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Marooned Chapter 4
Posted By: Steve Ollett<sollett@clydematerials.co.uk>
Date: 26 October 2003, 7:08 PM
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M A R O O N E D
---------------
CHAPTER 4
2102HRS 07-OCT-2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)
SECOND PLANET OF ACKWAZE SYSTEM.
OVERLOOKING DROPSHIP LZ
"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Sergeant Ryan enquired, as he lay alongside Corporal Stocks as they both peered into the green glow of Stocks non-standard 6" viewscreen which he used instead of the standard optical sniper rifle scope.
"Wait a minute... wait a min- There! There it is!" Stocks whispered excitedly as it came into view.
"Oh Crap!" Ryan exclaimed, recognising a familiar outline.
"What have we got?" asked O'Shea, who had quietly made his way from the now stationary Warthog, and flopped down on the grass next to Ryan.
"A Covenant Elite," Ryan began, "complete with visual stealth camo. John wouldn't have seen it if it hadn't walked in front of the fire."
"How did you see it then?" O'Shea asked.
"Covenant stealth technology works if the wearer is stationary," Ryan began, "but if they move and you have a sharp eye and know what to look for, you can make them out no problem - especially if whatever they are standing in front of is moving randomly, like flames or water."
"Why would they use stealth camo at night?" O'Shea said in a puzzled way, "The power required by that kit to bend the lightwaves gives off a massive Infra Red signature that would stand out a mile."
"Maybe that's why they are so close to the fire - to mask their IR signature?" Stocks said, "You know - wait till we get in close and Blam! Hit us then?"
"I don't know." Ryan replied, "Maybe they don't think that our Infra-Red capability is that advanced. I'm sure that Garrett would back me up in saying that if we got within two hundred yards of it our kit could tell the difference between it and a fire."
"Well I don't know about you two, but I'm getting fed up of this shit." Stocks said impatiently as he snatched up his rifle and whilst taking aim, reached for the safety, "Maybe I should just drop this bastard now?"
"What the fuck are you doing?" exclaimed Ryan as he thrust his hand out and pushed the barrel of Stocks' sniper rifle into the ground, "we don't even know how many there are yet! They could have dozens of them laying low, waiting for us to make a move." Ryan beckoned back towards the dropship and the stealth Elite. "That bastard could just be a decoy to draw us out!"
"Sorry Ryan," Stocks answered, "I didn't think."
"Shit John," Ryan said, "How many situations have we been in like this? I would have expected this of Murray, but not of you. Are you losing it or something?"
Stocks didn't answer. He was embarrassed of his lack of thought. Something was troubling him and it was beginning to affect his work. He missed his wife and kids back on Reach. We wondered what they were doing right now. He had an aching sense of emptiness that wasn't homesickness. He'd had this empty feeling for weeks now but couldn't put his finger on it as to what it was.
"What are we going to do now?" asked O'Shea as he tracked the Elite with his own night vision binoculars, "set up camp for the night?"
Ryan was just about to answer when a burst of static came though the helmet comms.
"Heads up guys! We have a bogey inbound!" announced Garrett, his voice mixed with excitement and apprehension.
Ryan turned his head back towards the Warthog, "You got an ID yet? Is it one of ours?"
Seconds passed. More static on the comms. Ryan checked his helmet comms. Working fine. Why hadn't Garrett replied yet?
Finally the comms system came to life.
"Negative, ID is Covenant. Shit! Covenant Dropship on approach! ETA approximately one minute and forty seconds." Garrett replied.
Low on the horizon, a blue-purple light approached. As it closed on their position, the light resolved itself into the all too familiar U-Shaped hull of a Covenant dropship. The drone of the craft's antigravity generators steadily increased. That sound always sent a chill down Ryan's back.
"It just gets better and better!" Stocks muttered gloomily as he readied himself.
"Everybody, switch to VOX mode! Garrett! Murray! Shut down anything else with an power signature, and get yourselves and the Warthog under camouflage net - Fast!" Ryan yelled.
"Copy." Garrett and Murray replied in unison.
Ryan could hear the others at the Warthog as they hurried to deploy the camouflage. He hoped that the Covenant dropship pilot didn't have good night sight, or that the Elite stood by the downed dropship was hard of hearing.
The dropship continued its approach.
They must have seen us, Ryan thought. The bastard is on our vector.
"Listen up guys," Ryan broadcasted over the comms, "Covenant Dropship is on our vector. We are in their weapons range, but he might not have eyeballed us yet. Do not fire unless fired upon. Understand?"
"Understood." Replied Garrett, "But what if they do fire?"
"Pray that he's a crap shot." Ryan said as he got up from the ground. crouching with one knee on the ground and taking aim on the Covenant Dropship he added, "Aim for the anti-gravity generators where the blue energy field is!"
