Chapter 1 – Arrival at Sand Island

Kei and I sat together the whole time as we rode in the transport plane for Sand Island. She was actually opening up to me. I kept thinking about what Russell had said to me the day before and I still found it hard to believe. It could've just been puppy love because she still didn't know that much about me. She was an interesting woman. She got her degree in aeronautical engineering like her mother. She also told me that she always had an interest in flying but didn't give it much thought until she saw Mobius 1 fend off Erusean fighters trying to shoot down the 747 she was flying in while her sister was at the controls. It was then that I realized why Kei's flying seemed so familiar. I flew like Mobius 1 and she flew the same way.

Kei asked about me to share a little about myself and I told her, but nothing about myself that I didn't want her to know. I got the feeling that she knew there were things that I didn't want to talk about. I told her simple things about myself like I grew up in Wesson and attended Oured University where I majored in aerospace engineering and minored in archeology. She was surprised to find out that I was a Marine. She told me that she thought Marines restricted themselves to ground operations like soldiers, tank crew, or helicopter pilots. I had to explain to her that Marines were the most versatile branch of the Osean defense force. Kei then asked me where I got my interest in flying and I told her my dad wanted to be a pilot when he was growing up and that he and I would go to the air shows every summer until he died when I was eight. We talked for most of the way to Sand Island until she fell asleep on me. I didn't know if it was intentional but she rested her head on my shoulder. Kei's hands were placed on her lap and I flashed back to when I was in marching band when I was in high school. This plane ride reminded me of the bus rides back to the school when me and my ex-girlfriend were dating. I almost grabbed Kei's hand out of habit but I stopped myself. I liked Kei, but she still didn't know anything about me. I had a lot of skeletons in my closet that I couldn't tell her about, even if I wanted to.

September 19, 2010 0128hrs

We arrived at Sand Island late at night. It was already early morning of the 19th of September. Kei and I were tired as hell and all I wanted to do was go to bed. When we got off the C-17, we were greeted by chief mechanic of the base, 2nd Lieutenant Peter N. Beagle or 'Pops' as he liked to be called. He seemed like a friendly guy. He was mostly bald and had a goatee.

"You two must've had a long day. I won't waste any time telling you stuff you don't want to hear so just follow me and I'll show you to your quarters," said Pops

Already I liked the guy. He didn't waste any time showing us where Kei and I would be staying. There was only one room available which meant we would be bunking together. As big as Sand Island was, I thought there would be more space for all personnel. We got to our room and the kid in me called the top bunk, which Kei didn't have a problem with because she was already passed out on the bottom bunk. I was too tired to change out of my flight suit and went to sleep as soon as I climbed into bed.

A few hours later

I was the first one awake and I had already forgotten where I was because I fell off my bunk and hit the ground with a loud thud when I tried getting out of bed, which startled Kei who hit her head on the top bunk. Not even a full day has passed and we were already hurting ourselves.

"You ok," I asked as I was picking myself up off the floor.

"I'm fine. What time is it?"

"Five thirty, I'm surprised I woke up at my usual time," I said.

"What do you this early in the morning?" Kei asked

"I do my morning workout. I go for a twenty minute run and then ten minutes of weight training. Afterwards I use the next hour to eat breakfast and shit, shower, and shave before I have to be on deck," I told her. "I might have to skip my work out because I still have no idea where everything is on this base." We then heard a knock on the door, it was Pops.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you're up. Anyways, today the base commander wants to meet the both of you. I'll give you half an hour to get ready and I'll meet you back here to take you to see him."

"Alright Pops, but can you show us where the showers are," asked Kei.

"Down this hallway and to the left, they'll be the second door way on the right, and don't worry; the guys' and girls' showers are separated."

I gathered my set of clean clothes and headed for the showers. I was honestly expecting the shower rooms to be like the ones I had to use back in OCS, or Officers Candidate School, but I was glad to see these ones had shower curtains. After a quick shower and a quick shave, I was good to go. It only took me a total of ten minutes to get ready. I spent the rest of the time lying in bed wondering what the base commander would say to Kei and I. Maybe he would be just as laid back as the one at Heierlark. Knowing my luck though, this base commander would be a bigger hard ass than Major Pesi.

