Part One: Once More Unto the Breach

Thick dark blue wisp rolled off the cockpit windows as the craft powered through the thunder clouds. The fuselage sparked with strikes of lightning. The heavy thumping of the propellers belied the efficient jet-like power of the engines. Finally the aircraft broke through the cloud cover and rose into the moon lit night.

A confident, almost relaxed voice crackled through the aircraft speakers. "This is Captain Rollins. We have climbed to a height of thirty-two thousand feet and should be clear of any further inclement weather. We should arrive in Las Vegas within the hour." The Griffon's powerful VTOL engines were designed to quickly deliver a team of BSI SLAMs across country as an emergency response team. This night the special aircraft was carrying a lighter load of no less a heavy burden.

Senior Special Agent Jeffery Williams was delivering BSI Evidence Recovery and Esper Teams to the Las Vegas office. Apparently a crisis was brewing at the C.O.R.E research facility. Jason leaned back in his seat the cockpit barely lit with the LED's of the display panels. Twenty-four hours ago he had been booked for a commercial flight to Las Vegas as the first leg in his trip to the DARPA testing facility. At the last minute he had been tagged to fly some BSI VIP and a Crisis Management Team to Las Vegas.

"I'll have to thank Mr. Williams when we land. Flying the Griffon beats the hell out of a five hour flight in coach . . . Still . . . I'm going to need some shut eye before I drive out to the DARPA base." As the Griffon soared through the mountain skies Jason mentally prepared himself for his next mission ... his first thermospheric flight with the X-49.