Jim and Taylor lay in the brush. They were surrounded by soldiers all aiming at the small dried river bed. They had been here for hours. Small trees and shrubs dotted the shore of the river bed. The higher up the hill they go the taller the trees get. The soldiers hide in the bushes and behind rocks and a few had decorated themselves with twigs and leaves.
''Taylor can you or someone else please tell what is in the trailer the Phoenix group have. 'Jim says laying beside the commander and not even making any eye contact as he uses his scope on his gun to monitor the river bed.
''I wish I could tell you Jim but I don't really know except that it is extremely important in their fight against us. The only other thing I know is that they must have brought it through as you were making some dints in Hope Plaza. 'Taylor said to Jim and he too not making any eye contact.
''I've got them.'' yells a soldier on the hill above. He drops and takes a sniper position.
The 16 Rovers and Rhino vehicle all are carrying a covered up trailer when they came into sight. The commander pulls out a little black box with a big red button in the middle. The first Vehicle rolls over a covered bomb on the river bed. The commander presses the red button and the river bed explodes. Dirt flies everywhere. The first 3 vehicles and trailers are thrown across the river bed and onto the shore.2 more break and stop the vehicle from hitting the other trailers. The Terra Nova troops run down the hill and start shooting at the phoenix troops. The soldiers shoot back. The Terra Nova troops drop behind one if the Rhinos on its side on the shore of the river bed. Every now and again a soldier will fight the heavy fire and attempt to take down a Phoenix soldier.
''Reynolds, Dunham and Riley come with me.''The commander yells trying to be louder than the constant fire. The sniper on the hill shoots at the soldiers and covers Commander and his soldiers as they circle around. Jim looks over at the soldiers as the fire on the Rhino stops. The commander has taken refuge behind one of the stalled Rovers. A heavy rhino at the back of the convoy opens up its roof and a large sonic canon emerges and aims at the Rover blocking the river bed,the Rover the commander and his men were hiding behind.
''Taylor! 'Jim yells so loud his throat hurts.
Taylor looks and sees the canon. 'Get away! 'Commander yells at his troops. They roll on the ground and away from the Rover. The sonic blast blow the car away and creates a path way. The phoenix troops get inside their vehicles and drive away leaving the 5 vehicles behind. The sniper on the hill takes aim and shoots the driver on one of the rhinos. It stalls and drives itself up the shore of the river bed.
The commander walks over to one of the trailers and lifts up the covers. On the inside are pieces of metal, screws and welding equipment.
''It's all in pieces'. Malcolm can put it together. 'the commander says with a hint of humor in his voice for making Malcolm's job harder. ''Collect all of these trailers and vehicles and head back for Terra Nova.''
Sparks fly from inside the Armory. Jim and Taylor walk through the door. Several finished objects hanging from the was being finished by Malcolm who was welding the finishing touches. Malcolm had been working on them for over a month.
''Ahh, commander, as you can see their all done.' Malcolm says glad that it took just over a month to complete six of them.
''what exactly are they Malcolm.' The commander asks.
''Helicopters. Sort of it has the basic idea. The body is similar to the army helicopter back in 2150 but it is a single pilot vehicle. There are no rotors, instead sonic blast keep it up. The sonic rotor is on the tip these wings like an aero plane. The circular piece of metal at the tip of the wing stops the sonic blast when they are released. When it hits them the blast has nowhere to go but down. Thrusting the helicopter up in the air.' Malcolm explained 'We're giving them a jungle camouflage, so we can tell the difference from the original black and red Helicopters the Phoenix group possess.''
Malcolm walks over to the Helicopter and climbs inside the pilot seat. He presses the startup button and a hologram screen with a compass, heat signature sensor, weapons aiming device and a map appears on the dash board. Malcolm puts on his ear muffs and calls for Jim and Taylor.
''Come on get in.''Malcolm yells.
Jim and Taylor look at each other nervously. They get in. The sonic blasts go off. The dust on the floor is swept off and away jammed against the wall. The nose points down and the helicopter moves out of the flies pretty steadily and lands at the gate.
Jim stick out his head and calls for Reynolds. 'Reynolds get in.''Reynolds gets in and buckles up his seat belt. The helicopter takes off and over the canopy. The Helicopter is quitter than the traditional helicopters, it sounds like thousands of sonic blast going off at once. Its not long before the helicopter gets some company. 6 Nyctosaurus join in the flight. Malcolm flies higher and higher up just under the clouds. The Nyctosaurus follow. The Bang a Nyctosaur was shot and falls to the ground.
''Malcolm! Catch it!' The commander yells at Malcolm.
