A scorching sun... The dry wind... Thin clouds etched by smoke and iron; a concrete highway to the sky... Many rise and fight, but only one pair of broken wings return...

STORM & FIRE

THE BURNING MIRAGE

BOOK 01

SKIES OF BETRAYAL

Based on the manga and anime series AREA 88 by Kaoru Shintani

CHAPTER 02

THE ANGEL OF DEATH

Four thousand feet over the sands of Asran

14 April 1979 - 0445 Hours

En route to a Rebel Army base near the village of Kassaye is a flight of four bomb-laden A-4F Skyhawks led by a bomb-laded F-8E Crusader with a crimson tail fin. The Crusader pilot, a fifty-three year old former Britannic Royal Air Force pilot named Boris. The Briton makes a hand gesture to the Skyhawks off to his left and right wings, and the formation starts zooming to altitude. "Target confirmed." Boris stated, looking down at the supply base. The formation rolls in for their bomb run, and the AAA open up. "Jesus Christ! Every gun in Asran must be down there!" one of the Skyhawk pilots cursed as the formation came under an intense barrage of flak. One A-4 goes down by a direct hit.

"Bombs away." Boris stated as he and his three remaining Skyhawks drop their bomb loads and pull up and out of the area. Once they left the area, the Skyhawk pilots started cheering, "Boris! I'm still alive!" one pilot cheered. Another pilot shouts, "We flew with Boris, the Angel of Death and survived!"

Their celebrations were cut short though, as they were locked on by a number of Volhynian-built SA-2 surface-to-air missiles. They launch, to which Boris noticed, "SAMs on our six! Split into tactical maneuvers!" They try, but their efforts were futile. The remaining A-4s were shot down on impact while one SAM detonates just off of Boris' left wing, damaging his Crusader. As he turned his head and watched the Skyhawks fall to the ground in burning, twisted hunks of metal, Boris lamented, "Once again. They all sink into the darkness..."

Area 88 Air Base, Kingdom of Asran

0517 Hours

In the pre-dawn hours at Area 88, Shin walked out of the barracks and up to the apron to prepare for the day's patrol. There, he sees Gustav in a Jeep, scanning the skies. "Are you waiting for Boris and the others?" Shin asked, only for Gustav to deadpan, "Just Boris." Realizing what Gustav meant, Shin simply replied, "Oh, right..."

A moment of utter silence passes, before Gustav asks, "You couldn't sleep?" to which Shin replied, "Not really." The memories of a dogfight the other day against a group of MiG-17s in which he nearly died took up his current thoughts; he was so deep in thought that he was taken off guard by both Mickey Simon and Kristopher Morison, both in their gear; each holding a flight helmet. While Morison was scanning the skies, Mickey was a little miffed, "Hey. You said you'd wait up for us." Shin simply replied, "Yeah..." Micky started showing further signs of annoyance, "Well, that's what you said!" Morison, not noticing this, turned to Gustav, "Morning, Gustav." to which Gustav returned the greeting, "Morning."

Hearing the sound of a jet in the distance, Shin turns to the sky and stated, "It's him." referring to Boris' Crusader. Morison immediately took notice of the single Crusader. "And the Angel of Death returns alone, once again. Must've been one helluva fight." Boris' F-8E was badly damaged. Its left wing was sheered off at the folding point. "He can fly on one wing? Now come to think of it, I have heard of some bonehead who once flew with his wings still folded up." Mickey stated in amazement, remembering something from the time the Crusader was the mainstay fighter in the Federated States Navy. As the F-8E comes in for a rather rough landing, Morison says to Shin, Mickey, and Gustav, "Only Boris, the Angel of Death can bring in a wreck like that." Gustav starts the Jeep's engine, "Well, got a busy day ahead." and he drives off to the hangar. The three mercenary pilots then head to McCoy's PX shop. On the way over, Mickey asks a question, "I've heard he keeps the lights on while he sleeps. Is that true?" To which, Shin explains, "Yeah. Rumor has it he's afraid of the dark because he's entered a world of darkness that he can't escape from. Jacques even mentioned that during the night, Boris screams out names. He assumes the people's names he's screaming were his comrades." This left Mickey silent, as the topic kept reminding him of something, or rather someone familiar.

