Atlantis Rising: Chapter 8
Previous chapter: Atlantis Rising: Chapter 7
Homepage: Atlantis
Also see: Reaper's First Drop
12:00 Hours, March 8, 2015 (Military Calendar), US Aircraft Carrier Eagle and fleet, en route to Atlantis Mainland
"Run out the jets! Clear the flight deck!"
Admiral Ford stood atop the balcony on the bridge. The sea was heaving, the sky was on fire with lightning, and nothing could be heard over the roar of the waves, thunder, and explosions.
Two Russian fliers dropped out of the ghostly mist, machine guns thrumming and the white vapor trails of missiles arcing toward the carrier. The AA batteries and SAM platforms on the carrier answered and one of the two bombers dropped out of the sky, spitting flames, to land in the ocean a second later. There was no chute.
A cheer erupted on the deck even as pairs of F-35 JSF's were launched into the air, the steam-powered catapult accelerating the jets to take-off speed along the short launch. But just as the aircraft took off, three squadrons of Russian fighters materialized and pelted the deck with bullets, clipping the back end of one of the two JSF's and sending it spiraling into the water. The other F-35 took a spattering of fire but kept flying, and it quickly circled around and began hunting down the fighter squadrons.
An aide ran out and stopped at Ford's elbow. "Missile shield in place, sir!"
The missile shield was a high-frequency radar jamming device. It prevented hostile missile guidance systems from getting radar or thermal locks on a target. Therefore the aircraft would have to be pointed directly at the ship in order to hit it with a missile. And to protect against this, the ship had four Metal Storms installed on rails on the sides of the ship. The Metal Storms were boxes with rows of barrels in them, each barrel holding several shots. And because the ammunition was stored right in the barrel, firing was almost instantaneous. A Metal Storm could fire 40mm grenades at 100,000 rounds per minute.
The Missile Shield Metal Storms pivoted and moved along their rails, targeting missiles and planes and literally shredding them with bullets.
"Good." Ford said gruffly. "Carter! Get your squad in the jets. We could use some psi-tweaking of the laws of physics here."
"Yes sir!" Carter shouted above the storm. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. You heard the Admiral. Get to a fighter! Holly, Scar, you two together. Kenderson, you're with Campbell. Pierce, with me. Move!"
Matt grabbed his helmet, an MP7, a USP, and jumped into the front seat of an F-35. Jamie dropped into the co-pilot's seat behind Matt, fit his helmet on, and then closed the canopy. "Let's roll."
"Let's." Matt said, eyes flashing blue as he prepared to use psi.
"We got your back, boys." Holly reported over the comm.
"Roger that. Let's do this." Malcolm said.
Matt gunned the engines and sent the JSF to the launch. The plane was hooked up to the catapult by several operators, and then given the all-clear.
Matt looked through the windshield over to Holly, who was piloting, and Scar. "Ready when you are, chief." She said.
Matt hit the jets but kept the brakes on, letting the engines warm up, and then released the clamp. The catapult launched them forward, slinging them from zero to 160 in a matter of seconds. Matt tasted blood and realized he'd bitten his tongue.
The aircraft launched over open sea, and then they were flying. Matt suppressed a laugh as the adrenaline got to him, addling his brain.
Matt pulled the joysticks around and sent their craft in pursuit of one of the fighter squads. The flock quickly broke apart and scattered as the three F-35s descended on them, and Matt took one into his sights. The Russian jinked right, then left, and then rolled into a reverse-loop and doubled back.
Matt adjusted accordingly. He spent 60 seconds playing cat-and-mouse, an eternity in battle. "Can't get a lock! Burn that mother f'er!"
"On it." Jamie said calmly, closing his eyes and entering his Spectrum view. The entire Russian plane was a giant heat-source, about as subtle as a camel in a James Bond movie wearing a green Tux. Jamie's eyelids fluttered, and then the Russian bird spontaneously caught fire. It spiraled out of control and hit the water almost immediately.
"Yeah man!" Matt shouted, feeling the adrenaline course through him.
"Lock!" Malcolm stated, and opened fire. A missile flew past them and impacted a Russian fighter.
"Three down, 27 to go." Scar acknowledged as Holly caught another Russian with a long stream of fire from the GAU-12/U 25mm chaingun on the front.
Matt pulled back on the throttle and sent the jet into hover, swinging around to a dead stop and facing an oncoming trio of fighters. They started to scatter as he pulled the triggers on everything in the cockpit, launching four AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, spewing rounds from the GAU-12/U, and pinning retaliatory missiles with the F-35's two onboard solid-state lasers. All three planes were enveloped in fire and quickly fell out and exploded.
Matt hit the jets again and sent the F-35 rocketing forward as bullets chewed the back of the plane. "Missile lock, evade! Evade!" Jamie exclaimed as an alarm sounded inside the cockpit. Matt pulled the joysticks backwards, keeping the throttle on max. The compression ribbing in their armor kept them relatively safe from the G forces, but even so, Matt had to concentrate to keep the blackness from encroaching on his vision. He tried not to hyperventilate; it would only make things worse.
