I heard the shuttle land, then the sound of boots on the ground. The platoon had set up on the other side of the warehouse, so they were dropping their gear and settling in. We were closer to the lieutenant’s makeshift office.
I heard at least three sets of footsteps coming our way. I closed my eyes and evened out my breathing. Corporal Arrendondo greeted the lieutenant. I heard her come to attention, then the lieutenant put them at ease.
"I probably don’t want to know what this one did while I was away. Is he going to be alright?" O'Malley asked.
"Yes ma'am,” Arrendondo answered. “He’s a little weak from blood loss. You can see the damage. Now that the shuttle is back I can dress his wounds better. He should be on his feet tomorrow."
O'Malley looked at the bloody shirt and the pieces of glass and rock in the collection pan. "Corporal, I understand he will be on his feet, but will he be fit for duty tomorrow?"
"I would say light duty so he doesn’t tear out the stitches,” the corporal answered.
She walked into her makeshift office. The captain followed as well as Sergeant Phillips and Corporal Meadows.
"Captain, has the general made you aware of our orders?" the lieutenant asked.
"He has, and it’s very interesting,” the captain answered. “For that moon to have unclassified life forms is almost impossible."
"On possibility is a first contact situation. Maybe they are a new alien species we have never encountered that crash landed or purposely landed," the lieutenant said.
"It would be a creditable event with your name on it,” the captain said.
"What about our show-boater — do I need to lock him up? You haven’t filed a report on the incident, captain."
"I have briefed the general and have permission to take my time writing the report, lieutenant."
"Is there anything I should know off the record then?"
"Yes,” the captain said. “Private Jamison used his body as a shield to protect his teammates from an explosion caused by a militia fighter. They were recalled and on their way back but hadn’t made it far enough by the time the fighter dropped its payload."
I heard a hover vehicle stop out in front of the warehouse. I opened my eyes and saw the captain and lieutenant come out of her office. Terri and Arrendondo went to the door just as someone knocked.
I saw Terri pull a knife and stand in the blind spot. Arrendondo cracked the door to peer outside. She opened it farther and stood back to let the person enter. Ruby walked in with her arms full of medical supplies. The girls walked on either side of her and Terri put her knife away.
"Is he awake?" Ruby asked.
"Yes. He started faking it when the lieutenant got back,” Terri answered.
"Terri,” I said, “you've got a big mouth." I heard footsteps and knew the lieutenant had heard her.
I sat up. The captain, lieutenant and platoon NCOs all stood a few feet away. Ruby, sensing them, walked around behind me. She started looking my back over and began to apply creams and bandages.
"Captain, isn’t that one of the individuals on your list of people to locate for the militia?" the lieutenant asked.
"I don’t think so, lieutenant, although she does look somewhat like her,” the captain replied calmly.
Ruby continued to work, listening to the conversations going on around us. Most of the platoon had gradually eased within hearing distance, sensing possible action.
"Are you all Colonial Marines?" Ruby asked softly.
"Yes, and don’t ask anything else,” I snapped quietly. “It was stupid to come here. Why would you do something like that?”
"You were hurt,” she answered. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. I went back to the militia base to help the wounded and asked around for the three of you. No one knew too much, until I found someone who said they had driven some soldiers to this warehouse."
I looked over at the captain and he just shrugged before answering for me. "Ruby, Private Jamison doesn’t have permission to speak of the nature of our mission. I need you to accept that and not ask any more questions along those lines.
"Yes sir,” she said cheerfully. “I’ll just say I'm glad you all were here. A lot of good people are alive right now because of you."
Ruby finished and stood next to me, resting her hand on my shoulder. Terri placed her hand on her back and whispered in her ear. Ruby nodded, and they slipped out with some medical supplies, presumably to help the other wounded.
The lieutenant turned on me. "We are leaving at 0600 for moon 6912,” she said. “Do you think you can guard the shuttle without befriending any of the locals or wildlife?”
