Guardian Demon
Michael
The next morning the alarm in my room was going off, when I turned over to hit snooze I noticed that the time was 06:45, I was meant to be up and ready by 06:30. I rushed round the small studio apartment that was to serve as my accommodation while on board the Ooarai, I only managed to have a quick wash of my face and get my teeth brushed before having to change into my flight suit and head to the airstrip.
I got into a taxi and was on my way down the road when I bit into a slice of toast that I set away before getting ready. 'God damn it' I thought as I bit into the dry slice, realizing I'd completely forgot to butter it. I was meant to be catching a helicopter from the airstrip back to the Churchill to bring the F-35s over, along with helping gather the equipment needed for the transports to fly over.
The taxi pulled up to the gates as the helicopter touched down on the pad, quickly giving the taxi his fare I ran over to the rest of my squadron who were too busy laughing at my rush to consider griefing me on it. I made it, if only just as the wildcat dusted off and flew towards our home carrier.
"So how close is the Churchill now then?" I asked the pilot as he left the deck of the academy ship.
"It's only about 50 miles or so behind, orders are to drop you guys off then transfer onto a merlin to start lifting equipment." The pilot answered back, furiously trying to keep the helicopter on the right course.
"That's why I don't fly rotary aircraft, too much pissing about keeping it straight." Geordie said watching the pilot struggle.
"Really?" I asked "to me it looks like you struggle to keep a fixed wing flying straight." I said to him trying to get a response from him.
"Yeah well, I have to catch anything your sorry ass misses so I'm always split two ways." Geordie answered back.
"Yeah I had a hunch you 'split' both ways Geordie, I mean your track record with women kind of suggests you can't keep it together round them." Anth chimed in making the flight a complete roasting for Geordie as the two of us ripped into each other.
Less than an hour later the wildcat touched down on the Churchill's busy flight deck. I stepped out first and took in the smell of burning jet fuel. .305 squadron were just lining up for their take off as the lights went out they gunned it, all 5 aircraft were airborne within seconds of each other banking over left and looping round the carrier.
Heading down to the hanger deck crew members were running about, scrambling to get their jobs completed on time. We entered the hanger to the FO barking orders to everyone, with most of the crew looking like they'd rather be getting assigned to Ooarai air team. We made our way over to the F-35's that were lined up on the lifts, we had them outfitted with practice rounds and warheads to show off to the Ooarai girls.
Before we could take off, I had to fill out the paper work for the transfer of equipment, the cars would be transferred over when the two carriers met up. It took me over an hour to finish off the paperwork but at last we were clear to leave.
Hopping into the cockpit of my F-35 I started looking over the systems, radios were good, weapons spun up, missiles had lock tones, flares weren't showing any faults, and hydraulics were working fine. The lift finally got to the top of the flight deck, as Geordie left the deck and joined up with the rest of 309 circling above the carrier. Spinning up the engine I moved onto the runway and began my power checks.
"Churchill ATC, this is Demon, power checks complete, ready for departure." I sat waiting for the reply, releasing my brakes and poising my hand on the throttle leaver.
"Demon, Churchill ATC, departure clearance granted, fly safe." The controller spoke calmly.
With that I pushed the throttle all the way forward will it clicked, once up to speed I hit the ramp, flipped the gear up and pointed the nose vertical. I pushed my throttle even further past the click as the afterburner kicked in and I soared up to join my squadron.
Saori – 09:35 (20 minutes after 309 take off)
We were down on the firing range with Hana putting round after round down range into one of the targets, scoring direct hits on all of the targets 'weak spots'. I had just been told by the president that 309 would be joining us later for some bombing and strafing practice, Hana had just sent another round down towards the target when my radio went off again.
"Anglerfish team this is Demon with 309 squadron, ready to fire on targets." The voice spoke through my ear piece, it sounded a lot like Michael but this was someone calling themselves demon.
I turned to Miho and asked, "Hey Miporin, 309 is on station with someone called Demon, and they're asking for a target, what should I say?" Miho sat and thought for a minute before ordering Yukari to load a red smoke round into the gun.
"Tell them to fire on red smoke, Mako, light one of the green flares, let them know that the green flare is friendly." Miho commanded from her seat in the turret.
