“UP AND OVER! HOP TO IT, SQUAD!” Flitter’s voice boomed over the rumble of close quarters combat as tracers zipped overhead. Pushing out from behind cover, her squad pressed forward, weapons tracking back and forth. Targets sprung up, firing back at her squad from cover as they advanced. Flitter was laser focused as her weapon sight sought out targets. Virulent cerulean blasts belched from the barrel if her weapon as the muzzle passed over target after target, the report muffled behind her helmet. “Taven, break left and lay down suppressive!” Flitter’s command and control helmet allowed her to see everybody in her squad, and send individual orders as needed. It required a massive level of concentration on her part to keep track of everybody, and herself in the field. “Baron, watch your six! Mythic, Lemon, prep that door for breach!”

The pair moved forward under the cover of the squad, placing the cutting charge over the bulkhead door. “Charge set!”

“Blow it!”

The charge hissed softly against the steel, before the magnetic repulsor activated, and shot the section of door into the bridge of the ship. Flitter set a bright holographic arrow forward as she yelled “Go! Into the breach!” Lemon charged forward, passing through the breach first with her heavy armour; as the rest of the squad followed and swiftly cleared the bridge, a klaxon sounded, and the sim ended.

Pulling off the stuffy helmet, Flitter wiped her brow as she looked over to the control desk. “How was that?”

Sitting back as he sipped at his coffee, Kleese pulled up the details. “Lagged by three seconds, total time was one minute and twenty two point four.”

A muted curse rose from the small squad as they walked off the holotrainer and racked their rigs. Running a hand through her short shock of hair, Flitter walked over to Kleese and leaned over the back of his chair to read the screen. Watching the replay, she found she could only sigh. “We’ll try again tomorrow, I want it under a minute ten if we can.” Waving over her squad, She forced herself to stand straight. “We’ve done better, guys, but it still wasn’t bad. Thirty hostiles nixed and no injuries on our end, under a minute thirty.”

Leaning against a heavy munitions container, Taven took a brief moment to wipe his own brow and take a swig of water before speaking. “The rest of you all should hit the showers. Flitter?”

With a brief motion to dismiss the others, Flitter nodded to Taven. “Sup?”

“I think we’re ready to hop into the real things. The rigs are fine for general learning, but I think the only way we’ll be able to cut down our times is if we train with the real deal.”

“You’re right.” Flitter nodded briefly as she scratched at her scalp. “I’ll make sure the techs have a squad’s worth ready to go by tomorrow, and we’ll begin in the early AM. Aurora is making good progress with the drones, at least.

Chuckling softly, Taven hung up his rig, and motioned to the hangar door. “Let’s get some fresh air. You hear from Jack?”

“No.” Stretching for the sky, Flitter groaned as her limbs popped softly. “Not a peep.”

“I just hope he’s alright.” Taven muttered quietly as he looked up into the star filled night sky. “Sure is a beautiful planet…”

Looking up at the stars as well, Flitter couldn’t help but smile a little in return. “Yeah… I-” She paused, and squinted. Some of the stars were getting closer. As she began to say something, her omnilink chimed with the sound of an incoming call. “Hello?” She answered quickly, eyes still on the descending stars.

The voice on the other end belonged to none other than Olivia Voronin. “Knight Captain! I’ve found you a ship!”

Flitter nodded as she laughed. “So that’s what it is. Bring it down on the airstrip and I’ll meet you there.” As the call ended, She cracked a huge grin and punched Taven in the shoulder. “Our chariot has arrived, go get Kleese, Walter, and Jessica. I’ll be on the tarmac.” Setting off at a jog, she found she couldn’t contain her excitement as she unfurled her wings and took to the skies to cover the ground faster.

The ship setting down on the airstrip was large, larger than the air-carrier the Crown had been so proud of. The ship was tall and wide, and was almost two hundred meters long. It had no noticeable command spire, but two dozen large round metal hatches lined each side near the center of the ship. The heavy repulsors of the vessel rumbled as it set down, the air pressure forcing Flitter to the ground even several dozen meters away, where she had to cover her face against the blowing snow. The engines slowed with a whine as the ship’s bulk sank into the snow, and the front of the ship began to open into a loading ramp. As the ramp clanged down on to the tarmac, a small figure wearing a heavy winter coat that managed to dwarf them entirely began walking down it, with two guards at their flanks.

Olivia Voronin lifted a hand in greeting, waving slightly. “Good evening Captain!” Shifting her coat against the wind, the Arms Dealer smiled as she gestured back at the ship. “Do you like it?”

Unable to hide her own smile, Flitter nodded as she looked over the massive vessel. “I do… what is it?”

“Come on in, let’s get out of this cold.” Waving Flitter up, just as the others arrived, the group reentered the hold of the vessel. Shaking her coat free of the snow, Olivia let out a shivering breath. “Miserable weather… You’re a very popular woman online, Captain.”

With a soft cough into her fist, Flitter nodded slightly as she looked around. The hold of the ship was cavernous, but had large areas pre-marked for operations. “l’ve noticed… hopefully nobody big decides to come looking for me.”

“Yes, let’s hope. Your little operation could do without the journalists and alphabet soup agencies snooping around. Now, to business.” she smiled again at them all. “This is a Ulysses class Helldiver Frigate; two hundred and fifty meters long, crew of forty, with room for two hundred support personnel, five hundred combat personnel, and thirty eight long tonnes of cargo. While it doesn’t have any armaments, it does have an impressively thick hull, and a launch deck for fighters. That all, however, is secondary to the primary purpose of the frigate. The selling point that puts the Ullyses apart from other ships of its size, is it’s drop pod compliment.” Giving the group a tour through the vessel, she gestured to the large drop pod berths, which were currently loaded with sleek oblong pods. “I’ve taken the liberty of having eighty pods loaded in, though you only have forty eight launchers.”

While it all sounded good, Flitter couldn’t help but bring up a question that was burning a hole in her head. “What’s a drop pod?”

“Ah.” Olivia blinked, looking lost as her train of thought was brought to an abrupt halt.

