Laytn greeted McKnight and Milo with a salute and a nod respectively, as there was little chance they could hear any spoken greeting above the pitched whine of the hover-fans. The two men mounted the waiting Wappas, and as they did so, Laytn pulled his helmet over his head. He grumbled to himself as the lingering sweat from the helmet’s previous wearer dripped from inside the enclosed device, and down the back of his neck. 

“Comms check,” Laytn said into the helmet’s built in microphone. “I’m good to go, Milo. Since you’ve got all the electronic goodies with you, Commander McKnight and I can scout along your flanks while you take point. You okay with that setup, Commander?”

As the crackling replies of the two men came through the helmet, Laytn lowered the protective face piece. Nodding to his two companions, Laytn gave an exaggerated thumbs up to each, letting them know he would be taking off first. With one hand on the control stick, and his feet firmly against the rudder pedals, Laytn used his other hand to flick the comm selector over to the convoy-wide channel.

“2-6-1, 2-6-1,” he said, denoting all listening units within the 261st’s convoy, “be advised, three friendlies lifting off.”

Saying this, Laytn pulled back on the control stick as he simultaneously fed throttle to the hover-fans. The whine from the motors grew in pitch, and sand whipped out from beneath the body of the Wappa. Soldiers standing nearby covered their faces, and placed hands upon their caps to keep them from being blown off. In short order, the fans began to produce enough thrust to get Laytn’s vehicle airborne. 

Hovering several meters above the ground, Laytn executed a turn to point the nose of his Wappa towards the convoy’s front. Using the control stick, he redirected thrust from the fans, and instantly the Wappa began to propel itself forward. As the vehicles and soldiers of the 261st moved beneath him, Laytn increased his speed and altitude. His Wappa raced over the desert now, and soon Laytn was out in front of the leading edge of the convoy. 

Banking to the left, Laytn swung this Wappa in an arc that would take him back towards where he had lifted off just moments before. The feeling of the hot wind whipping against him brought an exhilarated smile to Laytn, and he called out to his fellow officers.

“Ready to form up on you, Milo.”