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Join Date: Jan 2008
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Okay so you know how I am. I can never make my mind up and leave anything alone. So the Strikeforce Delta story I mentioned in MAC Preview #1 has now been retitled STRAFE.
Here is a bit of background on STRAFE it stands for STRategic Action for First Encounters. I know the acronym isn't great but I think it works. Let me know what you think of the first issue
"ASSAULT AT POINT BREAK"
“Raven Two this is Saber come in.”
“Go ahead Saber this is Raven.”
The Colonel known as Saber took another look at the screen before speaking again “Raven Two your target is about fifteen clicks southwest but there is something else. We’ve just detected three bogeys zeroing in on your position.”
“Copy that Saber I will break off bombing run and engage the bogeys first, Raven Two out.”
“Negative Raven Two orders are to stand down and disengage. Get yourself out of there.”
The pilot of the JSF-64X Rogue Raven shook his head to himself. He was here to do a job and it was going to get done. He cut all communications and entered into a vertical climb taking him well above the clouds. Then he waited for his radar to pick up the bogeys. Soon they were directly below him. He waited a few more seconds for them to pass by and then he dropped out of the clouds to come up behind them.
Raven Two could clearly see the other fighters and noticed they were Fifth Series PF-78 Vectors. He knew these fighters were faster than his own Rogue Raven but he did have one advantage, the JSF-64X was completely invisible to radar. He only hoped he’d be able to confuse them.
The pilot waited for his Raven to get a target lock and fired off one of his Sidewinders. The Vector on the left went up in flames as the missile found its mark. The other two fighters went into a divide and conquer routine. Raven Two yanked back on his stick and disappeared into the clouds above. The PF-78 pilots looked around trying to get a visual but to no avail. After a few more seconds they decided to follow the Raven.
Raven Two smiled as he soared higher above the clouds and braked hard. The Vectors soared past and he fired off another missile causing yet another explosion. But then something happened, the last PF-78 disappeared from the Rogue Raven’s radar.
“What the hell?” Raven Two asked himself.
Suddenly the Vector appeared behind him and opened up with its twin 50mm cannons. One lucky shot hit the Raven’s fuel tank and the fighter burst into flames as its pilot ejected.
“AAAAAAHHHHHHH” Corey Wraith screamed as his memories of that encounter flooded back to him.
He shot up in bed drenched in sweat and looked around. Finding himself in his personal quarters at Area 51 he relaxed a little. His nightmare had a way of reminding him of why he no longer wore the Officer rank of Captain and why he was now assigned here to this facility. A place the Army thought of as a career ender. Even the “higher ups” at the Pentagon thought that Area 51 was a good place to stash soldiers out of sight and out of mind.
“This is just great” he said staring at his alarm clock “only 0130 and I’m wide awake.” Getting up from his bed he pulled on his sweat pants and laced up his running shoes “might as well get an early start” he said leaving the room.
Getting topside took him nearly twenty minutes as Area 51 was ten miles underground. As he stepped outside he could smell the fresh air of Groom Lake, Nevada and he smiled. This was definitely the right place for him at this point in his life, regardless of how he got here. Corey Wraith began to jog out towards the dirt road when he noticed something strange in the night sky.
“What the hell?” he swore as a meteorite entered the atmosphere and streaked across the sky.
The rock disappeared from view and the Army Sergeant could not make out where it might have landed. Suddenly alarms were blaring all around him as more soldiers made their way topside. The guards were securing the perimeter around Area 51 as a haggard looking gentleman came running up to Wraith.
“Sir, Director Westlake requests your presence inside” the secretary explained between gasps of breath “immediately!” and with that the man turned around and headed back in the direction he had come.
Corey Wraith followed him at a swift pace and walked into the CORE Director’s office right behind the aid “sir” he greeted crisply.
Robbie Westlake who preferred to be called the Director motioned for Corey Wraith to be seated. Then he pulled a manila envelope from the top drawer of his desk and tossed it across to the sergeant. As Wraith began rifling through the papers inside the Director lit a cigar with a match and took a puff.
“I am sure you noticed the meteorite?” Director Westlake asked and then continued on without waiting for an answer “well our satellites didn’t detect this rock until it breached our outer atmosphere.”
“Impossible” Wraith commented “the early warning system should have detected it as soon as it entered the Milky Way.”
“And therein lies the problem. Somehow this rock was invisible to our systems. As it heated up in the atmosphere whatever was keeping it that way must have been fried allowing us to pick it up.”
“But sir, why would anyone want to cloak a meteor?”
“That’s what we need to find out soldier. I want STRAFE to locate and secure this meteorite before any other agency catches wind of it. Get your unit and form up in the hangar in five minutes.”
“Yes Sir” Sergeant Wraith said as he marched out of the office.
Four minutes and thirty-two seconds later STRAFE was in the hangar awaiting orders. Every time Corey Wraith came in here he couldn’t help but remember his time as a pilot. Especially since A-51 had managed to acquire one JSF-64X Rogue Raven to add to its arsenal of aircraft. The Raven was parked in the rear of the hangar however and was seldom sent out on missions. STRAFE always deployed as a team and therefore needed a cargo plane to carry them and their equipment. To this end CORE allowed them the use of its experimental X-5 Drop-Ship which was now being readied for takeoff.
