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Battletech meets Jurasic Park
by Demun God |
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Ballard Jungle, Guiasar
Free Worlds League
11 December 3065
The 10-ton armored personnel carrier followed the 40-ton Hezter Assault Gun vehicle on a dirt road commonly refered to as Logger's Path. The soldiers new they were traveling into 'creature country' so they packed heavy, carrying hand-held rocket launchers and heavy caliber rifles.
"Hey, Sarge," Private 'Flap' Jack McGee called out. "I got something on radar. Sensors are having trouble picking up specifics because of the density of the jungle."
"Location?" the young sergeant replied, trying to look over the private's shoulder.
"About a hundred meters due east of us."
"Is it moving?"
"No sir."
The sergeant smiled, "Excellent. All stop."
The two-vehicle convoy came to a stop in the middle of the dirt path.
"OK folks mount up. Lock and load. Move out."
The six other troopers made sure their weapons were loaded, then threw on their utility packs.
"This would be great to take out a Mech with only seven infantry grunts," the sergeant said, throwing his pack over one shoulder, while grabbing his Intratek Laser Rifle.
"Yeah, maybe we could even claim it, and sell it off for a few extra C-bills, eh?" another of the soldiers joked.
"Fat chance on that. You know the Colonel will keep all Mechs, or parts there of, for the unit."
The troopers met outside the APC and prepared to move out, "OK, you know the drill. Hands signals from here on out, unless it's absolutely necessary to talk. No telling what kind of sensors they got, if any." The sergeant then turned to the still-buttoned-up Hezter. Speaking into a headset boom, "Aaron, if you see anything come out of the jungle without our heads-up, shoot it."
"Yes sir," came the reply.
"OK, let's move out."
The gunner in the Hetzer's crew compartment watched the jungle swallow the infantry squad, as the driver turned to face his vehicle directly at the entrance location. Since the Hetzer's front-end mounted large caliber autocannon was a fixed emplacement, the whole vehicle had to turn, in order to shoot in a different direction. The two men sat and waited to see what happened next.
The five men and two women of C Squad moved through the jungle as quietly as possible, wary of tripwires or other booby-traps that may lay waiting for any unsuspecting traveler. The planet's native shoulder-high Whip Grass lashed at their arms and legs, some slicing through their fatigues to cut the skin. They had to stop once, because one soldier's arm was bleeding so badly.
The sergeant held his mic-boom with his pointer finger and thumb, as he whisper-spoke, "Jake, how far away are we?"
"Just over that ridge ahead, and we should be right on top of whatever's there."
The sergeant took a look, straining his neck to see over the ridge in the near distance, "Well, it can't be a Mech, otherwise we would be able to see it by now."
"I don't,……" Jake was interrupted by a nervous, not whispering,
"Sergeant, we got movement on the left flank."
The sergeant used hand-signals, telling his men to spread out.
"Sergeant, we got movement on the right flank."
"Crap, they're surrounding us, Sarge!"
He could hear the almost overwhelming urge to make a break for it.
The new sergeant tried to put confidence back into his men, "But we got the bigger guns. That's just more badguys for us to kill! Move out for the heat source, slowly. Watch all flanks!"
The troops moved out, twisting and turning their heads in all directions, waiting for the sounds of rapid-fire machine guns to sound, or better yet pulse lasers. Instead what they got, was totally unexpected……
One of the female soldiers on the right flank stopped suddenly, as she froze from fear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something watching her,….and it was less than five feet away. The gaping maw of a mouth showed an almost endless line of razor-sharp teeth. As the mouth seemed to get wider, saliva dribbled off the front of those teeth. As she turned her head to scream, the creature lunged forward, grabbing the girl by her head and left shoulder. In one powerful jerk, the creature ripped away the girl's head and part of her shoulder, while the rest of the body spasmed and fell to the ground in a bloody heap. The muscle spasms in her hand pulled the trigger of her machine gun, which was pointed right at her comrade on the flank with her. Still staring and speechless at seeing his partner ripped apart, he said nothing as the bullets caught him across the chest, flinging him back into the jungle.
