She handed the Captain's LMG to Alex, along with the hefty ammunition-load she was carrying. This brought her back to her three rifles and nearly two thousand rounds of ammunition she scavenged from the firefight.
He disappeared the notes away as he continued his map reconnaissance – only so good when one was attempting to use a 1:25 000 map in a rainforest. However, the topography of the area meant that there were some small folds in the ground, and stream banks, that provided a degree of cover. He circled a small, steep valleyside that lay roughly 700 metres from the enemy position, and 1200 metres from their current position. He circled the location, marking a route, before taking a compass bearing – they would not be taking the paths any more, they were too dangerous. Alexi had returned by now, sorted.
“Machetes out – we move in three minutes, and we're going cross-country. Here are the grids and the bearings.” He passed a page torn from his notepad with the details.
“Any questions or concerns before we move, Alexi?”
He rolled the cigarette butts under his feet, concerned now about the urgency to move – by his count, the enemy forces should be arriving no earlier than five minutes from now to the smoke, that had now slowly spread to them. Taking a compass bearing, he noted the direction of movement, before signalling for the men to move the Captain onto the stretcher.
"We're moving now Captain - it's going to be long, but you're a Mokan man - you've got fight in you. Keep fighting, and you'll pull through."
"The captain is not armed." She replied, pointing-out the obvious as she picked-up the smoldering cigarette-butt from the ground and pocketing it. "The Minimi is too heavy for him to use and his mental faculties are no longer depenndable for laying-down a base of fire anyways. I have issued it to Alex for suppression during the main assault after exhausing his .50 cal supply. I'll carry an M4 for Mr Vasquez just in case I become incapacitated."
He then glanced at the captain before returning her gaze to the Lietenant.
"And I would also strongly recommend advancing our timetable as much as possable. Do we really need three minutes?"