Uncertainty, excitement and a slight hint of panic.
They flow around my brain and its implants.
To me, it is indeed strange.
We are one of the best, the top-of-the-line, the elites among elites. Trained and modified to be absolutely stoic at any possible scenarios. Gone through untold amount of deployments, through countless conflicts and missions. With decades of experience under my belt. Yet here I am. Experiencing panic. Even though just slightly, a tiny bit of panic. It is still strange.
It's hard to believe that just several minutes ago, everything were still going smoothly. With just several standard hailing and docking procedures, and maybe some official greeting on both parties. Everyone thought it was going to be another simple escort mission: follow our VIP, put up a barrier around him all the way until he returns to the Sol system, simple enough. We even questioned the decision to pull us out of the front line and shove us into this whole thing. Why bring such an elite force to some random VIP escort mission? Our target is not even someone important. From what I can gather in the mission brief, he is just a governor-in-training. Somehow the higher ups decided to take away such an important asset, us, only to follow some guy visiting a space station.
We all though it would be easy, simply a temporary trip away from the fronts. We thought that we will be back in no time. I have no idea why they would do this. The frontline is practically on the opposite end of the space humanity currently control. I do understand that only a few SF, Delta Six included, are qualified for anything alien related however, so that's one reason for choosing us. But still it's not like we were actually going to land on this planet anytime soon. They said we will only observe from orbit and that is unlikely to change for a while, probably never.
But now I can see why our expertise is needed. How very convenient indeed. None of us would really expect something like this to happen. Just look at us now. Sitting inside an escape pod, entering the atmosphere of an unexplored planet.
Exactly 7 minutes and 39 seconds ago, while we were taking a break in the cafeteria, the station's alarm suddenly goes off. And moments later, the whole thing start to list to one side. Then some loud collision noises were heard, nobody had any idea what was happening. Worse, an evacuation order was set in place, that meant the station was beyond saving at that point. And the next thing we know, the entire orbital platform started descending. After helping the station's personnel evacuate, we tried to look for our VIP. But we couldn't find him, plus the situation was extremely severe so we entered one of the few remaining pods and dropped down as well. And right now we are descending onto a planet. Not just any planets, but a planet with smart aliens on it, of all thing. Every other habitable planets human came across before only had alien animals, not actual sentient intelligent beings. Which means all six of us will be some of the first human to come into contact with sentient alien. I don't know whether to be excited or to be afraid of that fact.
A slight vibration rocks the entire pod, waking me up from my thoughts. I look out of the small circular air tight hole. My eyes can clearly see the dancing yellow flames shifting about on the other side of the reinforced carbon glass. A clear indication that we are indeed, descending down onto the planet's atmosphere from orbit like a meteor. The cold blackness of space is slowly retreating, giving way to a more vibrant, clear cyan-ish blue as it slowly creeps up from below the view of the porthole. It is rather dark in here. With the only light source being the window, our personal lights and the screen in the middle of the pod. Which did not help to ease the feeling of uncertainty.
"Chief, seems like we hit something on the way down. Two directional thrusters are offline." the voice was coming from the man in front of me. He is Talon 4, the Engineer Sergeant of Talon squad, Staff sergeant Shirogane 'Deman' Keiki. Specialization: engineering and demolition. He has a rather obsessive relationship with anything explosive related. Hence the nickname "Deman", short for demolition man. And from his name, you can clearly tell he's from Japan. He is currently interacting with the escape pod's control system via a portable UI pad he always carries with him. A standard issued piece of equipment for soldiers, but combat engineers receive specially modified ones.
"Is restoration possible?" I asked, eyes still tracing the cloud that is now visible from the porthole.
"For now, Chief, negative. I'll do what I can," Still focusing into the UI monitor and its keyboard, he gives me a short answer. But I am confident he will be able to come up with something. My time fighting alongside him has taught me many things. And one of them is that he can fix pretty much anything.
"Hey what do you think will happen from now?" The buffed man sitting on my right suddenly speaks. That was staff sergeant Marcel Traver, or Talon 3, a weapon specialist sergeant. But we call him Mont. Short for montagne, means "mountain" in French due to his massive build, along with his usual load out and weapons. A guy like him is absolutely perfect for a weapon sergeant. Strong and bulky but never slow, he can carry an almost infinite amount of ammunitions, both for his weapons and for his teammates. He is the support element for our squad. His loadouts are usually LMGs or heavy weapons. He has a very intricate relationship with firepower. The more leads or energy a weapon can spit down range, the more it calls for his name.