CORE Intelligence Operative Luther Vanguard stood ready to brief them “alright men we have narrowed down the location of the meteor to Point Break the highest peak of Mount Fujiama. You will be airdropped in to the target zone. Once you have secured the meteorite then you will place transmitters around the meteor so it can be retrieved.”
Westlake approached them with a grim smile “I know you can do this. This is what you’ve trained for. We believe this meteorite to hold some importance to an extraterrestrial species otherwise it wouldn’t have been protected by some sort of antiradar device. Good luck!”
And with that STRAFE boarded the Drop-Ship and strapped into the cargo netting seats. Corey Wraith looked around at his team. Besides himself there were only two others, a former Interpol agent named John Vassal and an alien from Vektoria VII named Remus Vel’Kar. They had only been a team for the past four months. Most of that time was spent training to work together.
Vel’Kar was recovered by the government in Roswell, New Mexico back in 1947. Since then he has been locked away in suspended animation at Area 51. Once it was determined he could be an asset he was thawed out and given a choice. Either help the United States or return to his homeworld. Remus Vel’Kar left Vektoria VII as a refugee and refused to go back. So he conceded to the government’s demands.
The other man was a complete mystery. The only thing Wraith knew was that he used to work Interpol. But he knew nothing of why the man was now assigned to STRAFE and Vassal was a very private individual never speaking of himself only of the mission at hand.
“What is this Mount Fujiama?” Remus Vel’Kar asked curious as ever about his new adoptive planet.
“A mountain in Asia” John Vassal replied quickly before going silent once more.
The rest of the flight was uneventful as CORE pilot Samantha Norton expertly flew the X-5 dodging every bit of turbulence and bad weather along their route. Corey Wraith thought about their relationship as he had often before. The two agencies forming a symbiotic partnership CORE the intelligence gathering, research side and STRAFE the military arm. Though the chain of command still confounded him, after all it made no sense to him that he should report to a civilian in charge of the research branch. But that’s exactly what he did on a daily basis.
“Three minutes to target” Samantha Norton said over the intercom “prepare to open the hatch.”
Wraith grabbed the release lever and pulled it 90 degrees to the right, and then he pulled the hatch inward removing the barrier between them and the cloudy sky outside. Vel’Kar leapt outside first followed by Vassal and then Wraith. The three men entered a freefall as the Drop-Ship disappeared from sight. They fell for what seemed like hours before Wraith finally gave the order to open their chutes.
The parachutes opened in succession and the three men floated down landing in the jungles about a quarter mile south of where they wanted to be. Cutting away the chutes and burying them beneath some bushes to conceal them the three took stock of their gear. Satisfied that everything was in working order they began to climb.
“This shouldn’t take too long” Wraith carried on casually “just a quick climb up, place the sensors, and wait to be picked up. We’ll be home by dinnertime.”
“Then why did we bring our weapons?” Vel’Kar asked “if this is so easy we should not be armed.”
“Always be prepared for anything” Vassal informed the alien “always be mindful of the enemy lurking in the shadows.”
What a motley looking crew they made Wraith thought. He the ever soldier carrying his rifle, Vel’Kar yellow skinned and pointy eared with some weird throwing blades attached to a bandolier across his chest, and Vassal with a long sword strapped on his back. No one would believe they were teammates if they were discovered.
Point Break was coming in sight. At first Wraith thought he was seeing things but after concentrating his senses he realized his eyes were not wrong. A monkey the size of a man was standing beside the meteorite wearing strange clothing and carrying some sort of metal staff.
The monkey-man spotted them at the same time and held his staff in front of him ready to protect himself. Vassal reached for the sword on his back but Wraith motioned him to stay his hand.
“Let’s trying talking to it first” he said slinging his own rifle across his back to free up his hands “hello there. We come in peace.”
The monkey looked at him quizzically and then rambled something off in what appeared to be a dialect of Chinese, possibly Mandarin. Wraith activated his translator and waited for it to warm up before speaking again. The device converted his words to Chinese and those of the monkey-man to English.
“We are friends” Wraith tried again.
“Friends? I have no friends for I have angered the gods” the monkey-man replied “the great Buddha himself imprisoned me.”
“Inside the meteor?” Wraith asked.
“No the rock freed me from my prison. I was locked away in a magic vase which in turn was stashed here on this mountain top where no one would ever find it.”
“Lying ape” Vassal interrupted drawing his sword “why should we believe you? You obviously came from inside the meteor. What are you planning, an invasion?”
The monkey screamed swinging his staff around swiftly. It changed size, the tip crossing the distance between him and Vassal in mere seconds. The rounded end slammed into the man’s stomach forcing him backwards into a clump of trees. John Vassal gripped the hilt of his golden bladed sword tightly as he leapt into the air swinging it down trying to cleave the staff in two. But the staff was already shrinking in size until it fit into the monkey-man’s palm and Vassal struck thin air.
