Major Alexander "Bulldog" Botchner
Status: Aboard the FSS Interceptor, accompanied by Captain Shay Marx and the trainees of cadet corps 212th "Gamma Company"; en-route to Eos city, western hemisphere, Planet Mars.
Sit Rep: Command has authorized the construction of an F.O.B. on the planets surface, Gamma Company Deployed as first responders.
End Status Report…
Major Botchner stood next to the entrance of the dropship's cabin, a tasty Cuban cigar in his mouth. He gazed over the faces of Gamma Company, too many of them new to him. Removing his stogie, exhaling the smoke, he spoke, "Alright listen up! Command has given us a priority one mission. We are to establish and defend an F.O.B., designated Camp Reclamation, within Eos city. Command doesn't know what we'll expect upon insertion so be prepared for anything. Teams Alpha and Bravo will be under the command of Captain Marx and will be responsible for establishing our perimeter. Charlie, Delta, and Echo teams are to begin construction of basic fortifications until a time where more permanent ones can be established. Any questions?"
Botchner looked around the hold and saw one of the recruits hesitantly raising his hand. "This ain't grade school rook, spit it out!" he barked, startling the trooper. "S-Sir," the rookie stuttered, "I know this may sound stupid sir but what do we do if a large number of bugs overrun Camp Reclamation during construction?" The Major stared down the young man, "Well since Karma's a bitch, be a bitch to the bugs. Is that understood Private Karma?" "S-Sir that's not my-" Botchner cut him off, "I SAID is that understood Private Karma?" Chastised, Karma answered glumly, "Yes sir." Botchner looked around the hold, "ANYONE ELSE?" "NO SIR!" came the collective response. "Good," the Major stuck his cigar back in his mouth.
A few minutes later the pilot came over the intercom, "3 minutes till impact!" Almost immediately, Captain Marx stood up and secured his equipment to his body. "Alpha, Bravo, ready up. Corporal Santana, with me," he said in a neutral tone. He walked to the back of the transport with the slightly fumbling recruit trailing. "Teams you have your assignment upon insertion, the corporal and I will be providing over-watch," the stoic captain's fist hit the release button. Rushing air threatened to rip everyone from their seats despite the restraints. "Sir, what are you-" Marx grabbed the back of Santana's armor and casually jumped from the transport. The young corporal screamed as they fell until the telltale jerk of a jetpack slowly set them on top of a skyscraper. The recruits back in the transport couldn't help but stare in fear, one commenting, "Oh my god, the Captain's a lunatic…"
"No," Botchner puffed his cigar, "He's just thinking ahead loud mouth." The major said with a stern face as he activated his helmet, the new recruits got a good glimpse of the majors helmet and remembered every detail they could remember, the two Bulldog fangs baring out over the majors mouth piece and the rearing mad eyes of a bulldog over his visor and the unit number on the top of his helmet the distinguished 212th stood out bold in black decal. The three dropships hit the ground in their designated crash course and slowly skidded to a stop.
The hatches opened and all teams quickly fled from the dropships performing their routines of executing a perimeter formation around their exit point. The major stood and waved his troopers forward giving them the okay to move up. They slowly got closer to the city entrance being carful and checking all their spots of vision, searching for anything that could be dangerous.
The Captain and his corporal set up shop and slowly watched the teams enter the city. Santana moved her sights on movement not even three blocks from the majors position. "Major this is Reaper two I got movement three blocks due north of your position, say again enemy movement to the north, good hunting and god speed major." The corporal said as she continued to track the movement, Marx looked over his shoulder and spoke "Good spotting." Marx said before he looked back through his scope and spotted movement to the south. "Major this Reaper one Be advised I got movement to the south, say again I got bogies heading in from the south, Be prepared major, I estimate you got about six hundred warriors baring down on your front and back door." Marx said sternly as he grunted and fixed his sights.
