//------------------------------//
// Chapter One: Misfire 
// Story: PonySide 
// by Puzzle Piece 
//------------------------------//

	If the sound of the Vanu air strike weren’t drowning it out at the moment, Major Finnegan Gadrik would hear the Corporal suggest he not grind his teeth so much. Two of those zealots in their crazy looking fighters had been buzzing the buildings of their Indar base for three minutes now. Every so often, they’d put another Photon Missile in one of the doorways. As of ten seconds ago, the bombardment had picked up so much that his pistol was rattling in its holster. What a day it was turning out to be for the Republic. 

“Do they ever run out of ammo?!” he screamed into his comrade’s ear.

The head turned slightly to peer down at him. The voice was faintly synthetic as it was translated through the MAX suit’s helmet. “I don’t think they’re alone, sir. These sound like Dalton rounds. I’d be willing to bet they’ve got a Liberator up there now.”

Finnegan swore violently but the exact words were lost in the thunder of 150mm shells. They watched a safe distance from the doorway as debris rained outside. The MAX shifted from foot to foot anxiously while Finnegan scratched his short beard and adjusted his Engineer’s pack to a more comfortable position on his back. The small building was only one room and had two doors, both of which were little more than an arched opening in the wall. The room itself was empty of anything useful against a gunship.

“We’ll never stop them without backup,” the Major stated. “Even if we could get to a terminal to pull an AA capable weapon, a Lib isn’t going to be brought down by just two of us…But we can’t just sit here either.”

The Corporal was silent, presumably considering their situation and hopefully figuring out a solution. A particularly hard hitting shell caused the lights to flicker. Finnegan thanked the building’s designer that the roof over his head could take so much punishment.

“There’s a teleporter in the building across from us,” he said at last. “If we can get there, we’ll at least be in a better position than hiding in this little hole we’re in.”

“I could go first to draw their fire while you make a break for it,” the MAX suggested.

“No, I’ll go first and cover you from the door when you cross. Once you make it, I’ll be able to patch up any damage you’ve taken. Plus, I’ve got a better chance of making it if they aren’t expecting me after you cross.”

“Understood.” The Corporal shifted the M2 Mutilators that were equipped to both of his arms to show his readiness.

Suddenly, they became aware that they no longer had to shout to hear one another. No shells burst around their shelter and the hiss and whine of Scythe engines was absent from above.

“Maybe they did run out of ammo.” The MAX looked up at the ceiling as if expecting it to provide him with the answer.

“I don’t like it. But we aren’t going to get a better chance. Let’s go.”

They both approached the door and looked out at the streets of the base. Nothing moved on the ground or in the air. Taking a steadying breath, the Major charged across the sand straight for the open door of the adjacent building. With every step, he expected the ground to be blasted out from under his feet. He jumped up the short stairway and flung himself at the opposite wall. Facing back into the street, he couldn’t understand why not a single shot had been fired.
The heavy footfalls of the MAX suit thudded in after him and still all was quiet. The teleporter hummed on the far side of the building and they made their way from room to room, watchful but unhurried. It was very possible the attackers had given up, but it should never be assumed.

Especially with those Vanu nut jobs, the Major thought darkly.

The teleporter would lead them to a command building on the other side of the base where they would be better equipped to assess the situation and call for backup if needed. The MAX suit was just stepping onto the platform when Finnegan heard the unmistakable sound of a Vanu Infiltrator de-cloaking behind them.

Of course! The gunship stopped firing because they had ground troops in the area!

He didn’t have time to turn around before a small object sailed over his head and stuck to the back of the Corporal’s helmet. It was a sticky EMP grenade. If it went off like that, not only would it knock out his own shields, but the systems of the MAX would be scrambled momentarily. Without thinking, Finnegan grabbed the grenade in an attempt to pull it off. As his hand closed over it, a shot from the infiltrator’s laser rifle hit the grenade, causing it to discharge prematurely. At the same moment, the teleporter activated with both the Corporal and the Major in it.

