HELLO EVERYONE! I AM BACK FROM THE DEAD!
I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything for any of my existing works lately. But writers block has been an absolute bitch, among other compounding life factors... yay me.
ANYWAY, this project was first suggested (as an aside comment during a PM chain this person and I had) literally a year ago. No shit.
I brought it back up a few days ago after this person replied to a review of their story I follow, and in those four days since then, the pair of us have been slaving over a G-Doc and pumping out chapters like an M240B.
Ladies and gentlemen, you've likely heard of her, you've likely read her work, and you've likely seen her in my reviews page every chapter:
SPITFIREUSN! *airhorn noises*
I offered if she wanted to say anything here, but she just said "get on with it". So I shall do just that.
ENJOY!
Holsworthy Barracks, New South Wales, Australia
"So, you're heading stateside for some exchange, right?" Corporal Jamie Lynch, better known as 'Hangman' to his squad mates, asked his friend as he watched him finish packing his things.
"Yeah, though it's more of a transfer than an exchange. No end date, and you aren't picking up a Yank to fill my slot either." Sergeant Tom Williams, 'Shade' to his team, responded. He closed up his pack and set it down on the ground against his bunk. The Commando took one last cursory glance around his old room, making sure that he had collected everything that was his and returned everything else back to the base's quartermaster. His spare uniforms and some of his civilian clothing were packed away in his field pack, whilst his weapon and gear were packed away back in the armory. Whilst he wasn't one for sentimentality, he wasn't going to lie and say that he'd miss his M4A5.
Hangman walked up to his mate and pulled him into a quick hug, a wordless farewell to a man that had been watching his back for many years now. "You be safe out there, those Americans play by different rules over there. Last thing I want is to tell your gang that you're coming home in a box."
Shade hugged him back tightly. "'Course I will, mate. It'll take more than a few different SOPs to take me out. Now let me go you prick, I've got a plane to catch. Last thing I want is to reinforce the 'Aussies are lazy' cliche."
The pair released and Hangman stepped back to let Shade past. "In that case then, good sir, your chariot awaits!" Shade rolled his eyes with a muttering of 'bastard', to which Hangman just laughed.
Denver International Airport, Colorado, United States
With earplugs in and pack over his shoulder, Shade stepped out of the skybridge and into the terminal of Denver International. Subconsciously, his eyes flickered across the crowd of civilians that were milling about: some waiting for their flights, others reuniting with family, some having difficulty with their bags as a wheel got jammed up on them. Within moments, he'd also identified the exits and areas of note that a regular civi might miss: CCTV cameras, airport police and security personnel, the man wearing a military uniform with a whiteboard bearing his name.
"Wait, what?"
Shade tugged out one of his earphones as he approached, the soldier lowering the sign and closing the distance. "Sergeant Williams, Australian Army?"
"That's me, mate. And you are?" Shade asked, shuffling the weight of his pack around as they started walking towards baggage claim.
"Corporal Anthony White, I've been sent here to collect you on behalf of both General Sheppard and Captain Mactavish."
"Right, seems about fair. Don't expect the bosses to take time out of their busy day to pick up little ol' me." Shade said with a chuckle as he checked his watch, noting that the flight had taken a bit longer than he had wanted. "No chance of getting something to munch on around these parts, right?"
"The Captain did say that the sooner you got to the base, the better… but I don't see the harm in a little detour." He said with a small smile. Shade grinned in response.
"Tony, mate, I have the feeling that this is the start of a beautiful friendship."
Dash set a hard pace, on her second lap around the perimeter of the infirmary, since it had the largest square-footage of the buildings, she used it for her distance training. The ground behind the building was chewed up and uneven, good for footwork, bad for running at night. But it wasn't night, it was midday, and Dash skipped easily around the potholes. She checked her step to the beat of the music in her ears as the song changed and let out a long breath and took a controlled breath in as she pressed further.
This was a daily exercise for Dash. Part of her namesake, in fact. She slowed down as she reached the front of the building again and took one earbud out as she checked her time. It wasn't bad, but she could do better. Unfortunately, she didn't have time for that. There would be a new shooter coming in some time and that meant things around base would pick up. She prefered them slow, so she wanted to get things done before the newbie got there. She walked off toward the barracks to shower and change before heading to the administration building to collect the paperwork she needed for replacement parts for her shotgun. The grip was getting worn down and she needed a new one, lest the current one slip and lead to a very unfortunate scene.
She got the papers she needed and sat down at the table in the rec room to fill them out. Of course, she was easily distracted as members of the Task Force and other teams that called the base home were in and out of the room. They talked and yelled and laughed. But it was this or anxiety-inducing quiet, so Dash dealt with it, and kept her music in her ears as she did the paperwork. She ended up tapping her foot to the music as it switched to a more upbeat, fast paced song. If anyone was annoyed by it, they didn't say anything or Dash didn't notice. That was until her entire leg started bouncing and she forced herself to stop and change positions.
