Harris’s voice suddenly boomed over the public address system in the room: “Make your way to the mess, people.” He spoke in an even tone, not giving his thoughts away as to whether or not he was satisfied with the exercise. The soldiers on the flight deck looked around at each other, then began to make their way up the stairs.
“Jesus, you fuckin’ winded me, Welles,” Hunter said, rubbing his chest and pulling himself back into his pilot’s chair.
“Yeah, but you’re alive, Hunter,” Doc told him, then looked at Carrie. “You did a good job.”
They entered the mess and removed their glowing vests and took a seat. Harris stood out front by the counter, waiting for them to come to order.
“Well,” he eventually began, “was the exercise a success? Did we accomplish our mission?” He paused and looked at each of them. “The UNF, on paper, would say yes. Doc’s team accomplished their mission to rescue the prisoners. Doc was the only one to make it out alive, but the prisoners were unharmed. So, yes, they succeeded.”
He looked over at Louis.
“Sergeant Louis, your death was foolish. You’re not a bad shot, but you’re not as good as Welles or Doc who came in at you. You were hidden behind the counter, and if you were smart, you would’ve waited, drawn them nearer and then tried to take one if not both of them out. But you didn’t. As soon as that door opened, you fired and tried to get in first, but you missed and then Welles took you out. Downright stupid. It’s not necessarily about getting in with the first shot, Louis. Sometimes you have to wait until you have the right shot.”
Louis gave Harris a short, sharp nod, but sat with his arms folded like a petulant child. Harris turned to Smith.
“Private First Class Smith, your death was a little unfortunate. You had three of your crew up ahead, but that didn’t stop Brown from getting you. Based on the angle that Brown was on, you should’ve crossed the corridor first and then made your way up behind Welles’s cover, instead of running up the middle of the corridor to her. That cost you. Always pay attention to where your enemy is, and where their line of sight may be.”
“Yes, sir,” Smith nodded.
Harris looked at Brown. “Sergeant Brown, you took out Smith. That was good shooting. You saw a weakness and you went for it. I do feel, however, that it was a little risky taking on four armed soldiers on your own. Courage is taking a risk to do what is right, not just taking a risk. Don’t mistake that.”
Brown nodded very slightly, acknowledging what he said. Harris then turned to Carter.
“First Sergeant Carter, you took out Brown. It was a quick, clean shot and you nailed it. But then you got cocky. Your death was sheer stupidity. McKinley didn’t kill you, you killed yourself! Doc’s order was for you to cover him while he moved down. Instead, you covered him whilst moving to a new position yourself. You ignored your team leader’s orders. You tried to do too much at the same time; you took your mind off the game and it got you killed. You gave McKinley easy pickings. First Sergeant Carter, I highly recommend that you don’t ever ignore any of my orders in the field. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir,” Carter answered. He wasn’t happy about it, but it was obvious he knew the captain was right. Harris then turned to Colt.
“Corporal Colt. You on the other hand, followed your team leader’s orders, but you were too slow and too obvious. Doc knew what you were doing the second you went to do it and he took you out. Stealth is highly recommended in the field, corporal. Do not advertise what you are about to do to your enemy or it will be more than your vest that turns red. Do you understand?”
“Yes, captain,” she said, taking it on board.
Harris looked over at McKinley.
“Second Lieutenant McKinley. It was a good idea to send Brown and Louis out to cut off Doc’s team. However, as they failed you, it would’ve been much more productive to leave them in that room with you. You would’ve had four soldiers down there and it would’ve been a very difficult task for Doc to make his way down to where you were. Nice move using Packham as a shield, though. I also find it interesting that you chose death over surrender? I would have said in these circumstances, that surrender would’ve been the better option. It is not in the UNF’s policy to torture captives, only to imprison them. Had Doc’s team been rebels or terrorists, then perhaps death would’ve been the better option. Know your enemy, and know your options.”
“Yes, sir,” McKinley replied.
Harris looked at Carrie. Her heart fluttered nervously, wondering what critique he was about to unleash.
“Corporal Welles, you took out two soldiers. You also put your life on the line to not only take out McKinley, but also to save that of one of the hostages. You did a good job. Next time, however, it might serve you better to release Hunter a little earlier and get him out of harm’s way, so that when the time came, you could throw yourself out of the way of the enemy’s fire, instead of throwing yourself between it and the hostage.”
“Yes, captain,” she said, relieved.
Finally Harris turned to Doc.
“First Lieutenant Walker. You achieved your mission. You got the prisoners out alive. You showed good leadership, and you thought ahead about what your enemy was planning. Your team died, but that was generally due to mistakes on their part, not yours. Well done.”
Doc gave a nod and a half smile.
Harris looked around at the team again. “So, I want everyone to think long and hard about today’s exercise. I want you to think about where you went wrong, where everyone, on both sides, went wrong. Learn from your mistakes and theirs … and make damn sure you do not repeat them. In this line of work there are no second chances. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir,” they replied.
“Right,” Harris said looking at his watch, “Weapons store team, take the equipment back then return here to the mess hall. Smith, prep the comms room for the soldiers’ final transmissions home. After the transmissions, we will break for lunch. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir!”
