The U.N.I.T.

Logan stared at his screen in total disbelief.  It took him almost five minutes to snap out of the daze he was in; he couldn't believe what he had just read.  It had been five weeks since the night they found the complex behind the wall of the cave, and the time had been a busy one.  So busy in fact, that this was the first time that he had a chance to get back to the data that he had hacked from the main frame that Dr. Marcus had used.  Now he was kicking himself for not taking the time to look earlier. 

He hit the print screen button on his computer and ran over to the brand new laser printer that was just delivered yesterday in one of the loads that had been coming into the compound ever since he put his supply scheme into play.  Since the day they had received their first loads, they had gotten at least one, but more often than not, two or three loads each day.  They got loads of everything from food, to clothes, to bullets for the guns, to the load that Logan loved the most.  He had managed to get a large quantity of computers and other electronic equipment.  It included a laptop for everybody that was here, as well as the various office equipment that was needed.  It took a lot of man power to handle those loads, since they first had to be loaded onto a truck at the warehouse.  That was done by the dock personnel so that wasn't a big deal, but then the truck, driven by Joe, went to the outskirts of town, where it met up with Will and Bill in the Chinook.  Thankfully, Logan was smart enough to get a trailer with a roller floor, but they still had to move all the pallets full of various things, to the end of the trailer, where it was picked up by Joe and the fork lift that they had also gotten.  He then took everything into the Chinook.  Once that was loaded, Will and Bill took it back to the base, and then everyone would help unload it.  Logan was also surprised when he figured out just how many kids were actually here.  He originally thought that there were only like twenty or twenty five kids living in the compound, but it turned out that there were actually more then thirty five kids here. 

On top of everything else, the kids had still gone through basic firearms training in the first two weeks The Unit had been here.  Adam was insistent that everybody have at least basic handgun training, including the four youngest boys, Tommy, Ray, Ronnie and Frankie.  They had also started the physical training of everyone, as well as beginning to break everyone up into the different areas they would "work" in.  Logan found out early on that it was a good thing that David was around.  It turns out that David was a cook in the army, and was used to cooking for large groups of people, without him, things would have been a lot more difficult in the feeding the masses department.  There may have only been about forty-five people here, but since most of them were kids, they usually ate twice as much.  David even found out that three of the kids here wanted to learn how to cook, and really enjoyed it, so with them, he had his cooking team.  Now they handled a lot more than just cooking.  As David described it, they were the "Domicile Staff," and handled everything from cooking, to laundry, to making sure all the rooms were set up for the people here.  David and his crew had become very busy, very quickly, once things started to happen. 

Not only were the kids being trained in basic hand gun safety, but they were also being taught basic hand to hand combat skills.  Chang was also giving an advanced class for those that wanted it.  So far there has only been one of the kids that Chang had decided to train personally, and that was Emily.  She's a rather petite girl of sixteen, with long auburn hair, and deep green eyes.  She has a face like a doll, and according to the straight kids, she's beautiful.  Logan could see it, but wasn't really interested.

The other surprise was Bill's little brother, Ronnie.  Ronnie's only nine years old, but that kid has a mind like a steal trap.  He also had the best organizational skills of anyone Logan had ever met.  Ronnie had started out helping to organize the supplies that were brought in, but within a week, he was running everything.  He knew where everything went, where it was, how many they had of any given item, and ran the supply room with an iron fist at times.  Jack and Adam quickly picked up on this fact, and named Ronnie the group's Quarter Master.  Ronnie beamed with pride the night that Jack made that announcement at dinner.  And since then, he had proven himself up to the task.  Logan found out from Bill that part of the reason Ronnie was so good at it was that the little boy had a photographic memory. 

Logan was brought back to the present by the printer finishing up printing the twenty some odd pages that Logan had sent to it.  He picked them up and ran down to the main hanger, which is where Adam was supposed to be desperate to find him, now that he had seen exactly what he had.  Adam and Joe were supposed to be taking another group of kids up for their first solo jumps.  It was decided that anyone who wanted to learn how to parachute, would be allowed to.  Logan didn't join in however, as he didn't see why anyone would want to jump out of a perfectly good helicopter. 

Adam was a sore point right now anyways.  Ever since the incident, where Joe told Adam that he was the boy’s father, Adam had been distant.  He was still polite to everyone, and trained the kids like he said he would, but that was as far as it went, and on top of that, Adam had barely said two words to Logan outside of "business" since that night.  Logan could also tell that he was still pissed at Joe.  Anytime Joe would show up somewhere that Adam was, he would leave if he could.  He wasn't openly hostile to Joe, but he wasn't friendly either.  Juan was taking it the hardest out of everyone, because he was close to the both of them.  He felt torn between his brother and his father.  Adam had officially taken command back of the Unit, but it was Chang who did a lot of the training.  Logan could see the pain in Adam’s eyes even if others couldn’t and it broke his heart but he didn’t know what to do about it. He had been warned to stay away and give Adam some time so reluctantly that was what he did while he watched Adam going the motions of living while not really doing so and consumed with his anger and pain.

When Logan reached the main hanger, he looked around and spotted Donnie and Ray.  Donnie had made an amazing turnaround from the first time they had met when Jory showed them that the Unit doesn't take shit from bullies.  He quickly became one of the best students that the Unit boys had.  He also took the youngest kid in the camp under his wing.  Ray was a cute little seven year old that had a really hard life so far.  Logan didn't know that whole story, and was sure he didn't want to, but so far, the only people that Ray would even talk to were David and Donnie, and he was all but glued to the older boy’s side.  That is, when he wasn't in the kitchens with David.  Ray's a cute little imp, with fiery red hair, and freckles covering him from head to toe.  The first time the little guy was at the firing range was a surprise too.  It seemed the little seven year old was a crack shot with the pistol.  As long as it was braced of course, he still has a bit of a problem with the recoil, even on the smaller guns. 

