[James "Ghost eye" Cullen. Gracemeria Air Force Base . City of Gracemeria. August 30th, 2015, 10:40AM]
Cullen bolted across the runway as did 30 other pilots. Machine gun fire rained down upon them like firey rain. Upon reaching the Aircraft column many of the pilots climbed into their birds, Cullen and his boreing E747 pilots ran past the column however. Their craft was still in its hanger. As he ran he passed Lanner's jet. As she was climbing into it she looked down to see Cullen running past. Her eye's hovered on him for a moment. Obviously she was expecting him to forbid her from taking off. Luckly for her, Cullen was a realist.
"GET AIRBORNE" He yelled at her.
She let a grin form and nodded. Cullen continued to run along the column of parked aircraft and checked every one of them to make sure their pilots had reached them. Luckley, all the pilots seemed to have made it. Tailsman, who had had his raptor pushed outside by the ground staff, was already sitting in his craft's cockpit, feeding fuel into the engine. He (like all the other pilots) was waiting for clearnce fron flight control. Cullen had by now ran almost the entire length of the runway and his chest burned with the need for air. He entired the hanger that housed his Boreing E747 and ran to the portable staircase that lead to its side entrance. The Boreings pilots, Mich and Rail, bolted into the cockpit while Cullen entired the CIC room which was located at the planes midsection.
The Boreing E747 was the same size as a small passanger jet, but its interior had been outfitted with an airborne CIC (Combat infomation centre) so a AWACS like Cullen could have a total layout of the battlespace and a way to reach any and all in the chaos of battle. The cutting edge communication system along with the tracking system gave Cullen the closest equivalent to a God's eye view. Outside, the sound of the Boreings engines coming to life oddly gave Cullen a sense of hope. He sat down on his sit-and-spin and sucked in air, the run had almost killed him.
"Cullen, you might want to switch to the outer left wing camra" Said Rail over the speakers.
Cullen activated all of the CIC's systems and monitor and proceeded to pull up the view of the camra Rail had mentioned on the monitor. His eyes widened as he saw what was on the feed. One of the jets from the aircraft column he had ran past on his way to the boeing had been hit and was now on fire. From the camra feed he could see the pilot of the burning wreck attampting to claw his way out of the cockpit, only to vanish in the inferno. Cullen felt a numbness begin to take his arms and legs, he couldn't tell who the pilot was but it had been from the column under his supervision. Cullen had lost someone under HIS care. Before he could try and make sense of it a missile appeared in view and struck a Fighting Eagle that had been at the end of the Colume. That marked a second death. Shaking sense back into himself he put on his comms headset.
"All pilots, this is AWACS, begin takeoff run NOW!"
On the monitor flight leader Freddie Durand's (Callsign: Avalanche) name appeared followed by his voice on the comm.
"Ghost eye, we don't have clearnce yet, flight control's in chaos!" Avalanche shouted.
"Look I'll deal with it, just get in the air before all of you get killed, someone take lead and get airborne" Cullen stated firmly.
There was a silence over the comm as everyone else expected the other to take lead. To take off without clearnce was a criminal offence under Military law and could mean jail time if charged and found gulity. The Republic of Emmeria had not been in a large scale war close to home since Cullen's grandfathers time and therefore no protocol existed for this situation. 10 seconds passed and not one of the 28 fighter jets had moved. Cullen felt himself tense, the longer they waited the more likely another death. Suddnly a calm voice spoke up.
"This is Tailsman, taking lead, everyone follow me out, over"
Cullen exhaled in relief. If Aaron Milton had been standing next to him he could have kissed the man. As the group of planes began to takeoff one by one Cullen switched to his boreings internal speaker system and began to speak to his own pilots.
"Mich, Rail, how we doing?" He asked.
Mich's voice came over the speakers.
"Were about to takeoff on runway two, I'm not gonna bother with clearnce, hang tight" and with that Mich closed the comm.
"Copy" Cullen replied and hung onto the saftey handle.
Over the comm Cullen could hear the airbase commander's voice booming.
"All planes, clearnce for takeoff granted, all aircraft under Airborne Command's jurisdiction following takeoff, this is not a drill! I repeat! this is not a drill!"
"Better late then never" Cullen thought bitterly.
Cullen then felt that well known butterfly feeling as his E747 took off from the runway and entired the airspace. Cullen let go of the saftey handle and pushed his wheeled chair back over to his monitors. A red light suddnly appeared on the monitor reserved for top leveled orders and a female voice spoke up.
"Calling AWACS Ghost eye, this is Airborne Command, come in Ghost eye"
Cullen linked the channel to his headset and spoke.
"This is Ghost eye, go ahead Command" He replied.
The Female voice spoke again.
"I have been ordered to inform you that as of five mintues ago you are now the AWACS for all of the capital defence force, unit trackers and radio numbers have been added to your system, that is all" And with that she closed the signal.
Cullen blinked at the new unit names flashing across his screen, What had happened to the other AWACS units? was he the only one left?. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and began linking the new units, it was time to bring order. He spoke in a calm but firm voice.
"Airborne Warning and Control System ghost eye to all scrambling defense craft, the situation has not yet been ascertained, we must implement an emegancy reformation, follow your individual instructions"
After that he looked onto his screen to ensure everything was in battle order. He noted that Tailsman still did not have a wingman and was solo.
"Tailsman" Cullen called over the comm "You do not have a wingman".
Tailsman's voice came over the radio.
"I believe we were having that converstion 10 minutes ago" He said with half humor.
Cullen let a grin onto his face and he linked his comm to Shamrock.
"Shamrock, are you still alone?"
"Affirmitve Ghost eye" Shamrock answered.
Cullen linked the the two units together on his battle database and confirmed it.
"Very well, as of now you are Garuda team, Tailsman you are Garuda 1 and shamrock is Garuda 2"
"Ok" Shamrock said and the two began to form together.
Cullen let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. All jets were in formation and were heading toward the City centre. He hoped that fighter jets were enough for whoever was trying to take them out. What Cullen wanted to know was weither or not this was a simply air raid to prove something or a full blown attack, secondly he wanted to know just who the hell was attacking.
[Aaron Milton. Callsign: Tailsman]
Aaron looked around for his newly appointed wingman. From what he had heard about Shamrock he was an ok guy. But Aaron had long ago learnt to trust is own opinion. A typhoon came into view and settled to his Raptors lower left.
"So I'm Garuda 2, Garuda 1 I've got your back" Shamrock said over the newly linked privte channel.
"Copy Shamrock, likewise, I'm gonna go after the Bombers, cover me"
"Affrmitive Tailsman, you lead, never was good with diractions anyhow"
Aaron chuckled.
"Well I was never good at watching my back so it looks like were made for each other"
Over the radio Shamrock laughed and replied.
"I copy that Tailsman, consider your back covered"
Aaron smiled and drove his bird downward. now that the ice was broken he felt he could trust his new partner. He turned his misslie saftey system off and began his attack run.
"This is Garuda team, beginning attack run" He announced and began his war.
Sorry this is a few months late. Please leave a review.