Elincia's Story

PA Announcement: Urgent! All personnel scramble immediately! This base is under air and sea attack! I repeat, all personnel scramble immediately! This is a drill!

The sirens and alarms of an air raid blared throughout the base's halls and rooms, shrieking at the top of their mechanical lungs as they transformed the previously peaceful base into an ocean of chaos. Right and left people were running to and fro as they searched for their respective gathering sites and took up their positions to prepare for the drill. Everyone on the base, save for very few individuals, treated drills like this very seriously. The top brass at the bass, including Commander McGavin, were pleased with how many of their personnel were serious and focused on maintaining such devotion to their duties.

Elincia had been asleep until the obnoxiously loud sirens promptly woke her to full attention. She was instantly out of the bed, into her flight suit, and out the door heading for the hangar.

Along the way she passed by several crew members she knew, some good and some not so, on her way to her plane. Her current aircraft was an old F-16C fighter craft with minimal equipment. Typical arsenal and payload of fourteen missiles and ten Unguided Bombs for air-ground attacks. While there was nothing remarkable about the plane itself, it was still one of the most well kept planes in the hangars for newer pilots and so she was thankful that, while it was old, it was reliable and fully functional. She had taken to calling it "Guts", given that it had seen numerous battles in the past both during the Belkan War and the Circum-Pacific War and was still in operation.

As she continued through the hallways she happened to cross a particular pilot whom she was dreading to see. His name was Ace Halberd and his callsign was, ironically enough, "Ace". Though his skills in the simulators and real flight training was average at best, he was still considered by almost all of the other young and fresh pilots to be the next Ace of the Osean Air Force because of his confidence and "untapped potential". This common "understanding" among the other pilots infuriated Elincia, as she had first hand experienced what kind of person he was during the early segments of training and she knew he didn't have what it took to be a true Ace pilot no matter how hard he trained or how many times he flew. He was a hot headed, arrogant, self serving and even a complete hypocrite at times.

"Elincia, fancy running into you. I thought you'd be reduced to a flight hand instead of a pilot by now, what with you crashing a training plane and all on your first flight." He said before he let out a loud and annoying laugh.

Elincia didn't bother to answer him as she raced through the hallways towards the door to the hangar. Before she could reach it, however, Ace caught up to her and used his shoulder to shove her aside and into a half dozen wooden crates holding ammo and weapons. Elincia's light frame bounced off the wooden boxes and knocked her to the floor. As she turned to try to stand Ace swung the door open and into the small of her back, forcing her to give out a short shout of pain before he chuckled at her and walked through, closing the door behind him.

As she stood up she couldn't help but feel the frustration building, but she knew she was better than he was so she brushed herself off and ran through the door. A few of the other pilots were lined up by their planes, awaiting the order to ascend the ladders into their respective craft and begin rising to the heavens into formation to prepare for the combat section of the drill. Elincia ran to Guts and took her position by the ladder to the cockpit. To her right side was a plane that she knew belonged to one of her fellow Squadron members, though she didn't yet know either the pilot or the craft by name. She knew that she would soon find out, but that wasn't what worried her.

What worried Elincia was the fact that Ace's plane was directly to her left, meaning he would be flying up right behind her. In training he had rammed his plane's nose into her tail more than once just before take off, giving her slight whiplash and causing her to lose focus before ascending which was not only dangerous but it violated the creed of the pilots in the Osean Air Defense Force. "To always respect and support my fellow pilots both in the air and on the ground, lest our beloved homeland fall to enemy hands". His lack of respect for the planes and his fellow Squadron members was infuriating enough, but it was his lack of respect for people in general, including his superiors, that made Elincia forget her usual shy and timid nature and want to kick his face in. He was constantly belittling the ground crew and maintenance crew members and taunting anyone who wasn't a pilot that they'd better be nice to him or he "may not be able to focus enough to provide adequate cover from the air".

He was everything an Ace pilot wasn't, yet he was constantly praised by his fellow pilots for his abilities and confidence under pressure.

Focus Elincia... She thought silently.

"You'll get your chance soon enough." She whispered.

"Hey, Elincia. What's the matter? You going crazy already? You haven't even been on a real mission yet and you're already going insane with fear at a drill! How'd you ever make it through training? Was it your looks? Maybe you cozied up to some of the brass, huh?" He called over to her with that annoying laugh of his following directly after.

Focus Elincia...

"He's not worth it." She whispered to herself.

There wasn't much going on and Kreiss had nodded himself off to sleep in the dorms,along with the other pilots who were busy talking their way through. There were others who had already gone straight into 'coma' in their beds, trying to get enough sleep to get through more training in the days to come. Until...

PA Announcement: Urgent! All personnel scramble immediately! This base is under air and sea attack! I repeat, all personnel scramble immediately! This is a drill!

Almost instantly, everyone shifted, all traces of sleepiness or chit-chat gone. All gone. The blaring sirens was enough to wake most of the sleepers and everyone began to rush. It wasn't hasty at all, not the type of rush people would do when they were in a hurry. The pilots slipped into their flight suits with practiced ease and quickly ran out in a uniformed motion, there was hardly any 2 pilots that ended up walking out the door at the same time. Quick and fluid as they say.

Just as Kreiss was about to exit the door, he caught notice of James, one of the more deep sleepers in the dorm. He broke the line, much to the grumblings of the others. But they were great at what they were doing, and quickly recovered from Kreiss's breakage, running off at a brisk pace. Kreiss went up to James and shook him lightly.

'This is incredible, he can actually sleep through something like this?' he thought, already getting a little annoyed with the shrill sirens. He gave up shaking and moved on to lightly patting the sleeper's face, to slapping it softly. The guy was just NOT waking up at all. They were the only ones left in the dorm.

"Yo...wake up. Dude. James? JAMES!? WAKE UP! We're late for the drill!" he yelled out at the guy. Time was ticking and there were already sounds of aircrafts taking off already, which made Kreiss's heart pang with longing. He futilely kept calling out and slapping the guy's cheek without end, until finally James woke up, albeit with one slightly swollen cheek.

"Awight, wight... Iffa get uff foon..." James mumbled sleepily, rubbing his swollen cheek. In an instant, Kreiss pulled the man upright and slipped on the flight suit in a hurry. He then patted James's back and yelled for him to go. With at first a stumble, James's figure started gaining more energy, now apparently more awake. Kreiss shook his head in disbelief before following suit.

Once he was out of the door, he saw a few jets already up in the air. He quickly made his way to the F-15C Eagle that was prepared as his aircraft. On his way to the Eagle, he dipped his head to every other pilot he met, gave out thumbs up to the ground control and maintenance crew for a job well done, and quick brief salutes to officers, who returned the gesture with stern, disapproving eyes at his lateness. Next to his prepared,training F-15C was a F-16C and a female pilot. Guts and Blaze, if he recalled correctly. The pilot seemed to be pissed at something, but without minding that, Kreiss gave her his usual cheery salute before taking his place by the ladder. He looked up at the sky, all traces of joviality gone. Plain focus was written on his face, but underneath was a bubble of anticipation threatening to explode.

" Almost time to reach for the heavens..." he whispered to himself.

With a final word of confirmation, Elincia was cleared to enter her plane and take off.

Without a moment's hesitation, she ascended the ladder in three graceful swings and hopped into the cockpit as she shut the canopy and locked it in place. She placed her helmet on and lowered her visor, setting her oxygen mask to ready and switching on her communications link.

