Chapter Three: Test Flight
/GDI Control Centre, San Francisco California, October 10th 2029
Captain Levi Pravdin looked into the mirror in his quarters, lip-syncing to Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones as he got dressed. "Pleased to meet you; hope you guess mah name! Oh Yeah!" he followed as he did up his tie, pinning the Air Force and Captain badges onto his shirt. "But what's puzzlin' you is the nature of mah game, oh yeah, get down baby…" Right at the beginning of the guitar solo there was a knock at the door.
Jumping alert, he spun to the stereo that was blaring the song, promptly switching it off before racing to answer the door. Opening it, he was about to apologise to a supposed officer for the volume when he quickly realised he was not face to face with an irritated CO, but in fact it was his girlfriend Dr Linda Harrington. "Are you ready yet?" She asked. "You're late." Nodding, "Aw, yeah, of course." Levi said, pulling on his jacket, brushing the possible dust off of the various patches on its' shoulders.
Following her through the corridor to the end of the barracks, where the briefing room was, he could see various military and press officials filled the room, making it more of a conference than a briefing. Before they reached the doorway, Linda stopped and turned to Levi. "When you go, hurry back, would you?" she asked him. "Don't worry. I'll be back by the end of the week. Promise." The two then briefly kissed before walking into the briefing room.
Standing by the podium was Colonel Jefferson, Levi's CO. He was unusually happy and cheerful in front of all the press. "Ah, Captain Pravdin!" He greeted him. "Do you have any time to answer any questions?" he asked rhetorically. Nodding, Levi came to the podium and faced the audience. Immediately, some snot-nosed local news reporter eagerly shot his hand up. Levi gestured him to ask away. "Exactly what is the V-36 Varan?" He asked. "The Varan is a prototype Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft designed by the wonderful Dr Harrington, here." He explained, gesturing to Linda. "That will hopefully become the main aerial carrier used by the US Military to replace some of our older vehicles like Black Hawks and Ospreys." The audience applauded the answer as the reporter who asked it wormed in his seat with pride for asking the first question. Another reporter raised her hand. "How effective do you think it would be against an attacking monster?" She asked.
Levi tried to hide his surprise of the nature of the question, answering semi-confidently. "After the attacks in '14; there was really no room for feeling sorry for yourself -we all lost someone we loved, you just did what you had to do to get over it." He stated. "Now I don't want the monsters to come back, but if they do; I'd feel pretty good about hopping into a Varan and blowin' 'em off the face of the planet." He smirked. Again the audience applauded.
"Any more questions?" He asked.
….
Making the final preparations to his flight suit, Levi picked up his helmet. It was the standard fighter pilot helmet used by all members of the US Air Force, though Levi had personally customised his own with markings on the front and sides of the helmet, playing cards painted onto one side and a Rebel Alliance insignia from Star Wars opposite it. Grabbing the helmet in his hand, he exited the prep room out to the airfield, where the Varan stood on a nearby helipad, surrounded by reporters and soldiers.
The Varan was a bulky, yet nimble vehicle, painted matte grey with Air Force and Global Defence Initiative markings. Its' wide structure resembled that of a heavily modified V-22 Osprey, though with large turbine thrusters instead of rotors. It was one of the most expensive aircraft ever built, almost enough to build four F-35s or a dozen F18s. Several press members turned to greet Levi as he approached them, passing through the crowds to the helipad.
Walking up the ramp of the Varan, he strapped himself into the pilot's seat, greeting the small handful of officers and reporters who were its' first passenger crew. Making the final preparations for takeoff, Levi slowly eased up the throttle, causing the massive vehicle to promptly lift off of the ground, its' engines roaring. The aircraft slowly turned away from the stunned crowd as it came about to face the ocean beyond before heading out to sea.
Once they were moving quickly enough Levi engaged the drive shafts which tilted the engines forward into the aeroplane configuration, causing the Varan to rocket forward, shooting over the rolling water. "Now the V-36…" Levi begun, turning on the autopilot and spinning to talk to the passengers, "performs like a helicopter in dropship mode, but once in jet mode, at top speed; it could keep up with a handful of our fighter jets." He explained. "Her armament; a nose-mounted six-barrel chaingun and a full set of multipurpose strike missiles –the same ones used by the F-55 that are capable of Radio, Radar and Heat-Seeking capabilities." Levi gestured to the various shapes that hung under the crafts' wings on the system layout screen. "Another cool feature is the Electromagnetic Deflector."
As some of the press furrowed their brows in confusion, he began to explain. "After MUTOs' EMP capabilities were knocking our planes right outta the sky in '14, the GDI began working on a device that created a force-field of sorts that would deflect the waves and protect anything inside it. This means the Varan is completely immune to an EMP strike."
Various press members began to applaud the pilot as he turned back around and flicked off the autopilot. Grabbing the controls, Levi began to recklessly twist the controls from side to side, making the vehicle sway as if in heavy turbulence. The rattle caused several of the reporters to become unnerved. They began to panic as the VTOL began to lower down dangerously close to the water. "I'm just kidding!" Levi called jokily before bringing the Varan back up to a safe height and continuing on with the flight.
"The Varan is very eco-friendly, but long trips tend to run her dry, a little." The pilot said. "So we'll be making our stop off at Honolulu to refuel, then back on the road to Janjira." As he said that, the collection of small islands that was Hawaii began to appear on the horizon.
….
Standing by the side of the Varan as it was being refuelled, Levi quietly hummed the Hawaii Five-O theme song to himself as he watched an airliner takeoff from the nearby Honolulu International Airport. "Almost ready, yet?" He called out to the group of technicians running the refuel process. One of them stood to face him, shaking his head. "Nah, ten more minutes. Ten minutes." He replied, showing the number with his fingers.
"Whelp, that's just great!" Levi said bitterly under his breath, walking away from the helipad. Walking into the entrance of the flight control room, he saw a pair of guards stood at the inner doors. "Hey, anyone know where I can grab a bite to eat around here?" He asked. "Main entrance" One of the guards replied. "There's a café there, they do food n' stuff." Nodding, Levi turned to leave. "Thanks." He said as he stepped out the doors back outside. It was late in the day and the sun hung low in the sky, which was now a reddish orange. "Guess I'll be back home later than I thought." Levi said to himself. "Ugh, Linda's gonna kill me."
Before he could make his way to the main building, a voice was calling out from the helipad, where one of the technicians was stood waving his arms in the air to get Levi's attention. "We're done!" He shouted. "You're ready to go!"
….
Within minutes, the Varan was once again flying across the ocean en route to Janjira. "Sorry for the delays." Levi said to the passengers in the back of the VTOL. "Refuelling took a little longer than expected. A good thing though is because of it; the V-36 has a very low carbon footprint for all your eco-warrior needs." He grinned.
"We're almost at Janjira now." He said. "Back in '99, the local nuclear power plant was destroyed by a MUTO, putting the entire city into a sixteen year-long quarantine." The pilot explained. "After the War of 2014, the city was reclaimed and refurbished. She's now the second largest city in Japan aside from Tokyo at just over seven million residents." Nodding, one of the reporters looked out of the viewport to the rolling water below.
"What's that?" He asked, pointing to a large island quite a distance from them. "That's Birth Island." Levi said. "Home to a Global Defence Initiative Outpost. Not really much else on the island after it got 'nuked in 2014."