No. No no no no no. Not on the goddamn first mission, not already. We haven't even done anything yet but... but.
"Scott? Sir, are you there?"
How bad is it? I'm assuming the worst right? It can't be as bad as that, surely, surely it can't.
"Sir!"
"H-hansen. How is... what's the status?"
"I'm afraid she's down sir, doesn't look there's any chance for recovery."
"Fuck."
"Sir, we nee-"
"FUUUUUUUUUUUCK" I don't even look as I spray a desperate stream of bullets towards the aliens. Those pieces of shit deserve every last ounce of metal they get in them.
"SCOTT. SIR, STOP IT NOW."
I don't bother listening to Hansen but as my gun empties, silence descends again.
"Oh Jesus, oh please no."
I didn't expect that punk to take this so poorly.
"Scott, sir... you just hit Travis."
Oh, oh damn no not more. One soldier down is bad enough. Ok, ok breathe Michael. Relax, you can lead them through this. There's always a plan.
"Hansen. How badly was he hit?"
"He'll live sir, but he wont survive anything else."
"Shitshit, guys! Help!"
Leaning out of my cover, I see the two aliens emerging from the shadows to try and get Travis. Me and Hansen both fire, driving them back and keeping them from getting At Travis.
"Right, we have to keep moving. Our first mission has to show them what we can do."
"Scott! On your flank!"
Over on the left I see more damn aliens advancing from further down the dock, this time we don't have time to drive them away before their lasers fly towards Travis, narrowly missing him. Instead they melt a huge hole in the shipping container he's pressing his whole body against. Travis panics, he can't handle being in the centre of all this gunfire he leaps into the empty shipping container to cower against the side of it.
"Travis! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Leave him sir, at least til we've dealt with some of the trouble out here. For now, what do you want us to do?"
Hansen has a point I guess, there's not much Travis can do while he's pinned in like that. So what can we do? They're totally outnumbering us now. Pressing forward in either direction could get us shot by the group that we don't pursue, and splitting from Hansen is even riskier.
"Scott, we need to act."
That damn Hansen is far too pushy for his own good, he can't appreciate the need to assess a situation before making tactical decisions.
"With all due respect sir, fuck this."
What!? Suddenly I see Hansen running in front of me, pulling out his grenade, of course! That science woman said not to use them too recklessly, cause of some bullshit about preserving alien tech. But I think this is a good time to blow some alien scum to high hell. Hansen takes cover and lobs the grenade over to the alien that attacked Travis, blowing it to bits.
One more down. We can do this, we can do-What. What is that thing. Normally all these alien things look the same, just grey, spry and short, with large round heads and massive eyes. This one, this is different. It's head is glowing purple, and it looks like some strange purple line is hovering in the air behind it, as if a string is trailing from its skull.
"Hansen, behind you!"
Hansen whips around, luckily the new alien still seems to be weirdly dazed, giving Hansen plenty of time to line up his shot and nail the sucker right in its glowing head. The purple glow fades from the alien along with any sign of movement.
"Cheers for the heads up sir, what's the plan now?"
"Glad to know you're following orders again," a bit more at ease, I start to take action. I advance on the aliens to my left, hidden somewhere in in the unknown depths of the dock.
"I follow orders when they're provided sir."
I wish I could chastise him for that, but he's not wrong. I need to keep my heeeeeshhhhiiiitt. I get into cover just in time to dodge more fire from above me. Heh, not only did it miss, I now have a clear view of it.
"Guys, I can, um," Travis's voice breaks out over the radio nervously, "I can provide cover."
Out of the corner of my eye I see him step slowly out of his hidey hole. I guess his over confidence is good for something if it can get him up and about that fast. He looks around frantically, and then he spots the one that fired at me. God damn, even though Travis must be barely able to see it the blasted alien, he manages it. A burst of fire drops the creature to the ground, that's one more dead. This is it, we're on a roll now.
"Alright! Alriiight!" Travis cheers are followed by him jumping back into the empty container, "I gotta reload, but save some alien for me."
"Ok Hansen, there's one more we spotted, back at the end of the dock. Travis, give him cover while he pursues. I'm going to make sure there's no more waiting on this end to surprise us."
"Sounds like a plan sir," Hansen salutes, rounding the corner.
"Ok, I can manage that." Travis begins to emerge from the container, creeping around the corner.
I turn to search up along the dock. I'm sure I can hear something. They must be taunting and laughing at me. Or, maybe it's afraid? I inch along the shipping containers, trying to watch for movement anywhere.
I hear more gunfire, human, not alien.
"Hah! Got it sir."
"Good, now get on over here so we can finish the sweAGH," a laser just hit my gun, instantly superheating it and burning my hand. I drop the useless weapon, and look up just in time to see that round little head disappear behind a wall.
Nice try. I grab my grenade and pull out the pin. Here's an emergency for them. I fling the grenade all the way up, it arcs perfectly to land on the other side of the wall. As it explodes I can see pieces of alien fly up in the air.
"Travis, Hansen. Retain caution while we finish our sweep of the area for hostiles, but I think it's safe to say, mission accomplished."