Chapter 41

 FORTY-ONE

Morgan listened to the monotonous beating of the Huey’s rotors as the helicopter rushed over the treetops. The flight had been silent the moment they had departed the bar’s shattered parking lot. The Helicopter’s crew was silent, as was Fick, Zhao and Trigger. The pilot looked almost shell shocked as the adrenaline had drained from his system. For once, the Marine couldn’t blame him, taking a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. He exhaled a cloud of smoke that was instantly dispersed by the rushing air inside the cabin. It hadn’t been his first firefight, and not even the closest he had come to dying but, for once Morgan did feel a twinge of dread thinking back on what had happened.

 

Every other engagement, he either had others he could rely on, or enough firepower and training to overcome the enemy. This time he had neither. Even with the Belkan’s assistance, whoever their attackers were had breached the bar and were seconds from killing the three of them. Morgan pulled his Dan Wesson Specialist 1911 from his holster and dropped the magazine. He frowned at the empty witness holes.

Was I down to only three rounds? He thought.

 
Fick looked up at the dulled yellow and red pentagon of the Yuktobanian Air Force painted underneath the helicopter as it flew away.

“Guess we’ll have to move again.” He lamented as the helicopter reduced to a black dot, before vanishing over the horizon.

 

The four trudged their way up to the front of the main house where they found Bandog. He looked tired, his cloths were dirty and disheveled, and A small mound of cigarette butts sat at his feet. He weakly stood up “Gentlemen, glad to see you made it.”

Fick nodded “Arrived just in time. Glad you were able to help out.”

“Not everyone was as lucky.” Trigger said slowly, before brushing past Bandog and into the house.

 

Bandog frowned. “I heard already about Lauren. They just landed in Axel and are working on her, but.” His voice trailed off.

“Has her husband been informed?” Zhao asked.

Bandog nodded, “David is escorting him and Erwin there now.” He turned to Lieutenant Fick

“I took the liberty of calling the Old Man ahead of time. He should be at your HQ awaiting your report.”

Fick “Do we know who did it?”

Bandog grimaced. “Yeah, it was members of the Cartel’s enforcement arm. Ex-professional military. We pissed them off all right, and they overnighted their goons to get back at us for it.” he shrugged “I got stupid, but luckily for us, this wasn’t an entire waste.”

Morgan raised an eyebrow “Explain.”

Bandog grinned “Thanks to those hard-drives you recovered, got my hands on all sorts of intel. Most of it was boring stuff; Drugs, gambling, and other ne’er-do-well things we don’t care about, but I can make a killing selling to the right governments. Buried deep in the details though was their base of operations in the region.”

 

Zhao scoffed “You’re kidding.” Bandog shook his head “Well, close. While my past life wasn’t intel, doesn’t mean I didn’t hang out with any SIGINT guys. The analogy they kept using was that of planning a wedding. You might not have seen the invite, but you don’t need to. You look at what venues are booked, what Bands have a gig, any orders of flowers. It takes a bit more time but there’s more than one way to find it out.”

Zhao nodded his head “So instead of blushing brides, we have powerful gangsters with fighter jets.”

Bandog snapped his fingers “Exactly.”

Fick cracked a smile “I should at least tell the Old Man our status, then we can get a plan thrown together on how to take these bastards out.”

***

Mancuso sat in his office uncomfortably. It was still mid-day in Oured, so his staff was still in the office working when his personal cellphone had gone off. It was the Broker who had been the one to tell him that something had happened to their Chopinburg team and possibly one of the singularities, but the details would follow later. He stared hard at the plastic phone sitting on his desk. His teams would routinely get themselves into trouble, it was par for the course, but rarely did missions go as sideways as the Chopinburg’s team had and let allowed to continue without a withdrawal and reevaluation of their mission.

 

He stared at the last report from the Lieutenant. While a vast majority of their body count had been combatants, their brazen raid had also been on the front pages of dozens of newspapers across the world. Every intelligence agency and crackpot conspiracy theorist had their own interpretation of what had transpired, very few made the connection to the Machados, and fewer had recognized it was a Professional military that had carried out the assault.

 

The Phone rang. Jack cleared his throat before answering.

“This is Colonel Mancuso Speaking.”

“Colonel Its Lieutenant Fick”

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. “What’s the word Lieutenant?”

“Nothing good. We are compromised, but don’t sure to what extent.”

Mancuso listened intently as Fick gave him a synopsis of the situation. A local asset, the Singularity and one of the Marines had been caught in an establishment by the Machados. A brief firefight ensued leaving around two dozen civilians dead and the local asset to the team critically wounded. It wasn’t until the rest of his Marines arrived with a cavalry force furnished by the Broker that they were able to secure the team.

Jack nodded as he jotted down notes. “Is that everything?” Jack asked.

“Bandog thinks he found the location of their base of operations out here. We’re going to get a plan together and will let you know what we will need sir.” Fick replied.

“Just get it done.” Mancuso ordered before hanging up.

 

Despite his external demeanor, he was relieved at the outcome. He only needed to glance at a report dated to July 6^th, over a year prior to see what could have potentially happened.

 

The phone rang again, Mancuso stood a big straighter in his seat before answering.

“Mancuso” he spoke.

 

“Jack, glad I caught you” The voice wasn’t that of the young Lieutenant, but instead that of Senator Angela Schmidt from North Osea, one of the few politicians he had to deal with on the Armed Services committee and fewer who was aware of Basilisk’s existence as more than an engineering battalion.

Jack bit his tongue for a moment, the taste of copper filled his mouth before he bared a grin “Senator Schmidt! It’s been a while, congratulations to your nephew on his engagement. They look like a lovely couple” Jack said going through the motions of the pleasantries. “Ah yes, Alex is set to bring Rosa to meet with the entire family in a few weeks. But of course, that’s not why I came to talk to you.” She continued.

 

The forced grin fell from Jack’s face. “Understood Senator. What can I do for you?”

“We both know what is going on.” She began.

***

Trigger had fallen asleep almost the second he had hit his bed. Everything that had happened over the past day left him drained.

 

Between the aching in his muscles, the hangover, and continuing ringing in his ears from gunfire, the pilot found it hard to focus on anything else. Somewhere in his mind he wondered how the Belkan pilot was. It was his stupid plan that had gotten her shot, and he now only had hope that their rescuers could get her to a hospital in time to save her life. What was taking up the forefront of his mind as he tried to sleep was an overwhelming feeling of separation from everything. Instead of anger, agony or grief.

 

He felt nothing.

 

It was the same feeling he had had dozens of times during the war. It was always “the Mission” that would occupy his mind, that was often kept in balance with his port of safe harbor. While in the 444, it was as simple as his regular life as an Inmate. The minutia of constant cell inspections, cell block lockdowns and solitary would distract him. When he had moved into the LRSSG, and especially during the darkest days of the war for him, it was his own squadron that had kept him grounded. And finally, at the end of all that, he had found happiness with a woman he truly loved.

 

He tried to visualize Cossette the last night they had together. The Party. Trigger had gone over that day in his mind countless times to understand everything that had happened. Details he had missed in their relationship. He thought about how she had looked that night. Blue dress, golden hair and.

 

and

 

nothing.

 

Despite her status, she was the most normal thing in his life. She was his anchor, his way to ‘Normal’. Now, she was gone, along with his last hopes of returning to his life before the war. He was a wanted man by his own country. He had been lied to by the same people who had sworn to help him, and due to his own selfish actions of self-pity, dozens were dead and someone he had tried to protect was clinging to life away from her family.

 

There was a quick banging at the door.

Groggily, Trigger opened it to see Adams.

“Yo, meeting downstairs in 5.” The Marine reported.

“For what?” Trigger said stifling a yawn.

“Sounds like we found the bastards, we need to plan a counter-attack.” He replied nonchalantly.

Sure, like we’re going to go pick up a gallon of milk at the store. For some people this would be the most important day of their lives, but for these guys, its Tuesday.

 

Changing his shirt, Trigger walked into the dining room to find a series of maps and other documents hastily scattered across the table and taped to a nearby wall. In the corner was a coffee maker, loudly preparing another pot. Trigger judged by the various refuse surrounding the appliance the Marines had been busy for some time. Bandog glanced up “Sleeping Beauty finally woke up I see.”

Trigger raised a middle finger tiredly but brushed off the comment. “What are we looking at?” he asked pushing his way to the table.

 

The largest map was a satellite image that had grids overlayed onto it. In low resolution he could see a long runway with a series of dilapidated hangars to one side; all situated on a mesa shelf jutting out of a dense jungle.

 

“Charming vacation pictures.” Trigger said as he pilfered a cup of coffee. “What are we looking at?”

“Depends what year and who you ask.” Bandog replied. “FCU called it Scion Aux Six some decades ago. Grunder then bought it and called it their Chopinburg facility, but then that all dried up when the Insurrection occurred. It languished for a few years after until Erusea swept through, but they didn’t use it. When ISAF Retook the base, they cleared off the runways and facilities but withdrew quickly thereafter. Now? We can call it our target. Bad guy central if you will.”

“So, we don’t actually have a name for it. Got it.” Trigger quipped back.

“Yeah, not at all. Most important thing though, like with everything out here, its no longer on a map.”

“So, a perfect place to hide your saying.” Morgan spoke up.

 

Trigger studied the image, something struck him about it.

The Marines and Bandog started to plan how to assault the compound. Unlike previous raids where they would march in, the plan was a more direct approach. The Marines would arrive via helicopter and break off into two teams. Zhao and Adams would stay in the Helicopter and provide fire support from above, while the second team of Morgan, Dennings, Fick, Hernandez, Haver and Kyle would be the ground unit; Trigger would once again be flying solo and providing close-air-support for the assault in the Longsword.

 

As Trigger explained his thoughts on what weapons to bring for the Longsword, something was still nagging at him about the compound.

 

He Paused.

“Hey, how long is this place anyways?” Trigger asked.

“About a mile or so, why?” Bandog asked befuddled.

 

Trigger snatched a piece of paper from Dennings and quickly scratched some numbers down.

“You said this was their main hideout, right?” Trigger asked.

“It’s possibly, but what are you getting at?” Bandog asked.

 

Trigger looked to Morgan “Guesstimate on how long a runway say, a C-130, would need to operate out of at a bare minimum?”

The marine thought for a moment. “Uhh, probably half a mile or so? Why?”

Trigger continued his writing until he threw the pencil down in satisfaction. “That runway is too long.”

 

There was a confused silence around the table as they stared at Trigger.

Fick folded his arms. “You want to run that by us again?”

 

Trigger nodded “That runway, by my napkin math here is over a mile long. If you were running a secret compound like this-“ Trigger paused and gestured around himself “-You wouldn’t operate a runway that long.”

 

Hernandez chuckled “Great, they like some extra wiggle room on takeoff. Is that really worth noting?”

Trigger shook his head “For the planes their operating, you wouldn’t need all that room, Hell the runway wouldn’t need to be more than dirt that didn’t have too many potholes or tree stumps. But let’s assume this isn’t like their other Podunk operations. Those fighters we’ve been running across? My guess is they’d need at least that long a runway to take off.”

 

Zhao leaned back, “So instead of being a drug operation, you think it’s a fighter base?” he asked incredulously.

 

Trigger shrugged “I’ve seen weirder things this past year.”

 

“Even then, what is the end game?” Kyle asked

Bandog shook his head “Who knows, but I think Trigger may be onto something. Theres a definite connection there. I’m willing to bet if there are answers, its going to be here.”  

Morgan cleared his throat “Speaking of answers. I think we are owed some, particularly me and Trigger.”

