A fun little story I did for Yoko-Darkpaw for agreeing to take a commission for me. This was totally done for fun and with a humor themed-story as Axton and his unit prepare to drop onto a hostile planet. The banter and the comedy is exactly what you could see coming from an infantry company who is about to be staring down the barrel of an enemy's gun.

The Large Cruiser 'SSV Gladius' plied through the darkness of space like a predator of the sea searching for its next prey, its sensor baffles and gun batteries searching for targets that may be unfortunate enough to stray into its path. Its mass accelerator weapons and point defense batteries pointed towards anything that may seem like a threat to the ship and its crew. By itself it had enough firepower to hold its own in a heavily contested space battle and break through the most stubborn of blockades and defenses. Although it wasn't searching for a space battle but rather en-route to an insurrection on a colony world of Veridas III, a temperate world known for its rich green forests and its stunning mountains and valleys. Once a hub of Alliance agriculture and trade, it was now a stronghold of secessionists and other unsavory people who believed that their world was better off without The Alliance taking its trade and resources. The people there believed that they shouldn't have to give their crop to the other human colonies and that it was theirs to keep. After shipments from the world stopped and any sort of attempts at establishing contact with the colonist were met with silence the Alliance dispatched a small investigative team composed of a Corvette to see why the planet had gone dark. They returned battered and bleeding and half the crew dead save for the pilots who reported of the colonist's intent of breaking away from Alliance control. As a result the Alliance dispatched a Cruiser to deliver a load of Marines and other forces to put down the insurrection and return it back into the Alliance fold.

By all accounts Veridas III was a perfect world for colonization and served as an agricultural hub, sending out thousands of tons of crops and other vital materials to other regions of alliance worlds. It was mostly a peaceful planet with very little in the way of trouble, save for the local fauna being of the only major concern. The local predators would often hunt the bovine species that inhabited the forests as well as the unwary farmer who would stray too far off of their farms and growing centers. As a result, The Alliance had only deployed a small garrison or rather a local PDF unit to help protect it from marauders and other troublemakers that may happen to stumble upon the planet. The local force comprising mostly of fresh recruits or soldiers rotating back from various hotspots in the Galaxy to give them a chance to rest and await new orders to be shipped out to other regions of space. So when trouble finally came of farmers breaking into the armories and stealing weapons to arm themselves the soldiers were caught totally unaware. Those that had not joined were either arrested, killed or cast out into the wilderness to undoubtedly perish from exposure. This was not something the Alliance could allow to happen and even though the council had opted for a diplomatic solution at first, it had become apparent that any sort of talks or by sending diplomats would only make the situation worse by making the Alliance look weak and unwilling to deal with trouble. After several days of debate, they had finally agreed on a limited military solution not wanting to appear too heavy handed to what they believed to be a simple rebellion by some disfranchised farmers.

The atmosphere inside the ship was electric and tense as ship crewman and maintenance personnel raced back and forth in corridors prepping the ship for near orbit deployment. Its shuttles the UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttles sat in the hangers lined up and prepping to be loaded with soldiers to serve as their drop ships to the planet. Command had not expected heavy resistance and had opted to use shuttles instead of heavy dropships to minimize damage to the landscape (which by all accounts had been a condition set by the council in order for them to authorize military intervention). Preliminary scans over the planet by probes had only identified ground-based weapons that could not engage airborne targets effectively so command had seen no need to worry about sending heavy craft. For the soldiers lined up and waiting for the order to load it felt like a death sentence, although the shuttles were rugged and durable craft any sort of concentrated fire would undoubtedly bring it down into a fiery heap killing everyone aboard. The soldiers waited in formation shuffling nervously, checking and rechecking their equipment to make sure they had everything they needed for the drop. Most of them were raw recruits brought on for their first real foray into combat, the few veterans that were there had said few words and really did not want to be there. Seeing as a mission to put down a farmer's rebellion a poor use for military forces when simply bombing the planet from orbit would have sufficed instead. But command under directives from the council wanted the facility to be taken intact and without major loss to the colonists. Who unlike the politicians cared very little for the infrastructure of the planet seeing any sort of loss as acceptable and that they could repair or replace. What the insurrectionist lacked in training they made up for in numbers and firepower, which was rather modest despite the small size of the local PDF garrison stationed there.

