A quick trip to the armory later, Vladimir gave his equipment one last go over before entering the dropship. His signature mono-molecular blades were still in their sheathes, the very weapons that gave him call sign of “Impaler”. During the battle on Titus IX, he ran out of ammunition and was forced to hack his way through two Reptilian patrols to get back to friendly lines. His Colt 2211 sat on his hip, as reliable as ever, a slight upgrade from the ancient 1911 model. The most important different between the two firearms was that the 2211 used the modern 10mm AP rounds required to punch through the hides of the aliens. Finally, his Flechette Carbine was slung over his shoulder. Use of this weapon against humans was a war crime, but against Reptilians, the same creatures that loved to blow up unarmed ships full of colonists, medical personal, or religious groups, no one complained. He patted down his armor and checked his heads-up display to confirm that the seals were secure, then he got aboard the dropship.
As the rest of the squad filed in, Vladimir activated the sun visor in his helmet, ostensibly to test it, byt truly, he didn't want anyone to see his face.
Another meaningless battle in this war. No matter how hard we fight, they just keep coming. That transport ship is just to scare us. It's probably some brilliant feint to trick us into committing what few forces we have left in the wrong location, he thought.
His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the dropship door closing. He took a moment to clear his mind before retracting the sun visor. The squad all looked at him, expectation in their eyes. Unlike their corporal, they believed that this mission mattered.
“Listen up, the Lizzies won't know what hit them. We strike fast and hard...” Vladimir went over the plan one last time, as the dropship zipped by the distracted Reptilian escorts.
A loud CLANG reverberated through the ship as it attached to the hull of the Reptilian vessel. Once secured, the automated plasma cutters began making a hole in the hole for the marines to enter from.
“Check your seals and make your last minute equipment checks boys!” Vlad shouted over the sound of the cutters. It was a mere formality at this point, but he carefully ran through the pre-combat check yet again. Nothing had changed before getting on the drop ship, not the two times he checked it en route.
The plasma cutters got through the hull and the squad got into breaching order. Deadeye and Nate took the rear, for they were to hold the dropship and make sure that the squad had a way off the vessel if the mission went sideways. Vlad took a position at the front and began the countdown, in sync with the other squads at other parts of the ship.
“THREE!”
“TWO!”
“ONE!”
The door of the dropship opened and the trooper to Vlad's left tossed a smoke grenade. The men went through the breach, the visual filters on their visors allowing them to see through the haze, while denying the Reptilians the ability to see their attackers. Every shot from the aliens' electro-throwers missed the humans, who returned fire with deadly effect. Three of the man-sized Reptilians went down in the initial exchange, but the humans were untouched.
“Cover!” ordered Vlad as the smoke dissipated. They were in a hallway, lined with alien drop pods, ready to invade Earth. Vlad curled his lip at the humanoid forms of the fallen Reptilians. The had arms and legs like a human, but the tail, green scales, and their gecko-like heads were full of razor-sharp teeth.
Savage monsters
The living Reptillians had fled further down the hallway. Each man found cover by a bulkhead and slowly advanced leapfrog-style. Other than an occasional shot to slow down the humans, the Reptilians did not offer much resistance.
“Keep it together everyone, I smell a trap,” said Vladimir.
On cue, Reptilians began to pour of maintenance tunnels and surrounded the humans.
Vlad cursed.
PART I | PART II | PART III | PART IV (COMING SOON)
Picture Credit: "UEE marine defending his Vanguard Hoplite on moon Daymar" by Glenn Batuyong is licensed under CC by 2.0. I cropped the picture and resized it.