Chapter Six
Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat (Urge to kill RISING).
2 months later… Kevin is on a plane heading to Hierlarck Air Base for his fighter pilot training. He looks out the window and sees nothing but white frost. No sign of life presented itself out there. Kevin thought it was no surprise, since the base was located in South Belka, not too far from where the seven nuclear bombs exploded fifteen years ago. He had already been on the plane for a number of hours. His legs were getting stiff and his back was starting to where out the cushion on his seat. After he graduated from the academy, Kevin returned to Plymouth for a nice summer break. It felt good to be around familiar faces again, congratulating him on his success. But they weren't just honoring him, Henry had also returned from graduating the army academy and came home for some well deserved relaxation. The two talked and exchanged stories. When Kevin mentioned his acquaintances with Kei, Henry made a remark that she was his girlfriend, which made Kevin respond that he would stomp him into the ground if he didn't shut up. Henry knew that tone of voice. It was the tone that warned you to stop before trouble would happen, and he did shut his mouth. In a little over a month, Henry had to leave to receive further training at boot camp, leaving Kevin to man the fort. It wasn't until Henry left again did Kevin considered him a sort of brother.
While on the plane, Kevin failed to see hide or hair of either Nagase or Victor. He guessed that they were somewhere in the back half compartment of the plane. All the piloting graduates where required to return to the academy campus and be shuttled to the airport to be taken to the base. He just figured that they got on first and were sent somewhere to the back so as to not create any blockades. He was one of the last to enter the plane, so he had to sit near the front. The entire flight basically sucked since there was no movie, no entertainment period. They did receive a lunch, but it wasn't very good. Plus, the guy sitting next to Kevin spent the whole time reading some magazines quietly to himself. He didn't seem to have noticed Kevin in the slightest bit, and that was fine with Kevin.
Overall, their was probably about 100 graduates who decide to become fighter pilots and they were all packed into this tiny plane for God knows how many hours. Kevin thought that he had to get used to hit. After all, he will probably be sitting in a tiny cockpit for hours with hardly anything to do, but listen to his instructor babble on and on. He also thought they the military should have at least flown them first class since the flight was so long and boring, and it wasn't as if they were going to some beautiful beach for fun. But what could he do about it?
The plane finally landed on the icy runway, with a landing that was surprising smooth as it was. For a summer month, it was still pretty cold on the base. Everyone was told to keep a warm jacket with them on the plane and no one regretted doing it. Everybody was then moved to a nearby building that was heated and there was a nice, hot bowl of soup at each place of the tables. It was a warm welcome for everyone who sat down and ate the bowls hungrily. After they ate, a man in full uniform stood in the middle of the tables, ordering everyone to be silent. He then paced around the room, giving his special speech he always gave to the new meat.
"Attention now nuggets and get used to being called that. For now on that what you all are. Rookies, wet behind the ears and then some. First off I would like to congratulate all of you for making it this far. You are not here on vacation, or make snow angels, or build Frosty the damn Snowman. You are here to become our finest, our warriors in the air. To come to Osea's aid whenever she needs you. I'm not going to lie to you nuggets. The next two years are going to be two of the hardest in your lives. But if you overcome the challenges and keep your nose clean, then you just might make it. I suggest you all get a good night because tomorrow, it all begins. I wish you the best of luck gentlemen and ladies."
He then left the room and another officer started speaking. He commanded everyone to come to the table that had the first letter of their last name on it and sure enough, some of the empty tables had little signs marked a letter to another letter. Kevin got up and went to the table that had the sign F-J with seven other nuggets. He saw Kei at another table labeled K-O with ten other nuggets. She sat at the farthest end, looking out one of the windows at the dark, chilly night. An officer then came by the table and placed some envelopes on it, each with a name on the front. Kevin grabbed his and opened it up, pulling out the contents of it. All that was in there were a key and a two pieces of paper. The key was obviously to his room, B28, while one paper was a map of the base and the other contained the rules of conduct, the legal mumbo jumbo and ect. The officer that spoke earlier said that they all were to met in hangar A at O800 hours. Everyone then got up again and exited the doors.
The night was freezing as the nuggets made their way through the light snow on the ground to the housing center 50 feet from the mess hall. Before these new rookies came, there were only 79 pilots training at the base. Now that number was over twice as much despite the fact that the base was getting fewer and fewer students each year since the Belkan Conflict ended. The housing center use to hold a larger number of students, but now the extra space was being used for a large leisure lounge at the top floor with all the walls taken out. The rest of the space was used for storage of smaller items and materials.
