Planetside (IC)

[Jedi_Khan]

Atal "Pot Shot" Azal

"Alrigh' lads, fan out, give me a 15 meter spread, no sound." He said barking orders to the well trained squad. He slung his rifle off his back and turned the safety off holding it at ready.
"Move out!"

Atal went back into the ship to retrieve his pack and gun, seeing as how he only had his utility belt, with his handgun on it, with him. If Atal had not remembered where he had put his pack and gun, he probably wouldn’t have found it due to the adaptive camo coverings that were on both items. When he did find them, he hefted his pack onto his back, secured it so it wouldn’t go anywhere and be comfortable, and then shoulder his modified medium rail gun. He then proceeded outside to do as the Sgt. Maj. had ordered.

The recon patrol was uneventful, as Atal had sorta suspected, but he did find some game trails that lead from the river bed back into the forest. There were some odd tracks on those game trails, but that was to be expected on an entirely new planet.

When Atal got back to the ship he found that Major Harper and a few others had already begun retrieving equipment from the ship. Atal went into the ship to locate a vital piece of emergency equipment that he knew every ship that could travel in atmosphere had. What he was looking for was the portable emergency power generator. He didn’t know where it would be on this ship, nor did he know how big it would be, but judging by the size of the ship, he would say that he wouldn’t be able to carry the device.

He found the device where he suspected he would, near the storage locker that housed spare parts. When he examined it, he determined three things: first, that it wasn’t a generator that ran off of gas; second, it was a mini-fission generator (much more efficient, cleaner, and safer than conventional power sources, i.e. fusion generators or gas generators); and third, it wasn’t going anywhere without some muscle to move it, seeing as how it weighed nearly fifty pounds.

Atal heard someone mention that the ship was sinking, so he quickly went to the hatch to find out exactly what was going on. He learned two things: it was raining and rather than the ship sinking, the river was rising. He jogged back to the locker where the power generator was and secured it, hoping that it was water tight. He then picked up his gun and jogged back outside to hear the Major giving orders to escort the scientists and follow the winged lady towards some caves.

Before moving to take up a side guard position, Atal quickly lifted the hatch he had opened back into position, so that the opening was somewhat sealed, so at least no critters would get inside that way. He then moved over to cover the left flank of the group as they followed the flying light.

"Join the SMF they said. See the galaxy they said. I should never have listened to they." Cormac muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Righ' jolly little céile right here, wouldn't ya say lads?" He asked as he marched through the jungle. "Oi Pot-shot, this much like home? Ne'er been to Trellos meself. I likes me a good and proper forest, not a jungle."

“It’s nothing like home, Sgt. Maj., because it ain’t home,” Atal called back to the officer. “But I’ll let you know when it starts to feel like home, which will probably be in the next year or so. And don’t bother putting Trellos on your list of places to see. Why the hell do you think I left it to begin with?

“Oh, and Sergeant Major, what the hell is a céile anyways?” asked Atal. He had told the sgt. Maj. many times before to speak the common language, as Atal, and probably the others, couldn’t understand what he was saying when he used his native tongue.

Bugs buzzed about the group, just like in any other jungle, except these were distinctly alien to the group. The smaller blood suckers hardly bothered Atal, as he had his scales to protect him and the fact that as a cold blooded creature, he was rather unappetizing. Using his infrared vision, Atal kept looking around and above him for any threats. Several times he saw some sort of large arachnid sitting in the trees near the large webs, and a every time, the creatures seemed to realize he had spotted them and quickly disappeared deeper into the forest, moving like monkeys, only with eight legs.

Atal kept walking until he arrived at the caves, at which point he heard the order to set up a sniper position nearby. He looked around trying to determine the best location for his position. There was about a fifty yard radius clearing around the entrance of the cave, so taking up a position among the trees would limit what he could see, and subsequently shoot. Therefore, he looked up. About six feet above the entrance of the cave, there appeared to be a ledge that would shelter him from the wind and rain. Moving over to the rock face, he tried to determine his path from the ground to the ledge. Spotting a route that looked fairly safe, he slung his rifle over his shoulder and began to climb.

