by J E Loddon
Casper and Antonia were halfway to the shuttle, At this point, Casper was pretty much carrying her by himself. We were a way behind them, my sapped strength not enough to pull Liberty any quicker. Upon seeing the shuttle, though, she became galvanised, and with every step, the amount of weight pushing down on my shoulder decreased, until she was almost jogging along by herself. The sounds of bullets pinging against the shuttle were getting louder as we approached. I didn’t know how far away the landing craft were from the shore, but I knew we didn’t have much time to get out. With Liberty carrying her own weight now, I stole a glance back at the forest. I saw Cal emerging through the tress, running towards us. I breathed a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t have had time to go into the forest to look for him, but leaving another man behind would have just about wrecked me.
“I’m coming!” he shouted at me. “Go!” I continued towards the shuttle, now halfway across the sand to it. We were going to make it, I was pretty sure. Casper, Antonia and Tasia were at the entrance already. With no pods hanging from its wings, they didn’t have to ascend the ramp. The shuttle was able to land directly onto the floor without using struts, so they could step into its side hatch.
I heard more shots ringing out, much louder this time. They were coming not from in front of me, I realised, but behind. I saw a couple of bullets pinging off of the side of the transport in front of me, perilously close to where Antonia and Casper were loading Tasia onto it. I looked around, wondering why Cal was shooting towards us. As I turned, I saw Cal grimacing in pain at the edge of the forest, dropping to his knees. I looked deeper into the trees, and saw where the shots were coming from. An enemy soldier, standing by the tress we’d been crouched behind, shooting at us. I squeezed a few shots off at him, forcing him to duck behind the tree momentarily. I could hear the shots coming from the boats behind me, getting louder and intense. Cal was so far away, and the beach so open. I wouldn’t be able to reach him without exposing myself fully to the hostile in the trees, and I wouldn’t be able to carry him back to the transport before the hostiles from the boats had reached the beach. I was frozen in indecision.
Then, Liberty raced past me. She’d summoned energy from somewhere, and was rushing to Cal’s side. I started squeezing off shots at the hostile in the trees again. I fired them one at a time, knowing that I didn’t have enough to keep him pinned down long enough. I advanced towards Liberty and Cal’s position. She was trying to yank him up, dragging him towards the shuttle, but she didn’t have the strength. I’d have to drop my rifle, and hope by some miracle the enemy soldier didn’t hit us. It seemed pretty hopeless. More shots rang out from behind me, but much closer this time. I glanced back, to see Max and Benji by the transport’s hatch, shooting past us into the forest. I dropped my rifle, and ran towards Liberty and Cal. I helped them both up, and tried to get them both moving towards the ship. It was a real struggle. A few seconds later, though, Antonia appeared next to me, grabbing Cal. Together, We took Liberty and Cal’s weight and we all staggered back to the ship as Max and Benji covered our escape. I could hear the shouts of the hostiles on the other side of the transport now. They’d reached the beach, and were running towards the ship. We reached the hatch, and desperately yanked our two injured comrades into the transport. As soon as we were clear of the hatch, Max punched a button by the door, and it started to close. Suddenly, the floor of the ship jumped up and hit me in the face as the pilot ascended sharply.
I lay there, momentarily stunned. The sight of blood oozing from Cal’s back shocked me back into action, though. With Benji’s help, I yanked him up, and we pulled him towards the treatment area. The ship’s medical officer arrived as we rolled him onto the table one down from Tasia’s, as Casper was strapping her down. With the continuing ascent of the ship throwing my balance off, I raced back towards Liberty, and pulled her towards the next free treatment table. Max rushed to help, and we got her in place just before the ships movement through the upper atmosphere knocked us both down to the floor. I pulled myself back up, and strapped Liberty in. Max pulled two clips away from the wall, and clipped both me and herself to the treatment table. We were tethered just in time, as the transport broke through the planet’s atmosphere, throwing us from side to side. I barely managed to keep my footing, even with the tether in place. I felt gravity disappear, as the ship began its acceleration.
“We need help over here!” I called over to the medical officer. He was busy tending to Cal’s wound. I floated at Liberty’s side impatiently, watching the medic work. Once he’d finished strapping Cal’s wound, he worked his way across, examining Tasia, and then Liberty. “She’s not doing too great,” I said to him.
“She’ll hold,” he replied. “This other wound is much worse,” he said, gesturing towards Cal. “I have to stabilise him first.”
“Where’s the second medical officer?” I asked him.
“She was seeing to the injured soldier we took back to the Anastasia,” he explained. “She didn’t make it back aboard in time.” He floated back towards the other end. “Seal the wound with resin,” he shouted back towards me as he went.
I gritted my teeth in frustration. Liberty was bleeding quite heavily again now, the strain of getting Cal up, and struggling to the shuttle having taken its toll. I looked at the array of medical products in front of me in panic. I tried to remember my medical training sessions, but I couldn’t think straight. I tried to read labels, but nothing was making sense. A hand grabbed a nozzled can to my left, as Max took charge.
