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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5120962" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 17 (August 18, 2008)Chapter 63Hadrian had to admit, the ride was impressive. The engines roared as the Skyranger began its descent.  The brief experience of weightlessness had been something, but greater than that was the sensation of speed, of the aircraft hurtling through space like a rocket, nothing like the ponderous C-130 or even the hybrid V-22.  Hadrian had no idea of how fast they were going, but he knew that they were traveling over a very large chunk of the Earth in less than seven hours.  With their communicators they could have talked over the noise of the engines, but there was little chatter.  There had been a brief communication from headquarters, with Doctor Wagner’s Germanic tones whispering into the tiny speaker in his ear as though the woman was leaning close up to him.  “We’re confident that the dampening field will confound the base radar,” she had told them, “but we’re not going to push our luck too much.  First objective is to find the controls for the base’s radar and communications array.  If you can find the main dish, you should be able to tap into their comms with your xPhones.  From there, you’ll have to decide how to proceed.  Collect as much information as possible, but remember, we cannot tolerate a covert alien presence in any consortium nation.”Hadrian had thought about trying to get some sleep, but ultimately decided against it.  He took out his xPhone and began reading up on X-COM, but was interrupted a few hours into the flight when Vasily had leaned over toward him. “Okay.  Here is short version,” the Russian had said.  “The little white ones, just shoot them.  The red ones that float, shoot or tear gas, either is good.”  He pointed to the gray orbs hanging from Hadrian’s belt, the grenades that Musa had given him, along with an M4 and a Glock pistol that he’d tucked into the small of his back. “The big snake men,” the Russian went on, “tear gas, and if you cannot hit, just spray bullets.  We meet something new… pray to God.”“And snakes aren’t affected much by lasers?” Vasily shook his head.  “Shoot laser if that all you got, but bullets and plasma and tear gas versus snakes, preferable.”That had been the end of the conversation.  Vasily had closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, but Hadrian was almost certain that he wasn’t sleeping.  He wondered what he would have felt if they’d ordered him to raid Camp Pendleton.  He got immersed in his reading for a while, until the change in pitch of the engines, accompanied by the feeling of dropping that never ceased to send a chill down his back, announced the start of their descent.  “We’re coming up on approach,” Ken said over the intercom.  “We’ll be coming in low, so stay buckled in until we land.  Keep you comms on local contact only.  Don’t contact the Ranger unless you have an emergency.”The pilot didn’t lie; the approach was a violent one, with the aircraft darting nimbly back and forth, at one point tilting almost on its side before banking into a hard turn.  Fortunately, none of them appeared to be the sort who got airsick.  Finally the floor seemed to drop out from under them, and the Skyranger plummeted down; Hadrian found his hands fisting on the armrests despite himself. “I’m ready power signatures to the north and northeast.  Going to set down on an ice shelf about two klicks from the base.  Visibility is… bad.  But that should help you.”The engines roared again and they were driven into their seats again, seemingly moments before a jarring halt announced an end to their momentum.  “We’re down,” Ken said.  “Good luck, team.”The hatch opened onto a blinding sea of white.  The harsh wind blew wafts of snow into the rear compartment of the Skyranger even before the opening was wide enough for them to disembark.  Catalina was the first out, scanning the area.  “Wow, really is bad,” she said.  She trudged out a few feet, and almost vanished into the snow.  “Watch your footing, can’t even see any edges,” she said.Hadrian and Vasily followed her out.  “And our plan is?” the Marine asked. “Guess we need lay of land,” Vasily said.  Catalina moved to the northeast, slipping off of the ice shelf into a cleft between two steep walls of ice-clad rock.  There was some shelter there from the driving wind, so as soon as she gestured, the others followed her there.  “There’s a pretty steep ascent to the north,” she told them.  “I’ll scout ahead.”Vasily nodded.  “Try to keep radio to minimum.”She clapped him on the shoulder and headed out.  Their suits of armor were hardly suited to winter camouflage, but the swirling snow made it moot, as it obscured her fully before she’d gone more than ten meters.Catalina kept one eye on her VDU as she made her way forward; the software in the headset couldn’t see through the snow, but it did superimpose the power readings that the Skyranger had taken during its descent.  The landscape was more than a bit treacherous, but she was sure-footed, and she was able to navigate her way forward with only a few minor diversions.  Up ahead, a tall ridge materialized out of the snow.  The power readings came from its summit, and as she stared up, she could just make out the dark line that was too straight to be natural.  “Found it,” she whispered.  She slowly made her way forward.  The ridge rose up in steps formed for a giant, the cliff ahead of her rising almost ten meters to the first tier.  She started to turn around to return, but caught sight of a narrow ascent, a ledge that ran up the face of the cliff like a ramp.  She drew her laser and thumbed the power button as she made her way forward, intent on seeing if the path led all the way up to the summit of the ridge.  She had nearly reached the top when she heard a noise over the wind, and froze.  The noise drew nearer, and resolved into the sound of boots crunching on the icy rock.  She pressed herself up against the rock face, silent.  The sound of the boots stopped.  She could see the lip at the top of the cliff, where the path culminated, but not beyond that.  She tensed, and shifted as if to start back down the path. And froze again, as she heard voices, speaking in Russian, close enough that she thought she could reach out and touch their owners.  They were right above her, and as she looked around, she realized that if they took one step forward, they could not fail to see her, standing on the path that now seemed treacherous and steep, utterly exposed and unable to escape without certain detection.</blockquote>

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