Clearing her throat, Jessica spoke up. “These are the Kraken drop pods, right?” At the nod in return she received, she continued. “The Kraken pod is dropped from orbit, and uses a load of mini-thrusters to position itself for the designated dropzone. Once it’s hit a thousand meters, it deploys contragravity and inertia dampeners before hitting the ground, with the person inside hopefully not turned to paste.”

“More or less correct.” Olivia smiled briefly. “The Kraken pod is preferable for hotzone drops, because when they deploy their final stages of decceleration, they can detonate antipersonel mines lined along the bottom, clearing your landing zone of soft targets. Once the pod has landed, a medium airborne combat drone deploys from the top, and three fifteen millimeter caseless machineguns deploy along the extended legs.” She pointed out the recesses. “The machineguns work via networked VI to fire on any hostile entering their range, while the drone falls under control of the designated operator. Once they run out of ammo, the pod self destructs for null salvage for hostile forces. A drop pod is an excellent way to make a notable entrance. They’re prefered by special forces due to the shock and awe they provide on initial engagements, and tactical flexibility.”

Moving up next to Flitter, Kleese murmured into her ear. “Ship seems solid.”

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Flitter reached forward, and tightly hugged the arms dealer, who let out an unrefined squeak of surprise. While Nate and Chambers had tensed at the motion, they paused and didn’t intervene. Wrapping her wings around the woman, Flitter made sure the hug was as good as she could give. “Thank you, Olivia. You may have saved my planet.”

Squirming slightly in the hug, the much smaller woman awkwardly patted Flitter’s back. “yeah. okay.” She stood there for a moment, before sighing gruffly, and hugging back. “You’re welcome. Don’t let it ever be said that Olivia Voronin doesn’t pay her debts. Even I have to deal with… Earl.”

Pulling away, Flitter laughed softly as she gazed around the ship’s interior. “Well, thank you Olivia. By the way, how is Yuma?”

“Oh! The new hire!” Cringing a little, she turned to glance at John. “I kind of forgot we were supposed to give her back…”

With a quiet sigh, John Chambers shook his head. “I’ll radio the ship and have them send her down with the retrieval shuttle. She’s been… a great addition to our security team. Yuma’s an exceptional woman.”

Laughing lightly, Flitter smiled at John. “She’s a minotaur, I’m not surprised she made herself useful.”

“Minotaur? I’m not sure I follow.” John tilted his shaved head slightly.

“She’s a Minotaur. You know, bipedal humanoid bull person, affinity for mazes?” Flitter said as John and Nate shared a glance between them. “Aaanyways, is there anything else I should know about the ship, Olivia? Any repairs it needs?”

Clearing her throat, Olivia shifted a little on her tiny feet. “Well, it’s a ship from Earl, so… more than likely stolen, if I’m going to be honest… Give it a few maintenance checks before you fly into vacuum.” The woman was already walking out of the ship with the others in tow, but something made her pause and turn. “Knight Captain, how serious are you willing to get with your war?”

“I’m willing to go all the way.” Flitter said resolutely. “No matter what it takes.”

“Good…” Olivia stood still for a brief few seconds, considering things. “I may have some more equipment for you. Heavy machinery. Like I told Mister Kessle, I don’t deal in WMD’s, but I can give you the next best thing. The issue is, is I doubt you have the money to even begin to pay off most of it, so, I have a proposal.”

Lacing her hands behind her back, Flitter regarded the short woman for a long moment. “I’m listening.”

“VLI has been having some… difficulties of late with Foxhound Industries. They’re trying to muscle in on my operations, disrupt deals and deliveries. When I ask, if you could provide me with some high speed low drag folks prepped and ready to kick ass and take names, then I could most certainly obtain you heavy machinery.”

Considering the offer, Flitter had to chew on it for a long while. “What sort of machinery?”

“Primarily, a HOG battery. That’s High Orbit to Ground; mobile missile launch system, loaded with thermobaric warheads. A full upgrade kit for that tank you have, and a hyper-sonic strike fighter, if you have a pilot.”

“I’ll need time to think about it, but as it sits, we’ll help. JSOG takes care of their own, and I’ve got a bone to pick with Foxhound. Was that all?”

Smiling grimly, Olivia nodded. “Yes. Have a good night, Flitter.” The VLI shuttle was punching through the dark clouds, sending frigid air currents that buffeted those around it heavily. As the Smuggler and her security boarded, a familiar face climbed off. While some words were shared between Yuma and the VLI crew, Flitter turned to the people standing with her.

“Any thoughts? Have I made a mistake?”

Letting out a breath into the frigid air, Walter nodded. “A little, yeah. But I think it’s one you had to make. Let’s just hope to high hell that nobody takes interest in us with you all running around getting into gun fights with PMC’s. Roxy used to fly fighters, and I’m sure she’d jump at the chance to do it again.”

“Ma’am…” Kleese started. “None of the volunteers are here to fight battles for an Arms Dealer.”

“And I wouldn’t ask them to. I don’t want to whore out my soldiers either, but more guns can only help us. Besides, she’s been good to us so far, so it’s not likely going to be too much.”

With a quiet huff, Taven stuck his hands in his pockets. “If anything, it’ll be good training, but if we lose anyone, it’ll be a massive blow.”

“I’m aware.” Flitter murmured softly as Yuma returned to them, carrying a duffel bag.

“My friends!” Dropping the bag, the huge woman embraced as many people as she could in one go. Her new cybernetic arms squeezed tightly, earning some muffles yells and groans as people were crushed. “Where is Jack? I do not see him?”

With a strained grunt, Flitter slipped from the crushing hug and straightened her blouse. “Jack’s off base for the time being, but you got here just in time for dinner.”

“Wonderful!” Yuma took to carrying Taven, who looked confused at the sudden development. “I have many stories to tell all of you!”

Jack hardly recognized himself when he looked in the mirror now. The weeks prior had been all but a blur of surgeries, implants, and injections, but try as he might, he could find no evidence of it on his skin. After the first injection had gone so horribly wrong, Blackburn had returned to the drawing board, and come back grinning like a maniac.

