The Scinfaxi

The book was very old looking and had a bright red material for its cover. Despite its old age, it seemed to be in good shape, until I opened it up. Scraps of paper with hand writing all over them and loose pages were strewn about inside the book. I looked back at Kei for an explanation.

"You could say it's a family heirloom," she started. "You could also say it's the only thing I have left of my mother." I looked back at the books inside cover. A Blue Dove for the Princess. Kei continued. "That book had been in our family for generations, passed down from mother to daughter. I got it when I was seven. My mom, she was..." she stopped and looked towards the window in the room. "She was Belken," she finally said, releasing a deep breath and looking at me as she pushed out the words. She trained her gaze on me but I had no reaction to give her. I was still trying to process what that meant.

"So, you're half Belken?" I asked, void of any discernible emotion. She just nodded her head with a worried look plastered on her face. I knew from firsthand experience that some Osean's were jerks when it came to people who weren't born in their country. But being born any amount of Belken was a horrible fate if someone found out. I had thought I had it bad when I was in school until one student got picked on and bullied for being Belken. They were able to endure it and it was what drove me to push through all the hate that could come from people like that. I just sat there waiting for Kei to keep telling her story but she just continued to stare at me. After a while she spoke up again.

"Is that all?" she asked. I gave her a confused face.

"What do you mean, 'is that all?'?" I asked her. Now it was her turn to be confused. She opened her mouth like she was about to talk a couple of times but nothing came out. Eventually, she regained the ability to speak.

"So, just to be clear, you know I'm half Belken," she looked at me sideways with a serious case of confusion still evident on her face.

"Yes. And just so I'm clear, I'm one hundred percent Usean," I said. Her confusion was rapidly replaced by frustration that seemed misplaced to me.

"Blaze, I don't think you're getting it, I just-"

"You just told me that you're not pure Osean. Neither am I." Kei had begun to shake her head at the end of my statement.

"But Blaze, I'm-"

"You're Kei Nagase, second Lieutenant of the Osean Air Defense Force. A great fighter pilot and an even better friend. Where you got your blood from is irrelevant to who you are now." She had just looked at me when I had interrupted her again, but had hid her face when I had called her a friend. After a while, she showed her face again. It was a lot redder than I had remembered seeing it a few moments ago.

"So," She started, a sliver of a smile coming to her lips. "Just to be clear here, you don't care where I'm from?" I couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I care where you're from," I started, confusion coming back to her face for an instant, "it just doesn't have a bad or good meaning to me. I like Kei the person, so where her genetic material comes from doesn't matter all that much to me."

"Good," she said, the smile coming back to her face and refusing to leave. After that, she just kept looking at me with a curious look in her eye that I couldn't place.

"What about your father?" I asked, trying to bring her back to the rest of the world. She refocused, blinking a couple of times before asking me to repeat myself. "What about your dad?" I asked again. The faint smile on her lips finally departed as she started shifting around on her bed and hiding her face from me again.

"I... well..." She seemed a little distressed. "You know how you're dad was the greatest fighter pilot of the 21st century?" she asked. I just nodded. "Well, I guess you could call mine the best pilot of the 90's." She glanced at me through some of the thin, black wisps of hair separating our gaze.

"Cipher," I muttered. Kei's head made a barely noticeable motion of a nod. I just sat there for moments, thinking. Cipher had been the mysterious mercenary pilot during the Belken War 15 years ago. He had gained a reputation in the war that was unusual for a mercenary. He retained a sense of honor, even though many thought it was misplaced in modern times. I noticed that Kei had tucked her hair behind her ears now and was looking at me dead in the face, trying to read my every thought. We looked at each other a while longer, waiting for the other one of us to make the move. She broke first.

"I wanted to tell you sooner, that day on the beach was going to be it but, I just didn't know how." I nodded my head. She was waiting for me to say something though and I knew she wouldn't stop worrying about what it was going to be until I said it.

"It's fine. Who your dad is still doesn't change who you are." She looked at me bit longer before she nodded her head. "Do you keep in touch?" I asked. She nodded her head in the affirmative but didn't say anything more. "What did you mean by saying that book was the only thing left of your mother?" Her expression remained devoid of the happiness that had left her a few moments ago.

"She died a while ago... health issues." I just nodded my head. She didn't seem too keen on discussing it so I let it go.

"So, I'm not quite sure the Base Commander at Sand Island would be as understanding as I was with the whole Belken thing."

"Ah," she said with a great release of air. "That is thanks to a special deal my dad has with Osea. He came here under the agreement that he wouldn't fly for any country in exchange for a new life. Something pretty similar to what your dad had done I think." She and I were quiet for a while, me mulling over the information I'd just learned, and her waiting anxiously for any question I might have.

