Following the order to prepare for Orbital Drop, little time was lost - with a brisk pace, the five squad members in the briefing room headed toward the Drop Bay; Thessalia casting one last glance at the holo-map before flicking the projector back off. The way was a short one, ursurprisingly - little point in wasting space in a Drop Ship, after all; meaning that just a few moments later, the five joined up with the sixth member, Richard, who was finishing the launch preparations for the Squad's drop pods. Hearing their approach, he announced the installation of smoke launchers in Core's and Overwatch's pods as well as skyshard launchers in Rapid's - a potentially useful addition, garnering a confirming nod from Thessalia. A quick glance around confirmed that all of them were, to whichever degree, already familiar with the procedure; none of the others wasting any time to board their A.W.E.'s. Seeing this, Thessalia in turn faced her own - MKS-19C Hagelsturm.

The white A.W.E. stood quite tall; its exterior's ruggedness only hinting at the advanced shielding system that was the heart of the Wirbelwind unit. Now, however, Hagelsturm was kneeling, allowing its pilot easy access to its interior; a swift motion that had been executed too many times to count already. Half pulling, half swinging herself up, Thessalia quickly got herself into Hagelsturm's cockpit; the A.W.E. recognising the presence of an Interface Suit within and performing a quick scan before the systems started up in earnest. The frontal armour began moving; sealing the cockpit as the HUD came online. Immediately, dozens of lines began pouring over it; each informing a trained eye about the status of the various systems as they powered up and came online. Most of them passed too fast to be of any use; merely a short OK denoting the completion of a set of subsystems remaining thereafter - until, just a few seconds after the process had begun, the HUD faded; only to reappear a moment later, this time in fully operational mode. Numerous statistics were displayed - subsystem condition, Core charge, shield power, weapon status and ammunition as well as environmental data and all identified nearby units. Of those, there were five.

One by one, every member stated their readiness in their way - from the more matter-of-factly Sasha over Wolfgang's enthusiasm to Jack's silent appearance on the squad's radar systems. "Hagelsturm to Squad One, all units operational," she announced over the comms as Hagelsturm began to stand up from its kneeling position; the white A.W.E. quickly making its presence known as it stood taller than the lighter units in the squad. Scanning the Drop Bay, Thessalia could only confirm what Hagelsturm already had registered - all of the others were equally prepared and ready to go; Richard's unnervingly distorted voice echoing as he suggested they get on their way to hunt some saurids. A simple nod in agreement sufficed for Thessalia before turning toward the drop pod that was to be Core's ride to the surface - after all, everyone knew what was to do. Climbing into the drop pod, careful not to damage either it or Hagelsturm in doing so, Thessalia too attached the crash webbing to her A.W.E. as Hu-Shi did the same; the others no doubt too in their respective pods.

Having finished the securing process, Thessalia turned her attention to the console upon the central support beam of the drop pod; confirming that both the coordinates entered were correct and that the other two pods were linked up. No sooner was this done, Richard's voice came over the comms, asking for a sound off. Glancing up at Hu-Shi, or rather, Chrome Ex-Road, she gave a simple nod before responding: "Core Team, ready for Drop." With each pod noting their readiness, Richard spoke up again - and stating that they'd be going in first. "Copy. Core and Overwatch will drop after you, ten second intervals," she responded; a few inputs to the console getting the system ready for a drop with just a single further press of a button. Eyes hovering over the console's status screen of the drop pods, Thessalia would closely follow Rapid's descent closely - even as the symbol flashed; noting damage of some sort. A warning appearned, stating that the drop pod was veering off course - only for the warning to change into notification that it was correcting course. Counting down the ten seconds since Rapid's launch, Thesslia narrowed her eyes when the drop pod was hit once again - this time evidently harder as the pod's orientation was blow out of the water. Even so, though, she remained silent - there was nothing they could do up here to help; the two of Rapid having to manually get things back in order - even as she in turn initiated Core team's launch; the ten seconds having passed.

