I don't own anything.
Infantry
-Chapter Three:
"Where's the next suit, Sarge?" Shinji watched tiredly as Ford ran down the checklist in his hand a frowned. "What's wrong?"
"There are no more," the sergeant stated simply.
"What?"
"We're done!" Ford cheered. He released the straps holding him into place and happily floated away from the suit he had been repairing. "This bad boy was the last one!"
"Thank god." Shinji released his own straps and pushed off lightly. He floated away from his workstation to where his water bottle was Velcro-ed in place and grabbed it. "Is it always this bad?"
"Pre-drops can be hectic," Ford stated. "When you first came aboard we were taking on new troops because we had lost a few in a boarder clash with the Skinnies. Those bastards got in a few lucky shots during the drop and then detonated a nuke."
"That must have been bad," Shinji commented as he fumbled in the pen pocket on the sleeve of his coveralls and found a cigar. Ford produced a lighter and Shinji quickly lit his cigar.
"The suits glowed for a few weeks," Ford replied, " and I'm pretty sure the fucking things made me sterile. Let's get food."
"Sounds good to me."
"You managing to keep anything down yet?" Eating in zero gravity had proven to be tricky. Keeping food down in zero gravity was trickier still.
"Not your horrible cooking Sarge," Shinji shot back. The cook was doped up and knocked out with the rest of the platoon. In all honesty, Shinji would have preferred to join them. Floating around when the Navy had first switched off the gravity machines to conserve power as the White Feather slipped into Cherenkov drive had been fun for about an hour. After that, Shinji had come to the firm decision that if man had been meant to float, he wouldn't have been born with legs.
"Smart ass," Ford grumbled. Shinji nodded and followed the man out the hatch and down the passageway towards the chow hall.
"Have you heard anything about a drop yet?" Shinji asked.
"Nope," Ford replied. "Tell you what, though, as soon as I do, you'll be the first to know." The hatch to the chow hall slid open and Shinji frowned as he noticed three men sitting inside.
"Morning Sarge," the Lieutenant commented as he sucked coffee from one of the zero-G squeeze bottles. "How're the suits?"
"All done, sir," Ford replied cheerfully as he disappeared into the galley. He reappeared a moment later and tossed Shinji another bottle of coffee. "I forgot they were waking you guys up today,"
"You're hopeless," the Platoon Sergeant, a small, but broad Asian man named Izumi, grumbled. He turned on Shinji and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh God, you've turned him into a mini-you." Shinji unconsciously reached up and felt the Mohawk Ford had cut into his hair.
"Blue's bigger than him," the Lieutenant commented. "Where'd you go to boot, Blue?"
"Siberia, sir," Shinji replied.
"That explains it," Izumi stated. "That's where I went through. With all those damned huge Russians running around, even the little guys from Asia get big."
"I've heard that before," Ford agreed. "Did you hear anything about a drop yet?"
"Oh, yeah," the Lieutenant replied. "We got three days of cruising to go, but we have a definite drop day and time."
"Where are we going, sir?" Ford pressed.
"Klendathu," the Lieutenant replied. "They hit Earth, so we're gonna hit their home planet, only, we aren't gonna just throw rocks. We're gonna throw MI." Ford nodded and sipped his coffee before turning to Shinji.
"I just heard, Blue," he stated. "There's going to be a big drop on Klendathu in three days." Shinji sighed and massaged his temples.
"Don't be a dick, Sarge." He frowned and grabbed his coffee as it made a break for freedom, and the ceiling.
"Oh, my God. He really is a mini-Sarge," Izumi groaned. "Just what we need."
"Don't be a dick," Ford grumbled. He paused for a minute and scowled. "Don't say a word."
"Heh," Sergeant Rotuno snorted. Ford flipped the man off and finished his coffee. "I am so glad I'm not your assistant section leader any more. Any more of that and I'd have given you a couple sets of lumps."
"Wouldn't help," the Lieutenant commented. "I gave him a dozen lumps for cracking jokes and getting us in trouble in boot."
"You never know sir," Rotuno replied. A klaxon wailed and Shinji suddenly found himself being pressed firmly down into his chair.