Jamie swiveled around so that he was facing backwards. This was a new feature not seen on the first generation F-35s. The co-pilot's chair could swing around to give access to the controls for the anti-missile lasers and a second GAU-12/U. This, coupled with the F-35's ability to target any hostile regardless of the actual jet's orientation and paint it with explosives, gave them a distinct advantage over the Russian planes.
Unfortunately, the Russians had a few tricks up their wings as well.
Jamie launched two Sidewinders at the pursuing jet. Matt expected the Russian to be blown out of the sky; instead, the Russian rolled to the right, deployed flares, and launched two missiles of its own.
"What? No radar- or heat-locks," Jamie stated, puzzled.
But Holly understood. "Echo 2, get out of there! Climb!" She yelled.
Matt did as he was instructed, pulling the sticks to the stops.
The two missiles curved and followed effortlessly. They continued to close the distance even as Matt rolled and jinked to the sides, continuing to climb. When they got within 20 feet, they burst apart. At first Matt thought it was a malfunction, but then he spotted 40 new vapor trails arcing towards him. Cluster missiles. Perfect.
On top of that, two more Russians dove into the party. Scar lit one up like a fireworks display, but the other spewed bullets. Matt evaded and continued to climb while Scar explained in his ear, "I've read about them. Experimental. Each missile launches 20 new, smaller ones when it gets close enough. It's almost impossible to evade them all, and two is complete overkill. Usually. Your best chance of evasion is to get as high as you can, then reverse flip and spiral to the ground. The spirals will knock a few of them together, but you'll have to get rid of the rest in the ocean. Pull up just above the waves. Those missiles are good, but not that good."
"Fun stuff." Matt said tightly as he reversed the joysticks, sending the jet into a sickening plummet. Jamie was firing beam after beam with the two lasers, but he tagged maybe one missile with every six or seven shots, as the lasers couldn't get a lock. Matt threw the sticks one way, spinning the F-35 on its axis. Several of the missiles, attempting to follow this pattern, did indeed hit eachother and throw shrapnel around, detonating several more. That was a good twelve of them out of the way, and now just 4 left.
The waves grew alarmingly fast in Matt's windshield, cold, bleak, and gray.
Matt pulled out of the dive inches above the turgid waters. The missiles arced to follow -
And rocketed into the ocean. A second later, each of them exploded, casting huge waves over the F-35 and completely sinking the other Russian fighter pursuing them. Matt breathed a sigh of relief as the rest of the crew cheered over the comm. lines, wiping the sweat off of his face.
It was short lived. Right as he re-fastened his oxygen mask, three more fighters broke off and began chasing him. “Don't these guys ever give up?!” Jamie yelled, launching more missiles and opening fire with the GAU-12/U. “Missile lock!”
Matt couldn't keep this up. How many times could he cheat certain death?
Suddenly the radar lock dropped off.
“Roger that, lead. F-22 Raptor squadron 'Falcon' is now on station. We'll free up some air space, you guys go get those Russian ships.”
Matt's head clunked against the headrest, and he blinked sweat from his eyes.
“You got it, Falcon 1. Echo squad, pull out. All F-35 squadrons, follow my lead.” Carter said. “Falcon, we could use additional F-22 support as we engage the enemy ships.”
“Roger that, Staff Sergeant. I'm sending two squads with you.”
F-35s were multi-role fighters. Although they had significant air-to-air combat abilities, they specialized in air-to-surface roles. The F-22s, on the other hand, were air superiority fighters. They had better maneuverability and air-to-air weaponry, with a larger payload of missiles. They could handle the air defense, for now.
“Answering new attack vectors, aye. Coming about.” Scar said.
“Alright, here we go.” Jamie nodded.
Matt looked to the dark skies and drew comfort from them. That was the strange thing about him. He had always thought clearer, felt more comfortable, when the sky was covered with clouds. Sunlight didn't bode well with him. Dark was his ally. Night missions were always more fun.
Matt hit the throttles.
“I'm done being chased. Let's go blow something out of the water.” Matt growled.
Matt angled the jet towards the nearest Russian Destroyer, which technically wasn't necessary, and let loose with everything he had. The ship's AA fire cracked up at them, and Matt twisted away, then came back and continued his barrage. Under the combined fire of all the F-35s and F-22s, plus a couple Apache Longbow gunships, plus the fleet of American Destroyers, Frigates, Battleships, Missile Cruisers, and Nuclear Attack Submarines, the Russian attack fleet soon went up in smoke and fire.
“That's how it's done, baby!” Jamie yelled as yet another ship blew.
“That's it, gents.” Admiral Ford broke in over the comm. “They're bugging out. Relief aerial crews, continue to harass enemy forces. Everyone else, get back to the Carrier, get some R&R. We make landfall at 04:00 tomorrow. That was just the beginning.”
