Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you a new work of
fanfiction from Knightewolfe Productions.
This story is about feats of aerial daring do.
It's also a crossover of the anime Area 88 and the
PS2 game Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War.
Knightewolfe presents:
Disclaimer: Area 88 and Ace Combat 4, The Unsung war
belong to their respective creators.
Area 88
Return of the Razgriz
Chapter 1:
The Request
2338 Hours. Royal Asranian Air Force Base Area 88
Colonel Saki Vashtal, Prince of the Asranian Royal Family and head of its mercenary air force sat back in his chair and looked out his window at an airfield in the middle of the desert and had no roads leading to or from it. Taking a deep breath and inhaling the dry desert air, he relaxed for a short bit. Whether it was day or night, he loved the desert with all of his heart. With his long black hair and aviator style sunglasses, Saki looked every bit the scion of a rich and powerful family. The only aberration to the image was the fact that the prince was dressed in army fatigues and had a yellow ascot around his neck.
Turning his attention to the other occupants of the office, Saki wished more than ever that his old friend and confidant, Roundell, had survived the attack on the rebel base many years previous. Unfortunately, the one-eyed fighter pilot and his treasured old Buccaneer fighter hadn't made it back after dropping his bombs on target.
Looking at the only female in the room, his cousin Kitori Palvanoff, nicknamed 'The Virgin Baroness', Saki frowned as he remembered Kitori's delight upon learning what name she had been tagged with. Like most of the male members of their extended family, Saki despised the fact that Kitori was doing what was basically considered man's work. Unlike most of his family, he didn't mind Kitori's choice of profession. On many occasions' the decorated pilot had helped turn the tide of battle against the rebels. On her way to Area 88 to sign up with her cousin's Mercenary Air Force; Kitori had saved the life of a young Harrier pilot named Kim.
Saki sighed as he remembered the effect the tall, lithe, voluptuous desert princess had had on his pilots at the time. Only three of his aces had remained immune to her charms: the young Indian Kim, the American Tomcat pilot Mickey Simon, and the Japanese pilot with the dreaded Flaming Unicorn emblem on the tail of his Chance-Vought F-8E Crusader and then later his F-5E Tiger II, Shin Kazama.
"Kitori, tell me again what happened.", asked Saki in a calm, and quiet voice.
"Dammit, Saki, I've related the story several times already! I was on my way back from the capital with those dispatches that you requested when I got bounced by a flight of rebel MiG-21bis fighters. Right away I knew that these pilots were different from the usual rebel pilot scum. They were unusually aggressive and jumped right in when I turned nose hot to engage. Usually, the moment I go nose hot, at least half the enemy flight will turn tail and run. Not these guys, they stayed to fight. I was able to dust two of them with missile shots but that made the rest even more aggressive. One launched a heat seeker at me but I avoided it, unfortunately as I turned to defeat the missile I blundered head on into a barrage of cannon fire from the remaining Fishbed. That bastard stitched my aircraft from nose to tail with so many 23mm rounds, that I was surprised my poor Mirage F-1 made it back to base.", snapped Kitori as she rubbed her neck where the strap of her sling hung.
"You mean, you almost made it back to base. You punched out of your aircraft as you turned on final.", came the voice of the man sitting to her right.
Saki watched Kitori's eyes as they blazed with fury. Stepping in quickly before things got out of hand, Saki grabbed Kitori's sore arm and squeezed. He wanted her to remain calm and punching out this officious and pompous envoy from his family in the capital wouldn't put him on good standings with his family so they could allow him to do what he was presently thinking about doing.
"Ow! Dammit, Whaddya do that for, Saki! That effing hurts like hell!", shrieked Kitori as the pain radiated from her arm all the way through her body and caused her to gasp.
"Calm down Baroness Palvanoff. Now is not the time to infuriate the family by attacking the family's' messenger. You're already treading on thin ice as it is.", replied Saki with an edge to his voice.
Kitori heard the edge in her older cousin's voice and subsided. Saki was reminding her of her status as a baroness was lower than his as a prince. It also reminded her that his grace was all that shielded her from family reprisals (their family had raised the art of reprisal to a profession). Several of their female cousins made no bones that they considered her choice of profession as an insult to their nomadic heritage. Nor did they approve of Kitori fraternizing with foreign men. Why, they wondered, did cousin Kitori want to fly fighters when she had enough wealth to marry very well and only have to bear children for her husband instead of doing such demeaning things as living with men? At least, Kitori was chaperoned by their cousin, the prince. Maybe he could keep her from cavorting with those foreign men and their animal lusts.
Regaining her seat, Kitori awkwardly smoothed the front of her flight suit down and looked dismally at her cracked pink flight helmet. She knew McCoy was going to give her most holy hell about getting a new one.
"Not to mention a new fighter.", Kitori mentally groaned.
Bringing her attention back to the conversation going on around her, Kitori listened as Saki pointed out that the baroness had brought back new and vital intelligence about the rebels.
"Well now we know that the rebels have some new pilots or their training is improving. Add this to the information we received the other day by one of the other flights about getting jumped by new rebel aircraft we must believe that there is a credible threat to Asranian sovereignty. We should have expected this day would come since we defeated the rebels years ago. I guess that royal intelligence was blind and missed the new goings on in the rebel territories.", stated Saki as he moved back to his desk and placed his palms flat on the top and leaned forward.
The envoy growled a warning as the subtle insult to the intelligence section and to him personally registered. Saki ignored the growl and continued on with his quiet berating of the pompous ass in front of him.
Kitori loved to watch when Saki put the bumbling idiots from headquarters in their place. His quiet strength and serene calmness is what made her love him even more. Kitori also loved Saki's fighter, a pristine SEPECAT Jaguar that he had had ever since he first graduated from the military academy and started flying (and fighting) for the Asranian Royal Air Force. If one were to believe the rumors, Saki's Jaguar was the first fighter he flew in his graduation ceremony. Kitori had been there as a young pre-teen girl more in line with her family's wishes for her future at the time. She had watched in awe and amazement as the specially marked Jaguar had pitched up into the vertical and accelerated leaving its mates behind. From that day forward, she had begged, pleaded, and cried to get her father to let her learn to fly. When she graduated from flight school, Kitori had left Asran and had gone to the country of Osea to learn how to fly fighters. She had returned during the time when pilots were desperately needed and had to badger her father into allowing her to join Saki's mercenaries. He had only relented when she told him that she would return home and forget her dream if the prince refused. Saki had agreed to her request and Kitori signed the contract Saki provided her with and accepted the fact that she wouldn't get any special treatment. Nor did she expect to be treated differently than the other pilots on base.
At the end of the contract, Kitori's father had demanded she return home to be wed to her betrothed and she had refused. Her father had gone to the king to complain about his wayward niece. Saki's father had circumvented his younger brother by immediately betrothing Kitori to Saki when and only when they were ready.
Now sitting her in his office, Kitori reveled in just being around the man who was to be her husband when the time was right. Her mind had just gone off on a tangent about what a future that would be when she found herself rudely shaken awake.
"Wake up Kitori. That pompous ass is gone. He didn't like my suggestion but he promised to pass it on to the king. However, I believe that as usual I'll have to circumvent everyone one and go out and recruit pilots on my own."
Kitori was ashamed. She'd fallen asleep in Saki's office during the meeting and he'd allowed it. Her face turned bright red in embarrassment. Saki saw his cousins' face redden and chuckled before assuring her that by the time she had fallen asleep, the courier had been well on his way out of the office. Saki's own face darkened for a moment as he realized that Kitori hadn't told them everything. Area 88 needed the information she was withholding if they were to defend the country.
Turning his back on Kitori and heading for his seat to give his highly embarrassed cousin a chance to gather her composure, Saki gritted his teeth as he knew what he was going to have to do. Reseated, he steepled his hands in front of his face.
""Kitori is that everything you have to report?", he asked in a deceptively calm voice.
Kitori froze, she knew that tone. Saki knew that she had been holding out and didn't tell him (or the pompous ass courier) all of the intelligence she had garnered before bailing out.
"Yes colonel that's everything."
Saki narrowed his eyes. So she wanted to make this difficult, he could make it as difficult as possible. Two could play her game and he was a past master at it while she was still learning. Glancing down at the sheet of paper on his desk, Saki saw that it was Kitori's request for a new fighter. Picking it up by one corner, he held it in the air.
"Do you know what this is?"
"No sir, I do not know what that is."
"This is your request for a new fighter. A new Mirage F-1 to be exact if I remember. You seem to have a penchant for the Dassault Mirage F-1 line, don't you?"
"Yessir.", answered Kitori with an icy dread filling her stomach.
Saki replaced the sheet on his desk and looked at it once before ignoring it altogether. He had to do this now if he was going to get the information she held.
"What would you do if I were to deny this request? I have half a mind to turn it down and ship you back to air force headquarters with a note in your file to bar you from ever flying a combat aircraft again.", stated Saki easily.
Kitori groaned as the dread that was filling her stomach grew exponentially. If he had denied her request, Kitori would've just gone over to McCoy and ordered a new fighter and accepting the price it would cost her. But if he were to deny her request AND ship her back to headquarters with a recommendation for grounding, Kitori would be at the mercy of her father and her female cousins to resign from the military and get married.
"And if they forced me to do that, I wouldn't be able to marry Saki. Dammit, he's got me over a barrel between a rock and a hard place. I gotta come clean about this if I want to keep my future with him intact. Shit, he always did know how to cheat.", fumed Kitori.
Sighing in resignation, Kitori submitted and told Saki what he wanted to know.
"Colonel, I did hear some communications between the rebels but I didn't know what to make of it."
"Tell me what you heard and I'll be the judge of that.", stated the colonel simply.
