M.C.B. Indomitable

1 Day Before Deployment

Very soon, Tails is in a transport helicopter to the carrier, currently anchored near the old Prison Island naval base. He hasn't been to Prison Island since the ARK incident was kicking off, mainly because it was all blown up, but it seems the Mobian Armed Forces had rebuilt it as a naval and air base. At least someone was making use of it, GUN still hasn't declassified the files on Shadow, and probably never will. That lot would kill to keep their secrets, as his semi-recent encounter with Timber has proven. After a short conversation between the pilot and ATC, the helicopter sets down on one of the carrier's helipads.

Pilot - "Here's your stop, hope it was a pleasant flight. Do me a favour and tell the Helljumpers' pilot he owes me 15 dollars."

Tails - "I'll try to keep that in mind, thanks for the trip."

Tails steps off of the helicopter and starts walking towards an officer looking over a checklist near the landing pad. As Tails gets close, the officer looks up and greets him.

Officer - "You're the new recruit from Sunset Heights? Miles Prower?"

Miles - "That's me, where am I needed?"

Officer - "You've got combat experience?"

Miles - "Probably more than most others here."

Officer - "Good, we don't even have time for the crash course. Here's a layout map of the carrier, briefing right here on the flight deck in 20 minutes."

Miles - "Got it, thanks."

Miles starts heading to get a feel for the carrier's layout, as more helicopters land and drop off new pilots. When all of the days recruits arrive, they all gather on the flight deck and stand ready.

Captain - "So as I'm sure you're all aware, the Kukku armada has resurfaced after being almost completely destroyed a few years ago. We aren't sure what happened to them last time, but we sure as hell know what's gonna happen to them this time. This fleet that has been assembled will be deploying to the waters around Cocoa Island, with the objective of beating those birds back where they came from. Some of you may have seen combat before, some of you may be more green than a hover wispon, some of you may have actually beat the beaks back the first time around, I don't know. What I do know is that you are all capable, proud men that will have no trouble clipping their wings, and bringing their delusions of grandeur back down to earth. You have all been told what squadrons you have been assigned too, take some time to get to know your new friends, and the carrier itself. Dismissed."

Miles was assigned to the special forces unit Alpha Nine, the Helljumpers, so he can expect plenty of action on the ground and in the skies. He looks up from his papers and has a look at the bulkhead doors to the different bunks, one for each squad. After finding the Helljumpers' barracks, he opens it up and walks inside, ready to meet his new friends. Inside the room is the rest of the squad, 6 other operatives, most of them relaxing before the deployment. One of them looks up at Miles and calls out to the others.

Helljumper - "Hey fellas, fresh meat is here."

Some of the soldiers stop what they're doing to take a look, and one takes the opportunity to harshly finish an arm wrestle that was locked in a stalemate against a human. The bird that won the arm wrestle gets up and walks over, giving Miles a wave. None of them are in full gear at the moment, but tags on the bird's under suit identify him as Helljumper 5.

Helljumper 5 - "Welcome to Alpha Nine, squad lead and 2IC are in the briefing room, I'm sure they'll be happy to see you."

Miles - "Thanks, hope I don't mix things up too much here."

Helljumper 5 - "I'm sure you'll do fine."

Miles enters the briefing room, seeing a wolf and a cat leaning over a small map table of Cocoa Island. As Miles steps into the room, the cat, labeled Helljumper 2, looks up and waves him over.

Helljumper 2 - "So you're our new number 9 huh? Welcome to the team. I'm Fuschia, the squad 2IC, and this is Oak, Helljumper Leader."

Oak - "Good to have you kid."

Miles - "Fuschia, didn't you fight with the resistance during one of Eggman's last invasions? I remember seeing you at Imperial Tower."

Fuschia - "Actually yea, I did. Small world huh?"

Oak - "I had a brother in that war, apparently he got to fight alongside Sonic himself. At the moment we're just waiting on our first mission once we get to ground. I talked with the captain, and we're probably going to get deployed before the main force to secure a foothold. Have you ever done a paradrop before?

Miles - "Not really, but how hard can it be?"

Oak - "That's the spirit. We should be about 9 hours out from Cocoa Island, which means in about 7 hours we'll be deployed alongside some other pathfinder units. We have a squad armoury in the next room over. If it's in a labeled pod, hands off, if not, open season."

Miles - "Alright, I'll take a look at what's there, thanks."

Oak - "Don't mention it Miles, I'd be doing myself a disservice if I wasn't to arm my own troops."

Miles and Oak share a salute, as Miles leaves to investigate the armoury in the next room. Inside, there's a group of pods lining the wall, each labeled Helljumper Leader to Helljumper 9, Helljumper 9 being his own pod and callsign. The rest of the room is filled with racks of weaponry of all types, from combat knives to M5 explosives to anti materiel rifles. The first thing that stands out though, is a cache on the wall labeled "Experimental", which he can't help but have a look at. The container isn't locked, and inside there's some type of beam weapon. As Miles is looking it over, Oak steps into the room and checks over his own pod, before looking at Miles. He's in the process of shouldering the weapon and mock firing it, before Oak speaks up.

Oak - "You seem to be having fun, I was going to give that to Helljumper 4 but you already seem to have gotten the hang of it. Just don't fire it at anything other than the enemy, that beam could punch a hole straight down to the sea floor, and I didn't train to be a diver, that's 7's job."

Miles - "Well you said if it wasn't in a pod it's fair game, so I thought I'd help myself."

Oak - "Fair enough. Hey, we got a new set of armour ordered in after we were told we'd be getting a new member, you'll find it in that locker."

Oak points to a locket against the wall, with another Helljumper 9 label on it. Miles walks over and opens it up, and instantly recognises the design to be a variant of experimental GUN power armour. The last time he saw that in the files was back when it was still just theories and bureaucracy.

Oak - "I can tell from the look on your face that you like it, we get our supply directly, personally I'm surprised they even agreed to give us some sets. Don't worry about the helmet by the way, after a mission or two every squad member gets a new one custom made, these standard issue ones aren't all they're cracked up to be, and often crack under pressure. Bloody cheap human manufacturing."

Miles - "You know we have a human in the main room, right?"

Oak - "Of course I do, those were Arthur's own words. He, doesn't hold his fellows in very high regard."

As Oak finished his sentence, the faint sounds of bagpipes are heard from the flight deck.

Oak - "That'll be the signal to set off, hope you're ready kid, 7 hours until deployment."