Ebra build project

[Logan Shivers]

It had been a month since First Centurion Hock Snewcks had been in that meeting with Proconsul Shri Bacca. Now, as per that long, detailed briefing that he had received, he was aboard an Action IV freighter on approach to the planet Ebra. His ship, along with two others were loaded up with heavy building machinery, tools and supplies. Trailing behind the Actions IV’s he knew were two GR-75 freighters, those packed full of raw materials, and the 31st Engineers Corps.

The 31st was a specialist Legion, their business was expert, fast deployment on locations where colonization was required, and required either at speed, or under duress of sorts. They were part of the military, but would only engage in combat as a last resort, fully capable of defending themselves, but their primary objective was hard labour, construction against any odds, no excuses.

As a First Centurion, Hock was of course not in charge of the 31st, his role in this was to take his Century of troops and patrol the borders of the build project to remove any large threats that would otherwise impede the 31st. His own soldiers were in an Arquittens fast Cruiser that was already in orbit, having been dispatched some days before the remainder of this small fleet. The crew of the Arquittens had been busy running comprehensive surveys of the planet and confirming that the initial decision on the location for this endeavour was the most appropriate.

The speedy freighter was approaching the planet quickly, and Hock stared out of the window at the growing image of this, the newest discovery of the Alliance of Mercenary Consortiums, kept quiet from the galaxy at large for now, but inevitably that could not last, and they had to be ready as and when that information leaked out to securely lay claim to this bit of galactic real estate.

Hock also knew that he and the 31st were simply the first wave of AMC to arrive. It was impossible to build fast enough to secure an entire system before others came, no matter how good you were, no matter how well prepared. And so the AMC was moving huge firepower this way. Two Lucrehulks that would act not only as battleships, but also as starfighter garrisons, the AMC flagship was also on its way, a Star Destroyer he had only laid eyes on once before, and a magnificent sight it was too! Those would be escorted by their own supply ships, support ships and of course troops. They were due to start arriving within the month. Within two weeks however, a small taskforce was due to arrive, bringing with it re-supply materials and additional manpower for what would by then be a much expanded operation to the initial ground clearing and preparation work. Hock knew that First Lieutenant Reeat Sacuul was in command of the re-supply ship, a Modular Taskforce Cruiser, and was looking forward to seeing him, they had not crossed paths for quite some time, their duties not permitting. Running escort to the MTC was General Logan Shivers, reported to be coming in the FHA flagship, the Black Dragon, an old, but battle tested Strike class Cruiser. Until then… It was up to him, his Century of troops and the 31st.

“Gods, what a desolate place… it is truly just a rock.”

Hock was brought out of his daydream by the ships communications operator who had sidled up next to him and stared out at the view ahead of them. Hock could see what he meant. The planet was a rocky wasteland, pitted by ancient craters and nothing much else. It was a wonder it was habitable, which he guessed meant that there was some sort of plant life down there…. But not enough to be visible from orbit. As the pilot altered their approach vector to better match the orbiting pattern of the Arquittens, huge glacier fields came into view.

“You are not wrong there Thrane, and damn cold too.”

“Better and better huh?.... oh well… anyway, we have contact from the Cruiser sir, they are beginning their descent and ask us to follow. They plan to take position directly above our landing zone and remain at the altitude of 1km for the duration, providing a secure base and optimal sensor coverage.”

“Very well. Pilot, take us in on a slightly steeper angle of descent so that we can duck in under them when they reach their desired altitude. Comms, signal the rest of our intent and patch me through to my Century on the Cruiser.”
This did not take long and by the time Hock made his way through the cramped cockpit of the ship to the comms unit the officer had the line open and ready.

“Private Oswalds reporting in sir.”

“Greetings Private, I hope all is in order and that despite my absence, you have all conducted yourselves well?”

“Yes Sir!”
“Are you ready for deployment? The Courier should be loaded and ready to deply by now?”
“Yes Sir, the first team is already on it, they will deply as soon as we get the green light from the Ship commander. Their drop will take place at about the same time as your planned arrival, the second team is already in the docking bay ready for the Couriers return to load up, will be on surface one hour later. The final team an hour after that.”

“Good, see you planet side Private.”

Hock returned to his place by the window and waited. He had no further preparations to make for arrival so he just enjoyed the view.



Their descent and landing had been timed well, depositing them on the ground just after Sunset. The three Action VI freighters sat like dark humps at the base of a deep crater, no lights showing, powered down. They had made the approach as stealthily as these work horses could muster, just in case the planet was not as unpopulated as it appeared to be from space. It was not uncommon for smugglers and pirates to search for new hyper lanes to do their illegal runs and as such they often came across such systems well before anyone else and used them as hidden bases. The Arquittens was in stationary atmospheric orbit, again running silent and dark, but casting its sensors out across the ground to obtain as much information as possible about their immediate surroundings.

The first team of Hock’s Century was on the ground and mustering in front of him, quietly awaiting their orders. The crews from the freighters busy inside unfastening their cargos ready to be unloaded.