“Oh, that's encouraging.” Scar said over a private Teamcomm. line. “Way to be positive, Ford.”
“Oh, that? That's just his regular state of being. I wouldn't pay any attention to it.” Matt laughed.
"Hm. I see."
“Yeah, so that was fun.” Malcolm said.
“Yeah, you know, I really enjoyed the 'getting shot at and almost dying several times' part.” Jamie agreed.
"Yeah that? That was sweet. And did you see those cluster missiles? I thought we were dead for a minute there."
"Good thing Scar's around to tell you what to do." Holly said.
"Hey, wait a second." Matt laughed. "Are you trying to say something about my decision-making skills?"
"Who, me? Never."
"Ha ha."
"Yeah so, if you don't need me, I'm going to sleep before I throw up." Jamie said, slumping back in the seat with the Hangover kicking in.
"Amen to that. Let's go."
04:30 Hours, March 9, 2015 (Military Calendar), US Aircraft Carrier Eagle and fleet, preparing to make landfall
"Squad, weapons check! Get ready to drop!"
Matt slapped a magazine into the receiver, pulled the charging lever, and checked his armor status in his HUD. Green across the board. He checked the stats of his other teammates on the GUSS, as he knew Carter was doing as well.
Jamie opened the hatch in the bottom of the Amphibious-Assault-Vehicle (AAV), exposing the deployment bay to the ocean water below. He hefted his Mikor-MGL revolving six-shot grenade launcher one-handed and dropped through the hole, closing the lid on his helmet as he went. Scar went next, clutching a cut-down XM8 carbine with attached laser sighting and enhanced optical scope. All Matt could see of her behind the water-sealed armor and blast-shield facemask was a piece of her dark blond hair.
Holly followed, another cut-down XM8 in hand. Then Malcolm. Carter went next, and then it was his turn. Matt dropped into the lukewarm water. Even in the middle of March, the water wasn't cold. Plus, his matte-black dry-suit armor cut any chill he might have felt. He activated his thruster pack, accelerating to 12 knots.
"Alright, guys. Here's the deal. European Federation camp. F'ers aren't expecting a thing. Remember, we're going for stealth here, not Shock n' Awe. Come up out of the water and hit the guards. Silently. Once the AA wall is clear, we call in the heavy artillery. Then we go Shock n' Awe. Oorah?"
Matt gave Jamie a pointed stare. "Jamie, how the hell are you gonna be stealthy with a fricken revolving grenade launcher?"
"I can be stealthy if I want." Jamie said, faking offense. Matt had an image of Jamie tip-toeing across a beach in full combat armor with his grenade launcher.
"Uhh..." Malcolm muttered.
"Dude, I'm Jamie fricken Campbell. Nothing about me is small or inconspicuous."
"Yeah, how about you go with an SMG till we're all set, huh?" Holly asked.
Jamie sighed. "Fine."
The squad approached the beach in tight formation. Off to the left, Matt could just barely make out the shadowy figures of another squad, similarly clad, approaching the beach next to them.
Jamie pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet, and Matt immediately recognized "Disturbed - Haunted" as it played over the Teamcomm.
Carter didn't even make a comment.
The team adjusted their thrusters as they neared the beach, columns of razor-wire blocking direct access. Matt knelt in the silt next to a coil and carefully gripped the wiring with his armored gauntlets. Jamie swam up and sliced through the razor wire with a plasma torch, then they bent the metal back. The team swam through.
Matt's foot hit the sand of the beach, and he turned off his thruster pack. The rose from the water silent as wraiths, weapons raised and ready to fire. He registered the powdered-sugar beach, wavy palm trees, and a line of sand-bag bunkers and two guard towers. He also heard Carter open fire next to him, half out of the water, his silenced XM8 making hardly a sound. Seconds later, two guards patrolling the sand-bag line fell, convulsing.
Matt raised his own weapon, which shed water from its non-stick coating in sheets, and pulled the trigger. A European Federation soldier took the rounds in the gut and fell to the ground.
He ran forward, vaulted the sand-bag wall, and slammed into a soldier's back. The soldier's eyes widened and he was about to scream, but Matt clamped a fist over his mouth and drove a fist into the man's stomach. Matt slammed the soldier into the ground, knocking him unconscious.
He grabbed his rifle again and fired from his knees, the silenced rounds drilling into another European soldier.
Music pounding in his ears, Matt threw himself to the ground to avoid the spotlight that swept over the fortifications. The guards apparently noticed the lack of sentries on duty, because sirens blared through the still, early-morning air, and floodlights kicked in, illuminating the surrounding landscape with a harsh, omnipresent white glow.
"Hit it, Scorch!" Carter yelled out loud. Jamie, who had been crouching behind the sand-bag wall next to Matt, immediately perked up. He twisted around and brought his gun to bear.
