A/N: Throughout Gold Wings and Honor I have used Percy Jackson characters within real world events: the Gulf War, Operation Desert Fox, the U.S. invasions Afghanistan and Iraq. Beginning in this chapter, that changes. While some of the events that occur following this note are real, I am branching out from them to establish a "new world" for lack of a better term. Many of the global actors will remain the same, but I will be adjusting their actions for the story that I think will be the most entertaining.

Chapter 2

In the British military system, there is a very strict chain of command. Americans just want to win, and the correct strategy may be to speak directly to the men. — Scott Raab

1545L, 4 July 2008, NAS Atsugi, Japan

"Set! Hut!" the ball was snapped and from the shotgun the quarterback took three steps back to survey the field. This was the third dropback of the drive. The first two plays ended in large gains of twenty and thirty-two yards. Occasionally the smoke of the half dozen large grills lining one of the endzones would waft across the field as the players waited for the line of cooks to announce the completion of the burgers and hot dogs. For most of the game, the quarterback had made the opponents look foolish. The scoreboard being managed by a collection of young children revealed as much as the Royal Maces were currently winning by a score of 49-14, and again they were driving.

The tall man with red flags tied around his waist held the ball for a three count before his arm shot forward and a tight spiral sailed into the outstretched hands of an even taller younger man from Katy, Texas. The receiver had been an All-State wide out, but upon 9/11 gave up on the pursuit of a scholarship and enlisted in the Navy. Now a Second-Class Petty Officer, he was an aviation machinist's mate assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 27, VFA-27. Together with his commanding officer, they had torched the Diamondbacks of VFA-102. Every eye on and around the field had followed the ball's arc as it again found the quarterback's favorite target, all but two. A disturbing sound refocused everyone's eyes.

The flags upon the players' waists were intended to keep the violence of the game to a minimum. Most of the those involved understood that it was a vain goal, but what could be expected. Regardless of the violence that had been expected, which for most had been increasingly aggressive shoves or trip-ups, none had expected the meaty sound of a broad shoulder burying itself into the quarterback's ribs before lifting him and hurling him to the ground.

"Fuck you, old man!" The twenty-four-year-old now glaring at the man on the ground had been a starter for all of his four years at the Naval Academy. A talented tight-end he stood nearly six-five and still weighed in a muscular two-fifty-five. His personal pride, not any loyalty to the squadron for which he flew and played, had led to the hit and the outburst. The man on the ground grimaced as he felt the broken edges of at least three ribs grind against each other. Neither he nor the junior officer standing over him were prepared for the hit perpetrated by AD2 Kwazel Bowers for the exact opposite reason as the junior officer. The pride in his unit and loyalty to the command and commanding officer were present as the enlisted man's fist flew through the air and dropped the larger officer.

In an instant every member of both squadrons had rushed the field, prepared for the brawl that seemed inevitable. LT Bianca di Angelo rushed forward with them. She had zero desire to fight, but the squadron's honor would soon be on the line. She could see the rage showing on the faces of the Royal Maces flyers and sailors though and already knew that the fight would be as lopsided as the football game. One did not full body tackle a commanding officer like CDR Percy "Demon" Jackson and walk away unscathed.

"Calm the fuck down!" Bianca watched as, with a look of pain, the graying commander forced himself to his feet. His sea green eyes flared and passed over each of the officers and enlisted prepared to battle each other for the honor of their squadron. The lieutenant junior grade who had leveled him and in turn been leveled still lay on the ground dazed, bruising already appearing on the left side of his face. "I don't care how fucking pissed you get, why in the hell are behaving like fucking savages?" Bianca watched the assembled sailors as embarrassment and shame began to fill their faces. "I understand some people are sore losers," his eyes fell to the still out of it officer on the ground, "but ones with glass jaws and hit like a bitch shouldn't start shit." Laughter filled the assembled ranks. "So someone make sure the goddamn burgers aren't burning and get me a fucking beer."

Two hours later, Bianca stood nursing a beer a few yards away from the Royal Maces' skipper. She watched him hide grimaces as he rested his left arm around the shoulders of his wife. As her own CO left with a promise that they would discuss all that had happened the next day, she made her reluctant way toward him. She had not seen him since her departure from VFA-41 and NAS Lemoore back in 2006. Since then, he had served as executive officer for two squadrons stateside before taking over as commanding officer of first VFA-143 and now his current command. Percy had been the saltiest of the lieutenant commanders and she a lieutenant at her departure. Now? She served as the Maintenance Officer for the squadron and would promote to Lieutenant Commander on the first of August. RUMINT, rumor intelligence, suggested he was only a temporary squadron CO as the Navy wanted him as a Captain as soon as possible.