“As the first drop team you are designated Alpha, your squads Alpha 1 through 3. Alpha 1, split down to four units and take the compass points North, East, South and West, go to the crater rim and set up pickets. Alpha 2 North East, South East, South West, North West, go out beyond the crater rim and set up picket points 1Km out. Stay quiet and alert. Beta 1 and 2 will be joining you once they land so plan on 6 personell, 8 hour shifts. Alpha 3, you are on camp duty, get our base of operations set up. Beta 3 will likewise join you once landed. Go.”

As planned, an hour later Beta team landed and was divided up as per Alpha team. With Alpha and Beta 3 squads now on duty setting up the camp, the pre fabricated command hut and barracks bunker were taking shape nicely. By the time Gamma Team arrived, consisting of two squads plus his two adjutants, the Command hut, being the smaller and simpler construction of the two was complete and being furnished.

Hock met Gamma teams as they disembarked, forming up in front of him.

“Welcome to Ebra soldiers. You are designated Gamma 1 and 2.”

Hock brought up a holodisplay map of the crater and surrounding regions, as far as the sensor coverage from the cruiser above them extended. Green pin pricks showed the location of the pickets and a larger green circle the central location of the camp. The map was split into quadrants, North to East, East to South and so on.

“Gamma 1, scout North West and North Eash quadrant, extend out 1Km past current coverage. Gamma 2 likewise for South East and West quadrants. Complete two sweeps. Include detailed terrain mapping in your reports back. Go.”

By sunrise, they would have a base set up, eight secure and defensible picket points, a wider perimeter which would hopefully prove secure at least for the immediate future, a landing pad for the much heavier GR-75’s that should be arriving just after sunrise, and some very tired troops, some of whom would already be taking their rest break and sleeping in the barracks. The landing pad, like almost everything constructed in this initial stage was of course temporary and basic in its construction. Essentially a rectangular area large enough to allow the two large freighters to land would be flattened by super heating the surface rock to the point that it melted, then a controlled cooling down of the area would mean a solid and smooth rock base to land on. Any such construction would not withstand constant use, but it was more than enough for the two ships to land on.

Satisfied that all was in hand, Hock retired to his cramped cabin in the Action VI freighter he had arrived on to catch some sleep. His Adjutants were now on duty and he would need to be back up and fresh for when the 31st arrived.

[Logan Shivers]

When Hock next left his cabin, he was greated by a squad leader, his adjutants having gone to get some rest themselves. The Command Hut was complete and his belongings had been moved into the commanders quarters. The Barracks was complete and the Centuries kit stowed inside.

Work had also begun on the Mess Hall, the first phase of it at least which would be large enough to cater for his own people and the ship crews. Once the 31st arrived they would be adding on to that structure substantially as well as erecting their own pre-fabricated buildings to conduct their operations out of and of course house them for the duration.

A noise from above drew his attention, and right on time, two huge GR-75 freighters made their appearance, slowly lumbering towards the temporary landing pad.

“What is the current status of our teams and any reports back from the pickets and scouting parties?”

“Alpha and Beta teams 1 and 2 have reported their picket locations are settled, no activity to report. Gamma teams have completed scouting and initial reports are similarly negative of any activity. They have reduced to 3 man patrol teams and are running 8 hour patrols overlapping the picket changeover patterns for maximum effectiveness.”

“Very good. That will be all, carry on soldier, I am going to go meet the 31st and welcome them in.”

The squad leader saluted and returned to his duties, leaving Hock to make his way to the landing ships. His movements were slightly hindered by the cold weather gear he had piled on, but the temperature on this damned rock did not seem to get above 5 degrees at best, and he was not exactly fond of the cold.

By the time he got to the landing pad, the two ships had settled and already a stream of sentients was pouring out in various directions. He spotted a large number of them heading towards the Action VI’s to collect the remaining pre-fab building panels and relevant tools, and knowing their efficiency, those ships would be stripped bare within minutes, as if a plague oflocusts had swarmed past nibbling every useful part of a plant and leaving just an empty husk behind.

He spotted who he was looking for and snapped a salute.

“Proconsul Baca, welcome to Ebra. I did not have the opportunity previously but I wanted to congratulate you on this system find, it was a great bit of hyper lane scouting!”

Shri smiled at Hock and returned the salute,

“Thank you and thank you. And I have to admit, a good bit of luck was involved too! How are things shaping up?”

“Well. Pickets are set up and scouts are running a perimeter just outside of the sensor coverage from the Cruiser, all report negative activity at present. It seems our only hostile at the moment is this cold!”

“Good, sounds like we are on track for phase two, which I need to brief you on as you were not at that meeting. First Lieutenant Sacuul is inbound with the 2nd Scout Century, all Veterans of this type of action as they were with us both at Leafar and Comra. He will also bring with him the 113rd and 98th Riflemen Centuries, the remainder of the passengers aboard the MTC being civilian contractor Engineers. By the time they arrive, my Engineers will have erected the perimeter wall. This will be manned by your men, with the 113th to bolster the numbers. First Lieutenant Sacuul will utilise the 98th to operate perimeter sweeps. The Scouts will take over all ranged scouting. They will be supported by the sensor array aboard the MTC and deployed to areas where eyes on the ground are required due to poor sensor pick up. General Shivers will also be on hand in the Black Dragon with 3 drop ships to provide quick response units to any areas we may require. Any question so far?”

