Here's a little something to tide y'all over until the next chapters of 'Return of the Razgriz',
'Promises in Snow and Ice', 'Konoha Transporters', and 'Agents and Operatives' are finished, beta-ed, and posted for your enjoyment. I give much thanks to F-14 Tomcat Lover for writing the first half of this chapter to kick my imagination in to Zone 5 Afterburners. Thanks Again, mi Amigo.
Disclaimer: Area 88 and its related characters are the property of Kaoru Shintani, Media Factory, and TV Asahi. 801 TTS Airbats and its related characters are the property of Toshimitsu Shimizu, Tokuma Shoten, and JVC. I'm just borrowing them for a little while.
Knightewolfe Designs and F-14 Tomcat Lover Productions present:
Airbats 88.
Chapter One: Desert 'Bats'
In a hidden room in an unmarked building, several men and women were meeting in secret. This group of people came from many different walks, but they all had two things in common; they were all special agents with dozens of years of combined experience in the secretive world of black operations that had joined them together to see if they could do what the politicians couldn't. The second thing that brought them together was that they hated criminals with a vengeance.
One wasn't a spy for long unless they had seen the horrors of the underworld and worked in it to survive.
This small cadre of men and women had pooled their resources to create an independent and very skilled intelligence organization-a sixth column of shared intelligence assets if you will-that tracked dangerous criminals causing wars and conflicts around the world. Nearly all the major criminal groups had some connection to a far off conflict. These criminals were at the top of the list for elimination or arrest (preferably elimination). The cadre felt that when they were free of the government red tape they could succeed... and, to a large extent, they did.
Their personal mandate made it clear: interference only as a last result!Otherwise they only alerted governments and watched how things played out. Of course they sometimes did go into the field; as the body count at a compound along the Afghan-Pakistani Border could attest to. They didn't find their target, but the ISAF Forces in Afghanistan made good use of the intelligence they'd recovered. As did the CIA with a few drone attacks here and there. That was one of the extremely few missions where they had to deploy their own assets; fortunately they were good enough to rarely need to do that. Such missions were still counted on one hand after all, and only because of all of the fingers.
The current agenda had an aging Japan Air Self Defense Force general-one of the few people in the world to know of the group and that was only because he had a friend among them-requesting their assistance.
"So the general wants us to protect the fiancé of a friends daughter.", one man spoke, his tone even except for barely legible Newark-New York accent.
"It appears that way comrade, but what is happening falls within our group's mandate.", a Russian woman stated.
"Agreed.", a tough sounding man carrying the solid sound of a Mid-Western United States twang commented as he inhaled from his cigarette
"So much to be done but this young man that the general proposed…", trailed off. a female voice with a softly lilting French accent
"I would like to say otherwise, but the young man studied the F-16A Falcon and what he learned, he applied to the JASDF's Kawasaki T-4 trainers used by his squadron,.", the general's friend spoke up in an Osaka accent clear as day.
"We should go for it.", a Teutonic voice said, carrying a hint of Bavaria within.
"Can the Japanese arrange this?", queried another woman who, to the untrained ear, sounded either Spanish, Mexican, or Portuguese.
"We can!", exclaimed the firm voice of a Japanese noblewoman
"Well then, let's roll with it!", came the voice of the tough American.
As Shinn Kazama chased a MiG-21 Fishbed across the sky he glanced over at his new wingman, a former Japanese Air Self Defense Force group commander on secret loan to the Asranian Foreign Legion. The guy was keeping up, if barely. However, if the rumors were correct, his job wasn't just to stick to Shinn's wing or tail; but to prevent the enemy from doing the same with catastrophic results. Shinn turned back as the MiG pilot in his gunsight made a fatal mistake by trying to turn hard to port. Shinn pumped a short burst from his pair of twin M39 20mm cannons into the wildly maneuvering Fishbed; snapping off his enemy's port wing when the plane was stitched from nose to tail. In addition, the mortal damage caused the whole rear fuselage to break off.