 

Trigger shifted uncomfortably in his seat; the air seemed to cool slightly as Bandog stood up straight.

 

Bandogs face contorted into a grimace “Right, I guess you are.” His voice had trailed off. He took a deep breath. “I screwed up.”

“No shit.” Morgan interjected. Bandog winced slightly before continuing.

 

“You all missed one target the other day. Lisa Park. Grew up in South Osea, Degrees in Software and Aeronautical Engineering, and worked with Northrop for a time. Last official record of her was back in 2004 working on a contract with the Kingdom of Sapin, but she disappeared on a hiking trip and was presumed dead.”

 

“Great, we pissed off a dead girl. I’ve seen the movies; I know how this end.” Adams interrupted trying to add a bit of levity. The sullen response from his colleagues and glare from Bandog made him sink back into his chair.

 

“As you can guess, Park wasn’t dead at all. I couldn’t figure out entirely what her job with the Cartel has been, but she rose through their ranks pretty damn quickly. And that’s where I screwed up. Those hard drives you captured the other day? Well, I missed that by going in, it opened a door to my system. She had hidden a trojan horse, probably to see what authorities had been trying to access Cartel files. Instead, she got my network and files instead.”

“What was on it?” Fick asked coldly.

“We were lucky. Just the aliases I had for Trigger, Morgan, and Kyle there and the previous documentation I already had on them. Nothing to point the finger at Osea but enough to compromise three of you.”

“Dick. Move.” Kyle said sharply.

“Yeah, I screwed up with that one.” Bandog sighed heavily.

“Yeah, and Lauren had to pay the price for it.” Trigger said, his voice rising in intensity.

Bandog nodded “It was an accident-”

Trigger slammed his fist on the table “Bullshit! You-“

 

Fick held up a hand cutting him off. “Enough! What happened, happened. We still have a mission to do.”

Morgan spoke up “Triggers right though, we are down a pilot.”

Fick leaned forward on the table “I was thinking about that. I think Berserker is still in theater, they were working with some Army units for aviation assets.”

 

“What about enemy air defense?” Trigger asked.

“Unknown. Scrounging through their recent records doesn’t look like they have any purchases like that. But the Eruseans abandoned a ton of old equipment during the last war so its not to say they couldn’t have reactivated some of it. As for now, assume if they do have any triple A, it will be of the MANPAD variety and nothing more.” Bandog reported.

 

“Any chance we can get a fighter sweep? Make sure those jets stay cornered?” Trigger pressed.

“That will have to come from the Old Man if we get it. The closest fighter units would be Selatapura, followed by Stonehenge.” Fick replied.

 

Trigger listened intently as the plan was finalized. The plan was far from fool proof, but the Marines with Bandogs intelligence had a plan and contingencies from the infil all the way through to exfil. The sun had just begun to set over the jungle.

 

The men sat around the table silently. “Is that it?” Adams spoke up.

Fick nodded. “I’ll have to run it past the Old Man, but I think this should be good enough. Trigger, take Haver and Kyle and get your plane ready. Everyone else, get the gear.” The Lieutenant ordered.

“I’ll go make some calls myself.” Bandog said excusing himself.

 

Kyle looked to Trigger “What are we loading.”

Trigger thought for a moment.

“Since we know they may jam up the systems, Dumb ordinance only. Gunpods and Rockets only.”

Haver raised an eyebrow “No Bombs?”

Trigger shook his head. “Odds are it will be close quarters, and I don’t want to eyeball it without the CCIP.”

“How courteous” Kyle quipped.

 

***

 

“Colonel, can you please repeat that?” Fick asked coldly into the phone.

“I’m sorry Nate, but it’s already done. The Chopinburg Mission is hereby complete. I’ve already detached Berserker to assist in your exfil from the AO.” Colonel Mancuso said matter of factly. “But Sir! We have actionable intel, And even if it isn’t true, we’re still the best team-“ Fick’s protests were cut off “Regardless lieutenant. Oured considers the mission objectives to be complete. Not only did you track those weapon shipments, but you were also able to take out those responsible for them. You and your men did good.” Mancuso explained.

Fick took a moment to compose himself. “I understand sir.” The line went dead.

 

Rapidly, the young Officer slammed his fist through the sheetrock wall next to him. “Son of a bitch!” He hissed in frustration. Morgan, who had been waiting at the doorway during the call, folded his arms.

“So that’s it?” the Sergeant asked.

“Yes.” Fick said, exhaling sharply. “Politicians in Oured decided our body count was too high and pulled the plug. Captain Norris is on the way to relieve us.”

“What about Trigger and the others?” Morgan asked pragmatically.

Fick shook his head. “The deal with the Broker is off. Technically we should take them both into custody for Berserker. From there, who knows.” The Lieutenant shrugged.

Morgan frowned. “But we’re not going to; Are we?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” Fick replied truthfully.

“Well either way we have to tell them.” Morgan replied.

 

Trigger made his way into the dining room to see Lieutenant Fick and Bandog both with grim looks.

“So, whats up?” Trigger asked.

Bandog glanced up to the lieutenant. “Do you want to tell him or shall I?” Bandog asked.

Fick shook his head. “Major, as of a few hours ago, our mission in Chopinburg, as well as our deal with you and the Broker have been scrubbed.”

Trigger felt a pit form in his stomach. “Whats that mean?”

Bandog sighed. “Frankly, we’ve been burned. The lieutenant here is just giving us a head start to run before he has to come and catch us.” Bandog interjected.

Trigger looked towards the young officer “Is that true? After everything we’ve done, everything I’ve done; You’re just going to turn us out like that?” he hissed.

Fick folded his arms nodding his head. “Believe me Major, I have no interest in doing that. This is just a courtesy since Berserker, the team coming to replace us, won’t have as many issues with taking you into custody.” The lieutenant explained.

“And what of that mission on the Cartel base?” Trigger asked.

“Scrubbed. Oured has taken a policy of ‘live and let live’ with the Cartel for years. They feel that with the recent body count, they’ve paid enough.” Fick explained.

“Bullshit! Those fuckers tried to kill me!” Trigger shouted, his face getting red with anger.

Fick held up his hands. “Look Major! If it were up to me, we’d be going right fucking now. But we don’t have a way in anymore, let alone all the risks involved of going against Oured on this.”

“Like?” Trigger interrogated

“B-52 carpet bombing. Won’t be the first time Osea has put down agents who stepped out of line that way.” Bandog interrupted. “How do you know that?” Fick asked pointedly. Bandog raised his hand to dismiss the question. “Lieutenant, I do thankyou but, I do have this as a counter point. We do have a way in. Not only do we have that CH-53 parked outside, we have a crew for it.” Bandog said.

“But how? Lauren got hit.” Trigger replied. “Or are you going to use those Yukes that flew us out here? Could we even trust them?” Fick added on.

Bandog shrugged “The Yukes are mercs but they’re loyal as long as the check clears. However, we have a group we can already trust. When I might have let it slip to Ben and Erwin about this plan of ours when I called for an update on Lauren. What can I say? Belkan’s love their revenge stories.”

Fick shook his head in disapproval “We can’t ask either of them to do that.”

Bandog tilted his head to the side “I don’t think you could stop them, even if you want to. They will be here within the hour.”

 

Trigger glanced to the lieutenant. “So, that solves one problem. What’s it going to be?” the pilot asked.

 

Fick shook his head. “I won’t order the men to do this. But I can bring it to their attention.”

Trigger grinned.

Chapter 40

 FORTY

“Define missing?” Fick growled

The Marines stood in the living room with the Belkans, Morgan, Fick and Zhao had just enough time to unclip their plate carriers and drop their rifles when Adams rushed to update them on the situation.

“I dunno, like he was there one second, storming off the next.” Adams replied.

“And no one went after him?” Morgan chimed in.

“No, thought he’d at least take a radio with him but.” Adams replied.

“What happened?” Fick interjected

Adams shrugged shaking his head “No clue, He just seemed pissed off and wanted to talk to Morgan. Then he stormed out”

Morgan could sense the sniper knew more than he let on, but decided it wasn’t enough to pursue.

“Stormed out. Great. Did he say where he was going?” Zhao interrupted.

Kyle and Adams shook their heads.

 

Morgan scratched the stubble on his chin and thought for a moment. “Did he have anything with him?” Morgan asked.

Adams thought for a moment. “Yeah, a crumpled piece of paper, looked to be a newspaper or something.”

 

Morgan hissed to himself “Shit, I know where he probably went.” He groaned.

 

Fick raised his eyebrow “Really? Care to enlighten us?”

Morgan shook his head “Frankly, not really important to the mission. Probably just letting off steam at Bula. I will go get him.” Morgan explained.

Lauren cleared her throat “Fine, I’ll go with you.”

“Why?” Morgan asked confused.

“Fellow Belkan and a Pilot. Unless you speak both those languages.” She shot back.

Morgan shrugged. “Fine. We will radio when we got him.”

 

“And what if he’s not there?” Fick interrogated

“Roanapur isn’t that big a city, shouldn’t take long for us to find him.” Lauren replied.

***

Trigger stared at the burning lighter for a moment. The flame dancing back and forth.

Was this all it was for? He asked himself. He felt a wave of emotions crashing upon him at once. Hate, despair, sadness, rage, depression. It all felt so raw to him.

 

He had his own fair share of kicks to the gut in his life. The Chaplain’s knock at his door, His court martial, loss of more wingmen than he could count. All those things seemed to pale in comparison to what he felt right now. Only one word seemed to stick out in his mind.

 

Betrayal.

 

Reaching into his coat pocket he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, He sloppily unfolded it and held it to the lighter, within seconds the image on it burned away as Trigger threw the paper into the ash tray on the bar. With the smokey atmosphere in the run-down establishment, Trigger’s act of arson largely went unnoticed aside from the bartender.

“You’re going to regret that later.” Morgans voice said from behind him. “Bao really doesn’t approve of people lighting shit on fire here.” He said taking the empty seat next to him. Trigger couldn’t help but snarl slightly at the bald interloper. “Why the fuck should I care?” Trigger slurred.

 

Morgan leaned back and made a disgusted face, trying to fan the air away from his nose. “Whew, and I thought I could go on some serious benders.” He said sarcastically.

“Fuck you.” Trigger slurred, Morgan reached across Trigger and grabbed a bottle away from his grasp.

He read the label and chuckled “Of course, you would drink this shit.”

“That cocksucker, motherfucker, Jeremiah Weed” Trigger sang off key.

“Yeah, let’s make that the first and last time you sing, ok?” Morgan said.

“So, you want to tell me why you lit that picture you were carrying around all this time on fire or do I need to say it?” he continued.

“You knew?” Trigger mumbled, reaching for the empty glass of ice, he jingled the glass slightly towards the marine.

“Well aside from you telling me when we met, of course I noticed when you walked out with that magazine. Guys like you read Janes Air Force, not the celebrity pieces.”

“I swear it’s only for the articles.” Trigger said grinning, he shook the glass again with more force. Morgan stared at the empty glass and the bottle of whiskey in his hand. “Lysol, Alcohol and Gasoline? I think you’ve had enough.” He spoke. Trigger snarled and set the glass down.

 

“Come on Trigger, I don’t have all day here. Either you can tell me when it’s just us two, or you can say it when everyone else shows up.” Morgan said pragmatically.

Trigger sighed heavily.

“Whats the point. You already know.”

Morgan took a long drag of the cigarette “Yeah, but its better for both of us if you tell me. Just so we are on the same page.”

