Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

The joint campaign of the 8th and 9th platoons
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Nick » Sun May 06, 2007 12:42 pm

Date: December 1st, 2080AD
Location: Zenus Vier, Firebase Alpha, USCM Hq.

The APC ground to a halt. The turbine that drove its huge four wheels whined to a stop. It was cold outside as the Marines exited the two APC. Brittle flakes of snow fell towards the ground as the Marines quickly lined up in front of each platoons APC.

The wind picked up a bit, the cold gnawing itself through clothes, skin, flesh and bone.

Morrison aknowledged he got full video feed from all hands and the show was on. Sergeant Steel rose his right fist and signalled forward to 8th and 9th platoon. The soft shuffling of equipment was all that was heard.

The entrance to the tunnels was a very primitive affair. It was simply a large hole in the ground, surrounded by a make haste wirey fench that looked like little more than an ornament around the lip of the hole. Looking over the edge you could easily see the bottom thirty or so meters below. Several other tunnels fanned out in several other directions but was lost in the darkness below. A strong warm wind gushed up from the hole as they came nearer, the air had a weak tinge of earth and moist.

Quickly and well rehersed the marines threw out ropes over the edge, attached themselves to them via a simple harness intergrated into their armor and went over the edge. In a matter of less than one minute whole 8th Platoon had gone into the cave, without any noise except for the slight whining that came from the rope sliding through the hooks.

9th platoon followed closely after.

The cave was almost circular in shape, slighly larger than the hole above that once had been the roof of the cave. The floor was littered with chunks of rock from the roof above, but just beyond that the floor was as smooth as a dance floor.

The motion trackers was turned on but they showed nothing. IR eye pieces folded down but they too failed to reveal the secrets of the dark. Only the shoulder mounted lights proved to have some sort of success in disclosing the secrets that laid beyond the mouth of the tunnels.

The tunnels appeared large and ovalshaped, the walls where relatively smooth. Most of the tunnels where well over six meters in height and four to five meters wide. The wind from the tunnels moaned and reverberated throughout the large cave like a huge resonance box.

It was spooky down here.

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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Corporal Hicks » Tue May 08, 2007 10:15 pm

Eric was sitting in the bouncy APC between Angie Hawkins and the new guy, Erik Jonnson. Then the APC’s ground to a halt. The marines climbed out of them quickly and formed a line. The wind picked up and a shiver ran up Eric’s spine, as the freezing wind stung through the gaps in his armor plating. Sergeant Steel signaled to the squads, and Eric put a battery pack into his smartgun. Eric looked over the edge of the hole, and stepped over the barbed wire. He felt nervous going underground like this, and he took one last look of the outdoors and a whiff of the freezing air before preparing his zipline and rappelling down into the hole. When all of his platoon were down, he saw Delta Dogs getting ready to do the same. He turned off the safety on his smartgun, and spun quickly, realizing that he was the only smartgunner in 8th Platoon. He looked around the room scanning for movement, but saw none other then his platoon. When the Delta Dogs hit the floor of the cave, he stopped his circle, and covered the east tunnel.
Last edited by Corporal Hicks on Thu May 10, 2007 4:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Dugan » Wed May 09, 2007 8:53 am

Simovic had been silent during the APC ride still mulling over Greens death, he'd spoke to other members of Green's platoon and found out that Green had a history of being mentally unstable. So why hadn't the Corps acted sooner and removed him from duty for Psyche evalutation? Afterall they'd apprently done that to McKenzie following the last mission.

He cleared the thoughts from his mind as the APC judered to a hault and listened to Sgt Bojan's orders, silently and quickly he prepared his zip line and descended into the deaths of the hole. Once he landed he flicked on his shoulder lamp, flipped down his IR eyepiece and ignited the burner on his Fame Unit.

"OK I'm ready, Williams can you crank up the motion tracker, makes me feel safer when I know which way the enemy is".



O.O.C Who in first squad has a motion tracker? Plus if pants is taking leave of this campaign who is now leading our platoon?
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by tarpshack » Wed May 09, 2007 11:56 am

All Joe had figured out about Green was that he didn't know him very well. Having witnessed his first suicide attempt, Joe wasn't surprised at his fate but was still saddened by the loss of a squad mate. Joe stared silently at the floor of the APC for the whole ride contemplating Green's death.

