Author’s Note: Intraweb still borken… Sorry guys. But anyways, hope you like this one.

Chapter 39: Returning the Favor

Date: November 25, 3007
Time: 17:30
Location: Navasota Island

Michael Reinhart’s eyes whizzed from his sergeant to his sniper, to his weapons specialist, and to his lieutenant. His worn hands tightened around his black S-16 Scarab Assault Rifle, making sure his actions were locked and loaded. A rush of adrenaline streamed through his body as he pressed his right eye to the scope mounted on top of the handle of the rifle. He could tell that tonight, they would make history.

Tens of thousands of men suited in complete black marched through the dense trees towards the mountains. Right behind them, were their tanks, crushing the tree trunks and shredding the foliage carelessly. Michael’s index finger twitched on the trigger.

Then, below them on a rocky outcropping, Michael saw Mikhail step forwards into view. Though he could not see Mikhail’s facial expression, he was sure the maniacal man had a grin spread from ear to ear. Up ahead, storm clouds were gathering.

“Mikhail,” the communicator suddenly crackled to life, as Nova’s voice lit up the earpiece, “I can feel General Nezzy. He’s with his men.” Michael whipped around and saw Nova’s S-36’s barrel sticking out from within the rocks. Smiling to himself, he returned his gaze to the incoming army.

“That will be your liability, my sweet,” Mikhail replied in an over-enthusiastic tone. Michael thought he heard Nova curse Mikhail, but didn’t respond, for in that moment, multiple bursts of light flashed across the evening sky. Tiny black dots appeared high overhead, making their descent upon the mountains. Then, a crash of explosions reached his ears as the tanks prepared for another volley.

The shells landed at the base of the mountain, blowing off gigantic chunks of earth and stone into the air. The entire mountain shook with the force of the impacts. Amidst the pounding explosions, Michael heard Mikhail give a muffled order and immediately, flashes of light from the mountain side returned the Dominion’s favor. Through his scope, he watched as the front line of men fell over in magnificently brutal deaths as high velocity rounds pierced and imploded their skulls: S-Squad at their best.

Another volley of tank shells rattled the mountain, this time a bit closer up the slope. Michael suddenly realized they had nothing to combat the armored invaders. Quickly, he gathered up his men and slid down the slope to Mikhail, who seemed to be conducting a symphony as his snipers fired yet again.

“Mikhail, we’re going down to have something to say about those tanks,” Michael stated bluntly.

Without even looking at them, Mikhail continued to wave his arms and replied, “Suit yourself, I’m not the one to stop you.”

Michael grinned and turned back to his squad, “Duck, we’re gonna need everything you have.” Duck patted his M-2 Maple Rocket Launcher happily and replied in the most enthusiastic “yessir” Michael had ever heard.

The squad made their way down the mountain on the other side, facing away from the exchange of fire. Behind them, Michael heard another torrent of shells explode on the face of the earth, no doubt steadily reaching up for Mikhail and his men. As Michael entered the tree line, he locked and loaded his S-16 and turned on the infrared sighting scope. No stragglers were going to get in his way.

Michael dashed through the dense foliage, failing miserably at trying to make the least amount of noise possible. As he ran, he could hear the screams of the Dominion’s men crescendo. The tanks fired again, their impacts distant and muffled. They were close now.

Making a hard left, the squad made a beeline for the tanks’ positions. They were behind the Dominion’s infantry now, with them completely oblivious of the flank.

All of a sudden, a man wearing the Dominion’s black uniform appeared ahead amidst the trees. Michael, having no time to stop, rammed straight into him, sending them both sprawling to the ground. Hoping desperately the man would not report their position, he whirled around and plugged the man’s head with five rounds from his assault rifle.

Without another pause, he jumped up and continued to run. It felt as if he was running a marathon, with the tanks as their finish line. They were so close now, that he could hear the engines rattle and crank as they fired more and more shells.

And then there they were, a line of black armor stretched before him in the clearing from one end of the trees to the other. Michael quickly held up his right fist in a halt. He motioned with two fingers to Duck, who placed his rocket launcher on the ground and opened his many pockets in his combat uniform. Michael reached into his own pocket for his silencer and screwed it onto his S-16. With a quick glance around, he nodded and Duck was off to run his leg of the race.

Michael silently killed a man standing idly behind the row of tanks with a single bullet to the head. He watched as Duck reached into his first pocket and implanted a block of C-4 explosives on the underside of the first tank. Michael couldn’t believe how fast his weapons specialist was working as in the next few seconds, two more tanks were prepped for the festivities to come.

Duck was almost at the end of the line, his once bulging pockets now empty, leaving him looking rather thin. Suddenly, Michael heard a shout. He swiveled his scope and planted a piece of lead into the source of the noise, but he knew it was too late now. Though the noise from the tanks were deafening, the man had given away their position. The Dominion was alert now of a covert operations force about to decimate their armored. Michael’s eyes followed Duck as he ran for the last few tanks, but then stated firmly in his communicator, “Duck get back here now. They know we’re here.”

To his surprise, Duck didn’t respond, as he jabbed another block of explosives underneath another tank. There were still five more armored monstrosities to go, when Duck screamed into the communicator, “Five more, Captain, I can do this!”

“No Duck, you get back here now, that’s a direct order damn it! Duck!” Michael yelled back, his anger rising.

