[center][h2][color=orange][b]Adam Gilford[/b][/color][/h2][/center]

Adam's heart was hammering in his chest as he was struck by an unpleasant familiarity. His cockpit was lit orange by the fiery glow of the atmosphere as his Orbital dropped into [i]Kitezh[/i]'s atmosphere. He was having trouble telling if the shaking was him or if the Starstrike was getting some rough vibration from turbulence. The rhythmic tapping of a loose panel suggested it wasn't him, but he couldn't be sure. "[color=orange]Can't believe I'm going to let one bad drop spook me like this.[/color]" He dialed up his cockpit's sound-dampening as the shaking increased. He checked his status display and cursed to himself.
[i][color=8F8F8F]WARNING: FOMAR-221 At Thermal Capacity. Weapon Disabled For Cooling Cycle.[/color][/i]
He adjusted the positioning of the rifle to sit better within the shadow of the Starstrike's entry and increased retrograde thrust to reduce the heat trying to melt the barrels of his only real weapon.

the Starstrike maneuvered itself little by little into a more shallow drop, the trajectory gradually angling away from the ground. In no time the Orbital met it's target altitude and aligned itself with the planet below, it's thrusters flaring and accelerating against the planet's gravity. The projected arc climbed higher and higher as the burn continued, The cockpit rotating internally so that the force would press Adam into the back of his seat instead of crushing his spine. As the G-forces grew, Adam fell back on his training to keep him awake, a hard-won gasp every few seconds keeping him from blacking out. As the Orbital's torso pitched forwards, it straightened it's legs, no longer needing to use it's shin plating as thermal shielding. New thrusters took over as they came into alignment, and it's altitude levels out. As the end of the deceleration came, Adam angled back towards the designated LZ in a long banking turn.

Adam glanced down at his post-reentry readouts.
[i][color=8F8F8F]Status: Thrust heat maximum exceeding 60%.
Thrust maximum output temporarily reduced.
Thrust output efficiency temporarily reduced.
Thrust maximum runtime temporarily reduced.
...[/color][/i]
"[color=orange]I know, I know it's hot. Not much we can do now but wait for the heat to dissipate.[/color]"
Adam dialed back his throttle and began coasting, putting out just enough power to maintain altitude. It would take a while to slow with how fast he was still moving, so he had some time to let his Orbital cool down without losing too much speed. He 'passed' the Bedwyr close enough to spot it's red arm.

[color=7e5e7f]<<Coming in overhead. Well boys and girls, anyone seen Adam and Eve?>>[/color]
<<[color=#239C89] I could probably recite the entirety of Genesis if asked. I'd rather not receive infractions for proselytizing during a mission, though.[/color]>>
[color=orange]<<No offense Castle, but I feel like praying ten minutes into a mission would be a bad sign on it's own.>>[/color]
Adam didn't bother keeping the jovial tone out of his voice. [i][color=orange]A bit of banter to ease the tension. Lord knows I need it.[/color][/i]

He set the Starstrike to maintain it's flightpath and started sweeping for activity. His own Orbital didn't have anything too fancy in the way of sensors, but eyes were eyes, and the bird's eye view he was transmitting back to the Bedwyr might still come in handy to someone.