//------------------------------// // Chapter Three - Unknown Energy Pulse. // Story: New Horizons // by ParaNomaly //------------------------------// November 29th, 2064 Great Plains Forward Operating Base 0510 Hours Commander Jason leaned back on his bunk with a sigh as his eyes scanned through the holographic tablet in his left hand. He and his squad had been stuck inside the FOB for the past five days after they had blown up the Manticore (which they had learned what it was later on) sky high, they've been ordered to stay there and wait for further orders. So far they've just been enjoying their little time off after what happened. After they had killed the Manticore, the F-15 Phantom heavy dropships had begun their trips along with some engineers; they had gotten the base up in a day or so surprisingly. The base had been set up in what is now dubbed the great plains, due to it stretching over one thousand and five hundred miles and in honor of the great plains of North America. Not to be confused with the late 20th-century fighter, the F-15 Phantom was a space superiority fighter developed by the United North American States during the Columbian Wars of 2038. It was later repurposed by the Lunar Colonies after the war to serve as a small cargo/drop ship due to its relatively large frame. The full name was currently 'Furry MPCS/DS -15", MPCS standing for "Multi-Purpose Cargo Ship" and the /DS for Dropship Jason shook his head and sat up on his bunk, if what he had just read was correct, they'll be redeployed once more to one of the other continents for further recon. He was supposed to be in the briefing room in five along with the rest of his squad. "Psst... Hey, Jason, Hey..!" Jason blinked as he leaned forwards and looked towards the source of the voice. "Yeah?" Jason replied as he saw Jane on the bunk beside him, leaning over it and looking at him. "Did you get the memo? They want us to go on another recon at some forest on another continent." Jane replied with slight annoyance as she hopped down from the bunk and motioned for Jason to follow with a wave of her hand. "Come on; we don't want to be late unless we want to get our asses chewed by some higher up." With a nod, Jason set his tablet down on the bunk and hopped down after Jane, following her to the briefing room. They passed through a series of rooms still under construction on the way to the briefing room, most of which were crew quarters or storage rooms. They arrived at the briefing room five minutes later, with Luna and Michael already inside and sitting in the chairs neatly put together in the center of the room with a table and a holographic display behind it. Jason took a seat in between Luna and Michael, the former who was using a toothpick to try and get something out of her teeth, and the ladder which was sitting with the chair facing backward, chewing what Jason guessed was a life of gum. Jane sat down behind the three and proceeded to stare at the holographic screen in front of the room. They didn't have to wait long for a man to walk into the room with a data pad tucked in-between his arm and torso. The man was dressed in a slightly armored officer uniform with more than a few stars and medals on his chest, he had various scars across the left side of his face, along with whiteish fair and a glowing blue left eye, no doubt a bionic eye due to whatever left those scars also taking his eye as well. The man was well built, with a tall six-foot frame that could rival those of Earth weight lifters, he was no doubt a high ranking official. But of course, Alpha squad knew who this was. This was General Armstrong. General Armstrong had a history with Alpha and the rest of the company on the Nightmare. He served in the Columbian Wars of 2038 and the African Conflict of 2041, along with many more major battles and conflicts, he was promoted to General during 2047. Shortly after the war began and stationed on Luna in 2048, he took command of the Lunar colonies after the bombs fell to deal with the riots that broke out across the lunar surface. The General stopped in front of the table and set his datapad down as alpha squad stood up and saluted him, he glanced over the squad for a few seconds before speaking up. "At ease, Marines." He nodded to them as they sat back down. "Now, as you may know, the boys up on the ship decided that we needed more expedition and recon parties to go out there and do some recon on certain selected areas. The problem is we are short on man power to accomplish this task. That is when you come in." The General tapped a few times on the data pad, after a few seconds the holo screen lit up and displays one of the continents that has yet to be visited by manned expeditions. This is where you come in; a Phantom will pick you up at Oh-six hundred hours and will take you to the outskirts of the vast forest that spans the entire continent. From there you will set up basic monitoring Equipment and await further orders, understood marines? " "Sir yes sir!" "At ease, now go get yourselves suited marines!" The squad saluted one more time before picking up whatever things they had brought with them and walking out of the room in a straight line, heading straight to the armory to get themselves suited up. "Hey, Jason. You think we'll encounter any more of those things?" Luna whispered to Jason as he walked up beside him, keeping with his pace. "No idea, but I'm packing some more rocket ammo this time around." "And some bigger guns.." Luna replied under her breath as she slowed down, letting Jason pass by her. "At least we won't get caught unprepared this time around.." Jason muttered to himself as he continued the walk towards the armory. November 29th, 2064 Equestrian Stratosphere F-15 Phantom dropship. 