Lieutenant Colonel (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 6) (22 page)

Another Marine next to him fell, but he didn’t have time to see who it was.  The charging C40 soldiers were within range.  He activated the Toad and threw it right at one of the mercs—and missed!  He cursed himself as he fumbled for another, knowing he wouldn’t have time before he was trampled underfoot.

Ryck grabbed his other Toad and fumbled to activate it as the merc in his C40 closed in with him.  Ryck saw his death there, finally ending his string of luck.  And the merc shuddered and fell at Ryck’s feet as rounds zipped millimeters past Ryck’s ears with the buzzing of angry bees.

Ryck turned to see Sergeant Jason Baker, in full hero mode with his 25mm chain gun at his hip, mowing down the four C40s.  At his side, Lance Corporal Premier Gupta stood holding a huge case from which belts of ammo were running through the gun.

Ready to die one moment, Ryck immediately shifted back into command mode.  He keyed back in his display and saw another group of mercs breaking through 40 meters to his right.

“Baker, over there, 40 meters.  Five coming through,” he shouted, pointing.

Baker nodded, then shifted his position, Gupta shifting with him.  As the first C40 merc burst into the parking lot, Baker opened up, and one after the other, each merc fell, mowed down by a wall of death.

“Holy shit, Baker!  Holy fucking shit!” Ryck shouted, elated that more enemy had gone down.  That he was still alive.  That. . . that . . . hell, he wasn’t sure.

“We’re through!” Sams passed on the command net. 

Ryck turned to look, and there, on the far side of the parking lot where the breach was made, the first PICS Marine came rushing through.  A second was on his ass, then a third.  Within moments, an entire platoon was through, pushing forward to close with the oncoming enemy. 

“Sams, it’s about time, but that is a welcome sight,” Ryck passed.

Up by the breach, Sams turned and spotted Ryck.  He raised his hand in a salute.  Ryck could see the huge smile despite the distance between them.

“We had to narrow it down, so no tanks yet.  But it’s big enough for PICS.  Once they get through, we’ll work on widening it for the tanks,” Sams said.

“Who made that call?” Ryck asked.

“Narrowing the breach?  That was me.  Command decision and all, you know.  I thought it better to get the PICS in here.  No fucking merc is going to stand up to a battalion of PICS.”

“Your call?” Ryck asked.

“Yes, sir, and I stand by it.”

“That call might of just saved our asses.  No, not might. 
Did
save our asses,” Ryck told him.

“I take it my command of two minutes is over?” the XO said, breaking into the conversation.

“I’m afraid so, Sandy.  I’m taking it back.  The fight’s not over.  2/4’s now the point of main effort, and we’ve still got our orders.”

“Proctor,” he passed, bringing his S3 into the conversation as well.  “We’ve got to move to Phase Two.  Change it to Fox to lead the movement.  They’re at close to full strength.”

There was no answer.

“Proctor?” Ryck asked, toggling over to his battalion readout.  He toggled to his staff, and there, Captain Proctor Christophe’s avatar was gray.

Immediately, Ryck’s elation vanished like the mist.  His adrenaline had been pumping, but now he’d been reminded of the heavy, heavy cost his men had paid.  More than half of his battalion had been killed or wounded.  They had accomplished the mission, but the butcher’s bill was almost more than he could comprehend. 

Don’t let it sink in,
he told himself. 
Get a hold of yourself.

If he broke down now, more of his Marines might die, and he would not, could not, let that happen.  He forced the despair that was threatening to overwhelm him back into the darkest recesses of his mind and focused on the mission at hand.

“Sandy, I need you to take over the Three.  Fox is going to have to lead the movement to the next objective.  Let’s get them going, and I want a new frag in five.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

“OK, let’s have at it.  We’ve still got a battle to win.” 

Chapter 29

Ryck had been mistaken.  The battle was already won.  The Sylvington command knew that by failing to stop the breach, they had lost.  The surrender had been offered before even half of 2/4 had passed through the breach and well before the breach could be widened for the tanks to enter the fort.

As soon as Ryck received the word, he ordered Fox to form a defensive line.  Sylvington was a professional mercenary company, and they wouldn’t renege on their surrender, but they shouldn’t have attacked the Marines with civilians around them either, and Ryck wasn’t going to take any chances. 

With Fox emplaced, the race was on to recover all the downed Marines.  Time was of an essence to save some of the grayed out Marines and shift them from tentative KIA to WIA.  Doc Janasluski and his corpsmen, with Echo Company Marines assisting, formed their recovery teams, fanning out into the battle area.  Lieutenant Colonel Kent Allamien from 2/4, which had suffered only one Marine KIA before the surrender sounded, offered his battalion aide station to assist as well, and within five minutes of the surrender, Bert dispatched a team from the brigade aide station, flying them by Stork to just outside the breach.

