Cear here again,
I was excited to continue this story and had plenty of time upon arriving at work this morning.
It slipped my mind to mention the girls are going to be majority out of character for the most part. But little bits I will try incorporating each of the original personalities as the story progresses. I also forgot that most of the chapters will be in individual points of view, with the occasional group chapter.
The time gaps between chapters will not be to big as this will be fast paced and I personally do not like skipping large chunks of time.
With that being said, my biggest fatal flaw it differentiating between to and too...it irks me knowing it's my weakness and I know it irks a lot of readers with better grammatical senses than I. But please bear with me and let me know where I need to make any adjustments.
Again, any and all reviews and ideas are more than welcome as the adventure continues!
And without further adieu, I present chapter 2: Landfall!
Enjoy!
~Cear
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Love Live and any names or events mentioned are purely works of fiction and any resemblances are insane coincidence.
~Kotori's POV~
She paced her fall, ensuring she kept an eye on the falling equipment below her. The former Greek quartermaster loved the rush she felt every time she jumped: the rush of the wind, the freedom of her movements, and especially being able to see the land rising up to meet her.
Her ears caught a whining sound she dreaded…surface to air missiles…she spun her body, looking for the dark shape of their previous transport. It didn't take long as the aircraft suddenly deployed its countermeasures, the angel flares. The brilliant light show was cut short as not one, not two, but three of the missiles found the distraction lights and exploded harmlessly beneath the aircraft.
She saw the large shape bank as its engines whined to gain speed and leave enemy airspace. It was a moot point, however, as two more warheads hit their marks, one clipping the left wing, the other impacting and capturing the fuselage in a brilliant fireball.
Her eyes widened and she gasped. She might not have known the crew personally, but they were brave, especially in volunteering for this mission. They were given orders not to bail for fear of capture.
Her earpiece sounded as the team lead called her for confirmation, "Seamstress, was it a confirmed hit?"
She must have heard it as well, if not seen it herself. Kotori took a moment before replying and silently vowing to remember their sacrifice.
She knew her words would be heard by the rest of the team, but she keyed her mic anyway, "Ice Queen…Seamstress confirms hits. Aircraft destroyed no visual on crew."
The silence was murder before Eli spoke again, preceded by an audible sigh, her next words obviously to all, "Ice Queen copies all. We will honor their brave sacrifice for us and succeed in our task. We push forward Maidens."
The communications were cut and she turned back towards the ground.
The remainder of the free-fall was silent before she eyed her altimeter; it was nearing time to deploy chutes. It pleased her when five large groupings appeared beneath her. It meant the automatic chutes deployed as required and the gear and equipment pallets were safely slowing down towards the ground.
She did not pull her cord, however and rocketed past.
An adrenaline junkie, she might not have been, but she wanted to revel in the rush just a bit longer. The distraction from the wind was cut short as her left wrist vibrated against her skin warning her of the approaching altitude for a safe deployment, and her hands begrudgingly obliged as they pulled her cord.
The rest of her slowed glide was silent as she eyed the device, counting down until impact with the ground and watching the tracking of the pallets.
Her body braced itself for impact as her mind readied for the motions she had to take.
Legs tucked and she rolled against the sand, springing herself into a kneeling position, rifle up and ready scanning for any contacts, none were found, good.
She was in motion after a few seconds; pulling her goggles up and bringing the night vision device over her eyes, quickly moving to gathering the chute tethers around her arms and pulling the still open chute to repack it.
After doing so and now lugging the fabric with her, she ran in the direction of the first beacon she saw. The symbols of her teammates and the pallets were spread out over a good distance, but all but three were within the intended drop-zone.
She shook her chute from her body and got to work releasing or cutting the straps that held the pallet together. Looking over the vehicle before her, she was pleased nothing was broken or missing.
The mountable weapons were laid across the rear seats and the packables were tossed in the back as she fired up the engine and rolled onto the sand towards the next beacon.
Surprise she was the first at the mark and dismounted, moving to mirror her work on the next stack. She was soon joined by the rest of the team who had recovered the remainder of the vehicles and came to rest around the pallet as well. Good, it meant they were still in working order.
The team quickly gathered the gear, setting each vehicle up as planned. The supplied vehicles were specifically chosen for speed and maneuverability. They could also haul the weapons and gear for the mission. They even increased the team's firepower by mounting heavier weapons as well.
