by Gary Beller
“I’ll be right up.” He said, finishing the pie crust, then disposing of his gloves and washing his hands. He was removing the apron as he came out of the back and saw a short woman in a green tank top and short jean skirt standing at the counter waiting. “Can I help you?” He asked.
“Yup. I am looking for a friend of mine, he’s about six foot four, two-twenty and goes by ‘Colonel’.” She said with a smile.
“What in the name of all that’s holy are you doing here, Ashlie?” Ben smiled, setting his apron down.
“I’m here to see you.” She said, wrapping him in a hug.
Just then Frank came out. “’Scuse me, kids, but this is a business, you two mind not starting shenanigans here?”
“Sorry.” Ben said, straightening up, but smiling broadly. “Dad, this is Ashlie. Ashlie, this is my dad, Frank.”
“Mister Pierce, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Ben’s told me so much about you guys,” She said, shaking his hand.
“And he hasn’t stopped talking about you….Doc, I think he calls you?”
“Pretty much everyone calls me Doc, yeah.” Ashlie said. “Can I borrow him for a bit?”
“Take your time.” He said with a wink. “Although, if you could have him back to our place at…1930, I believe you military kids say, for dinner, which would be great. And you, of course, are invited.”
“Aww Thank you, sir.” Ashlie said.
“We’ll be there.” Ben said. They walked out of the Bakery and around the corner, sitting down under a tree on a hill that ran up to Cedar Lake Road. “So, how was San Diego?” Ben asked, as Ashlie sat down next to him.
“It was good…but I could only spend so much time on the beach…I wanted to check up on you, so I booked a ticket out here.” She said.
“Catch any good waves?”
“No, not really. I spent most of my time out there reading, or hanging out with Jenny.”
“How is Jenny doing?”
“She’s much better. She passed her Physical Fitness Test, and her doctor thinks she’s only a couple weeks away from retaking the Special Missions exam.”
“Well, I will let Danny know that if she passes I want her back.” Ben said.
“How has your leave been?” Ashlie asked him.
“Relaxing for the most part, though I did run into Senator Daiki again.”
“Oh? He stop in here?” she asked, puzzled.
“No, I got called down to his office in Chicago on Monday. He wanted to talk about Kevin.” Ben said.
“Are they giving him the Medal of Honor?” Ashlie asked.
“Yeah. No date yet for the ceremony, but probably soon. They will want us here for it, so it will probably be before we rotate back.”
“Maybe they will extend our leave?” Ashlie said optimistically.
“We can only hope.” Ben said with a smile.
Ashlie and Ben took a walk back to the Pierce’s house, where Ben took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. From there, Ben drove her out to a beach near the Wisconsin state line. “This town is where Praxis, Danny, and Tom are from.” He said as they passed a sign welcoming them to the City of Zion, Illinois.
“Not really all that far from where you grew up.” Ashlie commented. They drove past the High School, which looked deserted as the school was on summer vacation. “I played on that field against them three times, including a playoff game. Winner of that game went on to the State championship game.”
“Who won?” Ashlie asked.
“They did…That was sophomore year. In overtime, Praxis slipped past our left tackle, batted a pass intended for our running back into the air, caught it, and ran fifteen yards for a touchdown.”
“He was always a good football player…Didn’t he play in the pros?” Ashlie asked.
“Yeah, he played with Green Bay for two years, won a Super bowl with them, before the Marines called him to active duty. When he got drafted by the Packers, the Marines gave him an Active Service Obligation deferment, as long as he drilled with a reserve unit and agreed to participate in recruiting campaigns.”
Ben and Ashlie walked the beach, enjoying the sunshine. “This is weird.” She said.
“What, spending time with me?” He asked. They had never done that before.
“No…This…the water is on the wrong side.” She giggled.
“Huh?” Ben asked. Then it dawned on him. “Oh. Right, I get it.” In San Diego, the beaches faced west out to the ocean. Here, they faced east to the Lake, and beyond the horizon, Michigan. “And the water doesn’t smell like salt.”
