<em> "Indeed it does matter. It helps to know what one is getting themselves into, so they can be prepared."</em><br/><br/>Snorting softly, Riska shook her head.  “Gee, ya<em>think</em>?” she muttered under her breath.  Arillo was such a fucking boy scout, but more than likely he was saying it for the benefit of the two new grunts in the squad.  At least he’d better be.  She didn’t take being patronized that well.<br/><br/><em>"Uh... sir...?" She (Arca) started, looking back to the screen. "Where are all the birds? And all the animals? I'm not even getting so much as a chirp from anything alive."</em><br/><br/>Danko glanced at Fields, brows knitting together and the turned back to the gun turret’s sights for a second look.  The girl was right, there was nothing moving out there.  “Jeezuz …”<br/><br/><em>"We are all going in Sarge, don't want one of ya'll running off with my APC, I just got this baby commissioned." Tychus said with a light chuckle since the helmet hid the grin on his face. </em><br/><br/>Danko let out a soft laugh as a grin split her face.  Man had a sense of humor after all.  “Roger that, Sir.”<br/><br/>The LT gave his orders as the APC pulled up with one hundred feet of the colony’s doors.  Riska took the time to plug in the electrical firing pin on her M56 and check the ammo readout.  Six hundred, and lord knew she had a lot more stored in her pack.  Once the APC doors were open the squad poured out into the hot, heavy air and Fields ran up to the door to bypass the security system and open her up.  As she moved, Danko flicked off the safety on her gun, carefully checking everything around them as they moved.  Not a goddamn bird in sight.  But then again, maybe they hadn’t imported them in yet.<br/><br/><em>“ … The rest of you...safeties off and ready to maul down anything. In the event we have some colonist with a bad case of cabin fever. If you see anything not human or hell any threat put it down...kill it first and ask questions later. If you have any questions I will address them later!"</em><br/><br/><em>"Not human?" Mathias drawled, as though voicing the concerns Cooper had wisely kept to himself.  "Well shit, now you've got me worried.  I'm half expecting a rhinoceros to come stampeding out the front door." </em><br/><br/>"Maybe he means your ex-girlfriend."  Riska’s expression dissolved into one of pure professionalism, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that crept up her spine.  “Sounds like the new LT likes to throw my kind of party,” she said to Marcus as she came up next to him, “but why do I get the feeling he knows something we don’t?”<br/><br/>Danko moved to take up her position near the front of the squad, just as the doors were opening.   Behind her, Fields was struggling with her gun.  “Just try and relax girl, and keep the strap over your shoulder. Let your upper body carry the weight."  Then, she turned back to the yawning maw ahead of them.<br/><br/>“Come out come out, wherever you are,” she whispered under her breath, as the squad began to move forward.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>