Author's Note

And here’s Chapter two!

Gota say this is probably my best chapter in my writing career, normally when I have a idea about how a chapter should go it doesn’t always work out but this Chapter is 90% what I had in mind when I was drafting this up!

Hope you enjoy and thanks for your patience.

Recon Run

Prism’s Flank: 2022 of the Imperial Calendar:EINS Destiny’s Light: Ten Days earlier

When Flintlight first saw space he remembered how vast it was, all those stars millions upon millions of them existing and many more approaching their time of end. Such first thoughts did not leave the First Ensign Stallion even as he took his post for the ship’s bridgewatch cycle, having a full unobscured view of those very stars didn’t help matters.

“Aye Ensign you on watch?” A rough old voice called out to Flint as he entered the bridge from the door behind the Captain’s chair opposite the main window.

Over by said windows in the centre where the ships helms is sat a tall and old Stallion, a Earth Pony to Flint’s surprise when he first met the pony as the Imperium nowadays tends to treat its none-unicorn subjects less but better then those who were not of ponykind. His coat was green though dull in colour in stark contrast to Flint’s own which was still bright minty green, he has no mane unlike Flint’s own blood red mane and his one good eye was gold compared to Flint’s baby blue ones.

His white and crisp Uniform and the fact that he is seated means that his cutie mark is hidden from view though the more important feature is that he has the insignia for an imperial navy Second Ensign on his gold lined shoulder-pads.

Moving to take his place beside his senior on the ship Flint replied “Indeed Second Ensign Mint Bronze and so is Lamplight”

Upon hearing that particular name Bronze snorted out “Humph! That zealous youngster?”

“I wouldn't call her ‘Zealous’ Second Ensign unless you want to be blind completely, more like…‘Dedicated’ would be the right word I guess” Flint said as he logged into the Light’s computer systems for the watch.

“Destiny’s Light this is Silvercrown confirmed watch change, see you in the next one.” A voice calls over the fleet channel.

Pressing a button on his console Flint replied “Rogor that Silvercrown over”

Bringing out his PDP from his side pocket Flint began to check off various systems as is the norm for an on-duty bridgewatch officer.

“Say did you hear the word from the mud-slogers?” Mint Bronze asked keeping the Heavy Frigate steady within the seven ship formation.

“About?” Flint responded focusing more on the readouts than anything.

“Mud-slogers” was the Imperial Navy’s nickname for both the Imperial Army and Imperial Guard, though many of them would say that it was a insult which from a certain point of view probably was.

“They say they captured the leader of the terrorist cell of this planet” Bronze simply said.

Flint almost misclicked at that bombshell.

“Are you serious Ensign?” The First Ensign asked.

“Indeed lad, even saw her with my own eyes being dragged to the Governmental Palace whilst I was down there” Bronze affirmed.

Despite his duty at the moment Flint couldn’t help but simply sit there dumbfounded, ever since the Imperium discovered the human homeworld eighty years ago they have been the source of one of the most troublesome terrorist cells in imperial space but it actually wasn’t until a human woman known as Twilight Sparkle appeared that the humans really started to hurt Imperial administration efforts on Prism’s Flank. Whilst there was no evidence to suggest that the cell on Prism’s Flank was connected with the wider terrorist network when Twilight Sparkle was in command the humans were more organised and equipped then they were before, although not to the extent of the Imperial Army but they were able to handle the Imperial Guard before the Imperium decided to send a full five regiments of the Imperial Army to quell the terrorist threat.

As far as Flint knows, capturing the terrorist leader was the most important and ONLY thing the IA has ever done since coming to this frontier planet.

“What did she look like?” Flint couldn’t help but ask.

Despite the fact it's well known that she was born some twenty years ago, there was not much else that could be known about Twilight Sparkle. Many claim that it was due to the Imperium lacking a dedicated intelligence service and instead relied on local means such as informats and scouts. Others claim it was due to the terrorists being very crafty and secretive though many more which included many high ranking officials doubted this second claim.

Bottom line was, nobody really had any idea who Twilight Sparkle was other than the given information from the events of the past fifthteen years.

Not even what she looked like.

“She looked very young, almost didn’t believe she was Twilight until she herself confirmed it. Had purple hair with a pink streak in it and…ah! Her eyes were sapphire.” Mint Bronze indulged him.

