Chapter 3

 THREE

“Strider One-One, Sky Catcher, Standby for new tasking”

Trigger had been on station for twenty minutes. Despite the standard monotony of regular combat air patrols around Selatapura, Today Trigger and Huxian had crossed Gunther Bay into Chopinburg.

The two F-15C’s had taken up a right wheel at twenty thousand feet and were listening to occasional Airborne Warning And Control Systems aircraft provide updates about the mission the two were supporting.

As had been explained to the two, an Osean special forces unit was conducting operations in the area and requested air overwatch. Being the closest unit, Strider had been dispatched while the more ground-attack oriented aircraft would be close behind.

Trigger keyed his mic “Strider One-One, go ahead”

“Strider One-One, Proceed direct point Colt, Objective requesting air cover at POPKE, contact Rider One-tree on Jaguar Four. How Copy?” The Female controller directed.

Trigger flipped through his kneeboard and found the Jaguar Four frequency, briefly taking a moment to punch it into the aircrafts control unit’s Standby mode.

“Strider One-One copies all, will contact Rider One-Three on Jaguar Four”

“Cleared off Strider One-One”

Trigger then punched in the coordinates of POPKE, a pre-briefed point on the main highway between Chopinburg and Hatties. The Eagles HSI course arrow directed him the heading to from his current position.

“Strider Four-One, Strider One-One, Aux” Trigger called on the radio

“Strider Four-One, Go ahead” Huxian responded

“Looks like we’re going to have some excitement after all. Possible Troops in Contact out at POPKE, Im direct there now” Trigger explained

“Shit, I’m at least six minutes behind you.” Huxian cursed,

“Don’t worry about it, if its any major issue I will be sure to call you to straighten it out. More than likely its just gonna be a ‘fuck you’ Fly-by” Trigger said chuckling.

Within two minutes Trigger was on station over the POPKE point.

“Rider One-Three, Strider One-One on station”

A surprisingly calm voice responded. “Strider One-One, Rider One-Three. We have a fast-moving vehicle, should be IFF’d as friendly and multiple ground vehicles in pursuit. Those shouldn’t be too much of a problem, however we do have a real pain in the ass MiL-24 that’s been dogging us all morning, finally has a scent.” The JTAC reported

“Copy, one F-15 with four by AIM-9, and Four Hundred rounds of 20 millimeter, along with another forty five before bingo as long as we don’t need to dance, understand you need a helicopter swatted out of the sky?” Trigger responded.

“That is affirmative, Ground vehicles won’t be an issue, just get that Hind if you would” Rider 13 responded.

Trigger modified his radar before he found the likely target, it was not IFF’d but did meet most of the criteria, Problem was Helicopters were a bane to fighter’s like his, especially the Hind.

“Rider One-Three, Strider One-One, Confirm the target?” Trigger said, relaying what his Radar was showing.

Once confirming the target, he maneuvered for the pass. The AIM-9Z’s had both the standard IR capabilities, as well as being able to be slaved to an aircrafts weapons computer to be a psudo-Semi-Active radar guided missile.

Trigger rolled in for the pass, at five miles away his weapons computer gave him a positive tone. Pressing the ‘pickle button’, the Eagle shuttered as he watched one of the missiles fly off towards the target

“Fox Two” Trigger said coolly as he pulled the fighter back towards his holding altitude.

“Strider One-One, Splash one” the JTAC reported.

“Strider One Copies all”.

Just then, the Eagles Radar Warning Receiver started throwing alarms.

Trigger immediately put the Jet into a defensive position, “Strider One-One spiked” he reported, straining due to the G forces. “Strider One-One Defensive!” he yelled, pulling the jet into a steep climb, punching off the excess fuel tanks to shed weight and dispensing flares and chaff.

“Strider Four-One on station” Huxian finally reported in.

Within seconds the RWR quieted down

“Strider One-One naked” Trigger reported, indicating he was no longer targeted. He switched over to the AWACS’ frequency

“Sky Catcher, Strider One-One, Request Picture” Trigger requested any threat information they had

“Strider One-One, Picture Clean” Skycatcher responded

“Strider one-one copies, be advised I was just spiked” Trigger said, slightly annoyed.

“Understood. Strider One-One, you are cleared RTB, Knight Squadron just checked in momentarily and is enroute”

“Strider One-One” Trigger said flatly.

He switched back over to the other frequencies on the radio, from what he could tell, their Ground support Aircraft, consisting of an F-14 Tomcat flown by the current base Group commander Eddie

“Twister” Valencia, and a F-18 Hornet another pilot Trigger only knew as ‘Mover’, had reported in and taken over the situation.

“Strider Four-One, Strider One-One, Cleared Wedge” Trigger said, moments later he could see in his mirror Huxian’s F-15 alongside and below his.

The two flew in silence for a time

“Hey Trigger, what was that?” Huxian asked concerned.

“Dunno, After I fired off on that Hind, I got locked onto. Guess its an item for the debrief”

“I see.” Huxian said quietly.

The two continued in silence for a few more minutes, occasionally receiving updates from the AWACS about airspace ahead of them.

“Strider Four-One, Strider One-One Interrogative” Huxian called, Trigger could hear a pseudo-serious tone in her overtly formal callout.

“Shoot”

“when are you going to tell me what really happened last week?”

Trigger shook his head. It had been a week since he and Cossette had slept together, despite rumors he knew they couldn’t get any solid evidence, and the story he was forced to tell was plausible enough that it mostly went away.

“Don’t know what to tell you. Guess those IPA’s sneak up on you” He responded flatly

“Just remember, Twelve from Bottle to Throttle” she responded slyly.

“Strider One Copies all”

***

Trigger opened his office door and fell into the chair letting out a long sigh. However ‘Office’ was a generous term, due to being a makeshift base, the OADF took over an old Airliner maintenance hangar, and with plywood and beams from a local hardware store, quickly erected a makeshift office farm for the handful of flight officers along one side of the hangar.

The missions debrief went about as well as expected, After reviewing the aircrafts tapes to confirm that it was not a figment of Triggers imagination, nor it being a glitch, Trigger then got to spend the next three hours explaining himself to the Wings Operations Officer, along with Aviation Safety Officer and eventually the Colonel himself on the subject of landing with only two hundred pounds of fuel left in the aircraft.

He felt fortunate, with his previous record, along with the confirmation that the aircraft was targeted by something, He was let off with no more than slaps on the wrist and stern words along with needing to write a memo on how fuel planning was important.

Not the worst he had faced this year.

It was still eating at him though regarding the mystery lock on, From what the RWR told him, it was an air to air radar that had targeted him, but AWACS Records showed the only Aircraft in the area was Trigger, the Hind and Huxian, who even if she was the culprit was still too far away for her weapons computer to lock onto Trigger.

While he highly doubted Huxian would be the one for fratricide, he knew mistakes occurred even in the high-tech environments of today.

He pulled open his Laptop and opened a terminal to the bases Intranet. While the main web access was still down, the OADF still had a network set up for basic administrative functions, one of which being aircraft capabilities and threat analysis of the region.

Trigger spent some time sorting through various documents, coming to a dead end on the Air threat assessment for Chopinburg, he switched to documents covering the Hind’s capabilities.

Glancing over the history of the aircraft he found yet another dead-end when it came to the armament, almost all exclusively air to ground weaponry, though the Erusean Air and Space Administration, EASA, had done tests to utilize the R-60 IR missile on the Hind, the outbreak of the Continental war, and eventual dissolution of the Federal Republic of Erusea, had halted any developments of the program.

A knock at the door of his office startled him out of his trance.

It was Twister

“Heard you came in on fumes today” he said.

