Im writing a story!

Heres the first part of my story, detailing a mission for the young Corporal Dvidd Leff and his mobile infantry platoon. Im writing this to flesh out the backstory for my MMO ideas.

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Corporal Dvidd Leff’s black armoured boots clicked onto the cold wet concrete of the chapel rooftop, immediately followed by the sound of two dozen more behind him.

The platoon of mobile infantry he now commanded was by all accounts the worst in the brigade; its leader Brigadier Risaq, was sitting comfortably in the orbiting cruiser 15km above their heads was probably enjoying a fine meal, and couldn’t care less if every one of his 3000 men was captured, tortured and executed, unless that entailed him completing more paperwork for replacements.

The mobile infantry that were with him spent most of their time parading and polishing their equipment; any man with dirt on his armour would be disciplined, no matter if he had just returned from the toilet or an 8 hour fire fight. This would have been 8 hours more combat than the Brigadier would have seen in his life, apart from the 15 minutes he had seen when fleeing the last world.

Despite being a toy soldier regiment, they were nonetheless expected to see combat when the Brigadier signed papers he thought would earn him glory, so he could brag to high society back on Earth.

However, right now the Brigadiers pride didn’t matter. What did matter was the orbital dock 1km ahead of the undermanned and poorly trained platoon, and the heavily armed enemy soldiers that were currently sitting on it. This wouldn’t usually be a problem for the 123rd Air Assault Brigade; it would usually fall to another more competent brigade, but their orders were to secure the dock within the next hour and deny the enemy its use by destroying the landing gantries.

It wasn’t hopeless; the two and a half squads of mobile infantry were armed with the latest and best technology, courtesy of the Colonels pocketbook. This included Zanthan Personal Reactive Armour, an assortment of light weaponry and support equipment. In addition to this was the piece of equipment that made the infantry mobile; the Zanthan Systems Thrust Pack, allowing each member of the squad to jump 20m upwards and 30m forwards, enough to clear buildings and move rapidly over any terrain. Dvidd Leff’s equipment included the versatile Light Pulse Rifle, with under slung plasma launcher. He also carried a brace of pistols and knife, as well as a trio of various grenades all troops were issued with over 10 years ago when the Brigadier mistakenly ordered 5 times the regulation amount and didn’t know what else to do with them.

Dvidd Leff’s mind was racing, usually he would just be following orders as expected, but the lieutenant of the platoon had been vaporised by enemy fire during planet fall, as had 5 other troops during their decent through the atmosphere. As the most experienced (and this was marginal; he had once been caught up in a bar fight involving members of another brigade) corporal of the 3 squads he was automatically in charge, and was now responsible for the success of the mission, and more importantly the lives of the 25 remaining members of 5th platoon.

They had reached the chapel roof following a 30 minute bounce from the drop zone, a shattered area of the city 20km south of their current position. They had arrived via drop pod from the cruiser Risaq’s Pride, each infantryman fired from pod cannon into the planets atmosphere. The casualties they had sustained on the way down could have easily been avoided had the Brigadier invested in intelligence reports, but they wouldn’t make his troops parade any better, so obviously were not worth his time and effort. As it had turned out they had dropped right into a defence cannons sights, and had to bounce out under heavy flak fire.

Corporal Leff tapped the side of his helmet, engaging the digital binoculars allowing him to view the orbital dock ahead. The dock was a sizeable structure, designed for all ships up to frigate class to land, refuel and rearm before heading back into space. The gantries were automated and fed the ships with their fuel and ammunition; without them the dock would be near useless for months. The defending troops had set up positions on the top of the three gantries, look outs armed with deployed gatling pulse lasers on each. They wouldn’t be the only troops defending, there must be more nearby resting, ready to relieve the sentries…

Out of the darkness of the rooftop behind him, the remaining corporal in the platoon (the other had also been taken out during planet fall) stepped up, his crimson cape billowing out behind the units black armoured suit.

“What’s the plan?”

“What I’m thinking is I take alpha squad to the right, you take beta to the left and we leave gamma to provide cover fire and act as backup should either squad needs it. We then to a fly by and rotate, that sound good to you Bob?”

He nodded his agreement and half turned away, relaying the orders to his squad.

Leff did the same, but patched in gamma squad into the comm network. He’d take his squad in a fast bounce up through some shattered warehouses while Corporal Bob Kalek would take his men through a residential estate, while gamma would advance to about 300m from the target and hold tight, picking off anybody who threatened the two assault squads and jumping into any location that needed support.

It was textbook stuff, a pincer movement allowing the two squads to catch the enemy in a crossfire. The jump packs would allow them to get into the thick of things fast, unload on their enemy and jump out, stopping only to sight their guns and empty a clip. They would then reload while boosting out, make a jump 90 degrees from their previous direction and jump back in, keeping both squads on opposite sides of the enemy. This should keep them guessing where to shoot, and was about as far as the mobile infantries limited assault training stretched to.

“Go”

25 jets engaged and the platoon bounced 40m down onto the deck, the three squads splitting off from one another as they advanced onto their target. Leff took his troops running through a dank warehouse, the abandoned produce stacked up around the walls as the 9 troopers bounded through the shadows. Minutes later he was glancing up at the closest gantry, the sentries sitting idly chatting to each other, he couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they weren’t agitated, so despite the hits the platoon had taken in the south, the enemy hadn’t realised that this was the target for the 123rd.

“Beta in position.”

“Gamma in position.”

“Affirmative, go.”