Hello and welcome to my first chapter of the Ace Combat series. If you have read my other book, you will have known that I am new to book writing, so it may not be the best and I'm always looking to improve. If you enjoy this chapter, please let me know by favoriting or leaving a review. I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat, only my created characters.
As the sun beat down on the refugee camp sitting under the Space Elevator that had been formed into a fully fledged town now and even had a newly formed Air Force base set up on one of the man-made islands that was connected by a bridge to the main island, Trigger stood next to his hanger holding some of his favorite planes holding his hand up to cover his eyes from the Sun as he watched a small formation of F-16s fly in formation over the base, their roar shaking his soul and making him smile at the feeling; it never got old for him.
As he was standing out there, staring at the formation as they soared overhead, he heard an all to familiar voice from behind him say their signature line, "Hey dumbass, whatcha you staring at?"
He felt the presence walk up and stand beside him and he looked down to his right to see the crazy mechanic staring up to where he was looking while wiping her hands with a blackened towel who had been fixing his planes up since being part of the 444th, Avril Mead, or the Scrap Queen as she was usually referred to.
"Oh, nothing. Just can't wait to get back up there and finish cleaning up." Trigger said to her.
"You seem to love causing destruction a little too much." Avril said to him, a small chuckle escaping her lips.
"Hey, I do it really well." Trigger said, smiling.
"You definitely do with your planes." Avril said, playfully elbowing him in the shoulder.
"I'm also thinking of picking up a new recruit to be my wingman, you know, mentoring him up to become like me, maybe even better." Trigger said as he started to imagine himself mentoring a young hotshot pilot like he once was before.
"Great. The last thing I need is to have two dumbasses who are kill happy and mess up their planes that I'll have to spend hours fixing up along with Count's arrogant self." Avril said, rolling her eyes.
"At least you'll never have to worry about running out of work." Trigger said, looking down to the girl, who gave him a glare as if to say, "Seriously?"
"Seriously, dealing with only one of you is a big enough problem. I don't want to even imagine what two of you would be like." Avril said to him, slinging the used towel over her shoulder.
"Don't worry too much. I'll teach him how to better take care of his plane than I can. Plus, I'll bet he'll be better off with me than with Count as a mentor." Trigger said to her, to which she turned and laughed as she looked him in the eyes.
"You've got to be kidding me right? They're letting both of you mentor you g recruits when you two are already messes to begin with?" Avril said to him after calming down.
"I mean, we are war heroes after all. We should be teaching our valuable skills to the next set of pilots now if we want to expand our usefulness. Plus, how amazing would it be to watch Count have to deadline with and mentor a pilot just like himself?" Trigger said, imagining the laughs it would bring to watch Count telling his wingman to cool it on the arrogance only to be reminded that he was the same way while Trigger enjoyed the show from a distance.
"It'd be a show worth watching, that's for sure." Avril said.
Suddenly, a Jeep drove right up next to the hanger and in front of the pair before slowing to a holt and an officer in standard military attire jumped out and headed towards Trigger before stopping and saluting the pair, to which the pair returned.
"The pilots are starting to near the mission area." The soldier said to Trigger.
"Wait, what mission? I thought you weren't on assignment for a little while?" Avril said to Trigger, confused.
"I'm not. I'm observing a group of younger pilots on a simple dogfight mission to decide who I'm going to take under my wing." He explained to her.
"Well, looks like you actually planned something out for once." Avril said elbowing him playfully.
"I do that from time to time." Trigger responded.
"If you'll excuse us, we must be heading to the command center." The soldier said to them, motioning to the Jeep.
"I'll see you later." Trigger said to her as he walked towards the Jeep and hopped in with the soldier.
Avril watched as the Jeep took off and turned around, heading back towards the command center, "Great. Two dumbasses to start with, now they're going to bring two more with them."
After watching the Jeep until it went out of her view, she turned and headed back into the hanger, "I better get this work done since it's looking like he might be needing it soon."
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Trigger and the soldier walked into the main command room of the building, where many monitors were sitting up against one wall with operators sitting in front of them and a big screen showing camera feed from inside the cockpit of every plane in the small squadron as well as some on the outside of the plane above all of them.
