A Wyvern with Blazing Wings (part 1)

Location: HMSV Langford-Harvey
Date: ??-??-2810_E9
Relative Earth Date: ??/??/2303
A slender, young woman sat in the conference room. Her heavy, slightly battle worn, black breacher’s armour glistened in the light emitted from the holo-screen, displaying the Dragon Corps Logo; a black dragon wielding a sword and hammer; in the centre of the table. The rotation of the logo illuminated her barely regulation, shoulder-length, red hair. She sat in the corner of the room; her chin rested on her folded arms positioned on the back of the swivel chair she sat on. Her light blue eyes focussed on the rotating logo until the doors on her right slid open. She knocked her armoured backpack, filled with explosives that sat at her feet, as she recoiled from her eyes rapidly adjusting to the sudden change in light levels.
In the doorway stood a roughly six foot combat medic in pristine white armour, he held his helmet in his right hand, resting it on his hip, under his arm, and his medic’s backpack in his left. His matted, ear length, brown hair swung as he arrogantly strode into the room and sat at the table. He dropped his bag by his feet and placed his helmet on the work surface. He recklessly threw his feet up onto the table, linked his hands behind his head and lent back into his chair. His head turned left and his brown eyes met the woman’s piercing blue gaze, he looked her over and saw Midnight Team’s logo of a white, howling wolf’s head painted on her shoulder plate. He snorted to himself and looked back to his helmet and stared into its silver visor, which would roughly cover the bottom of his nose up to his brow. The woman picked up her black helmet with a gold trim and also stared into its golden visor, only hers covered the top of her nose to her brow, like goggles. The two Earthans now sat uneasily in the room, unsure of each other. The medic coughed and swallowed his pride. He nervously opened his mouth.
“Name’s Apollo.” He blurted as he stared to the woman.
“Tyanna.” She replied, mumbling slightly into her arms
An eight foot, muscular Reggigan man in very battle worn red and black, berserker’s armour appeared in the doorway, his helmet hanging from his left hand. His hair was short, spiked and a bright, almost luminous white. His shoulder plate had a gold, tribal Wyvern head painted on it. He thumped into the room and knocked Apollo, causing him to spin in his chair. Apollo jumped up and the berserker turned to face him.
“Name’s Eridin.” His voice was deep and rough, he held out his hand for a handshake.
Apollo just came up to Eridin’s chest and in slight terror shook Eridin’s hand, whose grip nearly crushed his.
“Apollo…”
Eridin leaned in towards Apollo and in his ear gently whispered:
“Don’t touch my fort, Apollo.”
Eridin pulled back and winked at Apollo, then relinquished his unholy grip on Apollo’s hand, causing him to flex and shake it. Eridin then sat down on the floor crossed legged, his back was perfectly vertical and his shoulders to the top of his head were clearly visible to Tyanna who sat at a direct diagonal from him on the other side of the room.
“So.” His voice was serious and deep.
“What’s your story pretty lady?” He continued.
Tyanna blushed and turned her head away for a moment to allow the blood to leave her cheeks.
“My name’s Tyanna and I’m Midnight’s old breacher, but why a stealth team would need a demo expert I’ll never know. Obsidian, a unit leader complained about me to the administrator so much he made me Wyvern unit’s new XO.” She said her voice slightly sombre.
“God I hate that bitch.” She whispered to herself.
“Ah so you are Captain Areus?” He asked in disillusion.
He turned to look at Apollo who was on a laptop, looking through the Dragon Standard Issue Catalogue, scanning the explosives section.
“Apollo?” He aggressively proclaimed.
Apollo turned to look at Eridin and calmly shut his laptop and hung his head.
“I’m a failed neurosurgeon; I just couldn’t deal with that kind of stress. So I was just a reference MD, until an insurgent attack on my hospital brought out the best in me, apparently I have this natural talent at killing people with rifles and basic explosives.” He said his voice had a tone shame in it but this caused Tyanna to bolt upright and she stared at Apollo with remorseless eyes.
“Then why are you a combat medic?” she questioned.
“It seems the sounds of gunfire and explosions makes me an expert MD and I’m able to fix nearly any combat wound with a basic med kit. So I got fast tracked here as a combat medic.” He continued a bit more inspired than before.
“Ok, so you’re Sargent Ablestar.” Muttered Tyanna.
Apollo and Tyanna looked to Eridin who was playing with a toy VAR Heavy Weapons Platform quadruped and a small Dragonblade class Spaceship. He mocked firing the VAR at the space vessel causing it to crash.
