Lt. Greg Vatelli leaned back against the head board of his bed, reviewing the last minute details of the mission briefing. He thought how fitting the name 'briefing' was, since it always described the amount of information the soldiers were given. He took a long puff of his cigar and took another sip of his vodka. It was not that synthetic swill but real imported Bauhaus finery. 'There's still some things that Cybertronic cannot duplicate,' Vatelli thought as he smiled.

Turning his attention back to the Filmpad, he watched the ghostly images of projected interior maps, with legends on the top right. He preferred to look over the maps first to get an idea for the surroundings before he looked at the actual mission. There were multiple levels and only four maps could be constructed as the other projected maps had no statistical significance. The building was an industrial dome that housed a small refinery operations. There was a complete map of the grounds, and the first three floors of each building. The rest was guesswork.

After these had been cycled through, Vatelli scrolled to the mission instructions. Their primary objective was to hunt down a possible Dark Legion creature that was seen in the dome by a patrol 48 hours ago. The patrol swiftly called for reinforcements and the dome was sensor-surrounded within 10 minutes of the sighting. Since the sensors went up, there had been no reading of anything leaving the dome. The creature was to be caught if possible, killed if necessary. Their secondary objective was to scout for any other evidence of a Dark Legion presence.

Thinking about the symbolism of the word briefing, Vatelli realized that they were not going to be sent in there, unless a Legion presence was already a foregone conclusion. He frowned, these thoughts making him mentally re-arrange how he would equip the platoon for the coming da >_________________________________________________________________

Vatelli flexed his grip on his grenade launcher as the platoon came to attention. There were 2 squads, Alpha and Beta, respectively. Alpha was led by Sgt. O'Neil and contained 4 chasseurs, one of them armed with a HMG. The other squad, led by Sgt. Ross, were also 4 chasseurs, but the heavy was armed with a LMG.

"Alpha Squad, formed and ready, SIR," roared O'Neil.

"Beta Squad, formed and ready, SIR," followed Ross.

"Good," replied Vatelli. "Your men have been briefed. They've got a big bug and were the Orkin army. I went everybody icy and loose. No idea what's down there, so keep it goin and be ready for anything."

"YES, SIR," both squads barked.

"Let's go."

The platoon broke up, and began to make its way to the mining dome. It was a quarter of a mile jog and Vatelli ran down all of the mission details mentally, once again. He also brought up the projected maps of the facilities on his HUD and scrolled through them. The troops passed through the entranceway to the mining dome in under 2 minutes, and Vatelli heard the hydraulic joints of the pressure door closing behind him and his squads.

Inside the dome, the air was thick with dust and debris was scattered along the ground. Vatelli heard a small click from his chest as his respiratory filter kicked in. The empty refinery loomed to their right, its rusty pipes stinking with the remains of unknown liquids. In the distance, a small two story Corporate Representative Office sat at the edge of the dome, its security door dented and half open. To Vatelli, the whole place felt like a high-tech ghost town. Even the shadows seemed aroused by the Cybertronic troops' presence.

The squads got cover among an old drilla and a hauler, as they scanned visual, thermographically, and sonically for snipers. After a tense half minute, the compiece in Vatelli's ear began to ring with the reports of the troopers. He sat crouched, waiting for all o counted the number of responses, making sure it equaled the amount of men he had. Eventually, both Sergeants spoke the same two words into the com.

"All clear."

Vatelli hated those two words. Nothing was ever all clear, and just the meaning of them relaxed soldiers and made them arrogant. He wanted his troops somewhat on edge because it would probably keep them alive longer.

"Alright. Beta, scope the CRO and clear it out. Alpha, get me a perimeter around the refinery, but do no enter," commanded Vatelli.

Both squads immediately sprung into action, Ross and his troops moving in formation to the CRO as well as O'Neil and his troops spreading a thin line around the refinery, but remaining in sight of at least one other trooper.

By the time Beta had reached the small building, Alpha squad had been deployed and awaiting orders. Vatelli waited though for a sit-rep from Ross. The troops from Beta deployed the LMG covering the door and front of the building as the other troops deployed around the building. Ross headed for the front, as a tinkling sound betrayed 2 chasseurs going through windows at the rear. Vatelli shook his head as Ross slammed open the door. He had always thought Ross was a little Gung-ho about his job, but there was nobody better to whip up the morale of a squad than him.

After a couple of minutes, Ross' voice came through the static of the compiece, "Clear."

"Re-group at refinery," replied Vatelli. "post at the loading section. Alpha? Move around to the main entrance."

The troops moved as efficently as a well-oiled machine, each trooper working with the other as they all dispersed and took up their new positions in a few seconds. Vatelli felt a small twinge of pride for his platoon, as they were working as he was hoping they would. He mentally switched the compiece on to address the squads.

"Beta, you set yourselves up in a firing line for the front after we move in. Alpha? I will link up with you and we go in the front."

ants, but Ross with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. Vatelli chuckled to himself. 'He'll get over it. Besides, its O'Neil's turn anyways,' he thought. But deep down, it might also have been the fact that Alpha had the HMG.

He replace the loads in his GL with AP rounds, for the concussions of the blast rounds could take the building down. As he finished, the squad assembled around him, waiting for action. Vatelli stood up from his crouching position and cocked his weapon.

"Let's do it."