Chapter 4 - Just Another Day
September 2010 - Sand Island
Kei was standing in a dark room, lights out all around her. It was cold and even though there wasn't a shred of light in the place. She looked around and noticed that she had her flight suit on. Kei glanced around the place and noticed that she was standing on what seemed like the pavement of a runway.
"What the…?" Kei muttered out in confusion as she glanced around the place. She started moving around, looking for anything that seemed familiar to her. She couldn't find anything that sparked up a
"Why? Why didn't you try, Kei?" a voice graveled out. Kei threw herself around, looking, trying to find the source. She heard a pair of footsteps suddenly appear behind her and spun around, eyes peering into the darkness to try and find anything. Then she spotted a figure slowly moving from the darkness, the person was wearing an Osean flight suit as they moved towards her.
"A-Adam?"
"Why did you just let us die?" he asked, his voice quiet, almost as if he were whispering to her.
"It wasn't my fault. I tried to save you too," she started, cutting herself off once she noticed Adam's face twisting quickly into one of anger.
"THAT IS A LIE AND YOU DAMN WELL KNOW IT!"
"No, it isn't! I swear Adam, I tried! You have to believe me!" she cried out, pleading desperately for him to see reason. Adam's face curled into one of complete rage as he let out an almost inhuman scream , and charged straight towards her. As he charged at her through his body began to burst into flames and his clothing started to tear as he moved towards her. She noticed quickly that his left leg was dragging behind as he moved towards her, Kei saw a chance for her to try and get away and took it… or at least she tried to. She tried to turn around and run, only to find that her legs would not move. Kei looked back towards Adam, her eyes wide with fear as he bared down on her. She twisted and looked away from him. Her eyes were shut tight as she heard the loud roar and crackle of the flames, but she did not feel any heat from it. Only an eerie coldness that went straight down to her bones. She crouched down to her knees and covered her ears, desperate to try and block out the sounds. The noise rose and rose until she could hear nothing but the blaze, not even her own screaming could be heard over the loud thunder of the fire.
The noise roared for what seemed like hours until suddenly it shut off, it was like someone had pressed the mute button on a television set. Kei looked up and glanced all around her, the flames were gone as was Adam. "W-What the..." she breathed out, confused-her voice slightly shaking, the scared woman turned around once again, searching for a way out of this nightmare. As she looked around she spotted a figure standing off in the distance. Kei looked over her for a couple of seconds before she recognized who it was, although she had not seen her in close to ten years.
"Lynne?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper as she looked over her old friend. Lynne still looked the same as she had nine years ago as though not a thing had changed about her, she still had on her uniform which looked like it belonged more at a boarding school than a military. Her brown hair still tied up in its ever-present braid. Though the thing that struck Kei as the oddest was the expression that was on her face, namely her eyes. Blue eyes, that were once full of warmth and cheer, were now as cold and unforgiving as the waters of the North Sea, a stare that seemed to bore straight through Kei and read her soul as though it were the pages of a book.
Kei shook her to clear her of those kinds of thoughts as she moved to approach her old and very first friend of the ten witches of the 501st. Lynne's cold look, however, never left Kei's face as she slowly approached. Kei noticed this and stopped mear feet short of the Britannian. "Lynne… are you okay?" she asked, as Lynne slowly raised her hand up-the skin slowly peeling off as black hexagons began to show up underneath where once porcelain skin once rested.
"Lynne, what are you doing?" Kei asked, louder this time, her stance shifting slightly from Lynne's stare, "Lynne?"
Lynne ignored her and continued to aim her arm towards Kei, palm facing towards her showing off a pattern red hexagon that glowed menacingly. "No," Kei muttered as she recognized the telltale signs of a neuroi about to fire off one of its beams, instantly recognizing the brunette's intent. "Lynne, don't do this." Lynne didn't pay attention to Kei's cries-the Britannian
"Please, Lynne! I'm begging you please don't do this!" Kei cried out once more, desperate to get her to stop. It was all for naught though as the red diamond on her hand flared up on a blinding glare and a red, fluorescent beam launched itself towards them. Eagerly making its way towards Kei, Kei panicked slightly and went back to her old witch's instincts as she tried to raise her shield, but soon found that she couldn't. Kei's eyes widened in fear as time seemed to slow down, the blood-red beam still flying straight and true towards her. The beam hit her straight in the chest, a flash of pain erupted across her like an explosion. Kei staggered backward, throwing her head back, and screamed…
"AH!" Kei screamed out as she shot straight up on the couch. She looked over at Helen to see if she was still asleep. She let out a quiet sigh and braced a hand up against her head as she looked out the window, the sun had not yet risen above the horizon, but the signs were all there that it was soon fast approaching. It had not even been twelve hours, since that disastrous engagement that ended up with nine pilot's deaths and one more grounded for an undetermined amount of time. Or, at least until the doctor could clear her ready for flight duty. Kei shook her head vigorously, shaking these last few remnants of sleep from herself as she pushed herself off of the couch and walked over towards the window. She lifted up her hand and split up the blinds with her fingers, the cold blue sky seemed to reflect Kei's somber mood as she stared out through the blinds. The morning seemed especially dull that day as the deep ocean blue that normally colored the air, was now a bland matte grey that covered the sky.
She turned back around at the sound of someone stirring up from their slumber. Helen rolled over and slowly sat up in her bunk, rubbing her hand down her tired face. As if she were trying to rub the last remaining semblance of sleep from her body and mind. She looked around dazedly for a few seconds before she spotted her bunkmate. "Morning, Kei…" Helen yawned as she stretched out her arms, "did you sleep okay?"
Kei let a grimace as she was reminded of her dream before she turned back towards the window. "Yeah, yeah. I slept alright," she lied easily. Though she could tell that Helen didn't believe her, thankfully though, she didn't press for an answer.
Kei let out a quiet sigh and pushed herself off the window, she needed to clear her head. "Hey, I'm going to go for a walk," she called out behind her as she headed for the door, "Going to go out and get some fresh air."
"Okay, don't forget that we have a briefing in about two hours," she said as she rolled back into her bed.
"Copy that," Kei said as she walked out the door, she made her way down by the hangars to try and see if Pops had needed any help with the planes. He just waved her on, telling her that he had everything under control and didn't need any sort of help. Kei was a little disappointed as she wanted something to work on and keep herself busy, but shook it off and headed towards the beach. The young woman took a quick glance around the shore, looking around for any sign of the base personnel. She settled into her little spot and stared out over the Ceres Sea, the sunrise giving off a myriad of colors as the light began to crest over the vast horizon line. The sky was painted in a plethora of shades of blues, purples, reds, and oranges, with splashes of blue and violet danced across the sky.
"You know, I always come out here for the sunrises," a familiar voice sounded out from behind her, suddenly breaking the silence.
"Captain Hamilton!" Kei panicked and rushed to get herself up and quickly saluted the Captain, who was thoroughly amused. At least as far as Kei could tell by the small, yet genuine, smile that had crept onto his face.
"At ease, Lieutenant," he told the woman easily as he returned her salute, "And please, call me Allen. We're not on duty right now." Kei only nodded in response and sat back down as Captain Hamil- Allen, came alongside and sat beside her.
"You said that you always come out here for the sunrise?" Kei asked after Allen sat down on the grass alongside Kei, who shortly followed suit, settling down on the grass next to the captain.
"Yes, I always come out here. It reminds me of my childhood actually," he answered. That caught Kei's attention
"How so?"