Kevin arrived at the door of room B28 and opened it to find his roommate already inside. Though their was enough room now to give each nugget his or her own room, the base still kept them in two to a room, to sustain old military procedure and to help connect the pilots to one another. His roommate was an older man who didn't graduate with his class. He actually got here the day before from another airbase to retrieve pilot training. He spent his time at the other air base as a mechanic to help learn and understand the parts of the planes. He looked like he was in his mid to late twenty's, with sleek, black hair and a smile on his face. He was setting up a radio on the desk when Kevin walked in and when he did, the stranger greeted him. "Hey man. You must be one of those recent academy grads. I guess where roomies for the next two years so we better get use to each other. By the way I'm Alvin Davenport, but you can call me Chopper." The two shook hands and Kevin started to unpack on the other bed while Chopper was unrolling a poster of some rock band. The rest of the night was spent with Chopper going on and on about bands and crap. All Kevin could do was lay there and pretend to listen. When it started to get late, Chopper took out a cd and placed it inside his radio. Then music started to blare from the speakers, it was a rock song that Kevin never heard before. "Man I love listening to this, Face on the Coin. This always calms me down and with training starting tomorrow; we're going to need to be as relaxed as ever for what's coming ahead." Kevin just continued to lie there with the pillow over his head to drown out the noise. He was tired and wanted to sleep, and most importantly, he wanted to punch out Chopper's lights. The music finally ended and Chopper turned off the lights with a hardy "Good night" and retired to bed. Kevin finally got his peace and eventually closed his eyes and escaped to dreamland.
The next day… Kevin woke up to the sound of a siren, the bases own alarm clock to get the nuggets out of bed. Both Kevin and Chopper got on their clothes and left to the mess hall for breakfast. Kevin found an empty table where he sat to eat his bacon and eggs and was then joined by his chatty roommate.
"Wonder what they have planned for us today. No one here really knows much of anything, so it wouldn't be anything too difficult." said Chopper.
"Who knows? It's only a matter of time before we get the hang of everything and we're doing the fun stuff." replied Kevin.
"You're probably right Kev, and after two years of rolling and whatnot, we'll all be assigned to our bases of operation and serve our country. Man, I can't wait."
After breakfast, all the new nuggets arrived at Hangar A, where inside was a number of desks with an envelope on each, and in the front were one of the most beautiful things Kevin ever saw. It was a fully armed F-15 Eagle sitting their like a piece of art on display. The cadets took their seats according to the names on each envelope and listened to the instructor between them and the jet fighter. It was the same man who spoke to them in the mess hall last night.
"Alright settle down nuggets. I'm sure you're all itching to sit in the cockpit of one of these babies, but before that happens, you have to learn what makes it tick. During the next couple of weeks, you will be learning the insides and outs of this machine. By the end, you all will be able to build one in your sleep. Now about your little presents sitting in front of you, their not keys to a new BMW, and their certainly not housewarming gifts. They contain your callsign, the name that you will be known by for the rest of your miserable lives. You will be referred to this name in both the air and ground, and if you don't like it, tough. Inside is also where you will be grouped. Since there is an even hundred of you, there will be five groups of twenty. You are to report to your instructor who holds the same number as your group. That is all." He then left to his right and was exiting the hangar.
Everyone then began opening their envelopes and seeing what their new names and groups were. Kevin opened his and read his paper, which mostly contained a bunch of military procedure crap which he was getting tired of reading. He got to his assigned nickname and it brought him back to past. To a night when he was ten years old, when he was walking home and was met by bullies. Of a night tat rained and thundered, and of which he was protected by a fire. A fire that inspired him to become the man that he is now. He read his name again and thought it sounded appropriate for him, that it captured the moment that changed his life. His callsign was Blaze and he liked the sound of it.
Kevin was also assigned to group five and made his way to the officer holding the number five. Kevin was glad to see some familiar faces in his group. Victor was there, with more weight added to his body. Nagase was also assigned to his group where he was met with a soft hello and smile from her. And also to Blaze's discomfort, that loudmouth Alvin was in his group as well. He really didn't know the rest of the people in his group, but it wasn't as if it really mattered. When all twenty nuggets got to their instructor, they were told to follow him into another hangar. They followed him through the cold morning air until the arrived at Hangar E, where there was another F-15 inside with twenty other desks and a TV screen. For the rest of the day, the nuggets watched a video presentation of the plane and its parts and were shown the mechanics of the jet inside. Through all this everyone was taking notes 20 pages long and fried brains. The whole lesson ended for the day and the cadets were excused for dinner.
