Ultimus Romanorum

Planetfall

"Victory with metal, glory through mettle"- Motto of Meru's Marauders

Planetfall.

It's always the same. No matter the detail of your briefing, whether it be a full geo-analysis and dossier compiled from a dozen sources or a cursory handwritten OpOrd missing even the planet's name. There's always the curiosity. Even if you've checked it minutely, you're still at the same level of ignorance as any private soldier in the fleet. You have no idea what to expect.

 
Each planet is the same in that regard. It's a mess of expectations, contradictions and past memories. You'll have wasted hours trying to pick up the rudiments of the language and it'll go out your head the moment you land. Getting deployed to a desert planet? Good luck, someone's ensured the first gear to land is the polar survival equipment. Your contract says you're needed to drill and train the local PDF? Too bad, by the time you land you'll find the indigs are going to be slobbering over your boots looking for someone to combat that full-blown insurgency that's broken out in the interim of your six weeks space transit. 

It's depressing how often that last one occurs. Landing in the midst of a full-blown war is never fun. Not when you're not expecting it.

Which is why the current drop had most of the current battalion's officers and men nervous. Jan Blaszek was a prime example. Now they were in atmospheric orbit, he'd disdained his strap-seat and moved awkwardly along the aisle. His hands held on tight to the overhead holds, the G-force coming down hard on his knees each time the dropship was buffeted by turbulence. Still shy of thirty and at times he felt twice that age, yet Jan still presented a youthful countenance. Yet now it was furrowed in concern.

New Carthage was on paper a simple contract, relatively speaking. A planet with unusually rich ore lodes and mineral deposits, much of it was covered in mining industry and migrant workers had been shipped in from half a dozen systems to work the seams while the locals got rich off it. Naturally the conditions these gastarbeiters suffered under were far from stellar. It had been the subject of frequent committees and appeals to off-world authority, even that of a late-night feature documentry on TGN that had shocked moral sensibilities across the sector. But in the end, little changed. Once a planet kept its tithes coming and trouble minimized, the lumbering beast of the empire was happy. Afterall why would you worry about workers rights on some mining planet when there were more pressing concerns like wars to be fought or spies to be executed?

Well the attention (or lack thereof) devoted to New Carthage had come full circle to cause headaches for bureacrats and administrators both in system and out. The bungled handling of a miners strike over working conditions had escalated the conflict. On the secondary continent, it had seen nearly eighty die in riots that turned into a two day running battle. Local overseers afraid of containing the crowd with tear gas and baton charges had simply opened up on them. No wonder after that the miners had decided to hit back. Details after that were hazy but what started out as simple civil disobedience and rioting had now evolved into a full blown insurrection. Scuttlebutt had it that there was financing and supply coming from out of the system. It didn't bother Jan too much. They were being paid to go there and support local forces, if the miners hit them hard, they'd just hit back harder. Consensus amongst the rank and file was that if the planetary forces couldn't even deal with a bunch of deranged civvies, no wonder they were hiring the professionals.

 The double file of men he passed by were all combat-ready. Armoured and armed, they sat rigid with their assault rifles unloaded and clamped in place next to them. Between their legs, their packs were stored. All of them wore the standard mottled green flak armour and helmet with khaki fatigues underneath. The Timberwolves weren't elite; they were like a dozen other line infantry units you could find anywhere. But it didn't hurt to be prepared.