The Aces of Razgriz

by Blaze118

Becoming a pilot was a dream for Antonio "Blaze" Castillo ever since he was young, and then it became an obsession when his father died during a mysterious attack on an air show when he was eight. With his goal of becoming a pilot completed, Antonio must fight a war that no one saw coming while fighting to keep his humanity and other dark secrets intact.

14. Demons of Razgriz

Chapter 13 – Demons of Razgriz

June 25 1996 Curtis AFB

"Anthony! Anthony, can you hear me?" shouted my dad.

I opened my eyes and I saw my dad and the Mustang pilot leaning over me as I lay on the ground. It felt strange to hear someone call me Anthony again. My vision was blurry at first but it cleared up the more I blinked. I sat up on the grass and my dad let out a sigh of relief when I came to.

"That's one tough kid you got there," said the pilot.

"Yeah, he's gets that from me," said my dad and they chuckled at that.

"So kid, you haven't answered my question yet," said the pilot as he looked at me. "Where did you learn to do that maneuver?"

I took me a second to remember what he was talking about. "I read it in an old war book. Thanks for letting me fly with you," I said saluting him.

The pilot saluted back and my dad and I walked off to where my younger sister, Amanda, was waiting with Lieutenant Colonel Harkin.

"How does it feel now that you got to fly a plane Kid?" asked Harkin.

"It was awesome! I know what I want to be like Cipher when I grow up," I said in excitement.

My dad and Harkin chuckled at what I said. They knew I liked airplanes and now they knew I wanted to be a pilot. We walked back towards the spectator stands where we met up with the rest of my family and Harkin's pregnant wife. We continued to watch the flight demonstrations of some of the planes they had on the base. One of my favorites was when the White Legion flight team did their performance in their F-15Cs. The four of them seemed to move as if they knew what each of the other members were thinking. It would be amazing to fly like that one day. After they were done, an A-10 flew overhead and at the same time, Harkin's wife went into labor and Harkin took her to the hospital.

In the middle of the A-10 demonstration, my little sister had to go to the bathroom and my dad told me to go with her and so we went. I waited outside the restroom and continued watching the flight demonstrations from a distance. I wonder how those pilots feel every time they fly. My sister came out of the restroom and when we started to head back towards the spectator stands, I looked off towards the horizon and I could see a spec growing in the distance. I wonder what plane that guy is flying. The plane flew closer and I didn't recognize it as a plane I saw before. It was red and black with forward swept wings that seemed to be placed towards the rear of the plane and front canards that were placed just a little behind the cockpit. Its vertical stabilizers were slanted towards each other and were placed on the outer edges of the plane's bulky engines. There was something on its back but it didn't look an extra engine or a fuel tank. The crowd noticed it too and we all continued to watch as it flew overhead at low altitude.

"What plane is that?"

"It must be new this year."

"What's it carrying under its wings?"

"It's turning back around."

It was turning back around and it lined up to come towards the planes parked on the side of the runway. I might have been eight years old, but even I knew that the pilot was lining up to attack. As the plane came closer, I grabbed my little sister by the wrist and pulled her towards the ground. I watched as the plane launched a missile at the F-16 performing its demonstration and saw the missile obliterate it in midair. I looked back at the strange plane and saw it shot a beam of light from the pod it was carrying on its back and destroy the planes parked on the runway. People started panicking and started running in every direction. I was scared and my first instinct was to find my parents. I got up off the ground, grabbed my little sister, and we started running towards the stands my parents were sitting at.

I watched as the pilot of the plane circle around and release a couple of bombs on the stands on the opposite side of the runway. I saw the bombs explode and envelope people in flames while others were knocked off of their feet from the shockwave. The pilot sped up and put some distance between him and the airfield. I thought it was over, but I was dead wrong. He turned back around and headed right for the crowd of people who were few hundred feet in front of me. The crowd of people saw the pilot heading towards them and they couldn't get out of the way in time. The pilot released another bomb and it impacted in the middle of the crowd. My sister and I were close enough to shockwave that it knocked us to the ground and became covered in falling clumps of dirt. I saw the carnage the explosion had caused… it was terrible. Some people were still alive and heavily injured, while others weren't even recognizable. I had tears in my eyes and I could hear my little sister screaming in terror. I picked her back up and we ran over to the bomb crater.

"Stay here! I'm going to look for mom and dad!" I said to my little sister but she couldn't hear me. I grabbed the sides of her head with my hands and forced her look at me. She was only five years and innocent of everything in the world. Neither one of us knew what to do, but we had to do something. I had to keep it together, for her sake. I looked my sister in the eyes and tried to comfort her, but I couldn't think of anything to say. "You'll be safe here. Just close your eyes and cover your ears and someone will find you."

"Please don't leave me, Anthony! Don't leave me alone," she begged as she started crying again.

I didn't want to leave her, but I felt like I didn't have a choice. If I had stayed with her, I wouldn't have been where I am today. I hugged her one last time and left her in the bomb crater. I continued running towards the spectator stand my parents were on as the bombs continued falling. I could see the people jumping over the side rails of the stands as they tried to save themselves. I could see my parents running down the steps with my brother and older sister in tow. I saw the attacking plane headed straight for the stands.

I felt time slow down as I saw the pilot release another bomb and watched it impact on top of the spectator stands as he flew over me. The bomb exploded between me and the rest of my family and I couldn't see them anymore. I collapsed to my knees and watched in horror as the explosion erased my half of my family from existence. I couldn't hold back the tears and my fear any longer. I could hear screams and to this day, I couldn't tell if they were mine or the others running around me.

