AIRWOLF™ is a Trademark of and licensed to NBC Universal Television Studios © 1984. This fiction story in no way intends to infringe upon the Copyrights and Trademark held by Belisarius Productions or NBC Universal Television Studios. I just like to play with the characters.
A note from the Author:
This is the second story in my Airwolf FF series, The Lady.
You will need to read my first story, "The Lady" in order to get the most out of this one as there are a lot of story, years and miles between the original 1980's series and what I have created for the 2020's.
For hard core fans, hopefully I have done Airwolf justice by bringing the her up to date while still keeping her character authentic.
But you'll have to read to find out.
Please note that updates will be slow for this one as I am in the middle of an edit for some of my original work.
THE (SEXII) LADY
Prologue
The New Black
Kissing Jo on the shoulder before rolling over, Branson was slightly miffed at who could be calling his private cell on a Sunday morning. He'd made a point to tell his people he didn't want to be disturbed unless it was exceptionally high priority like World War Three breaking out or some such thing.
Why didn't he turn the blasted thing off just this once?
He picked up the offending device from the nightstand and struggled to focus on it with bleary eyes from too little sleep.
"Huh," he wondered out loud, finally able to focus on the name that came up on the screen, he was suddenly very intrigued as to the nature of the call while scratching the stubble on his face.
Swiping the screen, he answered.
"Michael?" his usual greeting came out more like a question while he floundered a little in attempt to sit up against the headboard. Further sobering from his sleep he continued. "To what do I owe the pleasure - and on this early Sunday morning no less?"
The familiar hint of sarcasm he often used when exchanging dialogue with Michael Coldsmith Briggs III escaped him. There was something about the man that always brought it out in him, even though it had been eighteen months since Michael had retired and they had gone their separate ways.
It wasn't that Branson disliked Michael at all, it was more that the fellow had the innate ability to always communicate at the most inopportune moments, usually critical moments where Branson had almost been caught with his pants down – Figuratively speaking of course.
This moment was no different.
Except that he literally had been caught with his pants down and with that thought, Jo distracted him yet again as he watched her stir and turn over to face him.
Jo had heard Branson's tone of voice utter Michael's name and she was now staring at him suspiciously with her knowing brow raised in question.
Clearing his throat, Branson wiped off the suggestive smile that had snuck onto his face and his mind flicked through the series of events that led to this moment.
It certainly had been a big week of celebrations for him and the Santini crew.
Branson had some of his other business interests take up most of his time as he spearheaded the grand opening to SEXII Group's second stage of The New Black Hotel Resort in Las Vegas.
He made one of his usual impressive entrances and flying in with some of his fellow investors and senior management in the two matching pimped up black Agusta's, which incidentally, he purposely had repainted in a very similar colour scheme to that of The Lady.
That party ended up extending well into the early hours, with Branson and the others all trying to sleep it off in The New Black's penthouse before regrouping and flying back to Van Nuys, where the sleek black choppers would continue being a common sight in the skies between LA and the Las Vegas.
It was a much quieter affair at the Lair only a day earlier, but that didn't mean it was any less exciting.
On the contrary, unveiling the new and improved Airwolf was one of Branson's most pivotal moments. After all, this was a joint effort between a group of people that had undoubtably become the most important in his life and he was exceptionally proud of each and every one of them.
Likewise, Branson Richards had been warmly welcomed into their fold. The Santini's and the Hawke's where a tight, loyal group and it was an honour to be part of that. He and his precious niece, Dale just seemed to fit and fill in any gaps that the family had for all those years. Not that they replaced those who were no longer with them. String and Dom were still often and unashamedly talked about in daily conversation and arguably more-so after Airwolf was no longer the subject that shall never be mentioned.
No, Stingfellow Hawke and Dominic Santini would always be deeply ensconced in the history of this unique group of people and forever be part of their family
At the Lair, that celebration started when Le did the honours and whipped the dust cover off the refitted helicopter in a dramatic fashion.
