Chap 2. The Mission_____________________________________________
Chris and the rest of his team sat in the cargo bay of the war ship Robert Kennedy tensely preparing for the quickly approaching mission. Chris sat in his corner cleaning his rifle, thoughts running through his head like a pinball machine gone mad. He had foregone cryo sleep so that he could keep in top physical shape. Besides, he hated going into the tubes, something about freezing his body for long periods of time made him feel helpless. The only problem was the fact that his insomnia had kicked in again so he spent most of his time pacing the decks and lifting. Not a fun way to spend a month but it needed to be done and there was no better time to do it.
As he looked over his team his thoughts focused in on his team, there was the golden child John, his shadows Kelly and Fred and Linda a lone wolf like himself. "God I wish I could go on this damned mission myself," he thought as he slammed the clip into his assault rifle. I might as well go other there and make nice with our fearless leader." As Chris walked over toward the group, he could hear John go over the assignments for the mission.
"This is going to be an assault, snatch and grab mission. We need to be extra sharp while we're in the complex there's going to be a ton of mines, and troops firing from all directions. So mind your lines of fire, and we can all go home in one piece.''
Chris rolled his eyes at this cliché and laughed that they had picked this man as their leader. He had done just as much as him but John had the one little incident on the Atlas to further his reputation. "John, I understand the point of you, Sam, Kelly, and Linda but why am I here?" Chris asked a slight note of sarcasm in his voice. "Well you're here for your strength," John responded coldly, "This General is a big guy and we need a strong back to heft him up." "So I'm just a meathead to you?" Chris asked the anger in the pit of his gut rising. "Yeah basically," John responded and stood up to meet Chris eye to eye. "What Johnny, you still pissed that I out lifted you last month," Chris roared back meeting John nose to nose. "Alright you two put your cocks back in your pants, you're teammates and family." Kelly said as she inched the two battling Spartans apart. "Ok Kelly, I guess your right." Chris conceded as he glared at John one more time and walked back to his corner.
Chris was still in an internal rage when Linda crept over by him and sat down. "What the hell was that about?" she asked calmly. "Nothing," Chris lied "Don't lie to me Chris, you and John have been at each others throats since boot, I think you're just two alpha males that feel you have to compete for control of the team." Linda stated with a minor smirk "You know I can do with out you always trying to psychoanalyze me Ms. Lone wolf." Chris shot back with a chuckle. Linda said nothing to this just a quick sniff and continued "What is your problem with John then?" she asked. "I don't like the way he thinks that everybody should listen to him because he was up Chief Mendez's ass all of the time." Chris replied with a tone of insolence in his voice. "John is trying his hardest to lead us to victory," Linda said, "I really think you should give him a chance. You might actually like him." "Yeah like I'm ever going to like Superman over there," Chris snorted "I'm going to change into my black suit I'll see you in a bit kid." All Linda was left to do was to sigh and walk back to her beloved rifle.
As Chris walked away he had become increasingly angry. "How dare she take his side," he thought, "I mean all he ever does is act like we are not a team. He thinks he's fucking immortal." He went into the back of the bay and checked his suit, there were no holes but a lot of blood stains on it. As he slipped it over shoulders he put his brain into work mode. There was no more rivalry with John, no more trying to make Linda laugh, just calm readiness and an urge to get this mission over with.
As they sat in the Pelican Chris noticed that the tension was thicker than he ever had ever felt it. "Guys, no worries, lets just get this done," he said looking at all of them. They all nodded and started their final weapons check at the pilot clicked on the intercom. "Two minuets," he said and banked the pelican into a hard turn to drop them on the moon of Volta. Chris locked down his final checklist and exited the pelican and took point on the roof of the building. Fred cut a hole into the roof and blue team roped down into the complex. As the last Spartan rappelled down to the floor John gave the hand signal for delta formation.
