Hi everyone!

It's been awhile, hasn't it? I truly apologize for not keeping the story current and I hope I haven't ticked off everyone who likes this story. I promise to get on the ball as much as I can. School's started and that will keep me a bit busy.

Once again, sorry for the lack of any updates. Hope this new chapter will suffice as an apology!

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Chapter Eight

Franky sat on her desk in her cabin on Platform One. She had her face buried in her hands after reading the message in front of her for the fifth time:

Franky,

Scientist retrieved. Dex taken. Resistance keeping eyes and ears open. Coming by at 1500 hours

-Joe

Poor Dex, she thought to herself as she leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed against her chest. She had always liked Dex when Joe introduced her to him years ago. His eagerness and curious nature always appealed to her and thought him to be the most charming mechanic she had ever met. As bad as she felt for Dex, she could help but feel slightly sick as to how Joe must have been feeling, especially since this was the second time he had be taken away. She looked at the clock on the far wall and noted the time, noticing that Joe would becoming by in about thirty minutes. She sighed as she stood from her chair, extending her arms high up into the air as she yawned, trying to stretch out the tension in her arms. After putting on her dark blue coat, she made her way to the command center. She stopped several times on her way to speak with other officers and flight crew who greeted her and handed her several reports. The status information she received showed that there had been minimal activity from German air forces from attempting to throw more vengeance rockets their way. The German inactivity bothered her slightly but remembered that the Wehrmacht and began its attack on Russia and figured the forces must be shifted to the East.

Walking at a slow and relaxed pace, it took her a significant amount of time to reach the command center. As she made her way up the steel stairs, Franky found her second in command standing tall and proud, her right hand taught as a piece of wood against her temple in salute.

"Good afternoon, Lucy. How are things?"

"Good, sir. We've just finished our patrol and Platform Fourteen is coming up from the south to relieve us in about fifteen minutes. Our patrol has shown nothing of concern. Just clean skies."

"Good. We'll be having a visitor in around the same time Fourteen gets here, just so you know."

"Who is it, sir? RAF officer?"

"Joe Sullivan."

Lucy could help but smile softly when she heard the name. "And what business will the great Sky Captain have here of all places, sir?"

Franky shook her head and laughed slightly. "Don't fancy any ideas, Lucy." She tried to keep her smiled as she knew what the nature of the meeting would be, that Dex was taken by Germany infantry and held prisoner.

A voice chimed from the far end of the command center. "Captain, tracking five contacts coming from the south."

"Thank you, navigator," Franky said over her Lucy's head. "I guess Sullivan brought a few friends with him."

"Captain," the navigator continued, "they seem to be moving pretty quickly."

"Guess he can't wait to see you again." Lucy said as she smiled into a set of reports handed to her.

"That will do, Lucy. Alert the flight crews and have them prepare—"

The entire platform shook violently from the explosion, causing Franky to be thrown hard to the metal floor with Lucy collapsing on top of her. Franky's cap fell from her head, her hair loosening as she struggled to get to her feet, screaming to her crew.

"What the hell was that? Report!"

"It's those contacts! They are circling our positions at an impossible speed!"

"Damage report!"

"Hanger Three destroyed!"

"Scramble all fighters now!" Franky shouted as she ran to the navigator, watching the five green dots gliding all over the screen like gnats. She looked out the front window and caught one of the objects passing by at an alarming speed.

"Good Lord…." Franky said as the glass from the blown observation window flying in her direction.

Joe flew his warplane casually through the partly cloudy skies. He had received the coordinates to Franky's Platform and wanted to talk with her about Dex. She cared about him as much as he did and knew she would be more than a little upset. He looked at his small radar screen and saw the large green dot of the platform slowly inching its way towards the center. He also saw five smaller dots circling the platform. Franky's probably running maneuvers. Joe pulled his radio from his console and spoke into the receiver.

"Sky Captain to Platform One, come in. Requesting permission to land, over."

After a period of silence, Joe spoke into the radio once again. "Platform One this is Sky Captain, requesting permission to land, over. Do you copy, over."

Joe felt a little annoyed that he couldn't get a response from the Platform. He knew he was in appropriate range and they should have been able to receive his transmission. Joe increased his throttle as he passed through a cloudbank. When he came out the other end, the site made his eyes widen.

Numerous plumes of dark smoke was coming from the flight deck and his eyes could barely keep up with small dark shapes circling the wounded structure. As he watched the carnage a handful of kilometers in front of him, his radio sprung to life.

"Sky Captain! We are under attack! We are scrambling fighters. Join them and protect Platform One until reinforcements arrive!"

Joe pushed the throttle as high as it would go as he led his plane towards the platform. He spotted four blue fighters quickly make their escape from the attack on the landing strip, turning to meet up with Sullivan's place. Joe heard a male voice come from his radio.

"Got here just in time, Sullivan, all hell broke loose!"

"Happy to help. Break your formation and pick your targets. We've got them matched!"

