"Go fish." Kellner rolled her shoulders resulting in a string of small
cracking noises resounding from her aching body.
"That's crap and you know it! I saw a three in your hand when I went to take a whiz!" Deuce threw down his cards in disgust, rising to his feet.
"Then you need your abnormally large eyes examined, ET, coz I don't got no threes!" Kellner's quick temper pulled its head out of the sand.
"You know what? Bite me!" Deuce turned on his heels and stormed off. Kellner sat back down on her rock and gave Deuce the frowning of a lifetime. If looks could kill…
"OK, I think that's enough socialising for now apes; sentry change over in 2 minutes. Wilson take RD's position; Kellner relieve T'Clar; Carter swap with Pugh; O'Brien replace Ranmyaku and Deuce, go find Pvt. Wild Magic." The comm. link crackled carrying the voice of Lt. Velasquez. A collective moan rose from the extremely bored troopers. Lt. Holloway's rather impatient voice replaced Velasquez.
"Come on, get your cans in gear! I want you in your positions in 2 minutes. Get to it!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~~Crash, bang, crash, crash, bang!~~
Deuce tramped through the thick, infuriating scrub of the humid rainforest. He hated hiking; had ever since he was 10.
"OK! Let's re-cap shall we? First the orders come down that we have to go on a stupid locate and secure mission; then, we find out something is trying to pick us off one by one; THEN, I'm sent on a hike through this OH SO PRETTY forest! Can my life get any worse? I'll answer that one; NO!" Deuce continued mumbling to himself as he closed in on the sentry position he was supposed to be at.
Deuce's wrist beeped wildly as he'd reached the exact location of the sentry post.
"Hey Private! I'm here to relieve you from sentry! Get your butt back to base!" Deuce bellowed; the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. He tried to radio base camp.
"Wild Magic isn't responding to my calls, sir's. I'm at the given co- ordinates and there's no sign of her." Deuce did a thermal scan of the immediate area.
"And before you ask, yes, I have done a thermal scan and it came back negative. Nothing warm blooded in a 5 meter radius." He waited for conformation but there was none.
"Sir? Lieutenant do you copy?" Nothing but static. Deuce fumbled with his radio unit, coming to the conclusion that he didn't know what the hell he was doing; the el-tee was the tech expert, not him!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Sergeant!? Deuce can you hear me!?" Velasquez shouted her heart out over the comm. link but to no avail. They couldn't contact Deuce or Pvt. Wild Magic. Holloway turned exasperated to the psychics.
'"Ranmyaku, RD; can't you pick up even the slightest signal?!" Ranmyaku appeared incredibly lost and disappointed with herself. She tried to explain herself to the two fuming Lieutenants.
"Nothing's getting through sir. It's as if there's something blocking my searches." Velasquez got on the horn to her Cpl. Out on sentry.
"O'Brien report!" Mandy's voice came back loud and clear.
"Everything's hunky-dory, El-tee. No sign of the Sarge or Pvt. Wild Magic." Velasquez put her head in her hands: momentarily failing to up hold her tough exterior. Finally she turned back to face the staring troopers.
"I need five volunteers." Everyone knew what she was planning; no one disagreed with her reasoning. If they weren't coming out; they were going in. Ranmyaku immediately stepped forward. A slight nod of her head telling Velasquez she'd go.
"You'll need a crack-shot to cover your six." Kortual stepped forward; the only indication to his emotions, the fact that his eyes glowed with a green brilliancy. He walked to stand behind the el-tee next to Ranmyaku. RD stepped forward; a sheepish grin manipulated her features.
"Two psychic's are better then one; that's what I always say." Holloway stood fast; rolling his eyes as RD sauntered behind Velasquez.
"Hey count me in! You don't honestly expect me to sit by and let you guys have all the fun?" Elbee did a little hop, skip and a jump; saluting as she skipped behind the Lieutenant. Velasquez smiled returning the gesture.
"One more and that should do it." She looked around at the remaining troopers, glaring.
"I'll go. Better then sitting around here counting trees." Maniac stepped forward eagerly. Holloway moved to block her way.
