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.

15. Ice Cage

Chapter 14 – Ice Cage

November 15, 2010 1221hrs

Today started out as a normal day and nothing really seemed like anything interesting was going to happen. I got the Ball pictures in the mail today and I slipped of them into Kei's book while she was writing in it. I left a little note on the back of the picture and I saw her smiling at it as I walked out of the crew room. I kept wandering around Sand Island trying to find something to do to pass the time. Playing with Kirk didn't keep me occupied for long and I knew Kirk wasn't entertained either when he ran off. Great, I wish this island had something fun to do like a hiking trail or… I think I just found something to do. I ran towards the docks and found three of the security guards. They were gathered around a bunch of offloaded cargo, talking, and drinking a soda. They snapped to attention when they saw me.

"At ease fellas, I was wondering if you could do me a favor," I asked.

"Sure Captain, what do you need?" asked one of them.

"I was wondering if you had any available zodiacs I could use to get over to that island over there," I said as I pointed to one of the islands towards the north east of the airfield. The island was pretty much a mountain that was just less than fifteen hundred feet above sea level. Along the coast were some buildings the other defense forces stayed at. They were responsible for patrolling the outer islands because it was a key strategic position for defending the Atoll.

"Is there a specific reason you want to go over there sir?" asked one of the guards.

"No not really. I'm just bored over here," I said.

They all turned to each other and started whispering among themselves. I had no idea what they were talking about but the way they kept glancing over at me suggested that they were either making fun of me or they knew something I didn't. After about a minute, they all turned towards me like they were going to attack.

"Captain, how do you feel about gun control?" asked one of the guards.

I smiled at that question and they said that today they had to take their weapon evaluations. We headed over to the armory and they got their rifles while I was only allowed check out my M9. Even though it wasn't as accurate as the Osean 9mm pistols that were issued, I felt like my M9 was more reliable because I made some modifications to it that weren't exactly legal. Anyways, as we were leaving the armory, I ran into Kyle, Erica, and Grimm.

"What are you doing, Sir?" asked Erica.

"I'm about to take my weapon evaluation. Wanna join?" I offered.

"Sure, we got nothing better to do today," she replied.

The three of them got their handguns and a couple boxes of ammo from the armory and followed me and the three guards to the small strip of land on the south side of Sand Island that served as the firing range. I found it tedious that the armory guys had to also give us our holsters. Originally I was given a shoulder harness but I felt that it slowed down my quick draw, so I modified it into a hip holster. I would more than likely lose my sidearm if I ejected but I already had that base cover. We got to the firing range and we met the range supervisor. He was an elderly looking Senior Master Sergeant who seemed like he didn't take crap from no one. Rank didn't seem to matter to him and the scowl on his face suggested that he hated everything that had to do with life. We lined up on the firing line and he gave us the rundown on how things worked on 'his' firing range.

"My name is Senior Master Sergeant Blick and I'm the firing range supervisor. You are to follow any and all of my rules so I can keep your sorry asses from accidentally killing yourself or any other scumbag here. Keep those barrels pointed down range, follow my instructions, and we'll get along for now," said Blick.

We walked over to the table, loaded our magazines, and returned to the firing line. There's something about holding my M9 that made me feel good. I know it didn't have as much kick as a multi-million dollar fighter jet, but it made me feel just as good.

"Shooters take your mark," shouted Blick.

"Try not to miss Captain," said Kyle.

"I won't," I said with a grin.

"Open fire," shouted Blick.

I brought up my pistol and fired down range at my target. The kick of it in my hand felt great and I could see my shots hitting my target directly in the center. All fifteen of my bullets went right where I wanted them too. Kyle, Erica, and Grimm were pretty happy with their scores too but if this had been a competition, I would've won. The three guards that came with us were impressed by my accuracy. This was easy.

"Cease fire, cease fire!" shouted Blick. "Put 'em on safe and holster!"

"Damn Captain, I didn't think you knew how to handle a gun," said one of the guards.

"I know how to handle most of them," I said.

"Really, how good are you with a rifle?"

"I can manage, but I don't think Blick would allow it. Do you mind Master Sergeant?" I asked.

"I don't give a damn, just keep that barrel pointed down range," he said.

I grabbed one of the M16s and loaded the mag into it. It's been a long time since I held one of these. I stepped onto the firing line, chambered a round into the rifle, and brought it up to my shoulder.

"Are you a gambling man Captain?" said one of the guards.

"Only when I know I'll win," I said as I lowered the rifle to look at him.

"Are you feeling lucky?"

"Nope, but are you asking to make a bet with me?"

"I got a couple of twenty's here that say I can kick your ass in accuracy," said the guard as he pulled out his money from his back pocket.

"I got nothing to bet with," I said.

"Well how about your alcohol ration? I hear you never use it anyways."

I agreed to it and we got ready for our little competition. When Blick cut us loose, I waited until the guard fired off his first five rounds. He was quick to the trigger and I could see that his bullets were hitting the area between the eight and bull's-eye of the paper target. This is too easy. The target was five hundred yards down range and the sea breeze was also affecting the flight path of the bullets. I brought the M16 to my shoulder and adjusted the sights. I squeezed the trigger and saw my bullet impact the center of my target. I quickly squeezed of a few more rounds and saw them land within millimeters of my first bullet. Sweet, I guess I'll be a few dollars wealthier when this is over. I continued firing the rifle until it was empty. I cleared the chamber and set the M16 down on the table. Blick went down range to retrieve our targets.