“That part I am okay with, actually.” Ashlie smiled. “Do we have to leave?”
“Well, eventually…we did tell my parents we’d be at their place for dinner tonight at 7:30.”
“No…I mean, Earth. For the first time in a while, I feel relaxed, refreshed…and it’s peaceful…Like the war doesn’t exist here.”
“Yeah…we do unfortunately.” Ben said. “It’s just what we do.”
Ashlie turned to look at him, and saw a trail leading into the woods. “Come with me.”
“What, where?” he asked. She grabbed his hand, and the blanket they brought, and they walked together down the path. After what might have been a quarter of a mile, Ben figured out what she might be looking for, and knew exactly where to go. “Is this what you were thinking?” He asked, pulling her down a very narrow gap between the trees. They had to duck, and it was probably fifty yards before they came to the small clearing full of wildflowers. “Yeah. This is exactly what I was looking for.” She said.
“If anyone sees us ducking in here, there may be talk…” Ben said.
“May be? Ben, everyone on the team thinks we’re fucking already. You’d be lucky if word didn’t get back to Daniel.”
“Tell me about it.” Ben said, sitting. Ashlie sat looking at him.
“Are you worried? Was my coming here a bad idea?” She asked.
***
Dinner at the Pierce’s residence was crowded that night. John came over, along with Caryn from the bakery and Marie. At first Ben felt rather awkward, with both Marie and Ashlie there. The two women talked getting to know each other, while Ben helped his parents in the kitchen.
“So, what’s it like, chasing Marines all over and all that?” Marie asked.
“Frustrating.” Ashlie said, throwing an accusatory glance at John. “My job is to keep these guys healthy, and patch them up if they get hurt…some days it seems like they WANT me to be busy.” She was sugar coating it somewhat, but realized that even her sugar coating wasn’t exactly comforting to the mother of one of those Marines.
“Must be tough. Do they at least give you a gun? I know in history class they said at one a time medics weren’t allowed to carry weapons.” Marie asked.
“Yes,” Ashlie laughed. “I carry a rifle and a pistol. Historically here on Earth there were treaties and agreements that made medical personnel non-combatants, and when Medics and Corpsmen were finally allowed to carry weapons it was only for defending themselves or their patients. There are no such treaties with the Banor or Tyderians. They view anyone in uniform as a combatant, and treat them as such. We don’t even wear distinctive medical insignias. It would make us a target.” Ashlie explained.
“They would actually shoot a corpsman? Like intentionally?” Marie was surprised.
Ben stepped in a moment later. “Yes…During the first Banor War, our Corpsmen and Army Medics did wear medical insignia, and the Coalition Government had communicated to the Banor that the red caduceus indicated they were medical personnel, not infantry. Shortly after the Banor High Command received that explanation, casualty rates among Medics and Corpsman skyrocketed. Turns out the Banor believe that killing medical personnel is a legitimate way of fighting.”
“So…What kind of weapons do Corpsmen carry?” Caryn asked.
“My primary weapon is a Mk. 7 Particle Assault Rifle, and I’ve got it fitted with a four-power day/night scope and an attached grenad
e launcher. My sidearm is a standard issue M2150 Pistol.” Ashlie said.
“That’s…a lot of firepower.” Caryn said.
“It gets the job done.” Ben said with a smirk.
“So, wait, you are actively engaged in combat?” Marie asked, “I thought you stayed behind everyone unless you were needed?”
“Oh no. Usually I am in the middle of whatever tactical formation we are using. And our unit moves so fast anything else would be impractical.” Ashlie said. Ben, Ashlie and John all knew more questions would be coming, and some of those would delve away from technical or general questions into areas none of them wanted to talk about, so Ben changed the subject. “Who’d the Packers take in the first round of the draft this year?”
“Wide receiver from Cal,” Frank said, “Fast, tall and good hands.”
“They need a good receiver, Myles has all that arm, and not enough people to catch the ball.” John offered.
“Did you play football, too?” Ashlie asked John.
