Tokeorozawa Aviation Museum, Saitama prefecture
I was shown an old picture of my next interviewee. The girl on the picture with her pigtails hairstyle and freckled, puncahable, smug face couldn't have been more different with her current self. With those freckles gone and her hair done in a ponytail style, Alisa is a much more mature woman then she was compare to her high school self, not just physically, but also mentally. Her once impulsive, loud and unbearable self is gone after almost a decade working as a cargo pilot for the JSDF, Now she's a calm, patient and a great veteran pilot that sets great example for future pilots.
The both of us are standing on the outdoor attraction of the museum, right next to us is a real C-5M super galaxy that had been displayed as one of the museum attraction, the very same plane that she used to fly during the war. It has many scratches along its body with its left wing completely missing. She had choose this place to conduct this interview as the sight of her old aircraft reminded her of many memories, both good and bad.
"Saunders was a VERY wealthy private school. It has the best school building, the best education, the best entertaiment, and of course, the best senshado team. In terms of championship win, Saunders lack behind Kuromorimine, Pravda, and ST. Gloriana. But in terms of the quality and the sheer numbers of our tanks, Saunders was the best in the world."
"To complement the large size of its senshado team, Saunders form the so-called 'Saunders Airlift Division' to ease up the logistical need of the senshado team and Saunders in general. It operated multiple different aircraft for different purpose. The Airlift Division operates civillian airliner such as the L-1011 TriStar, Cargo plane like the C-130, Tanker aircraft in form of the KC-10 Extender, transport helicopter such as the CH-53 Tarhe and V-22 Osprey. But the pride of the Airlift Division was no doubt the C-5 Galaxy, of which, there are three of them. That was the plane i flew during the war."
"At first, the members of Saunders Airlift Division members is consisted pilots who was employed by Saunders itself. However, in 1999, when the Airlift Division started to grow and began to operate more and more aircraft more than it could handle. Saunders made the decision to make the Airlift Division as an elective that Saunders Student could participate in."
"The move was an instant success. The Airlift Division became the second most popular elective in Saunders, just senshado Senshado. This is because not only the prospect of working on and fly those aircraft appeal to many student, the career choice it offers for its student after they graduate is endless."
"Unfortunately however, those career opportunity went up in flames once the great panic began."
"When the great panic hit Japan, and the country was plunge into chaos, the JSDF took over MEXT, the organization that control the Japanese school carrier fleet, and task all of the available school carrier to aid them to evacuate the Japanese home island. Saunders though, get a treatment that was a little different than others. Thanks to Saunders operating multiple military aircraft, some of which are combat capable, the Saunders Airlift Division was fully intigrated into the Japanese Air Force. With it, its member was also conscripted into the military."
"Naturally, this decision wasn't popular with anyone, especially with us, the students and our parents. We, and in extension our parents argue that they couldn't just conscripted us just like that, and that we were to young to serve in the military. The JSDF respond to that by saying; yes they can conscript us and lower the military serving age from 17 to 14."
"To say that we were pissed off would be an understatement. After the JSDF pulled that stunt, there's a lot of what the American would call 'draft dodger.' A lot of students who's a member of the Senshado team and the Airlift Division would make up an excuse why they couldn't serve in the military. Some excuse were better than others. I try to came up with one, but couldn't find any good one, so i ended up just accepted my fate and serve in the Air Force."
"Looking back now, i couldn't believe how selfish we are, how selfish i was. I remember the my thought when the whole thing start is that there will be no big parties once i graduate. Saunders always had a tradition of finding any excuse to throw parties or just throw them with no reason at all. And when the first thing i worry about when the war started was not the thought of the millions upon millions of lives that would be lost. Instead i was worried that i wouldn't able to enjoy parties and any other luxuries i used to enjoy before the war, while many others are struggling to even stay alive."
"Aside from selfishness, i also felt a lot of envy towards other people, mainly towards my friend and upperclassman, Kay. Her dad was a US Navy officer, and he was quick to learn of the true nature of the Solanum virus and had moved his family to Hawaii sometimes before the great panic start. Even though Kay and i are good friends, i remember when it all started, i loathed her for simply living at a safe place, far away from all the chaos, while i'm stuck here in Japan as a military conscript. I know my feelings were unjustified, but back then, i couldn't help but hate everyone and everything around me, wheater it was justified or not. Thankfully, i've grown up since then."
She then realised what she had done a shot me an apoligetic look.
"Sorry, i ended up ranting, this is not the point of the interview."
I shook my head in reasurence. "No, no it's fine. You're not the only one who ended up ranting, but i do prefer you talk about your experience with the Airlift Division."
She nodded. "Right"
"My first mission as an aviator for the JASDF was during the first evacuation of the main island. We had been made aware of the evacuation plan a week before it was announced publicly. It was for us to prepare the necessary logistic and equipment to carried out this mission, but it is also for us to mentaly prepare ourselves for the incoming storm. All of us were shock when we got the announcement, some even suffers panic attack. We knew the situation was bad, but this? Holy shit."