"I think you did pretty good sir," said Erica.

"Are you serious? Reynolds got a better score than he did, lieutenant," said one of the three guards.

"I don't really care if I won or not, I just want to know how I did," I said.

Blick retuned with our targets and declared me a winner. Reynolds was about to hand me his money but I gave it right back. There was nothing on Sand Island I could've used it on anyways. The seven of us spent the next few hours having a good time at the firing range. I even managed to get Blick to lighten up and have a go with an M16. Erica was a crack shot and I found out that Kyle can't shoot worth a damn. Grimm on the other hand was just as accurate as Erica. This was the most fun I've ever had since my arrival at Sand Island but eventually, we ran out of ammo.

We turned in our weapons and the three guards we went to the range with, went back to their post. Kyle, Grimm, Eric, and I found a spot on the beach where we all just sat and talked about random things. Kyle let it slip that he had a crush on my RIO and I couldn't help but laugh at that. They knew I didn't like how she always complained about how dangerous my flying was. Yeah she was cute, but I already had my heart set on Kei. Erica was beautiful as well; her brunette hair accented her blue eyes. I couldn't help but think that she used to be a cheerleader in high school. I pictured Kyle as a baseball player because he reminded me of a redneck. I might have been wrong about it but that was my impression of him. We continued talking until Justin ran up to us around 1900hrs and said that Wardog was needed in the mess hall.

"Why, what's going on?" asked Kyle.

"I don't know. Pops just said that Wardog needed to report to the mess hall," said Justin.

We all looked at each other hoping that one of us would know what was going on. We got up off the ground and started heading towards the mess hall. I couldn't think of a good enough reason as to why we were needed in the mess hall. Maybe someone decided we need to eat dinner before we go off on some important mission tomorrow morning.

"Maybe they're throwing us a party as a celebration for our successful mission yesterday," said Grimm.

"You are a real optimist, Grimm," I said with a smile.

"There's nothing wrong with trying to find a bright side," said Erica.

"I never said that was a bad thing, I'm just saying that Grimm is an optimist. I wish I was like that," I replied.

"It's easy to find a bright side to anything, Sir," said Grimm.

"I'll have to try it sometime," I said.

We continued to make our way to the mess hall and we noticed the corridors we practically empty. We managed to run into the rest of Wardog outside the mess hall doors and they had no idea what was going on either. There was a Master Sergeant who was guarding the door and he wouldn't let us in until we were all here.

"Grimm thinks they're throwing us a party," I said to Kei.

"Seems a bit optimistic to think something like that," she replied.

Tell me about it. The Master Sergeant then opened the doors to them mess hall and we followed him in. The lights were completely turned off and I could feel that we weren't alone in there. I lost track of the Master Sergeant and I stopped dead in my tracks. It's probably my paranoia, but I don't like this. The lights suddenly came on and almost every ground crew member was gathered around us. My team and I were all standing back to back in a small circle waiting for the ground crews to do something. I bet they're pissed about all the work they had to do patching up our planes. I was half expecting them to throw something at us, but then they started applauding. We all looked at each other in confusion until Pops came out and decided to clear up the meaning behind all of this.

"Congratulations on destroying the Hrimfaxi, Wardog," said Pops with a smile. "The Osean army wanted to extend their thanks to you so we decided to throw you a party."

"I thought they abandoned their attack," said Michelle.

"They did, but today they recommenced their operation and they were able to complete their objective," said Pops. "So, how 'bout we get this party started?"

Someone started blasting music and the kitchen staff set up a buffet line of decent looking food and drinks. They even pulled out bottles of beer and other various liquors. People are going to get stupid tonight. Everyone was eating, drinking, and having a good time. We all talked with the ground crews about how we sank the Hrimfaxi. I went as far to apologize to the ground crews for crashing my plane. They told me not to worry about it but I still felt like I had to.

"Hey Kid, why don't you tell everyone how you saved Grimm's ass when you ran interference during his attack run," said Chopper.

Chopper was talking with Grimm, Erica, and a couple of the other people in attendance. Chopper was trying to explain what had happened from his exaggerated point of view. He thought that I tried getting clear of the AA defenses and that I got lite up because I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I drank the rest of my soda before I started talking.

"We ran out of ordinance when we were attacking the Hrimfaxi and we only had our guns left. The sub had a hole in its missile silo and I ordered Chopper and Nagase to draw the AA fire away from me and Grimm while we strafed the Hrimfaxi's missiles. I headed in first and landed a bunch of hit on one of them and then Grimm starts to make his run. Now this guy…" I said putting my arm around Grimm's shoulder. "He starts screaming as he opened fire. I looked back and saw that he was about to get torn to shreds by the Hrimfaxi's AA guns and I decided to run interference to save him and his RIO."

"Is that why your plane was shot to shit?" asked one of the ground crew.

"Yeah, and before Grimm got within range of the AA guns, I pulled into hard loop and positioned myself at his eleven o' clock high so that the AA guns would focus on me instead of him."

"That's a pretty ballsy move Captain," said one of the ground crew.

"Yeah, but I'd rather be the one who goes down in flames than anyone else from my team," I said.

"Good thing Lieutenant Rockford wasn't flying with you," said Grimm and we all laughed at that.

I thought about what I had just said and now I understood the reason why Captain Bartlett saved Kei at the start of this war. He might have been a hard ass but he looked out for everyone under his command, whether they were his friends or his responsibility. Bartlett was a good man and I could see what Pops meant when he said that I reminded him of Bartlett. I hope that guy is doing okay, where ever he is.

