Chapter 11: Goodbye Fort Hampshire

September 14th 3235 0600h

Hampshire valley

Chris decided to walk about. He knew these woods. This was where Fort New Hampshire was. Chris spent his three weeks of training here. A 'three week wonder' they called those recruits. Chris was the shipped back to Earth to fight in the Second Rainforest War.

He could imagine how close they were. He could imagine being welcomed like a hero, his DI's saluting him and enlisted soldiers looking up to him. It felt good to be back. Chris was tired despite getting over 8 hours of sleep so he went back to camp and made himself a cup of coffee. Tails yawned and came out of his tent. "Morning, Chris." He said, sitting down near a fire. Even in the day it was very cold up here. "Good morning, Tails. The human said to the fox. "How's your arm?" Tails lifted his sleeve up to reveal cuts that were slightly covered by skin. The fur was starting to grow back. "Well, after that fall, I won't be doing any more base jumping for a while." Chris laughed. One by one, the rest of the unit came out, yawning and rubbing sleep out of their eyes. "Well, I'm glad everyone is now together." Chris said standing up so everyone could see. "But phase one of our mission has been completed only. Phase two is to get to Larry and Gerry so we can get back up to the Indomitable. If she's still up there." Ryan spoke up. "How do we find out where the dropship is?" Tails was typing on a laptop. "I have the answer to that. There's a base nearby. Maybe they have communications." Chris lightened up. "Fort New Hampshire. It was my home for training. She may have active personnel." The team nodded and set off.

Minutes later, a scream filled the air. The captain yelled "GET DOWN!" a dropship blew overhead. It wasn't a D77-TC Pelican, but a blockier, larger ship. It's heading in the direction of the base!" Chris yelled and ran ahead. Sonic yelled, "Chris! Wait! It might be a trap!" But Chris didn't listen, he ran with Tails at his right and Johnson at his left, both telling him to slow down. But when Chris reached the high ridge, the sight he saw made him gasp.

The base was in flames. Many buildings had holes in them, and inside, dead soldiers lay.

Chris looked stunned as Terrans walked about the base, many shooting out windows and UNSC flags. Then, what Chris saw next made hatred boil up in him. The Terrans had a soldier. A sergeant to be exact. The older man was held up by two other troopers. The Lieutenant commanding them said. "Now tell us, where is Earth?" the sergeant stiffened. "I'll never tell. Loose lips sink ships." The Lieutenant stepped forward and took out a knife. Chris watched in horror as the dagger was brought to the marine's throat, Sally came up and gasped Tails looked away but everyone else was too shocked to do anything. Then, he slashed. Crimson came, more slashing, more blood. This was brutal. And it forced a tear of sympathy to go down the battle hardened marine's face. Why did these creatures do this? Now with the sergeant dead, the two troopers who held him up emptied a clip of automatic fire into the corpse, turning the snow red.

Sergeant Johnson then slid Carl's sniper rifle from its grips and held it in his hands. "Sergeant, what are you doing?" Chris said. Johnson said nothing. With eagle accuracy, Johnson fired a shot that passed right through the Lieutenant's torso. He nailed the two support troopers too. With the last shot, he fired it into an explosive barrel that exploded and sent four Terran marines one hundred feet into the air, where they crunched down on the ground. Johnson dropped the magazine and reloaded. Chris yelled, "Cover's blown! Pick your targets." And the UNSC forces settled in. Tails said, "Sonic! Look! A tank!" Tails was right. Sonic pointed out a tank in the center of the compound. This was much bigger than a Scorpion M808B Main Battle Tank. It had two barrels, and slits where the driver could see. "Don't worry." Ryan said. "I've been around tanks. We're way outside its effective radius," he smiled. But that's when everyone noticed a change. The tank started to sprout legs or supports like a backhoe as it dug into the ground. The cannons turned upward. It looked more like artillery now. "You were saying?" Lance said to Ryan. The cannons went off. Artillery shells blew into the air and arched at their position. "Scatter!" Johnson yelled to the troops. But before anyone could do so, the bomb exploded nearby and blew everyone airborne for a few seconds. They hit the ground running, until something blocked their path. It wore red armor. More larger than a marine. This one had a hose on its hand. "You all are going to burn. He said then aimed his hand at them. Flame erupted from his hand at the tube and sprayed at Chris and his unit. The fire clipped his hand. Christopher James Vennettilli knew pain. He had been burnt by plasma once before, and burned by fire. This experience was no different from the first. "Aaaaahh!" he screamed, cradling his scorched hand. The glove had protected it from serious burning, but when he pulled it off, the hand was very red and burned. He thrust it into the snow, sobbing over the burning. "The captain's down." Johnson said. Now it's my turn. Hedgehog, fire at his back!" Sonic obeyed and shot. The 9mm bullets from the BR55 punctured the steel tube and set the plasma inside ablaze, and sending it scurrying all over the trooper. "Oh my God! I'm burning!" the Terran screamed and ran off, would he die? Maybe, maybe not. "Chris, are you alright? Tails asked. "Captain, Captain, your hand!" Carl and Chaz said. After taking it out of the snow, the hand was still very red and it hurt to touch. "God!" Chris said. It hurt to expose it to oxygen. "OK, we'll get some burn cream on it and we'll be OK." Knuckles said. "I can't hold my gun." Chris said, examining his palm. The veins were showing clearly, the blood boiled. "Sonic, take my battle rifle off." Sonic nodded, untying the BR55 off of Chris's back. The assault weapon fell and left a deep indent in the snow. Chris sighed. "Tails." Chris said, looking as though he regretted saying the words. The fox's ears perked up. He was surprised and excited about something. "Yeah, Chris?" he asked uncertainly. "Take the gun." He said, not looking at Tails.

