Turn 4: Down in the Valley

The fifth mission.
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maxvale76
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by maxvale76 » Sun Feb 08, 2015 7:29 pm

Sam had heard Morse's comment go out over the platoon frequency and she closed her eyes and silently said a quick prayer that the bitter marine would be okay. Opening her eyes she saw Roberts looking over at her and she locked gazes with him and nodded once in an 'It's gonna be alright' motion. Talking quietly she addressed he squad.

"Okay people; now we have something else to look out for; mines. Let's stay put for now as there's nothing we can do to help out 2nd Squad right now. Stay frosty and alert though; the last thing we want is for any of the Rebels to come along while we're all stuck in place; terrified of moving into a minefield."

Switching over to the Platoon frequency; she calls out to Quinn and Dirk; "This is 1st Squad. We're in position and holding tight for now. If there's anything we can do to assist; let us know."

<Tag 1st Squad>

<Tag Everyone>
ImageSGT Samantha "Sam" Hall

M41A Pulse Rifle
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Morse
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Morse » Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:48 pm

There was little to no response on Morse’s particular predicament. Though there was virtually nothing any of them could do, Morse felt like they could have at least told him how screwed they thought he was, rather then silently implying it.

”No takers?” Morse asked bitterly. ”Great… that’s fine… I can figure this out, I know boom shit pretty good, right?” Morse had an almost mock confidence in his ability to do what he was about to do. Simply because he had never done anything like it before.

< Tag All

Morse turned over to his squad, while he went to work. ”Dead Shots. Get thirty feet back minimum.” Morse ordered as he took one of his zip ties off of his waist, and hoisted his Smartgun up. He then proceeded to tie the weapon off onto his M2 Flak Vest. It looked a bit awkward, and felt much stranger, but he’d need both hands for what he was about to do.

He knelt down, keeping his feet placed firmly on the device. And he pulled out his tactical knife. He proceeded to scrape away from the pressure plate. The device was small, and had given way under his pressure. That meant it was an anti personnel weapon, which was good news in a way.

”If it makes ya’ll feel a bit in the better category, when I accidentally fuck up’n blow this thing, it prolly won’t kill me.” Morse commented cynically. ”Odds are this bitty bitch’s loaded full’a sharp shit what’ll tear me up good n’ I’ll got no choice but fer yalls to drag me back to the boat.” He continued to move dirt off the weapon till he could see the entirety of what he was looking at.

As he got most of the dirt away from it, he reached onto his waste and grabbed his canteen. ”Course I could be wrong’s a wriggler on rye, so just in case.” Morse took a hard swallow from his whiskey filled canteen. ”Ahhhhhhhh.” He breathed a burning exhale. ”Gotta stay sharp.”

< Tag Colson, Bell, and Eyeball

Morse then put his canteen away and began attempting to disarm the explosive device he was on.

< Roll Heavy Weapons (For understanding and disarming)
Image-SSG Allen Morse - Squad Leader
-3rd Bn, 2nd Reg, 1st Co, 8th Plt
- DEVIL DAWG
- M41A Pulse Rifle - M4 Pistol - Med Kit
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by EVSA » Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:28 am

”Dead Shots. Get thirty feet back minimum.”
Bell rose to his feet, unslung his rifle for the humpteenth time, and carefully backtracked towards the rest of the platoon. Glancing around left and right for movement.

"This is gonna suck balls soon" he whispered to himself.
Private Andrew Bell - Rifleman
3rd Div. 2nd Reg. 1st Co, 8th Plt.
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Quinn
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Quinn » Mon Feb 09, 2015 4:12 am

"Morse, hold." Quinn ordered, quietly but firmly. He had held his position, kneeling on the ground after having cleared it. He switched radio channel to First Squad. "Dirk, you have a demo man on your team. Need a radio walk through on disarming."
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Morse
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Morse » Mon Feb 09, 2015 7:13 am

In spite of the order to hold, Morse did not. He knew about the gargantuan man that Quinn was calling for, a very fresh recruit who was on his first actual combat drop. But in spite of the man’s immense size and alleged knowledge in demolitions, Morse had roughly the same experience with ordinance and explosives that he did.

