dear_uplink________________ Jep I've found a hold, well into the red side of interzone. For the moment it seems safe enough - theres no power contamination that I can sense, and the chargers are working fine. It is a bit cramped in here, but its not like I have a choice -my armour is nearly down, and I can't even think about using functions. I've been seperated from the rest of my squad... things got a little hairy a couple of hours back. Things always get a little hairy in this line of work. It was a big assault on the Reds, and we were the leading attack on the edge. We phased in at a little past the neutral sector, so we were under fire from the start. So our options were to push on through it all, in the open, and try to overwhelm them with speed (which I'm sure we could do), or else retreat, regroup in safety, and rethink. Xal was in command, and she's never the quickest thinker - strategically good back in Green, sure, but on the feild a little slow. So of course, she gave the order to fall back. I had to silence Rude's protests- arguing while standing there would be a quick short out for us all. So the 7 of us ran back manually to safety. Rude nearly had at Xal right then and there, but I held him back. Xal would have handled him, of course - she's not an officer for nothing, but it was much better to avoid conflict. Xal realised her mistake though, but there was nothing for it - we had to go back onto the feild, with them ready for us this time. All in all, the plan wasn't so bad. We just had a case of bad luck. It was a simple diversion - Chamber and I were to run head on at an enemy bunker that Xal picked out, and boost our jets just as we came into range. The others networked their sheilds with ours, weakening theirs considerably, but we'd be brownouts any other way. The other 5 split up - Xal and Saland on the left, Beff, Rude and Caser on the right. They were using harmonic distortion to hide their approach while Chamber and I took the limelight. I know when to follow orders, and, while I didn't like the idea of all those energy rifels aimed at me, I knew that I'd be far safer under all that networked sheilding that stealthily approaching sans protection. Chamber always was an odd one- he seems to plug for the danger, almost, so he was revving to go when Xal gave the ok. "Jep, man, we're going to be deckking like crazy when we get up there!" he said to me, as we were locking into our hoost harnesses. "Sure Chamber. Just don't go crazy like you did when we did that lineout at the blue nexus. We're in a tight situation here, you know?" "Man, you worry too much! With Xal's amazing plan, we're gonna storm them. Just think of the look on their face when they realise that they've committed their alignment to the two us us when our guys are right on top of them!" he laughed. That crazy laugh. How I hate it. You know it means he's not thinking, and he's not going to listen to you. And he definitely won't have his mind on the job as a whole. Just the ... NOWness of it. So the locks cycles through and we were out again, the two of us pumping our legs like pistons We were in peak condition, as all us phase troops were, but boy did we feel slow. We were still out of 'rifle range', but thats a pretty subjective thing, and a lucky shot could get us easy. Of course nothing hit us, but we knew they could see us almost straight away from the glow of the targeting beams aimed over the wasteland. I guess we could hardly expect them not to notice us, what with the plume of liquid nitrogen sent up as we came running out. And then Xal judged that we were close enough, and screamed at us through or headsets. Our arms thrust down in unison, and we leant forward, our veteran training making us into polished machines. Robots underneath our cybernetics. The jets began to scream, and the grey earth blurred beneath us as we tilted forwards the g-force too strong to think about returning the fire that shot around us. I must have been hit a couple of times, becuase there are still marks on my armour, and I didn't end up quite at the planned spot, but I didn't feel it. Or, more accurately, I didn't feel it any more strongly than each and every blast of energy that rushed past. I guess Chamber made it ok, since I saw his guns blazing from nearby afterwards, somewhere off to my right. The funny thing was, over the whine of the jets and the rush of the wind and the barrage of coherent light, I shouldn't have been able to hear a thing. But that crazy laugh was in my ear the whole way, right till I touched ground again. My feet made contact and I rolled, lying flat behind the jet suit as it released. I