The Hot Drop

[OTEES]

The Hot Drop

I was seated closest to the aft of the plane. I’d be the first to go this time. I don’t mind. I found the droning rumble of the plane’s engine soothing, I closed my eyes and lay my head back against the seat, clutching my weapon tightly to my chest, and feeling the turbulence bounce me around every which way, the tight restraining harnesses resisting the erratic motions.
Corporal Green, Zeta Platoon. En route to who- knows-where in a 50 ton hunk of flying steel, cruising at 200 knots an hour at an altitude of 10 kilometers in the dead of night on war torn Auraxis.

They never told us where we were going to drop. My guess was they didn’t want us to think too hard, but nobody thinks harder than a Drop Shock Trooper the minutes before he has to jump into the maw of war.
Some men thought about their families, their girlfriends, wives, children, home. I looked over at PFC Anders, he was the kind of a guy that gets the shakes before a drop. And he was shaking now. Probably thinking of his newborn girl and his wife. The leadership would be disappointed to find out that most men don’t think of their nation or government before a drop. But it makes sense to us boots. When you’re on the ground, looking at a stranger through a scope, and blowing his head off with a bullet, its hard to tell yourself you did it for your country or democracy or whatever the hell they think is a good enough idea to pre-package for all those young naiive boys who entertain grandiose dreams of military endeavors. Some men did think of medals and honors. I figured the Lieutenant to be that sort.

I didn’t think of any of that. I have no girlfriend, no children, no parents (worth mentioning), home is on a military base where life is punctuated by whining privates and overbearing officers.

I think of nothing. Every drop, I just clutch my weapon, lay back, and enjoy the engines’ soft rumbles, and my mind goes clear.
My tranquility was brutally shattered by a repeating thunderous roar, like a giant kicking down an iron door.

“FLAK”, the Lieutenant yelled.

The plane wildly pitched up and down, banking left and right, flying as erratically as possible to throw off the flak gunners. The tight straps dug in hard, I clenched my jaw and gripped my weapon tightly. And then there was a sudden suction of air as the ramp lowered and retracted itself. I looked out, and saw several bright coherent streams of light reaching out to touch the plane.

Flak fire was a fatally beautiful sight.

And then some more hits scored on the plane, towards the nose of the craft which I could not see. The Lieutenant was yelling, incoherent under the thundering AA guns below and the groans of the engines. The light on my internal visor blinked once….twice….I found myself shaking. In the next heartbeat I was falling from the plane, the cold night air chilling my face.
I elongated myself, my legs together my arms tight against my sides, and I dipped into a streamlined dive, quickly achieving terminal velocity. The Flak guns littered the night sky with automatic gunfire, trying to catch the plane.
And then suddenly a deafening boom sounded behind me, the night turned day in an eye blink and then back to darkness. The plane was gone.
My spine turned to ice when the flak turrets started firing again, wildly it appeared, firing in varying directions into the night. But I knew it could only be one thing, they were targeting the drop troops, swatting flies with explosive flak rounds.

I saw a stream of yellow light suddenly open up and work its way towards me, a giant whip of lightning lashing out to strike me from the sky. I angled myself, creating drag on one side of my body to shift direction. But it drew closer, closer, faster than I could turn away.

The next moment of consciousness was filled by a bright explosion and ripping sensation. I looked down and saw a crater in my abdomen, a leg missing and another torn to meaty shreds.

Corporal Green lost his military tension and poise. His body loosened, he rotated softly to a side, bringing himself to face the sky. Bleeding out at 6700 meters, falling through the freezing air, he looked out at the night sky, the glittering stars among an ocean of black space twinkling at him. They coalesced and merged into a single, blinding white light.

Behind him, beneath him, the hard earth rushed up to greet his fall.

[Sonny]

Hey OTEES,

Very cool story, and very well written. I think you introduced the characters very well in the first couple of paragraphs. And the description was great, my favourite:

"I saw a stream of yellow light suddenly open up and work its way towards me, a giant whip of lightning lashing out to strike me from the sky."

After reading this, I think I will feel slightly more badass next time that I do a hotdrop in-game . Keep it up!

Sonny