"What's with all the paper in the book?" I asked. "I think I recognize the title but I'm pretty sure the book didn't come with all of," I gestured to the leaflets of paper, "this."

"I've used that book so much," Kei started in a contemplative tone. "Its old age coupled with my excessive use has caused pages to fall out. I'm trying to remember their order and what they said. It's the only thing I have left to remind me of my mother. I also tend to store personal notes and stuff in there." We sat in silence a little longer before I remembered the time Kei had acted all formal when I had be promoted.

"I believe you owe me an explanation for the way you acted when you found out I got promoted to Captain," I said. A slight frown came back to her face at the memory and she sat up in her bed leaning against the wall to face me.

"When I was still enlisted, before OTS, I had a friend who it seemed I could share just about anything with. We would always hang out together after shifts and joke around." I nodded to let her know I was listening. "One day, she gets called up to the Base Commanders office for something and we both start freaking out thinking that someone had reported us in for joking around too much. So, she goes and I'm waiting for her to come back and tell me what happened but she never shows up. I'm in the dark for two days before I find out from someone else that she's been promoted." I began to see where the story was going but I nodded for her to continue. "So I go looking for her and find her in the mess hall. I walk up to her and tell her congratulations but she acts like she's never seen me before and asks me why I didn't call her 'Ma'am.' I'm thinking it's some kind of joke so I playfully say 'Congratulations ma'am,' but she doesn't seem to think it's funny. She ends up sending me to the Commander for insubordination. The charges were cleared but I never spoke to her again. I hardly ever spoke to anyone after that, in fact."

"So you thought I would act like your friend?" I asked. She just nodded her head, afraid of speaking and letting too many words come out. "Nagase, friends are more important to me than military protocol any day."

"Yeah," she said with a waver in her voice. "I kind of figured that out." She put on a weak smile and wiped a non-existent tear from her eye. Her face suddenly shifted to confusion. "Why did you let that plane go today?" I turned beat red. I had thought no one had seen that.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"That's the second worst lie you've ever told me," she said with a face void of amusement. I sighed and decided the least I could do is be honest with her, with all the deep, personal stuff she was sharing.

"He was an enemy ace. At least 30 kills," I began. Her mouth widened and eyes narrowed. "The only way I had been able to get him in my sights was by performing a maneuver that caused this bruising," I said pointing at my chest. Her eyes got wider and I could tell she was about to ask her question again so I began again before she could. "I got a couple of rounds in him and he was trailing smoke. I was behind him, ready to take him out but he was just flying straight, not even trying to evade me." Kei had shut her mouth and nodded for me to continue. "I don't like shooting down everyone I see. I do it because I've got a country and my wing mates to protect, but I didn't join the military for the pure purpose of killing people. I let him go because I knew if I fired, he would be dead for sure." Kei sat silently for a moment just looking at me.

"You know," she said finally. "I hate saying it, but Azarola was right about you being a rare pilot."

"I hate it when people say that," I said. "It makes me feel like I have to live up to some kind of expectation."

"Blaze, all you have to do is fly to exceed anyone's expectation of you. And the more you keep talking about how you hate being recognized for your feats just acts as further evidence of your rarity." We were quiet for a while again. I was glad Kei was one of those people who could sit in silence and not feel awkward. I suddenly remembered the woman at Heierlark who had asked us to be careful with the nuggets.

"What was with that Staff Sergeant at Heierlark?" I asked after a moment. Kei had seemed to be in a distant thought and looked at me like she was confused. "The woman at Heierlark who came up to us and told us to be careful with the rookie pilots, what was she all bent out of shape about?"

"Oh," Kei said, recalling the situation I was talking about. She looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. "You really don't know?" I tried to think about what it was about but nothing was coming up. "Blaze, how much experience you have with women?" she asked suddenly. My head suddenly felt constricted as blood filled the vessels in my face.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked defensively.

"In this situation, a lot. And judging by the way you just reacted, I would say very little to none would be the answer."

"Fine," I said. She was being open so I would be to. "I've never really had time for more intimate relations with women," I admitted.

"Never?" an intrigued woman asked.

"This isn't going to get super weird or anything, right? Because if it is, I don't have to know."

"Okay," Kei began with a smile appearing on her face. "Right. So, you know how the military is about relationships and stuff, right?" I nodded my head. It seemed like every month we would be given a lecture about how fraternization was dangerous in a military setting and should be avoided. Lately, I had caught a 'lucky' train with all these deployments and avoiding such meetings. I also thought that an effective squad was a close squad. Thankfully, the squadron I was leading though so too. The meetings for us were just boring and embarrassing. "Well, we both know that just because it isn't allowed doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Do you see where I'm going with this?" I thought some more. Then it started falling into place. They had got really close.