Logan ran over to Donnie and Ray, causing a bit of concern to come across the older boy's face, as running in the hanger was not something that was done.   Even the smaller kids knew that. Safety was something that was very important and it had been drilled into everyone from day one.  "Donnie," Logan said, out of breath by this point, "Where's Adam and Joe?"

"They just left about five minutes ago, why, what's wrong?"  Donnie asked, putting the gear down that he was working on.  Donnie had been promoted to the Alpha Team Leader, and as such had to make sure all his team's gear was in order in case something happened.  Ray, even though he was technically assigned to the Domicile Staff, was often seen helping Donnie out when he wasn't needed in the kitchen, or in one of the other various tasks that Domicile had to perform. 

"Here." Logan said, while thrusting out the papers he had, to Donnie.  Donnie started to look them over, but after he got through the first paragraph, he looked up to Logan in shock and asked.  "Is this shit real?"  

Logan just nodded his head solemnly, and motioned for him to keep reading.  It took Donnie nearly ten minutes to read through everything that Logan had given him, and you could see him get redder and redder in the face as his got more and more angry. 

While Donnie was reading that, he walked over to where Sarah and Dennis were working on one of the Hueys.  These two, along with Bill, had been working with William on training to be pilots for the helicopters.  As William once put it, "you three are about to be immersed in a LOT of SHIT.  Shit being Super High Intensity Training."  That comment of course brought about a round of laughs from everyone who was around, but William was right.  After only four weeks of work, they had already gone through all six helicopters that were here, and checked them all out.  All but one of them was found to be flight worthy already.  William was splitting their days, with half of it being spent teaching them how to fly, and the other half teaching them helicopter maintenance.  Thankfully, all three of them learned very quickly. 

They of course, did have some help.  That came in the form of Collin, Conner and Vic; the helicopter ground crew.  They had a variety of tasks, ranging from making sure the helicopters were full of fuel at all times, and that they had at least one on the pad ready to go at a moments notice, to being responsible for arming the helicopters and making sure everything worked properly.  When one of the helicopters went out on a flight, at least one of them was on board, acting as the crew chief.  That being the person responsible for making sure everyone is belted down, that all cargo is secure, and if they had to go into a "hot" zone, that person would also act as a door gunner.

Logan reached the Huey, and touched Sarah on the shoulder to get her attention.  She had her head stuck most of the way inside the engine compartment, working on something.  She angrily snapped "Yeah, what do ya need?"  Not a little irritated to have her work interrupted, then upon pulling her head out from underneath the engine and seeing who it was, cried, "Oh shit, sorry Sir, how can I help you?"  All the while blushing a bright red, which contracted nicely with the smudge of grease that was on her cheek.  Logan still had to get used to being called Sir, as Joe and Adam had both agreed that if they were going to teach these kids military stuff, then they should learn how military decorum worked and follow it.  They said it not only helped build discipline among the kids, but it also taught them to respect others, which was something that would help them later in life.  Of course, that meant that Logan had to get used to his new title of Lieutenant in charge of Intelligence and Administration, which meant he got to play with the computers.

"Specialist Martin, is the Radio working in this helicopter?"  Logan asked, remembering the fact that a lot of these kids never really had anything to make them feel special.  For most of them, calling them by the rank which they "earned" really made them feel good.  Of course they didn't earn the rank in the traditional way, more that they were assigned their rank by Jack, since he was the highest ranking person on the base, hence the title of base commander. 

However, Jack only assigned the ranks to those that deserved them, so they really did earn them.  It would have just taken a lot longer if they were in the actual military to obtain them.  Sarah was no different than any of the other kids, she was 15, and from what little Logan knew of her background, he knew she had gone through the loss of both her parents, and then sexual abuse while in the foster care system.  She had finally decided that the streets couldn't be any worse then where she was, so she left.  Now she was getting the chance to fly helicopters, and had her sense of self worth boosted by being given a higher rank than most of the other kids.  She earned that because of how much time and effort she put into everything she did, and with the exception of Will, it was a toss up between Bill and her as to who was the better pilot.  Bill had the knowledge base that she was just learning, but according to Will, Sarah had better instincts than Bill.

"Yes sir, the radio is in operational order.  If you want to contact Viper lead, they are using channel Beta 3."  Logan still loved the call sign that William had adopted for himself, and of course, the other pilots used it as well, but Will was always Viper lead.  Logan thanked Sarah for the help, and then climbed into the pilot's seat.  He grabbed the radio off the holder while Sarah reached in and turned on the batteries before reaching across his chest and dialing in the proper frequency on the radio.  Mouthing a thanks to her, Logan hit the transmit button. 

"Canyon Base to Viper lead."  Logan spoke into the microphone.  He still had to get used to the radio lingo that was used, but he was sure he could get this conversation done with out needing to pull out his cheat sheets.

Viper Lead on, go ahead Canyon Base."  Will's voice came back over the radio.  It struck Logan as kind of odd that Will had responded directly,  because from what he had been told when Will was training him on how to talk on the radio, and procedures that happened, he knew that usually the co-pilot was the one who monitored the radio, and if needed he patched a caller into the pilot.  Either Will was breaking with procedure, or he was letting Bill be the fly the chopper while he acted as the co-pilot. 

"Viper lead, what is your ETA to the drop point?"  Logan asked trying to figure out how long it would be till they were in position to let the people jump from the Chinook. 

"Canyon base, ETA to drop point is one zero minutes."  Will came back over the radio, and Logan nodded, knowing he had ten minutes to get to the LZ if he wanted to catch Joe and Adam, and with what he had, he needed for them to see this as soon as possible.

"Roger that Viper Lead, after drop, please land at the LZ instead of coming back to base, your presence will be needed."  Logan said, hoping that Will would not argue with the break from procedure.

"Roger that base, Viper Lead out."  Will said after a second, and Logan nodded in relief, and took off the head set.  Sarah turned everything off for him, and then shut down the batteries as Logan got out of the pilots seat.  "Everything okay sir?"  She asked as he climbed down.

