Part 6: Fortress Selene

	"How are you this morning, Sergeant?"

	Jessie stood at attention as she answered. "Better, sir."

	"Good." answered Captain Jose. "You may stand at ease." Jessie
relaxed a bit, next to her stood Lt. Mengele and Corporal Preston. "I've
talked with Dr. Rhodes. According to her, you should be back to normal in
three weeks. You're timing couldn't be more perfect."

	"Could you elaborate on that, sir?" asked Mengele.

	Jose sat down behind his desk, he motioned to the three chairs in
front of it. "Sit and I will tell you." Crow immediately sat down. Powers
looked dubiously at the chair before her. "Don't worry, I thought ahead."
said Jose. He tossed her a foam pillow. "That should make it more bearable."
With everyone seated, Jose stood up again, prompting everyone to rise. "Stay
seated, it makes me feel tall - a rarity around you gorillas." Crow laughed
and Preston cracked a smile. 

	"Okay, as you know, we've effectively breached the Neo's defensive
parameter and we stand ready to make a try on the base itself. The original
plan was an all out attack."

	"You mean an all out slaughter." commented Crow.

	"True enough." confirmed Jose. "But for once, fleet command has
decided to consider other options. Given the losses so far, they've asked for
an alternate plan. And I've given them one."

	"Sir?" asked Crow.

	"What I say from here on is classified, discuss it with no one, do we
understand each other?"

	"Yes sir." replied the trio.

	"Our main forces are currently engaged in setting up heavy armament
on the North side of Fortress Selene. As luck would have it, the necessary
firepower will take three to four weeks to deploy. Once ready, the bulk of
our forces will commence bombardment of the North side. Bombardment will
continue for several hours, stop, then begin again on a regular cycle."

	"You're going to wait them out." asked Preston.

	"Sort of, with the beating coming from the North side on a
semi-continuous basis..."

	"They won't be paying too much attention to the South side."
speculated Crow.

	"Right." confirmed Jose.

	"Do you really believe that will allow us to breach the base, sir?"
said Powers. 

	"Its not really supposed to, Powers. There's nothing we could do to
keep them from noticing our forces coming in from the South." explained Jose.

	"Unless it was too small to notice." concluded Crow.

	"Right again. A small team of Jumptroops will use the bombardment as
cover to approach the base." Jose tapped a button on his desk, the
holoprojector hummed to life showing a schematic of the base. "As you can
see, the South side is more or less built into the summit of the mountain,
whereas the North side is carved away. Climbing from the South, you could
actually march up to the base's outer wall and then drop right in before they
knew you were there."

	"Assuming it can be climbed." noted Preston. "That side of the
mountain looks shear and practically vertical. I bet even an experienced
mountain climber would have trouble pulling that off."

	"I didn't say it would be easy." countered Jose. "If it was, they
would have asked Gamma Squad to do it." Mengele and Preston found Jose's
choice of words a tad amusing.

	"The Neos probably think an attack plan like that would be illogical,
so they didn't bother with properly defending against it." offered Jessie.

	"The team that goes in will only wear their helmets and chest plates.
The rest of their gear will have to be lugged on their backs. They'll be
given the appropriate mountaineering equipment to get up the South face. Once
they make it, its into the armor and straight to the real work."

	"So what's the job?" asked Preston.

	"Find and eliminate their GraF shield generator. The fleet will do
the rest." answered Jose.

	"I assume we're to be involved in this." stated Powers.

	"Naturally. You three and a couple others that I will leave for
Mengele and Powers to select." answered Jose.

	"Sounds dangerous, but doable." said Crow.

	"Then I take it, you three will accept the assignment?" asked Jose.

	"You mean we can say no?" asked Preston.

	"This mission is strictly voluntary. If you want out, say so now."
The room remained silent. "Good."

	"So when will I be expected to lead this little party?" asked Crow.

	"Never." said Jose.

	"Excuse me? But you said..." started Crow.

	"This is my show, you three are just guest starring."

* * *

	 Jessie fastened her climbing harness. A couple of weeks ago, just
wearing it would have been agony. The fact that it was not, further confirmed
Jessie was ready for the mission. Her pack was heavier than she anticipated,
and as she looked up the South face of Mt. Selene she suddenly regretted
carrying so much armament. Jose was measuring the distance with his range
finder. Crow was struggling with his harness. Unholy and Dagger were ready to
go, as were Fugi and Henderson. "You think we'll get moving sometime before
dark, Lieutenant?" asked Dagger sarcastically.

	"Shut up and help me with this damn thing." ordered Crow.

	Dagger bounded over to Mengele and quickly showed him how to fasten
the harness correctly. "You've never done this before, have you?" asked
Dagger.

	"No." answered Crow. "Not like this. Not since boot camp."

	"I have." said Jessie. "Its no sweat, just don't look down."

	Jose observed that Mengele was finally ready. "Let's move out, Dagger
has the point." 

