Max chuckled, shrugging his shoulder.
"You know what they say, Silverwind....an old man in a young man's game is a scary bastard indeed. Especially one who has a disability sticker on the dash of his GEAR...." Max chuckled, already knowing how to tease his CO, to whatever effect it would have, taking the GEAR helmet resting in his hand and sliding it over his locks-covered temple.
"Politely speaking, let's go kick some heads in, Sir." Max added with a grin knowing Silverwind would react well to that. There had to be a little bit of banter, and Max was almost certain he was gonna get some thrown back, twice as hard in all due course.
Meanwhile, Viper were finalising their checks, the wing-pack equipped squad giving themselves their last checks over, Anna running through Logan, who then ran through Maxine, who then ran through Anna in turn. A logical, systematic process no less- nothing short of what any of them expected for a run like this, Max reminded himself, as they loaded up the last of their things into the squatting GEAR of the Lion Rampant.
"Checks complete, we're set, Actual." Anna coldly commented through her radio, the team now on their own O2 systems, already at a completed pre-breathe for their drop, Max walking across to see his team before they dropped.
"Aww. I thought I'd be able to hang onto one of you for the ride, Spectre." Max sarcastically commented back, rolling his tongue at her, the jaguar not getting the sarcasm just yet....
"Get in the fucking GEAR, Max. Or I'll ride you down." Anna replied, unknowingly slipping her tongue as Max giggled like a schoolgirl, Logan and Maxine hearing the same. A moment of catharsis for pretty much anyone that heard it, as Anna merely flipped him off and Max just slowly walked away, adjusting the cuffs on his pilot's suit and the tilt on his helmet's comms channel.
"Don't ever change, Spectre. Alright Viper, like Silverwind says, door's gonna open in a bit. Remember, nice, calm, easy. Don't make uhh....too many shenanigans. We still have a job to do, so let's not fuck it up right now." Max said succinctly and to the point through teh radio, heading over towards the Lion Rampant's entry hatch, punching his code and sliding himself inside. With a flicker the holographics were online, the displays back to life as the GEAR stood upright once more, firing into action.
Gently checking over the GEAR systems, the lion engaged the GFDS wingpack's extensions, the wingpack locking into place and giving a position to rest the Lion Rampant's arms onto. The HUD altered, displaying a more pilot-styled azimuth and heads up display, complete with altitude, glide ratio and speed. The datalink was already working its magic to already recognise the other aerial-oriented GEARS, pinging them up with a square box for distant visual. In fact, the system was fairly clever- it wasn't an autopilot, but for flying a GEAR in, more than just a pilot's brains were required. An augmented-reality DZ marker linked to an optimal pathing projection, almost like a GPS checkpoint system that the pilots could use to set up a formation or use. Flicking it aside, he checked the comms link to Silverwind, the lion's blue and green illuminated face seen in the link.
"The Lion Rampant is wonderful as always, Silverwind. Viper, sitrep?" Max asked, waiting for his team to chirp up.
"Spectre, all good!"
"Kestrel, ready to go!"
"Hopper, all set!"
"Two minutes to red, everyone!" Anna called out, the jaguar in contact with the jumpmaster at the apex of the ramp, taking responsbility for this side of the aircraft operation alongside the quiet-mask wearing German Shepherd standing near the door. While Catriona was certainly running things in Max and Silverwind's absence, Anna taking control of that was seemingly something nobody was complaining about, or at least, Anna didn't want to hear it. Time felt like it ticked forever inside the GEAR Max was inside, the displays all reading five by five and suggesting that the oxygenated environment inside of here, as per any CBRN attack, would keep him alive.
"Red is on!" Anna yelled out on the comms, Max looking over his GEAR's right hand side to see where Viper were walking out, the red light and the warning klaxon punctuating the fact that soon, the very air they breathed inside of here would be sucked out with barely a moment's notice. The wind howled beyond the mechanical-sounding ramp as it slowly opened, Viper holding at the front of the door, right in front of the Lion Rampant, in a position to at least not get squished when Max pushed the GEAR forward onto the ramp.
