The Smoke be for the Fires: (Book 1)

[Akirapryde]

Unleashing the Dogs of War
Wormwood
Outer Rim

High Altitude Drops are some of the most dangerous drops conducted by the Republic Marines. They are littered with any number of dangers that could end with disastrous results, but the benefits of these kinds of drops are so clear. The dropping ship does not need to enter the atmosphere and therefore limits detection from the planet sensors. The dropping unit is nearly invisible to defenders as they make their approach. The Marines train for these drops more then any other form of insertion. It has almost become a hallmark of the Marines' Operations. And of all the Marines, none hated it more then Talon!

Yes Talon loved the feeling of being some great predator bird descending on her pray. She loved the view that very few ever get to see, but still she hated falling for minutes through the atmosphere. If there were any unseen kinks in her armor, she would never feel her body burning up in a fraction of a second. Or a system failure and she would slam in to the planet at blazing speeds. Once more she would end before she realized it would be over. It was that lack of control over her life and death she hated and such she hated drops like these.

Talon was just getting comfortable the idea that this drop was going to go off without problems when she was hit by a powerful force sending her flipping and rolling as she fell through the air. Even before her on board computer was telling her what had happened she already knew. She was dropping through turbulence. And from the judge of her tossing and rolling it was heavy. “Ah Shit!” Talon managed to get out as she fought at her suit to regain control. “Damnit, I hate this shit, Zey!”

“Whats going on?” Zey said over the radio.

Talon was stilling fighting for control of her fall, “I hit some really nasty turbulence at flight level four five” she said holding her cool while her mind was screaming out.

“Sir” is all that Zey said. She didn't need to say any more and Talon knew that she was relaying the warning to the rest of the unit while Talon was working on getting a control of her on problem. It was the reason why these kind of drops call for a person to drop so far ahead of the rest of the unit. Normally it is called the Deadman's Post or DP. It is the only early warning they have for turbulence. If the entire unit ran in to turbulence then lives could be lost. The reason why Talon took on the DP was because she had always led her troops in to combat from the front of the unit. It was who she was.

Training really paid off when it came to crisis situations, and this was no different. Talon knew her unit was in good hands with Zey so she was able to focus on her training. Turning her body so that her head was facing the planet. It was a hard fight against the spinning motion she was left in but in the end she managed to get the angle she wanted. Then she engaged her thrusters. Her hope was to push through the turbulence. Piloting had never been her strong suite. While she did manage to gain some control over the the spin, she did not get total control. “This is why I hate piloting!” she said in frustration as she tried once more to gain control over her fall. The ground was coming up fast and she would hate to end her career like this not to mention she had to get back to Daz. He was due for a nasty lashing for that crap he and Captain Retard were pulling.

Once more she fought to spin her body around and aimed her head at the planet which was coming up so fast. This time she took her time and controlled her fears of slamming in to the planet. She triggered her thrusters once more for a short burst. This time she managed to gain control of her fall and counter the spin she was stuck in. Slowly she was able to move her body so that her head was aiming at the planet below and she was gaining speed through the turbulence. She gave a sigh of relief as she double checked her angle and her fuel supply. She burned up more fuel then she really intended on. She had to be careful or she would run dry and then really make an impact on this world. It was then her computer came to life once more. Little red dots started to pop up on the ground ahead of her. “Damnit! It just never lets up!” she said then paused, “Zey, we have twenty plus Tangos at our LZ.” she said calmly.

Talon heard Zey come over the radio once more, “Do you want to change the LZ?” This made things more difficult for the unit. Difficult but not impossible. It was another role of the DP to ensure that the LZ was clear. However because of fuel issues, Talon had no choice but to land on the original LZ rather she liked it or not.

“How far behind me are you guys?” she asked Zey as she plotted out the Tango's positions around their LZ.

“We are just over a minute behind you Talon. We had to slow down before we hit that turbulence. Once we are through we will try to make up some time” Zey reported.

Talon checked her instruments and smiled, “Okay, I don't have enough fuel to land anywhere else. So I will draw their attention once on the ground and try to soften them up for the rest of you. Just don't be too late for the party, girl.” Talon said with a smile as she thought of how much fun it will be to break in these new upgraded assault suits.

