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[b][center]Planet TXVVB-044[/center][/b]





The planet was breathtaking. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, the sun glistened just above the tall, mighty mountain peaks. The whole planet was covered in a thick blanket of snow, and trees covered the landscape, very large trees that reminded Raymond of pine trees. The whole area had that quietness that only fresh snow could bring. It reminded Raymond a lot of his home back on Earth, he would have loved to stop and stare at the view, but he was a little preoccupied. 

Raymond trudged as fast as he could through the knee deep snow, breathing heavily as he ducked behind a large tree trunk. Raymond wore clothes for the occasion with all terrain hiking boots, thick snow pants, and a dark blue winter coat with fur trimmed around the hood, and a number of patches on his arms. On his right was an American Flag, and the symbol for the Galactic Committee Expedition patrol, on the left was a red M, the icon for the Marauders. Ray sat in the snow, trying to catch his breath as he took out his old revolver, and started to reload. His face was pink from the cold, his dark brown hair had spots of snow in it, and his right cheek was bleeding, painting the snow near him a dark red. 

Captain Raymond Chase has been in this position many times in his years of leading the Marauders. The Monroe caught an undiscovered planet on its radar, and since the Marauders are an expedition unit, they had to go on the surface and survey it. Raymond decided to bring the team's scout, Talley, and the team doctors for safety, and their research. The rest of the team was put in charge of the Monroe.

The ground team accidentally stumbled upon what seemed to be a large nest, and when Dr. Buchanan wanted a sample for his lab, that's when everything went south. A ginormous bird the size of a building screeched and appeared in the sky, its entire body looked to be made of ice, it glistened pale blue but its eyes were as red as death. It started to attack their team until Raymond caught its attention by hitting it mid air with a fire bullet, and making contact with his whip... He was now running for his life, and hoping that the rest of his team was hauling ass towards the shuttle.


"Chase to Monroe. We have a Code 43, I repeat Code 43. Hostile native engaging the team. A huge fucking ice bird." Raymond said, as he tapped his ear, activating comms system to his ship. "Roger that, Captain." A robot voice responded in his ear. The Monroe was fitted with an AI system that helps control and maintain the ship, Ray named him Tango. "We need someone to distract the damn thing until we can get off this rock. Send O'Hare in a Fighter, give him some hell until we can get out. Have 8-Ball get an extra shuttle prepared just in case, Jolenar to punch in coordinates to get us the hell out of here, and if this thing can fly out of the atmosphere, tell Kaite and Stun to get the ship guns rea--"

A giant screech erupted, and Ray felt a giant gust of wind hit him that chilled him down to the bone. The Captain had just enough time to roll out of the way of a wing cutting the tree he was hiding behind in half. Ray tried to squeeze off a couple rounds as he got up and ran, hoping that Rae and the rest of his team were alright.

----


On the Monroe, Tango activated an alarm. "Alert. Alert. Code 43 initiated, all hands on Deck. Miss O'Hare, the Captain wants you to engage the hostile in your Star Fighter at his coordinates. Jolenar, the captain wishes for you to punch in coordinates and stand by for departure. XV888 and Makobi, the captain wishes you to prepare an emergency shuttle just in case of system failures, and the rest prepare for battle defense." His robotic voice echoed through the entire ship, alerting the crew.

Most expedition teams would be scared out of their mind, or die within minutes... But the Marauders weren't. They have been through countless of attacks and suicidal situations. They were born for this.