The Baldie, The Clone, and the Sabre: Chapter 2

[Martzin]

LV-426
0105

Reno was just infront of the Fireteam, accompanied by Caddy walking on his left. He listened to the gravel under their boots crumble with each step, making a cacophany of small pebbles being smushed by the rubber soles. After some walking, Reno's shoulder lamp had managed to illuminate the walls of a dome.

"Hold," ordered Reno. He and Caddy both began to inspect the area, before Reno motioned for the squad to keep moving.
Reno led his men inside the dome. The building was lit only by the headlamps on their chestplates, the room being lined with tables of alien plants overgrowing wildly on them. The ground was tiled green and grey, with various tools for plants and soil strewn about.
"Well, this must be hydro..." Caddy said, observing the walls and roof.
Reno took a few steps, his boot being pricked by something on the ground. He looked down, and saw it was a rake; he kicked it out of the way.
"See anything of interest, marines?" Reno queried.
"Yeah, sarge... look at this!" Caddy picked a hatchet off the ground, twirling it around and feeling the blade.
"That's of no use to us," Reno stated.
"Yeah, whatever." Caddy hooked the hatchet to his belt.
Reno looked around, noticing a hallway leading into another dimly-lit dome. The signs of the red cross told him this must've been the med-dome on the colony.
"Kops and Caddy, go ahead and check medbay for anything useful."
"Aye sir," Caddy and Kopchek said. They both ran through the hallway, into the other dome.
"Can I go with? Can I go with 'em, sir?" a marine interrupted.
Reno swiveled around, looking at the face of another grunt: Kailey Prevatt.
He sighed and said, "Go ahead, private."
"Thank you, sarge!" Kailey responded, and immediately darted through the hallway.
Reno started to search around the dome, looking for any clues as to what might've happened. Not far into his search though, his headset vibrated.

"This is Suro, reporting for duty. Can I get a quick SITREP?"
"G'morning, corporal. Got a distress call from a colony and can't find shit, over."
The headset vibrated again, "Copy that, out."
Reno cracked his knuckles, when he suddenly heard Kopchek call out: "Sarge!"
He quickly turned around, noticing Kopchek was holding something in her hands. "I found this next to a dead colonist..."
Reno approached her, looking at what she was holding.
"The fuck is that...?" another marine gawked. Reno examined it closely, and picked it up by it's tail.
He sighed and said, "Must be some wildlife..." before he dropped it on the floor, making a plump slapping sound.
"Keep an eye out for any spider-crabs troops," Reno said. He turned back to Kopchek and continued, "Now, where's this colonist?"
"Follow me, sir." Kopchek set off into the medbay dome, Reno following behind.
They went into the surgery room, where Caddy was crouched next to the body of a dead old man, with a gaping red hole the size of a fistl in his chest.

"Jesus," Reno said. "What happened to him?"
"Maybe an explosive round, sarge..." Caddy responded, standing himself up.
"My health analyzer said he died 5 hours before we landed..." Kopchek returned.
Reno cleared his throat, still observing the bloody recession inside this man's corpse. "No, this wasn't an AP mag. It musta been something else."
"You sure?" Caddy responded. "I mean... you think the crab did it?"
"It just might have," Reno insisted. "Keep looking around. Don't let one of these fucking aliens get the jump on you, marines."
"Aye aye," Caddy responded. Reno walked outside, and began his own searching. He walked through the dome, his footsteps echoing throughout, when he suddenly heard something scuffling in another one of the rooms.
Reno quickly clenched his revolver and pointed it forward. "Caddy! Kopchek! To me!"
The scuffling suddenly ceased, and the 2 marines rushed to his side.
"You heard it too, sarge?" Kopchek uttered, trying to conceal her voice.
"Maybe it's a crab..." Caddy responded, grabbing his M41A with both hands.
"Whatever it is, we're gonna get it." Reno said. "Get in a wedge formation, behind me."
The two quickly placed themselves behind Reno, as he slid the sabre out of it's holster. Reno cracked a smile while listening to it sheath out. He began to slowly approach the door, and pressed the button...
The door immediately slid open and Caddy rushed inside, his bayonet rifle leading the way. He was quickly stopped however when he tripped over and fell flat on his face, followed by Kopchek snickering.
"God damnit, Caddy!" Reno exclaimed.
"Uh, shit... Sarge?"
Reno looked inside the room, and was immediately baffled by what he was looking at: Thousands of little black weeds sprawled across the floor, the walls, reaching up all the way to the roof, with a pulsating organic mass at the center of the room. On the roof he saw one of the vent doors was hanging open.
"What the hell...?" Reno said.

