Chapter XXII: Rush
Amber looked over the assembled officers and sergeants, filling the seats in the auditorium. There were dozens, all of them there to learn their part in the upcoming battle.
"Before I start," she said, getting the attention of her audience, "I'd like to report some very happy news. Apparently, the soldiers of the First Platoon of Charlie Company, from the First Battalion of the Median IV, have returned to us from the dead. They seem to have taken a wrong turned somewhere in time, but they look to have found their way home."
Applause met that announcement, and became even more deafening as Bob stood and bowed to the crowd.
She cleared her throat, then began speaking again. "We're all here because we know the final battle's coming up. We're going to catch the Eldar in a pincer movement that should squeeze the life out of them.
"Force A will be the eastern flanking force. It will consist of the Morathan I and the Fordian XVI. These two regiments will move en masse to this location -" she indicated a section of the town on the floating holo-map situated before her "-and wait for the signal that Force B is in position.
"Force B will be the western flanking force. That force will be made up of the Qartian IX and the Desian III. They'll move to this area -" again she pointed to a highlight section of the map "-and inform Force A of their arrival.
"Force C will contain all of our mobile units. They'll move up through the city between the routes taken by Force A and Force B. Once those two are in place, Force C will quickly move to provide mobile support wherever it's needed. Forces A and B will move as soon as they get word from each other that they're where they should be, and will encircle the Eldar from their flanks.
"I've had unit-specific briefings drawn up for each battalion. These will be delivered to you later today, and I suggest you quickly learn them. We'll be heading out at fourteen hundred hours. Take this time to get your men ready. Dismissed."
The various officers and sergeants quickly filed out of the auditorium, leaving Amber virtually by herself, leaning against the holo-projector. She felt worn out, more tired than she'd felt any time in her recent memory.
Two persons approached, and she looked up to see her grandfather and Bob walk up behind her.
"Gentlemen?"
Bob smirked, and her grandfather replied, "I didn't hear anything about what we'll be doing."
"Too eager to wait for the platoon's briefing?"
Her grandfather shook his head. "Not really. But I'm curious as to what you have in mind for my unit."
"Is that hesitance or hopefulness I detect in your voice, lieutenant?"
He smiled. "A little of both, I suppose. Listen, Amber, I'm just trying to find out what I'll be sending my people into. I don't want to be surprised any more than I already have."
Amber leaned back against the
holo-projector and ran her hands down her trench coat, smoothing its black fabric. "You have a pretty special mission ahead for you. But I can't tell you yet what it is."
"Oh?"
"Sorry. I know you'd prefer to know what's going on. But if it helps, I'll be right there with your platoon, giving them their instructions in person."
"It doesn't make me feel much better, but I suppose I'll take it." Her grandfather stepped back, saluted, and walked out of the room.
Bob stayed behind. He had a strange look on his face, and she couldn't tell if it was amusement or something else. "You have something to say, sergeant?"
Bob stepped forward, barely a foot away, and said, "It's Bob. And I don't really have anything to say about the mission. Rather, it's about one of my friends."
"What is it?"
"Well, being that you're the morale officer and all, I was hoping you could tell me how Bill's doing."
Amber frowned. He couldn't have guessed, so he must just be genuinely concerned about his friend and knew that she was charged with keeping an eye on the emotional well-being of the soldiers. "He seems to be coping alright, if that's what you're asking."
Bob leaned his head down and whispered, "I believe you're qualified to give a better answer than that."
"What do you mean?" Amber asked. She took a step back, but found that she couldn't move that way far. The holoprojector was right behind her.
Bob fished in his pockets and withdrew a small wad of fabric that looked like silk. "I don't think I need to remind you what these are."
Amber looked around, nervous. No one else was in the room. "Bob, where did you get those? And who did you get them from? Is there something I should know?"
Bob laughed. "I think you know what they are, whose they are, and where I got them. I thought you'd like them returned. After all, you seemed so frantic when you couldn't find them last night."
"What are you-" Amber cut herself off. It was no good. He knew. "How did you know?"
Bob rubbed at his chin with his free hand. It was covered in stubble. "I have a tendency to sit on rooms, in secluded places. It helps me deal with my thoughts sometimes. I saw Bob come up on the roof, but he didn't notice me. So I sat and watched him, in case he needed a friend. Then you came along, and he got more than that."
Amber bit her lip and grabbed at Bob's hand. She caught what was in it, unfolded the fabric, and found, to her mortification, that he was indeed right. He'd been holding her missing underwear. "If I may ask, where did you find them? I mean, I thought the wind had carried them away."
Bob sighed. "Almost did. Blasted things were caught in a gust just the right way and - you won't believe this - blew right into my face. I never expected, in all my life, that one day I'd be sitting on a roof top and boom, some girl's panties hit me right in the face. Smell nice, too. I forgot the brand, but I recognize the perfume. And..."
