File 12.4 - Approaching Hell

Atmosphere pressure rocked the drop ship around accompanied by the resistance of the Shield. Thanks to their first entry and what they learned from it, they managed to improve it to not cause feedback through the ship. It still made breaking through the atmosphere painful and felt like the whole thing would blow up.

Schir squeezed on the controls counting the time before the drop. She had some apprehension about dropping on Antarctica. They knew nothing about the defenses. All of their efforts to steal intel on it proved fruitless. Unlike the rest of the world, they locked it up tightly with security that nothing they attempted could break.

It was a strange mystery that they never solved. Something that Lieutenant Rinn found concerning. During the mission, she didn’t concern herself with such doubts. Those were matters for the Commander and others. She was just there for the mission because they needed the extra hand. And yet now that she was in charge somehow of a team of her own and facing that exact unknown, she couldn’t stop thinking about it.

The Devils were already weapons of death that they barely had a means of dealing with. For all the work she did in preparing the rookies for this invasion, it never felt like enough. They might have started to accept her commands enough to listen, it never felt like they believed her. And she knew that if she were in their shoes that she wouldn’t either. It seemed too impossible. This Hell was isolated and alone, struggling to survive. They fought in repeated wars advancing and growing stronger. That they could even be their equals, yet superior in technology seemed unthinkable. What dark secrets lie within the frozen wastes of the continent?

Schir stared out at the monitor. She flipped through the cameras seeing the drop fleet. They had no idea what they were going into. Hell, even she didn’t know what they were facing. But with security that tight, they were going to be ready for them. That was the only thing she felt certain about. This would not be the simple blitz Command believed.

The rest of the fleet would have a relatively easy time with their landings and takeover. They knew well that there was next to no defense. The drones wouldn’t last long against a full squadron of Skins. But the void of their Capital made her rightfully nervous. They could be going into a trap for all she knew. The only thing she knew for certain was that the Devils would be there. That was their base.