Military Mutant
Authored by: Psy.Ops
Co-Authored by: Classic Tinker
All Characters are the property of Marvel © and Sony®.
Chapter 1
Prelude
Part 1
12 June, 2885
Voices ran along the halls of the Ypres. Few men and women walked the decks at this early hour. The stars shown through the mess skylights as the ship drifted to the Tophet system. The planet Hydora, lay nearly thirty light years behind them.
Lt. Leona Wolfe wished that she was still there. She wished that she was still in her bunk on the George Washington. Instead, she was walking into God knew what and the damn food synth had decided to stop working in her room. Leona had not had her first cup of coffee and she sorely needed the caffeine. Especially now, when General Redwing had called her to come to this meeting less than two days ago.
It had been hell trying to get to the Ypres in the listed time frame, but to make matters worse the general had called her out of a fitful sleep to attend this meeting. Early morning meetings were shite storms waiting to happen and Leona had a good idea why she had been called into see General Redwing. Oh yes, she had a good idea why.
One week ago
Lt. Wolfe happily steered the skimmer boat over the crashing waves of the bay. Thousands just like it were being reconned for any bug activity. She glanced down at the instrument panel and then back up at her squad.
Corporal Charlemagne "Charlie" Jackson, an African-American from Ghana, was catching some shuteye on her med kit. She was a great kid. Charlie had been with Leona from the first assignment over two and a half years ago. Sergeant Katlyn "CM" Crazymoon and Corp. Brandon Major were playing Ro-Sham-Bo to see who would unload first when they hit the LZ.
Leona smiled as she tuned in her squawk box to the squads private band. She turned to the last two members of her squad as the volume gained it's normal setting.
"Come on, Tag! You know that you want to!" a deep, slightly accented male voice piped into her ear. "Please?"
"No, no, no, and no, Mousaaid. That's my final answer," Pvt. Tarawa "Tag" Hakada said sharply, in clipped tones, to the now kneeling Pvt. Moulay "Moose" Mousaaid.
"What's the deal, Moose?" Leona asked.
"Nothin', Wolfe, " Moose replied back, his black eyes twinkling. "Just asking if Tag would like to take a dip before we hit LZ."
Leona shook her head and resumed her watch at the helm. They were less than fifteen minutes from touchdown and she needed to focus on the job. She was interrupted from her reverie when she heard a very surprised squawk and watched in fascination as Tag went over the port railing and disappeared under the waves, a rope trailing behind him.
"Pvt. Mousaaid! What happened!?" Leona rapped out to the now laughing Moose. He was joined by all the others as they watched Tag struggle to the surface of the hydrogen rich atmosphere of Hydora.
"I'm sorry, LT, it was an accident! I swear!" Moose yelled over the band.
Leona pulled the now cussing Asian man toward the ship. It was funny the way that Tag cussed out Moose in Cantonese and Mandarin. She had almost had him pulled in when she saw something moving in under the struggling Tag. She reached out with her mind and jerked it back just as suddenly.
"Moose get that line in! CM, Major, grab Tag the minute he's in range. Charlie! Wake up! Get that kit ready and everyone grab anything that doesn't make noise and stand ready. Tiger on the prowl!" Leona yelled at the now hurrying figures of her squad.
CM and Major pulled Tag aboard as the Water Tiger cut to the surface and snapped at Tag's legs. Leona slammed her shock stick into it's mouth as it clamped it's mouth shut. She used full power to kill the Tiger without any words or noise going over the band but that of her breathing and the waves as they lapped at the sides of the boat.
"LT?" CM asked as she threw the now dead bug into the water,
"Check Tag and I'll make a sweep of the area around here. Less than five minutes to LZ and Water Tigers are patrolling," Leona had said.
But things were quiet from then on and nothing happened when they had reached the LZ. All the remaining bugs were easily dealt with and the Wolfe Pack was sent back to the George Washington.
