1 Chapter 1

The inside of the troop transport ship was dark and gloomy. Exposed wiring cracked and sizzled in the red dim lighting that slightly illuminated the assault bay. Some of the other soldiers were regaining consciousness. I saw one of the Captains laying just a few feet away from me. I got up and stumbled getting to my feet. My head was still ringing but it quickly faded. The Captain had large piece of the bukhead imbedded in his chest. I sighed, it appears that i'm in commanded now. I ordered the rest of the men to help the wounded and gather anything that they can carry. I went up to the cockpit to check on the flight crew, both pilots were dead and three gunners suffered from minor injuries. A few men and I helped them to the cargo bay. By now my men got to their feet,and were helping the wounded. It looks about like one third of my troops survived the crash. Each drop ship could carry a legion of soldiers, which is about 100 soldiers. I told everyone to prepare to leave, and to leave the dead behind. They'll just slow us down.

I peaked through an open hole in the side of the ship, I saw enemy soldiers moving and scurrying on the far side of the clearing. It looks like the transport crashed in the middle of a large clearing. As soon as we stepped outside the transport, we came under heavy fire. We ran for the nearest cover we could find. We got pinned down half way to the tree line, hiding behind fallen trees or large boulders anything we could use as cover. The situation seemed dire and hopeless till i heard a low roaring overhead. I looked up and saw two AC-170's racing toward us. The enemy retreated as the "little birds" fired on their position. some of the men let out a loud war cry.

Our orders are to take out a supply depot thirty kilometers to the south of our position. We have 36 hours to destroy the depot and regroup with the main landing force. There are about 100 small groups of special force teams landing around the planet with similar targets. Each attack group is made up of 80 men. My scouts reported that a small group of enemy soldiers are coming this way.

"How long till they get here". I said back.

" About 10-15 minutes tops, sir."

" Get your arse's back here double time." I said.

I ordered my men to set up for an ambush along the tree line. A few moments later a small squad of enemy soldiers walked into our line of sight. Everyone started firing at the enemy. The small squad tried frantically to fight, but they offered no resistance.

"Let's move surely others would have heard the gunfire." I barked.

It was almost nightfall now. A scout spotted a cave nearby, we set up camp for the night. We set up camp in deep in the cave and rotated sentry's. I took a head count as everyone settling down, I counted tw soldiers plus the surviving gunners. I lost one third of my attack force. My sergeant reported that some of our demo charge triggers were damaged during the crash, and that we're short on ammunition as well. I told the sergant to tell the men to conserve energy cells. A few hours later I ordered the men pack up and move out. Six hours has passed since we landed on this forsaken planet. I looked at my holo map, I estimated that we have about twenty-five kilometers left.