Copyright 2017 Daniel Chappell
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, for any reason, without the express permission of the publisher, except as outlined by U.S. copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, organizations, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Graphic Content Advisory: This story features some explicit language and graphically descriptive and/or violent situations. While these situations are few and far between, they may be offensive to some readers. Discretion is advised.
Dedicated in loving memory of L. R. Jones, a beloved neighbor and teacher, and a talented musician.
Chapter 1
Lt. Col. Orion Tachibana
October 27, 2112, 09:35
A gentle hum comes from the engines of my transport plane as it descends through the clouds on approach to Misawa Air Base. The storm from earlier in the morning has long since dissipated, leaving a thin mist on the ground. A fleet of warships sits anchored at the dock, the two cruisers of the group anchored a few hundred yards offshore for threat detection.
A slight bump can be felt as the wheels of the plane contact the runway, bouncing a little before settling into a roll. The speed continues to drop as we approach the loading zone and come to a stop. I stand up and remove my bags from the restraints on the wall before moving to the rear of the plane and waiting for the door to open. The ramp slowly descends, revealing the familiar hangars and buildings of the base I call home.
Nostalgia floods through me when I think about all the times I’ve had here, both good and bad. I consider all the people that are no doubt waiting eagerly in my squad’s hangar for me to return and think about all of those that aren’t with us anymore. A lot has happened in the time since we came here, most of it completely insane.
The second I step out of the plane, I’m greeted by an airman who informs me that the commander of the base, Colonel Feng, wants to see me in his office immediately. Pretty much as I expected. He takes my bags and runs off toward the pilots’ dorms as I walk in the direction of the colonel’s office.
This reminds me of the first time I’d arrived at this base with my squad mates, fresh out of the academy. A lot has changed since then. Inevitably, I think a lot has stayed the same. The familiar double doors of the colonel’s office greet me in no time and I knock before entering the room.
“Ah, Tachibana,” the man says upon seeing me. “Just in time. How was your time off?”
“Great, sir. My family… they’re alive. They’re in Osaka with my grandparents.”
“That’s unbelievably great news. I’m glad to hear they made it out alright.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“On to business, then. Lt. Col. Orion Tachibana. As of this moment, you are being officially reinstated as the commanding officer of the 35th Fighter Squadron. I trust that you will exercise great judgement and command skills as you always have.”
“It’ll be an honor.”
“Glad to hear it. I’m sure the squad is eagerly awaiting your arrival.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Hitomi is probably jumping from foot to foot with anticipation by now. But first, did you manage to look into that matter I asked you about?”
“Ah, yes, that.” He walks over to his desk and picks up a folder which he proceeds to hand to me. “It seems like your information checked out. We’ve been monitoring the situation for the last week and there’s definitely no coincidence. We decided to wait for you to return before taking any action.”
“Thanks for that. I’ll take care of things. Would you mind sending someone up to my office in a few minutes?”
“Not a problem.”
I thank the colonel and exit the room, headed in the direction of the 35th fighter squadron hangar. The sound of my boots hitting the pavement echoes off the walls and hangar doors as I pass them. A heavy feeling settles on my chest as I think about what I must do now. It’s going to be hard, but it’s the best thing I can do to protect my squad mates.
Every head in the squad room turns in my direction the second I step through the door. The usual faces are present: Hitomi, Kat, Smith, Saika, Yamada, and Johnson. They greet me enthusiastically and welcome me back with open arms.
“Thanks for the warm welcome, guys, but I’ve gotta finish taking care of some things before I can come back and enjoy the reunion. Hitomi, McKenzie, can you guys come with me for a bit? You too, Smith.”
The three people in question get up from their seats and follow me back out of the room. Confusion is written all over their faces, but none of them hesitates. They’ve come to trust that if I’m calling people specifically, there’s a good reason for it.
“So, what’s the deal, Rion?” Hitomi asks. “It seems like every time I see you now you’re rushing somewhere.”
“Just some paperwork that needs to be filed ASAP is all.”
She looks the definition of bewilderment after my answer, but she doesn’t question it. As the commander of the squadron in my absence, I’m sure she’s wondering why there’s any paperwork that she hasn’t heard about.
We reach my office and I put my hand on the biometric lock to open the door before stepping inside. I slowly walk around to the other side of my desk and take a seat, motioning for the other three to do the same. They take the seats opposite me and, for a moment, I just look at them, my chin resting on my folded hands.
“Alright, the reason we’re here,” I begin. “This isn’t an easy thing to do, but we have to do it nonetheless. Lt. McKenzie, this mostly pertains to you, but I wanted Hitomi here as the squadron leader in my absence and Smith here as your squad leader.” I procure the folder handed to me by the colonel from my lap and sit it on top of the desk. “I’m not going to sugarcoat things and I’ll get straight to the point. Lt. Kyle McKenzie, some information has come to light that calls into question your loyalty to the Pacific Alliance. Do you have anything you’d like to say for yourself?”