"The rebels mentioned something about their new instructors and the squadrons they came from. One rebel mentioned something that sounded like Ofnir while his wingman mentioned a group called the Grabaecr."
'What else?'
Kitori angrily glared at her cousin her returned it with a look of nonchalance and beckoned to her to go on with his free hand while his other hand rested on her request.
"Dammed evil bastard he is. Shit!", Kitori thought after some more fuming.
Seeing her cousin's nonchalance, Kitori thought about the payback Saki was going to receive when they finally did marry. She was going to make him pay, oh was she going to make him pay for this.
"Colonel, it seems that the rebels' new instructors are trying to push a confrontation with an old enemy."
"What enemy?"
"I don't know for sure sir, but I did hear something right before I ejected. At first I thought it was just a garbled transmission, but now I think that it may be the enemy their instructors were talking about."
"What enemy did they mention Baroness Palvanoff?"
Kitori frowned as she tried to remember. When it came she just tossed it out there.
"The instructors called their enemy the Razgriz sir?"
"Razgriz? Are you sure they said Razgriz?", pestered Saki.
"Yes, I'm sure that they said Razgriz. Why did you ask, Saki, and why are you so pale?", asked Kitori in concern.
Prince Saki Vashtal glanced at his cousin with dread. He knew that name, he knew it well. If Kitori was right, then compared to what Kitori had just gone through, the Royal Asranian Air Force was in for worse.
Much worse.
"Oh shit. If these guys are after the Razgriz, then Shin and the rest of 'Double Echo' Flight doesn't stand a chance against them. We are screwed, so bloody screwed.", thought Saki with a growing dread.
0700 Hours. Heierlark Base. North Osea
Colonel Jack 'Heartbreak One' Bartlett of the Osean Air Defense Force leaned back in the government issue chair and thought back to his actions during the Yuktobania-Osea Conflict of 2010. Sighing to himself, he rotated the chair to the nearest window. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an old copy of the old 'The Four Wings of Sand Island' article written by that reporter Genette. Above the article was a picture of the subjects of the article. Standing tall and with his trademark 'Elvis Presley' sideburns was First Lieutenant Alvin H. 'Chopper' Davenport. Wrapped up in his taller wingman's friendly one-armed headlock was the young recently promoted First Lieutenant (formerly Airman Second Class) Hans 'Archer' Grimm. On the smiling Archer's left was First Lieutenant Kei 'Edge' Nagase with her ever-present mysterious smile and short stature. Bartlett could see that even though Edge was facing the camera, her eyes looked as if they were focused on the man standing to Chopper's right. Bartlett knew that even with his head turned so that only the side of his face was visible, Captain Ian 'Blaze' Thomas always looked ready to fly and fight. Behind the young pilots were the four F-5E Tiger II fighters they had just flown in from a disastrous combat mission where the Osean Federation Navy's Third Fleet lost two of its three fleet carriers, the OFS Vulture and the OFS Buzzard, due to a surprise burst missile attack from the Yuktobanian submarine carrier, Scinfaxi. Proudly painted on the vertical stabilizers of the Tiger II's was the growling black canine emblem of the Osean 108th Fighter Squadron and its Sand Island detachment, the Wardogs.
Bartlett knew just about everything those four; he had good reason too. Having been a captain in the air force of the Osean Federation for fifteen years, he had trained those nuggets in the basics of air combat maneuvering (ACM) back when they were just newbie second lieutenants assigned to his Wardog Squadron based at Sand Island. Back then, when they were just learning, who would've thought that his newbies, known as 'Captain Bartlett's Nuggets' would become the most decorated pilots of that war before being denounced as traitors and having to flee Sand Island with the dreaded 8492nd Squadron on their asses with orders to shoot them down. A month or so before that incident, Bartlett himself had escaped from his very short stint as a Yuktobanian prisoner of war after being shot down while saving Edge's ass from a SAM that had been fired at her F-5E Tiger II. Shortly after that time, before they ended up denounced as traitors, the war had claimed the life of one of those nuggets. Captain Chopper Davenport, the tall pilot standing in a heroic stance in the black and white photo was dead. Shot down over an Osean stadium in November City where seventy thousand civilians had gathered for a speech by the Osean Vice President. True to his gregarious nature; Chopper (whom Bartlett often referred to as Mr. Rock and Roller in a derisive but respectful and friendly way) fought on with his mortally damaged F/A-18E Super Hornet (often times referred to as the Rhino to keep from getting mixed up with the base model F/A-18C Hornet) after taking several missile hits from Yuktobanian Air Force fighters in a sneak attack on the ceremony where Chopper, Archer, Blaze, and Edge had just performed a ceremonial flyby. In a slight lull between the first and second Yuke attack waves, Chopper had found out that he couldn't eject from his doomed fighter because the canopy had jammed and couldn't be blown off. Waiting till the stadium had been fully evacuated of civilians, Captain Davenport had asked Blaze, his flight lead, if the he saw a place where Davenport could ride his burning aircraft in to the ground. The only place available was the stadium itself. Gallantly, after ensuring that the stadium was indeed empty of civilians, Chopper rode the wounded Super Hornet in and had been killed.
In the furball that followed after Chopper's death, Blaze, Edge, and Archer had continued fighting like the demon they were later named after. With just three fighters remaining and vastly outnumbered (much later the odds against his three remaining nuggets had been calculated at greater than five to one), the Wardogs had persevered and beat off the attack. Shifting his gaze back to the window and the swirling snowstorm that raged outside, Bartlett heard a knock at his door.
"Come on in Pops, I know its you.", replied the decorated pilot.
The door creaked open and Bartlett turned to the one pilot who was even better than him: former Belkan ace, Colonel Huckabein the Raven. Now using a different name, (Peter N. Beagle), and an Osean Special Forces 2nd lieutenant rank; the balding man with his formerly black beard and goatee entered the office. Glancing around with the eyes that had given him his Belkan callsign, Pops saw the midnight black flight jacket with its dark grey trim hanging from the back of Bartlett's chair. In the place of honor over the left breast was a unique and extremely rare squadron patch. Pops knew how rare and extremely top secret that patch was; he was one of seven people to ever wear that patch. Of the seven, one was dead, three had resigned their commissions in the Osean Air Force (Bartlett had had a private word with then Osean Federation President Harling to have the resignations accepted and then shifting the three pilots to the inactive reserve force), and the remaining pilot was presently attending the launch and commissioning of the new aircraft carrier Kestrel II. Major Snow (callsign: Swordsman) of the Osean Naval Air Force had requested Bartlett allow him to attend the launching of the replacement for the ship that had been his home throughout the war only to be destroyed in the last battle by sub-launched anti-ship missiles just after it had catapulted Blaze, Edge, Archer, and Swordsman into the final battle with the forces of the Belkan 'Grey Men' at the head of a large coalition of Osean and Yuktobanian fighters, AWACS, helicopters, and army units over Sudentor in North Belka.
"Today's the day, isn't it? The day that Blaze and rest of the Razgriz honor the first and only 'Demons of Razgriz' casualty of that damned war.", asked Pops.
"Yeah, telling Harling that the Ghosts of Razgriz wanted to hold a private ceremony in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Davenport was the third smartest thing that crazy woman ever did.", growled Bartlett in his signature gravely voice.
"What were the two smartest things Nagase did?", asked Pops even though he knew Bartlett's answer.
"Marrying Blaze and giving birth to their two children; Kita and Allen, of course. Pops, you know that.", answered
Bartlett
"If those were Nagase's two smartest decisions then what were Blaze's two most intelligent decisions? Ah, let me guess: marrying Nagase and giving his first born son a name that begins with the same letter as Choppers' did.", Pops shot back with a grin.
"Nah, those were his third and fourth smartest decisions. Kid's first two smart decisions were becoming a fighter pilot in the first place and having the honor of having us two as his main flight instructors. Me for kicking his ass in the air so he could learn and you for being there to listen to his bitches after I'd kicked his ass topside.", chuckled Bartlett.
Pops chuckled with his old friend and remembered a time when the gruff pilot had saved his ass after they both had been shot down in the war where Yuktobanian and Osean had been allies against Belka. Bartlett had been nicknamed 'Kid' himself in those days. His grin turned into a frown as he remembered the reason for his meeting Bartlett in the first place. Glancing at the plain wedding band on the third finger of Bartlett's left hand, Pops also remembered when and where his friend had first started calling himself 'Heartbreak One'. Bartlett followed his friend's look and unconsciously thought about his wife.
Pops thought about how different things were these days now that Osea and Yuktobania were again allies instead of enemies. These days Bartlett's marriage raised only a few eyebrows among the senior officers of the Osean Air Defense Force. It was unusual to say the least that a high-ranking fighter pilot in the OADF was married to a Yuktobanian Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel. Even more unusual was the fact that this female officer was under the direct command of the Yuke Prime Minister.
Friends of the Bartlett scoffed at the idea that the colonel had fallen in love with Bartlett out of a sense of duty (a major when her and Bartlett first met during the first war against Belka). It was love; they stated unequivocally, a love that predated the fact that for a short time the Osean Federation and the Yuktobanian Republic had been at war. Most of the condemnation that had been directed towards Bartlett had faded away when it became public knowledge that Bartlett and his wife had had a baby girl two years previous. Little Anastasia Jacqueline Bartlett was a heartbreaker in her own innocent way. With dark hair from both of her parents, mischievous dark eyes that Jack insisted came from her mother Natasha, and an attitude that her mother insisted was her father at its core, Anna was loved by her parents and their friends. Anna was often times spoiled by both of her godfathers. In Yuktobania, Prime Minister Nikanor was known for canceling meetings on a whim whenever her mother brought Anna to visit. In Osean, Former President Vincent Harling always had a bedroom for Anna to stay in whenever Bartlett and his wife were able to sneak in for a visit.