“Yeah. I played tight end for Round Lake. Had a couple of Division Three offers, but decided to enlist instead. John said”
“That worked out pretty well for you.” Frank said.
“I’d say so…My coach, Dierdorf, still disagrees.” John shrugged.
Ben spoke up. “Should have seen him shake his head when I signed on for the Academy. Old Dierdorf had big plans on me playing for USC.”
“Oh, you could have played for USC?” Ashlie asked with a smile.
“Yeah, but I got accepted to Annapolis, hard to turn down going to a school that pays you and guarantees you a job.” Ben laughed.
“Okay…So explain this to me Ben, how does this Academy system work? I mean, you’ve got Annapolis, West Point, Sandhurst, VMI, HMS Dartmouth…How does it all work?” Marie asked.
“Okay…Basically, you’ve got undergraduate schools on each continent, such as Annapolis, Saint-Cyr, and Rahbar. Students can apply to any of them, but entrance is difficult. It requires students to have excellent grades, good moral character, strong extracurricular participation and community service.” Ben explained, making sure everyone was following along. “Places like Sandhurst, HMS Dartmouth, Naval War College, and others provide advanced level training to officers already serving. To become a General or Flag officer, you have to attend one of those schools.”
“So, have you attended one of them?” Marie asked.
Ben replied. “Yes, before I came to my present assignment I attended the 40 week course at HMS Dartmouth.”
“So maybe General Hardfighter was right, there could be a future general in our unit.” Ashlie said.
“We shall see.” Ben said, although he did like the idea of being “General Pierce,” he didn’t want to let his ego run away with him.
***
The next morning Ben woke early, sleeping unusually peacefully, and went for a run. While he was out, a police officer pulled alongside him. Ben recognized one of his old high school classmates, now a Lieutenant with the Greater Round Lake Police Department, and a veteran of the Coalition Army.
“Colonel,” Lieutenant Delmer said, “Where in the hell is your glow belt, sir?”
“That’s an army thing, Lieutenant.” Ben laughed. He stopped running and Delmer pulled his cruiser off to the side of the road. “New ride, Mike?”
“Yeah buddy. It’s a Fifty Nine Corvette PPI. Does zero to one-twenty in about 5 seconds.”
“Adjustable ride height? Or does it always sit at a half-meter?” Ben asked, making a quick guess at how high the vehicle was hovering off the roadway.
“I can lower it down to about a quarter of a meter, and it’ll top out at about ten meters. Pretty handy when traffic is backed up down Rollins and I need to get to a call.” He said. Normal cars and trucks were limited in how high they could hover, usually having a maximum ground clearance of only seventy centimeters. Ben realized other applications for the height advantage; the cruiser could safely bypass the roadways entirely, except for the occasional trees.
“What’s that thing top out at?”
“Rated for two hundred miles per hour, but I pushed two-twenty once.” Delmer said. “What about you? I heard you’re a lieutenant colonel now, running a battalion somewhere?”
“That shits too much like work. I’m running a MARSOC team now.” Ben said.
“MARSOC…you mean like Special Missions?” Delmer asked.
Ben just nodded, and Delmer’s eyes got wide. “That’s some impressive shit, brother. You went to the academy with those Hardfighter boys from Zion, right?”
“Yeah. Serve with them, too.” Ben said.
“How the hell are they? We used to cause all kinds of trouble at summer football camp.”
“They’ve both got stars now. Praxis is my Corps Commander, Danny is my Brigade Commander.”
“Holy shit.” Delmer seemed impressed. “Wanna ride?” he nodded towards the cruiser.
“Sure, why not?” Ben said, and climbed into the passenger seat.
Delmer cued the radio as he got in. “Dispatch, Ninety-One Fourteen.”
“Ninety-one Fourteen go ahead.”
“Giving a citizen a lift home.”
“Ten Four.” Dispatch said, signing off. Delmer raised the car up to about 3 meters, and hit the red and blue lights as he spun the vehicle around and accelerated. In the early morning light, the car’s emergency lights danced off the surrounding buildings as it flew by.