The major listened to the reports that his sniper team had relayed, "Understood, if things get too hairy I want you out of there." The major ordered as he and the rest of the teams stopped and took cover on opposite sides of the street. The major signaled to the other teams to move up slowly as he looked around the corner of the building he was using as cover, he could spot the enemy movement. The bugs had just been sitting there, facing the opposite direction. The major looked back to see some of the recruits practically wanting to get into the fight, he smiled to himself as he even saw the terrified Private Karma hyping himself up.
"Alpha and Bravo, open fire as soon as you get in range." The major ordered as he moved out of cover, the recruits followed, weapons readied and fully loaded "Rodger that sir." Alphas team lead spoke as he and the rest of his team took cover behind abandon cars, Bravo team had moved up a little further, taking cover against a building. "Sir, Bravo team in position, opening fire." Bravos team lead spoke before he ordered his team to take up positions behind abandon cars. Bravo team began to open fire, a storm of hot lead fell upon the unsuspecting warrior bugs. Alpha team immediately joined in.
The cacophony of gunfire echoed throughout the desolate city, the cries of dying bugs adding to the mix. For a while it seemed like everything was going fine yet bugs are very persistent creatures. Inch by inch the insectoids drew closer to the valiant infantry. Their losses were great yet what they lacked in quality they more than made up for in quantity. The first to fall was one of the new recruits who got too cocky and moved forward. He either didn't hear or ignored his squad leader to not break ranks. The recruit was blindsided by a bug's talon. He was knocked down and subsequently swarmed, blood and body parts flying everywhere. The sight of one of their own dying made some of the troopers falter. The bugs gained more ground as the squads were slowly pushed back.
Meanwhile back on the high-rise, Captain Marx gave an order to Corporal Santana, "Corporal, dig in my bag and hand me a bullet with a purple stripe on it. She did as ordered, drawing out the strange round and handing it to her CO. He dropped his current magazine and handed it to her, the round in the chamber flying out at her a moment later. Placing the purple round in the breach, Marx chambered the lone round and lined up his shot. Just before he fired, the Captain radioed to the squads below, "Alpha, Bravo, hit the dirt." There was a loud bang and the round flew into the mass of insects.
On the ground, the only warning the squad's had was the Captain's order, "Alpha, Bravo, hit the dirt." Not questioning it, they all dropped as the round flew overhead. Just before it impacted the mass of bugs, small sections of the round split off revealing tiny bumps with holes at the top of them. Suddenly, six different purple colored beams exited those bumps. Flying through the swarm and missing every single bug, the round entered a piece of rubble behind the bugs. All the insectoids stopped for a moment before falling into pieces. "Threat neutralized," Captain Marx reported.
The Major fired his MK-lll SAW into the mouth of a wounded warrior bug and then moved onto a charging Bug that was heading straight for him, he shouldered his rifle and was ready to fire, but all of a sudden a young trooper used his booster pack and rammed the bug into a near by wall, killing the bug on contact. "I got you sir." the young trooper said as he quickly took down two more bugs before he reloaded "Private Cowboy that was quick thinking, but next time don't get in my way, I wont hesitate to shoot you myself and mark you off as a causality." The major said in a serious tone. "Understood sir." The private said as the Major moved from cover to the open, shooting a bug that was about to bite down on an unsuspecting trooper that was doing his best to hold off some of the last few bugs.
Several minutes later the 212th had fully cleared a ten block radios from the city center. "Private Karma and Private cowboy, front and center." Botchner ordered as he reloaded his SAW, dropping the empty mag on the ground as the two privates ran and stopped in front of their commanding officer. "Karma and Cowboy reporting in. The two troopers said as they saluted the major "I want the two of you to stick with me, we're going to check out the rest of the city for any bug holes, and nuke them." The major ordered as he pointed at two other random troopers, "You two with us." The major ordered as he shouldered his SAW. "The rest of you start building up the fortifications and we should be back in a few hours." The major said he began to walk down the street, the four troopers followed the major.