"Jack, your little girl probably gets to sit in on more high-level Intel briefings than anyone I've ever known. I'd bet four brand new engines for that X-29 we received the other day that your daughter would be a very well protected national security asset for both countries. Oh, I can't wait till she gets older and decides what she wants to do with her life. Will she be a pilot like her old man or will she be a spook like her mother?"
"If I have anything to say about it, Anna will be a pilot. But I won't allow her to become a fighter pilot like me. She's going to fly airliners and make a helluva lot more money than her mother and I make."
Pops nodded in agreement. He'd known too many young men and women who flew fighters and hadn't survived. It was dammed depressing to see more men and women replace those that hadn't made it. Glancing down at Bartlett's desk, Pops noticed the unopened letter sitting in the middle of the tabletop. From the officious markings on the envelope itself, he could tell it had come from Brigadier General Perrault; the former commander of Sand Island Base.
"I wonder what Fat Boy Perrault wants now. I'll give him credit; he was a fighter pilot, albeit of average ability. And he did manage to become a treble ace (15 confirmed kills). However, Perrault is a better administrator than either of us will ever be."
"Yeah, that makes what I have to do today double painful. Today is supposed to be a day for honoring Chopper. With that letter, today is the day that the four wearers of that patch are reactivated for a special assignment.", growled Bartlett.
Pops eyebrow lifted in surprise before falling down in anger. He knew that Bartlett had no choice but to follow orders and reactivate the Razgriz. If there was a way to avoid it, Bartlett would've found a way to 'lose' the letter, however, that bastard Perrault had made sure the letter came through official channels and was logged in as 'received'. The general had even had a special courier flight from Oured bring Bartlett the letter to make absolutely sure his wayward colonel got the message.
"Dammit, Jack, you can't do that. You know how much this day means to Blaze, Archer, and Edge. Especially Nagase, this day means a helluva lot to her. Come on Bartlett, ya gotta let them grieve today. Give them Perraults' news tomorrow. It can't be that important, whatever it is.", pleaded Pops.
Bartlett growled before catapulting himself out of his chair and stalking over to the window.
"Dammit, Pops, you know that if I could I'd do exactly what you said. Hell, I would've even lost this letter if I thought I could get away with it. However, before Fat Boy sent me his missive, I got a back channel message from Natasha. She's got informants all over the world and what some of them have turned up jibe too gawddammed well with this bullshit message I get from Perrault. Even Nikanor and Harling have sent me messages about this. For fuck's sake Pops, we've got to act on this quick if we ever want peace. If the Razgriz don't help the Royal Asranian Air Force, then the enemy will overthrow the royal family and all hell'll break loose over there and cause the return of what remains of the "Grey Men' to Belka. And you know what the Grey Men will do for vengeance against the Osean Federation and the Yuktobanian Republic if that happens. Pops, I'm sorry but my hands are tied.", protested Bartlett.
"Yeah, I just bet they are, colonel. Will that be all? I have to get the hanger ready for when the Razgriz arrive.", snarled Pops.
"Come on Pops, don't get that way!"
"I said will that be all, colonel?"
Bartlett shook his head and turned to face out the window. With his hands behind his back and his eyes on what was going on below, Bartlett winced as he heard the door slam as Pops headed back to the hangar where the black painted aircraft of the Razgriz were kept. In the hangar guarded by stone faced guards with orders to shoot to kill anyone who even thought about entering the sacred place sat a full wing of black painted aircraft. In one corner were four black-painted F-14A Tomcats and their F-14B Bombcat derivatives. In another far corner were Sukhoi SU-27 Flankers and SU-33 Super Flankers also painted black and with the special Razgriz emblem on the vertical stabilizers.
Pops keyed in his access code (one of two people on base to have the code) and entered the darkened hanger. After letting his eyes adjust to the dimness he spotted the four X-29 reverse swept wing fighters acquired just before the end of the war. He went over to one and opened an access panel on its side to tinker with the internals for a bit. It didn't take long before he slammed the panel down in frustration. Turning to the middle of the hanger in the spot of honor were the four deadliest birds the Razgriz ever piloted: The F-20A Tigershark.
For those in the know, the F-20 Tigershark was the badass little brother of the F-5A Freedom Fighter and the F-5E Tiger II and it showed. With the twin nose cannons of the Tiger II, and the deadly air to air missiles slung underneath its wings and fuselage, the Tigershark looked ready to fight. Single-engined (both the Tiger II and the Freedom Fighter were twin-engined) and with sixty percent greater thrust than either of its siblings, the Tigershark could shoot, scoot, and maneuver all before an enemy could get a good weapons lock on it. The T-shark was built at a time when the Osean Federation was looking for a small cheap fighter to build and sell to its allies all over the world. Since there had been a moratorium that stated that selling fighters like the F-16A Fighting Falcon to their allies (Which was designed and built around the same time as the Tigershark) was illegal, Osea wanted to give its allies an aircraft that could match up pretty well with new OADF stuff and which the allies could build on their own. Unfortunately for the time, a new president had been elected and one of the first things he had done was kill the moratorium and allow Osean allies to buy Falcons of their own. This, and the notorious handling of the Tigershark, had killed off what Pops thought was one of the best and cheapest first rate advanced (for its day) fighter aircraft in the world.
Recognizing the set of padded footsteps that echoed throughout the quiet hanger, Pops reached down and scratched the ears of his pet dog. Kirk had followed Pops throughout his entire career after he defected from the Belkan Armed Forces. Pops remembered how the pup had ridden in the cockpit of his trainer jet when Pops had led Blaze, Edge, and Archer away from Sand Island with the 8492 in hot pursuit. Kirk whined and Pops sighed.
"Yeah Kirk, I know Bartlett's right but damn it those kids are trying to lead normal lives; lives without the eminent threat of death lurking around every corner, whether they are from enemy guns and missiles or their own equipment. I can only do so much to keep these birds flying and there may be a time where something important will fail because I didn't thoroughly check it out. What about Blaze and Edge's children, what would happen if either one or both of them died in Asran? Kita and Allen would be orphans and they wouldn't know about the things their parents did long before they were born. Ahh, I don't know, Kirk. Maybe I'm getting to old for this shit. Maybe it's time for em to hang up the tool belt.", muttered Pops as he continued rubbing the dogs' ears.
Deciding to head back outside to wait for the crew, Pops stretched his arms and turned towards the hanger door. With Kirk following at his heels, Pops headed to his office. He had to go check on the aircraft and make sure that no matter which ones they chose to take to Asran (if they decided to accept the assignment) they aircraft they took would be in peak condition and ready to perform whatever tasks asked of them.
Besides, he liked working on airplanes.
Same time. City of Oured. Capital of the Osean Federation.
Osean Air Defense Force Reserve Major (inactive) Kei Nagase-Thomas yawned and rolled over. Expecting to feel the warm firmness of her husband's figure lying beside her, Kei was a bit surprised when all her hands could find was an empty spot that still radiated some of the warmth from the person that had reclined there. Opening her eyes to look around the small bedroom she and Ian shared in their small one story house, Kei closed them to slits when the bright yellow light of the sun invaded through the curtains.
"Dammit, where could he be this early in the morning?', swore the former fighter pilot.
Raising her head with its mussed slightly longer than usual black hair hanging in front of her narrowed eyes, Nagase glanced around the room. Seeing that her husband, OADF Reserve Major (also inactive) Ian 'Blaze' Thomas was nowhere in sight, she groaned before getting up and swinging her slender sweat pants enclosed legs to her side of the small queen-sized bed and slipping her feet into a pair of warm moccasin style house shoes. Yawning once before rising to her feet with an ethereal grace, Kei rubbed her bare stomach underneath her sports bra. Reaching down to the nightstand without looking, the one time feared Valkyrie of air warfare, grabbed the OADF sweatshirt that Blaze had tossed there last night as they were climbing into each others arms.
Leaving the bedroom after a fond glance at the wedding photo prominently displayed on the dresser, Kei walked down the hallway to the first bedroom and opened the door. Peaking inside quietly, she saw that her four year old son Allen Thomas was sleeping soundly. Kei smothered a chuckle when she saw that Allen had managed to keep his arms wrapped around his favorite stuffed animal, a teddy bear dressed in an old style flight suit with a leather jacket and an old style leather flight helmet on his head. Seeing that her son had again kicked his blanket off his legs during the night, she padded into the room decorated with aviation memorabilia and carefully reached down and recovered Allen with his blanket. Placing a motherly kiss to his forehead, Kei left the room and continued in her search for her husband.
Leaving her son's room, Kei continued on to her daughter Kita's bedroom. Opening the door to the domain of her six year old daughter Kita, Kei saw that her daughter was slowly starting to wake up. The first thing Kita Thomas did was open her dark eyes (which her father swore were exact replica's of Nagase's own dark orbs, Kei of course disagreed) then rolled onto her side and looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. Seeing her mother standing in the doorway gave her a start but-much to Kei's immense pride- the six year old didn't let it faze her.
"Oh, good morning mom, anything wrong?", Kita murmured with a voice laden with sleep.
"Nothing's wrong little one. I'm just looking for your father.", replied in a more mature version of Kita's voice.
Kita yawned again and made to get out of her twin bed. Blearily blinking sleep from her eyes, the little girl thought for a moment, and then told her mother that her father had stopped by for a moment before going in the direction of their quaint little kitchen. Kei smiled at her daughter before she exited the room. Deciding to take a quick shower before continuing her search for her wayward husband, Kei returned to the master bedroom. Standing in front of her mirror, the almost thirty year old woman looked at her reflection. Approving of what she saw as a still beautiful former fighter pilot who kept physically fit.
