Hi again. Thanks you for still reading my story. Please review and feel free to submit ideas or character ideas.

I still don't own Ace Combat, Heckler & Koch, Northrop Grumman, McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Clock, etc. Doing I even really own my story?

Here more German translations. Maybe I should learn German.

Süden: Southern, Norden: Northern, Westen: Western, Osten: Eastern, Süd: South, Nord: North, West: West, Ost: East, Guten Natch: Good Night, Nein: No

Chapter 4: I Have a Friend?

Morning again. March 15th to be exact. Mieke has been here for two weeks and I've gotten use to her or in other words I ignored her most of the time. This wasn't an easy task because she spent most of her time around me as though she was too scared to be around anyone else. For now Mieke was not here, likely she's with Frau Hauptmann Anne Kautz and Luetnant Sophie Rotwald; Blau 09 and 10 the only other female pilots in our squadron. They were the only other people she hung out with when she wasn't with me.

'I think I'll take a shower now' I thought getting out of bed and climbing down the ladder. I stepped on something soft on the floor and looked down. It was white and small like a handkerchief and looked like it was made of cotton. I couldn't think what it could possibly be and pick it up. Holding it in both hands I held it in front of my eyes. My eyes widen and my jaw dropped as I released what it was.

"YYAAAAHHH!" I screamed and jumping backwards, dropping what I released now was Mieke's panties like it burned me. "OW!" I yelled banging my head against the bunk bed. I was double over, breathing hard and holding my chest and the back of my head.

After several minutes I stubble over to the bathroom, I was still trembling a little from the shock. I closed the door and unbuttoned my whitish grey shirt. I took it off, then undid my belt, and unzipped my pants. I had my pants half way off when the door open and Mieke walk in. "Paul I was wondering if you cou…EEEPP!" She stopped dead in the middle of whatever she was asking when she released I had no shirt and my pants half way off. 'At least I still have my boxers on' the only comforting thought I had. It was a very long four seconds that past before a bright red Mieke slowly left the room and closed the door. I quickly locked it and proceeded to turn the water on.

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After my shower I exited the room and sat down at my desk. "This morning has been too much." I groaned. I turned on my laptop and started to check the internet for new motorcycle seat. An add pop up showing the new Porsche motorcycles and a model in a bikini. The image of Mieke's half cotton, half synthetic white panties came to mind. "This morning has been way too much."

I closed the pop up and exited the site. I next began to read an article on the new EF-2000 Typhoons that the Luftwaffe was introducing soon.

"Paul?" Asked a nerves voice to my left.

"What?" I asked, still reading the article and trying not to think very hard about her or her panties.

"Er… sorry about early."

"Knock next time if the bathroom door is closed." I said still reading.

"I need a ride to town."

"Eh?" I asked not really listening.

"My mom's birthday is on the 28th and I wanted to get her something, besides I've never been to Sudenberg." She said eagerly.

"That's nice. Have fun." I said indifferently still reading about the Typhoon. 'Light, cheap, maneuverable, but lacks the speed of the Eagle or Fulcrum' I thought.

"I thought you could give me a ride."

"You thought wrong."

"Please." She asked nicely.

"Nein." In the same indifferent tone.

"Please take me, you never go to town and everyone else is gone." She asked sounding annoyed.

"I haven't felt like going and you can get a ride with someone around here there are two air divisions on this base." I said simply, while reading about new Super Hornets Belka had just bought from North Point.

"Common on. Please." She begged.

I turned my head left and looked right into her eyes. "Make me" I said and turned back to reading about the Super Hornets.

A silence ensued and I decided she had given up. I then felt warm air gently blowing against the left of my cheek. I turned to my left again and froze in shock. Mieke was only three inches away from my face. Her eyes, which I could now see had specks of green and brown which gave a beautiful effect, were wide and shiny. I could also see there were a few small freckles on and around her nose, which further added to her cuteness. Her hair, body, and breath all had slightly different scents, but it the effect was nice. To top this all off her mouth formed a sweet little smile. "Please Paul" she whispered sweetly and gently to me.

"AAAHHHHH!" I yelled while simultaneously falling backwards in my chair. Groaning, I look up to see she was smiling with her eyes closed and her head cocked to the side slightly. "Well?"

"Fine, fine, just let me change." I said from the floor. 'Never say make me to her again.'

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"Reisefertig sein?" I asked still annoyed she talked me into this. I had changed into some olive drab cargo pants, a plain white T-shirt, and my brown jacket. She was wearing a knee length tan skirt, a yellow T-shirt with the words "Es ist zu teuer" on it, and jean jacket over it.

"Ja." She said tying her hair up.

"I don't know where my other helmet went so you'll have to ride without one." I said realizing that I haven't seen it since Mieke arrived two weeks ago.

