With a final, deafening boom, the deflectors failed. The rounds punched through, tearing into the enemy dropship's hull.
It exploded in a brilliant fireball, pieces of molten metal and burning debris scattering across the landscape. The Slug mercs didn't even get a chance to lift off.
"Nice shooting, Vamp!"
Julian cheered, his mass accelarator sniper rifle ready as he surveyed the damage through our helmets connected HUD views.
"Prep yourselves for ground combat"
I snapped, refocusing on the radar.
"We're landing In a few seconds."
I banked the dropship hard to the left, lining up for a strike run on the ground troops below. The enemy mercenaries scattered as I strafed them, autocannons tearing up the ground and kicking up clouds of red-hot dirt and dust.
Two of them went down instantly In a shower of blood, bio matter and limbs, caught in the open by the onslaught.
The dropships cockpits glass flashed with holographic warning lights, the cockpit filling with the shrill beep of incoming missile lock alerts.
"S*it, hang tight! We've got a lock on!"
I roared, yanking the control stick to the side as I deployed countermeasures. Flares burst out from the dropship, bright points of light in the hazy atmosphere, trying to confuse the enemy missile's tracking systems.
The missiles fired from Infantry based ground to air missile launchers streaked towards us, twisting through the air as it homed in on our dropship.
I pushed the dropship into an emergency combat dive, the altitude dropping rapidly as the missile closed the distance.
"Brace for impact!"
I shouted, gritting my teeth as the dropship plummeted towards the ground feeling the g's playing pinpong with my organs.
The missiles veered at the last moment, thrown off course by the countermeasures, but they exploded close enough to send a shockwave that rattled the dropship like a tin can.
The controls bucked violently in my hands, alarms blaring as the craft lost stability.
"Hold on, hold on!"
I barked, fighting to keep us steady, controlling the joystick to make the dropships two wing chemical thrusters change from a horizontal position to a vertical one.
"F*ck"
I cursed seeing that we would still crash even though the thrusters were spewing out flames at 100 percent capacity, we simply had too much built up Inertia.
The ground rushed up to meet us as I managed to angle the dropship for an emergency landing.
We hit the ground hard, the molten surface unforgiving as we skidded across the rocky terrain, the chemical thrusters still putting up a fight.
The dropship scraped and bounced, sparks flying as the hull ground against the red-hot rock.
"F*ck!"
Darius shouted, gripping his seat straps as the dropship lurched sideways.
"F*cking hell!"
Robert cursed, his RPG pack clattering against the seat as we slid across the landscape.
"For the love of g*ds keep it steady, Vamp!"
Julian urged, clutching his sniper rifle with the muzzle pointed to the ground to his chest.
The dropship finally ground to a halt, the cabin filled with the acrid smell of scorched metal and the hiss of cooling systems straining under the stress.
The impact had knocked us around, bruises and sore muscles flaring up as we gathered ourselves.
"Everyone in one piece?"
I asked, shaking off the disorientation.
"Just barely,"
Paul groaned, rubbing his shoulder.
"I'm gonna feel that in the morning."
Airid checked his gear, scanning everyone's vitals on his HUD.
"No major injuries. We're good to go, Vamp."
"Alright, f*ck the landing, we're still on mission,"
I said, unbuckling my harness and grabbing my rifle.
"We need to get out from this junk ASAP"
I hit the door release, the back ramp lowering with a hiss as the heat from outside blasted into the cabin.
The molten landscape stretched out before us, a hellish expanse of fire and rock. The Slug mercs had regrouped, taking cover behind a ridge up ahead.
"On me..."
I growled, ready to lead the way down the ramp only for the sound of small caliber rounds to start puckering our dropship, as they did I took a step back and leaned against the dropships wall.
"... f*ck, move It double time no one dies on this f*cking rock but them."
I barked ready to risk It because the more time we spent In the dropship the likely hood of the slugs firing an RPG at our dropship to finish the deal Increased, we had no time to waist.
