Beginning of the End
Well, I was officially beginning to develop a grudge against Spitfire. We were teaching at the academy and we had a flight combat demonstration. Not only was I able to take down her plane, but she took mine down as well. There’s something wrong when your partner is in an older plane and she is still able to take you out. I guess that’s just how it goes.
Now, we had to focus on something else. That was the International Pilot’s Annual Conference (IPAC). This year was special because Griffonstone had finally been secured as a stable nation and one of their best pilots was joining the conference. This year the designated location was on the carrier REGAL MOON.
I hadn’t been on that carrier since the war and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to being there again. Every time that we were on that ship I felt on edge. This time though was different. We were still four miles out and I was already getting nervous. We had some good memories on that ship and some bad ones. Yet, that wasn’t what I was worried about. I was worried about what people were calling the Curse of the Regal Moon. After the rescue operation that she had conducted to save Spitfire and I, there was an extended series of events that resulted in several issues and deaths of crew and workers.
“You in trouble with a girl, Captain?” Spitfire said snapping me out of my thoughts.
“What? No way, Spits. I’m just concerned about the conference,” I said half truthfully. Oh! I forgot to mention that Spitfire and I got promoted. I was promoted to Captain and Spitfire was promoted to Colonel. Now I know that you think this isn’t possible because there are several ranks between Captain and Colonel. Let’s just say that Spitfire has the best record out of any of us and so she can do that.
“I can understand where you’re coming from. While I am looking forward to meeting all the pilots again, the Regal Moon seems to be an odd choice.” Well, good she’s concerned about the same thing. “You’d better call us in.”
“Roger that,” I clicked my radio. “EDS REGAL MOON, this is Wonder 1. We are on approach. Requesting permission to land, over?”
“Roger that, Wonder 1. You are cleared for landing. Welcome back.”
“We’re a go, Spits.”
“Alright then. Let’s bring her down. Marshal, 405, 250 for 42, Angels 9, State 2.4.”
“405, Case I. BRC is 015, Report, see me?”
“405, Wilco. 405, See you at 10.”
“405, Switch Tower.”
I watched as Spitfire brought the plane down towards the deck and I prayed that we weren’t going to be on the list of issues that occurred on the ship. Luckily we came down on to the deck without a problem.
We stepped out onto the deck just in time to hear a load boom ring out across the sky above us. We looked up to see a Mikoyan MiG-29M go flying overhead. That was the plane of the pilot from Griffonstone. We didn’t have time to wait for him to land though. We needed to see the person in charge of the conference.
We walked towards the tower and were soon greeted by an officer. “Welcome back aboard the ship!” He yelled above the noise of the planes on deck.
“It’s a pleasure to be back aboard!” I said.
“If you’ll follow me, the Captain is waiting for you!”
We followed the officer down a few different halls and soon came to the meeting room. The Captain was there and so were several other pilots. I didn’t know most of them, but I could tell that I was going to get an introduction. This was actually my first time at this conference.
The Captain walked over to us. “Welcome back aboard you two. Spitfire, I know that you know the pilots here. However, Mr. Wing, you don’t know anyone here, do you?”
I shook my head. “No, Sir, I do not.”
“Well, let me introduce you to some of them,” he said leading me around the table. “This here is Oktober Shnell Wind. She’s the Ace from Germaney. She flies the EA-18G Growler you saw out on deck. We like to call her Old Red Tails.”
“I take it that’s because of the red tails on her plane?”
“You bet. These fine gentlemen over here are the Ice Wind brothers from Yakyakistan. They fly the MiG-29K and the Su-33 on deck.”
The captain continued to introduce me to the rest of the pilots and I was impressed at how many nations were there. These were the best of the best. Then the pilot from Griffonstone walked into the room.
“This is Colonel Iron Talon. He’s new to the conference. Since Griffonstone has settled down the government decided that they would send their best to the conference,” the captain said.
