Jerak Woods

[Viral]

The Jerak Woods are, what looks like, the cliche dark and scary forest. It has the supernatural darkness that can't be penetrated very far, the rustles and even the dark shapes darting at the corner of the person's vision. The one very large clearing in the densely wooded forest looks somewhat safe for a dropzone. It has a thin mist along the ground that moves when a boot comes down on it, but doesn't obstruct the view of anything really.

Deeper in the Jerak, The Outpost stands. (All thanks to Ice End for this)

Since the first intelligent species came to Nu Earth a small base has been inside the Jerak Woods standing tall but decaying slightly over the years. It is the oldest standing structure on Nu Earth. It has muck and grime all over the walls. The structure seems to hold a similarity to forts from the twentieth century. The inside is partially flooded but from initial reports the deeper in the lower the water level gets. All attempts to secure the base and posses the only fortification in the Jerak Woods have failed for many different and fairly random reasons. A banner stands over the fortification none can seem to identify.

[Viral]

The Galactic Human Federation troops stalked through the woods, not slowing in the least to examine the shapes in the shadows. The shadows had been darting around for the past 3 hours as the large group of men stumbled blindly into the darkness. Jacobson, the radioman, had lost all communication with the standby dropships an hour beforehand, and the men were getting unnerved. "Sir, we need to get out of these woods, those shapes are getting closer and closer." 1st Lieutenant Allan keyed the squad mic. "Men, we have unidentified hostiles all around us. By this time I take it that you know that and are ready to blow them away. I don't want anyone firing unless attacked." He shut his mic off and sighed. Taking off his helmet, he wiped the sweat from his brow and holstered his rifle. "Jacobson, any contact yet?" The 6 and 1/2 foot tall miner looked up and shook his head. "Negative sir, we can't receive any messages or send them out. It's like we dropped off the edge of this world." He wiped his sweaty hands on his uniform and went back to his work.

At the back of the line, the men were more than a little unnerved. "Well this is bull, we can't fire when we got those things breathing down our necks on three sides!" PFC. Garnett kicked a small bush, glared at the shadows, and started yelling. "You want me? F-ing take me!" He fired at the shifting targets and kept yelling. Cpl. Anderson shut him up with a punch that sent the 23 year old aristocrat's son to the ground in a heap. The deep spacer-gone-soldier stated grimly, "Don't take his weapon, we may have just pissed all over the anthill now boys."

[Dawn]

By the time the ship had landed into what looked to be a forest, Edward grabbed everything he needed from his room, and then looked from the side window. As he walked out into the main landing center, Blue took notice of him just walking out, and spoke up. "Colonel, you dont expect to go out there alone, do you?" Blue was always the one to first point out the problems, even if the Colonel knew that he was doing, Blue had to be the one to make sure he did.

"Oh course not. Im second to volunteer." Silver stood from the seat at landing controls, fixing her white hair in the back. She and had walked over to Blue, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You know we cant leave without our coordinate specialist, now can we?"

Edward grinned at Silver and Blue, then looked around at the rest of the crew as they worked on finding out details of the planet they had landed on. Or at least the surrounding area. "Lets go see what we can dig up. Someone mustve shot that disruptor for a reason, and I intend to find out why. Well keep in contact, Sapphire."

As the unit of three left the ship, the ramp closed behind them, and the dense, foggy air had a cold touch, even through Edwards leather suit. The three moved through the treeline, searching for anything that could be seen as a path or trail. Getting lost in the woods wasnt exactly his idea of fun, and any roads they found could be scouted by Blue for future mapping.

Suddonly, there was a succession of gunshots coming from deeper inside the forest. "Live ammunition, must be human. Let move, team!" There was no time for finding any clear pathway, the hunt had just begun.

[Viral]

One of the GHF soldiers on the outer fringes of the soldier line yelped and fell to the ground. Lt. Allan shouted into the SquadComm, "Are we under attack? Report! Squad Leaders check in!"

The squad leaders called out and accounted for all the soldiers. "Sir, I got 1 missing soldier and one incapacitated, he fired at nothing. I think it's gonna get heavy out here pretty soon."

Two Devourers moved silently through the mist and shadows while the soldiers' field of vision remained focused on the darkness ahead and straight, not down into the mist. They slipped through the main ring of invaders and began their deadly work.

