Nomad: Ocean of Sand

Chapter 2: Smooth Landing

The Calamity had dropped out of Hyperspace while Moon and the rest of Blue Team were still loading up with supplies in the armory. Their canister backpacks were packed to the brim with grenades (both smoke and thermal detonators), survival gear, and charge packs for their DC-15 rifles. Once they were comfortable with what they carried, it was a mad dash to the hangar to get to the LAATs. Luckily, since the Calamity had arrived, Moon was feeling significantly better and was able to keep up pace with Blue Team as they sprinted across the hangar bay. Moon was the first to reach Wampa 2's LAAT and jump into the back where the ARC Trooper was waiting for them. Quickly following behind him, Clone Trooper 2254 Dome and Clone Trooper 2255 Doubles jumped into the LAAT, tapping Moon's shoulder as they entered. Ram was the last to enter, giving Moon a slap in the back and yelling out "Last man!"

With that, the large doors on the sides of the LAAT slid shut with a metallic clang. For just a moment it was pitch black inside the LAAT before the interior lights flickered on. In that moment, Moon caught his breath and lifted his right forearm to his mouth. "Blue Team is loaded up and ready for take off." He spoke into the communicator that was built into the armor.

"Confirmed." Acklay's slightly high pitched voice crackled through the communicator. Almost on cue, the LAATs engines roared to life, lifting it off the hangar floor. Moon lifted his red helmet up and placed it over his head, giving it a soft shake to make sure it was secured. The glass, that let him see out of it, lit up with the Heads Up Display activating. It flashed briefly as the modules appeared in Moon's vision. In the top center he had a compass that would normally move with his head and give him bearing numbers just below it, but was inactive till they landed. The bottom left displayed the serial numbers of Ram, Dome, and Doubles along with green boxes below them to denote their medical status. And on the bottom left was a small motion tracker that would ping anything that moved in front of him. Looking around the interior of the LAAT, Blue Team and the ARC Trooper were highlighted with a soft green outline.

The LAAT lurched as it lifted off and exited through the hangar bay door and out into space. The artificial gravity generator clicked on and Moon immediately felt slightly heavier. It wasn't long before the LAAT began to enter the planet of Jotar's atmosphere, causing the vehicle to bounce with the turbulence. Once all the way through, the artificial gravity clicked off, but the clones didn't feel any lighter. "Approaching LZ Casual, three mikes out." The pilot spoke to the clones over the LAATs intercom.

Suddenly, the transport was rocked by an explosion just outside of the doors. Moon stumbled along side his brothers as the LAAT swerved through the air. "Pilot, what was that?!" Moon screamed out, grabbing onto one of the hand holds the hung from the ceiling.

"Flak fire from the surface." The pilot responded over the intercom. "I'm making evasive maneuvers!" The pilot's voice was shaking as he turned the LAAT sharply, rollin it through the air. More and more explosions shattered the air outside of the vehicle as the pilot yanked the controls from side to side. "It's gonna be a hot landing-" The pilot was cut off as the front of the LAAT exploded, hit directly by a shell lobbed from the ground. The vehicle was thrown into a violent spin, tumbling to the earth below and tossing the clones inside around like ragdolls. For just moments they entered zero gravity within the tumbling LAAT only to be smashed back down as the vehicle slammed into the earth.

Moon opened his eyes slowly to the sound of crackling fire. He could feel hands on his shoulders, dragging him across the sand. "Come on, Trooper." Moon heard a voice from behind him say. It sounded almost ethereal to his ringing ears. Through his blurry vision, Moon could see the wreck of the LAAT. A smoldering pile of twisted metal sticking up from a crater in the sand. "On your feet, Trooper." The voice spoke once more as the hands dragging Moon set him down.

Moon shook his head as his vision cleared and could see he was several meters away from the crash. "W-where are the others?" He questioned, sitting up in the sand.

"Right here and all green." Ram called out to his stunned team leader. He, Dome, and Doubles formed a semicircle around Moon. Their eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of the enemy.
Looking over his shoulder, Moon counted the three men and let out a sigh of relief. "Glad to hear you're alive." Moon groaned as he stood up, picking up his DC-15/UGL and shouldering it. He turned around to stand face to face with the ARC Trooper that had dragged him from the wreckage. "And uh... thanks for getting me out of there." He spoke slowly to the red armored ARC Trooper.

"Hey, I figure you'd do the same for me." The ARC Trooper spoke quickly and directly with a blunt tone of voice. He lifted up his DC-15S and turned away from Moon. "Pilots didn't survive. We should get moving for the RP."
Moon was quite for a moment, still getting over the stunning effects of the crash. "Right... RIGHT!" He yelled out, looking to the top of his HUD where the now active compass had the RP points direction marked. "We need to move on bearing three-three-five. I want Dome in the front. Form a wedge on him."
"Are you good to move?" Ram asked, taking a knee as Dome and Doubles moved past him.

"We landed in the open, away from our LZ, and enemy forces are probably already on the way." Moon explained, waving his arm to allude to the wide open desert they were stuck in. "We don't have much choice." With that, the group of five clones began to move out into the barren desert and its tall dunes.