Part III: Bethany's Banshee

December 6, 2010- We're being supplied and reinforced. Some replacements came, Cougar, Smoke, and Rubber. All of northeast Verusa is under our control. We're constantly trying to integrating the nuggets into our squadron. I can already tell how this is going to work out. Cougar's the smart, attentive, teacher's pet. Smoke is the dumb hotshot, and Rubber is the resident asshole. Well, actually Smoke is an asshole too by definition of a hotshot. A hotshot by my terms is an deluded asshole. As in deluding himself into thinking he's a better pilot than he really is. He's watched too many movies. As for the war as a whole, the war is going well and looks to be over soon. We're moving south to keep pushing the Yukes back to the coast.

December 10, 2010- I hate liberal extremists. My wife runs into one of these wastes of space. It was just a normal conversation then she mentioned me and what I do. He goes off on this tirade about how we're murderers and amoral. All that crap. Saying we had no right to be over here. Liked we signed up for Yuktobania! He was one of these people we only just found out was picketing one of our fellow pilots funerals. I told Bethany I would happily bail her out if she took a hammer and slapped him with it. In other tragic news, the Sand Island Pilots were shot down. Funny, I kinda miss hating them. Also, they were thinking about scaling back our bombing raids. Why! We've saved more lives than we've taken...I think. Our strategy has been extremely effective. This whole thing was supposed to end the war quicker.

December 11, 2010- It seems this war is going to take a while. That operation to seize Cinigrad failed horribly. It's strange, up until now there wasn't much to fight left in the enemy. I've decided to nickname my F-35. Hmm...decisions, decisions. Maybe the "Death Scythe." No, too cliche. "Blood Reaver"...nah.

December 15, 2010- As the fleet gathers for the next move, I have finally finished with the redecorating on my plane. My plane is no longer serial number OSFX10495, but rather, "Bethany's Banshee." It has a nice ring to it. Piper, who is a very good artist, helped me paint a picture of her on the side of the fighter. Now when I go look at it, I have more pride in my work and what I've done. The whole squadron's doing the same thing. Beth's really flattered. So I called her yesterday on her birthday and she got all giddy. I couldn't really send her anything because there isn't a mall on the boat. The brass have been real edgy lately, but I don't know why.

December 16, 2010- So I shot down two fighters at a range of 14 miles with a pair of AMRAAMs...oh man, I just found out that a huge operation for 2nd Squadron has failed. Apparently, they were targeting an large enemy facility but it was more heavily defended than originally expected. Some good guys got blown away like Axel and Turtle. It looks like the enemy still has some fight left in him.

December 17, 2010- There was an interesting juxtaposition of events today. Shark proposed to Candy today and 30 minutes later we get a briefing on our objective: the same one that tore up 2nd Squadron. It seems the Yukes are manufacturing some kind of special missile or something there; some secret weapon. Well, we can't have that can we? It's going to be the longest mission we've done. Their saying this is gonna be the third try. Third try? Up until now I've maintained an quiet air of invincibility, especially after Anzia. It kinda went away, but I need to put it up again. I can feel the end of the war coming. I've got to fly carefully, no more hero stuff. If I can survive this, I can live to the end of the war. I know it. Also, of all times, they tell me I'm up for a promotion. Cold comfort. Our mission jumps off in 6 hours. I handed my "final" letter to Dot, who is a neighbor of mine and a member of second squadron. Sleep peacefully my love. May you not awake to find my death's notice at your doorstep...

