<strong>Lcpl. Roman "Rome" Beneke</strong><br/><br/>Rome plugged a fresh DV9 battery into both ends of the power leads running from the articulation arm to the smart gun. His weapon hummed to life and he pulled the HMS into position to test the infrared tracking system and the targeting view in his viewport.<br/><br/>The IR tracker itself consisted of a 256 x 256 element Platinum-Silicide focal plane array cooled to 77°K by a tiny cryogenic gas-cooler working on the Stirling principle. The system works by monitoring a 30° cone in front of the gun and transmits high resolution thermal images in the 8-10 µm range to the HMS viewport.<br/><br/>Rome swung the unloaded M56 away from the squad’s formation towards Senjo and immediately noted that the lighted rectangle on the view screen overlaid pefectly over her center mass. The articulation arm instantly steered the gun to aim at the indicated target sight. The target light circle  lit up brightly indicating that the target was bore-sighted. Rome smiled wickedly and looked to Zippo standing next to him,<strong>“She’s just a scrap heap and spare parts now.”</strong>He chuckled as he swung the M56 back to its rest position.<strong>“What are we gonna tell Ma and Pa Robot?”</strong><br/><br/>Only after he had double checked the safety switch to ensure it was in the safe position, Rome grabbed an ammo drum and loaded it into the guns’ feed mechanism, grabbed the cocking handle and yanked it back. He promptly released the cocking handle and let it slam forward, loading the first round into the chamber.<br/><br/>Each ammo drum contained 500 rounds of M250 10mm x 28, 230 grain, caseless projectiles encased in a rectangular block of nitramine and stored on a roll of continuous plastic, non-disintegrating link belt. The M250 ammunition's selectable fuse setting allows the operator to choose how the ammunition will function and is determined by a switch on the weapons’ hand grip. After selecting the fuse setting, the fuse is set electronically as the round is loaded into the chamber. The two settings are ‘Super,’ which is optimized against soft targets and will detonate the round upon impact, and ‘Delay’, which explodes the shell only after penetrating the target’s armor.<br/><br/>Loaded for bear, Rome clambered up the Cheyenne’s loading ramp and took his seat opposite Widow, swinging his weapon into the vertical rest position along his left side. He pulled the safety bar down over his large, 6’3” 247 pound muscular frame until it made the distinctive ‘CLICK’ indicating it was in the locked position. The rest of squad loaded and took their seats, the loading ramp closed, and the launch procedures began. The UD-4 was lowered by its docking arm into the launch bay airlock and the countdown began.<br/><br/>Rome hated this part. Although he would die before he would ever admit it, Rome knew fear. Being fastened to a seat inside of a dropship as it plummets towards planet-side, completely helpless and unable to do anything with all of that intense training and all of those fearsome weapons until you safely land, your life is essentially in the hands of some Aerospace flyboy whom you may or may not know. Rome took a deep breath and pressed his head back into the head rest.<br/><br/>The countdown completed and the ship lurched beginning to shake almost immediately, increasing in intensity over several minutes. Rome began his mid-drop routine of quoting his own distorted version of a bible verse found in Revelations. It was his way of psyching himself up for whatever might await them once the drop ship doors opened and they deployed. It was also his way of distracting himself from the sense of helplessness and fear he experienced from during the drop. He spoke loudly and slowly so that his voice would carry over the whining, roaring engines of the UD-4. He almost sounded reverent.<br/><strong><br/>“And they looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given to them over ALL THE OTHER MOTHERFUCKERS, to kill with their guns, and with flame, and with grenades, and with knives, and with their bare-fucking-hands! OOH-RAH!!”</strong><br/><br/>The ship entered the atmosphere and leveled off, correcting its course and headed for the pre-determined LZ. Rome’s breathing became more labored after his little self-motivating speech and he had a dangerous look in his eyes.<br/><br/>The pilot announced over the intercom system,<strong>“ETA ‘til touchdown – 30 seconds…”</strong>The safety bars unlocked and swung open locking into place overhead. Rome lunged to his feat and moved into his dispersal position in line with the other Marines, gripping the hand grips of his M56 tightly. He glanced to the Sarge as he gave deployment instructions and team assignments.<br/><strong><br/>"All right, Marines! Listen up! We're going in as one unit until we can assess the situation.  For smaller scale operation, we're separating into two teams.  Gizmo, Reaper, and Senjo are with the Lieutenant in Alpha Team.  Your job is to set up a base of operation and fallback point.  The rest of you are with me in Bravo Team.  Our job is to scout ahead and make first contact. We clear?"</strong><br/><br/>He answered in unison with the rest of his squad, “OOH-RAH, MASTER SERGEANT!” The drop ship touched down and the loading ramp dropped open and Rome filed out, taking up position as they had trained and executed in countless missions.<br/>