Chapter 4: Slip In
(For you sickos out there, the title means slipping into enemy territory, retards. But you can look forward to some lemon later on.)
Ricky Sterman hefted up his new over-and-under, belt-fed Gauss Rifle, designed for his specialty, putting a hell of a lot of bullets into his target. Cloaked, he slipped past a pair of zerglings fighting over a sac of vespene gas, and Ricky was repulsed.
The larger of the two, maybe one of the pack leader Devouring Ones the briefing had spoken of. If a Devouring was here, a Hunter Killer or two would be as well. Ricky shivered, unconsciously. Genetically superior Hydralisks, Hunter Killers could sniff out almost anything, including a cloaked suit of CMC-400 armor. Or the sweating mother fucker inside it. Ricky didn't intend to find out, those spines could and would puncture right through his armor, and Hunter Killers were renowned for their accuracy as much as their aggressiveness.
His HUD lit up his teammates so he wouldn't bump into them and blow the op. Funny, why was Sam reading on his scopes? He wasn't even in the Suit's range. Must be a malfunction. Ricky flicked his armor in the head and continued on. A fried Zerg limb snapped under his boot, and the Devouring Zergling looked up, its opponent forgotten. Ricky quickly caught the little monster in his sight and blew its brains out. The Other zergling just went to the sac of vespene, then devoured the whole thing in one gulp, over-extending its jaws like a snake.
'Nasty little buggers.' Ricky thought, quoting Oliver Wood from the Harry Potter DVD he'd owned when he was a kid. Ricky banished that thought from his brain and then continued moving. The air coming into his suit was getting increasingly putrid, and Ricky was tempted to bash the intakes to clear them out. But such an action would reveal their position.
"Oh son of a bitch!" a Hellmarine called. Suddenly, eight Hydralisks burst up from the ground and started firing.
"Shit!" Ricky decloaked and began firing. His suit's internal lighting went up as his cloak went down, and the recoil pounded into his armor. A hydralisk tripped over his rounds and was cut in half viscously.
A Goliath suddenly appeared and began to cut the monsters down with Autocannon fire. A Hellmarine gave a scream as he was cut apart by three Hydralisks, but Ricky quickly put a round into the man's chest and moved into the cut down the 'lisks. One Hydralisk, a massive serpent of muscle and bone turned and began to slither away rapidly, sacrificing its attack to move rapidly. Ricky cursed and chased after it. He started gaining on it, but it was still too fast, and it new the terrain. It was going through the rocks, as opposed to Ricky's going around, cussing like a sailor as he did.
"Hey, snakey," Sam Perry called, standing in front of the serpent. It raised into a fighting position, hissing like a cobra. "Eat slugs." He emptied his entire clip into the creature.
& & &
Michael checked the batteries on his suit. He only had another few hours before his CMC-950 armor would need a recharge. Bill approached him in his 400 hundred suit, taking swigs from a flask he carried.
"Seen some things, but these damn aliens make a wire-wolf look like a pansy." Bill muttered, sitting down beside the Firebat.
"Don't insult the wolf." Michael muttered. "Fenris is a frozen hell full of them, and they can think. If you've ever tired hunting one, you'll know it's not a hunt, it's a championship match, and the loser loses all."
"How many have you killed? Personally?"
"Two." Michael said simply, taking a swig from his canteen.
"Two? What about Painkiller and Hellmaker?" Bill asked, looking to the giant man.
"Not sure about Sam, but I'm pretty sure he's killed at least ten. He was tough even before he was Painkiller. But Ricky, there's a wolf in human form. He thinks like them all the time. Wolves only think about one thing, killing, and that's it. How to do it, and how to get to a position to do it. Quickly, cleanly. They can't digest something they didn't kill. They just wind up puking it up. Ricky thinks about who he has to kill to eat again. It's a need to kill. He can go just fine without, but he needs it to keep on living.
"I've only seen one person outhunt Hellmaker, and that's Sam, and it was practically a fluke. Ricky's killed twenty-two wolves with his bare-hands. He killed a Fenrisian Kraken once, but he used a spear. But, he did it."
Michael took another swig and popped the top back on and stood. "I hope they comeback. Ricky gave me this purpose, and it dies if he does."
"You miss your homeworld?" Bill called.
Michael turned. "Fenris? Hell no. It's a frozen hell of a planet. If you live past six, congrats, man, you just became an adult. I'm twenty-three, so I'm old, by my standards. Sam is actually an Elder back there, and Ricky? Ricky's a demon."
& & &
"I told you to stay with the others, but you not only disobeyed me, you brought the Goliath!" Ricky shouted. His trigger finger was twitching.
"Goliath? I didn't bring my Goliath. I was following you in my armor. I couldn't get a Goliath through this." Ricky turned back to his squad and started running. He jumped over a rock wall when he caught sight of them. Four squads of Men, ten marines and two firebats per squad.
'Who's the leader?' a Sergeant asked. Ricky jumped down into the pit.
"Me. Lieutenant Ricky Sterman, of the Hellmarines."
'Sergeant Justin Bukawski, first Lunar Battalion. Well, what's left of it. We've got medics.' Ricky looked around and did noticed a pair of medics.
'Great.' Sam called. The gathering looked up. 'Means you can fix this.' He showed off his left leg, which was punctured with a Hyrdalisk's severed scythe-claw. Ricky hissed.
"Jesus, man, don't you feel anything?" Ricky asked, hoping he'd answer yes.
'No. Got a little tightening of the groin because I'm picturing female nurses for some reason, but other than that, not much.'
"You mean you can actually feel the scythe?"
"Oh, yeah. It doesn't hurt, it just feels kinda weird. Think it might of hit the bone a little on the right side, but I'm fine."
"Note to self, get you a beer."
"I'll be happy to remind you."
'Um, the medics are all male.'
"Ah, crap." Sam cursed.
"Got any corporals?" Ricky asked.
'Yes sir. Corporal Richard Bedwell, (no, seriously,) and Matt Weaver. We, uh, we just call him Pieman.' Justin replied.
"Pieman?"
'He's weird that way, sir.'
Ricky sighed. "Where's the Ghost?"
'No idea, sir.' Came a Hellmarine's reply. Ricky met Sam's gaze.
"Dixie!" no reply.
'Ricky!' she screamed. 'They have me!'
& & &
"What about this Dixie character?" Bill asked.
"If she gets caught by something with a brain smaller than a siege tank, lord help us." Michael muttered.
& & &
Ooh, the complications deepen. How interesting. Alright, I'll admit, I'm starting to write crap. It feels like crap, smells like crap, and looks like crap. Please tell me it's not crap?