Dealing with the Locals

Posted on Thu Mar 16th, 2017 @ 2:22am by

751 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: New Faces and Terror Beyond
Location: Planet: Major Settlement

SSG Winters and her platoon of Marines moved into the crowded plaza as citizens of the settlement made way for them to progress unhindered. She and her troops held their assault rifles at low ready with the barrels pointing towards the ground.

The tension was thick as the Settlement Citizens slowly quieted down making room for the well trained troops of the Federation Marines. Both sides looked at each other with restrained held back hostilities.

Then some signal, the citizen began to disperse from the square before the Settlements Government building. Her Radioman came rushing up to Winters and whispered, "The Natives are rioting back in our base camp." As the radioman held the earpiece out to her.

She took the earpiece and put it to her ear to listen in on the conversations being transmitted over secure Fleet/Marine Frequency. She growled softly as the citizens cleared the square, leaving them standing with the local guard force protecting the Government building.

The Magistrate came out once the Marine gotten close to the building and his guard force. "Thank you for helping us to disperse the crowd." He spoke as SSG Winters moved ahead of her troops to meet with him. "Please come in once you get your troops positioned."

"I'm afraid we can't. We need to get back to our Base Camp." Winters spoke handing back the headset to her radioman. "Call the shuttle down to land here for pick-up." She gave the order to her Radioman and signaled to her troops to prep for immediate departure. She turned to the Magistrate. "I don't know what games you're playing. We're... was.. here to provide relief and assistance. But it seams that we're not needed here anymore."

"What if they reassemble after you leave?" Magistrate whined as he watch the Marines secure the square for the shuttle to land. It would be a tight fit to get them all in one trip.

"Then get your troops to prevent that from happening." Winters countered. She was angry at how they had been pulled away to leave valuable supplies open for attack by the locals. "If you placed them around the square in advantage position. This can be prevented from happening again." She moved to the edge of the square to be out of the way when the shuttle landed.

Zan lands the shuttle and already has the rear ramp down and ready by the time it touches down. "Sargeant get your ass on board and fast, we are pulling out. Orders from above. Massive attack on the base, fatalities. Locals overrun us."

"No shit!" Winters spat out, giving orders to drop unnecessary gear in a pile to make room for the tight squeeze. She was pissed at being suckered away from the Base Camp with a large contingent of Marines, to allow a fiasco back at the forward base of operation.

Once the gear had been piled and troops squeezed aboard, SST Winter sent the command for the incendiaries to go off and destroy the left behind equipment. She boarded the shuttle. "Lets Blow this pop-stand," She yelled to Zan. "All Accounted for!" She hung on and the word was passed up to Zan that everyone was aboard.

Zan kicked the shuttle hard and they were in the air and heading back to the Dreadnought within 15 seconds. The ride was a little rough because of the weather but they had to get back.

Amanda felt bad about being sarcastic and rough with Zan. He was just doing his job. She worked her way up to the front. The troops found other things to be interested in and Amanda squatted next to him. "Hey 'pologize for being a bit rough on ya." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "How bad was it at our base?"

"It's alright." Zan spoke not taking his eyes off the controls. "Reports suggest they overran the entire compound, fires, damage and fatalities. Captain's ordered us back so he can plan his move."

Amanda nodded. "To the ship then..." She wanted to go back and raised hell with the locals on the planet. It was time to cut losses and do a tactical withdrawal at this time. Turning to the troops she yelled, "Got a long flight ahead of us. Get comfortable."

There was groans and ripple of complaints amongst the crowed troops. As for them, there was only standing room. Only the crew of the Shuttle had it easy for they had the seats already.

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