“Sir, so far this appears to just be a barren rock, are we engaging too much firepower?”

“I hope you are right, but we will not risk that you are not. Our foothold here is tenuous at present and until we are more secure, we take all precautions and act as if there is an enemy hidden in every crater and cave. Phase two will be active until the arrival of the fleet. By that time this encampment should be a partially active base with two Ion batteries and two Laser batteries in full operation. A local area shield generator as well as the surface to air missile emplacements that are already in place. The 31st Engineers will pull out and be replaced by civilian engineers and the 5th Legion under General Oquan Tanginbaca. You will accompany us and we will repeat this process at a location on the opposite side of the planet. This sounds very simple, and if it goes to plan, without any nasty surprises, we can be assured of having a strong hold of this planet before any large organisations find out about Ebra and mobilise to try and colonize. But…. That is only IF things go as planned and without issue.. whick is rarely the case, so stay alert soldier.”

“Yes sir, understood.”

“Ok, carry on and keep me up to date with anything and everything. I want hourly updates at the least.”

“yes sir.”

With that Hock saluted and left. Once outside, he pulled his cold weather gear tight around him and stood and watched for a while, taking stock of what was going on. In the distance, right up on the rim of the large crater he could see the form of a GR-75 hovering, with a long section of what he presumed was wall being lowered from its cargo bay with the tractor beam. He grabbed his ever present macros and zoomed in, to see a small army of figures helping to guide the massive section of wall into place. These pre-fabricated buildings and walls were proving to be absolutely invaluable in their colonisation efforts.

Hock spent the remainder of the day looking over reports, making his own and taking the time to travel around the perimeter himself, using the convenience of a speeder to do so efficiently. Happy with his Centuries work, he retired for the night, hoping that this state of calm would continue.

The next day proved to be pretty much the same, calm and uneventfull apart from the amazing pace that the 31st Engineers continued to erect the base at. By late afternoon Hock was beginning to think about his evening meal when one of his adjutants came in from the command room looking more lively than just ten minutes before.

“Sir, Beta squad reports multiple sensor pick ups in NE quadrant, sector 4. Approximately 6km out but moving closer. Sensors report biologicals only.”

“What have we got in the area?”

“Gamma 2 is the closest, can be on site in 12 mnutes.”

“Get them moving, but not at speed, they are to deploy with care and approach targets with stealth. I want intel before they go charging in blasters blazing.”

“Yes Sir.”

Hock forgot about his food and made his way back into the Command Room. He could see on a holo display the location of the new targets and also the location of his forces. The targets were heading right for his picket line, in more or less a straight line, very little deviation. But it did not look like they were moving particularly quickly.

A full half an hour passed before a further report came in.

“Sir, biologicals have been identified. We have a pack of Duracrete Slugs inbound.”

Hock groaned. The pests were of course not a difficult or even dangerous foe… but they were pests and should they get close to the new buildings being erected, could cause untold damage. The damned things just took so long to kill, their armoured hides providing amazing protection.

“Get the orders out, we need to kill them off before they come blundering to our build site. I will go out and assist, take some heavy weaponry out to speed things up.”

Hock visited the Action VI that he had arrived in and located their weapons cache onboard. He grabbed a crate of K-43’s and slung them into the back of his Forest Ranger, a vehicle remarkably capable in this terrain, and set of to join Gammma squad in their tedious task.

On arrival he found the team of 6 blasting away at the slow moving slugs, but their weapons were not doing a lot of damage, at this rate it would take hours to kill them all and Hock had no intention of letting it go on that long. He got the K-43’s out of the crate and passed them along, keeping the last one to himself.

Once they started blasting at them with these, the job was suddenly made much easier. The heavy blaster bolts tore into the thick armour plating, gouging out huge sections of their slug like bodies. It still took multiple hits to kill each slug, but they managed the task in just under an hour.

The creatures could bring no resistance, just a stubborn onward movement to their goal, but once the last one stopped moving, Hock ordered a further scout of the surrounding area, to make sure there were no more. An unlikely event as those things travelled in multiple packs.

“Nothing nearby sir, if there are other packs around, they are further out.”

“OK, well… keep the K-43’s, I will ensure all teams are equipped with some, it makes killing those pests a bit easier, or at least quicker. I will take a quick look further out since I have the vehicle with me then return to camp, return to your usual rotation soldier.”

Hock got back onto his vehicle and did a wide arc around the quadrant but despite moving several kilometres out, he spotted no further packs of Slugs, or, much else at all on the barren, rocky planet surface. It was a damned inhospitable place.

He returned to the base and made his report to the Proconsul then retired for the night. Hock was not overly impressed with this place. He was not the sort to crave violence, but he did get bored easily, and this place seemed set to bore him to death… in many ways, being stuck on a ship in hyper was better, at least it was not so damned cold on a ship.

[Logan Shivers]

The days rolled on without major incident. Several packs of Duracrete Slugs had been located and killed, the tedious work of doing so and then disposing of the carcasses so they would not attract other predators was about the highlight of Hock’s Century’s operations so far on the planet.

The crater now resembled something more akin to a military base, with some of the pre fabricated structures even having solid foundations and walls added to them. Whilst Hock stood on the security wall that now completely encircled the crater rim and surveyed his surroundings, he reminded himself that the pace should soon change. Only this morning they had received a communication announcing the arrival of the second wave of AMC forces.

