Ace Combat Zero: The Aether Guard

[gagonthis]

Caliston yawned slightly, placing his hand over his mouth to cover it as he and the wing commander from Crow team looked over the map. Most of the important topics had already been covered, not that there was much to expand on, he was merely waiting for Fenrir's commander to show up before they signed off on any changes or final decisions.

He smiled knowingly as Miranda came around the corner with a new recruit just as another member of her flight came crashing into the room. Caliston kept his mouth shut though, he tended to be a bit more tactful than some of the other flight commanders he'd worked with. He was sure Miranda had a reason for being late, and berating her in front of her wingmates wouldn't be the best way to start what was already going to be a very tense morning.

"Mornin' Pegasus." He said with another inviting smile. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us today..."

 

[Katamari Roller]

Miranda smiled back at Alverz, before leaning forward to look at the map. The path to follow was pretty straight-forward, going over mostly flat terrain until they reached the Roca Grande mountain range. There, the landscape became plains until they rose up into mountains. The targets were at the foot of those mountains, on the Sapin side.

At that moment, she saw the new stealth guy appear, his chest heaving suggestively under his suit. He probably had come in a hurry.

"Yes, it is indeed cut out for us. And I can see why Sapin wants that place back. Artillery set up there has an awesome range to operate with."

Her hand drifted down the table, to a side of the map. There was a list of weaponry there, prices included, to decide the loadout for this mission. Miranda always chose a mix of cheap, and expensive, but always appropiate weaponry for each situation.

"It seems you are going to have a field day, Brigands. XAGMs seem the best bet here. I don't think we should take long-range for this one, since the targets are in difficult terrain. Bombs, specifically UGLBs and GPBs, will be necessary. Napalm and SFFS, those wouldn't be a good idea, I think.

For air operations, long range will be Ok if mixed with short range. As usual, multi-role missiles are a good bet. SAAM and XLAA are not my favourites for this one, that's for sure. I don't want to dive between two mountains to follow a retarded Belkan who thinks that will help him against the Ustian Airforce..."

A mechanic appeared, young and fresh in his light blue uniform, and dropped a pile of equipment order forms for the pilots to request their armament. With one hour until the mission started, they should have enough time to get it all ready.

"Well? Any comments? I guess tactics would be to have Brigand stay low under mountain-peak height, while the fighters stay over them and keep the Belkans away..."

 

[Wyldfire]

Kaiserin arrives.

"Tower, this is Kaiserin requesting landing instructions. Come now Dahlinks, let me know where you vould like me to land? I am running low on fuel and I vould like very much to stretch my legs before the mission." Michaella hoped the tower would give her her instructions soon before she picked a runway for herself.

The flight had been a long one that had stretched her bird's limits. This being "loaned out" amused her no end. Her old outfit was in trouble of disbanding after it's huge losses. These people needed another pilot here and Michaella had been picked to come help them out. She wasn't bothered by this seeing as her contract with her old unit was coming to an end and a new home was waiting for her to find it. Maybe if she did well this would be that home.

The Gripen circled the base in tightening circles. Finally the tower had given her her landing orders. She set the Gripen down with enough runway for another Gripen to set down on if it had to. She wondered if her "pit crew" was in place for any needed refueling and rearming. The poor boys had left a week before her so they could be in place for this mission.

As her bird came to a stop in the designate location Michaella got out of the bird and asked the closest ground crew member where the pre flight briefing was. With her thick Belkan accent there was no denying her heritage not that she would have though. Michaella was proud of her heritage.

 

[Dynosius]

Mayana tried to stiffle a yawn as she stood leaning against a plane. She closed her eyes, shutting her mouth as her lips pushed on each other. The involuntary muscles movement was getting closer, and she couldn't stop it, but Mayana really did her best.

In the end, she failed and her mouth went wide open with a yawn. Tired, yeah, she was tired. Couldn't help it, didn't want to help it. But it did make her slide off to her right. She lost her balance, flailing around with her arms to keep standing upright. In doing so, she passed her arm across a metal plate. Which wasn't bad in any way, but this particular plate had a sharp edge.