The second he stood up, a watchtower's MG emplacement opened fire. Jamie barely had time to flinch before rounds buried themselves all around him. Sparks flew as two shots flew straight into his shoulder plate, and another punched through his armpit. He fell, screaming.
"Flare, Pyro, covering fire!" Matt yelled, crawling across to Jamie. Malcolm pitched a smoke grenade under the watchtower, and called in for air support. As it was obscured by the thick chemical, Scar fired in its general direction. Malcolm rose and highlighted the cloud with an IR beam. Matt pulled a medkit from his combat pack and wrenched it open, tearing off Jamie's shoulder plate so he could get to the bullet wound, slipping a popsicle stick in Jamie's mouth. "Bite." He commanded, and readied a sharp obsidian medical knife and extractor prongs.
Jamie groaned but bit into the wooden rod. Matt waited a beat, then used the prongs to grasp the bullet and cut it out, then using blunt-nosed snips to seal Jamie's pulmonary artery. Once that was done, Matt poured antiseptic into the hole and wrapped a sterile bandage tightly around it, being careful not to cut off Jamie's circulation by wrapping it too tightly. Finally, he refastened Jamie's shoulder plate and grasped his arm, hauling him upright.
"All good?" Matt asked.
"Yeah, thanks, I think so-" The rest of Jamie's sentence was cut off by a thunderous boom as two F-35s soared overhead and made twin craters out of the watchtower. This was closely followed by an artillery bombardment of the EF's OpsCenter, two American Destroyers firing in turn just off the coast. V-22's dived into the fray, dumping loads of 20 marines each while they were covered by Apache Longbow gunships. A pair of F-22's circled overhead, daring any enemy fighters to take off.
A sharp crack filled the air as a AV-22 gunship circled the clearing, two snipers firing from the bay. European soldiers scrambled about in confusion. An officer stood atop the Ops Center, trying to rally his troops, but the snipers cut him down.
Jamie picked up his grenade launcher, throwing 40mm grenades at infantry clusters. Matt removed the silencer from his gun, helping Jamie to suppress the soldiers.
The muffled thuds of footfalls pounded behind Matt. He twisted around, expecting an attack, to find Admiral Ford in full body armor, like his troops, clutching an SMG to his chest. He backslid into cover next to the Jamie.
"Ford?" Jamie asked.
"Is there a problem?" Ford asked.
Jamie shook his head and highlighted another target for the close-air support to bomb. A B-2 bomber soared overhead, dropped several lethal-looking 2,000 pound explosives, and circled away before the Euro machine gunners could put it in their crosshairs. The bombs fell on the European air field, blowing deep craters into the tarmac and absolutely destroying the hangars.
"Echo team, get ready to move up." Ford instructed as he highlighted a plan of action in Echo's GUSS TacMap.
"Roger that." Carter acknowledged.
"Charlie team, open suppressing fire. I want MG's and countersnipers on those bunkers, and riflemen strafing the infantry lines. F-35s, uploading firing solution to your HUD. Synchronize with Charlie team, then open up." Ford ordered, tossing a smoker signal for the air support. "Flyboys, confirm smoke. Friendlies North and West of the smoke. Repeat, North and West."
"Roger that, Admiral. Confirm orange smoke, attack direction South. We'll clear it out."
The F-35s circled around and let loose a barrage of missiles and heavy machine guns, causing the resisting Euros to dive for cover. Immediately following, Charlie Squad stood and suppressed enemy concentrations. "Echo, move!" Ford yelled.
"Answering, aye." Carter yelled back as he vaulted over the sand bag wall and darted for the relative cover of the Euro's burned-out motor pool. He was only three steps out of cover when bullets kicked the dirt near his feet, causing him to hop comically backwards, fall over, and scramble back into the trenches as the snipers walked their bullets towards him. He cursed several times, heart pounding.
"Sniper teams, on that rat. Get me a read." Fort shouted.
"Admiral. Those shots came from the barracks, second story, South corner." Holly murmured.
Ford scowled. "Scorch, take it out." Then, talking to Carter, "Reaver, stay low. Flare, make the run with him."
"Roger." The three of them said together.
Jamie twisted around and fired shots from the grenade launcher, blowing divots out of the barracks Holly had indicated. Matt could just barely make out the crouching form of the sniper as he ducked behind upthrown arms, trying to avoid the flying shrapnel. Concrete splinters shaved away half his face as Jamie's final shot tore up the wall next to him. The sniper stood straight up, screaming, and almost instantly took two shots to the chest from the American snipers circling overhead. Matt grimaced.
"Real pretty." Ford said nonchalantly. "Reaver, Flare, move it up."
Carter and Scar vaulted the wall and sprinted for the next piece of cover. This time there was no sniper fire, although Matt kept his weapon raised and scanning. "Frost, Scorch, go. Reaver, Flare, covering fire."
Matt and Jamie picked up and ran into the shelter of a destroyed tank, then moved up and advanced on the still-standing Ops Center.
