Silent Death from Above
by Dante

Ptolomea
Jormungand Quarry
MAAT Dropship

Darkness was their friend as the troop laden dropship flew at near ground level at high speed over the grassy terrain on Ptolomea.

As far as most combat drops went, this one was tame as no laser blasts or heat seeking projectiles shot up from the sky to greet them as they approached their target, but the team knew that they would be engaged with enough trouble in just a few minutes.

Each trooper went about their normal combat gear check as they approached their landing zone. Calm and collected, each of the members of the 90th Legion had been picked by their Field Marshal and former Quaestor for this mission.

The green light popped on, the ship slowed, and quickly flared to a near stop as it hovered above the ground. The doors on either side opened, and the door gunners brought their weapons up at the ready.

“GO! GO! GO!” yelled the dropmaster as the dozen troopers dressed in dark gray armor and one lone figure dressed in all black dove from the aircraft just as it began picking up speed again.

The last man out rolled as he hit the ground and brought his rifle up to his face searching for targets. “This is Shadowstalker Lead… On ground and moving to target,” said Dante as the group formed a column and headed out for the cave that held their target.

Looking at the HUD inside his helmet, Dante could see that they had landed in the correct LZ, and their main target was just 2 klicks away. Darkness shrouded them as they made their way to the communications station. The internal feuds that had occurred over the years in Scholae Palatinae were occasionally bloody, but this one was hopefully going to be over quickly. There were too many external threats with the rise of the New Order and the recent destruction of the capitol of the New Republic.

The forward air controller unpacked his gear and aimed the targeting beam on the door of the cave.

Suddenly, a heavy rocket appeared as if conjured from the shadow world and slammed through the heavily guarded blast doors. Penetrating down into the mine shaft before exploding, the large warhead decimated both the guards and the various remaining members of Excidium.

Dante and his men could hear the screams of the wounded, but these stopped as the area was bombarded with turbolaser fire from orbit. What was remaining of the area of the quarry had been reduced to pretty much slag.

The comms NCO looked over at the Field Marshal and said” Sir, what are we doing?"

“Time to bug out. Call in the dropship for a quick pickup, and let’s get the hell out of here,” said Dante as the smoke continued to rise from the enemy forces.

The MAAT came roaring across the plains of Ptolomea. A swath of enemy forces had been cut to provide a very narrow track through which the MAAT could safely grab the assault team from the primary LZ.