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***STAND-ALONE STORY***
Planet
Excalibur, Arrowin
0200 hrs 08 November 2535
Lutz
Military Training Facility, Cassidae Mountains, New Sierra
Swwwwwhhhoooooooooooooooooo PSSHHHHH!!
The crashing of mortar shells around me awoke me from my
slumber. Instinct, though, already had
me running through the darkness trying to find my squad. I tried to make my way through the waves of
scrambling men, and I noticed off to my left that there’s a squad who had
already regrouped. The eight men were
moving towards some bushes in a crouch run.
In the next instant, however, they were swallowed in a whirl of dust an
earth as a mortar shell struck in their formation. White blue streaks of electricity illuminated
the area as it engulfed the squad and zapped their brown plates of armor. They screamed and fell to the floor. I kept running; I kept weaving between
put-out camp fires and soldiers were trying to find their own squads, thanking
God that it wasn’t me it by that mortar.
Moments later, I found my squad intact in the middle of our base
camp. LT McHenry was roaring.
“CORPORAL! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!!”
“AYE, SIR!!” I yelled back, my words drowned by the
attack on our platoon.
“ALL RIGHT TEAM, MOVE TO THE TREES!!”
Lt. McHenry signaled us to move out and we made a break
for the tree line 80 meters away. We
were running through the hail of screaming mortars when I gazed up to my left
at the silhouette of the mountain slightly illuminated by the nighttime moon
above. It looked so ominous, yet so
innocent. At least until I spied
inexplicable small gleaming dots moving on a nearby ridge.
“SIR, MOVEMENT ON THE RIDGE!!” I yelled into my headset.
A mortar howled on its incoming trajectory and buzzed
with electric intensity. I caught the
events in slow motion up to the second that three soldiers were enveloped in a
brilliant blue glow as the round struck off to the right of me.
“CORPORAL, GET TO THE TREES AND THEN WE’LL DEAL WITH IT!”
the lieutenant barked over the radio.
As we neared ten meters from the tree line, the wails of
the portable artillery ceased and an eerie silence invaded. I was the first from my squad to enter the
forest, my heart thumping from the sprint and our heavy breathing is the only
thing that could be heard other than pounding of boots. I unslung my rifle and settled in the bushes. I scanned the environment as I waited for my
team catch up. I hardly noticed how cold
it turned overnight as I realized how visible my breath was.
The
response to the silence came soon as the mountain ridge came to life as it lit
up with multiple muzzle flashes. Hollow
bullets rained on our platoon, and the loud popping of automatic weapons’ fire
was heard across the camp. Return fire
ensued as firefights erupted all over the area.
All of
my squad made it into the cover of the forest now, with the exception of the
ell-tee. When he was in arm’s reach of
the forest, a shell struck LT McHenry in the shin and a shock jolted through
him. Specialist Juarez leaped
out from cover to get him. He picked him
up on his shoulders and started to carry him, but only made it a couple before
three bullets impacted on his back. SPC
Juarez fell to his knees and dropped the lieutenant, who took two shots before
he hit the floor. Both men cursed aloud
as they were help immobile by the resulting electric short-circuit.
“***,”
cursed First Sergeant McKinney. “All
right men, rally up.”
The 1SG
took up an aire of confidence. He looked
even more heroic the way his forest camouflage metal armor gleamed by the
moonlight that pierced through the canopy, rifle in hand. I looked around as ten other men gathered and
knelt, waiting for further instruction, alert for enemy tango’s, or targets as
civilians would call them.
“Alright,
we need to turn this around,” 1SG McKinney
started. “We’ll gain fire superiority,
and flank around.”
Juarez,
a specialist, offered a rebuttal. “Sir, they’ve got their flanks covered. We won’t be able to wheel them.”
“Better
than to not do anything and fail,” McKinney
snapped. “Do any of you boot camp
recruits want to wimp out?”
I
looked around, wondering if I should actually say something. This guy was intimidating as hell, and it
would suck to be taken down a notch. Our
acceptance relies on it. Everyone looked
intense, but fear filled their eyes, not wanting for this pause, but instead to
go out and follow orders so as to not be a target of the First Sergeant.
“That’s
better… then—“
I cut
in, “Sir.”
His
eyes bored into my soul and it seemed as if his will alone would set me
ablaze. I started to talk, but my voice
wavered. I cleared my throat and tried
again, feigning confidence in my voice.
“Sir,
there was movement on the ridge. We can
take the battle if we take the ridge.”
He
stayed there in a crouch position and played through the battle in his
head. His mind seemed to be made up as
two bullets hit the tree directly behind him.
“Good
observation, Corporal. Take your
fireteam around the side. Mike and
November will keep that ridgeline’s heads down.