With that McKinley and Carrie stood and began gathering the equipment, while Smith exited the room.
Upon returning to the mess hall, Carrie took a seat next to Colt, who was chatting with Brown and Doc at one of the tables. Louis and Carter sat at the other table and McKinley joined them there. Harris, she noted, had disappeared.
“Nice going, girl.” Colt held out her hand for a high-five.
Carrie slapped it halfheartedly. “I don’t know what you’re high-fiving me for,” she said, “I died.”
“We all did,” Colt shrugged. “Doc, here, is the only one who made it!”
“Hey, if Welles hadn’t taken out McKinley, I may not be here,” he replied.
“You did alright, Carrie the Kid,” Brown offered, his dark eyes friendly.
She looked back at him and smiled warmly. “Thanks Brown.”
“Ooh, I can’t wait to talk to my family!” Colt said excitedly, clasping her hands in front of her chest. She looked at Carrie, “You calling your dad, huh?”
Carrie nodded, smiling at her enthusiasm.
“What about you Brown? Who you calling?” Colt asked.
“All of ’em. My sister and my nephew live with my mother now,” he answered.
“What about your dad? He still alive?” Colt’s excitement mellowed.
“Could be,” Brown shrugged. “Got no idea where that fool is. Don’t care neither.”
Colt smiled sadly at him, then turned to Doc. “What about you, Doc?”
“My folks,” he nodded.
“What, no special ladies,” Colt teased, jumping her eyebrows at them both. “You ain’t got any tucked away somewhere?”
Brown looked down his nose at her. “Please. Women ain’t nothing but trouble.”
Doc laughed.
“Oh, and men ain’t?” Colt tossed her head with attitude.
Brown grunted, shaking his head, as Colt turned back t
o Doc.
“You’re being quiet, lieutenant?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Am I?” he smiled.
“Yeah. So, you got a girlfriend? I don’t see a wedding ring.”
Doc smiled again, “It’s not exactly the best line of work for maintaining relationships. In fact, it brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘long distance relationship’.”
“Ain’t that the truth!” Colt nodded in agreement.
Just then Smith entered the mess hall and called out, “Okay, who’s first up?”
Carrie, Doc and Brown looked over at Colt, whose eyes went wide with excitement, but Carter stood and walked over to him.
Colt’s shoulders slumped a little.
“So, what about you ladies, then?” Brown asked. “I take it from your comments you ain’t calling no ‘special man’,” he said, imitating Colt.
Colt waved him off. “I thought I had one but he didn’t make it into Space Duty, so therefore we couldn’t date anymore. His words, not mine!”
“Ouch!” said Brown. “So he a player then?”
Colt eyed Brown like he was crazy. “What makes you say that?!”
“Well, yo’ ass gonna be floating around up here. He clearly ain’t waiting for you down there. Guess you should be grateful he broke it off with you first.”
“Ouch!” Carrie laughed.
Colt looked over at Carrie and then back at Brown. “I guess so, brother. You really know how to make a woman feel special, don’t you?” she said sarcastically.
“You a soldier, not a woman. On this ship, anyway.”
The three of them chuckled at Brown.
“So, what about you, Welles? You didn’t answer, either,” Doc asked, his eyes curious.
Carrie shook her head. “Nope. None for me.”
“What? You like women?” Brown teased.
“No,” Carrie said, “I mean there’s no ‘special guy’ for me.” She made the inverted commas with her hands.
Colt and Doc smirked at her reaction.
Brown looked around at them all and shook his head. “Well, aren’t we a sorry bunch of soldiers. Wearing a uniform like this, and we all calling our parents!”
They burst out laughing, much to the curiosity of McKinley and Louis at the other table.
After a few minutes Carter came back in. As soon as he did, Colt jumped up. “I’m next!” she called out and raced over to the door.
“Jeez, maybe I should give her my timeslot. I think she’s going to need it,” Carrie said.
Doc gave her a curious look, “You don’t want to talk to your old man?”
“No, I just think Colt would …” she thought about her choice of words, “… benefit more from the time.”
Doc’s curious look now became a confused one. Just then she heard her name being mentioned over at the other table, and Carter and Louis started laughing. She looked over at them. McKinley’s eyes were amused, and there was a slight smile on his lips. Carrie continued to eye them for a moment.
“Something you want to tell me?” she asked them.
Louis shot her an arrogant glance, “We’re talking ’bout you, not to you.”
Carter laughed. “Oh, go on. Tell her.”
Louis ignored him.
Carter looked over at her. “We were just discussing how you threw yourself at Hunter, before.”
Carrie looked hard at Louis, then back at Carter, who continued on.
“Very enthusiastic, Welles. I mean, you had him on the ground and everything.”
Louis started laughing, while Carter grinned.
“You seem to know a lot for someone who wasn’t in the room at the time,” she said, throwing McKinley an accusing stare.
McKinley stared back with his piercing blue eyes, “And you’re looking at me because …?”
She didn’t say anything, she just returned his stare with her own sharp eyes.
He gave a quiet laugh. “I didn’t say shit!”