Originally scheduled to be the FHA Command ship the Black Dragon escorting the Modular Taskforce Cruiser Regime Changer, commanded by General Logan Shivers and First Lieutenant Reeat Sacuul respectively, the High Command had managed to divert the Tabder class Heavy Freighter Kraken and that too would now be arriving with them. This was a massive boost to their efforts planet side as the ship was crammed full of raw materials and civilian builders.

This addition would also mean that the crews of the two GR-75’s would have their work cut out for them, working around the clock in shifts to bring the vast amounts of materials down from orbit. Hock could see them already preparing for take off, heading up to orbit to greet the arriving fleet which should be in orbit within five hours.

An adjutant approached Hock and saluted smartly, despite his filthy engineers uniform.

“Sir, Proconsul Bacca requires your attendance at the Command room.”

Having returned the salute, Hock replied

“Understood, thank you soldier.”

He took one last look at the scenery around him that had taken up his attention this morning and made his way to meet the Proconsul.

On arrival, Hock found Shri to be in a very good mood, despite being immensely busy and seeming to have an endless stream of work.

“AH! First Centurion Snewcks, come in, take a seat. I assume you have been briefed on the new arrivals today?”

“Yes sir, great news on the tabder.”

“Yes, very. This will allow us to leap ahead of schedule by almost a month! But it does also mean that your cosy and I suspect rather boring role here is at an end. With morer troops inbound this compound will soon be overflowing with military and with more civvies coming… well, we are tight on space. So, I want to clear your Century out ahead of their arrival and get you moving to form the next beach head so to speak. The Arq. Will stay with us to provide cover whilst we are without a military scouting troop, but the Courier isalready on its way down to start picking up your team. In addition, General Shivers has sent two DX-9 dropships from the Black Dragon, between those, the Courier and the Action VI freighters, you will be able to move in one unit. Equipment is being made ready on the Regime Changer for you to pick up, please send the freighters up as soon as possible, they can be loading the minute the MTC reaches orbit. Your target location and further briefing are on this datapad, please read up whilst you fly. Any questions?”

“Any sign of our find having leaked yet sir?”

“Not that we are aware of, Director Hanabusa has the ISS all over this, we are hoping to keep a lid on it for another month, but we have to take it day by day, and plan for the worst.”

“Understood sir, I am on my way.”

Hock threw a salute and wasted no time in getting out of there and getting organised. He raised the Centuries general comms channel.

“This is First Centurion Snewcks. New orders, listen carefully. All units to be ready to move out in one hour. Pickets, leave the camps and pack personal gear only. I will shortly transmit exact details of pick ups, we are moving to a new location, building a new beach head. Freighter crews, power up and head to orbit. Fresh gear is waiting aboard the Regime Changer to load up, orbit coordinates being transmitted shortly for you. Lets look smart on this, move it.”

By the time he had finished his message, one of his adjutants was at his side,

“Courier is landing here in half an hour, get our gear ready to load up.”

“Yes sir.”

The Adjutant ran off and Hock made his way to his quarters to collect what few belongings he had unstowed from the Action he arrived in. The remainder could remain where it was as the freighters would be meeting them at their new location.

[Logan Shivers]

Aboard the MTC Regime Changer, First Lieutenant Sacuul had just finished addressing his combined taskforce of Engineers and Scouts. The final instructions given, he had released them all to their duties, preparing for the transfer of both personnel and materials to the planet surface.

Their destination had been kept from them until that point, to help prevent leaks and keep a lid on the system discovery. Everyone just knew they were part of a large building contract. Now, with their ships arrival in the system, a complete communications blackout was in effect and so Reeat had been able to finally provide a full and clear briefing and instructions.

Having made his way back to the Bridge, he monitored the shipboard activity and liaised with the ISS officer onboard who was in charge of communication security and integrity. Thankfully, all appeared to be going as planned and so far no issues had arisen.

Nearby, aboard the Strike class Cruiser Black Dragon, General Shivers had just returned aboard, having just spent the last hour briefing the civilians aboard the Tabder class Freighter Kraken. With the necessary exception of the Bridge crew, nobody on that ship had been aware of their destination either, having been provided with the exact same “building contract” story as those aboard the Regime Changer. The Kraken had also got an ISS officer onboard as well as a team of FHA troops to act as his support and assist. Logan had fully briefed his own crew just before their arrival to the system, allowing him to travel to the Kraken as soon as they exited hyper.

Now back on his own Bridge, Logan looked out at the growing sphere of Ebra with a look of distaste on his face. Mumbling to himself,

“Another cold rock… this galaxy is dead set against me spending time on a nice, warm planet.”
He turned and walked over to the Pilot, reading the ETA from his display screen. Seeing that they still had a couple of hours until they reached orbit, having to travel at the lumbering speed of the Tabder, he decided there was nothing more for him to do for now.

“I will be in my cabin, keep me appraised of any changes.”

