Life After War

by Thrashman

What happens in life after a war? Life goes on, and we have to carry with us the burdens of that war; the things we have done. Also we have to play a lot of heavy metal. \m/ Rated M for just incase.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat or any of the music in this fanfic. I only own the fanfic and the story. Please don't sue me Lars.

Prologue

My name is John "Blaze" Pfeiffer. Lieutenant Commander, OMDF, Razgriz Air Command Squadron, Flight Leader and Chief Flight Instructor. Before now I was the flight leader of the 108th TFS out of Sand Island AFB. Before that I did… classified work. I suppose at some point I will release that story to the public, but for now this is what I will share. This story chronicles the events after the Circum-Pacific War of 2010, shortly after the OADF and OMDF were merged into one branch in order to avoid the mess of ranks, aircraft, and a slew of other issues associated with having so many branches of the military. We begin our story on Sand Island, two years after the war; just another ordinary day.

Sunday, 12 August, 2012, 1230 Hours, Naval Air Station Sand Island, Mess hall

Mmm… yup; just another lovely day at NAS Sand Island… it's fucking hot out, it's fucking humid, and it's fucking storming… Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, after all one of my trainees did try to run us into the control tower this morning. Or maybe it's because that petty officer who calls himself a chef decided to make the tomato based watery clusterfuck he calls spaghetti. I really need to talk to the base commander about getting a new cook, it's amazing that screwball PO even passed boot camp.

Well anyways, after I ate (more like slurped, with a straw…) my "spaghetti" I saw a young sailor who looked suspiciously like a PR guy. He was asking around looking for me. He approached the Master Chief who was also finishing his slop. I overheard the sailor asking for me again. Of course, just what I need today, another boot to bother me with his annoying shit. Idea time! Maybe if I duck under the table he won't notice!

"Good afternoon Master Chief Petty Officer… eh, O'Brien. I'm Seaman Blyskal. I was wondering if you knew where Lieutenant Commander John Pfeiffer is."

The Master Chief looked up from his tray of slop to address the seaman.

"Afternoon Seaman, he's just over there," said O'Brien

Goddamnit Master Chief…

"Thank you Master Chief!" said the boot.

Fuck shit dammit too late, that boot is already coming my way! Maybe if I cover my face with… ah shit.

"Good afternoon Sir!" said the sailor enthusiastically as he saluted me.

Don't call him a boot… be professional… c'mon you can do it… shit no I can't… I am a fighter pilot after all…

"What do you want boot; I'm busy, and don't call me Sir, I may be a Lieutenant Commander but I do actually work for a living," I said in an annoyed tone, as I saluted back.

He dropped his salute and said, "Sorry Commander, I'll make it quick. I'm Seaman Joshua Blyskal with public affairs, I have orders to write a report about you and your squadron; the Razgriz Air Command Squadron, and what you did in the last war and what you do currently."

"Yes because I need you to remind me what squadron I'm in…" I said in a sarcastic tone. "Anyways, come back tomorrow when I don't want to imitate a drill instructor, got it?"

"Aye S.. I mean Commander," Seaman Blyskal said, now obviously unhappy that he met me today.

"Dismissed seaman."

We saluted and he hurried off towards the crew quarters.

Note to self… try to be less scary…

I sat here for a minute pondering how to be less scary. Nothing came to mind. How fucking surprising; I am a professional asshole after all…

1710 Hours, My quarters

I opened the door to my and my companion's quarters. She was lying on the bottom bunk looking at her book.

"Hi John," she said happily, as she smiled.

I smiled too, relieved that I didn't have to put up with any more dumbfuckery today. The smile isn't going to last very long however. A, how shall we say… therapy session is about to begin.

"Oh the fucking shit I had to deal with today, Kei. First, Stevens tried to crash us into the tower, then Petty Officer Schmuckatelli made his signature slop, and finally to top it all off, some boot from PR wants to do a bunch of interviews with me about what we did in the last war… I don't know if he wants to interview the rest of the squadron or not so; be prepared tomorrow for a Seaman Blyskal."

"Well sounds like you were having fun today," said Kei half jokingly.

"Yeah… But I'm done going on about my morning, how was yours?" I asked.

"Mm… nothing much exciting… breakfast was decent, considering Petty Officer doofus nuts wasn't working the kitchen. We really need to do something about him," she replied.

"Yeah I know, he's a shitbird. I mean… to be fair, he's not an asshole… but, that dude really needs to learn how to fucking cook, I mean how the actual fuck is his rating Culinary Specialist 3rd Class? Fuck it, tomorrow before that boot from PR bothers me I'm gonna talk to Colonel… I mean Captain Buchner about getting a new CS." I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Ever since Pops took over command of Sand Island after Perrault was court-martialed you've always addressed him by his rank and his last name. Why?" Kei asked curiously.

I shrugged.

"Dunno… just seems… appropriate… respectful… Why are we talking about this? I don't have to call him Pops," I said.

"Yeah I guess," she said as she pulled out a guitar from under the bunk and she plugged it into an amp under the computer desk.

"Whatever… I'm bored, let's play something, it'll help me relax," She said.

I pulled out my guitar and plugged it into a second amp next to Kei's.

"K, what're you in the mood for today? I was thinking 'The Four Horsemen'."

"Mm yeah… maybe," Kei said, unsure about the song.

"What? It's The Four Horsemen, it's totally fuckin thrash and shit!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah I know, and I'm all for that but… I want to play 'A Tout le Monde' today. I uh… I was thinking about Chopper earlier…" Kei said.

"Oh… Yeah I get ya. Let's do it then."

I pulled up a program on the computer that lets you play certain parts of a song like whether or not you want just the bass guitar, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, just the drums or the vocals or if you want to add something like your own vocals, etc. I set it to just bass, drums and vocals. Normally when we jam with the band, I'm on rhythm guitar and vocals, Kei's on lead guitar and some backing vocals, Grimm is on drums, and Collins is on bass and backing vocals. Collins is the man who took Captain Snow's spot in the RACS after Snow retired. However; Snow was Razgriz 3, Grimm was moved from 4 to 3 and Collins took the fourth spot. Anyways Snow was even offered a star but he just wanted to settle down and have a family. We still hear from him from time to time.

Anyways, Collins; Dave Collins that is, is a Lieutenant Junior Grade who became a pilot two years ago after completing OCS as a Marine Sergeant. He transferred to the OMDF shortly after the OADF was merged into it. He told me one time about how he saw Mobius One. It was during Operation Bunker Shot on Crown Beach on the Usean continent. (Osea sent a few marine units to assist ISAF as part of the Joint ISAF/Osea task force.) Mobius One was chasing an A-10 and the Erusean dove to the deck to try and lose him, of course Mobius One blew his A-10 to bits. But before that happened, they flew past Sergeant Collins' unit shortly after his Lieutenant; Baelz was killed by an enemy tank shell. Sgt Collins looked up and saw that ribbon insignia on the tail of an F-14 Tomcat for a split second before a fire ball erupted a few thousand yards away; the enemy A-10. He told me after that; he's always wanted to be a pilot. So when his deployment ended, he went to OCS and became an officer, went through flight school, and became a pilot. He held a couple of minor roles in the war a couple years ago; Eagle driver for some base in the middle of bum fuck nowhere is what he told me. After Snow left, Collins was transferred here. He plays a pretty good bass guitar too…

Anyways while I was talking about that, Kei was tuning her guitar and making sure her gear was good to go.

"Ok I'm ready John," she said.

I nodded and set the program to start playing when I played the first note. (Gotta love technology eh? (and sound proofed rooms, eh… except I need to soundproof the door still.)) I then began to play the intro. It starts with a clean guitar and the vocalist begins to sing.

Don't remember where I was…

I realized life was a game…

The more seriously I took things,

the harder the rules became.

I had no idea… what it'd cost,

my life passed before my eyes,

I found out how little I accomplished,

all my plans denied…

I stepped on the pedal at my feet and when I played it the next time the guitar was heavily distorted as I played a bunch of power chords.

So as you read, know my friends.

I'd love to stay with you all.

Smile when you think about me;

my body's gone that's all….

Kei began to play her lead parts and I continued the rhythm.

A tout le monde,

A tout mes amis;

Je vous aime,

Je dois partir.

These are the last words…

I'll ever speak…

They'll set me free…

We played the next part of the song and then Kei started to play the guitar solo. It was then I noticed that she was crying silently as she played. I guess she must have been crying soon after we started the song, I noticed her cheeks were red. I suppose I was lost in the music and didn't notice…

Before I knew it we were playing the outro and I could hear Kei crying more audibly now. I finished the last few notes, set my guitar down and held Kei for the longest time in years. We sat on the bed for hours just… hugging and thinking. We didn't even bother to put anything away; I just turned all the stuff off and we got our pj's on, got in bed and cuddled until we fell asleep.

Monday, 13 August, 2012, 0800 Hours, Our quarters

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock blasting, I forgot that I had set it to "Metal Mode".

"Flash before my eyes! Now it's time to die!"

Gee alarm clock, you couldn't have said it any better yourself!

I chucked the fucker out the window… right into the fucking ocean. I really didn't want to get up at oh-eight fucking hundred today… I'm still fucking depressed from last night. Kei and I miss Chopper so much… Every time I play it back in my head… Chopper crashing into the middle of the stadium… and Kei when she called his name… was the most painful thing I ever heard… Keep trying Chopper! Chopper! I'm really gonna miss that voice… … CHOPPER! It was all I could do to keep from crying my eyes out. (Yeah I know, I'm a man, but I can fucking have feelings too you shit.) Kei was up too and she could sense what I had going through my head. She hugged me and tried to lay us back down to sleep but I told her;

"Urhhgg… as much as I want to go back to sleep; we can't. That boot Blyskal is supposed to come around sometime today, and I have to talk to Cap… Pops, about getting a petty officer who can actually cook a damn decent meal," I said groggily.

She sighed.

"Do you ever think about… maybe retiring?" she asked.

"Retirement? We're only 25 you know," I said, surprised.

Maybe I should tell her my real age… No… not yet...

"I know but, after all we've been through don't you just want to settle down and not have to worry about the military anymore?" she asked. "You know, all the regulations, the shitty food, the annoying boots that bother us…"

"Yeah… but who will replace me as the chief flight instructor and Razgriz 1?" I asked.

