T42 Pt. 18 | "Albian Planetfall"
Tales of the 42nd: Albian Planetfall
+++ALBIAN II, ALBIAN SYSTEM+++
+++631.000.M42 / 1700, 17 AUG 41000+++
Cecilia finishes strapping herself in next to the commanders' station in the hold of the Angantyr-Class Dropship that her company is in. While the main doors into the dropship seal with a hiss as the ship is pressurised. With the doors being sealed and the signal from the crew chief who is strapping themself in next to the entrance to the cockpit. Cecilia nods to her vox operator while she keys her combead to the battalions command frequency.
"42 Black, this is Falcon Romeo. Falcon standing by and ready for launch. Over"
"Falcon Romeo, this is 42 Black Romeo. Solid copy, Falcon is last to launch on the pilots' mark, relaying from 42 Actual, remember once on the ground make the RZ or other friendly units if unable. Over"
"42 Black Romeo, solid copy, wilco. Over."
"Falcon Romeo, solid copy, the Emperor protects. Out."
Cecilia's vox operator nods once with the end of the communication. Moments before the sound is drowned by the roar of the engines. The entire dropship vibrates from the roar of the quad engines at the rear of it. Before, with a lurch, it takes off from the hanger and races out of the hanger. Cecilia watches from the external cameras via her console, watching the nose of the Son of Adder start to glow red as it enters the atmosphere on a collision course with the fortress they are to attack. At the same time, life pods continue to eject with the crew.
Cecilia rests her head back against her seat while she braces her self while the dropship is rocked by turbulence as it enters the atmosphere. Due to the Gellar field failure and the loss of the bridge, BCT 304 was having to land at the same time as the first wave, but due to the nature of their descent and likely AA fire it was considered unlikely, that would reach their intended landing zone. She could barely hear over the sound of the engines, but she heard the faint sound of some of the soldiers throwing up from the unfavourable approach, most likely the newer recruits who might have done planetary assaults before.
Bar the turbulence the descent through the atmosphere is a smooth one, with the Son of Adder shield them from the AA batteries with its hull and void shields. But once they have moved away from the transport towards the peninsula, AA rounds start coming their way, causing the pilot to take evasive manoeuvres to dodge the incoming fire. While on approach to the peninsula, the dropship takes several hits causing it to start losing altitude fast.
"Major! We are doing what we can, but we will not be able to make the LZ!"
"Copy that Lt, get us down as best you can where ever you can."
"Afirm, Major. Better brace as this is going to bump."
Cecilia nods before she signals for everyone to brace with the signal passing down the ranks of trooper while the pilot puts the ship into a dive to descend fast. Pulling up at the last possible moment to level out above the ground, just as he was about to start decelerating a large AA round crashes through the bridge and detonates. With the bridge burning and the pilots dead, the dropship drops hard into the ground still with a lot of speed while it tears a groove across the landscape. Before coming to a stop with the side of it buried into a hill.
Groans and shouts for medics are what Cecilia wakes back up into while she shakes her head to try and focus on the situation before she unhooks herself and slings her lascarbine over her shoulders. The companies engineers and tech-priest are already looking at and checking the vehicles while medics move about the infantry deck, checking on the worse of the wounded when Kiera and Rayna both move over to her.
"Major, we really need to find another way to land on a planet, other than in a crash."
Cecilia shakes her head slightly with a small grin at Kiera.
"It wasn't a crash, it was a dynamic entry."
Kiera and Rayna both roll their eyes before looking at the main doors.
"Sure it was, we firing the bolts then?"
"Yeah, make sure everybody is ready, and the worst injured are taken to the rear. I want the vehicles ready to go with infantry cover as soon as we blow the bolts."
"Aye, aye, Major."
With a nod, Kiera heads off to start passing out the orders with First Sergeant Halwood starts organising people getting sent back for medical treatment. After making sure progress was being made, and that 1st and 2nd platoon was beginning to get set up and the sides of the ramp, with 5th platoon and two of the fire support teams set up on the top deck. Cecilia and Rayna start making their way down to the bottom deck, to take up position a bit behind the first few vehicles and the infantry to give them space to operate. Their combeads beep into life with Kiera's voice.
"Major, the company is set to move. 3rd and 4th will follow once 1st and 2nd have cleared the ramp and 5th will follow behind that."
"Solid copy, Kiera."
Cecilia readies her lascarbine, making sure that the charge pack is fully charged and locked in before she activates her combead again.
"Company, prepare to advance once the ramp is down. Blow the bolts on my mark...mark!"
On her mark, the troopers duck behind what cover they have as the sound of the emergency bolts being blown echo around the hold. Before the ramp starts to slowly fall towards the ground, impacting with a mighty thud from the weight of a ramp designed to be able to support the might and weight of the Imperial armoury. The moment the ramp has hit the ground, before the dust has even started to clear, the first of the Chimeras are speeding down the ramp with squads from the first platoons to support and secure the foot of it. The Chimeras start to establish a perimeter with the 1st and 2nd platoons while the rest begin to exit the crashed dropship. Cecilia takes her command team and quickly climes the small hill they crashed into to try and get a look about with her amplivisor. Reaching the top of the hill, about the same time 3rd platoon does with it starting to set up, Cecilia takes a moment to scan the area to look for landmarks.
