Disclaimer: It's the same as before.

Vandread: The Unknown Soldier (Revised)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Descent

Location: Armory, S.D.S Avenger.

With his legs locked firmly into the general purpose powered armor. It's official designation was Powered Armor: Standard, but was tagged Soldat by the soldiers that wore it. It's primary function was for general-use, so it was aptly named. His range of movement was limited, for the moment. His sensor bodysuit synced with the armor when it was locked into position and powered up. He checked the status of the automated medical system, and it was operating as it should. The last thing he wanted was to get wounded and the system not work.

He reached forward and placed his arms into the armored gloves of the suit, then, with help from the tech, locked the breastplate into position. Making sure it was sealed, the tech started to run diagnostics on it, making sure no piece would malfunction at the wrong time. After finishing, the tech gave Aidan a thumbs up, and powered up the armor. Picking up his helmet and cradling it in his left hand, he looked over the rest of his team, as well as that of Kemp's.

This was his first mission in which he had direct command of two teams, instead of one. An odd feeling swept over him. It felt like pride mixed with fear. Pride, because his commanding officer had trusted enough in his abilities to allow him this command, and fear, because it was the fact that the mission was going deep into enemy territory. Granted, he'd done that before, but something just didn't feel right about this mission. Mentally shaking off the thought, he turned and walked over to the rack where the weapons were located.

Hefting up a heavy rifle that he did not recognize, he wondered what type of weapon it was. It was a long, heavy rifle with the magazine receiver on the top of the rifle, instead of underneath. Once Hawkins came up to where he was standing, he asked him what this weapon was.

"I believe that is an MKII Gauss Rifle, boss," Hawkins replied.

"Gauss rifle?" he said.

"It's a relatively new weapon that uses a series of magnetic coils to launch a solid, thirteen millimeter 'spike' at hypersonic speeds," Hawkins said. "It's a good anti-armor weapon or sniper weapon. That baby could take off someone's head at better than five hundred meters. Too bad it only has an eight shot clip."

"Damn," he muttered. "Impressive."

He lifted up the weapon, which was quite heavy, despite the enhanced strength of his armor. Setting the weapon down off to his side, he picked up an SA5G Heavy Automatic Handgun. This gun was larger than any standard handgun in use. It was designed specifically for use with this type of powered armor. It was nicknamed, 'Hammer Fist' for it's high powered twelve millimeter rounds. Thing is, it only has eight shots. He loaded a clip, made sure the safety was on, then slipped it into the magnetic holster on his right hip.

Due to the gauss rifle's large size and weight, he'd have it stored in one of the several drop pods that would contain some of their gear, as well as rations and other necessities. Besides, from what Hawkins had said, the gauss rifle was primarily an anti-armor weapon, useful against opposing powered armor and obstacles like armored glass and walls. Using against a simple infantryman seemed a waste of ammo to him. Hence, that's why he was going in with a BR27 Battle Rifle. This was a rifle slightly larger than the standard Raptor, and it was equipped with an integrated pump-action grenade launcher.

After loading up his weapons, he looked over his team. All of them had their armor completely on except for Meia, which came as no surprise to him. After all, she wasn't trained to do this sort of thing, even though she would be jumping right into the middle of it. He had to make sure she didn't get her ass blown off before he got her to her Dread. This was definitely going to test her, probably to the extent of her abilities. He knew she would perform within the best of her abilities. She had no other option, no other choice.

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Meia had just finished locking the last part of her armor when a loud klaxon sounded throughout the ship. She had been told that was the signal for the Avenger to jump through hyperspace. Even though she steeled herself for what was to happen next, she couldn't have been full prepared for what was going to happen next. The universe seemed to expand around itself, and time seemed to slow to a crawl. The nameless lights and sound assaulted her senses. As quickly as it came, it went, and the universe snapped back into reality.

Taking a few steps back, she nearly stumbled over herself from disorientating effect of the jump. She started to feel sick to her stomach, which was not a good thing for her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Aidan walk up to herm the sound of his armored boots echoing as they connected with the floor.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah… I'm fine," she replied, still breathing a little heavy from the effects of the jump. Due to the nauseating effects of the jump, and the fact that she wasn't completely used to the armor she was wearing, she stumbled once again. Before she could fall, an armored hand grasped her by the shoulder and kept her on her feet.

