Hey everyone. Well, after a round of writers block, I have the next chapter. I know it's a bit of a filler, but I have a character that needs introducing and figured this would be an entertaining way to do it. With that said, sit back, enjoy, and please review.
So without further ado, I give you Chapter 9.
(Northern Brazil: Amazon Basin)
Five weeks. That had been how long the droids had been trying to secure this hell hole. Officially, the front line was somewhere near Rio, but when it came to the resistance cells there was no frontline. Sure droids weren't susceptible to the Malaria and and other illnesses, but there was plenty to make up for thick canopy prevented their orbiting ships from shelling the place to oblivion for risk of blowing up their own army. The near constant rain and mud played havoc with their equipment, and the droids themselves. They couldn't even gas the place out due to the fact that they needed a workforce to replace the damage done by the near constant ambushes, sabotage, and blatant attacks on CIS munitions and supply dumps. Of course what the tactical droid in charge failed to realize was that the workers were the root of their problem.
"The Dark Angel arrives tomorrow. Alpha 1," mumbled a man as he moved slabs of broken concrete.
"The Dark Angel arrives tomorrow. Alpha 1," confirmed the person next to him as he pretended to inspect his work.
Noting a battle droid approaching, the person quickly went back to work prying chunks of concrete out of the river bank. For the rest of the day, he committed the words to memory as he and the rest of his twenty man crew worked to clear the river bank. Two days ago, this had been the last bridge crossing the river. The military had blown all of the bridges on the Amazon River, except this one. Commando droids had managed to take and hold the bridge before the Brazilian Army could blow it up. That changed two days ago when a group of resistance fighters rigged enough C4 onto the bridge to take down a city block. The workers could feel the shock wave in the camp a mile away. As spectacular as the explosion was, he couldn't say he was all to happy about the extra work… but then again… work is what kept him alive.
Finally, at sundown, the laborers all lined up in their rows, to go back to camp. Today hadn't been to bad. Everyone was smart enough to boil clean water for today, and only eight had died that he knew of. Two had died of illness, one had slipped and was carried away by the current, while one other died from a mix of starvation, and overwork. The other five had been executed to "pay" for the destruction of the bridge. However, that wasn't to say things were "good" by any stretch. The droids kept them just above starving, clean water was in short supply, and at least ten people were getting ill that he knew of.
Noting the person in front of him, he waited for the droids to walk past before leaning forward.
"The Dark Angel arrives tomorrow. Alpha 1," he whispered.
The only response was a barely noticeable nod. This was due to a droid that had decided to do an extra round.
The moonlit march back to camp yielded another casualty. There was a grown as one man gave out from exhaustion, and a severe leg injury he sustained during the day. The pain from standing on it was almost enough for the person to black out. However, desperate to stay with the group, he tried to get up but couldn't. Half crawling and half walking the man tried to rise again. However, it was no use. Less than two minutes after he fell, the loud screech of a blaster shot echoed through the forest.
Upon reaching the camp, the man whom had last received the message immediately went to his bunk. Reaching under his makeshift pillow, he pulled out a slip of paper, a small plastic bag, and a pencil. Upon scribbling the message on the paper, he shoved it in the bag. Stepping out of the tent, he quietly slipped along the shadows to the back left tent pole. Kneeling down, he immediately began scooping out handfuls of dirt until he had a small hole deep enough for the bag. Nervously, he looked around one last time before burying the bag and running back to the tent. He got lucky. Less than two minutes later, there was a random "peek in" where a couple droids stepped into the barracks and made sure that everyone was there.
It wasn't until a little after 1 am that someone came to pick up the message. Ducking between the trees, and picking his way through the undergrowth, Agent Garner moved. The surrounding forest was near pitch black, but the rainforest was alive with noise that he hoped would cover his movements. After an hour and a half of walking, he made it to the fence line. This is where he stopped. Settling into the thick undergrowth, Agent Garner scanned area around the barracks. His only real obstacle was a razor wire fence. However, that wasn't an issue. What he needed to be sure of was that there was no changes in the droids routines or other things to suggest a trap.
