Response to Reviews:
UndeadSamurai01: The bridge thing was a typo. Meant to say "could" instead of "would." However, even if the bridge was destroyed the ship would still function. Only the CO and other high-ranked officers would be dead. The XO/First Mate would still be alive, and he would take command. There is always a secondary "bridge" on any ship. (Trust me, was consulting my father when designing the ship. He served in the US Navy for a while, both as Enlisted and as an Officer). Besides, Wolf is a Marine. He hates naval combat, and would rather be on the ground with a rifle in his hand, than be on a ship during space combat. So he has only heard about how damaging Plasma torpedoes can do, and have seen the destruction only from the ground. One question though, where did you see me saying that the Liberation is ten miles above a planet? I've scoured both chapters trying to find that reference, and I can't find it. If I did say that, then yeah it must have been a typo. For a ship the size of the Liberation, I'd say it would need to be over a hundred miles from a planet to keep from being dragged down by the pull of gravity (and that mostly a guestimate, I'm no scientist, just another grunt).
Chapter Three: Hearts and Minds…
I slowly awoke. Normally I am quick to awaken, my head clearing itself of sleep in seconds, but this lingered. I looked at the cracked viewport in my pod and just stared at it for what seemed like hours. Eventually my head cleared of the cotton that was stuffed in it and I started to assess my condition. Other than a dull ache that ran through my entire body, I felt fine. I tried to open the hatch to my pod. The hatch was jammed and wouldn't budge. I shoved at it a few times and kicked at it as well, no luck. I looked through the cracked viewport and saw nothing other than trees.
I hit the buttons to activate the explosive bolts that held the hatch in place. A second later, the hatch blew off the pod and I clambered out. I grabbed the BR55HB out of its storage rack and scanned the area. I attached the weapon to my back as I reached to the back of the pod, grabbed the two M7S's, and attached them to my thighs. I then stripped my pod of all usable equipment. After I slid the last clip into its pocket, I took the BR55 off my back and started sweeping the area. I dropped into a thick forest. This mission was not going to be easy, but at least I wouldn't have to deal with the Covenant.
Suddenly three creatures came out of the woods. They each were holding a crude spear with a stone tip. I looked them over and decided to place me BR55 on my back. They looked like panthers, but the problem was that they were two legged and obviously could use tools. That simple fact made me think that they were sentient. I wondered what they were going to do.
I didn't have to wait long as one of them growled something, and they all lunged at me. I yanked out my knife and slashed through one of the spears, cutting off its tip. The second spear stabbed at me, and I could do nothing about it; however, it glanced off my shoulder armor without leaving even a scratch. I then grabbed the third spear as it was stabbed at me and cut its tip off. The second spear tried again, but this time, I blocked it with my forearm and wrapped my arm around it, locking it firmly in place. I then smashed my other hand into it, breaking the spear in half. I quickly picked up my half of the spear and slammed the tip into the ground. I buried the head into the ground, and buried half the remaining length as well.
That scared them. 'Got to love Shock and Awe,' I thought as they backed off slowly. The one that growled the signaled to attack suddenly dropped to its knees with its ears laid back and its head back, exposing its throat to me. That confused me, but even more so when the two others growled something loudly as they turned around and ran back into the woods. The remaining panther kept its gaze on the sky and its tail still. I sighed and sheathed my knife. I walked over to the panther and helped it to its feet. When I first touched it, it jumped, slightly but other than that, stayed still. When I lifted it up, it resisted slightly, but then stood up. He, if the lack of upper equipment was anything to judge, was my height and seemed like the same build, but it was hard to tell because of the fur. I led him over to my pod. I pulled out two MREs and gave one to the panther. I opened mine and started making the main course, while the panther just stared at the MRE package. I smirk as I gently take the MRE, opened it, and started making the main course. I kept the drink from his MRE since we wouldn't need either of them. When the meals were finished, I gave the meal from the Panther's MRE to him after I opened it and gave him the provided spoon. I opened mine, took off my helmet, and started robotically eating the MRE. My mind shut down and my combat training took over. When I finish it, I checked on the panther and found that he was licking the plastic container. I inwardly laughed at him.
'Man, he really likes these MREs. I don't know anyone who would do that,' I thought as I shake my head. I grabbed the wrapper and gave him the rest of the MRE as I finish up my MRE. He had a little trouble at the start, but once he figured out how to open the packaging, he finished eating before I had. I took all of the wrappers, threw them into the opened MRE bags, stuffed the leftover drink mixes into a pocket, tossed the garbage into my pod for disposal later, and took my BR55 off my back. I thought back to those mountains that I had seen on my way down and decided to check those out.