In front of all of that was a small circular table covered in maps and figures representing the squadrons and the enemy emplacements that they were attacking surrounded by a few men of high status being the leaders of the operation with a projection of a virtual version of the mission area behind them.
The soldier saluted Trigger, which he returned and then watched the soldier walk out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Trigger then walked over and to the men and was greeted by the middle of the three men: the base General, "Ah, Trigger, glad you could make it."
"I wouldn't want to miss my chance to find my next wingman." Trigger said to him as they shook hands.
The man to his left spoke to introduce himself, "I am Lt. Aaron Jenkins, the officer in charge of Viper Squadron. As you are looking for a new wingman, are there any questions you have about the Viper Squadron?"
"I have a couple. Who is the most experienced pilot in this squad?" Trigger asked him.
"He is a 27 year old veteran pilot with the call sign Rider. He is known as Viper 1 and is the leader of Viper Squadron and has proven himself as a dependable and resourceful leader and pilot." The man said.
"Hm, sounds like a promising prospect. What about some of your younger pilots?" Trigger asked, trying to get an idea of who to watch out for on this mission
"Well, we have Jax and Dice, Viper 3 and 4, who are both 24 and have some issues with following every order, but they are talented and with some grooming, could be promising pilots. We also have Viper 2 nicknamed Flash, a 23 year old who is a bit of a showman and can be arrogant and believe too much in his abilities to get him out of trouble, but he is a very talented pilot. He'd be more of a project than anyone else, but I'd say he could be one of the best pilots of the future." The Lieutenant informed him.
Hm. Last one sounds a lot like someone I know. Trigger thought to himself in amusement.
"Anyone else you might recommend a closer eye on?" Trigger asked the man.
"Well, the last pilot I have is one I have very little info on. He is a 20 year old who is a fresh recruit out of selection. I don't know much about him because this is his first combat mission. He's in because one of the staring lineups was injured when their plane was shot down. He was a test pilot before joining us and the only things I can tell you is that he is fast and hasn't questioned orders, but doesn't talk a lot to others and keeps to himself most of the time, which is why I don't know too much about him. His call sign is Dos and will be Viper 6. I'd say you might want to keep him in the back of your mind in case he turns out well." The Lieutenant answered him as he waved towards the man to the General's right who Trigger had now noticed had his left arm in a sling.
"I'll make sure to keep him in mind." Trigger said to him, nodding in affirmation.
Sounds like how I started out. Trigger thought to himself.
"I'll give every pilots files to study after the mission to help make your decision." The Lieutenant told him waving to the pile of Manila folders laying on the table behind them.
Just then, the door opened and Trigger turned to see the same soldier holding the door open as Count walked in before closing it behind him after he made his way into the room and headed over to the table.
"Took you long enough." Trigger said to him, jokingly.
"Well, what can I say, I was busy teaching the next generation." Count said to him, smiling.
"You mean exaggerating your kill counts and maneuvers again." Trigger said, to which Count responded with punching Trigger lightly in the shoulder with a chuckle.
"By the way, I might've found your perfect wingman. Watch the kid called Flash, he'd be a perfect fit for you." Trigger said to him.
"I'll take that into consideration." Count said to him.
"Sir," one of the operators shouted from their monitor, "the pilots are 1 mile out from the mission area."
"Well gentleman, time to see who you're picking." The General said as they turned towards the big screen with all of the camera feed.
The General picked up a couple earpieces and handed them to everyone in the group.
"So you can hear the comm chatter." The General explained.
"This is AWACS Bird Skyhound, all fighters report in." They heard through the earpiece.
"Viper 1 reporting in." Rider reported.
"Viper 2 reporting in." Flash said.
"Viper 3 reporting in." Jax said.
"Viper 4 reporting in." Dice said.
"Viper 6 reporting in." Dos said.
"All birds have reported in. Remember, the objective is to gain air superiority to allow the ground units to gain control of the Air Force base below without being slowed from above. We have higher-ups watching today boys, so don't do anything stupid." Skyhound said to them.
"Don't worry Skyhound, I'll keep my boys in line. There won't be any problems." Rider said.
