It's Only A Game. Nothing More.
Rapier7
Join Date: 2004-02-05 Member: 26108Members
Join Date: 2004-02-05 Member: 26108Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Revised and Improved</div> I posted a bad version in here a long time ago. For some reason, I decided to revise the original story. Here's the result. I hope you like it.
Private First Class John H. Mallon stared out from the observation deck of the TSA docking ship. A soldier fresh out of boot camp, a few of the veterans were snickering at his awestruck, timid demeanor. He said, ""Damn, we're going to have to take back that m***********?" Master Sargeant Michael Jaeger was standing by him. He was staring at the massive Sunfire corp. space station as well. He said, "You're out of boot now, Private. The TSA might not be that big, but our clients sure as hell are. Quadrillions of credits have been invested in the ships and facilities we have to retake." As an eager Private, Mallon couldn't help but ask, "A master sargeant? How many aliens did you ice?" Frowning, Jaeger said in a slightly less friendly voice, "The tracker puts me at 47 skulks, 4 lerks, 3 fades, and one onos." Mallon's eyes widened and he let out a whistle, "That's pretty damn impressive." Jaeger kept wearing his frown, "For every skulk that I killed, it probably killed a marine in its place. Same goes for those fades, lerks, and that onos. Having a high kill count doesn't mean anything, kid." The private's face fell. He shut up for a few seconds before talking again, "Of course it does. It means you're brave, resourceful, and skilled." Jaeger took another pull on his nanite-infused beer before speaking, "Look, rookie, there are only two types of marines in the TSA: dead ones and living ones. Skill isn't worth a s*** if you're the first one going into a room full of Xenoforms. You're bait, you're doing it for the team, and you're probably going to die." Mallon's body shook visibly, embarassed, he kept talking, "What about the honor? The bravery?" The veteran had a bitter chuckle at that, "Chivalry is dead in the line of the TSA. There's never any glory in combat. And we go into combat a lot."
"So how can I try to stay alive when we go into the facility?" asked Mallon.
"Don't go in the first place. But if you have to, don't follow orders. And if you have to follow orders, you're going to die." And with that remark, Jaeger crumpled up his can, threw it in the disposal bin on the observation deck, and walked away. He left a scared, confused rookie in his trail.
Jaeger walked into the barracks. He looked around for a few seconds before spotting Commander Marshall. Walking over, he asked for info on the upcoming assault on Sunfire. "What's the green count we got on this mission?" Chuckling, Marshall consulted his list, "Three squads of three. One vet to each squad, two rookies for bait." Jaeger swore softly, "10 man initial team, that must be a hell of an infestation."
"We're not taking chances on this one. Sunfire corp's got a lot of influence. Winning their support would be to our advantage."
The PA system blared loudly, "Attention, docking will commence in thirty minutes. The initial strike team will report to Logistics within five minutes."
Jaeger sighed and then shouted, "Strike Team assemble and get to Logistics. We're heading out in thirty."
It was a lot different in actual combat, Mallon thought bitterly, as he boarded Docking Bay on the Sunfire station. Didn't help that Jaeger is my squad leader, either. Marshall logged on in the command chair and shouted his orders, "Squad 1, Reactor Core, Squad 2, stay in base, Squad 3, Reactor Monitoring." Jaeger shouted his orders, "Squad 1, follow me!" Jaeger took point as they walked into Core. Jumping at the slightest noises, he was extremely alert, eyes scanning over every nook and cranny of the room. Damn he must be paranoid, Mallon thought. Marshall's voice filled their headsets, "Mallon and Shinseki build that RT, Jaeger cover." As Mallon built the RT with the other private, he heard a prickling noise. He looked at Jaeger. "Keep building, private." He turned back to his work, despite the prickling noise. It was growing louder. He heard a menacing chuckle. Sweat beads broke out on his forehead, "Keep working, private." Mallon swore to himself as he continued building the resource tower. He jumped as five bullet shots rang out and the HUD notified that a skulk had been killed that was only twenty feet away from him. "Good work, Jaeger, move your squad to Monitoring, Squad 3 already moved to Waste Regulation, a few skulks are biting the RT they built." The corridor connecting Core to Monitoring had a broken pipe, spraying steam everywhere, making it difficult to see. Jaeger frowned. "Mallon, take point and walk along the left side of the corridor." Mallon's heart rate jumped about 40 beats as he walked nervously along the left wall. A skulk hiding behind a box on the right leapt at him. Mallon yelled and shot wildly with his LMG, but the skulk was already dead. Jaeger and Shinseki shared the kill, though Jaeger shot it 80%.