As a Trellosian, he made short work of the climb and soon was at the ledge. It was sheltered as he expected, with a nice dry area. But what he hadn’t seen from the ground was that it was actually sort of cave that went back into the rock face. Pulling out his handgun and attaching his custom infrared flashlight to it, he moved deeper into the tunnel to make sure nothing could come up behind him.

He smelled the creature before he heard it, which was before he saw it. It looked like a very large armadillo, only a bit more canine. And it looked hungry. And it was staring right at Atal, with a defensive look in its eye. It stared him down for a while, but made no move to get up from where it was laying. And Atal could see why: it was wounded. A couple of scales were missing from its side, and there were blood stains on the ground next to it.

Atal holstered his weapon, but kept the flashlight out. He then took his pack off and took out his first aid kit. He then slowly approached the animal, making sure he didn’t make it feel threatened; it was jumpy enough without some unknown two-legged lizard appearing in the cave holding something in its hands. The creature kept its eyes on Atal the entire time and would growl every time Atal moved a little too quickly.

Atal eventually got close enough to where he could reach out and touch the creature, and examine the wound. It appeared to be a puncture wound, but from what, Atal couldn’t tell. There appeared to be nothing still in the wound, so Atal assumed that whatever had wounded the creature had pulled out. Being as gentle as possible (as well as being as unthreatening as possible), he laid his hands on the creature, and was rewarded with a growl and a sort of bark of warning.

Atal did his best to calm the creature, even going as far as to pull out a piece of jerky from a pouch on his belt and offering it to the creature. Atal believed this creature to be a meat eater due to the rather sharp teeth in its mouth, so a piece of dried meat would be a good peace offering. The creature sniffed at it and then opened its mouth surprisingly wide and took the piece of meat, almost taking Atal’s hand with it hand he not been quick on the reflex.

What the creature didn’t realize was that Atal had at the same time the creature was concentrating on the meat, had removed a small syringe from the first aid kit and filled it with a small amount of a mild sedative. Just as the creature snapped at Atal’s hand with the meat in it, Atal had inserted the needle into the exposed flesh around the wound and injected the sedative. The creature yipped, but was soon out like a light, still alive. Atal cleaned the wound, applied some anti-biotic, and bandaged it as well as he could, given his limited first aid skill and his lack of knowledge of this creature.

A sound then came to Atal’s saurian ears, and while he was still trying to figure out what it was, a horde of bats came flying out from further down the tunnel, making him duck.

“Who the hell just disturbed all those bats?” Atal asked over the radio. “Now I have to reset my position, damn it.” He didn’t bother waiting for a reply as he checked to the bandage on the creature to make sure it was still secure (and that the creature was still out) and then move back to his pack with the first aid kit. Leaving the pack there, he then picked up his gun and settled in at the ledge, blending in almost perfectly.

“Sniper in position; standing by,” Atal reported. He turned his head to look down the tunnel, to where the creature still lay, which was only ten feet away. Then Atal shivered, which was not a good thing for him. That meant it was getting cold, so cold the insulating membrane his species had come up with wasn’t much good. He moved over to his pack and removed a parka from it made of the same adaptive camo as his pack and his suit. While not as effective in camouflaging him as his own natural ability, it at least kept him warm as he settled back into position, his gun resting against his chest. And he waited.

 

[AmenRa]

Harper made it to the cave just in time to hear Atal's report of "sniper in position".

The major touched his ear-comm and spoke, "Copy sniper in position. Cleared hot." He knew Atal would now turn the rail gun's safety off and begin to scan the area for threats. If a threat was found, Atal would radio Harper for the go code, unless the threat was such that there was no time to radio anyone. Harper smiled to himself. With Atal in position was kinda like having God watching over the team.

