I was born on January 20, 1987. My father fought in the Belkan War, he was one of the best, the military said he died at Avalon Dam, said he died as a hero, but I knew they didn't tell the whole truth. It didn't matter they said he was dead and that's all that mattered. My mother soon died after we got the news, I ended up with one of my father's friends, Perci Pheron. He treated me well, but I knew he kept secrets from me.
One day, when I was 12, I finally asked him, "Perci, what happened to my father?"
He was working on his car engine, trying to fix something, when I asked him the question I saw his face immediately change to a sad, depressed look, "He was killed over Avalon Dam, he died a hero, you know that," he managed a fake smile and ruffled my hair.
"Perci, we both know that's not true, stop hiding the truth from me, I deserve to know. How did he die."
"I suppose, it is time you knew the truth. Come on."
He started to walk off and I followed him, we lived right next to the airport so we would often times walk over there and we would watch the planes take off and land. We walked across the street and went to a hanger. Perci unlocked the hanger and turned the lights on, I saw a delta wing fighter, it looked like a Draken, as I looked around, I climbed on top and saw in large 3 on one wing then on the other I saw a equal-sized 6. I looked at Perci, he still had the same sad look, he walked past me and stood by what looked like wreckage from an aircraft. I could roughly see the outline of the aircraft I immediately noticed one feature, the wings were pointed towards the front, the next thing I noticed was that the engines had a large gap between them for the back half of the plane. Perci was standing by it, his head was hanging low, "Is that… Is that the plane?" I asked.
He looked up at me and simply nodded, then he walked over to another area, hidden in the corner of the hanger, he turned some lights on and showed old newspapers mounted on the wall all of them had different headings, but all related to Cipher, the leader of Galm, some said things like "Galm Team Flies Over Directus, Once Again Victorious" or "Galm Team, Aces Save Ustio Once Again".
"These are all about Galm?" I asked in amazement.
"Yes, do you know why I keep these?" Perci asked.
I shook my head then he responded, "They remind me of how good of a team, your father and I were."
I was amazed, I'd known Perci for five years, "My dad, was part of Galm? And you were too?"
He nodded and kept speaking, "We were the best; your father always had my back."
I almost collapsed, I'd always admired Cipher, he was my hero, he inspired me to work towards a flying career, "You're… You… You're Cipher," I stumbled over my words as I tried to comprehend what I was hearing.
"Yes, and your dad, he was Solo Wing Pixy. He was a good man, but he made mistakes, not when he was flying, but when he was choosing sides, that's when he made a mistake. We were on a mission over Belka, it was the same day they set off the nukes. During the fight your father disappeared, they declared him dead, but I knew he wasn't. They never found his wreckage. He'd joined a secret organization, A World With No Boundries. When I was over Avalon Dam, he killed one of my good friends, PJ, we got into a fight and, I ended up having to shoot him down. I'm sorry. I didn't want to, he was still a friend. I stated that he destroyed the Avalon Dam facility and then he crashed his plane after it was destroyed."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because I knew that he was still a good man, because I didn't want him to be remembered as a monster. He was the best pilot I'd ever seen, I respected him enough to keep him from being held up as a monster to children and having people say to their kids 'If you don't respect your parents Solo Wing Pixy will come and get you.'" He looked up at me and spoke sincerely, "I'll understand if you're mad, I'll understand if you don't want to believe it, but it's the truth."
I shook my head, "No, I… I believe you. I'm not mad," I lied but hurting Perci wouldn't bring my father back, "Did you see a chute, maybe he's alive?"
Perci grabbed my arms, "If your father was alive, he would have visited you, you meant the world to him. He would've abandoned me if it meant saving you. Alright?"
I nodded, "Perci, I want you to teach me to fly like my father."
He looked at me confused, "You want me to teach you how to fly? Even after I killed your father?"
"Yes, I want to be the best, I'm not going to get there through basic."
Perci smiled slightly as he reached into a box on the floor and pulled out an old Ustian flight suit, then he grabbed another unmarked flight suit, "Suit up."
