==/-\== USS Gott - Deck 7 ==/-\== The path to main engineering was heavily guarded. The small force of marines that had managed to climb four decks down to get to their final destination had taken zero casualties. So far the bugs hadn't launched a full scale assault on the team, only small skirmisher forces of three or four were encountered. It seemed as if they were trying to slow the team down. But that wasn't possible, Cortez thought, unless there was some sort of queen or central brain on board coordinating their defenses. The flamethrower had been working quite well, the bugs seemed to be genuinely afraid of the heat. Unfortunately the weapon was running low on ammo and Cortez only had enough flame bursts for five more shots. The hallway leading towards Main Engineering was littered with Xchi feces. At the end of the hallway several Xchi could be seen standing outside the entrance to the room. As Cortez peered around the corner he could see the menacing figures. By now he had developed a severe hatred for them, to him they were utterly revolting and there entire race should be exterminated. Cortez looked back at the Marines behind him. Receiving a nod from Major walsh he switched his flamethrower to the "arrow shooter". It was loaded with flash grenades and low impact concussion grenades. He clicked the button for the flash grenade and watched as Walsh pulled out a grenade of his own. Throwing three fingers into the air Walsh counted down to one. Suddenly both men rounded the corner, launched their grenades and then jumped back behind the corner. A half second later two loud bangs were heard followed by extremely disturbing screeching noises and the ODA team went into action. Rounding the corner Cortez switched to his phaser rifle and was the first one to start firing,. It seemed that the flash grenades that were thrown had a much better effect on the bugs than was expected. They seemed very dazed and the extra damage that the team was able to inflict on the disoriented bugs in the few seconds before the effects of the grenades wore off was extremely valuable. The marines moved up the hallway like a well oiled machine. Everybody doing their job perfectly. When one man would yell out "reload", the entire team would stop until that man began firing again. Even Ra'nar the teams medic wasn't missing a beat. Walsh would call out the target and all four men would focus their weapons on that target. Everything was working perfectly, the Xchi didn't stand a chance. Time moved by extremely quickly and it wasn't more than a minute or two before the Marines had successfully driven back or killed every Xchi that was guarding the entrance to the engineering section. Unfortunately once they reached the entrance they ran into a small problem. The door was locked shut. "Dammit, Ran'ar are there any other ways in", Major Walsh said in a very pissed off tone. Cortez upon seeing the hold up, immediately ran up the hallway a bit to scout out the situation. He knew it wouldn't be long before Xchi reinforcements arrived. He halted at the nearby corner and leaned down on one knee. From down the hallway he could hear the rest of the team talking. "Yes sir, there is, but we would have to go down one level and then climb back up through the Jeffry's tubes. And even then Sir the access might be blocked like before", Ran'ar answered as he was staring at his tricorder. The sound was subtle at first and Cortez didn't hear it. Taking a deep breath he pulled out his small flask of whiskey from his combat belt and took a few swigs. Killing giant man eating bugs wasn't an easy job, the adrenaline coursing through his veins was making him a little edgy and the alcohol allowed him to relax a little bit. It wasn't till he placed the flask back into his belt that he finally heard it. What sounded like a hundred Xchi could be heard coming from down the hallway. With every click and clink of their mandibles on the metallic floor they got closer. Suddenly becoming aware of the noise Cortez stared down the corridor. "Holy Shit", was all he could think to say as a flood of Xchi began pouring from around the hall. Even though the sheer size of the bugs only allowed two to fit side by side in the hallway, at least 5 more pairs could be seen rounding the corner, and more seemed to be coming. He quickly ran back to the rest of the team where Walsh seemed to be trying to plant some explosives on the door. "Major we've got a problem", Cortez yelled, "A shitload of bugs are on there way, ETA 30 seconds". At that moment more Xchi appeared from the direction that the team had just came down effectively flanking the marines. This time there was no need to inform Walsh of the approaching bugs, he could see them himself. He just grinned, picked up his rifle and like a typical Marine said, "It looks like we walked into an Ambush ladies, lets see what these cockroaches are made of". Cortez quickly pulled up his flamethrower and crouched behind one of the Xchi carcasses laying near the door. "I should have been a fighter pilot", he said quietly to himself as he readied his weapon and waited for the impending Xchi assault. ==/-\== End Log ==/-\== Corporal Richard Cortez ODA Weapons Specialist USS Chimera