Present
Lt. Wolfe was late. She was to be in the Mess at 12:30 hours and was late. Sgt. Katlyn Crazymoon stared at the Mess Hall clock. It was 13:45 and she was still not here. She brushed a pale hand through her blonde hair and sighed. Her Native American features were not that prominent but for very pronounced cheekbones and high forehead. Her pale gray eyes tried to pierce the many bulkheads of the ship to locate Lt. Wolfe.
"You know that she'll be here when she gets here," Major said in her ear.
CM watched as Major leaned back in his seat. He was your typical American male. Father was a cop and mother was a secretary to governor of Illinois. Joined S.I.C.O.N. for the right to kick some bug ass. He was fine built too. Nice strong arms and back. Cinnamon colored hair and emerald green eyes. Gifts from his mother. He was a no nonsense kinda guy and he let you know it.
Charlie came stumbling up to the table and plopped into an empty chair. Her hair was buzzed close to her head and her light brown eyes looked tired, as if she had been running around for a long time.
She took a drink of Major's water and then said, "The Wolves Tears just docked. Lt. Wolfe will be along shortly."
CM and Major stared at her and then breathed a sigh of relief. But it didn't last for too long. Moose and Tag came into the mess at the same time and both of them were arguing over something. It hadn't stopped since they had gotten back from Hydora. Charlie ran over and stopped them from taking a swing at each other and brought them to the table.
"Will you two stop that! I swear you're worse than two ganders after the same goose!" CM said as they sat down. "Moose said it was an accident, Tag. Get over it!"
Tag sniffed as he sat. His sharp Asian features looking haughty and noble. His black eyes glared daggers at Moose as he ordered shrimp fried rice and fried pork dumplings. Moose sat and smiled comically at the angry little Asian and ordered some mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak. CM stared at the two and shook her head. Moose was as crazy as they got. The man was a mountain of Moroccan manhood. He stood well over six feet and had dark brown hair and laughing brown eyes. She was sure that he left many a girl unhappy in Morocco.
"Heard from the LT yet?" he asked as his order was brought to him.
"Yep. She should be here in just a minute," Charlie said as she drank more of Major's water.
"Get your own, Charlie!" Major said snatching his glass from Charlie's hand.
"Hey!"
"Hey yourself! It's mine!"
CM looked heavenward and rolled her eyes. Then she heard Moose and Tag start again.
"Get your fingers out of my shrimp!"
"I just want to taste!"
"Get your own water!"
"No!"
"Get out of that!"
"Head's up!"
Everyone ducked as a missile of potatoes went flying. They all looked around to see where the missile had landed and stared. Lt. Wolfe was standing not ten feet from them and decorating her face was the potatoes.
Leona sighed and wiped the mess from her face. She was used to this from all the food fights that she had survived aboard the Valley Forge and Seneca Falls. She sat and grabbed Major's water glass and drank it all.
"Hey!" he yelled.
"Can it, Corporal. I am in no mood for your tantrums nor yours, Tagawa," Leona said. She moved her chair to be at the head of the table and stared at each of her squad members. "We are in deep shite with general, ladies and gentlemen." Leona's Scottish brogue was never thicker than when she was upset. "We have less than two weeks to get to the moon on Tophet and take care of the Skinnies there. We have two days to prep and then we move out."
She stared at the stunned faces and smiled calmly. She would deliver the verdict later that week when they were on their way. She was still seething over Tag and Moose still fighting over that stupid ass prank.
Four Days Later
The Wolves Tears flew silently through the black abyss that was space. Leona checked the course again before setting the auto pilot and exited to the bunk area. She called the Pack to the small ready room and waited.
They piled in and sat at their assigned places. This room also served as the mess and it became apparent that she would have to assign seating like some teacher to keep Tag from killing Moose.
"As you know, we are to reach the moon near Tophet in less than three days. I want you all to know why we were given this assignment," she paused to let that sink in. "Because we have such a close relationship together and we have worked well together in the past, " Leona nodded to CM, "we have been asked to take on this mission."
Leona pulled up a holo-map. "This is the route we are to take. We are her approximately. Ten light years from Tophet and her moons. We are to take on the smaller of the moons and hit it at 03:15 hours. From there we are to take the ammunition plant that the Skinnies are working in. Once that is accomplished we are to take the command complex. Less than fifteen Skinnies are in the plant and only five are in the complex. We should have control of the moon in less than six hours.
