Landing at Point Lambda
Posted on Sat Aug 31st, 2024 @ 7:15am by Colonel Josiah McEntyre & Gunnery Sergeant Bjorn Magnusson & Captain Gaagii & Lieutenant JG Elspeth McArthur & Captain Johnathan Reece & Sergeant Jordon Basset & Lance Corporal Jeremy Kerr & Captain Mark DeRosa
2,547 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
The Landings
Location: Coridan
Timeline: MD-1
The dropbays on the underside of Unicorn opened, lowered out and detached from the docking clamps. The ships lurched as the engines fired, and rocketed the MACOs away from the ship. From a few of the side windows, the MACOs could see the evolving battle happening in orbit as they rapidly approached Coridan.
“Hitting atmo in 30, brace!” Mark called from the cockpit.
Josiah held firm to the shock frame of his seat as they hit the turbulence of Coridan’s upper atmosphere, shaking as the ship did.
In Dropship Gamma, affectionately named, Bouncing Betty, by her flight crew, Johnathan had actually closed his eyes and was apparently napping, as his ship was tossed and shaken by the turbulence of the thick atmosphere. A few of the younger MACOs found it amazing to watch. There was already some talk going around about him and what he had managed to do, the last time he engaged with the Romulans.
Gaagii sat a few seats away from the Colonel. He had become accustomed over the years to turbulence, it was either that or simply that he had better balance than others. No matter what it is at the moment he held a sharpening stone in one hand and a tomahawk in the other. He simply sharpened them as he prepared for what was to come. The war paint of his people had been placed on his face. It was ritual to him, there would be songs of this day.
Josh dug into his armor pouch, pulling out a small digital music player and queuing up a selection to play over the dropship speakers to inspire the men. His choice was...interesting as the riff of electric guitars filled the area, AC/DC's Thunderstruck, a classical piece from Earth's 20th Century.
"Let's get stacked boys! Weapons Red!"
The Colonel called out to the bay, picking up his EM-47 SOCOM, charging it, with a click and a whine from the rifle.
Dropship Delta was quiet, the MACO visualising their objectives in their mind's eye. Basset's dark eyes stared into the middle-distance, focused on nothing, Gripping the harness of his seat, he reflected how many times he and his team had gone into action together, how well they functioned. Religion was a minority pursuit on Alpha Centauri, but occasionally, he prayed to a higher power.
Licking his lips nervously, he reflected this was one of those time he would be doing so.
Over in the Bouncing Betty, the Colonel's command was relayed to Johnathan's headset. His rues snapped open and he unhooked his restraints as he stood up. "ALRIGHT, YOU HELL HOUNDS! BUTTON IT UP! TIME TO GO RED! FINAL CHECKS OF WEAPONS AND GEAR!" As the MACOs in his dropship started sounding off, the large Texan grabbed his M-97 minigun system and clipped it to the carry sling. He thenattached the ammo feed belt to it and powered it up, ensuring all was ready for use. Finally, everyone had reported ready. Johnathan moved back to his seat and sat down. He activated his comms. "This is Reaper to Overlord. We are ready to bring the pain, over!"
Elf sat at the back watching all the communication equipment and transmissions.
The shuttle lurched and rocked. From outside, flames of reentry streaked along the side of the dropship.
“Coming up, left side, that’s the drop zone!” DeRosa called from the cockpit. The shuttle lurched again, not from turbulence but from Romulan Ground Fire and Anti-Air Batteries. Pulses streaked along the windows.
“Got to drop us down, they got the AO thick with Triple A’s”
Josiah tightens his grip on the hand holds lining along the roof of the drop ship.
“Reaper, Overlord. Reece, we’re diverting to the Triple A’s. Your chalk will move ahead to support Colonel Haise”
=/\=Oo-rah, Overlord! We'll get the job done! Reaper out!=/\=
"Final Descent, 1 minute to ground!" Mark called from the cockpit, the landing zone in sight. Already, flashes of blues and greens could be seen, with MACOs already on the ground fighting against the Romulan ground defenders.
Josiah moved to the front, near the cockpit door and looked down the dropship to the troops still strapped into their seats and click his comm.
"All Stations, Overlord. Once we're boots down, we hit the ground running, and we don't stop til Lambda is ours, Oo-Rah?"
The MACOs in Johnathan's dropship all shouted and cheered in reply.
Elf pulled herself to her feet and made sure everything was secure. She calmly waited for the go order.