After determining it to be safe, he inched over to the fence. It took a couple minutes, but he found a pile of loosely piled leaves, sticks, and other plant life. Pulling it away he found the hole he was looking for. It wasn't big, but it would let him through the fence. With a sigh, he dropped onto his stomach and waited for a patrol of droids to walk past the barrack in question. The second they had rounded the corner, he began squirming through the narrow hole. After what felt like forever, he got through and sprinted the distance to the back post. A brief search revealed a patch of recently disturbed dirt that marked the spot. Upon pulling a spade out of his belt, Agent Garner quickly dug up the bag, and filled in the hole. After that he squirmed back through the hole below the fence, replaced the pile of plants and took off into the night. Ducking between trees he worked his way to the edge of the road. Sticking to the shadows, he sprinted down the ditch on the side, while dodging patrols some more. Upon coming to the destroyed bridge, he jogged down the riverbank until he came up to an empty row boat.
Suddenly, four armed men in camo fatigues rose out of the brush.
"Did you get it?" asked the leader.
"Yes, Rafael. We have it. Now let's hope it was worth their risk," Garner answered as he revealed the bag.
"Good let's go. There's been a lot of patrols recently," Rafael stated as he cast a nervous glance back toward the bridge.
With a nod, Garner motioned for them to get in. The rest of the trip was made in silence as they crossed the river, stowed the boat, and made their way back to the caves that acted as their base of operations.
The entrance was pitch black. Knowing the route by heart, no one turned on a flashlight. This was for safety more than anything. The droid patrols weren't always limited to the road and tended to act on any suspicion, rational or not. Finally, after rounding a sharp corner and descending down a later were they greeted with the warm glow of a torch. Leaning against the opposite walls were two guards armed with AK-47s.
Garner and Rafael wove their way through the passages. Along the walls were a few men and women either sleeping or quietly working on their weapons. Most were gone on a raid to get weapons from a CIS supply dump.
Upon reaching the de facto command center, Agent Garner finally looked at the message. Every night for the past few weeks, Agent Garner had been slipping through to "check the mail". All notes went into that one hole, and Garner checked that hole nightly. While it came with its risks, it was a good way to get info like if and when they were getting supplies. Word of mouth was their link to the outside.
Upon reading it, Agent Garner rose his eyebrows. "Dark Angel" meant they were attempting a midnight supply drop. Alpha 1 was an emergency landing zone further up the ridge line by about five miles.
"Their not serious," Rafael mumbled in disbelief, "They could give us a way that close."
"Ya. Something's up," Garner agreed.
"You think it's a trap… false info put into the chain?" the man quizzed.
"No. Only two people on this continent know what that means. Both are in this room, and we haven't used the clearing ever," Garner answered, "However, something still is up. They know not to use that unless they absolutely have too."
"So. We go get our supplies?" asked Rafael in summary.
"Yep."
With that they went about their other tasks. That night there was a series of five attacks happened, one of which Agent Garner and Rafael lead. The group twelve planned on killing two bird with one stone. After reapplying face camo, the group was off.
Quietly the group moved parallel to the road, if it could even be called that. After a couple hours of fighting their way through the jungle, the group came up on their destination. It was a blind corner in the road. On the other side was a well guarded plasma bridge that the droids had erected. Wordlessly the group paused, where upon Rafael climbed up one of the trees. After what felt like forever, he got a decent view of the area. Using the night vision on the droid rifle he was carrying, Rafael began scanning the trees and ground for snipers. It didn't take long for him to find said droids. Three commando droids, all in trees.
Over the next few seconds, three shots rang out.
"Area's clear. Let's get this done," he radioed.
Unfortunately, a lack of supplies meant they were stuck using old walkie talkies, but at least they had something. Silently the group moved forward along the trees. Staying just out of sight, the group split in half. This put six men on each side of the road. Rafael's group got the honor of carrying the rocket launcher. After taking positions, the group waited for their targets. For thirty minutes they sat within a two hundred feet of the fourteen droids that guarded the bridge. However, they were awarded as an armored column of tanks and transports crossed onto the bridge. Clutching a DC-15s he had scavenged off a dead clone, Garner prepared to spring up. Suddenly radio on his belt gave a long squelch.
Foosh… BOOM!