Sighing heavily Petty Officer Second Class Axton Einar stood in formation awaiting the commander to arrive with the order to mount up, like the rest of the veterans there he had thought this to be a pointless endeavor. He stood there his long sinuous tail swaying behind him and his long ears flicking intermediately and his weapon slung around his chest lazily. He rocked back and forth on his feet and stretched yawning widely to prevent himself from getting stiff. He had been waiting for an hour for the word to load up, 'Hurry Up and Wait' was the common moniker for this sort of action. He had ordered his men to prep their gear and make their way to the standby point on the double only to be told to wait for the order, and he waited and waited and then waited some more. To a point to where he began to not care about whether or not he was in formation and his men, who were of various species seemed to not care either. Despite Axton's calm demeanor and relaxed appearance which made him seem somewhat aloof he was nervous about dropping into the planet with soft skinned shuttles, instead of an actual hot drop in a M35 Mako IFV. At least a Mako was better armored and had weapons that could make short work of most ground-based enemy forces with its own 155mm cannon and coaxial machine gun. But apart from the less than ideal terrain preventing their uses, command had not expected heavy enough resistance to warrant their usage. So this would be a straight slog-fest all the way to the objective through a well-fortified and dug in enemy with no concerns for the welfare of the facility of the landscapes. Closing his eyes Axton tried to picture the landscape in his head, imagining the cover he and his would have as the maneuvered onto the enemy. Axton estimated that casualties would be high and that a large portion of the men would be cut down as they assaulted the fortified positions. Undoubtedly the enemy had created a killing field for them to cut down anyone foolish enough to land in the clearings outside the farms and dropping onto the facilities themselves would be suicide. Though to be honest he much rather would have preferred the latter option due to the fact they would be landing in the midst of their enemy and into the thick of combat, something that he enjoyed quite immensely.

His thought process was broken by a loud, crisp and feminine voice breaking the relative silence around the troopers and his eyes snapped open immediately, it was the CO, Commander Yoko Darkpaw.
The commander strode into the hanger bay her weapon slung over her shoulder and she stepped quickly and with purpose infront of the formation before sounding off with a series of commands. Though short in stature compared to the rest of the soldiers around him she had a reputation for being fierce yet fair and even a headstrong leader. But she was fair and kind which was a lot more than could be said for most of the commanders Axton had served with.

"Company!" She had shouted

"Platoon!" Came the response from the Senior Chiefs standing in front of the formations

"Attention!"

With a thunderous sound of heeled boots snapping together the formation came together and immediately all talking and chatter ceased. But before the commander could speak someone in the back of the formation as their boots came together let out a noise. It was clearly fake but it imitated the sound of flatulence breaking the silence of the assembled soldiers. Several of them snickered loudly and Axton, despite his bearing found it hard to not want to laugh aloud as well. He figured it was probably one of the younger soldiers trying to be funny, as funny as it was doing that in the middle of formation was a good way to get smoked.

The commander infront of the formation bent over briefly and covered her face with her hand to suppress a giggle and a laugh, a gesture that made her look almost childish in nature. However she quickly regained control of herself and just sighed with a roll of her eyes which Axton noticed were two different colors, even as the senior NCOs of the formation whose faces were beat red in anger. He watched as Commander Darkpaw raised her hands to calm the flustered NCOs before speaking.

"Calm down everyone, that's hardly the worse thing someone can do before going into combat" Commander Darkpaw said with a genuine smile before her expression turned serious. "I just got back from a meeting with the Admiral in charge of this operation and we have final go authority". She said walking up and down in front of the assembled troopers "I had requested close air support and preliminary bombardment to soften up the area...." She sighed for a moment before speaking again. "But alas....the council wants us to take the facility intact....." She said almost disdainfully before stopping in front of the assembled soldiers before speaking. "Whatever the case may be, we have a job to do, a job that I expect each and every one of you to do to the finest expectations of The Alliance." She said standing up straighter "Whatever happens down there I will be right beside you the whole way....that I promise". She said finally finished speaking. As if on cue the alarm klaxons in the bay sounded and Yoko turned to address her men. "Lieutenants and sergeants, assemble your mean and move to your assigned shuttles!" She called out before turning around and stepping away.

Orders and shouts rang out across the platoons as platoon leaders and sergeants filed their men out one squad at a time moving them to their assigned shuttles. Axton moved out at a jog holding his weapon at the low ready. He followed the squad in front of him as they made their way along the flight line listening to the men as they joked saying things like, "This sounds like a great fucking idea, who is ready to die?" And also, "I hear crashing and burning isn't so bad, at least we won't feel anything when we hit the ground..." Many other soldiers continued the banter as they ducked making their way inside the shuttle crouching down and sitting upon the steel benches buckling themselves in and saying "Remember boys and girls, its not the fall that hurts....its the very abrupt and quick stop at the ground..." That brought out a chorus of laughs and similar snide remarks. As Axton buckled himself into his seat and adjusted his equipment he felt a nudge to his ribs and looked over to see a young solider, clearly nervous after hearing some of the jokes he asked.
"Sir is it true what they're saying? That we won't even make it to the ground?" The kid's eyes were full of fear and trepidation, and he could see that the kid's fingers were drumming nervously on his rifle. Axton simply laid his head against the head rest of the shrugging nonchalantly before speaking. "Maybe...maybe not who knows, look on the bright side kid. Either way we're getting on the ground whether in flames or smashing into the earth who knows. Either way I doubt we will feel a thing, so I suggest you close your eyes and get some rest before we get on the ground..."