"309. Target is res smoke, friendlies will be highlighted with green flares." I said back into the radio. As if on cue Hana sent the smoke round down range hitting the practice target dead on coating it in a thick red smoke. That was when the voice on the radio noticed the shot.
"Anglerfish team, red smoke in sight beginning attack run now, might want to button up for this one, demon out." The pilot said as I shut the hatch above me signalling to the others to do the same. Miho on the other hand kept hers open and stood up to get a better view.
We heard the roaring of engines then the targets started spraying sparks all over, followed by what sounded like a loud vibrating noise echoing through the air. Before I could look back at the target a jet flew over rolled off to the right and dropped white flares, shortly after that the target exploded, the shockwave reaching us over 500 meters away. Then the radio came back to life.
"Anglerfish team, run complete, returning to airfield, see you guys on the ground." I was sure that this was Michael again, the voice sounded so similar as well as the emblem on the tail being the same 3 headed dog as on his spitfire.
4 more jets contacted me, and 4 more airstrikes followed. With that 309 had returned to the airfield for this practice session, I turned to Miho almost begging her to let us go see the planes land.
It didn't take long to get to the airfield, 4 jets were already on the ground, one of them was the same jet that first did it's attack run, I'm still sure that was Michael and if it was then that flying was perfect, the way he did his run, dropped decoy flares then rolled out of harm's way, it was so fluid like the plane was a natural part of his body. We sat outside the gates as the last jet made its landing, Yukari was having one of her fangirl moments as she explained what type of planes they were and what they were capable of, and as usual I kind of shut her out.
Michael
After the practice runs I'm now positive that Saori wasn't used to talking to aircraft and directing their fire very well. So as I taxied my F-35 to the flight line and shut down the systems I worked out a way to help her. One after the other my squadron joined me and as Luke made his final approach I noticed the grey panzer IV sitting outside the gates, once Luke had come to a stop the tank made its way up the road towards us. I'd handed off my plane to the mechanics who had just started to arrive from the Churchill, as the tank ground to a halt I was greeted by Miho and Saori while the others stayed on top of the tank.
"Impressive flying Michael." Miho commented as she approached the flight line, in fairness I just told the plane what to do, it did all of the hard stuff like telling me when to drop the bombs, but they didn't need to know that much detail.
"Thank you Miss Nishizumi, and Saori, may I call you that?" she nodded and I continued "You still need a bit of practice when talking to aircraft, your instructions were clear but you couldn't give specific orders to a pilot, rather you gave the order to the squadron as a whole, and in a battle, you might have to work out who it is above you." I explained, she bowed her head a little disappointed with herself, so I had to cheer her up after pointing out her flaws.
"Tell you what, I'll teach you how to talk to aircraft later and tell you how to recognise who is who, that's if you'll join me?" she looked up with a smile on her face and nodded, Geordie had left his radio on and I was still linked into the plane's wireless radio receiver so I could hear him telling the rest of the squadron that I was 'going in for the kill', I was so going to make his next training session a misery.
Saori – Ooarai airstrip – 18:35
After practice I met up with Michael at the airfield like he suggested, initially I was nervous that he was going to be hard on me since I could cause confusion, but in fact this was the complete opposite.
"Don't worry about not getting a call right on the radio today, it was your first time guiding a squadron of aircraft and honestly you did a pretty good job of it." He was actually being really nice to me, maybe because I'm a girl but if my magazines could see this they'd be screaming that he was interested in me. As we walked to the hanger he explained what the call signs were for each of the aircraft in the squadron, and I was right, he was Demon, I feel like an idiot for not realising it sooner.
We made it to the hanger where the spitfires and tempests were kept, and as Michael opened the door I could see that the two tempests were parked at the back, with the spitfires parked in the front.
"Well I take it you know which one belongs to which pilot?" he asked, I just shook my head, 'damn it Saori, pull it together and speak', why am I feeling like this, I mean I've spoken to boys in the past but Michael seemed different, maybe it was since he was from a different country that I didn't want to say anything that would offend him, but I just couldn't say anything.