"Yes ma'am,” I answered. “I’ll do my very best."
"Good,” she said. “I think we’ll make your call sign ‘show-boater.’ "
"No ma'am," Terri said. She had returned to the warehouse quietly. "He already has a call sign that Sergeant Hendricks gave him. He told me to tell you when the time came because he knew thick-head here wouldn’t say anything. Jamison is call sign ‘Reaper,’ lieutenant."
"Private Antolini, what if I don’t want him to be ‘Reaper’?” the lieutenant snapped, looking irritated. “This is my platoon."
"Yes ma'am, Sergeant Hendricks said you might say something like that. He told me if you gave Jamison some dumbass call sign he would call General Gray and you would be the new sanitation officer on a 200-year-old freighter working the asteroid belt. Oh, and he said he would know because the general has spooks everywhere." Terri looked at the captain to reinforce her statement.
The whole warehouse was quiet, waiting to see what the lieutenant was going to say.
“‘Reaper.’ It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think, captain?" she said finally.
"You'll get no argument here, lieutenant. I’ve seen him in action," the captain answered.
Ruby got to hear most of the conversation, although I wasn’t sure she understood it, which was fine with me. The three of us walked her to the door. Arrendondo and Terri hugged Ruby and said good-bye, then walked away, leaving me with 40-plus pairs of eyes watching. I got a long hug and a kiss on the cheek. I didn’t know what to say, and felt if I did it would end up being a lie, so I just opened the door for her and watched her get in the hover car.
I sat back down on my cot, hoping everyone would quit staring and get back to doing something else.
"Reaper!" O'Malley yelled.
"Yes ma'am," I responded.
"Did you get her number after all that?"
"No ma'am. Are we ever coming back here?"
"I hope not!"
Chapter 11
We left early the next day. The scans the lieutenant had from a couple days ago had revealed four life forms that the computer couldn’t verify. It was going to be two days before our ride was back in the system to pick us up.
Moon 6912 had been scanned thousands of times, and there were no indigenous large bipedal life forms ever recorded there. The environment of 6912 was a lot harsher than 6410, and there were only a handful of people who lived there full-time. Most were employees from companies who owned land and harvested at various times of the year.
We were there to track and gather information. A determination would be made once we had something to report. I would be guarding the shuttle so it didn’t matter to me, although the sooner the better, if we wanted a shower and hot meal anytime soon.
The lieutenant assigned our team to guard the perimeter. She said we had all the excitement on this mission, so the others would run this op. Arrendondo would be in charge of our team again. Captain Braun was going with the platoon, in case it needed to get classified beyond someone's need-to-know.
I was beginning to wonder if this was a tryout or recruitment for one of the special ops units. I was pretty sure I had failed. Not following orders usually doesn’t get you advancement into anything but the brig or a court martial.
We landed and set up a base camp around the shuttle. It was so stinking hot, and unlike before, we
were wearing armor and weapons. It was possible we wouldn’t see a soul during our stay on this moon, and I was more than happy about that.
Lieutenant O'Malley had everyone fall in for a meeting to go over orders and schedules. We were going to do a six-hour rotation. Arrendondo would pair us up after the meeting. The rest of the platoon divided into two squads, one under the captain and the other with the lieutenant.
They divided up their search areas. The plan was to push the unknowns towards one squad or the other. Initially, everyone was setting their weapons on stun. Using them was a matter of last resort, according to orders. The lieutenant was given some latitude if things became hostile.
"If we’re lucky, they will find the targets and document what's needed and we can get out of here," I whispered to Arrendondo. My back was starting to itch like crazy.
"So you think after three hundred years we missed something this close to home?" she said softly.
"I hope so, or we may be here for a while,” I answered glumly. “If it’s an animal, we can turn the scans and reports over to command. They can hand them over to the necessary department, and then we are outta here."