"Oh." I said simply. Kei nodded her head.

"'Oh' is right. See, I knew you weren't clueless." I gave her an un-amused scowl but she just smiled back. We sat in silence again and just relaxed in each other's presence. I glanced at the clock above the door and noticed it was about meal time.

"Hey, you want to grab some dinner?" Kei broke her empty gaze she had been holding and nodded. We got up from our positions and headed out the door of her room. "Thanks," I told her as we began walking towards the mess hall.

"For what?" she asked, turning her head to face me, not understanding where the statement was coming from.

"For finally telling me," I said. She smiled a little and continued to walk just in front of me. We reached the hall at about 1830 and indulged ourselves with as much food as we dared to eat. Not knowing when your next meal will be makes you eat like a bear getting ready for hibernation. We were just about to finish up when it happened.

"There you are Blaze. You are very sneaky using the window like that, but it makes the catch that much more... rewarding." I shot a glance at Kei and saw her tensing up like never before. I spotted a fork within her reach and slowly reached for it, fearing she may try the worse. As Azarola came to sit right next to me, Kei shot her hand at my own taking a firm grip of it. I looked at her with some confusion but her face was trained only on Azarola. I looked back at the woman who had been approaching. She had stopped dead in her tracks and was now having a stare down with Kei. I felt like the chew toy between two pit bulls. After what seemed like minutes, Azarola spoke up again.

"I see now why you two are so effective in the sky. Two souls' entwined as one, not much can get between that. Who would I be to try and break that bond?" She turned in one fluid movement and left the hall without another word. As soon as I was done watching her leave I looked back at Kei to see she still had a stare trained at the entrance and her hand on mine.

"Hey Nagase, I think she is gone now," I whispered to her. She blinked a couple of times before looking down at our hands.

"Oh, sorry about that." She pulled her hand away and quickly placed it in her lap, trying to focus on other things in the room.

"What was that about?" I asked her, trying to figure out what had happened.

"I figured the only way to get her off your case was to make her believe you were already taken," she said, still not looking at me directly, a red flushing coming to her cheeks. "And it worked. So, you're welcome." Azarola's words about two souls were still going through my head.

"Thanks," I said in a distracted voice. Kei finally returned her attention to the food on her plate and began eating again. "What did she mean by-?"

"Oh, you know how people from Sapin get," Kei started not looking up from her food. "They read into stuff too much. Injecting their romance into everything." She stuffed some food in her mouth and chewed it a little too enthusiastically.

"Right," I said lowly, doing my best to ignore the strangeness that seemed to be following me everywhere today. Chopper and Grimm joined us no more than a couple of minutes later, much to our relief. The rest of the night went on without any problems and I went to sleep with a full stomach and a full mind. Despite having so much to think about, I actually slept quite nicely.

The next morning we all got up early and left McNealy Air Base no later than 0630. We arrived at Sand Island and I was never so glad to be back 'home.' I hoped that wouldn't have to sortie for another couple of days. Of course, things never happen the way you want them to. We had been on base for no more than half an hour when we go called into the briefing room for an emergency. Everyone was there, even the new pilots we had just brought. We saluted the Colonel as he walked in but instead of the standard 'at ease,' he gave us a different greeting.

"Agah, you people are like the plague, you know that? The moment you returned to Sand Island, this happens." He reached down to the podium he was behind to initiate the programmed briefing. A voice came over the speakers and the mission area was displayed on a screen. It was Sand Island.

"A large combined force of Yuktobanian vessels and aircraft have been detected advancing in the ocean directly towards Sand Island from the west. Our intelligence has confirmed the presence of amphibious assault ships within the coming fleet. We believe the enemy's goal is to conduct a landing operation on Sand Island and capture this base. Close with the enemy, disrupt landing operations and suppress their naval gunfire directed at our forces ashore." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We seriously had just gotten back from one of the longest deployments I had ever been on and now they had us going back up into the sky. The Colonel pulled me from my depressing thoughts.

"Even if this turns into a ground war, I'm prepared to fight for this island to the very end."

"More like sending everyone out to fight for you," Chopper mumbled under his breath. The Colonel continued.