Zey broke in, “Don't be greedy. Leave some for us to kill Talon.” Talon reached behind her back and drew out her assault rifle and took careful aim as she fell through the air. It was a long shot so she decided to wait. Once she hit a more respectful range she squeezed the trigger. The silenced shot rang out and missed horribly. Talon watched as her target looked around to see what made the noise near him. She smiled as he never bothered looked up. 'Classic mistake' she thought as she took aim once more and squeezed the trigger once more. This time the shot rang true. The round ripped through his helmet causing his skull to implode. She knew as he fell over that he made some squealing sound. She saw his fellow soldiers looking around in alarm.

While they were in a state of confusion she landed right behind another soldier. Using her left eye she glanced at a icon on her heads up display. The computer reacted to her command with, “Three Sixty View Activated.” Her sight started to compact as the visual data from all around her was compressed in to seventy degrees of vision on her heads up display. While images started to get elongated and thinned, she was able to see completely around her without having to shift her attention from what is in front of her. She squeezed the trigger two more times as she killed the soldier in front of her.

There were screaming as everyone realized what was going on as the surprise of her arrival passed. Talon turned to roll away from a group of soldiers. There were shots landing around her as she continued to roll for cover. 'They're using Carbines? This will be easier then I thought' she thought. Then she noticed the plum of smoke behind her. She leaped up from her roll trying to dodge the incoming attack. The only problem was that the attack was not leveled directly at her. She had no hope of getting away from it. The blast hit her and all she saw was darkness. Her armor locked up and her computer shut down. “SHIT! WHAT WAS THAT?!” She screamed as she tried to move. Her Armor lost all power.

She was helpless and started to feel that stinging of fear gripping her heart. She was good as dead, “or am I?” she said. Her heads up came back to life as the computer reported, “Reboot in Six.” She still had a fighting chance. She had to wait for six seconds but she still had a chance. She could see a group of seven soldiers moving in to cover her. The rest were keeping a safe distance from her. She could hear one of them talking. 'Why do they always have to talk?' she thought.

“You better kill me now before I kill all of you” she threatened the men. They laughed at her comment thinking that her power armor was normal Republic issue. Little did they know how wrong they were. The leader had pulled out his pistol and aimed it at her head. Using her left eye once more she activated another icon. Her computer now nearly completely rebooted, replied to the command, “Injecting Package A” She felt the five injection points on her harness pierce her skin and inject a mixture of steroids, endorphins, and adrenaline in to her blood supply. The affects were immediate as she felt her body react to the boost.

She watched the leader's finger very carefully. She didn't have to be faster then his bullet, she had to be faster then this finger. He was still smiling as he looked at her trapped in her armor. He still thought she was helpless. She heard, “System Reboot completed, Combat mode activated” It was her turn to smile as she activated another icon. While she was actually helpless one of the soldiers had enough thought to remove her rifle from her hands and her two side arms. They must have thought that was the only weapons they needed to fear. The computer sounded off with, “Spike launcher activated.” Her heart rate was already pushing the limits as fresh oxygen rich blood reached her brain. She watched as his finger slowly started to squeeze the trigger. She had only milliseconds as she shifted her weight and lowered her right knee.

The shot ripped just over her left shoulder as she brought both hands up at the leader. A small tube under her left wrist erupted as a five inch grapple spike rocked towards the leader. There was no line attached to it as it sped its way to him. The spike hit him in his right shoulder slamming him against the truck he was standing in front of. The second spike from her right hand launcher nailed him in the left shoulder pinning him helplessly to the truck. He screamed out in pain as Talon locked on her next target. She spotted that one of the men to her right was carrying a lightsaber on his hip. She turned to her left as her left hand launcher reported ready.

She fired the launcher at a man to her left. To her surprise the spike ripped through him and hit the man behind him. This time she armed it with liquid cable. She smiled at the surprising development. Her computer reacted to her eye command, “Capacitors Discharging.” She watched the two men die a very painful electric death. With her first actions she removed their leader from the fight and killed two of the men surrounding her. The rest opened fired with their carbines. Caught nearly off guard once more, their fire was mostly random and lacked concentration. A few shots landed too close for comfort but Talon was already moving to her next target. One of the soldiers made a foolish mistake as they all fired at her. He was too close for his rifle as he fired it anyway. Talon was able to spin as she knocked the barrel of the rifle away from her and drove her elbow in to the side of his unarmored head. He fell to the ground bleeding uncontrollably.

Still feeling the affects of the injections, it was Talons turn again. She pointed her right hand at two more soldiers running towards her shotting at her. This time she counted on the hit and through affect as had happened before. And once more she hit both of them with the spike launcher and cable. However before she activated the discharge she waited as she watched one of the soldiers running up to her on her heads up display. He must of thought that he was going to get her on her flank. He could not have known that she could easily see him running up to her in her blind spot.