She cut him off with a scowl. "Not here! My goodness, you are one infuriating person!"
He smiled. "I know. But anyway. I wanted to thank you for, well, helping my friend begin on the road to recovery. Hell of a way to do it, but hey, I'm not complaining. It was a nice show, especially with you -"
"Finish that thought and I'll slap you. And I'm not meaning in any polite, lady like manner, either."
"Ouch. Yes, ma'am. Next time, you might want to be more careful with your possessions." He turned to leave.
Amber dropped into a nearby chair, feeling even more exhausted. Then she quickly shouted to Bob before he exited the room. "Bob! You didn't, um, tell anyone, did you?"
He turned and flashed her a grin. "No. And I don't really intend to. I'll see you later, Commissar."
He closed the door behind him, leaving Amber alone with her thoughts. Not wanting to be in such a position, she gathered up her equipment and left the auditorium, hurrying to get ready for the day's mission.
* * *
Becker leaned against the wall of the
building, shaking his head. It had to be some ironic twist of fate that led them to be taking shelter in the same building they had fifty six years earlier, before they'd moved to destroy the monolith and kill the Eldar leaders.
Bob checked his rifle again, making sure it was clean and ready to go. He smiled at Becker. "Bit of a deja vu, huh, Dennis?"
Becker groaned. "Too much so, Bob."
Bob dropped his rifle on its sling, letting it hang from his shoulder. "This time, the results are going to be different. I can feel it. We are going to stop the Eldar dead in their tracks, and they won't be able to do the same thing to us they did before."
"I wish I had your confidence."
"Faith. It's my faith that things will turn out the way I want them to. I have to believe in a better ending, else I'm going to go nuts."
"If you ever do, let me know. I might just decide to join you."
Bob smiled.
Amber walked up and stood beside Bob. She turned to him and said, "Could I have a moment with the lieutenant?"
"Sure thing," he replied, turning and leaving to go back to his squad.
Amber turned to face Becker, and he was caught somewhat off guard by the worried look on her face. "I have your orders."
He nodded. "And they are?"
"You're going after the Farseer again. This time, he's definitely the primary target."
Becker chuckled.
Amber frowned. "What's so funny?"
Becker leaned his head back, then smiled at Amber. "Bob had a feeling we would be going after the Farseer again. His hunch was right on the money, again."
Amber turned and looked toward Bob. "Yeah, he seems to be right
on the mark with a lot of things."
Becker couldn't figure out what the tone in her voice was, and it worried him. "Anything I should know?"
Amber turned back to him, startled. "Oh. No. Just reflecting on some of his other predictions."
"And what were they like?"
"All good." Amber smiled, and for a brief moment Becker once again was filled with regret for not having been around to see his granddaughter grow up. "I have a feeling it'll turn out for the good, too. We're going to get those Eldar, and do it decisively."
"Take care of yourself during the fighting, Amber. I don't want to lose you now that I've found out about you."
"Don't worry, 'grandfather'," she replied, making a tease of that last word. "We'll make it through this one."
* * *
Bob walked over to Janet, who smiled at him. "Hey, Bob. How are you this afternoon?"
"Fine. Why do you ask?"
"You didn't get much sleep last night."
"How do you figure that?"
"You were late in going to bed."
Bob frowned. "How would you know that?"
Janet leaned close and quietly said, "I did invite you to share my room, and consequently that big bed I have. And you took up the offer, as we can both tell by our almost running into
each other this morning."
"And?"
"Two hours after you should have gone to bed, I rolled over and you weren't there. Where were you?"
"You're genuinely worried. I'm touched."
"Stop that. If you have something on your mind, you can tell me."
"Okay, okay. I was on the roof. Had some thinking to do."
"About what?"
Bob moved to the wall and sat down. "I'm nervous. Very nervous."
Janet followed him, sitting beside him. "That's normal."
"Heh. You don't know just what nervous means with me. But I was also worried about Bill."
"Because of his recent loss?"
"Yes. Because he'd just gotten real comfortable with Lisa, genuinely loved her, and she got killed."
"How's he doing?"
"I ran into him on the roof. Seems he's doing okay."
"That's good. It's nice to know that his grief isn't getting the best of him."
Bob closed his eyes, holding back the response, "Oh, it's definitely not getting to him..."
* * *
Bill sat alone in the room, away from the rest of the platoon on the far side of the building.
His feelings mingled somewhere in between sadness and joy, with a touch of anger thrown in to stir things up.
His thoughts regarding his
warring emotions were broken up as soft footsteps approached. He looked up and smiled. "Amber."
She smiled back, closed the door, then sat down. "I was taking a walk, and noticed you back here."
Bill nodded past her toward the closed door. "Why'd you close the door?"
