Chapter Twenty-One
Test Flights
"If you had remained still, we would have been done hours ago."
"But it is such a pain to stay still in this form, especially when you're working so slow!"
"Listen up Screamer. I did not wake up at five in the morning just to listen to you whine and complain like a spoiled teenage girl who just got kicked out of a designer store. I could just be waking up right now if you hadn't bothered me," Alexis snapped, waving the brush threateningly. "You move one more time, and I will find a way to spray this stuff into your 'optics'." She leaned forward, feeling the precariousness of her position, and then continued spraying on the identification serial numbers on Starscream's tail fin. The Air Force logos were in their proper places, so she and Starscream were almost done here. What she couldn't figure out was why Starscream couldn't paint the stupid things on himself. He knew exactly where the equipment was, and he remembered his own ID codes better than she remembered her own. She wondered if laziness was a dominant trait among his species. If so, she wasn't sure she wanted to know another alien robot.
Starscream was also a bigger whiner than she originally anticipated.
"What about our 'truce'? If you injure me, then you violate the peace agreement. I'm not so stupid as to be unaware of the unspoken terms and consequences," Starscream muttered loud enough for her to hear, sounding very close to a sulky child.
"To be honest, I'm surprised you managed to honor it for five days. However, if you push me too far, I will retain the secrets and forsake it. I'll hire Riley and Tyler to help me find something to break and permanently shut you up," Alexis snapped. She didn't care if he already knew, but she was exhausted. The Halo competition had stretched over the week, and the semi-finals had been last night. She made the error of staying up late, assuming that she was exempt from the rules since she technically wasn't flying today. She had stayed up to see the last semi-final round with the 'judges' and a few other spectators. The other 401st pilots had gone off to bed at nine-thirty (an hour-and-a-half later than Tom usually permitted), but she had dragged herself off to bed at eleven forty-five. His Majesty King Screamer had woken her up about half an hour later, asking about the necessity of serial numbers and ID logos. She told him she'd help him with that as long as he scrammed from the room in five seconds.
As Alexis placed some finishing touches on the numbers, she mused over the possibility of what Starscream would complain about next once the truce was over. She had lost the bet she had made with herself, assuming that he would complain about his call sign rather than his status as a veteran. "Okay, now you're done," she said, standing up straight. She winced at the cricks in her back, and then gently tossed the painting equipment down to the ground. She carefully made her way to his wing and calculated the distance to the ground. Then she prepared to jump off and land lightly… at least that was her plan.
She might kill Starscream later for not warning her of his actions ahead of time.
As Alexis tensed, ready to jump, the armor plates underneath her feet began moving without warning. She let out a yelp and slipped as the ground suddenly stretched farther away from her. She grabbed the nearest component and clutched on for dear life as parts and gears slid into place. "Starscream!" she yelled when he was finished with the transformation. Somehow, she had ended up on one of his colossal wings that extended from his back. Starscream sighed in obvious annoyance before plucking her off of his wing, muttering something about 'slagging handprints' and exposure to human bacteria. Alexis growled as he held her jacket between his thumb and forefinger. She was not just some mere toy to be mishandled, although she most certainly felt like it at the moment.
"What the hell are you doing?" she finally snapped.
"Stretching. You wouldn't know what it's like to be cramped for hours on end in an alternate mode," came the slightly arrogant response.
"Well, while I'm all for stretching, I would like to be put down onto the ground before I fall and break more than just my ribs. My jacket isn't a sling, so if I fall and break everything, I'm blaming you," Alexis snapped, feeling her body slide down half-an-inch out of her forest-green jacket. Maybe she'd rat him out now, for she really had nothing substantial to gain from this truce. All she had asked really was for his cooperation, something she could somewhat live without. Starscream would hopefully never figure this out, but she'd arranged it that way so she could hold the upper hand.
"So what do you want me to do about your situation?" he asked, sounding bored. His voice cut across her train of thoughts, leaving her momentarily confused.
"Just put me down, damn it!"
"Touchy touchy touchy," Starscream muttered as he not so gently deposited her onto the overhanging ledge of an observation deck in the hangar. Alexis stood up and straightened her jacket, mindful of her bandaged ribs. She stuck her tongue at Starscream's back when he turned around to stretch his wings out to the full length, but immediately looked away innocently when he half-turned to glare at her.