Now the thought crossed Morse’s mind to start yelling at Quinn over the com. Given that Morse was standing on the landmine and he wasn’t, in addition to bad calls their ‘former’ Lieutenant had had made before, he had plenty of ammunition to throw.

But Morse didn’t need to bring up any of that. Because he knew his knowledge in the particular department was about the same as the ‘Demo Man’ with Dirk, with the added exception of the fact that Morse knew Colonists, new their tactics, new their equipment, and had years of fighting them to back him up.

Either he was right, and would walk away, or he was wrong and would end up not caring. Whatever the case was, it was a strange moment when Morse found himself uninterested in retorting as he continued to attempt to save his own life.

< Continue to disarm – Heavy Weapons
Image-SSG Allen Morse - Squad Leader
-3rd Bn, 2nd Reg, 1st Co, 8th Plt
- DEVIL DAWG
- M41A Pulse Rifle - M4 Pistol - Med Kit
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Whisky
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Whisky » Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:34 pm

Morse turned over to his squad, while he went to work. ”Dead Shots. Get thirty feet back minimum.” Morse ordered
"Understood, just don't screw up. I'd rather not have to wash you out of my gear."Colson replied. Leaving the sentry gun where it was he slowly backed up being careful where he stepped. Despite his glib response Colson felt cold inside. The Eights had already lost too many marines lately, losing Morse's experience would be a blow.
Pvt. Thomas Colson
2nd Squad - Medic

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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Pale Rider » Tue Feb 10, 2015 2:36 am

Morse smiled as he felt the safety switch slip into place. Standing up he slowly lifted his foot up and turned to give a thumbs up. His stepping away was the only thing that saved his life as the pressure plate slipped and triggered the explosive device. The high explosive device ripped him off his feet and flung him like a rag doll through the air!
<Tag Morse first and then remaining Eights>
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Morse » Tue Feb 10, 2015 3:03 am

Deactivating a live mine was stressful work, as was deactivating any explosive device. One was constantly reminded of the fact that any slip up would result in a deep resonating explosion. But when one was attempting to deactivate the one they stood on, the situation was far more surreal.

The average human mind generally refused to accept death as a possibility. It couldn’t wrap itself around the idea of eternal nothingness, because to be able to comprehend that one would have to be dead in the first place.

So Morse did not really consider the consequences of failure, since they were beyond his comprehension.

He continued to work on the mine. It was not very large, but most explosives weren’t. Still it made the device simpler to understand and work with. So as he determined where the safety pin was, he immediately went about putting it back into place. It was a delicate job, but he was up to the task. He had to be, since there was absolutely no other alternative.

Suddenly, there was success. The pin managed to insert itself right back into place as he had hoped it would, prompting an immediate smile as he gloated over his success.

”Ahhhh.” Morse gave a long sigh of relief. A stressful situation dealt with. A crisis averted in the best way possible. ”Not even a problem.” Morse commented as he slowly rose to his feet.

He swiveled and looked forward towards the direction they were to move in.

”Now lets see if we can’t……”

BOOM

A flash of white light consumed Morse’s vision. Not from fire, but from the concussive force of an explosive device detonating within inches of him. He had feeling he was drifting through the air. A ringing filled his ears, and he couldn’t breathe for a moment as the shock ran through him.

The reality was that he had failed to disarm the mine as he thought he had. He had stepped off and was sent flying through the air. He soared for less then a second, crashing onto the ground hard. His Smartgun was still tied to his chest, and his Rocket Launcher was still strapped to his back, as he rolled a moment, still trying to figure out what happened.

His brain was now comprehending failure, and understanding exactly what it meant.

He could not hear anything, his ears still ringing from the explosion. But that did not stop the stream of words flying from his mouth.

”Ahhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhh Fuck! Ahhhhhhhhh Fuck!” He repeated.

Then looked down at his legs, which were in immense pain. His left pant leg was torn up, with visible holes in it from what was likely shrapnel. But that was the easy blow, and not the real problem.

His right leg however was missing from just below the knee down.

Realizing this, Morse’s expletives grew louder and more specific. ”Ohhhhhhhh FUCK! MY FUCKIN’ LEG!”

