When The Sky Burns

Chapter 1

Waking up, Ichika remembered that he had patrol for today. "Crap!" Ichika scrambled to get his uniform on as he ran down the hallway, "hey come on get up!, we got patrol today!!" He yells as he slams open the door of his squadrons bunk. "Wahh!!...ehh it's only eight-....twenty one, sir!" One of the pilots complains as they all start to get up and ready, "Private Jenkins we were suppose to be out there about an hour ago!" Ichika turns around and hurries of down the hallway, suddenly bumping into someone causes him to stumble back. "General Nagato! I am very sorry sir!... I overslept!" He looks up at the General and salutes, the General smiles back at him. "Adese Squad Leader Orimura, I believe that you and your men got there extra hours of sleep" Ichika looks at him with confusion as he stops saluting. "Oh, looks like you didn't get the debriefing...well let's just say since you had such a successful victory on your last tireless  mission the commanding officers and I decided to reward you with extra R&R" the General offers for a handshake. "I'm very grateful sir!" He begins to shake the Generals hand, "honestly Ichika you are one of the best pilot, squad leader I have ever seen, you're caring, cautious, you're willing to put your life on the line for other...I could go on but our time is short...so Im not sure that I trust trust many people but what I am sure of is that I can trust you Ichika and if there is anything you need just ask". Ichika looks at General Nagato " s-sir I-", "no need to thank me Ichika, now you should go and start your patrol, remember today's a big day". They salute as the General walks of down the hallway " oh yeah today's Global Peace Day...it's been 3 years since the Great War", he starts of towards the door. Ichika opens the door and squints as the bright sunlight pours in, he looks around but jolts his head around at the sound of a crate dropping. "Stupid Neko you knocked over the damn crate!" Ichika notices two people standing over a neko man "I'm r-really s-sorry it was an accident" one of the guys grabs the man by the collar of his shirt "the accident is you and your species being discovered!" The man punches the neko man and throws him to the ground. "Hey you two stop that!" Ichika sprints towards them pushing them away "get out of the way Orimura or am I going to have to teach you a lesson too" the man throws a punch at him, but misses as Ichika ducks and strikes him in the stomach with his fist. "Damit! You littl-" Ichika jams his knee into the mans face knocking him to the ground, "you have no right to treat him like that!" The other man kneels down and helps the other man back up. "Ugh you littl-...never mind lets go!" The other man nods as the turn and walk off, "you alright?" He turns towards the neko man and begins to help him up. "Why did you help me!?" The man looks at him in complete shock "hey don't worry we all have rights and your kind are human too" the neko man smiles at him. "It's great to know that people still care" Ichika helps him sit down on one of the crates then sits next to him, "so why did they get so angry over you dropping a crate on accident?". "Well it's mostly because I'm a neko and that most of normal humans hate us because we look different and Probably because of The "Betrayal at Anchorage" but I don't really want to disuse that so.." Ichika looks at him with confusion "man that's a stupid reason but that's today's people for you I guess". The man looks at him with a smile "yeah but not all today's people are that bad and I'm very thankful" they both smile as they shake hands. "I'm John Norgami pleasure to meet you-you?", "Ichika Orimura, the pleasure is all mine". They begin to talk until Ichika remembers he has patrol today"crap, I've got patrol see ya" he begins to rich off as he waves to John, john smiles and waves back as Ichika rushes off towards the hangar. He enters the hangar and notices the rest of his squad already suited up and preparing their jets, "look who's up early but late to get ready!" They all laugh as Ichika walks over to his locker and pulls his flight suit out and puts it on. He walks over to to his fighter jet and climbs up the step ladder, as he sits down in the cockpit he notices Jenkins climbing in after him. "Alright let's see..." Ichika powers up the jet and the display screen flares to life, "alright all seems good, checking flaps". He moves the joystick as the flaps move, he looks back and sees a thumbs up from the flight line crew then thumbs up back to them. Ichika puts his flight helmet on and pulls the visor down, a syncing icon pops up on the visor then fades as a flight guide pops up "testing..testing" he goes over the last preparations of the start up. "Comms working loud and clear sir" his squadrons voices sound over the comms, "roger that, alright Echo squadron let us begin" he pushes the throttle forward as the jet begins to roll out of the hangar. The jet rolls down the Tarmac approaching the runway, pulling the joystick to the side the jet turns and rolls onto the runway then slowing to a stop. "This is Echo-1 to control tower, permission for takeoff?" He turns back to see the rest of Echo squadron lining up behind him as he puts his oxygen mask on. "Tower to Echo-1, the lanes clear permission granted, stay safe out there" after hearing the grant Ichika pushes the throttle all the way forward causing the jet to start rolling down the runway. The jet continues to barrel down the runway until the it begins to lift, Ichika pulls back on the throttle as the plane begins to rise from the ground "Echo-1 to squadron form attack formation" . The plane gains altitude climbing towards the clouds "copy that" he notices his squadrons fighter jets forming into formation behind him. He then levels out the plane and reduces the throttle as he reaches the right altitude. They begin to patrol the border as they fly "sir, movement about 5-clicks ahead us" Ichika switches to infrared locating the source of the movement, it's a squad of five tanks. "Copy that, appears to be a squad of five imperialist tanks on patrol" he switches off the infrared "copy that", they continue to patrol until he notices two transport planes approaching them from there front. "Echo leader to squad, we have two jumbos...looks like there heading towards the airbase...keep an eye on them until they pass" Ichika turns around to Jenkins signaling him to look over at the jumbos "copy that sir". Ichika turns back to the his display screen, Jenkins zooms in on the jumbos and notices the symbols "sir their our own, flying our own colors and symbols" Ichika gives a thumbs up "this is echo-1, stand down their comrades". The transports pass as they continue on their patrol route, "squad we've reach our patrol boundary, time to head back" he begins to turn the jet around "copy th-" Ichika taps on his comms "Echo-3?"