Finally Starscream paused in his actions, and then cocked his head as though listening to something she could not hear. He even turned his head slightly in the direction of the hangar entrance. Alexis privately wished she could observe others of his kind; did they have the same quirks as Starscream had? She shuddered as another possibility occurred to her. What if she had met another transformer… without realizing it? She frowned; the cop from Mission City was involved at Los Angeles recently, and apparently hightailed out of there when the U.S. military was coming in. Wait a sec…
"Starscream?" she asked carefully.
His head jerked in her direction as if she had unexpectedly screamed at him. His head then inclined slightly to show that he was listening.
Okay then.
"By any chance, do you have a friend that is just like you, out in country, right now?" she asked, getting slightly nervous at his hesitation at the question. Was he going to be honest, or make up some fictitious story? She was pretty sure he wasn't operating alone… it wasn't in his nature. He needed somebody to boss around, that much she was sure of.
Besides, how exactly does one destroy a huge portion of a city alone?
She could tell that he was doing his version of a smirk. "Oh, trust me Alexis Preston. Barricade remembers you and your pesky friends very well. So well in fact, he could come take care of the three of you right now if he so chose to. He's not bound to our 'truce' after all," Starscream informed her, smugness permeating through his voice.
That wasn't very helpful, Alexis thought, scowling at Starscream. Aloud, she said, "Well, I'm just impressed that you have directly addressed me by my name for the second time in our wonderful relationship." She pursed her lips while raising an eyebrow, thinking. Then she asked, "Are you going to tell me what 'Barricade' transforms into?"
Starscream didn't beat around the bush. "No," he snapped, and then paused, listening again. Finally, he scowled one more time at Alexis before retreating to the line of jets on one side of the room. He carefully folded down back into his jet form, conspicuously disappearing once more. Before Alexis could muse over the possibility of another Transformer or two, Starscream's hologram appeared at her side. For once, he wasn't dressed in the casual gear the pilots wore in down time. He was wearing proper Air Force pilot's gear, and she suspected that the images came from the World Wide Web. As he watched the hangar doors, she watched him, and privately admitted to herself that he did look like a proper officer, even if he didn't carry any rank. For a moment there, she felt like a civilian again, a child watching the officers on television in awe of their almost invincibility.
She shook her head. There was a stupid thought if she ever came across one.
The doors opened, and Alexis watched in silence as her fellow pilots walked in. She felt a slight pang of jealousy as they began to climb the ladders into the cockpits. The great hangar doors opened, and the morning sunlight poured in, illuminating the path before the F-22s that were gearing up for departure.
"What will you be doing?" Starscream asked quietly, easily slipping to the persona of Stryker Davis. Alexis noted that he seemed infinitely calmer when faced with the prospect of flight.
"Whatever General Stanton wants me to do. Tom said she had something special in mind for me. You just do as you're told, so Stanton doesn't suspect anything," Alexis muttered as Stanton walked in after the group of pilots, her blue eyes scanning the room for anything that struck her as abnormal.
"Do you ever fear that she could truly disobey her commanding officer and act independently, therefore creating another Oroville-like incident?" Starscream asked, turning to face her slightly.
Alexis mused over the question for a moment, and then shook her head. "She's too smart to openly defy the president. The last time that happened, it was in 1951, and a man named General Douglas MacArthur defied President Truman over matters in the Korean War. MacArthur wanted to invade China, Truman said no," she answered. "MacArthur was fired from his post after delivering the last disrespect to Truman. Stanton learns from past mistakes, she doesn't repeat them." She looked at Starscream. "Maybe you could learn a thing or two from us after all."
Starscream just scowled and walked down the wire steps that led him to the hangar floor. Alexis watched as he walked with the last few of the pilots and gracefully climbed onto the F-22, ignoring the ladder. He climbed into the cockpit, and the engine powered up slightly before the hatch fully closed.
"Davis certainly seems to have that grace and charm doesn't he? Especially when faced with combat."
Alexis jerked in surprise as Stanton appeared out of nowhere at her elbow. Alexis thought about it for a moment, and then murmured, "Yes, I guess he does."
"He was so grateful when I opted to take him from Bolling Air Force Base in Washington DC. He had a small group of female admirers that constantly harried him throughout my visit, so I could only imagine what he went through on a daily basis. His original CO was a little hesitant about giving him up," Stanton said, watching as Starscream slowly joined the last jets leaving the hangar. She frowned as a thought occurred to her. "I had to mention Mr. Keller to get the commanding officer to cooperate with me. Men can be so damn stubborn when they choose to."
"Do you think he will fare well with the 401st?" Alexis asked carefully.