"Oh thank God."
"Gravities back," Ford commented unnecessarily. "You're a good cook, right Blue?" Shinji sighed again and finished his coffee. "How about breakfast?"
"Anybody else, gentlemen?" Shinji asked. Three hands rose into the air and Shinji's eye ticked. "Coming right up."
(:ii:)
"Blue!" Shinji glanced up and grinned as he saw Chris walking towards him. He had been missing the man. "I woke up with drawings on my face. What do you know about it?"
"Not a damned thing." Years of living with Shinji's former roommates had given him one hell of a poker face.
"Sure," Chris replied. "Nice hair."
"Thanks." Chris made his way into the galley and returned with a large tray. The cook had started preparing breakfast the moment he had awoken. Shinji had taken advantage of the situation and was enjoying another breakfast. Chris sat down.
"Did you hear anything?"
"Drop in three days on Klendathu," Shinji stated. The Lieutenant hadn't told him to keep the information to himself and it was bound to get out anyway. "The briefing is right after breakfast." He glanced at his watch. "In a few minutes actually. You were late getting here."
"Had to wash my face," Chris replied. Shinji sipped his juice to hide his grin. The larger man ate quickly and was done by the time the Platoon Sergeant called attention on deck. The Lieutenant walked in and quickly put them at ease.
"Alright!" he began loudly, "as you all probably know by now, D-day has been set. Three days. We hit Klendathu in three days. We are set to be the first regular troops to hit dirt. The only guys who are going to beat us down are recon and they're only there to tell us where to shoot." The chow hall was filled with cheering. The Lieutenant nodded and smiled. "Our job is to destroy everything that has more than two legs. You'll get further details during the night with the hypno-speakers. That is all." They were called to attention again and the Lieutenant left. Izumi let them sit down and took the Lieutenant's place at the front of the chow hall.
"The Lieutenant has faith in you," he growled. "That man is a former recon sergeant and he has faith in you. Do you really want to let him down?"
"No, Sergeant!"
"Good," Izumi growled. "Do what you're ordered, when you're ordered. The civilians make a big to do about legal orders, none of that shit matters. What you are told to do will get the mission done and that is all that matters. Understand?"
"Yes, Sergeant!"
"Good. Break into squads, section leaders see me. Dismissed!" Shinji's squad took over one of the corners of the chow hall to wait for Ford to pass along what the Platoon Sergeant told him. Vigianno took the moment to light a cigarette.
"Blue?"
"Yes Corporal?"
"You stick with Klack," Vigianno ordered. "Do as he does and listen to what he says, copy?"
"Copy Corporal," Shinji replied. PFC Klackiewicz turned and nodded stoically to Shinji.
"First section squad leaders to me!" Ford yelled. Vigianno snuffed out his cigarette and walked over to join the squad leaders from second and third squad to find out what their pre-drop jobs would be.
(:Three Days Later:)
Shinji watched as his armor's heads up display flashed to life, telling him that everything was good to go. He made a few exaggerated movements and went through the standard warm up procedures. He brought up the diagnostic program for the massive automatic plasma chain gun attached to his hip's weapon dock. "All good Blue?" Klack asked.
"All good," Shinji reported as he followed the man to the drop room. The quickly fell into place with the rest of first squad as Izumi moved among them, checking their armor. He came to Shinji and looked him over quickly and efficiently before leaning forward helmet-to-helmet.
"Your heart beat is elevated, but you don't show any other signs of fear," he commented on the private suit-to-suit channel. "Not your first time in combat?"
"Kind of, Sergeant," Shinji replied. Izumi didn't press him about it. The rest of the squads filtered in and were checked as well. The Lieutenant appeared and checked them all just as quickly as the platoon sergeant had before moving to the front of the formation.
"Alright everyone," he began calmly, "here we are again. This is what we sweat and bleed and starve for. I don't need to mention that this is the first major MI deployment in its history and we have been chosen to spearhead it. You now have the world's eyes on you, so don't forget our reputation. Get the job done, over your dead body only if absolutely necessary. Five minutes for the padre." Most of the men fell out, but Shinji didn't. He stayed where he was and just breathed. As speeches went, he had heard better, or at least more hopeful. The Lieutenant seemed to face honesty over Misato's more genteel approach and Shinji liked him better for it.
