Dagger Flight
Captain Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw
LT Jake "Hangman" Seresin
LT Natasha "Phoenix" Trace
LT Robert "Bob" Floyd
LT Reuben "Payback" Fitch
LT Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia
They were not in Kansas anymore, or in the United States for that matter, they were escorted back to the mainland. They flew over deserts, which according to their GPS there was none like them in this part of the United States. All four US Navy fighters were escorted to a small airbase in the middle of the desert all four landed on the tarmac and were guided into a bomb resistant hanger by a "Follow Me" guide truck.
The four pilots and their two WSOs climbed out of their planes and into the hanger only to be surrounded by armed soldiers all of them dressed in Battle Dress Uniforms and carrying assault rifles which were pointed at the pilots. Slowly they were disarmed by the soldiers before a bald man with glasses wearing a military uniform with the Osean flag sown into the side of the left arm approached them "pilots, I am Major Richard Luttrell of the Osean Defence Forces the commander of this base, you're under arrest." He said even as Rooster was stepping forwards to try and explain the troops had guns in their faces and they were being marched to a waiting flatbed truck with a canvas covered rear. The six naval pilots were moved into the truck under guard and removed from the military base under a full escort.
For what felt like a full day they were driven away from the airbase that they had landed. The guards kept them in silence even though their minds were spinning, none of the flight crew understood what was happening to them, they were removed from what their lives had been, and now they were removed from their planes and under arrest heading to an uncertain future.
For Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw it was not too bad, the only family he really had now was Maverick and their relationship had been strained until the Dagger mission. Maverick was trying to put his life together while Rooster was building his own career, they both knew what the life was like and that they were unlikely to see each other anytime soon. For others however it was a lot harder to accept Robert "Bob" Floyd had a young daughter who had just started school, Natasha "Phoenix" Trace helped care for her mother and father sending money home when she was on deployments and Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia was helping put his little brother through college. They all followed him and he had gotten them lost.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up" Phoenix whispered looking at him from her position across the truck bed "we're alive, there's hope." She reassured him with a small smile.
"Alive in hell" Rooster whispered back "we don't even know how we got here."
"Silence, there will be plenty time to talk soon enough!" One of the guards shouted from the rear door of the truck the two of them shared a look and returned to silence. The other pilots shared looks as well but remained quiet, none of them knew what to expect.
The truck pulled into what appeared to be a Police Precinct's underground park garage, the cars were like nothing any of them had seen with all of the Police vehicles from patrol cars, to pursuit vehicles, to armoured cars being heavily armoured and armed, the garage contained enough firepower to outfit a small paramilitary force. From the garage they were taken to single occupancy cells and which had a bench at the far end and a toilet directly beside it.
Sitting down on the bench Rooster thought he was about to be sick when a guard appeared at the door. "Were you their commanding officer?" The guard demanded Rooster looked at him and like the vehicles down stairs this guy looked more like a soldier than a police officer, with heavy armour and weaponry carried all that was missing was a ballistic helmet instead he head a dark floppy mess of hair.
"I am the senior officer of Dagger Flight yes." Rooster said standing up from the stinking bench stepping towards the cell door "I want to know what the hell is going on? We are members of the United States Navy, we were in a storm…" he began to rattle off their story but the guard raised his hand as if to tell him to be quiet.
"Don't tell me boss man, you're going to get your chance. Follow me" he said opening the gate "and don't cause trouble or I'll put a bullet in you." He warned. Rooster was allowed out of his cell and past the other five pilots giving them his best reassuring look as he walked past. It was a short walk down the corridor past other cells a couple with screaming prisoners before he was led into a dark room with a single table and two chairs, one wall was made up of glass which Rooster thought was probably two ways so someone could observe them. "Sit, wait, don't cause trouble." The guard warned him a second time leaving him to enter before stepping back out and locking the door.
"At least it doesn't stink" Rooster said walking around the room, the last thing he wanted to do was sit and wait for something to happen after the hours sitting in the back of the truck and the flight time before that instead he walked in circles stretching his muscles.
He only managed about three walks around the table before the door swung open and in walked a man wearing a dark suit, with a dark shirt underneath, no tie, his hair was mostly greying with some dark colouring on top. Looking at the man Rooster immediately thought marine. "Please take a seat" the man said calmly moving to the seat closest to the door, Rooster sat down opposite him as he unfolded a book. "I'm Agent James Brown of the Osean Criminal Intelligence Department and you are?" The name sounded very generic to Rooster but he did not say anything about it instead kept it to business.
"Captain Bradley Bradshaw, callsign Rooster, commander of Dagger Flight, United States Navy." Rooster replied calmly looking at the man who noted his answer. "We were…" he began but the man raised his hand to silence him.
"Captain Bradshaw, it is my duty to inform you that as your flight flew into our nation's airspace during a time of war you are under arrest." Brown responded Rooster began to speak but the man raised his hand again "you are charged with the following:
You and your flight flew armed aircraft into a warzone without authorisation.