	Dagger gripped the mountainside, dug his spiked boots into the rock,
and pushed himself upward. A few seconds later he came tumbling down again,
landing with a pronounced grunt on his rump. "Its harder than it looks!" he
said defensively.

	"Nevermind," stated Jose, "I'll take point, the rest of you follow my
lead." Jose picked up some gray climbing rope and connected it to his
harness. He tossed the bundle to Crow saying, "Give me a ten foot head start,
then you start climbing."

	"Now we'll never get anywhere." muttered Dagger under his breath.

	"What was that, Private?" asked Jose.

	Dirk reacted quickly, "I said how long do you think it'll take to get
there?"

	"A couple hours." Jose's hands combed the shear surface of the
mountain, his fingers finding purchase in small cracks. He dug his spiked
feet in and began the long ascent to the summit. 

	"Wow, look at him go." said Preston.

	"For a guy his...uh...size, you'd think he'd move a lot slower than
that." added Fugi.

	Crow hooked the rope to his harness and prepared to follow. "That's
the Captain for you, full of surprises."

	"And cheeseburgers." added Dagger.

	Crow shook his head, "You better hope he didn't hear that."

	"What's he gonna do?" asked Dagger.

	"That's not what should concern you." stated Powers. "Its what I'm
going to do."

	Dagger let out a nervous laugh. "Righty-oh, anyone mind if I go
next?"

* * *

	The afternoon passed slowly by, measured in hand and foot-holds
rather than actual time. Periodically, Jose would stop his ascent to anchor a
new safety line. But otherwise the progress was smooth, or as smooth as
climbing a gigantic piece of sandpaper can be.

	Jessie's arms ached and her legs were starting to feel a bit weak.
She surveyed her next handhold, she freed her right hand and began to reach
for it. Something made her stop. She stared at her hand a moment, it was
shaking. That struck her as unusual because she wasn't unnecessarily nervous
or frightened. She tried to steady it but could not. She opened and closed
her hand a few times and shook it a little. No change. Deciding to ignore it,
she reached for the next handhold and began to pull herself up to her next
foothold. Her hand trembled as she executed the maneuver. Halfway up, her
hand slipped off and Powers lost her balance. A moment later she was falling.

	"Preston! Heads up!" yelled Unholy.

	Robert Preston brought his head up to see Powers falling directly at
him. She was anchored to the safety line, so chances were that it would save
her. But the question remained whether or not Preston himself would go for a
tumble. He freed his left arm and tightened his grip with his right. Powers
collided with his left shoulder. Preston let loose a low grunt as he took the
hit while wrapping his arm around her, cradling her as best he could. Powers
wiggled in his grasp a moment then she went slack, allowing Preston to bring
her back into contact with the mountainside. She breathed a sigh of relief,
"Thanks Preston, I owe you one."

	"What happened?"

	"I don't know, I must have slipped." Jessie replied numbly.

	"You gonna make it?" he asked.

	Jessie grabbed hold of the rock again. "Yeah, lets go."

* * *

	By nightfall the small band of Jumptroopers had finished the ascent
of the South face. The remainder of the trip had proven uneventful and
slip-free, with the only noteworthy occurrence being the commencement of the
North face bombardment. Finding sufficient cover from lookouts, they
proceeded to strip away their climbing gear and substitute exo-armor in its
place.

	Jose surveyed the area with his range finder. "Only two sentries.
Perfect. Powers, Fugi, take one each. Simultaneous shots." The two troopers
positioned themselves to either side of Captain Jose. "Tell me when you have
them."

	The two sentries were a good forty yards from their position. Though
patrolling the top of the South wall, they were only about five feet higher
in the air than Jose's unit. "Got him." said Fugi.

	"Powers?" asked Jose.

	"He's bent over, adjusting his boot I think." Jessie waited patiently
for the Neo to get up again. "Got him."

	"Fire on my mark." Jose noted the explosions from the other side of
the compound. He heard a round of explosions, then counted until he heard
another. His intent was to time the shots with the explosions, thereby
concealing them. "Now."

	Both sentries suddenly fell over, indicating the snipers had hit
their respective marks. "Preston, reconn the area, Powers and Fugi will cover
you from here." Preston bolted towards the South wall. Once there, he waited
a few seconds before going over the wall. He checked on the sentries,
confirming both kills. 

	"All clear. Let's move!" ordered Jose.

	The small group hustled across the span of rocky terran and over the
wall. The base was large. But due to the numerous weapons and supplies
crammed into it, it seemed a tad small. "Where to now, Cap?" asked Dagger.

	"Where else? The GraF dome." Jose pointed to the structure located in
the dead center of the base. "Powers has the artillery to take it out, we
just need to get her inside so she can do it."

	"And how are we going to do that?" asked Preston. A number of alarms
began to sound, indicating that the group had been spotted.

	Jose disengaged the safety on his rifle. "The hard way it seems."

To be continued...