"Alright boys, proceed into the mission area and begin engaging. You are as of now weapons free." Skyhound said.
"Finally. Time to shine." Flash said.
Trigger watched as all of the planes accelerated to attack speed and began their attack.
As they entered the mission area, Rider got on the radio, "Alright ground crew, you can calm down a little, air support has arrived."
"Good to hear from you boys. Commence your attack and keep us covered from the air." They heard from one of the leaders on the ground.
"Roger that. Viper Squadron engaging. Split up and gain air superiority." Rider ordered as the fighters all broke formation began dogfighting.
Rider quickly locked on to the back of a Mirage 2000-5 and fired two missiles, blowing the fighter out of the air.
The rest of the enemy fighters quickly took notice and quickly disengaged the ground forces and began to focus on the newly arrived air forces.
Soon, every fighter was occupied in a dogfight of their own.
"Jax, you've got one on your tail." Dice said.
"I know." Jax said with confidence as he raised his planes nose to gain altitude before performing a high G turn, catching the enemy plane off guard as locked on and fired a missile right at the enemy, blowing him out of the sky.
"Nice work Jax. Keep it up boys." Skyhound announced.
Soon enough, Dos even gained a couple of unwanted guests on his back door,and just as it looked like he was going to go down, he performed a dangerous air rake maneuver, causing the enemy planes to overshoot him and allowing Dos a clean shot at all of the enemies, who were left leaving a smokey trail in their wake.
Reckless, but impressive none the less. Trigger thought to himself as he continued to watch the pilots.
Flash made similar maneuvers to take out three of the SU-35s that had taken off from the base.
"Sir, it looks like they're trying to launch more fighters from the airbase. Shall we blow them up or wait until they take off?" Dos asked.
"As long as our troops are not near them, you may engage while they are taking off." Skyhound reported.
"Roger that." Dice said as he turned his fighter towards the runway and began to fire upon the craft that were attempting to take off.
You would've been able to see the explosions of the planes from a mile away.
"Are the skies clear? I don't see anyone." Dos said as he scanned the skies for enemy craft.
The radio was quiet for a moment as everyone else did the same as they looked for any more enemy planes.
"Wait a second. I've got another fighter on my tail." Jax screamed through the radio.
"Try to shake him." Rider said to him as he was dealing with a dogfight of his own.
Trigger watched as he saw Jax try to pull some maneuvers to break away from the fighter, but no matter what he did, the fighter always managed to stay right behind him.
"Arrghh. He's glued to me. I'm gonna need some help shaking him off." Jax said, letting a little fear escape into his voice.
"I can't help you Jax, I'm in a pickle of my own." Dice said as Trigger peered over to his camera to see him engaging in a fierce dogfight between him and another fighter.
"Jax, on my signal, do as I say and I'll relieve you of your trouble." Dos said, surprising everyone.
"What are you going to do?" Jax said as he continued to maneuver.
"If I tell you, you wouldn't like it." Dos said, turning and making his way towards Jax's position.
"Then how can I trust you?" Jax asked him.
"Do you want to be blown out of the sky or do you want to go home?" Dos said to him.
Blunt but to the point. Trigger remarked to himself.
Comms were silent for a moment before Jax responded, "What do you want me to do?"
"On my signal , bank 90 degrees to your left." Dos said to him.
"Affirmative." Jax responded, straightening out his plane with the bandit closing in.
"Now." Dos said through the radio, to which Jax did as instructed.
Jax banked hard to his left and the enemy fighter did the same, but little did they both know of the incoming fighter closing in on their left and perpendicular to them both.
As Jax accelerated, Dos lined up his shot on the enemy fighter.
Not yet. Trigger thought to himself, watching Riley's cockpit camera.
Jax flew right through Dos's sights.
Now. Trigger thought, and as if he heard him, Dos launched his unguided missile and watched blast off into the air, striking the enemy fighter and triggering an explosion of the craft as Dos pulled up over what was left of the firey craft.
Right at that moment, Trigger made his decision on who was going to be his wingman.
There was a resounding release of breath that everyone was holding as Rider reported in, "The skies are now clear. Ground team, how are you holding up?"
