Sargasso of Souls – Session 8

[This session write-up was done by Colin from Razor's perspective]

The crazies dispersed, we continued. As before Hollis took point and showed her competence by the bucket-load. The only reason we could see her at all was because we had IR sensors on our combat helmets. I was – and still am – damn glad she was on our ’side’ …

We had decided to head for the floor above the admin block that ‘Ferret’ had told us was where Denise was being held and try and get in via the air ducting, and before long Nathaniel (aka ‘The Preacher’) told us we were in the right spot and we cast around looking for a way down. Before long, Hollis had spotted an intake that looked like a likely candidate.

Hollis looked like she was getting ready to head into the ducting. Although she was the logical choice, being the smallest person present, and by far the ’sneakiest’, I decided to go in first and find the way down. My brother and Hollis both seemed to think that was a bad idea, but kept their mouths shut.

My first company commander in the UNMC, Captain Rafferty, had taught me the most important lesson I’d ever learnt about command:

“Your troops must respect you, your ability and your willingness to face danger, or you ain’t worth jack-shit as an officer”

and the time had come for me to earn that respect. Until then, Hollis and Preston had both treated me as an employer, not an officer. It wasn’t anything that they had done, it wasn’t overt, or even conscious, but I had seen it many, many times before when putting together security teams for CIC. Until the troops have an officer or NCO binding them together, they will never be a unit – just a collection of individuals.

So I headed into the ducts. Once in, I immediately regretted my decision … but it was too late then. I would never earn the respect I needed from the troops if I backed out now, so I forced my way down. After what seemed like hours, I finally found a primitive security device that indicated I was in the right place. Knowing that Hollis was the one to bypass this, I slowly backed my way out of the ducts.

When I came out, the others were still in place – nothing had disturbed their perimeter and I had only been gone 20 minutes! I told Hollis and the other what I had found and we made ready to enter, stashing our more bulky gear in a sideroom. Nathaniel would remain there to cover the corridor as his huge frame was far to big to enter the ducts – and to be frank, I wasn’t certain I could trust him to obey orders, but I didn’t feel the need to share that particular detail with him …

Hollis entered first, followed by my brother, then me, then Phipps and finally Preston. We quickly reached the security measure, which Hollis easily bypassed. Then, while we waited, she carried on and scouted out the admin block itself, before rapidly returning. She had found the detention area; it was a short corridor with 6 doors – undoubtedly the cells themselves – and another door at one end with an apparently dozy guard in front of it. In the middle of the corridor’s ceiling was a vent to the duct that had allowed Hollis to see what she had.

We quickly arrived at a plan. My brother would go past the vent and get ready to kick the side closest to the guard down. Then Hollis would swing her upper body down through the resulting hole – while I held her legs – and take out the guard. My brother would then drop into the corridor and hold the doorway, whilst Hollis and I dropped down and searched the cells for Denise. Phipps would follow us down if case he was needed to help Denise. Preston would remain in the duct to cover us, if necessary, and he could also help a potentially unconscious Denise into the ducts for our egress.

The plan set, we wasted no time in enacting it. It went smoothly until Hollis misjudged the speed of descent and failed to take out the guard with her first shot as my brother dropped through the hole. Before Hollis could get another shot off, though, my brother was charging down the guard. Luckily his body armour and the small shot used prevented the guard’s shotgun from wounding him and he put the guard down as Hollis gracefully landed on her feet in the corridor, rapidly followed by me.

Hollis and I checked doors on opposite sides of the corridor as my brother retrieved the guard’s shotgun and opened the door to see what was behind it. In the ‘cell’ I opened were 3 or 4 very scared people cowering in a corner – but none of them were Denise, so I shut the door and moved on … one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but there was no way we could rescue all of them … however much I wanted to …

I was just about to open my second door, when Hollis shouted “In here” – I rapidly moved into the cell she had opened and saw she was right – it was Denise! She looked just as terrified as the others had and I was momentarily confused why she should be … then I realised and removed my helmet. “It’s me, Jack”, I said as I moved over to her side. Her face broke my heart as her instant relief collapsed into tears of joy.

Her heavily bandaged ankle showed she was obviously injured, so I shouted over my shoulder, “Phipps get in here!” even as I grabbed her hand with my own. “You came,” sobbed Denise, “Jack, you came for me!”

