CH. 8: DEATH FROM ABOVE
-28 Sept. 2010
After the near disastrous air attack on Sand Island the Yukes pulled back their forces but continued to launch air raids. But all these were outside the Sand Island defense zone. Plus the Sand Island pilots had more to worry about. Blaze's plane, damaged in the fight above the base, seemed to have been held together by a miracle until he landed. Now the plane was scrapped and had to be replaced entirely since the bases entire supply of spare parts was destroyed in the raid. That left only three fully functional fighters left at the base.
Luckily, Captain Hamilton was able to pull a few strings and get the squadron some new planes. Four F-16C Falcons along with all the armaments and replacement parts they needed were being delivered that afternoon. After a quick try out flight in the planes the pilots would go back to sitting alert. But now, with their defensive capabilities limited to a handful of missiles and their guns, the pilots were sitting on the ground as repair crews fixed up the damage to the base.
Blaze found Nagase in the crew lounge in her usual spot on the sofa. Once again, she was by herself and still in her trousers and tank. As he got himself a cup of coffee Blaze spotted Genette with his camera filming the room. Genette zoomed in on Nagase as Blaze walked across the room with his mug in his hand. He sat down in his chair to watch the news reports covering the sudden air and naval attacks launched by Yuktobania. Every once and a while he would glance over to Nagase. Even in the light cast by the mid morning sun she looked absolutely gorgeous.
Nagase also snuck glances at Blaze when he wasn't looking. The scar on his neck ran from the middle down to below his collar in a long ragged upside down triangle. His face was clean shaven and his hair was kept nice and trimmed. He hadn't been in the squadron for a week and he was already their acting Captain and flight leader. With the death of Lt. Col. Ford it looked like Blaze would surely get command along with another promotion to Captain in a few days.
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Later that day, as Pops was looking over the new planes, Perault tried everything he could to dump Blaze. He had called Nagase, Chopper and Grimm in to see if he could get them to agree to pick a replacement for Blaze as squadron Captain. But they did not fall for the ruse. They stood by Blaze and vouched for him. Even Hamilton agreed with them. Nagase said that she was sure Captain Bartlett would also say the same thing.
"Hpmh," the fat geezer grunted. "Fine, I'll put in a written request, but I doubt it'll come to anything. Dismissed."
"Geez, what a moron," Chopper said as they cleared the office. "He just doesn't like Kid at all so he's just going to use every opportunity he can to discredit him."
"Yeah," Nagase agreed. "We'll need to watch Blaze's back. The Commander will just be looking for an excuse to stab him in the back and kick him out."
"I agree," Chopper nodded. "We should cover his ass."
"Uh, is that a good idea?" Grimm asked nervously. "I mean, I agree with you guys on Lt. Ingram being Captain, but what you're talking about could be seen as insubordination, or even mutiny!"
"That's why we gotta be careful," Nagase said firmly. "And discreet. Like Captain Bartlett said: 'In my squadron, we take care of our own'. And I, for one, wouldn't want to fly with any other Captain than Blaze right now. If they dump him, they'll have to dump me."
"Wow, Nagase," Chopper jabbed her in the shoulder. "You've really got the hots for him huh?"
"Ugh," Nagase groaned as she walked away. Grimm watched her walk away and looked back to Chopper, absolutely confused by what he meant by that.
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-30 Sept. 2010
It was a good thing Yuktobania missed all the Osean aircraft carriers on the west coast. The Vulture, Buzzard and the Kestrel would rendezvous in the inland sea at Eaglin Straits. "Who the hell came up with the name 'Operation: Whalebird'?" Chopper asked as the briefing ended.
"Quit bitchin'," Blaze snapped as he moved from the podium. "And don't ask me. I wouldn't have a clue." They suited up and headed for their planes. The F-16 was not much larger than the F-5s they previously flew but they were a much needed improvement over the obsolete Tiger. The previous year the aging but still venerable Falcon had become the rear echelon support fighter of choice for the Osean Air Force. And Wardog was finally getting their own.
Chopper thought the mission was going to be a walk in the clouds. He called it the easiest mission in the world. He really should've kept his big mouth shut. "Hey, what is that?" Chopper spoke up when his radar picked up three unidentified aircraft. "Is my radar on the fritz?"
"Not likely," Blaze responded. "Those are Yak-38 attack planes! Split up, weapons free! Keep them away from the carriers!" They broke up and climbed to engage the bandits.
"Enemy approaching!" Thunderhead called over the radio. "All aircraft return to your patrol sectors! Repeat…!"
"Edge, fox two!" Nagase started the fight with a sidewinder that split a Forger in two.
"Yo, Kid," Chopper called out as Blaze took the second plane out with his guns.
"You have to start calling him 'Captain'," Grimm reminded him.
"I know!" Chopper snapped. "We've got more bandits coming in from the west. They look like MiG-29K's!"
"More bandits inbound, vector 080 degrees," Thunderhead added.
'What the hell's going on?' "Chopper, Grimm, you guys take care of the western defense zone!" Blaze ordered. They were the only squadron in the air at the moment and would have to play hard defense. "Leave the east to me and Nagase."
"Roger, Captain," Chopper replied. "Splitting off." The flight broke into two pairs as they raced to meet the attackers in both areas.
"I don't like this Blaze," Nagase said as the two of them engaged MiG-39K's that were already over the inland sea.
"Neither do I," he replied as they both bagged MiGs. "These planes don't have the fuel capacity to make it this far. How the hell did they get here?"
"I'm airborne," Lieutenant Snow called out as he shot off the Kestrel's deck.
"Lt. Snow," Anderson, Captain of the Kestrel, called out. "You're responsible for the air defense effort."
"Roger, Captain. Wardog, there are more bandits inbound from the east."