Logan just nodded at her, and went off to where Donnie had just finished reading the pages Logan had handed him.  Before Logan could say anything, Donnie spoke up.  "I take it you wanna go to the LZ and let them see this as soon as you can?" 

Logan nodded, "Yeah, I'd think I better, don’t you? 

Donnie just shook his head in wonder, while glancing back at the pages.  "I think if you waited to give this to them, they'd hang you by the balls.  Come on, we'll take one of the hummers.  I'm driving" Donnie said, saying the last part with a grin. 

Logan couldn't help but chuckle as he remembered back to when they tried to teach him how to drive one of the hummers.  It was comical to say the least. 

Donnie, Ray and Logan loaded up into one of the hummers, and Donnie drove them out of the canyon.  The LZ was only a few minutes away, in the next canyon over.  It was wider than the one they were in, and was a lot more level, which made landing a lot easier as well.  Getting over there was fun for the boys, as there really were no roads between the two.  There was one "path" that lead down to a road, but that was really only used when they had to head into town.  And that "path" was what was left of the road that they had used to get all the equipment in here. 

They spotted another hummer sitting off to the side of the canyon in the shade.  Standing next to it were Jack, Janet, Chang and Juan.  Jack had a laptop set up on the hood of the Hummer, and Logan was sure he knew what that was.  In a load that came in about a week ago was a box of twenty barographs.  They were little things that strapped to the wrist of a jumper, and what they did was record altitude, speed, and position of the jumper.  With the laptop that Jack had set up, he could keep track of all the jumpers with out having to be able to see them.  When Logan's group got up to the other Hummer, Logan jumped out and ran to his mother.  He knew that Janet and Chang were there in case anything went wrong on the jump, but so far all they had to deal with was a sprained ankle. 

"Mom!  You gotta see this!"  Logan almost shouted as he jumped out of the hummer once it had come to a stop.  He ran over to his mom, and thrust the set of papers into her hands.  Wondering what could have gotten her son so riled up, she took the papers that he had given her and started to read them. 

Janet looked tired, and Logan knew she was.  While she wasn't the oldest adult there, she wasn't used to keeping the kind of schedule that they had been going at for the last month.  Not only did she have to go through the med level with a fine toothed comb, she and Chang had had to go through all the medications and figure out what needed to be replaced.  It took them, along with their new assistants Paul and Bruce, almost two weeks to get the med level set up right.  Janet knew that they would more than likely be dealing with abused kids at some point, so they had gone so far as to redecorate a part of the med level to look like a kids ward in a major hospital.  It was re-painted to look brighter, and less threatening with teddy bears, balloons, horses and other kid friendly images on the walls.  They had installed a new TV in every room, as well as an X-Box when the load of a hundred of them showed up.  She knew that every little thing would be of a help to kids coming to them who, in addition to everything else they had been through, were now in unfamiliar surroundings and injured.

It was decided that each "Pod" would have a large screen TV and a video game system set up in it.  A Pod was a group of ten rooms that shared a large common room.  Right now, each one of the "rapid assault teams" had their own Pod, with the other Pods being split up by the various sections, and who wanted to share with someone else.  The rooms off the pods were all single rooms, so that each person had some privacy, and those rooms were set up really nice. 

Adam had made the comment when they started that he wanted to make sure that these kids had opportunities that they never had before.  Because of that, they had spent a lot of money to make things very comfortable in the rooms.  Each room had a double sized bed that was there before they found it.  But they allowed each person to pick out their own furnishings, within reason of course, and from the stuff Logan could find that he could order.  Each room was also set up with a desk, a dresser, two end tables, a book shelf, a stereo system that was able to play both CDs and tapes, and a closet.  The kids also were issued five pairs of BDU's as well as whatever they wanted that they could order from Wal-Mart.  Each section had a specific day where they could fill out a request form that was given to Logan's team, to see if they could obtain what the kids asked for.  If it was something that was not too extravagant, and was doable, they would add it into the next order.  So far they had gotten requests for everything from a huge teddy bear, that Donnie had ordered, as a surprise for Ray, to models, posters for the walls, to certain CD's that the kids wanted. The one thing that Logan really hated though was, having to wire the entire complex for Wi-Fi.  They had gotten a laptop for each of the kids, and it was Logan's job to not only help the kids set them up, but to also set up the network, which meant he had to do that before handing the computers out to them.  That in itself was a task, because they were very worried about security.  He didn't think the kids would intentionally break security, but not all of them knew what could, or couldn't be traced.  He had it set up that every kid would have his or her own user name and password.  He then set up their accounts based on their needs.  The only people who would have unrestricted access were the adults, Logan, and the other officers.  Everyone else had very restricted access, which limited them to approved sites that helped them with the primary use of the laptops.

The laptops served as the primary resource, as Janet was also using them for her "other" job.   She had taken it upon herself to start up the education of the kids here much to their chagrin.  She had spoken to Joe, Adam and Jack, and they all agreed that the kids needed to continue their education.  Janet had spent a lot of time getting aptitude tests, and then running each kid through a test to figure out what they needed to learn.  The laptops were very useful in that regard, as she was using the computers to help with the education.  The "classes" started up last week, and everyone's day was split into two parts.  The first part was for school work, in which they had a set schedule of classes.  In most of the classes, they would work individually on their computers, with one of the adults walking around and helping anyone who needed it.  The other classes were more hands on, with different people teaching what they knew.  The most fun class, as far as most of the kids were concerned was the chemistry class that Jory taught.  It was more like "what are we going to make today with a bunch of different chemicals?"  Janet was more than slightly concerned when Jory told her that he could teach the chemistry class, thinking that he would be teaching them only how to make things that blew shit up.  Jory knew better then to start with the hard stuff though, and the first day, he had only taught the class how to make slime much to the dismay of the adults who thought to themselves that it may very well have been in revenge for the resumption of schooling; of course the kids loved it, especially with the adults' reaction to it. For some strange reason, the kids couldn’t fathom, the adults didn’t much care for the surprise slime fests which consisted of a kid jumping out saying "HI!" as he inundated the poor adult with said substance.  Slime is a malleable green substance, that looks and feels like real slime, but is completely safe.  Most of the kids didn’t really realize that they were learning a lot of things in Jory's class, the biggest of which is advanced math.  All they knew was that it was lots of fun, at least to them, the adults weren’t too sure, especially with some of what followed, which they liked even less.  The poor children though were more than happy. 