The MiG pilot did the smart thing and punched out of his fatally wounded fighter to float silently to the ground on silken wings, contemplating his gargantuan error in judgment in thinking he could beat the legendary 'Flaming Unicorn'in a dogfight.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shinn saw his wingman break from formation as two Fishbed-Js started their 23mm cannon gun run where the two had previously been. The Ace of Area 88 watched the former military pilot chop his Fighting Falcons' power and swing the nose around in a tight, gut wrenching turn to pour an eight second burst of 20mm fire into the first plane and get a third plane that had been sneaking up on his friend Greg.
As he watched, another Falcon pounced on the second Fishbed-J and loosed a Sidewinder right into the pilot's face. Shinn had to admit that the F-16C Block 50 was a very good fighter. He could see why people called it the Viper as well. He also now knew why Greg and some of the other Skyhawk drivers had decided to trade in their old A-4's for the F-16E configuration in the newer plane. It was expensive and hard to get parts for sometimes, but from the looks of it, it was well worth the money. The new fighters were making his F-5E Tiger II look like it was standing still.
Shinn had been trying to save up for a new winged steed but as it stood now, he knew that if this kept up, he was going to go through another plane. While contemplating his present conundrum, the reluctant ace saw one of the other Japanese pilots engage two Fishbeds and a MiG-23 Flogger J; a truly insane move for most pilots (keyword: most.) in the type of aircraft she was flying. Shin saw the Tiger II pilot dance her bird through the enemies' missiles and quickly snap off a burst from her own pair of M39's that caused one of the Fishbeds to catch fire and roll into the other before cutting loose a Sidewinder into the Flogger as she
passed the panicky rebel pilot.
"Three planes in a single pass, not too shabby.", thought Shin as the air battle began to wrap up with, the rebels once again running with their tails between their legs like whipped curs.
Shin noted that the four female Japanese pilots were still in the air with their posse of F-5's, a surprising mix of the two F-5F Tiger II's, an F-5A Freedom Fighter, and-wonder of wonders-an F-20A Tigershark. He also noticed his wingman as he slotted himself back off Shinn's wing like an old pro at formation flying. With a few scrapes and some minor-but not too severe-cannon damage, the guy who Shin thought was a better whiner and had flown a desk for a several years, had kept up pretty well. He obviously had some training with the F-16 although at the present time he was flying a Block 20 configuration of the older A-variant Falcon.
"Finally,… we have aces again.", Shinn heard his wingman mumble over the radio,
Shinn figured the man was a serious and proud member of the JASDF and having taken to the air to do battle, he would be proud to have finally become an ace for his nation, but...
"Kengamine, don't-", started Shin before he was cut off.
"I know Kazama, I know. Nonetheless, it feels good for Japan to have full-fledged fighter aces again even though it won't be on our records.", interrupted former JASDF Group Commander Kouji Kengamine.
"Give it up Shin; you'll never understand the pride we military types feel at moments like this. It's something you've just got to experience to understand from start to finish.", chuckled Mickey Simon, the blonde American piloting the justifiably feared F-14 Tomcat over the frequency.
Shinn knew what that meant, but he also wondered about the five Double Echo newbie pilots. The sixth pilot was flying a late flight F-15A Eagle, unlike his companions. Before he could add a comment of his own, Shin heard the voice of the technician in the Area 88 tower.
"Double Echo to all birds; return to base. I repeat, return to base. Good work and job well done.", came the voice of the base radio operator.
"Copy that Double Echo. Zero-Zero Section is RTB at this time.", replied Shin as he watched his flight form up.
"Tango Red Section copies RTB as well, Double Echo. Hope you got the beer on ice and our money waiting.", added Mickey as he pointed at the Eagle off his starboard wing and tapped the top of his helmet.
"Tango Red, Old Man McCoy say you still owe him two grand for the last beer bash you threw. He'll be waiting to collect when you land.", commented the radio operator with a not so subtle hint of hilarity in his voice.
Shin laughed good-naturedly at his friend as he heard Mickey mutter an 'aww dammit, that greedy bastard strikes again'over the radio before waggling his wings and turning his flock of planes towards their desert home.