The bat-creatures had flew from the cave mouth, but then returned. As Harper sat down on a flat-topped stalagmite, he noticed the large, furry, winged creatures were resting upside down on the cavern roof. But, there were two sitting amid some vines on the wall to his right. They were watching him with large eyes, and seemed to be chirping among themselves.

Once everyone had taken up their stations, Harper planned to have a discussion with the scientists and team members about what was happening. Although some of them would have to participate via radio, he wanted everyone there.

Of course, the operators on the perimeter, the sniper, EO tech, and support were the eyes and ears right now, so he didn't plan to take up too much of their time.

 

[LittleSprite2]

Rishka watched them work suggesting to the other scientests that they huddle a little closer for warmth while they waited as the tempreture begain to drop and the sun now set as the storm begain to blow out, the rain slowing down to a drizzle.

Rishka shiverd a bit herself and brought her hands up rubbing them along her arms to keep circulation going and to hide her the fact that with her white cloths being wet she looked nearly naked. Tho she didnt think anyone noticed and hopefully they would be inside the cave soon and she could dry before anyone did. Due to her wings she couldnt slide on a jacket or borrow anything accept maybe a blanket to help keep herself warm.

Most of her clothing was light weight and specally made to adapted to accomodate, and she hadnt exactlly planed for the weather on this occasion, hell none of them had expected there rescuers to crash land god only knew where... Out of all the scientest there were 5 total 3 men and 2 women and herself made for number 6 in the group as healer.

Just her luck that one of the women Jan had noticed and offerd her own lab jacket tho just as wet as what she had on it was thicker and not see thru and she could use it as sort of a blanket to cover herself temporaraly. Rishka thanked her and took the jacket and sat down with her back next to the cave entrance, using the jacket as a make shift sheild, and wondered how long it would take them to clear the cave and make sure it was safe or to move on and see if they could find a better shelter.

She did notice the bat like creatures and decided that as long as they left them alone and they didnt decide to attack then she could deal with them being there, she just hoped that they didnt look like lunch to them.

 

[Khadgar]

Seth "Grunt" Salem

Seth emerged from the first chamer in the cave, and walked back out into the open air. Turning to his superior he shrugged, "first part of the cave is clear, i figure we move these people inside, i'll cover the enterance, the rest of us sweep further in. Can't wait here all night."

Without waiting for a response, Seth checked the charge on his beam rifle, and hefted it in his arms, moving back into the cave a few meters he crouched down, flipping the bipod attatched to the barrel open and resting the gun on the stone floor. The rifle didn't offer recoil in the traditional sense, but the bipod was still necessary, firstly the thing weighed a hell of alot more than any standard assault rifle, and the components inside the thing itself did give some movement with the discharge.

Seth lay down in a prone position, pulling the rifle up snug with his shoulder. the hand he slid along the barrel thumbed the unlock for the scatter lens and slid it toward himself. By doing this the focus of the beam would spread out, at the setting he locked the lens in each shot from the gun would spray nearly the entire mouth of the cave.

Rolling his neck and hearing another crick jump out from his stiff body he sighed. with the gun configured this way the beam rifle would do considerably less damage then if set to the most narrow beam. On the tightest setting shots from this rifle cold burn through the battleplate that lined warships if you left it shooting long enough. On this setting armour would become extremely hot, and would burn skin, but naked flesh would incinerate still.

If something comes in here with armour plating we'll have a fight on our hands. If not, then nothing is getting past this position.

Settling down into the rock and worming his body around untill he became comfortable, Seth prepared for a long wait of staring at the blank lips to the cave.

 

[rengadeirishman]

Cormac continued walking down the cave till he came to collapse of rock that would undoubtedly function as the back of this cave for their purposes. "All clear boss." he said into the comnet, before walking back to the group. "Your orders boss?" he asked Harper.