"You're a piece of work, you know that?” she said. “The info will probably go to the C. A. E. D."
"Yeah, the Colonial Alliance Exploration and Discovery department. Forgot about them. Have they done anything in the past hundred years?"
I was watching and whispering but had zoned out. The sound of the lieutenant’s voice and the fact she was boring holes through my face brought me back to reality.
"Private Jamison, do you have intel we are unaware of? Something to share with the rest of us, perhaps?"
"No ma'am!"
"You seemed to have a lot to say to Corporal Arrendondo."
"Yes ma'am, just hoping everyone comes back safe,” I told her mildly.
"We are marines, private, not a backpacking club,” she snapped. “Let me worry about our safety.”
"Yes ma'am!"
Time to shut my mouth and stay under her radar for as long as possible, I thought. No one had any questions; it was pretty straightforward. Corporal Meadows was going with the captain, while Sergeant Phillips stayed with the lieutenant. They began to organize their squads’ assignments.
Arrendondo yelled for her three ‘newbs’ to follow her. The lieutenant was still watching us so I guess I understood why, but we were all standing next to her, so there was no need to yell.
Together we walked the perimeter of our small camp as she explained where and how we would perform our watch. We had all done watch duty in the last six months through basic and skill training. She marked four positions during our walk; every fifteen minutes we were going to move clockwise to the next one.
I recommended we do three-on and one-off four-hour shifts and set up in a triangle, but she wasn’t having any of it. I'm not sure why, other than the fact that I was the one who had suggested it. One thing I didn’t agree with was that they were going out a couple of hours before nightfall. But I kept my mouth shut.
Both squads disappeared into the jungle in a matter of seconds, although I could still hear them in the distance. If you listened for the absence of natural sound, then you could hear what was out of place. I know they were happy to be doing something other than sitting on their asses, and I'm sure they were trying to be stealthy, but I really hoped the scouts were quieter than the rest of the team.
Arrendondo and 53 were taking first watch. Terri and I weren’t tired and had six hours to do menial tasks. We set up lighting and a mess area, as well as a latrine. Generators supplied power to everything. We would have the camp ready for the squads when they returned.
We accomplished everything in about four hours. Arrendondo watched us and directed some of the placement of the equipment. Even though it wasn’t required, I set up a latrine for the females and hung a tarp to give them a little privacy.
I stood staring off into the jungle, listening to the sound of dusk — that time when it’s not quite dark yet, and the light is fighting to hold on but losing ground as a star dips below the horizon.
"Whatcha looking at?" Terri asked.
"Nothing," I said. "I'm listening more than I'm really looking. It's time for the day shift to get home safe and the night shift to find the stragglers to have for dinner."
"You think what we’re looking for is nocturnal?”
"I don’t know shit, Terri. They’re going out there looking for alien spies. I guess they hope to find them in the dark and capture them."
"And what do you think?"
"Didn’t I just say I don’t know shit? You hard of hearing?” I joked.
Terri knew punching me wouldn’t really hurt, so she tackled me. It was sloppy. I flipped her over easily and onto her back. Arrendondo and 53 heard her hit the ground.
"Just a workout," I yelled.
Terri rolled away and stood up. She sprinted towards me and jumped, hoping to catch me in the head with two punches. I deflected them both with my arms and turned, kicking her in the back as she sailed past me. The kick put her down again and only fueled her desire to score some kind of hit on me.
She was competitive as hell, and maybe a little crazy, but we had each other’s’ backs, and that was the most important thing. I would let her win sometimes, but would never ever tell her. She liked the David and Goliath scenario — it made her feel good. Don’t get me wrong, I had a hundred pounds on her, was a foot taller, and had enough reach; she could never get near me if I didn’t want her to. But if I was in her weight class with just the training we had both received, I probably would never beat her.
"Stop! You nut job,” I said. “I don’t want to tear these stitches out and start bleeding in this armor."