“Yeah, got a reaming from the rest of the Chain of Command for it too” Trigger said sullenly.

“Cool, means I can skip over ripping you a new one for that” Twister said, taking a seat across from Triggers desk.

“Thanks” Trigger said “So how did the rest of the mission go?” he continued.

“Not too bad, pretty boring, we dropped some bombs on the perusing vehicles, and they were free and clear when they entered Hatties” Twister reported, taking his thick rimmed glasses off to polish the lenses.

Major ‘Twister’ Valencia was one of the many survivors of Operation Daredevil, after the mission was completed, most of the OADF’s remaining pilots who diverted to Selatapura International were folded into the Salamander Squadron, regardless of branch. Before the mission, he was assigned to the Vulture’s Air Wing, and still wore the patch of his previous squadron VF-34. After the operation, Valencia quickly found himself as the acting Group commander over Salamander, along with the LRSSG, due to being one of the few higher-ranking flight officers.

Satisfied with the clarity of the lenses, he returned them to his flight suits pocket.

“Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting not to use the B-Word around you Eagle pilots” Twister said jokingly.

Feigning a laugh, Trigger flipped him off. “Oh, you Tomcat guys, you get two movies gushing over your airplane and you all think your hot shit” Trigger shot back sarcastically

“Well its because we are” Twister retorted.

The two pilots took a moment to laugh at the ridiculousness of the argument. Composing himself, Trigger turned his attention back to the intelligence briefing.

“While I have you here, you ever go up against Hind’s before?” Trigger asked

“Can’t say I have, most countries never adopted them, and Erusea stopped flying them after the last war so we never went up against any in this one. Why?”

“Well, we faced one today, and while I was engaging it, I got locked up by something”

“That’s weird”

“Yeah, I know, ever hear of them using any active radar guided missiles?”

“No, I don’t even think they had radar, or at least nothing that could be used against a jet”

“Huh, that’s what I thought” Trigger sighed.

“You sure it wasn’t a SAM or MANPAD?”

“Positive, RWR showed an Air-to-Air radar lock.”

“And what did the AWACS show?”

“Nothing, Picture was clean aside from Huxian and Myself”

“Weird. Why does all the interesting shit happen to you?” Twister asked.

Trigger shrugged “Guess I’m just lucky. So what brings you here anyways?”

“Oh, Right, I wanted to see if you could trade Flying details with me, I got assigned to next Saturday and was really hoping to video chat my family that night, Any chance I can trade for your Friday?” Twister asked.

“Yeah, Sure, no problem. I mean, you are the Group Commander so you could have just switched it yourself, its not like the Mission would differ to much between my Eagle and your Tomcat” responded Trigger.

Twister got up and brushed the front of his flight suit off.

“Thanks man, and hey, since you got Friday evening off, maybe you can see that mystery chick you’ve been seeing!” Twister said making his way to the door.

“What do you mean mystery chick?” Trigger inquired

“You know how it is, Squadron Commander shows up late after a night out on the town, Mix it in with a bunch of Airmen who haven’t had leave in three weeks and rumors start to fly” Twister explained before leaving.

Trigger buried his head in his hands. While the Rumors would likely stay rumors, it was unfortunately close to the truth.

Well, all things being equal, it was a pretty fun night that I can remember

Trigger thought to himself.

Trigger spent another hour reading through intelligence reports in the region before he noticed the clock 2241

Powering down the PC, he locked up his files and made his way towards the exit of the Hangar.

Stepping outside he took a deep breath, Despite it being mid-December, the weather was largely the same as it was the first time he was in Selatapura. He took a moment studying the sky, hardly noticing the shuffling of feet beside him.

“Hey, you sure take a long time”

The voice startled him.

“Scrap Queen, what the fuck?!” he shouted startled.

Avril held her hands up and took a step back

“Woah there Trigger, its just a cripple, don’t need to worry yourself” she said sarcastically.

Trigger took a second to compose himself “What can I do for you Ma’am” Trigger said, allowing the annoyance to show in his voice.

“jeez, someones in a bad mood today, Just wanted to come by and get some information that’s all”

“What kind of information?”

“Oh, you know, State secrets and shit, capabilities of the new Gen five fighters. The usual spy stuff” Avril said, slowly walking around Trigger.

“You already know I should be calling the Security Forces on you” Trigger said visibly annoyed now.

“Yeah, you would do that too your old friend? Harsh. Well, What I’m actually here to find out is when your next day off is.” Avril admitted

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Well, Needless to say that, A, I know its not classified what I’m asking for-“Avril started

“But it is FOUO” Trigger interjected

“-And B, its of interest of a mutual friend” she finished.

Trigger sighed and rubbed his face. “You know I’m probably going to regret this later. Fine, I am off next Friday” he relented.

Avril pulled out her phone and quickly shot a text message off.

“See, was that so hard?” She chided.

Trigger stared at her and crossed his arms.

A moment later Avril’s phone buzzed and lit up.

Pulling out a notepad from her pocket, she jotted down some information and handed the piece of paper to Trigger

“Alright Captain, your new mission is to be at this location, casual clothes, at this time on Friday. Think you can do that?”

“Uhh” Trigger stammered. He was only vaguely aware of the streets around the Airport, but had no clue where the address Avril handed him led.

“Good boy, now if you will excuse me, I need to go home. Just make sure your there at the proper time Trigger”

“Ok?” Trigger said confused.

It took his eyes a moment to focus on the writing in the dark,

2341 Meridian Plaza

6PM, Casual clothes

“Shit” he muttered to himself.

Chapter 2

 TWO

Trigger noted three things when he awoke. The first of which the sneaking suspicion he had done something incredibly stupid last night, a feeling he was accustomed to since commissioning. Thing two being a foreign environment: the room wasn’t dingy, more than could be said of his dorm at Selatapura Air base. A pleasant aroma floated in the air, seemingly descending from the raised ceiling and resting on the silky bed sheets, softer than anything he felt before. It was about as far removed from what he had endured the previous six months, but much more welcoming than a cell at Zapland.

 

The third and most important thing Trigger noticed was that there was an arm draped over his chest. Looking over he found the owner, a young woman with blond hair snoring softly curled next to him. Her skin radiated a pleasurable warmth, but softer still was her face, partially obscured by some loose hair, yet parted enough to see a faint smile. He desperately tried to remember who exactly she was. He enjoyed the freedom of soaring the skies, and peeking under the sheets, Trigger discovered he was free of his clothing, as was his bedmate. While not the strangest conditions he had awoken to in the past, it was certainly different. He quickly surveyed the bedroom, finding it barren of his uniform.

 

The rustling must have awoken the young woman next to him, as she stirred ever so slightly. Trigger studied her oddly familiar face; something was awfully familiar about it, yet without context, he was lost. The word princess did strike out to him though, and much to his frustration he couldn’t think of why. His eyes locked onto hers, steely blue pearls peeking from behind silk soft hair. In a sleepy and slurred voice, she asked a question. Then it dawned on him, impacting his gut with the force of a freight train.

 

“Oh… shit” he said shooting straight up in the bed.

 

That got her attention “What? What’s wrong?” her voice was soft but with a noted sharpness to it, different from the drowsiness he had heard just seconds ago. Her eyes showed her concern as she put a hand softly on his shoulder.

 

He gulped for a moment then looked at her, “You’re the princess?!”

 

She giggled “Well, that is my title, yes.” He quickly looked forward, right at a mirrored wardrobe, reflecting their image.

 

With dread steadily building up, Trigger repeated his earlier worries. “Shit”

 

“Is that a problem? It’s not like I’m underaged” she asked incredulously.

 

“No, It’s not. Wait? How old are you again?”

