A/N: Hello! Welcome back to Strangers in a Strange Land. Once again; huge shout out to my co-writer Starwarsmaster who continues to support the story and provide good content.


RWBY: Strangers in a Strange Land

Chapter 2: Frontier


UNKNOWN PLANET, UNKNOWN COORDINATES

HMCS SIR ISAAC BROCK
UNKNOWN ROTATION CYCLE

ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY
MARITIME FORCES PACIFIC
MARPAC
COMMANDER WILLIAM DIETZ

The trip through was almost instantaneous. As the ship veered its bow on the other side, the bridge crew was glad to see that there was open water for the ship to maneuver in. A ship as big as the 'Brock' would make slow turns and risk internal damage if the banks are too tight. The ship was still moving through the portal when, what felt like an EMP blast, went through the ship. Progressively, power throughout the ship failed as more of the vessel came through. computer screens shut off and even personal cell phones powered down as the ship continued through. Captain Dietz raised to his feet and looked around. If it needed electricity, it is was down and out. Thankfully the planets sun was up, despite it being the middle of the night back in Canada.

"Helm, status report?!" Dietz repositioned himself in his seat, turning it around to face the crew.

"Seems like an EMP blast sir, I have nothing." the young seaman completed a visual check of his monitors and tried maneuvering the ships instruments.

"OOW's, visual check now, I want to know what's happening to my ship." Dietz barked. Two seamen picked up binoculars off a shelf on either side of the ship's bridge, stepping out to the deck's exterior watchpoints. Both men inspected the stern and bow on their respective sections for visual breaches or damage.

"Starboard is clear sir!" the first seamen yelled into the bridge, returning inside.

"Port side is green as well sir!" the second seamen added.

Dietz began to process options. If the ship was clear of damage than the only real problem, if any, would be damage to the ship's onboard nuclear-powered reactor. Usually, a ship of this size would carry 4 diesel turbines to power the engines, but since that was presumed to be a rare and unobtainable commodity in this world, he was serviced with a nuclear reactor. Similar to that of a submarine, it removes the need for refueling and to accommodate the crew with a nearly endless source of energy. Of course, all of this is useless if the ship is dead in the water. Because of the Brocks sheer size, momentum would continue to propel the ship, presuming there were calm waters. If the EMP hit the reactor, then power distribution throughout the ship would be down. No air support or shipboard weapons systems for self-defence. His only option would be to get the ship to shore as soon as possible and deploy men to the four fifty caliber light machine guns on the ship's gangways.

"Helm, do we still have rudder control?" Dietz inquired to his helmsman. The seaman felt for resistance on his joystick before giving his officer a sure answer.

"Very slight sir, we may have an hour of use before we lose hydraulic pressure, but I can't say for sure."

Dietz sat back in his chair, Contemplating his next course of action. Whatever he did, it involved getting to land. "Watch, do you see land?" Dietz inquired, hoping he could make use of the ships continued momentum.

"Yes, sir, about 5 miles out. Off port at 22 degrees relative." The watchman called back from his exterior post.

"Nav?" Dietz implied the availability of pressure to turn the rudder.

"We can make the turn sir."

"Good. Helm, come about 22 degrees relative and get us to land. Let's anchor out as close as possible."

With the order, the ship slowly turned, using what little pressure they had left. As the ship evened out on its course, a man stepped through the bulkhead, he wore two ½ inch stripes with a ¼ inch stripe between on his shoulder epaulets, signifying him as a lieutenant commander. He removed his service cap upon entering.

"Helluva day gents." the man said, pushing past some of the seamen on the bridge. He seemed much happier and uplifting than most on the bridge. As he approached the front of the ship, he lay back in his designated chair. The chair was a navy blue with golden letters written 'XO' on the back. Dietz sighed and turned his head to face his XO. The man was leaning back in his chair with his hands interlocked behind his head. As he noticed the displeasure on the captain's face, his smile slowly faded.

"I meant, golly gee, what a day was having…" The man said, trying to lighten the mood. Dietz still wasn't pleased. "Sir" the man added to his previous statement. Dietz gave a slight smirk in approval and continued.

"And where has my XO been all this time?" Dietz crossed his arms in judgment as he leaned back in his chair.

"CIC. just got back."

"And?"

"All systems are down, but no visual damage to the weapons systems or radar equipment."

"In that case, go down and fetch me Lieutenant Colonel Reid, I think it's time that RCR gets some shore leave."

UNKNOWN PLANET, UNKNOWN COORDINATES
HMCS SIR ISAAC BROCK
UNKNOWN ROTATION CYCLE

1ST BATTALION, ROYAL CANADIAN REGIMENT
BRAVO COMPANY
1ST PLATOON
2 SECTION
PTE CARVER

Jack watched as all consoles around him shut down over time. An electromagnetic pulse of some sorts had struck the ship, disabling all electronics on board. The screen of the GPS on his wrist flickered and died. To confirm his theory, Jack reached into his pocket, fishing for his personal phone. Dead. Just as he expected.

"Shit." He muttered to himself. "That can't be good…"

"What the hell was that? Did we pass through?" Farren pondered out loud.

"We must've. That EMP is certainly not normal." Jack looked around the room, looking for the Master Corporal in the darkness.

"Come on, finish up loading your mags, grab whatever else you need and let's get above deck, I'm sure the Platoon Commander is gonna want an update asap. Let's go boys!" Farren was already halfway out the door by the time the remainder of 2 Section grabbed their helmets and rifles to follow him above deck.

Carver slung his C7 rifle over his shoulder after stuffing a few more 40mm grenades into his belt and several more magazines into his tactical vest. He bolted for the door, grabbing his helmet on the way out.

Jack climbed the stairs towards the hatch that would lead above deck. When Master Corporal Farren opened said hatch, natural light flooded the pitch black bowels of the disabled naval ship with shadows of moving troops were cast all over the floor and walls.

Fresh air struck Jack's face and crept into the gaps between his chest and body armor, cooling his warm core. It brought a slight comfort to his body, whose mind was running a mile a minute and gut had butterflies starting a riot. Reluctantly, he took a deep breath, testing the air.

"Well seeing how we aren't dead I'm gonna go ahead and assume the air is clean!" Jack yelled out for everyone to hear.

"You heard him, gents, Carver took the test, stock up on your fresh air, anything's better than the stale air down there…" Farren gestured to the hatch.

Jack looked all around, taking in the surroundings. In comparison, this new world did not look too different from home. From what he could tell, the ship was in a large body of water. He brought his rifle up to his shoulder and aimed into his Elcan optical sight, attempting to locate land, if there was any.

"Master Corporal Farren, report." Lieutenant Bryson emerged from below deck, escorted by the remainder of the company and their respective commanders.