He looked and saw it was resting a few yards away from him. ”IS THAT MY LEG!? WHAT FUCK!? WHY THE FUCK IS IT OVER THERE!” Morse continued to roar incoherently repeating his favorite phrase for the moment. ”Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck!”

< Tag Anyone
Image-SSG Allen Morse - Squad Leader
-3rd Bn, 2nd Reg, 1st Co, 8th Plt
- DEVIL DAWG
- M41A Pulse Rifle - M4 Pistol - Med Kit
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Corporal Hicks » Tue Feb 10, 2015 4:41 am

Roberts winced when he heard the explosion. He kept his eyes closed and his teeth clenched, disbelieving of what had just happened. Thoughts ran through his head: 'Oh shit! Did that just happen? I can't believe it. He's dead. Maybe I could have saved him... if I had said something, anything! Nothing I could do. All hell's gonna rain down on us. At least it wasn't me.' A pang of guilt ran through him at this last thought, punishing him for having selfish thoughts when his friend had just died.

Roberts heard faint screams in the distance. He opened his eyes and tried to unclench his jaw. At least Morse was alive, but for how long? Or maybe that was someone else who got hit too. Eric tried to focus on the situation he was in. Worrying about Morse wasn't going to do any good now. That was Second Squad's problem. Eric wasn't in charge, he was First Squad Smartgunner... That was his job and he'd better damn well do it. He kept his mouth shut and peered through his infrared scanner, trying to normalize his strained breathing.

(Roll Awareness/Scouting)
ImageSgtMaj. Danny Sykes - Platoon NCO
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D26/TQ6.3.48412E9
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by MarcusOTerra » Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:18 am

Sal had been quiet as the group moved out into the forest. His face was neutral as Morse's circumstances went from fatal, to terrible, to reasonable, to managed. Then the explosives went off.

"I mentioned traps when we organized, didn't I?" He whispered low enough that maybe Sam could hear him. "I'm on it."

<Tag Sam>

Morse's screams about his leg gave Sal pause. Morse was a heavy gunner the squad lead, after the ex-LT. He didn't realize he was already tracing First squad's path, body low, eyes on the ground ahead.

<Roll Awareness while advancing at speed>

"Dirk, Sal." He recalled their former LT was a field medic, probably a better one than Sal. "advancing to Assist," He kept his eyes open. "Will carry Morse back if prudent." Dirk was also a much more experience rifleman than Sal, so he was better off at the front.

<Tag Dirk>

"Morse!" He spoke now, "If you aren't deaf right now, Shut your fucking mouth!" He really was throwing rank right out hte door, as he passed more and more of what was First squad's tracks. "Grit your fucking teeth and Shut. Up."

<Tag Morse>

Maybe, if they had any luck left, the squad sent to investigate would think some wild animal had been blown up.

Wouldn't be too far off.
Salazar 'Salamander' Boothe: 'Private', 'Medic', 'Marine'.
Load out: As Turn Two of Watch Dog
Pulse Rifle: Clip loaded +4 on person.
1 Field Surgery Kit
3 First aid Kits
4 smoke grenades
Breather Mask.

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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by EVSA » Tue Feb 10, 2015 2:24 pm

Bell looked down at his own legs, wishing against the surreal possibility of sharing Morse's fate.

When he realised a Medic was rushing to point he resumed scanning the woods for ennemy contact. He sounded off in a breathless voice.

"Covering"

He didnt dare get to Morse before clearing the ground between them, and he didnt dare take his eyes off the horizon in case this wasn't just a trap but an actual ambush.

)Roll Scouting
Private Andrew Bell - Rifleman
3rd Div. 2nd Reg. 1st Co, 8th Plt.
USS Defiant

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maxvale76
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by maxvale76 » Tue Feb 10, 2015 3:20 pm

Samantha heard the explosion like everyone else and unconsciously she found herself holding her breath; eyes popped wide open and silently saying a prayer that Morse was alive; that the Rebels hadn't heard the explosion; basically that they weren't all fucked....

It took her a minute to realize that Booth had taken off like a shot; running to the wounded man like a good medic; but completely forgetting that Quinn was an expert medic and he was right there; and also that he was racing across ground that might have numerous mines laid.

