After messaging Hep to tell him that we were going to get our H.A.N.D.I. certifications, I invited him to lunch. Rita would have rather spent the time getting to know one another, but I figured we could just get to know one another after the training. When she excused herself to go to the lady’s room I pulled up the blue screen I had been too excited to read earlier.

-PORTAL MODIFICATION-

-Blood upon the risers-

-To receive the upgraded mission portal insertion option: High Altitude Normal Drop Insertion [H.A.N.D.I.] you must complete the required training.

-The High Altitude Normalizing Drop Insertion is exactly what it sounds like. Your portal will open roughly 14,000m(45,000ft) above your target zone. To complete the training and obtain the drop device you must jump from altitude and navigate to your Objective and land within designated markers.

-Certification will consist of three portions: Training, practical assessment, followed by certification test.

-Certification attempts remaining > 5/5

(Training portals are accessed via the same rift gates as insertion portals.)

(Trainings can be taken as a group without the qualifications required for a rift mission)

(Note that you can retake the initial training and practical assessment needed without penalty.)

(It is recommended that an upgraded System H.U.D. be used in conjunction, but is not a requirement)

I guess I’m not a huge fan of only having five attempts, but I guess it motivates you to get it right. Lost in thought, I come back to myself when I hear Hep and Rita talking on the way back to the table. Hep puts his hand out for a shake “You ready for this? I grabbed the modification ticket before I left my room, whenever you're done eating we can do this. Honestly, I’d have skipped the meal though.” He's got that shitty smile airborne's who think they know better get when they think their right.

“Oh yeah buddy, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane is pretty much what I’m about. I guess technically it won’t be a plane though. Still, you know what I mean.” Ugly bastard, this aint my first rodeo. I can’t help but match him though, were about to learn to jump out of the sky. Its, quite literally, what humans have been trying to do since we learned science.

“Aint nothin’ to it but to do it buddy.” I throw my arm over his shoulder and we start moving towards the door, feeling euphoric I can’t do something that only happens in the shower.

I start singing under my breath

“He was a cherry soldier and he surely shook in fright,

He checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight.

He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar.

And he aint gonna jump no more.

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.”

To my surprise I hear Hep join in, it’s easy to forget he’s from around the same place and time as me

“‘Is everybody happy’ said the sergeant looking up,

Our hero meekly answered ‘yes’ and then they stood him up,

He jumped into the icy-blast his static-line unhooked,

And he aint gonna jump no more.”

By the time we got through the first verse were approaching a roar, and I get an even bigger surprise when Rita winks and kicks into the chorus with us

” Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.”

Before I can start the next verse a grizzled man with a surprisingly melodious voice behind me is belting out the next verse

“The ambulance was on the point, the jeeps were going wild

The medics shouted out with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled

Cause it had been about two weeks since last a ‘chute had failed,

And he aint Gonna jump no more.”

Glancing around I can see that most of the hall is looking at us like we are either idiots, or insane. There are another twenty or so people standing up and looking at us who join into the chorus.

“Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.”

As the last verse of the chorus is being sung out, I look at the grizzled guy next to me, and say “bring us home!”

With a smile that could scare most large men into submission he slows down to about half the step, deepens his voice and sings;

“There was blood upon the risers, there was brains upon the chute,

Intestines were a’ dangling from his Paratroopers suit,

He was a mess; We picked him up and poured him from his boots,

He aint gonna jump no more.”

All the people from before joined back in for the chorus,

“Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die,

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die.”

There are varied shouts of “Airborne!”, “eighty-second!”, or “one-O-First!” shouted out, followed by a few minutes of the banter I’d never thought I’d here again; unit bashing. It was the backbone of the military. The 82’nd hates the 101’st, the army hates the air force, the air force hates the navy, the navy hates the marines, and everybody hates the national guard. Stopping to take in that feeling, wishing I could put it in a bottle and keep in on a shelf in my room the old timer walks up and shoves his hand out to me.

