cqbseal

INCOMING: PART TWO CHAPTER SIX

The morning after the first major deployment to UNL-465, Major James
Hunter emerged from his shelter to greet the new day. His men had
already prepared the map for the zone they would search today. As he
approached the center of their encampment, a few men nodded to him.
Being in the Broderian Special Forces was like no other unit. When
outsiders were present, they adhered to every rule of military courtesy
but while working with each other, rank was put aside for experience.
Hunter was a fair officer, having moved up the ranks from enlisted
before enrolling in the officer program, he was one of the few men who
understood both sides of the coin. He expected results from his men
and they expected and received quality leadership from him.

He walked up to the team sensor tech and stood behind him as the unit
fed information from the sensor net and orbiting satellites.

"Anything?" he asked.

"Negative." Was the reply, the tech said without turning around. Hunter
walked over and helped himself to breakfast. The rest of the team was
loading the two all terrain scout vehicles. The vehicles had four,
large, wide tires that displaced their weight evenly across almost any
surface. Totally enclosed from the elements, they could carry four
troopers and all their gear. On the roof, various commo antennas,
sensor transponders, and image enhancement devices, sprouted here and
there. Inside, the four seats, two up front, driver and co-driver, two
behind, sensor/commo tech, and weapons controller, were mounted
individually and gyro-stabilized for each trooper to adjust the comfort
level. Along the sides of the scouts, were large, heavily armored
sliding doors, small, multi-purpose missile launchers, and a dual rail
gun turret was mounted just above the front view screen.

Sergeant Hazard walked up beside Hunter as he stood watching the last
minute preparations.

"Gotta love this weather sir." He said in way of greeting.

Hunter spooned a large mouthful, chewed, and swallowed, before
responding.

"Roger that, Guns." He finished his breakfast and tossed the empty tray
into the resource receptacle. The two men walked to the vehicles. Both
inspected the exterior for any faults before returning to the center of
the room for the briefing.

"Gentlemen. Our job today is to find out as much as we can from this
planet. I want the sensor pods deployed every five klicks. Your sectors
will be completed by 1700 and you will be back here no later than
1900." He paused to look around, "Record anything you find. If you deem
it important enough, lock a sensor on it and contact me at the command
APC." He looked back the men. "Any questions?" The men returned blank
stares at him. He knew they understood the mission and they expected
him to tell them their job. After all, redundancy was borne out of a
military mind.

"Dismissed." The scout teams, for this operation, would not wear the
full Broderian Armor, but rather a lighter more comfortable just out of
R&D, one piece 'coverall' that still maintained ballistic integrity but
more function ability inside smaller vehicles, ran a system check and
moved out eagerly. Hunter walked down to the ground level where the
command APC was located. A temporary barrier had been erected around
the entrance of the building to prevent water from entering. One of the
scouts roared past spraying water up as it moved to its assigned
sector. Hunter entered the APC and took a seat at the command station.
The multi function display he was looking at, told him weather
formations, troops movements, ambient temperature, wind speed,
precipitation level in the last twenty-four hours, speed of the scouts,
and continuous feed from the now orbiting thirty satellites.

Onboard scout 21, the troopers had just deployed their fourth pod.

"Come right to heading 271." The sensor tech said over the inter-vehicle
commo system.