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Discovery of an Enemy, Chapter Four: Part I
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 2 June 2004, 6:25 PM
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___________________________________________________________
Chapter Four: Finding the Way In
1330, July 21, 2552 (Military Calendar)
System Designation Classified, Planet Codename Milestone
First Lieutenant Todd Kren stood in silence as the wind picked up the rain and threw it nearly horizontal in the middle of the clearing. The cold, bitter day had just gotten very strange, and that fact that they were standing in the middle of the largest Covenant base he had even seen didn't help matters; especially when it was deserted.
Second Lieutenant Damon Meyers stood still as well, his rifle held back over his shoulder, the barrel pointing up and away to the rear. The rain streamed down his Mark IAC body armor to the ground, which was also flooded with water. His grim face said enough for now.
Gunnery Sergeant Jonathon Jacobs, Third Squad Leader, slowly turned his rifle end over end, inspecting it. The long rifle, made even longer with the addition of the silencer, was completely soaked and covered with mud. His facial expressions were grim as well, and the wear and tear of the day was beginning to show on him.
Not just on Jacobs, but on them all.
Kren slung his rifle and rubbed his face with both hands, smearing the mud across it. They had been on this planet for almost twenty-four hours. They had moved at least thirty kilometers in the first twenty hours and now they were standing in the middle of a windy, rainy, muddy swamp clearing that harbored nothing comfortable or even familiar. This was not the place each of the Marines' wanted to be at.
Sergeant McCollum slowly walked up to them, his splashing footsteps louder than usual. An obvious sign of fatigue. "Tell me something good, sir."
Kren sighed, wishing he could. "How are the troops?"
McCollum pointed to a group of Marines in a circle 20 meters away. Their body posture was unusually bad, again bearing testimony to their fatigue. "Mixed group from all squads are taking a standing break, and Sergeant Brooks and Sergeant Dieter are checking over a Covenant Ghost vehicle."
Kren nodded in approval, watching as the two sergeants curiously moved around the small attack craft, eventually starting to touch it and fiddle around in the seat. His men were in dire need of rest, and without it they could never perform at their best.
He needed his men at their best if he wanted to get them all out alive.
"Okay, so inform me of what you all know." Kren asked, still observing Brooks and Dieter on the Ghost.
There was as short silence before Sergeant Jacobs spoke up. "Well sir, zero contacts, and an unused Covenant garrison."
"Aside from the obvious." Kren commented, his patient growing thin.
Meyers spoke up. "Tactical situation is obvious, strategic situation is still unknown, but right now, we need to get inside that structure and found out what the hell is going on."
"We also need to find out what the hell that Elite was doing, and why we couldn't kill it." McCollum stated.
"I was there, I shot at it from point blank range, hell I even tried to tackle it," Kren said quietly. "It was as if it didn't exist, but that it was merely visible to us."
"Hologram?" Meyers offered.
"No, there were no emitters outside the tent, and the Elite was definitely outside the tent. Something else caused this, and I'm thinking whatever it was also caused this entire Covenant army to go missing." Kren said, looking towards the large structure in the middle of the field. "And the answer is probably in there."
The four Marines stared the structure down for a moment. Contemplating, thinking, trying to figure out what was going on and how they could find out why. The ONI major had definitely left something out, and Kren's little computer search before they departed only left deeper questions in his head. A gnawing feeling in his gut reminded him of the 347 Marine Force Recon platoon on those fateful operations 500 years ago. They had found something that was too important for the rest of humanity to know. Was his own platoon about to do the same?
If it could change the tide of war with the Covenant, it was worth it.
"Sergeant McCollum, get those troops over here on the double and ready to move. We're going to find out what the building is, and what's inside."
___________________________________________________________
Kren motioned for his squad to halt, then he turned around and motioned for Third Squad to swing further around to the east. The entire platoon was ten meters away from the structure, and the had found no doors. Now it was time to check the other side.
The structure was actually sloped down into a hole type area, with the ground sloping down about 5 meters before the wall. Kren couldn't tell how deep it was since it was filled up with water, but the lack of grass tips sticking out was enough evidence to keep him and his men from trying to wade down it. Except for the fact that it seemed to be surrounded by a moat, the building looked rather bleak and uninteresting, with nothing inscribed on it or any special patterns.