"As my advance guard, I want you to forget everything else, and concentrate on dealing a lethal blow on the incoming enemy invasion fleet. We'll be deploying everything we've got. Launch every aircraft capable of anti-ship combat, regardless of combat experience." I heard Kei draw in a sharp breath. "Dismissed." We all stood up and saluted the Colonel on his way out. We headed out to our aircraft in relative silence. We were all surprised that the Colonel had ordered the nuggets to go out on a mission as well. They were just as tired as the rest of us and even more inexperienced. We began flying to the AO.

"This is AWACS Thunderhead. All units, listen carefully."

"Ahh, I missed that sweet voice. Say, you get that from your mama's side of the family?" Chopper asked.

"Cut the chatter," Thunderhead responded in a voice that sounded like it belonged to an older brother tired of his younger sibling being immature. At least he wasn't angry. "First enemy wave, bearing 280 degrees. You are cleared to engage on sight." Kei finally spoke up about her problems with the mission.

"It's too risky to bring the nuggets here."

"I'm with you on that," Chopper commented. "You agree, kid?"

"You know it," I replied.

"Seriously. They've got their hands full just keeping their planes in the air." Chopper continued. One of the rookie pilots spoke up.

"If we make it back alive, there's something I want to ask you, if that's all right." Before I could respond to his question, Grimm butted in.

"Hey, what is with that 'if'? We are going to make it back alive. Just fly like this is any other mission."

"This is Sand Island Base Defense! Enemy amphibious force intercepted at the coastline!" There was gunfire in the background of the broadcast.

"Oh, great. Here we go," Chopper complained. "So hey, if the enemy wins here, then what happens to us? Damn, this ain't looking good."

"The coastline is under heavy enemy attack!" yelled the voice on the island. Suddenly, Colonel Perrault came over the radio.

"I know, I know! All units, this is Colonel Perrault at Base Command. Do everything in your power to stop them. If you can't protect this island, what will we tell our great heroes in the sky?!"

"'Great heroes?' What's with him? He's like a completely different man," Grimm commented.

"Don't expect that stuff when we get back. I bet he's got a different script for us," Chopper told the younger pilot.

I finally spotted the first ship. It was a landing ship alright, packed to the brim with helicopters and hovercraft. I lined up one of my 500lb bombs and let it fly streaking to the left as the bomb fell towards the craft.

"This is Edge. Blaze, good effect on the target. Repeat, target destroyed." I swiveled my head around and say the ship listing to the right heavily. We all began taking turns streaking past the enemy landing ships, dropping our bombs on each ship.

"Airborne attack squadron, don't worry about us. We will stand firm and fight to the end!" Perrault announced dramatically over the radio.

"What a tearjerker," Grimm commented.

"Man, if he needs our help, he should just say so. Of course, not that we have the time to help right now," Chopper added. The nuggets weren't doing half bad, there weren't any real airborne threats in the area except a few helicopters that had managed to take off from landing craft before we destroyed them.

"Missile fired from enemy sub!" Kei announced suddenly. I looked at my radar to confirm and sure enough, a small signature moving startlingly fast was headed towards our AO.

"What?!" Grimm said in a panicked voice.

"Get out of there, Grimm! You nuggets, too!" Kei yelled out. We all began to climb.

"Climb! Climb! Come on!" Chopper yelled out.

"You hear me nuggets? You have to climb!" Kei said in frenzy. I could hear some of the rookies starting to panic and see some of the craft waiver in the air.

"Submarine missile launch confirmed!" Thunderhead announced. "Believed to be a burst missile, with multiple warheads that separate in mid-air. Get above 5000 feet and stand-by!" I had already reached the safe zone but multiple nuggets were still below 2000 feet, still too inexperienced to pull off a vertical climb steeper than 40 degrees.

"Wait, we're getting a command override from somewhere," Thunderhead announced. "'Data link to A-Sat Targeting System...' What is this?" The man seemed very confused. "Now it's counting down by itself. Nine, eight, seven..."

"Dammit! They're not going to make it!" Chopper yelled.

"Four, three, two, one..." Suddenly there was a bright blue light followed almost immediately by a high pitched scream that filled the air.

"The sky just lit up!" Grimm shouted.

"Missile vaporized in mid-air!" Thunderhead shouted. I was still trying to process what had just happened when Chopper asked me a question.

"What was that? Did you see that, kid?"

"No, what? Did you see it?" I asked.

"The light! That light! That wasn't a missile!" he exclaimed.

"... Was that the Arkbird?!" Kei asked. Thunderhead jumped in and answered the question for all of us.

"Missile destroyed by a laser beam fired from orbit altitude. It's the Arkbird. We've got the Arkbird! All units, continue engaging the enemy!" I dove back down, not missing a beat.