Stanton turned her head to look at Alexis. "I would not have selected him if I didn't think he would do well with us," she said quietly. "Besides, his is a rare talent. It generally takes… an extremely long time to develop his kind of skills. You don't encounter extremely good pilots more than sixteen times in a lifetime," the general casually added.
What the hell is she getting at? That she knows something about him that I don't… or she thinks that I don't, Alexis thought, glancing at the small half-smile on Stanton's face. It was actually kind of irritating when the general got cryptic on her subordinates. Alexis only knew of three people who saw the hidden clues, but she also knew that one of them was dead now.
Almost as though Stanton knew what Alexis was thinking about, the smile vanished, replaced by the usual stern expression. "Come with me," she ordered, and Alexis obediently followed her through a door that connected the observation deck with the small hallway on the other side.
They walked down the small hallway in silence, and Alexis vaguely recognized the route they were taking. The route would go down a floor in order to merge with the main corridor, which was technically the backbone of the base. Instead of going down the stairs to the corridor however, Stanton took an abrupt left to a lesser-used hall. Alexis wondered where she was going as Stanton stopped at a small, unmarked door and turned to face her.
"Alexis, this is what I want you to do today. You will be on the observation balcony with Thomas, two guests, and myself. I want you to wear this during the flight exercises," she said, pulling out a small headset from some hidden pocket. Alexis took it from her, careful of the thin metal band that connected the two earpieces and the small mouthpiece that was connected to the right side of the device. Stanton continued, saying, "This device is wired directly to Davis's frequency, and only his frequency. He would have to switch you to the team frequency in order for you to communicate with the other pilots. As for today, your job is to stay in contact with him and pretend that you are up there with the rest of them. Do you understand me?"
"Yes ma'am," Alexis replied, turning the device over in her hands. She pressed the tiny button on the right earpiece, and a green light appeared immediately. "Thank you ma'am," she said once she remembered her manners.
Stanton merely smiled and turned to open the door, but stopped when she remembered something. "Oh, and Alexis?" she asked, catching the pilot's attention. "Let's keep the device a secret between you, me and Davis," she said in a casual manner as she pressed in her ID code into a previously hidden panel. "It appears that private and confidential information is no longer secure and safe nowadays, which is really a shame."
Alexis wondered if that meant Stanton knew that Ari had stolen the latest passwords and used them. Then again, nothing was safe or secure when Starscream began poking around electronic records at his leisure.
She slipped on the headset as General Stanton opened the door that lead to the outdoors. To Alexis's pleasant surprise, she found herself on an observation balcony near the rooftop of the base. She turned and noticed that base seemingly melted into the side of the cliff, and realized that the rock disguised the energy signatures from any radar spy equipment or any satellite imagery.
No wonder Stanton ordered that the labs within the base be located near the back. So they would be hidden from any onlookers.
Alexis approached the thin white railing of the balcony and peered over, her curiosity getting the better of her. She saw the runway extend into the desert, but suddenly stop. The desert spread out before her, the sun's rays reflecting off the sand and spraying glittering colors over the landscape. If she squinted, she could barely make out the road, a thin gray line close to horizon. The blue sky arched above it all, promising a glorious day.
The one thing she couldn't see were the F-22 jets, but she was sure they were near the entrance of the runway, preparing for take-off.
"All pilots are on stand by. If they don't go soon, someone is going to start a fight, and we'll be testing the weaponry a lot sooner than we planned," Tom said, adjusting a few controls on a panel that lined a long part of the railing.
"Why would they be fighting?" Alexis asked.
"Call signs," Tom said, a smile threatening to break out on his face. "Apparently the new guys don't like theirs now that the veterans have found some way to poke fun about it."
"They'll get over it. They will need to stop acting like children and more like soldiers if we can ever hope to reach our old standards," Stanton snapped. Alexis could tell that the general's patience was wearing thin with her pilots, another indication that something was up. In the past, Stanton had been more tolerant of her pilots' antics, and had even partaken in a few of whatever pranks the pilots came up with.
If Tom noticed anything, he didn't say it aloud. He made eye contact with Alexis and just shrugged. Alexis however was slightly pleased to learn that she could still hear other people with the headset on.
"I finally got through to the CO at Edwards Air Force base. He agreed to your request, mainly to make amends for Mission City," Tom said.
"Good. We can use the Fifty-first in the friend or foe exercises," Stanton said, walking to the railing to survey the surrounding desert. "Today is a good day for a flight."
"Yeah, kind of makes you wish you could get in the cockpit and get out there with them," Tom added, staring as well.
