by Gary Beller
One digital picture frame rotated through annual panoramic photos of 1SMU. The two prewar photos were almost identical, with only two different faces. The three photos taken since the war began were a different story, with at least half a dozen new faces in each of the three photographs. She felt a pang of sadness looking at their faces, especially the faces of those who were now gone, killed in one battle or another.
“You okay?” Ben said, standing behind her.
“Yeah.” She said, with a lump in her throat. “Looking at these team pictures…just reminds me of who we’ve lost.” She turned around to face him, his closeness a comfort. “How do you look at these every day and not break down crying?”
“It’s motivation for me.” Ben hit a button, pausing it on the most recent picture, ten months old. Among the two dozen operators pictured, 10 had been killed in action in the last ten months: eight serving with 1st Special Missions Unit, and two who had transferred out, and were killed while serving with other units.
“Motivation?” Ashlie asked.
“It’s motivation to keep fighting, to carry on for the ones who can’t.” Ben said. A tear was now running down Ashlie’s face. Ben instinctively brushed it away from her face. “Come on. Have a seat.” He said, leading her over to the couch.
“Can…Can I ask you a personal question, Sir?” She asked.
“In these four walls, I am not ‘Sir’, or ‘Colonel’ or whatever, I am just Ben. But yes, you may.” He said, sitting in the armchair next to the couch.
“How is it in 20 years you’ve never settled down and had a family?” She asked
“I used to be married,” Ben said, letting out a slow breath, “I was married for quite some time, actually.”
“What happened….that is, if you don’t mind my asking?” Ashlie asked.
“My wife had started a new job as a Security Force Officer for a large hospital. Apparently she and her training officer hit it off really well. The second night she worked there, they…” He paused for a moment, the pain evident in his voice, “Well let’s just say the sanctity of our marriage was violated that night. And the next….and the next and so on. I eventually caught her…she ended it, then went back to him a month later.”
“So you divorced her?” Ashlie asked, appalled that someone could hurt anyone like that.
“No, actually. I wanted to reconcile…to work things out. She ended up leaving me for him, believing he was going to leave his fiancé for her. Well, it turned out he only wanted my wife for sex…and two weeks after she left me, they broke up. After that, I didn’t take her back. I couldn’t.”
“That’s…I’m so sorry.” Ashlie said.
“It’s alright. It was a long time ago.” Ben said, leaning back in his chair, studying the woman sitting in his living room. They had served together for three years, but because of the disparity in their ranks, and perhaps because of their age difference, Ben had never taken the time to notice Ashlie Adams, the woman rather than Ashlie Adams, the Navy Corpsman.
“You okay, Ben?” She asked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry…I just got lost in thought.” He said, standing up. He winced as he swung his head up too fast. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Sure…” She said. Ben went to the refrigerator and grabbed two soft drinks, handing her one. “So…” Ben began, “How exactly does the daughter of a Master Chief Fire Controlman become a Hospital Corpsman working with a Marine unit?”
Ashlie shrugged. “It’s a calling. I wanted to be a doctor, but I didn’t study hard enough. So I did the next best thing, as far as I thought. What about you? Aren’t your parents bakers?”
“Yeah,” Ben laughed, “My parents own a bakery back home. I applied to the Academy because I wanted to get out of Round Lake. I wanted to serve, to be a hero, and see the galaxy, like every idealistic recruit.”
“That must have been a sight to see…You at 17 with a fresh haircut on Plebe Day.” Ashlie said with a laugh.
“I am sure it was,” Ben smiled. “Danny Hardfighter, Colonel Williams, and I all in the same group, with Praxis Hardfighter pushing us around as part of the 2nd Class Cadre.” Praxis Hardfighter, Danny’s older brother, served as the Commanding General on Starbase Leatherneck, and Commander of Marine Expeditionary Corps Lima.
“I am trying to picture Lieutenant General Hardfighter as a Midshipman,” Ashlie said, “It’s kind of a funny thought.”