Upon arriving at the PX shop, Ol' McCoy took notice of the three pilots, "Shin, I see you're still alive and kicking today." Shin, without missing a beat, replied, "Morning, McCoy. What's the matter? Aren't you glad to be alive too?" The old man chuckled, "Who, me? But of course I am, Shin! I'll be around in this world for a long time. A long time." He then remembered something important, "By the way, I just happened to have come across some cheap AIM-9D Sidewinders. You wouldn't happen to be interested in buying them by any chance, would ya?" Mickey then pipes up, rather annoyed, "Hey Granddad! How the hell do you manage to sleep at night, selling us weapons like this?! I'd be more worried about you tasting Hell Fire at your age." McCoy replied, "Heh heh. I know you... Your name's Mickey Simon, isn't it?" He then began a rather serious lecture to the F-100 pilot, "This is Area 88, boy! This is Hell! And what place is worse than Hell itself, pray tell?!"

Shin took the old man's side, "He's right, Mick. This is a mercenary base, after all." He then turned to McCoy, "By the way, McCoy... Just how cheap are these Sidewinders of yours?" The old man replied, in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'll let you have fifty of them for a thousand Dollars. How 'bout it, then?" Shin was dumbstruck by this and asked skeptically, "Twenty Dollars each? That's practically giving them away. Are they defective or something? I can't risk flying into combat with missiles that don't fly." McCoy quickly retorted, "Don't be stupid, Shin! Have I ever sold you a missile that doesn't fly?! Have I?!" Someone new suddenly came to the conversation: It was Boris. "There was that one time you sold me missiles that flew very well. It merely failed to explode." Noticing Boris, McCoy turns and informed him with a noticeable frown on his face, "Boris! Can't you see I'm trying to do business here?" The British pilot countered, "Even if it hits the target, if it doesn't explode, it's a wasted shot; and that alone is dangerous." McCoy was literally begging at this point, "Not these missiles! There might be a few like that, but not all of them!" This convinced Shin to make his decision and said to the old man with a sympathetic smile, "Sorry, McCoy. But I'm not interested anymore." Realizing he lost a potential customer, McCoy groaned to himself, "Oh, no..." As Shin and Mickey walked away to their respective planes, the old man unleashed his irritation on the Briton, "Hey Boris! What on Rostil's the matter with you?! Do you have some king of grudge against me?!" The Briton replied, "When we are out there, we are risking our lives. Any misfire will be fatal for us. Don't take it so hard, McCoy," before finishing with a reminder, "And by the way, my Crusader needs urgent repairs." It was at this point that the old Californian was pissed, "Shit! Damn you, Boris!" to which Boris nonchalantly replied to the old man, "I'll send you my pay to get my plane fixed." When Morison stated, "Yo, McCoy!" the old man, smoldering with anger, almost lashed out at Morison, "What?!"

Five thousand feet over the sands of Asran

0732 Hours

Over the desert, Shin, Mickey, and Morison were locked in an aerial ballet against a flight of MiG-17 'Fresco's. "Fox Two!" Mickey stated as a Sidewinder missile fired off and hit his target. Shin, noticing that Morison had a MiG on his tail, informed, "Morison, break right, you've got a MiG on your tail!" As Morison turned hard right, the MiG came into range of Shin's twenty millimeter cannons, "Guns!" With that, the 'Fresco'' went down with half of its right wing missing.

"Well, I owe you for that one, Shin." Morison said on the radio, to as the three-ship formation began heading back to base, "I swear, I'm not buying anything cheap from that old man ever again!" which got an educated guess from Mickey, "Oh? Did he sell you some defective equipment?" to which Morison replied, "Yeah. I bought some of those cheap Sidewinders, but-" Shin interrupted the New Edwardian pilot with a guess, "They didn't explode, right?" Morison replied, miffed, "Oh, they exploded alright!" Both the Sunese and Californian pilots were confused at this point, "So what's the problem?" Morison, utterly pissed off, started erupting in a rant, "There was something wrong with the fuses and they exploded before either of them hit their targets! The damn things blew up when they were three hundred feet away! What a rip-off! If those missiles weren't defective, I would've been able to react to the enemies around me quicker instead of having to rely on my cannons the whole time!" Sympathetic to the New Edwardian's problems, Mickey stated, "Damn. That really sucks, man..." Turning to Shin, he continued, "And I'm dog tired. All I want now is a shower and a good meal." Shin, out of concern, replied, "You know, you don't have to go with me on the evening raid, tonight." which, the Californian responded, "I may not be able to keep up with you, but you're still stuck with me." Morison, finally calmed down a bit, chimed in, "Same here, guys." With a slight smile, Shin led the three-ship flight back to Area 88.