The party continued and everyone was having a great time. Chopper tried getting me to drink but I refused every time he offered and I stuck to drinking the punch. I could hold my alcohol pretty well but I just didn't like the taste of any of it. All the women pretty much cut loose and Kei, Michelle, and Erica started dancing on top of one of the tables. I was enjoying their display and so were the other guys in the room. Chopper took this as a challenge and started a dance competition with anyone who wanted in on it. I felt like I could've improvised something with my martial arts skills but I decided against it. No one really knew how to do much of anything except for Kei, Erica, and Grimm. Kei's and Erica's dancing was more hip hop while Grimm's was more like an Irish jig. They all did pretty good but I liked Grimm's traditional style so my vote went towards him. I continued mingling with everyone for a little longer before I had to take a bathroom break. I rushed out of the mess hall and into the bathroom to do my business. Once that was out of the way, I washed my hands and headed back to join the others. As I approached the doors to the mess hall, I saw Michelle leaning against the hallway wall and she saw me coming. She was smiling at me and I could only wonder why. She had let her hair down and her green eyes were locked onto me as if she was trying to see into me.

"Is everything okay, Lieutenant?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was just wondering where you went," she said as she continued smiling at me.

"I just had to use the head and now I'm ready to get back in there and join the others," I said trying to get away from her. That smile of hers is making me really uncomfortable.

"Captain, wait," said Michelle as she stopped me. "I heard about what happened during the Hrimfaxi attack and how you had to bail out of your plane last night."

"Yeah, the sub's AA guns nearly tore me a new one," I said.

"Yeah, and I've been spending all this time wondering why you didn't take me with you on that mission." she said. I had a bad feeling about where this was going because of that smile of hers. "It's because you care about me, isn't it?"

What the hell?! "I… uh… It's not like…"

"I wanted to thank you for keeping me out of harm's way," said Michelle.

She walked up to me, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me. I was caught completely off guard by her and I was in complete shock. The kiss lasted less than two second before I gently pushed her back. I looked at her in disbelief and I was at a loss for words. It wasn't until I pushed her back that in noticed Kei standing there in the doorway, looking at us. Oh God, no! I could see the sadness and anger in her eyes as she looked at me. An eternity seemed to pass before she turned away and started walking down the hallway away from me and Michelle.

"Kei, wait," I called after her as I walked past Michelle. Kei just kept walking with her head down and I ran after her. I continued to call her name but she wouldn't look at me. I finally caught up with her and gently grabbed her by the shoulder so I could make her face me.

"Listen, I can….."

November 16, 1406hrs Sand Island AFB

What happened? Where am I? I opened my eyes to find myself in the sickbay. I was laying on one of the beds wearing only my shirt and boxers. I don't know how I got in here or what happened. All I remember was following Kei after she saw Michelle kiss me. I really hope that was a dream and that I got wasted at the party. My head felt like it was ready to burst and lower right rib was sore. One of the doctors came over to my bed to check on me.

"Jeez, I thought you'd never wake up Captain," said the doctor.

"What happened?" I asked as I sat up.

"Lieutenant Rockford said that Lieutenant Nagase knocked you out for some reason. You've been out for about eighteen hours."

So it wasn't a dream. From how I felt, I assumed Kei knocked me out by using one of the moves I taught her two weeks ago. I got out of the bed to put my flight suit back on and head out of the room. The doctor suggested that I stay but I told him I had something I had to do. I walked out of the sickbay and started making my way back towards my room. I ran into Grimm in the hallway and he asked me what happened last night.

"Not now, where's Kei?" I demanded.

"I don't know sir, no one has seen her all day," said Grimm.

"What about Rockford, where is she?"

"Last I saw time I saw her she was in the crew room, why?"

I didn't bother answering him and I took off towards the crew room. Nothing mattered to me other than trying to clear up what had happened last night. I hope Kei will have enough sense to let me explain before something becomes so FUBAR that it affects us in the future. I had to get Michelle to help me explain to Kei what happened. I got to the crew room and found that Michelle wasn't there. That's when I remembered she went on leave today and that she probably left the island by now, but I had to make sure.

"Are you looking for someone Captain," said Genette.

"Yeah, Kei and Michelle, have you seen either of them?" I asked.

"Lieutenant Rockford and Lieutenant Nelms left to go on leave like two hours ago and nobody's seen Lieutenant Nagase all day."

Dammit, where is she?

2214hrs

I spent all day wandering around the base, asking everyone I ran into if they've seen Kei and I kept getting the same answer form them all. She had to be somewhere on the base where no one would think of looking for her. I need to think, I'd better get some sleep first. I headed towards my room and I kept my head on a swivel, hoping that by some fluke, I would find her. When I arrived outside of my door, I couldn't help but feel like I shouldn't go in there. I didn't know if she was actually in there, but if she was, I felt that I should just give her some space. I walked away from the door and headed towards the crew room. No one was there and it didn't help my feeling of loneliness any. As I lay on the couch, I thought about the words I would use to explain to Kei what happened last night. With Michelle gone, I had to convince her all by myself and considering the circumstances, it was going to be difficult.

November 17, 2010 0530hrs Sand Island AFB Crew Room

I woke up to the sound of my watch alarm going off. I fell asleep on the couch in the crew room and I was still the only person in the room. I got up off the couch and made my way towards the locker room where I had left my duffel bag from when Kei and I came back from Oured. I grabbed the workout shirt, gym shorts, and running shoes that I had packed but never used. I put my work out clothes and went on my morning run. I still kept my eye out for Kei as I ran around the base but I didn't see her. Maybe she was in our room this entire time. The thoughts of Kei were racing through my head and I felt myself running faster and faster like I was hoping to eventually see her in front of me at some point during my run, but she wasn't there and it made me wonder if I'd ever find her.