“Stop both of you” Wraith ordered with his most commanding voice “Vassal stand down now! We are going to resolve this peacefully!”
The monkey stood his ground as John Vassal obeyed replacing his sword on his back. This seemed to ease the monkey somewhat and he placed his now toothpick sized staff behind his left ear for safe keeping. Then he watched carefully waiting for some kind of trick.
This entire time Remus Vel’Kar stood motionless just watching the proceedings fascinated by this encounter with another species. This monkey-man could be an extraterrestrial or something born out of myth. Either way he eagerly soaked up this new sight as he did everything he encountered on this planet.
“All we are here to do is inspect the meteor and transport it back for further analysis” Wraith commented to all present “let’s just do our job and then figure out what to do with the monkey.”
“I am not a monkey” the creature said enraged “I am Sun Wukong and I am the Monkey King!”
“From Journey into the West” John Vassal asked sarcastically “are we really to believe that?”
“What is this Journey into the West?” Vel’Kar wondered.
“A book from ancient times, it’s just a Chinese legend a myth nothing more.”
“Well whatever it is it looks real enough to me” Wraith interrupted “let’s just take him with us too.”
And with that he proceeded to order the team to place the sensors around the meteor so that it could be beamed aboard the X-5. Then he turned toward the Monkey King and explained the situation to him.
“Until we figure out exactly what is going on here we need you to come with us back to our base. We just need to run some tests on this meteor and ask you a few more questions.”
“No I am finally free” Sun Wukong said “I will go where I want and do what I want from here on.”
A voice then could be heard as it shook the mountain “it would be wise of you to go with them Sun Wukong. You may have been freed early by chance but I still can imprison you once more. It was fate that your paths should cross now. Take another Journey into the West but this time you will be going further west than you ever have before.”
Mount Fujiama stopped shaking and settled down once more as Sun Wukong consented to go with them “but only because the great Buddha wishes it so” he told them.
Before the last sensor around the meteorite could be activated the rock shattered into thousands of pieces knocking them all backwards as chunks of rock struck them. A new figure emerged from the center of the meteor. A figure as black as night itself, a figure with salivating fangs and wild soul piercing red eyes full of hatred and hunger.
The new creature took a step forward and then another and another approaching Vassal for he was the closest. John went for his sword and gripped it in front of him ready to parry any strike. The creature’s hands became razor sharp talons as it raked them through the air. They connected with the sword and the creature’s talons seemed to falter instantly. The black figure screamed out in agony as if it had been burned by the sword.
“Whatever this thing is it is of unholy make” Vassal shouted to the others for he knew that his golden sword Chrysaor was a weapon forged to combat the foulest of monsters and it tormented their very souls upon physical contact.
The creature sensed the blade’s power and retreated several steps to gather its thoughts. Then it turned toward Vel’Kar and lunged for his neck. The Vektorian moved aside with agility unmatched by humans and dodged the attack. Then he was reaching for one of his Tri-Blades. Throwing the device Vel’Kar smiled in satisfaction as its blades began spinning as it spiraled towards its target. The weapon went through the creature without hurting it and then boomeranged back landing safely in Remus’ hand.
“What in the world?” he swore noticing the Tri-Blade was now covered in hoarfrost.
“It’s some sort of shadow fiend” Vassal declared “your weapons are useless but mine however” he stopped there as he charged forward ready to cleave the creature in half with Chrysaor.
The shadow creature moved almost as quickly as Vel’Kar and easily dodged the swordsman’s attack. Wraith was already honing his senses again. Ever since he was little his senses of sight and hearing had a level of hyper-acuteness allowing him to detect the tiniest bits of information. This creature had no heartbeat to detect for it was not alive in the normal sense of the word. However his eyes showed him it did in fact have a weakness. A very small bit of flesh and bone that was every bit as solid as Wraith’s own, its fangs and surrounding mouth were not mere shadow.
“Keep it distracted” he ordered his team as he readied is Superior Combat Assault Rifle.
Then he fired his Force Rounds. The high impact blast connected with the fangs shattering them and flinging the creature backwards several feet. Then Vassal closed in for the kill and cleaved the shadow fiend’s head from its body. The figure turned into mist and was instantly gone.
As Wraith looked around to survey his men he was surprised to find Sun Wukong still among them watching the battle intently. He was sure the Monkey King would have taken the chance to escape for that was what he would have done in the same situation.
Forty-Six hours later deep within Area 51…
“What you encountered out there was a Xenophage” Luther Vanguard briefed them “a shadow creature that relies upon drinking the plasma of living beings in order to survive. To this end it had to rely upon solid fangs to puncture the skin in order to feed. For its spectral body could only slice through an object on a more molecular level destroying it completely.”
“What about the so called Monkey King?” Wraith asked.
“From our tests all we can conclude at this point is that Wukong is in fact of simian heritage. For now we will just have to take his word that he is the Sun Wukong of legend.”
“And as of now he will be training with you as the newest member of STRAFE” Director Westlake informed them upon walking into the room “he has agreed to join you because he believes it is Buddha’s will that he do so.”
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