14 – LEMON SQADRON
Silently, all of Yellow Team stared skyward, watching the three brilliant specks that flared against the darkening sky grow bigger by the second.
"Whoa..." Ryan breathed. "Those aren't Pelicans..."
"Of course not," Patton replied, pleasure easily discernible in his voice. "Lemon rides in style. Those are olives."
"Olives?" Ryan asked, confused.
"It's a corruption of an acronym," Clair explained helpfully. "O-L-A-V. Stands for Orbitally Launched Assault Vehicle."
"Oh. Like a drop pod."
The team fell silent again, The specks grew larger, details becoming clearer; three white-hot fireballs, each trailing a long line of heat like a comet. Within seconds, they were close enough for the sounds of their scorching decent to be picked up by the Yellow's audio sensors.
Patton glanced at them, then down at the ground, as if measuring something mentally.
"Back it up, team," he ordered. "OLAV drops aren't the most accurate thing ever. This is gonna be close."
Amber, Clair, and Ryan all hastily backed away from where they had been standing. Patton, after taking a moment to look back up at the approaching OLAV's, joined them.
Thirty seconds later, Lemon Squadron arrived. The drop pods slammed to earth seconds apart across an area of about five meters, throwing up three huge clouds of dirt and grass from their points of impact. Once on the ground, their design was easy to make out; a boxy body, with four pyramidal points arranged on the edges of the top part. These were smoking, indicating something had just been blasted free of them via an explosive charge.
Patton sighed, loud enough for the rest of his team to hear him.
"Ah, memories," he said. He sounded like he wanted to add something, but he was interrupted by a loud hissing that came from the OLAV's, followed by a trio of loud bangs as more explosives blasted the front parts of the pod's body out and away.
Amber and Clair, who had been expecting this, only flinched slightly at the loudness of the blasts, but Ryan, who hadn't any idea this was coming, took a couple involuntarily steps back.
"Shit!" he cried. Patton simply chuckled, then turned back to the three OLAV's. Their interiors were obscured by the dust thrown up from their landing, but shadowy forms could be seen moving around within. In moments, they became visible; three soldiers, one from each OLAV.
All the Yellows except for Patton drew in breaths of surprise and awe.
The personnel of Lemon Squadron certainly looked every part as intimidating as their reputation suggested they were; instead of the standard-issue battle armor that most Yellows wore, their armor was sleeker and much more advanced, and was obviously loaded to the gills with spare ammunition. Even their helmets were different, sporting full-face black visors that Ryan couldn't help think resembled fishbowls.
Clair, Amber and Ryan all paused, staring in awe at the three new soldiers. Patton, however, simply walked towards the three new arrivals. He paused before the front of the group, then stepped back and saluted.
"Hester," he stated, dropping his hand from his helmet smartly.
"Patton," Hester replied. Her voice was female, cold and professional. "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise, ma'am." Patton paused, then did something none of the soldiers under his command excepted; he strode forward and embraced Hester. Even more surprising, she returned the hug, going so far as to boldly lift Patton a good half meter off the ground. Just as abruptly as they had started, the two broke apart, stepping back to their original positions. Silence reigned for a moment, both soldiers apparently lost in their own thoughts.
"So, you going to introduce us?" Hester asked, nodding her head towards the rest of Patton's team.
"Right." Patton turned to face his team. "Lemon, this is my squad. Captain Clair Sinclair, my second in command and our medic;"
"Hi." Clair said, waving. "Nice to meet you."
"Private First Class Amber Stone, our sniper;"
"It's a pleasure," Amber said happily.
"And Private Ryan Hobar, heavy weapons."
"Uh..." Ryan stuttered, at a loss for words. "You...kick ass, I guess?"
"That they do." Patton, finished with his team, turned back to Lemon. "Guys, this is part of my old team; General Hester Sharp, CO of Lemon Squadron;"
Hester nodded in response.