Area 88 Air Base, Kingdom of Asran

0947 Hours

Seeing the state of Boris' Crusader, McCoy, out of genuine concern, even after being upset over the lost business deal with Shin, said to the Briton, "Boris, how about you scrap this bird and let me sell you a new one. This Crusader was outmoded fifteen years ago. For what you pay in maintenance, alone, you could afford something halfway decent; maybe a more recent F-8 variant. Look, I already made a ton of money off ya, so I'll give you a helluva deal." But the Britannic pilot was not in the slightest bit interested. After a short moment of silence, he replied, "This one's fine. I'll pay you double. Just get her airworthy again by late this afternoon at the earliest." Gustav, who was standing beside the two, told the old Californian, "You heard the man, McCoy. Give him the parts." To which, McCoy, dejectedly said to himself, rather audibly, "Whatever..."

1214 Hours

In the base's mess hall, Mickey and Morison were having their launch with the other pilots, when out of the corner of their eyes, they spotted Boris heading over to one of the tables where three other pilots were eating. Upon getting there, the Briton garnered the attention of the three, who after seeing him sit down, hurriedly got up, with one of said pilots stuttering, "I-I'm done!" Out of curiosity, Mickey asked Morsion, "Why is Boris called the Angel of Death?" Morison, with a hint of dread; almost as if it's a death wish to speak of that particular Britannic pilot, stated, "Boris is an Ace at air-to-ground missions. But no matter who goes up with him, he always comes back alone. That's his reputation, anyway." No sooner had he finished explaining, the two, along with everyone else in the mess hall, saw Shin sitting down at the same table; directly across from Boris. Everyone was both astonished, and perhaps frightened, by this sight. Shin, out of veiled concern, asked, "Are you really going to take that old, damaged Crusader up tonight?" Boris thus replied, "A familiar plane is the best one, even if it's old or damaged." Shin, now showing his concern said, "An Angel of Death is only human when he falls from the sky." A short pause went by, followed by the Briton saying, "No... It's different for me..." leaving Shin thinking what was going through Boris' head at that point. Witnessing all this, all the other pilots were just stunned, which Morison could only mutter audibly, "Man, this is heavy..."

1357 Hours

In the base's radio and radar room, Saki and the officers were going over a bit of audio recording regarding a flight of three F-4E Phantom IIs that went missing during the early morning hours. All they heard was "What the hell is that thing?!" followed by screams and then static. "That's where the radio transmission from Otto's flight cut out." the radar officer informed. Roundel made an educated guess, "That was about two clicks out from their objective, sir." The Asrani prince was puzzled by this, "Three planes splashed at once... What could possibly be out there?"

1605 Hours

The briefing room was stifled by Saki and Roundel's presence. "Good evening, gentlemen." Saki begun, "Today's objective is Point 1-D; enemy Supply Base Number Twenty-Seven; thirty miles north of the front line, near the village of Onkan." This got a few pilots scoffing at the supposed easiness of the target, "Come on, aren't there any higher paying targets out there?" Saki then informed, "Otto's group tried to hit this base earlier this morning and not a single plane returned to base." Pointing to the supply base's location on the map, he continued, "The Rebels may have a new type of defense system out there. It won't be easy, but if we can destroy this base, we can successfully break the enemy's supply lines; so I want it taken down. No matter what." Concluding his explanation, he stated, "So due to the hazards, completion of this mission will result in a pay of thirty-thousand Dollars." Those words garnered a cheerful praise from most of the room's occupants. Their enthusiasm rapidly drained away when they noticed Boris raising his hand. Morison said to himself, "Aw, man..." however, his eyes went wide in shock after seeing Shin raise his hand, "And you're still up to flying even after this morning?!" and became even more so when he saw the newest pilot raise his hand as well, "You too, Mickey?! You've got to be kidding me, guys!" Saki asked, "Anyone else?" which three others raised their hands. Seeing this, the Asrani prince concluded, "Alright. I'll leave it to you six pilots, then."

2020 Hours

On the flight line, Shin and Boris' Crusaders were being prepped for startup alongside Mickey's F-100 and three Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighters. While waiting, Shin, Mickey, and Boris stood silently, only for Boris to break their silence by saying, "It's been a long time since I flew with another Crusader. But I can't let you become by friend. That's just the way it is; friends are lost; friends betray." The last bit got Shin's attention, and Mickey couldn't help but notice Shin look like he was smoldering with contempt; almost like a wounded animal left to die. Boris continued, "They die; they die ahead of me..." Shin, making the connection in his head between Boris' words and Jacques' word of mouth, simply replied, "They don't just go and die. They're killed in battle." Boris just stood there, silent.