Former Japan Air Self Defense Force Group Commander Kouji Kengamine listened to the banter between the Tomcat driver and the control tower back at the base for a few minutes more before lowering the volume on his number one radio to the point where he could think on his life until now and still hear any calls directed his way from either his wingmen or from the control tower technicians 'Double Echo'.
Leaning back in his ACES II ejection seat, though it already had a 30 degree recline, Kenji gazed around his 'office' at the various controls, gauges, and summary other necessities one would find in the cockpit of a high performance fighter and sighed in contentment. The cockpit of a General Dynamics F-16A block 20 Fighting Falcon was like an old friend. He had started his career as an elite pilot of the Japan Air Self Defense Force pushing F-16's and had loved those days when all he had to do was listen to his superior officers before joining his buddies on the tarmac as they headed out to 'kick the tires and light the fires' of their mighty steeds and soar off into the blue skies.
Even after the 'incident' that landed him a transfer to become the group commander of the training squadron commanded by his high school rival Mitsuru Konishi, Kengamine longed to return to his beloved Falcons. All of his schemes to either disband the squadron or get some leverage against any of the squadron members to pull a transfer were done leading up to that one goal. Even his filling in for the female member of the U.S.A.F. Flight Demonstration Team, The Thunderbirds, after she sprained her arm during their visit to Iruma Airbase where the 801st Tactical Training Squadron (unofficially known as the 'Airbats') were stationed, Kengamine longed to fly F-16's again. Sighing again, the five foot eleven inch pilot glanced out of the bubble canopy and saw the rest of his squadron mates flying in perfect formation with their flight leads.
Over there at his three o'clock was former First Sergeant Sakura Saginomiya; second in command of the aerial half of the Airbats. Standing a willowy five feet, nine inches tall and a beauty in every sense of the word, First Sergeant Saginomiya was the lead pilot of the Airbats Flight Demonstration Team and expert pilot in her own right. Though she loved to gamble and often terrorized their squadron mates with her incessant attempts to drag them all out for karaoke (she had a beautiful voice, admitted Kouji), Sakura knew how to fly as was shown by the way she kept her F-20A Tigershark (a damned hard plane to control from what Kengamine had heard from his different sources back in the days he was a junior Falcon driver) sitting just off the wing of the AV-8B Super Harrier piloted by the young pilot Kim Aba with nary a bobble.
Looking up, Kouji observed the F-5F Tiger II piloted by former Sergeant First Class Arisa Mitaka, the more aggressive of the two Kawasaki T-4 .trainer aircraft pilots of the 801st Squadron. Five foot, six inches of sheer aggressiveness packed into a petite frame covered in dusky skin so smooth, in the back of his mind Kouji often wondered how in the hell Mitaka kept it that way. Seeing the way she patrolled above the souped-up A-4N Skyhawks and A-7E Corsair II attack aircraft in a shark-like manner, Kengamine chuckled to himself.
"Her flying style reflects her attitude and personality. She's no dainty wallflower; she's a fighter pilot through and through. Her aggressive style compliments the passive-aggressive style of her wingman/best friend/worst rival, Sergeant Haneda.", thought Kouji as he followed the Tiger II of his flight lead through a turn to the right to set up for their final approach.
Indeed, former Sergeant First Class Miyuki Haneda was what one (who did not know her well) would consider a proper woman. Soft-spoken and extremely well-mannered, among the rest of the 801st the five foot six and a half inch Haneda was considered somewhat of a goody two shoes. She was always polite (except for one time but that is another story), friendly, and kind. Haneda was also one helluva fighter pilot, often pushing her T-4 to the edge and beyond in order to get one up on Mitaka, who always rose to the challenge and pushed the limits even further. During the recent dogfight, Kouji had seen Haneda wax three MiGs in a single pass; two Fishbeds and a Flogger.
"That would have been a suicidal move for 95.5% of pilots in a Tiger II, however she pulled it off with a graceful flair and élan that few share. I guess some of Mitaka's overly aggressive tendencies have rubbed off on Haneda since we've been here.", mused Kouji as he shifted his gaze to the F-5A Freedom Fighter flown by the youngest member of his former squadron.
