Flame Rider II: Rise of Chaos

Final Exercise: Day One

“Alright Shadow Hunters, this is Blaze here,” I yelled over the coms, “This is our first official deployment within these new Atmospheric Drop Pods, so let’s give the techies back at HHQ something to look at.”

I smiled as all of the replies came in. it was here, in this final exercise, that everyone would get their individual nicknames and call-signs. I was just hoping that they didn’t give me a really bad name.

“Blaze, we are ready to go,” Price, my second-in-command, announced, “Let’s get this show on the road; I’m itching to finally test these new Particle weapons our techies developed.”

It was true. While originally wanting hard rounds, so that it would be easier to mark out DS kills from ER ones, several of the DS techies started to dabble in the Particle Theory, and eventually managed to weaponise it.

This had caused massive advancements for the Death Strikers as a whole, because it meant that the force that had been training for the past year was now able to cause a serious problem for the Klanoat Federation.

And to work alone side the new Particle weapons, the techies had put together a power source they called a SACC, or Sub Atomic Crystal Core, which essentially gave the force an infinite amount of combat time.

“ECT One-oh-six,” I called into my com, “This is ECSH reporting ready for drop. How copy?”

“Clear copy ECSH, prepare for drop,” came the pilot of their Vesican, “you are dropping in five…four…three…two…one…Releasing clamps. And you are away. Good luck down there.”

I felt my stomach jump into my throat as the ADP I was in was separated from the Vesican. Having forgotten to grab Delpha off Maria before the exercise, I knew that I would be at a slight disadvantage in terms of equipment use.

But my skill and genetics more than made up for what I lacked in this exercise, and I doubted that there would be any problems.

“Blaze, the drop zone is approaching quite rapidly,” Dingo stated roughly in his ear, the AI having taken over as the Squad AI, “I would suggest bracing yourself, but you seem to have already done that.”

“Thanks Dingo,” I bit, before I felt the pod shake violently.

Then everything went black.

*-*-*-*

While Shadow Hunters had been told to deploy via the new APDs, my squad – Alpha-Omega – had been ordered to test out our suits new Para/Jetpacks. While we hadn’t come up with the idea, we were the only squad that was willing to use the untested tech.

“Here goes nothing,” Adrian said from beside me, “See ya on the ground Daredevil.”

“Copy that number two,” I replied, before jumping out of the Volscan.

Using both PABE tech and Angel parachutes, the Para/Jetpacks – more commonly known as Dauntless Chutes – were able to get you down to an LZ fast and silently without giving away the user’s position.

I watched as everyone in my small squad jumped out of the Volscan fell ahead of me, realising that they had combat experience that I didn’t. They were tearing towards the ground at blood curdling speeds.

“Daredevil, you need to retract your parachute,” Zoey called, “Trust us, and you’ll be on the ground safely.”

It wasn’t the tone she used, or the words that she had picked that caused me to growl low in my throat. It was the fact that she, like the rest of the squad, was babying him.