Operation: Bright Tablet

Return of the downtrodden

Denver's pov
I walked off the chinook and saw Harry and Gates standing waiting for us. I walked over and heard Harry "Casualties?" I replied emotionlessly "23 kia, mostly from my group" Harry seemed surprised at the news as I explained "my division was the first inside the base, my team was wiped out" he replied "I'll uh, I'll get final rights in order." I nodded and replied "my group will get the casualties off the choppers." He nodded and said "I'll be inside getting everything together" I nodded before I went to go give the order until Gates said "What do you mean, your division? I told you what would happen if you did the mission" I spun and grabbed her by the throat increasing the amount of force I was squeezing with "If you start your shit right now, I will fucking massacre you" she tried to speak as she clawed at my hands until I heard Bear "Denver, let her go" I looked to my right as Grace said "Denver, what are you doing?" I let go of Gates and replied "someone is still trying to act like she's in charge. Betrayed everything The 6-4 stand for"
She coughed before saying "You never understood what The 6-4 stood for" I looked at her and replied coldly "Fuckin amazing that you created this company, and still don't know anything about it. Have fun hiring an entire new company" she looked around as the rest of the company walked over. Bear asked "the hell happened to you Gates? You used to always do what's right" she replied defiantly "I don't want to lose my contractors, we all knew that mission was reckless" I heard Atlas "no, it wasn't. It was like any other mission. You've just got your head so far up your own ass you think you're always right" she recoiled at the jab as I looked over my left shoulder "go get the lost off the helicopters. We need to give them a proper send off" I watched as they started walking away before I looked at Hunter "go get blank rounds." She nodded as Gates asked "who'd we lose?" I looked at her coldly and asked "What are you still doing here?" She asked with annoyance "I'm not allowed to be at the memorial service for my dead contractors?" I replied matching her tone "they're not your contractors anymore, you fired them the moment we got on those birds"
She asked "and if I decide not to fire every one of you?" I heard Bear "good luck getting anyone to take you seriously again. They respected you because you always seemed to be a beacon of goodness and doing the right thing, but you lost that respect when you decided to try to leave our teammates to die" she looked behind me and saw the officers from all divisions except for mine looking at her in disdain. Harry came back out "the medical technicians will take the deceased and prepare them for burial back in their hometowns. The flags are at half mast and I've got pictures and battlefield crosses being set up on the east runway." I dipped my head "thank you Harry" he replied sorrowfully "it's the least I could do, you lost men to keep mine safe" I asked Gates "are you firing us all?" She replied grumpily "no" as I nodded. Gates yelled "alright, go get ready for the service!" No one moved an inch until I turned and yelled "you heard the woman, let's go move it! Get your teams ready"
The group of officers left and I heard Bear "that's what you did Gates, you have turned your entire company against you" I heard Grace to my left, in all the flared tempers and shifting of power positions I forgot she was there, "hey Denver, come with me please?" I nodded and said to Bear "If any of my officers come to ask questions tell em I'll be back in 5 alright?" He nodded as I followed Grace away from the group. We walked around the corner and I asked "yeah Grace? What is it?" She asked pointedly "how are you holding up?" I replied dismissively "I'm fine" she sighed and said "you're lying to me" I said "Grace, I'm fine. It's not the first time I've had to deal with losing friends" she looked at me in doubt before giving me a hug abruptly. I felt my walls crack as my knees started to shake. I drew in a few raggedy breaths as she mumbled "I know you're not okay. You don't have to keep up your facade." I squeezed my eyes shut as I returned the hug and tried to steel my nerves again before going to this memorial.