Miles Prower wasn't a soldier, he wasn't even trained for combat. All he did was hold an X38 OmniTek StunGun and shock anyone who came too close to him. He was a red belt in Earth, Chinese karate, he had the highest state test scores in the country, but he couldn't use a gun. "Chris, I can't." he said. Chris then looked. "Just take it, don't fire it." Chris said. He reached over and clicked on the safety. "Better? Take it. I can't use it." He sounded impatient. Johnson stood up. "Sir, giving a weapon to the kid? I don't think it's right." Chris looked, "Noted, sergeant." Chris then said. "OK, I think I can make this work." He dragged the BR55 to his lap. Sing his free hand, he clicked on the 'Clip release' button, took out the 36 round magazine, emptied it, then slapped it back in. as an added measure, he cocked the rifle to eject any round in the chamber he forgot. Now the weapon was completely empty. Just to make sure, Chris shut off the digital ammo counter. Now, nobody knew that Tails had an empty gun, nobody but them. "How's that?" Chris asked. "O-OK, I guess." Tails took the gun from Chris's lap. It was light, lighter than the X38. "So nothing's in it right?" Chris nodded. "That's right. I on the other hand, will have a loaded weapon on hand." Chris slid his hand into his side holster and grabbed his Desert Eagle, checked the load, and straightened it. He had two spare clips on hand in his utility belt in case he ran out. Chris knew how to reload in one hand.

"OK, gentlemen, we need to move out. "Tails, you have permission to use that rifle to scare off anyone and that stun gun to level 5. Tails nodded. Level 5 was for long hour stuns. Roughly 8 to 9 hours, nothing fatal. Maybe those Terrans would lose a few IQ points. Chris cocked his pistol. "Move out!"

"Use radios to communicate. Carl, take position in that tree, Chaz, on me, Lance, take point. Ryan, flank me. Sal, look after Tails, Sonic and Knuckles. Sarge will go with you too." The princess nodded and moved in another direction. "Tuck in gentlemen; this will be a hell of a firefight."

Carl Santorini was sitting in the middlemost branches of the tree. Completely obscured from any Terran's eyes, but his S2 AM's barrel was sticking out just inches, his scope followed. Carl laughed as he set the zoom to x10. Chris was below, "Get ready to move on my signal. They waited until the advance guards were turned away. "Carl, hit them now!" Carl pulled on the trigger, the blot flew out of the barrel and blew the first advance guard clear off his feet. The second turned around and Carl brought him down. The camp was alive with action. The tank/turret deployed and was searching for targets. "Second squad, you are clear for a shot at that relay station.

