Our recon work indicated bugs outside the ship are not armed. Hopefully it will stay that way, at least for a while. There were numerous reports, available to our team, detailing bug behavior. Those reports also suggested, unless the chance for a heated firefight was high, bugs tended to be unarmed. Having crazed bugs running around with heavy weapons may have presented a danger to their own nest. Who knows? There really are a lot of unknowns. Our tactics for this mission would have to be determined on the fly by the type and amount of bug armament on display.
Para, how did you say it, about you and the bugs? Oh yeah, she is really looking forward to playing ball with the bugs. Para and Roll practiced, a lot, getting the timing down, with Roll crouching under the whirling wrecking ball. He would borrow Para’s Desert Eagle .50, and have it close at hand, just in case. We suspected Para’s display would draw in a lot of bugs; a lot of very provoked bugs. And Para would probably try some hand to claw work as well. What is she thinking?
Mr. T and Rock have a different agenda. Rock will teleport with Mr. T, who will then open fire with his .50 caliber machine gun. The Browning .50 caliber machine gun is a belt-fed, air-cooled, recoil-operated machine gun capable of single shot fire or fully automatic fire. Mr. T’s version, on full-automatic, runs through 1,500 rounds-per-minute. He would use several different bullet designs to help determine the best round to put down a bug.
One of his choices is a 680-grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of over 3,000 feet-per-second. That’s a devastating round! But we don’t have much information on bug anatomy. It’s possible the bullet will punch right through the bug without imparting enough energy to drop it. That seems unlikely, but we have to know. To limit the carnage, only one in five bullets is a live round, the rest being plastic. Rock will keep an eye on the situation and try out his new squad 6.8, also with an assortment of rounds.
We also have some satchel charges attached to netting. The charges are underpowered. Like I said, we didn’t want to invite retaliation. We can extrapolate from the light charge to determine the likely outcome of a full charge. Mostly, we want to get a feel for their reactions.
Only one team will engage the bugs at a time. The other team will stay at the safe zone. At least they agreed to my demand that no team would move out until the prior team was back at the Monument, safe and sound. In that way we can avoid a friendly fire incident. No pressure. It’s time. Back with a report in a few.
We ported, cloaked, to our chosen safe zone, the observation deck of the Washington Monument, with a good view of the bug nest ship and the surroundings. The only area not in view was the area blocked by the ship, on the north side. There were close to 100 bugs roaming around the ship. They were milling about in groups of ten, squad size. No weapons in sight.
Para was ready to go as she looked over to the bugs. “Come and try to take a bite out of ME, monsters.”
I was getting shaky. My hands, literally, shaking. “Roll and Para, you’re first. Maximum provocation. One o’clock, 500 meters.”
They ported to the spot, behind a large mound of dirt, out of view from the nest ship. There was a squad of bugs just to the side. Those were situated between our team and the ship.
Para and Roll stepped out. Roll crouched. Para unlimbered the wrecking ball.
Para doesn’t like regular Earth bugs. She had witnessed the horror of these monsters first hand. I almost felt sorry for the bugs. Almost.
She took the wrecking ball to the bugs with a vengeance. What a mess! I have to say this for them, bugs are brave. Two squads merged and converged on Para’s location, heads pumping up and down. They had no weapons. Well, even an unarmed bug is itself a weapon system. Roll dropped a satchel charge and ported out with Para.
The explosion was loud even where I was. Carnage. Chaos. Death. It was terrible, even though we limited the damage by using the low yield charge. And no anti-personnel projectiles.
Para and Roll ported back, tapping my shoulder twice. Safe and sound. I kept scanning. Muncle is a little shy. He suggested six o’clock, 1,200 meters.
I relayed, “Rock and Mr. T, Team Two, six o’clock, 1,200 meters.”
They ported in and opened fire. They were there for about 15-seconds before I warned them to move out. A lot of bugs died. If you think about it, Mr. T fired more than 350 bullets in that 15 second period. And those .50 caliber bullets are huge. Only 70 were live rounds. Rock fired maybe 30 rounds. There were close to 30 bugs downed. They could have gotten a lot more.
The plan was clear, don’t overdo it and risk reprisal! They ported back to the safe zone, looking a little sullen. They had wanted to continue firing, but as it was, they had overdone it. It was a slaughter. Bugs with weapons would be coming out soon.
The bugs started to disburse. There! Two squads converged. “Team One, eleven o’clock, 500 meters.”
Para left the wrecking ball behind, wanting to practice some of that hand to claw combat. They ported. Para stepped out quickly from behind a mound of dirt, with Roll scrambling to keep up. She pointed to a nearby bug and screamed at it, pumping her head up and down. I hate you! The bug took a step back. His comrades pushed him forward. Twenty bugs formed up behind
