Turn 14: Exfiltration

[Corporal Hicks]

Safety was so close, but not there yet. At the front of the column, Giosso helped the civilians climb the ropes to get out of the hole. The feedlot had been partially bulldozed by the APC, so clean sunlight glared down into the entrance of the nightmare of tunnels. The injured Staff Sergeant Wesley was passed up, unconscious. The pain of losing both hands to acid burns was too extreme, and morphine had been the only option to help him. The rest of Rhino Squad nodded to Giosso as they exited, along with a pale-faced Lieutenant Fletcher.

At the rear of the column, the battle still raged. Quinn dropped the leading xenomorph with a couple of buckshot rounds, then Paulson and him backed up. They leapfrogged Forester and Blake and moved further down the tunnel.

Blake and Forester opened up on the next aliens that appears in the light of the flares. Blake utilized the rarely-used VP70 brace that turned it into an SMG, firing three round bursts. The two of them managed to bring down the next xenomorph with combined fire when they heard Paulson call the retreat. They turned and fell back, running past the next checkpoint and finding themselves at the intersection.

Torres and Skirata defended the west tunnel while Paulson and Quinn covered the north. Henniger had moved off to help with the exfiltration. The xenomorphs were not done, yet. Now, they made a final charge to destroy the Marines before they could reach the safety of their sentry gun.

Torres and Skirata opened fire, dropping enemies from the west with their still-fresh weapons. Paulson and Quinn dropped the first couple, but four more were coming right behind them. Realizing they were in a tough spot, Paulson gave the order. “Everyone, fall back!”

The two sentries turned and ran for their lives. Paulson was at the tail, limping from his fall. Forester started lighting grenades and throwing them down the north tunnel, between the two retreating Marines. BOOM! They exploded one after another with sharp, ear-splitting bangs in the confined space. Dust and debris filled the air, choking the retreating Marines. The earth shook, and the corpse-room began to collapse in on itself, burying xenomorphs in the rocks and dirt.

Now, they abandoned the whole idea of fighting and ran for their lives. The leading xenomorph had not been buried, however. As Paulson came around the corner, it lunged and knocked his legs out from under him, sending him tumbling to the ground with a sharp sting of pain. Just then, the sentry gun lit up with an earth-shattering roar, and the xenomorph’s body was ripped to pieces.

Paulson lay there, writhing in the renewed pain of his injured leg, his helmet rolling away in the darkness. Back came Blake and Forester, grabbing their squad leader and carrying him toward the exit. The sentry opened up again and again, firing around the Marines and killing the screaming horde that followed. The computer screen beside it began to beep loudly, warning of low ammo. The Marines ignored the whining beeps, the roaring gunfire, and the pained screams of Paulson. They were exfiltrating, come hell or high water.

Henniger and Soles met them and led them at a run toward the exit. The sentry gun in the east tunnel was firing too, and as they ran, it was joined by A gun in the west tunnel. The enemy was throwing every warrior it had at them, but it wouldn’t be enough. Four sentry guns still covered the exit of the hole with crossfire. There they were, at the entrance, with sunlight streaming down and ropes dangling on the walls. Behind them was a sound like the demons of Hell, reverberating up from the deep.

T minus 13 minutes.

[BarbarianMathematics]

After Pvt Blake and Forester had picked up Paulson, once they reached the hole, Blake called out, "We need to get the APC ready! Permission to climb first?"

At this point, having set down Paulson by the exit, she put her hand on the vp70, disassembling the attachment and putting it in her pack, preparing for the climb ahead, but keeping the pistol on her hip just in case it came down to that.

<Tag Paulson, Forester>

[eyeball]

"Go, go ,go! cover us from up top when you get there."

Paulson span round and slumped down, his leg on fire, agony wracking his body. he aimed back down the corridor ready to fire as soon as he had any targets to engange.

he looked at forester, "use your radio get someone to drop a rope over i'm never gonna make that climb in time" he requested "tie it off to the APC then pull me up.

Blake was almost up to the top and relative saftey, paulson could see other marines providing cover from the top ready to shoot at anything that came up towards him, maybe just maybe he might get out of this.

he waited a few moments as he heard Forester relay the rope request then got himself as ready as he could be. "ok as soon as Blake is up start up." he ordered.

<aim>
<fire>

[LT_Chun]

Henniger saw that the civilians had been pulled back to relative safety. He grabbed Giosso and a mother Marine and ran back for the vertical tunnel.

"Paulson, anyone left down there, just grab the rope ladder!"
<tag Paulson>

He saw Giosso and the other Marine comprehend what he had in mind and they joined him on the rope line.

<roll pull rope/three-man>

[eyeball]

Paulson looped his arms round the steps, he wouldn't be able to fire but was hoping that the others could pull him up fast enought that it wouldn't matter.

"i'm on" he called up and waited for the heave ho to start.

[Pale Rider]

"Get out of here as quickly as possible! The bomb will go off soon and we need to clear the area and the civilians. Pope sound the retreat and get some dropships inbound now!!!"

[Quicksilver]

Mark was standing with one hand on the ladder trying to wave people up when it dawned on him what Paulson said. Swearing under his breath he quickly grabbed on with the other hand and wrapped a foot around desperately.

[Duncan]

"That's enough tunnel crawling for me," Forester said before climbing up the ladder. In his mind, he remembered a technique to hook up personnel to ropes via carabiners and have the vehicle do the lifting, but now wasn't the time for impromptu training so he went up the conventional way. "What's the yield on the ordnance?"

[Quicksilver]

“1 Kilo.” Mark responded quickly, “so we don’t want to be anywhere within a mile of here - and very soon.”

[LT_Chun]

Henniger, manning the exfil lines, passed the remaining Marines roughly but kindly up the ropes. Once Giosso and his other Marine had made the climb he grabbed a rope and turned to pass it to someone.

"Second Squad, all accounted for, Green, Yellow, Red."
<tag Command>

[Pale Rider]

"Let's roll marines, i don't wanna leave anyone behind! Move your asses and get up the later!"