I looked up into the sky and the pilot bank his plane to the left as he looked directly at me. He was close enough to the ground that I could see him through the canopy of his plane. I could clearly see his helmet and oxygen mask covering his face, but I noticed his eyes more clearly. They were green and I could tell he was smiling by the way he squinted as he looked at me. I felt like he targeted me out of everyone else who was running by me, trying to escape the carnage. I seared the image of the pilot's eyes into my mind so that I would never forget it. After the pilot flew by, he circled around again and headed straight for me. As I saw him closing in, nothing else in the world mattered to me except that I survive. I started running away as fast as I could as his bomb fell towards me. I have to get away. I don't want to die! I felt the heat of the blast and a sharp pain in the left side of my back. I felt myself twist to the right and fall to the ground. I didn't know what happened and I felt the pain in my back increase as rolled onto my stomach and started crawling to where I had left my little sister. I have to make it back to Amanda. I have to see if she's alright. I'm all she has left now. I felt myself fading away and I couldn't move any more. I rested on my stomach as everything went black and continued to listen as people continued to run away. I couldn't feel anything anymore and I felt myself become tired. If dying is this peaceful, then I have nothing to worry about.

November 11, 2010 0642hrs Oured Osea

I felt myself calmly wake up in the hotel bed next to Kei. As I sat up, I felt the pain I had felt when I got hit by the debris in my back. It hurts; I can still feel the metal sticking out of my back. I winched as Kei hugged me from behind and the longer she held me, the more the pain in my back seemed to fade away.

"You were talking in your sleep again," she whispered into my ear.

"Sorry," I said as I hung my head. I closed my eyes and I could see the pilot's eyes in the darkness. Where the hell are you?

"Don't be, you have don't have to apologize to me for anything, Antonio."

Held her hand against my chest for a second and I got up off the bed. I started to make my way to the bathroom and I almost slipped on Kei's dress that was lying on the floor. I turned the water on in the sink and I splashed some of it in my face so I could wake up and get that pilot's image out of my mind, temporarily. As I wiped the water out of my eyes, I looked into the mirror at myself. There wasn't much that seemed to change and I looked at the necklace hanging around my neck that my mom gave me when I was twelve. It was a gold chain with the St. Christopher amulet hanging off of it. As long as you have this with you, you'll be protected. I remember when my mother told me that when she gave it to me for Christmas that year. I smiled when I remembered the day Kei called me her blue dove and I found comfort knowing that my mom was right.

1147hrs

After we were done getting ready, we packed up all of our stuff, checked out at the front desk, and headed to my car. The first thing we did was go to breakfast and afterwards, I tried going to visit my little sister, who I haven't seen in two years. The gym she worked at told me that she hadn't worked there in almost four months and that she got a job offer and took it. They didn't know where she went and when I called my mom, she told me that Amanda was a physician working with the Osean military and that my mom hadn't heard from her in a couple of months. I felt a great deal of grief when I realized I wouldn't be able to see her while I was here. My sister was one of the only other people who I could talk to about anything and now, I didn't know where she was. I hope she's taking care of herself. Kei and I left and headed towards the car dealership Rico was working at so I could drop off my car.

"You must've been close with your sister," said Kei.

"We were," I replied softly. "When I met up with her two years after the attack, she said that I was the reason she was alive and able to escape the same fate that I did."

"Didn't you say that they assumed both of your parents were dead?"

"They did, but when they found out my mother was alive, they had decided to tell my mother that I was dead and Amanda was able to get pulled out of the project by Lieutenant Colonel Harkin before anything happened to her," I said and I continued driving.

We reached Rico's work area and I pulled up alongside the table he was sitting at while he ate his lunch. He still had that goofy looking grin on his face when he saw me get out of the car. The place seemed dead of all business and the silence just added to the eeriness of the area, but I guess it was just nerves mostly.

"So you here to drop off Lara?" asked Rico.

"Not yet, we need you to take us to the CDAC base so we can head back to Sand Island. Then you can have Lara back," I said.

"You're leaving already?"

"We have to, otherwise the jetlag will get to us and screw up our internal clocks," I said.

Rico told his boss that he was going to drop us off real quick and then head back to work afterwards. We got in the car and I drove us back to the base. Along the way he kept asking us if anything interesting happened at the Ball. Kei told him about me playing the piano, my fight with the Major, and us running into Becca. Rico kept saying how he should've been there just so he could've recorded the fight and post it on the internet. He would do something like that.

We got to the base and I said my goodbyes to Rico as we got our things out of the trunk. It was nice seeing some familiar faces while I was here, but I felt bad about not knowing if Kei knew anyone she wanted to visit in Oured. I asked her when we headed to the main airfield and she said she didn't know anyone here. I met up with Kei back on the flight line after I spoke with the base commander about us heading back to Sand Island and he gave us the all clear to take off.

"Sucks that we have to go back to work tomorrow," I said to Kei as we headed towards my F-15.

"You know, I don't think I'd call what we do, work, unless we have to go off on sortie," she replied.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well think about it, all we do is lounge around while we wait for orders from the higher ups. The only down side to that is that there's nothing to do during that time."

I could see Kei's point. Only the officers on Sand Island had it easy, while everyone else had to actually do work. The ground crews had to maintain our planes, security had to patrol the base all day, the guys in the supply company had to take care of cargo that came and went, and the other personnel had to do whatever they signed up for. I'm glad I'm not one of them. The only thing we were responsible for were getting up and getting on deck on time. Even if it was my job to fly planes, I wasn't complaining. It was the best job in the world to me. We got in the cockpit of my plane and I fired up the engines after the ground crews towed my F-15 onto the flight line.

"Blaze, you are clear for takeoff," said the control tower.

I acknowledged and taxied onto the runway. I'm coming home. I applied full throttle and took off into the sky. The initial rush of flying again felt great and I was happy for it. As soon as I gained enough altitude, I headed west back towards Sand Island and flew at Mach 1.5. It wasn't that I was eager to get back to Sand Island; I just loved to go fast.

"You must really want to get back towards Sand Island," said Kei.

"Nope, I just got a need for speed," I said as I did a barrel roll.

"Was that really necessary?" asked Kei.

"Nah, I'm just trying to get a feel for my plane again before we have to go on another sortie."

