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The helicopter landed on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Kestrel, and all of us got out. Captain Anderson strode out
onto the deck to meet us, and I saluted. He returned the salute, and the six of us went into CVIC.
“Captain,” I said. “If I may speak freely, what’s going on here?”
“I’ve got an intelligence gathering vessel in my battle group. The Andromeda, it’s capable of intercepting
all forms of communication. Recently, it picked up a secret message transmitted in Belkan. That, Captain, is why I called
all of you here.”
“We where engaged by Belkans before we got here.” I said, and told my story of the 8492nd squadron attacking us.
The senior Intelligence Officer, (whose nickname was for some reason, Lab Rat.) debriefed us on the make of the Belkan planes,
and after that, we all went to the Mess Hall.
As I was eating, a voice behind me said: “Jared, is that you?”
Jared is my real name. I recognized the voice immediately, and choked. Literally. I shoot up signalled what was wrong, and
a corpsman started the Heimlich manoeuvre on me. It was Julie Karnes, my Ex-girlfriend.
After I got over the coughing, I said to her: “what are you doing here?”
“I’m a navel flight officer, remember? And I take it, you forgot to read the flight schedule.”
She was right. I didn’t check it. I knew who would be flying. Me, Edge, Swordsman, and Grimm.
“I don’t NEED to check the flight schedule. I know who’s gonna be flying.”
“You obviously don’t know a thing about carrier aircraft. I’m your Radar Intercept Officer.” she countered.
“You don’t like it? You’re off the schedule.”
“all right, if there aren’t any objections, then I’ll take command of this Air Operation.” Pops said
in the Carrier’s Briefing Room.
“We're launching a rescue operation for the President of Osea within the Principality of Belka. The communications intelligence
ship Andromeda received information that President Harling is being held in Belka. The location is an old castle, position
on the southern edge of the borders on between Belka and North Osea. Sea Goblin, our helicopter squadron, will handle the
direct rescue effort. After securing the area, the helicopter will descend on the castle and drop our infiltrating rescue
squad. It will station keep in the air while the rescue is taking place on the ground and in the castle. Your mission is to
provide air support for the Sea Goblin's rescue operation and destroy any opposing enemy forces. Choose an aircraft for the
mission from the Kestrel's carrier jets and prepare to launch.”
I got into my new aircraft, An F-14A “Tomcat” and prepared for the CAT launch, listening to the radio chatter.
“Raising pressure. 70, 80, 90 Point 15, 48, 32, confirm. Roger.”
“We're good to go, Sir! Ready to launch anytime!”
I saw Swordsman take off a few seconds later.
“Fighters launched! Flight deck to all flight crews, hurry up! We’ve got more coming!”
“This is the flight deck, roger that, sir!”
“Takeoff complete. Next craft begin takeoff procedure.”
The F-14 slid into the catapult launch position, and the steam pressure began to rise.
“Catapult one raising pressure. 80, 90...we're in the green zone.”
“Check catapults! Raise the Barriers!”
the Jet Blast deflectors came up, and I got the order to launch. I rammed the throttles to full military power, and felt the
Tomcat go from zero to just above stall speed in two seconds, and 40 feet.
I grunted under the build-up of G-Forces, and all I heard from the backseat was an exaggerated yawn.
“Uhh… Tomcat two double nuts, good shot.” I said, slightly confused at carrier aviation.
As the three- FOUR of us arrived over the target area, I felt cold. Then, suddenly, something flashed into my mind. Almost
as if I was dreaming.
“So PJ, how many girlfriends have you had? Is she your first?”
“I had a girlfriend in High School!”
“Galm Team, Crow Team, head for Waldrach to take out any remnant forces the Belkans could have positioned out there.”
The ‘vision’ I guess continued for a fair amount of time. I ‘saw’ the seven nuclear detonations, as
well as some kind of flying fortress/Aircraft Carrier. An ADFX-01 “Morgan” and an F-16 “Fighting Falcon”
take down a Rafale and J 35 ‘Draken’.
“Hey, Blaze, you awake up there?” Julie asked.
I snapped back to reality, and said: “yeah… yeah, I’m here. Just have a weird feeling.”
“Tell me about it.”
The four of us destroyed the Anti-aircraft defences surrounding the castle, and I kept destroying gunboats that kept coming
out of the dockyard.