"Ok, well this one in the front is mine, you can probably tell from the nose art and the tail emblem, mine is the once of Cerberus the guard dog to hell, behind mine on the left is Hunter's, his emblem is the deer head, to the right is Geordie's he has a magpie on the tail of his. Let's see, behind them two is the tempests flown by shockwave on the right and mallard on the left. These two are easy mallard's tail emblem is obviously a mallard, and shockwave's is the explosion." I quickly made a note of who had which tail emblem so I could tell who was overhead, and who I wanted to talk to.
I then had the urge to ask him something, and since he was a pilot he'd be able to tell me easy enough.
"So, what is it like to fly in one of these?" I asked looking at his spitfire. He didn't say anything he just smiled, pulled out his phone from his flight suit and opened the canopy.
"How would you like to find out yourself?" he asked, I smiled and climbed up onto the wing as he sat down in the cockpit and started pushing buttons and pulling levers.
"You might want to cover your ears." He said, just as I covered my ears I felt the whole plane shake as the engine started. He stood up, took off his flying jacket and handed me it. "You're going to need that, now when I sit down, you'll have to squeeze in with me and I'll teach you how to fly." I was really nervous since that would mean I would be sitting on him, but this was going to be something I might not be able to do again, so I took my seat and he clipped the harness round the both of us, released the brakes and slid the canopy shut.
Michael
Honestly, I had no idea what I was thinking as we taxied out onto the runway, the soundproofing in the cockpit was really well done so I could speak to Saori without her needing a headset. After contacting control I sat on the runway and did a quick power check.
"Ok, we're ready to go, you ready?" I asked as control gave me permission to take off.
"Yeah I'm ready." She answered and I pushed the throttle forward starting the take-off roll.
I handed the stick to Saori and told her, "once that dial that says mph reaches about 100, pull back gently on the stick while trying to keep the wings level by moving it left and right, don't be too rough just take it nice and easy." I kept my hands close to the stick so if she panicked I could easily take control of the plane again.
We hit 100mph and she gently brought the stick back brining the nose up, I then used my free hand to push the stick back a little bit to keep us in a steady climb.
"Ok, now you see that handle that says 'gear' on it, pull that up as well as the handle that says flaps." As I gave my instructions she followed them brining the landing gear and flaps up into their normal position. I then took control of the spitfire and gently banked over to the left brining us over the starboard side of the ship.
Saori
Wow I couldn't believe it, I had just taken off in a plane, and was now flying above my home, I looked down on the ship being hit with the setting sun, this was amazing, and with Michael right behind me I felt comfortable being here with him. We did a couple of laps round the ship then Michael brought the spitfire back down to the ground. I honestly wish it had never ended, it was perfect, and exactly how it looked in the movies. After we entered the hanger Michael put the spitfire back how it was, put the brakes on and shut off the engine. When we left the hanger and started walking down the path back to the main gates it was quiet, I didn't dare say anything and neither did Michael.
Once we were off the airfield Michael walked me back to mine, and just as I was about to enter my apartment Michael stopped me.
"Don't tell anyone about this ok, I could get in serious trouble for taking you up just then, I'm going to tell my squadron I was looking for a photo of the ship at sunset. Still I had fun." That was it, he'd already broke the rules for me and my mind was made up, even if he didn't have an interest in me that way, I'd make him mine somehow.
"Me too, we should do it again sometime, maybe in a plane with two seats next time?" I smiled and closed the door behind me, after locking up I came over all excited and jumped onto my bed and buried my face in the pillow with a huge smile on my face.
Michael
'Well that went better than I expected' I thought to myself as I walked through the now dark streets, once I made it home I stripped out of my uniform and ran over what had happened tonight. Maybe this was it, maybe that old wound was finally healing over and I could become myself again around girls. Whatever I was tired but happy, and I fell asleep completely unaware that I'd forgotten to set my alarm for tomorrow morning.
Ok so what did you guys think of that? I'm pretty pleased with that pearl harbour inspired scene with Saori and Michael. I'm going to hold off until after the first battle before I progress them any further, but there will be flirting in the chapters leading up to that point so anyone who likes this pairing can be happy too, also pairings for the other members of 309. Yes or no? And if so who goes with who? Leave a review or drop me a PM. See you guys later.
