Ace Combat : Shadows of War
Chapter 6
A couple days pass and there have been no more signs of Shadow Wolf or the massive sky fortress, Jessica is with the others in the briefing room. One of the higher ranked officers is standing at the front of the room, "All information that we have on this aircraft is that its codename is the X-02 Wyvern, an experimental aircraft. Thought to have been spawned from the ADFX-02 Morgan fighter used in the last war, much like the Morgan...the Wyvern has radar jamming capabilities. The Wyvern's maneuverability is unmatched from anything that we have." He says as he looks at them, "You four are the only who have engaged him in combat and have come back on your own, the fact he did not fire upon you means something. What exactly...we don't know, one idea is that he may be planning on trying to recruit you." The officer turns and walks along in front of them, "I trust that none of you would willingly join up with him and his forces." He stops and turns back towards them, "But I still must warn all of you to be careful out there, that is all, you are dismissed." He says looking at them, the four of them stand up and walk from the room.
"Recruit us...? Do you think that's what he really wants?" Andrew says walking along with them.
"I don't know..." Kimiko says softly.
Jessica is silently walking along, she's not really listening to them. Shadow Wolf's last words, 'I'm done testing you, the next time we meet I will take you down if you are not strong enough.' She looks down as she walks along, 'Alteric would never say such a thing to us...so that can't possibly be him, but where has such a pilot been hiding...' She thinks to herself, she reaches her hand up resting it on her chest. 'But that has to be him...there's no other explanation I can come up with...'
Mark looks over at Jessica, "You alright Jess?" He asks her, as he does the other two look at Jessica.
Jessica looks over at them, she then nods her head some. "Yeah...I need to...go out for a short flight, by myself." She says softly.
Andrew looks at her, "Are you sure...? It could be dangerous up there alone." He says.
Jessica looks at him, "I'm sure I'll be alright...I can't explain it right now, but I don't think he does pose any of us a threat..." She then looks forward and walks off.
The three of them stand there and watch her as she walks off, Andrew looks at Mark and Kimiko. "Do you really think she is going to be safe?"
Kimiko nods her head, "Yes, she's an excellent pilot." She says softly.
Andrew looks at her, he nods his head some. "Alright...well let's go rest, we need to be alert when Shadow Wolf reappears."
Jessica is out flying in one of the training aircraft, known for its high mobility and no weapons. She looks around as she flies along, she looks down at her fuel gauge. It is down to a little under half, she looks around more. 'Where are you...?' She thinks to herself as she looks around, she sighs looking down. She starts to turn her jet around when suddenly a jet shoots past her, she ducks her head some and looks forward as it flies away from her
It arcs around coming back towards her after traveling about 400 yards away, "I warned you girl, the next time we were to meet in my skies I would take you out of the sky." Shadow Wolf's ominous voice says over the radio.
Jessica looks forward at his jet, she looks down as she hears the warning alarm start to scream. She looks forward again, "Shadow Wolf, please you must answer one question of mine..." She looks down clutching the flight stick tightly, "...I'm ready to accept my fate, if I'm meant to die here I won't resist...but please tell me one thing." She looks forward as a tears start to roll down her cheeks, "Is that you Alteric?"
His hand falters over the trigger, he closes his eyes as his jet shoots right past her's again. He opens his eyes and reaches forward hitting a switch, "How did you figure it out?" Alteric asks softly.
Jessica's eyes go wide hearing his voice, she smiles not really trusting her voice right there. She reaches up and wipes away some of her tears, "It was more of a feeling..." She says softly, her voice breaking some.
Alteric swings his plane around deactivating the targeting system, he pulls up along next to her plane matching her airspeed. He looks over at her aircraft, "You came up here trying to find me."
Jessica looks over towards him and nods, "Yes...I knew I wouldn't stand a chance against you in a dogfight...and if I was going to be struck out of the sky...I wouldn't mind it if you were the one to do it." She says softly as more tears roll down her cheeks.
Alteric sighs softly and looks forward, 'Ah man...' He looks back over towards her, "Jessica...I could never hurt you...the simple thought of shooting at you was tearing me apart inside, that's the main reason I didn't try to fire at you four the last time we were in the air..." He says softly.
Jessica nods her head some looking forward, she looks down at her fuel gauge. "Alteric...I have to go back...I'm almost out of fuel."
Alteric looks at her then looks forward, "Follow me, there's a small abandoned airstrip controlled by my group." He pulls ahead a little and takes the lead, leading her off to the airstrip.
About five minutes later as Jessica was about to start running on fumes the two of the land at the airstrip, as they come rolling to a stop a few soldiers with assault rifles come rushing out of hanger. They rush around surrounding Jessica's jet pointing their rifles at the cockpit, Jessica looks around some. Getting frightened by the soldiers, she holds her hand up as much as the cockpit allows.
Alteric opens his cockpit and stands up taking off his helmet, "Stand down, she is no threat to us." The soldiers look over at him then lower their guns, they head back to the hanger. Alteric shakes his head some and climbs down out of the jet, he looks over towards Jessica.