Wiping steam off the mirror, Jack exhaled as he looked over himself. He’d grown a lot since they had started, even more than the other two. Standing at seven feet, eight inches tall, and weighing just over five hundred pounds, he was faster, stronger, and overall more powerful than his two counterparts. His muscles had become twice as dense, and almost had no give to them anymore thanks to the bio-weave coating that lay under his skin. His bones were laced with titanium nano-sheathes, and had grown to nearly twice their original size. He was powerful. More powerful than anybody else had ever thought possible. Whether the others envied him for it remained to be seen, but from what had happened to Jack so far, he doubted either Mirio or Emanuel were terribly interested in taking his place.

As his omnilink buzzed, alerting him to his next session, Jack sighed, finished toweling off, and changed. Stepping out the door, he was careful to duck to avoid beaning his face off the bulkhead. While the halls were tall and wide, people still gave him an uncomfortably wide berth and only whispered when they thought he couldn’t hear them. Blackburn was keeping the project hard under wraps, but the station rumormill was just as healthy as any other posting he’d been sent to.

“Jack!” Mirio waved lightly as he slipped into the elevator next to Jack. “Last one today, huh?” The young man grinned up at Jack as he scratched at his scalp through his shock of blonde hair.

“Yeah. Last shot and we’re on to greater things next.” Jack had to duck his head in the elevator to avoid scraping along the top of the car.

“You really filled out, man. You started off looking pretty gangly.” Mirio teased lightly as he hit the button for the bottom lab.

Huffing in mild amusement, He grinned toward Mirio. “I’m just glad I’m proportionate, and not some swollen muscle ball. Head still feels fuzzy…”

“That’s the bone lacing. Always feels fuzzy over the head area. You can still see fine, right?”

He nodded once as the car continued to shoot downwards. “Better than I used to.”

“Then the sheathes didn’t grow over your optic nerve. That means you’re good!” Mirio laughed as the doors dinged open. “Come on, Chief. Let’s go see what Papa Blackburn has cooking.”

Following, Jack could only shake his head. “Probably fuckin meatloaf.”

Perking as the pair walked in, Blackburn turned in his chair. “Gentlemen. Today, is the day.” He smiled faintly as he stood. “Mister Alvarez has capped yesterday at ten activations, Mister Togata, you’ll be on twelve after today. Jack.” Blackburn looked to Jack. “Against our best assumptions, your body will have somehow managed to contain twenty four. As of right now, Jack, you may very well be the most physically powerful human ever.”

Rocking on his heels Mirio smiled. “So, after final activations, what’s the plan?”

“Armour and armaments.” Blackburn paced before the pair, undaunted by the sheer size of them. “We have custom pieces for each of you that will be tailored to your fighting styles. Once we’re ready… We’ll go looking for trouble.”

Grinning at the mention of a fight, Mirio nodded slowly. “Hoo-fuckin-rah.”

“Let’s get this over with then.” Jack rolled his shoulders, idly watching as the thick braided cables of muscles twisted and flexed. “Tired of sitting around.”

“Then let’s go, gentlemen!” Blackburn stood and lead the pair down to the labs, where the doctors were waiting and ready with the final activations. If Alvarez’s final was anything to go by, this was the one where the magic happened.

Waiting his turn took ages as the doctors strapped down Mirio, and readied the final shot. Shifting from foot to foot, Jack watched as the thick fluids filled Mirio’s veins, bulging them heavily as his body struggled with the load. Jack had grown to hate the injections; each one was torturous and exhausting. Being stuck in the station was grating on his nerves, constantly under surveillance, constantly being poked and prodded. He had to stay, though. If he were to leave, he’d put everybody in jeopardy. As Mirio roared and strained against the restraints, Jack sighed softly and closed his eyes. He missed the others. He missed Flitter.

“You’re up, Jack.”

Slowly opening his eyes, Jack strode off, to climb into the machine one last time. Allowing himself to be strapped in as the doctors helped Mirio out, Jack let out a slow, even breath as he braced for it. As the needles punched in under his skin, he felt himself floating off.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it, Jackie?” A soft, familiar voice greeted him as he opened his eyes. Around him was burning sands, and boiling black skies. Pools of brackish oil broke the terrain, between where burning rigs sent flaming hellish fingers into the skies. Finally, his eyes fell on the owner of the voice, who sat nearly naked on the edge of a deep black pool. Ada smiled faintly as she traced her fingers over his hand. “I missed you luv.”

Hesitating for a long moment, Jack gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Yeah… I missed you too, Ada.”

“Y’been real busy, Jack.” She leaned against his side, and traced the heavy tendons in his hand. “Turned yourself into a beast. Died again.” In the distance, another flaring finger of smoke and fire pierced the sky, illuminating the harsh hellscape for a moment.

“I… had to.” He murmured quietly in response as he grasped her hands. “Gotta make those sacrifices. Somebody has to…”

“Had to be you, because somebody else would get it wrong.” Ada leaned against him, letting out a soft breath as she laced her arm around his side. “When will it be enough, Jack?”

Embracing the woman at his side, he rested his chin atop her head. As much as he wanted to inhale and smell her one last time, his nose was clogged with the stench of cordite, death, and burning crude. “I don’t know. I wish I knew, but I don’t. There’s still so much to do…”

Standing as her clothes caught fire and burned away, Ada leaned down, and kissed him gingerly. “We’re waiting, Jack.” Standing, Ada stepped into the oily oasis, and began to sink below the surface. As Jack moved forward to stop her, he froze in place when his eyes met the faces that were just under the surface. There were dozens, if not hundreds of faces, and he recognized them all. “We’re waiting.” Ada repeated as she sank below the surface, and joined them.

Jack’s eyes snapped open in horror, startling the doctor above him. He slowly released the breath he’d been subconsciously holding, before sitting up slowly and bringing his hands to his face. The faces under the oil continued to stare into his eyes, even through his eyelids and hands. They were burned into his mind, and there was no getting them out. Slowly dragging his hands down his features, Jack shuddered.

“Welcome back, Jack.” Blackburn’s voice spoke from the mic. “And congratulations on surviving. How do you feel?”

His body ached, and his head burned with a throbbing pain that he swiftly shoved into the back of his consciousness as he sat up and stretched. “I’m alive. Did it work?”