A shot of pain went through Mayana's arm. She could only barely retain her balance, tears shooting in her eyes of the pain. Soon, she felt a warm fluid flowing over her skin. Shit! Blood! Pressing her hand on the wound, Mayana quickly rushed over to the doctor's office. She knew that she had slashed open her arm, quite possibly very badly.

Once entering the doc's office, she hurried to Cindy.

"Quick, get the doctor! I cut myself on a metal plate. It's bleeding rather fast!"

 

[Wyldfire]

Mayana tried to stiffle a yawn as she stood leaning against a plane. She closed her eyes, shutting her mouth as her lips pushed on each other. The involuntary muscles movement was getting closer, and she couldn't stop it, but Mayana really did her best.

In the end, she failed and her mouth went wide open with a yawn. Tired, yeah, she was tired. Couldn't help it, didn't want to help it. But it did make her slide off to her right. She lost her balance, flailing around with her arms to keep standing upright. In doing so, she passed her arm across a metal plate. Which wasn't bad in any way, but this particular plate had a sharp edge.

A shot of pain went through Mayana's arm. She could only barely retain her balance, tears shooting in her eyes of the pain. Soon, she felt a warm fluid flowing over her skin. Shit! Blood! Pressing her hand on the wound, Mayana quickly rushed over to the doctor's office. She knew that she had slashed open her arm, quite possibly very badly.

Once entering the doc's office, she hurried to Cindy.

"Quick, get the doctor! I cut myself on a metal plate. It's bleeding rather fast!"

Cindy looked up and picked up the phone. "Yes Ma'am. I'm in the office. I'm bringing down your first casualty of war Doc, be happy. Yeah. No joke. We'll be right down. The lady's going to need stitching up. We're on our way." With that she hung up the phone and went to a cabinet grabbing a large stack of gauze pads. She told Mayanna to put that over the cut and lead her down to the O.R..

"Here you go Mayanna." Cindy said as she opened the door to the room where the Doctor stood waiting.

Kayla saw Mayanna holding her arm and the gauze turning pink. She didn't say a word as she took the girl by the elbow and led her to the table that had a suture kit on it as well as a needle already loaded for locals. There was also a basin of a pinkish fluid. "Out of the coverall and on the table Del Cruz." She told the girl.

 

[Dynosius]

Mayana did as the doctor ordered, discarding the now quite reddish wound gauze. She unzipped her flight suit, straight down to her belly button. Lucky for her, today was a bit colder, and as such she wore a black tank top underneath. Mayana swiftly pulled out her arms, letting the overall flop around her legs and hopped on the table.

"How does it look, doc?"

 

[Wyldfire]

Mayana did as the doctor ordered, discarding the now quite reddish wound gauze. She unzipped her flight suit, straight down to her belly button. Lucky for her, today was a bit colder, and as such she wore a black tank top underneath. Mayana swiftly pulled out her arms, letting the overall flop around her legs and hopped on the table.

"How does it look, doc?"

Mayana did as she was told and when she asked her question Kayla took a good look at the wound. She pulled some gauze wipes from the table with the basin and dipped them in the basin of pinkish fluid. She began cleaning the wound. "Well, Miss Del'Cruz, it looks like twenty to thirty stitches. I'm going to numb up the area and get you stitched up. This wound also looks like a tetanus booster and light duty for a week. That means no getting elbow deep in grease and engine parts. It means catching up on your supply paperwork and generally not being a tom boy. If I could add it to your light duty I'd require you to wear skirts and hose for the duration of the light duty."

Kayla took the syringe and gave Mayana several small injections in the area around the wound. "Now let's give that a few minutes to set in." she said as she put another few gauze pads over the wound and applied the least amount of pressure she could to check the bleeding while the anesthesia set in.

After a few moments Kayla released the pressure and grabbed the suture needle and poked lightly at a few places to make sure the anesthesia had set in before she began placing neat precise stitches to close the wound. "This shouldn't scar Miss Del'Cruz. You should be thankful that the metal hadn't torn the skin."