"Uh… Hans could, he's become very skilled during and since the war, well don't you remember when and why he got pinned Captain? Er… well it'd be Lieutenant now I guess since President Harling merged the Air Force and Navy… Anyways, I think Grimm would do excellently," Kei said, optimistic.

I could tell she really wanted to just settle down, well, settle as in, move to some place in the middle of nowhere, put a music studio there, and play a lot of heavy metal really fucking loud, among other things. But of course I'm still worried about my responsibilities on Sand Island, and when will we see Hans and Dave again? I guess they could visit us, or we could visit them here or wherever…

*Knock knock knock*

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Seaman Blyskal S.. I mean Commander," Blyskal said, trying to remember not to call me Sir. "Permission to enter?"

I thought about it for a minute. I want to retire… But I have nuggets to train… but Grimm can train them… hmm I'm supposed to help Seaman boot fuckery with his interviews… mmm he'll get his report, but not from Lieutenant Commander John Pfeiffer, he'll get it from Mr. Pfeiffer, after about a week of sleeping in late and fucking off most of the day…

I sighed.

"Ok fucking A. Enter boot," I said still with a hint of a sigh.

Before he could salute me I told him to cut that shit.

"Sorry Commander, it's proper etiquette," Seaman Blyskal said.

"Yeah yeah etiquette, respect. Blah blah fucking blah. Listen boot I'm handing in my resignation today, so don't bother me about your interview. If you want information, talk to Hans Grimm, Marcus Snow, Dave Collins, and especially Albert Genette, since Genette already did a report about the 108th," I said.

"But Commander I have specific orders to interview you, Lieutenant Nagase, Lieutenant Grimm, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Collins," Blyskal said.

"Yes I know. Tell your CO that you can interview me and the rest of my soon to be former squadron mates after I resign."

"Aye Commander," he said, the look on his face told me he really didn't want to tell his CO; like he might hit him or something…

"Ehh listen, if it makes you feel better, I'll talk to your CO about it alright?" I said, trying to reassure him.

"Thank you Commander." He seemed to lighten up a bit after I told him that.

"Dismissed Blyskal," I said as we saluted. I turned to Kei and asked her if she wanted to come with to talk to Pops or if she had other stuff going on.

"I have to get something to eat John, I'll talk to Pops later," Kei said.

"Alright, see ya later." I kissed her and walked to Pops' office.

0845 Hours, Captain Buchner's Office

I knocked on his door.

"Captain Buchner, its Lieutenant Commander Pfeiffer. Permission to enter, Sir?"

"Permission granted," said Pops.

I walked in, saluted the Captain and said good morning.

"You know John, you don't have to salute me or call me sir, Pops is fine," said Pops with a smile on his face.

"Yeah… I'm just… I just do it out of respect," I said

"It's fine. So what brings you here today Commander?" Pops asked.

"Well… I wanted to hand in my resignation…" I said as Pops took a drink from his coffee. He set it down and looked me right in the eye.

"Resignation? Did I hear that right? What makes you think you can just retire on me, John?"

"I… uh… don't…" I stammered.

"Did you tell the rest of your squadron? I know Lieutenant Nagase wouldn't be very happy about you retiring and leaving her," Pops said. He was giving me a serious look.

"Uh.."

"She wants to leave too I assume?"

"Yes Captain."

"You can't just walk away from your responsibilities John; people here depend on you and Lieutenant Nagase," Pops said sternly. He took something out of his desk.

"Besides… who am I supposed to give these to if you leave?" He gave me four small boxes, each with mine, Kei's, Hans', and Dave's name on them.

"What is this? You can't be serious," I said, flabbergasted.

"Open it John," Pops replied with a small smirk on his face as he took a drink from his coffee again.

I opened the box marked "LTCDR J. Pfeiffer" Inside were two silver oak leaf clusters. I about shit bricks when I saw them.

"You're promoting me? What for?" I asked, still confused as all hell.

"Well John, it's somewhat of a complicated issue but I'll put it simply. The navy's top brass don't like the idea of a Belkan man who used to be a Colonel in the Belkan Air Force in command of one of their naval stations. President Harling thinks otherwise, but public opinion again says otherwise. So the admirals are pushing to have me retire," Pops said. I began to ask what this has to do with me, granted I had a pretty good idea already. Pops shushed me before I could speak however.

"Wha-" I began. He held up his hand.

"I'm not finished yet," He said. "John, the top brass wants you to be made the commander of NAS Sand Island. You'll still be able to fly, but you won't be the chief flight instructor. You could ask Lieutenant Nagase or Lieutenant Grimm if they would do it. The other thing I want you to do is talk to the kitchen chief to figure out what is wrong with CS3 Reuben, contrary to what his name would suggest, he in fact, does not make a good Reuben."

I couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Aye Captain!" I said enthusiastically. I figured getting a promotion and getting to be the boss of the base couldn't be so bad. Maybe we could have a celebration for our promotions and for Pops' retirement like we did for Captain Snow.

"Thanks John, I'm glad you're gonna do this for me," Pops said with a look of relief on his face. He must have been planning on telling me this soon it seems like.

"Oh and John, you will let Seaman Blyskal interview you and your squadron. I also want you to stop referring to all the junior sailors as 'boot'. You are an officer; I expect you to act like one," Pops said as he gave me a look like a mother would give her child when the kid takes a cookie out of the jar without asking. But it didn't bother me at all, considering what was about to happen on Sand Island.

"Aye Captain," I couldn't stop smiling even when he told me that.

"Alright John, go inform the rest of the squadron if you would please," Pops said.

"Wilco Captain," I said. "Oh uh, when and where will the change of command be taking place?" I asked.

"1300 Hours, and in hangar one. Now I know it's on short notice, so only the basic minimum will be set up; chairs, a small podium, you get the idea," Pops said. "All personnel will have to wear their dress uniform of course."

"Roger that Captain," I said, all smiley and such.

"One more thing John. I know about you and Lieutenant Nagase," Pops said.

"Oh… I uh…"

"Don't worry about it; I just wanted to tell you to not let it get out of hand. You are both professionals, you have a job to do. Don't let it get in the way, especially since you'll be in command of this base," Pops said sternly.

"Aye Captain," I said.

"Dismissed."

We saluted and I walked out of his office and went to the crew room.

0915 Hours, Hallway outside of crew room

As I was about to enter the crew room to tell the squadron about our promotions I saw Kei at the end of the hallway. I waved and she walked over.

"Hey John how'd it go?" she inquired.

"Oh I think you'll be happy, in fact I think you'll be ecstatic, Commander Nagase," I said with a big smile. Kei looked at me like I was speaking some other language.

"Um John, it's Lieutenant," she pointed out. "Heh, though I suppose you could call me Commander if you want, Commander." She winked.

"No, really; here." I handed her the box marked "LT K. Nagase."

"You gotta be shittin' me…" she whispered. She opened the box and inside it were two gold oak leaf clusters.

"A promotion? For what? What's going on John?" she asked curiously.

"All four of us are getting promoted," I explained to Kei what Pops told me.

"Wow," Kei said, surprised. "Uh when will this happen?"

"1300 Hours, today. So we need to get our dress uniforms on, and go to hangar one," I said as Dave opened the door to the crew room.

"Hi Dave," me and Kei said.

"Oh uh good morning Commander Pfeiffer, Lieutenant Nagase," said Dave, not expecting to see me here.

"Is Hans in there with you? I got some good news," I said.

"Yeah he's on the couch reading."

"Ok let's go sit down so I can explain what's going on."

We went in the crew room and sat in the available spots. I told Hans and Dave what's up.

"Pops wants me to be a flight instructor?" asked Hans.

"Well like I said, either you or Kei can do it, or both I suppose. But I know we're all being promoted. I'm also gonna plan a celebration for our promotions and Pops' retirement and the change of command," I replied.

I handed Dave and Hans their boxes with the rank pins inside.

"When I officially take command we'll figure out what we're going to do, but for now, Pops is still in command; I don't want to overstep my bounds," I explained.

"Kickass," Dave said.

"Yeah…" said Hans.

"Hans, if you don't want to be a flight instructor I can do it," said Kei.

"Oh, thanks Kei, but I think I could do it, after all I did learn a lot from you, John, Snow and… Chopper." I winced when he said Chopper. That memory still haunts me…

"Tap tap tap, this thing on? *feedback from hell* AH dammit! Sorry sorry! There that's got it. Attention all personnel, there will be a mandatory special event taking place in hangar one at 1300 Hours. Dress uniforms are required," said Pops' voice over the intercom.

"Alright we better go get our shit on and get there," I said as we got up and walked to our quarters to get changed.

1200 Hours, Hangar one

As we approached hangar one we noticed all the base personnel gathered there, wondering what was going on. I also noticed a few officers who I haven't seen before; by the looks of it they were admirals. There were also a few sailors in dress whites standing at attention.

"Ah here they are. Lieutenants Collins, Nagase, Grimm and Commander Pfeiffer stand next to me," Pops said.

We walked up to his podium, and stood next to him in a line facing towards the base personnel.

"Your attention please, attention!"

"Shut it!" said a female red-head petty officer with an English accent. She was standing beside Pops holding the base ensign.

"Thank you Petty Officer…" Pops said.

Pops turned to address the crowd.

"Alright, I've called you all here to announce a change of command, I know it was on short notice, and I apologize. But it would be best if this was done as soon as possible." Pops said. "Anyways here is Admiral Edward Bishop. Admiral Bishop, Sir." Pops gestured to the podium.

"Thank you Captain," said Admiral Bishop. "Before we carry on with the change of command ceremony, I have a few promotions to award. First… Lieutenant Junior Grade Collins, will you step forward please." Dave did so. The admiral pinned the rank of Lieutenant on him, shook his hand and congratulated him.

"Lieutenant Nagase will you please step forward," Bishop said. Kei did so. Bishop pinned the rank of Lieutenant Commander on her, shook her hand and congratulated her.

"Lieutenant Grimm, please step forward," said Bishop. Hans stepped forward. Bishop pinned Lieutenant Commander on him, shook his hand and congratulated him. I guess that just leaves me.