There was one main incident with Jory teaching that had become legendary around the complex.  It happened when Jory was teaching his class and noticed that Janet was passing by the room.  He had said something to the effect of, "Okay class, that's enough for today, tomorrow, we'll learn how to make napalm."  Everyone looked up as he said that, and then towards the door when they heard someone choking outside. 

Janet walked back to the door, and stood there with her hands on her hips.  She looked daggers at Jory and said, "Excuse me?!?!"  Jory just grinned at her and said, in his best innocent child voice.  Whaaaaat? Before breaking down in laughter and saying, "Gotcha!"

Once again it was one of those things that the kids found immeasurably more funny than the adults, and Janet in particular, who if looks could kill would have resulted in one less nine year old in the complex.

Logan was glad that he was exempt from the classes as he already had his high school diploma, and was working on his doctorate, when everything started.  He knew he would have enough time later on, to get it, as the doctorate in computer sciences, didn't really seem like the big thing it had before, anymore. But since he wasn't involved with the schooling, that just meant that he had more time to do his supply, and administration duties.  He was surprised at how much paperwork Jack, Joe, and Adam wanted, but when they all told him laughingly that the Military survived on their paperwork, he began to understand.  Plus, no matter how much he would bitch about it, he did see the need for it all, and surprisingly, he actually enjoyed it, not that he would admit it to anyone if they asked. 

Logan was brought back to the present by his mother's voice, crying  "Is this shit for real?"  Which caused everyone's jaw to drop, as no one, including Logan, had ever heard her say anything stronger the "hell" before.  All Logan could do was nod to her question, and drop his jaw even further when she exclaimed, "Son of a BITCH, I think it's about time to let Juan loose on this motherfucker!"  Janet reached over and ruffled Juan's hair after she said that, and handed the papers to Jack.  Chang moved over behind Jack to read over his shoulder.  Juan had snuggled into Janet's embrace, and was almost purring in contentment.  That purr soon stopped, and was soon replaced with a growl as it was obvious that Chang was relaying what he was reading to the younger boy.  Janet just pulled Juan closer into her as soon as she noticed the change in the younger boy, and when Juan's eyes changed to the yellow eagle's eyes, Logan knew he was pissed.  One look at Chang would not have given anyone who didn't know him a clue as to what he was thinking.  Logan, however, had spent a lot of time with the younger boy, and knew how to read his expression.  The rigid way he was holding himself, and the intensity in his eyes showed his anger just as clearly as if he had Juan's ability to change his eye color.

"Mother, I believe you are correct in your suggestion about letting my youngest brother deal with this person.  However, I would have to insist that I be allowed to help in some manner."  Chang had spoken in his formal mode which was another indication of just how upset he was.  Since that first day when he had introduced himself formally to Janet, he had rarely showed that formal side of himself.  He wasn't as relaxed and fun loving as Juan and Jory or even William, but he wasn't formal all the time either.  The only times that Chang was really that way anymore was when he was doing something in his capacity as either a doctor, or as a Unit member, and that was only when he was dealing with someone of higher rank than himself.  The only people who were of higher rank than Chang were Adam, Joe and Jack, because he had been given the rank of 1st Lieutenant, befitting the fact that he was second in command of the Unit.  Logan, Juan, Jory and William were all considered 2nd Lieutenants. 

They were interrupted by a voice coming over the radio.  "Viper Lead to LZ, you ready for us down there?" That voice belonging to William signifying that they were about ready to let the people on board jump.  Jack handed the papers back to Logan, and went over to the Radio.  "Affirmative Viper Lead, we are ready and in place.  Also could you ask both Captains to see me as soon as possible after they land?" 

"Roger that LZ, message relayed, get ready for it to start raining people down there."  William ended the last part with a chuckle, and everyone on the ground had to laugh a bit too, even with the tension that surrounded everyone.  Jack had turned back to the computer and hit a few keys, "Okay, they’re about a mile from the drop point, they should be jumping in about thirty seconds, and will be jumping from a height of fifteen thousand feet MSL, giving them roughly eight thousand feet to get to the ground.  Juan, you wanna set off the smoke so they know where to land?"  He asked the boy.  Juan immediately took out a smoke grenade from the hummer he had come in, pulled the pin, and threw it out into the center of the canyon, as soon as it hit the ground, it started to spew out a bright green smoke, that would help guide the jumpers to the LZ. 

Juan then reached back into the truck, and pulled out binoculars, handing them out to everyone.  They could now hear the helicopter in the distance, as it started to make its pass through.  Jack was keeping a running commentary about the jump, more to help keep Janet calm as she never really liked the idea of the kids jumping out of the helicopter in the first place.  He was also doing this as an official log into the computer, one that would be used later, when they debriefed the jumpers. 

"Okay, this is the first solo jump for Delta team.  This is a static line jump, so none of the team needs to worry about pulling rip cords.  First out of the chute will be Captain Joseph Casey, followed by the members of Delta team, lead by Sergeant Emily Larson.  Jump master for this exercise is Captain Adam Casey, as well as being the last to jump.  Pilots for this exercise are Specialist Bill Tompkins, and 2nd Lieutenant William Casey, acting as co-pilot.  Crew chief on Viper one is Private First class Collin Fredericks."

