Yui had gone through the food line with the rest of her squad – her nose wrinkled just a bit at the array of ‘standard’ Marine food that they were serving.  Nutritious.  Delicious.  Right.  Mud was probably better than this slop that the Corps was trying to pass off as real food.  But, it was the only thing that they were reasonably going to get, so she took it.  Sitting down at the table, she ate quietly, choosing not to engage in conversation.  The flamethrower carrier for the squad was still a little disoriented from hypersleep – apparently younger persons felt the side-effects of it a little more acutely.<br/><br/>Once the food was done, Yui headed back over to her locker to check her gear before they headed to the dropship bay to head down to the planet.  Opening her locker again, she checked the three pieces of equipment that she had contained in her locker – the last piece would come when she headed down to the bay.<br/><br/>The first piece was her backup weapon – the standard USCMC M41A pulse rifle.  Hers was literally standard – just the rifle, no grenade launcher, no flamethrower, no nothing.  Just a big gun with a whole lot of bullets.  Taking the empty magazine out of her locker, she slapped it in to check the ammo counter.  Yep.  ’00.’  That meant that it was working properly.  Removing the clip, she checked the pull on the trigger.  Nice and light, just how it had been before.  Good.  It seemed that that was operating normally.<br/><br/>Next was her peripheral – the XV-35 motion tracker.  This one would be real quick.  Flipping it on, the affirming beep that it gave, as well as the dots of several figures moving about nearby signaled that it was indeed working properly.  Excellent.<br/><br/>Last was her primary weapon – the M240B flamethrower.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t test the weapon completely here…but she could at least check the pilot light – that was the important part.  And upon inspection, the pilot light did work.  Alright.  Good.  Now to head downstairs and check her final piece.  Gathering her stuff – the rifle, motion tracker, flamethrower, and ammunition bag, she headed down to the dropship bay.  Arriving there, she found it waiting for her.<br/><br/>Stripping down to her panties and bra again, she stuffed the clothes into the ammunition bag’s spare pocket.  Then she looked up at her armor – the Ape Suit.  It was designed specifically to resist flame attacks, but hers had been treated with a special kit that made it resistant to nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks as well.  In other words – damn good armor.  The only real problem was that all that protection didn’t leave a lot of room for personal space.  So it was fanservice for the boys whenever she got in or out of it.  Opening up the armor, she climbed in, and closed it.<br/><br/>Once that was done, she picked up her stuff, and proceeded to the assembly in Bay 1.  On command, Yui used the 240’s pilot light to light his cigar.  Then came a speech from the LT, saying just why they were here, and what they were supposed to be doing.  Pretty standard stuff that she’d heard before.  After that, came the load onto the dropship to head down to the planet.  On the way down, Yui reflected on each of her squad mates.<br/><br/>First was the LT, Tiberius Mengsk, but it was either LT, or Caesar, with him.  To her, the LT had a switch inside him.  Off duty, he was nice, charming even, he seemed close to a lot of the guys that she knew back home before her dad had made her join up with the Corps.  When he was on the job, though…he could seem as cold and ruthless as the winter itself.  She was glad for that, though – that had kept his people, her included, alive so far.<br/><br/>Next was the Sarge.  The Sarge was old, but he was good, and in her opinion, a very capable second in command to the LT.  Aside from one other, the Sarge was the one who knew her the best.  He’d been the one to dub her ‘Jailbait,’ a name which he still used from time to time, when she first joined up, and then ‘Zippo’ when she’d shown her proficiency with the 240.<br/><br/>Then came Rome.  Rome was…crude.  Rude.  And also scary as hell, if you were on the wrong end of him.  Yui felt grateful that so far, she had not been on Rome’s wrong end.  He was…a bit difficult to get along with, for her, but she was thankful that he was easily the most skilled smartgun operator she’d ever seen.<br/><br/>After that was Reaper.  Reaper scared her.  Period.  She couldn’t deny that he was a good soldier, but the look in his eyes…it scared the hell out of her.  At least for the LT, he seemed normal some of the time.  But that look never left Reaper’s eyes, ever.<br/><br/>Then there was Widow.  Widow was a girl to her…sort of.  She’d gotten her name from breaking the noses of a bunch of male Marines.  So, she was definitely a girl, but she didn’t seem like the girly-girl type that Yui herself was.  Widow was the squad medic, so she was appreciated perhaps the most when she was needed.<br/><br/>After that was Senjo, the synthetic.  Senjo was something of a mystery to her – the android had kept her distance from the squad, so Yui honestly didn’t know a whole lot about her.  Not yet, anyway.  Maybe this mission would change that.<br/><br/>Last was Gizmo, the tech head, who knew her just about as well as Sarge did.  Yui liked Gizmo a lot, he broke the mold that Yui had seen in the squad.  And the fact that he was more of a techspert than a soldier just helped that.  Oh, sure, he could take care of himself, but he wasn’t on Rome’s or the Sarge’s level, so she had been assigned to protect his back a few times out on missions.<br/><br/>Soon enough, the dropship made planetfall, and everyone started to get off.  Following them off, Yui took out a magazine for her pulse rifle – loaded it, the counter displaying ‘95’.  Slinging it, she then took out a canister for her 240 and screwed it on.  Checking the fuel indicator, it displayed full.  Good.  Everything seemed to be set.<br/><br/>Then came the orders – the group was to divide up into two groups, and move out.  Hers was the rearguard of the Sarge’s group.  As they moved out, walking along the ground, to pass the time, Yui started with the line of a song they had done a couple of times.<br/><br/><em>“Have gun, will travel reads the card of a man…”</em><br/>