Chapter 24 – I Spy
December 9, 2010 1841hrs Kirwin Island
"Blaze, begin landing checks, you're clear to land," said the Kestrel's Air Boss.
I lowered my landing gear, flaps, and tail hook as I lined up to land on the carrier. I told Michelle to prepare herself for a sudden stop and I could hear her breathing heavily as I slowly descended onto the flight deck. I loved taking off and landing on carriers, mainly because it was challenging. I was on final approach and I cut back on the throttle to let my plane fall onto the deck. As soon as my wheels made contact I applied full power. This was to make sure that I could pick up speed and fly off the carrier in the event that my tail hook didn't catch one of the arrest cables. However, I didn't miss it and I waited for the Air Boss to confirm my landing so that I could power down my plane. The ground crews then towed my plane onto the elevator and lowered it into the hangers. Michelle and I got out of our plane to meet the others. We were all in good spirits because of our successful mission. However, Captain Snow and Danny were nowhere to be seen.
"Has anyone seen Captain Snow?" I asked them.
"I think he went to the mess hall," said Kyle.
"You plan on sticking it to him?" asked Michelle.
"Depending on what Danny tells me," I said and turned to walk off.
I had to ask a bunch of people along the way where Danny was and most of them had no idea. I eventually made it onto the flight deck and I could see Danny sitting on the edge of the stern of the Kestrel. I remember he used to do this when we flew together six years ago. I would sometimes join him in taking in the view, even though I never really saw the point in it.
"I thought I'd find you here," I said as I sat down next to him.
"You expected me to be somewhere else?" he replied.
"Kinda, I thought you'd be with Snow."
"He's wanted to be alone after today. He didn't say why."
"Danny, I need to ask you something and I need you to be straight up with me," I said.
"Haven't I always been straight with you?" he asked.
"Well, yeah, when you were flying with me. Now that you're flying with Captain Snow…"
"Where are you going with this?"
"I need to know what happened to his squadron," I said.
Danny froze and I could see him tense up. I knew I was poking at a very sensitive subject but I needed to know. Captain Snow was on my team now and I didn't know anything about him. His flying endangered this whole operation and I needed to make sure this didn't happen again.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because you fly with him and he won't tell me what I want to know. If I did ask him, chances are, he'll sugar coat the truth when I want it straight or he won't tell me at all."
Danny looked out towards the ocean and took a deep breath. "They all died in a surprise attack against us."
I knew Danny didn't want to tell me this because he felt like he was betraying Captain Snow's trust. I knew exactly how he felt but this was important. I asked Danny to go on and tell me the whole story behind Captain Snow's crew.
"Marcus's men respected him because of how good of a dog fighter he is. Even you have to admit that he's a ripper of a pilot," said Danny.
"If he wasn't trying to kill everyone, friend or foe, then yeah, I'll admit that it's rather impressive," I said.
"I swear, Zorro, he's half as crazy as you when it comes to flying."
"Half as crazy as me," I asked.
"Yeah, remember when you shot down those seven enemy planes within a minute? He was able to get four of them within that amount of time and I swear I thought he was going to kill us," said Danny.
"Meanwhile, back at the plot," I said sarcastically.
"Right, back to what happened. We were assigned a mission to provide CAS for an allied offensive over in Yuktobania. It was supposed to be a piece of piss. We arrived over our AO and Marcus ordered his mates to attack the enemy targets while he provided top cover for them. Everything was grouse as until enemy fighters arrived to provide air support for the Yukes."
"They shot his men down?"
"Yeah, there were only four of them but they knew just how to handle us. I don't know who those whackers were but they killed everyone," said Danny.
"From the top, tell me what happened."
"They just came out of nowhere. Our radar hadn't picked them up for some reason and by the time we detected them, they were cutting through the rest of the squadron. Marcus wasn't able to get to them in time. When he finally did reach them, two of the lads were already dead. Marcus tried to take on all of them and while the rest of his team tried to evade their attacks. They knew exactly how to handle us and it didn't take long for them to plug the rest of Marcus's team."
"What was their strategy?" I asked.
"They kept going after the others and Marcus couldn't save them. He was the only experienced dogfighter in our group, but even that wasn't enough to out fly four Su-35s. The enemy pilots aimed for the cockpits to make sure that none of the others survived," said Danny.
They made sure to kill the pilots? That's not the Yukes' usual MO. "How did Captain Snow react to his men's deaths?"
"He's been flying more aggressively than usual. He's still not as crazy as you, but he's getting there. Every time I try to talk to him about it, he just dodges the subject. The only reason I don't press the issue any more than I do is because… well, I've seen him when he gets angryand it's not pretty."
"Just be glad he's not me," I muttered to myself. I was deep in thought about those pilots who killed Captain Snow's team. They knew exactly how to strike at his squadron and they were skilled enough to kill the pilots. From what Danny told me, this had 'precision' written all over it. This is all wrong. Apart from that, I needed to talk to Captain Snow about today. I didn't want to hurt the guy but I couldn't think of any way to bring up the subject without the possibility of confrontation. "I appreciate it, Danny," I said and got up to leave.
I headed back below deck to the crew room. Pops was sitting in the front row, talking to Captain Snow about something. By the look on Pops' face, he was pretty mad about something. I waited outside the crew room until I saw Captain Snow leave. He looked like he was mad about something and he shot a glance at me as he walked by. The scowl on his face seemed to intensify when we made eye contact. As soon as he brushed past me, I headed in to see Pops. He was still looking at the map of North Belka like he was studying it. I didn't know why he was staring at it but I could tell he was really focused. I took a seat next to Pops and looked at the map with him. I could point out every location where every major battle took place during the Belkan war.
"Colonel," I said.
"Castillo," muttered Pops like he was mad.
"Is something bothering you, Sir?"
"You could say that. I was listening in on you guys while you were on mission, and I was rather disappointed with the way you handled the mission," said Pops.
