Chapter 3: Liquid Fire


Utgard Fields, Outside Utgard, Harvest

January 20th, 2531

MISSION CLOCK: 00:15:30

Private First Class "Kyon" - SOS Squad

As we emerged from the forest out into the wheat fields, there was a sound above us. Haruhi motioned for us to get down into the shadows of the trees. We all lay there until the sound faded away. Haruhi started to stand, before pressing herself against the ground again. "Patrol. Dead ahead to the north. Nagato, get up in a tree, give us cover; Koizumi, hide here; Mikuru don't get in the crossfire PLEASE; Kyon, you're with me." With that, she turned towards the patrol, got onto her feet, still crouching, and started walking quickly on a tangent from them.

I followed Haruhi. Our visors lit them up in red. "2 gorillas, 5 little critters and 3 armoured ones," I reported. Haruhi nodded once. "Nagato, sitrep."

"Patrol have not noticed either of you. Suggest you stay put until they pass, then hit them from their flank."

"Roger. Nagato, when I give the signal, take your shots."

"Affirmative."

Tense moments passed. I could hear my own breathing; it sounded terribly loud in the night. The patrol was leisurely strolling towards the forest. One stopped the section. He promptly turned towards us, took off some of his armour, unzipped his leggings and-

"Auuuuuuuuuu-" Haruhi hissed, turning away in disgust. I felt the alien's pain. I had had to do that many times. I lifted my SMG to my shoulder, stock firmly placed, and looked through the sights. Hmm, if I managed to neuter an alien, would that count as a lot more kills? Meanwhile, the sound of alien excretory liquid was still going; the smell was wafting this way with the wind. I was glad that the helmet had filters.

"Oh my god, I can't take much more of this. Nagato, hit any one of them except the one...you know which one I'm talking about. Leave him to me. I'll make sure I rough him up good. Maybe dress him up a little for that DISGRACEFUL behaviour." Haruhi whispered.

"On my mark. Mark!"

BAM. And the dirt is gone, I thought. BAM. BAM. BAM. 4 fell, blood splurting from their throats; the one excreting panicked; even MORE started gushing out. Wow. Maybe he can't put his armour back on cos it'll short circuit it. Damn am I glad for good old kevlar weaving. I took out the rest of the section; Koizumi lent a hand and Haruhi immediately headed for the pissing one who looked around frantically; he hadn't had the sense to draw his weapon? Haruhi immediately thwacked him over the head, andsent him crashing to the ground.

"HOW DARE YOU-" SMACK! "SHOW THAT KIND OF-" THUD! I think something cracked there, Haruhi. "...THING, TO A FEMALE!" She ended it with a swift and justly kick to the groin. The alien cried out in anguish. Man, I felt that pain too. Haruhi's kicks were HAAAAAAAAAAAAARSH. it burned whenever I peed for 2 weeks after she had kicked me there.

The squad were now all assembled around the shaking alien, obviously very intimidated by this fierce human. I could see that Koizumi was visorpalming; Mikuru was shaking as if it had hurt her too; and Nagato was still expressionless, rifle pointed loosely at the ground. I noticed something odd. "Hey, Haruhi, it DOES have 4 mandibles. And a...well, plasma gun. AND high tech armour! What a coincidence!" I tried to keep the atmosphere light; I wasn't helping. Haruhi brought the thoroughly distressed alien to its feet. "I'm going to make you wish you hadn't-"

PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH. I looked at Haruhi's boots; they were now slick and shiny.

"Oh that does it." Haruhi promptly snapped its neck. It fell lifelessly to the ground.

"You know, Haruhi..." I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. My hands and SMG were unconsciously protecting my groin. "We could have...uh... you know...NOT killed him and brought him in?"

Haruhi harrumphed. "Not after that display." She turned back towards the fields. "Come on; half a klick more, and we're at the rally point." She switched to planetside channel. "Delta, this is SOS. Over."

"SOS, this is Delta. Over."

"Delta, this is SOS. Confirm Loc and approximate distance from Alpha. Over."

"SOS, this is Delta. We're there. Bravo is with us. Waiting on you, Echo and Foxtrot. Over."

"Delta, this is SOS. Roger. Out."

Haruhi turned towards us. "Aight, let's get to that checkpoint."

Once they arrived, the field was illumintaed by the moon. There was a light breeze rustling the wheat heads.

"Sergeant, do you smell that?" Haruhi's weapon was up and scanning.

"Yeah. A cigar." Koizumi replied, slowly lowering his MA5B.

"Hoho, you caught us out, ~nyoro. Who the hell was smoking before and got the smoke onto their suit, dammit?!"

2nd LT Tsuruya came up from her prone position, and motioned for the others to stand. She deactivated her visor. "The others haven't arrived yet. I'm getting a bit worried...they haven't answered our hails either." Haruhi noticed one ODST smoking a cigar. She frowned, but made no comment.

"I'll try calling them." She once again went to planetside channel. "Echo Squad, this is SOS. Over."

Silence.

Then -

"IT'S A FUCKING TRAP! GET THE FU-"

An enormous explosion erupted just behind SOS squad. I was thrown backwards, and tumbled over and over in the dirt, knocked my head against a sharp rock, and was abruptly knocked out.