He said to him flatly settling into somewhat of catatonic state of being, just letting himself relax and for all intents and purposes letting whatever happens, happens. The private sat there wide-eyed and in shock nodded meekly and tried to follow his team leader's lead and relaxing his head against the bulkhead while his lower lip trembled visibly. He looked as if he was about ready to break down into sobs of fear and Axton half-expected him to get up and run out of the shuttle. But as Axton began to relax a familiar voice cut through the roar of engine wash and jokes and jibes of the other soldiers.

"Remind me to never ask you for a rousing speech Petty Officer Axton..." Axton's eyes snapped open and he sat up to see Commander Darkpaw making her way inside the shuttle and settling down across from him buckling herself in seemingly oblivious to the stares and whispers of the other troopers. As she sat back into the seat and got herself adjusted Axton couldn't help but notice that her arm was in fact a prosthetic or rather a biotic implant. Arching an eyebrow to his commander he spoke this time in somewhat of a disinterested tone shrugging. "If these kids want a prep talk they should read a poem instead, I only deal with reality and I have no interest in sugar-coating anything for them because it does no good". He said rather matter-of-factly to her, he watched as she nodded slightly to him lifting her hands slightly.

"I like to try and give soldiers hope, give them a sense that everything will be ok. I find that they will fight harder for you if they know you have their back..." She said to him smiling pleasantly to him. Axton chuckled and shook his head as the shuttle door closed with a loud clang and the whine of the engines grew louder and he felt the ship lurch and begin to turn to its launch ramp. As the ship settled into its launch rails Axton shouted over the whine of the engines growing to full power.

"Kinda hard to have someone's back if its on fire or smashed into the ground..." He said to Commander Darkpaw as he tightened his straps on his harness and laid his head back against the bulkhead again. The rumbling growing louder and louder until finally with a jarring lurch the shuttle was catapulted into space and off its launch rails. The shuttle banked around into a holding pattern until it joined up with the rest of the assault force. The other craft then began to angle down towards the planet among the swarm of other landing craft full of troopers anxiously awaiting to get to the surface and begin fighting. Commander Darkpaw held her hand up to her ear listening to the comms nodding her head and muttering quietly over the net, the news wasn't good. Recon probes had detected anti air batteries around the facility and that the assault window had been pushed up significantly. Looking up she called out to the other soldiers "15 minutes!!" Darkpaw saw their somber faces and turned back to Axton and to her own amusement she saw that his head was back against the bulkhead his mouth hanging open and snoring loudly. Darkpaw wondered to herself how he could fall asleep so quickly and despite the lurching and banking of the shuttle. But what was even more concerning was in her gut she couldn't help but think that the prospect of crashing to the ground in a burning heap seemed all the more probable and that the Petty Officer had been correct. She decided to be honest with him before they got onto the ground
"Petty Officer Axton!" She called out to him, loudly over the rumble of the craft as it began to enter the planet's atmosphere and vibrate the entire cabin from reentry. Axton continued to snore loudly his maw hanging open. Commander Darkpaw studied him and from her eyes narrowing slightly, she wondered to herself how someone like him could sleep through the loud vibrations of the re-entry craft. As well as the yelling of the other soldiers as they tried to rouse him, finally tired of wasting her breath she looked down and with a few flicks of her fingers she opened her Omni-tool, after a brief search she located Axton's suit and went into the life support functions. With a grin she went into the 'shock response' function, which was normally reserved for checking the responsiveness of a soldier following incapacitation. She thought it appropriate since he clearly seemed incapacitated and would make for easy justification should the need arise. Cracking up the meter she let the suit charge to full power until "Good morning sweetheart" The commander whispered with a grin before hitting that activation button.

The electrical charge coursed through his body starting at the base of his skull and arched through his back and chest and all the way down to his tail as it danced back and forth. It had the similar feeling to almost being shocked back to life and Axton sat up with a startled yelp and screamed loudly, only to be shoved back into his seat his by his safety harness. His helmeted head bounced off the bulkhead ringing his head and his ears rang unpleasantly as the sharp tingling sensation across his body subsided almost as quickly as it had set in. At first he thought the shuttle had been hit by an electrical storm but as he heard the laughter of the other squad members and the devilish grin of the commander with her Omni-tool activated he knew what had just transpired. With an angry growl he unhooked his harness and stood up quickly almost hitting his head again off the low ceiling of the craft, he didn't know what he wanted to do but the sensation of causing her some sort of harm flooded into his mind.