“How’d they do it?” Flint then asked.

“Ah couldn’t stomach more of their ‘Army is better’ nonsense to get an answer, not as if they would’ve told me if I did ask. Though I did learn that however it happened it was agreed that it was mostly luck that they’d captured her.” Bronze replied leaning back into his seat whilst still keeping his hands on the helm.

Flint himself went back to his screens monitoring readouts, checking system reports, all the minor things that the Captain of a flagship can’t be bothered to do 24/7 but his mind couldn't help but question…

“What would happen if they had time?” He muttered.

“What’s that?” Bronze asked, overhearing Flint’s question regardless.

“I-I was just wondering Bronze, ever since we integrated the humans eighty years ago they’ve been a thorn in our side both directly and indirectly. From battering the Imperial Guard during many of their raids to even stealing the Wind’s destiny and destroying the last garrison fleet, they’ve proven to both be aggressive and creative which begs the question. Could the humans have proven to be an independent power if they had more time to establish themselves?” Flint says but before Bronze could answer the third member of their Bridge Watch comes in.

“Even if they could have time to establish themselves in the stars, the fact that they lack magic means they can not overcome the difficulties that come with relying on technology.” Lamplight states as she sits down in her station next to Mint Bronze opposite from Flint.

Her coat is snow white compared to Flint’s and Bronze’s green coats which blended with the white Naval Uniform that all three wear.

“What makes you ever so sure Lampy?” Bronze asked.

“Because without magic they can’t overcome many of the problems that come with operating an interstellar empire, many of those problems simply can’t be solved with technology alone.” Lamplight answered, her tone carrying an ounce of annoyance due to Bronze using her most hated nickname.

Seeing the potential conflict that could erupt Flintlight decided to speak up.

“Alright enough you two! I would like to get through ONE bridge watch without having to call SHIPSEC!” He shouted trying to exert his authority.

Which works.

“Of course/All right lad” They say at the same time before carrying on with the watch.

“Celestia help me” Flintlight thought to himself.

Staff Sergeant Ben Grayson:PAS Washington: New Caledonia:Kherson: June 14th 2188

I aim the muzzle of my towards the bulkhead one final time before being satisfied with its link with my Battle armour.

My rifle coined the Joint Modular Battle Rifle or as the troops call it the “JUMBO” is a series of combat rifles first co-developed by the NAC and Euros and has since become the main firearm of humanity’s armies which include the Pacific Alliance, United European Federation and the South American Federation with the africans being the only ones not using the Jumbo.

The rifle itself more specifically the Mark 3 variant or J-3 for short is a coilgun based design using magnetic coils to propel a high density penetrator at high speeds, once the round hits a Lanky the explosive charge riding shotgun explodes inside the Bastard. Unlike the first model of JUMBOs the J-3 can hold 30 shots in a single magazine which is three times the amount of the J-1s.

Though the rifle itself isn’t the full beauty of a trooper’s combat kit, the second most vital piece is the Poly-ceramic-Hard Shelled Armour. Because of its Poly-ceramic material most 21st century chemical propelled ammunition can’t penetrate it leaving either explosives or high speed flechettes as the only way to kill the trooper though a good swing of a Lanky arm can easily swat a whole company of SI troopers in Battle Armour. The real magic of the armour comes from its internal computers and Neural Network integration, inside the T-shaped visor of my fin-topped helmet there’s a special optical that goes over the right or left eye depending on which one you use to shot, this optical displays icons over items marking allies and enemies as well as anything that a trooper might deem necessary to victory and through a integrated Data-link all that information is shared with the squad or even the company if the situation requires it.

In short if one trooper sees something we all see it.

Of course if you were to compare my GEN2 Battle Armour with my Grandfather’s GEN1 Hardshell he used to wear you’ll notice a few key differences.

One of the main ones is the ratio between performance and cost, see when comparing the GEN1 and GEN2s the first generation beats the second generation in raw performance but it also due that performance that prevented the military from equipping all its soldiers with the best gear possible, because despite the advances in technology unless you have a ridiculous industrial complex having millions of men and women in state of the art battle-rattle is just a dormant fire waiting to be lit.

