Prolouge

The ship buckles and groans as it decellerates to a low eliptical orbit above the planet. Its large size nearly casting a shadow in the surface while a battle rages in the dark side of the planet.

Inside its large structure, alarms roar across every section. Crewmen run around doing their duties with grey white vaccuum suits incase of emergency decompression and breaches. Mechanics assist marines in the armory preparing their power armor and drop pods with last minutes inspections.

In a few moments they'll be dropping down the surface. Everything must be ready and prepped or risk burning up in atmospheric entry hitting the ground like a tomato thrown into a wall.

Lance Corporal Emily Rose, with the help of a mechanic, checks her armor's thruster charger and micro missile pods if they are full for the fifth time using her HUD. Changing her stats to Oxygen supply and ammunition stocks she reads all green in her visor.

Retinal Targeting Systems and nano sealers normal. Motor calibrations set and telephatic neural interface stable.

Even with the preparations made however, her training, her painful augmentations that has made her and her comrades more than human. She always gets the chills. She's dropped numerous times alongside her fellow marines of the bloodhounds battalion. She should be used to it right now, but her hand shakes and grits her teeth and chest pounding.

Every time they drop.

She consulted the ship's psychiatrist about it. It was either she was scared, a normal response. Or too excited, like a wolf about to jump on its prey.

"Three minutes to engine shutdown and drop." A crewman informs them with a megaphone. The regular marines wear their helmets and take their weapons, mostly pole arms and halberds. Heavy weapons teams on the other hand with autocannons and missile launchers.

Before she wears her helmet she takes a one last look at the picture taped in her locker. A picture of her friends and parents she printed before going to basic.

A larger man taps her shoulder. Looking behind her, it was her and platoon leader Lieutenant Frank Alador.

"You prepped up, Rose?" Alador asks. "I dont want another marine dying because they aint preppared."

"Im all green Lieutenant" Emily closes her locker and grabs her halberd. And hiding a green necklace under her breastplate and wears her helmet, a shark face painted on the faceplate.

"Good. Now get to the drop pods. On the bounce marine!"

Rushing to the drop bay, the mechanics make final checks to their drop pods, running diagnostics on the pods timer and altimeter sensors so that the pods break apart at the set altitude and its pieces act as chaff for sam sites at the set altitude. Expendable jammers are also eqquiped for increased effect.

The pod looked like coffins used in funerals. Fitting for their motto, stamped on their pods and I.D. tags.

"First to drop, first to kill, first to die."

Locking her boots in place the pod doors close and hiss securing her inside.

"Alright bloodhounds listen up!" Alador calls them in his radio. "Our mission is to secure a city for the fifth and tenth army battalion pushing to the east."

A map of a city shows on their HUD, showing which are allies and hostiles. The federation amy units moving up on the east of the city.

"The confederates have dug themselves in a city nearby. Intel says there are no civies inside the city and we are going to drop right on top of them like always."

"Of course there are no civies, they killed them all." Another marine interrupts Alador named Macho.

"Shut your trap Macho!" Alador scolds Macho. "And since there are no civies. We are dropping first, means more connies for us to kill. Kill them all! Smash. Everything. Destroy any target you see. You get me marines!?!"

"We get you lieutent!" Emily and the rest of the bloodhounds battalion yell.

The megaphone in the corner of the pod bay announces engine shutdown in ten seconds, mechanics seal their helmets for vacuum, and depressurize the drop bay. Gravity disappeares as the large thrusters slowly stops firing.

"Hey Emily." Macho calls her.

"Yes Macho?" Emily responds.

"If we survive, mind making me a sandwhich?"

Emily giggles. Macho always ask the same question, his way of easing her up, like a big brother.

The pod bay doors open. A count down of ten seconds begins in the screen of her pod. She grips her pod's control stick.

Five seconds. She takes deep breaths. The count down reaches zero, and she and all the marines launch like torpedoes. Feeling ten or twenty g's on her body from her pod's rocket thruster.

The force on her body stops. The screen switches to cameras mode giving her a visual outside. She can see the ship's bow, or more technically the top since all ships are built like skyscrapers and houses.

