A Broken Heart, Made Right. Step 1.

Posted on Tue Aug 4th, 2026 @ 7:15am by Penelope Haskell & Major Samantha Snyder

2,021 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Hand That Rocks The Babe
Location: Planetside - Federation Hospital Outpost.

Major Samantha Snyder stood motionless near the operations console inside the temporary command centre, her eyes fixed upon the large monitor that carried the latest Federation News Service broadcast. Around her, engineers, Marines, doctors and relief workers had paused their endless work to catch a few precious minutes of news from beyond the ever-expanding hospital complex.

Penny Haskell had always carried herself with remarkable professionalism, even here. Even on a world where death had become a constant companion. Sam had watched the reporter spend the better part since her arrival interviewing exhausted doctors, frightened civilians and Marines who rarely wanted a camera pointed in their direction. Through it all, Penny had maintained the composed confidence expected of someone whose face was known across the Federation.

Until now.

Sam noticed the change almost immediately. It wasn't the words. It was Penny's eyes. The brief hesitation. The almost imperceptible tightening of her jaw as someone just beyond the camera handed her a padd. Years of reading Marines under pressure had taught Samantha to recognise the smallest cracks in a person's composure. She saw the colour drain ever so slightly from Penny's face as her eyes moved across the display. For the briefest of moments, the reporter stopped being the consummate professional and became simply a woman receiving news she never wanted to hear.

Yet somehow...She continued. She finished the broadcast. Her voice wavered only once. Just enough for Samantha to notice. The cameras finally powered down.

The illusion of control shattered.

Penny's shoulders sagged as though the strength holding her upright had finally abandoned her. The padd slipped from trembling fingers, striking the deck with a hollow clatter that seemed impossibly loud amid the sudden silence.

Then came the sob. Raw. Unrestrained. The kind of grief that could no longer be held behind duty or professionalism.
Without thinking, Samantha was already moving.

She weaved between startled technicians and camera operators, boots striking the deck at a pace somewhere between a determined walk and a run. Crew members instinctively stepped aside, recognising from the expression on the Marine Major's face that rank had given way to something far more human.

By the time Samantha reached her Penny had folded in on herself, one hand covering her mouth as tears streamed freely down her face. Someone from the production crew hesitated nearby, uncertain whether to approach, while another quietly retrieved the fallen padd from the deck.

Sam didn't ask for permission.

She dropped to one knee beside Penny, placing a gentle hand against her shoulder.

"Penny..."

Penelope shuddered where she was, unable to even move as she sobbed her heart out about the loss she’d just taken. Her entire heart was even gone, ripped out by a few paragraphs of information, delivered into her hand by someone who didn’t have the slightest clue of what news was being handed to her

The hand that was gently laid on her shoulder was almost too much a burden to bear, no matter how much she knew that she shouldn’t be out here in front of everyone. Her image was one of confidence, good cheer and convincing people to listen to her, but none of that mattered anymore. “He’s gone, God, he’s gone…” She sobbed out to whomever it was, unable to look up to see who it was.

She knew the risks, just as much as Wolfe had, it was the risk every Marine took when they signed up for the mission. One day, they may not come back. She knew that, intellectually, that it was even worse for the officers, because they were supposed to lead their men and women, to take the same if not more risk for their well-being.

But she never truly expected it to happen to Wolfe, to her.

Samantha felt Penny tremble beneath her hand, and for a moment she simply stayed there, offering the silent reassurance of another person's presence. There were no perfect words for this. She had delivered too many casualty notifications herself to believe that any carefully chosen sentence could lessen this kind of pain.

"He isn't gone." The words were spoken quietly, gently, without contradiction or false optimism. "They've declared him missing." There was an important distinction. One Samantha had learned never to ignore. She shifted closer, lowering herself fully to the deck so Penny wouldn't feel as though someone was standing over her. Her hand remained on the reporter's shoulder, steady and reassuring.

"I've served with Marines long enough to know that 'missing' is one of the hardest words we ever hear." Her voice remained calm, the steady tone of an officer accustomed to holding others together when their world threatened to fall apart. "It leaves you suspended between hope and grief."

She swallowed quietly. "And neither one lets you breathe." Sam knew exactly what Penny was imagining. Trapped. Wounded. Alone. Every possibility was running through her mind at once, each one worse than the last.

"But right now..." Her expression softened again. "...there isn't a single thing you can do for him from right here, like this."

She reached out carefully, brushing a tear from Penny's cheek with the back of her fingers. "What you can do...is let someone look for you, while someone looks after you." She looked around at the members of three marine teams who were respectfully pretending not to watch, though every one of them clearly was, ready, willing, awaiting the word.

“I… I know better…” Penny couldn’t catch her breathe, couldn’t hold in the hurt long enough to take a full breathe in, “Missing usually means… Dead but.. They just can’t find the body..” She sobbed incoherently some more. She wanted to say that maybe one out of five ‘missing’ Marines were found alive or some semblance of intact, but ‘missing’ was a formality.