The deck now had a strong infantry presence consisting of Bravo Company's first, second and third platoons with the remainder of the battalion awaiting further command below deck.

"Sir." Farren turned to address Bryson. "Unknown location. Even if my GPS system was working, and it's not due to that goddamn EMP, I doubt it'd have a reference for where we are."

"Roger that. Well, until we get further commands; 1st Platoon! Adopt defensive posture and wait out for a command from higher. Observe your surroundings and jot down anything you find to be important, every little bit can help us learn about where we are!"

"You heard em' grunts, let's get on it!" A number of Master Corporals and Sergeants barked at their troops, herding them to the edges of the vessel to observe.

"Jack, you're on me!" Farren tapped Carver on the helmet. When the younger soldier turned to face him, he gave him a hand gesture, ordering Jack to follow.

"You've got it!" Jack altered his course, now following Farren, who was dashing to the front of the ship.

By the time both men reached the edge, Jack grunted and reached for his canteen to hydrate. Having been cramped within the ship's confines, fully armoured, surrounded by other men was bad enough, however, the temperature outdoors and sudden physical activity mixed in with nerves taxed him.

"Shit, next time we go to another damn world, let's get a smaller boat, eh boss?"

"Yeah, no kidding." Farren chuckled before looking out into the expansive body of water.

Jack sighed and aimed down his optic again, finally seeing land far off in the distance of his sight.

"You alright?" Farren asked, looking at the soldier scoping in.

"Permission to speak freely, Master Corporal?" Jack asked, still looking down his sight.

Farren's eyebrow raised. "Go ahead."

Jack unfastened his helmet strap and removed the protection from his head, placing the kevlar helmet next to him on the deck. "I won't lie, I've been trying to wrap my head around this since we were told. Even now, on the other side, I'm finding myself failing to comprehend it."

Jack lowered his rifle for a moment, attempting to take in the world around him. He took a deep breath, relying on memory to compare the air of home to that of the world they were currently in.

Farren took a seat on the edge, letting his legs dangle off the ship. "Doesn't make a lot of sense does it?"

"No, not really. It's not every day our deployments are through portals that travel to another world to rescue missing scientists…It was hard not being able to tell my family anything. My dad understands, I know my mom is worried sick already, and well, Alex is too young to comprehend really."

"So how long has your brother wanted to join the military?" Farren asked, trying to make conversation with the understandably confused and slightly skeptical Private. If anything, it helped himself as well. The prospect of being on a new planet or traveling to some sort of new realm in itself was a daunting reality, let alone on an operation.

"As long as I can remember. He always says he wants to be a soldier like me. I call him Soldier, just to make him feel like he's a part of it. Even though I'm not sure if he will be..."

"What do you mean by that?" Farren inquired.

"Alex is sick. Diagnosed with Cancer. Radiation doesn't seem to be doing a lot to keep it down…"

"Oh…" Master Corporal Farren regretted persisting. "I'm...sorry to hear that."

Jack lowered his rifle, staring out into the waters without the magnification of his rifle. "Yeah, me too."

UNKNOWN PLANET, UNKNOWN COORDINATES
HMCS SIR ISAAC BROCK
UNKNOWN ROTATION CYCLE

ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY
MARITIME FORCES PACIFIC
MARPAC
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER KENDALL

Kendall slid down the stairwell into the engineering room, easing his momentum as he hit the ground.

"What's wrong with the ship Scotty?" Richard Scott or "Scotty" as the crew like to joke was the ship's chief engineer and an honours graduate from the University of Waterloo, Royal Military College and the Canadian Forces Fleet School in Esquimalt. When the Conservative government was assigning officers to senior level positions on the ship, he was their first and only choice for the chief engineer. As the XO stopped beside his chief engineer, he noticed he was deep into his work inspecting the ship's reactor.

"I have a revised theory on what hit us sir" the chief engineer finished his repairs on a steam pipe, and he turned to face the officer.

"Not an EMP?" Kendall leaned upon the circuit breaker housing, feeling a lecture on marine engineering coming on.

"It was an EMP, just not one we're used to."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there are two well-known types of EMP's. One-off types that allow electronics to come back online after a short amount of time, and another that sends out consecutive pulses."

"So which hit us?"

"Neither, at least I don't think."

"Then why in the hell am I walking around a state-of-the-art Amphibious Assault Ship, that runs one of thee most powerful nuclear reactors money can buy, in the pitch ass dark? Especially while I just saw an infantryman playing Angry Birds on his iPhone 4?

"Because, well, I believe whatever hit us was, natural."

"Natural? Since when were Electromagnetic Pulses naturally occurring?"

"Perhaps 'natural' was the wrong word. Sir, whatever hit us went right for the reactor. Anything else that got caught was just in the way."

"How is that possible?"

"Well, sir. It could be that the electrode properties of this region, mixed with the near sudden addition of a man-made nuclear generator caused the elements in the air to cause a ship wide short circuit of all technology. Culminating, of course, in the now vegetable state of our reactor."

"I'm sorry I asked. Look, can you get us online or not?"

"Well, of course I can sir, I just need to kickstart the reactor."

"That's it, just kickstart a highly volatile and radioactive nuclear reactor."

"That's it!" Scotty put on a sarcastic grin, knowing full well the size of his order.

"I guess jump cables won't work for this" Kendall started to scratch his forehead out of raw confusion.

"No sir, all I need is the fuel from the Endeavour. If I can start the engines by loading fresh fuel into the tank, then the propellers will start turning. After a while, the chain reaction will lead back to the A1B, and then there shall be light." Kendall grinned and snickered at Scotty's attempt at a joke.

"Very dramatic Scotty but I'll let the Captain know. You'll get your fuel."

UNKNOWN PLANET, UNKNOWN COORDINATES
HMCS SIR ISAAC BROCK
UNKNOWN ROTATION CYCLE

ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY
MARITIME FORCES PACIFIC
MARPAC
COMMANDER WILLIAM DIETZ

Lieutenant Colonel Reid slowly stepped through the bulkhead, adjusting his beret as he did so.

"Captain." Reid came to the position of attention and offered a salute, a sign of respect for the naval Commander. "Mind getting me a Sitrep? My boys are getting a tad anxious. I told them if they didn't calm down, I'd pull over, but it seems we've already done that."

Dietz put down the manual he was reading and returned the formal salute ":Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, welcome to the bridge, though I'd hoped we would be in better shape." Dietz gestured the Colonel to take a seat in the XO's chair while he gave the briefing. Dietz waited for the Colonel to take a seat before he himself sat down "Would you like the short version or the long version?"