Kei had finally gotten back to our room just as Pops came to get us and we followed him to the base commander's office. Along the way, Pops pointed out some places where we'd probably spend most of our free time like the mess hall, the crew room, briefing room and more. I was planning on headed straight for the mess hall after we got done talking with the base commander. I wasn't sure about Kei, but I was hungry.

"Well you two, this is it. Go through this door and his office door is on the left as soon as you go in. I'll be in the hangers with the other grease monkeys if you have any other questions I can answer for you," said Pops with a smile and he left us.

"Well, here we go," I sighed and Kei gave me a nervous smile.

I knocked on the office door and I heard a voice that told us to come in. There was no name plate on the door and the voice sounded familiar. Kei and I enter the room, stood at attention and introduced ourselves until he put us at ease. I couldn't believe who the base commander was, Colonel Orson Perrault. I found it hard to believe that this bastard was still in the military because by the looks of him, he wouldn't be able to pass the PFT, or physical fitness test. He was way bigger than the last time I saw him and I started to wonder if he would remember me.

"2nd Lieutenant Antonio Castillo and 2nd Lieutenant Kei Nagase, I heard some pretty interesting thing from the base commander at Heierlark. He tells me you two were the best pilots on the base," said Colonel Perrault as he stood up from behind his desk and stood in front of us. "Fortunately for you two, I honestly don't give a shit how good you are. I only care about keeping my base organized and free of trouble. If either of you step a foot out of line, you'll find yourselves out of this military. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir," Kei and I said in unison.

"Good, now report to Captain Bartlett. You're his problem now. Dismissed, oh and Castillo," he added as I was about to walk out the door. "Tell your mom and Lieutenant Colonel Harkin I said 'hi'," said Perrault with an evil grin.

"Will do, sir," I replied as I closed the door behind me. I knew he was being sarcastic by the way he gave me that grin of his and I knew he'd find some way to make my life on this base as miserable as he could.

"You know that guy," asked Kei.

"Yeah, he threw a lot of people under the bus to get where he is today. My mom and her friend included. They couldn't defend themselves when he accused them of leaving their post to go fraternizing about twelve years ago. Mom told me that Perrault told them he needed her and Lt. Colonel Harkin to take care of something on the other side of the base they were stationed on and reported them saying he didn't tell them to do anything. They were cleared of the fraternizing charges but they got reprimanded for leaving their post." I said as we walked down the hallways.

We headed into the mess hall and got our breakfast. The food seemed decent but it was terrible. This is going to be a long posting here. I was telling Kei about some of the other stories I heard about Perrault while we were eating until we were interrupted by this loud mouth that annoyed me just by looking at him. This guy reminded me of Elvis a little because of how much he let his sideburn grow and little bit of hair that hung in front of his head.

"Hey, you must be the new guys, sorry, new guy and new girl, right," he asked. He didn't even give me enough time to answer him before he started talking again. "Yeah, I was wondering who Pops was talking to this morning. No doubt Perrault wanted to talk to you guys too. Man, I hate that guy. Did you know he has it out for the lead flight instructor, something about him eating the Colonel's last slice of birthday cake? Talk about a lack of manners. Speaking of which, where are mine, 2nd Lieutenant Davenport and you are?"

"2nd Lieutenant Antonio Castillo and this is 2nd Lieutenant Kei Nagase. We just transferred over from Heierlark. Is Davenport your only name," I asked.

"Nah, I just don't like my first name so I don't tell it to anyone. Everyone just knows me a Chopper"

I was about to ask him how he got his nick name but then I decided against it because of how much he talked already.

"Well Chopper, it was nice to meet you but we have to hurry and finish up eating before we have to meet up with our flight instructor," said Kei.

"Oh yeah, you guys got assigned to Bartlett. I feel bad for you," he said and left.