I didn't know for sure how soon the brass would throw us back into the fight, but something told me it would be very soon. I wasn't sure what our next mission would be, but I figured they'd ask us to do the impossible. Wardog already had to defend the SSTO facility at Basset, support the ground forces during Operation Footprint alone, and stop a large scale invasion on Sand Island by ourselves with the exception of having nuggets with no combat experience. More than likely, we were going to have to do something just as difficult next time. In the meantime, I was going to enjoy the flight back to Sand Island with my girlfriend.

1309hrs Sand Island AFB

We had landed back at Sand Island just after Pops, who was also carrying Grimm, Chopper, and Captain Hamilton. Hamilton was probably on business over in the mainland and I guess he just hitched a ride with Pops. It felt strange being back on Sand Island because nothing really seemed right. It's like Sand Island was in its own world. It was warmer than everywhere else, nothing major really happened, and no one really complained about being here. I remember Genette referred to this place as a place of exile from the rest of the world. It seems he was right about that because this place looked almost exactly like Midway Atoll back on Earth, though I'm not sure anyone seriously realized it. As I got out of the cockpit of my plane Chopper ran up to me and Kei. I don't think he's coming here to say that he missed me.

"Hey Kid! Damn it's good to see you," said Chopper when he was within earshot.

I guess I was wrong. "Uh… thanks, it's good to see you too," I replied.

As he got closer, I could tell that he noticed the bruise on my left check from where the Major had punched me the night before. Then again, I noticed Chopper had a small cut above his left eyebrow. I wonder if Grimm is in worse shape than he is.

"Hey listen I need to tell you something…" he started, but stopped when he saw Kei standing behind me. "In private," continued Chopper.

"What's wrong with you telling me?" asked Kei.

"I don't think you want to hear the grimy details about how I met this amazing woman over in Winchester, now do you Nagase?" said Chopper.

Kei's face twisted in disgust and she walked off. I didn't want to hear about Chopper's hook up either but here I was. As soon as Kei was gone, Chopper walked up next to me and threw his arm around my neck.

"So Kid, how was your special night with Nagase? I notice you got a little pep in your step or is that from a fight you got in over Nagase with some other guy?" asked Chopper.

He was good at making assumptions and convincing people to do things he needed, I'll give him that much, but I could tell he was easy to read also when I was able to look him in the eye. However, I always got distracted every time I looked at those stupid ass sideburns of his. Maybe that was the point of him having them.

"It was a fight over Kei and the other guy pulled a knife on me," I said as I pushed his arm off of me.

"Right and then she thanked you," said Chopper Grinning.

"No, she didn't. Anyways I'm sure you wanted to talk about what happened to you while we were all on leave," I said.

Chopper's face got a little serious when I mentioned it. Chopper looked around to make sure we were alone and then he turned his back towards me and took a few steps as he scratched his head. "Yeah, but not about my hook up," he said.

"I figured as much, what's up?"

"Well here's the thing, when Grimm and I got to the Aerodrome this morning so we could get a ride back with Pops, I saw him walking out of one of the hangers he was closing," said Chopper.

"Okay, so what?" I asked.

"I caught a glimpse of what he had in the hanger. It looked like the same plane that almost shot you down at Basset."

I looked at Chopper in surprised confusion at what he just said. Did Chopper really see that guy's MiG-1.44? I started to over think about what Chopper had said and I could tell that he knew that I was on a head hunt for that pilot. Worst of all, I started to think Pops was the guy I was looking for. I don't know if Chopper would tell the others, but their reaction to this news would be problematic to the cohesion of Wardog.

"Kid…"

"Davenport, we can't tell the others about this," I said.

"They have to know, Kid. If Pops is working for the enemy, then we have to report him," argued Chopper.

"Report who?" said a voice from the hanger door.

It was Pops. I hadn't seen him coming and I started to wonder how much he had heard. I have to see if Chopper was right. I subtly unbuttoned the strap that held my KA-BAR inside the holster but I didn't pull it out. I had to make sure Pops was the guy I was looking for, before I decided to kill him.

"You Pops," said Chopper sternly.

"For what?" asked Pops as he looked at Chopper in shock.

"He's complaining that helmet and Face mask are messed up," I said as I nudged Chopper.

"What's wrong with it?" asked Pops as he walked towards us.

"I don't know, put it on and see if you can figure out what he's talking about," I said and I continued to look at Chopper to make sure he didn't give anything away.

Pops grabbed Chopper's helmet and sprayed it down with disinfectant before he put it on his head . Pops then strapped on the oxygen mask and got in the cockpit of my plane to test the oxygen system. Now, I need to make Pops smile, but how? I saw Kirk's Frisbee sitting on one of the work benches and though of an idea that might work, but I wasn't sure. I walked over to it and held the Frisbee in my hands.

"Why does this autographed Rolling Stones record have teeth marks in it," I asked and Chopper looked over towards me in shock. "Looks like Kirk found a replacement for that Frisbee I lost."

"What," exclaimed Chopper as he started walking towards me.

"Oh well, it looks like its worthless now," I said and I flung the Frisbee towards my plane.

"No!" shouted Chopper and he ran after the disc.

The black Frisbee flew towards the nose of my plane and Chopper kept his eye on it. He wasn't paying attention to where the thing was headed and when he jumped to catch it in mid-air, he ran into the nose of my plane. Chopper fell to the ground and landed on his side as he held onto the Frisbee for dear life. Pops was watching the whole time and witnessed Chopper crash to the ground. He wasn't smiling and I could tell that he was concern at first but then he kind of relaxed once he saw Chopper get back up. Pops unstrapped the oxygen mask from the helmet and leaned over the side of the cockpit.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"You're an asshole, Kid!" shouted Chopper when he realized that I threw a Frisbee.

"Yeah, I've been told that before," I said and I looked at Pops as he smiled while he put the oxygen mask back on.