"We are to take the back entrance into the plant. A tunnel runs under the plant to the
complex and is not guarded. This should be easy to do. Alpha and Zebra companies should be in position in the time it takes us to overrun the Skinnies and the complex. Any questions?"
"Why take this route instead of the one that the others are taking?" CM asked.
Leona took a sip of coffee. "Because this route is one that the Skinnies do not monitor or use. For some reason, they steer clear of this sector. We are not sure why, but it's to our advantage."
Before Leona could explain further the ship shuddered and the master alarms started to blare. She and CM ran for the cockpit and found out why.
A huge wormhole had appeared in front of them and was dragging them into it gravity well. Blue and green light swirled in agitation and small bolts of light swung away from the mouth.
"What's happening, Leona!?" CM yelled over the claxons.
"I don't know, Kat! We are being pulled in and the engines aren't strong enough to reverse out! The cloaking system is still operational, but nothing else is responding!" she screamed, fingers flying over the control panel.
Leona sent out a cry for help and received a light reply back but that was fading even as the wormhole closed around her ship and swallowed them. She watched in fascinated horror as the hole grabbed them and shot them through a bright blue tunnel of light. She cut the claxons and stopped fighting the gravity well. She ordered the squad to strap down and pray.
Two hours later
Leona stretched and yawned. She glanced around the ready room. She noticed that the ship wasn't shuddering anymore. A quick check of the systems showed that they were out of the wormhole and were moving at half light speed. She glanced out the view screen and gasped.
The bright blue star was just as she remembered it. Puffy white clouds swarmed the surface and covered over three quarters of the planet. She sent out maydays to New York and Eastern Europe headquarters but all she received was static. She then sent one to the moon. Nothing.
Something was wrong. She edged Wolves Tears into the atmosphere and sent out a mental call for help. She wasn't expecting what she received.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2 shall be on in just a little while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authored by: Psy.Ops
Co-Authored by: Classic Tinker
All Characters are the property of Marvel © and Sony®.
Chapter 1
Prelude
Part 1
12 June, 2885
Voices ran along the halls of the Ypres. Few men and women walked the decks at this early hour. The stars shown through the mess skylights as the ship drifted to the Tophet system. The planet Hydora, lay nearly thirty light years behind them.
Lt. Leona Wolfe wished that she was still there. She wished that she was still in her bunk on the George Washington. Instead, she was walking into God knew what and the damn food synth had decided to stop working in her room. Leona had not had her first cup of coffee and she sorely needed the caffeine. Especially now, when General Redwing had called her to come to this meeting less than two days ago.
It had been hell trying to get to the Ypres in the listed time frame, but to make matters worse the general had called her out of a fitful sleep to attend this meeting. Early morning meetings were shite storms waiting to happen and Leona had a good idea why she had been called into see General Redwing. Oh yes, she had a good idea why.
One week ago
Lt. Wolfe happily steered the skimmer boat over the crashing waves of the bay. Thousands just like it were being reconned for any bug activity. She glanced down at the instrument panel and then back up at her squad.
Corporal Charlemagne "Charlie" Jackson, an African-American from Ghana, was catching some shuteye on her med kit. She was a great kid. Charlie had been with Leona from the first assignment over two and a half years ago. Sergeant Katlyn "CM" Crazymoon and Corp. Brandon Major were playing Ro-Sham-Bo to see who would unload first when they hit the LZ.
Leona smiled as she tuned in her squawk box to the squads private band. She turned to the last two members of her squad as the volume gained it's normal setting.
"Come on, Tag! You know that you want to!" a deep, slightly accented male voice piped into her ear. "Please?"
"No, no, no, and no, Mousaaid. That's my final answer," Pvt. Tarawa "Tag" Hakada said sharply, in clipped tones, to the now kneeling Pvt. Moulay "Moose" Mousaaid.
"What's the deal, Moose?" Leona asked.
