Geraint and Arthur sat outside the cave talking with Snyder and MacDonald. She had been given the chance to be excused from further entry into the cave, but she politely declined and sat in on the meeting between the Prince Regent, the head of the Army, and her commanding officer.
"We have thirty-five troops in suits working inside as we speak, we are trying to identify the deceased and then ready them for removal and burial." He shook his head and looked up at the sky for a moment. "I can say without equivocation that I have never seen anything like it in my life. I was not present during the Bysithian war, but I can only imagine that this is on par with Bristol." Geraint nodded his head, he had commanded a regiment of Royal Guardsmen that had entered Bristol for the first time after Uther defeated Eviar Unaxx.
"Do we have a count?" Arthur asked, himself looking ashen and overly tired.
"Four hundred and fifty, Sire." MacDonald answered. "Men, women and children, and even some pets. It is hell in there."
"Alright Lieutenant, you are excused if you feel the need for fresh air." Geraint told her, but again she shook her head.
"My men are in there and I will be with my men." Geraint nodded. "Arthur button up and let's get this over with."
The four of them entered the cave and walked slowly through the mess left behind, first stop was the branch tunnel on the right. Inside they found a Colonel and three Majors, all of them dead and their faces contorted in terror and pain. At least with these corpses, their eyes and mouths weren't scorched black. But it was clear that they died a painful and horrible death. The map table held all the operational maps for the area and were untouched. When the Napalm had flashed through the cave, it had super-heated then consumed all the air in the cave. The men in the CP had died very quickly, but they would have known what was happening, and the pain would have been immense. Arthur was shocked to his very core by the deaths in front of him, he had never even considered the fallout from battle, now he was seeing it firsthand.
As they emerged from the CP, a soldier approached them and asked them to link to him.'
"Thank you. Gentlemen, if you would pop your visors for a moment, I will spray some of thing in the corner of your helmets, it will help overcome the stench." He explained, Arthur and Geraint held their breath and popped the visor on their suits. The man produced a very elegant perfume bottle and sprayed a small amount in the corner of their helmets. They resealed them quickly and allowed the filtration system to refresh the air in their suits. As they took a breath they smelled a very pleasant and fruity perfume. They looked at Snyder questioningly.
"That was Corporal Anthony Costello, he was part of the first in the main cavern, he said that he had a bottle of perfume for his fiancé he bought in Paris a week ago." Snyder explained. "It has literally been a god send, the stench in the main cavern is quite over-powering and gets in through the filters." Both senior Officers smiled slightly and nodded, the man had used his brain and come up with a simple solution to a very complex situation.
"I think that is the most incredible piece of thinking outside the box I have seen in a long time." Geraint explained. "Have him report to me on his next break." Snyder nodded.
They walked about another thirty metres down the cave and came to an opening that had two fully armed and armoured Marines standing either side of the opening. Both snapped to when they saw Geraint and Snyder, they were not aware of the other suits wearer, but if he was with the Boss and the General, who were they to argue.
"Gentlemen, I don't really know how to prepare you for this, except to say, everyone who has entered has lost their stomach contents immediately." He was deadly serious. "Do not be embarrassed, I lost mine three times before adapting." Geraint swallowed and indicated for Snyder to lead on.
They entered a large cavern that had obvious formed thousands, if not millions of years ago. It was at least thirty metres high and nearly seventy long by fifty wide. There were semi-permanent structures towards the back of the cavern, but for the most part it was lean-to's and tents. There were armoured Marines moving about the cavern shifting things here and there, it was that moment that Geraint and Arthur noticed what they were moving. Children. Small children. All dead, all with terror permanently on their faces, eyes dead as the rock that surrounded them. Geraint hit the release on his visor and vomited all over the Colonels boots. He was overcome by the stench and this made his retching even more intense, Arthur was still empty from his experience in the initial attack, food had lost its appeal to him, for the moment. He bent down and spoke quietly to his friend, and after a few minutes he stood and the men continued the inspection of this slaughter house. As they walked further in, they saw men lying face down with bullet holes in their backs. The Loyalists had shot anyone trying to escape the cavern.
It was the next thing they saw that caused both men the most heartbreak. It was the sight of a mother trying to shield her two daughters from the danger. There was nothing the mother could do, when the napalm flared outside the cave the air drew the flame in super heating the air then expending it to nourish itself. Everyone in here had died of either scorched lungs or they had suffocated almost instantly. The two little girls looked like they were asleep, their faces calm and perfect. Arthur realised that he had tears streaming down his face, the sight was just too much to bear. He looked at his friend Geraint Rolph was almost sobbing, it was hard to imagine that there was a situation that would break the seasoned soldier in such a complete way.
