[STORY]The First Turn On A Long, Hard Road
Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 5:48 pm
Brigadier General Conner grabbed the handle to his office. Moments later, the heat of the print-scanners embedded in the handle abated, and the door unlocked. He gently pushed the handle down, and then craftily opened the wooden door, shutting it gently behind him.
His office was spartan: two seats opposite his desk, which were simple steel shelves and tabletop, mounted on an even simpler steel frame. His chair was black and leathery, but was most certainly not leather. Still, it was marginally more comfortable than the rest of the chairs in the base. Like all the office and terminal chairs, his had gel-based keys on the armrest, providing both minimal comfort and maximum functionality.
Since Conner's' office lie in the interior, the wall behind his desk was modified to project the images captured by the defensive cameras outside. In a literal sense, he could have a window office on every side of the base, though he usually chose the west side during sun-up, when he wanted to see the sunrise, and the east side for sun-down.
Sunrise was still three hours away, though - during Solcrum's winter, the twenty-hour days were mostly nights, with the sun only popping up for five or seven hours. As such, when the wall realized that he was there, it popped to life showing nothing but near-solid black. He gently sighed, and relieved his weight from his feet, chair creaking lightly as such. Immediately, the holo-projector lit up, turning a inert disk of nanites, innocent-looking inside its alcove, into a 2 meter wide by 1 meter tall "holo" screen. The nanites facing the door blackened - security being what it is.
Leaning back lightly, he began keying the arms of his chair, accessing data and duty logs for that morning. Most important to Conner, though, was the logs of ships inbound and outbound from the base. Few ships left full; most came with new soldiers and supplies. Being so close to known pirate locals, and the ever-infamous Al-Husam al Din Empire, the base was a favorite landing point for new personnel assigned to work the "Thick".
He scanned the manifests of the three helicopters that were scheduled to arrive: two were the massive TC-400 Atlas choppers, bringing in supplies and machines to the base. Those choppers had two twin-rotor engines, each capable of lifting and moving the TC-400 by itself. It was no surprise that TC's had become the mainstay of most transport chopper fleets, even those outside the AIG's CSM Forces.
However, the third chopper was a smaller one, meant to provide intermediate, short-range support for troops, as well as reliable troop transport: a Trident T-230. The T-230's had been used by CSM Ground Aviation and Militiamen for several decades now, succeeding the T-200 Thunderhead. General Conner checked its arrival time: 10 minutes before the TC-400's showed up; enough time, as it were, to unload and leave before the TC's took up all the airspace.
Conner queued up the personnel transfer list. Only four people were coming in: two were natives to Solcrum, coming here to train before joining the CSN Marine forces in orbit. One was a technician, and the other---
Conner scanned the file again. Command was always fast about sending new people into Gina's squad, but this WAS fast. Too bad for the chum; he was in for a hard landing. What Conner didn't know was just how hard.
*************
The T-230 lanced over the ground, just a few kilometers above it. Her rugged beauty belied her technical prowess: she contained some advanced tac systems, from poly-nanite armour coating to a .50-caliber turreted machine gun at the fore, which used fin-stabilized rounds. On top of that, the main cargo door had a minigun emplacement to it's left, providing serious support fire for soldiers loading or unloading.
She was just about 10 kilometers from the base, PFC John Karmach figured. He'd just been assigned to the base - more specifically, to a "Wolf Fang" squad, led by a Master Sergeant Cornellis. Since Karmach wasn't near the base yet, nor authorized to do so, he couldn't use his internally(brain-wise)-integrated Soldier's Aid Program to search up his/her profile.
Minutes passed lightly - Karmach was tired. The journey through hyperspace had been boring, and the maneuvers the Essex made in order to entire orbit had been draining - not to mention the whole atmospheric entry part of his journey. He was ready to land, get some rest, and get everything together tomorrow.
He felt the chopper lift up slightly as it cleared the edge of the massive caldera that the base was sitting in. Supposedly, a massive chunk of Solcrum's failed attempt at a moon crashed here, creating a shock wave equatable to the asteroid that hit Earth during the dinosaur period. In fact, it had hit so hard and straightforward, that on the other side of Solcrum lied a straight-up, 30-meter high "mountain", which had erupted from the seismic disturbance caused by the impact.