 

Looking insulted, she replied rather crassly. “Nineteen. Don’t worry, I’m completely legal.”

 

“Ok, that aside, did we...?” Trigger motioned with his free hand to the bed. Her smirk told him everything “Well. Shit. I’m going to jail again.” He sighed in defeat.

 

“Oh?” she said, tilting her head.

 

“Well, you see, I don’t know how things are in Erusea, but in Osea we have laws and things about military officers having contact with foreign diplomats. I can only imagine the shit show that would befall both of us if they knew I just had sex with an Erusean diplomat, never mind it being the woman in charge of the country that was in active war with us eight weeks ago. Oh God, my history” he groaned, rubbing his face.

 

Amused with Trigger’s sorrows, she offered some kind words. “Well, if anyone asks I can have the hotel staff say you got drunk at the bar and slept in the lobby.”

 

“But I don’t drink” He replied.

 

“Well, there’s a first time for everything” she added cheerfully.

He squinted at her, her soft features making it difficult to actually be angry.

 

“yeah, not helping”

 

“Well, look at it this way, you’re going to be in trouble either way. You can go and confess your sins now, or you could spend right now with me and go later.” She twirled the linens around her delicate finger. Not really in the mood for an argument, Trigger sighed and let his head rest next to hers.

 

“Fair enough”

 

The two laid there In each other’s embrace. Trigger eventually spoke up.

“So, was I at least a gentleman?”

Cossette looked at him and smiled, giggling slightly at the question.

“Of course,”

“Well at least they can’t use that against me”

Trigger watched as the wind blew the curtains slightly. Off in the distance he could hear the roar of jets taking off from the Airport nearby.

“Hey Trigger?”

“What’s up?”

“I’m sorry you’re in this situation.”

Trigger continued laying there, trying to put the words together. He wasn’t upset or even worried. He wasn’t even sure he really cared. If nothing else, it was going to make a good story at the O-club when he returned to Osea.

“Its fine, Just –“Trigger was cut off

BANG BANG BANG the front door shook

“Cossette? You home?” A voice came from the other side

“Shit!” Cossette hissed.

“Cossette? Whats going on, you haven’t been picking up your cellphone” The voice continued.

BANG BANG BANG

“Just a Minute!” Cossette yelled back, looking at Trigger

“You have to hide!” she whispered desperately

“Yeah, No shit. Where?” Even though Trigger had been in countless dogfights, to include one where his weapons didn’t even work, he hadn’t felt this exposed before.

“Also, where are my pants?” he whispered, tossing around pillows and other items in a frenzy.

“Doesn’t matter, just get out of sight!” Cossette ordered.

“Where?” Trigger whispered in response

BANG BANG BANG

“Come on Cossette, what’s taking so long?” The voice interrogated

Cossette disappeared for a moment before returning covered in a towel.

“here! Now go hide in the bathroom!” She demanded, throwing Trigger a towel to cover himself with. As she rushed to greet the interloper Trigger ran into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

***

Cossette peered through the peep-hole of the door, on the other side Avril stood impatiently.

Before Avril could continue her assault on the door Cossette opened it to greet her.

“Avril! Come in, come in!” Cossette cheerfully greeted. The Princesses state of undress, only being in a towel making her vaguely modest, caught Avril off guard.

“Uhh, ok? What’s with the empress’s new cloths?” Avril enquired

“Just stepped out of the shower, give me a second to get dressed” Cossette lied.

“Yeah… Right…” Avril muttered as Cossette walked back into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Keeping herself amused Avril walked around the main living room of the penthouse. She noticed on the back of a chair was an Osean service coat.

Moments later Cossette returned, sporting her more recent look of long sleeve top and cutoff jeans, tying her hair in a bun. She briefly checked herself in a mirror, and feeling satisfied with the look, moved her attention to Avril, standing puzzled in front of the coat.

A slight twinge of panic washed over her when Avril looked up

“So? Did one of them leave it?” Avril asked.

Cossette froze before answering, rushing over to pick up the jacket. “Oh Yes, I think one of them did.”

“Hmm. Right.” Avril said in mock acceptance of the excuse, not letting on that she had also seen the balled-up shirt on the floor of Cossette’s bedroom when Cossette had returned.

“So, what can I do for you Avril?”

“Oh nothing, figured I would stop by. See if you were busy and all with running a country” there was a hint of her trademark sarcasm in her voice.

“So, who is he?” Avril asked, watching Cossette’s reaction in the mirror.

 

Cossette stammered a retort for a second “Well I-, Uh-“, the Princess was now visibly flustered, this made Avril crack up laughing.

“Cossette, your nineteen, pretty good looking and, Jesus you’re the leader of a country for crying out loud. I would be amazed if guys weren’t lining up to get in your pants. Look at me, When I was your age, all I did was hang out with war vets, drink and work on some relic during my free time and I still had some fun. So, I ask again, sister to sister. Who is he?” Avril elaborated.

Cossette’s embarrassment quickly turned to defensiveness. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There was no one here, and its rude to imply otherwise”

A wicked grin broke across Avril’s face.

“The Lady doth protest too much, methinks!” Avril shouted making her best way to the door behind Cossette, this catching Cossette by surprise tried in vain to keep Avril back.

“Avril- Stop! There’s no one here but you and I” Cossette pleaded in vain as Avril crashed into the door.

Cossette continued to plead as Avril started opening the closets and dresser in the room. Feeling satisfied with causing as much devastation as possible in the main room, Avril moved to the other rooms purposely avoiding the bathroom.

For minutes, against the protests of the Princess, Avril went through systematically opening and closing every nook and cranny that could possibly hide a person.

 

In mock sincerity Avril collapsed on the couch and held her hands up in defeat, sighing.

“Well, Cossette, I guess you were right. There isn’t anyone but you and I here”

“See, what did I tell you?” Cossette said tiredly.

Both women sat in the living room, catching their breath.

“You know what? I seem to have forgotten one last place!” Avril exclaimed making best speed towards the bathroom. Cossette tried in vain but was unable to beat her friend.

With one hand on the door Avril looked back at the somewhat terrified Cossette, bent over with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath, looking slightly more unkempt then when Avril saw her opening the door.

“Let me guess, is your bachelor behind this door?” Avril asked rhetorically. Swinging the door open Avril to her surprise came face to face with a familiar looking man of average build and handsome features, wearing only a towel, and shrieking.

“Trigger?”

***

Avril was pacing the living room laughing hysterically.

On the couch was a still toweled Trigger and almost beet red Cossette.

“You know Scrap Queen, it isn’t really that funny” Trigger said irritated.

“Oh, yes, it is” Avril wheezed out between fits of laughter.

“Trigger, you remember how pissed the brass was when you killed Harling? Just imagine what they’re gonna say when they find out you slept with the Princess of Erusea!” Avril exclaimed with a hint of sadistic joy.

“First off, I didn’t kill Harling, Second off-“ Trigger angrily shot back. Cossette watched, sitting clutching her legs close to her body watching the two Oseans.

Avril shrugged, regaining her composure. “Trigger, don’t worry. You two’s secret is safe with me. But I do hope you have a convincing cover story if anyone asks you where you were last night.”

Trigger could tell Avril was sincere but thinking about the cover story made him bury his head in his hands.

“Yeah, unfortunately the only one we came up with is that I got drunk and passed out in the lobby” He muttered.

“I didn’t know you drank” Avril said

“Yeah, I don’t.” Trigger moaned. He was frustrated with his lack of plan. While he was known for quick problem solving on the fly in combat, on the ground he was useless.

He was somewhat calmed by Cossette resting her head on his shoulder.

