The Launching of Hope
"This is Striker Lead, landing on runway Bravo 2, over" "Roger that Striker Lead, you are cleared for landing" Shinji sighed as he piloted his X-02 plane over the runway and landed somewhat roughly. The Aircraft slowed down and eventually was taken to a hangar by an aircraft transporter. Shinji climbed walked on the ground as his aircraft was taken to a hangar.
His face showed signs of strong thinking, and his comrades noticed it as he approached them. "Shinji…you ok?" Touji asked, snapping Shinji out of his reverie. Shinji immediately nodded and smiled "I'm fine, just thinking about Seer…and the guys back home…" Touji nodded understanding and sat down on one of the crates that were placed as chairs for the Striker team.
Shinji sighed as he sat down besides Touji, "Anything new?" Kensuke nodded rapidly "Yeah! An enemy base was attacked yesterday by a small infiltration group, it's been predicted that it was from a Japanese organization, although we don't know which one" Shinji nodded and began to give some thought to the matter, but brushed it off, knowing that it didn't apply to them anyhow.
Glenn then spoke up "Captain, you should be sending a letter to Mana as soon as you can, they've been getting worried since you went on the last mission on your own." Shinji nodded slightly before he stood up, "Well I better get the letter ready now, I don't want to make her wait too much longer."
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Shinji had no choice but to type out his letter to Mana, and then print it in order to send it. It was necessary, since e-mail or anything remotely instant was prohibited in order to protect the location of the ship. Also that the ship was not equipped with anything like internet or a phone line, save for the direct line to the ISAF HQ for the Admiral of the ship to use.
Shinji began to write out his letter to Mana, hoping to calm her and Asuka down about his situation and Seer's situation.
Dear Mana,
It's been at least 2 weeks since Seer was shot down and I took leadership of the Striker squadron. Seer's doing well, and his arm should be completely healed in a week or so. Tell Asuka that once he heals I'm giving him back the command of the Striker squadron, because I can't take the pressure anymore. Especially these single plane missions that their thinking of doing more often. They sent me to do one of these missions. Our ground soldiers made a landing on a beach, and the enemy discovered our soldiers. They sent me to shoot down cruise missiles that were skimming the grounds, too low for AA guns and missiles to shoot down. If I failed, we would have kissed this war goodbye and I probably would have been part of the casualties. Seer is more confident for these high-pressured situations, but I can't take the pressure. I was so afraid of failing and letting down all those soldiers. Hopefully, Seer will get better soon and he can take command once more before we head towards the final battles of this war. Once this war is over, I'll come back home and I want to talk to you about something important. Tell Asuka that I've got his back, and he won't get hurt that badly anymore.
With Love,
Shinji Ikari
Shinji looked over his letter and smiled as he printed it and folded it into an envelope. He placed it in the outgoing box for letters. As soon as he was able, he left the base and headed towards the hospital. Once he signed in, he knocked on one of the doors. Inside he saw Meryl and Lily sitting next to each other. He smirked as they waved at him and asked him to enter.
"How did the last mission go?" Meryl asked, Shinji sighed and gave a tired smile. "The mission was a success and I'm tired as hell, I'm heading over to Seer to tell him to heal really soon." Lily giggled slightly "Oh come on! Being a leader isn't so hard!" Shinji sighed, "I wish that was true, but enough about that, what's been going on with you two?" Meryl and Lily began to giggle.
Meryl was the one to start talking "Thomas, Kensuke and Glenn have been visiting us each day possible." Shinji chuckled, expecting Thomas and Glenn to react like this, but not Kensuke. "Why would Kensuke keep coming?" He asked to which Lily blushed as she answered "I'm not really sure, but I'm not complaining."
Shinji laughed, he then stood up slowly. "I wish I could stay longer but I have to check on Seer before I get as much sleep as I can before the next battle." And with that Shinji gave a wave and left the room.
After a bit more walking Shinji walked into another room, where his good friend sat up on his bed reading a letter with intensity. Seer's eyes looked up from the paper and looked over to his friend as Shinji sat down on a chair beside him. Seer passed Shinji the letter without a word, and Shinji took it with a confused look., and began to read.
