The Battle of Earth Part1: Endgame (The Human Legion Book 6) by Tim C. Taylor

Author:Tim C. Taylor [Taylor, Tim C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Human Legion Publications
Published: 2018-06-16T06:00:00+00:00

— Chapter 39 —

Gripping the seat arms with three hands, General Aelingir used her other hand to check her plasma pistol had the full power charge and unfouled barrel necessary to kill the maximum number of Tawfiq’s abominations.

The dropship gave a sudden lurch, but the general simply swallowed hard and pretended nothing had happened that could possibly distract her from yet another equipment check.

I’m not afraid, she told herself as the ship began shaking her head so violently that she had to abandon her inspection.

Like most Jotuns, Aelingir preferred open skies and firm ground beneath her feet. Even during the most unopposed landing she had experienced, dropping headlong down a gravity well in an oversized kinetic dart still turned her intestines into ribbons of fear.

She felt the bulkheads glowing hot behind her back as the atmosphere they were drilling through grew ever thicker. Would the craft disintegrate, leaving her burning briefly like a star as she fell to Earth?

Your anxiety is counter-productive, her AI advised before administering a carefully targeted hormonal effector package into her endocrine system, and gently reminding her that generals had more important matters to check on than the readiness of their personal weapons.

Shame forced Aelingir to open her mind to her surroundings.

She sat in a Type-32 dropship, in the lowest of six rings of Marines who faced inward to the deployment ejection system. Ten Marines waited in each ring.

She knew nothing of the Legionaries above her but was sure that within the privacy of their helmets, the ears of her closest companions would be flat with fear against the side of their heads. It was up to her to do something about that.

“Bumpy ride, eh?” she shouted over the roar of their descent.

Some of her comrades looked up and jiggled their heads in agreement. Most, though, ignored her, so she switched to BattleNet comms and addressed everyone in the dropship.

“Without a doubt,” she said, “the drop through an atmosphere is the most fur-tingling, gut-knotting experience in this life, and that’s not to mention the less pleasant bodily reactions to such a terror. My Jotun comrades, no matter how tightly the fear grips your resolve, it is of paramount importance that the humans never know of your fear.”

She paused, to give a chance for the five rings of human Marines above her to translate and take interest in her words. “The sweet, little four-limbed children need to think of us as immutable, as unworried by external danger as an overwintering Tallerman. You know how difficult humans find sleep if we Jotuns are not there to tuck them up in bed.”

There came an awkward pause, then laughter and banter erupted from all tiers of the dropship. What exactly was being said was unintelligible over the cacophony of the dropship’s plummet, but the words didn’t matter. She had given them permission to acknowledge their fear, and she preferred that to the brittleness of warriors who tried to deny it.

Major Knudsir took up the challenge of distracting the inhabitants of

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