Chapter 7 - The Heist

I made sure I was up early the next morning. It was game day for the infantry. Hans was somehow up before I was, so I decided to return the favor on Sean and Jared. Gleefully bouncing to their bunks I sang with a hint of humor in my voice "Rise and shine girls!" I threw up the blinds and flooded the room with the sunlight. They resisted by putting the sheets over their heads, so I took a bottle of water and dumping it where their mid-section was under the sheets. "Damn guys, use the bathroom!" By this time the entire barrack was up and laughing at them. Paybacks a beotch, I thought to myself. Needless to say I knew I hadn't seen the end of it.

As we made our way by shuttle to the first actual town we would see on Calypso, I kept thinking about the action I was going to miss the next day for the search and rescue mission. But I had others things to worry about before that.
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"Ok grunts, get your equipment!"
On a table in front of us were a bunch of items that we would be 'playing' with for today. A small Man MPH, a Jester D-1, a survival blade and some modified armor. As we were messing around and trying to get our gear to fit on Thunder told us the situation.
"You are now in hadeshelm. This is a team capture the flag procedures, so teamwork is imperative for winning. The guns and the ammo have been modified so they shoot blanks, and if you are hit your vest will count it. 10 hits and you're wounded..."
"Sir, how will we know if it's 10?" A tall thin cadet said in the back of the group.
"Heh, you'll know." Thunder said with a bit of a chuckle. "Anyway, before I was interrupted, like I said, 10 and your down. Your team medic must come to your aid within 1 minute to revive you or you're toast.
Your objective, is to capture your opponent’s storage box that has vital information, and take it back to your base. First team to successfully take their opponent's box, WHILE still having their own, wins."
Whether it was accidental or curiosity Hans shot me with his rifle. I felt a sharp pinch of where it hit and the vest registered a small 'beep'. As usual Thunder took advantage of the situation.
"You want to know what happens after 10 hits? Try it out on Bunny Mr. Hans." Gah, how come I was always the target? After the 10th hit the vest let out a sort of low moaning sound then suddenly felt like 500 lbs was stacked to the vest. So as predicted I fell like a rock to the ground. Needless to say the others weren’t sure if I was actually on the ground by force or just trying to fake it. I tried shooting my sidearm but to no avail. It wouldn't shoot.
"Now, the medic on each team" Thunder continued, as though nothing happened at all "Must use the fast aid pack, or FAP as we call them, and hold it close to the target. Just press the button, and they're good as new. Now any questions or are you ready to win?" When he activated the FAP the vest returned to normal weight, so I could finally stand up. The whole group yelled and raised their arms in readiness for the upcoming battle.
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"Red leader, we are a go!" I was captain of the red team, so we made our base on the wall around the city. Eight players on each side, so This was going to be fun...if not intense. Three to hold back the fort, and five to charge the enemy's base...wherever that was. I ordered to do flying formation across the buildings so everyone had somebody's back. I was in front, Hans behind me and two other people from the Alpha squad Rick and Chris. Brian from the Beta squad was the last in line. Damn, this stuff's way better than the stuff back on earth. As we turned a corner I caught a glimpse of a person running around another building. I put my fist up in the air to single to other guys to halt and wait.
"Foe two o'clock. Cover my back." I radioed to the others. I did a quick look then ran to a sidewalk barrier where I took position. I signaled Hans to come over to me while the other two covered him. Again I looked in the corner of my eye just in time to see the target run into one of the apartment complexes. "Target in building. Follow my lead."

We made our way slowly through the alleyway and then to an open courtyard. We held back so Hans could check the area with this scanner.
"I'm not picking up any signals. Coast is clear" He announced. I would like to think I had more confidence in the scanner, but we had to move, time was ticking. We ran out of the alleyway into the doorway one by one so we wouldn't be picked off. We organized in the lobby until the scanner spotted a red dot near our position. Hans stood behind the door with his D-1 out, I kicked over a table and knelt behind it, having my own D-1 ready. Chris hid behind a wall and Rick slowly approached the door where the signal was coming from. We all waited. Then, the red dot disappeared.
"What? Stupid device!" I picked it up and hit it a few times, the only way to fix things in my world. Why would it do that? Rick opened the door and stepped outside. He turned to the left, then to the right and then started firing.
"We got contact! Need backup!" Before we could assist him he ran after the target. Heard a few shots, a yell, and then nothing. "Man down!" We heard. Dam, those guys work fast! We ran out the door way back into the courtyard. There was Rick, on the ground. I looked around. Couldn't find anything. It was a clear shot to him but the area was wide open for sniping. "So we leave him out there or try to rescue him?" Chris said. Indeed, quite the question...

-To be continued-