"I grew up in Hollister, so my parents and I used to head down to the beach and watch the sunrise every day on the weekends. And when the sun hit the horizon just right, you could see hundreds of shades of oranges, reds, pinks, and blues scattered across the sky."
Kei let a wistful smile escape from her lips as she thought about it, "That… that sounds nice."
"It was," Allen whispered out as he stared out towards the sea. His hands absentmindedly fiddling with the rocks at their feet.
Kei watched the man with curiosity in her eyes, a question came to mind as she thought about Allen's family. "Captain Hamil- I mean, Allen," she started, catching his attention, "can I ask you a personal question?"
He glanced over at the young woman and seemed to pause for the briefest of moments, seemingly hesitant. "Sure," he finally answered, turning his back once more towards the sunrise.
"What did your parents think when you joined the military?" Kei asked.
Allen suddenly froze up as if he had been tased, Kei instantly regretted asking the question, then Allen unfroze as he turned his head down and let out a scoff of destain. "My parents died when I was thirteen years old," he answered softly, "They both fought in the Belkan War, my dad was a pilot and my mother was a nurse on the Osea FOB in Wesson. She was on the base when she found that my father had been killed in combat, and well she lost it. Took a jeep and just left the base two days later… an Osean patrol found her dead body next to my father's grave with his service pistol in her hands two weeks later. After that, my uncle took me in, he actually was one of the members of the patrol to find them. Yeah, he was pretty shaken up about it when he took me in, he still has nightmares about seeing their bodies from what I understand from his latest letters."
"I'm… I'm sorry to hear that," Kei muttered quietly, suddenly a lot less curious than before. Allen
"Don't be," he told her, "You have nothing to be sorry about, besides it happened years ago, and I've gotten over it." Kei let a small grin escape from her lips, she knew that he wasn't. After all she had the same tone when she tried to tell herself that it wasn't her fault that Adam, Kendricks, Alex, and Lynette were all dead or hurt in some way or another.
"Well then, I've got to get back," Allen breathed out as he stood up from his spot, "I hope that we can do this again sometime, I really enjoyed it."
Kei let a small smile grace her lips as Hamilton left her alone to the sunrise, although something about it seemed… different, then it had earlier-it seemed-brighter. As if someone had just turned on a lantern in a darkened room… it felt as if it were full of hope; a small, whimsical smile appeared on her face as she stared out over the ocean.
About an hour later, Kei followed Helen and Bartlett into the briefing room and sat down next to Helen in the third row. She took a glance around the room and noticed that Chopper had taken a seat in the row just behind them as Bartlett took a seat in the first, but just as the four started to get comfortable, Colonel 'Beached Whale,' as Kei had come to think of him waddled up to the front of the room. "At ease, people… but don't get too comfortable. It's a grave situation for all of us right now. Let's get this briefing started," he said as Kei settled down into the chair as the lights dimmed down as the briefer walked up front. A projector flared to life behind him as he started talking to the five pilots. "Another aircraft of unknown origin has entered Osean Federation airspace. We have confirmed the target type as a strategic recon plane flying at very high altitude. Despite our repeated warnings, it continued to penetrate our ADEZ and was fired upon by Osean Coastal Defense Force SAMs. We believe that one of the SAMs damaged the unknown plane, but did not destroy it." The projector showed a picture of the plane, the thing was an SR-71 Blackbird. How the hell did they hit the damn thing? Kei passively thought, It's damn near impossible to hit a Blackbird when it's flying at altitude. So how did they hit it? Was the pilot sleeping or something… or was he not flying at the maximum altitude? She broke from her thoughts as
"Radar shows that the aircraft is currently losing altitude, and is attempting to egress feet wet towards the ocean. Intercept this target and force it to land for identification. Do not fire upon this aircraft until further orders have been transmitted," the man added with air finality, "Wheels up in ten minutes. Dismissed."
Kei stood up and headed towards the door, but turned back to look at the picture of the plane one last time, the incessant nagging feeling something was… off. The idea that there was something that didn't seem right about this one gnawed at her base instincts, and if there was one thing that she had learned for her time in the 2nd Neuroi War, her short bout with Strike Witches, and the engagement with the Mig-29s just yesterday, was to trust her instincts. And those same instincts were telling her that something fishy was going on with this mission. Kei was shaken from her musings as Helen placed her hand on her shoulder, startling her a bit in the process. "Hey, are you alright there? You've been staring at the screen for like the past five minutes," she asked softly, concern lacing her voice.
"Huh… oh. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm good. Just spaced out there I guess," Kei answered quickly.
"Are you sure?" she pressed, "If not, then if you talk to Bartlett, I'm sure that-"
"Helen," Kei spoke up, interrupting her, "I appreciate what you are trying to do. I do, seriously. But, I. Am. Fine. Okay? Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself up there. Got it?" Kei said, interrupting her friend, and slightly glaring at her as if to say, 'Drop it, now.' Helen got the message quickly and promptly shutting her mouth. Kei nodded her head in satisfaction and got up making her way towards the door, Helen following up close behind. The two women stayed silent as they moved to the female pilot lockers and moved to put on their gee-suits and grabbed their helmets. They exited soon after as they started to make their way to the apron when Kei spied the Captain just ahead.
"Hey, you go on ahead, I need to have a quick word with the captain," she told Helen who nodded her head in response as she moved on.
"Captain Bartlett! A word, please," she called out as she jogged to catch up to the man. Bartlett just turned his head and looked back at her for a second, before he nodded his head and gestured to her to walk next to him. Kei sprinted up the rest of the way and fell in step with him.
"What is it, Nagase?" he asked her.
"Sir, it's about the mission."
"If you don't want to get back up there, I understand," he started, stopping Kei right in her tracks, "It's normal to feel tha-"
"Excuse me, sir. That isn't what I came to talk with you about, and if you are thinking about taking me off of the flight line today or in the future. I promise that I can make life very difficult, sir," Kei interrupted him as she stopped walking, spitting out the 'sir' part like it was an insult. Bartlett stopped and turned around to look at her, Kei knew that she had crossed a line there but she just didn't care right now. She would be damned if she wasn't going up there with Helen today, not when this whole thing seemed to scream 'set-up.' She let Alex get shot down, she made a promise to herself to never let her friends get shot down. Not again, not now, not ever.
The scolding that Kei was expecting, didn't happen. She waited for a few long seconds before Bartlett finally moved; his lips curled up into a ghost of a smile, as he let out a small chuckle. "You keep that attitude up, and you'll be one hell of a squadron leader," he said seemingly to himself, Kei blushed a tiny bit as his praise. "So, then, what is it you want to talk with me about Nagase?" he continued.
She cleared her throat and turned back to him. "It's about the mission, sir," she repeated, "There's something a little… off about it?"
That caught his interest, Bartlett's brow furrowed a little bit as he squared himself up. "How so?" he asked.
"Well, radar picks up the Blackbird heading for the mainland and the ADEZ COs start sending out warnings to the pilot. He ignores the warnings, doesn't turn around and stays on course, and starts to enter the mainland. Then he gets hit with our ADEZ when he's flying at nearly 80,000 feet?" she paused for a second to see if he was still listening, "Sir even a nugget with just the basic evasion tactics would be able to dodge the missile at that height, but he doesn't? Just seems a little odd to me, like he wanted to get hit."
Bartlett seemed to ponder over Kei's points and think about them, but for only a short moment, before he let out a quiet, near inaudible sigh. "Alright, Nagase," he said, "you got some valid questions there. Questions that I don't have all the answers to, and frankly. I'm impressed that you caught 'em before I did. Good work," Kei smiled at the praise. "But, for now, I want you focused on the mission right now. We'll talk about this when we get back okay?" he finished. Kei nodded her head in response and turned herself around to get to her Tiger, relieved that Bartlett had listened to her. She noticed that Chopper had managed to catch up to them when she was talking to the captain.