"You're not going anywhere Cpl. You've only got mobility in one arm." O'Neill frowned, glaring at her useless arm.
"But I only need one hand to pull a trigger, el-tee. Plus I'm bored out of my skull!" Velasquez stepped forward grinning.
"If you're so bored you can run an ammo count, then find the LZ to see how far we've got to hike." Maniac rolled her eyes before saluting, mockingly, with her good arm.
"What's an alarm clock without a cucumber?" Everyone turned to look at McLeod questioningly. She grinned raising her eyebrows.
"A loose translation might go somewhere along the lines of I'm in."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Deuce checked his co-ordinates for the 5th time since he'd lost radio contact. He was positive he was in the right place but that was about the only thing he knew.
"Someone MUST have noticed they couldn't get in touch with me!" He sat down on a rock to wait for someone to come looking. He started to doubt his own reckoning when the seconds turned into minutes and a minute turned into 5. He did another thermal scan expecting nothing. Deuce slowly rose to his feet as his scanner detected something 5 meters on his six. He lifted his Morita slowly and turned ready to shoot anything that so much as moved. His scanner stated beeping as this "thing" closed in on his position. A wail reached Deuces ears as Pvt. Wild Magic came crashing through the forest towards him. She just about ran into Deuce looking over her shoulder.
"It's coming! It's after me! Don't let it get me!" She struggled to free herself from Deuces tight grip on her shoulders. The beeping escalated, as did Wild Magic's fear. She broke his grip and darted for cover behind the rock Deuce had been perched on earlier. He prepared himself; taking aim as the beeping got steadily faster.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The search party was moving agonisingly slow through the thick undergrowth. Elbee was on point tracking Deuces locator beacon.
"He should be about 20 meters that way." She point north. A bone-chilling scream filled their helmets; everyone froze, crouching low to the ground, Morita's raised. Another scream, one less high pitched then the first, made the party jump. Pulse fire filled the silence setting Velasquez off and running north. But they were too late.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Get the sentries back to base." Ranmyaku whispered into her comm. Link. She was surprised to hear Holloway respond; so much for the block in communications.
"Copy that Sergeant. All sentries report back to base. You heard the Sergeant; get your butts back here, pronto!" The party stood staring. On the ground, the bodies of their teammates lay, eyes unseeing, faces screwed into horrible expressions of untold fear. McLeod went to Deuce to check for a pulse, no one expected her to find one, and she didn't. Blood was beginning to pool under Deuce's head. She rolled him onto his side to find a hole, wide enough to fit three gloved fingers in, on the nape of his neck. McLeod scrambled back on her hands and knees. Velasquez knelt to help her up.
"Was that from a control bug?!" Panic obvious in her voice. Ranmyaku knelt beside the two on the ground staring at the body.
"No, I don't think so. If it were a bug there would no doubt be signs of a struggle. The hole looks to have been made by an exploding. I don't think a bug, well a bug that we know, did this. I think something more powerful did, most probably psychic. As far as I can tell, they used their psychic abilities to explode the central nervous system causing instant death; painless." Velasquez looked questioningly at her Sergeant.
"You can tell all that just by looking at a hole in someone's neck?" Ranmyaku straightened, trying to explain her reasoning.
"A persons memory is a very prominent part of their psyche. They didn't die too long ago therefore their memory is still foremost in their psyche. That's just the impression that I get from what they saw happen." Velasquez stood helping McLeod to her feet.
"Can you sense the thing that did this? Is it near?" Her face paled as she uttered the words. Ranmyaku shook her head.
"Either this thing has a developed psychic shield, or it's disappeared into thin air." Velasquez nodded solemnly, walking forwards to kneel by her 2IC. She slid his eyelids shut respectfully then rose.
"We've got to get them back to base."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The party walked back to base in silence; each to his own thoughts. The bodies of their comrade's dead weight on their shoulders. As they entered the makeshift camp, no tears were shed. The troopers of Velasquez Vipers and Holloway's Hellhounds were beyond tears. Instead, all they felt was pure and utter rage.
