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Sarah ‘Tomboy’ Nakano
Otherworld Universe
Stonehaven, Bear Valley
1821 Hours local
When we got back to the Otherworld Universe, I continued my training with Elena. Some of the things she taught me seemed a
bit weird at first, but I quickly got used to them. A few times when I was learning how to do the Partial Change, I almost
got stuck in-between forms because I let it go on for too long. I got myself out of that mess by just calming down and concentrating.
Elena had told me that I was REALLY lucky. Most werewolves when they get stuck, can’t Change back, or continue. I didn’t
want to ask for examples of what she had seen, so I simply left it at that.
As I was nearly finished my training, a young girl came to Stonehaven. She seemed to know everybody in the Pack, except for
Bird Dog and me, and she also wasn’t another werewolf. I was getting this scenting thing down pretty well, but this
just confused me. Who was she?
I asked Elena and she said that the girl’s name was ‘Savannah.’ Apparently, she was a witch, albeit a young
but powerful one. When I asked her about why she was here, she said: “some nutjob’s killing supernatural children,
especially those that seem to have a link with the Cabals. Paige and Lucas thought it would be best if Savannah stayed here
until this thing blew over.”
“Why here?” I asked. “There must be other places she can hold up. Moscow, possibly?”
Elena laughed and shook her head. “Aside from you, me and Bird Dog, no Supernaturals have ever been NEAR Moscow. It
may be the most secure city in the world, but it’s still dangerous. Besides, if Savannah went there, then Paige and
Lucas would have to go too. They need to stay and figure out who—or what—is behind this.
“Paige knows the Pack, but only a few other Supernaturals know about us. That comes from living away from the supernatural
community.”
I nodded, and then left to get something to eat. That was one thing about being a werewolf that I thought I’d never
get used to: my appetite. I shook my head, and continued into the kitchen. I was intercepted about half-way by Savannah, who
proceeded to follow me.
“Hey,” she said. “I thought Elena was the only female werewolf in the world, so what race are you, and what
are you doing here?”
“I’m a werewolf too; it’s just that I’m new.”
She looked at me, as though wanting some proof, so I gave it to her. I Changed my right hand into a paw, and said: “how’s
this?”
She stared at my paw/hand and I Changed it back to normal again. She kept following me, and started asking a few questions.
How I became a werewolf, what my job was, things like that. When I said I was in the Air Force, she started asking things
movies like ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Stealth’ were like the real thing. Well, I almost laughed hysterically
at that.
Those two movies were a COMPLETE fabrication of the true Air Force. (technically, Navy) often times, pilots like me would
go in to see those kinds of films as comedies, they were that badly done. It’s not that the action bits are made up,
those are more or less real, but it’s the other things that make those movies so damned funny. Now, without going into
all the technical details, let’s just say that those movies to a fighter pilot are simply NOT real.
After I managed to get a hold of myself, I took Savannah through a typical day in my line of work. Once I was finished, she
said something about false advertising, while I made a few sandwiches for myself.
Once I was finished with my training, the Pack went to help out Paige and Lucas, while Bird Dog and I went back to Moscow.
Almost as soon as we got back, we were immediately called to meet with the Supreme Commander. I felt the blood drain from
my face. What did we do wrong? Well, whatever it was, it was BIG. The Supreme Commander doesn’t just call you up to
his office to have a little chat. If he chats with ANYONE, it’s to his superior: Premier Alexander Romanov.
We walked to his office, and we were let in by the Commander’s personal Aide. He looked up from his paperwork, and offered
us a seat, and a cigar. Cuban, from the looks of it. Neither Bird Dog nor I smoked, so we politely declined, and sat down.
“So,” he began his voice cold. “where have the two of you been for the past few weeks?”
“Commander, if I may,” Bird Dog said. “After I bit Sarah, she was taken--.”
“Yes, yes, I know that.” He snapped. “But that’s not what I asked. I asked where the two of you went
for the past few weeks.”
We both explained where we went and what had when we were finished, the Commander leaned back in his leather-backed chair
and said: “very well, I’ll look into this other Pack immediately. In the meantime, the two of you are to report
to the Replacement Air Group. Once you finish up there, you will go back on active combat status with compensation for the
days you missed. For you, Captain Roy, I’ll put you as being away for ‘psychological reasons’, and you,
Lieutenant Commander, I’ll have you being away for medical and psychological reasons. Is that clear?”
We both nodded, and he shooed us from his office.
As we re-learned how to dogfight, two new aviators came into the Schnee Squadron. There callsigns where ‘She-Wolf’
and ‘Coyote’. Don’t ask me who came up with either of them, I don’t know.