GEN2 Battle Armour whilst lacking in performance is able to be produce 10 times as much as GEN1 and is easier to maintain allowing the Corps to supply the millions of troops with Battle Armour, of course the GEN2 Battle Armour has its version of the Hostile Environment Battle Armour or HEBA suit which was designed to fight on Lanky worlds but unlike the GEN1 version the current version of our HEBAs lack the invisible whsit thing did on account of the fact that the Lankies don’t need sight to survey their surroundings, other then that our HEBAs have what their GEN1 cousins had, lager built-in O2 tank with advance scrubbers to defend against the high CO2 of lanky worlds, improved cooling to help against the high humid temperature and retinal projections in place of a visor to save on defogging stuff for said visors, with the small bumps on the forehead being the sensors the suits have continued to earn the name “Bugsuits”.

“All set Grayson?” My friend Avery Fallon asks as I place my JUMBO on the magnetic clamp on my back.

We along with the other members of our STT team are in the Washington’s armoury next to the hangar.

Our mission is to recon the former NAC colony of Nova Tanis to recon potential enemy forces, their numbers, locations and other facts and relay them back to the fleet whilst the higher ups figure out what to do.

Yes POTENTIAL enemy forces not Lankies, a new species! When I first heard this I was tempted to ask the Major himself if it was true before quickly remembering who Major Graves is.

The reason why they’re sending recon is threefold.

One: We know nothing about this new potential enemy, how they live, how they fight or how they talk. For all we know these people could just be innocent bystanders who know nothing about the struggle our people have to endure but the opposite could also be true, the race could be simply allies that we didn’t know about until now. Whilst WE can’t talk to the Lankies that doesn’t mean other races can’t which is why despite having orders not to fire first we are going armed.

Two: If we are going to attack this new race we need to have intel on the current lay of the land planetside, where they live where they can’t live, where’s the biggest group of them and where’s the smallest, it's these questions that we hope to answer to minimise the casualties we’ll take on D-day if it ever comes to that.

Three: Because we didn’t bring any diplomats.

“Yeah AF just thinking about this situation.” I said to Fallon as we both made our way through the armoury towards our new team for now.

The whole STT will be deployed for this mission in teams of six, five Spec-Ops and one specialist. The SCARs will be getting a Combat Controller for each of their two teams due in part to the fact that they are “Recon Snipers” and won’t be in the thick of any action but they will be finding targets for their CCs to tag and mark.

The Force Recon Platoon will be getting the rest of the specialists to share amongst their six Fireteams, their modus operandi is “Reconnaissance in Force” which will inevitably involve shooting their way out if things go FUBAR though given who the SpaceBorn Infantry were before the Lankies showed up the shooting will probably happen regardless.

As for me and Fallon we are assigned to the SEAL team which due to being a Tier One Spec-ops unit the Major decided to assign two specialists, one Pararescueman and a Combat Controller. Our CO for this mission is one Captain Oscar, a decent soldier in terms of Character, informal to a point, cares for the men under him and is an excellent shot with his JUMBO.

“you guys all good? Ammunition? Medpacks? Food?” Oscar asks to which me and Fallon answer yes every time, it may seem repetitive but better double check then get checked yourself down the line.

With our answers satisfactory the SEAL Captain gathers us around in our small area of the armoury.

“Okay people we’ll be taking one of the Akumu’s for this mission, SCARs will get the other two and the fourth will act both as full air support and our mobile command centre whilst the Force Recon guys will be taking the older Hayabusas. We’ll be gone for a while so the dropships are being stacked as much as they can with whatever we might need, Ammo, meds, weapons you name it we got it. Anything to ask that you couldn’t in the briefing?” Oscar always likes to make sure his men know what they got at hand, again may seem repetitive but you don’t get to be one of the Alliance’s Tier-One Special Operations guys by being all gunho and that.

“No sir!” We all replied, the four other SEALs seemed to put more emphasis on the former word then me or Fallon. Which makes sense, unlike them I don’t mind the Captain’s habit doing things twice over, it means he doesn’t take any chances and from my experience that saves lives.

After that little conversation we head out of the armoury through the bowmost hatch and into the Hanger Bay, which looks like a mess.

