Ten minutes into the trek into the ominous and confusing forest jungle hybrid, Lt. Goumann soon found himself in a very strange and unexpected world that even he found unbelievable. Once the hype from the drugs wore off, his mental faculties started to turn their gears and began to formulate questions that needed answers.
Though what was the most pressing was the very obvious and one he feared was the truth, the humor in it sprouting from the last few months of welcoming death if just to get some winks of sleep. From the bunkers of Thanalos II to this venerable garden of eden the pilot gandered around himself with each step he took, no scorched zone from bombs nor violent electrical storms in the skies. So alike yet different from his homeworld.
The time came when he finally asked what buzzed about his head like the mosquitoes which physically surrounded him in an attempt to feed, "Alice, are you there?"
'Yes pilot, what can I be assistance of?' it replied robotically.
Goumann breathed in slowly as he stopped before a small bog, "You and I both know the enemy would never use a weapon which sends enemy forces to another world especially one so livable as this." he let out his breath, "So what are the odds that I am dead? That this is the afterlife or the experience of death in the process? That you... you're nothing but a figment of my imagination trying to cope with death itself?"
Even though he expected an immediate response there came none, Alice hesitated as it seemed and it urked the human towards more questions as seconds became a minute. Sure the thought was more of a jovial tap on reality, yet was he really ready to acknowledge that this was a dream of a dead mind as it slowly shut down?
"Alice?"
'I'm afraid I cannot answer that theory Lt. Goumann, while true the Arch Enemy would never have such a weapon out of plausibility. I have calculated that we should continue to consider that we have still traveled to another world through some means entirely whether by the Arch Enemy or not. You did witness a fellow wingman collide and burn after running into other Hyrids? Did you not?' it asked.
Goumann bent down and put a finger into the murky water where the dragonflies began assailing the flying biters around him for an easy meal. Tapping the water's surface sent ripples outward which faded into oblivion, he could feel the coolness of the water as if it were no more real than he.
'My calculations narrow down our chances at a teleportation or wormhole to be our better chance of a reason for being here rather than death.'
"Well that makes it easier to go with then?" he bemoaned begrudgingly as he trudged on.
Birds flew away from him as did rodents which scampered into the underbrush out of threat of being eaten. Leaving only the foliage in its density to remain as his audience and acquaintance, trees to shrubs stood solemnly quiet as he journeyed by them taking the path of least resistance. His spirit wavered as the battle from which he was caste away from was likely over or still going on without him and Lead was very much pissed at his absence. Chuckling at the thought of the waste of anger from his superior, the pilot still felt guilty about not being there to die with the rest. To fall in the service of the homeworld where many were perishing each day in the throes of the final conflict.
With a head held low and one hand on his belt pack, the human fighter pilot trudged on without paying any attention to his surroundings as he rightly should have. It caused him greatly in his initial plans as something overhead sped over the tree tops as silently as an owl. Though his suit had several sensors they were limited in their range and diversity, being an S.F. pilot never meant you'd get the proper gear or high end equipment as the A.F.G.S.
No sooner had the covert sky shark circled him seven times did it finally make its strike, the blue blur dashed off and made a reverse towards the pilot. Reaching top speed for an ambush the organic mass blasted past tree limbs and branches with the ease of a vectored engine hitting a pigeon. She traveled a good ways away until finally homing in on their target with precision accuracy. Immediately using her forelimbs to make first contact, sending Goumann into the muddy ground face first before he could even realize what was going on. Before the shock and pain of the impact could be felt, his vision simply rushed towards the grassy ground with a custard clay dirt beneath it that swallowed half his frontal helmet portion. Every micro camera lens which fed the visual points into the HUD simply showed darkness as he struggled to get back to his feet.
