Richmond, British
Columbia, Canada
UNSC
Richmond
Outpost
March
15th, 2001
0800
Local Time
“This is Foxtrot 515 requesting
permission to land, over.” Corporal Mike Stewart spoke on the RaidCall while
leveling the Pelican for the landing approach.
“This is base, you are cleared for
landing on platform Bravo, over.” a man replied back on the RaidCall.
“Copy that base, landing on platform
Bravo.” Stewart acknowledged as he adjusted the heading of the Pelican towards
platform Bravo.
The Pelican flew past a heavily
fortified concrete wall and then slowly descended on the platform.
Stewart pressed some buttons and
flipped some switches off before exiting the cockpit. He walked out the back of
the Pelican and was greeted by two marines dressed in officer uniform.
“Sir, ma’am.” Stewart saluted the
officers and held a firm stance.
“At ease Corporal.” a middle aged
man roughly in his mid thirties bearing the insignia of a Captain approached
Stewart.
“What can I do for you Captain
Friedsam?” Stewart asked as he eyed the female officer.
“Stewart, I would like to introduce
Lieutenant Jane Forester from the Seattle Outpost. She’s here to evaluate how
we are doing and to contact High Command of our zombie eradication progress of Vancouver.” Friedsam
introduced Forester to Stewart.
“Nice to meet you Lieutenant
Forester.” Stewart offered his hand.
“Nice to meet you too Corporal
Stewart.” Forester took his hand and shook it.
“Stewart, I’ll let you show Forester
around. I’ve got to head to the command post to get updates about our
deployment of our forces in the Surrey
sector.” Friedsam saluted Forester and Stewart before taking off.
“What’s this deployment in Surrey all about?” Forester asked out of curiosity.
“It’s an extermination operation as
we attempt to regain control of the city of Surrey, ma’am.” Stewart explained.
“Ah, I see. How much forces are
stationed here?” Forester asked as she looked at some marines patrolling the
concrete wall.
“A significant amount of troops. We
have the 10th and 12th Company deployed from the 701st
Battalion.” Stewart pointed to his 12th Company badge sewed on his
shirt sleeves.
“So are you a pilot?” Forester
pointed at the Pelican Stewart landed.
“Yes ma’am I am.” Stewart nodded, “I
am Lieutenant Zyrok’s pilot.”
“Zyrok, that name sounds uncommon.”
Forester repeated the name, “Is that his real name?”
“I only know that everyone calls him
Zyrok and that his first name is Charlie.” Stewart answered to the best of his
ability.
“Let me take you to our War Room.”
Stewart motioned Forester to follow him.
Stewart led Forester past an open
field and came across a small concrete building. At the entrance stood two
marines holding M16s. When Forester appeared at the entrance, both the marines
saluted and opened the door for her. Stewart walked to another door and looked
into a retinal scanner. The door slid open and Stewart waved her to come
inside.
“Welcome to the War Room.” Stewart
opened his arms in front of a big screen showing video footage of an ongoing
zombie extermination.”
Behind Stewart were ten marines
sitting on their computers and talking to their headsets. A marine entered the
room and approached Forester.
“This is Sergeant Major Thomas
Shields from the War Room. How can I help you Lieutenant…” a middle aged man in
his late thirties greeted Forester and looked at her name tag.
“Forester, Jane Forester from the Seattle Outpost. Are you
in charge here?” Forester asked Shields.
“Yes ma’am, I am. You’ve come a long
way. What can I do for you?” Shields offered her help.
“What kind of operations are
currently going on?” Forester asked as she took out a notepad from her pocket
on her right thigh.
“Well, currently we’re doing an
extermination at Surrey as you can see there.”
Shields pointed at the big screen map indicating all ground and air units.
“Okay, how’s that going so far?”
Forester jotted down some notes.
“We’ve managed to gain ground of the
northeast and southeast of Surrey. The dense
population in the center makes it hard for us to easily walk in and take it
back.” Shields reported as he waved his hand on the map indicating where the
infected were.
“Okay, any other ongoing
operations?” Forester asked after taking down notes of the extermination
operation.
“We have Echo Squad doing a search
and rescue at downtown Vancouver.”
Shield looked at a monitor beside him.
“Echo Squad?” Forester asked out of
curiosity.
“Oh, that’s Lieutenant Zyrok and his
men.” Shields enthusiastically answered.
“Speaking of that…Stewart, can you
get the Pelican ready to pick them up in two hours at the extraction point?”
Shields requested.
“You got it SM. I’ll go do
maintenance checks on it then.” Stewart replied and turned around.
“Stewart, wait for me before you
takeoff in two hours. I want to assess the downtown area.” Forester grabbed
Stewart’s shoulders.
