Catie and Howard kept the new attack pinned down as Flight Four came up behind them. Slowly the Foxtrots whittled down the enemy. An hour later, they finally surrendered.
Foxtrot Three had been caught from behind and decimated. Foxtrot Four had only lost three, mainly due to the cover fire provided by Catie and Howard. It had kept the enemy pinned down so they could maneuver around them and take them out with grenades and crossfire. Foxtrot Five had suffered heavy casualties as it had engaged the enemy before they were in range of the snipers.
“Alright, people. The Oryx will be here in five minutes to pick us up and haul us back to the compound. Be thankful they’re not making us march!” Baker shouted.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Foxtrot Squadron, form up!” Baker ordered once everyone had disembarked from the Oryx that that brought them back to the main base. There were a few groans as everyone realized that they weren’t going to be able to go to their rooms to shower and rest up.
Baker was chatting with Sergeant Major Jefferies while Foxtrot Squadron formed up into Flights. “Ready for inspection!” Cadet Lieutenant Favre barked as she snapped to attention in front of Baker and the sergeant major.
“Everyone who was wounded or killed during the action, front and center!” Baker ordered.
Now there were real groans as the cadets made way for the casualties. “What kind of hell was Baker thinking of putting us through,” Catie wondered.
Finally, the twenty-six cadets formed up into ranks and awaited whatever punishment or retribution that Baker had in mind.
“I want everyone to look at these cadets. They are the real cost of war. They are your comrades, your mates. This is over one-third of our number. That’s why you train so hard, to avoid this. To protect your own. Every mistake you make adds to that number. Every time you hesitate and the enemy gets by and then returns to attack, you add to that number. Every time you succeed in taking that enemy down, you subtract from that number. When we avoid a war, we keep all of them safe; when we make a mistake and start a war, or force a battle that could have been avoided, we add to that number.
“They are the true cost we pay. All those slogans like Honor, ‘For Home and Country,’ ‘Truth, Justice, and the Delphinean Way’ are why you join the force. They’re what drives your training, what gets you to the battle. But in the end, your mates are why you fight, why you dig deep, and keep moving. In the heat of battle, it’s your mates who keep you alive, drive you forward. Remember that! You don’t want to have to stand here looking at a row of graves in the future. So, train hard, and learn from your mistakes when the cost of them is cheap; when you can talk with the casualties and review what happened. Because in a real war, there are no second chances.”
“Wow, he actually understands what it’s like,” Catie thought. “I wish he’d been around during the Paraxean war.”
“Now, the sergeant major tells me we get to go home tomorrow. We’ve all passed our final test for this training. Go get cleaned up and meet me in mess hall four; beer is on me. Dismissed!”
There were cheers as everyone raced to the barracks to get cleaned up.
“He did say beer?!” Joanie asked as she and Catie finally got to their room.
“That’s what I heard,” Catie said.
“He’s not as big an ass as I thought,” Joanie said.
“Maybe not,” Catie said. “He seems to have a sense of what war is like.”
“Or he memorized a good speech.”
“I don’t know, it felt like he really understood,” Catie said.
“How would you know?”
“I just felt it.”
Chapter 12Artemis Mission Prep
“Hey, aren’t you coming to bed?” Samantha asked Marc. It was already past midnight, and she was tired of reading.
“I need to finish reviewing this,” Marc said.
“What are you reviewing?”
“The summary from Dr. Pramar on the plants from Artemis,” Marc replied.
“What does it say?”
“It catalogs all the plants and shows the results from the monitors in the greenhouses that they left. They have the bots maintaining them and reporting results.”
“So, what does it say about the plants?”
“It says that our plants grow well there, that they don’t cross-pollinate with the local plants. The local plants as a whole are not harmful if we eat them, and most of them are nutritious,” Marc said.
“What about the grasses?” Samantha asked. “If we take livestock, it would be nice if they could eat the local grass.”
“Most of it’s fine. But there this one grain that dominates most of the area where we want to start the colony. It’s like wheat, but we can’t digest it.”
“That’s too bad. Why can’t we digest it?”
“Well, I might have overstated that. We can digest it, but it takes a lot of energy and time, so it mostly just passes through our systems.”
“Don’t the bacteria in our gut break it down, so we at least get the minerals from it?”
“They have the same problem. It takes a long time and a lot of energy, so they don’t do that well on it,” Marc explained.
“Do we have any of it here?” Samantha asked.
“I think Dr. Pramar has about fifty kilos of it. Why?”
“Oh, just thinking. Don’t stay up too long, and don’t wake me up when you finally come to bed.”
“I wouldn’t think about it.”
“That’s the problem, you don’t think about it,” Samantha said, giving Marc a slap on the back of his head.
“Sorry.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“What time did you come to bed last night?” Samantha asked Marc when they sat down to breakfast.
“Two o’clock.”
“And you got up at six?”
“Sure. I’m usually up a lot earlier.”
“I thought those youth treatments would help me keep up with you,” Samantha said.
“You’re doing just fine; everyone needs a different amount of sleep. I’ve never needed much.”
“It’s not fair,” Samantha complained. “Anyway, what