I had my hand on my knife the whole time, waiting for the moment that I would finally be able to see if Pops was the guy I needed to kill. My mind was racing with how I would run my knife through him and how I would explain it to the jury at my next court martial, but then I took another look at Pops. It wasn't him, his eyes are wrong. I felt my grip loosen on my knife and my anxiety slip away. Pops might not have been the man I was looking for, but I didn't repeal my suspicion of him.

"I don't know what you're complaining about 1st Lieutenant, there seems to be nothing wrong with you helmet or oxygen mask. I'll replace the filters for you but that's all I can do for you," said Pops as he finished up.

"Alright then, thanks anyways," replied Chopper.

I walked out of the hanger into the locker room to hang up my flight gear and Chopper followed me inside.

"What the hell was that all about," said Chopper.

"A test to see if Pops was actually that guy I encountered over Basset," I said as I unbuckled my parachute harness.

"How exactly was that a test?"

"I remembered the pilot's eyes when he almost shot me down over Basset, but Pops didn't have those same eyes," I said.

"What, you have obsessional thinking of that guy because he almost shot you down?" asked Chopper. "If that's the case, then you got some serious pride issues, Kid."

"It's not a pride issue I'm having and yes, it's obsessional thinking," I said.

"So why obsess over that guy who almost shot you down over Basset?"

I didn't know what to tell him. Kei knew about the attack at Curtis and she was in the same boat I was. I still didn't know if she knew about the green eyed pilot and I didn't want to tell her about it because I guess I was selfish enough to where I wanted to kill him before anyone else could. I knew I had to come clean about another secret and I was beating myself up over it because I knew how much Chopper loved to talk. I had to tell him, not just to get him off my back, but because he needed to know. I wasn't sure how I was going to tell Grimm about it later.

"That same pilot killed half of my family when I was eight years old," I said as I sat down on one of the benches and buried my face in my hands.

"What do you mean?" asked Chopper as he sat next to me.

I told Chopper about the day Curtis came under attack and how I could tell Pops wasn't the green eyed pilot. I honestly felt like I was in therapy because Chopper didn't seem to say anything for once as I continued to tell him the story. I altered the part about me waking up in Project Pitbull's infirmary so that I didn't let it slip. Chopper was finally able to understand why I was the way I am, but it didn't seem to make him feel any better about me.

"How far are you willing to go to get this guy?" asked Chopper.

"I don't know," I said solemnly as I got up and headed out the door before Chopper could asked me more questions that I didn't know how to answer.

I was starting to notice a pattern occurring in my life, Chopper would always bring up things I didn't want to talk about and Kei would always use her charm to make me feel better whenever she saw that I was pissed off. I don't know if Chopper was doing it on purpose or if he just wanted to understand me better, either way I didn't like it when he bombarded me with questions. What he told me earlier about seeing that black MiG 1.44 made me question if that green-eyed pilot was closer to me than I suspected. Did Pops know who was behind all of this? It bothered me but I couldn't let anyone know because if Pops was innocent, it would seem like we were trying to cover our asses. Then again, the only time we did see that plane was at Basset and he did try to destroy the SSTO and shoot me down as he fled. All I knew for sure was that Pops wasn't the man I was looking for.

I wandered aimlessly around the base when I left the locker room. It was only 1333hrs and the temperature was close to ninety degrees. It was almost fifty-four degrees in Oured. I remembered that I was still on leave and that I didn't have to check back in until 1800hrs, so I headed to the northern part of the base and wound up on the shore of the beach. The surrounding trees obscured the view of the control tower and other buildings which was just fine with me. There were some rocks that were that were peeking out of the surface of the water and formed a small lagoon. The cool breeze of the wind gently pushed tides of water along the shore and I closed my eyes to take in the sight, smell, and sounds of everything. I opened my eyes when realized the sun was still at its apex and was beating down on me. I guess it's time to cool off a little. I took off the top half of my flight suit and tied it around my waist. My boots, socks, and undershirt came off too. I placed my dog tags in my pocket and started walking into the water.

The tides might have been small but they sure were strong. I was about two hundred yards out when the tides weren't pushing against me and I leaned back and just floated in the water. I tried to get my mind off of everything that happened ever since we arrived back at Sand Island. Pops was now my suspect and I couldn't get that out of my head. I should tell Harkin, but then he might pull Pops aside and if Pops is guilty, then it might tip off anyone who might be working with him. I pulled out my phone and sent a message to Harkin to tell him about the jet that Chopper saw at the Winchester Aerodrome, but I didn't mention Pops. As soon as it was sent, I put my phone back in my pocket and continued floating on the water in peace. That was until I felt someone's hands pull me under the water.

I didn't know what was going on and I struggled to get loose of the person who had grabbed hold of me. I couldn't see anything under the water without the salt water impairing my vision. I pulled the person's arms off of me and I came up out of the water. I pulled out my KA-BAR and turned around to confront the person who pulled me under the water. I grabbed the person by the shoulder and brought my knife to their neck. It was Kei. She scared the shit out of me. She was wearing he flight suit like I was along with her black bra.

"It's okay, it's me," she hastily. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that."

"No… I'm sorry. I should learn to lighten up a little," I said as put my knife back into its holster. "What are you doing out here?"

"I saw you wandering around the barracks and I was wondering if you were alright so I followed you to see if you were okay."

"Just trying to get my mind off of some things, I guess," I said.

"Things like what?" asked Kei as she stood in the water next to me.

I leaned back and started floating on the water again. "Chopper's starting to put the pieces together. I already told him about what happened to the other half of my family. He just keeps probing for information and I don't like talking about it," I said.

"Should I try and talk to him?" asked Kei.

"I don't know if it'll do any good, but you could try. Beat him up if you want," I said sarcastically.

"Is that an order?" asked Kei.

"I'll leave that up to you to decide," I said.

"Uh, Captain Castillo?!" shouted someone from the shore.