"In that one week, we hastily prepare everything for this mission. All of the planes were checked, repaired, and fueled for the mission. Each planes we have would be used for different purpouse like they're orginally designed. Most of the planes like the airliner and the V-22 were to be use to evacuate civillians and brougth them to safety in Saunders. The Cargo planes meanwhile, like the C-130 and the C-5 were task with evacuating military asset to help with the war effort."
"While most were task with evacuation, there are a few that were task with combat mission. Saunders Airlift Division owned three B-29 Superfortress bombers. These bombers were originally purchase by Saunders to help them oversee Senshado match from the air. However, when the Air Force took over, they converted those B-29's back to its original purpose, to rain death and destruction from above. And unfortunately, those who will fly them into combat were its original crew from Saunders, barely graduated high school. There were arguments that it should have been an actually experience combat pilot who fly those death machine. But the Air Force argued back that the rest of the Airlift Division are flying their own mission themself. So if the rest us had to take part, then so were they. The final argument that shut down any future debate is that they need the B-29 to help slow down the undead, and so far, Saunders student is the only one who knew how to fly them in all of Japan. After that, most resigned their fate and accept their mission to bomb their own country to hell."
"Thankfully for me though, i didn't have to carry the burden of knowing that i just kill innocent lives in the hope 'slowing them down'. Though, it doesn't mean it didn't caused me nightmare."
"The first mission i flew at had the objective of evacuating valuable military vehicle. Me and my crew were task of landing our C-5 at Iruma airbase at the west side of Tokyo, in order to retrieve multiple CH-47 Chinook helicopter and other military asset and fly it back to Saunders. The JSDF wanted to retrieve these helicopters as they determined they could help with the war effort in the long run."
"The plan was simple, really. We just fly to the airbase, land there, loaded up the Chinooks, take off, and return to Saunders safe and sound. Because we're the only C-5 assign to that airbase, we would make a return trip to the airbase four or five more time to extract the remaining equipment and amunition from nearby base as well. Compare to what my comrades had to go through, my mission was fairly easy. Hell, when it came to actually loading up the cargo into the C-5, all that i and Naomi, my co-pilot had to do is to just sit in the cockpit, while the loadmasters and the ground crew did most of the job. In case things went south, we had a platoon of Infantry tagging along as our escort. When i describe it like that, it almost sound boring, doesn't it? But trust me, it was anything but. When it all went down, i really wish our mission was as boring as it was described."
"The moment we enter Tokyo airspace was when i got the first sign that things might not gone according to plan. To say that the city was in chaos would be an understatement. There's multiple collum of black smokes rising in some parts of the city. We could see the muzzle flash of gunfire from the air, coming from the soldiers on the ground who's trying their best to slow down the incoming horde. We see the crowd of panicking civillian pushing and trampling over each other to get to the evacuation point. Then, a few minutes later, a pair of F-15s drop their bombs on a large horde on the streets of Ginza, then followed by multiple fire balls erupting, destroying everything around it."
"I already knew that stuff like this is happening. But seeing it firsthand was... I don't even know how to describe it."
"When we touch down at Iruma airbase, at first, things went according to plan. We open the cargo bay, the ground crew and the loadmasters load the Chinook in, we close the cargo bay, and fly back to Saunders without any problem. When we return to Iruma airbase for our second round up trip, this time, we load up four Type 16 tank destroyer, and things still gone on smoothly. Same goes for our third trip when we load some artillery pieces."
"But when we got back for the fourth trip is the moment when i knew that this 'simple mission' will definately go wrong. We were under the assumption that because the airbase were not use as an evacuation point, there will be no civilians nearby. We were wrong. Apperently, words had got out that Iruma airbase were use to evacuate military asset and many desperate civillians swarmed the airbase. The matter of fact is, there were thousands of people waiting outside of the airbase's wall. Riot police and local soldiers barely holding them back from breaching the front gate and jumping over the walls entirely. The people had thought that because this is an airbase, than the military is using it for evacuation."
"The people outside the base wall were shouting obscenities at the guards, screaming enrage, both out of anger and fear, demanding to be let in. They were carrying all sorts of things. Many carried luggage and backpack to carry their belonging, some were with their child, desperate to get them to safety. Others didn't carry anything except the clothes on their back."
"Cops in full riot gear stand behind the gates, standing right against it with their shields facing the crowd. Behind them were the local soldiers from the base, holding their assault rifle to intimidated the crowd to back off, and right in the middle of it all was who i assumed the guy in charge of the base. He was talking to the crowd through a loud speaker, telling them that this is not an evacuation zone and to disperse immidietly, he even named the nearest real evacuation zone for them to go to. When crowd was having none of it, he order his soldiers to fire warning shots to the air, but when that didn't work, he threathen to shoot at the crowd if they give him no choice."