vectored a reflector out around it, extending my suits sheilds around the cover. I could already feel the theing starting to heat up from the fire from the bunker, so it was a pity I couldn't extend the networked sheilding as well. I guessed I'd have to sit tight. Then it happened. A low flying enemy saber-class made a pass, and then doubled back. I'm not sure why it did this, usually sabers aren't interested in what goes on down here, but it obviously made someone in the squad paranoid. A green streak of light investigated the side of the ship, origonating from somewhere on the other side of the bunker. Rude, I'm guessing. Or maybe Caser. She always seemed like she'd snap under too much pressure, and she had been looking a little strained recently. I swore loudly and profusely, but didn't move. Xal was screaming blue brounout in my headset, but I couldn't do a thing. There was a whir of machinery trying to move too fast, and in a sudden blaze of red glory the three over that side were no more. I couldn't see it happening, but I felt the power in my extra sheilding run down all of a sudden. So There I was, behind a slowly melting piece of metal that was once my one way ticket here, cut off from the rest of my squad, with just normal suit functions, and a couple of small time weapons. No way back - I'd be fried in a second. No communications - whoever had the hub must have been fried along with their fateful green laser. So what could I do? I took a chance. I tossed a couple of EMP grenades over to the bunker, which confused them temporarily, and I ran straight AT it. I jumped in, shot the first two reds I saw, kicked another one _manually_ (which shocked the hell out of her) and dove down the service chute, praying that the bottom was not too far away. As it was I mmust have dropped 10 times my own height, but landed on my side, so the suit took the brunt of it, pulsing green, and sending out a couple of sparks. I rolled painfully over, saw a speeder, and somehow made my way to the interzone without being seen. Of course, military personel aren't allowed on the interzone, so I slotted straight into the nearest green hold I could find. So what do I do now? I can recharge my suit here, but the second I step out there will be a blaster pointed at my neck with interzone security written down it's side. They'll either hold me themselves, or, more likely, just turn me over to the reds. And we all have nightmares about that. So, to put it all offical like. ATTN: Uplink, status update CODE: Jep UNIT: Echo 4 LOCATION: Interzone R, green hold 40/d REQUEST: Please advise 020926 ... dont you mean jet? 021002 ... Jep ummm.... no.... 021002 ... Jep I really have to get out of this line of work. I’m good at it; I’ve been lucky so far, but still I hate the knowledge that any small slip will mean the difference between victory, honour and survival or …the alternative. So I got out of Interzone. Finally. Apparently Green Base did some kind of deal – trade for trade, I’m not sure of the specifics. Except that, being just a grunt myself, I must have been just something thrown into the deal. Guess I got lucky. Real lucky, actually. Seems I was the sole survivor of Echo 4, and somebody did some major damage to some key power couplings- one of our priority objectives that day. And cause they got juiced, I get the packet and the kudos. I’m alive, richer, an officer. So here I’m in phase-lock, waiting for the go. I’ve no part in the tactics of the thing, but I get to make the calls when we’re down there. Don’t know how I feel about that. All these new-faced recruits are staring at me. A bit of legend works well for respect, I guess, and most nobody comes out of interzone security holds. I’ll need it, keeping these guys together on their first phase – an attack on a small but tactically important vapor silo. I got upgrades too, which I’ve been working out over the past few training sessions. Officer override frequencies, slightly augmented shields, a coherent particle cannon, and the authority to call in to Green Base for support. But I’m still just as scared as I was the very first time. One well placed ray and I’ll short, new shields and all. But I can’t hesitate too long. Fear breeds fear, that’s what sergeant Vorn used to say, right. I’ve gotta call it in now, before my bots catch on. ATTN: Uplink, req. CODE: Jep UNIT: Bravo 14 LOCATION: Green Phase Charlie-6 REQUEST: Run Phase Cycle 040405 ... egger wowza. as a smalltime scifi lit fan, please take it with proper weight when i say this is Good Stuff, and I Want More. 040405 ... marked . 040428 ... u24 me too. 050111 what's it to you? who go blather from