"Don't lose your cool. Stupid things like that will kill you."
Mallon cursed under his breath and fell to the rear as Jaeger ran forward to Monitoring. "Mallon and Shinseki, guard that corridor, I'll take out the skulks on the RT." 2 more kills lit up on the HUD about twenty seconds later. Mallon felt more confident about his squad leader. Two skulks suddenly charged him and Shinseki. He hoisted his LMG, took a deep breath and fired. He killed the skulk he was targeting, but Shinseki had trouble killing the other. The other skulk bit into Mallon's leg and he screamed in pain as he finished the skulk off. A medpack instantly hit his leg and a wave of relief swept over him. His leg was still pretty shaky, but it was patched, more or less. "Hope that helps, private", said Commander Marshall.
"That was some good shooting, Mallon. Shinseki, don't panic if you see something running towards you."
Ten minutes passed into the mission and Squad 1 was building a PG outside the second building hive. Two skulks charged it but Jaeger killed both of them. Damn, Mallon thought, that guy isn't human. The PG was complete, and Marshall ordered Jaeger and Shinseki back to base. Mallon was pacing around nervously, he was alone. Three skulks then rushed his position and he shot freely, killing one, but two of them were not more than five yards away. Evasive maneuvering, they told him in boot, he better try that out. Jaeger phased in with a shotgun, iced one skulk but the other one was right by Mallon. Mallon jumped out of the skulk's path and Jaeger killed him. "Nice evasion, private." Shinseki phased in with a shotgun as well, along with squad three. The six marines ran into the hive and shot it until it fell to the ground and disintegrated into green ooze. Jaeger smiled for the first time, Mallon saw, once the hive fell. Commander Marshall's voice thundered into the voice comm, "TWO FADES AND THREE SKULKS ATTACKING BASE, I'M BEACONING NOW!" Three seconds passed and his voice flooded the comm again, "THEY KILLED THE OBS, I'M GETTING OUT." Jaeger's smile quickly turned into a panicked look. Oh s***, thought Mallon. He came close to panicking as he gaped into Jaeger's scared face. "DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CHAIR, COMMANDER!", shouted Jaeger. But Marshall's death popped up on their HUDs. By the time they got to the PG, it had dimmed. "They killed the PG at base. Get back there as soon as possible!" Squad two was already en route to the base, but two fades flew into the corridor with them and shortly afterwards all three marines were dead. Two squads from the TSA ship were in marine start. "Sargeants Jaeger and Canter, what the hell is going on? We just killed three skulks and two fades flew out. Where's the commander?" Jaeger replied, "the commander jumped out, he panicked because the obs was destroyed right after you were beaconed in. Hold that position, we're all coming back to base."
"Oh s***, the two fades are coming back, GET HERE ASAP."
