Sorry for the long time between updates, folks. It's been a heavy mix of holidays, birthday parties, drunken rambling into the mike for Legends ( <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/image/emoticons_ ... /happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> ), and lots and lots of stuff at work. But here it is, the next section to <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Dropship</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->.<br><br>I know you all have been craving some action... it will be coming shortly. This is the section of the story that was hanging me up. I have some twenty-five or so pages more to <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Dropship</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> ready to go after this. They just need some fine-tuning and a few holes filled, and I'll have 'em up soon enough.<br><br>Enjoy! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/image/emoticons_ ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>---<br> After some deliberation (and a lot of tequila and honey), the three of them decided on a course of action that would suit all of them. RJ didn’t need any complications when he landed, so sneaking Bug through customs was completely out. Bug, who had no desire to be packed into a crate or made to act like a synthrall--a labor-bot--also wanted to avoid going through customs. <br> The final solution was for Bug to jump out of the freighter on the way in. RJ’s route to the port was a low one that traveled over some heavily forested hills. There were a couple of spots on the route that were in deep sensor shadow--one of those would be the jump-point.<br> Sirus decided to jump out with Bug. After what he’d heard of the town’s entertainment value, it seemed to him that he shouldn’t even bother trying. Though two months in the wilderness didn’t appeal to him very much, he figured it would be better than two months of complete boredom cooped up in town. At least the scenery would be prettier. As an added bonus, he’d be able to keep his hardshell on--most towns frowned heavily on soldiers walking about in armor unless there was an actual reason for it.<br> One additional problem had to be overcome before Bug could make the jump; making sure Bug could jump at all.<br> During the addition of jets to Bug’s armor, there came to exist the problem of putting gyroscopic stabilizers into the armor. For a normal hardshell, the stabilizers are necessary to keep the armor upright while jetting. For Bug, though, gyros would mean a huge reduction in his on-the-ground mobility. They would also interfere with his sense of balance during combat maneuvers. Lacking gyros made jetting a risky prospect for Bug--though Sirus had trained him well on using his jets to scale obstacles and make running leaps, these were simple maneuvers and plain ballistic arcs, which did not present much of a problem. A long, fast drop from a moving ship, though, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> required</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> some kind of stabilization, for the path was not ballistic by any means, and the jetting force would not be constant, or even in the same vector all the time. Without gyros, there was a great chance that Bug might just flip over during the drop and be unable to right himself in time to slow his fall.<br> Sirus came up with a nifty solution for this problem. Rummaging around in the cargo of the Maelstrom, he found an old Myrmidon hardshell in bad repair. Its flexors were shot, but the internal computer and the array of powerful gyroscopes was still functional. These he plucked out of the ‘shell with the ship’s set of tools and the help of the other book he’d brought along, <!--EZCODE UNDERLINE START--><u>Advanced Nano-Repair</u><!--EZCODE UNDERLINE END-->. He then attached the gyros, a tiny power supply, and their computer to a metal hoop about two feet across at the center.<br> The result was what he called a ‘gyro-chute’. The chute, once turned on, could not be twisted out of its original plane of alignment without extreme effort, even by someone in a hardshell. This would, in effect, create a gyroscopically stable platform for Ambush to hang on to as he dropped.<br><br> Red and Ambush stood in the open cargo bay door of the Maelstrom, each surveying the land as it unrolled beneath them. Here, near the hills, the land was carpeted with trees, a deep green ocean that seemed to wash against the slopes. Few signs of human life could be seen, for this was an area of the planet cordoned off as wilderness. No farmland encroached on the trees here, and the forest, even from above, looked deep and primeval.<br> “Peaceful looking,” Sirus commented through the external speaker in his hardshell. He was not using the radio in his suit, even the local-area frequency, for he didn’t want any hint of his presence to be relayed to the planetary sensor web. He’d even turned off his IFF module and dampened his hardshell’s emissions. <br> “Yes,” Bug agreed, his voice loud as Red’s to carry over the roaring wind of the freighter’s passage through the air. “I’m hoping the game will be plentiful.”