Ice and Peace (17 page)

She pulled out a grenade. Jesswan smiled and did the same.

“On my count!”

“One.” she said, rolling onto her stomach. “Two.”

She raised her arm and popped the pin. “Three!”

She threw it as hard as she could as did Jesswan.

***

The Blanchard lurched and listed to the side as it took evasive maneuvers under the heavy fire.

“Fire aft cannons and launch aft plasma torpedoes.” Keegan ordered.

“Sir, we have an unidentified ship in area. It is engaging the enemy full blast!” Berger called out over the noise of activity.

“Is it the Wacians?”

“Yes, sir!”

The crew cheered.

“They said they will escort us all the way through!” the communications officer called out.

“All right, take us farther in.”

Keegan allowed himself to relax a bit. Going in with full cannons blazing would make for a hell of an entrance, but it was better than getting blown to bits.

***

Caitlin and her team fought it out with their human-like foes. The snow covered the scene like a blanket as the sun sank beneath the horizon. Gouging one in the chest and another in the neck, Caitlin fought for her life as well as for her team’s.

One by one, the enemy fell. Panting heavily, her white Arctic geared soiled pink, she surveyed the devastation.

“Where is she?” Jesswan asked, as the falling snow covered the lifeless beings.

Caitlin drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know. She cannot be far. Look around.”

They searched the area for the thing. This far out, they were not going to give up.

“I found her,” Mosely called out. He waved at them and pointed in front of him.

Quickly bounding over, Caitlin found the young woman face-down in the snow, dead. Not wasting anytime, she searched the corpse’s pockets for any information she could have taken from the ship.

“There’s nothing on her.” She shook her head, frustration building once again. Then it occurred to her. If the others were sent to pick her up, and she was already dead, then….

“Search the rest of them. One of them has to have it on ’em.”

They searched the bodies of the aliens. One she thought to be the leader by the elaborate markings on its clothing. Rolling over the dead body with her foot, Caitlin removed her gloves and reached into one of its pockets. She smiled when she found what she was looking for. Pulling out the penny-sized data chip, she placed it inside her coat and stood up. “I got it. Let’s go.”

“Are we done?” Jesswan asked, as the snow began to fall harder.

“We need to get out of here as soon as possible. If they radioed their position, we don’t want to be here in case someone returns for them.”

***

“Status?” Caitlin asked, completing her makeshift snow shelter.

“We got two wounded. Looks pretty bad,” Jesswan answered. “But got them fixed up as best as we can. The rest are okay.”

“What about communications?” She clapped her hands together to clean off her gloves.

“Nothing. There’s nothing. It’s like they’re not there.”

Caitlin glanced up. The sky was no longer visible, as it was saturated with snow. Light was fading fast. She frowned and shook her head. Where had the Blanchard gone? Where the hell was Keegan? She let out a deep breath and glanced at her team, finishing up several other snow shelters. She had no choice. It was time to give the order. “Shelters ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Shove the wounded in with a healthy one. Everyone else by twos and tell them to turn on their transmitters because it’s time to go to sleep.”

Jesswan paused as if startled by her remark.

Caitlin kept her composure, even though her chest tightened. She knew they had never thought they would come to this state, but they had no choice. There was no one but them out here, and she was not going to let her team die. “Got it?”

“Yes, Chief,” he replied.

“Good. Now go do it.” Caitlin looked inside her shelter, small, with a rounded ceiling and close to the ground. It was big enough to fit two. It would keep them from the elements and give them enough time to go into hibernation without freezing to death. She pulled off her pack and weapon and shoved them inside. At the rate the snow was falling, the small mounds that dotted the area would be covered. Their transmitters and the implanted ImSensor Device her husband had given her so many years ago would be the only things visible.

“All right, they’re in,” Jesswan said, returning to her.

“Good. Now get inside.”