“Pull the dressings off,” she told me. I eased off what was left of the bandages and medical patches around Liberty’s wound. Max used the can to spray deep into the cut, and it expanded out and over Liberty’s arm, fully sealing the wound. Max then took a cylinder, and slid a needle gun out of it. She shot it into Liberty’s arm above the wound. She then went on to attach a drip to Liberty’s other arm. “This’ll make up for the lost blood, temporarily,” she explained. I relaxed a little. She seemed to know what she was doing. I was still anxious, though, and looked nervously across to the medical officer, hard at work on Cal. I felt guilty for trying to get the medic to prioritise Liberty. Cal had been shot in the back, and I had no idea if he’d been hit in the spine. Tasia seemed to be OK,at least. Max finished off, then started to unhook herself.
“There’s nothing else we can do at the moment,” she said to me. “You should rest.” I had no intention of leaving the medical area until I could see some sign that Liberty was getting better. She was barely conscious at this point.
“I’ll stay for a bit,” I said.
“Fair enough,” she said, smiling. “I’d better go see what I can do to calm these guys down. They look a little anxious after all that.” I looked at her, puzzled. Then, I watched her float over to the seating area, and saw what she meant. There was a sea of confused and frightened faces looking back at me from the chairs. There were five squads of troops sat there. The other squads that had gone out in the pods when we’d set off for our original mission had all now been picked up. They all looked pretty spotless in their armour. No signs of blood or wear. We must look a real sight to them, I realised. They’d all probably just been out on routine missions, quite possibly their first. They’d have gone from feeling happy they’d survived, to be horrified to see what awaited them in future.
I stayed by Liberty’s side for probably about half an hour. She wasn’t really with it at all, but her breathing seemed normal, and colour started to reappear in her skin. Eventually, the medic came over to me. Cal hadn’t been hit in the spine, or in any major organs, he assured me. He was in stable condition, and the medic felt confident he’d be fine. He then examined Liberty. She’d lost a decent amount of blood, but the medic said this was easily fixed, and that she, also, would be fine. He hooked her up with a blood sac, then moved along to Tasia, and started examining her for internal injuries. Once I heard the news that she had no signs of any serious issues, I went and found a seat. I was exhausted. It had
been a long couple of days. All squads were aboard, though. As long as we didn’t intercept any more rogue distress signals, we should be headed straight home.
I must have drifted off. I was awoken by an insistent pulling on my arm. It was Antonia.
“What now?!” I asked in panic, trying to rouse myself.
“Nothing,” she said. “We’re starting to decelerate. Liberty’s awake,” she said. “I thought you’d want to know. She seems OK. Considering.” I looked across, and sure enough, I could see Liberty moving.
“What about Cal?” I asked.
“He’s not awake,” she replied. “But the medic put him under, so he’s not supposed to be. He said Cal will be fine. They all will. We made it!” she said with a smile. I smiled back.
“Who put the guns away?” I asked, suddenly remembering I’d just left them sprawled on the floor.
“Me and Benji did it,” she replied with a laugh. “You were saving lives, don’t worry about it.” I let out a sigh of relief. My focus had gone for just a little while, and it could have been a disaster.
“Thanks,” I said. She shrugged as if it was nothing, and floated back over to where Max and Benji were sitting, in conversation with some of the other recruits. I noticed some of them staring at me, with a look that might have been awe, or fear. I was spattered with blood in several places, and must have looked like I’d just fought an entire war. I floated over to Liberty.
“Hey,” I said. “How you feeling?”
“Milo, hey,” she said. “I’m not bad, bud. Nothing hurts. The doc gave me something, so I don’t know how bad the pain actually is. It really is just a scratch though. I just needed a bit of blood to perk me up.”
“I’m glad you’re OK,” I said. “I wanted to say sorry.”
“Sorry?” she replied. “For what?”
“You were right,” I said. “I didn’t think we were going to make it through the day, and you disagreed. I should have been more positive.” She laughed. Not just a little chuckle, but a proper laugh.
“Nah, it’s OK, bud,” she replied. “I have to say that. I thought the same as you. I don’t know how we survived all that.” I looked at her in shock. Then she gave me a little smile. I couldn’t tell if it was a joke, or if she’d just revealed a little piece of herself, a small bit of honesty that she’s otherwise kept hidden.
“We did it,” I said. “All of us. We’ve made a positive impact. We’ve got valuable intel. We’re doing it!” I said to her. She gave me a bemused look. “We’re making a difference,” I explained. “You’ve helped to keep our people safe today.” She smiled again, properly this time.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” she replied. “Thanks Milo.”
I excused myself, and went and strapped myself back in for the landing. We were alive. All of us. And we were home.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
We landed with a bump. We were home. I’d still half expected the pilot to call over to tell us were had to make a detour into a war zone of the fringes of space, but no. We were home.
