Ryck took a few moments to digest this. The capys were the enemy. They’d killed his friends, his family. Now they were at peace? It was hard to take in.
Bert just let him process the information.
It was almost five minutes before Ryck broke his silence. “So now that the war might be over, they don’t have the legal grounds to keep me in if I still want to resign. So they sent my good friend and mentor to see which way I was leaning.”
“Yepper, that about sums it up. Of course, I can just wait until you are out of surgery and your regen coma. It’s up to you.”
“Yeah, we should make them wait. I’m not their pawn. They may think I am, but if anything, I’m using them. But no, you can tell them I’m all right. I got everyone out OK from GenAg 13. I broke my leg. But I’m fine. Ready to go back to a line company, too. I should be getting captain soon—”
“You’re already on the list. Congrats on that.”
“The list is out? Well, seeing as 95% of the eligible are on the list, that’s no big achievement. Well, anyway, tell the wizards on high that I want a company. A PICS company. I’ll take anything, really, but tell them I’ll resign unless I get it, and I want Hecs as my company gunny. I might have a few other names, too.”
Bert laughed. “It’s good to see my bud is back. Turn the screw on them, Ryck. You deserve it. You scoffed at them calling you a Federation asset. You are, though. You may not be the asset they think, a political symbol, but to your Marines, you’re about the best asset they could have.”
Ryck felt tears start to well up, and he was saved by the great Dr. Larkin’s entry, followed by his posse of white-cloaked followers. The doctor pushed Bert out of the way and signaled one of the others to deactivate the bubble around Ryck’s leg.
I guess he’s too important to do that, Ryck thought as Bert rolled his eyes over the doctor’s head.
“Now let’s see what we have,” the doctor said as all his posse leaned in to observe.
“This is exactly what I told you before,” he snapped in anger. “This man should have been immediately immobilized! If he had, it would have been a simple matter to set the leg for a quick ten-day regen. But he was forced to continue to use the leg, and consequently, there was severe damage to the . . . ”
Ryck was lost on the more technical terms the doctor was throwing about. He caught the word “flensing,” which Ryck knew from his days on the farm as taking muscle tissue off a carcass, and that grabbed his attention. But the doctor kept going on that Ryck was lucky (not “Ryck,” but “this man”) that he was present and could save much of the leg if he was gotten into surgery within the half hour.
Since the doctor was ignoring Ryck from above his knee, he motioned Bert over. “Can you do me a favor? Can you cam Hannah and tell her I’m OK? She would have gotten the casualty notice, but she won’t know that it really isn’t that bad,” he said before lowering his voice to a whisper, “especially with Dr. Wonderful here to grace me with his skills.”
Bert’s face fell. “Already tried it, at least five times. No answer, no messaging. But I’ll keep trying,” he added hopefully.
No answer? Why? Ryck wondered. Did she change her contact channels?
Ryck felt his bed move again and four orderlies, this time, wheeled him out of the room. Ryck looked over his shoulder to see Bert, who rendered a casual salute.
The next five minutes were a blur as Ryck was prepped. The anesthesiologist, at least treated him like a person, not a lab experiment. His leg, out of mini-stasis, started to hurt, especially when they started to clean the mangled flesh.
“Hey,” the anesthesiologist shouted at the prep team, “wait until he’s under, for God’s sake.
“Sorry about that, Lieutenant. Don’t worry. Count down from 100 to one, please, and you’ll be fine.
By 97, Ryck was out.
Chapter 27
Ryck slowly fought his way through the cotton clouds. He was used to this now. He knew he was coming out of regen. If the doctor had been as good as he said, it should have been a short one or two week coma, and he faced a six month regen. If they had to amputate the leg, it would be more than a year.
That depressed him. He hated the regen process. He hated being a gen hen. Then there was the rehabilitation, or authorized torture at the hands of the physical therapy terrorists. Well, he’d be a captain by the time he was done, and if Bert had passed on his demands, he’d have a PICS company to command.
He kept his eyes closed. If he didn’t open them, he could delay, if only for a few minutes, the official start of his rehabilitation. He deserved a few more moments to himself.
Finally, he opened his eyes to the darkened room. It didn’t take him long to adjust, for things to make sense again. He looked over to see if he had a roommate in the next rack. It was empty, but someone was sitting in the chair in the corner, in the shadows.
“Bert,” he croaked, his voice out of practice. “Did you get a hold of Hannah?”
The figure said nothing, but stood up and walked forward into a shaft of light coming in through the semi-closed blinds.
“Not until I got here,” Hannah said as the shaft lit her features.
Ryck weakly raised his arm to her. “Hannah!”
She stood only a moment longer before running to him. “I’m so sorry,” she started sobbing, putting her head on his chest. “I’m so sorry.”
Ryck didn’t know what to say, so he reached to stroke her hair as hot tears soaked through his hospital gown and onto his chest.
She sobbed heavily for 30 seconds before she began to gain control of herself. She wiped her forearm across her eyes and nose, and sat back up, with one hand holding Rycks’.
“I . . . I don’t know where to start,” she said.
“Ssh,” he tried to calm her, reaching up to brush a remaining tear off her cheek.
“No, I need to say this. I knew I was wrong when I left. I knew it wasn’t your fault. I was just so, so angry, and you were there for me to blame. When I got back, I tried to convince myself that I was right, that you were wrong. No, let me finish,” she said when Ryck tried to stop her. “I just couldn’t come to grips with what had happened, and I blamed you, even when I knew in my heart it wasn’t your fault. And then Tand came to see me.