She adjusts her trajectory with the RCS thrusters to avoid colliding with other pods as they drop. A minute pass and her pod begins to heat.

They are dropping fast. Out of the clouds, twenty kilometers out, she can see the target from the camera. A small city, red dots indicating hostile Anti air weapons.

Ten kilometers. Her pod detaches pieces of the heat shield, tracers from AA guns bounce on her pod. Ten bunker pods switch to attack mode, transforming to an insect like form and fire their laser cannons and machine guns on the ground and deploy flares and chaff.

Five kilometers. Staff Sergeant Alador signals all pods to break. Emily pulls a lever and explosive bolts break apart her pods.

She orients herself with her armor's rocket jets to have her feet face the ground. Retinal target system identifies two AA gun trucks and fires micro missiles from her missile module. The micro missiles slam onto the guntrucks ammo detonating and destroying the guntrucks.

She fires her thrusters to slow her descent but not powerfull enough that she'll hover and be a target. Emily maneuvers and slides to a stop on a building catching confederate a heavy weapons team on the building by surprise still loading a sentry gun.

They fire at her. Rifle rounds bounce on her armor and helmet. She unfolds her halberd, slashing them left and right sending the confederate troopers flying with large gaping cuts in their black armor.

Another confederate soldier on the far corner of the building fires a rocket at her but she dodges and dash to the edge of the building, firing her arm mounted magnetic accelerator rifle at the last confederate on the roof, killing the trooper.

She descends further and fires her thrusters to wall run on a building next to the one she landed, launching another salvo of micro missles and lobs two grenades at a camp and a tank, explosions occuring behind her along with screams.

Running and gunning down another squad of enemy troopers, she runs through a window and lands on a wrecked overpass in the middle of the city. A marine heavy weapons team and a bunker pod walking with insectoid legs demolish tanks and ammo dumps under the over pass and shoot the support columns. Gunfire and battle echo across the city.

A part of the overpass collapse and crush the enemy nearly causing a domino effect. One part of the overpass falls on a building destroying the supports, crumbling to the ground.

She makes more runs and kills jumping from building to building dumping rounds left and right. Slashing any enemies she gets to close enough. Smoke trails from her missiles nearly blind her and she crashes into some sort of ammunitions warehouse. Instead of looking around she arms a grenade and runs to the large doors. She cuts the doors open and slash another enemy trooper. The grenades detonate and causes a chain reaction, using the shockwave to give her a boost.

A plasma trooper takes aim at her and fires his plasma gun. She fires her thrusters and flips in the air dodging the plasma ball. She skids in the concrete and swings her weapon at the troopers midsection so hard, the plasma gun detonates and vaporizes the trooper leaving only a large burnmark.

"Fucking physics." Emily curses. Having felt the heat of the plasma.

Suddenly, the ground rumbles. A pair of titans on her left emerge from the smoke of burning supply trucks under a bridge between two buildings. Their bare metal knightly look shining from the flames.

They aim their weapons at her and she dashes to a building left of her avoiding 50mm shells. One hit from these shells and she's vapor and mist.

Seeing the support columns of the buildings exposed, she grins.

The lead titan continues firing even if she is inside the building. Using the building for cover she sneaks behind the second titan and boost herself with the thrusters on full throotle. She spins with great force, severing the titan's left knee and collapses on its severed leg.

She slides in asphalt and slash the ankle joint of the lead titan disorienting the pilot. With another boost, she jumps on a wall and boost again at the lead titan and swings her halberd on the camera unit blinding the pilot. She fires missiles at both support collumns in the bridge, setting them to remote detonate, and slides to the other side behind the titans.

She taunts both titans with a middle finger. The lead titan attempts to walk exactly under the bridge with the pilot outside and aims its guns. With a command, the missiles detonates and the bridge and apart of the building falls on the titans. A large dust cloud gushes at her.

Walking out of the dust cloud, she see's multiple trucks and tanks moving away from the city along with another titan with a missing arm.

"Marines. This is Alador. Confederate forces are retreating, all AA weapons are down." Emily's radio comes to life. "Our work here is done. Army landers are enroute outside the city. Marking coordinates now. Chow is on me."

