Jack felt a slight tap on his shoulder as he jolted awake, hitting his head and rolling off his bed while the person who woke him up sighed and asked a question.” Are you good?” while Jack rubbed his head before responding “I can stand.” as the man extended his hand to Jack which he grabbed and pulled himself up.” Get to the medbay for evaluation.” said the man as Jack stretched his arms slightly then made his way to the medbay while slowly getting back to his senses from waking up. After a few minutes, Jack arrived as the metal door opened followed by him entering the medbay while a Medical officer gestured for him to sit.” So Doc, mind telling me why I'm being woken up in the middle of the night?” asked Jack while the Medical officer examined him for any head injuries. ”CAS for the SAS you saved earlier today. That's all I know.” said the MO as he pulled out a small checklist and started asking Jack questions.
“Do you know what time it is, the date, and where you are?” Jack replied, “22:17. November 1, Year 4524.Royal Navy Cruiser HMS Duke of Normandy.”
“Recite your name, age, rank and service branch.”
“Jack Fletcher,23, Second Lieutenant, Royal Starfighter Corps.”
“Recite the alphabet in reverse.”
“Z,Y,X,W,V,U,T,S,R,Q,P.O,N,M,L,K,J,I,H.G,F,E,D,C,B,A.”
“7x5?”
“35”
“Are you disoriented or confused?”
“No”
“Do you have dizziness, nausea, or other symptoms?”
“No”
The MO picked up a ball and then threw it at Jack, which he caught followed by the MO nodding their head. The medical officer then pulled out a stick and a chart and walked a few meters back,” Read this”.Jack squinted his eyes slightly and started reading “5.9,3.4,2,8,5.7,6,8,4,2.”Jack paused and squinted his eyes more before continuing “9,3,2,7,6.4,6,5,8,3.2,9,4,3,5.”Jack once more paused and squinted his eyes again “4,7,5,2,9”.The medical officer rolled the chart back and folded it as he put it back on the table,” Your eyesight seems good” said the MO. Jack rubbed his eyes slightly before the MO told him to stand up, which he followed, “Balance on one leg”.Jack raised his left leg and slowly balanced on his right while wobbling slightly before steadying himself. ”For how long Doc?” Jack asked the MO,”30 seconds” while the Medical officer counted to 30 before letting Jack put his left leg down.” You're good, head to the bridge, Captain Edmund will give you a briefing. Elevator’s on the right.” said the MO as Jack nodded then entered the elevator which started heading to the bridge. ”I wonder if I'm being put in a new Squadron.” Jack started talking to himself while waiting,” Eh, maybe not if the Gryphon is enough for CAS…” Jack scratched his head a bit and continued talking to himself.”But would a single man and his craft be chosen alone to provide CAS for the SAS?” Jack stopped talking to himself as the elevator opened revealing the bridge where Captain Edmund seemed to be in an argument with the Major of the Royal Marines complement aboard as Jack exited the elevator and listened in.
“This is insane, Captain. An entire planet getting orbitally bombarded just from one minor outbreak discovered by the SAS?”
“It is a direct order from the British Crown. We cannot refuse to follow it.”
“Then at least wait for the complete evacuation of the civilians.”
“Our orders are to support the SAS in getting the last bits of intel we can, then we bombard the planet to oblivion. Civilians are an optional secondary objective. The first people we need out are our ground forces. Along with that, they are rebels, not civilians.”
“And I thought you were compassionate, Percival. Do you see your reputation as more important than the lives of innocents?”
“Good soldiers follow orders, even if the civilians didn't want to become rebels and only tried to avoid the combat zones and survive. They are all considered traitors to the crown.”
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“And a good soldier contemplates the consequences of their actions-”
“I understand why you have your concerns; however, you are relieved of duty for the duration of this operation, Major. This is my ship, not yours.”
The Major sighed and left the bridge as the Captain turned to Jack.”Ignore that argument…Fletcher correct?”Jack nodded in response as the Captain continued.
“As of now, you will not be assigned to a new squadron due to most of our squadrons being wiped out by more IRA surprises other than the Ra laser turrets.SAS will raid a recently discovered IRA facility, and you are to provide support for them. Once intel is recovered, you are to return to the cruiser. Do not try to aid the evacuation or you will get disciplinary action for disobeying orders.”
The Captain paused then continued.
“Your Gryphon has gotten some improvements for this. Among these improvements are 4 high-explosive rocket pods, there should be just enough space for you to retract your wings and still be capable of quick planetary insertion. Along with that, it has gotten increased armour plating. Unfortunately, EM Shielding and an MPZP reactor have no space to be put in. You should be able to be agile enough to dodge though, and yes, I read your recent medical evaluation.Dismissed.”
Jack left the bridge and headed to the hangar then once more got on his Gryphon while the clamp grabbed his craft’s tail while the floor below opened. Jack slowly increased the strength of his Gryphon's thrusters before the clamp let go sending his Gryphon once more plummeting down to the planet.”Let's see if I can still see shit in the dark...” said Jack as he pulled a lever extending his Gryphon's wings and levelling his craft as he entered the planet’s atmosphere. Jack looked around as he barely avoided crashing into some trees since he was barely capable of seeing a thing in the dark.”Might as well experiment with this...”Jack tapped a random button as a large spotlight activated on the Gryphon's nose.