"Hey Chopper," I called out and he froze in his tracks. "I'll take my orange juice and toast back, if you don't mind. You're not as sly as you think."

He gave me back my juice carton and my toast, but not before licking it and setting it back on my tray. He tried to keep us distracted with his yammering while he tried to steal part of my breakfast. This guy was going to get on my nerves but two can play that game. Kei and I finished our meal and headed to the briefing room where we were told to wait for Captain Bartlett. Kei and I sat patiently until he walked in. He was a man in his early forties with black hair and eyes that suggested that he was always in a bad mood. His five o' shadow suggested that he really didn't care about what others thought about him. Just by looking at him I got the feeling he was another hard ass, waiting for me screw up so he could chew me out. As soon as Kei and I saw him, we were standing at attention, saluting. He didn't even look at us and sat down while we were still at attention. Then he just blankly stared at us for a good half minute, before he finally said anything to us.

"Who the hell are you two?" said Bartlett.

"2nd lieutenant Antonio Castillo," I said.

"And you must be Kei Nagase. Major Pesi told me a lot about you, none of it was anything good. You, Castillo, isn't true that your friend here can't fly worth a damn?"

"I believe that she can, sir. She proved more of a challenge for me than any of the other instructors," I said. I could almost see Kei blushing out of the corner of my eye. The whole time, Bartlett kept trying to get a rise out of us by telling us that our piloting skills were nothing compared to some of the pilots he fought against in the war fifteen years ago and how he hasn't been impressed by any one since then. Bartlett just kept us saluting until he dismissed us.

Later on I went to go talk to Pops. He was looking over my assigned F-5 and I asked him if he knew Captain Bartlett. He told me that they flew together in the war fifteen years ago and that they were shot down behind enemy lines, but managed to evade enemy capture. Parts of his story had me confused. How could Pops stay a 2nd lieutenant after all these years? Maybe he messed up during his military career and couldn't get promoted because of it. I didn't ask him because I felt like I'd be putting him on the spot. He did tell me that Bartlett was a hard ass and it took some time getting used to. Pops also mentioned to me that Captain Bartlett hated being saluted and that he would leave anyone one who did standing there until he finished talking or until someone else relieved them.

There was nothing else to do on Sand Island that day except get settled in. I played with Pop's dog, Kirk, for a little bit then I went to the gym. Later on I caught up with Kei in our room and she told me that we had a sortie with Captain Bartlett the next day.

"Maybe we can impress him with our flying," said Kei.

"Maybe, but then again we don't know how good he is either," I replied as I climbed onto my bunk. "Still, I would like to see what these other pilots are made of."

"Yeah, me too," said Kei.

I was actually looking forward to it and went to bed early. I kept going over all of my past sorties in my head, thinking about all the mistakes I've made and how I could improve on them. I would be flying with a small squad I had to keep my compulsion for telling people what to do under control. I couldn't imagine how everything was going to pan out. I just had to wait and see what we were going to do tomorrow.

September 20, 2010, 1000hrs

"Alright nuggets, start making your way onto the runway. Once you get in the air, hold formation and wait for the others to takeoff," said Bartlett over the radio.

We were doing formation tactics training today against one of the other instructors groups. I was paired with Captain Bartlett, Kei, and a guy who called himself Aero. I was actually kind of nervous because I didn't know how well the nuggets on this base flew, let alone the instructors. When I was airborne, I quickly joined formation and took the trail position directly behind Captain Bartlett's F-4G Phantom II. I thought it was odd that he didn't fly with a RIO/WSO, Radar Intercept Officer/Weapon System Operator. I guess it was because he didn't get along with anyone and a RIO would just annoy the hell out of him. The other instructor flew an F-5 along with the rest of us. None of us were armed because the world was at peace and the brass didn't see the point in equipping our planes with live ammo. Only the dummy rounds the ground crews loaded into our guns.

