Chapter 10:
The smoke rising from St Hewlett bay gradually came into view as the three planes approached the green lush hills that surrounded the harbour. "Man, it looks pretty bad even from here" said Chopper
"It does, they've obviously been taken by surprise" said Blaze who was flying on the flying on the left side of the line of three. A sharp beeping noise came over the radio, "Wardog, this is Thunderhead, due to pressing circumstances I will be issuing an emergency in-flight briefing" To Blaze's surprise, his radar turned into a animated mini map of the mission area as Thunderhead ran down his briefing. "The port at St Hewlett is under heavy enemy fire; amongst the ships affected is the flagship carrier, the Kestrel. Your job Wardog is to provide of path for the Kestrel to escape, the Kestrel cannot be sunk as it is pivotal to our war effort! Understood?"
"Yes sir" the three pilots replied.
"Good, Edge you lead the formation" ordered Thunderhead
"Negative, you take the lead Blaze I'll fly on your wing" she said as her plane swooped to the left, allowing Blaze to take his place at the front of the formation.
"Second lieutenant Nagase follow your orders!" barked Thunderhead
"No, Blaze is leading; I'll protect his six o clock. And I'm not going to lose another flight lead" Nagase replied in a determined manner. All of a sudden a deep threatening voice roared over the radio, "Quit screwing around this is war, the enemy's all over and their gonna eat you alive!" then an F-14 flew barely 10 feet above Blaze's plane and rocketed off towards the harbour.
Chopper quickly ducked out of any responsibility, "Ah I'd better stick to the trail position thanks"
The pilot appeared on the radio again as his F-14 approached the bay, "This is Captain Snow, call sign Swordsman, engaging next enemy formation" then a panicked sounding radio operator on one of the ships crackled over the radio too. "This is the AA cruiser Excalibur, the ship blocking us up ahead move away we can't use our SPY radar". At that point Blaze decided to take command of the squadron for the first time.
"Nagase, Chopper listen up. It's chaos down there and we need to watch each others backs. Nagase you follow me and we will intercept all the anti ship planes, Chopper you provide top cover with that Swordsman guy ok?"
"Yes Blaze" Nagase replied
"Isn't it Captain?" asked Chopper
"No, Bartlett is still our Captain" replied Blaze
"Roger that"
"Right lets go" Blaze brought his F-5 down a few hundred feet and accelerated to the port, as they arrived a squadron of A-6E's armed with anti ship missiles flew over the majestic bridge that spanned the width of the bay. "Edge, their ours" said Blaze as he flew straight towards them, Nagase followed whilst Chopper climbed to provide top cover.
"Nagase you take the two on the left one with a missile one without, I'll take the other two".
"Roger that Blaze" Blaze locked on to the furthest to the right of the four planes and unleashed an unstoppable missile that flew straight into the planes fuselage, Nagase also managed to destroy her target with a missile, sending it crashing into the sea. The two remaining A-6's lacked any kind of manoeuvrability and struggled to get Blaze and Nagase off their tails, Blaze took down his target by shooting off both wings, whilst Nagase went for brute strength with her guns as the plane exploded in mid air.
"Well done, stay on your toes" said Blaze as he and Nagase turned their planes back around to face the harbour entrance.
"Thunderhead to Wardog we have 12 planes inbound, 8 anti ship and 4 anti air, their approaching from the-"
"I know I can see them" said Blaze as he quickly formed a plan in his head.
"Captain Snow, this is Blaze of the Sand Island squadron, can I request that my number 3, Chopper, fly with you and provide top cover whilst me and Edge shoot down these anti ship planes over?"
"No I want to protect my ship" replied the experienced pilot.
"Thunderhead to Swordsman, allow Blaze and Edge to cover the ship, Chopper needs some support"
"What?! You pig headed fool, I'll.... ok you better protect my ship" said Snow regaining his composure.
"Don't worry we will. Chopper your taking orders from Swordsman now, tell us if you need support"
"Alrite man" said Chopper as he flew alongside Snow; the planes were ready for the biggest battle of the war so far. Before they knew it, the Yuktobonains arrived, "Shit man there everywhere" Blaze heard Chopper say.