"Good afternoon, sir," she started, but the older officer cut her off.

"Springtime! How in the fuck are you?" Before she could respond he had another beer in his hand, popped the cap off with his Academy ring, and extended to her. Words still failed her, so he continued to speak. "I cannot remember if I ever introduced you, Zoe, this is Springtime di Angelo. Backseater in one of the two seat Super Hornets. Springtime, my wife Zoe." The tall and Middle Eastern looking woman extended her hand. Bianca took it like she was in a sporting event before remembering that the woman was commander in the Navy Reserves.

"Ma'am," she blurted out.

"Do you see a uniform?" the dark-haired beauty raised one of her heavy eyebrows with a slight grin. "I'm not a fucking ma'am now."

"I'm good, sir." Bianca said formally. He leaned over.

"That ain't what I fucking mean and you know it." He stood up with a grunt. "You know where the commander's quarters are, I expect you there tomorrow night. Seventeen hundred." He nodded and lowered himself into a passenger seat. Zoe smiled at Bianca warmly before slipping behind the wheel of their Daihatsu hatchback.

1745L, 5 July 2008, NAS Atsugi, Japan

Dinner had been promptly at five o'clock. CDR Jackson had met her at the door with a beer and promptly ordered her to call him at a minimum Demon if not Percy. She accepted the beer, but not his order. He relented after prodding from the other CDR Jackson. The Persian food prepared by Zoe had been exquisite. The Jackson children seemed to appreciate the mess they were allowed to create while eating.

The older children, twins, were identical except for their eyes. The six-year-olds shared the olive tone of their parents along with their dark hair. But while Apollo's eyes were near black, Artemis shared her father's piercingly green ones. Charles inherited recessive genes only it seemed. His skin was paler and his hair lighter. Sleepy hazel eyes extended from under his heavy brows. Just fourteen months younger than his siblings, he already matched them in height.

The meal ended and the two active-duty pilots adjourned to the small patio behind the Jackson house. The children "helped" their mother clean, complaining their father was not the supervisor. Zoe had rolled her eyes and hissed "That's because he just does it all." Two cigars appeared from a humidor along with a decanter of bourbon and three glasses. Bianca accepted the cigar and two fingers of the bourbon with ice. He watched the children and their mother inside for a moment.

"How do you keep doing this?" Percy looked at Bianca over the rim of a glass of whiskey. Slowly he turned toward the sliding glass door to his assigned house, or quarters as the Navy called it. Through it they watched Zoe helping the three children with their reading. Percy and Zoe had promised their offspring five dollars for each book they completed over the summer. Surprisingly to them, despite performing better than her brothers in school, Artemis was lagging behind Apollo and Charles. Bianca witnessed the brief pain on his face as he turned back.

"This is what I know, Bianca," his hand reached for the cigar smoldering in an ash tray. "Next May is my twenty-year mark. I could retire, but I don't know what the fuck I would do if I did."

"I don't know what I'd do either." Zoe had sidled up to him, her body lithe and beautiful at forty. "He's nearly insufferable now, I don't know what the hell I'd do with him if he was around all the time." He laughed for second before kissing her cheek.

"If I'm being honest, I never thought I'd make it this long. My great-uncle bought it at Coral Sea, my father off Vietnam. Too many friends lost to accidents or combat. I guess at this point, I keep flying because it's what they'd do if they were around." Bianca watched Zoe lay her head against his shoulder. She could trust them. At least she kept telling herself that. They would at least understand. And, she reminded herself, his tone was really pointed yesterday.

"I… I almost quit. After that first deployment to Afghanistan. I had a resignation written. After what had happened…" her voice trailed off for a second. She took a drink and kept talking. "I hit the booze; I think Reyna was worried as hell for a while. Then you talked with us at the O-Club that day, kept me in it. Decided I'd fly until I felt I had paid my penance for what happened." She studied their faces. Surprisingly, Demon's showed the most emotion. It appeared almost like pride. Zoe's was an unreadable mask.

Zoe spoke. "War's a bitch. Shows us the worst in people and ourselves." Experience accented her words and whatever story lay behind it caused Percy's arm to involuntarily tighten around her shoulders. She reached out and placed a hand on Bianca's knee. "He always had confidence in you." Bianca smiled slightly but felt the need to change the topic. She shifted it to something lighter. The discussed the upcoming football season in the states and from there the conversation flowed until the topic of their children came up.

