Chapter Two
Breach and Clear
John checked his watch, it read 17:38, started the mission timer. He pulled himself, along with his hundred plus pounds of gear, off the seat of the CH-53E Sikorsky and looked around. The first thing that caught his eye was the concerned and confused look on King's face. The next thing was what King was looking at, a giant green space hand floating in the sky above him.
"Holy fuck man," said a PFC. next to him.
"No kidding," said another Marine behind him.
John couldn't believe it, but there it was. A real, alien space ship, fully functional and all. Thoughts raced through his head and for the first time in a long time he felt panic, not the regular adrenaline rush panic he felt with combat, but real, animalistic, panic. He had no idea what the opposition force looked like or even if there was one. He had no idea what their weapons capabilities were or if more of them were coming. He had no idea who they were. John sunk to the ground and placed his hand over his forehead. He felt as though he wanted to crawl into his kevlar vest and wait for someone else to fix things. But he couldn't do that, he had an entire company counting on him to lead them, along with a city of some 7,000 people. "Think man, think! Okay so either Colonel Davis was lying or he's just as in the dark as us. There's still people in the city and that ship," John took a quick second to look up at the hand, "Yup definitely moving towards us, but slowly. Why hasn't it landed yet?
Possible reasons rushed through the old veterans head, but only one made sense and it frightened him more than any other. "They're the same people who came here before, thousands of years ago. They have no idea what their going up against, they're doing recon, getting a lay of the land. But if they're the same people then that means they also packing the same weapons" John wasn't a member of the GGRCA (Global Gem Research and Containment Agency) but he had many chances to talk with members of containment teams and had seen the test videos of recovered gem weapons in action. He had even been on the receiving end of what was called a light cannon in Somalia. The thing managed to total three M113s and disable an M1 Abrams before it's crew was silenced by a 120mm HE round.
John stood and looked around him. The faces of his Marines were panicked and afraid. He looked at the town and expected that the faces of the locals probably shared the same expressions. John double checked his gear and then climbed on top of one of the HUMVEEs that had been airlifted with the battalion.
"Alright Marines listen up!" John shouted over the cacophony of voices. All eyes turned to him, regardless of which branch they belonged to. His company, Bravo, had gone ahead of the main unit and numbered only 134 men in total, "We are the only ones here beside the National Guard and chances are that help isn't going to arrive for another hour or two. In other words, we're on our own. We however still have a job to do. That thing," John said, pointing towards the ship, "Is, until proven other wise, the most immediate threat to the citizens of this city. Given it's current pace I would say we have little over two hours before it hits that beach and whatever's inside comes spilling out. We and that understaffed NG unit are the only line of defense for this city. We need to move Marines, so get off your asses and and let's go! Platoon leaders I need to see you now, and someone get me on the mic with Davis,"
John stepped down and moved towards the nearest Lieutenant. Lt. Fry was the leader of first platoon, young, fresh and inexperienced, only having served 3 months in Afghanistan as a replacement. The kid was however a quick learner and had a good first Sergeant. Fry turned towards John and began to walk his way.
"Fry I need you to take your platoon and move from that car wash to the board walk. Clear any builds on the way there and tell any local you see to move towards the water tower. Tell them that the National Guard will be waiting there for them. Keep a round in the chamber, but all weapons on safe, there might be some wack jobs here who think it's their duty to protect the city. Do not fire unless fired upon. Meet at the base of that hill at 1900 hours, clear?"
"As crystal sir," Fry said with a salute, and then turned towards his platoon that had gathered behind him. John looked over to see that his platoon radioman, Cpl. Ramirez, was walking towards him.
"What you got for me Ramirez?" John asked.
"I got Davis on the line sir," Ramirez said as he handed the phone peice of his radio.
"Colonel, sir, would you mind going over our mission with me again?" John asked.
"What? Have you hit your head son, you're evacing a small ocean side town due to the possibility of a tidal wave hitting it," Davis responded, his voice dripping with impatience and annoyance.
"Then would you mind telling me why in the ever loving fuck there is a giant green, space, hand floating in the sky above me?!' John screamed into the headset.
"Now you listen to me son, I have absolutely no clue what the hell you're talking about. I have given you your mission and I am running thin on patience. If you call me again with more bullshit prank calls I will have your career driven into the ground!"" Davis screamed back and the radio went to static. John headed the headset back to Ramirez and leaned against the side of the Sikorsky.
"So Davis is in the dark just like us. Either that or he's a damn good actor," John thought. This was bad. John had been on plenty of missions where he was kept in the dark, you didn't do special forces work and expect to get all the info, but this was really bad. If Davis had no idea what was happening then any hope for proper reinforcements was gone. John knew that the main unit was two hours behind his helo unit and that was best case. He also could shake the feeling of familiarity.
A voice, small and quiet, but unsettling none the less spoke, "Kali Mul wasn't much bigger than this, and you remember how that went. There weren't even aliens then. I wonder what they'll call you here? Maybe the Beach City Butcher," John wanted to say shut up, but he knew his men were already concerned enough and talking to himself would land him a section eight for sure.
John was brought out of his train of thought by a rough tap on his shoulder. He turned to see his other to platoon leaders were standing at ease and a man dressed in army ACUs next to them. The man had the lieutenants one bar on his shoulders and collar. The man looked John up and down and then introduced himself. "Lieutenant Jacob Spencer, United States National Guard Delmarva light armoured platoon leader sir," the Lieutenant said, with a crisp salute. John resisted the urge to punch the man, and returned the salute.
"I want you to tell me why the hell you didn't inform me, or anyone else for that matter, that a giant space hand is what we're actually going to be dealing with?" John said, each word hammering the air with anger and annoyance.
