Rose And Claws

Prologue

Fort Grays was the dream assignment for most. The islands were secluded enough off of the Usean mainland to avoid being activated in the occasional flare up. For most, Fort Grays was a place to sit on the beach, drink beer and occasionally fly fighter jets. A Paradise compared to the cold hell of Heierlark Air Base in North Osea.

It was a day off for the brand-new Second Lieutenant. He was still getting used to the callsign he was assigned, Trigger, earned for an embarrassing first sortie in his F-16C Viper. And like any good junior officer, he spent his first night of freedom without repercussions getting absolutely wasted with all the other new arrivals and the many new local bars available to them.

As a result when he finally rolled out of bed, his watch read 1514.

Stumbling out to his patio, he felt the warm sun and the cool breeze of the ocean, an absolute paradise, he thought to himself.

Then the bomb went off.

Trigger saw the flash and then felt the concussion as one of the fuel farms on base exploded. Immediately following, more explosions followed. Looking up, Trigger could see the glint of shiny airplane bodies In the skies above.

Quickly kicking on his boots and grabbing his flight suit he started running towards the base.

***
The Squadron ready room was pandemonium. Squadron leaders were conducting headcounts, and discovering if any aircraft were flyable. Trigger found his squadron's leader, an older Captain whose name he couldn't quite remember, his nameplate read CLOWN

The Captain noticed Trigger first, "Ah, New guy, I don't know what the hell is going on but, Just hang tight, we'll get our orders soon enough."

Trigger nodded his head, his pulse was pounding, he was amazed how quickly he was able to get into his harness when the pressure was on.

"Say, You ready for a shooting gallery?" Clown asked, a slight grin on his face.
"Well to be entirely honest, I didn't think it would come to this" Trigger responded, voice trembling slightly as he spoke.

"Well, Just stay calm, follow whoever the flight lead is, and you'll be right as rain" Clown said, patting the younger pilot on the shoulder.

"THEY'RE COMING IN FOR ANOTHER ROUND" A pilot shouted.

Quickly a more senior Pilot, who Trigger only knew as Knocker walked in, Silently pointed at Trigger, Clown, and another new pilot, a young woman who earned the callsign Brownie and made a thumbing motion out to the flight line.

Running out to the flight line Trigger could see the chaos, Black smoke was billowing from the harbor and even closer to the ramp he could see damage. He made his way to the F-16 assigned to him, 015. Hopping in the cramped cockpit he did an amended start up procedure.

Turning on the radio he could hear the uncertainty in everyone's voices as he started his taxi towards the runway.

"Radar site still silent!" One of the bases operation officers reported
"Scramble, Get those birds in the Sky! We're sitting ducks!" shouted another officer
"Whats happening!?" another demanded
"Bombers incoming, don't know how many!"

Soon Knocker keyed up
"Let's clear that runway. We don't got all day here"

"Mage Squadron, Head to runway. Golem Squadron cleared for Takeoff, Link to Skykeeper on departure." The Control Tower said, in the usual non-committed monotone that amazed Trigger that, even in a time like this, the Tower's controllers could still maintain.

Trigger sat lined up on the runway, doing one last visual check he listened to the Radio

"Trigger, your callsign is Mage Two, verify and readback" the Tower called
"Callsign Mage two" Trigger responded

"Mage two, cleared for takeoff"

without waiting, Trigger slammed the throttle to afterburner.

He could faintly hear the Tower say something else, along with Knocker but he was not listening, Instead focusing on the roar of the engine, the increasing airspeed on his Heads Up Display and keeping the F-16 from crashing on takeoff.

Trigger didn't tune himself back into the radio chatter until he started to retract his landing gear and tuned to the local air to air radio channel.

"Whoa! Looks like the harbor's taken a lot of damage!" He could hear a female voice say, must be that Brownie chick he thought to himself.
"Can't have any more casualties. Time to stop the bullshit" Knocker stated. "Mage 2, form up on Mage 1, All aircraft lets do this! Golem squadron its go time!" he continued.

***