She made a quick glance at her plane and almost slammed her head into her hands. The mechanics in their ever-loving 'wisdom' had put in four Mark 83 unguided bombs on the Tigers. WHAT IN THE EVER LIVING HELL, ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THOSE?! Kei thought, very pissed off, with the base mechanics at the moment. Kei turned away from the plane and turned to Chopper who had walked up next to her. "Hey, Chopper, remind me to have a little… chat with the mechanics when we get back to base," she muttered-a dark expression that promised a long day of pain and suffering, to the older pilot. Who slowly backed away from her in a little bit of fear.
"G-Got it, Kei."
September 2010 - Cape Landers
Kei looked around the bright blue skies above the cape. It was almost the same conditions as the day that the entirety of the 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron had been reduced to only five pilots. Though she did notice a gathering of clouds off towards the west, coming in from the sea. Though it didn't look bad enough yet to disturb the group's flying. Speaking of flying the group had been mostly silent between the four of them as they flew towards the intercept point-well aside from the occasional interjection from Chopper as he tried to start some form of conversation and constant rebuttal from the captain telling him to shut his mouth. However, the beautiful skies did little to calm down Kei's nerves as she kept glancing down to check her radar, as well as scan the skies, searching for any sign of aircraft coming towards the flight.
"This is Heartbreak One of Wardog squadron," Bartlett announced over the radio frequency, suddenly breaking the silence "we are approaching the target."
"This AWACS, callsign Thunderhead. Roger," a low baritone voice responded, "Bring the target to the ground. Do not fire at the target. Repeat, do not fire at the target." Kei mentally scoffed at that. After what did the guy think they were, a bunch of monkeys in flight suits. They weren't stupid-a little naive maybe on Chopper and Helen's side, but not stupid.
"You got that, nuggets?" Bartlett gruffly inquired of the other three pilots.
Kei immediately reached over and flipped the switch to her radio. "Wardog 2, roger," she called out quietly to the flight lead, apparently it was loud enough for him to hear her as he didn't ask for a repeat.
"Wardog 3, roger," Chopper followed seconds later. Though Helen didn't answer for some reason.
"...Wardog 4! Hello? Can you hear me, Kid? You better markin' our tail!"
"Yes, sir. I'm right on your six, no contacts on radar," Helen called out. Kei had been her friend long enough to know that she was worried for Alex, who was sitting back at the base. Maybe even me, she thought as she turned back towards scanning the skies for enemy contacts.
"Good, looks like you're confident, at least," Bartlett remarked, "Don't get separated from me."
"Man, I'm glad you drew the short straw instead of me!" Chopper burst out on the radio, seemingly happy for a sudden break in the silence. However, the spark of conversation was not appreciated by all that were present.
"Second Lieutenant Alvin H. Davenport, zip it! You need a nickname, too?" Bartlett barked out to the younger man.
"I respectfully ask to be called 'Chopper,' sir. I'm afraid I may be unable to respond to any other moniker," said, 2nd Lieutenant shot back to Bartlett.
"Hmm. That does fit you well…" he muttered to himself through the radio-even though all of them could hear it. "I've got a better name for you, but I'll keep it to myself. Okay?"
"Aw, cut me some slack, man!" Chopper whined as Kei spotted the slowly descending form of the unknown Blackbird.
"Tally ho, we've got company. Let's go," Bartlett cut in, calling out the plane before she could, and quickly turned towards the stricken spy plane, the rest of the formation following in suit. "You're forbidden to fire until I give permission, understand?"
"Yes sir," the flight answered him in surprising unison.
"Good nuggets."
The flight of four approached the Blackbird as it was still slowly losing altitude. "All right, where's Motormouth Chopper?" the captain spoke up on the radio. Kei quickly hid her snickering laughter over the frequency, as to avoid being scolded by Bartlett. And judging by the fact that Kei could see Helen's shaking shoulders in the cockpit of her on F-5E, told her that her best friend was too.
"What?... That's your name for me?!" he asked exasperated, further adding to the Kei and Helen's amusement.
"You've got a knack for comic dialogue. You mind sending the surrender request for me?" Bartlett fired over at Chopper.
"Oh, no, please age before beauty," the motormouth shot back.
"I'm real shy around strangers, you know…" Bartlett said, a few seconds of silence pursued moments later, then Chopper cracked.
"Sheesh. Testing, testing… attention unidentified aircraft. Set your course for our beacon immediately," the rock 'n roll fan said, defeated.
"Good," Bartlett coined in.
"Uh… we will direct you to the nearest airfield. Lower your gear if you understand," he finished off lamely, thrown off by Bartlett's complement.
The spy plane didn't lower its gear, however. Kei idly wondered if Chopper's request didn't go through, or the pilot did not understand or he just flat out ignored it-she believed it was the latter though. The answer came seconds later when Thunderhead popped back up over the radio. "Warning! We have four high-speed bogeys inbound. Approaching unknown aircraft bearing 280. Altitude, angels 6! Hold your fire until further orders!" he barked out to the flight of four.
"Crossing the pond to fly cover for their spy plane, huh? Now there's a pilot worth his wings," the captain thought out loud to himself, "Enemy inbound heading 2-8-0! Head on. You're not to fire until I say it's okay, got me?"
No one responded to Bartlett, but he knew that the four of them understood regardless. Kei quickly glanced down to her onboard radar and noticed that it was four incoming contacts, and they were set on a collision course straight towards them at rapid speeds and a closure rate of almost 930 meters per second. As the flight advanced towards the Wardogs, Kei began to pick out the black dots from behind the clouds. The planes advanced closer and closer until Kei could see a vague dark outline on the incoming targets, then finally when they came in close enough for the pilot to recognize that it was a flight of four Mig-21 Fishbeds, but something was off. They weren't firing. Something's up, Kei realized as she started scanning the sky when a glint of light caught her eye. Kei immediately turned her head to look at the glint when she noticed that it was another flight of four Mig-21s, "Shit, we got four more bogeys, repeat four more bogeys. Ten o'clock low!" she called out quickly to the rest of the squad
"Heads up! They're firing on us!" Chopper called out just a second later as the flight that was level with the Wardogs, began to open fire on the Wardogs with their cannons. Kei reacted instinctively, pitching her Tiger's nose down and pulling into a tight left handed turn towards the sea. Simultaneously, Bartlett pitched up and threw his twin engines into afterburner as the F-4 climbed away easily into the sky, and Helen followed Chopper into a sharp bank off towards the right. The sharp maneuvers threw off the Mig's aim as the cannon rounds flew through the air where the formation had just been. Kei glanced over her shoulder and noticed that the second flight of Mig-21s had not in fact broken their formation and had instead continued to advance on the expanding furball. She instantly saw an opportunity
"Wardog Squadron, weapons safe! Hold your fire until further orders." Thunderhead popped back up over the radio. Is he trying to get us all killed, Kei idly thought as she tried to maneuver around for a missile shot on the wildly jinking Mig-21, desperately trying to shake Kei off.
"Oh, come on! Those aren't blanks they're firing out there!" Chopper whined as he rolled out of the path of bullets and tracer rounds that had been fired from his trailer's 23mm cannon.
