An hour after landing, and finding no threats of any kind, the Marines returned to their original landing zone. Mike popped a smoke grenade, and a plume of green smoke quickly rose through the air. Before long, they all watched as the frigate descended to the massive stretch of land they'd secured and kissed the ground. A colossal wash of displaced air washed over them and blew the smoke away as it touched down, and the Marines had to brace themselves against the wind as it rushed over them.

Once the frigate rested on the ground, Frost turned to the rest of his squad and addressed them.

"Alright, that's step one. Our pilot should be touching down any minute..." He said, looking skyward at the V-45.

He didn't have to wait long, as Rebecca brought the aircraft down and landed next to the group of Marines within a matter of seconds.

"You boys need a ride?" She asked through the outer speakers.

"If you wouldn't mind giving us a lift," Frost cheekily replied before turning back to the Marines, "Alright, let's go. Get in there."

The group quickly boarded the V-45, retaking their original seats, before Rebecca pushed the throttle forward again, and the spinning rotors lifted the aircraft into the air once more. They flew up into a circular pattern with the rest of the V-45's as they rotated around the frigate, before a green flare was launched, and every aircraft splintered off and away in different directions.

Rebecca headed North, and soon enough, they were all alone, traveling across an unknown planet, and marveling at the world around them. Green, grassy fields below them and large, rocky mountains on either side greeted them as they flew along, and every Marine inside watched in fascination at the sheer and utter beauty of this planet. There were no machines in sight. No modern marvels of man, no tall buildings, no trash, and no people. Just the sprawling greenery and monumentous mountain ranges as far as the eye could see. There was a pristine, natural beauty of a world untouched by man, that made Jason's heart beat just a bit faster.

He looked out the open doorway to watch the clouds as they gently floated past the V-45, and saw foamy waterfalls off in the distance. White tips all along the mountainsides gave way to serene valleys and eventually those valleys gave way to soft rolling hills that filled out the landmarks below.

Smiling at the sight, Jason turned back and watched as the chopping rotors cut soft contrails through the air. The ocean blue sky stretched endlessly into the horizon, and even further out, far off mountains stood tall and proud, as if greeting the otherworlders. Just a little off to the side, he could see an endlessly expanding ocean, and the reflection of the sun's light on the choppy waves turned the sea a brilliantly blinding yellow. It was enough for him to turn on the tint in his visor and grin.

"Not like Earth at all, is she?" Eddie asked through their private comms.

"Not at all, man... Not at all." Jason wistfully responded.

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The V-45 softly touched down at the landing zone, and Rebecca quickly shut off the engines upon making contact with the ground. The weary Marines stepped out of the aircraft and walked back towards the frigate just as the sun fully set behind the horizon. As the tired group walked, they were passed by a group of fresh Marines heading to another V-45 waiting nearby, it's rotors already spinning to life. Through the flashing lights, fresh squads of Marines, and loud chopping of rotor blades, Jason, Mike, and Eddie walked with a tired step.

"One day down... one hundred, seventy nine to go." Mike whined.

"Just take it one day at a time, man. I'm sure we'll find these guys soon enough and then we can go home." Eddie replied.

"Screw going home. You saw how beautiful this planet is. I can actually see outside, and the air feels clean." Mike said.

"You're not even breathing it." Eddie fired back.

"Yeah, but I can feel it. You know?"

"Our suits are air tight. No, I don't know." Eddie deadpanned.

"Man, you know what I mean. It just... looks clean.. like if you took a breath of the air here you'd feel amazing, you know?" Mike frustratingly asserted.

Eddie chuckled, "Yeah, yeah I do know what you mean. I almost wish we could take these helmets off and just take a breath."

It was Jason's turn to weigh in, "Well... from what readings we do have of the air quality here... it's almost identical to Earth. So... you probably could take your helmet off and take a breath... Don't do that though. If you do, we'd have to quarantine you and chances are that any kind of bacteria on this planet would kill you in a hundred different horrible ways." He explained.

"Yeah, just imagine it," Mike chimed back in, "You're eyes could explode, or your stomach wall could disintegrate, pouring stomach acid out into your organs, or you could puke out your lungs." He listed, much to Eddie's annoyance.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I wasn't gonna fucking do it. I was just saying. It'd be kinda nice, you know?"

"We know man... We know." Mike replied as the group stepped into the decontamination room.

