S.T.A.A.R.: Orbital Drop

S.T.A.A.R.: 
Orbital Drop 
Private First Class Cady sat in the passenger compartment of the S-7 Sub-Orbital Troop Transport. They had recently finished drop training, and this was their first combat drop. There was a war going on in Estonia, between loyalists and the coup led by General Cvetkov, and S.T.A.A.R. Intelligence Command had received reliable reports of alien technology being deployed by the General’s forces. Someone or something was supplying them with advanced technology, and Intelligence wanted to know who. Central Command subsequently authorized Bravo-2 to launch a night raid on known coup positions to recover information on how these were attained. Two four man elements were deployed, Cady’s being Alpha. 
“Stand by, two mikes to drop.” said the Dropmaster, and the team got up and prepared to enter their drop chutes. The drop chute system was designed to allow the entire stick to deploy toward the DZ while the transport was in motion, rather than having to stop and take the risk of being shot down. Each operator wore an MD-5 Sub-Orbital Drop Suit, a fully enclosed hard-shell space suit with advanced heat shielding, an integrated backpack, parachute system, and a sensor suite.  
Cady climbed in head first, as standard. They thought back to training. All the simulations, all the practice drops, and all the combat tactics training, all led up to this one moment. 
“Thirty seconds!” said the Dropmaster. Each drop pod closed, and hydraulic motors moved the chute perpendicular toward the earth. Ten beeps signaled the last ten seconds, and the drop pod engines fired. Newton’s laws of motion kicked in, pressing Cady’s suit to the bottom, or top, of the pod. The engines fired at a fast enough speed to compensate for the motion of the transport, sending each operator clear. 

“This is Captain Baylor. All operators, check in!” 
“Sergeant Major Larson, check!” 
“First Sergeant Warren, check!” 
“Private First Class Cady, check!” 
“Staff Sergeant Carter, check!” 
“Sergeant Ha, check!” 
“Specialist Wilson, check!” 
“All accounted for! Open formation to 300 foot spacing, out!” 
The sensor suite sent data to the display in the helmet, and Cady could see the Earth fast approaching. “Just like the simulations.” they thought. Within a few minutes, they could see Estonia, sandwiched between the Gulf of Finland and Latvia.  
“This is Baylor. Deploy chutes on my mark!” 
10 seconds passed. “Mark!” 
Retrorockets fired, flipping Cady right side up, then the parachute deployed. The jolt caused by the sudden increase in air resistance was negated by the MD-5's integrated padding, the rest of the descent being relaxing. Just when they reached the ground, Cady released the parachute. It floated to the ground, then they disposed of it using standard procedures. 
“This is Baylor, final check in!” 
“Larson, check!” 
“Warren, check!” 
“Cady, check!” 
“Carter, check!” 
“Ha, check!” 
“Wilson, check!” 
“Good. Stock your equipment and set the suits to self-destruct. Close formation, then we head to our objectives. Move!”

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