"Don't worry," he said, taking his hand off her shoulder. "It happened to me the first few times I experienced it. Usually the effects will where off in a few minutes."

"I'll be fine," she said, getting her senses straight.

"Alright then," he replied. "Once you're ready, move your gear aboard the shuttle. We'll be departing within the hour."

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The shuttlecraft, which was originally designed to ferry cargo from a ship to the surface of a planet, was devoid of anything it would have normally carried. Instead, it carried seventeen passengers whose sole purpose was to carry out a covert military operation. The shuttle's pilot was instructed to enter the atmosphere away from their intended target, and deploy it's cargo via HALO drop, sending them more than twenty kilometers from their target. From there, the two teams would traverse on ground for two days, getting within sight distance from the facility.

They would then infiltrate said facility, eliminate anyone who was a threat, and accomplish three objectives. First is the acquiring of all data concerning weapons and other secret programs. Second would the recovery of the stolen Dread fighter. The final objective was the complete destruction of the facility, so it cannot be used again. Because of somewhat sketchy intelligence, their current garrison strength was unknown. Upon the completion of all objectives, they would make their extraction via the same shuttle that transported them there, which is to be called in for extraction.

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Normally, a soldier would be nervous to some extent on his/her first operation. Such was the case for Meia, who was currently sitting in one of the uncomfortable seats lining the sides of the high speed shuttle. What she was feeling was a mix of fear and nervousness, combined with the stress-inducing speed of the shuttle, was almost pushing her to the point of being sick. Of course, she was used to high speeds, as her Dread, especially combined with the Vanguard, was the fastest in the entire Dread Squadron. But, not being at the helm, and the fact that the armor was confining did not help matters.

Memories started to manifest themselves, and she tried to force them out of her mind, but failed. She remembered being forced to leave her mother behind as she was dragged onto to the escape ship seconds before a massive explosion destroyed the living unit she was being taken away from. The limited space of the shuttle, as well as the confining helmet she was currently wearing, reminded her of the claustrophobic conditions onboard the escape ship, the sudden fear of being surrounded by several strangers, thinking about what just happened on the planet below. The fear of being alone.

She almost gave in to the urge to throw off her helmet, but managed to resist. Instead, she opened the faceplate, letting her to take a breath. Her breathing was heavy, and her muscles were shaking. Even through her armor, she felt someone lay an armored hand on her shoulder. Calming down a bit, she looked up to see an armored figure standing in front of her. The soldier raised his faceplate, and she immediately recognized that it was Aidan. He leaned in closer, but not too close, so she could hear him, and so nobody else could.

"You alright?" he asked, concern edging his voice.

"I… I'm fine," she managed to reply, grateful that the armor hid the fact that she was shaking.

"Okay," he said. "We'll be near the drop-off point in a few minutes. Remember, your parachute pack is set to deploy at a certain altitude. In the unlikely event anything should go wrong, grab hold of and pull the emergency release. That will deploy your emergency parachute, allowing you to safely land."

"Alright," she replied.

"Captain," the pilot's voice boomed throughout the cramped interior of the shuttle. "We are about to hit atmospheric interface, hold on."

"Understood," he replied.

Suddenly, the shuttle craft started to shake violently, and she briefly worried about Aidan, who was still standing up, and not strapped in. Fortunately for him, he had a firm grasp on the bar above his head, as well as his magnetic boots locked onto the deck of the shuttle, allowed him to firmly remain in place. The shaking stopped, which signaled that they had entered into the planet's upper atmosphere. It wouldn't be long before they would reach their destination.

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Riding out the atmospheric entry was a lot harder for Aidan than it looked. As he was standing, he couldn't afford to even move, or possibly be thrown if he made a wrong move. That and the fact that if let go of the bar he'd been grasping, he'd been thrown to the other side of the shuttle. He was grateful for the magnetic boots that were part of the armor, so he could keep his feet planted firmly to the deck.