Jack, having finally gotten done with the official part of the log, now turned his attention to the read outs, so he could tell everyone what was going on, while they watched through the binoculars.  He also kept a running commentary so that if he noticed anything that someone did wrong, it would be recorded, and they could talk about it later. "Okay, they are just about over the drop zone.  There they go, and we have one open chute, two, three, four good chutes, five, six, seven..."

Everyone could see why Jack paused there.  The last person to come out of the helicopter was Adam, and when he got to the end of the static line, his chute opened up, but the second it did, they knew there was a problem.  Adam started to swing wildly as his chute got tangled up when it came out of the pack on his back.  Juan staggered, as he felt the panic that Adam was feeling in the fall. Even Chang reacted but with better control and it took the both of them a moment to block out the link with Adam.  Logan let out a strangled gasp as he watched in horror while Adam was franticly trying to grab his canopy release cable.  All the while they all could hear Adam screaming and calling for help over the radio saying he couldn’t reach his release wire. Jack’s face had taken a grim set as he watched the events unfolding and Janet had unknowingly imitated her son’s strangled gasp adding "Oh dear God" as her face reflected the same horror for her boy who was now in desperate trouble.

William and Bill had been heading outbound away from the drop point and then they were going to turn around and return on a safe path to land near the LZ as Logan had asked, when Will felt and then heard Adam's screams over the radio.  "What the fuck?" he asked, he had blocked Adam's telepathic link because he knew the exhilaration of the jump would interfere with his flying, but even so he couldn’t block the sheer terror emanating from his brother striking him although he didn’t know the cause as of yet.  He reached up and pushed the ear phone closer to his ear.  After a second of listening, he screamed "Oh shit, Bill I got the controls, tell the crew chief to strap the fuck in cause we’re hitting the deck fast" as he grabbed the controls from Bill and proceeded to turn the big bird on a dime.  William had just gotten the Chinook spun around and was now able to see what was going on. 

"Oh fuck!"  Bill gasped crying out as he saw what was going on with Adam.  Collin radioed up from the back that he was strapped in, and Will really hoped so cause he hadn’t waited to find out and never hesitated, as he pushed the stick forward as far as it could go, turning the throttle up all the way.  Within 3 seconds, the Chinook was heading at a seventy five degree down angle, and Bill could see the ground rushing up at them quickly.

Joe was gliding by the time everything started happening, and managed to look up just as Adam started to scream.  What he saw made his blood run cold and terror to fill his heart.  Joe had jumped out of enough planes to know that Adam was in serious trouble, the fatal kind.  "Come on kid, you can do it.  Pull that damned cord."  Joe was muttering to himself, but he could tell that Adam was trying the best he could, and he wasn't able to get it.  Joe also knew from experience, that Adam was in serious trouble of having what they call a red out.  That's when the jumper is spinning so hard that the blood fills their eyes and they can't see anything other then red, right before they pass out.  In Joe’s estimation this was going from bad to worse by the second and all he could do was pray that his son would pull it off. Watching him fall to his death was not something that Joe could stand to see. They may not be getting along, but damn it, he was his son he thought as he watched the horror unfold and felt the tears falling.

Everyone stood on the ground transfixed in a combination of horror and disbelief as they watched Adam spin out of control.  Jack was absentmindedly, calling out the altitudes as Adam passed them.  Everyone gasped as a group when they saw the Chinook spin around almost like it stopped in mid air and was rotated, and then it dove for the ground.  Logan was so scared at this point that he couldn't even believe what was going on, he didn’t want to believe or maybe couldn’t let himself believe. It couldn’t be happening, not his Adam, it just couldn’t.  He couldn't take his eyes off his spinning lover as he watched that love fall inexorably to his death, coming closer second by second.

Joe cursed under his breath when Adam passed him going down.  Joe had had to pull hard on one of his risers to make sure Adam didn't collide with him, but he was relieved to see that the others had all scattered doing what they were told to do when an emergency happened, and get as far away as they could from the person in trouble.  It was not going to end this way, he wouldn’t, and couldn’t let it and with that, Joe made his decision within a split second after Adam had passed him.  He pulled the release on his chute, and dove for Adam.  He knew he would only have one shot at this, and if he missed Adam in his dive, they wouldn't have enough time to try the rescue again before Adam hit the ground doing in excess of one hundred and fifty miles an hour.  If he didn’t get it right the first time then he was condemning his son to death.  As Joe was diving, he glanced quickly at the barograph on his arm.  He knew that he had to get to Adam, jettison Adam's canopy, pull Adam's reserve chute, kick away and pull his own doing it all before they fell below sixteen hundred feet.  If it happened after that, the reserve chute wouldn't have enough time to deploy and slow him before he hit the ground less than seven seconds later.  He cursed when he saw they were just passing twenty five hundred feet, and falling fast.  He knew there just wasn’t enough time, just not enough but he kept going anyway it was the only chance his boy had.

Joe slammed into Adam just as they reached two thousand feet, and the impact knocked the wind out of both of them, sending them spinning even more wildly.  No time, there was no time was all that ran through his mind as he worked franticly to try and grab the release cord, and finally got his hand on it.  He pulled with all his might, and was relieved to see the chute flutter away.  He knew Adam was in no condition to pull his reserve as Adam was fighting hard to just stay conscious at the moment.  Joe reached over, and at the same time he pulled Adam's reserve chute, kicked off, trying to get enough room between himself and Adam so that he could pull his own. 

Joe looked down and saw the ground was coming up quick, too quick, and he was a lot closer then he would like.  As he pulled his reserve chute, he glanced at his wrist.  The last thing he saw was the reading of twelve hundred feet, and feeling the jerk as his reserve chute opened up, at least his son had a chance.  He closed his eyes, and tried to roll himself into a ball upon hitting the ground.  All he remembered of the landing was pain, pain worse then anything he ever felt before, then blackness.