"If Blaze's reaction to the dress I wore last night was any indication, I'm still as fit as I was back then.", thought Edge as she gave her reflection a wicked grin while remembering her and Blaze's amorous antics after returning home from a small dinner party the previous night.
Humming to herself, Kei Nagase-Thomas stripped out of her sleepwear and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
0945 Hours. Bana City. North Osea
Reserve Osean Air Defense Force Major Hans 'Archer' Grimm (also inactive) woke up with a pounding headache. The night before his brother Joseph Grimm, an active duty Osean Army lieutenant colonel (he'd survived operation Desert Arrow and had gotten a battlefield commission to first lieutenant. By the end of the war the elder Grimm had attained the rank of major) had dropped in on Hans to celebrate his graduation from college.
After the war, Archer had-like Blaze and Edge-resigned his commission and went back to school. With his OADF grant money, Hans decided to study for his bachelor's and master's degrees in Aeronautical Engineering. It had taken Hans several years to finish his studies but the day before he had finally been awarded his master's degree in his chosen field. Dealing with the other students (some of whom were also veterans of the war) Hans had to learn a whole new set of social interaction skills. If it hadn't been for Genette's support and occasional visits when he was in town, Archer would've given up long before.
The former youthful aerial assassin had been pleasantly surprised when his family had shown up for his graduation. His parents sitting proudly in the front row as he received his degree. His older brother Joseph sitting right behind them in his Osean army uniform with his new silver oak leaves glinting in the afternoon sun. Archer didn't know what made him decide to attend college in the city he and his wingmen had saved from a Yuktobanian commando gas attack; he just felt that this was the best place for him to learn. Often times Hans would walk about the city looking around and remembering that hectic day. Sometimes Archer would go to the waterfront and look out towards where the last enemy helicopter had been shot down and crashed into the ocean. The wreckage was still there but the bodies of the flight crew had been brought up to the surface and returned to Yuktobania with an army honor unit accompanying them. Hans still got chills whenever he passed the building where Blaze had attempted to strafe the terrorists' get away truck before sector command had ordered them to not open fire in the city. Of course by that time, the gas had all been eliminated and each of them was still carrying a few extra neutralizing bombs. Blaze had attempted to use his remaining bombs by dropping them on the truck before having to turn and face the attack helicopters coming in to rescue the commando team.
Getting up out of bed in his small apartment, Hans staggered to the door and glanced into the living room, His brother Joseph was still on the couch where he had passed out after bringing his brother home. The two siblings had gone out on the town after a celebratory dinner with their parents. Johan and Marie Grimm had returned to their hotel after dinner to get some rest. Joseph took advantage of that and proceeded to get him and Hans so drunk it was a miracle the two made it back to Archer's apartment. Seeing his older brother, the reason why he joined the OADF in the first place, lying there on his couch snoozing peacefully with his colonel's hat covering his eyes and his jacket being used as a temporary blanket looked so humorous that Archer had to take a picture.
"I know what you're thinking Hans and my suggestion is for you to not do what you are thinking about doing.", said Joseph without opening his eyes.
"What makes you think I was planning something?", asked Hans innocently.
Joseph Grimm lifted his uniform cap off of his eyes and sat up so he could face his younger brother. Looking him dead in the eye, he told Hans what gave him away.
"You laughed and when you laugh in that tone of voice, it usually means that you are planning something."
Archer didn't say anything; he just went into the kitchen to start preparations for a small breakfast. It wasn't going to be much; his parents had reservations for brunch for later that day. Grinning at his older sibling, the former fighter pilot felt relieved.
1342 Hours. Port St. Hewlett. Homeport: Osean Third Naval Fleet.
Major Jonas 'Swordsman' Snow looked at the crowd now departing the dock where the commissioning and launch of the new Osean Federation Ship Kestrel II had just finished. Colonel Bartlett had allowed him to fly in to be there for the ceremony when Admiral Andresson had invited Snow. Andresson had been the commanding officer of the original Kestrel when Snow had been stationed aboard as the squadron leader for one of the Tomcat squadrons aboard the flattop. Snow had been out on a solo patrol when the Kestrel and the rest of the ships in her battlegroup had come under attack in this very port. He remembered yelling at First Lieutenant Chopper Davenport to get outta his way as he and the rest of the Wardogs had come to defend the port and the fleet.
Zipping past the trio of Wardog Squadron Tiger II's in his Tomcat, Snow had immediately jumped into the furball that was developing over the harbor. Flaming a pair of Intruders on his first couple of passes, Swordsman had kept an eye on the Wardog nuggets just to be sure that the newbies had their shit together. The six foot four dark-skinned naval aviator with the baritone voice had been impressed. The Wardogs had joined in the fray and were downing enemies left and right. Snow had watched as Chopper had popped three enemy Tiger II's and an Intruder in a furious rolling scissors furball.
As the Kestrel and its group made a break for the open ocean, Captain Snow had been all for escorting the birdfarm out to sea but air defense command had ordered him to stay and finish off the enemies over the harbor while the Wardogs protected his home as it beat feet outta the harbor. About ten minutes after escaping the harbor, Snow rendezvoused with the Kestrel and Wardog in time to help them break a Yuke blockade. On that fateful day, Snow witnessed Blaze sink three hydrofoil gunboats and a couple of hovercraft before sending a pair of destroyers to Davy Jones' Locker that made the mistake of trying to keep the Third Naval Fleet blockaded.
The next time Snow ran into Wardog Squadron, Archer had joined them and they were in the air armada that was escorting the three carriers of the Third Naval Fleet-the OFS Kestrel, OFS Buzzard, and OFS Vulture-to one of Osea's inland seas to protect them from the Yuktobanians. Unfortunately, that dammed submarine Scinfaxi had decimated the fleet by sinking the Buzzard and the Vulture with its accursed burst missiles.
Snow was remembering the other times he had worked with Wardog when he heard the clearing of a throat behind him. Turning around, Jonas came to attention and saluted the white haired man standing there.
"Admiral Andresson, I didn't expect to see you so soon after the ceremony. Is there anything I can do for you sir?", asked Snow in his mellow baritone.
"No major there isn't anything you can do, I just wanted to get your impressions of this new Kestrel.", stated the elderly admiral with his distinctive voice.
"She's a beauty sir. Whoever gets to command her will be a lucky man or woman. I would be glad to serve aboard her in any capacity possible."
Andresson grinned; he knew that the major in front of him wasn't telling a lie. Major Snow always told it to you straight. Although it had garnered him many enemies in the upper echelons, not to mention his peers, Jonas Snow wasn't about to give anyone a shine job. He told you the straight skinny up front no bullshit. Replacing his uniform cap on his snow white hair, Andresson turned and faced the ocean.
"I remember the battle that was fought here like it was yesterday. You and the Wardogs up there clearing a path and shooting down every hostile aircraft you could; the other squadrons contributing piecemeal, AWACS Thunderhead coordinating the battle and ordering you to cover the port instead of covering the ship. That was a rough one. You say that this Kestrel is a good ship. I agree however this Kestrel doesn't have the history that her predecessor had. I still remember the look on your face after you returned from destroying the SOLG to find out that the original had been sunk. You looked like your favorite toy had been taken away, major."
Snow winced, he hated it when the admiral got to close to mental wounds that he would rather stay buried. It was true though, when he Blaze, Edge, and Archer had destroyed the SOLG, Snow had been looking forward to a big meal of rollers and sliders (hotdogs and hamburgers in shipboard parlance) when he trapped back aboard the Kestrel. He'd just been about ready to break down and cry when he heard that his ship, his home had gone down. It was a devastating lost. Snow remembered all the men and women who had launched from the Kestrel and never returned.
"Yessir, I was devastated to find out she'd been sunk but the original Kestrel did her job and got us launched before she succumbed. I think about her every day. She's was a helluva ship and you were a helluva man to be her skipper. The day I catapulted off her decks to go shoot down the Sand Island guys, you stopped me as I was headed out to my bird and told me to make it look good so Thunderhead and those 8492 bastards could report that they had been killed.'
"Yes, you got that medal you demanded from them, I see."
"Yeah, I got that pretty piece of tin but I never wore it. I hated that piece of metal, I'm happy it went down with the Kestrel. That is one award I could do without. Unfortunately, that I received that token is in my personnel file and anyone who reads that file will know my shame.", continued Snow with a bitter tone in his voice.
Andresson just smiled. Next time the major got to read his file, there would be no mention of his receiving the medal he'd been given. One of the first things that the admiral had done upon his promotion and confirmation to the rank of admiral is go over to the bureau of personnel and ordered the officer in charge of maintaining the records to delete any and all references to that most hated award. The officer had been scared out of his wits and had done what he'd been ordered without any complaints.
The two men were silent and thought about their shipmates who hadn't survived to see this day. It was the admiral who broke the silence.
"Major Snow when the Kestrel casts off for her first deployment, I would be greatly honored if you would be the first aircraft this ship catapulted off and trapped aboard. I believe it would be what our shipmates would want."
Major Snow turned to face the admiral. Behind his sunglasses it was hard to see the emotion in Jonas' eyes but it was there.
"I would be honored captain. It would be a way to honor both the original Kestrel and her replacement."
Admiral Andresson nodded then glanced at his watch. It was approaching near the time till the major's takeoff for his return to Heierlark. Andresson wondered why the major would willingly leave warm and sunny Port St. Hewlett to return to the icy cold Heierlark Base in North Osea.
"I guess its because that's where the Demons of Razgriz have their memorial for Lieutenant Colonel Davenport each year.", thought the admiral.
