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Cassie Granger

Would've, Should've, Could've

Would’ve, Should’ve, Could’ve

 

As Cass stepped back inside the safe house, her stomach relaxed just a bit from the knot she’d had since encountering the hostile. She’d had her usual reaction to command. When you’re not in the action, when you’re directing it via ocular surveillance, no matter how much experience you have, the feeling always hovers just beneath the surface.

 

I should have been there. I should have done something to protect him.

 

Cass knew Randall was fully capable, and Daniels was damn good, but the knot persisted. Randall’s response had eased her mind, but only a little. Problem was, she wasn’t worried about the breach of protocol, she wasn’t worried about Randall’s following orders, nor did it bother her he’d gone outside the wire without backup. It was the could haves that gnawed, the should haves that haunted her - haunted everyone - when things went south.

 

 

* * * * *

 

Communications Outpost

2292 - Just Outside the RNZ

 

“Medic!” A loud crack in her helmet com interrupted the call as a weapons fire duck-and-tumble slid her down the steep incline. “Perry! Ducon! What’s your twenty?”

 

“Two thirty your location, El Tee! Below the ridge.”

 

“Take two and three. Circle behind the ridge and take out that emplacement! Zap!” Cass skid to a halt, flipped over the writhing captain and pressed a hand onto his belly.

 

“Here, El Tee!”

 

“Hightail it out of this canyon and put in a call to command. ‘Opposition hot. Captain’s down.’”

 

Another round drowned out Zap’s reply, but Cass saw her scrambling down the gully towards the shuttle. “Kato!”

 

“Yo, El Tee!”

 

“Get over here and give me a hand. Medic!”

 

“Doc’s down too, El Tee,” Sergeant Kato slid in behind. Cass grabbed his hand and thrust it under hers as she reached for the limited medical supplies in her combat vest.

 

“Press hard and don’t let up,” she said, slapping a wad of septic cloth into the wound. Captain I’m in charge here and you’ll obey my command screamed in agony. She saw it coming, should have said something to the Major, but Capt Hotshot made his decision and dashed towards the bunker. Ben tyen shung! “Press! Hard!”

 

Kato nearly buckled as Hotshot’s scream cut through the comm, but he leaned into the wound as blood oozed between his fingers. Cass reached into Hotshot’s helmet and tripped the switch. No sense in demoralizing the squad any more than it was already.

 

It should have been a routine extraction. Two teams on a small planet just outside the RNZ setting up communications equipment, bushwhacked by unknowns, had sent out the call. The USS Kearsarge was supposed to be covert intel and wasn’t really set up for heavy extraction, but routine Marine MO was combat gear, thank the higher power, so at least the squad was semi-prepared. The perps used modified projectile weapons rigged to do the most damage and didn’t operate like military. They sure as shin-Li weren’t Romulans. Pirates? Small time smugglers? Who cared. They just needed off this rock, and it wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

 

* * * * *

 

Taking a deep breath, Cass moved on, ready for the after action review. Whatever went on there wouldn’t be half as trying as the team meeting she’d just endured, but her main objective - making her point privately with the lieutenant and receiving his concerned, professional response - had been accomplished.

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