pulled it out and filled the bag up, then attached
it to the back of his armor. Inside the Knight’s were
weapons, several pistols of both plasma and stun variety. The taller man
pointed to his bag and Rio turned around, giving him his back while he stuffed
them inside. They could be passed out later if needed, but right now they
needed to be secured and Victor preferred not to have anything else to carry
aside from his partially damaged shield.
Elsewhere other commandos were tearing apart emergency
supplies and rifling through the crates onboard and salvaging what they could.
The Archon had all the unarmored individuals cluster together in the center of
the bay, then layered the commandos around them. If
the IDF held up they shouldn’t feel the crash/landing, but that wouldn’t stop
shrapnel from coming through. If it did hopefully it would hit an armored
person first, which was the basic idea, though in Rio’s mind it was probably
just a last ditch effort to do something when they really had no good options.
Dropships were maximized for speed and cargo carrying capacity rather than multied out to carry weapons.
Doing so would reduce their efficiency, and in truth
they were never meant to go anywhere dangerous unescorted…though right now he
really wished they’d installed at least one gun turret so they’d have some way
of defending themselves.
When he’d finished filling his satchel he joined the
ring around the unarmored, putting his back to them so to also shield his
supplies, then he activated his armor’s shields and
took a knee, waiting for the inevitable to come.
When it did it came in the form of a hole punching through the ceiling. One moment there was
solid metal, the next there was a shower of superheated fragments as a piece
blew apart from weaponsfire. The outside air sucked out the smoke and left the
hole visible, then more impacts could be heard, or more accurately more
explosions as the Skarron plasma hit and blew apart pieces of the hull. He
looked up, then sucked in a quick breath as the blue sky twisted to the side
and the ground became visible, with the gnarly trees growing closer at an
alarming rate…then the ground rotated out of sight and the sky returned, with
him realizing that they were falling in a death spiral.
The crash was noisy, but he didn’t feel any vibration
thanks to the IDF…until it was knocked out as the dropship rolled through the
trees. Suddenly he and the others were floating around inside the bay, then slammed up against a wall as it came to a stop. Bodies
and crates fell on top of him, but fortunately he had his armor to protect
him…not all of the others were so lucky.
He let the Knight work his way off him, then the man pulled up one of the crates and moved it aside,
freeing Rio’s legs and allowing him to get up. As he did he looked to the left
and saw one of the mechwarriors with a bloody gash in the side of her head
where a crate had hit. He moved over to her and pulled the crate off, only to
see that her head was caved in some two inches where the corner had hit and
punctured her skull.
The commando checked for vital signs anyway, but as
expected found none. He pulled Sally’s body up and off the man below and laid
it aside as everyone worked their way through the mess. Fortunately the bay had
been mostly empty and no large crates had been in play. That said, when the pilot
finally came out from the cockpit with blood streaming down the right side of
his face from a gash on his head, he realized just how important his armor
was…and how that he, one of the uninjured ones, had just become more important
to their survival.
“See to them,” the Archon said, passing Rio and trying
to open the rear hatch, which was now on its side according to the gravity.
When he couldn’t get it to open he tore open an emergency panel and hit a
manual release. That cracked it a few inches, but otherwise it didn’t move.
“Secondary exit?” Rio asked,
walking up
it to the back of his armor. Inside the Knight’s were
weapons, several pistols of both plasma and stun variety. The taller man
pointed to his bag and Rio turned around, giving him his back while he stuffed
them inside. They could be passed out later if needed, but right now they
needed to be secured and Victor preferred not to have anything else to carry
aside from his partially damaged shield.
Elsewhere other commandos were tearing apart emergency
supplies and rifling through the crates onboard and salvaging what they could.
The Archon had all the unarmored individuals cluster together in the center of
the bay, then layered the commandos around them. If
the IDF held up they shouldn’t feel the crash/landing, but that wouldn’t stop
shrapnel from coming through. If it did hopefully it would hit an armored
person first, which was the basic idea, though in Rio’s mind it was probably
just a last ditch effort to do something when they really had no good options.
Dropships were maximized for speed and cargo carrying capacity rather than multied out to carry weapons.
Doing so would reduce their efficiency, and in truth
they were never meant to go anywhere dangerous unescorted…though right now he
really wished they’d installed at least one gun turret so they’d have some way
of defending themselves.
When he’d finished filling his satchel he joined the
ring around the unarmored, putting his back to them so to also shield his
supplies, then he activated his armor’s shields and
took a knee, waiting for the inevitable to come.
When it did it came in the form of a hole punching through the ceiling. One moment there was
solid metal, the next there was a shower of superheated fragments as a piece
blew apart from weaponsfire. The outside air sucked out the smoke and left the
hole visible, then more impacts could be heard, or more accurately more
explosions as the Skarron plasma hit and blew apart pieces of the hull. He
looked up, then sucked in a quick breath as the blue sky twisted to the side
and the ground became visible, with the gnarly trees growing closer at an
alarming rate…then the ground rotated out of sight and the sky returned, with
him realizing that they were falling in a death spiral.
The crash was noisy, but he didn’t feel any vibration
thanks to the IDF…until it was knocked out as the dropship rolled through the
trees. Suddenly he and the others were floating around inside the bay, then slammed up against a wall as it came to a stop. Bodies
and crates fell on top of him, but fortunately he had his armor to protect
him…not all of the others were so lucky.
He let the Knight work his way off him, then the man pulled up one of the crates and moved it aside,
freeing Rio’s legs and allowing him to get up. As he did he looked to the left
and saw one of the mechwarriors with a bloody gash in the side of her head
where a crate had hit. He moved over to her and pulled the crate off, only to
see that her head was caved in some two inches where the corner had hit and
punctured her skull.
The commando checked for vital signs anyway, but as
expected found none. He pulled Sally’s body up and off the man below and laid
it aside as everyone worked their way through the mess. Fortunately the bay had
been mostly empty and no large crates had been in play. That said, when the pilot
finally came out from the cockpit with blood streaming down the right side of
his face from a gash on his head, he realized just how important his armor
was…and how that he, one of the uninjured ones, had just become more important
to their survival.
“See to them,” the Archon said, passing Rio and trying
to open the rear hatch, which was now on its side according to the gravity.
When he couldn’t get it to open he tore open an emergency panel and hit a
manual release. That cracked it a few inches, but otherwise it didn’t move.
“Secondary exit?” Rio asked,
walking up
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