Her plans were disrupted as the man fired at her. There was nothing she could have done to avoid this hit. It was a clear shot ripping through her armor and in to her flesh. Luckily it was only a glancing hit and she didn't feel a thing as her computer reacted, “Injecting Package C.” Her fatigue and pain vanished as the injection was pumped in to her body. Side stepping her attacker she spun her right arm over his head and coiled the cable around his neck and head. Then she activated the discharge and watched the three men die.

She didn't have time to rest as she spotted her next target rushing up behind her with a large melee type weapon. He was coming up right behind her. It was funny as she watched him on both her left and right side of her heads up display. He was cut completely in half in the display. Her computer reacted to her command, “Injection Package B.” Pure concentrated adrenaline flooded her blood as she wanted every bit of speed her body could handle. She watched a second attacker coming up from the left side, once more in her supposed blind spot.

She had spent years watching her sister train with her lightsaber. While Talon thought the lightsaber to be a ancient weapon. She used to love watching her older sister train with it. How graceful her sister was with the weapon. And for now, it was all Talon had left right now. Her mind raced with her battle plan. She went through and covered every angel of what she wanted to do. She ignored the computers warning, “Warning: Blood and Heart rate exceeding maximum safe limits. Toxic levels are approaching.”

Talon's eyes shot open as she dropped to her right knee while her attackers large melee weapon passed harmlessly over her head. She activated the lightsaber she had taken from the man that she had elbowed. She drove the blade behind her as she lowered her head. The blade passed through him killing him instantly. She then rolled forward drawing the blade forward with her movements. The second attacker started to skid to a halt as he realized he had ran right in to her trap. It was too late for him though. Springing up to her left side she swung the blade ungracefully in a wide arc. It didn't need to look pretty and it surely didn't. But it did do its job. The man was cut down before her in a red mist of death. Talon continued to spin around as she saw her next target on a nearby hill top. She hoped that the fear of Jedi had reached this planet. Taking up a pose that she had seen her sister and Lysire practice time and time again over the months they had been together, Talon actually looked like a real Jedi in that moment.

However, the man was not impressed as he took aim right at her with a large carbine weapon. Screaming out his hatred of her, Talon heard the loud sounds of fire. She jerked back as she expected incoming fire. It took a second to realize that she was still alive. Looking back she saw the man dead and Zey standing atop of his body. She smiled, “You know, I love you, Girl!” she said to her battle sister. Talon looked around to see her platoon eliminating the remaining soldiers. “You know you guys are luckily I left you some.” Talon said as she turned off the lightsaber.

Noting that the area was secured she turned back to Zey, “I saw some tangos over that hill, take three and check it out. The rest of you secure the area.” Talon barked as she removed her helmet, “Oh, yeah, Medic!” she said checking her wound and seeing it was bleeding. She let her hair down as she walked over to helpless Militia leader. Her mood changed in that second. He had tried to kill her while she was helpless. “I warned you to kill me, didn't I?” she said as she secured the lightsaber to her hip and dropped her helmet.

“Wait, I surrender, you have to respect that. I am a POW! I have information.” He said trying to save his own life. She only shook her head at him, “You are a Jedi you have to honor my surrender. Please I can help you. I know about another Jedi!” he begged.

The look on Talon's face was that of cold detachment. There was nothing in her eyes other then a blank stare. She pulled her right hand back and then lunged it forward gripping his face across his eyes. He screamed as she looked down at him. “Please!....I Surr......” He screamed out in pain as she started to squeeze his head with her powered hand.

“I warned you to kill me or I would kill you. Didn't I!?” She said as he continued to scream out in pain. She could have ended it allot faster then this but she wanted him to suffer as she killed him. She wanted him to feel the pain of death. Slowly she closed her grip on his face as he screamed out louder and louder. She only stared at him with no emotion in her eyes. Looking in to her eyes, there was nothing but the screams of his suffering till it was over with a moist crunching sound. A think splatter of blood covered her face. She never once looked away as she took his life. There was a darkness in her eyes as she watched the last of his life leave his body. She pulled her bloody hand up and examined it closely. She whipped it towards the ground to clean off the bone and flesh that had stuck to it. It made a splattering sound on the sandy ground.

In the distance she heard her helm reporting, “Warning, toxic levels detected in blood supply. Seek medical attention at once.”