“Its okay, Im sure you can think of something.”

Trigger sighed.

“Say. What time is it anyways?” Trigger asked

“Eleven thirty, why?” Avril answered

Trigger groaned covering his face with his hands. “Well, if I wasn’t fucked already, Im certainly am now”

“well, if you can find your pants, I can at least give you a ride back to base. You might get off with just a warning” Avril offered.

***

Ten minutes later Trigger was dressed and walking out the front of the Hotel behind Avril. Cossette had stayed behind to bribe the staff and to make the story if any Oseans came asking around along with the understanding she would be in touch later with the Pilot.

Despite what looked to be a text-book trap, Trigger felt on cloud nine. It had been some time since he had been on a date, and from what he could tell with Cossette he felt like he hit it out of the park.

Trigger took a seat in the ageing sedan as Avril started making her way towards the Airport.

“So did you two kids have fun last night” she said, merging onto the highway.

“I really don’t care to talk about it”

“Oh come on Trigger, Not many people can say they did what you did, you know –“

“Im not one to kiss and tell, I don’t wanna talk about it” Trigger shot back, adjusting his tie in the visor mirror.

Avril shook her head slightly and turned on the cars radio.

For the next half hour they sat in silence listening to Erusean Pop music until they arrived at the makeshift bases front Gate.

The Sentry walked up to inspect the two’s Identification Cards. As the first sentry verified their cards, a second walked around the vehicle looking for explosives while a Third stood off to the side with a HK-416 at the low and ready.

Once everything was confirmed, the Sentry Saluted Trigger, and directed them to the building that was acting as an administrative Headquarters.

Driving through the Air Base, Trigger could see even more Personnel had arrived. Selatapura had become a staging area for the scattered Osean Forces following the recapture of the ISEV.

On the ramp Trigger could see the F-15s of Strider and Cyclops Squadron.

Trigger stepped out of the vehicle and thanked Avril for the ride, before walking up to the door of the Headquarters, It was unusual for him to have to come to the HQ since most of the accountability was done at the squadron’s operations building, but it had happened in the past when the Base’s Colonel needed him so he wasn’t too worried.

He was however caught off guard when he entered the dimly lit lobby and was greeted by two men in polo shirts, tactical pants and badges that read OADF OFFICE of SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS.

The OSI acted as the Osean Air Defense Forces law enforcement branch outside of the standard Security Forces. Agents routinely dealt with poorly acting airmen and in rare instances intelligence threats.

They had become the boogieman and Trigger had always been nervous dealing with them, even before he was in the Penal unit.

After Identifying themselves, they guided Trigger to an empty conference room and sat across from him.

“Good morning Captain, how are you doing today?” The first agent asked.

“Uh, fine I guess” Trigger Stammered

“Is everything alright?” the second agent asked.

“Well, Yeah I guess, not every day in a war zone the OSI wants to speak with you” Trigger quipped nervously.

The first agent smirked.

“Well don’t worry too much, you’re not under investigation as far as we can tell. We just came here to get some follow ups on a case we’ve been investigating. So far you and one other pilot here are the only potential leads we can find.” He explained.

With that, Trigger had been put at ease, as far as anyone outside knew, he was just returning from a binge on his day off, nothing illegal.

Trigger swallowed “So what can I answer for you?”

The second agent slid over a folder, Trigger briefly looked at its contents. Inside was a personnel file, a Major in the OADF whose name he didn’t recognize, the Photo of the individual looked familiar but he couldn’t place who the mystery officer could be.

“Before we continue, We understand you were assigned to the 444 Squadron, is that correct?” The second agent asked.

“Yes, I was assigned to the 444 Squadron for a few months.” Trigger answered.

“Mind telling us about your time in the unit? I should add that both Myself and Agent Baxter here have been read in on the Penal unit, so don’t worry about anything OPSEC” The first agent asked.

Trigger spent some time sharing his brief time with the Penal Unit, all the while both Agents listened intently taking notes, and only interrupting to ask for clarification. Finishing his story in Bulgurdarest, he waited for the Agents to speak.

“Thankyou for that Trigger. So the reason why we came here is to talk to you about your Air Battle Manager, I believe you referred to him as Bandog?” Agent Baxter explained.

“Yeah, That was the callsign we referred to our AWACS as, why?”

“Well, we cant share everything, but we have reason to believe that Bandog may be related to a series of intelligence leaks, and we believe that he was using the same channels that Zieja, Excuse me, Full Band, was using.” The first Agent, who Identified himself as Palmer explained.

“how do you figure?” Trigger asked

“Well, You see, We were on Full Bands track for some time, it was originally what had him sent to the 444 in the first place. When he died, so did his small network of intelligence leaks. However, a few months later, we started getting reports that his network was back up and running – someone else had taken the reigns. We spent some time and eventually narrowed it down to Bandog here. He seemed to have gotten the drop on us. His crew was supposed to have a stop at Fort Grays where we were going to apprehend him, but they instead made a diversion into Expo City due to the fallout of the Satellite network failure.” Baxter explained
“Last known position of him was leaving the base in Expo city, past that we haven’t been able to track him. Unfortunately, you and Captain Count are the only ones left we can find who served with him any length of time outside his AWACS crew.” Palmer finished.

Trigger sat for a moment.

“What about Colonel McKinsey?”

“Dead” Baxter stated flatly

Trigger snorted at that news. McKinsey was objectively the worst officer he had ever dealt with. He made a mental note to see what the cause was later.

“So, you really think he went rogue?” Trigger asked

“Hard telling. All we know is that the network Full Band ran has restarted itself, and someone that the Belkan Intelligence Service has been referring to as Der Gesichtslose Soldat is behind it” Baxter explained, struggling in the Belkan pronunciation. Trigger slightly cringed as the Agent stumbled his way through the word.

“Well unfortunately, I haven’t heard anything about him since I left, and Only met Bandog face to face a few times at the Penal base. Sorry” Trigger admitted.

The Agents nodded and stood up

“Well Thank you for your time anyways Captain. If you think of anything, please let us know.” Agent Baxter stated, before both men collecting their belonging and left Trigger alone in the room.

 

Trigger sat thinking in the chair for a moment before the Conference room door opened. He was greeted to see Count, who had traded his Formal Dress for his regular olive drab flight suit, carrying two bottles of water.

“So I see they grabbed you too” Count said offering a bottle to Trigger before taking a seat.

“Yeah” Trigger sighed

“I was gonna swear they were going to take me back to jail for a moment there” Count quipped, leaning back in the seat and resting his feet up on the table.

Trigger half heartedly laughed.

“So how did the Flight go this morning?” Trigger asked

“Eh, Same old. Same Old. Twister has us going up again tonight for Night patrol, but now its more or less a formality since we haven’t seen any other military hardware not Osean in like, a month now?” Count complained.

“So, Trigger, What happened after we left? Rumor is your just now getting in.” Count asked.

“Yeah, I had a bit too much to drink and slept it off in the lobby. My bad.”

“Oh well, in that case, let me get you another water” Count offered.

“Eh don’t worry about it.” Trigger said, dismissing the concern

“Funny, In all this time I never knew you drank.”

Chapter 1

 ONE

“So, What’s the threat matrix looking like?”

“What?”

“You know, what threats are we going to likely encounter at the AO”

“What are you talking about? Its literally just dinner”

“Its never that simple. Not for us” Trigger said slouching in the rear seat of the sedan.

as the car bounced along the freeway, Trigger sat fidgeting in his seat, Driving was his Wingman, Count, and in the shotgun seat beside him, reading a magazine was another pilot Huxian. Instead of their standard attire of flight suits and survival gear, the trio was adorned in ill-fitting Osean Air Defense Force service dress, For Trigger and Count at least, uniforms borrowed from other squadron members who had brought their uniforms, and Huxian, a Uniform she hadn’t worn since Flight School graduation a year and a half prior.