Chapter 1: Heierlark Air Force Base
I woke up as I felt the transport touched down on the runway, I looked around at the other recruits, no one I knew was there, that was fine with me I didn't have a problem not having friends, I could keep my focus better. I got off the transport as soon as the door opened. I looked around, just like I remembered, I'd seen pictures of Heierlark before and it was the exact way I expected.
All the recruits were escorted to a small auditorium, everyone took their seats as the lead instructor came in and spoke loudly, "You will all be sharing a room with one other. We have determined the people that will be sharing rooms, you may not switch roommates. After I dismiss you, you will go to one of the tables with the first letter of your last name. Tomorrow we will be doing simulator testing to get a feel for where you stand. Dismissed."
I stood up and walked to the table with the "A" above it. The man standing there spoke without looking up, "Last name then first name."
"Aaron, Alec."
"You will be in room, 205 with, Kei Nagase."
"Thank you."
I headed off and found my room, 205 I opened the door and began to put my things up, I decided to go ahead and take the top bunk. After I finished setting up I began to climb up when I heard a young woman's voice, "Uh, 205 here we are," she walked in then immediately turned, "My apologies, I must have the wrong room."
"Are you Miss Nagase?"
"Yes?"
"Well then you have the right room."
"Oh," she spoke very softly, I'll admit, she was rather attractive but I knew the rules.
I didn't want to make things awkward so I approached her and stuck out my hand for her to shake, "Hello, I'm Alec, nice to meet you Miss Nagase," I smiled as I spoke.
She simply looked at me and slowly moved her hand and shook mine, she then spun around and put me in a headlock, "If you even attempt anything I will kill you, clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," I gasped.
She released me and put her things on the ground and crawled in the bottom bunk.
The next morning I woke up early and got ready, then I heard the instructor coming down the hallway yelling, "Rise and shine, nuggets."
I would periodically hear doors open and hear people roll off the beds. Soon, the door to my room opened, Nagase had just woken up and was sitting on the bed, "Alright, nugg- both of you are up. Well done."
I could tell the instructor liked us because we didn't have to be yelled at.
After everyone was awake we headed to the simulator room, "Alright nuggets, we are going to go in alphabetical order you will be facing two fighters at a randomized terrain, you will be timed to see how long you last, you are to attempt to neutralized the enemy fighters, and survive as long as you can. Alright first up, Aaron, Alec."
I stepped forward, "Here, sir."
"Alright nugget, step into the simulator."
I stepped in and strapped myself in, "You will be flying a F-5."
I nodded and he closed the door and knocked on it, "Here you go."
The screen came up and I was in a F-5 on a runway facing a city in the distance, I slowly pushed the throttle forward and the plane began to move, I waited for it to get up to speed then I pulled up. I got a positive rate and pulled my gear up, suddenly a warning came up on my HUD, missile lock. Great. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the enemy plane, I looked at my speed and saw I was at 300 MPH, It's gonna be close but I have just enough airspeed. I thought to myself I yanked the stick up and pulled into a Pugachev's Cobra. The enemy plane shot past me and I threw the throttle forward into full afterburner. I was behind the enemy fighter, he broke right and I followed suddenly he broke left and gave me a firing line, I pulled the trigger and watched cannon rounds hit the enemy and his plane exploded. One down one to go. I heard the missile alert come on, in my haste to take the one pilot down I'd forgotten to check my six. I did a barrel roll and dodged the missile. I checked to see if the plane shot past, it didn't so I assumed he was still on my trail. I kept trying to think of a way to get him off my tail, I looked right and saw the city. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the plane on the left side of me, I broke right and headed for the city, I pulled right and headed for the city. I looked ahead and found a slot, the city was organized in a grid I smiled and headed straight for it. I turned my plane into knife-edge flight and flew through the city. As I left the city I pulled up and began to climb, I got another lock warning, I knew exactly where he was. I pulled the throttle back and extended the air brake. I stalled out and watched him fly past me I knew I wouldn't get a shot in, but my plane turned and faced the ground and I retracted the air brake and threw the throttle forward. I pulled out and gained speed and I performed a high G turn, as I came out of the turn I saw the enemy plane falling to the ground, I was about to fire when I looked at the ground, civilian houses. I pulled away and turned around in another high G turn. I was on the enemy's six now and I pulled up behind him and fired my guns once he was past the houses. The plane began to smoke and it fell toward the ground, I circled around until I saw the plane hit the ground.
