text: [SCIFI] Sgt Major Ibin When we went through the Wormhole Gate to K9B7, a life sustaining planet the size of Saturn, we couldn't have dreamed of what we would face. There was of course some reliability to the pretense of fear, confusion, the unknown, and hostile contact. This was a whole new world, a revolutionary discovery for science and astronomy. Signs if life, possible structures visible from initial scans. So when they sent one company of Rangers to scout the region around the Gate, lets just say, we were concerned. But that concerned quickly turned to fear, and distress when half of 3rd company, 941st Army Ranger Battalion, did not arrive at the AO. We, did, not, panic. We are Rangers, we make others panic. Sgt Major Ibin Hawthorne, would not allow "panic" in his company, he was too stone cold killer to let that sentiment rest in pur minds. Company Commander Gibson and just shy of half the company made contact with our element 6 hours after initial insertion to the AO. Due to some Galaxtic trickery, or, malfunction Earth side of the Gate, they had been deposited far outside of the AO. Other side of the planet, far. Initial radio contact had their element moving overland on foot, and advancing on what seemed to be a structure of some kind. Seeing as how all our aerial and land transport were only now coming through the Gate on our side of the world, we did not see them reaching us any time soon, and that was an understatement. 18hrs in and Commander Gibson establishes radio link again. Hostile contacts have engaged in danger close scenarios. He reports several life forms from insectoids to reptilian predators what stalk the flora and undergrowth. The structure was a tower of some kind. Hewn from stone and hollow inside, bridges of stone blocks criss-crossed the hollow interior of the tower. Estimations put the tower at being a football field in diameter inside. 23 hrs in, we have lost all contact with our separated element as of 21hrs. Further Ranger companies have arrived and we have been cleared to advance towards and retrieve our lost Rangers. Full Combat load, NVGs, snipers, and a full medical team on standby. The trip would take 7 hours in the high speed hover carriers. Arrival at the tower was, utter, chaos. Company transponders marked the missing element as spread out halfway up the absolute giant tower. By giant, I am talking about brushing the clouds, giant. We circled the base without finding a place to access the tower without landing. All we could see were fires spreading from several explosion points down amidst the foliage. The Sgt Major ordered the pilot to get us to the top of the tower and see if we could work pur away down to the Commander's group. We were lucky, at the top of the tower there was an old platform just large enough for a single carrier to land and offload its contingent of Rangers. Sgt Major was the first off with the weapons team. From the platform there spanned an almost mideval bridge to to the interior wall of the tower. No railing, no sides, just a straight drop down through a rolled mess of bridges and.... smoke? Comms came alive, Commander Gibson was on the line, "net call, net call! Hostile elements are making another push. Reaper 1, engage with the Karl G. Demo the bridge below us if you have to, they can NOT over this position!" Far below, almost out of view amidst the tangle of cross ways, gunfire could be seen, and some strange green and blue flashes of light crossing back and forth between sides of the tower and along the bridges. I would later understand that the green and blue flashes were chemical fire balls launched by the reptilian, spider, lamprey like creatures assaulting the Commander and his people. Sgt Major Ibin wasted NO time, rifle teams were ordered down into the tower, weapons teams followed and took up covering positions above as we progressed down the interior of the tower. I should note here, that each bridge connected to a sloping ramp lined with tunnels and doors set into the walls of the tower. Old, rotting doors of wood hung limply from iron hinges. The smell, was awful. Decay, and musty, old, wet wood, covered in rot and mold. Every few hundred feet the ramp ended into another bridge. The decent, took, forever. As we drew closer to the lost units of our company, we could hear and see their battle in greater detail. Gunshots, grenade explosions, then came the roars and loud hissing screeches. We didn't know a that time what we were going to be facing when we relieved the Commander, but it did not sound like a puppy in a park. We met up with the uppermost edge of their formation, and they looked haggard. Not PT till you die on your feet, haggard. But, three days without sleep In constant combat, haggard. We foun out later on, they hadn't only gotten dropped off around the planet, but somehow, 2 days earlier than the rest of us. They'd been fighting and humping the terrain for more than 3 days. Without anything more than the ammo in their kits, MREs in their rucks, and the water collected, purified and distributed by the one purifier someone had snuck along in his ruck sack. Back to the fight. We slipped by the upper edge of our company sending them up towards the carriers above. Sgt Major was on the line with Commander Gibson, walking and talking Sitrep the whole way down. We passed Reaper 1, three Rangers with a Karl G launcher and an M107 50cal sniper rifle. Faces drawn, eyes bright with hate and adrenaline. As we passed by, the Sgt in charge of the team muttered, "creepy crawlies die just as well as anything". He wasnt looking at us, just staring down the scope of his 50cal. Hard, to the core. Commander Gibson was propped against a doorway, deep wounds ran through, THROUGH, his armored plate carrier. One hand was gone, and there was a bad burn on his