Trigger spoke up again

“Come on, you cant tell me your not nervous about how quiet it has been?”

“Dude, Its literally been over a month and a half since we had any real combat. Considering the crap we just went through? I’d consider that a blessing.” Count replied, changing lanes.

The Ex-con had a point, up until November, the members of the LRSSG were constantly on the move, never staying in one place for more than a few days at a time.  Their current location of Selatapura Airport, located on Gunther Bay, had been the longest any of them had been stationed in one spot during their deployment. In the rare instances Osean High Command had acknowledged their existence, the current orders were to ‘standfast’ and ‘await further instructions’. Every few days more of the scattered allied forces would arrive to the Airport, and with the continuation of civilian Air Travel, it made the Selatapura International Airport a quagmire of large civilian jets, and fast military fighters.

“Say, Trigger, who are we meeting again?” Huxian asked, not even looking up from her magazine.

“Princess Rosa Cossette D’Elies of Erusea” Trigger said, putting a hint of disdain in the pronunciation.

“Why the hell would the Princess want to meet us?” Count asked.

“Dunno. Probably cause we were the squadron that was responsible for killing those drones she was so worried about” Trigger said.

“Well to be fair, that was mostly you two, Jeager and I mostly sat on the side lines for that” Huxian said.

“Yeah, a real group of high-speed cheerleaders you two were” Trigger quipped.

“Speaking of Jeager, Where the hell is he?” Count asked annoyed.

“Well you see, our personal Jiminy Cricket had family issues to attend to back in Osea. So, the Colonel and I pulled a few strings to get him and Skald on a C-17 back home. Besides being down two planes already, and the lack of action, I didn’t need pilots sitting around.” Trigger explained.

“Ah, So he gets to miss all the boring crap that comes with ending a war then.” Count sighed.

“Yep”

***

Avril laid on the couch in the main room of the Penthouse.  Across the room, the open doors allowed a cool breeze to enter the room. Unlike what might have been expected, The Erusean’s had commandeered the Hotel far outside the downtown district of Selatapura for their Princess, citing a safety concern at higher-profile locations.

For all that however, Avril noted that the Princess didn’t seem to mind. While the accommodations were luxurious by the mechanics standards, Cossette had noted how ‘quaint’ the apartment was when she arrived weeks prior.

“So, Cossette, what are you up to tonight? Now that the Refugee camp is mostly established?” Avril shouted over her shoulder towards the kitchen where Cossette was busy.

a loud clattering of kitchenware could be heard before Cossette stepped into the main living room, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

“Im sorry, could you say that again, I was busy in the other room” Cossette explained.

“Yeah, I said what were your plans now that everything more or less is hands off?” Avril asked again, sitting up on the couch and folding the newspaper she was reading.

“Well” Cossette fell into a lounge chair across from Avril. While she didn’t show it outwardly, her voice betrayed the weariness that had developed over the past month and a half. Her country was still in the midst of a Civil war, albeit one the Oseans were now involved in on the side of the Conservatives that supported her monarchy. The weight of her country being on the brink politically, as well as the welfare of thousands of refugees was starting to wear on the nineteen-year old’s mind.

Cossette continued “I invited the Osean pilots over for dinner as a way of saying ‘thank-you for stopping my militaries bad idea involving drones from killing us all!’”, Avril was noting a uptick in the young woman’s cynical sarcasm since they had known each other. “Which reminds me, I need to change out of this” Cossette said, motioning to the T-shirt and jeans she was wearing. “My mother would kill me if she saw me trying to entertain guests dressed like this”, She said getting up and retreating to the far end of the room towards her suite.

“Hey, it looks good on you” Avril defended.

“Yes, It might work for you Oseans, but in Erusea, we have something called standards. It’s un-lady like to entertain guests in her home dressed like that.”  Cossette shouted from her room, a mocking proper accent, putting over-emphases on the inflection.

Avril rolled her eyes. “Whatever, I’m just saying you can pull that look off Cossette”

“So what time are they supposed to arrive anyways?” Avril asked.

“Around five thirty, why?” Cossette shouted.

“ok, Well its five fifteen now.”

“shit!” Cossette hissed,

“Calm down, what can I do to help you?”

“Well, I think the room is adequately tidied up. Tell me, how do I look?” Cossette said entering the room.

Avril took a moment staring at her friends’ outfit and shook her head.

“Did I tell you how much I hate you sometimes Cossette?” Avril chided

“Whats wrong?” Cossette asked worried

“Nothing, that’s what’s wrong. Do you even own a bad outfit?!” Avril said approvingly.

Avril made a motion for Cossette to turn around for her. Her friend had chosen a formal outfit consisting of a white knee length skirt and a white formal shirt. Finishing her spin Cossette made a curtsy to Avril who was grinning with the pride of a big sister.

“Well you are welcome to stay, I can have the staff bring you something, they already are bringing up a full course meal and I’m sure the pilots would love the company.” Cossette invited.

Avril shook her head chuckling. “Nah, as you said this is a formal event, and I’m about as far removed from formal right now. Besides, I need to get going anyways, with the civilian networks coming back, I need to see if I can’t get ahold of my family back in Osea. Its been more than a few months and I don’t know if they have heard anything about me yet.”

Cossette shook her head disapprovingly “You still haven’t done that. I told you that I could have set something up for you”

“Well what did you want, I was helping you”

Just then a sharp three knocks were at the door.

Both women’s attention shot to the door.

“Well, they are Military so it figures that they would be early. Let me get that” Avril said.

Avril moved and opened the door to see three uniformed officers of the Osean Air Defense Forces.
Each wearing the formal blue service dress uniform of the Air Force. She noted the ranks on all their shoulders. The two males, both of average height and build, one had short but stylized hair blond hair and a trimmed mustache while the other was clean shaven, had striking features and a sported a regular high and tight. Both men’s ranks were that of a Captain. The lone female of the group was an Asian woman with longer dark hair who wore the rank of Lieutenant and was also the only one wearing a uniform nameplate which read Húxiān. The three appeared to be in the middle of some heated discussion when Avril opened the door.

For a brief moment, the three officers stared at Avril.

“Scrap Queen, what a pleasant surprise!” the blond Officer finally spoke up, from his voice Avril recognized him as Count.

“Evening Ma’am; didn’t expect you here” Trigger commented. Though Avril had worked on Trigger’s plane for dozens of hours, She and Trigger had only met once while at the Penal unit, where in he delivered a particularly over-stressed F-15 that even she wondered if it could be salvaged, and then again on the aircraft carrier Admiral Anderson when she briefed Trigger on the condition of an F-22 Raptor he had taken to task against a pair of drones after his F-15C’s Landing gear collapsed during his carrier landing. Needless to say Trigger seemed well aware of the work he put Avril through any time he went on a mission.

“Trigger, you didn’t break any more planes did you?” Avril said smiling,

“No, We’ve been keeping him plenty busy on the ground Avril” Huxian spoke up, giving the mechanic a hug.

Rosa walked up and clasped her hands together
“Oh I see you all already know each other! Small world”

Instinctively, the three pilots straightened up. “Good evening your highness” Trigger said holding out his hand “Im Captain-“ Rosa laughed catching him off guard.

“Please Captain, Im not Military or anything so If its OK with you, we can do away with formalities. Im just someone trying to show some gratitude for a good deed you all did” She explained.

“Okay. Not what I expected” Count admitted, relaxing a bit.

the group laughed briefly before entering the apartment.