Three loud beeps rang out through the room before the doors sealed shut, and bright, flashing Gamma ray lights peppered the room, killing anything that wasn't wearing a suit. After a few seconds, it was over, and the group of Marines were walking through the frigate once more.

"Sergeant." Frost called.

"Gunny?" Jason replied, looking back over his shoulder.

"I expect you to be at the landing zone early tomorrow. Do not be late." He ordered, turning and heading off down a different hallway.

Jason flipped him off after his back was turned, and continued on his way with Mike and Eddie beside him.

"He really has some issue with you, doesn't he?" Mike asked, glancing back behind him in case Frost suddenly reappeared.

"He's resented me ever since the court martial. I make him look bad despite that, ergo, he hates me. It is what it is. We lost all the good NCO's in the war." Jason muttered.

"Not all of 'em, Sarge." Eddie replied, pointing to Jason's rank.

"Heh, thanks, Ed." Jason said.

A short walk later, the trio arrived at the end of the long hallway and found their own room waiting for them. Jason punched a few numbers into the keypad, and a moment later, the door slid open. The three weary Marines stepped inside to find three bunks, two of which were arranged into a bunk bed setup, and the third off by itself against the opposite wall. It was a fairly spartan room, to be sure. There was a dresser in the corner, and a one person bathroom at the end of the room but nothing else. Mike happily sighed and flopped onto the bottom bunk while Eddie unslung his rifle and backpack, setting them both down against the wall. Almost simultaneously, they removed their helmets and began removing their gear.

It didn't take long, and soon enough the three Marines were taking turns using the latrine to brush their teeth, shower, and any number of other tasks one would use a latrine for. Upon stepping out of the shower, Jason glanced at the clock on the wall. The time read '2155'. He sighed quietly to himself before finishing drying off and heading for the dresser with his clean clothes. He quickly changed into a simple pair of boxers and a plain white t-shirt. Mike and Eddie were already on their beds, trying to fall asleep, and Jason had to suppress a chuckle at how quickly they'd both headed straight for bed.

"Alright guys, you still awake?" He asked.

"Mmhmm?" Mike responded.

"Yeah?" Eddie replied.

"Alright, just checking. We need to be up by zero five hundred." He explained.

"Ugh... Fuck Frost, man." Eddie bitterly groaned.

"I know, I know. He's got a stick so far up his ass, he could pick his nose with it. Either way, it is what it is." Jason said, settling down into his own bed.

"We're not even supposed to leave until seven in the morning tomorrow. Why are we getting up so early?" Mike asked, ironically much more awake due to the prospect of lost sleep.

"Because we have to show up early. You know the drill. Fifteen minutes prior. Formation is at six thirty, and so naturally we'd be there at six fifteen. Now he wants us there early, so we need to be there no later than six. You two take a full forty five minutes to get ready in the morning, so you see how that works?" Jason explained.

Mike groaned, "Ugh... Fine. Let's just... get this shit over with." He grumbled, rolling back over and fluffing his pillow.

"I know it sucks, but it's only for tomorrow. After that, we can make sure we get an actually decent amount of sleep." Jason replied, softening his gaze.

"It's not your fault, Jay. Frost is just a fucking douche." Eddie chimed in, burying himself in his blankets.

Jason sighed, "Thanks, Ed. You both get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day, I can already tell."

With that, Jason turned the lights off and threw the plain white bed sheets over his body. He eagerly nestled his head into the most comfortable spot on the pillow and closed his eyes. Within a few minutes, he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

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The sound of harsh banging on the door woke the three Marines from their sleep. Jason awoke with a start, and almost fell out of bed as his body jolted from suddenly being awake. His heart pounded in his chest and he instinctively grabbed his rifle and pointed it at the source of noise. After a moment to calm down, and with the banging on the door continuing the whole time, he sighed and placed the rifle back down on the floor. He glanced back and forth to see Mike and Eddie hastily climbing out of their bunks and dropping to their feet.

Jason squinted slightly in the near complete darkness before turning and looking at the clock. He had to rub some of the sleepiness out of his eyes before his vision cleared enough for him to properly see the digital time, and he immediately scowled. The clock read '0234'.

"Alright, what the fuck?" He said, more to himself than anyone else.

Jason walked over to the door while Mike and Eddie looked at the clock, only to share similar reactions with their Sergeant.

