Chapter 4: Sand Island

We headed to the transport, it was a C-130, they'd already started the engines and loud buzzing of the turbo-props could be heard across the tarmac. We boarded and took the last two seats. The cargo bay door closed and the pilots taxi'd for take-off. Soon I felt the plane lift off the ground and begin it's climb, I looked over at Nagase, her skin was pale, more so than normal, I figured she was in some sort of shock after meeting one of the best pilots in history, "Hey, you alright?" I asked solemnly.

She looked back to me and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. It's just that I met one of my biggest inspirations and he... he."

I cut in when I thought I knew what she was trying to say, "He wasn't what you expected?" she nodded, "Yeah, tell me about it, he's not what I expected either."

Nagase looked confused, "What do you mean didn't you know when you first began to live with him?"

"No, he didn't tell me until later. We'd lived together a full five years before I knew."

"What? I would've expected him to tell you before, I mean you were basically the son he never had."

"Yeah I was, but he did some things he doesn't want people to know about when he was fighting for Ustio."

"Why not? It's not like he'll be charged for war-crimes, after what he did, he saved the world when he helped take Belka out."

"That doesn't make them right, he still isn't proud of the things he did, it doesn't matter if he'll be charged with war-crimes. He remembers what he did and has to live with that for the rest of his life."

"What are you talking about? He's made up for his mistakes, everyone thinks he has, he's a world hero."

"He doesn't seem to think so, he was there when the Belkans detonated the nukes. Would you be the same if you had to experience that?"

Nagase didn't say anything, she just started looking straight ahead. Yeah, that's what I thought. I might have been a bit harsh, I was in the same situation 10 years ago, I didn't understand why he hid from the world. I knew now, he wasn't proud of taking all the Belkan lives and then see the Belkan military use nukes on their own soil. That's why he didn't blame my father, he'd thought about doing the same thing, about doing anything to end the pointless bloodshed. I remembered what he said when I asked him about why he kept the newspapers, why he wanted to remember his time as Galm 1, "Because I want to make sure that even if the world forgets what I did, I won't forget," he said.

That's what he wanted to remember, he wanted to remember that the nukes were his fault, he blamed himself for the Belkan's actions, he blamed himself for my father's death. Even after all these years, even after I forgave him, he never forgave himself.

As I pondered in my mind I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, I quickly fell asleep to the rhythmic sound of the turbo-props.

"Alec, wake up," I heard a voice say as I felt something push against my shoulder, I opened my eyes and looked around, everyone was still in the C-130, then I felt a jolt. The plane slowed down and eventually turned, after a few more turns it stopped. Everyone stood up and grabbed their things. The door opened and two men were standing there, one was rather "larger than life" and looked about mid-thirties. The other man was fairly average and appeared to be in his late twenties.

The average man spoke first, "Hello recruits, I am Major Hamilton, the Adjutant Base Commander of Sand Island. The man next to me is my superior Colonel Perrault, the Base Commander. You are to put your things in one of the rooms in the barracks, you will be sharing due to the shortage of rooms. After you get your things put in your rooms, you are to report to the briefing room. Dismissed."

Everyone exited the plane and went to the barracks, me and Nagase chose the same room, and I again took the top bunk. We tossed our bags down and went to the briefing room, we were some of the first ones there, there was a man there he was in his early forties and appeared to be the flight lead, "Sit down and we'll get started once the other nuggets get here."

We sat down and soon the other nuggets began to pack in, the man started the briefing, they were doing some training exercises for a reporter. "We won't be taking everyone up today, most of you will be, if I call your name you will be staying on the ground, "2nd lieutenant Alec Aaron, 2nd Lieutenant Alvin Davenport, 2nd Lieutenant James Carnegan, alright that's all everyone else, outside to get your planes."

So me and two others, you got to be kidding. They should have just taken everyone but it didn't matter, I went to go lay in bed.

