As Airwolf turned and headed back to it's launch site to rearm and refuel Sam said "What the hell did I just witness?" Allen simply said "Airwolf." Sam replied "I know that, but I could have sworn I saw a jet blow by twice and a helicopter finish off the attack." Allen explained "Exactly, and it was all Airwolf. Lets go to the briefing room and I'll show you the specs and brief you on the lady while they Refuel and Rearm her." Sam replied "Sounds good. What about the flight crew, a pilot that good flying as engineer means you are pulling out all the stops." Allen said "Have a seat, your gonna need it."
Once Sam had taken his seat Allen said "Alpha team will consist of myself and David Three feathers for now. David is our Alpha team flight engineer, he was the reason Airwolf was successfully able to integrate Direwolf's technology with it's more unique electronic systems. We are still looking for a co-pilot slash weapons officer that can dedicate their full time to it. Until we find one if we need to fill the position you will be our man. Bravo Team will consist of yourself as the co-pilot with my cousin Alex as the pilot." Sam interrupted Allen "He's in the Air Force if I remember correctly. I met him when I went to L.A. to visit Addie while she was practicing law there." Allen signed before telling Sam "Speaking of my sister, she is the Bravo Team flight engineer." "The same flight engineer that was flying that thing a few minutes ago? Are you insane!" Sam shouted, "You put her in command of that thing with live ammunition and me surrounded by targets. I'm amazed that she didn't decide to miss." Allen corrected Sam "Actually, I felt it was safer not to let her know." Allen replied "She has calmed down a bit, not much but a little. The good news is that when it comes to flying she is very professional." Sam shook his head and said "You are insane, she's gonna kill me." Allen said "Think of it as me encouraging you to leave your position with the NYPD and join the primary flight crew." Sam asked "When is she finding out about me being part of her team?" Allen told him "Not for a while I hope, as it stands she is about to make her way to Texas to visit our mom." Bravo team should never be required in it's full capacity so we might not have to tell her ever." Sam countered "Bull shit, we will have to train together." Allen said "I plan to make sure that doesn't happen until necessary. Besides your the one who got drunk and cheated on her." Sam said "Ok, that will work, and your right. Which is why I don't ever drink, especially since then."
After giving David a tour of the Lair and explaining how things worked, Addie got into her Jeep and left the lair on her way to Texas. As Addie drove out of the Lair, David lifted off and took Airwolf back to Red Star. AsAddie drove off she was making plans to explore the desert around the lair. In fact since she had plenty of fuel and water she decided to go off road and head east via a cross country route.
Allen then handed Sam a folder as he said "Now for the briefing. Airwolf is a Mach 1 plus attack helicopter with a unique rotor disengagement system that allows it to transition between sub sonic and super sonic flight modes. Airwolf has been pushed past Mach 2, however we try to keep her below Mach 1.5 to avoid potentially damaging Airwolf's air frame. One of its more unusual capabilities is it's active stealth system. We have been able to repair and update the system so Airwolf can suppress modern radar systems, but we have been unable to duplicate it. As its combat capabilities, Airwolf makes a stealth configured F-35 envious, and is a threat to even an F-22. The information in that folder will give you what you need to know before we let you get in to Airwolf." Sam asked "No flight simulator?" Allen said "Nope, there is one but it has not been updated to Airwolf's modern systems and while there is a Direwolf simulator, that thing will make things harder for you in Airwolf." Sam considered it and said "I guess I need to get started reading."
Nearly three hours later Sam and Allen were walking to Airwolf's hanger with David having just given Allen a report on Addie's performance. "Airwolf exhibited a rather unusual behavior, in fact it is completely unprecedented. It kept shifting in and out of native flight mode." Allen asked "It was helping her on the combat portion?" David replied "No, it only assisted her in regular flight. The only time she flew it like a normal chopper." Allen then asked "How did she score?" David replied "We will have to revise our testing methods if she improves any at all. Her score was triple nines." Sam asked "Out of what?" David smirked as he said "A thousand." Sam said "Damn, how well did Allen do?" David replied "Now that he knows Airwolf, he never misses." Allen added "My score and Addie's were both done with David flying as our engineer." Sam then said "Looks like I have my work cut out for me. I haven't flown combat in over five years." Allen said "Airwolf will help with that. She is unique, sometimes I think it is alive." David replied "It can be uncanny. We had unexplored ordinance on the range, no one knew and I was running a live fire course. Airwolf randomly engaged it's turbos and got us clear of the blast radius just in time." Sam asked "You were flying a live fire course in Airwolf, How did you score?" David told him "Nine ninety one. Addie was in the engineer's position for that one." Sam asked "So everybody scores in the ninety nine percentile range in it?" Allen said "Not at first. My first run was eight sixty three, Addie's was eight fifty, and Alex scored eight ninety." Sam asked "Alex scored better?" Allen laughed and said "Technically, but my first live fire exercise was combat against an upgraded version of Airwolf." Sam said "These folks don't play around do they?" David answered "We sure don't. Let's get you in Airwolf for your orientation flight."
