Mission Origin View (Final Days Trilogy) (39 page)

“
I will, Lieutenant. If we obtain the weapon or plans on how to make it, I assure you we’ll contact representatives in your government,” Vanish answered. He paused and continued. “We should have time to tour our medical facility while they’re unloading the supplies.”

***

Vaniah led Gideon to the medical facility, which was small and ill equipped. Gideon saw the doctor who had examined the widows and orphans aboard
Bernice,
giving care to a few rebel soldiers.

“
Lieutenant, I didn’t have a chance to properly introduce you to our doctor earlier. This is Dr. Girand,” Vaniah said. The doctor had short black hair and an olive complexion. She looked to be around forty and wore a jungle-
camouflaged
armor jumpsuit.

The doctor finished
administering an injection on a patient and turned toward Gideon. “Glad to meet you, Lieutenant,” she said with no emotion at all.

“
You’ll be happy to know the lieutenant will be giving us all the medical equipment he has aboard his ship before he leaves,” Vaniah said.

The
doctor’s attitude toward Gideon seemed to change. She smiled and said, “Thank you, Lieutenant. We can use whatever you can spare.”

“
Glad to help, Doctor,” Gideon said and asked, “How are the women and children we rescued from the camp? Are they here?”

The doctor
’s smile went away as she answered, “They’re all stable at the moment, but a few need better medical care than I can provide. If they don’t receive that care within a day or so, they’ll probably die. We’re taking them off your ship right now,” Dr. Girand said. She looked at Vaniah as if asking for permission to add more, but Vaniah began speaking for her.

“
Lieutenant, we can take them, but I wish you would consider taking them with you,” Vaniah said with a sigh.

“
I can’t take them with us, Vaniah,” Gideon said.

“
I understand, Lieutenant, but I had to ask in hopes you would,” Vaniah said. “You see, Lieutenant, we can’t take care of the women and children and also fight the czars. We simply don’t have the time, food, and facilities to take care of them. And when we release them back into czar society, they’ll be rounded up again sooner or later and sent to another prison camp to die.”

“
I’m sorry to hear that, but I can’t take them with me,” Gideon insisted.

A second later an alarm sounded
on the rebel base, and a voice spoke over a loud speaker and over all communications channels. “Czar troop transports headed toward the base. I repeat, czar troop transports headed toward the base. Report to your combat assignment areas. Report to your combat areas!”

“
Gunny! Have you off-loaded those supplies yet?” Gideon transmitted over the platoon channel so his other marines and Sipes could listen in.

“
Yes, sir. Manelly, Kindle, and I are in the rebel armory, helping the rebels stow the explosives,” Xia answered.

“
Report to
Bernice
. We’re leaving ASAP,” Gideon ordered and then transmitted, “Tidwell, get
Bernice
ready. We’re leaving as soon as we have everyone on board.”

Tidwell chimed an
acknowledgment.

“
Sipes, where are you?” Gideon asked.

“
I’m helping the women and children off the ship, sir!” Joseph answered with a tone of excitement.

“
As soon as they’re off the ship, stay there. Understand?” Gideon asked.

“
Yes, sir,” Joseph said.

“
I’ll go get Doctor Qasim, and we’ll be onboard in a few minutes.” Gideon finished his transmissions to his marines and turned to Vaniah. “We’re leaving as soon as possible. We might be able to assist you as we leave. Contact me aboard our ship, and we’ll coordinate our departure and assist you if we can.”

Vaniah offered his
hand and said, “Thank you, Lieutenant, for the supplies and help. I wish you the best on your mission.”

Gideon
shook his hand and said, “Good luck! I hope you find Michael and his weapon. There is no doubt that you can overthrow the czars with his help,” Gideon said. He released his hand, turned, and ran toward the dining shelter to find Dr. Qasim.

***

Gideon entered the dining facility and saw Dr. Qasim. She looked worried not knowing what to do or where to go. As soon as she saw Gideon, she sighed with relief.

“
Let’s go, Doctor. We’re leaving as soon as we can.” Gideon said, grabbed her by the hand, and they ran toward
Bernice
as the alarms continued to wail.

“
Sir?” Tidwell transmitted.

“
Go ahead,” Gideon said as he and Dr. Qasim continued to run.

“
I closed the cargo bay. Enter through the port-access hatch,” Tidwell said.

“
Right,” Gideon responded. Seconds later he and Dr. Qasim reached the ladder to the access hatch, and Gideon followed Qasim up the ladder and into the hatch. As soon as they were inside, Gideon used the hatch control panel and closed it behind him. He took Dr. Qasim to one of
Bernice’s
internal passenger cabins and had her strap herself in. Then he proceeded to the flight deck and sat in the copilot’s seat.

“
Are we ready?” Gideon asked Tidwell.

“
Yes, sir. Everyone’s aboard. We’re sealed and ready to lift off,” Tidwell answered. They put on their flight helmets.

“
I told Vaniah we’d coordinate our departure. We might be able to take a few czar transports down on our way out,” Gideon said.

“
Sounds good to me, sir,” Tidwell said with a nod.

“
Marine VTOL, this is Vaniah. It looks as if the czar transports are flying in a search pattern, probably looking for our base.” Tidwell and Gideon heard from the rebel base communications center, “Our protocol to prevent them from discovering us is to go dark. We’ll be shutting down everything and ceasing transmissions until they stop searching and leave. I request you do the same.”

Tidwell looked at
Gideon, waiting for his response.

Gideon
thought for a second and transmitted, “We’ll comply.”