At the mess hall, Kei asked Kevin to sit with her and Victor and catch up a little. Kevin felt a bit awkward at the question, but obliged and found a table for the three of them to eat. Victor was talking about his brother who might get into Memphis University on a football scholarship, when they were visited by Blaze's roommate. He had his usual smile on and was humming some tune.
"So are you going to introduce me Kevin or am I going to have to do the honors?"
"You two know each other?" asked Nagase.
"Yeeeah. This is my current roommate Alvin. Alvin, these are Victor Sweeny and Kei Nagase." replied Kevin.
"I said you can call me Chopper, and speaking of the name. That's my callsign so get used to calling me that."
"Wait, you actually got that as your nickname? How?" asked Kevin.
"The commander at the base who sent me here requested that they call me that. I don't think I could respond to any other moniker."
"It fists you well, but I got another name I would like to call you." whispered Blaze to himself.
"They gave me the moniker Edge. I don't even know what it means."
"Mine is Sting. Hey Kevin, what callsign did they assign you?" said Victor.
Kevin then looked right at Victor and at that moment, the lights in the wall flickered a little for a few seconds then returned to normal. "It's Blaze."
"I think it suits you well. I've seen the way you fight and play football, your like a fire that can't be put out." replied Nagase.
The rest of the evening was just harmless chitchat among the four pilots. They returned to the dorms and went up to the lounge to play some pool. Nagase and Kevin versus Chopper and Victor. Twenty dollars was on the line in that game. Money that could have been better spent for Victor and Chopper who lost after Blaze knocked in the eight ball to seal the victory. Nagase was surprised that Kevin even decided to play. She never saw him play before nor had a clue that he was good. Here was a lot she didn't know about him and he hardly knew a thing about her. For the rest of the night, the four watched sportsforum on TV until I started to get late. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm turning in for the night." said Blaze.
"That's probably a good idea. I want to keep my eyes open for these lessons for once. Good night." said Kevin. Which was met by a "good night" from both Nagase and Chopper. The four turned in and slept soundly under the clear night sky.
The next couple of weeks were basically the same. The nuggets learned about the fighters. About the engines, wing details, fuel mechanisms, ect. They then moved up to cockpit control. Learning the joystick controls, the HUD, and all the other instruments that were at their fingertips. It took a while for everyone to understand everything, everyone but Chopper who served as a mechanic, so he had a bit of a head tart on everyone. The weeks dragged on and on into the months. It had been three months since they all arrived at the base, and not one of them has even taken a plane off the ground. But all that would change sooner than they thought.
"Okay, today you're all going to do what I know you've been wanting since you got here. To take the controls and fly one of these babies." said one instructor. Behind them laid six fighter jets, three of them Hawks and the other three being F-16's. The hawks were not exactly what most of them thought they were going to fly, but at least it was better than knowing what made it stay in the air. Each nugget would be accompanied by an instructor three at a time and they would fly around for about 10-15 minutes then land and let the next person fly. It all could have gone smoother without some shaky takeoffs and landings and flying maneuvers, but nobody got killed and that was always the prize when nuggets first get their feet wet. Blaze was actually one of the better ones. Nagase was a little nervous about the controls, but overall it wasn't too bad. Victor landed way too fast and Chopper got a little too close to his instructor's plane and a building during his first flight. They kept doing this over and over for two weeks until everybody could takeoff, land, turn and keep their plane straight. They then moved on to more advanced turns, loops, rolls, ect. This obviously took more time. Then they learned and practiced weapons usage and handling. Then they started taking more up with them at a time to learn squad base maneuvers and tactics. All this took about 8 months until the base instructors felt that they were ready for the next level of their training.
The nuggets next test was live target simulated combat exercises. It was actually pretty simple; an instructor would take two nuggets into the mountains and engage in air combat with the other two instructors. There was no live ammo, but they were ordered to react as if this was a live battle (think Top Gun). At this time, the nuggets were flying with much improvement and this test was a perfect way to show what they can do. Each nugget was to pilot an F-4X while the enemy instructor were to pilot Mirage 2000's. During the exercise, Blaze, Edge, and Chopper proved to be getting better and better, but tragedy would soon strike without warning or mercy.
