Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match Read Online Free PDF Page B

the ship touched down, they dressed for the elements, strapped on their knives and clipped their canteens to their belts. When they had prepared themselves as much as possible, they stepped out into the freezing cold. All they could see for miles were snow-covered mountains. To the south, it was desolate. To the north and west there were actually trees growing. They marched almost two kilometers to the nearest patch of trees and they all began cutting off branches to try and get a fire going. Josiah and Manny collected all of the branches and piled them in a heap. They then went about rubbing some sticks together until they had created their fire. They gently blew on the small flame trying to fan it into something larger as Jesse, Collin, Melendez and Finley continued bringing branches. They had made it a sort of contest to see who could break off the largest branches, knowing they would make for a better fire. Thomas, Simons, Davis and Rivera were all on the hunt for dinner. Without having a leader, they had naturally broken off into groups that would work together to accomplish the goal of survival. Sergeant Kelly purposely had not selected a leader, knowing one would emerge if needed. It was all part of the training.
    Almost two hours later, there was a roaring fire with a deer-like creature roasting over it. They would all be eating well for the next couple of days. They had also found a fresh water river a half klick away where they could get good, pure water under the ice. Sergeant Kelly had left Melendez with a testing kit. Jesse and Collin had begun breaking off some branches that had an over abundance of leaves on them and tied them together with a string-like substance that grew on the ground, under the snow, near the trees. They had already finished their first lean-to for five of the men, and had begun working on another one for the rest of the group. Davis and Rivera were packing snow around the base of the branches to further hold them together and they also built up the sides so they were sheltered from the wind in three directions while facing the fire in the fourth. They had just about finished their camp when they heard the distinctive sound of a blaster ring out through the night. They immediately realized they were not alone on this uninhabited world.  Even more troubling was that the other people were armed.
    After quickly putting out their fire, Jesse immediately took Simons and went to scout out the direction the blaster fire had come from. They slowly made their way to the top of a frozen ridge and looked down on the elaborate camp sight of about thirty men. They had several tents set up, a power generation station, air speeders and plenty of weapons. There were several carcasses of what looked to be some sort of big game animal, almost bear-like with four arms. There were also a few of those creatures still alive in thick, steel cages. They also noticed several people that looked like tribal villagers, and they were being held captive.
    “I thought this planet was supposed to be uninhabited?” Simons complained.
    “I guess they thought it was, but now we’re presented with a new set of challenges,”
    “What’s that?”
    “Option one: How do we survive the elements without getting noticed by the hunters. Option two: How do we survive the elements while freeing the captives and taking the hunters down. Either one is going to be difficult and we will have to choose, because if they come across us and we’re not prepared, it will go badly for us. Let’s get back and debrief the others.”]
     
    As Jesse thought about his last test before becoming part of the Space Marine Special Forces, he rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. If he didn’t get some sleep between now and the fight, he knew he would not be leaving Chawanas alive.
     
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    Admiral Dyson’s fleet arrived at Chawanas twelve hours before the Death Match was to begin. As two hundred Battle Hammers began to take their