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MARINESGeneral Paul Lehto tightened his chair straps a little more. Atmospheric entry was always rough, but this time was worse. Planet TJ175-A had just come out of the "dark" side of its orbit, and this was the only time any kind of study could be conducted on the planet. But General Lehto and his marines were not there to study anything. They were here on a rescue mission. Roughly three months ago, at the start of the "warm" cycle of this planet's orbit a small team of scientists were sent to this planet to survey the planet for possible colonization. About three days ago a general distress signal began repeating over and over again from the planets research station and two hours ago the signal stopped completely. Gen. Lehto checked the display screen in front of him, all four landing craft had usefully deployed from the orbiting ship and were in perfect formation. He put on his communication headset and flipped a switch. "Pilot, time to land?" "About two minutes, sir" the pilot responded. "When we're through the atmosphere, bring us as close to the reactor control room as possible, I want to use that as our base of operations." The small radar screen in front of Gen. Lehto bleeped out a warning, there was something else in orbit that was not part of his marine force. He keyed his microphone again. "Pilot what do you see of the starboard side, just above the horizon?" "It's some sort of satellite, sir. It's difficult to see, almost like the light is actually bending around it. It must not be functioning properly, or else we wouldn't see it at all" "Is it trying to engage us?" Gen. Lehto asked. "No sir", the pilot responded "It's acting more like a reconnaissance or communication satellite than some sort of defense weapon." Gen. Lehto wrote a quick note on a pad next to him, if it wasn't a threat they'd just check it out on the way out. They had other thing to worry about now. He reached up and began turning on the exterior cameras, time to see what they were up against. He turned on a thermal imaging system and focused it on the reactor control system. After the system adjusted to the exterior temperatures, small heat signatures within the building started to show up. There were several human-looking signature within the room, but they were all lined up against the walls, and nobody seemed to be moving. Gen. Lehto moved the camera left, slightly, and suddenly a new thermal image came into view. It moved on four legs, had an elongated head, and … was that a segmented tail? He quickly swept the camera in a wide arc over the rest of the nuclear reactor compound. More and more of the monstrous images showed up. Gen Lehto quickly switched to a low-light camera and the unmistakable image of an alien appeared on the screen in front of him. Gen. Lehto switched his comm link to one of the other landing craft in the formation. The small screen in front of him lit up. The face of one of this squad leaders showed immediately. "Medico, we've got bugs." "Are you sure?" Medico asked. "Saw them myself, they're all over the reactor compound. They might have already infected some of the research team, but let’s assume they have not. I want your team in first, clear out the bugs and get those people out. When we have the compound clear and the civilians are safe, we'll try and figure out how the bugs got here", Gen. Lehto said. "Yes sir", Medico said. "You might want to clear the infirmary first, so we can transport any injured civilians there until we can evac 'em out." "I'll make sure its clear, just get to those people as fast as you can! I’ve got a bad feeling about this." Gen. Lehto said. The lieutenant took of his headset and put on his helmet. He turned to the other men sitting in the restraint chairs of the APC sitting inside the landing craft. "Alright" Medico had to yell over the roar of the atmosphere outside "We've got confirmed sightings of bugs out there. We'll be the first ones in, so you'll have plenty of targets. Remember, there are civilians down there we’re trying to rescue, so check your targets and use short, controlled bursts. Let's go bug hunting!!!!!"
MARINE ATTIRE (MANDATORY)All Marines are to wear GREEN shirts. Camouflage IS acceptable. Any Marine showing up in any other color than green or camo (like Woody, in pink) will be taped not much unlike this guy ;-) A shirt should be no more than $5 (See the forums for a place to get them at that price and support a fellow supporter). Get with the program, soldier! MARINE COMMAND STAFF
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