Allan shook his head. "Controlled fire at anything that moves, don't fire blind, conserve your ammo." The HUD on the inside of his helmet, displayed the list of soldiers and their corresponding status. A few flickered to red. "We got contacts taking out our men! Stay sharp," he switched channels, "Marquis, get your men into a tight formation, your team is dropping like flies! Marquis?" He slowly stood up from his crouch position as a hulking figure seemed to emerge from the shadows and mist itself. He quickly raised his rifle and fired into the Hunter, putting 8 rounds into it's head before one of it's blades tore through his rifle and gored his left arm. He fell to the ground while the soldier roster changed quickly with reds, yellows, and flashing greens.

[Dawn]

The team of three moved through the forest, closer to where the gunshots had come from. As they approached, there was more shots heard, which put the team into an awareness that something was being shot at, and required a lot of rounds to take down. Blue held his 9mm, but he knew that it was for self defense, and couldnt be used for any form of attack against anything more then humans, if that. Silver had her laser pistol drawn, ready to attack anything that came near them, out of the darkness. "More gunshots..."

As for the colonel, Dawn had his hand on his sword, ready to take out whatever it was that was being shot at. As the handful emerged into a path, there lay a number of bloody corpses, all mangled and sliced apart across the ground. "This doesnt look good..." Blue had shaky, even with everything he had been through, he hadnt seen bodies this damaged since his nightmarish past. But he felt safe with Silver and the colonel.

Just before anyone could identify the situation, there was a loud shriek from the treetops, and Dawn thrusted his sword inches above Blues head, tearing whatever had jumped down in two. Silver made contact with more of the creatures to the east, aswell as more coming from behind them toward the colonel. As Silver began to shoot, Dawn swung toward one of the creatures, using the momentum to swing in for combo at another fiend. "Dont let your guard down, theyre here for a fight. Lets give em what they want!"

[Viral]

Gunfire from the lead and rear of the group alerted the main body of troops, saving more than a couple lives. Soon the entire strike team was firing away at the monsters as they surrounded them and picked off the men near the fringes of the group. Lt. Allan laid against the trunk of a tree, awoken from the Hunter's blow by the radio chatter. "We got hostiles closing in!...Team down! Team down!....We need backup!...Rear team is cutoff from the main force!" The last statement got his attention. "Cpl. Anderson, if you're reading this I want you to get to the clearing shown on the satellite images. Call for reinforcements and a medivac." He shakily stood up, at the same time pulling his handgun and staring at the blasted remains of the hunter.

The corporal heard the transmission, but the fighting had damaged his headset. With his helmet off, he guided the team into a defensive ring that slowly moved away from the gunfire. After they were out of the immediate fighting, they started west toward the clearing shown on his map. The team of 6 men moved cuatiously through the forest, not sure if any monsters remained to trouble them. "Eyes open, we don't need to walk into an ambush."

[Dawn]

Just as the team was making progress, it seemed the more the killed, the more showed up moments later. Dawn spun around, spearing another one of the creatures from behind through the head, ripping the sword out and did the same with another in front of her. As three more jumped from the trees, she commanded to the group. "Take out the ones that matter, and lets move!" Now fighting for the north side of the trail, Dawn cut a way through the beasts, finally reaching a gap where they could slip away.

The team of three ran from the fight, not feeling as victorious as they would like to think, but they were able to run fast enough to keeo out of their way. Blue was the fastest, carrying less then everyone else, and he got into a branched path where they decided to move next. Through gut instinct, the team went east, following the trail quickly and finally away from the creatures that chased them.

As Dawn ran, she held her word into the moist treeline above her, cleaning off the sword before sheathing it. Youd think the captain of an elite team like this would be leading, but she knew everyone had just as much of a background in combat then she herself did. Maybe even more. But they were worthy men and women who she fought along side of, its kept them alive this long, hasnt it?

The group slowed down as the approached a clearning, and crouched in the trees before exposing themselves out in the open for the monsters to see them easily. Silver scanned the area through her heat vision goggles, it seemed all clear then there was a small group of signitures showing up. "I got a reading, human. Engage with intent of attack? We dont know anybody out here, they cant be friendly... Can they?"

[Ice End]

Christophe was wide awake now. The pain in his body had dissapeared so he felt more like himself and less like everything else. He was sitting up in he clearing taking a nice long look. Many strange plants were everywhere. There were also some people near him but they were probably just out for a walk.

This place, she is beutiful.

Christophe took out his notebook and started writing a bit.

[Viral]

"Enemies neutralized. Route clear sir. Proceeding to scout the clearing." Three GHF troopers stalked through the underbrush, passing across the corpses of the monsters. The men got around to the other side and radioed to the engineer across the way next to the Corporal. "All clear, begin operations to set up relay."