"Shut your mouth and fire back!" Bartlett shouted out to the motormouth, as he tried to maneuver his Phantom around the more nimble Migs. But he was being out-turned and evaded by every single one, Kei could tell by the way that he was jerking his plane around, that he was getting very annoyed, very quickly. She watched the older pilot pull back on his stick and rolled the plane over into a high-yo. Bleeding off energy and allowing the disgruntled flight lead to slide in behind the Mig. Kei watched as a missile leapt away from the Phantom and straight into the tailpipe of the Mig, engulfing the back of it in a plume of dark smoke. "Heartbreak-One, splash one unknown hostile," the captain called out as the Mig exited the smoke fire trailing the Fishbed as it fell towards the ocean.
The very 'helpful' person in the AWACS chimed in yet again, "Captain Bartlett, this Thunderhead. You are in violation of direct orders!"
"Shove it! I'm not gonna watch any more of my pilots die!" the gruff man shot back at the ignorant AWACS controller, as Kei watched the captain twist his lumbering F-4 around just enough to get a shot into the other Mig that had been in front of him. A stream of tracers and cannon rounds flew away from the Phantom and slammed into the Mig, which fell to the ocean, smoke trailing from its engine.
Kei kept her mouth shut as she kept on spinning around, easily keeping pace with the wildly evasive Mig. The two were locked in a hard right turn, with Kei's slightly slower F-5 slowly pulling more and more lead on the Mig as she pulled her plane in tighter. The Mig driver must have been fresh from the academy because as soon as he saw Kei had begun to pull lead he straightened out and lit his afterburner to try and pull away, big mistake. Kei rolled over her right wing and pulled up right behind the Fishbed, whilst she switched over to one of her heat-seeking AIM-9 Sidewinders. The missile's tracking system instantly locked onto the Fishbed's tail, the sound of a good lock growled like the devil itself crawled into the headset. She depressed the trigger stud. "Edge, Fox 2!" she called out as one of her two missiles flew off of the wing's hardpoint, tracking straight and true as the weapon flew right into the rear half of the Mig, blowing off the entire tail section of the plane as it spun out of control - a trail of flame and smoke following it down and into the water. "Splash One!" the pilot called out, but Kei couldn't watch the doomed plane slam into the surf though, as she caught sight of the large stream of cannon and tracer rounds zooming over the top of her canopy. She reacted almost instantly and snapped the plane over and into the direction of the cannon fire. The culprit, a Mig-21 diving from right to left, wasn't expecting the sudden course change and overshot Kei's plane as she once again rolled the plane over its right wing coming up right on the Mig's tail. This Mig driver, on the other hand, was either more experienced or better trained as he began to jink wildly as soon as Kei had brought her bird around. The young woman grit her teeth as she began to throttle up and try to close the distance a bit more. The Mig pilot was expecting that however and threw the throttle back hard, while simultaneously pumping out their air brakes and popping the nose up ever so slightly. The effect was almost instantaneous as the Mig slowed extremely quickly and forced Kei to overshoot. "Shit!" she cried out as she reacted instantly as she pitched the nose up and slammed the throttle forward, lighting up her afterburners, as the F-5 shot straight up into the air climbing high over the Mig. Kei's Tiger went from 3,000 feet above the water to around 12,000 in just a matter of seconds. Once Kei felt that she was at a safe enough altitude she leveled off and took stock of her surroundings. While she was doing that she heard the radio crackle to life just as she spotted Helen's plane.
"We're gonna shoot them all down, Kid," the captain told Helen, seemingly to try and calm her down, ease her worries, and boost her confidence all at the same time. Although she had been calm nearly the whole time-never once crying out in fear or surprise.
"Damn straight, sir," Helen responded calmly, as she spotted the glowing tailpipe of a Fishbed that had crossed underneath her. She pulled up into a slight climb for barely even a second before she rolled her plane off to the right, diving right onto the Mig's tail. The pilot must not have noticed Helen dive in as he did not even react to her presence and still flew straight. Kei let a malicious grin slip out as she watched her friend dive on the Fishbed-easy pickings. Helen settled into firing position just above the Mig, the Osean depressed the trigger on her flight stick-the nose of the F-5 lit up as a side-by-side stream of 20-millimeter cannon flew towards their target. The rounds striking from the middle of the fighter and walking down towards the Mig's massive engine. Kei watched as the entire rear end of the plane erupted in one massive explosion as the fuel tanks lit up like lighter fluid on a bonfire. The flame streaked dart falling down towards the ocean, "Wardog Four, splash one," Helen reported as she climbed away, searching for another target to set ablaze.
That's when Kei spotted the Mig that had given her the slip earlier circling around below her, she heard Chopper and Bartlett conversing with one another over who would get another fighter over the radio, which she ignored as she kept her attention on the Fishbed. Kei waited patiently for her chance to pounce on the wildly maneuvering plane. The Fishbed turned hard right as he tried to evade an imaginary pursuer, but after that he curved in a slow left bank and extended out as he checked his tail. However, the Mig driver had given Kei just the opening that she needed. She winged the plane over and into a steep dive, making sure that she kept a far enough lead in front of the Mig-21. The other pilot didn't even have a chance to react, before Kei's twin 20 mils ripped through the plane, the cannon rounds heavy impacts completely ripping the Fishbed's right wing off. The Mig started to roll rapidly and started to fall down towards the sea. Kei didn't focus on the plane, however, and turned off calling out "Splash Two!" as she climbed away. She pulled a few maneuvers, to ensure that no one had crept up on her tail and waited for another target to show up. The young woman didn't have to wait for long, however, as yet another Mig flew in underneath her belly, the young ace snap rolled the F-5 over to the right and popped up right behind the Mig. The pilot didn't have time to react as Kei let her cannons bark to life once more, the rounds tore into the Mig's fuselage, most of the rounds struck the engine and the primary fuel tank as both black and white smoke began to trail from the aircraft. Kei watched as the Mig pilot punched out of his doomed aircraft. "Wardog Two, splash two and three!" she called out as she pulled back on the stick and started to gain more altitude, watching the pilotless damaged Mig fall towards the ocean below.
"Wardog Squadron, weapons safe! Hold your fire until further orders!" Thunderhead said once more, desperate to try and rein in the squadron. Kei ignored the AWACS once again, but that's when she noticed a shimmer off of her shoulder as she watched her third kill fall towards the water, she instantly recognized the threat however as another Mig-21 had dropped in behind her, "This is Wardog Two, I got a bandit on my six," she reported, "Going evasive!" Kei pulled back on the throttle for a second, completely cutting power from her engines, as she popped her nose up in the air for a second and 'stalled' the aircraft as she snap-rolled the plane over her pursuer. The Mig, however, wasn't expecting the sudden move and shot by her as Kei pulled the fighter level
A bright flash of light briefly diverted Kei's attention from her twisting Fishbed, and she noticed a ball of flame off to where the SR-71 had once occupied the sky. "Enemy recon plane down," Thunderhead reported to the flight, confirming Kei's suspicions that Blackbird had exploded in mid-air.
"Aww, what a shame. Too tired to party?" Bartlett snarked over the frequency. Kei guessed that the enemy heard them, as the remaining two of the original flight of Migs came in a screaming dive-guns flashing as they charged towards the Tiger. Kei saw them out of the corner of her eye and snapped the stick to the right cutting into the diving Fishbeds, as she cut underneath
"Whoa! Those guys are really mad now!" Chopper called out as he evaded the two Migs.
"Don't let him get away," Bartlett barked out, "Aim straight!"