Jesswan obeyed, leaving Caitlin to herself. She glanced skyward one more time and said a quick prayer before crawling inside. As she closed the entrance to the shelter with snow, she cleared the opening near the top, allowing air to circulate. She then lay down and closed her eyes to relax. Calming her breathing, she cleared her mind. The cold began to overtake her, causing her limbs to tingle. Her mind calmed, as her body began to respond automatically. First, her heart rate slowed as her body became paralyzed. Her breaths became fewer and fewer. As her mind drifted off, one last thought entered her consciousness.

Medoro, don’t forget about me
.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Sir, the doctor is safely on board the Wacian vessel,” Berger said.

Keegan calmed himself. He rubbed his palms against the leg of his pants and nodded at his XO. It was finally time to pick up his wife and her team. “Navigation. Set your course for Sira.”

“Aye, sir.”

“And Berger”

“Sir?”

“Have ’em step on it.”

“Aye, sir.”

Keegan hurried to the main sick bay. Upon entering the facility, he found the place geared up and ready to go. But it didn’t help the anxiety eating away at him. He worried about his wife, worried he was too late, but he couldn’t think that way. She had to be fine.

Bishop approached him, wearing scrubs. “Don’t worry, Colonel. We’re ready for them.”

Speechless and touched, all Keegan could do was nod.

***

Lieutenant Zale Melbyrne and his team, a combat, search, and rescue unit, climbed out of their Harsh Terrain Snow Tractor. Veterans to these environments, they were primed to find the missing cryo squad. Looking around the land, all Zale could see was a flat plain of snow and blinding sunlight reflecting off it.

“All right, you know the drill. Fan out,” he ordered as he and the rest of his team pulled out their ImSensor Devices.

Dropped at the cryo team’s landing zone about a half kilometer away, they used the tractor’s long-range sensors to detect any pulsed frequencies in the area. Buried in the clutter of the planet’s magnetic field, they would be difficult to find without the right equipment. What made it tough was his uncertainty regarding the number of people with rescue beacons in them.

Colonel Keegan insisted at least one had an implant and if they found her, they get the others, too. Which was good, because he wasn’t big on leaving people behind.

“Bingo!” PFC Kardel called out. “Hot damn, I’m on fire. LT, I found one of them.”

Bounding toward him in the high drifts, Zale knelt down and helped cleared away the thick layers of snow. Coming upon a bit of exposed fabric, he removed the rest and grinned.

“Hello, beautiful. I know someone who’s going to be happy to see you.” Standing, he gestured to the ground around them. “We have the leader. The others will be close by.”

***

The cheers from members of the crew rang out in the corridors as the cryo team members were carried in one by one, still in deep hibernation. Doctor Bishop and his team went immediately to work, reviving them.

Bishop searched for Caitlin. It didn’t take him long. Keegan found her first and gripped her lifeless body in panic. Bishop rushed over to his friend and his wife. He worked on her first.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Caitlin gasped and lurched forward as heat, pain, light, air, and adrenaline hit her all at once. Her body convulsed back and forth, out of her control. She could feel someone or something holding her down while the feeling of something being inserted into her skin shot through her.

Something screeched in the distance as more light came into focus overhead. Instinctively, she reached forward and grabbed the person holding her down, terrified.

“
No!
” she screamed. Images of the last battle raged through her mind. She had to save her team. Had to get back to Medoro. With both hands and an unknown strength, she tossed the person aside. A loud crash and thud sounded, and she flailed about as more people grasped her arms and legs.

She tossed the next person aside and attempted to sit up. Yet another held her wrists down; this time it was impossible for her to move against the steel-like grip.

“No!” She used all her strength to at least sit up and get whoever it was away from her. Trying to break free, she attempted to reach for her knife, but found she couldn’t move. “No!”

“Cate!”

Frantically, she kept fighting with her captor.

“No,” she roared, this time breaking free. Still unable to see clearly, she slid off the bed and stumbled, unsure of where she was going.

