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ReSORT: Sigma Octanus - Chapter One
Date: 31 October 2005, 10:40 am
July 13th, 2552 - 0900 Hours
Fort Bradley, 20 miles from Cote D'Azur
Twelve marines around the landing pad looked in awe as a group of soldiers stepped off of the Pelican dropship.
"So those are the Spartans." Said one.
"I thought they were taller." Said another.
A few more whispered their thoughts, but upon closer inspection they saw the armpatch which indicated that they were in fact, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.
The soldiers walked by the marines without so much as glancing at them. The proceeded to the command centre twenty-two metres away and walked inside. The rest of the base seemed to swarm around the building to see what was happening. Sigma Octanus had seen no action, and this base in particular had witnessed very few events worth noticing.
Inside the HQ, the soldiers took off their helmets and stood at attention as the commander of the base greeted them.
"I am Captain Allen Northrop, commander of Fort Bradley. ONI has instructed me to provide you with any support you might need, but I'll warn you right now, if you risk getting any of my men killed without first going through me, I'll kick your asses back into that dropship and send you home crying." The officer said.
"Captain, we are all aware of your record, and as a former ODST we respect you very much, but you should not expect to see us much. We'll keep out of your way and leave your men alone." The ODST commander, Lieutenant Juan de Silva, replied.
"Good. I've arranged for one of our barracks to be left exclusively to your men Lieutenant. We have a training centre that should be adequate for your needs. Meals are at 0600, noon, and 1800. If you have any questions you can ask my staff officer, Sergeant Blake. That is all, you are dismissed."
All of the ODST's left except for the Lieutenant.
The Captain waited for all of the men to leave, and then addressed the ODST officer. "So what the hell is this new suit you got?"
"It's our new armoured suits, not quite as good as Mjolnir, but still pretty damned good." The Lieutenant replied.
"Well it certainly has quite a few improvements over earlier versions."
"Definitely, better heat resistance means no more burning up in the drop pods, but right now we're only doing field tests on it. If it works all right, it will be issued to all Helljumpers by November."
"Well they picked the right place to test it out, Cote D'Azur is a beautiful city. In fact Sigma Octanus is pretty nice all around, especially this time of year."
"Been hear a while then eh?"
"Since just after leaving the Helljumpers."
"So why did you leave? I hear you were as solid as steel, so I can't imagine your nerves got rattled eh?"
"Haha" The captain chuckled. "No definitely not. I'll be honest, I hate cramped spaces, it was only a matter of time before clausterphobia set in. My last jump I nearly passed out it was so bad. I told the corps, 'I can't take another jump' and sent in my resignation. My CO said since I'd performed so well in the past, he'd put in a good word for me. I got a promotion and sent to this paradise."
"Sounds like a good deal, maybe I should try that."
"Hell no, I would give this up in a day to return to the Helljumpers."
"Once a Helljumper, always a Helljumper."
"You got that right Lieutenant. Well I've got paperwork to do, unless you want to help me, I'll see you during lunch hour."
"I'm not the paperwork kinda guy, I'll see you at lunch and make you drool when I tell you about this armour."
"Yeah I'm already starting to, I'll see you later Lieutenant."
"Roger that sir."
The Lieutenant saluted, and Captain Northrop returned the salut, then left the building.
1305 Hours
5 kilometres east of Fort Bradley
4 warthogs stopped in unison. Immediately their crews began dismounting, and grabbing packs of gear from the back compartment. As they strapped on their equipment their sergeant addressed them.
"We are conducting war excercises today, we will be ambushing an unknown group of soldiers approximately four klicks away. Enemy strength and troop type is unknown, but be ready for anything." The sergeant adjusted his beret, grabbed his rifle, and then waved his hand signaling to the men to follow him.
The twenty Force Recon marines were expecting to kick some ass today, they didn't know whose ass it would be, but they had guessed it might be the ODST's they had seen at the base earlier. Most of the men had not seen combat yet, but drills like this kept them on their toes and eager for battle. A few of the men were more cautious, having seen both Covenant and ODST's in action.
Even among Force Recon, the ODST's were feared. Not simply because of their reputation as a killer force, but because of the insanity that went through their ranks, all the way up to the high ranking officers. Force Recon was respected by all marines, the ODST's were feared by all marines.
"Corporal, take fire team delta four hundred metres to the east of us. When we find a good position I'll signal for you to stop. I'm not sure where the ODST's will be coming from, but I imagine they're returning from excercises further north."
"Affirmative sergeant." The corporal replied, and then signaled for Delta team to follow him.
"Oh and corporal, if they are headed our way, let them by."
"Roger that sergeant." The corporal nodded and went on his way.
1313 Hours
3 kilometres north of fire team delta.
"You think command will send an ambush out for us sir?" Sergeant Banks asked Lieutenant de Silva.
"Who knows, they seem to like little drills like that. I didn't see anyone up for the job when we were back at the base" de Silva replied.
"Somewhat odd for a marine garrison near such a major city to not have a Force Recon platoon, don't you think?" The Sergeant added.
The Lieutenant paused. "Yeah it does."
The two continued on without saying anything. About two hundred metres later, the Lieutenant ordered the squad to stop.
"Sergeant, take two men and go three hundred metres to our east. Corporal Perez, take another two men and go three hundred metres west. If there is an ambush out there I don't want to get caught in a pincer."
Both men acknowledged, and within 15 seconds half of the squad was walking in either direction.
"The rest of us will act as bait, if there is an ambush out their they probably won't target the smaller groups, but if there are six of us all here together, they'll let us have it." De Silva informed his men.
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