"Hold. Your. Fire!" Thunderhead contradictly ordered, once more trying to get through to them, however, Kei and the rest of the Wardogs just tuned him out as she pulled back around and onto the two Migs. Quickly lining up on the delta-winged fighter plane ahead of her and squeezing off a quick burst that went into the Mig massive engine. The entire back half of the plane erupted into a ball of flame and smoke as he started spinning around like a wind-up toy, spinning towards the sea below, "Edge, splash three!"
"My only regret…" Chopper grunted out, as he dodged yet another stream of cannon rounds, "is not being able to fly with a captain with a sunnier disposition." Kei rolled her eyes at that, Chopper always had something to be a smart-ass about. She was about to dive in and save her friend from the Mig but didn't have to as Helen dove in from above and raked the delta-winged fighter with her 50s. The rounds must have hit the gas lines in the engine as the entire back half of the plane erupted with flame like a firework on an Osean Fourth of July before it tumbled away and fell towards the ocean. "Wardog Four, splash three."
There were a few blissful seconds of silence before Thunderhead shouted out once more at them, "Wardog! I ordered weapons safe for all aircraft! Follow orders and hold your fire!"
"We got four more contacts incoming. Looks like another squadron of fighters, Mig-21s again-same heading," Helen spoke up on the radio, completely ignoring the AWACS' plea. The four planes formed up on each other again and turned towards the enemy as they rapidly closed the distance between the
That's when Thunderhead decided to add in his own input yet again, however useless it was, "Do not fire at the targets. Repeat, do not fire at the targets." Kei ignored the call out for a second as she shook a Mig off her tail, she glanced off to the left seconds later and saw the slim profile of Migs-21 charging towards them. However, when Kei looked at the radar she noticed that there was something odd about the Migs' signature. They were too big. Mig-21s were relatively small aircraft with a barely 24-foot wingspan, so why did the signature look like a flight of F-14s? She looked at the flight of Migs again and noticed that there was a second horizontal stabilizer tucked in behind the lead Mig. There are two squadrons! Kei realized with horror.
"This is Wardog 1-2, there are eight bandits, repeat eight bandits on radar. Not one squadron, two squadrons. Repeat, two squadrons over!" Kei reported to the squadron. She heard a chorus of clicks over the radio in acknowledgment as she dove down towards the Migs, letting lose a burst from her cannons. The eight Migs scattered as she dove past, her task completed Kei pulled back on the stick and leveled the plane out as she started to scan for another target. The young ace didn't have to wait long as one of the scattering Migs had dropped right in front of Kei, perfectly positioned for a missile shot. She flipped over from her guns to her missiles and was immediately rewarded with a near screaming growl that filled her headset, a smile came across her lips as she depressed the firing stud, "Wardog 2, Fox Two!"
The missile leapt off of the rail and cruised straight towards the Fishbeds tailpipe, slamming into it at full force. The resulting explosion enveloped the Fishbed in a ball of fire, however, it didn't last long as the fire just as quickly snuffed itself out leaving only a cloud of debris in its wake, "Wardog Two, spash four."
Kei's plane punched through the debris cloud and quickly glanced around, spying two more Migs falling down to the water smoke trailing as they dropped to the ocean below, a quick listen to the squadron radio confirmed to her that Chopper and Bartlett had shot the pair down. However, Kei didn't think long about it as she latched on to one of the five remaining Migs. It didn't take long for the ace to fall in behind the Mig. "Edge, Chopper," she heard him call out to her, "I got your six covered."
"Copy that Chopper, thanks," Kei answered before she turned her attention back to the Mig in front of her, just as the Mig jockey slammed on his brakes and made a sharp left turn, forcing Kei to overshoot the enemy plane. "Fuck!" the young woman cursed as she applied power and climbed hard to get away from the Mig, "I overshot! Chopper, get the son-of-a-bitch!"
"Copy Edge, moving to engage," he answered as he throttled up and moved in; however, due to the stunt that the Mig pilot used to shake Kei off, it blew off a lot of speed and left him to be easy prey for Chopper to line up a shot with one of his heat-seeking AIM-9s. Chopper's missile struck the Mig nearly dead center and completely blew the plane apart.
"Whoo-hoo! Splash three!" Chopper called out with glee. Kei shook her head with a smile and turned her attention back to the sky, scanning for the remaining four Migs.
"Uhh, guys can I get a little help here?" Chopper came back on merely seconds later, his voice a little panicky this time though. Shit! Kei thought and immediately looked back. While Chopper had been pulling up and away from his kill, one of the remaining Mig-21s figured that that was the perfect opportunity to jump onto Chopper. Now the two were wrapped in a sort of rolling scissors as the Mig was trying to get his guns trained on Chopper, and Chopper trying very desperately to not let that happen. Kei was about to move in and help when she spotted Blaze's Tiger moving in to assist.
"Chopper, break right, I'll get him," Helen called out after she positioned herself up and above Chopper's F-5E, calmly watching the twisting duo as Chopper tried to get away from the Fishbed that was on his tail.
"Roger!" Chopper responded as he snapped his nose over and dragged the trailing Mig-21 into a tight right-hand turn, opening the door wide open for Helen. She pulled back her stick for a second before she rolled the plane off to the right, rolling over and cutting into the Mig and Chopper's turn. Once inside she pulled lead on the Mig, and let loose with her twin 20 mils. The rounds flew straight into the Mig's nose and cockpit, shattering the canopy. The pilot must have been killed instantly, as the plane finished it's roll and started to drift towards the water.
"Blaze, splash four."
"I feel like I'm the only one being targeted," Chopper whined, again, as yet another Mig latched onto his tail mere seconds after Helen had cleared his tail. "Goddamn it! Leave me ALONE!" he screamed out as he chopped his throttle and corkscrewed around the Mig, popping up on the plane's 6'o'clock, He managed to get off a short burst with his guns before the Mig's pilot peeled off to left and chopped his power, forcing Chopper to overshoot but opening the door for Bartlett to engage.
"You talk too much, that's why-Fox Two," the captain answered, as he swung his F-4 around on the Mig's six o'clock quickly locking on with one of his heatseekers and firing. The AIM-9 Sidewinder leaping almost eagerly off of the rail, clawing its way towards the poor unlucky pilot. The Fishbed snapped to the right for barely a second before the pilot snapped the nose into a sharp left turn, hoping to throw the missile off his tail-it didn't work however as the heat-seeking warhead tracked true as it flew straight into the Mig's engine, blowing the whole back half of the fighter off. "Watch your six, remember the fundamentals, don't get too creative out there and you'll be fine."
Kei didn't say anything as she was concentrated on another Mig that had flown right in front of her nose, the pilot must have been the flight leader as the pilot kept pulling evasive maneuvers so that she couldn't get a good lead on the plane in front of her, nor could she get a good missile lock on the fighter as the Mig driver just wouldn't stay straight long enough for her to get tone, besides the missile would lose its lock on the Fishbed the first time the Mig turned. A spark of inspiration suddenly struck Kei as she let out a burst of cannon rounds suddenly yanked the stick back and buried it deep within her gut as the plane suddenly shot skywards. The stream of bullets forced the Mig into a right turn before he straightened out, right as Kei finished rolling her plane over and into the Mig's turn… perfectly lined up for a Sidewinder shot. She promptly switched over to her last AIM-9, crying out "Fox Two," as she pulled the trigger. The missile flew off the railing and streaked its way straight through the sky and impacting the Mig, ripped the plane's entire left wing off as it started to cartwheel down to the ocean below.
"Wardog Two, splash five," Kei called out as she pulled off, "Bogey dope."