Radio when you’re through.”
“Aye
sir. Oscar, on me!”
CPL
Light, SPC Vadim, SPC Murray and I headed north as we maneuvered silently
through the forest. The crackle of
gunfire was far behind us, but all the yet still audible; faintly reminding us
that we can’t screw up. Failure is not
an option. Light’s voice broke my
concentration, as he was reminiscing about hunting or something. I ignored his southern twang normally found
on Earth and focused on where we’re at and where we’re going. I pulled out my GPS system to find out where
the hell we were at—about two hundred meters north of our campsite.
snap.
I held
my palm and everyone halted in their tracks and crouched low. I peered through the darkness and mass of
trees to find what had made that noise.
My eyes strained as I barely caught a glimmer slightly move, unseeable
to the untrained eye. We trained the
sights of our assault rifles on four black masses making their way toward us. My men were waiting on my order to fire,
lying prone now so as to further avoid attention. They were moving closer and closer, and my heart
beated twice with every step closer they took.
They were close enough that I could see the black visors on their
similarly colored helmets in the pitch black.
I pressured the trigger of my rifle and was about to give the order to
fire until they staggered off to the right, tangent to our position. Silently, we waited for several moments to
pass to make sure they had passed. Then
I gave the all-clear signal, and we all got up and collectively sighed.
I
radioed in. “Sergeant, tango fireteam north of you. Contact in 3 min.”
The
comm. crackled to life. “Acknowledged. Continue
on,” 1SGT McHenry noted. Gunfire could
be heard in the background.
SPC Vadim spoke up. “Sir, those men had to come from
somewhere.”
He shook his head toward the direction the soldiers came
from. I nodded and gave move-out
signal. Lo and behold, there lay a dirt
path leading up toward the mountains.
“Alright,” Vadim insisted. “Let’s—”
A bright light blinded me and an explosion threw me to
the floor. I felt numb. I couldn’t move. I could hear Vadim screaming. I could hear Murray
groaning. I opened my eyes, and my
vision was tinted light blue. I tilted
my head, and I saw Light inject a needle into Murray’s
armor. Within moments, my armor unlocked
itself, and I was free to move. I shook
my head and hit my helmet to shake off the hit.
Light was still kneeling over Murray, and I
checked up on Vadim. I tried to move
him, but he’s done. There was no hope to
bring him back into the fight. I looked
at his feet and noticed the culprit.
Vadim had tripped a landmine. Poor
SOB.
“Sir,” Light said, Murray by his
side now. He had a slight limp to him.
I nodded. “Alright.
That flash told the world that we’re here. We’ve got to move. Now. Double time up the mountain, team; Murray, keep
up.”
“Don’t worry about me.
Hakuna matada,” he smirked.
I grinned. I
signaled for us to go up the mountain—again—but this time he stayed off the
beaten path. Just moving parallel to it
and moving quick in our crouch. If
someone spots us, we’ll be the last thing they would see.
Suddenly,
we were getting nearer to the sound of gunfire.
We swayed between trees faster now, our rifles aiming wherever we
pivoted. I halted in my tracks, and my
hand rose. Light and Murray
stopped just as abruptly. We came to a
point where the forest disappeared into an open ridgeline. Gunfire furiously roared from the other side
of the natural wooden curtain.
“How
many does it sound like?” I whispered.
We
paused to listen, trying to figure out how many guns were going off. There was an incessant popping of assault
rifles, the berating of several battle rifles, and a crack of a high-powered
rifle that tore through the night. Ten,
fifteen, twenty… a sniper?
“Sounds
that they have twenty-three of ‘em,” Light commented, his southern dialect
becoming more prevalent.
Crap.
We can’t handle that. Three
versus twenty-three ain’t good.There’s got to be another way… Surprise?
No.We’d need to take out fifteen in the first seconds. What if we used grenades!? Crap!They could use that too!If only I knew
what was their formation!! Ugh!!
Thoughts
were just swirling in my head, and I didn’t have the time to think it out. I need
to take action. We have to do something,
They’ve got— And then it hit me. They’ve got our guys pinned from the
ridgeline, so what we need to do—
I
turned around and face Light and Murray. They were facing me, but their gaze peered
into the forest.
“Do ya
guysseeawayup?” I asked.
The
guys took a moment to process and pick apart my sentence.
“Aye,”
Light said. He pointed off to the west
beneath the moon. “There’s a rocky trail
there. It’s separated from this one by
the underbrush.”
I
followed his finger and couldn’t see anything.
I was about to state this fact, but Light was already explaining
himself.
“Trust
me, it’s there.”
I
nodded, and we crossed the dirt path.
Twenty meters from our position lied Light’s treasure.
“Well,
well. Good eyes,” speculated Murray.