I stood up in the water and looked behind me to see one of the men who handle the mail, shouting for me. I wonder what he wants. I made my way towards the shore and Kei followed me.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked.

"Yes sir, you just received a package in the mail and I need your signature saying that got it. It'll be waiting for you in the mail room," said the mail man.

"Okay thanks," I said. I noticed he was looking back and forth between me and Kei.

"Umm, am I interrupting anything sir?" he asked.

"I'm trying to help the Lieutenant find a necklace she lost while she was swimming," I said quickly. "You want to help us try and find it?"

"Uh, no thank you sir. I have to get back to work," he said and he left us alone.

"I didn't lose a necklace," whispered Kei.

"He doesn't know that. Why don't you hold onto this and show it to him the next time you go check your mail," I said as I placed Becca's necklace in her hand.

I kissed Kei on the check and went to grab my things. I got my things and hauled ass towards the mail room. If I didn't get what I was expecting, then I was going to be pissed. I got to the mail room and asked for my package. As it turns out, I had two of them waiting for me, a small one from Lieutenant Colonel Harkin and a larger box from my mother. I took both packages to my room and set them down as I took a seat on the couch. I opened my mother's package first and saw that she had sent me a bunch of junk food and supplies like chocolate bars, gummy worms, beef jerky, orange juice, soda, potato chips, shampoo, body wash, deodorant, and shaving cream. She also left me a note at the bottom of the box telling me not to eat all of this at once and that she misses me. That smart ass, I love you too mom. I set mom's care package aside and opened Harkin's package. It turned out to be my watch and it didn't look any different. What did Harkin do to it? As I put my watch on my wrist, I noticed a piece of paper inside the box with Harkin's hand writing on it. I took it out of the box and read it. When you need to be found, press the start and spilt button simultaneously. I didn't know what he meant by that and I continued reading the note. There's no way they did all of this to my watch.

November 14, 2010 0612hrs Sand Island AFB

I was really getting pissed off at the brass for assigning us these early morning briefings. I wasn't able to do my morning routine and if this kept up, I would forget about it completely and skip it all together. As we sat in the briefing room, the staff from HQ was trying to get everything situated for this mission briefing. All essential officers were running back and forth in the hallways while we waited for the briefing to start. Initially, we were supposed to begin at 0600hrs but I wasn't bothered by the delay at all. I wasn't sure about everyone else because we just sat there quietly. I was leaning back in my chair with my eye closed and everyone else was drowning in their own thoughts.

"Hey, what're you writing there?" asked Grimm.

"I just can't remember this next phrase," said Kei softly.

"Here let me," said Chopper reaching over to her.

"Hey," said Kei as she yanked her book away from Chopper's hand. Chopper pulled his hand back and Kei read a sentence from her book to him. "The princess couldn't feed the dove that day, she was too sick."

"May I take a look," asked Grimm.

"Razgriz," said Chopper suddenly. "The demon of Razgriz got her right?"

"You know the story?" asked Kei.

"The demon from the North Sea, I remember, my grandmother used to tell me bedtime stories about it. And every time she did, I'd be too scared to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night."

Kei shook her head in disbelief and I chuckled as I listened to them talk about the Razgriz demon. I've only heard about it once when I read A Blue Dove for the Princess. Other than that, I knew it was a very popular legend with the sailors who first arrived on Strangereal and the legends of it just continued to grow as time went on. The legend was that when history witnessed a great change, Razgriz revealed itself, first as a dark demon. As a demon, it uses its power to rain death upon the land and then it dies. However, after a period of slumber, Razgriz returns.

"Settle down people," said a Lieutenant Colonel whom I've never seen before.

It turns out that his name was Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell and he was an advisor to HQ. He was sent to Sand Island to give us a very important mission that was vital to the allied advance into Yuktobania. We had to destroy a Scinfaxi class submarine, the Hrimfaxi, located in the Razgriz Striates. Does anyone hear that phone ringing, because I fucking called it! Apparently, our allies managed to track a sub that was supposed to resupply the Hrimfaxi and a bunch of math wizzes figured out when the rendezvous was going to occur. Our objective was to sink the Hrimfaxi while it was being resupplied so it couldn't disrupt the Osean army's offensive it planned to launch today.

"Now keep in mind, there won't be any support from Arkbird this time around. This mission rests solely on your shoulders. The entire ground offensive is relying on this first surprise attack, so don't disappoint us. I want you to turn the icy Razgriz Straits into the enemy's graveyard," said Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell.

We all felt the pressure this mission was going to put on us and already I was stressed out. Colonel Perrault gave me a dirty look as we got up and headed out of the room. I figured he was still mad at me for sinking the Scinfaxi but this time, I was under orders to sink the Hrimfaxi. On the way towards the hangers, Michelle was going on about how we always got sent on these near suicidal missions. I swear her and Chopper sound like they were made for each other.

"I heard about what that submarine was capable of and that doesn't make me feel any better about going on this mission," she said.

"None of us feel good about this mission, Rockford. At least I hope so," said Kyle.

"Sinking the Scinfaxi was hard enough with the Arkbird helping us but this time it's probably going to be damn near impossible," said Chopper. "I bet the real reason Kid sunk the Scinfaxi against orders was because it pissed him off that much, right?"

I didn't say anything, nor did I even look back at him. I was already mad about this whole situation we were thrown into. There were a bunch of other attack squadrons that could've been called on to execute this mission but I bet they picked us because we had already sunk the Scinfaxi.

"Come on Kid, I was just kidding," said Chopper.

"Chopper, leave him alone," said Kei.

