The rumbling of the drop ships mighty engines faded to the background as Keith Torwa thought about the coming battle. The marines in the surrounding crash chairs were either praying or attempting to sleep before the drop ship doors opened. Keith could not remember why he was sitting in the sweat stained, battle scarred battle armor waiting to face the Zerg hordes when the doors opened. He was still a raw recruit, having been chosen to serve in this proven unit because of his outstanding scores during the brutal training that the Marine Corps put all new recruits through. The seven other marines in his squad did not like having this "wet-behind-the-ears baby" with them on this important mission. It was important because the higher ups wanted to prove that 12th Company could be a useful addition to the Regular Infantry.
This was not a normal mission though. It was considered a suicide mission by some and that no one who was sent out on it would return, not even the drop ship pilots were expected to return. Keith absently rubbed the worn grip on his rifle. He dropped into a revere and thought about what his parents would be doing at home. In his minds' eye he could see his little sister playing with the dogs in the front yard and his mom sweeping the porch to get rid of the unwanted dirt. His father was in the barn fixing the thresher machine again as the air intakes where always getting clogged with dirt and grime from the strong winds.
A loud crackle from the intercom mounted to the inside of Keith's helmet woke him from the brief revere he had been enjoying. It was the squad leader, Theo "Phantom" Yourk, a veteran of many battles. He had been serving the Marine Corps since before the Kerrigan Betrayal and had seen everything from the massive Zerg Ultralisks to the fearsome Protoss Dark Templar. His second in command, a man by the name of Peath, was a nightmarish sight. Peath was covered with scars from his many run-ins with the prolific Zerglings and was missing his left eye. This was, as the story goes, from a nasty encounter with a Protoss Zealot who refused to die.
These two impressive individuals were leading a squad of mostly proven men. The remaining five had at least seen some sort of combat, whether it had been against the Protoss infractions or the formidable Zerg Horde. Pat "Fort" Des'clar was a previous siege tank pilot and competent with any kind of heavy weapon. The only reason he was here now was because his former commanding officer had busted him down to infantry after a bad bar fight in which he had beat five men senseless, two of them being higher ranked tank commanders. So he was forced to join this squad on their mission as the heavy fire support.
Next was an enigmatic man who never really talked much. He went by the name Phear and was always an ominous presence to have around. When the guys had hit the bars and brothels the night before, they never saw him with a woman. No one really knew much about him except that he had served in the Ghosts before Kerrigan had been turned into a Zerg. Phear was the long range support and an excellent hand-to-hand fighter.
The man sitting next to Keith was the one who had "adopted" him when he was first transferred into the unit. Durk "Old Man" Thras was the oldest of the group and had served with Theo since he had saved Durk's ass on Reer when the Zerg overran their base. That was the act that got Theo promoted to squad leader and he had chosen to stay at this position, giving up the many promotions that had been offered to him. Durk had also given up on the many promotions offered to him so that he could stay with Theo. Durk is the only one who can call "Phantom" Theo. This is because of their long standing friendship and camaraderie.
The other two Marines in the drop ship were not your usually grunts and had been handpicked for the mission. They had showed up the night before liftoff, so the rest of the squad had not gotten the chance to become better acquainted with the two. The one sitting directly across from Keith was a former criminal that had volunteered for the Marine Corps when he was caught by police. Instead of facing jail and the horrors that went on in those hell holes, he went to the place that was only a little better. He was the expendable one in the squad. The guy that was looked to if something extremely suicidal need done.
The other one sitting next to him was not your typical Marine. In fact the Marine was a woman who had seen her fair share of bloodshed. She was "Click", the squads' communications expert. Click could fix almost any piece of machinery and had great knowledge of both Terran and Protoss machines. When the Protoss first invaded the Colonial space, her home world was the second one to be conquered. Since this was the first time the Protoss had come into contact with something other than the Zerg they did not wipe the planet clean. Instead they mingled among the inhabitants and learned all they could. Click had grown up around Protoss equipment, so when she finally left the planet the Colonial Intelligence had snapped her up like a shark attacking a wounded fish. She was then taken to various battlefields to help in the fight against the Protoss. This was not something she enjoyed so when the chance came to join the Marines and fight the Zerg she took full advantage of it. Now she sat on a drop ship heading toward what seemed like certain doom.
Keith returned himself to the present and listened to the end of Phantom's speech.
"Keep your wits about you and don't waste your ammo. This is all we're going to get and I want every one of us to make it back out."
The crackling com fell silent as Phantom let each member of the squad take in those last few sentences.
"This is the finest squad of men I've ever seen. We will accomplish our mission objectives and make it out. Proving the assholes at the top that we, and our company, are worthy of fighting on the frontlines."
The men let out a ragged cheer at those words and then lapsed into thoughtful silence. Thinking of what might be their last moments alive.
The drop ships' intercom crackled to life as the pilot announced that they were 30 seconds out from the drop point.
Phantom's voice came over the squads' commlinks once more, "Time to saddle up boys."
The cocking of rifles was drowned out by the roar of the drop ships' engines as they slowed the large craft down. Then all of a sudden Keith felt himself drop like a rock. His stomach was still hanging somewhere up in the upper reaches of the atmosphere when the drop ship started to weave violently back and forth. Then all of a sudden the drop ship pitched up on its side and there was sickening crunch. The Marines were all thrown against the harnesses of their chairs and debris went flying through the air. There was a faint whistling the started to grow louder as the ship plummeted down through the turbulent atmosphere of the planet.
Phantom was yelling into the ships intercom with no results, either the ship wide communications system was down or the cockpit had been hit. No one wanted to think about that last part because if it was true, then they were currently sitting in a large metal coffin. All of a sudden the whistling stopped and everyone sat in complete silence, then a loud shriek rattled them to their bones. It sounded like the drop ship was grinding against rocks. The out of control drop ship was barreling through the mountains like a runaway freight train. The Marine sitting across from Keith was silently praying to whatever god he held dear to save him from dying in a tin can.
Then there was another crunching noise and everyone was thrown against their restraints again, except that Peaths' could not hold his massive weight and he went flying against the forward bulkhead. Suddenly everything stopped moving. No one knew what had happened, but Phantom was instantly shouting orders. All the Marines slapped the release button for the restraints, grabbed their rifles and headed toward the cargo hatch.
They had to use the emergency release button to open the hatch but when it finally got open they poured out around the mangled drop ship. Phantom was yelling orders at such a fast pace that Click missed one and ended up running into Old Man who had his arms full of supply rations. Finally the drop ship was secure and everyone had everything they needed; now it was time to set out on the mission.
