USCMRPG

Corporal Sykes stared into Nicole's dead eyes and he felt emotions pulsing through him. He felt guilty; guilty for being hurt and sending her into the vents instead of him. He was sad, because he had really liked Nicole. He had appreciated her presence and been attracted to her, but now she was dead. He was scared, because he knew he might never go home again. By far the strongest emotion was anger. He wanted to kill every one of those fucking things.

"Figure I can probably cut this ugly looking thing off her face and throat as long as the big ones don't start making trouble again."

"Then do it!" he snapped at McKenna. He was not angry at McKenna, but rather angry at the situation and at the world itself. "First Squad, I want you on perimeter. Someone watch the vents, someone watch the hallway, and someone figure out what the FUCK went wrong with the sentry guns! If one of those mother fuckers comes within ten kliks of this medbay, I want those guns to light its ass to kingdom come! Honeysett, you and I will help McKenna with the surgery. Dirk, you're in charge of the patrols." Danny felt sweat running down his face and knew that he had snapped at the marines, but he was in charge now and he wanted to make sure they knew it.

<Tag Everyone>

<Location Hadley's Hope Colony Complex>

Since they came back from "the nest", the situation turned into desaster. Private Caleija and Grayham bought it. Two of the creatures ended their live. Shame, he hardly knew them both. But he had survived situations and missions like this one. Dead marines were part of them.

After the squad had dealt with the intruders, Lieutenant Sykes began to give out new orders. Perez listened and approached the LT, after he had finished ...

"Sir, Private Grayham was the motion tracker operator of second squad's gun team. I ask for Private Wang as replacement. She can handle the tracker."

... and after giving him a few seconds to swallow it, he added ...

"Any special orders for the smartgun operator, Sir?"

<Tag Lieutenant Sykes>

Corporal Hicks wrote: Honeysett, you and I will help McKenna with the surgery.
<Tag Everyone>

Jacob nodded briefly. He hadn't a fucking clue what he was going to do to be able to help, but he knew he could follow instructions. He hoped he didn't get any acid blood on him, but it was a definite risk he was going to have to take.

all this is gonna do is hurt her, maybe kill her. We don't know what we're doing, just wading in without Knowledge

He kept his private thoughts to himself. He had been ordered and he wasn't about to oppose Sykes or undermine his newfound command.

He turned to McKenna "direct me. How can I help?"

<Tag McKenna>

(OOC: In interests of advancing the game I am posting the result of the surgery which was told to me by Pale Rider.)

Sykes nodded to Perez. "Yes, Wang can handle the motion tracker. And uhh, I want you to cover the vent. Thanks, Perez." He was aware that he had taken a significantly softer tone with Perez than a moment ago, but Perez had given him no reason to be irritated.
<Tag Perez>

As the three of them hoisted the Sergeant onto the tables for the surgery, they rolled her over and the facehugger just fell off of her face. Sykes couldn't help but let go and jump back. "Look out!" he shouted and whipped out his sidearm. "Move the Sergeant!" he shouted at Honeysett and McKenna. Once she was clear of the creature, Danny fired several rounds into its limp corpse. For all he knew, the damn thing was playing dead. But once it lay in tatters with acid melting through the floor, Danny was satisfied that the job was done.

He hurried over to Sergeant Jonsson. She was stirring, probably alerted by the gunfire. "Sergeant! Sergeant! Are you okay? McKenna, make sure she's okay!" Danny was still rushing with adrenaline.
<Tag McKenna>

Samantha was scared, angry, glad she was alive, confused about what to do/where to go next and shaking with the insanity of it all. She did her best to take deep breaths and help out with bringing the bodies of the fallen and lending a shoulder if needed to the wounded to help them; but mostly she was doing her best not to freak out.

"So....where do we go from here?"; she asked Pitt, quietly while doing her best to stay alert.....


<Tag Dirk>

<Location Hadley's Hope Colony Complex>

"Yes, Wang can handle the motion tracker. And uhh, I want you to cover the vent. Thanks, Perez."

"Yes, Sir"

... Perez nodded approvingly and went over to Wang ...

"you heard the LT, let's go" ...
<Tag Wang>

just as he wanted to approach the vent, something weird happened. The "spider-hand thing" fell off Jonson's face and the LT shot it dead. Are has it been dead already? Anyway, he could not afford to pay that much attention, because he was ordered to cover the went, so he did. Of course he felt better, because Jonson seemed to be alive. Good news, at last.

"They seem to be pretty smart creatures. Using the vent system for moving into the colony complex is not a bad idea. I wonder, what their next move will be. What do you think, Wang?"
<Tag Wang>

Corporal Hicks wrote:As the three of them hoisted the Sergeant onto the tables for the surgery, they rolled her over and the facehugger just fell off of her face. Sykes couldn't help but let go and jump back. "Look out!" he shouted and whipped out his sidearm. "Move the Sergeant!" he shouted at Honeysett and McKenna. Once she was clear of the creature, Danny fired several rounds into its limp corpse. For all he knew, the damn thing was playing dead. But once it lay in tatters with acid melting through the floor, Danny was satisfied that the job was done.

He hurried over to Sergeant Jonsson. She was stirring, probably alerted by the gunfire. "Sergeant! Sergeant! Are you okay? McKenna, make sure she's okay!" Danny was still rushing with adrenaline.
<Tag McKenna>

Clint checked the sergeant for respiration and a pulse. "Honeysett, grab that monitor device over there please" he asked pointing towards a small EKG machine. The sergeant's respirations and pulse were a little elevated, but nothing out of the ordinary for most individuals. Especially with the gunshots. After Honeysett brought over the EKG, he hooked her up and ran the machine to evaluate her heartbeat. He waited for the machine to run and give a readout. "Just relax for a moment Sergeant while this thing checks your heart. I still want to put you in the scanner to see if that thing caused any internal injuries, as well as checking your blood."