“Sure, no problem Lieutenant. See
you later.” Stewart saluted and headed out the War Room.
“Any more operations Sergeant
Major?” Forester asked as she looked around.
“Fire Team Kilo is coming back from
their loot run in Burnaby
in half an hour. That’s pretty much it.” Shields replied as he typed something
on one of the empty computer stations.
“Okay, thank you for your help.”
Forester thanked and put her notepad away.
“Anytime Lieutenant. Let me know if
you have any more questions.” Shields walked her to the entrance of the War
Room and saluted goodbye as the doors slid closed.
Forester walked down an empty
hallway and came across a room with stairs leading up. She thought for a moment
and decided to go upstairs and look around. She approached the second level and
opened the door. She noticed a lot of marines crowding around an entrance and
wanted to see what the commotion was all about.
“Officer on deck!” a man standing
outside the entrance who appeared to be a Sergeant noticed Forester
approaching.
All the men in the room stood up
and shut their mouths as Forester entered.
“At ease soldiers.” Forester spoke
out loud.
“What brings you here Lieutenant?”
the Sergeant asked.
“I’m just touring the facilities.
I’m assuming this is the Mess Hall?” Forester asked as the marines around her
resumed back to chatting and playing cards.
“That’s correct ma’am. I haven’t
seen you here before. Are you new here?” the Sergeant asked politely.
“Yeah, I’ve come from the Seattle
Outpost to take a look here at this outpost and to report back to High
Command.” Forester responded swiftly.
“Well then. Welcome, I’m Sergeant
Jonathan Stokes from Fire Team Tango.” Stokes offered his hand.
“I’m Lieutenant Jane Forester.”
Forester shook his hand.
“To be honest Lieutenant, the Mess
Hall isn’t a good place to start your report of the outpost.” Stokes smiled as
he pointed at the garbage lying on the ground.
“Oh that’s fine, I’ve seen worse.”
Forester laughed lightly.
“You should go check out the Command Center and the War Room. Cool stuff
there ma’am.” Stokes suggested.
“I’ve seen it already, it’s not that
bad. Do you have an armory?” Forester asked.
“We have it in the building next to
us.” Stokes pointed at the window in the Mess Hall.
“That one?” Forester asked as the
looked at the building adjacent to it.
“Yup, I’ll get someone to take you
there if you like Lieutenant.” Stokes offered her assistance.
“That would be appreciated.”
Forester smiled warmly.
“Hey Stanley!” Stokes shouted across the room.
“Yeah Sarge?” a young short man
stood up and approached Stokes.
“This is Lance Corporal Neil Stanley
from my Fire Team.” Stokes introduced Stanley
to Forester.
“Greetings ma’am.” Stanley saluted.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Lieutenant
Forester.” Forester saluted back.
“Take the Lieutenant to the armory
next door Stanley.”
Stokes ordered.
“Got it Sarge.” Stanley acknowledged as he stood beside
Forester.
“I’ll leave you two folks to it
then.” Stokes saluted to Forester and walked into a group of marines playing
cards to tell them to pick up their garbage.
Stokes watched Stanley lead Forester out the Mess Hall and
walked around to two marines sitting on a couch.
“Who’s your new girlfriend Sarge?” a
middle aged man with a chubby look blurted it out as Stokes approached them.
“None of your business Corporal
Michaels. She’s not your league.” Stokes eyed an evil stare.
“Hell, it’s pretty damn hard to find
a female in the UNSC.” Michaels complained.
“Guess you’ll just need your hand
and some magazines.” the other marine who appeared to be a bit older than
Michaels sat on the couch and sipped his lemonade.
“Why you little…” Michaels stood up
with an angry face.
“You want to go? I’ll take you on
anytime.” the marine stood and put his lemonade down on the ground.
“Corporal Michaels and Corporal
Wilson, take a seat and cool your jets!” Stokes intervened with an angry voice.
“Yes sir!” Wilson responded and sat down.
“Yes sir, but he asked for it.”
Michaels replied and sat down with an upset face.
“That’s true, but did I get upset
and all rowdy when you made the comment about the female lieutenant as my
girlfriend?” Stokes asked.
“Fine, you win Sarge.” Michaels gave
up.
“Sarge always wins.” Wilson smiled as he took
a sip from his lemonade.
A young man ran into the Mess Hall
and approached Stokes.
“Sir, Captain Yashin requests your
presence at his office.” the young man saluted him as he passed the message.
“Thank you Private Hemmings. I’ll be
on my way in just a minute.” Stokes looked at Michaels and then Hemmings.
“Better not be a complained from the
LT joke you made or you’re screwed man.” Wilson
joked at Michaels.
“I’ll be back gentlemen.” Stokes
laughed and walked out with Hemmings.
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