Hello again. Did you miss me?
So the rewrite continues, and the good news is I'm making good headway. I have been completing about a chapter a week at the pace I'm going, which means I should be back to new chapters within a couple months.
Fun fact: This is the last chapter I wrote before my two year hiatus. As such, I am hoping that most of the chapters after this one don't require as much work to get on par with the first few chapters. I could be very wrong but one can always hope.
To all you new fans welcome, thank you for your support and do feel free to leave a Review, Favorite or Follow as it makes me very happy, and definitely inspires me to continue writing.
Right, enough of this bland stuff. Onto the story.
Wednesday, May 3rd, 2024
2000 Hours
Shit
That was the first and only thing to go through my head as the lightbulb finally went on and I realized who it was that stood behind me.
"This has got to be some sort of fucked up dream." I muttered quietly to myself, turning slowly to face my new squad leader, hoping against hope this was just some really elaborate prank pulled by my training mates.
No such luck however, as there in the first row of recruits, standing tall and proud, with her arms crossed and scowl in place, was none other than the illusive and enigmatic Lockdown.
Well, ok, I say tall, but honestly at first glance, you could easily have missed her. Standing at roughly five foot eleven inches, she is not only shorter than most of the people around her, but also much slimmer in build.
No bulging shoulders or massive bulked up arms here, no no no. That would be too normal for this woman. Nothing physical about her screamed, "I'm a total badass who has more kills racked up than all of you dipshits combined." Hell, when compared to most of the people around her, she looked tiny.
In a way, almost everything about her was oddly disarming and ordinary. When combined with her standard issue BDU, naturally rigid posture and expressionless expression, she could have almost blended in with the rest of the group.
Almost could have blended in, save for three major things.
First up her hair. Despite being only slightly longer than the average military cut, it stands out like a sore thumb, though that can mostly be attributed to the color rather than the cut. Pure white, unbleached, and almost glowing. That hair could probably act as a solid emergency flare if needs be.
Second was her eyes. Ice blue is an apt description of both the color and the feeling they give you. Cold, unyielding, and deadly sharp, those eyes can, and I would bet, probably have sent shivers up the spine of even the most hardened veterans.
Third, and probably the most noticeable part of her though, is not visible at all. It's the feeling you get just from being around her. I'm sure you have all heard tales about people who you could tell were dangerous just from looking at them. People who have an air about them that all but screams at you not to fuck with them. Well, it's like that, only about twenty times worse.
You think you know fear? You don't. Not until you have seen this woman and the hurricane of hell she can bring down on your ass for even the smallest of mistakes.
Just looking at her as she stalked towards you gives you the same kind of feeling I'm sure a deer gets when it's circled by a hungry pack of wolves. Deeply rooted fear, and the sense that if you made one wrong move, you will be ripped to shreds.
Seeing her here now was the equivalent of sending fifty thousand volts of electricity straight into my body. If my posture was not rigid before, it sure as hell was now. If I didn't have a look of complete and utter obedience and respect plastered on my face before, well there's one now.
A chill ran down my spine as she moved to stand in front of me. Despite being almost a head taller than her, she towered over me. I may as well have been an ant on her boot heel for how insignificant I must have looked in comparison to her.
Her eyes locked onto mine as she once again addressed me. "Drew Crawford. You are now a part of squad Lockdown, report to the front entrance with all your gear. You will not be returning to this place anytime soon. Are we clear?"
Those damn eyes of hers, never left my own as she spoke. Hell, I'm sure she didn't even blink once the entire time.
To say they unnerved me would be a severe understatement. Hauntingly beautiful and yet as cold and bleak as the tundra. I had little to no doubt that they would end up in my nightmares at one point of another.
"Yes Ma'am." I replied, instilling my voice with as much conviction as possible, despite only needing to say a few words.
"Good," she stated coolly. "Dismissed."
I turned and all but sprinting away from her before the final syllable was even out of her mouth. My mind racing almost as fast as my body, as I made my way back to the sleeping dorms to collect my shit.
Millions of questions streamed through my head every second, each one more and more complex than the last. Only one of those questions however, stayed with me as I packed.
One question that for the life of me, I could not find the answer to. "Why me?"
