Ghostriders on the ground?
Chapter 3: Ghostriders on the ground?
Chaos surveyed the land running parallel to the train tracks below. It wasn’t ideal, at least not for a large AC-130 to land on. Currently, as far as he could figure, it was about four thousand feet of straight away. Possibly a little less, but it wasn’t so much the length that currently concerned him. Their two potential approaches were what bothered him, he could come in towards the direction of that mountain city. However, at the end of that potential run-in, the tracks jerked violently in front of their path as they began their ascent into the mountains. If he followed that route, he ran the risk of going nose end into the track’s berm.
On the opposite approach, it was even worse, he would have to hug the mountain before bringing it in a tight right-hand turn. He would lose precious runway as he wouldn’t be able to descend until they could level out. To make matters worse, the treeline at the end of that side of the tracks made the gravel and dirt berm look friendly. But at least flying over the tree lines on the opposite approach he could bring it in low and level towards the mountain. His decision was rather simple in the end.
“Crew, Decent Checks.” The pilot said.
“Copy Pilot, I just finished bandaging the Nav, he’s passed out but he’s secure.” Struggle responded.
The Pilot banked the aircraft out of their orbit, setting themselves on a trajectory over the treeline.
“Keep me informed, if you can, start on the crash landing checks.” He responded, before telling the Eng to continue the checklist.
“Crew Briefing.” Story pimped the pilot.
“Alright crew here’s the plan, we’ve got about four thousand feet of runway. I’ll bring her around over that tree line, and then we’ll go one hundred percent flaps-
Unaware of the crew’s plan, Princess Celestia watched intently as the large gray beast circled high above. She had decided to err on the side of caution by simply observing the metal beast from her balcony. It had circled above Ponyville for quite some time. However, when it turned South, still trailing smoke, she had hoped that perhaps it might have left altogether. But much to her chagrin it turned back around and began losing altitude, she could tell whatever it was it would soon be earthbound. Drawing from her years of experience, Celestia could tell this incident would not blow over if she ignored it. Glancing behind her she picked out the closest guard to herself.
“Bring Lieutenant Swift Stroke to me. Inform him to quickly assemble an escort of pegasi.” She said.
Celestia clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth as she wondered if this incident would make the day worse or better.
“Pilot, Load. Are we going to dump any ammo or fuel?”
“Negative Load, I would rather hang onto any supplies we can. We’ll land heavy if we have to.”
“Copy.” Struggle was running ragged across the gundeck, tying down loose equipment, checking hydraulic lines and double checking his work.
“Load, are the guns extended and stowed?” The Eng asked.
“No, I’m working on that Eng.” He grunted in frustration before making his way to the loader weapon control panel. He furiously began flipping switches, but none of the guns moved. He was baffled for a few moments before he silently cursed under his breath.
Fuck that's right, we lost the Booster Hydraulics.
“Hold on, I need to manually extend and stow the guns, the booster was damaged so it will take me a few more minutes.”
“Well make it quick, the Eng is starting to get fluctuating RPM’s on three.” Replied Chaos.
“Well if you can magic four more gunners out of your ass then by all means, otherwise, shut the fuck up ,I’m doing what I can as fast as I can.”
Struggle grabbed the manual drive assembly and rotated its handles with such abandon that his rotator cuff began to scream in agony. The guns begrudgingly elevated under his command. With the 105 millimeter, and 40 millimeter stowed he went around the aft of the largest gun and began pumping the handle to extend it.
“Load, we are on our final approach, you've got five minutes if that.” Chaos said.
No fucking pressure or anything. Struggle grunted to himself, only a few more inches and the gun would be fully extended.
Meanwhile Celestia’s mind raced at the possibilities the large craft could have in store for her. She had gathered her contingent and had left Canterlot a few minutes ago, they had kept their distance but it was clear now to her that it was a flying machine. Unlike any of the ones in Canterlot, but a flying machine nonetheless.
Its smoke trail grew as it descended on Ponyville, no sooner had it left the forest then had it touched down on the ground, bouncing violently near the train tracks. Kicking up dirt, and spitting smoke. She watched the seemingly helpless airship futilely try to slow down. By the time it had reached the halfway point of Ponyville, it became clear to her that it may not be capable of slowing itself down in time before it reached the base of the mountain.
“Guard! On me! Our guest may need some assistance.”
