[dragoon500ly]

0400 hours, October 28, 2148
R34 Bolthole, South Carolina

After almost two hours of frantic effort, the team’s gear has been loaded on board the three V-150s. Anything that could be salvaged from the bolthole has been loaded into one of the trailers. The empty crates, cases and cans have been neatly stowed away in the ammo magazine. The team has even found a bit of time to enjoy a hasty breakfast. So far, no one is showing any extreme side effects of the cyrogenic process.

Finally….

Zach turns and slowly looks over his assembled team. Over by the Personal Exit, Doug, Roger and Amanda stood ready to open the inner door. They were wearing their battle vests and were camouflaged up. Everyone else stood around him and the periscope package, waiting for their first look at the outside.

Zach flipped the raise switch and watched as the bulky package slowly pushed its way up. After almost two minutes, the scope was fully raised.

“First things first,” Zach quipped as he activated the Geiger counter. “Got an elevated rad-count, about 15% above normal, looks like we got dusted with a bit of fallout, but nothing major.” Next he activated the chemical sensor. “Chem is showing all clear. Air seems to be a little fresher than we are used to.”

Looking over to Peter, “To bad we can’t run a check for bio-weapons.” Peter shrugged back.

Finally, Zach lowers the handles and peers through the scope, “We’ve got a three-quarter moon, temperature is fifty-six degrees, humidity is thirty-one percent and it looks like a pressure of 30.08 inches and…..rising so I’m betting on a clear morning.” Twisting the angle of the lenses, Zach peers upwards, “Very little cloud cover, but a lot of foliage and tall trees.”

Stepping back from the scope, Zach allows the rest of the team to take a turn. He turns towards Doug, “Go ahead and crack the hatch!”

Doug gives a thumbs up and spins the inner handle and then steps back as the hatch is pushed inwards by the light, dry sand that packs the cylinder. Roger and Amanda spend a few moments, spreading the sand further into the main chamber of the bolthole, Then Doug peers into the cylinder, “Upper hatch sealed, no signs of leakage.” He then slings his rifle and climbs the short ladder and opens the next hatch. “Chamber is clear, I’m entering.” He then climbs onto the next ladder.

Amanda slings her ghillie suit and the padded case holding her M-21 and climbs up after Doug. Pausing at the upper chamber, she then passes a shovel up to Doug.

Doug reaches up and opens and lowers the outer hatch, some dirt cascades down, but it looks like a good root structure, “Go ahead and close the lower hatch.” With the darkness broken only by the red-filtered flashlight that Amanda holds, Doug works for a few moments and then he reaches up and pulls a handful of grass down, “Broken thru!” Amanda turns off the flashlight as Doug works for a few more minutes, cutting a hole in the ground cover. He then pulls himself up and swings his rifle into a ready stance.

The air is cool and crisp, and heavy with the smell of vegetation. As Doug listens, he can hear the sound of silence then, slowly, crickets start to chirp and the cry of an owl rings through the forest. Over his microphone, Doug calls “Ok Mandy!, all clear, come on up!”

Amanda pulls herself over the hatch lip and quickly dons her ghillie suit and then removes her rifle from its padded case, as she activates its starlight scope, she hisses over the radio, “Oh! Mate! Last b*****d who called me Mandy is still looking for his balls!” Below them, Roger chuckles over the radio and mutters “Amanda’s Rule #1, Don’t call me Mandy! Amanda’s Rule #2, Don’t Touch My Bloody Rifle!” Then Roger is outside the hatch, he quickly preps his SAW and covers the back of the mound.

Amanda slowly scans the forest, shifting position as she needs to, finally, over the radio…”Doug. I’ve completed a three sixty and the only life I’ve seen are two deer to our southwest, about two hundred meters out. Some movement of birds but that’s it!”

Doug slowly looks around, the bolthole has some brush and small trees covering its sides, brush only on the top, to the north is a small clearing, roughly fifty or so yards across and maybe eighty yards long, with the same pattern of small trees and brush, The other three sides have larger trees, a mix of maple, and pine, reaching up to perhaps thirty or so feet. Looking towards the northeast, he can see a faint gap in the trees, most likely the vehicle exit tunnel. He then calls over the radio, “Roger and I are starting our patrol, we’re moving northeast and following the trace of the exit tunnel to clear the exit itself. Estimated distance is about fifty meters. We will then move counter-clockwise and clear the immediate perimeter. Confirming password is eleven.”

“Roger” Amanda mutters.

“Roger” Roger replies.

“Keep your eyes open and keep checking your six.” Replies Zack.

With a last, quick check, Doug and Roger move out…

0510 hours, October 28, 2148
The ground recon takes the better part of an hour to complete. Doug and Roger have moved some 250 meters into the forest and cleared a 360 degree sweep.

All is clear, only small game and birds were detected.

Moving back to the vehicle exit, Doug carefully examines the area, bearing off to the northeast is a faint trail, covered with brush and a few young trees.

“Odd” he thought to himself, “After 150 years you would expect much older trees, I was thinking we might have to cut our way out of the forest with the chain saws.” Playing a hunch, he unclips his E-Tool from the rear of his vest, unfolds it and digs a couple of quick holes into the ground. “Cute!, some kind of chemical infused gravel and clay, retards growth of plants and keeps a trail open for vehicles.” Folding his E-Tool back, he replaces it in its carrier and keys the radio.

“Zach, this is Doug, Over!”

“Go ahead Doug.”

“We’ve cleared the perimeter, nothing but wildlife in sight to 250 meters, we’ve got heavy forest on all sides, but facing out from the vehicle exit, looks like they treated the ground with some kind of long-term chemical to retard plant growth, so we have a usable trail covered with brush and young trees, leading off to the northeast. Do you want us to continue, over?”

“Negative! Hold position for now. We are taking the vehicles into the exit tunnel, secure the outer doors. Break! Amanda, are you still in the sniper position?”

“Roger!” Amanda replies.

“Secure and camouflage the top hatch and rejoin Doug and Roger.”

“Wilco.” She replies.

Roger moves a few meters down the trail and sets up his SAW, covering the gap. Doug moves to one side of the mound and covers the rear.

After a few moments, a vibration can be felt as the inner doors swing open.
Inside the bolthole, Roger secures the inner personal hatch and then mounts Three Five Six. Victor starts ground guiding Three Five Five into the tunnel.
Outside, the vibration stops and then a grinding noise is heard, Slowly, the front of the mound starts to move, as dirt and plants are pushed to either side. Finally, Doug can see the metal doors swing into view, then he sees Victor step into view and then the bulk of the first and finally all three V-150s roll into view. As soon as Three Five Four clears the doors, with a rumble, the metal doors swing close. Roger dismounts the FSV and approaches Doug. Amanda trots up a few seconds later. Victor joins the group.

Zach, looks around the team as they gather round, “Let’s do a hasty camouflage job, cover up as much as the raw earth as we can. Then we mount back up, and follow this trail out of the forest and head towards the river. I want fifty meters between each vehicle. Sean you have trail with the three-five-four, keep your turret covering the rear. Victor, you have lead in the three-five-five I’m in the center. Hatches open for now, I think we need the visibility, make sure you have someone out the rear hatch keeping an eye out. Based on the looks of this ground, I think we’ll be lucky to make fifteen miles an hour! Let’s move out!”

With that, the team spends the next thirty minutes covering up the exit doors, then the vehicles roll out.