"Just keep cool" said Blaze has he took down a plane with a missile.
"Yeah, easy for you to say" Chopper replied in a strained voice. Blaze took down another plane whilst intently checking his own and Nagase's tail every few seconds.
"Edge fox two, target destroyed"
"Good kill" remarked Blaze as he twisted between two fighter escorts before destroying an A-6 that was about to launch a torpedo at the mighty Kestrel that was now storming its way through the bay towards the sea. As the battle ensued the shrieks of chaos below came through the radio waves, Nagase tried to avoid listening but couldn't help but think about all the people that must have been killed already, as she was about to slip into deep thought she saw a fighter following Blaze.
"Blaze, there's a bandit on your tail, I'm on it" Nagase said confidently.
"Roger that" Blaze looked back to see a MIG-21closing fast, he took down another A-6 before taking evasive manoeuvres, "When I say so, pull up" ordered Nagase, "Now!" Blaze pulled up and the MIG flew straight into Nagase's machine guns which shredded the plane into pieces.
"Thanks Nagase"
"No problem" Nagase replied as she pulled away and effortlessly destroyed another bomber. Only two A-6's remained and they were franticly trying to negotiate their way back through the battle and over the bridge, "Oh no you don't" Blaze thought to himself as he lit his afterburners and gave chase. The two A-6's thought they had escaped as they passed over bridge towards the open sea, however Blaze had flown along the road between the gaps in the bridges supports and had all of a sudden appeared right behind them, Nagase looked to her right to see Blaze flying along the road, then bursting out of the bridge, millimetres over the suspension cables that held it up. Blaze then destroyed the plane to his left with his cannons before showing mercy to the other plane by shooting off its tail section, forcing the pilot to eject. "Thunderhead to Wardog, all targets destroyed"
"Roger that, regroup over the carrier" Blaze ordered. As Blaze said that he looked down into the sea and to his horror saw people in the waves but there weren't just people - corpses and dying men were also there, all he could see was corpses floating in the waves. As the three F-5's regrouped all Blaze could see was the image of a bloodstained body looking up at him from the sea.
A few minutes later, the Kestrel spoke, "This is Captain Andersen of the aircraft carrier Kestrel, Wardog, I request your support until we reach open waters"
"Roger that Kestrel, I see you're heading into open water now, we will trail and follow" The three planes continued to circle and Captain Snow stayed in the vicinity. Chopper said a brief prayer as he saw the approaching Yuke fleet.
"As the captain of the Kestrel I will now form a provisional battle fleet, the enemy has built a blockade and we must now break through this. Good luck everyone. All friendly aircraft your support is requested"
"Copy that Kestrel, we will provide support" replied Blaze, "Chopper, you take the port side of the ship, Nagase you take starboard, I will cover the front and give you support if you need it, everyone keep an eye on each others tails. Shoot down any aircraft and don't be afraid to hit a few of their ships too but watch out for SAM's, understood?"
"Roger that Blaze" Nagase said enthusiastically
"You got it kid" replied Chopper.
"This is Swordsman I will focus on the air and keep an eye on Chopper, Blaze you keep an eye on your wingman"
"I always do, thanks for the support Swordsman" said Blaze. The Osean fleet quickly assembled into a battle formation, with the Kestrel at its centre. The Yuke navy were spread out in a semi circle around the Kestrel and were preparing to attack from all sides, the Yuke fighter-bombers arrived and the battle began.
"Wardog this is Thunderhead bogeys coming in fast take them down!"
"Roger" Blaze replied as he set about destroying an approaching A-6 that was aiming at the lead battleship of the Osean fleet. Blaze flew straight towards the plane, guns blazing and swatted it out of the sky like a fly. Nagase also had to deal with her fair share of bombers as she dove between the battleships in pursuit of a plane that had dropped its payload but missed. The sea water was nearly licking her wings as she fired a missile into the back of the enemy bomber, sending it crashing into a Yuke cruiser.