 

[Dynosius]

Mayana felt only little stings where the needle entered her skin. Moments later she didn't feel those anymore. It was like her arm was thick, as if she had been sleeping on it, numbing the limb. Mayana watched Kayla work on her wound. Thank God they had a good staff here. But on the other hand, she didn't quite like it when Kayla told her about the consequences.

Paperwork, yuch! How she hated that. Mayana rather worked up to her waist in mud and grease, then sitting in an office with a pen and paper, sorting out what she and her crew had used. Mayana waited for Kayla to give her either a good-to-go, or some other advice to take care with her wound.

 

[dragonrazor]

OOC: reserved for my post while i review my loadout and come up with said post

 

[RedMageNeko]

Taking the board from the mechanic, I quickly jot down a few notes. My craft wasn't equipped with the full load capabilties of a fighter, so I settled for two XMAA's for swatting that AWACS out of the sky. Once that was gone, pretty much all I could do was provide eyes and ears. But then it wasn't my job to get into those mountains. It was to find the AWACS, snuff it out, then sit back and watch the show.

Looking back up at the young commander as I returned the board, I frowned softly. "Do we have any idea what's nearby and waiting to be scrambled? I don't particularly like the thought of flying in blind on that."

 

[Wyldfire]

Mayana felt only little stings where the needle entered her skin. Moments later she didn't feel those anymore. It was like her arm was thick, as if she had been sleeping on it, numbing the limb. Mayana watched Kayla work on her wound. Thank God they had a good staff here. But on the other hand, she didn't quite like it when Kayla told her about the consequences.

Paperwork, yuch! How she hated that. Mayana rather worked up to her waist in mud and grease, then sitting in an office with a pen and paper, sorting out what she and her crew had used. Mayana waited for Kayla to give her either a good-to-go, or some other advice to take care with her wound.

Kayla let the girl stew in her own silence as she finished the stitches. As she snipped the last stitch she looked at the girl and said "Now I'm going to give you an antibiotic salve to put on it with each dressing change which needs to be done once a day or whenever you get the dressing dirty or wet."

She turned to a cabinet and pulled out gauze, tape, and a tube of ointment. Placing these in a small bag she opened a file cabinet and went through it till she found the file she was looking for. When she found it she pulled a page out, folded it, and put it in the bag with the supplies. She then went to a pad of paper and wrote some things down on it. "There we go Ms. Del'Cruz. There are your instructions. You can get up now and get dressed again. And thank you for the warm up. Lord help us all that I don't need to do more than this today."

Kayla was doing everything she could to not laugh at the note she'd added to the bag. She hoped Mayana didn't take it wrong. But thinking again she pulled the note back out and added something. There. The note read:

Mayana,

Thank you for helping Miranda last night. You were a great help to her I believe.

For future reference with Miranda, I believe green would be a good color as well as making the dress silk. Hose or stockings would work nicely, depending on how fast you want out of the clothes. If you need help procuring anything please feel free to see me. I may even have a few outfits that would fit you. Oh yes, and heels would top the cake well. The next time you have a date with her I would gladly do your hair and make up if you'd like.

Your friend Kayla.

Kayla then turned to a pad of chits and quickly wrote out two. One was for her light duty, the other placing her on bedrest for the rest of the day. She had a thoughtful look on her face as she turned and went to her desk and unlocked the bottom shelf. She pulled out an unlabeled pint bottle and handed it to Mayana saying "This is your prescription to help you with the pain of that and to help you get some sleep."

 

[Wyldfire]

Michaela makes her appearance.

Michaela finally tracked down where the pilots were for the pre flight briefing. It had taken her quite a while to interrogate the ground crews and more than a few strange looks.

She walked into the room the briefing was being held. Seeing the person handing out paperwork she walked up and said "Goot morning. Lieutenant Ivanova, reporting for duty. Vhat is the mission and where do you wish me to be?"