Jason pressed the keypad next to the door, and immediately, the door slid open, bathing the room in white light. Mike and Eddie had to cover their eyes to deal with the temporary blindness of so much light suddenly being introduced into their dark room, but Jason simply stared ahead with a scowl on his face.

"What is it, Gunny?" He asked, murder on his mind and agitation clearly present in his voice.

"Get your guys and get your gear. One of the night crew teams fucked up and took some casualties. You're going out as their replacement." Frost explained, a mutual level of agitation present in his tone as well.

"What happened?" Jason asked, his tone softening.

"Apparently, the dumbfucks went and fucked with some of the wildlife. Some shit about a bear that their rifles had no effect on. Hell if I know. All I do know is that we have to supplement their rotation for the rest of the night." Frost replied.

"Did anyone die?" Jason asked, some concern weeding its way into his voice.

"Again, I don't know. Either way, we just got word that we need to supply a replacement team. You're it."

Jason barely suppressed a groan, "Roger that. We'll be there in twenty minutes."

"See to it that you are." Frost replied, turning and heading back to his room.

Once he was sure that Frost was gone, Jason closed the door and cursed under his breath.

"Man, this is some bullshit." Mike angrily complained as he slipped his bodysuit on.

"I feel like he volunteered us just because of the 'late' thing earlier." Eddie remarked.

"Yeah, I know. I know. Let's just get this over with. If we're lucky, he'll let us take our actual shift off and just sleep." Jason said, slipping into his bodysuit as well.

Eddie sighed, "Roger."

With that, the trio quickly dressed themselves in their respective gear. Jason looked over Mike and Eddie to confirm they had all of their equipment once more, before grabbing his pack and slinging it over his shoulder. Mike and Eddie quickly did the same, nodding to Jason as all three of them grabbed their rifles and helmets.

Jason lead the way out the door and through the frigate. The eerily quiet halls greeted them as they traveled through, their tired shadows dancing along the sparsely lit hallway the whole time. As they walked, Jason lazily rubbed his eyes, in a vain attempt to get the rest of his sleepiness out. As expected, he was unsuccessful and instead just had an annoying stinging in his eye that seemed intent on making each step forward even more aggravating. To his left, Mike yawned and smacked his lips to try to wake himself up somewhat. On his right, Eddie simply stared at the ground while they walked, trying his best to focus on one step at a time before sleep would claim him again.

The Marines continued this way until they reached the airlock. They groggily stepped inside and closed the door behind them. Donning their helmets in quick succession, and powering them on in the process, they activated their personal pressurization one by one. Once they had an air seal, Jason gave a thumbs up to the camera, and the sound of decompressing air filled their ears. Just as soon as it began, it was over, and the door to the outside world opened, allowing the Marines to proceed down the ramp and to the V-45 landing zone.

The rotating blades of the aircraft caused a deafening chopping sound to fill the air as the Marines approached. Jason grimaced at the loud noise raking at his ears. Even with the built-in noise dampening, halting most of the noise from making his ears bleed, Jason was simply too tired to be dealing with that much noise that early in the morning.

Reluctantly, the group made their way over to a group of Marines that were formed up in a box shape.

"You guys Team Two?!" The Staff Sergeant shouted through his helmet speaker, over the rotors.

"Roger! Heard you lost some guys! We're here to replace them!" Jason shouted back.

"Alright, Specter One is gonna be your ride! She's over there!" He called back, pointing to the furthest V-45. Once he received a confirmatory nod from Jason, he readdressed the rest of his men, "As for the rest of you, you know the mission! Move out!"

Jason, Mike, and Eddie made their way over to their V-45. As the group approached, Jason noticed that it was the only one whose rotor blades had yet to spin up. Upon arriving, he suppressed yet another groan at seeing their pilot.

"Hey there!" Rebecca called out, waving expectantly.

"How're you doing, Chief." Jason replied, giving a small wave in return.

"Oh, you know. On my second shift. Heard about what happened to these guys. They're saying it was some kind of 'space bear'." She replied, throwing in air quotes.

"Space bear?" Eddie asked, incredulously.

"Yep. I didn't catch all the details, but apparently their rifles didn't do a damn thing. Bullets just went right through the bear like it wasn't even there. They took four casualties." She explained.

"Any dead?" Jason asked.

"One, so far. I think it was a private... Jenkins? I don't know. I mean, it may have been space bear, but it was still a bear. You guys' armor isn't really gonna stop that from tearing into you." Rebecca shrugged.

