Note: Well, we've finally arrived to the third chapter. In this chapter there will be minimal to no aerial combat; you'll have to read to find out. I'm just starting to get into the feel of my characters, so bear with me as I continue. I'm still a little lost for what I'm going to do for the big plot, if anyone has some suggestions I'd be happy to read them; I'm not saying I'll use them, but I'll read them, credit will of course be given if I choose to use a plot idea. I'd also like to add that when they're not in the air I'm going to have the characters use their real names, not codenames, try and keep up with me. No new ranks have been added for this chapter, so read on!

Base Commander

Captain

Second Lieutenant

Chief Master Sergeant

Senior Master Sergeant

Cadet

Recruit


Chapter 3: Foreboding Messages at North Belka Air Base

(Senior Master Sergeant Guile, a.k.a. Tornado)

I glanced over at our flight lead Flame, joking as we arrived at North Belka Air Base, "Hey, Flame, make sure the landing strip isn't too excited to see you!"

Flame didn't reply, but Terrain gave me another of his remarks, "That's enough out of you; the Base Commander will surely hear of this."

"Why you little…" I began before Flame suddenly singled me out on the radio channel, closing off the others.

"What are you doing?" He questioned in a disappointed tone.

I was surprised he was pinning the entire thing on me, "But he's always threatening me, I was only trying to lighten the mood." A sigh came from Flame and he returned the radio channels to open.

Blizzard began to make his landing as he spoke to Flame, "So captain, we go off-duty after we land, what are your plans?"

As Flame watched to make sure Blizzard landed safely, he replied in a very tired voice, "I've got to go over some papers…the Base Commander has been getting on me lately for not filing a report to allow me to keep the missile diverter on my F-14."

I could see Blizzard getting ready to exit his jet, but first he said, "Alright, I guess I'll have to talk to the Nuggets in the hangar about flight patterns by myself then." After getting out of his F-14 and heading into the base, a few technicians cleared it off the runway.

The weather conditions were the same as always, snowing to no end.

Terrain was the next to make for his landing, and as he went down I yelled, "Terrain, great job on the mission today, I didn't think you'd dodge all the missiles!" No reply came from over the radio.

After he was finished landing, I was next to go for it. I checked my speed, direction, altitude, and made sure to lower the landing gear. The base usually directed us on how we were doing, but this time they must've had something else on their hands. It was a little rough when I landed, and the landing gear squealed as I slid across the icy landing strip.

From above Flame shouted to the top of his lungs, "Keep it steady, Tornado! Damn it, where are those technicians!"

Lady luck was with me today, for I got my jet to land without damaging it. I was glad when I could finally hop out of the cockpit and enter the doors into the base, letting the heat blow over me. The fireplace was roaring intensely, and I made my way over to the pool table as I always do. I set the pool balls up and broke them before really beginning to play, using my lucky pool cue.

A few of the Nuggets glanced over at me as I played like they always did, and I didn't mind at all being the center of attention. As I downed the first ball, I listened into an interesting talk being given by one of the Nuggets, "I've heard the guys in the top brass talking, and they say that North Belka Air Base is going to be targeted for a bombing run, and they sounded pretty damn calm about it. For some reason, Base Commander Harris Layda wasn't with them. I was nearly caught, but I managed to get away before being seen. Plus, and this is the strangest part, they didn't want any of this revealed to the Black…"

Suddenly his voice stopped, and when I looked over I couldn't find him. The other Nuggets who'd been listening to him were also cleared from the room, almost as if nothing had happened, but I knew he'd been interrupted by somebody. What was he trying to say? Black…black…black what? It could've just been all hearsay, but I felt it was important enough to report to Arian about.

I left the pool table as it was, and ran off towards the barracks in search of Flame. I finally found him in a room, working on some papers as he'd explained earlier. "Captain, there's something I need to talk to you about!"

He pushed aside his work at the sound of my worried voice, and he questioned, "What's the matter, Guile?"

I made my way over to his bunk, which was clear, and sat down, "Well…I was playing pool next to the fireplace like I usually do after a mission, and there were these Nuggets…" I noticed displeasure on his face for the name I used to describe them, so I changed my words, "Sorry…Cadets and Recruits sitting on the couches next to the fireplace, and I listened to them as I played a game. One of them was giving a speech about how he'd heard the higher-ups saying that this base was being targeted for a bombing run, but they didn't want anyone to know about it; he even said that Base Commander Layda wasn't even there. Now that wouldn't usually concern me so much, but after that he began talking about the higher guys saying that they needed to conceal the information. Just as he said they wanted to keep the information from Black…he was cutoff, I don't know what the rest was." After finishing, I looked Arian in the eyes to see what his expression was.

He sighed while rubbing his eyes, and surprisingly said, "More gossip from you again! From now on I don't want you to tell me this shit; I've got enough on my hands to deal with. The base is investigating Laskowitz's background for some reason, they've been getting on me for letting you chitchat over the radio channels without so much as a "shush" from me, the additions to my F-14 have been frowned on, and they've got suspicions that Mardo has been into some shady business with Yuktobanian government-type characters; I just can't deal with yet another problem!"

Suddenly, air-raid alarms went off all over the base, and after glaring only momentarily at Arian, I stomped off back out towards the hangars.

If he didn't want to believe me, fine, it would be his funeral if something really was going on…


Endnote: That about wraps it up for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I hated writing it laughing. Arian, a.k.a. Flame, may have seemed out-of-character in this chapter, but it was the only person Guile, a.k.a. Tornado, would've gone to with such important information. As you can suspect from the way this one ended, the Black Magic Squadron will be up in the air again next time. Well, I always love getting criticism, so R&R and stay tuned for the next chapter.