Disclaimer:

Big Guy, Rusty, Drs. Slate and Donovan, Dwayne Hunter, and so on and forth are the property of Dark Horse Comics and Sony. I have also included the three SI characters Tank, Matt, and Christine. Enjoy.

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Aboard the USS Dark Horse were the six members of the new project slated by General Thorton and Quark Enterprises. Sergeant Dwayne Hunter and his pit crew: Mack, Jo, Garth, Tank, and Matt, were patiently waiting to one side while Thorton discussed with the Quark representatives what was under the enormous tarp now sitting inside the Dark Horse's cargo bay.

"Now, who would you be, little lady?"

"My apologies, General. This is Erika Slate. She just got on, but she's very bright."

"Hello, General."

"Slate! Glad to have you on the team. Wasn't your father with the Air Force?"

"Yes, Jack Slate."

"Wonderful! Glad to be working with a clean Slate." The General laughed at his own joke. No one else did.

"General, what we have here is a very sophisticated piece of machinery. The BGY-11 is a one-of-a-kind, human-driven robot exo-suit."

"I don't know too much about robots, Donovan, but I think I've read enough of the BGY's manual to figure out what this thing does."

"Wonderful, General. Now, I'm afraid my superiors insist that you choose who should be the pilot of the BGY-11."

"Well, then, Donovan, why don't you introduce me?"

The General, Slate and Donovan walked over to the motley crew of the BGY-11 project, who were dressed in yellow jumpsuits. "General, this is the head of our crew, Sergeant Dwayne Hunter."

"Glad to meet you, Hunter."

None of the members of the crew talked to the general. As a rule, they despised authority, especially Donovan.

"This is our main technician, Mack Johannsen."

The general gave a nod in his direction.

"These are his assistants, Garth Nack, and Josephine Brooks."

Another nod.

"This is our programmer, Matt Weinstein."

Erica looked at Matt, recognizing him from Quark. "Matt, aren't you with the programming department?" asked Erika.

"Yeah. I got called by Donovan for this project."

Meanwhile, as Matt and Erika got caught up with business at Quark, Donovan introduced the last member of the team.

"General Thorton, this is Tank, our munitions man."

"Tank? What kind of a name is Tank?"

Tank answered. "Of course that's not my name. After YOU specifically pulled me out of the Rangers, I kept my code name." Tank had a particular distaste for General Thorton.

"Well, General, have you made your decision?"

"Do you have their dossiers, Donovan? I'd like to look at those."

"Of course." Donovan handed several large folders to the General.

While the general looked over the dossiers, several conversations were being held. In one corner of the docking bay, Tank was conversing with Hunter.

"Dwayne, are you sure that you can handle this baby? The mag-popper isn't the easiest weapon to handle, and I did include the fusion cannon...."

"I definitely think that I can handle the Big Guy." The team had thought the nickname was decent, and it had stuck.

In the other corner, Matt and Jo seemed to be getting along quite well, as the general called out, "Hunter! Dwayne Hunter!"

Hunter and Tank ran over to the general.

"Sergeant Hunter, you have been chosen to pilot the BGY-11. Congratulations."

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That's it for chapter one! If you have any story ideas, my e-mail is TheTank264 at comcast.net