I saw Spitfire walk over and introduce herself. The colonel, in response, bowed with an elegance and respect that hadn’t been seen since the old days when ships used to depend on wind power. I was impressed and put on edge. Most people never acted like that unless they had some dark secret to them. That suspicion was further increased when I saw the ivory grip Luger on his hip. I decided to walk over and introduce myself. He couldn’t be as bad as I thought.
Spitfire turned to see me and I smiled. “Who’s our new friend?” I asked pretending not to know.
“This is Colonel Iron Talon. He’s the pilot from Griffonstone. Colonel Iron Talon, this is my co-pilot, Captain Phantom Wing.”
I shook the Colonel’s hand. He had a nice firm handshake that I hadn’t seen since my days in the academy. “Greetings, Captain. I have heard of you. You are the pilot who saved Major Midnight Strike, are you not?”
“Yes, Sir. That’s me. Kind of foolish of me. I nearly totaled one of Spitfire’s planes.”
“Nonsense. You saved one of the best pilots in Equestria. If it wasn’t for you, she surely would have died. That and you have developed quite the reputation after the sinking of the Olympus. I am honored to be in the presence of such a legend,” he said with another bow.
The captain called us all over so that he could give out the briefing for the conference.
Flight of the Nations
We walked out on to the flight deck the next morning for the flight exercise. We were given the briefing and found that we were going to be flying a battle simulation. We would be flying with Colonel Iron Talon and the other three pilots would fly as the attacking squad. That was just great. The last thing that I needed was to have pilots from other countries shouting simulated missiles at me in real combat maneuvers. Just great.
I jumped into my seat of our Hornet and strapped in. Spitfire closed the canopy and we made our way to our spot in the line. Soon, we were up in the air and on our way to link up with Iron Talon. We pulled up alongside him and together we proceeded to the target area. We started flying around checking for our adversaries at every turn. Then Iron Talon spotted something.
“There! On our four o’clock! Three bandits!”
“Break left!” Spitfire yelled and we both turned left.
I turned to see the three other planes following us. We pulled up into the clouds and made a sharp turn away from the direction of the ship. When I caught sight of the planes again they were following hard on our six.
“Anybody got eyes on ‘em?” Spitfire asked.
“There!” I shouted. “Eight o’clock!”
“Split!” Colonel Talon yelled.
We split and began heading different directions. Two planes began following him and one started following us. We pulled every trick in the book. Then Spitfire slammed on the brakes causing us to nose up and go back towards the pursuer. We watched the plane fly by until it suddenly flipped and rolled back towards us. That was when I noticed the red tails of the plane.Oktober Shnell Wind’s black, red tailed EA-18G Growler came screeching towards us. Spitfire pulled up and Oktober followed close behind. We were toast and we knew it. I couldn’t believe that this was going to happen on the first day. I heard the missile lock engage meaning that she had a clear shot. Then it suddenly stopped and she broke off. I didn’t get it. She had us. Why would she break off?
“Wonder 1 and Wonder 2, is that a loose goose I see in front of me?”
“Sure looks that way, Wonder 5. What do you think, Crash?”
“I think you’re right. Someone let the goose out of the pond.”
“Nice of you three to show up,” I said over the radio.
“Well we couldn’t just let our two favorite pilots become toast, now could we?” Midnight asked.
“Nice to see you too, Strike,” Spitfire said. “You mind if we fall right in on your wing? Possibly have you give us an escort back?”
“Sure thing chief. Fall right in.”
With our escort in tow we headed back to the carrier and landed to see the results of the first day. Our group was in first thanks to Iron Talon’s tricks and the surprising arrival of our team mates. I still didn’t know where they came from. Wherever they came from, I was glad that they came when they did. Even if we were only doing a military version of laser tag. Our first day turned out to be very successful in the long run and I was feeling very happy. Day 1 went to Griffonstone and Equestria.