“No, actually,” Carter offered, “Smith piped the surveillance through to the monitor in here, so we had front row seats for the, er, action,” Carter began to laugh again. “You know you could’ve just asked Hunter for a fuck, Welles. I’m sure he would’ve obliged. He does the occasional bit of charity work.”
Louis burst out laughing and Carter looked pleased with himself, as Carrie’s face turned steely.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Doc spoke up.
“In fact, if you’re going to be that enthusiastic, Welles, I know a few others here who’d be happy to help out, too,” Carter continued looking at Louis who was laughing hysterically. “Smith for one! Although, you’d probably be doing him the favor.”
“I said enough!” Doc fired his voice firmly at them. “Clearly you didn’t learn from your extra laps and mess duty this morning, gentlemen. Would you like some more?”
They steadied their laughter and looked at him. McKinley, amusement shining in his eyes, slowly sat back in his chair, folding his arms as he moved out of the firing line between Doc and the two men.
“Captain’s not here now, Doc, so how would he hear such a thing?” Louis asked, his voice light enough, but there was accusatory edge to it.
Doc stared at him hard. “Louis, you seem to forget my place in the food chain on this ship. You also seem to forget that it’s within my rights to hand out punishments as I see fit. I think the captain would support my decision when I conveyed my reasoning to him. So, you goin’ to move on or you want to keep this up?”
Carter sat back loudly in his chair. “It’s just a fucking laugh, Doc. Calm down.”
“Find something else to laugh about!” he shot back.
Carter and Louis looked at each other. Louis was pissed, but Carter seemed indifferent, letting it roll off his shoulders. McKinley sat there looking down at the table in front of him, a slight smile playing on his lips. Carrie looked down into her lap. She was angry, but her mind was more consumed with Doc standing up to them like that. Again, like with Harris, she wanted to fight her own battles. But at the same time, she was intrigued. It was the hardest she’d seen him be with the men so far and clearly they weren’t prepared to push it with him. She somehow felt that it wasn’t just his rank that made them stop.
She glanced over at Brown. He was rubbing his hand along his jaw and looking over at the other table. He almost had a smile on his face, like he was amused they’d been put in their place. She made brief eye contact with Doc, before he looked away. No-one spoke after that, and the silence hung heavily around them.
*
Harris was walking down the corridor from his quarters, when Bolkov’s voice rang out over the ship’s PA.
“Captain! Report to flight deck immediately!”
Harris broke into a jog and headed for the deck. Had they picked up the signal again?
He burst through the doors and hurried down the steps to where Bolkov sat, listening intently to his earpiece. Harris picked up Hunter’s headset lying on the console beside him, and put it on. He stared hard at Bolkov, listening, but heard nothing.
Bolkov shook his head. “Is gone again.”
“Fuck!” Harris hissed. “What was it?”
The Russian looked at him. “I heard something, but didn’t quite capture. Was not distress signal, was comms again. Let me listen again.” He reached forward to replay the recording.
“It definitely came from that location?” Harris asked.
Bolkov nodded. “I traced it right to Darwin, sir.” He motioned for Harris to get ready, then hit play.
They listened carefully, sitting absolutely still. It went for approximately fifteen seconds, but whatever it was, was garbled. They listened to it again, and then for a third time. It sounded, at a stretch, like it could be voices, but there was a lot of static distorting it.
Harris removed the headset and stared over the console for a moment, thinking.
“Alright, Smith should
be just about done with the comms home. As soon as he is, get him up here. See if he can clear it up and decipher what the hell it is.”
“Yes, sir.” Bolkov gave a single nod.
“And check in with Command,” he ordered. “Let me know if they picked that one up.”
Bolkov nodded again, then turned back to the console and immediately began logging into his portal to contact Command.
Harris stood, resting his hands on his hips, as he stared out the flight deck window. With their hyperflight now over, the ship was traveling at normal speed. Mars was visible, a pebble of orange rock in the far distance that would grow in size by the second. His eyes scanned the vast expanse of space surrounding it, and felt an edginess rise within. Soon enough, the Darwin would appear. Soon enough, they would find out what was going on there.
He felt a sudden need for more research, feeling hamstrung by the lack of information to hand. He clenched his jaw, and swiftly left the flight deck, as that strange sensation in his gut rose up once again.
10
Final Countdown
Carrie volunteered to go last for the transmission home. Even though they were restricted to just five minutes, she wasn’t really sure what to say to her father.
“Hey, it’s Carrie the Kid,” Smith greeted her with a smile, as she arrived at the comms room.
She smiled back, almost blushing, thinking about Carter’s comments earlier. Smith stood there with an e-clip, clicking through the pages, trying to find her details. She watched him closely. He seemed so much younger than the other guys. He still had a bit of a baby face, almost cherubic. His eyes were a deep glassy blue, his lips a shiny, dark maroon and his blond hair was cropped short.
“Oh, there it is.” He half smiled, half laughed, showing his slightly crooked teeth.
He looked up at her. “You just go and sit in the booth. I’ll punch in your transmission code and you’ll see a screen come up. When you see it connect, you fire away. Yeah? There shouldn’t be any delay between comms. We’ll be bouncing our signal via the Mars colonies.”
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