Sort of Legal Ch. 14

"Shit that was close," Ginger yelled as the fire from the drop ship ended abruptly.

Mack roughly shoved Ginger away and jumped back to his gun, quickly he sent rounds out towards the Kintark troops closing in on their positions.

Ginger took position behind cover with her rifle and started firing on the troops that were closing rapidly only a few scant meters from them.

A grenade sailed through the air into their position; Ginger dove for it and caught it before it hit the ground, hurling it back the way it came, it exploded a few seconds after she threw it.

Grimly she took her position again determined her last few minutes alive would be spent fighting in the tradition of the Federation Marines.

The Kintark took cover preparing themselves for the final rush, they could hear orders being shouted as they prepared for the final assault. Ginger and Mack held their fire waiting. They looked at each other briefly for a moment and both nodded.

"Surrender!" someone shouted to them.

Ginger looked at Mack. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows uncertainly, his lips curling questioningly.

"We can treat your injured," the voice shouted again, "no need to die."

"What do we do?" Ginger hissed.

"I don't know, I'll try stalling them, see if you can get Invincible on the radio," Mack whispered.

Ginger pulled back from her position and crawled to Alphabet, still lying on the floor. She was relived to find him still breathing. She took the headset from him and slipped it on her own head.

"Invincible, India One Nine, Sundown, Over," she said quietly.

"Come out with your hands up!" the voice yelled again.

"We got wounded!" Mack shouted back.

"India One Nine this is Invincible, we will be in position to support in one minute, can you designate? Over?" the radio replied.

"Fuck yes, AFP on my position, danger close, drop that shit right on us! Designate on triple zero, they're right on us!" she gasped into the radio.

"Use correct radio procedure, rounds out blind drop, designate triple zero, sixty-three seconds," the fire support officer replied from the Invincible.

"You going to come out peacefully?" the voice shouted.

Ginger got behind her weapon again and grinned at Mack, giving him the thumbs up and pointing up. He nodded and smiled.

"Got a better offer, you scaly bastards surrender to us!" he yelled back.

The Kintark shouted in their own language, they were laying behind small cover out in front of India one nine, several of them got up and scrambled back.

"Two hundred meters assholes, the shit is coming down!" Ginger yelled popping off a couple of rounds as the Kintark rapidly pulled back. Ginger set her designator top triple zero and followed the Kintark back, hoping the falling rounds would track with her movements.

A few seconds later the rounds started falling, the orbital munitions chewing up the Kintark troops as the rounds slammed into the ground.

"Dat is a fucking beautiful sight," Mack said as the last of the rounds fell, the Kintark troops decimated by the strike.

"Invincible, India One Nine, we are secure, we have wounded and missing, we need immediate support," Ginger said as she scanned the plateau.

"India One nine, we copy, QRF is on the way, ETA five minutes, advise on casualties and missing. Over," the officer asked.

"Invincible, we have one wounded, and one missing and we are not in contact with India Seven Seven, over," she said turning to look as Mack worked on Alphabet, moving him into a more comfortable position wrapping a field dressing round his head. He nodded at Ginger.

"Copy, one casualty one missing, we don't have comms with India Seven Seven either, is the LZ secure? Over," he asked.

"Invincible, we have no movement, but are unable to verify, there is a drop ship in the area though, Over," she said checking the ground with her scope looking for movement amongst the bodies.

"Copy that India One Nine, stay frosty, QRF approaching from 1600, relative, over," he said.

"Understood, we can see that vector, appears clear, Over," Ginger said scarring the horizon for the quick reaction force.

"Wait, out," the Invincible officer said ending the communication.

"How is he?" Ginger asked.

"Asshole cracked his fat head, looks pretty serious," Mack said carrying out the checks.

"Mother fucker," Ginger said.

"Yeah, you got any coffee left?" Mack asked soberly.

"Nah, you?" Ginger said squinting through the scope hoping to see the approaching force.

"Nope," Mack said sitting back with a sigh.

"What do you think happened to Seven Seven?" she asked.

"Fuck knows, it didn't look good though," Mack said.

"Should we have left them?"

Mack sighed heavily, "If we had stayed, we'd all be dead, the drop ship would have finished us off, and the Kintark troops, there and then."

"This is fucking bullshit, what about Ronan?" Ginger said.

"Fuck knows, he's tough, he may just have run the other way when we got hit, found a hole and stayed there," Mack said.