“Fine.” Trigger hissed. “She fucking left me.” He spat.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Morgan asked, knocking the excess ash into the tray.

“What the fuck do you think?” Trigger hissed.

“What I think? -“ Morgan took a drag off the cigarette “-I think you have been missing for going on Four, nearly five months now. I think your officially either dead or worse, and finally, I think your overreacting for someone who is still wanted in the event of worse. Especially running around alone, without your radio or handgun.” Morgan said pointedly.

 

Trigger mumbled and slouched forward. “How long did you know?” He asked.

 

Morgan sighed. “Official announcements came down through Intel about a week ago. It was my call, not the Lieutenants, to have it censored. Didn’t want it to affect your judgement on the mission.”

Trigger shot Morgan a glare “Really? What the fuck else have you been keeping from me?” he interrogated.

“Anything that might set you off. I read your evaluation as a pilot and looked at your history. Seemed a reasonable guess you might go off the rails if you found out what actually happened in the interim.”

 

“So this was to spare me? What gives you the right?” Trigger spat.

“I weighed your need to know with the lives of my men. It wasn’t for anything more than a need make sure our air support had his head in the game.” Morgan explained.

“You know, you can be a real piece of shit sometimes.” Trigger grumbled.

“Yeah, Shit happens. As it stands, I don’t really give half a damn about your feelings. If they get in the way of the mission, then I have no qualms about leaving you in that hangar we found you in. I’m sure those Soldiers wouldn’t mind having a second round with you.” Morgan paused and chuckled “Shit, I bet they would have loved to have a go at that little princess of yours. Not so much a white rose after that.”

 

“Fuck you.” Trigger spat as he swung around to deliver a wild haymaker. In one swift motion, Morgan grabbed Triggers fist in one hand, and with his other slammed Trigger’s face into the bar.

“Get the fuck over it.” Morgan hissed as Trigger recoiled from the blow, blood and snot flowed from his nose.  “Your little waifu fantasy went up in smoke, so what? Big fucking deal. My job has been to keep your fucking ass alive so you can keep my marines alive. That is all, Its not to keep some shit-stain officer who isn’t worth his rank happy. Got it?” he continued

“Oh yeah you wanna fucking go?!” Trigger yelled as he shot up, stumbling and swaying, trying to keep his balance, he brought his fists up into a defensive posture.

Morgan rolled his eyes. “Really?” he asked incredulously.

“Come on you bitch!” Trigger yelled, garnering a look from the previously uninterested patrons.

“Trigger, you’re making a scene, sit down and clean yourself up. Save a little face why don’t you.” Morgan ordered.

“No, we’re doing this right here, right now!” Trigger yelled.

 

Before the situation could escalate, a short blond woman walked up, “Oh, a fight? Can I watch?” Lauren asked, distracting the two Oseans.

Morgan stepped back and waived a dismissive hand “Wouldn’t be much of a fight if he was sober, right now? Two hits at most, Me completely breaking his nose, and his ass hitting the floor.”

Lauren gave a pitiful look to Trigger “ooh, you’re having a bad day?”

“Girl problems” Morgan interjected.

“Interessant. Say Trigger do you want to tell me and Ben about it? I am a pretty good listener.” Lauren offered, trying to diffuse the situation.

Morgan clapped. “Sounds like a great Idea. I’ll be over there when you all are done having your little therapy session.” Morgan said point a thumb behind him toward an empty booth.

Lauren snatched a bar towel for Trigger to wipe the blood off his face and motioned towards the barstool. “How about you tell me about it.”  She directed.

“danke” Trigger said in a nasally voice taking the towel, 

“So? was ist los?” Lauren asked. What is wrong?

Before Trigger could answer an uninterested looking bartender came by to take the Belkan’s drink order. Waiting until the man left earshot, Trigger sighed.

“She left me.” Trigger said simply.

Lauren pursed her lips to the side “Tough break, who’s the lady who has stolen our fixed winged fools heart?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Trigger slurred

“Try me.” Lauren reiterated.

Trigger took a deep breath for a moment before sighing heavily. “Princess Rosa Cossette D’Elise.”

Lauren laughed “You’re right Trigger, I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true!” Trigger pleaded. Lauren held up her hand “Fine, a thousand pardons for laughing at that. For arguments sake let’s say I do believe you. Where did you and her meet?”

“Selatapura, I was on assignment.”

“Oh, let me guess. You were one of those aid workers, right? Worked in the refugee sector of ISEV? Betcha anything she fell for you there in that depressing pit, right?” Lauren interjected.

Trigger ignored the insult. “No, I was her Military Liaison, things… escalated.” Trigger explained.

“Bad breakup? I hear those royals can be so fickle when it comes to romance. What was it, not enough zeros to the family bank account?” Lauren asked.

Trigger shrugged. “Everything happened so quickly, Farbanti, the dance, I haven’t seen her since the attack that night.” He said bitterly. “Guess I hoped she’d wait for me.”

“And clearly she didn’t” Lauren said slowly. 

Trigger held up his empty glass “A Toast to Alex Schmidt and his new bride!” He shouted halfheartedly.

 

“Really going all in on that aren’t you?” Lauren asked.

“What can I say, I am dedicated to a flaw.” Trigger replied.

 

The two Pilots sat in silence in the bar for a few moments before Lauren spoke up again. “That’s not what it looks like if you ask me.” Lauren said, eyeing the empty glass in Trigger’s hand. “I’m not going to say you shouldn’t fight for her, but recognize the situation you’re in.” She said

Trigger glanced at her confused. “What do you mean?”

“It sucks but you need to think about what this girl needs in a relationship and if you could even provide it. Right now, your galivanting in one of the armpits of the world running close air support for guys who could fight and win a world war, all against people whose job description is rape, pillage, and murder. Are you really sure she would even want to be in a relationship with a partner who could never come home?” Lauren asked.

 

Trigger stared into his empty glass “I just want to talk to her one more time. See where it all went so wrong.” He said softly.

“And what would that do for you?” Lauren prodded

“I dunno, give me closure? I love her unconditionally. She’s the only reason I have been doing all of this.” Trigger said clenching his fist in frustration. He felt a reassuring pat on his back.

 

“I can’t tell you how to feel, But I can tell you one thing. Theres still people who are relying on you. You’re the one covering our ass on these missions and if this girl knew that she’d be proud.” Lauren reassured him.

Trigger smiled weakly. “So, you’re saying there’s a chance?” he slurred.

Lauren shook her head “Not at all; What I am saying however is you’re drunk, and we should probably get you back to bed so your hangover isn’t entirely hell tomorrow.” She joked dodging the question.

 

She got Morgans attention both positioning themselves to aid Trigger out of the building.

“Maybe a few more rounds?” Trigger protested.

“Nope, None for you.” Morgan replied grunting

“Ja, ja, immer mit der Ruhe” Trigger dismissed waiving his hand. Take it easy

He could hear a slight commotion as the two assisted him to his feet. Between the alcohol and the blow Morgan delivered, Trigger was uneasy on his feet, having to loop his arms around Morgan and Lauren for stabilization.

 

What happened next seemed to be unreal to Trigger. The sound of a glass shattering and an ear-splitting Pop

 

A silence hung in the air.

“GET DOWN!” Morgan Yelled as he pushed Lauren and Trigger to the floor. Trigger fell over the smaller Belkan and rolled to his side onto his back, just in time to see the front windows erupt in a shower of glass. The walls quickly started to deteriorate as hundreds of holes were punctured through them from gunfire.

 

Patrons unlucky enough to not hear Morgans warning were cut down instantly in the hail of rounds.

Glass bottles of alcohol behind the bar burst open as they became the backstop for the assault. The different liquids pooled at the base of the bar with the blood of the bartender killed in the opening volley. The once dimly illuminated room had been plunged into darkness as every light fixture and bulb had been destroyed.

 

It was chaos.

 

Trigger froze.

 

Unlike the last time he was in a gunfight, there was no clear plan or route of escape. Trigger looked around frantically, the rear exit of the bar seemed impossibly far away with the continuous onslaught.

 

His ears were ringing, He could see Morgan frantically rushing for cover. Trigger fumbled around to pick himself up, but his movements were sluggish and uncoordinated. There was a tugging on the back of his shirt, slowly Trigger started to turn before a small arm was wrapped around his torso.

“wir müssen umziehen!” Lauren yelled as she dragged Trigger’s limp body across the bar towards cover.

Trigger shielded his eyes as a beer bottle exploded above him. After what felt to Trigger as an impossibly far distance, The two pilots found safety behind one of the bar’s booths. There, Trigger came back to his senses.

 

“Whats your status!” Morgan yelled from his cover, Trigger could see the Marine had produced his 1911 and had found refuge behind an overturned table, its concealment reducing by the second into splinters from the intense gunfire.

“We’re fine for now!” Lauren shouted.

 

Trigger weakly lifted his head up. “What are we going to do to get out of here?” he slurred.

His answer was met with gunfire as Morgan started to return fire. Trigger yelled in pain as he covered his ears. “Warn me before you do that you douche!” Trigger yelled.

 

“Belkan, Radio the compound; immediate exfil required, unknown force and makeup.” Morgan ordered.

Lauren nodded and pulled a radio from her pocket. “Scheisse!” she hissed. Trigger could a jagged plastic corner where the antenna connector formerly was attached, rendering the device deaf and mute. “Radios busted!” she reported, throwing the broken device away. “I guess we’re fucked?” She asked rhetorically, pulling a compact Walther handgun from holster in the small of her back.

 

Trigger surveyed the bar. Morgan had moved to a far Booth and had returned to firing out the front of the establishment. Dozens of patrons laid dead or dying, Trigger could see some had their own handguns but not firepower that would be immediately useful to the three in their current situation. Through the alcohol haze, Trigger thought about anything that might be helpful.

“Any chance one of you has a grenade?” Trigger joked.

Lauren shook her head. “Cover your ears!” she warned before squeezing off a few shots. The diminutive handgun replied with a rapid snap snap snap of gunfire.

 

Trigger thought back to what he knew of the bar, he had come by a dozen times before and something stuck out in his brain that he noticed.

It had been something Bandog had pointed out the first time he had come to the bar.

 

The pilot grinned and got in a crouching motion, by his math, the bar was less than fifteen feet away, All he would have to do is to run and get behind the bar to find a way to even the odds.

“Cover me!” Trigger shouted.

“What?” Lauren replied dumbfounded, before she could continue, Trigger started his run.

 

Within the second of his stepping off, he slipped and lost his footing. Tumbling out of control into the center of the bar room.

 

“Goddammit Trigger! What the fuck are you doing?” Morgan yelled.

 

Trigger blinked for a moment to regain his bearings. He seemed further away from his goal, but that didn’t bother him. Just gotta run straight ahead he thought to himself. Awkwardly, he rolled onto his front to scramble towards the bar.

 

As Trigger started to crawl on his hands and knees, he could hear Morgan and Lauren shouting to each other and to him. As he got closer to his objective, he could see Lauren rush out of her cover to intercept him.

“Trigger what the hell are you -” she froze momentarily, crumpling to the floor.

Trigger stopped in his tracks in horror. “What the fuck are you doing? Go help her!” Morgan ordered.

 

Trigger couldn’t move. His gaze glued to Laurens unmoving body, only briefly illuminated by the muzzle flashes from Morgan’s handgun.

 

He could hear more gunfire before Morgan ran to him and shoved him back behind cover. When the Marine was sure Trigger was safe, he rushed to the Belkans side and dragged her limp body to safety as well.