He wanted an opportunity to look over his latest batch of troops that Sen Cavi had sent his way. Sen had described them as loyalist fanatics, almost dangerous in their fanaticism towards the FHA and apparently Logan in particular. From what Sen had divulged, and what Logan had read in the profile files so far, each and every one of them was a released slave from one of the many, many solo hunts Logan had been on over the years. Unknown to him, and apparently until recently even to the master of information that was Sen Cavi, this group of fanatics had been gathering on Leafar. Being a planet under AMC control, and in need of heavy development, this was where Logan tended to place those ex-slaves who had nowhere to go, no family, friends or place to call home. He placed them in work crews and provided an opportunity for them to earn a wage, belong and find a path in life. Slowly some of those individuals had found each other and formed a group they simply called “The Free”. Upon the founding of the FHA metropolis on Leafar, The Free had presented themselves in the hope of becoming custodians of the religious buildings, monuments and in general, protectors of the metropolis. Sen had vetted them and subsequently welcomed them with open arms into the folds of the FHA. He had then found that some of The Free were suitable candidates to join the military forces of the FHA. The group, apparently keen on monikers, dubbed themselves the “Chosen Few” and performed admirably in training. The first four squads were onboard and eager to take part in their first active mission. Logan was surprised to see that almost all were female… but then, the vast majority of the slaves he found and released tended to be female so it should perhaps not have been quite so much of a surprise.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Hock was overseeing his Centuries boarding of the Courier and FHA landing ships. He had decided that one of his adjutants would go with the Actions on their trip up to the rendezvous with the MTC, while he would ride on the Courier to their new assigned location.

The five ships had gathered the entire team from their picket positions and brought them back to base camp to gather what few belongings they had and were now ready to depart. Hock waited until he was the last and boarded the Courier, making himself comfortable behind the pilot in the cockpit for the journey.

[Logan Shivers]

The location for the second beachhead was a plateau on high ground, surrounded on three sides by mountain peaks, and the sprawling, craggy slopes of the mountains down to the rocky foothills far below in the fourth. The area was even colder due to its altitude and was frequently buffeted by high winds, adding to its unpleasantness.

The Courier and four dropships landed at the centre of the plateau, leaving the engines running whilst the troops disembarked and unloaded their kit. All they had with them was their military equipment, weapons, ration packs, survival gear. The rest would be coming down soon in the Action freighters. As soon as the ships were empty they took off, running a scan of the surrounding mountains before heading back up into the skies and on to their next task.

The scan had come back negative of any energy signatures but had picked up life signs of uncertain nature in the surrounding mountains. His Century had mustered on the plain, all wrapped up in their heavy winter gear and Hock made his way to their head to address them.

“Right, we got work to do. New designations, we are now the Plateau Team so P1 through P8, P1 through P4, sweep the plateau perimeter with the mountains, P5 and 6, take the open side, P7 and 8, scout out the immediate area, locate suitable places for the Actions to land as primary, then locations for landing pads to be set up for the heavier ships. Move out.”

The eight teams set out to their allocated tasks, leaving Hock with three adjutants which he set to work on getting the mobile communications unit set up. Then, once again, Hock found himself with nothing to do but wait.

Four hours later, his perimeter scouting parties not quite half way through their patrols, the Action VI freighters arrived and Hock helped to guide them down to where his teams had identified as suitable landing locations. With engines winding down, cargo bay ramps lowered and their crews mustered, Hock called in P7 and 8 as they had completed their assigned tasks.

“Teams, priority for us now is to get a landing pad set up, we have some heavy freighters coming in tomorrow. Pilots – your turn to rest for now, Loadmasters, I want you to oversee the unloading of the landing bay reinforcement struts. P7 you are setting them in place. P8, you are on the self levelling duracrete mix. Freighter #4 is your bird, she is set up with mixing vats and pouring shoots. Lets get moving.”

Hock made his way to the mobile comms unit to get an update. Finding all was well and going to plan, he left one adjutant there to monitor and set the other two to setting up tents. This night would be a camping night as despite their size, the freighters were far too crammed with equipment and materials to fit 100 troops plus their own crew.

Hock then made his way to freighter #4 to help oversee this part of the process. The idea was that once the supporting and reinforcing framework was set up for the landing pad, the freighter would hover above it and slowly move from end to end, dispensing the liquid duracrete mix as it went. This should then settle into a flat surface, covering and encompassing the pre-laid grid and set hard within ten hours. The freighter itself had four huge vats at the rear, near the cargo bay doors. They contained a powder mix at present, but P8 would start adding a thick silvery gel to the powder mix and stirring the resulting soup into a consistent slurry. The gel was something AMC R&D had come up with, mixing Varium and Rudic with strong acids that had the effect of liquifying the minerals. Contained within the powder mix, was an alkaline reagent that would start to neutralise the acids and thus reverse the liquification of the minerals, which by that time would be mixed in with the Duracrete and Meleenium powder.

Once this mix set, it would be harder than granite and the perfect base for a landing pad. Being a thick, liquid slurry when it was poured out, it would also form a flat, level surface, and so save time and manpower trying to accomplish that exact same thing. It was amazing, and had taken years to perfect, but when seen in action, and seeing just how useful it was, it was worth all that time in research.

• * * *

It was just after dawn and Hock was already making his way over to the landing pad. He came across the chief loadmaster who appeared to have got up even earlier as he was making his way back from the location. The Loadmaster snapped a salute and reported in.

