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Present Darkness, Chapter Six: Part I
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 3 January 2005, 2:24 AM
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Chapter Six
Friend or Foe?
0740 hours, November 21, 2552 (Military Calendar)
ODST AO, Hill 203 (Location of a known Surface Entrance)
Planet Red Dawn (Codename), Theta 1440+90 System
"Green light, sir, clear for drop!"
Foster nodded and motioned for Lieutenant Sherman and the others to move up to the rear door, which was wide open, giving them a nice view of the small clearing below them.
The Pelican was hovering above one of the many hill peaks that dotted the Area of Operations for the ODSTs. The rugged terrain looked the same for miles in every direction, with tight canyons overshadowed by high hill peaks, all covered with a light tree density and rocky earth. Below them was a hilltop, their intended drop zone, and with a grey structure. The Intelligence he had received back on the Stanton Bay showed several locations where suspected entrances to an underground facility were, and he picked one at random.
If any location was good, it may as well be this one.
He clenched his fists, feeling the black gloves stretch as he looked down the long rope to the clearing below. The downwash from the Pelican sent dirt and debris outward, making the area below full with dust that would obscure his sight. If he could have done it, he would have made this an HEV drop, but none of the Marines in his team were certified for such an entry.
Being inserted by a large, easy to hit target did not seem very comforting, and in the back of his mind he thought of all the enemies below that were waiting for him to hit the earth. He knew, however, that ideal conditions were rare in combat, and he contently settled with the situation at hand. Hopefully he was wrong.
He reached out and grabbed the rope, then wrapped his legs around it and began sliding down the ten-meter distance to the ground below. He was thankful for the goggles that protected his eyes from the flying debris as he continued sliding down, but longed for the full-face helmets that ODSTs were issued. Nonetheless, a little dirt never tasted bad...
His feet hit the ground, and his first move was to bring out the BR55 and move to set up a perimeter. He tried to scan through the flying debris but couldn't see farther then fifteen meters ahead of him, but the good news was readily welcomed. There was no incoming fire.
He turned to watch the rest of his team slide down the two ropes. The Marines quickly set up a perimeter and called in checks, and the two ropes fell from the Pelican above, landing harmless in the center of their security circle. The large craft then accelerated away, leaving them alone on this hilltop to fend for themselves.
Foster could see their situation better as the haze settled, and once again took comfort in the fact that no enemies had seen their insertion. He had seen many bad insertions before, both out of a Pelican and by HEVs, and knew the dangers that accompanied them.
The thought brought him around to how it must have been for the Helljumpers that inserted at the beginning of this operation. He knew that his call for the drop-zones wasn't the reason for the massive casualties figures, but his overall responsibility of the insertions left the deep feeling of guilt in his mind. The good news was that these Marines were still completing their objectives.
Objectives. He shook those thoughts and focused on his own priorities. Ahead of him was some unknown structure, it's large doors closed, and it no doubt led to where he could find more of these beings that his commander sought after. He had not tested them in combat, so his expectations of how these beings reacted probably were not close to reality, but he had confidence that they could complete this goal and make it out alive.
"Let's get this door open." Foster said over the comm. link.
The Marines moved forward to the door and set up another perimeter. Sherman and Foster moved to the door's apparent controls, closely looking at them before trying to activate them to open the door.
Foster nodded for Sherman to attach the electronic interface that they had brought along. Despite his many dealings with the Covenant, he was far from knowing how their controls worked, even if it was to just open a simple door.
The interface pad analyzed the codes from the Covenant keypad and began the short process of translating their functions to terms that they could understand. Without this little device, they could be spending for more time just trying to get inside this facility.
"Bingo," Sherman said as the device's small text display turned green. The Lieutenant quickly typed in a code that had been retrieved from the keypad and hit the 'enter' key, waiting for the device to interface with the keypad. The two men stared at the device for a minute as it continued to retry the given command, finally turning a dark red.
"We can't open it, it's locked down by a higher security system."
Foster grunted, turning back to the Marines around them. There's always Plan B. "Get the explosives, we'll go through this the hard way."
The demolitions expert jumped to his feet, far more excited then Foster would have liked, and moved to place his charges around the large double doors. Tactically, this was not his first choice, nor was it the best, but time was of the essence. They would need to be extracted in no more then sixty minutes if they wanted to leave this planet with the rest.
Foster walked far enough away from the door, as did the others, as the Marine ran a thin wire back with him. He was partly concerned about what might be waiting on the other side, or who would come running for their position after the explosion echoed through the valleys around them, but he options were limited. If he couldn't get through this door, the last thing he could do was call for the evac.
The demolitions expert settled behind a sizeable rock and brought out the detonator. A slight grin spread across the young Marine's face as he flipped off the safety cover.
"Fire in the hole!"
"Quiet!"
The Marines fell silent quickly as the distant thunder vibrated through the ground. The rifles were up and scanning, but they all knew that whatever had caused it was not nearby and no immediate threat. It never helped to be safe, though...
Lynn looked back at the body of their comrade, lying in its own pool of blood caused by the massive wounds from the M271. After witnessing what even the slightest accident could do, they all began taking extra precautions even while simply walking around.
They needed to get moving. The entire operation on the surface was going to be ending shortly, and if they were left on this planet, what they had discovered deep under this earth would remain a secret that would come back to hurt the UNSC, especially if they were caught off guard by this new biological threat. They needed to get out what they knew, and what they had seen.
"On me," Lynn said, getting all the Marines' attention. "Let's move."
The trip down the long dark tunnel was uneventful, but nerve racking. Foster had never been so anxious, and partly paranoid, in his life, and the looks on the Marines around him echoed his own thoughts. They were obviously on the right track, being scared to death always seemed to reassure him of that, but no part of him wanted to continue. He wanted to just turn around and get the hell out.