I made my way towards the gym and I heard cheering coming through the doorway as I came closer. What's going on in there? I looked inside the gym to see everyone gathered around the boxing ring cheering on Kei and one of the base security guards as they fought. Some people might have called it sparing, but this was a full on fight. Kei wasn't holding anything back as she landed hit after hit on the guard's body. When the guard staggered backwards from a hard punch to the jaw, Kei ran towards him, jumped, and struck the guard in the jaw with her knee. I stood in the doorway of the gym and watched as the guard was hauled out of the gym and saw another challenger enter the ring to face Kei. I walked up to one of the spectators and asked what was going on.

"The Lieutenant has been calling for any and all challengers who want to fight her. So far she's beaten three… make that four people since this started."

"Why is she doing this?" I asked.

"I don't know, but all we know that she's pissed off about something and everyone is just having a good time watching this,"

Kei was pacing back and forth in the ring, waiting for another challenger and eventually the martial arts instructor stepped up to challenge her. He doesn't stand a chance. The instructor casually walked up to Kei and started to go on the offensive. He wasn't able to land any hits on her and within seconds, Kei had turned the tables on him. She drove the instructor back into the corner and she knocked him out the same way she knocked me out. The instructor was pulled from the ring and everyone could tell that Kei wasn't done yet. Another challenger was about to enter the ring and I quickly rushed up behind him and stopped him. I have to end this before someone ends up dead. I entered the ring and took off my socks and shoes. Kei's eyes were full of anger and I could tell she wasn't in the mood to talk, but I had to try.

"Oh man, this is going to be good," said a spectator.

"My money is on Nagase, she's been on a roll."

"Nah, Castillo's gonna pull off a miracle like he did last time."

"Yeah right, Nagase's improved since last time because Castillo taught her some of what he knew."

I didn't want to fight Kei but I could tell she wanted to fight me. All I wanted to do was talk to her and explain what happened the other night, but she didn't seem like she wanted to listen. I had to get in close to talk to her or risk having the spectators finding out about us. The ref rang the bell and Kei rushed towards me. I stepped towards the side and Kei bounced off of the ropes but she managed to swing a high round house kick at me that I easily dodged by ducking. I stood back up and nudged her in the back with my shoulder to put some distance between us.

"Will you stop for one minute and let me talk to you?" I asked.

Kei came back with a left and right cross that I deflected. I grabbed her left arm as she swung a left hook, put her into an arm bar, and I rolled over her back. I blocked another back kick and ducked as she spun around to try and back hand me. Kei then tried to hit me in the head with her right knee and I avoided it by throwing my left shoulder back and I wrapped my left arm under her right thigh to pull her to the ground on her stomach. I quickly got on top of her and wrapped my arm around under Kei's right arm and around her neck.

"Listen, the other night wasn't…"

Kei was trying hard to get loose and she struck me in the ribs with her left elbow. I felt my grip loosen from around her neck. After she hit me three more times in the ribs, I completely let go and she threw her head back to hit me just under my eye. The pain was excruciating to the point where I rolled off of Kei's back as I held my face in agony, but I didn't have enough time to worry about it because Kei had put me into a cross arm breaker. I tried tickling her foot again but this time she wised up by striking her heel into the center of my chest. I couldn't get her leg behind me like I did the last time and I realized that Kei was intent on hurting me. I don't have much of a choice now. I grabbed Kei's foot, brought it up to my mouth, and bit into her heel. She screamed in pain and let go of my arm as a result of what I just did. I quickly got onto my feet and realized I couldn't move my right arm because it had been pulled out of place. Outstanding, now I have to try and stop her with one arm.

Kei rushed towards me again and struck me on both sides of my jaw with a hard left and right cross. Don't lose control, Antonio. Stay calm! She then ran her fist into my stomach and I felt myself lean forward from the pain. As I leaned forward, Kei struck me in the head with her right knee and as I felt my body lean back, she followed up with a round house kick with her left leg that struck me on the side of my head.

I felt myself collapse to the ground and I could taste the blood in my mouth. I lay in the middle of the ring on my stomach and I felt myself fad in and out. You're not getting out of here, little shit. I'll kill you before I let that happen. I felt myself reliving the day I tried to escape from project Pit bull and I felt something snap inside of me. I opened my eyes to see Kei standing on the opposite side of the ring glaring down at me. The spectators were quiet now and I slowly got up onto my feet using my one good arm. I lifted my head up and saw the glare on Kei's face slowly turn into a look of fear as she watched me push my right shoulder back into place. Her eyes were widened and her mouth was slightly opened. There was no mistaking that she was scared of me at that moment. She tried to cover up her fear by glaring at me again but I didn't fall for it.

Kei charged forward and to swing a haymaker at me but I ducked to avoid it and I buried my right kneed Kei in the stomach. As she leaned forward, I swung my right leg around and swept her off her feet and she landed on her back. When I came out of the spin, I tried to run my fist into her chest but she rolled out of the way. Kei flung herself onto her feet and she tried throwing another series of punches that I dodged too easily. I caught her right arm with my left hand and Kei tried to high kick me with her left leg. I ducked and stepped to my right so that when Kei brought her leg down, her arm was placed between her legs. I pulled had on her arm and Kei flipped forward and land on her back. I leaned over her and glared into her eyes.