“Negative, Mike, this one is mine!” Duck had one more to go. Suddenly, a group of the Dominion’s men appeared from in front of the tanks, their rifles all trained on Duck’s body. Before Michael could give a shout of warning, they opened fire. With a cry of desperation, Michael squeezed his own triggers. The blood of the Dominion’s men splattered onto the hulls of the nearby tanks as his bullets snapped their necks. But it was an endless tide, and Michael knew he could not force it all back.

“Duck get the hell back here now!” Michael screamed into the communicator as he inserted another clip into his rifle. Duck placed the last of his beloved explosives under the last tank and sprinted for home. Michael could see the fire in his eyes and the grin upon his face as Duck sprinted towards him, using all of his muscles and energy.

But then, Duck’s fire turned into a shadow, his grin morphed into an expression of horror as one lone crack filled Michael’s ears. In slow motion, Michael gaped in shock as Duck’s body tumbled to the ground, rolling over and over until it lost momentum and stopped only a hundred feet from the tree line. His hand unclenched and a small detonator fell out onto the grass. Then, he was still, the maniacal glint in his eyes gone from this world. Michael couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, but as his eyes darted from his fallen comrade and his detonator, he knew exactly what to do.

“Deirdre!” Michael shouted as he plugged more appearing men with bullets. But his sniper would not move. “Deirdre! Do it now! For Duck!” A tear slid down Deirdre’s cheek, but she knelt down and took aim. With one faithful squeeze of the trigger, Deirdre released a lone bullet. Speeding through the air at three times the speed of sound, it hit the little red button on the detonator.

A flash of white blue light hit Michael in that millisecond. He could feel an intense heat singe his face as he shielded his eyes from view. Then came the noise, a deafening explosion that shook and trembled the very earth they were standing on. It felt as if all hell had broken loose as the tanks ceased fire to be engulfed in Duck’s last sacrifice.

The force of the explosion blew Michael off of his feet and slammed his back into a tree. He slid down and slumped over onto the grass. Daring to grab one peak, he opened his eyelids a fraction of an inch. Fireballs, all roaring with triumph, were twisting and turning above their respective tanks, which were now reduced to a heap of melted scrap metal. Ash started to fall from the sky like a downpour, ash from the disintegrated bodies of the Dominion’s men that were closest to the tanks.

To his surprise, Michael felt tears welling up in his own eyes as he lied there, staring at his fallen brother. Right next to him, was Duck’s beloved rocket launcher, now bereft of an owner. Michael struggled to his feet and stumbled towards Duck’s body. His rifle was limp in his hands as he fell to his knees right beside Duck. His eyes were closed, and it looked as if he was in a peaceful dream.

Michael took one of Duck’s hands in his own and held it tightly. He closed his eyes and whispered a final goodbye, something that would be kept only between him and Duck’s soul. Behind him, Michael’s squad walked up, each of them bearing an expression of grief. Deirdre got to the ground next to Duck and took his other hand.

She looked down at Duck with her glimmering aquamarine eyes. A single tear fell onto Duck’s forehead. She sniffled and leaned down, placing her lips onto his. Every memory, every remembrance of the good and bad, the pure and evil they had been through, came rushing back into the front of Michael’s skull as he knelt there, watching Deirdre and Duck. He heard her whisper, “I’ll never forget what you said to me, and I have fulfilled that promise to my very best. Now, it’s your turn. I love you, Duck.” She took a lone ring off of her fourth finger and placed it in Duck’s hand, “This is yours”. As Deirdre straightened herself up, she looked at Michael pleadingly, as if asking when this was all going to end, as if saying she could not take anymore, as if wanting nothing more than to get off of this god forsaken rock.

Damiver and Maldran stepped forwards, carrying Duck’s rocket launcher, and laid it across his chest. Michael placed Duck’s hand on his weapon and retreated back, leaving Deirdre alone with him. She gave Duck one last look, filled with regret and sorrow, and placed his other hand on the rocket launcher and stepped back. And then she fell, collapsing onto the ground in a cold heap, falling into the world of shadows and memories.

Date: April 14, 2995
Time: 11:55
Location: Perion

It was now minutes to midnight as Duck sprinted into the emergency room, dripping wet as the storm continued to pound down from the blackened heavens. He skidded to a stop right in front of the front desk, “Where… where is… there was an accident… an accident, where is she? Where is… Deirdre?” The nurse looked shocked, but surprisingly enough, pointed down the hall to the last room on the left. Duck dashed down the marble hallway, but lost his footing. He skidded across the hall and stopped directly in front of Deirdre’s room, Room 1337. On the table next to the door laid a manila folder bearing the name of a “Dr. Argali.”

Gathering up all of his courage, he turned the slick doorknob and entered the room. A surge of cold air blasted him, chilling him to the bone. But that was nothing compared to the sight of seeing her mangled and broken body lying on the hospital bed. There was blood all around her dark brown hair and she was hooked up onto a respirator machine. “Deirdre,” he whispered as he made his way to her side, “Deirdre, I’m so sorry.”

He knew Deirdre could not hear him, but he didn’t care. The words just flowed out of his mouth, and he was powerless to stop his emotions from spilling out. “Deirdre I’m sorry for this afternoon. I don’t know what came over me, if it was my jealousy, or my longing for you. But it doesn’t matter now. I didn’t come here to tell you about my faults. I came here because I am responsible for this, and if you were to… to leave this world, I would never be able to live with myself. I just wanted you to know that I love you, and always have loved you, even if you have never felt for me. Please Deirdre, just don’t die. I can’t imagine a world without you. Don’t leave me here alone, I just can’t take it. Just make me this one promise, never to leave me, because I will never leave you. I will never leave you, Deirdre. Never.”