When the APC lurched to a halt, it shook Joe's focus back to the mission at hand. He checked the chamber of his rifle and flipped down his IR viewer. After watching all of the Easy Eights descend into the blackness, Joe hooked up to the zip line and dropped in to join them. When he hit bottom, he moved quickly to take a position looking down one of the tunnel through the scope of his M42 sniper rifle while the rest of the marines took the zip line in.

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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Atypicalkiller » Wed May 09, 2007 3:43 pm

Tarik had taken what ammo he could off of Green's equipment so he was a little slower than usual. He didn't think much of the guy other than he wanted to be as big as him if not bigger, still though he took the shell casing that most likely Green used to kill himself or shoot through the toilet door. Either way Khan had Jones drill a hole through it and Tarik put the casing around his Dog Tags as a reminder how crazy this world can make you. TK knew what made him nuts...the bugs..not only were there giant bugs that ate people..but little ones everywhere...crawling..biting filled with disease and germs. It was enough to drive anyone insane who thought about it long enough. TK rubbed the spot on his head where Green had clubbed him once. He felt the scab and picked at it till some blood came off, and he rubbed it on the shell casing. Hopefully his knew good luck charm would keep him sane...and Alive..
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by wrathboyne » Wed May 09, 2007 8:33 pm

After reaching the bottom, Wrathboyne quickly looked over the area and did a visual check to make sure his fellow Delta Dogs all landed without injury.

Wrathboyne pulled out his sidearm and took a defensive stance admist his squad members.

"Well, we know one thing - there will be no quick exit from this insertion point."
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by StConstantine » Wed May 09, 2007 10:14 pm

Dropping to the floor Con quickly pulled out a buckshot grenade and slotted into his pulse rifle. Flicking down his IR Con began his scan of the cave, each rock gave off an eerie shadow and each nook was a potential nest of xenos.

Motioning his squad to fall in behind Con looked over to Honeysett
"which way?"
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Apachetear » Wed May 09, 2007 10:58 pm

Lighting a cigarette Jacob stood in front of the cave and surveyed it.

"Con, take your squad and establish a perimeter, Jones, get second and move them into the cave, leapfrog them please."



Turning to the 8s

He looked at Morrisson and said

"Interrupt me if I go wrong here, but I've got a pretty good idea of what to do...I hope"



"Chappell, take your squad, and once Second squad of the ninth have got into the mouth, leap frog them and move until it gets more like a tunnel. When that happens, Bojan...sorry, Khan how do you feel like moving in a little way? When you reach a natural defensive position, Con'll move past, and we're gonna do a very staggered leapfrog. I want everybody to report in every 5 minutes. to me and the other NCOs..."

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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Penny » Wed May 09, 2007 11:20 pm

Angie didn't usually considered a bad omen when things like Green's suicide - happened before a mission. It wasn't a sign of good luck but life sucked sometimes. The medic wasn't sure whether Green's actions were expected or not but clearly there was something not right with the man. It was a shame he didn't seek help when he could. Despite the sad turn of events, they had a job to do and Angie took her place in the APC with the rest of her platoon.

The show had to go on.

Angie felt the cold wind cutting her face when she stepped out of the APC with her platoon. The cold bugged her at times but she knew that soon enough the cold would be the last of her problems. She fell in formation with the rest of the 8th and then followed the entire group to the mouth of the cave.

The cold was definitely the least of their problems.

The blonde medic descended into the darkness of the hole with her platoon and as soon as she touched ground and free of the ropes she took a defensive position. Angie's grip around her weapon tightened and she flicked her eyes around as she tried to get used to the smell and eerie silence.

She turned her motion tracker on and waved it around, towards the entrance of the tunnels but so far it looked clear.
"Chappell, take your squad, and once Second squad of the ninth have got into the mouth, leap frog them and move until it gets more like a tunnel...."
Angie looked over her shoulder at Chappell when Sgt. Honeysett started to address him. It looked like they would be moving out soon and Angie was sorta happy with that. The medic had issues staying in the same place for too long, specially when the place was a dark hole in the middle of nowhere possibly teeming with Xenomorphs.