Jessica slides her cockpit open and removes her helmet as she stands up, she nearly jumps out of her jet as she climbs down out of it. The moment both her feet hit the ground she is running towards Alteric, when she gets close enough she jumps onto him holding onto him by wrapping her arms around his neck.
Alteric looks at her, then slowly wraps his arms around her waist. "Jessica.." He says softly.
She looks up looking into his eyes, she slowly lowers her arms back down resting her hands on his chest. She tried to hold back her tears but she was unable too, more tears started to roll down her cheeks. She buries her face in his chest, she balls up her hands and starts to hit his chest. "Why did you leave us like that Alteric...why did you leave me...?" She asks between sobs.
Alteric closes his eyes as she does that, "I'm sorry Jessica...I just couldn't stand the thought of losing you to this damned war, I did the only thing I could think of to leave without the possibility of you getting in trouble." He says softly.
Jessica looks up at him, tears staining her cheeks. "Why didn't you take me with you..."
He reaches up and gently brushes the tears from her face, "I wanted too, more then anything...but I couldn't, it would have been too complicated if two pilots disappeared." He looks into her eyes, he then leans in closer to her. "Jessica...I love you so much, I never want to be separated from you again." He then leans in closer and kisses her gently on the lips.
Jessica's eyes go wide, then she slowly closes them as she kisses him back. She gently clutches at his shirt as they kiss.
He holds her tightly against him, he holds the kiss for several minutes before breaking it. He then looks lovingly into her eyes, "I want us to be together forever my love...I want you to join me here." He says softly.
Jessica looks at him, then looks down and away. "I can't just leave the others Alteric..." She says softly
He looks at her, "Alright my love...you can go back and think about it, but before you go there is something I want to tell you."
She looks up at him, "What is it?"
He sighs softly as he looks at her, "I want to tell you about our plans on how we will get the governments to give in to us." He then spends the next half-hour explaining everything to her.
She looks at him wide-eyed, "You can't...while I do appreciate that you will be getting my family along with Mark and Kimiko's family out of the city, you will still kill countless people..." She says softly looking down.
He looks at her, he reaches to her and gently lifts her head up by her chin. "Listen my love, this is something that has got to be done..." He then looks out the hanger door, "Well they should have your plane all fueled up..." He looks back at her as he hands her a piece of paper, "Tell them you went to this airstrip, I have a man in communications there."
She looks at him, she slowly nods her head looking at the paper. She then looks back up at him, "Will I see you again?"
He looks at her and gently caresses her cheek, "Of course my love, if you do decide to come back to me, then we can be together that way...if not...then it's up to the fates." He leans in close to her and kisses her gently on the cheek, "Just do one thing for me...survive, I want you to survive...because I want to marry you." He whispers into her ear.
Her eyes go wide and her faces turns a bright shade of red, she looks up at him and smiles. "Of course...I'll survive for you, because I will say yes when you ask." She says softly.
Alteric smiles hearing her, "Good, I must also ask you not reveal any of this to the others either, I mean I know I can trust Mark and Kimiko...but I don't trust Andrew."
Jessica looks down, "There is something you should know my love...well Andrew...tried to hit on me..."
He looks at her, he moves his one hand to her and gently rests his hand on her shoulder. "It's alright Jessica, you are a very beautiful young woman. I would be surprised if someone didn't try to hit on you." He then reaches down to his one pocket and pulls out a thin cd case, he holds it out to her. "The pass code is Morgan."
She looks at him and takes the cd case, she looks at it for a moment then back up at him. "What is it?"
"Something I want you to see." He says softly, he then pulls her in close and hugs her. "I'll see you later love." He whispers into her ear.
She hugs him back, after letting go she moves back over to her jet. As she gets into it and gets her engine fired up she looks over at Alteric, she waves to him slightly.
Alteric waves back to her.
Jessica looks forward as she pushes the throttle forward, her jet moves forward and she pulls back on the flight stick pulling up into the air. As she makes her way back she looks down at the cd, 'I wonder what is on this...' She thinks to herself, she then slides the cd case into a pocket on her flight suit.
Jessica is sitting on her bed, wearing a light bath robe. Her damp hair hanging down over her shoulders, she was looking at the cd case. "Well maybe I should take a look at this." She says to herself softly as she moves over to her desk, she pushes the button to open the cd drive on her computer. She then takes the cd out of its case and places it onto the drive drawer, she closes it and waits for it to boot up. She sits there thinking for a moment, 'Morgan...that's an unusual password, I wonder if that was the name of someone he knew...' She thinks to herself, she then looks at the screen as she types in the password. Just before hitting the enter key she remembered something, 'Wait a second...Morgan is the codename of that one jet..." She says to herself, she then presses the enter button. She can hear the cd drive start to spin and the computer start to run, files and images flash up on the screen. She looks over the files reading some of them some, she looks over some of the photos. Her hand freezes on the mouse when seeing one image, her eyes go wide and she moves her hand up over her mouth. "Oh my god...could it really be...?" She says softly.
End Chapter 6