“Oops did I accidentally a war?” He whispered loudly to himself. Shaking the VAR, imitating it speaking.
“Ah not my fort!” He whispered again,
Again Apollo coughed and was the first to attempt to break the silence. Eridin looked up still clutching the toys.
“So Eridin what about you?” Asked Apollo with a slightly shaky unnerved voice.
“I like golf.” Eridin innocently announced, looking back and forth at his new colleagues who returned his gaze with slight confusion.
“No dear what’s your story?” Asked Tyanna, shuffling her chair and backpack towards Apollo.
“Oh sorry, I was a noble on Atlas, before the Giragum came through the sector; soon I was a refugee on Reggiga. I enlisted to the Olympians but was deemed too psychiatrically unstable and was shipped to Hade’s gate, where the administrator found me and brought me into the Dragon Corps, though I wasn’t really a soldier, I did however serve as Cinnamon’s PA.” He grumbled in his deep voice.
“Whoa Cinnamon? As in the Cinnamon? The Berserker Trainer?” Interjected Tyanna in awe.
“Yea, she gave me her old favourite hammer, Dirty Betty and then put me in service on Arcadia with the old Wyvern Unit.” He continued.
“Old unit? What happened?” Interrogated Apollo in fear.
“They took a few too many shots. I got them out and medics saved their lives but they’re no longer… Service worthy.” Eridin said with a sombre voice
“Had to do a monumental toe count that day” He finished with a beaming smile.
Apollo’s eyes seemed empty in contemplation as to what he was getting himself into. Eridin went back to playing with his toys and Tyanna edged towards Apollo.
“Don’t worry, the shields and armour will take most to all of the bullets damage.” She said in a reassuring tone.
She began rooting through her bag and small cling-filmed packs of explosives tumbled onto the floor.
“Unless you’re caught in the blasts of these.” She continued placing parcels of C4, C5 and C6, breaching explosives, Incendiary grenades, HE frag grenades and a mini nuke on the table.
Apollo stared at the pile of volatiles that Tyanna had just dumped onto the table with reckless abandon. His eyes became hollow and distant in fear and worry. Tyanna scooped the explosives back into her bag and nudged his shoulder.
“Good thing this backpack filled with boom sticks is heavily armoured, or we’d have a very serious problem.” She said laughing slightly.
As she did that the doors once more slid open, and the three quarters complete Wyvern Unit adjusted their sitting stances. In the doorway stood another slender young woman only she wore completely red light Infiltrator’s armour. She had her helmet on and the fully facial, black visor became clear, her eyes were green and her hair was white, her gaze instantly met Tyanna’s and their eyes locked together.
Her voice was confident and soft as she asked;
“Is this Aethon Unit’s reunification ceremony?”
Tyanna looked confused, slightly and shook her head her hair slightly shaking as she did.
“No this is the formation of Wyvern Unit.” She replied with a stern yet shaky voice.
The woman standing the doorway dropped her head and shook it gently, her arms hung loosely by her sides. Then she looked back up and stared at Tyanna a bit longer.
“Thanks though, oh name’s Evelyn by the way.” She said flirtingly before leaving the room.
Tyanna looked to the rest of the room, Eridin was looking to her with slight confusion, while still clutching the VAR and Dragonblade with Apollo now staring into his explosives catalogue again, only this time he was perusing through the “Projectiles” section.
“She was, attractive.” Tyanna stated bluntly and boldly.
“Agreed.” said Eridin as Apollo also stated “Not my type.”
The Berserker and the Breacher both looked at their Assault class teammate just as their final member showed up. She stood in the doorway, partially invisible as her brown and green, lightweight, Sniper’s armour phased into view.
“So let me guess, he’s gay, you’re a lesbian and you… are nuts.” She said pointing to Apollo, Tyanna and Eridin respectively.
“Pretty much.” They all chirped in unison.
She shrugged her shoulders and entered the room, her blue, shoulder length hair greatly exceeded regulations and her eyes were a greenish hazel. She sat opposite Apollo and kicked his feet as she threw hers onto the table, he looked over to her and she winked to him, before she sank into the chair and began checking over her armour, it was dirty but almost unscathed my bullets, it indicated to Tyanna she was an excellent sniper, but to Apollo she seemed an unhygienic coward.
“My name’s Kimarah. I’m guessing you’ve been waiting for me.” She asked.