“Don’t have to imagine it.” Ben said, grabbing a picture off the coffee table. It showed Ben, Danny, Praxis, and Billy together in uniform. In the picture, Praxis wore the insignia of a Midshipman Commander, while the other three wore 3rd Class service stripes. “You all looked so young.” Ashlie said in wonder.
She looked up at him, then looked at the clock. “I should be going,” She said as she stood up. “Kate wants everyone to get together tonight at the O and E club.”
“What time?” Ben asked.
“19:30”
“Count me in.” Ben said with a smile.
“I’ll see you there.” She said. She stepped close to him, and gave him a hug. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ben.”
“I am because of you.” Ben said, hugging her back. Without thinking about it, he kissed her on the forehead. “Thank you.”
Ashlie turned bright red. “My pleasure.” She smiled sweetly at him, turned around and left.
Ben arrived at the Officers’ and Enlisted Club at 19:45, and found the team gathered around the far end of the bar. With Ben arriving, there were a total of 15 members of the team present. “Thank god!” Kevin Bielema said, seeing Ben.
“Someone’s happy to see me.” Ben said with a smile.
“Yes sir. It means the Dictatress in Chief is finally deposed.” Kevin said, shooting a mischievous glance over at Kate.
“Love you too, Bee.” Kate smiled, mouthing an expletive at him.
Ben made the rounds, shaking hands with everyone, lingering a bit on the Marines who had been wounded.
“Kate, thanks for putting this together.” Ben said, ordering a round of drinks for everyone on his tab.
“No problem, Sir. Just glad to have you back.” She said with a smile.
“Ready to sign off on that battlefield commission yet?” Ben asked her.
“You can take that nonsense and blow it directly out your ass, Sir. A week in command and I am pulling my hair out.”
“Don’t relax just yet. You’re still acting XO.”
“Understood.” Kate said with a sigh.
Ben turned around, and raised his glass. “Listen up, Phantoms,” He said loudly. “I’m going to keep this short, mostly because my throat hurts,” Ben began, “And also because I know Bielema’s not paying attention.”
“I’m sorry, what was that, Sir?” Bielema said, drawing laughs from the team.
“Thanks, Kev. The last week has been hell. We’ve lost a lot of good people, and a lot of us got dinged up pretty good. But you did what you always do: You came together and took care of each other, walking, wounded, or dead. I’m proud of you for that, and for your unbroken spirit and undaunted courage.” Ben raised his glass to the team in salute, and everyone raised theirs in return.
“Now, tonight we kick back, relax, and let loose.” Ben ordered. He stepped away and the team went back to talking in groups of twos and threes. He felt a hand run across his back, and turned to see who was there. “Ashlie.”
“Good speech.” She said with a smile.
“No it wasn’t.”
“It was alright.” She pulled herself into the barstool, which was slightly too tall for her, and hooked her heels on the foot rest.
“You look beautiful.” Ben said, admiring the black dress she was wearing.
“Thanks. Whoever picks out your clothes, does a good job.” She winked at him. “You feeling okay?”
“Yeah,” Ben said, turning to face her. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything, Ben.” She said, looking into his brown eyes.
; “You risked your life to save mine…no one would have blamed you if you had left me there, with all the enemy fire coming down that street…Why take the risk?”
“Because it’s my job,” Ashlie said, “See, this is the way things work: Marines do the hard fighting, and when you guys get hurt, Navy Corpsmen like me are responsible for patching you up enough to get you to a hospital.”
Ben laughed, “I think someone might have explained that to me before,” He matched her sass with sarcasm, “But what I mean is, you could have left me…or you could have had someone help you bring me back to cover before working on me…but you went to work in the middle of one of the most intense firefights we’ve had in months, with no cover, no concealment.”
“Because I thought if I moved you, you’d be dead. I needed to stabilize you before moving you to cover. So I had to work then and there. Honestly I was so focused on what I was doing, I didn’t really notice the enemy fire, unless it got too close.” She placed a hand on his knee, still looking into his eyes. “And I couldn’t let you die. Not a chance in hell. You’re too important to me…to us.” She caught herself.