Dear Seer,
When I heard that you had been shot down I panicked. I can't believe you would do such a thing, you should be more careful! But as long as all you have is a broken arm, then I suppose you'll heal up quickly and be able to head back into that war. Don't ever scare me like that again, never, I mean it! And make sure that someone takes care of you until you get back here. I'm not going to take it if you go, I just can't. Please come back one day, in one piece.
Love
Asuka
Shinji smirked at the letter as he looked over at his friends grinning face. "Never thought I'd get one of these" Shinji laughed at his friends statement. "I guess I'm feeling pretty lucky right now" Seer said as he looked up at the ceiling. Shinji smirked and asked "Why are you still in the hospital room, with just a broken arm?" Seer sighed "They say I got a small concussion from the landing, and that they need to keep testing in order to make sure I'm still healthy, you know how it is…"
Shinji shrugged when his watch began to beep. "Time to get some sleep before the next mission, have a good rest Seer" Seer waved his friend off, as Shinij walked out. The sun was beginning to set and Shinji was in desperate need of a rest, he hoped that there wouldn't be any nightmares on that night.
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In the darkness, the outline of a base with snow on the grounds could be seen. The buildings seemed deserted, but there was some sign of life along the bases edges and in the hangars. A small group of black figures quickly ran towards the gates and went inside the dark base.
There was no noise to be heard, no steps, no gunfire, nothing. The only thing that could be heard, was a small number of silencer shots going off in the darkness.
Then, when darkness came again, and no signs of life could be seen at all. The black figures came out again. "Red Leaf…Mission complete…awaiting pick up of the prizes."
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Shinji woke up to a knocking on his door. "Captain Ikari! You're presence is requested in the briefing room!" Shinji yawned and stretched as he answered "I'm on my way!" Shinji immediately got dressed and picked up a piece of bread to eat on the way.
Shinji's uniform and his rank decorations were clearly seen. As Shinji entered the briefing room, he noticed that there were a few other squadron leaders in the room. A general also stood in front of all the squadron leaders.
"Fighters! The next mission is a crucial one to our war plans. The soldiers must be coordinated enough to attack the enemy's stronghold. We need to send a satellite into orbit in order to communicate with our soldiers and give them better coordinated attacks. It will also give us a better map of the location. The problem is that this location will be easily seen from the enemy stronghold. This will be a major dog-fight between our Air force, and theirs. The mission is not to defeat all of the planes but to drive them off away from the satellite launch location."
"Expect many aces to be present, also expect for the Yellow squadron to be present as well. There's nothing we can do about the yellow squadron except for hoping that we can damage a few of them in order to make them retreat. That is all, dismissed"
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After going into the air and refueling, the fighter squadrons reached their destination. The ISAF planes held over 40 planes of different styles as a total. The Strike squadron flew in the lead with the many other squadrons behind. They had a visual of the large island, and could see the launching platform with the rocket.
The squadrons soon received a call from the HQ at the launch platform "ISAF fighters, we have readings of many enemy fighters coming in. You have been given permission to engage the enemy fighters, use caution and know that any updates in the battle will be relayed to all fighters as soon as they are received."
Shinji gave a slight nod "Strike lead here, we read you loud and clear. All fighters lock and load." Shinji began to lead his squadron on a pathway around the island as he searched for the enemy fighters.
It wasn't long before the horizon began to fill up with many black dots that grew larger, and received the shape of many planes. Shinji's eyes hardened as he saw the many enemy fighters nearing the launch site. "All fighters, scramble! Traffics gonna be heavy out here, so try to cover for each other." The many ISAF fighters soon broke off from the formation.
"The Eurasian fighters have brought the Yellow squadron with them, use caution" Shinji exclaimed as he piloted his aircraft towards a yellow nosed fighter. "Remember, they can transform and can have a strong advantage when transformed." As Shinji fired a missile at his yellow nosed target, the fighter transformed and shot the missile before it got too close.
Shinji frowned as he tried to think of another strategy in order to shoot down that strange aircraft. The Yellow squadron fighter was in it's humanoid form and was firing at Shinji while hovering in a stationary spot in the air. Shinji's eyes suddenly widened as he dived in order to fly below the yellow squadron fighter's position.
Shinji suddenly pulled up and fired on the enemy above him, using missiles and bullets. The Yellow squadron fighter had no choice but to adjust before it fired on the missile, but it was too late anyway. The bullets made their mark and the missile hit one of the legs of the fighter.