"We're in the same boat as you sir. Best guess is that the Mayor lied, because let's be honest if he said what was actually happening we would have thought it was a joke by his son. Wouldn't be the first time either," Jacob said, taking a few steps back from the disgruntled Marine.
John let out a deep sigh and said, "Of course, alright what support can you give us?"
"We have two Stryker Mobile Gun Systems, four regulars with the M2, three five ton six by six trucks and six Nam era jeeps. Other than that we just have about a hundred National Guard members, most of them barely nine-teen and losing their shit. Man am I glad you guys are here, how far out is the rest of the battalion and the 3rd MEU?"
"Battalion is two hours out best case and I have no idea about the 3rd MEU, our P-77s don't have the range to contact them. What rounds are the MGSs packing?"
"Mostly HE and canister shot, between them there's about twenty KEP(Kinetic Energy Penetrator) rounds and maybe ten HEAT," Jacob said.
"Okay I want the MGSs and two of the regular Strykers with my guys to meet that thing when it lands. Do you by any chance have any snipers with you?" John asked. His company only had four, himself technically one of them, though his current M4A1 with the CQBR kit hardly fit the bill.
"No but we do have a few guys outfitted with M21s, beyond that the guys I'm rolling with have only done basic and basically forgot it," Jacob replied with a smirk.
"That was a pretty shit joke, but whatever. I need you to give me the best shots you have and move them to the hill. Then take the rest of your guys and sweep the city," John said as he turned to talk with his platoon leaders. Jacob nodded and jogged towards the Funland parking lot that was packed with Strykers and trucks.
"Alright Bowser, I need you to take your weapons platoon and set up your mortars near that donut shop. Have rounds ready to drop, HE on two and WP on the other. Also have two of your snipers in the light house with a M203, (the M203 is an under barrel grenade launcher) and a M249 or M240. Either or works, just make sure they have plenty of ammo," John said and turned to King, his platoon sergeant.
"We're going to sweep from the east side of the boardwalk to the lighthouse hill," John said and turned to the last platoon leader, O'Donnell.
"O, you take your platoon and secure a forward operating base and the base of that water tower. See if any of the NGs have long range radio equipment, and have a squad search the houses just outside of town. Also I'm pretty sure that the Mayor's house is at the edge of town, so if you wouldn't mind pay him a visit,"
"Alright sir, what is protocol for disgruntled civies who want to exercise their second amendment rights?"
"If they fire, fire back and go for shock and awe. You are not to engage unless fired upon first, understood?" John looked each of his platoon leaders in the eye and got a nod from each. John then turned and walked into the Sorisky. As he moved up the ramp the crew chief turned to meet him.
"Hey I know that you guys aren't really outfitted for this, hell you're not even flying a bird meant for this kind of work, but can we count on you for air support?" John asked
"Sure thing Captain, we'll need some more rounds for the fifties if you want us to make more than one gun run,"
"I'll talk to the NGs, I'm sure they can spare some ammo, and I'll have someone check around for a MK19. At the very least you can borrow a few of my grenadiers," John said as he turned and walked out of the helicopter. He stopped and looked over the ocean.
"Taking your damn time, fucking Navy," John muttered under his breath. He then double checked his ammo and other gear going down the list. He was glad that he had gone with his gut and packed extra ammo, along with a few smaller weapons. He the made his way towards his squad and began the sweep. It was going to be a day.
Peridot sat hunched over the ship's main console a scrolled through any old logs on the failed colony. It was odd that few of them mentioned the so called Crystal Gems, and even fewer went into any real detail on them, beyond what rumours had already told her. Everyone knew about the colony, but very few besides the Diamonds themselves knew the actual reason for its abandonment. Peridot had tried asking Jasper about it, but all she would ever get in reply was a few short words about some long forgotten war and then Jasper would walk to the training room. Diamonds she hated that room, always filling the rest of the ship with the sounds of barbaric fighting.
Of course if asked to Peridot would lay down her gem without question for the Diamonds, or shatter anyone who got in the way of their goals, but it didn't make the act any less distasteful. As she looked over another log on the sea spire she saw a notice flash across her screen. There was activity in the grouping of structures below her. Several, what appeared to be primitive ships of some sort, were landing on the north most beach and humans dressed oddly and carrying strange tools were exiting them.
"Odd, maybe humanity has evolved some sort of limb enhancers of their own, or maybe it's communication equipment of some sort," Peridot thought. It had been thousands of years. If humans had sat around doing nothing than the structures below them would exist after all. Peridot shrugged and closed the video feed. Whatever it was, it wasn't relevant to her mission and would probably be of little concern.
Still Peridot couldn't shake the feeling that these humans were somehow different than the others. They were equipped with different body augments after all and something about them, as much as Peridot hated to admit it, was menacing. The tools they carried certainly didn't look like anything she had seen.
BOOM
Peridot jumped in her limb enhancers as the sound of Jaspers fist impacting something echoed through the halls of the ship. She was reminded again of her rather restless and violent companion and could only sigh in annoyance.
"Go to earth they said, it'll be easy and get you the praise of Yellow they said" Peridot muttered to herself. She was, however, slightly comforted by this. There was a reason Yellow Diamond had selected this gem to accompany her after all. Peridot relaxed and proceed to look over other files on her screen. This mission was going to be too easy.
Well there's chapter two, I should be posting three sometime later today and I'm not really sure about these chapters. Both have everything I want, but there's still little things that I don't like, or want to add. But if I wait and keep revising soon I'll be writing a whole other fanfic. please tell me what you like and if you have any ideas.
Sincerely
Joel B Atwater
