Goliath One-Status: K.I.A.

Chapter One

Earth

June 18th, 2023

Along a one-way dirt road, a gentle breeze shifted the trees slowly. There was not a single sound except the sound of rustling leaves and birds chirping their daily song.

“Come on the risin’ wind, we’re goin’ up around the bend. Ooh! Bring a song and a smile for the bango, better get while the gettin’s good!”

The extremely loud music easily drained away the surrounding noise as Marcus happily sang along to the males southern like voice over the radio.

“Hitch a ride to the end of the highway, where the neons turn to wood! Come on the risin wind, we’re goin’ up around the bend. Ooh!"

Marcus decided to turn down the radio a bit and just hum to it instead as he spotted the area where the dirt road turned into paved asphalt. Plus his ears were starting to hurt from the song volume. Marcus could hear the dirt churning under the large 12’’ tires of his Ford Excursion. There were no authorities on the road so Marcus gave the massive V12 engine one last rev before he turned onto the calm street. The revving sound of his beloved truck always made Marcus get that “oh hell yeah!” sensation.

Just when Marcus was pulling onto the road, he felt (and heard) his stomach grumble uncomfortably. Marcus groaned as he finally realized that it was from hunger.

“Wow I must be hungry, I wonder if that local Subway is still open...”

He pondered that thought for a moment and looked at the digital clock on the trucks dashboard, 5:54 p.m. The Subway closed at six.

  “Yeah, I think I can make it...” Marcus said out loud to himself.

Just then, his iphone 8 rang a little loudly then he would’ve liked, but it was from when he was blasting the music earlier. He looked to see who it was; UNKNOWN CALLER flashed across the clear screen. Curious, Marcus picked up the phone and pressed ignore.

He parked in front of the small Subway restaurant and got out of his car. He spotted another person leaving and headed inside. The employee was washing the counter when he heard the bell above the door ring as Marcus stepped inside. The man looked up and greeted Marcus as he approached the food area.

  “What can I get for you sir?” The man asked kindly, but Marcus could tell that this guy wanted to go home, so Marcus didn’t hesitate with his order.

  “I’ll get a...”

After Marcus had left with a satisfied stomach, his phone rang again. He looked at who was calling him and saw this: UNKNOWN CALLER. Now Marcus was a little annoyed but a bit creeped out too... Who was this? Marcus decided that nothing good would come out of ignoring it again, so he answered it.

  “Who is this?” Marcus demanded instantly.

  “Nevermind that, the chief wants to see you first thing tomorrow in the briefing room.”

Marcus heard a very Russian like accent in this mans’ voice.

  “Natov, is that you?”

  “Look, just be there tomorrow morning okay?”

  “Answer my question, that’s an order damn it!”

Marcus heard a sigh before the answer came.

  “Yes, it is. The Chief told me to just keep this between you, Veronica (and her co-pilots obviously), me, and him. He said he wanted to keep the mission tomorrow a secret, that it’ll draw too much negative attention...”

  “Keep what mission a secret!?” Barked Marcus.

  “Whoa man, chill!” Natov replied, “The attack, remember? The bomber escort?” Natov stated calmly.

  “Oh OOHHH! Okay, sorry man, you caught me kinda off guard their. Yeah don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone yet so you’re good. I really hope you can handle aiding the Russians again after... you know.” Marcus said coldly.

Natov sighed sadly into his cell phone.

  “Maybe not, but it’ll be worth it getting’ to go on my first flight as an American wingman!” Natov said excitedly.

  “I hope so, hey man I’ll see you in the morning’ okay?”

  “Alright, see ya.”

  “Later.”

Marcus pressed the end call button on his phone and started off for home. He checked the clock again, 6:32 p.m.

As he was driving home, he came across a familiar intersection on his town's Main Street and saw a pair of headlights coming from the right. Marcus looked more closely and saw that the car that the headlights belonged too was headed right for him at an alarming rate. Marcus stepped on the gas to try to avoid but it was too late, his truck and the other drivers brakes could be heard clearly before the unknown driver struck the side of Marcus’s Ford and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marcus woke up in, a hospital bed? Marcus was about to sit up when he heard a familiar voice speak,

  “Hey bud, easy does it.” The voice said as he was gently pushed back into the bed pillow.

Marcus grunted before responding. “Hey Jones. What happened to me?”

