Women of War - A Band of Brothers Story

Mutiny

A/N: Hello everyone. Sorry for not updating yesterday, it was just one weird day... The morning was okay, but the rest of the day was crazy and busy and I only really came home shortly before midnight...

Anyways. Thank you for your comments and votes, you guys are awesome! I hope you enjoy this albeit short chapter and I wish you all happy holidays or simply a wonderful time!

Unfortunately, Sobel went and tried to court-martial Lt. Winters the next day on a bogus charge for dereliction of duty or some such bullshit. Everyone, including the officers, knew that it was just Sobel trying to cow Winters into submission after having been thoroughly humiliated by the man when he and his platoon took the objective on their own.

Winters, knowing that the captain had nothing concrete against him in hand, called his bluff and requested trial by court-martial. It was dangerous though and put the whole company on edge because while Strayer figured out the procedures of the court-martial, he had reassigned the only trustworthy and capable platoon leader to Battalion Mess.

The NCOs were of course most unhappy about this turn of events. With Winters gone, they were the last line of defence that stood between Sobel and the rest of the men. It took less than a day before there were rumblings in the company that the non-coms were in cahoots over trying to find a way to get the red-headed lieutenant back.

***

"Catherine!"

On her way to the mess hall, the Hawaiian stopped and turned, waiting for Mia to catch up to her. "What is it?", she asked, not missing the troubled tension that clung to her friend. "Are you alright?"

Mia took a breath, bracing herself for what would surely not be an easy conversation. She had mulled it over and over in her head and eventually, she'd decided to just get straight to the point.

"Don't turn in your stripes", she blurted out. There. Like ripping off a plaster.

The ranking medic blinked in surprise before a frown settled on her features. "What?", she questioned. "Almost all NCOs - apart from probably Evans - are doing it. Why wouldn't I?"

Her colleague looked at her and replied evenly: "Because you have kids. If this doesn't work, you will all be shot."

Catherine's eyes flashed. "I'm aware of the consequences, thank you very much." She reigned in her indignation, after all, the younger woman meant well. So, she tried to explain herself. "But I can't just stand there and do nothing. If I die, at least I'll die doing what's right."

Mia studied her, her searching gaze unnerving her a little. Eventually, she sighed, eyes dropping to the muddy ground beneath their feet. "You won't change your mind", she said softly.

"No", Catherine confirmed even though it hadn't been a question. She reached out and squeezed her friend's shoulder, waiting until she met her eyes.

"It's gonna be okay. Sink would be mad if he ordered us all shot", she reasoned. "This close to the invasion, he won't want to lose an entire company's worth of non-coms." Or risk a potential political disaster by having a third of Easy's female members court-martialled and shot.

A weak half-smile twitched on Mia's lips and she nodded. "I hope you're right."

"Me too, Mia. Me too."

Patting her on the shoulder and giving her a smile that she hoped was confident, Catherine continued on her way, heading towards the mess hall where she and the other NCOs would put their plan of mutiny into action.