“Sir, the landing pad looks good, has set solid, no crackes, sounders not finding any air pockets. The Gallo’s are on the way, due to land in one hour, or just under.”

“Good, a job well done. Loadmaster, when the ships arrive this place will suddenly get much busier. Can your team ensure the logistics of getting such an influx goes smoothly?”
“Yes Sir, no problem. Just one thing, are we talking civvies sir or military?”
“Both, but for all intent and purposes, the civvies are under our command until we gain a settled foothold on this rock.”
“Understood sir.”

The Loadmaster was on his way to the basic camp they had managed to set up and Hock was about to continue on his intended inspection of the landing pad when he noticed two figures approaching him with haste. It was his chief Adjutant and a member of team 2 if he was not mistaken.

“SIR!! We have been trying to get hold of you on your comm….”

Hock realised he had not picked it up when leaving his cabin, the comms tent was his next planned stop so he had not thought much about it…

“What is the situation?”

“Sir, P4 has not reported in for over five hours. P3 headed over to their search coordinates to see what was going on. They split, against my recommendations,”

This last was said with a look of intent at the solitary member of P3 who was standing at attention and who Hock noticed was looking very nervous.

“One by one P3 have gone silent, all apart from Goples here who I ordered back to camp.”

Hock did not like the sound of that. 7 trained soldiers did not just go silent for no reason.

“Get P6 and 7 geared up. Goples, grab 10 minutes rest, then you are taking us out to last known location of your team. We will start from there. Oswalds, file a report with the Proconsul, request some arial recon assistance.”

Without waiting for the formality of salutes, Hock made his way back to his cabin on the Action to gear up himself. This seemed a situation for armour and weapons, no lightweight scouting gear or this camp-friendly uniform he was in.

An hour later saw them on location at the edge of the plateau, where it met the jagged terrain of the surrounding mountains. Vegitation was sparse and visibility was good, however the ground was full of sharp ridges and canyons of varying depths, some no larger than a crack in the ground, others narrow and deep enough to not be able to see to the bottom with unassisted vision. It was like somebody had taken the edge of the plateau and squeezed so that it rumpled up like a well slept in bedsheet.

Before they left the camp Hock had been informed that General Logan Shivers was sending in a couple of squads in the dropships that had helped bring them all out to this plateau and Hock could see now that they would be sorely needed. It could take them months to properly search this little sector from the ground.

“Sir, looks like the FHA is inbound”

One of his troops pointed far out and up, and Hock scanned his macros across and spotted two dots that slowly grew to be the recognisable shapes of the dropships.

“We will wait here for them, best ground for them to land on.”

They set off a green flare just to make things a bit easier on the incoming pilots and before long, the two armoured ships had bumped down amidst a spray of grit and dust. When the ramps dropped, Hock was pleased to see a face he knew from previous expeditions. A large Gamorrean by the name of Argon who was the somewhat self-appointed chief bodyguard of the General. For a Gamorrean, he was not only fairly well tempered, but also spoke pretty clear basic so it was easy to communicate with him.

“First Centurion Snewcks, you lose soldiers? Where?”

“Good to see you too Argon, and thanks for coming!”

Hock could not help the snide reply, even under these circumstances,

“We lost contact with them in this sector without any warning. First the scouting patrol, then two who went to search. We have heard nothing at all from them.”

Argon plodded ahead, his head up in the air sniffing, as though he was some sort of hunting hound.

“No smell blood here, no smell nothing, just air.”

He plodded back towards the dropship he had come from and shouted.

“BARA, CONNIE, DELZA.”

Three Diathim flowed out of the ship, their grace mesmerizing, especially the two females which had clearly caught the attention of Hock’sall male patrols. But Argon did not appear moved in the slightest.

“You fly low, there, there and there. Go three hour walk far, come back.”

The three Diathim nodded their understanding of his orders and jumped into the air, their wings flittering into action to take them speeding away on their low flying arial scouting mission. Hock did find the Diathim a bit spooky as a race, but could not fault their value in the military, and knew that the FHA had used them before to great strategic advantage.

Argon had plodded back in to the ship and when he stepped back off the ramp, it closed behind him and both ships took off and headed out over the craggy ground, starting what appeared to be a higher altitude search pattern of the area.

“First Centurion Snewcks, I come with you, we walk yes?”

Hock nodded, unsure of his actual standing in regards to Argon as the Gamorrean held no official rank that he was aware of, but he seemed to be happy to let Hock lead. He brought up a rough map of the sector on his armours built in holoprojector and pointed out the search patterns he had been working on.

“I was planning two parties, one here, and one here. Start from edges of sector and work inwards.”

Argon nodded. He stuck his huge finger into the holoimage

“Meet there when dark, I take one patrol, you take other?”

“Thank you, your experience will be appreciated.”

Argon provided some comm links to Hock so that he would be able to communicate with the Diathim and the dropships as well as Argon of course, and the two patrols headed on out into the sector to begin the search in earnest.

[Logan Shivers]

No more than an hour into the search, Connie made contact with both her fellow Diathim and Argon and Hock.

“Protector Argon, First Centurion Snewcks, I include Bara and Delza in this communication. I believe I have found the cause of the vanishing scouts. It is not good news I am afraid.”