“Well, why wasn't I told that before.” Jack looked at his radar and headed to the marker on it while flying close to the ground until arriving after a few minutes to a 3 vehicle convoy of Stallion jeeps as he activated VTOL mode on his Gryphon and hovered above.”Theta-1 I am hovering above you” said Jack waiting for a response from the SAS.”Turn off your spotlight J-2”,Jack followed turning off his Gryphon's spotlight and then asked a question “Where exactly is this IRA facility?”.”Cliff, directly north. You should see an entrance and a large platform on the cliffside.” came in as a reply with Jack responding “Barely can see it. Is it abandoned? No visible light.”.
“Possibly, now follow us.” said the SAS operator as the jeeps started heading to the entrance with Jack hovering above them as the jeeps entered the tunnel with Jack ascending to the platform on the cliff.”Theta-1 no visible activity on the platform though i do see what seems to be a malfunctioning door.” Jack waited until a response came in “Copy, we're on an elevator” Jack watched as the SAS team arrived on the platform through a lift and slowly made their way to the malfunctioning door and entered.”Theta-1, I have no visual on you, no heavy firepower support for you inside.” Jack hovered around the platform as he listened to the SAS operatives on comms.
“Sergeant, you may want to see this…”Jack continued listening to the SAS on comms “What is it 5?”.”It seems to be…a bull?-” Jack heard a loud bellow as Theta-5’s mangled body got sent flying out onto the platform as a humanoid bull jumped out of the new hole in the cliff and roared at Jack.”J-2 open fire” said Theta-1 on the comms followed Jack firing a pair of high explosive rockets creating a large hole in the creature’s chest killing it as the remaining SAS operatives exited the cliff and examined the body.”Minotaur…?” asked Jack as the SAS continued to examine the body before one of the operators replied “Looks like it.”.
Jack noticed a slight movement above the cliff and raised his Gryphon’s nose “What are you aiming at J-2?” asked Theta-1 before a large skinless horse with its rider merged with it appeared on the platform.”What…the fuck is that thing?” asked Jack with Theta-1 replying “No idea, but you should probably keep your weapons aimed at it…”.Jack aimed his Gryphon at the thing, but it still stayed still as if observing them as an SAS operator muttered something, “Nuckelavee” followed by Jack asking another question “Isn't Nuckelavee from Scottish folklore?”.
”Yes-” said the operator as the thing disappeared and reappeared behind him.”2…do not…move.” said Theta-1 as the half equine half man monstrosity stayed still and looked at the SAS operator.”Why hasn't it killed me yet...” asked Theta-2 right before the Nuckelavee grabbed him but did not do anything else as Jack readied to fire while the other SAS operators aimed their weapons at it.”Is it trying to mess with us?” asked Jack with Theta-1 responding “Likely-”.The Nuckelavee grabbed Theta-2 with its other hand before ripping him apart, followed by crushing the skull of another nearby operator as the other SAS fired to no effect until Jack fired his twin 40mm Bofors into the creature’s torso, making it wail in pain and disappear.
“Theta-1 have you already gotten intel?” asked Jack “We got what we could find.” came in as a reply as Jack looked around once more.”Then I suggest we get out of here then before more problems appear-” a winged beast suddenly roars and leaps onto Jack’s Gryphon trying to break the canopy “Bugger off you wanker.” said Jack as he continued trying to get the thing off before he manages to put it down with point blank laser fire sending its corpse crashing down.
”Wyvern” said Jack as more figures appeared at the top of the cliff “I highly suggest we get our arses out before getting slaughtered…”.Jack monitored the figures as the SAS operators got on their stallion Jeeps right before a woman appeared causing a SAS operator to stop and look at her and walk closer “Do not get close to her 9. Do not.” said Theta 1 with Theta-9 ignoring him and walking closer.”Do not get close to her 9 that is not the woman you know.” said Theta-1, Theta-9 still ignoring him and walking closer as Jack noticed a slight glow through 9’s gasmask.”Theta-1 leave him he's gone.” said Jack as Theta-9 turned around and slowly raised his firearm at his team as Theta-1 tried to make him snap out of it “Lower the gun 9.”.
Theta-9 ignored him and continued raising his weapon.”You don't have to meet your end like this, lower the damn gun.” Theta-9 still ignored him and prepared to fire “Don't you pull the trigger…”.Theta-9 fired a shot barely missing Theta-1 who pulled out their sidearm and shot them through the eye as the woman frowned slightly then disappeared in a black cloud of smoke as the remaining SAS got on their jeeps as Jack watched with more figures on top of the cliff appearing.”Sooner we get out of here the better.” said Jack with Theta-1 replying “Moving out.” as the 3 jeeps rolled off the platform at full speed before switching to hover and barely avoiding crashing into the forests below while Jack turned off his Gryphon's VTOL and followed.
“So then, where is the spaceport?” asked Jack while Theta-1 looked down at a map display on the jeep he's on before he replied “West of our location”.Jack looked to the west as a large explosion became visible and caused a large fire. “You mean that burning place over there?” asked Jack, with Theta-1 replying “Yes…Well then lads, pray it's still functional.”.Jack turned his Gryphon alongside the SAS jeeps towards the burning spaceport.