Flashback 04/08/56 0800 Uramon CT, 12 km East of Dragon
"Walker, are you ready?" Captain White asked. He was now recovering his senses from the crash. He was trying to assess the situation quickly. It had all happened so fast.
"Yessir….are you?" She replied
"Yeah but hold up. Okay…Howard, Lo, …Are we good to go?"
They nodded. "Okay Walker, we're exiting the craft. Meet you thirty yards over there. White pointed. "Come on….Let's go guys."
A couple of minutes later, Walker yelled, "Fire in the hole…"and hobbled quickly towards the surviving seven. It was clear that she was in pain. The Command sphere detonated bluntly and started to burn, with black smoke emanating from the wreckage, the plume streaming eastwards.
White took a deep breath. This was not a good time to be on the east of the Janji. The place was crawling with Zerg. "OK….Awright…Let's think… any suggestions folks… because now is the time to brainstorm. Stay cool and rely and trust in each other."
Lt. Fisk spoke first, "Sir, let's not engage any Zerg we encounter unless absolutely necessary, sir. We cannot afford to it. We have little ammo. I only have 2 clips, and the rest of you got 3, plus whatever is in your rifle."
"Good point, lieutenant…Good point." White was trying to act calm, nodding his head, lips closed. Nothing had prepared him for this.
Corporal Zhong had been busy booting up the C3. "Sir," he began, "weather patterns indicate a major electromagnetic storm coming our way."
White nodded again, "That's good to know Corporal." White turned to PFC Wendy Henderson, "You did a great job landing that sphere, Henderson….you all right?" White asked. He was beginning to re-assert control of himself and assess the situation.
"I think my hand is broken, sir…and don't thank me yet." She chuckled a little.
"Ok Wendy…can you handle a rifle with that hand?"
"No way am I relinquishing my weapon sir…"
"Sounds like you will be okay, marine." White replied.
"Hey Wendy, I gotta question for ya…how far away were any life signs on the ground. Lurkers…ya know what I'm sayin'?" It was PFC Peerless Paige. While the name sounded formidable, the man only could act the part. His nerves were coming close to the break point. He was using a zoom viewer looking for signs of anything. All he could see was a desert landscape and in the distance, a mass of hydras heading over to Dragon West. "Sucks to be Dragon," he mumbled.
Wendy Henderson closed her eyes and winced, trying to remember everything. She had followed her training as if it was instinct. She had practiced crash landings in the simulator and had survival training. She had looked at the sensor display on the ground after the third scourge had crashed into the command sphere. She had made the best of a very bad situation. The gravitational thrusters could only steer right, and nothing but sheer will and her arms and legs on the controls, pushing and pulling with all of her might, could stabilize the craft. It headed over the Janji and into enemy territory. "The only large sensor reading in this area was 4 km away." I did everything I could to get us west of the river…but there was nothing I could do…"
"You did a great job Wendy just getting us down alive." It was White who now asserted control, sensing that if he did not do so, the conversation would deteriorate. "Corporal Zhong, I think we must head south. What was the status of our last read from the sphere."
"Captain, Henderson landed us here…" Corporal Zhong was now doing a presentation with the C3 computer, pointing out the map. The others except lieutenant Fisk were looking over the Captain White's shoulder, inquisitive. We had no reading south of here except for the hydra group, and it looked as if they were headed to Dragon West.
"That makes it simple sir…" It was Johanssen. "We have no choice. Its open ground, but at least there is no Zerg."
"What about the air units?" Peerless, was far too worried. Self-preservation was starting to kick in and he was doing his best act to hide it.
"With the electromagnetic storm coming, I don't think they are going to be a major issue if we hurry." Zhong replied.
White wanted to take charge now. The plan of action was really the only one available. "Ok then…everybody get a sip of their water bottle…not to much. No more then two gulps. We're heading south. We gotta get to Eagle before the storm ends, or we really are in for a bad time of it. Lieutenant Fisk, I want you at point. Walker, Henderson…you cover the rear and make sure nobody gets behind. If you start to get drowsy, snap out of it quick." White could sense the storm coming and could see massive lightning flashes all over the horizon. "Be careful with the C3, Zhong, it could attract lightening." The wind was starting to kick up a lot of sand. "Okay we need to march west by southwest, so Fisk, place your compass scope and lock your zoom viewer on to your rifle. If you think we're going to run into something heavy, let us know before we get there ok. Like you said, I don't want to give the Zerg any excuses to come after us. Everyone stay silent use your hands to talk. Let's get going."
They took their sips of water, and headed towards Eagle Bridge.
Dragon West."Any word from Safety?" yelled Sanchez, firing the heavy gauss rifle at another hydra. Damn another one of them, he thought. He focused now on searching for more targets.