Whatever else she might have said was interrupted by the arrival of Phipps, who immediately began to assess her ankle.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” he asked.
“Just my ankle,” replied Denise, “I think it’s broken.”

Phipps’ reply was drowned out by a burst of gunfire from the hall – the guard’s buddies had arrived. “I won’t leave without you,” I said to Denise as I moved to the doorway … I didn’t want to let go of her hand, but I had to …

In the hall, I could see Hollis using an opposite doorway as cover and firing a burst toward the door at the end of the corridor. My brother was using that doorway as cover and then as I watched, he charged through it and up the stairs that lay beyond it, running over the guard that Hollis had put down. He was obviously buying us time to get Denise out.

“We can move her!” shouted Phipps behind me, as he picked her Denise up and more carried than helped her toward the doorway. I could see that the corridor was clear of enemies, so I called, “Hollis, Cover us!” and helped Phipps get Denise over to the vent.

As Hollis covered the hall and my brother held the stairs, Phipps and I lifted Denise up to Preston. We got her through and then Phipps up. As he went up I told him to get moving with Denise through the ducts and he nodded agreement.

Preston helped me up, an I told him to go with Phipps and Denise, before calling Hollis over. I helped her up, just as I heard a muffled explosion from the direction of the stairs – my brother had come back through the door and lobbed one of the grenades that he had got who knows where on the Bharat station before we left through it and then closed the door.

I told Hollis to follow the others, then leaned down through the hole, “We are LEAVING NOW!” I shouted to my brother. He nodded in acknowledgement as he rigged a grenade on the door handle before sprinting and jumping up at the hole. I easily caught him and pulled him up and through the hole. We then crawled as fast as we could after the others.

Finally we were all out in the corridor, as we mustered, a muffled bang was heard below us – my brother’s other grenade. Needing to put distance between us and the admin block, we hustled away. I carried Denise, but the pain from her bouncing ankle must have been too much as she had passed out.

When we stopped for a breather, I thanked Nathaniel for his help and gave him the clips I had promised him and another pistol as a thank-you bonus. “The Lord works in mysterious ways,” he said and left us to it.

We carried on and after about 10 minutes, we found a defensible sideroom where we could hole up. Phipps looked at Denise’s broken ankle and general condition, while I looked on concerned and no doubt getting in the way, as the others took perimeter security. Phipps used Denise’s unconscious state to his advantage and, having removed the bandages, set her ankle properly before applying an inflatable insta-splint to it. His general examination revealed a minor case of malnutrition as well as some kind of infection that he believed he could start to treat with his equipment on Liberation. As Phipps’ examined her, I removed my torso armour, and when he was done, put it on Denise.

The immediate medical needs attended to, we carried on back to Liberation, although still moving fast, some what more cautiously than before, with Hollis again excelling on point.

It was just as well she was there, because when we were about half-way back we reached a junction where one of the station’s sweeper teams seemed to have taken up a rather casual position. Knowing that any delay was against, I felt we had no choice but to assault it and overcome them rapidly. Preston would take rearguard and watch over Denise, my brother, Hollis and me would assault whilst Phipps covered us from the mouth of the corridor that we were entering the combat zone from.

I have to admit that, in the short firefight that followed, I was rather reckless, but each of my advances to the numerous cover spots available were capably covered by the rest of team. Although my brother received a minor wound, the firefight was concluded in our favour and the surviving enemy rapidly departed. As we left the area, I picked up the gauss pistol the enemy team leader had been using which markedly increased my firepower.

Nothing else occurred en route to Liberation and we successfully reached and then boarded the shuttle.

As Liberation drifted away from the station – we were attempting a covert extraction – Ramsay reported that an unregistered frigate was docked with the station – pirates I surmised and Ramsay agreed. Before long we reached the minimum safe distance and Ramsay engaged the jump. We had made it – Denise was safe and no-one was badly hurt in the action.

I left the bridge and went to the lounge area where the team had congregated – Phipps was treating my brother’s wound and Denise was asleep in a cabin.

“Well people, we are done – mission successful,” I announced, “Agreed Preston?”
“Yes Sir!” said Preston as he saluted.
“Hollis?” I asked.
“Yes Sir,” replied Hollis, “and call me Babs,” she added with a smile.

I knew I had achieved that which I needed, my troops’ respect …

And I would need it if we were to pull off the idea that was starting to form in my mind …