Everyone laughed as Corey saluted comically with her middle finger. “On my way, Major,” Corey barked.
“Okay then,” Jake broke in. “We’ll meet up again an hour out of Bougainville. Yuri, screen my incoming stuff. Come and get me if any of it requires my input right away.”
“I will, Jake,” Tokoru promised. “Just get some rest. I’ll see what I can do to piece together a briefing with some up to date intel.”
Jake nodded, and handed Mercer his pack of containers. “Remember to caution them about handling that stuff, Charlie.”
“Hell Jake, just the smell makes that warning redundant.”
Jake laughed, and walked off towards sickbay with a wave, shouldering his particle beam rifle, and shifting the load of his main pack.
The others watched Jake for a moment, and then Corey turned to Stedman. “You’ve got a very strange look on your face, Major. What’s up?”
Major Stedman looked at Corey for a moment with a mysterious smile still on her face. “I have no idea what you mean, Captain.”
“No offense, Ma’am,” Corey continued, “but you never smile, at least not the way you are right now. Has something happened to the General we don’t know about?”
Major Stedman put her arm around Corey, leading the group towards where Mercer could drop off the containers to her old Weapons Officer. “Let’s put it this way, Lieutenant, the General will be surprised at our new Med Tech.”
Corey came to a stop so fast, Mercer walked right into her, catching her around the waist as she was propelled forward. She straightened and turned on Stedman, who was laughing with delight at the look on her former pilot’s face.
“You have Byers on board,” Corey stated conclusively. “Jake will have a heart attack.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with it,” Stedman said quickly. “Risling okayed her temporary transfer. Byers does good work too. She came on board when we dropped off the Bougainville colonists on Genoa, and picked up the Command Wing Fighters.”
“You mean General Risling let Jake’s wife transfer to the Tennyson in the middle of a war?” Mercer asked animatedly. “It’s not like he doesn’t have enough to worry about. Tim has already related a few stories to me about those two.”
This brought a new bout of laughter, as the antics of Casserine’s guardians had been the subject of good-natured humor for quite some time in the fleet. Tokoru just smiled, not having any idea what the others were laughing at.
“I take it this will not be a morale move for General Matthews?” Tokoru asked.
“Let’s put it this way, Colonel,” Corey explained. “We’ll have to get someone to go in and extract our mission commander when we reach Bougainville, and it won’t be easy.”
“Are you trying to say my man Jake is whipped?” Mercer asked incredulously.
“Apparently, Charlie,” Corey giggled, “Tim has only told you the funny parts of the story. As Jake has told it many times himself, the chain of command suffers egregious gaps in protocol on Casserine. Let’s get your pack dropped off, and then we’ll gather Chief Dougherty up. He and I will bring you all up to date on the Casserine saga.”
“This will, of course, not get out to the General,” Stedman ordered.
“No, of course not,” Mercer said, with a look on his face guaranteeing immediate verbal torture in the near future for Jake. “We better hurry. As much fun as this sounds, we need to get some sleep, and I don’t want to cut the saga short.”
Jake walked into the Tennyson sickbay, and immediately waved off the salutes from the myriad Marines, getting minor wounds looked at. “As you were. Get done as quick as you can. I’ll need you all on Bougainville. They sent a bunch of boot camps down there into a meat grinder. We need to get some rest on the way, and then hit Bougainville in force to get those boys out of there.”
The Marines shouted their willingness with fervor. Jake gestured them to silence with a smile. He walked over to the far wall of the Med Bay, and set his rifle and pack down next to the others lined up there. As he straightened, Jake felt a firm hand on his arm.
“I figured it must be you disrupting my sickbay,” A familiar voice said huskily.
Jake turned with a startled look on his face, which quickly turned to disbelief. “What…how…is that you, Adrian?”
Byers moved close to him, with her back to their sickbay audience. Tears were streaming down her face. “Of course it’s me, you big goof.”
Jake gathered her up in his arms without a word, as Adrian tried to hold back the sobs of relief at the sight of him. “You shouldn’t have come here, Honey. It’s going to get a lot worse.”