The two men stood for a moment more before Snow excused himself so he could prepare for his return to Heierlark. He had fledgling tailhookers to train and a memorial to attend. Saluting Admiral Andresson one last time Major Snow; the Eternal Swordsman, turned on his heel and strode across the non-skid flight deck with his precise 30 inch parade ground step. Andresson watched as the black fighter pilot in his dress white uniform with his solid gold naval aviators wings glinting in the sun made his way across the deck and entered the ship's 'island'. From there, the admiral knew that Snow would make his way down to the hanger bay and from the hanger bay to the boarding ladders to disembark from the monstrous grey ship.
"I hope that this special assignment doesn't get that man killed. He's a damn good pilot but there is always someone out there better. And from the rumors I'm hearing, he and his wingmates might be facing the most dangerous enemies they've ever faced.", mused the elderly admiral before returning his attention back to the dark sapphire blue ocean his flagship floated serenely on.
As he watched the sun start its afternoon cruise across the sky, Andresson heard the bosun's pipe as Major Snow was piped ashore.
"Major, Osean Naval Air Forces. Departing.", came the voice of the officer on duty at the gangway after the eight bells rang out over the 1MC shipwide public address system.
2100 Hours. Skies above Heierlark Base. North Osea.
In the skies over Heierlark, a lone F-4G Phantom II flew aimlessly about. With an Ace of Hearts painted on the side of its radome, the aircraft danced effortless through the twilight sky. Anyone watching from the ground would be enthralled by the maneuvers of the pilot. It was as if the pilot and his mount were as one moving through the air with the greatest of ease. Only somebody who knew this pilot and was an ace pilot himself could tell that the pilot behind the controls of the Phantom was not in the greatest of moods.
Jack Bartlett angrily yanked his flight stick to and fro as he banked his fighter into another series of heart-stopping roller coaster maneuvers. He'd been up in the air for the past six hours; aerial refueling whenever his fuel level was low. Ever since Pops had stormed out of his office, Bartlett hadn't been able to work on how he planned to break the news to Blaze and the others. Finally, after blowing up at a trainee Airman Second Class named Davenport; Jack had called the flight line and asked the linesmen to have them prep his Phantom. He was going flying. Bartlett always thought better when he was pushing his beloved Phantom through its paces, or so his wife Natasha was known to mention to their friends. Kei often nodded when Natasha mentioned this. Her husband Blaze was the same way.
Bartlett grinned wryly under his oxygen mask as he remembered the first meeting between Natasha (she called herself the major at that time) and Nagase. It happened over the radio waves when Bartlett and Natasha were leading a group of Yuke resistance personnel in helping Prime Minister Nikanor escape from captivity. Blaze, Edge, Archer, and Swordsman had flown cover over the car convoy on its way to a secluded airfield to steal an aircraft. Bartlett had asked Kid to recommend which way for them to go in order to get to the airfield by seven in the morning. After they had returned to the Kestrel and the guys had gotten their first look at 'The Major', Bartlett thought he was going to have to maim either Blaze or Archer. Both young men just about torqued their necks staring at the tall, brown-haired Natasha.
"Luckily Nagase and Natasha hit it off after those first few awkward moments. Although I still think that once Natasha showed that she had no interest in Blaze, Kei felt a bit better.", thought Bartlett.
Before he could muse on it a bit longer, he heard Thunderhead call him on the radio.
"Thunderhead, you have Heartbreak One. Go ahead."
"Heartbreak One, Thunderhead holds a contact on radar heading in your direction. No communications with the bogey yet.", came one of the voices from the converted Boeing 767 Sentry aircraft.
"Thunderhead, Heartbreak one copies. Coming to two eight zero to see if I can spot him with my own radar."
"Thunderhead copies, Heartbreak One. Be advised Thunderhead is getting swept by what seems to be an AWG-9 radar system."
Bartlett cursed; he wondered if anyone aboard the E-767 knew that the AWG-9 was the main radar system for an F-14A Tomcat. The radar operators aboard the AWACS aircraft must be catching sweeps from Major Snow's fighter.
Just as he was about to chastise the radar operators onboard the big twin-engined aircraft, the mission commander came over the radio and corrected the original contact report.
"Ahh, Heartbreak One this is Thunderhead Mike Charley. The contact has called in and identified himself as Swordsman. He's seventy-five miles out and requesting weather conditions. Also, we are holding Archer at one hundred twenty miles behind Swordsman."
"Copy that Thunderhead. Go ahead and give Swordsman the weather and pass it on to Archer. Have Swordsman circle till both Archer and I can join up. Thunderhead, do you hold any contact on Blaze and Edge?"
"Negative colonel, Thunderhead holds negative contact on Blaze and Edge. Thunderhead will pass on your instructions to Archer and Swordsman. Thunderhead out."
"Heartbreak One leaving my present altitude to join up with Swordsman and Archer. Heartbreak One out."
Seventy-five miles away, Major Snow acknowledged the instructions from Thunderhead (who was flying an elliptical pattern with its fighter escorts at 35,000 feet over 300 miles away.) and put his Tomcat into a gentle bank to starboard to wait for Archer and Heartbreak One. Thinking back to his conversation with the admiral, Snow let his mind wander. Listening in to the conversation between Bartlett and the AWACS aircraft, he wondered where Blaze and Edge were as well.
After the war, the four pilots had maintained a small modicum of contact with each other until Blaze and Edge disappeared off the screen after their marriage and the birth of Kita. Jonas figured that the newlyweds wanted to live a normal life and raise their family without all the baggage that went with being who they actually were (the information about the Sand Island Squadron was still a few years from being released in accordance with then President Harling's wishes.).
Last time Snow had heard from the couple had been upon the birth of their son Allen. Blaze had flown his personal aircraft (the Hawk trainer he had used on his solo reconnaissance over Mt. Schirm) out to Heierlark and informed Snow that Edge had requested that he be the godfather of their son. He had accepted and that had been the last time they had talked (except for the annual meeting in Chopper's honor.)
"Swordsman, this is Archer. I'm approaching your six. Can you clear me into your port side?", came the voice of the young pilot.
"Copy that, Archer. You're cleared on to my left side. Maintain formation at least ten yards off my port wing. Heartbreak One will be joining us shortly and I'll have him on my right wing.", replied Snow.
Getting a double click of acknowledgment from the younger pilot, Jonas turned his head to the left and saw the F-15 Eagle that Archer preferred sliding into position. He noticed that Hans had kept the Yuktobanian paint scheme they had used on the ravine mission. Jonas still got chills about that one. Flying at breakneck speeds in a ravine and not being able to climb above its rim without getting a SAM up your ass. Also dealing with the dammed Yuke Typhoons, Apaches, and gunboats in that narrow airspace. To top it all off, having to face the Ofnir's (who could and did climb above the rim in attempts to lure Jonas and his compatriots above the rim). The major chuckled as he remembered Grimm's poisonous reply to something Blaze had said.
"We all were pissed off at the conditions of that battle. I think Blaze made everyone feel a tad bit better after he nailed the Ofnir Leader with that missile shot around the curve of the ravine.", thought Snow as he eased out of his circle as the F-4G of colonel Bartlett moved into position on his right wing.
Minutes later the Tomcat touched down on the snow and windswept runway of Heierlark Base. Close behind it came the Eagle of Hans Grimm and the Phantom II of Colonel Jack Bartlett. The three aircraft taxied over to where Pops was standing with several groundcrew holding lighted wands. Once the three fighters were stopped and chocked in place, the three pilots shut down their engines and raised their cockpit canopies in unison. First down his boarding ladder, Bartlett stepped over to the nose of the Tomcat and waited for its pilot to climb down. Once Snow dropped from the bottom rung of his ladder to the ground, Pops was there with a down-filled parka for the pilot to wear till they got inside the building.
The two pilots greeted one another while waiting for a parka clad Archer to join them. Once the younger pilot did, the three men headed for the operations building. Jonas looked around as they came through the door and sighed as the warmth from the heating system flowed through his body. He looked over to where Grimm and Bartlett were talking and saw that they were deep in conversation. Looking around for the former Belkan Ace turned ace mechanic, Snow saw Pops standing a little ways off with an expressionless look on his face. Walking over to the older man, Snow asked him what was wrong.
"Something came up.", stated the mechanic.
"What came up Pops? Tell me something. I'm getting the vibe that you and Bartlett aren't exactly on good terms about this.", returned the mechanic.
"Wait for Blaze and Edge to get here. Then hope that Nagase doesn't kill Bartlett where he stands when she finds out what's about to happen.", countered Pops in a mysterious tone of voice.
Snow let it drop for the moment but suddenly he felt a chill that wasn't due to the weather.
Two hours later Snow, Grimm, Bartlett and Pops were gathered around the radio in the communications shack listening to Thunderhead as he gave two fighters clearance to Heierlark Base. All four of the men in the small room recognized the voices as those of their missing friends Blaze and Edge. In the time since Snow and Grimm had landed, the weather had taken a turn for the worse and visibility was down. The snapping voice coming from the speaker told everyone that Edge was being affected by the bored and condescending tone of voice from the apathetic controller. As usual Blaze was quiet and acting as if he was in complete control of events. Blaze's quiet voice and calm attitude was starting to have a calming effect on his wife and she was becoming less snappish as the pair came closer to their destination.
"This reminds me of the weather when we covered Sea Goblin when they were sent in to rescue those POW's at that Yuke POW camp in the mountains. Edge was for sure you were there Colonel Bartlett. As those choppers were egressing the area, she just about pestered those rotorheads and the rescue squad to see if you were among the rescuees. When she got shot down on that same mission, Captain Davenport just about jumped down the gunship pilot's throat when he asked if Nagase was a looker.", commented Archer as he listened to the now more civil conversation between the AWACS and Blaze and sipped on his mug of coffee.