Eventually, I saw the two newbies in the hallway while I was on the way to the Mess Hall. It was Clay and Elena, and they
where both wearing flight suits like me, but instead of the Yellow Squadron insignia, they had the Schnee Squadron Emblem.
I intercepted them, and asked: “Hey Clayton, Elena, what are you two doing here?”
Clay was silent, Elena said: “I wanted to join the Air Force, but Clay refused to let me go alone. He didn’t want
to actually do any flying, so he’s just going to be my backseater.”
I cocked my head. “You wanted to join? You sure Jeremy didn’t ORDER you to do it so that me or Bird Dog wouldn’t
make a mistake and bite someone else?”
She nodded. “Yeah… although, it’s not that the Pack doesn’t trust you, we do, and it’s just
you can’t be too careful. We’ll just be there to watch your back and make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”
I groaned. I already had enough people breathing down my back without the Pack doing so too. I had the AWACS, the Squadron
CO, Air Force General Malcolm Granger, the Erusian High Command, the ISAF High Command, and the Supreme Commander all keeping
a close watch on my Squadron. Well… that couldn’t be helped. I suppose I could gripe to my superiors, but that
was about the best I could do.
Well, that’s military life you. You HAVE to follow orders, but that doesn’t mean you can’t COMPLAIN about
them.
Captain ‘Bird Dog’ Roy
Vladimir Air Force Base
1235 Hours Local
the next day, Sarah told me about who the new pilots were, and why they were here. I sighed, but there was nothing I could
do, except of course gripe to the Squadron CO, but there was no time for that right then. We were going on our first mission
in a long time. The mission: attack and destroy any ‘enemy’ aircraft that enters our airspace. We’d be going
against a few pilots who I knew personally. Mostly the Mercenary-Style Ace Squadrons (consisting of Rot and Swarche.) but
we’d also be facing off against Mobius 1. before we took off, I called the dibs to be the one to attack him. I waited
for this moment ever since I heard about him in the Continental War, but I didn’t get a chance to actually FACE him.
Due to some bad luck, I wound up going against the Supreme Commander and defected to ISAF, and after that, I went against
other former members of Yellow Squadron that were defending Megalith, a massive missile launch facility, that Mobius 1 had
destroyed single-handedly.
I knew Mobius 1 was good, and I knew that, if anything, I had become a better pilot after the bite, so I had a feeling that
I’d win if we ever fought.
We all got into our respective planes and took off for the Ural Mountains, the place where we’d have our little mission.
Me and Sarah were flying our usual Su-37 ‘Terminators’, while Elena and Clay where flying one F-14 ‘Tomcat’.
I smiled to myself behind my oxygen mask at the heap that the two of them were flying. The F-14 might have been good back
in its day, but that day was years ago. now, it was an outdated but still deadly plane, even though it was soon going to be
replaced by the more powerful F/A-18E ‘Super Hornets’ and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Although, some pilots
still flew that plane, mostly because of its power and reputation I guess. the squadrons that flew it were the Schnee Squadron,
and the Razgriz Squadron lead by the legendary pilot Blaze.
Anyways, once we got over the target area, we waited until I could hear the AWACS. It seemed that for this mission, we had
been paired up with the motermouth Sky Eye. Oh joy… this was going to be fun. Almost everyone in the base hated the
fact that he almost never shut up.
“All aircraft, you have entered the target area. Stand by to engage and destroy any enemy aircraft. Reinforcements are
unavailable, and we cannot authorize a retreat. Intercept them!”
see what I mean? He doesn’t shut up. Anyways, I took a look on my radar, and saw four solid enemy radar contacts, and
one that faded in and out.
“Yellow 13, to Schnee 6,” I said, referring to Elena and Clay. “Clay, do you see that? Looks like Mobius
1’s here. that contact that keeps disappearing on you? That’s a stealth contact.”
“Got it,” he said. “So what do we do?”
“Attack the solid contacts, I’ll handle Mobius. You won’t last a chance against him, Elena. Trust me.”
I replied.
Elena reluctantly accepted, and turned to engage the four members of Rot Squadron. Sarah went in to engage first, being the
more experienced pilot, and she shot down one member with her first pass.
I pulled my attention away from her, and went to engage one of the greatest aces of all time: Mobius 1. I saw his plane a
few seconds later: a sleek blue-grey F-22A ‘Raptor’. I set the radio channel to the standard channel so I could
hear every piece of radio chatter there was to hear.
“Well, well, well, Yellow 13. looks like now we find out who’s number one!” he said.
“Roger that,” I replied. “Good luck, you’ll need it.”
and then we started to attack each other, knowing that we’d both make it back to base all right, but only one would
land in a plane. The other would be picked up by a rescue helicopter.
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