They continued the inspection, and the sights were no better the further they went into the cavern, if anything, some of the sights were worse. Whole family's dead, obviously forced into a corner and surrounded by armed troops, all of whom met the same fate as the civilians. It was clear that the Loyalists had rounded up the villagers and herded them into the cavern, probably as a protective measure at first, with the opportunity to use them as human shields if the battle went badly. What they hadn't counted on was the Royalist Forces using heavy ordinance. Arthur had the sudden realisation that there were going to be more victims of this once the word got out and the Airmen flying the Reapers realised that they were ultimately responsible for killing so many innocents.
As he looked around, he noticed that the Marines were working like Trojans, gently moving the civilian bodies to the make shift morgue area. So far none of the Loyalist soldiers had been touched, and Arthur couldn't fault the Marines for seeing to the civilians before the men that forced them in there. He walked back to the cavern entry with Geraint and Colonel Snyder. They walked back to the cave entry and sat down on the stools that had been placed there for them.
"I don't think I will ever make sense of this." Arthur said sadly.
"There is no point in trying, Arthur, this is one of the vagaries of war. The villagers were relying on the Loyalists to protect their safety, but in the end they were the reason for their deaths." Geraint explained.
"If I live to be a thousand I will never ever forget this day, and I vow to kick that dog of a man off the throne." Arthur spat.
"Sire, you need to put this in a place that will never make you question your decisions in the future. I have been a commander for over fifteen years now, and I had to make decisions that have made me sick to my stomach, but I have made them because it was the right thing to do. If I had allowed my negative experiences to influence the decisions I make, I may have made decisions that made the situation worse and possibly lost more of my Marines lives."
"Thank you, Daniel. That means a lot to me coming from a man of your stature." Snyder simply nodded. Corporal Costello came up a moment later, standing to attention and saluting.
"Take a load off, Costello." Geraint said. The young man looking a bit confused as to what to do next.
"Oh for God's sake, sit down Anthony." Snyder said to the young man. Sitting on the edge of the wooden stool.
"The reason I asked for you to join us Corporal, is that I was extremely impressed with the out of the box thinking you used to counter the horrendous smell the Marines in the cavern were struggling with." Geraint explained.
"Thank you Sir, I just thought that it had to make a difference, even if it was a small difference." He explained.
"Son, you showed true leadership and understanding of the situation, and as a reward I am promoting you to Sargent." Geraint told the young man.
"I, too will be rewarding you in the future, Anthony," Arthur spoke up. "Your fiancé deserves to receive the gift you bought for her, so I will be sending you both to Paris for your honeymoon. I will ensure that the only time you need to open your wallet is to get your id out." The young man looked at the future King and his senior General with his mouth flapping as though he couldn't get the words out.
"I really don't know what to say."
"Thank you is a good start, Sargent."
"Yes, yes, I am most grateful to you both for the recognition. I am just not sure that I have done anything that deserves such advancement." He stammered.
"I beg to differ, young man, you took a personal item and used it to make your fellow Marines as comfortable as possible. You weren't ordered to, you simply did it. In my book that is the highest level of service." Geraint explained. "Now what I want you to do is head back to the CP and get as much food and water as you can and have the Quartermaster bring it up here as a matter of urgency." The lad barely acknowledged the order before he was off at a run. "Ahh, to be young and full of beans." Geraint sighed.
"I hope you aren't including me in your comments, Old Man?" Arthur commented.
"Oh, shut up Arthur." Geraint grumbled, all three men smiling for a moment as the thoughts of the cavern were momentarily forgotten.
The men continued to discuss the cavern and other matters that were foremost in the minds of these military leaders. After about thirty minutes Costello came running back, he looked flushed and angry.
"What's the word from the Quartermaster, Sargent?" Geraint asked.
"Well Sir, it was a number of words and they all seemed to end with my being sent to jail and all sorts of other threats, Sir." Geraint's eyes narrowed and he looked at Arthur.
"Alright Costello, tell me exactly what happened and do not leave out a syllable."
"I went to the Quartermasters and I explained the orders you gave. There was a Staff Sargent there that looked at me for a minute, then he tore strips off me and told me to get out before he called the MP's and have me arrested for faking orders from the Commanding General."
"I see, hmm, I think we need to make a small trip to the Quartermasters store, what do you think Arthur?"
"Oh I would say that's a stellar idea, Old Chap, and you Daniel?"
"Tally Ho Chaps." They all smiled at the Colonels enthusiasm.
Ten minutes later they were standing in the parking area near the Q Store, each of the senior officers looking forward to ripping someone a new arsehole.
"Now before we go any further, Costello, come here." Snyder ordered. He reached over and opened a small hatch near the young man's shoulder. He made a few changes and then closed the hatch again. The rank insignia went dark and then rebooted, finally showing three stripes of a Sargent. Costello looked at the stripes and smiled.
"Now Sargent Costello, please return to the Q-Store and make those requests again." Geraint ordered.
"Yes Sir!" Costello snapped to and walked in to the reception area.