The voice of the Diathim was rich, steady and somewhat melodic, it was captivating to listen to but it also conveyed a sense of dread.

“Bara, Delza, go swiftly to meet the nearest ground party to your locations, fly low, for there is danger in the skies above. This planet, it would seem, has some formidable creatures on its surface, despite its bleakness. I am crouched low in a small cave, overlooking a deep valley, sending its location coordinates to you all now. The valley appears to be a nesting ground for Draigons…. I have spotted six mating pairs so far.”

This did indeed bring a chill to all who were listening. A single one of those creatures was dangerous… but 12?! Potentially more? That was definitely NOT great news at all. And if they were mating… that tended to make them even more aggressive.

Argon signalled for his patrol to gather in and settle then got onto the comms.

“Connie, you come back, done good.”

“Protector Argon, I cannot. I was lucky not to be spotted when I blundered into this valley, if I take to the sky at present, they will no doubt spot me. Once it is dark, I will seek to extract myself then.”

“OK, stay hide. Hock, you and patrol go to meeting place now, not later, we meet there, make plans. Others dead, but more die if we not kill Draigons.”

Hock understood clearly. His men had been food for Draigons… and with such a large number of them in the region, everyone else would also be in danger for as long as they existed here.

“Understood Argon. May be worth noting at this point that we are not equipped to hunt Draigons… Think we can get a weapons drop inbound?”

There was no reply for some time from Argon, but eventually he came back online,

“Weapon drop four hours at meet point. Logan say good hunt we do.”

“Excellent, we will be arriving in about an hour, all being well.”

Hock and his men gathered into a tight formation, rather than the spread out search formation they had been using. Staying in a close group and with their eyes peeled for Draigon they made their way towards the meeting location.

It was not long into their new, more determined march toward the meeting point when Bara almost got shot out of the sky by an over-anxious scout, thinking the incoming flying thing was attacking. Thankfully he missed and Bara gracefully landed next to Hock, her soft leather boots barely making a sound as they touched down.

“Greetings First Centurion, I hope you do not mind me joining you. I can report that currently the skies are clear of danger in this location. Your patrol can proceed with more speed and less caution for now.”

“Thank you Bara, that is good to know. Come on you laxy clodheads, lets get some speed on this march, we need to get ourselves ready to go hunting, instead of sculking around waiting to be hunted.”

This motivated the well trained troops even further and they pushed on, Bara assisting by leading them through the most straightforward path through the craggy rocklands.

******

Later that afternoon, when both Argon and Hock’s patrols had met up, the arranged weapons drop came in. The ground would not allow for a landing, but the pilot of the DX-9 Dropship expertly hovered above them while a loadmaster dropped crates to the waiting soldiers.

As soon as the drop was done, the ship left, its engines pushing it to its best speed to leave the area. Draigons were not incapable of causing damage to a small ship, and nesting, aggressive Draigons in plural could certainly bring it down. Ship mounted weapons were mostly ineffective against the beasts as they mostly relied on tracking, and they were simply not built to track living entities, but mechanical ones. Even if a gunner was in control, the Draigon was a beast at home in the air, and trying to actually hit one with ship mounted weapon was not an easy task at all.

The weapons drop had consisted of an A280, a force pike and a shield for each soldier. One of the scouts looked dubiously at the shield and pike,

“What good are these? We aint planning on getting THAT close are we?!”

Hock eyed him and responded, having had the benefit of previous experience battling these creatures.

“You may not wish to get close to THEM, but I assure you, THEY will want to come in nice and close to US. The shield is a nice idea. It may just be the thing to save you from being plucked from the ground by a swooping Draigon. Hold it tight, but DON’T strap it on… if one of those comes at you, make yourself as small as you can and hide under it, with any luck you might survive… and if you still have your wits about you, the pike will be much better at causing them some damage close in than your rifle. So… crouch, shield and stick your pike up towards it, braced against the ground.”

Argon smiled knowingly, that was exactly the tactic he had been thinking of, having employed it himself before. He hefted his shield, which was actually about the size of the soldier Hock had been talking to, growled and raiset it, along with his pike into the air.

“WE GO HUNT!!!”

And just as if to ruin his moment his comms unit buzzed with an incoming transmission from Connie.

“Think you folks might have incoming…. I heard that ship from here and two of the Draigons appear to have done too, they just took off and are headed your way.”

Aware that a Draigon could cover substantial ground whilst in flight, Argon and Hock wasted no time in deploying their soldiers. Not wanting to provide multiple targets in a single location, the soldiers were spread out across the craggy ground, tucked into crevices where possible, hiding behind rocks or raised ground otherwise, shields and pikes ready to grab, but all searching the skies with the scopes of their rifles for now.

“GOT THEM, inbound, 20 degrees north, 30 elevation, coming in fast but not yet directly at us, not sure they got a location on us.”

Hock looked in the direction the eagle eyed trooper had directed and sure enough, two growing specs were quickly being defined as they drew closer in.

“Lets give them something to think about, soon as they are in range, fire at will. Aim well and good luck all.”

Time seemed to crawl by as they all stared at the incoming beasts through their rifles scopes. Finally, after what seemed like hours but had been mere minutes, the Draigons came into range and they all started firing at the admittedly gracefull beasts.