Everyone in the room looked at the young man but let his comments pass. Bartlett stiffened for a moment when Edge's voice lashed out over the radio net before loosening up as Blaze's voice over rode Nagase's. Listening for a few minutes longer, the colonel saw that the two fighters would soon be visible through the snow falling down on the runway. Bartlett backed away from his position to the side of the radio and turned towards the door. Once he was facing that way, he cast a look at Pops and saw that his friend still had a stony expression on his face. Ignoring it, the colonel left the room and headed upstairs to his office. He had a map to study.
Ten minutes after Colonel Bartlett had exited the room, Snow and Grimm followed Pops out to watch the landing of their two friends through a snow encrusted window. The first thing they saw was the landing lights. Neither Jonas nor Hans could figure out what aircraft Edge and Blaze were flying till Pops chimed in.
"Hmm, a pair Tigersharks, I wonder where those two stashed those aircraft and kept them out of the public's knowledge.", murmured Pops as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"I bet Genette had hand in helping those two. That reporter has his hands in just about everything. I wouldn't put it past him to bribe somebody to keep those aircraft quiet.", stated Snow.
"Nah, Blaze and Edge just probably had them hidden in one of the abandoned hangers at the airfield near their house. Then all they would have to do is go through their backyard to the gate that let on to the airfield, walk to the hanger, open the hanger doors, and then taxi out to the active runway. Once on the runway they would activate the remote that closed the hanger doors and takeoff, arranging for aerial refueling stops all the way here.", stated Grimm absently.
The other two men looked curiously at the younger pilot who shrugged his shoulders and explained how he knew about that.
"I was on vacation for Spring Break a couple of years ago and flew into Oured for a short visit. Blaze must've been listening to the radio; he was waiting for me when I taxied in. After my postflight, he brought me over to the house and showed me where they lived and kept their airplanes. I was only in Oured for maybe a day and a half and I spent most of the time with Blaze, Edge, and their family."
Snow just shook his head while Pops laughed. It was so typical for Archer to do something like that and forget to mention it. Pops lead the way back out into the dark night with Snow following and Archer bringing up the rear wondering what the hell Pops was laughing at. Upstairs, Bartlett looked out the window of his office and watched ash is friends and fellow pilots went to meet the new arrivals. Sighing to himself, he returned his attention to the map of Asran. Studying it for a bit longer, he reached down to his desk and picked up a black push pin and stuck it in the middle of the symbol for an airbase in the middle of nowhere in the Asranian desert. The legend beside the symbol gave the name of the airbase as 'Area 88'.
An hour after Blaze and Edge had landed, the former members of the Razgriz met up with Pops in front of the secured hanger where the Razgriz aircraft were being kept under lock and key. All four were wearing black flightsuits and carrying their black painted helmets. Over the thin Nomex flightsuits, each pilot wore their midnight black with dark grey trim flight jackets. Like Bartlett's jacket, each pilot had the squadron patch over the left breast. Unlike Bartlett's jacket, the patches on the front of each pilot's jacket had a number under the graphic; Blaze was Razgriz One (or Razgriz Lead as he was sometimes referred as), Edge was Razgriz Two, Archer was Razgriz Four, and Swordsman was Razgriz Five. By unspoken agreement between the four pilots there was not now and never would be a Razgriz Three. That number and name had died when Captain Davenport was killed in November City. Since he was the first of the four original pilots to actually use the name Razgriz when talking to the AWACS, Davenports' famous words were immortalized in a recording made by Thunderhead on that fateful day the name Razgriz was first used to describe the 'Four Wings of Sand Island'. Bartlett had found the recording after the war when he was going through the recordings from the war. He'd signed it out and with President Harling's permission had completely erased the recording from the files.
Pops opened the hanger door and stepped to the side where his right hand reached out and found the light switch. He waited for everyone to enter the hanger (with Bartlett bringing up the rear) before closing the door securely and flipping on the lights. The first thing that caught an observer's eye if they were ever allowed in here was the life sized portraits of the five Razgriz pilots wearing their dress uniforms. These portraits were taken before the war as evinced by the second lieutenant's bars on the collars of Blaze, Edge, and Chopper; the Airman First Class stripes on Archer's uniform sleeves and the captain's shoulder boards on the shoulders of Swordsman's' naval uniform.
Next to catch the eye of a witness was the painting of a picture taken aboard the Kestrel after the Razgriz had rescued President Harling and had been designated his personal squadron. On the vertical stabilizer of the nearest aircraft to the camera (which just happened to be an F-14A Tomcat) was the emblem the Razgriz adopted; colorful in stark relief to the black bodies of the Tomcat in the picture. On the wall next to that painting was an oil painting of the article picture sitting on Bartlett's desk.
In the silence of the hanger each pilot went to the fighters chosen for this memorial flight but not before stopping at a small shrine next to a candid picture of the deceased Demon of Razgriz. Each pilot approached the small shrine and either said a silent prayer or lit one of the incense sticks provided. The shrine consisted of a locker of the type commonly found in squadron ready rooms aboard ship. Hanging in the locker was Chopper's back Razgriz flightsuit and his Razgriz flight jacket. On the shelf above the flightsuit was the only thing of Chopper's recovered from his crash; his Razgriz helmet still showing the scars from the crash and soot from the resulting fire. If one looked close enough, one could see small copper brown patches of dried blood. No one looked close though, they considered it sacrosanct.
After paying his respects to the shrine, Pops followed Bartlett over to the record player that had been salvaged from Sand Island before it was shut down. Looking down at the dusty record sitting on the player, the older man looked in Blaze's direction. Blaze just nodded as he prepared to climb the boarding ladder for his black painted F/A-18C Hornet. Pops flipped a switch on the side of the old player and the sounds of an old song stared playing through the speakers in the hanger. When the music started to play, Nagase looked over at her husband.
"It was his favorite song. He always used to play it in his quarters on Sand Island. Next time you see Genette, ask him about it. The night Archer joined us, Chopper had been listening to that record in his quarters before the surprise attack.", came the calm soft voice of Blaze Thomas.
Major Ian 'Blaze' Thomas was not what one person would thing when asked what a fighter pilot looked like. Slightly taller than his wife and with a close cut mop of reddish brown hair, Blaze looked more like a college fraternity boy getting ready to play some prank. However, those who knew him well knew that Blaze's voice could crack like a whip when needed. They also knew that on the ground, Blaze was somewhat quiet and unassuming. Once the quiet man with the sharp eyes and soft voice strapped on his fighter, Blaze became the deadliest fighter pilot ever to fly the skies; deadlier than any ace that came before him. If Edge, Archer, Chopper, and Swordsman had been asked who the best was, all of them would say unequivocally that Ian 'Blaze' Thomas was the Demon King when it came down to the Demons of Razgriz. Blaze could outfly anyone, anytime, and in any fighter. During the war, he took on the leader of the dreaded Grabaecr and Ofnir fighter squadrons and triumphed. Flying a Tomcat in the air battle over Sudentor in Nord Belka, Blaze took on the man who declared him and the rest traitors to Osea; Colonel Hamilton. What made it such an amazing aerial feat was that Hamilton was flying a top of the line MiG 1.44 that could out maneuver Blaze's Tomcat on a whim.
Snow remembered when, during the battle in the ravine, Blaze took out an enemy ace known as Swordkill-who just happened to be flying in one of those dammed maneuverable speedsters known as 'Typhoon' while downing a Yuke AH-64 Apache gunship and sinking a gunboat with his cannon. Snow still shook his head in awe each time he thought of that mission.
As he strapped himself into his own Hornet, Grimm remembered the day after Nagase had ejected after being shot down on the POW rescue mission. Blaze had charged ahead in full Zone Five afterburners, downing enemy fighters left and right as he used his radar homing and warning gear to search for Edge. That day, had been harrowing because for a moment, just as they were getting close enough to call the Sea Goblin helicopter in, a Yuke E-767 had jammed everyone's frequency, blocking the signal from Edge's beacon. Blaze had shot down that 767 before going on to kill another enemy ace flying one of the more maneuverable aircraft of the war. Daredevil, the enemy pilot, was piloting an X-29 and was making things hard for the rescue helo to get in and affect its rescue of Edge. Archer had watched as, almost as an afterthought, Blaze had launched a heat-seeking missile at Daredevil while pursuing another F/A-18 that had locked on to Chopper.
For Edge, the one thing she remembered about her husband from the war was his attitude. No matter what the odds were against them, even if the fighters he returned to base were more swiss cheese than aircraft, Blaze always looked forward towards the day when the war would end. Edge remembered being scared shitless over Sudentor when they had to fly through the tunnel to destroy the SOLG's command console buried in the middle of the mountain. She hadn't shown it at the time because Blaze hadn't shown his fear. Even when Hamilton followed them in the tunnel and started shooting and they couldn't maneuver too much, Blaze just kept his cool and made his approach to the console before popping off two missiles and hurrying to try and get out of the tunnel before the mountain exploded.
Blaze, for his part, thought about Chopper. His loud laugh, his challenge to Blaze to see who got the highest kill score on that mission they had to destroy the UAV's trying to spy on Sand Island. Blaze also remembered the day Chopper died, his voice even though resigned to his fate never once loosing that cocky attitude of his that served him till the end.
