This is my second try to write this story. You won't find the first version here because I deleted It.
I lost motivation and I simply wasn't happy with it. I hope that I'll manage to keep motivated this time.
Also I have to mention that I de-aged the main character to 18.
Anyway English isn't my first language. So you can expect some mistakes and weird sentence structures.
I hope you enjoy the story!
Chapter 1
"Orbital Drop will commence in 10 minutes" a female voice informed him through the ships speakers.
Jack Cooper was kind of nervous. This Mission wasn't anymore dangerous than the ones he was on before.
No, this time they had a good amount of Intel , they knew approximately how many soldier the IMC stationed at their base and they knew what the IMC was doing there ,experimenting with remnants of the Fold Weapon. Possibly with the goal of rebuilding it.
That was the reason why Jack felt so nervous. The Fold Weapon simply freaked him out. It was crazy powerful ,Typhon got ripped apart by it, Jack barely got out of their alive.
And there was the fact that nobody ,not even those Corporate Assholes, knew who build it and for why.
The only thing that was known for sure ,was that it was at least 120 Million of years old.
Which only adds more question.
"5 minutes before drop" the same voice rang through the mostly empty drop bay.
Coopers mind returned to the present. He was already sitting in his Drop Pod , waiting.
"You Ok Cooper?" Barker asked him, sensing his nervosity "This is nothing you haven't done before, a simple Infiltration Mission"
"Yeah that's exactly why I am worried. The last time I broke into a IMC base , a PLANET blew up." Jack replied ,putting emphasis on the word 'Planet'.
"Common Jack, you're the fucking Hero of Typhon! You got this Kid, what are the Odds that another Planet blows up ?" The alcoholic Ex IMC officer said, while taking a drink from his flask.
"Yeah, yeah you're right." Jack said ,rolling his eyes.
"Orbital Drop in 1 Minute"
"Anyway i have to get ready now"
Barker nodded and left while saying "Good Luck out there!"
Cooper took his blue glowing helmet and put it on. The HUD came on and a countdown appeared in the corner of his vision.
"30 seconds"
The 18 year old Pilot did one last check, to see if everything in his Pod was secured.
And Luckily everything was. So he didn't have to worry about being impaled by a loose screwdriver or something along those lines.
"10 seconds!"
Jack felt his nervousness return as the Pod closed.
"8 seconds!"
This time because of the Drop.
"6 seconds!"
The Pods weren't rated for the altitude he would be dropping from.
"4 seconds!"
They were designed for drops from Low orbit and he would drop from high orbit.
"2 seconds"
He took a deep breath.
"Drop!"
High over a IMC controlled planet a Militia frigate suddenly appeared in a bright flash.
A singular drop pod was shot out from the ship.
And in another flash the frigate was gone once again, like it never was there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack felt his Pod accelerate , presumably towards the Planet.
"Good Luck out there, Pilot" was the last thing that came through his helmets Comms before the connection went dead. The Ship must have jumped back into FTL.
He didn't see it that , his singular window didn't point towards the ship.
What he did see was space and a blue glow ,coming from underneath his Pod, that was slowly increasing in intensity.
After a few minutes of this the Pod started to rattle.
The stars began to disappear and the black void was now replaced by a dark blue void.
The Pod was beginning to enter the Atmosphere.
Cooper began to tense up and grab his armrests tightly.
Reentry was the second most dangerous thing during an Orbital Drop , with the most dangerous obviously being the landing itself, if you can even call it a landing.
The rattling became more violent as air resistance increased.
The blue that was becoming less and less dark and then it was suddenly drowned out by red flames that were encasing the outside of the Vessel.
The Pod tore through the Atmosphere with a trail of flames following it.
After a few seconds of this, small flaps were extended from the vessel in order to increase air drag and slow it down. Shortly after that 4 small engines ignited.
The Pod decelerated from the Hypersonic reentry speeds to a nice, slow and gentel supersonic speed.
The red disappear from the window as the flames died down.
They only thing Cooper could see at that point was white, since he was falling through a thick layer of clouds.
Until he shot out of the clouds and was closing in towards the ground at mach 5.
The Engines kicked in a second time bringing the speed down from 6174 km/h to 200 km/h in about 15 seconds. That's about 11 Gs of deceleration.
Cooper shut his eyes and tried to be less tense, since he knew that hitting the ground while tense would ultimately hurt him more than just being limp.
Suddenly the Pods engines were lit a last time shortly before it brutally hit the ground.
The 'landing' made the Pilot almost pass out , but in the end he could prevent that.
His Pod just decelerated from 200 km/h to 0 in 0.1 seconds. That's over 56 Gs.
A normal human would have definitely passed out and would have definitely been seriously injured if not killed.
But Jack wasn't normal, not since the clusterfuck that was Operation Broadsword.
Ever since the injection he got from Captain Lastimosa.
