Vindicta
06 Feb 2021RedivivusCrowd
A man is leaning in between two pilots seated at the controls of a Cobra Mk III one hand on the back of each of their seats. The pilot had a calm and relaxed demeanor as they flew at low altitude surrounded by vast, lifeless plains filled with dust and rocks. Her helmet obscured her features but the name tag on her flight suit reads *Dalton*. "Three more minutes till we reach seven and a half klicks." The Co Pilot attempted to wipe a sweaty hand across his forehead before remembering he was wearing a helmet as he monitors the sensor panel and watches for threats. The man behind the camera gave the younger pilot a pat on the shoulder, attempting to ease the nerves of the younger man, who gave a small thumbs up and focuses on his task.
The man then turned around and walked into the rear of the ship, keeping the door behind him open to keep an eye and ear out for the cockpit. The rear of the ship is filled with 9 other figures, all of whom were heavily armoured and busying themselves with last minute checks on their equipment, the ship is filled with the harsh clacking sounds of power packs and magazines being slammed into weapons and the figures inspecting each others armour for any abnormalities or problems.
The armour being worn was devoid of any markings or decals that would associate the group with any organisation or faction. The people they were here for would know who they were though. This brought a grim smile to the man's face. "I'm counting on it," he mused to himself as he tapped another figure in the rear of the ship on the shoulder then jabbed a thumb at his back.
The other man nodded and proceeded to check the former's equipment, he was in his late 30's with dark skin darkened further by a harsh sun and narrow grey eyes, his head topped by a buzz cut was still visible through his helmets visor which he had yet to polarize.
"Everything looks fine Daminjo, if it starts leaking the reactive foam will plug it up, hopefully you won't be dead by that point."
"Thanks Kaya." Daminjo thanked the man and looked around at the rest of his team, they were a diverse and... colourful group. Two of them, similarly dark skinned men to himself and Kaya were quietly conversing about a shuttle one of them had bought the previous week while another two, a large man with big broad shoulders and a refined imperial accent could be heard bickering with a short woman with a harsh federal accent.
Between the two of them was a large crate that was taller than the woman and wider than than the man's broad shoulders. The crate seems to be the source of the disagreement. "I know that you are a superb shot but this..." The woman interjected before the man could finish, "I just need a little help setting it up and..."
Daminjo's gaze sweept across the troop bay to take in the rest of the team, Kaya and the other two dark skinned men were from his own home world of Osira, their upbringing and familiarity with harsh terrain had made them well suited for this mission. Professor Fox had seen fit to allocate the odd duo arguing over the crate in order to do some field testing of the contents of the crate.
In addition to them Mr Tran had generously allocated an additional 3 Corporate Troopers from SAP CORP to provide some extra muscle. They were all seasoned Legionnaires and judging from their demeanour this was not their first time running errands for Mr Tran. The two men among them were laughing at a joke the woman had told.
Daminjo's gaze gaze finally came to rest on the final member of their team, who was quietly sitting by himself separate from the rest of the team, waiting for the last minute briefing. This man was a recent addition to the Legion and one of the Brigadiers had "requested" he be added to the roster for this mission.
The man had already polarised his visor, masking his features from the team leader. "Guess we'll see if he warrants the special attention from one of the head honchos soon enough." Boss kept these thoughts to himself as he raised his voice so all of those in the rear of the ship could hear him.
"Alright, huddle up, we've got a couple of minutes left, let's have a quick run down."
The rest of the team abruptly cut their conversations short and gathered up as requested lining up on either side of the troop bay and leaving a space in the middle for Daminjo to walk up and down through, silently waiting for him to continue.
The leader activated a hologram emitter on his suit's wrist mounted data pad, a holographic display coming to life in the middle of the troop bay, the display showed a 3D image of a small outpost located within a large crater that was surrounded by largely flat featureless terrain. To the north of the crater there was a small green rectangle which represented their dropship, approaching the lip of the crater slowly at a low altitude.
"Once we get within 1K of the lip of the crater the crew are going to engage silent running and kill the thrusters, the ship will pass directly over the crater, Royce and Ramirez will drop first and land at point alpha." Daminjo's finger indicated a spot on the northern lip of the crater, the man gestured to the two carrying the large crate, "they will then deploy and operate the prototype *together*, Daminjo gave the two of them a stare that elicited no discussion, "and will provide overwatch from this point, we'll pick them up on the way out."
The two of them raised their right hands in a thumbs up gesture but otherwise remained silent. Daminjo nodded and continued, "the rest of us will disembark once we are directly over the outpost, we will stealthily descend until we are too close for any anti air systems to effectively target us."
The outpost was manned but lightly fortified, evidently they were banking on the crater to keep them out of sight and out of mind.
"Not today", Daminjo thought to himself as the dropship approached the crater. This outpost belonged to a group of pirates who had recently begun targeting trade ships in SAP CORP's shipping lanes.
When asked what their objectives were once the operation commenced he had been his usual self, matter of fact and to the point.
"Kill everyone, I leave the details and specifics up to your discretion. Teach their friends a lesson they won't soon forget."
"Simple," Daminjo thought to himself as the ship went silent and began drifting, the rear hatch slowly opening.
"I can do simple."
*To be continued.*