The armoured transport bucked and rolled as it slammed through a heavy cloud-bank, gripped in a band of turbulence like a toy in a particularly clumsy child's hand. Wing Lieutenant Jax Valkyr grimaced and swallowed as the acidic tang of bile surged up her throat. Her stomach refused to play nice with the motion-sickness drugs that had been steadily pumping through her system and instead lurched at every violent motion that the troop transport made.

It was the albino shark's first solo recon atmospheric drop. All her previous missions had been via high-orbit drop pod, and as part of a full-scale operation by the 4th ValorCorp Paratroop.

"DROPZONE IS HOT! I REPEAT! DROPZONE IS HOT!"

The warning burst through both her visor earbud and the transport's internal comms. The interior lighting dimmed to emergency levels; bathing the shark in a sickly red glow. She gripped the edge of her seat for support as the transport lurched, no doubt to avoid the fire from massed air-defences of the enemy's primitive, but dangerously numerous, flechette AA-guns.

"TWO MINUTES, LIEUTENANT"

The matter-of-fact statement sent an electric thrill coursing through Jax's nerves, and her heart began to thump in her chest, setting off an chiding alert in her suit's bio-system. She closed her piercingly violet eyes and breathed, nostrils flaring as he sought a place of calm within herself. She anxiously checked her weapon and tell-tales of her counter-grav wingpack for the third time, shaking her head at her obsessive behaviour. A green light flashed in the corner of her eyepiece, indicated that she should take her place. The transport's side hatch slid smoothly open as she gripped hold of the rail and shuffled forward, tucking her cybernetic tail up into flight-configuration.

Here goes nothing...

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This was the initial piece of narrative photoart featuring Jax Valkyr, one of my female Cybernetic Shark characters and protagonists of my 'Penumbraverse' art and written fiction project. See 'Sierra Lima' for the continuation of the narrative.

Photo taken on location on Secondlife, accompanying fiction written and photo effects, cinema scoping and thematic editing applied by myself.

Jax Valkyr © Jinx Curi / JustASliver

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be the creator of any avatars, textures, sims used as backdrops/scenes or objects/accessories/props used in my photoart, unless explicitly specified. Those are the creations of very talented people, and any copyrights lie solely with them, and the credit for the skill in doing so. I claim only the talent and skill, such as it may be, in modifying my avatars and accessorising them from my SL inventory and creating characters, scenes and stories from them, framing the shots, applying artistic effects and creating any flavour text/themes/accompanying fiction, with the photos that I take.