Reid returned his hand to his side and followed the Captain's gesture to the XO's chair. He sunk into the seat, sitting up once he became comfortable. "Well, Captain. I'm in the mood for the long version. Since I'm already up here and nice and snug in this seat." The Lieutenant Colonel had a sly grin on his face before returning to the more pressing matters. "Where are we at?"

"Not in a good place, though hard to admit. EMP hit us hard. Aircraft and mechanized units are intact but without the reactor to power the elevators or propellant systems, their useless. Weapons are offline and without those, our defensive capabilities are limited to those of four 50. online." on the gangways of the ship and whatever fire support your men can muster. Engineering says they can get the reactor back in a manner of hours if your men can secure the remaining fuel from the Endeavour's storage tanks."

"I've already got my troops posted around the deck in a defensive posture. I've got C6's for every platoon and a couple 84mm's posted around. Factored in with the rifle sections and their C9's, we should be able to repel anything that comes at us until we've got weapons back up. As for the reactor, the sooner it's back online, the sooner we can get on with our mission. I'll have my men recover fuel from the HMCS Endeavour's supplies."

"Speaking of which, if you'll follow me over here" Dietz suggested, moving for a small table to the right of Reid's chair. On the table lay a map with a rough sketch of the coastline, with small points marked in red as possible insertion points for ground forces.

Reid pushed himself out of the XO's seat and followed the Captain to the table, overlooking the contents to get a rough idea of the plan.

"Shit. I didn't know I was getting a beach vacation."

"I apologize for the poor quality of the map, but given the circumstances, it's the best we can do until we get the Predator running."

"Hell, Captain. The Infantry can run with sticks and rocks, that'll do nicely. What am I looking at?"

"We've mapped out the zones in relation to where the HMCS Endeavour went missing. Given their mission parameters and fuel capabilities, we've figured that they would have stayed in the general vicinity. These zones here, marked with stars are your best bets to start searching, they are also within optimal range of air support, assuming we can provide it. I'll have flight crews standing by and the hornets warmed up for when the reactor comes online."

"Very good. We should probably set a side objective of reconnaissance of any land mass we come across while the primary focus is on locating the Endeavour. I have a number of Recce elements standing by as well as a number of Platoons combat ready as we speak. Bravo company is active currently with 1st Platoon already on the deck, I'd just have to replace them on watch."

The XO, who was standing at the back of the bridge whilst the officers were conversing took the time to procure his chair now that it was vacant.

"If you'd like to prepare a ground party, I'll have my XO work on getting the assault bay door open for your men to go ashore."

"Right then. I'll deploy a Recce element to the mainland, see if we can learn about where we are. They're gonna need a LAV and a couple RHIBs. As for the Endeavour, I'm tasking Lieutenant Bryson and 1st Platoon of Bravo Company to locate the ship and search for survivors. They're gonna need some RHIB's too."

"I'll start moving support resources down to the bay for deployment and will make sure that they are fueled and ready to go. I'll send the LAV's once your men secure a beachhead, can't fit all that in the bay at once I'm afraid. This is only the beginning of a long road ahead Colonel, I'm glad we can be partners in this."

"Likewise, Captain. Let's make this operation one for the history books."

Dietz set his book down on the table next to him and snapped to attention out of respect. Reid returned the gesture and spun on his heel to exit the bridge. Dietz retrieved his book from the Navigation station adjacent to him and continued to read up. Noticing that his XO had just secured his seat from the Colonel, Dietz thought he might play with Mike for his improper address to the bridge crew earlier

"XO, front and center." Dietz ordered

Mike let out a faint sigh as he got up out of his chair. He slowly rose from his seat to the right of the captain's chair and stood next to the captain, who was looking over a command structure manual for the vessel.

"There a problem, Mike?"

"I live to serve Commodore." Mike said sarcastically. Dietz shook his head and looked back down at the manual. Sure he could have barked at Mike for not using proper etiquette, but what purpose would that serve. Dietz partly believed that mike enjoyed getting the book thrown at him for not following Navy regulation, but that was in the past, and Dietz needed him by his side.

"When unexpected power loss happens, emergency generators kick in right?"

"Yes sir, every navy vessel needs enough reserve power to run primary function like radar, sonar, red lights and medical."

"But we have manual overrides for things that would usually rely on the system to be at full strength to run."

"Yeah, fire suppression is considered in secondary functions because it can operate manually without needing to be controlled by the ships subroutines."

"What about the amphibious assault bay?"

"Bay door works like any other garage door, it has a manual override, but it requires hydraulic systems to move."

"Are you sure we can move it?"

"I'm confident we have enough hydraulic pressure to open it."

"Do it. Oh, and Mike?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"You can rest when you're dead."

UNKNOWN PLANET, UNKNOWN COORDINATES
HMCS SIR ISAAC BROCK
UNKNOWN ROTATION CYCLE

1ST BATTALION, ROYAL CANADIAN REGIMENT
BRAVO COMPANY
1ST PLATOON
2 SECTION
PTE CARVER

Jack climbed into the RHIB with his rifle over his shoulder, following Farren and Lt. Bryson.

"Alright listen up first Platoon!" Bryson shouted as three RHIB's were lowered down to water level within the assault bay of the HMCS Brock.

"Captain Dietz and his men have located the HMCS Endeavour anchored out a klick from the mainland. According to the Lieutenant Colonel's report; the ship is severely damaged. While Recce elements head to the beach, we're moving out to board the Endeavour and rescue any survivors we come across. And engage hostile forces, if any. Lock and load, boys."

The eerie order sent a chill down Jack's spine. Regardless, he removed a magazine from a pouch on his tactical vest and slammed it into the rifle. He then opened the M203 grenade launcher under his barrel and fed a 40mm grenade into the chamber and closed it. He was ready to fight.

"Badly damaged, you know what that means." Jerome muttered to Jack.

"Contact." Jack responded.

Their RHIB hit the water moments later. Jack peered over the edge, staring at his wavy reflection in the water. The heavily armoured, CADPAT clad soldier was visibly nervous. The massive assault bay door eventually lifted, revealing the massive body of water that Jack was observing earlier. The ship had drifted even further as the land mass the crew spotted earlier was significantly closer

A LAV and two other RHIBs were lowered, holding the Recce platoon soldiers within. They sped off first after giving a thumbs up and a shout of good luck to 1st Platoon.

The sound of the engine blared and they sped off, not far behind the Recce platoon.

"Once we board, keep it tight 2 Section!" Master Corporal Farren shouted.

"You know, the rest of Bravo Company is probably getting cozy in their defensive posture, and the remainder of the battlegroup are more than likely chilling below deck waiting for something to do. Why do we always get the fun missions?" Jack asked aloud with a sly grin painted on his face.

"Oh, this isn't the fun part." Jerome smirked. "The fun part is searching the Endeavour top to bottom with possible contact and getting survivors back to the Brock."