<br> “I’m sure it will, Bug. This part of the planet is a preserve of some kind-there’s no farming here. Animals should still think they rule the place.”<br> The intercom mounted near the door crackled and buzzed as it strained to overpower the sheer volume of the wind. “RudeJelly here! We’re coming up on that nice, deep sensor shadow in about a minute.”<br> Sirus toggled the switch. “Roj that. Going through our final check now.” He turned and gave Bug a once-over, looking to see that the insect’s equipment and baggage was strapped down securely, that his armor was locked into place, that his weapons were all tight on his harness, and that the gyro-chute was in his hands.<br> Bug’s antennae, green poking through the black of his helmet, quivered as he looked out over the forest. “Nervous?” Sirus asked him.<br> “A little. I do not enjoy heights, as you know.” Understatement of the year. Bug was terrified of heights, and the mere fact that only his antennae were quivering as he stood over a two hundred meter drop was a testament to how much he’d progressed.<br> Sirus well remembered the extreme patience he had to employ in getting Bug used to jetting. The first time was, of course, the worst. It was a simple parabolic leap down from a twenty-five-meter platform, but it took Bug almost twenty minutes to gather himself together and jump. Even though Sirus was controlling his jets, and he was tethered to a drop-line, Bug still screamed all the way down.<br> Acrophobia, it turned out, was widespread among his kind. The reason was simple enough, but it wasn’t the reason that first came to mind when one thought about it. Sirus had conjectured that it was due to the insects being used to tight, deep tunnels all their lives. This was not the case, he learned. Instead, it was the fear of no longer being upright and on four legs. The insects’ stance was so wide and stable that for one to fall down was an extremely rare and frightening event. A fall meant certain death in battle, at least, and that was fear enough for anyone. Bug told him that up until Sirus had played his practical joke with the cybernetic eye he’d been able to count the number of times he’d fallen down on one hand.<br> He pulled himself out of his reverie and clapped Bug on the shoulder. “Don’t you worry about it, Bug. Those gyros will keep you upright, and your jets are damn powerful for your weight.” He didn’t add that they were also short-duration for Bug’s weight, but Ambush knew that already, and didn’t need reminding. No sense in having him worry more than necessary. “Time to turn on the gyros, Bug,” Sirus said as he looked himself over--his hardshell was in good shape, and his duffle hung easily from his neck.<br> Bug flicked a switch on the side of the ring, and both of them could hear the humming of the gyros powering up, even over the wind. Bug tried to twist the ring about its vertical axis, and was unable to do it without exerting himself hard enough to hiss. “Looks like it works fine,” he said, gripping it tightly.<br> “Good.” He turned to the intercom. “We’re ready, RJ,” he spoke.<br> “Great!” came the crackling reply. “We’re in the shadow now, and we’ve got about a minute’s worth. Guess I’ll catch you guys in two months, eh?”<br> “Something like that, RJ,” Sirus replied. “You be careful out there, you hear?”<br> “Roj that, Sirus. Bring me back some good wild meat, would you?”<br> Red chuckled. “If I can catch it, I will, RJ.” He turned to Bug. “Time to go, pal.”<br> Bug nodded at him silently, and after a moment’s pause to judge his trajectory, he took a standing leap out of the bay door. <br> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Guess he’s still got the determination to make sure he does things right…</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Sirus told himself as he stepped out of the door. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> He’s getting over his fear.</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br> He didn’t scream on the way down. That was something. Somehow he managed to keep himself silent, even as his body noticed that there was nothing under his feet and told him that he should be scared out of his mind. Despite all of the help Sirus gave him, jetting was still a completely alien experience, one that his body just would not accept as even remotely close to ‘normal.’<br> The forest below loomed at him, the trees like spears all pointed at him. For a moment, a bare moment, he felt the iron grip of gravity clench his internals and pull, dragging him downwards. It was the most distressing feeling he’d ever felt, and he began to shake.<br> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> No!</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> he snarled at himself. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> No! You are a <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> warrior</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, not a coward! Control yourself!</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br> He triggered a blast from his jets, which slowed him significantly. The invisible hand clenching his guts disappeared for a moment, but he could feel its fingers inside him still. He felt the gyro-chute straining his wrists as it kept him upright. He raised his arms and let it trail over his head, so that the influence of the chute would be over his head instead.<br> Now he looked down, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. Only a hundred meters left now, and he had plenty of energy left for his jets. He began to flutter them now, just as Sirus had instructed him.<br> Fluttering of the jets served two purposes. One, to keep him below what was jokingly referred to as ‘cratering speed’ by APC crews. Two, to conserve energy for the final flare of jets needed to ensure an easy landing--this was doubly important, for he was carrying a great deal of weight in his armor and weapons. It wasn’t as much as a full artillery loadout would be--his <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Wrath</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> cannon weighed four times as much as he did without armor--but it was enough for discomfort.<br> He left a blue trail behind him as the jets under his thorax stuttered rapidly, and it hung in the air. He wasn’t looking at it, though, for the onrushing forest grabbed most of his attention. He could not shake the thought that the trees were spears poised to run straight through him as he fell.<br> He checked his descent and saw that he was doing better than he thought. He was still coming down pretty quick, but given his weight, it wasn’t too fast. At the rate he was using energy, he’d have about thirty percent left for the final flare... more than enough to ensure a soft landing.<br> He descended below the tops of the trees now, branches slapping at him as he fell. Several of them he broke on the way down, for he was reaching out to grasp them with his free hand to slow his fall. Now, with just ten meters left to go, he opened the throttle on his jets all the way, and he descended to the forest floor on a bright blue column of ionic force.<br> He landed softly, hardly even sinking into the forest floor. The gyro-chute, which he’d been holding over his head with one hand, he tossed to the ground. It hit the leafy floor and stopped, continuing to stay upright. He turned around to watch Sirus descend.<br> It didn’t take him long to spot him, either. Red was still about seventy meters up, and descending smoothly, his hands clasping his duffel against his chest. He didn’t leave much of a trail behind him, but then again, Sirus was far more experienced at descents, and knew how to save every last erg of energy in his hardshell.<br> He came down smoothly through the trees, jogging left and right to dodge the larger branches. He hardly made a sound when he finally reached the forest floor.<br> “Pretty good run, Bug,” Sirus said, grinning. “I saw that landing of yours.”<br> “I was still terrified,” Ambush replied. “I hate these.”<br> “Yeah, but you didn’t freeze up, either. That’s the most important thing.” Sirus swung his duffel so it hung across his back. “So, what’s the plan, Bug?”<br> Ambush looked around them, taking in the view. They were enclosed in a cathedral of trees, old trees which spread their branches like a gigantic roof over their heads. The forest floor was soft earth broken by roots and underbrush. Birds and other wildlife could be heard around them, though he knew they were not terribly close. The trees blocked out a large portion of the sunlight, and only thin, shimmering sunbeams made it through the canopy. He knew there were large hills nearby, but could not see them at all through the canopy.<br> “Let’s make for the hills first, Red. I want to survey the land from there before we decide where to go.” He turned in the direction of the hills, as he’d ascertained it from the freighter, and started off, legs pumping up and down. He snagged the gyro-chute as he want, turning it off.<br> “Works for me,” Sirus replied, following his friend.<br><br> RJ watched his fellow mercenaries on the ship’s viewer as they hurtled towards the forest and disappeared into the canopy. Once he was certain they were down, he closed the cargo bay door and prepared for the rest of the flight into the local starport, a town known as Cibile.<br> He had a plan for himself once he got there. Once through security, he’d start looking around. Though he told Sirus he was heading out to the distant farms for information, that wasn’t exactly the truth. He was really waiting for the farmers to come to him, for Cibile was the main shipping point for the planet’s crops. It would be a long journey from those farms, and RJ felt certain he’d be able to get a good feel of the planetary mood as he rambled around Cibile.