Adrian pulled away from him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his lips to hers. She kissed him gently at first, and then with a fierce longing, which engulfed them both for a long moment. When at last she drew back and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands, Jake just continued to hold her, his eyes scanning over her as if she were a mirage in danger of disappearing at any moment. Adrian took his hand and led him into an examining room, closing the door behind her.
“Okay, let’s see the damage,” Adrian ordered.
“I missed you,” Jake replied quietly.
Adrian burst into tears, and ran into his arms again. He held her quietly, drinking in the scent of her hair, and the welcome feel of her arms around his neck. Suddenly, the Queens, Omaha, and Bougainville seemed like a distant memory. Jake closed his eyes, imagining they stood on the porch, waiting for the next sunset on Casserine. Many moments later, Adrian lifted her face up, her lips caressing Jake’s with a sensual softness, before she backed out of his embrace firmly.
“General Risling needed a message delivered directly to you, Jake. He asked me to take it because I’ve been hounding him for information, and he knew he could trust me implicitly. I have a disc for you from him. I was not permitted to see it, and I have no idea what’s on it. I just wanted to see you, and he gave me the chance,” Adrian explained, as she took a small package out of her smock and handed it to Jake.
The package read Top Secret, Eyes Only, General Jake Matthews. Jake nodded. “I figured it had to be bad, because there’s no way in hell he would have authorized your transfer to the Tennyson otherwise. I’ll be right back, Honey. You can dress the wounds after I shower, and then I’ll go take a look at this disk.”
Jake put the disc in his pocket, and walked over to lock the examining room door. He stripped off his clothes, and entered the disinfecting shower in the corner of the room. While in the shower, he removed the old bandages, and cleaned the wounds carefully, noting the most recent one was already closing. The door to the shower opened, and an unclothed Adrian joined him. All thought of the disc, his wounds, or his mission, fled Jake’s consciousness in an instant.
“I want to collect some samples,” Adrian whispered, as she moved into his embrace.
Jake sat on the examining room table as Adrian applied new dressings to his wounds.
“I saw what you did down there in the nest, Jake,” Adrian said, as she finished her task. “Have you felt any ill affects from practically inhaling that stuff?”
“It weakened me when I fell in there on the first nest operation, but only because we were not prepared for me to get fully immersed in the Queen’s fluids,” Jake replied. “Walking out of there in the contaminated clothing was about as tough as anything I’ve ever done. I figured if after ingesting some of it, and wearing a bunch next to my skin for a few hours, I survived, then it would be safe to assume I’d attained full immunity.”
“You still won’t be able to tell yet what the long range problems might be, health wise,” Adrian pointed out. “Can I come up to your room with you?”
“Let me gather my Chief of Staff, and my friend Charlie Mercer to look at my disc with me. Charlie was the one with me on the nest missions. He was also with me in the nest on Omaha, way back when. No matter what Risling thinks, I have no secrets from them. I’ve got to get some sleep then before we rea
ch Bougainville. Give me an hour, and then come on up. I’ll fill you in on everything I can.”
Adrian nodded in agreement. “I will see you then, but won’t it be hard to sleep with me there.”
Jake stood up and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Just about impossible for a little while.”
Jake, Tokoru, and Mercer sat together in front of the viewer in his room. The image of General Risling appeared on the screen. His dour look conveyed the impression this was not some pat on the back for a job well done.
“First off, you and your men achieved more than anyone could possibly hope for in so short a time, Jake,” Risling began. “Thanks to you, our mining operation will be back fully functional on Omaha probably by the time you see this.
Risling paused, folding his hands together in front of him. “There ain’t no easy way to say this, Jake. I could not reveal details of the Bougainville episode over unclear lines, or I would have filled you in on my last transmission. Earth Command sent a rogue mission to Bougainville, because they thought they could just bypass all safety concerns, and kill the infestation there by the time you finished on Omaha. God only knows what they have in mind for a galactic war. My replacement is on his way to Genoa. I have decided not to relinquish control. All bases of operation around and including Genoa have unanimously joined me in support.”