The base came into view as they drove down the dusty road in a nondescript sedan, Shade finishing off the dregs of his drink before stuffing it into the paper bag from the drive-through they had stopped at on the way. He brushed some of the burger crumbs off of his shirt, glad that he had opted to wear something a little cooler on the flight over. The air conditioning in the sedan was poor, despite being cranked to the lowest temperature setting available, and he had rolled down the window for most of the drive until they hit the roughly paved and dust covered road.
"Lotta room to run around over here…" He said to himself as he surveyed his surroundings. As they got closer, Shade could begin to identify different structures and buildings along the perimeter and behind it. He could eoven see a small air traffic control tower off to the left side nearby a series of tall hangars. The envelope detailing his transfer didn't provide much in the way of information regarding his host unit, just that they were of a considerable size with a decent support and logistics network to back it up.
But his assumptions on the unit's size were busted as they drove through the gates and into the base proper. Shade had lost count of the amount of personnel he saw as they made their way to what he presumed was the administration and command section of the base. The interesting thing was the mixture of appearance: a vast majority of people he had seen were wearing uniforms with no specific markings besides a flag patch, but quite a few were also seen wearing civilian clothing, or a mixture of civilian and military gear. He also swore that he saw someone wearing a ghost-face balaclava.
"Okay, we're here Sergeant. The Captain's office is up on the second floor, just follow the signs. Your bag will be at your room waiting for you." Corporal White said as she shut off the sedan's engine.
"Great, guess I'll get going." Shade said, reaching across and shaking the corporal's hand. "I'll see you around."
"Will do Sergeant." White answered, returning the handshake before Shade climbed out of the car and made his way to the building's entrance. The cool embrace of the building's air conditioning felt like absolute heaven to the Australian, and he took his time walking through one of the hallways in order to maximise the cooling effect. He studied the walls, covered in portraits and illustrations of conflicts long-past: World War II, Korea and Vietnam to name a few.
Just before the stairwell, a section of one of the walls was covered in portraits of different soldiers and servicemen and women, the plaque above denoting that it was a wall of honour to those that had made the greatest sacrifice. Shade stood there for a minute, looking over all of the faces and names of those before him, reading over their accomplishments and the actions that led to their demise. The 2nd Commando Regiment had a similar wall back at Holsworthy, but it was nowhere near as full as this wall. The fact both unnerved and strangely excited the man; either they had a higher operating tempo compared to regular SF teams, or their missions were that much more dangerous.
It didn't take long for Shade to find the office of the Captain, one Captain John MacTavish if he read the silver name plaque on the door correctly. He knocked and waited for the gruff sounding 'come in' before entering and closing the door behind him.
Shade wouldn't be the first to admit that when he had imagined the Captain, he was picturing a well groomed hairstyle, maybe the occasional scratch that hadn't healed properly, a clean and pressed dress uniform, and a proper way of speaking. To say that the Captain's real appearance caught him off guard wouldn't be far from the truth.
Closely shaven mohawk, a face marred with scars, stubble that covered most of the man's jaw, a black tee shirt tucked into MTP trousers, and a general air of 'badassery' that seemed to just emanate from the man. Clearly the Captain had seen a fair share of action, and continues to do so.
"Sir, Sergeant Tom Williams as requested." Shade said, coming to a loose stance of attention in front of the desk. MacTavish looked up from his laptop and gestured for Shade to sit down on one of the chairs in front of him.
"Relax, Tom, we aren't much for formalities here. I'm glad you could be here, we've been looking for another assaulter like yourself." He closed the lid of his laptop and leant back in his office chair, looking at Shade with a neutral expression. The rich-yet-understandable Scottish accent caught Shade by surprise, who was expecting him to be an American. "I apologise for the lack of information or detail in your letter, but we try to keep the cards close to our chest here in the One-Four-One."
"Understandable, I assume this is the part where you tell me that this is actually a public affairs posting?" Shade said with a light chuckle, which MacTavish mirrored.
"If only it were that easy. No, the Task Force is a multinational unit comprised of the best of operators and special forces personnel of the US military and her allies, namely the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and a few European countries. We take on missions that are higher risk or higher priority than what groups like DEVGRU or the SAS might take on. Despite this, our success rate is extremely high and our casualty rate inversely low."
Shade sat there for the next half an hour as he and the Captain discussed his place in the unit, what the expectations were, and what kinds of missions that he could be deployed on. After the meeting was said and done, Shade left the building and stepped out into the warm Colorado sun.
"So, he said that my room was in Accommodation Block C, on the third floor… wish he gave me a map."
