Siege of Terra (The Mavrik Woods Series, Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

repel knives, heat, cold. It’s basically a second skin if you will. If you are lucky it might even absorb some of the energy from the Thopium rounds you use in your weapons. The armour plating is made of Graphite, hardest stuff there is out there, well, at least on this planet. The stuff is strong, but very light. Another great addition about this armour is that it’s assisted. You can maneuver in it like a normal human would when it’s offline, if it’s online though that’s a whole other story. You can run and fight faster, jump higher, well; you get the point, it basically enhances all of your normal abilities.”
    I eye the body suit, looking at it with awe.
    He picks up a long barreled gun, “over here we have a compact Sniper Rifle. Light weight, up to three thousand meters, anything past that and the energy either dissipates or it loses its accuracy, most likely both though.”
    “Got any close range weapons?” Ravenson asks.
    “Why yes we do, we got the P-thirty-one right here, yet again, light, compact, has the range of seventy five meters, mainly used for close range though. Very accurate and very deadly, if you like hand guns this is the one I would recommend. Also, I forgot to mention, if you like knives there is a custom built short notched blade in the left gauntlet of the s.m.a.r.t armour, all you have to do to unsheathe it is to snap your wrist back. The blade itself is about fifteen centimeters long.”
    He went on for several minutes describing the different software that uploaded itself into the HUD, along with the difference to the actual physical aspect of the armour.
    “Oh, and one last thing, make sure you grab one of the assault rifles, that one will make your teeth rattle like crazy. Enjoy gentlemen, and I wish you good luck on your mission,” he says, turning around and walking back out through the door.
    “Alright, let's suit up,” I say, picking up one of the sniper rifles to test how heavy it is; just looking at it makes me think how much damage it could do, a huge childish grin splitting across my face.
     
     
    ****
     
     
    It didn’t take too long to suit up and grab as much gear as would be needed to complete the mission.
    I hear my breathing reverberate through the inside of my helmet; it must have been fresh off the assembly line seeing as the inside still has the ‘new helmet smell’ that soldiers tend to love. They had grown to realize that it was a good smell; it meant the helmet was new, and less likely to fail on you in the middle of battle from excessive use.
    Some helmets lasted years -at least from the previous helmet models- and other lasted only minutes depending on the amount of damage it would receive and where. I saw a person once get hit just seconds after he jumped off the gunship. A high impact round shattered the front of his helmet, passing right through. Blood was everywhere. That was only a few short years ago, back when the scientists hadn’t quite perfected Thopium technology. That one image will be saved in my head for years and years to come.
     “Everyone move out!” I bark through the helmet comm system.
    We exit the armoury one by one and head down the hallway back to the lift. I can feel the continuous thumping of my unsteady heart, I always get nervous before the start of every mission, not knowing what was going to happen or if it would be my last mission.
    We all pile back into the lift, this time with difficulty seeing as there are four completely geared up soldiers, all trying to fit into a small cubicle.
    “Dropship pad,” Sargent Terein says.
    The lift chimes again, I feel as the repulsors beneath my feet fire up and start to accelerate.
    The lift doors open, revealing an enormous well-lit bay, with a low cut ceiling, large sleek matte black ships that were big enough to hold a dozen soldiers filled up the cavernous room.
    “Well, would you look at that; I’ve never seen that model before, what are those?” Sargent Lorid