“You gotta have good eyes to spot a buck
during a new moon,” Light chuckled. “Even better eyes to shoot it.”
“Now
just use ‘em to hit tango’s,” I brusquely interrupted.
I
didn’t want to sound cruel, but while we’re having a tea party, our platoon is
under siege. I looked up at the steep,
rocky path. I slung my rifle a made
headway as I climb through the backdoor.
Halfway up the hill, I could hear the gunfire go from constant to
sporadic. That could mean two
things: They’re dying or we are. Seeing that they had the upper hand, I would
think that it’s more of the latter than the former.
“Double
time, now!” I urged. It doesn’t feel
like there’s much time left.
We
climbed the rocks for 30 meters and climbed over the top. I help Light get up, and we lifted Murray over
the edge.
“Let’s
go.”
I
turned around, and what I saw was a smaller, narrower ridge. To the right of the open area was the
mountain wall that sloped high into the mountain peak. To the left, there was a small wall and it
proceeded to slope down to the ridge below.
It doesn’t seem like anyone from the enemy has been up here. We moved up and sat pressed up against the
small wall. I looked over the edge. Yep. Plenty of activity still going on down there. It seems like they have multiple wooden
crates with them, and we saw the mortars that were giving us hell earlier. The
moonlight illumination made it easy for me to examine all their actions. Mostly
taking cover. I peered past them to
see what the cause was. I couldn’t make
out anything with my eyesight. I reached
into an olive drab sac on my waist and pulled out a pair of binoculars, turning
its outlook to infrared. What I saw
wasn’t good. Fireteams Mike and November
were still firing on the ridge, but they had to keep up fire in other
directions as our outermost lines retreated and were being surrounded. They didn’t have much time left. I turned back to see my team, one on each
side of me. CPL Light was barely
finishing praying on his cross necklace.
We had to act fast.
“Grenades
on my mark.” We spied over the edge. “1… 2… throw!”
We
stood up to throw the grenades, the large round object shimmering like an orb
that foretold doom as it was lobbed over the distance. Just as quickly as we were up, we got back
down—and waited. Waited, for the blue
flash that illuminated the Cassidae Mountain into daylight
for a blink of an eye. The queue came,
and even being thirty-five meters away, the victims shriek were so audible it
was as if they were screaming agony in my ear.
We stood up again, our assault rifles pouring lead onto the ridge
below. Bodies already falling to the
ground were hit again and again by our spray of bullets. We each unloaded an entire clip, and we
reloaded tactically. Specialist Murray
stopped firing for a moment. A thud
could be heard as his used magazine hit the dirt floor, and then a click as
slammed in a new one. Corporal Light was
the next to run out. Then it was
me. The blue visual ammo counter read: x00.
I pressed the release above the trigger and my rifle felt lighter as the
now blinking red counter requested a new clip.
I delved into another olive sac on my waist and grabbed the first
magazine I could get my hands on and swiftly fed it to my rifle with a
satisfying click.
We were
aiming now. We were taking careful aim to ensure that we take out our targets
as efficiently as possible, though we were still firing somewhat
indiscriminately as we fought to maintain fire superiority. The enemy regrouped and was figuring out what
was going on. The remaining six troopers
were returning fire, taking cover behind stacked wooden crates. We fired to keep their heads down. I tried to get a guy popping in and out of
cover to fire. They fired, and went back
to cover. That’s how it went, and it
became apparent that this engagement is coming to a stalemate.
That’s not good.This isn’t good. We ain’t getting nowhere now. We gotta do
something!! C’mon! C’mon! C’mon! We gotta—SHUT UP!! I realized I was falling into
my usual cycle of drowning in my thoughts, and it wasn’t helping. I fired one last burst and ducked behind the
ridge wall to reload. I closed my eyes
and took a deep breath, taking in a whiff of smoke from the spent ammo. I let muscle memory take care of grabbing a
new magazine. Stalemate, cover,
anticover? Crates, grenades? Bullets, no… too long. Only grenades can do it.
“Light,
you got a good arm?” I asked, opening my eyes and slamming in a new clip.
“What
d’ya need?” he replied. His eyes were
strained as he tried to pop his target.
“Get a
grenade. We’re finishing this.” I got up
and started firing again. “Take the
bastards out.”
“Heh,
you wonder why he has a good arm,” Murray
joked. He went down to reload.
Light
pulled his last grenade from his belt.
“Thowing in 3… 2… 1…”
He
grunted as he extended his arm as far as he could. The grenade whizzed by as it forced air out
of its way because it only had one intention in mind. It wanted to blow. It didn’t care about its own life; only that
of taking other’s. The grenade hit the
ridge floor and skipped only to hit the wooden crate. It blew, only to leave a blue haze to rise
and dissipate into the night. The
residual unused electricity played a number on my electronics as my headset
boomed with random tones and my rifle’s ammo counter fuzzed in and out. I tossed Light my last grenade.