“Please do take a seat anywhere, make yourself comfortable, dinner should be arriving shortly” Cossette said gracefully.

Each of the pilots found somewhere semi comfortable to sit, Trigger sat down Infront of a vegetable tray and took a baby carrot to munch on. It seemed that some of their Air Battle Managers bad habits were starting to rub off on the pilot.

Avril shook her head slightly in disbelief “What are you all still doing here?” she asked again.

Trigger looked up at Avril a bit bewildered before Húxiān answered. “We were ordered to assist with security until the IUN can decide who has jurisdiction here” the last part made Cossette shift uncomfortably.

“So, How do you all know each other?” Cossette asked, motioning between Avril and the pilots sitting across from them.

Trigger sighed, briefly collecting his answer “well, ma’am, as much as I would love to share the story, as far as I know that’s still classified. You may get an answer out of Avril but we had a very long sit down with our superiors today on what we could and couldn’t talk about. I apologize” He explained.

“I see, Well I guess we also haven’t been properly Introduced, as you Probably know my name Rosa Cossette D’Elise, but please call me Cossette, and may I have your names?” Cossette said, trying to keep the awkward conversation flowing.

“Well, most folks call me ‘Trigger’, this man right here is my wingman ‘Count’ and that ray of sunshine -” he said pointing to Húxiān “- over there is Húxiān. I guess we do have to warn you she does bite though. I am sorry, unfortunately our fourth pilot Jeager couldn’t make it tonight” Trigger explained.

A smile broke across Cossette’s face

“Ah, Count and Trigger, Avril has told me so much about you two!”

“Well don’t believe everything she says about us – ow!” Count said in the midst of chewing on a piece of celery, Huxian noticing quickly, smacked him on the back of the head for his rudeness.

Avril shaking her head in disapproval, stood up “Count your still a dumbass I see. Cossette, I have to take off, See you tomorrow. You three try not to break any more airplanes” She stated before walking out of the penthouse.

“So… What can you tell me about yourselves?” Cossette asked.

***

Throughout the dinner the three pilots regaled self-censored stories about their flying adventures, and while Cossette was uncomfortable with the fact that in each story her countrymen were the targets she did not let it show for the sake of her guests. The four eventually find themselves lounging back in the living room of the penthouse, the open windows to the deck allow for them to see the view of the city and Lighthouse while allowing a warm land breeze to flow in.

It was finally Cossette’s turn to share her story’s. All the while this was happening she studied the three guests. One big thing she noted was that Húxiān and Count had since taken to sitting next to each other on the couch and Count had Húxiān’s hand in his resting on his knee. She also noticed that Trigger seemed uncomfortable anytime she approached him.

She waited for the laughter to subside from one of her more embarrassing accounts, of when she accidently flipped off her uncle, the King of Erusea at the time, as a young girl and his and her father’s Over the top exaggerated response.

She placed one hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle before she regained enough composure to talk again.

“So, you two, Are you an item or something?” She asked, motioning to Count and Húxiān. The mere mention of the question made Triggers eyes widen and shift and took both Count and Húxiān by surprise.

“I, well we, Uh” Húxiān stammered embarrassed.

“I guess we are just that obvious” Count admitted, still holding her hand.

“you think?” Trigger teased. 

The reaction of the three made Cossette giggle even further.

Count then explained

“Yeah after that mission under the Lighthouse where I almost bought the farm and ended up watching Trigger pull off that unrestricted climb Húxiān and I decided to finally start dating. Though since we are in the same squadron and all, and the fact I was just promoted to Captain we are a bit worried it might complicate things, so we try to keep it low key”

“Dude, I have about the situational awareness of a goldfish when it comes to these things and even I knew” Trigger added

“I think it’s cute, two combat hardened pilots, finding love in the middle of a warzone. It’s cute.” Cossette affirmed, making Húxiān blush slightly.

Count pulled his shirt sleeve back to reveal his watch, noting the time he stood up.

“Well Cossette, its been a wonderful time, but it’s getting fairly late and Húxiān and I have a sortie to fly tomorrow morning. Oh crap, shouldn’t have said that”

“Crap your right. Well, Princess, if you need anymore UAVs taken care of, you know who to call” Trigger grunted standing up.

As the three made it towards the door Cossette stood up. “Trigger if you don’t mind I had a few more questions I would like to ask you, can you stay just a bit longer?”

Trigger stopped and thought for a moment “how about you guys go ahead, I have tomorrow off anyways. I will just catch a cab back to the base later ok?”
“Got it, just remember the Colonel still wants us back for accountability at noon, so don’t stay out too late” Count reminded him.

“Of course, See you guys tomorrow” Trigger said shutting the door. “So, what do you want to know?”

“Well I was curious, you didn’t talk about yourself much if at all, just your flying”

Trigger shrugged a bit “Well its all I have really done my adult life. I’m pretty boring, sorry to disappoint.”

“Do you mind if I take the service coat off?” he then added.

 

“Of course, you may, it’s too warm for a wool uniform anyway. But you have to have some hobbies or something? You don’t have a girl back home?” Cossette inquired.

 

Folding up the service coat he rested it on a chair and then sat down on the couch adjacent.

“No Ma’am, in all honesty, never really good at such things. And its not like these past seven or so months has made it any easier.” He admitted

“Yeah, and sorry about the uniform, its not even mine, its been half a year since I left the Penal base and have still yet to find a BX or get my old uniform back via the mail yet.” He said in an attempt to break the ice. While normally talking about himself made him feel uncomfortable, now talking with Cossette seemed to put him at ease. He was shocked himself with how open he was being.

“What do you mean Penal base?”

“Fuck, shouldn’t have said that” Trigger said flustered. He weighed his options before continuing to speak.

“Well you didn’t hear it from me, but, that’s actually how Avril, Count and I met. We were all prisoners useful to the War Effort. It sucked but I guess it was better than doing time in any of the club fed’s back in Osea.” He admitted.

“So what did you do to end up there if I might ask?” Cossette inquired.

“Well, simply put I made a bad call on a mission. Someone innocent and important died and it got quickly got out of hand.” Trigger responded somberly.

They both sat in silence for a bit until Trigger spoke again.

“So, I understand that you were in the group with Tabloid right?” he asked

“Yes, I was. He seemed like a good man, Did you know him well?” Cossette asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t really call him a friend since we were both prisoners; but Tabloid was a solid dude and good pilot. He was one of the few that would stick around when stuff started to go sideways in mission. I don’t think for a second he was legitimately violent in any way, just too loud for his own good”

“I see”

She got up and sat next to Trigger on the couch

“Mind if I ask a question then?” She asked softly

“What?”

Cossette studied him for a moment

“What are you worried about?”

This took Trigger aback “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are you so worried about Trigger? I noticed you seem to be on edge, like your waiting for something bad to happen” Cossette asked.

“Well, do be entirely honest I am a bit nervous. Not everyday you meet the leader of the people that only a few weeks prior was actively trying to kill you. And on top of that it doesn’t help that you may or may not have been instrumental in putting said leader in the position she is in now. Makes a person a wee bit antsy”

She tilted her head a bit in confusion at the answer, thought a moment before responding. “Trigger, Its ok. I acknowledge what happened. Its fine, I hold no animosity towards you. You were doing your job. I was doing mine. Besides the ones who actively tried to kill me, were my own people” Cossette responded kindly, the words oddly did put Trigger at ease, he almost didn’t notice her squeezing his hand.

 

“Do you want to talk about its Cossette?” He whispered, His concern was betrayed in his eyes. She gave him a weak smile. “Trigger its fine. I don’t really try to think about that day all too much.” She responded truthfully.