<br> He wasn’t sure what the mood was going to be, but he was fairly certain that Spec wouldn’t be too pleased with the reports. The Pact against the BioDerm Horde had suffered a huge loss at the very beginning, and the Horde’s innovative tactics and willingness to break every ‘rule’ of Tribal combat gave them the upper hand, even now, some years after the surprise assault on the Starwolf.<br> The Horde was doing a marvelous job at disrupting the logistical chains of the Pact. The Horde seemed to gravitate towards planets that were supply-points for the Pact, and either destroy the population or cut the planet off from all traffic. It was working, and only too well. The smaller agricultural planets, like this one, were forced to increase production in order to keep the soldiers of the Pact fed.<br> Like Sirus, RJ had been part of the crew sent by Spectre to quell the Supply Riots. He didn’t like remembering it at all, for he saw both sides of the problem. The farmers were struggling to keep production up and not work themselves to death, but every last morsel of food was needed by the Pact, and not having that food would mean defeat in the long run. The resulting clash between the farmers and the soldiers was bloody.<br> Thankfully, Spec hadn’t asked his mercenaries to actively tangle with the crowd-instead, the DTM were sent to supplement the armed services drained by the exodus of soldiers to put down the rioters. Still, RJ saw too many things that made his stomach turn during that tour--acts of unprovoked violence, brutal killings, ‘overly enthusiastic’ soldiers… he still had nightmares about it every once in a while.<br> He prayed that he wouldn’t have to live through something like that again.<br><br> Ten minutes later, RJ was within sight of Cibile. It was, for its purpose, relatively small. The city proper was enclosed in a defensive wall. Turrets dotted the top of the wall every fifty meters or so. He saw that most of them were older-model plasma turrets--they could easily rip a ground-bound Juggernaut or Myrmidon to shreds, but any hardshell lighter than that could literally sidestep the powerful plasma bolts. There were a few newer models of turrets as well, along with a battery or two of anti-aircraft turrets.<br> Inside the wall, he knew, would be the main buildings of the city, such as the barracks, the city electorate building, the warehouses, the merchant district, and a few houses of the well-to-do. Outside the wall, Cibile sprawled with normal housing, the ‘entertainment’ area, a park, and the schools. The spaceport was a large flattened area to the north, complete with a squat control tower that bristled with antennae.<br> “Cibile Control to incoming freighter, please identify yourself.” The voice, complete with a nasal drawl, crackled through the bridge speakers.<br> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Why is it,</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> RJ mused to himself, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> that all comms officers must have a drawl? It’s like some cosmic law.</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br> “Freighter NJAX129, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> The Flying Maelstrom</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, requesting landing route, Control,” he replied. <br> “Roj that, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Maelstrom</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->. Pad 2 is open. Make your heading 002, speed 50 KPH.”<br> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Hunter, 50 KPH? I’ll be wallowing to the ground at that speed,</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> RJ sighed to himself. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> I bet their AA turrets can’t track anything faster.</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> He adjusted his controls and brought himself around. “Heading and speed set, Control. Where’s a good place for a spacer to get a drink around here?” <br> The controller laughed, the drawling sound grating on RJ’s ears. “You guys are all alike—always wanting a drink. Head on over to the Ornery Pigeon, spacer. They’ve got great beer there.”<br> “Roj that, Control, and thanks. Good beer is hard to find.”<br> “They sell cases, by the way.”<br> RJ laughed. “Now that’s news I can use, Control. Thanks again.”<br> “Not a problem. Just check in with the Port Authority before you hit the bar, <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Maelstrom</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->.”