He heard another familiar voice, this one female. “You got t-boned by some dumbass driving a Blazer, he claims he didn’t see you until it was too late, but I punched him anyway...”

Jones put his face in his hand and chuckled.

  “Oh, Veronica, when will you get over that punching people doesn’t solve problems?” Marcus asked jokingly with a little laugh at the end.

Veronica shrugged with a laugh.

Marcus tried to sit up again and could, after a few minutes, he was able to stand and walk again.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up...”

  “Whew, good thing I can walk for now, big day tomorrow!”

That was when he realized he didn’t know how long he was out for, he frantically searched the small room until he saw that it was almost exactly twelve o'clock at night. So Marcus decided to get to his place and sleep.

  “Hey guys, I’m gonna go get some sleep, see you two in the morning!”

Even though he ended up having to get driven home by Jones, before Marcus knew it, he was in his own comfy bed, sleeping like a log.

~~~~~~~~~~

June 19, 2023

Marcus was on his way to the airfield in a car that was lent to him until his Excursion was repaired. He decided it was time for some tunes and with that, he turned on the radio and started listening to Smoke on The Water. Marcus came across that same intersection that he had his little doozie on and grimaced, he could’ve sworn that he even saw that same Chevrolet Blazer on the opposite road. When he came to a familiar small street, he turned onto the dirt path that led to the airbase a little quicker. Marcus wanted to make sure he got all the details before he embarked on this mission later today (he was always like that). Just as he did, his favorite guitar and drum duo from the song started and he turned up the speakers in the car. Marcus drove down the dirt path in the oversized field towards the base, when he noticed a small group of three Black-Hawks and Apaches flying away from the runway.

“Why do they always get the ‘blowin shit up’ missions?”

Marcus returned his attention to the road where he saw the right turn that lead to the side entrance of the base. He turned off the music and picked up his phone. He peeked up at the road occasionally while he searched the ‘recent callers’ list until he found the number that Natov had called him with and pressed ‘redial’. He heard it ring a few times before that same Russian voice, which made the sides of Marcus mouth creep upwards, answered.

  “This is Natov.” He said flatly.

  “Hey Natov, good to hear your voice.” Marcus responded cheerfully.

Natov’s serious voice turned friendly when he realized who it was.

  “Ay, Marcus! How’s it goin’?

  “Good! Hey, I’m about five minutes away. See me at the west enterance so we can get ready.”

Marcus & Natov both made their way to the aircrafts, of the F/A-38 VTOLs while the commander made his way to the Heads Up Advisory Center. Marcus climbed into the snug cabin and eyed the helmet sitting on the seat, he sat down and put on the helmet. He then touched the screen in front of him and the cabin automatically closed, while a computer voice spoke from the plane.

  “Identify: Ivan, Marcus. Flight authorization: accepted. Startup sequence: initiated. Controls, Navigation, Communication, and leventry systems are now online. Takeoff when ready.”

  “Okay, you ready?.” Marcus asked as he gave Marcus a thumbs up.

Marcus nodded back to him as he grasped one handle in each hand, the left one for throttle, and the right one for movement.

“Alright Natov, let’s see if we can suprize the folks at the other base!” Marcus said, as he slowly pulled back on the throttle and felt himself and the plane rising in perfect harmony. He looked over to his right and saw Natov rising too.

  “Alright 2, follow my lead.”

  “Roger that.” Natov replied.

  “Command this is Goliath 1, everything is checking out.” Marcus said.

  “Goliath 2 here, all systems green. We are ready to proceed with the mission.”

  “Copy that, move on to mission area. I’ve marked it on your tactical situation maps, I’ll update you once you’ve reached your destination where you’ll rendezvous with Veronica and her unit.” Informed the commander.

Almost simultaneously, Marcus and Ivan started moving in one direction, the thrusters all moving forwards at the same time to propel the jets forward.

After a minute of continuous flying in one direction, Marcus contacted command,

  “Command, we are preparing to make the transition to supersonic.”

  “Copy that, Mach 1, Mach 1.” Replied the Chief.

Marcus could literally feel the sound leaving him as the plane sliced through the sound barier with ease.

A few minutes later, Marcus heard Natov say,

  “Command, we are approaching hypersonic, clearance to proceed?

  “Granted”

  “Alright bud, time for the big one!” Marcus excitedly said.

Marcus began to actually see the pure oxygen get pushed around the plane in a white cone starting at the nose of the jet.

