The US Army Corps of Engineers developed a powder back in 2017, that when mixed with water, produced a drink that is not only refreshing, but works to calm the nerves of a soldier after being involved in severe combat situations. This powder became known as blue gold, because of both it's color and power.
The use of blue gold was intended for situations like a death of a squad member, heavy combat action which included several fatalities, or situations where the soldier is put into a position where he is outnumbered by the enemy. Since I qualified for all three, I used the entire powder packet in one setting, instead of using the recommended allowance of one-half a packet. I don't think the Engineer Research and Development Center figured a single soldier would be put through so much trauma in such a small amount of time.
Feeling the blue gold drug race through my body was a wicked feeling ... especially, with the entire packet being administered into my body in one canteen of water. The feeling of my blood cooling brought back memories of the frozen research dome. My Nanosuit began to warm me, before I disabled the feature in order to let blue gold do it's job.
Within about 10 minutes, my heart rate had calmed, along with my nerves. It was time to move toward the Extraction Point and there was less than 200 meters to go now. I re-enabled the Nanosuit's Climate Control feature.
Headquarters informed me that I won't have the honor of meeting General Kyong now, but that I am going to be air-lifted out of the area once I make it to the Extraction Point. While the communications were scrambled, I found it coincidental when I heard another helicopter off in the distance a few moments later.
I knew the noise was not my ride, because the US Army wouldn't send a simple helicopter to extract me. So, this sound had to be coming from the Korean People's Army (KPA). So, I moved up the hill and hid under the cover of trees to wait things out.
The helicopter noise got louder and before long it flew over the top of me. I tagged the chopper with my binoculars to keep an eye on it's position.
This helicopter seems to be designed to carry troops more than to perform tactical bombing missions. So that must mean that the KPA overheard the conversation and placed some troops near by to foil my extraction.
My point was further justified when the helicopter continued to head in the same direction. Had it been looking to take me down, it would have been in some sort of search pattern. This chopper took a direct path out of the area ... as if to return to it's original place of origin.
I decided to take my time to the Extraction Point and stay up on the side of the hill as much as possible. I encountered no troops on my path toward the Extraction Point. Finally, I got within 60 meters of the marker and realized they had targeted an old grave site.
The US Army can be quite morbid at times. For the most part, it was a typical grave yard, complete with large crosses marking the graves of former occupants of the island. Some tombstones were huge, while others were pretty much non-existent. I am guessing the same held true then as it does now, that the bigger the tombstone, the more important one wanted to be portrayed.
Well, there doesn't appear to be anyone on my radar at this point. Maybe that helicopter wasn't dropping off troops. Maybe they did not intercept my signal. Maybe that blue gold Kool-Aide I drank is making me paranoid instead of relaxed.
As I approached the center of the marker, my rescue pilot alerted me that they are ready to land, except there are enemy forces near my location. Before they will attempt a landing, I need to take care of the situation.
I am going to take a look around and see what I can find.
I will be back soon.
Nomad ... signing out.