Short with a fiery temper, a voracious-but little tolerance-appetite for booze, and an annoying pet bat; pink-haired former Staff Sergeant Yoko Shimorenjaku was often times mistaken for a little child. Her personality and small fits of immaturity and child-like behavior sometimes aided in and in some cases enhanced this mistaken perception most people had upon meeting the 'package of unstable dynamite' that Shimorenjaku is. Though Yoko wasn't that good of a pilot at first (Kouji often times remarked that she was the kind of pilot who got her license out of a cereal box), her time with her friends and squadron mates at this solitary airbase had-to a degree-helped out her skills (and more importantly, her confidence). In addition to helping out the young pilot, the desert had had an unexpected, but not wholly unappreciated, influence on the young woman. Shimorenjaku, who used to stand about five feet one inch (in the uniform heels) had rapidly grown four and a half more inches and had filled out a bit during their time here. Though she wouldn't be a classical beauty like Haneda and Mitaka for another few years and Kengamine doubted that Yoko would ever grow into an enigmatic and ethereal beauty that Saginomiya was, the sweet and innocent little girl from back home was growing into a beauty of her own (one that the more traditional side of Kouji felt as if it had to protect from the harsh world of relationships between men and women).
Kouji was brought out of his musings when he heard his callsign broadcast of the radio. Increasing the volume to normal levels, he waited for the call to be rebroadcast. When it was, he recognized the deep baritone of his former squadron commander and answered.
"Go ahead Alpha Bravo, you have Bravo Six One.", replied Kouji.
"Hey Kouji, are you asleep over there? Wake up, you're ten seconds away from overshooting the base, ya moron! What's wrong did that dogfight scare ya?", came the teasing voice of former J.A.S.D.F. Captain Mitsuru Konishi.
Kengamine glared through his tinted visor at the late-flight F-15A Eagle sitting off the right wing of Mickey Simon's F-14 Tomcat at his high school, flight school, and career rival. Even away from home, the teasing from Konishi continued. Gritting his teeth in a burst of anger, Kouji answered.
"I'm fine over here you muscle-bound, weightlifting addicted pitiful excuse for a pilot! I've always had a better situational awareness than you. Especially in the field of winning the fairer sex!", snapped Kengamine as he banked his Falcon in preparation for landing.
"Aww, I'm hurt Kouji! You know me, I gotta spread my love around to all the women of the world!".
Kouji laughed to himself as he heard the faux hurt in Konishi's voice. If it was one thing about the gregarious six foot three inch tall, well-muscled and bearded former commanding officer of the 801st Tactical Training Squadron 'Airbats', he respected about Captain Konishi, it was the fact that nothing ever got him down.
"Even if he still doesn't know that Saginomiya loves his oafish self with all of his glaring faults! It's frustrating; he loves her and is more than willing to let her go instead of confessing. I know that back at home there were all the rules and regulations about fraternization between officers and enlisted, but here the rules don't apply. We're no longer in the military; we're mercenaries fighting for a paycheck. This is the perfect arena for such a relationship. You know what, ahhh screw it. It's none of my damn business to butt into other peoples love lives when I don't have one of my own.", thought Kouji as his Falcon followed the Tiger II of his flight lead to the tarmac where the head mechanic Gustav and his ground crewmen waited for the gaggle of planes to return.
As he brought his fighter to a stop at the direction of the ground crew, Kengamine ran though his checklists in his usual meticulous manner. Checking his gauges and instruments while making notations on his kneeboard, he pulled his throttle around the fuel shutoff and shut down his engine. While changing over from his auxiliary power unit (APU) to the provided ground power unit (GPU), out of the corner of his eye, Kouji saw his cockpit canopy rise and felt the slight shudder as the boarding ladder was placed against his fuselage. Glancing over at the grinning face of the boyishly handsome ground crewman, Kouji saw the last member of his former squadron: Airman Takuya Isurugi.