"Life's a bitch and her stripper name is Karma," growled Percy before explaining that in a conversation two days before Artemis had asserted that "I will go to Annapolis like you and mom and I will be a pilot." He was laughing as he leaned back to say, "I told her 'alright then' while in my head I kept saying 'for fuck's sake, won't someone break the family curse.'" Bianca checked her watch.

"Oh shit, sir. I need to head out. I have a ten hundred flight tomorrow." Her hosts showed her outside as she thanked them repeatedly. After a promise to do it again, she began the walk back to her barracks. The children were ushered to bed and soon Percy and Zoe found themselves laying in bed. James Hornfischer's The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors lay upon Percy's lap. Zoe's voice broke his concentration.

"How's Annabeth's squadron?" Percy pulled the reading glasses he hated from his nose. Annabeth "Buzz" Chase now flew for VFA-86, the Sidewinders. It was unfortunate that their careers had not allowed their paths to cross since the days they both flew for the Gunslingers. While changing squadrons, Annabeth had stayed in Oceana until June of 2003, when she had moved to Japan with VFA-115, the Eagles. She had given birth to her son there.

Davis Chase's father was a sleazebag. Annabeth had recognized that fact about four hours too late. She carried the child to term, and upon his birth named a godfather that she hoped would make up for the worthlessness of his genetic father. Naturally, she had chosen Percy. He was afraid the pregnancy and subsequent months of "down time" where she had not been able to fly were part of what had delayed her career. She had spent an extra year as a lieutenant she never should have.

"She's good. The Sidewinders are a solid crew. More importantly, she met someone." Zoe's interest was piqued. Percy had known it would and it amused him. For all the hardness that had defined Zoe's life, the enjoyment she received from relationship drama was endearing.

"Who is he?"

"Michael Chavez, part of the Filipino mafia." Zoe began to laugh. It was a widespread joke throughout the Navy that the Navy Supply Corps was run solely by officers and sailors of Filipino descent. Despite how much of the Navy was not Filipino, from Percy's experience it seemed that that the preponderance of them entered the Supply Corps.

"Good for her."

2300L, 6 July 2008, NAS Atsugi, Japan

The timing was not ideal. Percy's executive officer, his second in command, was gone. As much as Percy did not wish to think the worst of people, the man had a six-month-old child and suddenly was suffering a breakdown a week before a deployment. Percy more than understood that having children changed the dynamic, but the demand was the demand. A young commander select was being flown last minute from the replacement squadron in California to replace him. Percy looked down at the file in his hand and began to read out loud. She's got experience, but never been in a command billet yet." Zoe leaned against the window beside him.

"You were in a unique position, Perce. Very few people dealt with what you had to." She was referring to his time as an executive and commanding officer as a lieutenant commander, due to the fact that his commanding officer had been killed in combat over Iraq.

"I know, I know." Across the parking lot from them, the doors to the Atsugi passenger terminal opened and newly arrived American service members and their families exited. He saw a woman of medium height exit the door with a heavy sea bag on her shoulders and a flight bag in her hand. With the other she lifted a cigarette and a lighter. A flash of flame and smoke rose into the air above her. Percy opened the driver's side door and began to cross the lot. He lit his own cigarette as he approached her.

"Deveraux?" She was wearing a fitted sweatshirt and a pair of tight jeans. Her brown eyes looked through the smoke toward him.

"Yes sir," her blonde ponytail bobbed as she nodded. He extended his hand.

"Percy Jackson." She took it.

"Lacy Deveraux, Charmer."

"Well, I've got a car over here, we'll drop you off at the Navy Lodge and then into the bachelors officer quarters tomorrow."

"We?" They had reached the car and Zoe appeared.

"My wife, Zoe." The two women exchanged niceties and a handshake and they were off. Ten minutes later Deveraux was in her room and the Jacksons returning to their quarters.

"Well, she's hot." Percy looked across the seat to his wife.

"What?" she raised an eyebrow at him. Percy had been a womanizer of near mythic proportions prior to committing to her. She would be lying if she said he had never worried he might slip back to his old ways. But he fucking amazing in her eyes and could not imagine life without him.

"You didn't notice? Bullshit."

"She's my XO, no I didn't notice."