"Could be worse," Farren turned to face the two Privates. "We could be on the Recce patrol into uncharted territory. At least we have a rough idea of the innards of a ship."

"If I wanted to see this much water and spend that much time on a stinky boat, I would've joined the goddamn Navy…" Jerome shrugged.

"Don't let Captain Dietz hear you talking shit about his boat, soldier." Lieutenant Bryson hollered from his RHIB.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Sir!" Jerome chuckled.

Jack kept his eyes front, searching for the Endeavour. The occasional splash of water would come up from the side of the RHIB and soak his leg, garnering his attention every now and then. Whenever he did lose focus on his search, Jack would watch the water, looking for aquatic life to compare.

He stuck his hand in the water, instantly cooling his warm hand.

"Jesus." Farren muttered abruptly.

"What?" Jack's hand retreated out of the water and quickly donned its glove. "What's the matt-...Holy shit…"

The three RHIBs were now in visible range of the Endeavour. It did not look good. Scorch marks littered the hull, meaning at one point the ship was ablaze. A significant portion of the hull was punctured and bent outwards like it had been breached or ripped open from the exterior.

"That ship is giant, what the hell could've done that?" Jerome asked, hoping anyone could answer.

"Nothing good, that's for sure." Jack whispered to himself in disbelief.

"Alright boys, we're closing in, charge weapons on your own time." Bryson chimed in while watching the Endeavour carefully.

Jack gripped the cocking handle of his rifle and racked it back, loading a round into the chamber of his C7A2. With a flick of the fire selector, the weapon was put on safe until the time came to engage the enemy.

"Just for the record," Jack stated while staring at the Endeavour. "I always hoped to go to a new planet in my lifetime. But uh...not under these circumstances."

"Close encounters of the Canadian kind, Carver." Farren cocked his weapon.

The RHIBs came to a halt near a hull breach that would save time searching for another entry. The creaking of the bulkheads was loud enough that they drowned out the engines of the RHIB crafts. The ship was in even worse condition than initial visual contact would have suggested. The ship was nearly torn in half.

"For God's sake, the whole ship is coming apart…" Bryson stood up, examining the ship.

"Sir." Farren called out.

"Go ahead, Farren."

"All due respect sir, there's no way we're getting all our boys in there safely. The damn thing looks like it's gonna give any moment."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Let me take a team, sir. Hard and fast sweep. If there are any survivors, which I'm unfortunately doubting at this moment in time, we'll get em'. We can also hit the bridge and gather any intelligence we can about what happened. Minimal risk to the platoon."

Bryson pondered his options for a moment. He had the choices of; deploy a platoon of men into a possibly hostile and near destroyed science vessel with the chance of the ship caving in or sinking, killing all his men, or, sending a small team of soldiers into a possibly hostile situation. While both options seemed terrible, he made up his mind.

"You win, Farren. The remainder of the platoon will hold here waiting for your return. Take two fireteams."

"Roger that, Sir." Farren was glad his former student trusted him enough to make a tough decision. "I need three volunteers."

"Yep." Jack reluctantly called out, standing up as he did.

"Right behind you." Corporal Owens sounded off as well.

"Guess that makes me number three." Jerome rolled his eyes.

"Owens, Lewis, you're fireteam Bravo. Carver, you and I are Alpha. Bravo, you'll take the rear of the ship, we'll take the front."

"You got it, boss." Owens acknowledged.

"Owens, try your radio." Farren instructed. "Hopefully it'll work."

Corporal Owens removed his handheld radio from its respective pouch and clicked the push-to-talk button twice, earning two clicks on Farren's receiver.

"Fireteam Alpha, this is Fireteam Bravo, radio check, over."

Miraculously, it came through on Farren's radio.

"Fireteam Bravo, Fireteam Alpha, loud and clear."

"Well, that'll come in handy." Jerome commented.

"Hey sir, we've got handheld radios working! I suggest we keep in contact. We'll radio in occasionally!" Farren yelled to Bryson's RHIB.

"Good to know. I'm gonna try and raise the Brock if radios are working. Don't take too long in there, Farren. The moment you and your boys think you're in shit, get the hell out, that's an order."

"Acknowledged, Sir. Driver, get us closer to that hull breach, that's where we'll infil." Farren tapped the RHIB driver on the shoulder.

"Roger that, Master Corporal." The lone RHIB soon carefully maneuvered into the torn hull of the Endeavour before halting near a damaged ramp that the four soldiers could use to get aboard.

For a moment, no man stepped off the RHIB. The four men observed the destroyed hull and the ramp that would allow them access to a door further in the ship.

"Well." Jack shrugged. "One small step for Jack." He grabbed the ramp and hoisted himself up, climbing over the railing. "One giant leap for the Canadian Infantry."

Jack turned back to the railing of the ramp and leaned over it, extending his hand to help the next soldier up. It was, of course, Farren that gripped Jack's hand and climbed the ramp next. Once Jerome and Corporal Owens joined the two on the ramp, Farren and turned, waving the RHIB off.

"Alright boys, we're the brave volunteers." Farren remarked with a sly grin as he turned to observe his small team. "Typical." He chuckled and pat the two privates on the shoulder.

"Yay us." Jerome mused.

"Bunk buddies, unite!" Jack said sarcastically.

"You'll make Corporal for this I'm sure." Owens teased.

"Right on." Jack gave a thumbs up with a grin.

The men did their best to stay positive. And in the depths of a seemingly abandoned and destroyed ship; their solution was jokes.

"Okay, playtime's over gents. We've got a job to do. Owens, Lewis; sweep the stern. What I said on the ride over stands. Keep it tight, and we'll be outta here in no time."

"We're on it. Lewis, let's move." Owens ordered while loading a belt of rounds into his C9 Light Machine Gun.

"That's the back of the ship, right?" Lewis asked as they stepped off.

Owens sighed. "Yes. The stern is the rear of the ship."

"Well sorry! I'm in the Infantry, not the Navy!"

Corporal Owens and Private Lewis disappeared into the bowels of the ship through the single accessible door in the hull breach they discovered on the starboard side of the ship.

"That leaves the Bow to us, kid." Farren reached for his rifle that dangled from its sling. "Ready to rock?"

"Hell yeah, Master Corporal." Jack nodded, giving a thumbs up as he did.

Jack shouldered his C7A2 and began to walk, each footfall making an audible creak on the fallen catwalk. He cringed with every step, knowing that anyone would hear them coming. Friend or foe. The few emergency lights that remained on would occasionally fill the dark corridors with red light. Jacked extended his arm and switched the light on his rifle on, enabling himself and Farren to see a tad better. Farren soon did the same.