"Jamison, if I didn’t already know better I'd say you were getting a bit soft,” she laughed.
"If I did would you still love me?” I asked.
"Hmmm, that’s tough,” she answered. “Arrendondo is a lot prettier and has a nice rack too, so probably not. But you know me better."
"I heard that, Antolini!" Arrendondo yelled from her position twenty-five yards away.
"Sorry, corporal, it was a compliment,” Terri yelled back.
"Just be ready to relieve us, private, and leave my girls out of your conversations."
"C'mon," I said. "Let’s get our gear out of the shuttle." We walked up the ramp, and Terri was a step behind me. I felt her move quickly and turned towards her. She had used the bench seat to launch herself at me. I caught her and took an involuntary step back. She wrapped her legs around my waist and arms around my neck and kissed me.
I broke the kiss to look around and catch my breath. 53 was facing the jungle and we hadn’t turned on any lights. She started kissing me again. I pressed her against the hull and kissed her back.
"Stand on the bench, then you’ll be as tall as me,” I told her. “I like this, but not with armor on."
"So do you like that girl Ruby?" Terri asked.
"Why do you want to know?” I laughed. “We may never see these moons again.”
"She was very beautiful, and built like a thousand-credit-an-hour hooker."
"Again, if I will never see her again what does it matter?” I said.
"What about Arrendondo?"
"What about her?"
"She likes you."
"So? I don’t think the lieutenant would like it. It would complicate things,” I said.
"Okay, good,” she said with a satisfied smile. “So it’s just me and you still. You know I'm the best friend you could ever have."
I kissed her to shut her up.
A few minutes later we had geared up and double-checked each other’s weapons and comms. I grabbed my katana and knife from my foot locker and put them on. The lieutenant hadn’t approved them, but I could argue the need for a machete-like tool if the situation arose.
I walked to the ramp and looked around. The lights were on and the generators were topped off; we had water and other drinks set o
ut and ready. The thermals would help keep us cool, but there would still be a need to hydrate in this humid climate.
The noise coming from the jungle wasn’t anything trying to be stealthy. Maria and Clyde stepped into the clearing to face four rifles. Clyde was hurt and Maria held him up.
"Bring him over here!" I yelled, motioning to a cot we had set up. Clyde was limping and cursing about his leg. Terri grabbed the medical kit. The platoon had lost their corpsman on the mission prior to taking us onboard. There evidently was not one available to assign us before we had to leave.
We took off his armor and boots. I cleaned up the wound and got together what I needed. Arrendondo began questioning them and told Terri to take her position at watch. I worked and listened as they, mostly Maria, told us what had happened.
"We had two of the targets on the scanner and were pushing them toward the other squad," Maria said. “They must have figured out our plan and turned back on us. They were like black devils in the night. Yellow eyes reflected the light from our headsets, but otherwise we couldn’t see them.
“Clyde yelled out when one of them knocked him down. It hooked a claw in his leg and tried to drag him away. When I pointed my rifle in its direction it jerked hard, ripping the material between the plates and Clyde's leg."
"Did they just run away? Where is the rest of the squad?" Arrendondo asked.
"They went to find squad one. We could hear them engaging what must have been the other two targets."
I had kept quiet the whole time. It appeared Arrendondo wasn’t about to ask anything else at the moment, so I did. "Maria, did you backtrack or check to see if you were being followed?"
"We came straight here as fast as I could bring him,” Maria said, looking irritated at the question.
Arrendondo looked at me, so I assumed she want me to say something. "We need to pull everyone back from the tree line and put two more on watch,” I told her. “You should stay here with Clyde and try to get a hold of either of the squad leaders and see what the hell we have in store for us."
"Antolini! Showmaker! Pull back to the shuttle and maintain your position,” Arrendondo said. “Jamison, you and Cortez take three and nine. They’ll have to cross open ground to get to any of us.”
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison Mission 1: The Scarab Moons Page 7
