April 11th, 2010
The Reizei household was a place of relaxation. It had become such a place back in October after a series of horrible losses; the commander had ordered that each squadron had to learn bond and get to know each other to better coordinate in the sky.
Yukari, who had been a new arrival to the squadron, wasn't one to push ideas onto the rest of the group. So, it was up to Saori to suggest something, and what she came up with was a movie night on Friday night.
Mako, of course, objected, but Saori overruled her, stating. "Just like a relationship, you both have to make an effort if you want to resolve your troubles."
To which Mako replied, with narrow eyes. "You've never been in one, though."
However, no matter the protests, the movie night happened. Saori however, chose the first film, a romantic comedy whose humour was dry and timing awkward. But to Yukari, it didn't matter; this had been the first time she felt like she had true friends. And she relished it.
From then on, every Friday would consist of heading down to the video rental store and renting a movie for the night. At first, it was only one movie, but it soon expanded into practically a movie marathon and a highlight for the week.
In exchange for the use of the house, Mako had made it illegal to wake up before ten in the morning, and for most Sundays, it worked just like that.
Unfortunately, today wasn't like most Saturdays.
Sometime early in the morning, the grating and unbearable sound of a phone call rang out across the quiet farmhouse. At first, no one answered, hoping that it was merely a dream, after the second ring, groans began being emitted by the girls. By the third ring, Yukari had had enough and bit bullet, picking up her phone and answering it.
"... Hello?" She mumbled, still half asleep.
"Yo, this is your commander; I need you and your squad in the briefing hall by six," Anzu spoke almost gleefully.
"What?" Yukari asked still groggy, but the beep of a hung phone graced her ears before she could get an answer. Blinking, she looked to her phone, finding that it was now five-thirty, meaning they had half an hour.
Sitting up, Yukari rubbed her eyes, noticing the tv was still on the main menu of the last film they had watched last night, but thankfully, someone had muted it the night before. She reached over to the remote on the coffee and shut off the tv. She reached over and shook Hana, who was still tucked up in her sleeping bag. "Time to wake up." The sleeping bag shifted as the florist slowly awoke.
Yukari turned to the ginger-haired girl currently sleeping on one of the two occupied couches in the living room. Saori was already in the process of getting up, having grabbed her glasses, she rubbed her eyes. "Aren't we supposed to get Saturdays off?" She asked.
"Well-"
"Criminal," Mako muttered, cutting Yukari off. They looked to her, who laid on the other couch, turned over and facing the couch's back. "Anzu... Broke... the rule."
Yukari and Saori looked to each other, concern; this was a battle that they really didn't have time for. "Well, not much you can do, Mako. We need to head to the airfield." Saori argued.
"Tired."
"Well, we don't have much choice, you have to get up."
"The impossible is impossible."
Pursing her lips, Yukari looked to her ginger-haired friend who was still in her flight suit, so she asked Saori. "Could you go start the truck, and I'll get her up." With a nod, Saori stood up and left the room.
"Mako, you need to get up. I know it's against your rules, but the chief wants us in the briefing room in thirty minutes." Yukari's prodding was answered only by a tired chuckle coming from underneath the heavy blanket. "Don't make me use that, ok? We both know you hate it." Another groan. 'Suit yourself,'
Yukari thought and shrugged as she stood back up and walked to the kitchen and opened up the freezer. It was a way that always got their pilot up. Grabbing the tray of ice, she noticed it was empty. Pushing around the frozen food, she looked for the icepacks that she could fall back on, but there was nothing.
Another chuckle came from the girl.
'she wanted to play like that, she could play like that.'
She grabbed hold of ice that caked the sides of the freezer and pulled a chunk off breaking free, she eyed the chunks in her hand, feeling the bone-chilling cold aura. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Mako, who, believing herself to be safe, slept peacefully, unaware of what was coming.
.
.
.
A blood-curdling scream pierced the quiet dawn.
xXXXx
Miho looked at her reflection, dressed in a new G-suit and holding a new helmet. It was like she was back at Black forest. The only difference was Belkan patch had been replaced with an Ustio patch.