"No." It was Bell, who had been on the COM. "They went down," shooting his rifle at the head of a hydra. Now he resumed his conversation. "East of the river." He kept firing, this time at the left of his position. "I called Zulu they are redirecting…" laying down more bullets at the approaching force. "7 goliaths our way." Pressures off Eagle now." Suddenly, a rumbling of gatling guns sounded from behind the bunker, and they were getting louder…
"That's them, huh?" Sanchez was making conversation in the midst of a pitched battle, but it was helping calm his nerves…
"Just in time…oooooorraahhhh Marine Corps"
"OOOOrrrrahh." The chants began from others in the bunker as they unleashed even more bullets over the bridge. The Zerg attack was starting to wane. A few Zergling had come across but had difficulty getting across the concertina wire close to the bunkers and the fire bats had targeted those with calculated sprays of flame.
"Get some…Get some…is that all you got…Here Zergy Zergy Zergy…Ha ha ha haaaa!" It was Chico, a real quiet man who was more of an engineer then a marine. Now however, he was filled with blood lust and hate.
Pvt. Dumbrowski was facing the southwest. "Chico's into it, man. I like it. Hey Chico…it's okay bro…just remember, you gotta reload, okay. It doesn't do any good firing at those things with an empty gauss, bro." He waited for Chico's comeback. He had chided the young man a few times, but had a developed a friendship with him. Besides, Chico had done well in combat. He was becoming one of the 'Lights.' "Yo, Chico, you there?" The 250-pound heavy gunner asked as he cut loose a few more live rounds at hydra silhouettes. There was no response whatsoever.
"BREACH, BREACH, BREACH…" Hamilton fired at point blank range into the mouth of a hydra, the one that had inserted his hideous blade through the bunker plating and into the visor helmet and skull of Chico. Sgt. Hamilton, enraged, yelled obscenities as he tried to patch a synthetic steel plate over the hole. "Cover me while I repair this…somebody." Dumbrowski backtracked over to where the breach was and shook his head at the sight of his friend's corpse. With a grim resolve, he proceeded to target hydras as they spat their revolting corrosive acid spines and spores at Hamilton. He hosed five upright lizards with a massive burst of rounds from his heavy gauss, and for good measure pasted them again. Hamilton meanwhile felt a burning sensation in his elbow. It was hydra acid. "Good enough…thanks Dumbo." He gritted his teeth, as he knew the acid was eating away at his skin. He winced as he regained concentration, raising his weapon at new Zerg silhouettes as they glided almost effortlessly to the fore. He could see their sharp claws and their teeth. "Keep shooting dammit…" He was yelling not at his men though, but at himself.
"Zulu to Dragon West, request SITREP on Fox 5 over."
Bell looked at the Sergeant Hamilton, "Sir, shall I tell them we're holding…"
"Yeah, but we need more ammo, especially the Angels. They're dry. We can hold now that we got Blitz and Zone and the arty is hitting home."
"Zulu, Dragon West, still Fox 5, situation stable. Request deposit of Halos ASAP to our position, over."
"Acknowledge Dragon West, on Halos. En route, ETA 45 minutes."
"Forty five minutes on those Halos sir," Bell yelled at Hamilton.
Hamilton continued to grimace in pain as he fired the gauss at yet another group of hydras in the perimeter. Two explosions rocked the formation of Zerg as the siege tanks had acquired their targets and were unleashing a wall of high explosive rounds onto the incoming hydras. Volleys of gatling gunfire were now covering the bridge, which, by now, was covered with Zerg body parts, acid, and concertina wire. Hamilton shook his head to acknowledge Bell's report. "Okay, we'll hold for now…" The situation had stabilized and Hamilton had made a judgment that the assault was starting to wane. This engagement, at first seemed overwhelming.
The situation looked desperate for the Lights, especially with the loss of Safety. However, with the arrival of the goliaths in Zone and Blitz, and the two siege tanks shelling the perimeter, the once massive natural land bridge over the Janji was now a vicious killing ground. The Angels had extracted a heavy price from the hydra wave. They also had taken out the air units that had been re-directed by the cerebrate. Hamilton stopped firing as his weapon was out of ammunition. Instead of reloading, the pain had finally forced him to stop. He yelled at Bell, "Get me a medic, Bell. Bunker 103 has got one. Call on TAC 2." Bell nodded as he could see that the sarge was now dripping blood and acid from his elbow.
"Got it Sarge." Bell held his hand to his ear, trying to focus amidst the chaos of the battle. "103, COM check on TAC 2, this is 104. Request medic, we got wounded."
Hamilton took a deep breath as applied pressure to the wound. He closed his eyes. Dragon West had held. He exhaled in relief and a faint smile crossed his lips. He took another look at Chico's crumpled body, and decided it was time to reload even though the pain was excruciating. He would go back to finishing the Zerg assault off.