During both phases of the battle, at Hester and at the fort, the battalion had 346 Marines and sailors grayed out.  After an intensive hour and thirty minutes, each of those men had been recovered, and no less than 112 had been zombied, being ziplocked and put into stasis.  No one knew exactly how many of those 112 would actually make it, but chances were good for most of them.  Navy medicine was damned good at what they did.

Another 143 Marines were WIA.  Thirty-five of those wounded joined the 112 zombies and were put into stasis.

The recovery teams also ziplocked 85 mercs.  They’d been gathered with the defeated mercenary battalion and its 187 KIA and were waiting evacuation.  The Marines had carried the field, but the cost had been high.

When Ryck was uploaded the list of the zombies, he tried not to show emotion.  All of those men were his men, all equal and deserving of his concern.  But still, he’d felt a small glimmer of joy when he’d read Joab Ling’s name.  That small glimmer of joy was shattered, though, when he saw that Chris Attleman’s name was not on the list.  His status had shifted from probable to confirmed KIA.

Three hours later, Bert, Deshawn, and Sergeant Major Kim arrived at was now the 2/4 AOR as the afternoon rain started to fall.  The Fuzos had been officially pulled from the lines and assigned as the reserve.  This was the first time the two friends had seen each other face-to-face since before Phase 1.  As Deshawn pulled Sandy aside and Sergeant Major Kim grabbed Hecs, Bert tilted his head over his shoulder, indicating Ryck should join him.

“I want a full investigation on Sylvington.  I want them charged with violation of the Military Code of Conduct for using civilian shields,” Ryck said without preamble as the two men stood in the rain.

“We don’t have to charge them,” Bert said.

“What the grubbing hell?  We saw it.  I saw the dead, Bert.  And I’ll be damned if I let this get swept under the rug,” Ryck almost shouted, fuming. 

He’d buried his emotions after seeing what had happened.  He’d had a battle to command, and he couldn’t be distracted.  But that battle was over, and all the emotions were roiling to the surface.  The dead civilians.  His own losses--234 Marines and sailors, lost.  Add in the 33 lost on Gaziantep, and he’d lost 267 men, the most any Marine battalion had lost since the old 2/4 had been almost wiped out in the first battle with the Trinoculars. And frankly, he was amazed and gratified that he had not lost more than that.  All of that was coming to a head, and he was about to erupt.  If anyone thought he was going to ignore what he knew to be a direct violation, well, they had another thing coming.

“It’s not getting swept, Ryck.  I just said we’re not going to have to initiate the charges.  They Sylvington command already did,” Bert told him.

“Wh . . . what did you say?  The Sylvington command?”

“Yes.  Colonel Fredericks handed the formal charge sheets himself not an hour ago.  I accepted them and forwarded them to Force,” Bert told him.

“But . . . I mean . . . they charged themselves?  But the penalty is death.  Colonel Fredericks wants to be executed?  He deserves it, but I don’t get it.”

“The charges were not proffered on the colonel, but a Lieutenant William de Stanton.”

“And who is this lieutenant?” Ryck asked, beginning to see the method through the madness.

“Evidently, an over-eager young man who was charged with protecting the civilians, but took it upon himself to attack your forces, violating his own orders.  And of course, Colonel Fredericks has both audio and written record of those orders.”

“And where is this lieutenant?” Ryck asked, already knowing the answer.

“You killed him, of course.  He’s still lying back in that house, awaiting recovery.”

Ryck raised his head and stared at the ceiling, trying to process it all.  He gathered himself with a force of will. 

“You know, this is all utter bullshit,” he said, his voice much calmer.

“Do you really think you need to tell me that?” Bert asked, a hint of steel in his voice.

Ryck had known Bert for years, and despite his seemingly calm outward manner, he was not a man with whom to trifle.  Ryck heard the edge to Bert’s voice, but frankly, he just didn’t care at the moment. 

“So why accept it?”

Bert stared at Ryck for a moment, and Ryck waited for either the volcano to erupt or for Bert to spin around and march off. 

“It is my job to merely pass the charges up, as you should well know.  It is not up to me to decide as to the validity of the claim.  My opinions, and yours, I might add, mean nothing at this stage,” he said, icy anger just under the surface.

Ryck didn’t know if Bert was angry at him specifically, or if he was angry in principle at how things had transpired.  It had been his plan, after all, that had resulted in the deaths of 234—no 235 men including the 2/4 Marine KIA.  It hadn’t been Ryck’s plan, but his.