“Just passed?” Asked Tyanna quickly
“One or two missions served.” Kimarah replied
“Excellent you’re all here.” Said a voice in the doorway, a man stood in very scratched, bullet hole riddled, grey Assault armour. He was bald but had a neatly trimmed, ginger goatee sitting around his mouth. He strode into the room and headed for the back of the room. As he went, he knocked Apollo, sending him spinning once more. As Apollo came to rest, he noticed the man was about to step on Eridin’s toys.
“Watch out for Eridin’s fort!” He cried.
The man stopped, realising his foot was millimetres from crushing Eridin’s Dragonblade model. Eridin hadn’t noticed until now, he looked at the man’s foot hovering just above the toy and his facial expression turned from a placid happy, to a scowling rage. He rose and looked down on the man his eyes halted an entire foot above him. The logo’s light didn’t reach Eridin’s face from the table but the small flickers did illuminate his blood-shot, red eyes. The man was startled and stepped back quickly, falling onto Apollo’s lap. They clutched each other in terror.
“Don’t touch his fort.” Whispered Apollo into the man’s ear staring at his teammate in utter fear.
Eridin sat back down in content and hummed as he continued playing with his toys. The two grown men looked to each other, the bald man got off Apollo and nodded to him, before tweaking his facial hair. He carefully manoeuvred his way around the other side of the table instead. He stood to attention and Wyvern Unit sat and stared at him with blank faces.
“I’m Colonel Santosh, however you can call me January.” He boomed, snorted and continued;
“Wyvern, your orders today are to head to Alucivan. Assist groundside troops already stationed there. Hold out as long as possible until we can get a more elite unit in. Any questions?” Asked January.
Apollo instantly rose his hand.
“Yes Ablestar?” January sighed as he gestured toward Apollo reluctantly.
“What do you mean more elite?” Apollo questioned
Tyanna couldn’t help but interject.
“They mean the fiftieth tier Dragon Operatives, like January or Scain and Yelhsa.” she said with a condescending tone.
“Then what are we?” He asked in wonder
“Tenth maybe fifteenth at a push.” Continued January
“You can thank Tyanna and Eridin for that.” He finished with a stern and respectful to duo respectively.
They nodded back and the two rookies shifted uneasily.
“Atleast we’re going in with veterans.” Kimarah muttered gesturing to the more experienced of the unit.
Eridin placed his toys into an armoured pouch on the outside of his left thigh, he adjusted his posture and cracked his knuckles.
“How are we eliminating the invading troops?” He asked.
January’s expressionless face grew an almost mad smirk, his eyes darkened as his brow fell slightly.
“With extreme prejudice.” He said, his mouth finishing with a very toothy grin.
Apollo rose his hand again and January’s grin faded as he gestured once more toward him, Tyanna rolled her eyes and Kimarah had to fight falling asleep.
“Protocol dictates.”
“That reminds me, Captain Areus I don’t know your opinion of AIs, but you’ve been assigned one, its name is Sierra Eleven.” The logo in the centre changed to a robotic face that seemed male.
“Hello.” it said with a very metallic, hollow voice.
The face disappeared and a map came up. There were thousands of red lights moving around the map with only a few hundred blues left. Every time a red light died more seemed to pour onto the map from the sides.
“Any other questions?”
Once more Apollo rose his hand.
“Ablestar you bore me, you’re like Scain. Gods forbid you write the field manual together. I can imagine it now, sixty-nine volumes because Scain asked for Yelhsa’s input and fell for his tricks. God it makes want to drink thinking about it.” Complained January with a whining tone and as he finished the door slid open and Yelhsa stood in the doorway in his purple jumpsuit, his sleeves were rolled up and revealed very muscular, battle scarred and tattooed arms, full sleeves of dragons that ended at his wrists. In his left hand he clutched a glass of whiskey in his hand. His hair was spiked and white like Eridin’s. One eye was green and the other was blue. Wyvern Unit recognised his royal status through his purple jumpsuit and stood to attention.
“Ah speaking of alcoholics! Yelhsa.” January blurted.
“These rookies need to be groundside now! Good thing they’re stood up. Drop ‘em like thunder!” Yelhsa said in his deep, grizzled voice, sounding almost hungover. He waved his hand pathetically and walked away from the door limping slightly. January turned to look at Wyvern who were all stood upright.
“Well you heard the man. Off you pop.” January finished
Tyanna turned to look at Apollo, who looked to Kimarah who finally looked to Eridin, who checked over his armour. They all looked to each other.
“Wait, you mean we’re being hot dropped?” questioned Apollo in fear, shuddering at the thought.
