"Why! Oh why! Did we have to bivouac on that moon?" grumbled PFC. Travis Anderson. "I've got sand in my boots, sand in my socks, sand in my underwear, and that is the smallest grain of sand I have ever seen."
"Can you ever not complain?" Pvt. Tom Crawford said. "Or better: can you go 20 minutes without complaining? Try it. It will make you a better soldier. You will be a better Strike force Team member and a better man!"
"Uh," Anderson remarked, "I am not a complainer. Well, not about everything, just if it bothers me. And this sand in my underwear bothers me."
"Hey, now that is an improvement. You only complained about sand in your underwear, not everywhere else," said Pvt. Crawford. "By the way you can always tell the Sergeant your concerns."
"Have you ever noticed how the Sergeant and the Lieutenant think just alike, ask one a question it is like – " He was interrupted when he heard the Lieutenant shout.
"Halt!" Lt. McLane ordered, as he grazed a blue pine nut bush. He sensed something was amiss. They were at the edge of a clearing in the blue green brush just a half click from where they had landed in the Scorpion shuttlecraft. Just over the bush line. AlClad IV does not have trees, just big bushes. Blue green bushes interwoven with tall blue and green Tsongas grass, and in some places smaller shorter grasses.
He could make out the light blue glint of the metallic paint on a Jouth flier. The dark smoked barrels, indicated recent use of the 6 plasma cannons, and double blasters mounted on each side looked menacing as Lt. Rex McLane shouted, "Cover - back!"
Because blaster fire began to fall down upon Strike Force One McLane mussed " This was suppose to be a simple in and out mission - pick up an operative in an uninhabited area. J. J. Jameson was the operative. He was to gather inlet on a primitive prison camp where a United Star States soldier was held. "Where is Jameson?"
The entire clearing erupted as powerful plasma cannons expelled their strength devastating the entire area. Strike Force One was heavily armed. Each member of the 8-man force had a medium plasma rifle, a blaster with 3 battery packs, and 16 Y flux bombs. The team had 3 Y flux launchers. They carried the firepower of 100 men. But against that gunship they were in for one torment of a fight.
Sgt. Jack Crow spoke quickly to Lt. McLane "They do not have any forces on the ground! Just the gunship! If we..."
McLane and Crow had worked together so much they did not have to communicate completely orally. They had an almost ESPER power between them. McLane interjected, "Put 2 Y flex bombs as close to the gunship as possible. Reload turn the tube vertical, punch remote. We only have 40 seconds before they can re-energize their plasma cannons."
McLane turned to his men and said, "Aim, shoot, and move in the direction of the Scorpion."