<strong>~ Lance Corporal Roman “Rome” Beneke - 1st Squad, in the cavernous labyrinth on mission to rescue a Weyland-Yutani executive ~<br/></strong><br/>Rome had to admit, he was rather impressed with how Pvt. DeSilva handled his crass remarks. He was equally impressed with the manner in which she handled herself in a tight spot. Taking up his position at the rear of the column, as ordered, he followed behind Pvt. DeSilva as she covered Pvt. Sakuraba, who had been particularly quiet after incapacitation of Senjo and the explosion back at their downed drop ship. He wondered if the young girl had been rattled by the turn of recent events.<br/><br/>Though he was very much enjoying the view of Pvt. DeSilva’s shapely… assets afforded him by his position behind her, the fact that he had been placed at the rear of an advancing column in a terrain that could suddenly and unexpectedly restrict his field of fire was gnawing at his mind like a vulture picking at a scavenged carcass. Rome began to grumble as quietly as Rome can grumble. He couldn’t understand why MSgt. O’Shay had put him and the significant firepower of his M56 at the rear of the column and had taken point for himself. As far as Rome was concerned, this flew in the face of conventional military tactics, and the more he thought on it the more agitated he became.<br/><br/>As they ventured farther into the unknown abyss before them, light gave way to darkness which soon engulfed them completely. His flashlight had been busted in the crash along with his motion tracker, so it was a relieved sigh that was given when DeSilva switched on her shoulder mounted flashlight, illuminating the cave before them and eliminating at least that small sliver of the unknown from the equation. He yanked back on the weapon’s charging handle and thumbed the safety off before switching his helmet mounted camera and targeting lens on.<br/><br/><br/>Finally unable to keep his mouth shut about it any longer, Rome blurted out in a rather indignant tone,<strong>”Sarge, why the fuck am I back here looking at asses and elbows when me and <em>Sexy Beast</em> should be the spearhead of th…”</strong><br/><br/>He was cut off by the unmistakable staccato of the M-41 Pulse Rifle’s full auto fire echoing eerily off the cavernous walls, accompanied by nearly indiscernible voices shouting from an unknown direction. The reverberation of the noises bouncing off the solid, stone walls made it nearly impossible to tell in which direction the commotion originated. Instantly, Rome thumbed the safety off and brought the beast around on a swivel. Fortunately they currently found themselves in a rather spacious opening and Rome was able to get a clear line of sight on anything that might be approaching.<br/><br/>A beam of light up ahead sliced through the pervading black, jostling and bobbing erratically and he could hear footsteps and the sounds of labored breathing approaching directly in front of them. Leveling his weapon on those who approached, he placed a large hand firmly on DeSilva’s shoulder to calm her, hoping she wouldn’t blast the idiots for running up on Colonial Marines unannounced like they did in unknown territory with unknown hostiles in the area.<br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Man in lab coat:<br/>"Thank God you're here" he said "those....things are back there!" <br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/><strong>”You fuckin’ run up on a Marine like that again… you can thank God yourself, Stupid FUCK! I’ll be sure to arrange the meeting personally.”</strong><br/><br/>Giving the man a cursory look up and down, he glanced sidelong over to DeSilva, a smirk on his face.<strong>”Mother fucker... and I thought scientists were supposed to be all smart and shit.”</strong>He muttered the last part more to himself than to DeSilva, but she easily picked up on it. Stepping past the man in the lab coat, he strained to see in the darkness ahead, his smart gun pointed in the direction the strangers had fled, but DeSilva’s shoulder lamp only penetrated the darkness for a certain distanced before it too was devoured by the darkness. Keeping his eyes fixed ahead, his tone was still patronizing when he addressed the man once more.<strong>”Now, use your scientifical words and tell us what <em>things</em> are back there. Are they big and ugly with pointy dreadlocks and lasers on their shoulders?”</strong><br/>