Josiah used the hanging hand holds to move him towards the back, where Elf was already standing on her feet.
"Elf, I want you to stick close to me. Once we're on the ground, it's goin be a hairball and I don't want ya getting lost down there, Ok? Let's do a quick gear and comms check"
Elf nodded and began checking the equipment, both visually and verbally.
Josiah nodded as Elf checked over her equipment. "How the feel, not too uncomfortable? You'll be doing some intense running in that more than likely. Like I said, stick close to me, like a shadow and you'll come out of this fine."
Josiah spoke to reassure her. "My first combat ops, scared shitless on a run to Vega. Fighting Naussicans Raiders. Nearly bought it when one cornered me in an abandon prefab. Had a great team lead that told me to take things one klick at a time."
"I should be fine Sir. I run a lot" She said brightly.
Gaagii sat on the bench next to where Elf and Josiah had talked. He looked at a wrist mounted device that gave him the layout of the battlefield and placement of both friend and enemy units. A useful device for the Strategic Intelligence Officer. He had been quiet, more stoic than the rest of the MACOs. However, now that he noticed something the time had come for him to speak. He stood up and showed the Colonel what he had been looking at. "Sir, I think if we have the Unicorn and other ships in orbit carpet bomb the enemies flanks here, and here." Gaagii pointed to the areas he meant as he spoke. "It will make our incursion to the enemy not only concealed but somewhat easier as we will not be out flanked."
Josiah looked over at the wristpad glancing down, studying it for a moment.
"That's a good thought, Captain. Coordinate with Elf. There should be limited air support from the dropships and a small number of NX-Foxtrot class fighters off the Endeavour. There should be a TACLINK frequency in the StratOps brief."
"Sir yes sir!" Gaagii replied although his voice did not have the usual boisterousness of a MACO. "Lieutenant McArthur, would you relay these coordinates to the air support vessels. Tell them to hold their fire until the order is given. The timing on this is going to be everything." Gaagii relayed the information from his wrist top computer to the Communications Officer.
"Aye sir" She said and did as requested easily, while strengthening the signal.
Josiah smirks as he clicks his comms.
"All Stations Overlord, Ears and Eyes folks. Our primary objective is to take the outer city. Romulan Forces have dug in like a tick. We're goin dig them out!"
"Landing!" Mark calls out from the cockpit.
Josiah nods to both Elf and Gaagii then turns to the rest of the dropship. "STANDUP!"
In the Bouncing Betty, Johnathan and his team were already on their feet, weapons at the ready. In training, they had practiced rapid combat insertions, among other things, and had practiced enough, to be able to clear the dropship in less than ten seconds, so that it could climb back up into the sky and to the relative safety of orbit, as they flew back to the ship to refuel and rearm. "WEAPONS HOT!" The large Texan barked to his group, indicating that all weapon safeties should be deactivated now. In a hot drop zone, life and death was easily determined in less time than it took to switch the safeties off.
Gaagii stood up and looked down to his left and then right. He made sure his tomahawks were holstered and he clipped his rifle to his flak vest. A quick flick of his finger activated the phaser rifle and a small hum was heard. The weapon was active and set to kill. "Raven standing by." He used the name given to him at the Basic School as he thought this would be the most appropriate use for it. They were being dropped in under darkness. Like the Raven he and his colleagues would strike from above.
It was a tense few moments before the thud of ships hitting the ground, the booms of weapons overhead shaking the ships before the ramps drop with a thud.
"GO!" The Colonel booming voice echos as the first MACOs charge down the ramp, weapons ready, as they moved into a defense perimeter and the first shots fired by the MACOs could be heard. The Colonel was the last out, the lines set, as he fires into the line of Romulans and the chaos of an already pitched land battle.
As soon as the Bouncing Betty touched down, the loading ramp dropped down and the MACOs started to pour out. The first couple were immediately cut down by Romulan fire. In response, Johnathan stepped our of the ship, and let loose a deadly stream of energy blasts from his minigun, completely obliterating the fighting position that the Romulans had been using. As he continued to fire, he strode confidently into the LZ, his weapon moving from one target to another, cutting through them like the Grim Reaper's sickle.
A line of soliders in purplish metallic armor crested the ridge, Reman Hastati, firing wildly into the apporoching MACOs. Two went down to disruptor bolts, before Josiah raised his rifle to return fire. One, two shots raced from his rifle. They stuck hard, one going down in a backflip, while the other kept up his assault.
