Roshenko

Lance laid under the beast's bulk his breath as labored as the monster he had just slain. The interior was a mess cans, furniture, and various goods that were strapped to the walls were strewn about chaotically.

He began to try and pry himself out of the crushing weight, the pain being near unbearable, his consciousness flashing in and out. The world grew blurrier and blurrier.

"I don't want to die here," Lance mumbled to himself. He began to wheeze, heaving out small globules of blood. He could tell his ribs were broken and the damage from the crash was further aggravated.

The Creature's body slowly grew colder by the minute. It felt to Lance as if it was sapping the heat from his own body. Lance's actions became both more frantic and more sluggish, his strength faded and the world grew dark

***

POV DETECTIVE SEAMUS ROSHENKO

It was times like this that made Roshenko miss the war, if he was to be miserable in the wilderness he would at least wish to have his old squad with him. Instead, he had a throng of uniformed officers to corral.

It wasn't too bad, he always had someone to fetch him coffee and he wasn't going into the deepest Alien-ridden stretch of woods himself, sipping a freshly made brew of cheap black coffee he watched his men along with other emergency personnel and a few volunteers dispatch themselves into the woods once more.

Roshenko never liked these woods. Just tight enough to bar most vehicles but sparse enough that a clever sharpshooter could hide and pick you off. His combat senses, though dulled by his much more mundane career as a detective in a small town had been keeping him on edge the entire time.

Something crashed here, no clue what it could be. The government was sending out a contingent of soldiers from the base but they wouldn't be here for hours and the satellites for some reason are scrambling the moment they come over the area.

He received an alert declaring one of the drones just died. With a sigh, Roshenko stood up. His joints creaking with age.

He pulled out a small Icon from his tablet, turning it to an AR overlay, A bright orange Icon weaving itself through the dark canopy. The waxy trunks of the trees reflected any light hitting them, making the forest far brighter than the early evening sun would typically allow.

He was soon flanked by a uniformed Officer and a young paramedic he worked with on occasion. Both looked like they just graduated. A look of excitement that stemmed from inexperience was etched on their faces. Roshenko was happy that kids like these can follow whatever career they wished, he remembered how the planet was fifteen years ago, the oppressive hand of the Colonial Coalition. As horrible as sitting in this forest was for many of the younger hands with him, this was a new experience and one he tried to avoid raining on.

"Alright, the drone dropped two kilometers to the northwest. Seeing as we can still track it it was not shot down. "

"That's good, means no hostiles right?" The young uniformed officer said. Roshenko could make out his nameplate read Sminem.

"No, that means if there are hostiles they were smart enough not to do anything themselves, rather they may be relying on." Coffee in hand Roshenko stepped over roots and ducked under branches. "First thing you kids need to learn is to expect the worst and hope for the best." as if to punctuate his point he sipped his coffee, lips curling in mild disgust.

"Sir" The Paramedic interrupted. "Doesn't that mean you're just entering a situation ready to fight, that's not ideal for resolution."

Roshenko's mind flashed to his past, a younger self in a forest like this one, flanked by his old friends, the sound of gunfire soo filled his mind clouding out all other thoughts.

"It does."

The paramedic looked slightly flustered as the young officer looked toward Roshenko with unabashed fervor. The three silently followed the AR tag, its obnoxious orange began to flash brighter and brighter as they cautiously approached the drone.

The drone was easy to spot, surrounded by a nest of broken branches it looked surprisingly undamaged. No burn marks indicative of Laser weapons nor the bullet holes o more basic firearms. Officer Smimen quickly moved to the drone, studying it intensely.

"Sir! Seems it got damaged by an EM field, internals are fried," The Officer crouched over the drone, ripping off one of its more accessible panels with ease.

Roshenko walked over, standing over the uniformed officer. It was easy to see that something cooked the inside of the drone, a steady his of steam mixed with the smell of melting plastic. Looking up he saw the paramedic ready to walk into the possible danger zone.

"STOP!" Roshenko ordered. Both of the younger men froze in place. "Smimen call in the techies, see if they can scrub something from the drone. You!" Roshenko pointed a weather-beaten hand at the paramedic. " Call in everyone, focus the search around here. Make sure anyone who comes with the area removes any electronics and those with cybernetics are NOT to enter."

Roshenko quickly sent the location back to the precinct with a punchy summary of the recent events and began to slowly remove every electronic from his body, his Comm, his wallet, and even the holographic image of his wife were gently laid on the ground. All he had left was his gunn, while its fancy sight system would be rendered useless it was at least mechanically simple enough to be used.

Roshenko studied the sparse woods, unable to make out anything definitive. With a final swig of his now cold coffee, he marched deeper into the woods.