I woke up to a loud explosion outside, What the hell was that? I jumped down from the bunk and ran to the exit. I burst out onto the tarmac in time to see the wreckage of an F-5 slowly come to a halt after sliding down the runway, Nagase. My thoughts immediately went to her as I ran to where the extra fighters were at, there was one F-5 left and there was a F-4 parking. I ran over to the F-5 and saw her take her helmet off, "What the hell happened?"

I looked at her and knew something was bad, she looked like she'd just seen a ghost. She climbed out and just stood there next to the plane. I saw the Captain crawl out along with the reporter. He was talking to the reporter and walking back inside, when he turned around and yelled something at Nagase, "Nagase, you keep flying like that and you'll die real soon!"

Nagase looked up at him and spoke softly, "I won't die, sir."

I heard the Captain mutter, "You sure? Look like you couldn't hurt a fly."

The reporter lifted his camera and I gave up trying to get any information about what happened, I went back inside. As I walked I decided to go see where my plane was. I walked up to the mechanic, he was working on a old C-1, "2nd Lieutenant Alec Aaron, reporting, sir."

The elderly man turned around and laughed, "You don't need to call me 'sir' call me Pops. Is there something you need?"

"Yes Pops, I'm here to see my plane."

"Oh, you're one of the new guys, must've been stuck here on the ground, huh. All well, here let me show you. We don't have much but there is a Tigershark over here." He began to walk and I followed, "Alright here you go, it's not the best plane out there but if you know how to treat her, she should be able to hold her own."

"Alright, thank you Pops," I did a quick examination of the plane, it was in good shape, I figured I'd be able to make her do some of my favorite maneuvers.

I went back in and headed to the room. I opened the door and saw Nagase sitting on her bed crying. I rushed over and sat next to her, "Hey, Nagase, are you alright, did you get hurt?"

She shook her head and kept crying, I spoke again, "What happened? Are you the only ones that are left?"

She turned and spoke, her voice was just a whisper, "There were hostile fighters, they attacked us, and yes, we are the only ones left."

I couldn't believe it, who would attack trainees? "Did you fight back?"

She nodded and kept sobbing, I again spoke this time trying to comfort her, "Hey, look at me," she did, "You made it out alive, that proves you were one of the best out there."

She shook her head, "No if I was one of the best I would have been able to shoot one of them down, instead I only survived, I can't compare to the Captain or you."

I saw her disappointment, it wasn't pointed toward anyone but herself, I kept trying to figure out what to say to comfort her, I knew she was a great pilot, "Don't put yourself down like that, you can compare to me and the Captain, the fact that we are having this conversation proves it."

She had stopped sobbing now, I knew she was starting to feel better about herself, "I guess so, but I wish I could have saved the others," she said.

"Hey, we all have things we wish we did differently, I wish I paid more attention in school and didn't wait until I was a junior to start focusing," she chuckled slightly, "and Perci, hell, he has plenty of things to wish he did differently."

She nodded and smiled, "Thanks."

"No problem, keep your head up, you can do this."

She nodded and gave me a quick one armed hug. I smiled this time trying to hide the red that was appearing on my face, I stood up and spoke, "Alright, time for me to get some more shut eye."

She laughed as I climbed up into my bunk and began sleeping. Just as I started to sleep someone came in, "The Captain wants everyone to report to the briefing room."

Dammit, I can't even get some sleep after that? I crawled out and we headed to the briefing room, the Captain spoke, "I know you don't like this, but we're short on people. Starting tomorrow all you nuggets are going to be sittin' alert. If we launch stay glued to me up there. Nagase," he looked up at her.

"Sir."

The Captain spoke again, "You're flyin' Number Two on my wing. Gotta keep an eye on you or who knows what you'll get yourself into."

Nagase nodded slightly, then the Captain spoke, "Alright, dismissed."

Everyone went back to their rooms, I got in my bunk and tried to fall asleep, maybe this time I can actually sleep for a while.