Still that impact hurt like hell. Jack took a minute to recompose himself.
He waited till the pain subsided somewhat.
Still he knew that he couldn't risk the IMC stumbling upon him.
He grabbed a lever on the top right of the door. He looked out of the window for a bit ,taking in the landscape he 'landed' on a mountain range covered in a dense Rainforest.
The forest was similar to one you might find on Earth, just that most plants were red instead of green, probably because the Clouds were blocking so much light.
When the young Pilot decided that he had seen enough, he pulled the lever.
This resulted in a controlled explosion, which blasted the door away from the Pod.
Jack was now exposed to the alien air. Well, as exposed as he could be without taking of his helmet and armor.
He got up from his seat and stepped out of the Pod. He turned around so he could access his weapons.
He grabbed his trusty Volt, that he grew so fond of back on Typhon, from its holder, leaned it against the side of the Pod and reached back into it to pull out a Charge Rifle.
Cooper than put the Anti Titan weapon on his back, just over his jumpkit and picked the Volt back up from the ground.
"Alright , let's do this" he said to himself. The Special Recon Squadron Pilot looked around until he saw a waypoint show up on his HUD.
Jack started swiftly walking towards his target, until he was beginning to close in on a cliff.
Jack, being the Pilot that he is, didn't see this as a dead end. No the opposite was true he was just waiting for something like this.
He did something , that would have looked insane from a outside perspective.
Cooper started running towards the edge, full speed, extremely fast.
And just as he reached the end , he jumped high into the air over the edge.
Soon the jets on his hip fired to not only give him an extra boost forward , they also propelled him to his right towards a steep side of the Mountain.
He then started wall running as soon as he touched it, with his jump kit preventing him from falling. While he held his trusty Volt in his left Hand.
He was jumping towards a different wall on the opposite side, of the Valley that formed under him, every few seconds to keep the momentum going.
Jack loved it. This is why he wanted to become a Pilot in the first place. The speed and the grace that a Pilot has is unmatched.
And it felt fucking great. Not only could he run at speeds that were simply inhuman, he was moving at speeds that you normally would need a car for, he could also watch the beautiful alien landscape around him , including the weird and mysterious Jungle a hundred meters beneath him.
After about 30 minutes of wallrunning, it had gotten considerably darker outside.
Which was a clear advantage since Jack wanted to at least try to be stealthy. His display showed him that he was just a couple hundred meters away from the installation he was supposed to break into and steal some data that would hopefully help the Militia to prevent future Typhon-like disasters.
As the base got closer Cooper began to slow down, the base itself was located in the valley at a point where it got wider.
So as to not get immediately spotted, Cooper decided to head into the jungle.
The next time he would have normally propelled himself towards another wall he instead just propelled himself until he reached the middle between the two sides, and then he simply let himself fall.
As he was falling his jump kit lit up slowing his fall, somewhat at least.
He still hit the ground quite hard, but pilots are durable and their used to these kinds of things.
At least psychologically it felt way more comfortable than a orbital drop, since he had some control here.
Jack held his Volt at the ready , as he slowly was nearing the clearing in which the Installation was located.
He lied down , hidden between Bushes. This was definitely different then what the IMC had on Typhoon. Gone where the garden areas, sleek luxurious buildings and huge glass windows.
Instead the base consisted of a big grey square concrete building, a runway, a Hanger, and a Metal fence around the whole complex. There were a few guard towers scattered around.
Grunts were patrolling the fence, it seemed like there was no pilot there, at least not on the outside.
This was most definitely a blacksite, of the book and in unimportant rarely visited space.
Now he just had to get in and back out. Hopefully without getting seen.
Hopping over the fence should be easy at least. It wasn't all that high, sure climbing over them would be hard , since there is barbed wire on them.
Cooper didn't have to climb though, he could jump.
But first he needed to find someplace with fewer guards, preferably none.
It should also be close to an entrance that leads into the main complex.
He didn't want to spend a lot of time sneaking around and increasing his risk of getting caught.
It took him a few Minutes but he found an area that was out of the guards sights, and there was a ventilation shaft quite close by. This would be his way in, Jack decided.
So he started to sprint towards the fence. On his way the Pilot activated his Cloak , making him nearly completely invisible.
He was glad that he didn't have to worry about the time running out for it, so much. Since he was using an upgraded version, one that allowed him to stay invisible for a longer time. Depending on the charge.
In his case he had about 30 min total in which he could stay invisible.
The Fence passed by underneath him, before he landed on muddy ground behind it. His Jumpkit softening his fall and thereby making the landing a quiet one.
He looked from side to side incase anyone did noticed something. But luckily no one was around.
So the operation could continue. Jack moved towards the wall so he could jump to the ventilation shaft.
He held onto a slight ledge jutting out of the wall right next to the shaft.
