The crunch of snow under foot had been increasing in volume for the last few minutes. Accompanied by the occasional snap of a twig and inaudible murmur of voices the column of white, armour clad warriors emerged into the clearing. Helmet pushed back on his head, Casper Knel gazed into the sky, enjoying the cooling feeling of snow flakes on his face, a welcome relief to sweat starting to form on his brow. He cradled his weapon in his arms, it still felt strange to look down and see a weapon in his hands. He would get used to it the older men in his unit told him, get used to it or die.
Hood down low over his eyes, Xander slowly cocked his head, just half an inch. Just enough to enough to slide another small piece of snow into his mouth, enough to stop his breath visibly rising and showing his presence. Several days he and his partner had laid in this hide. Invisible, counting Tau shoulder pads as patrols moved through the area. Xander smirked as he noticed the grin on young Hayak's face, knowing the young Ranger had another Xeno in his words of caution were needed to the young soldier, though still a mere pup compared to Xander, he was disciplined and well trained enough to know not to waste a shot and blow their cover. Their task wasn't to kill, not yet, but simply watch.
Lt. Jacen checked the data slate, again. He'd checked it every 3 minutes for the last two hours, despite Sgt Xander being a that kind of veteran that seemed indestructible, it played on his mind that the two of them were out there alone. He gazed out of the second floor window into the courtyard where the rest of Delta team waited, fully kitted up and passing time cleaning weapons or sparring in armed close combat. Satisfied they were ready at a moments notice to race to the sniper teams aid, Jacen checked the slate again.
Confident he had seen enough, Xander nudged his young team mate. Slowly rising from their hiding place, Xander removed his his hood and replaced it with a peaked field cap. It only took a few minutes for both men to hide any sign they had been there and shoulder their packs. Happy, Xander lead the way through the forest. The young Ranger silently marvelling at how the old Sgt seemed to leave nearly no footprints in the new fallen snow.
As he reached the cliff edge, he placed his pack against the trunk and lowered himself to one knee . Cradling his rifle with his left arm, he pulled the frosted scarf from his face. Only a few pages behind, Hayak shook his head at how Sgt Xander appeared to be swallowed into the shadow of the great fir tree. He slumped down next the Sgt's bag and removed a mini vox caster. As he powered up the unit, Xander brought his scope from his eye and nodded at the youngster.
"Delta 1, Delta 1. Target acquired ".