"Dammit..." Jason muttered.

"I mean... Maybe if we had those new exo-suits... I want a kukri..." Mike muttered.

"Riiiiight..." Rebecca replied, "Anyways, you boys ready to get back out there?" She asked, a little more enthusiasm present in her voice than she meant.

"Unfortunately." Eddie responded, already stepping into the open side door.

"Right, well, let's get going then."

With that, the rest of the team stepped into the V-45 while Rebecca took her spot in the cockpit. She quickly strapped herself in and powered on the aircraft. Twin rotors quickly began to spin, and within a minute, the chopping of the blades was deafeningly loud once more. Jason and Mike shut the side doors in an effort to give them some semblance of peace and quiet from the noise, but they could only silence so much of the engine's output.

Rebecca quickly went through her pre-flight checks, and pushed the throttle forward, lifting the V-45 into the air. The rest of the aircraft in the vicinity quickly joined them, and before long, they were on their way out to conduct their mission.

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Jason awoke with a start. He grabbed his rifle and shouldered it as if dozens of enemies were approaching directly in front of him and flicked the fire selector from 'safe' to 'semi'. A few tense seconds passed while he breathed heavily, before he finally realized there was no threat in front of him and he flicked the weapon back to 'safe'. He quickly glanced around him to find both Mike and Eddie in their full combat gear, sleeping in their seats in the V-45. He immediately remembered the mission and checked outside to see that the moon was still high in the sky. A quick glance at his watch told him that he'd been asleep for at least an hour. He arched his back and stretched for a good ten seconds, making sure to really stretch his legs, before turning on his comms with Rebecca.

"Hey, Chief. Where are we?" He asked.

"Oh, there you are, sleepyhead. I was wondering why I hadn't heard any chatter for the last half hour. We're about two hundred miles out right now. I was about to turn us around and head back towards the frigate." She replied, cheerfully.

"Chief, how in the hell can you be so damn cheery? Didn't you get like, three hours of sleep... max?" Jason asked, slightly in disbelief at her tone.

"Oh, well that's the magic of coffee, Sergeant. I don't know what I'd do without it." She replied.

"Heh, I'll bet."

A pleasant silence overtook the aircraft for a few moments before Jason got tired of it and spoke again.

"So... Anything exciting happen while I was asleep?" He asked in a bid for some small talk.

"Nope. Just same 'ol, same 'ol. I think you'd really like the view of the night sky, though. It's particularly pretty on this planet." Rebecca answered, gazing up at the stars.

Jason turned and looked out the window. He had to slightly angle his head with the wing of the V-45 blocking his vision, but after a moment, he could clearly see up into the night sky.

"Wow..." He breathlessly whispered.

"Hehe, guess I was right to have you pegged as a stargazer." Rebecca teased.

"Well, it's not like you can even see the stars anymore on Earth." Jason replied, his gaze still transfixed on the nebulae and stars spanning the entire night sky.

"I know... Makes me wonder sometimes..." She trailed off.

"What about?"

"Well, you know... Huh? That's weird..." Rebecca replied.

"What is it?" Jason asked.

"Well... My radar is getting a little fuzzy... But we're nowhere near the radiation zone, so that shouldn't be happening unless..." Rebecca trailed off.

"Unless... what?" Jason asked, a fair amount of concern spilling over into his voice.

Rebecca moved her jaw to reply, but just as her words began to leave her lips, a blinding flash of light choked off her reply.

"Gah!" She shouted through the comms.

"Chief, what's going on!?" Jason called out, already moving to Mike and Eddie, "Guys! Get up now!" He shouted.

Mike and Eddie awoke with a start, hastily looking about for the cause of their sudden wake up call.

"Huh?" Eddie asked.

"Sarge? What's up?" Mike questioned, quickly moving to the window.

"Chief, talk to me! What's going on?" Jason called to Rebecca again.

Harsh static sounded over the comms, before white bolts of lightning flashed past the windows of the V-45, and momentarily illuminated the Marines.

"Fuck!" Mike shouted, falling back from the window onto his back.

"What the hell was that!?" Eddie called.

Jason glanced out the window to find more and more streaks of lightning flashing by the windows every second. He pounded on the cockpit door.

"Rebecca! What the fuck is going on!" He demanded.

Without warning, the cockpit door opened, and Jason hastily rushed inside. In just two steps, he was standing behind Rebecca's pilot seat and looking out the cockpit window. Smoke obstructed his view for a brief moment before he could clearly see the pilot.