You refused a stand down order from Osean representatives when that order was given.
You used live munitions inside Osean territory.
You engaged Osean Defence Forces in aggressive and dangerous aerial manoeuvres after failing to comply with the stand down order, threatening the lives of Osean pilots.
"…How do you plead?" He said in a matter-of-fact way.
"Not guilty" Rooster snapped "we were in a storm, we were flying away from our country the United States to rendezvous with and aircraft carrier, we didn't even know that Osea existed until we encountered your interceptors." He said rapidly explaining their actions "as far as we were concerned your pilots were part of a rogue element from our nation, or from another nation or Private Military Company (PMC) looking to cause trouble, we were defending ourselves but I realized something was wrong when the Russian jets flew up and joined the other planes and so we backed off. We dropped our bombs over open water intentionally so they couldn't be knocked loose onto your territory."
"And in the process killed several hundred fish." Brown said looking down at his notes "the open sea is our territory as well, fortunately for you the killing of marine wildlife has not been added as a charge. Nor has the reckless usage of armed weapons on our territory."
"You said we were being charge with the use of live munitions?"
"Yes, but that wasn't reckless you yourself said you dumped them intentionally. You were careless where you dropped them but no Osean citizens were harmed and a guilty verdict for that use would not change the outcome of your trial."
"My trial…" Rooster asked shocked, he should have realized that something was up when they were taken to a police station instead of military cells.
"Yes, under the Wartime Judgement of Military Personnel Act you and your fellow pilots will be taken before a Judge in three days' time." Brown explained looking down his notes "as you have freely admitted that you were flying the aircraft, you did defend yourself and drop live munitions I think it will be a quick cut and dry case. A verdict and sentencing should be handed down immediately unless the judge decides there are any further circumstances." He explained "you will be allowed to shower and be provided with comfortable clothing for your court date" he added at the end folding up his book and walking out without another word. Rooster was left with his thoughts until he was taken back to his stinking cell and left to rot.
The next three days passed without any real incident. They were allowed into the exercise yard for a couple of hours a day, they were fed three meals and as promised they were allowed to shower, clean up and were given comfortable clothing for their trial date. During the three days Rooster did not see any of his fellow pilots and instead was kept in virtual isolation only seeing the guards and other prisoners when he was allowed into the yard, he noted that none of the other pilots were in the yard when he was.
When the trial date came up all six of the aviators were escorted from their cells back to the parking garage and onboard a truck like the one, they had previously been on. Rooster noted that they all looked well and had been given comfortable business wear clothing for their trial so they would at least look smart. He noticed that Jake "Hangman" Seresin had had a large black bruise around his right eye and some swelling "what happened to you?"
"I told the guy brown that his name sounded pretty generic." Hangman replied with a small smile showing he did not regret the fact he had said it, Rooster nodded having thought the same thing.
They were all escorted from the truck and into a courtroom which looked like any courtroom they had seen previously with lots of wood, personal computers on the defence and prosecution tables, stacks of paperwork beside them. On the right there was a jury stand with several rows of seats which were currently empty and finally a stand for the judge. "Remain standing at the dock" the armed guard at the door said the six airmen stood waiting as a woman with dark hair which matched her dark robes entered from a side door and stepped up to the judge's podium.
"Feel free to be seated for judgement and sentencing." She said remaining standing at the podium, the six pilots shared a collected look and remained standing "very well." She said "the following are the charges against you." She said, she then listed the four charges that each of them had already been informed of during their interviews. "How do you plead?"
"Ma'am, I was the commander of Dagger Flight during the time of the alleged charges. I take full responsibility for the "charges." If anyone should be responsible it is me." He replied looking the judge straight in the face.
"Unfortunately, under Osean Law a commanding officer is not responsible entirely for the actions of his pilots Captain Bradshaw. Each of you committed the acts and any of you could have changed those actions." The judge explained causing Rooster to glance down at the ground "so Captain how does Dagger flight plead?" She asked
"We did not mean to fly into your territory and defended ourselves!" Hangman said angrily
"Captain Bradshaw, how do you plead?" The judge said ignoring the other pilot.
"We acted in self-defence only, but we did fly our planes on an authorised mission for the United States Navy, we flew through a storm and ended up in your territory. None of us belong here." Rooster replied glancing at the other pilots who nodded one-by-one Hangman barely looked away from the judge. "However, I have been authorised to plead guilty for Dagger Flight."
"Thank you, you have been found guilty on all charges." She said noting something on an unseen document "due to this verdict you are hereby stripped of your ranks and your aircraft have been seized by the Osean Federation which is currently in a state of war. Under Osean Federation law and due to your military experience, you are hereby sentenced to serve out your sentence at the 444th Air Base Penal Facility. There you will be able to work off your crimes during this war." The judge said again the airmen exchanged a glance, at least they would not just be sent to prison.