She released the hug and I took in a deep breath before saying "we can talk more about this tonight when we go to sleep, alright?" She nodded as I walked back with Grace to where we left the group before we all began walking over to the eastern runway. I heard Hunter to my left "I've got the rifles ready" I nodded as we reached the rows of battlefield crosses. I saw the line of 7 men and women holding the rifles with blanks as I motioned to my right and Bear said "form lines with your units in terms of rank." I watched The 6-4 quickly achieve the order while Rainbow took a bit longer to get all the team leaders lined up with their teams behind them. I heard Harry give a brief explanation of the acts of the soldiers we lost, once had finished I got a nod causing me to yell "Make ready!" I watched the team switch the gun from safe as all the operators saluted before I yelled "Aim!" I saw them all lift their rifles before I yelled "Fire!" 7 reports of blank rounds were heard before I yelled "Reset!" As the firing line pulled the charging handle.
I yelled "Aim!" And then fire before repeating the process once more, meeting the 21 round mark as I snapped off a final salute and Harry spoke "You're free, all of you. I'll handle guard shifts." We nodded and I heard Harry once more "Dismissed" I heard the crack of thunder as I stood infront of Stryker's cross and picture, I looked at my lost soldiers. 15 of the 23 were mine. I heard rain droplets start to impact around me, I held my salute as the downpour started. I couldn't bring myself to turn around and walk away, eventually I heard rain droplets on an umbrella and heard Erik behind me "You just gonna stand out here all day?" I replied simply "If that's what it takes" he stepped next to me and said "You're not abandoning them by going inside" I held my salute before saying "I know" he nodded and said "Grace sent me out to check on you" I released the salute and said "she worries too much" as I pulled off my hat and ran my hand through my soaked hair, Erik replied "maybe she has a point, you have been standing in the rain for an hour
I said "I don't need her worrying about me" he countered "I think you do, she only worries about you because she loves you" I replied "she worries more about me than herself" he chuckled before speaking "you should let her help you, it might make her less anxious about how you're doing?" I glanced over and saw him silently pleading for his friends sake before I replied "I'll think about it" he nodded and said "come inside, before Grace drags you in" I did a half turn before looking at the pictures of my men and women before I finished my turn and started walking to the building. I walked in shivering at the blast of hot air before I heard Grace "Finally coming inside huh?" I looked in her direction and replied "yeah, Erik convinced me to come in" she nodded clearly pleased before ordering "now go to the dorm and change out of those wet clothes, before you get hypothermia." I didn't reply but started walking towards the dorm, I heard Grace behind me "well that went better than I expected" as Erik laughed.
I pulled off my water logged clothes and wiped myself down with a towel before pulling on clean clothes, I sat on the edge of my bed and put my head in my hands. My division is supposed to be the best, how could it go so wrong that I lost 15 of them. Not to mention the casualties Bear and Gates's divisions took, though they got off considerably lighter than I did. I heard the door open and saw Grace, she slipped in and walked over asking "you're bad at hiding your pain" I looked up as she smiled sadly "I can see it in your eyes" I felt a single tear escape as I replied by shakily asking "how'd it go so wrong?" She looked down and replied "I don't know, what I do know is your team would be proud of you. You guys were the first ones in and you saved a lot of us from becoming casualties ourselves" I felt a few more tears snake their way down my cheeks before she asked "let me help, please? I don't like seeing my friend like this" I looked down before replying "I'll be fine, if I need some ears I'll go to you alright?"
She nodded excitedly before grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet, I got tugged into a hug which I replied much quicker this time. It was warm and comforting, something I needed desperately right now. I think she knew that and that's why she did it. When she released her python like grip on me she said "get some rest, you've got bags under your eyes." I gave her a weird look before she motioned to the bathroom "don't believe me? Check for yourself" I defiantly walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror, my hair was wild and unkempt, my skin was scratched and bloodied and then I looked at my eyes and sure enough there were dark spots under them. It took a second before I felt the wave of exhaustion set in, I didn't get to sleep on the chopper ride back since I was organizing and getting our lost into body bags. As I walked out I commented "you're right" she nodded and pointed to my bed "go to sleep you've got to be exhausted. Hell I'm exhausted and I didn't have to catalog my dead friends." I sighed my relent before laying down and drifting off to sleep.