"Charlie team, take the barracks. Bravo, triage and officer's quarters. Delta, mess hall. I want this place secure. Flyboys, pull out, establish a perimeter around the camp. Anything gets within 20 miles and you blow it out of the sky."
"Aye, answering new vectors." The pilots sounded.
"Echo, cover my approach. Snipers, stay on station to provide close support."
Carter, Scar, Malcolm, Holly, and Ford joined Matt and Jamie at the wall of the Ops Center. "Ooh! Explosives?" Jamie asked, wide-eyed and eager.
Ford motioned with three fingers. "Give them a little something extra. We wouldn't want them to forget this anytime soon."
Matt winced inwardly. Jamie was probably gonna go take down the building with encouragement like that.
The rest of the crew formed a defensive perimeter around Matt and Jamie as they painted the wall with plastic explosives. When they were done, they backed away, and Jamie readied his detonator.
"You're sure this is a safe distance?" Scar asked.
"Absolutely." Jamie said with a hint of a smirk on his lips.
The rest of the crew turned from whatever angle they were covering and all stared at Jamie.
Jamie cackled. "Are you kidding? Me plus explosives, there is no such thing as a 'safe distance.'
Matt's eyes widened, and echo team had little time to dive for cover before Jamie hit the big red button, and the entire section of wall crumbled and collapsed inward. The shock wave accelerated all of their dives, save Jamie who was stayed standing,sending them face first into the sand.
Everyone struggled up to find Jamie sitting against the tank under a body shaped indention, he started yelling before any of them could hear. "Sweet! Did you see that? The entire wall, reinforced concrete I might add, just got obliterated. And check it out, collateral blast radius of about three feet, which is exceptionally nice considering the amount of explosives."
Matt blinked the dust from his eyes, coughed and swept the interior of the room. If anything inside had been awake before, it wasn't now.
"Nice one, Jamie." Scar complained. "It's gonna take a week for my ears to stop ringing."
"Echo squad, advance!" Carter yelled.
The seven of them crept through the enormous hole in the wall, weapons raised and sweeping. Malcolm ran forward and checked a side-room. "Clear!"
Holly peeked around a corner of the room and reported, "Clear!"
"Clear." Matt stated as he walked into the center of the room. He nudged a dead soldier with his foot, making sure he was really down.
"Ops Center clear, sir." Carter said, nodding.
"Bravo, sit-rep." Ford said into his comm.
"Barracks clear, sir."
"Charlie, sit-rep."
"Clear!"
"Delta."
"Clear, Admiral."
"Overwatch. See anything?"
"Negative, sir. Camp secure."
"Alright, gentlemen. Winters, take your boys and sweep the perimeter. I wanna know what's coming before we're choking on it. West, scrape out the airfield. I want this camp back in operational order by 13:00 Hours. Alpha Team, stand by. I'm gonna need you for a special mission. The satellites aren't penetrating the jungle so well. There's a supply drop coming in at 06:00 Hours, and part of the inventory is a contingent of Assault Reconnaissance Motorbikes. Made specifically for scouting out the thick terrain of Atlantis."
"Roger that, sir." The Alpha leader replied.
"Echo Team. You'll be in charge of our defenses while the camp is put to order. As soon as that supply drop gets here, I want you to take the stuff marked 'Perimeter Defense' and start setting it up. I'm uploading a layout of our lines of defense. Take the excavators and dig a trench around the camp, and make a wider bunker-area every 100 yards. The sandbags, weaponry, and ammunition for the trench defenses are all in the crates. After the trench is done, finish outfitting it with the equipment, then start on the Defensive Guard Towers, which are basically advanced watchtowers. Set those up in the chokepoints. After that, help the rest of the regiment make an inner trench around the buildings. If we get done with all that, I'll be impressed."
"Yes sir." Carter said.
Matt surveyed the requested defenses, noting that most of them seemed to be anti-personnel, or designed to be most effective at taking down living tissue.
"There's one more thing." Ford switched onto a private Teamcomm. line. He hesitated slightly, then said, "Take the utmost care to install those defenses to the letter. There are things - hostile things - in that jungle. Things best left undisturbed. Wherever possible, I want your opinions on how those defenses can be improved."
"What sort of things, sir?" Matt asked, the hair on the back of his neck rising.
Ford stared hard at Matt, and he shifted underneath the Admiral's icy blue gaze. "How well do you know your prehistoric monsters?"
Malcolm thought back to the animal's body he had studied in his lab.
"Dinosaurs? You're not being serious." Holly laughed skeptically.
"I'm deadly serious, corporal." Ford said, turning his dagger-stare on Holly. Matt winced at Ford's choice of wording. "Not to mention the Russians, Euros, Chinese, Japanese, and Africans that would all like to slit our throats. And, of course, the Atlantians themselves..."