Debris was mostly cleaned up but various bits and bobs can still be seen in out of the way areas, many of the lights that dotted the ceiling were out as well as many holes, those that were in the way of the hanger’s operations and safety were given priority for being patched up. Many of the booths that housed the Strike Craft and Dropships were empty aside from fourteen dropships that the Recon teams were using, the rest were either transferred to other ships due to the Washington’s battle damage or were damaged themselves and had to be hauled back for repairs.

“Hey Grayson!” A familiar voice called out to me as the rest of the team moved on ahead.

“Lieutenant Hawkins!” I saluted my CO as he returned the gesture.

“The boys are getting the birds fixed right now, we’ll be ready when it's time to fly” He says gesturing over his shoulder to the Dropship behind him, an Osprey.

Unlike most dropships the Osprey has two doors on its sides in addition to its rear ramp, allowing its occupants to quickly descend to the ground. The Osprey was designed for Medevac duties and this particular Osprey is one of four other Ospreys of the 34th Rescue Squadron which me and Hawkins are a part of, their job will be to act as mobile field hospitals in addition to Medevacs.

“Understood sir, does the Major know?” I asked but knowing Hawkins he probably just told me to get a weight off his chest.

“He does, take care of yourself, understand?” He said, patting me on my shoulder.

“Wilco” I replied before catching up with the rest of the team in front of our dropship.

The Type-35 Akumu is the latest in a line of Stealth Dropships by Fujo Digital Industries, a Japanese company in the Pacific Alliance. Like most Dropships its main exit/enter way is a rearward ramp compared to the Osprey, which as I said before has two additional side doors.

“You ready brother?” Avery asks from the top of the ramp just inside the dropship’s interior.

“Better than never” I replied as I boarded the Dropship whose call sign was Shadow 2.

As we made our way through the dropship to our seats I noticed a very big something in the centre of the dropship amongst the various supply crates.

“An AMP suit?” I asked the SEAL working on the EXO.

The Amplified Mobility Platform or AMP suit is a second generation EXO replacing the PACs in 2163, it is four metres tall and 1.83 metres wide. Unlike the PACs the AMPs have much more versatility due to their hand-like manipulators allowing them hold not just weapons but also cargo making them combat rated forklifts which comes in real handy when you need to off load stuff fast, their weapon of choice is what many call “Daddy JUMBO” the look and design is different but the idea and purpose is the same, firing a high speed high density projectile with a explosive charge behind it which will allow it to tackle Lankies making it a good support platform. Back in the days when my Grandfather was in the NACDC the interstellar infrastructure wasn’t steady enough to haul armoured vehicles like the Maul APC to other worlds and deploy them fast enough via dropship, EXOs however provided our soldiers with the fire support platform needed to hold the Lankies.

Nowadays with ships capable of hauling armoured vehicles to other planets in service some people believe the time of EXOs was over but reality was the EXOs were small and light enough to be fitted on a dropship much better then a APC or MBT would ever be and with their capacity to perform non-combat jobs like rearming fighters or dropships to carrying loads of cargo the importance of EXOs was increased not decreased as some feared.

“Sure is Sergeant, I’m EXO-trained and the major wanted to use as much as our skills as possible during this deployment due to the many unknowns” The SEAL replied before hopping into the open see through cockpit, inside was a set of metal that was in the shape of a human with two wrist-locks were the wrists would be, this was the motion capture harness that allows AMP drivers to control the suit like they would with their own body.

After getting strapped in and booting up the suit the SEAL brought the AMP’s arms up to his head, then he started doing jabs and hooks as if he were in a boxing match to ensure his unit is working.

“Badass” Avery says amazed as the suit does a one-two-one hit combo in perfect sync with the SEALs movements, the cockpit is fairly open with the occupant protected by 3cm of hardened polymer glass that would be used on bases, dropships and other stuff that required windows.

“You fucking said it brother” I say as the SEAL does one last swing before deactivating the suit and then climbing out of it.

“Strap in boys!” Captain Oscar shouted as he sat in the command chair next to the doorway to the cockpit.

Me and Avery soon find our seats and strapped in as ordered before I hear Major Graves over the company channel.

“Ranger actual to all units, Operation Phantom Plan begins in 40 top off, strap in and get ready to rise hell if things go FUBAR down there Ohra?”

“OHRA!” We all shout our acknowledgement back over the comms.