With the exception of their footsteps, the ship was dead silent. The state of the ship had not been better on the interior. Long tears in the metal walls were everywhere, bulkheads had been smashed, bullet holes and scoring littered the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"This confirms it." Farren whispered, not taking his eyes off his arcs of fire. "They were engaged."

Jack's boot made contact with a puddle. What he had thought to be water was revealed to be blood once his rifle light illuminated the floor. A sharp chill traveled down his spine.

"...Shit…" He muttered.

It was then both men had a feeling they were being watched, or stalked. Jack turned, shining his light down the corridor, back where they came.

"Anything?" Farren asked, keeping his rifle forward.

Jack squinted, finding difficulty in distinguishing shapes or movement with the mixture of white light coming from his torch, flashing red emergency lights and pure darkness.

"No way to know." He finally answered.

"Well, if whatever did this is still around, we're bound to run into it eventually. Let's go."

Jack moved back to Farren's side, and the two began to progress once again. The occasional creak of metal that was not caused by the two men's footfalls would spark a response from the soldiers. One would watch the rear while the either nervously led the fireteam forward.

"Can't see shit in here…" Farren whispered.

Jack turned his back and shone his light down the corridor to assist Farren's sight.

"There that should do-" Jack froze then abruptly spun around, took a knee and took up a sight picture down the hall.

"Report." Farren ordered while watching their front.

Jack remained quiet, examining the rear in depth.

"Jack!" Farren searched for the soldier behind him, using his non-dominant hand to grip his shoulder.

"Heard something." Jack finally responded. "Something fell back there."

Farren reached for his radio and brought it up to his face.

"Fireteam Bravo, Fireteam Alpha." He whispered.

"Go ahead, Alpha." Owens voice quickly responded.

"Find anything yet?"

"We've got bodies."

"How many?"

"A lot. Scientists, a few Enhanced Boarding Party guys…I'd say a dozen just where we're standing."

"God damn it…" Farren shook his head. "Okay, take their tags and ammo, something tells me we're gonna need it."

"Roger that. Lewis, grab some extra mags for your C7, see if you can find some extra belts for the 9." Owens spoke off the radio to his partner. "You two find anything, Farren?"

"Just blood and spent casings. No corpses yet. We're hearing stuff though, that you tripping over crap?"

"I thought that was you guys…"

Jack looked up and over his shoulder to his section commander, who stared forward in silence. He could tell Farren felt exactly what he was; fear and uncertainty.

"Negative, that's not us. Carry on with the objective, keep in contact. Alpha, out." Farren stuffed his radio back into its pouch and resumed aiming down the hallway while pondering their next course of action.

"Mission hasn't changed?" Jack asked, looking for confirmation.

"Mission hasn't changed, Kid." Farren nodded, "I've got a feeling we're gonna have company sooner rather than later. Don't hesitate to light up anything coming at us from that hallway."

"Right." Jack acknowledged.

"Come on, let's make this quick." Farren lifted Carver to his feet by the strap on the back of his tactical vest.

The two nervously inched forward down the blood-stained halls. Jack looked to his left, observing bloody handprints on the walls. The smears indicated the victim had been dragged.

"God damn…"

They would often pass rooms with the hatch doors cracked open. Whenever Farren or Jack would peek into the room, shine their lights into the room and every time find a worse scene than the last. One room in particular had its door torn from its metal hinges. Tables and chairs had been thrown around the room, obscuring much of the torch's light.

"Psst." Jack whispered, gaining Farren's attention. The younger soldier stopped at the door and waited for the Master Corporal to join him in clearing the room. Both men took up position with Carver taking the lead. Farren squeezed Jack's shoulder, letting him know that he was ready.

Jack moved swiftly, rushing into the left side of the room while Farren swept to the right. Both men waved their lights around, searching for targets.

"Right side clear!"

"Left looks clear!"

Both soldiers relaxed a little, using their lights to search the room in depth. The tables that had seemed to be strewn about had actually formed a makeshift barricade. Farren leaned over the barrier and shone his light. He shook his head and sighed.

"We're gonna get the bastards that did this, Carver."

Jack made his way to the table defence to observe what his leader was talking about. Within the poorly made defensive position, a number of scientists and other non-combatants lay dead. A lone Enhanced Boarding Party operator was swimming in a sea of brass casings. The operator had died in a last stand, defending the civilians. The warrior's C8 Carbine was still in his dead hands, a loaded magazine in his other. The scene made Jack want to puke. It was a slaughter.

"Died a hero." Jack whispered to himself.

He climbed over the barricade. Jack opened the magazine pouches on the operator's tactical gear, fishing for extra mags.

"Here." Jack handed over an additional two magazines to Farren. "You said it yourself; we're gonna need it…"

He returned his attention to the deceased combatant. He dropped to a knee and sighed. "You did your best, bud. Good work." Jack pat the corpse on the chest and grabbed the man's dog tags and the loaded magazine from his hand.

He stood up and climbed over the barricade.

"C'mon. Let's get out of here and finish up."

"With pleasure." Jack muttered, saddened by the grim image behind him.

They had not been walking for even a minute by the time they stopped once more.

"Hold up." Farren's hand shot up, giving the halt order.

Jack did what he was told and halted on the spot, keeping his rifle parallel to the ground. "What is it?"

"Heard something."

Jack turned his head, watching their back, assuming the noise Farren heard was similar to that of what they heard earlier down the hall.

"No, it wasn't back there. It was in front of us." Farren scanned the hallway to their front, his eyes trailing right to left.

Their attention was drawn to a shut door on the right side of the hallway. Light shifting could be heard beyond the steel door.

"Movement." Jack murmured.

"Let's clear it.' Farren moved to the door.

When the two soldiers stacked up on the door, the movement on the other side stopped. It had heard them. Whatever it was, it was probably preparing for their entry. Farren probed the door with his rifle. Sealed shut. Something was in there.

Farren carefully let his rifle hang and put both his hands on the sealing valve of the door. He looked up to Jack, who already stood with his rifle pointed at the door, ready to breach. They both nodded to each other, signaling that they were ready.

Farren twisted the valve rapidly, as fast as he could to try and get in the room quickly to deny anyone inside a chance to react and retaliate. Once the valve was fully rotated, Farren put his back to the wall.

"Go!" He yelled.

Jack squared off with the door, standing straight opposite of it, presenting his body armor to whoever or whatever was on the other side of that door. Jack raised his leg, feeding the door a swift kick with his boot. The door flung open, smashing into the wall within the confines of the room. Within a moment, the two Infantry soldiers swarmed in, rifles raised.

"CANADIAN FORCES! COME OUT AND DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" Farren shouted, announcing their identity and giving any hostiles a single chance to surrender.

The first thing that hit them was the stench. Jack coughed and fought the urge to puke, but kept his rifle up and forward.