“This is one hell of a ride, Mike.” Ben said as they parked in front of the Pierce residence.
“You don’t get some cool ride too, for being a team commander or something?”
“Nope. Just the honor of being the point man for the biggest bad asses in the galaxy.” Ben shook his hand again. “Thanks for the ride, Mike. Good catching up with you.”
“You too. Look me up next time you’re in town.” Delmer said.
“Will do.”
CHAPTER 10
Ben got a message around midday stating that 1SMU was to form up in Chicago before heading back into the field, 6 days from the date of the message. Ben thought that was weird at first, since 1SMU was officially stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. The oddness vanished when Ben read the second part of the message.
The entire team had been invited to a ceremony at the Presidential Manor in Chicago. The details were few, but Ben presumed it was an awards ceremony, likely presenting Kevin Bielema with the Medal of Honor. Ben showed Ashlie briefly, before forwarding it to the rest of the team. He added in a personal note, asking everyone to arrive a day early, to allow for any sightseeing they wanted to do in Chicago.
“We don’t really have to go anywhere, right?” Ashlie asked, “I mean, we’re only 30 miles from Chicago anyway.”
“Right. The day everyone gets in we’ll go down to the City and check into our assigned hotel rooms. Until then, we kick back and relax.”
***
The next few days flew by for Ben and Ashlie. Ben took her into Chicago to see the Cubs play the Padres. Ben wasn’t a cubs fan, and never really understood how a team that hadn’t won a championship in over 250 years could still have such a loyal following, but he enjoyed the fact that Ashlie was excited to see the Padres play.
The last day before heading down to Chicago, Ben and Ashlie stayed at the Pierce’s residence. That evening, Frank set up the poker table in the basement. Ben helped his parents set out the snacks, and before John and Caryn showed up, Frank pulled Ben out on the back porch.
Frank handed Ben a cigar and lit his own. “Ben, I gotta ask. You didn’t lie to your boy about you and Ashlie did you?”
“No, I couldn’t.” Ben said.
“You and Ashlie are more than just friends.” He blew the smoke of his cigar up.
“She’s my subordinate; there can’t be anything, Dad.” Ben said, taking a long pull on the cigar, taking in the flavor and aroma of it.
“So transfer her out of your unit.” Frank said bluntly. “It’s obvious you two ha
ve a connection…And life is far too short to pass that up.”
“She’s earned her spot on my team; I can’t take that away from her.” Ben let the smoke go.
“Can’t you transfer?” Frank pressed.
“Only if I get a promotion and that precludes anything, too.”
“How so? You move to a different part of the command and then she is no longer under your direct command.”
“Doesn’t work like that, Dad. My team is, more or less, independent. The only thing keeping us where we are is that Praxis’ force requests demand two Special Missions Units. Without him requesting 1SMU, we could go anywhere. And if I get promoted out, I could end up anywhere, commanding a Raiders Battalion or a Special Operations task force or something. Look, I know…you and Mom want me to settle down. And yeah…Ashlie is great, but it can’t happen.”
“What are you worried about, son? Getting court martialed? Losing one of those diamonds?” Frank asked, referring to the double-diamond insignia of Ben’s rank.
“Dad, you know my rank never mattered much to me.” Ben said.
“If it did, you’d be a full Colonel or a General by now. So what’s the issue?” Frank asked.
“It’s not just inappropriate because I am her commanding officer…She has an issue that isn’t in her file. An issue that, if learned of, could end her career.” Ben said.
“So you’re protecting her?” Frank asked.
“Yeah. She’s good, Dad. She’s a damned good Corpsman. We need people like her...and also if I did act on anything between us, that one little thing could get my goose totally cooked.”
Frank took a deep drag from the cigar and thought for a moment. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pressed.” He said.
“Dad, it’s okay. I know you’re trying to help.”
“You know, Ben, I always knew you’d make a great officer, but I’ve never been prouder of you than now. I can see now you put the men and women under your command first. And knowing that makes me incredibly proud of you.”