“Whew! This is quite the first-time experience!”

Just then Marcus got the last news he was expecting.

  “Uh, Goliath Flight, do you copy?” Asked the Commander in a concerned tone, which also concerned Marcus and Natov.

  “Goliath Flight, go ahead.” Replied Marcus.

  “One of our guided missile batteries is targeting you from the base, we’re trying to regain control but--oh fuck, Marcus!! MISSILE INBOUND!!!!” Screamed the Commander.

Marcus suddenly got a missile warning on his H.U.D. The H.U.D. showed the direction the missile was coming from and the distance, and it was coming fast.

  “Natov! Evasive maneuvers!” Shouted Marcus as he banked hard to the right.

The missile followed his movement and continued approaching. 1,000m...500m...200m...

Marcus deployed flares and banked again. The missile turned off course and momentarily disappeared from view. Marcus’s H.U.D. no longer showed the missile warning as he and Natov returned to their previous heading.

  “What the hell was that?!” Yelled Marcus angrily.

  “I don’t know, we’re trying to figure it out now but--”

  “Marcus! Look out!!” Interrupted Natov.

Marcus got another missile warning but this time his heart almost stopped. This time the distance read: 100m...60m... Marcus’s plane automatically deployed flares due to the missile’s close proximity but too late. As the missile was headed towards the left side of the cockpit of the plane, the flares only diverted it to the back of the plane so it struck his left engine.

  “Ahh! I’m hit!! I’m going down!!” Marcus shouted as his plane wobbled and billowed smoke from the back.

As Marcus fell out of the sky, he noticed he was heading straight for a large lake he saw earlier.

  “At least it’ll be soft landing...” The thought calmed Marcus slightly and he decided not to eject.

Marcus was able to angle the flaps to let him glide onto the surface of the lake. Unfortunately, the turbulence rammed into his plane and caused it to endo into the water, knocking Marcus out cold.

  “Marcus!” Called Natov. “Marcus, are you okay!? A Pause. “Goliath One, do you copy!? Command, blue-on-blue! I repeat, blue-on-blue, Goliath One is down!!”

Underwater, Marcus and his F/A-38 drifted slowly to the bottom of the massive body of water. In the dark water a sort of light began to grow and brighten at the bottom. With Marcus still out cold, the jet sank undisturbed closer to the strange light. Marcus finally regained consciousness and flipped up the tinted visor that covered his eyes. As his eyes adjusted to the murky surrounding, he caught sight of the light that was becoming brighter and closer with every passing second. His eyes widened in shock and he eventually covered them due to the brightness.

  “Oh shit... This can’t be good... he thought as he sank into the light.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ponyville, Equestria

A large apple tree shook as all of its apples fell neatly into the awaiting apple cart that was positioned below. In the distance, a (very) young and high-pitched voice with a very southern like accent called out.

  “Big Mac! Applejack! Time for lunch!”

  “Be right their Sis!” Called back the orange mare known as Applejack.

Big Mac, Applejack’s brother, started to head back to the farm when he stopped and turned around.

  “You comin’?” Asked Big Mac.

Applejack just stood in place watching the horizon.

  “Wha?-Oh, yeah. Go ahead, I’ll catch up with ya.”

Big Mac just nodded and started off for the barn again. Applejack watched the afternoon sky for a few minutes, admiring the beautiful afternoon, a gentle breeze added some calming sound to the surroundings, before turning to head back. She had taken a few steps when she heard a loud crack in the distance, like a gunshot would sound like in real life, Applejack turned to look and spotted a distant white orb hovering in the sky. It grew slowly but steadily brighter until Applejack, who thought she would go blind if she staired too long, was forced to turn her head away. She looked back in time to hear yet another crack emit from the same spot, but this one was followed by a strange... thing flying out of the circle, which disappeared immediately afterwards.

  “What in the name of-”

That was before the poor pony realized that it was headed straight for her.

It approached at an extremely fast speed before Applejack, so stunned to move, saw two little things deploy on the front-sides and start shooting what looked like a blue and seethrough cone from each one. The same happened to the larger back ones as the entire flying machine angled itself backwards. Then it hit Applejack like a brick to the head; this thing was crashing, not landing, she was able to figure that out when she saw that the thing was very wobbly as it descended, and thick, black smoke billowed from the back tube. Now Applejack was running in the opposite direction as fast as she could...

