Turn 5: Infiltration

[Mr. Death]

Elias spit out blood and took another drag
"Go. . .Take him first" He said, and then shot another Strogg in the chest, exploding his torso.
"Come back for me if you can" He shouted. There was no way he was going back on his own.

[Matt]

"Alright, be back soon" Meyen said while carrying the Sargeant.

"COVERING FIRE!" Meyen screamed.

The Corporal ran to the other Marines, bullets and nails were pinging all over the place.
He finally made it to the other squad. He set down the Sergeant behind cover and asked Hoot to keep an eye on him until Gochild comes back.

"Alright Hoot watch the Sergeant, im going back to get the medic." Meyen said.

Meyen popped up from cover and killed two Strogg. He than ran to the medic, it felt like forever to Meyen.

"Okay, here we go" Meyen said to Godchild while picking him up.

On the way to the sqaud, Meyen felt a pressured warm sensation on his left thigh. He'd been hit and he knew it.

[Cartwright]

A Strogg appeared behind Meyen and the barrel of its assault rifle made contact with the back of his head. It grinned evilly, showing some form of humanity upon its features. Its finger slowly pressed down on the trigger. Meyen suddenly felt a liquid come into contact with the back of his head. The sound of a weapon retort was heard throughout the room. At first, Meyen had thought he was hit. But, this was far from the truth. He slowly turned around to find a lifeless corpse of the Strogg Tactical Transfer that had almost laid waste to him. It has a large hole in the top of its head.

Then, automatic fire could be heard from somewhere nearby. Strogg began dropping like flies. It was not the Hell Hounds, either. All stood stunned as three Marines rappelled down from an opening in the ceiling, firing their weapons. They took cover and slaughtered any Strogg coming near them. One switched to a shotgun and blasted two Strogg to oblivion. Another stood post in the hole in the ceiling, firing single shot rounds into the skulls of Strogg that were unfortunate enough to come under his sights.

The Hell Hounds, recovering from their initial shock, opened up on the remaining Strogg. They made quick work of them and the leader of the Marines who had come to their rescue approached them.

"I'm Staff Sergeant Martinez, First Force Recon. We heard some weapons' fire and decided to check it out. Looks' like we came in the knick of time," the Marine said, observing the situation closely, "Yo, Enriquez, help these boys out!"

A medic ran over and began working on Nightengail first, patching up all his wounds and getting him fit for combat. Though, this was an impossible task.

"Sorry, amigo. Looks like you're gonna have to sit this one out. Unless you think you can stick wit us, man." Enriquez said, then began working on Hayek.

After several minutes of silence, Sergeant Hayek was back on his feet. Albeit, in some pain, but he could handle it. He had been dished out much worse than this. He could consider most of his wounds mere flesh wounds. He shrugged off the pain and discomfort and shook the staff sergeant's hand.

"I'm Sergeant Hayek, Hell Hound Platoon Sergeant. I'm also acting Platoon Commander. Our PC got killed at our crash site. We've been fighting through hell to get here. Our mission is -" Nick was cut off by Martinez' hand rising into the air.

"I know your mission. We were tasked with the same thing after identifying this place. Lost contact with the Hoover after that. I think I already know what happened and I don't wanna know for sure. At least, not right now. We had some time to search this place while left in the dark. There is a communications console that was built prior to the invasion here on Draconis. The Strogg that were released by those dumbass eggheads built it. They are smarter than they must have anticipated."

"If we can destroy that, we will sever the Strogg's communications with one of their local fleets and with eachother. It should be considered a primary objective. You're lucky. If we weren't here, you wouldn't even know about it. It's too far underground to be destroyed by conventional means, that includes the destruction of the reactor. We'll have to go down there, disable the communications, then high tail it back up here and do our job. Think your men can do that? Want us to assault the communications' or want us to try to disable reactor cooling while you eliminate the communications?"

<Actions>

[Dire Wolf]

'Thank you jesus, thank you' was the only thing that ran through hoots head. He then attempted to run over to Nightengale, but his legs wouldnt let him, so he had to half jog half limp over to him. When he got there Hoot got down on a knee and said "I owe you one you crazy sonuva-bitch"

[Matt]

"Shit thanks for saving my ass back there." Meyen said to the Force Recon Team.

Meyen almost died back there, and for a sec., he thought he did get shot in the head. Luckly it wasnt, it was the Stroggs blood. He wondered what Hayek was gunna say, did he want them to disable the reactor, or communications? He didnt know but wanted to find out. He put a ciggarette in his mouth and lit it taking a long drag. He listened...

[Shadow]

"The reactor supplies power to this place, destroy it and the communications should go to, theoretically... If not the well taking out the communications means the strogg drops more men down... Instead of destroying the thing, guard it and keep the strogg from using it. My team will continue on to our original mission. As long as the communications remain intact I want it guarded and if possible try to tell the strogg fleet that they are fine down here... Let's move and quit wasting time." Sergeant Hayek reloaded his gun and started moving out in the direction that the Reactor 'should' be.