“Shadow Leader to all units check in!” The flight leader of the Akumus said and one by one the other “Shadows” responded in kind.

“Shadow 2 systems burning bright”

“Shadow 3 green”

“Shadow 4 ready”

“Alright people, prepare to drop!” And with that the Machines of the Washington whine and crack as our Dropship is moved into position.

As with Starships of the early 22nd century the way craft are launched from ships is via a airlock system, the dropship is moved into the airlock which in the case of Battle-Carriers or Assault-Carriers is located at the bottom of the ship and after the airlock is depressurised the clamps holding the dropship in place release allowing the craft to fall until it comes outside both the hull of the ship and its gravity field.

There was talk about equipping ships with force-fields to make launching and recovering craft easier but the lack of redundancy and the reliance on a energy field to pressurise a interior space made them not suited to military warship design, to the dismay of my grandfather if you can believe it.

“Express elevator to hell! GOING DOWN!” Was all our pilot said before I suddenly felt myself being pulled upwards into my harness as our Dropship was released from its clamps.

“WAAA-HOOOO!” I couldn’t help but yell out, fortunately my helmet comms were off so the rest of the team couldn’t hear it but knowing Avery he probably knows what I’m doing.

Soon we were away from the Washington and I felt weightless due to the lack of a gravity field which was soon rectified by the Dropship activating its own G-field.

“We are away” Our pilot says over the comms.

Switching on my suits data-link or TAC-LINK as my Grandfather called it I brought up one of the dropship’s external cameras, the feed pops on my HUD and shows the PAS Washington slowly moving away as our dropship increases the distance.

As we do I could make out the other Akumus and Hayabusas launching from the ventral side of the Carrier.

“Get settled in people!” Oscar says after a while, during that time the squadron of dropships have begun their journey to Nova Tanis.

Staff Sergeant Ben Grayson: Type-35 Akumu Stealth Dropship: New Caledonia system: Approaching Nova Tanis: June 17th 2188: Three Days later.

“Hey! Gray wake up brother!” The voice of my best friend since boot brings me out of my sleep, my eyes open to see two of the SEALs working on the AMP that stands in the centre of the hold.

I turn to my left towards the cockpit to see Avery and Oscar on the command chair working on the screen.

“Yeah..Yeah! I’m up I’m up! What is it?” I say groggily as I try to get the sleep out of my tired system.

“We’re there” Oscar says, sitting in the chair and tapping away at the screen.

“Looks like the number of ships is the same,” Avery said, noting the seven lights in orbit of the former NAC colony world.

“That good or bad?” I asked whilst getting myself cleaned as best as I could in full Battle-rattle.

“If we end up having to fight them then I say that’s a good thing but god forbid it comes to that” Oscar answers.

Our fleet strength includes two Battlegroups Zata and Sera and a Assault-Carrier Task Force, the two Battlegroups add up to 28 ships whilst the Task Force adds another five. So if a fight did break out it would be 7 starships versus 33 Pacific Alliance Warships, which would be a very uneven fight for the defenders.

“This is Ranger Actual to all units, we are approaching Nova Tanis. Break formation and head to your entry points, once planetside reestablish comms and proceed with phase 2 understood?” Major Graves' voice boomed over the company channel by the time I got my helmet back on feeling refreshed and ready to rock.

“Yes Sir!” Came the collective reply.

The formation of Dropships were in a line formation with the Akumus in front, Ospreys in the back and the Hayabusas in the middle. Once Major Graves’s order went out however the line began to disperse as each dropship adjusted their course to enter the planet’s atmosphere from various different approaches.

The Akumus with their stealth Abilities will be entering the planet in places near the garrison fleet whilst the rest will enter the planet beyond the horizon from the fleet.

Staff Sergeant Ben Grayson: Type-35 Akumu Stealth Dropship: New Caledonia system: Approaching Nova Tanis: June 17th 2188: 2 hours later

By the time I get the feed from one of the dropship’s external cameras up on my HUD I could see Nova Tanis in half of the shot, the rest is taken up by the void beyond and a large warship in the middle of six others.

“Do they have windows?” Fallon said, sitting next to me as our dropship made its descent.

Panning the camera to focus on the larger of the ships I could see there were a lot of lights, far more than just positioning lights.