"Man, I hope so, this is fucking bullshit," Ginger said squinting through the scope.

Mack snorted, "Yeah so you keep saying."

"Here they are," Ginger said spotting the ships of the QRF approaching.

"India one nine, this is Hammer One two, stand by to pop smoke, Over," crackled through Gingers headset.

"Copy you Hammer One two, popping smoke, Over," she said throwing a smoke grenade out in front of their position, thick purple smoke curled up into the clear blue sky.

"India One Nine confirm purple smoke, over,"

"Confirm purple, LZ is quiet but consider hostile, Over," she replied.

Seconds later two of the sleek fighters screamed past over head disturbing the smoke, they climbed hard and began orbiting over the landing zone as the drop ships approached.

The first one came racing in fast, as soon as the ship got within a couple of feet of the ground the Marines stormed off the dropship in well oiled precision fanning out searching for danger.

Rapidly the dropship pulled way from the ground clawing for altitude before turning back and orbiting as the second drop ship came in, more marines pouring out in the same fashion aggressively they began moving up to the purple smoke, spreading out, occasionally stopping to check one of the Kintark bodies strewn about the area.

"India One Nine!" someone called out.

"Over here Hammer One Two!" Ginger yelled back.

"Pan!" the voice shouted, giving the first half of the friendly forces' recognition code.

"Cake!" Ginger yelled back.

Three Marines ran forward covered by the rest Ginger waving them in, the commanding officer taking a knee next to her.

"Sit rep?" he asked Ginger wanting a situation report.

"Sir, we have Alphabet here, closed head injury, he needs to get out now, we have no information on India Seven Seven or Ronan,"

"Copy that, get the medical bird in here now, then get another one on its way down for the rest," the CO said to one of the Marines with him, he nodded and started transmitting.

"Where did you last see Seven Seven and Ronan?" The CO asked pulling out a map.

Ginger glanced at the map, then at Mack who was still monitoring Alphabet. "I'm not one hundred percent Sir, but we had to pull back about here," she said pointing at the map.

The final drop ship came in fast setting down quickly the engines still running as the medical team came racing off the ship clutching their gear. The Marines all stepped back giving them access to Alphabet.

Quickly Mack handed Alphabet over to them.

"Ok get him packed, we are rolling," the Medic said. Ginger watched as they manoeuvred Alphabet onto the stretched clipping the harness into place the picked it up and ran it back to the drop ship, in seconds the ship was lifting off the engines roaring as they were pushed beyond normal safe limits.

"Alright, you guys ready to take us back down?" the CO asked.

"For sure, Sir," Mack replied picking up his weapon. Ginger nodded and checked her own weapon.

"Let's go," he said leading them away from the position. "O'Keefe! Your section stay here secure the LZ and sweep the area, you know the drill," the CO shouted O'Keefe nodded and manoeuvred his platoon into a perimeter as the rest of the company moved off down the plateau.

"Fuck me," Ginger whispered under her breath as she and Mack approached the pillar of smoke rising slowly from the burned-out moggies.

She kept her rifle trained on the Kintark solider she's shot earlier as they approached India Seven Seven's position, her eyes flicked over the five bodies laying there, not one of them moving as the approached.

Mack halted and the Marines moved forward covering each other as the checked the bodies. None of the Kintark were alive, they signalled the all clear and moved forward into Seven Seven's position.

Ginger and Mack paused letting the regular marines patrol forward into the last known position of Seven Seven. The CO took a knee with them.

"This was a cluster fuck," he sighed.

"Yeah, do we have any idea what was in the pod?" Mack asked.

The CO shook his head, "Nah, we just picked up the pod and followed it."

Mack spat in the dirt as the Marines continued sweeping the area.

"We got bodies Sir," cracked over the radio.

"Fuck," The CO swore before keying his mic, "Ok I'm coming in."

Standing heavily, he moved into the position, Mack and Ginger sharing a look as the followed him.

"Mother fuckers," Ginger hissed as she stood looking down at the charnel house in the position, three of the team lay in their positions, one of them looking like he'd been cut down trying to apply first aid to his team mate.

"Pope's over here, Sir," one of the Marines said quietly, the CO grunted and followed him.

Pope's body lay smashed on the rocky ground, Ginger guessed it was him she'd seen tumbling through the air.

"Shit, Ok lets get these guys prepared and let's take 'em home," the CO sighed shaking his head.

Quietly the Marines pulled out body bags and started carefully putting the fallen Marines in them.