"Tower, this is Phantom Two, callsign Blaze. Requesting permission to exit hangar and taxi into runway one." She said evenly.

"Phantom Two, Tower. You are cleared to exit the hangar and taxi into runway one."

"Rodger, Blaze on course for runway." She replied.

She ignited the engine and felt the sudden awakening of the plane beneath her and relished in the rumble of the low frequency sound waves the engine produced. Nothing felt quite as satisfying to her as those first few moments when she could feel the plane start up as they prepared to enter the heaven's above. Though it was just a drill, flying was flying and it was always a thrill to her.

She slowly led her plane along and out of the hangar as she came about and lined herself up on runway one's outermost edge. In front of her was another pilot who was primed and ready, and within seconds he was burning down the runway and into the air. She could hardly wait to get her plane into position and join them in the air.

"Tower, this is Blaze. Requesting permission to take off on runway one."

"Phantom Two, Tower. You are cleared for take off." Came a short reply.

She lined herself up and hit the throttle. The sound of the engine roaring to life as she was slowly pressed back into the seat underneath her was exhilarating. She watched her speed rise faster and faster, and when the count hit approximately one hundred and sixty miles per hour she pulled back on the throttle and was airborne. The plane glided up smoothly and without trouble, and she was delighted to see the base get smaller and smaller in her peripheral vision.

"Blaze, this is Tower. Altitude restrictions are lifted. Good luck."

She nodded her head.

"Tower, Blaze. I'm ready to join Phantom Squadron. Please designate the desired location, altitude and weapon preference for the drill."

"Rodger Blaze. Ascend to five thousand feet and join Phantom Squadron at point Delta and set your plane's simulation setting to anti-air combat. You're restricted from using your real weapons, and all actions are being monitored here at base. Good Luck."

"Rodger Tower. Blaze now ascending to five thousand feet and on my way to point Delta." She responded.

With that, Blaze turned her nose west to bearing 270 and pulled back on the stick to guide her plane to the required altitude. Once she arrived at the designated location, she circled the area as she waited for the others to join her. Being something of a "need to know" person, she was usually the first to acquire relevant information among most other young pilots who waited for orders to come to them rather than pulling them out of the brass as soon as they were airborne.

Blaze shifted in her cockpit seat as she watched the other members of Phantom Squadron slowly beginning to make their way to her. First was Phantom 3, callsign Rapier. She didn't know much about this one except from the comms that it was another woman. It felt kind of nice not being the only woman in the Squad, and it gave Blaze a slight boost in both comfort and confidence. However, daydreaming was always a threat from her and this time it nearly cost her.

From behind her Phantom 4 almost collided with Phantom 3, and her shaky nerves took over her reflexes as she jerked her flight stick to the right to avoid another possible collision. She quickly regained control of her craft, however, and put herself back into proper position in the current formation.

"Phew..." She whispered to herself.

She knew that, while most of the others didn't see that little mishap, the top brass watching her certainly did. It made her nervous to know that they had called in some of the highest ranking officers to observe the new Squadrons in action. Both the Lieutenant Commander and the Base Commander himself were present. Not only that, but from the briefing she got a couple days ago she knew that there were also veteran pilots watching them too.

The last part became all too clear when the Pilot known as "Legend" came onto the comms.

Legend to Phantom Squadron, showboating is for the simulators ladies. Get your heads out your asses and fly straight or touch down and save us having to scrape you off the pavement... You get me?" His powerful and authoritative voice commanded.

She took a breath and then looked down. Her hands were shaking a little on the stick from being nervous about who was watching. It was similar to stage fright in high school, but this was on another level entirely. She got a grip on herself a moment later and flicked her communicator back on.

"This is Blaze, roger." She said before shutting off her comm.

Her response was a bit hasty, but she wanted to make a good impression. A quick response showed how well you were paying attention, and most of her life she had responded quickly when spoken to. Some people called her a suck up for doing so, or a teacher's pet, but in Blaze's mind it was just being polite and prompt. She didn't see anything wrong with responding quickly to requests and orders, but because of all the taunts she got it was another area of self consciousness for her as she tried to clear her mind while she waited for Phantom 1 to arrive.

While she was at it, she flicked on her comm to talk to the others as she set the channel to private so only the Squadron could hear her. This whole time her comm had been on one way so she could hear what they said without them listening to her unless she flipped her channel setting to public. It was a handy modification she made to her helmet and communication system a while back, which was another small chunk of her rather full debt, but it gave her privacy in the cockpit when she wanted it.

"Phantom 2 to Phantom Squadron, are we all okay?" She asked.

Woops...Wrong location ==

Elincia was impressed but also worried by Kreiss's outburst.

Going against Legend like that was sure to have repercussions when he landed after the drill ended. Still, she couldn't help but admire his defiance, as it was something she couldn't do. Wherever she went, she was obedient towards those higher on the ladder than she was. Coming from a home with an abusive and commanding father, she learned to listen well very quickly and it became a part of who she was to obey orders. The only time she didn't was when they came from someone lower than her on the ladder, and that was only if she knew they were bad orders that could get someone killed.

She was about to say something to Kreiss when her radio came to life again.

"Tower to Phantom Squadron, break formation and prepare to engage bandits at altitude 6,000. You will have five minutes to eliminate as many targets as you can before switching positions with Corona Squadron at Point Beta for anti-ship operations. Once at Point Beta you will have six minutes to eliminate as many targets as you can. Targets will be on a continuous stream until the drill has come to an end or until you are shot down..."

The radio went silent for a few moments.

"Phantom Squadron, engage!" They ordered.



As soon as the radio went quiet, the drill officially began and the clock started ticking down. In her visor's simulation display she could see bandits appear both on radar and within her line of site as glowing outlines of plane shapes flying above her at the designated altitude. The moment they were in her sight she hit the throttle and broke away from the rest of her Squadron towards the heavens. It didn't take long before she had the first bogey in her sights, but she also found herself with one on her tail which was aiming to get a lock onto her plane.

She had to swerve a little to avoid potential incoming fire from the bandit at her six, but she managed to keep the first one in her sights as she fired her gun at it. Gliding left and right, the bogey managed to avoid her gunfire and banked hard to its left. She kept up with it as she continued to focus on lining up her sights with the aircraft while doing what she could to avoid incoming fire from the rear. For what it was worth, this was very much like a simulation, the only difference being that now she was in a real plane. While it did unnerve her a little bit, she treated it like what it was, a simulation. She knew that whether or not she was in fact shot down, or whether or not she managed to bring down her opponents, this was not real and just for further training.

All around her the sky was chaos as the others weaved to and fro, ducked and dived, looped and banked to stay ahead of the game and grab as many kills as they could within the time limit. She had to concentrate whenever she came within a certain distance of her Squadron members, but when she knew they weren't too near she let herself relax and did what she had to in order to stay ahead of the game herself and avoid fire while taking down bandits as the timer ticked by towards zero.

That thought in mind, she began to push her plane a little bit further than recommended by the flight crew and banked harder to line her gun sight ahead of her target as she pulled the trigger and fired. The bullets hit home and brought the bogey down, her first unofficial kill.

"Phantom Two, first bandit down. Moving to the next!" She said over the comm.

Suddenly there was another voice over the radio.

"Phantom Two, exercise caution. That plane is old and not in the same condition it used to be. If you push too hard the stress on the airframe will rip the plane apart! Pull back on the High-G turns immediately unless you want to replace this plane too."