“
Thank you, Lieutenant,” Vaniah said.

“
Shut her down, Tidwell,” Gideon ordered and then transmitted over the platoon channel, “It looks like the czar aircraft are just looking for this base. We’re going to shut down and stay put until they leave the area. No transmissions of any kind until I tell you. Got it?”

E
veryone aboard chimed acknowledgments.

Gideon and T
idwell took off their helmets. “Sir, we have to leave by twenty hundred hours to get back to the
Hawking
before it departs,” Tidwell said.

“
I know, Sergeant,” Gideon said as he looked at his watch and noted it was now 1745. He added, “We’ll leave by nineteen thirty no matter what. I don’t want to give away the rebels’ base location, but I’ll do what I have to do to complete the mission.”

“
Yes, sir,” Tidwell said, relieved.

Rebel Base, Equator, Planet Leonis

1832
—February 28, 2372

Bernice
shook as the czar transports began to randomly bombard the jungle area while flying their search grid. Gideon assumed the czar transports were hoping the rebels would get nervous and do something to give away their location. Seconds turned into minutes as the bombardment got closer and closer until several air-to-ground missiles from the czar transports penetrated the retractable
camouflage
cover over the rebel base and exploded within the base. One missile destroyed a rebel building as another missile exploded between
Bernice
and the old marine VTOLs sitting on the other side of the ravine.

“
Sir!” Tidwell yelled as he pointed at a figure running toward them.

Gideon
looked and saw Dr. Girand making her way to
Bernice
. Several more missiles hit the base, and the explosions knocked her to the ground.

“
What’s she doing?” Gideon asked aloud and sighed. “Tidwell, use emergency battery power and open the port-access hatch.” Gideon grabbed his combat armor helmet and began putting it on his head as he made his way to the port-access hatch. When he arrived, the hatch was open, and the ladder was extended. Czar missiles continued to rain down and were luckily landing in open areas and not on buildings. As Gideon made his way down the ladder, Dr. Girand saw him and started half-crawling and half-walking toward him. She arrived as Gideon reached the base of the ladder and stepped off. She wasn’t trying to contact him from any communications channels, and he didn’t dare transmit a message to her so he motioned with his hand for her to climb the ladder. She obeyed, and he followed her into
Bernice
.

“
Doctor, are you crazy?” Gideon shouted at her after they had both reached the air lock and removed their helmets.

“
The old women and children,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “Please take them with you. If they stay on Leonis, they’ll be killed!”

Gideon
stood there, shocked. “You mean, you ran here during a missile raid to tell me that?” he gasped and then added, “I’m not taking them with us, and why do you care what happens to them?”

“
I didn’t care what happened to them when they arrived,” she started to explain as tears filled her eyes. “I’ve been a rebel since the United States left after the last war, and I see the dying and dead every day. I thought I was used to it, and I didn’t want any more emotional attachments to anyone.” She paused as she wiped tears that were now streaming down her face and continued. “While I was examining the women and children, I began talking to Petty Officer Sipes. He was truly concerned about their health and safety and told me he would do anything he could to save them. It was while I was treating the women and children and talking with him that I realized how callous I’d become toward people. Since the czar transports arrived, I’ve been in the medical faculty, reading parts of the book he gave me. Something happened to me while I was reading, and I had to ask you once more to take them with you.”

Gideon
didn’t know how to respond and didn’t really think he had to. The whole matter wasn’t his responsibility, and he thought it was a waste of his time to help the women and children. He had a mission to complete, and he needed to keep the rest of his men alive. One marine had already been loss, and he didn’t want to lose another.

“
Sir!” Tidwell yelled as he opened the inner door to the air lock. “Czar troops are rappelling into the crevasse.”

“
Let’s get out of here!” Gideon ordered.

“On my way, sir,”
Tidwell said and scrambled back to the flight deck

“
Doctor, you have about thirty seconds to leave before we take off,” Gideon said. She looked at Gideon as she continued to cry and placed her helmet on. Gideon turned, walked out of the air lock, and closed the inner door behind him. He then opened the outer door and watched as Dr. Girand exited. As soon as she stepped onto the ground, he retracted the ladder and closed the outer door. He watched as she scrambled under a nearby vehicle for cover. He then transmitted over the platoon channel, “There are czar troops on the base. We’re taking off ASAP.”

Everyone chimed an
acknowledgment.

Gideon
raced back to the flight deck, felt the engines of
Bernice
start, and sat in the copilot seat. He looked out of the canopy and saw several czar soldiers running toward
Bernice
with weapons’ firing. Laser pulses and mag rail rounds from their standard issue weapons hit the hull of
Bernice
, doing little damage. As soon as
Bernice
was completely powered up, Tidwell switched on shields. The shields’ energy field was now either absorbing or deflecting enemy laser fire and mag rounds. Gideon looked at another part of the base and saw rebel and czar soldiers in a firefight.

“
Ready to leave, sir,” Tidwell said.

“
Can you give those rebels some help?” Gideon asked as he pointed.

Tidwell pulled up a weapons console and selected the ship
’s belly particle-beam turret. The turret activated, and Tidwell began firing at the czar soldiers. Particle beams slashed through the soldiers and halted their advance. Gideon looked around for other targets for Tidwell and saw several burning buildings. A moment later, he saw several people running out of one of the buildings. As they exited, czar soldiers opened up laser fire and burned holes through their environmental suits. Before he could point out the czar soldiers, Tidwell had already started firing and cut them down.