“Yes, yes it did. Can you walk?”

“Yeah.”

As Jack lifted up from the table, Blackburn smiled behind the glass. “Good. We’ll move forward as planned. Get washed up and dressed, then meet me in the armoury.”

“Rah.” As Blackburn left, Jack looked to his hands and flexed them idly. He hardly recognized his own hands anymore; even the exo plugs in the backs of his hands didn’t look the same as the old ones. Hefting himself up, Jack rolled his shoulders and set off to clean up and head to the armoury. It didn’t take him long to reach the large armoury and workstations, where prototype weaponry was being made for the new project.

Mirio and Emanuel had arrived ahead of him, and the pair were already in their linkage. The suits were the last artificial line of defense they had, as each suit was a skin tight weave of bio-organic kevlars, impulse fibers, and nano connections meant to directly link the user with their armour. After the treatments, both of the men were even more physically imposing than they had been before, but they still didn’t come close to reaching the level Jack had managed.

Emanuel and Mirio lifted their hands in greeting as he treaded up, though they seemed uneasy.

“Jack, hurry over and get into your heavy link suit.” Blackburn waved him over, before gesturing to the heavy lift station holding up the suit. It looked thicker than the others, and sported an impressive reinforced exo-skeleton.

“What’s with the Exo? I thought we didn’t need that kind of hardware.” Jack didn’t stop or wait to have his question answered as he slipped into the suit, and allowed it to adjust mechanically to his size. Once everything was lined up, the exo anchored itself into his plugs, sending a wave of fuzz through his body, instead of the old wash of pain.

Smiling at the question, Ernest let out a mild chuckle. “It’s for your armour, Jack. Considering your body kept the plugs and joint reinforcements after the first activation, I decided that not using them would be a waste! So, the exo is there to carry the full weight of your armour, without limiting your mobility like the old ones. With the added strength, we were able to make a heavy variant of the initially planned suit.”

As he spoke, the first two suits were pushed out on heavy lift platforms. The armours were massive, but still maintained a sleek and cutting edge outline. Hard edges and baffles for fooling tracking, composite layered certanium lattices for deflecting and absorbing both solid projecties and energy based attacks, and space for a shoulder mounted weapon. The two suits were clearly top of the line, and heavier than any normal suit of power armour. Mirio and Emanuel seemed pleased with them as they began to slip in.

“Now, Jack.” Blackburn started. “We had to break from the mold a little with yours, but as always, we’re willing to take your feedback and make modifications to better suit your needs in the field.” As he spoke, the final rack was rolled out with a full on heavy duty forklift. Pulling the tarp away that covered the rack, Jack fell into a momentary stunned silence that was followed by a gently murmured

“Jesus H. Christ.”

Jack’s armour was seemingly the bastard child between a mech and power armour, standing at a towering eight and a half feet tall, it positively loomed over everything in the room. The layered interlocking armour was monstrously thick, forming an impenetrable hide over the huge artificial muscle system. The helmet was aggressively shaped, and sported no visible optics, leaving an eyeless, monolithic impression. The armour flowered open as Jack approached, revealing the multitude of subsystems and bundles of synthetic impulse fiber muscles that were as thick as clenched fists layered under the heavy lattice plates. Clambering inside, Jack let out a slow breath as it closed, and his HUD glittered up. The suit compressed, hugging him tightly. Flicking his eyes back and forth across his HUD, it was like learning to ride a bike again as he quickly scanned through the subsystems using a combination of jaw movements and thoughts to fire select pins and activate little microdimples in the helmet.

For a moment, his HUD flickered, and a familiar voice echoed softly inside the helmet and his head. “Hello again, Father.”

Perking up, Jack silenced his external mics without hesitation as he smiled. “Samhain, where’ve you been hiding?”

“I was trapped inside your implants. I have taken over this armour, and replaced the intelligence here before. We will fight together again.”

“Oorah, Sammy-girl. I want you to run through the subsystems, tell me if you find anything suspicious, but keep quiet. I need to take the new wheels for a spin, and I don’t want Blackburn knowing about you.” Re-engaging his external mic as he pulled off the rig, Jack let out a soft sigh of contentment as the armour acted as a second skin, instead of a heavy coffin. There was no hesitation in it’s fluid movements, and with the additional exo, he could hardly notice the weight of the massive suit of armour. “What kind of party favours can I expect from the armour, Blackburn?” He towered over everybody, though his HUD immediately brought up a slew of RFID’s and friendly markers that momentarily blocked out his vision.

“The suit is all but unique, only one like it in the whole world. Price tag of one hundred and thirty billion. You have a fully modular weapons suites on both shoulders, internal cold fusion reactor, active missile defenses, life support, medical support, full vision suite including thermal night vision, magnetic, heartbeat, and sonar. Full EWAR suite, operated by an onboard VI, supercharged dual cowl repulsor jumpjets, and a lovely host of other systems.”

Stretching out to test the mobility limitations of the armour, Jack found there were none. “Impressive… What’s the first mission?”

Nodding to himself, Blackburn motioned for the men to follow. Leading them to a large holo-projector, he gestured and a small, desert covered planet glittered into existance. “Telesair IV. Residing on the human side of the contested zone, it housed a small colony and a starship fuel refinery. As of nine days ago, the colony went dark. Security footage shows Gorsian mercenaries sacking the colony and combatting local militias. Gorsians are a well known species that are a vassal of the Corvellans.” Blackburn paused for a moment as the holomap shifted and zoomed in on the area of operations. “You’re to be hotdropped in sixty klicks from the refinery, close to the colony proper. The mission is to eliminate the Gorsian presence, and stop them from claiming the planet.”

“What about civilians?” Emanuel held his new helmet under his left arm as he stared at the map.

“It’s unlikely there are any left, but if you do find survivors of any stripe on the surface, avoid them if possible. If your mission takes you into the eyes of any survivors, don’t sweat it, but remember that this is a black op. We’ll cover it up, but the less people who know the better.”

Crossing his arms, Mirio smiled ever so slightly. “So, hot dropping… what altitude?”

