Dunked in the Ice Bucket Part II

*PSHHHHH*

As the airlock opened to the outside, a torrent of air rushed past me as the pressure equalized. I imagined that my hair would have waved around if it weren't for my helmet.

I currently had a cable line clipped to my belt as I approached the open door. Using my visor, I got a good look at the area in front of me with the zoom function. From my first glance, it appeared it was safe.

Peaking my head outside, I looked down and noticed that we weren't that high up. Maybe 2 or 3 stories. On the ground below us was flowing water that began pooling around the wreckage. It would seem that we had crashed into a river.

I glanced towards the two men standing behind me that were also connected to cables. "Let's go."

They both nodded and I led the way out. I tossed one end of the cable down, leaving the other end tied to the weapon rack that was bolted down to the floor. I then slowly dropped over the edge, planting my feet firmly against the wall.

Using the clip, I released some slack and pushed off the hull of the cruiser, letting gravity do the rest. I fell downwards in an arc, moving back towards the hull.

*THUMP*

My feet hit the hull as I completed the arc. I then pushed off, releasing some more slack and repeating the process. When I got really close to the ground, I started walking down the wall.

*Splash*

A small splash of water came from my feet hitting the ground. Soon thereafter, two more splashes sounded out as the other two troopers hit the shallow water.

I took a look around again, making sure that it was still safe. It appeared that we were all clear. I pressed the comm button on the side of my helmet. "Alright, start coming down in threes. Each group must wait for the next group to get down before joining the rest of us. Get moving."

Quickly, three troopers started descending the lines. Once they reached the ground, my trio began moving towards the tree line. It was now that I started taking in the beauty of the area we had just crashed through.

This river was pretty shallow, maybe 2 feet at its deepest, and it was flowing quite slowly. There were fish swimming around in circles, clearly confused by the blockage in their river. We quickly got out of the water and into the line of tall grass and bushes that contained the river.

We were currently experiencing unadulterated nature. The air was so damn fresh and the fauna was stunning. This was something I hadn't experienced yet in the game. I made a mental note that I needed to take a vacation to some tropical world for the beach, a snowy world to learn to ski, or a jungle world to go on a safari. There were countless unimaginable things out there waiting for me to discover.

I got my mind back on track and started making a mental map of the area. I wouldn't have anywhere to download a geoscan of the area to my wrist computer so I had no way of doing this other than good old fashioned memory. Once I had a lay of the land, we could set up a temporary forward operating base (FOB).

After around 20 minutes, I headed back to the wreck and found that everyone who was in my crash room was now on the ground. Even the injured people were lowered down and leaning against large rocks to continue resting. They'd need as much energy as possible since no one knew if any of our vehicles were still operational.

I then started to wonder why no one had come for us yet. Putting that thought away since it wouldn't help our situation, I radioed the medics that were in the cruiser. "How's it going in there?"

Immediately one of the medics replied. "Just about done with this first room. They're in pretty good shape."

I smiled. "Good. Get that airlock open and start rappelling down. Also see if you can find any tool kits. I want to fashion some sort of FOB."

The medic replied. "On it, Captain."

I turned to the group that was already down here. "Alright, do we have a combat engineer?"

In a stroke of luck, two troopers, a man and a woman, rushed towards me and stood at attention. I laughed. "Wonderful! I want to get a FOB set up. Work together, plan it out, and then make use of the others how you see fit. Just make sure you leave enough troopers for scouting. Get to work."

The two engineers nodded and then walked away while conversing. This was not my area of expertise so I left them to it. While I was figuring out what I could do next, I got a concerning call over the radio.

"Sir, we found the commander."

I froze. They found him? Why wouldn't they just put him on the comm? "Is he okay?"

There was silence for a few seconds. "No, sir. He died in the crash."

I sighed. It was all I could really do. "So, who is the commanding officer now?"

Again, there was silence for a few seconds. "Ummm, sir, that'd be you."

I shook my head. "WHAT? HOW?"

The medic quickly responded. "According to the registry, you're the next captain in line for a promotion so the responsibility falls on you. Everyone is awaiting your orders."

I quickly found a rock and sat down. In… out… I took deep breaths trying to lower my heart rate and calm down. What do I do? I don't know how to lead these thousand some odd troopers! I barely know how to lead my 200 for fucks sake!

After one last deep breath, I swapped my comm to the public military channel. This would reach every friendly comm in the area. "This is Captain Soryn Brenko speaking. In case you haven't heard the news, our commander has died in the crash."

"Please remain calm and focus on the task at hand. I will do everything in my power to get us out of this situation. If you are still inside a crash room and are healthy, open up the airlock and rappell down to the ground. If you are a medic, take care of the wounded and help lower them down."

"All captains, combat engineers, and operators please report to my position as soon as possible unless you already have an assigned task. Again, I promise all of you that we will make it out of this. Stand by for further orders."

Within seconds, troopers started forming up on me. They were made up of the groups I had requested as a considerable amount of troopers had made it out of the wreckage thus far.

After waiting for a few minutes, I stood before a sizeable group with my hands locked behind my back. I'd honestly say I looked quite authoritative and it looked good on me. "I want all spare engineers and operators trying to clear the debris blocking the cargo bays. Let's get inside and try to recover as much hardware as we can. We need armor, long range comms, and build supplies. Is there anything other than you guys that you need for this task?"

One of the engineers stepped up. "Sir."

I nodded. "What can I do for you?"

He nodded. "We might need to make use of explosives. Permission to bring along some demolitionists, sir?"

I nodded, waving him off. "Permission granted. Just get in there STAT."

The man quickly nodded before rushing away along with the rest of the operators and engineers. All that remained were the captains of the other squads. Looking around, it appeared that a few of them had disdainful expressions.

I shook my head, glancing at each of them and taking a mental note. "Let's get something straight. No, I don't have a lot of experience. No, I don't agree with me being in command. However, I'm doing a pretty damn good job so far."

"Where were you guys while I secured a perimeter? Where were you guys when I sent medics to the other crash rooms to start treating the injured? That's right. You sat there, pissing yourselves while waiting for orders."

"So don't come over here and say that I don't know what I'm doing because I doubt any of you can do the same. Now either help me or step the fuck aside and don't get in my way. Is that clear?"

Silence. That was the only answer I received and it was honestly better than anything I could have asked for. It allowed me to get right into things.

I nodded in approval. "I need two of you and your troopers to run recon missions. I want status updates every quarter hour. For the status updates and a few other administrative things, I need another captain that has experience with these things."

"Along with this captain, I want another two as advisors since I don't have much experience. I doubt that the Empire's forces will leave us alone here and who knows when we might be rescued."

"Lastly, I want the rest of you working with the two combat engineers that are planning our FOB. Assist them with all of your abilities so we can have a secure place. Prioritize the infirmary and get our injured in there so they can continue receiving treatment. Let's get to work."