 

[AmenRa]

Harper sat forward on one of the blunted stalagmites that littered the floor of the cavern. He motioned for the Sergeant Major to take a seat, then called for the rest of the scientist team to gather around. Harper asked Grunt to place his tripod mounted weapon on automatic so the Support Specialist could join the discussion. The major then opened a comm channel to the rest of the team, which was Pot Shot in his hide above them and Joshua, who was still setting up a defensive perimeter of explosives around them.

"Alright," Harper said, "here's the deal. We're lost. No shit. Guess you knew that, huh? The fact is, we are so far off the grid that we are out of satellite range, and that means we are out of sensor range of ADC Fleet ships.

"Our first order of survival is, of course, the basics: food, shelter, and security. Until we are rescued, and we will be, one way or another, you all are under the protection of this Special Mission Force team. I know some of you have experience in situations that can help us all out, and because of this you will be asked to work with us constantly. However, when the security or safety of us all comes into play, the orders of my team members are not to be questioned. You will do whatever is requested by a member of this team. That is not negotiable.

"Now, at this point, we are all tired and nasty. We have enough food and water for a few days, but soon we will have to begin storing water from the water sources around us, as well as hunting and foraging for food.

"Does anyone have anything they want to say?"

Harper sat back and waited.

 

[Jedi_Khan]

Atal "Pot Shot" Azal

Atal listened in silence as he heard the major talk over the comm. All the time he kept scanning the sounding area for sources of heat by using his infrared vision, but nothing caught his eye.

"Does anyone have anything they want to say?"

Atal activated his comm. to reply. “I have something to say, sir,” Atal growled out. “Why don’t we give that little fucker that shot those fucking missiles at us a fucking medal for getting such a lucky fucking shot in?”

“Oh, and Grim?” asked Atal, his voice smooth, a stark contrast to what it had just been. “Be sure to comm. in before showing your face in the clearing outside the cave so I don’t blow your head off.”

 

[AmenRa]

Harper listened to his Trellosian sniper express harsh sentiments. He smiled inwardly, knowing it was good for the team members to get their feelings about this out.

"Copy that, Rifle One," Harper said, "hoo-ah." He knew one thing, whatever cooperate mercenary shot their transport did it with luck and nothing else.

"Next?" Harper asked.

 

[AmenRa]

The clouds had parted, leaving a low mist lying over the jungle.

From his high-hide position, Atal had a bird's eye view of the jungle and could see to the horizon. The mountains in the distant were partially hidden by a layer of mist. Several peaks could be seen, though, and at least two of them had thick, dark smoke streaming from their tops, indicating volcanic activity.

However, one of them had something else. It was lightning. Or maybe not. Bright blue flashes of apparent electrical discharge coming from the distant mountain peak. The more Atal watched them, the more he became intrigued. They weren't random. In fact, the Trellosian began to time them. And he found they pulsed every 2.9 seconds.

Odd.

 

[LittleSprite2]

If i may i have a suggestion... As a healer i can help out with anyone who is injured, and the scinentists could help gather herbs plants and foods we recognize to use for healing as well as, clothing, eating, and Sence i can fly if you think i will be of help in any other way i would be happy to do so. Rishka said steping forward, she didnt know what would happen to all of them but it was a safe bet that they would be here for a long while yet, and she was prepaired to make the most of it.

 

[rengadeirishman]

Cormac had lit a cigarette when Harper had started talking. "Any plans on how to go about gettin' rescued?" he asked, blowing a smoke ring.

 

[AmenRa]

Major Harper looked up at Rishka for a moment as if sizing her up. He then nodded his head towards Cormac.

"SarMajor will get you a radio comm unit," Harper told her, "and you can assist us with recon from the air. You are also invaluable as a medic, and although we all have some emergency field medical training, we surely don't have the experience you do."