"Oh I have it" she said pulling out my other helmet and goggles. She had put her name on the inside of it and painted a picture of a tempest on the right side.

"Hey! That's mine!" She's taking my stuff now.

"And I'm your wingman" she responded, "besides; who else would you give a ride."

She's been getting more self confident or at least with me. When ever she was around someone else she was quiet. Maybe this is her way of being comfortable with me. Maybe she was using those self-help CDs.

"Let's go." I said resigning myself to this. It's not even 11 O'clock and I've almost had a heart attack, bodily exposed, manipulated, and robbed, what else could happen? I started the engine and let it warm up a little.

"Herr Hauptmann von Klein isn't here either?" She asked noticing that von Klein's motorcycle was gone.

"He goes into town for a drink or something like that sometimes."

We were off now and headed for the base exit. After a guard with an H&K MP-5 waved us on we headed down the road to the small city of Sudenberg.

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We were only about 15 minutes away from Sudenberg. We approached a railroad crossing and I stopped when the lights started flashing, a warning bell ringing, and the gate started to lower. A pair of diesel locomotives slowly roared passed the two of us. They hauled flatcars loaded with new Leopard 2 MBT, Marder IFV, Gepard self-propelled AAs, ATF Dingos, AFG light recon vehicles, FH-70 howitzers, Panzerhaubitse 2000, LARSs, and Rheinmetall AAs. Because the military train wasn't traveling too fast Mieke and I could easily see soldiers with H&K G-36s, H&K MP-5s, H&K MG-21s, H&K PSG-1, Panzerfaust 3 with laser range finder, and Benelli M3T shotguns.

"That's an awful lot of fire power" Mieke said seriously.

"Ja, they're probably going to Hydrian Line on the border. Looks like Belka is really getting ready for war." I said darkly. Mieke looked down in silence and said, "I wonder what are first mission will be." Her voice trailed off as she and I thought war for some reason was inevitable. "Why?" she weakly asked, I could only shake my head because I wasn't sure why either.

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Driving down a street lined with stores and restaurants I realized something, "Why did you make me drive you into town again?"

"To get something for my mother's birthday, remember?" She said patiently.

"Er… nein." I said pulling into an empty space in front of book store. "What are you getting her?"

"Oh, I don't know." She said thinking while we both walked down the street. We spent an hour looking around different stores or she spent an hour looking while followed her wondering who long this is going to take.

"What do you think of this?" Mieke eagerly asked holding up a red sweater with a sleeping white dog on it.

Thinking fast I quickly said, "I like. Buy it and let's go."

"… Liar." She said quietly and then put the sweater back. We left the little cloths store that we early and stopped in the tavern for lunch.

The tavern was a favorite of the stationed soldiers and had gone under so many different managements and name changes that nobody remembers its name. The food also changes because the different owners, but the interior and some of the staff never changed. It had wooden floors, wooden wall, wooden tables, and wooden chairs. Photos of Sudenberg in the past, local people, and the numerous past owners of what we just call the Tavern. Mieke and I sat down on stools at the bar and wait for Harold the bartender, no relation to Hauptmann Harold Freiman our flight lead. Harold was one of the few things that didn't change in here, he was a balding man in his sixties, he could stand to lose 20 pounds, had a laugh that could shake the room and belly, and often went off on little 'life lesson' stories.

"Paul, Guten tag!" Harold happily, but practically yelled to me. "What do ya want? Beer? Whisky?"

"Soda." I simply said, I drink, but not often. (AN: I have it that the drinking age is 18 in Belka. I'm also trying to make Paul and Mieke semi-responsible characters.) He slide a can in front of me and I started to drink.

Harold chose that moment with an evil grin to said, "What will your girlfriend have?"

I spat a mouth full of soda all over Harold who was standing in front of me. "She 'cough'… is my 'wheeze'… wingman."

"Really? Just a wingman? Well when I was young I had a friend, who ran a… well I don't remember now, but there was this girl that worked as his partner and well… uh what happened then?" While he was thinking I wondered whether I wanted a turkey or ham sandwich.

"Can I get a ham and Swiss sandwich?" Mieke had been so busy deciding what she wanted she hadn't notice anything else. Thank god for that.

"Huh? … Oh right and Paul you want what?" Harold he asked coming out of some deep thinking.

I was enjoying myself greatly. Really, I wonder why Paul never comes down here? He needs to get out more. Speaking of Paul, why do he mean when he said 'at least people remember you'. I've been trying to find out from other people for two weeks now, but they seem to hardly know him.

