Chapter Two:
Inside the building, same time.
The three remaining members of C57D's crew were way beyond terrified. After what had happened to the lead sensor operator, Jane Tsiang, and all of the others, they had every reason to be. They'd discovered The Pax was responsible for what had happened here. Both that the majority of the people, near 30 million hand-picked colonists on the planet, just up and died, a massive tragedy, and that a very small percentage, around one tenth of a percent, became crazed, almost animalistic, hyper aggressive specimens of nature that mayhaps be no longer fully human, although funnily enough they had no problems using weapons and operatin' machinery.
Perhaps because they were the last taken, the pilot, co-pilot and crew chief of C57D were still alive. What had happened to the others…..
There was a reminder of that. These….people….who growled, yelled and howled had started to…..bite, scratch and beat the crew chief, before becomin' strangely calm as the sun had set. He was still alive, if barely, and the pilot and co-pilot remained untouched, for now.
Suddenly what appeared the leader of these human monsters pulled out a pistol from his belt and just…shot the crew chief in the head, his brain matter coverin' the pilot. The crew chief slumped over, dead.
This energized the other half dozen or so human form monsters, most of whom then attacked the co-pilot whilst the pilot was held down, to await his turn to die.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU SUMMBITCH!" raged the pilot.
This took the attention of the "leader" off the now gravely injured co-pilot, and he now turned to face the pilot, growlin' and screechin' and with madness in his eyes, he leveled his pistol and advanced towards the pilot, his murderous intent clear.
In just a few steps, the leader reached the clearly horrified pilot and made to squeeze the trigger.
That was his last action of his malformed life, as the Alliance Navy SEAL Team burst into the large but dimly lit room, through the heavy wooden doors of the buildin', or in Rexer's case through a gorram skylight, their silenced sub-machine guns rippin' into the clearly surprised early form Reavers.
The fight, such as it was, was over in less then 10 seconds. Reaver bodies lay strewn throughout the room – they hadn't got off a single shot.
Loud shouts of "CLEAR!" echoed through the room as each SEAL confirmed that his assigned area of the room was clear of any further enemy activity.
All appeared safe, but as Hawkins was about to confirm his own area as secure, a Reaver not yet dead reached for his weapon. Hawkins emptied the remainder of his clip into the now considerably dead Reaver. "Real Clear." He confirmed, and followed that comment up with a soft "Wow!" as he always enjoyed the rush of a live entry.
This was only the opening stage of the rescue phase of the operation. There was plenty of work still to be done.
Not knowing if or when any more of these once human creatures would appear, Jay sent the Team into action. "Search team in!" he ordered, and he then commed the Fenris "X-Ray this is Bad Karma, objective secured."
The Fenris crew had been nervously awaiting the outcome of the first stage of the rescue. "Bad Karma this is X-Ray, what is your situation over?"
"We're preparin' ta move, three passengers, on schedule, headin' to the primary LZ" Jay commed, advising the Fenris as to which pre-arranged pick up point, or Landing Zone, the Team would head to.
"X-Ray, roger, out." Steve confirmed as he placed the Fenris in a dive as he headed towards the primary LZ.
The clock was running and it was imperative the Team got out, quick like.
"60 seconds" Billy advised as he grabbed any documents he could find, standard procedure was for the Team to be on their way in one minute.
Jay took a quick survey of the C57D's crew, one dead, one alive, one badly injured, but where are the rest of the ruttin' crew? As he approached the pilot, Jay hoped to find out. Jay removed his helmet and was immediately assaulted by the smell. "We're a SEAL Team, we're hear ta get ya out."
"I believe you" the still stunned pilot of C57D replied.
"Where are the rest of ya crew?"
The pilot looked at Jay with haunted eyes, "Dead.." he whispered.
"Jao Gao!" Jay swore as he replaced his helmet and checked the seal. No ruttin' way was he goin' to breathe the foul air for any longer than he had to.
"50 seconds!"
Ramos has his own task to do – document the scene with a hand held vid capture. "Bad guy" he said as he filmed a Reaver, "Bad guy…..bad guy" over and over until all the Reavers images had been captured. Task almost complete, "Good guy" he remarked as he filmed the now dead crew chief of C57D. He wouldn't be left behind though, no ruttin' way.
"40 seconds!"