Jamie shouldered his weapon. "They're welcome to try, but they won't get too far. 40mm's... this is gonna be good..." Jamie trailed off, studying the designs as he walked to the supply pad that was under construction.
"We need to establish a temporary base camp here on the beach. Designated Firebase Bravo. Once we've established a foothold here, we'll move further inland and start taking the major strongholds on our way to the Atlantian's capitol city. Remember, we're here to liberate the Atlantians, not kill them, so take precaution when you're putting something in your crosshairs. They won't take too kindly to being shot, but we have negotiated a cease-fire between our two nations." Ford said.
"We'll handle it, Admiral."
"See that you do, Staff Sergeant."
Twenty minutes later, the pad was finished, and the C-5 came streaking in from the sky. It slowed down to just above stall speed as it dropped its load, then took off again, circling around to its next drop point. There were four permanent American bases on Atlantis, three of them under construction, and all of them needed regular supply drops to continue functioning.
"Alright. Crew, move it out!" Carter ordered. They slung their weapons and helped the crane operator to load the 2-ton crates onto trucks, which then set off and deposited their loads at the edge of the camp.
One of the crates, larger than the others, sat on the edge of the pad. Matt took a crowbar and pried open the sides. Carter tossed Matt the electronic starter chip, and Matt climbed behind the wheel of the excavator and started the engine. He slipped the crowbar into his combat pack and gunned the digging machine to the edge of the camp, starting work on the trenches that had been marked out with spray paint. The excavated dirt he spread evenly along the lips of both trenches.
Jamie strolled out and covered Matt with his grenade launcher while Matt worked, peering intensely into the jungle. "So. How much of that 'hostile things' crap do you buy from the Admiral?"
Matt scooped another load of dirt from the trench. "He's not really the kind of person to mess around, especially not about that."
Malcolm broke in over a private comm. "He's not joking. We had a body wash ashore about two years ago. I studied it, and it was definitely a Velociraptor, but one of a species I haven't ever heard of before. I looked it up in the database, too, and it's definitely not there. This thing was six feet tall, like something out of Jurassic Park. And it had huge gashes and stuff in the sides. I dunno what did that, but I wouldn't want to be around it."
Matt glanced at Jamie, who tightened his grip on his grenade launcher and settled into a combat stance.
"I gotcha covered." Jamie assured him.
The work was slow and uninteresting, but at 08:00 Hours, Matt was joined by three more excavators and a dump truck, which carted all their excess dirt they weren't using for the trench walls for use throughout the camp, making a protective ring around the inner buildings. By 12:00 Hours, the trench was complete, and Matt hopped from the cabin after parking the digging machine in the motor pool. Holly and Scar were overseeing several crews of engineers, who were lining the trenches with a fast-drying concrete, reinforcing the sides with steel beams. Carter kept watch on the jungle as another team of engineers installed the heavy armaments.
Every 20 yards, they mounted a man-operated turret that combined two .50cal MGs with a repeating 40mm automatic grenade launcher, digging out a relatively large compartment next to each one, where they stacked crates of ammunition for both weapons and fed them into the guns' belts. They also put grenade sumps into the floor. The grenade sumps were deep troughs in the edges of the trench, meant to soak up the blast of a grenade. Theoretically, if a grenade was thrown into the trench, the soldiers could kick it into the sump so that it wouldn't obliterate the entire trench.
Every 100 yards, the trench widened into a 10 square yard bunker. This space the engineers lined with more reinforced concrete, and built a roof of concrete as well, with narrow openings facing outward, into the jungle. On these openings, they mounted more MG-grenade-launcher-turret combos, which Matt learned the engineers referred to as Eradicator turrets. Also, in the center of each bunker, they installed a 105mm cannon. Each bunker also housed its own weapons locker.
And outside, in the jungle, teams of soldiers staked motion detectors, tripwires linked to flash-bang grenades, and CCTV cameras. In several trees, they installed remote-controlled MG turrets with CCTV, infrared, and thermal cameras, hooked up to the GUSS and a large deposit of ammunition.
On specially reinforced concrete platforms, the teams of engineers raised the 3-story DGTs. Each rectangular level had four Eradicator turrets, one on each side, with protective metal walls to shield the four infantry stationed on each level from small arms fire. The Eradicators were positioned at the edge of each wall, with about four feet of space between it and the large, bullet-proof window of the enclosed cabin on each floor. The infantry mostly would stay within the cabins, monitoring the sensors and cameras. Each level was a fully operational battle station in its own right: each floor had a weapons locker with carbines, shotguns, MGs, and a Mikor-MGL, plus a large cache of ammo for each weapon. They also housed first-aid equipment, mechanical repair kits, rations, and anything else a soldier might need on active duty, such as spare armor and maintenance tools.
And mounted absolutely everywhere on the perimeter were Klaxon alarms and powerful magnesium floodlights linked to the motion sensors. If anything tripped the sensors, the entire perimeter was immediately flooded with light, and every soldier in the camp was alerted by the alarms.