O.O.C Who in first squad has a motion tracker? Plus if pants is taking leave of this campaign who is now leading our platoon?
OOC: I'm not sure who is supposed to be carrying the motion tracker but since no one said anything I wrote that Angie has it. I'll be happy to edit that out in case I did something wrong.
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Re: Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by - JR - » Thu May 10, 2007 4:03 am

Throughout the APC ride, Erik sat in silence. He wasn't in a very talkative mood, and the rest of the marines seemed to in the same mindset. He glanced over at the man sitting next to him, a soldier apparantly also named Eric. 'Judgement still out on that one,' he thought. He seemed a decent enough fellow, but rather jumpy. Definitely not one to look down on, but also not someone he wanted to dump his trust on without seeing how he would react in combat.

Thinking of the man who had just taken his own life, he wondered if this other new recruit was starting down the same path. Still, though, this new man did not give the impression of someone who was going to snap. He seemed more like he had sunk all the way to the bottom and still stayed standing. 'Commendable.' It was worth a decent amount of respect, if, of course, his own judgement was correct. 'Expect the worst, hope for the best.'

'What a lousy first impression.' All due respect to the dead, this was not a good way to start out any sort of ordeal. Called in late, brought in later, all with no explanation given. 'This must be some sort of high-class emergency.' Then, the first thing he sees is someone snap past their breaking point. 'Tough looking guy too, and well liked by the feeling of it. Heh, I bet anyone less little crazier than I am would've balked at that.' He felt his impression of the people he was with raise some more. 'If they're this collected after losing a friend and fellow soldier, they must have more grit than even I gave them credit for. God I'm glad to be here.'

[quote=""Nick""]The APC ground to a halt. The turbine that drove its huge four wheels whined to a stop. It was cold outside as the Marines exited the two APC. Brittle flakes of snow fell towards the ground as the Marines quickly lined up in front of each platoons APC.[/quote]

Erik shivered from the cold. Gritting his teeth, he cracked his knuckles, then his back, shoulders and neck, shifting his body around under his equipment. 'What are we doing here? These guys expect me to figure out what's going on all by myself? Straight into a mission first thing. Whatever's been watching out for me so far, don't fail me now.'

As the group began to move in, Erik spoke in a somewhat falsely casual, but clearly genuinely cool and calm voice. "Anyone want to tell the new guy what we're here for? Missed the briefing because of orders and transport. Been through the training, but I guess they needed some new blood and fast down here. I take it from the way you're looking that this isn't gonna be fun."
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Huey » Thu May 10, 2007 6:12 am

Huey got out of the APC, it was bad enough they were going against damn xenomorphs, whose name was so fucking ridiculous they had to be as bad as they were told. A Marine had to go and commit suicide, a terrible thing, now everyone was paying for it. It hurt morale, Huey didn't know him, but that shit really could mess with your head. Before they had even left the base they had lost Marines, 8th Platoon was now missing its CO, Platoon Sergeant and now moved Bojan. Despite the lossed Huey had Khan as his Squad Leader, so he considered that a victory.

The gravel on the ground crunched against his boots. The cold wind bit into him, he resisted the urge to flinch keeping his composure. He was glad the Easy Eights would be moving in first. When shit got heavy the only thing he could ever do was to push it out of his mind and continuing busting ass. Setting his zip-line, he descended into the almost literal belly of the beast. As soon he he touched solid ground his weapon was up and he panned around looking for anything.

Turning his IR piece he could hardly see anything, so he had to turn on his shoulder lamp as well. The light showing on his Infrared, at least it was over one eye was it wasn't that bad. It was a small price to pay for the ability to see through some of this darkness. It was worse than the darkest depths of any ocaan Willaims had been in. The light cut through but it just seemed like it moved around the light, hiding and circling around, a familiar voice snapped back to his senses.

"OK I'm ready, Williams can you crank up the motion tracker, makes me feel safer when I know which way the enemy is".

"Roger, cover me" He said taking out the Motion Tracker as the Comtech it was his responsibility for it. He flicked on silent mode he wasn't going to have too much noise. He crossed his arms using the arm holding the Tracker to cradle his rifle, he could use it with both hands the Tracker did have a strap but he wasn't putting his weapon was going down for a second.



Taking a crouch he kept alert one eye looking for an ambush the over on the Motion Tracker, nothing except for them.

"Anyone want to tell the new guy what we're here for? Missed the briefing because of orders and transport. Been through the training, but I guess they needed some new blood and fast down here. I take it from the way you're looking that this isn't gonna be fun."