"Boothe! Stop! You might be running right into a....oh God Damn it; stupid ragamuffin 'mon gone run right to his...."; she stopped herself; realizing that she was falling back into the heavily Caribbean-esque accent and way-of-talking of her youth on the New Kingston Colony.

She took a deep breath and looked hard at Roberts and Giosso; "You two; STAND FAST. Keep a sharp eye and ear out; that explosion might have been heard by some Rebels and an attack right now; with us spread out and distracted could make for a VERY bad day." Flipping her comms to talk to the 'command' frequency that Quinn, Dirk, Morse and she picked up; she called out; "Quinn; my medic Boothe is on his way to your position....I didn't order it; but he took off on his own before I could stop him. IF he doesn't get himself killed on the way there; please remind him that you're a medic as well and if you feel like removing his ass to the point where he can only stand or lay on his face; I've got no problem with that."

Letting out her anger, fear and frustration with a deep breath; she concluded with; "And I hope he can help you with Morse. We're holding here and keeping a sharp eye out for any Rebel activity. Let me know if there's anything we can do to assist."

<Tag Roberts, Giosso, Booth>

<Tag Quinn, Dirk, Morse>
ImageSGT Samantha "Sam" Hall

M41A Pulse Rifle
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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Whisky » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:29 pm

Colson had been backing away when the landmine went off, he instinctively ducked and covered as the pressure wave washed over him, ears ringing. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something hit the ground with a bounce. It was Morse he realised with a shock. That's when Morse started screaming. Screaming in rage, pain and confusion. Colson blinked, then remembered why he was here. Dashing to Morse's side he evaluated how bad the damage was. Morse's leg being gone was the obvious one but there'd be more. Slinging his gun he swung round his K52 Medical Field Kit

Grabbing one of Morse's wrists he slapped Morse's hand down on another wound, with his free hand he clapped it over Morse's mouth, realising Morse was probably near deaf after the explosion he leaned over so the marine could see him speak, hoping Morse would get the message. "Apply pressure here and shut up. They hear you screaming and they'll know for certain it was us and not some dumb pig."

"So pipe down, I've got you." Colson said with a wink, trying to calm Morse, he took his hand away hoping Morse got the message, he couldn't afford to wait for an answer, he had work to do. Staring by trying to stem the flow of blood and get Morse stable, he'd have to be quick, no telling if that land mine would draw the enemy.

<Roll MedicalAid
<Tag Morse & Second Squad/Quinn
Pvt. Thomas Colson
2nd Squad - Medic

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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Quicksilver » Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:32 pm

"Yes Ma'am," Mark responded quickly, "Not moving an inch ma'am. Definitely not running through a landmine infested forest, Ma'am."

He'd frozen as the second the call of landmine had gone out across the radio. He'd hoped the fact that they'd caught it before it went off meant they could do something about it, that somehow it wouldn't mean the end of the loud mouthed, opinionated, fellow marine. The explosion shattered that hope. The yelling a moment later brought it back in the worst way.

He couldn't help but think of all the attention the screaming might bring. If there were insurgents in anything resembling hearing range, they knew where the Marines were now. No, they knew were Morse was. That meant part of the plan was still oddly in operation. Any investigating enemy would still put themselves right in-between them and Dirk's squad. But where they coming? Mark realized he had the best chance of anyone to figure that out.

Swinging his backpack down, he unzipped one of the myriad of flaps to expose the controls for the heavy duty comms system that formed a standard part of his specialist's kit. He pulled out the small receiver dish attached to the unit and began fiddling with the controls, pressing his earphone to his head as he did. If an enemy heard Morse, their might just be a corresponding jump in radio traffic.

<Comms Use>
Pvt. Mark Giosso
3rd Bn, 2nd Reg, 1st Co, 8th Plt
Security Systems Master
Communications / Computer and Motion Tracker Operation Expert
Surveillance Equipment Operation Professional

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Re: Turn 4. Down in the Valley

Post by Pale Rider » Wed Feb 11, 2015 1:45 am

With the trap sprung the Seccessionists opened fire on the moving marines. A round tore through the foilage slapping into a tree by Sam's head spraying splinters into her ear and cheek.
Another punched into the ground beside Mark's left kneecap. Bullets were flying in low and hard.
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