They couldn't withstand them. It was obvious they would all end up as dead as Fuyuko's teddy bear if they stayed here.
She eventually had her men retreat.
A retreat...
More like a headlong rush.
What the hell was the High Command thinking?
Junko once again cursed her fate.
Of course...
Who was sent to a suicide mission? The poor Junko.
She wouldn't remember how they actually managed to force their way back to the transport.
The universe was reduced to shooting by guesswork, hiding and running.
All this with the certainty they took the wrong way, that they ended up lost inside this creepy rock.
They emerged from the corridors maze as if they woke up from a nightmare.
Junko shook a liaison by grabbing his uniform as soon as she entered in the transport.
"The other strike team. Where is it?" "Ehhh" emitted the man, choking "We lost contact with them around twenty minutes ago, Kaisa."
She gazed at the few remaining fresh troops waiting in the transport. "And them? What are they waiting for? Just in case you didn't get it, we got raped hard out there. And now, there is a Kaisho here, somewhere, probably lost." "Those men stayed here to keep the transport safe. As stated by the operation orders."
She released the liaison and spoke to the men guarding the transport. "You. Follow me. We have the other strike team to find out."
The officers inside the Aden Maru grumbled a bit, but she didn't let them the time to argue.
After restocking her ammunitions, she left the transport, just giving a quick glance on her back to check they were following.
While she was trying to reach the other group by comms, Junko wondered why was she stupid enough to jump back into that particular hell.
With the Marines, Junko followed the death wake of the second strike team.
It was as if some macabre Tom Thumb dropped dead men - or parts of them at times - instead of pebbles.
The peculiar thing was they didn't find any resistance in their way.
Maybe for once they were lucky.
Junko consulted the comm operator of the group, urging him to locate the signal of Nagata's team.
The Lieutenant just shrugged.
"I cannot triangulate the signal alone. But i'm pretty sure we're getting close. It's getting stronger and stronger." "You're so helpful. Remind me to kiss you when we will be out of here." She replied, while gesturing the group to proceed carefully.
Where did all the playtoys go?
She didn't like it.
The men, on edge, almost shot them when they found the remains of Nagata's group.
Five men.
Assuming a defensive stance, the group waited while Junko was talking shortly with the Kaicho.
He just looked like an abandoned wreck in the middle of no where.
"Hm. Are you alright?" She asked with a reasonable enough amount of curiosity. "Hai.." replied Yuri after a soundful sigh.
Gazing around quickly, she finally said "Well hm... It's really quiet here, suddenly. I humbly suggest we get back to the transport while we can." "Hm." Muttered Nagata between two tired breaths.
"Or maybe we should resume our task and all die here?"
Yuri responded to her sarcasm with quite a harsh tone that surprised her. "Commander, when i will need your opinion, i will ask it. "
He then sighed once again. "Gome.. Indeed. There is nothing we can do now. We must return to Kusari."
He must have found something valuable, she thought.
The squad quickly moved back, surrounding the five tired men of the strike group.
"Why did this area suddenly became as dead as a dodo?" She muttered while looking for a movement of the automated defences or of something else..
Nagata didn't reply, appearing to not be willing to get into conversation with her.
Or maybe he was simply too tired, she thought, while giving him a side look.
+++++
The transport quickly unmoored from the arch, and, followed by its escort, returned to Hokkaido.
On its board, tired men.
The medics were checking the wounded. "Ouch! Watch it!" complained Junko as one of them was trying to take out a shrapnel from her arm. "Sorry" replied the medic, not appearing however to be sorry at all.
She angrily gazed at him and leaned back against the partition wall, sighing.
Well... At least she was alive. How tempting it was to make some ironical joke about how wonderful life could be.
But she abstained as she noticed Yuri staring at her while being checked by a medic.
What was wrong with him? Some male pride being offended because of a failed mission, maybe? Or was it because he was saved by a woman?
Junko grumbled again as the Medic was trying once again to do his job. "Stop moving please."
She was well tempted to tell him to go die somewhere. But she complied.
She had to admit she wasn't quite proud herself as well of how things turned out. So many died.
All she wanted now was to return to her tiny flat and sleep during two entire days.
Once the medics had finished their patching, Nagata discreetly moved closer, sat by Sanada and audibly sighed again.
He turned to her in the dim light of the hold, she could almost swear that his eyes welled with unshed tears "commander sanada... please forgive my earlier...silence."
He turned away, speaking into his chest, head hung, as though in shame: "Arigatou ' thank you for coming back for us...Sanada I...You must understand...it was a massacre in there."
his voice quickened "So many...so many dead ' I saw Miko torn to pieces, I -led- men into that..slaughter. Was I any better for them than the enemy? Any less responsible? Perhaps I am just as bad as them..."
he seemed lost in his grief, floundering to express himself without showing vulnerability.
"...I have always been a good marine: today I am a butcher. I...I suppose I am trying to say is; it is hard for me to deal with so much blood on my hands."
he took another deep breath and cleared his throat ' returning some semblance of regaining his usual 'soldiers composure'.
"Erh..." she finally emitted while being mangled by the medic.
What the heck...? Junko then resolved to uneasily pat his shoulder a couple of times, not quite sure of what to say.
That was somewhat cute, she thought. Cute and pathetic.
She wondered again what happened to them.
Of course it wasn't a stroll in the park for Junko's group. A lot of men died. She preferred to not think about them. They knew the risks after all, right?
But why on the ancient earth was he so emotional suddenly?
If Junko did set herself lose like him, she was afraid to cry like a silly little girl.
Control. It was the only thing that mattered.
Struggling to not go with some ironical enough statement, she finally said after a silent sigh : "Hm well... I'm sure you did your best to protect your men. The High Command obviously under estimated the difficulty"
She then gazed at him, hoping she had a neutral enough expression. "There is always losses. Always. I won't teach you this, right? We should be glad to have saved as many men as we could and to still be alive."
She was reminding how some of those men exploded like ripe fruit. Above all, the sound of it.
Repressing a shiver, she concentrated on the study of the hull on the other side of the hold.