When we got to the hanger, everyone started to head towards their F-15s and I told them that we were going to fly F-18s for this mission. They could carry more anti-ship missiles than the F-15 and knowing how hard it was to sink the Scinfaxi, we were going to need as many as we could carry. The only downside to flying the F-18 was that it didn't have as good of a combat range as the F-15. I was going to fly an F/A-18E while the rest of my team flew the F/A-18F because I didn't want to hear Michelle beg for her life on this mission. She didn't object to it and went back to the barracks so she could go back to sleep. I ordered the ground crews fit each plane with two sidewinders, six harpoon anti-ship missiles, two 2000lb bombs, PGU-28A/B multipurpose high explosive incendiary ammo for our gun, and an external fuel tank. The load out was stretching the Super Hornet's weight capacity near its limit, but we needed it. We weren't allowed to take off until 1200hrs due to the synchronization of the supply sub's rendezvous with the Hrimfaxi and our attack. Even though we were carrying an external fuel tank, I ordered us to use the fuel in our internal fuel tanks and save our external fuel tank until after we refueled in the air. This would allow us to attack the Hrimfaxi without us having to worry about running low on fuel.

We were halfway to our AO when a KC-10 rendezvoused with us to top off our tanks. I didn't know about the others, but I thought mid-air refueling was one of the most fun things a pilot could do, next to carrier takeoffs. Chopper took the longest to refuel because he had a hard time getting the tanker's hose into his fuel valve. I could've made so many jokes about it but I still wasn't in the mood to joke around. I maneuvered into position behind the tanker and I was glad Michelle wasn't here to complain about my flying. I swear it's like no matter what I did, she'll always criticize my flying. Then again, I wasn't trying to please her either.

1559hrs Razgriz Straits

We were flying over the ice caps of the Razgriz Straits and it just seemed like a frozen wasteland. This place seemed creepy as we flew to lower altitude for our surprise attack. I guess it was because my mom's superstitious beliefs rubbed off on me. I was half expecting to see the Demon of Razgriz appear out of the water and kill us all and I could tell the others thought the same thing.

"Wardog, stay at low altitude and fly towards the submarine fleet. You're restricted from flying above one thousand feet. We can't risk having our surprise attack detected," said Thunderhead.

"I'm getting chills. This northern sea is where the Demon of Razgriz came from," said Chopper.

"Razgriz…" mutter Kei.

"There's no way that could've been the Razgriz."

"It's just a legend, there's nothing supernatural here to be worried about," I said trying to calm everyone down.

"Hold your chatter, commencing comm out procedure shortly. Maintain radio silence," said Thunderhead.

"Guess I'll cut off the mic and try talking to myself," said Chopper.

Best news I've heard all day. I heard my radio go silent and I maintained my speed and current heading. I jettisoned my near empty external fuel tank and saw the others do the same as I looked back at them. They were following me closely as we came upon the picket submarines. Wait, these subs are on the surface, which means they must have someone on watch. These subs also had unique sonar capabilities that could track enemies above and below water, aircraft included. I opened the throttle and headed for the closest picket sub. I lined it up in my sights and dropped on of my 2000lb bombs right on top of it.

"Target destroyed!" shouted Thunderhead over the radio.

"Awesome, we totally surprised them. We can talk now right?" asked Chopper.

"That's not the Hrimfaxi. Didn't you look at the ship identification chart?" asked Grimm.

"I know that wasn't the Hrimfaxi. These guys would've seen us coming even if we tried sneaking by," I said.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, the advisor to HQ, that picket submarine just sent of an enemy detection notice. The Hrimfaxi is going to dive in one minute, attack immediately!"

We all gave our planes full throttle and sped towards the Hrimfaxi. Thunderhead counted down the remaining time we had left before the Hrimfaxi slipped beneath the waves out of our reach. I'm not going to let that happen. I had a visual on our target and I launched two harpoon missiles at it. I saw them fly towards the Hrimfaxi at full speed and they buried themselves inside its starboard hull. I looked back and saw Chopper send another missile into the supply sub.

"Damage status on enemy sub, unknown!" said Kei.

"Those bastards are diving!" shouted Chopper.

"Wardog, break off and attack those picket subs before they flee. If we can't sink the Hrimfaxi, the least we can do is put the hurt on the Yuke Navy. Use bombs and guns only, save your missiles for our primary target," I ordered.

I opened the wide band radio channel and started listening in on the Hrimfaxi transmissions. The Osean army had begun its attack and the Yukes weren't prepared for the offensive. They were requesting long range missile support from the Hrimfaxi. It turns out that I damaged it enough so that the Yukes couldn't launch its missiles from underwater. They have to choose between staving off the Osean Army and exposing themselves to our attacks, or protect themselves and let our army advance further into Yuktobania. The rest of my team regrouped back on me after they sank a total of five enemy picket submarines.

"The Hrimfaxi's antenna has appeared above water. It's surfacing," said Kei.

I looked into the water where the Hrimfaxi disappeared into and saw it break the surface. It shot out of the water and came down with a huge splash when the bow hit the water. I could see the air defense weapons appear out of the top of the sub as the Hrimfaxi launched its missile and carrier jets. They upgraded to UCAVs?

"Grimm, Chopper, concentrate your fire on the Hrimfaxi while Edge and I take care of these fighters," I ordered.

Chopper and Grimm started firing on the Hrimfaxi as Kei followed me as I latched onto one of the UCAVs. These little shits are fast. The UCAVs were able to accelerate and maneuver faster than we could, but they were only programmed to shoot us down and nothing more. Maybe they can't think for themselves. Kei broke off to engage another UCAV that was engaging me. I put my F-18 into a split S and broke right when I reached the end of the maneuver to evade a missile.

"Any day now, Edge," I said.

I pulled into a climbing right turn. I rolled to the right at the top of my climb and reversed my direction. I looked over to my lower left and saw Kei climbing up to meet me, thirty degrees behind my left wing. Here we go. I broke hard left and gave Kei a clear shot at the UCAV that was chasing me. I looked back and saw Kei send a stream of bullets into the UCAV and watched it fall into the glaciers below.

"This is Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, the advisor to HQ; I'm getting your info in real-time from our tracker satellites. Time your attacks to hit the Hrimfaxi when it surfaces. Sink it before it does any more damage to our ground forces with its missiles."