What the hell did I do? "I beg your pardon?"
"I gathered that you're team's synergy was extremely poor. If this continues, we might as well not continue to go forward with this operation any further if you can't get your teammates' heads out of their asses."
"Other than Captain Snow not willing to follow my orders, my team operated as efficiently as ever," I said.
"No, they didn't. If one of your teammates screws up, then your team is not operating effectively. If you're going to lead your squad through the rest of this operation, you have to make sure they get their act together. Captain Snow is part of your team now and it's your responsibility to make him listen to you," said Pops.
"I just met the guy a couple days ago. Why the hell am I being blamed for this?"
"Because he's your responsibility," retorted Pops. "Now, I don't care if you have to fight or kiss up to him, but you make him work for you!"
"Yes, Sir," I growled and I got up to walk away.
This was the first time Pops had ever talked down to me and it really pissed me off. I hated being talked down to when I was aware of an already existing problem. I had to deal with this all the time in OCS and I got reprimanded for it numerous times by my CO. I hated being blamed for something that I knew I screwed up on. I always felt like my superiors loved to rub it in my face. I headed for the mess hall to get some dinner and I saw the others sitting at the table. Danny was there but Captain Snow wasn't anywhere to be seen. I loaded up my tray with a salad, a rib smothered barbeque sauce, an apple, and a bottle of water. Once I had my food, I took my seat next to Kei.
"Do you ever have a day where you just eat whatever the hell you want, mate?" asked Danny.
"Every day," I replied as I bit into my rib.
"Yeah right, ever since I've known you, I've never seen you eat anything other than that healthy stuff."
"You should've seen me in college."
"You were fat?" asked Kei in shock.
"Hell no, I was pretty much a vegan during that time," I said.
"Figures, how else could he get a body like that," said Erica.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kei.
Erica was being put on the spot and I couldn't help but wonder what she meant also. As far as I knew, she's only seen me in my flight suit with my sleeves rolled up and my workout clothes. Kei was giving Erica a slight stink eye because she wanted to know how Erica knew about my physique.
"Well," I said.
"Hans and I walked in on you and Captain Nagase when you both started to 'make up' after we landed at the Yuke airfield during Operation Desert Arrow."
Kei covered her mouth with her hand and she turned beat red from embarrassment. I rubbed the back of my neck and started to awkwardly laugh. Oh God, this is the third most embarrassing thing I've had to live through. I couldn't stop looking at Kei and we couldn't stop blushing. I wanted to ask how much they saw but I decided that it was better that I didn't know.
"Uh, Captain, if it makes you feel better, we didn't see anything that you wouldn't want us to," said Erica.
"All you wanted to see was my chest," I muttered under my breath.
"Huh?"
"Nothing, never mind," I said.
Kei was still trying to shake off her embarrassment and I continued eating. There was nothing we could do about what happened in the past. We all continued eating and talking until I saw Harkin take a seat next to us. I was wondering where he was. He was still dressed in his tactical gear and he still had bits of rubble on him. I could see where some blood ran down his cheek from a cut he received in the castle. He also had a couple of visible bruises on his face and arms as well. His knife holster was stained in blood from where he wiped his blade and I could see some traces of blood on his hard knuckle gloves. His ammo pouches were completely empty but his M1911 was still loaded.
"That was a rush. I haven't felt this great since last time," said Harkin.
"You almost died last time," I said as I shook his hand.
"Last time?" asked Grimm.
"Need to know basis Lieutenant, and you don't need," said Harkin.
"Sir, Hans is a Tech Sergeant," said Erica.
Harkin looked at us, totally muddled. "Let me guess, Perrault never told you, did he?" said Harkin to Grimm.
"Told me what, Sir?" asked Grimm.
"Grimm's papers finally went through and he officially became a 2nd Lieutenant on the seventh of last month."
We all started to congratulate Grimm and Erica kissed him on the cheek. "Congratulations, 2nd Lieutenant."
"He's a 1st Lieutenant, Boldman. Remember you all got promoted after Captain Nagase got shot down. Which reminds me, the Sea Goblin pilots couldn't stop talking about how beautiful you are, Miss Nagase," said Harkin. Kei was blushing even more and Harkin saw me clench my fist out of jealousy. "You can't blame them, Kid. They've been stuck on this ship ever since the war started."
"You need to get them to Winchester," said Grimm.
"What's at Winchester?" asked Erica suspiciously.
"Pops wasn't lying when he said that it was the perfect place for R&R. There were a lot of loose women there that were practically throwing themselves at me and Captain Davenport," said Grimm.
Erica looked at Grimm in disbelief and I could tell what she was thinking. Grimm dug himself into a hole, whether he knew it or not. He was oblivious to his girlfriend's reaction and I was trying to signal Grimm with facial expressions and head tilting. When he did realize what she was thinking, he quickly tried to defend himself.
"Not that I went along with any of them and besides, we weren't even dating at the time," he said.
I face palmed myself and quickly intervened. "I don't think Grimm would ever have a fling with a loose woman. I expect something like that from Chopper, but not Grimm," I said and Erica seemed to relax. "Anyways, back to the Sea Goblin pilots. Can you do anything for them?"
"I guess I could talk with Captain Anderson but I can't guarantee anything," said Harkin.
"There's no way for you to convince him for certain?" I asked.
"Well I guess the President could convince him since they did help rescue…"
I dropped what I was doing because I the fact that the President had returned had gone completely over my head. Everyone else realized it after I ran out of the mess hall. The first place I headed for was the sick bay. When I found out that the President wasn't there, the chief medical officer told me that he was on the bridge. The rest of my team was close behind me and we ran into Genette and Captain Snow along the way. We were shouting at the ship's crew to get out of our way as we ran up towards the bridge. When we arrived, I almost kicked the door in just so that I could see the President. We all rushed through the door and stood a few yards away from him. He was smiling while he talked with Pops and Captain Anderson. He didn't notice us right away and when he did, he smiled at us and saluted. The euphoria we all felt was overwhelming to the point that we couldn't help but smile as we saluted back. I couldn't help but feel that we were actually getting somewhere in this war. I had a renewed sense of pride, knowing that we were doing the right thing so that we could restore peace and stability between Yuktobania and Osea. With the President back in office, this war would end with fewer pointless deaths.
