This team includes
Hasala Nabin (Swordsmith04)
Team leader, con, exo
Brother Lars (Toaster)
Second in command, flying, con, exo
Han Thren (Doomblade187)
newb (1 mission), uncon
Johnothen Bright (Execute/Dumbo.exe)
newb (0 mission), con
Bartolomew Markov (Illgeo)
newb (1 mission), con, uncon
Ulrich Leland (AoshimaMichio)
newb (1 mission), con, exo, aux
Yaroslav Vetrov (Comrade P.)
newb (0 mission), con
Konrad Curtz (Corsair)
con, aux
Lyra (lenglon)
exo, med, uncon
Flint Westwood (parisbre)
Armored, flying, con, aux
Irling (taalik)
newb (0 mission), exo
heroguy
newb (0 mission)
spazyak
You wake up in the hanger rather than the barracks, your stasis pod sitting on top of a gurney like a glass tube filled with lime jello. You climb out and flop onto the ground, where crew men immediately help you up, towel you off, and get you dressed. Your gear is thrust into your hands and the crew men lead you over to large, black, metallic pods, things which look the a spherical metal cockpit. They're trailing wires and tubes, clearly having been separated from some larger whole. The get you into the pod and strap you down, securing multipoint harnesses before loading your gear in at your feet. The chair inside is form fitting, and you sink into it, almost completely immobile. Dull red lights blink on inside the pod as the crew close the hatch. You hear them bolt it closed and a moment later the pod is moving.
"We're taking you for installation in the drop system." A voice says over the pod's intercom, scratchy and metallic "It's gonna carry that pod of yours all the way down to the surface. Once you land, the hatch door will automatically eject and the harness should release you. If it doesn't, get a teammate to help ya by pressing that red button right in front of you. It will send an emergency signal to everyone else. Don't press it unless you're stuck"
After a while the movement stops. There's a lull for a long period and the sound of machines. Pneumatic wrenches squeal somewhere nearby and there's a constant, steady thumping and grinding of metal. Your pod moves, jerked up and then twisted so you're laying on your back rather then sitting up straight. You feel the vibrations of the motor of whatever is holding you, and then they cease as your pod is slotted solidly into something. It moves slightly as fasteners are tightened, but then everything is silent. Time passes.
"We're loading the pod cluster into the cannon now" A voice on the intercom says after an indeterminate amount of time, "It's a low power shot, just enough to get you on the right trajectory and send you on your way. The drop system will guide you and and set you down together. Stand by."
The pod moves again, shifting sideways and then up before coming to rest.
"Pod internals anti-magnetism activating. Beginning coil charge."
Your skin tingles and it feels like the pod is rocking, or floating.
"Charge at 50%. 60, 68, 75, 84, 98, 99, Ready. Don't bite your tongue, don't hold your breath, don't tense up or try to lift your head. Close your mouth, stay limp. Breath out in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
It feels like you're falling, or rather like you've been fired straight downward out of the barrel of a gun. Which, you suppose, is actually rather accurate. The feeling of acceleration fades rather quickly and then you're weightless. Time passes. Hours. They pipe music in through the intercom to kill the time, occasionally letting you know about the course. The long arc down towards the single, wandering planet. When the retrorockets flare on you barely feel them. The maneuvering thrusters kick on not long afterwards and you know, thanks to the crew, that you're coming in sideways, skimming down towards the planet on the edge of it's upper atmosphere.
"Disconnecting drop system in 3, 2, 1"
The pod shakes and jerks hard to one side. It rumbles and shutters, the inside grows warm and you can feel the rockets vibrating under your boots. Then nothing, a rushing of air, a hiss of occasional trajectory corrections or jerk as the system boosts to prevent you from falling too fast. When the pod finally lands, it's like the shot from the cannon but in reverse. You almost black out and the harness strains against your chest hard enough that you're sure you're gonna have a 5 point bruise tomorrow. Everything is quiet, except your breathing.
Author
Topic: Mission 20: Snapdragon Team: Hidden Fun Stuff. (Read 84937 times)