There was a sudden pop from outside, Instinctively Trigger grabbed Cossette and put himself between her and the open window shielding her with his body. Once the initial startle wore off Cossette started laughing.

“Jeeze Trigger, you could at least take me out to dinner first!” she wheezed between the giggles.

It was then that Trigger realized what he was doing and then immediately started to blush and stammer, something which put Cossette into further bouts of laughter.

while Cossette worked on composing herself, Trigger walked out to the balcony to see what all the commotion outside was. He leaned on the banister surveying the city scape of Selatapura.  Off in the distance he could see the culprit, on the shoreline bright flashes followed by dazzling balls of light erupted as fireworks lit the night sky.

He didn’t notice Cossette had come up next to him until she spoke

“They have been doing that every day for a month you know”

“well Ma’am, can’t say I knew that, any reason why?”

“Well I guess they figure any day without a war going on above their heads is worthy of celebration. Such and unfortunate state of events” she sadly stated. It was true, Selatapura was one of the most contested cities in Usea. It was only a few years between wars and the city had a long memory.

 

She studied the fireworks with him,

“My parents used to watch the fireworks with me all the time” she said absently. “I don’t think they appreciated it as much as I did. But it was one of the few times I felt like a kid after we became apart of the royal family”

Trigger moved his attention to Cossette. He watched silently as she remembered happier times, were the world was still at a relative peace and she was still a young innocent girl who knew nothing of the horrors that man can inflict on each other.

 

For the time they both sat silently and observed as the fireworks display fizzled out and ended in a grand finale. And with the grand finale came one other surprise to Trigger. A kiss on his cheek from Cossette.

He looked at her somewhat taken aback. She then realized what happened and started to get flustered herself. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that!” she exclaimed.

“Cossette, it’s alright. I was just expecting dinner first” Trigger teased softly back. This was rewarded with a smirk from the Princess.

“Well, I did already get you dinner first” she responded in kind, sliding her way under Triggers arm and wrapping her arms around him.

“Trigger, one last thing. Can you spend the night?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prologue

Fort Grays was the dream assignment for most. The islands were secluded enough off of the Usean mainland to avoid being activated in the occasional flare up. For most, Fort Grays was a place to sit on the beach, drink beer and occasionally fly fighter jets. A Paradise compared to the cold hell of Heierlark Air Base in North Osea.

It was a day off for the brand-new Second Lieutenant. He was still getting used to the callsign he was assigned, Trigger, earned for an embarrassing first sortie in his F-16C Viper. And like any good junior officer, he spent his first night of freedom without repercussions getting absolutely wasted with all the other new arrivals and the many new local bars available to them.

As a result when he finally rolled out of bed, his watch read 1514.

Stumbling out to his patio, he felt the warm sun and the cool breeze of the ocean, an absolute paradise, he thought to himself.

Then the bomb went off.

Trigger saw the flash and then felt the concussion as one of the fuel farms on base exploded. Immediately following, more explosions followed. Looking up, Trigger could see the glint of shiny airplane bodies In the skies above.

Quickly kicking on his boots and grabbing his flight suit he started running towards the base.

***
The Squadron ready room was pandemonium. Squadron leaders were conducting headcounts, and discovering if any aircraft were flyable. Trigger found his squadron’s leader, an older Captain whose name he couldn’t quite remember, his nameplate read CLOWN

The Captain noticed Trigger first, “Ah, New guy, I don’t know what the hell is going on but, Just hang tight, we’ll get our orders soon enough.”

Trigger nodded his head, his pulse was pounding, he was amazed how quickly he was able to get into his harness when the pressure was on.

“Say, You ready for a shooting gallery?” Clown asked, a slight grin on his face.
“Well to be entirely honest, I didn’t think it would come to this” Trigger responded, voice trembling slightly as he spoke.

“Well, Just stay calm, follow whoever the flight lead is, and you’ll be right as rain” Clown said, patting the younger pilot on the shoulder.

“THEY’RE COMING IN FOR ANOTHER ROUND” A pilot shouted.

Quickly a more senior Pilot, who Trigger only knew as Knocker walked in, Silently pointed at Trigger, Clown, and another new pilot, a young woman who earned the callsign Brownie and made a thumbing motion out to the flight line.

Running out to the flight line Trigger could see the chaos, Black smoke was billowing from the harbor and even closer to the ramp he could see damage. He made his way to the F-16 assigned to him, 015. Hopping in the cramped cockpit he did an amended start up procedure.

Turning on the radio he could hear the uncertainty in everyone’s voices as he started his taxi towards the runway.

“Radar site still silent!” One of the bases operation officers reported
“Scramble, Get those birds in the Sky! We’re sitting ducks!” shouted another officer
“Whats happening!?” another demanded
“Bombers incoming, don’t know how many!”

Soon Knocker keyed up
“Let’s clear that runway. We don’t got all day here”

“Mage Squadron, Head to runway. Golem Squadron cleared for Takeoff, Link to Skykeeper on departure.” The Control Tower said, in the usual non-committed monotone that amazed Trigger that, even in a time like this, the Tower’s controllers could still maintain.

Trigger sat lined up on the runway, doing one last visual check he listened to the Radio

“Trigger, your callsign is Mage Two, verify and readback” the Tower called
“Callsign Mage two” Trigger responded

“Mage two, cleared for takeoff”

without waiting, Trigger slammed the throttle to afterburner.

He could faintly hear the Tower say something else, along with Knocker but he was not listening, Instead focusing on the roar of the engine, the increasing airspeed on his Heads Up Display and keeping the F-16 from crashing on takeoff.

Trigger didn’t tune himself back into the radio chatter until he started to retract his landing gear and tuned to the local air to air radio channel.

“Whoa! Looks like the harbor’s taken a lot of damage!” He could hear a female voice say, must be that Brownie chick he thought to himself.
“Can’t have any more casualties. Time to stop the bullshit” Knocker stated. “Mage 2, form up on Mage 1, All aircraft lets do this! Golem squadron its go time!” he continued.

***

The JAG officer sat unimpressed, staring at him

“You know I have all the radio logs and debrief paperwork from your time at Fort Grays, maybe we move it up a tad?” the officer suggested.

The Hotel room the two were in was dim.  Save for the usual cheap furniture, the bed had been removed and in its stead was a cheap card table and two folding chairs. The Curtains were diffusing most of the light making it hard for Trigger’s eyes to adjust. Sat across from him in one of the chairs was an Osean Air Defense Force officer, the rank on his shoulder suggesting he was a Colonel. Trigger studied the man for a moment, On the shorter side, not middle aged but already balding and showing a noticeable paunch, on his chest was a small collection of ribbons and a OADF Judge Advocates General badge. A lawyer.

The Officer studied Trigger for a moment, before pulling out a cigarette and lighter from his coat. The faint flicker of the lighter illuminated his face. He Lit the cigarette, took a long drag and exhaled, muttering something to himself.

Trigger spoke up.

“You know those things are gonna kill you right?”

The colonel shook his head dismissively, looking blankly at the window. The cigarettes end burned a dull orange as it burned.

“Well, I guess you’d be the one to speak to about suicidal tendencies, now wouldn’t you Major” the Colonel responded.

there was an silence as the acrid smell of smoke filled the room.

After a time, the Officer spoke again.

“If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m probably one of the very few friends you have right now. So I guess we should start at the beginning”

“How far?”

“As far as you want to. I have read the report, but I want to hear it from the man of the hour himself. Tell me Trigger, how exactly did you manage to piss off that many people, and still have mountains of brass whose ranks I am not even near, calling my office to testify on your behalf. But for the sake of brevity, how about when you were not a Second Lieutenant?”