The extremely capable mechanic greeted Kouji and helped him unstrap from his aircraft. Disconnecting his oxygen mask from the Falcon's oxygen system, Kouji took off his helmet and shook his sweat-drenched hair before handing the helmet to Isurugi and rising from his safed ejection seat. Stretching his arms above his head, Kouji lifted his left leg over the canopy rail and placed it on the ladder. Following this with his right leg, Kouji glanced down to where Isurugi waited at the bottom of the ladder. Taking his time and climbing to the ground, the pilot accepted the helmet as it was handed back to him.
"How'd she handle Commander Kengamine? Did the work I do help you in anyway?", bubbled the enthusiastic mechanic.
Kouji smothered a laugh, from the glazed look of exuberance on the kid's face, he could see that Isurugi was in his element and was enjoying his time here with all of the different kinds of planes he got to work on.
Looking over Isurugi's head, Kouji could see the determined approaches of rivals Haneda and Mitaka. Like the other members of the Airbats, Kengamine knew that the five foot seven inch tall mechanic was caught in love triangle between Arisa and Miyuki. He chuckled again as he remembered the actions of the clumsy mechanic when he joined the 801st. Somehow the lucky brat had stumbled upon both women in various stages of undress. Yet with all that he'd endured, the kid still managed to brighten the lives of the squadron. Though he were loathe to admit it to the kid, one of the things that Kengamine looked forward to everyday (when he was deep in the midst of his plotting) was finding out what kind of trouble Isurugi had gotten into with both Miyuki and Arisa.
"I guess his statement that one would be his wife and the other would be his mistress from way back when ignited the rivalry between the two even more. Lucky kid.", murmured Kouji to himself.
"Did you say something commander?", asked Takuya as he studied the notes Kouji had written down on his notepad and passed to him after climbing down the ladder.
"Nah, kid; I didn't say anything. And what have both Konishi and I have told you: while we're here, there's no such thing as rank. Call me by my name. Now when we return to Japan, you do that and I'll have you up on charges so fast, your head will spin.", joked Kouji as he watched Arisa and Miyuki continue their approach towards their oblivious prey.
Reassuring the young mechanic with a grin after he snapped his head up with such force that Kouji was sure he'd seriously hurt it, Kengamine patted the young man on the back before heading towards the mission room for debriefing. Up ahead, he spotted Konishi, Saginomiya, and Shimorenjaku heading the same way.
Unknown to the pilot, Kouji Kengamine was under observation from three people in two different locations.
Behind him stood the Area 88 top of the roster pilot, Shin Kazama. Next to Shin stood his friend and Area 88's number 2 pilot, Mickey Simon. After landing their respective airplanes and completing their post flight checks, Mickey had sought Shin out to get his opinion on the nuggets. Mickey had been impressed with the shades wearing and bearded Mitsuru Konishi and his skills in the Eagle. The pilot had performed his duties to the expectations of the Area 88 veterans and then some. Mickey wasn't usually impressed by new guys but this new guy had skills and could back them up.
"So, Shin, how did your new wingman handle himself?", asked Mickey.
"He acquitted himself in a manner befitting an Area 88 mercenary; nailed at least three enemies that I know of, including a Fishbed that had snuck up on Greg that he'd missed. He'll do as a replacement for those we've lost. What about the Eagle pilot?", returned Shin as he watched the two new female pilots grabbed an arm of the new mechanic Gustav had been gushing about since his arrival several months ago. Tuning back in to what Mickey was saying, Shin caught the end of his friends' response.
"I'm not usually impressed with the cocky guys we've gotten in the past but I am impressed with this guy. He's not cocky. He knows the Eagle and how to use it effectively in combat. Either he's flown the F-15 in combat before or he studied at Nellis Air Force Base during Red Flag. My money is on the latter.", replied Mickey in an unusually serious tone of voice.
Shin nodded in agreement. He'd heard about the United States Air Force response to the Navy's Top Gun program. Mickey had been a graduate of Top Gun before he got out of the Navy. Shaking his head, Shin took off his helmet and started the long walk towards the debriefing room. The debrief of this mission was going to be a long one and Shin was not looking forward to it.