Struggle had barely missed making it to his seat by the time the aircraft hit the dirt, which brought him hard to the floor. The landing was rough, and he took no pride in the fact that three bounces was a new personal record on landing. But he couldn’t help but breath a small sigh of relief that they were at least on the ground now, as he unsteadily got to his feet and made it the last little way to the right scanner window. He diverted his attention from the window to make sure the Nav was still secure. Sure enough, he was still there, even if he looked like he was doing an impression of a bobble head.
As he switched his attention back to the world outside, he saw the town for the first time at eye level pass him. Thatch roofs, and colorful buildings blurred by him. The speed, violent shakes, and harsh jerks made it hard to focus on the smaller details. The few animated forms he saw watched him pass with rapt attention, and for the first time he saw its citizens from something other than a bird’s eye view. In a way, he wished he hadn’t, as it confirmed they were quadrupedal in nature. Their colorful forms and wide eyes spoke of intelligence.
Struggle could feel the g-forces as the engines reversed their thrust, trying to slow their speed. He slowly lurched forward under the shifting momentum, stopped only by his recently harnessed shoulder straps and their convenient inertial reel. The town had fled from his vision, replaced by a landscape of rolling hills and sprawling fields.
“Crew, brace for impact,” The Pilot said. Wait what!?!
Chaos had pulled fully back on the throttles, his legs were both applied to the brakes, hoping that anything would find the traction needed to stop their forward momentum. But as the mountain grew larger, he realized all was lost. They would hit the berm, the cockpit would be crushed and his life would end along with it. Closing his eyes he prayed for it to end swiftly.
But as the cabin rocked, and he thought the end was nigh, he realized that he hadn’t died. He could still feel the breath ragged as it was, escape him. Cautiously he opened his eyes, to find that the berm was mere inches from having impacted the nose of the aircraft, and a golden shimmer seemed to dance along the windshield.
A bead of sweat dropped down Celestia’s brow. Stopping the extremely heavy machine wasn’t as difficult as moving the Sun, but after the day’s events, it had taken an extraordinary effort to stop. She let out a ragged sigh in relief, saving the creature had left her fatigued. However, the effort was worth answering a few of her questions, especially if it meant keeping her subjects safe.
“After Landing checks.” The Pilot called.
“Everyone alright up there?” The Load asked.
“Yes Load, besides the Co pissing himself.”
“Skittish Tombs, very skittish.”
“Knock it off Load, we’re in a checklist.”
“Co-pee. Pilot.”
Struggle disengaged his seat belt, quickly setting to his task of setting his gear back into his helmet bag that he had brought up to the window. Afterward, he went back to the gundeck, checking to see if any of the equipment had shifted. He was pleasantly surprised to see that everything had remained put.
He waited for the engines to down-speed as he leaned against the small window in the right paratroop door, watching the flames from the number three engine be smothered in fire extinguisher fluid. It was a bit abnormal as the engine choked alongside its brother, the number four engine. After he made his way to the ramp and door control panel, this time armed with the knowledge of the booster system being out, he set on the task of pumping both systems, the ramp lowered while cargo door opened one agonizing pump at a time. When the world outside was revealed, he was slightly startled to see that a group of locals had already decided on hanging back about a hundred meters from the aircraft.
Well this isn’t close encounters of the third kind, the ramp maybe down, but I still have other work to do. The take me to your leader part can wait.
“Static right.” The Co-pilot called.
“Load, clear to insert wheel chocks.” Chaos said.
“In progress. Load is checking off.” Struggle waited for the pilot to copy before disconnecting his comm cord, and jumping out the aircraft with the first set of chocks. After landing heavily, he threw the chocks down on the grass, before kicking one behind the back wheel, and one in front of it. Before making his way to the ramp to grab the second set to repeat on the opposite side.
“Loads up, chocks in place.”
“Copy Load, Engine shutdown checks complete. Alright, crew clean up your stations, Load wake the Nav if you can and we’ll gather at the end of the ramp to debrief and gameplan. Cleared off crew.”
With that Struggle took his headset off and rested it on his shoulders, as he began to roll up his comm-cord on the way back to the crew rest compartment.
Celestia was clearly confused, it was obvious that the species that she had seen in the craft was none she knew of. Why hadn’t she heard about a new species being discovered, or for that matter, stories of them if they built complicated looking machines. The gears in her head were turning but she was clearly missing a piece of the puzzle. She watched as one of the creatures in her sight turned in their direction, but simply ignored them as it went about performing other tasks, clearly disinterested by her and her guards' presence. She didn’t know whether to be insulted or impressed.
