Chapter - 4
I jumped.
I was in the middle of the line so I at least had some examples to follow on. Halfway through my jump I realized my mistake. It wasn't a major one, just something small I'll definitely regret later on.
I should've bought an atmosphere mod for my helmet. I realized it after I felt all the internal oxygen leave my body. Then my booster pack activated.
My whole skull was being pushed against my own helmet by gravity.
It hurt, but I evaded passing out. It eventually reached a speed that allowed me to actually look around.
The descent itself was kind of beautiful, if it wasn't for falling at an insane speed. The bright blue sky with fluffy clouds in the distance was something rare to see even on the planet where I live, so seeing it took my breath away.
I looked around and saw everyone else diving toward the ground at a faster speed while using their booster pack. So, I did the exact pose like diving in water headfirst and pushed the booster pack harder. I nearly immediately regretted it and felt like my whole body was pushing on the armor.
I promptly deactivated it and focused on the clouds we were passing through.
Some point through the fall, suddenly everything went weightless and I was floating in the air. I looked around for a second and saw the entire planet through the clouds and saw massive ships in orbit and explosions on the ground. In its own demented way, it was kinda beautiful. I smiled. A second later, my pack activated on its own sending me downward towards the ground at an accelerated speed.
I was no longer smiling, however, this time I managed to keep my body rigid.
I saw a little further that the others were starting to slow down so I did the same, I was falling behind by just a bit.
But I'd rather fall behind than pancake, which made me shudder a bit. I know that it would be quick at least, I switched my pose to feet first as I got nearer to the ground.
I activated my pack to slow down which my body disliked quite a bit. My whole body began to shake and pushed against the rigid armor. After what felt like an eternity, I landed against the ground falling on all fours, I was gasping for air and almost pulled my helmet off.
I hesitated and let the atmosphere change inside my helmet, then quickly got up and pulled my weapon off. I saw nearly everyone had already landed and was taking a watch around us silently.
I did notice a few were watching me and I quickly felt my face burn up. I crouched down taking the last position, where a white translucent dot was, for 360 security.
Taking a look around, we were in a forest surrounding this small clearing we are in. The trees were massive, extending 100 feet into the air.
There were subtle noises of wildlife, like weird bird calls or shuffling in the branches above. I shifted to look up and continue to scan both in front of me and above.
After my first encounter with the local wildlife, I'm nervous to encounter it once again.
The forest here are verdant green leaves with the trees having pinkish inlays in the trunks. With vines hanging down to the ground with dark purple moss permitting the ground. The sounds of foreign birds and distant rumbles permeate. Almost makes me miss the usual Ferroconcrete jungles of home.
A moment later, a marker appears on my HUD with the words, regroup. We all stood and began walking in a staggered column.
I was near the back of the patrol, so I was assisting the back man. I looked back and walked backward for a few seconds while waiting for the infantryman to catch up, he nodded at me and I did so back to him. I noted his name, Tex.
After about an hour of the same thing, the line suddenly stopped as I did, as the SL put up his fist. We waited, while keeping an eye out. I checked the local minimap and kept an eye out. After 30 seconds we crouched down, after a minute we started to get behind cover.
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After about 5 minutes, a signal traveled down the line to the back, and we were moving again. We were traveling deep into the forest for about 20 minutes before getting to another clearing.
I was a bit confused on why we were entering the empty clearing before seeing the SL disappear into thin air. There was a ripple as the second and third man entered. I hesitated before the Tex pushed me forward, I glanced at him and he simply nodded. I nodded and caught up before entering the ripple.
I opened my eyes to see a massive base, inside was a whole ass military complex in the middle of nowhere.
“Surprised?” said a deep bassy voice, I turned to see Tex.
“Yeah, never seen this before. I know that we had illusion tech able to bend light, but I never expected it at this scale.” Tex simply agreed before catching up the rest of the squad with me following.
