"Once upon a time blah blah blah nohunters blah blah gogogogogo"
-Rumpelstiltskin
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| The Beginning of the End, Ch. 1,2 | | | Author: | | | IP: | 24-205-6XXXX | | Date: | 04/17/03 06:04 | | Game Type: | Starcraft | | Labels: | none | | Report Rating: , # of Ratings: 1, Max: 4, Min: 4
Lifetime Rating for ShadowWolf: 4.0000 |  | Chapter One
As the squad crested the last dune, the base came into view. From the distance, it looked like a sprawling city, but upon closer inspection, it was clearly seen to house huge armies, with patrolling infantry and tank squads, fully mechanized walkers towering over all but the largest of buildings, and the fang-like citadel looming over the entire base. This one would be hard.
Kim signaled the squad leader, his hands quickly waving an “all clear.”
Ryan conveyed the signal to the four other squad members and took note of Kim’s preliminary report on estimated enemy strength, especially concerning the patrolling infantry. Five assault spec-ops troopers silently crossed the open desert, flickering in and out of vision in the receding light. Kim stayed back, providing sniper cover. When the troopers reached the wall, they whipped out their climbing gear: high-powered, titanium-reinforced claws the popped out of the knuckle area and out of the tips of their boots.
Smith and Park went up first. They were about halfway up the towering 100-foot wall, when Ryan urgently called them using a series of clicks.
A sentry was approaching.
There was not time to take cover on the wall, so Ryan immediately signaled Kim to take the target.
A bright flash of light, and the energy Flechette did its work. Park and Smith made it over easily, and Park deployed his chain gun to provide heavy fire.
The three other troopers came up quickly, and moved to their locations. The four standard-equipped troopers moved out to their predetermined locations to do their special operations: sabotage.
* * *
Ten minutes later, the entire team was making their way to the rendezvous point
Another two minutes, they were there. They fanned out, checking for anyone or anything. There could be wires or enemy special ops hiding out there. They found nothing. They quickly set up their electronics gear and contacted the dropship.
“Bravo-Six-Alpha, this is Shadow-Lead.” Ryan’s voice crackled over the net.
“We copy, Shadow. Go ahead.” Came the static-filled reply.
“We are in position at LZ-Alpha.” Ryan said. “The packages have been sent, Fed-Ex.” the code-phrase went.
“Roger, we’ll pick up the packages , E.T.A. twelve minutes.”
“Roger. Over and out.”
The team quickly donned their jetpacks in preparation for pickup.
Eleven minutes later, a dropship came roaring through the relatively quiet desert air. The troopers fired their jetpacks, and lifted into the night sky, quickly flying into the cargo hold of the cargo-hauler sized combat dropship.
The ship lifted out of the atmosphere and into the command battlecruiser, orbiting at several thousand miles above the surface, leaving the desert planet full of religious fanatics. Ryan and his team looked out of their portholes for the second, and most probably last, look at Sestan-IV, the desert planet.
Chapter 2
On the DUS Jun-Sah, Ryan and his team were finally going to bed after hours of grueling interrogation by big-headed politicians.
“What were the base defenses like?”
“What equipment did you use?”
“How was the terrain?”
“What problems occurred?”
“How many enemies did you dispatch? Why? Was it absolutely necessary?”
Even still, Ryan and his entire team knew that the idiots of politicians would never understand something like a special-operations mission. But everyone sat through it anyways, just to humor their stupidity. Even though one person from the team could probably take down the entire ship on his or her own.
They’ll never learn…
Sniper Specialist James Kim sat in his quarters alone with his thoughts. He remembered how he had grown up on Earth, how privileged he was, whereas most people now had never even seen the planet, much less lived on it for sixteen years of their lives. He grew up learning how to shoot radioactively-mutated wolves in the Siberian tundra as sport with an ancient, 21st century rifle—bolt-action!—that made a sound loud enough to give any politician a heart attack and had a kick that could kill a small dog. He still had it, sittin gunder his bed.
Fifteen minutes later, Specialist James Kim was sound asleep.
* * *
The Council meeting was going well. Scott Miller was arguing that more resources should be spent on the special operations group, while David Johnson was trying to convince everyone that special operations was a complete waste of time.
“The point of the matter is that these people deserve no respect!”
“Of course they do! Without these skilled men and women, at least half of our operations would have failed miserable!”
“What do they do that’s so special? Run around with guns and knives killing people? Yes!”
“No! They use every ounce of their extensive training staying unseen and undetected to cripple, not destroy or kill, every last enemy asset!”
“Really? I’d bet they couldn’t use their training to get in here!”
“Too late. They’re already here.”
“Where? I don’t see them.”
“Look over there. In the small area above the door.”
“What? I don’t see anything.”
“Team Leader? If you’d be so kind.”
Ryan stopped his invisibility and immediately became visible to every person in the room.
“This man and his team are never allowed in because of people like you. And yet, they sneak in. Why? To ensure the safety of our little government. If it was for Specialist Ryan and his squad, there is no doubt enemy special operations would have snuck in here and killed every single one of us.”
“But look at them! Their equipment is top-of-the-line!”
“Because they bought it all with their own private funds!”
“Why? Our funds can buy all of their equipment for them!”
“See that sniper’s rifle there? That scope costs more than the budget covers. Imagine how much that guns costs.”
“How’d he afford that then? Did he take money from the funds?”
“Nope. Let me tell you a little story about his life…”
The argument drifted on and on, back and forth, raging on and on. Ryan and his team kept their thankless vigil.
* * *
A full nine hours later, the Council adjourned. Miller won by a bare margin. Out of two hundred, eighty-eight voted for miller, seventy-five voted for Johnson, and thirty-seven abstained from voting. Miller barely made it over the minimal winning requirement by three votes.
Politics.
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