propinquity
[proh-ping-kwi-tee]
1. nearness in place; proximity.
2. nearness of relation; kinship.
3. affinity of nature; similarity.
4. nearness in time.
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“So, what’ve we got?” Lt. Maywood asked.
“A
whole field full of needle mines.” Cline
said. He fiddled with the controls on
his scope, zooming in to get a better view of the floating metal balls.
“Any
way through?” Maywood asked.
“Not
likely. From here it looks like they’re
too close together. Close enough that
there’s no way through. Well, at least
the first few rows do. No gaps. No way thorough without setting one off.”
The
officer swore under his breath. The
other members of his unit shuffled nervously.
None of them had any idea what to do.
They had experience with the floating mines, and it never turned out
well for anyone on the receiving end. A
large amount could effectively stop even a large infantry unit in its tracks,
to say nothing of a small one like theirs.
You
sure about that?” Asked Jones, the
newest member of the squad. “They look pretty
far apart to me. It should be easy to
slip through those things.”
“Sure
does look like that, doesn’t it?” Cline replied. “But that’s how they get you. Those things have a five foot detonation range. You get within that radius and we’ll be
picking two inch spikes out of your fresh corpse.”
Jones’
face went white. The idea of death by
spike wasn’t a pleasant one for him. The
others didn’t react. They all knew it
wasn’t the worst way to go on the battlefield.
At least with the needle mines the body was recognizable.
“How
soon until the scheduled rendezvous?” Maywood
asked.
“Twenty
minutes.” Rogers, the smallest member of
the squad answered. “Problem is it’ll
take at least twenty five to cross the field, even without the mines.”
Maywood
swore again. It was too soon. The time limit was coming up too quickly, and
there was nothing he could do about it.
At least all of his superior officers would find his excuse reasonably
sound. The mine field was, in that
regard, a blessing. It meant the most he
would get was a stern talking to, since not even his superiors could argue with
a mine field full of needle mines.
Nobody would fault him for being late once they confirmed it.
“Can we
go around?” Jones asked.
“It’ll
take too long.” Cline answered. He fiddled with the scope, trying to find the
end of the field. “The mines extend
almost two miles all around, and aside from this hill it’s all open
terrain. We’ll be sitting ducks.”
“Edwards,
we got any armors left?” Maywood asked
the squad’s carrier. The large man dug
into his backpack.
“No,
sir.” He said.
“Any
stealths?”
“Nope.”
“Shields? Decoys?”
“No and
no. Oh, we do have one speeder left.” He said, taking out a small, glowing yellow
ball.
“Great.” Maywood said.
He now regretted using so many boosters in an earlier firefight.
“Can’t
we use it?” Rogers asked. “I mean, I can
go down and use it just before entering their range, then run though and open a
hole. I’m pretty fast even unboosted, so
it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Won’t
work.” Maywood said. It was a good plan
in most other situations, but not here. “There’s
too many mines, and they’ll come out at you faster than you can move, even with
the boost. Even if you do manage to
avoid them, once it runs out you’ll be a goner.
Plus, those mines are so close together you might trigger two or three
at once without meaning to. It’s no good
throwing your life away on something that won’t get us anywhere.”
The
squad rummaged around, each of them doing their best to think of some way
through the obstacle in front of them.
None of them worked. The arrangement
of the mines and the short time they had left made it an effort in futility.
“Hey,
can’t we just shoot them?” Jones asked, brandishing
his weapon. “You know, set ‘em all off from
here.”
“That
would work.” Cline said. “The impact would trigger the mines just
fine, and we’re far enough away that the needled won’t hit us. Plus, we can probably pick up the spent ones
and use them later for something.”
“And we
can also paint a big red sign that says ‘Come kill us’.” Maywood said.
“So
then we just shoot one.” Rogers
said. “Since they’re so close together
the needles from that one will probably hit a few more, right? And then those will hit more. It probably won’t take out the whole field,
but it’ll be enough for us to get through just fine. And one shot won’t give our position away,
since the enemy probably isn’t looking too hard right now in any one place. Multiple shots would, but one should be
alright. Then it’s just a standard open
field run.”
Maywood
considered the plan. He could see many
flaws with it, even if it did work. But
it was also the best option they had with their current equipment. It would certainly clear out a good portion
of the mines if they were lucky, and even if they weren’t it would take a few
of them out. Enough that they could at
least risk the run with only their standard energy shielding. Plus, with the rendezvous so close at hand,
they didn’t have much choice anymore.
“All
right.” He said with a sigh. “I’ll take care of the shot. Once the needles start flying, we start
running, got it?”
Every
member of the squad responded. Maywood got
his gun and lined up the shot, pausing just long enough for his men to ready
themselves. Once he was confident they
would all be ready, he pulled the trigger.
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Sounds like a video game, doesn't it? But it's not. It's a sci-fi story. Although, it probably would form the basis of a decent game, don't you think?
So, we'll see more of this?
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