Looking out the side-guns window, he saw that pretty much in the center, the outside of the base was drab and small-looking, belying it's true size underground. The only large thing about it was a 3-kilometer long, 2-kilometer wide airstrip, with matching large hangers behind it. On the other side of those hangers were spaces big enough to land three TC-400's. As he figured, the chopper he was in was heading right on towards those spaces.
They didn't have long, though - he had heard the pilot talk about having to bug out before two TC-400's were supposed to come in behind them. Karmack hoped they weren't already on their tail.
A few more minutes passed as the pilots negotiated landing procedures and eventually touched down on the helipad. One of the other occupants of the cabin, a man who said he was a Private specializing in Technical Repairs, reached over and, with permission from the pilot hovering outside the door, yanked the door wide open. The pilot motioned for the occupants to quickly get out, and they all did so - ducking to avoid the chopper blades that were still moving pretty quickly.
As soon as they were all out, the pilot quickly yanked the door shut and hopped back in, and the chopper began lifting off before anyone could comment. In the distance, two massive lumps - the TC-400's - were only inbound by a few minutes more.
All of them turned towards the main surface building, and found General Conner and two Master Sergeants standing a few meters ahead of them. Karmach scanned the name-plates of the two Master Sergeants, and quickly found out that Master Sergeant Cornellis was indeed a woman - although she looked like she could cut a door down with her tongue. Karmach didn't want to get on her bad side. He quickly saluted, the rest following suit.
General Conner saluted, and then stepped up to address them formally. He quickly told the Private where he needed to report to, and then handed the two native Solcrum's over to the other Master Sergeant. He then stepped over to Karmach, motioning Master Sergeant Cornellis to join them.
"Welcome to Base Mango-Mango-Bravo 112, PFC." Conner placed his hand on Karmach's right shoulder, pulling him towards the base. After they walked inside and stepped into a large personnel elevator, Conner continued. "Now, I know you're fresh from Danderlon, and I'm sure you would like to rest, but unfortunately..."
"...we have a bit of a situation, Private." finished Cornellis as they exited the elevator, finding themselves at the primary entrance level. "An hour ago we received an emergency distress transmission - Code Zero", to which Karmach blinked. Code Zero was serious business!
After silently making their way through security, Karmach was lead into the briefing room. There, several Master Sergeants and higher-ranks were there - pretty much all the squad leaders and platoon commands. This WAS serious.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," said Conner, taking a seat at the far end of the table. All those present, including Karmach, took their own seats. Karmach was surprised to even get one.
"This is the transmission received as of 0813 MST," Conner stated simply. He touched a button on his armrest, and the holoscreen behind him came to life, showing an image of a harried young woman in clear distress.
"This is Matriarch Marlena Avon, of the United Royal Nation of Avon, sending a distress call to the Marshall Delegate of Solcrum. Within the past twelve hours, militant Chinese forces, supplied by the Shujinko Dynasty, have landed on our soil and captured three large industrial cities, as well as several small agricultural areas nearby. They have superior number and firepower compared to our troops. Casualty figures are coming in, and our defensive lines are being strained."
"What I am asking is for a Code Zero emergency assembly of all available CSM and CSN forces to aid us in defending Avon from this invasion. We cannot sop them ourselves, and all attempts against the taken cities would be futile. We need help---" an explosion happened off-screen, shaking the entire building. "Damnit," she said after a moment of silence. "Looks like they landed another bomb---" Another explosion occurred, and the screen went dead.
Silence engulfed the entire briefing room. It was stunning, to say the least. What kind of balls did the Shujinko people think they have!?
"Ladies, gentlemen..." said Conner, capturing everyone's attention. "We have been authorized to, and are going to, answer the call. You've got two hours to get everything together. Admiral Stanton has been generous enough to answer the call as well, and we'll have both CSN Dropships and combat vessels backing us up on this one. Good luck, and good hunting. All squad commanders will receive their squad orders in the next few minutes via SAP. The same goes for all platoon and mechanized platoon leaders. Dismissed!"
