Work of fanfiction
Shinji let out a great sigh as his engines spooled down. He had nearly bought it, too confident in the abilities of his QMAAMs. If Mobius 2 hadn't…Damn. It had been far too close. The scream from the quiet pilot, Shinji's hand twitching, his fighter spiraling out of the way, then back onto the enemy's tail…far too close. Shinji shook his head and shut down the Berkut's electronics before disconnecting his mask and cracking the canopy. The F-15's wreckage could have been his own. He really needed a drink.
He climbed down the ladder the ground crews had rolled up to be greeted by the three other pilots in the flight. A tech was also painting silhouettes on the nose. "Congratulations sir!" he said.
"Huh?"
"You made ace in one engagement! Great job!" Shinji stopped, one of his feet on a rung. Two F-5E Tigers, one F-15C Eagle, the Bear, and then the other Eagle. Five. He was an ace. In one engagement. Granted, the S-37A was vastly superior to what he had been going up against, but…five? He was an ace. Yes he was. Awesome.
He resumed climbing down the ladder, only to be caught in a bear hug by the other male pilot, and swung off the ladder. "Shin-man!"
When the other guy put him down, Shinji took a good look at his face. "Touji? How'd you get here?"
"Viper Squadron got destroyed."
"What? How?"
"They got assigned a target in Stonehenge's range. I just got to North Point to head out to the carrier when it happened."
"Sorry, man."
"It's okay. I just got the same assignment as you."
"So did I," stated Halo 10, breaking up the reunion, "Asuka Soruy Langely. Now will you tell me why the hell you ignored standard procedure by sidelining the most capable fighter in ISAF's inventory when you went out charging for kills?"
Rei answered for Shinji. "The S-37A has a higher performance level than the F-22A. It also makes sense for an element to stick together. SOP."
"Bullshit. You just wanted those kills."
"So it seems, did you."
"Hold it, hold it," said Touji, waving his arms. "Shinji Ikari, Mobius 1, just made ace. That means we have to go to the bar and celebrate. No arguing, just drinking!"
Shinji smiled. Touji did always know what to say, even if it often got him slapped.
"So, what happened to you, Asuka?" asked Shinji, taking another swig of beer.
"Halo Squadron is a Raptor squadron," explained the woman.
"So?" he asked, tipsy newbie that he was.
She sighed. "Look, ISAF's number one fighter in the media is the F-22A, right?" She had taken the news that the S-37A was ISAF's best fighter quite well, considering. Shinji nodded. "So if there was a squadron of Raptors all bunched up, the Erusians would consider that to be a big target. And there aren't many -22 squadrons still active after Stonehenge. Frontline squadrons were smashed by that thing. So instead of painting a big bulls-eye on some highly capable fighters…"
"They have you fly around, keeping up morale."
She nodded. "Yeah. I was real happy to get a -22 out of the Academy, but it's murder on your kill tally. I've got three, and two of them were from that mission. The other one was a Su-37, though." She drank a shot.
Touji chose that moment to come back with a snifter of brandy. "Sound like you really suck."
She punched him and they started bickering. Shinji chuckled and turned his attention to his blue-haired wingman. Rei was drinking a glass of red wine. "Why don't you drink something stronger?" he queried, puzzled.
"I dislike hangovers," she stoically replied.
Shinji looked at his Yebisu. "Good point."
"That is only your second."
"Another good point," allowed Shinji, taking another gulp. "Hey, Rei?"
"Yes Shinji?"
"Why did you join ISAFFC?"
She swirled the wine in her glass and took another sip. "I do not really know."
"If you don't want to talk about it…"
"No, I just never gave it much thought. When I was a little girl, my father always took me flying in his Piper Cub. I enjoyed it. I suppose I always wanted to fly."
"So why didn't you sign up for Istas Air?"
"There is a difference between flying a single-seater and a jumbo jet," she informed him with an amused smirk.
"That there is. So that's why?" he said, smiling back.
"Yes. And it lets me do something for others." She took a large drink. "What about you?"
"Hmm?" Shinji took another slug. "Oh, I guess it's just in my blood. The military, I mean."
Rei took another sip and motioned with the wineglass for him to continue. "Really?"
"Yeah. My grandfather was a submarine captain, and my father was a special-forces commander. I always thought my father was a cold bastard, but he took my mother's name, and every once in a while he was really nice. He was so proud when he heard I was going to the academy. Less proud when he heard it was the fighter academy, but I never could've become a spec-ops trooper or a nuc."
"What happened?"
"He was on the transport plane." Rei cocked her head to the side. "763," Shinji elaborated.
Rei's eyes widened and her mouth formed an 'oh'. Everyone in the Alliance of Independent States knew about Transport Flight 763. A flight of C-17 Globemaster III's, they had been Stonehenge's first military target. That was what had started the war.
"He had gotten some leave to go to my graduation." Shinji polished off his can. He motioned towards the wine bottle.
Rei nodded and poured him a glass. "Your mother?"
Shinji shook his head. "I don't know. Where we lived is behind enemy lines now." He took a sip of the wine, wincing at its taste, sharper than his Yebisu. "You?"
"My parents both died in a boating accident. Father would've hated it. He always told me that if he died in the air, it'd still feel like he was alive."