"Lieutenant Commander Pfeiffer will you please step forward," he said. I stepped forward. Bishop pinned the rank of Commander on me.

"Congratulations Commander."

"Thank you Sir," I replied.

The admiral stood and faced the four of us.

"Attention!"

We saluted the admiral, the crowd stood to, and then the admiral saluted back.

"Stand at parade rest!" commanded Bishop. "Lieutenant Collins, Lieutenant Commander Nagase, and Lieutenant Commander Grimm please take your place in the audience."

We stood at parade rest, and then the other three moved to the crowd while I stood here at parade rest.

"I would now like to announce the change of command," said Admiral Bishop. "Captain Buchner is retiring and command of Naval Air Station Sand Island will be passed to Commander John Pfeiffer. Petty officer if you would please pass the ensign to Captain Buchner."

The petty officer that told the crowd to shut it passed the ensign to Pops. Pops then passed it to the admiral. The admiral then passed it to me. I then passed it to the petty officer who assumed his position.

The admiral spoke again; "The passing of the flag symbolizes the passing of leadership from one commander to the other. This concludes the change of command. Commander would you like to say anything?" Oh shit… I couldn't make a speech if I sat down for 5 hours and tried to write one, and now this guy expects me to pull one out of my ass? Here goes…

I went up to the podium and stared at the crowd. I met eyes with Kei and she gave me an encouraging smile.

"Hello, as you know I'm Commander John Pfeiffer, or as most of you know me; Blaze. I uh.. mm… Well I never thought I'd be the base commander on Sand Island. I never thought I would be a Commander either… uhh… Well I can say for certain that my time as the commander here will… er.. be.. good… yeah. Ok now let's have a word from Pops. Captain." I gestured to the podium and Pops walked over. I stood off to the side while Pops gave his speech. After he got done I went to talk to him.

"Eh sorry about my speech Pops, I'm not very good with words when it comes to speeches…" I said disappointed at myself.

"You're fine John, I doubt any of the base personnel care, I know most of them have a bunch of work to do anyways that they'd rather just get done," Pops replied.

"Yeah I get ya." Kei and Co. walked up to me and Pops.

"Hey guys, real exciting eh?" I said sarcastically.

"Yeah," Kei said. "But hey, we got promoted, you get to be in command, Pops gets to retire, and we can have a grand old time on Saturday; If that's alright with you of course commander." Kei said winking again.

"Of course sweetheart," I said winking back.

I remembered I was supposed to talk to Blyskal and the Chef's chief. Hmm I could just delegate talking to the chief to somebody, and I'll tell that chief that was standing next to the petty officer to tell Blyskal I'll get to the interview later… yeah, I'll do that.

"Hey chief!" I called to where he was, he was talking to one of the admirals; which kinda surprised me. He came walking over. We saluted and he asked what I needed.

"I need you to deliver a message to a Seaman Joshua Blyskal, tell him I'll get to his interview at a later date. Probably… not Sunday, I'll most likely be hungover as fuck…" The chief raised an eyebrow. "What? I can drink too. Anyways, tell him next Monday. Also that petty officer uhh… Reuben, the chef. Tell his chief to see what his major malfunction is. Family issues… whatever I don't know, I don't want to know, just get him on the right track."

"Will do skipper," the chief replied.

"Thanks chief," I said. We saluted and he went to take care of that stuff.

"Oh shit," I muttered. "Hey chief! I also need a working party to prepare a sort of platform in hangar four, for Saturday. It needs to be structural. It's going to have all the band equipment on it and of course the band, I don't really want a repeat of what happened with the last one…"

"Sure thing commander," the Chief said. "Anything for a fellow thrasher!"

"Excellent." I said.

1700 Hours, Crew room

"You guys remember the songs in the setlist right?" I asked.

"Yeah for the most part," they said.

"It's a pretty big setlist but I think we'll be fine, we could do a little improvisation too if needed." Hans said. The others nodded in agreement.

"Well we have a week to get our shit together anyways," I said nonchalantly.

"Yep," Hans said. "We could practice a couple songs now if you want, just for shits and grins."

"Sure, why not. Aint got anything better going on, which is surprising considering I'm the boss man now… Eh whatever, let's go," I said.

By this time we were out of our dress uniforms, but I went to my quarters to grab my kutte. It has a few decent patches on it that I picked up over the years. My favorite is the demo picture for "Loved to Deth" with Vic Rattlehead. After I got that we headed over to hangar 4. Pops designated hangar 4 to be used for music and such and for anybody else who wants to use it. After all; music sooths even the savage beast….

1720 Hours, Hangar 4

Mmm time to relax, no glass of wine today, I got two cases of beer, two bottles of Everclear 190 and 4 two liter bottles of Dr. Pecker to mix that foul shit with. Definitely no easy chair today, and we sure as shit aren't playing a compact disc on our home stereo. I will however indulge my self, I may even kick my shoes off… however the whole "feet in the air thing" will be a little difficult. Lean back? What is this a fucking Motley Crue fuckfest? No sir, I shall be banging my head harder than I bang… um, rocks… with a hammer… for uh… art… yeah. Ok time to enjoy the melodies.

I mixed Dave and myself I drink; I know how much he loves this shit. I got Kei and Hans a beer. I took a swig from thine rocket fuel and I began to play "Nitro" by The Offspring.

I kicked on my distortion and started to play this kickass riff and began to sing while everybody was still fucking around with their gear, but I didn't care, I wanted to raise hell and break shit!

Our generation sees the world,
not the same as before,
We might as well just throw it all,
And live like there is no tomorrow…

There's no tomorrow…

There's no tomorrow…

We are the ones…
Who are living under the gun every day…
You might be gone before you know,
So live like there is no tomorrow…

Ain't gonna waste this life!
There's no tomorrow… You ain't gonna live it for me!

Ain't gonna waste this life!
There's no tomorrow… You ain't gonna live it for me!

I got to the part of the song where the tempo changed and played accordingly.

They started to play with me a minute before this, but it didn't matter much to me; I could hear the whole track in my head clear as day.

Hey, believe it; the official view of the world has changed.

In a whole new way,

Live fast cause, if you don't take it, you'll never make it!

We continued to play until we got to the end of the song. I sucked my drink down, got another one and took a sip.

"Ehy! Guysh! Letsfucking play… MOTORHEAD, I mean uh MOTORBREATH, getsing it? Cause Ims fucking drunch," I said, obviously sloshed. Note to self… If I can remember after tonight… don't mix the drink half n half.

"Oke… actulaley… let's um play uh…" I closed my eyes and started laughing my ass off. "RUBBER DUCKY, YOU'RE T… AHAHHAHAHHAHAH, ok fer real now." "WHIPLASH!" I screamed as hard as I could, similar to James Hetfield.

I played a few notes and Hans started in with the drums. I played a few more, then I started to play a shitload of notes so fast I couldn't even count them, then Kei started in as well and it produced the most kickass fucking sound ever. After a few seconds of that I began to sing… or scream… something in between singing and screaming, you'd just have to listen to it.

Late at night all systems go, you've come to see the show!

We do our best, you're the rest, you make it real ya know!

There's a feeling deep inside that drives you fuckin mad!

A feeling of a hammerhead, you need it oh-so-bad!

Adrenaline starts to flow!

You're thrashin all around!

Acting like a maniac!

Whiplash!

Bang your head against the stage like you never did before!

Make it ring, make it bleed, make it really sore!

In a frenzied madness with your leather and your spikes!

Heads are bobbing all around it's hot as FUCK tonight!

Adrenaline starts to flow!

You're thrashin all around!

Acting like a maniac!

Whiplash!

Here on the stage the Marshall noise is piercing through your ears!

It kicks your ass, kicks your face exploding feeling nears!

Now's the time to let it rip, to let it fucking loose!

We're gathered here to maim and kill cause this is what we choose!

Adrenaline starts to flow!

You're thrashin all around!

Acting like maniac!

The tempo changed and we played a little slower, but no less heavy.

"HERE WE GO!" I screamed as Kei kicked the solo in the ass. While I was continuing to play rhythm I watched her play the solo and all I could think about was how hot she was right now… The break in the middle of the solo came… so to speak… I then yelled whiplash again as hard as I could, then Kei played more of the solo, and then the song went back to the original riff and tempo.

The show is through the metal's gone it's time to hit the road!

Another town another gig again we will explode!

Hotel rooms and motorways, life out here is raw!

We'll never stop we'll never quit cause you're Metallica!

Adrenaline starts to flow!

Thrashin all around!

Acting like a maniac!

Somebody must have heard us because when we were done with the song I noticed 15 or 20 people standing there having a jolly good time, headbanging, drinking, and general metalhead things.

I took another drink from my drinky drink, and the other three did the same, and we started to play some Megadeth, then after a few songs we played Metallica again, then Led Zeppelin, then some Eagles. (You must be wondering why we play such a wide range of music… Because we fucking want to, that's why!) By that time it was 0300 Hours and we were all fucking tired… and hammered. We turned off our shit and left it in the hangar.

"Guysh um, just the fuckings turn off the shit, then leave it, of the fuckings getting it toomroow," I spluttered.

"Hey John… you know *hic* how fucking cute you look right now?" Kei said in a seductive tone.

"Ohyeh?"

"Yeh"

"Fockin roight mate," I said. Everything after that I can't remember jack shit about…

Tuesday, 14 August, 2012, 1200 Hours, Our quarters

I awoke in a most peculiar area, in a most peculiar position. It took me a minute to realize just what the fuck I was staring at.

How the fuck did I fall asleep with my head against the window… and why is there a… the fuck is that… oh, window fog… damn why's it so fucking cold in he.. oh I'm not wearing anything… WHAT THE FUCK WAS I DOING LAST NIGHT?!

Apparently I was thinking out loud because Kei awoke and tackled me.

"What the fuck? Same team! Not cool brah!" I said sarcastically, forgetting that I'm not wearing anything. Kei must not have noticed either.

"Sorry, you startled me, I thought," she yawned. "Thought that you were like, a burglar or some shit."

"Yeah… cause, you know there are a lot of criminals on base here…" I said sarcastically again.