And by 14:17 Hours, the camp was back up to Ford's standards, with a fully equipped defensive perimeter and fully operational buildings. Ford sent the soldiers to sleep and eat in shifts after having organized a schedule for the defensive perimeter and various buildings. There were 200 men and women in their company, including the non-combat support personnel like the engineers. All of the combat troops took shifts to guard the perimeter.
Alpha Team had mounted up earlier that morning; they were supposed to have reported an hour ago.
Half an hour later, Charlie Team was dispatched to find them. They came back after several hours, reporting no traces of Alpha Team anywhere. They did, however, bring back the team's first specimens.
"Make way, make way!" West, the Staff Sergeant of Charlie Team, shouted to the assembled soldiers. They split apart as he and three of his guys came in, bearing a lizard-like animal on an enlarged stretcher. Arrayed next to the lizard were several samples taken from various objects: Matt recognized feces, urine, and skin samples, all packaged in medical sample vials. West put the stretcher down on a table, and while Malcolm and the various biologists tore into the creature, withdrew a fist-sized claw from a pocket and started playing with it.
Matt elbowed his way to the front. There were about 30 people congregated around the medical tables, watching raptly as the scientists cut open the creature. Malcolm was taking notes into an audio-recorder.
"Specimen is 3.4 meters in length, 1.3 meters in height, and about 114kg (250 pounds). Subject appears to be Genus Deinonychus of the Dromaeosauridae Family. However, as with all prior specimens believed to have been obtained from Atlantis, the species is unique, obviously tailored to suit the location's differing demands. The claws are 30% larger, noticing the differentiation between the bone size and taking into account the extra length the enamel horn yields." Malcolm intoned.
West tapped him on the shoulder. "I don't know if it will help, but we found this thing attacking another creature, I think a Tenontosaurus. It fit the picture and description in the GUSS database, too."
Malcolm nodded. "Makes sense." Then, addressing his recorder again, "Field operatives observed Deinonychus attacking what they believe to be a Tenontosaurus, an herbivore frequently found in conjunction with Deinonychus fossils." He turned back to West. "What happened?"
"We were rolling on a narrow game trail, and heard a disturbance to our right flank. I signaled the team to stop; we got off our bikes, and I posted two men to guard. Then, with the other two, made my way towards the source of the noise. There were three of those Deinonychus, attacking the herbivore. The herbivore was wounded and limping in its right foreleg, and that was the one those Deino's kept running for. It was a sight guaranteed to put your heart-rate up and get the adrenaline coursing. Think, a couple 15-foot long predators? Anyways, one of my guys broke. He ran back for the bikes, and the Deino's heard us. One of em' jumped after me, like literally jumped five feet in the air. Sanders had me covered, though. He drilled a burst in the thing's side, which put it down pretty quick.
"After that, we let the beasts have it. The one that had attacked me, this specimen, I immediately killed with sustained fire to the chest, and after it hit the ground, another half clip to the head. The other two beat it pretty much right after the first one ate dirt. The Tenontosaurus bolted soon as we started firing."
"Good work, Staff Sergeant." Ford said as he shouldered his way through the throng. "Get cleaned up, see to your men. We'll handle it from here."
"Thank you, sir." West said, gathered his troops, and left.
Matt surveyed the dinosaur again. It looked extremely familiar to the Deinonychus models he was used to seeing, in museums and the like. The one exception was that the museums never really seemed to capture the real-life, predator appearance, and then of course, this thing was bigger, badder, and meaner. The Deino had short quill-like protrusions at the back of it's head. Other than that, the only bumps came from the bullet holes pockmarking the thing's chest and face. West had indeed let the thing have it.
This proved, at any rate, that at least some Dromaeosaurids, the Family that Deinonychus belonged too, were not feathered.
Malcolm made another incision, wincing and turning his face away as a wave of the rotten-meat smell that always accompanied the Dinos assailed him. "These things don't keep long, do they?" He complained.
"Jesus, how many bullets did it take to put this thing down?" Another biologist asked as she pulled another misshapen piece of led from the Deino's torso.
"Ford, I recommend we start putting shotgun attachments on all the rifles. I'll get to work later on making a combined 40mm grenade launcher and 12-gauge shotgun platform for the carbines. And everyone likely to be in any combat situations with Dinos should be equipped with anti-personnel rounds. The production-line magnums are coming in next week, and that will be interesting to see how they hold up against these monsters." Malcolm tossed over his shoulder.
"Thanks for the input. Any other recommendations?" Ford asked.
"If I can find the time, I'd like Matt to help me plan the next generation standard Combat Armor. I've got some advancements to make to the seals and joints, and we should work on getting the stuff claw-proof. Also, we need to decide on a baseline shotgun to use, and have a bunch shipped over ASAP."
"Already en-route. I put in the order for a crapload of M1014s as soon as I saw the conditions here."
