Swift,Silent....Deadly

Posted on 11 Nov 2010 @ 4:54pm by Captain Derek Longwinter

4,051 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: M6: Blood of the Innocent
Location: Kyari Palace
Timeline: Current

“Force Reconnaissance: Tip of the Spearâ€


[ 2200, Current Time,Air above Kyari Palace]


The air was thick and heavy, yet it offered no resistance at all, it was a like swimming in thick swamp water. For what feels like an eternity but is only 10 minutes, there is only peace: peace and a whole lot of silence as your body falls hundreds of feet per second. Dropped out of the bottom docking hatch of the lower star drive section of the USS Achilles, Captain Derek Longwinter, war hero and professional warrior, had jumped out into the emptiness of the space, the never ending black void. Known as an orbital jump, it was like the paratroops of ancient history but instead of jumping a couple thousand feet in the air, you dive from high orbit, breach the atmosphere and hope your parachute didn't melt on the way down.

[an hour earlier, bridge of the USS Achilles]

Derek hadn't been happy about being told that despite his warnings against it, the Achilles would be sending down a team of “fleeties†as the marines called them. It wasn't that Derek hated anyone who wasn't a marine, but when it came to hard hitting an enemy planet from high orbit, there was no one better suited for the task than First Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company. Derek knew he was still new to the ship, he had just randomly appeared out of air, having been hiding in his quarters for a while, having practically stowed away on the ship after leaving star base protector: leaving it in shambles in the wake of his passing, though that was only slightly his fault.

Since the second officer was going to be commanding a team down onto the planet, she was going to need to know HIS plan. They might be coming down onto the planet to help him BUT it was his mission, his command. It was bad enough he had to worry about his highly trained operators but now he had to worry about the rest of the crew on the planet: though he would not be physically with them on the ground since his main objective was the disposed minister, he was the commander on the ground and he was responsible for every member of the USS Achilles that was on the ground, and he was going to bring each and everyone of them back, no matter what: No one gets left behind, its not just something someone made up for a recruitment poster, it was a promise.

The second officer, who was the fleet commanding officer on the ground, was an attractive woman, to put it moderately, though the hard set to her eyes tried to mask her true feelings. To the keen, emerald eyes of Derek Longwinter though,she was easy as a book to read but he didn't say anything,he didn't really care,he had more important things to worry about, the only thing concerning her that worried him was the rumors that she was slightly bull headed and stubborn, usually not a problem with Derek any other time but he didn't need to be getting in an argument or trying to get rank pulled on him when he had rounds hitting the wall next to him.

“Since your coming with and the captain is here as well I might as well explain the plan†Derek begun as he looked to the CO, XO and the second officer who would be landing on the ground as well “ Phase one of the objective is to disable their security grid†Derek said as he motioned over to one of the tactical screens next to where they were standing “ See right here and here, just because the Kyari are not as advanced as the Federation doesn't mean they are not packing heat, the entire Kyari palace is surrounded by Anti Aircraft guns that can turn the sky and upper atmosphere into a wall of death within a second, trying to land our shuttle craft would resolve in catastrophic casualties within minutes of crossing the line of departure†Derek said with a straight face and a serious tone.


“The guns are well entrenched into the surrounds and from the orbital scans we can't for sure get an accurate location on all of them, so its still suicide going down there first with a wave of shuttles, so during phase one I will do an orbital jump alone down into palace†Derek said bluntly, there was nothing but a cold confidence on his face,he was dead serious “ because of my rare....genetics, I am the only thing that we could possibly drop down onto the planet without being detected by electronics. The Achilles will drop me right above the Kyari palace from high orbit, I will free fall through the atmosphere at the dead of night, so it will be almost impossible to see me with the naked eye until I am upon them.â€

[2210, current time, Kyari Palace]

Derek had free fallen for approximately 10 minutes before the warning klaxon rung though his ears, looking down at the tactical computer he wore on the inner forearm of his right arm that was indicating his elevation, he was reaching the release point, which happened to be the lowest point he could possibly pull the parachute before it would be to late to slow him down and he would hit to hard, Derek lifted his right arm up to grab the rip cord and as the high tower got closer and closer in view.Derek thought about not pulling the cord, it would be so much simpler: deep down he already felt dead inside, why not make it for real? The question had just barely passed through his mind when his survival instinct finally kicked in and he ripped down on the rip cord, his all black parachute deploying with a whoosh as the counter force to the wind pulled him back and up.