As the team filed into position, Chris saw the flash of leather boots to his right. Just as he signaled that there were contacts to the right the report of machine gun fired dropped all of them to the ground. Chris pulled the trigger in unison with the rest of his unit and quickly the noise died down. "I thought you said it was all clear 64," John whispered. "It was clear 117," Chris replied than pointed to a door to the right which on the map said led to the main room of the complex. John also pointed that way and the whole team moved through that door and into the heart of enemy territory.
As they entered the great room of the complex John pointed to Chris and Fred to spread out and for Linda to find a good spot for her to shoot from. As they moved John sided up with Kelly and told her she was the rabbit and to draw the guards out. Kelly nodded and sprinted with her cheetah like speed into the next room. Chris crouched behind a desk and readied a fragmentation grenade, a nice little surprise for the bastards following her.
Within 2 minuets Kelly reappeared with 15 guards behind her trying to catch her but failing miserably. It was almost too easy when Chris lofted the grenade over the desk into the mass of insurgents. As the main group of survivors displaced, Chris switched to his assault rifle and calmly mowed down three guards until he felt a pair of arms wrap around his shoulders. Chris dropped to the ground rolled to his right and pulled a combat knife out from his belt. The guard threw a punch at him which Chris easily deflected. With the guard overextended from the punch Chris easily thrust the knife between the mans ribs and shimmied back as he fell to the ground. As Chris surveyed the situation, he heard the squish of bullet meeting flesh and the report of a long rife. He looked behind him to see a guard felled by Linda's dead eye accuracy.
John gave the signal to move forward, and the team double timed it out of the foyer and into the door that Kelly and the guards came from. Chris switched to his pistol as the hallway led to one door. John kicked down the door that led to a richly decorated office. As the team swept the room, Chris noticed the desk shake ever so slightly. Chris raised his hand to grab the teams attention, and threw it on its side to find a portly man in a gray uniform. He quickly jumped on the man, as Fred handed him the syringe of sedative to subdue the hysterical general. As Chris pushed the chemical in to the General's bloodstream, he pushed a panic button located underneath the desk before falling limp at Chris's feet.
Klaxons blared as the intruder alarm went off throughout the entire complex. "We've got to go" John said and popped a new clip into his assault rifle. The team followed suit as Chris picked up the passed out officer and carried him out of the office. As they came out of the door they were met by a guard patrol which the team dispatched with ease. They all quickened their pace through the great hall with more guards right behind them. When an RPG round flew over their heads, John ordered them each to take cover behind the large pillars of the room. Chris, having the large body of the general on his shoulders, ducked behind the first pillar and dropped the dead-weight on his shoulders behind him.
As Chris pulled out the assault rife from his pack he heard the familiar whine of a RPG whiz past his head and hit the top of the pillar next to him. He decided to end this once and for all. He sighted a tall blonde private with the RPG, and squeezed the trigger like was trained. A three shot burst rang out and the man dropped like a sack of potatoes. Chris sighted the other RPG wielding man and repeated the process, but just as he got the shots off he saw the launcher light up and send another explosive projectile toward him. Chris dived out of the way before the rocket made contact right were he was standing just seconds before. The report from the rocket sent him flying back and he felt the heat of the explosion on his face. As he pulled him self up he heard John scream, "double time fall out pelicans outside at the loading bay."
Chris never ran faster in his life, even with the 300 pound general on his back, when he heard John say those words. The team was still in formation, just sprinting out of a bad situation. As the team neared the large blast doors that were the entrance to the loading bay John slammed the doors shut and blue team, with Chris following closely, boarded the pelican.
As Chris ran into the belly of the pelican he noticed a light clinking sound on the metal floor. When he looked down he saw his worst fear, a primed grenade thrown on the ship by the only person overlooked in the loading bay, a young child. Chris dropped the general and kicked the grenade, then saw a bright flash and darkness.
AN: Nice, first cliffhanger, kinda you know the drill review if ya want. Later ya'll RJB