While Shin and Mickey made their way to the mission room for the debriefing, the base commander; Prince Saki Vashtarl gazed down at the base from his position on the walkway surrounding the windows of the control tower. Listening to the sounds of the desert and watching Gustav's efficient ground crews as they scurried around working on damaged planes, moving them to the revetments if the damage wasn't too bad, and towing planes more severely damaged to one of the repair hangers through his ever present sunglasses, Saki thought back to when these new group of pilots had arrived in piecemeal fashion over a month and a half.
The first to arrive had been the mechanic with a sealed letter for Commander Saki. The poor kid hadn't even known he'd had the letter until Saki had gone through his record in front of him. Waving away his stammering as unimportant, Saki had dismissed the young man and had read the letter. It was unsigned but Saki had a few suspicions about who'd sent the letter in the first place. Conversing with his aide Roundell, Saki decided to play it as if the remaining members of the squadron were just the usual new pilot fodder for the Asranian Foreign Legion.
Behind him, Saki heard the polite clearing of a throat and knew that Roundell had arrived to inform him that the pilots were waiting for him to arrive to conduct the debriefing. Shifting his gaze over to the hanger where Old Man McCoy kept his PX, Saki saw a figure in a purple flightsuit come storming out of the hanger. Though he couldn't see the pilot's face, he knew who the pissed off pilot was.
"Roundell, what is the status on a replacement aircraft for Kitori?", asked Saki.
"Right now, it's in limbo, commander. The pipeline for replacement Dassault Mirage F-1's is drying up as the countries that flew the type are transitioning to either the new Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon, or are placing orders for more advanced versions of the F/A-18 Hornet and F-16 Fighting Falcon. Usually that would mean a surplus of aircraft; however the UN Security Council and their organizations are watching transactions of military aircraft quite closely. Baroness Palvanov isn't happy about the delay. McCoy has offered her a discount on any other aircraft but Kitori has refused most vociferously.", came the cultured voice of the one-eyed master attack pilot.
"Hmm, I see. Tell Kitori that it would behoove her to purchase her new aircraft by the end of the day tomorrow. If she refuses, ground her and say it was by my order. That should improve Kitori's attitude substantially.", answered Saki as he turned and started walking to the door into the control tower.
In the back of the mission assignment room, Mitsuru Konishi sat with his chair leaned back against the wall. Through his ever present sunglasses, he could see how his squadron members were fitting in with the rest of the mercenaries here at Area 88. At the front of the room, he could see Arisa and Miyuki talking with a couple of pilots who'd missed the mission due to their planes being not capable of flight. Towards the middle of the room he could see where Saginomiya was trying to calm down the fuming Kitori Palvanov while Shimorenjaku looked on.
Lifting his head and shifting it to his right just a bit, Mitsuru could see the reason why his entire squadron was here under classified orders from the top. Unlike the rest of the 801st; he, Mitsuru Konishi knew the real reason for their orders. He'd been personally briefed by the general in command of their airbase in a secluded room underneath headquarters.
And it had all started with a rushed request by the new training wing commanding general for Captain Mitsuru Konishi to ferry Major General Shimizu up for an emergency meeting with General Tsukamoto of Central Command.
Well that brings to an end this new story I've began to help revitalize my imagination.
Once again, I wish to thank F-14 Tomcat Lover for writing the first half of this chapter. His excellent work jump-started my imagination after I broached this plot missile and professed that I was ignorant on how to start this story with my mind full of work I needed to do on my other stories. A few days later he sent me the rough drafts that would become the basis of this chapter and for that I believe he deserves 75% of the credit for getting the 'Airbats 88 Project' started.
As always, I hope you read and enjoy this new story as you have my others. Please review and let me know what you think, I would be most appreciative of any and all feedback I receive. Criticisms and critiques well be read, advice will be accepted, suggestions will be thought and acted upon if they enhance the story.
Flames will be fed to Shimorenjaku's pet bat before being slowly roasted by the afterburners of Mitaka's Tiger II.
Aloha until next time my friends!
Knightewolfe's Lair
4/11.