SEASON 2: EPISODE 08

SEMPER FIDELIS: Part Four

  At the vehicle the marines were all up and ready.  Most were lounging around waiting for orders, but when the sounds of phaser fire and an explosion rang through the area they immediately got up weapons in hand.  Major Rachel Stevens ran over to Colonel Tiki, who was standing next to the vehicle.

  “That sounded like McIntosh,” said Tiki.

  “Our perimeter sensors are showing that it was a pressure mine close to his position that exploded,” she said.

  There were more explosions in the distance.

  “Take Second up there now, major.”

  Major Stevens nodded and ordered her platoon to move forward.  She still had all thirty-six of her original Marines, including herself, who landed on the surface of the planet.  She rushed them forward to reinforce the perimeter.  The platoon was soon at the perimeter and saw the Jem’Hadar arrayed before them, held back by a single Marine.  The Marines quickly sought cover and fired at the Jem’Hadar.

  Stevens tapped her combadge, “Cover me; I’m going to get McIntosh.”

  She jumped up from her cover and sprinted over to the private’s hole.  She took two hits to her armour.  On her TED she saw the armour integrity of her suit drop but the armour held.  As she got close to the hole she dive in, half landing on the private.  McIntosh swung his rifle around and nearly clocked Stevens in the head.

  “EASY, private,” she said as she half wrestled in the tight confines so to stop the private from beating her with his rifle.  “Are you okay?’

  “Yes, major,” said a clearly shaken McIntosh.  “One nearly snuck into my hole but I got him…then…then a shitload of the bastards appeared.  I thought they’d have killed me by now.”

  “Let’s leave the dying for the Jemmies.  We have to get you out of here; we can’t keep the Jemmies back for long.  There are a shitload of them.”

  “How?” asked the private.

  “Run, these new hazard suits should be able to offer you protection.  Plus I’ll cover you.”

  “You sure?” he asked.

  “Of course I’m sure.  On three you get up and run like hell back to second platoon.”

  The private nodded.  Stevens then moved McIntosh closer to the back of his hole while she went to the front.  She then keyed up two grenades from her transporter buffer and started to count.

  “One…two…THREE!” 

  As she yelled three she threw the grenades forward.  The private scurried out of the foxhole and sprinted back towards friendly forces.  She stood up and fired her rifle at the Jem’Hadar in front of her.  The grenades finally exploded, showering dirty and plant matter into the air.  Stevens then turned and scurried out of the hole and ran.  She fired a few blind shots behind her and managed to get behind cover without getting hit.  She found a panting and shaking Private McIntosh next to her.

  “See, that was easy,” she said.  “Get back and rejoin your platoon.”

  Private McIntosh nodded and got up cautiously.  Just before he left he turned back to Stevens.  “Thank you, major.  I owe you my life.”

  “Just remember that when we’re back in the Swiftfire’s main lounge, I’m going to want a drink.”

  The private nodded the run back to the rest of the company.  The major turned back and rejoined the fight.

  Captain Pythina came up to Colonel Tiki, “Do you want me to take Third up as well?”

  “Not yet.  Have you heard from you scouts yet?”  During the night Tiki had ordered scouts from Third to go out check out the road ahead.

  “They say that the jungle continues for another six hundred metres before it gets sparse and we hit the mountains.  They trekked up a bit and found a decent path that they think will traverse through to the other side.  No sign of Jem’Hadar or Cardassian forces along the way or recent use.”

  “Colonel, we have a large number of Jem’Hadar out here.  I don’t think we can hold them out here for too long,” reported Major Stevens.

  Colonel Tiki run to the hatch to the cabin of the vehicle and yelled, “Stark, tell me you can get that thing moving!”

  “Sorry sir.  It would probably take me another hour at least.”

  “The Jem’Hadar will eventually flank us, colonel,” said Pythina.  “We need to get a more defensible position.”

  Colonel Tiki silently agreed.  The Marines would be killed if they stayed.  The Jem’Hadar would send forces to the flanks and squeeze the Marines.

  “Take Third and First to the mountain path.  I’ll stay with a squad and help Second retreat.”

  “Sir, we can’t just run.  The Jem’Hadar will just chase us down and shoot us in the back!”