Two minutes later, five marines walked into marine start (Shinseki was ambushed by a skulk) tired, battered, and nearly out of ammo. Only two marines were there. The only structures still left standing was the arms lab, armory, and comm chair. The marine in the command chair got out and said, "It's been a tough battle. I've used the emergency communications in the command chair and the docking ship will be here with a fresh platoon. We'll be pulled out in just a few minutes." The seven marines stood tense in Docking Bay, eyes on the three corridors that went into the room. A lerk and a skulk flew in, the lerk spored a fourth of the room and the two marines there cursed as they aimed for the lerk. The lerk headed towards Mallon and Mallon stood perfectly still, too scared to move. A well aimed shotgun blast slammed into the lerk and knocked it out of the air. Another kill was given to Jaeger on the tracker. "You all right there, rookie?" he said. Mallon was about to reply he was a bit shaken up but two fades flew into the room and slashed Jaeger. It took ages for him to fall. Mallon stood wide eyed as he watched Jaeger's body slowly fall towards the ground. Blood was flowing out of his stomach, his body had been cut in half. Oh God, Mallon thought, as he knelt beside Jaeger, completely ignoring the other five marines shooting, swearing, and shouting as a massive wave of skulks and lerks poured into Cargo. "Hey, kid.", he said. Mallon looked into his eyes. They contained an infinite sadness. Jaeger coughed two times and finally let out a sigh. He was dead. Mallon closed his eyelids and stood up. He didn't move. He didn't talk. He didn't do anything. He was completely paralyzed. Suddenly, thirty marines came streaming into Docking Bay, fully armed and ready to fight. Two marines dragged Mallon back and the other five marines ran towards the dropship.
Back on the docking ship, Mallon was sitting in the barracks. His head was drooped and his eyes was staring blankly at the floor. A person with a major's insignia walked towards him and reported what happened to Sunfire. "You fought well in there private. We weren't able to retake the facility, but we were able to retrieve the critical research documents within it. We've already incinerated the facility. It could have gone better, but Sunfire corp. is happy just with the research data."
Mallon couldn't take it anymore. He broke down completely. His head was buried in his hands as he sobbed. It seemed like an eternity before he stopped crying. His uniform was tear stained and his face was still wet. The major stood by awkwardly for the entire time. "Just tell me if you need anything.", and with that, he walked away. Rookies, he thought, while walking towards Intelligence. They were broken too easily. I better put him in reserve for a few weeks. He should be ready after some psychological therapy. With that thought, he strode into Intelligence, and reported to his superiors, completely indifferent to the private's outburst.
Mallon still had a few tears running down his cheek. "Why, why?", he whispered.
Scott "Commander Marshall" Green looked in disgust at the black screen of his computer. He hated losing, especially when he made a **** rookie mistake like that. We could have had that game, he thought, as he walked downstairs to get a soda while the server switched to the next map. Oh well, maybe next time.
Private First Class John H. Mallon stared out from the observation deck of the TSA docking ship. A soldier fresh out of boot camp, a few of the veterans were snickering at his awestruck, timid demeanor. He said, ""Damn, we're going to have to take back that m***********?" Master Sargeant Michael Jaeger was standing by him. He was staring at the massive Sunfire corp. space station as well. He said, "You're out of boot now, Private. The TSA might not be that big, but our clients sure as hell are. Quadrillions of credits have been invested in the ships and facilities we have to retake." As an eager Private, Mallon couldn't help but ask, "A master sargeant? How many aliens did you ice?" Frowning, Jaeger said in a slightly less friendly voice, "The tracker puts me at 47 skulks, 4 lerks, 3 fades, and one onos." Mallon's eyes widened and he let out a whistle, "That's pretty damn impressive." Jaeger kept wearing his frown, "For every skulk that I killed, it probably killed a marine in its place. Same goes for those fades, lerks, and that onos. Having a high kill count doesn't mean anything, kid." The private's face fell. He shut up for a few seconds before talking again, "Of course it does. It means you're brave, resourceful, and skilled." Jaeger took another pull on his nanite-infused beer before speaking, "Look, rookie, there are only two types of marines in the TSA: dead ones and living ones. Skill isn't worth a s*** if you're the first one going into a room full of Xenoforms. You're bait, you're doing it for the team, and you're probably going to die." Mallon's body shook visibly, embarassed, he kept talking, "What about the honor? The bravery?" The veteran had a bitter chuckle at that, "Chivalry is dead in the line of the TSA. There's never any glory in combat. And we go into combat a lot."
"So how can I try to stay alive when we go into the facility?" asked Mallon.
"Don't go in the first place. But if you have to, don't follow orders. And if you have to follow orders, you're going to die." And with that remark, Jaeger crumpled up his can, threw it in the disposal bin on the observation deck, and walked away. He left a scared, confused rookie in his trail.