I looked ahead and saw the Hrimfaxi appear on my HUD. The lock on tone from my harpoon missile buzzed in my headset and I sent a missile towards the sub. All of a sudden, my missile warning alarm went off and I saw a missile headed for me from my seven o' clock high. I broke left and saw a UCAV open fire on me with its gun. I barrel rolled over it and got behind the drone. When I acquired a lock on it, I fired a sidewinder at it but it missed. The UCAV broke hard right and sped away from me but Kei was able to intercept it and shoot it down with another burst from her gun. I looked behind her and saw the final UCAV chasing after her. I ordered Kei to break left and I rolled above and behind the UCAV and reduced it to a pile of flaming scrap as I fired my gun into it when I dove on top of it.

"Captain, this is Birdy, the Hrimfaxi dove back under water," said Erica.

"Roger, listen up people. I want this area locked down. Smokey, Wildcat, Birdy, I want you to lock onto that thing the moment it surfaces so we can send that son of a bitch to the bottom of the sea, understand?" I said.

They all acknowledged and we formed a wide Lufbery circle above the large body of water that the Hrimfaxi had dived into.

"Come on, surface! I'm sick of waiting for you!" shouted Chopper.

Here it comes. The Hrimfaxi broke the surface again and we all headed in to attack. I launched two of my remaining Harpoon missiles as soon as I locked onto it. I saw the others launch their harpoon missiles and all of our missiles raced towards the Hrimfaxi. Before the missiles could even touch it, the Hrimfaxi launched another burst missile and more UCAVs.

"Chopper, Grimm, engage those hostile aircraft. Edge, you're with me."

Kei followed me as I climbed to twelve thousand feet and I put my F-18 into a ninety degree dive onto the Hrimfaxi. The AA defenses were still going strong and as we pulled out of the dive after I dropped my last bomb right on top of the missile launch port, my right wing was hit by a few 23mm anti-aircraft shells. I felt my Super Hornet buck to the left but I maintained control of it as we sped away out of the AA gun's reach.

"Hrimfaxi, the enemy has abandoned their attack, well done," said the Yuke submarine commander.

"What are you doing?" shouted Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell. "Attack you idiots; are you just going to let them destroy our ground forces?"

"This thing is just shrugging off our attacks. If you got some way to lend us some support, then by all means, send it our way, sir!" I said.

"Jeez, I thought this guy would be nicer than our base commander back home," said Chopper.

"All top brass are the same," said Grimm.

I looked back at the Hrimfaxi and saw that it was about to dive again. It had already stopped the allied attack which meant it didn't have to stay surfaced any longer. We failed to sink this thing. I saw the Hrimfaxi start its dive back under water, but then it stopped. It turns out we did enough damage to it that it lost diving ability.

"The Hrimfaxi stopped its dive, we've damaged it!" exclaimed Grimm.

"Alright ladies, gentlemen, and Chopper, if you have any spare ordinance us it to…"

"Hrimfaxi, launching burst missile," interrupted Thunderhead. "Wardog, its headed your way! Climb, zoom to above five thousand feet!"

"What's going on? Why do we have to get above five thousand feet?" asked Justin.

We all applied full throttle and clawed for altitude. Thunderhead started counting down the time until the missile detonated and as I looked ahead as I climbed, I saw the missile headed right for me. I snapped the stick over to the right and rolled away from the missile. The missile was close enough to me that it knocked the last sidewinder off of my right wingtip. That was too close! I looked back and saw the missile break apart and explode into a numerous balls of blinding light.

"What the hell was that?" shouted Erica.

"The thing that killed hundreds of Osean soldiers and sailors," I said as I nosed over into a dive. "Weapons check, now!"

"This is Smokey, one Harpoon missile and two sidewinders."

"This is Archer; I only have one bomb left."

"This is Wildcat, one Harpoon missile left."

I really started wishing we had support from the Arkbird right about now. We were running low on ordinance and this thing was still floating. I lined up for a shot on the Hrimfaxi but then I had to break it off because a UCAV had latched onto me. I broke to the left and watched as Chopper filled the UCAV with lead but I wasn't paying attention to where I had broken off my attack. I was directly over the Hrimfaxi and taking heavy AA fire. I tried weaving through the hail of bullets and missiles, but I was getting pelted with lead. A couple shells found their marks in my vertical stabilizers, left wing, and right engine.

"Captain, you okay?" asked Kyle.

"I took some hits but I'm alright," I said.

"Hrimfaxi, launching burst missile," said Thunderhead.

"Lead those drones to higher altitude and take them out. We can't risk those things causing any more problems for us," I said.

We all climbed above five thousand feet again. I ordered Grimm to drop his final bomb on top of the Hrimfaxi's missile launch tube from high altitude and he scored a direct hit on it while we fended off the UCAVs. We waited for the burst missile to detonate before we started to attack again. Once it went off we all dove back down to the deck and attacked again. Even after all the damage we've done to it, it's still floating.

I lined up for an attack run again with Kei on my left wing and Chopper on my right. Grimm stayed above us to fend off any attacking drones while we attacked the Hrimfaxi. I had a missile lock and I pressed the missile launch button on my control stick. I watched as all three of our missiles headed for the Hrimfaxi and detonated just behind the missile launch tube.

"We're still not doing enough damage to this thing," said Chopper.

We were all growing more frustrated and tired of this floating abomination. We only had our guns left and they couldn't do much of anything. I flew out a little bit and gazed at the Hrimfaxi when I saw something move in one of the holes our missiles had created. I pulled out my binoculars and looked at what was moving. The missile storage compartment is exposed! My first thought was to make a strafing run towards it and light it up with my gun, but then I remembered the AA guns were still operational. I didn't want to expose my team to the danger but I couldn't see any other way around this.

"Wardog, the missile storage area is exposed. If we land a bunch of well-placed shots, we could use its own weapons against it," I said.

"Are you nuts? There's no way we'll be able to make it through all that AA fire," said Chopper.