When we got to our AO, we all assigned ourselves our call signs. Heart Break 1 was the Captain's, Kei's was Edge, Aero's was Aero, and I stuck with the name Major Pesi gave me, Blaze. If I had any say in it, I would've had my call sign as Zorro. It was the nickname my scout master had given me for somewhat obvious reasons and I grew to like it. The Captain then positioned us into various formations telling us each formations advantages and disadvantages. This was a review to me because I already knew this from all the reading I did from when I was younger, but I went along with what was being taught. It was a nice day. There were scattered clouds and the sun was shining brightly. Sand Island was located in the tropics, which made the climate a lot more humid. As lovely as the day looked, it wasn't my favorite part of the day to fly.

"Heart Break 1, this is Svenson, you guys read to begin?"

"This is Heart Break 1, yeah we're ready. Come and get us. Alright nuggets we're meeting them head on. Blaze, you're on my wing, and Edge stay glued to Aero's ass over there, you hear me?"

We all acknowledge and got into formation. My head was on a swivel looking for the enemy formation, even though the Captain said they were coming head on, which I doubted. Sure enough they came from nine o'clock and I called them out. We changed our heading and spoiled their surprise attack. The Captain ordered Aero to break off and engage an enemy element, or a two plane formation, that broke off, while I followed the Captain as we engaged the other. The element I was chasing broke off and Captain Bartlett ordered me to go after him and I did. He went into a wide right turn and latched onto the Captain's tail. I stayed behind him in his blind spot so he couldn't see me and waited for the right time to attack. The plane Captain Bartlett was chasing leveled off and flew straight, which gave the enemy I was chasing the perfect time attack. I was faster to the trigger because he was already out before he could line up his shot.

"Dammit Blaze, hurry up and get him off me, I'm still locked," shouted the Captain.

How could he still be locked? I already got his pursuer, what does he mean? Just then, I saw the other enemy element streak in with Aero's element close behind them and they took out the Captain's F-4. I could hear him swearing at me, but I still had to worry about the plane the Captain didn't shoot down so, I gave chase.

"The Captain is down. Does anyone want to try and takeover command," I asked over the radio.

"You let the Captain get shot down?" said Aero

"I didn't let him get shot down, right now we have to maintain chain of command if we want to complete this exercise," I said.

"Alright new guy, since you seem so sure of yourself, you take command. What are your orders?" said Aero.

"Right now we have the advantage, keep up the chase and try to take them down as quick as you can. Edge if you see that element split up, go after him, alright?" I ordered.

"Roger that."

The guy I was chasing was good. He kept me guessing with every move he made and I couldn't get my sights on him long enough to shoot him down. He was gaining speed and I hung behind him so I wouldn't over shoot him if he tried doing something like I did when I was flying against Major Pesi. As he got further away I was in perfect position for a missile lock and I took it. He was out of the exercise.

"Blaze, this is Aero, I lost my target."

"Where's Edge?"

"She's chasing her target towards your two o'clock"

"Alright, get over there and provide some cover for her. I'll try and get a better view of the situation," I said.

I gained some altitude to provide top cover for Kei and Aero. Kei was having just as much trouble keeping her sights on her target as I did. Aero hung back some so he didn't crash into her. That's when I saw the plane that Aero was chasing dive on him and I called for Aero to break hard left. He wasn't fast enough and was tagged out. It was up to me and Kei now and she was in trouble. I dove after the trailing enemy at a steady speed so I didn't over shoot. He broke off and dove for the deck when he spotted me and I followed. He went vertical giving his plane every bit of speed he could squeeze out of the engines. He was going into a cloud and I didn't think much of it and I followed him through. As I flew out of it, I realized he wasn't in front of me anymore.

My eyes were going everywhere but I couldn't see my target anymore. I started circling above the clouds still looking for my opponent, when I saw him in my rear view mirror. I dove for the clouds trying to shake my attacker anyway I could, but he was on me like white on rice. I tried faking a spilt S right above the cloud deck but he didn't fall for it. This guy could be the one to get me, but I was gonna make him work for it.