0645L, 8 July 2008, NAS Atsugi, Japan

"No, Daddy, no." Percy ground his teeth to keep his face from breaking. They were in the hanger bay of VFA-27. Percy rested on his knees, against his chest Artemis sobbed. "I don't want you to go."

Like I fucking do, he thought. He softened the response for his daughter, "I don't either baby. I don't want to leave. I wish I could stay here." Beside a stony-faced Zoe, Apollo attempted to hide the sadness on his face as Charlie struggled to understand. He pushed her back a little and hoped that she could understand what he was about to tell her. "Look around us, Artemis, look at the other kids." He watched her do so. "Every other kid is relying on me to bring their parents' home. They need me to bring their mommy and daddy home." She sniffed and used the backs of her hands to wipe her eyes, but the tears did not stop.

"I love you, Daddy." He wrapped his arms around her and motioned the two boys forward.

"I love all of you, very much." With a squeeze he stood and looked at his wife. It was unfortunate how often they had found themselves in this position. One or the other leaving on a deployment. This would be the last deployment for the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, the George Washington was scheduled to replace her after this voyage. It would not be the last deployment the two of them inflicted upon each other and they knew it. Zoe kept her face stoic; Percy matched her look.

"I love you." He said straightforwardly.

"And I love you too." Zoe leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. Percy stepped back and looked at the four of them. His mother would join them in a few days to help Zoe with the kids; they were flying her out from the states. He took another step back and Charlie broke his heart.

He used the wrong hand. Instead of his thumb aligning with his palm it curled underneath it. Instead of putting his upper arm parallel to the deck, it clasped against his side. But the five-year-old solemnly brought his fingertips to left temple in a salute. Struggling to control his emotions, Percy brought his right hand to the corner of his eyebrow and jerked the hand forward a few inches in return. Standing above the boy, he could see the tears welling in his wife's eyes. He gave her a short nod and turned.

"Maces! It's time!" He walked purposely across the tarmac, refusing to look behind him. For once he turned his back and approached the Super Hornet, everything else was a distraction.

2245L, 18 July 2008, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, South China Sea

"Lacey, get the kids in the ready room." Deveraux looked up to the senior O-5. His head had appeared around the door frame of the state room she occupied. She had left it open expecting a friend from Officer's Candidate School. She had never served with Jackson, but one within aviation did not know Demon. They considered him the best flyer of the generation and she had witnessed nothing to make her think otherwise. They also considered him the best air-to-air killer in decades. The look on his face was not something she had witnessed in the twelve days she had known him. Apprehension did not look good on him.

Sir?" she asked, standing quickly. She wore only an undershirt and a pair of silkies, the short athletic shorts commonly worn by Marines and Percy. Only now did Percy fully notice what Zoe had mentioned the night they met, Lacy was hot as hell.

"You're the XO now, no more sirs." The tone was clear. "The kids need to see us as one. I've got to meet Admiral Lezewski. Have them ready in half an hour." He was gone. She took three seconds to feel sorry for herself, understanding that he recognized that she felt out of place in the role of an appointed leader. She had always been a cog in the machine, now she steered it.

2310L, 18 July 2008, U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, South China Sea

"Gentlemen," the carrier strike group commander, Rear Admiral "Zeus" Lezewski, looked at the surrounding officers. "Russian forces have begun execution of an invasion type exercise near the Georgian border. We have been ordered to enter the Black Sea in a show of support." No one spoke, most of them, including Percy, had spent their youths training for the NATO – Soviet war that never occurred. They all remembered the greatest threat to the carriers was the approach to enemy lands in restricted waters. Was the Black Sea not that exact situation? "We turn southwest at zero one. You're clear to tell your sailors, but all off-ship comms are being cut except for official transmissions. We will sync again zero eight hundred. Carry on."

The conversation with his flyers had gone quickly and Percy found himself on the smoking deck. He was on his third cigarette when he suddenly felt someone beside him. He turned to find Lezewski.

"Can't sleep either?" After his question, the admiral lit a cigar.

"No, sir."

"I spent my entire early career preparing to fight the Russians. I never wanted it to happen, and now, I want it less."

"What happens will happen, sir. But as long you give me a deck to land on, I'll keep tails in the air."

"Does it not worry you anymore? So many kills it's whatever to you?" Percy killed the cigarette in his fingers before lighting another.

"These days, sir? I don't worry about me anymore sir, as fucked as that is. But goddamn I can't even think about not bringing the kids home." The admiral nodded for a few seconds before turning to him.

"You do realize, to me? You're the kid."