"At ease, you guys," said the President and we all stood with our feet shoulder width apart and held our hands behind our back. The President chuckled to himself when we stood at ease. "Please, don't be so formal. You did save my life after all."
"We were just doing our duty as Osean soldiers, Sir," said Captain Snow.
"Even so, informal is just fine. So, who might all of you be?"
"Sir," I said as I stepped forward. "I am Captain Antonio Castillo of the, now defunct, US Marine Corp. This is Captain Kei Nagase, Captain Kyle Nelms, 1st Lieutenant Michelle Rockford, 1st Lieutenant Hans Grimm, and 1st Lieutenant Erica Boldman."
"It's nice to finally meet you all. If I remember right, there was another one more of you. Chopper, I believe his name was," said the President.
"Yes, Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Alvin Davenport is no longer with us," I said glumly.
"I see… and you are?" he asked referring to Captain Snow.
"I'm Captain Marcus Snow, and this is my RIO, Lieutenant Commander Daniel Orasco."
"It's my pleasure to meet all of you. How could I ever repay you for saving my life?" asked the President.
"Well, Sir, if I recall, you said you owed us another one, so I hope I'm not pushing my luck if I assume you can grant us two favors," I said.
"Oh, not at all," said the President. "So what could I do for you?"
"I would like the infiltration team who saved you to have some R&R. I've heard they've spent the entire war on this ship or on mission."
"Your orders, Sir," said Captain Anderson to President Harling.
"Let them go on a four day vacation, Captain," said the President and Captain Anderson nodded.
We all left the bridge and headed into the crew room where the President filled us in on what happened to him while he was a Belkan prisoner. They interrogated him until he told the Belkans what they wanted to know. What they wanted to know were the political views of everyone in the Osean government. When Belka found out about the war, they began to secretly escalate it any way they could. Capturing the President was only the beginning. The fact that the Vice President was a war monger was a lucky break for Belka. He even heard talk about how some Belkan forces were embedded within the Osean military and how their progress was coming along. The only reason they kept him alive was so they could blame the war on him when the time was right, but his guards didn't see the point in it. We told the President about the 8492nd squadron that rescued him and how they tried to frame us for killing civilians and their failed attempt to kill us. The President was amazed to hear my story about how I saved my team over the Vladimir Mountains.
I looked at my watch and saw that it was late. We were all exhausted after today and I really wanted to get some sleep. Today was a good day. President Harling was safe, my team had my trust, my old RIO was talking to me again, and I went toe to toe and won against some of the best pilot's I've flown against. The only thing that I didn't like about today's events was Captain Snow's recklessness and Pops scolding me for it. Other than that, I was satisfied with today. After the President dismissed us, Kei and I headed to our quarters and got in bed together. This day just seems to get better and better.
December 10, 2010 0630hrs OFS Kestrel
I was sitting against the control tower looking out towards the ocean. Kei was sitting between my legs while I held her from behind as she leaned back on me. The sun was just coming over the horizon and it was great to watch the sunrise like this. It was nice being on a ship again. The rocking of the waves seemed to rock me to sleep, but Kei was still getting used to it. She didn't have her sea legs yet and she almost threw up on me the past two nights we've slept together. I couldn't blame her because I threw up as soon as I set foot on the HMS King Richard when I started off as Mobius 1. We were both lucky that the Kestrel was docked. Flying a fighter jet is a hell of a lot different than being on a ship at sea. We both sat in silence as we continued to watch the sun rise, but we suddenly felt the Kestrel moving. Kei got up and went over to look over the side of the ship. The ship was going in reverse for some reason and I looked over towards the bow. There was a large slab of ice coming down the river. It was almost as big as Sand Island and the ice looked solid enough to be used as a runway.
"DAMMIT!" Kei and I turned around to see Michelle walking towards us with a pencil and pad in her hands.
"Something wrong, Michelle?" asked Kei.
"You guys were perfect, but then you had to move," she shouted as she continued to walk towards us.
"What were you doing?" I asked.
Michelle proceeded to show us what she had on her pad. She was pencil sketching me and Kei while we sat together. She had our bodies already drawn and completed most of Kei's head, but she hadn't even started on mine. I was impressed with how well the sketch turned out. She could've easily passed this off as a black and white photo of us because it looked that realistic.
"This is amazing, Rockford. I'm impressed," I said. "Is this a hobby of yours?"
"Yeah, I did this all the time while we were on Sand Island. Take a look," she said as she handed me her pad.
Kei and I flipped through the pages together to see some of Michelle's other sketches. She had drawn most of Wardog as we did various things around Sand Island. She even managed to draw the others' planes while we flew information when she first joined Wardog. Her attention to detail was amazing and I almost wanted to tell Kei to sit back down with me so that Michelle could finish her sketch, but we were ordered to report to the hangers over the loud speaker. The three of us headed below deck and met up with the rest of Wardog, Pops, President Harling, and Lt. Colonel Harkin. The one thing that caught my eye right away was the black F-14 that was sitting in the hanger. Rico was applying the paint along with a dozen of the other ground crew members in the hanger. Pops was talking with Harkin and they both called over our RIOs while President Harling called the pilots over. We all went our separate ways to speak with our superiors. We all stood at attention as the President walked towards us. The look on his face made it seem like he lost his reelection, but we knew that wasn't the issue.
"When I was younger, I never thought I'd have the weight of the world on my shoulders," said President Harling. "I don't know what it's like to be a soldier fighting on the front lines, risking my life for an old man's ambitions and I never thought I'd be one of those old men. But right now I don't have a choice. As much as I want to bring a quick end to this war, I know that I can't. I know I owe you a lot, but I need your help now more than ever, Wardog."