“If you wish to join me, General, you will need to consolidate all military under your command, including all personnel on the warships, and all freighters in the Tennyson class. With this new alien threat, we need to make a statement to these idiots they cannot make decisions, regarding the lives of thousands of men, on the whim of these corporate conglomerates. I have pushed for the creation of a military governor out here for a long time, answerable only to legitimate Earth Command interests, and wholly responsible for the execution of any military operations. I am now rebelling for the creation of a military governor.”
“I will leave it to you to decide whether to join me or not. I cannot do it without your backing. If you wish to join me, you will need the complete support of all forces under your command. I do not want anyone ordered into open rebellion. I will await your answer upon the completion of the rescue mission on Bougainville. I’m sorry to have to lay this on you, Jake, but watching those kids die on Bougainville, and get trapped there on a real time video transmission, was more than I could stomach. The following is the record of the ongoing travesty on Bougainville. Risling out.”
The three marines watched in horror as the Drop Ships from the Earth Command mission on Bougainville landed on unsafe landing zones near the nests they wished to attack. Although three of the Drop Ships landed on the Epoxy Landing Zone created during Jake’s first sojourn on Bougainville to reoccupy the habitat, two others, including the Commanding Officer’s Alpha ship landed at the separate nest areas, without benefit of epoxy reinforced material under them.
Jake sighed in relief as he saw, through the company commanders’ helmet cams in the habitat, Marines sealing the blown out wall Deke Larson had used to get the Colonists to the escape ship. The video was split into three separate partitions, so the viewer could watch the habitat proceedings, along with the dual attack on the nests. The Alpha ship of the mission opened, and a platoon of Marines ran out at the ready, around a pair of soldiers with only holstered sidearms. Jake figured them to be General Zamudi and his Chief of Staff. Bugs exploded straight up under the landing party, and in a matter of moments, they ripped the hesitating Marines to bits.
Warned in time, the other Drop Ship at the second nest lifted off. The Turret Gunner, with the fast reaction of a few Marines at the hatch, managed to keep the Bugs from getting inside the ship before they sealed it. The pilot lifted off immediately, and the Gunner hosed down the area where over a hundred Marines died in a matter of moments.
What looked like as many, died around the habitat as the Bugs disgorged from around the perimeter of the habitat, and cut off two companies of Marines. The Drop Ships on the Epoxy Landing Zone provided covering fire to allow small numbers of survivors to retreat back inside the ships, but the slaughter on open ground claimed ninety percent of the doomed companies even before the Bugs swarmed over everything. They literally coated the habitat and Drop Ships with bodies. After liftoff, the Drop Ships tried to clear pathways for escape from the habitat, but could not keep them clear long enough for evacuation. The transmission ended there.
Mercer was the first to break the silence. “No level of hell could be hot enough for the bastard who engineered that mission. Didn’t they watch the live feed we sent them?”
“Jake, they didn’t even have the MAG50 alteration on the Drop Ships,” Tokoru added quietly. “We sent Earth Command the exact plans for the addition right after we tested them on Bougainville ourselves.”
“Just thank God they sealed the wall in the habitat before the attack or we’d have thousands dead instead of hundreds,” Jake added. He turned to Mercer. “What about the habitat defenses there, Charlie?”
Mercer shook his head. “The Bugs tore up the inside of the habitat. What they didn’t tear up, we blew up, fighting them. I doubt even one of the turret guns were operational. Those boys better hunker down on the inside until we get there.”
“What happened to the isolation signal?” Tokoru asked. “I know the second Queen on Omaha kind of adlibbed her little variation at the end, but no way they could have made that kind of jump on Bougainville without even one exposure.”
“Risling told me they tried it ass backwards,” Jake explained. “Instead of relaying an amplified signal out from the habitat, they tried a stronger burst from the Intrepid. The atmosphere disrupted it, and they were hung out to dry. Your decisions, gentlemen?”