“Yeah they do,” I said in mild surprise and confusion.

Since the start of the first Interstellar War in the late 21st century between the SRA and NAC, Warships have always been built without windows relaying on external cameras to see out into the black void and their bridges or CICs were located in the centre of their hulls for maximum protection.

However these people judging by their lights and silhouette appear to not have learned about the finer dangers of space yet.

“On the bright side…” Fallon started as I switched off the link to the outside allowing me to see the inside of the dropship again, I then turned to my left where Fallon is sitting next to me closer to the cockpit.

“The fact that they have lights means they have eyes, which means we may not be at so much a disadvantage as with the Lankies” My best friend Avery Fallon concluded.

“Hold on BOYS!” Shadow Two calls over the comms as all around us the Akumu shakes and rattles and the thermometer on my HUH spikes in temperature slightly.

“Soon we’ll be the first humans back on this planet in eight decades!” Captain Oscar says as we descend into Tanis’s atmosphere.

Prism’s Flank: 2022 of the Imperial Calendar:EINS Destiny’s Light

“How was planetside sir?” Flintlight asked his Captain as he entered the bridge for today's bridge watch.

The Captain in question was a big stallion, about three heads taller then he and five heads taller than the average human. His coat was white as snow and his mane black as space, his eyes were blood red and he wore the standard imperial Navy uniform with Flag Captain markings.

“Same as last Ensign though the discussion about the Terrorist leader was a shock.” Flag Captain Iron Raid said as he took his place on the Captain’s chair in the centre of the room.

The Commander of Prism’s Flank’s Garrison Fleet was down on the planet for a meeting with the planetary governor and representatives of the Imperial Guard and Imperial Army.

“So it’s true then?” Flintlight asks as he takes his place back next to Mint Bronze.

“About what?” The Captain asked though if Flint didn’t know any better he could swear that Bronze was manoeuvring the ship a bit too sharply all of a sudden.

“About the Mud-sloggers capturing Twilight Sparkle” Flint clarified.

“Ah” was all Iron Raid said before adding “That is meant to be classified First Ensign understood?”

“Understood sir….” Flintlight said before continuing his duties.

Though as he did so he could’ve sworn he’d seen something outside in the area of the planet below.

“Probably just me” He thought and went back to work.

Staff Sergeant Ben Grayson: Type-35 Akumu Stealth Dropship: New Caledonia system: Nova Tanis Atmosphere: June 17th 2188

“Alright we’re through! Get your asses ready whilst I find us a spot to land” Shadow Two”s voice booms over the Squad Channel as our Akumu settles itself in the Atmosphere of Nova Tanis.

“You heard him boys” Captain Oscar says as he gets out of his seat.

We then all got out of our seats and got ready to disembark very soon.

“Captain” I hear Avery say as I check the link between my suit and my JUMBO rifle.

“Yes sergeant?”

“Do we have any FLY drones?” My friend asks.

“About a full box of them, once we touch down we’ll set up the network and get a lay of the land” Captain Oscar says as I finish my inspection of my gear.

The Firefly drones or just FLY drones are small handheld sized drones used by recon troops from all Spec-ops tiers to help map out the terrain of the Area of Operations, whilst the drones themselves were new additions the idea went as far back as the second battle of Mars during the Siege of Sol. One of the SEAL guys even has a NAT rack which stands for Naviganional Automated Tracking Drones, unlike the FLYs NATs were designed to be deployed from a trooper Combat-Hardshell this allowed troopers to either scout areas that FLYs can't reach or provide tactical support in the form of showing us were the enemies are.

Though I never understood why we needed that second option until now.

“Get strapped in again guys found us a LZ” Our pilot says and we quickly find our seats again before our Dropship does a sudden dive before stalling and then landing gently.

“Out and about gogogo!” Oscar says as we filled out of the Dropship’s ramp whilst the EXO SEAL gets his AMP unclamped and moving.

As the remaining six of us got out of Shadow Two we formed into a semi-circle facing forward away from the dropship which on my HUD says east at the top where the compass is.

A few moments later the AMP came striding out and took up a defensive stance a few feet behind our screen ready to fire its “Daddy JUMBO” onto anyone dumb enough to get in its way.