Both Jack and Farren had their fingers on their triggers, ready to engage at any sign of hostile activity.

Two hands shot up behind a research counter in the center of the room. The two C7A2 barrels instantly tracked to the hands.

"Get up!" Farren yelled again.

"D-Don't shoot!" A lone figure rose up from behind the counter, hands raised. "I'm human!"

The odd comment caught Jack and Farren off guard.

"Identify yourself!"

"Doctor Brian Grove! I'm one of the researchers! Please don't shoot!"

The supposed scientist donned a blood-soaked lab coat and a torn, unbuttoned at the collar, shirt. The man shook in fear.

"Check fire." Farren gave the order and let his rifle hang. "Sir, we're with the Canadian Army, we're here to rescue you."

The man looked visibly relieved. "Thank god...I thought I was gonna die in here…"

Jack stood down and began to approach the man, reaching for his first aid kit.

"Are you alright, sir?" Jack asked.

"...I'm fine...I think…Thank you..." The man said, raising his hand.

"Jack, sweep the room then provide security on the door." Farren walked towards the Scientist.

"Roger that." Jack stepped away and began to search the room.

Behind the counter, a single scalpel was discarded on the floor. Jack theorized that the man was in fact armed when he and Master Corporal Farren breached. Smart. Jack thought to himself. He walked over a corner, noticing a bucket. The stench grew worse. Jack safely assumed that was the survivor's makeshift toilet.

"Damn that's gross…" He waved his hand in front of his nose, trying to waft away the smell to little effect.

A trail of blood caught Jack's attention, coagulating in the opposite corner of the room. A body rested in the corner with a lab coat draped over it. The small jacket failed to cover the corpse completely, revealing black combat boots and the top of a helmet. One of the Naval Boarding Party operators. Jack sighed and walked to the corpse and lifted the coat momentarily to grab the tags around the dead man's neck.

Farren looked the man over for injuries despite saying he was fine. "Are you injured at all, sir? Can you tell us what happened?"

"No injuries...I wish I could say the same about my colleagues...We were attacked."

Farren froze and exhaled from his nose. "By what?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Indigenous creatures, I suppose."

"Are you the only survivor?"

"I believe so. I haven't left this room for a while. I was initially a part of a larger group of survivors led by some of the soldiers...they did their best."

"Tell me everything you can, we're gonna need all the intel we can get."

Jack moved to the door, peeking down both ends of the corridor while Farren sought information from the scientist.

"I can tell you everything once we get out of here! I've been stuck in here for god knows how long."

"Sir, we will extract you but not without knowing what we're walking into."

The man looked panicked, just now realizing the quantity of soldiers coming to his rescue.

"There are only two of you?!"

"Four, actually." Jack corrected sarcastically from the door.

"You need an army!" Doctor Grove shouted.

"Keep your voice down, we have no idea if the enemy is still here."

Grove began to sweat again. "Jesus this is crazy…"

"Now, what the hell are we dealing with?"

"As I said, I'd wager on Indigenous creatures. Savage animals...They swarmed the research team on the mainland then made their way to the Endeavour. We never stood a chance..."

"Oh shit..." Farren swiftly grabbed his radio and contacted Bryson. "Sir, it's Farren!"

"Go ahead, Farren." Bryson replied, sounding exceptionally bored with his men on the RHIBs.

"Sir, have you been able to get contact with the Brock or the Recce element?"

"Struggling to raise the Brock, I'm having the radio operator work on it. The Recce platoon checks in regularly. Why, what's goi-"

"Sir, possible hostile contact on the mainland, you need to alert that Platoon. They'll probably need backup too, sir!"

"What about you?"

"No hostiles yet Sir, positive ID on one survivor; a Doctor Grove from the research team. Just leave us a RHIB and a driver sir, and we'll make our way to you."

"God damn it, Farren. I better see you and your men real soon, no heroics, that's an order."

"Roger that, Sir." Farren ended the conversation and shoved his radio back into his pouch.

The tension was rising, and they hadn't even contacted the enemy yet.

"Can they be killed?"

"I-" Grove asked.

"Can they be killed!?"

"Yes! Yes, they can be killed!"

"How tough are these sons of bitches?"

"That soldier in the corner put at least five shots into one of them before it would die…" Grove said while pointing at the corpse in which Jack recovered the tags from.

"Jack! How many mags you got?" Farren asked while counting his own.

Jack opened his three, double stack magazine pouches, giving him easy access to six magazines. On the side of his vest, he had another double stack, adding two to his count. The emergency magazine in the inner pocket of his tactical vest plus the one already in his rifle gave him ten magazines.

"Rocking ten right now."

"I've got nine plus the additional two you gave me." Farren shut his magazine pouches. "That should be enough to get us to the bridge and back…"

"The Bridge!? It was overwhelmed! What if there are more of them around?"

"Then we kill them before they kill us."

"There are only two of you!"

"Four." Jack muttered in the background.

"You need to lead us to the bridge. Just stay behind me, give directions, stay ahead of my partner, we'll get you out unharmed.

"If it means I can get out of here...There are more of you, yes?"

"The entire first Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment is here to establish a foothold. So yes, there are more of us." Farren confirmed before walking over to Jack and peering out the door.

"Anything?"

"Nothing yet."

"Alright, let's get it done."

Jack moved into the hall, weapon drawn on the left-hand side while Farren took the right. Doctor Grove reluctantly followed the soldiers out of the room.

One last time, Master Corporal Farren grabbed his radio, checking up with Bravo team.

"Owens, it's Farren."

"Go ahead, Alpha."

"Found one times survivor, repeat; one times survivor. Anything on your end?"

"Negative. More bodies. We're getting close to the engine room though, so we'll be able to get the fuel."

"Acknowledged, we're en route to the bridge now. Keep me posted and be on the lookout for hostile contacts, survivor thinks they're still around."

"Roger that, good luck."

"You too, Bravo." He put the radio away again and turned to Doctor Grove. "Alrighty then, Doc. Where are we heading?"

The scientist looked around the corridor, analyzing markings, signs and using memory to map out the ship.

"We need to go forward and take a right at the next junction... I think...I'm sorry it's been a while cramped in there and everything happened so fast, we were running all over the place."

"It's alright, Doctor. Take your time. We'll get there." Jack said while looking over his shoulder.

"He's right. Just go off of what you remember, and we'll sort out the rest and get you out of here."

"...Okay. Well, then that's my best bet."

"Well, better than nothing. Let's go." Farren took point, just as he promised. He kept his weapon raised the entire time, not letting arm fatigue cause him to drop his guard for a single moment.

"Hey, Doctor…" Jack started while slowly advancing behind the small group of three. "Anything else you can tell us about the creatures you encountered?"