"Blaze, there is a U-2 trying to approach from the rear of the fleet" called Nagase as she shook a bandit off her tail and destroyed it with her guns,
"I'm on it" replied Blaze as he turned his plane 180 degrees and soared past the Kestrel, the U-2 was quickly in sight and Blaze noticed the massive anti ship missiles under its wings, "Bloody hell" thought Blaze as he swooped past the plane to attack it from behind, which was now panicking because of Blaze's presence. The U-2 dived straight down and Blaze followed, locking on to the plane at the same time, with on quick flick of a switch he sent a missile straight into the anti ship missiles on the wing, causing shock waves to shake his plane.
"Chopper, you hanging in there?" asked Blaze as he flew over the still intact Kestrel.
"Yeah man, but those ships are getting kinda angry" he replied, Blaze looked down and saw that a ship was going at full steam straight towards the Kestrel on it's port side. Without even thinking, Blaze quickly switched to his unguided bombs and lined up an attack run on the speeding ship. "I've only got one shot at this" he thought to himself. He flew barely 200 feet above the sea and headed straight for the ship, from his training, Blaze remembered that he needed to aim for the section just behind the bridge to cause maximum damage, he quickly calculated where he needed to fly in order to destroy his target and went for it. The Yuke ship was barely 100 yards away from hitting the Kestrel when out of nowhere Blaze appeared and dropped his bomb, it landed precisely where he aiming for and the ship snapped in half and sunk in on itself, "Bulls eye" Blaze thought to himself as he pulled up to avoid the massive fireball.
As Blaze pulled up, he looked to his left to see three fighters closing in on Nagase, "Shit Nagase, three on your tail, hold tight I'll get them" he shouted as his afterburners burst into life. "Dammit, I didn't see them, be quick Blaze" said Nagase as she climbed and tried desperately to shake them off. Blaze powered up his afterburner and stormed after the three planes, one of the planes fired a missile at Nagase which she just managed to shake off, then another pilot used his cannons, taking a chunk off one of Nagase's flaps. "One know you don't" thought Blaze as he came within range, one Yuke fighter saw him and immediately tailed off to try and get behind Blaze. "Blaze one on your six" called Nagase as she looked back to the plane tailing off"
"I know, but I'm getting these two off your ass first" replied Blaze as he aimed at the fighter to the left of Nagase. Before Nagase could reply Blaze unleashed an unstoppable attack on the two fighters, he took out the plane to his left with two missiles that gave the pilot no chance and then flew up directly underneath the other plane and shredded it with his guns. He did all this whilst his missile warning indicator was screaming at him, to shake off the missile he saw an approaching enemy squadron composed of A-6's and flew straight for the lead pilot. Before he could react, Blaze came soaring over barely inches above his plane, causing the missile to fly straight into the plane's tail, causing it to burst into flames. The rest of the squadron, having seen this manoeuvre, immediately bugged out before Blaze could lay into them.
"Nagase have you got that guy that was on my tail?" asked Blaze quickly checking his 6 o clock.
"Yeah, he's swimming with the fish" replied Nagase looking down at the plane's wreckage.
"Good. Kestrel what's your status?" asked Blaze as he and Nagase joined up again.
"The skies a clear Wardog but we have four ships blocking our path, I request you assistance in clearing them, over"
"Roger that Kestrel, we're on our way" Blaze, Nagase and Chopper regrouped and Blaze quickly set about orchestrating the attack.
"Nagase you take the destroyer that's closest to the ship on the port side. Chopper you take the other one, follow Edge in. Captain Snow would you be able to take out the one furthest away on the starboard side?" asked Blaze as he looked to see the missile cruiser rapidly approaching the fleet.
"Roger that Blaze, I'm on it" Blaze looked to his right to see Captain Snow's F-14 pounce on the cruiser.
"Good shot Snow, Wardog let's take these other three" said Blaze as he watched the missile cruiser quickly sink on its port side. Nagase and Chopper quickly broke off and headed for their target whilst Blaze went to his. Blaze had already realised that he had already used his anti ship bomb earlier in the battle but he had seen a weakness that he thought he could exploit in the battleship that he was rapidly approaching the Kestrel. He had noticed that the Yukotobanian's had rather foolishly positioned their anti aircraft missiles precariously close to the bridge and an ammo depot, Blaze began his attack run.
