Freya waded across her ship as it slowly rose and fell with the waves. She was not sure why it didn’t sink but it was still floating. She looked out of the massive hole in the side, but she didn’t spot anything except the ten foot tall rolling waves all around her. She moved back into the ship and checked on what else was still working.

It turns out her Mech rearming pod, while heavily damaged, was still functional. The problem was that there was not enough fluid to equip anything but what could be printed in the lockers. Her engine was dead, but there was still power coming from her battery backup. Her sensors were somewhat functioning, but there was so much damage that the Monarch could fly above her and her ship might miss it. The weapons were nonfunctional as was the active camouflage. The only cover she had now was that the ship was somewhat submerged.

That reminded her that the platoon’s briefing mentioned the enemy monitored the sea in case of tidal waves or earthquakes.

“How sensitive is that equipment? Will they spot my ship? Will they see us if we have to go swimming?” She asked herself, as she looked away from the console next to the locker.

She looked out of the back of the ship. The ramp had mostly survived, but there was a large, jagged hole in the upper right side. “If they spot us, we’re dead.” She thought to herself, as she looked up at the cloudy sky. She looked back at the console and continued her investigation of what was left of her ship.

It wasn’t long before the pod that was printing Gunny lit up and the door opened. Freya looked up as Gunny stepped into the waist-deep water, ignoring the icy cold. She splashed her way towards Freya who quickly moved out of her way to let her get access to the locker. Gunny, Freya noticed, was covered in tattoos. She had two fish circling each other on her upper chest and two tiny lions on each of her shoulders. They had one foot on what looked like an egg or maybe a pineapple. Before Freya could take in the rest of her tattoos Gunny equipped her armor.

It took a second for Freya to realize that it wasn’t her normal armor. Gunny normally wore medium armor, but she was now equipped in light armor not unlike a scout’s. Her weapons were also different from what she normally used. She had a short, but wide barrel, gun across her shoulders with a heavy machine gun across her chest. It was a very odd combination of weapons and armor. Most light armored Marines used single shot or light weapons that required high accuracy. Neither of the weapons that Gunny carried fell into those categories.

“Status report?” Gunny asked, in a no nonsense tone.

“All ships were shot down by energy weapons from St. Ahun island. We’re the only ones left. We don’t have any more Bakt to respawn the others. Ship’s a wreck and we are very low on printing fluid. We are about a mile and a half from St. Ahun island.” Freya reported.

Gunny nodded her head and looked around. “What else is working on the dropship?” She asked Freya.

“The Pod is still operational, but we don’t have fluid to run it. The scanners are shot. I have no idea on the enemy's position. Hell, we have no eyes to spot any natural predators circling us. No weapons to defend us except what we’re carrying. Active camo is out. Mech reloading pod is still working, but we are critically low on printing fluid. Comms are down, but I can fix that if you give me an hour or two.” She told Gunny.

“We don’t have a hour or two. Can you get it up and working in under ten minutes?” Gunny asked.

Freya thought about it a second before shaking her head. “No. I have to repair what we got. We don’t have enough printing fluid to make spare parts. I have no idea on the shape of the comms equipment, but I have to tear into the bulkheads to get to it, and that’ll take time.” She replied shaking her head.

“Fine. You said the reloading pod is still working?” Gunny asked her.

“It’s damaged and low on fluid, but yes it’s still working.” Freya replied, nodded her head.

“Good. Follow me. We have a mission to finish.” Gunny told Freya before she walked towards the hole in the ship.

“Just the two of us?” Freya asked, confused.

“Sure, it’ll be fun.” Gunny said, stepping up onto the ship's broken armor before she stepped into the air, falling into the ocean. Freya felt her lips lift upwards into a smile. Shaking her head she followed her Gunnery Sergeant into the ocean.

She found Gunny programming something by the reloading pod. “What’s the plan?” Freya asked, swimming up to her.

“First, for the duration of the mission or until the others drop on our location, you are now my assistant company commander. If I fall, you take over.” Gunny told her, not looking at Freya or away from the reloading pod.

Freya grinned and shook her head. She had no idea Gunny was so funny. “Yes, Ma’am. Assistant Company Commander Private O’Malley reporting for duty.” Freya replied, trying not to laugh while she sank a little as she came to attention and saluted the Company Commander.