  “Don’t worry I have a plan to slow them down.  Now, you have your orders, captain.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Pythina organised his group to retreat and Colonel Tiki grabbed a squad of twelve marines to stay.  Once Pythina and the other marines were gone, he started to set in motion his plan.

  “Second platoon, fall back to the vehicle.  All perimeter guards are also ordered to abandon positions.”

  Tiki and his squad waited.  The four perimeter guards made it back first and then a staggered line of Second made it back.  Major Stevens was one of the last to make it back.  Tiki saw that they had suffered losses.

  “They are right on our tail!” said Stevens.  “I left a few mines back there, but it shouldn’t slow them down by much.”

  On cue Jem’Hadar appeared and fired on the Marines.  The Marines used the bulk of the vehicle for cover.

  “I hope you have a plan,” yelled Stevens over the thump of phaser and disruptor fire.  “Because at the moment I’d say we are…”

  Stevens was cut off by a several blasts from the left of the vehicle that hit her side.  The Major fell to the ground.  The Jem’Hadar had finally flanked them.

  “FALL BACK!” yelled Tiki as he fired to his left.  He grabbed Steven’s shoulder and dragged her behind some trees for cover and called for a medic.

  A medic scrambled to his position.  Stevens was still alive.  She was writhing in pain clutching her left side.  The Medic quickly injected something for the pain and started to treat the wound.

  “It’s bad, sir.  Her armour is compromised; the nanites don’t have the power to fix it.  It’s done what it can to heal her injuries; she probably should have been killed.”

  “Thanks for the positive thoughts,” said Stevens through clenched teeth. 

  The medic pulled out bandages and applied them to her wound.  “This pressure bandage should slow down the bleeding and I’ve injected something to counter the anticoagulant in the beam to help her blood clot.”

  “Damn, this hurts!” cried Stevens.  “Two engagements with the Jem’Hadar and I’ve been shot twice.  DAMNIT!”

  “Can you walk?” asked Tiki.

  “With a bit of help, sure.  But you’ll never be able to get away from the Jem’Hadar with me slowing you down.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” assured Tiki as he helped her to her feet.  “The Jem’Hadar are going to have much bigger problems soon.”

  Tiki signalled for a marine holding a portable launcher to fire.  The Marine aimed the weapon into the sky and fired.  The projectile travelled for a short time and exploded into a plume of purple smoke.

  “What was the point of that?” asked Stevens.  “We’re going to startle them with a brilliant colourful cloud display?”

  “Hopefully, but if that fails my Plan B comes into action.”

  “Which is?”

  “Hopefully you’ll see.”

  High above the contested land of Chin’toka a pair of Federation attack fighters cruised.  They were providing close air support to any allied unit on the ground that needed it.  The pair had been assigned to the area around the main Cardassian settlement, but had been sent out to scout an area where a destroyed LZ lay.  Contact had been lost with the bulk of forces that had been deployed to the area and the fighters’ main job was to try and spot any units.

  “I have purple smoke to starboard, Three.”

  The pilot turned his head to look starboard where his wingman had spotted smoke.  There was a small cloud of purple smoke above the forest.  That definitely warranted a second look.

  “Let’s take a look, Four.”

  Three banked his fighter starboard towards the smoke.  As he approached he slowed down and dropped his wing so to have a look at the ground.  In among the trees was a large vehicle, which he recognised as a Jem’Hadar artillery tank.  He spotted a number of Jem’Hadar as well.  It looked as if the Jem’Hadar were firing into the forest.

  “Do you see what I see, Four?”

  “Affirmative, I see Jem’Hadar and a tank.  I also saw them firing but I could not see any friendlies.”

  “They must be in the trees.  I doubt the Jem’Hadar would have fired up a smoke signal for us to find.  Okay, let’s take it out.  Keep your fire close to the tank and fire into the forest away from the mountains, that seems to be the general direction the Jem’Hadar are firing in.”

  “Copy.”

  Three looped his fighter around back towards the Jem’Hadar.  As the fighters closed he opened fire with his phasers.  Four joined in and their phaser blasts pummelled the artillery tank.  The vehicle exploded under the bombardment.  Three fired several shots at the Jem’Hadar he could see as his fighter shot over head.  The Jem’Hadar fired their disruptors back at the fighters, but they did little against the fighter’s shields.