~~~~~~~~~~

Marcus uncovered his eyes and looked forward.

“What the fuck was THAT?!” Marcus wondered.

That was before he heard the sound of beeping and the plane’s voice saying,

  “Emergency shutdown, initiated. Emergency shutdown, initiated. Emergency shutdown, initiated.”

Marcus by now was frantically jerking the joystick in all directions, hoping to get the planes nose upward. No luck. Then Marcus noticed the small red switch located to the right of the dashboard: the priority override. Using the priority override was a risky maneuver because it would shut down all the flight computers, stabilizers, and sensors/monitors momentarily, allowing the pilot to regain control from any situation with no assistance whatsoever. But Marcus had no choice, he flipped up the cover and flicked the switch, immediately after, the plane spoke.

  “Emergen-priority override: Delta, Foxtrot, Tango, Zulu. Startup sequence, initiated.

As the last coordinates were being mentioned, the dashboard started to come back online before Marcus’s eyes and he felt pressure on the sticks again (which was good). Without hesitation, he enabled the jump-jets (the forward placed mini-thrusters) and angled the rear thrusters downward to try and slow his descent. His tactic kind of worked except for three things: the dashboard was telling him that his back left engine was badly damaged, which meant that the amount of thrust produced by the rear engines was not stable, so the plane was very ungainly as it descended. Two, there were no stabilizers or anything like that to try and keep the plane from crashing, so he had to do that all himself. And three, there was what looked like a small horse running away from him.

“Oh no, I’m about to kill an innocent animal for nothing!” Marcus said to himself sadly.

“Wait, where the hell did it come from?!” Marcus thought to himself.

But due to his skill & experience, Marcus was able to do this just before he landed: he waited for the ground to be what he was going for as 40 meters above it, before going full throttle. This allowed him to barely hover above the ground while still trying to tilt backwards. Then he evened out the throttle to glide above the ground before Marcus did a very risky move. He completely cut power to the thrusters and folded them in just fast enough and at the right height so that he hit the dirt ground with no damage done to anything under the plane, and he knew that the landing gear would break if it took that much pressure. Marcus was jerked around inside the cockpit, with the seatbelt holding him in place, from the sudden impact.  Ultimately, knocking him out cold... Again...

~~~~~~~~~~

Applejack sprinted as fast as she could away from the object grinding through the dirt towards her. As she ran she got backed up against a massive apple tree with nowhere to go, the poor mare could only close her eyes, and wait to get flattened. She waited and listened for the sound of soil getting pushed out of the way of the thing that was going to kill her, until she finally opened her eyes only to almost have a heart attack. This mysterious... thing, had stopped with its point only mere inches from her neck.

“HO-LY. SHIT!!!!” She thought to herself.

Applejack breathed a hefty sigh of relief as she slowly moved away to the side, where she had to duck under the point to get away. This thing could not be from this world. She looked back a few times before she ran back to the barn.

Before she did anything else involving this... UFO, she had to have somepony at her side just incase and she knew that. She decided that it would be best if only Big Mac and herself knew about this until further notice, so she just acted like there was nothing up throughout lunch (which in this situation, was kind of hard). Applejack was shot some curious looks and questions during the timespan, but she just answered them with “Yes!” or “No”. After lunchtime was over, Applejack pulled Big Mac aside.

  “Big Mac, I need ya to come with me!”

  “Wha- why?” Asked Big Mac.

  “I’ll explain later, just c’mon!”

Big Mac thought it would only make things harder if he resisted any further, so he ran along side his sister to the spot where they had left off apple bucking earlier. As the large unknown object came into view, Big Mac put a hoof in front of Applejack to stop her.

  “Whoa sis, what do you think you’re doin’? Do you even know what that is?!”

  “No, but whatever it is, it wasn’t planin’ on landin’ here, somepony maybe hurt inside it!” Applejack exclaimed as she pointed out the sparks and smoke coming from the back.

  “But where would that somepony be is such a contraption? I ain't seein’ a place for guards to pull it, I also don’t see anyplace for a passenger...”

But applejack slowly walked up to the side of it anyways and asked in a shaky voice,

  “Is-is there somepony in there?”