December 19, 2010- My hand aches, my body is worn out, and my eyes hurt as I struggle to write this. After a long flight, and only our second mid air refueling, we arrived at our target. This place was massive. I remember the first words said after our radio silence. Alien says, "Holy shit." Then just a wall of SAMs came after us. Our Wild Weasels go to work, but there are just an enormous amount of air to air defenses. The nuggets were petrified. It showed when Rubber got hit and was destroyed. We fanned out to try to eliminate as much anti-air defenses as possible. The flak guns were almost impossible to deal with. I stayed to the outside. They'd truly pulled out all the stops when suddenly the flak stopped and enemy fighters showed up. As we tried to drop our bombs as quickly as possible, we found ourselves in combat with better planes and pilots. I think they were Su-35s. One of the buggers got behind our squadron leader. He couldn't shake him. I was too far away to help. X-Ray comes to his assistance, but it was too late. He was done for. Not 30 seconds later, I hear another dreaded sound; the sounds of Stallion's screams as he was hit by a SAM and crashed into the ground. My blood became ice. My new objective now was to down every single SOB in the sky. Smoke goes down. I locked onto one plane, really far away and I fired. It barely hit the plane, but it was enough to make it go down. A second plane passes over to the right. He climbs as the missile comes toward him. He drops chaff, so I close in with machine guns. Then all of the sudden, as I fire, a second plane streaks into my cross hairs from 11:00 high. I ended up by fluke shooting down both planes. Skip, Chaos, Piper, and Comet all come in dropping everything they have on the facility. By now, most of the air defenses have been shut down. We swarmed that place. We were reinforced by Gothan fighters and elements of the Osean 9th Bomb Wing. Now I sit alone, wondering how the afterlife is treating the fallen.

December 20, 2010- After the death of Python and the others, everyone went on a tear. I ended up with 4 kills. Silver managed to get 3 planes, making her an ace. Cougar managed to get 3, Angel really went on a tear and shot down 4 planes bringing her kill count to 6. Shark got 4 bringing his kill total up to 16. Candy brought her kill count to 10. Alien goes from 10 to 13. Spider made his first 2 kills. X-Ray did manage to shoot down the plane that got Python bringing his count to 9. And we're still not done yet. They sent us back into combat today. Central Verusan defenses have hardened significantly. We got into a few scraps in the air, I managed to scrape one kill from that. The Gothans are having a hard time dislodging the Yukes. A Commander Matthews has taken command of the squadron or Orca, as he likes to be called. However, things have been very difficult lately. We lost 6 pilots yesterday. Yet the objective was achieved, and the brass is all super happy.

December 25, 2010- There have been attacks all over the place. It's been real chaotic over the past few days, as enemy planes have been using hit and run attacks on us, and we go on quick attacks in return. We've been helping the Gothans clear out an area of Yuke resistance, called Zone C. Today, I did my good deed for the day. On return from one mission, we hear radio traffic. It was the Gothan fighters to the west and they were under heavy attack by a large number of enemy bandits. Myself, Shark, Alien, X-Ray, and Angel debated amongst ourselves and decided to go help to the chagrin of the AWACS and Orca. We had sufficient fuel and weapons. I figured the enemy would split up upon our arrival. So we targeted some at long range. Only 3 missiles hit; mine hit as well as Shark's and Angel's. But it was enough to relieve the pressure on the Gothan fighters. I told the flight to "banana split", or split into 2 separate flights of 2 (for a 5 plane formation)and fire on any enemy they saw. This helped break up the furball. All of us managed to shoot down 1 apiece. Then all of the sudden, some more come in. So I roll left, and fire a 3rd missile at the lead plane, it only clipped the wing. Then I managed to get behind one fighter and blow him away with machine guns. I was on fire. So did that twice more and the enemy fighters went away. Bethany's Banshee: 31, Yukes: 0. I don't care about the reprimand, we saved those guys. They were very appreciative.

December 27, 2010- Bethany's Banshee strikes again! I shot down an AWACS today. So our squadrons in the air, and all of the sudden, a bunch of enemy fighters show up. Business as usual. But then, I looked up...and saw something out of the corner of my eye. I told Shark I thought it was an enemy AWACS. It was kinda lower than usual. With my eyes on bigger quarry we set off to take out the monstrosity. We moved in fast at 50,000 ft. 4 escort fighters came to engage us. But they were in Su-17s and Mig-23s. Too easy. We just blew through them, then we're on the edge of our seats trying to nail this AWACS. It drops chaff as Shark launches missiles at it, but I push forward and fire at one engine with my machine guns. It just blows up, the wing's on fire, and it just rolls and falls as people try to bail out. A lot of the fighters bugged out having no command or control. 2 remained, and one fell to my Sparrow missile. Orca was still upset I was taking all these risks. Who the hell is he talking to? He has hardly been in combat. Shark agreed. So now I have 35 kills. We had another party that night. Bethany gave me these pills I can take to get rid of hangovers. They're pretty good. I talked to her and my son today, and wished my son a happy birthday promising him I'd be home soon. Frankly, that's just wishful thinking. Our guys in the Cinigrad area still cannot dislodge the Yukes. Jay is forced to endure one of the coldest winters in history; it's getting really bad and our army's taking a lot of casualties. On a more positive note, Candy and Shark are planning for a February wedding though. Why the hell do people get married in winter?