Jaeger walked into the barracks. He looked around for a few seconds before spotting Commander Marshall. Walking over, he asked for info on the upcoming assault on Sunfire. "What's the green count we got on this mission?" Chuckling, Marshall consulted his list, "Three squads of three. One vet to each squad, two rookies for bait." Jaeger swore softly, "10 man initial team, that must be a hell of an infestation."
"We're not taking chances on this one. Sunfire corp's got a lot of influence. Winning their support would be to our advantage."
The PA system blared loudly, "Attention, docking will commence in thirty minutes. The initial strike team will report to Logistics within five minutes."
Jaeger sighed and then shouted, "Strike Team assemble and get to Logistics. We're heading out in thirty."
It was a lot different in actual combat, Mallon thought bitterly, as he boarded Docking Bay on the Sunfire station. Didn't help that Jaeger is my squad leader, either. Marshall logged on in the command chair and shouted his orders, "Squad 1, Reactor Core, Squad 2, stay in base, Squad 3, Reactor Monitoring." Jaeger shouted his orders, "Squad 1, follow me!" Jaeger took point as they walked into Core. Jumping at the slightest noises, he was extremely alert, eyes scanning over every nook and cranny of the room. Damn he must be paranoid, Mallon thought. Marshall's voice filled their headsets, "Mallon and Shinseki build that RT, Jaeger cover." As Mallon built the RT with the other private, he heard a prickling noise. He looked at Jaeger. "Keep building, private." He turned back to his work, despite the prickling noise. It was growing louder. He heard a menacing chuckle. Sweat beads broke out on his forehead, "Keep working, private." Mallon swore to himself as he continued building the resource tower. He jumped as five bullet shots rang out and the HUD notified that a skulk had been killed that was only twenty feet away from him. "Good work, Jaeger, move your squad to Monitoring, Squad 3 already moved to Waste Regulation, a few skulks are biting the RT they built." The corridor connecting Core to Monitoring had a broken pipe, spraying steam everywhere, making it difficult to see. Jaeger frowned. "Mallon, take point and walk along the left side of the corridor." Mallon's heart rate jumped about 40 beats as he walked nervously along the left wall. A skulk hiding behind a box on the right leapt at him. Mallon yelled and shot wildly with his LMG, but the skulk was already dead. Jaeger and Shinseki shared the kill, though Jaeger shot it 80%.
"Don't lose your cool. Stupid things like that will kill you."
Mallon cursed under his breath and fell to the rear as Jaeger ran forward to Monitoring. "Mallon and Shinseki, guard that corridor, I'll take out the skulks on the RT." 2 more kills lit up on the HUD about twenty seconds later. Mallon felt more confident about his squad leader. Two skulks suddenly charged him and Shinseki. He hoisted his LMG, took a deep breath and fired. He killed the skulk he was targeting, but Shinseki had trouble killing the other. The other skulk bit into Mallon's leg and he screamed in pain as he finished the skulk off. A medpack instantly hit his leg and a wave of relief swept over him. His leg was still pretty shaky, but it was patched, more or less. "Hope that helps, private", said Commander Marshall.
"That was some good shooting, Mallon. Shinseki, don't panic if you see something running towards you."