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Yellow Squadron Fighter "Damn! I'm hit! Who was it that shot me!?" The injured plane tried to fly away from the attack and could barely move away thanks to having only one leg with the thrusters. "It's that one! The new squadron of fighters, we've already seen them! They can't be underestimated!"
"All Yellow squadron fighters pull back and engage from a distance if possible"
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"A Yellow squadron fighter was hit, it's slowly retreating with a blasted thruster, who's kill was that?" Shinji smirked as he heard this, and pulled his fighter towards another enemy plane as he fired a missile. The plane exploded in a ball of orange flames, with some shrapnel falling from what was left.
"3 fighters are heading towards the launch, stop their advance!" Shinji was about to call in but another fighter beat him to it, "Glenn here, we'll take care of it Shinji! Touji, Thomas your with me!"
Glenn took pulled his plane towards the launch platform and noticed a squadron of three F-18 Eurasian planes heading towards the rocket. "Touji, Thomas, this should be easy. We'll meet them head on and fire with our missiles and guns." Glenn did as he said and flew head on with the Eurasian planes.
"Open Fire!" A barrage of missiles and bullets were soon sent towards the three F-18's. A number of explosions could be heard as the three planes exploded beside each other.
"That wasn't hard at all!" Glenn said as he flew away from the wreckage.
"All fighters, we need fighters to head towards the west, a squad of bombers are heading this way!" Touji checked his radar and after flicking a few switches shook his head and called in "My scope shows negative, I don't see anything" "They're there all right, but they're stealth fighters, head towards the west quickly."
Shinji called in "I can't get going, I have to fight the Yellow squadron, Touji and Kensuke will stay with me. Glenn, I want you to take Thomas with you to take out those bombers." "Roger that Captain, we're on our way!"
Shinji looked back at the retreating two fighters, and saw them change their bearing. Shinji continued to patrol the airspace around the launch site followed by Kensuke and Touji. "Hey Knight! How is the mission going? Will it be over soon?"
Shinji shook his head "Doesn't matter. We just need to fight the enemy off and survive." "Roger that, I understand"
"This is AWACS unit Sky-Eye. All fighter pilots, we the launch will begin in 1 minute 30 seconds. A new flight of enemy planes are on their way to the launch site from all sides. Attack them immediately! This launch must succeed!"
"All right people! You heard him, split up and head towards the enemy planes. Engage at will!" Shinji shouted through as he piloted his plane towards the edge of the island in order to get a glimpse of the incoming enemy.
"Glenn do you have a visual?" "Negative! Nothing so far, let's keep going though, they should be at a high altitude!" "Roger."
Glenn held the throttle to his plane and kept it as steady as possible at the high speeds he was reaching. It wouldn't be long before they came head on with the enemy bombers. At that thought, he noticed five black lines.
"I've got a visual!" He yelled, "I see them too, confirmed five B-2 stealth bombers approaching at high speeds" "Roger that Thomas, open fire once their in range and then we'll circle around to finish them off!" "Roger that, Fox 2!"
The two X-02 planes fired off a missile each. It hit dead on and two B-2 bombers began to lose altitude with flaming cockpits. The three remaining bombers continued on, unhindered by the sight of their downed comrades. Glenn and Thomas circled around easily before trying to catch up with their targets.
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Enemy Bomber "We've got bogeys on our tail, we can't hold them off!" "Stop worrying, pull yourself together and initiate evasive maneuvers!"
The three remaining bombers began to separate from each other, and increased their speed. "If we can outrun them, then there's nothing to worry about" The two X-02 planes could be seen raising altitude. "Why are they going up?" "Don't worry, maybe they've given up, just concentrate on you're mi-" The console on the Bomber captains plane began to beep.
"I've been locked on…" He whispered to himself as he checked his visual radar. The two X-02 planes were now lowering their altitude in a 45 degree angle dive. Their speed was enough to catch up with the bombers and they had locked on to the lead bomber.
"damn…"
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"Splash one bogey!" Glenn said as his missile hit the bomber. "Thomas here, in position and locked on, Fox 2!" Another missile could be seen penetrating the outer hull of the second B-2 bomber, along with the explosion of the engine. The last B-2 bomber went down without any other problems.
