LUU Chpt 7

==Let Us Unite - Chapter VII -==
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===Family Farewells===
Date: December 29th, 2766 - 1900 Pacific Standard Time
Location: San Francisco, Suburban outskirts
 
"Wait in the car," Elizabeth got out and tucked a sidearm into a concealed holster, her jacket covering the weapon as she approached a nearby house and knocked on the door before stepping slightly to the side.
 
"Hello?" A couple opened the door, a young face peeking out from behind her parent's legs. "Can we help you?"
 
"I'm Major Elizabeth Hazen, I work with your mother, and you need to come with me," she stated bluntly. "We're getting the families of the Black Watch out of Harm's way, and you're just one of a few on our list on Terra."
 
"Right," the man's face hardened. "Just give us a few minutes."
 
The door closed softly and the man knelt to look at his daughter and wife. 
 
"Remember where the go-bags are?" He asked Colleen.
 
"Yes!" Colleen replied. 
 
"I need you to go get the ones out of the garage, I've got to get some things out of Daddy's room, okay?" Mitchell Schmitt glanced at his wife, noting her tears before pulling her into a tight hug."It's okay," he stroked her back. "We'll get out of this, we just need to be smart about it. If the Major's here, that means that we've got very little time to pack and leave."
 
Alexandra closed her eyes, wiped the few tears that appeared and exhaled. "What do you need me to do?"
 
"Go into the office and open the safe, grab whatever money and valuables are in there, and put them in the bags that Colleen's grabbing," Mitchell then opened the door and welcomed the Major in. "Major Hazen," he nodded. "I'm sure you've got your kit, but I'd prefer to use my own."
 
Leaving the Black Watch Major to watch his wife and daughter, Mitchell went upstairs and pulled a duffle bag from under his bed before uncovering a rug and opening a floor safe. 
 
There, lying in the floor safe was the kit he had been allowed to purchase and take with him when he had finished his term as jump infantry. 
 
"Hello, old friend," he sorted through what would be useful and what wouldn't be before throwing it into the bag and heading downstairs, his eyes meeting Elizabeth's and his wife's. "I'm ready. Let's go."
 
"How secure is your vehicle?" Hazen asked as she glanced up and down the street. 
 
"Fusion, not armored, but I did spring for something a bit more rugged," Mitchell hit a button, and a garage door slid open, revealing a couple of decades-old Chevrolet Suburban. 
 
"That works," Elizabeth walked over to the sedan and popped open the trunk, fishing out an older CB radio. "Here, we can stay in touch while on the road with this."
 
"Already got one," Mitchell replied. "Now lead the way, I'll follow."
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===Change in Plans===
"So, our original plan isn't going to work." Capell looked at the group, McFadden nodding in agreement. "Amaris's going to be able to track our dropship launch, our original plans didn't take into account the SDS systems getting knocked out so rapidly."
 
"So instead we're going to use the regular civilian traffic before Amaris halts it." McFadden briefed. "We'll still head to MINSY to make sure our identities are rock solid, but we're going to end up leaving it behind."
 
"Once we make it to an HPG that's not shut down, we'll wait for confirmation on which location the Camerons were moved to." Capell finished, glancing around the motel room. "We're going to have to chart the next few civilian dropships, which means that I need one of you to start looking over the launch schedules. Once we get to MINSY, we'll get into the computer systems and get us set up with tickets and narrow down where we want to go."
 
"New Dallas is probably one of the places we'll want to head to first," Suarez stated. "The Boltholes might not be on common maps, but New Dallas won't be attacked yet. Amaris'll have to concentrate on knocking out Terra and securing his base of power here first."
 
"We need MINSY for one other big reason," Frank Yanez sighed. "I'm pretty sure they've got a better med suite than what we had in the Safehouse. And I'm going to need access to it to finish getting the Colonel and Hinks to full recovery."
 
"And there's the hard part of all of this," McFadden leaned back against the nearby wall. "We have to get the wounded out without giving ourselves away."
 
"We can work on that story tomorrow on the drive." Capell turned to face the door. "I'll take first watch, you guys get some rest."
 
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===Even in the Future, Traffic Sucks===
"I fucking hate I-5," Suarez let her head drop onto the steering wheel, the horn blaring before she lifted it. "Aren't there faster ways to get to where we're going?"
 
"Not through the mountains," McFadden sighed. "Once we make it through the mountains we'll be past the worst of the traffic. But until we get past the traffic out of Unity City we're going to be slow for a little while."
 
"I just hope that Hazen's having a better time of this than we are," Capell's voice came in through the radio. "Because I'm about ready to make a run on Amaris a second time if we have to do this for much longer."
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===Gathering of Love ones===
"We're not going with you," O'Bannon crossed his arms in defiance. "You have your mission. But we have ours, and we swore our oaths."
 