Harper then turned to his second in command with a shrug. "I suppose, eventually Command will figure out we're overdue. Depending on what's happening with the war will determine how long it takes them to start looking. They'll pick apart space around Phylos, looking for the transport's ion signature, otherspace wake signature, shit like that.

Truth is, SarMajor, I don't expect it will happen anytime soon."

 

[LittleSprite2]

Rishka nodded and thanked him as she moved to speak with the man he had indicated as SarMajor, glad of at least beaing able to do something besides sitting around. Excuse me SarMajor.. He said i would be able to help and you could set me up with a com unit?.. she said motioning to Harper so he knew who she was talking about.

 

[Angelus]

As Grim walked around the jungle he was pleased with the welcoming mat that he had placed throughout the area. He knew that whoever or whatever came around here would cause a show of fireworks so grand that it would wake everyone up but he knew that they would be pleased about it. He knew that nothing would get anywhere near their base and as he looked back towards it he could not help but smile. He stood there for a second longer, moved his T-32 around on his shoulder then turned and walked away from the trees towards the camp.

As soon as he came back to the camp he noticed that everything had been taken to a cave and could not help but applaud the major for his choice of locations. He knew just by the look of it that it would be easily defended but it would leave just one area that he would have to look at. He walked straight up to Harper and snapped him a salute.

"Sorry that it took so long to put out the welcoming mat Major but I did not know what you wanted me to put down and how big an area you wanted protected. With your permission though I would love to take a look at the back of this cave; just to make sure that there aren't any surprises waiting for us back there."

 

[AmenRa]

Harper noticed several of the bat-like creatures had begun to mill about around the ground level of the cave. He looked up and saw several had returned with large pieces of red fruit in their mouths and were eating them.

They were about 1 ft tall, the bat-things. They were furry, like mammals, and had small heads with large ears. Their wings, though, weren't stretched taught like Terran bats, but seemed to be formed of smooth skin, and were broad for soaring. Harper looked up again and noticed several of them in the upper layers of the cave could hover by rapid wing beating.

He looked down again and saw one of them had gone to sleep on his foot. Oh well, at least they weren't hostile.

Harper returned Grim's salute. "Good idea," he said, "just make sure you clear radio comms with SarMajor every ten."

 

[Khadgar]

Seth "Grunt" Salem

Seth watched Grim wander in and then pressed down a button at the top of his scope, capturing the image of the cave's mouth in the sight of the beam rifle. Disconnecting the nuke pack on his back Seth stood up from his prone position, depositing the heavy plated chamber next to the rifle.

"Azal, keep clear of the cave unless you want us eating better." Walking over to the group he made it in time to hear Harper. "best option, keep to the ship. If someone comes there's gorge and a giant chunk of navy property that says were here. When it floods we find nearby shelter."

Glancing over at Grim, Seth felt himself become uncomfortable with the lengthy speach he gave. "Game?"

 

[rengadeirishman]

Cormac handed Rishka a com unit, "Channel t'ree" he said with a nod. "I think we're better off here, we could even lay down some trailblazers from the ship to here for rescuers. I can get down there and clear a good solid path, and come tomorrow ill want Azal out hunting with me."

 

[AmenRa]

Grim's Recon of the Cave

In the rear of the cave, the smooth sand and stone floor gave way to darker earth. The cave branched out into a few smaller rooms, but none had any remarkable features.

Except for one: and this one was blocked by a living wall of the bat creatures. When Grim tried to slip through the opening, they physically flew against him, some headbutting him, others flapping their wings against his face, and some even still landing on the ground in front of him and pushing against his legs with their bodies.

It was clear they did NOT want him to go into the smaller cavern.

Perhaps it was because this was a birthing chamber for their females, and where their young were born and fed until flight age. That was a logical conclusion, and the most rational explanation.

A handheld ComScan unit provided a scan of the interior of the cavern noted there was indeed more of the bat-creatures life signatures within the smaller cavern. They appeared to be resting, some moving around slowly. An enhancement revealed that many of the bat things in the cavern were indeed smaller and younger, and confirmed the theory that the smaller cavern was indeed a nursery.