"That's crap and you know it! I saw a three in your hand when I went to take a whiz!" Deuce threw down his cards in disgust, rising to his feet.
"Then you need your abnormally large eyes examined, ET, coz I don't got no threes!" Kellner's quick temper pulled its head out of the sand.
"You know what? Bite me!" Deuce turned on his heels and stormed off. Kellner sat back down on her rock and gave Deuce the frowning of a lifetime. If looks could kill…
"OK, I think that's enough socialising for now apes; sentry change over in 2 minutes. Wilson take RD's position; Kellner relieve T'Clar; Carter swap with Pugh; O'Brien replace Ranmyaku and Deuce, go find Pvt. Wild Magic." The comm. link crackled carrying the voice of Lt. Velasquez. A collective moan rose from the extremely bored troopers. Lt. Holloway's rather impatient voice replaced Velasquez.
"Come on, get your cans in gear! I want you in your positions in 2 minutes. Get to it!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~~Crash, bang, crash, crash, bang!~~
Deuce tramped through the thick, infuriating scrub of the humid rainforest. He hated hiking; had ever since he was 10.
"OK! Let's re-cap shall we? First the orders come down that we have to go on a stupid locate and secure mission; then, we find out something is trying to pick us off one by one; THEN, I'm sent on a hike through this OH SO PRETTY forest! Can my life get any worse? I'll answer that one; NO!" Deuce continued mumbling to himself as he closed in on the sentry position he was supposed to be at.
Deuce's wrist beeped wildly as he'd reached the exact location of the sentry post.
"Hey Private! I'm here to relieve you from sentry! Get your butt back to base!" Deuce bellowed; the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. He tried to radio base camp.
"Wild Magic isn't responding to my calls, sir's. I'm at the given co- ordinates and there's no sign of her." Deuce did a thermal scan of the immediate area.
"And before you ask, yes, I have done a thermal scan and it came back negative. Nothing warm blooded in a 5 meter radius." He waited for conformation but there was none.
"Sir? Lieutenant do you copy?" Nothing but static. Deuce fumbled with his radio unit, coming to the conclusion that he didn't know what the hell he was doing; the el-tee was the tech expert, not him!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Sergeant!? Deuce can you hear me!?" Velasquez shouted her heart out over the comm. link but to no avail. They couldn't contact Deuce or Pvt. Wild Magic. Holloway turned exasperated to the psychics.
'"Ranmyaku, RD; can't you pick up even the slightest signal?!" Ranmyaku appeared incredibly lost and disappointed with herself. She tried to explain herself to the two fuming Lieutenants.
"Nothing's getting through sir. It's as if there's something blocking my searches." Velasquez got on the horn to her Cpl. Out on sentry.
"O'Brien report!" Mandy's voice came back loud and clear.
"Everything's hunky-dory, El-tee. No sign of the Sarge or Pvt. Wild Magic." Velasquez put her head in her hands: momentarily failing to up hold her tough exterior. Finally she turned back to face the staring troopers.
"I need five volunteers." Everyone knew what she was planning; no one disagreed with her reasoning. If they weren't coming out; they were going in. Ranmyaku immediately stepped forward. A slight nod of her head telling Velasquez she'd go.
"You'll need a crack-shot to cover your six." Kortual stepped forward; the only indication to his emotions, the fact that his eyes glowed with a green brilliancy. He walked to stand behind the el-tee next to Ranmyaku. RD stepped forward; a sheepish grin manipulated her features.
"Two psychic's are better then one; that's what I always say." Holloway stood fast; rolling his eyes as RD sauntered behind Velasquez.
"Hey count me in! You don't honestly expect me to sit by and let you guys have all the fun?" Elbee did a little hop, skip and a jump; saluting as she skipped behind the Lieutenant. Velasquez smiled returning the gesture.
"One more and that should do it." She looked around at the remaining troopers, glaring.
"I'll go. Better then sitting around here counting trees." Maniac stepped forward eagerly. Holloway moved to block her way.
