Titan Cloud Deck

Titan Cloud Deck

Came out of the soup at 3500 meters; LZ right before us. That's when the cluster rocket fire let off. Four positions, all scattered, so I'm guessing the Roiders went to ground and dismounted.

Can't fire lasers in the soup, so we flipped the cannons to point defense. But there's only a two second flight time for the rockets, and we took two hits. Nothing vital, but I had to shut off Four-Bravo Auxiliary Fuel System to stop an explosion.

Cut the thrusters to drop faster, but terminal vee is only about 60 mps in the soup. That's about a minute of fall before we hit the water -- methane, ethane, whatever. Too long to stay a target. So, yeah, I know it's against the Regs, but I flipped the landing thrusters up and used them to push us down.

Got to 200 mps at 1200 meters, then reversed the deal and braked hard. Got us down in under thirty seconds, about a half klick short of the target and in about five meters of wa -- liquid. Since we took another hit before we splashed, I figured it was worth it. Let the fighters take out the shooters. My job was to get a company of Marines on the ground. They were all alive when they went out the hatches.

--Major Staci Yu, Martian Imperial Marine Guard, After Action Interview, 3 February 2520