right ear, or rather, where his ear should have been. But his still held his G18 service pistol and stared death and domination down the corpse strewn ramp beyond the barricade of debris they'd built. "Sgt Major," Commander Gibsons voice was hoarse and dry, "we are nearly black on everything heavey enough to stop the charge of the creatures when they come. We need to enacts fighting withdrawal, effective immediately." All business, missing hand, deep wounds, didn't matter, just another Tuesday for the Rangers. The Karl G thundered above us, and the 50cal. Spat green tipped death at something that didn't have the intelligence to realize that it didn't stand a chance against those rounds. But they still came. Somewhere behind and above us a weapons team opened up with the 240B, spitting 7.62 downrange in withering bursts. Screams of dying and butchered creatures rose from the ramp before us. My rifle team had followed with the Sgt Major, intent on relieving the exhausted and spent Rangers at the barricade. As the first, thing, rounded the bend in the ramp, Rangers opened for business. 556 rounds punched holes into thin leathery hide and spattered hissing purple blood into the air. They flooded the ramp, hundreds of them, as big as a Rottweiler, smokey gray skinned, large lamprey esk mouths dripping white drool as they galloped at us on spindly legs with three long claws for hands. We, slaughtered them, but they kept coming. Behind us there was flash of green fire and a concussion, BOOM. The weapons team was, gone. A breed of these creatures with lighter hides were able to launch chemical fire bombs from their round mouths, and our weapons team just took one to the.... well.... everything. Commander Gibson pushed off from the wall and keyed his mic, "Net call Net call, we are falling back to the top of the tower. Reaper 1 area denial rounds. I want teams setting claymore as we leap frog up the interior. Move it Rangers!" He then turned and at nearly point blank dumped his entire magazine into the slavering mouth of a beast that had somehow bypassed all of the incoming fire. Stone, cold, killer. Commander Gibson holstered his G18 and began to trot up the ramp and onto the bridge Reaper 1 held. A Karl G round smashed the bridge below us, I saw this as we backed out onto the bridge, firing into the oncoming horde. The flow of beasts slowed for a brief moment, then they began jumping the gap made in the bridge. We ran, leap frogging the rifle teams behind us, setting claymore mines and c4 charges that would slow momentarily the flood of lamprey creatures. They had begun to scale the walls of the tower, they long claws digging in and finding purchase in the old crumbling stone. We realized this first when Corporal Jakes was pulled down from the side of the bridge we were on. The creature lunged over the edge, spearing him with its one clawed hand and began to pull him towards the edge. Jakes didn't scream, he roared, while pulling the pin on a grenade. He rolled it into he ramp we had just left and then ruined the beast killing him with his sidearm. They both went over the edge, falling into the foggy distance. The climb up that tower would drain a person on a good day. But in the midst of a battle, loaded with armor, ammo, and supplies, being chased by hungry beats. It was so, so, much worse, and they were gaining on us. As we neared the final few bridges we could hear, and sometikes see the carriers lifting off to make room for an unloaded carrier to land and pick up Rangers. But they were on our heels, following us out onto every bridge, their screams and roars echoing all down the tower. Reaper 1 made a choice, then. They would stand and hold, buying enough time for the rest to make it out. Commander Gibson stared hard at them for a moment before nodding once and continues to wave wounded, spent and flagging Rangers forward to the carriers. Reaper 1 held, for long seconds they held. As creatures tore over each other in a mad, crazed, frenzy to get at the stalwart Rangers. My team were the last in line to load up, nearly black on ammo, 1 grenade among us, but no quit at all. I commed Sgt Major Ibin and requested the go-ahead to relieve Reaper 1 and get them out. We were one bridge above them and standing under the whirling blades of the carriers. Sgt Major considered us briefly, then swapped the magazine in his carbine and swept past us towards the ramp leading to Reaper 1. "Come on, Sgt Lang, we've got Rangers to bring home." Then he rounded into the ramp and we were after him. I left half the team on our bridge to fire down at the horde and help alleviate the pressure we would face. Then, at a trot, we pursued the Sgt Major. When we arrived behind Reaper 1, they were being overrun. We spread out, firing past our men at the charging beasts. Sgt Major Ibin was dragging the Sgt from Reaper 1, his chest bloody from teeth marks. We fell back, covering and running. As we made it up the last stretch of the final bridge, a Ranger behind me had his leg bown away suddenly by a green flash of chemical fire. Less explosive, but much more corrosive. I slid to a halt, turned and as I grabbed his carry handle and pulled, I looked up into the maw of a beast. Then it explodes into gouts of purple blood as Sgt Major stepped past me firing his carbine. He was smooth and precise. He waved me back and as I pulled the Ranger into the last Carrier I saw Sgt Major pop 2 frags and drop them at his own feet. He ran then, the boom of the grenades chasing his retreating form. As his feet touched the ramp to carrier it lifted off, and I barely caught his arm as it threw him off balance. Later I would hear him mutter "we still got boys down there. We'll be back, and we'll burn that tower into a hole in the world these creatures have never seen. Kill em real good.