Before I can even finish the sentence, the man bolts out of his seat and makes a mad dash for the door. He crashes through it full speed and takes off down the hallway. I just drop my head, my forehead now resting on my hands. I was hoping against hope that no matter how much information we had, it was wrong. McKenzie’s reaction just now proves without a doubt that my hope was misplaced.
I could have easily locked the door before he left using the switch on my desk, but I didn’t even bother with that. There really wasn’t a need to. Moments later, the man is dragged back into the room by two armed MPs and plopped back into the chair. They check to make sure he doesn’t have any weapons on him and I wave for them to wait outside. The door closes, and I continue the conversation.
“Kyle. What’s going on?” He sits there in silence, eyes darting back and forth among the other occupants of the room. “Okay, fine. I’ll start then.”
I open the folder and spread the contents across my desk. Photographs, spreadsheets, and stacks of information cover the entire surface. Everyone’s eyes widen, Hitomi grabs a stack of documents and begins reading, Smith stares a hole in a photograph.
“The information within this folder points to multiple instances where you were seen in questionable activities. On at least three of those occasions, communications were intercepted that revealed detailed information about sensitive military operations to an unknown third party. Each of the times in question, one of our operations was intercepted at best, and completely thwarted at worst. Who are you passing information to?”
More silence. It’s not as if I expe
cted him to just come out with it and reveal everything the second he was caught, but even still we’re getting absolutely nowhere here. It’s really starting to piss me off. I get up from my chair and walk around the desk, leaning on it and facing the group with my arms folded.
“Listen, Kyle. We know you’ve been giving information about our operations to someone in the Republic. That’s not at all in question right now. What we want to know is why and who your handler is. You are going to go to prison. That much is a given. But if you keep quiet and don’t give me anything to go on, I’m not going to even try to get them to go easy on you. I know you’re aware of how brutal Republic information officers can be, but we’ve got some pretty… extreme characters right here at home. The choice is yours.”
“…family,” he mumbles.
“What was that?”
“They have my family. As long as I keep sending them information, they won’t be harmed.”
“And so, you sold out your entire country? What makes you think they won’t get rid of you the second you’re no longer needed? Your actions have directly led to the loss of countless lives. Millions, if the data here is correct, many of them our comrades in arms. Their blood is on your hands and you think you’re just going to get your family back one day and pretend nothing happened? Like you didn’t sacrifice everyone else’s families to justify your own selfish actions?”
I can feel myself getting more and more agitated with each passing word. A quick glance from Hitomi tells me I’m getting overly excited and that I need to come back down. I take a deep breath and walk back around the desk to sit in my chair. My raging emotions start to rein in a little and I finally look back up, elbow resting on the table and twirling a pen.
“Is there anything else you need to say?” I ask him.
Back to silence. I press a button on my desk and the two MPs from earlier enter the room once more.
“We’re done here,” I tell them. “Take him.”
They pull McKenzie up from his seat and put restraints around his wrists before escorting him out of the office and down the hallway. I hear their footsteps receding into the distance as the door slides shut again.
“Well, as usual, you’ve made one hell of an entrance, Rion,” Hitomi says with a sigh.
“Yeah. Bad habit of mine.”
The three of us sit in silence for a few minutes before moving on and filling out all the necessary paperwork so that we can make adjustments. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks.
Chapter 2
Lt. Col. Orion Tachibana
October 25, 2112, 13:32
“Rion!” I turn around to see Hitomi walking toward me.
“You changed your hair,” I say, noting the fresh pink highlights at the tip of her blonde hair. She’d left it plain while I was gone, saying that she just hadn’t felt like it.
“Sure did. What do you think?”
“I like it.”
“Good. You headed to CIC?”
“Yeah. Care to join me?”
“Let’s do it.”
She comes up beside me and we continue in the direction of the command center. There’s a mission for our squadron today and, instead of being in the air with the action, I’m going to be sitting in the base giving orders. Not necessarily my style, but someone has to do it, right?
We enter the fortified building and walk through the halls until we reach the double doors of the main CIC. It’s locked today, so I place my hand on the biometric lock beside it and it turns green, granting me access. Within, massive screens span the walls and banks of desks with computer screens sit grouped around the room. Three-dimensional maps project their contents into thin air, distorting the imagery behind them. Colonel Feng waves me over to where he stands within one of the 3D maps looking like a pale blue ghost.
“Tachibana, good to see you. We’re just about to begin. The team will be coming up on their target area shortly.”
“Good. They should know what to do unless extenuating circumstances arise. I gave them a thorough briefing before they left.”
