Carson's patience was fading in the dying light and pushed to his feet. "To hell with the company, "he thought to himself. " Dead men don't get court-martialed."
"Squad, " he called into his mike. "Assemble at the south corner. Phillips, radio for immediate evac."
Even if the brass might call this dereliction of duty and hit him with a reprimand, Carson's gut told him that the best way to see tomorrow was to bug out now. Besides, they'd only be abandoning the operative and the civvies if they weren't smart enough to go with them.
By the time Carson had made it around to the south corner, the troopers were already there and waiting for him. Roman and two of the survey team were there also and didn't look happy.
"Sergeant, what do you think you're doing?" Roman asked as the Sergeant walked up.
"What I have to do," he said as he looked over to Phillips. "Get that call in now soldier!"
Private Phillips had been kneeling next to the radio but managed a muffled "yes sir" as he kept working. Beyond him, the jungle had gotten louder and Carson knew it wouldn't be long before anything that crawled, slithered, or walked would be out in force.
"I can't let you do that," Roman persisted and the Sergeant smiled at him. "You are under orders to-"
"You can't let me do what?" Carson asked. "Call for an evac? So Mr. Roman, how are you and your 'team' going to stop me?"
The troopers had been watching the exchange and several moved around to cover the civvies as it became more heated. Carson took pride in the fact that he didn't have to tell them to do it and stepped closer to stare into the man's face. Behind him, he heard the sound of safeties go off and saw the fear in the scientists' eyes behind Roman.
"I didn't hear an answer," he said, but Roman still didn't speak. The man's eyes weren't afraid and he seemed to be more amused than annoyed by what was happening. It irritated Carson and he had to ask. "Something funny?"
Roman hadn't said anything further, but his face broke into a faint smirk as Phillips spoke up. Something began to creep up his spine and he knew that this wasn't going to be good.
"Sir, I can't raise the Honos," the man said and Carson spoke without looking at him.
"Check your equipment, soldier," he answered, but knew Phillips would have already. The problem wouldn't be their equipment and he was sure Roman had something to do with it.
"I did Sir and it's in the green," Phillips answered. "The signal is strong locally but I don't think they're answering."
"Or they ain't there," Larue added, spitting a chew of something onto a vine.
Carson looked around at his men and read what was going through their minds. Like he had told them and like they already knew, the company was screwing with them.
"Alright Roman," he said to the operative. "I'm going to ask you once and only once. What in hell is going on?"
The Sergeant calmly flipped the safety off on his rifle and took aim. Meanwhile, the scientists looked like they were about to shit bricks.
"Why isn't the Honos answering?" Carson added. "They were supposed to stay on station until the operation was finished."
"There's probably a good explanation for it," Roman answered with a straight face. Even though Carson didn't pride himself on being a human lie detector, he couldn't read if the man was lying or not.
"Not an hour ago, your team got an evac and now we can't even raise the ship," the Sergeant continued. "How can you get them and we can't?"
"The pickup was scheduled," the scientist answered. "We're working on a tight timetable and-"
"Shut up," Foss said and the civie nodded his head as he went quiet. "The Sarge didn't ask you."
"Sergeant, I truly don't know but it means that we have a serious problem," Roman answered. "You're right about the Honos. It is under orders to remain on station and it would take a significant threat to forcer her away from orbit."
"What do you mean?" Jackson asked. Carson chewed on his lip and looked around at the men. Things are never simple in the militia, no matter how much the mission looks like a cakewalk.
"It means that we have company."
Next
Comments to rw