Out of all the recruits there, she had picked me. Why? What had I done to catch her eye? Did she see something in me? Did she even pick me? Or was something else at play? Was this all part of some elaborate joke?
I was packed and headed out of the building before I even had one of my millions of questions answered, quickly making my way towards the front entrance of the camp as per her orders.
Climbing the hill I had walked down only moments before, I chanced one final glance back at the camp before cresting the hill and making my way to the rendezvous point.
Or at least that was the plan. However as we all know, even the best laid plans don't last long past first contact.
First contact for my plan being a vehicle, which as far as I knew, couldn't possibly be here.
A Skyranger.
A goddamn, motherfucking, honest to god, Skyranger.
The current pinnacle of human aviation engineering, and one of the only vehicles on the planet capable of hypersonic flight, this brilliant machine was to be the first of a new breed ofVertical Take Off and Landing aviation prototypes, designed specifically to deliver troops into hotspots that prior to their creation, nothing else could reach in time.
These sleek engineering marvels, initially developed by Lockheed Martin, and built off the chassis design of an old Chinese Y-20, were the result of nearly a decade of R&D, as well as several overhauls of existing technologies used in the Lockheed C-130 STOL and Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey. Though it was exceedingly hard to tell that was the case.
By replacing propeller engines with rockets and slimming down the size of the craft, the engineers had hoped this new transport would provide a level of speed, versatility and maneuverability that was never thought of as possible before. Needless to say, they succeeded completely in that department, exceeding even their own predictions by wide margins and solidifying this craft as the future of avionics.
There was, however, one fairly large problem with the system. Specifically a one hundred and sixty million dollar problem.
If memory served, the most recent reports I had read on the subject indicated that all functioning skyrangerswere currently designated as VIP and Presidential transports, since as of right now, they were deemed far too expensive to run as full time military transports.
So that only left one, small piece of information missing from this whole scenario.
"Why in the hell is one here?" I muttered absentmindedly, continuing my brisk jog towards the front entrance, as I had been instructed to do.
"It's our ride out of here, of course," came the cold, clipped reply from right behind me.
Lockdown. Great.
I went from mid-stride to standing at attention before I even realized what was going on.
To this day, I have no idea how or why I felt the need to do that. Maybe it was the fear, maybe it was the begrudging respect, or maybe it was the unnatural air she gave off. But something… something about her kept me walking on eggshells.
"Crawford?" She addressed me with a deep sigh, patting me on the shoulder before calmly strolling down towards the ship. "At ease."
Quickly gathering up my rather hastily dropped items, I stood to address her, only to be quickly silenced with a wave of her hand.
"Save it," she stated, not even bothering to look back at me as she walked. "For your sake more than mine, I sincerely hope this is not how you will react to me every time I speak to you. Would make for some serious problems on missions."
"I apologize, ma'am," the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. "It won't happen again."
She paused just long enough to give me a raised eyebrow and a blank stare before continuing forwards, beckoning me towards the transportbefore us. "They said you were different. Didn't know they meant that literally." She mused, just loud enough for me to hear.
I felt my face heat up slightly at that comment.
"I'm Canadian. Apologies are in my blood." I spoke before my brain had time to catch up with the events of the last minute.
A snort, and a sly smile that made my skin crawl with unease were my rewards for that attempt at a joke. "Well, seems someone's finally pulling the stick out a bit." She chuckled, walking briskly up to the bay doors of the Ranger and unceremoniously banging on them several times.
"Owie Sky! I'm back! Open up!"
As if by magic, the bay door hydraulics immediately went to work. Slowly opening the bay up bit by bit, while simultaneously unveiling either the craziest or bravest woman I never thought I would have the honor of meeting.
Standing at an impressive five feet four inches, Big Sky, otherwise known as Lisa Rinna, may not seem like much, but she is without question, one of the best airborne transport pilots this military has ever seen.
According to early combat reports, on her first very first solo mission, she not only disobeyed direct orders and landed her craft while in an active fire zone, but also left the cockpit and fought off a few straggling enemies while the squad she was retrieving made its way on board. Needless to say after that performance she made her way up the ranks very quickly, much to the dismay of her commanding officer.
Her reputation and never-quit attitude has not only saved god knows how many lives, but also earned her a spot on the infamous Night Stalkers, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Hell, at one point the president himself, in a live broadcasted interview, even requested she be his pilot anytime he traveled to a hot spot! Yah. She's that good.