December 29, 2010- Today was the most bizzare day in my life. The war's over...just like that. Unbelievable. Earlier, we were attacked by Yuke ships and carriers. Another battle was under way. We were prepared to fight. All of us were just there again for another day at the office as enemy fighters engage. As we prepare to engage, they break off; the AWACS called in. Diomedes, also voiced by a cute sounding fancy-voiced female, announced in these exact words, "All aircraft will cease offensive operations at this time. I repeat, all aircraft will cease offensive operations at this time. Standby for a transmission from Central Command..." What the hell was going on? I thoughtthat as the president came over the radio. Where the hell had he been? Who in the blue hell was they? What was the other country involved? We did, however, celebrate back on the carrier after a long period of awkward looks. But now, the euphoria has died a bit. I feel sick now. Who was it? Where are you...?

January 1, 2011- Happy new year or whatever. I can't celebrate really. We're finally going home after nearly 9 months at sea. I got a promotion to Lt. Commander. What a underwhelming gift. What was it all for? My combat record means nothing now. The 35 Yuke insignias on my plane mean nothing. I had shot down 35 enemy aircraft and flew some 56 combat sorties ranging from air superiority, interdiction, interception, anti-shipping, fleet defense, close air support. My only reward is survival and my family. Despite naming my plane after Bethany, I felt her soul wasn't there. I've been used by some prick in a foreign country. What am I gonna tell people back home about this? I don't even-I don't even feel like writing anymore. Stallion, Python, Screamer, Squirrel, all the guys on the Pisces, Oriskany, St. Marianne, Tiger, those poor people in Anzia, that road, that endless road of death all for nothing.

January 15, 2011- So Shark actually asks me what I'm going to do when I get home. What am I gonna do...what every soldier does when they get home from war. They go home, they make love to their significant other, play ridiculous games with your children(provided they have one or both of the previous), and go out and get drunk. What better way to celebrate the end to all this misery than with decent food, sex, booze, and childish shenanigans? I can sense land in the distance. Maybe I'll get a tattoo. Nah.

January 28, 2011- It has taken us several refuels, a few detours and such; but we've finally made it home. We got there at about the same time as the 4th Marines got back. So they were playing the themes and we were just so happy to be there. We were all decked out in our finest. Then they dismissed us. I forgot the speech, and I just kinda ran home. Our return was supposed to be surprise. They, the local community, had actually planned a big welcoming party they next day. So it was that Bethany was so shocked to see me, it was like she suffered 2 simultaneous heart attacks. It was good just to feel her...to physically feel her; she was real and it wasn't a dream. But many were as not fortunate as some of us. There were some homes that not quite full. I took a brief look outside as Bethany and Junior would continue to celebrate my return. There was one family that moving out. That family had lost both their sons who were flight deck crews killed in the "Battle of the Pacific Ocean" as they're calling it. I couldn't watch it. Who's responsible? The process of elimination narrows it down to Belka; and they can rot in Hell for all I care. The amazing thing is that no wants to hear the stories. Especially my family...they don't give a crap. I don't have to tell them anything; they're happy I'm alive. Although, if I'm called back into action to kick the crap out them...I would gladly sign up.

Lieutenant Commander Peter "Howler" Moore was awarded the Angel Cross, the second highest medal any soldier can win for gallantry in action on February 18, 2011. He was also the awarded the Navy Cross, the Osean Navy's variant of the Angel Cross, on March 1, 2011. The newly elected Gothan Prime Minister Renee Delahount personally awarded Moore with the Green Crescent Medal on April 19, 2011. He was only foreign soldier to earn Gotha's highest military honor. He and his wife would go on to have 3 more children, one of which was named after his fallen comrade Will "Stallion" Laversby, and became a aggressor pilot with the 168th Naval Combat Training Squadron in May 2016.

Author's note: The band Darts of Pleasure is just another name for Franz Ferdinad and the actual song is called "This Fire".