"We've taken the base. All ground forces have been eliminated. We're all good down here Viper 1." The ground crew reported.
"Skyhound, we have taken the base. All Erusian forces are eliminated or retreating." Rider said.
"Roger that Viper 1. You and your squad have done well. You may RTB at this time." Skyhound responded.
"Alright men, form up on me and return to base. " Rider said as he turned around and slowed as he waited for the rest of the squad to catch up.
Soon enough all of the fighters formed up and flew as a group back towards home.
With that, the big screen went to static for a second before switching to a world map.
"Well," the General said as he pulled out his earpiece and set it on the table before them, "the mission was a success. I hope you two have an idea of who you are looking to recruit."
"I know who I'm going for, do you Trigger?" Count said.
"Without question Count." Trigger said.
"Well, since you're the war hero, I'll let you get first pick." Count said, gesturing to the table with the files covering it.
Without a second of doubt, Trigger walked up to the table and quickly found the file of his choosing.
"I'll be taking Dos under my wing. I feel he has a lot of potential and I saw some great maneuvering from him for someone so young. Reminds me of myself a little." Trigger said.
"Sounds good to me. Though it's tough to say no to Flash, I think I'm going to go with Jax. He showed promise and I think I can work with him to better both of us." Count said as he reached for Jax's file.
This honestly surprised Trigger, who thought he would have easily gone with Flash, but it might've been the better choice for him to go with someone different than the way he was.
"Alright, it's settled. I'll alert Jax and Dos and transfer them to your command. They'll be in your hands by tomorrow." The Lieutenant said to them as he gathered the rest of the files and put them in a basket before saluting the group and heading out of mission control.
"Will they have their planes transferred or will we have to give them fighters?" Trigger asked the General.
"Their fighters will stay with their squadron, but we'll let them have some of the spare F-16s we have at the base." The General informed him.
"As long as they have something to fly in, that's all that matters." Count said.
"All right gentleman, you can get out of here." The General said to the two ace pilots before they walked out together and were taken back to the hanger in the same Jeep that drove them separately before.
They were dropped off in front of the hanger and walked into see the usual sight: Avril was standing there tinkering with the planes.
She noticed their presence as they walked in, "So, how did it go dumbasses?"
"We've got two new pilots transferring over to our squad as well as two new F-16s being brought over tomorrow. If you want, you could always tune them up for the new recruits." Trigger said.
"Great. As if I didn't have a ton of work already, I've now got two more planes to work on." Avril said, pausing from her work on Tigger's F-16 and looking over to the two.
"At least they aren't trashed like when we came back from that mission where we came back with the intakes stuffed with sand. Plus these kids aren't as dumb as us yet." Count said, chuckling.
"If you or those new recruits ever bring your plane back like that again, you'll wish you'd been shot down before you landed. Do you know how long it took to repair those planes?" Avril said while smiling and waving the wrench she was holding towards the pair.
"We'll make sure we wont do that again, don't worry. I don't want another wrench thrown in my direction." Trigger said, playfully raising his hands while chuckling.
"It's getting late. Some of the boys and I are heading to the new burger joint tonight, you guys want to join in?" Count asked.
"I'm down for anything other than food from the mess. Avril?" Trigger said.
"I'm all for it." She said.
"Alright, let's get out of here. We don't want to keep them waiting." Count said as there three walked out and to Count's car to head out.
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As Trigger bid Count good night and entered his room in the barracks, he felt stuffed with good food and wanted to hop straight into his bed and pass out, but before he did that, he finally decided he needed to open up and read the file he had been given by the Lieutenant before he went to sleep.
He set the file on his desk in his room and pulled out the chair to sit and study the file on his newest and possibly hardest challenge he would have.
He opened the file to the first page and started to read the kid's personal statement on why he wanted to join the Air Force.
Maybe he could find some relatable info in there to make this new relationship more relatable.
Right now, he wanted to know everything about his newest recruit before anything else.
And this will do it for the first chapter of this new book. I hope you've enjoyed it so far. Please let me know if you think I can improve anywhere. I'll be back with a new chapter soon. I'll see you guys next time.