The explosion from the rocket blew the turret of the lead tank. With that tank down, they went to work. Agent Garner sprung up with his blaster rifle already level. There was a series of loud pops as he shot the first droid between the eyes. After adjusting his aim, he caught one in the side, and sprinted for the downed log a few yards in front of where he was. As he slid in, he watched as more droids were gunned down. By this point, more droids were running up to join the fray. Leaning up over the log, Garner emptied the rest of his magazine into the droids in front of him.
All around him, explosions began to erupt everywhere as the tanks began firing into the mess. Most of them were way off target. However, some were just a little to close for comfort. Rafael was running toward cover when an explosion happened nearby. The blast atomized one person, and sent two others flying with various, more than likely fatal, injuries. Rafael was sent stumbling as dust and debris rained down. As he ducked behind the large rock, he noted a lack of hearing in his left ear. The pain and blood trickling down confirmed that he had a blown eardrum.
Working through the pain, he continued fighting. Within five minutes they had forced their way to the edge of the bridge. Noting this, the armored column began to back up in an attempt to get off the bridge. However, it was too late. It took little time to get the explosives onto the plasma projectors. Upon getting clear, they hit the detonator. With a fiery explosion, the plasma projectors were destroyed. Suddenly the plasma bridge disappeared from underneath the vehicles. Gravity did the rest as all but three transports and a couple tanks were plunged into the river. Seeing their job done, the group took off into the woods before any reinforcements could show up.
Over the next day, everyone stuck to the caves. The attacks last night left the area littered with droids. Rafael and Agent Garner spent the time coordinating how to pull off the drop. There was a storm brewing which would give the helicopter cover. However, they still would need enough men to make sure they could quickly off load the cargo, and deal with any droid surprises. It was the general consensus that the droids were idiots unless they made the mistake of relying on that stupidity in a plan. Than Murphy's law takes over and screws everyone over.
"But wouldn't radar pick up a regular helicopter?" quizzed Rafael.
"No. Chances are they're using a stealth Black Hawk," Agent Garner answered.
"I see."
There was a look of understanding as he answered. However, Agent Garner couldn't help but give a knowing smirk.
Oh, you have no idea, he thought.
Having been a cop before the invasion, Rafael would've normally pressed for further details. However, when Agent Garner helped coordinating the resistance cells he made it quite clear that his past life was off limits. All Rafael knew was that he was a well connected CIA operative who was responsible for a lot of their supplies.
Finally, the time came.
"Now remember. Getting those supplies back to base is our first and only goal. The minute they leave the helicopter. Take them back here," Rafael stated.
After seeing a series of affirmative nods, the group moved out. After trekking up a well used game trail, they came across a natural clearing… Alpha 1. The site was just big enough for a Black Hawk to land, given the pilot put it straight down with next to no movement in any direction. Quietly the group spread out and made sure that the area was clear, before settling in for the half hour wait. Given that the droids reduced their patrols to the main roads at night, and they were way off the main roads, no one was overly worried. However, they also knew that assumptions were deadly and the distinctive sound of a chopper was going to draw attention.
Finally, the familiar drone of a helicopter could be heard overhead. Looking up, Agent Garner was unable to spot the blacked out helicopter until it was almost at the tree line. As the wheels touched the ground, the helicopter pilot shut it down so as not to draw unneeded attention. Immediately the doors flew open as the fighters raced forward to take the cargo. Tagging along behind, Agent Garner approached the crew chief.
"Shadow Hawk?" asked the man.
Startled that the man knew his ID code, Agent Garner could only nod his head in confirmation as he answered.
"Why?" he quizzed.
"I have orders to take you back to the USS Grafton," he answered quickly.
This caught him off guard.
"Hold on. I was dropped here to work with these people and provide intel. Now you want me to leave… now no less?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes." answered the man.
By this point the last of the supplies were being unloaded.
"Under whose authority?" Agent Garner pressed.
"Director Baits, sir. The captain will brief you in full," he answered quickly, "However, we need to leave, now."
It was clear the man was growing nervous.
"Alright."
Upon informing a not-so-happy Rafael what was going on, he climbed in the chopper. Silently he stared into the black as the helicopter disappeared into the moonless night.