I hadn’t REALLY considered it home before now. I had referred to it as home, because it was all I’d had. And on the previous mission, I’d been glad to see it when we’d returned. Not like this, though. Now, today, it was the happiest sight in the world.
The hatch began to open, and the cadets all started to make for the exit. Benji and Max, ordered them to wait, though, explaining that the injured soldiers had to be allowed off first. The medical officer prepared Cal to be taken off on a stretcher. He was stirring, I could see, but was not fully awake. He’d need to be stitched up inside properly once they got him to the medical centre.
Tasia was able to get up on her own, and actually wasn’t moving any worse than I was by this point. Casper insisted on helping her, regardless. I went to help Liberty. She protested, though. Greatly. She wanted to just get up and leave the transport under her own steam. When she tried to get up, though, she must have had a dizzy spell, because she fell back into the arms of me and Antonia. We helped her get down the ramp, and she sat down in the hanger. The rest of the recruits then came clanging down the ramp. I thanked Max and Benji for their help. I realised that I hadn’t asked after their injured teammate. They explained that they didn’t know how he was. They’d basically dropped him off with their other teammate, and gotten back into the transport and pretty much gone back out. I thanked them again, knowing that after what they’d been through, it had taken real guts to step straight back out into it again.
I went and retrieved our weapons, and put them on the gun rack. Casper took out the rest of our equipment. With pretty much all our ammo spent, and Casper having left behind yet another scanning rig, it was much lighter to unload than it had been to lad two days ago. Two days! That was how long we’d been gone, give or take. Though as I’m sure Cal would have pointed out, a day is different to everyone. It was two days by the arbitrary measure used on the ship, which was a standard twenty-four hour day. I wasn’t sure who it was standard to, though.
Eventually, Hung appeared. We’d just been sitting around in the hanger by this point. We weren’t sure if we should be waiting for someone to debrief us, or if we could just go and sort it out later. None of us really felt like walking, though, and we were happy just to sit down as a squad for a little while.
“Morning, everyone,” he said. “I hear you’ve had a rough trip?” We all nodded. “So, what happened?” he asked.
“You want to go and do a debrief?” Liberty asked him.
“That can wait a little bit,” he replied. “How about you give me the informal version.”
So we did. We sat there with him for over an hour, telling him everything that had occurred since we’d left the ship. He looked impressed. He also looked worried about us. I hadn’t really seen him looking concerned before, or displaying much emotion at all really, but he definitely looked worried. That increased considerably, though, when we told him about the facility we’d witnessed, and the enemy presence we’d encountered.
“Can we go, now?” Casper asked. “I’m kinda hungry.”
“Soon,” Hung promised. “There’s someone who’s going to want to see you first, though. Just wait here a bit longer.” Then, he disappeared off again.
“What’s that about?” Casper wondered.
“You’re probably gonna get reprimanded for losing your third scanning rig,” Tasia teased him.
“Hey, it’s not my fault. It’s heavy,” he complained. “It’s Scout equipment. We haven’t really done much scouting, that’s not my fault.” We all laughed.
“It’s true,” Liberty said. “We’ve definitely been much more of a search and destroy combat team.”
“I think I prefer scouting,” I offered. “That first mission was much more at my comfort level.”
“We can go on a fool’s errand next time, Milo, I promise,” Liberty replied. We laughed, and then sat in silence again for a few minutes. It wasn’t awkward, silence though. It was an odd kind of satisfied, companion-ly silence. I looked around at my team mates. They finally looked familiar to me, now. They looked like family.
“Do you think Cal’s gonna be OK?” Tasia asked.
“I hope so,” Liberty replied. “He’s the only one that really knows what was going on back there. He needs to give that information to the people who need it.”
“Ahh, he’ll be fine,” Casper said. “He’s as tough as a Rhontin steak.”
“What’s a Rhontin steak?!” I asked incredulously. “I’m sure you just make some of these things up to confuse me.”
“You never seen a Rhontin?” he asked me, disbelievingly.
“Look who you’re talking to,” Antonia reminded him. “He’d never even seen a tree before!” They all laughed.
“I have now!” I pointed out. “And a boat. And Casper losing his cool!” I teased. Casper went red in the face.
“It think we all did well to keep it as much together as we did,” Liberty pointed out. “It was only our second m
ission, and we took out enemy facilities, took down multiple hostiles, rescued some sort of special forces spy…”
“And potentially delivered some vital intel,” I chimed in. “We definitely deserve a week off. Or even a party!” I said.
“Ooh, I want a party,” Tasia said. “Will we get presents?”
“Yeah, presents!” I said. “And cake!”
“You know what cake is?!” Casper asked me, and they all laughed.
“Yeah. But, you know, we had to make it out of dirt, and grit. It was more of a powder cake,” I replied sarcastically.
“OW!” Liberty said, suddenly.
“You OK?” I asked worriedly.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s OK,” she said. “The painkiller is just wearing off. I’ll be fine,” she said.
Just then, a man in one of the red ship’s crew uniforms appeared.
