Chapter 10: Midnight Mayhem
Authors' notes:
Goodalwayswins98: Sorry about the long update time gang… reality hit like a freight train. Good news is that I finished my classes and have more free time now. Special thanks to F14 Tomcat-Lover for his OC Tcat and 'Nite Lite'. Hope you enjoy a certain kendo champion's first flight!
War-Torn Studios.
"Jackson, you're sure you want to do this?"
"Mikey. That's the fourth time you've asked me since we left the house. Yes. I'm absolutely fucking positive. Now go find Dex if he's not up to his neck in paperwork."
"Find me for wha-... Are you gonna try what I think you're gonna try?"
"Yup. Now get your ass over here and help me."
"You're gonna get yourself in trouble…"
"Shut up and grab that side."
"Crazy bastard… Okay, I've got it."
"On three. One… Two… Three!"
War-Torn.
The familiar sound of players materializing in sounds at the spawn point. Taking in their surroundings, Kirito and his friends notice that they are standing on the beachhead that they landed earlier.
"Wow looks like they've been pretty busy while we were gone," Kirito whistles, looking at the new supply depot that stands before him. Trucks move supplies around while players mill around before heading further inland.
"Looks like their promotional idea really kicked off," Asuna adds as the group begins walking towards the depot, "They told us to meet them at the tank depot."
The rumbling of a tank ahead suddenly catches their attention.
"Hey guys! How are you doing?" Nguyen shouts from the cupola of 'La Montréalaise' while waving at them.
The group of ALO players waves as Kirito answers him.
"We're doing great! Where's Stonewall and Aria?"
"Ah they're at the Tank Depot in England, trying to get their M36 back online. "
"How's that coming along?" Liz asks, a glint of curiosity in her eyes.
"Very slowly. They've had to scavenge for parts since Stonewall's so low on credits."
"Ah… is there anyway we can help?" Klein says, a hand on his chin and beating Liz to the punch.
"Yes there is," Nguyen replies, "We're heading over there to give'em a hand with repairs and scavenging. Want to help?"
Taking a quick look at each other, the ALO gang nod.
"How can we not?" Kirito says, grinning ear to ear.
"Hop on then!"
X~-~-~X
"Come! On! Move! You! Fucking! Bitch!" Stonewall growls with each tug on a large wrench, hanging from the underside of the metal handle and using his weight as he tries to loosen up a rusty bolt.
"Need a hand man?!"
"Yeah! Hey Nguyen!" Stonewall yells, bouncing his weight on the bar a couple more times before the bolt finally moves, dumping him on the ground.
"I'm coming and I got a few extra pairs of hands besides my crew too," his friend replies.
"I've been looking forward to try some real repairs," Liz says with determination, cracking her knuckles as she walks over to Stonewall, "So how can I help?"
"Uh…. well the transmission needs to be removed. Start working on that."
"Where's that?" she asks, not familiar with the layout of a tank.
"Just follow me Liz," Nguyen says before turning his attention to Stonewall, "Got anymore tasks for the rest of us?"
"Well, I could take a look at the engine," Lou suggests, "What do you think Dick?"
"Sure, sure whatever."
"If we can get it running it'll be easier to get parts." Stonewall reminds them, putting the bar on another bolt and trying to break it loose from it's rusty prison.
"I don't think we can be really helpful fixing the tank," Kirito says, scratching the back of his head and looking at it.
"Where's Aria by the way?" Asuna asks, looking for the other girl.
"Salvage yard down the road. She's trying to get interior components." Stonewall grunts as the bolt loosens up enough for him to remove it.
"Maybe we can go give her a hand?" Tony suggests. Roscoe nods before looking at Silica and Pina.
"Hmm… I think that Pina could be really helpful," he says, "Her companion skills can help us find the parts faster I think."
Silica nods enthusiastically while Pina squeaks in approval.
"I'd love to help," she answers as she pets the little dragon, "and so does Pina."
Klein stretches before smiling.
"I think she's gonna need a couple of strong arms to help her yank those parts out," he says, winking at Agil, "Dontcha think old man?"
A short yelp of pain exits Klein's mouth as Agil smacks him behind the head.
