Chapter 121: Falcon Test Flight - I
The departure did not begin immediately.
Another interface appeared before Hans while the Ground Guidance Crew waited around the helicopter.
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[ Falcon One armament configuration ]
[ Left Door Mount ]
[ 7.62mm Machine Gun ]
[ Mark-19 Automatic Grenade Launcher ]
[ Right Door Mount ]
[ 7.62mm Machine Gun ]
[ Mark-19 Automatic Grenade Launcher ]
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Hans selected the machine guns for both sides.
The automatic grenade launchers offered more firepower, though they were unnecessary for a first flight over secured territory. If the Falcon disturbed infected along the route, rifle-caliber weapons would be enough without throwing explosives into buildings they had not searched yet.
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[ Selected configuration ]
[ 2x Door-mounted 7.62mm Machine Guns ]
[ Ammunition: 1,200 rounds per MG ]
[ Confirm configuration? ]
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"Confirm."
The side doors opened again.
Two members of the Ground Guidance Crew brought the weapons out from the nearby support structure. The machine guns were already attached to reinforced swivel frames, with ammunition containers fitted beneath each mount.
They locked the first weapon against the left door.
Another pair handled the right.
The crew chief checked both mounts afterward. He moved each weapon through its full range, inspected the ammunition feeds, then secured them facing away from the personnel around the pad.
"Armament installed."
The Ground Guidance Crew withdrew from the helicopter.
The side doors remained open, though safety bars now stretched across both openings. Specter Squad occupied the seats along the inner walls, their heavier armor taking more space around them even if the System counted each DASF Unit as one passenger.
Callum sat across from Hans.
Neither of them spoke.
The pilot and co-pilot entered the cockpit. A moment later, the helicopter’s internal systems came alive.
Lights appeared along the ceiling.
The displays beyond the cockpit brightened one after another, while the engines above them started with a low mechanical whine. It rose steadily until the entire cabin began to vibrate.
The main rotor began turning slowly. Each blade remained visible as it passed above the cabin, but the rotation continued to quicken until they blurred together.
Wind struck the landing pad.
Loose dust and small debris scattered outward. The Ground Guidance Crew lowered their heads and moved beyond the marked safety line while one of them continued directing the helicopter with raised signals.
The crew chief closed both side doors.
Most of the noise remained outside afterward, though the engines still pressed through the fuselage as a constant vibration.
"Falcon One to Flight Operations," the pilot reported. "Preflight complete. Requesting departure."
"Falcon One, departure approved. Proceed through the southern corridor."
"Understood."
Hans tightened his harness.
The vibration beneath Hans changed as the helicopter began lifting its own weight.
For a moment, the landing gear remained against the pad. Then the concrete moved away beneath them.
Falcon One rose into the air.
The Airfield receded beneath them.
Hans felt the rise through his stomach before the cabin settled into a steady climb.
The landing pads became smaller first. Then the hangars, runway, and surrounding patrols came together into one complete layout.
Trailblazer Three and Trailblazer Four sat beyond opposite sides of the structure, while the roads leading east and south stretched away through the cleared ground. The Guardian APC patrolling the northern approach had already slowed near the perimeter.
Falcon One continued climbing.
Hans looked toward the nearest window.
The view was wider than anything he had seen from the roof of a building. Warehouses that once blocked entire streets now appeared as rows of dull rooftops. Abandoned vehicles became scattered shapes between them. Even the secured roads looked narrow from this height.
The helicopter banked.
Hans gripped the side of his seat as the Airfield tilted beneath him.
Callum noticed.
"First time, Commander?"
Hans looked at him.
"In a helicopter. Stop teasing me."
Callum nodded once.
Across the cabin, Specter Squad remained still beneath their harnesses. None of them appeared bothered by the change in angle.
"Falcon One completing initial circuit," the pilot reported.
"Flight path clear," the controller answered. "Proceed south toward Site Three."
"Understood."
The helicopter leveled out.
A smaller detection ring appeared inside Hans’s Radar map, centered on Falcon One.
Five hundred meters.
It added nothing while Falcon One remained inside the fixed Radar Facility’s coverage, but the aircraft and its crew carried their own moving detection field.
The helicopter followed the secured road south.
Vehicles traveling beneath them slowed as Falcon One passed overhead. Soldiers looked up from checkpoints and recovery positions, though none left their assigned areas.
The sound spread farther than Hans expected.
Even with the doors closed, the rotors hammered against the air around them. The noise rolled over the warehouses and continued into the surrounding blocks.
Movement appeared near the edge of Falcon One’s Radar.
Several red markers emerged from a building west of the road.
Then more appeared behind it.
"Movement, left side," the pilot reported. "Thirty ordinary infected leaving the structures."
Specter glanced at Hans, then opened the command channel.
"Ground patrol beneath Falcon One, infected moving from the western buildings."
"Acknowledged. Engaging hostiles."
The patrol had already reacted.
Two squads turned toward the side street while the recovery truck behind them stopped. Soldiers moved into firing positions before the first infected reached the main road.
Hans watched from above as the group came into view between the buildings.
The infected were not chasing the patrol.
Their heads remained raised toward Falcon One.
"So the sound is enough," Hans said.
"Yes, Commander," the pilot replied. "Expect similar movement along the route."
Hans looked farther south.
"Maintain your course. Report every group we draw out."
"Understood."
The first groups drawn out by Falcon One never reached the road.
The patrols below cut them down before the helicopter passed beyond the next block.
More markers appeared farther south.
Some emerged from storefronts and apartment entrances. Others moved through narrow alleys before turning toward the sound above them. Most remained ordinary infected, but the number increased whenever Falcon One crossed a denser section of buildings.
The pilot continued reporting each group.
"Twenty-three, eastern side."
"Another seventeen behind the warehouse row."
"Movement beneath the overpass. Thirty-one and increasing."
Specter relayed the locations to the nearest patrols while the helicopter maintained its course.
The Falcon’s Radar could only see five hundred meters around them, but that moving circle exposed streets his forces had already passed without drawing everything outside. Some infected had remained deep inside buildings or behind sealed entrances until the rotors gave them something loud enough to follow.
Hans watched several markers gather behind the helicopter before ground units intercepted them.
Falcon One’s noise exposed its route, but it also drew infected out of buildings the ground forces had already passed.
"Commander," the pilot said. "Site Three ahead."
Hans looked through the window.
Site Three appeared between the surrounding commercial blocks. Walls and defensive positions enclosed the staging area, while vehicles occupied the lanes around the warehouses.
The Field Hospital stood farther inside, separated from the loading area and survivor transports.
Soldiers along the perimeter looked upward as Falcon One approached.
The helicopter crossed above Site Three without descending.
"South One is four kilometers ahead," the pilot reported. "South Two is farther east."
"Proceed to South One first."
"Yes, Commander."