As he started walking along the path, he spotted a woman leaving another building adjacent to him. She was wearing a plain green tee and uniform pants with her short-ish red hair pulled up into a loose bun. Shade stepped off the path and crossed the small patch of grass to approach her for direction.
"G'day, mind if I ask you a quick question?"
Dash had just gotten done filling out the paperwork for a weapon mod she needed, and was headed out to watch the guys finish up with their training when an unfamiliar Australian voice caught her attention.
"You must be the new guy," she commented, crossing her arms, "Lost? Lemme guess, Cap turned you out to figure it out for yourself."
"Honestly, now that you've said that, it sounds like he's done just that. My stuff's with my room at Accom' Block Charlie. You mind showing me where exactly that is in this place?" He said with an easy smile, looking a little bit flustered from the change of environment.
Dash nodded, "Barracks are over that way," she pointed over her shoulder at the sprawling buildings behinder her, "Buildings are labeled so it should be pretty easy to find."
The man looked over towards where she had pointed, and nodded in acknowledgement. "Sweet. Cheers, love. I'd have been heading the wrong way entirely. See ya' 'round." He said with a wink as he started making his away from her and towards his destination.
Dash watched him leave with a raised eyebrow, on a team full of non-Americans, she was used to words like 'love' and 'mate' being thrown around and not really meaning anything, but it felt weird with someone she didn't know. She shook her head at herself and continued on her way to the PT field to yell at anyone slacking.
She walked up and stood next to Roach, also observing the ongoing PT, "Did you know the newbie was comin' in today?" she asked curiously, "'Cause I sure didn't. Thought we'd be waitin' another day or two..."
Roach shrugged, "Plans change?" he suggested, "Whatever, sooner he's in sooner we can get him versed in the Task Force way of life," he laughed.
"Oh he's already here," Dash looked over at him, "Saw him comin' out of the offices, lookin' for the barracks."
Roach chuckled, "What, did the boss leave him stranded? He did the same with me, y'know."
Dash scoffed, "He did the same with all of us!" she thumped him on the chest, "It's what he does."
"And that's why he's the boss. He can get away with shit like that." Roach said with a grin, looking back towards the PT exercise. "Anyway, what's he like, the FNG?"
"Australian," Dash answered simply and shrugged, "I don't know! We didn't stick around to chat, we got things to do."
"Huh, Rook'll be happy," Roach said more to himself than anyone else, "he was starting to whine about being the lone Australian on the team," he then turned to look at Dash, "but what's your first impression of him, professionally speaking?"
Dash shrugged, "Laid back, for the most part… he called me love…" she chuckled, "Doesn't matter how long I spend around you people, that is always weird to an American."
"Yeah, Rook did the same thing when he first met you too… must be an Aussie thing…" Roach said thoughtfully, "I give him six weeks."
Dash laughed, "I give him one."
"And I thought you were the generous one…" Roach rolled his eyes and shook his head with a laugh.
Dash nodded absently, now focused more on the people running laps than the conversation.
"... to Dash, come in Dash." Roach said with a quirked eyebrow, waving a hand in front of her face.
Dash jumped, "Eh? What?" she looked at Roach, "What is it?"
"I was saying, maybe we should drag the team together in the rec room and then hold a meet-n-greet or something for the new guy," Roach suggested with his arms crossed over his chest, "the sooner everyone's introduced, the sooner we can start the real fun."
Dash grinned and put her little fingers in the corners of her mouth for a loud, piercing whistle, "Fall out to the rec room!" she called.
Roach rubbed his hands together. "I'll get Royce to grab his stereo, Meat and his seemingly endless supply of snack food. You mind playing 'fetch' and grab the FNG?" He didn't give her a chance to respond as he ducked away and joined the rest of the men on their way to the rec room, already conversion with the two Canadian men in question.
Dash rolled her eyes as Roach ran off, and turned and made her way to Charlie building. She stood out front of it for a moment, wondering what room he'd been put in before shrugging and entering the building.
She knew the first floor was full, so she started on the second floor, able to hear music faintly. Dash knew some members of the Task Force liked it, she did herself in fact, but she didn't recognize this music from any of her teammates' playlists, so she followed it. She ended up outside a door on the third floor and knocked hard.
There was a loud clang, followed by a muffled "Ah, shit" before the door opened to reveal the Australian from earlier, rubbing the back of his head with a grimace. The grimace disappeared when he saw the woman from earlier standing in front of him. "Oh, hey there. I made it to my home!" He said as he gestured back into his room with his free hand.
Dash nodded, "Team's gathering in the rec room, come on down so you can meet everyone," she gestured for him to follow her as she turned and left.
He was quick to follow, closing the door behind him.
