Unity – Fast Rope
by Colonel James Darson
Post Details
ON:
It was just approaching day break on this deserted world as the natural sounds of the environment was broken by the scream of approaching transports. Descending from the atmosphere was mix of Firefly and Wyvern class transports, carrying what amounted to a battalion of Starfleet Marines and Klingon Troopers.
The training program had originally called for an all week regimen of harsh exercises, determined to pit the two factions against each other. However, for whatever reason, word had come down from the higher ups that it was cut down to two days, and later to just a half a day. It wasn’t even really exercises anymore…more relaxation than actual training, considering that they’d been in cramped quarters for several days with rivalries heating up all over the place.
None of them understood it, but they knew better than to question the higher ups. Darson’s brain worked in mysterious ways, and although it was always unorthodox, there was a method to his madness
As the majority of the ships headed towards the eastern side of the main continent, a small Danube class runabout detached from the main convoy, and slipped away unnoticed to the west.
Darson leaned forward over the shoulder of the pilot as he fed coordinates into the computer. As he brought up the course headings, the pilot said, “Course laid in sir. E.T.A., four minutes.”
“Right,” Darson said, “bring us in low and fast, just in case there are anti-air defenses active. I know we didn’t detect any from space, but they might just be waiting for a trigger of some kind. Better to be careful. We’re not going to head directly to the camp, I want you to bring us in right over the forest to the east…we’re going to fast rope in on the edge of the area to give us some cover. As soon as we’re done, retract the rope and get the hell out of here and set down on that peak that we found two klicks to the North. We’ll provide overwatch with sensors and optics…as well as some ‘fire support’.”
The pilot and co-pilot nodded their acknowledgement and Darson turned away from them. Nestled in the back of the shuttle sitting completely squished shoulder pad to shoulder pad was eight fully armed and armored Special Operations troopers. They were clad in the standard issue SpecOps armor (a less elaborate version of Darson’s at least) and packing enough heat to take on a company.
“Alright, shut up and listen up!” Darson called out to get their attention. They silenced all their movement and dutifully turned their attention to the Colonel, “We’re three minutes out. You all know the plan, and we’re going to stick to it. We’re using the shuttle and rope because we don’t want to give off any signals that could allow us to be detected. As soon as we’re down, we gather and move because we’ve got a little trek to make before we get to our target.”
He brought up a holographic representation of the area, “There are an unknown number of hostiles, so we have to use our element of surprise to our advantage. Shoot first, but set for stun. I want to interrogate whoever’s down here. But, if there’s a dampening field, or the enemies have heavy armor, switch to hard weapons, up the power, and shoot to kill. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it so neither should you. Is that clear?
There was a chorus of acknowledgements.
“Good,” Darson nodded, “Alpha team will approach from the North. Bravo team will approach from the south. I’m going to want simultaneous shots whenever we have the chance Now, Power on communications systems and switch to secure frequencies, and get ready to jump. We’re coming in hot.” He turned back to the pilots as the men began turning on their radios.
---
The trees wavered slightly in the wind as the shuttle zoomed past them, low enough to brush its stomach. It stopped above a slight clearing in the trees and entered hover mode. The rear hatch opened and the first of the black clad operators grabbed the rope and descended, followed closely by the next and the next one after that, one after another touching down and then darting off into the forest to secure a perimeter,
Almost 30 seconds later, the entire squad had departed the shuttle and disappeared, leaving Darson alone in the cargo bay of the shuttle. He turned and gave a thumbs up to the pilot, who nodded in return. The rope began to retract as Darson braced himself in the doorway as it closed, looking down at the quickly disappearing group of soldiers.
Meanwhile, the shuttle, no longer burdened by its cargo, sped off, remembering to keep low. Seconds later, the team had departed the clearing, and there was no trace that anybody had ever been there.
OFF:
Colonel James Darson
Marine Commanding Offier / ???