Having no means to clean his visor, Goumann feebly wiped away what he could and peered through the far flanks of his vision to see what had come upon him. He had no luck as the thing blasted by and pushed him into the ground once again, ire turning into a mix of fear and rage as his sight was denied to him. Yet for all the need to lash out, the warning that Alice gave him stalled any attempts to yank off his protective layer of armor and recycled air for a moment of revenge. A small rune on the bottom left of his digital display warned of the very radiation that might be hazardous to him, and it came from his assailant.
Another pass had the pilot on his back with his hands in the air as they tried to reach for his sidearm, something wanted to keep him down rather than kill him. So if it was not of the Arch Enemy's perpetration than who? Surely if it were Lindwyrm trooper he'd already have a few holes in his body his fist could fit into, they were not the type to take prisoners nor was that ever an option. Dazed, shocked, and frustrated the lingering chems still kept his brain on the prize that was to stay alive and he reacted accordingly.
"ALICE!!!" he cried out, "Target now!!"
'Calculating...'
He rolled to the side before risking another jarring flip front over, his helmet's overlapping v-shaped segments coated in grim lifted up and spread outward. Revealing the reflective armor grade glass shell of his visor, though the muck still penetrated past the frontal layer and gaining a grunt of disdain.
'Target biological... no signs of Arch Enemy signatures. Possible local wildlife, recommend stun rounds to prevent potential upset with the natives who might view...'
"Alice! Don't care, loading Medusa!" his head swiveling around as he tried to keep some what of an eye on the blue animal, his hands groped for the right magazine holder all the while.
Popping out the lethal penetration rounds, the metal box thudding with a dull clank on the grass near his knees. He swiftly pinched the ammunition with quivering hands and slapped it into the pistol which glowed with an eerie blue light near the barrel. With the safety off the oscillating magnets had enough time to warm up and readied to catapult the cartridge at its intended target. Just in time as well, Goumann had equipped himself for combat just as the blue blur came back with such speed his instincts saved him from yet another collision. By twirling to the left onto a thorny bush he was but mere inches away from the creature whose afterimage seemed to sport more than the powder blue skin or armor.
As it zipped up through the tree canopy up above the pilot cursed to himself for the near mistake.
"What in the... Alice, am I being attacked by chameleon or an advertisement spam?! The damn things spectrum!!?!" he spat as he removed himself from the bramble.
'My scan is still being processed, six limbs... hair... body structure familiar to terrestrial animals of Thanalos...'
"NOT helping!" he needed to know if it had anything other than smacking into whatever it deemed a threat, did it have a stinger or venomous quills?
The thing that accosted him moved too fast for his human eyes to perceive, but the A.I. still had one last backup camera safely guarded by the visor. Still, being an S.F. pilot hampered his abilities to defend himself quicker and efficiently, his life was on the lines due to the cuts to the budget on military expenses. The generals figured the front line technological marvels would be enough for any defense, making the S.F. little more than peace keepers and border patrollers.
‘Target locked, to your left pilot.’
With the sensation of sweat pouring from every inch of his skin, he haggard through his body’s slow reaction to what his brain commanded. From the guiding words of Alice, to the red rune on his HUD, the position of himself to the trajectory of the enemy he messily aimed at where the blue blur would be coming from. No sooner did he do so had his peripheral vision caught the disturbance of the leaves as sunlight shot down into the boggy zone. His eyes widened as his heart pumped with fury, his left hand holding the firearm that shivered in and around the shot grouping which would find home.
The index finger depressed the trigger hard out of anxiousness putting the barrel just high enough to send the bullet higher than needed. There was no boom, not crack in the air as the mechanism of the sidearm sucked the capsule out at high velocity. The hollow point tipped shell raced towards the beasts anticipated route, the entire round essentially an electric field generator that activated upon proximity.
Everything happened so quickly that the only visible affirmation that Goumann’s shot did clip the assailant was the bright white blare and a short lived hum before the blue blur missed the fighter pilot and careened into the dense undergrowth of the Everfree. Though by then he simple looked in awe at having hit the thing when he knew it should have missed, he was never the best shot with a weapon in his hands. Put him into an aircraft and he could hold his own even if he had rarely shot down an actual foe and not a transport or runaway barge.