"I see them," Blaze called out. "It looks like they're…"
"Heads up," Thunderhead chimed in. "They're carrying long range anti-ship missiles!"
"Damnit. Turn and burn Nagase!" The two of them pulled a one eighty degree turn to head off the attackers, three Su-24E attack planes.
"All Air Force planes," Snow called out, "leave the western sector to us."
"Chopper, fox two," Chopper engaged a MiG that had just buzzed past the Vulture. "Bandit down!"
"Phalanx fire!" The Vulture opened up on three anti-ship missiles approached her. Two were hit by the wall of steel thrown out at them while the third hit the forward flight deck. "We're hit! We're hit!"
"Has the Kestrel arrived yet?" The radioman of the Buzzard called out.
"Not yet," the Kestrel replied. "We're three miles from the rendezvous point."
"Captain," Grimm called out. "What's your current status?"
"We could use a little help here," Blaze responded. Two of the Fencers had been shot down but one remained while three MiGs and a pair of Yaks engaged him and Nagase. "Nagase, there's a bandit on your six! Break!" She dove just as the Fulcrum opened up with its 30mm cannon.
"I shook him off," Nagase said as she pulled extreme G's to get behind her attacker.
"Archer, fox two!" Grimm fired on the Yak that was hounding Blaze's tail "You're clear, Captain."
"Watch it, Grimm!" Chopper called out as a MiG dove onto him.
"I got him, Grimm," Blaze called out to him. "Bring him left and turn hard right."
"Left and…RIGHT!" Grimm did as he was told and had brought the bandit right into the pip for Blaze's Vulcan cannon.
"Bandit down!" Blaze called out as smoke trailed from the MiG.
"Edge, fox two!" Nagase dispatched her bandit with a missile. "Target hit."
"I'm going after that attack plane," Chopper said.
"Chopper there's a Yak on your tail!" Blaze warned him.
"Nagase, get him off me!" Chopper said as he continued after the Fencer.
"Get him, Edge," Blaze encouraged her. "Get him!"
"I'm on it!" She cried out as she dove after Chopper.
"Captain, your six!" Grimm warned him as the last MiG pursued Blaze. Blaze rolled and banked to avoid the gunfire.
'This guy's good,' Blaze admitted to himself. He then pulled into a steep climb, the MiG followed. Blaze did a backward flip over his tail and fired ten 20mm shells into the MiG as it shot upward past him, bursting its fuel tanks into flame. 'But not too good.' (A/N: If you've seen Stealth you've seen 'Tinman' pull a similar move against a Su-37.)
"Nice kill, Captain," Grimm cheered him on.
"You're clear, Chopper," Nagase said as she tore the wing off the Yak with her cannon.
"Chopper, engaging," he blew up from the inside the last plane in the area up by sending a sidewinder straight up its exhaust pipe. "Woohoo! Bandit down!"
"The enemy is withdrawing," Thunderhead reported. "Mission accomplished."
'Something's not right here,' Blaze's sixth sense was telling him that something bad was about to happen.
That's when the shit hit the fan. "Ballistic missile incoming!" Someone on the Vulture cried out. Seconds later a series of explosions ripped through the air at 5,000 feet. A split second later a whole squadron of navy fighters burst into flames and the Vulture began to sink. "The carrier's hit!" The same sailor cried out. "She's sinking!"
"Someone!" Nagase called out. "Anyone…What's happening?"
"What the hell happened?" Blaze chimed in as a destroyer capsized from the shockwave. "The Buzzard is heavily damaged!"
"I don't know," Snow replied. "Everything below five thousand feet was just annihilated!"
"There goes another ship!" Someone on the Kestrel called out as a frigate succumb to its own wounds and exploded.
"Warning! There's a second ballistic missile incoming! Ten seconds to impact!"
"Damnit!" Snow cursed. "Climb Wardog! Get above five thousand feet!"
"Do as he says!" Blaze ordered as he pulled straight up and hit the afterburners.
"Roger!" Grimm replied. "I'll follow you Captain." The five planes, four F-16s and Snow's F-14 climbed fast as the missile detonated. They had cleared 5,000 feet with only one second to spare.
"Shit!" Blaze swore out loud. "There goes the Buzzard!" And sure enough the said carrier broke in two halfway and both halves began to slip beneath the waves.
"This is the Kestrel," the sole surviving ship from the entire fleet, aside from an intelligence vessel, called out, "All surviving aircraft, respond." Those ships survived through luck because they were only one minute behind their rendezvous schedule and barely outside the blast radius of the missiles.
"This is Swordsman. My plane's alright. Looks like the Wardog Squad made it too."
"Barely," Blaze added. "We're on bingo profile," he commented on their low fuel status. "Thunderhead, we need fuel, now." He leveled his flight off at seven thousand in case a third missile was launched, none was.
"Two aircraft carriers lost," Grimm commented as they flew over the shallow water disaster site. "I can't believe this is all that's left of our force."
"Wardog. We can't get a tanker over to you. Proceed northeast to Heirlark to land and refuel."
"Hey, Kid!" Chopper yelled out.
"You really should start calling him, 'Captain'," Grimm advised.
"Forget it," Chopper yapped back. "If he's a Captain then I expecting him to start trash talking like a Captain. Man, I'm missing that voice real bad now."
"Shut you trap, Motormouth!" Blaze shot out at him.
"He's gotten us back alive from battle twice," Grimm commented. "As far as I'm concerned, he's our Captain now."
"That's right," Nagase concurred. "And I'll never lose my lead plane again. No matter what."
"Thanks, Nagase," Blaze said to her as they turned to the northeast. "I'm glad I've got you watching my back."
'Always, Blaze,' Nagase swore to herself. 'I'll always have your back.'