Within the span of about 30 seconds, Derek could see the top of the high tower clearly through thermal imaging as seen though the eye slits of his mask. What would considered slightly eccentric by most of the marine command but then brushed off as the slightly kooky ways of the operators, the marine commander had what looked somewhat a like an ornate skeleton's face mask, that hid his entire face and looked like something you would see in a nightmare, the eye slights burning red like the inferno of hell. In contrast with the all black uniform and appearing out of no where, the average person might even think Derek was some sort of demon. The eye slits were also an optical device that could change types of vision the marine commander could use, currently a dull thermal black that showed heat as bright white, illuminating the two heat signatures moving in what looked like a circular patrol pattern.

Left hand on the guide string for his parachute, Derek was moving fast towards the high tower, his right hand reached down to the jump bag he wore strapped to his right leg, the long cylinder shaped bag ran the span of almost his whole leg and was attached to it, jump bags the only way to jump supplies down with a marine since he couldn't wear a pack. Right on top was what Derek was looking for, pulling out a slightly archaic weapon but one useful given the circumstance: a hand crossbow, all black and no bigger than his hand really, already cocked back and loaded with a bolt. Arm extended, aiming smoothly as he came faster and faster towards the tower, Derek had almost a split second to pull the trigger before kicking his legs out, hitting the tower: Right as his boots hit the deck, so did a body as a well aimed crossbow bolt about half the length of someones forearm pierced the patrolling guards skull cavity at a 45 degree angle from above, the velocity of the bow and gravity pulling down on it giving it enough power pierce most of the way through the Kyari soldiers head: lights out instantly.

There was barely sound as Derek hit ground practically running, ditching his chute off his body before it pulled him off, it was a narrow ledge, so the slack from the parachute was hanging off the edge of the tower and the wind was pulling it back, if Derek had been a novice jumper, it could have easily pulled him off and down most likely to his death. Quickly ditching it though, Derek was ripping off the suit he had to wear to get through the atmosphere, a slightly scorched waxy looking suit. It came off easily and then Derek was only in his all black BDU's with his black armored vest on that covered most of his muscular torso area, adorned with magazine pouches and the Ka-Bar fighting knife he wore strapped to the vest up by the left pectoral area, the black hilt facing down and ready to be drawn.

The only thing that stood out really on the vest was the insignia patch sown into the center of it: it was gray and barely visible unless on close inspection but the patch was square with a big archaic looking symbol on the back ground, it was a match to the symbol Derek had tattooed on his left shoulder and then on top of that was a skull: the famous symbol for the marine raiders, fathers of special operations and now the symbol of Force Recon. Above the Insignia the words “The Myrmidonsâ€: the fiercest warriors of ancient Greece and the warrior Achilles' chosen men. Under the insignia was the even more famous motto of Force Recon: Swift, Silent, Deadly. It was the new unit patch of his new marines, the marines aboard the Achilles: First Platoon, Force Reconnaissance Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, know simply as the Myrmidons.

Throwing himself flat against the wall of the high tower as the other security guard, totally oblivious to the fact that his partner was even dead since they patrolled opposite sides of the tower at any given time, the Kyari soldier walked slowly around the corner, making to walk right past Derek who was lurking into the shadows cast against the wall: The Kyari soldier got about a foot past where Derek was. Emerging from the shadows much like the demon he looked like, Derek stepped out behind soldier and smoothly wrapped his powerful left arm up around the unaware soldier, setting a strong black gloved hand over the soldiers mouth and yanked him back into Derek as he silent marine commander pressed his body up against the man to pull him back off balance, Derek's right hand jabbing the dark blacked out blade of his Ka Bar right up under the Kyari soldier's right arm, sending the blade through the exposed arm pit area. Precise as a surgeon with his knife, the Marine commander had slipped the blade through the intercostal spaces of the man's ribs, the razor sharp point popping his right lung, the wound causing blood and air to fill the space in his chest cavity his lungs used to take up.

Feeling the man's muted cry for pain into his gloved hand, it didn't stop Derek as he smoothly tipped the blade laterally and then pulled, it moving smoothly as if it cutting through silk back out of the man's torso. Muscular arms moving with uncanny speed, the marine commander held the man tightly as the blood covered blade's razor sharp edge cut smoothly across the man's right curated artery, across his throat and then across his left curated artery. Bleeding profusely, Derek felt the man going limp in his arms as he held him tightly against his body. Smoothly lowering him down to the ground next to his partner, Derek flicked his wrist, flinging most of the wet blood on his knife off and then sheathed it, as a pool of blood begun to appear at his feet. Stepping off,leaving both of the quickly cooling bodies on the ledge, Derek moved into the shadows again and begun to empty out his jump bag.


