***
“I recommend Level-2 survival supplies,” Raist spoke to the four silver-suited figures in front of him. They were near deployment, grabbing the last of their gear in the armory before their descent. The suits they had equipped were capable of a high tech camouflage as well as defensive in terms of ballistic attack. Further, they carried extra medical nanites to synch with each soldier to provide advanced healing and drugs during combat.
“Studying the terrain, I would recommend at least three,” Agrest suggested.
“Go with at least one extra med pack as well,” Leio added.
Raist nodded, deferring to their specialties and around them everyone made necessary changes.
Once their suits were activated, the near-invisibility they provided would blend them in completely to their environment. Each of them tested their nano-camouflage in turn, rendering each of their various differences in appearance such as the boldness of the two women’s natural hair colors, Agrest’s taller frame, and Ziko’s muscular body all unobservable. There was only a vague shimmer of light where they were standing.
The technology involved a complex set of data transmission of accurately replicating the light pattern of objects behind the person and projecting them on the multi-layer crystalline structure in the front to create something as near invisibility as was visually possible. It was a perfect invisibility as it used what was behind to person to relay to the front, making it applicable in any environment or any angle
“Expecting this mission will be a siege, or an extraction?” Agrest asked, but he had already loaded many supplies; he knew how often the role of the Sniper meant he would be in hostile territory far longer than anyone expected.
If anyone was watching the room, they would be disturbed by the supplies and weapons floating in air like ghosts before they disappeared as they were pocketed or filed away in a cloaked backpack.
“We are running it as an extraction, but the terrain is extremely hostile, as I hope you guys had studied. I am not over estimating this at all.” Raist’s second statement was unnecessary to his crew. They all knew him well: he was not the type to exaggerate danger, at least before they went into it. That fact actually put a bit of caution into their minds.
“The combat drones we have sent have been shot down at about half the atmosphere height,” Leio said, decloaking as she pulled up a holo of their target and the visualization of the effective kill zone around it. Her tight combat suit left her still looking very attractive, perhaps more so with the way it hung tight to her legs and butt. “Their air defenses are extremely solid, and even our low flying drones were killed around the same distance horizontally.”
“From what I have seen, the forest looks extremely dense,” said Philira. The voice came from a barely-visible ghost holding a Plaz-Shot Scattergun. Only her tone was any clue as to whom had said the statement. “I see why you chose this path. Even if they knew we were in there, there would be no way to locate us for termination.” ‘Termination’…only a Scout would so distantly comment on their likely death that way.
Ziko was by default the group mule based on his strength, but on raw speed no one could touch Philira. For a moment her bright pink hair became visible, as did her youthful body as she disabled her camouflage to readjust some equipment. Soldiers had specific natural hair colors based on their Class: Female Scouts were pink, female Supports were bright orange, male Supports were light blonde, Leaders had black and so on. They could be manually overridden, but in general almost everyone kept their natural color, it was a mark of pride.
“Damn, I thought a saw an angel there for a moment,” Agrest said.
“Of death?” Raist asked, slamming an energy clip into a pistol and watching the counter read ‘full’ before the text dissolved into the number ‘100’.
“Maybe, I don’t know. I was a little confused though…”
“Why?” Ziko asked. Raist smiled, and tried to hide his laugh that Ziko fell right into a trap.
“Well, aren’t angels supposed to be hot? I thought she’d be a bit bigger if you know what I mean.”
“Agrest…” Ziko started.
“Bigger?” Philira asked. “But I am not the shortest here.”
“Bigger like Leio over there.” Agrest disabled his cloak to hold his two hands out in front of his chest.
Raist was snickering while he watched what shimmer was likely Ziko trying to catch Agrest while he was shouting, “Why the hell do you always fill her head with your perverted shit?!”
“Everyone has at least three-range cover in their weapon choices, right?” Leio was updating a graphic overlay showing the positions of the squad, with colored ovals representing the effective range of their weapon choices.
Philira, being the lead, naturally had a powerful, short-range weapon; the graphic showed a dark red oval that covered a short distance in front and behind, covering from Ziko up to Raist in his middle position. Conversely, at the back of the formation, Agrest’s personal Rail Rifle had by far the biggest range, but in an intense close range firefight could not keep up, and thus his main oval was less colored; nevertheless the vast coverage could still assist any of the team in a fight.
“Raist, you are a little weak on the close range,” Leio said, looking over the constantly updating data. “Not sure the pistol will cut it in these quarters.”
“Throw me the SSAW.” A strange looking blue weapon was flung through the air and caught by something invisible. “I’ve been meaning to try this out.”
“It’s slow on the recharge,” Philira commented easily. “Here, let me show you something.” A Vibro-Knife was picked up off the table, and Raist handed the SSAW over to the invisible tug. She revealed herself and walked next to Raist, her hips touching his as she held the gun to show him. “You can store a knife here in the lower duct. Useful on the downtime,” she smiled at him and stepped away. It was a slightly flirtatious or sensual move, but given her naivety in relationships, likely didn’t understand what she was doing.