It was a cloudless day with no wind. A rare thing for a place like this. Victor as going up for the first time in this exercise was a little nervous. Nagase and the others assured him that he could do it and that they would have a toast at dinner for their achievement. Sting went up, unaware of the horror that he would meet. He flew up with his instructor, callsign Snake Eyes, and his wingman which was nicknamed, Magic. They spotted the bogeys on radar and tried to go after the trail plane that was piloted by instructor Dillon Matthews, callsign, Blizzard. Magic was trying to get the lock on while Sting was covering his tail. They made a sharp turn around the mountain top and that's when disaster happened. Sting was unable to control his plane. None of the instruments responded. He was going down, he couldn't brake. He reached for the ejection handle, but could get a hold of with the sudden freefall. He finally got his hands on the ring, but it was too late. The F-4X hit the ground and exploded into a ball of fire. He was killed on impact. The news didn't hit the others until the squad returned to base. Everybody was crushed. Kei found that she couldn't breathe and started to cry. Chopper couldn't find a thing to say. Blaze went into the hangar quietly until the sound of a chair hitting the wall was heard with a sudden yell. More banging was heard as Blaze was hitting the steel wall. Upon an investigation of the crash, the plane Victor flew in had a motherboard that froze due to the cold air. It disrupted the systems as Sting made the turn. The next two days were canceled for group five due to the sudden loss. The base held a little ceremony for Victor. After the two days, group five continued their training, but with less enthusiasm. It was obvious among the instructors and even Blaze.
At a meeting of the group in Hangar B, Blaze called for everybody's attention and made the following speech which took everyone by surprise. This was from the guy, who hardly ever talked, but they needed someone to shove a firecracker up their butts and this was the only thing Blaze could think of. He knew it was a bit out of his character, but it needed to be done.
"I know what's going through your minds right knows. A man was just killed in a training exercise. A man that I knew. I sat with him, eaten with him; I talked to him before he went up there. I know it's scary, that it could happen again. It could happen to you or your best friend, or even the one your sitting next to right now. Let's face it, what we have been doing for the past year is dangerous. And when we all leave here and serve duty on our respective bases, it will be just as dangerous. If we find ourselves up in that sky, in a real battle, with real bad guys, with real missiles, it's still dangerous. But why be afraid? We knew this was dangerous from the start. Now I don't know what made you to decide to do this, but for me, it was to protect. To protect the ones I care about from any harm. That's something I am willing t perform, willing to die for. We cannot let ourselves dwell on the past, if we do, we cannot press on towards the future. Victor Sweeney was a good man and I know he isn't up there in heaven, looking down at us and smiling that we all decided to give up. I'll be dammed if that's what he wants, for us to just give up. He would want us to hit the skies twice as hard as before and finish what we need to do. I came here to fly and protect, why id the rest of you come? Think about that." Blaze then returned to his seat in silence, with his words fresh in everyone's mind. This made the nuggets do a little soul-searching in them.
Finally, Kei spoke up and said "Blaze is right. We can't quit, it wouldn't be right. We can't let Victor's death be in vain."
"Yeah, if I gave up now, I wouldn't be able to look at my wife and kids in the eye again. I came here to be a pilot, not some brainless twit." said Chopper.
Both of them were impressed for how Blaze handled all this. He was the only one who seemed to keep his mind on the training after the accident. Chopper thought it was scary to see the emotionless one give such a speech and made Nagase have a whole new prospective of him. Of a man who hid his feelings away, but unleash them when he really had.
This helped give the nuggets their confidence again, and when they took the skies again, they left all fear on the ground. They all eventually passed their exercise and for the remainder of their training, they practiced this exercise over again and practiced their squadron formations to keep them sharp for their final exam. After months and months of practicing, the exam came for all the nuggets. The exam consisted of real time fighting with bogeys on the ground and air, squadron maneuvers, and fighter tactics. At the end of it all, everyone passed and was now officially part of the Osean Air Force. They were to receive immediate time off and be later contacted about their assigned bases and future fighter squadrons. It was the middle of June when their flight training officially ended and all three nuggets were looking forward to some good, well deserved R and R. The three would soon meet again, sooner than they any of them would have though and their paths would intertwine beyond anything they could have imagined.