"You got it, Sullivan. All right, boys. Tally ho!" The group of four blue planes broke their tight formation and turned to chase after the enemy planes. Joe was having a hard time keeping track of the fighters encircling the Platform because they moved faster than anything Joe had ever seen. He had to try so hard to keep the planes in his field of vision that he forced himself not to blink. When he finally managed to catch the tail of the enemy fighter, Joe logged its appearance in his mind. The craft was composed of a dark colored metal and had a relatively sleek design. What was difficult to comprehend was the fact that the plan was not being powered by propellers, but two cylindrical objects on each wing. What could possibly be in those objects that propelled the fighter through the sky with such speed. Joe pressed the trigger on his flight stick, sending a stream of gunfire in the direction of the craft. Suddenly, the plane in front of him shot straight up into the air with such speed, Joe felt like he sprained his neck trying to follow its path. His vision was distracted from an explosion on the platform to his left and when he turned his eyes up a split second later, the craft was nowhere to be seen. Frantically looking to his left and right, he lifted his radio and shouted.

"Status report! All planes report in!"

"Having a bugger of a time here, Sullivan! These things are just too fast! I've already lost two of my boys just chasing after one of them!"

Joe felt his plane shudder as her loud pinging noises on the left side of the craft. Jerking his head in the direction of the sound, he spotted the enemy plane firing at him. He pulled his flight stick hard to the right and forward, conducting a diving roll to shake the fighter off his tail. Of course, saying so was easier said than done. Joe tried every maneuver he knew but couldn't shake off his pursuer. As he found himself nearing the wounded platform, Joe prepared himself for a drastic move that Franky probably wouldn't be too pleased about. He piloted his ship closer to the platform, weaving left and right to dodge the stream of gunfire from behind him. He flipped a small metal switch on his console and hear a soft whirring from underneath the plane. A small red light flashed, altering Joe that his mini harpoon was ready to be deployed. He waited until he was flying over the empty flight deck and positioned his plane so that one end of the harpoon would strike the hull of his pursuer and one of the platform's burning hangers. Muttering himself, he hit the switch to deploy the harpoons, praying they hit their mark.

The German pilot flying his jet fighter didn't know what to make of the small flash of metal that shot towards his plane. Before he could react, he heard the sharp end of the harpoon strike the hull and pierce through the thick metal, and through his right boot. Shouting in pain, he tried to pitch his plane away from the American fighter but felt himself pulled quickly forward. He tried to pull up, but the plane seemed to freeze in mid air before descending even faster. The pain in his foot shot through his entire body, causing him to lose control of the craft, sending it spinning towards the fiery flight deck.

Joe watched as the plane spun upside down and skid across the flight deck, seeing shards of glass from the cockpit canopy flying in all directions. The plane smashed hard against the side of a hanger, brining it to a full stop. Joe breathed a sigh of relief as the fighter remained relatively intact. It should make the engineers happy. Joe thought of Dex, knowing that he would have a blast taking the ship apart and finding out what made it tick. Joe's plane shook violently again as two jet fighters fell behind his tail.

"Help me out here! I've got two on my tail!" Joe screamed into his radio.

"Blast, Joe, I can't see you! I've got one on my tail! Where the bloody hell are you!"

Joe moved his plane around erratically to fend off his attackers. He heard bullets strike against his wing and the right side of the hull. He wove his plane to the platform's underbelly, trying to weave through the steel girders in hope of catching the German planes off guard and away from him. When he cleared the platform, the fighters were still on his tail. He climbed drastically into the air but he jus could not get away. He ducked down into his seat as several bullets came through the glass of his canopy. Joe was about to bail out when a flash of blue appeared on his right. As he turned his head, Joe saw an explosion behind him leaving only one German fighter behind him who quickly flew in the opposite direction. Joe's radio came alive.

"Sullivan! It's Eleven!"

Joe looked to his radar and spotted another large green dot slowly approaching Platform One. Looking around him, Joe saw that the sky was full of the blue fighters used by the British platforms. On the lower right of the radar and quickly moving out of range were two small dots. Just in time Eleven.

"Sky Captain to Platform Eleven. Right on time."

"Platform Eleven to Sky Captain. Sorry we couldn't get here sooner. Looks like you handed yourself pretty well though."

"Like hell we did. Those new German fighters were way too fast. Just four managed to do this much damage."

"Just what were you trying to accomplish with crashing that plane on my deck, Joe?" Franky said, sounding more than a little upset.

"Thought you'd might like a present, Franky."

"You're lucky you didn't kill anyone with that stunt."

"So sorry, Franky. Clearance to land? I'm in relatively bad shape here."

"I have half a mind to leave you flying out there until you crash. Land on Eleven. As you can see, our deck is a bit cluttered."

"Roger, Franky. Sky Captain to Platform Eleven. Request permission to land."

"Permission grant, Sky Captain. Be a chap and land on runway two."

"Roger, Eleven. Platform two."

Joe flipped a switch for his landing gear as he glided his wounded plane towards Platform Eleven. His plane left a small trail of black smoke as he flew past Platform One, watching the tiny flight crew and mechanics rushing to put the fires out. He wanted to make sure and get to One as soon as possible to check out the mysterious new German fighter that flew circles around him. I guess there is a first for everything, Joe thought, feeling a bit unnerved by the events of the afternoon.