Bogeys Writing Event Ch 3

First Part

Part 2

This writing event is an attempt by multiple authors to write a coherent story with limited exposure to the previous works.

The first thing to pass through Steve’s mind as he leaped with the jump jet was as thrilling as sobering. “I have no idea how to land this fucking thing,” he thought as the wind hit his face. Luckily, the part of his brain that does the worrying was drowned out by the sheer amount of dopamine coursing through his system as his heart beat like a drum in a metal concert.

Reaching the crux of his jump, he felt his H. ARM’s harness buckle for a second. as the recoil from the jump pack’s secondary thrusters kicked on. Mark and Rachel hollered at him from below, and as Steve looked down he realized he must be hovering 50 feet into the air, given how his squad mates looked like ants. He couldn’t even see the flames in Rachel’s eyes and might have mistaken her for a large kobold if he didn’t know any better. Suzie herself was like a parakeet at this height.

“How’s the weather spaceman!” Mark called from below. Steve smiled and waved “Pretty good, I almost can’t tell you’re a manlet from up here!” Rachels laughed as Mark looked almost offended by the comment before laughing himself. Suzie put a feathered hand over he mouth, trying to hide her giggles. As I hovered Minata began to move her sticky form under me, readying herself to catch me should the thrusters give out.

From right behind my ears I heard a crackling before the engineer spoke. His words were barely audible over the thrusters. “As I was saying before you decided to take an early flight, the prototype joysticks will tell the exo to hover at your current altitude when kept at a neutral position. You have to move both of them in the same direction to move, and you can twist them to orient yourself. Push them together to descend. Now let’s do some basic manu-”

Steve watched as the engineer looked to his side. He cut his mic as he took out his phone and picked up the call. Steve couldn’t know what he was talking about till he started shouting at the top of his lungs. “YOU WHAT, NO, WE CAN’T! IT’S STILL IN THE TESTING STAGES!” The thrusters drowned out the rest of what the engineer was talking about, but it was clear he was pissed. Steve heard the static of the radio come back on as the engineer began to give Steve his new orders

“Change of fucking plans I guess. Top brass is coming to see these things in action, which includes munitions testing. I’ll remotes activate your weapons, Rachel and Mark will join you in the flight tests and will be using conventional munitions to test stability. If you fuck this up this project is dead, so don’t fuck this up.” Steve heard the gun on his arm click before feeling it recoil for a second as the integrated magic munitions settled into the prime position. Before he could think about it he heard Mark and Rachel fly up on either side of him.

Rachel’s tail wagged as the hellhound looked Steve in the eye. “Guess top brass isn’t all that bad,” the hellhound laughed. Mark wobbled as he tried to get used to the controls, “Did they really have to make the straps ride your ass?” Steve laughed, “Just keep up you two, or else you’ll be eating fumes!” He said, flying off ahead of them.

Back on the ground, Harnsworth stood at his console, reading the diagnostics, pissed at how rushed this testing is. He understood how important it was, how it was an arms race to implement magic and mana into modern-day weaponry and armor. At the same time, however, he felt the brass weren’t taking this seriously. Did they truly not understand the danger of sudden incubation? Or were they hoping this project would fail to cut costs and push a new tank or jet? “At least the readings look good,” he thought to himself. He brought the radio to his face as he spoke into it, breath filled with annoyance, anger, and yet a little bit of excitement to see his hard work come to fruition.

“Rachel, you will be using your minigun for this test to see the effects of heavy munitions recoil mid-flight, and during movement. Mark your job will be to test stability and accuracy with rifle weaponry. Steve, do not touch that fucking gun until I give you the ok. We only get one shot at this, so make it count. Godspeed.” With that, Harnsworth flicked the power to the range, and pressed the newly lit button on the console, releasing ground and aerial combat dummies as he had Suzie and Minata clear the area. Finally he turned on heat mapping and mana mapping cameras, and held a prayer on his breath as he watched his work in action

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