Away Mission: Day 2/3 (making contact), part 1

Posted on Tue Jan 5th, 2010 @ 4:41am by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine

1,209 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Devils Snare
Location: Planetside, the cave
Timeline: early the morning of the third day

ON

Kara led Damon and the other Marines to the cave. "I don't know what happened, but the cave looked secure when I was here last. No sign at all that it was structurally weak."

Damon walked up to the cave's mouth, flanked by a squad of Marines. He closely scrutinised the entrance. The damage was worse than he had hoped, much worse. Even with the ordnance the Marines had with them, it might not be enough. His eyes dropped to the ground and his hand ran through his hair in thought... suddenly his eyes caught something. He flicked his head back the direction the squad just came through and looked through the fading light at the dusty ground. His eyes grew wide with understanding. He looked over to Sergeant Melo and quietly waver her over.

Kara was looking around as well, trying to figure out what had caused such a massive cave-in. She moved quickly at the CO's gesture. "Yes, sir?"

"Keep it subtle." He said in warning "There are tracks here that don't belong. The tread on some of these footprints isn't SFMC or Starfleet standard issue." He turned his body so that his back was to the woods "A couple of the tracks move into the woods behind me. I get the feeling we are being watched."

Kara casually knelt down to tie her boot and had a quick look around. When she stood up she looked sober. "You're right. At least two sets of tracks. And there's far too much damage here for this to be a simple cave-in. A natural cave-in would have gaps at the top. There are none here."

"Some sort of seismic charge probably." He said absent-minded. He surveyed the land they were on, perfect for an ambush. "Sergeant, if we are attacked on this ground we will be cut to pieces, no natural cover. To either side of the cave we might have a chance. I don't want to risk getting flanked so take a fire team and cover the left flank. We'll be on the right. Don't take a chance, fire at anything that doesn't look right." He knew that there would be about 30 feet of open ground between the fire teams, but they were just going to have to make due.

"Got it. Look out for snipers, too. The cliff opposite makes a great lookout. If there's someone up there, they're waiting for backup." Using hand signals, she called her fire team and headed for the left flank, pretending to look at the cave as they went. Only when they were safely beyond the opening did they ready their weapons.

Damon's group did the same. They made their way to the other side and quickly found cover behind fallen stumps and knolls. Each man was spaced only ten meters apart, not enough to present a solid front. They were in danger of being easily overrun. The Sergeant's comment about the perch on top of the cliff was a valid one. Perhaps it was something they could exploit.

"McCarthy." He whispered through the dark. "I want you to take up position up there." He looked to the cliff face. "You won't have a shadow, so make sure to watch your six. Understood?"

Damon watched the Marine as she began to climb towards the perch. He nodded to himself and looked over to the remaining three Marines, one on each side of where he was kneeling. Once he had their attention hand signals were used to indicate that they should fire a couple rounds at anything that looked suspicious.

Damon started. In the dwindling light he saw a bunch of leaves that didn't look right to him and also something behind a log that looked odd. He lined up his sight and fired twice at the log. The pulse lanced out of his carbine and streaked towards the log. On impact the log showered the ground with bark and chunks of wood, a small flame licked at the remaining log from the intense heat released. Still, no movement could be seen behind it, it was nothing. His second target was similar; the pulse blew leaves a few feet into the air and disturbed what looked to be a rodent similar to a squirrel. He watched as the squirrel ran full tilt towards a standing tree and vault itself up into its foliage. He chuckled lightly to himself, perhaps there wasn't anyone waiting to ambush them.

The Marines next to him followed suit, each taking a couple shots at things looking strange to them. The Marine to his left also fired at a log; this time a very different response was received. As the bolt found its mark a man suddenly stood up from behind it and fired back a long stream of automatic fire. The Marine ducked just in time as the knoll in front of him was greedily chewed up by ballistic fire. No sooner did the pirate fire than the entire forest in front of Damon seemed to come alive, muzzle flashes lit up the dimming forest. The roar of weapons fire made Damon duck, and lucky it did as the log he was sitting behind blew apart in a concentrated attack. Shrapnel from the wood sung his unprotected skin, but otherwise he remained unscathed.

"WEAPONS FREE!" He yelled at his comrades.

He rose up. A weapon lined in front of him and squeezed the trigger. The battle was joined...

As soon as the battle began, Kara and her team began to return fire. Marshall mounted his MK23 grenade launcher and deftly launched grenade after grenade into the groups of pirates. A number of them fell to the ground while others ran for cover. They weren't expecting that and it made Kara smile.

She, in turn, aimed for a gunman on the cliff opposite them. She grinned as she saw one man fall. The rock in front of her sparked as several rounds hit it, causing rock chips to fly everywhere. She and her team ducked to avoid injury but continued to fire at random targets to keep their foes off their guard.

Damon's first shot went wild of his target; the second however caught him on his chest. The target stumbled back a step before falling limp to the ground. He quickly found his next mark. The carbine swept to the right and he squeezed the trigger launching deadly bolts of fire at the pirate. He must have anticipated it as he quickly found cover. Damon was forced to duck again as another gout of fire was aimed at him. More of his cover was blasted away. He stole a glance over to the Marine on his right. His SAWP had been set up and began to unleash hell from behind cover. The SAWP ripped up the ground in front of the enemy. Chunks of earth were blasted away as the weapon eagerly searched out a victim. A fallen log literally blasted apart under its fire and the person behind it was struck hard, he fell to the ground without another sound.

(To be continued...)

1st Lieutenant Damon Raine
Marine CO

Sergeant Kara Melo (NPC)
Marine Scout

Corporal Peter Marshall (NPC)
Marine

Corporal Samantha McCarthy (NPC)
Marine

 

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