"Major Rodney 'Hearts' Hamilton, sniper;"
"Glad to be here," the soldier to Hester's right pleasantly. "And I must say, Pinkie, you have quite the fine team here." He made a noise like a camera clicking, directed at Amber and Clair.
"Pinkie?" Ryan muttered to himself. Patton ignored both the name and Ryan's question, and continued introductions.
"And finally, Sergeant Inez Lopez, electronics-"
"Not anymore." The third and last member of Lemon spoke up. Her voice was like Hester's, but...different. While Hester's was cold, Inez's was subzero, bordering on emotionless. It was fitting; for where her right arm should have been, there was only a bare metal prosthetic. "Not since Lucy."
"Oh." Patton's voice fell as well. "You're her replacement then."
"Yes."
Silence fell again, and Patton's team could feel that there was a great deal of sadness associated with this Lucy.
Patton's hands clenched tight around his shotgun, fingers absently running over the very name of the person he was remembering he had carved into the stock.
Hester, however, quickly snapped the group out of it.
"Alright, intros are done. What's the situation here?"
Patton, obviously very happy to move on from the depressing subject of the mysterious Lucy, snapped to attention again. "We're in deep shit," he stated. "We've got reliable intel that there's going to be a new force moving in on the Wilderness; calls itself the Red Army. But we don't know when, how or why."
"Do we have any intel on it at all? Troops numbers, equipment, vehicles..."
"Negative. Nothing." Strangely, Patton started chuckling to himself. "But that's why your here, right? When life gives you lemons..."
"Kick ass."
Hester and Patton slapped hands, then pulled each other close enough again to bump shoulder pads. They broke apart again.
"Anything else?" Hester inquired.
Patton thought, then added; "Yeah. There might be an AWOL Green soldier somewhere around here. We just saw him disobey orders and ride of on a Mongoose. But he shouldn't be too much of a threat. Last we saw, he was mostly naked and forced to carry his armor on the getaway vehicle."
"Really?" Hester asked. "What the hell was that about?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Patton answered. "Anyways, we need to do something about him before he starts trouble."
"Alright." Hester turned to Clair, Amber, and Ryan. "Listen up; here's how things are going to go here. As of now, I'm assuming overall command of this base and all personnel. You-" She pointed to Patton's team, "Will still follow Patton's orders, but you will answer to me as your CO. He is now my second in command. What I say overrides what he says. Clear?"
"Ma'am yes ma'am!" Patton's team shouted in unison, snapping to attention.
"Good." Hester turned to Patton. "Solid group you've got here." She said.
Patton nodded. "Yeah, they're good."
Hester grunted, then quickly started issuing orders. "First order of business; I want to know the lay of the land." She turned to Clair. "You have ATVs, I assume?"
"Yes ma'am." Clair replied quickly. "A Mongoose or two. They're inside. I can go retrieve them, if you want."
"Do it. Bring two."
"Wilco." Clair quickly headed inside the base. Hester turned to Amber and Ryan.
"I want you two on look out. Full gear; I want you loaded out with the heaviest weapons you can dig up from your armory."
"Can do," Amber replied.
"Can I ask a question?" Ryan said. Hester, after a moment, nodded.
"Go ahead."
"Does this mean hand-held weapons only? Cause I'm pretty sure we have a couple turrets and a SAM battery buried somewhere in the base."
"If you have them, get them," Hester stated. Ryan nodded, snapped another salute, and quickly hurried into the base. Seconds after he left, Clair came out, riding a Mongoose, towing the second ATV behind her.
"'Gooses are all yours," she said, hoping off. Hester nodded, then signaled to her team.
"Mount up," she ordered. Hearts and Inez quickly complied, climbing onto the second Mongoose. She turned to Patton.
"That means you as well," she stated.
Patton glanced at her, then at Hearts and Inez, and finally at his team, including Ryan and Amber, who had just emerged from the base carrying a large weapons locker.
"Copy that, ma'am," he said. Quickly, he mounted up the empty Mongoose with Hester and gunned the throttle. Behind him, Hearts and Inez followed. In seconds, they were out of sight.