Trigger looked at her, she was unresponsive and looked unnaturally pale. A bright red pool leaked from her lower abdomen, Morgan leaned close to her head and nodded. Trigger could see him say something, but it didn’t register.

 

Lauren had risked her life, and possibly died, to save Trigger from a stupid plan. I wanted to save everyone, but I probably just got us all killed instead.

 

Morgan said something else, but it all came as noise to the pilot. Morgan sighed, then slapped Trigger across the face hard. Trigger could taste copper in his mouth, and he spit up a wad of blood.

“Keep pressure on her wound!” Morgan barked.

Trigger nodded. And placed his hands on the center of the red splotch of her shirt. After a moment, he could still feel blood oozing from between his fingers.

“She’s still bleeding! What do I do?!”

“Fucking lean on it? Do anything to keep her from bleeding out!” Morgan yelled as he fired a few more shots at the attackers. The marine shook his head. “Down to the last mag; Any chance she still has that piece on her?” he asked.

Trigger turned her over briefly before shaking his head. He then placed his knee over her wound and leaned forward to apply pressure. Lauren yelled in pain briefly before becoming unresponsive again.

 

Well, that’s something. Trigger thought.

 

“What the fuck were you thinking anyway?” Morgan hissed.

Trigger shook his head. “Dunno, figured if I could get the rifle behind the bar, might give us a chance.” He said somberly, looking down at his wounded friend. “didn’t think anyone else would have to die.” He said softly.

 

Morgan pursed his lips “If they breach the building, we’re done for anyways. Let’s just hope our buddies hear about the shooting and send the cavalry.”

“Like what are you thinking?” Trigger asked.

 

Morgan shrugged. “Marine expeditionary unit would be nice, maybe a Spooky or ten. But frankly anything would help right now.” He replied.

 

The Gunfire subsided after a moment.

 

An early silence filled the air as well as the stench of gunpowder, smoke, and death.

 

Beyond the ringing of his ears, Trigger could pick out another noise. It seemed out of place.

 

“This is it.” Morgan growled. Trigger looked over his shoulder as two shadows approached the shattered front door. Morgan lined up his pistol for a final stand.

 

The foreign sound was louder now. More distinct. Trigger tried to place it, but with the ringing of his ears and the sudden sobriety and hangover from the adrenaline, he was coming up empty on what it was.

 

“Do you hear that?” Trigger asked.

 

The door swung open as three armed men entered the bar, the bright lights on the sides of their assault rifles sent shadows across the room. Trigger could hear them speaking in hushed tones as they searched for survivors.

 

Trigger’s heartbeat pounded as he waited for the inevitable. The foreign sound got louder, then it was followed by more gunfire.

 

It originated outside the bar, and not from the attackers position. Trigger watched as the three intruders were also caught off guard by the noise.

That’s probably a good sign.

 

There was a frantic voice crackling over a radio one of the intruders had, cut off by a bright explosion.

The foreign noise was deafening now, a distinct chop chop chop chop.

Trigger glanced to Morgan hopefully “I think our horsemen are here.”

The marine cracked a slight grin, “I hope your right.”

 

Trigger couldn’t see what was happening outside, but from the noise, a third party had arrived.

 

The three intruders quickly ran outside and opened fire. The battle seemed intense as flashes could be seen through the shattered pieces of wall of the bar, and as quickly as it had all begun, the gunfire once again ceased.

 

There was shouting outside. One set of voices was in a language Trigger couldn’t quite understand and was spoken with a harsh and thick accent. The other set of voices were more familiar to his ears.

 

Trigger could see a group of shadows huddle next to the door.

“Bellerophon!” a voice shouted from the group.

 

Morgan chuckled. “Medusa” standing up and holstering his weapon. Quickly, almost a dozen armed men rushed into the bar, Trigger could see some were Osean despite face coverings, but others reminded him of the photos of the Yuktobanian soldiers from the last war.

“We got a casualty here! Get us a medic!” Morgan yelled pointing to Trigger and Lauren. Without a word of protest one of the Oseans rushed over to the wounded Belkan.

 

“Any idea when she was hit?” The Osean who Trigger guessed was Hernandez asked.

Trigger shook his head. “Few minutes to half an hour ago?”

 

The Corpsman gave Trigger a puzzled look before turning his attention back to the wounded woman. “I need some light over here.”

“Is she going to be, OK?” Trigger asked. Hernandez ignored the question and ushered him off the wounded woman. One of the other soldiers Trigger didn’t recognize brusquely shoved Trigger to the side to aid Hernandez.

 

“What’s your status?” Fick asked Morgan.

The marine shrugged “Trigger and I are miraculously unharmed. She-“ he pointed a thumb at Lauren “-unfortunately got caught in the crossfire.”

 

“How’d you know we were in trouble?” Trigger asked.

Fick nodded and helped Trigger up off the floor and guided him and Morgan out of the bar. “We were screwed. A lot of it goes over my head but the Broker will explain when we get back.”

 

The parking lot looked like a warzone, burned out vehicles littered the front entrance, and the mysterious soldiers were dragging dozens of dead bodies into a large pile. Above Trigger could see three UH-1 ‘Hueys’ hovering above the shattered bar. Trigger couldn’t help but notice a yellow and red pentagon painted brightly on the aircrafts belly.  

Chapter 39

 THIRTY-NINE

Palmer looked at the footage on his laptop. Aside from the lights of the city and the HUD, there was very little orientation apparent from the mostly dark greyscale image.

“Hey, you wanna see what a dumbass is capable of?” asked a tinny voice over the laptops speakers.

“Son of a bitch!” cried out another pilot over the radio as something shot past the screen for a fraction of a frame

There was a strained breathing heard as the picture shifted to a 90-degree angle. Parts of the HUD lagged as the F-2A turned to follow the target. He watched as the HUD’s symbology changed as the fighters Radar locked onto the small aircraft. “I got him locked!” the voice of the Pilot flying boomed over the speaker.

“Shit, I’m too close. Two’s breaking off!” the other pilot reported. Palmer watched as the wingman’s F-2A pulled away from the aircraft, a white box outlining the jet marked ‘FRIENDLY’. The pilot maneuvered his plane for the shot as the enemy’s aircraft flew over the Anchor Bay Bridge.

The HUDs Symbology changed briefly until a mechanical growl was heard before it quickly changed into a high-pitched squeal. “Yokai One-One, Fox Two!” the pilot yelled. Palmer watched the target aircraft fly towards the Anchorhead Tunnel before a bright explosion was seen.

“Yokai One-One, Splash one.” The pilot reported, pulling the F-2A up from its attack.

Hitting the space bar, Palmer paused the video and turned his attention to the pilot sitting across from him. He sighed and steepled his fingers. “Captain Polarski, I hope you understand why we just watched this.”

The pilot solemnly nodded. “Yes sir. I had my fangs out and broke numerous rules of engagement, put the people of Anchorhead Bay at risk.”

Palmer nodded his head to the side at consideration of what the pilot had to say before continuing. “Normally Captain, yes I would be on you for that. But today that isn’t the case.” Palmer opened his briefcase and shoved a newspaper to the Pilot. “That aircraft you engaged wasn’t shot down.” He said, stabbing a finger into the picture on the front page.

“That’s impossible.” Polarski replied astonished.

“Evidently not. But don’t feel bad, there’s only like, a dozen or so people in the world who would pull off a stunt like that.” Palmer explained.

“But I had him dead to rights. Shit!” Polarski said tossing the paper down.

“Captain, is there anything else you can remember that the tapes don’t show?” Palmer asked, changing the subject. “Anything at all? Something out of the corner of your eye, Bad feeling, Anything you can remember.”

 

The pilot thought for a moment before shaking his head in defeat, “Aside from the jamming we already saw, no.”

Palmer jotted down a note and shook his head. “Thank you, Captain. Your dismissed.”

The Pilot nodded and made his way to the door. As he exited, a young woman entered. Her blond hair was tied up into a ponytail, and her black polo had the crest of the OADF Office of Special Investigations embroidered onto the breast. “Here’s the documents you requested sir.” She said, handing him a folder. She had been a last-minute replacement from OSI’s Headquarters, Lieutenant Melissa McKay was fresh from the Academy and had been sent to Palmer for her training in the Field as an unsworn Agent. While she was a pale replacement for Palmer’s deceased former partner, Baxter, he did have to admit she was more than capable of doing the groundwork of gathering information and was easy on the eyes to boot.

 

Palmer flipped through the dossier McKay had collected. “And this is the records from Air Traffic Control?” he asked.

“Yes sir. Unfortunately, when the incident began, any transponder signal, or radio communications we’re jammed. From what we gathered from local Police, we can identify which of these radar returns was their helicopters, leaving the last one as the target aircraft.” She explained, pointing out individual markings on the picture. She rifled through the stack until she pulled out one screen. The Time stamp was after the air-to-air engagement had ended.

Palmer studied the image for a second, Unlike the previous pictures, each radar target now had information associated with it, save for one. “So that unknown is our tunnel pilot?”

McKay nodded “Indeed. They egressed north into Erusea. Former successionist territory to be exact.”

 

Palmer frowned. “I see. It would line up.” He muttered. “What do you mean?” McKay asked.

 

Sighing, Palmer dug though his briefcase, pulling out two sets of images. One had been a photocopy of an all-points bulletin for the Gracemeria Police Department, dating to the beginning of February, with the photos and names of five men involved in a home invasion and murder. The second was stills from the CCTV in the Aurora Nightclub that had been attacked earlier in the week. He shifted both documents to the Lieutenant. “You think they’re related?” She asked incredulously.

 

Palmer nodded pointing to two pictures on the APB. One was of an older Asian man with the name of Thomas Nagase, and a younger white man named Kelly Johnson. “Take a close look. These two were in Emmeria seven months ago. The woman they killed? She was a known commander in the Free Erusea movement a decade and a half back. Now fast forward, they just so happen to attack a Nightclub that just so happens to have affiliations with those who armed the new Free Erusea movement? Do you honestly believe in coincidences Lieutenant?” Palmer explained. Without waiting for a reply, he continued.

 

“What I think? These guys were the first wave of those attacks we saw back in May. The new Free Erusea guard was tying up the old loose ends by killing the Butcher of San Marco, and then killing the guys who sold them the weapons in their ploy to kill the Princess.”

“But what about Three Strikes?” McKay asked.

Palmer frowned. “You’ve read his record. He’s always been flagged considering his family history. It was no surprise he went to prison the first time for Harling. Then with him working alongside the Radicals in Farbanti? I’m not surprised they got him out. He’s still useful to them evidently.” Palmer explained.

“The only thing I can’t figure out is, what does that bastard have to gain by helping them?” he muttered.

 

“What do you mean?” McKay asked.

 

“AFOSI has been trying to track this defector down since he got onto the Intelligence stage. Theres all these seemingly random attacks across Usea that’s been cropping up these past few months. His fingerprints are on each of the documents we manage to intercept. He’s been doing something, but what exactly?” Palmer elaborated.

***

Bandog looked out over the office. To the casual observer, the rows of cubicles resembled almost any other soulless corporate environment. It was for this reason it provided the perfect cover for what he needed to have done.

 

David heaved the two garbage bags of computer parts onto the conference table.

“Hey! Be gentle!” Bandog admonished.

“Sorry” David said sheepishly, taking a step back.

 

Standing in the conference room with the two men stood the relatively short, ginger haired Amber Gilbo. She stared at the pile of computer parts unimpressed, pushing her glasses higher onto her nose.

“Lemme guess, another rush job?” She asked.

Bandog nodded. “You know it.”

