Dawn was nearly here, Pfc Roberts, wait, Cpl Roberts, she had been field promoted over night, Cpl Roberts looked out at the carnage in front of her, hundreds of corpses lay in front, most of them Xenomorphic but far, far too many Marines.
Dawn was nearly here, and they mostly came at night, she really was pinning a lot of hope on that mostly. Her Pulse rifle was down to 1 mag and 32 rounds in the current one, the auto turret next to her had half a box left, 979 rounds to be precise. The two other marines and one technician were down to pistols it did not look good.
Dawn was nearly here, the last wave had been almost overwhelming, they had lost the last of the forward bunkers and she and the three others were at the last position before the landing pad. Cpl Withers had died; Pfc Grant and that other private with the tattoo on his back side had been over run at the same time. Lt Mathers had not been seen since he went to locate the scouts. Sgt Paulson was still alive but no surprise there nothing can kill a gunny sergeant.
Dawn was nearly here, the radio crackled asking for a sit rep, Charlotte answered, “Roberts here, plus 3, in final holding position, over”.
“Confirmed Roberts” came the reply “relieve eta unknown at this time, hold there! Over”
Well though Charlotte it’s not as if we can go anywhere else “Affirmative, out” she responded.
Dawn was finally here, Charlotte slowly stood, rifle ready sweeping the area in front while the two Pfc’s covered the flanks. “Ok she whispered, forward slowly, grab all ammo as we pass it, Jacobs,” she looked at the tech, “carry the bag and stay close we will pass you ammo. Keep that helmet on it tags you as friendly so the auto turret won’t kill you.” They inched forward careful were they stood, Xenomorphs left a pool of blood that could eat through your boots in seconds. Jacobs adjusted the helmet he had taped to his head, the chin strap had been dissolved when its last occupant had killed a creature at point blank range with a shotgun, the splash from its exploding head had covered the poor marine from nose to crotch, dissolving him in screaming agony. Now the helmet was securely duct taped into place, “gotta love duct tape” Charlotte thought, “holds the damn Corps together sometimes.” Movement off to the right had one of the Pfc’s breath in sharply, Roberts swung that way snapping up her Pulse rifle, a large blue friend tag flashed across her HUD, it was the Sarge. She let out her breath and heaved in another, shit she was edgy.
Dawn was here, the sun slowly crept through the sky inching its way higher and higher. Both groups had picked their way towards the bunkers and resecured them. The tech and Pfc Edwards had gone back to get the sentry gun. Now Cpl Charlotte Roberts looked over the scene in front of her, this bunker was hers, Sgt Paulson had the only other one in any fit shape 100 meters to her left, total forces left were, the Sarge, her, 4 Pfc’s, 3 Pvt’s, and 2 techs. Eleven people out of seventy five that had been at the base 3 nights ago.
Three nights ago, well that seemed like a life time and for many it was, everything had been secure, perimeter established, rapid set bunkers in place, sentry guns loaded and 60 marines guarding the landing pad. Second platoon had headed out to find the missing science section, severe atmospherical electrical activity, apparently normal for this planet had hampered comms and that was the assumed reason for lack of reporting. But Xenomorph infestations had been found one system over and the science group had contained two marine squads with better radio gear, so a whole platoon was going, Marine philosophy of there is never too much firepower seemed like a sensible plan. All had gone well, no problems as they travelled out in the platoons APC’s, two massive mobile bunkers with enough extra fire power to bring down several square kilometres of anything. Then it happened, so quickly it defied belief, a panicked but clear message, Xenomorphs hundreds of them had dropped on the APC convoy like rain from the sky, initially this was not an issue but a carless shot had killed one right on the roof of the lead APC immediately its acidic blood began to eat through thick roof, then the unthinkable happened, the Xenomophs seeing this slayed two more of there own on the same spot and the hull was breached. In the confined space of an APC tooth and claw were far better than pulse rifles, Xenomorphs plunged in killing everyone. Then the whole thing was repeated on the now terrified and rapidly retreating second APC. Silence descended on the radio waves.