"I don't see any other way Chopper. We've faced impossible odds before and we're still alive. We can do this! Chopper, Edge, I need you to draw the AA fire away while me and Grimm go in for an attack."

I could sense the hesitation in their voices as they headed off to distract the AA guns. Grimm and I followed them in and I could see their planes taking some hits. I'm sorry you guys. As I closed in on the Hrimfaxi, my gun sight appeared and I quickly lined it up with the exposed missiles. I sent a long stream of 20mm high explosive incendiary rounds into the missile and pulled up out of the way to avoid the AA fire. I looked back at Grimm and saw him going in for his attack run. As he opened fire, I could hear him screaming in rage as he pressed his attack. Time seemed to slow down as he flew towards the Hrimfaxi. I saw the AA defenses turn towards Grimm and open fire. He's going to take too much fire for him to avoid. I pulled back on the stick and looped back over and got into position above and in front of Grimm. The AA guns turned their attention to me and I started taking even more hits.

My canopy shattered and the visor on my helmet cracked as a piece of shrapnel struck it. One bullet even managed to clip my dog tags from my neck. I couldn't hear anything except for bullets hitting my plane and I closed my eyes. The next thing I heard was an extremely loud explosion that I thought came from my plane. I opened my eyes slowly to see most of my instruments completely destroyed and my canopy full of holes. I could hear Kei screaming my name in terror and my first though at the moment was to bail out, but then I looked over my F-18. My right engine was smoking lightly and my wings and stabilizers were still intact, but my controls were really sluggish. I looked over myself and was amazed that I hadn't suffered any serious injuries. I had a couple scratches on my legs and arms but I was okay.

"Blaze, are you alright?" asked Kei.

"That's the second time I've almost died today," I said taking a breath of relief.

"We did it! Grimm finally did it!" shouted Erica.

"Target confirmed destroyed, way to go Hans," said Justin.

I looked back to see the Hrimfaxi slowly sinking below the waves of the Razgriz Straits. Rest in peace you son of a bitch. Everyone continued to congratulate Grimm as we formed up to RTB. I switched back over to the wide band radio channel so I could listen to the Yuke transmissions coming from the Hrimfaxi.

"Hrimfaxi, it appears you're up against Razgriz itself out there."

"Looks like they were the real Razgriz, not us…. Maybe someone's trying to tell us that our time is up."

Or maybe someone decided it was time you played fair. I honestly felt a little sympathy for those sailors who died today but at the same time, I was glad. With the Hrimfaxi out of the way, the Osean army could continue its advance into Yuktobania with less difficulty. I know it would take some time before the war came to an end and I knew there would be a lot more bloodshed in the near future, but if we were essential in bringing the war to a quick end, then I was all for it.

"Blaze, your plane looks like it's in pretty rough shape. Do you think you'll be able to make it back to Sand Island?" asked Kei.

"I hope so; does it look like I'm leaking any fluids?" I asked.

Kei maneuvered under my plane and inspected it from front to back. "No it doesn't look like it. You're trailing some smoke out of your right engine though."

"My instruments were destroyed and I can't tell how bad the damage is, Thunderhead do you read?"

"This is AWACS Thunderhead, go ahead Blaze."

"We've confirmed the Hrimfaxi is destroyed but we've taken some serious damage. We're going to try for Sand Island but in the event we can't make it, I'd like to know where the nearest Allied carrier is," I said.

It turns out that the closest fleet was six hundred miles south of our location and that they were being engaged by a Yuktobanian fleet. Well, so much for that, time for plan B. I could've tried for one of the other nearby bases but the last thing I wanted was for my team to come under more criticism from our allies. We rendezvoused with another tanker and refueled for rest of the way home and I had to attempt to refuel without the help of my equipment, but I managed to get it on the first try. Now all we have to do is make it back home.

2213hrs Sand Island AFB

Well this is just great. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go through this again. As I came in for a landing, ground control noticed that I was missing one of my wheels and I couldn't raise them up after I had put them down. How they were able to see anything in the dark was beyond me. I was also flying on one engine and it was losing thrust. Kei was telling me not repeat what I did at McNealy but I wasn't even thinking of trying it. I gave my plane all the power it had and circled back around towards the south side of Sand Island at fifteen hundred feet. I lined the F-18 up to land in the water north of the base. Here we go! I pulled the ejection lever on my seat and felt the remnants of my canopy fly off. My harness straps tighten around me and then I felt myself fly out of the cockpit of my plane. I kept my eyes focused on the ground and when I was low enough, I deployed my parachute. I honestly thought the Osean Air Force would've given us standard round parachutes but instead, they issued us the ones that we could control. I guided myself towards the flight line and landed in front of the hangers. It was a soft landing and I walked away casually as I detached my parachute and headed towards the locker rooms. That was more fun than a static line jump. Everyone else had already landed and watched as I bailed out of my plane. The paramedics were already rushing towards me but I waved them away from me before they could even touch me.

"I'm good, now if you don't mind, I'd like to go to bed ASAP," I said and I headed to the debriefing room.

While we were giving our debriefing, I had to explain to Colonel Perrault why I had to bail out of a seventy million dollar plane instead of trying to land it. I told him that I saved damage control and the ground crews a lot of work when I dropped my plane into the water.

"I also saved you the trouble of sending a letter home to my mother explaining how I died," I said.

"I see your point Captain," said Colonel Perrault. "All joking aside, good work out there."

"Thank you sir," I said and Perrault left the room.

He just gave me a compliment, what was that about? We finished up our debriefing and Captain Hamilton dismissed us for the night. I noticed that Captain Hamilton never smiled about anything. I thought he'd be glad when we told him that we sank the Hrimfaxi or about any of the other things we've managed to accomplish during the war. I guess he had the same mentality I did when I was in flight training; nothing ever got done with us walking around grinning like idiots. Oh well, I'm too tired to think anymore. And with that, I decided to go to bed for the night.