Lives well spent
Dec. 31st, 2007 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runmakitarun0:31:13
The Elders are gathering a strike team to take on the Hydra on the ground a hundred feet below the loading platform. Makita sprints to one of the emergency descent cables at the end of the loading platform and drops recklessly, using the cable to slow herself just enough to ensure she doesn't break anything important on the way down.
She can see the troops gathered below her as the air whistles past her: mostly kids in their teens with a few older men and women scattered among them. An old man, maybe even older than Papa, stands on top of a crate holding the massive red tube of a SWORD as he yells orders. "Steady, boys, steady! Squad 3, take out the rear vents! Squad 4, left treads! Squad 5, right treads!" Makita's feet hit the ground and she's already moving forward to find a squad to join.
"Makita," the Elder's voice snaps out, "You're last! Barrel duty!" He tosses the SWORD and drop line at her as she skids to a stop and she staggers as the weight slams into her chest.
The gathered troops are already murmuring, "Poor Makita." "Better her than me." "Shut up, Darzu."
She spins, eyes flashing, "Don't look at me like that! I'll last longer than any of you possibly could." Makita sets the fifty kilo rocket launcher down and shrugs into the drop-harness, "And if any damn one of you is too scared to take up the SWORD when I go down? You can rot in hell!"
Makita's securing the SWORD across her back as the Elder goes over everything one last time. "You all know the drill! First: immobilize the Hydra. Second: shield Makita. She's carrying the SWORD. When the SWORD-bearer falls, the closest trooper takes up the burden."
0:30:01
The words are only half-heard as, once again, her father's voice fills her ears. Makita, remember: if a Hydra-class Krawl ever attacks, do everything you can to avoid being given barrel duty. She stands on the ground as the tread teams rush forward, looking up at the krawl. At over a hundred feet tall it's the largest ground unit the Reds have. A single Hydra can take out an armored division on its own.
Turning, she begins the ascent back up to the loading platform. It will provide the easiest way to get onto the top of the krawl. However, in the case that this does happen, there is one advantage to barrel duty. Everyone in the entire assault force is protecting you.
You carry the SWORD.
They are your shield. Men swarm up to the platform with her, yelling and firing toward the Hydra. They are your diversion. Makita slipped from cover to cover, moving when the Hydra's guns turned to take down one group or another. Use them.
If the tread teams have been wiped out then the beast may still be moving, which will make crossing onto it's back more perilous. The anti-personnel guns cut down men by the dozens as the Hydra lumbers forward. Makita darts among them, somehow managing to avoid the incoming fire.
A squad of priestesses will most likely be providing expanse protokols. The heavily robed women step forward and bridges of glowing red light leap from the platform to the Hydra's armored back. Men rush forward, Makita among them, scrambling to clear the expanses. But if they get taken out, their bridges go with them. A burst of fire slams past Makita and the bridge to her right fades out of existence. A dozen men fall a hundred feet as she sprints forward hoping her own bridge will hold long enough.
0:27:04
The shield squads will be some of our best. Their sole purpose is to draw fire away from you. Most of them won't make it off the beast, win or lose. Men and women slot into position as they hit the end of their bridges. There's no cover on the Hydra, really, so they set up in the open and they're mowed down by the krawl's weapons.
Even from the brief moment you have running by on your way to the barrel... some of their faces you'll never forget. A girl younger than Makita throws herself forward to intercept an incoming burst. Her eyes flash in surprise and she smiles as her legs crumple. Yells of pain mix with those of orders and encouragement: "Go, Makita! Go! Go! Go!" "Blow this bastard!" "Okay, the deck squad's wiped. Shift fire to the heavy gun emplacements!" "Give 'em hell, Makinoshka!" Faces flash past, some dead, some dying, some alive for the moment. She doesn't know who most of them are, but she knows her father is right: she'll never forget.
0:26:42
As you approach the barrel, remember two things: mask and dropline. Makita launches herself onto the arch of the barrel and turns to sprint up it's length as the last of the shield squads surge forward to distract the Hydra's defenders from the lone girl silhouetted against the sky.
Mask first. It's been soaked with Stimulant D. Smells terrible, but without it the propellant gases in the barrel will knock you out. Be careful not to keep the mask up too long, Stimulant D is a damn dirty buzz. Halfway up the barrel she pulls the chemical soaked cloth across her nose and mouth. A single whiff burns her nose and makes her eyes water, and she can feel the effects. Colors swirl and the world tilts slightly. Somehow she manages to keep her balance on the sloped surface of the barrel as time turns soupy and the air is sucked from her lungs.
Dropline second. By now, if you have approached the beast and not been hit by autofire. If you have climbed onto it's back and not fallen. It is time for your descent into the mouth of the Hydra. Reaching back, Makita snags the handle of her dropline's magnet and grips it tightly. As she reaches the end of the barrel she stoops low enough to slam the magnet down on the metal in front of her, but she can't afford to slow down as the end of the barrel draws closer and closer.
0:26:33
Makita runs.
Mostly cribbed from Red Star Annual #1 "Run Makita Run" by Christian Gossett.
