Upon landing I taxied to the hanger I originally took off from hangar A-2 taking note of the other aircraft parked there which consisted of an F-15J and a F-14D sitting in the back. Once my post flight check was done and my canopy was open I slowly made back down the ladder the ground crew had placed and swiftly move away. near death by enemy ace sure pissed off Brownie why not, in the way of the ground crew not a chance in hell.

On my walk to the debriefing I rolled my shoulder trying to get the soreness out of it " I thought these new flight suit was supposed to keep G-Bruising from happening. Best tech in the IUN my ass." I was brought out of my musing buy almost walking in to the briefing room door. Quickly recovering and walking in I was greeted with a man with brownish skin and brown skin at a glance I could tell he smiled a lot by the smile lines on his face.

"Ah, good to see you Trigger names Brad Jester but you can call me Clown." He said while giving me a hand shake.

"Pleasure to meet you sir names Nick Wood but i'd prefer Trigger." as soon as I said that it occurred to me that's my flight lead thoughts a higher rank and I went and shook his hand instead of saluting. "Crap everyone said id get into trouble becuse im horrible with formalities well shit."

"Oh thank god you're not one of those stick in the ass by the book kinda guy." Slightly confused I asked "Is that a good thing?" Letting a smile wash over his face he replied "Oh you bet you wings it is I personally can't stand all the rules and regs, makes you wonder why they let me be a flight lead."

"Actually sir about that.'' where's the rest of Mage I assumed they didn't get up in time during the flight but I only see Golem squadron hear." I asked while gesturing to the other four pilots in the room which had their patches proudly displaying there squadrons name Golem.

"Yeah about that kid me and you we are Mage everyone else either transferred bases or moved to another squadron." He let his smile fade slightly and lean in and added in a whisper. "That's why I may have implied you were slightly better than you actually showed on you evaluations I needed spots filled and you looked promising."

Blinking and letting that info sit for a moment I finally replied "So you took a shot in the dark on some guy who's only flight experience is just training and air patrols over Cranston." looking at Clowns blank face I continued. "Yeah never heard of it either until I wound up there, hell apparently that's where they send their problems and even then they don't stay long. But my happy ass was there for two years so why choses the man sent to the reject base?"

For what felt like minutes after my question Clown simply laughed as he slowed in his laughing he looked at me "Kid do you even know who your flight Lead there was?" "Uh some guy called Talisman." The blank look I got unsettled me slightly. "Kid that man was the one that praticly won the Battle for Gracemaria."

"Oh."

"Yeah and your the only one out of what sixty people that got sent for training with him to not dropout or transfer, I like to think my risk at picking you was well founded." Seeing the dumbfounded look on my face he patted my back and led me to some seats by the others in the room.

Apon sitting a man with blond hair look at Clown and said "Now don't be giving the kid a bigger head than yours already." "Aw come on Knocker i'm not that bad now am I?"

Before their conversation could continue I got a hard slap to the cheek curitsoy of the one and only Iona Jones AKA Brownie. "Ok what i'd do this time?" "Your supposed to be off somewhere doing nothing risky but no you just had to show up and almost give me a heart attack on your first sortie with us!" She said glaring at me, as this happens I could see the other two in the back exchanging money and could barely make out "Told you she was pissed at one of the Mages."

Sharing amused glances Knocker turned from Clown and said "Now Brownie i'm assuming this is the infamous Nick from your days in flight school, but please don't hurt the kid i'd hate to listen to Clown complaint for weeks about you scaring off his only flight member." looking over to her flight lead looking like a kicked puppy she replied "Yes sir."

"Ah sir I appreciate the concern but she couldn't run me of as kids I doubt she could do it now." "So you two knew each other before the IUN?" "Yeah knew her for years grew up together once I applied for flight school she flowed me." I said grinning to myself.

"Yeah I followed you someones got to make sure you don't do something stuped you're always in trouble, and after today I see you still get in stuped spots."

"To be fair Trigger hear did pretty good for his first combat sortie even took down and ace." Clown said slapping me on the shoulder causing me to wince. "Ah sorry bout that don't realize my own strength sometimes." "No don't worry you just hit my bruise I got from pulling that split-s."

"Your flight suit should stopped that." "I thought so too but it didn't so here I am with a bruise." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"That's not gonna work we'll get that sorted first thing after the debriefing." Knocker said but before we could continue the base commander arrived started the debrief.

DATE-MAY-30-2019

LOCATION-FORT GRAYS AIR BASE

HANGER A-2

OPERATION DUAL WIELDER

"Trigger welcome have I got a surprise for you." The mechanic from my first sortie said guiding me into my hanger. Upon entering I saw the F-15J lined up where my falcon would normally sit. "New toy assume." "You bet your ass after you banged up your 16 we determined it wouldn't be fit to fly on this op so tada."

Grimacing as I looked at my new plane I saw the familiar dog emblem of mine on the tail "So no hard feelings about the falcon right?" "Yeah no im still pised you hurt that poor plane." Wincing at the reminder I started to climb up the ladder to the cockpit. "It's not my fault some jackass in a yellow of all colors Mig-29 tried to ram me." "well next time dodge the shiny plane." He said as I settled into the seat.

"So boss what I got on this bad boy?"

"Like before standard seekers but for your special weapons you have SAAMs ." he said patting the side of the jet before climbing down the ladder. "Now keep this one in good condition He said pulling the ladder away and letting me close the canopy. Upon arriving at the runway I proceed to run through my preflight before radioing the tower. "Tower this Mage 2 requsting permission to take off." "Mage two take off aproved."

As soon as i was in the air again and formed up on Clown and we set course for Chopinburg. "Alright Trigger lets do this." Was all my lead said as we flew toward the refueling point the closer we got the more I felt something was off looking back id kick myself over not listening to my gut.