I saw the screen turn back and the instructor opened the door, I crawled out of the simulator to a applause, everyone of the nuggets was applauding, except Nagase, she gave me a deathly glare. I gave a sort of half smile and headed to the back of the group. They had screens set up to let everyone else see what the pilot saw.
I stood there for a while waiting until all the pilots went, most were taken down in under a minute, except one, Nagase, she managed to take one enemy down, and damage the other. As she exited she looked upset. We both stood in the group waiting for the rest of the nuggets to go. Once everyone was finished, the instructor spoke, "Congratulations to all the pilots that survived more than 30 seconds, you did very well. Airman Aaron, and Airman Nagase, please stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed."
Nagase and I looked at each other, I could tell she hated me now but we both were worried about the fact that we were asked to stay behind. The instructor spoke, "Congratulations, you two are the only pilots that shot down any bogeys. Airman Nagase, you are dismissed, Airman Aaron, I would like to speak to you some more."
"Yes, sir," Nagase saluted and left.
"How the hell did you do that? You took down two bogeys and didn't take a single hit. And what was that stunt flying through the city? And the Pugachev's Cobra at less than a hundred feet and at 300 MPH? How did you learn that?"
"My father was a fighter pilot in the Ustian Air Force, sir."
"And what about ISAF? Do you have any family members that flew with Mobius 1?"
"No sir, may I ask why?"
"Because you flew almost as good as him, and do you have any experience flying fighters?"
"Yes sir. My father's friend taught me how to fly."
"Why not your father?"
"He died at the end of the Belkan War, sir."
"Very well, thank you, you are dismissed."
I saluted and left. I headed back to my room to rest. I heard something hit the wall. I walked in and saw Nagase grasping her hand. "Did you just… punch the wall?" I asked worriedly.
She nodded slowly, and didn't say anything, I decided to speak, "Can I ask why?"
This time she spoke, "Because then I won't be expelled because I punched you," as she said that she gave me a deathly glare.
"Oh, sorry," I lowered my head as I spoke.
"Don't be it's my fault, I didn't pay attention."
"If I may, I don't think that was your problem."
"Then what was? Please tell me that would make my day, being told how to fly by some idiot that thinks he's better than everyone else," she was in my face by now, I felt like punching her but I restrained myself.
"No, I don't think I'm better than everyone else, in fact I'd be surprised if by the end of this I am the best in the class, the only reason I could do that is because I've flown an actual plane before. I was just trying to be nice, alright? If you don't want my help then fine I'll leave."
She backed off now, "Oh, I-I'm sorry, it's just, being one of the few women here a lot of people think I can't make it."
"I see you've got talent, you just need practice. Now, do you want my help or not?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Alright," I grabbed my notepad and pen and sat down on the bed next to her, I drew two planes that were in roughly the same position as her and the enemy, "So, you were here and the enemy was here," I looked up to see if she understood, she nodded and I continued, "You reversed the turn and opened up the throttle to try to out run him, what you should have done is level off then immediately do a high G barrel roll, it would bring your speed down enough for him to over shoot. If you time it right, he would be in perfect position for you to fire your cannons and you'd get the kill."
I looked up at her as I finished, she nodded and spoke, "Oh, I see it, when I reversed the turn I pulled my plane into his gun sights."
"Yeah."
I stood up and put my stuff away it was already 2100 hours so I crawled up into my bunk and started to go to sleep when Nagase spoke, "Hey Alec?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
I fell asleep shortly after that.