Eli spoke to the gathered team as they went about setting the vehicles up, "We have an hour to set up and get moving ladies. Make the most of it, check yourselves, check each other and let's get underway."
A hushed but resounding response was sounded and the women continued their work, Kotori watching each group.
Eli, Umi, Nozomi, and Maki were gathered around the first of the larger vehicles. Eli was assisting Nozomi lift and mount the large tube of the TOW anti-tank missile to its mount. Maki and Umi were busy attaching packs to the sides, two of which had to be the medic's supplies. The tube was clicked into the mount and Nozomi gave it a test spin before loading the first missile into the tube and dismounting to join the marksman load the back and attached trailer with spare ammunition and supplies. Eli and Maki got to work finishing mounting the side mounted machine guns.
Rin and Honoka were rushing around the smallest vehicle, mounting the one weapon and loading their own supplies into the small bed. They were chattering amongst themselves as they worked.
Nico and the Americans were busy around the second of the larger vehicles. The team's support gunner, Nico, slapped the tray closed of the mounted heavy machine gun, feeding the first round with a pull of the lever. The other three were mimicking the first group in loading the trailer and back, mounting the side weapons and piling a mix of equipment and ammo into the back and trailer.
She was working with Hanayo readying their vehicle, a smaller four-seater. It was specifically to be used in transporting Hanayo's electronics with the team. They filled the back with the electronics and placed what they could in any space offered. Their packs were slung on the sides and their own weapon was mounted.
It took a bit longer than thirty minutes for preparations to finish.
The team gathered together towards the center of the formation of vehicles all eyes on their leader. They lifted their goggles or night vision devices, pulling face masks down. This little ritual was repeated on each operation and field exercise they participated in. The group formed a circle together in the sand.
She took a moment to look at each member individually, gaining polite nods of acknowledgement from each their eyes remaining bright in the night.
In synch, they each looked at their watches. Eli spoke in a low voice, "Current time is zero-one-two-seven and four-three seconds, synch."
They each pressed a button on the individual devices; the unison beep signaled that they were in-time with each other. The group looked back up at the Russian.
Her voice was low, but rich with optimism as she spoke. The group knew these final words of encouragement would only push them each to excel, "Maidens, we've practiced hard leading up to this point, now it's time to play. All eyes are on us; our success here means that this war can be brought to an end. We can do this just as we have countless times before. I personally have complete faith in each of you and I know you won't let me down. Let's make our countries and the world proud as well."
They each nodded their agreement with their leader and Kotori found herself clinging to every word with pride. She was here, with these women, in this elite group. She had never felt more proud of herself or the others around her.
Eli initiated the final cheer, placing her hand with two extended fingers in-board towards the center. Eleven hands joined hers in the same manner.
"Maidens…" Eli began and was joined quietly by the rest, "Mission start!"
All hands, even the Americans' raised in unison at the cheer.
They separated as they neared their respective vehicles, Kotori alongside Hanayo. She brought a hand up to the shorter woman, slapping her shoulder and they shared a smile before parting to load up. Hanayo took the driver's seat as Kotori took shotgun, bringing the mounted weapon before her and racking the lever to feed a round into the chamber.
Around her, the quiet starts of the engines could be heard. She reached up to the back of her helmet and felt for a switch, flicking it when it was found; her goggles were pulled down soon after, covering her mouth with her mask. She knew her team all did the same.
The vehicles moved into formation, the bigger vehicle with Nico at the gun was lead, followed by the scouts in the two-seater, then her own with Hanayo, and finally, Eli's, with Nozomi on the top.
They silently began the journey to their first objective. The gunners covering their respective fields and the drivers focused forward. Kotori steeled herself for what could possibly come.
The Maidens were on the ground and had gone dark just as planned.
Back in a secured conference room thousands of miles away, the Allied commander sighed as he looked at those gathered around him.
Various high-ranking generals and commanders from all over the world were gathered before him.
He nodded as he began, "Ladies and Gentlemen, our team has gone dark, and now it falls to us to ensure we get done what we need to. This will possibly be the largest single operation since World War Two. If we want to succeed in ending this war, our parts need accomplishing."
The brief began and notes were taken. Tasks were assigned and no one had any questions or complaints about any of it.
After dispersing, the preparations began.
They were all waiting for the green light from the Maidens.
They all hoped this would end the current conflict that plagued the globe once and for all.