The Drop

     The Time during a drop always seemed to be short to Morgan, while the others in his band each endured it in his own way. Some with white knuckles, other not. He was content to watch his teams pilot skirt the edge of destruction duringthe steep re-entry. At least the LZ wouldn't be hot, according to the Contract he Hammered for his mercenary group.
     Morgan could understand why Stotk liked the rush of doing the drop without the ships auto-systems engaged. Stotks' landings always were A-1, smooth, but with style. A real artist with the control sticks. Besides, If he did a poor landing, Morgan would be richer a keg of ale- If they weren't reduced to tiny bits of carbon, flash fried during re-entry, that is.
     Checking the sensorscans, he could see their chartered mothership "Griffs Canyon" move out into high orbit, gunports open. Odd. It would be a few more minutes before contact could be re-established.
     This Mission shouldn't be too bad, to Garrison a village and run patrols for 3 weeks. These planetbound Eldar had some good hides and handworked goods for trade, in return for the protection of his "Morgans Maulers" Those Luxury goods would bring a good price back home, even after his crew had their shares paid out. Being Captain was good. Having funds to pay off his debts was better. Purchasing commissions never came cheap, even for a captain.
     The wail of gravity polarizors running at near maximum set his teeth on edge, while the Comm system came back online as their speed bled off, the hull temperature red hot. The Mothership signaled that it was moving out, fast, due to a unknown "blip" on the sensors. Not good, that.
     The ship shuddered as airfoils were deployed into the oxygen rich atmosphere. The Heatshields glow fading from the rapid reduction of friction. Stotk yelled out, "control surfaces locked" as Morgans checked the sensor read outs, with no hostiles showing. Odd, since Gunnar OneEye, Captain of the "Griffs Canyon" was no coward, and would not flee from the pirates that plague this system. But he wasn't a fool either- And old Gunnar wouldstick around even if he only had a chance out of five of winning. Not good at all.
     He almost didn't notice the Chaff pods firing, and decoys packs released. Though this was to be a safe landing at a "friendy" base, it never hurt to be careful. The rapid departure of the Mothership had bothered him. Chaff is cheap, thought Morgan, as he ended the countermeasures deployment. Elsewhere, far away, Sensorsceen images multiply till the screens are a solid blur of green phosphor, with rapid prayers of adjustment being made, for no avail.
     The readouts of the planet matched his reports, High oxygen, thickly forested,.39 standard gravity. Light enough to make jumping around easy. Nathat, the oldest of his group of Thunderers, would be pleased. He always complained about his "bad back" and seemingly, every other joint in his body. With gravity this light, he would have to bitch about something else. So far, he has never failed to come up with something.If that guy wasn't such a amazing shot, Morgan would have choked him, himself, fifty times over. The planet did have some native lifeforms the size of bears, that were very good for eating. He smiled at the thought of the huge plates of steaks that were in his future. Those Halfling Snipers were worth bringing along for their cooking skills if nothing else. Jotho was a master of the BBQ pit. Nothing tasted better than a meal hunted by yourself, that was prepared by an expert chef.
     Stotk was bringing the dropship in on the lander beacon that the Eldar had prepared for them. The drop nearly done. Another near perfect flight. At least Stotk would share that keg with everyone. He just wished he could pronounce the name that the Eldar Boss gave their tribe, and their city. He managed to get the leaders name right, after some practice, and hoped that his autotranslator could fake the rest.
     Sensors still reported all clear. He still had a nagging hunch, though, and told the skillful pilot to land short, in a clearing by a nearby ridgeline, a few klickssouth of the city. His "itchy scalp" never failed him in warning of an ambush in the making. Or he was just getting paranoid.
     Rapidly he Commed the others in the hold, telling them to ready for combat. He buzzed Skiff and told him to ready his Dreadnought ArmorSuit, "Bubba" and telling Timor the Guildmaster to ready his babies, 4 rare Warbots. Morgan was now glad that Timor FireGear talked him into bringing them along on a simple Garrison Mission. Timor probably didn't count on them being used, rather that he would have had a few weeks to tinker with them, while getting combatzone pay from the Guild. Slowly in the gunmetal grey hold, the mercenaries readied weapons and gear for a fight .
     The Commsystem outputted the decoded microburst received from the Mothership just before it slid into warpspace onto Morgans trivid screen. It was the view from the bridge of the "Griffs Canyon" , klaxons blaring in the background. ".. and shut off that damn alarm. Bad news, Morgan. A Jupiter class Imperial Cruiser was behind the 2nd moon- We scanned it powering up its drive systems right after we dropped you. We deepscanned the planet, and it showed Imperial Marines on the surface, a lot of the Eldar Cities burning on the Far Continent. Systematic destruction, but no orbital fire. Theyre on the ground, looking for something- and tearing the place up. Nothing of the sort by your drop area though. Just check the subchannel to check for yourself, the datas all there. As far as I'm concerned, as the highest rank in this system, I will treat your contract as abortedno loss to your Honor, just go to ground and wait till I can notify the League Navy and return in force. A Treaty violation this huge across theGromdainer Line will bring in the Fleet to clean up this system, fast.
     Especially If these ID scans match- this may even rate a Task Force, but only the GrudgeBearers will know that for sure, if multiple Leagues are going to ally together to go after this group of the "Emperors most Faithfull". Fair thee well Morgan. Dont get yourself killed. Watch for those Zealots. Theyre killers to the core. Ill be back with enough Ships and Men to kick those corpse worshipping knuckledraggers far from our Spinward territory. Spirits watch over you. Gunnar out."
     "Great" muttered Morgan "Space Marines on a stupid quest- And were in the way"
End.

The Drop

Go back to da Oomie Library