"Negative scope's clear," Chopper answered, "Blaze and the captain got the last two." After hearing that Kei let out a shaky breath that she didn't realize that she'd been holding. However, she caught sight of the last Mig falling that was falling from the sky, it was her Mig. Her last kill for the day. She watched as bright flames roared from the left over wing. That's when she saw him. The Mig's pilot was yanking hard at his ejection lever… and nothing was happening. That was when he started to really panic. Kei could see him banging on the sides of the cockpit, frantic to escape from the confines of his tomb. When he realized that he couldn't… Kei watched as the pilot took off her helmet and looked up. She stared at Kei, her eyes dull and distant, Kei could even see the trail of a tear slide down her cheek. Before she looked back down and a bright sudden flash filled the cockpit.
"All unknown bogey aircraft destroyed," Thunderhead announced.
"This is Heartbreak One, can you guys hear me?" Bartlett popped on his gruff voice betraying his concern for the nuggets. Kei didn't answer… she couldn't.
"Negative sir, I can't hear you, over," Chopper immediately answered before the other two could answer themselves.
"Hey, that means you can hear me!" Bartlett belted out much to the amusement of the other two pilots who silently chuckled. "Anyways, nice work nuggets. Wardog 4, you still following us?"
"Yes, sir" Helen promptly answered as she pulled up just behind the squadron.
"Well, to commemorate the fact that we all made it out of that battle alive. I'm gonna let you keep your nickname. From now on, I'm gonna call you 'Kid' no matter what. Got it?" he didn't wait for an answer or a retort from Helen before he answered for her, "Good."
"Man I swear," Chopper muttered under his breath over the frequency. If Bartlett heard him he didn't comment on it.
"Alright everyone," he called out to the other three pilots, "form up on me. We're heading back."
"Copy that, Heartbreak One," Kei called out as she formed up on his wing.
"Nagase," Bartlett spoke up, catching her attention, "switch over to channel three. We need to talk."
"Yes, sir," Kei shook the Mig pilot's face from her mind before she answered and flicked over to the said channel, "Captain?"
Bartlett's silence persisted for a short while longer before he spoke, "I've been thinking about what you said earlier, about how this whole thing seems set up."
Kei had a sinking feeling about where this conversation was going, "Yes, sir?"
The older man let out a sigh, "I think you're right. We'll talk when we get back to Sand Island."
A grim smile spread across Kei's lips as she turned her eyes forward, "Aye, sir."
Kei sighed as she walked out of the door of the gym locker room, a towel wrapped around her neck as she walked through the doors. She had just the last hour and a half in the gym, blowing off some steam after the squadron had been chewed out by the emperor for disobeying direct orders from high command. Kei scoffed as she remembered that, 'high command' had sticks shoved so far up their asses, that they couldn't tell a bad tactical situation if it had bitten them in the ass and kicked 'em square in their unmentionables at the same time. She thought back to what she and the captain had discussed with one another, on the flight back to the island. He had been thinking about it during the fight, and he came to agree with her. The whole situation seemed set up as if someone were trying to provoke someone into attacking Osea. After all, even if the Blackbird sent out a distress signal, it most probably did, any form of backup that came from Yuktobania would have had at least a three hour flight time. However, the SAM happened only an hour before Wardog had intercepted the spy plane.
Kei was stuck deep in her thoughts as she walked along the beach, she suddenly stopped as she kicked a rock that had been sitting in the middle of the pathway. Kei was so lost in her thoughts that she even realized that she had come to the same spot that overlooked the ocean that she had mere hours earlier with Hamilton. She sat down on the sand there, a million thoughts running through her mind before a voice broke her out of her musings. The young woman's head turned to see the form of Major Hamilton standing next to her. "Sorry, what was that?" Kei asked bashfully as she didn't hear what he said.
Hamilton smiled warmly with amusement as he answered, "I said that you looked like you were a thousand miles away."
Kei blushed as she turned her head away, "Sorry, I was."
Hamilton's smile shrunk a tiny bit as he moved up, "Want to talk about it?"
She shrugged and gestured for him to sit next to her. Allen nodded in thanks with a smile as he sat down next to her, "So what were you thinking about?"
"My family actually," she said as she stared back out over the sunset.
Allen nodded his head once more before he sat down. "So, you want to tell me about them?" he asked her.
Kei looked over at Allen for a short moment before she let a genuine smile escape her lips, "Sure…"
September 2010 - Sand Island
It had been a slow morning, for the men and women of the Sand Island AFB. It had been about three days since the Blackbird incident, and people were settling back into the regular routine of things. Kei had fallen into the regular routine of helping Pops and the other mechanics on the base, with her helping to maintain Wardog Squadron's fighters. She had almost gotten in trouble for it by the "Emperor" of Sand Island, the more popular nickname for Colonel Perrault, but a combined effort from both Bartlett, Pops, and even a little bit of input from Allen, had kept her from getting into too much trouble with the Colonel. She had also been meeting up Allen more and more often nowadays. In fact, that was where the 22-year-old 2nd Lieutenant was now. The two had struck up a rapport, with one another after Kei had done her rounds of maintenance on her squads' planes with Pops. Before a general alarm sounded out over the base the two of them dropped their conversation as the duo sprinted back towards the main building. The pair bursting into the briefing room just as the Colonel was about to speak, however, he held his tongue and motioned for the two to take their places, as the briefer started to talk. Kei moved forward and took her seat with the rest of Wardog Squadron, while Allen quietly made his way over to the command staff.
The major that had been giving the briefing turned back to the projector screen, "A ship of unknown origin has been detected approaching the Sand Island coastline. We've confirmed that this ship has launched numerous unmanned aerial vehicles probably used for reconnaissance. The UAVs will likely return to the launch ship for retrieval after completing their spy operations. You are to halt this operation by intercepting and destroying these recon drones before they can be recovered by the ship. However, do not attack the ship until further orders are transmitted. Also, 2nd Lieutenant Alex Marcum will be joining you for this mission," Kei turned around and spotted Alex sitting in the back row, her eyes turned away from Kei's as she looked down towards the floor. Kei let a thin frown appear on her lips as her brow creased with slight worry for the younger Marcum twin. However, she didn't have much more time to do much else as the briefer had just finished up, "Wheels up in thirty, good hunting!"
Kei spun back around at that, and stood up with all of the others and saluted the man before they all turned out the door and went to go and put their flight suits on. On their way out Kei noticed that Alex wasn't in the room with them anymore, She must have gone on ahead, Kei thought as she walked along with the rest of the squad members. Helen and Kei parted with Chopper and Bartlett as each of them went into the pilot's locker rooms. As they walked in they saw Alex lacing on her shoes with her pants on with a white tank-top, the top half of her flight suit still hanging up in her open locker. The sound of the door closing behind Kei, caused Alex's head to snap over to look at them. She stared at the pair of them for a moment, before turning back to her shoes. Helen looked over at her younger twin, before turning away and heading towards her locker, gesturing for Kei to go and talk with Alex as she turned the corner. Kei let out a sigh as she walked forward and approached Alex.
"Hey, Lexie. How are you holding up?" she asked as she leaned up against the lockers next to Alex.
Alex brushed away at her nose, a little nervous tick that Kei had noticed in both of the twins, "I'm alright, a lot better than I was earlier. My hand was shaking so bad, I had to grab it to get it to stop."
Kei turned her head over to look at Alex, her eyes searching for something, "Are you scared? To go back up, I mean."
Alex just shook her head in response, "No, I'm not scared. You remember how Helen and I grew up training racehorses. It's just like those horses. The ones that get the shakes, that is, when they're locked up at the starting gate. They aren't shaking because they're scared. They're just ready to run."