"I'm afraid I can't really tell you a lot. I wasn't on the mainland when first contact was made. From what I could see, they were midnight black with white, bone-like faceplate facial features. Bone white spikes also protruded from their bodies in some eyes had a distinct red-orange glow. Appearance wise, the best connection I can make with Earthly animals would have to be wild dogs, or wolves. However, these creatures are significantly larger and hulking. Sharper claws, sharper teeth…" Grove shuddered at the last two descriptions. "We never stood a chance."

Jack tried picturing their enemy in his head. "How'd they get on the ship?"

"What few patrol ships we brought were boarded on the shore. They waited for the ships to retreat to the Endeavour...showing signs of intelligence. We also spotted aerial units."

"Wait, what?" Farren stopped. "They have air support?"

"They're creatures, not soldiers like you! They aren't flying jets if that's what you think."

"Well, what are they?"

"Massive bird like specimen. They appear to be very similar to Crows or Ravens. Their giant claws tore the ship apart with ease. They also deployed spear-like feather quills that punctured the deck. You can imagine its mass judging by that."

"Giant birds! Great." Jack exclaimed sarcastically.

"Yes, well, it doesn't get much better I'm afraid. Some creatures were similar in design to the wolf-like ones, however, different in size, being closer to that of an American Black Bear."

"Heavy units, I'd assume." Farren shrugged.

"Smaller units also filled the ranks. Bipedal, no arms. Extremely fast, however. One final thing of note that I cannot confirm, the existence of aquatic creatures. Some of the patrol craft had torn hulls, causing them to sink. It's possible, but I can't be sure of it."

Jack thought back to the ride over from the HMCS Sir Isaac Brock, where he had been peering into the water, hoping to see some fish. Now he was glad that he did not.

When the team found the junction, they stuck to the right, following Grove's instructions. Farren had turned the corner slowly, confirming that they would not be walking into a hot spot of enemy contacts.

"It's clear. Where to next?"

"Umm...follow this path until we reach a T-junction, take a left, there should be the ladder to the deck in which the bridge is located. Should be a straight shot from there if I remember right. I only went up there once."

Once Farren and Grove stepped off, Jack didn't move. He stood still, rifle raised to their rear. He was staring intensively down the hallway.

"What is it?" Doctor Grove asked, noticing the younger soldier not moving.

"I saw something."

Farren stopped, not getting too far ahead.

"About forty meters to our rear, down the other hall at the junction. I saw movement. Saw the glow of the eyes too."

Grove shuddered, backing away slightly.

"We're being followed." Farren muttered, shaking his head in frustration. "Jack if you see that again you feed that son of a bitch a fourty mike-mike, understood?"

"Got it." Jack kept his eyes on the hallway for another few moments, watching for the two red orbs in the darkness. For now, it kept its distance.

However, as the three progressed, the feeling of being watched lingered over them. As the fear increased, the noises Jack had heard earlier increased, accompanied by scratches above and below them. Each step seemed to only bring more. After ten additional minutes of slow progression, Jack, Grove, and Farren reached the ladder, just as Grove had remembered.

"Good to know you work well under pressure, Doctor." Farren complemented before placing his boot on the first bar of the ladder. He pointed his rifles light upward, checking the immediate visual area of the ladder. Clear, for now.

"I'm going up, followed by you, Grove. Cover us, Carver."

Jack up a firing position, watching the narrow corridor for hostiles. Jack knew they were coming. He flicked the safety off of his weapon and his finger met the trigger, now awaiting the squeeze to come at the first sign of enemies.

Farren slowly climbed the ladder, using only one arm as his other provided light and kept the weapon trained on the opening to the next deck. When he reached the top, he peeked through the man-sized hole with his rifle resting on the floor of the next deck. The light illuminated the even thinner corridor. No immediate threat. Master Corporal Farren hoisted himself up and took a knee.

"Come on up, Doctor."

Doctor Grove hesitantly looked at the ladder, and then to Jack.

"It's alright, Doc. I'm right behind you."

The twitchy scientist began to climb.

"Farren." Owens' voice echoed in the corridor that Farren guarded.

"Go ahead." He responded.

"Lewis and I found the engine room, we're gonna start siphoning fuel from the remaining supply."

"Roger that. We're almost at the bridge. One siphon while the other watches. I don't want anyone getting hit from behind, things are getting tense up here."

"Copy that."

Jack blinked a couple times, swearing he saw movement once again at the end of the hall. He readied his M203 grenade launcher and prepared to fire. However, after observing for a couple moments, he failed to spot anymore movement.

"Son of a bitch…" Jack cursed under his breath.

Doctor Grove reached the next deck and tapped Farren on the shoulder, letting him know he was up

"Alright, Jack! Come on up!"

Jack rose to his feet again and slowly made his way to the ladder, not turning his back to the hallway. When his back hit the ladder, he waited a few more seconds before letting his rifle hang and turning to climb up. His gloved hands grabbed hold of the ladder, and his left leg stepped up to another bar.

As he began to climb, thumping could be heard storming down the hall, towards the ladder. Jack's heart skipped a beat. The enemy was making its move, and he was there with his back turned, hands off his weapon. Jack let go of the ladder, dropping to the steel floor where he instantly lifted his rifle, searching for the target. This was it, the first enemy Jack would ever fight and, hopefully, kill in his life.

His heartbeat raced until finally, the enemy creature's outline and glowing eyes could be spotted far down the hallway. Jack unloaded on the creature, squeezing the trigger multiple times, the flashes of the rifle illuminating the hall.

"Jack?!" Farren yelled, unaware of the encounter until the loud burst could be heard.

It seemed to only aggravate the beast as it started to charge! Any regular living thing would be long dead by the amount of rounds Jack had put into the creature. He froze, mouth agape. Jacked quickly recovered and switched to the M203.

"Try this!" He squeezed the trigger, sending the 40mm grenade flying out of the weapon. Jack immediately hit the deck to avoid shrapnel.

In theory, it was extremely dangerous and not recommended to fire the M203 grenade launcher in confined spaces. The weapon needed around fourteen or twenty-seven meters to arm properly and if it exploded, there was a chance shrapnel could injure the user. Luckily, the hostile was within the arming range and far enough away that the cone of the explosion would hopefully avoid sending shrapnel Jack's way. The high explosive grenade made direct contact with the target, exploding on impact. The sound was deafening and disoriented Jack for a moment. When he looked again, the creature was on the floor, dead.

"That had to kill you…" Jack muttered while getting to his feet.

"Jack! Talk to me!"

"I'm okay! One hostile!"

"...Is it dead?!"

"Stand by!"

