My hammer is my everything. It is my spear and my strength. It is everything about me mounted on the end of a rocket propelled metal plate. I prepare the fuel canisters and place them into by bag. There are about 20 of them, just in case I do a lot of swinging. Clara loads her rifle and straps it to her back, then turns to me as I finish up.
"Is that thing even heavy?" she asks.
"I don't think it is."
"Right," she says, squinting her eyes at me.
"What?"
Clara takes out a piece of paper and reads it. More than like its the written gameplan for our mission.
"Anyways, so, it looks like we are paired up today."
"Really? I can't wait."
"You can't wait?"
"What? Can't I just be excited?"
"I...uh."
An announcement plays on the intercom. Everyone in the armory looks up at the same time.
"Attention crew, we will be exiting jump space shortly. Please make your way to the nearest jump station!"
"Time to go!" Clara yells, bolting for the door.
I follow her out and we head down the halls toward the hanger. The ship starts to shake again, increasing with intensity with each second. We start losing balance, falling into walls and nearly hitting the floor and each other as the ship grows more violent. We arrive at the hanger where a shuttle is waiting for us. We barely make it in and strap to our seats. Dern and Oniv are already here. Oniv is visibly disappointed at me, but he brushes it aside to prepare for launch. The ship violently exits jump space, sending everyone's weight forward in a singular motion, crashing into each other shoulders.
The ship has made it to our destination, but our trip is not done yet. The bay doors open beneath us, and the platform starts to dip down until we are no longer parallel to the ship but instead facing the planet below. I can feel the gravity of the planet pulling against me as all my weight shifts to my side again. The pilot starts a count down. Three, two, one, then we drop. The shuttle doesn't even use its thrusters, instead relying on the gravity of the planet to pull us down. We gain speed very quickly. The shuttle opens its nose cone in the front, acting as a sort of heat shield as we plow through the atmosphere. After a solid three minutes of falling, the ships engines activate, and the wings deploy. They immediately pick up the air pressure and the sudden force presses on the ship, sending us back up and allowing us to fly to the surface like a plane.
We pass through the cloud layer, and I finally get a view of the surface. It's an abandoned city. Nature has overtaken it, and the building were rotting from the inside out. Some of the skyscrapers had shattered glass, the others had huge chunks taken out of them. There was a battle here, long ago. The shuttle flies to and hovers over a tall building. It's not the tallest in the city, but it's not too short either, about mid-sized, you could say.
A man exits through the front door, and we all stand to our feet at the same time. He was a military man. Drill sergeant, probably, but he clearly has found his home here on this ship. He starts yelling orders as everyone complies, even boss.
"Ok everyone, you know the drill. Belts on! Straps on!"
"Yes sir!" Everyone yells.
I reach above me and grab a metal clip before dragging it down. It is attached to a rope on a pulley system on the top of the ship.
"You do not jump until the light is green, understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Be back on your straps when evac is called or you will be left behind. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
"When our enemies see us coming, make sure to send them a message for me. Know that the brotherhood was here and are damn sure they will remember that name, am I right people?"
"Yes sir!"
"Hm-huh. Damn right I am."
He pulls a level about and holds on tight. The doors on the side open and a rush of air forces its way into the ship from the engines next to us.
"Go, people!" He yells. "Go! Go!"
Clara stands next to me and jumps first. I look down to gauge the distance. While the distance to the ground is quite high, we are trying to land on the roof of the building, which is much closer. I shake my head, count to three, then jump. The pulley system on the ship stays loose for a moment, allowing me so to gain as much speed as possible, minimizing time in the air. The pulleys engage, and I am slowly lowered to the surface.
As we land on the roof, we begin phase two. The four teams of two head to each side of the building. The goal is we all repel to the same floor and breach it all at the same time. This build is one of the few still with its windows intact. Clara and I are on one side, Dern and Oniv are on another. At the count of three, we all walk down the sides of the building, using the pulleys still attached to the ship to keep us from falling. We arrive at the 80th floor, where Clara places the charges. The other three teams do the same.
"Ok everyone, breach in three, two, one."
We detonate the explosives, shattering the glass into the direction of the inside, so we are not hit by the debris. I repel in first and clear the room aiming with my rifle. Regardless of my hammer, I still need a range weapon too. Clara enters behind and we gauge the space. The build was defiantly abandoned. It was an office space. Chairs and desks were still here. There was a stack of papers still intact on a desk in the back. A board with employee of the month is also displayed here.
Clara activates her light and heads to the door in the back of the room. I follow behind her.
"You ready?" she says.
"Right behind you sister."
"Let's go."