She gave me an annoyed look. Huh… how peculiar…

"What are you staring at? I'm up here John Pfeiffer," she said.

"hum…. Uh, you uh, you realize. Uh… for God's sake woman; look down!"

She looked down and her face turned red, I thought she might strangle me until she did something I totally was not expecting.

1400 Hours

"Oh my God. You are, without a doubt, my favorite person ever," I said. "You handled that so good. You were so amazing."

"Ahh thanks baby. I love you," Kei said.

"Love you too sweetheart." I kissed her, put my khakis on and went to have lunch.

"Good morning Commander," one of the sailors said.

"Mornin' Chief!" I said enthusiastically, forgetting that it was the afternoon.

"You mean afternoon skipper?" The sailor asked.

"Uh… yeah… yeah afternoon," I said.

I was walking past people saying hi left and right like it was going out of style. Today, I am a happy mother fucker. I got to the chow hall and saw Dave sitting there. Guess he must have slept in this morning too.

"Hey Dave!" I said, as he got up to salute me.

"Afternoon Commander," Dave said, I saluted him back.

"Dave… If you ever salute me first again, I'll have to kick your ass," I said half-jokingly.

"Yeah yeah, look it's not that big of a deal, I was just doing my job," Dave said.

"But… ah never mind I'm gonna get some chow, did the cook fix his shit?" I asked.

"Oh yeah man, this is the best Reuben that Reuben has ever made!" Dave said happily.

"Good, I'll be back shortly." I walked over to the kitchen to get a sandwich. CS3 Reuben put me one on a plate and I got some French Onion soup to go with it.

"Hey it's good to hear you're squared away man. Keep up the good work Chef!" I said encouragingly.

"Thanks commander, I appreciate that," he said with a smile.

I sat back down with Dave and started to eat when Dave asked me what me and Kei were doing last night and this morning.

"Uhh… nothing, just… nothing," I said, trying my best to hide our secret.

"Really? Because I could hear Kei going nuts in there, you really need to sound proof your room better if you are going to be doing that Skipper," Dave said.

"We weren't doing anything!"

"So you two were not actually playing Aerial Arena 2K in there? Dude, I know what AA2K sounds like, and you were definitely playing it. You know games like that will mess with you when you fly for real if you play them too much," Dave said with a scornful look.

"Yeah well, at least we weren't hav-"

"Yeah K don't finish that sentence please."

"-ing sex," I said.

"Ass."

"Dingbat."

"Bite me."

"Suck my big toe."

"No way man!"

The banter continued on this way for 10 more minutes when a Senior Chief walked past me without even acknowledging Dave or myself. I didn't really mind that he didn't salute me, but it did bother me that he didn't salute Dave, considering… he is a Medal of Honor recipient.

"Afternoon Chief, I just wanted to let you know we salute officers in our navy and Medal of Honor recipients," I said as politely as I could. I didn't notice that he was a Senior Chief until he was closer, then I saw it and I tried to correct my mistake before he cut me off.

"Oh sorry I mean-"

"What the fuck did you just call me? Don't know you what my rate is?" The Senior Chief said. Ok… fine, you just made my list. I'm gonna fuck with you now.

"Why, did you forget?" I asked sarcastically.

"Look here you little smartass, I'll have you scrubbing toilets for the rest of your career! What's your name sailor?!" The senior chief said.

Strike one…

"Oh… don't you know who I am?" I asked sarcastically again.

"No, did you forget?" The senior chief said sarcastically.

Strike two

"No I didn't forget, Chief, oh and by the way, you are a Chief now; considering you just pissed off an officer," I said all snarky and such.

"Oh I'm sorry sir I didn't realize that I hurt your ego. Look junior, I've been in this navy for 18 years, looks to me like you've only been in for about three. Let's see… 18… 3… 18… 3… yeah um, let's fucking see here Junior," The senior chief said as he held up his hands like he's weighing the numbers.

This guy was really starting to piss me off in a big bad way. Then he made the dumbest fucking mistake ever.

"I'm going to report your ass to the base commander for not giving me the proper respect, butter bar ensign bootfuckery."

Oh we gonna have fun now.

"Oh fucking shit, here we go motherfucker, you best watch your ass because I'm gonna come down on you like a heat seeking missile and put fire on your ass!" I yelled. By this time the whole mess hall was just gawking at us and the MPs were standing by in case shit got hairy.

"Oh look I made him mad, and he cussed at me! Not very officer-like is it!" He jeered.

"First off, ass-head-hole, you will address me as Commander and second, the only reason I'm an officer is because I have to be an officer to fly aircraft for the navy. The only reason you aren't an officer is because you are too stupid to look at rank pins!" I yelled. "What fucking shape is on my lapel?! OAK LEAF CLUSTER! WHAT COLOR? SILVER MOTHER FUCKER!" I howled, at this point you could've sworn I was singing Metallica. "That's not even the worst part, you didn't salute Lieutenant Collins. What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

He just moved his head back a bit because I probably spit on him and my breath smells like shit or something. Then he did something really really stupid, like more stupid than before.

"Oh I'm really scared of you 'commander' I think I might even cry. Pfft," He said as he poked me in the chest.

Bad move brah…

"Mhm, mhm… yeah um, are you inbred or just naturally dumb?" I asked sarcastically again.

"Fuck you, at least my wingman isn't a slut!" He sneered as he jabbed me in the chest harder this time with his knife hand.

Strike three cocksucker!

I grabbed it, he pulled it away and grabbed my shirt, I grabbed his hand again and was about to twist it off when he pulled away again and took a swing at me.

Strike four, it's go time buddy.

"Tell me, Chief, do you have a plastic baggy handy?" I asked in a curious tone.

"What the fuck, why?" He asked totally confused.

"Because you'll be needing to pick up your teeth off the floor."

Before he could retort I drilled him right square in the face, and as advertised I knocked out at least three of his teeth.

"I swear to God…" I said as he was picking up his teeth, then I grabbed him up so I had his attention. "LOOK AT ME FUCKFACE! I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU EVER, EVER INSULT THE HONOR OF MY WINGMEN AGAIN, TEETH WON'T BE THE ONLY THING YOU'LL BE PICKING UP OFF THE FLOOR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, CHIEF?!" I bellowed as loud as I possibly could stand. The mess hall was still ringing with my piercing James Hetfieldesque screech.

"Yesh Shir." He said as blood spat from his mouth.

"What? I can't fucking hear you, chief, sound off like you got a pair!"

"YEASH SHIR!"

"MP! Get here!" I spat.

"Aye Sir!" Said the MP.

"Get him the fuck out of my face, put him in the brig until further notice," I said. "I want him court-martialed for insubordination, disrespect, and striking an officer and especially disrespect towards a Medal of Honor recipient."

"Aye Sir," The MP said again.

I looked at my watch, it was already 1500.

"What the hell are you people staring at, you have shit that needs to be done, and somebody find me the crew chief, I want to make sure my planes are squared away for flight ops on Thursday," I said.

I'm going to catch hell from Pops now… Pops is still technically a Captain, just not the Captain of Sand Island. He leaves for his temporary post on Monday, then after a month he will retire. Kei and the rest of the squadron came over to where Dave and I were standing after the SCPO was removed.

"You know you're going to catch hell from Pops, John," Kei said, concerned.

"Yeah… I know… conduct unbecoming an officer… but it was self-defense, and I was defending your and Dave's honor," I said trying to reassure her, and myself. "What the hell is that asshole's name anyways? I didn't see his nametape. Come to think of it… he wasn't even wearing one. I only noticed his khakis and his rate."

"I don't know," Kei said. "We should probably go talk to Pops, we have to some time."

"Yeah."

We were about to leave when Hans had this "Oh shit" look on his face.

"What's wrong Hans?" I asked.'

He pointed to the hallway to the staff offices.

"Pops… and he looks pissed…" Hans said.

We just stood there in fear as Pops came over.

"Follow me, now, don't ask questions, don't look at anybody, just follow,' Pops said.

We followed him into his office that was soon to be mine, at least I hope it's going to be mine still.

"Sit," He said.

We sat on the chairs and the bench that was in there.

He pulled out a small TV from under the desk and inserted a tape into the built-in VCR. He pressed play and the tape showed a man entering an office somewhere on base and a few minutes later he came out with a folder that was labeled 'Classified Top Secret'.

"What the fuck?" Dave said.

Pops removed the tape and inserted another one. This time I could see the man's face more clearly. It's the Senior Chief that gave me shit earlier! The tape showed the man placing the folder under a crate outside one of the hangars.

"This tape was taken yesterday. Since it was reviewed I've had guards posted on that spot. When the man went back there he saw the guards and turned around and went back to his quarters as we have seen on another tape," Pops said. "I don't know who this man is or who he is working for, yet, but I do know that this man is an idiot to do what he did today. Thanks to you John and Dave, we now have probable cause to confine this man and interrogate him among other things. Thanks to you, we may have just caught a spy and considering the documents he took…" Pops held up a folder. "I am quite certain that he is a spy. Not a very good one though. There will be no repercussions for your actions today Commander."

"Dude this is heavy…" I said.

"Yeah you got that right," Kei said.

"Sierra Hotel!" Dave exclaimed.

"Quite the Charlie Foxtrot we have here eh?" I said jokingly.

"Yes indeed, and remember, be very ultra-hush hush quiet about this," Pops said. "Now then, I'm going to put the Tango Victor away and then we'll move on to other business."

I chuckled a bit.

"So you remember when I said you would still be able to fly when you took command?" Pops asked.

"Yeah," I said

"Well that's only if you accept two more people into the squadron; since you're the base commander now, you won't be able to fly without the extra protection..." Pops said. The look he had on his face denoted a certain amount of bullshit coming from higher up.

"So the top brass says I have to have five wingmen or I can't fly? We were just fine with the four of us," I said.

"Well actually it's in the regulations. I apologize; I forgot about that," He said sincerely.

"It's fine, so... do we have anybody on a list or no?"

"Actually we do," Pops said matter-of-factly. "We have 5 people selected for you to review."

"Names?"

"Yeah let's see... Klaus Knefler..." I raised an eyebrow when he said that. I wonder if that's the same Klaus from… hmm…

"And... Dmitri Krayevski..." Really... Intervesting... I mean interesting.

