- Overview of Operation Shadowstrike -
Taking place after Siyo Overwatch's victory over the Time Lord, Operation Shadowstrike is a mission on the RA / FIR border. It is also the start of Siyo's search for accomplished Raiken, FIR renegades, and even Sentinel Remnant machines that have gained cognitive thought, to add to his squad.
- Planet: Oushino, City: Lunaxus, Locale: Military Training Center Delta (4103 Kilometers from City Center) -
Fhoom Fhoom Fhoom
The sound echoed downrange as photon rifle rounds lanced towards the holographic targets, 200 meters away. The targets shattered into fragments of glittering light, and a swishing sound rang out of the energy generator, exchanging energy for a new clip. The clack of metallic footsteps, muffled by the hard-packed dirt, announced the arrival of another soldier.
"Heya Siyo, what are you up to?"
Siyo spun around and recognized Ranyk leaning on a weapons rack near the entrance to the firing range. Ranyk de-polarized his FRENZY armor visor, and grinned at Siyo. Ranyk's armor glimmered in the rays of the final hours of light; the glare caused Siyo to avert his eyes.
"Just firing a few rounds, got to keep up the standards, right?" Siyo responded, with heavy sarcasm laid in his voice.
"Keep dreamin' Siyo, you'll never beat me, they don't call me Ranyk Deadshot for no reason."
Ranyk laughed, and retracted his helmet into his armor, the sounds of nano-machines whirring in the armor filling the brief moment of silence between the two.
"Ranyk, you know, just as well as I do, that your Divine Sight Targeting System is what makes you good."
"Also helps that I also have Sharpshooter training, and the GLORIOUS Phoenix training." Ranyk winked at Siyo, as his Divine Sight constantly re-imaged targeting parameters. "Whatever the case may be, time to head back to HQ; we got a new assignment, goodie goodie."
Siyo replaced the photon rifle to the weapons rack, as Ranyk fiddled with his gauntlet, bringing up a 3-D map to the HQ.
"Why'd you have to come all the way out to Delta? Trying to make me walk everywhere?"
"You probably need the exercise Ranyk, and also, I doubt you walked.” Siyo retorted as he prepped his civilian Tornado land recon vehicle. He typed a few commands into his gauntlet, and the engines hummed to life, emitting the usual blue light.
"Siyo, I'll have you know, you weigh more than me."
Ranyk climbed into the passenger’s seat, and reactivated his helmet, covering his ever-searching Divine Sight. Ranyk started to reach for the turret activation controls, and quickly realized he was on a civilian vehicle.
“Huh, old habits die hard. That right Siyo?”
Siyo climbed into the driver’s cockpit, and closed the compartment. He ran his gauntlet over the control board, and it flickered to life.
“Hey, that’s what we get for the best military training around, the best equipment, the best weapons, and the best armor. Wasn’t it worth every scrap?”
Ranyk laughed, “Oh, I’m sure it was, except getting yelled at every damn day by the Drill Instructors.”
Siyo brought the controls up, and punched in the directions to the Phoenix Special Operations Headquarters, and fired the engines. The Tornado skimmed over the ground at 160 kph, only half of the speed the Tornado could travel at. The sparse forest, some of the only forest area left on Oushino, flashed by, as Siyo headed towards the nearest train station, about sixteen kilometers away.
“Well Ranyk, maybe if you didn’t try to anger the D.I.’s at every possible opportunity, they wouldn’t yell at you so much.”
“Hey, Deleon got away with it.” Ranyk replied, while running a diagnostics on the Tornado, “Hey, you know you can go faster Siyo!”
Siyo flicked on the Nav Systems, and activated the proximity scanners, “Yeah, I could Ranyk, but I’d rather not risk running headfirst into a tree, or the train station.”
Ranyk sighed, “Guess you are right, speaking of the train station, there it is.”
The train station was an unadorned building, like most Raiken buildings, the palace being a rare exception. The train station wasn’t much on the topside, a square with slanted walls, and support struts on the corners. Being near a military installation, it had a few automated turrets, and light-anti air systems. Siyo approached the entrance, and a light grid blocked his path, and a female electronic voice announced over the LGCS, “Identification required for access, please provide.”
Ranyk groaned, “These damn new security protocols get on my nerves.” He flashed his gauntlet, and let a scanner scan both his shoulder guards.
“Welcome, Ranyk Deadshot, 11th Phoenix Field Force, Rank, E-1, Phoenix Operative, Access Granted.”
Ranyk stepped through the light grid, and a faint hum echoed off the walls of the empty train station. Siyo stepped towards the scanners, and the V.I. repeated its demands. He allowed the scanners to analyze his gauntlet and shoulder guards.
“Welcome, Siyo Overwatch, 11th Phoenix Field Force, Rank, E-2, Phoenix Operative, Access Granted.”
Siyo stepped into the train station, and deactivated his helmet, and his red-gold mane spilled out of his armor. His light blue eyes twinkled in the light, and his pointed ears twitched, searching for noise.
“Siyo, when’s the last time you cut your hair? We gotta keep up the military standards, y’know?”
Ranyk deactivated his helmet, and his green eyes hid a mischievous nature, while his black mane curled over his shoulder.
“Ranyk, you are by far the last person that would care about military protocol or standards.”
Siyo began typing into a command console to summon a shuttle to the HQ. A shuttle quickly appeared along the tracks, with a faint humming sound. Ranyk laughed, and replied in mock dismay, “I would never dream about not caring about the military’s precious protocols and standards.” He popped the shuttle doors, and skimmed over the control boards, activating the NAV board, and shutting the doors before Siyo could board. “Let’s see you get in here now Siyo! I’ll give you one minute before I disengage the boarding locks.”