"But the threat was nothing more than a bluff. Soldiers, no matter how trained they are, would not even dare to shoot at the people they were suppose to protect, and i think he also felt the same way, because he never gave his troops the order to fire directly at the crowd, even when the dire situation calls for it."
"Then, it came to the part where we suppose to began loading our cargo inside the C-5. That's when all hell break loose. When the crowd saw the C-5 cargo bay being open, they assumed it was for them. At this, the people began to rage. Instead of just demanding, they began to forcefully try to open the front gate. They try kicking it, hitting it with their own body, throwing rocks at the troops on the other side, anything to make the gate open, but it wouldn't budge."
"To make matters worse, a pair of F-15s flew over us and drop their bombs on a zombie horde just one kilometers away. That turned the crowd crazy, and many of them began trying to climb up the wall surrounding the base. They use shirts, pants, and tarps to cover the barb wires on top so they can climb over safely. The cops, the base soldiers, and our infantry escort try to 'arrest' those who climb over the walls. But they were so many of them that some manage to breakthrough and made their way inside the C-5."
"After that, with most of the guards distracted by the climbers, the crowd is able to breach the front gate. They flooded through the gate like running water, trampling the guards and each others, desperate to reach salvation. They all sprint across with their life depending on it and piles onto the cargo bay, pushing each other to get inside the aircraft. Since our escort are busy outside, the panic mob pile onto the cabin uncontrolably. They were loud, unruly, it was an absoloute pandemonium there. I'm not proud to say this, but we were to terrified to do anything except to lock the cockpit door from the inside to prevent any of them from entering. After that, me, Naomi, and our crew just huddled in there, to scared to move."
She let out a loud sigh.
"Before the great panic, i always making fun of the JSDF for their lack of battle experience. i remember calling them free loaders in a sense that since Japan had no war to fight, they're basically just a bunch of kids in adult bodies playing soldiers. Sometimes, me and my friend would joke that if Japan ever gets invaded, we would be the one that will be fighting on the frontline because of our experience in tank warfare, thanks to senshado, while the actual soldiers would be sitting idly far behind friendly lines because they didn't understand how war works."
"Looking back now, even then, in senshado match, i wasn't as good as i used to think i was. I was competent enough to stay compose when we got into a firefight against enemy team. But when things goes slightly wrong, i get irritated easily and blame everyone for it except for myself. I don't understand how my crews put up with my behavior. Then, the great panic starts, and shit hits the fan, all i did was sitting frozen inside the cockpit of the C-5, while the men and women i used to made fun of are risking their life out there to see this mission through."
"Then suddenly, something happened that pull me out of my trance. The panicking mob stop going for the C-5 and redirect their path towards one of the hangars. The stream of panicking people at the front of the cargo bay had stop. At first i look outside, confused. Then, from the cockpit window, i could see, far into the distance at the front of one of the far hangar was one of the soldier that was from our escort was standing there, holding a megaphone while waving his hand in the air. Whatever he says somehow manage to distract the mobs attention from the C-5."
"I can't really hear what he's saying, but judging from the situation, he had most likely lied to them that there's another aircraft inside the hangar, ready for take off. That explain why everyone suddenly abandoning the C-5 when it's already full, instead of forcing their way into it."
"Then, the radio start to crackle. I picked it up and from the other side of the was the voice of the platoon leader of our escort. Regretabbly, i've forgotten what his name is, all i remember that he was a 2nd Lieutenant. From the other side of the radio, he was giving me one simple order. Takeoff immidietly."
"At first i ask him what about the mission. He only answered that it was already compremised from the start, and that my current objective was to carry the civillian to safety. After that i was silent for a while, taking in his words. After a few seconds of silence, Naomi chimed in, asking 'what about you guys?' And his answer was 'We'll find a way. Just get the hell out of here!' And with that, he cut off communication with us. After that, our fight or flight instinct kick in. Me and Naomi shared a look, nodding at each, sliently agreeing what we about to do next."
"I closed the cargo bay from the cockpit, once it was fully closed, me and Naomi taxied the C-5 onto the tarmac, and with our mission ending up in a disaster, we took off from Iruma airbase and headed straight for Saunders, leaving our mission and our escort behind to deal with the undead and the angry mob that will calls for their heads once they figure out that they were lying. And on their place, were thousands of scared refugees who's desperate for safety from the undead"
"The brass were not happy at how the mission turned out, but they were understanding of our situation and didn't reprimand us for our failure."
"After that, we only fly one other mission during the evacuation. After that, we didn't fly a single mission for atleast four years. During those times, me and my crew do our best from to keep our C-5 from getting mothballed like most of the air force due to the lacked of spare parts. It was hard to keep that thing running but we somehow make it work, and thankfully the air force refrain from retiring that aircraft, as they deemed it still useful for future mission, despite what the politician says. And they were right, the C-5 were needed."
"It was June of 2016 when we got to fly again. And it was a hell of a story on its own."