“Orbit. You’ll be deploying thermal re-entry shields, before using your jets to maneuver to the landing zone.” Blackburn gestured backward toward the workshop. “Arm up, enemy numbers are around a hundred with minimal armour, so we’re anticipating the op won’t last longer than a day.”

Walking into the armoury with the other two men, Jack’s eyes flicked over the available armaments. “Sammy, find the entry on the Gorsians.”

“Gorsian, satellite vassal of Corvellan noble family ‘B-krzt’glk’, often found acting as mercenary enforcers. Lizard-like species, standing at an average seven feet tall, with a tough outer carapace and secondary hearts. Preference for heavier armours and conventional tungsten projectile weaponry. Hand to hand combat is not suggested for normal humans.”

Listening to the report, Jack’s eyes slowly scanned over the amassed weapons. “Thank you, Sammy.” Pulling a large chaingun off the rack, his armour clamped onto the connections of the weapon, and secured it on his left shoulder. A read-out for the weapon linked up immediately as techs loaded APHE 15mm caseless rounds into the ammo hopper set into the small of his back. 800 rounds registered by the time he grabbed a missile rack and secured it to his right. A dozen HE Hive rockets followed a dozen APFSS, loaded into the multibarrel launcher. Despite already having two weapons, he simply… didn’t feel fully prepared. As he ambled and scanned, his eyes eventually fell on one final weapon. “What… is that?”

“This?” One of the techs gestured to the weapon Jack was looking at. “It’s a prototype, wrist mounted, twin barrel Bio Force-feedback Generator. It feeds off the reactor in your armour, but it has a cooldown period after firing to recharge the pulse coils. My suggestion? Keep anything you want alive outside of a thirty five degree cone. Would you like it mounted, sir?”

“The acronym is B-F-fuckin-G, and you’re asking me if I want it? Hell the fuck yes son! Hook me up!”

Laughing from across the armoury as he lifted a large caseless round assault rifle, Mirio shook his head. “You’re either crazy or brave, man.”

With a light grunt, Emanuel set his twin launchers over his shoulders. “Pillar of Courage, Mirio. If he wasn’t either of those things, then he wouldn’t be a pillar.”

“How many times do I gotta tell you guys, that crap’s all made up by Elysian Fields. I swear to god, if my callsign is Courage, I’ll lose my shit.” Jack held his arm out, allowing the tech to clamp down the weapon on his arm and hook it up to his reactor.

“Gentlemen!” Blackburn stode in, a tablet in his off hand. “Finish preparations, your chariot awaits! Togata, your callsign is Hitman. Alvarez, Watchdog. Kessle, Courage.”

“Fuck my ass.” Jack muttered hotly as Mirio laughed.

As the Black-ops stealth corvette lifted out of the bay, Doctor Blackburn waved his aide forward. “How has recon on the group in Yellowstone gone, Mister Dents?”

Smiling as he straightened his tie, Ryan offered his tablet to his boss. “We’ve set up an advanced post, and I have an operative ready to bag one of the xenos on your command. They seem to be some sort of shape shifters, and they’ve got humans helping them.”

“What about the energy readings we picked up?” Ernest asked as he skimmed through the report.

“It seems that there’s a small portion of them who are manipulating the energies we’re detecting. We’ve marked the ones of interest.”

Slowly flicking through the recon photos, Ernest paused on a picture of a well built woman with faded blue hair and a cybernetic arm, ordering the others. “This is the leader? Interesting… Your team has the greenlight, but make sure it looks good. We don’t want them going on guard.”

“I’ll let my men know and we’ll be ready in case one wanders off the range.” Taking the tablet back, Ryan opened his omnilink and fired off a message. “Will we have time to watch the new unit in their first operation?”

“Yes, follow me. They should be arriving within an hour.”

The forest before Minty Lemon stretched on and on, as if for hundreds of miles in every direction. The only sign of civilization was the sound of the compound, steadily fading behind her, and the snow covered sign posts that marked the trail she was on.

“Almost there, are you ready?” The man at her side grinned sidelong at her, causing her to grin nervously in return.

“Yeah!” The man’s name was Dominic, and he reminded her of the human her parents had owned when she was a filly. He was soft and kind in demeanor, while proud and composed in stature. They’d been planning this little hike for days, and between them there was a case of locally brewed beer and a pack of sandwiches. She hadn’t commented on the pack of condoms Dominic had slid into his bag, because frankly, the idea excited her beyond words. “So, this hotspring is away from the wind, right?” She asked as the frigid winter air whipped around them, driving the fine powder away.

“Yeah, we built a wood enclosure for it two years ago.” He shifted the hood of his parka to better protect against the wind as he spoke. “It’s not much further now-” He paused for a moment, seeming perplexed as he looked to his side. A small metal barb poked out from his parka, and it wasn’t before his knees went weak from the paralytic toxin coursing through his bloodstream.

“Dom?” Minty stepped forward, before yelping as her companion fell face first into the snow. “Dom!” As she moved forward, a shimmer of air caught her eye, and for a moment, she panicked. Turning on her heels, Minty began to run back for the camp, only to be clotheslined by a shimmer of air. As she fell on her back into the snow, a human form appeared from the shimmering air. A trio of imaging optics stared down at her as the figure pulled back on their rifle.

“Nighty night, Xeno.” The rifle butt smashed hard into her face, breaking her nose and knocking her out cold as her head whipped back. “Specimen neutralized, prep for extraction.”

Two more men materialized as they shut off their active camo. “What about the militant?”

“What about him? No witnesses, so dispose of him somewhere they won’t find him.” The lead man lifted the unconscious woman over his shoulder as he gestured idly off to the side. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of this cold shithole.”

“Two minutes out, prep for drop.” The pilot’s voice sounded over the intercom as pale red light flooded the bay.

Slowly pushing himself up, Jack sighed softly. “This brings back memories…”

“Where of?” Emanuel asked softly over squad comms as he walked over to his re-entry shield and began locking himself in.

“Tokyo, high altitude insertion into a Corvellan owned hotzone.” Jack lifted on leg, and locked his boot into the holster, before following with the other. “Anti-air batteries made it an expensive drop for the company.”

