Amidst the murmur of prayers, the roar of the engines and the pinging of bullets off the hull my attention is fixed in the sargeant's back. A tuft of short, amber curls stick out of the bottom of her helmet. A roll of her shoulders and she clips onto the rail, sets foot on the ramp, dust and grit whipping around, and her torso bursts apart in a spray of viscera.
I'm blinded by the spray and fall back, tasting her copper as I crash into Kaelis behind me. Through the shocked swears of the rest of the squad Kaelis shouts something incromprehensible to me as he pushes me up and out the ramp. The world flashes into bright existence as I hear the whip-crack noise of my clip snapping open and the ground comes in fast. I pull on the decel' tab, feeling the kick of the jets before I hit the deck.
I've landed badly, I hear a crack in my shoulder and pain jolts through my right side. But the bullets are zinging by and I need to get to cover. I pull myself off the dirt and jump behind a scrap pile as a pop in the dirt tells me I'm being shot at...