"So, you remember what I told you last night?" Anzu said, sitting on the bed in Miho's impromptu room.
"Make sure you receive your promotion."
The commander slyly smiled. "My contract is up in October, so you have until then to make my record shine."
Miho bit the inside of her cheek. "And what if I can't."
"Let's not get to that; just do your best."
xXXXx
The breaks of the truck squealed as it pulled up to the gate. Noticing the military police walking up to the truck, each member of angler squadron reached into their pockets and produced id.
The officer that came to the driver's window and shined a flashlight into the cabin. "Ah, Mako, surprised to see you up so early."
"Sodoko." The tired girl bitterly threw out.
"That's officer Midoriko to you." She corrected.
"Whatever," Mako replied.
As the group waited for the security forces to open the gate, they heard the unmistakable roar of engines. Had they missed the deadline. One glance at the radio proved that they hadn't it was only quarter to six.
Through the darkness, they were able to spot a pair of orange lights as it took off into the sky, followed closely by the E-767 that acted as their AWACS.
"Seems like we're intercepting someone." Yukari pointed out.
"One plane? Do you really think they would give us such a simple mission?" Saori questioned.
"I doubt it," Hana commented. "Another aerodrome was probably visiting."
xXXXx
"You'll, be intercepting a single fighter, near the border of Belka, right on the edge of the Ivrea mountain range," Momo Said, standing in front of the projected map.
Everyone in the dark briefing room was silent, looking to each other trying to guess if this was simply a joke that they weren't in on until Mako finally spoke. "You... woke... us... up... to intercept one fighter!" She shouted standing up in a fiery rage
"She's quite fired up," Hana whispered to the rest of the group.
"Yes, think of it as punishment for the absolute failure that was yesterday's battle." The monocle-wearing girl replied.
"Who are you sending?" Azusa asked.
"Everyone."
Whispers proliferated around the briefing room, "Everyone?" They questioned.
"Yes, everyone. Is there a problem?"
Yukari raised her hand. "Excuse me but, even during our worst defeats, we're always able to down at least one plane."
"Then it shouldn't be a problem. Get to your planes."
xXXXx
It wasn't until they were near the combat zone that Saori posed the question from Angler 3 "Does anyone else think Anzu's gone mad?"
Too which Yukari answered. "I think she's listening to our comms."
"How could she, her E-767 was already gone when we took off, and she never made contact with us." One of the Hippo squadron pilots replied.
"I wonder where it went." Rabbit 1 replied.
"Who knows." another of her squadron replied.
Yukari didn't know what to say. With a sigh, she looked out at the world around her. It was beautiful up here among the clouds that hung in the air like wads of cotton. It was her own slice of heaven.
They crossed the first mountain singling the start of their operations. "Alright, sound off!" Yukari ordered over the radio.
"Angler 2 Here," Hana said from her Draken.
"Angler 3 here," Mako replied from the prowler.
Taking a deep breath, she barked an order to the whole flight. "Drop your tanks."
Each and every plane in the formation dropped their external fuel tanks. Without their AWACS, they needed to fan out and search for them; each squadron took a part of the combat area.
xXXXx
Miho sat quietly in the SU 27 that Anzu had loaned to her. She enjoyed the tranquillity, the hum of her engines.
But she didn't know if she could do it. There were thirteen planes, and she had two air to air missiles, a single volley of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and a thirty mm cannon. It was possible, but she needed to conserve as many missiles as she could.
The radio buzzed to life. "They've entered the mountain range and have begun their search. Sending you their locations."
Taking a deep breath. She detached the drop tank, which tumbled to the earth below. Eyeing her radar, she spotted a group of four planes heading towards her location, their duck squadron's F104s and MiG 21s. Banking right, she climbed up over the mountain, "Any tips for the ducks?"
"Other than pulling them into a turn fight?"
Miho didn't feel the need to answer that.
"Well, their headstrong, so they'll probably try to turn fight you, they also have the knack not to check their radar," Anzu explained.
Looking back to the radar, she saw that the starfighters had passed her by, it was her time to strike.