Blaze dived down until he was barely twenty feet above the waves and pushed his engines to max thrust, this was going to be tight. The battleship started firing all it's anti aircraft guns at Blaze as he bared down on his target. He swooped left and right as the bullets skimmed his plane, the Yuke's then fell right into his trap. They turned the anti aircraft missile launcher towards Blaze as he came within gun range of the ship, the missile was launched. However the missile had barely left the deck of the ship before Blaze used his cannons and shot it down, causing a fireball to engulfed the rest of the ship. Blaze pulled sharply up and flew straight through the fireball, narrowly missing the ships antenna. Nagase looked to her right and to her amazement saw Blaze coming out of the other side of the fireball, smoke trailed for a few seconds as the fighter accelerated away from the ship that was now been shook by a series of explosions.
"What the hell did you do then?!" shouted Chopper as the three pilots regrouped above the Kestrel that was now making it's way toward open sea.
"I thought I would create a few fireworks" replied Blaze smugly as he examined his wings to check for damage – they were spotless.
"This is Captain Andersen of the aircraft carrier Kestrel, I would like to congratulate all who have survived and I salute our heroes in the sea – and in the air"
"Thank you Captain Andersen, good luck" replied Nagase
"Wardog this is Captain Snow, thanks for the support" said Snow as he lined up his aircraft to land on the deck of the Kestrel.
"No problem man, that's one tough ship" said Chopper.
"Wardog, this is Thunderhead, mission accomplished – return to base"
"Roger that Thunderhead lets go home" said Blaze as he led the planes back towards Sand Island. As the pilots left Port Hewlett and returned on the flight path they had come on, Chopper's voice crackled over the radio.
"One two three, one two three. Count 'em up man we're all going home. I can't wait to tell the captain"
"He'll be well impressed" said Blaze very enthusiastically. None of the three pilots knew that they would not see Bartlett for a very long time.
"Sand Island has never looked so beautiful" admired Blaze as the pilots came into land. The island was bathed in sunshine that glinted off the hanger roofs and the sea around it resembled a millpond. Blaze parked his plane in front of the hanger and stepped out onto the Sand Island tarmac.
"I see you're all in one piece" said Pops, walking towards him.
"Yeah, it was pretty hairy up there at times though" replied Blaze as Nagase and Chopper opened their canopies.
"I bet. No problems with the aircraft then I take it?" said Pops looking over Blaze's plane.
"Flying her was like a dream" replied Blaze as Chopper and Nagase came over. The three pilots patted each other on the back and showed their relief at getting back alive.
"Is Bartlett back?" asked Nagase looking around.
"No, Nagase I'm afraid not, the rescue team is still looking for him, but we think he was captured by the recon ship" Nagase's heart dropped at the news and she went pale.
"Don't worry, Nagase, it's not your fault" added Pops
"I bet they will bring 'em back when they realise who they've got!" exclaimed Chopper
"That's the spirit" said Pops, patting Chopper on the shoulder, "You three need to get to debrief" At that point the three pilots quickly walked off toward the main building. Blaze was thinking about the implications for the squadron and who would fly lead as the three pilots walked into the cool briefing room and took their seats. The pilots gazed into space for a few moments before Hamilton briskly walked into the room. They quickly exchanged salutes before returning to their seats.
"First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your efforts today; you have done your country proud. Without your efforts, our ability to launch a counter attack would have been severely disabled. Now, on to more pressing matters, to start with I need to tell you that this morning Yuktobania officially declared war on Osea." The three pilots exchanged worried glances. "They are the people who have been probing our base for the last week and they were the ones who attacked our port and shot down Bartlett. That brings me on to the new squadron leader. Bartlett is believed to have been captured by the Yuke's and is now the first POW of the war. The Yuke's follow the international convention on POW rights so he should be ok. Now, I understand Blaze took lead today, is that correct?" The three pilots nodded, "Good, you did a fine job Blaze, however Colonel Ford will be your new squadron leader, he is flying over from the mainland tonight." Chopper let out a huge groan, "Do you have a problem with that Davenport?" asked Hamilton.
