He had been out of boot less than six-months when, on his very first hop, the thrusters never kicked in. He was a private among his crew, the greenest man on board, yet the only one to walk away from the mangled wreckage that had become submerged in water.
The frigid water of Orion Seven had saved his life, but cost those around him. Every single time Jack prepared for a hop, he thought of those who perished in that crash. The same seat positioning inside of the copter. The same lighting. The same calm among the faces of the crew.
“You alright boss?” Renaldo asked, taking a seat beside their lieutenant.
“Yea,” Jack replied, seeming to snap back to reality a bit. “You got everything you need?”
“Sniper rifle, scope…” the thin man replied. “That’s it. I travel light.”
“Yea, I guess so.” Jack said with a smile, turning to his other side.
“Just a pistol and explosives here boss.” Twiggy said.
He was rather short for a man of uniform, yet stocky. Of everyone in the unit, Twiggy was certainly the most unkempt, appearing as though he were simply drafted from the streets of cardboard box living.
“Yea, but you’re good at what you do.” Jack said with a confident nod.
“Damn right boss.”
“I’m putting us right on top of the beacon. Should be less than a hundred yards away when he hit soil.” Avery said, buckled in the pilot’s chair as he turned back to make the needed calculations.
“Alright guys, prepare for the hop. Bronson, keep your com on.” Jackson said, trying to calm his own nerves in the process.
“You got it.” Bronson replied, clicking a button on his shoulder com, a green light brightening.
“You reading us?” the soldier asked, leaning his head to the side a bit as he spoke.
“Loud and clear.” Chandra replied, her voice a soothing tune to the ears of a very nervous Jack Strong.
“Hold the fort down now.” Bronson said with a bit of cockiness, settling in comfortably.
Within an instant, the chopper began a free fall without warning, eventually becoming a dedicated nosedive which brought it closer to the planet’s atmosphere.
Please just land. Please just make it. Jack thought, his mind racing back to a time when he and his crew weren’t so lucky.
He waited impatiently for the sound of thrusters, thinking of his wife and little girl as a feeling of helplessness surged throughout his entire body.
Where the fuck are the thrusters? Jack wondered, still waiting for a sound that never came. He did, however, begin to hear a loud sound that was nearly ear-shattering. Oh God, not again.
Moments later, however, both of the chopper’s thrusters booted into full blaze, the torque of such powerful engines bringing a welcomed relief to the group’s leader.
Fuck it. Two tears in a bucket.
“Wooooo!” Renaldo yelled, startling half of the crew with his sudden outburst.
“Avery, what the hell is that sound?” Jack Strong asked, having to do so in a near-yell to overpower it.
“Rain sir. A lot of fucking rain.” Avery replied.
“Yea, no kidding. I can barely hear myself think.” Lieutenant Jack Strong replied.
“I guess we know why these fuckers haven’t answered their radios,” Bronson said, tapping his unit several times. “The rain is so thick, I’m not getting anything on here.”
“People,” Jack said, casting a glance to Bronson. “They’re people, just like the ones we have waiting for us back home.”
“Wouldn’t matter if their coms were satellite dishes, they ain’t getting shit out through this rain,” Bronson replied, slowing his emotions a bit. “Sir.”
“He’s right LT, I can’t see a foot in front of me. The rain is too thick.” Avery added.
“Just double check the calculations. We may not be able to see, but we should be fine once we hit soil.” Jack replied, resting either knowing they would land in one piece.
“Yes sir.” Avery replied, tuning to review his calculations of the colony’s beacon.
“What are you talking about? Didn’t you guys verify working equipment?” Bailey asked.
“Yes… of course. They were coming in loud and clear.” Chandra replied.
“How can that be? Their com system dropped just like that? And you are still picking up their beacon?”
“Yes sir. It’s coming in crystal clear. Looks like they are planning to drop within feet of the colony’s beacon.” she replied, turning to verify her statement once more using a set of blue-screened computers.
“Alright,” Bailey said, looking through the hardened glass which lay out in front of the pilot’s chair, exposing a swirled-blue planet below them. “Just keep your ears glued to the com. Lieutenant Strong knows how to take care of himself. We’ll wait it out, for now.”
“Yes sir.”
“Alright men, listen up.” Jack said, their chopper having finally touched down on the drenched soil of Tanilia Moon.
“You’ll have to speak up, we can’t hear you over this fucking rain that we’re about to march in.” Bronson said loudly.
“Yea, I hear you,” Jack replied with a bit of a grin. “We’re all going to get a bit wet, it’s why we make the big bucks,” he added, bringing a chuckle throughout the group. “Bronson, you take Twiggy and Avery, head straight for the beacon to have a look see. We’ll prep the chopper for an emergency lift, just in case, then we’ll catch up to you.”
“You got it boss.” Bronson replied, relishing in the role of calling the shots. Even if it was temporarily, and two a group of merely three.
“Renaldo, you get on the com and try to touch base with our people in orbit one more time. Wesley and I will reset the systems for takeoff.”
“Yes sir,” Renaldo said. “But I’m not sure it will do a lot of good in this atmosphere.”
“It won’t,” Bronson commented, the reinforced rear hatch of their chopper opening slowly to expose the thickest rain any of them had ever seen. “But fuck it.”
Two tears in a bucket. Jack thought, nodding to the three men who were departing into a mess of falling water.
Two tears in a bucket. A saying that had stuck with the man since the first Sky War. It had been coined by his XO, Lieutenant Masterson, and had carried them through some of the toughest of times. Times when friends were falling around him to their deaths, almost as quickly as the rain fell on this very day.
Whenever his unit had been up against it during that first war, his XO had pushed them through it with the same phrase.
Nobody knew what it actually meant, and most questioned if Lieutenant Masterson himself actually knew. Still, the catchy words strung together was often times enough, and had forever been etched into the mind of Jack Strong.
Sealing the hatch once more, Jack turned to the remainder of his group. Renaldo and Wesley.
“Nothing doing sir.” Renaldo said, still unable to gain a clear link with their ship in orbit.
“Alright,” Jack replied with a nod. “Record a message to let them know we were unable to make contact because of the rain, then put it on loop. That way, if we get hung up for some reason, they won’t come in here guns blazing,” he added, turning to watch the rainfall hammer down through the shatterproof windshield of their chopper. “Cause it’s looking pretty damn calm to me.”
“You got it boss.” Renaldo replied.
“Wesley, grab the must have supplies. A few rations, a bit of extra ammunition,” he said, turning back to Renaldo. “And you may want to fetch a thermal scope so we can see in this shit.”
“Already got one attached.” the proud sniper commented with a smile.