On the left flank, as one of the two troopers there, began to move in, he heard movement behind him. As he turned around, all he saw was blackness, as something grabbed him by the face, picked his whole body up, and flung him back and forth, as if he were a rag-doll. The flesh from the man's face was ripped away, as the creature's powerful teeth dug in. The second soldier on the flank screamed insanely, as the body hit his legs, tripping him to the ground. He fumbled for his rocket launcher, as the predator seemed to be hissing at him. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, another one appeared. The man wet his pants, as he fumbled with the safety lock. The two creatures slowly moved in, as if sizing up their target. Just as he got the safety off, both creatures lunged at him. He instinctively threw his arms up, also squeezing the rocket-launcher's trigger. The rocket went straight up, as the predators tore into the man's body amongst torturously painful screams.
"Retreat! Retreat! Get the hell out!" the sergeant heard himself yelling.
He saw the other female soldier in his group running back torwards the Hezter, until a three-pronged, stiletto-tipped claw reached out from nowhere, almost slicing the woman's body in half. She let out a gurgling yell, as she lost balance and crashed to the ground.
"Come on Sarge!" Flap Jack was yelling, moving torwards the creature that blocked their path to the Hetzer.
He dropped to one knee, shouldered his SRM and fired. The rocket covered the short distance within milli-seconds, nailing the creature square in the chest. The rocket exploded, taking the beast with in an explosion or organic gore.
The sergeant couldn't seem to get his body in motion, as he heard Jack yelling, "Sarge! Behind you!"
Instinct somehow took over, as he somersaulted to his left. One of the creatures' mouths snapped shut where he had been standing an instant ago. He brought up his Intratek, and let fly with emerald-green bolts of pulse lasers. The lasers stitched up the predator's neck and head, as red blood splattered then cauterized. The creature was thrown back from each impact of the lasers.
Something pulled at his arm. He jerked his rifle around and almost blew Jack McGee's head off.
"Come on! Let's get the hell out of here!"
"Aaron! There's only two of us! Get ready!" the sergeant's panicky voice filtered through the compartment of the Wheeled Assault Gun.
McGee scooped up another rocket-launcher as they both starting running back to the Hezter. The Whip Grass lacerated their arms, legs, and faces, as they ran hell-bent. Jack looked back to see if they were being chased. He jumped, when he saw two of them were right behind him. He turned and fired. The rocket connected with one beast, igniting in an explosive gore-fest, as the other lunged at him. McGee put his arm up instinctively to protect himself, when the creature's mouth snapped shut on it. Jack let out a yell, as his arm was separated from his body. Blood splattered onto the surrounding grass, as he fell to the ground in pain. As the creature pounced on him, he pulled the pin from a grenade. The fire and smoke from the explosion engulfed both creature and soldier.
The sergeant broke from the jungle line. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he looked at the armored vehicle. One of the creatures was standing on top of it. The roof of the vehicle had been ripped open. Another was standing off to the side, finishing off Private Aaron.
Not thinking clearly, he turned back, and ended up nose to nose with one of the creatures. He was mere inches away from it, as it opened its mouth to let out a whispery hiss. Fresh blood still covered its teeth. As the newly promoted sergeant let out a yell, the last thing he saw was blackness as sharp objects dug into the sides of his face.
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Ballard Jungle, North of Graham City
Guiasar, Free Worlds League
15 December 3065
Donovan had made his headquarters in an old abandoned barn. All five Mechs fit inside, as well as the few police cruisers and equipment trunks others were able to steal on their escape from the city. Appointed by Donovan, Blackstone took up the reigns as XO, and assigned the thinned ranks of what remained of the Graham City Police Department various duties to stay busy. Two listening posts had been set up, to keep watch on the mercenaries' movements and also be an early warning in case the mercenaries had somehow located their position.
"LP-1, this is Homeplate, over." Blackstone radioed out to the easterned 3-man listening post.
Blackstone waited for a few seconds as static sounded through his police-issue walkie-talkie.
"LP-1, this is Homeplate, do you copy, over." Blackstone repeated as he gave a nervous glance to Police-Sergeant-Junior-Grade Dan Beecher, former Evidence Room keeper. Others in the barn started realizing that something may be wrong, and stopped talking and making noise. They all zoned in on Blackstone, "This is Homeplate to LP-1, please respond."