Core's pod was in turn loaded into the launching tube; the final preparations being made - as Rapid's descent suddenly slowed; the two having managed to reorient their pod and fire the reverse-thrusters in time for a hard, but still safe enough landing. There was little time for relief, however - as just a moment later, Core team's pod was launched. Withing a fraction of a second, the drop pod was violently propelled planteside; the vessel rapidly heating up and starting to leave an evermore glowing trail behind it as it streaked through the atmosphere. It was, much to be expected, a bumpy ride - but the drop pod held up; the console noting the rapidly declining distance between them and the ground - before the worst of the shaking stopped. The drop pod noted various details outside changing; most of them about the atmospheric constellation - until the drop pod gave a violent lurch. Immediately, a warning flashed - something had hit them; taking a part of the heat shield with it. The temperature began to noticeably turn itself up - with still a long way remaining until the drop pod reached ground.

"Heat shield down to half, systems heating up," Thessalia reported, her voice retaining its calm despite the situation; her eyes glancing over the various displays of the consoles that showed the drop pod's systems - judging by those, they should be able to make plantefall before the pod disintegrated; their A.W.E.'s shields taking heat for them. Just then, the drop pod shook once again - as they were hit once more; the Saurid's volleys of bio-acid striking home - but, as a quick scan showed, only barely having grazed the side of the pod; slightly knocking them off course but doing minimal damage. Eyes practically glued to the console - even as Hagelsturm noted the constantly increasing ambient temperature - Thessalia followed the steadily decreasing altitude meter - until the number thereon suddenly started decreasing at a markedly slower rate; though not due to the reverse thrusters. Scanning the console, the problem quickly became clear: The previous hit had done little damage per se - but some acid had managed to burn through and mess with the main thruster; its disabling slowing their descent noticeably - and making Core team a far easier target.

Fortunately for them, however, the damage came too late - as the drop pod had already passed far enough to be out of harm's way for what the Saurids could throw up into the air. Thus, though slower than anticipated, Core team managed to complete the Orbital Drop - even if the interior was heating up to humanly unbearable levels; the exterior of the pod glowing brightly and, in some places, even burning or having started to disintegrate as the reverse thrusters finally fired; the pod's downward momentum violently stalling and reaching far safer speeds before, with a resounding boom and a final shake, Core team made plantesfall. Some of the systems had taken damage throughout the procedure; making a precise determination of their landing coordinates impossible - and thus prompting Thessalia to utilise the smoke launchers that had been installed. "Smoke is on. Let's get out and secure a perimeter," she announced - as the drop pod's doors crashed down; revealing the outside world as a thick cloud of smoke. Simultaneously freed from the crash webbing, Hagelsturm immediately pushed outward; its MStG-37 already unfolded from its forearms and ready to face any opposition; even as Richard's voice came through belatedly, announcing Team Rapid's equally successful drop.

As it turned out, Core team had made a perfect landing - just behind friendly lines, albeit a little hotter than intended, as Hagelsturm's radar system picked up the surroundings; these matching the still-fortified side of the river and its central bridge. "This is Core team, landed on point. Moving to engage forces across central bridge. Rapid team, move to rendezvous on the other side. Engage at will," she announced - both in response to Richard's call for orders, as well as to set the immediate course. "Overwatch team, move into positions and get an eye on the situation. Free to engage," she continued for the third and final team of Squad One - before switching the comms to team- rather than squad-wide. "Zhong, we're moving out. We're heading over the bridge and setting up a beachhead - we're here to draw attention," Thessalia cleared up, even as she turned toward the bridge; ignoring the part wondrous, part fearful faces of the Defense Force's soldiers around them as she set her comms back to squad-wide, Hagelsturm beginning to head straight toward the enemy-held side of the bridge where the fighting was most intense.

"Squad One: Move out!"