Gaagii ran from the Bouncing Betty and tore through the area on foot. He quickly saw a cliff face that rose from the ridge and realized that would make a perch. He may be the Strategic Operations Officer but he was first a sniper. He made his way to the ridge and once there laid the rifle that had been slung on his shoulder down and looked through the scope. He aimed deep into Romulan territory and took out three of their high ranking officers. He could see the other Romulans looking around hard to see where the shots came from. The camp descended into chaos.
Watching the Bouncing Betty disgorge its riders on to Coridan ground, Bassett beckoned his men with a flash of a smile as he jumped out of his restraints and raced down the gangway. Speed and confidence would serve them well in this instance. The faster they could advance while the Romulans were in disarray, the safer they would be.
Then would come the grinding of street-to-street fighting.
As Johnathan and his fire teams continued to advance, they were starting to put a nice dent in the Romulan defensive line in their sector. As they moved forward, they would lay down covering fire, allowing Johnathan to advance. When he was in position, he would open up with his mini gun, the brrrrrrttt of his concentrated fire would sound our across the battlefield. As he mowed more Romulan foot soldiers down, his team would advance to the next fighting position. Their target: the AAA emplacement labeled as target number four on their maps.
The Romulans continued their barrage of fire against the Starfleet soldiers that had come to push them off the planet.
ELF sat hunkered down out of their line of sight and kept their lines open. She ignored the sounds around her.
Gaagii had a bead on the overall commander of Romulan forces. He followed the man through the scope as he gave orders to subordinates. When the Romulan stopped to give another order Gaagii slowed his breathing and took the shot. Within seconds the Romulan's head erupted in green mist as he crumpled to the ground. Gaagii opened a comm channel. "This is Raven I have severed the head of the dragon." He closed the channel and packed up his rifle as he prepared to enter the fray.
"Solid Copy Raven!" Josiah replied before motioning for his forces to follow.
"LET'S MOVE!! Push Forward, we nearly got them on the run!"
A long sting of Oo-rahs echoed afterwards as the Colonel and his men, pressed forward into the Romulan lines. One unlucky Romulan who tried to come at Josiah with a gladius type sword was met with a swift uppercut from the stock of his rifle, smashing into his helmet, knocking him down before Josiah puts two shots into the Romulan.
Controlling his breathing, Bassett motioned his men forward, bursting out across the open ground between the ridge they had vaulted over and the building in front of them. Suddenly and silently, his team were in and amongst the Romulan defensive line. The battle disintegrated to individual fights. Puffs of breath, knives slicing the air and the burst of phaser and disruptor fire.
Smashing his way through the door Bassett barelled into a Romulan soldier, knocking them off-guard. The helmeted face gave no indication of expression as they dropped into a combat stance, knife flashing in the light as they swung. Stepping backwards Bassett parried desperately with his phaser rifle, catching the knife before snapping off a desperate shot that clipped the Romulan in the shoulder, driving them to their knees.
A quick shot to the chest finished them off. Kneeling, Bassett went to unmask his enemy, curiosity driving him. As he fiddled with the neck of the helmet, he heard a hissing sound. Jerking his hand away he stifled a cry as he saw that the body was disintegrating. What kind of a fail safe is that?!.
He stared at the empty uniform for a moment before gathering himself and getting to his feet. There was more work to do.
Almost two hours of tense fighting, Two hours of brutal door to door combat in the shanty town near to the Capital before the MACOs finally gained a foothold and the upperhand. Enough for the Romulans and their Reman Hastati to retreat to their holdings in the main capital.
The battle had been won, and as Joisah and his team emerged from the last of the hovels that defined the poorer sections of Coridan, he looks up as the clouds break, and the sun emerges.
"All Stations, Overlord. Enemy in retreat. We have secured Landing Point Lambda."
[OFF]
Colonel Josiah McEntyre
Commanding Officer/MACO Commanding Officer
Unicorn NX-151
MACO Special Operational Detachment - Alpha
&
Lieutenant JG Elspeth McArthur
Communications Officer
Unicorn NX-151
&
Master Sergeant Johnathan Reese
MACO Raider / CoB
Unicorn NX-151
MACO Special Operational Detachment - Alpha
&
Gunnery Sergeant Bjorn Magnusson
MACO Raider
Unicorn NX-151
MACO Special Operational Detachment - Alpha
&
Lance Corporal Jeremy Kerr
(NPC of T'shir)
MACO
Unicorn NX-151
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