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Destiny Chapter 2
Posted By: Crazy_Canuck<chief_16@cogeco.ca>
Date: 18 June 2004, 4:45 PM
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1000 Hours, February 2nd 2550 (Military Calendar)/Destiny M.F.B Aqua
Sean was the first of his squad to wake up, he rolled over and looked at the clock beside his bed; 10 AM. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
Looking down the barracks, he saw five more beds in the room, each contained a member of his squad. That meant that the surgeons had patched up Ding and sent him back to the barracks, which was a good sign.
The Sharks were lucky, extremely lucky to be precise; they had their own barracks, showers, hangar and wreck room. Most other squads had to share those things on the relatively small base.
Sean got up and got dressed in some coveralls, grabbed a portable computer pad, and headed over to the mess hall, which was at the centre of the base.
As he walked he noted the many guns lining the bases four-meter thick titanium A walls. There were 28 of the computer controlled, fully automatic "Sabre Tooths".
They fired 1000 80mm rounds per minute and had an effective range of 900 meters, making it almost impossible to get anywhere near the bases if you weren't allowed.
There were also ten heat seeking Argent VIII missile batteries just inside the base; these could shoot down a pigeon flying at three thousand feet.
Even after seeing all this go to work in numerous drills, the sergeant didn't really completely safe. The Covenant were a deadly enemy, not one to be taken lightly.
He continued on his way to the mess hall, saying hello to other Marines and saluting to superiors.
All the minor bases on Destiny were designed the same way. Four-meter thick Titanium A walls surrounding four square kilometres of hangars, barracks and armouries, as well as other buildings. There were three roads leading out of the Aqua Base, leading to other bases. The east road lead to a major base called "Frontier", and was a wide highway with six lanes. While the roads leading west and southwest were still paved they were only two lanes. These roads led to two other minor bases, basically the same as Aqua Base.
The base also had six landing pads that could accommodate Pelicans, Condors and other vertical landing aircraft. There was also an ancient runway three miles north of the base, but that was almost never used. Most supplies were flown in on the large "Condors", which could carry three times more weight and troops than a Pelican, however they guzzled a lot of fuel.
Sean finally reached the mess hall and went inside. He grabbed a large helping of bacon, eggs and sausages and a tall steaming cup of coffee.
The sergeant took a seat in the far corner of the nearly empty mess hall, passing a couple of Privates playing cards.
He sat down and pulled out the computer pad he had brought with him. He looked over the report he had written up on the ride back to the base last night. He took a couple minutes to add in a few things and finished up by signing it.
After saving the report, he opened up the news file that he had downloaded just before he had left for the mess.
The headline read "Covenant patrols spotted 500 miles past frontlines".
He didn't need to read anymore to know what that meant; the Covenant were looking to expand their property line and were scouting out the area first. This had happened before; the Covenant would scout out an area for a year, build up a huge force and storm in taking out anything in their way. It was all preventable, with the proper intelligence, of course.
For now at least, they would probably have about a year, before they saw any major troop movements.
The door to the mess hall opened and Sean looked up; the rest of the sharks were walking in noisily. Ding came in last and Sean noticed his arm was still in a sling.
They got their breakfast and sat down with their Sergeant.
"How's the arm feeling, Ding", asked Sean.
"Pretty good," he replied, "The surgeon said that it should be fully healed by tomorrow."
"Perfect", Sean said we go back on patrol on the 5th, so you'll have lots of time to rest it."
"I can't believe that your arm heals so fast", Archer said.
"Well the surgeon said that it will heal that quickly because he used some sort of laser to speed up the cell regeneration", Ding answered. "I barely even felt it, and they also put a metal plate in to hold the bone together while it's healing, though he said that they'll never take it out."
After the team had all finished their breakfasts, they headed back to their barracks/hangar complex to clean up their gear and do a maintenance check on their Pelican and two Warthogs.
Ding checked under the hoods of the Warthogs, filled the tires and gas tanks. Once he was finished Louse washed the Hogs and Pelican. While Doc and Parsons checked the Pelican to make sure she was still ready to fly at a moments notice. Sean completed some paper work that allowed the team to have the Pelican and Hogs. When that was all done they checked their weapons, and other essential equipment for out in the field.
It was three O'clock by the time the Sharks finished their checks, and decided to have a card game before heading to dinner.
"So Sarge," Archer inquired with a sly grin, "When are those new weapon shipments coming in."
"What!" exclaimed Louse, "New weapons? How come we weren't told about this?" "Sir", he added. The rest of the squad laughed.
"Well I was going to keep it a surprise, Archer ," Sean said, "But I guess now that you know that they're coming, I can say that they'll be arriving on two Condors flying up from Alpha base, tomorrow."
At this the other four who didn't know about the shipment, exploded into a loud whooping, hollering, high-fiving riot.
"Oh man!" exclaimed Ding, "This is awesome!"
"What's coming in?" inquired Doc.
"Battle Rifles and SMGs," answered Sean, unable to keep back a smile. "But don't get too excited they still have to get here."
The Commanding Officers had all received the specs. on the new guns but hadn't been expecting to get them for another couple of years. The Marines on Destiny usually got weapons long before many top ranking officials even knew that they were developed. They were used as a last testing measure to ensure the guns worked effectively.
After they all calmed down and finished the game, they headed over to the mess hall, to have dinner. At the hall they found the General in charge of the base standing at a podium that wasn't there this morning.
"Please, Ladies and Gentlemen take your seats so I can begin."
The Sharks found their way over to some empty seats and listened as the General started talking.
"Now as I'm sure you all know, tomorrow there will be two Condors flying in with a new weapons shipment."
There was a roar of applause and cheering through the hall, and it took a couple minutes to die down.
"Now, I'm sure you're all anxious to get your packages, however I must make a request."
The hall fell silent as soon as the General said this. The Marines in the room were nervous that they might not after all, get their new weapons just yet.
"I must ask that you don't go and crowd around the landing pads, when the Condors arrive. If the whole base goes out to get their shipments all at once it will take days to get the weapons off the Condors."
The whole room let out a sigh of relief, if that was all the General wanted then they could live with that.
"I will have the supplies delivered right to your barracks instead."
The mess exploded into cheers and applause, at this last statement.
"I'll be sending memos out to everyone reminding you of this, and those that aren't here right now," the General continued, over the noise, "But remember, if you go out to the landing pads without orders to do so you'll be but on the outer patrol route for a year!"
After that the talk started up again and the General left the mess hall.
"Perfect," Louse said, "We won't even have to leave the barracks to get our new guns!"
The Sharks quickly finished their dinner and left the hot, sticky mess hall and headed out for a nice walk back to their barracks in the cool night air.
When the squad of Marines got back to their barracks they grabbed a beer and climbed up to the roof to watch the planets twin moons float by overhead.
Louse had brought a small but powerful telescope up with him and was gazing up at the stars, when he disturbed the silence with a yell.
"Sir, I can see a Covenant Cruiser up there!" "And it looks like their dropping something!"
"They're probably just sending down supplies or more troops, Louse," Sean said calmly, "It's normal procedure, they do that every week."
"Are you sure?" Louse asked nervously. "Maybe we should tell someone."
"Marine, they know it's up there, they have all sorts of people watching for things you can't even imagine," Sean said in a slightly irritated voice, "If we can see it, then they most certainly can."
"Just relax and enjoy the moment," Doc said, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head, "You'll live longer that way."
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