His office was spartan: two seats opposite his desk, which were simple steel shelves and tabletop, mounted on an even simpler steel frame. His chair was black and leathery, but was most certainly not leather. Still, it was marginally more comfortable than the rest of the chairs in the base. Like all the office and terminal chairs, his had gel-based keys on the armrest, providing both minimal comfort and maximum functionality.
Since Conner's' office lie in the interior, the wall behind his desk was modified to project the images captured by the defensive cameras outside. In a literal sense, he could have a window office on every side of the base, though he usually chose the west side during sun-up, when he wanted to see the sunrise, and the east side for sun-down.
Sunrise was still three hours away, though - during Solcrum's winter, the twenty-hour days were mostly nights, with the sun only popping up for five or seven hours. As such, when the wall realized that he was there, it popped to life showing nothing but near-solid black. He gently sighed, and relieved his weight from his feet, chair creaking lightly as such. Immediately, the holo-projector lit up, turning a inert disk of nanites, innocent-looking inside its alcove, into a 2 meter wide by 1 meter tall "holo" screen. The nanites facing the door blackened - security being what it is.
Leaning back lightly, he began keying the arms of his chair, accessing data and duty logs for that morning. Most important to Conner, though, was the logs of ships inbound and outbound from the base. Few ships left full; most came with new soldiers and supplies. Being so close to known pirate locals, and the ever-infamous Al-Husam al Din Empire, the base was a favorite landing point for new personnel assigned to work the "Thick".
He scanned the manifests of the three helicopters that were scheduled to arrive: two were the massive TC-400 Atlas choppers, bringing in supplies and machines to the base. Those choppers had two twin-rotor engines, each capable of lifting and moving the TC-400 by itself. It was no surprise that TC's had become the mainstay of most transport chopper fleets, even those outside the AIG's CSM Forces.
However, the third chopper was a smaller one, meant to provide intermediate, short-range support for troops, as well as reliable troop transport: a Trident T-230. The T-230's had been used by CSM Ground Aviation and Militiamen for several decades now, succeeding the T-200 Thunderhead. General Conner checked its arrival time: 10 minutes before the TC-400's showed up; enough time, as it were, to unload and leave before the TC's took up all the airspace.
Conner queued up the personnel transfer list. Only four people were coming in: two were natives to Solcrum, coming here to train before joining the CSN Marine forces in orbit. One was a technician, and the other---
Conner scanned the file again. Command was always fast about sending new people into Gina's squad, but this WAS fast. Too bad for the chum; he was in for a hard landing. What Conner didn't know was just how hard.
*************
The T-230 lanced over the ground, just a few kilometers above it. Her rugged beauty belied her technical prowess: she contained some advanced tac systems, from poly-nanite armour coating to a .50-caliber turreted machine gun at the fore, which used fin-stabilized rounds. On top of that, the main cargo door had a minigun emplacement to it's left, providing serious support fire for soldiers loading or unloading.
She was just about 10 kilometers from the base, PFC John Karmach figured. He'd just been assigned to the base - more specifically, to a "Wolf Fang" squad, led by a Master Sergeant Cornellis. Since Karmach wasn't near the base yet, nor authorized to do so, he couldn't use his internally(brain-wise)-integrated Soldier's Aid Program to search up his/her profile.
Minutes passed lightly - Karmach was tired. The journey through hyperspace had been boring, and the maneuvers the Essex made in order to entire orbit had been draining - not to mention the whole atmospheric entry part of his journey. He was ready to land, get some rest, and get everything together tomorrow.
He felt the chopper lift up slightly as it cleared the edge of the massive caldera that the base was sitting in. Supposedly, a massive chunk of Solcrum's failed attempt at a moon crashed here, creating a shock wave equatable to the asteroid that hit Earth during the dinosaur period. In fact, it had hit so hard and straightforward, that on the other side of Solcrum lied a straight-up, 30-meter high "mountain", which had erupted from the seismic disturbance caused by the impact.