“Name’s Jones.” Jones looked older than most people here, I’m guessing he decided to keep the body he had before. Somewhere in between 40-45 years old he was a solid guy. I couldn’t judge his actual body type since he was wearing full body armor that looked heavy enough that my strength modifier would probably just fall apart at the thought of putting it on. His face was weathered, but wasn’t heavy on wrinkles. Short brown hair over brown eyes, his face looked more accustomed to smiling than anything.

“I’m the leader of the 21’st centurions, I’m guessing by your song there that you are from around then, or are overly informed.” After shaking my hand, he continues “We pick up guys from around our timeline, we’ve got guys from the Afghan war all the way back to old world war oneers, if you’re ever interested in a guild, or even just to hang out look us up the guild on the web, I’ll put your name on the prospective list.” “You can call me Daniels, put me on if you’d like. I’m not interested in a guild yet, but I just got here recently so I’m still learning.” He reaches over and puts his hand out to Hep “good to see you made it through the transformation, our offer still stands for you too.”

Jones comes across as the kind of guy who steamrolls through conversations, straight to the point. “I’ll let you guys go, your clearly on a mission.” He throws a wink at Rita and moves back to his table.

“you yanks are right nutters.” She’s got me there. “ We might be a little off, I’m surprised though; I didn’t think you’d even know that song.” Rita has been surprising me at every turn today, from the little time I've spent with her she seems quick witted and intelligent. She seems to be able to enter, and exit conversations at will too, a skill that takes more practice than most give credit for.

“Yeh, my last boyfriend was part of the Australian SAS, at least he claimed to be, knew enough about it. He loved the song, I guess him and his mates trained with some guys who sang it before every mission.” For all I knew she was right, the S.O.F.1 community ran the gamut from U.S. Army Rangers, to C.I.A. operatives, and at the higher levels all the U.N. governments provided operatives for the Global Task Force. I'd imagine a lot of the guys running around here were either military combat arms, or special forces for their countries.

Continueing our conversations, we arrive at the portal rooms and head inside to start our training. Hep walks over and initiates the screen, selecting our training tickets and option to go through as a group. The interface seems easy enough, a list on the left side with an option to select everyone who has an active ticket and activate it. After willing yes on the little window popping up asking if I would like to do a group training the portal opens and Rita steps through, with Hep behind her, I follow them through.

Stepping from the portal room into what looks like an exact mirror of the room we just left everything is the same, except there is a sign on the wall that reads ‘Trainees should proceed left outside of the door and speak to the attendant’ It’s not what I was expecting, shrugging at the others we walk out the door and down the hall. There isn't much to look at, it's mostly just the painted grey cinderblock walls you see on most military base buildings.

Arriving at the end of the hall the specified desk is empty, there’s a bell on it though, so I do the only rational thing you can do with a bell. ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding

"You're a fucking child, stop that." Apperently hep doesn't like to have fun.

A little green ball of light pops up out of nowhere “Wel-“ “WHAT THE SHIT. You can’t just pop out like that little ball thing.” I panic and yell at it, little fucker scared the shit out of me. Some day I’m really going to need to stop being surprised by things here, but today is not that day.

“I am sorry, my functions are in suspense until someone either rings the bell or attemps to walk out to the training hall.” It’s voice never fluctuates, carrying a pleasant almost humming tone. “Please proceed to the training hall. Through the door to your right and we shall begin.” With that it blinks out, probably teleporting to the training area or whatever. I like this, straight to the point. Airborne was three-weeks of hell, all the fun being in the last week. I'd been half afraid we'd need to learn all the dumb shit, I'm guessing the ability for our bodies to handle mass damage negates a fair amount of training. Safety margins are a bit higher when you're going to slowly heal anyways.

“You always get ya knickers in twist when yeh get surprised?” Rita asks me with a teasing smile on her face.

“Underwear are for the weak.” I'm not sure anyone believes me when I say that. The first time somebody's gotta triage an upper thigh wound on me their in for a surprise though.

