HELIOS

Chapter 7

Mandy and I are headed planet side on one of the Helios's three shuttle, and as usual Mandy is a bit nervous about flying. The shuttle is bouncing and bucking like a wild horse as we enter the atmosphere of Mars. I take her hand and squeeze it to reassure her that it's going to be fine; she turns to me and the worry is clearly expressed on her face. "Hey. Everything will be good." She physically relaxes. "How did you become a pilot again?" I ask in that certain way that just needles her the right way.

    Mandy laughs hearing the sarcasm in my question. "You're such an ASS sometimes, you know that!" I laugh seeing the tension leave her completely and watching my Mandy come back. "We don't know anything about this Basha character, who can say what he's capable of doing." She has a solid point. There is no argument from me.

    "Well, that's why we have fifteen Marines accompanying us on this drop. Just in case it comes down to that." Basha and I agreed to meet in a neutral location, a Com station just outside the main complex, so neither would have the complete advantage against the other. He seems reasonable, but I suppose we'll find out when we get there. Fanatics come in all shapes and sizes, and even though this Basha seems to be well educated I'm not taking any chances. Especially with Mandy here with me. The shuttle is shaking less and smoothing out, which means we are in Mars's atmosphere.

The com in our helmets chimes, [Five mikes till touch down.] Says the pilot, as we begin to turn to the port. The four Marines that are on board with us heat up their plas rifles, which let off an audible hum and then go silent. I'm sure that the rest Marines following in shuttle two are doing the same thing. I pull out my own plas pistol, looking at it for a moment remembering the last time I held a fire arm in my hands. It was the the first time I killed a man... Africa was tough. I heat up my pistol making sure to keep the safety on, and slip it back into my holster. I look over to Mandy and she's doing the same thing; she nods that she is ready. [Two mikes.] The pilots says.

   I look at the four Marines that are with us, and three are so young, it makes me feel guilty to be putting them in this situation. I know that they will do as they've been trained. Then I look at the fourth one; he's Gunnery Sergeant Hal Wilcox. He's as tough as they come. A Grizzled, hardened combat veteran that seen much action. I thank God he's with us today; He looks at me and nods. I return it, as a sign of respect for this man, who has been in at least five different campaigns. I tap my helmet next to my ear he nods responding by switching channels. "What do you think gunny? Are we walking into a trap?" I ask already knowing what his answer will be.

"Sir, we are sticking our heads into a vipers nest." The gunny's answer is exactly what I thought it would be.

I let out a short breath and I glance over to Mandy, who seems to be waiting on me to say something. I turn back to gunny Wilcox. "So, you feel we're wasting our time and energy on this mission?" I pose the question. "You don't think we can save anyone here?" I ask hoping for a more positive out look.

He looks at Mandy then back at me, with the corners of his mouth turned down. "Sir, I think that they're as good as dead no matter what happens here today. That's my gut feeling; any way; we will do what we have to to keep you and the Major safe, Sir."

"Well, " I say. "Let's hope your gut feeling ain't right." Thinking back on it there was some info on Basha, not a lot, but we know that he is from Afghanistan originally. That's not a lot to go by, though at least it something.

[Thirty seconds.] the pilots chimes in again and the Marines unlatch their harnesses, and Mandy and I do the same. Once we touch down we need to deploy fast, so the shuttle can get airborne and out of the range of enemy snipers. The shuttles won't be to far. Maybe a klick from our location, so if there's any trouble they can respond quickly. [Five seconds; four, three, two, one.] The rear ramp drops open and the Marines fan out in front of us, and Mandy and I move out quickly pistols drawn. We get down on our knee I'm facing right near the gunny and Mandy went left. The shuttle lifts off and flies due east; I watch as the other shuttle passes over heading in the same direction. We are roughly in a wedge formation, the gunny looks back and signals for us to move out. We head to to a small structure that's was the agreed upon location, as we move I keep my eye on the hill to our left. Someone could be hidden there among the rocks lying in wait. We maintain the wedge formation, which offers the best overlapping field of fire in open terrain. I don't trust Basha or his people.