<br> “Will do.” RJ toggled the comms unit off and concentrated on getting the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Maelstrom</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> down to earth safely. Carefully, he nudged the heavy freighter toward Pad 2. Its engines, which were just fine for going from ground to orbit in less than ten minutes, were not the best for landings. Oh, it could be <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> done</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, yes, but it was one of those hellishly difficult maneuvers that made pilots cringe internally. Harabec only knew why the designer hadn’t added some kind of low-speed thrusters.<br> Through his internal cursing of the shipwright, RJ managed to get the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Maelstrom</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> down safely. It was with a great sigh of relief that he let go of the controls and unstrapped himself from the captain’s chair. Though he was trained as a pilot (among many other things), it was not his favorite activity. Soon enough, though, he would be in the city proper, swilling beers and pumping locals for information. That was work he could really enjoy.<br> Before he got off the ship, he plucked the golden dragon earring from his ear and placed it in his pocket. He wouldn’t be seeing anyone he might know, and there was no reason to have it on. That done, he grabbed the ship’s manifest and headed for the Port Authority building.<br><br> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Some hours later....</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br> Mortok growled contentedly to himself as the planet swung into view. Soon... soon he would be able to unleash his captives upon that planet, gauge their abilities, and show Render-of-Hearts that his idea was sound.<br> It was a lush planet, he saw. Even from well outside standard orbit, he could tell that huge bands of ancient forest encircled the planet, broken only by equally large (and square) patches of farmland. Perhaps there would be a true invasion after the test, he thought, but dismissed it as a dream. This planet, though ripe, was too far from the war to be useful as a food supply.<br> “Do you have the distress signal prepared?” he asked quietly, his voice deep and rumbling.<br> Krayek indicated a large switch near the controls. “Yes, Mortok. Once that switch is thrown, the ship will send out the message we recorded.”<br> “Excellent. Can you make our... landing... believable?”<br> Krayek snorted. “Rrrrh.. if this ship holds together, yes. If it decides to play tricks on us, I will not have to make it believable.”<br> “And the cargo?”<br> “Secured in shockgel in the bay. Unless something goes very badly, they will certainly escape any injury.”<br> “Rrrhh... wonderful.” Mortok looked at the planet once more. “They will never know what is coming, will they?”<br> “No... they won’t,” Krayek replied. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> And neither will we, if Mortok’s vatsats cannot maintain control,</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> he added to himself. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> How will the captives react to battle so far from their home?</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> They might very well go berserk, he knew. It was not a prospect he looked forward to.<br> He shoved the thought out of his mind. For one, he would be staying with the ship. Two, if they did get to him, his death would be very quick. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> Messy</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, but quick.<br> At least that was something to hope for, anyway.<br><br> Sirus stood on top of a large boulder jammed into the brow of the hill like some stony pimple. His helmet was off, and his brown hair ruffled in the crisp wind that swooped up the hillside. The hill was bald, save for the stone and thick, springy grass, and he had an unobstructed view of the vast forest around him.<br> “Harabec, what a view!” he exclaimed. “And the air!” he inhaled deeply, the brisk air filling his lungs.<br> Bug, who stood in the shadow of the boulder, looked up and chittered to himself. “Weren’t you the one that wasn’t looking forward to this?” he chided.<br> Red waggled a finger at his friend. “I only said it would be <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> boring</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, not beautiful, Ambush.” He grinned widely at the insect. “You ought to come up here and get a look, Bug. It’s really something.”<br> “I can see just fine from here,” Bug replied, not budging from the shadows. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Typical assassin,</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Sirus thought. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Still can’t break the old habits.</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> He grinned again.<br> “I’d tell you that I can see a small lake with scantily-clad women bathing in it if that tripped your trigger, Bug. Even so, it’s still worth it. C’mon up here, pal.”