Pops handed me their files I opened them as he pulled out three more.

"Oh that won't be necessary Cap'n. I know these two. Damn fine men. We go way back," I said.

Pops raised an eyebrow.

"Well alright then. I'll send for them as soon as I can," Pops said.

"Will there be anything else Captain?" I asked.

"No, you may go, just remember not to tell anybody about the classified documents," Pops said sternly.

"Roger, ok folks let's go."

We were walking down the hallway and I asked if we should go to the crew room and discuss shit or not. They said yeah, so we went there. We went into the crew room, but there were 4 other people there so we went to my quarters instead. We went in and locked the door and we sat down.

"Alright so, Klaus is from Erusea, I met him a while ago doing some…. Classified things in Erusea. That's all I can say about that. As for Dmitri, I met him in a bar in Oured a couple days after we destroyed the SOLG. He's from Yuktobania and he was present during the mission over Sudentor. 172nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron ring a bell? He was a pilot for one of the Su-32s," I said. "But the thing about Dmitri is that I first met him while also doing classified things in Erusea. But I met him again after we destroyed the SOLG like I said. So we go way back. Welp, it's 1800, time for evening chow."

1805 Hours, Chow Hall

"Hiya there Reuben, what's cookin' today?" I asked the chef.

"Spaghetti, Commander, the proper way," Reuben said with a laugh.

"Definitely looking forward to it, heh."

I sat down with my wingmen and we ate the best damn spaghetti ever, ok that's a lie. Mom makes the best spaghetti ever. We finished eating and Dave and Hans went to their respective quarters while Kei and I went to ours. We walked in and sat down on the bed.

"Ok Kei, I got some shit to tell you, I believe we are in that point of our relationship, I want to be completely honest with you," I said.

"Ok John, you are kinda freakin me out here," She said nervously.

"Oh I'm not going to… eh… just listen, k? Anyways. Firstly… um… well. Remember when I said my birthday was 5 September, 1987?" I said.

"Yeah…." She said, now suspicious.

"I was actually born in 1982, on the same date. I had to cover up my actual age so as to not be compromised, and when I said I was doing work in Erusea, it wasn't totally a lie, I did do some work in Erusea, but I did work all over the Usean continent during that war 7 years ago," I said.

"So wait let me get this straight, you are thirty?" She asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes, I'm thirty, I'm an old fucker. Can you live with that?" I asked; annoyed.

"Yeah I guess, it just bothers me that you lied about it."

"Hey I said I had to cover it up!"

"Fine, anything else you want to share with me?"

"Um… well I mentioned working in Usea. Yeah see… I did a lot of work in Usea, like… a shitload… like, most of the work for ISAF."

"Yeah..?"

"Fuck. I'm Mobius One! Isn't it obvious?" Her eyes got really wide when I said that. I thought she might punch me or something.

"You… … Prove it," She said skeptically.

"Ok woman now you are just being a pain in the ass, I don't have any documentation about it, it's all kept in Oured with copies in North Point, locked away with heavy un-hackable security and some other bad nasty shit that even the 'Leverage' guys couldn't touch. Ya picking up what I'm layin down? If you get one number wrong on a keypad in those facilities, on certain levels of the facility there is no warning. You are done. I mean fucking done. Vaporized. Nothing is left except… well nothing."

"Ok I get the point," She said with an annoyed look on her face.

"I mean… I guess I could break in there and steal it, but I don't see the need. It's better that it's kept there."

Hmm a thought just crossed my mind. I better make sure that SN Blyskal goes away and does not bother me. I don't know what dingbat PR officer wanted a report on me, but there won't be any orders after I'm done.

"So I guess you could say my security clearance is 'We know more about you than you do.' Heh.. ehh.." I said trying to break the awkwardness, which isn't really working.

"Yeah great. Now I'll sleep well knowing all this."

"Well sorry, I guess we could do-"

"You think I want to do that right now? Fuck, men are dumbasses sometimes," Kei said.

I gave her an annoyed look.

"Just trying to help," I said.

"Uh huh, hit the lights, you can sleep on the top bunk tonight," She said.

"Wha? Oh come on, that's not fair! You know I need cuddling at night! It's essential to my wellbeing! And it's only 1810 Hours…"

"Too fucking bad, you can go one night without cuddling, it won't kill ya," She said. "But I might if you lie to me again John."

"Ok ok fine. Look I'll make it up to you. Tomorrow I'll cook you the best breakfast you ever had. Homemade waffles, with real Emmerian Maple Syrup, a shitload of thick cut bacon, the perfect scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns with green onions mixed in." As I was saying this, she raised her eyebrow and was trying to hold back a smirk. "Then for dinner I'll make venison steaks with morel mushrooms, cooked in butter with a bit of salt, and for a side; grilled zucchini and squash. Now for desert I'll make a Black Yuktobanian Cake, with 100% Sotoan Coffee to go with it," I said. "Whaddya say?"

"If you do all that, I'll do more than just cuddle with you," She said as she smiled. "Now get in that bed and wrap your arms around me and kiss me you ass."

"Ok."

Wednesday, 15 August, 2012, 0500 Hours, Our Quarters

I awoke to the sound of my new alarm clock blasting:

"REVEILLE REVEILLE REVEILLE! DROP YOUR COCKS AND GRAB YOUR SOCKS! TODAY'S SUNDAY; DIVINE WORSHIP AT OH-EIGHT-HUNDRED…"

"AYE AYE SIR!" I screamed.

"What the fuck?!" Kei exclaimed.

"SIR! Alarm clock was set to 'Full Metal Jacket Mode', SIR!," I said, still recovering from boot camp flashbacks. "Uh… I mean… I have to go make breakfast."

"Mmk, wakmehup when is ready…" Kei said as drifted back to sleep.

Yeah…

I got dressed, went to the mess hall, and commandeered the kitchen.

"Look Chief, I just need to borrow some counter space and one stove is that too much to ask for? Unless you want to make homemade waffles, with real Emmerian Maple Syrup, a shitload of thick cut bacon, the perfect scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns with green onions mixed in for the entire base," I said trying to convince him.

"Fuck, fine. But you can't just commandeer the kitchen every time you piss off your girlfriend," The Chief said.

"Yeah, I know, I know," I said. "Alright where's all the shit."

The chief showed me where everything was and I got to work most rickey tick. I was moving so fast getting all the shit prepared that you would have thought I was a jazz drummer. By the time I was done it was 0700 Hours and the base personnel were starting to shuffle into the mess hall. I put everything I made on a tray and told the chief thanks for letting me use his kitchen then I went to Kei and my quarters.

I opened the door, walked in and set the tray on the bed then I went back to the kitchen to get a folding table and a couple of comfy chairs. I figured Kei wouldn't want to eat our breakfast with the rest of the base personnel.

"Kei," I whispered. "Sweetheart, breakfast is ready."

"Mmm alright," She said, still tired. Kei isn't a morning person, and neither am I.

I poured her and myself a cup of coffee; two spoons of sugar and a bit of creamer for Kei, and the same for me.

"Mmmm damn these waffles are good John, what's your secret?" She asked.

"Kosher salt. This one time, a lady made me and my father some waffles with kosher salt in them and they were among the best waffles ever," I said as I wolfed mine down. Cooking makes a guy hungry.

"Mmm mmmmhmhmhmh God, it's practically orgasmic," She said. The look on her face suggested just that…

"Huh… I have the strangest… um, rude front trousers bulge right now."

Kei laughed.

"Hehehe," I snickered.

We finished breakfast and Kei got dressed and prepared for her day while I prepared for mine.

Let's see… I have to move into my office, meet my XO, prepare for Klaus' and Dmitri's arrival… I suppose I should tell the rest of the squadron my real age too…

0830 Hours, My Office

Ah… Let's see here… No… that's not it… nope… ah… ha… there it is.

I was digging through a filing cabinet when I found what I was looking for; my new XO's file.

Angela Parker… Commander… no problem, chain of command works on billets anyways.

"Commander Parker will you please come to the CO's office, Parker to the CO's office," I said into the PA.

A few seconds later a woman who looked about my age with blonde hair in a bun came in. She stood to and we saluted.

"Stand easy Commander. You may speak freely with me at all times unless otherwise directed," I said.

"Affirmative. Good morning Commander Pfeiffer, what do you need?" She asked.

"Good morning, I just wanted to introduce myself and I wanted to get to know you a little bit better since you are my XO now," I said as I shook her hand.

"Yes Commander. Well you should know I take my job very seriously, I will work with you and the Master Chief to address all issues in a professional and efficient manner," She said.

"Outstanding Commander, eh, Angela. Do you mind if I call you by your first name?" I asked.

"No, but I would advise you to not get too comfortable with me, I have a job to do, I don't want a relationship to get in the way," She said seriously.

"Considering I already have a companion; that won't be an issue," I said, trying to be reassuring. "I don't really care for all the formalities if there doesn't have to be."

"Mmm I see. Will there be anything else Commander?" She asked.

"No… Commander… You may be dismissed," I said.

We saluted and she left. Isn't she a bundle of joy… My phone rang. Huh… I wonder who that is…

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello, is Commander John Pfeiffer available?" Asked a man who sounded familiar.

"Speaking," I said.

"Oh hey Kid, how ya doin?" The man said. Bartlett? Uh…

"Captain Bartlett?" I asked, confused.

"No! Fucking kids are stupid… It's dad ya dink," He said.

"OHH! Ok sorry Dad, you and him sound a lot alike," I said. "How're you doin? We haven't talked in a couple weeks. Is Mom there?"

"I'm doing fine, just been busy with running the 6th Air Division here, and yeah Mom is here, you wanna say hi real quick?" Dad said.

"Sure."

"Hi John," Said Mom.

"Hi Mom, you keeping Dad out of trouble?" I asked jokingly.

"I heard that!" Dad said in the background.

"Shut up Bill," Mom said in the background.

"Yeah I'm keeping him out of trouble. How are you doing?"

"Good, just got promoted as you probably heard."

"That's good dear, oh Dad wants to talk to you again."

"Ok bye Mom, love you."

"Love you too."

"Hey Kid," Dad said.

"Hi Dad."