After the two pilots had had their short little talk, Kei and the rest of Wardog Squadron got suited up and took off a mere 20 minutes later. The flight had been a relatively peaceful one so far, and Kei had gotten a chance to take in the scenery as the four of them approached the AO. Kei spotted the lone vessel as it sailed. As the five-man flight approached the ship, the radio crackled to life, "Wardog, this is Thunderhead. Unmanned recon drones returning to spy vessel. Shoot them down before they get back to the ship."
"Sure thing. You got that, gang?" Bartlett asked of the rest of the squadron.
"Yes, sir."
"All right, let's go! Our orders are to not fire on the ship. Understood?"
Alex answered right off the bat, "Copy that."
"Good," he sounded pleased at that, "aim only for the recon planes."
"How you doing, Kid?" Bartlett asked Helen as he watched her down her first recon drone, "Pretty easy, huh?"
"Yeah, it is," the woman answered as she splashed another drone with a short burst of her twin 20s.
"Okay let's hurry up and finish this"
"Other recon planes have probably reached the mainland too," Kei realized.
"I sure hope not," Bartlett said, "Nagase. Jive, on me, we'll keep watch out here. You guys go play with those toys."
"I'm glad there aren't any live people in these things. How about you guys?" Chopper admitted
"Yeah, I'm glad," Helen answered.
Kei, Alex, and Bartlett didn't say anything. She shook herself out of her wallowing and quickly turned her attention back onto the skies. "Third drone down," Helen reported once more.
"Warning! Multiple bogeys inbound, closing fast."
"Same axis as before?" Bartlett asked, seemingly suspicious of the whole thing. He isn't the only one, Kei thought idly as she sat on Bartlett's wing. She flipped on her radar and sure enough, five dots coming in from 2-8-0, thankfully the bastards weren't hiding another squadron this time so all they had to deal with was the five-ship flight this time, at least until the enemy's reinforcements came in.
"2-8-0. Same vector as last time," Thunderhead reported.
"Geez, how many planes they got lined up at the border? We've only got five on our side…" he muttered to himself, "we'd better abort. This way." The captain pulled off and turned east, heading straight towards the mainland. He was probably hoping to bait the enemy attackers into following them across the coast and straight into the Osean ADEZ missile systems… if it weren't for Chopper slowing them down.
"I can't make it!" he called out in panic as the flight of Migs crept up on his F-5, they hadn't fired their missiles yet, probably closing into gun range so that they wouldn't have to waste anything expensive for a seemingly easy kill. "They're running me down!"
"Oh, you're taking the trail position today, Rock 'n' Roller? Hold on, I'll clear you're six o'clock for you," Bartlett commented before he rolled his F-4E over into a left-handed turn and headed back towards Chopper. Kei reacted quickly and followed him into the turn as Alex and Helen continued to head towards the mainland.
"Dammit, why did I have to draw the short straw today?!" said pilot whined, as Kei saw him jinking wildly as two of the Migs took turns diving on him and two others decided to hang back a little, keep top cover for their buddies.
"Everyone else quit gawkin' and start shootin'!" Bartlett shouted out to the rest of the squadron.
Thunderhead didn't like that apparently, "Captain Bartlett!" he thundered as Kei let a smile creep onto her face. After all, it was kind of fun pissing off the obnoxious AWACS controller.
"Roger that. Edge, turning to engage," Kei called out as she winged over and followed Bartlett into the fray.
"Heartbreak One," Bartlett called out "engaging."
"Chopper, already engaging!" he called out as he threw on his afterburners, pulling up and into a climb to try and get away from his pursuers that were following him close behind.
"Jive, engaging," Alex called out as she rolled back around, bringing her plane in a wide, low sweeping turn as she angled her plane up towards the Migs.
"Blaze, engaging!" Helen shouted as her plane turned around with her sister, who sat right above her right-wing in trail, and the duo pulled through the turn.
"Wardog," Thunderhead piped up again, "you are not cleared to engage!" The flight ignored him like last time and burst straight through the flight of Fishbeds. Bartlett latched onto the Mig that had been glued to Chopper and disposed of him with a quick burst of the integrated M61 Vulcan. The Mig's fuel line to the engine was probably hit as the whole back half of the Fishbed lit up like a candle, the rest of Wardog Squadron merged with the remaining three enemy Migs. From there the situation devolved into a furball as the four Migs split off into different directions; two went high and to the right, Kei and Helen latched on to those two. Another decided to do an Immelmann turn and try to pull away from the Wardogs, Alex went for him. While the last guy did something incredibly stupid and dove right in front of both Bartlett and Chopper. Needless to say, he didn't last very long, and Chopper quickly scored the first kill of the engagement with a Sidewinder shot.
"Alright, Blaze, you take lead I'll follow," Kei called out to Helen as she settled in on her wingmates wing.
"Copy Edge," Helen answered, as the pair took off after the two 21s that had stuck together.
That's when she spied a lone Mig trying to maneuver onto Phantom's six o'clock. "Bandit on the captain's tail. I'm on it. Captain, break right!" Kei called out as she pulled her plane over, briefly checking to see if her wingmate was good before she did. Bartlett broke to the right, drawing the trailing Fishbed right into following him and allowing Kei to slot in right behind the Mig. The idiot didn't even realize that Kei was in the perfect spot to gun him down and kept up the turn as she started to pull lead.
However, the Mig started to pull lead onto the Phantom, something that Bartlett clearly noticed, "Nagase, where the hell are you?!"
"Nearly got him, just hold for five more seconds!" Kei answered as she kept pressure on the stick, Bartlett muttered out a few selective choice of words to Kei; however, he kept up the right-hand turn even though the Mig kept slowly pulling lead on Bartlett's aircraft. Kei's nose slipped a little more behind the Fishbed, she snarled in frustration as she realized that she still had way too much speed, that's when the ace had an idea. "Break left!" she shouted.
"What?!" Bartlett asked, confused.
"I said break left!" Kei repeated as she pitched her plane and rolled it over her left wing, as Bartlett snapped his F-4's nose around from a right turn to a left turn, dragging the Mig into the maneuver as well. Kei's own maneuver managed to place her high and inside of the two jets turn, with a perfect shot on the Mig. She squeezed the trigger and let her twin 20s lose, a stream of cannon rounds flew straight and true as they 'walked' along the fuselage. The rounds punched through the cockpit and killed the pilot instantly, also it must have punctured either an oil line or one of the fuel tanks as a stream of fluids began to leak from the craft. Seconds later the Fishbed erupted in a ball of flame as it disintegrated. Definitely hit the fuel tank, Kei thought to herself as her Tiger II dove past the explosion. "Splash one!" she called out joyously as she leveled off and started to scan for more targets.
"All right. Not bad," Bartlett muttered out in quiet praise. Internally, Kei beamed at the praise, but she kept her professionalism in place, as she kept her eyes on the sky, still scanning for any more threats and/or targets. Then she spotted Alex on the tail of a pretty squirrely Mig-21 that kept on evading Alex. Kei thought that Alex was having trouble with the Fishbed driver, but noticed that the Mig was pulling some pretty rookie maneuvers. She let a smile escape from her as she realized that Alex was in fact just toying with Mig as he tried desperately to shake Alex off his tail; and that's when 'Idiothead' decided to chime in.
"You splashed an enemy without permission to engage?! What are you thinking?!" the AWACS controller Kei let out an annoyed breath, but held her tongue as she watched Alex play with the Mig below. However, that's when she noticed four more blips coming in on 2-8-0, enemy reinforcements.