Finished with his reminiscing, Blaze looked out at the other aircraft to check on the status of his wingmen. Each of his friends were strapped in and awaiting his signal. Looking over to his right, Blaze saw Swordsman and Archer glancing at him in anticipation with smiles concealed by oxygen masks and tinted helmet faceshields. Shifting his attention to his left, Blaze grinned as he saw Edge blow him a kiss before sealing up her own oxygen mask. Raising his left hand, Blaze brought it down. At the same time eight jet engines lit off with an incredible roar. Listening carefully to his engine, Blaze heard something odd and out of place. Somewhere behind him a pair of engines had left off with a deeper roar than the twin engines of his Hornet. Swiveling his head to the read, Blaze saw that Bartlett had decided to join them on this flight and was sitting in the open cockpit of one of the Razgriz Phantoms. To Blaze this was highly unusual, Bartlett never joined them on this flight unless there was something he had on his mind. Ignoring the uneasiness that began to permeate his psyche, Blaze activated the switch to close his canopy. In his minds eye, he could see that the canopy's on his wingmen's fighters were closing in concert with has as if they had planned it that way.
Once his canopy was closed and locked, Blaze looked forward and saw the massive hanger doors opening. Once the doors were wide enough to let him and his flight out, he released his brakes and advanced his throttles to the flight idle position. Slowly, gracefully the Demons of Razgriz taxied their aircraft out behind him in order. Turning to the active runway, Blaze waited till Edge lined up on his left side while Archer, Swordsman, and Heartbreak One lined up behind him. When the time was right and everything looked as well as it would ever get, Blaze uttered those two famous words.
"Razgriz; Launch!"
As the words died on his lips, Blaze pushed his throttles to max thrust and felt his fighter leap forward and start building speed. A hundred yards down the runway, he pushed his throttles into the Zone 5 position and raw jet fuel was dumped into the engines where it flashed into incandescence. Blaze felt the increase in power as his afterburners kicked in. Another five hundred yards or so down the runway, Blaze gently pulled back on his control stick and his fighter leapt into the air with ease. Keying the radio, he spoke the next phrase he remembered from the war.
"Razgriz, altitude restriction cancelled."
He heard the voices as the other four fighters in his flight acknowledged in order: first Edge, then Archer, then Swordsman, and finally Bartlett. Together the four Demons of Razgriz flew into the encompassing darkness, each pilot lost in his or her thoughts but still flying in tight formation.
Back on the ground, Pops watched as the orange glow from five sets of afterburners winked out. Bartlett and the Razgriz wouldn't be back for a few hours and he had to prep the hanger for their return. Hitting the button on his remote that closed the massive doors, Pops turned towards the operations building. He wanted to listen in to the radio communications between his friends. He was almost at the door of the operations building when he heard a sniffling sound. Turning in the direction of the noise, Pops walked around the building. He was a third of the way around when he came upon the slight figure sitting in the snow with its back against the building. Approaching closer to the figure, he saw that it was a young woman and the young lady was holding a picture of some sort in her hand.
"Are you alright, miss?", asked Pops as he came closer.
The woman jumped up at the sound of his voice and hastily drew a hand across her face to wipe away the tears that had been there. Coming closer, he saw that the lady was a young airman second class and one of his students.
"I'm fine sir.", she answered.
"I do hope you realize that right now you are supposed to be in your quarters asleep. You have a long day of training ahead of you tomorrow. I could report you to the colonel for your being out here and you could find yourself in deep trouble."
"Yes sir, I understand sir. But I couldn't sleep and decided to go out and get some fresh air. I was putting on a jacket when I heard some planes takeoff. I wondered who would be out flying so late and rushed out to see but was only able to catch a glimpse of the planes as they left the ground. Would you happen to know who it was that took off?"
Pops groaned mentally, he was going to have a hard time trying to explain to this fledgling aviator that the persons who had just launched was nothing for her to be concerned about. Changing the subject, he asked the woman why she had been crying.
"I was just remembering my father sir. I never got to meet him. He died during the war when I was only a few weeks old.", said the pilot trainee.
Pops began to get a real bad feeling. Something told him that he knew exactly who the woman was talking about. Returning his attention to the young lady, he tuned in to the rest of her story.
"My parents were never married but after my maternal grandparents disowned my mom for being in love with my father, she wasted no time in changing her last name to his. I guess it was a way of severing herself from her past."
"Tell me your name airman.", requested Pops.
The young woman looked at him with dark brown eyes and thought a minute before she spoke. When she did, she spoke so softly that he had to lean in to hear her.
"Davenport. Alina Harriet Davenport."
"Well shit. This could be a problem.", thought Pops.
Taking off his jacket and draping over the young airman's shoulder, he led her into the building.
"When he returns, I believe the colonel will want to talk to you.", stated Pops as he led Airman Davenport over to a chair.
It was coming up on one in the morning when Pops heard the sounds of aircraft on final approach. Looking out the window he saw that the first aircraft flaring for its landing was the Hornet belonging to Archer. Once Archer landed the others followed with a grace that belied the evening's flight. Each aircraft touched down in the exact same spot Archer had before rolling out and heading in the direction of the special hanger. Last to land was Blaze. As he taxied in, the other four aircraft let his plane g by before following him into the hanger after Pops had opened the door. Standing in front of the operations building, Pops figured that it would take at least another forty-five minutes before the pilots made their way to Bartlett's office.
When the forty-five minutes had passed, Pops made his way up to the second floor with airman Second class Davenport in tow. Coming around the corner he saw Bartlett standing by the open door of his office. Clearing his throat to get the colonel's attention, Pops waved him over. Bartlett approached while casting a look at the trainee pilot hiding behind the older man.
"Pops, what's going on? Who's that?", asked Bartlett.
"One of my trainees, after the others leave for their quarters will you listen to her story? I believe you'll find it interesting."
"Yeah sure, what could be so interesting about her story?"
"It's not just that, it's who she's related to."
Bartlett lifted an eyebrow in surprise before turning his attention to the young lady trying not to cringe at his attention. He asked her what her name was.
"My name is Airman Second Class Alina Harriet Davenport. I'm here to learn how to fly fighters. It's the only way that I can be close to my father. He flew fighters but died in the last war a few weeks before I was born. This way I feel as if I'll actually get to know my father.", stated the airman proudly.
Bartlett could see that as she recited her spiel, she was standing taller and using the strength to get her through her fear of talking with the base commander. When she was finished, Bartlett asked one question.
"What is your father's name?"
When he heard the response, the colonel's eyes got very wide. Bartlett stammered for a bit before turning to his old friend.
"Keep her here. I gotta talk to the others. But when we're finished I most definitely want to hear her story. I believe the others will as well.", stated Bartlett before entering his office and closing the door behind him.
Pops turned to the young lady and with an award winning smile told her some good news.
"Tomorrow I think you're going to learn more about your father than you ever thought possible. But be ready because your training load just increased tenfold. I hope you can handle it.'
"Sir, I can handle anything thrown at me."
"We'll see, Airman Davenport. We'll see.'
In the office, Bartlett looked at the hostile faces gathered around his desk. As he had thought, the pilots had seen the map. Deciding to take the problem head on, he faced the Razgriz and waited for the questions to start. Blaze opened the discussion.
"So this is the reason you chose to fly with us tonight. You were wondering how to tell us about this.", Blaze stated simply.
"I see, this is what Pops was referring to.", added Snow.
Bartlett nodded.
"Yeah, this is what Pops was talking about. This country here needs your help. Or to be more precise, they need the help of the Razgriz."
"We did our time in combat. What makes you think that this country Asran, needs us.", snapped Edge.
"Because if we don't help them, the whole balance of power will shift and the fragile peace that you've worked so hard to bring about will fragment. With what I've learned, if Asran looses then an even bigger war will take place. And this time it won't be a localized thing. It will be a war encompassing the entire world as we know it. People long thought out of power will move back in and this time Yuktobania and Osea will be fighting to preserve our very way of life. Several representatives from the besieged land will be arriving in a few weeks to explain everything in detail."
The four pilots grumbled among each other for a moment before Blaze turned to the colonel and asked what there is could bring them to fight again. Bartlett thought for a moment before replying simply.
"The 8492nd has returned. Through the reconstituted Grabaecr and Ofnir Squadrons, they are training their new allies in better air combat tactics and are also practically giving away aircraft we faced during the last war. Do you know what that means to the small country of Asran? They need our help whether it is in training or materials. If we don't help Asran and they loose this war, there is a strong possibility that the Grey Men will return to power. This time they will hold two countries under their sway. What is your decision?'
The office was quiet for a bit as each pilot envisioned the ramifications of a new and more powerful Belka with help from another country not blocked by either Yuktobania or Osea. In the end there was only one thing that could be said and Blaze said it.
"We're in. Tell us what we can do to prevent this."
Bartlett nodded. He'd hated to bring the subject up but he knew that the inherent righteousness held by each of the pilots in front of him would stand out. They always wanted to help people in need, even if it meant fighting again. Bartlett sat down and began to explain about the Asran Royal Air Force.
1900 Hours. Four days later. Area 88
Baroness Kitori Palvanoff was furious. Here she was standing on the flight line of Area 88 without a fighter. She wanted to fly her own aircraft to this destination where the assistance that her cousin had arranged through back channels so she could show them her own skills. Unfortunately, McCoy hadn't been able to fill her order for a new Mirage F-1. The supply lines were down, victims of a sneak attack by the new benefactors of the rebels. Mickey Simon, Shin Kazama, and Kim had scrambled to give what aide they could to the beleaguered supply depot when they got the call but the trio had been too late. Now Shin's Tiger II was in the shop for some minor maintenance. As the enemy were egressing the area, Shin and the rest of Double Echo flight had came screaming in, only to get bounced by a new rebel aircraft that defied their best efforts to destroy. When the trio returned to base, the only thing they could agree on was the fact that the design of the aircraft was different from anything they'd ever seen before. For one, Mickey noticed that the wings were swept forward instead of back like a conventional aircraft. He surmised that the design aided the fighters' maneuverability immensely.
