Max orders the infantry to load first, as they will be the last ones out, and all 100 members of Bravo Company file into the Lander. They’re now nine years into their ten year long term of service, and combat drops are nothing new to them.

The idea that the Crusader Class Mecha escorting them will be their shield during the critical moments of the landing is a new one, though. Few Commanders have given them that much consideration, especially at the risk of a high value asset, so they’re not going to let down the expectations of these new pilots.

Captain Max has faith in them to take the right flank and is willing to draw fire himself to ensure that they can reach the suspected vehicle storage warehouse. To the much-abused infantry, that’s well worth their very best effort.

The lander is loaded and ready with two hours to spare. The infantry starts getting comfortable, and Max is reminded of the day his System activated during the obstacle course at the academy. Just like Nico did, they stretch out and fall asleep right where they are, expecting the alarm before transitioning to waking them up in time to secure their belongings and get ready to launch.

Max is about to share the amusing memory with her, so he checks her thoughts to see what she’s currently doing, only to find that she is already asleep on the small fold-down cot inside her cockpit.

Looking at the rack stored above his head, Max realizes he would have to stand and lean up against the far wall to deploy it so he could nap, but Nico is so short that she could leave it locked in the Deployed position above her head._.

It’s worth the hassle, though, so Max sets the alarm on his smartwatch for ten minutes before they’re scheduled to drop out of high-speed travel. That should give him enough time to get everything stored and ready before doing sensor scans, searching for any changes in their landing zone, and updating their plans if necessary.

It is not the alarm he set but the fifteen minutes to drop time ship-wide alert that wakes Max up. All the soldiers are getting into position, the light mecha pilots are getting strapped into their mecha, and disciplined readiness replaces the sleepy silence in the lander.

[Final equipment ready check. We already know it will be ugly when we land, and no changes in enemy deployment from the last update are visible in our landing zone.] Max informs the unit as they double check their kit and weapons.

Max does the same himself, finding that he has 30 days of rations and water, all systems check out, and ammunition storage is at 100 percent. Very few additional munitions are sent with missions like theirs to avoid arming the enemy, so Max will have to go easy with the Gatling Battery unless they find a lot of infantry and light vehicles.

The Gatling Battery is an amazing weapon, but it does chew through ammunition at a rather spectacular rate.

At the five-minute mark, the final locks are set on the lander in preparation to launch. From this point on, success is the only option; there is no way to back out.

With one minute to go, they are moved to the bay doors, then the stomach turning lurch of a rapid shift out of faster-than-light travel is followed almost immediately by the thrusters on their lander firing.

[So much for 30 seconds after translation] Nico jokes over the intercom as the friction of atmospheric entry begins to make their lander creak.

With that short of a delay between launch and atmospheric entry, the Abraham Kepler must have dropped them from a very shallow orbit. That’s good news for them, as it doesn’t give time for orbital defenses to attack and very little time for ground based defenses to scramble, even though they were already expecting imminent retaliation by the military.

[Three minutes to landing] The ship intercom announces in its familiar mechanical voice.

Max double-checks the satellite feed, seeing that more infantry has surfaced in their zone, and several tanks have been uncovered to the east, where the doors of the lander will open.

[Let Tarith’s Wrath clear the door. I expect high explosive artillery fire from the moment we land, and I don’t want anyone getting caught in the blast radius.] Max reminds the infantry, who respond with their usual grunting affirmation.

[Rah]

With 30 seconds to descend, anti-aircraft fire becomes audible in their vicinity, and the shaking increases.

[Damage Exceeds Threshold. Automated Navigation Offline] comes the automated announcement after a cluster of nearby explosions tore tiny holes in the landers hull.

[I’ve got this. Adjusting Landing zone for Close Combat Insertion. Stand clear of the doors.] Nico calls out, and the lander regains some stability.

[Manual Override Entered. Touchdown in 3, 2]

Just as the one is announced, the sound of crushing bricks and a sudden lurch jar the occupants of the lander, which digs in and screeches to a halt.

Before it has stopped moving, the doors are blown off their hinges, and Nico drops her battle shield, grabbing the much larger structure of a door instead and charging straight forward. She rotates the wrist of her Mecha, and the door turns sideways, blocking the entire lower half of the entrance to the lander from the hail of incoming bullets and tank shells but allowing Max to fire over the top.

All thought of saving ammunition is temporarily suspended. There are over a hundred previously hidden gun emplacements barricaded with sandbags in front of and beside him. Nico dropped the lander almost to the tanks at the far eastern side of their landing zone after it bounced off the roof of a building on approach.

The light mecha run left, making for the shelter of the buildings and lighting up the defenders with their Ion rifles and grenade launchers. Bravo Company will manage to head for the facilities on the right, mostly under cover of rubble and debris from their landing, so Max focuses on the gun emplacements while Nico Charges the Tanks.

Battle Cannon rounds make short work of scattering the sandbag defenses, and .75 caliber rounds from the Gatling Battery tear through both the bags and the soldiers behind them with equal efficiency.

Tarith’s Wrath is a faster runner than Max expected, and the Lander door has been discarded as it reached the tanks. Those furthest from her feel the Wrath of the Ion Destroyer while the multiple Rail Guns are punching holes in the tanks closest to the Crusader.

Max now has a targeting lock on all of the remaining gun emplacements, as well as several Infantry clusters, and his System Skill says he’s ready to fire. The shoulder-mounted missile launchers can independently target twenty-five points each, and Max’s entire display is full of targeting boxes when he lets loose.

Half a second later, bright fire fills the air as the missiles find their marks, and the lightest Armored assets of the Defense force are obliterated.