Adam hit the ground hard, since his chute had been deployed at the last moment.  He was still fighting the effects of the spin, but was able to roll when he hit the ground so he didn't get hurt too badly.  All he could think of was that Joe, his dad had saved him, after everything he had saved him.  He felt the tears as he frantically scrambled to his feet, and looked around to see where Joe had come down.  He noticed that there were two hummers tearing ass towards them but didn’t pay them any mind as, he spun around and saw Joe laying in a heap about twenty feet away, and his breath caught in his throat as the sight before him, no, please no he thought as, he hobbled over to Joe as fast as he could, and fell down next to him.   Adam was pretty sure his leg was fucked up as he could barely put any weight on it, but at this moment he didn't care.  When he finally got to look Joe over, he saw it was bad, real bad, both of Joe's legs were obviously shattered, and by the way his left arm was angled, he was sure it was broken as well.  But it was Joe's coughing and the blood burbling up at his lips, red and frothy, that really grabbed Adam's attention and made his heart freeze in his chest.  "D... Dad... are you okay?"  Adam asked almost begging, while grabbing up the hand that wasn't injured.  Joe surprisingly was conscious and gave Adam a weak smile as he struggled to talk.  Tears running down his face, Adam leaned down so he could hear what Joe was trying to say.

"Ad...Adam.... I'm glad your okay..... son."  Joe breathed out, coughing again with the effort even though he managed to try to reassure Adam, with a small smile, not being able to talk very loud.  "Shh... Dad.... don't try and talk."  Adam said, as he heard the first hummer come to a halt next to them.  Adam was about to look over his shoulder to see who was there, hoping it would be Janet and Chang when Joe squeezed his hand and barely got out in a whisper.  "I love you son," as his hand went slack, at the same time that a hand fell on Adam's shoulder and gently tried to pull him out of the way.  "NO! DAD!!! Please don’t" Adam cried.

Jack pulled the young boy up to his feet; he had to support Adam as it was clear that his left leg or ankle was broken, as Adam couldn't put any weight on it.  Once Adam was standing, he turned and collapsed into Jack's arms, crying, and burying his head in the man's shoulder crying over and over again, "No, please no, stay with me daddy, please stay. 

Jack watched sadly as Chang and Janet ran over to Joe with their bags; he knew it was over; you just didn’t survive that kind of fall.  They each fell to their knees on either side of Joe, with Chang quickly checking for a pulse as Janet went and stabilized Joe's neck, trying to make sure that if there was any damage to the spinal cord, it wasn't made worse. 

Surprising everyone was Chang’s announcement of "I got a weak thready pulse," as he handed Janet a neck brace, which she carefully put on Joe, while Chang was getting ready to put in an IV.  All Janet could do was to bury her feelings and operate on autopilot as she quickly said "Get a second one going as well, both wide open with Ringers" to which Chang simply nodded as that was what he had planned on doing anyway. He knew that Joe had internal bleeding including a punctured lung not to mention the external injuries which were bleeding and that every second counted if they could save him at all. Janet then added "I want a MAST suit on him right now too."

About that time, the other Hummer got there, and Juan didn't even wait for the thing to come to a stop.  He dove out of it, hit the ground in a roll, and sprang back to his feet already in a dead run, screaming "DADDY!!!!!!!"  The tears running freely down his face as he ran towards the group gathered around Joe. 

Jack barely had time to grab Juan as he ran passed.  "Hold on Juan, you gotta give them room to work."  He told the distraught nine year old as he pulled him into his chest next to Adam.  Jack did not expect what happened next. 

Juan barely came to a halt as he hit Jack’s chest and wrapped his arms around the man but almost immediately he released his hold on him and pulling back grabbed Adam who was staring, eyes locked on Joe, around to face him yelling with pure hatred "This is all your fault" at the older boy. Adam just stared blankly at the younger boy in shock at what had happened, from his injuries and at what was being said as Juan savagely told him in a low voice through his tears and sobs "Are you happy now? This is what you wanted after all."  That seemed to bring Adam back as his mouth began to move although nothing came out. Before it could, Juan screamed "He loved you!!!" then cocked his hand back and struck Adam with full force in the face which drove the older boy from Jack's arms and into the air a good five feet before he fell to the ground. Jack, shocked at what had just happened still managed to quickly grab Juan to prevent him from going after Adam, but it didn’t matter because the little guy immediately threw his arms back around the man and buried himself into Jack’s chest crying and sobbing for all he was worth, now just a little boy devastated by what had happened to his daddy. A little boy lost and alone and very hurt right now. Jack just wrapped his arms around the young child and held him close, giving him all the love he could. Adam meanwhile must have been knocked unconscious from the punch, because since he hit the ground he hadn’t moved, and Jack couldn’t help thinking that maybe for now, that might be the best thing for the child.

Logan ran over to where Adam lay on the ground with Donnie and Ray right behind him, gently rolling Adam onto his back, and making sure that Adam was indeed just knocked out, and not more seriously hurt.  Logan, being his mother's son, knew that they had to get Adam onto a back board and into a C-Collar.  He didn't think anything was really wrong with Adam, other than the hurt leg, but he knew not to take any chances. 

He knew that his mother, Becky, and Chang, were busy working on Joe, so he took over helping Adam.  It was probably a good thing that Adam was unconscious, as it made things a lot easier, and this gave him something to do that would help him not think about his dad lying over there.  It had been over a month since Joe had told Logan to call him dad.  Logan had slipped one time, and started to apologize, but Joe just smiled and told him to go ahead and call the man "Dad."

By this time, Delta team had landed, and Emily was busy barking orders.  "Sean, Shane, Zach, secure the area!  Sam, contact base, and let them know to expect a critical patient.  Have a stretcher brought to the hanger.  Becky, get over there, and help the docs."  The others immediately followed her orders, and she looked around to assess the situation. She looked up and her Jaw dropped as she saw the Chinook coming in almost vertical, and coming in fast.  She looked around and spotted Donnie, Ray, and Juan standing by Jack.  She knew none of them were thinking real clearly right now, so she decided that if they bitched about her taking command, they could deal with it later. 