The jab by the Tower about replacing the plane hurt, but she shook it off and accepted the order. While she knew that the plane could go further, she decided that it was best not to push its limits at this time. She had no way to pay for another plane's damages, and was only just starting to pay off the first plane she trashed.

"Phantom Two, roger. Easing up on the High-G turns." She replied.

She continued to fly as before, but did little to push the turns as she had done to take down her first bandit. Over the course of the next five minutes, she only managed to bag two more before the drill came to an end. One with a missile to the engine, and one with bullets to the cockpit. As the timer hit zero, she checked her missile reserve and gun ammunition to see what she had to work with during the anti-ship portion of the drill.



Her missile count was at six, her UGB's were still at ten since she hadn't used any, and her gun ammo was down to three hundred bullets. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either if the enemies were really going to be continuously flowing at them. Given that ships were easier to kill than planes given their slower movement, she expected to do better once they got to Point Beta, but only time would tell.

"This is Blaze to Phantom Squadron, preparing to exit combat airspace and move to Point Beta. Now awaiting your order Phantom One." She said.

The exchange between their flight lead and the brass back at the base caused Killian to cringe in the cockpit as he ran one more check over his flight systems to ensure that he was set for simulated weapons release rather than life-fire in the middle of a training exercise. He wasn't about to have to scrounge up the cash to pay for a missle he wasn't authorized to fire. Then again, it seems that the real shooting was going on verbally at the moment.

"Thanks a lot for that, Angel," Killian cracked across the radio. "I was just sitting here hoping that you'd shoot your mouth off and make sure that none of us see a day of leave between now and kingdom come, so I guess we all owe you a big one for that."

The brass couldn't force them to land or fly they way command wanted, but they sure as hell could keep every single one of them from ever seeing the inside of a cockpit again. Jake Killian had already faced what was supposed to be the end of his career as an aviator once and didn't have any aspirations to start down that trail a second time.

"Tally-ho! Bandit, 2 o'clock high! Breaking formation and turning to engage."

The F/A-18 Hornet banked away from the formation with a gliding turn to the right before engaging afterburners and climbing. Rodeo closed within a few seconds and visually identified the bogey as a MiG-21 Fishbed. Antiquated by most standards, it was a production-line aircraft used because it was cheap to produce and could keep flying even with damn near half a wing blown off the thing. Exactly the kind of plane that could make a third-world country a headache if they found enough pilots to keep the things in the air for more than five minutes.

The MiG-21 didn't seem to register the F/A-18 pulling behind it as Rodeo flipped over and allowed his radar targeting system to begin "painting" his target for a lock on a simulated AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. Just a few more seconds and the kill would be his. The plane still didn't react with any defensive manueuvers once Rodeo achieved a missile lock, instead attempting to burn out and speed away from the encounter. No change that the Fishbed could outrun the Hornet at this altitude.

"Easy pickin'. Phantom Four, Fox Tw--" His finger was halfway down on the trigger when the burst transmission into his helmet caused him to ease away.

"Rodeo! Danger at 6 o'clock. Swerve until I get there! Do not attempt to shoot the bogey before you! It's a distraction!"

Glancing down at the radar, Killian suddenly became acutely aware of the bogey that he'd missed before, another fighter was closing in on his six. Unsure of how he'd missed it an unsure of the make-up of the bogey without a visual ID, Rodeo cursed aloud.

"And just how is not shooting down a sure-fire kill right in front of me going to change anything about having someone creeping on my tail. I swear to Go-- Ugh!" He screamed into the radio. "Fine. Defensive manuevers."

Rodeo did indeed fire a passing shot at the Fishbed in the hopes that he still might be able to bag the kill before complying with orders, but the missile didn't hold the lock and sailed harmlessly away according to the simulations. Banking left, the G-force of the turn threw his body back into the angled seat of the Hornet's cockpit. He didn't need to crane his head back to see that the pursuer kept turn with him, trying to close in enough to be in range for a weapons lock. Rodeo had no intention of getting shot down during his first encounter with a new squadron.

"Phantom 4, keep your speed uniform. Do not increase your speed. I'm intercepting the bogey at your 6!"

Rodeo didn't bother to send back anything, instead complying with the orders of his flight lead and levelling himself out of the turn that might have eventually broke his pursuers angle. Instead, Rodeo planed into level flight and eased off the thruster. There was nothing now to do but wait. Wait for the missle lock. Wait to be "shot down" and then find himself without a kill and without a successful mission to show after waiting almost a year to get his second shot in the cockpit. Wait to die.

The kill, however, never came. It took a few seconds for Rodeo to register exactly what happened behind him, but the exultant exuberations of his flight lead made it a little easier to understand the stunts going on behind him.

"Alright Phantom 4, you've got a bandit in front of you. Let's try and get it."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you talking about the sure kill that I just lost visual on because you ordered me to hang myself out their like bait on hook so you could play Evil Kenivel? I'm engaging."

The Fishbed from earlier had broken into a long, looping turn searching for a target down in the cloudy soup below where the defensive climb had taken Rodeo. The F/A-18 Hornet turned into down into a steep dive as the targeting system again began to paint the MiG-21. The bogey realized it was a target this time and tried to manuever away, but the downward angle and dive of the Hornet was too much for the underpowered aircraft to escape. Missile lock.

"Phantom Four, Fox two!" Rodeo burst with a release of the Sidewinder missile. The angle was too clean for a defensive manuever and the target blipped off the radar.

"Yeah! Splash one!"

As soon as the Hornet broke through the clouds, however, terror set in. After what couldn't have been more than two seconds for Rodeo's fighter/attacker to cut through the cloud cover, his eyes adjusted to a plane he hadn't seen yet and one that surely hadn't seen him. It was a slower attacker-style craft that he didn't have time to ID, but he knew that it was going to be a collision if he didn't act quickly.

What happened next was pure reflex and nothing more. Jack Killian felt his left hand grip and slam back on the throttle to cut out the air speed he'd built during the killing dive, his right foot kicking down on the rudder with all the force of a bucking bull to throw him into enough of a turn to avoid the crash. Simultaneously, the pilot's right thumb flipped up the selector knob on the flight stick and switched from AIM-9 sidewinder missiles to guns. The nearby index finger loosed a spray of ammunition.

As two more seconds passed by, the guns stayed true and plastered a line of holes down the fuselage of the bogey that brought about his second kill. The turn to avoid the collision, however, had sent Rodeo into a hard, flat spin down and away.

"Shit, shit, shit," he repeated as he attempted to regaining control of the falling aircraft, pressed forward in the cockpit thanks to the lurching spin. The force of the spin as well as the air pressure on the outside of the craft made it impossible, even for his atheltic frame, to put enough pressure to turn the rudder against the momentum of the craft. Finally, he was able to bank just enough to break out of the spin and gain control of the flight, albeit just barely above the mission's hard deck and away from the engagement.

By the time that Rodeo was able to get back into the soup, Killian tried to chase down another bogey and took a few more shots, but nothing registered as a hit and he came up empty the rest of the way out.

"This is Angel, Phantom Squadron, prepare to leave for Point Beta soon."

"Phantom 4, complying. Blaze, Rapier, hope you guys had a little more fun than I did."

"This is Angel, Phantom Squadron, prepare to leave for Point Beta soon."

Elincia thought to herself for a moment after a quick mental analysis of what had transpired during that first half of the drill.

"... Angel... right." She said under her breath while her comm was off.

"Phantom 4, complying. Blaze, Rapier, hope you guys had a little more fun than I did."