Just as I took a step forward 20 mm armor piercing high explosive shells punched right through and detonated sending me and everyone else to the dropships floor.
The smell of burning metal and searing heat engulfed us as we struggled to get our bearings.
"Status report?"
I roared as I fought off the light concussion, my ears ringing while the dropships wall continued to get punched through.
"Fine here!"
Darius roared as he tried to stand up only for me to roar back.
"Keep youre heads low you f*cks! And weeb spray some anti bleeding gel on that shrapnel In fritzs shoulder!"
I roared as I took out a smoke grenade from my left upper arms armor plates harness pouch and after yanking out the pin threw it outside the dropship.
"Gel... gel?"
"Focus!"
Airid, momentarily in shock from the onslaught, snapped back to reality once I slapped the back of his helmet.
Shaking off the daze, he quickly pulled out a canister of anti-bleeding gel from his med kit, spraying it around the shrapnel lodged in Darius's shoulder.
The foam hissed and solidified rapidly, stemming the blood flow. He followed up with a quick shot of painkillers, injecting it into the special port on Darius's space uniform's neck.
"Good to go,"
Darius grunted, flexing his shoulder slightly as the pain finally set In.
"Hurts like a b*tch, but I'm fine."
Small-caliber fire and 20 mm rounds continued to rake the dropship, the slugs focusing on the expanding smoke outside.
I grabbed another smoke grenade from my arms pouch, yanked the pin, and lobbed it through the breach.
The grenade hit the ground with a thud, belching thick clouds of smoke that billowed out and shrouded the area in a dense gray fog, as I did the slugs fully focused fire on the smoke thinking we were trying to run out just like I wanted them to.
"Fritz put C4 on the other wall!"
I ordered Darius, who immediately set to work, planting the explosive on the opposite side of the dropship.
"Take cover!"
I barked, and we all scrambled to shield ourselves from the imminent blast.
"Fritz punch It'
Hearing this Darius did just that, he pressed the detonator In his hand as he did the C4 detonated with a sharp crack, blasting a new exit through the hull. The shockwave left us dazed, but I was already up, leading my battle brothers through the fresh breach.
We ran out of the dropship, leaning against its armored side, our breaths coming in ragged gasps.
The molten world outside blazed around us, the heat intense enough to feel through our armor and space uniforms.
"Combat stims, now!"
I ordered, glancing at the readings on my HUD that showed elevated heart rates, heavy breathing and stress levels.
Each of us jabbed a combat stimulant into our necks with my battlebrothers hands trembling less or more for each, the chemical surge flooding our systems and instantly sharpening our senses.
The adrenaline coursed through us, clearing the fog of shock and bringing our focus back to razor edge.
Julian, breathing heavily, nodded as he finished injecting his stim. His eyes sharpened, and the tremor in his hands steadied.
"Cezar,"
I said, pointing toward the nose of the dropship, while the slugs' autocannon was still laying down suppressive fire.
"I need you to crawl there and take out that damn autocannon. Make it clean."
Julian nodded, his mass accelerator sniper rifle slung tight against his back. He dropped to his armored belly and began to crawl, keeping his profile low against the dropship's hull.
We all held our breath, keeping our weapons trained on the foggy battlefield In front of us, ready to cover him at a moment's notice.
Julian reached the front of the dropship, peeking out from the nose. The autocannon sat atop a tripod, its gunner locked onto the expanding smoke.
Julian unbent his rifles bipod, steadied his rifle whose barrel was crackling with electricity, pressed the stock against his shoulder securely, the scope's reticle glowing faintly as he took aim.
With a sharp, controlled exhale, Julian squeezed the trigger. The sniper rifle kicked against his shoulder with a muffled thump, and a high-velocity solid round streaked through the air while the electricity got discharged through the ejection port while a new round from the magazine got loaded Into the firing chamber.
The bullet hit the firing autocanon.