  Three turned his fighter back around for another pass.

  Once the vehicle exploded the Jem’Hadar lost interest in the Marines.  Tiki ordered a hasty retreat as the two Federation fighters strafed the Jem’Hadar.

  “It’s about time those fighter jocks did something useful,” said Major Stevens.

  She had an arm over the colonel’s shoulder as he helped her along.  The act of walking was obviously painful for the major, whose face grimaced in pain with every step.

  “They should keep the Jem’Hadar busy for a bit.”

  “Where to now?”

  “Into the mountains.  We should be able to lose them there or at least find a defensible position.”

  “What about using your trick back there to get someone to dust us off?” asked Stevens.

  “Hopefully we can do that as well.  If we can find a place for a Normandy to set down.”

  That was Tiki’s main plan.  With the major seriously injured and a number of his other marines also with various injuries it was time to fall back.  The Jem’Hadar they encountered were most likely an entire formation of over two hundred and also given that they were in a similar area it was probably the force that destroyed the other Marine company they had found.  Once the fighters left the Jem’Hadar would come after them and Tiki doubted the Jem’Hadar would not be slowed by their wounded.  He suspected the wounded would be left behind to die if they were not killed by the other Jem’Hadar.  When you were churning thousands of them out like packets of chips you weren’t that concerned with wounded.  They just needed a good enough lead to lose the Jem’Hadar in the mountains.

  After an hour trek into the mountains Stevens told Tiki to stop.  Tiki lowered her onto the ground and it was clear by her face that she was in an extreme amount of pain.

  “I…can’t…go…on,” said Stevens with difficulty.  “The pain is…is…”

  Colonel Tiki used his bloodied sleeve to wipe away the sweat from his face.  He was exhausted.  He had kept up a tough pace up the mountain with the rest of the Marines.  Add to that that he was carrying another person as Major Stevens had soon lost the energy to keep the pace.

  “We can’t stop.  We need to catch up with the others.”

  “You…go.  Leave me.”

  Colonel Tiki scoffed.  “I carried you halfway up the bloody mountain!  If I was going to leave you behind you’d still be at the wreck of the Jem’Hadar vehicle.”

  “I’m serious, David.  I can’t do it anymore.  There is no need for the rest of you to die.  Plus I could slow them down.”

  Colonel Tiki felt angry at Stevens for trying to make him leave her behind.  “Slow them down!  You can’t even stand!”

  “I’ve been checking out the area.  The edge of the path basically drops down vertically here.  If you leave me here I’ll have a bit of cover from the rocks, plus with a heavy weapon I should be able to dislodge those rocks higher up.  They’ll smash this path to pieces so the Jem’Hadar can’t follow you.”

  “I don’t think so, Rachel.  We’re going to rejoin the rest of the company.”

  “I’m sorry, Colonel.  But that’s an order I can’t obey.”

  “Rachel, I’m not going to leave you to die.”

  “Colonel, it’s the only way that you’ll be able to save the others.  I’m just one person.”

  “It’s too risky…”

  “Not as risky as me slowing everyone else down!  David, I am going to die.”  The level of Major Stevens’ voice and her conviction shown in her brown eyes startled Tiki.  “This wound is fatal and the only way for it not to be is if you can get me to a proper medical facility within the next half an hour.  I would rather die fighting here then slowly bleeding to death on the shoulder of a friend knowing that the longer a hold out to live the closer the Jem’Hadar get to the rest of you.  Please David, leave me.”

  Colonel Tiki could not look Major Stevens in the eyes.  Everything she had said was true.  In trying to drag her along he was putting the rest of the platoon at risk.  He knew when she was hit that the wound would be fatal given their situation, he just did not want to face it.  Despite him knowing this he still wanted to drag her the rest of the way up the mountain.

  Major Stevens and he had served together almost since he joined the Marines.  He trusted her more then anyone else, she was as close as family.  They knew each other well enough to know when one was right and as much as it pained him, he knew she was right now.

  Colonel Tiki unslung the Major’s rifle that he had been carrying and gave it to her.  He looked around and found someone with an isomagnetic disintegrator and ordered them to give the weapon to him.