Alexis felt slightly awkward by standing there and eavesdropping on their conversation. So she went and sat down quietly by a blond-haired woman who was reprimanding her friend for stealing something from the mess hall. Her friend just shrugged and put on a pair of sunglasses to indicate he was ignoring her.
"Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes is aware that I will forgive him for Mission City when hell freezes over correct?"
Tom shrugged. "I guess you could say it's implied," he said, handing the small microphone over to Stanton. "Let's get this show on the road shall we?"
Stanton walked over to the control panel, and stood next to Tom. "Attention 401st pilots. This is General Stanton speaking. The numbers issued to you yesterday indicate the order of departure. Once in the air, perform a circular pattern around the base until I deliver the next set of orders. Number one, you are cleared for departure."
"Screamer?" Alexis whispered into the mouthpiece, keeping her voice down in case the two guests next to her were listening.
"Aliskevicz, if you heckle me one more time about the Pit-spawned call sign…" Starscream threatened, leaving Alexis to wonder what Ari had been doing over the radio to him. She also realized that Starscream was unaware of the general's arrangement. She hoped he would keep his mouthpiece shut about this.
"No, Starscream, it's me, Alexis Preston. The general found a way for us to stay in contact and before you complain, bear in mind that I can hear what Stanton is planning way before she even gives the orders," Alexis reassured him. "Now what is this about Ari?"
There was a momentary silence, and Alexis imagined Starscream muttering to himself about some new injustice. There was a sudden roar of the engine, and Alexis surmised that it must have been his turn to take flight. Finally Starscream said, "Aliskevicz was, ah, teasing me, as you humans put it. I was about to shoot her from behind, but I didn't do so in the end."
Alexis shuddered at the imagery of what could've happened. "What stopped you?" she asked, unsure if she wanted to know or not.
"Your communication."
She was right. She was better off not knowing.
"Excuse me?"
"Yes?" Alexis answered, turning slightly in her sear to face the speaker. It was the blond-haired woman to her right, one of Stanton's guests.
"Hello, my name is Maggie Madsen." She said, extending a hand.
"Alexis Preston. You're, uh, one of the data analysts that Ari went to go get the general's passwords from, right?" Alexis said, accepting the offered hand and shook it. Maggie nodded grimly while glancing at the general's back at the mention of the passwords.
"Yeah, Arianna is quite the bargainer, isn't she?" Maggie remarked cautiously.
"Just be glad you weren't at Quincy Market in Boston with us when we were stationed at Fort Devon back in 2004. Ari drove the stall owner crazy when she was trying to get the ultimate bargain of the year." Alexis said, smiling slightly at the memory.
"I can imagine." Maggie remarked dryly. She hesitated, and then asked, "I was just wondering, but did she ever tell you why she needed them?"
"She never told me why but she probably needed them for blackmail material, that's all. She likes to be 'prepared'." Alexis explained, careful to keep her voice down.
The two women continued discussing Ari's potential motives, more or less aware of their audience, Stanton may have been facing forward, but she wasn't deaf. She resisted rolling her eyes in annoyance as the analyst and the pilot discussing Aliskevicz's bargaining skills and Stanton's passwords. At least they confirmed the general's suspicions that the woman analyst was doing something other than translating.
"Aliskevicz, knock it off, or I'll let Davis take care of you, understand, soldier?" Tom suddenly snapped into the microphone near the electronic board. Stanton didn't hear Arianna response, but Tom merely growled and cut the link. "She's hassling Davis about the call signs," he muttered to Stanton.
"Damn, does she ever take a break?" Stanton asked, pulling her sunglasses out of her pocket and slipped them on. Tom watched his commander silently, reminded of the powerful woman who had stormed up the stairs of the Supreme Court Building in 2005 to protest her sentence. For a second, he saw the woman who had broken free of the FBI agents who had been restraining her so that she could slug Simmons in the middle of her own trial. Tom knew better to let his guard down of course, because he knew that this woman also made names and histories disappear, yet plead innocent of all charges. He knew of her duplicity, a characteristic that ran deeper than most people knew or assumed. That was what made dealing with her mostly dangerous.
"Preston! Tell Davis that those guys are on our side! We don't need friendly casualties!" Tom yelled as the 51st appeared on the horizon, coming in towards the base. Stanton frowned, and then saw that Stryker was bringing his weapons online. She heard Alexis repeat the order to Davis, who apparently objected to it, for Alexis began trying to calm him down.