But the scan also revealed something else inside the smaller cavern, not far from the entrance, apparently laying in the dirt.

Something made of an unknown metallic substance. It was only about 3 cm by 3 cm in dimension.

 

[LittleSprite2]

Rishka nodded her thanks accepting the com unit and attatching it as best she could to the type of clothing she wore and set the channel on it to 3 as he had said to, and basicly waited for them to tell her what they wanted her to do.

 

[AmenRa]

SatComm problems...

Harper adjusted himself on his perch on the stalagmite. He didn't move his foot, the one that the bat-thing was sleeping on, but he did manage to stretch out a bit. He was tired. He was cold.

The rest of his team were engaged in various sorts of recon, ordinance laying, or scout/sniper work, or supervising.

Harper pulled the multifunction, handheld SatComScan unit from its holster on his assault vest. He turned it on.

-SEARCHING FOR SATELLITE- was displayed on the screen. When they were in AFS space, it only displayed this for about half a second.

Harper touched another button to cause the unit to lock onto a specific satellite.

-SATELLITE NOT FOUND- was displayed.

Harper touched another button, causing the unit to go into "free roam coms mode".

About three seconds later, the screen displayed -QUANTUM SIGNAL DETECTED- and then went clear. About three seconds again, and the same message was displayed. Harper watched this repeat a few more times, then set the unit to lock the signal when it was displayed again. The unit locked the signal, and gave directions and distance. Harper noticed the coordinates were two-dimensional, meaning the source was not in space.

It was on the planet's surface.

"Rifle One," Harper said into his earpiece com, "Six. Report activity, over."

 

[Jedi_Khan]

"Rifle One, Six. Report activity, over."

Atal rolled his eyes at the rather inaccurate call-sign of Rifle One. While it was his, it certainly wasn’t correct. Hell, it was borderline insulting for Atal, given his skill. When are these damn, thick-headed officers going to figure out that I’m not a rifleman, thought Atal, annoyed. I’m a sniper, not a rifleman. So, Atal decided to ignore it (but still opened the line) until the commander got it right or used Atal’s name. The commander could tell that Atal was alive and well up there because he could probably hear Atal humming softly to himself to stave off boredom.

In the mean time, his infrared vision allowed him to see a whole lot of activity in the tree line, mostly animals scurrying about and what not. The creatures of the night could probably smell the foreign guests that had taken up residence in the cave, but none of them dared leave the safety of the trees. All the while, the strange blue flashes kept up their steady rhythm on the horizon, which Atal had first noticed almost an hour ago.

 

[AmenRa]

Harper heard Atal's comm line open.

"Pot Shot," Harper said, "do me a favor while you're sitting or laying or whatever up there and being bored shitless. Take out your handheld ComScan and run a sat search and tell me what you get."

Harper stared at the bat-thing sleeping on his boot.

Where the hell was Grim and why hasn't he reported yet?

 

[Jedi_Khan]

"Pot Shot, do me a favor while you're sitting or lying or whatever up there and being bored shitless. Take out your handheld ComScan and run a sat search and tell me what you get."

Atal smiled at the commander’s words. He was getting on Cmdr. Harper’s nerves, which Atal liked doing. Other than taking down a moving target with a head shot at 1500 meters, getting on officer’s nerves was Atal’s favorite pastime.

“One moment, sir,” replied Atal. He started to turn to retrieve the ComScan from his back behind him when something caught his eye. All the night creatures that Atal could see where doing something odd: they were parting like…like what that Moses fella had done with the Red Sea. He wondered why they were doing that, almost as if they were getting out of the way of something. All the creatures that could had climbed into the trees, while those that were restricted to the ground simply ran away. Then something else, something more subtle, drew his eye. “Hold on sir, something in the forest has caught my eye.”

