January 15, 1999, 8:10:50 hours - Think Of It As A Hunting Trip

The Outbound Assault Alert siren woke them from their beds early that morning. Upon reaching the briefing room, Commander LUEshi greeted them with steaming hot cups of coffee and something special.

"Good morning, men. At approximately oh-six-ten this morning, Interceptor Beta encountered a small alien craft upon returning from outbound patrol. The alien was taken down primarily with cannon fire, so chances are quite a few of them survived the crash. I do have good news, though."

Commander LUEshi prominently displayed a large rectangular object. "This is something special our medteam came up with. They're called Med-kits. Each includes a small portable bioscanner, as well as coagulating agents, pain reliever, and adrenaline syringes. Although it's not much against the firepower you're facing out there, these could mean the difference between life or death if one of you takes a glancing shot. Use them with care, we have only four available at the moment, although Engineering is working on one for each member of your squad.

"Now, to your mission. The craft crash-landed in the middle of a small farm, about 300 miles north of here. You will depart via Skyranger 1, and clean-sweep the crash site."

This drew a groan from HoboCheese, who nearly died before he got off of the shuttle last mission. Commander LUEshi simply grinned and said, "They just crash landed. They're going to be wounded, scared, and shaken. Think of it as a hunting trip." A round of chuckles from the squad wrapped up the meeting, as they gathered in Hangar Alpha and met the ordinance team for their standard loadout.

Approximately 2 hours later, the Skyranger set down in hostile territory. Upon exiting the Skyranger, mercifully uncontested this time, HoboCheese, The Grammar Police01, psycho mantis, and NoBullet rush the craft, while the others fan out to sweep the area.

Disaster nearly struck as Negative moved past a building, failing to spot the alien scout on the rooftop aiming a plasma rifle at him. Haunted's keen eyes caught the little bastard, though, and a few quick shots ended the threat before the thing could fire it's weapon. ConkerTheHedgehog took the point on Squad 1, slipping around the corner of a building to see another alien, its back towards him. Grinning at his luck, Conker snapped a single round into it's back, the creature dying before it even knew it was under attack.

Psycho mantis led the charge into the craft this time, easily mowing down a wounded and terrified alien just inside the door of the craft. HoboCheese, Grammar, and NoBullet are quick to follow, fanning out all over the craft to search for hidden menaces. Meanwhile, the sweep team to the north of the craft, consisting of primetime8880, Polaris, and Crazy Howard Dean, find the area completely deserted not only of aliens, but of cover for them to hide behind. "All clear north of craft, unless the little bastards figured out how to become invisible", comes the call from primetime8880.

HoboCheese, inside the craft, reached for the operating mechanism of a slide door, when all of a sudden, the door opened and an alien walked through, right in front of him. The unarmed alien stared at HoboCheese...or more precisely, at HoboCheese's loaded assault rifle...then let out a shriek and ran back through the door. The protective walls that the creature was counting on had crumbled in the crash, however, and NoBullet quickly picked the thing off with a quick burst from his assault rifle.

A sweep shows that the craft is now devoid of anything but smoke, fire, the assault squad, and dead alien corpses. "Craft secured, all clear here. Haunted, Negative, Conker, you okay?"

"Give us a minute, we have a few more...wait, there's one!", came the reply from Haunted. He fired a few bursts from his assault rifle through a window towards an alien hiding in a nearby barn, shortly followed by similar burst from Negative. The shots strike nothing but wood and straw, and a glancing hit from a ricochet is all that rewarded their efforts. The alien, not really hurt but scared to death, panicked and ran through a nearby door.

"Conker, he just ran your way. Can you see him?", Haunted shouted. "No, there's a wall in my way, I'll have to come around."

"Stay there", Negative called. "I'll get him." His words were proven true a few moments later, as the grenade he lobbed around a corner exploded accompanied by an alien scream and a sick, splattering sound.

The assault squad, having swept the alien craft, came back through the doorway, securing the area between the craft and Skyranger 1, while Negative's team contined their sweep. While Conker and Haunted continued sweeping the barn, Negative peeked through a nearby hedge, into an apple orchard. A few more steps in, and he spotted a creature sitting at the base of a nearby tree, pistol dipping limply toward the ground as a quick burst turned the alien's head into dripping goo.

Commander LUEshi's statement held true. The area was cleared without even a shot fired by the surviving aliens. The squad loaded back into Skyranger 1 and departed for base, where they celebrated their victory by hitting the racks and catching a well-deserved nap.

SUCCESS
Kills - 5
Corpses Recovered - 5

Total Kill Count (all missions):
HoboCheese - 2
The Haunted - 1
Negative - 2
primetime8880 - 1
ConkerTheHedgehog - 1
psycho mantis - 1
NoBullet - 3

-----> Chapter 4 - For Whom The Bell Tolls