OVERBOARD! The Adventures of Airman Glock
FEATURING: Airman Glock in his first adventure- The Pony Predicament
A series of Fanfiction by: Silver the Swordmaster
All characters and worlds are (c) their respective creators. I don't own their worlds, I just play in them.
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Chapter the First- Overboard
Someone once asked me, what does it mean?
A interesting question, once you really start to think about it, especially if you look deep into it. Really, it could be about anything. What does the data mean? What does that theory mean? What does life mean?
Ok, fine, so 'what does it mean' was asked about a number of things, and I've had an answer for each of those, but in the end, when I looked hard and really thought about it, it doesn't mean anything.
I'd really like to say it does, it does mean something. Life means something more then just living each day, working through the old zero-nine-to-seventeen slog... uh, that's nine-to-five for you civilian types, but the point remains that there should be more to life then just living the old rat race.
But... if there is... if there really is something more to life? I haven't found it yet, and I sure as hell am not living it, as much as I'd like to be. I'm trapped, continually circling the same path, the same days over and over again. It's not a bad life. I've got friends, I've got food, I'm lucky enough to have been born into a decent-off family of six, with a mom and a dad that love each other very much and have continued to do so for over twenty-five years now, and I'm a proud member of the United States Armed Forces, particularly the US Navy.
I'm part of something bigger, I'm doing something with my life, and while I've got those days where I just hate the fact that I even exist, I'm doing good for the good of all, even if some people don't agree with that.
And you know what? I'm content with that. I'm content with food, friends, family, and even though the world sometimes feels like it's going to crack if I even so lightly tap it the wrong way, I still have a perfect escape route to just let out all of my frustrations and even just take a breather if it feels like everything is going to shit- entertainment of the best kind.
Video games, movies, music, books of all kinds, hell, even pictures of cats with funny words posted over and or around them. I adore all forms of entertainment... well, minus rap or some of the darker stuff out there. And horror. Entertaining? Yes, but rap always rubbed me the wrong way and horror is... uh... I'm getting off topic. Sorry, where was I?
RIGHT, the meaning. Well, recently, I feel like I don't have a meaning. Maybe it's because I've been thinking too hard, looking to deep for reason and thought where it doesn't exist. Maybe I've drunken a few too many beers or too much vodka. I don't know, but whatever it is, it's left me feeling dark, cold, and alone to a point. Not the greatest feeling in the world, and one that I highly recommend fighting against with all of your might.
Such as it is, those feelings love to come back and drag you down when you're not doing anything or when you don't have anything to do. For example, when you're on watch. Oh by the God/dess, or Spirits, or whatever is out there as a higher power, being on watch is the worst. Once you've done it enough times, the actions and reactions are automatic. Your focused without focusing, ready for anything but a million miles away as you force yourself through the feeling of just being alone.
I know, I know, no one stands watch alone, there are others standing watch, but when you've got a single post, all to your lonesome, you can't really do much, and the people standing watch with you are on the other side of a radio on a ship that is pretty much a floating city, and all you've got is a chair and your duty? Things get lonesome and boring fast.
I dunno, I guess I've just always expected more out of life. Something more like the stories I've lost myself in over the years. The movies, the games, the shows, the books... why can't life be more like that, I've wondered.
Maybe it's because of me? Maybe it's because I'm just a regular guy, well, maybe not regular, I'd like to think I'm much more complex then that. But just going off of who I am, five-foot-seven, brown hair, blue eyes, stocky with broad shoulders and really too slim for how much I weigh, what do you expect? I don't look like an action hero, or a character for a story at all really. I look like the civilian who's running away from the threat before the Big Damn Heroes can swoop in and save the day.
A statistic. That's what I look like. And I hate that. Sigh, but you gotta make the best of it, I guess.
Ugh, maybe I'm just thinking too hard. The carrier is rocking softly in the waves. Not particularly unusual, just another night on the boat. Deployment, six months out in the middle of the world's largest mass, the ocean, being out to show the military power of 'MURICA and be prepared to defend the good ol' US of A and her allies against anyone stupid enough to try to attack us.
Bleh. Screw it, nothing's happening, and thankfully, I got my iPod with me. Maybe the cell tower doesn't work this far out, but I still have plenty of entertainment, and particularly, a cartoon that I've been watching a lot, if only because it lets me feel... I dunno, alive, worthwhile again. Young again, like it's Saturday morning and I'm sitting on the couch with my little brother and sister, eating super-sugary cereal and watching cartoons.