"No problems."
"Oh uh, hey Leafa?" Stonewall says as he pulls the idler wheel off the tank. "Tcat's got an open seat down in Malta if you want to fly."
The blonde's face suddenly lights up like it's Christmas Morning.
"Really?!" she exclaims, excitement apparent in her voice.
"Yeah. From the sound of it, you'll be his back seat radar operator."
"Eh?"
"He'll teach you the basics. Teleport to Luqa and meet him at the hangars on the south end. Look for a tall guy with a crew cut and war paint."
"Dirty blonde hair," Nguyen adds as he and Liz try and undo the M36's transmission cover, "Should help you find the guy a bit faster."
"Leafa, the nearest portal is over by the scrapyard." Stonewall advises, pulling the eccentric out of it's housing.
X~-~-~X
"Hey Aria! Where are you?" Asuna calls out as she and her friends enter the scrapyard. The hulks of once proud tanks are neatly arranged in rows around them. Various players are rummaging through the wrecks with many swearing as they try and remove parts.
"Guess this is where all the destroyed tanks end up?" Kirito remarks as he watches a pair of Soviet players struggling to remove something from the engine block of a T-34 using a hammer.
"OW! Bloody buggering-!" A familiar voice snarls from a nearby M36 before Aria sticks her head out of the open-topped turret. "Oh! Hi!"
"Hey Aria!" Silica greets back, waving, "Do you need our help?"
"Yeah, it'd really be appreciated." The older woman giggles, waving them up with grease-stained hands.
"So how can a couple of guys with lots of elbow grease help?" Klein asks with a bragging tone, cracking his knuckles.
"Well, the gun breech needs to be dropped so the mechanism can be salvaged, but I think we need someone with a little more lead in their arse than you Klein. No offense."
Agil chuckles before clapping his hand on Klein's shoulder.
"I think I can help with this," the black man says before climbing on the tank.
X~-~-~X
"This isn't as bad as I thought it would be," Liz remarks as she and Nguyen remove the last bolt on the transmission cover of the M36.
Wiping sweat off brow, the Canadian grabs a swig from his canteen before answering.
"Yeah, the engineers who designed this thing actually remembered that people needed to fix the damn thing."
"Definitely better than when I used to command a Panther." Stonewall says with a shiver of disgust.
"German engineering eh?" Nguyen snorts dismissively.
"Overcomplicated as hell, prone to breakdowns, and absolutely no way to fix important shit in the field. Like y'know, the transmission."
His friend chuckles a bit. Liz, on the other hand, was looking at the transmission in curiosity.
"Reminds me of my family's old German cars," Nguyen says, "The first one's transmission was always giving my dad headaches while the second one cost an arm and a leg each month to maintain. Fun to drive but the rest… urgh."
Liz looks over to Stonewall.
"Say Stonewall?"
"'Sup?"
"Think you got a room for me on the tank?" she asks with a hopeful smile.
"Sure, what crew position are you interested in?"
She puts her hand on her chin before thinking. After a few moments of thought, Liz answers.
"Can I be your driver?"
"Driver? Uh…. sure, I guess. Do you know how to drive a manual transmission car?"
"I think I can learn," she answers. A gruff voice comes from the engine deck.
"Cool, want me to teach her?" Dick suggests, an evil grin on his face as he turned his head towards them.
"HA! No." Stonewall growls, glaring at him.
"You sure? Come on, I could teach all sorts of cool tricks."
"We're good. Thanks."
X~-~-~X
Leafa appears at the entrance of an airbase. It looks rather late, with the moon shining above them. Despite this, she hears activity coming from the various hangars, and watches a pair of single engine planes taking off from the runway.
"Amazing." she whispers before a voice snaps her out of her reverie.
"Who goes there?!"
Looking at the source of the voice, Leafa sees a pair of American players carrying Garands pointing at her.
"Ehh… uh… I'm looking for a player named Tcat? I heard there was a seat open for a night flight."
The two soldiers look at each other before one speaks up.
"You Leafa?"
"Yeah?"
"Boss told us to keep an eye for you." the guard says as he lowers rifle, "We were waiting for you alright. I'm Carlos by the way and this is Arnie."