It was very subtle, so subtle that had he not been looking for a cause to the odd behavior of the other animals, he wouldn’t have noticed it. “It” being movement on the forest floor, the subtlety of it not being how small it was but how well it blended in with the forest. Keep in mind that Atal was seeing things in infrared, a.k.a. in terms of variances in heat, so in order for Atal not to notice it immediately was for it to be almost as cold as the forest. And whatever “it” was, it was big, judging by the outline that Atal could just barely discern.

“It” walked on four feet and with purpose. It went right up to the edge of the forest and paused, seemingly to sniff the air. Atal brought his sights upon the creature, for that was the only thing it could be, which allowed him to see the creature as it really was, not in terms of hot or cold. And then it entered the clearing so that Atal could get a good look at it. And it was a shock.

“Holy shit,” breathed Atal, forgetting that his comm. was open. The creature was easily the size of the largest ever recorded Grizzly Bear, but instead of fur, it seemed to have armor plates, which would explain the cold appearance. The armored bear continued to advance, seemingly intent upon entering the cave.

“Critter in-bound. Danger level uncertain, possibly high. Confirm?” said Atal into the comm.

Atal kept his sights trained on the creatures head, ready put a bullet through its armored skull at a moment’s notice. As he watched, the bear came to within ten meters of the entrance and then stopped. It raised its head and sniffed the air. Apparently, it had just caught the foreign smell of the occupants inside. Now it seemed to be deciding what to do next. Judging from the reaction of the other creatures of the night, this creature was the top predator and it was now confronted with a bunch of new scents that were within its territory.

What is it going to do next? wondered Atal, as he continued to watch the creature through the sights on his sniper rifle.

 

[AmenRa]

Harper was on his feet quickly. The bat-creature that had been sleeping on his boot rolled across the ground and then rose into the air on its wings with a shrill shriek. It then flew up into the cave's ceiling.

The SMF team leader ran towards the cave entrance. He skidded to a stop behind the static position of Grunt's auto-targeting assault weapon. He grabbed a scientist who obviously just had to see what all the fuss was about by the back of his shirt/jacket. Harper jerked the man back so hard the poor guy landed flat on his butt.

"Visual confirmed," Harper said into the comm. "Atal," he said with quiet conviction, "I don't know what Grunt's plasma cannon will do to that armor in here if that thing breeches the cave wall. If it comes within five meters of the cave, you put the motherfucker down! Clear?"

 

[Jedi_Khan]

“Visual confirmed. Atal, I don't know what Grunt's plasma cannon will do to that armor in here if that thing breeches the cave wall. If it comes within five meters of the cave, you put the motherfucker down! Clear?"

“Roger that, sir,” replied Atal. He kept his sights trained on the bear’s head as it just stood there, its gaze locked on something inside the cave. Probably the commander, thought Atal. The bear then began to pace back and forth, parallel to the cave entrance, its gaze fixed on a point within. Yeah, gotta be the commander, thought Atal.

After about five trips back and forth, the bear turned and walked away from the cave entrance. When it was thirty meters away, Atal lowered his sights, believing that the creature had lost interest. No sooner had Atal placed the gun against his lap than the bear did an about face and charged towards the cave. Atal didn’t bring his gun back up until the bear had already covered ten meters because of the bear’s thermal camouflage. At fifteen meters from the cave entrance, Atal lined up his sights on the bear’s head. At five meters, Atal fired.

The snap of a twig sounded as the bullet left the barrel of Atal’s weapon. A second later, the bear collapsed, its momentum carrying it out of Atal’s line of sight into the cave entrance, torn up dirt and grass left behind in its path.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Atal said to no one in particular, again forgetting the comm. was still open. He had tracked the bear until it was out of sight, and because of the sights on his weapon, he had a close up view of the bullet impacting the top of the creature’s skull. It hadn’t penetrated. “Sir, that thing might still be alive. The bullet didn’t penetrate.”