She flipped her comm on to the private frequency which she was now nicknaming Phantom Frequency, more for her own private amusement than anything else.

"Not so much Rodeo... not so much." She said somewhat sadly.

She shook it off though, as now they were turning hard to the south to engage ships on the Ocean. She armed her UGB's and prepared herself for what was coming. She had always done fairly well with her UGB's in the simulator, but this was much more realistic and unpredictable. Ships were often divided into one of three groups: Attack, Support, and Launch. Carriers were always the biggest threat as they could launch additional aircraft which was likely something they'd see in the upcoming drill once they reached Point Bravo. Attack ships usually carried SAMs on board while the support ships usually carried some form of ECM to give their fighters from the carriers an edge in combat.

If they faced all three today, it'd be a true shit storm.

She decided that if she saw a carrier it would be her first target. Taking out a ship which can launch aircraft was essential to air superiority missions when over the open Ocean. The less fighters there were to contend with, the more likely they were to succeed in taking out their real targets instead of dealing with mosquitoes.

"This is Blaze, I'm heading out to Point Beta now. ETA, one minute." She said calmly.

This time, however, when she was finished, she reversed the frequency so only the tower could hear her. She had something she needed to get off her chest with the brass and now was as good a time as any to ask.

"Tower, this is Phantom Two. Is Phantom One really fit for command? His style is... unorthodox to say the least, and I have concerns with his head strong tactics and his lack of logical thinking. It's not becoming of a Squadron Leader."

She could only hope that she'd receive a straight answer, as the brass typically didn't care much for questions from the lower ranks and usually brushed them aside with evasive answers that didn't really address the question.

Kreiss watched as Blaze pulled out the offense, sinking a ship already. He had heard that Blaze had achieved the highest score in simulations, a feat that was commendable, and earned multiple admiration from Kreiss, who had always failed simulation programs.

"This is Angel, good shot there, Phantom 2! " he commended over the radio.At the same time, he witnessed as Rodeo sunk another support ship. "Well done, Phantom 4."

He was among incredible pilots, one can be considered a born prodigy with almost perfect scores in simulations, the other a pilot with more experience than any of the other squadron members put together. Even Phantom 3...was so far displaying even better results compared to him. What was he? Just an Airman First Class with only 1 kill in the entire simulation at the current moment. Not even capable of getting a good shot with his ammunition, wasting all of it. Even ending up giving a well-known and incredible higher-up a witty comeback. And yet he was given the role of a flight lead.

'...Sometimes, I question your decisions...' he thought to himself, the shadowy image of an officer embedded in his thoughts.

"Blaze to Phantom Squadron... Enemy carrier detected on radar. It's starting to launch fighters as I speak. Now moving in for an attack!"

"Hey, how's about one of you fatcat aerial payout kids lay down a little cover on my six and we'll see if we can't find a home for one of these missles right down Mama Carrier's backside? I could go for a pretty pretty fireworks show this morning."

Kreiss watched as it seemed that both Phantom 2 and Phantom 4 had set their sights on the same target. Kreiss felt a small spark of anger. That was all they were thinking about? Gaining more scores for the benefits? Especially Rodeo... They had completely disregarded his talk about treating the simulation as the real thing. No doubt that things would've already gotten ugly by the time they realized their mistake.

"Phantom 3! Bogey at 6! " he called out as he noticed an almost unnoticeable speck starting to make it's way towards the Mirage-2000. "It's still a few ways from you, but just be careful! "

"This is Edge to Blaze and Rodeo..." he spoke out to the comm, for the first time utilizing the special callsign that he had tried keeping a secret from others, always using 'Angel' in place of it. Despite addressing only Blaze and Rodeo, he had also kept the comm on for Rapier. "I won't speak as 'Angel' anymore. I speak as 'Edge'. What did I tell you guys? Treat this as the real thing, treat this as if it's possible for you to die. Did you guys hear that? Do you guys hear that?"

He paused, letting it sink. Then he continued.

"By treating this as a simulation, all we have in our minds are to grab the most kills and the most important targets to obtain the highest score, all the same while not giving a damn if we could be shot down at anytime. Because in a simulation, we can't fucking get shot down. That false sense of security will be a large bane in real missions. You understand?"

He paused once more.

"I tell you guys once more. Treat this as if your lives are on the line. That is all."

Kreiss had never given off such a speech before. Even his head ached a little from the conflicted notions. He tried to think of who should be given the large carrier as a responsibility...Both Rodeo and Blaze seemed eager to go for it...Then it clicked. Kreiss decided to give his tactic a go.

"Rodeo, you will be Blaze's wingman. Blaze, I'm going to give you the full assault on the carrier. Do what you will with it and take it down. For the current moment, Rodeo will be 'cold'. Rodeo, when Blaze gets targeted, immediately switch to 'hot' and start firing down on the carrier while Blaze moves away. Both of you interchange between being 'hot' and 'cold' if you have to." he handed out the orders. He wasn't sure how effective the strategy would be. But given the fact that they were targeting an important carrier, there were bound to be obstructions by enemy planes. And so the 'hit-and-run' tactic with both pilots changing between the 'hot' and 'cold' roles would definitely test the AI's intelligence. Would the AI continue to chase the 'cold' attacker, or would they backtrack for the 'hot' attacker, allowing the 'cold' attacker to return 'hot'? Kreiss nearly bursted out laughing imagining the AI going crazy in their confusion. AIs were easily predictable, the options were quite limited in comparison to the always spontaneous minds of a real human.

"When the carrier's taken out,return to aiming for more threatening targets. Any ships with anti-air missiles should be taken out as soon as you can. Support ships can come in last. And lastly, watch your backs in case any enemy plane decides to take you out. "

With that, he banked to the side and scanned the fleet, finally settling on an anti-air ship. Without giving it a chance to fire out it's anti-air missiles, he sunk it with 2 of his SAAMs and 1 missile. The ship never had a chance to escape being tracked by the SAAMs.

"Choosing to leave the SAAMs for this section was probably a good choice. But imagine if we didn't know what the next drill was... Would I have left the SAAMs unused? They should really change the training so that it becomes unpredictable, just like a real mission. A real challenge, in my opinion." he pondered to himself, not knowing he had left the comms on. Now everyone would hear what he had just said.

Somewhere inside, Jake Killian snapped. He'd had enough of the junior airment who, as fair as Rodeo was concerned, had been arbitrarily placed in command of their squadron and had done nothing so far but make decisions that wouldn't have flown if they'd been toddlers playing in a sandbox. Not that his frustration from earlier wasn't apparently, but was paling in comparison to the rage burning inside of him now.

"Edge, Rodeo. You are a fucking joke. You want to jump up on your high horse and talk to us about real tactics? What did you call that video game stunt you tried to pull back there that just as likely could've caused us to clip and get somebody killed? By my tally, you're the only one that's done anything to almost get someone killed out here."

As much as Killian wanted to engaged his afterburners and risk getting in the one shot that could potential cripple the main target and the prize of the enemy unit presented to them, he knew that his outbursts were going to sting him hard enough without having to justify why he directly disobeyed orders during a training run.

"Yeah, that's great. Let's have our two air-to-surface specialists take turns covering each other from the air-to-air threats while our two planes specifically suited to air-to-air combat do whatever they want. Convenient for someone wanting to rack up kills on their own, isn't it?"