"Vogel, Ruhrman, Guten tag" said a weary, but strong voice that sent chills down my spine. "Herr Hauptmann von Klein, willkommen." Harold said greet him, but not a happily as he had for us, he looked a little scared of him. He was wearing blue jeans, a brown plaid button shirt, blue and black coat, and a bluish-grey Greek fisherman hat with a black rim (AN: I actually own those cloths). Like the few times I've seen him before he looked like he tried to stay clean and sleep, but was busy with other things. There were the usual dark bags under his eyes, they also looked blood-shot, there were whiskers he failed to shave off, and his hair like he combed his hair once and then ran his hands through it many times later. He sat down next to me and said unemotionally, "Turkey, plain, on white, coffee, and a cookie, please."

Harold walked off without a word and von Klein began to read documents he pulled from inside his coat. Paul asked what he was reading.

"Stuff." He simply stated.

"Okay, tell me when you're allowed." Paul turned to me and said, "I'm going to the bathroom, if Harold starts telling one of his stories run for your life." He left for the back end of the tavern where the hallway to the bathrooms is. As he left I realized that von Klein job was to know all the soldiers in the regiment and he is Paul's friend.

"uh… mien her?" I asked in a shaky voice, even out of uniform and eating a turkey sandwich he's still intimating. "eh?" he said without looking at me.

I took a deep breath and said nervously, "What can you tell me about Paul?"

He turned and looked me in the eye. I felt like he could see right through my soul, but for once in my life I didn't break eye contact when someone was looking at me. He turned back to his plant and finished his sandwich, stuffing it into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in days or had any table manners to speak of. 'I guess he won't tell me anything' I though as I looked out the window onto the street.

"He's from Hoffnung." I turned to see him taking a sip from his cup. "He has a father who works operates a signal box for the railroad and a mother who works as a waitress in a diner. He has four little brothers and three little sisters. Needless to say his family never had much money, time, or attention to spare and he got left out most of the time. His physic profile says he has trouble attaching himself to people because he was never close to his own family. He spent most of his time working at a repair shop fixing clocks, TV's, lamps, etc. He's not the least bit unstable and perfectly sane, but he doesn't have friends." He said it all with no facial expression, but his eyes showed a slight sign of compassion. "That's basically all you need to know." He stuff the cookie down, emptied the coffee cup, left a few Belka Marks (AN: Marks was the German currency before the Euro.), and was about to leave the tavern.

I began to think about what he was saying and I said, "But aren't I his friend."

He looked at me with a small look of surprise in his eyes. He then for the first time I'd ever seen smiled, a sad and pitying smile, but a smile. It made him look very tired and weary, as though he was eighty, but it was nice to know he could smile. "Think about it, what does he perceive as true?" He was gone with at last sentence.

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"How much longer do we have to do this, it's almost 4:45." Paul groaned. We were walking down a side street having left the tavern hours ago.

We approached a small photo shop and I went in, Paul grudgingly followed. I looked around at the cameras, picture fames, a sign that said 'get your picture taken here', film, a… wait what did that sign say?

"Perfect!" I squealed.

"What?" Paul asked looking bored.

I answer because I was to busy talking to the clerk who nodded and point to a bench with a camera on a tripod facing it. I then grabbed Paul by the shirt and started dragging him along.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!" He yelled at me.

I push him on the bench, sat down next to him and sweetly said, "Smile for the camera."

"Huh?"

Mieke was now sitting in the sidecar tying her hair for the ride back. I look at the picture of her and me. She had hair hand raise in greeting and a bright smile on her face. I was staring at the camera with a look of confusion on my face because she hadn't told me what we were doing.

" Uh… 'My Best-friend'? Don't you have real friends at home?" I asked bluntly.

"Nein, between not having a lot of self-esteem and breaking a few peoples' noses I never made many friends, you?"

"I spent most of my time reading or working and didn't really want friends." I said shrugging. "But since when have I been your best friend? What about Frau Hauptmann Kautz and Luetnant Rotwald?" This doesn't make sense.

"They're nice, but Anne talks too much and Sophie is a little too perky." I couldn't help, but laugh, it was true after all. Kautz loves to talk about anything and everything and Rotwald needed to cut down on caffeine. 'I have a friend?' I wondered.

"So as your new and probably first best friend, do you want to know about me?" said asked with a smile.

"Nein." I said flatly.

"Huh?" Mieke said shocked.

"Today has been too much for me, tell me tomorrow when I'm rested." I said thinking about everything from this morning to now.

"Okay, I understand, but what has been too much? You can tell me?" She clearly wanted to fill in this whole 'best friend' role, whatever the hell that meant. I thought about it though, she was being nice, maybe having friends would make life ever on me. As for telling her about my day, I thought about this morning. I decided to make that a secret I'll take to the grave.

"Just pick up after yourself."

To Be Continue

Like it? Hate it? Got ideas? I misspelled something? Tell me. Well until then.

Respectfully

J. H. Kamiya