“Don’t
miss this time!!” I yelled over noises I was hearing.
“Tango
down!” Murray noted
as he shot the enemy. “Five to go!”
“Throwing!”
Light
stood straight up to get the best aim possible.
His arm reached back and moved forward in an instant, throwing with all
his might. He roared like a gladiator
thrusting a trident into his foe.
However, as the grenade left, a gray streak came, right in the chest. The next moment later, a crack made from the
gunshot arrived late as it couldn’t keep up with its shooting star going
supersonic. The last of the chain of
events would be Corporal Light roaring again, but this time not the good one.
This time he was the foe for which the trident had struck. I moved quick and caught him before he
fell. I could see electrical discharge
spark through his armor as it began to shut down. His eyes were closed. I could hear a feminine voice come from his
headset, but what she was saying was unintelligible. A white-blue color flashed against both the
sky and earth alike, and I heard Murray resume
his fire.
“Sir,
one left!” Murray
yelled. “Sniper alive!”
Now he
got my attention. That guy was going to
pay. I laid down Light and picked up my
rifle. The *** was running. I had to catch him.
“Sir,
no!!” Murray
screamed.
It was
too late. I had already jumped over the
ridge wall and started sliding down the rocky hill jutted with loose
boulders. I sprayed the guy as he was
running into the forest, but nothing hit.
Within mere moments, I landed on the lower ridge and started pounding my
feet as I ran after him as he disappeared into the forest. I leaped over the bodies of the enemy that
have fallen and was immersed into nature’s virtuous vanguards yet again. I bounded through the trees as I tried my
best to not hit a landmine or get caught by surprise by the sniper. My comm.
crackled to life.
“CORPORAL,
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!” ordered 1SG McKinney. “Quit
your vigilante mission and regroup!! We still
have some cleaning to do!!”
Murray probably filled him in. I slowed to a jog and stopped, spewing out a
flame of ice as I exhaled. This was
stupid, I know. He wasn’t worth it, but
I dunno. I lost sight of the guy anyway. I pulled out my GPS to figure how far away I
was. Heh, I was way far from where I should
be. I pressed my headset on.
“Aye,
sir,” I responded. “ETA 25 minutes.”
“That’s
better Corporal. Out.”
I
sighed. I looked around my surroundings
and started to notice that things were getting brighter. Dim, still, yes, but nonetheless become just
few shades brighter. Peering through the
evergreen canopy, I saw a blood red glow and realized that the morning sun
isn’t too far off from rising. My guess
is that it’s hiding behind the horizon right now.
I
jogged my way through making sure I wouldn’t suffer the fate that of Vadim. The
forest, however, was seemingly endless, as if it repeats itself after so many
meters. Allowing time to travel faster,
I indulged in letting my mind wander.
Man, this is tough as hell. No wonder they called this the Daemon
Battalion. And to think this is—
snap.
I
turned toward the sound and crouched, rifle up.
A loud boom erupted as something screamed past my right ear. I was confronted as the sniper stood ahead of
me pressed up against a tree fifteen meters away. I squeezed the trigger and heard two
clicks. My rifle’s ammo count read: x00.
DAMNIT! Apparently, I had forgotten to reload after
chasing after him. Boom! I rolled left as dodged another shot within a hair of me. Boom!Boom! He fired two more consecutive
shots off my left, and the other was high and to the right. It seemed he over-adjusted on his aim. I delved into my magazine sac to
reload—except I ran out. DAMNIT!... Handgun!
I reached into my holster and drew my M6C Magnum sidearm. I raised my sights and started firing. I was surprised to see that he had done the
same. We didn’t dodge; we didn’t have
time to. So there we were, just there,
shooting each other. Each bullet fired
hit their target. Each hit, the more
pain our armor induced into us. I
resisted my armor as much as I could as it was locking down.
I fired
my lost shot into him, and he into me. I
looked into his pain stricken face and smirked.
He cursed me out. I would reload
if I could, but I couldn’t move anymore.
My armor wouldn’t let me. Blue
static was swarming all over ours. I
slightly leaned back and let nature take me.
Was it worth it after all? Heh.
snap.
My last
sight was that of the blood red sky as I hit the floor the floor with a
thud. I could hear my enemy do the same. I was beginning to be induced into a sleep,
and a female voice calmly came through my headset.
“I’m sorry
Corporal, you have failed your tryout. You
will be recovered and awakened when the training exercise has finished.”
"...You might think I'm losing my mind, but I will shy away from the specifics..."
gamertag: path090