"You're not going anywhere Cpl. You've only got mobility in one arm." O'Neill frowned, glaring at her useless arm.
"But I only need one hand to pull a trigger, el-tee. Plus I'm bored out of my skull!" Velasquez stepped forward grinning.
"If you're so bored you can run an ammo count, then find the LZ to see how far we've got to hike." Maniac rolled her eyes before saluting, mockingly, with her good arm.
"What's an alarm clock without a cucumber?" Everyone turned to look at McLeod questioningly. She grinned raising her eyebrows.
"A loose translation might go somewhere along the lines of I'm in."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Deuce checked his co-ordinates for the 5th time since he'd lost radio contact. He was positive he was in the right place but that was about the only thing he knew.
"Someone MUST have noticed they couldn't get in touch with me!" He sat down on a rock to wait for someone to come looking. He started to doubt his own reckoning when the seconds turned into minutes and a minute turned into 5. He did another thermal scan expecting nothing. Deuce slowly rose to his feet as his scanner detected something 5 meters on his six. He lifted his Morita slowly and turned ready to shoot anything that so much as moved. His scanner stated beeping as this "thing" closed in on his position. A wail reached Deuces ears as Pvt. Wild Magic came crashing through the forest towards him. She just about ran into Deuce looking over her shoulder.
"It's coming! It's after me! Don't let it get me!" She struggled to free herself from Deuces tight grip on her shoulders. The beeping escalated, as did Wild Magic's fear. She broke his grip and darted for cover behind the rock Deuce had been perched on earlier. He prepared himself; taking aim as the beeping got steadily faster.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The search party was moving agonisingly slow through the thick undergrowth. Elbee was on point tracking Deuces locator beacon.
"He should be about 20 meters that way." She point north. A bone-chilling scream filled their helmets; everyone froze, crouching low to the ground, Morita's raised. Another scream, one less high pitched then the first, made the party jump. Pulse fire filled the silence setting Velasquez off and running north. But they were too late.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Get the sentries back to base." Ranmyaku whispered into her comm. Link. She was surprised to hear Holloway respond; so much for the block in communications.
"Copy that Sergeant. All sentries report back to base. You heard the Sergeant; get your butts back here, pronto!" The party stood staring. On the ground, the bodies of their teammates lay, eyes unseeing, faces screwed into horrible expressions of untold fear. McLeod went to Deuce to check for a pulse, no one expected her to find one, and she didn't. Blood was beginning to pool under Deuce's head. She rolled him onto his side to find a hole, wide enough to fit three gloved fingers in, on the nape of his neck. McLeod scrambled back on her hands and knees. Velasquez knelt to help her up.
"Was that from a control bug?!" Panic obvious in her voice. Ranmyaku knelt beside the two on the ground staring at the body.
"No, I don't think so. If it were a bug there would no doubt be signs of a struggle. The hole looks to have been made by an exploding. I don't think a bug, well a bug that we know, did this. I think something more powerful did, most probably psychic. As far as I can tell, they used their psychic abilities to explode the central nervous system causing instant death; painless." Velasquez looked questioningly at her Sergeant.
"You can tell all that just by looking at a hole in someone's neck?" Ranmyaku straightened, trying to explain her reasoning.
"A persons memory is a very prominent part of their psyche. They didn't die too long ago therefore their memory is still foremost in their psyche. That's just the impression that I get from what they saw happen." Velasquez stood helping McLeod to her feet.
"Can you sense the thing that did this? Is it near?" Her face paled as she uttered the words. Ranmyaku shook her head.
"Either this thing has a developed psychic shield, or it's disappeared into thin air." Velasquez nodded solemnly, walking forwards to kneel by her 2IC. She slid his eyelids shut respectfully then rose.
"We've got to get them back to base."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The party walked back to base in silence; each to his own thoughts. The bodies of their comrade's dead weight on their shoulders. As they entered the makeshift camp, no tears were shed. The troopers of Velasquez Vipers and Holloway's Hellhounds were beyond tears. Instead, all they felt was pure and utter rage.
