Steve Deals With It

The pain of losing a friend, commander and a brother in arms was almost to much for Steve. It had been a rough few weeks; first David's death in the bunkers. Brian was still in the hospital, though he was able to attend the funeral. Joe had run off somewhere for a week and now would hardly talk to anyone; and Mark was as bad off as the rest of them.

Steve tried everything that he could think of to block out the pain of reality; exercising to the point of exhaustion, meditation, even hitting the bottle pretty hard. All he wound up with was a hangover, frustration, and sore muscles.

The psychologist had wanted to talk to all of them, but Steve was not really in a cathartic mood.

Coming back to his quarters one evening, Steve found an official set of orders.




ATTN: First Lieutenant Steven Blackwood

SUB: Disband

You are hereby notified that the team lead by the late Major David Cole is to be disbanded and reassigned to different teams.


Office of General Command.





Steve could hardly believe what he was seeing. Jumping up from his bunk, Steve ran down the hall to Commander Hayes office and knocked on the door, not waiting for permission to enter.

"Commander."

Hayes turned in his chair to face Steve.

"Lieutenant," Hayes said, looking at the agitated man in front of him.

"What is this? Are you really splitting up the team?" Steve demanded, his voice bordering on belligerent.

When Hayes raised an eyebrow at his tone, Steve amended with a moderated, "Sir."

"Yes, lieutenant, I am splitting up the team. The cohesion of the group has fallen apart since the death of Major Cole."

"But sir, will all due respect, we are almost a family. Please, give me the chance to keep us together." Steve felt like he was pleading. Not that he minded, he would do anything to keep the group together.

Hayes considered the man in front of him. He knew all about Steve, and what he had been doing the last few weeks. He also had the Psychologists report on the mental state of the team. She had recommended the disbandment of the team; stating that they would do better if they were separated. But Hayes was a shrewd man; he could see what this would mean for the group.

"Alright Lieutenant," Hayes said nodding, "I'll give you one month to pull your team back together. If in that time, you are not all functioning as a unit again, then I will disband the team."

"Thank you Sir," Steve said, saluting his commander. He walked out of the room. He knew that he could never be to the team what David was, but he would give it his best to keep them together.