Disorienting him once again, his vision snapped back. Mouse was in front of him snapping her fingers in front of his face. She stopped when she noticed him focusing again properly.
“Welcome back Bazel. Do you plan on telling me what’s actually going on now?”
Bazel considered lying for a moment, but knew it was pointless endeavour with Mouse. She was an expert in interrogation and reading people.
“So I’m thinking either Princess is displaying that twisted personality of hers and playing a prank on me or maybe I’m finally losing my mind. This stays between us but someone is sending me messages about finding an item, a feather, and tacking on some ominous bits with it.”
Mouse studied his face for a moment.
“Let’s discount Princess for the time being and consider that someone is sending you secret mental messages. If they are able to get through to you so easily this whole operation could be compromised right now. That is not even mentioning what might happen if you freeze like you’ve been doing in a critical moment.”
“I’m not getting a sense of malignancy from the messages so I don’t think we need to worry about the operation. I do see your concern but we are out of time to explore other options right now. Mouse have you ever heard of the Goddess speaking to someone directly?”
“Yeah I have Bazel, I hear they got coffee and warm jackets for folks talking to the Goddess in the psych ward of the hospital.”
“Har har you little shit. Let's get this show on the road before your sunny personality all but has me begging for that coffee and jacket.”
Bazel reached out his fist and Mouse bumped it back before they turned and walked up the ramp into the Valkyrie. After they were both on board Bazel hit the switch to close the door and retract the ramp. Walking to the front of the ship he leaned into the flight deck where the two mages who were assigned to the ship piloted it.
“Raven, Typhoon, I know the ol Valk ain't in the best of shape right now but she will get us there and back right?”
Typhoon had been with his squad the longest of the two of them. A human like Bazel with dark skin, bald scalp, green eyes, and the best damn pilot he’d ever had the chance to carry them in and out of the thick of it. Typhoon handed the map he was looking over to Raven and turned in the seat.
“Are you looking at the same flight deck I’m looking at right now? Yes by the strictest definition we are still able to fly thanks to those mechanics busting their asses off. I’m not happy about it but at least all the flight deck armor is still in place but I hope you guys in the bay enjoy a breeze cause it’s gonna be windy back there. According to the weather reports that region is currently being hit with a heavy rain storm, did you guys pack your umbrellas?”
“Great, think half the company could still use a shower today. We are on comm channel 9 and drinks are on me when we get back.”
“Hah you might regret uttering those words but we’ll take you up on that offer.”
Raven spoke up at this point, “Sir, all ships are calling in checks complete and ready for takeoff.”
“Copy, lets not keep them waiting. We are loaded up down below. Whenever you guys are ready I’ll see you on the other side,” Bazel said as he fist bumped them both before turning back to the infantry bay.
As he returned to his company he heard the magi drive engine spool up. Several loud hisses could be heard that weren’t normal causing concerned glances all around but luckily the sounds ceased and the normal sounding hum of the drive was slowly drowned out by the lift discs kicking in.
The ship shuttered as they slowly lifted off and began to edge out of their hangar bay. The forward momentum causing Bazel to stumble a bit as he was walking back to his seat in the bay. All the chains and straps in the bay rattled in concert as they started to pick up speed with the breeze now shifting through the visible gaps in the ship's armor.
Bazel’s comm buzzed in his helmet as Typhoon’s voice came across, “Iota, estimated flight time is 45 minutes to the designated zone. We’ll go dark 20 minutes out, insertion is a large central square located roughly 10 minutes east of the distress beacon marker. May the Goddess watch over you.”
Staring out a particularly large gap in the armor Bazel could see other ships and ahead of them what appeared to be a large storm rolling in which was choking off the sun’s light turning the sky dark. A deep rumble of thunder could be heard far in the distance even over the ship’s noise.
Bazel looked down the rows of seats and with a heavy heart noted all the vacancies. He muttered a quick prayer to the Goddess for all the latest losses before closing his eyes and waiting for them to near the drop zone. He was pulled out of his reverie by the sound of a large explosion outside their ship which caused their own ship to rattle and get knocked slightly off course. Opening his eyes to see the ship next to them plummeting in flames. The only evidence of what happened was a purple trail dissipating into the air against the now dark daytime sky.
