Wings of Fire Ch. 03

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"Sir! This is no ordinary plane!" one of the pilots radioed in.

"How so? Explain!" the radio tech demanded.

"We were driving it to ground, when its wings just tucked in close and the plane pulled up faster than I've ever seen! It looked impossible, but I saw it happen with my own eyes!" the pilot told him.

Colonel Rogers heard this and thought about it as he was just remembering he'd heard about a new prototype plane. One, according to Colonel Wickers, that had the ability to shift or 'swing' its wings, mid-flight. Realization dawned on him that this could be that prototype and if the Underground was piloting it... he didn't even finish the thought. It was too horrible to contemplate that any superiority they would finally get over their enemies was being stolen!

"New orders! Weapons free, I repeat; weapons free! Shoot down that plane at all costs! We can't let it cross the border!!!" the colonel screamed.

"Roger that, sir!" the pilot responded.

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James had just disappeared into a large bank of clouds and was exiting, hoping to evade the fighters. One of them spotted him and opened fire, bullets whizzing past the canopy, just missing them.

"Madre de Dios!" (Mother of God!) Laura screamed. "Why are they shooting at us?"

"They must have figured out we're flying in a stolen plane! This plane is the only one that can swing its wings like this!" James responded as he deftly dodged another wave of incoming fire. Both fighters were bearing down on them, guns blazing. James banked left, then right and pulled another barrel roll, evading the next burst of gunfire from the second fighter.

"Can't you fire back?" Laura cried out fearfully.

"This thing isn't equipped with guns! Your dad either forgot to put them in or was too cheap to equip this plane!" James replied while spinning the plane towards the ground, trying to lose the fighters.

"There must be something you can do!" Ottilia screamed as more bullets whizzed past them.

"There is! Hang on!" James shouted.

"We are hanging on!" Laura cried hysterically.

"Hang tighter!"

With that, James brought the plane upwards and just through some cloud cover, with the fighters following. While in the clouds, he opened the wings from their tucked in position and locked them back up. After he did this, James throttled down as they broke out of the clouds, bringing them back to half speed.

"Why are you slowing down?" Laura shouted.

"I'm bringing them in closer, Laura," James said evenly.

"You're gonna do what?!?"

Just as they slowed down to half speed once again, the fighters broke through the cloud behind them. 'Have to time this right,' James thought to himself as the planes were flying so fast they started to pass him by. As they saw this, they compensated to match his speed, but James had already executed his plan.

He enacted a flip spin, which saw them in a dive. But he did it close enough to one fighter, where he knocked his wing downwards, to his wingman. James hit the wing hard enough to force the fighter to bank right into his compatriot. The ensuing crash put both fighters out of commission and had them hurtling towards the ground. James pulled up, getting as far away from both wrecked fighters as he could.

He didn't look to see if either pilot bailed out, as he was busy trying to gain enough altitude to evade the shockwave. James heard an explosion, then felt it, as the wave of the detonation rolled over the plane, jostling them a little. Once he steadied the plane, he then chanced a look back and saw the telltale white puffs of parachutes.

"Well, I guess those guys kept their heads enough to jump when their planes bit it," James chuckled nervously.

"What the hell was that explosion?" Ottilia asked, more than a little frightened.

"That was the Flash reactors in both planes exploding. The thing about planes is that they don't require as much of the compound as most people think they do, since the compound is powerful enough to keep both planes aloft for days," James explained.

"That was the reactors... exploding?!?"

"Yep. We should consider ourselves lucky that it wasn't weapons grade Flash. That stuff is five to ten times more potent than what is used to keep planes in the air," James finished.

Both women crossed themselves as they thought about the damage that would have been caused by weaponized Flash. They watched the fiery wreckage below, glad it wasn't them that was turned into a smoldering wreck. The explosive radius had to be at least one mile in every direction, setting fire to most of the trees and foliage below. Both women turned away, wishing to see no more. They were happy they had escaped until Laura spotted two more specks on the horizon.

"James! Nine o'clock!" Laura warned. He craned his head to look, and he saw two more fighters closing on their position fast.