Glaring at her watch, Kitori thought back to the day after he debriefing after she had bailed out. Saki had sent her on a mission to find Shin Kazama and Mickey Simon. Both had left Area 88 after their war ended and their contracts ran out. Shin had returned to Japan to marry his fiancée (who'd waited for him all this time, much to Kitori's disbelief. She didn't thinks he would've waited for her fiancé if she'd been in the same predicament) and was making a good living teaching people how to fly. Mickey had returned to his home and reconnected with is family but had left again when he couldn't find a flying job to his satisfaction. Since then, he'd been bouncing around the world helping different air forces train new generations of fighter pilots for national defense. Mickey had just missed the war between Yuktobania and Osea by several weeks. He'd flew out of a small city in Yuktobania just before they declared war. He'd returned home and that was where Saki's message caught up with him. Upon hearing of the new rebel menace, Mickey had found a way across the ocean and returned to Area 88 where his beloved Tomcat sat waiting for him. It had taken all of twenty minutes of refam flying to get the former mercenary back up to speed.
Kazama had returned two days after Mickey but had argued with Saki about his living arrangements. He wanted to bring his wife and Saki had told him no. In retaliation, Shin had threatened to not return and said that he didn't care what happened. In the end, Saki had relented and allowed Shin and his wife to move into Shin's old barracks building after some renovations had been made.
Now glaring about the flight line, Kitori waited for the others in her flight to join her on the flight line. Since she didn't have a fighter, Kitori was being relegated to riding in the backseat of Mickey's Tomcat.
"Dammitalltohell! Of all the places I'd rather be, riding as a passenger to in Mickey's fighter isn't one of them. Why didn't my oh so loving cousin just get me a temporary fighter so I could have my own hands on a control stick, regardless if it was my own fighter or not. To top everything off that dammed McCoy got his hands on a helmet that's a size too large and didn't take the time to get it painted right. SHIT THIS SUCKS!!!", ranted Kitori.
Nobody paid the attractive baroness any attention; they were busy trying to get fighters ready for the next air battle. The majority of the maintenance guys were working on Shin's fighter with alacrity. Since he was the best pilot in Area 88, their fellow mercs wanted his aircraft to be at its best. They wanted to show that this mercenary air force was as strac as any official air force in the world.
Kitori was watching the ground crew attach five hundred pound drop tanks to their usual hardpoints on the three fighters when a commotion over by the headquarters building caught her attention. Shifting her gaze in that direction, Kitori's mouth dropped as Saki's SEPECAT Jaguar was towed out to the flight line and parked next to Shin's F-5E. The cockpit canopy raised and Kitori watched as her cousin climbed down from his cockpit.
Wearing a perfectly pressed and creased brown flightsuit, Saki made his way over to his cousin. Seeing the look of intense anger on her face, he decided to let her cool off before he started talking. Ignoring Kitori for the moment, Saki watched as the groundcrew added drop tanks to his fighter as well as the others. They had a long flight ahead and it was lucky that his contact had assured them that once the fuel in their drop tanks was used up, there would be KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft for them to refuel from as they made their way to location set up for the meet.
When his contact had given him the coordinates of their destination, Saki made sure to keep those coordinates to himself. Grabbing a map of the general area he had plotted the coordinates on his map only to come up with a location out in the middle of the ocean. Disenchanted, he had gotten in touch with his contact and complained that the coordinates she gave him were faulty and led to nowhere.
"Trust me Colonel Vashtal. Those coordinates I gave you are correct. The location is a former air base where the people you are going to meet flew out of. When you arrive, you and your pilots will be met. Please bring all information you have on the rebel pilots and their help that you have. If my people decide to go further with their help, you will follow them to their home base further north. I hope that you and your people bring your cold weather gear. You ultimate destination is very cold this time of year.", came the accented female voice over the phone.
"Will you be there to met us?", asked Saki.
The voice had laughed and to the Asranian Prince it had a melodic sound with an underlying tone of steel.
"No your highness, I won't be there. I have other things to take care of. Do not worry we'll meet sooner than you realize.", answered the mysterious woman.
When Saki didn't reply, the woman had started to hang up but Saki cut in again with another request.
"One of my pilots doesn't have an aircraft. Do you think you can allow her to borrow one of yours?"
"Ah, you mean your cousin the baroness? Yes I believe we'll have something lying around. Does she have any preferences other than the Mirage F-1 she used to fly? We don't have one of those in inventory but I believe we'll have the F-1's equivalent. It will be waiting at the coordinates I gave you."
Saki had been shocked, this woman knew about his cousin and his rank in the family hierarchy. He wondered what he should call her and expressed his concern when he offered her his thanks. They mysterious woman again caught him off guard.
"You can call me mystery woman number one. We shall talk later."
Before the mysterious lady had hung up, Saki could've sworn he heard a baby crying in the background.
Now Saki Vashtal stood on the flight line in the desert heat waiting for his handlers to finish loading the drop tanks and some missiles on to his fighter. He didn't want to make the entire jaunt to this mysterious base that didn't appear on any maps completely unarmed. With the shells for his cannon and the missiles on their hardpoints, Saki's Jaguar was armed well enough to defend against any enemy, however with those five hundred pound drop tanks his maneuverability was compromised. Next to him stood his cousin the Baroness Palvanoff who-one day in the far future-would be his wife. Saki wasn't looking forward to that day. He knew that she was planning revenge for his actions in the meeting a few days previous.
"And she'll have a long time to prepare an extra devilish revenge.", thought Saki as he watched the other three members of this flight approach the flightline.
Shin Kazama, Mickey Simon, and Kim approached Saki and Kitori. They exchanged greetings and salutations before continuing to watch as the work on their fighters finished up.
"Kazama, do you think the hasty repairs to your fighter will hold up to this long trip? I would hate to have you eject or return to base because something went wrong.", asked Saki.
"You mean that you'd rather I survive so you don't have to face the wrath of my wife.", commented the blonde haired and soft spoken pilot.
Saki acknowledged the pilots words with a graceful defeat. It was true; he didn't want to face an angry Ryouko Kazama. She was fierce when she was angry. Shin's wife had already cussed out Kitori for staring a shade bit too long at her husband. That had been a big thing among the pilots on base, the cool baroness getting read the riot act by a woman not even a pilot and half Kitori's height.
Glancing at his watch, his eyes shaded by his ever present sunglasses, Saki motioned for his pilots to head to their machines and prepare for flight. Watching the others walk towards their aircraft (Kitori already haranguing Mickey for no reason), the head of the Royal Asranian Mercenary Air Force climbed aboard his own aircraft and let the ground crew help strap him in. With his auxiliary power unit already on and his aircraft hooked up to the high pressure huffer, Saki's Jaguar was ready for him to start his engines. With a quick glance at his instruments and another to check on the other members of his flight, Colonel Vashtal waved away the excess ground crewmen and let the necessary ones know that he was preparing to start his engine.
Depressing the engine igniter switch, he looked at his instruments closely as the start cart continued to send high pressure air to his turbines to get them slowly spinning. Opening the fuel flow to the engine, Saki let go of his igniter switch and listened as his engines caught on the first try with a hellish moan. Bringing his one running engine up to ground idle, he opened up the cross feed from engine number one to engine number two and allowed the air from that engine to start his second engine. Within minutes all of the members of 'Double Echo' flight had their engines as idle. With a quick communications check with the tower and his wingmen, Saki let off the brakes and taxied to the runway.
Once on the runway, Saki waited for everyone to get into position before radioing his intentions to the Area 88 Tower. The wished him and the rest of his flight good luck. With one more quick check with his wingmen to check if everything was alright with their instruments and aircraft. Receiving positive acknowledgements from Shin, Mickey, Kim, and angry mumblings from Kitori in Mickey's backseat; Colonel Saki Vashtal, Prince of Asran pushed his throttles to the stops and released his brakes. The classic aircraft streaked down the runway with Shin's Tiger II, Mickey's Tomcat, and Kim's Harrier following at fifteen second intervals.
Once his flight was in the air and situated in a loose formation, Saki set his navigation computer to the coordinates he'd been given, programmed his fuel system to take fuel from the drop tanks first before using the fuel in the main wing and belly tanks then leaned back and relaxed his hands on his control stick.
It was going to be a long flight.
And that, my faithful readers is the start of my Area 88 x Ace Combat 5 (The Unsung War) crossover. I hope you enjoyed reading this first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would greatly appreciate it if I could get feedback from everyone who reads it. If people show interest, I may go ahead and continue this story. SO it's up to you to persuade me to continue it.
If I do continue this story, it'll have to take a backseat to some of my other stories for a short bit. I have to bring my attention back to 'Sylvia's Solitary Soldier', 'Agents and Operatives' and 'A Day in the Life of the Sun King'. Right now those three stories are my more important works. In addition to those three I'll also be splitting time between working on 'Robotech: Child of Khyron', 'Setsuna's Sun Prince', and 'The Taking of Shego'.
To those Evangelion fans, I'm still working on 'Saga of the Seventh Child'; I've just been concentrating on other stories right now. That goes the same for 'The Further Adventures of the Irresponsible Captain', don't be sad though, I will update them as soon as I can. For my other stories I'll work on them when I get the chance, I'm kind of hunting for some inspiration on those but believe you me, they'll be updated before you know it.
In my mind I have a few stories that I could possibly start within the next few weeks or months. One of those is a story based on the anime Vandread (I think B.C. is a major hottie and a half!J). Another is a Robotech story concentrating on a 'what if' scenario involving Ben Dixon and Seloy Deparra. The tentative title on that is 'Dixon and Deparra'. I haven't completely made up my mind on whether I should write it or not but I'm receiving some positive feedback from some of the members of
So that is all for now my friends, remember: Keep on Writing and Reading!!
Knightewolfe
Knightewolfe's Lair
10/06