"Oh, pleased to meet you both."
Carlos rubs the back of his head apologetically.
"Sorry about the welcoming committee," he explains, "We got word that other squadrons got their planes sabotaged before the Paris raid. Seeing as how Malta is dangerously close to the front…"
Leafa nods in understanding.
''I see what you mean," she answers, "So where's Tcat?"
"He's over in the third hangar over there." Arnie says as he points to one of the hangars on the far end. "Carlos will go with you so you don't get bothered anymore."
"Thank you!" she exclaims as she and Carlos begin walking across the tarmac. Various planes sit under camo nets with crews hard at work repairing, arming and tuning their precious birds. Another pair of two engined planes are taxiing down the runway towards a couple hangars on the side, where multiple NPC's stand with a half dozen trailers holding bombs.
"Just how many planes are here?"
"We're past capacity, so more than fifty. A bunch of then are on mission right now though."
Leafa shakes her head in disbelief.
"How bad are things here?" she asks, "I heard that Malta was under regular attack."
"Every night; you're pretty much guaranteed action here."
Excitement starts to bubble in Leafa's heart while nervousness starts to grip her stomach at the same time.
"Hold where you are." A new arrival orders, walking over to them with a dog at his side. The German Shepherd sniffs at her hand, then gives it a lick before the trooper waves them along. "Carry on, you're clear."
"You guys really aren't taking any chances are you?"
"Nope. We've already had our fair share of troubles. Don't need any more by letting saboteurs in." Carlos says with a shake of his head, "Someone send a message to Tcat that his passenger's here."
One of the guards nods before picking up his radio and relaying the message.
"He says he'll be over in a few moments," the guard says, putting down his radio's handset, "Just wait for him here. Tcat has a few things to settle first."
Leafa nods before the guard points her to a seat in his guardpost.
"Sooo… this your first VR?" Carlos asks, sitting down on a sandbag wall.
"No, I started out in ALO with a friend," she responds with a shake of her head.
"ALO? Bit of a learning curve between that and War-Torn, eh?"
She chuckles.
"Well my friend used to play GGO and we got lucky and ran into some cool players," she explains, "They were nice enough to show us how to play."
"Did they ever tell you that they got bonuses for teaching you?"
"Eh?! They never told us that!"
"Heh. Yeah, the devs made it so if you have new players in your squad you get a times five bonus of requisition points." The dog handler chuckles, "They did it so people would interact more with each other."
Leafa's shocked at hearing this. Did they take advantage of her and her friends?
"No way," she mutters, crestfallen before she realizes something, "If they were taking advantage of us… then why did they buy us gear and go on quests with us."
"Some people have a kind but selfish heart." Carlos says with a shrug.
"What did they do with you?" the dog handler asks, lighting up a cigarette before proposing one to Carlos and Leafa.
"Well, lots of things actually," she answers as she counts the adventures she'd had with Baker on her fingers, "They fought with us in our first battle, took us on a few raids including a Boss raid and invaded Sicily with us. Stonewall and Nguyen took even us to Paris and paid for everything."
The two players freeze up for a second.
"Stonewall?!" Carlos exclaims, almost dropping his cigarette, "As in the freakin' dev?!"
"Yeah."
"Isn't he stuck in a wheelchair or some shit IRL?" the dog handler asks, flicking a bit of ash off his cigarette. In the background, the sound of droning engines reverbates as a pair of bombers take off.
"Yeah, he told me and my friends all about it," Leafa awkwardly explains, not wanting to tell more than necessary, "A motorbike accident."
"That's right. He does snippet recordings and posts them on the game's website too. If you haven't seen it already, you should watch his Sicily video. Dude gets himself into some crazy shit sometimes."
"You're lucky to be rolling with him. He's a good player, and -I've heard- generally a nice guy unless you start trolling other players." Carlos says with a satisfied nod as he snuffs out his cigarette, "Here comes the cat."
Leafa spots a tall if slightly pudgy player sporting short, dirty blonde hair approaching her.