She finally got enough control of herself to turn her tear-lined face up to Sam, with patient. “He’s my everything, Major, the reason I do what I do. I need to find him.”

Samantha looked into Penny's tear-filled eyes and saw the desperation there. It wasn't panic anymore. It was determination, the kind that would see her walking into a warzone if someone didn't give her another path. She understood it all too well. Without another word, Samantha rose to her feet, offering Penny a hand to help her stand.

"Listen to me." Her voice was calm, but there was steel beneath it now. "You are not going there." She held Penny's gaze, allowing no room for argument.

"I'm going to take three full teams and search for him myself, but you can't be here and you can't come with me." Sam wasn't trying to be harsh, but there were matters of the heart...and matters of training and survival. "Don't put me in the position of having to rescue Wolfe, only to break his heart that you were hurt...or worse....trying to save him."

“I have to go with you.” Penny said through the curtain of tears, “I know what I need to do to stay out of the way, I’ve never gotten in the way of operations before, I swear.” Her grip on Sam’s arms was deathlike, “I swear that I’ll be out of the way, wherever you want.”

Her eyes danced around, clear desperation on her face, “If you’re worried about me taking up a space that another shooter could be on…” Penny steeled herself, “Arm me. Wolfe taught me to shoot a long time ago, I’m not the best, but I can at least help suppress fire. Please, Samantha, don’t make me stay here, I’m begging you.. I’ll follow any orders you give out there.”

Samantha remained still as Penny's hands gripped her forearms. She could feel the desperation in them, the frantic strength born not from courage alone, but from love. It was the same look she'd seen on Marines trying to run back into a collapsing building for a squadmate.

She didn't pull away. Instead, she wrapped her own hands around Penny's, steadying them. "I know you would."

Her voice was gentle. "I believe every word you've just said." She held Penny's gaze, making certain there was no doubt in her sincerity. "I don't question your courage. I don't question your discipline and I certainly don't question how much you love him."

A small, sympathetic smile crossed her face. "If our places were reversed..." She exhaled softly. "...I'd probably be standing here asking you the exact same thing."

There was a long pause before Samantha continued. "But that's exactly why I can't take you." Her tone wasn't harsh. It wasn't authoritative. It was simply honest. "You aren't the problem, Penny."

"I am." Confusion flickered across Penny's tear-streaked face. Samantha nodded. "If I take you into that bunker....every decision I make changes." She glanced toward the command centre, where Marines were already preparing for what could become a brutal rescue operation."My job isn't just finding Wolfe."

"It's bringing every Marine I take down there back home." She looked back to Penny. "And now I'd have one more responsibility."

"You."

“But I can help…” Penelope protested feebly, already knowing the battle was lost, especially now if it hadn’t been before. The tears that she’d slowed suddenly came back at full force and she wrapped her arms around Samantha’s waist, holding on for dear life, “I want to help, I want… I…” her words were muffled in Sam’s shoulder as her body once again went all but limp with grief and sudden exhaustion.

Sam stepped closer so that the others would not hear. "I know you want to help but the best way to help is to help me right now, is to get you safe. I want you to go back to the ship, away from here. The main hanger bay is currently being used for returns, for quarantine purposes. I want you to go there and wait. The instant I find Wolfe, I will contact Ferrand, our CAG and arrange for a pick up and direct return to the ship."

“Can I at least stay here?” Penny’s voice had almost no life to it now, “That way I can find out the fastest? One way or another?”

Sam knew that she'd have to give her something to hold on to. "Alright, you can stay here, but you stay, you don't do. You sit and be patient and let me do my job. When I find him I'll arrange transport back to the ship for you to meet him there. Some marines will keep an eye on you, get something to eat and drink in you, but dont...Penny...do anything stupid because the Colonel is less forgiving than I am."

“Yes, ma’am.” Penny said dejectedly, then tried to perk up, wiping tears away from her eyes and the mascara that had run smudging her entire face, “Besides, I have my own job to do, don’t I? I’m the reporter on the scene, I have to get ready for my next broadcast.”

"I think you have earned a pass for the rest of the day, focus on getting something to eat and drink, I'll get my teams together and leave within the hour." Sam spoke, already picking the men she'd take to for the manpower required.

“If I don’t do anything, I may do something stupid, Major.” Penny gave half-hearted smile, clearly not feeling it, sniffling and wiping her nose on the cuff of the shirt she wore, but nodded, “I’ll still go get something in me, then fix my makeup at least.” Her eyes had fresh tears in them, but they were being fought back, “I have to look good if you bring him back, don’t I?”

"A pretty face never hurts." Sam replied. "I need to get ready, one of my marines will take you to the chow hall, okay?" Sam straightened and then nodded to the marines around her.....they had marines to bring home.

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