Jack approached the corpse, rifle raised. Shrapnel pierced the walls, floor and ceiling all around the dead hostile. If Jack had waited any longer, the fast creature surely would've closed the gap, moving into range in which the M203 would not arm if fired. Jack squinted and shone his light on the corpse. From what he could see, a black smoke emanated from the creatures corporeal form. Jack looked on in confusion while probing the body with his rifle, ensuring it was in fact, dead. He examined the corpse carefully. The description Doctor Grove gave was fairly accurate.

"It's dead!" He called out.

Once Jack finished looking over the beast, it hit him, he had just killed another worldly being. It sounded insane when he said it in his head. He turned to go for the ladder when he heard a loud roar at the end of the hallway. Followed by another. And another. And so on.

"You've got to be kidding me…"

He swiftly backed up towards the ladder with his rifle raised.

The red eyes appeared at the end of the hall, approaching fast. Jack flipped his rifle to automatic and held down the trigger, emptying the remainder of his first magazine. By the time the empty magazine hit the steel floor, a loaded magazine was slammed into the rifle.

"Jack, get the Hell up here!" Farren screamed over the gunfire.

The volley of fire failed to cease the enemy advance. Jack spun on his heel and sprinted for the ladder with the enemy on his tail. Farren lowered himself slightly into the opening, extending his hand.

"GO! GO!"

Jack boosted off of the first bar of the ladder, giving him enough height to grab Farren's hand. The Master Corporal caught the Soldier's hand and hoisted him up with all his might, narrowly escaping the claws of the enemy. The moment Jack was up, Doctor Grove shut the ladder hatch and sealed it tight.

"Holy shit!" Jack yelled while on his back.

"Farren! What the Hell is going on?" Owens shouted in the radio

"Private Carver made contact with the enemy. No casualties."

"Whoa, seriously?" Private Lewis' voice could be heard in the background of Owens' broadcast.

"Yeah, seriously. Tough sons of bitches by the look of it."

"Roger that! We're almost done here, we'll link up with you soon."

"Acknowledged, keep your eyes peeled, they're likely stalking you right now."

"Too close…" Farren muttered. "What the hell happened?"

Jack was on the floor, catching his breath. "Bastards got the jump on me! Grove was climbing, and I thought I saw something. I waited while taking aim and nothing happened so I went to follow you guys up and one of em' came running at me!"

"You good?" Farren observed the Private for injuries.

"Yeah, I think I'm good. Fed them a fourty mike-mike and a hail of bullets. They're tough for sure."

Grove put his ear up against the hatch, listening as they tried clawing their way in. "How are we gonna get out?

"I've got a thing for that!" Jack sat up, reaching into his fragmentation grenade pouch.

"Leave it for now. We'll deal with these guys later, we've got to get to the bridge."

Farren helped Jack to his feet and began to lead the three down the narrow hall, seeing the entrance to the bridge at the end.

Doctor Grove approached the door's right side and started to type codes into the chest height electronic panel.

"Tight security." Farren commented.

"Indeed." Grove nodded. "The things we were supposed to be studying are not to be seen by the public. It would cause panic if the masses knew that there was another world with violent creatures. Not to mention how involved other nations would want to be."

"True." Farren agreed. To the average citizen, fear would consume them. But these were not ordinary men.

The door unlocked, allowing the men to enter. The scene on the bridge was similar to every other room on the ship. Bodies littered the bridge, the viewports were smashed, showering the floor with glass. It seemed not one of the command crew survived the initial attack, leaving the remainder with no leadership.

"Carver, you're on tag duty, Grove, help me get any intel we can so we can get the hell off this nightmare."

Each man tended to their respective tasks. Jack stuffed all the dog tags he collected into a pouch on his tactical vest, determined to return them to the families of the fallen. Farren and Grove skimmed through the documents listed on the terminals and gathered navigation information. In general, anything that would prove to be useful for strategic planning was collected.

Suddenly, the eruption of distant gunfire interrupted their search. They all looked up toward the origin of the fire. At first it was a single weapon, then, a roar of automatic weapons fire, likely Corporal Owens' C9.

"Owens, report!" Farren yelled into his radio.

No response.

"We've gotta get over there!" Jack readied his weapon and voicing his concern for his friend and Corporal Owens.

Farren stood there, contemplating his next course of action. Did they have enough intel, could Owens and Jerome repel their enemies, would they be dead by the time he and Jack arrived. He was being forced to choose intel or his men.

The choice was clear.

Farren lifted his rifle.

"Here we go."


A/N: And the tension mounts! A few additional items have been added to the glossary. We intend on maintain a schedule of uploading, however, with work and school that may impede upload dates! Don't worry though as we are dedicated to the production of the story.

Thank's for reading! Please feel free to drop a review or a PM if you liked the story, see you next chapter.


GLOSSARY OF TERMS

RCR- The Royal Canadian Regiment; a Regular Force Infantry Regiment of the Canadian Army.

BATTALION- An organization of rifle companies and a support company.

COMPANY- An organization of three rifle platoons and a support platoon

PLATOON- An organization of three rifle sections and a heavy weapons detachment

SECTION- A group of 8-10 Infantry soldiers (Commonly mistaken for "Squad")

FIRE TEAM- A team of 2 soldiers

RECCE- Reconnaissance soldiers, often broken up into "Elements" or "Platoons"

KLICK- A Kilometer

EMP- Electromagnetic Pulse. Short circuits all technology within a given range

HELM/HELMSMAN- Junior officer in command of steering the vessel while under the command of a senior officer. Helmsman is bound to follow the orders of these officers even if it threatens the safety of the ship and cannot make judgment calls on behalf of officers.

HMCS- Her Majesty's Canadian Ship.

HMCS ENDEAVOUR- Research ship that was first through the anomaly. The Polar Class 2 Icebreaker was commissioned by the Canadian Coast Guard, later procured for the expedition.

HMCS SIR ISAAC BROCK- Canadian Amphibious Assault Ship, based upon the American Wasp Class under the same classification. Modified from the American design to complement fixed wing aircraft.

LAV- Light Armoured Vehicle. Standard troop transport and defensive vehicle used by Canadian Infantry

C7A2- Standard Issue Rifle to the Canadian Armed Forces. 5.56x45mm round.

C8- Carbine variant of the C7A2

M203- Grenade Launcher capable of being under mounted to the C7A2. 40mm Grenade.

FOURTY MIKE MIKE- Another name for the M203 grenade launcher. The weapon fires 40mm grenades and the phonetic alphabet title corresponding with M is Mike.

C9A2 LMG- Canadian Forces Light Machine Gun. Remarkably similar to the US military M249

THE 9- Slang for the C9A2 LMG

RHIB- Rigged Hulled Inflatable Boat. Fits 8-12 people including a driver and an optional gunner on the bow