[An Hour and Ten Minutes Earlier, Bridge of the USS Achilles]

Derek motioned to the tactical screen indicating his free fall path “ I will land on the highest tower on the palace and make a downwards infiltration to the security room†Derek said as he moved the 3d holographic map of the palace he brought up in front of the others “Thermal signatures show only a few guards on the decent to the main security room, shown here. Rigging it to blow, with charges, I will bring the tower down right on top the palace, neutralizing all the guns in one because they all feed into the security room: the Kyari figure that no one could get to it, since fighting through the front gate, which they believe is the only way a ground force could enter, would be suicide: they must have never heard of Force Recon†Derek said with a slight devilish smirk that grew a little bit bigger as the only other marine on the deck, Corporal Estrada of third squad, who had been on guard duty on the bridge gave out a motivated call at Derek's words having overheard them, most of the eyes on the bridge turning to look at the grinning corporal. Most marines were described as motivated hard chargers but the elite of the federations finest could almost be considered overzealous when it came to the marine attitude: loud, brash, overconfident, aggressive but they were also the most motivated, most patriotic and unwaveringly loyal warriors in the whole universe: they were like great big pit bulls from hell, why else would the moniker Devil Dog have stuck so well?

[2230, Current Time, Central Tower of the Kyari Palace]

Derek had silently dispatched two more guards on the route down the tower, still there hadn't been the hourly check in with the sentries so no one was even aware that there was now cool bodies littering the decent behind the Angosian Marine Commander as he plunged further and further into darkness. Having switched the optics in his mask to normal night vision, his world was a bright green, though just like humans had come a long way with technology, so had night vision and it was crystal clear, just green. Modified to show living heat as bright red though: since living things gave off a unique biometric heat signature compared to say a light, Derek stuck silently to the shadows, the butt stock of another archaic weapon resting in his shoulder: a large, highly advanced looking crossbow the size of a phaser rifle was held tightly pressed into the marine commander's shoulder as he moved, despite being a couple thousand years into the future since the weapons were first created, bows and crossbows were still in use by many special ops guys because they were deadly, accurate and completely silent.

Quickly reaching the bottom of the stairs, Derek could see light from the adjacent hall at the bottom and a bright light in the security room, there was unfortunately only one door in but that wasn't problem: the problem was about 200 meters of well lit exposed ground between the room and the shadowy stairs Derek was in. Mentally going through his inventory in his head as Derek scanned the area, formulating a plan in his mind quickly, the marine commander reached down to the tactical touch screen computer he wore on the inner forearm of his right arm. The intelligence guys on the ship easily hacking the lightly fire walled utilities mainframe, Derek had access to most of the palace on his computer has he input his commands. Finally, when Derek was ready, he took a deep breath and then pressed the button on his mini PADD, and the whole central tower went black.

Electricity running to the tower was gone, no one could call out and raise an alarm but Derek still had to move fast. Dashing across the open space towards the sealed door of the main security room, Derek slid smoothly to a stop on the ornate marble of the palace right in front of the door. Placing a small directional charge in three spots on the door along the wall, Derek took a step back from the door and pressed his back against the wall, taking a deep breath, exhaling and then pressing the detonation button on his computer screen.

The direction charges on the door blew inwards, 95% of the force blowing towards the solid steel bars holding the door up and in place. The force shattering most of the wall around those bars and the bars themselves, the force pushed the heavy metal door in with a loud as hell boom as it hit the deck, secondary to the loud pops of the smaller charges. The lack of a real back blast keep Derek safe, he smoothly plunged into the darkness as the optics on his mask changed into the dull black of thermal vision. Stunned, scrambling guards who had been trying to determine why the power was out before their door blew in were all trying to do something when a pair of burning red eyes appeared out of the darkness: in the pitch black they couldn't even see the black bolts of the crossbow before it hit them.

The first two guards, the guards closest to the door and the ones trying to raise their weapons were struck while trying to figure out what was even going on, a bolt smoothly entering the throat of the guard on the left, the razor sharp arrow head sticking out the back of the man's neck, having destroyed his throat and severing his spine,he fell like a sack of rocks to the deck as the second bolt struck his partner partner between the eyes, a testament to the shooters accuracy as the bolt stuck about 7 inches into the head, having obliterated the frontal lobe and entered most of the parabellum, ceasing all brain function within a split second.

