“Pen you can’t be serious…”
Gareth watched as she swiftly threw open the second of the three Terran crates. With practiced movements she started pulling pieces of armor from it, placing them on the other crates.
“I’m being very serious Gareth and please there’s no need to pretend you suddenly care oh so much about me. You said it yourself, a proper response would take too long. A patrol would be massacred…”
“So we risk our ship and the crew? If we land-”
“You won’t be landing,” Pen tapped the third crate with her foot, “all I need is for the ship to drop within 20 kilometers of the surface. If we weren’t in a hurry I’d say even higher but then I’d be falling longer.”
She’d changed into the sealed bodysuit and was already halfway through donning the armor pieces. It wasn’t custom fitted but they were designed to be workable no matter what.
“Pen…” He wasn’t sure what to say, caught even more off guard by the transformation happening before him.
Deag and Ton’et came through the door.
“Sir… please…” Gareth looked to him for backup.
“…We’re on course but Pen… are you sure about this? If they have human weapons, they could hurt you…”
“Don’t worry about me,” She rapped an armored fist against her chest plate, “just don’t come down till I signal you.”
She moved over to the first crate and began arming herself. A loaded rifle locked magnetically to her back and extra magazines were loaded and secured along her belt.
“Are you really going to jump? That fall… there’s no way.” Ton’et asked.
“Oh, don’t worry. As they say, its not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end.”
“Yes, well that’s… are you sure these are reliable?” They motioned to the gear Pen was now pulling from the third crate.
“Very reliable.” She began attaching the Hawk to points on the armor.
They locked onto her wrists and calves.
Penelope finished her preparations by holstering her sidearm on her hip and taking the helmet under her arm.
“Deag, I’ll let you know when things are safe. Till then don’t bring the ship too close. We don’t know what these people have up their sleeves.”
Deag didn’t have the heart to appreciate the human saying. He watched as Penelope marched to the back of the cargo bay. She looked to him and nodded.
Deag ushered them all to a safe distance and activated the bay door override. The pressure changed and wind blew in through the lowering door. All of them had to desperately secure themselves even as far from the opening as they were. Penelope stood almost unbothered.
“Don’t do anything stupid! Okay?!” Deag yelled to her.
As the door finished lowering Penelope stepped out and turned to them.
“Don’t worry! I wasn’t the dumb one!”
As she looked back at them, she locked eyes with Thwilll. Clinging to Ton’et, he looked at her with utter terror.
She winked at him.
“Thwilll! This is the fun part!”
Finally, pushing even her limits, she donned the helmet. A quick beep informed her that the pressure seal was good. Oxygen flooded in and she took a deep breath.
With one last look and a two finger salute she simply let herself fall backwards into open sky. The Blue Nebula looked as if it were hurtling up and away. The truth was that she was now freefalling towards the planet.
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She reoriented herself towards her target, still so high up that she could see the curvature of the horizon. Her hands went to her sides and her legs locked straight. Atmosphere rushed past as she built up speed. A different planet meant a different atmosphere and different gravity which meant a different terminal velocity. Still, it took only twenty seconds of what she estimated to be a two minute drop to reach it.
The ground raced towards her like it always did. She began to make out the settlement. The spaceport was built into a high and long cliff face. At the bottom of the cliff large doors let out into a halfway constructed town. Buildings closer to the port were fully constructed but the level of completion fell off as they moved away. Along the base of the cliff, a short distance from the town was a large construction project. Penelope assumed it was the incomplete generator.
Her first thought was to aim for the entrance to the spaceport, but she remembered the poor Tinsne over the communicator had mentioned some frames moving out into the town. Her thought was confirmed as she came close enough to the surface to see movement. She couldn’t make out individual figures, but it wasn’t necessary. Crowds of people were running away from the town center into the surrounding construction projects.
Her choice was clear. She would land in an adjacent walkway to the open town square. She’d have cover and a good view of the hostile frames. Then she’d sweep in towards the spaceport and reassess from there.
She pulled her head up and oriented her belly downward opening her arms and legs as the town came closer. The people running were individuals now more than a blob. The forms of the frames were clearer too. She could make out eight total. Six in the town square throwing bursts of fire in different directions and two larger ones hanging back on the dirt road that led to the spaceport entrance.
She’d held off as late as possible, but it was time. She twisted once more in the air. It was second nature. Now, she fell feet first. She allowed the pressure to push her legs into a slightly bent position. Meanwhile, her hands shot straight down behind her. With a flick of her wrists the thrusters activated and rapidly slowed her descent. She fought to keep her orientation as she came to the ground.
She cut the thrusters early, passing the roof of a small building, and mitigated the rough landing with a forward roll. Ignoring her knees’ lack of appreciation for her landing, her rifle came off of her back in a flash and cleared the alleyway. She was alone in the walkway behind the building, but she could hear the frames firing away on the other side. Each let off a distinct three shot burst each time they fired.
Pen doubted her entrance had gone unnoticed, so she carefully made her way to the side of the building and peeked around, rifle first.
As her line of sight cleared the corner, she saw three of the six frames she knew were there. They were modified and larger but very similar to the ones she’d fought on her first day aboard the Blue Nebula. Three crab-like legs and a round bottom. A cylinder came up out of the body and sported a number of lenses that acted as eyes. These, however, were armed with rifles mounted to the right of the cylindrical sensor array. Oddly enough it was clear the model of frame was never meant to be modified in this way, as they had to brace themselves before they fired. They were only able to get off three rounds before the recoil had them looking at the horizon.
It would have been funny if they weren’t firing into crowds of people.
Penelope had assumed they would break off their attack on the crowds for a closer target but astonishingly, the frames made no movement towards her alley. Instead moving towards the fleeing innocents. Whether it was due to not noticing her or flawed combat protocols didn’t matter. It was a mistake she’d make them pay for.
Without hesitation she took aim and sent three rounds through the head of the closest frame to the alleyway. Sparks flew as its head was reduced to scrap. Immediately its legs gave out and its body collapsed. Pen moved up and gave similar treatment to the other two she could see.
The other three of the group of six reacted quickly. Aiming for the mouth of the alley they let off bursts of three before re-orienting and firing again. The corner of the building she was on was obliterated and Pen was forced to back up slightly to keep in cover.
She waited for her opening.
Each let off another burst of three. As chunks and flakes of building flew through the air Pen wheeled around the corner and fell to her knee. The bots were practically bird watching.
Calm and quick she feathered the trigger of her rifle, emptying the magazine into the frames before they could reorient themselves.
She was moving before they even hit the ground. She moved up and across the street towards the other two larger frames, stopping in the moth of another alleyway for cover. As she moved and in one fluid motion, she dropped the empty magazine out of her rifle, pulled another off her belt, seated it and smacked the bolt release. By the time she was in cover she had another 27 rounds ready to go.
The two large frames weren’t slaking and definitely knew where she was as they spit suppressive fire at her. They were also clearly built with the problem of the smaller units in mind as there was no break in their fire. They weren’t having trouble with recoil.
After a few seconds of sustained fire, they paused. She could feel them watching her corner for the slightest sign of movement. Their mechanical legs audibly slammed into the ground as they carefully positioned themselves. They waited.
She couldn’t move around the corner to aim but with their size she might be able to hit one blind firing. She tried for it, throwing a few rounds in a spread in their direction. Her shots were met with the distinct sound of pinging ricochets as they returned fire.
Okay so they have armor. Wonderful.