She sighed. “Well, Given you’re a repeat customer, We can get all this cataloged and over to you in-“She paused for a moment “- Four days, give or take.”

“That would be fine.” Bandog replied politely.

“Standard fees apply. Plus, you’ll be picking up the overtime costs and everything else involved. Will you want the bill now or later?” Amber asked.

“You know I’m good for the funds. I’ll have the money in your account at the time-of-service completion.” Bandog replied.

 

She rested her hands on her hips. “Fine. I’ll have them start on this right away.” She said dismissing the two men, ushering them through the cubicle rows towards the sterile, stainless-steel doors of the elevator. Jabbing the call button, she quickly walked back to the conference room to delegate the work ahead for her staff.

 

Bandog chuckled at the sight when the elevator chimed, and the doors slid open. A group of employees silently trudged their way past the two men, leaving them an empty elevator to ride to the lobby.  With the doors closing, the sounds of jazz muzak could be softly heard over the elevators speakers.

David cleared his throat. Shifting slightly, the closest Bandog ever saw to an uncomfortable reaction in the man.

“What is it?” Bandog asked.

“Well, I’ve been wondering. Why do you use these guys anyways?” He asked.

“Easy, when you look at a banks internal auditing staff, what are you expecting to see? Financial crime. Those interested would never suspect this forgotten department of the Bank of Centeral Usea to be involved in the trafficking of intelligence secrets.” Bandog explained.

“So how do you make sure that they won’t run their mouths off?” David asked.

“Simple, I just tell them that I would send you to deal with it. If you couldn’t tell, you freaked most of them out.” Bandog half-jokingly said.

“Charming. So that’s why its so hard to make friends now.” David said sarcastically.

“Whatever. You keep people in line, and I keep the lights on. That’s our lot in life.” Bandog said dismissively as the elevator came to a stop.

David pulled out and threw on a pair of sunglasses as he and Bandog exited the elevator into the Lobby of the Bank of Usea’s central office, the echo of their footsteps on the polished marble floors reverberating on the slate granite walls of the elaborately decorated and furnished room.

 

“So where to now boss?” he asked.

Bandog sighed “Airport. Need to run some tests on the Saab.”

“Alright Boss. Still don’t know why you needed to buy that thing anyways.” David remarked as they exited the building.

Bandog shrugged. “What can I say? Old habits die hard.” He replied.

***

Knocker walked into the air groups briefing room.

“Room, Tench-hut!” barked one of the pilots from the rear of the room.

“At ease.” Knocker replied dismissively waiving his coffee mug as the pilots returned to their seats. Knocker took his position at the head of the room behind a podium, awaiting him was a clipboard of papers that he flipped through. He took a sip of coffee as he read.

“This everyone Hades?” Knocker asked.

“Yes Sir.” The young Lieutenant replied.

“Ok who’s not here?” Knocker asked, not taking his eye off the roster.

“Just Athlete, but flight doc has him grounded for food poisoning.” Reported IRIS. Knocker smirked “How exactly do you get food poisoning in the second cushiest assignment in the military?” he asked rhetorically.

 

Knocker quickly went through the opening of his briefing checklist. The Mission was the same and had never changed since the first day they arrived to Selatapura five months prior. Mage and Golems entire job was to provide airborne security for the Space Elevator, a job once exclusively held by the Arsenal Birds until Osea’s shield had been turned against them.

 

The only change in the mission came with the one-year anniversary of the failed rescue of former President Harling. Knocker had just returned to the cockpit when, for some cruel joke, he was tapped to fly in the memorial formation. It disgusted him to even be assigned back to the sight of where his career had been destroyed by one idiot who thought he was hot shit. Seeing that same idiots face in Selatapura, when so many other better pilots survived had set Knocker over the edge. It was because of Trigger he had to be hard on the new pilots. Knocker had firsthand knowledge of how much damage a nugget could do without supervision.

 

Knocker snapped out of his trance as the airman from the bases weather group finished his potion of the briefing. Knocker returned to the stage. “Alright ladies and gents, terminal NOTAMS for the area are all the same. We are to continue enforcing the restricted area around the space elevator, Flight commanders can individually brief your routes later. Be advised, just got a new warning from Intel to all units in western Usea. Sounds like something is cooking in Erusea and they want us all on our A Game.”

 

One of the pilots raised their hand, It was IRIS. “Any indication what it might be?” she asked.

Knocker shrugged. “Didn’t say, my guess is to read the tabloids though. Sounds like it was political in nature, instead of another military uprising.” He replied.

 

“Moving on, the airport-“ Knocker continued his briefing. After what felt to the pilots like an eternity, the briefing concluded and the airmen were released to their duties for the day; Funneling out of the wooden shack that stood as their briefing building, making their way to their individual aircraft or back towards the hangars to prepare for their flights. As Knocker exited, he was hit with the hot summer air. While Selatapura was generally held at a comfortable temperature due to the sea, today it was unbearable.

“Jesus these flight suits don’t breathe for shit.” He muttered to himself.

Walking back towards his office, he could hear running from behind him.

“Ah, IRIS, something you need?” he asked cordially.

The young F-16 pilot nodded, taking only a second to catch her breath. “Yes Captain. I was wondering if there’s any news on us getting a chance at the training air space?” she asked.

 

Knocker frowned as he motioned her to follow him. “Sorry kid, every time it gets submitted, someone from higher up knocks it down.” He replied truthfully. What he didn’t add was his own suspicions on why. There was a rumor going around between the squadrons on strange events occurring over Chopinburg. Knocker prayed that they would remain rumors and that his pilots wouldn’t have to get involved. He had lost enough friends for a lifetime.

 

IRIS sighed, dejected. “I see Captain, thank you for trying though.”

“Don’t sweat it kid. You all have at least enough experience to survive combat. That’s all I, or anyone else can ask of you.” Knocker reminded her.

He watched the young officer crack a smile at the remark. It reminded him of another nugget he had trained and lost to the war.

 

One more folded flag and condolence letter. His mood soured at the thought. No more bullshit. No more folded flags or condolence letters. Not for these kids.

***

Colonel Mancuso read the report sent from Lieutenant Fick. His Cigar burned bright as smoke filled his office.

Major Stanton coughed slightly; lungs irritated from the acrid smell.

“Major. Am I reading that number correctly?” Mancuso asked.

“Yes sir. Three dozen noncritical injuries to civilians and local law enforcement. Another half a dozen civilians and law enforcement killed. Six dozen likely hostiles dead sir. Four in the target location, and then another two on the extraction, plus the pilots of those jets who engaged the Air Asset.” Stanton reported.

 

Mancuso took a puff from the cigar. “And they eliminated the target?”

“All but one sir. One of Troy’s subordinates was not in attendance. The team is currently gathering intelligence and should be executing on it shortly.” Stanton replied.

 

Mancuso chewed on the edge of the cigar. “what’s this operations body count so far?” he asked.

“Are we including the figures from the May attack?”

“Just direct action please.”

“North of two hundred.” Staton replied.

“My god.” Mancuso muttered. “So much for Plan 114 staying under the radar. Any indication that OIA has connected the dots?”

“Unknown since most of their targets are not ones that they keep their eyes on. Only reason this came to their attention was due to the massive movement of Cartel assets.” Stanton explained.

“I see. What is the word on the street?”

Stanton shrugged. “The only crime family that has the resources to pull this level of coordinated attack is the Yukes. They were one of the first to say it wasn’t them either. Which narrows it down to more official units like us to take the blame.”

“Has anyone linked it to Osea yet?”

Stanton shrugged. “Our contacts at the OIA are looking into it. Theres about half a dozen Yuke units that could pull it off. Emmeria has their Archangel unit. As well, not all the rats went down with the ship with the Free Erusea movement. Chasing down those leads might buy us just enough time for them to finish the job.”

***

Adams sat at the table in the compounds living room, working the slide on a M200 rifle that he had ordered. It was a specialized weapon, instead of the standard .408 Cheyenne Tactical round it had been chambered in, Adams and the other Basilisk Snipers had a run of the rifle’s chambered for 338 Lapua Magnum to simplify their logistics. While the round performance was comparable, it did also mean that the rifle tended to be frustrating with its availability of spare parts when things did break. As he gently adjusted the stock, he was startled to hear the slamming of a door and a rush of footsteps down the hallway. Seconds later Trigger appeared at the top of the staircase

 

“Where’s the fire?” Adams asked jokingly.

Trigger shot him a glare “Where the hell is Morgan?” he growled

Adams was taken aback “Not here – what’s up buddy?”

“I need to talk to that son of a bitch” Trigger replied, Adams could hear a blind rage in his voice.

 

Standing up, he closed the distance as Trigger made his way down the stairs “Come on, take a seat and we will talk this out.” Adams offered pointing to the couch.

“No, I need to talk to Morgan now!” Trigger repeated forcefully. Adams could see the pilot had something crumpled in his hand.

“Hey what do you have there?” Adams blurted out, reaching for the paper, in one quick motion Trigger forced the Marine to the side, stunning Adams momentarily, before storming out the front door.

“What the fuck?” Adams hissed to himself confused as he picked himself up. Trigger normally wasn’t violent, and Curt, like most of the marines in the team, had written Trigger off in a hand-to-hand fight.

 

Adams ran out the front door to see a cloud of dirt rolling its way down the main road. Desperately he looked around the main yard of the compound and found Kyle.

“Hey! what the hell was that?” Kyle shouted, as he ran over to Adams.

Adams shrugged and ran his hand through his hair astonished “No clue, he just snapped.”

“Well, he just stole our fucking truck.” Kyle noted. “You gotta be-“ Adams voice trailed off “Well we have to definitely tell the el-tee when he gets back. Probably should warn Morgan too, Trigger wanted to talk to him pretty badly.”

***

True to her word, Amber had the files delivered to Bandog’s secure server within four days. He didn’t mind her steep multi-million-dollar price tag. While the money helped keep her and her staff quiet, it also paled in comparison to how much he would make selling it to interested intelligence agencies around the world, not to include other law enforcement, and even rival gangs looking for an edge against the Machados.

 

“What do we have here?” Bandog muttered as he started to scroll through some of the documents Amber had highlighted for him on his tablet.

 

He chuckled as he read through the pages. It was obvious that Troy kept meticulous records of the Machado’s as leverage. Likely hoping that if the authorities apprehended him, he could be played off as a simple cog in the much larger machine of the organization, instead of an integral member. There was months’ worth of communications between Troy and the lower echelons of the organization, quotas, reports. If it hadn’t been for the added context of drugs, guns and violence, the reports could have easily been mistaken for belonging to any one of a hundred regular corporations.

Kicking his feet up on the coffee table, he finally found the files he was searching for.

“Alright Miss Park, let’s see who we’re dealing with.” Bandog said as he took a sip of coffee.

 

As he read, his blood start to cool. Frantically he opened other documents he had collected on the Machados. Searching to see if his theory had been correct.

 

In horror, he dropped his mug and the tablet.

“David!” he bellowed in a trembling voice.

“What is it boss?” David replied, running from the other room.

“I fucked up. We need to go. Now.” Bandog said as he picked up the tablet and punched in a command.

“How bad?” David asked.

“You still have the kitchen gun?” Bandog asked, motioning toward the counter.

“Of course.” David replied incredulous at the question.

“Grab it, leave your phone and tablets here.” Bandog ordered.

David nodded and quickly rushed over to the closet, he pulled out two plate carriers and chucked one to Bandog. “Probably better if we bring these too.” David quipped as he tore the sink cabinets door open, He leaned to the back of the cabinet and retrieved the rectangular P90 submachine gun.