Malcolm nodded and got back to work.
"Delta team, mount up. We still need to find Alpha team. If there's something important enough to hold them up for this long, I wanna know what it is." No one mentioned the alternative; Alpha might not still exist.
"You got it, sir." said Summer, the auburn-haired leader of Delta Team. She, at 5 foot 11, 160 pounds, was the only female Staff Sergeant at the Firebase.
"Keep it frosty, Staff Sergeant. We don't want to lose another team in this accursed jungle."
Summer nodded.
Matt left then, escaping as the mix of antiseptic surgery suite and rotting flesh smells became noxiously overwhelming. This mission would not end well, he could already tell.
Delta team left the base the following morning, at 05:00 Hours. Ford felt, and Matt agreed, that sending troops into the jungle at night without support was akin to a suicide run.
Echo team took their shift in the DGT guarding the South-Eastern flank at 06:00. Loudspeakers blared, issuing instructions to soldiers being rousted from bed. Men scrambled around like agitated ants, grasping for helmets, assault rifles, combat packs, and equipment.
Lessons from earlier wars told how armies frequently attacked at dawn. The night shift was ending, the morning shift just having woken up, and soldiers were half-asleep at their posts. So the advanced armies had quickly developed a simple safeguard: Early morning stand-to. Just as the sun was rising, soldiers were marshaled and attention directed to defenses. Any attacking enemy was welcome to try, so long as they didn't mind facing down the entire contingent of men with loaded weapons and ready for a fight.
Matt paced the cabin on the top floor. It was he and Jamie up top, Scar and Holly in the middle, with Malcolm on the bottom with a new guy, Rob. Rob did not like guard duty. He was freaking out constantly, and any flicker in the sensors that was most likely just the wind or an insect sent him sprinting for the nearest Eradicator.
Matt shared his unease, but was not on the point of hysteria. "Has Summers checked in yet?" Matt asked Jamie. Jamie swept the panels with a practiced eye.
"Nope." He said.
"They should have checked in by now. Ford said, check in by stand-to."
Jamie raised his arms in the universal, 'What the crap do you want me to do about it?' gesture. "What the crap do you want me to do about it?" He asked.
Matt shook his head and continued pacing. He drew a buttefly knife and started playing with it, flipping it end over end and spinning the blade in fantastic loops in an attempt to calm himself. The sensors flickered, which caught his eye, but cameras confirmed a second later that it was just a tree branch swaying. Rob immediately hit the comm. "You guys see that?!"
Matt rolled his eyes. "Yes, Rob, we see it. Cameras say it was just a tree. No need to go burn the forest down around us."
Rob tried to retort, but Jamie cut him from the comm., muttering something profane under his breath.
"Firebase Bravo, this is Ghost. Come in, Firebase Bravo." Summer's voice sounded over the Company-wide comm.
"Of all the names, the flaming red-head is callsign Ghost?" Jamie asked incredulously.
"Lawlress." Matt said, closing his eyes in relief.
Ford answered her directly. "Roger, Ghost. Firebase Bravo, receiving."
"We have sustained moderate casualties and are approaching from the South. Pull open the gates and have medics on-hand. We've got two wounded, one serious."
"We read you, Staff Sergeant. Doors open and beds made; welcome home."
"Thankyou." Summer breathed, then cut the comm.
Matt hurried to the balcony of the three-story watchtower and covered Delta Team as they raced along the makeshift road. They slowed as they neared the gates, then they were through, climbing off of ARMs and ferrying the wounded into a field ambulance with stretchers.
Matt lowered his carbine, and Jamie stepped off the turret. Matt ran a hand through his slick buzz, then sat back in his seat.
Jamie took a seat next to him, tapped the console, and sent another song blaring over the speakers. "You think-"
Matt stiffened suddenly. Jamie cut off mid-sentence, looking at him quizzically. "Jamie, get back on the turret." Matt's voice was deadly calm.
"What? Why?" Jamie asked.
"Something's coming. A bunch of them."
"How do you know?"
"I can't explain. I just know."
Jamie took about half a second to process, then realized that if Matt said the camp was about to be attacked, the camp was about to be attacked. The sensors flickered again, and Jamie knew it wasn't a tree branch this time.
"Firebase Bravo this is Perimeter Guard Echo one-two, one-two. Imminent attack, requesting reinforcements at our position!" Matt yelled as he dashed outside.
Ford appeared in Matt's HUD. "Roger that, son. Three squads and armor support are on the way."
Matt leaned over the railing. "Scar!"
She ran out and stuck her head out of the balcony, looking up at him. "Yeah!"
"Get ready! Hostiles inbound from the South West!"
"Okay! Rob, you too!"
"Y-yeah!"
Jamie racked a round into the chamber, making sure the ammunition box was securely attached. "Bring it!" He shouted into the jungle.
"Here we go."
Next chapter: Atlantis Rising: Chapter 9
Homepage: Atlantis