"Do you want to keep going? If so, then it's only going to get worse," I growled.

Kei flung her leg back in an attempt to hit me in the head with her foot but I dove and rolled out of the way. Kei got back on her feet and put her guard up. We circled the around the ring as we kept our eyes locked onto each other. She was getting desperate and I could tell she was running out of ideas. Kei ran up to me and started to attack. I continued dodging or deflect her attacks and waited for her to mess up. Kei threw a hard right hook that I blocked and she followed with a spinning back kick. I caught her leg while she was in mid-air and I threw her toward the ropes. Kei was able to break her fall by rolling on her back and stop herself by using the ring's ropes. I moved in to try and end the fight, but Kei wasn't about to give up. I deflected her back kick and grabbed her arm as tried to back hand me again. I turned around and pulled her over my back to flip her in front of me. As I saw her feet come into view, I leaned back and Spartan kicked her straight in the chest and sent her flying back towards the opposite side of the ring. Kei was lying on her back, gasping for air. I had knocked the wind out of her and I could only watch her as she laid there. I walked over towards Kei and knelt over her. I looked at her and saw that she wasn't in much shape to continue fighting. I could tell that she still wanted to keep going, but this was the only chance I had to talk to her.

"I warned you and yet, you wanted to keep going. I know you're mad at me from two nights ago and it's not what you think," I said and I leaned in closer to her ear. "You and I have something special going on between us and you know damn well I wouldn't give that up for anything. You're all I have in this world and I promised myself that I wouldn't lose you. If you need time to get over this then I understand, but believe me when I say that my heart is only set on you and you alone."

I got back up and headed out of the ring and out of the gym. The medical officer wanted to take a look at me to make sure I was okay but I waved him away. I was in a lot of pain and I still could barely move my right arm. I went back to the room and got a clean uniform to change into after I took my shower. I thought about how Kei reacted to this whole situation, and the more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got. She over reacted and didn't even give me the chance to explain. It's not my fault she's too emotional about everything. I love you, Kei.

0947hrs Sand Island AFB

I spent the next couple hours away from everyone on the base and sat on the east shore of the island. I was alone in my thoughts as I watched storm clouds gather overhead. Even though I hated being alone, I felt like it was necessary so that way I don't spread my bad mood around towards everyone else. I didn't know if anyone else in Wardog heard about the fight Kei and I were involved in earlier and I figured Kei would still be absolutely livid about what I did to her this morning. Guess I could call that payback for her dislocating my shoulder. I slapped myself across the back of my head when I thought that. Even if she did do that to me, that didn't give me the right to retaliate like that.

"Captain," I heard someone call.

I looked behind me to see Corporal Washington getting out of one of the buggies the security team uses to get around with.

"What do you need, DaVaughn?" I asked.

"You have a mission briefing that's about to start without you. Get in," said DaVaughn.

I got up, got inside the buggy, and we headed towards the briefing room. The rest of Wardog was already seated and I took a seat away from everyone else in the back corner of the room. No one bothered looking at me so I assumed they heard about what happened this morning.

Our mission for today was to fly into Yuktobania and support a rescue operation as Osean Marines infiltrated a POW camp and cleared the way for the extraction of the POWs. The reports from the surrounding area indicated that enemy air patrols were in the area and Wardog's first priority was to shoot them down and support the rescue operation afterwards. Weather conditions were expected to be poor which meant that we'd have to get close to detect the enemy air patrols. Our preflight data indicated that there were a total of twelve enemy aircraft in the area. I wonder if Captain Bartlett's in this POW camp. Colonel Perrault dismissed us and we headed towards the hangers to pick our planes. Pops was waiting with the rest of the ground crews to hear our orders on what planes we were going to take.

"What are we going to fly today, Kid?" asked Chopper.

"I don't care, pick what you want and be ready to deal with air and ground threats," I said.

Everyone looked at me in disbelief after they heard what I said. I walked towards the locker room to get my flight gear and Chopper followed after me. I didn't want anything to do with anyone and I tried to isolate myself from them again.

"Kid, what's eating you? Did Nagase bruise your pride or something?" asked Chopper.

"No, just my face and my head," I said as put on my G-suit.

"Obviously she did more than that."

"Yeah, she knocked me out the night of the party and this morning, she dislocated my shoulder. Do you need more detail about what happened?" I snapped.

"Yeah, I want to know how all this shit started."

I slammed my locker door shut and sat on the bench as I gathered my thoughts. "Kei caught Rockford and I kissing the night of the party," I said glumly.

"Okay… why did the two of you kiss?" asked Chopper as he folded his arms and leaned against the lockers.

"She heard about what happened to my plane during the Hrimfaxi mission and she thought I didn't take her along because I knew I probably would've gotten her killed. Then she claimed that I cared about her and she said she wanted to thank me. That's when she planted one on me and Kei saw what happened. She didn't even give me the chance to explain and I had to literally fight her so I could get a chance to explain myself."

Chopper didn't know what to say and that actually surprised me. I got up off the bench and headed out of the locker room towards the hangers. I told Pops that I wanted to fly an F-2A and that I wanted it armed with four sidewinders, two AGM-88 HARMs, two rocket pods, and an external fuel tank. Kei chose to fly an F-15C with four sidewinders, four sparrows, four mavericks, and two external fuel tanks. Chopper and Grimm both chose to fly their F-15Es with four sidewinders, four sparrows, four bombs, and a pair of external fuel tanks.

