Transport Mule

[Crash Calestorm 0]

This log takes place right after the Away Team has hit the snow...

 

Captain Calestorm could feel the safety harness straps digging through the cold weather parka and the heavy duty military sweater that she wore. The rear access hatch had long been shut tight, right after the away team had deployed, and the Troop Transport Mule* had taken to the air again in order to circle the target area in a holding pattern.

 

The dual sliding entry way doors set to either side of the TTM interior were completely retracted, similar to an old style Earth helicopter, letting in some of the cold air and snow of Delta Vega as the internal air climate regulators tried to compensate for the rush of wintry weather. Her booted feet were purchased on the dark gray deck plating of the atmospheric troop hopper, but most of her upper body was hanging outside the right side exterior entry way while she was secured on her tether line. The concept of the safety harness rig hadn’t changed much over the years, and was originally used in the old Earth military to allow snipers to cover an advancing ground team from the air, or to give the hovering transport some additional protection if hostile forces happened to be taking pot shots at the vehicle.

 

Cale really didn’t expect any shots to be fired at the TTM, unless one of the Henrauggi beasts went airborne and crashed into it. All the same, she held her Starfleet issue phaser two handed and at the ready; it sure wasn’t a sniper rifle, but it’d do. Even through the protective yellow hued glasses that she wore, her light hazel eyes held an edge to them as she eyeballed the snowy landscape below, the forward movement of the ground team officers, and dared the elements themselves to mess with them and not earn her wrath.

 

The away team officers had hit snow, and were now making time towards the ‘back door’ insertion point into the ice cave network. Their orders were to use the real time GPS grid readings incoming from the ship scans and the fighter reconnaissance, move through the ice caves to the cadet platoon, and then escort them to safety either back the way they had come or out through the front. The directional outcome all depended on how well the two ‘Big Red’ beasts were distracted.

 

Wesley was on an atmosphere point run in one of the Goshawk fighters with the rest of the inbound flight team, intending to offer a distraction to the big predators circling the cave entrances while the ground team removed the cadet platoon and their senior NCO on site from the equation. The Delta Vega officers had also arrived on the scene, though they were off in the distance and she could just make out the outlines of the mounted officers riding their Taun Tuan** saddle animals. The riders and their Tauns would be providing perimeter scouting cover while the ‘Creek crew handled the extraction mission; the mounts could outrun the big Hengrauggi if needed.

 

Her communications headset was booming with activity, and she would rotate the comm frequencies to listen in on the multiple channels that the ‘Creek officers and Vega officers were using, coordinating everyone where needed, otherwise letting them alone to do their jobs.

 

Cale, Mrkath, and TAral remained on the Mule, and the transport would break the holding pattern once Mrkath got the all clear from the away team, landing at a designated area to pick up the extricated platoon.

 

As long as the weather held, they’d all be good to go. It was going to be a textbook operation, she kept telling herself that…

 

* Specifications for our Troop Transport Mule can be found here http://www.stsf.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=19218

** Still uzin Warzie stuff on ur Trek's Delta Vega; Taun Tauns are doable, but no, we can't have Lightsabers