~*~*~

The waiting was always the worst part. There was nothing to do but sit in the harness and stare at the light that would indicate drop-ready status. If it weren’t for the com systems, Mathew Hadley thought he’d probably go insane.

“Trev, you still awake?”

“Yeah, Mat. I’m awake,” Trevor Orin responded. “You really think I’d doze off when there’s ass to kick?”

That was Trevor for you, Mathew thought. Always hyped up about the next drop.

He brought up the situation display to check the rally points. Their New Conglomerate platoon was moving south into the mountains on the north-eastern end of Amerish, but his squad was still committed to the Amp Station. Readouts said the fighting was intense but he wasn’t going to see any of it cooped up in this pod.

“Looks like they’re saving some fight for us down there,” Trevor observed. He seemed to have been looking at the map readouts as well.

“Yeah, well, I just wish they’d get the beacon set so we can get down there and get it on.”

“Cut ‘em some slack. Getting a beacon in there is bound to be tough. Hang tight and don’t sweat it. It’s not like we’re going to miss the fight. They can’t win it without us and those TR creeps aren’t going to beat themselves.” He paused for a moment and then laughed. “Well, maybe not completely by themselves, but that’s where we come in, right?”

“Yeah, sure.” Mathew rolled his eyes.

“Come on Mat. You’re always like this. Just relax.”

The com sputtered once and a voice interrupted them.

“Attention Charlie Squad; beacon is inbound. Expect drop within the minute. Be advised; heavy AA and air presence.”

“That’s us,” Trevor called out in squad general. “Pack a lunch ladies. This is going to be a real ride.”

Several other squad mates responded with their own banter and the launch bay locked down for the drop. Trevor’s voice came back on the private channel.

“Hey, Mat. I hooked up the feed to the beacon squad. Listen up.”

The feed crackled a few times before tuning. Above the hectic sound of weapons’ fire, several voices were heard shouting back and forth.

“Watch that platform! They’ve got heavy rocket presence covering the gate.”

“We need to get some suppressing fire down across that courtyard, Gunner! My men aren’t going anywhere until that MANA Turret is dust!"

“On it, Sir!”

Weapons’ fire nearly obscured the rest of the words as orders were shouted and carried out. From the sounds of it, the Light Assault team in charge of the beacon was waiting for a clear run to the checkpoint. As the fire in the background intensified, the squad leader came on again.

“Go, go, go! Keep fire on them until the runners clear the roof.”

A tense moment filled only by the sounds of machineguns and rockets followed.

“We have the roof! Beacon is a go!”

“Yes!” Mathew said, practically shouting.

The squad chatter died as Trevor cut the feed. “Now it’s our turn.”

Mathew looked at the ready light. It stayed dark only a moment longer. Flashing red first, it switched over to bright green. The next instant, the pod was launch from the bay with a jolt. His display told him that he was forty thousand feet out and dropping at nearly six hundred feet per second. His heart had time to beat once before a com announcement nearly stopped it.

“Beacon is down, repeat, we’ve lost the beacon’s signal.”

“Those weren’t TR!” An explosion cut the signal.

Mathew turned on his live display and directed it below him at the battle he was rapidly approaching. Four other pods were ahead of him, racing toward a conflagration of bullet streams and explosions. Every turret on the walls seemed to be firing up at them. Planes and gunships circled the fighting, adding to the maelstrom. An NC Liberator collided with a burning TR Mosquito and both went down in a pile of wreckage. An NC Reaver spiraled into the side of the main turret towers and disappeared in a ball of fire.
But what drew Mathew’s eyes were the VS Scythes combing the entire area with purple lasers. Ground forces for both factions were scrambling for cover under the repeated strafes. With perfect precision, a Scythe formation swooped in and blasted a pair of tanks as they emerged from the main hanger. A whole turret tower was cleared of defenders by a squadron’s pass.
One of the pods below him was shredded by a line of AA fire. He engaged the manual maneuvering thrusters to steer away from the streams of death that tried to take him out of the sky. A group of Scythes swept between the falling pods, reducing one to ribbons with laser fire. An explosion near his own pod caused Mathew to jerk the controls reflexively. The Scythe responsible banked hard but they ended up clipping each other. The Scythe spun toward the ground, one wing hanging in tatters.
One whole side of the pod was ripped off and it began to spin wildly. Exposed to the open air at such a high velocity, Mathew was struggling to breathe. His harness had been damaged by the impact and tangled his arms, preventing him from moving. Through the gap in the plating, he saw another pod trailing fire and careening toward him. Just before they hit each other, he saw a symbol on the near side denoting it as the squad leader.