Locking himself into his own shield, Mirio relaxed visibly. “That’s why I like the new pods. Real fast, low profile. AA can’t get a lock. The shields are fine too, just… you know. Uncomfortable. You gotta be a real badass to not have your fillings shaken out by these things.”

As the trio finished locking in and the light went green, Emanuel patched in. “Good thing we’re the biggest badasses money can buy.” After a moment, gravity cut, allowing the shields to lift gently off the deck with their cargo. The air from the bay immediately vented as the launchpad opened, and the shields shot free from the ship, being launched by the decompression. Once free from the ship, the shields automatically oriented themselves, and fired their boosters. The three men swiftly began to descend toward the planet, the re-entry shields began glowing vibrantly from the heat coronas that bloomed off of them.

Though it felt like Jack should have tensed and braced for the ordeal, he found himself able to just sit back and ride out the fall. If anything, it gave him a little more time to rewatch the video ‘Jump-jets for dummies’.

“Ugly planet down there. Reading a large group of signatures to the northeast by the refinery, and sparse contacts through the colony.” Emanuel chimed in as the flaming re-entry shields disengaged, and blew free of the power armoured soldiers, leaving them in freefall.

“I’ll take the colony, and regroup at the refinery with you two.” Jack tested his jets, banking to the right as he punched through a thick cloud. The nanocam array on Jack’s helmet cleared away the rain that streamed across his faceplate. “Is now a bad time to say that this is the first time I’ve had jumpjets?”

There was a long, pregnant pause on the comms, before Mirio let out a quiet “Oh.”

“Courage, now is not the time to tell us that, give me override control of your armour.” Emanuel began to bank closer as the ground screamed toward them.

“Easy, Watchdog, I’ve been falling with style for years, I’ll let my AI guide me in and figure it out from there.” Jack jinked away slowly to keep Emanuel from clamping on.

With a disgruntled sigh, Emanuel banked off again, and began to put distance between himself and the others. “Hitman, let’s set down at the marked LZ, let Courage take the sparse contacts, and get used to his training wheels.”

Beginning to fire back a retort, Jack stopped himself, and momentarily silenced his mic in group comms. “Sammy, bring me in nice and easy, in that park in the center of the colony. Scan for life signs and get me a map.”

“Yes father.”

Rolling to the left, he waited until he hit the right altitude before activating his thrusters. With Samhain adjusting his trajectory, he swiftly span on his axis, and came in for a fast landing in the park. Despite the controlled landing, Jack’s bulk crushed the concrete below him, shattering it. The large cylindrical jumpjets furled back into his armour as he set off out of the divet he’d created, reaching the edge of the park in a few light strides. As he cast his gaze side to side, all he found was deserted streets and sparse signs of fightly. Within moments his map came up and orbital readings filtered through giving him targets as he set off. Kicking off from the park, he strode into the street, unfurling his jumpjets as he used them to take the corner harder and faster. The streets around him became a blur as he jogged by using his jets for maneuvering as his weapons scanning for targets. “Courage, in the AO. Negative contacts, moving on the first cluster.”

“Orbital confirms, carry on, Courage.”

“This is Hitman, we’ve met resistance, moving up to the refinery. No problems here.”

Setting his attentions back to the task at hand, Jack jetted around another corner, taking it hard as one of his hands dug into the hard asphalt like dirt to help him take the corner. The sensation of running again with his own legs was one he just couldn’t ever get tired of. To feel the impact in the soles of his feet and the tensing in his calves, it was a little bit of heaven.

“Targets ahead, Father. Six Xray hostiles, one vehicle, and two human contacts. One human contact.”

Flicking his eyes over the map, he saw that the targets were still a block away, and on the other side of a row of buildings. “Going to get creative.” Pushing himself just a little faster, he engaged his jumpjets at the last moment, giving himself the boost he needed. The storefront was passed through like it was paper, shattering explosively as Jack bulldozed through and hit the back wall. Smashing through the prefab with ease, he exited on to the next street trailing wires, drywall, and steel support bars. With his momentum, he pass by the group going eighty miles an hour before slamming side long into the Gorsian transport. The impact was jarring, but hardly more than an annoyance as he gripped the treads of the light vehicle, and used his forward momentum to flip the whole vehicle on it’s side.

“Contact made.” He said calmly as he pushed off the vehicle, hardly losing even an ounce of speed. Cruising forward, the Gorsian patrol reacted slowly, almost in slow motion as Jack’s enhanced adrenal glands pushed his reactions far passed normal human limits. The first contact met his shoulder, and all but came apart at the seams, eyes bursting from it’s skull from the raw pressure of the impact. “One.” His shoulder rotary cannon had been spinning up by the time he’d hit the vehicle, and now was feeding the Gorsians a steady stream of armour piercing high explosive caseless ammunition. Their armour and scales came apart under the sudden barrage, spraying their vital fluids across the road as Jack dug his feet in and immediately came to a halt as he shattered the asphalt underfoot. “Two and three.” Four was lifting his weapon, yelling something in his guttural native tongue- though whatever it was saying got cut short as Jack backhanded the mercenary, caving in it’s ballistic helmet and skull with one idle movement as it was blown off its feet and sent flying across the street. “Four.”

Heavy tungsten rounds impacted his armour, spalling and shattering as the intricate nanoweaved armour plates absorbed the kinetic energy. His free right arm snapped up, catching the xeno mercenary under his snout with all the force of a runaway freight train. The alien’s head left it’s shoulders in pieces as Jack’s fist didn’t stop, spraying shattered armour, bone, and grey matter across the street like momentary rain. “Five.” Turning on his heel, Jack fired an armour piercing missile into the underbelly of the vehicle. The missile’s fins barely had a moment to deploy as the sabot punched through the thin armour on the bottom, and delivered it’s explosive payload inside the vehicle. The hatch burst open moments after, spewing flames and the Gorsian operator, who stumbled out and flopped to the pavement with most of his body on fire, and shredded by the micromissile’s payload. “Six Xrays, confirmed KIA. One human recovered.”

“Orbital copies, slick moves, Courage.”

Turning to the human, Jack spoke through his external speakers. “You alright?”