As soon as they did, the two Draigons located them and changed direction to head straight at the firing soldiers. Several shots hit true, especially on the leading Draigon, but these were tough beasts and although injured, neither was killed.

The first Draigon came in with an uncontrolled landing, one of its wings having been shot at just as it flared them to slow its descent, it slammed into the ground and went skittering across the rocky terrain for about a hundred metres, its tail and wings flailing. One unclucky soldier died instantly as the creature had landed right ontop of him, another was knocked senseless as its tail came whipping past and slammed into his chest throwing him back over 10 metres.

The grounded Draigon was not finished though, it roared its rage and snapped its huge jaws at a third soldier who was quick enough to bring his shield up. The Draigon bit down on the shield, crumpling it but that gave the soldier time enough to step back and stab at it with his pike. Two more soldiers ran at it from the side, shields raised and pikes stabbing at it. A tail swipe sent the first flying but the second managed to get a couple of hits in before her shield was battered by a huge set of talons and the soldier fell flat on her back from the force, her pike still stabbing relentlessly at the Draigons side. With another roar of rage and defiance the Draigon snapped at the sloder ahead of him again but this time caught hold of arm and chest and with a a huge heave it took off again, carrying its prize in its maw.

The second Draigon had swooped in low, its tallons snatching at soldiers as it passed. It grabbed one shield, briefly lifting the soldier holding it into the air until she remembered to let go, but its second strike was better aimed and it managed to grab both shield and soldier. The captured woman however was not done fighting and still with force pike in hand, sliced and stabbed relentlessly at the Draigons underbelly. Screetching in pain it let its prize go, hurling the woman across the ground at bone breaking speed. As the creature flew past one last soldier in its attack run, it flicked its tail out and slammed it right into the unfortunate soul. Although he had tried to raise his shield, the weight and momentum of the blow picked him up and hurled him several metres, his impromptu flight cut short by a sharp outcrop of rock. The second hard impact caused his stressed armour to fail completely and he died from the impact injuries.

The two creaturers flew away, their first attack run having caused heavy casualties, but the distance now gave the remaining troopers a chance to take more shots at them with their rifles. Not a dumb beast by any means, the two stayed as low as possible whilst they re-alligned for another attack run, making hitting them much harder, but still, a number of energy bolts hit the creatures, causing them to shreak in rage and pain.

But in they came, and this time one came in right at Argon and Hock who had positioned themselves in a substantial crack in the ground. They both dropped their rifles and prepared shield and pike. Both being larger than your average humanoid, their shields were more substantial and their pikes larger, and their mass was greater so both hoped to be able to cause more damage. The Draigno came screaming in, its maw open and aiming right for Argon whilst at the same time its talloned claws aimed at Hock in a weird contortion of its serpentine body.

Argon braced behind his shield and with the butt of his pike against a rock, he aimed its tip at the incoming attack. The haft of his pike exploded into splinters as the Draigons head slammed into its tip, driving the sharp point deep into its lower jaw. This caused two things to happen, the Draigons jaw slammed shut, so that when it hit Argons shield there were no fangs in play, just the underside of the Draigons huge head which deflected back upwards. The force was still substantial though and large as Argon was, he still fell backwards. His shield had done its job, but it was now a shattered ruin.

The second thing that happened was that the Draigon was distracted from its double attack move and instead of wrapping its talons around Hock, it missed completely, giving Hock the perfect opportunity to drive his own pike into the belly of the Draigon as it flew past.

The daxed and now heavily wounded creature once again bounced hard onto the ground, this time rolling along the ground in a tangle of wings and limbs, raising a huge dust cloud as it passed and smashing into two more soldiers on its way. As it came to a halt, it began to try and move, but it was sluggish and two nearby soldiers ran to it, stabbing their pikes deep into its long neck, doing their best to sever it. The beast was dead.

But the second had not been idle, it had taken a different angle of attack and was coming in fast, aiming at the two who were stabbing its fallen mate. Seeing the danger the two Diathim flew into the sky that was now empty of other dangers and gaining height, used their rifles to pour down blaster fire against the incoming Draigon. The great head snapped up towards them and the beast ignored its original target in preference for these two airborne targets.

The two Diathim split and headed in opposite directions as swiftly as they could, but they had no hope of out flying such a beast. Lucky for them, several of the remaining troopers saw what was going on and as soon as the Draigon gained height in pursuit, they joined in with their own A280 rifles and finally managed to bring the beast down just before it caught one of the Diathim.

The great beast tumbled to the ground and landed with a ground shaking thump, raising a shroud of dust around it.

The entire battle had lasted less than 15 minutes, but they had been some of the most brutal minutes of all their lives. Argon managed to get himself back on his feet and he looked around at the damage.

“Get injured treated. Find dead, tell me report.”

Hock came up beside him, still a little stunned himself after his close shave,

“Those are some damn impressive beasts… pity they cannot be tamed… be nice to have one on our side!”

All told they had lost eight in the battle, with four more having serious injuries to contend with.

“Connie, you see more come out?”

“No Protector, only the two. You folks manage to get them?”
“Yes, but many dead. You stay watch, we make plan, tell later.”
“Yes sir.”