“Good. I want you to take command of First and Second Platoons. I’ll take the Third and Fourth. So, with that over with, what do you suggest?” Gunny asked, still tapping away at the command console for the reloading pod.

That actually stopped Freya for a second, then she spoke slowly trying to put her thoughts out correctly. “Head to the island. Take out the anti-ship weapons so the rest of the company can drop safely. Find a way to communicate with the Monarch and report what happened.” Freya told her. Then just to be funny she added, “Take over the island ourselves while we wait.”

“How do you suggest we do that?” Gunny asked, sounding distracted.

That made Freya stop and think again. “Kill the anti-ship weapons first. Then blow the bridge so no reinforcements can get to the island. Kill all the enemies on the island, starting in the north, working our way down to the energy plant. Take the plant and wait for the rest of the company to drop.”

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s do that.” Gunny said, as she turned to Freya. “What do you have in your backpack?”

Freya pulled off her backpack and, keeping herself afloat with her legs, she opened it up and handed it to Gunny. Gunny used the pod to keep her in place and looked through Freya’s stuff. Then she started taking stuff out and dropping it into the water. Freya flinched, but didn’t stop her boss. Once Gunny was done tossing most of what Freya had stored inside her backpack she turned to the pod and started ordering stuff.

Freya watched her boss load the backpack up with explosives. It was stuff she recognized from her skills training, but had never seen in real life before. Even Tike hadn’t had stuff like that. Once it was full, Gunny handed the backpack back to Freya who put it on while kicking to keep herself from slipping into the water. It was a trick she learned when trained in the martial art of Ling Zhongli Zhandou.

“You know we could have gotten all this stuff from the lockers.” Freya told her boss.

“Yes, but I couldn’t have gotten our ride there.” She told Freya as the pod spit out a weird tube like thing. It was only about three feet long and about a foot or so wide at the front end - shrinking down until it was only a couple of inches wide at the back.

“I had to trim it down a bit. It doesn’t have any weapons nor does it have a power plant so it won’t last all that long, but it will get us close to the island in a hurry. Here, get a feel for it.” Gunny told her.

Freya grabbed the tube. She examined it and the closest thing she could come to describe it was it looked like an underwater turbine engine. She guessed that it should suck water into itself at the large end and spit it out of the smaller end at a much faster rate. There was a metal handle that was depressed into the tube. It came out easily. The handle, fully extended, was about a foot long and it had a thin but long cable wrapped around it. Freya had no idea how to start the thing let alone control it. She looked back at Gunny only to see her using up the last bit of printing fluid to create more explosives.

“Never can have enough explosives.” Gunny said with a slight smile. “You ready?”

“Gunny, I have no idea how to work this thing.” Freya admitted looking back at the turbine.

‘Yeah, not many people use this anymore. It’s a sea scooter and it will take us where we want to go. Clasp the cable to your armor. I’ll drive. Sit back and enjoy the ride.” Gunny said with a mischievous smile as she swam over to the sea scooter.

Freya did as she was ordered to and attached the cable to her chest piece. When she looked up, she saw Gunny pressing one side of the scooter that looked just like all the other sides. A command console appeared under the Gunny’s fingers. A few taps later and water started to flow out of the scooter.

“You really want to attach the cable there?” Gunny asked looking back at her.

“Where should I put it?” Freya asked, reaching down to unclasp the thing.

“No, it’s fine. Leave it.” Gunny said, looking like she wanted to laugh. Freya frowned. “Let’s go. I hope you don’t get dizzy.” Gunny said as she turned away from Freya and did something to make the scooter start moving forward under the water.

At first everything was fine. The cable grabbed her and pulled her along behind the scooter. Gunny rode above the scooter holding onto the handle. Freya looked around as the scooter picked up speed. The view wasn’t all that great. The ocean was dark and murky. It wasn’t as bad as the river but her sight was limited.

She noticed that she was starting to sway a bit as they went faster. She used her body to minimize the sway, but as the scooter went faster it got harder to fight it off. Before long Freya found herself holding onto the cable desperately trying to stop spinning like a top as she was dragged behind the scooter. She used every body technique she knew, but nothing stopped her spinning. Cursing, she gave up and focused on not getting sick. Thankfully the damn scooter’s power turned off not long afterwards and Freya was able to stop the spinning. Freya could hear Gunny chuckling over the radio now that she wasn’t spinning.

“Grab the back end. It will keep you from spinning.” Gunny told her, still chuckling.