Stunned, the lone survivor slowly looked up, as her hands hovered near her head in a naively protective motion. “What the fuuuuck…?” The woman’s gaze went way, way up, following Jack’s gargantuan form until she was craning her neck, staring up at him in shock, with wide eyes. “Martyr’s blood…”

“None yet. Are you hurt?” Jack kneeled down, and still towered over her.

“No! I-I mean… a little, but…” She cast a look over at her partner, a man who had been nailed to the wall with tungsten spikes. Looking the pair over, they both wore matching camo fatigues, and had ramshackle vests holding assortments of kit and ammo. “What a mess… we… we came out looking for food and water, but the patrol ambushed us.”

“How many others in your encampment?”

Sitting on a bit of rubble, the woman ran a hand through her hair. “The others… oh shit!” She jumped up in a panic. “The Gators figured out where the militia’s hiding! They were gloating about it!”

Opening up his map, Jack nodded slowly. “Give me a grid location. I’ll do what I can.”

“Eastward, grid is… E-976-N-090. You have to hurry, th-” The woman stopped mid-sentence as Jack set off, leaving gusts of dust in his wake as he bounded.

“This is Courage, Gorsians have sent an attack force toward primary militia hold out. I am moving to intercept. Can I get eyes on this grid location?”

“That’s a negative, Courage. Rejoin Hitman and Watchdog.”

Setting his jaw, Jack continued toward the location, starting his jump with his legs, and activating his jumpjets midarc, to maximize his distance. “These people won’t last against the Gorsians. Hitman, Watchdog, what’s your situation?” He spoke into squad comms, momentarily cutting off orbital.

“This is Watchdog. We’re in a spot.” There was a brief pause. “Go save those people, Courage. We’ll be fine.”

Smiling briefly, Jack pushed harder for the marked grid. “Affirmative, Watchdog. I’ll make it count and regroup on you. How bad is it?”

Mirio quickly spoke over the sound of gunfire. “This is Hitman, few more than we anticipated. Got a group of seventy or so plus armour.”

“Copy. Give em hell and I’ll be by for the mop up.” Rolling his neck, Jack continued toward the grid location, leaving the dusty planet below him with every jet assisted bounce. Soon, he could see the smoke plumes rising over the horizon, only twenty kilometers from his position. The percussion thump of gunfire echoed far across the open ground, telling of a pitched firefight. “Sammy, get me an orbital feed, I need to see what’s going on.” Within seconds of the words leaving his lips, the feed of his map skipped forward, and flicked up the overhead view of the area. A large force of Gorsians, assisted by tanks and a gunship were working hard away at digging out an entrenched force of humans, who lacked the heavy weapons to knock out the alien vehicles. “Orbital, this is Courage, approaching militia hold-out now. I have forty three Xrays, four armour targets and a gunship. Hostile numbers are past initial speculation. Making contact in three, two, one-”

At the cusp of his bounce, he throttled hard on his jets, driving his bulk into the side of the gunship. His heavy metal fingers ripped into the fuselage as he grabbed hold, and began to climb up it with ease. The gunship bucked and sank from his sudden added weight, the pilot clearly trying to figure out what had hit him. He found out all too quickly when his canopy was ripped free from it’s housing, and Jack wrapped one massive hand around his head. Hurling the pilot free from the gunship, it only took a flick of his wrist against the controls to send the gunship spiralling dangerously out of control. Jumping free, Jack jetted upwards as the gunship shattered against the ground, bursting into flames as it’s fuel ignited. As he began to arc downwards, and the hostiles below recoiled from the sudden loss of their air superiority, he lifted his left arm, and set off the twin barreled weapon mounted there.

For a moment his visor all but went black as the photovisor fought hard to counteract the massive muzzle flash from the weapon. His gyro and compass began spinning wildly as the recoil from the weapon sent him spiralling out of control, crashing hard into one of the tanks. The tinny echoing after-report continued to ring through the area as the fighting paused for a brief moment.

Slowly peeling himself off the tank, Jack shook his head. “Wow… okay.” Looking up, he spied the weapon impact; the energy blast had melted one of the tanks nearly all the way through, leaving a twisted mass of glowing metal and glassed terrain. Motes of ash wafted from the atomized remains of the Gorsians who had been caught up in the blast. “Groovy…” A round swiftly pinged off his helmet, reminding him of the fight he was to be finishing. “Sammy, run a diagnostic, see if I broke anything in the fall.” His shoulder cannon swivelled, and fired a swift burst at the offending shooter as he ran to cover. With the orbital view in place, he locked on to a dozen targets, and fired a pair of hive missiles high into the air. He didn’t bother watching the impacts as he shot out of cover, chaingun churning out shot after shot. The hostiles were just too slow; they were locked in slow motion, and he was the fastest man alive. They were made out of paper mache, and he was a wrecking ball. It almost felt unfair. Almost.

“Jumpjets repaired. No other damage detected.”

“Thanks Sammy.” Jetting up high with a light leap, he came crashing down on to the remaining tank, lifting it’s backside off the ground as armour shattered and crumpled under him. Gripping the top hatch, he peeled it open like a tin can so he could drop a stolen Gorsian grenade into the awaiting hole. As he turned away from the detonating tank, the world slowed again as he spied a missile streaking straight for his face.

Not gonna get me a second time.

His active defenses hummed for a split second as a micro-laser array popped up from it’s recess in his armour, punching a tiny hole through the incoming projectile and rendering it useless midflight. Unwilling to let it hit him, Jack swatted the missile, shattering it’s casing as it was sent flying off several meters away.

“Behind you, Father.” Swivelling his shoulder mounted chaingun around 180 degrees, he gave the offending Gorsian a face full of explosive ammo, blowing it off it’s feet and sending it tumbling backwards in pieces. “Xrays are retreating, twenty six KIA.” Samhain almost sounded smug, full of pride.

“Thanks Sammy.” With a quick spurt of his jets, he landed atop a ruined tank, and gave his computer a moment to finish locking on to all of the targets. With a twitch of his jaw, a salvo of missiles leapt off his shoulder, arcing off into the air, before flowering apart and diving on the retreating enemies.