“Get me 40 CCs of Zallacine stat!” A voice said.

Panicking, she did not know who that was or what it meant. Either way, she refused to be taken alive and reached for a sharp object she could barely make out in front of her. Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and felt a prick in her skin.

“Cate!”

Her gaze followed the voice. Losing what was left of her vision, she stared wide-eyed and unfocused.

Her body stiffened, causing her to bend backward like plastic. Another shot and her muscles released.

Someone shook her. “Honey, listen to me.”

She studied the hands then the face came into focus.
Medoro
. She trembled and blinked.

“Medoro?” she asked in between pants.

He nodded. “Yes, it’s me.”

“Medoro?”

“Yes.”

She relaxed and released her grip. Twitching and shivering, she looked him in the eye. “Where am I? What happened?”

***

Dressed in warm dry clothes, Caitlin sipped her tea, trying to wet her endlessly dry mouth. Sitting on a stretcher, she refused to look around. There was nothing she wanted to see.

“Where’s my team, Doctor Bishop?”

“They’re taking a little bit longer, but they’re going to be fully revived. They will pull through. This is their first hibernation, so it’s going to be a little harder to wake them.”

She nodded. “Wake them now. I promised them they would all come back.”

“Don’t worry, they will,” he said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Caitlin let out a relieved sigh, wondering when her husband would return. “Thank you.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Caitlin and her team, tired and sore, stood before hundreds of members of the crew, Colonel Keegan, and Commander Berger in the main hangar bay. Dressed in all her finery, General Hollis approached them.

“Chief Driskoll,” she said into the microphone set up for the occasion, “what your team did for this ship, for your planet was above and beyond the call of duty. Not only did you take out an enemy aboard ship, you managed to stop an entire fire squad and retrieve vital information. We are grateful to you for your service, and we are most proud to have each of you as part of our family.”

Cheers erupted from the crowd. Unable to fathom the acceptance, Caitlin fought to hold back tears. She snuck a glance at Keegan, noting the pride in his eyes.

“I now award you and your team the Marine Expeditionary Medal and the Medal of Valor.”

After each team member was presented with the ribbons and the medals, they stood at attention, then saluted the general and the command staff behind her.

Hollis returned their salute then approached Caitlin and smiled. “Thank you.”

***

Alone in her room, Caitlin examined the small medals. She could not help but think of her old friend John Beller who had died doing exactly what she did but was never mentioned. She thought of the hardships she’d endured as a trainee and the fear that constantly haunted her.

Her team had depended on her for their lives, and they’d come back alive. All of it was a miracle for her. Except her time was over. She could only look forward to the future with her husband.

“Knock, knock,” Jesswan said, standing in the doorway.

“Come in.” She placed the medal in a small box on her desk. “Yes?”

Grinning from ear to ear, he stood in front of her. “Not bad for a bunch of newbies, huh?”

She couldn’t be more proud of them, but then she didn’t want their one victory going to their heads. “We got lucky. That’s all. We just got lucky.”

“I don’t know.” He smirked. “It seems like an omen.”

“What kind?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“The kind that says this is the beginning of something great.”

“Get out of my sight, Jesswan. Leave now before I have you thrown in the brig.”

Her team leader walked off laughing.

***

Keegan sauntered into his quarters and turned on the lights. He was utterly exhausted. He had given Berger the bridge, which allowed him some time to relax and recharge. For now, they were headed to back to their normal patrol area and back to their battle group to rejoin the rest of the fleet.

Though the mission was over, a question raged on his mind. What was next? Did he really want this life? Did he really want to stay? After what happened with Cate…he just wasn’t sure if he wanted to make that kind of a decision again. It’d given him a scare when Melbyrne’s team had reported finding Cailtin’s team in hibernation. Keegan had left Wacian too late. He could have lost her. Would she ever forgive him? He’d had no choice as the commander of the ship, but as her husband? He shuddered.

“Colonel, may I come in?” Berger asked.