Over thirty M7A1's scanned the area back and forth as the Marines silently moved along the side of the moat. The other half of the clearing was very similar to the half they had already seen. It was littered with Covenant objects and vehicles, even a pair of Wraith tanks sat immobile out in the clearing. Nevertheless, like the first half of the base camp, it was empty without movement.
Kren side stepped and finally got to see the edge of the wall on the opposite side of the building. He motioned for his Squad to move up and into a stacking formation as Third Squad swung further out around, ten meters behind Kren. He peeked around the corner and saw nothing, so he silently, but quickly, stepped out and scanned the area with his rifle. Nothing was there.
Second Squad came around from the other side and quickly set up covering positions for all angles. The area was secure.
Kren looked at the structure and saw the large door, but half of it was submerged underwater from the moat. It was easily large enough to drive two Warthogs through at once and it towered above them ten meters up along the wall and thirty meters to the sides. The door split dead down the center, and on each half was a large gleaming red light just above the surface. Not a very inviting invitation.
He turned and motioned for Third Squad to cover both their left and right flanks, then for Second Squad to move up along the moat towards the door. Kren then moved his own squad closer and stopped five meters short of the large door, just on the edge of the moat. It had alien engravings on it, obviously some sort of unknown language. To the right, he spotted some sort of control device barely above the water.
"Corporal Gordon, with me." Kren ordered, slowly stepping down into the water towards the panel. The electronic specialist jumped up and ran forward to catch up to his CO, splashing slightly through the water. Corporal Gordon of Second Squad was the platoon's standard electronic specialist, having received training in all fields of electronics to make him suitable for on the spot work. He waded deeper into the water behind Kren, and both were already up to their waists before it began to level out. They made it to the control panel, finding the water to be at least four feet deep. Both the Marine's examined the panel for a moment, their legs and lower torso submerged under the cold, muddy water.
"Get this door open." Kren ordered.
"Yes, sir." Gordon replied, slinging his rifle and pulling out some equipment from a waterproof webbing pouch.
Kren looked back at Meyers. "Second Squad will be on a covering position at the door." Second Squad moved quickly to cover the door completely. Kren then motioned for First Squad to come up along abreast with Second Squad to cover the door as well. Third Squad remained guarding the rear and flanks. "And let's get some ropes around Gordon and myself, if this door opens, we could find ourselves in a rather unfortunate situation."
Meyers nodded and began retrieving rope from one of his squad member. He then threw the rope to Kren, who secured it around himself and Gordon. The electronic specialist was still getting his equipment attached to the panel. Kren watched as Gordon began to interface his own device with the control panel. The device lit up and came to life as the Corporal finished the procedure.
"Almost there, sir." Gordon announced, slowly punching in different entrance codes. The device tried to translate them and interface with the control panel as the Corporal worked to find the right root access code that made the door function.
Kren felt the mud under his feet vibrate. Then the water began to get disturbed, forming small waves that moved away from the structure. Gordon took a step back, looking around at the water turn over, and also surprised about the mud moving under his feet.
There was a deep thump as the control panel lit up.
Meyers watched and tighten his grip on the rope as he felt the thump vibrate through the ground. He looked on as his CO and electronic specialist looked around, obviously watching in astonishment. Suddenly, there was a second loud thump in the ground.
Kren felt the mud move around his feet, then he felt nothing to stand on.
"Shit!" Meyers yelled out as the rope went tight and his CO, along with Corporal Gordon, disappeared with the water straight down. The loud gasping sound of air rushing up and the water going down erupted in front of him as his body jerked forward and he landed flat on his face, still holding the rope that was now pulling him toward the sudden hole where his CO and electronic specialist used to be.
The four other Marines holding the rope began to slide forward toward the hole, all of them trying to hold the rope.
"Taylor, Marks, Rolland, get on that rope now!" McCollum ordered, running to grab it himself. The water that used to occupy the moat around the building erupted in a white wall of water in front of them as pressured air from below sent it into the raining sky.
___________________________________________________________
Kren closed his eyes as water, mud and air washed over him, throwing his body around as he felt vertigo. He could not tell which way was up or down, but it did not matter; he could hold his breath a little longer. He could fill his body being thrown around as forces of water and air collided. Whatever caused it at the movement was not important, just surviving it was.
"...grab that rope..."