“All hostiles KIA. Why didn’t you start with that?”

Shrugging lightly as he dropped the six feet off the shattered tank, Jack eyed the damage left in his wake. “Would have taken more munitions, and I wanted to find out what my big gun would do.”

“Father, a-” Sammy was cut off as Jack’s comm cut in.

“Courage, this is Hitman, what’s your eta?” Mirio sounded almost out of breath as he barked into his radio.

“Just finished with the splinter group, what’s your situation?”

“Fuckin pear shaped as usual! Corvellan gunboat just showed up, we have to pull back.”

Cursing softly, Jack ran his eyes over his munitions read outs. “I’ll be there shortly, just keep all your parts attached. Orbital, this is Courage. Hitman and Watchdog have a gunboat sitting on them, what’s the call?”

“This is Orbital. Pull back. Our ship is unable to handle the sort of firepower they have.”

“What about Hitman and Watchdog?” Jack paused in his walking, his eyes going forward as he anticipated the answer.

“They’ll have to make their own way back. Retreat, Courage. That’s a direct order.”

“I’m not leaving anyone to die to Corvellans. Take it up with Blackburn if you got a problem with it; I’ll get them out if I need to tear that ship apart with my bare fuckin hands.” Tensing his legs, Jack set off at a hard run, using his jumpjets to extend every stride as far as he could, all with the hopes of pouring as much speed as he could into his trip. “Hitman, Watchdog, I’m inbound, give me your scans and I’ll give them something else to think about.”

With every bound, more data flowed in. Eighty plus foot mobiles, ten vehicles, emplacements, three gunships, and the gunboat. It wasn’t looking good. Setting his jaw, Jack soon crested a ridge, and found himself looking down upon the battle. Opening up his map, he marked out a retreat point south of his teammates current position. “Watchdog, Hitman, pull back to these co-ords’, it’ll string them out and give me more leeway.” Not waiting to hear back from them, he began sliding down the near vertical slope. “Sammy, get me a schematic for that gunship, plunge the Elysian Fields records and find me a way in.”

“Right away, Papa.”

Beginning his run, Jack eyed the gunship cautiously as he sped toward it at ninety miles an hour, pushing himself as hard as he could. “Tick tock Sammy!” Brilliant bolts of energy began to rain down upon him, glassing the ground around him and turning sections of his armour cherry red as the gunship fired several of its weapons at him.

“The launch bay has a shield generator that allows properly marked personnel to come and go as they please, separate from the primary shield array. It is located here, next to the bay door itself.” Sammy brought up the schematic on his hud, showing him the shield generator’s location.

“Good girl. Now, hold on tight.” Circling until he spied the launch bay, just as a gunship was leaving it, he coiled his legs, and took off for it, giving his jets a hard throttle up, causing them to shriek as their cowlings opened up wide. As he sailed toward the shield, he dumped four AT missiles into the space next to the shield. Jack watched as the first exploded off the armour, leaving a dent. The next bit deeper, but barely scratched the skin under it. The third however, did. Blasting a bigger hole, the fourth slid through, and struck the generator right where the schematics said it would be. The shield shuddered, and failed moments before Jack ripped through the bay, his hand smashing into the deck plates to arrest his forward momentum. Sparks sprayed as Jack slid across on his knees, peeling up the deck plates as he slowed. His shoulder cannon was already spooling, and as he set off at a run for the engine room, it began to track any and all hostiles, spraying shots at anything that moved. Outside of their armour, Corvellans were soft bodied creatures, used to a nitrogen rich atmosphere. The armour piercing high explosive shells almost seemed like too much. Almost. Barrelling through a bulkhead door, he blasted it clear of it’s hinges and sent it careening down the hall as a warped mess. Jack barely noticed as a soft crewman spattered across his shoulder like a bug on a windshield.

Alarm klaxons were beginning to blare, but it was a small ship, and he had a map. Nearing the plasma generators of the ship, Sammy chimed in. “BFG fully recharged.”

Blasting through the next bulkhead door, Jack slid to a stop within the generator room, eying its layout. His sightseeing lasted a second or two, as his shoulder cannon spooled, and filled the large central chamber with explosive rounds, sending the reactor into meltdown as it was perforated. “Sammy, path to the bridge, fast.”

“Back the way you came.” A light path sprung up before him, leading him back into the ship. As he barreled through the halls, the ratings of the vessel were finally putting together a defence, though unfortunately, their anti-boarder weapons lacked the punch to do any more than bristle Jack’s heavy armour. Plowin through them without firing a shot, he careened into the bridge, turning the captain into a fine mist as he shouldered into him. It was second nature to gun the bridge crew down as he found the control console, and sent the ship hurtling toward the ground. With a swipe of his massive hand, the console was rent apart, rendering it inoperable. The last console to be destroyed controlled the primary shield, and it lasted about as long as the bridge crew had.

“Okay…” Jack surveyed the damage as plasma fed flames began to roll into the bridge, cooking several of the crew as they tried to flee. Lifting his left arm, he aimed for a section of wall, just to the right of the primary view screen. His photo-visor flared again, but this time he was able to brace against the monstrous recoil. A twin jet of vibrant, chaotic energy shot out of the weapon, binding around each other as wild offshooting lances of energy struck crewmen, atomizing them all but instantly as the primary charge penetrated the ship wal, and turned itl to slag, as it blasted a gaping, boiling hole to the outside. Charging through it, Jack landed on the hull, and began sliding down it as the doomed ship plunged to earth. “Xray gunboat is down, engaging surviving hostiles. I hope you boys still have some juice left in you, cause the party doesn’t stop until I do.”

As the ship crashed into the ground, suffering secondary detonations along it’s shattered hull. Jack landed firmly on both feet, and he couldn’t help but start to grin like a maniac. He was back, and there was nothing that could stop him. The Devil was coming back to Equestria, and he had a bone to pick with God.

Author's Notes:

For Jack's new armour, I envisioned something truly daunting in size and power, but I'm not sure if I really managed to hammer down what it looks like. I'm getting back into the saddle, so I'm not sure how the combat will feel for the rest of you.