"Hey there!" the player greets. Taking a closer look, she notices his pilot's uniform and glasses. What strikes her the most however is the player's facial warpaint. White stripes run down his cheeks and nose, with red and black stripes filling in the gaps, leaving plenty of his regular skin tone exposed.
"Hi! You must be Tcat," Leafa answers.
"That I am," the player replies with a friendly smile, "So you're part of that new gang that Nguyen and Stonewall picked up after the Japanese release?"
The blonde nods.
"Wonderful! One of my most reliable sources said that Pact was going to launch a spoiling raid against us tonight," Tcat explains, "It should be a good opportunity to get you up to basic with aerial combat."
"Is it really that hard?"
"It's moderately realistic," Tcat explains as they passed a F4U-2 Corsair Night Fighter that's getting pushed by hand to its pilot, "For instance, there's G-LOC, and most of the equipment you'll be operating during our flight is as historically accurate yet player friendly as they could get it."
"G-LOC?" Leafa tilts her head in confusion.
"Essentially losing consciousness because you tried doing a stunt in your plane and it was too stressful for your body."
"Oh… um… how likely is that to happen…?"
"Well, not very likely with me at the controls. I know how to handle my plane so that it doesn't happen. If you've got decent strength and endurance stats you'll be fine."
Leafa sighs in relief. Her build type has plenty of both. Though other aspects could use some fine tuning. She was only moderately better in health Asuna and slower in speed. Since they both use a similar build, neither could take tank hits. But Leafa had, at least, done some reading on the subject.
"Good thing I buffed my strength recently then."
"That means you won't blackout easily," Tcat remarks before pointing towards the airstrip where three night fighters are taking off, "We should have an hour, or an hour and a half before Pact's bombers get in the area. The plan is to stack our patrols and positions to get the max out of intercepting them," waving an arm forward, "So let's go."
"Alright."
Leafa follows the man across the busy tarmac towards one of the hangars. As she gets closer and is able to see through the partially closed doors, she sees a sleek, two-engined plane with a forked tail and an oddly out of place pod under the nose. Compared to the sleek flowing lines of the black painted aircraft, the pod almost looked like a tumor, something crudely bolted on, but she assumes it serves some sort of purpose.
"What is this plane?" she asks with awe in her voice.
"That, miss Leafa, is a P-38M Lightning," he proudly boasts, "I got her as a rare drop a few months ago. She's designed for night interception or interdiction missions, and Stonewall may have told you but you'll be working the radar set. Her name's Nite Lite."
"Yeah, if that's what he meant by 'flying back seat'." she answers, "How does the radar set work?"
"Come on. It's easier to show you." he says as he leads the girl to his fighter.
"I guess you're right."
The two climb up onto a ladder next to the plane. There are two ladders. One for the front seat and a second for a back seat. They are simple things that don't look out of place in her own home. Tcat throws a leg over the top of his plane, to pull himself up a bit, and then Tcat motions for her to sit in the rear seat as he leans against the canopy.
"So why Nite Lite?" she asks as she sits into the cockpit.
"Because the guys on the ground want to be able sleep soundly at night," he states as slides down back onto the ladder before he leans in, getting almost uncomfortably close to Leafa, gets immediately nervous by his proximity, but the space is tight to begin with she figures. "Anyways. Radar. As I said earlier, this is simplified from the original. These two view slits here are for finding range and direction," Tcat indicates the two in turn for easy reference, "You'll see a blip, then look to one side of the viewing station and you'll see some numbers," tapping the left screen, "Left viewing station is for range," then the right, "Right viewing station is for direction. You'll look between both of these often, and it'll be your job to guide me onto the plane."
Leafa's mind is getting overworked with the complex explanation. It looks simple, but is it simple? She had learned enough to know that simple isn't always easy and easy isn't always simple.
"Could you say that again?" Leafa looks embarrassed as she scratches her cheek.
"Alright…" Tcat sighs, taking a deep breath afterwards.
'Rookies,' he thinks in his mind as he begins explaining again.
X-~-X
{So how are you liking this so far?} Tcat calls out over his P38's intercom, the plane's engines droning on as it climbs into the night sky.