She watched curiously as it picked up a pair of yellow painted wooden blocks connected by a rope. Before it jumped down out of the craft and placed them underneath what appeared to be the craft's wheels. Although she had never seen the substance they were made of.
It shortly disappeared back into the craft after completing the task.
It wasn’t long however before other occupants from inside the craft began to emerge from the darkness within. The new additions however seemed far more interested in her, and her guards' presence. Perhaps the first one was some type of servant class, or of a diminished intelligence. However, he to shortly returned, cradling what appeared to be a wounded one of their number.
Oh dear, I wonder what happened.
“Welcome back to the land of the living Papa.” Struggle said.
“Ugh, joy, I’m back. I still feel like shit though. I take it we’ve landed.”
“Yeah we’re there sunshine...we’re there.”
“Alright, give me a sec.” The Nav unbuckled his seat, and slowly sat up before hunching over.
“Ugh, why’s this shit always happening to me. Hate to ask, but do you mind giving me a hand standing up?” Struggle extended his hand to the Nav before rocking his weight to bring the Nav to his feet. He stumbled a bit before Struggle hooked the Nav’s arm over his shoulder.
“Woah there.” He chuckled before continuing. “You might need more than a hand, just lean on me... when your not strong~" At the Nav's deadpan Struggle cleared his throat, "right, Chaos want’s us to meet up in the back.”
“Well, lead the way.”
Struggle carefully helped the Nav to sit down on the ramp, before jumping off of it himself to join the three other crew members of the plane off the edge. Rummaging through his left cargo pocket he fished out his pack of cigarettes before pulling one out.
“You know you're not supposed to smoke on U.S Air Force aircraft Struggle.” Said the Pilot. Struggle arched a brow before slowly looking behind him to the craft in question.
“Well then it’s a good thing I’m not smoking on the aircraft, just next to it.” Before he brought up his lighter to the cigarette.
“Do you really think that’s smart, we’ve got alien guests. What if they take offense to its smell or something.”
“Well then Pilot, I would imagine they wouldn’t have sat themselves downwind of our aircraft's exhaust if they were so sensitive. Besides..." He paused to blow a puff of smoke away from his crew, "I think we have bigger fish to fry, like not ignoring the insanity of the fact that there’s a group of aliens in golden armor eyeballing us from a couple hundred feet away.” The Lieutenant decided now would be an opportune time to butt in.
“What do we do Major?”
“We go over our innocent circumstances statement that’s what.” The pilot responded. Eliciting a chuckle from Struggle.
“Really? I doubt our survival school training covers this. Besides if I were them I don’t think I would be satisfied with...” Struggle comically dropped his voice an octave before continuing. “We have found ourselves in your country through no fault of our own, in support of Operation blah blah blah...That’s seriously not going to cut it. Also if they can speak our language, you can shave my ass and call me Shirley.
“Just going to ignore that last part, besides how would you know Struggle, you been through something like this before? That’s what our regulations tell us to say, so that’s what we’ll say.” To this Struggle groaned.
“Look, this isn’t anything we’ve covered, this is a unique situation and we have to treat it as such. Also do we ever strictly follow the regs in combat? No, no we don’t. We adapt them to an ever evolving situation, I don’t see how this is any different. Well you know, besides the potentially alien planet thing...and that this isn’t combat. But you know, semantics and stuff.” He said before taking another puff, careful to blow it in the opposite direction of his comrades.
“I’d have to agree with Struggle, Pilot, there’s nothing in the regs on this.” Story responded.
“Alright, maybe we can be a little more forthcoming. But I would still be more comfortable with allowing them to come to us. Peacetime scenarios clearly dictate that we don’t try to establish contact, but we don’t try to evade it either. So we’ll wait for our friends over there, and then we’ll just roll with the punches. But take this seriously, act professionally, and don’t do anything obscene.” Struggle merely smiled before responding.
“Co-pee.” Followed by a chorus of groans from the crew. Besides the Nav, who was still hunched over. Who either didn’t understand, or simply didn’t care to give a response.
Celestia’s ears were pointed forward, while she wasn’t proud that she had thrown a sound enhancing spell on herself to eavesdrop on her new guests. She had been around long enough to know to take any advantage she could find in potential diplomatic talks. Usually that was just sponging information off of maids for visiting dignitaries, but she wasn’t averse to doing the hoofwork herself. When the garbled nonsense of the creatures came back, she huffed before weaving two spells together. The first of which hid her magical signature from sight, the other was Clover the Clever’s universal translation spell.
