Space Odyssey: Spectre

Jace adjusted his rifle in his drop pod as the special operations team around him got ready. There were six of them in this team. Meaning there would only be seven dropping to the ground which is all they needed to start. They would start having more people come in as they secured more of a landing area.

The team was called the Muddied Salamander Unit. Its leader was a veteran of the Vexical Civil War and Victorium skirmish. Adrian Hamel, he was the same age as Jace and had volunteered for every battle when he could. He specialized in urban warfare with a specification on marksmanship. He wore dark brown armor that left only a single slim visor and an etching throughout his armor that showed off a salamander. His armor, like all special operations units armor, was made of chemi-metal. So it would not be easily penetrated and would absorb shock when they dropped through the atmospheric layer of the planet.

The rest of the unit had the same armor type and color but it all came with different variations. Like Adrian’s second in command, a woman by the name of Pala Idara, had a helmet with a full forehead to chin visor and utilized a modification to her armor that allowed her to camouflage, which is different from just going invisible. Her specialty was guerilla warfare with an expertise in hand-to-hand combat and explosives. Making her natural special weapon a throwable knife grenade that could be remotely detonated. Unlike Adrian, her armor did not have a large salamander; it instead just had a small etching of a salamander on her helmet.

Then there was the rest of the unit that had less of a structure. He had already realized it when he read their files, but these guys were more of a family than a military unit. Which brings him to the grumpy uncle.

Joshua Gold, he was an orphan with a history of leading front line troops. Unlike Pala who had a background in intelligence and Adrian who had some work leading teams, Joshua preferred to be a muscle head. He utilized heavy weapons and wore bulky armor which had shades of red where the salamanders’ mouths were open. Almost like the salamander etchings were breathing fire. His helmet had no visible visor and instead utilized helmet cameras that were armored, likely because he was used to absorbing bullets. He carried a large hammer and a heavy machine gun.

The next one and the ’little sister’ of the unit was a soldier straight from the Underworld Systems new training academy, Cinder Astro. There is not much on her aside from the fact that both her parents serve as members of the Cerberus Unit in different positions. So her loyalty is not in question. Although she is only a few months new to the military she has only been on boarding missions to enemy space craft and a few pirate bases. Making her armor the base dark brown and the helmet a standard edition with a moderate visor. She gained a position in the special operations team by specializing in a field they were greatly lacking, hacking. So she actually utilized an all-terrain drone and a flying drone for varying purposes.

Then there was their scout and recon expert. The man was an Alphabet Legacy just like K, he went by the calling of U. He utilized close range weapons and his armor was specially designed so instead of just camouflage it would project a realistic hologram over himself by utilizing someone else’s appearance. His armor was a standard light weight type with less plating. But the helmet had not just a visor but several cameras so he could scan enemies on the fly to mimic them. He was actually part of a Union faction in the Imperium that Salem personally recruited when she was over there.

"What type of rifle is that?" Then there was the talker of the squad. The communications officer was a chatterbox with jamming and additional broadcasting packs. He carried a standard set of gear but his encryption was quite highly rated.

Jace turned to look at Eel Jackson who was looking specifically at Jace’s Wisp Rifle. Apparently he completely missed the grenade launcher and the variety of grenades he would be carrying. "A wisp rifle. It utilizes electronic propulsion instead of powder or lasers. Although it can fire electricity and hard light if utilized correctly." Jace explained.

Eel was quiet for a moment, the single salamander on his shoulder was quiet. In addition to jamming and broadcasting equipment he also had a variety of noisemakers and sonic devices. All of which were made by him. So he was not unfamiliar with the idea. As for his history, he was almost as new as Cinder. Except he first joined Cerberus back when Jace was around and graduated from the Echo System.

"A heavily modified railgun that utilizes your abilities. That is on another level." Eel mumbled. "I wonder if I could do something similar."

Jace watched him out of the corner of his eye. Then he finished setting up. "Do not be over reliant on your gear. The only reason I utilize it is because at this point it would no longer be a crutch. It would just be one of many adaptations of my abilities."

Eel bowed his head. "Thank you for the tip."

"Eel, finish packing up." Adrian ordered as he climbed into his drop pod. Jace climbed into his own drop pod as well.

"Already done!" Eel called back.

"Then climb in your pod. We are about to drop." Adrian ordered as his pod and several others sealed shut and then moved over atmospheric barriers. They were not in the Lance of Thanatos at the moment. They were instead in a specially designed ship with drop pods that went by the name of Vesuvius. It was the size of a cutter but had only space for a bridge, quarters and the drop pod room which could only drop eight pods at once. There were currently two other eight man teams aboard that would not be departing just yet.

The speakers in the drop bay beeped and then the captain of the voice began speaking. "Muddied Salamanders plus the guest. Get ready to drop in ten seconds. We are in position and the asteroids are passing us now." At his announcement, Jace’s and Eel’s pods moved into position over atmospheric barriers.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The pods began launching and Jace could hear all of them until he launched. He was propelled out into space and could feel gravity disappear before his pod stabilized and the holographic display started up. He could see not only his pod’s path but the entire unit as well as the asteroids around them.

"Woah, we really are using the asteroids as cover for dropping into the planet." That young female voice must be Cinder. "But it looks like the calculation has us straying, I can fix that real quick if it was a mistake."

"That is because we are going to separate after we enter the atmosphere and our flame trail stops." Jace began explaining. "It is not wrong, just adjusted so we can properly disguise our approach without having to worry about dying from an asteroid."

"Our approach is fairly steep. Are you not worried about them using the asteroid as target practice?" U asked as Jace could feel the gravity pull them toward the planet.

"They can’t spare the ammunition." Adrian answered. "They are essentially cornered on the planet so they have to be careful about how much they use up their resources. Especially since the Sirens on this colony planet had only old laser weapons and melee weapons."

"We are starting our entrance into the atmosphere." Jace called out as he checked the others’ conditions. Cinder’s biosigns showed a heightened heart rate. She was not panicking. "Cinder, relax. The drop pods are designed to absorb the bulk of the impact and your armor will absorb the rest. If you tense up you will just injure yourself on landing."

There were a few minutes of silence before she answered. "Understood. Thank you Commander."

Jace could see the bottom of his pod begin to heat up as through the window he could see fire blooming outside his pod and the asteroids surrounding him. The pod began to spin as his back was orientated to the planet. "We are passing over the first continent now. We are going to be doing a full circle around the planet and landing at the shore of that continent."

"A lot of wasted time just to disguise our approach." Joshua declared. "Why are we doing this again?"

"Because we want to stay stealthy for as long as possible. Keep in mind Joshua, we are the spear for this operation. So don’t try to operate on your own. If you screw up here you screw up the commander’s entire operation." Adrian declared.