"I had no idea harnesses were so uncomfortable," she replies, squirming around in her seat. Leafa can't help but appreciate her new pilot's gear. It's a brown leather fighter pilot uniform and has a black leather helmet with goggles. The various straps are slightly uncomfortable however.
{Yeah um… I don't know how to say it politely but certain body figures don't really fit well in harnesses. There's quite a few players that gave up the idea of flying because it they didn't like how the straps work but I heard that the devs were working on a way to make them more comfortable for the more casual players.}
Leafa reddens slightly. Tcat must have sensed her discomfort and quickly changes the subject.
{So yeah, besides that, you liking it?}
"Yes, it's very different from flying in ALO," she answers, "I can feel how powerful this plane is and I have to admit that the engines sounds add a little something."
{That's the beauty of the two Allison engines on this girl. Hang on tight!}
She hears chuckling before her body is jerked around as Tcat pulls his fighter into an upward spiral.
{YEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAW!}
"What was that for?!"
{Waking you up and testing you!}
Leafa huffs and rolls her eyes in annoyance.
"That was not needed," she replies dryly.
{Playtime's over though! We should be arriving at the patrol area right about now,} Tcat announces, {You remember how the radar works?}
"Yes I do," she answers as she presses her eyes against the radar screen and fiddles with the controls.
{Excellent, so stay sharp then.}
Leafa begins to activate the knobs on the fighter's radar set, turning the search spread to maximum to cover the most area possible. She continues to monitor the empty screen for several minutes before a couple dim, fuzzy blips fade in.
"Tcat… uhh I think I have some contacts…."
{Bearing and range, Leafa.}
"Uh… one-nine-two, eight miles, lower than us?"
{Roger that? You remember how to get the altitude?}
"Uhh… they're like… two thousand feet lower than us.. I think."
{The altitude's the number on the side of the scope Leafa. What does it say?}
"They're two thousand five hundred feet below our current altitude."
{Roger that.} Tcat replies. The P-38 begins to slowly dive towards the coordinates that Leafa said.
{Are they maintaining course?}
"Adjust more left. Five degree turn."
Tcat silently complies as Leafa feels the fighter banking right.
"I don't think they know we're here," she says, looking at her radar's scope, "They're maintaining their course. Nothing else appeared on the radar either."
{This is going way too well for my liking. Well, let's take out those bombers for the time being. Distance?}
"Four miles and closing. We're starting to get below them a little."
{I'll climb up a bit then.}
Nite Lite begins climbing again to higher altitude before leveling out. Tcat's voice suddenly erupts in a cheer.
{Tally-ho!}
"You see them?" Leafa asks excitedly, looking out the cockpit.
{Twelve O'clock low! Thanks for the guidance missy!}
Looking out, she sees a dark silhouettes over the sea, the moon reflecting off their metal skin to further identify them, one of them even has its external lights turned on.
{Looks like we've bounced a group of Ju-88's and some new crew forgot their navigation lights on.} Tcat mutters as they slot in behind the formation, though why hasn't anyone said anything? Even as he lines up his first shot, the pilot has a nagging suspicion something isn't right even as he gently caresses the trigger.
Leafa looks up from her viewing station just in time for Tcat to shoot at the closest bomber, seeing the large aircraft twinkle from hits before it slowly wings over to the right, beginning a death spiral.
The plane then gently banks right as Leafa hears another salvo being unleashed. This time, the plane disappears in a massive fireball that's almost blinding.
{That was a 177!} Tcat calls out, {They burn more than I thought!}
Seconds later, Leafa hears the drone of engines slot in behind them, and looks over her shoulder in time to see a two-engined plane lining up on them.
"Tcat! Plane behind us!"
Leafa is abrupt thrown against her harness as Tcat quickly rolls the plane inverted and pulls hard, making Leafa have to strain to keep her head up. That allows her to see the tracer rounds fly by the plane. Dangerously close that she feels her stomach clutch itself.
Then 'Nite Lite' pitches into a different direction, followed by another. A roll and then suddenly the plane violently spins almost like a top before diving with gunfire and an explosion.
'Oh thank God this is VR..!' Leafa mentally groans, feeling slightly nauseous from the sudden maneuvers as Tcat pulls out of the dive and rolls left, starting to ascend again.