He was done spewing venom for the time being, switching off his comm and cursing a few times as he adjusted his speed. Locating Phantom 2 on his radar, he looped slowly to pull into formation with Blaze's craft, to the right and about a plane's length to the rear of the pilot. The manuveur had given him just enough time to calm down, at least now that he was talking to someone that he was sure wasn't as crazy and incompetent.

"Blaze, Rodeo. I've got your wing and will be watching your six. You're calling the shots on this one, I'm just your trail and follow."

Switching over from LASM targeting to standard AIM-9 Sidewinders, Rodeo began to scan the air around him manually rather than relying completely on his radar. Taking a risk with his own backside when it came to trying to score a kill was one thing, but the stakes changed when someone else was depending on his eyes to keep a missle from playing tag with their tailpipe.

"If we can take down Mama Cat, there's going to be a lot of little kitties flying around that will suddenly find themselves without a place to land. Easy pickings after that if I can keep them off your six. Just hope you're as good an aim with those things as everyone says you're supposed to be."

"This is Edge to Blaze and Rodeo... I won't speak as 'Angel' anymore. I speak as 'Edge'. What did I tell you guys? Treat this as the real thing, treat this as if it's possible for you to die. Did you guys hear that? Do you guys hear that?" Came the first wave of 'directions' from Phantom One.

Blaze knew what was about to follow so she simply ignored him and lined up her next UGB shot at the runways on the carrier.

"By treating this as a simulation, all we have in our minds are to grab the most kills and the most important targets to obtain the highest score, all the same while not giving a damn if we could be shot down at anytime. Because in a simulation, we can't fucking get shot down. That false sense of security will be a large bane in real missions. You understand?"

She understood, but she knew that he was only seeing what was on the surface.

"Rodeo, you will be Blaze's wingman. Blaze, I'm going to give you the full assault on the carrier. Do what you will with it and take it down. For the current moment, Rodeo will be 'cold'. Rodeo, when Blaze gets targeted, immediately switch to 'hot' and start firing down on the carrier while Blaze moves away. Both of you interchange between being 'hot' and 'cold' if you have to. When the carrier's taken out,return to aiming for more threatening targets. Any ships with anti-air missiles should be taken out as soon as you can. Support ships can come in last. And lastly, watch your backs in case any enemy plane decides to take you out."

She finally snapped and couldn't take it anymore. She flipped her comm into what she called "Omni mode" so that both her Squadron and the Tower could hear her.

"With all due respect Phantom One, I'm not following those orders. You have a decent strategy for taking out the carrier with minimal casualties, but you're only seeing what you want to see as far as what Rodeo and I are after. Do you really think that I'm concerned with kill scores? I'm after the carrier because I want to take away it's ability to launch additional fighters that can come up after us."

She had her shot lined up and let fly with two of her UGB's as she took light anti air fire to her canopy. No punctures and no problem shots made it through, though the damage did come up on her plane's simulation damage meter. The planes on the runways were destroyed, earning her two kills off the bat as the third managed to take off.

She took a second to take a breath.

"Again, while it is true that taking down the carrier will earn a good score, I'm after a more practical reason for taking it down. Take out the carrier and two things happen: One, the enemy loses valuable support from destroyed and un-launched fighters. Two, they lose communications and their chain of command because the carrier is the central figure in their operation and is where the highest ranking officers give orders. Taking it down throws the rest into "Every man for themselves" mode and they lose the ability to work together properly against us. This simulation likely will not register such a change, but in real combat it will because humans have morale and confidence whereas machines do not. Taking out a real carrier early would throw the rest into disarray and help keep all of us safer since the enemy can't work together properly once their mother ship is gone."

She hit the throttle and then pulled it back, turning her plane hard in a 180 degree flip. She could hear the metal around her groaning as she did so, given that it was old and not in the same shape it used to be. Luckily it held together, as that move would certainly earn her a talking to back once she landed. She hit the throttle again and lined up another UGB shot at the carrier.

"I myself may not be fit to lead, Phantom One, but if we're going to come back from missions we're going to need someone with a tactical mind who can analyze situations for what they are rather than what they think they are. If you can't read what your own Squad mates are really doing and what they're after, how can you think to give us orders that will keep us safe?"

She finished lining up her shot and let fly with her UGB as she pulled hard towards the sky to avoid taking the same damage as before while her UGB landed in the center of the carrier. That final hit was just enough to push it over the edge damage wise and was immediately registered to her HUD as a kill. She had six UGB's left after that, and considered herself lucky that she had only used three to destroy the carrier since it usually took four in the other simulators. This one though, was more realistic in damage and effect, which is what she guessed was the cause of only needing three.

With the carrier now sunk, the Squad was free to engage the ships while only being concerned about three enemy fighters instead of the twenty that had been waiting in the wings to launch and give them Hell.

"Blaze to Phantom Squadron, enemy carrier is destroyed. Only three enemy fighters have made it into the air to engage us. Keep an eye out." She remarked as she kept an eye around her for the three fighters that made it out.

She took a second to take in a breath as she calmed herself down and leveled her plane out before preparing for a second run at the remaining enemy ships.

"It takes more than a "I need to get everyone home" mentality to actually keep them safe in the air, Phantom One. I'm not saying that I could lead any better than you, but this idea that you "need" to protect us is immature at best and going to get someone killed eventually. None of us "need" your protection Phantom One, just your cooperation."

She flipped the comm to one way so she could no longer be heard, but she could hear everything else as she took in another breath and exhaled on a sigh as she listened to the chatter around her continue.

She had never lectured anyone before, and she was sure that command would be able to see that given her speech patterns. More than anything, she wasn't mad at Phantom One. She was concerned that his lacking of a tactical mind would get someone killed. He had the best intentions, but going against the chain of command and trying to randomly issue orders was not conduct befitting a Squadron Leader... But she had just proven that of herself as well.

"What are you thinking Elincia..." She said quietly.

"Who are you to be lecturing him? You talk about obeying the chain of command, yet you blatantly just disregarded the orders of your flight leader... And in front of both the command Tower and your Squadron to boot."

She looked to her left and saw a cruiser with SAMs on board, and decided it would be a good idea to take it out to minimize the chances of Rapier taking hits as she aimed for the fighters.

She flipped her comm back on and checked the clock real quick before engaging.

... Three minutes left... She thought to herself.

All of her lecturing had taken longer than she thought. While she wasn't concerned too much with kill scores, she did still want to make a good impression on the Tower so that she would remain a Phantom Squadron wing at least. She had worked hard to get here, and if she blew it all on one lecture and simulation, she'd never forgive herself.

Kreiss closed his eyes at the sudden outburst he received. Alright. It's all alright. It's fine. This outburst was nothing to him as long as he prevented Blaze and Rodeo from arguing over who took the carrier. If he had just let Blaze and Rodeo go on with aiming for the same target, they would eventually clash with each other. This outburst was enough to prove it. Adverting that demise unto himself, was probably for the best call.

Throughout the ordeal, he listened, but never said a word. His patience for his squadron was amazing, as he always was during ground training with other pilots. He just never had a soft spot for officers who just started poking around in your business. And he had no right to start yelling back at those two. After all, it was his lack of experience that caused this. No one was going to listen to a greenhorn, and Kreiss himself knew it. Without ignoring the stabbing remarks made by Blaze, he winced at his lecture, but kept a firm look out for their Phantom 3, who was already under focus-fire. Just as Rapier began to blow her own anger off, Kreiss had already made a wide turn and painted 2 SAM ships each with 2 of his SAAMs, sinking them quickly. Behind Rapier, a bogey had appeared out of nowhere.