Bandog clipping on the vest, reached under the coffee table, and pulled out his own handgun.

“Ok Boss, I’m ready to go.” David replied, cycling the charging handle to the snub-nosed bullpup.

Bandog checked the chamber of his own handgun, a Jericho 941, and nodded towards the door

“What about Amber and her team? Shouldn’t we warn them?” David said approaching the door cautiously.

Bandog shook his head “It’s probably too late to be any help anyways.” He said grimly “Lets go, Theres probably enough time to warn the Marines and Belkans.”

“And if there isn’t?” David asked.

Bandog sighed. “Then I guess I have a favor to cash in.”

***

Guzman sat alone unnoticed in the cab of his pickup truck as he monitored the exterior of his target

building from the parking lot. Over the past four days, he had become very familiar with the sight of the

bar. The yellow paint on the exterior of the bar had long since faded and was chipping, exposing the

brick that laid underneath. The sign that hung above the door was not faring any better, the wood had

long since begun to rot and warp in the brutal humidity of Chopinburg.

 

The sun had just set over the region when a lone pickup truck pulled into the crowded parking lot of the bar. He watched as the lone occupant turned off the engine and climbed out of the vehicle; From his stance it was obvious that he was military, likely one of the dime a dozen deserters that Gioiello Verde looking for mercenary work. He pulled out the picture he was given. The grainy photo was from a CCTV Camera from a gas station. He held the photo up as he watched the man make his way into the bar. Guzman had seen enough.  He pulled out his flip phone and hit speed dial. The phone rang twice before the line opened.

 

“Soy yo, dile a la hermanita que está aquí.” he said quickly. Its me, tell Little Sister he’s here.

There was a pause

 

“ve con Dios.” Before the line went dead.

Chapter 38

 THIRTY-EIGHT

Trigger watched through the FLIR pod as the massive helicopter hovered over the target building. A wavering jet of exhaust from the turbines glowed white in the image before being thrashed around in the rotor wash. Almost immediately, Trigger could see the small grey blobs of Basilisk descend onto the roof and go about their mission, and as quickly as the helicopter arrived, it took off over the stadium across the street. He took a look at his watch and quickly jotted down the time.

“Lifting, five personnel inserted. Returning to holding area.” Lauren reported over the radio.

 

Even without the aid of the sensors, he could see the flood of people evacuating the building.

 

His job from this point was now more overwatch than close air support, and while important, was boring as hell to him.

 

He looked across the bay. He’d been to Anchorhead twice prior. First time was with the LRSSG to disrupt an Erusean staging area to prepare for the Farbanti invasion, and the following time was the ultimately fruitless escort of an Erusean General.

Intel screwed the pooch with that one.

 

The city looked different, now nearing a year since the fighting had subsided. No longer was the sky filled with anti-air shells and the ground being shaken by poorly aimed explosives. Trigger turned his attention to his radio; As far as the local air traffic control was concerned, the Longsword was no more than one of the dozens of survey flights that flew along the bay constantly. In the water, he could see the red lights of the navigation buoys outlining the sunken vessels. He couldn’t help but draw his own comparisons to his own experience years prior.

***
The air raid sirens blared in the distance below. Black smoke belched from the bay as hundreds of contrails filled the skies.

He looked through binoculars at the burning hulls, most of the ships didn’t even leave port before they were hit. Others had crewmen evacuating as their fuel bunkers lit aflame and exploded. One lone aircraft carrier, tucked away in the furthest portion of the harbor started to trudge its way forward, sidestepping her fallen comrades.

 

There was a deafening roar above him. A Tomcat shot past going impossibly fast, followed by another three smaller, sleeker F-5 Tigers.

 

He looked in vain to see the tail markings, possibly for any squadron of the Barbet, but the fighters were long out of sight. Taking a sigh, he set the binoculars down to watch the chaos unfold from a distance.

***

Trigger shook his head and checked his watch. Should be wrapping up soon. He thought to himself. The gunfire over the radio had subsided quickly, there was one minor injury but none of the Oseans were seriously hurt or worse. Trigger could see from all over the city as flashing lights descended on the entertainment district.

 

“Archer 15, Lancer. Do you have visual on the LZ?” The CH-53 pilot asked.

Trigger quickly slewed the pod over across the bay to the park. The small empty spot along the water in the industrial zone of the city. As expected, the minor police presence that patrolled the region had been called away across the bridge which would allow the CH-53 to land relatively unnoticed.

“Lancer, Archer, LZ is Ice, you should be the only ones.” Trigger reported.

“Copy Archer, will be nice to be able to stretch our legs for a moment or two.” Lauren replied.

 

There was the sound of squealing tires that filled the radio, “Magus has linked up with Assassin, we’re oscar mike.”  Fick replied.

“Copy Magus.” Trigger replied.

The plan was to fight their way onto the highway, and from there, head through the financial and industrial districts and exfil at Grunder Park. Triggers entire job was to harass anyone following the Marine’s vehicle. He frowned at the irony of the situation. Trigger tapped on the Longswords SA display until it highlighted their BLUFOR tracker, a small blue diamond appeared in his display as the FLIR locked onto their vehicle.

“Magus, Archer, be advised, two vehicles on your six, closing.” Trigger reported.

“Archer, Rider 1-3, Vehicles are local law enforcement. Will need a show of force pass. Inbound from the west” Morgans voice crackled over the radio. It wasn’t a proper nine-line but it was close enough for Trigger to get the idea.

“Understood. Archer inbound.” Trigger reported.

With the stick, he selected the GAU-19 gunpod on the right wing; rolling the plane abeam the fleeing Marines, he advanced the throttle. Building up speed he started a climbing right turn over the bay, before rolling the Longsword over to the left and descending towards the city. Swinging the Air Tractor wide, he set himself up two miles ahead of the Marines. The helmet display showed a small reticle for the gun target.

He took a breath and exhaled resting his finger on the trigger.

The Basilisk van shot past the reticle, then he squeezed the trigger for less than a heartbeat. A handful of rounds belched from the pod, erupting the asphalt between the police and the Oseans. Trigger pulled up on the stick and away from the city below.

“Archer, Rider, we have broken contact. Getting onto the expressway now.” Morgan reported.

It took them a moment before the car made the turn north into the towering financial district of the city.

 

“Magus, this is Lancer, be advised, we’re seeing a lot of movement around the LZ, all of it heading your way.” Lauren reported.

“Understood, if it’s too hot, depart and wait for our signal.” Fick ordered.

“Wilco.” Lauren responded.

Trigger keyed up his radio “If its OK with you, I can break off and take a look.” He offered.

There was a brief pause. “Archer your cleared off.”  Fick replied.

 

It was less than a minute before he closed the distance towards the industrial district. Like the Helicopters crew had indicated, there was a convoy inbound towards the Marines. Trigger locked the pod on one of the vehicles. It was a pickup truck, and a group of men piled hap hazard in the rear. Slewing to the second vehicle, he could see something mounted within the bed.

“Magus, Archer, have sight on unknowns. Look to be half a dozen technical. Do not appear to be law enforcement.” Trigger reported.

“Archer, you are -“ The radio clicked to static.

Trigger called over the radio “Archer did not copy, say again?”

 

Silence.

 

Trigger blinked. All markers in his helmet had vanished.

 

ECM? Trigger thought to himself as he tried to troubleshoot his equipment, all the while his eyes scoured the sky for any hint of the culprit.

 

Something glittering in a passing skyscraper window caught his eye. Turning over his shoulder he could see the long tail on an afterburner high above the city.

Throwing the throttle forward he nosed the Longsword into a dive towards the deck, levelling off at less than two hundred feet, racing past the small yachts and sail boats that filled the shallower edges of the harbor.

 

Hesitantly, he switched his MFD to the stores display. To his chagrin, the large X across his few weapons confirmed his suspicions. It was exactly the signature of the Colibris fighters that he had encountered in his escape from Farbanti, and who had costed dozens of pilots their lives.   

 

He sighed in frustrating as he flipped his kneeboard to the checklist, gently tucked into a plastic sheet, however ‘checklist’ was too deserving of a title for what Trigger had. It was a Post-it note that some mechanic had hastily scribbled the activation sequence for the Air Tractors direct fire control system. Using a small pen light around his neck, he found and pulled the breaker for the FCS, flipped the power switch to the box next to his knee and his MFD blinked, before entirely blacking out.

 

“Fuck!” Trigger hissed, as he hastily checked his engine gauges and controls, as he did, the Aircrafts avionics glowed with the Garmin logo, and slowly data repopulated across the display. Trigger laughed in astonishment. Banking the Air tractor into the man-made canyon of the financial district, he checked his weapons stores page.

 

Most of the engineering of the DFCS went over Triggers head, however he was able to understand the basics. By design it was a ‘dumb’ system, which meant that all he had full access to was the gun and any self-guided munitions. He would have to go without his FLIR, HUD or the CCIP for ordinance, as well as losing any of the aircrafts onboard support equipment for the weapons; However, he was not left entirely blind. Leaning forward he hit a button on the side of the HUD. Slowly a green circle with a dot appeared in the center of the display. He grinned as he dived towards the Marines vehicle racing down the expressway.

 

“Archer, Engaging bandits” Trigger called out onto the jammed frequency.

He squinted down to his Airspeed indicator; he was reading close to 210 knots. Screaming past the Marines, he started to close the distance on his target. Up ahead, starting a blockade, was the unknown technicals. To give the Marines fair warning, Trigger pickled off a few flares to the road below.  

 

It was another Show-of-force pass, but he wasn’t willing to tip his hand just yet. As he crossed over the blockade, Trigger pulled up and popped off more countermeasures in the off chance one of the hostiles had a MANPAD.

 

“Come on you bastards, take the bait” Trigger growled to himself as he climbed the Air Tractor higher into the sky.

***
The sound of the turbine engine was deafening as Trigger’s plane screamed over the van.

“What the fuck is he doing!?” Dennings yelled in astonishment as he struggled to keep the van on the road.

Morgan uncomfortably braced himself on the side of the van ripping open the pouch on his vest and retrieving a fresh magazine “Probably figured out we’re being jammed. Might be rolling in on those vehicles himself.” He said calmly as he seated the magazine into his rifle.

“Fuck my ears! He couldn’t do it quieter?” Dennings asked.

“Your fault for not wearing Ear pro.” Adams Chastised as he shuffled towards the back of the van.

“Hold it, he just popped flares right up ahead. Can we get off any sooner?” Fick asked.

Dennings shook his head “No, we just missed our last turn off for another mile or two.”

Morgan could hear the Lieutenant curse under his breath “Alright, we’re going to have to push through this.”

“Because us bypassing the ambush is what they expect us to do, right?” Kyle asked sarcastically.

“Exactly, They’re not professionals, clearly.” Haver replied grinning.

“Morgan, get the signal flare ready.” Fick ordered.

“Sir?” Morgan said hesitantly.  “Worse case scenario we have to rappel from the overpass and hoof it, I want the Helicopter in the air and giving us as much top cover as they can.” Fick explained.

Morgan nodded and quickly produced a bright red flare gun, popping the breech open he tossed in a shell.”

“Here it is! Get ready!” Dennings yelled.

***

Trigger searched the sky for the bandits, cursing the lack of visibility Air Tractor provided. He rolled the plane over and prepared for another pass, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw the rocket motor screaming towards his plane. Continuing the roll, he pulled back on the stick and released countermeasures, the airframe groaned as the added G forces threatened to rip the various pods from the wings. The missile passed through the flares, overshooting, and exploding on impact with the water below.

