Firecrackers

[Mikal]

*****
Another flash piece, this one I wrote awhile ago and set in Arigas.

Phyrrians-They have an average height of 6’2”, and are bipedal, but their gait is reptilian in nature, somewhat similar to the ancient velociraptor.Their arms have a similar proportionality to humans, and their hands are a three fingered claw and opposable thumbs. Males have a series of small spines running down their back like quills, culminating in a two spiked “club” at the tip of the tail. Their tail length varies from family to family, but generally a length of 3-4 feet is the norm. The tail is relatively narrow and tapers down to the club in males or just a pointed tip in females, which can be just as dangerous. Both genders have two short horns that point back between the ear and the side of the head. Females have similar secondary sex characteristics to humans, as Phyrrians still give birth to live young and nurse them. An important feature to note about the Phyrrians, is they lack all forms of body hair. That said, both races have “sceathers” on their head, with them being longer on the females.
*****

Major Aren Drethin’s eyes ran rapidly across the swarm of information running across her vision. Fully armed and armored in her powered exoskeleton, she was getting ready to insert alongside a company of 11th Special Insertion Corps troops with her units. The 11th, more informally called the divers, were phyrrians who rated very highly on the Major’s insanity index. They got their name from what they did, and that was jumping out of starships and diving through a planet’s atmosphere with nothing but their armor and a DRGN (DiRected Glide and Navigation) descent unit, a pair of wings that functioned as a glorified parachute. She would have preferred to not have to do this, but their target had air defenses that were just too strong to breach any other way. Given the velocity they would be hitting the planet at, high casualties were expected.


“TEN SECONDS!”


At the head of the troop bay, she saw the massive doors retract, revealing the breathtaking sight of the planet, stars just visible over its curvature. The planet was a very grey planet, not much in the way of apparent life. The Navy would have just glassed the bug’s compound, but intel said they had a significant amount of their own people in the base as prisoners, so they did this the hard way. Hooking a claw into the handhold above her, she let her boots release their grip on the deck, floating freely as the ship’s artificial gravity was cut to allow them to launch. In the corner of her eye she watched the countdown tick away.


3


2


1


Sudden acceleration gripped her, the handhold she was clenching shooting her through the troop bay. Ahead of her the armored forms of the Divers spread out into the inky night, floating freely now. She gasped as she cleared the bay, rolling over to catch a glimpse of the warm red giant in the distance. Rotating, she slotted into her position in the formation, the unit forming up into a V formation as they prepared to hit the atmosphere. Gradually, she felt the tendrils of the planet’s gravity asserting its influence over her, pulling her ever closer. Pulling her arms and tail into the massive plate on her chest, she made sure to correct her angle.


Ahead of her the divers were starting to enter the atmosphere. Fiery coronas of red-orange plasma trailed them as they tore through the atmosphere, speeds well over thirty times the speed of sound. Glancing to the left and right, space was filled with the meteoric forms of the entering phyrrians.


The sound of what every diver dreaded punched through the serene silence of the major’s helmet just as the leading edges of her own armor started to glow with the heat. “Bad angle, bad angle! I can’t correct!” the screams of the young phyrrian tore through her calmness, and off to her left she watched as the helpless phyrrian tumbled, burning hotter and hotter until his armor vaporized with him in it, becoming a shower of so many embers like a costly firecracker.


Shuddering, she shut the channel. She had seen that happen one too many times, but it was an occupational hazard, something you had to put behind you so you could do your job. Otherwise, more good people died. She double checked the display, her own company of Special Forces Service troops was doing fine, and their telemetry read well. Heat continued to build as she plowed into the planet, fiery plasma flowing around her, the massive plate on her chest starting to ablate away as it rubbed against the dense air. One by one her data feeds cut and she lost contact with her company. She hoped she would see them again, but she had no clue, now it was up to her to survive the next few minutes as she plummeted downward.
Gradually the black night of space was replaced with the blue glow of atmosphere, and her armor began to cool as it did. Punching through one final cloud layer, she confirmed that she had reached the predetermined altitude and hit the eject button. Explosive bolts kicked off the charred chest piece and she flexed in the air, now free of her encumbering protection. Her wings unfurled and she flapped them experimentally, checking to see if they worked.


One by one her connections came back. A couple hundred meters ahead of her were the divers, and just behind her was her company. Relief showered her as she saw all of her people had made it. Her eyes were drawn to the ticking altimeter, showing her ever closer to the ground. At five thousand feet she could make out the forms of their supporting aircraft. They were fencing with the air defenses. One site would achieve target lock on one of the aircraft only to be blown up by a missile from one coming up behind it. The ballet of death played out before her, and she prayed to god the defenses didn’t turn to track them.


Her heart sank as she watched the defenses start to account for the divers too. Jinking furiously to the left and right, they did everything their well trained souls could to avoid death. She winced in sympathetic pain as large linear accelerators tore through the wings on one of them, pierced straight through another. Furious shouts echoed across the radio as more and more bombers were vectored in by combat controllers in space on direction from the falling troops. She was now only three hundred feet in the air, and the grey concrete base grew ever larger.
The divers landed first, quickly establishing a perimeter. Their weapons ripped the defenders to bloody shreds, punching through their enemy’s lighter armor. They took casualties, but for every one the insects killed, thirty of theirs fell.


Landing with a thud, the Major tossed her descent gear to the ground, ripping out her gun. It was time to go to work.

[SliceOfDog]

Very interesting
Your Divers are a cool concept, seem quite original and you handled it in an interesting way. Nice piece.

[Mikal]

Thanks ^^ One of the first military science fictions that I read was Halo, and at the time I was a big fan of the ODST concept so I thought I'd try and put my own spin on it (even though I don't have much love for Halo now, it's changed a lot over the years). As such the divers as a concept was born to meet a similar need; how do you get troops onto a planet with strong defenses without bombarding it with standoff weaponry or risking ships in attempting to punch through it.