"3! Danger straight at 6! A.S.A.P!" he warned the pilot quickly. Drag-and-Bag. He continued to try and lock his sights straight on the bogey, but this particular bogey was doing extremely well, causing Kreiss to waste 1 SAAM, losing the paint and failing to track the bogey. One last SAAM to go.

'Do something good for once today. Save a teammate from elimination. NOW. ' he told himself in his mind. Instead of closing in like he used to, he slowed down and allowed his radar to track down the bogey. He fired the last SAAM at his disposal. The bogey tried once more to evade, but the distance and view made it easier for Kreiss to adjust his craft accordingly. As a last resort, the bogey completely relinquished the chase and banked away. Kreiss tried to give chase to allow the SAAM to reach it's intended target but failed once again when the bogey moved out of the radar's range. He banked incredibly hard, he could feel the groans and creak coming from his unrelenting turn against the nature of the craft. His bank was faster than the bogey's and they eventually ended up in a rolling scissors when the bogey decided to try and roll away from him. Slowly and surely, Kreiss gained the upperhand in the rolling scissors and fired 3 missiles, 2 of them managing to hit the bogey's wing, bring it down. As soon as that was over, he didn't celebrate but merely pulled out a deep dive.

"...I won't ask for anything else now. Just look after each other from here on out. The 3 of you. " he made the announcement over the comms, a huge trace of his enthusiasm completely vanishing from his once cheerful demeanor. Pulling out a fairly well executed though poorly controlled air strafe, he emptied the rest of his machine gun ammunition into the sides of several ships, trying to cause as much damage as he could for the rest of the Squadron. With a shaky recovery from the sideslip, he pulled up from his dive. He looked into his comms, to the Tower, to the other Phantoms.

"...Tower, prepare for a touchdown. " he said quietly. His lips brought itself into a forced smile. "I know it seems that I'm leaving the Squadron because I can't do any better. That may be true, but I think Phantom's had enough trouble from me for this drill. It would seem they'd do better without me anyway. So, Phantom, do your best out there until time's up. Do your best guys, it was good run. But not your best, you guys can do better. " The F-15C flew in the opposite direction from the one that the other Phantoms were moving towards. As he passed them, he brought his hand up for a salute. Down by one pilot, wasn't a difference to these guys. They were great. Better than he could ever be. He would only make things worse for them. He looked up at the skies. It was a brilliant day, shame to have it end in this fashion. It was probably going to be his last day flying through the skies. He was bound to be removed from the squadron and altogether removed from the OADF.

After savoring what was probably his last flight, he finally touched down and brought the F-15C into a skidding halt. Without waiting for the ground crew to bring in a ladder, he popped the lid and jumped off, heading straight to the Tower, knowing fully well who he had to face.

He knocked and walked in. He could see that none of the officers looked very pleased with him leaving, but nonetheless, he struck a salute before asking.

"May I ask permission to met with Lt. Colonel Danny? " as a response, a tall,well-groomed man in his late 20's with dark brown hair tucked underneath his pilot cap stood up and walked towards Kreiss.

"If you could give us a minute. " the officer, Danny, said out loud for the others to hear. And he kept a shoulder around the young pilot's shoulder before steering him out, closing the door behind them.

There was a long silence between them, until...

"...If you won't talk then I will. What happened out there, Kreiss?" the Lt. Colonel began. At this Kreiss quickly looked up and explained himself, not able to contain his voice even if the other officers inside could hear them. For the first time, he sounded extremely hurt...and disappointed.

"They won't listen to me, Danny! I told you nobody would! Nobody EVER listens to an Airman... I can't do anything if they don't listen. I just wanted to prevent those two from possibly getting into an argument! Having everyone aiming for the same darn thing wouldn't have done us any better favors! Sending 2 of them to interchange just so they could watch each other's back until they took down the carrier, then it's back to Phantom Squadron business! " he stopped for breath, panting raggedly from his immensely vocalized irritation. "Maybe I should've just kept quiet. "

"But that's not the job of a Flight Lead, isn't it? Members have to await your orders." mused the officer, raising an eyebrow.

"SCREW BEING A FLIGHT LEAD! Fuck it! I don't have what it takes. I'm not authoritative enough, I'm just a greenhorn that never scored perfectly for anything during simulations and now even 'Legend' knows just how bad I am. And I even talked back to him! I TALKED BACK TO HIM, DANNY!" he burst out, showing the huge regret written all over his face.

"Kreiss,Kreiss! Calm down!" soothed Danny, getting a firm grasp on Kreiss's shoulders to steady him. Kreiss breathed in and out several times, gulping down air as if he vitally needed it.

"I knew you had a shot at being the Flight Lead. That's why I recommended you. You'll get better at it with practice, heck, every officer started from where you were. We learn to be authoritative, Kreiss. And you're not a greenhorn, kid. What kind of greenhorn pulls out such a quick take-off that no one has ever seen?! Remember your first time for a real flight? You don't know how many officers were impressed. Something deemed impossible was accomplished that day, and I know you can accomplish even more. "

At this, Kreiss felt even more devastated. In a choked voice, he looked at the officer straight in the eyes.

"I'm sorry for disappointing you! I failed your expectations... I've failed everything that you thought I could do! You're the only one that believes in me and I've thrown that all down the drain!" Kreiss broke down, knowing that resisting it was futile.

"You haven't failed yet, you know? I'll ask them for one more chance. I'm not sure many of them would be fond of it. But one more chance. Maybe showing the way you want to protect them is a little more difficult during air combat than it is during firearms. But I'm sure you'll figure out the way. You're Edge after all. " the officer winked and clapped a solid hand on Kreiss's shoulder. "I know you've tried to hide that callsign to prevent getting attention. But be proud of it. The previous Edge was the previous Blaze's greatest wingman. Not everyone knows about that. But those who know, know how much Edge was willing to sacrifice for the Razgriz. And that form of protection was what I saw in you. So wipe those tears and stop being a sissy. Where was the tough Kreiss who used to laugh at all the tough training I put you through? Don't let this bring you down. You can fail several times. But you can never fail forever. So keep trying. That's what you do best. Be yourself! Rebellious or not, just be who you are. Pretending to be someone you're not won't let you go far."

There was a reason why Kreiss had great respect for Danny. He felt...similar to his deceased father in several ways. The lecture that would soon be replaced by encouraging words, no harsh words of anger, only lectures that were soothingly said to nurture. Kreiss ran a hand over his wet face and wiped it down the best he could, preparing to make himself presentable. Hopefully the redness wouldn't be visible around his eyes. Danny opened the door and walked in.

"Thank you for allowing me to speak with Lt. Colonel Danny despite your busy schedules. " he saluted and yelled out with his returning enthusiasm and energy. "Lt. Colonel John, sir. You are obliged to removed me from my post or totally removed me from OADF if you wish..." Danny looked a little shocked at this. "But, there is no punishment needed for Blaze or Rodeo's actions. Although they disobeyed orders, that was because I had no experience to pull them together and make them go through it. They have their own ideas and possibly better tactics than I myself do. And it would be a waste if a prodigy such as Blaze were to be removed. Did you know sir, that the one named Blaze scored the highest simulation score? I'll take my leave now, sir. There is not much for me left to do here." Danny nodded approvingly despite the apparent disapprovals from the other officers when Kreiss excused himself. One could leave only when a higher up dismissed him/her, but Kreiss once again crashed that rule into oblivion.