"Rebecca!" He shouted, grabbing her by the shoulder and shaking her as hard as he could.

Rebecca's head lifelessly slumped down and swayed as Jason shook her body. Upon noticing her apparent unconsciousness, and the massive crack on her visor, Jason swiftly unclipped her harness and pulled her out of the seat. He hastily dragged her back to Mike and Eddie, who both helped lay her unconscious body on the floor. As soon as she was out of his hands, Jason bolted for the pilots seat and assumed control of the aircraft.

One quick glance at the control panel told him everything he needed to know about their current flight status. The screens had all completely blown out, leading to the smoke filling the cockpit, and presumably, their unconscious pilot. Sparks shot out of the shorting wires and threatened to start a fire in the cramped confines of the V-45's cabin.

Jason cursed under his breath as he realized that he had no way of telling the aircraft's air speed, altitude, or direction of travel anymore. With no options in mind, he grabbed the flight controls and attempted to steer the damaged aircraft away from the lighting storm they'd unwittingly flown into.

As expected, the controls simply did not respond to Jason's commands. Whether it was from the damaged computer, or something else, he wasn't sure, but the farther into the storm they traveled, the more the V-45 seemed to be attracting lightning, despite it's design specifically being made to prevent that.

Jason had no time to ponder such matters. As his attention was instantly pulled to the rippling waves of electric energy seemingly circling the V-45. A vortex of energy and spiraling static twisted around and around the aircraft, dizzying him while he struggled, in vain to pull away from the terrifying display. After several seconds of straining to veer away from what appeared to be oblivion, Jason saw a strange sight. Pulsing waves of light energy enveloped the V-45, almost knocking him out of his seat, and completely knocking Mike and Eddie off their feet.

A strange, almost hypnotic humming drowned out even the sound of the rotors as they continued to spin towards the light. Jason gripped the controls so tightly that his knuckles turned white, but still, it was all for naught. Just as his vision became completely obscured by white light, there was a deafening 'pop', and then silence.

Jason blinked his eyes back open and looked around the cockpit, finding nothing new, except for more smoke trailing out of the computer. He chanced a glance out through the cockpit window, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. There was a forest as far as the eye could see, and mountains in the far off distance. A dazzling display of majestic auroras littered the sky, and at the head of them all, the moon gently crawled across the early morning sky. Jason was starstruck for a moment, before a terrible screeching sound caught his ears.

He turned to look at the right wing to find that the rotors were sputtering out and dying. A fraction of a second later, and the left engine died as well. The blades immediately slowed, and the V-45 quickly lost altitude.

"Ed, how's our pilot?!" Jason shouted.

"She's alright, but whatever hit her knocked her the fuck out, and I think her helmet's leaking air!" He heard Eddie yell from behind while trying to cover Rebecca's cracked visor with his hands.

"Well we're fucked then. Get strapped in, we're going down!" He called back.

Mike hastily looked out the windows to confirm the suspicion, before fearfully nodding back at Eddie and moving to Rebecca. Together, they pulled her into a seat and strapped her in place. Once they were sure she was secure and as safe as they could make her, they strapped into their own seats, and assumed crash positions.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit, Jason fought with the controls, doing everything in his power to reignite the engines, or at least get out a distress call.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is Charlie Two-One to any UGSC units in the area, we are going down. I say again, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday." He said, broadcasting with his personal radio, "Specter One is down, we've lost power to our engines and computers. We are going down in unknown territory. Mayday, Mayday, Mayd-" Just as he was about to finish, Jason's HUD shut off, and he lost his radio signal.

"Guys!" He shouted, "I just lost my HUD. Can either of you broadcast?"

Just as Eddie was about to reply, his HUD disconnected, followed immediately by Mike.

"Did you just-" Eddie began to ask.

'Yeah, you too?" Mike pressed, already knowing Eddie's question.

"Fuck! Jay, we just lost our shit too!" He called out to Jason.

"Fucking... Alright, hang on! This is gonna be a rough landing!" Jason called back.

Once again, Mike and Eddie assumed crash positions and hoped for the best. Jason reached back behind his head and pulled a large, red lever, disengaged the rotors from the engines. The mechanical lever worked as expected, a first for the last ten minutes, and the rotors began spinning freely. Knowing he had little time to act, Jason grabbed the controls and gently pulled back. However, just like before, there was no reaction from the aircraft.