"Feeling good, Blue?" Shinji looked up and saw Vigianno stenciled on the suit in front of him.
"Absolutely, Corporal." The squad leader leaned forward and pressed his helmet to Shinji. "Klack's on the bounce. Listen to him and you'll be fine." The man pulled back. "Do your thing, Klack."
"This ain't my first rodeo, Corporal," Klack returned.
"Fall in!" Izumi bellowed. The rest of the platoon returned to their places in formation.
"Get them loaded, Sergeant," the Lieutenant ordered.
"Aye, sir," Izumi growled. "Platoon! By sections, port and starboard, prepare for drop."
"Section!" Ford and the second section leader called. "Man your capsules."
"Squad!" Viggiano and the fourth squad leader yelled. "Move!" Shinji climbed into his capsule. Everything quickly went pitch black and Shinji felt the capsule bounce along to make room for the next trooper.
This was always the hardest part for Shinji. The pitch blackness felt like it was suffocating him, like he was buried deep in his own private coffin. He had once compared it to a powered down entry plug. 'At least it doesn't smell like blood.'
(:ii:)
Shinji grinned as he shot through the sky towards the planet below. He had already blown all of his capsule's exterior components and was no waiting for just the right moment to fire off his chutes. It was odd when he considered how he had always been terrified of roller coasters.
Now he was three miles above the dirt and happier than could be. Who would have ever thought that Shinji Ikari was an adrenaline junkie? Certainly not Shinji Ikari. Shinji fired his first chute and quickly ran through the succession until he was out of them and ready to land.
He hit dirt and was immediately looking for his fellow War Dogs. He spotted Klack's beacon and bounced over quickly. He took in the positions of the rest of the platoon at the apex of one of his bounces. They were almost perfectly set up.
"First squad, count off!"
"One."
"Two," Klack announced.
"Three."
"Four.
"Five." The sky suddenly lit up in intense thermal readings that dwarfed Klendathu's own sun.
"What the hell?" somebody whispered. Shinji glanced back at Klack, but the large man held his arms out, palms up in the universal sign of not knowing.
"Six?" Vigianno demanded.
"Six here," the designated trooper announced.
"Seven," Shinji finished. He flipped up his snoopers and took in how the brilliant ball of light easily illuminated the planet's alien landscape.
"Alright people!" Izumi's voice bellowed. "Quit skylarking! Prepare to move out!" Shinji flipped his snoopers back down. The whole point of this action was to assault a massive artificial structure that military intelligence had decided was the bug's congress building.
"Blue, stay with Klack on the bounce, copy?"
"Copy Corporal," Shinji replied.
"Platoon, by odds and evens, prepare to advance!" The command quickly filtered down. "Even numbers, advance!" Shinji and Klack burst into the air and Shinji caught his first sight of the distant structure. This did not look good.
(:ii:)
"Stand fast!" Shinji cursed as the ground under him began to buck. He bounced away just as the surface caved into a subterranean cave and bugs came pouring out. Shinji didn't need Klack's shouted order, he immediately hosed them all down with his hand flamer.
"Underground," Klack growled as he lobbed a bomb into the tunnel. "Score one for military intelligence."
"Yeah," Shinji agreed. The attack had been advancing with few problems, a sure sign of an ambush if ever there was one. Everybody had known that the bugs were mostly a subterranean species, but nobody had even considered the possibility that they would be able to use their tunnels to pop up out of nowhere.
"Bug hole in sector bravo," Klack reported. "Hole's already closed."
"Were they workers or warriors?" Vigianno demanded.
"Can't tell," Klack responded as he kicked one of the burned husks lightly, sending the slain beast rolling onto its back. "Blue burned them to ash."
"Copy that," Vigianno stated. "First squad, orders are to mill around and blow shit up. The attack has stalled. The rest of the formation can't keep up with us." Shinji glanced at Klack.