"...pull it up, let's move ladies...!"
"...keep your footing soldier, don't let go..."
Voices filled his head as he felt his mind going numb. He had felt this feeling many times before, especially during times when he was forced to hold his breath for longer periods of time. It was the first stage toward blacking out, a deadly thing to do, especially under water.
He felt a strong tugging from the rope around is waist, but it felt minor compared to the other forces around him. He was beginning to feel slightly mad, despite the overcoming sense of carelessness as his mind began to go blank. He had been fighting those Covenant aliens for nine years and had made it this far. Why would he die here, under muddy water on a strange and unknown planet? After all the plasma bolts he'd miraculously dodged, the grenades the failed to go off, and the men who had taken their lives to save his, why would a simple event end his life here, where his finger wasn't even on the trigger.
Why? His mind dismissed the thought. As it did everything else.
___________________________________________________________
One, Two, Three.
How long had the fight been?
One, Two, Three.
Why had it lasted so long?
One, Two, Three.
Why had it claimed so many lives?
One, Two, Three?
When will it end...?
Kren opened his eyes abruptly as a surge of water came spewing from his mouth, hitting the face of another men directly above his. His heart raced as he took a deep breathe from his lungs, only to find more water in them, forcing another cough of water to come shooting out. His blurry vision, dimmed by blackness, began to clear up as he continued to cough and clear his respitory system. His chest had a constant three beat pressure system against it, and the sound of it echoed in his head.
"...stop CPR, Jacobs..."
"...we have a good pulse..."
"...Lieutenant, can you hear me?"
Kren coughed up more, his mind racing to find the proper response.
"Sir, can you hear me?"
Kren wanted to reach up and wipe his face with his arms, but they would not move. He tried to bring his legs up to stand up, but he found them weak and motionless. He knew that survival in the battlefield depended upon one's strength and mobility, but for the first time, he found himself too weak to move at the movement.
"Lieutenant, come on, snap out of it!"
Kren's mind cleared. He blinked several times and stared straight up into a crowd of several Marines, all of whom looked down back at him, concern etched on their faces. He coughed yet again. "Yeah," he muttered.
"Holy shit...Lieutenant Meyers, we got him."
Kren looked over to see footsteps plash through the muddy water and come up to him. He looked up to see a very wet and muddy Lt. Meyers looking down on him. He nodded to Sergeant Jacobs, who stood up.
"Back from the dead, sir? Good god..." Meyers said, wiping his face, smearing the mud across it.
Kren grunted and closed his eyes, feeling his body slowly come back to life. He moved his arms and legs and with satisfaction, found them in workable shape, despite the weak feeling his body had. He rolled to his side and coughed out again.
"Get him up," Meyers ordered. Three Marines came over and grabbed their CO to pull him up. Kren stood up and almost fell over, but the three Marines steadied him and did not let go. He felt the blood rush away from his head and he wobbled as if drunk, but he quickly regained
his posture and straightened his knees. His head felt heavy.
Kren looked over to see another group of Marines hunched over another body lying on the ground. He slowly walked towards it, one of the three Marines staying with him to keep him steady.
"...One, two, three."
"Nine."
"One, two three."
"Ten."
"One, two, three."
"Eleven..."
Kren moved closer to try and see what was happening. The platoon's corpsman was knelt over a motionless Marine, steadily giving him CPR. Another gave him mouth-to-mouth as the pair tried to revive the soldier. Kren look down and saw the face.
Gordon.
"Aww damnit! Come on, Corporal! Work with me!" Corpsman Sergeant Pullman said, repeating the CPR process on the Corporal.
Gordon's face was deathly pale, with his lips were turning a blue color. Kren cursed silently as he watched them try to save the Corporal's life. He had survived, now Gordon had to.
"One...two...three..."
Pullman stopped. He breathed heavily and looked at Gordon's body. He wiped is face then looked up at Kren. Pullman shook his head.
"Fuck!" Sergeant Spencer yelled, giving one last mouth-to-mouth process. "No, no, no...Goddamnit!"
The frustrated voice caused every member of the platoon to look towards them. Spencer looked up, anger on his face. He shook his head slowly and deliberately and clenched his fists as he stood up, looking back down at Gordon's body.
"Not like this," the strain on his face showed as he looked back down on the deceased Corporal. "Not like this."
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