Ahead of them, in the darkness that was barely broken by their rifle-mounted flashlights, the faint glow of purple resonated. While he couldn't see the end, Foster was sure this was it. They had descended at least fifty meters into the ground from the sloping tunnel, and anymore would have seemed impractical.
When was anything alien ever practical? He kept his rifle up and followed closely to Lieutenant Sherman and their point man, the only sound was the constant breathing by the men around him, and the unusually fast heart beat in his head. He noticed that his actions were not what they used to be; too much time since his last combat operation?
Or was there something down here truly frightening?
"Juliet Delta Four Six..."
The Squad Leader on point stopped and turned around at the squawk from the LRISC behind him. "What the hell? turn that thing off!" The whisper was louder then anyone would have appreciated, but the radio was already loud enough to give away their position to anyone with ears.
The radio operator slung his rifle and stumbled for the switch in the darkness. Foster sighed and pointed his rifle light so the young Marine could see what he was doing. A classic rookie mistake, and one that could cost them all their lives had they been close to threats.
"You son of a bitch," The Squad Leader said in a demeaning whisper. "You are going to get as all killed."
"Enough!" Sherman said before Foster could, silencing the Marines. "We'd be dead already if that gave off our position. See what they have to say."
The radio operator nodded in the darkness, reaching for the transmitter. Foster couldn't see the young man's face in the dark, but it was obvious the Marine was embarrassed from his mistake. These were the men he was given; they were in a highly threatening combat zone and he had boys fresh from basic. His chances weren't that good.
"Red Eye One, Juliet Delta Four Six, go ahead." The whisper into the transmitter was probably barely recognizable by the men on the other end, but none of the Marines, including Foster, would want the radio operator to talk any louder.
"Proceed back to your insertion zone, we have an alteration and you will be extracted as soon as possible. Evac is already underway."
What the hell? Foster slung his rifle and grabbed the transmitter from the young Marine. They had just been dropped off, and hadn't even made it into this facility. Why were they being pulled out? He looked down at his watch; they still had at least an hour before the operation even began ending.
"Red Eye One, say again, why are we being recalled?"
"We have a direct order passed through the senior field commander. Apparently there's been some problems in the fleet and your team is being ordered to extract and discontinue the operation."
Foster let his head hang. So his gut feeling before leaving the Stanton Bay was not a mere concern about his own life, or of those still aboard the carrier. Something had gone wrong up there, and it no doubt probably involved Lieutenant Colonel Nodern, since his commander would not have allowed this to happen if it was not important.
"Roger that, Juliet Delta Four Six proceeding to extraction." Foster handed the transmitter back to the Marine.
He motioned for them to begin moving back up the long, dark tunnel. He was concerned about the situation that caused this mission to be aborted. Nodern had sent them down here specifically to determine if their earlier hypothesis about the Covenant were true, and nothing he could think of would be enough for his CO to recall the endeavor on this planet.
This must be worse then he could think of.
Lynn squinted his eyes as he stepped out into the sun light. For the first time in his life, he had never been so relieved to be out in day light, but he knew why. He knew that the secrets and horrors of this underground facility had forever changed him, and that finding this new enemy would bring endless sleepless nights. Was it possible to recover? In their current situation, recovery from such a horror seemed irrelevant.
Because they were still in it.
They needed to get off this rock and relay their information to some authority that could effectively warn the rest. The minor communications they had prior to entering the facility didn't leave them with much, and the commanders leading this operation probably didn't even have an accurate fix on their own location. Regardless, their time to go had come.
He pulled out the LRISC and activated it, hearing it hum to life. He looked around at the Marines; they were tired, and the long gaze in their eyes betrayed the atrocities they had witnessed. There wasn't much more he could take of this, and the men with him were in no better shape. It was now his job to get them off this combat zone.
"This is Papa Tango Two to any receiver."
Keeton and Johnson walked over slowly as the rest carefully kept an eye on their position atop the hill. The radio remained silent for a few seconds before coming to life, the slightly static transmission breaking through the silence.
"Papa Tango Two, this is Red Eye One, go ahead."
Lynn breathed a quick sigh. "We need an evac as soon as possible."
"What's your current location?"
Lynn looked over at Keeton. The sniper pulled out a small map and quickly found their location. "Hill 201."
"Red Eye One, we are atop Hill 201."
"Roger, standby."
Lynn wiped his brow; the sweat from the quick run up the tunnel to the surface was not long, but tiring. While the adrenaline was running, and they were all motivated just to get out into daylight, it had nonetheless worn each of them out.
He looked around. It was the same scene as when they had entered this facility. The bodies of Covenant lay around the entrance to the tunnel, and the tall trees swayed peacefully in the wind. He looked around at the nearby hills rising up from the sharp, deep canyons, and the high, white mountains along the distant horizon. The sky was fully blue now; the sun in its mid-morning position, and the wispy purple clouds high above them complimented the scene.
But none of this serenity would ever erase the images in his mind. His only hope was that time would wash away those memories, but deep down he knew that time couldn't heal him of this plague, and that what he had lodged painfully in his mind would follow him for the rest of his life.
"Papa Tango Two, we have another Squad being extracted from the nearby Hill 203. Move to that position now and you should be able to catch a ride out with them. That is your only option at this time."
Lynn looked at Keeton, who nodded.
"Wilco, Papa Tango Two out."
The two Marines quickly looked at the map, then got their bearings. The terrain was very rugged, but not hard to traverse. Only the climbing those hills would slow them down, but they were trained, physically fit soldiers. They would manage.
"It's not far at all, one kilometer bearing two-four-two. We should get there in fifteen mikes." Keeton said, stowing the map.
Lynn nodded. Extraction was well within their grasp.
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