"Jive, quit playing with your food. We got enemy reinforcements coming in," Kei said as she formed up behind Alex, covering her back.
"Copy that, Edge. It was getting boring anyways," Alex replied as she pulled a quick low yoyo and put a quick burst of cannon rounds into the Mig's engine, "Wardog Five, splash one." As the smoking Mig fell towards the water below and the pilot punched out, Alex drew power from her engines and fell in side-by-side on Kei's wing as they turned to engage
"Jesus, we're really in the furball, now," Kei heard Alex say quietly as she flipped her Tiger onto the tail of another Mig. Kei noticed that the Mig had looped around and had goaded Alex into a turn fight
"Where'd they come from? Are they with that other group we ran into?" Chopper asked seemingly to himself.
"Are they here to get back at us for those drones or what?"
"Chopper!" Helen barked out in anger, "Will you just shut up for just two seconds?!"
"Sorry."
"Back again, huh? Hope you're ready to fight this time."
"Heads up we got another flight of fast-movers coming in," Alex called out, "I'll give you three guesses for the vector, but you're only gonna need one."
"Two-Eight-Zero," Helen spoke up with the 'guess' as she formed up on Kei's wing "Copy that, Jive." The two women settled into formation, about 65 yards apart from one another as they flew in tandem. Kei noticed a quartet of dots appear on the horizon as they closed in with one another.
"Shit! They're Fulcrums!" Helen called out as the flight of Mig-29s passed right between the pair, with a loud roar. As the Migs passed by though, Kei caught a glimpse of the plane's markings as the Fulcrum shot past. A very familiar set of white stripes ran down the wings, it was the same squadron that wiped out the Wardogs just days earlier. Kei's vision tinted red, as she chopped her power and snapped the plane's nose around to engage. She floored the throttle forward as far as it would go, lighting up her Tiger II's 3,000-pound afterburner as the fighter shot forward and after the four-ship flight.
"Guys, watch your backs! Those Fulcrum pilots are the same bastards that wiped us out," Kei called out to the squadron.
"You sure, Nagase?" Bartlett asked as he threw his F-4 into a tight barrel roll trying to stick close to the Fishbed that he had been following for about the last minute now.
"Damn sure!" Kei grunted out, as she cranked her Tiger II's nose around in a tight high-g turn, "The bastards have the same sets of markings on their wings." The Fulcrums quickly realized what was happening, as she closed in on the four-man flight, and rapidly split the formation apart as they spread out. Kei ignored the other Migs as she latched onto the leader of the flight, following him up and into an almost straight vertical climb. Kei knew that she was putting herself in a precarious position, as any pilot that was watching Kei had a clear shot at her plane. However, the same applied to the Mig pilot as he hung just above Kei. She sighted the distance and ranged the plane before she let loose a short two-second burst of 20-millimeter cannon. One hundred cannon rounds streamed towards the Mig as he still clawed his way up and into the air. All one hundred rounds slammed right in the middle of the Fulcrum that created an eruption of flame, the shattered and burning hulk began to fall back down to the earth when a massive explosion obliterated the fighter and it's doomed pilot, meager seconds later.
"Wardog 2, splash three!" she called out, as she chopped power and pulled back onto the stick. 'Falling' onto her back and applying power as she went into a short dive before she pulled out at level flight. She took a quick scan around the skies and saw that Helen and Alex were teaming up on one of the Fulcrums and that Bartlett and Chopper were doing the same to the third guy, however that still left one more.
"Okay, where are you? Where are you?" Kei muttered to herself as she rocked her plane from side to side as she searched for the last bandit, she glanced over her shoulder and looked up and into the sun with squinted eyes, as she searched for her target. She didn't have to wait long though, as she spotted a slight glimmer down low in the clouds, Kei nosed the Tiger II into a shallow dive as she poked her nose through the last layer of cloud cover. Revealing the bright blue water below… and a lone Mig 29.
Kei's lips parted in a predatory grin, "Found you." She firewalled the throttle and rolled over into a dive chasing after the Fulcrum. The Mig jockey must have seen her coming after him because just as soon as she started to pull out of her dive, he pitched his bird over into a hard right turn, trying to force an overshoot. An overshoot that would have worked had it not been for the fact that Kei had seen it coming, during the dive she noticed the Fulcrum had rocked back and forth slightly. The ace reacted instantly and instinctually pulled power and popped out her speed brakes, slowing her approach down just enough so that when the Mig made a sudden hard right turn and he tried to force Kei to overshoot, she didn't. Kei angled herself for a deflection shot on the Mig and let out a quick burst for her cannons before the guy could fix his mistake. The hard-hitting rounds started up at the cockpit, slamming into the pilot killing him instantly, and worked their way down towards the tail striking one of the Fulcrum's engines, knocking it out and causing a massive fire to break out. The combination led to the now doomed plane spinning down towards the ocean below.
Kei watched as the last Mig fell down towards the water, she felt a minuscule sense of justice wash over her as the last one of the bastards that had massacred their squadron just a week earlier. Fell to a watery grave in his fiery tomb.
"Picture clear," Thunderhead spoke up, "All hostile aircraft are destroyed. Hold on… warning still in effect! Keep your heads on a swivel."
Kei flew around the ship looking out for any sign that there were any more enemy planes up in the sky. But as she scanned the skies, a loud alarm blasted into her ears. Something was locked onto her, Kei looked all around her still searching for the threat in the skies when she realized something she had forgotten to check. Something that Bartlett instantly reminded her of, "Watch out, Nagase! They're down below us too!"
Her head snapped back to look at the ship just mere seconds before she saw a missile launch off of the deck and immediately start tracking her. The missile weaving its way towards her tailpipe.
She watched as Bartlett had tried to evade the missile as best he could but to no avail as the warhead's guidance system had still tracked true. Slamming into the F-4's wing and erupting in a small puff of smoke as the missile exploded. "Captain!" Kei called out. No, no, no, not again! she thought to herself as she panicked, Kei started to shadow Bartlett's wounded F-4.
"Hey, save the waterworks. I'm just gonna bail out here. We can replace these things, it's getting the crew back home that counts. Make a call to scramble the search and rescue helicopter, and my reserve plane, okay?" Bartlett told the four, as they watched him eject out of his crippled plane, the bright white fabric of his parachute filling out moments later as he floated down to the ocean below.
The four of them had just started to circle around Bartlett, when Thunderhead's voice popped back up on the frequency, "Warning! Warning! Wardog Squadron, return to base immediately!"
"But the rescue helicopter isn't here yet," Kei retorted as she kept an eye on Bartlett's parachute.
"Leave that to the rescue team! Refuel and rearm at the base, and get back in the air immediately! The enemy just declared war on us."
"No, damn it! I'm not leaving him!" Kei yelled, desperate to try and stay until Bartlett would get picked up.
"Kei! He'll be fine alright? Now let's get back to base," Alex pressed, trying to have her friend come to see reason. She sounded so… desperate, after all, Kei was the only one in the flight three days earlier to not get shot down, but that didn't change the fact that Kei had let yet another squad member get shot down. "If you say so," the grief-stricken woman relented, as she pulled the plane into the flight's formation, the four of them flying back to the base in silence.
TBC: Chapter 5 - Just Another War
A/N: Hey there guys, Merry Christmas! I hope that you all are having a holiday wherever that you are when you read this. I understand that some of you guys are getting a little bored of me having Kei in Strangereal and want to see her back with the Strike Witches. I do too, but I need to keep her here for just a little bit longer you guys'll see why later on down the line. Until then please just stick with me... DesertWriter01 out!