“Could have told me sooner.” Freya muttered.

“But then I wouldn’t have seen that.” Gunny replied.

Freya reached out and grabbed the back of the sea scooter. She found grooves where she could stick her fingers in near the back top. As soon as she grabbed a hold Gunny started the sea scooter up again and they were once more speeding under the water. This time Freya was a lot more stable.

The power died out on the scooter about three hundred feet from the island. Freya happily watched the scooter disappear into the depths of the ocean as they abandoned it. Freya paused long enough to give the thing the finger before she started swimming towards the island.

“What is your template? If you don’t mind me asking.” Freya asked Gunny, as she followed behind her.

“It’s an old template that the Federation no longer recommends.” Gunny told her, swimming ahead of her. “It was called insertion specialist. Back in the day there would be two squads of Insertions specialists and two hammer squads. The hammer squad were sort of like your Third and Fourth Squads now. We would go in hard and fast. We would target those who were alone and our goal was to cause the enemy platoon to bunch up. Once they did that, we would pull back and let our hammer squad hit the massed troops.”

“Why don’t they do that any more?” Freya asked, curious.

“Things change. Technology grew to the point that it made insertion specialists obsolete.” Gunny replied.

“So if it’s obsolete, why are you kitted out the way you are?” Freya asked, trying to ask the question without pissing her boss off.

“Things change. I’m hoping the enemy commander on that island doesn’t know how to stop something like me. Plus, with you backing me up, I should be fine.” Gunny told her, looking over her shoulder at Freya as she swam. Freya hoped she was right. Gunny stopped about thirty feet from the shore and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Freya stopped and let herself drift slowly to the bottom.

“Okay, we need to sneak ashore and find the anti-ship weapons. We also have to find a way to communicate to the Monarch to tell Command what is going on. On top of that, we need to stop any reinforcements getting onto the island. That means either blocking the bridge somehow or blowing it. Since it’s just the two of us, that leaves us with just blowing the bridge. So what do you recommend?”

Freya thought for a few seconds then spoke. “Plant explosives on the bridge, but don’t blow it. We can use it as a diversion if we need it. And then... ah, search for the anti-ship guns.” Freya told her boss.

“How do you think we should search for anti-ship weapons?” Gunny asked, sitting on the bottom of the ocean.

“Drones.” Freya said, feeling stupid for not thinking of it right away.

Gunny shook her head. “If they could be spotted by drones then the Monarch would have seen them. No, they are hidden somehow. Maybe underground?” Gunny said, looking in the direction of the island.

“What’s the plan then, Gunny?” Freya asked, having no other idea how to search for the weapons.

“Let's get closer. Hopefully one of us will think of something.” Gunny replied, turning back to look at Freya. “Bridge first. I like the idea of wiring the bridge, but not blowing it right away.”

It took them about fifteen minutes to circle the island swimming under the water. Gunny didn’t stop right away though. She swam out towards the middle of the bridge before she stopped and started to tread water. Waypoints appeared on Freya’s map. They were marking the supports beams that went into the water and held the bridge up.

“Plant it on the bottoms of the supports. Once we’re done, we’ll head back to the island.” Gunny told her.

The explosives were the size of quarters Freya used to find in the huge garbage piles back home. Her grandfather used to use them as targets. He would hang then on a string and have Freya shoot them. Once she could hit them more often than not, he started taking her out on hunts. The explosives stuck to the plastasteel and then faded from view as the active camouflage turned on. Five minutes later and, with a third of her explosives now stuck on the bridge supports, she was done.

She found Gunny waiting on her about fifty feet from the bridge. Gunny led the way back towards the north side of the island. As they were swimming, an enemy support ship flew over their heads running about fifty feet above the water. They both froze for a few seconds as it passed overhead. They were swimming near the bottom of the ocean about twenty feet or so from the surface. Gunny started to swim much faster soon afterwards.

“Send up a surveillance drone.” Gunny ordered her.

Freya did as she was asked, grateful that she had changed her drone out after they decided to blow the bridge. She had had the sensor alert done ready to go before she had changed it. She sent her feed to both her and Gunny. She was watching the support ship flying back towards the island. It must not have spotted the drone. If it had, it would have never flown into what looked like solid rock and disappeared.

“What the hell is that?” Freya asked, surprised.

“A fully functioning base.” Gunny replied grimily