I fall silent for a moment as I take in the information from the maps and screens. The weather in the target area is clear and relatively warm. Great for visibility, if nothing else. The status of each of the planes in the squad is displayed on a series of screens grouped together. All green. No issues or complications detected there.
Honestly, I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel like I’m missing part of the information by just looking at screens and data. There are certain things that I feel like you must be there to get. Then again, I think Smith can handle himself and his squad in that regard. I just need to relay the facts and the orders. Hitomi and I pick up spare headsets and put them on.
“Approaching Hector-Charlie-Alpha,” Smith says over the radio moments later.
“We read you,” I reply. “Continue as planned.”
The radio falls silent once more and I watch the map as the four dots of Smith’s squad head toward a marked red area. So far there’s been no sign of any enemies which, in this case, is not exactly a good thing. They’re out there looking for one of many prototype weapons deployed by the Republic. If there’s no bad guys, that means my people are out there for nothing. It’s still too early to tell either way though.
I chance a glance at the weather map for the area and notice some wicked clouds starting to form. Only problem is, weather predictions for the day were for clear skies and sun. Those clouds look like the type to let loose one hell of a rain storm. Strange weather aside, everything seems to be going fine.
Hitomi takes a seat nearby and continues to observe things, but I continue standing. I’m never able to sit still while my people are up there on their way somewhere dangerous. Once everyone is back to relative safety, then I’ll relax. Stormy weather has also been historically disastrous for my squadron.
“Where do you think they’re hiding?” Hitomi asks.
“Hard to say,” I reply. “They could be anywhere. Then again, they might not be in the area at all. We just have to wait and see how things unfold.”
Right on cue, several red blips appear at the edge of the radar screen. They grow in number until nine contacts are clearly visible. That leaves room for a high value target and two escort squads. Now we might be getting somewhere.
“Radar contact on nine hostiles,” Smith calls outs.
“Confirmed. We see them too. Approach with caution.”
The enemies, now seeming to have noticed the approaching planes, change their course and start trying to exit the area using another route. I guess that’s good news. The average patrol would likely just approach and engage. Smith’s squad pushes their speed higher and pursues the fleeing enemy forces.
As the events unfold, I keep an eye on the weather radar. It might be a little bit of paranoia on my part, but you can never be too careful. If things get too dicey, I’ll pull my people out of there in a heartbeat. Better mission failure than losing any more of our scarce remaining pilots.
Smith’s squad continues to approach, bringing the hostiles closer and closer to their gun range. Realizing this, six of the enemies break off from their formation and move to intercept them. Four on six, huh? I guess Smith would call this “easy” mode. The man is insufferable that way, but he’s one of my precious comrades all the same.
“Visual contact on six enemy targets,” his voice comes through the radio. “Standard Republic fighters.”
“Gotcha. Stay sharp.”
I look on as the two groups approach each other and the fighting begins. The orderly formation lines of both sides degrade into a mass of colors swirling around. The enemies are mostly sticking in groups of two, which makes their attacks rather concentrated. Four planes trail behind Smith and Saika as they try to take care of the two chasing the other members of their squad.
After a while of things going nowhere, Saika breaks off from beside Smith and two of the enemies follow her. They’re still outnumbered two-to-one, but this at
least gives them a bit more flexibility in terms of dynamics. She winds around the other groups of planes with the two hostiles still glued to her tail. Eventually, she comes around and manages to get behind the enemies chasing Smith. A brief moment passes and one of the radar contacts disappears.
The destruction of one of the enemies gives Smith some breathing room. It also frees him up to fight the remaining target one-on-one, something he excels at. In the time I’ve known him, I’ve only seen him lose to one person, which just happens to be me.
Sure enough, moments later he manages to flip things around and get behind his attacker. The battle lasts maybe fifteen seconds before the enemy’s radar signature is gone. They’ve got a good momentum going on. If they can keep it up, this may be over in a matter of minutes.
“Nine, be aware that your primary target is still trying to exit the combat area,” I say, noting the position of the other three radar contacts. “Wrap things up there as soon as you can so that they don’t get away from us.”
“Working on it,” Smith snaps back.
They’ve definitely been working on it. Including the two that he and Saika took out, a total of four enemies have already been shot down. From the looks of things, this will be over soon. A welcome occurrence.
“Heading for primary target,” Smith calls.
His and Saika’s dots converge on the three escaping enemies as Lt. Washington and Lt. Chu, who’s filling in the vacancy of McKenzie, remain behind to deal with the other two. The radar contacts seem to make no further effort to change their heading.
By the time the enemies left behind have been finished off, Saika and Smith have reached the remaining three. The escort fighters do their best to draw them away and take them down before they can get to the other contact, but it doesn’t do them much good. They’re dispatched in short order and all the attention and bad intentions shift to the lone remaining enemy. Within a few seconds, it’s hit with several somethings that make it go boom. Mission accomplished.
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