[Cartwright]

"Roger. Alright, Recon, let's move! Enriquez, stay with the Hell Hounds. They might need an extra medic." The staff sergeant said.

[Mr. Death]

Elias stood up, testing the splint he put together for himself, then raised his hand and shook his head.
He spit some blood out and finished the cigarette Meyen had given him.
"I'll. . .I'll be fine" He said and winked at Hayek

"I came here for this mission, aint no way in hell I'm leaving my boys down here to do it without me" Then he began limping toward the door, and looked at Hoot
"You don't owe me shit boot" And smiled.

[Matt]

They moved out , Meyen was behind the Sergeant. They were to complete their "original" mission. He put out his cig, he didnt want the Strogg seeing or smelling the smoke.

"Godchild, put out your cig." Meyen whispered.

The mission offically begun.

[Mr. Death]

Elias flicked the cigarette out and loaded his shotgun. He'd survived. He didn't know how. He thought for sure he'd die. Not that he cared if he lived or died, but it was truely remarkable.

He had saved the Sergeant, and he had saved Hoot the boot. He was truely the greatest medic in the Human race. He smiled to himself at that thought. Perhaps not. . .His curse was his downfall.

[Matt]

They were on stealth mode again. Quietly walking around, everyone watching their corners and sectors. Meyen was sure the reactor was down below. They probably had to use an elevator again, unfortunetly.

[Mr. Death]

Elias was thinking.

Draconis. . .Draconis. . .Draconis. . . He thought. The name of the place sounded so familiar.

Draconis. . .Draconis. . Draco- Draconis! Operation Night Bird. . . He was getting somewhere again.

Firefly. . . Father Archaver. . .Operation Night Bird. . .There's no way they're still alive .. . Perhaps. . .Last time I saw them they were coming back from Draconis. . .Just the two. . .Crispy and Reaper never came back. . .Screwhog was critically injured and sent back. . . He shook his head. He couldn't think of the past. The things he didn't care to remember.

He had to focus on the future, on keeping this team alive. He couldn't change the past. . .But he could mould the future.

[Cartwright]

The Marines continued to move about the area, skillfully avoiding patrols of Strogg. Luckily, they had not encountered any Tactical Transfers since their last encounter. Of this, they were thankful. They reached an elevator lift and entered it. Hayek yet again keyed in a floor below and it descended into the depths of the planet. The cancer of silence engulfing the occupants inside.

The lift came to an abrupt halt. The doors opened and two Strogg turned to face them, obviously surprised. The Marines let lose on them, quickly eliminating them. The sound of the weapons' fire resonated down the halls. Surely they had alerted the Strogg on this level.

"This is Recon... we have captured the communications' center. We are gettin' reports from Strogg that weapons' fire was heard. I trust you're startin' up a party down there, sergeant. Give 'em hell. Semper Fi. Over." Martinez said over the communications.

The Marines advanced, keeping their eyes open for Strogg. Luckily, the Strogg communications' would be thoroughly cut off. With control of the communications' center, the Strogg would call in to friendly forces, alerting only friendlies of what was going on. This gave them an extrordinary tactical advantage. The Strogg could not communicate with their other forces while friendly forces could gather intel on them. Excellent.

The reactor cooling plant was on this level. A complex maze of passageways lead to the end of this level, which is where the reactor cooling plant was located. They needed to disable the cooling devices, then go down and have Dunn plant some explosives on the reactor itself. Not only would it begin to overheat and implode, but the extra explosion from the bombs would destroy far more of the facility than intended as well.

The Marines were moving slowly and tactically. The Strogg were aware of their presence on this level. They would have to fight their way to the reactor cooling plant. Hopefully, they would lose no more time.

<Actions>

[Mr. Death]

"Cmon Cmon Cmon" Elias said, more to himself than to anyone else. He checked his gun, it was loaded to the max.
"We don't got all day. . ." He said, getting nervous. His wounds still ached and he wasn't sure how long the adrenaline and morphine would last. . . Not much longer, then he would collapse and have to be dragged out of the complex.

[Matt]

Strogg knew the Marines were there. Though their communication was cut, they can hear the gun fire, and they quickly came to investigate.
Meyen was checking his sectors, and then he spotted 2 Strogg taking cover.

"Hostiles spotted!" Meyen yelled.

He opened fire cutting down one, but the other took cover quickly. Obviously these were the dreaded "Tactical Transfers". The other one ventually popped out, and Meyen took aim and put a round in its skull. It twitched on the floor for a little then died.

"Damn Squibs" Meyen whispered to himself.

Now there was gunna be more Strogg coming, Meyen knew it. He was ready though, for whatever was going to endanger his Marines.