{You ok back there?} the pilot asks with a chuckle.
"Doing great..!"
{Good! Mind checking the radar to see where that guy came from?} Tcat already has an eye on a bomber trailing smoke. A moment later he identifies it as an Alliance Bomber.
Then he turns it into flying debris with a well place burst, getting both himself and Leafa a bonus kill and a pair of super rare drops for destroying the false flag plane.
Leafa presses her forehead against the pad on the viewing station and checks the radar. "I don't see anything."
{Keep looking. They're out there somewhere.} Tcat knows that one escort is nothing. There has to be more. {Got to give them points. That plane with the Nav Lights on was a warning bell for them. Going to have file a report on that and let the guys know when we land.}
The hair on the back of Leafa's neck stands up and she glances over her left shoulder, finding nothing there. She looks over her right shoulder and catches a glimpse of the moonlight shining off the wings of a large plane, eyes widening in alarm. "Pull low right! Hurry!"
Tcat jerks the plane right and pulls inverted as the Pact fighter fires a burst where they used to be, its nose twinkling in the night as it fails to match their turn. {Nice call!} He cheers, turning in on the Pact fighter. Letting out a burst, Tcat swears as the fighter weaves out of the way.
{Dammit! This one's not an idiot!}
The twin-engined fighter pulls hard to the left and causes 'Nite Lite' to overshoot, and Tcat pulls into the vertical, climbing up above the Pact fighter. Leafa, meanwhile, feels like she's a rollercoaster… that can shoot and get blown out of the skies. She tightens her harness a little as Tcat rolls back over and dives on the slower plane. Another burst is unleashed at their opponent. Sparks appear briefly on the other fighter's right wing before the plane twists right. It rolls inverted and begins a flat spin towards the earth, the moon shining off the wings.
{Scratch one enemy fighter! Leafa, do you still have the enemy bomber formation on Radar?}
"They're still heading towards Malta!"
Suddenly, the sky lights up with anti-aircraft fire, tracers streaking towards the sky with shells bursting in midair, occasionally giving the outline of a bomber for a split second.
{Looks like those idiots didn't do their recon!}
"Did they just fly into the Alliance's battlefleet?" she asks, not believing it.
{Exactly.} Tcat responds to her. {I heard the Texas is in there too! Along with three Atlanta-class Cruisers and AA is their thing no less.}
A loud roar fills Leafa's ears. Looking out the cockpit, she sees a blur zoom aboves her. Following it, she sees it pull up in a steep climb.
{Crap! Those are ME-262's!}
"Wha?"
{Nazi Germany's first jet fighters! I'm getting us out of here!}
'Nite Lite' banks left as another roar fills the ears of her crew. Another 262 dashes over them after Tcat yanks the stick right, and the pilot reverses 'Nite Lite's turn just in time to see the second jet detonate in a gigantic fireball above their heads.
"What just happened!?" Leafa exclaims, looking at the debris fall out of the skies.
{Moron probably forgot that those engines don't like sudden throttle changes and tend to explode when going 100 to 0 too quickly. The real things did that too.}
"Ah, I hope this plane's reliable." she says, gulping uncomfortably. Tcat chuckles confidently as he begins to maneuver Nite Lite into position.
{Are you kidding me? This is some good old American tech. Never breaks down when you need it!}
"Alright," Leafa replies, wondering just how much truth was in the pilot's word.
A flash in her peripheral vision brings Leafa's attention to the dark shape of a plane diving on them, only milliseconds before she's violently thrown around by Tcat's maneuvering. The world becoming a dizzying array of lines and lights. A telling flash of gunfire lights up the night sky as suddenly as the plane leveling out.
{Got that Kraut bastard!} Tcat cheers.
"You shot him down?" Leafa asks, surprised at how quickly the tables turned.
{Got his right engine to flame out! If he's smart, he'll disengage. The 262's engines are fragile as hell!}
"Um… what about the bombers?" Leafa asks.
{Good eye there. We'll try and nab any stragglers sulking around before heading back to base. Got anything on radar?}
Looking at her display again, she sees scattered blips that are converging towards a point in the southern part of her screen.