After the shuttle made it through the atmosphere, the pilot notified him that they nearing the drop-off point. He acknowledged, then made sure both teams were ready to go. After he had each person check their equipment, he had the person next to them check it again. This process allowed something that might have been missed to be caught by the second person. After the equipment check, the person sitting near the back of the shuttle stood up.

"Alright!" the person shouted. "Line up!"

According to the plan both Aidan and Kemp had had come up with, Kemp's Team, which was tagged 'Ghost' for the operation, would jump first. His team, which would be known as 'Spectre' for the operation would be last to jump. Aidan himself, would be about fourth in line in his team to jump. That put him roughly in the middle, what bothered him was that Meia would be second to last to jump. Just before they departed for the shuttle, he had asked Damon, who was last in line, to keep an eye on her, just in case something went wrong.

As soon as his name was called, Aidan stepped up to the open hatch at the back of the shuttle. As soon as he heard the word 'go' he vaulted out of the back of the shuttle and into the dark, cloudy sky.

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When her name was called, Meia didn't feel very good. There was no good reason to jump out of a perfectly good shuttlecraft. But still, she had to step up to the exit of the craft. She looked out into the dark sky, wondering briefly how she got into all of this. She knew she had to do this, primarily to recover her Dread, which she did not in enemy hands. As soon as the drop master said 'go', she took a deep breath and jumped.

As she jumped from the craft, she heard the wind howl against her armor as she rapidly descended. The altimeter indicated that she was falling at a pretty high speed. She spread her arms and legs into the 'spread eagle' position that was dictated for this kind of jump. A cold sweat broke out on her face, and seemed like an eternity before she was snapped upright when her first drogue parachute deployed.

The first parachute was more or less just to slow her down to a reasonable, but still quite fast speed, and to put her into an upright position. Several seconds later, a dull explosive sound signaled that her first parachute had been detached. What little breath she had was sucked out of her as she began to freefall again. It felt like a painfully long time before her second parachute deployed, this time to help her land at a slow and safe speed.

The ground was a ghastly mix of black, gray and green, due to her helmet's night vision. As she hit the ground, she flexed slightly to keep from injuring herself. She just sat there on one knee for a few long seconds, letting the surge of adrenaline leave her body. She got her breath back, and opened her visor to take a breath of fresh air. She almost forgot to detach her parachute, which was now limply flailing in the wind.

She vowed to herself that she would never do that again, and would kill anyone who would try and make her.

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After Aidan hit the ground, he detached his parachute, and flexed into a deft roll to cushion his landing. He waited until he noticed that everyone was on the ground, then activated the mic built into his helmet's chin by speaking into it.

"Ghost One," he said, calling Kemp by his callsign. "Status report."

"Everyone down and accounted for, Spectre," came Kemp's reply.

"Good," he acknowledged. "Spectres, report in."

"This is Spectre Four," Julia Marks said. "Ready."

"Spectre Three, good to go," Steiner said.

"Spectre Five, ready," Akida reported.

"Spectre Seven, ready to move out on your order," Ria DeMarco reported.

"Spectre Two, ready to move," Damon reported.

"Spectre Eight, ready," Deveroux reported.

"Spectre Nine, ready," Meia said.

For a second, Aidan realized that Hawkins didn't report in. "Spectre Six, report."

A few seconds later Hawkins voice crackled through the commlink. "Spectre Six, ready to rock, although I'd like a have a few words with the ass that packed my parachute."

"Any problems?" Aidan said, partially ignoring his last comment.

"Not anymore," Hawkins replied. "I'm good to go."

"Alright, all teams," Aidan said into the mic. "Retrieve your equipment, and let's get moving. I want to be well away from here before dawn."

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"Sir, we have a possible intermittent contact," the radar tech at the Test Facility Beta reported.

"What kind of contact?" Colonel Odom asked.

"It was an aerial contact, and it slowed down enough about twenty kilometers from this facility," the tech reported. "It looked like it might have been a small craft, sir."

Now this was news, as unlikely as it was. A slight possibility that enemy recon or spec-ops troops had landed anywhere near this hidden facility. "I want a few teams dispatched to check the area around this complex. Send the 'turncoat' and his men out to check around."

"Yes sir," one of the techs responded.

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Getting close to finished. Not much longer.