***

 Zapland was awful. Trigger knew prison was supposed to suck, but never did he imagine he would find himself here. The dead-end road to nowhere, member of the Osean Penal Squadron, number 444.

His murder trial was a kangaroo court. The only witness to come to his defense was Clown, the Defense attorney was one of the most junior JAG officers in the Air Defense Force and the Prosecuting attorney was one of the most experienced, not to include the added media spectacle that had been made of his life. Despite the inconclusive evidence and gun-camera footage, the former First Lieutenant was dishonorably discharged for the assassination of former Osean President Vincent Harling over the International Space Elevator. Trigger expected to be thrown in a hole somewhere and forgotten about but clearly some in the OADF still wanted a return on the investment they made with his training, and instead pulled strings to have him assigned to a flying unit that also served as a prison.

Trigger would have preferred the hole.

His shiny brand-new Viper was instead replaced with a decrepit F-15A Eagle from the Skully Island Insurrection, a conflict predating the planet-fall of Ulysses. When he was first introduced to the airplane by the Warden, he could see that someone had at least done the work to bring it up to an almost-airworthy state. The Panel had more holes and patchwork then he cared to count but for the most part it seemed like it might fly if treated nice enough.

He was just finishing his first mission with the convicts here. Having only been at the complex a day he still wasn’t familiar with who his ‘squadron’ mates were.  He was mostly impressed that some of them seemed to have a base competency behind the stick, even in out of date early fourth Generation fighters.

The ‘Spares’ as they called themselves were flying stuff the OADF had written off decades Prior, F-18C Hornets, A Models of just about every fighter, Trigger even spied in one hanger a F-4 Phantom and a F-104 Starfighter.

If it was rejected by the Osean Marine Corps, odds are the Spare squadron was flying it, or at least attempting to.

Deaths were not an uncommon place, As one of the friendlier pilots name Tabloid explained, Trigger was the fifth pilot he knew of that had the slot of Spare 15.

Trigger dragged his feet back to the main prison complex. It was looking like the Spares might be the death of him, Not that anything was really waiting for him on the outside world anyways, with a life sentence without parole, Even if Trigger survived this war, and even the next, there was no way he would ever be a free man again.

he looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. Stars were twinkling and for a brief moment, all seemed right with the world.

Trigger sighed. And continued his trudging towards the Prison.
***
The next day Trigger spent around the Prison.

For being a Maximum-Security prison facility on paper, the Zapland Airbase was surprisingly open, Prisoners were free to mill about most common areas under guard supervision and any semblance of an actual military presence or order was mostly missing or otherwise a façade.

Trigger learned that everyone here was on the dead-end road to nowhere career wise, guard and prisoner alike.

He could place why some of the other Inmates were in prison, the want-to-be leader of the main flying group of penal unit pilots was Count, he was a young man, only a year or two older than Trigger and a notorious Fraudster.

Trigger was somewhat familiar with him. Count was in one of the initial flight classes ahead of Trigger at Heierlark, it was big news among the pilot candidates when it was discovered the massive fraud rings the Pilot was running.

The other pilots in the Spare Squadron were in for various other dealings.

Champ was a Sapinish Cartel Enforcer, no formal military training or pilot training but was known to run drugs over multiple boarders in small Cessna Caravans before Osean authorities caught him. Ontop of Drug trafficking he was also linked to multiple murders in and around the Cartels territory near Bana.

Full Band was an Osean Intelligence Officer who was caught selling classified secrets to anyone who paid.

High Roller was in for multiple gambling rings, Having retired from the Airlines to run his under-ground casinos landed him in the Spares,

And eventually Tabloid, who only rambled about Belkan adventure novels and boarders when Trigger broached the subject with him.

These for better or worse were the best pilots that the Spares had to offer, a Cheat, a Gambler, two murderers, a spy and a weirdo; I am so screwed. Trigger thought to himself.

***

“Your wasting my time Trigger” the JAG Officer growled

“Well you said to fast forward!” Trigger defended himself.

“Sooner, Closer to the end of November!” the Officer pleaded.

***

“LRSSG, cleared for the overhead break” the Tower reported.

It had been a chaotic few days, A hap hazard plan was thrown together and Pilots from both Erusea and Osea were having to coordinate together on the one common goal. The eight aircraft of the Long Range Strategic Strike Group parked in the same area and pilots started piling out of their respective planes.

Trigger was feeling the weight of his Captain’s bars.

Ever since being reinstated in the Air Force and being transferred as one of the last surviving Spare squadron members to the Special Forces, It seemed like there was never time to catch his breath. It was always one thing after another, weather it be sinking a massive fleet, hunting a rogue submarine, Sinking another massive fleet, killing a rogue submarine, flying at 200 knots through a canyon, or acting as the spear-head on multiple assaults, The extra hours were starting to wear on the pilot.

“Alright, Take 15 guys,. If you need to piss, do it now, I just want AIM-120’s and Fuel loaded on those birds” Trigger ordered.

he pointed at his wingman and started walking towards the main building on the base

“Count, with me!” Trigger barked.

Walking the crowded line, Trigger could only see a gaggle of aircraft, Some Osean Navy, Other’s Eresuan and even a few Bulgurdarestian and Volslagian Air Force aircraft.

The Command post was bustling with energy, Multiple intelligence officers tracking information coming in from AWACS and Early Warning aircraft on the location of the monolithic Arsenal Bird, an Osean superweapon, originally designed to defend the Space Elevator, that had gone rogue and fallen into the wrong hands.  Trigger was weary, To kill this Arsenal Birds sibling, it was a massive organized effort that took months of planning to execute, This Operation Daredevil as the participants had taken to calling it, was being thrown together on the spot with the coordination of dozens of Air Forces.

Trigger found the General In charge. Speaking up to get the Senior officers attention.

“Sir, Long Range Strategic Strike Group, ready to go when you are” Trigger reported, snapping to attention along with Count.

The General, not even looking up from the chart laid out in front of him went into his speech, motioning the two pilots to come closer.

“Alright boys Gather round here. What I need you to do is act as the Spearhead on this assault. Admiral Modly really screwed the pooch on this one and deployed his Air Wings from the Vulture too fucking early, that costed us the element of surprise and already Big Baby Huey is on its way here. I would love to have more ships as well but all we have is what Modly sent me from his Carrier Groups defense screen. So we’re looking at fire support from three Missile Cruisers, a Handful of bombers and whatever missiles your fighters are carrying for the saturation attack.  What I need the LRSSG to do is to spearhead the main assault. Im hoping to overwhelm to Erusean Radical forces at the Elevator so its not a drag out fight when the target arrives. Do you think you can do it?” The General asked.

Trigger smiled

“Of course sir, Impossible and poorly defined missions is the Strike Groups specialty!”

“You can say that again” Count quipped.

***
The JAG officer stood up and dusted himself off.

“Thank you for utterly wasting my time Trigger! If you want to get serious, may I suggest you ask for a different Lawyer” the officer said approaching the door of the room.

Trigger broke out laughing, briefly getting the Lawyer to pause,

taking a moment to catch his breath, Trigger spoke up again.

“fine, I guess you want to discuss that thing. Fine. Everyone wants to discuss that thing. Its all anyone wants to discuss. Well if you want to sit your ass down right now, You might need a few more cigarettes and a more comfortable chair considering how long this story is” Trigger said, pointing at the empty seat.

“Yes, That’s all I have wanted to know. Tell me about the Girl” The JAG Officer shot back flatly.

“Well you see, It was around December when Myself, Count and Huxian were invited to a dinner party in Selatapura…”

ROSE AND CLAWS
By AWACS_Bandog