A marker appeares on her HUD, seeing a dropship land and clear a hot landing zone three kilometers up in the sky.

"Hey Em!" Macho calls out to her with a radio. "You gonna make a sandwhich right."

"Once we set camp, I"ll make one for the whole squad."

Macho laughs, only to scream with laser fire and an explosion, the transmission suddenly lost.

"Macho!" Emily cries.

Checking the radar from the drones the bunker pods deployed during the drop, she see's Macho's location and quickly moves to her comrades location, jumping again from building to building.

Landing at what looks like a park. A squad of troopers ambush her alongside a heavy trooper, this time in red armor. Using her lidar, she paints them on her HUD.

She dodges their shots dashing left and right getting, her thrusters illuminating the dust cloud. She gets closer and closer and throws a grenade. Killing a few troopers.

The heavy trooper fires his heavy laser gun, but she gets too close and miss. With one swing from the marine's halberd, the heavy trooper's head flies spinning, the headless body falls with a thud, and swings again taking out two other troopers. A trooper stabs her with a bayonet but she grabs the knife and snaps the blade, she roundhouse kicks the trooper and throws her halberd at another trooper behind her still recovering, the blade cracking his head in half and pinning the dead trooper on a wall.

Another trooper aims and fire a shotgun knocking her down. Using the momentum of the slug fired at her, she rolls and kneels and rauses her right arm pointing her arm mounted rifle at the last trooper and opens fire.

Checking her surrounding for other hostiles, ahe determines its clear. She looks at the direction of Macho. Dislodging her halberd she runs towards his location and finds Macho. His body smoking, a laser shot clearly penetrated Macho's breast armor. Her chest tightens, like something kicked the air out of her lungs.

Slowly walking towards Macho's body she kneels and open's her comrade's faceplate. His whole head burnt to the bone, more smoke escaping like steam.

"Macho you idiot." Emily slouches. Clenching her halberd and grinding her teeth.

Someone groan's and alerts her. The groan coming from the dead troopers she disposed. Aiming her rifle to finish the trooper off. She gasps.

It was the same trooper she kicked. The same trooper in red commonly associated with the Confederate's Elite.

The trooper is a boy with scruffy brown hair. Anger and hatred written in the boy's face. Pointing a heavy laser gun at her.

Both stand in silence whilst the sounds of battle rage on.

The boy's hands shake and his aim lowers due to the weapons weight he carries. Feeling symphaty for the boy, she stands properly and raises her hands, and lifts her face plate showing her childlike face. Stunning the boy.

"Kid its alright. Im not gonna hurt you anymore. Drop the weapon." Emily says to the boy. "We dont have have to fight."

The boy looks around the dead troopers, all torn apart and eviscerated by the same weapon she holds. Their blood dripping on the ground.

"Please. You dont need to fight anymore."

The boy looks at her again. Blood splatters all over her armor. Enraging the boy and points the heavy laser gun at her again.

"Tell that to my dead friends!" The boy yells and pulls the trigger.

Emily closes her faceplate. Readies a stun grenade and takes a defensive stance only to hear a loud bang. And a large gaping hole on the boy. The trigger only halfway to firing.

The boy looks at his abdomen, hemorrhaging like a leaking pipe. The boy looks at Emily one last time with a smile and collapses. His blood pooling from his wound.

Easing her stance she looks up from where the shot came from and see's a marine in a building with an inceptor rifle.

"You alright Rose?" The marine above radioes her.

"Yeah. Thank's for the save Thorn." Emily replies and gives another look at the dead boy. And then to Macho.

The marine named Thorn lands behind her, seeing Macho's burned corpse.

"Is that, Macho?" Thorn asks Emily.

Emily nods and remove the dog tags and a picture of him and his sister from a slot in Macho's armor keeping it in one of her pouches.

Emily closes Macho's face plate patting his head and sits on her knees.

"I was gonna make him a sandwhich." Emily says to Thorn.

With the Confederate forces pushed out of the city, army gunships and airships fly above. A sign they have full control of the city. Their mission complete, with only a single casualty.