The 122nd

It seemed to be getting darker now and the sun seemed to be disappearing from the sky. The clouds in the sky seemed to have multiplied and Bryan could sense rain coming soon. As much as Bryan loved the rain, he didn't want to be caught in it when the mission was still happening. Bryan knew the cave was the only shelter out here, aside from the trees, but Bryan didn't want to risk settling down where the trees where. It would be much safer to take cover in the cave where there was more cover offered and only two directions would be all that they needed to worry about: front and behind.

Bryan said over the radio, "It's just after eighteen hundred hours. Five hours from now will make it twenty-three hundred hours. That would be almost midnight by Earth's standard. So it's going to get dark. I don't like it any more than you, but we have to make sure this area is secure. We're going to patrol this open area for four hours. After that, we'll take a rest in the cave and explore that until we've been here a full five hours. Once we have, I'll radio in the drop-ship and we'll be picked up and flown home."

Bryan had this nervous feeling inside of him as they all just listened. Bryan felt he should tell them more. Bryan said over the radio again, "Here's how we're gonna do it. Corporal Landon, I want you to lead your squad and make a slow, steady patrol on the south side of this open space. You and your squad are to guard the perimeter in a clockwise direction. I will take my squad and patrol the north side. Just like you, I will lead my squad to patrol the perimeter in a clockwise direction from the north side. It should work out that both of our squads are coving good amount of space as we walk around."

The thought suddenly came to Bryan - what if they did spot something? Bryan knew it was an all too well possibility and knew he needed to come up with something. He said over the radio "If anyone spots anything out of the ordinary, report it immediately. If it's worth investigating, do not do it alone! We're two squads for a reason. We're to inform both squads of anything unusual... and we'll take action from there, depending on the nature of the occurrence."

Bryan's mind raced with possible courses of action to take. Both squads could run to the middle and take a defensive position out in the open, but the disadvantage is that they would be open targets for whatever could be out there to attack them. They could also search in two squads in different angles at any occurrence seen, but Bryan couldn't be sure if that could be a trap or not. Bryan finally decided the fall-back plan of camping out in the cave would be the safest bet if things got too hectic. As much as Bryan didn't like an unexplored cave, Bryan hoped there wasn't any danger within it.

Bryan heard corporal Landon over the radio say "Yes sir. We'll get right on it." Bryan nodded his head before taking his soldiers and starting his patrol in the northern area. He saw corporal Landon do the same with his squad. Bryan observed the soldiers themselves, concerned with how they felt so far. Morale seemed to be fairly good among everyone so far, and by the looks on their faces he could tell they were as worried as they were anxious to get this over with. Bryan took his squad and marched over to the northern edge of the open field, not far from the rear of the stone cave entrance. Bryan smiled as he stopped there and looked at his squad. He then shouted in a cheerful voice, "Are you all ready to do some marching boys!?" The soldiers looked surprised, but eventually responded "Yes sir." Bryan replied, "I can't hear you!" The soldiers shouted even louder "Yes sir!" Bryan said "That's better! Come on, lets do this!" Bryan felt more confident after his bravado with the soldiers and knew this should be all but a piece of cake.