Day 2 was even more of a surprise. The Regal Moon had sailed closer to the mountains that were on the boarders of Griffonstone. The good news was that these were different mountains than the last ones Spitfire and I had flown through. This section was known as Echo Pass because sounds made in there could be heard for miles on the other end of the pass. It also made a great place for close quarters aerial combat. We were on the attacking team with Midnight, Soarin, and Rainbow. Iron Talon was the pilot that we would be hunting and the other pilots would be his support. That seemed simply enough. The good news was that Rainbow and Soarin patrolled this area of the mountains a lot so they knew it pretty well. Yet, Iron Talon did also. Both before and during the war he flew the mountains watching the two of them. So, we had our work cut out for us.
We started flying it around 0900 and flew in a tight formation as we began our patrol. We then spotted Iron Talon and the other three pilots on our radar just around the next bend. We began tailing them, but not too close. We were the division leader and Soarin was our second. Midnight operated as our fire support. I looked at the raider and noticed that they were just outside of attacking range.
“How about you radio the ship and get attack permission, Cap.?” Spitfire said.
“Sure thing. Mother bird, this is Wonder 1. We have eyes on four targets. Requesting permission the engage. Over?”
“Roger, Wonder 1. You have a go. Over?”
“Roger that, Mother bird. Wonder 1 out. We got the go ahead, Spits,” I said.
“Okay boys. Let’s give me a scare.”
With that, we kicked the engines into over drive and began our run. The other planes scattered and began going different directions. We went for Oktober first and began chasing her through the mountains. We knew from yesterday that she didn’t like being outnumbered by her enemies in a fight. We chased her through several different passes until Midnight got a weapons lock on her and fired the simulated missile taking Oktober out. We then began hunting the other three. We didn’t them at all. There was nothing on the radar either. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of a plane down below us to our left.
“Right there! MiG-29K! Ten-O’clock, Low!”
“Roger that! We got him!” Rainbow said from Soarin and her’s plane. I watched as the two of them banked down towards the other plane. Suddenly Rainbow started screaming. “Missile lock! Missile lock! We’re getting painted!”
“Where from!?”
“I don’t know! I can’t see him! Fire and pull up!”
Soarin did so without hesitation. He fired the simulated missile and then he pulled up rapidly. Next thing I saw was an Su-33 come screeching out of the clouds towards them. We starting chasing after him and our wingmen. They lead us on a long chase through the mountains until we had them. Sadly, he was able to take out Rainbow and Soarin before we got him.
That meant that there were only three planes left. There was Midnight, us, and Iron Talon. We knew that Iron Talon was good and he knew these mountains better than anyone. After half an hour we wondered if he had given up. Just as we were about to turn back towards the ship, a simulated explosion signaled that Midnight had been taken out by none other than Colonel Iron Talon.
Iron Talon dropped his plane out from the clouds and made radio contact with us. “Perhaps you two would like to just surrender now and spare yourselves the humiliation of defeat.”
“Fat chance of that happening,” Spitfire said. “We’re in the latest of combat aircraft of the REF. This plane was built to fight and you’d better know how.”
“So be it them.” With that we clicked off his radio and began speeding up towards us.
Spitfire looked at me in her mirror. “You ready for this, Cap.?” she asked.
“If I said yes, I would be lying to you,” I responded.
“Let’s do this then,” she said.
Back on the Regal Moon in the CIC, the crew were watching the radar intently seeing how the final fight was going to go down. But then, one of the crew caught in bound aircraft with no ID. He tried to contact the craft and there was no response. He turned to the officer on duty.
“Chief, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator. Ten miles out.”
The officer walked over and looked at the screen. “Give me the phone. Unidentified aircraft, you are in restricted IPAC air space. Squawk ident and proceed East out of the area.” The craft refused to respond or change course. The officer switched channels and contacted the only two other planes in the air. “Wonder 1 and Talon 1, snap to heading 537 to intercept. Bogie’s in the surf, ten miles out, not squawking.”
“Roger that. Proceeding to target.” Iron Talon responded.
The officer got back on the phone to the craft. “Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to EDS Regal Moon. You do not comply we will use deadly force.”
