The decision was made. Tiff’s duplicate, T.T., would pilot the Pup up between 25 and 30 miles into the thin atmosphere. CJ and I would be waiting in the Pup until we got word from Matty to drop in for support. Once we got the signal, we would drop in with the goal of attacking the enemy from behind or flanking them if the drop trajectory was thrown off. The plan was crazy; we were not experienced with any sort of skydiving, much less a sub-orbital drop. Still, we were moving forward and hoping that our armor would handle the heavy lifting.
As we flew up in the Pup, Tiff gave us some details about what to expect. We could expect drop speeds of 700 to 850 MPH. At that speed, we would free fall for approximately 2.5 to 3 minutes, factoring in acceleration time. Once we broke the 10,000-foot elevation mark, we would deploy our armor’s wing attachments. CJ had a built-in attachment on his suit since it was designed primarily for this type of maneuver. The wing suits were not the sort of thing you might see on YouTube videos on Earth pre-drop. You know the kind. Someone sponsored by Red Bull jumps off a mountain in a suit that has material connecting the arms to the torso and connecting the legs together. They then manage to glide down from the mountain at ungodly speeds, all the while maneuvering through the valley and between massive pine trees while the song Sail by Awolnation plays in the background. That is the basic idea, but we would benefit from technology that has advanced beyond human comprehension.
CJ’s suit had an ultra-thin carbon fiber polymer wing extension that extended out from the back of his armor. The legs then locked together and became rigid, while a fin protruded up, forming a rudder and vertical stabilizer. Finally, two small wings jutted out from the side of each ankle, forming the elevator control and horizontal stabilizer. It seemed simple enough, but those were just the exterior mechanical elements. The suit had a built-in flight AI that could handle all calculations and flight adjustments for the pilot. The armor literally flew itself. It really seemed to be the perfect suit for this sort of thing. On the other hand, I had to form the physical elements of my suit myself through sheer will. I had never done this on purpose; I had subconsciously created my new arms, and during the last battle, I created a small shield when I was being fired on and was then able to form basic arm spikes to use as weapons. Now, I had to consciously create intricate elements on my armor to allow me to safely perform a sub-orbital drop. The stakes were a bit higher, to say the least.
As we flew up into the atmosphere in the passenger cabin of the Pup, I began trying to create the individual elements needed for the drop suit. I wasn’t worried about my suit timing out. During my interaction with Coeus, I was told the timer wouldn’t be an issue moving forward. It was added as a kind of training wheels protocol until I could fully control the armor. After taming the entity that comprised the Gift, I could feel that the timer was now disabled. In the last battle I had been able to see the timer on my interface, but it didn’t countdown anymore, so I assumed that the training wheels had been removed. That was good. It was one less thing to worry about moving forward. I stood up in the bay of the Pup and spread my arms. I wasn’t going to try and copy CJ’s drop suit; there were too many intricate elements, and it was just too complicated for me to recreate right now. Instead, I was going with the traditional Earth drop suit design. I took a breath and focused; I watched as the black substance that formed my suit started to slide down from my arms and connect to my torso. The same thing happened with my legs. The connecting areas weren’t solid but instead created a strong, flexible fabric, flowing and rippling as I moved my arms and legs.
“Well, this will have to do,” I said as I looked at CJ, who was standing near his drop suit, tinkering with it to prepare it for battle. CJ tilted his head and knelt down to poke at the fabric between my legs. “This seems a little sketchy, bro.”
I flapped my arms and kicked my legs to test the fabric. “Well, it’s all I’ve got right now. If I drop too fast, I’ll still have the suit for protection, and I’ve got health stims if I take any damage. It’s not ideal, but I feel like it will be enough assuming the gravity on this moon is somewhat close to Earth standard.”
T.T. turned from the pilot’s chair. “Gravity is 94% Earth standard. That is why you haven’t noticed any physically detrimental effects of the moon’s gravity. Nothing to worry about there.”
I slapped CJ on the shoulder with a grin. “See, things are already going our way. Nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about?” CJ asked with a raised eyebrow. “We are jumping out of a perfectly good spacecraft from a distance of 25-30 miles up. Suit or not suit, if those little pieces of fabric don’t do their jobs, you will hit the surface of the moon and be mush. At least try to aim for one of those red assholes so you can take one with you.”
I grinned, “That is why I love you, buddy. You always see the silver lining in a bad situation.”
T.T. groaned from the pilot’s chair. “If you guys aren’t gonna make out, then you need to get focused. We will be on standby until we get word from Matty. The team is approaching the coordinates of the Rerek base camp now and should start the assault in the next five minutes. Standby for the drop signal.”
#
Down on the surface, the crew was advancing toward the Rerek camp. Jax had gotten out of the Rover and took up position half a mile away to provide sniper support and cover fire for an egress if needed. The rest of the crew were advancing on the Rerek faction. Red, Loren, Claire, Tiff, and Matty were all in the Rover. Red was manning the turret while Loren drove. The others were all armed and ready to bail from the rover and take up tactical positions around the base once the assault started.
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The plan was to draw the Rerek out and make them concentrate the bulk of their force and attention on the assault team. Once that happened, CJ and I would make our move, dropping in behind them to assault from their unguarded rear. It was a good plan; dangerous, but good. As the Rover approached, Red opened fire on the Rerek base.
“I gotta say, besides the danger of being ripped apart by giant red demons…I fucking love my job!” Red said with a maniacal laugh over the comms as he poured bullets into the Rerek infrastructure
The Rerek base had no defensive fortifications to speak of. It consisted of one main building made of composite and matte black in color. The building was a simple square with two stories, one door on the bottom level, and three windows across the top floor. Two smaller buildings were in front of the complex to each side. The Assault team had planned to drive up, open fire, create chaos, and bait the Rerek Faction into an all-out battle. The assault didn’t go as planned, however. As the Rover approached, it began taking fire from the two towers in front and three windows on the top floor.