"Got that." Garrett answered.
Garrett was about to make another comment when the voice of private Murray cut in on the VOX comms system, "Oh man! What's that sme- Oh man! Zoran just shit himself!"
Ryan, Stocks and O'Shea sniggered for a second as they heard Garrett and Murray cursing at Zoran's lack of bowel control. Poor guy. Ryan was willing to bet that the nearest thing to a combat situation Zoran had ever been in was arguing for more funding from the UNSC's science division.
"What's my ETA guys?" Ryan called impatiently.
"Twenty seconds" Garrett replied.
"This is nuts!" Stocks hissed at Ryan, "We've gotta move! They're gonna frag us!"
Turning and grabbing Stocks by the front of his shirt Ryan snarled, "Stocks, this is not the time for your bullshit!" and pushing him away, he added, "Get a grip soldier! You haven't shit yourself as well mate?"
"I'm no chicken, Ryan" Stocks retorted, "This is suicide!"
"Objections noted soldier." Said Ryan, "We'll talk later."
Taking his aim up on the antigravity generators on the Covenant dropship, Ryan shouted into his comms "This is it!"
The dropship thundered overhead.
Five weapons tracking the Covenant dropship pivoted through 180 degrees as it continued towards the wreckage of the downed Albatross.
Stocks sighed loudly.
Ryan gave him a gentle push on his shoulder. "See? What were you worrying about?" Ryan said in what he thought was his most convincing voice. He looked down at his hands. They were shaking uncontrollably.
Turning back towards their Warthog, Ryan laughed over the comms, "Hands up everyone who needs cleans underwear apart from me and Zoran?"
"I heard that!" replied Garrett.
"Me too" added Murray.
"Ms Moore. You okay?" Ryan asked.
"Erm yeah." said Karen shakily over the Warthog's radio, "If I'd been pregnant, I've have popped the thing out by now. Zoran's not too good though."
"It's not over yet!" said Stocks who was watching the Covenant Dropship through his rifle's scope, "Looks like they're dropping more troops off."
"Sit tight people," said Ryan as he dropped to the ground next to Corporal Stocks.
Watching as the doors opened on the double hull of the dropship, three figures suddenly appeared, silhouetted against the fire, walking towards the giant gaping doors of the Covenant dropship. Elites.
So there had been more than one of them, Ryan thought to himself. It was a lucky thing that they didn't shoot at anything or it might have been a different story when that dropship did finally appear.
"Now I understand why those guys were out here," O'Shea whispered to Ryan and Stocks, "The area down there by the dropship and beyond is dry, almost desert. When it was daylight the temperature out here would be quite high. Their stealth camoflage's Infra Red signature would be masked by the ambient temperature and any visual cue to their presence could be mistaken for heat haze shimmer."
"Clever bastards." Stocks interjected.
"Those guys must have been here a while, waiting for anyone to come back and be ambushed!" O'Shea continued, "As it's dark now, stealth camo's of no use. So they were obviously waiting to be relieved of duty."
One Elite, and eight Grunts emerged from the dropship. The non-stealth Elite walked towards one of the three now-visible-Elites, whilst the other two boarded the dropship. The grunts gambolled about excitedly, within a few yards of the burning wreckage, darting their weapons to-and-fro, whilst making odd barking sounds. To Ryan, this seemed almost like some weird campfire ceremony.
The new Elite snapped a command at the Grunts, who immediately ceased their actions and took up positions around the wreckage.
The two remaining Elites appeared to be conversing, turning and pointing in various directions.
Must be the handover meeting, Ryan thought.
After a few more seconds, the stealth Elite boarded the dropship.
"Stand by people." Ryan advised, "Same drill as last time."
Stocks groaned. Last time was quite enough he thought, as far as close encounters goes.
The Covenant dropship slowly took off and headed away from the wreckage on the same heading it approached on before it landed, taking it over the desert ahead.
Stocks sighed in relief again.
"Garrett! Get me a fix on it's bearing", Ryan said.
"Got it." Garrett answered.
"Ok," announced Ryan, "as we now know what sort of numbers we're dealing with we can make a plan. For now, we should all get some sleep in rotation. O'Shea will come back to the Warthog and take first watch. Garrett and Murray will cover in turn - standard shift time people."
O'Shea climbed to his feet and headed off towards the Warthog.
"Switch back to normal comms setting," Ryan added, "I don't want to hear any snoring coming over on VOX."
Pausing for a second, Ryan added "I want everyone ready for action at least one hour before sunrise." and then disabled the VOX setting on his helmet comms.
Having waited until Corporal Stocks had done likewise with his comms system, Ryan looked Stocks in the eyes, and spoke sternly, "Ok John. Now you can tell me what that display of bullshit was for tonight!"
- more soon -
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