Now he just had to get in. The ventilation shaft was covered by a metal grid, as was to be expected . That was pretty standard after all.
But it was nothing he couldn't handle. While he could simply rip the cover of, this would compromise his secrecy. He would prefer it if the IMC only noticed the breakin after he was long gone.
So instead,he deactivated his cloak and opened one of his pockets to pull out a screw driver.
He quickly loosened the four screws enough, so that he could remove the grid. All of that one handed.
Jack then pocketed the screwdriver again.
After that he grabbed the grid and carefully moved it away from the shaft.
Cooper then climbed into it, while holding the grid.
He put it back in its place and proceed to use some of his tape, to prevent the grid from simply falling out.
The space he found himself in wasn't all that big but the space would suffice to turn around.
Still, small enclosed spaces and slow crawling weren't exactly his favorite things. But he would have to deal with that now.
Whilst crawling, different conversations between the resident scientists could be heard.
While Jack didn't hear enough from any of them to have a clear Idea what they were talking about.
A recurring theme was still recognizable. They were experimenting on some kind of ancient device, found on this planet. That proved that their theory wasn't correct. The IMC wasn't working on Fold Weapon remmanents. At least not in this facility.
Still, this did little to calm Cooper. Because now he was working with even more unknowns.
Although they didn't know much about the Fold Weapon , they at least knew somethings.
The crawling continued until Cooper found himself over a vent, underneath which was a large room.
Jack could see two scientists talking next to a console.
"All this work is pointless! We simply have no idea what were working with." said one of them.
"Calm down Jeb, someone got the Fold Weapon to work too, didn't they? So this can only be a matter of time." said the other one.
"Yeah right! The people working on that thing had no idea what they were doing. They just barely got it to work. And it quite probably wasn't anywhere near as efficient as it could have been!" Jeb continued in his annoyed tone.
"Maybe we should call quits for today and get dinner, how does that sound ?" the unidentified scientist asked.
"Now that's a good Idea!"
Jack heard them leave and a door close behind him. He waited for something to happen and after nothing did for a few minutes he decided that now was as good a time as any to check out what exactly they did down there.
The vent cover was quickly removed and the pilot jumped into the room below.
He found himself in a large room. Big enough to house several titans.
But instead of those, the room was filled with computer terminals, poorly covered wires and all kinds of equipment.
The most interesting thing , however, was a weird dark grey almost black Platform on one end of the room. The Platform was definitely not build by the IMC, Jack deduced. It didn't match their design scheme. Or any Human design scheme for that matter.
Another clue pointing towards its alien origin, was the way wires were connected to it.
Pretty messy, that is.
The IMC would have a proper connecter towards something they build themselves, they wouldn't have to jury rig something like they did here.
Jack turned towards one of the computers , he would surely find some Information the-
"HEY! What are you doing here!" a rough older male voice shouted.
Jack turned around quickly ,his Volt ready.
Cooper and the IMC pilot ,that just entered the Room, instantly recognized that they were facing a enemy.
The hostile pilot began to fire his CAR towards where Cooper was standing.
Cooper by that point already started moving, using his insane maneuverability to get out of the bullet's path.
At the same time he began to fire at the enemy pilot with his Volt.
But he too, didn't score a hit.
Cooper wasn't dealing with a Grunt. He was fighting another Super Soldier.
"What are you doing here Militia bastard?!" the IMC soldier yelled aggressively whilst showing of his own impressive acrobatics.
By this point a loud alarm was ringing through the whole base.
So much for stealth.
Jack dove behind a console whilst bullets whizzed by, closely behind him.
He lands in a slide and transitions from there into another wall run.
At the same time he grabbed a Electric Smoke Grenade ,from his vest, and threw it in the general direction of his enemy.
He then landed back in a slide safely behind some still packed equipment, while his grenade created a electrically charged smoke cloud.
Sadly it seem like he didn't get his enemy, because he heard continued shooting.
Until it stopped abruptly ,followed by a stream of curses.
He must be out of Ammo, Cooper realized.
The Special Recon Squadron soldier jumped out of cover, towards the opposite wall and began to Wall Run towards his enemy. All while shooting his Volt one handed towards his target, until it was empty.
Some shots hit their target but most missed and sadly it wasn't enough to take the IMC pilot down.
After Cooper transitioned from the wall back to the ground. He continued to sprint towards his enemy. He knew that he wouldn't make it to cover before the other Pilot reloaded, so his only option was to engage in direct combat.
Just as the Gun was loaded and began to point towards him, Jack jumped forward tackling the IMC Pilot unto the platform.
What none of them had taken into account, was that Jack's electrical grenade might have charged and activated it.
As soon as they hit the platform , a loud hum began to resonate from with in it.
"Fuck" was all Jack had time to say before a bright blue flash encompassed them.
It dissipated shortly after , both Pilots were gone.