The soldier sitting behind the main computer was so overwhelmed with panic, completely confused and lost in the fog of war, he had just stood up and then froze. An unfortunately (for him) easy target,two black bolts hit him almost simultaneously in the chest, one hitting his left pectoral area, piercing through his skin like a hot knife through butter as it broke a rib, pierced his left lung and piercing his heart, the other bolt popping his right lung and piercing out of the other side, a catastrophic failure of organs and overwhelming damage to his central nervous system killed him within seconds as he fell back knocking over the chair he was just sitting in.

Scanning the room quickly from side to side with his thermals, the bodies of the guards starting to become dimmer and dimmer as their thermal signatures got cold, there was white drops of blood all over the room as the bodies drained of vital fluids. Making sure that he was in the clear, Derek checked all the bodies, to make sure they were all dead, which to no surprise: they all were. Smoothly reaching into the somewhat large satchel he had been carrying slung cross body on his back, Derek begun to break out all of the large charges and went about his work to set them in quickly, Derek was sure he would have a large force of Kyari moving in on his position at any moment, so he had to move quick.

Like Derek had predicted, there was almost a platoon size element of enemy Kyari soldiers headed back towards the central tower to find out what happened to the security room, since all their communications ran through there, they knew something was wrong when they got no response on the radios, though even then they didn't sound an alarm because they figured it was a radio malfunction. Seeing the lights out and the door blown open, well that caused them to move pretty quickly as in a somewhat sloppy manner the guards rushed into the security room, weapons up when they spotted a figure in the darkness and opened fire, 10 or 11 phaser rifles opening up, the room lighting up like a Christmas tree as the Kyari opened fire. After a couple seconds of sustained fire, the most senior man called a cease fire and they moved forward to inspect: unfortunately for them, they found their three dead friends blown to bits by their weapons and a charge right next to them. Their leader looking up alarmed,scanning the room, he noticed the beeping lights on ten other charges placed around the whole room that was the base of the tower and couldn't even utter their foulest curse before the whole room and most of the tower erupted in a bright white light that imploded the bottom of the tower and within seconds caused the entire thing to crumble and begin falling down in on itself: there was only chaos, rubble and fire around the palace....lots of it.

[Two Hours Earlier, the Bridge of the USS Achilles]

“Once the tower comes down,there will be mass confusion on about the whole planet and all of the anti aircraft guns will be eliminated. These guys watching the screen will definitely be able to see it but if they do not, well I will be radioing in the attack command, at that time 1st and 2nd Squad will make planet fall and link up with me in the palace at the HLZ I set for them.†Derek said indicating a couple of the possible sites he set had picked but what you could see from the sky wasn't always what was on the ground, every marine usually learns that the hard way “As for 3rd Squad, they will be accompanying second officer here down to attack objective B and that's not a consideration, that is an order, I am not going to let a bunch of fleeties get blown to bits trying to play hero†Derek said sternly, he was still not happy about having anyone from the Achilles other than his men on the deck but orders were orders, he had to follow them: mostly, though Derek was supposedly notorious for playing fast and loose with the rules when it came to completing a mission.

“any questions?†Derek said as he took a quick look at his watch, he had to be getting gear and ready for his jump within an hour.

[2300 hours, Current Time, Inner Complex of the Kyari Palace]

Derek had been running flat out for about ten minutes straight before the explosion went off, shaking the whole palace and causing him to slam hard against the wall next to him. Springing back to his feet gracefully and still running, Derek had been lucky not to run into and soldiers so far as he followed the blue print mapping on his computer. He was safely out of the blast radius when the charges when off,though when a piece of falling debris blew through the wall behind him, Derek couldn't help but smile. Moving quickly to his destination, Derek smoothly keyed in his ear piece communication bead, his signal sent straight to the USS Achilles but to more importantly the marines and a couple fleeties sitting in the two drop ships above “Initiate attack deployment†Derek was almost yelling into his comm piece “Like Angel's of Death, bring Death from Above RECON!†Derek called out to his marines, the locked and loaded force recon operators in their war gear and face paint, just waiting in their seats of the drop ship letting out of a motivated chorus of yells and oohrahs as most banged butt stocks on the deck and pounded theirs and others chest: the display common place for marines but maybe a little strange even “psycho†to star fleet officers observing in the drop ship they shared with third squad.

Derek could hear it over the radio and smirked a little to himself: Marines....INVINCIBLE.... least until the first round is fired....

 

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