Amber hesitated, then answered, "You and I both have some sensitive issues in our past, things I don't think either of us want being widely known."
"I can understand that. I suppose it frees me up to ask something I've been wondering about since last night. After I made the comment about Commissars shooting others in the back, you seemed especially upset, as if it was a personal shot or something. Why?"
Amber turned away, and he could hear when she spoke that she was on the verge of crying. "I... I once was more in touch with the Median II soldiers. One of their officers was a dashing young lieutenant who I'd pegged as probably the perfect match for the grandfather I'd never known. He was smart, handsome, had a good head about him. The perfect officer... or so I thought.
"A few months ago, while his unit was out in the field, they were ambushed by some Eldar. A small force, really. But he was so rattled by the ambush that he turned and ordered a retreat. I was so reviled by his cowardice, both as a Commissar and... as a lover. I did my Commissarial duty right then and there, putting not one but five bullets in the back of his head. Then I rallied his troops and beat the ambushing force."
Bill blinked. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You couldn't have known."
"I guess we have more in common than I thought."
Amber gave Bill a questioning look. "How?"
"We both lost lovers because of the Eldar."
"Oh. Right."
"And for what it's worth, it
wasn't your fault. You were doing your duty."
"That's not much consolation."
"We don't get much consolation out here. You just have to take what you get and do what you can with it."
"I suppose you're right." Amber turned and looked at Bill. "How is it that all you basic grunt soldiers seem to have so much wisdom to share?"
Bill shrugged. "I guess it's the forced learning. Either wise up fast, or learn the hard and permanent way."
"I see your point."
The two sat in silence for a few awkward moments, then Bill spoke up.
"Amber?"
"Hmm?"
"I, uh, I don't really know how to phrase this. But I think I'm beginning to have strong feelings for you."
She sighed. "Can't anyone just say 'I love you' anymore?"
Bill suddenly pulled her close. "I love you," he said, then wrapped his lips around hers before she could reply.
After a long kiss, they withdrew. Amber seemed surprised, then smiled. "That's better. But you know, there's not that much time before the battle, and we probably should be getting back to the platoon."
"Time enough," Bill muttered.
* * *
Mel sat against the wall, waiting with everyone else for the word to be given.
They didn't have to wait long.
The commlink was soon filled with comm traffic from the brewing battle:
"Force A, closing in quickly."
"Force C here, we're almost on top of them."
"The Qartians seem to have found some of the Eldar already. They're bogged down in a mass of them."
"Help's on the way. We're detaching a company of
Ell-Ar Emm-Bee-Tees to your location."
"Roger that."
"Qartian Colonel here. Request a force circle around and help close in the little blighters."
"I hear you. We're on our way."
"Where's our damn air support?"
"What's wrong?"
"We're getting hit by Eldar from all sides. Must be a million of them in the damned buildings!"
"Dispatching units to your position."
"What the hell? Did someone call in artillery support? I didn't think we had any."
"Moebian II tank company, boys. We remembered to bring the artillery with us."
"Earthshakers?"
"Damn right."
"Great! Unload those babies on the buildings all around us."
"Won't the shrapnel hit you?"
"Debris is more a worry, but we're already getting chewed up, it can't be any worse."
"Eldar in the main lane! Where did they get this many?"
"Must be something important to attract so many
cone heads to one place."
"Copy, copy. I got good news. Air's only a few clicks out. They're coming it hot and low."
"Whoo! About time!"
Mel could tell the air support was coming for the other units, and it was definitely low. The building the platoon had holed up in vibrated as five squadrons of Marauders thundered by overhead, followed by the roar of Thunderbolts and the screams of Lightnings.
Moments later, on the comm: "Bombs are hitting the Eldar hard. Where're the Drakes?"
"Coming in, boys. And don't be too close when we drop these things."
Mel rushed to a window and looked up.
Sure enough, the awesome humongous bombers were flying in overhead. They were at a very high altitude, yet their silhouettes were still easily distinguishable. Contrails flowed behind each bomber, leaving a pattern of lines across the sky.
The results were very audible, and could be felt even within the building, which was a good distance from the main fighting. It shook with the explosions, and a sound like rolling thunder told of a string of bombs being unloaded.
Mel offered up a silent thanks to the men who'd built and crewed those massive engines of destruction.
* * *
Bob stood near the edge of the rooftop. He watched as attack craft swept down on the streets below, or circled over them, dropping bombs and making strafing runs. Lights flashed across the sky as fighters from both sides competed for air superiority.
Explosions could be heard and seen, and not just a few buildings came crashing down.
It was an awesome and yet terrifying sight, and Bob wondered absently whether their own little mission would be as dangerous, not as dangerous, or even more dangerous.
End of Chapter XXII
Continued in Chapter XXIII: The Farseer
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