“Before I die I always said I'd do
somethin like this.” The broad shouldered man said with a smirk.
His black curly hair was pulled back in even rows, and his gaze was
lit by the flashing klaxon that signified their dropship had cleared
orbit of the planet Omishkan. The dim cabin lights shifted from red
to yellow. His hand holding onto the stabilizing strap as gravity
returned to the cabin. His dark eyes flashed to the man next to him.
Teepin's long rusty hair laid in his
face as gravity took its effect. “Shae, we do this stuff all the
time.” He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth. His right hand up on
the stabilizer, and his left anxiously flicking open a lighter. The
scar over his right eye, rare on people like him, wrinkled as he made
a show out of the tobacco product. It was a Pacifican, his favorite.
“barring misremembering, you rather enjoyed it.”
“Good,” Shae grinned, his eyes
shifting to the forcedoor as it activated. Its energy giving off a
soft glow and keeping out the turbulent winds of being 15 units above
the planet's surface. They were dropping fast as the harddoor slid
back. Shae took to admiring the view as he always seems to do before
being dropped in on a mission.
“Yeah, as memory serves, I hate this
stuff.” Teepin rubbed his hand awkwardly through his hair. “Well,
you know.”
“Man, your last two were good.”
“Right, I see. Good being, avoiding
that farmers barn for his sewage ditch? Or good being how I ended up
in that pudding vat on Fordin 4?”
“Definitely Fordin 4. Because of
that I was able to meet that shuttle load of Sannifraylar females.”
Shae gave the other a knowing nod with a blend of smirk and a grin.
Teepin nodded back, “I'll land ass
first into some all girls school of higher learning if ya want. Of
course we'd have to ditch out this mission. Then Seerco would kill
us. Better check that 'before I die' list before she gets to you.”
“Well, You hit the right
university,” Shae smiled. “ Then, I guess, I would die a happy
man then.”
“No one's dying today gentlemen.”
Seerco's voice interjected. Her canary yellow hair was trying in vain
to hide the sharp blue of her gaze. Her shoulders were brandishing
Commander ridges that crinkled slightly on her jacket as she also
grabbed for a stabilizing strap. Her entrance into the cabin had gone
unnoticed as she cut between the two of them. “Not one of us.”
“We have strict orders to leave as
many as we can alive down there,” she continued. “Especially our
mark, one Cring Darlos.” Her eyes flashed as she activated the
trio's cybernetic connection. A 3-dimensional layout was digitally
mapped out and displayed at the command of her finger tips. The image
was of a compound filled with eight buildings and covered completely
by a full sphere that continued below the surface. There was small
cube that indicated the entrance to an old mine shaft. The trio new
this sphere represented a force field. Yet there was a secondary,
structural dome for keeping out the elements, and focusing the field.
Above the Omishkan surface, which served as the equatorial line of
the sphere, was a compound filled with automated and quite illegal
troops. Yet, below ground laid another smaller field bubble. The
second force field was completely opaque as a field within a field is
impenetrable by scans.
There in lied their mission. After
getting through their security grid, they were to subdue the hostile
machines. Then they were to go underground and figure out what was in
that second sphere. Then apprehend the one running the whole thing,
Cring Darlos. Each member shared a momentary glance of confidence.
Seerco balled up her fist ordering the layout to disappear.
“I'm on point,” Shae stated as he
looked to the small screen beside the door with the rapidly
descending numbers on it. He knew the door would be turned off at
optimal drop level. On this planet, in this weather, for this team,
that level was 8.5 on the altimeter. Funny thing, jumping out of a
flying object without a parachute.
“I'll run some interference,”
Teepin put in as he cracked his knuckles.
Seerco winced at the sound, but chose
to ignore commenting on it.
“Eyes up gentlemen. And mouths shut.”
“What are you going to be doing
during our little show, commander? Fixing your hair in the back
room,” Shae grinned ignoring her order for quiet.
She loosed a small grin as the
altimeter lights flashed rapidly across her face. “I'll be opening
the door for our little friends.” Fittingly the altimeter roared to
life as the lights in the cabin all turned one single color. Green.
Seerco's body seemed to give off a
haze as she dove first from the dropship. “Wait!” Teepin stopped
Shae before he could follow suit. “Maybe I was the one who loved
this and you hated it?” Shae nudged him forward in response. Teepin
took the momentum and skillfully turned on a heel to face the other.
His long hair caught the gusts of the turbulent winds as he dropped
out of sight. Both of his hands in pistol mimicking positions as he
winked. Alone now, Shae took in a deep breath. Exhaling like a bull
he charged the exit, arms extended like a diver's. The rush of wind
took him as the dropship veered upward against its own volatile
momentum, growing tinier with ever increasing speed. The team, Kahn
Zero-2, was now on their own.
