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An End to All Wars: Chapter 2 - Drop Zone
Posted By: fuzzyterror15<cycelest1@aol.com>
Date: 3 July 2005, 9:33 pm
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October 29, 2546
Thor's Hammer Launch Bay Six
Orbiting Derimus III
Lieutenant McCafrey leaned on the metal panel lining his drop pod; he stood upright looking at each of his soldier, all of whom were equipped for war, which was to be expected. They easily stood out against the ships crew, their jet black armor made them look like the god's of war instead of humans. Even without their armor, his squad lumbered over the crew, easily standing a good head over them. Their weapons lay cradled in their arms; they would not let them go, like a mother to her child. He noticed that the majority of them were in a tight circle laughing the minutes away; probably on some stupid Navy joke they heard years ago.
"Attention drop in three minute, please make your way to your drop pods and remember buckle up for safety." A voice over the loud speaker said; giving the usual three minutes left speech. It was all accustomed to the Mobile Infantry; they suited up, they launched, they annihilated every thing in their path and came home for a nice DST turkey dinner.
As he stepped into his pod, McCafrey noticed a quiet humming noise from the inside of his pod. With a grunt and most of his strength, the Lieutenant ripped off one of the panels guarding the noise and found a locater beacon.
Odd, still keeping his thoughts to himself, the DST never installed a homing beacon into their pods before. I need to get to the bottom of this.
As he closed the hatch on his pod, he heard the relaxing sound of the drop announcer.
"Thirty seconds and counting to drop…twenty seconds to drop… ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one drop initiated good luck and give them hell." The announcer said with a soothing monotone voice.
The Lieutenants fingers ran down his prize possession, an old XM-127, one of the best medium range assault rifles. He always checked his weapons on the drop, never before; it brought luck to him. Strapped to both of his thighs were dual silenced Mavericks, if fully loaded could take down a minimum of sixteen rebels. As he finished checking over his finely polished weapons, he flipped the communications switch in his pod and sent a message to his squad.
"We hit dirt in 2 minutes, so prepare yourselves and check your weapons. If things go south, we will fall back to the city of Cyras.
In unison, the other members of the squad replied with the standard "Understood Sir!"
Time seemed to race for the squad, adrenaline rushing through their veins. All they could think about was if the landing zone would be clear when they hit the ground.
"Squad twenty seconds till impact make sure you have your safeties off in case the enemy is near the drop zone," the Lieutenant shouted. As soon as he said that a bright red warning light appeared in the drop pod, accompanied by a loud blaring noise; a warning signal to tell they had less than 300 meters to solid earth.
The Lieutenant felt the pod shake and finally crash as his pod hit the ground. McCafery's legs trembled at the force of impact, but with urgent speed the Lieutenant made a swift kick to the door that was sealing him in and it went down with a loud thud.
"Shit" the lieutenant said to him-self so quietly he didn't even realize he said it.
"Ok the fun parts over ladies now let's regroup then move out and find the rebel filth's main area of concentration!" McCafery shouted over the com.
Once again in unison the squad said "roger that."
As he saw the first member of his squad appear over a hill to his right, he made a quick hand gesture; a signal for him to approach carefully, as if he knew he was being watched.
"Shadow" he called to him, "they are about a thousand meters north of here, they might have seen the pods. Go up ahead and give me an estimate of what were facing.
"Alright I'll scout up ahead while you wait here for the rest off the squad"
The trees of the leaves swayed as the remainder of the Mobile Infantry made their slow advance to the Lieutenant. The branches on the ground cracked ever so softly as they walked over them trying to avoid being detected.
"Man all I know is this is going to be easier than stealing candy from a baby." Griffen said to Butcher, a slight smirk appeared on his face. "I mean to send only one squad down on recon how hard can it be?"
"Well for one we're up against 300,000 rebels armed with some of the finest weapons known to man and second they never said anything about us being the only recon unit to be dropped" Replied Butcher.
"Maybe your both wrong" a soft gentle voice interrupted. "Maybe they aren't rebels and they are some sort of alien race that is set to destroy humanity."
"Kiera, if we were overtaken by a bunch of aliens then I will stop believing in God" Jenny said.
"Jenny you and your religion" Chris said. "The only religion I'll ever use or need is my M-90 shotgun." A smile appeared on all their faces, they all knew that jokes would help the mission pass faster.
"Shhh" Jacob whispered. "I hear footsteps approaching, form a rough delta pattern." With that the squad dispersed into the military classic V shape pattern known as Delta Formation.
