#13700
Lucyeth

Silent Death from Above
by Dante

Ptolomea
Jormungand Quarry
MAAT Dropship

Darkness was their friend as the troop laden dropship flew at near ground level at high speed over the grassy terrain on Ptolomea.

As far as most combat drops went, this one was tame as no laser blasts or heat seeking projectiles shot up from the sky to greet them as they approached their target, but the team knew that they would be engaged with enough trouble in just a few minutes.

Each trooper went about their normal combat gear check as they approached their landing zone. Calm and collected, each of the members of the 90th Legion had been picked by their Field Marshal and former Quaestor for this mission.

The green light popped on, the ship slowed, and quickly flared to a near stop as it hovered above the ground. The doors on either side opened, and the door gunners brought their weapons up at the ready.

“GO! GO! GO!” yelled the dropmaster as the dozen troopers dressed in dark gray armor and one lone figure dressed in all black dove from the aircraft just as it began picking up speed again.

The last man out rolled as he hit the ground and brought his rifle up to his face searching for targets. “This is Shadowstalker Lead… On ground and moving to target,” said Dante as the group formed a column and headed out for the cave that held their target.

Looking at the HUD inside his helmet, Dante could see that they had landed in the correct LZ, and their main target was just 2 klicks away. Darkness shrouded them as they made their way to the communications station. The internal feuds that had occurred over the years in Scholae Palatinae were occasionally bloody, but this one was hopefully going to be over quickly. There were too many external threats with the rise of the New Order and the recent destruction of the capitol of the New Republic.

The forward air controller unpacked his gear and aimed the targeting beam on the door of the cave.

Suddenly, a heavy rocket appeared as if conjured from the shadow world and slammed through the heavily guarded blast doors. Penetrating down into the mine shaft before exploding, the large warhead decimated both the guards and the various remaining members of Excidium.

Dante and his men could hear the screams of the wounded, but these stopped as the area was bombarded with turbolaser fire from orbit. What was remaining of the area of the quarry had been reduced to pretty much slag.

The comms NCO looked over at the Field Marshal and said” Sir, what are we doing?"

“Time to bug out. Call in the dropship for a quick pickup, and let’s get the hell out of here,” said Dante as the smoke continued to rise from the enemy forces.

The MAAT came roaring across the plains of Ptolomea. A swath of enemy forces had been cut to provide a very narrow track through which the MAAT could safely grab the assault team from the primary LZ.

Enjoy.

Excidium Air Space Control
Ptlolomea
0435

Landon Cruise:
Echo 3-7, this is Juliet 389 requesting permission to land for agricultural commerce drop at the Jormungand Quarry.

Excidium Control(Echo 3-7):
Juliet 389 your access to this area is not authorized. Please disengage and reroute course to capital city hangars.

Landon Cruise:
Echo 3-7, I have access codes that authorize me to this area for drop by way of the Emperor himself. Prepare to receive codes.

::Silence passes for 5 minutes::

Excidium Control:
Juliet 389, your access has been permitted, proceed to drop point.

::::::Entering Excidium Orbit::::::::

Dude that was so close, how freaking dumb can these Excidium guys be to take those fake coordinates? I should of poisoned the Blue Milk stalk, then we could of won this real quick. Drake Starfire said.

Brother, calm the hell down. I have a feeling they know we are here, but are following normal protocol to ensure we don’t catch on. Problem is we expected to hit them first and have prepared for their countermeasures. I just hope Delak and Blade make it to the drop. Landon Cruise responded.

What is our objective once we get down there. I fell asleep halfway through Lexic briefing dreaming of fairies and pixie dust, wait I didn’t mean to say that out loud. Drake responded.

We are merely a distraction so the rest of Imperium can make it into position and defeat these fools. I’m sure we will be spotted either in the Air or on the Ground, but thats the point. Distraction my friend, we are the bait! Landon yelled in excitement!

:::Warning, warning, missiles in bound, warning, warning, missiles in bound, evasive actions needed:::

Haha, I actually have the chance to kill the Landon Cruise, pet of the MAA, and puppet of the Clan. You made a bad choice by deciding to follow through with your leaders orders and attack us. I think you forget who won the last scuffle poor Mystic! Form said through the transmission.

OH snap, we have a fighter targeting us. Is that Jorm? Cruise, you better not get me killed before I get my chance to own a pink flamingo! I promised myself I would always have one! Drake shouted as the alarms sounded louder.