"Juan! Get rid of that smoke canister.  Will's coming in hot; we don't need the smoke blowing all over the place.  Donnie, Ray, grab one of the chutes, use it to block the wind and dust from the docs.  I'm sure they don't want the dust blowing in their eyes as they work."  She was glad to see that everyone jumped to obey her orders, and she ran over to make sure the LZ was clear enough for the Chinook to land. 

Emily took two flares out of her leg pockets and with a quick jerk, had the tops off, and ignited them.  "Viper Lead, clear LZ, land on my flares.  Get ready to do a hot Med-e-Vac."

Bill came over the radio, and you could hear the tension in his voice, as Will started to pull out of the dive.  "Acknowledged Delta Leader, stand clear of LZ."

Emily threw her flares out to mark what would be the LZ, then jogged back a few steps.  She put her goggles back on so that the wind and blowing dust didn't get in her eyes.  She glanced over to where Joe was being worked on by the doctors and their team medic.  She said a silent prayer as she saw that they were now performing CPR on the man.  She was only able to watch for a second, as Donnie and Ray moved a parachute in front of them to block the wind. 

She looked back just in time to see the Chinook pull up hard, and settle on the ground with only a little bounce.  She was running towards it, before it finally settled down, and ran up the ramp into the back.  She noticed the Collin looked a little white, and could only guess at what the ride was like for him.  She helped him unlatch one of the stretchers from the rack.  They were joined by William, and together the three of them ran with the stretcher out the back of the helicopter, to where they were working on Joe.  Bill stayed in the cockpit to keep the rotors going, and make sure they were ready to take off as soon as they had Joe loaded. 

When the three of them got there, they stopped in shock as they heard Chang shout out "CLEAR!" and a second later he pushed the paddles from the defibrillator onto Joe's chest, and causing his body to jerk a bit from the shock.  Chang looked over to the monitor they had set up, seeing a rhythm although not much of one and said.  "Okay, we got him back.  Lets get him loaded up; we need to get him out of here now!"

Chang, Janet, and Becky quickly got Joe secured to a back board, then got him loaded onto the stretcher.  Donnie dropped his end of the parachute, and grabbed one of the corners of the stretcher.  He looked over to William and had to shout to be heard over the rotors of the helicopter.  "Will, get in there and get ready to go.  As soon as we're on, get us back to base!"  Will looked up from where he was helping to secure Joe to the stretcher, nodded, and took off at a dead run.  Donnie grabbed one corner, while Chang, Jack, and Emily each grabbed one of the other corners, leaving Janet and Becky to each grab a bag of medicine that was being pumped into Joe's I.V.  Together they lifted and soon were jogging carefully towards the helicopter. 

By this time, Logan had Adam secured to the back board, and his leg immobilized.  He got some help, and they got Adam put in the helicopter just before Joe got there.

Collin ran ahead and made sure that the racks were ready to secure Joe to them, and once the four were in the back, he started to close the back door.  Collin was very smart to do that, as they didn't need everyone else on the helicopter with them. 

Once the door was shut, Will gave the Chinook some power, and soon they were lifting off.  Emily stepped back, and grabbed her Radio as the doctors went back to work on Joe making sure he was going to make it long enough to get them back to the medical facilities at base.  "Sergeant Larson to Corporal Patrick."  she said over the radio calling her second in command, Sean Patrick.  "Patrick here, go ahead Sergeant." 

"Corporal, make sure you get the area cleaned up, and all the chutes back to base.  Have someone drive Lieutenants Casey and Hayes back to base, neither one of them is fit to drive.  When you get back there, report to me in sickbay."  Emily said into the radio, hoping that Juan and Logan hadn't already taken off in one of the hummers, as neither one of them could drive very well. 

"I'm already on it Sergeant, Private Davidson is already heading back with them, they should get there right after you do."  She was impressed with her second’s forethought, and smiled as she knew he would be getting a commendation for his actions today.  "Very good Corporal, see you back at base." 

She barely had those words out of her mouth when she heard Bill come over the loud speaker.  "Get ready for landing, we're coming in hot."  No sooner had the words left his mouth than Will pulled up on the stick to slow his speed, he then rotated the helicopter so that the back was facing the open cave mouth.  When they were about 5 feet off the ground, Will reached up and shut off the engines, causing them to bounce a little as they hit the ground, and Will was using the emergency brakes to slow the rotors down enough so they could get Joe out of the back with out dust flying all over the place.

In the back, Collin was already lowering the back hatch before they were on the ground, and by the time Will was slowing the rotors, the door was all the way down, and the stretcher was run into the back.  David Keller and Charlie Adams were pushing the stretcher.  They were the other two teams’ medical personnel, and between the two of them, Becky, and the two doctors, they quickly had Joe and Adam transferred to the stretchers and they were rushing them off the helicopter and down the hall to the elevator so they could get them both to sick bay. 

Once the helicopter was shut down, Will came running out of the front, and ran right past Emily on his way to follow Joe and Adam.  Bill came pushing himself out of the front a few seconds later, as he had to disengage the system that Will had put into place to hold his wheelchair stable during flight.  Emily was the last one off the Helicopter, and was almost run over as the Hummer driven by Juan came to a skidding stop next to the Chinook.  He jumped out of the Hummer, and ran full speed into the complex with Logan right behind him.

Emily stood on the hatch of the helicopter for a few seconds; before she dropped down to sit on the hatch.  The events of the last few minutes finally catching up to her, and she started to cry.  She felt someone next to her pull her into a strong embrace.  She looked up through teary eyes and saw Donnie sitting next to her.  She wrapped her arms around him, and cried into his shoulder, as she released the emotions that had built up inside.