"Nothin', Wolfe, " Moose replied back, his black eyes twinkling. "Just asking if Tag would like to take a dip before we hit LZ."
Leona shook her head and resumed her watch at the helm. They were less than fifteen minutes from touchdown and she needed to focus on the job. She was interrupted from her reverie when she heard a very surprised squawk and watched in fascination as Tag went over the port railing and disappeared under the waves, a rope trailing behind him.
"Pvt. Mousaaid! What happened!?" Leona rapped out to the now laughing Moose. He was joined by all the others as they watched Tag struggle to the surface of the hydrogen rich atmosphere of Hydora.
"I'm sorry, LT, it was an accident! I swear!" Moose yelled over the band.
Leona pulled the now cussing Asian man toward the ship. It was funny the way that Tag cussed out Moose in Cantonese and Mandarin. She had almost had him pulled in when she saw something moving in under the struggling Tag. She reached out with her mind and jerked it back just as suddenly.
"Moose get that line in! CM, Major, grab Tag the minute he's in range. Charlie! Wake up! Get that kit ready and everyone grab anything that doesn't make noise and stand ready. Tiger on the prowl!" Leona yelled at the now hurrying figures of her squad.
CM and Major pulled Tag aboard as the Water Tiger cut to the surface and snapped at Tag's legs. Leona slammed her shock stick into it's mouth as it clamped it's mouth shut. She used full power to kill the Tiger without any words or noise going over the band but that of her breathing and the waves as they lapped at the sides of the boat.
"LT?" CM asked as she threw the now dead bug into the water,
"Check Tag and I'll make a sweep of the area around here. Less than five minutes to LZ and Water Tigers are patrolling," Leona had said.
But things were quiet from then on and nothing happened when they had reached the LZ. All the remaining bugs were easily dealt with and the Wolfe Pack was sent back to the George Washington.
Present
Lt. Wolfe was late. She was to be in the Mess at 12:30 hours and was late. Sgt. Katlyn Crazymoon stared at the Mess Hall clock. It was 13:45 and she was still not here. She brushed a pale hand through her blonde hair and sighed. Her Native American features were not that prominent but for very pronounced cheekbones and high forehead. Her pale gray eyes tried to pierce the many bulkheads of the ship to locate Lt. Wolfe.
"You know that she'll be here when she gets here," Major said in her ear.
CM watched as Major leaned back in his seat. He was your typical American male. Father was a cop and mother was a secretary to governor of Illinois. Joined S.I.C.O.N. for the right to kick some bug ass. He was fine built too. Nice strong arms and back. Cinnamon colored hair and emerald green eyes. Gifts from his mother. He was a no nonsense kinda guy and he let you know it.
Charlie came stumbling up to the table and plopped into an empty chair. Her hair was buzzed close to her head and her light brown eyes looked tired, as if she had been running around for a long time.
She took a drink of Major's water and then said, "The Wolves Tears just docked. Lt. Wolfe will be along shortly."
CM and Major stared at her and then breathed a sigh of relief. But it didn't last for too long. Moose and Tag came into the mess at the same time and both of them were arguing over something. It hadn't stopped since they had gotten back from Hydora. Charlie ran over and stopped them from taking a swing at each other and brought them to the table.
"Will you two stop that! I swear you're worse than two ganders after the same goose!" CM said as they sat down. "Moose said it was an accident, Tag. Get over it!"
Tag sniffed as he sat. His sharp Asian features looking haughty and noble. His black eyes glared daggers at Moose as he ordered shrimp fried rice and fried pork dumplings. Moose sat and smiled comically at the angry little Asian and ordered some mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak. CM stared at the two and shook her head. Moose was as crazy as they got. The man was a mountain of Moroccan manhood. He stood well over six feet and had dark brown hair and laughing brown eyes. She was sure that he left many a girl unhappy in Morocco.
"Heard from the LT yet?" he asked as his order was brought to him.
"Yep. She should be here in just a minute," Charlie said as she drank more of Major's water.
"Get your own, Charlie!" Major said snatching his glass from Charlie's hand.
