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“Just think of it as driving practice.” You assure your XO with a smile. You hope that she won’t truly need the extra time behind the wheel, but you don’t want to take any chances. “Meanwhile, I can have some well deserved rest. I’ve had enough excitement for now.”
Thankfully, Vera doesn’t take offense at the idea of you slacking off while she drives all of you to your destination. If anything, she takes it as a challenge. “Well when you put it like that, I might just aim for a couple of craters along the way.”
“Just wait for the shelling, that'll keep you busy.” You assure her as you start to pick out more and more of the devastation wrought by the Nazi missile attack. It’s very obvious that the two shuttles caught in the attack -Atlantis and Columbia, if you’re correct- will never return to earth. One remains standing, and while it could probably be repaired to make the trip back to earth orbit, you’re sure it had enough holes punched into it that it’d never survive reentry. The other sits in a miniature crater of its own making, with a kink in it’s back noticeable from multiple kilometers away, it will never fly again.
If Vera noticed the loss of a third of the craft that are meant to take you all home, she’s not talking about it. She just continues the prior conversation. “If they start shelling us, you can kiss goodbye to a comfortable ride.”
A few minutes later, Vera slows down as your vehicle finally reaches the UN battalion. None of the vehicles escaped the attack unscathed. Though the damage varies considerably between scuffed paint and severe damage. At least one of the light walkers -the one you saw receiving significant repairs back at the supply depot- is being propped up by an engineering support vehicle as people work on it once more. You’ve barely managed to pull up before a man in a western space suit approaches your vehicle. He eyes your vehicle -and the extra spares and supplies lashed to the sides-, before raising his hand to his helmet and contacting you.
“Vehicle three three, what’s your spare parts situation? A number of vehicles were damaged in the attack and we need to get them mobile.” The man asks in a surprisingly strong Indian accent. You didn’t even know that they had put forward personnel for the mission, given that they were still at Pakistan’s throat for one reason or another.
>“We’ve got a lot of supplies. Take what you need.”
>“I’m sure that my XO can give you what you need.”
>“I’m sorry, but we can’t spare anything.”