Once Iron Talon and Spitfire soon came up on the rear of the chopper. Iron Talon got back the radio once he found the ID code. “Copy on the bogie. Tail, 7546 Zulu.”
Another crew member looked at a paper from the computer. “Sir, it says here that 7546Z was shot down eight months ago, Yakyakistan.”
“There’s got to be a mistake. Check again, then recheck.”
“I did, Sir. Brother of mine was on that chopper.”
On the radar, the two planes and the chopper were approaching the carrier. “Radar, where’s the inbound?”
“Bogie’s five miles out, Sir.”
The craft continued to advance. The two planes landed and then the chopper began to land. The commander headed up to the tower and saw the craft was an MH-53 Sea Stallion. He saw the tail and began to go on edge. “7546Z. Something’s not right.” The chopper landed and the crew started to surround it in anticipation of something bad happening.
The CIC command officer was still on the deck and the chopper hadn’t powered down. He picked up the phone that contacted the deck. “MH-53 pilot, power down now!” The pilot complied. “Have your crew step out or we will kill you!”
The back hatch of the chopper opened and several enemies who were clearly wearing Yakyakistan uniforms ran out. They started shooting as soon as they stepped out of the chopper. The security crew was outmatched and out gunned. The attackers started throwing grenades at the planes on deck and shooting grenades at the different decks of the tower. A few of the troops jumped down into the hangar and began making their way to the engine room and other places of the ship.
Last Hoorah of the Regal Moon
Iron Talon, Spitfire, and myself watched as the attackers began their attack on the ship. We were hiding behind our plane towards the base of the front side of the tower. We looked up and ducked under the plane when we heard the explosions of the grenades that they had shot into the command centers of the tower. Glass and pieces of metal and paper rained down on us.
We waited until the attackers had vanished inside the tower and closed the hatches behind them. We only had one other one other way of getting into the rest of the ship now. That was through the hangar. He ran to the chopper and started picking up some of the equipment that the security team had been using. We then made our way to the elevator which was only part of the way down. We jumped down into the hangar and saw the carnage that the attackers had left in their wake. There were at least 20 dead sailors and pilots and several planes were destroyed and burning. We proceeded to the closest open hatchway and headed down the stairs towards the engine room. We passed dead crew on the floor and their blood was covering the walls.
We continued to follow the trail of carnage that the enemy soldiers had left. Soon we came to the engine room. They were planting C4 on the hatch to blow it open. That told me that there were still crew alive in there and they were trying to keep that section of the ship under their control. We took position on each side of the hatchway that we were in and then Iron Talon moved to an intersection hatchway that the enemy could clearly see. Yet they didn’t open fire on him. I guessed that they couldn’t see him.
“Cover your eyes. Throwing a flashbang,” he said to Spitfire and me over the radio. We covered our eyes and right after we heard the bang we looked back up and opened fire on the blinded enemy soldiers. Sadly, we didn’t get two of them fast enough. One of them got a warning off to the others who had went into the tower and the other blew the hatch. We proceeded forward until we reached the hatchway.
“Halt! State you name and rank! Now!” Soarin called from inside the engine room.
“It’s me, Soar! Phantom and Col. Talon are here with me too!” Spitfire yelled back.
“Oh. Come on ahead, Spits.”
We proceeded in and saw Soarin and Midnight with several other of the surviving security forces of the ship. Altogether, there were about fifteen survivors of the security detail. Then there was also the crew. The engine room not only had its own staff, but there were also medical staff and several wounded personnel.
“Good to see you, Soarin,” I said. “How you all holding up?”
“We’re doing pretty well. That was the first big attack we’ve had on the engine so far. They’ve tried attacking from the other entrances, but this is the only one that they pushed us back to the point we needed to close the hatch. Sadly, we have a large number of wounded and we have a limited amount of control over the ship. The most control we have is half control over the speed and steering.”
“Why only half control?” Iron Talon asked.