I dove below the cloud deck and pulled out of the dive at three hundred feet. I was running out of room to run. If I went into a climb, I would be an easy target for him and that's the last thing I wanted. The last thing I could do was try to get him into the scissors maneuver and hope for the same outcome that I got when I was flying against Kei. I pulled a hard left back and pulled back on the throttle a little, then I quickly reversed the bank and pulled back on the throttle more. I repeated this process several times and it was working. He was close to stalling, but so was I. If I was going to get him, he would have to be closer to stalling than me.

I was pulling into another left turn, trying to get into position but as I pulled my throttle back, my plane went into a stall. I was a sitting duck and I couldn't do anything but watch as my opponent pulled away to gain speed and turn back towards me as I tried to recover from the stall. All I could think about was how I let everyone in my squad. I didn't blame myself for Captain Bartlett getting taken out because there was nothing I could do. I should've seen Aero's attacker and warned him sooner. I couldn't help but think about Kei the most. She would be all alone with the odds stacked against her. I was ready for my simulation controls to declare me out, but before they could go off, I heard a voice on the radio.

"Attention, all trainees and instructors, attention. This exercise is now over; the enemy team has been eliminated."

Did Kei get taken out too?

"We did it Blaze! We got them," said Kei over the Radio

I was in a state of confusion as I looked around and saw Kei form up on my left wing. I could tell that she was smiling when she lifted up the tinted visor on her flight helmet. Kei had shot her target down just as I lost my target and she saw that I was in trouble. She had been circling overhead when I dove out of the clouds and she had been waiting for the perfect time to attack. When we landed back at base, Captain Bartlett pulled me aside to yell at me for getting him shot down on purpose. Kei and Aero watched from a distance as the Captain let me have it.

"I don't know what the hell you were thinking out there, but if you pull something like that again, I'll have your ass flying prop planes," shouted the Captain.

"What do you mean, sir?" I asked trying to play off my innocence.

"You know damn well what I mean. I told you to clear my six and because of you, you jeopardized the rest of the team just so you could show off your skills."

"I wasn't trying to show off for anyone," I growled. I could've just stood there and let him scold me for screwing up, but I've had it done to me so many times before that I figured it was better for me to admit that I was wrong and convince my superior that I would try harder next time. "I didn't see the second guy who came after you. Yeah, I screwed up, but I did what needed to be done and I still managed to come out on top with another member of the squad. Sure, I could've done better, but this is just training. It'll take time but eventually, I'll learn."

Captain Bartlett's face produced a scowl that could make almost anyone piss their pants, but I stood my ground as he walked up to me and attempted to stare me down. "Then you'd better impress me next time," growled the Captain and he walked off.

When Captain Bartlett was gone, Aero came up to me and he seemed like he was a little perturbed. "Did you throw me under the bus to save your own ass?" he asked.

"Would you believe me if I said 'no'?" I asked

"I don't even know you," said Aero.

"Then what's the point of asking me?" I replied and I walked off.

We all headed towards the locker rooms and got out of our flight gear. Kei and I visited Pops afterwards and told him the whole story. He said he was impressed with the way I was able to keep everything organized and take down Svenson's team. Of course, Kei and I did all the work but he was still impressed with the way I handled it.

"You just might be a natural leader, Blaze," said Pops.

"I don't know about that," I replied.

"Why not, you managed to keep one of your wingmen with you the whole time."

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied and I looked at Kei who returned a gentle smile.

Later, when I was lying in bed, I kept thinking to myself about today. I honestly thought that Kei wouldn't have been able to bag her target before I was shot down. I was stupid to think that. She was more than capable of handling her own in a dogfight. I kind of figured that I owed Kei for helping me so I promised myself that I was going to look out for her in the sky. Maybe Kei and I could become Cipher and Pixy. I smiled to myself the more I thought about it and I stared to wonder what Kei was thinking about.

"Antonio?" Kei said softly as she lay in her bunk.

"Yes?"

"We were pretty good today, don't you think so?"

"Yeah, we really showed them," I said and I drifted off to sleep.