"Major, you see anything?"
Cecilia slowly lowers her amplivisor before she responds to Kiera.
"Son of Adder is still coming down to the south, so at least on the penisula...no idea our current location though, with the flaring the Son of Adder is giving off it is screwing with our orbital connection. Though I did see an outpost to the south-west, about 150 clicks before we crashed."
"Copy that, whats our marching orders then, Major?"
"Get the kit and supplies loaded up onto the Trojans, and then prioritise wounded loading, then standard mount up SOP before we head out for that OP. Get the scouts moving off ASAP to check the route."
"Afirm, Major. Will get the company moving."
The rumble of engines and the flurry of activity from the base of the hill shows that Kiera wasn't hanging about with getting people moving. With the Chimeras for 3rd platoon and Cecilia's command team slowly climbing the hill. Cecilia turns to look back towards the OP to the south-west while the Salamanders and Sentinels start to spread out in a scouting line in front of the company.
+++ALBIAN II, ALBIAN SYSTEM+++
+++632.000.M42 / 2100, 17 AUG 41000+++
+++L+4 Hours+++
Leana lies prone on the ridgeline, looking through her amplivisor towards the outpost to the west of their position, taking one last look at it before beginning the attack. Slowly lowering the amplivisor, she turns to look at Alex beside her, both of their command teams either slightly behind on the slope or to the side.
"What you thinking, Captain?"
"Not sure, Colonel. It seems too quiet considering that an entire Corps just landed nearby."
"I know what you mean, I might be inexperienced, but even so I would say they should have more movement and scouts out on the ridges."
"Exactly...let me take a platoon in first to recon it in force. If its a trap the rest of the company would be in a position to assist with them not being in the trap. If it is empty, nothing wrong with some caution."
Leana looks back at the outpost for a moment before glancing to the south where the glow from Klirsey or at least close to it. Caused by the impact of the Son of Adder dominates the sky.
"Ok, Captain. You have a go, take your company forward."
With a nod, Alex slowly slides herself back off the ridge while passing out the orders for 1st platoon to get ready to move, while Leana gets one of the fire support sections up on the hill with their autocannons. Once 1st platoon was formed up behind her and her command team, she motions for them to follow them at a slow crouch walk towards the outpost across the roughly 600m stretch of ground with little cover in between them and the outpost. All of them have their weapons up while they watch their sectors, the platoon has spread out behind Alex into squad wedges in not quite a platoon line or wedge. Not a word is said as they approach, the quiet in the dark of the night is eerie, with the only light coming from towards Klirsey or a couple of lights in the OP. They cross the ground without any alert being raised from the OP with the squads setting up on the walls of the buildings and walls along the edge, before Alex motions for them to start moving.
Alex steps back as her 1st Sergeant steps up to take point with Alex behind them, followed by the medic, the signaller and then the standard-bearer who left the standard with the companies XO's team so that they could focus on the CQB. With Alex's team moving along the right-hand side of the road, another squad is moving along the other to keep the rooftops, and windows above their team covered. Moving between the quiet buildings, Alex knows she picked the right platoon for this, unlike the other platoons in the company, only 1st platoon is made up purely of experienced troopers. The rest have a bit of a mix with troopers who had been with the 22nd since the start, to those who were merged in during the battle of Xailiv, to those who were evacuated and then pressed into service on Apodis. As they approach a corner, 1st Sergeant Halina signals a halt, the squad on the other side of the road is down the road a bit still, so they set up to cover the corner. Halina nods to Alex as Alex grabs onto the strap on the back of their flak jacket so they can pull them back quickly if they have to. Taking a breath, Halina peaks the corner before she dives backwards into Alex as las rounds impact into the corner and blast chunks out of it. Standing back up, Halina moves towards the corner slowly with a hand out to the others before she shouts as loud as she can.
"Hold fire! Xailvians! Hold Fire!"
Steadying herself, her lasgun held in one hand that she extends beyond the corner first before she moves out fully. She then lets out a small sigh and a soft laugh as the people that had shot at the corner approach and Alex and the other squad come around the corner. The lieutenant in charge of the other forces moves over to Alex, nodding but not saluting while in a possible combat zone.
"Captain Aloy, my apologies, did not know the 22nd landed about here."
"It's fine, Lt. Just my company and the Colonel. Good to see Falcon company here though."
"True, I know I speak for the entire company when I say we are happy to fight alongside you again. Now if you excuse me for a moment, I need to radio the Major."
"Not a problem, I need to radio the Colonel."
With that, Alex turns to her signaller who nods to confirm that the signal is connected.
"22 Actual, this is Anchor Actual. Message, over."
"Anchor Actual, this is 22 Actual. Send it, over."
"22 Actual. Be advised, made contact with 42 Falcon, I say again, made contact with 42 Falcon, over."
"Anchor Actual, solid copy. Contact made with 42 Falcon, over."
"Afirm, about to finish securing with them, but no sign of contact yet, over."
"Copy that, keep me up to date. Over."
"Wilco, Anchor Actual, out."
Kommentare