LUU Chpt 3

==Let Us Unite - Chapter III -==
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===Extraction in ernest===
The SLS Abyss reached orbit, its aerospace fighter escorts encompassing it on all sides as it headed for the dark side of the moon, a lone coded transmission being broadcast all the while.
 
"Shh," McLeod rocked one of the Cameron twins back to sleep, a nearby nurse holding the other as they were looked over in the medbay with Richard's sisters. "You're okay now," he calmed young Ian Cameron, trying to get the nine-month-old to go back to sleep after all of the loud noise. "We'll be there soon enough."
 
The room returned to silence aside from the whimpers of Elena and Elizabeth on their beds and the beeping of the machines monitoring the sister's vital signs.
 
"Sergeant," Major MacIntosh walked into the room. "You and your men did damned fine work in there."
 
"I just wish we'd been faster," McLeod looked sadly at the young face that he held in his arms. "Growing up without parents isn't something I'd wish on my worst enemy."
 
"May I?" MacIntosh gestured for the babe.
 
"Of course, Major," McLeod made to stand up and hand the baby over but Ian began wailing loudly. "Once he's asleep, that is."
 
"Understandable," MacIntosh smiled before nodding at the other marines that were guarding the bay."Sergeant, you're directly responsible for ensuring the survival of everyone in this room. I don't care what you have to do, you make sure they survive, even if it's at the expense of all of us," the Major looked into the Sergeant's eyes, looking for some sort of question or weakness before nodding. "We're expendable. They," MacIntosh looked around at the four surviving members of the Cameron family. "They're not."
 
"Yes, sir." McLeod made to salute. "No harm will come to them while I'm still alive."
 
The major nodded, turning to leave the room. "That's what I'm afraid of," he whispered. The bad news would be told later when they had the time to deal with the emotions.
 
"Major MacIntosh, report to the bridge," the nearby intercom announced, causing the officer to detour and begin heading for the Abyss's bridge.
 
"Captain Daksha," MacIntosh nodded as he stepped onto the bridge.
 
"We're heading for the coordinates that you gave us," Daksha looked at the screen in front of him, an unlit cigar dangling from his lips. "I hope that the information you gave us is correct, because if it isn't…" he trailed off.
 
"It will be," Ian replied. "They're going to be there waiting. And the SDS Reagan will provide cover as it's able to."
 
"The Reagan is one Caspar," Daksha shook his head. "That's not a lot of cover."
 
"Then let's hope that they're too busy dealing with the rest of the SLN to pay attention to one ship fleeing," Macintosh sighed. "It's not like we have much of a choice right now anyway."
 
"Right," Daksha looked at the projected route. "ETA is a few hours, you better get some rest. We're not going to be able to push past 1g with the kids onboard."
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===Rendezvous in the Dark===
And so the SLS Abyss continued its journey to the dark side of the moon, eventually coming around and spotting something their salvation waiting, a Black Lion class Battlecruiser and a pair of Titan class Fighter Carrier dropships flying as escorts.
<<"SLS Abyss, please submit confirmation and stay on the present course.">> the Abyss was hailed.
 
"Understood, Tripitz, transmitting authorization codes now," MacIntosh moved to the communications console and began putting in a series of specialized codes.
 
<<"Identity and cargo confirmed,">> the Tripitz responded. <<"Begin transitioning to docking positions now.">>
 
"Transitioning now," the Abyss's maneuvering thrusters shifted the bearing of the giant dropship, the ASF escorts following suit. "I hope you've got space for some extra ASF, I've got quite the escort here."
<<"We'll make room. We're not leaving any of you behind when we leave.">>
 
The SDS Reagan then received a direct order from the Tripitz and shifted to follow the new directive, heading for the light side of the moon and engaging whatever tried to follow in their footsteps.
The Abyss entered the docking clamp as the escorting fighter squadrons coordinated with the Titans and the Tripitz for their actions, the escorting dropships eventually docking as well before the Black Lion class Battlecruiser began accelerating on a path towards the outskirts of the system, the Reagan following as an escort at a safe distance.
 
"Major MacIntosh, I'm Captain Maxwell, I hope you've got a bolthole for us to jump to because we're going to be surrounded otherwise, we've got way too many of those thrice-damned Republicans in the right place for them to screw us over. The Reagan was the only SDS system that responded to any instructions, and we're going to have to use it while it's available to us. And before Amaris's goons manage to hunt us down."
 
"I've got coordinates, sir," MacIntosh replied "I'll give the access codes once we've reached the jump point. I don't want any loose lips or unsecured frequencies to give us away."
 
"Before today I'd have said you were paranoid, even for a member of the Goddamned Black Watch. But now," Maxwell looked at the map of the solar system. "I think it's clear that we got too cocky."
 
"The future of the Terran Hegemony lies with us," Ian looked the captain in the eye. "Let's make sure it doesn't die with us."
 