Clover’s spell itself was ingenious, translating the spell’s target language into the casters. The principle of the spell worked off of translating the specific idea that was meant to be conveyed into something tangible for the caster, while also doing the same for the target. Certain words that had no analog between the species would simply be translated phonetically into an approximate. All words except swear words in any case. Turns out Clover the Clever saw the potential for abuse of the spell, more specifically a pony casting the spell on themselves just to cuss out another pony in their language. When the mess of sound solidified into something she could understand, she listened attentively.
As she listened she learned a wealth of information, most importantly she had pinpointed this group's de-facto leader. One going by the name Major Pilot. Normally she would have thought Major to be a rank, but none of the others had been referred to by rank so far and she had heard of odder names. Even if it was clear to her by now, that this seemed to be a professional organization if not a military. The most important thing she had learned though, was that this gathering of a new species seemed like they wanted to avoid hostilities.
That earned them a modicum respect in her book, enough at least that she couldn’t help the ear-splitting grin on her face at the prospect of a new peaceful sapient species emerging. She couldn't help but think of all that they could learn from each other.
That grin soon dropped as she went over the mention of two things, the first being the word combat. The second that one of them mentioned that this might not be their planet.
“Come Gentlecolts, I think it’s high time we introduce ourselves to our new guests,” Celestia ordered. Lieutenant Swift Stroke who had been silent for much of their observation decided to throw in his two bits.
“After you, your highness.”
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That variation of Ghost Rider's in the Sky is different than what I'm used to. My grandpa used to listen to the Johnny Cash version. Still, fairly OK.
Capitalize.
7102411 Corrected, thanks for spotting the error.
Shouldn't the leader be requesting medical attention for PH? I he seems to be left alone with his wounds while everybody stares. And Big C doesn't even seem to be concerned about the injured Human.
You got featured!
7102443 Oh gawd, I know you probably didn't mean that to be funny. But man did I double over laughing at my oversight on that one. Yeah I'll ad a little snip it in there just so it's clear that everyone hasn't forgotten about their injured crew member.
Not too bad. This certainly looks like it will be interesting!
One or two nitpicks:
Both the crew and Celestia seem rather blasé about their navigator's injuries. I mean, sure, encountering an alien race is going to overshadow a few bumps and bruises... But the poor guy has a third degree burn that hurt badly enough that he passed out. I'd expect a little medical attention from his friends, and perhaps a bit of concern from Celestia...
Celestia's priorities seem a tad skewed... As in "Hey, potential ambassador's from a new species of sapient! " is quickly followed by "Oops! Gotta run! I've got a wedding to attend!!" and ends with "I'll just have my chariot picks you guys up later.." I'd expect first contact to be a BIT more important than a wedding. On the other hand, First Contact's may not be such a big deal or surprise given how many intelligent species live on this world. And Celestia seems to have some idea how the humans came to be here, so perhaps she has good reason to decide that they're less important than the wedding.
They parked their AC-130 on the railroad tracks leading to Canterlot. I'm gonna assume that's a pretty important transit line, and that the ponies might want that big metal bird out of the way so they can get the trains running on time again. (assuming the landing didn't wreck the tracks.) Though I imagine that issue will come up in the future.
All in all, looking forward to the next chapter.
7102485 Hopefully what I added fixes that little oversight of Papa Hotel's. I'll touch more on why she wanted to get back to the wedding so quickly next chapter. They also landed parallel to the tracks not on them. Of course you would be correct in assuming it's currently blocking the tracks by merit of the wings hanging over the tracks themselves, that will be resolved next chapter also.
Skittish tombs...like he reference. I like this story, it's a good fun read! Keep it up!
I do have to admit that it does get rather tiresome of the "dark brooding kill 'em all soldiers" stuff. I do agree with some of the others that the interaction between Chaos and Celestia not sitting right.
Im slightly confused with the engine management system, as I assumed the blade pitch controller was seperate from the throttle position, so for going in full reverse thrust, youd first back off the throttles to lower the stress on the blade pitch actuator, wind it right past feather, then put those throttles not just full forward but through second gate, given its last landing, winding the boost up as well. Then again, pushing forward on the stick to raise the elevators to give downforce would be more likely to stress the nose gear and on rough ground collapse it?
Its days like this makes you wish you had the RATO Special. What Stadium.
I want to read more!!! It's awesome!!!!!!!!
While I myself am not military and thus do not know for certain, but this meeting seems to just violate protocol. You would think that they would try to be a little bit more professional; on both sides.