She gives a giggle, and Hep snorts “Let’s do this kiddies, I don’t want to rush you or anything but I’ve got a freedom-boner. Let me know if you two are going to eye-fuck each other all day, I’ll hit the bathroom take care of myself.” He’s right, back to the task at hand.

“lead on leader.” I say to him. throwing his nose into the air and pushing his chest out hewalks through the door with one of the most impressive exaggerated swaggers I’ve ever seen.

Inside the room the ball pipes up from our left without warning “Select your training device from the table please.” I hop to the left and have my pistol out and pointed before I'm able to catch myself.

"Fucking quit that. Either make a constant noise so I can track you, or be brighter. Your shiny little ass is going to get a new hole if you do that again." Things trying to put me in an early grave.

After calming down I walk up to the table and look at the devices on the table, they look like the type of paintball mask, there’s no gear attached so I’m not sure how that works. It’s just a piece that covers your mouth and a little piece of some kind of glass, or plastic that covers your eyes.

-EQUIPMENT-

-A facemask designated as a High Altitude Normal Drop Insertion Jumper [H.A.N.D.I.-J.] is required equipment for H.A.N.D.I.’s. Covering the mouth and nose with an eye shield that will uses a rechargeable mana crystal to manipulate gravity so that you can control your descent and landing to an extent. The Jumper forms a forcefield around the user and allows for safe descent.

(A non-training variant of the Jumper will require a user to activate the fall-safe.)

(Training variant will automatically activate the fall-safe within predesignated distance from ground)

That sounds cool, super glad I don’t have to carry all the stuff those SOF cats do. I had hoped for something like this, a smaller packaged object that can just be thrown in a bag afterwards. I hope their are helmet, or suit attatchments that would make life much easier. Glancing over I see Rita already has hers on, even with her small stature it’s intimidating. “gonna get me one of these that attaches to my helmet.” her voice has got a tinny sound to it, resonant, almost robotic. If I didn’t know she was a girl I’d just assume it was a man, hard to tell gender under all the gear. Which kind of sucks. Fantasy games had me all primed for chicks to be running around in skimpier versions of mens outfits. Basically naked, I feel like I've been robbed somehow.

“It looks pretty awesome Rita, If I didn’t know who you were it’d be intimidating.” She whips her hand up at my face and straightens her back “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” She barely even gets it out before she’s laughing at herself. I can’t help but smile a little, she’s enjoying the shit out of it. The ninja orb-thing chimes in. “Please press the equipment to your face around your mouth and nose. Once in position it will begin to gravitate to your face. Do not be alarmed this is just the HANDI-J nearing completion; keep a firm grip but try not to pull your face away.”

"I used to give my ex the same advice." Hep mumbles. If I weren't geeking out over the new equipment I might have lost my shit.

“Once the Jumper is seated if will run through the diagnostics phase, after which it will give you an indicator of whether it is good to go: green, or needs to be reseated: red. After the startup sequence, it will automatically supply you with air when needed, since your bodies aren’t like normal humans you do not need to worry about Oxygen normalization or any of the other biological effects. You will also notice that the Jumper screen has indicators for any map notations you have made before you jump. For the duration of these training we will be using pre-designated markers for you to jump to. After you are in the air lay your body flat and use your arms and legs to steer towards your designation. Once you have reached your preferred altitude will your Jumper to slow you down for a landing. For safety purposes in the training zone the jumper will automatically activate if you do not will it before fifty meters. Jumpers used outside of training must be willed open, these all have different ratings for different opening heights so make sure and check manufacturer specifications. Are there any questions?”

“I’m good, you guys good?” I ask the others, Hep and Rita give exaggerated nods through their mask’s. Grasping the mask I push the edges around my face and let it do its work. Its pretty much like wearing a paintball mask without straps, suprisingly comfortable though. There are little lights on the left that I have no idea what they do, probably an instruction manual for that. Not my problem right now, adrenaline Gnome has taken over.