Chill out blue man, I got you. We will probably get shot out of the sky, but we should be positioned to land close to the other House members. So clam down bruh! I gotta come up with a awesome response to Jorm. Landon Shouted back at the man who's body was exhibiting a bright blue aura from the stress of the situation.

::Landon Clears his throat through the transmission:: Jorm, you are one funny dude. To think I would come here for any reason than diplomacy is unreal. You know me, I’m here to escape the traitors. Landon stated.

Fudge you Landon, I always wanted to knock you off, and Drake just make the price that much better, adios mother truckers!

::Missles launched and chase the scrambling fighter through the atmosphere before connecting to a wing::

Hold on Drake, we have lost comms, but he fell right into our trap. I knew his arrogance would ultimately be his down fall with attacking us. My calculations should land us 1 click away from Delak’s postion. Landon yelled.

Why do I always decided to fly with you! Yelled Drake.

Oh by the way, I hope you can swim! Landon yelled back!

Hopefully this fits the bill. I went a bit different this time. Instead of some badass story about how I accomplished my mission objectives, I lost this round before it ever really began. Hope you enjoy, and am open to any feedback!

Please accept my fiction piece for the competition mentioned above. Thank you.

Seng Karash, what a cesspool of filth. I was going to need decontaminated form the lice and fleas in my hair when I finally returned home…hell, probably before they ever let me on the shuttle to return home.

Oh you can watch the holovids about it and listen to the hype, but underneath? The belly of the monster is teeming with corruption. That is where I come in. My orders are simple, take down the crime boss and enough of his subordinates to prevent the species trafficking and prostitution from starting back up again.

While I am not much of a white knight, I do not agree with treating people, especially young children, like slaves for others pleasures just because they are poor. So that is why I got this ‘special’ mission. The crime lord I am going after is using younger humans and other species as sex slaves, as well as to move his drugs off world.

For over a 10 months I had been undercover, pretending to be a simple mine foreman working for the Dlarit Corporation. High enough on the food chain that I could have my own tiny shack and not have to work 16 hours a day. However, not so high that the executives might notice or question me. I was still amazed at the power the Brotherhood and even more so the Shroud has. Papers, a history, even minor plastic surgery had gotten me inserted with minimal grief to my posting.

I had already bought a couple of prostitutes to enjoy and had begun casually asking around for something more exotic and fresh. A slimeball Utai who’s name I cannot pronounce gave me a number to a service that provided fresh young pleasure. After setting up a meeting with one of their brokers, I finally got a sold lead on my primary target.

For months I monitored the operation and took their goods. I never had sex, never stepped over the line. I would cha with the young females, ask them to help me understand the set up of their job. Mostly I promised them I would do something about their plight. Soon I was receiving good information and I began to formulate my attack.

The head of the organization lived in a large house in the middle of the city, almost a bunker. I watched it for over a week, memorizing the guard’s routines and the schedule of the house workers and various lieutenants. They weren’t very strict in their guarding discipline and I was able to sneak in a couple of times to plant a listening device and place a small bomb in their main conference room. Sadly, many of the meetings conducted in that room were done by teleconference. I wanted there to be as many people around from the organization as possible, so I could kill them all in one fell swoop. Finally, I got lucky. There was going to be a big party.

On the evening of the party, going on for the son of the boss, everyone who was anyone was invited. I know I was suppose to keep collateral damage to a minimum, but this was going to be the best opportunity I was going to have to wipe this filth out. I had set up a nice blind in a building nearby and could watch the compound from it without being caught. That night security was a bit beefier, but nothing I could handle. Nothing was going on in the conference room for sometime, then suddenly the lights came on. All of the higher ups to include the leader himself filed in and began speaking about business.

I left my hide and snuck up to the outer wall of the compound. Readying myself for combat I meditated to clear my focus with the Force and tripped the switch for the bomb. The explosion blew out the windows of the room and I could hear people screaming in pain. I jumped over the wall and ran toward the gaping hole in the wall. I guess I had used a wee bit too much explosive because there was not a whole lot left to the conference room. I ran into the ruins and began searching for the faces I had memorized. One, two, thre--, okay not sure there was not much left to that one. The crime boss was plastered against the wall and groaning. I quickly slit his throat. Looking around I found only carnage and separated body parts. There was no way this organization would ever get up and running again.

I quickly faded into the mess of people moving about and then gradually dropped out of the crowd. Running to the warehouse where the girls were imprisoned I dispatched the lone guard watching the door.
Busting open the door, I began freeing the girls. I sent them all to a local police station to tell their stories to the news services, the police and anyone that would listen.