Whilst most of the Team was involved in keeping watch for any more Reavers, Leary, "The Doc", checked over the badly injured co-pilot. He didn't like what he saw, broken ribs, broken jaw, head wounds…
"Leary how is he?" Jay asked.
"He's powerful hurt Boss."
"30 seconds!"
"Leary we gotta move! Get temp masks on them." Jay replied, anxious to get the hell off this gorrram planet.
"Ok I need some help, I need some help!" Leary called as Rexer moved over to help.
"20."
Just then, another Reaver ran into the room, knocking Hawkin's sub-machine gun out of his hand. Hawkin's automatically reached for his non silenced shotgun, perfect for such a close shot.
Jay was stunned. If he uses that loud shotgun, we's humped! "HAWKINS! Don't break…." Too late.
Hawkins blew the Reaver away with three very loud shotgun blasts.
"Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng!" Jay exclaimed. "We're compromised, everybody out, NOW!"
Time to get the hell out of Dodge, and the Team moved as one towards the designated exit point, Leary and C57D's pilot half carryin' the co-pilot as Rexer lifted the body of the crew chief into a fireman's carry.
Hawkins was still starin' at the remains of the Reaver as Jay yelled, "Gorram it Hawkins, let's go!"
It weren't far to the primary LZ, and the Team went out the rear of the buildin', down the stairs. They stopped at the corner of the buildin' as they had come to a major road. It was wide, surprisingly well lit, and couldn't be crossed quickly with the dead and wounded. The howlin', screechin' and screamin' had picked up some, and appeared to be gettin' closer. It had to be crossed, but could it be done without the Team being spotted?
Rexer peeked around the corner – it seemed clear. He nodded to Hawkins, who indicated to Jay via hand signs that they were going to cross the road and check the other side. If it all checked out the Team could cross in safety. The two SEAL Team members quickly crossed to the other side of the road without incident.
Rexer peeked back around the corner to where the rest of the Team were hidden, and again it all seemed clear. Again he nodded to Hawkins who signaled to Jay that all was clear…..
Jay made sure the Team and C57D crew members were ready to move, but as they stepped out on the road they were immediately taken under fire., bullets careering of the wall behind them.
"HOSTILES, HOSTILES, BACK IT UP!" Jay yelled as the Team found cover where they could, returnin' fire at their so far unseen enemies.
Relatively safe in his position across the road, Rexer knew what had to be done to get the rest of the Team out from under the enemy's guns.
"God? God?" Rexer called to Dane, high in his sniper position in a crane by the sea port.
"God here." Dane replied, whilst searching through his 'scope for a target.
"God we got's a single shooter, south east tower…"
"Yeah, I see 'im." God replied. From 500 yards away Dane took his shot, killing the Reaver instantly.
"Nice shot, but you got two more." Rexer advised, as the Team continued to fire back at the Reavers.
Dane peered through his scope. "Got nothin' on Starlight, switchin' to thermal." He advised as he switched the mode of his sniper scope to thermal imaging, hoping to pick up the body heat of the targets. "Ok, hold on." he commed Rexer. Two quick shots later both targets were down.
Jay then came over the radio, "God, what's our status?"
"They're not movin', you're clear."
Time to go. "Let's move out!" Jay ordered.
This time they made it halfway across the street before more Reavers appeared and started shooting at the Team. Fortunately no one was hit as the Reavers were content to spray bullets everywhere instead of taking aimed shots.
Tian Fan Di Fu thought Jay as he, Rexer and Hawkins laid down covering fire from behind a skiff allowing the others to duck into another buildin'.After the three had emptied their magazines they quickly joined them at the entrance to the buildin'. Jay urgently commed the Fenris, "We're meetin' heavy resistance!"
"They's comin' out of the ruttin' woodwork!" Billy yelled in frustration, taking out a Reaver as Jay continued to talk to the Fenris.
The Team was taking a heavy toll on the Reavers, but they seemed to be everywhere.
Leary was frantic as the co-pilot groaned heavily, "Gorram it we're losin' him, we gotta get 'im outta here!"
Jay's mind was made up. "All units, we're cut off from our primary LZ, goin' to LZ two, repeat, goin' to LZ two!"
"Bad Karma, X-Ray, roger…" replied Steve, now moving the Fenris closer to the secondary landin' zone position, where, hopefully, they'd be able to pick up the Team and the survivor's of the C57D crew.
