September 22nd, 2010

12:12 AM

Around midnight, I was woken by a knock on the door. I rubbed my eyes, got out of bed and tried to imagine who the hell it could be.

"Hello, I'm Peter N. Beagle. And you are?"

"I'm Senior Airman Jack Caron"

"Ah...we've heard a lot about you from your brother. Wake the others up, cancel any plans you have for tomorrow and pack your bags. Captain Bartlett wants you to report ASAP. We're down to one or two flight-ready pilots on Sand Island. The rest were killed in a surprise attack yesterday morning. It just so happened that I was here in Apito getting parts for a damaged aircraft. I'll give you time to call your families and cancel plans.", the man, Peter, said "You don't have to question my authority, here's the order from Commander Perrault himself. Let's get going."

I woke Chopper, and he got up to wake Nagase and Baja. I heard him mutter something about beauty sleep and it being "too damn early". Pfft.

I heard Bri sigh, loudly, as she opened the door to her hotel room and put her suitcase in the hallway. I entered my room, and started packing. I started by putting my laptop and all chargers in the bottom of the suitcase, then my extra flight suit and dress uniform, and street clothes. I went into the bathroom and changed into my flight suit, then threw the clothes I had on before into the suitcase as well. I did a final check ensuring I didn't forget anything. Chopper was doing the same, and then we left the room.

At the bottom of the stairs, I returned the room key to the desk clerk and left the building. A dark black SUV was there waiting. Peter got in the drivers' seat and, once the girls got in, drove us towards the airbase.

"So why are we reporting early?", I inquired to the man that had been sent to retrieve us

"As I said, your new squadron leader would like to get acquainted ASAP. As do the few trainees on the island that happened to be on the ground yesterday morning. Rumors have made it to the base that you and Peters are decent pilots. You guys can call me Pops, by the way. All the pilots do.", Pops replied

"That was probably my brother...the journalist stationed there?"

"Gennette? He's a great guy. Very skilled in media production, I might add"

"Ah Albert, always the straight-A know-it-all of high school", Chopper reminisced

"Yup, thats my brother", I replied, "Bri, you still wanna fly?"

"Um...how far is it?"

"About 10 hours if we fly a little fast", Pops called from the front, "I'm in a twin-turboprop transport so I'll be slower than you kids. It'll take me about 15 hours. You'll have plenty of fuel, so go as fast as you'd like."

"Yeah, I'll fly. You seem a little tired anyways Blaze", Bri said as I saw Nagase lay her head on Chopper's shoulder, "Nagase, you flying instead of Motormouth?"

"No, Alvin's gonna fly...I'm not awake enough for this", Nagase answered with a yawn

"Blaze, you're gonna have to make sure we get up before the Island", Chopper said

"I'll try...now I'm gonna grab 10 or 15 minutes of sleep before we gotta fly", I replied, closing my eyes.

10:37 PM

"Blaze, get up! We're at the base", Alvin yelled in my ear

"Little quieter next time, jackass? I was asleep, not in a coma.", I countered groggily as I almost fell out of the Suburban. Bri was already at our plane loading the suitcases and doing the preflight checks.

"Need any help?", I asked as I got closer

"I'm about good..you can get in and check the avionics and electrics though"

"OK, I'll do that. The sooner we get in the air the better"

I climbed into the rear seat of the twin-seat multirole aircraft, flipping on the master switches. All the gauges read normal, the radar was working, and I set the altimeter.

"Should be a nice clear flight all the way out", I remarked from the cockpit

"Good!", I heard from under the plane

The last thing I remember before I passed out for the whole trip was Bri climbing into the cockpit.

A/N: I guess I'm making up for that 7-8 month period where I posted nothing, huh? I'm not slowing down either. Trust me. I didn't want to wait 4 more chapters or so before a mission, so after the next chapter where they get situated on Sand Island, we'll get into Shorebirds. I'll be doing my missions in dialogue format, with the intermission chapters in this format. I already have the dialogue written out for Shorebirds. I play through the level and write down everything said. Takes time, but its more fun. Oh, and SURPRISE MOTHERF**KERS!