“That’s one” Trigger said to no one in particular.

 

Trigger leveled off and started his turn towards the Bandit. He had no hope in taking the Bandit on with BFM alone, but he had a plan. An incredibly stupid plan, but a plan none the less.

 

He watched the bandit’s afterburner roar as they turned in on Triggers aircraft. Screaming towards the merge, Trigger kept the throttle to the firewall and selected his Sidewinder missiles, rapidly warming without the argon agent to cool the seekers. A low growl filled his ears. To his frustration, the seeker’s tone remained steady, unable to lock onto the bandit. Trigger waited until he could see the silhouette of the bandit clearly and then pulled the Longsword into a rolling jink maneuver. The shock cone of the afterburner was blinding in the night as it passed by the windows of his aircraft. Leaning over his shoulder, Trigger could see the bandit had pitched up into a high yo-yo maneuver, putting the less agile Air Tractor onto the defensive.  Trigger grinned. Right where I want you, asshole.

Looking up over the hills that bisected the city, Trigger could see another afterburner trail burning in the night.

“So, your buddy’s staying out of the fight? Too bad.” Trigger remarked.

Trigger turned his attention over his shoulder, feeling blind with the lack of visibility and a disabled missile approach warning system. Losing sight of the bandit, he pulled the fighter into a high bank turning climb towards the city. It was a gamble since it bled off the little excess energy the plane could carry, but it would allow him a chance to return to the fight. A rooster tail of water caught his eye as he could see the bandit dive low to get a missile shot onto his aircraft. Trigger watched as the missile rocket motor flared to life and peeled towards his plane impossibly fast.

Only got one shot at this.

Trigger hit his stores release button, dropping the Sidewinders and few Hellfires he had attached to his hard points. Feeling the weight dissipate from the aircraft, he rolled the plane over and pulled hard towards the city below causing the second missile to overshoot. Trigger pulled up, his landing gear just barely missing the rooftops of the buildings below. He exhaled.

“That’s two.” He spoke.

***
“Was zum Teufel macht dieser Dummkopf?” What in the hell is that fool doing? Lauren asked rhetorically. From the Helicopters hiding spot in the park, She could see the entire dogfight play out, illuminated by the green glow of her night vision goggles.

“Ich glaube, er versucht aktiv, sich umbringen zu lassen” I think he's actively trying to get himself killed. Her husband remarked.

“wie lange bis zum bingo?” How long until Bingo? Lauren asked changing the subject.

“Zwanzig minutin mein Schatz.” Twenty minutes my darling. Ben replied sweetly, causing her to smirk.

Lauren keyed the radio “Magus, this is Lancer, what is your status?” she asked.

Waiting for a moment, she heard nothing.

“Scheiße! Diese Schwanzlutscher jammen uns immer noch!” Those cocksuckers are still jamming us! She hissed in frustration.

 

Suddenly, her crew chief Erwin rushed into the cockpit. “Shau da!” He yelled pointing out the window. Faintly over the rooftops of the crowded financial district, was a bright red burning flare that was rapidly descending.

It only meant one thing, the Oseans were in trouble.

“Zeit für Revy!” Lauren ordered Erwin. Nodding he rushed to one of the many duffle bags the crew kept behind the cockpit as Ben and Lauren lifted the helicopter off, racing towards the flares location. Over Erwin’s intercom, she could hear the Kerchunk, Kerchunk, Kerchunk, as he loaded the shells into one of the many parting gifts the trio had taken in their unannounced retirement from Belkan military service.

“Revy ist fertig!” Erwin reported as they descended into the financial district.

 

On the main expressway cutting through the heart of the city, Lauren could two blockades erected opposite each other. One one side, was the police, on the other the insurgents who had engaged the Oseans. In between was a shot up white van, and dozens of other cars. Tracers soared through the air as Police and another force dueled in the middle of the city. Lauren frowned as she pushed the thought of those trapped inside the vehicles out of her mind.

“Ich hoffe, wir sind nicht zu spät" I hope we’re not too late. She prayed to herself as she descended onto the scene, staring a pedal turn for the rear Cargo door to face the carnage.

She didn’t need to look over her shoulder to see what happened next.

 

Erwin calmly walked to the open door and took a knee. He shrugged briefly before he shouldered the M41 pump action grenade launcher, affectionately referred to as ‘Revy’ by the Belkans who used her.
He took his time adjusting the leaf sight at the front and gauging if the downwash of the rotor blades would affect the trajectory. Satisfied, he took aim and pulled the trigger, firing with a satisfying sound.

thump.

Too late, the Insurgants had only just taken notice of the helicopter over the gunfire when the first two-pound shell of high explosives hit their position. A large explosion sent shrapnel and debris flying everywhere, damaging the other vehicles in the blockade and killing many of the insurgents unlucky enough to be within the blast radius. Erwin racked the slide and took aim. Another thump and moments later another technical exploded. Seconds later, a group of insurgents exploded as Erwin lobbed a 40mm grenade into their formation. A final grenade sent the last armed technical exploding, fragmenting and shredding the unprotected insurgents. Sparks started to fly as some of the survivors had started to take aim against the helicopter. Calmly, Erwin walked back and returned with another parting gift. He clipped a bungie cord to a ring on the roof of the cargo Bay, he lifted the heavy M60 machine gun into place, Satisfied, he took his time and aimed. In large sweeping motions, Erwin raked the positions of the survivors until the ground fire had stopped. The Armor piercing 7.62 had cut through the aluminum and steel mercilessly.

“Du bist jetzt startklar” Your clear to land now. Erwin reported as he talked Lauren down, hovering just above the cars cluttering the roadway below.

Erwin sat with his feet dangling from the cargo door as he watched heads hesitantly pop up from behind the scattered cars.

“Eins, Zwei, drei, vier… Funf! Ich habe Funf Oseans!” Erwin yelled excitedly, tossing a small rope ladder to the beleaguered force.

 

Moments later, the Osean Marine Lieutenants head popped into the cockpit. “Damn, I never thought I’d be happy to see a Belkan!” He said smiling.

“Well don’t be happy just yet, we’re still being jammed, and we still have to get out of here.”

Fick nodded. “We have everything we came for, just get us out of here.” He replied.

 

“Fünf an Bord, bereit zum Abheben” Five on board, ready to take off Erwin reported.

 

As the CH-53 took off towards the North and out of the city, Lauren looked to the dogfight still raging overhead.

“Viel glück du verrückter Mistweib.” Lauren said quietly as they departed to safety.

***

Captain Samantha Harrison sat in the Gardos Air Base command post as the overnight officer on duty. It was a deathly boring assignment, but even those on the fast track in the Air Defense Force had to pay their dues occasionally. Absent mindedly scrolling through her emails, one of the bases phones rang. She hesitated in picking up, just incase it was another drunk looking for a pizza delivery and getting a military installation instead.

The Airman on duty sighed, put his magazine down and answered the phone.

“Gardos Air Base Command Post, Senior Airman Wilkerson speaking, how may I help you?” He asked annoyed.

Harrison noticed his demeanor changed as he heard the caller.

“Uh-huh… Yeah… Ok.” He muttered in response as he quickly jotted down notes on a piece of paper.

“Do you mind if I put you on a brief hold sir?” Wilkerson asked hesitantly before muting the phone.

“What is it?” Samantha asked.

Wilkersons facial expression was that of confusion “Ma’am, are you aware of any sorties tonight around Anchorhead?”

Samantha thought for a moment and shook her head. “None off hand. Why?”

“Well, that was the Anchorhead Police Department. They’re calling for Air Support.”

Samantha chuckled “They know we can’t get involved in a foreign civil matter.”

“Yeah… that’s the thing… he said theres a Dogfight happening right now.” Wilkerson said hesitantly.

“The fuck? Are you sure this isn’t a prank call?” Samantha asked.

“Didn’t sound like it ma’am.” Wilkerson replied.

 

Samantha sighed and pulled up the phone directory. She dialed out to one of the few people who would know what was happening.

A tinny voice came over the line “Fourth Fighter Squadron, Lieutenant May speaking, how may I help you?”

Samantha gulped “This is Captain Harrison at the Command post; I need to speak with the ops officer now.”

“Well Ma’am, Major Lehto has left for the evening-”

“Then fucking wake him up!” Samantha yelled.

There was a pause before another voice got on the line

“This is Colonel Hayden. What can I help you with?”

Without pausing, Samantha explained the situation that was passed through. The Colonel listened intently, only interrupting to clarify information.

“-So that’s the situation Sir.” Samantha reported.

 

There was a pause on the line.

 

“Let him know we’re enroute.” The Colonel replied before hanging up.

***

Based on the intel that Bandog had provided him, He was reasonably certain the unknown jets were limited on their ordinance, with the prevailing theory being that they only carried two missiles, but like with everything else on the jet, it was largely uncharted territory in fighting them. Starting a turn towards the waterfront of the city, he took inventory on what he had left. One gun pod and the FLIR pod.  Not great, not terrible.

He weaved through the buildings until he was over the freeway. Flying over he could only see billowing black plumes of smoke from burning cars that littered the roadway. He didn’t see any movement or gunfire.

Gotta get the jamming to stop. Trigger thought to himself as he pushed the other questions out of his mind. He climbed over the rooftops and searched for the bandits jets. A swift movement caught his eye as he watched one of the jets Diving down to position themselves for a shot at his airplane.

Now you join the fight. Trigger smirked, gently adding power he started to weave when tracer rounds danced across his canopy.

“Fuck!” Trigger yelled as he rolled the Air Tractor onto its side and yanked the stick back to jink away from the cannon fire, the nose pitched back then slumped forward, the stick vibrated as the plane stalled from the violent motion. Rapidly, he cut his throttle to idle and slammed the stick to the forward stop. After what felt like an eternity, the nose dropped, and he watched his airspeed indicator wind back up. “I needed a fucking AoA sensor Bandog!” Trigger hissed as he dived the Longsword away from the oncoming fighters. Doing the only thing he could think of, he got low to the ground, the top of the smokestacks of the industrial district passing above his plane.

Running out of energy, Trigger made a climbing rolling turn over his right shoulder. Rapidly losing their chance to shoot at him, a slurry of gun rounds flew towards Trigger from the closest bandit. Trigger looked up and watched the second bandit rolling in behind the first. Unlike last time, he wouldn’t have the chance to correct with a turn that easily.

 

It was the perfect shot, and the bandit took it.

The Missile ignited and raced towards the diminutive Air Tractor. Trigger slammed his throttle forward, pulling the stick to its rear stop. Straining with the sudden onset of G-forces he flipped open the red safety switch cover and depressed the button.

 

For a moment, the sky of Anchor Bay was illuminated as bright as the day when fifty decoy flares and glittering chaff rained from the sky. The dazzling sight was immediately interrupted by the sound of an explosion in the middle of the display.

 

The Longsword fell end over end towards the ground. Remembering his training, Trigger idled the throttle and kept the stick forward, praying he still had enough of an airplane left to fly. Within a second and a few thousand feet, the Plane arrested its cartwheel and returned to controlled flight.

 

Trigger did a quick control check before breaking out into jubilant laughter.

Can’t pull that trick off twice!

By his best guess, the Missile had only detonated just under his aircraft.

He looked out towards his wing and switched on his remaining weapon. He caught sight of one of the Bandits.

“Ok, you’ve had your fun. Now its my turn.” He said grimly. 

 

The Missile Bandit was pulling away at full afterburner, too fast for Trigger to catch up. He turned his attention to the first jet. He was in perfect position for what Trigger wanted.

