The view was amazing. 'Well everything looks better from above' Jade thought. The radio crackled "King Air Delta Golf November 521, rise to 20,000 feet and continue on a heading of 179. Melbourne tower out." Entering the new altitude into the autopilot, he replied "Melbourne tower, confirmed rise to 20,000 feet. King Air DGN 521 out." Slowly the nose of the plane rose. Looking out across the co-pilots window and Jade could see the dark city of Geelong. The city had been abandoned since the outbreak of Lilker virus twelve years ago. Over one hundred thousand people were killed in the first week of it spreading to the city, the military set up blockades ten kilometres in every direction of the city and declared it a dead zone a few days later. But by then the rest of the city had been infected…
The crackling radio interrupted his thoughts, "DGN leaving my airspace, tune to Melbourne Centre on 123.8 for the rest of your flight." Surprised at the distance covered already, Jade replied, "Melbourne tower, King Air DGN 521. Tuning to Melbourne Centre on 123.8." After tuning to the channel and reporting in Jade was bored. It was an hour flight from Melbourne to Smithton, and the plane was only just light enough to get off the ground. The fuel was at an absolute minimum, enough to get the plane off the ground and to Smithton airport. No room for mistakes and in this old plane, a mistake would be catastrophic.
The cargo was the reason for the low fuel, even Jade was added into the weight of the plane so that it took of just one and a half kilos under the maximum take off weight. On the records the cargo is five Bushmaster ACR assault rifles with twenty loaded clips, five Usp .45 pistols with ten clips, twenty-nine universal gun cleaning kits, seven military grade handheld navigators, three sets of dumbbells and a small bio fuels plant. Part of that is true. There are five Bushmaster ACR assault rifles with ammo, twenty-nine cleaning kits, a bio fuels plant and Jade was carrying an Usp.45 with seven clips. Several top secret experimental ground to air missiles, fifteen experimental nitrogen charged grenades, and stolen Korean new generation communication equipment was the actual cargo on the plane. Switching over to the military's communication channel Jade called in.
The plane's cargo was top secret, but the military wasn't about to assume that everything was going to go to plan. Four supersonic jets were performing 'training' exercises around Kings Island, two Hobart class frigates were in the Bass Strait and to top it off Jade's superiors had made him wear V grade Dragon Skin body armour and carry a weapon. Grimacing at the need for protection Jade called in, "Command this is Big Bird, how are the skies looking?" looking out in front for any sign of the four jets. "Big Bird this is command, the skies are clear and the waters fine. What's your status?" Came the immediate reply. "Command, All systems normal, wait… is there a fog bank below me?"
"Ah... Negative. Why do you ask?"
"There is a… ah, well on my radar I got a… well it must be clouds or a fog bank…"
"Big Bird, this is Falcon one. I've got it on my radar to. Can you see it?"
"No. Its one kilometre over the horizon and it's getting closer. Wait. It's gone. Falcon one do you have the contact?"
"Negative Big Bird, it's just gone."
From the military base at Smithton, command had fallen silent. They had lost contact with one of the frigates. Staring at the screens in front of them all, in disbelief, an entire frigate… gone. Later in the week the search for the ship will find nothing. Not an oil slick or a life raft, as if the ship had vanished into thin air.
It took several minutes for the loss to sink in, and when it did… command issued a code Black… "Falcon one, move your squadron up to flanking position. We've just lost the Saints Cure." As soon as that call came out, the four jets were streaming towards Big Bird. And the surviving Hobart class frigate scrambled its two attack helicopters and initiated a code red alert for all crew. In the cockpit of Big Bird, it was silent. Jade had gone to check the cargo as some of it was moving around in the light turbulence, he was completely un-aware of the drama un-folding around him. Moving through the packed cargo area, checking each for signs of loose cargo Jade started to wonder 'whether this was going to be a simple take-off, fly to the destination, land, and go home mission.' Something he had a hard time finding nowadays. Towards the end of the plane Jade found something that wasn't there when he did his check of the cargo before takeoff. 'Hmm… They must have put this on after then.' He thought. The wooden crate seemed rather inconspicuous despite the fact it was nearly the largest crate on board… He noticed a lose strap attached to the floor of the plane. He leant down, trying to reach the strap, when a bit of turbulence jolted the plane. Hitting his head again the cargo gave off an immediate effect "Fuck!" Grinding his teeth he reached down to the strap and pulled it taut. Rubbing his head he moved forward through the cramped cargo area. When he got to the cockpit the windows had fogged up and the out side temperature had dropped to negative nine. Switching on the pilot heat; wing, engine and tail de-ice before he was even in his seat. As an alarm sounded. Not needing any further persuasion he flicked off the auto pilot and sent the plane into a nose dive.
