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Long Time Gone Part 24
Posted By: grylsy<grylsy@hotmail.com>
Date: 13 November 2004, 8:06 AM


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Long Time Gone Part 24: And that's the end of that chapter

June 24th, 2550, Reach, seventh day of the 'Thirty Day Proving Battle', Camp #6 first aid tent, 0330 hours

       "Hey, can you hear, me?" Asked an angelic voice, it sounded kind and caring.

       Chris tried to open his eyes but bright lights hurt his eyes, instead he tried to smell where he was; anesthetics greeted his nostrils, it smelt like he was in a hospital of some kind.

"W-wha... what happened?" He moaned trying to remember what happened, he tried to think but his head hurt, he motioned to move his hand. It felt heavy and unused, he lifted it but it fell straight back down, he felt like shit...

"You got hit in the head," said the voice, who is that? He thought, "hit in the head by that sniper."

"D-d-did you get her?" He asked remembering trying to hit her with Sid's rifle.

"No," said the voice, "you got her." Chris' heart skipped a beat.

"I got her?" He said repeating the voice.

"Yes, but please rest, McAllen, you need your rest."

"Who are you?"

"Can't you tell? It's me, Michelle..." Chris drifted off into unconsciousness uncontrollably.

       Chris' wound kept him off the battlefield for two weeks. He had received a concussion. In the last week of battle it seemed Camp #6 was going to win. They had won ten of their eleven battles and Chris was told he was doing the best in the camp.

It seemed on the battle when he had got hit he had killed almost twenty enemies including the sniper which brought his total kills to one hundred and nine to one death.

       In the last week of the battle Chris rejoined the ranks of his comrades and continued to gain kills and didn't get 'killed' again.

July 22nd, 2550, Reach, last day of the 'Thirty Day Proving Battle', closing ceremony, 1150 hours

       Chris stood in the first rank of his camp in full combat attire, the only thing missing was his long arm weapons, everyone was only allowed to bring their pistols.

"A. Parker!" Yelled the General in charge from the podium, "front and centre!"

"It can't be..." Chris breathed as he heard the name. A figure scuttled from the ranks of another camp and walked up to the General.

"Congratulations, soldier, you finished first in the battle with one hundred and forty eight confirmed 'kills', well done!" The trooper was handed a medal got a hand shake and was told to sit down.

       Chris was dumbfounded; was that Alison? Chris thought it could just be a coincidence, there were thousands of Parkers and millions of names that started with the letter A., it couldn't be...

"C. McAllen," the General again, "front and centre!" Cheers from his comrades companied Chris as he walked up to the podium.

"Good on ya McAllen!"

"Go for it!"

Chris stood at attention to the General who gave him a wink.

"Congratulations, son, you came second with one hundred and forty seven kills, makes you wish you made some more shots count, doesn't it?" Chris snuffed a laugh.

"It sure does, sir, and thank you sir!" Chris took the medal and the hand shake.

"Oh and by the way, tonight Sargeants Chambers, Foley and you will be picked up by a driver, welcome to the Fallschirmjäger."

"But I'm a Corporal, sir." The General tapped his nose twice, Chris got the idea and gave a salute and walked back to his spot at the front.

An hour passed and the top fifteen of the contest got a medal; Chambers came ninth and was very happy.

Camp #6, 1509 Hours, party time

       Everyone was celebrating. They had won the entire battle; they all now had individual decoration, stating their camp had won the battle. It was worn above the 1st Shock Trooper Division Insignia for all to see.

Chris and Michelle were talking loudly to each other about when she would be back from Zeta Doradus.

"I don't really know, maybe a month, maybe a year, who knows" Michelle took another sip of alcohol, she shifted on the bench they were sitting on and wiggled closer to him.

"Well I'll be here, I'm part of the Fallschirmjäger and we're permanently here until we're needed elsewhere," Chris couldn't stop wondering if that was Alison.

"Chris," it was that voice he had grown to love, "do you want to go and do something?" Usually he would be all over her but he sat there, thinking.

Michelle gave him the sad puppy dog look and laid over his lap, looking up at his face. Then Chris' mind snapped back to reality and he looked down. He begun to blush.

"Sorry, dream land," Chris scratched the back of his head, "how about we just sit and talk? That is more memorable than a root, Michelle." Michelle let out a fake sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.

1703 Hours

       Chris, Chambers and Susan Foley stepped up into the back of the truck, all with new Sargeant bars on their uniforms, Kelso and everyone wished them the best of luck at their new posting.

Hans was somewhat annoyed that they weren't transferred into his unit but he glad that they were still Shock Troopers. Chris had kissed Michelle good bye, he promised to keep in touch. The driver didn't seem to waste anytime and hit the gas as soon as they were seated.

The driver's uniform was the same as theirs except for a strange bandolier but that wasn't in clear enough view to see how much.