Branson had taken the position of project manager and as with all his projects, there was almost nothing that was quite as exciting as finally seeing the spoils completed. It made him feel like he did when he was a little boy on Christmas morning.
To all who stood there looking at her, she had just as much appeal as always and was finally ready to beat the air into submission.
With the light fabric pooled around her on the floor and bathed in a column of light from the mouth of the volcano above. there was always something incredibly evocative about The Lady and she was still the most beautiful attack helicopter ever built.
Truth be known, Branson was likely just as much enamoured by her as Dom had been all those years ago.
He loved beautiful things.
Therefore, it wasn't too far of a stretch that Airwolf also became fondly known as The SEXII Lady among the Santini crew, now that Branson's coin had paid for her impressive upgrade.
Thanks to a more modern and powerful three phase diesel generator tucked away in one of the old lava shoots, there was plenty of electricity to power the Lair and any of the machinery that had been needed for the refit and ongoing general maintenance. Lighting had been improved upon and the new and up to date diagnostics computer had been added to the infrastructure.
Even though it had been a challenging feat with the Airwolf's inability to access a conventional workshop, Branson's wealth and the group's resourcefulness meant they were able to make it happen and get the job done. While many of the individual components could be prepared at the Santini Air hangar, most of the final work and all of the fitting and finishing had to be done at the Lair. It reminded Caitlin of the old days when the FIRM supplied everything that String and Dom needed to keep Airwolf turning and burning.
On a large screen, Le was about to brief the group on the revealing conclusion of Airwolf's refit with the help of an informative AutoCAD demonstration and while she would always be an ongoing project, all that The Lady needed now were the test flights to put her through her paces.
With all their collective contacts, it was incredible that they were able to acquire everything that they needed to be able to get the project together. There may or may not have been some wheeling and dealing on the black market, but sometimes things these just had to roll that way. After all it wasn't as though Airwolf was legally attained either.
Outwardly, The Lady wouldn't have looked all that different to the layperson's eye.
But to those who knew her well, she was a little longer and a lot more powerful in both horse and firepower.
About two feet was added to her frame. Her stretched fuselage was needed to accommodate the extra weapons systems and also make room for the four upgraded engines.
A new high performance four bladed rotor was fitted to create the extra lift needed for the higher maximum take-off weight, but her empty weight remained almost the same and a huge eight hundred pounds was shed when Le ripped out the old EDCC.
Without the old 80's, bulky mainframe, there was also extra room within the cabin. The Lady was fitted with an interior that could accommodate four extra passengers in comfort or some other useful payload. An additional personnel door was also added to the co-pilots side for ease of access and it meant a winch could also be utilised from a crane that could be inserted from the gantry rail built into the ceiling. It would be ideal for rescue or retrieval of goods where Airwolf was unable to land.
The cockpit and flight engineers positions also had a tidy up. The Lady now had a full glass cockpit and the EDCC was replaced by a modern console, optimally sized touch screens, display monitors and instruments that brought everything together. It surrounded a singular ergonomically designed swivel seat that could be locked into position.
When it came down to weapons, Saint John had always wondered why Airwolf primarily had forward facing firepower. According to the blueprints the rotating ADF pod was an aftermarket addition and also originally forward facing. So the crew added a rear mounted retractable 30mm auto-cannon turret that pivoted out of the hull and into combat position. It sat just where the fuselage made its upward sweep to the tail-boom and nestled neatly between the turbo exhausts.
Taking the space of where the original fuel tanks and weapons storage used to be, the new gun was controlled by either the flight engineer or a co-pilot through their own slave helmets which were activated by the handheld wireless trigger system. The helmets were integrated with the rear facing cameras, sensors and the turret could deliver fire to any angle it could reach without hitting any part of The Lady herself.
Essentially... it covered Airwolf's butt.