"Mr. President…" I said.
"Please, call me Vincent."
"Vincent, we knew this wouldn't be easy. I told myself that if there was a way to bring an end to this war, then I was going to go for it. If you need anything from me, I'll do it without hesitation."
"I will too," said Kei.
"Me too," said Grimm.
"As will I," said Captain Snow.
"You can depend on us, Sir. We'll do whatever we can," I said.
"I'm grateful, Captain," said Vincent. "I would very much like for you and your team to be my very own personal air fleet for the remainder of this war."
I looked at the others and they all nodded. "We'd be honored, Sir," I said.
"Wonderful. Now, I know Wardog was your squadron name, but the purpose of this initiative is to bring back peace, so I think Wardog is no longer appropriate."
"What did you have in mind, Sir?" asked Kei.
"Mr. Quezada, are you and the others finished yet?" asked Vincent.
"Yes, Sir," hollered Rico from on top of the F-14.
Vincent led us towards the back of the plane and stopped us in front of the vertical stabilizer. We looked at the new emblem that was painted on it and we couldn't believe our eyes.
"You and the rest of your team are now going to be known as the Demons of Razgriz, Captain. You've all caused so much havoc among the Yuktobanian military when you were 'alive'. Now that we're starting to learn the truth about this war, and because the Osean Military thinks you're all dead, we can now do some good in the world. The Colonels thought the name change was rather appropriate."
I couldn't help but smile at our new emblem. We were now the embodiment of Razgriz. My anger and frustration now had direction and purpose. My inner demon was going to show itself to the world and I was glad I was going to show the Belkans what my team and I were capable of. However, I feared that this opportunity would go to my head. I had to focus on my goals and keep my team in mind. I also might scare them into thinking that I was pretending to be someone different the whole time. However, as I looked over at Kei, I noticed she had the same evil grin I did. I'm going to have to be real careful.
"One last thing, I only need you four," said Vincent, pointing to me, Kei, Grimm, and Captain Snow.
"What about our RIOs?" I asked.
"They'll be helping out with something else I have planned. We need more people who can help us out with logistics and information gathering. So from now on, you'll be flying without your partners."
Grimm looked like he had his heart ripped out of his chest because he wasn't allowed to fly with Erica any more. I felt sorry for him and I still didn't fully understand why we couldn't fly with them. It really didn't matter to me because that meant that I didn't have to deal with Michelle any more. Yeah, she had her uses, but I could still do my job without her. We all stayed in the hanger for a little while longer so that Vincent could continue talking to us about his plans, while the 3rd Fleet's crew started setting up a makeshift airfield on the ice we saw this morning. He wanted us to continue to fly for him after the war ended, but we couldn't reveal ours existence to the world again if we decided not to join. It was a tempting offer, but I didn't decide on it right away. After Vincent was done talking with us, we helped the rest of the 3rd Fleet's crew set up a makeshift runway. I was helping with the construction of a piss poor excuse of a hanger when a snow storm rolled in. The jackets and watch caps we were given didn't do enough to keep us warm and the falling snow drastically reduced visibility. The cold became unbearable for us to work in so we took shelter inside one of the finished hangers. The ground crews tried bringing in vehicles so that they could get us out of the storm and back onto the ship. Being the kind of guy that I am, I got all the enlisted crew on the vehicles first while I waited to be taken last. Kei volunteered to stay with me and we both hunkered down in the hanger with some of the others who were still here. We sat the same way we were this morning and Harkin sat next to us.
"Here, take a look at this," he said as he handed me a piece of paper.
I took the paper and saw that a set of coordinates, tomorrow's date, and the time of 0800hrs. There was also another set of numbers. "What this last string of number?" I asked.
"They're the numbers of votes President Harling receive during both elections. We think this was the Belkans way of reporting that something happened to the President," said Harkin.
"What about the coordinates? Where do they lead to?" asked Kei.
"All I know is that it's in a very familiar part of Belka. I haven't the slightest idea about what's over there."
"But we're still going there, right?" I asked.
"Kid, we have no idea what those guys are doing over there. I'm not going to send you and your team in blind," said Harkin.
"So what do you suggest, Sir?"
"Tomorrow, I'm sending you to do some recon over the area," said Harkin as he pointed to me.
"Just me," I asked.
"Duh, that's how recon works."
"Wait, you can't be serious. They could be expecting us to investigate," said Kei.
"Or they could be planning something," I said.
"So you're agreeing to this solo recon mission?" exclaimed Kei.
"Someone's got to do it," said Harkin.
Kei looked at me like she didn't want me to go. I didn't want to go alone, but there was no other way. Even though we had state of the art surveillance equipment, the 3rd Fleet didn't have the luxury of calling in satellite imagery whenever they wanted. Doing so now would raise suspicion towards us, and the last thing we wanted was to draw attention to ourselves. The only thing I needed to worry about now was which plane I was going to fly. The aircraft were still on the Kestrel, waiting to be off loaded. Now that we were going to use this iceberg as a runway, we weren't going to be restricted to flying carrier based aircraft. Any plane I wanted, I could fly. If only my X-02 was ready.
"I'll do it," I sighed.
"Are you doing this just so you can get away from me or just because you want to piss me off?" asked Kei.
"He does it just for kicks, but it always come back to bite him in the ass," said Harkin.
"Oh, he knows."
"Alright, fine. Do you wanna go?" I asked.
"Hell no, that's what you're for," smiled Kei as she looked back at me.
"You're not funny," I said as I pulled her watch cap over her face. "Anyways, how far along is Rico on my plane?"
"He's still working on it. With luck he should have them ready within the next couple of days," said Harkin.