He held the weapon in his shoulder, pretending to fire it then letting it drop while he drew the knife from where it was held. “Damn, that is a pretty nice trick. That really is a good place to hide it.”
“Saved my life before.” Raist wondered what creature or alien had a Vibro-Knife stabbed through its head to save Philira’s life.
“I’ll show you a trick later, how’s that sound?” Raist asked her slyly.
“What kind?” Philira asked, totally innocent.
“One that will leave you feeling real good.”
“Not Raist too…” Ziko moaned.
“Survive first, and I’ll show you.” He only did those jokes because he enjoyed how defensive Ziko would always become.
“I will,” she said firmly. “No matter what.”
“Okay, looks good.” Leio showed the planned formation to everyone, leaving comments open for anyone to input. The hidden rule they had acquired over the battles was that you made no recommendations about anyone’s main weapon, but you could request a change in either of their two sub-weapons, since it was often your ass that depended on it.
“Agrest,” Ziko began, “can you swap that inductor for something with a bit more range? Maybe the Silvershot?”
“Aww, feeling lonely near the front, lil’ buddy? I think Philira has enough firepower for both of you. But even that still leaves my little angel up there out of range.” Agrest gave Ziko a hard time, but swapped his weapon without protest. Upon further review Ziko was indeed a bit bare on the covering fire. Philira had him supported heavily, but only Raist had him within range of powerful rapid fire support.
He had finished, and at this point it was mostly small things others were finagling with. “Orbital Sync in five…” Raist said. Everyone stopped their banter, and shoved any supplies or extra energy cells in, packed up quickly, and went to the launch bay.
“Synch up?” Leio asked.
Yes -
Everyone responded on the Inter-Connect System, an implanted communication system that could reduce verbal talking to a near-psychic level of communication.
Launch in three - Leio’s voice played in all of their minds while the air in the ship was pressed back into tanks, leaving the room they were in devoid of atmosphere, their suits protecting them against both the low pressure and the lack of air.
Two - The door opened up, the huge planet’s blue, green, and purple forests standing defiantly against the black of space. At this distance the beauty defied the danger.
One - Each of them could feel their suits change as they prepared for entry. The first change was the locking in with the launch system.
She didn’t have to say ‘zero’ or ‘go’ as the moment they were pulled out of the ship with by the launching system was obvious enough. The catapult system was designed to ensure the even spacing of the entire team, as even the most trained jump could result in a vast dispersion pattern from orbit. A pentagon shape of the five of them fell through space towards the planet.
At this distance the descent suit did not block out the visual yet, and each prepared differently for what was coming. For Raist he was always struck by the strange sensation of his appreciation of beauty in nature, even as his job was often to kill without remorse. There was just something in the divine perfection of how color and motion came together. He sounded stupid when he talked about it, so he tended to keep that part of his thoughts to himself. It was easier to joke or swear than to be philosophical, or far easier to talk about banging Philira than wonder about reality with those around him.
All five of them had small micro tethers that kept them connected for the duration of the drop, and within the tether was an advanced processor that regulated each motion of the descent suits to keep it descending evenly and without problems. With no warning the visual went black as spheres enclosed each of them, protecting them as they first hit the atmosphere and to prevent them from catching fire.
He hated this part the most, as nanites were blocking out the sound ever since he launched out of the ship, and now the black provided no distraction for his mind. It was the questions that bothered him the most. It was never doubt because he didn’t have any. More like if his life could have been different, if it should have been different. Unlike a lot of classes like Scouts, he had choices many of them never did. With choices came responsibility, and the weights of deaths were weighing on him even if he did not overtly show it.
Did he think too much about things? The last Scout he had died saving him told him he did.
He knew above him the descent suit would have streamers deployed to slow their velocity, whipping violently based on the speed they were coming in with. He knew underneath him the landscapes might now start to be visible, but all that was around him right now was darkness.
Light filled the void as the surrounding sphere him melted away above and beyond him. The planet had changed a lot since he last saw it from space: he could see clouds, the green/purple of plants, even mountains in the distance. The melting of the sphere reformed into parachutes that variously reformed themselves with the synchronization orders of the rest to ensure the perfect descent of the team onto the planet.
Get through one jungle, a river, more jungle, and then the base of the mountain. Sounds simple in premise. Not too far to cross at all. That mountain didn’t look too far away; he could get there by a single planet cycle. This was going to be the easiest ‘hard’ mission they ever took. He could ‘retire’ pretty quick, as he was burning out of the destruction he caused.
That was before something went wrong with their descent system and Ziko suddenly fell out of the pentagon formation. The rest of them went crashing into the strange upper-story plant life that ripped their advanced suits apart as if they were paper.
As Raist went tumbling to the dark forest floor, his only thought was that he had never felt this much pain this early in a mission before. He had never lost someone before it even started.
“Ziko!” He screamed before his head impacted something hard and he blacked out, still falling farther down.