New, larger fuel tanks were bedded between the sponsons and over the new weapons storage chamber.
Sensors, camera's, radar, Infrared – it all got the once over and much of it was integrated into the Pilot's Call to Action Multi-visor Slave Helmet. All images that the helmet collected could be replicated on the EDCC screens when needed. Both the chopper and the helmets could only be used by those who were on the database with Iris Access.
Gone were the days where just anyone could start The Lady and make off with her in a hurry.
Le noted that The Lady's old computer had a high aptitude for learning. He was careful not to lose any information she had already collected and made sure to download all of it to the new mainframe. She was only one step away from AI and Le decided to err on the side of caution and not allow her computers the ability to think to action for themselves.
The Logic bomb that was thought to have been frozen out was still attached to her programs and Le managed to isolate it and finally free Moffett's hold over the Lady forever.
The group didn't forget to install a retractable fuel probe that now sat flush within the frame when not in use.
Finally, there was that intriguing anomaly that allowed the chopper to fly as fast as a fighter jet and the tech specialist made it his primary mission to learn a little more about The Lady's remarkable secret that Moffett had called Boom Bypass Technology.
This force field was specifically tuned to a frequency that counteracted the force of the energy that The Lady pushed against when she moved through the air. It was what produced the eerie howl that The Lady always possessed. At higher speeds, It effectively cancelled the Doppler Effect and therefore neutralised the sonic boom. It also protected Airwolf from heat caused by friction and wind forces that would normally rip off anything that typically hung off an object that was hurtling through the air at the speed of Mach one plus.
It didn't however possess any protection against incoming weapons. That sort of technology was one step too far to be able to implement and would also leave the Lady flying completely blind upon activation. Wings and Saint John both agreed that it was better to be able to see what was coming at you and where you were going and to neutralise anything incoming it with the other countermeasures that The Lady already possessed in spades.
If Lee understood the theory well enough, The Lady was only limited in her speed by the forward thrust that had been available to her at the time. With her new upgraded power plants, who knew how fast she could go?
The pressing question that Nash had, was how well she could be controlled at those sorts of speeds. Computer history told them that she became unstable when pushed hard or at higher stratospheric altitude. Both of those issues could be explained by atmospheric conditions and thrust limitations respectively.
In the end, it would be up to Wings and Saint John to test her new limits. The boys were beyond excited to give her a whirl and they were all eager to see the results for themselves.
All in all, there were hundreds of changes, but there were also some things that remained the same.
Airwolf still looked like an executive helicopter and could hide in plain sight whilst on the wing and from a reasonable distance.
She only gave away her pedigree if one looked closely. If that happened, it would almost certainly cause a stir and they'd likely be in a whole world of trouble.
And there was another pressing problem. It was all very well to start projects with a purpose in mind. Because when said project were completed, it could fulfil its use and be worth the considerable investment.
It had been more than a year since Airwolf ceased to exist as she once was. The helicopter wasn't even theirs and possession being nine tenths of the law really wasn't an excuse as much as Branson's repo business liked to bandy the expression about. Airwolf had been the property of the United States of America since her inception, but she remained a stolen acquisition since her first ever flight display. As cool as it was to have such an impressive machine, without an end game all she really amounted to, was a pretty and expensive toy.
What would they actually do with her?
"All the gear and no idea." Was the coin of phrase that Branson came up with in his quandary.
Aside from the questionable tactic of developing Airwolf's technology into his other aerospace projects, he was now at a considerable loss as to where to go from here.
Two days later, here he was. Feeling like he'd been doused with a bucket of cold water after a fabulous night in more ways the one, in bed with his beautiful Jo, who incidentally was still looking non too impressed with the unexpected intrusion waiting on the line.
He was still waiting for an answer from the man who always called at the most inopportune moment.
Archangel cleared his throat and as often happened, he didn't answer Branson's question, but instead stated. "What's this I hear about that bird being all dressed up with nowhere to go?"