"Miller, Diego, your guys finish up here, the rest let's go see if we can find Ronan," he said quietly. The two Sargent's acknowledging the order.

The remaining Marines shook out into extended line moving down towards the smoking remains of the two Moggies. The CO, Ginger and Mack in the centre.

The group swept the area as they approached the Moggies, the stench filing all their nostrils as they grimly approached the burning vehicles.

"Oh, fuck me, No!" Ginger yelled, her sharp eyes picking up the prone body near the side of the

Ignoring the shouted orders to stop she bolted forward of the line, racing to the body.

"Ronan, hold on, I'm coming!" she yelled as she ran.

Ginger skidded to a halt next to the body, she grabbed him rolling him over.

Lifelessly his body flopped into her lap.

"Shit! Ronan, no please!" she begged checking his pulse, desperately she felt for anything, unseeingly his eyes gazed to the sky.

"No, no, no!" she screamed as Mack slid down next to her.

"Oh, man, shit," he said seeing the huge hole blasted through Ronan's chest.

Tears poured down Gingers cheeks as she looked pleadingly at Mack.

Mack swallowed hard, gently he stroked Ronan's hair.

Ginger looked up blinking into the shadow the CO cast over them.

He blew out his cheeks shaking his head staring at the sky. "Fuck, I'm sorry guys."

Ginger sobbed loudly hugging Ronan's body tight to her chest, desperately willing life back into his corpse.

Mack wrapped them both up in his arms and held them both close. The CO walked away leaving them to their grief.

The CO soon patted Ginger on her shoulder, "Ok Marine, we're leaving I'll get some guys to sort him out ok?"

"No Sir," Mack said, "he's ours we'll take care of it."

Silently someone handed Mack the body bag. He rolled it out next to Ronan.

"Ok Boss, just relax now, we got you," Ginger said stroking his forehead.

Gently they manoeuvred his body into the bag, smiling sadly Ginger patted his cold cheek. With a final glance and a nod Mack zipped the bag shut.

Silently they carried the bag to the waiting transport, four other bags were already lying on the floor with the Terran federation flag laying on top of them. Tenderly they laid Ronan next to them, respectfully they covered his bag with the flag.

Mack and Ginger sat back against the wall off the dropship they lent against each other as the ship took off for the short hop to the Invincible.

The shut down of the engines told them they had arrived, the doors swung open.

"Let's get the boss settled," Mack said standing up, he held his hand out to help Ginger to her feet.

Fat tears rolled down Gingers face as she lifted Ronan's body bag silently they carried hm down to the waiting gurney.

"We can take him from here," One of the medics said.

"Nah, we'll see him all the way," Ginger said taking a deep breath. They followed the medic down to the morgue.

They manoeuvred him onto the cold slab of the morgue. Ginger and Mack stood at his feet as the medic recorded the details.

Smiling sadly, she nodded, "Ok we got him from here."

"Time to go Princess," Mack said squeezing Gingers shoulder with his big hand leading her away. Ginger nodded and walked with him.

She paused at the door, "wait." She dashed back to the bag and unzipped it till Ronan's cold pale face was exposed.

"I'll never forget you," she whispered and kissed his forehead.

Leaning heavily on Mack they walked to the med centre.

"How's Alphabet doing?" Ginger asked the medic at the desk.

"Yeah he's stable, fractured skull, bleeding on the brain, punctured lung, a couple of other broken bones," he said.

"He'll be ok though?" Mack said.

"We are doing everything we can, but we may have to put him into cryo and ship him back to Terra, it all depends, he had a significant bleed on his brain," he said.

"Alright, can we see him?" Ginger asked.

"He's totally out of it, and we've got to maintain a sealed environment," he said, seeing they were about to interrupt him he held up his hand, "but look I can show you the camera,"

The medic turned the monitor round, Alphabet was swaddled in bandages various tubes and leads connected him to an array of machinery. He looked small and venerable a far cry from the usual irrepressible team member.

"Let's go clean some weapons," Mack said putting his arm round Ginger and steering them back to their bay.

Mack and Ginger sat on the floor of the bay cleaning their weapons, Ginger taking Ronan's making sure it was spotlessly clean.

"Yeah, he'd like that," Mack said handing it back after checking it over.

Ginger nodded, sighing heavily she rolled up the cleaning kit for the last time before she handed that in with the weapon to the armoury.

"Why don't you keep that?" Mack suggested.

