File 8.12 - Burning Vengeance

As night fell, Cal helped in off loading all of their Skins. Rinn found themselves an isolated island far away from any routes to keep them out of sight. Each of the machines had a heavy amount of damage and needed maintenance. If this had been a carrier, they could have repaired their Jiao and Peng easily, but on Earth it wasn’t going to be so easy. They carried no spare parts. Getting them all in top fighting form would be impossible. Everyone understood that, not that it changed any of their attitudes.

Around a camp fire, Wells kept an eye on the food. It was the only thing keeping him from completely trying to tear apart everything in front of him or just flying Cal’s Peng out to Antarctica right now. Neither would have done any good, even if they would have felt good.

Silence became heavy as his team loosely hung around the fire. They all saw what the Devils were capable of doing. Worse, they saw how little they could actually do to them. Everything about the operation burned up. Any sort of data and plans they had to hand over was meaningless now. Nothing that they tested against was of any use against those giant Skins.

Which came down to what everyone already knew. The thing that Cal knew and hadn’t said yet. ‘We’ve got to fight them again…for the sake of the future. We need better data…’ But even saying that meant sending his men to die. He knew that, they knew that. No one was saying it. ‘We joked about this place becoming our grave before accepting the mission, but it very well might be soon.’ It was hard to shake the unsettling feeling that the Devils inspired in them. He was the Commander and even he wavered in front of their power.

But that wasn’t the sort of thing he could show to his men. They needed direction and confidence from him. They needed to know that they had a shot to win. They needed a plan, a good one. But nothing was coming to him. He needed time. “Rinn, how long on repairs for the ship?”

“It still flies, but half of our thrust is gone thanks to that last attack. I’m more familiar now with the technology around here, so incorporating it should be easier this time. Find me the supplies and I can have her back in working order in a week.”

“You’ve got five days.”

“Yes, sir.”

Facing the fire, he stared at Wells. The need for revenge painted deeply into his face. Nothing else was chiseled into his features. Everyone had that cut into them painfully. “Our mission hasn’t changed. We’re still going to complete what we’ve been assigned to do. Fortunately, that means we need more data on those machines. We can do the Federation the favor of eliminating them as well as getting combat data on them. Those bastards will be making more of them if they haven’t already. So we need to be prepared. The next time we fight them, we’ll bring them both down! For Rivers and Noinel!”

Wells stood up holding out a tin cup. “For Rivers and Noinel! From star dust you were born and to star dust you return!”

“Rivers! Noinel!”

Cal stepped forward with his mind starting to clear. “We’ll make them play our way next time! In one week those bastards will die!”