Prologue
#1 of Biologically Assisted Nanotech Experiment
Sorry guys. After reviewing this chapter, I found that it had so many dialogue errors and had to edit and re-upload a new (cut and dried) version.
PM me if there's any mistakes, plot error or something out of place that I've missed.
"Cobra One, this is Red Crown. You're on final approach to Codename Mother," barked Captain Richard. My watch shows that it's 5:30 a.m. and the weather is a bit cloudy. I saw a huge lightning flash inside a dark cloud from my cockpit. I think it's raining down there.
"Copy that.'' I replied.
"ETA (Estimated Time Arrival) 2 minutes"
It's a fine Saturday morning for everyone -mostly- but, not for me and my team of fighter pilots. We are on a stealth mission to destroy Mother. Our squadron consist of about 6 jet fighters suitable for stealth and fast-paced air combat, equipped with spiral missiles for extra firepower and flares for tactical evasive manoeuvres.
"Red Crown, I need a live visual of Mother." I said to the intercom.
"Copy that, transmitting now."
A live video of Mother from a mini-drone appear on screen. Mother is a large floating base a few nautical miles from Honolulu. She is actually a mysterious alien looking aircraft that had been responsible for dispersing a lot more these so called UFO -by the media- that have been the main cause of the death or abduction of 25% of America's population. She's as large as an aircraft carrier, floating below the cloud and surrounded by this some kind of doors that keep dispersing unknown flying object that looked like mini jet fighters [R&D team back at the lab say it's a remote controlled drone. Whatever]
Mother is so stealth that we could only see her since last week when one of our hacking drone managed to hack into her cooling system -and some others sub-system- that make her visible on thermal vision. After that, a quick response team with Operation Intersect is initiated and me, Sergeant Alex Johnson is in charge.
"Red Crown to Cobra One, ETA 30 sec. BE ADVISED, HOSTILES DETECTED, ON APPROACH, WEAPONS HOT! ." yelled Captain Richard. He's getting tense. That's bad news. Maybe he saw something -bad- on his screen. Anyway, our mission is to destroy Mother's doors that surround her. I armed my main armament and switched the radar to track mode when suddenly I hear a warning sound from radar warning receivers (RWR). Those damn drones again -lots of it 'painting' (locking-on) me. Damn!
"Hey Alex... You ready?" John radioed me. He's one of the best crew. In this operation, he's my pair.
"Of course I am! You and I will both destroy those damn bay doors. You take top left, I'll take top right. Spread out."
A big smile emerged on his face "It's just like the simulators.... Woo!!! I'm sick of this laser firing bastards" John dived down and evades a few lazar blasts while I'm doing my best to get closer and achieve a lock on target. Meanwhile, my double 7.62mm nose guns is doing its best to keep Mother's annoying drones out of my way.
"Everyone, change formation, two by two, SPREAD OUT!'' I ordered them.
"Copy that!"
"Affirmative, Oscar Mike"
"Roger"
"Good luck...." I said as I manoeuvred my plane to the east side of Mother.
"Hey, Cobra Two, ten bucks if you could hit that bay door at that bottom right!" I challenged John.
He spontaneously dived, rolled and...
Boom, boom! Two bay doors went up in flame.
"Nice. Now watch me!"
"WEAPONS AWAY! WEAPONS AWAY!" I screamed into the headset as and punched in two triggers. Instantly, a pair of Spiral AIM-9X AAMs and about a dozen rockets tore out from Cobra One's wings and blazed towards Mother. The projectiles hissed towards their target, ripping right above Cobra Two, and exploded in several fireball shards of twisted, burning metal and lethal, rapid-fire bursts right in the middle of the sky.
"Wow....Fireworks" John responded.
"You're right. It's just like the simulator." We fly a bit further away to get an overall view to check on Mother's bay doors. None left at this side, all done.
"How's the other bay doors." I radioed my team as we flew around Mother with about 500 meters radius for precaution.
"Done.'' They said in unison with a bit of laughter. Well, that was fast. I guess, this might be a good day. I had an uneasy feeling. There's must be something wrong. It can't be this easy. Mother can't just float there.
"Cobra One to Red Crown, we are seeing clean strike on priority targets, I repeat, a clean strike. Please advice."
"Cobra One, THREAT IMMINENT, I REPEAT, THREAT IMMINENT. Scan shows multiple-"he did not need to finish that command. I already knows what's coming next.
I saw Mother deploying her missile pod and start firing continuously. Hellfire missile, but wait, those are not normal missile. They are more agile than I taught.
MISSILES LOCKED.
"Deploy flares" someone yelled. I deployed my flares. It didn't work. I could still see those missiles on my radar. We are forced to split up and try to lose our 'tail'.
"Squad, return to base! ASAP." ordered Captain Richard. "I can't lose anyone. We got interceptor here. They are on their way. Scan shows that Mother is [Static]...."
Damn communication jammer. Long range transmission between my whole team and base is down but, the radio seems unaffected. I tried to remain calm. If anything goes wrong the ejection seat should save me -probably, and I could take a dip in the sea. I saw a huge railgun on top of Mother. How did it get there? That's state of the art tech. Top secret. Why Captain Richard hadn't warned us about this earlier. We got scanner from satellites and drones. Then, I remembered his face. The way he tensed. He knows about this railgun... but he failed to warn us -that explain about recent unfinished command. I cursed loudly.
Thermal shows the gun heating up. Bad news, I swooped down to my left to evade a missile. I need to destroy the gun. Need to buy some time for my team to retreat. Then, I saw a flash and a ballistic trail, straight towards me. It's just too fast. I'm doomed.
I braced for impact....Boom!!!
At that moment, I know that I've lost my engine or maybe my whole fuselage. My cockpit flashed with sparks and filled with smoke, I can't see my left wing as I plummeted down to earth. Warning lights and buttons flashed around me. S*IT! The ejection seat is down but the explosive mechanism is enough to eject the cockpit glass-I guess. I pull the eject lever. Nope, nothing happens
EJECT MECHANISM FAILURE...
I'm doomed.
" MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! THIS IS COBRA ONE. I'M HIT. I'M HIT. I'VE LOST MY LEFT WING. I CAN'T EJECT. LAST COORDINATE IS *cough* 21-DEGREE-06-MINUTE-11.7-NORTH *cough* AND 157-DEGREE-22-MINUTES-42.4-WEST." I yelled to the microphone at my headset. Hope they got the transmission. I don't have much time, I tried to regain control of the plane and raise the nose. It worked a bit. The hydraulic system is a bit operational. My plane keep doing down in a steady angle as I saw the sea rushing to meet me.
After that, I can't see much. Seawater stings my eyes. My vision turns blurry. My visor is cracked and there's this high frequency noise in my ears-like a stun grenade. Water filled the cockpit. A button labelled oxygen is flashing RED. I tried to break the glass with my Beretta M9. I can't think clearly. I'm out of breath. The water around me turns red, I'm bleeding from a wound at my head. Just before I passed out, I saw a hand punching through the glass. Then, lift me up from the water. I closed my eyes. Darkness.
I opened my eyes again. My head buzzed. "Don't worry sir. You'll be okay. Stay with me." I saw a blurry face hovering near me. I know it's a guy but, he seems unusually... big. I can't make his features out. His voice seems distant, like a mile away. He cradled me and starts running. Where? I don't know. I collapsed in the warmth of his massive body.