"So my work is almost wrapped up and I have leave coming up in a few days so me and your mother are going to come visit you on Sand Island," Dad said.

"Uh, um yeah! Yeah that's great to hear!" Fuck, I have to get this place squared away ten ways from fuckin Sunday.

"Well me and your mother want to see your lovely girlfriend again; I think she's a keeper, Boy," Dad said. "So my leave begins on Sunday, so we'll be getting on a plane then and we should be there Monday." I felt my heart drop into my stomach.

"Ok," I squeaked.

"Good! We'll see you then!" He said.

"See you then…" I said and we hung up.

Ughhhhh fuck my life.

1000 Hours, Crew Room

I was sitting here with the squadron minus Kei. I needed to start crossing shit off my to-do list and fast.

"OK folks I'm in a bind for time here, so, I have a confession, I'm not 25, I'm 30. I know I know, I should have told you, but you remember that classified thing I told you about? I had to lie about my age. Ok you can hate me now," I said.

Dave rolled his eyes, Hans was just sitting there trying to figure how I was 30 and not 25.

"Did you already tell Kei?" Dave asked.

"Yeah."

"Good, you'd be a fucking moron not to tell her first, I'm sure I don't have to tell you why," Dave said.

"Uhh yeah," I said. "I have to get back to work now, I'll see you guys later."

1600 Hours, Beach on Sand Island

I was just finishing up prepping the spot that me and Kei would eat dinner. It has a big umbrella a nice table, comfy chairs, a small stereo and a cooler which will have wine in it later. I finished up prepping the site and went to the kitchen.

And that's that… off to the kitchen.

I got to the kitchen and went to work preparing the best damn dinner this island has ever seen. No offense to Reuben of course…

By the time I was done prepping dinner and dessert it was 1900 Hours, and I could see out the window the sun was starting to get lower in the sky. I got everything on a tray; Steak, Zuchs, Dessert, Wine, Coffee, etc, and got my ass to the place. By the way, this isn't a normal tray, it's a covered heater tray, it'll be necessary for what I need to do next. I hightailed my ass to my quarters, got some decent clothes on and my Eagles CD and texted Kei and told her to meet me on the beach in 2 minutes.

1932 Hours, Osean Priority One Strategic Beach-Space, B7R, AKA, The Love Table

It wasn't 5 seconds after I got there that Kei was there, she walked up to me and hugged me and kissed me and told me how much she loves me. I pulled out her chair and she sat down, I put in my Eagles disk and put it on "New Kid in Town". I then got the wine out of the cooler; I poured some in her glass first, then mine. I lit a couple of candles and we watched the sky turn from yellow to orange to red to violet to blue, to black as we ate and talked. I sipped the last of my wine and got out the cake and coffee. By the time we were done with that it was way past dark and the sky was alive with the twinkling of stars. For some reason Pink Floyd started on the stereo… I must have mixed the disk at some point… But anyways; "Learning to Fly" was playing and it was perfect. By the time we were completely done it was balls-thirty. We were tired, but we were well fed and happy. I folded our table and chairs and umbrella and all the other amenities and stuck it all in a big backpack and slung it over my shoulders and we went to our quarters where I put on Billy Joel; "Piano Man". It started to rain softly. I looked at the radar on my phone and it looked like it was going to until tomorrow evening. She was looking into my eyes like she never has before. I figured she… infact I wasn't sure what she was thinking this time.

"John…" She whispered. "I want you… I want you so bad, right here, right now."

Before I knew what the fuck I was gonna do or say or anything I just started kissing Kei passionately and before we knew it we had all of our clothes off and we were on the bed under the blanket doing you know what. It was magnificent, beautiful, lovely, and a million other words that went through my mind while I kissed her.

Thursday, 16 August, 2012, 0800 Hours

I guess I must have been a touch intoxicated because when I awoke it was the gray tinge of the sky woke me and I figured it was morning. I couldn't remember anything past when me and Kei… you know. Just that it was the greatest feeling in the world, to know that while I was with her, we were safe and I know she felt the same.

Then it hit me; flight ops.

"FUCK, Kei get up we have flight ops at 0830!" I said as I shat bricks.

"Shit!" She said.

We got our flight suits on and got the rest of our shit and double-timed it to our Tomcats, we saw multiple people there; our squadron, some enlisted crew members, and our RIOs.

"Ok who's my temporary RIO today?" I asked the crew chief.

"Robert 'Ratt' Manahan," Chief said.

"Rat?"

"That's all he fucking listens to is that 'Round and round' song, it's fucking annoying, so everybody calls him 'Ratt' but he doesn't give a shit,' Chief said.

"Great, I hope he doesn't talk about Ratt while we're flying," I said, as I got into my F-14. I strapped my-self in and my RIO got in the back seat and did the same.

"Mornin' Commander, I'm Robert, but you can just call me-"

"Rat?"

"Yah."

"Rule one of flying with me, don't talk about glam metal. Period."

"Uhh…"

"Good. Blaze to control tower, permission to taxi to runway?" I asked, as I started up the turbines. Shouldn't have to ask… I'm the commander.

"ATC to Blaze, permission granted," Said the Air Traffic Controller.

"Roger."

I moved out of the hangar and the rest of the Razgriz followed me in a line to the runway.

"Blaze to control tower, permission to take-off?" I asked.

"ATC to Blaze, permission granted; you are cleared for take-off."

"Roger tower."

I pushed the throttle all the way up and heard the engines roar as the afterburners started. We began to roll down the runway and as we neared 200 MPH (Fuck knots, that's too hard.) I felt a smile stretch across my face as I pulled back on the stick. I love flying.

"Razgriz…" I began. "Unfortunately I did not get to the briefing today… so I will do it now. We will go out 20 miles and loiter for approximately 5 minutes, and by that time Mom should have some drones up in the air. Our mission is to splash them, confirm it, and RTB. Roger?" I instructed.

"Edge, roger," Kei said.

"Archer, roger," Hans said.

"Orion, roger," Dave said.

We got to the designated airspace and sat for a bit while Sand Island sent up the drones.

"Hey Cap… I mean Commander, what kind of drones are they sending up?" Hans asked.

"Don't know, I meant to tell y'all that we're supposed to identify them too," I said.

"Roger that," Hans replied.

"CIC to Blaze, drones are up and are waiting, good hunting Razgriz."

"Roger that, alright people let's go," I said as I turned towards the other designated airspace. It took us a couple minutes to get there. I began searching around for the aircraft when I got a blip on my radar. I spotted 4 aircraft 10 miles from our position.

"Contact! I count four Su-37's, this outta be fun. Razgriz, engage at your discretion. Rat, arm the sidewinders and lock 'em up," I ordered.

"Roger. Got a lock!" Rat said.

"Blaze, fox two, fox two," I said as two AIM-9 Sidewinders flew off the rails towards the Terminators. I saw one fireball, where an Su-37 used to be, but the other drone pulled up and to the right and my missile lost track of it.

"Splash one," I said as I sped to catch the other drone. I was now a mile from it when I let another missile loose.

"Missile lock," Rat said.

"Fox two," I replied, as the sidewinder left my Tomcat. One sidewinder and two phoenixes left… Just as the missile was about to hit the drone it snap rolled to the left and dove about a thousand feet, by this time I was close enough to hit it with my gun.

"Keep the sidewinder armed just in-case, but I'm gonna go after him with my gun," I told Rat.

"Roger Blaze," He replied.

I followed that SOB in a crazy waltz around the sky as the other Razgriz folks were rounding up their kills.

"Archer, fox two! Got him! Splash two."

"Sierra Hotel!" Dave said.

"Blaze, I'm picking up 4 more aircraft on radar, about 30 miles out," Rat said.

"Roger that, Edge, engage them while I finish this asshole," I said.

"Roger Blaze," She replied.

OK fucker… I'm gonna get you one way or another… These drones are remote controlled… so whatever a pilot would see in the cockpit, the controller sees on the ground. I pulled away from the pursuit and flew into the sun where he couldn't see me. He stopped his manic aerobatics and flew around looking for me. I took my opportunity and dove on him from the sun with my gun blazing. I lit up his right wing and fuselage, black oily smoke was pouring out of it. But it was still flying. He rolled left 180 degrees and turned towards the deck again. I lined him up in my sight and blew his freakin head off, err… his nose. His cockpit was… non-existent. The drone winged over and crashed into the ocean.

"Splash three," I said. While I was working on that, Kei splashed two more and was about to get the other two while Dave and Hans were chasing the last one from the first group.

"Edge, fox three, fox three. Splash 4, splash 5. Shit hot!" Kei said.

"Roger that, let's wrap this up," I said. "Rat, arm the Phoenixes."

"Standby… Alright good to go, Blaze," He replied.

"Fox three, fox three," I said as they flew off the rails. One flew right into the cockpit of one aircraft and the other flew right up the tailpipe of the other one.

"Splash 6 and 7, one more."

"Orion, fox two!" Dave said, as a sidewinder left his plane and destroyed the last drone.

"All enemy aircraft downed. Razgriz RTB," I said as we turned towards Sand Island. It was a few minutes before we arrived at Sand Island.

"Blaze to control tower, request permission to land," I said.

"ATC to Blaze, you are cleared to land, perform landing checks."

"Roger tower." I performed my landing checks and started my final approach.

"Blaze your speed is too high, slow down," Said the ATC.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Tower, we have a long ass runway, and if I slow down more I'll land in the fucking ocean. You wanna drive?" I retorted.

"Blaze…"

"No, no, I aint 'avin it; you always do this, every time."

"Would you just land the fucking thing so we can?" Dave said.

"Yeah," Hans said.

"What's it look like I'm doin?" As I was 200 feet off the ground.

"And… touchdown," I said. "Ok folks, I'll meet you in the debriefing room."

"Roger," They replied.

1400 Hours, Debriefing Room

"Ok Angela, here's how it went. We flew around a bit, and we shot shit, and we came home," I said sarcastically.

"I don't think this is how debriefings are supposed to be conducted, Commander…" She said.

"Ok, we took off at 0845, climbed to 10,000 feet, went to our first AO, waited like we were supposed to, went to our second AO and splashed all bandits, then we came back, landed, taxied to the hangars, got out of our aircraft, changed into our non flight suit items, went to the bathroom, walked into here, waited 10 minutes, got a cup of coffee, waited another two minutes, you walked in, and now this. Are you satisfied?"