The silence passed for a few long moments before being interrupted again, this time by Mickey, who just received word from Gustav, "It's showtime, guys!" And thus, they headed to their respective planes. Setting himself into his F-8J Crusader's cockpit, he goes over the checklist. After going through the procedures twice, Shin, looking out of the cockpit toward the horizon, said to himself, "The sun's going down... It's now 2030 Hours." Putting on his gloves, he continued, this time on the radio, "Alright, let's go." The engines of Shin and Boris' F-8s started up, followed by Mick's F-100D, and then by the engines from the three Northrop Freedom Fighters. Soon after, Shin and the others taxied out to the runway. As the three F-5As reached the runway, the tower contacted them via radio, "Blue Flight, you're clear for takeoff." With that, the three F-5As accelerated down the runway and lifted off. "Tower to Green Flight, you are cleared for takeoff upon reaching the active runway." As Boris took off, Shin turned onto the runway, "Full power. Lighting afterburners." he said to himself as his Crusader accelerated down the runway lifting into the air followed by Mickey's Sabre.

Once in formation, and en route to the target, Mickey asked out of curiosity, "Hey, Shin. Do you think we'll engage any enemy fighters tonight?" Shin replied, "I don't know, Mick. Our target is a supply base, after all. What I'm more worried about is whatever took down Otto's flight." Boris chipped in, "I wouldn't worry too much about their jets. When they have SAMs, they barely call upon their air defense fighters." Shin was now left wondering what was going in Boris' head, once again, as he continued, "Now, standby to descend. We don't want to encounter any of those missiles." The two flights descended and leveled off at an altitude of one thousand feet, well within the safe zone.

Ten miles to target...

"This is Blue Flight to base. We've just entered the supply base's defense perimeter. The target is in sight. Looks like we're being welcomed by a mess of flare bombs." the lead F-5A pilot radioed back to Area 88, and then turned to his wingmen, "Alright, guys. To avoid whatever new defense system they've got, we'll attack with a low altitude charge." This was met with the other two pilots shouting, "Roger!" It was at this point that the three started acting as a very disorganized unit. "I'm going to get that warehouse!" the lead pilot cockily stated. His number two shouted, "What an asshole! That thirty-thousand Dollar prize money is going to be mine." This was followed by the number three pilot shouting, "It's mine! You hear me?!"

"Attack!" the lead pilot ordered as the three F-5As jettisoned their center line fuel tanks, flying to about five hundred feet off the deck. One of the pilots made a rather greedy prayer, "Oh Lord, please give me that thirty-thousand Dollar prize! Amen." Another of the three was quietly laughing like a maniac and sweating bullets.

Asrani Revolutionary Army Supply Base #27

2134 Hours

"Enemy aircraft entering the perimeter at low altitude! Looks like they're going at Mach One." the radar officer at the supply base shouted as his commanding officer walked right up to him. "Impressive. Most impressive. They must be more of those mercenary pilots we've been dealing with as of late. We can't let them in any further! Release the Fang!" the officer ordered. The F-5As continued their approach to the enemy base, unaware of what horrors they're heading into. Pressing a button, the control room shook as one of the control room operators shouted, "Fang released!"

Out of nowhere, mere feet in front of the three F-5As, a giant wall of girded steel rose up out of the desert floor to block the mercenary aircraft. The last transmission being the lead F-5A pilot shouting, "Holy Ch-" leaving nothing but static at the end. They never stood a chance as their wings were ripped off by the steel girders. Laughing triumphantly, the Rebel control room officer stated, "Serves you right, mercenary dogs!" His jubilation was cut short as his radar officer stated the impossible, "Sir! Two enemy aircraft have made it inside the perimeter!" Shocked, the Rebel officer shouted, "What?!" The radar officer, who was equally dumbstruck, continued, "They made it through the Fang!"

It was Shin and Boris, their Crusaders' wings were folded up, allowing them to fit through the steel wall. "Of all the combat planes in the world, only the F-8 can fly with its wings folded!" Shin stated to himself as he and the Britannic pilot unfolded their wings and dropped their bombs on the target, dodging AA gunfire in the process. After pulling out of their bomb run, the two Crusader pilots noticed an explosion off their three o'clock. A MiG-17 'Fresco' went down, its right wing torn off at the root.