Stanton knew there was something different about Stryker Davis. She wasn't going to tell anyone, but it when she first met Stryker Davis, there was something off about him, something that required a closer look. So she brought him here to Area 51 so she could keep a closer eye on him. Stanton would never reveal to either Davis or Preston, but she knew that Davis had in fact left the base without permission on more than one occasion, and that she didn't believe the story about the fireworks in the hangar. Davis on his own was a formidable opponent, but when teamed with Alexis's stubbornness, the two of them were unstoppable. She knew better than to try and call out two stubborn people on a lie.
Stanton frowned; there were fourteen of her F-22s carrying out the orders Tom had been giving. Somebody was missing.
"Who is missing Tom?" she asked, not looking away from the jets.
"White. He got sick last night, and his flight partner determined that it was the flu, so I told him to go down see the doctor today. There is nothing worse than throwing up in your helmet, trust me" Tom said, checking something on the panel. "Preston, can you ask Davis to keep his mouth shut? It isn't smart to offend someone when cannons are out."
Alexis snorted. "You're telling me?" she asked, and then relayed the message.
"General, there have been serious tensions between White and Davis," Tom said, lowering his voice so Alexis behind him couldn't catch his words.
"About what?" Stanton asked, feeling that she already knew the answer.
Tom didn't answer, just jerked his head in Alexis's direction.
Stanton rolled her eyes. "Give it some time Tom. Davis and White are both young men, Preston is a young woman," she said, waving the concern off. "Preston, Aliskevicz, and Williams are the only young ladies on the squadron, and the personnel tend to keep to their own groups. That means that they are the only female presence the two of them are generally exposed to daily, and Aliskevicz is already close with Collins while Williams works closely with Mackerson. That leaves Preston. However, if one of them reports misconduct, I want you to report to me immediately and the guilty party will be sent home."
"What if it gets to violence?" Tom asked.
Stanton mused over it, and then said, "Then my money is on Davis." She flashed a smile in Tom's direction, assuring him that she was only kidding.
Tom was quiet for a moment, weighing the advantages and disadvantages between the two men in question, and then said, "My money is on White." He turned to face Stanton and said "I heard a rumor that he kissed her on the cheek the other day."
Stanton snorted and answered, "Stryker has an ego and a protective streak the size of the Grand Canyon. If anyone, it will be Davis."
"How much are you betting?"
"How about the cost of a dinner at Baja Fresh the next time we're in DC?" Stanton offered.
"Deal."
Tom shook his head as Stanton went back to focusing on the pilots. He could hear Alexis trying to placate Davis over something else that had happened. He put on his headset so he could listen onto the radio conversations between the pilots. Apparently one of the 51st pilots had insulted Davis's flying prowess, and team members were rallying to the support of their respective teammate. Riley and Ari were the loudest advocates in Davis's defense on the 401st side, and some guy named Henry was loudest on the 51st side. Well, as the lesson goes, there's nothing like an insult to get the team to work together.
"What on earth are they doing?" Stanton asked, catching onto Tom's irritation.
"Shouting match. Just insults being hurled. Don't you love it when they all work together?" Tom asked, the sarcasm evident in his tone.
"They'll have to get used to it. The Fifty-first pilots are staying here for lunch, and will be working with the Four-oh-first later for the evening portion of this exercise. Call them in. We've been at this for hours. I will see you inside," Stanton said, and then swiftly left the balcony.
Tom relayed the orders, and watched as the jets competed to be the first on the ground. He rolled his eyes; it was going to be all fun and games until somebody crashed. "Hey guys! All Fifty-first jets go to the east runway. That's your hangar for the duration of your stay here! So knock it off!" he snapped over the link and then cut it.
He gestured for Alexis to go down and soothe Davis down, and she obediently left. Stanton was right; he himself had seen the battle lines drawn between Davis and White. He didn't really give a damn over the winner, he just fretted that if a push came to a shove, it was Alexis who would be caught in the middle. Tom knew he owed the girl more than she knew, and his debt would be worth zilch if she got injured just because two men had raging hormones to hard to control.
He shut the panel off, and then gestured for Stanton's guests, Whitmann and Madsen, to follow him back into the base for lunch.
Tom had a feeling that lunch was going to be hell if there weren't any officers around to mediate or stop the impending fight.
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A/N: Here's a little tidbit of story-related trivia: in the planning drafts for this story, the 401st squadron's original number was '501st'. The number was then changed to avoid confusion with 501st stormtrooper legions from Star Wars. The change occurred after I decided to post the first chapter. Also, if anyone is curious, Baja Fresh is a real Mexican restaurant, and one of my favorites.