Once the AMP joined us Captain Oscar and another SEAL raced back into the Dropship returning a few moments later with a small crate carried between them.

“My cue” Avery says as he moves over to the crate from our small defensive envelopment.

Opening the crate Avery pulls out one of the sixty FLY drones stored within, as he gets the drone fleet ready I took the moment to get a good look around whilst I have the chance.

The second I stepped off that Akumu I almost thought I was on the wrong planet as Nova Tanis as discussed in the briefing was a 20 year old NAC colony by the time the lankies came, which meant that aside from having a converted atmosphere the planet was mostly a world of rocks and stone and soil with a small town of 700 people with a small Marine Platoon.

The Nova Tanis I’m looking at now is nothing like that.

For one there’s trees, lots of them, our pilot found us a LZ in a clearing deep within a forest somewhere on the planet under the nose of that garrison fleet we passed and secondly there’s animals or at least some insects from what my suit’s microphones can pick up. During the age where spacecraft cargo was sparse, transporting livestock to other worlds was viewed as too costly despite the help they would bring in terraforming the planet, however in just 8 decades since we were gone some other alien race has made life thrive on this once barren rock.

“All systems are go Captain” Avery said as I noticed the swarm of FLY drones circling our landing zone using the Akumu’s own power source as fuel for batteries via wireless transfer. Since he’s trained in neural networking Avery is the obvious choice to take control of a fleet of around sixty drones.

“Good, just got in touch with the others Operation Knowzone will continue to phase two” Captain Oscar says as he is most likely reviewing the locations of the rest of the STT via his TAC-LINK though I couldn’t for obvious reasons.

I watch as Avery directs 40 out of the 60 drones towards four different directions North, South, East and West. Ten per direction and spreading out as they gain distance from us, the remaining 20 acting as a reserve to fill in the gaps of our growing network or to scout locations of particular interest.

“And we are away!” Avery celebrates as I watch the drones fly off into different directions.

“Good work Staff Sergeant, okay people last chance to top off before Shadow two here leaves before any of the locals can come and ask questions” Captain Oscar advises.

We took his advice and rechecked our gear and ammo whilst the drones did their work.

After two minutes of gathering extra ammo and gear as needed our pilot’s voice chims over the comms again

“Well boys time I head off stay sane out there!”

With that the Akumu rises into the evening blue sky with its rear ramp raised before blasting off into the sky.

“Hey Captain, come and look at this,” Avery said, holding out his data-port for the Captain to see.

“A city?” Oscar asks as the rest of us gather around the two.

“Yeah 60 klicks to our north-east from what drone 23 sees but check this” My old boot camp buddy says before tapping on his port, which must transfer what caught his attention to the Captain’s HUD.

“A camp site?” he asks.

“Hard to tell given the terrain but it's worth investigating.” Avery concludes.

Standing up straight whilst Avery turns the screen back to himself the Captain then says “Okay Fallon have the reserve drones fly overwatch whilst the rest continue their mission, Mike take point, Robert behind him, Jonathan and the specs behind Obama and Obama behind me. Column formation understood?”

“Yes sir!” We all replied and then we moved out into the forest.

“Man I wouldn’t want to fight a Lanky in this dense shit” Mike says as we stroll through the forest at a steady pace.

“Yeah same” Robert says and I couldn’t help but agree.

The amount of vegetation and cover within this forest would make fighting Lankies more of a nightmare then they already are, mostly due to the lack of visibility that comes with forests.

“Quiet!” Avery says as we halt for a moment.

“What is it Sargeant?” Captain Oscar asks.

“Movement drones overhead count 30 plus tangos in two groups to our flanks and a few more in a clearing up ahead.” Avery replies before sending an update to our TAC-LINKs which update with new icons on our maps representing the newcomers.

“Keep moving but act natural, as if we didn’t see anything.” Oscar orders and we continue our march.

Soon enough we enter the clearing Avery pointed out.

On the TAC-LINK the mass of Tangos separates a bit and forms a circle around the clearing staying in cover as best as they could.

“What’s the ROE Cap?” Obama asks as he swivels the AMPs chassis from one side to the other keeping his human eyes peeled.

“No shooting back unless one of us is wounded, we don’t know if they have weapons that can penetrate Battle Armour and odds are these guys are the new owners so best we don’t make a bad first impression” Oscar replies as we form a circle of our own around the AMP suit.