Rolling over the mountain, she spotted the trio of planes. They hadn't noticed her. She quickly downed the closest aircraft. The last two banked in an attempted to escape, but it was no use. Both were as quickly shot down as the first.
It had gone perfectly.
"Beneath you!"
She didn't need to look to know she was in danger. Her Radar Warning System blared as it fired a simulated missile. Banking hard, she threw her plane into a roll deploying flares as she crossed over the mountain. Diving down the missile was blocked, and Miho didn't waste any time going on the offensive, pulling hard on her control stick pitching the aircraft up just in time to catch the MiG 21 coming over the hill.
xXXXx
The alerts came fast, a chorus of "I'm hit" rang out over the radio.
Yukari was the first to react. "Where are you, what are they flying?"
"To the east, they're flying, that's... is that the commander's plane?"
"What?" Saori muttered over the radio. "We're facing Anzu?"
"It doesn't matter, who's closest?" Yukari asked
A laugh came over the radio. "That would be us." Hippo one said. "We'll take care of it."
"No! Wait for us," Yukari shouted back, but there was no answer. Clenching a fist, she grit her teeth and punched her canopy in frustration and with a sigh ordered. "Rabbit form up with us and head to their last location."
xXXXx
Red smoke popped out of the bottom of the plane, signalling its defeat.
"Nice job. That leaves nine to go. Speaking of, three contacts closing on your rear."
Miho shot a glance over her shoulder, spying the three specs in the distances closing in. Throwing her plane into a sharp turn, she faced her pursuers and prepared herself. At two kilometres away, the Radar Warning Receiver warned her of the imminent threat she kept focus, at one and a half kilometres they fired their missiles her RWR screamed at her to evade its high pitch beeping pierced her ears, but she remained steed fast. At one kilometre, she struck, firing off a burst, she deployed chaff and flares rolling into a dive at the last second, barely evading the missile.
Levelling out, she deployed her air brake and pulled up on the control stick as hard as she could. The plane's nose pitched up, towards the sky, and the f4 phantom that was now above her but she simply wasn't in the position to fire on her target.
Her world turned grey as she switched on her missiles inferred tracker.
The phantom rolled and attempted to out-turn her, but it was useless, she was in a perfect position, "Fox 2!" She shouted, firing off a missile while pulling out of the turn. The phantom attempted to evade, but it had lost all its energy trying to turn and was hit. Miho levelled out, taking a moment to breathe and look for the last target.
"F15 coming around behind you!" Anzu replied.
Deploying flares to throw off the lock, she jerked the plane skywards and cut the engines. She slowed nearly to a stall, forcing the F15 to overshot her, pushing the nose forward she returned to the chase, ready to fire on her target. The F15 not wanting to be outdone, cut its engines and pulled up. Miho didn't open fire as she was merely confused. Had they tried to copy her?
Circling around, the pilot had been able to get its nose pointed to the ground and was picking up speed. Miho, now confident that they wouldn't crash, didn't waste a single second firing off a burst that knocked out the F15.
"Pugachev's cobra. Nice." Anzu complimented. "Six to go."
xXXXx
"This is hippo squadron... she got us all."
Blood drained from Yukari's face, was the commander this good? If so, why didn't she fly with them?
Looking to her left was Hana in her Saab Draken, to her right was Mako and Saori and behind her was rabbit squadron, they had the numbers, it was only Anzu.
"Saori I don't care what it takes I need you to make sure that their radar can't lock on to us," Yukari commanded
"Got it."
"Ok, keep tight and make sure Angler 3 doesn't go down."
"Uh, this is Rabbit 3, we have something on radar. It's heading towards us, and it's fast.
She readied herself as best she could but, she couldn't be prepared for what Anzu was about to do, with seemingly no care for her safety she flew Streight at them deploying chaff and flairs to break any attempt to lock on. "Break!" Yukari shouted, causing the formation to scatter.
Anzu didn't seem to care, flying right into their formation, firing her cannon and striking one of Rabbit squadrons F14.
"She hit us; she really hit us." A terrified Rabbit 2 called out.