"Awesome, been looking forward to meeting the boys." He said with a smile, falling into step beside her. "Oh, forgive me. Name's Tom, Tom Williams. Sergeant from the 2nd Commando Regiment, Australian Army." He said, extending a hand towards her.
"Master Sergeant Rebecca Myers, Marine Corps," Dash introduced herself, taking his hand in a firm hold, "Call me Dash. Rec room's in the building I was coming out of earlier. Let's get there before they start the party without us, yeah?"
"Sounds like a plan…and if we're going by nicknames, mine's Shade. Don't ask, it's a long story," Shade said with a chuckle, "so, you must be close with the teams, yeah?" He asked as they made their way to the rec room.
Dash looked over at him with a raised eyebrow, but rolled her eyes, this song and dance again, "You could say that," she answered, she'd just wait and let him see for himself.
Shade nodded in understanding. "Fair enough, we had a few chicks working in both admin, command and supply back with the 1st Commando. In addition to being SF, they're also a reserve unit. They fit in well with the guys though, which was great. A few of them could out-swear us, actually, which is saying something," he chuckled. He stepped ahead of her and opened the door for her, nodding as she walked past and entered the building.
Dash rolled her eyes to herself, again, and led the way to the rec room, she could already hear the thumping electro music on the other side of the door. She opened it and left it open for Shade to follow her in.
"A-thank you," he said with a smirk as he stepped in and surveyed the scene in front of him. About a dozen or so men were spread around the room, hanging out as they listened to the music, tried to talk over it, or tried to dance to it. He looked over to Dash with a raised eyebrow and mouthed 'party house' to her before shrugging.
She shrugged back and whistled to grab people's attention over the music, "Introduce yourselves, ya rude sons a," at that moment Meat turned the speaker up to drown her out and everyone laughed before he turned it back down to a level where everyone could be heard.
"I'll go first, shall I?" Shade said to her before stepping further into the room. "Well, g'day all of you lot. Name's Sergeant Tom Williams, but I go by Shade. And no, don't ask me how I got it. That's a story from another day. Anyway, I hail from the land down under's 2nd Commando Regiment, where I was an Assaulter for four years. Lookin' forward to kicking ass, taking names, and chewing bubblegum with all of you!"
Roach stood up first and approached Shade, "Sergeant Gary Sanderson, but everyone calls me Roach. Welcome to the 141 Shade."
Meat and Royce followed Roach up, "Sergeants Brian Tanner and Mark Roycewitz, Meat and Royce." They too shook his hand. The process continued with Matt "Scarecrow" Graves, Michael "Ozone" DuFrene, Nick "Chemo" Brent, and Jayson "Rook" Cooper. The second Shade had met him and realised that he wasn't the only Aussie on the team was the moment a shiver ran down the backs of everyone else in the room.
Shade turned to Dash and smiled, "Anyone else we're missing? I know the Captain, but he told me this is team of twelve, and I count nine, ten including me."
Dash was leaning against the wall next to the door, "LT is out taking care of business," she shrugged, "And that brings us to eleven."
"Right, eleven. Where's the twelfth man?" He asked, looking around the room for an answer. The reaction he received to the question confused him, with some of the men frowning at him, some averting their eyes, and a few looking past him and towards Dash. He looked at them once more, then turned around and looked at her with a critical expression. "I call bullshit."
Dash chuckled, "I can kick just as much ass as you can greenie."
Shade shook his head. "No, no way," he spun around and pointed an accusing finger at everyone else, "this is just a joke on the new guy, right? Just to fuck with him?"
"Let's not ruffle our feathers now, just 'cause a girl's in spec ops doesn't mean nothin'," Dash admonished, "I earned my place here, same as you, and everyone else on this team."
He shook his head and made his way to the exit. "No… it doesn't sit right with me, not in the slightest. I'll be back in a few…" Shade all but stormed out, a determined expression set on his face as he nearly slammed the door closed.
Dash sighed when the door closed, just shy of a slam and set to keep to her spot at the edge of the room while the others slowly came down from the shock of rejection of their teammate.
Rook cleared his throat from his position on the couch nearby. "Well… I don't blame him, to be honest."
Dash shrugged, "You came around, so will he. Doesn't make it any less frustrating," she left the room quietly and headed for the gym to work off the steam she was building up.
Authors' Notes:
(Shade)
So there we are! The start of a wonderful *cough cough* relationship between our OCs. Only time will tell how they will grow and if they'll ever get along with each other. I can't wait to see it, that's for sure.
(Spitfire)
Well then. Uh. That was fun. I enjoyed the collabs I did with RedDawnShadow, so, here I am with a different person and the source of one epic oc Tom "Shade" Williams. And also a second try at Dash, without the character that'll steal the spotlight lol. So… This has been fun, and I look forward to doing more.
Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher
~Spitfire out
