[b]The Site of the New Horizons Colony, 3 hours and 23 minutes until Colony Cruiser [i]Wanderer[/i] makes Landfall[/b]
Three dropships touched down in an open meadow, alien grasses waving in familiar breeze- a distant forest of unknown plant species surrounding the area. 

Each dropship were VTOLs- quad-engine beasts large and strong enough to carry a platoon of infantry and a main battle tank in its bowels, or a giant shipment of supplies, or otherwise. Large spheres were on either side of its rear landing gears; the gun turrets hid their weapons in the hull of the ship. The front rotary cannon was retracted to its port just underneath the dropship’s cockpit, and the extra armaments stored underneath the two wings on either side- the same wings that supported the swivel-ball-mounted jet engines. Small Active Protection System (APS) turrets had already popped up from their place inside the top and bottom of the aircraft, scanning for threats with their dual-purpose radar. 

The rear of the settling HCC-44 dropship popped open, and then hydralics began lowering it the ground as the inside’s atmosphere depressurized and equalized with the planet’s.

It was not the mission commander that walked out of the first ramp, but rather a team of four bulky exosuits, pioneers of the colony that act as security and labor. There were four slots for direct-use utility items- one on both forearms, and two can be mounted on the back of the shoulder, with arms that lift them up and over. A .30 caliber machinegun was mounted on each one of their left shoulder, only one carrying a heavier .50 caliber. On their right arms was a flamethrower, a hose locked to their arms leading back to a large cylindrical tank sitting horizontally at their lower back.

There was no sign of natural wildlife, as the twelve total Advanced Mechanized Infantry Support Units (AMIS) marched out of the four dropships, each of them standing at eight feet tall, and armored only to protect the wearer from the environment and from heat.

The dropships lifted off as they disembarked, starting to circle the area and wait for the colonization ship to arrive.

Eight of the armed AMIS units spread out in a circle, equidistant from each other, and walked to the edge of the meadow. It wasn’t circular, of course, but that didn’t matter too much. They were instructed to leave a circular ‘green’ as large as they could make it, and then start burning until they ran out of fuel. The idea was to have an area that can be used for both research and pleasure, and dedicate the surrounding area to future expansion. The colony ship itself was landing nearby, in an open field; the remaining four of AMIS’s would be burning a path to said field. 

They had been launched from the Wanderer as it entered orbit, another half-dozen ships arriving at more or less the same time as it. To ensure they claimed the spot they had planned all along, the three dropships had been launched, jetting down into the atmosphere before anyone else. There were research posts on this planet, but this mission had one goal- supremacy. 

Eight exosuits engaged their flamethrowers at more or less the same time, sweeping back and forth in short bursts, letting the chlorine triflouride fuel- jetting out from high-pressure nozzles in extremely small amounts, at high speeds to coat a large area with surprisingly little- burn through anything and everything. As a fuel that could literally burn through concrete, it was deemed efficient enough to be used to clear large areas of foliage. The flames cut straight through the foreign softwood of the native trees, easily more flexible and more fibrous than Earth trees. Within twenty minutes, the mechs had gone through only a fourth of their fuel supply, and had continued a steady advance to burn an area large enough for a small town to be erected. 

Dutifully, the remaining four had chosen the direction that led to the planned spaceport, and took turns, glassing a pathway to the spaceport by using more fuel than strictly necessary to melt the ground as well as the trees in the way. The heat all around them was intense, but their carbon nanotube suits kept them cool and safe from flame and smoke, the only effect the razing having on the exosuits being the titanium alloy frames and thickly insulated electronics receiving soot marks and a tiny bit of melting, respectively. 

[b]8 days and 16 hours after Landfall[/b]
You could hardly see the scorched soil anymore, thought Mission Commander Lawrence Iverson. The majority of the scorched area had holes dug deep for foundations straight to the bedrock, allowing for concrete to be laid without any fear of sinking into the ground or somesuch. Various construction equipment that had been brought dug the great underground portion that housed the colony ship’s reactor, the containment system set up before the ship had even begun dismantling. 

Now, the mentioned reactor had already been installed- it was one of the first things that needed to be completed. Housing was being set up, and a fence had been installed in the green foreign lawn that sat at the center of the colony. Barracks had been set up as well, with an accompany mess hall. A dozen and a half other buildings were currently in construction, colonists rushing to and from piles of supplies and the construction sites, working to finish the initial settlement so research, expansion, and manufacturing can commence. The same digging machines that had been dedicated to assisting the power plant’s construction were now halfway between the colony ship and the new settlement, working busily away to create a strip mine. The dirt they dug up was deposited in a wide ring all the way around the future colony, piled on top of a concrete and steel-reinforced wall, before being topped with an electrified steel fence. 

There hadn’t been any problem with local wildlife, though sensors set up just behind the fense picked up movement on the edge of the burned perimeter- here and there, intermittent, but generally shying away from those who brought flame and metal. 


A good start on a new world. 
[hider=Summary]
Colony ship landed, dismantled
Powerplant online; cold fusion reactor
Basic wall erected
Foundations laid
Barracks/Mess Hall constructed
Many other constructions in progress
Strip mine in progress[/hider]