“You guys look like hammered shit”, Jackie said picking his guns up.
I didn't even known what to say to him. He was supposed to be dead, yet he was standing right in front of us and had just saved our lives.
“You guys see Jackie too right?”, Hudson asked.
“Yeah”, I replied, “we see him too.”
“You act like I'm missing limbs”, Jackson said, “anyone gonna say, “hey Jackie, thanks for killing the Jugg?”
“Where you been the past 20 years Jackie?”, Hudson asked as we all traded hugs.
“Working for Nolan”, Jackson said, “you?”
“Soldiering”, Hudson replied, “never left the Marines.”
Jackson nodded, “I miss the Corps, I missed you guys, I missed Raven.”
“We missed ya too brother”, Frank said, “welcome home.”
The sand on the beach began to stir into a wet, muddy, gritty cloud as Blackflag landed. The hatch dropped and we boarded the helo.
“How'd you survive?”, I asked as we lifted off “we buried you, I watched the Russian execute you.”
Jackson sighed, “not too sure myself. I remember the knee shots and then the man sticking the knife into my neck, but I blacked out from the pain. When I woke up, I was in a hut. My knees were bandaged and so was my throat. I remember the dragon that had saved me told me that he had been out hunting and found the fresh grave. He dug me up to see if I was still alive, I was so he took me to his house. I spent two or three years after that in Vietnam before Nolan reached out to me and invited me to Romeo. The doctors there cured my mute and there the only reason I can even tell you this.”
“Mute?”, Hudson asked.
“I couldn't speak the entire time I was in Nam”, Jackie said, “I guess that when the guy sliced open my neck, it tore up my vocal chords.”
“Yeah”, Frank said, “I still have the nightmares from stitching your neck closed. It's one thing when you stab somebody whose trying to kill you in the neck, quite another when your trying to stitch closed the neck of someone you care about.”
“Ain't that the truth”, Jackson replied, “by the way John, I believe this is yours.”
Jackson reached into his kit and tossed me a tarnished, silver cross necklace. My Dad had given it to me when I was a human, right before I left for the Marines.
“Never thought I'd see this old thing again”, I said, “why did you keep this all these years?”
“In case I found you guys again”, Jackson said, “the Marines taught me to never quit, never back down. I made it my mission in life to find you guys again, then go from there.”
I clutched the necklace tightly, “were in a new war Jackie, we need all the help we can get, welcome back.”
“What's up with your eyes bro?”, Jackie asked.
I smirked, “you'll see when we get back to Romeo, but let's just say, I'm the youngest one on the team.”
Jackson looked at me like I was crazy, “Okay I've taken some pretty bad head wounds over the course of my 42 years, but last I checked, I was the youngest.”
“Lots of shit happens in 27 years Jackie”, Hudson said, “after Nam, we went on a deployment to Africa to rescue Wyatt.”
“Yeah I remember that”, Jackson said, “the Russian dude forced us to play Russian Roulette and when Wyatt told him to screw a member of his own species, he knocked him cold and sent him to God knows where. Tell me you killed that shit head?”
Hudson laughed, “we painted the cave with his blood.”
“Tried to any way”, I said laughing, “we were short one paint brush.”
“That's horrible”, Jackie said laughing, “but funny as hell.”
“Anyhow”, Hudson said, “we were evacuating when a guy with a TOW missile shot us out of the sky. That was when Frank was assumed KIA because we couldn't find his body and John...well he was terminally injured.”
“Terminally?”, Jackson said, “as in “he WILL die?”
“Exactly”, Hudson replied, “and he did.”
Jackson shot us all nervous glances, “okay...little kid dumbfounded, need explanation.”
“Human-Dragon Resurrection”, Hudson said, “HDR for short. Basically it's a respawn button. They take your genes and used them to build you a new body from the ground up, with every memory intact, or a complete wipe. You can have it's growth accelerated or choose to, quite literally, be re-born with dragon parents and everything.”
Jackson looked at me, “really?”
I nodded, “Nolan had something that turned me into a human again just to rescue Frank. As soon as we get back to base, I'm stepping back into the chamber and going back to normal.”
“What's normal?”, Jackie asked.
“You'll have to wait and see”, I replied.
“What you got in the kit by the way?”, Issac asked.
“My 700 and a Takedown DSR”, Jackie replied, “I mostly use the DSR as the Remington brakes a lot and is getting harder and harder to find parts for.”
“Why?”, Hudson asked.
“It's just old”, Jackie replied, “The only parts left from the original gun is the bot handle and the mag release, everything else is all new. They haven't made the model 700 that I used in service for years.”
“What about your B32?”, Frank asked.
Jackson puled it out, the paint and the handle grips were worn out, but other than that it was still in one piece.
“Old reliable”, Jackie said, “saved my life on more than one occasion.”
“It almost took it too”, Hudson said.
“Yeah”, Jackie said, “but if it were a person, then it would have made that up a long time ago. So Frank”, Jackie said, “when the arm come off?”
“Chopper crash”, Frank said, “the African Major we worked with found me after Hudson and the others had cleared out. Dakarai told me after I'd woken up that when he lifted the debris off me and his men had dragged me out, my arm stayed behind.”
“That's rough brother”, Jackson said.
“I got it fixed up okay”, Frank said, “the one I got works.”
“You upgraded too”, Jackie said, “is that the new Skorpion Evolution?”
“Yep”, Frank said picking it up, “900 rounds a minute minimum fire rate, 1270 maximum.”
“Damn”, Jackie said, “so basically fast and faster?”
“More like fast, faster and frickin' insane”, Frank replied laughing.
I looked around at my team. Jackson was a sniper, Wyatt was a sniper. Mnerloth, Rolland, Val, Taro, Mark, Fireclaw and Syralth were snipers. After thinking it over for a minute, I decided that now was the time to seriously overhaul my team.
“I got my work cut out for me when we get back”, I said.
“What you mean?”, Jackie asked.
“Well”, I replied, “7 of twenty Ravens are snipers now, the percentage of indirect combat units on the team is ridiculously high.”
“It's like 35”, the pilot said, “why you got so many snipers anyhow?”
“No idea”, I replied, “but I need to get the number down. We need uniform and weapon upgrades too...”, I sighed, “lots of work to do..”
“Worry about it when we get back”, Hudson said, “for now, I'm tired.”
I yawned, “yeah, me to.”
“Still got the ability to sleep anywhere Jackie?”, Wyatt asked leaning back.
“You don't even know”, Jackson replied laughing, “try going on a month long in a third world country where your only shelter is an old Honda Civic with a rear wheel drive conversion.”
I laughed, “sounds like it would ruin your day.”
“Back pain”, Jackson replied, “a lot.”
I leaned back in my seat and quickly feel asleep.