32
“And that’s all over human space?” Strap asked, still quite a bit worse for wear but hooking back up with the team as they marched back in.
“Looks like it,” the master guns said. “There are a few places like us here that had been in combat right in the middle of all of this, including some of the indie worlds and stations, where the Council is trying to find out for sure, but the tin-asses are gone.”
“How many others were using the gat?” Hussein asked.
“No idea. They told us before that we were sharing the virus with the Fries and the Mad Dogs, but how many were actually employing it? Or how many Marines units, for that matter? I sure don’t know. It’s not like we’re back up to full comms, and keeping us peons in the loop isn’t a priority.”
Which was an understatement. The Centaurs had essentially destroyed all comms on the planet, and even pulling systems out of storage wasn’t having much of an effect. The Navy brought in a ship just to act as a nexus for communications and had sent down some repeating stations, but that was limiting the amount of comms for only the most vital. Division was giving twice-a-day updates, but they were only generalities.
Ironically, while there were out in the bush at their Ops, they got the updates quicker on the landlines. Back here in the rear, the master guns had to trek over to the regimental headquarters to find out what was going on.
“What about casualties?” Rev asked. “Any word on those yet.”
“Not yet. Nothing concrete, at least. But I did talk to Sergeant Major Perez. She said that Third Marines were almost wiped out, and First wasn’t that much better.”
“Respect to the fallen,” the Marines said.
First and Third Marine Regiments were part of First Division, over on Gold, New Hope’s main continent, and from the bits and pieces they were hearing, the fighting had been much fiercer over there with huge military and civilian casualties. Things had gotten pretty intense here in New Wales, especially for tanks and mech, so Rev didn’t want to think of how bad it might have been over there.
“That’s about all I have for now. Rest up, hang out, whatever. We’re heading back out tomorrow at noon.
“And you,” he said to Rev. “No word yet on anyone from Sieben or one of our armorers who can take a look at you. I’ll keep asking, though.”
Rev had expected as much, but there’d been hope that someone could give him some relief with his harness and shoulder.
“Any word on the bivvies?” Hussein asked.
They’d seen a few of the expeditionary bivouacs being erected over on Field 1 as they marched in, and all of them wanted the opportunity to get out from under the weather. The rain that hit them last evening at the OP had made for a miserable night.
“This is only our second time back to camp. Have patience. But those things go up quickly, so maybe next time?” the master guns said.
“Hard to imagine that I’d think an expeditionary bivvie was the height of luxury,” Rev said.
“Ditto,” Porter added wistfully.
The master guns laughed, then turned and left them to their own devices.
Strap stood and looked over to the chow line. “Not ready yet. Looks like another half an hour at least.”
“So,” Hussein said, scooting over to face the others. “Did we do it? I mean, did the damn virus work?”
They turned to Doc Paul as one. “Hey, don’t look at me? I sure the hell don’t know.”
“But what do you think?” Hussein persisted.
“We did what we had to do as vectors. Whether it worked or not is the question. But think of it. The minimum incubation period was two weeks. They pulled chocks here in two weeks. But you heard the master guns. They pulled chocks everywhere. Could we have infected them across the galaxy?”
“But it wasn’t only us, and how long did it take us to use the gats? Quite some time, right? I’d be willing to bet that other units used the virus before we did. Maybe in lots of places. The Mad Dogs were getting hit harder and earlier than us,” Rev said.
“Did we really give them the virus? I don’t trust them,” Hussein said.
Which Rev understood. The Manifest Destiny Sphere were allies only because the Centaurs were a common enemy. They believed they had the God-given right to rule space, and they weren’t always beholden to the Council of Humanity.
But they also had a strong military, and as the closest large power to the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, they’d taken more than their fair share of the Centaur aggression.
“Don’t trust who?” Tomiko said as she walked up to join them.
“The Mad Dogs. But glad you could join us, Miko. The master guns just briefed us. The tin-asses—”
“You can tell me later. You’re going to want to see this,” she said, cutting him off. “Come with me.”
“What’s this about?”
“Just come with me.”
Rev looked at the others, shrugged, then stood up. Tomiko could be a strange person, and for all he knew, she’d seen anything from a particularly interesting flower that survived the destruction to a captured Centaur that was spilling its secrets over a beer. And she was in a mood where she wasn’t going to tell, so he just followed as they passed the chow line and in the direction of the chapel and the prefab that was acting as the regimental headquarters.
Rev looked past her to the headquarters, trying to see if anything there might have caught her attention when she stopped by the chapel and pointed at the Family Reunification board.
Rev’s heart skipped a beat, and he stepped up Right there, where she was pointing, under the heading for Reston Plains Displacement Camp, was:
Pelletier, Maximillian
Pelletier, Elisabet
Pelletier, Grover
Pelletier, Neesalia
Psalki, Katerina
“Oh, my God,” he said, reaching up to trace the names with his finger as a tsunami of relief swept over him. Unabashed tears started flowing down his face. “They made it.”
He turned and enveloped Tomiko in a bone-crushing hug.
“I thought you might want to know, Rev.”
“Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Miko. He turned back again as if afraid the names might have disappeared. “This is what you went to see when we got in? I wondered where you’d gone.”
“I knew you were waiting to find out about your harness, and yeah, I thought I’d take a look. A gunny saw me and said the updates were coming in another twenty minutes, so I just waited it out.”
Just like her. For a hardass, she’s really got a heart of gold.
“Well, thank you. I appreciate it.”
“I’m your element leader. It’s my job to take care of you,” she said as she gave him a shot in the arm. “But did you see where they are? Reston Plains?”
“Yeah, that’s . . .” and it hit him. The fight at Bluebonnet Meadows. The Centaurs had been moving up Highway 72, which led right to the Plains of Reston.”
“Yeah. Bluebonnet Meadow. Lieutenant Harisa and Nix. I think they helped save your family.”
Rev felt the blood rush from his face. He looked to the sky, touched his heart, then pointed to the stars. “Respect for the fallen, my friends. And thank you.”