Outside the plane the weather continued to deteriorate, what had been a lovely day turned into a raging storm with winds up to one hundred and twenty kilometres an hour, blanketing snow and poor visibility. Pulling out of the dive and slamming the throttle to full, narrowly avoiding the deadly stall, now at 14,000 feet he levelled off. Putting on his head set he tried to contact command. "Command this is Big Bird, where did that storm come from?" static was the only that came through the head set. "Command, this is Big Bird. Come in!" more static "Command!" A sudden jerk of the plane reminded Jade of the weather. Looking around the cockpit for anything that could help, flaps zero, radar blank, engines… shit. Staring at the fuel flow to number two engine, before he slowly realised what was wrong. It had run out of fuel. Looking at the fuel indicators and he got an even worse idea of what he was faced with. There was enough fuel to power the remaining engine for, maybe two minutes. Suddenly the sky in front of the plane was lit up in an amazing display of lightening. Then the hail started. The plane was buffeted. The resulting sound was deafening (and this was from some-one that regularly used loud guns), then plane lost what little control it had. And went into a nose dive.
Plummeting down, from 14,000 feet gives you lots of time to think about what you everything did in your life, your mistakes, your joys and well… everything. But Jade didn't think about it. He was fighting the plane for control the whole time. At 10,000 feet he gained control, and pulled out of the dive, they plane was travelling well over its 'Do not exceed speed' so Jade pulled back on the throttle and applied the speed brakes. Again the lightening flashed, lighting up the mountain in front of the plane, in a dark outline of blue. Pulling hard to the left the plane rolled, its belly clipping the mountain. But it couldn't pull out. It rolled once before its left wing hit a tree, spinning the plane to the ground. The left wing was literally ripped off, throwing the plane on its tail before it rolled over on its shattered wing. The plane hit a small out cropping and flipped onto its belly, before slowly sliding to a stop a few hundred meters away from the cliff. The body of the plane was mostly intact, but the plane would never fly again. One wing was lying in pieces across the trench the plane had dug, the other was bent at a 30 degree angle and the tail piece had sheared off. The storm continued to rage bursting into the cockpit through the shattered windows. Lightening flashed around the plane, lighting up the valley in spectacular shades of blue. From the trees on the other side of the valley a tribe was sending out scouts to investigate the deafening crash and the strange lights in the sky. As they were preparing to leave the village the storm subsided, opening up to an eerie full moon and brilliant star filled sky.
The first thing Jade noticed as he woke from unconsciousness was that his head was numb. The next was the cold breeze sifting through the window. Opening his eyes he could see the shattered glass lying on everything. Moving his arm out of the gap between the seat and the side of the plane, he noticed the fresh blood on his chest. Moving slowly he unstrapped himself from the seat. His leg was numb were his gun had pressed into it and his lower body was soaked. Lifting his arm up to his head and he could feel the blood in his hair. 'Great.' He thought. Slowly he got out of the seat, turned to the back of the cockpit and slowly moved along the dark cabin towards a hatch that had crumpled in the crash. As he climbed out of the wreckage he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise. Realising he was been watched he half leapt, half fell from the wreckage, jarring his knee in the process. But that didn't stop him pulling out his pistol.
Lying in the muddy ditch next to the wrecked right wing, Jade listened intently for any noise in the dark. Apart from the continuous gurgle of the nearby creek and the hooting of owls the place was silent. But that feeling of being watch lingered. Slowly he rolled over to look the other way. Looking out across the small green valley lit by moon light, he couldn't see anything unusual, except the fragments for the wing that had over flown the crashed plane. But he kept looking until he could swear the ground was shaking. Looking back at the plane he realised the ground was shaking, and that it was getting stronger. Getting up out of the ditch, he started running to a group of trees about ten metres away from the wreaked plane. He only got a few metres before the ground around him erupted in a shower of dirt. From the other side of the river, three figures were drawing their bows.
Blinded by the shower of dirt, he stumbled back towards the plane. Desperately trying to get the dirt out of his eyes, he continued to stumble back. Opening his eyes enough to see a blurred figure about the height of his knee, charging at him, 'no time to think, aim to kill!' Raising the pistol he fired wildly in the direction of the charging shape. The first shot was wide, the second hit it in the chest ripping it open in a fountain of blood, the third in the arm and the fourth was to low. Rubbing his eyes some more trying to get rid of the excess dirt, he could feel the ground under his feet moving again. Moving back to safety of the plane, rubbing his eyes the whole way, by the time he got there he could see a little better.
Four small explosions of dirt came up thirty metres away from the plane. Levelling his sights with the closest creature and then… 'Click' "Oh fuck. This can't be happening." The gun had jammed. He started tugging at the action trying to get it free, but it wouldn't budge. The creatures were seven meters away from the plane, now he slammed the gun again the side of the plane, it came loose and fired. Swinging the gun back around to the creatures moving towards him, the shot went through the creature and hit the one behind it, in simultaneous jerks their backs burst open from the force of the bullet. The next shot hit the third fair in the face, collapsing it on itself. The last shot hit the forth and then ricocheted of a rock and hit the plane with a small 'clink'.
I know that the story doesn't mention Spyro or Cynder yet, I decided to have alternation chapters for them until they meet later on in the story, so just hang with me on this…