Kavrose's Sky Platoon

"You know those will be the death of you sarge"

Kavrose looked back to his solders, taking his cigarette of jinka leaves out from his mouth, and gave them his usual disdainful stare "Keep talking like that and I'll throw you off this damn thing" his men laughed at that, they always did appreciate a good threat here and there.

Turning back to the front of the ship Kavrose could only find a cruel beauty in the clouds as they flew by him. He'd watched the same scene hundreds of times yet this time it felt so different, so unique in a world of clouds. Breathing in the bitter smoke from his cigarette seemed to be the only thing that kept him from bursting into bloody poems.

Looking to his left he could see the other platoons riding in their own Sky Killers, back home the brass liked to call them Swan Skimmers but the solders knew what they really were. Spears of the sky launched from the military sky ship the Yenhan the Sky Killers cut their way through the clouds at astounding speeds, if not for the platoons mage holding a shield around the ship they'd all be torn to pieces.

Bursting through a cloud Kavrose could finally make out his target, the terrible Diomos. Already it had reached the front line and torn one of his sides frigates clean in half with blue fire.

Right on time.

Tossing his cigarette over the side he yells out to his men "Alright, gear up and get ready you dogs, breaks over"they chuckle at him and he knows why, they've been ready for this their whole lives.

Tightening his suit Kavrose looked back at the Diomos and felt awed by its horrible size. Shaped like a long jagged rock the Diomos seemed like a small moon rather then one of the many ships tearing up the sky's, if it didn't go down then the losses his side would take would be terrible. He would never let that happen, his men would never let that happen.

As the Sky Killer quickly began to approach its target Kavrose could make out the blue crystals covering the Diomos's exterior, they really were alot bigger then he had imagined, he could already hear the whirl of blue fire coming towards them. If it wasn't trying to kill him he would have thought the site of it splitting past their shield to be quite dazzling.

"Ohp, there goes the red tigers" Looking out of the corner of his eye Kavrose could see one of the other Sky Killers burst into flame and fall apart into the abyss. He only hopped that his platoons mage could handle the stress. Moments later the ship lost its blue hue and the Sky Killer was passed the worst of it.

"Its jumping time boys" Stepping backwards into his space Kavrose placed his feet in little grooves and bent his knees, shifting his weight carefully like he'd done a hundred times before. The men behind him were all in place, stupidly grinning like usual.

There is a snapping noise and now their in the air. Past the shield Kavrose could finally feel the wind pushing against his face fiercely, stretching his limbs out as far as he can he lets the feeling of total freedom wash over him. But Kavrose has a mission, and he has trained much for this day. Pulling out his lancaar he shoots the beam tipped rope seemingly at thin air.

With the sound of tiny thuds his platoon grapple themselves onto the Diomos's shield and climb their way up it. Using the tip of their Lancaar's they form up around their mage and wait until his incantations are finished. One of the men laughs and calls out to the others "Hey guys, Gerheld fell off!"the rest of them laugh and exchange some quick banter about silly old Gerheld, whilst Kavrose just rolls his eyes.

Nearby a beam of blue fire shoots out from the Diomos and one of the other platoons resting on the shield are instantly incinerated. The men pause for a moment before one of them brakes the silence "Huh... Wasn't that Yurell's platoon?... Hey does that mean I have the highest score now? Haha!" The men laugh again and Kavros feels like their in awfully good spirits today.

Below them a green triangle covered in runes begins to grow around the invisible shield and the men begin to tense up. What look like cracks in the sky below them begin to appear within the triangle until finally the center of it shatters creating a small opening. Almost immediately some of the men take out their specialised lancaars and clamp it around the hole in the shield, and with a loud crash it shoots a line all the way to the Diomos.

Crowding around the gap the men one by one use their metal gauntlets on their left hand to grip the line and abseil down it. The defenders manning the outside ports of the Diomos had begun to shoot at them from their defences, Kavros momentarily considers this to be rude but not unexpected.

Part 2-

Going down the line himself Kavrose sees some of his men go limp fall off as tiny blue spheres tear through them, and for a brief moment he expects to be hit himself any second. The shot never comes however and he lets go of the line and uses his momentum to land in one of the many ports of the Deimos. All around him a bloody combat of swords has begun as his men try and secure the landing for the platoon, wasting no time Kavrose unsheathes his own and leaps into the fray.

As soon as the mage finally makes his way down Kavrose yells a command at his troops to push forward. Taking up an arrow formation with the mage at the center Kavrose's men make a bloody push to one of the many doors of the Deimos. Sparing a short thought for the few men he'll leave behind to hold off the defenders Kavrose joins the formation and enters the Deimos.

His men had been lucky so far but now it came to the hard part of their mission and Kavrose was no looking forward to it. On most sky ships the interior corridors were small and suffocating so that they didn't require many defenders to block an attackers path, and the Deimos was no different. Kavrose was muling over the worst possible outcomes when one his men shouted the one thing he didn't want to hear.

"Mage!"

With no where to hide or run away to the solders only choice was to push forward, even as an ark of red lighting skipped along the walls toward them. In a matter of seconds all his men at the front began to spasm and fall to the floor as red began to cover over them, but luck was still on Kavrose side. As his men fell over the platoons mage hopped over them and pointed his hand down the hallway and a thin green blade of light shot down the corridor and cut the defenders in front of them apart.

Not wasting this opportunity Kavrose yelled a war cry out and lead the rest of his men into the defenders. Piling into them with swords and punches the defenders faltered and began to flee, opening the way to the platoons goal.

Down the seeminly endless corridors of the Deimos Kavrose platoon found themselves reaching the back of the terrible ship until finally they came across the door they were looking for. Bursting through the door Kavrose had a good look at the final room and found it to be everything he had expected. Directly in front of him were a line of defenders with their guns, terrible inventions that attached to the ship in order to use its power as a small weapon, and behind them the spinning blue core for one of the Deimos's mighty engines.

With a flash of blue fire and the sound of metal on flesh the fight was brutally short, but Kavrose's men had won. Limping to the control panel for the engine Kavrose calmly shuts it down and the low humming of the engine begins to dissipate.

Releasing a sigh he turns back to his men and smiles "Huh... Looks like there are about ten of you... that's a good eighth of what we started with... I'm surprised we did so well"

"You know it.... boss" One of his men had that same stupid grin on, even as he was puking up blood.
"Hows the mage?"
"Got shot through the shoulder sir, but he says hes got at least one more good spell in him"
"Good... Have the men pick up the guns then... may as well make use of them while were here"

Forming his men up so they were aiming at the door Kavrose felt relieved. He and the other boys had prepared for this moment there entire lives, and suddenly all the sleepless break braking nights of training were worth it. So long as about half the platoons reached their own engines then the Deimos would slowly begin to descend, taking it out of the fight for a good five years. In that time his side might even take one of their colony ships, and his family's would be safe for a little longer.

Happy that his life as a solider in the endless war meant something Kavrose took out a cigarette from his pouch and offered it to the man next to him.

"Oh sorry sir... I don't smoke... Its bad for ya" Lighting the cigarette and taking in its bitter taste Kavrose scowls at the man.

"God, I hope they kill you first"