Book 3 - Stars
Part 1
This thread is intended to be paired with Voyage of the Homebound (3.1)
Saturday, March 18th, 2023
Baterazam, Daabab 59th, 412
23:39 PM
Overlooking the city of Mukarras from his window vantage point, a young man clad in all black clutched a radio.
“Yuraab Mission Control, we are in position and ready to commence operation when we receive all-clear, over.”
“Roger, Yayn Mik. You have permission to begin at zero hundred on the 60th, over.”
“Roger,” the soldier finished. Suddenly, another voice came from behind the young man.
“Relax, sarge. We’ve trained for this. We’ve been over the plan a million times. If anything goes wrong, it wasn’t our fault.”
“Yeah,” said a contralto female voice in a teasing tone, the woman who sourced the voice coming over to the young man and leaning on top of his head, before the young man shrugs her off. “Chill out, Kaminski. It’s just the fate of the entire country resting on our shoulders. No pressure, of course.”
“Cut it out, AJ,” a third more masculine voice chimes in. “Ildarra knows he doesn’t need the added pressure. Don’t let’em get to you, sarge.”
“I, for one, am excited. You don’t get to liberate a country every day,” came the final voice in a high register. And on that note, Sergeant Ethan Kaminski of the ADF stood up and turned around to look at his squad.
The first voice belonged to Khosrov Barsamian, a tall and thin, but well built, orcish man in a medic uniform. This made sense, given that he was the squad’s medic. Ethan and Khosrov had been friends since basic training, and the sergeant was glad to have him here now - he was dependable, and he knew his stuff.
The second voice belonged to AJ Kaminski - his little sister, but more importantly, a damn good markswoman. Skilled with every gun Ethan had heard of, and several he hadn’t, she was someone you wanted by your side in a firefight.
Third up was Salah Ali, an expert hacker, tinkerer, tech wizard, and user of various explosives. Guy was a genius, and Ethan knew that there wasn’t a situation he couldn’t get himself out of with some duct tape and chewing gum.
And then there was Sally. She was the new girl, and at first Ethan had had his reservations about this ursine woman with a butterfly pin in her hair and the voice and general vibe of a middle school girl, but then in training she had punched down a door and handled a minigun with the ease one might handle a ribbon or piece of light cloth, and Ethan had decided not to press the issue. She was unusually strong, especially for her size, and he was just glad she was on their side - partly because he knew he wouldn’t want to take her down, and mostly because he knew he wouldn’t be able to.
Finally, there was him. Sergeant Ethan Kaminski, Nystatinne emigrant, top of his class in officer training, perpetually cool, calm, and collected. He just hoped he would be able to make it through the next day. Maybe become a war hero while he’s at it?
“Alright, Yuraab Squad. It’s time to get prepped and get this show on the road. Khos, you verify our targeting coordinates. Salah and AJ, you two get the mortar set up. Sally, let’s you and I get everything ready to move and then get down to ground level. We all know the plan?” The four of them nodded. “Perfect. Let’s get to work.” The next several minutes were a blur, checking and double checking numbers with HQ, stuffing things into various bags, trying to make sure the shells didn’t explode, and each of them making some last minute adjustments to their gear. When Ethan checked his watch, it was 23:58. “Alright, let’s head down,” he said, to a nod from Sally, and a solemn ‘good luck, and arham kaawlbak’ from all of them. They were on the 30th floor and were each carrying around 150 pounds of gear, so Ethan and Sally decided to take the elevator down, with some gentle and soothing elevator music to go along with it.
They arrived on the road, and Ethan checked his watch. 00:00. He grabbed his night vision and looked down the street. Dead center and due West was a cruiser flying the flag of Mirhaime - right on cue. He held up the radio.
“Yayn Lay, you may fire when ready.” He heard a whistling sound, he saw the explosion on the deck of the ship, and then all hell broke loose.
ADF Sergeant Ethan Kaminski overlooking the city.