley, then pulled herself to her feet and left the room.
Carrie kept her gun trained on McKinley through the seats as she maneuvered slowly down to the edge of the second tier to join Doc, at his order. She noticed that although McKinley’s vest was covered by holding Packham hostage, he was also at a disadvantage for movement.
“We need to corner him,” Doc whispered. “You go down and around to the left, and I’ll run across to the right-hand side and down. He won’t know which one of us to target. If you get a shot, go for it, or he’ll take one of us out.”
She nodded. Doc counted to three, then bolted. Carrie moved quickly down the stairs, hiding by the front corner of the captain’s table, near where Hunter sat. She could see McKinley moving about not knowing which one to shoot at, with Doc on one side and Carrie on the other. McKinley stood and began backing himself slowly into the corner, while holding Packham in front.
“Stop or I’ll shoot the prisoner!” he said from behind Packham’s head.
Doc slowly stood with his gun trained on McKinley. Carrie did, too, positioning herself in front of Hunter, protecting the hostage. Three red dots danced across Packham, two near her shoulders trying to find McKinley’s vest, and one that McKinley had trained on her temple.
“You’re supposed to save the prisoners, people,” McKinley sang teasingly.
Doc didn’t say a word. He was a ball of fo
cus, waiting for that shot. It was a Mexican standoff and no-one was giving in. The red laser-lights continued to dance across Packham as the tension built along with the sweat that gleamed upon their foreheads.
“Release the prisoner and we won’t shoot!” Doc ordered after realizing he couldn’t get a shot in.
“Yes, you will,” McKinley said.
“Let her go, McKinley! Game’s over,” Doc ordered. “It’s two against one.”
“Maybe I’ll shoot her anyway and take someone else down with me. Maybe one of you, maybe Hunter,” McKinley said.
Carrie focused her eyes sharply on McKinley’s gun. She traced it down, found his fingers and followed his arm, looking to find his vest, but he’d covered it very well. Doc glanced over at her and seemed to understand what she was trying to do. He carefully jumped down to the bottom tier, and moved further to McKinley’s side, trying to draw him around to expose part of his body for her to aim at. It was working. McKinley was trying to resist the movement, but knew he had no choice. He gave in. With a swift movement he pushed Packham in Doc’s direction with one hand and brought his gun up to shoot Carrie with the other.
She saw it coming, however. She shot at him, then quickly spun around and launched herself at Hunter, knocking him off his chair to the floor. She landed on top of him with a thud, forcing the air out of his lungs.
“Ugh! Jesus!” he cried out.
Carrie looked down and saw a glowing red light.
“Fuck! Is that you or me?” she said, peeling her torso off the pilot to take a look.
“It’s not me,” he said looking down at himself.
Carrie saw that it was her own vest glowing. She quickly turned around to see McKinley looking down at his glowing vest, too, with Doc and Packham standing in the corner staring at them both. She looked back at her glowing vest and sighed.
“You want to get off me now?” Hunter said, looking at her body straddling him.
She quickly pulled herself to her feet and turned around to McKinley again. She was glad that she’d taken him out, but disappointed that he’d managed to get her too. She wondered who got who first? They stared at each other for a moment, his piercing blue eyes shining, obviously intrigued, no doubt wondering the same thing.
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