Wyvern sprinted out the door in excitement and Apollo was left in the conference room in contemplation and soon chased after his crew. As the unit ran down the deck toward the drop-pod bay they passed more conference rooms filled with similar units, teams and squads being briefed about similar deployments. Apollo was soon on their tails and they reached the drop-pods. Next to the pods were also weapon pods. Next to Apollo’s was his SL07-AR, with its glossy, angular, fresh off the line casing. Next to Tyanna’s pod was a shotgun and VAR rifle.  The shotgun’s stock was padded and the slider had a padded grip. The VAR rifle was long and slender, the scope was large and had a high magnification. Finally next to Kimarah’s was a Sniper Rifle and Sniper Cannon, both were long and had large powerful scopes and the bipods were reinforced. Eridin walked up to his pod and a combat engineer approached him with a large automated metal frame to attach his weaponry. As his teammates clambered into their pods the frame plugged a Sword and Hammer into the back of his armour which housed a powerful nuclear reactor. The sword was long and the blade was symmetrically curved. The hammer was large and the bulbous end began glowing. On the shaft, Dirty Betty, was written in white pen in almost perfect calligraphy. His weapons were magna-clamped onto the back of his armour and he carefully climbed aboard. Apollo stood gripping the handles tightly and closed his eyes, whilst Tyanna and Kimarah held it loosely and Eridin leant against the padding with his arms crossed. The doors slid shut and sealed tightly. On the minute window came a small meter that measured the oxygen level in the pod. Next to that a speedometer, and on all their helmets HUDs came each other’s stats. Apollo opened his eyes slightly and noticed that Eridin and Tyanna had much higher shielding than him.
“Why do the vets have higher shielding?” He questioned.
“They have heavy armour, they’re gonna be up close and personal with all those ugly tangoes so they’ll need more potent shielding.” Kimarah replied questioning the knowledge of the medic.
On the outside of the pods came three, loud, evenly spaced thumps. Apollo without thinking knocked back and his pod was shot out. Eridin began laughing maniacally.
“I like this medic!” He chortled loudly. Also banging on the door and as he did his pod was sucked out its small valve. Kimarah and Tyanna slammed their fists against the door and their pods ejected at the same time. Their pods hurtled through the vacuum of the space at three times the speed of sound, as they broke through the atmosphere the friction although heating the pods by an incredible amount also helped slow them. Apollo pulled his air brakes and then once they had burnt pulled the chute. Eridin, Tyanna and Kimarah hurtled towards the surface passing him. Eridin’s pod slammed into the ground and the green impact gel erupted into the air and rained down to the hard, battle torn earth. Tyanna and then Kimarah’s pods followed suit and their impact gel launched skywards. Seconds later Apollo’s pod landed. It hit the floor and it’s impact gel detonated in a pathetic burst like a broken fountain. The doors of the pods blew outwards and the four clambered from the pods. Soon after their weapons pods slammed into the ground near them. Apollo jumped as dirt and dust flew into the air and buffeted his armour. Kimarah slung both her weapons onto her back and waited for her orders. Eridin stood above everyone his weapons already slung on his back and waited near Kimarah. Tyanna plucked the VAR and slung it to her back and tore out her shotgun. She checked it over and loaded it. Apollo removed his helmet and threw up. He wasn’t used to the G-forces he had just experienced. Eridin laughed and patted him on the back almost forcing him onto the floor.
“You’ll become desensitized, eventually.” He chortled.
Apollo wiped his mouth and put his helmet back on, its environmental sealed reformed and he was as ready as the rest of them. Tyanna brought up her holo map and scanned their local area.
“Sierra Eleven, bring up the nearest command centres.” She ordered.
A small green circle appeared on the map, it was behind the enemy lines. She looked around the area and couldn’t see any other centre, she could however find a small encampment very close to their present location. She looked to her teammates.
“We’ll go there then!” She boomed.
She gave the order to head out and the newly formed Wyvern Unit fast marched to their next destination. Tyanna sent Kimarah to set up on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the encampment and the command centre and the trio continued onwards. As they reached the trenches they were dragged into a makeshift base. The commanding General stood at a table with a hard copy of a map of the local area. He looked up to see the trio of Dragon Operatives in front of him and his stressed look eased.
“I need your assistance. We need to recapture that command centre. Only the Olympians and Spartans are refusing to go anywhere near there, they say they’d rather attack from range as they don’t wanna go toe to toe with an ugly. However from the looks of your… outfit, you’re well suited to going in and clearing them out.” He said with a propositioning look on his face.
Tyanna looked to Eridin then to Apollo, who was sweating furiously inside his armour. Her visor became transparent and she shifted her stance.
“We’ll be more than happy.” she said a small smirk on her face.