She looked around at the collected pilots before she turned back to the leadr and stated "My Pit crew vill be here shortly vith my last rearming supplies and fuel. I vill be needink fuel and weaponry for my Gripen after this mission. Here are my files and documentation. Respectfully requesting to be signing up for an extended tour of duty here."

 

[Katamari Roller]

"Do we have any idea what's nearby and waiting to be scrambled? I don't particularly like the thought of flying in blind on that."

Miranda gave it a moment of thought as she tried to remember the usual Belkan aircraft in the Sapin/Belka warzone. "I don't expect anything too bad. Just F-4s, MIG-29s at most, and maybe even the rare SU-27. With these many teams participating, plus the Sapin guys, this should be a run of the mill... Now, for the new guys, we'll have to go over the waypoints again. AWACS will guide us there, but any aircraft leaving before time will have to leg it alone and without navigation..."

Just as Miranda started pointing at the navways, she noticed a red-haired woman approaching. Long legs, blue eyes, red hair... her looks were those of a Belkan. It was that nose of hers that betrayed her. She stepped between the crews pushing the carts with bombs and missiles towards the aircraft, and introduced herself.

"Goot morning. Lieutenant Ivanova, reporting for duty. Vhat is the mission and where do you wish me to be?"

She looked around at the collected pilots before she turned back to Miranda, and stated. "My Pit crew vill be here shortly vith my last rearming supplies and fuel. I vill be needink fuel and weaponry for my Gripen after this mission. Here are my files and documentation. Respectfully requesting to be signing up for an extended tour of duty here."

Miranda took the documents and skimmed over them. A belkan in the Ustian airforce? Vanya, and now her... Miranda was not one too inclined to distrust, but the whole situation was starting to stink. This much Belkan around, no good. And unlike Vanya, this woman... Ivanova, couldn't hide that fact. The accent sold her.

Still, her papers were alright.

"Fine. You are in for this one, with Fenrir team. Those would be Vanya, Grimm, and me..." With an eloquent gesture of her am, Miranda pointed at them with her open hand. "... so you will be Fenrir 4. Weapons and fuel you will have to pay for, as usual, but any unused weaponry will be deducted from your expenses, so anything you don't use won't cost you anything. Now, we'll go over the plan once again, and then the navways..."

The rest of the time before the mission spent mostly reviewing the mission objectives, the navigation points, and discussing the weapon loadouts. As the preparations progressed, wind started pick up, running down the runways and giving an extra boost to aircraft taking off. That seemed to be a good omen, although Miranda wasn't too superstitious. Roughly ten minutes before take off, she straightened up beside the table and stretched, her muscles straining inside her body, and her body straining in turn inside her flight suit.

"Weeeeell...! I think that's all. Any comments or suggestions? Is the plan clear? Fenrir and Crow take air superiority, Brigand stay low and pummel the objective and defenses, and then it's free for all. Ok?"

 

[dragonrazor]

Jack had quickly filled out the form. He didn't have very much to request, but a few necessities would be a good idea. He had requested a few missiles, a Bunkerbuster, a rocketlauncher, and of course, an ECM system. Wouldn't do well to go in there and get targetted early on. He handed the form back to the person collecting them, and turned to the briefing. He studied the map, then blinked, hearing a decidedly Belkan accent. His first thought was to reach for his sidearm, of course, but then he realized the voice was feminine, and seemed friendly. He turned in the direction of the voice, and sized the source of the voice up, just as Miranda had okayed the pilot coming with. He shrugged, then turned his attention back to the map, just as the briefing started again. His attention was on the map, but the back of his mind filed away most of the information being spoken.

OOC: how's that?

 

[Dynosius]

Mayana was quite surprised to say the least. She got all those goodies from Kayla, what a doctor! Medical supplies, work shift notes, another note, and an unlabeled bottle. No doubt that it was illegal and home brewed. Mayana grinned at the good doctor.

Now as for the note... She read it, first the instructions (keeping it clean and dry etc. etc...) and then the rest. Mayana's eyes grew as she read it again. Her cheeks burned with a blush. Was the doctor really implying...? She was right though. To be honest, Mayana was actually glad that Kayla had written the note. As if a large burden fell from her shoulders.