"You heard the man," Maxwell called out to his bridge crew. "Get ready for some hard shifts ahead, we're going to be very busy people."
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===Unexpected Survivor===
Ruins of Unity City
"Fuck me," Hanni Schmitt swore as she cut herself free from her ejection seat, the full head ejection prototypes not quite working as planned, with the rockets having thrown her into the ground when she had ejected into the path of the Nuke, the explosion had flung her and several others further than expected.
 
Hitting the roof, she curled into a ball and lay there for a moment, everything hurt, and she could feel where a rib was driving into her lungs.
 
It hurt to breathe, and there were more than just a few ribs broken. No, her collarbone had snapped and she couldn't put weight on one of her legs.
 
 Then the small hatch shifted open on the head, revealing the frowning face of Mechwarrior Ferrel.
 
"Come on Colonel," the other woman helped Hanni outside of the Atlas's head. "We're lucky that we managed to get these installed before this battle," Jewels tapped the side of the hatch. "Otherwise the fallout would have killed us. As it is," Jewels climbed back in and was gone for a few moments before returning with a second carbine and a small duffle bag. "We're going to have to take the Anti-Rad meds."
 
"The others?" Hanni managed to bite out through her pain.
 
 "Southorn and I got a lock on most of y'all." Ferrel opened a bottle of pain medication before helping the Colonel swallow it down. "Once we link up we'll have to figure things out from there."
 
"Amaris," Hanni said between swallows.
 
"Alive, but injured from what we can piece together." Ferrel slung everything before beginning to put together an emergency stretcher. "And, there is some good news."
 
 Schmitt just raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
 
"They think we're all dead," Jewels managed to smile. "So it's not quite all bad as of yet."
 
"They threw a goddamned nuke at us." Hanni growled angrily.
 
"Believe me," Jewels' smile vanished. "I'm eager to get some payback too, but the Abyss managed to take off."
 
"Duty trumps revenge," Hanni exhaled shallowly as she winced in pain again.
 
"Alright, let's get you onto this stretcher," the other Mechwarrior shifted the broken form of the Colonel onto the stretcher and began to drag it behind her. "We've got to regroup with the others."
 
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 "Well, I'll be damned," Frank Yanez grinned as the two women came into the clearing where the rest had set up camp. "We all made it out!"
 
 "Not all of us," Suarez sighed. "Not all of us."
 
 "Right," Frank sobered up. "But still, we're alive!"
 
 "Celebrate later," McFadden barked. "Right now we need to shift into evasion. They don't know we're alive yet, but they'll soon find out that some of us still have families alive in the Hegemony and on Terra."
 
 "Hazen was visiting her brother, too," Bryn Capell replied as Charles Southorn helped tie a splint to his arm, a grunt of pain leaving as the other man secured it with a sharp movement of his arm. "And the Colonel's family is on Terra."
 
 "We're not going to leave any of them behind," McFadden glanced at the sleeping forms of Colonel Schmitt and Jefferson Hinks. "If we want to really get out of the area though, we're going to need a ride."
 
 "I'm pretty sure I saw someone's house over that way," Charles Southorn's soft voice spoke up. "Now, it might be damaged beyond repair, but I'll bet there's a vic there we can commandeer."
 
 "Sounds like it's our best bet," McFadden stood up with a wince as she put weight on her splinted leg. "We need to take another dose of antirads before we move, but then we've got to get clear. We all need medical treatment, and I'll need to get access to something with a bit more strength than our current comms devices. I can alert Hazen and any others through our fallback channels."
 
 The four whose legs were the most intact grabbed the twin stretchers and picked them up, carrying the two critically wounded in loops cut into their packs so the final two could provide escort.
 
 "Frank, you're on point, I'll cover the rear," McFadden ordered as she shouldered the laser carbine.
==Chapter Notes==
;Note from the Author: So, I rolled dice(and talked with a friend who's fairly knowledgeable about CBRN). And we came to a stunning conclusion. Some of the Black Watch may have been able to survive the nuke dropped on them. So, I rolled it out. And in keeping with the fine tradition of the Black Watch, most of them seem a bit too angry to die.So, below are the rolls. I did it percentile based with it broken up into four parts. 1-25=dead, No survival at all. 25-50=critically injured. 50-75 is minor injuries, and last but not least. Anything above a 75 is basically just exhaustion.Now, based on high or low in those 4 areas, I determined the severity and general location of the injuries (or lack thereof.).Without further meandering, the results are as follows;
 
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=28 Colonel Hanni Schmitt (Critically injured)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=53 Major Colleen McFadden (Survives, injured)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=51 Major Bryn Capell (Survives, injured)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=60 Lieutenant Jennifer Suarez (Survives, injured)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=77 Lieutenant Frank Yanez (Survives, no injuries/minor injuries)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=92 Jewels Ferrel (Survives, no injuries/minor injuries)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=62 Charles Southorn (Survives, injured)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=28 Jefferson Hinks (Critically Injured)
(D100 Percentile roll for survival)=24 Nathan Carlson (dead)
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