“The rest is controlled from the bridge. Until the bridge gives a speed order, our engine output is constrained. And the steering is because we’re fighting them for control of the rudder. We’ve nearly burned out the system on our end. If that happens, they can steer this ship any which way and then the only thing we can do is shut down the engine. If we have to shut the engine down, we are screwed,” Soarin explained. He looked back at us and rubbed the back of his head. “Say, I know that this isn’t the most appropriate time to ask, but you two are Colonels and we need to have a senior officer,” he said to Spitfire and Iron Talon.
Spitfire turned to Iron Talon and she was about to give him command when he stopped her.
“This is an Equestrian war ship. I’m not familiar with how a ship like this is laid out. You are. You are the senior officer aboard here now.”
He gave her a solute and she returned it. She then started to give us orders.
“Soarin, continue doing what you were doing before. But, put whatever personnel you can on the defense of this door. Phantom, you’ll be in charge, but I want you and Iron Talon to take a detail to secure the armory and the bridge. You are to then hold the bridge and release speed and steering over to the engine room. Give us a course for Equestrian waters. Preferably the nearest port to us,” she said.
Iron Talon and I got right on our orders and soon we had two group of security officers ready to go. We had a clear shot to the armory and it was soon secured. We then proceeded to the bridge. I knew that it wouldn’t be easy so I took Iron Talon and Midnight Strike with me. We had about four other guys with us so that we could cover ourselves properly.
When we got to the bridge deck, it was easy to hear the enemy soldiers on the bridge. They were trying to get something out of the captain. Iron Talon took two of the sailors with him to the other side of the bridge to catch them in a crossfire. I waited until I heard two clicks on my radio and then we moved in. We took them all by surprise and it was easy to gun them down. Once we had the entrances secured we tended to the captain and got everything released the engine room needed. Soon we felt the ship begin to move and turn at an increased pace. I looked over the charts and gave the engine room a heading for Manehatten.
So close yet so far
Over the course of our voyage, we continued to hunt down the rest of the enemy combatants onboard and soon the ship was secured. It was nearly two days before we reached Manehatten. I was never more glad to see the skyline of that city. He had a full navy escort all the way into the city harbor. Spitfire and Soarin joined me on the bridge of the battered carrier.
“You did good, Cap.,” Spitfire told me.
“Well, I wasn’t alone, Spits. Without you, Col. Talon, and Strike, we might not be standing here,” I responded humbly.
Spitfire smiled. “Well, if it weren’t for you we wouldn’t have been able to …”
Spitfire was cut off by several explosions from the lower decks. The ship suddenly began to lean to the starboard side and we ran back into the hall. We moved up and down the decks of the tower, closing as many of the hatches that left the halls exposed to the outside, as possible.
We then proceeded to go the lower decks of the carrier. We had to stop as the ship began to roll over. Once the ship settled, we began the now tedious climb to the hangar. Once we reached the hangar we found that the doors were still sealed. Except for one. The door was still holding back water, but barely. The ship was groaning under the pressure of the water behind it. It was also leaking and there was a large pool of water forming at the base. There was also a hole in the floor that had water pouring in through it at the stern of the hangar. The pillar of water coming from it made us have to shout in order to hear each other.
“Looks like we’re going to need to find another way out!” I said. “This door isn’t going to hold for long!”
“Is there any other way out!?” Soarin asked.
“No! This is it! We have no choice, but to blow door!” Spitfire said.
“Spitfire, are you crazy!” I shouted. “That door is the only thing that is holding back the harbor and keeping this ship from going completely under! If we blow that door, we’re all dead!”
“No! She is right!” a familiar voice said. We turned to see Col. Iron Talon jogging towards us.
“Col. Talon! What are you still doing here!? We thought you had left the ship!” I said.
“I was recovering some things from my cabin and my plane! Spitfire is right! We need to blow the door! I’ve already looked for another exit! There is none!”
“But, if we blow open that door this ship is going to sink!” Soarin protested.