Sweat began to form on Yukari's brow, so long as they had the prowe-
"This is angler 3; we're out."
Yukari's eyes widened. "Belkan doctrine, where did she learn that?" she muttered. Just what was Anzu? Her eyes darted to the enemy plane; they were turning into Rabbit squadron who were unaware of the impending danger. "Rabbit they're on you."
"What?" Rabbit 1 shouted as she finally noticed the plane on their tail. "Rabbit 3 break." But it was too late red smoke descended from rabbit 2's craft. They had been hit.
"Azusa deploy countermeasures and pull into us!" Flares and chaff were jettisoned from the craft as Rabbit 1 banked, attempting to get away from the SU. "Let's go Hana," Yukari said.
The SU sensing it was outnumbered pulled away, dashing up and over a mountain. The trio of planes pursed, but they had bleed most of their energy evading the attack. But when they finally crossed the mountain, they were surprised to find a sea of clouds; their radar told them that she was getting away, but they simply couldn't see her. She waited for a moment for her to lock on. "Fire!" Yukari ordered when it had finished locking.
"Rabbit 1 fox 2."
"Angler 2 fox 2."
Gritting her teeth. She pulled the trigger. "Angler 1 fox 2."
Yukari eyed her radar, watching as all three missiles headed for their target. She looked up as the sea of clouds parted just in time to see what had happened.
"Bank!" Yukari ordered.
Not a moment after she had said that the SU 27 flew by having preformed a cobra, the trio of planes overshot them. Not a moment after the RWR blared to life, a chorus of ear-piercing beeping filled the cockpits.
Before they could react, simulated missiles slammed into the F14 and the Draken, leaving only Yukari to face this beast. "You want a fight Anzu!" she dove beneath the clouds, the fiend behind her. She darted left and right, but the SU kept on her. It maintained a relatively small distance, but it wasn't going to let go.
The plane mimicked her movements perfectly. It was if she was facing off against a monster, she wanted to call out for help, but there was no left. She was alone with this beast, and her plane couldn't out turn it. Fear gripped her pounding heart; it was as if she was in the maw of some monstrous tiger. It became clear to Yukari, that wasn't Anzu.
When her RWR cried out that a missile had been fired, she didn't bother trying to evade it. They had lost.
The missile slammed into her plane, her Fire control system locked up, and red smoke billowed out of the bottom of it confirming the kill.
As Yukari sat in the cockpit hands off of the controls, she watched as the SU 27 flew by her before banking away heading back to base.
The radio suddenly blared to life. "All right losers," It was Anzu. "Head back to base for debriefing."
xXXXx
Yukari rushed back to base. She needed to know who was in that SU 27.
Landing only a minute after the SU touched down, she quickly pulled into her hanger and threw off her harness. Not even waiting for the ground crew to bring the ladder to her, she grabbed the edge of the cockpit, she lowered herself and dropped to the ground.
Rushing to the edge of the hanger, she saw the pilot, who still wore her helmet, leave the SU 27 and standing at the bottom of the stairs was Anzu smiling. Grabbing the hanger door, she hid most of her body, only exposing an eye to see just who had shot her down.
The pilot chatted with Anzu, no doubt going over what she had just done. The person looked like they were about to take off her helmet, but Anzu stopped her, pointing to her hiding spot.
No reason to hide anymore, Yukari approached the group. Her mind was racked with questions all worth asking, but when she had finally reached the group, she simply asked, "Who are you?"
The pilot whose mouth was the only visible skin, looked like she was about to answer when Anzu. "starting tomorrow, she's the school's new teacher."
They both said, "What?" In unison.
"She said every squadron has promise. And I expect her to help mould that potential into turning you lot into an actual competent fighting force. Right?" She asked, looking to the masked pilot who seemed stunned by this whole arrangement. "Right. Now go to the briefing room to get chewed out by Kawashima. This pilot and I here have much to discuss."
As the pilot was ushered away from the stunned girl, Yukari couldn't help but feel as though this was a turning point in her Tenor here.
xXXXx
And that should end that hope you enjoyed this small chapter, let me know what you think if you have any ideas feel free to dm them to me.