“Those are defensive firing positions!” Matty yelled, “Jax, can you take them out?”
“I'm working on it!” Jax yelled back. “the openings aren’t very big, and those towers are well fortified. I can lay down suppressing fire, but you guys need to find cover!”
Just then a round from Jax zipped by and blew a chunk out of one tower as the Rerek inside ducked and bellowed in anger.
“Everyone out of the Rover except Red. We need to find cover and lay down suppressing fire to keep them busy. Red, I need you to hammer down on that main complex and keep those shooters out of those windows. Loren, keep the ammo feeding into that turret, we cannot let up for a minute.” Tiff said.
Matty, Claire, and Tiff jumped out of the Rover that was now parked sideways, facing the Rerek base camp. Claire and Tiff took cover in a natural foxhole about 20 yards from the Rover and began laying down suppressing fire. Claire looked over at the Rover and extended her hands in Red’s direction. As she held out her arms, a green glow began to emanate from both Red and Loren.
“It’s a basic shield, but it should help deflect a couple of rounds!” Claire yelled to Tiff as they slid back down into the foxhole.
Tiff reached over the hole and fired several rounds from her rifle, then slid back down to face Claire. “That’s good. Try to keep it up if possible!”
The Rerek forces were now returning fire in force. There was no sign of any of them gathering outside the facility, but they definitely knew the Human faction had engaged them. Matty continued running after Tiff and Claire found cover. He activated his Gilly suit ability and rushed off toward the tower on the front left of the main complex.
“Jax, focus fire on the right-side tower. I’m gonna handle the left side. Red, keep those rounds pumping into the main complex. I need you to keep them busy. Tiff, how are we looking for reinforcements?”
“On their way,” Tiff said, “ETA 3 minutes.”
#
I stood up and walked to the back of the Pup. We were hovering approximately 27 miles above the moon's surface as the rear bay door opened.
“Holy shit! It’s cold!” CJ shouted through his oxygen mask, “Time to make someone's day a little brighter. Let’s go fuck 'em up!”
“A parting gift, courtesy of Elvis!” T.T. shouted from the cockpit as music started playing loudly through the Pup’s interior speakers, as well as through our Comms.
Duuum, Dum
Duum, Dum
Duum, Dum
The distorted guitar riff sounded in my head as I looked up at CJ and smiled. I activated my armor, and we jumped out as the music continued.
It’s just one of those days where you don’t wanna wake up
Everything is fucked, Everybody sucks
You don’t really know why, but you wanna justify
RIPPIN SOMEONE’S HEAD OFF
It was Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit, and Elvis couldn’t have chosen it better if he had been there himself. CJ and I were falling at breakneck speeds. Within 45 seconds, we had broken the sound barrier and were falling at more than 800 miles per hour. The HUD on my interface had an altimeter, and we were currently about 15 miles from the planet's surface. I could see targeting info on the interface as well, showing the location of the assault team and the Rerek base.
“Deploy wing suits in 60 seconds. CJ, we are going to be coming in hot, so be prepared. Target the main facility and take out any of the infrastructure that you can upon landing. The facility is made of a composite similar to plastic; your suit can take it,” I yelled, trying to overcome the tremendous whoosh of air as we fell. We continued to fall, trying to maneuver our bodies in a way that would bring us closer to the landing zone. At these speeds, keeping our bodies pointed in any singular direction was nearly impossible, even in my armor. CJ was faring better, but not by much.
“Andy, steering this thing is damn near impossible; it’s taking everything I have just to hold it together!” CJ said.
“Just stay with it, CJ, we're almost at deploy altitude,” I replied through gritted teeth as I struggled against the force of the wind and gravity. A few seconds later, we deployed our wingsuit attachments with a tremendous jolt. The wingsuit wasn’t enough to slow us down completely, though. We would need to come in at an angle, and the landing was going to be very hard.
“Do you have a read on the basecamp, CJ?” I asked.
“Yeah, I have it. Impact in 35 seconds,” he replied.
“Matty, ETA 35 seconds, and we're coming in hot,” I said.
“Copy that, Cap! We're taking a ton of fire down here! Jax and I have taken out the two defensive towers. Red took out two of the shooters on the second floor, but he took a round to the shoulder and is out of action. Tiff and Claire are pinned down. We need you two here now!” Matty said as the sound of munitions fire popped in the background.
The base camp was now visible on my HUD. After deploying our wingsuits, we had been able to slow our descent tremendously, but we were still approaching at over 200 miles per hour. At that speed, I would definitely be injured if I couldn’t find a way to slow down.
“CJ, I’m gonna flare my suit and raise myself vertically right before impact to slow myself down, otherwise I’ll be out of this fight before it even starts," I said, “I need you to go in full force and rattle them as much as possible.”
“Copy. Just be ready to do your killing thing when you land,” he said.
A few seconds later, we zoomed over the assault team as we approached the main Rerek facility. I flared my wingsuit and jerked my body vertically to slow down; it helped as my speed dropped to 50 miles per hour. At the same moment, CJ slammed into the top of the facility at an angle. A cloud of dust rose from his impact as screams emanated from within the facility.
“CJ, is your suit still functional?” I asked.
“Yes, the fingers on my right hand are gone, but other than that I’m combat effective,” he replied.
I performed a traditional superhero landing in front of the main building, sidearm drawn. “Everyone, let's go!” The Assault team gathered on my position and prepared to breach the Rerek facility.