We continued to talk with each other until everyone in that hanger had already left except for the three of us. Kei somehow managed to fall asleep in my arms in this God forsaken cold. The storm hadn't let up at all by the time it was our turn to head back to the Kestrel. Once we got back, I headed to the hanger to see how my X-02 was coming along. Rico was hard at work, trying to reconfigure the cockpit. While he was working on that, I was working on the engines. I had no Idea what Pops was trying to do when he was inspecting my bird, but everything was out of whack. I spent the rest of the day maintaining and tuning the engines. However, I didn't work on them for long because Rico kept shooting worried glances at me for some reason and he started to annoy me when he would answer me when I asked him what his deal was.
December 11, 2010 0749hrs Mt. Schirm, North Belka
My mission for today was to fly recon over the only mountain in this area. According to Lt. Colonel Harkin, Pops, and other Intel reports, the mountain was being used as a storage facility of some kind. There was also an elaborate radar network spread throughout the area. My orders were to go in alone while avoiding detection from the enemy radar and photograph anything suspicious. I thought this would be an easy job if used my F-22, but as it turns out, Pops wanted me to avoid the radar at all cost, so I just decided to fly my Super Hornet. I couldn't risk getting detected before I got over the target area because we all figured that the Belkans had to be hiding something important here. As an extra measure of passive detection, I had to fly under complete electronic silence. If that wasn't bad enough, I was stripped of all weapons and ammo. This was to reduce the weight of my plane so that I could get in and out of the area faster. Rico also told me that the weapons' guidance systems would interfere with the image quality of the camera he hooked up to my plane. I didn't understand why I couldn't use the standard camera on the F model Super Hornet or why I couldn't bring my RIO along. This was the longest and most boring flight I've ever been on and I hated every second of it. I was glad when Pops finally hailed me over the radio once I arrived over my AO.
"Blaze, how ya feelin'?" he asked.
"Ugh," I groaned.
"Solo flights can be real lonely…but that's what flying's all about, really."
Really, because I thought flying was all about the feeling of freedom.
"Take a look at your search radar. The enemy 's radar range is marked out by those circles," said Pops and I looked at my radar. There were green circles of various sizes scattered all over the place at irregular intervals on the screen. "Make sure you don't enter any of those circles, and fly to the enemy radar's coverage area is smaller at low altitude. You want to see for yourself?"
"I'm going to find out anyways," I replied.
"Anyways, this is strictly a recon mission so you will be unarmed. So unfortunately, you won't be able to destroy the enemy radar. Sorry."
You don't say?!
"Maintain radio silence until you reach the destination. I'll then explain the target and how to photograph it. Got it?"
"I got it," I said. It would've made a hell of a lot more sense if you told me how to use this shit before I got here.
"Make sure you don't get caught within coverage area of the enemy radar. Good luck," said Pops and he cut off the radio.
The area I was flying over was a heavily forested area of Belka. The overcast made the area seem more depressing than it already was. It was a rather flat area of land. Everything looked the same from where I was. The only unique looking thing about the area was the river that flowed to the southwest. As I looked at my radar, I figured that the best way for me to reach the target area was to follow the river. I maintained my altitude as long as I could before I saw that the radar coverage was blocking my way. I guess I better see if Pops was right. I nosed my F-18 into a dive and pulled out at tree top level. Even while I was this low, the radar coverage was still wide enough to detect me if I didn't weave through them. It was like I was trying to fly through an imaginary tunnel. I couldn't climb above a certain height while trying to bank hard left and right just so I didn't get caught. I stuck to following the river as much as I could so that I didn't end up skimming the trees and damaging my plane. I was flying close enough to them that I could hear the tree tops brushing against my plane and parts of them being sucked into the air intakes. What really annoyed me was my damn altimeter telling me to 'pull up' every other second and I even screamed at it to shut the hell up, not that it would. I continued flying through the area as best as I could. I could see structures sitting along the shores of the river. They looked like barracks of some kind and I even spotted a few watch towers. The Belkans had to know that I was coming. Yeah, they couldn't detect me on radar but that didn't mean that they couldn't see me with their eyes. The ground personnel could've easily reported my presence once they saw me from the ground. I was getting really annoyed with flying this low to the ground and I was about to just gun my engine and haul ass through the radar zones so that way I could hurry up and get to the target area, but I didn't want to push my luck.
As much as this flight annoyed me, I wasn't really thinking about it as much as I let on. I was actually thinking about what I'd find here. We had finally figured out that Belka was trying to keep this war going, but the Osean army couldn't advance any further into Yuktobania because they no longer had the support of the Sand Island Squadron helping them. The Yukes were still holding out, but they couldn't launch a counter attack of any kind. Osea's army was still strong enough to repel an invasion of its own country and I figured Belka knew this. And now that we had President Harling back, the Belkans had to be feeling the pressure. What would I do if I were them? If I were them, I'd have come up with some kind of contingency plan to ensure they kept fighting until they wipe each other out completely. But what was the quickest way for them to do this? I kept thinking and thinking about it until I could only think of one possibility, and it scared me. I had just cleared the radar coverage and arrived over the target area. I was approaching an airfield with a small harbor towards the east of it. A mountain with a mine entrance on the southern side of it was located towards the north, not far from the airfield. If the Belkans didn't know I was here before, they knew I was now.
"Alright, you've arrived over the target area. Cancel radio silence," said Pops over the radio and it startled me. "I'm monitoring your status with a low resolution camera. Something's being moved from the mine entrance to that transport plane."
I looked towards the mountain to see a truck of some kind towing something out of the tunnel. I couldn't tell what it was, even with my binoculars. "I see it," I said.
"Okay, let's get a photo with the mine entrance and the transport planes in the frame. The camera's triggered by the missile launch button. Press it to take a picture," said Pops.
I quickly lined up the mine entrance and transport planes in the frame as I came in from the south. The camera's photo frame appeared on my HUD and I activated the camera. When I passed over the runway, I could see the personnel on the ground scrambling to their stations around the airfield.