We didn't say anything to each other as we waited for the order to launch. I was leaning in the doorway of the hanger and continued gazing towards the even closer rain clouds. My mind was still filled with the thought of Kei and the events that took place this morning. I wanted to talk to her and tell her I was sorry for everything that's happened. I looked back at her as she leaned against her plane with her arms folded and her head down. I couldn't see her eyes because her hair was in the way and I wasn't able to get a read on her. I'm worried we're going to let our emotions get in the way of this mission. I turned my gaze back towards the horizon and it started raining.

1708hrs Glubina, Yuktobania

"This is Archer. Captain, can you see the POW camp?"

"I can't see anything in this soup, Grimm," I said as I scanned the ground. We were flying over a region of Yuktobania that was full of rolling hills with scattered trees everywhere. This place would've been beautiful in the spring and if it wasn't storming.

"Well, we should be able to see it soon," said Chopper.

"Do you think the Captain…uh, I mean… Captain Bartlett… you think he's in there?" asked Grimm.

"I bet he is. He's probably busy cussing out all the other POWs and taking charge right now. Right, Nagase?"

Kei didn't say anything to Chopper and I couldn't tell if she didn't answer because she didn't want to think about her guilt towards letting down Captain Bartlett or if she didn't want me to hear her speak.

"You're not still blaming yourself now are you?" asked Chopper.

"No," said Kei softly.

Bullshit.

"Pilots, I can hear the roar of your engines approaching. Uh… this is Sea Goblin. Man, I thought if I joined the Marines I'd get to work on tropical beaches all the time… We've safely recovered the POWs. I guess our copter isn't here yet."

"Looks like you're going to have to baby sit 'em a bit longer. I'm picking enemy planes on radar," said Chopper.

"Roger. You're that squadron from Sand Island, right? I've heard of you guys. Can't wait to see you do your stuff," said Sea Goblin.

I looked at my radar and saw the faint radar signatures of two enemy Su-27s. I throttled forward and closed the distance between us. I didn't lock onto them just yet because I didn't want ruin our element of surprise. I positioned myself below and behind the element leader and fired my gun into both of his engines. The Su-27 began belching thick black trails of smoke and it nosed forward into a dive. Kei quickly dispatched the other Su-27 by sending a missile straight into its fuselage.

"These enemy air patrols are really cramping our style," said Chopper.

"Whatever, let's just hurry up and get this over with so we can go home. I'm already sick of this place," I said.

"Wildcat here; I'm not picking up any other radar signatures in the area. Birdy, how 'bout you," asked Justin.

"I'm not detecting anything either. We're getting too much interference from this snow storm," said Erica.

"We can't detect them unless we get close," said Kei.

"Alright, Edge, take Archer and cover the western sector. Chopper, you're with me," I said and we dispersed.

I told Chopper to lead the way so that Justin could direct us with the Strike Eagle's more powerful radar. I kept my eyes peeled as well, not that I could see any better but I still kept a look out. This blizzard is pissing me off even more. After about a minute of flying with no enemy contact, Justin finally spotted faint radar contacts of an enemy formation towards the east. We headed off in the enemies direction and soon, I was able to pick up the enemies on my radar. Chopper said he had a radar lock on the three enemy planes and fired.

"Chopper, wait," I said, trying to get him to told fire, but I was too late.

"What's wrong," asked Justin.

"Those are radar guided missiles you just fired and they might not track their targets through this storm," I said.

We all looked ahead and watched the missiles streak towards the enemy formation. I saw one explosion and I looked at my radar to see that the other two fighters had scattered. I told Chopper to take one of the enemy planes and that I would take the other. I followed my target as he tried climbing above the storm. I guess he didn't see me because he didn't try maneuvering out of the way. I was going to try and shoot him down with my gun so that way his missile warning wouldn't let him that I was chasing him. As he leveled out of his climb, I rolled upside down and brought my gun sight to bear on the underside of his plane. I squeezed the trigger and I felt my plane shudder as my gun came to life and sent a volley of lead into his plane. As the wreckage fell to the ground, I pulled back on the stick and dove back down to the deck to find Chopper. Chopper's target went into a descending spiral and instead of following him; Chopper went into a climb and dove back down after his target, creating some distance between the two of them. When the enemy pilot pulled out of his descending spiral, he pulled up and performed a canopy roll. He was expecting to see Chopper behind him but instead, his maneuver had given Chopper the perfect opportunity to fire a missile into the enemy plane.

"This is Sea Goblin, does it seem like the enemy craft have noticed our infiltration?"

"They haven't started making their way towards the camp so I guess not," I said.

"You heard our Captain, relax and just wait there at the camp

"Roger, we've cut off the enemy's lines of communication here, but it's just unsettling not being able to tell what the situation is," said Sea Goblin

We regrouped and continued hunting for the remaining patrol planes. It wasn't long before we encountered a single MiG-29. Chopper easily dispatched him and I looked at my radar map to plot where we encountered the previous patrols. I tried to predict where the next enemy air patrols might be and I guessed that Kei and Grimm might have already intercepted them.

"Edge, what your location," I asked over the radio.

"Eight miles south east of your location, sir," said Grimm.

"Have you encountered any enemies yet?"

"So far we've encountered a pair of Su-27s and nothing else, sir."

"Alright, head six miles south and see if the final formation is in that area. Chopper and I will regroup with you soon," I said.