The bloodied engineer holstered his weapon and took a few steps into the clearing. "We got a target in the clearing!" He stumbled backwards into the brush and darkness and took cover behind a large tree. "You guys check out the clearing, I seen a human or something there!"

Cpl. Anderson was oblivious to the situation, other than the small bits his accompanying private gave him. He long abandoned his busted helmet and replaced it with grime and muck to hide his whitish skin against the black surroundings. Both Cpl. and Pvt. moved tot he engineer and prepared for a firefight with the unidentified figure.

[Dawn]

As Dawn and the other watched the scene unfold in the clearing, she wondered if they were about to stumble into a fight regardless of engagement or not. Signalling to Blue and Silver to stay back and supply cover, Dawn moved into the clearing from behind, darting to the other side. She wanted to make sure there wasnt going to be a firefight, but if one happened to break out, they could get a sneak attack in.

Before any action took place, Dawn recieved a call from the ship. The voice could only be heard in her ear, and her responses were faint and short. "Captain, the jamming field is gone, and were sending you details of the planet to your GPS. Standby for transmission..." Dawn peered at the screen of her GPS, and saw a satalite image of the planets surrounding area, aswell as the two crew members on the other side of the clearing. It would seem that this planet resembles Earth, which was surprising for her, a good update for a mission."Confirmed. Dawn out."

Dawn looked back at the soldiers, they all looked pretty hardcore, tactical, armed to the teeth with an arsenal of weapons. But they werent here for a fight, she could assume this by the actions. They were getting ready to set up a relay point, pretty clever. However, this newcomer in the clearing was interesting, heat signitures were plain, but something else bothered her. He was all alone, no crew, nothing. Dawn waited for the right moment to expose herself, either forcefully or friendly, either way was fine with her.

[Ice End]

Christophe still scribbling his poetry onto his notebook.

"The place she sleeps.
The place she lives.
The place she is.
She is this place"

Christophe as ever felt his poetry was phenomenal. After a little more writing and after a quick doodle of his surroundings he took a break just to enjoy himself. After all he was probably just going to get sent to the front after he got back, but he didnt have to get back to soon.

[Viral]

The GHF soldiers looked at the lone man in the clearing writing in a notebook. "Non-hostile?" Anderson tapped the engineer's shoulder, motiong for him to removed his helmet. Placing it on his head, "This is Anderson, two proceed with weapons drawn the other take Overwatch position, but don't start a fight, we need this set up before we need anothe enemy." The men moved into the clearing with their weapons drawn, while Anderson ,the Engineer, and the unnamed private leveled their rifles at the man.

[Dawn]

"Alright, you two stay here while I go in alone. Make sure to keep out of sight." The loyalty of Silver and Blue toward Dawn reframed from them asking any questions, and followed the orders cleanly and efficiently. While those two hid in the underbrush of the forest, Dawn was on the move behind the whole scene, from the soldiers position. She ran into a sprint from the far side of the clearing towards the soldiers, keeping very low and making minimum noise while retaining speed.

After the stealth movement, Dawn slowed herself down to a sloth like crawl forward, taking her breaths with a dull sound as well. As she approached the back who seemed to be the one in charge, Dawn eased her Modified P90 toward the back of the man, and then looked over at the one who had the guns drawn toward him and winked. "Set up what, exactly? Just curious, if I was going to kill you I wouldve done it from across the clearning..."

[Ice End]

After finishing the page Christophe put his notebook and pen down. He took a deep breath and enjoyed the nice clean air. It was a nice change from the smoke and burning smell of a battlefield. Christophe looked over back at the people they were doing something else. One was awfully close to the other, one seemed to have there hand on the others back.


"Ah, love is in the air."

After a brief second Christophe picked up his pen and notebook once more. He wrote another poem, this time about love. It had been quite a while since he'd wrote such a happy poem. Christophe had not seen something so beautiful in a while. This place seemed truly magical.

(erm Dawn, is this long enough?)

[Viral]

Anderson stiffened up as the weapon nudged his lower back, followed by the question. The two soldiers he were with were rookies, not the kind of soldiers he'd choose for cleaning up a hostage situation. He turned his head around and tried to get a sideways glance at the person speaking. "Well well, what's a lone woman doing out in the middle of the forest?" He gained confidence knowing it was a woman and started turning around, "You know you can't do it, just put the gun down and come with us."

The other soldiers moving toward the lone man moved up on him as he wrote down in his notebook. They circled him with their weapons drawn and started yelling, "Get on the ground! Drop what you're doing and get down!" One of the soldiers reached out and tried to throw the man to the ground.