"They'll want it back," she said patting the roll of material.

"They want a cleaning kit, hand in yours, keep that one as a keep sake," he said with a shrug.

Ginger watched him clean Alphabet's weapon as she pondered what to do.

"Yeah I'll keep it," she said smiling taking hers out of her webbing and putting them together.

"He'd be pleased you've got it," Mack said not looking up from Alphabet's weapon, "check that for me," he said slapping the dust cover closed.

"Sure," Ginger went through the weapon carefully making sure it too was spotless.

"Perfect," she said putting it down with Ronan's rifle.

"Cool, lets get these handed in and we'll do our own," Mack said.

Ginger carried Ronan's rifle and cleaning kit Mack took Alphabets light machine gun.

The armour accepted both of them with hardly a glance.

"How's alphabet?" he asked cycling the weapon.

"Yeah he should be ok," Mack said.

"Good to hear," he said with a nod.

"What happened up here?" Ginger asked sliding the cleaning kit over to the armour.

"Well the Kintark jumped the border, eight big ships, a Carrier squadron, we moved to cut them off, but they'd launched a few drop ships and fighters, we zapped a few before they made a landing. I think three or four made it down, the usual bullshit posturing crap. Once the pod blew, they got real angry, a few fighters, but nothing from the big ships, I guess they wanted to make a point. Anyway, they stood down and pulled back and we did the same after picking up you guys. That's what I hear anyway," he said with a shrug.

Ginger lay silently on her bunk staring at the empty bunk above her.

"You asleep?" she asked softly.

"No, you?" Mack replied.

Ginger swung her legs out of the bunk she looked across at Mack. He glanced over at her.

"What happens to us now?" she asked.

Mack puffed out his breath.

"I don't know, three months left to go, they'll probably just roll us in as needed," he said.

"I mean when we get back to Terra," Ginger said.

"Well, I guess they'll make a new patrol," Mack shrugged.

"Will they split us up?" she asked nervously.

"More'n likely," Mack said with a shrug.

"Fuck," Ginger said looking at Mack, they sat in silence for a moment.

"Do you care?" she whispered hanging her head.

"My best friend is dead, my other best friend is in the fucking med bay, who knows how fucked up he is going to be, and they'll take my newest best friend away from me too," Mack growled in the dim light of the bay, "of course I fuckin' care, but that don't mean shit."

"I don't know how I'll cope without you guys," Ginger said.

Mack sighed heavily "Princess you will be just fine, I promise."

"How can you promise? You won't be there," she said one tear rolling down her cheek to drop wetly on the floor.

"I know it doesn't feel like it now, but it will get better, you'll look back and raise a glass in some shitty bar to all of us, you'll see," he said.

"I hope so, right now I feel like my heart has been ripped out," Ginger said.

"Same," Mack said.

Ginger stood and stretched, she took the two steps to Mack's bunk and looked down at him, "this ain't a sex thing ok?" she said.

Mack snorted and smiled, moving over slightly on the bed.

Ginger sild into the bunk next to Mack, his arm round her shoulders. Silently they held each other till sleep finally took them.

***

Phil and Megan sat down on the bay as Ginger and Mack rechecked their field equipment, Phil put a bottle down on the table, drinks were poured and handed round.

Silently they toasted and sipped the fierce spirit.

"You guys been to the shrink?" Megan asked re-filling the glasses.

"Yeah we've been," Ginger said, Phil nodding his approval.

"How's Alphabet doing?" he asked.

"Don't really know, he seems stable, usual medic shit, can't get near him," Mack shrugged.

"Ah, good found you," the CO said stepping into the bay and waving them all back to their seats, "Just wanted to fill you in, Alphabet is going into cryo today, the medics think its for the best. If needed I'll drop you two in as and when needed, you'll keep your call sign. All good?"

"Copy that Sir," Ginger said with a frim nod.

"Ok carry on then," he said before leaving.

"So that answers that then," Mack said.

"Hey, does he still get paid while he's in cryo?" Ginger asked.

"Fuck, I told you she was a proper Marine," Mack laughed.

"Yeah we're all here for the money," Megan said shaking her head.

"Yeah, he does get his pay," Ronan said.

"What you guys gonna do when you get back?" Megan asked.

"I dunno, I was thinking maybe put in for basic training instructor," Mack said.

"Yeah I can see you bawling your head off at the recruits," Phil laughed.

"Could be I find the next Ginger Young," Mack said smiling at Ginger.