Yeah, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Gimmi all your friendchips! I'm a brony. I'm not really vocal about it, but I won't deny if someone asks. It's a great show. The characters feel alive and real, the story is deep and compelling... for a kids show, but there's plenty of stuff that just makes me want to fanboy out and nostalgia out simply because it's not so... fake, like most of the cartoons on TV today. Like most of the stuff on the 'CN'. Hmp, I remember when it was Cartoon Network, and there was actual cartoons worth watching on it.
Oh well, can't complain now, most of the good ol' cartoon-cartoons are easy to find and watch now, thanks to all the awesome stuff like digital streaming and amazon and crap. Hell, even youtube to a point. Lets me be a proper geek again, which is comforting.
Anyway, back to the suger-coated pony world. So awesome, and surprisingly dark at times, something that the bronies were pretty quick to pick up on I noticed. Stuff like Cupcakes, the fact that Alicorns (it's an official term now, motherbuckers!) live forever, cockatrices freezing the unaware into statues and the basic fate-worse-then-death in which that pertains, true monstrous creatures, adventure, action, and... friends.
Honestly, if there's anything in my life that I could redo, I would have tried to make more friends. Or at least, to be a bit more outgoing. I know I'm a introvert by nature, preferring to be alone with my stories and worlds that are unlike our own, but still, it hurts when I don't have friends to share that world with. I long for that feeling of connection, which turning to the online world really helped with.
Hah, no such help when you're in the middle of the ocean with no one around and no net connection. Oh well, cest te lavi and all of that... or at least, I think that's how you spell it.
I pull out my iPod, scrolling through my movies and shows and quickly pick out the only real 'pink' item on the list, MLP, and settle down to watch an episode. It's been a long day out at sea, lots of hard work getting done while I slave away over a hot stove to make sure everyone is fed, the joys of being Temporarily Assigned to work in the galley. That's a cafeteria for you non-military folk.
At least I'm too busy to think when I'm making and serving food.
Either case, I smile to myself as the intro starts playing to my favorite episode... favorite two episodes, actually, season one, episode one and two. It really brings out the feeling of 'this is gonna be EPIC', in me. Most people think they're the weakest (well, either they are or almost are, barring a few episodes) of all the episodes and seasons, but frankly? Fuck 'em. I like them and they're soothing, almost like I'm being told a brilliant story all over again, every time I watch them.
I mean, it's like rewatching Star Wars- It just never gets old. It's the same thing over and over every time you watch it, but the story just grips you, holds tight, and never lets you go. Perfect.
I was busy grinning my fool head off, reclined in the folding chair, rifle slung over my shoulder and pistol in my holster as I watched Twilight ignore everypony around her. My my, how much she's grown indeed. Celestia was right about her, she's experienced a lot since she was sent to Ponyville. In the back of my head, a quiet voice whispered how much I wished something like that would happen to me.
That was when the wave hit.
Now, for those of you who don't really do the whole 'ocean' thing, there are things called waves. They're caused by the shifting of the earth under the water, or 'plates' that float around on the liquid-rock core of the world, magma. Now, most times, waves are very predictable, you know where and when they're going to be, how high, etc. etc.
However, there are times when that predictability goes out the window and you get something called a 'rouge wave'. Rouge waves are tidal waves that sweep in from out of nowhere, without warning, and vanish, leaving no trace of it's passing. These waves tend to be very large, and very aggressive. Fishing boats get tossed around and even capsized by these waves. They aren't too big of a threat to a aircraft carrier though.
Well... that's not the entire truth, I suppose. You see, they do pose three serious threats to a carrier, particularly on a night like tonight, when the hanger bay doors are all open for air circulation. You see, sea water is very corrosive, being a salt-water mixture, and it needs to be cleaned off with a fresh water rinse to prevent rust and other such problems. That's for the ship, and for the aircraft. The two big threats that the waves pose.
The third threat, is one that every sailor has faced and feared, and fought with tooth, nail, blood, sweat, tears, and numerous rope burns from the first day man took to the water. Being swept overboard, to dance a duel with the cold, uncaring water and to fight to keep yourself from being dragged away to meet Davy Jones.
It was about two-thirds of the way through part one when the wave hit. I remember hearing a soft roaring, but thought nothing of it till I felt it. The water had swept in from behind me, and caught me full on and threw me like a kid throwing their doll at a wall in a temper-tantrum.
Cold, wet, the air knocked out of me from the force, and that rush of hanging in the air for a moment before falling, falling, falling... no one to meet me but Davy Jones open arms as I fell for the water.
Overboard. Man Overboard. I heard it, for a split second. Someone saw me get tossed out by the wave, he was yelling over the 1MC.
Overboard. Water. Cold. Wet. Alone. No Air. Hurts.
Help...
-End Chapter the First-