Typhoon’s voice picked up across the comms, “Ground to air anti-ship fire, we’re taking evasive manuevers to the drop zone, hold the fuck on!”
Bazel grabbed the seat as the ship banked hard to the right and was temporarily blinded as another lance of purple light passed through the space they just had occupied. The beam gave off a hissing sound as if it was melting the air itself.
His stomach churned as he felt the ship start a sharp descent to hopefully get under the firing angle of whatever was taking shots at them. No nation currently employed anti-ship weapons like that purple beam and Bazel could hear Raven’s confused cursing from the flight deck..
Rain started pelting them through the holes in the armor as a second explosion to their right this time could be heard. He really hoped that wasn’t Zeta company’s ship.
“Typhoon, how much more time to the drop point?”
“We just hit the outskirts of the ruins now so another 10 minutes. I’m seeing movement in the buildings so expect the drop zone to be hot.”
“Do you have any idea where that anti-ship fire is coming from? We will need to knock it out for sure if any of us wanna get out of here.”
“Second shot looked like it came from a small mountain the was straight ahead of us. Possibly in grid……..18C”
Bazel looked at his own small grid map of the ruins but didn’t see an indication of a mountain anywhere near that point. As he was focusing on the map the sound of his surroundings muted out. Prompting him to quickly look over toward Princess but she was just double checking her armor straps at the moment.
My sister’s invasion spearhead is already through the portal and her champion seeks my feather. You must find my chapel near the center of the city. It is located in the reliquary within the catacombs and only a phoenix blessed may enter.
“Who are you and how are you breaking into our comm channel?”
Bazel’s question prompted several of the other company members to look at him in confusion. Clearly he was the only one who heard the voice..
All will be revealed in time my champion but you must not let my sister’s champion get the feather. The consequences would be graver than you can imagine.
Now listen here crazy voice in my head, I’m not just going to derail a rescue operation to hunt down some damned feather. Maybe I do need to get my head checked out when I get back.
I assure you champion you are not crazy but your life depends on find….OH NO..
Bazel was only confused for a moment at the voice’s exclamation as a purple lance of flame tore a hole through their ship through the flight deck and out the back of the cargo bay. The intense heat trail left the air shimmering but he could see through the hole that it had vaporized the upper half of Raven and injured Typhoon’s right arm. They were lucky in the cargo bay and the slight angle saved anyone within from being vaporized as well but he felt the ship losing altitude again.
Typhoon’s pained voice came across the comm, “Engine’s dead, we’re going down, brace yourselves.”
Thinking quickly Bazel shouted into the comms, “Snowman slow us down and cushion if you can.”
Call sign Snowman; draconian; emerald scales and blue eyes; air mage
“I’ll do what I can,” Snowman answered back.
His arms lit up as he started channeling his air magic causing air below to updraft a bit and a headwind in front easing their crash. He couldn’t stop it all completely and the first jolt of them hitting the ground threw everyone into the air. Bazel and several others activated their shields in an attempt to minimize damage as everyone tumbled noisily back down.
The air magic largely did the trick and they slid violently for several hundred meters before coming to a halt. Groans and shuffling could be heard all around him as his company picked themselves up.
“Cherry get up front and see what you can do for Typhoon. Is anyone else injured?”
After a round of negatives Bazel ordered everyone to gather up.
“Alright, we clearly didn’t make it to the landing zone as this street does not look like a square to me. First order is to find out how far we made it and rendezvous with the other companies at the drop zone. We need to see if we can get Typhoon evacuated and get this operation done.”
Mouse then spoke up next to him, “Sir I can’t reach Overlord to let them know we are down. I think something in the city is interfering with the long range comms.”
“Copy, lets get up to a vantage and figure out where we are. Nova, Princess you’re up. Lets spread out and cover them. Cherry how’s Typhoon?”
“He’ll live. His arm was nearly melted off but I’ve got it mostly healed up.”
“Sounds good. Let's move out and see if we can’t find these assholes who shot down our baby on the way to the drop zone.”