Static filled the air, as Blackstone looked around, stopping at Donovan, "Don, something's wrong. LP-1 is not responding."
Donovan rubbed his hand through his black hair, "Crap." He mumbled, as he walked over to a table with a paper map laid out across it. Looking up at Police-Sergeant Raymond Blackstone, "Ray, what are the chances that Mobile Fire has found our location?"
"Not very high, considering they have only sent out a patrol twice a day. I think they want to find us, but they don't."
Dan's faced grimaced, "Say what?"
"They want to find us, 'cause this is what they are getting paid to do. They don't want to find us, 'cause they're afraid we'll kick their asses all the way back to Tharkad."
MechOfficer Randall Beaseley chuckled, "Man…can you imagine? Battle-hardened mercenaries afraid of a Mech Lance of cops?"
"I think it goes back to that instinctive fear that cops always put into the citizens of any town. Can you remember as a teenager, when driving down the road, what kind of feeling you got, when a cop pulled in behind you?"
Donovan smiled, remembering his reaction, now being on the opposite side. "Just pissed me off. I always said those cops had nothing better to do, then harass us, 'cause we're teenagers, devils of the roads'." Dan said, obviously quoting from someone.
Donovan nodded torwards Blackstone's radio, "Try one more time, Ray."
Blackstone lifted the walkie-talkie to his mouth, "LP-1, this is Homeplate, please respond, over." Static filled the barn again.
"OK, we're going to have to check it out. Dan, you feel like getting some exercise?"
Dan stared at Donovan, "Sure. My leg may not let me enter any decathlon, but I'm not helpless." Then with slight irritation, "I wish the department would see that."
Donovan pointed to two SWAT officers from the North Station, "You two, grab your gear, and follow me."
"We'll take a cruiser. We'll leave the heavier stuff, for when we make some raids on the town."
Donovan grabbed a heavy-caliber rifle, while Dan checked the magazine of his machine pistol. The two SWAT troopers had their small machine guns.
The car started up with a rumble of its combustion engine. Blackstone took command of the barn personnel, when the cruiser moved out.
"You keep those eyes peeled. Anything, I mean anything, pops up, you let me know."
The two troopers in the back seat nodded, as they looked through their infrared scopes.
A few minutes later, the cruiser made it to the listening post's location. The four men got out and surveyed the area. Dan grimaced, turned away, and threw up. The two SWAT troopers looked away, pretending to be on guard. Donovan also felt sick but was able to keep it down. The first thing the eye caught was the amount of blood splattered everywhere. The surrounding brush was more red than green. One of the men appointed to LP duty looked up at him with blank-staring eyes. The rest of his body lay in a crumpled heap nearby. The second man's body lay slumped against a nearby Red Pine, his stomach ripped apart, allowing his innards to spill out onto the ground. His throat had also been slashed, while his jaw had been ripped away. The third man lay in some brush nearby. Donovan walked over and picked up the man's legs, intending to pull him for indentification. When he pulled him out, his body stopped at the upper torso. The rest had been slashed away. It was obvious, that it took more than one attempt from the deep lacerations across the man's stomach. Donovan immediately dropped the legs.
"Jesus Christ…" Donovan's blue eyes widened in horror. He ran his hands through his short hair and felt bile rising in his throat again.
"Who did this…or what?" Dan stammered after regaining some sense of composure.
"I'm thinking either these mercs are some sick twisted people or else we have a serious problem on our hands." Donovan looked around himself in horror.
"I think we should get the hell out of here now." Dan grumbled and limped more than usual due to his terror.
"Everyone back to the cruiser!" Donovan ordered, waving them forward.
The four men began to file into the dark blue police cruiser. As Dan started up the car, he heard one of the men sitting in the backseat gasp and then yelling in a panicked voice, "Sir! Sir!"
Donovan began to turn when the rear of the car dipped and seemed to move on its own.
"Oh my God!" One of the men screamed in terror.
"I think we found our killers sir!" The other man yelled. Dan attempted to hit the gas pedal, but his foot wouldn't move.