Ben noticed what she said, smiled, but didn’t push the issue. “Thank you.” He said quietly. The music changed, from a fast paced song to a slower ballad.
“Dance with me?” Ashlie asked.
“Sure,” Ben said, “It’s the least I could do for the bravest woman I’ve ever met.”
Ashlie and Ben headed out onto the dance floor in the center of the club. Ben took the lead and led her around the floor, surprising her with his dancing skills. “Where’d you learn how to dance?”
“At the Academy. It’s expected that Officers be able to relate well in high social functions, so classes for dancing, social manners, and the like are taught in the evenings. Not exactly mandatory, but not really voluntary either.”
“Glad I’m not an officer,” She said with a smile, “Those formal parties you guys go to would drive me batty. Too much prim and proper, champagne and caviar for my taste.”
“You’re more of a beer and pizza kind of a girl?” Ben said with a smile.
“Pretty much. It’s why I fit in so well in a special missions unit.” She laughed.
“I can’t stand the whole high society thing either, which is fine because they don’t generally invite operators like us to those events anyways.” Ben said. “They like brigade commanders and starship captains.”
“Their loss, you’re the most awesome officer I’ve ever met.” Ashlie said, pulling a little closer to him. Her heart was pounding, being this close to him. The music ended, and they walked off the dance floor, neither of them noticing that they were holding hands. “Thank you.” She said, giving him a hug.
Chapter 5
Ben sat in his office, looking over personnel files for potential replacements. The report from the Hospital indicated that three of his Marines, Jenny Rickles, Takeo Fujimoto, and D’Drick Green, would be rotated back to Earth. For them, the war was over but their fight was just beginning.
1st Special Missions Unit’s total losses from the Tyrannia operation stood at nine operators. In addition to the three Marines going home, five Marines and one Corpsman were killed, including two of three officers. For replacements, Ben had a pool of special missions-qualified operators to draw from within the Special Operations Brigade.
The first thing Ben did was sort by need. The first need was for an executive officer and an operations officer. Although Kate McMillan could fill the executive officer position capably, she had no interest in becoming an officer. Ben had it within his authority to give her a field commission, and could petition his Brigade Commander for a brevet promotion for her to Captain so she had appropriate rank, but if he did so she might very well shoot him. That meant he had to recruit from an outside pool of candidates. To fill the two vacant officer spots, the pool consisted of thirty three officers between the ranks of 1st Lieutenant and Major.
The first filter Ben applied was to remove the Lieutenants from the equation. Although many were competent officers, they lacked experience. He also eliminated all the Captains who had less than five years’ worth of time in service. He was left with twenty candidates, twelve Captains and eight Majors, all with at least six years’ time in service and relevant command experience. To further pare down the list, he sent a request for recommendations from their commanding officers.
Until he heard back from the battalion commanders, there was no further work he could do with the Officers’ list, so he focused on the next task: Finding a Corpsman. Although Corpsman made up a small percentage of operators within the Marine Special Operations Brigade, the pool was still fairly large, because of the Naval Special Warfare teams also stationed on Starbase Leatherneck. Drawing from Navy units for Corpsmen wasn’t without precedence, as that’s where Ashlie had served before joining the Phantoms. He sent a request to his opposite number with Alpha Squadron, a detachment from the Navy’s elite Special Warfare Development Group. He hoped Commander Reiner either had a Corpsman to spare or had recommendations for Corpsmen. The current pool for them consisted of twelve Spacers between Petty Officer 2nd Class and Senior Chief Petty Officer.
While he was looking, his doorbell chimed. “Enter.” He called. Gunnery Sergeant McMillan walked in, and snapped to attention before him. “You wanted to see me, Sir?”
“Yup. Take a seat, please, Kate.” Ben gestured to a chair opposite his. He closed the computer he was working on and leaned back in his chair. “You’re my right hand man right now, Gunny. I would love nothing more than to commission you and make you my permanent XO.”