She took up her overall again, wrapping the sleeves around her waist. Her arm was getting a bit sore, but the numbness hadn't left. It felt funny, every time she poked it, she felt nothing. Mayana giggled at that, almost like a little schoolgirl. She stood from the table, hopping off and stretched.

Taking up the bag with all her supplies and goodies, Mayana turned to Kayla with a smile. "Thanks for helping me, doc." And with a wink she added: "You'll see me soon."

A smile on her face, stitches in her arm, and a bag of supplies in her hand, Mayana set off back to her room. Her own room where she would take the rest of the day off, nice and relaxing with a bottle of home brewed spirit. She couldn't wait...!

 

[RedMageNeko]

Looking over at the new Belkan pilot, I remained silent, studying her. It wasn't particularly uncommon for merc pilots to fly against their own countrymen. I had seen it in a few tours of duty myself. But it also wasn't unheard of for enemy Intelligence to get one of their own into a merc outfit like this as a spy. So which side did she fall on? I didn't know. Only time would give me an answer for that.

 

[gagonthis]

Alverz yawned slightly as a couple of the Fenrir pilots looked over the requisition forms. He was thankful as he looked over all the lines and check boxes that he was only responsible for filling this out for his own vessel, that the Brigands were a capable enough group of pilots to know what they needed for this mission without him. He'd already filled his out earlier, and his plane was being outfitted as they sat at the briefing. Fresh depleted uranium shells loaded into the Heavy Gatling gun that Belkan tank drivers had learned to fear so much. He glanced across the hanger and saw the ground crew preparing to load the four UGLBs onto the plane, the ECM pod, the two QAAMs, and 4 LASMs already placed.

Alverz had always taken pride in his sturdy warthog. It wasn't as fast or as showy as the dog fighters used by Fenrir group, but Brigand wasn't about speed. It was about watching shit blow up. A thin smile touched his face as he turned back to the briefing. "You know we're good for this run. Give us a target and we'll hit it hard and make sure they know not to fuck with us again, but we're definitely going to need some top-notch air coverage on this one, especially if we're going to be dodging AA fire going in. Fortunately we've got one of the best up their against the fighters." He winked at Miranda. "Brigand team is ready to light the fires."

 

[Katamari Roller]

"You know we're good for this run. Give us a target and we'll hit it hard and make sure they know not to fuck with us again, but we're definitely going to need some top-notch air coverage on this one, especially if we're going to be dodging AA fire going in. Fortunately we've got one of the best up their against the fighters." Alverz winked at Miranda. "Brigand team is ready to light the fires."

Miranda grinned, switching her body's weight to her right leg, as she crossed her arms and, over-all, adopted a coquetish pose. "You guys raze the ground, we'll gut and clear the clouds."

Miranda turned to survey Fenrir. Vanya, Grimm, and Ivanova. Two Eagles, a Harrier and a Gripen. She'd never seen a stranger combination, that was true, but Miranda was sure they could deal with this. "Ok, Fenrir Team. Let's get to our birds. We'll make the Belkans cry."

As she prepared to leave the meeting, Miranda patted Ventril on the shoulder. "And you get that AWACS well roasted for us, will you? You new guys gotta do well today, or you won't get your welcome drinks."

With that, Miranda closed her flight suit all the way up and headed into the hangar with Fenrir Team's birds, her helmet dangling from her fingers by the strap as she smiled savagely, already tingling with excitement. Today they would be kicking some more Belkan ass, and earning a good money out of it too. She couldn't wait to get her hands on Pegasus' stick and throttle again, and rise up into the air.

 

[Wyldfire]

Michaella.

"Ok, Fenrir Team. Let's get to our birds. We'll make the Belkans cry."

As she prepared to leave the meeting, Miranda patted Ventril on the shoulder. "And you get that AWACS well roasted for us, will you? You new guys gotta do well today, or you won't get your welcome drinks."