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"Dunno. But I believe we all know what to do once we land, yes?" I asked the rest of my team. Now looking at every one of them.
Mont did not answer, just a slight nod. Then he shifts his gaze toward the circular window. The same goes for the rest of my men. Not a single word spoken. Yet I know that behind the ballistic masks and nano visors blocking their faces. They are smirking confidently.
I know my men, my brothers in arms. We have been fighting together as elites Delta Six SF for decades now. We share the highs and lows of our career together countless times. We know each other so well you could consider us actual brothers. Each of us know we always have each others' back. Each of us know we always have our flanks covered. And we all know for a fact that if any of us got knocked out in a fight, they will always be dragged back to cover by another one of us. Know that none of us will ever be left behind, even under the direst of circumstances. An unbreakable bond of brotherhood, forged by the flames of plasma, of ion bolts, of railguns slugs through decades of combat. How long this bond will last I have not a clue. Maybe until death? I hope so.
"Done, back up thrusters online. Regaining fall trajectory," Like always, our team's engineering specialist got things under control. And to justify what he has just said, the pod stop turning chaotically and starts to follow our descending trajectory.
[ 2000 meters to touchdown. Heat shield at 98% integrity ]
As announced by the system in the pod, sights of terrain become visible through the window and the large monitor screen array at the center of the pod. We begin to sit upright and hold on to our seat lock. Deman put his UI back into his pack and proceed to do the same as us.
"Alright team, listen up. What ever happens next will not be like anything we have been through before. I believe that this will undoubtedly be the highest point in our career as Delta Six operators. We will be among the very first of mankind to contact sentient alien life forms. Today, on the dawn of June 14th 2367 Earth, we will be among those who will make history, literally." I give a small speech to my trusty squad as the ground gets closer.
[ 1000 meters to touchdown. Activating thrusters. Stabilizing fins 100% deployed ]
"Should I be worried? What if the place is filled with a bunch of xenophobic lizards?" Mont voices his concern.
"Oh come on, you're the biggest dude here and you are concerned? And also, what kind of movies were you watching? Xenophobic lizards? Really?" Kai responds in a half joking manner.
"Where do you even get that from?" Miller joins the banter. At this point, I was about to join in as well but decide against it.
[ Dampening thrusters activated. 700 meters to touchdown ]
"I can already tell this whole thing is going to blow up the Astronet even harder than when this planet was discovered" Kai speaks up.
"Doubt it will go public immediately, I'd say things are going to stay dark for a while, not for long though." There are truths in what Deman had just said. Incidents on this scale are going to be kept off the radar for quite some time before going public. Obviously it's going to shock a lot of folks. But it has to go public eventually, it's too big of an attraction for the whole damn humanity. Everyone and their mother are talking about the progress on Athena everywhere everyday.
[ Dampening thrusters operating at 79 percent. Slowing down ]
I feel a force pushing me down to the seat as the pod slows down, preparing for landing.
[ 500 meters to touchdown ]
From now on, we will be trekking on unknown land. Will there be hostiles? Allies? Will we find our people out there, who survived this mess? Will we make friends? Or foes? Both? Or none?
[400 meters to touchdown]
We have yet to even take a look at the data collected by the science team on the station. We are going into this blind without intel of the local flora and fauna. Not even info of the local aliens we will potentially come across.
[ 300 meters to touchdown ]
What will happen from now on?
How will the human race react to this?
How much will our lives change, not just us but to everyone out there?
How will society adapt to this? What is awaiting us ahead?
What challenges are we going to face?
And most of all, what does the future holds for humanity, now that we're no longer truly alone in this universe?
[ 200 meters to touchdown ]
"Talon 2 to Talon 1, order, sir." Kai speaks up. Urging me to give out an order for Delta Six Talon squad.
[ 100 meters to touchdown. Brace for impact. Brace for impact. Brace for impact ]
"This is Talon 1, order to squad. Begin operation "Contact Alpha"."
"Did you just made that up on your own?"
"It's protocol. I have to name it like that. Did you even read those?"
"What protocol?"
"Don't tell me..."
[ Touchdown in 5...4...3...2...1... ]
_______________________________
> A new chapter will be opened for mankind today. What will it bring? What can we expect from it? Nobody knows for sure. But whatever it is out there, it will surely make a massive impact on our understanding of this vast universe.
Talon 5 - Medical sergeant - Sergeant first class Johan 'Doc' Tiedemann