She looked like she wanted to hit me.

"Yeah, now go away," She retorted.

I smiled.

"Aye Ma'am thank you Ma'am!" I said sarcastically as I saluted.

"Yeah maybe I should be the base commander," Angela said as we left.

As we were walking in the hallway we were talking.

"I'm a shit, I know, but honestly, what does she want me to say?" I said. We chatted a bit more until we got to the crew room.

"Nothing else going on… oh wait, I have other shit to do… fuck. You guys hangout, I'll catch up when I can alright?" I said.

"Alright John, we'll be here," Kei said.

"Roger doger," I said.

1415 Hours, My Office

"Commander, a call for you from Admiral Clark," Angela said from the room attached to mine.

"Thanks Angela."

"Mhm," She said in a bored tone.

"Hello?" Said the Admiral.

"Yes Sir, this is Commander Pfeiffer, NAS Sand Island Commander, how may I help you?" I said.

"Commander, your base will be receiving two squadrons tomorrow to supplement yours."

"I see Sir, is there any particular reason?"

"Other than if you were engaging bandits away from the base and the base was attacked by other forces?" The Admiral said.

"I see Sir, alright thank you. Is there anything else you needed?" I asked.

"No, you may carry on Commander. Good day."

"Good day Sir," I said and we hung up.

*Ring ring, ring ring, ri-*

"Hello. Commander Pfeiffer speaking," I said.

"Hey kid, it's Dad."

"Oh hi Dad, what's up?"

"My leave date has been changed," He began. I felt a little relieved until… "I'm getting leave earlier than I expected. We'll be there tomorrow, and we have a bit of a surprise for you as well."

Oh great, they're coming tomorrow AND there is a surprise, I fucking hate surprises, especially when those surprises turn out to be long-range missiles or enemy A-10's…

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," I said.

"Seeya kid," Dad said and we hung up.

"Sounds like you're gonna have fun tomorrow," Angela said in a snarky way.

"Ugh, shut up Angela…"

"Hehehehe," She snickered.

I sat at my desk for a few minutes drawing up plans for tomorrow when the phone in my XO's office rang.

"Hello? Yes this is Commander Pfeiffer's office. No this is Commander Parker. Yes I'll tell him," She said as she walked into my office, I looked up at her with an expression that said "what now".

"A Lieutenant Sinclair wants to know why SN Blyskal has not interviewed you for a report he is supposed to do," She said.

"Do you want me to be honest or tactful?" I asked.

"Uh… tactful…"

"Tell him it's because what he is fucking asking for is fucking classified, so tell him to get stuffed and tell him Blyskal is on his way back to his unit right now."

She stood there with a look of disappointment.

"It wasn't a suggestion Angela," I said with a look to match it.

"Aye Commander," She said as she walked in and told the LT exactly what I said.

"WHAT?!" I could hear the LT over the phone. "Let me talk to him!"

"Comm-" I cut Angela off.

"Yeah I fuckin heard him, put him on."

"There."

I picked up the phone.

"Now you listen here Lieutenant, if you don't do exactly as I say, I will personally see to it that you leave the navy as an E-1, got it?" I said.

"Yes Commander," The LT said in a defeated tone.

"Good, now listen, your boot needs to stop sniffing around here, most everything on this Island is classified top secret, so I'll say again, STOP IT. Angela! Get Blyskal in here." I said.

A couple minutes later Blyskal showed up.

"Blyskal, you are going back to your unit today." Before he could say anything I put it on speaker phone and the LT confirmed it.

"Aye Commander, I will prepare immediately," Blyskal said.

"Good dismissed. Goodbye Lieutenant."

"Goodbye Commander…"

We hung up and I leaned back in my chair and let out a big sigh.

Sometimes I really hate my job…

*Knock knock knock*

Fuuuuuuuckkkkkk….

"Enter."

Pops walked through the door and I snapped to attention, knocking my chair over backwards in the process.

"Nice, at ease Commander," Pops said.

"Yeah… Uh what can I do for ya Pops?" I asked.

"Angela, come here," Pops said.

"Captain," She said as she saluted him. He saluted back and asked her to leave the room.

"Now that we are alone, that spy I told you about. He spilled everything. He is working alone, he was trying to steal your file, yes your file, in order to try and get you in trouble for something, anything. Why? Because he said… he said you killed his son, John."

My heart dropped through my stomach and out through my ass.

"I… what? I never did such a thing!" I exclaimed.

"Apparently you did when that large sea battle took place when the Osean ships attacked our fleet. His son was on one of the ships that was attacking us. Now you aren't in trouble because you were doing your duty and it's all classified anyways, but I think you should go talk to him," Pops said.

"Yeah… alright, I'll go talk to him."

A few minutes later, The Brig

"What the fuck do you want, you fucking fuck," Said the Senior Chief from lunch the other day.

"Look, I know why you hate me, but what you need to realize is that I was doing my job, just as your son was doing his, it just so happens that his Captain was a fucking moron who couldn't see the big picture, so he got a missile up his ass," I said as a knelt down.

"Ghhhhrrr..."

"I can't speak for your son, I don't know what he thought about any of this; the war, Belka, attacking other Osean ships, you get my point, but what I do know is that war is hell, there is nothing you or I can do about that. If I could have prevented those ships from attacking our fleet without destroying them, then I would have. But I'm not entrusted with a multimillion dollar aircraft to drop leaflets on attacking 'friendly' ships when their guns are blazing at our fleet," I said. "Do you understand Senior Chief?" I could tell that he did, but I could also tell that he wanted to wring my neck, which of course would not happen even if he wasn't in the brig.

"Yesh Shir," He growled. "But I shtill fucking hate you for what you did."

"Fine, you don't have to like me, you don't have to forgive me, but you can't have a shit fit in front of all those people at me. Do you understand that?" I replied.

"Yesh Shir," He growled again.

"You will be taken from here and court-martialed. There is nothing I can do about that. I'm sorry, but your actions were totally unacceptable as a professional member of this navy and a chief petty officer. Do you understand that?" I said again.

"Yesh Shir…" He said, this time with less of an edge to his voice.

"Alright Senior Chief, I'm gonna leave you alone now, you'll be going to McNealy Air Station for your court-martial tomorrow," I said as I stood up.

Yay, now I just have to plan tomorrow, two squadrons are flying in and my folks, fucking fantastic….

1425 Hours, Crew Room

"Here I am, as advertised," I said.

"Hey," Dave said.

"Hi Commander," Hans said.

"Hi John," Kei said. "So what did you have to do?"

"I talked to an Admiral, my Dad, and a Lieutenant," I said.

"Sounds like quite the handful," Kei said, jokingly with a smile.

"Yeah… it really is. We are getting two new squadrons here tomorrow, and my Dad and Mom are visiting tomorrow so we have to prepare for that. But on the bright side, Blyskal is going back to his unit, so we should never ever see or hear from him again," I said.

"Oohh I wanna meet your Mom again! She's the nicest person in the world I swear!" Kei said ecstatic. "Uhm I can't remember, did she say I can call her Katherine? Or Mrs. Pfeiffer? And does she like flowers? Oh yeah.. she does, um lilacs or roses or-"

"Kei!" I yelled. I must have startled her because she hit Hans in the chest.

"What the hell?" Hans said.

"Sorry, John scared the shit out of me," She said, annoyed. I seem to remember something about being scary…

"You'll be fine Kei, trust me. She's the nicest person in the world," I said as I winked.

"Oh I forgot we are getting our two new wingmen too. Klaus and Dmitri."

"Oh yeah…" The rest said.

"I would assume they are flying in what they used to, Klaus is a Raptor driver, and Dmitri, before he was in the Yuke 172nd, was a Raptor driver too," I said. Although that's not all we flew… "But these two aircraft are a bit different… Let's go someplace a bit more private,"

We went to Kei and my quarters and I told them what the deal is with those two aircraft.

"Those two aircraft are modified to be carrier capable, considering ISAF had a shortage of fighters, and Osea didn't exactly have any to spare," I said. "Besides, F-22s taking off and landing on carriers is pretty badass."

"You mentioned classified work in Erusea a couple days ago," Dave said. "What exactly did you do? You can tell us man, we are your wingmen after all." Hans nodded and Kei nodded too, to play along of course since she already knew.

"I'm Mobius One."

Friday, 17 August, 2012, 0800 Hours

I had the whole base squared the fuck away yesterday in preparation for the man and his wife who just got off the C-1 Trader that was parked on the runway. I had a color guard standing at attention to display our colors. Obviously.

I walked up to the man, saluted him, he saluted me. My squadron saluted him, and he saluted them. Then he gave me a hug.

"Hey Kid, it's been awhile," Dad said.

"I know, it's good to see you again," I said as we eh… un-hugged.

"Hi Mom," I said as we hugged.

"Hi John."

"Mom, Dad, you remember, Lieutenant Commander Nagase, Lieutenant Collins, Lieutenant Commander Grimm," I said gesturing to them

"Yes we do. Hi Kei," Mom said.

"Hello Ma'am.. Mis.. Erm," Kei stuttered.

"You can just call me Katherine," Mom said, as she smiled.

"Alright, Katherine," Kei said as she smiled as well.

"Honey, I'm going to go change into something more comfortable, I'll see you later," Mom said to me as we hugged again and she and Kei walked off to the quarters.

"So Dad, are you impressed?" I asked.

"Of course Kid! You didn't have to do all this just to impress me, you already have ten times over! Honestly Kid, you are doing outstanding, I'm proud of you John," Dad said. My morale was at an all-time high upon hearing this.

"Thanks Dad, that means a lot to me," I said. "Oh uh, you mentioned a surprise on the phone yesterday?"

"Yup, she should be along in a moment, she's waking up from her nap," He said.

"She? Who is she? Somebody I know?" I asked confused.

"Look," He pointed to the C-1 as a blonde woman who looked about my age with a bomber jacket and bomber hat came out of the plane.

"Mari… I haven't seen you since…"

"War in Usea, my Brother,' Mari said as we hugged. "You not make tell of this or I make hurt you, yes?" She whispered.