“Trevor,” was his last thought.

The force of the collision tore his harness from its fitting and threw him from the pod. He saw the plating of the pod in front of him, the battle growing ever closer below, flames above, a flash, stars, and then darkness.

~*~*~

Powdery Esamir snow flew out behind the three of them as they ran. The rock formation ahead of them was the only defendable location for half a mile. Bullets arced over them from the bottom of the hill on both sides. The Justicar had spotted the missiles homing in on their Harasser in time for all three of them to get out, but now they were caught between a pair of NC and TR attack groups with no cover.
Disciple Katie Lani stayed right on the heels of Adept Nathan Manis. A volley of bullets sprayed through the air from the left and the Justicar was hit by a few, causing him to stumble. His shields held though and he stayed on his feet. A sniper round sailed over Katie’s head and her heart skipped a beat.
They were steps from the rocks when an M40 Fury round hit Nathan in the back. It pounded right through his shields and blew a hole in his suit. The splash from the blast knocked Katie to the ground. She scrambled up and dragged the Adept the last few yards, trying to ignore the additional Fury rounds that attempted to finish the job. The Justicar pulled out his Parallax and moved deeper into the rocks to find a vantage point. He activated his cloaking device, but her HUD indicator told Katie exactly where he was.

“Nathan?” she called over the com channel.

There was no response. The snow beneath him was turning crimson. She dropped her Beamer, turned him over, and pulled out her medical applicator. Aiming it at the wound, she shot a thin, green stream of nanites. No matter how many times she’d done it before, she couldn’t help but marvel as the bleeding stopped and the flesh knit back together. Nathan groaned and groped around for his weapon. He looked up at her and murmured his thanks as she held his Phantom VA23 out to him.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she whispered.

“You need to stop acting like that,” he admonished. He pointed at the applicator. “That’s a powerful tool. Trust it.”

She looked at the handheld device that resembled a weapon but performed miracles of the opposite nature. “I know. I just worry that I won’t be fast enough.”

He turned her chin up with his fingers so that she was looking directly at him. Even though it was the mask of an Infiltrator, she could still tell he was smiling sympathetically at her. She was about to reply when an E540 Halberd rocket bursting against the rocks nearby interrupted them. Fragments of stone rained down on them and Nathan nodded to her before moving to find a good position.
Katie picked up her Beamer and followed close behind him. Nathan inched up to a gap in the rocks that looked down at the NC group. His cloak came up as he picked a target. She watched his outline on her HUD turn slowly to track a group of infantry trying to set up AV MANA turrets flanking the TR position. His cloak dropped and his weapon discharged simultaneously. He was immediately answered with an ML-7 rocket that exploded just over his head.
His shields broke and his shoulder was sliced by shrapnel. Katie’s own shields buckled and at the first hint of pain, she reflexively activated her nanite field. The green mist of healing spread out around her and began working on them both. He was about to thank her when a SR-7 round punched straight through his chest and hit Katie’s Beamer. The bullet struck the energy cell directly and it exploded.
As the flash of purple light engulfed her, Katie felt a burning sensation across most of her body followed by weightless for just a moment. Then she hit something hard that felt like a wooden floor.
Just before her last thoughts left her mind, she heard what sounded like a female voice.

“Well, that was unexpected.”