"Hey!"
"Hey yourself! It's mine!"
CM looked heavenward and rolled her eyes. Then she heard Moose and Tag start again.
"Get your fingers out of my shrimp!"
"I just want to taste!"
"Get your own water!"
"No!"
"Get out of that!"
"Head's up!"
Everyone ducked as a missile of potatoes went flying. They all looked around to see where the missile had landed and stared. Lt. Wolfe was standing not ten feet from them and decorating her face was the potatoes.
Leona sighed and wiped the mess from her face. She was used to this from all the food fights that she had survived aboard the Valley Forge and Seneca Falls. She sat and grabbed Major's water glass and drank it all.
"Hey!" he yelled.
"Can it, Corporal. I am in no mood for your tantrums nor yours, Tagawa," Leona said. She moved her chair to be at the head of the table and stared at each of her squad members. "We are in deep shite with general, ladies and gentlemen." Leona's Scottish brogue was never thicker than when she was upset. "We have less than two weeks to get to the moon on Tophet and take care of the Skinnies there. We have two days to prep and then we move out."
She stared at the stunned faces and smiled calmly. She would deliver the verdict later that week when they were on their way. She was still seething over Tag and Moose still fighting over that stupid ass prank.
Four Days Later
The Wolves Tears flew silently through the black abyss that was space. Leona checked the course again before setting the auto pilot and exited to the bunk area. She called the Pack to the small ready room and waited.
They piled in and sat at their assigned places. This room also served as the mess and it became apparent that she would have to assign seating like some teacher to keep Tag from killing Moose.
"As you know, we are to reach the moon near Tophet in less than three days. I want you all to know why we were given this assignment," she paused to let that sink in. "Because we have such a close relationship together and we have worked well together in the past, " Leona nodded to CM, "we have been asked to take on this mission."
Leona pulled up a holo-map. "This is the route we are to take. We are her approximately. Ten light years from Tophet and her moons. We are to take on the smaller of the moons and hit it at 03:15 hours. From there we are to take the ammunition plant that the Skinnies are working in. Once that is accomplished we are to take the command complex. Less than fifteen Skinnies are in the plant and only five are in the complex. We should have control of the moon in less than six hours.
"We are to take the back entrance into the plant. A tunnel runs under the plant to the
complex and is not guarded. This should be easy to do. Alpha and Zebra companies should be in position in the time it takes us to overrun the Skinnies and the complex. Any questions?"
"Why take this route instead of the one that the others are taking?" CM asked.
Leona took a sip of coffee. "Because this route is one that the Skinnies do not monitor or use. For some reason, they steer clear of this sector. We are not sure why, but it's to our advantage."
Before Leona could explain further the ship shuddered and the master alarms started to blare. She and CM ran for the cockpit and found out why.
A huge wormhole had appeared in front of them and was dragging them into it gravity well. Blue and green light swirled in agitation and small bolts of light swung away from the mouth.
"What's happening, Leona!?" CM yelled over the claxons.
"I don't know, Kat! We are being pulled in and the engines aren't strong enough to reverse out! The cloaking system is still operational, but nothing else is responding!" she screamed, fingers flying over the control panel.
Leona sent out a cry for help and received a light reply back but that was fading even as the wormhole closed around her ship and swallowed them. She watched in fascinated horror as the hole grabbed them and shot them through a bright blue tunnel of light. She cut the claxons and stopped fighting the gravity well. She ordered the squad to strap down and pray.
Two hours later
Leona stretched and yawned. She glanced around the ready room. She noticed that the ship wasn't shuddering anymore. A quick check of the systems showed that they were out of the wormhole and were moving at half light speed. She glanced out the view screen and gasped.
The bright blue star was just as she remembered it. Puffy white clouds swarmed the surface and covered over three quarters of the planet. She sent out maydays to New York and Eastern Europe headquarters but all she received was static. She then sent one to the moon. Nothing.
Something was wrong. She edged Wolves Tears into the atmosphere and sent out a mental call for help. She wasn't expecting what she received.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2 shall be on in just a little while.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~