July 22nd, 2550, Reach, 18 kilometres south of Camp Hathcock, Camp Julius, 1st Shock Trooper Division Fallschirmjäger Light Airborne Infantry Brigade home camp, the Eagle's Nest, 2301 hours

       A bump in the road woke Chris up, he noticed Chambers and Foley were leaning on each other and sleeping, he had been leaning on one of the poles used to hold a tarp up which wasn't installed.

The truck skidded to a stop outside the actual 'Eagle's Nest' of the camp which was the Command Centre. Chris woke Chambers and Foley and stepped down, he just noticed he had slept with all his weapons slung around his shoulders.

       A young looking General stood outside the Centre smoking a cigarette and gave the three a cold look. The low light had made the sentries on duty don night vision.

The General stomped out his cigarette and walked slowly over to the three wary individuals. All carried at least two long arm weapons, one even had a heavy machine gun over their shoulder, and in the low light it seemed like a woman holding it.

"Welcome to, Julius," the man outstretched a hand to the man on the left with K48A2 LMG, "I'm General Yuri Golcov," the man's English was a refined Oxford class, "I am the second in command of the Fallschirmjäger and you are?"

"Sargeant McAllen, Chris," Chris shook the man's hand, "this is Sargeant Michael Chambers" Chambers got the next shake, "and this lovely lady is Susan Foley" Susan got a kiss on her left hand.

"That'll be enough of that, man," said Chambers almost too seriously as he stood between the General and Susan.

"Oh, sorry old sport, didn't know you two were, err, together," Yuri took a step backwards, the three Troopers uniform combined with the balaclavas at night made even men on his side look threatening.

       The three were introduced to their Commander, Brigadier General Alex Kruton, he explained tomorrow they would be organized into squads with other Troopers arriving from other camps, and then they would receive the specialized training of Airborne Infantry.

"Do you have a list of Troopers coming, sir?" Asked Chris, he wanted to see if that was Alison and if she was coming here, "there's an old friend I'd like to see again."

"Sorry, err, McAllen, but that's strictly confidential, you'll just have to wear it."

July 23rd, 2550, Reach, Camp Hathcock, Shock Trooper Squad # 113 aboard Pelican bound for Pillar of Autumn, 0630 Hours.

       Michelle rested her head against the wall of the drop ship, she liked to fly, she just hated leaving the atmosphere.

Michelle's squad was fully decked out; they had all the weapons needed for close range boarding actions. They were the only Shock Trooper group aboard the Pillar of Autumn but they would be working in conjunction with Marine Special Forces.

       Within several Hours the ship was prepped and ready and had left Reach, heading for Zeta Doradus. Parker's Squad had Jinx, Sid and Trent in it, it was a fourteen man squad, they were mostly armed with MA5Cs and M90 shotguns, Sid had his S2 AM rifle and they had a K48A2 gunner as well, it was Xavier from Camp #6.

They sat back for the week trip out there, then they would do recons.

July 24th, 2550, Reach, Camp Julius, Fallschirmjäger training, 0430 hours.

       Fallschirmjäger training only involved advanced disembarking from air craft using parachutes and the new advanced A-12 'Jetpacks', not the videogame fly around jet pack; the type that you jump out of an air craft with and when you get with in thirty metres of the ground., it would self initiate and gently lower the Trooper to the ground.

Even though it was in use, it is still very experimental, it was fitted to the back of their armour in between the shoulder blades and only volunteers used them and you can guess McAllen and Chambers volunteered.

       Another part of the Fallschirmjäger training was gathering weapons and supplies from special dropped containers. As with their World War Two brethren, they too only dropped with a 'Gravity knife' and a pistol; nothing else, everything else was taken from supply containers.

       It would only take a week for them to be trained as Fallschirmjäger. The name 'Fallschirmjäger' means 'Hunters from the Sky', a name worthy of their World War Two brethren and themselves.

Upon completion of the Fallschirmjäger training they were award with their 'Gravity Knife', initially used by WW2 Fallschirmjäger to cut their harnesses should they be too untangled to get out of but in today's modern age they were purely a symbol of completing training and of being a Fallschirmjäger.

Chris and Chambers were also given their 'wings', it was a symbol of a swooping eagle diving down with the planet Earth in its clutches. Also they received 'Fleck tarn' Camouflage, it was another thing used by the old Fallschirmjäger but was extremely effective camo.
August 4th, 2550, Reach, Camp Julius, new orders, 0900

       Chris and Chambers had proven to be exception soldiers, even more so when fighting together, they were both transferred to training for several months for them to teach young and bright recruits from all services the skills they had learnt.

They were stationed at the training centre at Camp Hathcock and under United Nation Star Command authority. Chris had drawn the shit covered end of the stick and got advanced marksmanship whilst Chambers had gotten basic close range combat with a shotgun.

The next few weeks went like a breeze, they were exceptional leaders of men which did not go un-noticed, specially by the ONI Officials at Hathcock...





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