"Fuck!" he spat. James then climbed, heading for a large cloud bank overhead. He hoped to lose them in the clouds and try to zip towards the border, which wasn't far now.

"Have they spotted us yet?" James asked as they neared the clouds.

"I don't think so," Laura told him, her voice hopeful. "They seem to be heading for where we were."

That bit of knowledge buoyed his spirits as they vanished into the fluffy mist, thinking they'd evaded their pursuers. James let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding and slowed down the plane. He stayed up in the clouds for another few minutes before coming out of the expansive cloud bank. Suddenly, the sound of gunfire reached his ears and James dove, cursing as he throttled up the plane!

"Damn! I thought we'd evaded them with that pass!" he griped as he weaved and dodged more incoming bullets.

"How in the name of God did they find us??" Ottilia worried, her voice near hysterical.

"They must be tracking us through radar! It's the only thing that makes sense!" James shouted as he banked left, then right, heading south and away from the border. He saw another grouping of clouds overhead and made for them while he kept trying to stay out of the path of heated lead. They were nearly there when James pulled up, going almost vertical, as he sought higher altitude.

"They still on our tail?" James asked. He thought the sound of gunfire had changed but couldn't be certain.

"Yeah! There's one on our tail right now, still shooting!" Laura reported.

"Just one?" James asked.

"Yeah, and he's shooting at us!" Laura screamed at him.

James thought for a brief moment, wondering where the other fighter had gotten to. His mind went through various scenarios until he remembered several tactics that U.S. fighter pilots used. His eyes widened as one scenario in particular stood out in his mind. On reflex, he killed the engine, before leveling out and dropped into the clouds.

The pilot chasing him buzzed right past him, with his guns blazing, and cursed his luck for missing. He wouldn't think much of anything anymore as his wingman came out of the clouds above him and collided with him. Both planes were destroyed instantly as the Flash reactors ruptured and the blast wave demolished everything in its path.

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The radar tech kept his eyes on the screen and watched every radar signal go out. He checked his equipment to be sure it wasn't malfunctioning before he made his report.

"All signals are gone, sir, but the target is destroyed!" the tech stated to the command center.

"Are you certain that it is destroyed?" Colonel Rogers demanded of him.

"I can confirm that, sir," the young captain piped up, looking over the screen. "There are no additional contacts in the air at that location. Target was destroyed."

The colonel breathed a sigh of relief before he issued his next orders.

"Get a salvage team out there now! I want the wreckage collected and brought back here to retrieve what we can from that plane! On the double people! Move!" he called out, his voice booming across the center.

Everyone saluted and carried out their orders immediately. Nodding in satisfaction, the colonel went back to his office to file a report for this incident. He had the audio recordings of the pilots for the report, to ensure everything happened as he would say it had. He grumbled a little but figured that if he got it done and filed quickly, he could still get home in time for dinner.

As he wrote down the chain of events on the paper, he grumbled at the fact that he'd just lost four planes. Hopefully, they didn't lose any of the pilots, but with all four fighters equipped with Flash reactors, which had gone up, he knew it wasn't likely. It was a loss that the U.S. could ill afford, but that was the price they paid for their way of life. He was just glad they had stopped Underground renegades from stealing U.S. Government property.

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"Are you sure this will work?" Laura asked nervously as they glided through the air.

"It's working right now, isn't it? Relax Laura! Old Vlahos taught me well, so there's no way we're going to drop out of the sky. Unless a twister comes at us out of nowhere, we'll make it!" James reassured her.

Laura fidgeted nervously, never having been in a plane that was just gliding through the air. James had killed the engine, dropping them away from their pursuers, which had also seen them crash into each other. She thought it was dumb luck that had saved them, but James had insisted that everyone makes their own luck. Whatever it was that he was doing, she would continue to trust him, since he hadn't let her down yet.

Thankfully, according to James, they had been relatively high, at about eighteen thousand feet, when he shut the engine down. Since then, they had continued to glide along, using the tailwind to keep them aloft. They were still losing altitude, but at a much slower rate than she feared.