“Want it all you want, sir, but I won’t accept.” Kate said. “I have too much time invested as an NCO to give up all my seniority and start over.” She had a valid point: She had been in the Marine Corps for fifteen years, working her way up to Gunnery Sergeant the slow way through peacetime promotions. Such promotions came even slower within the tight confines of special missions, where she had served with distinction as a sniper for more than a decade.
“Understood.” Ben said. “Gunny, we need to get the team back to work. Right now, I’m on light duty so I am placing you in charge of the training regimen. Get everyone doing something other than sitting around and thinking.”
“I can organize some field problems, Sir. Maybe Colonel Marye can spare some guys from the Brigade to be the OpFor?”
“Good idea. Also talk to the Air Wing, see if you can get some jumpers for the training, to make it as real as possible. Build everyone’s confidence back up.”
“Understood, Sir,” Kate said, nodding in agreement, her blond ponytail bouncing along behind her. She was, in Ben’s opinion, a very beautiful woman, and was so without the use of cosmetic enhancements. She came from a farm in North Carolina, where she had learned to shoot at an early age, and was skilled with most weapons.
Ben stood, walked over next to Kate and sat on the edge of the desk. “I know this has been rough on you, Kate,” Ben said. She had been close friends with Felix Bond and Kara MacArthur, as well as Jenny Rickles. In fact, Kate, Jenny and Ashlie had formed such a tight friendship that there were rumors that the three were romantically involved.
“Thank you, Ben.” She said. She stood up and wrapped Ben in a hug. When she pulled away, tears were streaming down her face. She had spent the past 5 days being the leader of the team, and hadn’t taken the time for herself to grieve. Ben offered her a box of tissues, which she took. “How do you do it?” She asked.
“Do what?”
“Remain so calm…not break down and cry all the time. How many friends have we lost, Ben? How many have you lost?”
“Too many to count,” He said. “Far too many names on that wall for my liking.” Ben said, referring to the memorial wall on Starbase Leatherneck. The wall was formerly a part of the base’s outer fortifications when it was a forward operating base, and when the planet Koliath was an active warzone. Now the wall, which stretched for more than 2 kilometers, he
ld memorial plaques for Marines killed in action. Originally of a sturdy brick construction, the western face of the wall now looked like it was metal plated from the nearly fifty thousand name plates on it. 1SMU was represented now by 15 names.
“It’s not that I remain calm, Kate,” Ben began, “We all have to grieve in our own way. For me, it’s writing that final letter to the next of kin. All the pain, the sadness, the grief, I put into the letter.”
“Makes sense.” Kate said.
“Do me a favor…have everyone meet in the briefing room, I have some general stuff to take care of and we can do it over lunch.”
“Aye, Sir…so all hands at noon?”
“Sounds good. You bring the Marines, I’ll arrange for lunch.” Ben said.
Noon arrived and found the team filing into the briefing auditorium in ones and twos. A small buffet had been set up at the back of the space by Culinary Services, with burgers, hotdogs, and both a salad and sandwich bar. The auditorium already had coffee and fountain beverage dispensers built in.
Once everyone grabbed their lunch and sat down, Ben called the team to attention, and Kate took muster. That was mostly a formality with only fifteen people present, but it kept up the requirements for military order and discipline.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” Ben began, “I hope everyone enjoyed themselves last night. Nobody got arrested and Gene only got slapped once.” Ben had usual suspects he poked fun at regularly. Kate was often the “suspect” if he was threatening to have people shot; Kevin Bielema was the “Class Clown” and was called out on it frequently. Gene West was often the social life target. No one Ben picked on took it personal. It was a way of keeping things loose, and Ben wouldn’t choose someone who couldn’t handle it anyways.
“Moving along, I have some general housekeeping to take care of. As you all can imagine, I am starting the recruitment process to fill our ranks. I will be needing the help of everyone to work the candidates through their paces, since the initial list so far seems to be about 40-45 candidates. Any of you who fantasized about being a hardnosed DI, here’s your chance.”
