Discovery part 1

The night sky was clear of clouds, the sea calm, and the boat was quiet save for the hum of the engines, and the chatter of some of the crew. I was leaning on a railing on the side of the USS Bonhomme Richard, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship. Looking back towards the other ships accompanying us. There was the USS Blue Ridge, a Blue Ridge-class Command Chip, the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class Aircraft Carrier, the USS Zephyr, a Cyclone-class Patrol Boat, the USS Warrior, a Avenger-class Mine Countermeasures Chip, the USS Thach, a Oliver Hazard Perry-class Frigate, the USS The Sullivans, a Arleigh Burk-class Destroyer, the USS Shiloh, a Ticonderoga-class Cruiser, and the USS Florida, a Ohio-class Guided Missile Submarine. It was a fairly mismatch of American ships from around the globe, but we were told that we were the only ones capable for the job.

The job that we were tasked with was the exploration of a new island discovered in the Pacific. Before there were just rumors about the island, but no one ever found it. But what lead to the discovery was when oceanographers found an unusual current in the ocean, they followed the current and it became calm with little current, just like on the shore of an island. But when they tried to get a satellite image of where the current led them there was nothing there. There was a group of them that thought it was just a false reading, but a majority of them thought that there was something there. So after several weeks of filming the area from space to try and find it they got a brief image of it just before a storm entered the area, it only lasted 3 frames but it was enough to get others involved. The second group of scientists that became involved were the meteorologists to confirm whether or not it was a mirage made by the storm, and after about 4 weeks of reviewing the film, they confirmed that it was not a mirage made by the storm, but there was an island there.

After this confirmation many were confused by how it could be there but not be there at the same time. But a group of scientists called Luminescencists came up with the answer that there must be something on the island reflecting the light from the island, thereby making it invisible to sources that don’t know about its existence, and that someone or something went through a lot of trouble to hide the island and the only reason that we saw the island was most likely due to a lightning bolt hitting whatever was reflecting the light from it and temporarily short-circuit it. But as soon as they released the report to the public and government officials caught wind of this, they immediately started to form landing parties to go and try to claim the island for their nation. I was recruited to be part of that landing party, and according to what Captain David Fluker told us was that this could be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, and that they wanted the USA to be the ones to discover it.

I sighed as I looked up at the starry sky, wishing that I could be back home or relaxing on a beach somewhere. But knowing my luck I would just end up being called up for something else. I sighed again before returning to my quarters below deck. I walked into my quarters and closed the door behind me. I went to go wash my face from being up on deck all day. I grabbed a white wash cloth and let it soak in warm water for a couple of minutes while I took off my hat, revealing my charcoal black hair, as I proceeded to wash my face. After drying off my now clean face I put my hands on either side of the sink and leaned forward looking at my reflection in the mirror, my left blue eye and my right green eye staring back at me, I rubbed my square chin which was covered by a 5 o’clock shadow since my electric razor broke about a month ago, I have a fairly wide jaw, which when combined with my fairly muscular body and my height of 6’4 made me look like the person who would stop a bar fight with ease. I changed into my spare clothes and took my main ones to the laundry. And when I returned and was about to lie down to get some rest, Captain David spoke over the intercom.

“Attention all personnel: We are approximately 5 miles from the island. Please report to your assigned stations and wait for further instructions. That will be all.”

At this point I punched the steel wall of my quarter’s wall so hard that it left a dent, which was followed by the sound of something smashing, which was followed by the guy next door screaming, “Mother fucker! That’s the 3rd pair this week!” I think I might have punched the spot where the shelves were and caused his glasses to fall and break.

After my neighbors little outburst, there was a pounding on my door. "Open up Mark! You owe me money so I can get my glasses fixed!" And there it was, Steve's eventual outburst for me breaking his glasses just a minute ago.

"I'm coming, just give me a moment." I said in an annoyed tone, as I went into my dresser and pulled out $300 from my wallet before putting it in my pocket. I knew that is glasses cost $300 because this has happened many, many times before. I walked over to the door and jerking it open I tossed him the $300. He replied with a quick "Thank you." and went back to his quarters to grab his gear before heading off. I went back into my room and grabbed the top half of my uniform, my M9 bayonet as well as its M10 scabbard and strapped it to my waist, and my Beretta M9 pistol and put it in its holster on my right leg. I then proceeded to grab my bag from my closet, then went straight towards the armory. Once there I opened my locker and grabbed my M1014 semi-automatic shotgun, and my M4 carbine with telescopic sight and laser pointer. Slamming my locker shut I double-timed it to my CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and got in my seat, with my squad, and was ready for take off.

"Attention all personnel: We are within a mile of the target area, the shield is within visual range now. Please make sure you are in your assigned spot and prepare for entry." Captain David said over the intercom.

Well as soon as all ships are within the shield we can take off to and set up base camp on the beach head. I think it was about 3 minutes before I could feel the ship violently rumble, and I'm guessing that meant that we had entered the shield are getting ready for take off soon. I could feel the engines of the helicopter start up, and as they slowly built up speed Captain David said over the intercom, "All units that are scheduled for first take off, please proceed to do so, we will wait just off the coast, we await your signal to start sending in gear to set up base camp." And then we were off, into the sky towards the island, lucky for us it wasn't long until we landed on the beach. the landing door opened and I told my squad to move out. We moved onto the beach and scanned it for any life, when we found none I had Private Fred and George stay on the beach and wait for the others to arrive, while John, Will, Paul, and I proceeded into the forest that backed up to the beach.

With our weapons at the ready we proceeded carefully into the forest making sure to remain as quiet as possible so not to alert animals to out location. We were about 10 minutes into the forest and about to turn back when we heard a loud road from behind us. we quickly spun around and prepared to subdue what ever snuck up on us. But what appeared out of the darkness of the forest was what looked like a Lion, but it had a scorpion tail and bat wings. As it lunged towards us I yelled, "Open fire!" and a volley of lead was hurled towards the creature, but as it kept coming towards us we kept shooting it. It came within 20 feet of us and I quickly switched to my M1014, and when it was within 5 feet from us I fired 3 shots in rapid succession right at its head, and it hit the ground and slid towards us, halting at out feet. What ever it was took a beating before dying. I went up to it and kicked it to make sure it was dead, which it appeared to be so. Then John said what was on everyone's mind, "What the hell was that thing!?" and of course he sounded scared shitless. "I have no idea, but we are obviously in uncharted territory now boys. Let's head back to the beach and contact the fleet, for back up." I said to them. And as we headed back towards the beach, we failed to notice a pair of green eyes staring at them from inside a bush and muttered quietly, "Oh, my."

Author's Note

Yes, the ships mentioned are actual ships, and the Captain of the Bonhomme Richard is the current captain. I take pride in making it accurate. And incase you didn't read my most recent blog I am looking for Proofreaders for this story.
(Edited version)