June 10, 2010
Somewhere in Antarctica
Third Squad, 4th Reconnaissance Commando
Another hour later
After two hours in the craft Jan couldn't help but feel that he was in a nuclear submarine. The corridors were cramped and narrow, with exposed cabling and piping, everywhere he looked there were attempts to save weight and space. After covering two decks, they had only found wreckage, nothing to indicate that the vessel had been crewed at all. Richards suddenly called a halt to their sweep. Walking over to the Trooper, Richards signaled that he had seen a body, and it wasn't moving.
Taking the mouth mirror from him Jan slowly changed the angle of the mirror and saw a pair of legs at the end of the corridor, Richards was right the legs weren't moving. But how to proceed? That had been bothering Jan, he had evidence that the crew of the vessel did write in English, but that didn't mean they spoke it. "Mostert with me, the rest of you make sure you cover us." Two of his men sprinted to the other side of the entrance to the corridor. With possible covering fire from two angles now, Jan set off with is medic tucked right behind him. Both men were trying to walk as stealthily as possible, whilst at the same time looking over every inch of the corridor looking for signs of tripwires and other nasty traps. As the two soldiers rounded the corner, both started to breathe again. Jan turned back to the corridor and signaled for his men to join him, he could see the curious expression on their faces as they approached. Realisation dawned on them as they saw the legs without an adjoining torso. The Medic knelt besides the the legs and donned a pair of surgical gloves over his NBC suit, after a few seconds of probing he turned back to the Staff Sergeant. "Definitely human, Sarge. But it looks like she was cut in half by weapon's fire. You don't see wounds like this on a crash victim..." Mostert trailed off as he realised what he had just said.
Each of the wearied men in his squad raised their weapons again, adrenaline keeping them focused and attentive despite the lack of sleep. Fresh concerns weighed down on Jan, if the crew of this craft had been fighting each other, and possible still were, who would or rather should he side with. "Shit. This is starting to be way above my pay-grade" Jan looked down at the corpse again, and decided in that instant to move on, who ever would do that to a woman deserved no help from Jan and his Recces.
As the Recce team started prowling forward again, Jan started to think towards the possible threat that lay in wait ahead of them. What kind of squad-level weapon could possibly cause the type of wounds that they had seen? A sudden burst of what sounded like automatic fire had the entire team dive for cover, weapons leveled at the closing sound of fire. A young-looking man dove round the nearest corner, before leaning out to shoot down the very same corridor. He turned to continue running only to suddenly stop as he realised six silenced weapons were now pointed at him. The young man had a large gash running down his cheek, and what looked like more than one bullet wound to the chest. He fired another salvo down the corridor before speaking "Denique hos adjuvandum me interficere Fragilis."
Jan had no idea what language the young man had just spoken, and by the silence from his team, Jan knew that none of them understood either. A frown grew across the young man's face, which soon turned to anger as he spoke again "Me desertam Blake" and raised his weapon. Five bullets slammed him straight into the wall, the corpse slid down to the floor, his weapon falling from his fingers. "Secure the body, I am going to see if his adversaries are more affable" Jan ordered. Beast kicked the unfamiliar gun away, and stepped back to let Steyn check the body.
Jan got as close as possible to the edge of the corridor before shouting "The friend of yours is dead, I hope to hell that you show a tad more restraint..." but only silence answered him. Looking back to his team for guidance, they only gave him a shrug each in reply. Jan sighed as he shouted again "We come in Peace" and waited again for an answer. Seconds passed, and yet only quiet echoed. Jan was about to turn back to turn back to his squad when a weak voice finally answered "Prove it you bastard."
Deciding to take a chance Jan walked into the corridor with his H&K raised above his head, farther down at another corridor junction an older woman stepped out, her weapon still leveled at Jan. As the woman walked towards Jan, he could see a sickish tone to the woman's skin; sweat plastered her hair to her head. "Good idea with the NBC gear, the Blakist bastards pumped some kind of chemical into life support systems soon as we killed the majority of them..." the woman stopped walking as she started coughing, it wracked her entire body. She spat out a mouthful of blood before continuing to walk. "I don't recognize the ranks tabs or unit insignia there soldier, where you from? And you better hope I like your answer, Son" the woman's voice held a certain authority. She expected Jan to obey her . Probably an officer Jan thought.
"Staff Sergeant Jan Du Pre, Third Squad, Fourth Reconnaissance Commando, we are here to render aid, not that you look like you want any aid" Jan tried to keep the defiant tone from his voice but failed miserably. "Fourth Reconnaissance Commando? Never heard of you, you better not be trying to fool me boy, I didn't go all the way to Huntress and back to be shot by a young pup trying to rob my unit. Where are you from? What state?"
Jan wasn't sure if she was confused or deluded from fever, "I am from a country, South Africa, I serve in the South African National Defence Force" Jan's answer seemed to puzzle the woman. "You mean we are on Terra? We weren't near Terra..." the woman coughed again, and spat out more blood.
"Not Terra, this is earth..." Jan trailed off as the woman lowered her weapon, and then dropped to the floor. Running to the her, Jan felt for a pulse, and could barely feel one. "Steyn, get over here, we have a woman down" Jan shouted down the corridor. The young Medic jumped up from the floor where he was examining the corpse, and ran over. Kneeling next to the woman, Steyn started taking vitals, "Sarge, we have to get her some serious medical help, and soon. Her pulse is weak and thready, and she is running a hell of a temperature."
Jan truly hoped he was going to get a promotion for all of this after everything was done. Frowning to himself, Jan pushed away that thought guiltily. "Steyn, you and van Jaarsveld get her down to the bay, radio the Yanks to get an Medical Evac ASAP. Authorisation Foxtrot Pappa Delta. Got that?" The Medic nodded as he started running an IV into the dying woman. Walking back to his squad Jan sent van Jaarsveld to help Steyn, before turning back to the corpse of the young man. It was going to be impossible to sweep the rest of the craft on their own now, Jan decided that they would finish off sweeping this deck, then move down to the bay through which they had entered. A sense of unease settled over Jan as he ordered his squad back into formation, this day would only get longer at this rate. His team started moving off, but a sudden flicker of movement caught his attention, turning back to the corpse Jan stared at it. Richards noticed Jan's reaction and looked down at the corpse next to him.
Shaking his head Jan turned to follow his team, and in that moment, it stood up. Richards barely had time to shout a warning as a blade shot through his chest and out his back. The young trooper fell to the floor as the blade retracted, Jan stood horrified as the corpse started walking towards him, an unearthly glow coming from the corpse's eyes. Words came out of it's mouth "Plennus Fragilis" as the blade extended from it's arm again. A roar came from behind Jan as Beast stepped forward and fired a double burst from his AA-12 into the corpse, ripping flesh apart, and revealing a solid metal ribcage. A sickly smile grew on the corpse's face as it continued forward. In reply Beast opened fire again.
And again.
And again.
The massive automatic shotgun bucked and spat round after round into the walking corpse. First knocking it down to it's knees. Then ripping off a part of it's face. A metal skull now smiled at them. The smile only lasted three more rounds before the skull exploded.
Beast ejected the empty drum magazine, slammed in another, and walked over to the now headless body, and fired another dozen rounds point-blank into the body.
Jan walked over to Richards, and stared into this empty eyes.