"This is Blaze to all airborne units. Continue to be alert. Just because we got lucky once doesn't mean it will happen again." We continued to fight the landing ships. After a while we had destroyed all of them and were only left with some destroyers and frigates. I still had four bombs on my wing, all of my sidewinders and had only used a few rounds of cannon fire on stray helicopters. The rookies had used their bombs a little more liberally and were down to either one or two each. Suddenly, an anti-sub plane that had been assisting with the firing of the Arkbird's laser made a devastating announcement.

"Oh, no! They're launching more missiles! Number two, number three, number four..."

"There's too many!" Grimm yelled. We had to climb again and fast. The Arkbird had to recharge in between firing intervals and wouldn't be able to hit all three missiles.

"Come on Arkbird! Use your lasers!" Kei yelled out. "The nuggets are going to get killed!"

"Climb, kids! Go, go, go!" Chopper encouraged. I was already at 6000 feet when I looked back down to see the nuggets still spiraling upwards as fast as they knew how.

"Missile vaporized in mid-air!" Thunderhead announced, but there were still more. "Ten seconds to impact. Eight, seven, six..." There were too many still too low. One pilot tried to lift his nose up more but the plane stalled out on him. "Three, two, one, impact... now!" A bright light engulfed my field of view. I squinted so my eyes wouldn't be blinded by the light. My plane suddenly shook from the shock wave of the explosion. Then the transmissions came in.

"The eject handle's stuck!" one of the pilots hollered.

"Wings damaged! Losing altitude!"

"They're all falling." Grimm said, emotion gone from his voice.

"Dammit..." Chopper said as he watched the heart-wrenching sight. One by one, ten planes that didn't make it fell into the water, none of them with ejections. One plane's pilot ejected and still another had climbed to a safe altitude.

"We can't deal with the enemy fleet like this," Thunderhead said.

"Blue Hound, this is Arkbird." The orbiting space craft began direct communications with the anti-sub plane. "Requesting sonobuoy data link."

"Stand by. We're dropping a new sonobuoy," the plane announced.

"All remaining planes," I announced. "Hold at high altitude until a new attack plan can be formulated. No sense in diving back down there only to be fired at again."

"Copy that Captain," Grimm replied.

"Blue Hound, this is Arkbird. Is that sonobuoy data available yet?"

"Roger, we're sending it now. What are you going to do?"

"Countdown to firing. Five, four, three, two, one..." Another bright beam split the sky for only a moment, but it was long enough for me to be memorized for what seemed to be an eternity.

"The Arkbird shot a laser into the ocean!" the anti-sub plane announced. "Explosion in the water! It damaged the submerged Scinfaxi! Picking up sounds of main ballast blow. The Scinfaxi is surfacing!" The thing was larger than I even imagined it to be. It had to be at least the length of a normal sized runway.

"Wardog, this is Blaze. Drop everything you've got on that thing! Don't hold anything back!"

"Copy that captain," Kei responded. We began diving for the deck with our bombs armed and ready for deployment. But when we reached the sub's engagement zone, the sky began to be filled with cannon fire from anti-aircraft guns. I managed to get three of my four bombs off and on target and Kei was able to drop both of hers. Grimm and Chopper also went Winchester when they completed their run. The anti-aircraft fire halted as soon as their bombs hit target.

"Arkbird firing laser," Thunderhead announced.

"Direct hit! It ripped a massive hole! The sub appears to have lost all locomotion!"

"Blast it out of the water!" Thunderhead said with fervor to spare. I dove down armed with my last bomb. I located the gaping hole the Arkbird's laser had caused and released it 600 feet from target, pulling up with barely enough room to spare. The bomb impacted deep, hitting what must have been the remaining missile stores. The sub began to sink deeper under the ocean before giant shock waves busted through the top of the water, reminding me of footage of underwater nuclear testing. The remaining enemy ships began to turn around, abandoning their attack of the island. We formed up to head back to the island with only one rookie who had made it through the gauntlet. We started to get an in-flight debriefing.

"The Arkbird was successfully employed over the forward edge of the battle area. The enemy amphibious force attacking Sand Island was repelled and their invasion plan halted. The underwater carrier Scinfaxi, a lethal enemy threat, was engaged and destroyed by the superior fire-power of the Arkbird. Having lost the support of the Scinfaxi, the remaining Yuktobanian forces retreated.

Furthermore, we are requesting reinforcements from Central Command to replace our squadron members lost in combat."

"Ugh," Kei said once we had finished reading the message.

"What's wrong?" Grimm asked.

"We aren't even back yet and they're asking for more rookies to sacrifice for this stupid war." I agreed with Kei. What was the point of this war anyways?