I don't own the rights to any of this but this is my vision of what would happen if the AIRWOLF project was revitalized and brought into the 21st century. This story was originally amalgamated from a concept of several friends while we were brainstorming what Desert Storm would be like if an Apache-style helicopter codenamed the 'PALADIN' were outfitted like our favorite Lady. This story has characters from Stargate SG-1 and is a slight crossover because of that. I've changed some of the characterizations and some of the 'shippers' are not going to be happy. I disregarded the events which happened after season 3 but alluded to certain details to appease purists. I admit there are some inconsistencies but this is my first non-space sci-fi. I have placed some religious aspects in here even though religion was never dwelt upon by the series but I have a minister in my family and as a good storyteller I'm not one to turn down a good challenge. I'm going to start this out a little slowly so I can establish my version of the mythos. Since nothing about the series was sacred to the original writers for the series, I promise to continue that tradition… ;-)
I have now completed this story. Although NeoOffice was not entirely enthusiastic about saving in the .RTF format, I have uploaded everything. I hope the readers enjoys the story and I may revisit this vision should there be sufficient interest. Since my laptop is working again I will begin assembling my notes for the STARGATE SG-1/AIRWOLF crossover "CLIPPED WINGS". The summary is as follows: When Archangel loses contact after being summoned to Colorado for an International Oversight Agency meeting, Merella convinces Stringfellow to come out of his 3 year old retirement. AIRWOLF faces incredible challenges when combating incredibly advanced weaponry. Archangel makes a decision about a close personal relationship which changes Hawke's life. During the mission, Merella and Hawke confess their feelings for each other. O'Neill and Hawke must work together when the F-302s and AIRWOLF combine forces to fight against the enemy invaders.
The stories SKYSHARK DOWN! and TURNABOUT GAMBIT… are included in this project even though they were originally intended to be separated. I decided against killing off a major character as part of SD but I do reveal a major plot twist in TG. I was originally only going to hint at it and see what the readers thought but I decided that the character who was going to be killed off would be the one to figure it out so I left the character in. There are a couple unusual chapters where the story is told from the perspective of the enemy, I have allowed that sometimes that the passage of time will cause changes in a person's attitude or relationships and wrote subtle changes into the characterizations and narrative, as well as a chapter is actually repeated when told from two different perspectives (trust me on this, its not as bad as it sounds…). A special thank you to those who have been reading this, I was amazed by the numbers.
A special note in reference to the usage of Sign Language in this story. I had a discussion with a Deaf family member about using ASL syntax in conversations. There was a concern between accurate representation and confusing the reader. I decided for simplicity's sake to simply use Signed English word order and note the expressions by using an plus (+) as the quotation mark.
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It had been about a decade since the picture had been taken.
The promise was made and kept.
Just before the beginning of Desert Storm, St John had been found and AIRWOLF had been delivered.
It had later come out that he hadn't actually been missing the whole time, he'd been working in deep cover to expose a warlord who was using old POW camps as a cover for his terrorist activities.
Dominic Santini's nephew who was his namesake, had performed the actual return. The young man's name was Dominick but he went by either Nick, Nicky, or Nicko ("pronounced the eye-talian way as kneeK-owe thank you very much!").
Dominick had been a USAF commando who had worked for NORAD for several years until 2001 when he'd requested reassignment to work with a NATO assigned unit in the European theater. He'd worn his uniform for the occasion and String had commented he didn't know which had the bigger shine, Nick's medals or Dom's proud grin.
During Desert Storm, Nick had flown AIRWOLF along with an AF Major. They had served with distinction throughout the European and West Asia/North African theater for several years until they performed an escort service for a rescue mission. That ill-fated trip saw the end of AIRWOLF and the Major who had been killed when the door had been smashed and a piece of shrapnel had torn a chunk out of his neck. Nick had barely survived and had subsequently retired due to his injuries.
Dom had gone into semi-retirement when St John had bought out half of his share of Santini Air.
Hawke Aviation had more helicopters and services to match. Dom had been more than pleased when Nick had offered to come aboard.
Dom had not flown in over a year by that time and seeing his namesake 'poured some life into an old man's bones' as one of the Hawke brothers had put it. Dom had acted annoyed by the sentiment, but having the brothers working side-by-side had warmed his heart and demeanor and the aging aviator even used the phrase himself on occasion.
The Santinis worked together for about 6 months until Dom had chest pains while on a flight.
He had decided to retire anyway since Archangel had been asked to step down as the FIRM was being restructured in the fall of 2001. The CIA had asked its contractor to make some changes including a position for a man of Stringfellow's talents.
He hadn't been thrilled with the prospect as he'd promised St John that he was devoting his life to peace and was never having anything to do with combat aviation again. It wasn't until everyone had confronted him at his cabin that Stringfellow had relented and accepted the offer.
He said he had one condition as far as his brother was concerned once he got 3 month's pay and St John would have to agree sight unseen.
The clever ex-soldier had figured quite quickly that his brother and Caitlin were pursuing a quiet relationship and Stringfellow had revealed his condition was that St John finally propose and he would pay for the wedding.
They now had a 4 year old daughter, Kayra Lynn.
Nick and St John had assembled a team of employees which was in high demand throughout the region. They had a steady flow of business from Corporate travel to Hollywood projects.
Friday was employee day and anyone who was in town was encouraged to have an informal demeanor and attire. St John had given everyone nicknames in line with his off-beat sense of humor.
Even Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III stopped by for the after work party. His code-title of Archangel had been retired when he had stepped down from the Director's office to become a 'Consultant'. The new man in the Director's office had been given yet another Bible-based code-title of Judas.
Michael was making small talk about the picture with Caitlin while nursing a 20 once 'stubby' of Dr Pepper. She giggled and wiped the remnants of the just-finished chicken-cheesesteak hoagie out of his mustache. He was mentioning that he'd spoken with her brother-in-law that morning while visiting the Special Projects division. They all knew Stringfellow had been diligently working on updating the designs which had nearly been lost when AIRWOLF had crashed.
St John took this as his cue while noting that the last employee was just leaving the hanger and well out of earshot. With a trash bag in either hand, Hawke looked at Nick and asked why the "Church Consulting" (as the FIRM was now called) types were always mixing pleasure with business. Nick laughed as he plucked the envelope out of Coldsmith-Brigg's hand.
The page inside bore the unmistakable logo of the Director's office. Michael simply stood and leaned on his cane and blushed as Caitlin rested a hand on his shoulder while Nick passed the letter to her husband with a flourish.
St John knew that Michael had an affection for her and when he'd finally gotten the former spy to admit it, less than a year ago, the ever irrepressible pilot had immediately announced "SOLD!". After reading the document, St John announced,
ÅgIt seems Judas wants us to pay him a visit"