"I think I know what he meant."
"So do I. You feel more alive flying," said the azure-haired pilot, smiling.
"You don't talk like it in the cockpit," pointed out Shinji.
"We all have our mannerisms. Besides, someone has to keep com discipline."
Shinji chuckled. "Pilots only talk imprecise. We fly tight."
She gave a happy sigh. "I know."
Shinji stood up after gulping down the last of his wine. "Well, I'd better head back to the BOQ," he announced.
Touji took enough time from his argument with Asuka about the finer points of the split-S and hitting on the cute barkeep to throw a quick: "See you tomorrow Shinji," over his shoulder.
Rei also stood up. "I should go as well." When Shinji shot her a questioning look she elaborated. "Before these two get me into a drinking contest."
Shinji laughed his way out the door, his wingman in tow.
The cold night air slightly sobered Shinji up and remembered that he had forgot to thank Rei. "Hey, Mobius 2."
Rei realized with only a little confusion that he was talking to her. "What is it Shinji?" she asked, trying to steer him back to more informal names, not callsigns.
Shinji took the hint. "Yeah. Rei, thanks for today."
"What?"
"For warning me about that Eagle. I woulda bought it if you didn't call it."
"Hey, no big deal," said Rei, who Shinji now realized did not take alcohol well. Either that or she liked him and was letting down some of her shields. "It is my job as your wingman, and one that I do not mind. It is a nice back to watch, you…" she trailed off as she slumped unconscious into his arms. Or both. That was always a possibility. Had to always remember that.
Misato groggily scratched herself as she shambled to the door. Who could it be at this hour? She opened the door to see Shinji standing there with Rei's semiconscious form draped over his shoulder. "What the?"
"SkyEye, can we crash here tonight?" asked Shinji.
"Why?" asked the sleepy Misato.
"We didn't get apartments in the BOQ yet. Besides, I couldn't get a good answer out of her anyway."
"Yeah, sure. You two want the bed?" She ushered them in.
"Misato?!" asked Shinji incredulously.
"Sheesh, just kidding. Just be ready to go to briefing by noon."
"Huh?"
"We're going to secure North Point once and for all."
Meanwhile, back at the bar, Asuka and Touji were arguing over the use of stalling as a combat technique. For Touji's money, it was 'a dammed effective way to get one's nose towards the ground', to Asuka it was the most 'dumbassed move a person could pull'. Being pilots, their hands were flying all over the place as the made points.
Not a good thing when the bar you were in harbored a decent size anti-military gang. Nope, not good at all. You'd really think they'd respect the military that kept them out from under the Erusian thumb, but no, they just had to be shitheads and bitch about how peace would be much better. And then they had the nerve to point out the bombing raid as an example of why things were that way. Asuka took offense and decked the leader of the group.
"You…you bitch! We'll kill you."
"C'mon," taunted the red-head, "Give peace a chance." Snap. The 'pacifists' charged at the two pilots.
"Gandhi would be real proud of ya," quipped Touji as he rose out of his chair with a powerful punch, straight to the nose of his attacker. One down, seven to go. "Four kills for each, Halo 10!"
"Only if I don't get them first!" She gave her nearest assailant a hard elbow shot to the throat and spun around into a kick on the next one.
Touji smashed another one's head into the table. "With the way you fly? Not likely." He knocked another one flying into the bar and blocked a stool that the last one of 'his' set was swinging at him.
"Oh please. I'm a better pilot than you and if shooting down planes was this easy…" She kicked another one into submission. "I'd have more kills than that 'Yellow 13'. Kinda wish I could paint these guys on the nose of my Raptor."
Touji caught the thrust of the stool, spun it and dropped a hard elbow to the guy's neck. "You could tattoo them on your ugly face."
"Dumbass! I'm better looking than anyone you've seen in your pathetic little life!" She slammed the last guy's head down on her knee. He keeled over.
Note to all anti-military gangs. Numbers do not always mean strength.
"Guess we taught them not to mess with ISAF pilots," Touji chuckled.
"Yeah. Now, look, I know it's a fast way to get your nose pointed at the ground, but if you start to rely on it, you'll do it near the ground, and…" Her 'plane-hand' smashed into her 'ground-hand' and crumpled up into a fist. "And boom!" Her fist flew apart into outstretched fingers.
"No, no, I meant as a surprise tactic in high-altitude dogfights."
"Ohhhh. I getcha. You know, you're not as dumb as you look."
"And you're not as bad of a pilot as you look."
"Since you don't see many beautiful girls like me as pilots, I'll take that as a compliment." She stepped closer to him.
"You'd better," he said, taking his step towards her.
They kissed.
Ahh, alcohol and ACM. No better way to get two pilots to kiss. Great way to set up one hell of a hangover too.
Ah. Done. Been awhile since I last updated this, but I came across it when I was browsing through my old files, looking for ideas. Figured it needed to be updated, so here it is. In case you're wondering why Rei passed out so quickly, she had already had a number of shots before switching to wine. Anyway, this isn't likely to be A/T but it is possible. Sorry for any OOC, but these are fighter pilots. Anyway, the next chapter will be full of aerial combat and some ground attack. All you Acecombat 04 fans know the name. So, until then, ja na.