As I started to walk off, the panther suddenly jumped up and ran in front of me. He said something and grabbed my left arm. He tugged and kept repeating a certain set of sounds, which I took to be words in his language. He seemed to want me to follow him, for whatever reason. He didn't seem hostile, not that he was much of a threat anyway, and so I decided to follow him.
He led me quickly through the forest. He seemed to know exactly where he was and where he was going at all times so I didn't even consider the possibility of getting lost. It seemed that he grew up around here. The next thing I knew, I pushed my way through some thick vegetation and I found myself standing in front of a village of tent-like housing. The panther seemed to be quite happy, but what really caught my attention was the mass of other panther-men standing between the village and me.
Despite the fact I knew I had the advantage of firepower and armor, I still shuddered slightly. I looked over the crowd and noticed that several had pseudo-shirts on besides the loincloth. I guessed that they were women as those shirts seemed to cover something on their chests. Suddenly one of the dressed in, what I swear would be, a shaman's outfit came up and started shacking a rattler-like mini-staff-like-thing at me saying something. I decided to just stand there and let the male panther-man shake his stick at me. After about ten minutes of this, he stops and then turns around. He announces something to the crowd behind them, and suddenly they start cheering.
My level of confusion shot through the roof. 'What's going on here?' I thought as the Shaman turned around and repeated the same words the hunter panther-man did. The Shaman led me through the village, and as we passed other of these panthers, they bowed to me. Again, I was completely confused by their actions, but decided to ignore it, as the Shaman led me out of the village and towards what looked like an old stone shrine of some sort. He led me up to a cave that was in the mountains I had seen earlier. We walked inside and he turned around. He then bowed and swiftly left the cave after saying a few things. Still confused, I set about to make the small cave into a campsite.
As I did so, I took stock of my new "home." There were pictures all over the walls, kind of like caveman drawings. I didn't have time to study all of them, and heard some noise outside the cave. I took most of the equipment I had on me off, and set it down in the middle of the cave. With the two M7S' on my thigh mag-rails and the BR in my hands, I walked outside to investigate.
The entire village seemed to have gathered again. This time they were standing in front of that stone shrine. On it were several baskets of fruit, and next to the shrine was the Shaman, his golden eyes, with the slit pupils of a feline, staring at me. He then turned around and shouted things at the crowd behind him. He then grabbed one of the fruit and held up. After saying a few things, he held it out to me. One glance at his grimy, filthy hands made me want to puke. Then I remembered a few of the fields I had to eat in before, and suddenly, it didn't seem too bad. I put my BR on my back and took off my helmet. I took the fruit from his hand and brought it up to my face. The fruit looked like and orange, but didn't have the same skin. 'I just hope this doesn't kill me,' I thought as I took a bite of the fruit.
It tasted great! Sweet like an apple, but it did have a citrusy, orange-like aftertaste to it. I chewed quickly and swallowed. I smiled and nodded my head in thanks as I took another bite. That seemed to appease the crowd as they cheered again and left back for the village. The Shaman bowed to me and then left. I quickly polished off that one fruit, reattached my helmet, and then grabbed the baskets. 'At least I won't have to live off straight MREs,' I thought as I carried the four baskets of fruit inside my cave.
After I set the fruit down in a corner with the rest of my food supplies, I looked outside at the descending sun. I guessed it was about 2000H and decided to report in to the Captain, if possible.
"Liberty, this is Wolf," I said as I activated my radio
"Good to hear from you Wolf, we were getting worried," comes Liberty's synthetic voice from the radio.
"Sorry about not reporting in sooner. I had a run in with some trees on the drop. By the way, thanks for the nice landing zone, Liberty."
"You're welcome; Captain Horrison wants to talk to you."
"Wolf, glad to see you're still around," came the Captain's voice from the radio.
"Glad to still be around, Captain. Sir, I am currently occupying a cave in a small mountain range, a few klicks from my LZ. Be advised, there are civilians present, non-humans," I said, "They look a lot like panthers, but have two hand, and are able to use tools. I'm currently about half a klick away from their village. They've treated me well so far, but I could use some help trying to communicate with them, sir."
"We'll see what we can do, Wolf, but no guarantees. You may be on your own for this. Let's try not start another war," the Captain said, "Have you located a good location for a base yet?"
"Negative, sir. Not yet. I'll try get these people to help me, but until I can communicate with them, it'll be very slow going," I said.
"Understood Wolf, keep us posted. Liberation out," and with a click, the radio went silent.
I sighed and decided to turn in early. I set up some motion detectors at the cave entrance. I then take off my weapons and ammo, and lay down to get some actual sleep for the first time and a solid two weeks.