Purgatory, 2: Leap of Faith
02 Jan 2024Meowers
"There's an interesting thing I've learned about planning. Everyone, both superiors and subordinates, expect you to follow the plan. At the same time expecting you to ditch it in the most picturesque, flamboyant and creative way possible when things are getting out of hand."
T - 7h 30min. Operation Shadowhand log, ground forces commander Ina Muir, AXDF. Was that formal enough? Received the signal to start. Equipment is triple-checked, health inspections are green across the board, dropship engines are warming up, the squad is ready to enter the ship and close the hatch. Tracking and navigation aren't my responsibility, but they reported that everything is green and blooming on their lawn as well. The cultist-stuffed brick took off and will be in reach for us to drop on its tail soon. Twenty minutes left for preparations.
T - 7h 10min. Everyone's onboard, closing the hatch, taking off.
T - 7h 03min. So, the troops. Two rifle teams, eight people each, seven rifles, one marksman. Four rocket launchers. Two heavy automatic guns, operator and assistant for each. Mine makes it three. Three engineers, three medics. Seven people platoon HQ, counting me, with comms and observation equipment, rifles and one more marksman.
T - 5h 32min. Target is being tracked three jumps ahead, one more long boosted jump and we're on a solid follow. That pilot is doing some good hyperspace magic.
T - 3h 54min. There are some nice food packages onboard the dropship, for those several hours long runs. I guess it's time to crack them open and enjoy a little fix while we have time. At least speaking of those who aren't sleeping, and I can't blame those who do, it's... Quite a long way. Following the tracking signal tightly one jump behind, they're on the route and don't seem to stray from it. Good.
T - 43min. Ready to jump into the target system, staying 15-25 minutes behind, according to our plan. Tracking went into less aggressive mode. They should be close to the planet now, maybe preparing to land already.
T - 25min. On the orbit now, running circles over the entry point. Screens are completely grey, the clouds are several kilometres thick, can't see anything. Couldn't pick up any human activity, or whatever else activity signals on the surface as well. Made me wonder for a moment whether the cultists themselves knew where they were heading. If that's an installation, then it's perfectly hidden. If that's just a spot on the ground... Then why? Seriously, no idea. Yet to know.
T - 11min. Last tracking impulse picked up their ship less than a five hundred metres from the target coordinates, it's static and on the surface. Going for reentry.
T - 6min. Damn that's a sight to see. The clouds were so dense I swear they could bounce you back to space if you're going too shallow. Yet, once you clear them, the picture below is something really different. Green. Not Thargoid poop green, but untouched jungle green. It looks like an ocean, but an ocean of trees, with scarce islands of lakes covering it like something had sprinkled that forest from above. Or chewed away little pieces of it, leaving those puddles. And they look like... Drops of molten silver. Or mercury. Reflecting the clouds which are almost evenly grey, like a thick cloth that envelops the entire planet. Should be really hot and humid down there, without even a little wind... And that rain. Not a downpour, no, more like a thin shower of scarce droplets yet... I wonder how many centuries, millennia it lasts here. At least we're firmly in the day zone. And there's their ship, next to one of those lakes... Intel was right, there's no place to land, we should hit the ropes. Let's get that show on the road.
T Zero. Dropping. One hundred metres from the target ship.
T + 4min. Platoon is on the ground. Spread out, took positions, observing the ship and the surroundings.
T + 12min. No movement detected so far. Gave thermals a try, no result, exhaust nozzles are still hot and they're blinding the visors. Loading ramp is open. Nothing in the jungle around us. The lakeshore is muddy yet otherwise it's a classic jungle: grass, fern, shrubs, vines, trees of every weird shape. Real wilds. We have no data on the native wildlife, expecting lots of insects, small lizards, birds, maybe snakes. Haven't seen anything, but maybe the ships had scared them off. Any aggressive predators will be met with gunfire. Cultists' ship is landed on the shore, seems like places broad enough for a T-7 to land are rare here. Coordinates were definitely scouted prior to landing. Either by them or by someone else.
T + 18min. Whitley's running her big comm magic box. Passive scan gave nothing, tried twice. All frequencies are silent, not even a buzz. Told her not to go active, it's too quiet, I don't want to be discovered that soon. If there's any high-power comm equipment at all, it's deadly silent now. Sent the first rifle team to advance towards the ship slowly, others will follow.
T + 24min. Reached the ship. Dense trail of footprints going deeper to the jungle, still hot, human footprints in the mud, stomped grass, cracked branches. Engineers and second rifles are going inside the ship, I'm joining them. Others are securing the perimeter. No movement so far.
T + 40min. This ship really looks empty. Systems are properly shut down. No visible damage, no signs of combat or evacuation, they left the ship in order. No passenger cabins or anything like that, except the basic life support, those folks were doing a human cargo tour. Yet the ramp is left open, and nobody's in the cockpit. Are they planning to return soon? No idea, but the perimeter is clear. Techs are accessing the ship logs right now, I'm heading to the cockpit to take a look.
T + 55min. Ran through the logs. The ship was an ordinary consumer goods transport before the cult purchased it from some used ships dealer. And it's the first long flight of this ship since the purchase, like it was bought for this one specific role. Seemingly no personal connections to the previous owner, just sell and buy via the dealer. There's a lot of nonsense cultist shite besides the common travel and ship maintenance records, about them doing a pilgrimage to the recently discovered place of great connection to their Far God and other babbling. I've no idea what that means, but now we have copies of everything for further analysis. Nothing looks particularly important, however, I might not know something. Yeah, they knew the coordinates yet there's no mentioning of a possible source. Going to wait for a little more and follow the trail if they don't come back.
T + 1h 41min. Still nothing on the perimeter. Comms are silent. We should follow the trail. Damn, there's so much mud on the lakeshore, we've been here for less than two hours and it's all over my boots already. Hope it won't be that bad in the jungle... Okay, we should go.
Hmmm, what's... Hey, look at that.
T + 2h 07min. Found two human bodies on the trail. Male and female, civilians. Both shot in the chest point-blank. Still warm. Recent clients. Presumably cultists. Signs of resistance, marks on the knuckles, broken fingernails, damaged clothing. No personal possessions, nothing to identify them, no idea if their stuff was taken away or didn't exist initially. Marcos took their blood samples for analysis upon return. No other trails branching from that point, it seems like something happened on the way but the group kept going after these two got killed. Also means at least some of them are armed, if shooters were from their lot... This is getting interesting indeed.
T + 2h 23min. Sent the troops to search for other bodies in, like, one hundred metres around the spot. Returned, found nothing. Thermals show nothing as well. Proceeding deeper...
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Next part: #3: Wolves and Sheep
Next part: #3: Wolves and Sheep