Re: The Fate of Kilo Platoon<br/><br/><strong>Lcpl. Roman "Rome" Beneke</strong><br/><br/>As rear guard, Rome trailed the marine column up the steps and into the next room, the M56 ever vigilant, moving in measured, horizontal and vertical sweeps. All of Rome's heightened senses were judicious, one could simply tell by looking at his wide eyes,  intensely alert. As Kilo moved into the next room and the all clear was given, the door was closed behind them and the marines all began to offload their gear, following the Lieutenant's lead. Rome removed his helmet and rubbed his hand over his bald head as he relaxed a bit.<strong>"Too bad our mission wasn't to find where the colonist are NOT. Mission complete... AGAIN."</strong>Rome joked as he disconnected the smartgun's battery and dismounted it from the swivel base, laying it carefully on a nearby bench. He unlatched the chest plate and slipped free of it's heat soaking confines, then retrieved a MRE from his pack. He sat down on the bench next to his weapon and began prepping the MRE for consumption, mumbling to himself as he did. If anyone was listening in, they'd catch bits of his ramblings here and there,<strong>"... god damn steak... this fucking rock... ain't no colonists.... "</strong>He spoke up louder at the next bit, to emphasize his disdain for their current situation,<strong>"... fuckin' dick heads running around everywhere! Eating people! ... FUBAR .... Fubar."</strong>Finally he shoved a mouthful of his MRE in his mouth and chewed, still grumbling only now it was inaudible with a mouthful of slop.<br/><br/>Rome glanced around at Kilo as he ate, pausing to slurp thirstily at the tube to his hydration bladder slung over his back, built into his pack. He took the time to replay in his mind the attack they had sustained earlier in the Hab block. Only now did it begin to sink in how close he and his squad mates had come to death. He paused his chewing for a moment and shook his head with a grin,<strong>"Poor bastards,"</strong>he mumbled. He had to be honest with himself, he was surprised that Gizmo not only survived but came out unscathed in their last attack. He was pleasantly surprised by Zippo's performance, thinking her to be more likely to freeze up or just totally freak out and lose all combat functionality after witnessing those horrid creatures. Reaper didn't surprise him all, except when he talked... and usually what he said. The rest of the squad was par for the course by his estimation.<br/><br/>He glanced over to Widow and waved her over as she began to lighten her load to grab some grub.<strong>"Widow, bring your fine ass over here and have a sit down with Rome."</strong>They always teased each other that way since he often found himself either bringing up the rear of the column or near the front, behind the point man. More often then not the person in front of him in the formation was Widow, and when it wasn't widow it was Reaper. He joked with Reaper the same way, but Reaper never reacted favorably to Rome's calling his ass 'fine' ... just a blank stare that seemed to say something akin to<em>"I'll remove your fucking heart out with a spoon."</em>, so Rome always laughed boisterously in an effort to defuse the awkward moment.<br/><br/>He glanced over to Senjo and the Lieutenant as they stared at some computer screen, talking about god knows what... probably what kind of shitty situation they could put themselves in next. He remembered suddenly where the creature had stabbed at him earlier, penetrating through some of his armor but not his skin and he set about to investigate the damage, once again grumbling in disgust.