He drops and cuts the engines so they drop faster. They get under the pterosaur and Reynolds sticks his hands out and catches it. He pulls the wounded animal in the Helicopter. Reynolds puts the animal on his lap.
He aces his fingers on it neck and checks it pulse.' It's alive. The bullet has just pieced its shoulder.''
''Who shot i...''Malcolm asks but is interrupted by the shacking of the Helicopter as it was shot by a sonic blast.
''It's a phoenix group Helicopter!' The commander yells at the top of his voice.''We need to get behind it! Malcolm head for the Badland Canyon!''
Malcolm dodges and weaves around the bullets. He drops to just above the canopy. The Helicopter then drops under the canopy. Sticks and branches break off and hit the Helicopter. A large branch hit the screen and breaks it. Leaving thousand cracks in the screen.
They come out and over a lake. The sonic blasts send tall sprouts of water in the air. Following them were sprouts of water from the following bullets.
Taylor points at a river running out of the lake. 'There that river leads to the canyon.''
Malcolm turns and heads for the river. The Phoenix helicopter the travel the river the shores get higher and eventually they start to become rising canyon walls. The soil starts to turn to red dirt and the plant life changes and becomes less common. The river drop at a water fall and the canyon opens up. There are rock arches and tall columns. There are large tunnels in the side of the Canyon. The Helicopter flies around and weaves through the columns. The phoenix Helicopter tries to follow it. It lies through a rock arch.
''There. A large tunnel. 'Yells Reynolds.
Malcolm flies through the large tunnel. The phoenix helicopter follows. The light from the other side looms through the tunnel. Malcolm drops on the ground of the tunnel and the Phoenix Helicopter flies right over. Once over the Terra Nova helicopter the Terra Nova helicopter picks up and flies out of the tunnel. Now they are behind the Phoenix Helicopter they shoot at bullet pierce the strong metal.
'Reynolds shoot the sonic emitter.' Malcolm yells.
'What?' Reynolds yells back.
'The small black box at the end of the wing!' Malcolm tells Reynolds.
Reynolds sticks his head out of the door and shoots the small box at the end of the wing. The bullet hits and sparks fly. The box stops sending out sonic blast and the Helicopter drops to one side. The helicopter is no longer able to stay in the air and falls and crashes into the river at the base of the canyon. The Terra Nova Helicopter lands on the shore.
'Are there survivors.' Malcolm asks.
Reynolds jumps in the river and to the crash. He looks inside the Helicopter and sees that who ever was in there had gone. He swims back up to the surface. 'No one.'
Jim cough trying to get the attention of the other people. They all turn and look at him. 'Are we forgetting someone.' Jim pulls the head of the Nyctosaur out of the Helicopter.
'Oh yes. Come on let's get him back to Terra Nova.' Says Commander Taylor.
The Helicopter lands in front of the gates. Reynolds runs the Nyctosaurus to the infirmary. He walked in and throws the animal on a Bio-Bed.
'Doctor!' Reynolds yells.
Elizabeth walks in and sees the Nyctosaurus on the Bio-Bed. 'What happened?'
'The Phoenix Group happened.' Reynolds said in return.
'The thin body frame of this animal means that the bullet has past straight through its body. He'll be alright.' Elizabeth says.
Elizabeth Grabs a spray and sprays it on the animals shoulder and the spray repairs the wound.
'Can you pick it up?' Elizabeth asks Reynolds.
Reynolds throws the animal over his shoulder. Elizabeth leads him through a door and into a room. In the room empty cages lined the corridors. Elizabeth opens a door and Reynolds throws the animal in. The cage is decorated by leaves and a window to the outside and a door leading to a larger cage outside.
'This is the Animal Recovery Building. He now has the title of the first animal to use it. He'll wake up soon.'
Commander Taylor walks into the Armory. 'Malcolm what is it you want.'
'Ahh yes Commander. I would just like to tell you that I have made some improvements. Seeing how exposed the Sonic Emitter is we decided to cover up the sonic rotors with a sheet of metal. And as we started it up we found that without it some sonic blast went up and shook the Helicopter around. Now that the sheet is on it all blast go down giving it more thrust. 'Malcolm explains.
'Good work Malcolm.' The commander says.
Weeks had past and the Nyctosaurus had recovered well. Malcolm, Jim, Reynolds, Elizabeth, Taylor stood at the door to the large cage.
'Let it out.' Commander Taylor said.
Reynolds walked over to the door and opened it. The Nyctosaurus walked out on all fours. It looked at the People standing by the door. It gave them a look as if it could talk right then it would say thank you. It gave out a high pitched scream and spread its wings and flew off and disappeared behind the tall trees. The animal then returns and lands in a tree. A group of 6 animals returns and they fly over to the mountains that surround Terra Nova.