"I've had a few problems with him that's all" murmured Chopper, Colonel Ford had made Chopper clean every plane at Heirelark after Ford had found Chopper rudely impersonating him after he had given a lecture to the pilots on the art of leading a squadron.
"I'm sure you're capable of mending a few bridges. That concludes the debrief. Oh and by the way, stay out of Perrault's way; he's a bit pissed off about the situation at the moment. Dismissed" Blaze led the pilots out of the briefing room and went to the crew room.
"I'm gonna listen to some music in my room. See you later" said Chopper disappearing down the corridor.
Blaze went into the crew room and made himself a coffee, "Do you want a coffee Kei?" asked Blaze as he was about to finish making his coffee.
"Yeah, that would be nice thanks" replied Nagase who was sat on her usual sofa flicking through her red book. Blaze made two coffees and handed one to Nagase before sitting down on the sofa to Nagase's right.
"I can't believe we're at war" said Nagase as she sipped her coffee.
"Same here, we've only been in the air force a few weeks! I thought Sand Island was the quietest base in Osea, ever since I got here it's been nothing but action" said Blaze, thinking back over the events of the last few days.
"I hope Ford is ok" said Nagase
"At least he's experienced, although him and Chopper could be interesting" smiled Blaze.
"I'm sure it will" Nagase laughed, "You did really well today as flight lead"
"Thanks you helped a lot though" replied Blaze
"Me? You were the one giving us all the orders" said Nagase sounding surprised.
"You were the one keeping my ass covered; a flight lead is nothing without his wingman"
"We worked well together. How did you destroy that ship? I've been meaning to ask you" said Nagase sitting up.
"I just used my guns on the missile launcher which sent the rest of the ship up in flames, it wasn't anything special" Blaze calmly replied.
"Not special?! The way you flew down that bridge was something else as well. You flew rings round their fighters"
"Did you see that?" said Blaze looking surprised, "I only did it because I knew it's what they wouldn't be expecting. How's the book going by the way?" asked Blaze looking towards the red book on Nagase's lap.
"I've managed to do a few pages thanks"
"That's good to hear. Did you see the water?"
"It made my stomach turn inside out. It was horrible" replied Nagase as the image of the sea came into her mind again.
"All that death, for what?" murmured Blaze.
"Yeah..." The two pilots sat in silence for a few moments, almost commemorating the dead. Blaze eventually fell asleep in the crew room whilst Nagase continued to flick through her book and fill in missing pages.
A few hours later
"What have you done to kid? Poisoned him?!" asked Chopper as he walked into the crew room.
"No, he fell asleep a few hours ago" smiled Nagase looking up from her book.
"Shall I wake him up then?" said Chopper moving towards Blaze who was stretched out across the sofa.
"Nah just leave him" said Nagase looking towards Blaze as he let out another faint snore.
"Suit yourself, what time is it?" said Chopper walking away from Blaze.
"Just past seven, why?" asked Nagase inquisitively
"Genette is going to interview me in a minute"
"God help him, he was filming in here earlier, although Blaze kept walking across the camera"
"I thought Blaze had been asleep for ages?" said Chopper looking confused.
"He has, but Genette woke him up briefly and then he went back to sleep"
"Ah, what was Genette filming anyway?"
"Me reading my book, I think he's trying to get us all on tape"
"You can say that again, he's filming my interview. Anyway I'd better get going, don't led Kid miss his tea" said Chopper as he left the crew room.
"I won't" Nagase replied even though she knew Chopper probably couldn't hear her.
The last rays of sunlight were beaming onto Sand Island and for the first time that day Nagase finally managed to put her feet up and relax. She looked across at Blaze, who was laying across the length of the black leather sofa with his head perched on a cushion at the end nearest to Nagase and wondered how he could sleep like a baby after the day they had just had. She put her red book down on the table and rested her head on the cushion at the end of the sofa closest to Blaze and gradually started to fall asleep.