Ten minutes passed into the mission and Squad 1 was building a PG outside the second building hive. Two skulks charged it but Jaeger killed both of them. Damn, Mallon thought, that guy isn't human. The PG was complete, and Marshall ordered Jaeger and Shinseki back to base. Mallon was pacing around nervously, he was alone. Three skulks then rushed his position and he shot freely, killing one, but two of them were not more than five yards away. Evasive maneuvering, they told him in boot, he better try that out. Jaeger phased in with a shotgun, iced one skulk but the other one was right by Mallon. Mallon jumped out of the skulk's path and Jaeger killed him. "Nice evasion, private." Shinseki phased in with a shotgun as well, along with squad three. The six marines ran into the hive and shot it until it fell to the ground and disintegrated into green ooze. Jaeger smiled for the first time, Mallon saw, once the hive fell. Commander Marshall's voice thundered into the voice comm, "TWO FADES AND THREE SKULKS ATTACKING BASE, I'M BEACONING NOW!" Three seconds passed and his voice flooded the comm again, "THEY KILLED THE OBS, I'M GETTING OUT." Jaeger's smile quickly turned into a panicked look. Oh s***, thought Mallon. He came close to panicking as he gaped into Jaeger's scared face. "DO NOT GET OUT OF THE CHAIR, COMMANDER!", shouted Jaeger. But Marshall's death popped up on their HUDs. By the time they got to the PG, it had dimmed. "They killed the PG at base. Get back there as soon as possible!" Squad two was already en route to the base, but two fades flew into the corridor with them and shortly afterwards all three marines were dead. Two squads from the TSA ship were in marine start. "Sargeants Jaeger and Canter, what the hell is going on? We just killed three skulks and two fades flew out. Where's the commander?" Jaeger replied, "the commander jumped out, he panicked because the obs was destroyed right after you were beaconed in. Hold that position, we're all coming back to base."
"Oh s***, the two fades are coming back, GET HERE ASAP."
Two minutes later, five marines walked into marine start (Shinseki was ambushed by a skulk) tired, battered, and nearly out of ammo. Only two marines were there. The only structures still left standing was the arms lab, armory, and comm chair. The marine in the command chair got out and said, "It's been a tough battle. I've used the emergency communications in the command chair and the docking ship will be here with a fresh platoon. We'll be pulled out in just a few minutes." The seven marines stood tense in Docking Bay, eyes on the three corridors that went into the room. A lerk and a skulk flew in, the lerk spored a fourth of the room and the two marines there cursed as they aimed for the lerk. The lerk headed towards Mallon and Mallon stood perfectly still, too scared to move. A well aimed shotgun blast slammed into the lerk and knocked it out of the air. Another kill was given to Jaeger on the tracker. "You all right there, rookie?" he said. Mallon was about to reply he was a bit shaken up but two fades flew into the room and slashed Jaeger. It took ages for him to fall. Mallon stood wide eyed as he watched Jaeger's body slowly fall towards the ground. Blood was flowing out of his stomach, his body had been cut in half. Oh God, Mallon thought, as he knelt beside Jaeger, completely ignoring the other five marines shooting, swearing, and shouting as a massive wave of skulks and lerks poured into Cargo. "Hey, kid.", he said. Mallon looked into his eyes. They contained an infinite sadness. Jaeger coughed two times and finally let out a sigh. He was dead. Mallon closed his eyelids and stood up. He didn't move. He didn't talk. He didn't do anything. He was completely paralyzed. Suddenly, thirty marines came streaming into Docking Bay, fully armed and ready to fight. Two marines dragged Mallon back and the other five marines ran towards the dropship.
Back on the docking ship, Mallon was sitting in the barracks. His head was drooped and his eyes was staring blankly at the floor. A person with a major's insignia walked towards him and reported what happened to Sunfire. "You fought well in there private. We weren't able to retake the facility, but we were able to retrieve the critical research documents within it. We've already incinerated the facility. It could have gone better, but Sunfire corp. is happy just with the research data."
Mallon couldn't take it anymore. He broke down completely. His head was buried in his hands as he sobbed. It seemed like an eternity before he stopped crying. His uniform was tear stained and his face was still wet. The major stood by awkwardly for the entire time. "Just tell me if you need anything.", and with that, he walked away. Rookies, he thought, while walking towards Intelligence. They were broken too easily. I better put him in reserve for a few weeks. He should be ready after some psychological therapy. With that thought, he strode into Intelligence, and reported to his superiors, completely indifferent to the private's outburst.
Mallon still had a few tears running down his cheek. "Why, why?", he whispered.
Scott "Commander Marshall" Green looked in disgust at the black screen of his computer. He hated losing, especially when he made a **** rookie mistake like that. We could have had that game, he thought, as he walked downstairs to get a soda while the server switched to the next map. Oh well, maybe next time.
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