James had told her and Ottilia that their engine being off worked for them as it made it much harder for the aircraft to be detected on radar. Since they were just coasting along on the wind, the likelihood was that whoever was tracking them would think they'd gone down with the other fighters. Salvage and retrieval teams would be sent, but by the time they figured out what had happened, they would be long gone across the border.

Laura continued to stare out the window, watching the land pass by below. She couldn't believe that she was almost through! She would soon breathe free air and set foot in a land where she was the mistress of her own destiny! She hoped Ottilia would also find her way to freedom, away from her backstabbing family.

James was keeping his eyes peeled, as were they, but there had been no additional contacts for over twenty minutes. He'd kept to the clouds as a precaution, hoping to prevent anyone on the ground from spotting them. Even though they were at a high altitude, it would be relatively easy for someone to spot them in the orange evening sky.

"We're almost free, ladies!" James said from the cockpit. "Not even five minutes before we get to the border! Once we're across, I'll turn on the radio to make contact with the folks down in Indigenous Lands! We'll get ourselves a proper meal, sleep and good hot showers!"

"Sounds great!" Ottilia enthused, squirming on Laura's lap. A minute later, the border came into view and James' heart sank at what he saw.

"Good God! Can't we catch a damn break?!?" he shouted.

"What's the matter?" Laura worried.

"Look!"

Both women looked out of the canopy and saw the border wall that had segregated the former United States of America. It was a literal wall of fencing, concrete and barbed wire, with soldiers patrolling the perimeter. Every two hundred and fifty meters was a watchtower, armed with both heavy machine guns and flak cannons. The U.S. had made it clear when the wall went up; no gets in and no one leaves.

That wasn't what held James' attention. It was the fighter wing escorting a large airship that held it. The airship was comprised of two large envelopes, held together by a slightly smaller superstructure. It looked to be designed almost like an aircraft carrier, but it lacked the oval shape that boats would normally have. It was curved in some places, to allow it to glide though the air easily, but looked to be more like a flying fortress.

"There is no way we're getting past that! Give me a minute to think!" James said, scrambling to come up with a new plan.

Ottilia and Laura stared in disbelief at this, thinking the U.S. had finally built one of these ships. Such vessels were highly useful and sought after by the U.S. Government, but they had failed to secure one and lacked the resources to build one of adequate size. They were wondering where the money had come from, but then Ottilia spotted something on one of the tail fins.

"That's not a U.S. Airship! It has a unique symbol on it! Look!" she cried out, catching Laura's and James' attention. The symbol in question was a sky of red, with black clouds, black ground and a yellow sun. James knew that the U.S. military had no units with that symbol in their ranks and knew the ship for what it was.

"You're right! That's not a U.S. airship! They're mercenaries!" James said in disbelief.

"Mercenaries? Here?" Laura asked incredulously.

"Yeah! The U.S. Government doesn't have much in the way of resources or military might, but they have a lot of money! Even though the world won't sell them much in the way of weapons and vehicles, they can and often hire mercenaries! Mostly it's for posturing and patrols and mercenary groups who are looking for easy cash, contract out to the U.S.! Many don't though, as they don't enjoy dealing with the U.S.," James informed the women.

"And they are leaving right now! Think we can use them as a distraction?" Laura asked.

"Don't think that would work. The fighter wing appears to be escorting them to the wall, but they're breaking off just now," James said.

Indeed, the fighters were breaking off, not being needed, since the airship was now in range of their flak cannons. The fighters peeled off, heading south in a hurry, seemingly being needed elsewhere. The airship continued undeterred towards the wall, looking to put the United States behind it.

"The only way we're getting across in if we land on that airship," James told them.

"On it?!? With a group of mercenaries who may decide to kill us?" Laura fretted.

"Better to land and deal with a group that 'may' kill us, as opposed to the fighters and border guards who 'will'," James told her.

"Fine! But if they shoot us, then know that I'm blaming you for getting us into this mess!" Laura told him in frustration. Ottilia seconded that opinion.

"That's fair!" James chuckled as he skirted the cloud cover and followed them closer to the airship. They were still fairly high up as he made his way towards the flying behemoth. James kept checking to see if anyone on the wall had spotted them yet. Crossing himself, he disengaged from the clouds and dove straight for the airship, going for the runway.