‘Target neutralized pilot, the effect will last for an unknown amount of time. I suggest you leave the area before it recovers.’
Deep breathes drew from his mouth agape, the wash of adrenaline overwhelmed the lingering chems as if he had ice cold water thrown on him. He could feel every blood vessel pulsing, his eye twitching, the finger still holding down the trigger for a moment longer until he finally released himself.
‘Pilot, respond, pilot?’
Goumann slowly turned his head to the visible path through the shrubbery behind him. The flight suit crinkling and rubbing against armor and fabric that sounded much louder than it did. What had he shot?
‘Pilot? Lieutenant Goumann?’
Something inside him however forced his limbs to act, in the dwindling high of his own biological chemistry with the synthetic junk. He had to see what it was, like any good pilot worth his weight in metal and fuel you had to make sure the enemy was shot out of the sky. Otherwise if they survived and damaged, they were usually like a cornered animal and would come back to haunt your flight. Your mistake could doom another pilot not expecting a wounded bird to sting them.
‘Pilot I do not recommend this course of action.’
Heeding no attention the man jogged onwards, with his weapon at the ready should the shot prove ineffective other than jostling the animal. He ignored the puddles of mud he trampled through that made his approach loud and alarming, branches and twigs crunched under the armored boots. Pouches, gear, and belt straps tapped and juggled to every lift of the leg with each step that lasted the whole three minutes of the tracking before the thing was finally found.
Even Alice was rather curious at the reveal, when Goumann came to a stop in a clearing and there was his quarry. His pistol trained yet wobbling at the unbelievable sight of the six limbed wildlife, he froze in place as both Alice and he tried to accept what they were looking at.
If Lead was there with him, it would have been the first time he’d see his C.O. look shocked and weirded out. The Madam was always the machine type, due to her post she couldn’t display much emotion other than anger for being shouldered with what the real fly boys should be doing. What a sight it would have been, because from where he stood he gandered at a Trokilican of his home if only compact and miniature. Wings which were too small to give lift or much of a hover if its bones were hollow and light, a mane of many colors which had to be artificial stunned his eyes. Even the tail had the same mirroring octopi spectrum as the head, dirtied with leaves and wood though nonetheless magnificent to view.
Large ears were moving about as they tracked his presence, it oddly enough had a dexterous range of movement with its limbs. He came upon it as it did a human thing and rubbed its ridiculously large eyes compared to the size of its skull. It could still move and it seemed as though the stun shot did nothing to its muscles and only affected its vision. While not a good thing that his only less than lethal option had barely an effect on the creature, he hoped it was smart enough to find him a big enough threat to stay away from.
‘Unable to analyze, the unknown radiation is emanating from the mutant. Warning. Sensors indicating a spike of the radiation, your suit will not survive such exposure pilot.’
“Are you saying it’s contaminated?!” his mental facilities began to function properly.
‘Recommend evacuation of area around target.’
Goumann realized his mistake and started to step back slowly just as the blue horse started to regain their vision. It scowled at first as it tried to see through the blobs of color that gave way eventually, all the while it spoke words though he couldn’t understand them. It freaked the pilot out far more than its dexterity, the fact that it had vocalizations that were not whining or snorts meant he was defiantly not on a human controlled world. There were humans and then there were animals with predators of varying degrees making the exception.
The blue fur coated animal spat out what could only be vehement curses as it rubbed its eyes, “What the hay was that!?!”
Rainbow Dash squinted through what was visible and scanned around herself, eventually gazing upon the monster she sought to subdue by any means. He stood in a manner that appeared to be fearful and it empowered the pegasi, though she still couldn’t make as much of a course of flight so much as stand. The two faced off with one of them attempting to leave.
“Hey you!!? Ya you ya stinky ole compost heap! Don’t run away… stay and fight or are ya a wuss!?” the mare beckoned though her words reached no ears.