"Nice kill, Mick." Shin said to his wingman. Mickey responded, "Man am I tired." Boris, his face showing signs of pain, asked, "Mick, were you defending us from above?" to which the Californian replied, "Yeah. I let you guys go after the big target while I stayed up high and swatted some flies. You ought to thank me a little." Boris' face started going pale, he was sweating bullets, "No wonder... It was you who kept the heat off while we were coming in. No one attacked us from above... Even when we were flying at low speed with our wings folded. I want to thank you, Mick..."

"If that's the case, I think we should divide the twenty-thousand among the three of us." Shin suggested. There was a second of silence, followed by labored breathing and coughing from Boris, "No... We can't... The money will be split in half between the two of you..." This, along with second set of audible coughing got both Shin and Mickey's attention. Barely keeping his eyes open, Boris took off his breathing mask before continuing, coughing up blood, "When those anti-aircraft guns started firing at us, a couple of rounds hit my plane... I caught one of them in the chest... I think it got a lung... The others went into the engine..." Shin was alarmed by this, "Boris!"

"It was nice to have friends like you... The older you get... the more you realize that real friends are the ones who will risk your lives with you... But you only find these friends when one of you... is about to die... That's war... That's life..." Boris continued as he kept coughing up blood, losing consciousness. "It's sad... Having your friends die around you... and ending up all alone. So I... didn't want to make any friends... Now, I guess it's over... It seems I'll finally be able to rest peacefully..."

Shin was starting to get desperate, trying to save his colleague, "Boris! Boris, pull up! Pull out of it! Come on, Boris! Pull up! We're all going to make it back together!" He then heard a rather ominous message from Boris, "Shin, when you get back to base... please turn off the lights in my room for me..." Shin was now truly desperate, "Boris!" as he heard the Briton's last words, "My friends... My colleagues... Steve... I'll be with you all soon..." A few moments later, the Britannic pilot's F-8E Crusader plowed into the ground. Boris was gone...

"Flight of two returning to base..." Shin could only say, fighting back the tears as both he and Mickey turned back toward Area 88.

Area 88 Air Base, Kingdom of Asran

15 April 1979 - 0047 Hours

Both Prince Saki and Roundel watch both Shin's Crusader and Mickey's Sabre return to base from the control tower. "Six took to the sky, only two returned. It must've been quite a difficult battle..." Upon landing and taxiing their planes back to the parking spots on the apron, getting out of their birds, Shin and Mickey were met by Saki, "Good work, you two. The Rebels' troops retreated from the front line once you destroyed their base. They can't get their supplies from there anymore." Shin, who was still troubled by Boris' death, simply said, "Saki..." The Asrani prince continued, "The next operation will take place the day after tomorrow." Shin simply replied, "Okay..." As Saki walked away, Mickey said to Shin, "Well, he sure isn't sociable..." "Yeah..." Shin agreed. "I'm going to get some water before heading to bed." Shin remained silent as he walked back to the barracks.

Upon entering the barracks, Shin noticed a group of people at Boris' room. Noticing the dufflebag, he asked, "Is this all the stuff Boris left behind?" One of the technicians replied, "Yeah, but we don't have any address to send it to. It looks like we'll have to keep it in headquarters." As they left, Shin stared into the empty room, reflecting. He then heard a voice, "I finally figured it out." Turning around, he saw Mickey at the doorway, holding a can of soda in his hand, "A long while back, I met a Taenic pilot who was a veteran of the Tibernian War. In the darkness, he would see the faces of the friends and colleagues he lost, one after the other. Eventually, he closed himself off to the world. I never did find out what became of that old veteran. But I suppose you could've called him an Angel of Death too." A short pause, followed by Shin answering, "The Angel of Death rumor was started by Boris, himself." This left Mickey surprised, as Shin continued explaining, "Other than him being a former RAF pilot, no one on base knew where in Britannia he came from, his past, or why he was flying... Or why he came to Area 88 in the first place. Nobody ever will... His memories have been all but lost to the Asrani landscape and the setting sun." Mickey just silently stood there, letting all that sink in, before walking out the doorway with Shin in tow. Putting his hand on the light switch, Shin said to himself, "Rest easy, Boris..." He turned off the light, closed the door, and proceeded to walk back to his own room.

There are no grave markers for the pilots who died at Area 88. Their only place of rest is a co-ordinate point on the maps of the country. Now, they'll be making another crash point: AR-16-B7. He was a pilot named Boris... My friend Boris...