<br> Ambush laughed. “All right then, Red, I’ll humor you.” Bug gave the side of the boulder a once-over and started to ascend, his taloned feet digging easily into the cracks and crevices of the towering stone. It only took him a few seconds to clamber to the top, which was more than large enough to hold them both.<br> “See? Take it all in, Bug.”<br> Ambush turned his head and looked out over the vast expanse before him. The forest was a new thing to him, at least one of this massive scale. The trees, which had seemed so deadly to him during the drop, now resembled a lush green carpet that followed the gently rolling curves. It was not unlike the rolling dunes of his homeworld, and though it was the wrong color to his eye, he found it soothing anyway.<br> “It reminds me of the trackless sands of home,” he said quietly. “You are right, my friend. This is worth it.”<br> Red clapped him on the shoulder. “Vacation, Bug. Vacaaation. This is what it’s all about.” He looked to the sky, where the sun was getting ready to descend into a low bank of clouds on the horizon. “Say, if we stay here a little while longer, we can watch the sun set. Those clouds ought to make it quite the sight.”<br> “You’re determined to make me enjoy this, aren’t you?” Bug said wryly.<br> “Every single minute of it, Bug,” Sirus replied, smiling. “And I’m gonna keep doing it until you get it, too.”<br> “Get what?” The question, amazingly enough, was completely innocent-sounding to Red’s ears.<br> He barked a short laugh. “Why, how to relax, Bug!” He sat down facing to the west and gestured for Ambush to do the same. The insect obliged, crouching down until his thoracic joint brushed the ground.<br> They sat for some time in complete silence, watching as the fiery globe of the sun slowly slipped behind the clouds, illuminating them from behind. Some twenty minutes had passed when Bug jerked his gaze upwards suddenly.<br> “Is that a meteor?” he asked quietly, pointing it out.<br> Sirus clapped his helmet on his head, looked up, and cranked up his optiks. He could see a glowing scratch of flame arcing down from the heavens. “Sure looks like it, Bug. Moving a little slow, though.”<br> “Maybe it’s large,” Bug suggested. <br> “Hmm.” Sirus gazed at it again, studying it carefully. It was large, he could see, and moving pretty slow for a meteor. And it wasn’t burned out yet... that was strange in itself, for rocks hurtling through the thick shield of a planetary atmosphere usually didn’t last very long. In fact, it reminded him of...<br> He gasped softly as he realized what it was.<br> “It’s a ship!”<br> “What?” Bug tried to resolve the image for himself, but his electronic eye just didn’t have the power to make out something that small. “A ship?”<br> “Yes, it’s definitely ship, Bug... I can just barely make out the shape, but it looks like an old dropship to me.”<br> “I feel sorry for the passengers,” Bug murmured. He was right to feel so, for any ship in that situation was as good as dead. It would either burn up on re-entry, or, failing that, would roast the occupants alive. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Then</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> it would ‘land’, making a huge crater, forcibly ensuring the deaths of the entire crew and anyone unlucky enough to be within a half-mile.<br> “Hang on, lemme get the emergency band, see what’s going on.” He fiddled with his hardshell’s controls for a moment, bringing the traditional frequency in through his armor’s commo gear.<br> “...We have lost much of our T-grav <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> *shzzr*</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->-acity, Control. We are coming in hot and fast. <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> *shzzrt*</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->—try to put down as soft as we can, but can’t guarantee we won’t crater.”<br> The voice was professional... cool, even. “That pilot’s got some brass ones,” Sirus said wonderingly. “Failed engines and he’s talking about trying to <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><b> land</b><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.”<br> “What should we do?” Bug asked, tracking the ship as it came ever further down. It was now large enough in his vision for him to easily discern the shape through the corona of heat.<br> “Not a damn thing we can do, Bug,” Sirus sighed. “No equipment, and it’s probably going to hit a long way from here.”<br> “We should watch it, though. Just in case.”<br> “That we should do.” Sirus wiggled around on the hard rock. Though it couldn’t dig into his rear through his hardshell, he was strangely uncomfortable. He thought it might that he was watching the imminent deaths of who knew how many people, and not doing a thing about it. He wanted to bolt down the hill and head off to where the ship would land... maybe someone might live though it. If so, they would certainly need help.