0550 Hours Far above Equestria's surface, a sole F-15 Phantom strode across its stratosphere, making constant trips to its mother ship and down to the base below, bringing valuable construction materials so that the building of the FOB could continue. The area that the FOB was located in was also one of the more likely spots for the colony to be founded, with a lush green forest on one side, and a long, thick river stretching over one-third of the entire continent from one end to another. "This is Firebird Actual, we are detecting some strange readings over here, is this showing up on your scanners, over?" "Solid copy Firebird, redirect course and continue with these coordinates, we will continue to monitor the activity in this area." "Roger that Fortress, redire-... What the hell? We have a sudden spike in activi-... OH GO- " "Firebird come in, Firebird this is Fortress, do you copy?" "Static..." If anyone were looking out of a window in any of the ships, they would have noticed a bright flash coming from the surface, and another bright flash engulfing the F-15. November 29th, 2064 Equestrian Orbit ULC Nightmare 0551 Hours "What do you mean we lost a drop ship?!" Vergil said as he slammed his hand down on the arm of this captain's chair. "Sir, we detected a sudden spike of energy originating from the planet below, whatever caused it is was either aiming at the Phantom, or it was within the radius of the energy pulse. Whatever happened wasn't picked up by our sensors either, the energy pulse seems to have somehow blocked any sensors from seeing anything." "Ah shit.. Do we have any teams ready for a search and rescue?" "Only alpha squad sir, they should be preparing for another recon mission." "Do we have a rough estimate to where the ship would have crashed at?" "Affirmative, sir. The ship would have crash landed somewhere in the outskirts of an Alien settlement. Best case scenario the ship kept going into the forest. Worst it crash landed inside the settlement." Vergil sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You know what to do, Aden." "Aye aye, sir. Relaying new objectives to General Armstrong and Alpha squad." November 29th, 2064 Great Plains Forward Operating Base 0553 Hours "-nd then I told him to go fuck himself!" Michael roared in laughter at his inside joke while the rest of Alpha Squad Sat there, watching him with all sorts of confusion plastered on their faces. "..What?" Michael laughed once more and waved them off, going back to cleaning his gun Jason shook his head in mild disappointment as he turned to look at the others, not bothering to comment on what just happened."Alrighty then... The drop ship is leaving in a few minutes, so you better get yourselves ready for another long ass trip half way around the wo-" Jason was interrupted as the automatic door slid open and the General stepped through with a scowl on his face. "Alright, listen up. We have new priorities, at approximately five hundred and fifty hours, we lost contact with an F-15 Phantom. From what we know so far it was brought down by some sort of energy spike near the main continent of the planet. You are now serving as a search and rescue team. Your objectives and HUDs have been updated with the available Info. We cannot let the natives of the continent find it first, is that understood marines?" He explained as he stopped in front of them and surveyed the room, his cold, hard eyes glancing over them with unparalleled, controlled fury. "Sir yes sir!" Alpha Squad replied as they saluted and stood at attention. "At ease, you have seven minutes to get ready and have your asses inside the drop ship. Understood?" "Sir yes sir!" "Good, two more squads will be accompanying you in different drop ships down to the surface, check for friendly fire and try to avoid contact with the locals, we don't want any more problems to deal with." Said the General as he took one last glance over the room before giving a brief salute and exiting the room, leaving Alpha squad alone. "..You gotta be fucking kidding me.." "Ugh..." "Does that mean we have to rescue some guy AND recon?" "Hey! Enough." Jason finally said as he stood up and looked back at the rest of his squad. "You didn't sign up just to sit on your asses in a base and complain every time you get a new OP, did you? Because I sure as hell didn't. We're fucking marines goddamn it, act like ones! Now get your asses up and moving towards the drop ship, A.S.A.P!" Luna and Jane rolled her eyes at Jason's little 'inspirational' mini-speech and stood up, giving him a half-assed salute before picking up their gear and heading towards the hangar. Michael was the only one who gave him a decent salute before following Jane and Luna out. Jason lingered around the room for a few more seconds, his mind wandering to what they could encounter down there. After the last incident, he didn't want anything else catching them off guard like that thing did. Jason shook his head with a heavy sigh, he bent over and picked up his helmet before sliding it back over his head before stepping out of the room and following the rest. "What's next, giant space bears?"