Chopper and I applied full throttle and raced towards Grimm and Kei. I couldn't help but notice that Kei didn't answer me when I specifically asked for her location. I was starting to get the feeling that she was going to get herself killed because she wouldn't listen to me. I had to do something to make her get her head straight. When we all regrouped, Erica called out the final four enemy aircraft towards our eleven o' clock and we turned to engage. I ordered Grimm and Chopper to scatter them by launching their remaining sparrow missiles at them, regardless of the radar interference.

None of their missile found their mark and the enemy formation scattered. I ordered us to disperse and engage at will. I latched onto the lead plane's wingman gave chase, but I made the mistake of trying to out-turn him. I chose to fly the F-2 because its paint scheme blended in better to the surrounding of our AO and I was planning on trying to maintain a stealthy approach to this mission, but now it was pointless. He pulled into a hard left turn and I couldn't maintain the turn so I had to break off or risk stalling in the high G turn. Shit, I should've known better than to do that. I applied full throttle and tried to speed away from my pursuer, but he latched onto me and was gaining on me, fast. I got you right where I want you. My attacker acquired a missile lock on me and I launched a set of flares to break the lock. When the enemy plane was close enough, I applied the air brake, buried the stick into my right thigh, and hit full bottom rudder. My F-2 barrel rolled over the Su-27 and I quickly acquired a missile lock and fired. My missile flew into the cockpit of the plane and I quickly flew back towards the others.

"This is Sea Goblin; combat has broken out in the camp! You got control of the airspace now, right?"

"Were almost there, it won't be that much longer until the air is sanitized," I replied.

Chopper and Grimm were pursuing their targets with no problems while Kei was having trouble with the flight lead. She led the Su-27 into a rolling scissors and she was quickly losing that fight. Kei was on the edge of stalling and gave her plane more thrust to escape from the enemy. She's in knee deep in it right now. I turned towards them and got behind Kei's pursuer. I followed them through all of their maneuvers and waited for the right time to make my move. When the enemy pilot followed Kei into a wide left turn, I fired my gun at him but it passed right by his canopy when he reversed direction to follow Kei as she broke hard right. The enemy pilot saw my tracers and broke off his pursuit of Kei to try and evade my attacks. I was ready to pull any of the high G maneuvers he was going to attempt and I kept him at a distance so that way I could react to any of his counter maneuvers. He led me into the vertical, rolled his plane 180 degrees and leveled off above the cloud deck with me right behind him. I had my finger poised on the trigger and as I squeezed it, the shuddering of my plane caused my finger to slip and arm my rockets. Dammit, not now. The Su-27 then attempted to pull off Pugachev's Cobra and out of sheer instinct; I rolled my plane 90 degrees to the left and fired two rockets into the enemy plane. My first rocket missed and my second rocket exploded into the left wing, causing the Su-27 to tumble helplessly out of the air. I was amazed to see the pilot regain control of his plane and continue on flying with only one wing. He wasn't able to get far before Kei closed in on him and finished him off with a missile.

Kei formed up on my left wing and I looked back at her to see her glaring at me through the blizzard. It was like she thought I was trying to steal her kill when in reality, I was trying to help her. Is she really that mad at me? I was starting to get fed up with her attitude and I decided to leave it at that and not get in her way until she was ready to talk to me again.

"Alright, we've mopped up the enemies in the area; you can call in the taxi now," said Chopper.

"Whew! Uhh, this is Sea Goblin. Our ride's here. The ground's still crawling with weapons instillations, though, so they can't land. Could you clear those out for us?"

"Hang on, we're on the way," I said.

We turned towards the POW camp and I saw all the enemy instillations pop up on my HUD. This place had a lot of AA defenses for a POW camp and they were all located to the west of the camp. They were already firing up toward the pair of CH-47s that were inbound to extract the POWs and the Marines.

"I see the POW camp. The man I must… the people we must help are in there," said Kei. "We have to suppress the AA fire first."

"Then get to it. Disperse, all weapons are permitted. I want our people to get out of here in one piece," I said.

I was still quite a distance from the camp and I fired my AGMs to destroy radar guidance systems of the AA defenses and the enemy radio antennas. The AA guns were firing up at the helicopters erratically and the SAMs couldn't get a lock on the helicopters. We all took advantage of the confusion and laid waste to the AA defenses. I was headed straight for a SAM sight and I fired a volley of rockets at it and destroyed it. As I pulled out of my attack run, one of the AA guns landed a couple of hits alongside my cockpit and under my right wing. I took some shrapnel in the right side of my helmet and I quickly sped out of the AA gun's reach. I circled back around to attack another set of AA defenses when I saw the rest of Wardog commencing their attacks on the other defenses. Kei launched all of her maverick missiles on her first pass while Grimm and Chopper took a couple passes at dive bombing their targets, but just when we thought we had cleared the way, more targets popped up on radar.

"Let's get this over with before nightfall. We're screwed if they blow up our helicopter," said Chopper.

"The POWs will be free in a few minutes," said Grimm.

"Wait 'til they're back in their old jobs being over worked like us. I bet they'll want to get back into that camp."

We all regrouped and used our remaining weapons to clear out an LZ for the helicopters. Once they were taken care of, the only thing that was left for us to do was wait for the Marines to clear themselves a way out of the camp. We couldn't provide any support for them because they were too close to the enemy forces, but luckily, there was an allied gunship here to provide support for the Marines while we circled overhead to provide top cover. The Marines designated targets for the gunship, using green smoke. I looked at the camp to see Yuke soldiers collapsing as bullets from the gunship ripped into them.