“I hope you’re backing Risling,” Mercer stated, “but I go where yougo.”
“Count me in all the way,” Tokoru agreed.
Jake flipped on the record switch, and added his own final comments to the disc.
“You have witnessed the botched Earth Command mission on Bougainville, and General Risling’s decision to rebel in favor of a military governor’s position to prevent this kind of idiocy. I am General Matthews, currently in command of the military mission from Omaha. This is Colonel Tokoru on my right, second in command. Major Mercer on my left is my Chief of Staff.”
“We support General Risling’s efforts to establish a military governor’s office. I need to know if we can count on the support of all military forces under my command, and those we are being sent to rescue. No one will be compelled to join the rebellion. In the meantime, make your decision known to your commanding officers. We are on our way to Bougainville, and God help anyone standing in the way of our rescue operation there. After Bougainville is secured, we will have to let General Risling know where we stand. Matthews out.”
Jake switched off the recorder, and then handed the disc to Colonel Tokoru. “I want this sent out everywhere, Yuri. Ask Major Stedman to get it done for me right away, and then you get some sleep. You too, Charlie, we’ll talk more when we’re prepping for Bougainville. Do you have enough equipment to set up the signal amplifier at the habitat there, Yuri?”
“Yes Sir, it will be a bit more difficult setting up the receivers, but we’ll handle it,” Tokoru replied. “I’ll get this to Stedman, see you all later.”
“Jake, you ain’t thinking about an armed rebellion against Earth Command, are you?” Mercer asked.
“I’ll quit first, Charlie, and so would Risling. Either everyone’s with us, or we don’t do this at all,” Jake replied. “Go get some sleep now.”
Mercer nodded, and turned to go. “Oh yeah, I heard some disturbing news about you being pussy whipped. Will you be allowed to go.”
Mercer ran for the exit hatch, with Jake a split second behind him. Mercer cleared the hatch, but Jake nearly ran over Adrian, who was just getting ready to enter as she had turned to watch Mercer running. Jake stood pointing at Mercer, who had slowed, and turned back to wave.
&nbs
p; “I am going to use that big mouth of yours to collect samples of nest fluids, you prick.”
Mercer laughed as he continued down the corridor.
“What the heck was that all about?” Adrian asked, as she entered Jake’s living quarters.
“It seems the crew of the Tennyson has been regaling everyone within earshot about our rather unusual chain of command on Casserine,” Jake replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Unfortunately, I see I will have to give out a few attitude adjustments in the interests of good discipline.”
“Meaning your friend fired off a good shot?” Adrian laughed.
“Exactly, and his timing was impeccable,” Jake admitted.
“So, anything you can tell me about Risling’s disc?”
Jake related the news, and his addition at the end of the disc. “If you wish to see hundreds of men slaughtered, the whole thing will be broadcast to every division in the quadrant. The bottom line will be defined by how far we will have to go to get what we want, short of a bloody rebellion. We may end up visiting Casserine as tourists.”
Adrian wrapped her arms around Jake’s neck. “Well, I agree with what you’re doing, but since I can’t help you much with it, why don’t we take the opportunity to live for the moment?”
Jake scooped her up in his arms with a flourish. “Now you’retalkin’”
Chapter 21
Bougainville Mission
Jake walked into the Tennyson wardroom with Charlie Mercer. The group of officers seated inside jumped to their feet and began to applaud. Jake nodded his thanks and gestured them to silence. “I take it everyone in this room has already chosen sides. If all personnel feel as you all do, we’ll get the message to General Risling. First, we have a more pressing matter to deal with.”
“I have been informed two more Drop Ships have been fitted with the MAG50 turrets, so we will head down with a full force. Colonel Tokoru will be taking you through your assignments, and will be heading up the Command Center in the Bougainville complex. We will be employing an isolation signal beamed down from both the Tennyson and the Intrepid. With Two amplification setups on the habitat, we should be able to cover the operation very well. Our Weapons Officer, Major Richardson, has uploaded the signal variation software, we used on Omaha, to the Intrepid.”
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