Seeing that hideous creature's face fill his rear view mirror, it was as if the beast was staring right at Dan. With a single swipe of it razor-sharp talons, the rear window's Plexiglas shattered. The massive claw dug into one of the SWAT troopers' neck, piercing his SWAT body armor, as blood sprayed onto his comrade. As the creature jumped off the back of the car, it jerked the man out the back window, in a shattering of what remained of the back window and wildly flailing arms and legs. Donovan was so immersed in what was happening behind him, he missed the creature that walked right up to his passenger side window.
In another shatter of glass, Donovan saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively, he brought his rifle up. A dark-green, lizard-like claw buried itself into the rifle's stock.
"Dan!" Donovan yelled, as the creature tried to draw back its arm.
Donovan let go of the rifle, but it caught across the inside of the door window.
"Dan!" Donovan yelled again, as he unholstered his police-issue service pistol, and started unloading on the beast.
Reality finally hit Dan, as he smashed on the gas pedal. The police cruiser jerked forward, as the remaining SWAT trooper opened fire through the open rear window.
The creature stuck on Donovan's side let out ear-piercing wails, as it was dragged along side the car. The car shook violently, as it hit every hole and bump on the logger path. Somewhere in the violent bucking of the police cruiser, the claw was ripped from the creature's hand. Dan looked to see the damage done on Donovan's side, and didn't catch another of the creatures jumping in front of the car, until the last minute. Dan yelled, as he jerked the cruiser to the right and slammed square into a Red Pine. The car had clipped the creature as it swerved. Donovan had just enough time to brace himself as the car slammed into the tree. Dan's head smashed into the steering wheel, creating a huge gash just above his left eye. The vision in his right eye blacked out and in as he wiped his face on his sleeve, to clear the blood from his left eye. He flung open the car door, almost not knowing what he was actually doing. The shakiness from the crash, along with his permanently injured leg, made him immediately lose balance and fall to the ground.
Donovan sat back up, and felt his forehead, which had smacked against the dashboard, as the SWAT trooper was rammed against the back of Donovan's seat. Through foggy vision, Donovan looked for Dan.
"Dan… Dan, where are you?"
He noticed the driver's door open. He then looked through the spiderweb-cracked front windshield. He saw Dan trying to hobble all the way back to the bivouac Donovan had set up.
"Dan!" Donovan yelled, as the injured creature stirred and got to its feet. This was the first time Donovan had gotten a good look at the creature. Smooth, dark-green scales covered most of the creature's body. Small, black, bony fins went from the base of its skull to the tip of its tail. It had to be at least three meters in height, with a length of at least five meters long, from the stiletto-tipped, four-fingered claws to its bone-tipped tail. This was not a regular specimen of the native wildlife of Guiasar. Most of them were large, rough-scaled, slow-moving, and fortunately or unfortunately, depending on who you may be and what kind of work you're in, clumsy. This creature was sleek, with smooth aerodynamics and graceful movement.
Even with its injuries, this particular creature, Donovan was guessing it would be in the reptile category, still had smooth movement as it looked at Donovan with dark-yellow eyes, the black slits for pupils boring into his soul. The creature must have noticed Dan's movement out of the corner of its eye. It took off after Dan's hobbling, panicked form in graceful strides.
"Dan!" Donovan yelled out, as he prayed against the inevitable.
The beast was on Dan within seconds. Dan turned at the last minute, trying to avoid death, but the creature locked its jaws on Dan's left arm, crushing bone as the teeth sliced it away at the bicep. Dan let out a numbing yell as the pain overtook his senses. His uncoordinated body stumbled and crashed to the ground again. The creature finished him off.
"Son of a bitch!" Donovan yelled, as the beast turned and started slowly heading back torwards him.
He grabbed the heavy-caliber rifle from the passenger floor and opened fire as the creature picked up its speed as it got closer. The SWAT trooper opened up on it with his sub-machine gun. Blood spurts formed on the beast's chest as bullets dug in. The SWAT trooper had to reload as twenty high-velocity rounds hadn't brought down the charging animal.
Ten feet away from Donovan, the creature crashed to the ground in a bloody heap. Both men stood dumbfounded, at the amount of ammunition needed to bring down one.
"What the hell are these things?" Donovan mumbled as he slowly backed away.
"I don't know, but I'd suggest we get the hell out of here." The SWAT trooper said, starting to move down the path. |
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