With that, Miranda closed her flight suit all the way up and headed into the hangar with Fenrir Team's birds, her helmet dangling from her fingers by the strap as she smiled savagely, already tingling with excitement. Today they would be kicking some more Belkan ass, and earning a good money out of it too. She couldn't wait to get her hands on Pegasus' stick and throttle again, and rise up into the air.

"Oh, dahlink, making Belkan boys cry is easy. Getting them to play nice is the hard part." the Belkan woman said, laughing as she followed Miranda to the birds. She could see her Gripen was being refueled as she was heading towards it. She loved her bird deeply. It had taken good care of her when most had failed her.

"One last thing before we go. What's the IFF transponder signal? I vould hate to get shot in the butt by friendly fire in this. Might be Belkan by birth but I don't vant to haff to dodge our missles as well as their's."

 

[RedMageNeko]

Smirking lightly at the commander's words, I slip my flight helmet over my head, grinning. "Don't you worry maam. I'll even bring the gravy for your roasted bird."

 

[dragonrazor]

Jack shook his head at his commander's enthusiasm and jests. He turned to study the map one more time, then nodded, and started for the hangar. He wondered if the mechanics had ever inspected his Harrier. He supposed, by the fact that no one had come to him to complain about anything, that no one had. Still, you could never really tell with mechanics. They were an odd bunch, caring more about machines than people usually. He finished zipping up his flight suit, and as he saw his bird sitting there just waiting for takeoff, he had to smile. He walked up to her, and patted her gently on the wing. "You ready for this, Rika? The Reaper will be a step behind us today, as usual. Don't worry, we'll come out of this in once piece. And maybe we'll show these Ustians what good old Osean ingenuity can accomplish." He grinned at the thought, then started to climb up to the cockpit.

 

[Katamari Roller]

"Don't you worry maam. I'll even bring the gravy for your roasted bird."

"Wonderful!" Miranda's blue eyes narrowed above her savage smile as she started to slip away a bit into the bloodthirst that came with knowing your enemy had taken something precious away from you. In these moments, between the briefing and getting to the cockpit, when Miranda cleared her mind, the first thing she felt afterwards was hatred.

"Oh, dahlink, making Belkan boys cry is easy. Getting them to play nice is the hard part." the Belkan woman said, laughing as she followed Miranda to the birds. Miranda couldn't help smirking. She had to admit, she quite liked the accent. And besides, Ivanova sounded lively, which was something Miranda liked. Too many silent veterans around, it never was bad to have a bit of conversation between missions.

"One last thing before we go. What's the IFF transponder signal? I vould hate to get shot in the butt by friendly fire in this. Might be Belkan by birth but I don't vant to haff to dodge our missles as well as their's."

"The mechanics will have taken care of that, don't worry. It is standard procedure to fix that first of all when the new guys come." Miranda could see a mechanic standing on top of the rear fins of her Pegasus, as she entered the hangar and headed straight for the cockpit. He was finishing the painting of the new emblem for the team, the wolf tearing the world apart. Perhaps Fenrir would do just that... it seemed to fit quite well with her mood. The only plane not having it painted on was Ivanova's, seeing how she had just joined the team out of an improvised decision, but perhaps the guys upstairs wouldn't mind.

Miranda stopped beside her fighter's cockpit and strapped her helmet on. She heard the Grimm guy talking to his airplane. That was funny, not that Miranda thought it was childish. Everyone did it, it was just that Miranda didn't talk her appreciation out loud. She simply patted the cold steel and let her feelings do their job as her beast rolled down the runway.

She climbed into the cockpit and ran some unnecessary, redundant checks as Crow Team took their positions beside the runway, with Crow 1 taking the asphalt the first. Miranda did the checks calmly, letting her bloodthirst be masked by her worry over Pegasus' conditions. The mechanic on the rear fin clapped his hands, letting Miranda know the painting was done. She checked her watch.

Five minutes before the operation's beginning. Enough time for the paint to dry a bit, before the engines' heat did it.

 

[Wyldfire]

Michaella.

"Don't you worry maam. I'll even bring the gravy for your roasted bird."