The Elders are gathering a strike team to take on the Hydra on the ground a hundred feet below the loading platform. Makita sprints to one of the emergency descent cables at the end of the loading platform and drops recklessly, using the cable to slow herself just enough to ensure she doesn't break anything important on the way down.
She can see the troops gathered below her as the air whistles past her: mostly kids in their teens with a few older men and women scattered among them. An old man, maybe even older than Papa, stands on top of a crate holding the massive red tube of a SWORD as he yells orders. "Steady, boys, steady! Squad 3, take out the rear vents! Squad 4, left treads! Squad 5, right treads!" Makita's feet hit the ground and she's already moving forward to find a squad to join.
"Makita," the Elder's voice snaps out, "You're last! Barrel duty!" He tosses the SWORD and drop line at her as she skids to a stop and she staggers as the weight slams into her chest.
The gathered troops are already murmuring, "Poor Makita." "Better her than me." "Shut up, Darzu."
She spins, eyes flashing, "Don't look at me like that! I'll last longer than any of you possibly could." Makita sets the fifty kilo rocket launcher down and shrugs into the drop-harness, "And if any damn one of you is too scared to take up the SWORD when I go down? You can rot in hell!"
Makita's securing the SWORD across her back as the Elder goes over everything one last time. "You all know the drill! First: immobilize the Hydra. Second: shield Makita. She's carrying the SWORD. When the SWORD-bearer falls, the closest trooper takes up the burden."
0:30:01
The words are only half-heard as, once again, her father's voice fills her ears. Makita, remember: if a Hydra-class Krawl ever attacks, do everything you can to avoid being given barrel duty. She stands on the ground as the tread teams rush forward, looking up at the krawl. At over a hundred feet tall it's the largest ground unit the Reds have. A single Hydra can take out an armored division on its own.
Turning, she begins the ascent back up to the loading platform. It will provide the easiest way to get onto the top of the krawl. However, in the case that this does happen, there is one advantage to barrel duty. Everyone in the entire assault force is protecting you.
You carry the SWORD.
They are your shield. Men swarm up to the platform with her, yelling and firing toward the Hydra. They are your diversion. Makita slipped from cover to cover, moving when the Hydra's guns turned to take down one group or another. Use them.
If the tread teams have been wiped out then the beast may still be moving, which will make crossing onto it's back more perilous. The anti-personnel guns cut down men by the dozens as the Hydra lumbers forward. Makita darts among them, somehow managing to avoid the incoming fire.
A squad of priestesses will most likely be providing expanse protokols. The heavily robed women step forward and bridges of glowing red light leap from the platform to the Hydra's armored back. Men rush forward, Makita among them, scrambling to clear the expanses. But if they get taken out, their bridges go with them. A burst of fire slams past Makita and the bridge to her right fades out of existence. A dozen men fall a hundred feet as she sprints forward hoping her own bridge will hold long enough.
0:27:04
The shield squads will be some of our best. Their sole purpose is to draw fire away from you. Most of them won't make it off the beast, win or lose. Men and women slot into position as they hit the end of their bridges. There's no cover on the Hydra, really, so they set up in the open and they're mowed down by the krawl's weapons.
Even from the brief moment you have running by on your way to the barrel... some of their faces you'll never forget. A girl younger than Makita throws herself forward to intercept an incoming burst. Her eyes flash in surprise and she smiles as her legs crumple. Yells of pain mix with those of orders and encouragement: "Go, Makita! Go! Go! Go!" "Blow this bastard!" "Okay, the deck squad's wiped. Shift fire to the heavy gun emplacements!" "Give 'em hell, Makinoshka!" Faces flash past, some dead, some dying, some alive for the moment. She doesn't know who most of them are, but she knows her father is right: she'll never forget.
0:26:42
As you approach the barrel, remember two things: mask and dropline. Makita launches herself onto the arch of the barrel and turns to sprint up it's length as the last of the shield squads surge forward to distract the Hydra's defenders from the lone girl silhouetted against the sky.
Mask first. It's been soaked with Stimulant D. Smells terrible, but without it the propellant gases in the barrel will knock you out. Be careful not to keep the mask up too long, Stimulant D is a damn dirty buzz. Halfway up the barrel she pulls the chemical soaked cloth across her nose and mouth. A single whiff burns her nose and makes her eyes water, and she can feel the effects. Colors swirl and the world tilts slightly. Somehow she manages to keep her balance on the sloped surface of the barrel as time turns soupy and the air is sucked from her lungs.
Dropline second. By now, if you have approached the beast and not been hit by autofire. If you have climbed onto it's back and not fallen. It is time for your descent into the mouth of the Hydra. Reaching back, Makita snags the handle of her dropline's magnet and grips it tightly. As she reaches the end of the barrel she stoops low enough to slam the magnet down on the metal in front of her, but she can't afford to slow down as the end of the barrel draws closer and closer.
0:26:33
Makita runs.
Mostly cribbed from Red Star Annual #1 "Run Makita Run" by Christian Gossett.