"You heard the man," the older trooper stated. "Let's mill." He bounced away, leaving two small bombs in his wake. Shinji quickly followed after him, setting his own Y-rack to dispense bombs automatically as more bugs boiled out of the ground.
"Klack!"
"Klack here. Go ahead."
"Vigianno is down," the new voice stated. Shinji thought he recognized it as his assistant squad leader, a Lance Corporal named Crowley. "He's got a launcher. The Lieutenant wants those nukes."
"Recovery?" Klack asked, even as they changed direction.
"He's dead. Leave it."
"Copy. . .shit, Blue!" Shinji grunted as the other man slammed into him mid bounce and sent him tumbling to the ground. Klack landed hard and the ground gave way from under him, sending him and the two bombs his suit had dispensed into the dark abyss below. Shinji cursed himself, but he was already in the air, bouncing away from his own bombs. He didn't land until the bombs had already gone off.
"Blue!"
"Here," Shinji stated.
"It's Izumi," the platoon sergeant stated. "Klack just flat lined, what the hell happened?"
"Went in a bug hole," Shinji reported, his training automatically cut off any extraneous emotions and thoughts.
"Fuck," Izumi growled. "Get the nuke, Blue."
"On my way Sergeant," Shinji reported as he turned and bounced towards the downed squad leader's beacon, never even noticing how Izumi had called him instead of Crowley. He found Vigianno at the bottom of a bug hole. Shinji flamed the bugs without even thinking and dropped into the hole. He quickly grabbed the rocket launcher and the magazine of spare rockets that had been clipped to Vigianno's back.
He absently noticed that the squad leader's armor was untouched. Apparently he had just fallen and broken his neck, a quick and easy way to buy the farm, unlike what had happened to Klack. Those bombs would have torn him apart and even if they hadn't they would have slammed him around something fierce, maybe even knocked all his sensors out. He could still be alive! Bugs came roaring down the tunnel suddenly and Shinji flamed them, cursing himself for being distracted. He bounced out of the hole with the launcher in his hands.
"I've got it Sergeant."
"Good!" Izumi roared. "Fall back! Give me a perimeter a click wide!" Shinji frowned. In mobile infantry terms, that would put them shoulder to shoulder. Something was very wrong.
(:ii:)
"Blue! Nuke 'em!"
"Copy that," Shinji growled, releasing his plasma chain gun for its lanyard to hold and snatched the rocket launcher attacked to his back. He brought it down over his shoulder and pulled one trigger. He sighted the target and pulled the second. The brilliant flash made him look away.
"Boat coming in people!" Izumi snapped. "Prepare to fall back." A massive hole opened up not too far away. Shinji sighted it and turned the launcher skywards before pulling the second trigger. The rocket burst from its confines and burned into the sky before angling sharply downwards and going into the hole perfectly. Shinji grinned, he had always had a knack for launchers back in training.
"Bugs in the perimeter!" Shinji pivoted even as he dumped the launcher's empty two-round magazine and reloaded it. The ship had indeed touched down and a new hole had opened up. Several troopers had surrounded it and were spraying the opening with plasma fire, killing everything that moved.
"Blue, get in the boat!" Ford bellowed. Shinji was bouncing towards the boat before he even wondered why Ford had singled him out. His feet hit ground and suddenly he was sinking. Shinji cursed as he was dumped into an underground tunnel. He lit the flamer before he was even on the ground. Everything around him flared up brilliantly even as he tried to stand. Something was pinning him down. With a final burst of energy, Shinji pulled free and bounced out of the hole. He was in the boat in a heart beat and snatched up his chain gun, the launched having been lost in the hole. He sprayed fire as the rest of the platoon fell back in a much more orderly fashion, but there were so few.
"Last man!" Ford snapped as he dragged Shinji away from the doorway and slammed the panel to shut the entry point. "God damn Blue."
"What?" Shinji asked, his head was spinning and his left arm throbbed where it had been pinned.
"You've got an arm off," Ford stated. Shinji stared at the twisted mass of metal where his arm had been.
"Oh." Everything suddenly went quite black.
-End
(:ii:)
-That's three in the bag. One more and I can start with new chapters!