Jacob could hear the footsteps getting closer, for a minute he felt the rush of fear. His heart pounded like that of a drum, sweat ran down around his eyes, building up at the top of his mouth. Suck it up I'm no normal DST marine, I'm a member of the Mobile Infantry, the Master Sergeant said to himself. He finally had the courage to look around, but all he noticed were the tree's leaves and branches swaying in the cool autumn wind. Still his eyes scanned the general area of the footsteps came from, but failed to find any mark of an enemy.
A cold armored hand grabbed him from behind and pulled him back, covering his mouth so the screams couldn't be heard. In a deep sadistic voice, the captor said, "guess who."
"Damn you McCafrey always sneaking up on people like that, you scared the living shit out of me." Jacob said, relieved that it was his Lieutenant, but his heart was still pounding rapidly, the sound oblivious to everyone else but Griffen.
"You left yourself exposed so I thought I'd teach you a lesson" McCafrey said half laughing. "Anyways I got Shadow up ahead scouting the area where heading to first."
"Sir, are you sure it was a good idea to only send one of us to scout out the region up ahead." Jacob said as worry filled his body, he wasn't ready to lose a squad mate.
"Son, Shadow is a grown man he can take care of himself, you know that." The Lieutenant said trying to lighten up the mood. "Plus, what is the worst that can happen? Maybe a couple hundred rebel troopers charge us, but we've taken down more then that in multiple missions."
"Yea I guess you're right, we'll just have to show these rebel scum who is in charge now!" Griffen said with a boasted enthusiasm.
"Sir, this is Shadow speaking I think I might have hit a snag."
"What do you mean by snag Shadow?" The Lieutenant already knew what it meant, but he had to make sure.
"Well Sir, do you remember our good friends the United Space and Weapons Confederation?"
"Yea they are the leading manufacturer of the Derimus Special Taskforce's weapons and combat ships and our drop pods.
Please don't tell me they have something to do with the rebel uprising."
"Sorry Sir, but there are no rebels, there are only the United Space and Weapons Confederation soldiers down here and by the looks of it they aren't going to give up this planet without a fight."
"So that how they knew where we landed, but why would they do a thing like this, the slaughtering of civilian its just plain absurd and plus they have been allies for numerous decades."
"I don't know Sir, but what I do know is that..." Shadow took a long pause to view the area around him. His eyes glared over every detail from the pale bark on the trees to the concrete building a few hundred meters ahead of his position. Then he heard it, the sound of footsteps, they grew closer by every second. With an audible click, Mark turned the safety on his modified S2-AM sniper rifle and peered through the scope and quickly started scanning for anything that would give away the enemies position; he then noticed it, a group of ten heavily armored soldiers, all wearing standard USWC armor, were slowly advancing to his position.
"Sir, I think I hit another slight problem." He said; the rustling of leaves barely visible while he made his slow retreat backwards, detection was not an option, especially since the incoming onslaught was shooting to kill.
"How slight of a problem is this Shadow?" The Lieutenant said; worry clearly showing on his face. If his visor had been open, his squad would have seen his eyes enlarge in concern for one of the best friends he had ever had.
The only thing that could be heard was the rapid succession of six loud bangs from Mark's Sniper rifle. "Son of a bitch; squad regroup on me we're going to save Shadow." Quicker then lightning the remaining members of the Mobile Infantry formed up around the Lieutenant, their guns cocked and safeties off; ready for the kill. Their eyes raced back and forth to make sure the enemy couldn't ambush them.
The squad raced towards the general location of the gunshots, their leg muscles ached as they pushed themselves harder. "We need to move faster if we are going to be able to rescue him." Jenny said in fear of losing one of her closest friends. Gunshots now echoed around the forest and stray bullets zoomed passed the armored heads of the Mobile Infantry.
"Oh crap, I got to make these last six shots count, but since when was the last time I missed." Mark said under his breathe in a failed attempt to calm down. With a satisfying click Shadow slammed the clip into the sniper and leveled it at the closest soldiers head. He steadied his aim at the closest soldier; the aiming reticule on his golden visor appeared dead center on the soldier's armored head.
He willed his finger to move and a loud bang resonated, making the forest echo from the 14.5mm slug, the rifle smoking at the barrel. The unfortunate USWC soldier never knew what hit him as his limp body fell over; headless, blood spewed on the three remaining soldiers. The adrenaline in Shadow's blood peaked as he watched, with a certain satisfaction, the soldier die; he would make all of them pay with their blood.
"Shit we need to move faster." The Lieutenant said still trying to quicken his pace. Their legs pushed to an all time high as pain soared through their legs; they wouldn't lose a member, not after three years of no casualties. Then in a matter of seconds two distinct sniper shots were fired; the forest fell silent.
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