Siyo sighed half-heartily, and thought, Ranyk loves his “jokes” too much.
“I won’t be able to make you open it by ordering you to?” Siyo tried.
“Come on, have some fun, life’s too short.”
Siyo activated his gauntlets magnetic field, usually used for holding weapons, but could also work for climbing metal objects. He tensed his leg muscles, and with assistance from the FRENZY power armor, heaved his six foot, eight inch frame onto the top of the shuttle. He almost fell off the top of the shuttle, the metal made it hard to find footing, but he caught himself with the mag-gauntlets. He pulled himself up, and slowly crawled towards the maintenance hatch.
“20 seconds Siyo! Hurry it up!”
“Hey Ranyk, watch your head!”
Siyo used his jet-fin on his forearm to slice through the external lock on the hatch, and kicked it open. Siyo jumped in, and landed in the center of the shuttle, just as Ranyk disengaged the locks, and fired the engines. Siyo lurched backwards, and fell on the floor, startled by the sudden movement of the shuttle. The whine of the engines could be heard from inside the shuttle, and Ranyk was laughing at the control board.
Siyo got up and disengaged the magnetic fields, “Very funny Ranyk, let’s head over to HQ, I’m curious about this new mission, do you have information on it?”
Ranyk took a few seconds to stop laughing completely, then he said, “I don’t know any specifics, but I do know it’s called, Operation SHADOWSTRIKE, if that helps any.”
Siyo glanced out the front window, and the lighting revealed another station, this one having soldiers milling about the station platform. The shuttle slowed quickly, this time Siyo was prepared, and he grabbed a nearby magnetic bar. Ranyk stifled a quick chuckle as the shuttle doors slid open. As the soldiers entered, they looked in awe at Siyo and Ranyk, and saluted. Ranyk shuffled closer to Siyo, and whispered, “I guess you don’t see a Phoenix every day.” After all the soldiers boarded, consisting mostly of E-1’s, the shuttle started to move again. The group of soldiers talked quietly and quickly, until one of them broke off the group and approached Ranyk.
“Sir! Squad Member Nystris Fadewalker, Kilo Squad. Requesting permission to speak freely.”
Ranyk glanced at Siyo, and laughed heartily, making Nystris flinch and looked between the two, confused. “Nice to meet you Nystris, I’m Ranyk Deadshot. And this…” Ranyk pointed at Siyo, “… is Siyo Overwatch. Also, you don’t have to call us “sir”, we are just soldiers, just like you.” Ranyk winked at Nystris, and the group of soldiers stared dumbfounded at Ranyk. Nystris looked at Siyo, then Ranyk, and asked Ranyk, “What’s that over your right eye?”
Ranyk pointed at his Divine Sight Advanced Targeting System and smiled, “This is an installed targeting system, nicknamed “Divine Sight”. It’s also part of the reason I’m called Deadshot, I don’t miss.” Nystris looked at the Divine Sight for a few seconds and asked, “How’d you get it?” Ranyk typed a few commands into his gauntlet, and brought up a picture of him with his family.
“My dad works for the government, working on targeting systems. He designed the Divine Sight Advanced Targeting System, and the way it’s designed, it must be surgically implanted over the user’s eye. So, my dad, for my last Coming of Age ceremony, implanted the Divine Sight over my right eye.”
Nystris looked at the Divine Sight dubiously, “Can you turn it off, or take it off? Also, if it’s surgically implanted, can’t anyone get it?”
Ranyk laughed, “I can turn it off, but I only turn it off when I sleep, don’t know if I could get used to not having it. It is impossible to take the Divine Sight out without causing blindness in my right eye.” Ranyk’s face darkened, “Anyone can get the Divine Sight, but, most people go insane from the constant feed of information.”
The shuttle slid to a stop, and the group of soldiers disembarked. Nystris quickly saluted, and followed them off the shuttle. Ranyk walked over to the control console, and checked their progress.
“About halfway to Headquarters Siyo.”
A loud beep came from both Siyo’s and Ranyk’s gauntlet and the Lunaxus Police Chief’s voice rang over the LGCS.
“All military personnel, a firefight has broken out near a space cargo elevator. Requesting assistance, on site police teams do not have sufficient firepower to repel the attackers.”
Siyo glanced at Ranyk, and Ranyk nodded. Ranyk skimmed his gauntlet over the control boards, and the shuttle slowed to a stop. Ranyk opened the shuttle doors, and brought up a map, with the quickest route to the firefight. Ranyk pointed out a maintenance tunnel about 25 meters to their right and they dashed to it. Siyo brought up his gauntlet, and used a military access code to override the lock on the door. The maintenance tunnel was just tall enough for Siyo to stand in it, with electrical wires attached to the walls, and the faint hum of photon energy racing through the wiring. Ranyk gestured to an access ladder to their right, and he walked over, and climbed up, motioning for Siyo to follow. The ladder led to a tool storage room, the walls were lined with racks, holding plasma wielders, clamps, photon cutters, and a few coils of wiring stacked in the corner. A workbench had various piles of screws and bolts, with an incomplete junction box. Ranyk pushed open the door, and found they were in a storage warehouse, near the space elevator. Siyo could hear rifle fire outside, and he prepped his gauntlet for combat, testing the sword, bow, and force emitter. After running a suit diagnostics, Siyo nodded at Ranyk, and replaced his helmet, and Ranyk did the same.
“You ready for this Siyo?”
“You know it Ranyk; let’s show them how real soldiers fight.”
Ranyk extended the bow and prepped the light generator, as Siyo kicked open the service door.