“Then we will proceed to practical training. Once you came through the door to the training area your brains were implanted with the skills on how to control your body during fall, they should have completed the integration. We will make a practice jump, and you can practice as many times as you would like before your certifying jump. Proceed when ready.”

The door next to the ball slides into the wall and we're left looking through a hole in the wall. It’s mostly just a beautiful blue expanse, but there are cloud banks and whisps of white fluffiness reaching up towards us like cotton. They look like the most delicious fluffy potatoes I have ever seen, sue me, I'm a fat kid. Rita and Hep seem mesmerized by the sight. I cannot help but smile, “god hates a coward.” without taking the time to be worried about it , I run and jump into the wide open blue.

It’s more beautiful then you could believe. The feeling of the free fall is new, it’s like my body knows what to do though. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I can feel all the pressure, my brain is picking up information and processing it without me having to think extra hard about it. From the clothes on my whipping around my form, to how the backpack is causing a slight spin. I’m going to need to tape some straps down before I do this again. Looking below I see the target area, it isn’t too far out. I rotate my arms back at an angle beside back and tighten my legs to give myself some forward motion. It is every bit the rush I wanted it to be. After getting a little bit of speed I decide I want more. I tense my arms and legs more until I’m in almost vertical position shooting down towards the objective like a star crashing to earth. I can’t hear anything except for my heart pumping blood as fast as it can to keep up with the adrenaline. In my distraction I have drifted off the mark some. It’s much easier to correct then I thought, the key is little movements. The readout from the mask is blinking orange, I’m sure that means I need to slow down before I come to fall-safe distance. I bring my arms up next to my shoulders and let my body go almost slack. It’s a weird feeling my body reacting to muscle memory it doesn’t have. It’s like they know what they should do, but are atrophied, delayed. Coming to a few hundred feet from the ground the light goes green and I will the fall-safe on. My descent slows and my body starts to change position so I’m in a pencil dive angle of attack. Slowing down I realize I have even more control over my direction because of the gravity magic. I can see the little green dot in the center of the target area I start angleing myself trying to get to it.

My concentration is pushed to the limit I can feel the gravity magic fighting me. Fighting is the wrong word, it’s more like trying to push my way through a mud-bog, or attempting to dig a trench with a spoon. After a moment of intense concentration, I manage to land with one foot inside of the green circle and the other one just outside. I’ve still got enough speed that I drop to a knee and roll once I hit the ground to keep it from being doing any damage, it’s still much softer than the parachutes we used for airborne operations.

-NOTICE-

-You have landed in the target circle on your first jump.

-Would you like to accept this as an active attempt?

Y/N?

I can’t help but be ecstatic, I go to pump my fist in the air in celebration when something heavy hits me from behind knocking me off the circle and sending me flailing. Throwing my mask clear of my face and rolling me a few meters forward across the ground.

By the time I have turned around Hep, and Rita are standing just offcenter of the circle. Rita is doing a little dance, Hep looks nonplussed but he’s behind a mask so it’s kind of hard to tell. I select yes. Beaming at my two friends I walk up and give Hep a high-five. As I go to put my hand out for the same from Rita she drops her mask to the ground and pushes her lips against mine,giving me a deep kiss on the mouth. The softness of her lips clashes with the adrenaline from jumping such a great height, my body isn't sure what to do with the information its getting “That was bloody crackin mate, you beat us to the ground by at least ten seconds. I want to go again, do we got to go again if we got it on the first try?” the little green ball shows up and I figure he's going to shit all over our happy-fun-times. “You have all accepted the training fall as a sufficient first attempt. Touch the raised keypad on the side of the airfield, you can either stay and keep practicing, or go to the training building and head on your way." I'm more than a little surprised we get to keep practicing, but I guess it makes sense.

We all decide to go more than a few more times.

After we’ve had our fill for the day we get to pick our new Jumpers. They are the same as the trainers except they don’t have the restriction to keep you from flattening yourself. All exhausted after that, Hep decides he’s going to turn in so he can get back to the grind tomorrow. Rita talks me into another meal, and we all head on our way.