6th Combined Operations Group
Deep Space 5
by Colonel James Darson
Post Details
| Title | Fast Rope | |
| Mission | Unity | |
| Author(s) | Colonel James Darson | |
| Posted | Wed Apr 14, 2010 @ 5:37am | |
| Location | Omicron Theta I | |
| Timeline | SD 17 - 1100 |
It was just approaching day break on this deserted world as the natural sounds of the environment was broken by the scream of approaching transports. Descending from the atmosphere was mix of Firefly and Wyvern class transports, carrying what amounted to a battalion of Starfleet Marines and Klingon Troopers.
The training program had originally called for an all week regimen of harsh exercises, determined to pit the two factions against each other. However, for whatever reason, word had come down from the higher ups that it was cut down to two days, and later to just a half a day. It wasn’t even really exercises anymore…more relaxation than actual training, considering that they’d been in cramped quarters for several days with rivalries heating up all over the place.
None of them understood it, but they knew better than to question the higher ups. Darson’s brain worked in mysterious ways, and although it was always unorthodox, there was a method to his madness
As the majority of the ships headed towards the eastern side of the main continent, a small Danube class runabout detached from the main convoy, and slipped away unnoticed to the west.
Darson leaned forward over the shoulder of the pilot as he fed coordinates into the computer. As he brought up the course headings, the pilot said, “Course laid in sir. E.T.A., four minutes.”
“Right,” Darson said, “bring us in low and fast, just in case there are anti-air defenses active. I know we didn’t detect any from space, but they might just be waiting for a trigger of some kind. Better to be careful. We’re not going to head directly to the camp, I want you to bring us in right over the forest to the east…we’re going to fast rope in on the edge of the area to give us some cover. As soon as we’re done, retract the rope and get the hell out of here and set down on that peak that we found two klicks to the North. We’ll provide overwatch with sensors and optics…as well as some ‘fire support’.”
The pilot and co-pilot nodded their acknowledgement and Darson turned away from them. Nestled in the back of the shuttle sitting completely squished shoulder pad to shoulder pad was eight fully armed and armored Special Operations troopers. They were clad in the standard issue SpecOps armor (a less elaborate version of Darson’s at least) and packing enough heat to take on a company.
“Alright, shut up and listen up!” Darson called out to get their attention. They silenced all their movement and dutifully turned their attention to the Colonel, “We’re three minutes out. You all know the plan, and we’re going to stick to it. We’re using the shuttle and rope because we don’t want to give off any signals that could allow us to be detected. As soon as we’re down, we gather and move because we’ve got a little trek to make before we get to our target.”
He brought up a holographic representation of the area, “There are an unknown number of hostiles, so we have to use our element of surprise to our advantage. Shoot first, but set for stun. I want to interrogate whoever’s down here. But, if there’s a dampening field, or the enemies have heavy armor, switch to hard weapons, up the power, and shoot to kill. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it so neither should you. Is that clear?
There was a chorus of acknowledgements.
“Good,” Darson nodded, “Alpha team will approach from the North. Bravo team will approach from the south. I’m going to want simultaneous shots whenever we have the chance Now, Power on communications systems and switch to secure frequencies, and get ready to jump. We’re coming in hot.” He turned back to the pilots as the men began turning on their radios.
---
The trees wavered slightly in the wind as the shuttle zoomed past them, low enough to brush its stomach. It stopped above a slight clearing in the trees and entered hover mode. The rear hatch opened and the first of the black clad operators grabbed the rope and descended, followed closely by the next and the next one after that, one after another touching down and then darting off into the forest to secure a perimeter,
Almost 30 seconds later, the entire squad had departed the shuttle and disappeared, leaving Darson alone in the cargo bay of the shuttle. He turned and gave a thumbs up to the pilot, who nodded in return. The rope began to retract as Darson braced himself in the doorway as it closed, looking down at the quickly disappearing group of soldiers.
Meanwhile, the shuttle, no longer burdened by its cargo, sped off, remembering to keep low. Seconds later, the team had departed the clearing, and there was no trace that anybody had ever been there.
OFF:
Colonel James Darson
Marine Commanding Offier / ???
6th Combined Operations Group
Deep Space 5