"Like father, like son. Man, Rafe...you have a son that's going to be better than you and me. " the officer muttered to himself, smiling while shaking his head. He seemed a little proud...

"Rapier!" Elincia called out as the bogey appeared on radar.

Had Phantom One not suddenly pulled to her aid and taken out the bogey, Elincia knew that she would not have made it in time to save her. For all the lecturing about not needing Phantom One's protection, it was that very thing which just saved Phantom Three from being shot down by the bandit. Once again, Elincia's confidence in her own words had been shaken. It seemed a constant curse, that whenever she tried to speak, her words came back and bit her, taking a piece of her confidence and drive with them.

"Phantom Two to Phantom Three, are you alright?" She asked as the bandit was shot down.

As she asked that question, she saw Phantom One disengage after destroying the bandit and leave the airspace. She listened to his comments and was further damaged emotionally for what she had said and done to him. She knew he was tough and that he was probably unfazed by her comments, but never the less she was both troubled and pained by the things she had said and done.

"Phantom One..." She began, but then she slowly reached for the switch and flipped her comm off.

She didn't have a right to speak to him right now, so she didn't try. Instead, she thought to do the best thing she could to try and make up for what she had done. She took his words to heart and forced herself to gather her resolve and finish this drill with the same intensity she would use had this been a real fight.

She flipped her comm into Phantom Mode so the Tower couldn't hear her.

"Phantom Two to Phantom's Three and Four, continue engaging the enemy. Not that I'm the flight lead, but I want to say as respectfully as I can that it's time to pull out all the stops. I know I might sound a tad hypocritical at this point, after what I said to Phantom One, but don't mind the limitations the Tower put on us at the start of this drill. The combat ceiling is henceforth revoked, the speed limitations are null and void, and you are free to engage the enemy by any means necessary. If the tower wants to see what we can do, they're going to have to make due with what we've got without limitations." She said with renewed confidence.

"One last thing... When I begin my dive, make sure you're nowhere near me. I have a surprise in store for the Tower and their little modifications to the enemy and their tactics which I doubt they're going to like." She said before turning her comm to one way so she couldn't be heard but she could hear everyone else.

She pulled up and began flying up to an altitude of over twelve thousand feet, grazing the combat ceiling on the drill on her way as she then shut off her engines and allowed her plane to free fall back towards the sea. As she came upon nine thousand feet she reengaged her engines and accelerated quickly with a hard pull up on the stick, leveling herself out just above the water's surface at an altitude of fifty feet at tremendous speed as a sonic boom suddenly erupted from her plane. She locked onto another ship ahead of her and let fly with a single missile at its control room near the top. The missile detached itself from the plane, but she was already passed the boat before the missile hit its target, both her missile and the rush of her plane flying by at super sonic speeds toppling the vessel as she continued her assault.

The enemy ships could not lower their guns to fire at anything below seventy five feet, and it was a weakness she was now deliberately exploiting to keep her plane safe from harm as she continue to do light damage as she finally emptied her gun ammo.

She banked hard in a circle after gaining some distance, her plan now driving near one thousand miles per hour, and once again felt the uncomfortable feeling that her plane was being shaken apart by her maneuvers, but she no longer cared. She had one minute left on the clock to do as much damage as possible, imagining to herself that this fleet was actually approaching their naval base and posing a huge threat to friendly ground forces. This was no longer a simulation, this was real war and she was indeed pulling out all the stops. Her plane twisted and turned into and through the enemy's formations, staying no more than fifty feet above the water's surface as she had done so many times in the simulators.

If there was one thing that Elincia was good at, it was repeating her actions from the simulator. Though it was slightly more difficult in the real thing, she knew that she was ready for such maneuvers and she decided that if she crashed the plane, it was just another bill to be paid off later. For now, she wanted to finish this drill strong and let both Phantom's Three and Four show the tower what they could do as well without restriction. While none of them were Ace material yet, they could all push their planes to the brink safely. That much, she knew for certain.

The top brass wasn't really concerned with how trainees were holding up, they were concerned about seeing what they're pilots could do before sending them into combat. If that's what they wanted, then that's what they were going to get, limitations be damned just as Phantom One wanted. Elincia was going to show them why she held the top score in the simulator and prove that even though this was the real deal, she could still push her plane to the same extent she had in those simulated flights. She knew her plane inside and out, and she knew what it could and could not handle.

For the next minute she continued to push her plane for all its worth, doing super sonic flyby's of all ships in her path as she quickly downed two more ships before time ran out and the images of the enemies disappeared from her HUD and visor.

She slowed the plane down to three hundred miles per hour while ascending to eight hundred feet and removed her helmet, shaking her long hair out behind her and letting out a sigh.

"Phantom Two to Phantom's Three and Four, no targets remaining on radar... Let's go home." She said quietly.

"Rapier to Blaze, is Rodeo still with us? I'm not seeing him anywhere."

Elincia checked her radar and found Rodeo not far away though she couldn't see him from her cockpit.

"Blaze to Rapier, I've got Rodeo on radar. He's alright. Just focus on getting your plane on the ground." She said, trying not to sound too authoritative or demanding.

With her response complete, she banked her plan back towards Crescent Island and flipped her comm on for the Tower. The flight back was quiet and lonely, though she could see Rodeo and Rapier on radar heading back with her. Likely they felt the same or similar at the very least. They lost their flight lead, chattered like the rookies they were over the radio for the brass to hear, and flew like they'd never worked on staying in formation in training.

All in all, not a good way to start her career.

"Blaze to Tower, requesting clearance to land. Over." She said before waiting for her response.

A few moments passed, but then the radio buzzed.

"Tower to Blaze, you are cleared on runway three. Welcome home."

"Rodger Tower... Heading in." She said quietly before shutting off her comm.

She lined her plane up and came in slow, leading her plane down smoothly and gracefully. In truth, it was the smoothest she'd flown all day...

... Go figure... She thought to herself.

She tilted her nose up as she came down and her wheels touched down with a bit of a bounce before her plane leveled out and slowed to a crawl as she guided it down the runway and towards the hangar. Before long, her plane was parked and she popped the canopy and stood up, waving down at the mechanic to come over and give her a hand. He jogged over quite happily when she climbed down from the plane, likely enjoying the view of her climbing down from the plane as most of the other men in the hangar seemed to do.

"She was a little finicky up there. I need you to do a check of the plane's integrity and scan her seams for me. I'm worried that I may have pushed her too far and damaged her structural integrity up there with the high-G turns. Can you do that for me?" She asked as pleasantly as she could.

"Not a problem doll face! Leave it to me!" He said with a salute.

She saluted back before walking away and opening the door to the hallway where she had been shoved into the wall earlier before take off. She looked at the spot as she walked by and simply sighed as she unzipped her flight suit halfway down her chest. She was wearing a shirt underneath so there was no cleavage, as she'd received a scolding from another female officer once before to showing it during a training exercise in the past.

She walked through the hallways and took a turn towards the Phantom Squadron meeting room where she was to await the review and critique of the performance of the drill. She knew that there was going to be plenty of griping about it from some of the brass, while another individual whom she had met once before would probably just tell them they sucked up front and say that they'd better do better next time. She didn't expect much, but she finally entered the room and sat down on the couch without a word. She leaned her head back and let her hair flow out behind her over the edge of the couch as she closed her eyes and waited for the brass and the rest of her Squadron to show up.

