Alien: Lockdown

Part 7~ Combat

U.S.S Anna-Lee Status Report
Crew: 43, 5 KIA
43 Hours Till Destination
Ship Status: Operational
Alarm Status: Hazard

Four hours passed without any sightings. All the searches had come up empty. Dietz and his squad had been waiting for the signal to move in and kill or capture the creatures. For the first two hours they'd helped search, but for the last two they'd been on standby.

He'd been chewed out thoroughly by Wirth and Simmons for withholding information about the creatures. Ultimately, he knew he deserved it. It wouldn't have changed anything though, so he didn't exactly regret it.

Presently, Simmons and Wirth were at the security office with Evans and Grant. Allen and Mathers were engaged in a game of chess to pass the time. Luckily for them, neither really knew how to play.

Dietz had watched Garnett's brows furrow in frustration at the amazingly stupid game. Allen could've ended it five turns ago, but he failed to call his checkmate. Mathers almost had the game in the bag near the start.

"You guys are driving me crazy," Garnett finally spoke.

A smirk appeared on Allen's face. "Oh we know."

"Right. You know what?" Garnett reached over to the board and grabbed one of Allen's pieces, making a move.

"Checkmate. White wins. Done," Garnett sat back down and relaxed.

"It's nothing to get all worked up about brother. I know what you need. You need some good pu-" Mathers was interrupted by an intercom.

"Marines, we think we've got something. Hurry for engineerings. Technician Harry will meet you and guide you," said Wirth.

"Roger," Stanton hit the reply button. "Okay, saddle up. Double time it!"

The squad hastily gathered their weapons. Dietz armed himself with a submachine gun. He decided his smart-gun would be too cumbersome in the confines of the ship. Dorens had his flamethrower and a shotgun slug over his back. The rest of the squad were armed with standard Pulse Rifles.

They filed out the door and quickly went for the elevator to bring them down to engineering. Stanton radioed in and verified that Harry was waiting for them at the bottom. Dietz checked over his weapon again, liking how it felt in his hands.

It'd been a while since they'd carried anything but sidearms. It felt good to be armed to the teeth and in full gear again. He could tell the others felt the same.

"Check your fire down here. We've got teams searching the whole area, and technicians still making repairs," Stanton reminded the team.

"Also check fire for flammable equipment. Maintain fire discipline. Check your targets and call them out," Simmons radioed in.

"Affirmative, Sergeant. Here we are."

The elevator reached it's stop and opened. Harry was there, armed with a hefty pipe.

"This way. We think we found one of them," said Harry.

"Lead the way," said Stanton.

Allen took out his motion tracker and followed closely behind Stanton and Harry. Dietz and Dorens brought up the rear.

Adrenaline pumped through Dietz veins. The thrill of combat was so close now. He hadn't been on a bug hunt in a while. There was nothing better than blasting away the bad guys or taking out some creatures that had been terrorizing a colony.

Harry led the squad through a series of tight hallways and alcoves. Twice Dietz thought he'd get stuck squeezing pass some piping in a narrow alcove. He became thankful he hadn't brought his smart-gun.