Making a wide sweeping turn, He could see the Bandit roll in for his attack. Trigger knew that this time, the Bandit would wait until he was certain Trigger was in a position that he would not be able to jink away from. Trigger was counting on this reaction as he pulled the fighter over the water.

 

He grinned wildly in anticipation.

 

It didn’t take long before he saw the first tracer graze his Wing. He pulled the throttle back to the stop, then sliding it sideways, he threw the prop into beta range. With the rapidly decreasing airspeed, he yanked back on the stick; The nose of the aircraft lifted to almost straight up climbing slight. He pushed the throttle to full thrust and slammed hard on the right rudder pedal. Violently the plane snap-rolled over the right wing.  

He held down on the gun trigger as the planes nose arced towards the ground. The pipper’s dot resting on the nose of the enemy bandit.

While the 50 BMG lacked the generalized aircraft stopping power the 20mm Trigger was used to, the few hundred exploding armor piercing rounds the Longsword delivered made quick work of the bandit as the bullets detonated along the cockpit, wing spar and engine of the enemy fighter. The Fuel captured in the tanks engulfed the twisted and torn wreckage as it plunged towards the water below.

 

Trigger recovered from the dive and turned towards the second bandit, who had already turned back towards Trigger’s aircraft.

 

Trigger rested his pipper’s marker on the nose of the rapidly approaching airplane. It was a high aspect shot for both pilots.

 

Slowly, the radio crackled to life “Yokai Flight, Leads in. Two, cover.” A voice said over the radio.

Triggers determination rapidly fell into confusion as the Bandit broke off into a high climb. The Missile flew out from the belly of the aircraft before the jet exploded.

Trigger looked up over his left shoulder where bandit had fired towards and saw two silhouetted fighters. Trigger wasn’t sure what their type was but was glad for the help. He rocked his wings in thanks.

 

“Splash One, Two, engage second bandit.” The voice ordered.

Second bandit? Is there another one?

He was answered when one of the silhouettes dived on him.  

“You Schwanzlutscher!” Trigger yelled in frustration as he dived towards the city.

***

It was early in the morning when the two pilots of the 4^th Tactical Fighter Squadron “Raging Oni’s” had received the scramble orders. Led by Captain Daniel “Bear” Polarski with Captain Rick “Pickle” Lehman following in trail, the two men clambered into their lightly armed F-2A ‘Viper Zero’s and took off across the bay for the quick flight to the Anchorhead region. Once at altitude, it didn’t take them long before they could see the lights of the city along the shore. The Bay Tunnel twinkling as the lone strand connecting the halves of the city together.

“Local police forces reported three aircraft in the area, all who had fired on them. According to Air Traffic control, there’s no friendly fixed wing assets in the area, however there are some Police helicopters. Let’s bracket them for the ID.” Bear ordered.

“Two Copies” Pickle replied.

Bear turned on the Zero’s Air-to-air search radar, to his surprise, it showed nothing in the city.

Moments later Pickles voice was heard over the radio. “Lead, I’m unable to get a lock on anything in the area.”

“I’m seeing the same thing. Well, no matter, we’re only loaded with Sidewinders anyways. We’ll just have to get closer and-“Bear was cut off by a bright ball of light over the bay.

“Holy Shit!” Pickle exclaimed. “Focus! We need to get in there and secure that airspace!” Bear reprimanded his wingman.

“Two!” Pickle replied quickly.

Bear eased the throttle forward into afterburner. He could see the city in detail when the second fireball shot out from the sky.

“Yokai One-one, I have a fireball.” Bear reported

“Lead, I have two bandits, looks to be going for a merge.” Pickle reported.

“Yeah, I got it.” Bear replied.

Momentarily, the radar picked up the targets. “Ok I got one fast mover and one slow mover, I’ll engage the first one, and you get the second.” Bear ordered.

“Two!” Pickle acknowledged.

As he crossed over the Anchor Bay bridge he rolled into the merge on top of the fast mover, who had broke off towards the Viper. A dull growl turned into a high-pitched screech as the Sidewinders seekers locked onto the Bandit.

“Yokai Flight, Leads in. Two, cover.” Bear ordered.

“Smoke in the air!” Pickle yelled.

Bear hit the pickle button on his stick and dispensed counter measures. “Fox two!” he yelled.

Bear watched as the enemy fighter exploded. “Splash One, Two, engage second bandit.” He ordered calmly.

He watched Pickle roll in for a guns strafe onto the second slower target. He watched a quick belch of fire from the shoulder of the Zero as tracers descended on the Bandit. The slower target jinked away and flew towards the city.

“Let’s not let our quarry get away. Form up on me and we’ll re-engage.” Bear spoke.

***
Trigger swerved the Longsword between the buildings, attempting to terrain cover his aircraft from the unknown interlopers.

Lieutenant Fick’s voice crackled over the radio.

“Archer to Magus. Respond if you can hear this.”

Trigger chuckled “glad to hear your voice, what’s your status?”

“Fine, linked up with Lancer and have exfil’d out of the AO.”

One of the Interlopers voices crackled over the radio “Gardos, appears bandits are on secure channels, Switch to Cardinel Three.”

“No Fun.” Fick remarked “Archer, Disengage and rendezvous at the fragged location.” Fick ordered.

Trigger didn’t acknowledge but was aware of the next steps.

With the threat of the Cartel’s jets at bay, he turned his Fire control system back on. To his dismay, he was down almost all of his munitions. He had thrown away all his countermeasures his last-ditch attempt. Regardless, Trigger was painfully aware that his only chance was to break off his contact with the professional fighters.  

As Trigger flew through the city, he could see the jets shoot across the sky. They had followed him and were trying to box him in for an easy kill. From the tactics he narrowed it down to either the FCU or Osean fighters, with his money leaning on them being his countrymen.

As the tall glass skyscrapers passed by, dozens of feet from his Wingtips. Trigger got another idea.

 

He punched 243 mhz into the radio and called out.

 

“Hey, you guys wanna see what a dumbass is capable of?” He taunted as he climbed the Longsword over the safety of the buildings. One of the jets passed within a hundred feet of him and quickly engaged its afterburner and climbed away. Immediately his RWR started chattering as the Oseans had locked onto his aircraft with their radars.

 

He eyed his target and made a direct line towards it.

 

The chattering increased as he watched the two Osean fighters close on his position from his situational awareness display. He aligned himself over the express way past the Anchor Bay Bridge. A Rapid beeping indicated they had fired a missile at him.

 

Trigger squinted. The yellowed concrete entrance of the Anchorhead bay tunnel was his only port of safe harbor left. He took a sharp breath as he crossed the threshold.

Time slowed as the sound of the explosion was amplified across the tile interior of the tunnel. Debris fell and lights flickered as Trigger struggled to maintain control of the Longsword in the confined space. Any hiccup and he was dead instantly. The cockpit was filled with a strobing flashes of sickening yellow light as the plane roared underneath the sodium vapor fixtures at a break-neck speed. Anticipating the chicane in the road, he rolled the plane over onto its right, then rapidly to its left. He swore as he felt the wheels of the landing gear scrape the tile siding of the tunnel. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he rolled forward to the exit.

Within a heartbeat, he was free. The RWR Remained silent.

“Archer fifteen naked” he reported. “Enroute to fragged location.” He added as he flew north towards their planned airfield in Erusea.

Checking his fuel, he was astonished. Once again, he wouldn’t be landing on an empty tank, but he would only have moments of fuel to spare.

***

The flight back into Chopinburg from the refueling airport had been uneventful. As Trigger had anticipated, Arrangements for post combat maintenance was already made in advance when Fick reported what had happened to Bandog. After landing at the predetermined airport Trigger joined the Beleaguered team in the back of the Helicopter. The only one he could tell was awake when he climbed onboard was Fick, with the rest of the Marines secured to the net seating and fast asleep.

It was mid-day by the time the helicopter crested the hills to the compound. As the rotors spun down, Trigger could see Bandog already awaiting them on the ramp.

Trigger shakily stood up and walked out to greet him. “Of what do we have the pleasure?” Trigger asked sarcastically. Bandog tossed him a newspaper. It was written in Erusean, He was very rusty with the few words he picked up from

Cossette, alongside another man. Trigger made a mental note to read the article later but he was happy to see her smiling.

the Second and third articles Trigger couldn't make heads or tails of, however the fourth article caught his eye.

 

Le retour de Trois Grèves?

 

“Return of Three Strikes?” Trigger asked hesitantly.

Bandog remained stoic “Exactly. My contacts in Osean Military Intelligence are just about shitting themselves because they had written you off as dead; if not officially, Others think this was some daredevil copycat.” He reported.

"Where was this written?" Trigger asked, struggling to read what was written about the engagement.

"Axel Bay Gazette, But it’s been picked up by almost every paper in the continent, and even republished in Oured Daily and the Bana Press" Bandog explained.

"Wow, guess I get around. Kinda blows our cover though, doesn't it?" Trigger asked.

“We’ll see. If nothing else, it showed those bastards who bloodied their nose last night.” Bandog said, flashing a slight grin.

 

"Wait, I thought you said they had already lost aircraft?" Trigger asked

 

"Yes, I did, By our count about eight. Six of which were likely Erusean Pilots who just got the airframes that morning. The only victories we got, was either through pilot inexperience on their end, or sheer fucking firepower. It took a Carrier Air Wing to kill two of them with what I believe are experienced, if not sloppy, crews. In your case it was still a flight of F-15's to get them off your ass, so at a minimum for a victory we need 2:1 split with Gen four aircraft or better." Bandog sighed.

"But Last night? Last night you took on two, by yourself, in a goddamn glorified farm tractor and kicked their ass, but not only that, made a fucking spectacle out of doing it, after we had just kicked their front door in! Everyone is going to know Three Strikes is back, even if they don’t want to believe it, because there may be only half a dozen other guys as batshit enough as you are to try to do that. This was the first lopsided defeat they have had. We can only see if they’re going to learn from it.” Bandog said

 

“So, any idea who this Lisa Park chick is?” Fick asked walking up from behind Trigger.

“Who’s that?” Trigger asked.

“The only target we missed last night.” Fick said annoyed.

Bandog scratched his chin. “Nothing came up on what I was searching through when you called. Hopefully, there’s something in those hard drives you recovered to point us in the right direction.” Bandog explained.

“They’re all yours.” Fick invited, pointing over his shoulder to the bags secured in the corner of the helicopter.

***

Cossette stared at the picture attached to the document.

It was a grainy CCTV photo from inside the Anchorhead Bay Tunnel. It was some prop airplane, but adorning the tail was three white stripes. The document had been one forwarded to her by those sympathetic to her in the Erusean Intelligence Service. It was a detailed after-action report by two Osean fighter pilots who had encountered a mysterious dogfight above the city the night prior. Local police were stumped and chalked it up to a crescendo to a brash terrorist incident relating to a string of other events that occurred earlier in the night

What are you doing Trigger? Was all she could think about.

a knock on her bedroom door broke her from her trance.

“Come in.” she said wearily.

 

He walked in, adjusting the cuff link on his dress shirt. “Well, I’m ready for the announcement, are you Rosa?”

 

She scowled and folded the paper neatly back into the envelope. “Since when did you start getting so friendly?” she growled.

 

Alex made an over dramatized hurt expression “Well you did agree to the terms of the deal.”

 

“wasn’t like I was given much of a choice.” Cossette mumbled under her breath as she fixed her makeup in the mirror.

 

Alex smirked “That’s better. Media will love this.”