"You gotta be fucking me!" Huey thought, he didn't dare say that outloud. He addressed the new guy. He didn't dare turn his gaze to look at him neither. "Basically, keep your eyes open, follow orders, we're gonna be leapfrogging by Squads and if you see anything that ain't one of us....kill it" He said.

OOC: Huey's the Comtech, he take care of the Motion tracker.
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Dugan » Thu May 10, 2007 7:06 am

Simovic seemed suprised at Jonson's lack of briefing, he'd supsected the USCM were a bit lax with protocal after Green's death, following a previous sucide attempt, but to send a marine out without a briefing was just shoddy.

He spoke to Jonson in a whisper "9th Platoon ran into some sort of creatures down here recently, apparently they've been responsible for killing local civvies. Now we've been sent in to do a bit of exterminating".



He then patted Huey on the shoulder.

"Ok buddy I have you covered".

OOC. Both squads should have a Motion Tracker (in case we split up), so I think its best Angie has one also.
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by AstroBoy » Thu May 10, 2007 11:21 am

"Chappell, take your squad, and once Second squad of the ninth have got into the mouth, leap frog them and move until it gets more like a tunnel. When that happens, Bojan...sorry, Khan how do you feel like moving in a little way? When you reach a natural defensive position, Con'll move past, and we're gonna do a very staggered leapfrog. I want everybody to report in every 5 minutes. to me and the other NCOs..."
Bojan nodded in approval to Honeysett's plan, his new appointment to a temporary sergeant was a fair step up from his recent appointment to Lance Corporal and without anything better to add he let followed Honeysett's lead.

Bojan saw that Hawkins and Williams had both obtained their squad's respective motion tracker and seemed unsure as to their role. He said over the comm to his two squads, "Hawkins, Williams, you two have the motion trackers and stay sharp, we don't want any problems from a lack of attention."

He advanced behind the squads of the "eights" and said to Honeysett only over the comms, "Is this a similar problem to the time of that hand injury?" Bojan wasn't 100% sure of what was going on, although he had enough information to work with, it was always good to have more.

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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Atypicalkiller » Thu May 10, 2007 11:31 am

Khan how do you feel like moving in a little way? When you reach a natural defensive position, Con'll move past, and we're gonna do a very staggered leapfrog.
without hesitation Khan started moving in, with the safety clicked off and him in front, he may die first, but he'd kill whatever got him.

Khan thought alot about Green since his death, would that be the fate of all Marines, if not to die by the hands of your enemy then die by your own? In this case TK moving in first the former seemed likely. Khan would not move slow either, he groucho ran towards the first boulder he could make out, keeping a low profile and stealthy speed, all while keeping his gun at the ready position. This was a manuver he'd practiced many times, while sneaking over the the Girls barracks to take a peek.
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Turn 3 - The depth of darkness

Post by Apachetear » Thu May 10, 2007 5:56 pm

Watching everyone fall into place, Jacob smiled to himself and walked over to the squad he was accompanying. he looked at Bojan and motioned that he should do the same...

"Ok, well, Khan, when you're squad's in place radio back and we'll start moving. I don't want the tunnels choked with marines. That'd make us an easy target, and at least this way if you need to fall back we can fall back in a staggered line, the squad behind us giving us covering fire until you're past, then following...I'm sure you get the idea. If something interesting happens or something goes wrong I want to know almost before it happens, comprende?"



opening one of the 2 little vials he had in his pocket he tapped a white pill out into his hand, and taking it in his mouth he took a swig of 'water' from his canteen and swallowed. before hunkering down to wait for the squad to move, he figured that they'd take effect just as he needed to move.



Suddenly the cogs whirred and an idea clicked.

"Change of plan Wrench, I'm not gonna go with your squad, I'm gonna move forward with each squad that moves forward - so I'll go in with Khan and join each squad as it leapfrogs past. Bojan, you're a sarge too now, what are you gonna do - stick with a squad?"



Walking up to Khan's squad he saluted lazily and dropped and ground out his cigarette. "Take point Squadleader, I'll follow you."



Grinning he fell in behind Khan and turned round and smiled and nodded at the other squadmembers "How're y'all feeling? Nervous? Any of you want a smoke?"

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