"Photo received. I see some 8492nd squadron members and some planes with the Yuktobanian Air Force mark on them. The Belkans are sending aggressors posing as allies into Yuktobania as well. Alright, let's get a photo of both countries' emblems next to each other for evidence."
I pulled my Super Hornet around into a wide right turn so that I was lined up with the runway. Both aircraft were already taxing off the flight line and were preparing to take off.
"Now, before the two planes take off, capture both of them in one…. Photo received."
"Good enough?" I asked sarcastically as I applied full throttle ad headed west.
"This is just the evidence we need. Nice work," said Pops. "Their coming up after you. Shake them off and return home. By the way Blaze, on the way back, you don't have to worry about the enemy radar network. You know that right?"
"Really, I was going to hug the ground and risk crashing again because I didn't think they saw me at all."
"Don't forget you're unarmed."
I was really annoyed at this point in time and I wanted everyone to just shut the hell up. Three missiles had already locked onto me and I deployed a set of flares to confuse them. To make matters worse, the two enemy planes that I saw at the airfield were gaining on me, fast! They were on top of me within a matter of seconds and I had to try my hardest to evade them while I kept heading east. One of them was right on my tail while his wingman hung back in case I counter maneuvered him. I still had my afterburners fired up and the Grabacr guys were still glued to me. They were good, but like all other enemy pilots I've flown against, they were too eager. After I led them through a series of aggressive evasive maneuvers, I had drawn the guy close enough to me so that I could counter maneuver him. I cut power, snapped the stick back, and applied full right rudder to go inverted so that I could follow through with a high G split S. Once I went into the maneuver, I proceeded into an equally intense Immelmann turn. I had momentarily eluded both of the enemy fighters and I continued to head west. It wasn't long before they were on my tail again. I should've flown an F-22. I gave my F-18 all the power I could while I hugged the deck. Neither of the enemy pilots could get a missile lock on me, but the accuracy of their guns was extremely nerve racking. Their bullets were passing inches away from my plane. I had to keep my speed up and I couldn't risk losing any of it. The only defensive maneuvering I could do was to skid my Hornet all over the place. It was actually working until they wised up and climbed above me to perform diving passes. The Su-35's speed advantage allowed him to do this with no problem. I could see both of them nose over and dive on me. The sides of their cockpits lite up like a strobe light and I watched as their tracers headed my way. I snap rolled to the right to avoid the deadly volley but the enemy wingman adjusted his firing angle to fire on me again. They were still coming in at full speed and my only option now was to trick them into screwing up. When I saw the enemy wingman open fire on me, I lowered my flaps all the way, cut the throttle, and pulled the air brake. Both of the Belkan plane pulled up out of their dive because they risked crashing if they tried to dive on me at a steeper angle. As soon as they pulled up, I retracted my flaps and air brake, and applied full throttle again to make a run for it. I wanted to stay and fight these guys but I couldn't. If I was flying an F-15 I could've outmaneuvered them all day, but I made the mistake of choosing my F-18. The enemy Su-35s looped back around to get on my tail and I had just about had it with them. I'm almost there, just a little further. To throw the Belkans off, I pulled into a sharp left turn and sped towards them. Both of the enemy pilots broke formation and I reversed my direction to head towards the west again. The Su-35s tried to latch onto me again, but they broke off their attack to dodge a volley of missiles that were headed for them.
"Good work," said Captain Snow.
"Need a lift home, Sir," said Grimm.
"I knew yo make it back in one piece," said Kei.
I looked ahead and saw my team headed my way in their black F-15Cs. "Glad you could make it. Now, may you please get these assholes off my back?"
"No problem," said Captain Snow and he flew towards the enemy planes.
Kei and Grimm followed his lead and opened fire. The Belkan planes weren't done with me yet and they were trying their hardest to keep me in their sights. My master caution light was still beeping because I was still being spiked by enemy radar. Kei and Grimm were trying to coordinate with Captain Snow so that their tactics were more effective, but he was doing things his own way. Kei tried getting him to hold position above and behind me while I egressed out of area as fast as I could, but he kept diving after the enemy planes when Kei and Grimm were already engaging both enemy fighters. They knew the goal of this operation wasn't to engage and destroy the enemy fighters, but Captain Snow obviously didn't care.
"Captain Snow, I need you to stay at Blaze's six o' clock high. We only have to protect him until we get out of range," said Kei, but he didn't respond.
I looked in my rearview mirror to see one of the enemy planes coming towards me with Grimm tight on his tail. When I tuned my head to look for Captain Snow, I saw him diving on the same enemy plane. He saw Snow coming after him and the Belkan pilot was still gaining on me. I wasn't being spiked by enemy radar and he wasn't in position to fire on me with his gun. His wingman was also headed my way with Kei chasing after him. Oh shit!
"Swordsman, break off. I repeat, break off your attack!" I ordered but he still wasn't answering me. "God dammit, Snow, break off!"
The enemy plane pulled up close on my one o' clock and held position. Captain Snow continued to dive on the Belkan pilot and at the last possible second, the enemy pilot snap rolled to left so that he hit me with his jet wash. The maneuver forced my plane to buck heavily to the right and I struggled to regain control, but things only got worse. Swordsman then shot past me because he missed his mark and I ended up getting hit by his jet wash as well. The enemy wingman continued to head towards me as I struggled to regain control of my plane. I was being locked onto and when I heard the missile warning go off, I launched a set of flares. Kei couldn't line up the enemy plane fast enough as he opened fire on me with his gun, but I managed to recover my plane in time. I quickly barrel rolled over him, but my attempt to avoid his attack ended up with me crossing in front of Kei's flight path, forcing her to break off her pursuit of her target and almost collide with me. Luckily, we both managed to avoid each other and escape. I started to search for the pair of enemy planes but I saw that they had broken off their pursuit and headed back towards their airfield. Grimm broke off his pursuit and formed up with me and Kei while Captain Snow continued to chase both enemy planes.
