Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the squad characters, and the plot.

Chapter 3 – The Pod

It was early in the morning, the light from the nearby star just beginning to creep over the top of the mountains surrounding the bunker. The dull hum of the Banshee's engines reverberated through its cabin as I flew a scout course low through the valley, five miles beneath the bunker. I skimmed the top of trees and created spray as I flew across the top of the river. The Com System crackled and Paul's voice floated from the speakers.

"How's the radar upgrade going Sarge? Is it all working properly?"

I looked at the radar screen for the fifth time that morning. Paul had upgraded it to scan in an eight mile radius, instead of the basic three mile, at the expense of weapon power. It had just enough plasma power to defend itself, but almost all the energy had been rerouted to the radar, and some to the engines. The Banshee was now purely a scout and recon machine, nowhere near as assault capable as it was when we found it.

There was a flashing yellow/red dot on the screen next to an outline of the bunker, also flashing yellow. The dot was a sensor buoy we had set up to test the radar. It had been programmed to emit both a friendly and foreign signal that would hopefully be picked up by the radar and identified. So far it had worked perfectly.

"It's all working fine Paul. I'm heading back now and I'll be there in about five minutes."

"Right," said Paul, "we'll pull the buoy down, over and out".

The Com crackled slightly as the connection was cut, and then the only sound in the cabin once again was the hum of the engines. I turned the Banshee back toward the bunker, and began to make my way back. After a few minutes the yellow/red flashing dot on my radar display disappeared as Paul and the others disassembled the sensor buoy and moved it back inside the bunker. I reached the LZ we had set up just after John disappeared inside with the last piece of buoy. Landing the Banshee gently on the grass, I popped the cabin shield and got out.

As I began to walk up the gentle slope of the nearby hill to the bunker, I heard a high-pitched whistle that quickly turned into a roaring scream over my head. I looked up to see some type of large pod, about the size of a Warthog, screaming through the air about a kilometre above me. The pod quickly disappeared behind the trees around the LZ and I lost sight of it. About thirty seconds later however, there was a dull roar from down the valley and the ground shook slightly. I bolted up the remaining part of the hill into the bunker to find my part of my team snatching binoculars off one another and trying to see where the pod had hit through an opening in the concrete wall. Nicholas suddenly jumped down from the top of the bunker and looked through the doorway at me.

"Sarge, you better come look at this." He said, before bolting back up the outside stairway.

As I ran outside and up the stairway, I wondered what the hell the pod could have been. I could tell it wasn't human, even from the brief glimpse I got, but whether it was friendly or hostile, I couldn't tell. I also couldn't figure out why the Banshee's radar didn't pick it up. Maybe it may just have been that it wasn't emitting a signal, or that it was just empty space junk. I couldn't be sure till we found it. When I reached the top of the stairs, I saw Nicholas looking down the scope of his sniper rifle toward a column of smoke rising from deep down in the valley. He looked up at me and beckoned me over.

"Take a look Sarge, your not going to believe what's down there."

I placed my eye over the scope adjusted it till I could see clearly through it. At first I thought that there was just black smoke, but as I moved the rifle down, the pod came into view, and what I saw took my breath away. I stood up and looked at Nicholas. "Come on," I said, "we've got some investigating to do."

I turned and began to walk back down the stairs. "Nicholas," I called back over my shoulder, "bring that rifle and extra ammo, along with a sidearm from the armoury, we may need them."

I reached the bottom of the stairs and walked inside. The rest of my team were still looking out of the "window" and wrestling each other for the binoculars.

"Men," I said, and they all spun around to face me. "Get ready to go on a recon mission. We're going to find out where that pod comes from. Gary and Paul, I'll need you to stay behind. We can't leave the bunker unguarded. If however we need you, we'll radio in."

"Right Sarge," said Paul,

"Sure thing Sarge" said Gary.

"Good, Michael, John, Nicholas, Armoury now."

I walked off to the back of the bunker and down into the large lower level. This level was huge because it housed the vehicles and Armoury of the bunker. I strode off toward a large steel door at the opposite end of the room. I pressed my palm against the scanner on the wall next to the door and after a few seconds, a loud hiss signalled access to Armoury. The door swung forward on hydraulic hinges and revealed a massive room that was about the size of a dropship, filled with rifles, ammunition and explosives. I stepped inside and began to hand out weapons. I gave a BR 55 to Michael and John along with a standard issue handgun and two fragmentation grenades, and I handed Nicholas extra sniper ammo and a handgun. Myself, I took a BR 55 as well, but equipped it with an underslung grenade launcher.

"Just in case." I said. We all checked our ammo counts and I closed off the Armoury. "You three," I said to the men before me, "take a Warthog. I'll take the Banshee."

"Right Sarge."

I touched the Com activation button on the side of my ear. "Gary, can you patch in a map overlay to the Warthog's radar?"

"Can do Sarge"

"Good man." I looked at the soldiers in front of me. "See you down there." I said, before striding up the vehicle exit ramp and heading toward the parked Banshee. Just as I reached it, I heard a series loud revs and tyres squealing on concrete, and then a Warthog launched out of the exit ramp and took off toward the crash site through the forest path. I climbed into the cockpit of the Banshee and powered up, lifting off and starting to head toward the downed pod a few seconds later.

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