"Falcon-4, how copy?" Luther's voice was calm and steady, but Vega could detect a hint of worry behind it.

  Vega inhaled sharply, glancing at the damage report and diagnostics flashing on her display. Her mech's legs were heavily damaged, but were still in working order; she could feel the machine buckling slightly, the mech teetering unsteadily as it shuffled unsteadily to its feet.

  "This is Falcon-4," she responded, wincing as a flurry of sparks shot out from her left inside the cockpit. "My legs are shot, but I'm good otherwise. Don't think I can run, though."

  A slew of laughter erupted over the comm line as the other members of Falcon team gathered around her damaged mech.

  "Now that's one way to clear the ramp," Smithers, Falcon team's second-in-command, snickered.

  His mech, a hulking Mark II Cyclops, marched up behind Vega's comparatively small Centaur and braced it, adding support to Vega's beleaguered mech.

  "You're lucky this was training," Luther chided. He walked his mech in front of Vega's and popped the front hatch open, allowing him to look at Vega directly. "What you did was reckless, stupid, and downright the dumbest thing I've seen yet."

  "Aw, lay off her, Luth." Eva, the team's marksman, sidled up beside Luther's mech and popped open her hatch as well. Her flowing locks of brilliant red hair were visible even in the dim light of dusk, as were her gleaming white teeth as she grinned. "You have to admit, she did look pretty cool jumping out so high."

  "She was lucky the dropship was less than a hundred meters from the ground," Luther grunted. "Any higher and she would have been corned mash in that tin can."

  Vega felt her face burn hotly, embarrassment coursing through her veins where adrenaline had rushed through only moments before. "I-"

  "Save it, Falcon-4." Luther snapped his hatch shut again and waved everyone off, before turning his mech to leave. "We're doing this exercise as planned, but you'll bring up the rear with Falcon-5."

  Jackson, Falcon-5, guffawed over his comms. "Uh-oh, busted!"

  Vega's shoulders sagged as she nodded dejectedly. "...Yes, sir."

  She limped to the rear of the team as everyone else fell back into formation, her mech audibly grinding and whirring.

  As the team marched along, a private comm channel link opened up on her display: Luther.

  "You alright, kid?" Luther asked.

  "Y-yes, sir."

  "Cut the sir shit, Elena." He sounded genuinely concerned. "You sure you're not hurt? No headaches, dizziness, none of that?"

  Vega paused. "...No, I'm fine. Honest."

  "Good." She heard him sigh in relief. "Don't do that again, you hear? Damn near gave me a heart attack seeing you jump out the bay like that before we got the go-ahead."

  "Sorry, sir." Vega hung her head. "I got too excited. Won't happen again."

  "What'd I say?"

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  "Oh. Sorry."

  She could hear him chuckling slightly. "How high was it, though? Eighty, maybe ninety meters?"

  "Ninety-five. I jumped right after the chief called a hundred."

  Luther whistled. "Ninety-five? You've got balls, kid."

  Vega smiled. "Thanks, I guess?"

  "You're still in the penalty box, don't think you're off the hook when we get back."

  The line fell silent, but remained open; they marched in silence for a minute or so before Luther spoke again.

  "You did look really badass though, not gonna lie."

  Vega laughed as Luther ended the call.

  "Say again, captain?!" The line crackled with static, but Vega could clearly hear the disbelief in the lieutenant's voice. "You want us to jump at seven-zero-zero meters?!"

  "Affirmative, lieutenant!" Vega signaled to the other mechs behind her to prep for the jump. Twenty mechs in total were stacked up, magnetically locked to the dropship's bay floor to counteract the turbulence from the relentless flak and anti-air fire rocking the craft. The crew chief had opened the bay door, from which the fierce wind whipped through the bay as bright flashes of bursting munitions lit up the compartment.

  "We've already lost boat-three, and I'll be damned if we get chewed up before we hit the ground!" Vega shouted into her mic. She switched to company-wide comms, broadcasting to all the mechs in her unit. "Time your thrusters as you fall, fire them in short bursts! Once you hit oh-five-zero meters, shoot your boosters in full, your shocks can absorb the freefall!"

  A bloom of flak blossomed right outside the bay door, taking a chunk of the dropship's rear tail fin with it; it was now or never.

  "Go, go, go!" Vega charged ahead out of the bay, leaping out into the open air. "All mechs, jump!"

  Her gut somersaulted as she free-fell, streaking through the sky as countless bursts of fire erupted around her; the audio dampeners took care of the otherwise deafening explosions, but she could feel the shockwaves and vibrations of each round that detonated near her.

  White clouds were mixed with black smoke from exploded rounds, as the setting sun washed everything in a warm orange glow; Vega did her best to avoid looking directly into the sun and be blinded by its alluring luminance, maneuvering her mech so that she faced away from it.

  Her display showed the other mechs obeying her order, following suit as they jumped out behind her; the lieutenant's section, flying in on another dropship, had also commenced the jump.

  Forty mechs were hurtling down like steel rain, dodging flak and airburst rounds. Sporadic bursts of blue light twinkled in Vega's optics, as mechs fired their boosters to either dodge the incoming fire or slow their descent; one round burst right in front of her, hitting the unlucky mech before her head on. The mech, a small Archer, was engulfed in flames and rocketed uncontrollably towards the earth; Vega could see a few other mechs of varying classes and sizes fall victim to the incoming fire.

  "Five-zero-zero meters! Keep it together, people!" Vega fired her own boosters, dodging a shell that raced past her.

  The display showed six mechs lost so far, more than an entire team; Vega prayed silently, willing for everyone left to make it to the ground intact.

  "Two-five-zero meters! Almost there!" She could hear the frantic comm chatter amongst the others, as pilots called out their statuses or requested assistance; one pilot was relaying some especially worrying news that the lieutenant's mech was just lost as well.

  Damn. No time to worry about that now; they were a hundred meters from the ground and closing fast.

  She could see the earth below, the landscape dotted with fortifications and pillboxes; dozens of guns were trained at the sky, spitting out both large and small-arms fire at the incoming mechs. Gun crews worked desperately as infantry scurried around them to prepare for the imminent assault.

  "Five-zero meters! Fire everything now!"

  The frame of her mech groaned slightly as her boosters roared in full force, her stomach lurching as the rapid fall slowed into a more gentle descent. The remaining mechs around her did the same, large plumes of blue plasma erupting beneath them as their boosters fired a sustained blast.

  She touched down, the mech keeling slightly as it absorbed the force of the drop; all systems were still green.

  She counted thirty-two mechs still active on her display; a fifth of her force had been lost in the drop.

  Dammit. Vega cursed to herself; almost two full teams lost on the way down.

  No time for that now, though. The enemy was reacting to their presence, but the tables were turned; no enemy mechs were present, and Vega's mechs faced nothing but infantry in the zone.

  "Company, weapons free!" She drew the pulse rifle mounted to her mech's back. "Light 'em up!"