He began considering a host of other issues, like whether or not the Sergeant should be quarantined, preventative antibiotics in case she developed a reaction, DNA sampling and a host of other things. He then considered that the medical bay here probably lacked many of those resources, and decided he would just work with her the best he could.

<Tag Honeysett, Sgt, Sykes>

Roll Medical - Professional

Danny was relieved to see the Sergeant doing so well. "McKenna, do whatever you need to make sure she's alright." he said, patting McKenna on the shoulder. "Jonsson, I have taken command in the absence of Knutson. Once you are feeling better you can take command if you wish."
<Tag McKenna/Jonsson>

Sykes walked over to Private Sarah Wang. "Wang, I want you to trace Knutson's personal transponder. We aren't leaving him behind. And another thing, we are going to need reinforcements. I want you to radio the USS Algonquin and tell them to unthaw the reserve platoon. We need them groundside on the double. Understood?"
<Tag Wang>

Sykes climbed onto a table and looked around at the marines. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Okay, marines, here's the plan. We aren't leaving Lieutenant Knutson behind. I have called for reinforcements from the ship. Once they are here we will find Knutson and rescue him." He faltered for a second, thinking of what to say next. "Those fucking aliens think they have us cowed, but we are United States Colonial Marines! We are going to assault their fucking nest or hive or whatever the fuck you call it. We're taking this to their home turf and we are going to make those mother-fuckers pay for it!" He grinned, feeling his usual optimism return.
<Tag everyone>

Corporal Hicks wrote:"Wang, I want you to trace Knutson's personal transponder. We aren't leaving him behind. And another thing, we are going to need reinforcements. I want you to radio the USS Algonquin and tell them to unthaw the reserve platoon. We need them groundside on the double. Understood?"

"Yessir!"

Sara fumbled with the radio, relaying the instructions to the Algonquin as Sykes gave his speech.

<Location Hadley's Hope Colony Complex>

Perez did as ordered and took up a defense position to cover the vent. He was curious about Johnson's status, but that had to wait. He was glad, that she seemed to be ok. On the other hand, it really did not make any sense to him. That "spider-hand" thing was clearly related to the "big ones". It attacked Jonsson by jumping straight onto her face, choking and paralyzing her and then it fell off, seemingly dead? Did it gave up to kill the sarge? On the other hand, it had plenty of opportunity to finish the job, while being attached to her face.

Dirk looked from Marine to Marine, his mind raceing. He had started this mission as a squad leader, now he was the NCOIC and on the trail of their missing LT. He had lost two Marines in a lightening quick attack that lasted only a few moments.

“Ok people, here’s the game plan. We are pressing on. Wang, tell the reinforcements that we will be moving. Tell them to pick our two people. We’ll tag them for recovery. They can link up with us as soon as they catch up.” He said lighting a cigarette.
<Tag Everyone>

“Hicks, Sam. I need options. Any ideas?”
<Tag Sam and Hicks>

Darkness fell quickly across the tattered terrain, shadows lengthen and distorted as if the very planet the marines walked upon was seeking to thwart them. Wang's search brought a signal from the Lieutenant's Transponder. "Sykes, I have a reading on the LT. He's twenty five clicks Southeast of us. He is still alive although I am seeing elevated readings on his vital signs. Also the Algonquin stated that the freezer pops would be ready in 2 hours!"

Pope, looked up from the console that he was working on, "Sir, I have almost reconfigured the security cameras so that we can observe the surrounding area. I would suggest that we secure this location until our reserves arrive. Going off half-cocked will end up with more men in body bags."

Sgt. Jonsson started to nod in agreement, "Sykes, Pope is right, if we continue on at this point we will," she stopped for a second, a slight grimace creasing her face, "we will suffer further casual......" A blood curdling scream ripped from her lips as a spasm caused her to bend backwards, her chest thrusting forward. An audible cracking sound filled the air as the front of her fatigues jumped once, twice, and on the third time blood blossomed and a high pitched squeal joined the screams that were still emanating from Jonsson's ruined throat producing an eerie aria.

<Action>

Sykes frowned slightly as Pope stressed caution. He was not a patient man, but he knew that Pope was probably right. "Well, I-" he started, but Sergeant Jonsson cut him off. She was agreeing with the Synthetic, and Sykes wasn't going to contradict her. Then something awful started to happen. Sykes stared wide eyed and open mouth at the horrible event unfolding before him. He felt tears brimming in his eyes at the shock and horror he felt.

The chestburster broke out of her chest and fell to the floor. "Shoot that mother-fucker!" he shouted. He swung the M80 flamethrower around from his back and sent a sheet of flame after the chestburster as soon as he had a clear line of fire.
(Roll aim and fire)

Sara stared, stunned, at the sight unfolding in front of her. She unslung her weapon, but even at Sykes' command, she hesitated. The sight of the flame seemed to jog her back to her senses, however, and she opened fire with a short burst from her rifle.

<Roll Gun Combat: Novice>

Samantha had ALMOST gotten over her shock at losing 2 of her fellow marines when the THING decided to burst out of the Sarge's chest....ending the life of yet ANOTHER of her platoon....

Sam darted away from the chestburster....partly from instinct, partly from her peripheral vision picking up the wave of flame coming her way from Syke's incinerator. "AWWWW FUCK DIS MON!"; she yelled at no-one in particular and brought her Pulse Rifle up to her shoulder, took careful aim and cut llose a burst and then did the same thing again.....

<Aim for 2 actions; Fire Burst; aim for 2 actions; Fire Burst>