CHAPTER 28

Author's Note: Apologies for the lack of update. I went on a 2-week vacation then got sidetracked with other projects. From this point on updates will be slow but steady. Expect at least 1 chapter per week.


Dropship Naruhina,
New Aragon Orbit, Capellan March,
Federated Commonwealth,
May 5, 3063

Trystan stepped down the metal ladder from his mech. His Thunderbolt was wrapped tightly in a metal cocoon known as drop pod. Every mech in the dropship was wrapped in a drop pod; a full company of them. The dropship crew told the Blazing Azes that as soon as the dropship reached the planet orbital distance, the bay doors would open and the mechs would be dropped. The armed engagement on the ground was so savage the dropship captain refused to land.

Trystan did not like the idea. During their fall, they were like sitting ducks. Even a small helicopter could hit them with a single well-placed salvo, destroy the landing mechanism or the rockets, and they would plummet to the ground like eggs. Splat. The techs told him that the armor of the pod was strong enough to withstand an alpha strike of a Daishi, but Trystan still felt uneasy.

"Everything cool?" asked Caelia.

"Everything's fine. They need a little adjustment for the extra-long barrel of the Large Pulse, but it's settled now."

"Everything cool with you?" Caelia

"I've never jumped from orbit before." Trystan sighed. "I don't know what to expect."

"Me neither," Caelia replied nonchalantly.

"And you're not worried? How come this doesn't bother you?"

"Will it make you live longer?" she puffed. "What can you do by being worried?"

"You'll be fine, boy," Tim interrupted. "You'll hit the ground before you even notice."

"Yeah, if I'm not blasted off in the sky during the drop."

"All right, Aces, listen up!" Chip enterred the room and activated a 3-D holomap at the center. "We are 15 minutes away from the dropzone. Once we reach this sector, the bay doors will open and you will make a combat drop. ETA on the ground 20 minutes. You will land on this area. Make your ways to the Nav Point Zeta, 50 miles north-east from your position. Expect heavy resistance. Do not engage ground units; our computers have not been synced with friendlies so everything will appear as threat in your radar. I repeat: do not engage ground units! Go to Nav Point Zeta as quickly as you can. Lyran operatives will brief you once you reach the objective."

The reason the dropship captain refused to land was because of the heavy firefight between Lyran's 3rd FedCom RCT and Davion's 12th Vegan Rangers and 1st Aragon Borderers. Making combat drop right in the middle of this firefight, carrying order not to open fire on opposing force, was essentially suicide. Trystan didn't know what came to Chip's mind following this absurd decision.

But it was just another nonsense in Chip's string of strange behavior and poor leadership. His mother would never have allowed such dangerous stunt, and if he had power, he would stop this campaign. Unfortunately, at this moment, he had none of such authority. He was merely a grunt soldier, an employee of the Blazing Aces mercenary unit, even though he carried the name of Vandenberg.

"Dismissed! See you on the ground!" Chip ended the briefing. The mechwarriors scrambled out of the room and onto their mechs. He climbed up his mech, hopped into the cockpit, closed the canopy and strapped himself on the command chair. The computer ran through the initialization sequence. He puffed a labored breath as the computer announced the readiness of the mech.

"You asked why I wasn't worried," Caelia chimed in from his private link. "I was. I'm sure Tim was as well. Everybody who says he wasn't worried about combat drop is lying. But what would worry change? Nothing. It wouldn't add a minute to your life. So don't get it under your skin. We'll get through this."

"Chip makes us drop into a hot zone, with strict order not to open fire," Trystan sighed. "What does it sound like to you? Fight with our hands tied behind our backs. He's gonna make us killed."

"He has his reason," Caelia muttered.

"He's taking unnecessary risks. Mom wouldn't have gone this far."

"We don't have a choice. Mom's gone, and Chip's our commander."

"I should've fired him."

"Trystan, we've gone through this a lot of times," Caelia snarled. "You wanna challenge his decision? Why didn't you do it at Solaris? Why wait until now? We're on the advent of battle. You're a soldier and a team member. You're gonna get us killed if you don't follow order."

"You're right, I'm sorry," Trystan replied with a grunt. "I'll watch your back."

"I'll watch yours," Caelia said lightly. "See you on the flip side."

The dropship captain announced the countdown through PA, then the bay door opened. Trystan felt his stomach turned upside down. He could feel the entire pod shaking, dropping down in high speed. The sudden drop sequence from the dropship made the pod flying uncontrollably. The spiral movement of the pod and the heat from the burning pod as it entered the atmosphere were killing him. He could see through the gaps between the metal cocoon tongues of fire burning the pod. He groaned in frustration, but there was nothing he could do. His eyes blurred, his head was about to burst. His consciousness began to fade as the fiery metal cocoon spiraled down to the ground with increasing speed.

Ten minutes felt like a year, and suddenly Trystan felt the pod shuddered heavily, then slowed down and stabilized. His senses came back to normal. Then suddenly the entire pod shook hard as if it hit something. This was it, Trystan thought. He had landed on New Aragon. He took some deep breaths to regain his consciousness, then pressed the start button. His Thunderbolt responded in a quick sequence; its senses came to life, weapons were in nominal condition and ready to fire. Trystan waited for another minute before the pod crumbled. His mech was freed, and he took quick glances at his surrounding, and what he saw outside is discouraging.

He was in the middle of a jungle, the trees were about ten times higher than his mech. Through the trees he could see bright tracers of cannons and lasers rose up to the sky, illuminating the dimly-lit jungle, shooting off the descending pods. Some of the pods exploded in the sky in blinding flashes. Burning debris of destroyed pods rain down like water drops, igniting the grassy soil and the tree trunks. Some pods were caught fire and slam to the ground in deafening explosions, setting on more fire. Some who made it to the ground were caught by streaks of missiles, lasers and cannons. Trystan checked the radar, but all he could see were red blotches. They were everywhere.

"Caelia! Caelia!" he screamed, trying to locate his sister.

The garbled transmission on his comlink was buried under thunderous explosions. He saw a Sentinel, a new member of Blazing Aces he barely knew, emerged from the burning debris. All of sudden a Blackjack sprung out of a tree, hurled a dozen of laser bolts to the Sentinel. It was caught by surprise as the lasers melted its armor and dismembered its body. The Blackjack fired again, and the Sentinel lost its leg. It fell to the ground, then caught on fire. The pilot got out of the Sentinel with his hands on the air, but the Blackjack shot the fallen mech mercilessly. It exploded as the lasers ignited the autocannon magazines.

Now the Blackjack pointed the lasers towards his Thunderbolt