I looked back at my soldiers. We all knew what would happen if we died but not the doctor. I saw the look in their eyes. They were ready to die fighting instead of lying on their side.
"Answer?" Abdullah.
"Let me ask one thing," I said as I looked back at the man, "How much would you say your life is valued at?"
"Valued at?" Abdullah looked thoughtful, "I would say all of your lives plus more."
"I see," I looked back at the doctor and smiled, "We will get you back doctor." The doctor nodded his head and moved slowly to the enemy. The young boy was released and shoved roughly towards us. I sighed and looked at Abdullah, remembering his face.
"We will be seeing each other again," I said as I grabbed my weapon from the ground and walked backwards to my troops.
"I would love that," Abdullah said, the sarcasm heavy in his voice. After the exchange, the enemy backed away and drove off. I growled deep in my throat and stalked back to my people.
"Young man, where will they take him?"
Through Syllah, we were told, "About three miles down that way and heavily fortified." He was pointing back towards the south. I sighed heavily and looked back south. The dust had settled and the slight wind erased the tracks. We had a general direction but no definite course.
"Lagoon get on comms and relay to base," I ordered. Lag didn't even respond but went straight to his radio. A short time later he walked up beside me and sighed. I had an idea on what he was going to say.
"We are to go after the doctor and get him back," Lag said, "At all costs. Even at the life of the young man."
"Understood. Lets move out," I said as I moved south. Three klicks isn't much to us but to an untrained person at our clip, we had to stop numerous times. Add in the heat, any one of us could have fainted and died. Luckily Sha'eed knew of a few watering holes. It took us more time then normal but it was worth us making it alive. Along the trip, Sha'eed gave us as much detail about the place as possible. Both Celes and Everest asked for numerous details. By the time we reached the base, each of us knew it inside and out.
"We got numerous contacts moving around. He wasn't kidding about it being heavily fortified," Raptor said as he looked at the soldiers on the wall mounts, "We may get lucky but with the info we have," He shrugged and looked down.
"Right," I said, "It's a voluntary Op. I don't care if I have to go in alone." My eyes were on the base but I could feel everyone's eyes on me.
"You know we are with you Rakon," Mason said, "Besides, you would get in trouble on your own." I laughed and looked back at them.
"We may not come back from this guys," I said as I looked at them.
"Hey, it was a good life," Syllah laughed as she looked at everyone.
"Yeah it sure was," Celes laughed as she looked around.
"Lets get rolling then," I smirked and turned back to the base.
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Sixteen hours later, banged up, bruised, and shot in non vital spots, we made it back to our base. The doctor and the young man patched us up as much as they could but we still needed medical attention. Despite our wounds, we looked at each other and laughed.
"One helluva ride," I said. Raptor smirked and tapped me on the shoulder.
"Agghhh. I was hit there d*mnt," I growled. His laughter sounded behind me as we moved to medical.
Another twelve hours later and the lieutenant was sitting in front of us all. He heard our story and looked at each of us. The look on his face said he didn't believe us. The doctor walked in and looked us over. He nodded and stood beside us.
"Lieutenant they speak the truth," Doctor Langthem said.
"Doc Langthem. You say they are correct?" The lieutenant asked.
"Yes sir. They are correct," The doctor replied, "And I would back them with my word as much as I can."
"Let's go over it once more then. I want to make sure I heard it correct." Lieutenant.
"This is the ninth time." Raptor.
"Shut it you oaf!" Celes.
"Rakon. Please start again." Lieutenant.
"Yes sir," I sighed heavily.