"This is Glenn, Striker 5, to Sky-Eye. Enemy bombers destroyed, returning to the launch site." "Roger that, confirmed kill on the enemy bombers, the launch is in 30 seconds, you might want to hurry up" "Will do!"
Shinji flew around the launch site to continually check for damages, but found none and returned to searching from enemy fighters. "Sky-Eye to Striker 2, Pull out from the launch site, 15 seconds to launch!" "Roger!"
Shinji pulled his plane away from the launch site but made sure to get a good few of the launch. He could see the white clouds begin to form at the bottom of the rockets. And then the countdown was heard.
"Launch in T-minus, 8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1.…Ignition!"
Soon the white rocket began it's launch and raised from the platform slowly but began to raise speed and altitude. Shinji never looked away, and kept looking until only the long trail of white smoke could be seen in the end.
"This is the Control Center, the launch is successful!" Over the background, the voices of the rest of the control center could be heard whooping and cheering. "Great job pilots!"
Shinji smiled and flew around a few more times, seeing that the enemy was beginning their retreat. "Should we follow?" Called in Jessie, "No, don't go after them. We've done enough for today…"
"Roger that Striker lead" Shinji looked back at the sky and then focused and organizing the planes so that they could return to their bases in one piece. "Hey Shinji!" Shinji looked at his radio as he returned "You shouldn't be using the name for a commanding officer Hacker, but what is it?" "Did you see that F-22 fighter? The one that took down a large amount of enemy fighters?"
Shinji looked back at his recent memory of the battle and noticed that there was another call that another yellow squadron fighter had taken damage. It was just after Shinji had gotten a hit on another yellow squadron fighter.
"Sky-Eye, this is Striker lead, who was the other fighter that shot a yellow squadron fighter?" "Mobius 1, the black F-22 with a ribbon on it's wings" "Roger that Sky-Eye, much obliged."
"Someone out there talkin about me?" Shinji laughed as he flew his plane beside the only black F-22 in the entire Air Force. "Striker lead here, just here to say good job Mobius 1" "Roger that Striker lead, same to you"
As the fighters returned to their bases, a call came through from the Mobius 1. "Uh…Captain Ikari?" "Yes Mobius 1, something on your mind?" "They've just told me that I'm to be stationed at you're base for a while, I'll need some help in finding the base though."
"No problem Mobius 1, just fall into our formation, and we'll get you there safe and sound." "Roger thanks a lot Captain." Shinji smiled as he looked back to see the black fighter fall into formation with the rest of the group.
"I what Seer's gonna think, having an ace like Mobius 1 in our formation, and him in a hospital bed." The black F-22 seemed to falter a bit before a voice came up "Oh come on, I really don't think I'm that good…" Jessie's laugh could be heard through the speaker "I never expected the great Mobius 1 to be a shy and modest fighter pilot."
Mobius 1 laughed nervously as Shinji began to speak "Don't worry about it, besides this'll just make Seer want to get back into the air quicker. You better watch out, Seer could be just as good as you if he gets the chance." "I get the feeling the same could be said about you, Captain Ikari."
Shinji grinned but did not answer, he didn't feel the need to.
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After the formation had made their landings, each of the pilots went out to meet with the Mobius 1 pilot. The said pilot was climbing down the ladder to his cockpit when everyone went to meet him. The pilot took off his helmet to show a head of short brown hair, and a roughly shaven chin. He looked over at the other pilots and grinned as he walked over to them.
"1st Lieutenant David Bartlett at your service" He said as he saluted. "Welcome to the base Lt. Bartlett" Shinji stated as he returned the salute. "Hope you have a good time while stationed here."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Touji here, and we've got some news for you. Seer's back in business and he's taken the lead once more. What's more is that we're receiving new planes to test out. Nothing but surprises, because we also have a new location to get to. Another country has decided to start to try and take over the world with all the chaos that's going on. It's up to the Striker squadron to take care of this new problem, but it won't be easy. This time we have a couple of new allied countries in order to help us out. As for David Bartlett, the famous Mobius 1, he'll continue to make a name for himself around ISAF HQ while we make a name for ourselves in this new war. Hope to see you there!
Sorry this is really late…I'm doing badly in organizing enough for this. I'm starting to get tired to but I know that writing is something that I'll keep working on.