The helicopter landed shortly afterwards, and then, as they say, all hell broke lose. Tanks, Zu-23s, and SA-6 SAM sites stated
coming out of the woodwork. Soon after that, Nagase said: “I've got multiple hits on my radar. Enemy aircraft inbound.”
“Fighter jets?” Pops asked. “Don't tell me they've got their own fighter jets, too.”
“That’s affirmative.” She said. “They’re defiantly fighters.”
“Guess they used the money from Osea and Yuktobania to supply their own forces. Just protect that helicopter.”
Pops responded.
“Hey, fighter jets? Where were they hiding those?”
“We don’t stand a chance against them! Hey, it’s time for you guys to step in!” the pilot of Sea Goblin
said.
Eventually, the SEAL team that was deployed from the helicopter managed to get the President out of his cell, but they hit
a snag.
“We can't blow this wall with the explosives we brought with us!”
“This is Sea Goblin. We've run into enemy fire from multiple positions in the castle.” The team leader said. “We're
pinned down over here. Break down part of the wall for us!”
“Where's the President?” Nagase asked.
“He’s right hear beside Me.” the SEAL commander responded.
I heard a collective sigh of relief from all of us, then Pops said: “We're going to destroy the wall and get the infiltration
team out of there. Got it? The area to be destroyed is displayed on your HUD. Aim carefully.”
The target was illuminated, and I fired off a volley of missiles.
“Whoa! That almost fell on top of me!”
“We can get out through that hole. Run!”
“Surround the President! Don’t let him get hit!”
“Sea Goblin, we'll take on the enemy planes.” Nagase said.
“We’re defenceless in the air! We’re counting on you!”
Then I heard a familiar voice over the radio.
“Is that you? The lady with the pretty voice? Are you there too?”
The rescue helo then started making its way back to the Kestrel.
“What the? The sky’s swarming with enemy planes!”
I took a look at the radar, and it really WAS swarming. And what I saw was just the non-stealth fighters.
“Blaze!” Julie yelled from the backseat. “Enemy plane on our six! Break!” I broke away from the enemy
plane, and started launching my Phoenix missiles. Julie was no longer my Ex, but a voice that seemed to be coming from my
own head as much as through the earphones.
Eventually, after a particularly long air battle, and a lot of worry, I heard: “We managed to make it out of there.
Mission accomplished!”
“Thank you, everyone. I appreciate your efforts.” The President said. “By the way, your voice sounds familiar.
Are you that pilot that helped my land that cargo transport?”
“Roger that, sir! It’s good to hear from you again!” I said.
“I thought so. Looks like I owe you another one.”
if there’s one thing I hate about Carriers it’s this: Night Carrier landings. During the Belkan war, some doctors
ran a few tests and they found one thing that always managed to spike stress levels off the charts. Night Carrier Landings.
The Kestrel was fully prepared for the occasion with lights strung all the way down her flight deck, and up the island. This
was used to create a wire box image almost like something you’d see on a computer game. Without it, a pilot could suffer
a particularly terrifying sensation: that the flight deck was rising up in a solid vertical wall.
“Tomcat Two-Oh-Oh,” the LSO (Landings Signals Officer) said. “Deck coming up. Call the Ball.”
“Tomcat Two-Oh-Oh,” I said. “Ball, 3.8” that let him know that I could see the optical landing device,
(for some reason, called a meatball, or just ball.) and that I had 38 hundred pounds of fuel left.
I came in, closer… closer… NO! the Meatball went red, telling me that I screwed up! I slammed the throttles to
full, skimming the flight deck, not touching an arrester wire.
I went around for another pass. Again, getting closer… closer… DAMMIT! The meatball went red again! I went to
full throttle again, not even touching the flight deck this time.
“Hey Blaze,” Julie said in the backseat. “This isn’t looking to good.”
“You wanna get out and walk!?” I snapped. “I could do without the backseat driving!”
Oh, don’t let me screw it up. Not again. I thought.
I got closer… closer… closer… yes! The meatball was staying green! The deck landing was jarring, and I almost
bit my tongue.
I had little time to be happy though. I rushed up to the Bridge, and saw Captain Anderson, pops and President Harling chatting.
Not about the Belkans, Yuktobanias, or anything in the war, but just… chatting. He saw us, and saluted. We returned
the salute, and he told us that he wanted us to be his personal squadron.
Our planes where completely re-painted –jet black, with a red tail- and we also got a new insignia.
The emblem of Razgriz.
next chapter
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