After finding nothing, Jason sighed and watched as the tree tops grew closer and closer. With each passing second, the inevitable rough landing became more and more of a terrifying thought in his head, and he quickly stepped out of the pilots seat. He quickly made his way back to the rest of the group and found his seat among them.

"I take it we're fucked?" Eddie asked upon noticing him.

"I disengaged the rotors from the engine, so the auto-rotation should kick in and buy us some time, but the fly-by-wire controls are fucked. There's no mechanical bypass in these damn things, so I can't flare the nose on landing. We're going in at a decent angle, but our nose is gonna hit the ground first... It's gonna be rough." Jason quickly explained.

"Right. Got it." Eddie replied.

"We're gonna be okay though, right?" Mike pressed, glancing out the window as he spoke.

"Yeah. We're gonna be fine. Just hang on, bud." Jason comforted.

Mike gave a mute nod in acknowledgement before taking a deep breath and assuming a crash position. With each passing second, nerves battled to and fro in each of the Marine's minds as to what to do next. Unfortunately, a profound feeling of helplessness welled up in each of their hearts as they realized that there simply was nothing they could do. They were at the mercy of the plummeting metal beast they sat in, and their only chance at survival was simply to hope. Hope that they could survive the imminent crash.

Jason glanced out the window to see the treeline just barely cruising by beneath the window frame. There were only a few dozen more feet to fall. With no options left, he closed his eyes, and hoped for the best.

It didn't take much longer. Maybe it was ten seconds, maybe five. Regardless, the V-45 crashed into the ground below with frightening speed, knocking the wind out of everyone inside and shattering the left side door window. The nose scraped off of the ground and dug into the dirt below as the belly of the aircraft slammed into the ground. A sharp dent formed in the floorboard of the V-45 just under Mike's foot where a particularly large rock met the belly of the beast.

As they continued to burrow into the ground, the powerful vibrations shook the crew and threw them through a dizzying array of shaking limbs, flying shards of glass, and mind numbing impacts. After the third hard hit, the rotor blades on the right engine found their way into the ground, ripping each blade out and flinging them off into random directions. A second later, the left engine met the same fate, only one of the rotor blades was launched directly into the cabin door. It punched right through the titanium and wedged itself just underneath Jason's seat.

Just when they thought they could take no more, the V-45 finally slowed and came to a rest. Smoke billowed out of its abused engines, and the broken shards of glass came to a rest on the floorboards of the heavily damaged aircraft. Jason reeled from the ordeal, and tried his best to get a sense of his bearings. Whatever lights remained in the aircraft slowly dimmed and faded out entirely, leaving all inside in a state of near total darkness.

Jason hurriedly unclipped his harness and rose to his feet. He turned to Mike and Eddie to find them doing the same.

"Get the door open. I'll get her." He ordered, swiftly turning to pick Rebecca up and out of her chair.

Mike and Eddie immediately jumped into action, pulling the door with all their might. After a few strained seconds, metal harshly scraped against metal, and the door slid open. Mike jumped out and landed on the blackened dirt below while Eddie grabbed all three packs and tossed them to him. Once all three bags were out, he followed Mike and jumped down to the ground below.

Jason quickly dragged Rebecca over to the door and gently lowered her down to Mike and Eddie's waiting arms. Once she was safely on the ground, he too jumped from the side door and landed beside his men.

"Alright, is she stable?" Jason asked.

"Well, whatever hit her, hit her hard enough to knock her out even with a helmet on. I don't see any signs of bruising or severe head trauma, so I think she'll be okay. She's leaking air though... I'm not sure we can really fix it out here... Plus, I don't know how long she's gonna last without a proper medical attention if something is wrong with her." Eddie explained, looking over Rebecca's unconscious form once more.

"Can we use some of the C4 to plug the leak?" Jason suggested.

"I mean, we can try, but it's not gonna be a long term solution to that." Eddie replied as he dug into his pack and pulled out the plastic explosives.

"It's the only thing we've got that can actually plug a leak right now." Jason muttered as he watched Eddie work.

As Eddie stuck more and more C4 on Rebecca's visor, the slight hissing sound of leaking air slowly began to fade and wither, until he finally mushed the plastic explosive over the last bit of cracked visor, and the hissing stopped.

"Alright... One less thing to worry about." Jason sighed as he sat down.