"So be it," Elizabeth nodded in understanding before pulling out a notebook and a pencil. "You're going to want some places to lay low," she began jotting down a few safe house locations. "I'll give you the authorization codes, but I'm not going with you."
 
"They killed your brother," O'Bannon glared. "Surely you want to take the fight to the fat bastard."
 
"With everything inside, yes." Hazen's voice might as well have been made of steel and ice with the emotion that was locked within. "But I have a duty and a responsibility to something higher than my own revenge. 
 
"So be it," O'Bannon sighed. "We'll keep Amaris thinking that the Black Watch is alive and well. Hopefully, he'll think that we're remnants of the ones he thought were dead."
 
"Do it right, and he'll never know the difference," Hazen smirked. "Give them hell for me, Mechwarrior. Give them hell."
 
Turning and walking away, Elizabeth almost turned to stay, but then her heart hardened and she continued, opening the door to the Schmitt's Suburban and climbing in. 
 
"Where to?" Mitchell asked, his fingers tapping idly on the wheel. 
 
"I've got two other families we need to try and exfil," Hazen opened up a map of the area. "Goal's to try and get them out as well."
 
"Then let's get to it," looked up from where she was sitting in the back seat. "Lots of ground to cover."
 
"You sure she wasn't military?" Elizabeth asked. 
 
"I never served," Alexandra matched Hazen's stare as she fed a magazine into a rifle and chambered a round. "But I married into a military family. I had to learn a thing or two."
 
"I… May have taught her how to shoot," Mitchell grinned. "I think a woman who can outshoot me is sexy."
 
"Little ears," Alexandra warned her husband. "I'm not explaining gunpowder as an aphrodisiac to Colleen."
 
"Mom, what's an aphrodisiac?" The eleven-year-old asked, an innocent look on her face.
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===Coming to grips with Losses===
Two days later… San Francisco
"Welcome to Warehouse 13," Charles Southorn waved the vehicles through the dark into the warehouse. 
 
"It's a warehouse," Capell shrugged. "Nothing really special about this one."
 
"Nevermind," Southorn shook his head. "Did the others get the message?" 
 
"Dead drop listed this as the meet-up location," Suarez shrugged. "They might be running late though."
 
"No one was present when I cased it," Jewels shrugged. "But I might have missed something."
 
Then a trio of vehicles pulled up and Elizabeth Hazen stepped out of an older model Suburban. 
 
"See, I heard y'all were dead." Hazen's normally controlled southern accent bled through. 
 
"To be a bit cliche," Bryn Capell grinned. "Rumors of our death were gravely exaggerated."
 
"Well it's good to see you," she glanced at McFadden, locking eyes with the XO. "What's the game plan, ma'am."
 
"We're heading to MINSY to lock down some civilian identities," the woman replied. "After that, we're going to use civilian shipping."
 
"Cuz using a dropship openly is a good way to get us killed," Hazen agreed. "If the SDS weren't taken out I'd push for it, but as it is, we're going to have to be careful."
 
"We're also using MINSY to get the Colonel and Hinks back up to being at least walking wounded," Yanez stepped out of the van. "The Colonel's awake if you guys want to speak to her."
 
Hazen glanced at Mitchell Schmitt and the others before jerking her head at the van in a silent message to McFadden. 
 
"Mitchell, you want to take Colleen and visit for a moment while we work out the rest of the plan?"
 
"Yeah," he picked up the girl and walked her over to the van that the wounded were kept in.
 
Then the rest of the people in the cars opened their doors and stepped out, Suarez and Southorn grinning wildly as their families ran up to surround them. 
 
"I love you," Suarez leaned into her husband's arms. "I'm sorry I didn't call. There just wasn't any time."
 
"You're alive," he leaned down and nuzzled her neck with a sad smile on his face. "That's what's important to me and the girls."
 
"You alright?" Bryn looked at Elizabeth's stone face. "Lionel was in the hospital last I heard. If he's not with you then…""They bombed the hospital he was in," Elizabeth clenched her fists together, her knuckles turning white as rage flooded through her again. "I made them pay for it though."
 
"They probably already got my family," Capell frowned. "They live in Unity City, and I doubt Amaris left any of them alive."
 
"You didn't check?" Elizabeth asked. 
 
"Elizabeth," Capell chuckled darkly. "I'm an only child, my parents are old fashioned and refused the life extension treatments. They're decaying in a nursing home because they refused to let me pay for anything. If anything, they'll probably spit in Amaris's face by dying before he gets to them. They're stubborn, and haven't wanted to speak to me in years."
 
"But they're family," it clicked. "Lots of us are going to be losing people, aren't we?"
 
"Anyone who is on Terra is at risk," Bryn replied. "The Colonel, Southorn, and Suarez are lucky. They've got their immediate family. But everyone else?" Let's just say that there's going to be a lot of prayer and tears."
 
"And a whole lot of bloodshed before this is all over."
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Chapter 7