"Run Tails!" Sally said. Urging the fox to run towards the relay station. From there, they could access the planet-wide network. "Ah, this must be a wireless network." Tails said as he sat down on a tree stump ten feet away from the station, Sally turned and saw that Sonic, Knuckles, and Johnson were lying in the snow, groaning. Sally turned again to see a man standing there. The man had body armor and a visor that slid up to reveal his face. "Why hello there." He said, he could've smiled, but his mask prevented it from showing through the fabric "Get lost." She said. "I can't do that, and I'm afraid that I have to take you into custody. Any attempts to resist will result in..." then a whump! And a crack as Sally punched the Terran in the face, breaking his nose. The Terran exhaled and staggered. His eye was twitching and blood was seeping from his nose. "I see I've made a bad first impression." He said, no longer sweet-sounding. "The hell you did!" Sally said raising her fists. "Fine, I'll take care of you then the kid." He lowered his visor then disappeared. Disappeared into thin air. "Tails, where'd he go?" Sally asked, raising her rifle cautiously. "I don't know." He said, trying glance at where he might've gone. That was when an invisible foot kicked Sally in the back, cracking her spine viciously. She exhaled as she hit the snow. Tails was next. The Terran jerked the fox in the air, holding him in place, strong hand muscles crushing his windpipe. Tails gagged. He also spun his tails in hope to lift off and escape his grasp, but the invisible man then reappeared laughing. "Well, well, well. A flying rat. You'll look great on my den wall, your head mostly!" He laughed manically, then, hands snapped out, grasped the trooper's neck, and snapped it. His eyes went blank, and he slumped, dropping Tails in the snow. Tails felt his neck, saw the body and edged away from it. He had been that close to death. Sally stood above him, blocking the sun. "The freak made the mistake of reappearing right before killing you." Tails was still gasping as Sally helped him up. "So, how'd it go?" She asked gesturing to the laptop "Well, we got Larry and Gerry on the line. I told them to keep the engines warm, ready to go." "OK." Sally said nodding. "Now let's get back to Chris."

"They're taking too long." Ryan said eyeing the camp through his binoculars. "Hey, here they come!" Carl said. A human and four Mobians came from the buildings. "So?" Chris said over the radio. "Well, Tails got Larry and Gerry to keep the engines running and we got some info on the Terrans. Chris nodded. "Well?" Tails came on. "Their standard infantry units are marines. The plasma marines are known as firebats. Invisible troopers are called Ghosts. Stay away from those. The tanks that were artillery are called Siege Tanks. What we haven't seen are Vulture Hoverbikes, not to be confused with the 'Mechs. Goliath walkers which are 'Mechs. They can't contend with a Cougar at all. And we didn't see a Terran Battlecruiser at all. And I don't think we should see that at all. Nearly wiped our ship out." "OK. Do you have coordinates?" Chris asked. "Yeah, It's coming on your HUD." An arrow appeared on Chris's visor. It had a 200 mile length. "Great, more up north." Carl said shaking his head. "Well, we'd better get going before nightfall." Ryan said. "The temperature gets way below zero."

The unit marched for hours. The suns dipped lower in the sky. "Damn, I forgot my mittens." Sonic said. Knuckles scoffed too. "Shut up. Hedgehog." Chris said. "Hey," Johnson said. "What?" Tails said, looking at the sergeant with a questioning look. "I spy a Pelican!" Johnson said. "Well, well, well." Chris said smiling. "He's right!" The Pelican was nestled in a score of rocks. It was painted in snowy white camouflage. "Nice bird." Sally said stroking her armor plating. "70mm chain guns, 102mm humming missiles, Lotus anti-tank mines! Jesus! This bird has it all!" Ryan said examining the firepower. "Why didn't they use it?" Chris said walking to the rear hatch. It was unlocked. "I don't know, maybe it was only an escape craft." Sonic scoffed and wall ran up the side, sitting on the wing. "If this was an escape craft, they would've used it." "He's right, sir." Johnson said. "If this was an escape craft, this beauty wouldn't be here. I think it would be a transport. I bet these guns aren't even for this Pelican." "Well, it doesn't matter who they belong to, because the whole planet may be enemy controlled.

Mount up!" the unit filed into the troop bay. "OK, I'm flying." Sally said. "Shotgun!" Ryan yelled "Damn." Sally muttered.

The two took helmets from their places and hooked them on their heads. Ryan's helmet contained a device that moved the 70mm chaingun wherever Ryan's head was pointed, a centuries old trick still useful. "Everyone on?" Sally asked checking to see if everyone was buckled in. "OK, we off." The princess lifted the joystick and the engines roared to life. The powerful jets lifting the Pelican into the air. At a cruising height of Two hundred feet, Sally opened throttle. The D77-TC lurched forward. 0-150 mph in five seconds. "Alright, night's coming on, let's get some sleep. Princess, wanna turn in, put it on autopilot?" Chris asked, laying on the seats, like a bed. Sally shook her head. "No, I'll keep at it, I'll have some coffee. "Ryan?" Chris said eying the copilot. "Nah, get some sleep Captain." "OK." Chris lied down and dozed himself to sleep amongst the turbulence.

"Hey, Ryan, look they have heating on this rig!" Sally said amazed. She turned the dial. Within minutes, warm air came through the gratings in the wall and pleasure flooded all over them. "God, that feels good." Ryan said, sinking in his seat. "Couldn't have said it better myself, Corporal." Sally said, pressing buttons and dials alike. "Well, I'm turning in." Ryan said stretching and reclining his seat, another unexpected twist. "Heh, alright, you do that, then." Sally cracked her neck and threw her hair over her shoulder. It was going to be a long night.