Caddy clipped the bayonet off his rifle, and began to cut away at the weeds which had wrapped around his wrists.
"Never seen anything like this before..." Vasilia uttered, still observing the weeds in fascination.
"Just fuckin' stab it, guys." Caddy exclaimed as he pulled his hands free from the weeds, and suddenly started jabbing at the pulsating organism. Reno made no attempt to stop him.
Reno tuned his headset to command, and began to sweep over what he saw.
"Command, Command. This is Reno, me and a couple of my soldiers have found some... interesting things,"
"Go on, Reno." He recognized the voice as the CO's.
"Well, for one, we've found a little crab alien that was next to a dead colonist. He had a hole the size of a... tennis ball in his chest."
"Yes, we've been getting reports about those things." The CO coughed, and cleared his throat. "They jump at your face. The gaping hole in colonists I have yet to receive on..."
"Yeah, another thing; we also found some black weeds covering a whole room."
"Ah, yes. We've gotten reports of that, too. Just cut them up if you can, they're not tough against our bayonets."
"Got it CO, out."

"Alright marines, let's go." Reno led the 2 back into Hydro, where the rest of the squad was still waiting.
Dubi was leaning against one of the plant trays, eating a donk-pocket he had taken.
"Didja guys see anything?" Ray asked, still chewing his food.
"A dead colonist and weeds," Reno answered.
"Cool." Ray took another bite out of the donk-pocket.
Suddenly, they heard the door whir open. Reno swiftly turned to face it. It was another marine, raising their hand over their face, blocking the light. "Get that outta my face!" she exclaimed. It was Suro.
"Glad you made it," Reno responded.
"Oh, sorry sarge. I was held back a bit back at the Sully... a li'l cranky now."
Only a few seconds later another marine came through the door, this time it was Prevatt.
"And Kailey came to the LZ to pick me up," Suro responded.
"Oh, yes I did, sir! Sorry sir, I didn't want her to go alone!"
"God damnit, Kailey!" Reno cried. "Your orders were to stick with Caddy and Kops!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" Kailey yelled back.
"ARE YOU NOT SQUARED AWAY, PRIVATE?!" Reno yelled, only a few inches away from her face.
"SIR NO SIR!" She responded, raising her voice.
Suddenly, Reno's headset vibrated.
"Charlie Squad, Charlie Squad! Come in!"
Reno gave one last glare to Prevatt, "Yes, this is Charlie Squad." He proceeded to walk at a leisurely pace around the trays.
"Reno, yer Squad's new orders are to set an FBC at the Robotics Dome. Rally your men and get 'em high speed, over."
"10-4, XO. I'll get my men ready, out."
Reno took a deep breath out, and turned back to his squad.
"Alright Charlie, our new objectives are to set up a FBC at Robotics Dome. Suro?"
"Yes, sir?" Suro walked into Reno's view.
"Get high speed, Suro. The whole squad's on you for fortifying Robotics."
"Aye, sir."
"Alright marines, get into column formation outside."
"Aye aye, sir!" a couple of the marines responded, enthusiastic and proud.
Reno walked out, followed by the fireteam leaving 1-by-1 and forming a straight line behind him.
"March, jarheads!" Reno ordered, as he began to walking. The marines followed in their neat fashion, a straight line going down the road that was only illuminated by themselves.

Charlie Squad was walking through the dense jungle, in some places the foliage was so thick not even machetes could cut through them.
They were walking for about 5 minutes when they were getting suspicious activity around their squad.
Ray got a glimpse of something jumping into a bush, and when he went to check it out there was a hollow hole in the ground.
Vasilia had the soles of her boots unexpectedly peel off.
Reno himself heard a low growling out in the treetops that quickly silenced itself upon him aiming his shoulder lamp everywhere.

Reno checked his watch. It was 0129 at that moment. He looked back at his squad, to which they all eagerly looked back at him, expecting an order.
Then suddenly, Reno suddenly heard something squelch, and the tail of the column immediately burst into a green cloud of gas.
The column dispersed, and many of the marines ran behind Reno, who was standing steadfast, as the cloud began to expand.
"SARGE, GET BACK!" a marine yelled.
Reno was too focused on the incessant screaming of another marine, who most likely was caught in the middle of the gas cloud, to respond to the loud yells of his squadmates. He clenched onto the sabre's handle.
Then suddenly he was grabbed by the shoulder and pulled back, stumbling and falling on his back.
As soon as he heard the steel blade of his sabre hit and wobble against the grass, he snapped out of it. He quickly snatched up his sword, and got onto the comms.
"We've just been hit by fuckin' gas!"
"Gas?" the XO responded."You mean fuckin' weaponized gas?!"
"Yes!"


The cloud was beginning to dissipate at this moment. Kopchek immediately sprinted through the thin veil of burning vapor, to which Reno followed behind closely.
A marine was laying on the ground, his uniform now black and charred, and his face was an unrecognizable mess of peeled skin and blisters. He was still screaming, his pained wails echoing throughout the jungle. He stood over the man, and to Reno's horror, he realized the heat had fused the man's tongue with the bottom of his mouth. He saw Vasilia kneel down and take out her medical supplies, to which Reno crouched aswell.