“We will be asked to testify, and I am sure your
opinions
will be recorded.  In the meantime, it is no longer our concern,” Bert said.

“And the families of the civilians have been promised full compensation immediately, without waiting for this to go through the system,” he added slightly less intensively.  “So just let it go for now.  Wait for your testimony, and by then, you’d better have your head on straight and be rational.  Anger then won’t help the dead.”

Ryck said nothing and simply reflected on what Bert had said.  The brigade commander was right, he knew.  It was just that Ryck wanted to scream with frustration.  He’d lost men at Gaziantep because, in his opinion, the battalion had been given tracs that were not suited for the mission and had been forced to use them, just to justify some grand plan put together by pogues.  The attack on the fort, though, had been a righteous mission.  Ryck couldn’t fault the mission itself.  They’d just had their asses handed to them by a better-equipped force. 

Ryck was already beginning to second guess himself.  What could he have done to change the outcome?  Should the heavy water have been spread loaded to a greater degree?  What heavier weapons could have been employed?  Sergeant Baker, using his home-made Stinger chain gun had been extremely effective.  Couldn’t Ryck have followed through and had more made and employed them better? Should he have authorized taking building 8445 under fire earlier, possibly keeping two Marines from being wounded?  And the big one was his order to Golf Company, essentially ordering them on a suicide mission.  Had that been his only option?    All these thoughts and more had been creeping out of the recesses of his mind and had begun to chatter for attention.

“I’m sending you back,” Bert said, interrupting his thoughts. 

“What?  You’re relieving me?” Ryck asked, snapping back to the present, rain water dripping down his face.

“No, of course not,” Bert said, a scowl showing Ryck what he’d thought of the question.  “The battalion.  You’re going back to Tarawa.  I’ve requested transport, and it’s been approved.”

“But why?  The situation isn’t technically over here, and we’ve still got two months left on the deployment.  We’re got cross-training with the Brotherhood a month from now on Veracity,” Ryck protested. 

“And you’re in no shape to conduct that training, or respond to any mission, should one come up.  Look, you’ve taken a beating, and you need to regroup.  Two-four is taking over the rest of the deployment, and they’ll do the cross-training.  They’ll be falling in on your gear aboard the
Derne.
”

“But—”

“No buts.  It’s a done deal.  The sergeant major and the Three are briefing their counterparts now, but I wanted to tell you face-to-face.

“Look, there’s still going to be a lot for you to do.  You need to regroup, like I said, and you’ll be getting replacements who’ll have to be trained up.  There’s going to be after-action report after after-action report.  You’ll have the testimony for the charges that the Sylvingtons filed.  There’s going to be a lot of attention on the Armadillos, and I don’t have to remind you that there will be more than a few, shall we say, stakeholders who will be anxious to keep the tracs in the mix.  And there could be more.  You’re not being sent back to Tarawa to sit on your asses.  Those assess with be hopping to keep out of the jaws of all the alligators.  So get your men some rest, and be ready to embark tomorrow evening.  I’ll probably be following you in a week or so.  The FCDC’s coming in—”

“To an independent planet?” Ryck asked.  “Isn’t that—”

“To ensure an orderly stand-down of hostilities,” Bert said, slightly shaking his head at Ryck, eyes furrowed and piercing right into Ryck’s soul.

Ryck took the hint.  Neither one of them, despite one commanding the brigade and the other one of the battalions, knew who might be listening in.  But it seemed rather strange that the FCDC, which had no jurisdiction on a non-Federation world, would already be prepared to move in this quickly.  There were intrigues upon intrigues going on, and Ryck began to wonder just how deep the mis-directions and subterfuge went.  He had to wonder if his men had died just to enable some government plan to unfold.

Then again, soldiers had been dying for such intrigues since time immemorial. 

“Aye-aye, sir.  We’ll be ready.”

“OK. Ryck,” Bert said, sounding just the tiny bit relieved to Ryck.

“Let’s go out and see some of the Marines.  I’d like to show my face, you know, and let them know I appreciate what they did,” Bert said.

Just as the Bert stepped off, the 2/3 battalion commander asked his brigade commander, not as one friend asking another, “Sir, did I do OK?”

Bert stopped and looked back before holding out his hand.

“Colonel Lysander, not many could have pulled this off.  You and the Fuzos did, and this will go down in the annals of the Corps.  I’m proud of you,” he said, taking Ryck’s hand in his and shaking it.

It really shouldn’t matter that much what one man thought, but it did.  Ryck felt a lightening of the load that had settled on his shoulders as he followed Bert through what was by now a heavy downpour to go see to his men.