Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 53

"Because you don't like anything," Jason said. "But you only have yourself to blame. If you hadn't suggested using the main guns on the Phoenix to make entry, I'd have likely never thought of this. Lucky! Let's start getting prepped."

"Words cannot express how much I despise you. The very sight of you sickens me right now."

"For being one of the most feared warriors in the known galaxy, you sure whine like a little bitch when you don't get your way," Jason said over the team link. "Now cut the chatter when we're outside. I don't want to be picked up by some autocannon emplacement Kage failed to warn us about. Follow me out. Lucky, you're tail end Charlie."

The ramp was partially lowered and the gunship was loafing along an established aircraft flightpath at an altitude of six-thousand meters. The trio that comprised the ground assault team were decked out in harnesses that had deployable ram-air wings that would open and let them glide over great distances. The wings were made of a nanobot-infused material that could change shape and density based on need. They were adapted from a sporting rig that Jason had found on a vacation where tourists would wear them and jump from high peaks on a low-gravity moon, soaring in the updrafts and around the mountains for hours. Once he'd adapted the system for tactical use, he's made sure that everyone on his crew was fitted for one, but thus far few had bothered to train on them. Thankfully, they were mostly automated since this would be their first live operation using them.

Jason moved over to the edge of the ramp and looked down at the heavy cloud cover, his armor peering through it with mid-wave infrared optics at the coastline below. This far south on Eshquaria was sparsely populated so the risk of being seen was low, but he was still worried about the security and detection grids at the actual target.

"Omega One, out the door," he said, hopping off the edge and tucking his arms and legs in tight as the slipstream slammed into him like a freight train. They hadn't been able to slow down too much without arousing suspicion, so they'd just had to accept that the first part of the op was going to be very, very painful.

He tumbled out of control for the first few seconds before he splayed his arms and legs out into a skydiver's arch and waited for his body position to stabilize. Once he was in a belly-down fall, and decelerating after being thrown out of a ship doing a thousand kilometers an hour, he deployed the wing and waited as the fabric scoop channeled the air and pressurized the bladders to get the shape it wanted before the nanobots fibers would lock into place.

"Omega Two is out and under wing," Crusher's voice came over the short-range team link.

"Omega Three, out and scouting ahead."

"Damnit! Lucky, that's not the plan!"

They watched as the battlesynth streaked by, still in freefall. Instead of deploying the wing, Lucky fired his primary flight repulsors and shot away from their formation, disappearing into the clouds. Jason was seething, but could do little but watch his friend disregard their carefully laid plan and go roaring into a potentially hot LZ with piss poor intel and no backup.

"He's been doing that a lot lately," Crusher said. Jason looked over and saw that his friend had maneuvered himself down and to the left, looking completely comfortable under the inflatable wing.

He tamped down his anger and focused on what he was doing. By the time they broke through the lower cloud layer they could see the complex they were heading towards, but no sign of Lucky. His armor's HUD helpfully started identifying the structures they knew for certain along with fly-to indicators to guide him into the primary LZ. Secondary and tertiary LZ's were also highlighted in a muted yellow. He was buffeted about in the air as the wing changed configurations, morphing from a slow, long-distance glider to a fast, swept wing that would get them down with minimal time to be spotted. Even knowing how it worked, it was still disconcerting to be accelerating towards the ground and putting all his trust in the harness that would, in theory, not allow him to slam into the ground at a lethal velocity.

Just as he was about to abort his approach and jettison the harness so he could land on his own repulsors, the wing reconfigured again to form a wide, scooped out parachute that decelerated him rapidly. He rotated his body and absorbed the impact with his feet, letting himself go into a roll. The fabric of the wing had retracted and stowed so quickly that, by the time his back hit the ground, it was already secure in the harness. He climbed to his feet in time to see Crusher slam into the ground and mimic the same roll maneuver he'd done to absorb and dissipate the energy from the impact.

"That was actually sort of fun," Crusher said, yanking on the release and letting the harness fall to the ground. "I can see why you enjoyed that so much on your trip."

"Where the hell is Lucky?" Jason asked, looking around as he broke out his weapons. Crusher, never one to wear actual armor, pulled the helmet and pressure suit off before pulling his own party favors out.

"I am just beyond the ridge to your southeast," Lucky's voice came over the com. "One hundred and seventy meters away." Jason turned that direction before feeling a hand clamp down onto his shoulder.

"Talk to him about it later," Crusher said, not transmitting over the channel. "Job first, lectures later."

"I don't lecture," Jason said, stomping away towards where Lucky had indicated.

"Sure you don't," Crusher mumbled before setting off after him,

The position Lucky had taken up was above their target and about two kilometers away. The approach would