He kneeled on the opposite side of Kopchek, attempting to comfort this dying young man who was now a wretched mess of abscess and flesh burnt to the bone.
"I-I-I CAW'T FEEW MY F-FAWCHING REGS!!" the dying marine yelled, desperately grasping onto Reno's sleeve.
"I got you buddy, you're gonna be fine! You're gonna be alright!"
Reno's mind was an overwhelming combination of disgust and horror at the sight of this man's twisted skin, and he began to examine his body more. He saw that his boots seemed to have crackled and fallen apart in chunks at his feet, but some pieces of it were stuck to his toes. Patches of his pants seemed to be glued to his legs, and he could feel extreme heat emanating from his armor. That must've been where a great deal of pain was coming from, so he looked up back at Vasilia.
"Vasilia, I'm gonna take the chestplate off, it's steaming hot."
"Here, let me help."
Together they simultaneously un-clipped the vest, which opened the chestplate up. Vasilia gently lifted the marine's body up as Reno slid it out from under him, feeling the extreme hot warming his gloves. He quickly swiped it off into the distance.
Kopchek briskly grabbed an injector from her pack and stabbed it into the man's leg, where upon his screams became less pained, and turned more into loud groans.
"Oh gaw... the paiw.."
"He's gonna have to get a cas-evac sarge," Vasilia uttered, rubbing ointment across his cheeks.
"Alright." Reno stood up, and looked at his squad, watching their petrified eyes at the sight of their dying comrade.
He noticed one face out of the squad; Alex Koster, another standard grunt who may or may not have been a boot.
"Koster, you're gonna head back to the nexus and drop this man off at LZ1. Got it?"
"Aye, sir..." he weakly replied, still eyeing down his burn victim of a squadmate.
Vasilia looked at the marine and said empathetically "That's all I can do for now," before standing herself up.
Koster made his way over to the marine, placed him over his shoulders, and began to march back the way the squad came.
Most of the marines were silent, maybe in commemoration or shock at their comrade.
Reno sighed, and ordered out: "Keep moving, marines. Stay in a staggered column."
The troops silently came into formation, with Reno again at the tip of the front.
Reno's headset suddenly vibrated, causing him to suddenly jitter. He had only just now realized the XO must have been screaming over the comms, but he must've been too adrenaline-high to notice it.

"CHARLIE SQUAD! COME THE FUCK IN!" The headset screamed into Reno's ear.
"This is Reno! We're getting our wounded marine back to the Rasp, over!"
"RENO, WHEN A LIEUTENANT COMMANDER IS ADDRESSING YOU YOU FUCKING RESPOND, DO YOU GET THAT?!"
"I do, sir! I was too caught up in the attack!"
"WE THOUGHT YOU DIED FOR A SECOND, RENO! DO YOU WANT A FUCKING DEATH NOTE SENT TO YOUR MOMMY AND DADDY, WHEN YOU'RE EATING MAGGOTS IN THE FUCKIN' JUNGLE?!"
Reno was getting furious at the XO at this point, and maybe rightly so. After all, what kind of XO expected the SL to report in while his squad was getting gassed, and his men were burning to death? What could he do? But Reno knew that snapping at the XO was just going to get him flogged in the name of "discipline", so he responded:
"No, sir! I was just sorting my squad together!"
"FROM NOW ON RENO, YOU REPORT WHEN I'M FUCKING TALKING TO YOU OVER THIS GOD DAMN FREQUENCY! YOU HEAR ME?"
"Aye, sir!"
"OUT!" The XO screamed, followed by him disconnecting from comms with a quiet 'click' sound.

Reno sighed, and behind him Suro asked:
"What was that? We could hear the radio from all the way here."
"It was the fuckin' XO," Ray snarked.
"Figures." Suro answered. "Y'know, he acts like we're still in boot camp."
"Well he was a drill sergeant," Vasilia added.
"Yeah, was." Ray said.
"Keep moving, jarheads. Watch out for any fucking globs of acid..." Reno dourly interrupted, successfully ending their little conversation.
Reno cut open a slice of vines with his sabre, and tore the rest of the foliage apart with ease. He quickly looked up, and there, out of the sheer blackness --stood out the Robotics dome. It was brighty illuminated with the colony floodlights, and Reno stepped over the entangled vines.
"There it is," he said to himself. Reno turned around and faced his squad, all of whom were gazing at the dome with a subtle look of relief on their faces.

Reno beckoned them with his arm to move closer, and the squad went inside the dome.
The marines, without needing any orders, immediately sent to work on fortifying Robotics. Suro began to build grilles, flip tables, and set up the sentry. The dome was being turned into a mini-fortress.

[Monoo]

Good as ever, keep it up.

[Eenkogneeto]

Ayy I'm in this and angry, Like I usually am. Perfect.

[Martzin]

Well here's Chapter 2 for you to all enjoy, go ahead and make criticisms and stuff.

But anyways, and though it's a bit painful to say, but chapter 3 may be out in 4-5 days. I've been getting caught up in Christmas and the rest of that jargon along with some new personal responsibilities, so time will be getting delayed.