Looking out the side-guns window, he saw that pretty much in the center, the outside of the base was drab and small-looking, belying it's true size underground. The only large thing about it was a 3-kilometer long, 2-kilometer wide airstrip, with matching large hangers behind it. On the other side of those hangers were spaces big enough to land three TC-400's. As he figured, the chopper he was in was heading right on towards those spaces.
They didn't have long, though - he had heard the pilot talk about having to bug out before two TC-400's were supposed to come in behind them. Karmack hoped they weren't already on their tail.
A few more minutes passed as the pilots negotiated landing procedures and eventually touched down on the helipad. One of the other occupants of the cabin, a man who said he was a Private specializing in Technical Repairs, reached over and, with permission from the pilot hovering outside the door, yanked the door wide open. The pilot motioned for the occupants to quickly get out, and they all did so - ducking to avoid the chopper blades that were still moving pretty quickly.
As soon as they were all out, the pilot quickly yanked the door shut and hopped back in, and the chopper began lifting off before anyone could comment. In the distance, two massive lumps - the TC-400's - were only inbound by a few minutes more.
All of them turned towards the main surface building, and found General Conner and two Master Sergeants standing a few meters ahead of them. Karmach scanned the name-plates of the two Master Sergeants, and quickly found out that Master Sergeant Cornellis was indeed a woman - although she looked like she could cut a door down with her tongue. Karmach didn't want to get on her bad side. He quickly saluted, the rest following suit.
General Conner saluted, and then stepped up to address them formally. He quickly told the Private where he needed to report to, and then handed the two native Solcrum's over to the other Master Sergeant. He then stepped over to Karmach, motioning Master Sergeant Cornellis to join them.
"Welcome to Base Mango-Mango-Bravo 112, PFC." Conner placed his hand on Karmach's right shoulder, pulling him towards the base. After they walked inside and stepped into a large personnel elevator, Conner continued. "Now, I know you're fresh from Danderlon, and I'm sure you would like to rest, but unfortunately..."
"...we have a bit of a situation, Private." finished Cornellis as they exited the elevator, finding themselves at the primary entrance level. "An hour ago we received an emergency distress transmission - Code Zero", to which Karmach blinked. Code Zero was serious business!
After silently making their way through security, Karmach was lead into the briefing room. There, several Master Sergeants and higher-ranks were there - pretty much all the squad leaders and platoon commands. This WAS serious.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," said Conner, taking a seat at the far end of the table. All those present, including Karmach, took their own seats. Karmach was surprised to even get one.
"This is the transmission received as of 0813 MST," Conner stated simply. He touched a button on his armrest, and the holoscreen behind him came to life, showing an image of a harried young woman in clear distress.
"This is Matriarch Marlena Avon, of the United Royal Nation of Avon, sending a distress call to the Marshall Delegate of Solcrum. Within the past twelve hours, militant Chinese forces, supplied by the Shujinko Dynasty, have landed on our soil and captured three large industrial cities, as well as several small agricultural areas nearby. They have superior number and firepower compared to our troops. Casualty figures are coming in, and our defensive lines are being strained."
"What I am asking is for a Code Zero emergency assembly of all available CSM and CSN forces to aid us in defending Avon from this invasion. We cannot sop them ourselves, and all attempts against the taken cities would be futile. We need help---" an explosion happened off-screen, shaking the entire building. "Damnit," she said after a moment of silence. "Looks like they landed another bomb---" Another explosion occurred, and the screen went dead.
Silence engulfed the entire briefing room. It was stunning, to say the least. What kind of balls did the Shujinko people think they have!?
"Ladies, gentlemen..." said Conner, capturing everyone's attention. "We have been authorized to, and are going to, answer the call. You've got two hours to get everything together. Admiral Stanton has been generous enough to answer the call as well, and we'll have both CSN Dropships and combat vessels backing us up on this one. Good luck, and good hunting. All squad commanders will receive their squad orders in the next few minutes via SAP. The same goes for all platoon and mechanized platoon leaders. Dismissed!"