"Good to see you too Sis," I said as I silently cried out of joy. She was doing the same.

Mari Korhonen is my… eh… how do you call that… God sister; when she was very young her parents were killed by Soviet commie assholes. But long before that, her parents and mine agreed that they would be her God parents. She is originally from Nordenavvic. My parents raised her in Osea and Ustio, but when she turned 18, she went back to Nordenavvic and served in their Air Force as a RIO/WSO. But when the 2004/05 Usea war rolled around, she was my RIO for some missions I used a two seater. Most of the time I used a modified F-22 for carrier use. When I was 18 I went to the OADF OCS to be a pilot and ended up in the Joint ISAF/Osea Air Special Operations Task Force, stationed aboard the CV-04 Fort Grace. It was during this time that I flew with Mari as my RIO, and "Amsel", and "Ares" as my wingmen. Klaus is Amsel, and Amsel is German for Blackbird, because Klaus is a fricken blackbird when on covert ops. Dmitri is Ares because he's always talking about how he wants to go to Mars as a Yuktobanian Cosmonaut. He's just crazy enough to do it too. Mari's callsign is "Smirnoff", because I swear she almost always has a bottle of that shit on her somewhere. Even if she is not supposed to… but, Nordics, eh?

0830 Hours, Crew Room

I was sitting in the crew room with Dave and Hans. Kei and Mom were… doing whatever the hell girls do. Dad was off doing Dad things. I had Slayer playing on the radio. Seasons in the Abyss is badass.

"So Mari what brings you here other than to see me? I thought you were back to working for the NAF?" I asked.

"I am come here to be your RIO, John," Mari said. "Nordic Air Force is getting boring, nothing for doing, blah blah."

"Oh… ok. I can deal with that, it's nice to have somebody to talk to and somebody who knows how we operate," I said. "But it's just damn good to see you again, I missed you."

"I missings you too John," She said. "So I hear you have band?"

"Yeah, 'The Four Horsemen'" I replied.

"Ah, clever," Mari said.

"Yep. Yeah we play a lot of heavy metal of course, but sometimes we also like to play other things; The Eagles, Boston, most classic rock really, we also play southern rock, Skynyrd, Drivin n Cryin, Jackyl, etc. Pretty much whatever we feel like that day," I said.

The song changed to "Skeletons of Society". It was the first time I ever heard this song, and it has to be the most badass riff ever.

"So who does what in band?" Mari asked.

"I'm on rhythm guitar and vocals," I said.

"I'm on bass," Dave said.

"I'm the drummer," Hans said.

"Kei is the lead guitarist," I said.

"Hey Mari do you play anything?" Dave asked.

"Electric…" She began.

"Guitar?" Dave asked.

"Electric Soviet," She replied.

"Uhh…"

"I make hookings soviet to 220 volts, and then I play him with knife. Is much fun, is much satisfy, you should learn to play soviet. It makes the most interesting sounds when played correctly." Mari said as she took a large gulp from a bottle of Smirnoff.

We looked at her like she was insane.

"Problem perkele?" She swore.

"No no, just uh, why do you like to play soviets?" Dave asked.

"I am hate soviet for killing my family when Yuktobania was Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." Mari replied.

"Ah… I see. Well I suppose…" Dave said.

"I fucking hate communists," Mari said.

"Well I think it's safe to say you won't find any here, I don't allow pinko commie bastards on my island," I said.

Mari smiled.

"That is good," She said. "So do we get to fly F twel-"

"MARI!" I exclaimed.

"Oh right, is classified…" She said. I could tell she was starting to feel the buzz now.

"Smirnoff, why don't we go to the hangar? Klaus and Dmitri should be arriving shortly," I said.

"Yes let's make go to hangar, let me put on hat, is unusually chilly here lately." She must be insane… Maybe she spent too much time in Sotoa, heh.

"Ok, hey are you guys coming with?" I asked Hans and Dave.

"Nah we'll be fine here, you can introduce us later," Dave said.

"Yup, what he said," Hans agreed.

"Alright seeya later."

0900 Hours, Hangar 1

Me and Mari stood just outside the hangar, I was standing here in my warm weather khakis and Mari had her hat and jacket on.

"Ugh now is too hot, I take off jacket," Mari complained. I rolled my eyes. "But I never take off hat. Hat is my… signature trademark… I think that is what you call it?"

"Sure," I said. "Hey look out there, I see two black objects off in the distance."

"Yes I see, maybe is Klaus and Dmitri," She said as she took another swig from her Vodka.

I was in need for some alcohol just now… a little sip wouldn't hurt.

"Smirnoff, can I have some?" I asked.

"Perkele. Yes, the fine, here," She said as she handed me the bottle reluctantly. I took a drink and I thought my face was on fire as I swallowed it.

"Goddamn girl, how the hell-" *COUGH* "Fuck… how do you drink this shit."

"Practice," She said with a smirk.

"K. Hey I can see them aircraft better now, yup two Raptors. Man it's been a long time since we've seen Amsel and Ares, are you nervous?" I asked.

"No, I am having the Smirnoff, am not the nervous," She said as she took yet another drink.

"Be careful Smirnoff, you'll get too drunk then I'll have to drag you back to your room and hand-cuff you there so you don't kill everybody, you Nordic nut-case," I teased.

"Yes, am know esine. Be shush, they are almost the landing," She retorted.

"Now that's not very nice!" I teased some more. "I'm not that dumb." I said sarcastically.

"Mhm."

As we continued our banter, two black F-22B Sea Raptors (remember when I said they were modified?) came and parked in hangar one next to our four F-14s.

"Dmitri! Klaus! It's been too long my friends!" I said walking over to them.

"Jawohl mein freund! Ist been too long indeed!" Klaus said as we bro-hugged.

"Is good of see you again comrade, and I see you have bring your lovely sister along eh?" Dmitri said as we also bro-hugged, which ended up turning into a group hug as Klaus and Mari joined.

"Ok guys let go now I can't breathe!" I said.

"Am the sorry."

"Sorry comrade."

"Apologies mein freund."

"It's fine guys," I said. "So shall we go meet the rest of the squadron?"

"Da."

"Ja."

"Mari?" I asked.

"Kylla," She said in Finnish.

"Puhun vain vähän suomea," I said which means "I only speak very little Finnish."

"Am know," She replied.

We walked to the crew room, by that time Kei, my Mom, and my Dad were there, along with Dave and Hans.

"Hi all," I said.

I received some "hi's" and "Hellos" from the bunch.

"So everybody this is Klaus "Amsel" Knefler, we did some classified work awhile back," I said gesturing to Klaus. Klaus shook everybody's hand as they introduced themselves. "And this is Dmitri "Ares" Krayevski, we also did classified work awhile back." Everybody was talking and getting along, and getting to know more about each other, of course when somebody would ask something that got too close to the classified work in Usea the conversation just sorta stops and then we find a different subject. I can only tell them so much unfortunately. I can at least share that we did do classified work in Usea and that I was Mobius One, just so long as they don't go around telling people; which I know they won't, otherwise if I knew I couldn't trust them with that, then I couldn't trust them to back each other up in the sky.

Crew Room, 1400 Hours

Me and Mari were sitting on the couch watching the Nordennavvic/Emmeria hockey game. It's the only broadcasted sport I can stand because people beat the shit out of each other on ice, it's pretty cool. While we were watching Dmitri walked in with his flight suit on.

"Mari! What are doing?" Dmitri exclaimed.

"Am watchings ice skate combat game on TV, what you are doing?" Mari replied.

"We need to go make ready for our certifications for Osea navy!" Dmitri said.

"But am drinking vodka! I cannot the flying!" Mari said, trying to get out of it, but me and Dmitri both know that she can work better when she is actually drunk, which is fucked up I know, but we both have seen it with our own eyes. Granted, she can function and do her job sober, but somehow she does it even better when she is drunk. Not too drunk though; then she just wants to kill everything that moves…

"Mari I am not stupid or kidding, gettings up and get your shit together!" Dmitri half yelled.

"Fine! Perkele!" Mari yelled.

"SCORE FUCK YES!" I howled.

"Woo." Mari said. "You are cheer for wrong team."

"Woops."

"We are go now, good bye comrade John," Dmitri said.

"See ya later Ares," I said. "Don't worry Smirnoff, I'll tell ya who wins."

A couple hours went by when Kei walked in.

"Hi sweetheart, where've ya been?" I asked.

"Hanging out with your Mom, did you know-" She said before I cut her off.

"I don't want to know what you girls do when you are out, sorry," I said as nicely as I could. She gave me an annoyed look.

"Fine, I didn't want to tell you anyways. It's just too bad that you won't get to eat this wonderful rich chocolately fudge that she gave me… There's enough here to feed four people. I was thinking of giving you some but now I'm not sure…" She said, trying to entice me… and it's working.

"Ok I'll listen what's up?" I said.

"Ok let me start again; did you know that despite all the things that Belka has done in the past, they make the best damn fudge ever?" Kei said.

"No, I had no idea," I said. "May I please have some?"

"Yes, here." She pulled out a slab of fudge the size of a large text book and broke off a piece the size of a brick and handed it to me.

"Holy shit, this must have cost a fortune!" I said.

"Actually no, this is part of the reparations for the bullshit that Belka has inflicted upon the world for the past hundred years or so. So enjoy, we've earned the hell out of it."

"Mm ya damn right," I said with a mouthful of the rich chocolatey goodness.

"Your Dad received 9 other slabs just like this one from Belkan Confectionaries Ltd." She said.

"Wow… that's… holy shit that's a lot of fudge."

"Yup," She said. "We should probably go round up the rest of the guys and go rehearse for tomorrow John."

"Yeah, alright, I'll just text 'em."

I got my phone and sent Hans, Dave, Mari, Dmitri and Klaus a message.

Me: "It's time for rehearsal for tomorrow, let's go to hangar 4 and see how things are coming along."

Hans: "Ok."

Klaus: "Jawohl."

Dmitri: "Da."

Dave: "Roger."

Mari: "Can I bring my Smirnoff?"

Me: ":3 Yes, considering I will be bringing my Everclear 190."

Mari: "Ooh, rocket fuel."

Me: "Yup."