Alexis turned and looked to her smallfour-man unit.
“You all up for this?”
“Hell,yeah,” said Kallias, “It’s time for those insects to get what’scoming.”
“Hawkins?”
He simply nodded in reply, leaving justValentine.
“I’m good to go,” she said more quietly than she’d expected.
“You’re sure? If you need to sit this one out, say so.”
“You’re kidding me, right?1st Platoon has a few things to say to our alienfriends.”
“You bet your ass we have,”laughed Kallias, “Man…they are gonna wishthey’d never set eyes on us!”
The Novas were already moving away asValentine walked towards their waiting Jackal. She almost made itwhen a hand grabbed her arm.
“Val.”
She turned back to find Alexisstanding there, while the others moved quickly to drag spareequipment onboard.
“Everything okay?”
Valentine smiled.
“Of course.”
She looked to Valentine’s arms.
“With all the new hardware onboard, youwent for the old standby?”
“The combination works for me,”she said with a wink, “Plus, I likemelee. So, what’s the point in going full Kallias onit?”
“Hey!” said the Private as he movedpast.
They watched himwalk away, and Valentine nodded to the change tothe design. Though ostensibly the same as before, the newlyupgraded system made him look more conventional, even with hisstrange limbs.
“That’s much better,” she said asAlexis nodded.
“The new armour hasbeen simplified. Four limb mounts, an integralhelmet mount, plus mounting points on the shoulders and torso forupgrades.”
“Agreed,” said Valentine, “1st gen was getting out ofhand, and Kallias has benefitted from the upgrades. The 1st genarms were just gun mounts instead of arms. This is more like anormal arm that’s half made of guns! Subtle.”
Kallias moved to the ramp up into the dropship as the voice of theredoubtable Captain Regina filled every corner of thespacecraft.
“We’re entering the Spacebridgeto Epsilon Eridani. The Rift controlstation is recording a little turbulence, so make sure you’rebuckled in. ETA, ninety seconds.”
Valentine lifted an eyebrowat that.
“Is that from the damage caused by theSki’ligs on Deimos?”
Alexis shrugged.
“Who knows? It’s all well over my pay grade. All I do know is that halfthe colony is still in ruins. Frankly, I’m amazed they can open aSpacebridge at all.”
He stopped at the top of the ramp and looked back to them. As always,he had gone for the heaviest weapon loadout he could. While somewent for mixed combinations, he always elected for dual weaponmounts. His arms hung down like the other Novas, but from the elbowthey were nothing more than paired L48 rifles, stripped down andbuilt into the fattened structure. This meant they were short andfed by a magazine feed to each arm. He could unleash a veritabletorrent of explosive fire at short to medium ranges that littlecould stand against.
“At least this time I’ve got hands,kind of.”
He made a gesture with one arm,and a strange assembly extended out from above gun barrels. It wasa hand, little bigger than a normal Humanone, and fitted with three skeletal fingers. It was enough tomanipulate tools and doors, but a far cry from something likeValentine’s robotics hands.
“Put that thing away!” Valentinelaughed, “Trust me, nobody wants to seethat!”
Kallias chuckled as Hawkins movedto his side and thumped his friend on theshoulder.
“She’s not wrong, Kallias,”he said, tapping the claw likehand.
“Hey. When you’re in the thick of it, you’ll wish you went forguns over a few extra fingers.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Fingers can behandy.”
The two laughed together as theymoved into the dropship. Valentinewatched them both go, and found her eyes drawn to the changes intheir gear. Hawkins’ body armour carried additional plates asnormal that were mounted to his armour via the front and rearupgrade mounts. It left him looking much bulkier than the othersand slightly reduced his mobility. His carbines were missing,presumably inside the ship. Like almost half of the Novas, he’dgone for conventional limbs, known as tactical limbs. They werestrong, armoured, and featured a fully articulated hand capable ofclose combat and the use of conventional weaponry. His shouldermounts carried additional interceptor packs, each little largerthan an ammunition box and fitted with thirty tiny muzzles, twentyat the front and ten behind.
“You didn’t go for the extrainterceptors?” Alexis asked.
“I’ve got just the front interceptors. They’ve worked for me sofar.”
She tapped her chest. Just belowher neck were two interceptor mounts, both pressedagainst her armour, and looked like twoarmour plates. They formed part of the frontal upgrade mount thatwas popular with the majority of Novas.
“If you change your mind, we havespares inside. Let’s go.”
Valentine trudged behind Alexisand looked to her own upgrades. Each of them had their ideas on how they wanted to fight. Alexis wasno different, with a tactical limb to the right, and the same heavyweapon arm as Kallias on her left. Once inside, she looked aboutthe interior of the Jackal. Mechahawk was no ordinary dropship, butthe upgraded AD-72 model, itself originally a Mark II. It was theheavier Special Forces version. The ramps were wheeled and not partof the dropship, and the space saved had allowed the entry hatchesto be widened for use by Novas. The dropship carried additionalheavy weapon turrets for use by the passengers. The interior spacewas compartmentalised by half size blast barriers. They separatedthe Novas from the others, and also provided splinter protection ifand when they came under fire.
“Ah, it feels like onlyyesterday we were here.”
Valentine looked inside and spoketo those already in position. There were compartments fortwenty-eight Novas, and half were alreadyoccupied with men and women from 1st and3rd Lances.
“Hopefully this time it will go better,” said Alexis, “Followme.”
Alexis moved to herdesignated place and waited as each moved totheir own seats. Valentine was next to Hawkins and waited as thepost and locking harness attached itself to her Rhino armour. Thedropship could fly upside down in a planetary atmosphere, and shewould be perfectly secure. No sooner had she made herselfcomfortable than Tsarkov and his half lance entered. Bandu followedbehind, along with two new recruits.
“Welcome to Mechahawk,” said Alexis as she turned away from theother three members of the lance. Tsarkov muttered something inreply. He then went to the other side and waited as the clampsmoved into position. The other three followed and waited insilence.
“Uh…did I misssomething?” Valentine asked.
Alexis looked towardsValentine as the dropship shookviolently.
“Whoa!” said one of Tsarkov’s new recruits, “Easy on thecontrols.”
“It’s