Lt Mathers waited an hour trying to regain contact, before allowing the two man scout team, who had volunteered, to head out to try and locate any survivors. Twenty minuets later they reported they had found the second APC, its roof and front turret assembly melted to nothing a hastily formed defence ring had been overwhelmed and there were no survivors they were returning to base. They never arrived. Lt Mathers was severely shaken, he lost any semblance of calm and ordered alpha squad to come with him and head out to find the scouts. Sgt Paulson objected saying that they needed to men and the Lt to hold the base and the landing pad, their only means of evacuation. He would go with the last remaining scout. Mathers was furious that anyone would argue with him, well he was a bit of a dick, and told Sgt Paulson that he and Alpha squad would be going, if he objected again he would be placed under arrest. Sargent Paulson objected again, he had to, it was a stupid move by Mathers splitting the force, taking 6 men and the Lt away, if the scouts were alive they would get back, they’re scouts it what they do, the best of the best. The Lt screamed at the men around him to arrest the Sergeant, nobody moved, Mathers went ballistic drawing his side arm, Sgt Paulson spoken then saying it was a legitimate order from a commanding officer so we walked with him and put him in his own barracks. By the time we had returned Lt Mathers had left with Alpha squad.
The next morning the missing scouts returned, they had gone to ground after finding more than fifty of the Xenomorphs between them and the base, they had not seen or heard anything from Mathers. Lt Mathers probably led Alpha squad right into them, he had been on foot, he wouldn’t have stood a snowballs chance in hell. We released Sgt Paulson from his barracks, not that the door had been locked or even if it had, it would not have stopped him.
The Gunny immediately started reforming the perimeter we were now too few to hold it all. On arrival we had been 60 Marines and 15 techs, 30 Marines left with the commander in the two APC’s, 6 Marines and the Lt gone next, as we stood we had 23 marines and 15 techs left to hold the landing pad until a drop ship could get back to us. Sgt Paulson, activated the emergency beacon that day, anyone within range would now get here as fast as they could. The perimeter was pulled back to two circles round the landing pad dirt pilled heavily over rapid set bunkers the dirt providing better protection against the spilt blood than anything else. Sentry guns set up 1 a bunker, eight in total, configured to movement with Friendly Fire tag active just in case anyone was struggling back in. just 3 people per bunker was all we had, it wasn’t enough.
Last night, they came as soon as the sun set, awesomely fast they covered the open ground. The sentry guns jumped into life at 400 meters out. The guns spewed rounds out at 4000 rounds a minute, the Xenomorphs were ripped to shreds, animal screams pierced the night as every movement was tracked and punished as soon as it was made. Tracer rounds lit up the darkness giving flashes of dark shapes out in the distance, there were hundreds and hundreds of them, where had there hosts come from? Unfortunately each gun needed a box change every 30-45 seconds at that rate and that’s how they got in. it takes just 10 seconds to change a box of ammo over, that’s all it takes, but two sentry guns on two adjacent bunkers ran out at the same time, 10 seconds without that withering fire and they were in, bunkers three and four fell, no survivors. Next five and two came under assault from the sides were there was no sentry gun cover. Sergeant Paulson ordered everyone else to fall back to the next ring, 13 marines and 7 techs made it that far. The rest of the night was a blur the smaller ring made it easier to cover, but less fire power made it increasingly likely that the hordes would cross the killing ground.
Dawn had come to the killing ground and passed to midday then late afternoon, one of the fall back positions had fallen in the night, now it was just the 11 of us, the techs had gone out to the other bunkers with Marine escort, packed up the turrets and brought them back, now each turret had 4 sentry guns and four people inside, (a 3 man response team lead by the gunny made up the rest) everyone had pulse rifles and masses of spare clips. Someone had actually got food and water; previously no one had considered that we would survive long enough to worry about eating or drinking. These two positions were as fortified as they could be, pulled back to as close to the landing pad as possible, there would be no fall back from here unless help arrived.
Slowly the sun began to set, Charlotte stared at it as it went down, would this be the last time she saw it? She looked up and saw the Gunny looking at her, he nodded once and descended into the other bunker.
The sun set, night had arrived, they mostly come at night……
dawn had arrived
dawn had arrived
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incinerator, 2 spare fuel bottles, motion detector, first aid kit, pistol, knife, 2 frag.
special weapons tech
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- Pale Rider
- Major
- Posts: 1992
- Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2006 3:39 pm
- Location: Brunswick, Georgia