"Phantom Flight, this is Rodeo. I am winchester," Killian said, scanning over the display and its not-so-polite reminder that he wouldn't be firing any more AIM-9 Sidewinders or LASMs today. "All tapped out and my bird's starting to get more than just a little thirsty, too."

The return flight home was eerily silent compared the excited chatter that'd been squawking over his radio from before take-off all the way through both phases of their training assignment. The volume knob on the world seemed to turn down just a little once their squadron leader bugged out of the mission, allowing the others not only to concentrate but also plan and fly like a team. A shaky, inexperience team that handle their planes about as well as a still-wet colt handled a brand new set of wobbly legs, but at team all the same.

For Lt. Jake "Rodeo" Killian, it had turned into a decent trip. Four air-to-air kills and twelve surface bogeys confirmed by his unofficial county. The brass would have the official stats, along no doubt with some choice words for all of them about just how expensive every plane, missile, and drop of fuel wasted on their rookie antics was. It would be the first time that Killian had beend dressed down by a superior office and it wouldn't be the last, but that didn't make it any more pleasant. To the pilot's credit, he was rarely shaken by the encounters, taking it with a solid jaw and and a straight-shooting attitude. No excuses, just results.

Rodeo's F/A-18 Hornet was the last of the birds to make it back to Crescent Island, the fighter/attacker's engines whining as he came to a stop in the hangar. The sound reminded him of a whining child being called in for dinner from the middle of a heated game in the backyard, itching for just a few more minutes. The Hornet -- and its pilot -- belong in the sky. Neither of them were happy about being home.

By the time that all the checklists and post-flight routines were finshed, Killian hung his flight helmet and unbuckled and unzipped the front of the flight suit to reveal the plain white t-shirt beneath, leaving the front undone is as comfortable a manner he could afford without being in inappropriate dress for the pilot's ready room and what was sure to be an unpleasant debriefing.

Entering the room, he locked eyes on Elincia while leaning against the doorway. It was strange, to see the young woman rather than the plane or the reflective helmet in the cockpit. Sometimes it was easier to think of his squadronmates as blips on the radar rather than real, living, breathing people. Crossing arms over his chest, the lieutenant played an easy smirk onto his face.

"If I promise not to slug him when he gets into the room, you've got to promise to go shoot a round of pool with me tonight. If they ever let us see the light of day again, that is." Jake's direct but approachable manner outside of the cockpit made it easy for him to make friends, most of the time. Then again, fighter pilots were a fickle bunch.

Elincia looked up as Jake entered the room and tried to smile but it was no use.

Despite how well the pilots did in the end, the fact of the matter was that they had all wasted time, fuel, ammunition and had failed as a team in the eyes of the instructors who watched them perform. She was not looking forward to what the brass had to say, but she would keep her mouth shut and accept what they told her.

"If I promise not to slug him when he gets into the room, you've got to promise to go shoot a round of pool with me tonight. If they ever let us see the light of day again, that is." Jake said with a smirk.

Elincia chuckled lightly at the comment, and closed her eyes as she too found a smirk to put on her face.

"I can't make any promises about anything Lieutenant..." She said quietly, eyes still closed as she tried to keep the small smile on her lips.

She didn't think that anyone in the squad would even recognize the timid young woman before them as Phantom Two, callsign Blaze, named after the Razgriz Captain from the war two years ago. Having such a callsign put a lot of peer pressure on her to perform on the same level as the original, which was something she could not do. Every time she failed to impress, there was always at least one person there to tell her that she didn't deserve the callsign just because of her simulation scores.

Today, she was almost certain that at least one of the brass would do the same, and that she'd hear the words "You don't deserve that callsign young lady" from someone.

If she didn't she'd count her blessings and walk away from the meeting with pride.

If not... Well, she was prepared more for that than for walking away with her pride in tact.

Elincia listened to the debrief intently as the words bit into her like hot knives. She was unsure of what to feel at this point, but whatever she did feel it would have to wait. She stood up from her seat and bowed to her Squad mates as she exited the meeting room and walked through the halls back to her quarters.

As she closed the door behind her, she had the feeling she was being watched. She did a quick scan of the room and found a strange little device inside one of her plants by the window. She picked it up and saw a tiny little lens on it, telling her that it was either a camera or some other kind of recording device. She put it down on her table and crushed it with one of her training weights and tossed the remains into the trash.

The feeling of eyes on her disappeared with the destruction of the camera, and she felt a small wave of relief now that she was not being spied on.

"... But who put it there? Nobody has access to my quarters except the janitor when I'm on leave." She said quietly.

She looked back at her door and closely examined the lock. There were tiny scratch marks on it, meaning someone had managed to pick the lock, plant the device and and escape before the silent alarm could be triggered from the door remaining open for more than ten seconds. There were no other prints or tracks that she could see, but someone had stolen into her room. Luckily she wasn't carrying anything of importance in her quarters. She decided that since the issue was resolved she didn't need to wait any longer since the sun was going down and the night was about upon them. She undressed from her flight suit and got into her normal clothing and laid down on the bed to go to sleep.

It was going to be a long week ahead.











RED ALERT!!

Her missile alerts wailed at the top of their mechanical lungs as her HUD turned completely red in her vision. She gasped from exhaustion and fright as she suddenly saw in her visor the words no pilot ever wanted to see in training and never wanted to experience in reality: "You've been shot down!".

She sighed as she put her visor up and leveled her plane and hit the auto pilot switch.

Legend had been training them for three days now, almost non-stop. Three days of Hell and flashes of memories from her training to become a pilot in the first place. Reliving those memories was not pleasant, but she knew that it was what she and her comrades had brought upon themselves by not performing up to standards during the drill.

"Blaze, this is Tower. You've been shot down and are now KIA. Congratulations." Came a voice over the radio.

She didn't care which voice it was, it stung more than any words she'd heard in a long time... especially the final word.

"... This is Blaze... Roger." She said quietly before flipping her comm off.

"Blaze, Tower. Return to base and proceed to Runway One. Your training is far from over, as the day has just begun. You are to land, refuel, and await the return of your comrades. They'll be joining you here as KIA soon enough." She flipped her comm back on sadly, trying to swallow her pride as a single tear managed to escape from her left eye.

"... Blaze, roger." She said quietly, not bothering to turn her comm off again.

She was the first to take off, the first to arrive at Point Charlie, the first to engage Legend in combat, and the first to be shot down. The engagement began at 0600 and it was now only 0602 hours and Linde was already KIA. It was embarrassing in the worst way for her. She had a reputation to live up to, and she was just shot down as if it were nothing. Sure, it was Legend, but that did little to ease the pain that came with her failure.

She returned to base and landed on Runway One at 0607 after a brief five minute flight back to base. She exited the plane slowly, climbing down the ladder on the side at a snail's pace as the ground crewman assigned to her ship came over and grabbed her butt on her way down the final rungs. He recoiled immediately, as the first time he did that he received the end of her boot in his chest and flew into a box of supplies. This time, however, there was no reaction from her as she simply got off the ladder and took off her helmet. Her eyes were lifeless and her posture was weak as she walked towards a bench just outside the hangar while her plane was being refueled.

"Hey Blaze... you alright? You really let me have it the first time I did that to you. What's up?" The crewman asked after he set the refueling line to her plane and locked it in place.

There was no answer, just a sad glance in his direction as she worked with all her might to stop the tears that wanted to flow.

With Legend's skills there was one thing that was certain: Her squad mates would indeed be joining her on the ground soon.