There was a fence around that emitted a slight buzz as we entered the complex. Towers lined the facility with cameras and small drones. We got closer to the checkpoint with a pair of heavy armored personnel and a vehicle with a controlled HP-HMG. Each guard wearing a yellow mask flashed for a second before nodding and letting us in.
As we entered there dozens of people in formations or just sitting around. There were tons of drones flying about silently and throughout this whole thing it was actually relatively quiet. Not only that but the loudest thing here were footsteps and the occasional vehicle that was turned on. There were recon vehicles all over the place and people in light to medium armor with scattered heavies.
We soon reached a nondescript building with no windows and few entrances. There were 5 buildings with each entrance having a guard at post. Another heavy with yellow faceplate looked at all of us and nodded towards the SL. He nodded and turned to address the squad.
The channel activated and he spoke, “ Use this opportunity to get familiar with the environment and to prep for movement across a heavily wooded environment. I would recommend stacking up on extra cooling and filter units.”
We dispersed shortly afterward and would regroup in an hour in the chow hall. I left to the armory to do what he recommended and prepare for whatever would happen.
I asked the armorer when it was my turn, which happens to be the second clone I have seen with their helmet off, for the recommended items. The tall man with short white hair and a white eyes responded, “Aye, I'll get that for you.” After a second the items arrived in the conveyor in front of me.
I grabbed the jug and started filling it into my suit and put the filters into one of the many pouches on my person. I gave back the now empty jugs and requested some more ammo just in case, “So 10 Tungsten mini-rods and 4 rail battery packs, correct?” I nod as the items are delivered and I sign the paper for future payment. Although, it wouldn't be me paying which was fun.
I left the building and looked at the clock, I had another 50 minutes. I decided to head to the chow hall and saw about 30 people seating in their own squads or more.
The funny thing was the clones didn't need to eat and usually were injected with nutrients via their suits. Most seem to stick with that as I only saw a few clones actually eating food with their mouths. This place wasn't really an eating location but the word stuck throughout the ages. I sat in one of the empty spots and opened up my own menu.
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Name/Rank: Private Doxen O. Kery Class/Specialization: NOT MET LEVEL REQUIREMENT
Level: 5 (-1 Death penalty canceled for heroic sacrifice)
Points: 2
Stats:
-Physical
–Agility: 6/10
–Strength: 3/10
Buy Menu
Weapons
Commodities
Armour
Misc.
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I've been delayed in actually making a choice since the whole jumping out of an aircraft in near orbital. I sighed and realized why I was having a hard time. I didn't really know our objective and kinda went with my gut last time. I still regret what happened before I died. Time to make a choice.
I put a single point in strength and immediately a marker appeared on my minimap directing me to a nearby cloning facility. I saw that it was actually underground so I shrugged and started making my way there with 45 minutes to spare.
The elevator door opened up to two heavies with short MGs, they immediately brought their weapons up, but not aiming at me yet. Before a flash appeared on their faceplates and they looked at each other.
“Drop off all weapons here and enter” a deep synthetic voice came from the right one. I simply nodded and put all my equipment/armor on a little cart next to them. I saw another much longer flash go down my body. I felt a little red wearing a tight fitting undersuit, but I just let it continue. After a familiar ping, I entered through the heavy duty door. I saw rows of familiar pods. A few glowed, but most were empty.
I walked towards the pod that was pinged on my HUD. However, before I got there sizzling sound erupted from a pod on my left nearly causing me to jump. A tall nude woman steps out with a hard gaze.
She huffs and notices me, specifically my eyes. She glares before moving to a nearby small replicator and grabs the printed equipment and walks out just as quickly as she entered, and yes she did put on the gear.
I lowered my heart beat by doing some breathing exercises and headed to the marked pod. It opened as I got near and I entered the tight space and pressed a button in front, shutting the door.
I could only see pure darkness as a humming noise grew louder, a deep rumbling sounds out and suddenly everything went quiet.