Angrily turnin' to Hawkins, whose impetuous use of the shotgun had landed the Team in their current position, Jay yelled "You're startin' to piss me off, now cool off!"
"I am cool" Hawkins replied with a smirk, "you should see me when I'm hot!"
"You gotta buy us some time." An unimpressed Jay ordered. The Team needed the Reavers occupied so they could make their escape.
"How much time do you want?" Hawkins asked.
"Bird leaves at 0245" Jay advised, "be there or swim…" Patting Hawkins on the shoulder, Jay led the rest of the Team through the buildin' towards the second prearranged landin' zone.
Billy elected to stay with Hawkins to provide the diversion for the Team's escape.
"Graham, cover me" Hawkins ordered as he ran, firin', towards a large group of Reavers clustered near a collection of gas tanks.
With Billy providin' effective coverin' fire, Hawkins was able to get within grenade throwin' range of the gas tanks. "Hopefully these Ung Jeong Jia Ching Jien Soh have paid their gas bill" he murmured as he primed a grenade. The gas tanks had to be full for his plan to work.
Hawkins threw the grenade at the collection of gas tanks and was rewarded with a huge blast, killing all the nearby Reavers and temporarily stunnin' the remainder. A perfect diversion.
"Whoa! You owe me a case o' beer Billy!" Hawkins yelled.
"Ya got it!" was his answer.
Hawkins and Graham then sprinted as fast as they could towards the secondary LZ.
Meanwhile the others had just arrived at the secondary LZ, which was a loadin' area near the seaport.
"Take cover behind them crates." Jay ordered, and the Team immediately found cover amongst them. They needed to set up a defensive position whilst they waited for the Fenris, as they could be attacked at any time. "Let's set up a perimeter." Jay commed to his men, and after checkin' his watch which read 0243, he commed the Fenris, "X-Ray, this is Bad Karma, we're ready to be extracted."
As the Team began to set up a defensive perimeter, shots rang out and Rexer was hit in the leg, fallin' down in the open, an easy target.
"Sniper on the roof!" yelled Ramos, then as he turned away more shots rang out. "There's another one!" he screamed as he, and the rest of the Team, returned fire.
Rexer was still down, and Jay ran into the open and quickly pulled him behind a group of crates.
Suddenly, the mighty roar of the twin engined assault transport could be heard as it descended quickly to pick up the Team.
"Bad Karma, X-Ray we're comin' in and takin' fire!" Steve yelled over the comm, not likin' the situation one bit.
This was Dane's cue to rappel down the crane to join the rest of the Team, which he did in record time.
"Bad Karma X-Ray, come on let's go!" Steve yelled frantically.
Jay was about to give the order to head top the transport when Hawkins and Graham ran around the corner. Relieved that his Team was now complete, the order was given. "Alright extract, everybody go!"
They all ran for the open cargo door of the Fenris as Reavers poured into the area. Many seemed to lack firearms, though, for which Jay was thankful. "Everyone move" he ordered, "In,in,in,in,in,in,IN!" he counted his Team off as they moved into the ship with the crew of the C57D.
Jay would be last in, after everyone else was safely aboard.
Once Jay boarded, Steve immediately placed the Fenris into full burn, in atmo, fryin' many of the Reavers gathered below, their cries of rage, even as they died, drowned out by the scream of the ships' engines.
Once they settled into The Black, the Team began to wind down from combat mode as the assault transport headed to Lilac, and the hun dans aboard the Dortmunder.
Using the sparse medical facilities on the Fenris, Leary began to do a full check on the co-pilot of C57D.
"How's he doin'?" Jay enquired.
"I think he'll be OK."
Jay smiled, first time in a while. "Shiny." As he was about to walk off to check on his men, the pilot of C57D grabbed his arm.
"Lieutenant, I really…..you guys are incredible, thank you." The pilot said, with tears in his eyes.
Jay shook his head. "There ain't no reason to thank us," he said seriously, "because we don't exist. You never saw us, this never happened." Jay patted him on the shoulder and walked off.
Sitting behind C57D's pilot, Hawkins yelled out. "One more thing….you're welcome."
Smilin', they all got as comfortable as they could for the trip back to the Dortmunder.
Jao Gao! What a mess
Ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng! Frog-humping son of a gun
Tian Fan Di Fu Sheer pandemonium
Ung Jeong Jia Ching Jien Soh Filthy fornicators of livestock:
hun dans Jerks
