Marooned, Chapter 3
Posted By: Steve Ollett<sollett@clydematerials.co.uk>
Date: 22 October 2003, 7:06 PM
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M A R O O N E D
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CHAPTER 3
1837HRS 07-OCT-2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)
SECOND PLANET OF ACKWAZE SYSTEM.
APPROACHING DROPSHIP LZ.
Darkness enveloped the land quickly. As they were close the equator of the planet, twilight did not last as long as it would have if they'd been at higher latitudes.
Ryan and Stocks silently advanced towards the LZ, the only sound being that of the low purr of the Warthog's engine as it crept along some hundred yards or so behind them in complete darkness.
Corporal Stocks crept forward whilst in a low crouch, taking long slow sweeps of the horizon, the pale green of the night-vision scope barely illuminating his face which was locked in concentration. His eyes flicked to-and-fro across his field of vision taking in every feature of his surroundings. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face.
Sergeant Ryan advanced alongside, also in a low crouch, shouldering his assault rifle, his finger hovering over the rifle's safety switch.
Pausing for a second, Ryan gazed skyward. Perhaps he could get a glimpse of the Sheffield as it passed overhead in orbit. He hoped that everything was all right up there.
A myriad of unknown stars quietly twinkled back at him from the expanse. The beauty of the heavens had always moved him. He tried to recognise some of the constellations that he had learned as a child - the ones based on old earth mythology - but couldn't see any of them. Shivering for a second in the cold night air, he wondered if the Covenant also had the custom of grouping stars into constellations to immortalise their mythology and great battles.
The sound of an animal moving nearby refocused Ryan's attention on the ground ahead. Swinging the barrel of his rifle towards the source of the sound, his helmet-mounted IR camera picked up the heat signature of a small animal that promptly disappeared into the ground.
As they trudged onwards, the gradient increased. They were getting near to the LZ, the bed of a dried-up lake overlooked by the crescent of intermittent cliffs and scree slopes.
An orange glow over the brow of the hill illuminated a bank of clouds in the distance. Maybe it was the front of another weather system moving in. The last thing they needed was rain as well.
Cresting the hill, the source of the glow became apparent; an orange beacon flickered erratically in the darkness.
Stocks swung his rifle's scope over the distant light source, and froze for a split second.
"Quick! Get down!" hissed Stocks as he dived for cover in the long grass.
Instinctively, Ryan followed suit.
"Contact?" Ryan whispered.
"Could be." replied Stocks, whilst checking the magazine of the rifle, and adjusting the settings of the S2 AM's night vision scope.
"Ryan to O'Shea" said Ryan, as he spoke into his helmet comms. "Possible contact situation at LZ. Hold your positions and stay alert!"
"Copy." O'Shea replied, "Eyes are peeled."
Meanwhile Corporal Stocks was busy muttering to himself. "Oh that's just bloody marvellous!" he continued as he again swept his scope over the target. "Just fucking marvellous!"
"What is it?" Ryan demanded as he struggled to recover his monocular from one of the many pockets on his uniform. He didn't have the benefit of Corporal Stocks' sniper rifle's night vision scope, and it was a difficult job trying to get at his monocular whilst laid flat out on his stomach in the darkness. After a few seconds Ryan gave up on the task.
"Well," Stocks sighed, as he peered into the glow of his scope, "I got good news and bad news."
"Go on. Hit me with it." Ryan said in an almost totally dejected tone of voice.
"Okay," Stocks began, "The good news is... I've found the dropship. The bad news is she's not going anywhere."
"Shit." Ryan groaned.
Stocks turned to face Ryan and laughed, "Or..." he said, regaining some of his ironic sense of humour, "you could say that the bad news is that the dropship is on fire. The good news being that we don't have to make a campfire tonight, as we've got one going already."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Ryan replied as he shuffled uncomfortably on the uneven ground.
"Well, you're not exactly being Mr Comedian right now, are you?" Stocks answered, "So what next?"
Ryan rolled over onto his back, and putting his hands on his head, he screwed his face up, gritting his teeth. "Oh fucking hell!" he muttered to himself.
Seconds passed.
"Right!" Ryan said as he suddenly rolled back over with renewed vigour. Ryan activated his helmet comms. "O'Shea, we found the Albratross. She's in a bad way. I need you to check her out with me. Tell the others to hold positions and stay alert."
"Okay sir. I'll be with you in a second." O'Shea replied.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you Ryan." Stocks said coldly, as he was again scrutinising the Albratross through his rifle's scope. "We aren't alone out here."
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