Sensing this Commander Darkpaw let the life support charge again before speaking to him, "Do I have your attention now or do I need to check for life again?" she asked him smugly. Axton glared at her intently his tail lashing behind him as he held onto one of the overhanging support bars inside the shuttle.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" He yelled out to her letting go of all customs and courtesies go out the window "I WAS JUST DOZING!!! YOU DIDN'T NEED TO SHOCK MY NUTS OFF!!" He shouted to her his other hand balling into a fist and trembled in agitation.
Arching an eyebrow Commander Darkpaw looked up to him intently that smug grin still etched across her features as she spoke in a low and hushed tone.
"First of all Petty Officer I believe that you should watch your tone, secondly we tried to wake you to tell you that, thirdly there is indeed anti-air weaponry at the facility". She said somewhat nonchalantly closing her Omni tool.

As if on cue and before Axton could speak an explosion rocked the shuttle causing the pilot to jink suddenly, Axton lost his grip on the support bar and flew forwards towards the commander coming off his feet. Quickly she moved to the side allowing Axton to fly forward and smack into the bulkhead face first causing his head to ring and then before he could recover the pilot again jinked in the opposite direction sending him flying back towards his seat. Axton groaned in pain again as his head swam and one of the troopers next to him buckled him in as the pilot began to take evasive maneuvers. The hold was alive with the sounds of yelling, swearing and shouting as the other soldiers tried to brace themselves for the impending impact of a flak round smashing into the shuttle. Luckily the pilot in the cockpit seemed to be well experienced and avoided the worst of the shockwaves, but for the soldiers in the back of the craft it was like in the tumbling phase of a washing machine. Many of the soldiers began to become sick from the jerking movement of the aircraft as it dived towards the ground, one of the troopers spewed his guts on the back panel of the craft causing many of the soldiers in turn to as Axton would later recall 'Toss their cookies'.

Glaring slightly and with a thought Axton established a connection with the pilot who received a flashing light indication from the hold, thumbing the activation switch he answered.

"Your live go ahead" He said as he banked and jerked the controls of the shuttle making for the tree canopy to avoid another barrage of energy based flak weaponry.

Axton yelled into the headset loudly "Are you TRYING to kill us back here? There's a wall of flak out there thicker then the fur on my backside!" He said causing some of the soldiers to chuckle around him. "Oh and if we survive this we have decorated the interior of your craft back here..." He said somewhat smugly to him, Commander Darkpaw did her best to keep her composure to avoid joining in the chorus of soldiers who became sick. Even as the smell assault her nose causing her to cover her face slightly. The soldiers aptly named the craft that bore them as "Hurly Birdies" for obvious reasons, and why mostly Axton preferred the use of Mako IFVs to carry them into battle. Besides the obvious fact of having a large cannon and deadly coaxial weapon the vehicle itself was gyroscopically stable, preventing the soldiers inside from being turned into a sardine can.
The pilot frowned slightly to the comment and resisted the urge to respond back in an angry tirade of insults of his own, he had dealt with these kinds of soldiers who more often than not complained about how he flew. Normally he would deal with this by coming up with an excuse to jerk the aircraft around to silence any discontent but now he surmised would be redundant. Biting back the urge to snap he responded back to Axton. "Sir unless you want to come up here and do it yourself, I WILL get you on the ground you have no need to concern yourself about that..." He said shutting off the com-link. Axton snorted and said out loud. "I have no doubt you're going to get us on the ground...." He said as he struggled to contain his own insides bracing his feet on the floor panels as the ship continued to bank and jerk wildly and unpredictably.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of flak and shrapnel pinging off the hull of the shuttle and energy blasts, the craft whipped around in a tight 180 and settled down upon the ground with a heavy thud and the ramp slammed down with a thud. The soldiers quickly unhooked their harnesses and stood up stumbling and slipping on slick floor and as one the stumbled out of the craft tumbling down the ramp, Axton and the Commander were no different as they slid upon the deck and tripped over the falling troopers before landing on the pot marked and cratered ground with a heavy thud. Rounds whipped through the air above them and energy strikes crackled as they scrambled behind a berm for cover. The shuttle then lifted off with a wash of hot air causing them down-drafts to sending the troopers careening over one another again in a jumble of angry shouts and curses. Looking over Axton saw Commander Darkpaw crouched low and struggling to get her bearings as she dashed for cover next to him the ship's engine wash almost sending her tumbling. Grinning broadly to himself he watched as she tried to organize the men on the ground ducking as heavy caliber shots peppered the ground infront of them. The men shot back at the positions wildly and the Commander did her best to direct the shots at where they needed to go and finally after what seemed like an eternity the heavy fire began to slacken.

Taking in a deep breath Axton thought to himself "This is going to be a long day...."