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One of the lookouts in the airship's command tower spotted them coming and called out to his captain.

"Captain Greyheart! We have an incoming bogey! What are your orders?" he asked eagerly.

"Binoculars," the captain said neutrally. The captain then looked on through them and was puzzled by what she saw.

"Odd. There are no identifying markings on the plane. I doubt it's a U.S. aircraft. Bosun, what do you think?" she asked the burly man standing right next to her.

"I think we have less than a minute to blow it out of the sky! I don't trust unmarked planes!" he growled.

"Considering recent events aboard the ship, I might be inclined to agree. But they could be Underground agents trying to get out," she told him evenly. "Has the border wall spotted them yet?"

"Negative, Captain. I scanned other frequencies the moment I saw it and so far, it's business as usual," the lookout replied. "Whoever the pilot is, he's a seasoned flier. Gliding in with his engine off like this? Must be on the run!"

"Indeed! We might be able to use a pilot like that if he's amenable to mercenary work. I wouldn't doubt he is, since he's trying to avoid detection and how the U.S. has been tightening its grip lately," she stated.

"Aye, captain, but still, we already have our own issues to deal with right now. It's a miracle we haven't been tagged for what we did to help Ernie out," the bosun replied grimly.

"Agreed, but we should see who he is. If worse comes to worse, we gun him and his co-pilot down and take the plane. Lord knows we need some new ones these days," she said.

"Aye! That we do! What are your orders then?"

"Set up the cable, let him land and call an intruder alert. We will see who he is and why he's risking their lives to land on our ship," Captain Greyheart stated to the lookout, walking down the stairs with the bosun hot on her heels.

"Aye, aye Captain!" the lookout saluted.

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James hit the lever to lower his landing gear, readying the plane to land. He lined up their approach and adjusted his angle, making sure he wouldn't hit anything on deck. Because he wasn't running his engine, they glided on in gently; the wheels hitting the deck. It was still a bit of a jostle, but they'd landed, and James hit the brakes immediately.

They ground to a stop within seconds, the interlocking brake mechanism stopping the plane almost right away. They still skidded, but he felt a slight jolt as the plane halted almost right after they began to skid. James was wondering what had just happened when he heard a voice on the loudspeaker outside.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! All hands on deck! This is not a drill! I repeat, all hands on deck, this is not a drill!"

Several nearby doors burst open and a flood of mercs came pouring out of them, weapons in hand. In seconds, they had surrounded the plane, with guns trained on the canopy and the engine. James was nervous as hell, but didn't show that he was.

"Still think this was a great idea?" Laura asked, near hysterics.

"Well, they haven't shot us yet, so I will take it as a good sign so far. Laura, slowly disengage the canopy locks. No sudden moves or they will probably open fire," James told her.

Squeaking in fear but doing as she was told, Laura unlocked her portion of the canopy while James undid his. Once it was unlocked, he pressed the button to push the canopy up, and James stood up slowly. He kept his hands up in the air and in plain sight before he said his piece.

"I'm unarmed! I'm just going to get out of the cockpit and then help my passengers out of their seat! OK?"

"You do just that, boy!" the bosun told him gruffly. "No sudden moves and no funny business, or I'll pump your guts full of lead!"

"Understood!" James replied. When the bosun gestured, James went right to it and got out, before helping the girls out, like he said. Once they were out of the plane, the three of them had lined up right next to the plane, looking at the grim-faced mercs. James took a breath and introduced himself.

"My name is James Brighton. These are my companions; Laura Marino and Ottilia Natale. I would guess that I am speaking to the captain of this ship?" he said to the big man with a rifle pointed at him.

"He's the Bosun, following my orders. I am the captain," a sultry, feminine voice called out as the crowd of mercenaries parted to let her pass.

The woman in question was, in fact, a tall and leggy redhead who wore a uniform that sat somewhere between official and scandalous. Her outfit comprised of a large crimson greatcoat that was left open, displaying what she wore beneath. It was a black leather corset, accented in red and gold embroidery, that went with the skin-tight khaki pants she wore. The ensemble was completed by the thigh high black boots she wore, with a generous and solid heel to them.