Also...
forum.subterraneangames.com/attachments/cultist-chan-jpg.2864/
I'm not military, so take what I say with a grain of salt..
If I was in the crews shoes I would not trust the ponies after realizing that the ponies could do extraordinary things, as well as knowing that the leader herself can evesdrop from a long distance away. I wouldn't talk except for the bare minimum because any info I let slip may be heard by anybody at any time.
If any actual military read this can you please tell me what you would do?
7102806 I'm military, or about to be ex-military. But I doubt I hold much merit since I'm the author, and my story is already peppered with my opinions. But truth be told, without any knowledge of Equestria. I'm not really sure how I would handle it, truth be told comedy is a common go to for combat soldiers dealing with something unsettling. So them acting unprofessionally in my eyes is a defense mechanism to deal with what they consider insanity. Then again, these particular people I'm writing about are accustomed to insanity. Do they act normally in this insane situation? No, but how many times have they blown up people, flown through AAA and man pads. How many fires on the aircraft have they fought, and still not turned in their wings. These people, and combat troops at large are always just a bit off their rocker. Trying to pin down a rational reaction within a group of people who continue to act irrationally in the eyes of the larger population is impossible. To them what do they have to hide so far? As far as they know, Equestria could either be leagues behind them in technology or leagues ahead, either way their little aircraft wouldn't make a difference. To the Chinese or Russian's sure getting their hands on a gunship would be useful for reverse engineering it. But without a understanding of the technology involved it's just gibberish. So them not being tight lipped at least makes sense in my mind.
7102751 Read above.
7102540 I would like to add to that little nitpicking if I can; the issue of the "we are from another world" seem to be a bit sidestepped. The crew came to that conclusion just like that, accepted it and just went on their merry way. Celestia didn't react to that affirmation either, almost as if it is an every day occurence...
Aside from that, it look interesting enough to get an upvote
So happy to see the checklists run. Still have high expectations for this story. Worried about them leaving no human guards at the AC, but also see how they have the rock and hard place issue. Or perhaps they are humoring her and going to make life difficult for the folks that come to pick them up.
7104498 No worries, it's a justified nitpick. I'll cover and expand on most of this in the next chapter to hopefully make up for anything that remains jarring in this one. I should have just kept it as a 10k chapter it would have been.
7102978
One thing that could be considered isn't so much the views of the soldiers, but Celestia's behavior.
In the original episodes, it seems like the wedding takes more priority than National Security does once the changelings are ejected from Canterlot. Not only is no action taken that we can be aware of to verify where they went, and that their threat has been neutralized, but the wedding is back on before the end of the day. As if a threat to the national security of the sovereign nation of Equestria had little more weight than a thug crashing the wedding and flipping a table before being escorted out by a bouncer.
The city was attacked and property damage abounds. Cadance has been locked in a mine and deprived for an undetermined amount of time and should need recovery time, Shining is in who-knows-what state after his slow draining and sudden recharge, and the wedding measures themselves should be a mess.
At the very LEAST, the wedding should have been postponed several days to a week. Instead, everything is as if nothing ever happened within' HOURS. (To the point Luna can float in asking if she missed anything.) The delay should be even MORE prominent with the appearance of an AC-130 occurring at the same time, especially if it has been involved in the incident (as a victim taking fire from hostiles). Double and treble that when you consider the 'new species from another world' angle.
All things considered, Celestia's priorities in-story come off as a little flippant. And her justification to remove the flight crew from their aircraft is weak. They may be a little off their rocker as service men and thus seem to be handling things strangely well... But Celestia should recognize their desires and behaviors as Ruler who's had a guard and military serving her for a millennium. "These are soldiers. They do not abandon their equipment because a foreign ruler walks up to them and says they might scare the locals! I should be treating them like dignitaries and soldiers who may have orders to defend their assets with their lives."
Besides, they're grounded on the edge of Ponyville. The town known for every citizen making for shelter the moment even fuzzy animals start looking like they might consider wanting to dress up as somewhat threatening.
The above considered, Celestia, if not canceling the wedding and postponing the event, should be at the very least understanding of a team of Soldiers guarding their equipment. Leave the Hyoomins alone, post a squad of Guardstallions to keep Ponyville Citizens from prying, and come back ASAP. So what if rumor somehow comes down the mountain in the time needed to finish the wedding? What's ponyville going to do, attack? Did we not just establish Ponyville as cowardice central?