As per the Captain’s orders, we didn't act like there was something wrong so as not to alert our encriclers but we made sure to keep our fingers close to our triggers despite the Captain’s ROE.

Hey given that we’ve been fighting aliens that were the size of building some caution is warranted.

“FLASHBANG!” Robert shouts as a couple of cylinders fly out of the fouleage.

Immediately after they rolled to a stop they let out a harsh and violent BANG! Which is designed to both deaf and blind the enemy making them easy prey to the attacker.

Unfortunately for OUR attackers modern Battle Armour has software that is designed to counteract flashbangs by darkening our visors and cutting our audio receivers whilst still keeping our TAC-LINKs open for squad communication and retaliation.

As soon as the bangers went off we immediately sprayed the forest with our JUMBOs but arcing our shots so we don’t hit any of the natives, just we could get the message that we are WAY out of their league.

“NOW listen! We didn’t come all this way for a fight despite what this looks like!” Captain Oscar shouts once we were sure the natives weren’t gonna try anything again.

“And what pray tell are you here for alien and why should we believe you?” A woman's voice said, surprisingly in perfect English.

Turning our gaze to a rock ledge across from where we entered the clearing we saw… humans!? Three to be precise two guys in their early teens and a woman in her late teens, the two boys have weapons that look like rifles but something tells me that they aren’t your regular boom sticks.

“The fuck?” I heard Avery say and I couldn’t help but emulate the statement.

Just then the other members of our welcoming committee started coming out of their cover weapons raised.

“How the fuck are there humans here!?” Obama asked over the comms.

“I…don’t know” Oscar mutters and I couldn’t blame him.

When a Lanky Seed ship comes in orbit above a undefended colony that colony is pretty much doomed, the Lankies deploy a nerve gas that kills anything that doesn’t breathe their atmosphere and since Nova Tanis was taken back in 2108 their Marine garrison wouldn’t have been equipped with Bug Suits or any Anti-Lanky gear. Even if the new owners were able to beat the Lankies off world there was no way any of the colony would’ve survived long enough for that to happen.

And yet here were 33 young teenage humans staring down six Pacific Alliance troopers in full Battle-Rattle and one AMP driver with nothing but the clothes on their backs and weapons in their hands.

“Well?” The Woman asks seemingly noticing our shock and from the look on her face she intends to use that.

“W-We Because-” The Captain tries to explain but well, even Spec-Ops can be surprised every now and then.

“STAND DOWN ALL OF YOU!!” A loud but old voice rang out across the clearing.

Turning towards the source I couldn’t help but do a double take.

Standing there with a cane in his right hand, a young girl holding his left was an old man with grey and white hair and wearing underneath a thick overcoat was an old North American Commonwealth Armed Forces Uniform.

“Elder Maxson!?” The woman atop the rock shouted before she and everyone of her party ran towards “Elder Maxson”

Smiling at the woman Maxson said “Its alright Sarah these are friends and our salvation”

The woman looked at Maxson for a second before looking at us and then back to him before saying “Elder with respect the last time Aliens said they would help us-”

“Who said they were aliens?!” Elder Maxson interjected before looking at us and passed the rest of the teenage soldiers who were locking rifles with our Battle Rattle.

“You can lose those now, I can guarantee the air here is fine! Better than it was on Earth in any case” Maxson suggested and we did as requested.

Surprisingly I was the first one to get my helmet off and instantly there were gasps and shocks.

“T-They’re!”

“Humans!?”

“The Legends were true after all!”

Those were just some of the comments that were going around the group as we uncapped our headgear.

By the time the Captain undid his helmet Elder Maxson walked up to him noticing the rank insignia on his breastplate, the woman named “Sarah” was walking close with him but she too had a look of shock and even awe.

Noticing the Elder’s outstretched left hand Oscar shook it with his right saying “Captain Timmy Oscar, Pacific Alliance Oceania Defence Corps Joint Special Operations Command SEAL team Five”

Smiling with a bit of tear to his eyes Maxson replied “Private Jack Maxson, North American Commonwealth Marine Corps 35th Regiment, 4th Battalion, 3rd Company, 2nd Platoon”