USCMRPG

June 7, 2189
Location: Outer Veil, Neroid Sector, Near Former Penal Labor Colony
Mission Time: 06:43:35
End-Of-Turn: 19.01.2019

Upon detecting a potential USCM Beacon Signal on the ground, a scout squad was dispatched:

- MGySgt. James Screaming Eagle (Squad Leader)
- Sgt. Cano (Sniper)
- Cpl. Greer (Spotter)
- Cpl. Pushkin (Comtech)

The four marines were dropped to surface using advanced stealth dead-drop re-entry insertion capsules. Ballistic orbital re-entry drops considered to be the most dangerous way of a decent, but also the most stealthiest ones. All went well and the marines reached the surface safely. Thanks to the god of weather, a medium snow storm near the assumed position of the signal could be used to further conceal the capsules drop and to bring them in within an half an hour march. The team members leave their capsules, quickly checked their equipment and awaited orders from Gunny Screaming Eagle.

James exited his coffin feeling like a neo-Dracula, he looked at his squad and placed two fingers on his eyes and pointed at Corporal Greer to advance and use his equipment to scan the area. Tapping his ear he pointed at Corporal Pushkin and then pointed up indicating he wanted to let brass know they were all intact.
James then motioned for Sergeant Cano to get start looking for a vantage point to cover his entry into the compound.

(Tag Scouts)

Corporal Greer
Greer nodded to James, pulled out her motion tracker, activated it and scanned the area, but nothing showed up. Then she began to ascend a small hill. Her snow ghillie suit blended in perfectly to the surroundings. She hunkered down and crawled the last few meters to the top. Pulling out her binoculars, she took some time to survey the area in front.

She reported her observations, using the short range com.

"there is a jingti long ship on the ground, next to a bulldozered area, looking serverly damaged. smoke is coming out of a hatch. A typ 337 eev is in the areas center. Hmm, looks like several dead xenos around the jingit long ship. And what is that around the area? Best guess is a laser blockade, two of them, containing the area around the eev and the ship.

A second and smaller ship is on the ground. We got company there. Best guess is black ops commandos. Four of them. Huh ... whats that? Two of them have an assortement of demolitions. They enter the penal colony.

Two more commandos leave the smaller ship, they have a ... person in handcuffs. Definitly not one of our missing marines. Asian features. They herd him towards the laser cage."

Sergeant Mark Cano

Sergeant Cano clung to the handles of his drop-pod as it descended through the atmosphere. Once it hit the ground, he activated the door release. It resisted the pressure, but he managed to climb out through the open crack. No wonder, it was about two-feet deep in snow. Cano quickly vomited his breakfast in the snow, the drop had been bumpy. He tasted the acidic black coffee again, but significantly less pleasant this time.

Without a second's delay, he made his way to the Master Guns' position. He watched with intense focus as Eagle issued his non-verbal orders. As soon as he had orders, he took off, moving fast and low toward the best vantage point. As he listened to Greer's report, he made his way up a rocky ridge in his snow-ghillie suit. As soon as he reached a convenient ledge, he dropped to a prone position in the snow, almost completely underneath the surface. He laid his M42 sniper rifle in front of him, with only the barrel and scope protruding from the edge of the snow drift.

He whispered into the comms unit which was carefully aligned underneath his white face-mask. "I have confirmation of Greer's report. Those are black ops commandos." He squinted into his scope, "One of them has an unusual weapon... some kind of tanks on his back that link to a metal hose in his hand. Looks like an old 1900s flamethrower. Copy?"
<Tag Eagle>

James followed Cano's ascent, momentarily loosing sight of him as he slipped into a ravine, but retargeting him as he slipped on to the ledge. A slight nod down and to his right switched on a direct link to the Sergeant. "Sergeant, slide back a bit so your muzzle is within your location. This will help hide your muzzle flashes and also keep the muzzle out of sight. I am gonna creep closer. If you see anything coming my way give me two clicks on the mic."
He nodded straight down and it reopened the squad frequency, his speaking to the Sarge in private was a courtesy to the man's rank. "Okay ladies and gentlemen the fun is about to begin. We are going to see if we can count a little coup. Hold your fire unless you are fired upon. Brass would prefer we get in and out without letting folks know we are here. I am about to do a little sneaking and freaking so keep your ears on. Pushkin, I want you to relay everything you see to the Brass and also store it so we can send it topside in one piece. Makes the paperwork so much easier when you have everything available for dictation.
(Tag Group)

Nikolai Pushkin was particularly cramped in the capsule due to his large size. Once he reached the ground he exhaled with relief. Exiting his pod, he joined the others. He too wore a snow-ghillie suit that made him look almost like a yeti. The cold was not just familiar to him, it was like an old friend.

Once he received Eagle's orders, he activated his long range radio and relayed their situation to the ship. "Heimlich, this is Echo Squad. All units green and in position. We are moving to recon the target now, over."
<Tag USS Heimlich>

Sykes relaxed voice crackled in their ears from his cushy location in orbit:

"We read you, Echo Squad. Proceed to the objective. Don't get your noses into too much trouble until we can bail you out. Copy."
<Tag Pushkin>