“This ship is going to sink at some point! It is just a matter of when! That door is going to fail very soon! The only question is, do you want to be here when it does or do you want to get out alive!?”
I looked at everyone there and I saw that they were all scared and weren’t certain that we were going to survive. So, I decided to be the brave one.
“What’s your plan!?” I asked.
He held up a bag of C4 he had been carrying.
“I picked this bag off one of the soldiers! We’ll place the C4 in a circle around the most damaged part of the door! Then we blow it! Once some of the water has filled in over the hole, we will swim out to the surface!”
“Are you sure that it will work!?” Spitfire asked.
Iron Talon shook his head. “No! I have no idea! The ship is already on the bottom of the harbor, so there is a lot of pressure! We may only cause all the doors to burst! But, we either die to the flooding, or to suffocation!”
We decided that the flooding was a quicker option. We placed the C4 around the most damaged part of the door and then took cover behind some wreckage. We pulled off our boots and anything else that would way us down. Iron Talon then pressed the button and the door exploded. Water came rushing in and soon began to fill the hangar. We waited a few minutes until the hole was covered by the water and then we made our move. Soarin and Spitfire were out first. Then Iron Talon pushed me out. Even though I only had a small amount of air, I helped Iron Talon get out of the ship. We then began swimming desperately for the surface. Just before I broke the surface of the water, I passed out and everything went black.
Spitfire sat by my bed for three days. She just sat there watching over me and praying that I would be alright. The doctors told me that I had been at Manehatten General Hospital for five days. I couldn’t believe it. I had been out for so long. That meant that I had missed my own birthday.
“Your parents were so worried about you,” Spitfire told me. “When you didn’t come up, I knew that something was wrong and I thought that you had drowned.”
“I almost did,” I responded. “Who pulled me up?”
“I did,” said Iron Talon as he walked in the room.
“Col. Talon. I would stand up and salute, but the docs want me to take it easy.”
He laughed. “We’ll you deserve the rest. You stayed behind for me. We were once enemies and yet you saw fit to wait for me to get out.”
“That’s what allies do, Sir.”
“Well, I am going to be shipping out back to Griffonstone so I just wanted to come and say goodbye.” He stuck out his had to me and I shook it.
“Goodbye Col. Talon. Stay safe up there.”
“You too. I hope that we meet again at the next IMPAC. Only without the attack and sinking carrier.”
“Indeed.” He walked out and I turned back to Spitfire. She was looking at me with a kind smile that she rarely showed. It was of someone who cared deeply for another individual. “What?”
“I nearly lost you,” she said in a soft voice.
“Well, that’s what happens in situations like that. You lose people and then you have to …” I was cut off by Spitfire kissing me right on the lips. My eyes nearly popped out of my head and I could have sworn that I was going to pass out again. When she finally broke the kiss, I was surprised. “What was that for?” I asked.
“Just to tell you that I’m glad you’re safe. You do loss people in situations like that. But, I couldn’t bear to loss you. I’ve tried to deny it for some time, because I didn’t want to get close to someone that I might lose later in my life. But, there is no denying it now.”
“Spits, just tell me what it is. I might die from the suspense,” I joked.
“Well, alright. What I’m trying to say is that, I love you. I love you, Cap. Phantom Wing.”
She stared at me and I stared back at her. I then reached up to stroke her cheek. I looked up at her with a warm smile that she quickly returned.
“I love you too, Col. Spitfire.”
We kissed and then the doctor came in causing us to break our kiss and act like nothing happened.
“I’d better get back to base,” Spitfire said.
“Right. I bet that the papers have just been piling up over the past week.” She began to head to the door. “Yo, Spits!” I called. She turned at the door to look at me. “Stay out of trouble until I get back okay?”
She smiled. “Now how can I get into trouble without my co-pilot?” she said.
I smiled back at her as she left the room. After this crazy week, I was going to need some serious RnR.
Author's Note
This chapter is unedited. I tried to do my best with my limited resources. If anyone knows how to fix it I would be glad to get your input.