  “Where do you want me to put you?” he asked.

  Major Stevens looked around and pointed to a small outcropping of rock.  “Behind there.  I should have some cover and be able to fire at the hillside.”

  Colonel Tiki helped Major Stevens up and placed her behind the rocks.  He gave her the weapon, which she put into her transporter buffer.

  “Thank you, David,” said the Major.  “Now, get out of here.”

  Colonel Tiki looked Major Stevens in the eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.  “Give them hell, Rachel.”

  Major Stevens put her hand his hand on her shoulder and patted it.  “I don’t know any other way, David.  Make sure you give the Jem’Hadar one from me.”

  “I don’t think I’ll need to.  If this were Klingons we were facing I’m sure a song would be written about this.”

  “Pity, I have a thing for musical theatre.  Semper fi, sir,” said Stevens as she saluted.

  Tiki stood up and saluted Major Stevens.  “Semper fi, Major.”

  As he left his friend behind to die alone against the Jem’Hadar he felt as if he was leaving a part of his heart behind.

  Major Rachel Stevens sat alone and waited for the Jem’Hadar to come.  As she sat waiting she reflected on the life she had led.  She thought that it might have been more fitting if she had been born a Klingon; her life reflected theirs more then it did what would be considered a normal human life.  She had always been physical, when she was young she enjoyed more physical activities then she did the mental ones.  She especially enjoyed the rougher sports and holoprograms.

  Then when she was old enough she joined the Marine Corps, something her friends and family were a bit hesitant about.  Some of her more pacifist friends had said she was just encouraging violence and disharmony by bolstering an institution that had no other function then to fight and kill.  Her family tried to get her to join Starfleet Security instead, but she was adamant that it was the call of the Marines that reached out to her.  In the end they accepted it and supported her.

  All those years ago she did not dream that this would be how she died.  She always thought she would live to retire.  She regretted not trying to start a family as she would never feel the joy of having children or a close life partner, though part of her was also glad she did not since she now sat waiting to die on a Cardassian planet.

  She looked down at her wound.  The pressure bandage was soaked through with blood and had felt blood flow down her side, down her leg and into her boot.  Now it dripped out of her suit onto the harsh Chin’toka soil next to her.

  She heard a noise coming from down the path.  The Major curled as much as she could behind the rocks and peeked out and saw the Jem’Hadar marching towards her.  She brought up her rifle and fired.  The front row of the Jem’Hadar fell as she poured fire down towards them.  The Jem’Hadar had little cover to use, but they had the numbers.  They quickly returned fire up the path at her position.  Stevens sprayed phaser fire back at the Jem’Hadar, but had to seek cover as their disruptor fire threw pebbles and pieces of rock into the air around her as they hit the rocky surface.

  She tried to move so she could fire back, but the incoming fire was too intense.  She cycled her buffer items using the controls on her left gauntlet until she got to the isomagnetic disintegrator.  The weapon beamed into her hands.  The Jem’Hadar’s fire had lessened.  They were trying to draw her to expose herself and fire at them.  It also allowed for a few Jem’Hadar to move forward and check if she was dead.

  Major Stevens lay back and aimed the disintegrator up the side of the mountain.  She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing to calm her down.  She then opened them, took one final look up the mountain and fired.

  The projectile smashed into the mountain, exploding brilliantly and showering small pieces of rock down towards the Jem’Hadar below.  Another projectile soon joined it and another.  A large section finally came loose and fell down.  It smashed into the path, crushing Jem’Hadar.  The entire face seemed to lose integrity and plummeted down onto the path, ripping it apart and collapsing it down the side of the mountain.

  Major Stevens dropped the disintegrator next to her as the entire mountain seemed to shake around her.  Small pieces of rock fell onto her and she covered her head for protection.  The next thing she felt was the ground fall away beneath her as her part of the path collapsed down the side of the mountain.

The Marines travelled for another hour before then heard the distant sound of an explosion and a low rumble that could only be part of the mountain falling.  Tiki wanted to turn around to see if Major Stevens had survived, but he knew he could not.  He had left her behind to die, but he would not leave her on this planet to rot.