After a quick overview of the flight controls and everything Allen turned the controls over to Sam. As he began to get the feel of Airwolf Sam visibly relaxed which was whe n Allen coached him into his first use of the Turbos. At that point Sam was convinced that Airwolf was a narcotic like Meth or Heroine that instantly addicted it's victims. Allen was about take over and make a run at the range when an emergency alert "Airwolf, this is Red Star control with emergency traffic, please respond on secure channel Bravo Tree Niner." After David switched the radio to the secure channel Allen replied "Red Star control, this is Airwolf. Go ahead." Nora replied "Airwolf, we are uploading the mission briefing to your onboard computer. The simple version is you need to head to New York City immediately. We have reason to believe that terrorists plan to use a stolen stealth research jet to attack the city. Mr. Hansen, you may need to use your position as liaison officer to coordinate activities. Mr. Hawke, our facility just outside the city are at your disposal. Good hunting."
Addie was about two hours into her journey when she stopped, checked her GPS receiver and made sure she was where she wanted to be on the map. Once that was done she drank a little water and got going again. Addie had been traveling for less than fifteen minutes when she came across an old man in another jeep. Addie pulled over to see if he had trouble, and learned he didn't. Wile they talked he constantly flirted with her in a rather low key manner while they talked. As she got back into her Jeep the Addie looked at the business card the man gave her. The card read 'Templeton Peck, A-Team Security and consultation.' Thinking about it, she made a mental note to check them out sometime. After another two hours she stopped again, and checked her progress and concluded that she was doing better than she thought and with her Jerry cans she had more than enough gas to make it to civilization. She was about to hydrate again when she heard a helicopter. Thinking quickly she hid her jeep keys under a rock before returning to her jeep. The sound of the prop grew closer until she could see a Jet Ranger converted into a gun ship approach. The alarming things about the chopper were the fact it was headed directly toward her and completely unmarked.
The pilot used the PA installed on the gunship to order her to turn around and raise her hands. Knowing she was out gunned, Addie complied. She listened as the Jet Ranger landed and didn't resist as two men quickly restrained and relieved her of her Bowie knife. A third man approached and demanded "What are you doing here?" Addie replied "Taking the scenic route, stopped to take a break and lost my keys. You want to help me find them? If you do I'll go in whatever direction you tell me." The apparent leader ordered his men "Have Simmons watch her, the rest of you search her vehicle. Tell me if you find her keys." As his men obeyed, he walked around the area. Simmons was the pilot and not someone Addie thought had very high moral standards based on the way he leered at her. Soon Addie was loaded into the helicopter with the men and the leader told her "Fortunately for you we can't find your keys either, it Looks like you are telling the truth. As a reward you get to live. Keep quiet and do what your told if you don't want to get hurt."
The destination of the crew that had just captured Addie was a compound built from an old ranch. There was three buildings and another gunship on the site. Addie noted that one building had bars on some of the windows and assumed that was where she was going to be sent. Once they landed Addie noted that Simmons took her Bowie knife and went to the larger of the three buildings, while two of the men escorted her to the building she had presumed would be her prison. Before opening the door to the make shift cell one of the guards aimed their type CQ rifle at the door and ordered "Stand at the back wall." He kept his rifle aimed at the door until he heard someone on the radio say "He's in position." The guard then opened the door and ordered Addie "Get in, now." Addie complied and the door was shut behind her.
"So who are you supposed to be?" A man, and the only other occupant in the room asked. Addie simply replied "Pissed off, who are you and what's going on?" The man said "I saw them bring you in. You a hostage or something?" Addie ignored him as she hunted around the room before finding where the three cameras were semi-concealed. As she took a closer look at one of them, the man told her "I wouldn't mess with them, these guys don't like being kept in the dark." Addie replied "Neither do I, and I assure you I am much more dangerous than anyone else in this camp. I'll ask one more time, who are you and what's going on here." The man said "You're trained, and trained well from how you are moving. It's not military training from what I can, at least not U.S. Military. I am willing to bet you are highly trained in martial arts from the way you walk. Who do you work for?" Addie glared at her cellmate and warned him "Think of me as a pissed off mountain lion, and I don't technically work for anybody. For the record this is your last chance to answer my question before I vent some of my frustration on you." The man simply said "I'm a federal agent, I can't tell you anything more than that because it's classified. If you have to have a name just call me Spartacus." Addie considered it and said "Call me Addie. That takes of the who part of my question, now about the rest of it. For the record my security clearance and I need to know that answer." Spartacus replied "All I can say is stolen government hardware, bad guys in possession, I found it, and now I need to recover or destroy it." Addie was about to demand some clarification when she heard another helicopter.
Authors Note: I have three separate story threads going here. 'Addie's thread' is the one that sets up the third story in the series. The 'company thread' sets up two Direwolf prototypes and the potential consequences of that. The 'Airwolf thread' sets up Sam to become the primary weapons officer/co-pilot rather than the same role on the backup crew. It also sets the stage for something else down the road.