"Okay, thanks for taking out the trash. We're taking the POWs outside, can you see their smiling faces?" asked the Sea Goblin Marine.

We continued to circle overhead and made sure that all targets had been destroyed. Everything was calm, but it didn't feel right. There's no way we already took care of every threat down there.

"Those people… I wish I could see their faces from up here," said Kei.

I looked down at the LZ and saw the Marines escorting the POW towards the helicopters. They looked to be in pretty rough shape and I couldn't recognize any of them as I looked at them through my binoculars. We're almost done here.

"Nagase's actually going down to look," said Chopper as he chuckled.

"Edge, get back into formation," I said, but she ignored me.

"Alright, everyone's in the helicopter. Checking to make sure we got all of them," said Sea Goblin.

"Sea Goblin, is Captain Bartlett there? Check for a Captain Bartlett," said Kei.

"Hmm, no… nobody named Bartlett here. Hey, what about you?" asked Sea Goblin to one of the POWs. "Nope, he's not here. None of the other POWs ever heard of him either."

"But that can't… Look, just check for me one more time."

"Edge, there's more than one POW camp in Yuktobania, Captain Bartlett could be in any one of them. Now get back in formation," I said sternly.

Kei grunted in disbelief and she headed back towards us. I watched as she came closer towards us and then, I saw a puff of smoke come from a bunker that was dug into the side of a hill. It was a SAM and it was headed straight for Kei. No, not her!

"Ah, dammit Nagase," said Chopper.

The gunship fired a barrage of rockets into the bunker to prevent any more missiles from being launched. Kei tried hard to shake the missile off of her, but it was glued to her tail. She was banking hard and then she went vertical. I throttled up and flew between her and the missile to keep her safe. Now the missile was locked onto me. I dove for the deck at full speed, hoping the move would put some distance between the missile and my plane. I launched another set of flares to try and confuse the missile, but it easily found its way back towards me. I was about to break into, which was a good thing that I didn't because it would've flown through my canopy and killed me. I barrel rolled over the missile and it shot past me. I quickly reversed my direction, thinking the missile had finally lost track of me, but it didn't. It circled around and came for me again from above. I can't avoid it this time.

"Blaze," shouted Kei.

"I know you didn't want to lose another flight lead, but I'd rather go down instead of you. I'm sorry for everything… and I hope you can forgive me," I said softly and I braced myself for the impact of the missile.

My life seemed to flash before my eyes as I sat still holding the necklace my mom gave me when I was twelve. Every moment of my life was being replayed in my head so vividly, that I could've sworn I was reliving it. The pain I felt from when Curtis AFB was attacked, the voices of the scientist from project Pit bull, and even Kei's touch were all I things I could feel as I waited for my imminent death. This is for you Kei.

I couldn't hear my missile warning anymore and I could feel the cold air seeping into my cockpit from the holes in my plane. Is this what death feels like? I opened my eyes to see that I was still alive and I looked around to see what was going on. I spotted Kei's F-15 fly past me with the missile chasing her again.

"Kei, NO!" I shouted.

"Nagase, what are you doing!" shouted Chopper.

"After all everything the Captain said to me, I…" began Kei but was cut off as I watched the missile impact her plane.

No, please God, not Kei! It should've been me; I'm supposed to look out for my team. I felt myself choking up as I continued to watch Kei's plane fall towards the ground, but then suddenly, I saw a small flash of light shoot up out from her plane. She had managed to bail out of her plane before it crashed into the ground.

"You alright," asked Chopper.

"I'm fine. My plane's trashed but those are always replaceable," said Kei.

"Sea Goblin, do you think you could head and pick her up?" I asked.

"Sea Goblin to gunship, we're taking our guests home now. Can you guys rescue her?"

"Roger. Weather conditions are getting worse, we'd better step on it," said the gunship pilot as they turned towards Kei's position. "Landing point confirmed, heading in to pick her up."

The gunship was almost at Kei location and I felt somewhat relieved. The rest of us circled above the gunship to watch it as it picked up Kei but suddenly, my plane violently rolled to the left. A huge gust of wind had blown against our planes and we had to struggle to keep our planes under control. I looked down at the gunship and saw it roll over and slam into the side of the hill Kei was on. The rotor blades flew off in every direction as the helicopter rolled down the hill.

"The gunship crashed!" shouted Grimm.

"Dammit, the storm's too strong," said Sea Goblin.

"We can't just leave her behind," said Chopper.

"Look, I hate it too but we have to wait for conditions to get better before we can do anything," said Grimm.

"I'm not leaving her," I said.

"We can't help her; we have to wait until the storm clears up."

"Dammit, is there nothing we can do?" asked Chopper.

"We can't help her anymore," said Grimm.

"Then RTB without me because I'm not leaving her," I said.

"Kid, I hate to admit it but Grimm's right. We have to wait until tomorrow," said Chopper.

"I don't care. I'll bail out if I have too, but I'm not leaving her!"

"Blaze…"

Kei's soft voice snapped me out of my stupor and I felt myself calm down. Her voice was full of concern but gentle at the same time. This was the first time she spoke to me sincerely since two days ago and I felt a great sense of comfort as she continued talking to me.

"I know you don't want to leave me, but you have to… I did my job as your wingman… now do your part as my flight lead and make sure the others get back home safely," said Kei over her radio.

I didn't want to leave, but her words had gotten to me. I hung my head as I came to my senses. "I'll be back for you," I said softly. "I promise…"

"I know."