"Wonderful!" Miranda's blue eyes narrowed above her savage smile as she started to slip away a bit into the bloodthirst that came with knowing your enemy had taken something precious away from you. In these moments, between the briefing and getting to the cockpit, when Miranda cleared her mind, the first thing she felt afterwards was hatred.

"Oh, dahlink, making Belkan boys cry is easy. Getting them to play nice is the hard part." the Belkan woman said, laughing as she followed Miranda to the birds. Miranda couldn't help smirking. She had to admit, she quite liked the accent. And besides, Ivanova sounded lively, which was something Miranda liked. Too many silent veterans around, it never was bad to have a bit of conversation between missions.

"One last thing before we go. What's the IFF transponder signal? I vould hate to get shot in the butt by friendly fire in this. Might be Belkan by birth but I don't vant to haff to dodge our missles as well as their's."

"The mechanics will have taken care of that, don't worry. It is standard procedure to fix that first of all when the new guys come." Miranda could see a mechanic standing on top of the rear fins of her Pegasus, as she entered the hangar and headed straight for the cockpit. He was finishing the painting of the new emblem for the team, the wolf tearing the world apart. Perhaps Fenrir would do just that... it seemed to fit quite well with her mood. The only plane not having it painted on was Ivanova's, seeing how she had just joined the team out of an improvised decision, but perhaps the guys upstairs wouldn't mind.

Miranda stopped beside her fighter's cockpit and strapped her helmet on. She heard the Grimm guy talking to his airplane. That was funny, not that Miranda thought it was childish. Everyone did it, it was just that Miranda didn't talk her appreciation out loud. She simply patted the cold steel and let her feelings do their job as her beast rolled down the runway.

She climbed into the cockpit and ran some unnecessary, redundant checks as Crow Team took their positions beside the runway, with Crow 1 taking the asphalt the first. Miranda did the checks calmly, letting her bloodthirst be masked by her worry over Pegasus' conditions. The mechanic on the rear fin clapped his hands, letting Miranda know the painting was done. She checked her watch.

Five minutes before the operation's beginning. Enough time for the paint to dry a bit, before the engines' heat did it.

The Belkan woman nodded in acknoledgement of Miranda's answer. She went to her bird and climbed in beginning her preflight checks.

Her radio kicked to life on the channel her pit crew used. "Kaiserin, this is Pitboss. We're in as close to position as we can be." with coordinates following.

"Thank you Pitboss. Coordinates received. I vill let you know when I am coming in if I need to. Kaiserin out." The Belkan woman said as she finished her pre flights.

Changing channels on her communications she said "Kaiserin good to go Kommander. Vot is the launch order?"

 

[dragonrazor]

Jack sat down in the seat of his plane, and pulled out into position to taxi on to the runway. He hadn't noticed the new emblem along the tail, but then, it didn't matter to him. Rika was Rika, no matter what was done to her appearance. He nodded at that thought, adjusting his helmet and setting his mask into position. Then he waited for the command to take off. Fortunately, he didn't have to use the runway, though he could easily do so. He ran through his preflight checks, making sure nothing was amiss. Not that he didn't trust the ground crew, but he wanted to make sure his bird was in top form. After noting that everything was in working order, he looked over to the others in his formation. An Ustian and two Belkans. Something told him this would be an interesting day. He started to warm up his engines, much to the dismay of the ground crew, who scattered once they heard the highpitched whine of the jet turbines starting up. He grinned again at that, then, when the order came, he started up the VTOL system, switching on the secondary engine and lifting straight off the ground, and hovering there while waiting for the others to take to the skies.

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

Luisa waited patiently as other planes were waved for takeoff ahead of her. She spent the time thinking of the mission objective.

She and at least one other fighter were to provide cover for an AWACS hunt. It didn't seem like a very fair mission, not because the lumbering radar unit was unarmed, but because it would be difficult to sneak up on, unless...

Her heart caught in her throat. As far as she knew, only one plane at Valais had the capability to stalk that AWACS without tipping off its sensors to its presence.

"Oh God," she whispered in the privacy of her cockpit, her hands trembling.

"Uriem..."