"I think they're trying form up around uh…. I think the map says EV77," Leafa says with uncertainty as she tries to read the map in the moonlight.
{Well, that's right on the edge of our patrol area. Unless we get an invitation to pursue them into another fighter's patrol area, we shouldn't follow them.}
"Patrol area?"
{Yeah, us flyboys like to have our own hunting grounds for our squadrons so that we don't end up killing each other off. Best call it a night for now.}
{We could try.} Leafa hear Tcat admits. {But I'm looking at ammo and fuel and neither are looking good.}
"Oh," Leafa responds sadly.
{This is Charlie Six-Two can anyone hear me!} a new voice comes in over the radio, startling both.
{Charlie Six-Two, Nickel Five-Five, what's your situation.} Leafa tilts her head, hoping to see peer up and see Tcat's expression.
{Thank god! Tcat! It's Skip! We were doing Night Recon and got bounced by 262s! We fought them off, but we're mauled and lost. You got to be near us if you can hear us!}
Leafa is already looking at her radar and she spots a contact at the edge of her radar cone, moving almost like a drunken bug. Immediately, Leafa relays the directions, altitude, and speed to Tcat who checks with Skip. 'Nite Light' begins to bank towards the directions.
{That sounds like us alright! We got surface control damage. PizzadaHutt took a round as well. He's alive, but only because he had his gun between him and the enemy plane. He's unconscious though!} The voice is clearly panicking,
{We'll on the way.} Tcat informs Skip as Leafa concentrates on the radar, her mind going back to that one day in ALO.
"So long as I'm around, I'll never lose a party member!"
'Onii-chan, I won't lose an ally. I promise,' Leafa thinks to herself.
Two planes appear on the radar display behind Skip's plane, and while there's pilots on the radio channel, there's no chatter from Skip.
"Skip, two planes, above and behind you!" Leafa reports, "they're diving!"
{Not on my watch!} Tcat growls loudly as Leafa feels him throttle up to full.
X-~-X
"Oh man, you saved us up there, Tcat, Leafa!" Skip turns out to be a short guy about as tall as Kirito and looks something the same, "I haven't been that scared in a long time. Saw my life flash before my eyes."
There's a slight quiver in the young pilot's voice. It looks like he's haunted by something.
"You'll do okay there, Skip?" Tcat looks unnaturally worried.
The three of them are back on the ground. A medic is tending to PizzadaHutt's wounds who's still inside the battered B-26 Marauder that Skip managed to land while the rest of his crew had hopped on Jeeps to go to the nearest infirmary. The night was still long, but the bombing raid had been largely thwarted. Still, Tcat had a nagging suspicion and three patrols that had landed earlier were now heading back up.
Once Skip was taken care of, Tcat and Leafa might rejoin them.
"Yeah, yeah," Skip breathes a little too hard, "I got a doctor's appointment later. I'll speak with her about it then."
"Remember, my door is always open," Tcat states and Skip nods.
"Thanks man," Skip turns and begins to head out, "I need to get home. I got school soon enough."
"Alright, give my best to your father," Tcat waves and Skip returns it.
"I will, thanks again Tcat," and with that said, Skip started heading to the barracks to log out.
"What's that about?" Leafa asked, "You know him?"
"My uncle and his father are both in the US Government," Tcat explains, "His father's diplomatic posting had been in Japan, 2022 and… he's an SAO survivor."
Leafa didn't know what to say.
"Let's file some reports and then you can check in with your friends," Tcat says with a yawn, flagging down a jeep for a ride.
"Reports…?"
Authors' end notes
Goodalwayswins98: Damn Air Combat's a bitch to get right when writing but we'll do our best to give you a damn good read! That's one of the things that kept this chapter back. Tomcat… thanks for the help with the air combat.
That tidbit with Nguyen commenting on German cars… it's based off my family's experience with German-made Audi's. First one had a shit transmission that needed constant caretaking… the second had to be inspected on a monthly basis… at the Dealership with the exorbitant fees related to it. They also only ran on premium gas.
Special thanks to Tomcat for letting us use his OC. Couldn't have made this chapter without him. - SirStonewall
Next chapter: All in!