"Captain Snow, get back into formation," I ordered but he didn't reply. "Snow, get your six foot five ass back into formation before I leave you here!"
"That's Captain to you, Castillo," he yelled.
"I don't give a rat's ass! Either you fall into formation or I'll leave you to deal with the entire Belkan Air Force on your own!"
"I'm on my way," he growled.
We were all back in formation and we headed back towards Kirwin Island in silence. I was furious. Kei was about to see a side of me that she'd never seen before. The whole way back home, I was thinking about what I should do to Snow when I got within arm's reach. I wanted to make him lose a limb for what he did and I didn't care if it was going to leave me a man short for the rest of this operation. I was finally going to show him how serious I was about him following my orders.
1009hrs, Kirwin Island
I had finally landed my plane and began to taxi over towards the hangers. Everyone else from my team had already landed and I could see them in one of the hangers where Rico and a bunch of other mechanics were working on Snow's F-15. They were all arguing over what had happened and Snow didn't seem to care what they were saying because he has leaning against his plane with his arms folded and a bored look on his face. I'm going to enjoy this. I parked my plane on the flight line, shut off my engines, and got out of my plane. Kei noticed the look on my face and she was the first one to back away and Grimm soon followed. I made a beeline for Snow and I activated my watch's inventory so that I had my pistol selected. Once it materialized, I grabbed it and chambered a round. Snow's eyes widened when he heard my gun cock and by the time he looked my way, I already had it pointed at him. I fired my gun so that the bullets impacted around his feet and he began to hop around, trying to avoid them. Everyone else in the hanger began to run for cover as I unloaded fourteen rounds into the ground. By the time I had one bullet left, Snow tried to pull his gun on me, but I shot it out of his hand. I then threw my gun as hard as I could into his gut and he bent over. I grabbed him by the collar of his flight suit and kneed him three times in the chest. I wasn't expecting him to grab me and throw me across the hanger. When I got to my feet, Snow already had hold of me and we began to wrestle under his F-15. His brute strength enabled him to toss me all over the place but my size and agility were better suited for this fight. If he hadn't been so focused on throwing me everywhere, I would've already been knocked out. The F-15 we were fighting under had its landing gear retracted and was raised on a set of hydraulic lifts. The lifts were all connected by chains so that they were measured out perfectly. Snow unhooked one of them after he threw me out from under the plane and I grabbed a steel pipe. Snow flung the chain at me and it wrapped around the pole I was holding, but before he could reel me in, I lifted my leg and stomped down on the chain so that Snow was pulled halfway from under the plane. I grabbed a wrench that was sitting on one of the nearby work benches and flung it at the lift controls to that they lowered and pinned Snow under the plane. He wasn't hurt or anything, just stuck. I walked over to the other side of the plane and picked up mine and Snow's guns, then I unloaded the mag, and unloaded the chambered round in it. I then made my way back to where Snow was and leaned against the wall to see him struggling to get out from under the plane.
"Antonio, what the hell?!" exclaimed Rico.
"Take everyone else and get the hell out of here," I shouted.
"Get this thing off me!" ordered Snow.
One of the ground crew members started to make his way for the lift controls but stopped when he saw me pointing Snow's gun at him. Rico knew that I wasn't playing and he told the rest of the crew members to leave us alone. Kei and Grimm stood from a distance, gawking at me. They seemed less shocked about what I had done than I thought they'd be, but still surprised nonetheless. I shot a glance at them and the both walked over to the next hanger and waited for me to finish what I started.
"You alright?" I asked Snow.
"What the hell do you care?" he shouted.
I smiled and got up off the wall and walked over to the lift controls. "You and I are going to have a little chat. I noticed that you have trust issues and you're out for your own personal gain. That shit isn't going to fly with me while you're under my command," I said.
"Don't act like you know me, Castillo!"
"Your right, I don't know you! Now, if this is the only way for me to figure out what the hell your deal is, I'll do it," I said and I grabbed the lift controls. "Now the way I see it, you got one of two options. Either you tell me what the hell your problem is with following my orders or this lift is going to lose its ability to hold up this plane and crush you."
"You're bluffing," said Snow.
"I just shot at you and pinned you under a plane. And I'm pretty sure Danny told you about how I fragged my old CO, right?" I asked and Snow looked up at me. He knew what I was talking about. "Do you still think I'm bluffing?"
Snow was hesitant about calling my bluff and I was ready to show him how serious I was. I didn't need him to complete this operation and I figured he knew that. "Alright, I'll cooperate."
"Glad to hear it," I said and I went back to leaning against the wall. "First question, why is it so hard for you to work with me and my team?"
"Because I don't like you," he growled.
What the hell did I ever do to you? "The feeling is mutual and whether you like it or not, you're my responsibility. You of all people should know that"
"I already know that and I have to live with that every day," said Snow.
From what Danny told me, it didn't sound like it was Snow's fault that his team died. I could understand how he might blame himself, but Snow was beating himself up more than I thought he would. I came to the conclusion that he blamed himself for not being able to help his squad or he was totally at fault for getting them killed. I know Danny already told me about what happened, but I needed to hear it from Snow himself.
"Okay, now for my next question. How did your men die," I asked.
"…..We were assigned to provide CAS for an allied offensive in Yuktobania. I told my squad to attack our targets while I provided top cover. Then it was my turn to make my attack run. As my men were flying top cover, they were bounced by a formation of four enemy Su-35s that came out of nowhere. My men didn't have much experience dogfighting and they were all shot down and killed within minutes. I just told them to keep them at bay while I was going in for my run. I ignored their cries for help in order to complete my mission and they died because of it," Said Snow.