The sky beyond the opening cargo ramp was an impressive sight, the very distant sun beyond the clouded sky revealing a slither of glowing orange to Arvara, contrasted with the still glistening and bright white stars in the sky above. The light pollution even in spite of the sunrise showed the stars brighter than most would see in the cities of back home, a glistening blanket of silvery white on navy blue. The noise of whistling could even be heard from inside the GEAR, even in spite of the layers of armour, it was a howl, a shriek, almost a yell to the abyss. An abyss Max had no problem whatsoever looking into. It seemed strange, but after enough of this, you just accepted the void that you went into on a regular basis. Trust yourself, trust your equipment, trust your team, and it's a void worth travelling through, Max reminded himself...
With a gentle turn, Max stood on the edge of the ramp's downcline, bracing himself as he saw Viper move to the side, getting out of the way. If Viper went first, they could risk having a GEAR fall on top of them if their GFDS system failed- and that was pretty much game over, so knowing that the Viper operatives could catch up, they would wait and wave their collegues on by.
"Standby, Actual. All callsigns, prep for deployment, aircraft is on 250 bearing, speed 220kph- adjust for bearing 265 pathway on exit. Bastion, Python, Blade, you're all first. We'll follow you out." Anna commented, the jumpmaster giving her all the details she needed, the red light still on. Viper had fully deployed their Corvid packs, the sight of their protruding wingpacks on their backs an odd and strange one to see, the sight of Arvarans who looked like they'd looked to birds for ideas.
"Green is on!" Anna yelled out, the lights lurching from red to green on both the panel and across the cargo bay as the klaxon changed tone, going to an even harsher buzz. Like a "get the fuck out" sort of buzz, because when the green was one, it was go time.
With a gentle flick of the controls, the GEAR wheeled itself down the last remaining part of the ramp and fell right off the end, the intial inertia making the Lion Rampant sink with the wing surfaces braking hard, using the momentum to turn barely a couple of degrees, and ultimately, pivot immediately into a sharp, steep glide.
And it was a rush.
"All systems good, tracking on flight pathing 265, all datapoints live, holding pattern. Fuck....this never gets old!" Max called back, his head professional yet his heart just all himself. The GEAR's glide flattened quickly as he adjusted the wingpack's dive, giving him a good position to hold at the front of the pattern, or at least, hold in a spot to give Silverwind room in front.
With the other GEARs sending it to the end of the plane, Spectre, Kestrel and Hopper were running out of the back, throwing themselves out sideways and in probably the coolest fashion the jumpmaster alone would be able to witness, flying onto angle immediately from the exit. As if a bunch of GFDS-equipped GEARS wasn't enough, the three other Viper team members were following into the breach, already keeping an eye on the cluster down below as they turned and caught the wind effortlessly.
Flying down to the main group, flying a few degrees onto their bearing the three wingpack-equipped SOF operators had actually flown fast and caught them up, hanging right above the main group. It was something to behold, both from Max's and Anna's perspcetive, the sight of not falling but gliding GEARS and Arvarans into the dark black sunrise from high altitude. The fluttering noise was howling even with earplugs and their helmets, Anna holding steady above Max's GEAR and the rest of the group.
"Viper, sitrep?"
"Right on top of you, Actual!" Anna, or Spectre called back, in a rare show of her exited self, as Max chuckled back, running through the AR checkpoint system as Max saw them come up on his camera, chuckling to himself.
"Blade, we're all green here- should be about a ten minute flight to our DZ....the visuals are just mad here. There's a patch of cloud on the path, want us to re-round around?" Max asked, calm as you like as he gently gave a slight adjustment in angle, the GEAR turning back onto angle and onto pathing, the wingpack-wearing operators following suit as Anna dived to barely within a couple of meters of Max's rocket anchor, quite the sight to behold. It had to be said, Viper weren't kidding when they said they could fly very tight to Max, their Corvids making it look effortless as they kept right on top of the Lion Rampant, out of the burble path and on the collective flight route.