Tand? Tand Ariana? What did he tell her? Did he turn her against me?
“Tand came with his wife Cindi and his twin babies, Joshua and Greta. Yes, little Joshua. He told me what happened. He told me you refused to tell Joshua to stay and protect the rest. He told me Joshua insisted. It was Joshua’s choice, Ryck, and I know it.
“Tand and his family stayed with us for a week. I insisted. I played with the babies, little ones who would not have ever been born if you hadn’t changed your mind and let Joshua fulfill his destiny.”
She was quiet for a moment, then slowly lowered her head to Ryck’s chest.
“Hope doesn’t blame you, you know. My mom doesn’t. I spent time with Lysa and the kids. I spoke with the Deacon more times than I can count.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why didn’t you come?”
“You were at your new school, and I didn’t want to get in the way.
“No, that’s a lie. Deacon Inner Joy told me to be honest with myself. I felt guilty. If you were not at fault, then I was the one who was wrong. If I could cling to the chance that you really were to blame, then I would have been justified in walking out. But I knew that wasn’t true. I’ve been unfair to you, the man I loved.
Loved? Past tense?
“The man I love,” she corrected herself.
And when I got the message that you’d been hurt again, I panicked. A person doesn’t do that about someone she doesn’t love. I missed you, and I knew I loved you, but that was the dam breaking. Love broke through the wall I’d erected. Love. I love you. And if you’ll have me back, I want to start again as husband and wife. I want you with me, until death do us part.
“So, and I can accept whatever your de
cision is, but I am asking you, will you take me back?”
Ryck reached over and lifted Hannah’s chin until he could look into her eyes.
“Until death do us part.”
Thank you for reading Lieutenant. If you liked it, please feel free to leave a review of the book on Amazon.
Other Books by Jonathan Brazee
Fiction
The Return of the Marines Trilogy
The Few
The Proud
The Marines
The United Federation Marine Corps
Recruit
Sergeant
Lieutenant
Rebel (Coming Soon)
(This book follows Michiko MacCailín)
The Al Anbar Chronicles: First Marine Expeditionary Force--Iraq
Prisoner of Fallujah
Combat Corpsman
Sniper
To The Shores of Tripoli
Werewolf of Marines: Semper Lycanus
(Book 2: Coming January, 2015
Wererat
Darwin’s Quest: The Search for the Ultimate Survivor
Non-Fiction
Exercise for a Longer Life
Author Website
ENDNOTES
* * *
[1] Skins and bones: slang for the Marine combat uniform. “Skins” are the utility blouse and trousers. “Bones” are the armor inserts that give ballistic and a degree of energy weapon protection.
[2] LZ: Landing zone.
[3] P2P: person-to-person direct communications
[4] ECR: Effective Casualty Radius
[5] RCET: Realistic Combat Environment Trainer. This is a huge simulator used to train Marines and sailors how to fight.
[6] Snipe: a member of a ship’s engineering division.
[7] BOQ: Bachelor Officer’s Quarters.
[8] PA-06: Practical Application Zero Six. All practical application training events are numbered in the order in which they are taken.
[9] NOTC: Naval Officer Training Course.
[10] Firstie: a first class midshipman, a senior at the Academy.
[11] Prac Ap: Practical Application Test
[12] MTI: Midshipmen Training Instructor
[13] Office Hours: Non-judicial punishment used for minor offenses.
[14] O.R.: Old Reckoning. The method of numbering years until the Federation was formed. After the Federation, years started again from the Year One, and are designated by N.R., or New Reckoning.
[15] Class B: a class of issued gear. Class A is clothing and boots. Class B is equipment not to include weapons and ammunition. Class C is weapons. Class D is ordinance.
[16] T/O: Table of Organization. This is a list of what Marines and in what ranks were allotted to each unit.
[17] Qua Patet Orbis: “As far as the world extends”
[18] Jimmylegs: a somewhat derogatory term for hired security teams
[19] CO: Commanding Officer
[20] Janes: the short name for a civilian data base of all things military. They often have more quality information on unit weapons and equipment than government intelligence agencies.
[21] CG: Commanding General
[22] Commo: Communications Officer
[23] AO: Area of Operations
[24] NEO: Noncombatant Evacuation Operations
[25] L/T: A common form of nickname for a lieutenant, pronounced “el -tee.”
[26] PAX: passengers
[27] FSCC: Fire Support Coordination Center
[28] EIR: Essential Information Request. These are high-priority requests for tactical intel.
[29] S3: Operations Officer
[30] M72 HGL: A man-packed 18mm grenade launcher: Heavy Grenade Launcher.
[31] Adlerbruten: a Torritite word meaning the eldest son in a family. This has an important cultural significance in Torritite society.
[32] WWB: an acronym now used for an old term first used in the 21st Century, the “Wounded Warrior Battalion.”
[33] BC2: Battlefield Citation, Second Class
[34] BA: Breathing Apparatus. A small diaphragm device that mixes oxygen from a small tank with oxygen from the water, rendering breathing possible.
[35] RT: Reconnaissance Trainers. The training cadre at Reconnaissance Training Course at Camp Prettyjohn.
[36] Gig line: A line from the front edge of a shirt, running through the belt and down the zipper of the trousers. All three should be in line.
[37] SOP: Standard Operating Procedure
[38] BFG: Big Fucking Gun
[39] Eliminate the impossible, and what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth: a paraphrase of a several quotes by Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes books.
[40] PAO Public Affairs Officer
[41] Blue Line: an imaginary line indicating the furthest reach of human space.
Lieutenant (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 3) Page 23