As Captain Snow was telling me what happened to his team, I couldn't help but think about how Danny had lied to me. I didn't know if he did it so that I wouldn't judge Snow or because he still hated me. I'd like to think it was the former because he would've been right to do so. The bond between a pilot and RIO was a tough one to break when it's formed, though I couldn't say the same for me and Michelle. Apart from that, I was having a hard time deciding whether or not Snow had made the right call. The soldier in me would say that he did the right thing by helping our allies continue to push further into Yuktobania, but my morality was telling me that he should've helped his team. However, he probably saved more lives by making that call. I couldn't bring myself to talk about his choice so I decided to avoid the subject. I walked over to the lift controls and lifted the plane off of Snow. "Can you tell me anything about those enemy pilots?" I asked.
"Just that they flew way differently than the Yukes," he replied as he got up off the ground. "Their maneuvering was extremely tighter than what I've usually faced from Yuke pilots and their teamwork was unmatched. But the thing that stood out the most was the fact that they made sure to kill my men."
"They weren't Yuke Pilots," I muttered in realization.
"Exactly, and after today, I knew for sure."
"How do you know," I asked.
"Because two of those pilots tried to stop you from getting away," said Snow. "Those Yuke aggressors are the bastards who killed my team, and I'll do whatever it takes to kill them."
I still had Snow's pistol in my hand and I leveled it on him when he tried to walk passed me after he told me his ultimatum. I now understood his motivation. I didn't like it but I got it. I still could've done this entire operation without him, but now I had a way for him to get what he wanted and a way to make my job easier. Snow looked at me uneasily as I held his gun on him, but I had no intention of hurting him.
"You're on my team now and I won't have you jeopardizing the safety of the others for your own vendetta. I can easily have you pulled out of this operation or ground you if I wanted too. I think President Harling wouldn't object to my suggestion either," I said as I flipped his gun and held it by the barrel. "You might not like me, but I'm your only shot at getting back at those guys who killed your men. My friends and I have a job to complete so you can either fall in line or step aside. The choice is yours. Nothing says we have to be friends"
Snow glared at me like he wanted to take his gun and shoot me. While he was looking me dead in the eye, I undid the strap on my knife holster in preparation to fight him again. After what I did to him during the first round, I wasn't really expecting him to try anything, but I still had to be ready if he tried again. He didn't know that I had unloaded his gun, but that was so that I could scare him into thinking that I'd shoot him if he didn't tell me what I wanted to know. Now, it would buy me some time to make my move if he did want to kill me.
"I'll join you, Blaze. But if we ever run into those Belkan assholes again, they are going to die. With, or without your help," said Snow as he grabbed his gun and walked off towards the Kestrel.
Kei and Grimm both returned when they saw Captain Snow walk away. They still had a slightly surprised look on their faces. I put my pistol back into my watch and took a seat against the wall I was leaning against. I just hope he doesn't screw this up for everyone. Kei and Grimm took a seat next to me as I rested my arm on one of my knees and contemplated everything. Neither of them said anything as we sat there and it made me think that they wanted to scold me for the way I handled Snow.
"You two alright," I asked and they nodded. I continued to ask them a string of questions and they continued to give me silent answers. I must've asked them ten questions before I finally couldn't stand it any longer. "Is there something either of you'd like to tell me?"
Kei and Grimm looked at each other rather nervously. The looks they were exchanging suggested that they wanted to talk to me about something but were too afraid to say anything. I did just endanger the lives of a couple of people just a little while ago so I figured that had to be it, but they didn't say anything. Instead, Kei pulled out a folded piece of paper from one of her pockets and handed it to me. It was a note from Lt. Colonel Harkin and I opened it up to read it.
Hey Kid,
It was great to see you again, but I still have my job to do. I headed back to the mainland because I got word that your sister is in custody and your mother is under intense investigation. I'll do what I can for Amanda, but without the President, I'm afraid it won't be much. In addition to that, I was also ordered to take your RIOs with me by the President, though I can't say why. Rest assured I'll keep them out of harm's way. As for Lt. Colonel Davenport's RIO, I have some of the best people looking into it. Don't lose hope, Kid. We'll find him. One last thing, I was able to acquire a few USDs (Utility Storage Devices (storage watches)) and some other equipment for you and your team. They're your sizes.
Lt. Colonel Harkin
P.S. Everything happens for a reason.
"Why does he keep saying that? I already know," I muttered to myself as I pulled out my lighter from my survival kit and set the note on fire.
"What are you doing?" asked Grimm.
"It's an old habit of mine," I said.
"Oh, so what did the note say?"
"Our RIOs left to help Lt. Colonel Harkin with something but he couldn't say what. He has people looking into Justin's whereabouts and he also left each of us one of these," I said, holding up my wrist.
"A watch?" asked Kei.
"They have the same capabilities as mine," I said.
Kei's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of Harkin's gift, but Grimm didn't look all that happy about anything. In fact, he almost looked depressed.
"Hans, what's wrong?" asked Kei.
"She left without saying goodbye," he whispered.
Kei moved in to hug him, but it didn't seem to do anything. Neither did her kind words. He was clearly upset about his girlfriend leaving. In all the time that I've known him, I've never seen Grimm this upset. I understood that Erica was his girlfriend, but I thought he'd try to be optimistic about it in some way.
"Hey, don't worry so much. I know Harkin and he'll be back with them," I said.
"But they left so suddenly, Captain. If I knew today would've been the last day I'd see her in a while, I would've told her something different than 'see you later'," said Grimm.
"You will see her later. If you didn't tell her that you love her, then I can understand that. Besides, it's not like she has any reason to be worry about you," I said and I walked up to him and Kei and put my arms around their shoulders. "We're the Demons of Razgriz. With all of us watching each other's backs, we'll all live to see the others again."
I saw Grimm cheer up a bit and I knew I had gotten through to him. We all walked back to the Kestrel together to see what the Intel officers were able to get from the recon photos I took. I was hoping that it would reveal what the Belkans were planning before it was too late. Whatever they were planning, I was ready to put an end to it before they could put it in motion. I just hope our commanders would decide to make our move ASAP.