Space Odyssey: Spectre

"Commander!" A transport craft landed in front of him as several others landed among the trees flattening them and opened to reveal vehicles and mechs. Which began moving out. "You needed a transport?"

"Yes, you are taking me to the next village over there first." Jace instructed as he pointed in the direction of the lake village. "I need to pick up the Muddied Salamanders Unit." He informed them as he stepped into the back of the transport as several soldiers moved off. But not all of them. Some of them would be staying in the next village and a few of them would be transporting prisoners back to the Charon.

"Understood." A commanding officer yelled out orders to his soldiers as the ship took off vertically. Moving over the treetops and toward the lake village. "Sir, we are already finding pockets of unknown creatures. It appears this planet was not adapted and instead it has a natural environment." The commanding officer approached him as he stood on the ramp of the space craft.

"I figured as much." Jace nodded. He then tapped into the channel reserved for sending out commands to the ground troops. He could already see all of the assets that were on the ground. "Melting Rovers Unit and Lioness of Black Unit, once a guard team arrives to replace you, move to the remaining villages opposite the swamp village and secure them. All enemy combatants are to be executed. According to intel, one is a group of demi-humans and the other is another slaving human nation."

He received two clicks in confirmation. He watched as they pulled up to the lake village as several ships finished unloading and started moving back up.

"Commander!" Adrian walked up and hopped into the ship. He then looked over as Eel supported U as they made their way to the ship. Jace could see a group of sirens nearby as they were already being taken care of by the replacement troops. It seemed this village just had them imprisoned, although the women had clearly been separated for a similar purpose. So now that they were back together there were tears and crying as well as shame on display.

Soldiers began to climb off the ship as the Muddied Salamanders made their way onto the ship. "Injury?"

"A personal mine on a door. We already warned our replacements. A crew is going through and clearing the area now. But U is going to have to head back up or get checked before he can return to battle." Adrian explained.

"Okay, the rest of the Muddied Salamanders are going with me to the city East of here." The transport began to take off as the sky in the distance began to take on a different light. "U, hand off that letter to the commander of the Charon. They will meet you along with the prisoners that are going to be taken up."

"So we are taking prisoners." Adrian asked with a chuckle as they neared the swamp village. The transport was moving quicker than the airship because it used gravity plating and engines rather than turbines to get around.

"Only that group. Fortunately we will not run into another group of them until we go to another continent." Jace explained as he could see a signal that the next phase of the mission was prepared while both squads he mentioned were already heading to the other two villages. "Once Armored Tiger Units one, two, and three are done with preparation they can begin to make their way along the roads. We are not aware of unit enemy assets located along the road but it is a good idea to keep an eye out anyways for any discrepancies."

There were clicks over the communication channel as they acknowledged his orders. The Armored Tiger Units were made up of armored ground transports, tanks, and mechs ranging from Walker-class to Knight-class. All the classes larger than knight were kept as weapons and combat units for space and low gravity battles. It was where they would shine best.

"How are we getting to that city?" Adrian asked.

Jace nods down at a swamp village’s edge where a group of trees had been leveled. The armored unit was clearly still making preparations. "We are riding with them." He answered as the transport did not land. It instead hovered at the edge of the dock.

Jace walked off as the replacement soldiers began to funnel the prisoners into the transport. They would have to make multiple trips but it looked like the sirens did not kill or injure any of them. The commander of the replacement troops moved up to Jace as he walked down the docks with most of the Muddied Salamanders minus U following him.

"Commander Jace. The representative of this village said that you promised to supply them with training and gear if they need it." The man asked in clear confusion.

"Yes I did." Jace nodded. "If all of them want training then start training them. I will leave it up to you where to set up the training base. If you want to abandon this village and set up somewhere else just let me know. I already sent a message back to the Underworld System asking for a group of training personnel. They are on route."

"But if we want to control this planet..." The commander started.

"We don’t." Jace shook his head. "It is the Siren’s planet. They colonized it first. We are just here to remove the foreign invaders." He patted the commander on the soldier. "We are going to establish a base in orbit. But you just need to keep them safe for the time being."

They walked past them as Jace made his way to the armored unit. "Captain Jo’nez," Jace addressed the commanding officer that was sitting on top of a wheeled armored tank. The accer was wearing armor but his helmet was off and was sitting on his heavy machine gun that he had on the tank. "How soon until your unit is ready?"

"Five minutes. This is our first time doing a mass drop but we have pulled off the logistics of the operation seamlessly." Jo’nez explained. "I have done landings with the Victorium and other groups but this has to be the first time when we could turn around so quickly. I assume your people need a ride?"

"Yes, the Muddied Salamanders need a ride. I am going to go on ahead. I will scout out the road and get to the city." Jace informed them. "So you got a spot for them?"

"Yeah, the roofs of any of the vehicles. All the infantry transports are filled. But you can ride on the roofs. They are built to withstand heavy weapon rounds so they can withstand some of your weight easily." The captain informed them. "Do you need anything else?"

"Nope." Jace shook his head as Adrian looked around and began to give orders to his troops. "Adrian, ride with Jo’nez." He instructed as he moved past another canvas covered transport that had less people and more goods and items. It probably had the things necessary to set up a base.

There was a walker mech and an armored vehicle in the front of the line of vehicles. The armored vehicle was a transport with four spots and a roof spot for a gunner with metal armor shielding them from weapons fire. "What exactly are we doing?" The roof gunner asked.

Jace held up a hand and his speeder bike appeared. "I am scouting out the area down the road. You guys are following the road. The scans showed they have artillery and anti aircraft set up so keep an eye out."

"Understood commander, good luck!" The man waved as Jace climbed on the speeder bike and zipped off down the gravel road. He started out slow going along the top of the watery gravel. With the swamp slowly transforming into a forest. Then after half an hour it transformed into an open hilly area. While the gravel road turned into a dirt path.

He started to slow down as he came over the crest of a hill and came to view a city. It was not an open concept because there were brick walls enclosing the city. While the five roads from the five villages visibly joined up ahead of him and then all went toward the gate of the city.

Outside the city were plenty of farms that had been abandoned. It had been abandoned long enough for the crops to die but not long enough for wild crops and weeds to take over the fields. The farmhouses were partially collapsed from neglect or combat.

The wall was like a medieval wall. With how old it was, the wall had been clearly designed and made before the occupation. Which meant they might have to keep an eye out for a hostile type of horde creature or beast.