A Ghost Infestation (Causeway / Nicaholicz)

[causeway25oclock]

The Terran Dominion science vessel DeGrasse was in orbit of one of the moons of the gas giant Vau Sara. It was hardly on a mission of peaceful exploration.

The moon, a desolate rock, was not only rich in Vespene gas, but it also had several alien artifacts scattered over its surface, hidden away from the inhabitants of the Korpulu Sector at large. How the Dominion had learned about it, Nova did not know.

The blonde Ghost operative had been sent by Dominion High Command to oversee this vital operation. She stood in the corner of the bridge, gazing cooly with her piercing blue eyes at the crew and occasional Marine guard, who regarded her nervously as though she could read their thoughts.

Which in fact she could.

 

[Nicaholicz]

The crew on deck worked efficiently and fokused through the regular procedures. They knew what they were doing, but even though the crew was experienced a slight nervousness hung in the air. They were all aware of the dangers of this operation. A desolate moon, far from any support. Unknown alien artifacts. An operation like this can be very fruitfull, but every now and again, someting like this goes south. The crew knew that, and they thought they were prepared for it.

 

[causeway25oclock]

"How long until we are prepared to descend?" The captain said. Nova didn't know his name, and frankly didn't care to know. She had no desire to bond with this crew.

"We are setting up for the final approach," the navigator said. "Our course should put us directly on top of the artifact."

Nova tensed, feeling like something wasn't right. As a psychic, she had learned to trust her instinct. If anything in the mission were going to go wrong, now is when it would happen.

 

[Nicaholicz]

A few minutes later the ship entered atmosphere, but it was barely noticable in a ship as advanced as this. The bridge was silent and still every crewmember was at their station. The only noice were the sounds of the ship entering atmo and the voices of the crewmen shouting out information to the captain and pilot.

The captain sat in his chair, his old face was stern but optimistic. After years of service he was hoping for his big break, maybe this time he would find the artifact that would put his name in the history books. He looked briefly over at Nova but he was unable to read the highly trained Ghost. In less then a minute, the ship touched ground, the landing was a succes with no complications. The captain gave the order to prepare the ground team.

 

[causeway25oclock]

Wordlessly, Terra headed down to the armory. While the other marines laughed and cavorted with each other about the "cakewalk" assignment as they armed up, the Ghost was not so jovial. She knew something terrible was about to happen.

At her locker, she selected her weapon of choice, the C-10 Mk VI Rifle. The weapon fired 25mm antipersonnel rounds. These rounds were charged with energy instead of relying purely on conventional explosives and had the power to destroy siege tanks from the inside. The rifle was also equipped with a flashlight, could fire EMP rounds that punch through shields and deplete energy sources, lockdown rounds, and has retained the low frequency targeting laser that is used to guide tactical nuclear missiles and now drop pods to their intended destination.

 

[Nicaholicz]

The group that Nova had been assigned to consisted of four experienced soldiers and one recruit. They were armed with the regular military equipment. The group leader was Samson. A brisk, confident leader who would have been beautiful if it was not for a big scar along one side of her face. The other group members were the recruit Fry, the machine gunner Troy, Luise and Otto. The groups mission was to scout ahead towards one of the major objects found by the scanners.

The team took their positions. Samson looked at Nova and gave her a nod. Samson was confident that this was an easy mission, probably filled with borin guard duty. She had gotten good at predicting these things and she had learned to trust her guts. "Let's move", she yelled in a loud voice, and the team moved out.

 

[causeway25oclock]

Ghosts were lone wolves. They operated deep behind enemy lines, without any form of support, and in fact preferred it that way. Babysitting these marines was more of a chore to Nova than a mission, at least in her mind. But something was still off about this; it kept scratching at the back of her mind, eating away at her normally steely resolve. She kept a few paces behind the marine squad, her eyes roaming the harsh, desolate environment.