"Yeah, now we just need to worry about her head trauma." Eddie shook his head.

"Well, we're not gonna get her anywhere in that thing..." Mike said, eyeing the severely damaged V-45 with a sad glance.

"Did you get out a distress call?" Eddie asked.

"I tried. My comms cut out halfway through and then I lost my HUD." Jason explained, smacking his helmet in an effort to turn in back on.

"Yeah... I lost mine right after you... You think it had something to do with the storm?" Eddie pressed.

"Maybe... That wasn't a storm I've ever seen before though. There was lightning all around us..."

Mike decided to chime in next, "Well, you remember that one really bad lightning storm in Vegas right? Back in twenty one twenty seven? Zapped the power grid and the entire city lost power for a week." He explained.

"Yeah, but that was due to the amount of steel skyscrapers and a thousand other factors... It wasn't just... targeting one lone bird in the sky..." Jason replied, placing his hands on his hips and looking back up at the sky.

It was at that moment, that something became apparent to him.

"Hold on a sec... There were no clouds..." He said.

"What?" Eddie asked.

"There were no clouds. I remember. I was looking out at the night sky with her," He explained, pointing to Rebecca, "We could see the stars as far out as possible! There were no clouds in the sky at all. I mean, look!" He exclaimed, pointing at the night sky.

True enough, the fleeting night sky was barren of any clouds. Not a single obstruction in sight. Just beautiful, open air as far as the eye could see.

"What the fuck?" Eddie asked to no one in particular.

A sudden groan caught their ears, and the three Marines looked over to see Rebecca slowly waking. Eddie quickly moved to her side.

"Woah, hey there. Take is easy, you got hit in the head. We're not sure if there's any kind of serious trauma." He said, gently helping her sit up.

"Y-yeah, thanks. Ugh... Fuck my head hurts..." Rebecca complained as she sat up, "...What did you guys do to my visor?"

"You were leaking air, so we had to plug the leaks with C4." Jason explained.

"You... covered half my visor in explosives?" She replied, disbelief in her voice.

"We had nothing else. It was either that, or let you run out of air. Besides, C4 is the most stable explosive ever. You'll be alright, Chief." Eddie chimed in.

"Fuck's sake..." She grumbled in response.

"You had us worried there for a second." Mike added.

"Yeah, no... Glad to not be dead... I guess... Wait... is that? Oh for fucks sake!" She whined, upon looking at the V-45, "What did you do to my aircraft!?"

"The best I could," Jason, somewhat irately replied, "Not like I'm a pilot or anything, and the electronics were all fucked. I had no control."

"Jesus... My baby... Forty three missions in that bad boy and this is how it dies?" She continued to whine.

"Look, I know you're a little concussed right now, and dealing with the loss of your 'baby', but I don't think you realize the situation right now. We're lost. All of our electronics are fried, you're helmet is fucked thanks to that huge crack in the visor, and we have no way of communicating with the rest of the fleet. So unless you've got a bright idea somewhere in that possibly hemorrhaging brain of yours, then quit whining." He ordered, looking increasingly frustrated by the second.

Rebecca looked away and pouted while Eddie walked over to Jason.

"Hey, Jay. You good?" He asked, almost a whisper.

Jason sighed, "Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Look, we're not getting anywhere tonight, and we're all a little banged up from that. Let's bed down here for the time being, and figure out if we can't get a radio to work in the meantime."

"Alright. I'll try to get something working." Eddie replied.

Jason turned to Rebecca and offered her a hand to stand up with. After a moment, and albeit begrudgingly, she took his hand and was helped to her feet.

"Mike, you got first watch. We'll switch every three hours. Don't let any space bears sneak up on us." He ordered, while helping Rebecca towards the V-45.

"You got it, boss."

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEb0ZWVknCI

Hey everyone. So I know that some of you are probably going "where are the ponies?" and I promise that they'll be here in the next chapter. This story is going to have a kinda slow start, but once it gets going, we're gonna get going, trust me. I know some military bronies might be looking at the squad interaction between Jason and his team, as well as with Frost and the rest of the Marines, and thinking "that's not entirely realistic". Well, I've tried my best to give them all realistic personalities and behaviors based of off what I observed from the last 4 years in the Army. I hope that that's okay with all of you.

As for the ranking structure, all I can explain there is that Jason and his team are Marine Raiders that have been reassigned to their current mission after the war. Further explanation will come in future chapters. Promise :)