<br> But from what he knew of dropships, this one was as good as dead. It was simply coming in too fast. He sighed internally at the inevitability of it all.<br> He could stand combat and the death and gore that went with it—Harabec only knew how many warriors he’d defeated on the plains of battle in his time wearing the black armor of the Dragon Talon Mercs. No, combat didn’t upset him. He didn’t <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> enjoy</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> it either, but it certainly didn’t wreck his mind. It was a job, and he was damned good at it.<br> But this--and here he turned to look at the plummeting dropship--this was just wrong. It was as wrong as the ending of his first real combat mission. His squad left him behind in the middle of a fantastically bloody brawl in the mountains of a far-away planet. They left him to deal with three warriors all by himself, using him to ease their escape. He’d survived... somehow, for he still couldn’t remember it clearly. He didn’t want to, truth be told.<br> Just watching the dropship fall made him feel as if he were leaving the occupants of that ship behind as well, not even making an attempt to help. It twisted his heart.<br> “It just isn’t right...” he muttered to himself. He heard the big warrior next to him hiss in surprise at the exact same time.<br> “Understatement.” Bug’s voice was cold enough to make Sirus look at him directly. Bug’s antennae were flattened back against his helm as if he were ready for combat at any second. “Look, Sirus.”<br> Sirus turned to watch the ship, and was shocked by what he found. The ship was no longer out of control. In fact, just as it came into his view, it stopped plummeting like a rock and leveled out, atmosphere thrusters flaring brightly. It made a quick turn and bolted right for the lights of Cibile on the horizon.<br> “What the hell?” he exclaimed, getting to his feet. “For a ship without engines--“<br> “It’s a trick!” Bug cried, standing so quickly that his feet left the ground for a moment. He landed hard enough for Sirus to feel it through the stone. “It’s attacking the city!”<br> “RJ’s probably still there, too--damn!” Sirus grabbed his duffel and slung it around his neck. “C’mon, Bug! Let’s get on the bounce!” He leaped off the side of the boulder, his thrusters flaring brightly in the gloom. He heard Bug scrabbling down the side of the boulder behind him, his armor clacking against the rocks in his hurry.<br> “How long?” Bug asked from behind him as Sirus took long, quick hops down the hill.<br> “Thirty minutes' travel is my guess,” Sirus replied, looking back. Bug wasn’t jetting, but galloping along the ground. His legs were a blur as he cruised smoothly down the hillside. He’d already undone the clasps on his <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> chatka</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and plascannon, and they were ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. Bug increased his speed and caught up with Sirus.<br> “Here, Sirus,” he said, drawing his <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> kopesh</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and holding it out hilt-first. The hilt stayed steady in the air, even though Bug was running at full speed over uneven ground. “You’ll need something other than your knife.” Sirus took the proffered weapon and stuck it to a handy clamp on his utility belt. Even though the point was still blunted, he expected the weapon would be <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> more</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> than adequate enough for close combat.<br> “Didn’t happen to bring anything else with a trigger besides that plascannon of yours, did you?”<br> “Sorry, but no, Red. I imagine there will be plenty of salvageable weapons by the time we get there though.”<br> Sirus frowned. “I hope RJ is either out of the city or in the <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Maelstrom</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->--at least there’s the standard blaster carbine in one of the lockers there.”<br> “He brought his hardshell along for the trip, Red,” Bug added. “I found it in one of the crates.” He noted the concerned manner of his friend. “I think he’ll be all right until we get there, Red--he’s very good at staying alive, I’ve found.”<br> They said nothing more as they continued through the forest, on level ground. They could not see the lights of the city through the canopy, but they could easily discern the bright electric blue of anti-aircraft turret fire streaking far into the sky.<br> Cibile was under attack. <p><BR><img src=
http://home.earthlink.net/~ambushbugdtm/BugSig.jpg align=LEFT><BR>Member: DTM, XMEN, SeXy<BR>The Drunken ArtilleryBug!<BR>"Roj, target is *hic* <b>DAWWWG</b>-meat!"</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=
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