Donnie let her cry on his shoulder for a few minutes, and when she pulled back from his chest; he saw the look in her eyes.  It was a look that said she was ashamed to have broken down like that.  Before she could say anything, Donnie spoke up.  "Hey Em, what da you say to heading down to the med level, and see how everyone's doing?"

Emily nodded thankful that Donnie had not made a big deal about her crying.  She was still astounded at the difference in Donnie since the Unit showed up.  Just one short month ago, Donnie was the biggest asshole in the place, now he was shaping up to be someone she could really like.  Which is saying a lot, since she didn't really like males after everything that had happened to her, but Donnie was breaking down all the walls that she had built up over the years. 

Donnie got to his feet, and extending his hand, he helped Emily get to her feet, then they headed into the complex.  Conner and Vic, the other members of the ground crew already had one of the Hummers set up to pull the Chinook into the hanger.  They had stayed back until Emily and Donnie were off the ship. 

When Collin noticed that they were walking off the Chinook's ramp, he walked up holding a stack of papers.  "Umm... Sir, I think you need to have these.  We found them inside the Hummer."  Donnie took one look at them, and froze, he knew what was on them, and Logan must have forgotten them with the rush to get Joe here.  "Thank you Collin," Donnie said, as he took the papers and handed them to Emily.

Emily took the papers with a questioning look and started to read through them.  She hadn't gotten past the second page when she dropped the papers to her side, and looked over at Donnie with fire in her eyes.  "Adam needs to see these, NOW!"  She said, as she started off at a sprint towards the elevator to take them down to the med level. 

Adam was sitting on a couch, after being released from the backboard, his leg now in a soft splint. He was cuddled up to Logan and Juan when Donnie and Emily burst into the room.  Juan and Adam had patched things up with a silent conversation after Adam woke up, with many tears shed between them.

Adam couldn’t believe how much of an asshole he had been, and how much he had almost lost and not just his father either. He ached now with more than just what had happened but how much time he had wasted.  Now, it was just a waiting game to see if Joe would survive, and if he did, how badly injured he was, and to pray that he would be able to make up that lost time.

Emily was the first to speak after they entered the room.  "Any word yet?" she asked to no one in particular, when all she got were heads shaking she took a deep breath.  In a voice that was as forceful as she could make it, while still speaking softly, she said.  "Captain Casey, I think you need to look at these."

Adam looked up to see her with a stack of papers in her hand.  He then looked over to Logan who was looking at Emily with daggers in his eyes; he did not think this was the time, or the place.  After a second, Adam said, "Please give them to Jack, I am sure he can deal with them."  He then turned and stared at the wall. 

Emily was not about to let this go, "Sir, with all due respect, I think you need to read these....now!"  She then thrust them at Adam.  Adam sighed loudly, but got up and hobbled over to her.  He took the pages from her and started to read. 

Not a word was spoken as all eyes were on Adam, everyone in the room knew what was on those papers, and no one knew how Adam would react, not even Juan or William.  William having been filled in by Juan when they got down there.  As they watched, Adam's face first went white with shock; he then almost fell into the seat behind him.  Logan quickly moved over to sit next to him.  Soon after that, Adam's face started to get red with anger.  As he flipped from page to page, his face got redder and redder.  Soon everyone could clearly see the large vein in his forehead pulsing with the beating of his heart.

He looked over to Logan, and all Logan had to do was nod once, and Adam's face showed a rage that none of them have ever seen before, nor did they really ever want to see again.  He got ready to say something when Emily spoke up.  "Sir, both Delta and Alpha team request permission to aid in the extractions.  I have already come up with an increased training schedule for both teams, so that we will be ready when the Intel team gets the exact location." Adam seemed to relax slightly, and nodded. 

Neither Emily nor Donnie said a word, as they took seats to wait for word on Joe.  They both knew that word about Joe's accident would be, if it hadn't already been, spread throughout the complex.  There would be many worried people as Joe had become like a father to most of the kids here.  Jack was a good role model, but with him being the commanding officer, he had to keep himself somewhat aloof.  Which meant most people looked to Joe for an adult male they could talk to.  Adam had considered all of this, but his mind was elsewhere, not only on Joe, but also on the papers that he had just been given.  He then took the papers and started at the beginning again.

 

TOP SECRET

Inter-Office Memo:

EYES ONLY

From: Gen. Montgomery

To: Dr. Marcus

Subject:  Genesis Project

Date: 13 August 1988

          It has come to my attention that we have a suitable donor for your project.  His name is Cpl. Joseph Casey III.  We have initiated coverage on subject, and have initiated, Phase One of Project Genesis.  Will advise.

 

TOP SECRET

Inter-Office Memo:

EYES ONLY

From: Gen. Montgomery

To: Dr. Marcus

Subject:  Genesis Project

Date:  29 September 1988

          Subject has started a personal relationship with a Lisa Arpin.  Second subject has genetic markers expressed in your initial report as favorable.  We have obtained the help of her doctor.  Phase Two of Project Genesis is underway.

 

TOP SECRET

Inter-Office Memo:

EYES ONLY

From: Gen. Montgomery

To: Dr. Marcus

Subject:  Genesis Project

Date:  05 March 1989

          Female subject has been impregnated by male subject; local doctor has followed instructions, not revealing pregnancy to female subject.  Male subject is being re-activated to service.  Ready to commence Phase Three.

 

TOP SECRET

Inter-Office Memo:

 

EYES ONLY

From: Gen. Montgomery

To: Dr. Marcus

Subject:  Genesis Project

Date: 20 March 1989

          Female subject has been informed of cover story by planted officer, Lt. Greg Hopkins.  Officer will continue with mission objective to have female subject fall in love with him so that they may make secondary test subjects if primary fails.  Officer has already initiated pressure to make female subject release control of test subject; code named Adam.

Adam had to stop there, if he didn't he would have hurt something.  There was still so much more in these papers, but he couldn't bring himself to read them again.  He sat down on the couch and was soon lost in the wait to find out about Joe.