Now as to why this icon of the flying corps stood before me, scowling down at my pathetic existence with her hands on her hips, I have not the faintest clue. Nor do I expect to come up with a valid reason anytime soon.
Between the Skyranger, being assigned to squad Lockdown, and meeting two of the most influential, well known, and revered woman in the entire military, my brain was just short of being completely and utterly fried.
I swear I could start to feel smoke coming out of my ears.
Slowly a feral grin over took Sky's face, as she continued to lord herself over my mortal existence.
"Lock! Holy shit, girl! It's about fucking time you showed up! Another few minutes and I was planning to leave your straggly little ass behind!" The peppy blonde before me, all but scolded Lockdown, as she made her way up the ramp.
Of all the things I had expected to hear her say, that was not very high on the list. I mean, everyone knew Big Sky had some disciplinary issues, but I never would have guessed she was a complete insubordinate. Talking to a Commanding Officer like that? While in the presence of a private no less...
I could only imagine the reprimanding she would no doubt be receiving for her actions.
Any second now.
Any second…
"Ah, shut up you big olf." A hard chuckled could be heard coming from Lockdown, as she seemingly undeterred by this complete lack of regard for ranking, simply walked further into the cargo hold. "Sorry about that Sky. But if you have any issues take it up with the new guy," she stated, thumbing in my direction. "Him and his trainee buddies are the reason I'm late."
I blinked. "I take it you two know each other?" I asked, more out of confusion than anything else.
"Hell yah we do!" Came the up roaring response from Big Sky, punching Lockdown lightly on the shoulder as she made her way past. "I've saved her ass more times than I can count! Granted, she also saved my ass a good number of times too so I guess we are more or less even..." She paused before redoubling her smile and brought it to bear on me. "Anyways, moving on. What's this I hear about you being the reason she is behind schedule?"
It took a second or two, but eventually the pieces clicked into place.
Getting lost. Asking for directions. The ceremony starting the instant we were in formation. It all made sense now.
My first day on squad Lockdown, and I had not only embarrassed myself probably several times by now, and also managed to accidentally delay two of the most important people in the military, for an unknown amount for time, on what seemed to be a time sensitive or critical mission.
"My apologies ma'am," I stated as formally as possible, with my head bowed in respect. "I didn't mean to delay you."
A second passed
Then ten.
Then a minute.
I slowly peaked upwards. A look of utter confusion was plastered on Big Sky's face, her head cocked slightly to the side. "Um, Lock?" She yelled over her shoulder. "You sure you grabbed the right guy?"
Lockdown, didn't even bother glancing up from the seat she was preparing, to respond. "Double checked already. Definitely him."
"Huh," Sky muttered. "What's your name, kid?"
"Private First Class, Drew Crawford, Ma'am!" Came my immediate response.
"Huh," she muttered again, clearly just as confused as to why I was here, as I was. "Well, hurry your ass up Crawford! I wanted to be gone from this place ten minutes ago! Chop chop!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" I shouted, swiftly snapping a salute before grabbing my duffel and gear and sprinting up into the bay, feeling the heavy pressure sealed doors start to close the moment my boots hit the metal.
Making my way deeper into the ship's interior, Lockdown pointed to the seat right beside her. "I'm sure you have at least a couple questions about what's going on. I'll try and answer as many of them as I can as we fly." Her tone left no room for argument on the matter.
I nodded opening my mouth to respond.
"And I swear to god if you call me ma'am one more time, I'm going to use you as target practice the moment we get off this ship." She added, the look in her eyes making it perfectly clear that this was no empty threat.
Quickly and quietly, I sat down next to her.
"You may want to strap in too," she nodded, glancing towards the pilot's cockpit where Big Sky had entered just moments ago.
"Why?" I ask curiously, grabbing the harness that the seat was attached to. "Doesn't she have pre-flight checks and everything to do first?"
Fiddling with the harness clips, trying to fit them together in a way that wasn't completely ridiculous.
A deep, heavy rumbling suddenly shaking the hold.
"Now you may want to hold onto something!" Lockdown stated loudly, looking at my unfastened harness with apparent amusement.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "What do you meaaaaaaaaah!"