Overall, I feel Celestia's overstretching her perceived authority in a first meeting situation. And I think the flight crew is going with it a liiiiiittle too easily.
7104927 7102485 7102648 7102751 7102663 7104498 7104734 7104927 Thank you gentleman for your inputs, and for helping me see the inherent flaws in this chapter. As such I'll leave it as it stands only till a properly rewritten chapter can replace it. If any of you would like to be a pre-reader for the revised version of this chapter when its completed let me know. I hate that I'm doing this to those who've already read this chapter, but its better to head this off now I think.
Very Respectfully,
Ambros
P.S. I have axed everything after Celestia decides to make contact with the humans, the majority of problems start after that. That way I can add it to the next chapter to fix.
7104927 I always figured that having the wedding happening rigth away was supposed to be a way to reassure everyone that the danger was gone, that the nation was still strong and so on. I can easily imagine thing happening behind the scene to deal with the aftermath.
And since they won, a joyous event to celebrate the victory isn't inapropriate at all.
Nice job so far...After reading the summary of your story i had high hopes,and it does not disappoint keep up the good writing i'm looking forward to the next chapter.
so it a
AC-130J Ghostrider model
fourth generation gunship
General Characteristics
Primary Function: Close air support and air interdiction with associated collateral missions
Builder: Lockheed Martin
Power Plant: Four Rolls-Royce AE 2100D3 Turboprops
Thrust: 4,591 shaft horsepower
Wingspan: 132 feet 7 inches (39.7 meters)
Length: 97 feet 9 inches (29.3 meters)
Height: 38 feet 10 inches (11.9 meters)
Speed: 362 knots at 22,000 feet
Ceiling: 28,000 feet with 42,000 lb payload
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 164,000 lbs
Range: 3,000 miles
Crew: Two pilots, two combat systems officers, and three enlisted gunners
Armament: Precision Strike Package (PSP) - 30mm GAU-23/A cannon; 105mm cannon and SOPGM (Standoff Precision Guided Munitions) ie. GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb and the AGM-176 Griffin missile
Date Deployed: TBD
Unit Cost: $109 million (fiscal 2010 dollars)
Inventory: Active force, 32 by fiscal 2021
Guess what? You're gonna be rich. now go scout around and get many gems.
Note: I like this story and horse noise. AND no gore.
fantastic story you have my up vote and follow.this is one fun read! well done sir! each new chapter will be well worth the wait!
Typo
its
7110269 Thanks I'll take care of them.
MOOOORE
ok one....PEOPLE STOP WRITING LONG COMMENTS. Two....when will there be more?
Okay, I'm pleased with this tale so far. Looking forward to official first contact...and the inevitable encounter between Twilight and the aircraft, complete with nerdgasm.
The bloody cliffhanger, ugh.
The story is good tho, no "LETS MURDER ALL THE STUFFZ IM A BRUTAL SORDIER RIP AND TEAR MOAR DAKKA MOAR SHOOTA" so far brings hope.
Dead story?
7179053 No, not at all.
LONG LIVE A GOOD STORY
I'm liking this story!
Great story!! I cannot wait for the next update!!!
Morrrre
7241522 You'll have your wish soon enough, just piecing together the last few bits of the next chapter before I'm ready for it to be edited.
7241551
Well now, that's just what I wanna hear!
New Callsign Confirmed, "Shirley", now bend over for your butt-shaving. :D
Descent (unless the pilot's worried the air crew is nude or sumtin?
)
They picked up Riddick along the way?
Lt. Swift Stroke just earned a new nickname Pvt. Chicken legs.
well, that certainly explains why they didn't shoot back at the changelings in the last chapter!
So now I'm curious, are wireless headsets too new to be on military aircraft? Seems like it would be a lot more helpful than wired comms you keep needing to connect and disconnect. Then again my wireless headset seems to have issues when i go outside downstairs, so maybe it's other concerns/too new and full of bugs?
8855985
As far as I understand, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Also, from what I can see and read, military vehicles tend to rely more on tried-and-true technology, especially so in the case of communications - doubly so if the enemy can use jamming techniques. It wouldn't do if your enemy could just jam your radios from the relative safety of their bunkers, now would it? Especially since it would effectively destroy crew communication... and that's something you just can't allow to happen.
Hello Shirley !
My name is Sheryl . 
Okay, I left the "Like" by the desk, and the "mark" in te corner, so I guess this would qualify for the "Comment"..
I've been enjoying the tail this far, so don't screw it up now?