Operation: Saber Strikes

The saviours

Ash's POV
      "Thermite, we need an evac right now! There's too many and we're running out of ammo!" He finished his mag and looked over "We have to hold out for another 2 minutes until Jäger gets here!" I looked back at the enemies "We'll be dead by then! Broadcast on an open band! Get some air support!" I heard Thatcher "On it!" As he fell back. I continued firing my R4-c as I heard him on the radio "S.O.S. Troops in contact, we need immediate air support! The white masks are pushing us back!" I heard an unfamiliar voice "Roger, what are your coordinates?" Thatcher looked at the gps "37 Sierra Gamma Theta 21828700!" The unfamiliar voice was quiet for a bit "Roger, we'll be arriving in 30 seconds. Saber, make it hit redline" the radio went quiet as Thatcher hit the humvee again "Think we can hold out for 30 seconds?" I nodded "we'll have to, last mag!" As I continued to fire. When my rifle clicked empty I slung it and pulled my Five-Seven. Thermite yelled "Last mag!" I heard Capitao "jammed!" As he crouched when I heard the familiar sound of helicopter blades chopping. I wanted to but I didn't dare take my eyes off the masks and stop shooting when I heard the unknown voice over the radio "Valkyrie 1-1 is on station, take a break Rainbow. We'll handle this" as a cannon started firing followed by a missile hitting the dirt hut in front of us. As a helicopter with Army markings flew over before turning and hovering as the cannon started firing again shredding masks,

before the pilot ripped the helicopter right as an RPG flew past. When the helicopter came to a hover again it fired the missiles again completely destroying the enemy positions.

I heard "Rainbow, you're clear no sign of the enemies other than the pieces. We'll provide cover until your extract arrives after which we'll escort you back to base, over?" I stammered as I replied shocked by the power "Roger... uh... tha-thanks for the assist, really." The unknown replied "no problem Ma'am, just doing our jobs. Uh-huh, yeah, I'll tell her." I asked slightly worried "tell me what?" He replied "my pilot wanted me to tell you, Six is at the air field." I was shocked Harry's here? Why? Does he know something we don't? I replied "Okay, thanks" Just then I heard Jäger "Coming in for approach, touchdown in 20 seconds" thatcher replied "Rog' we've got an escort." Jäger sounded confused as he asked "Really? By who? No one's supposed to be out here" Thermite looked at me "what's their callsign?" I tried to remember what he said "Ummmm.... Valkyrie 1-1" as thermite relayed that to Jäger. Jäger's reply surprised us all "Valkyrie 1-1? You're positive?" Thermite slowly replied "uh.. yeah, why? What's so special about that callsign?" Jäger sounded almost offended "Valkyrie 1-1's crew are legends among helicopter pilots, they've flown almost every major Raid since Operation Neptune's spear." I was shocked as I radioed them "1-1, shouldn't you be on some important mission?" The gunner replied "Ma'am, we're on patrol. We happened to be in the area when your request for Air support came over my E-Band. My pilot apparently heard something over comms about Rainbow being engaged." As I heard Jäger's Blackhawk coming to land "Thanks for the support, again." I heard Jäger on the radio "Ash, give them our radio frequency" I relayed it to them and then heard the gunner on our frequency as we lifted off "Hello Rainbow, how're you doing on this beautiful day?" I heard Thermite "Well Valkyrie, I'm out of ammo, we almost died, the compound was a dry hole but I got to see a Cobra destroy stuff so it's pretty good" the gunner sounded offended as he replied "Excuse you, this beauty is an AH-1Z Viper. Thank you very much" as Buck asked "What's the difference?" the gunner was getting more annoyed "My beast would eat a cobra for breakfast. Respect her and you might just survive" thermite grew quiet as Jäger asked "Excuse me sir, do you think I could sit in the cockpit when we get back to base? I've always heard stories of the Legendary Saber and Striker, it'd be an honor to sit in your seat." I was shocked Jager is never polite, especially to strangers he's a jokester. The gunner replied "yea, sure You're the Blackhawk pilot, Jäger right?" He sounded excited "You've heard of me?" The gunner replied "No, but Saber has, says you're a good pilot." Jager was giddy "please tell him I said Thank you sir, it means a lot." I spoke into the radio "What happened to the Jäger I know? That's always joking and making people laugh?" He replied "Ash, these men are effectively the Gods of the Viper, they've mastered that helicopter to an extent that no one else has, in the NightStalkers or otherwise." I heard Capitao "Nightstalkers? Is that a unit?" The gunner replied "it's effectively special forces for helicopter pilots in the Army, we provide air support for special forces units on operations, sir." Capitao whistled "Impressive, I'd like to meet the pilots who saved my life." Striker replied "uh-huh, yeah I'll tell him, Saber said he'll let everyone on your fire team come over and sit in the cockpit once we land." Jäger and Capitao looked excited, I think I'll do it too, not everyday you get to sit in an attack helicopter. Jäger asked "Sir, is it true you two took an rpg to the rear rudder and still managed to fly the mission and make it back to base?" Striker chuckled "I knew she could do it, we were arguing with an Apache pilot before the mission about it and then we proved him wrong in the mission. It was stressful but Saber's a hell of a pilot, I don't think anyone else could've done it even you, with all due respect sir." Buck asked "Why do you call us Sir and Ma'am? I doubt we outrank you, and 3 of us are police" he replied "We know what Rainbow does, we also know how elite it is. We're both southern so the southern respect transfer to everyone we work with." I heard Jäger "We'll be at base in 3 minutes" I sighed in relief "Striker, was it?" The gunner replied "Yes ma'am?" I asked "Can the pilot hear me?" He replied "Let me check, hey Saber? Saber, can you hear them? Well switch channels then, No I don't care that it'll take 5 seconds, Jesus Christ stop being lazy. How did you become the best pilot in the Army? Oh really? Stop crying and switch channel fucking hell" I heard a new voice, deeper than striker's, "fine, fine stop bitching. Good afternoon, ma'am." I chuckled "hello, I see you have a healthy relationship." He laughed softly "yes ma'am, we're like brothers. You wanted to ask me something?" I looked at the fire team "why were you in the area? I was told this was un-occupied, there shouldn't have been any allied elements nearby." He chuckled "You're sharp, too sharp. I'll give you that, you caught me. my CO gave me orders to patrol this air space incase shit went sideways. We were just waiting for a call from any nearby units when Thatcher appeared in Strikers headset." I smiled "I figured something was up, 30 seconds away on coincidence, I think not." He chuckled "Yeah, that is pretty unlikely anyway feel free to swing by my beast, she doesn't bite. Stay safe, Rainbow." Buck replied "you too, saber" as I stopped hearing Saber and heard Striker again "Ma'am, have you ever seen a Viper do its job?" I replied "no, I don't think any of us other than Thermite have" as I heard a chorus of confirmation of my assumption as I heard him "What'd you think? Saber wants to know if we left a good first impression." I paused thinking it over "It was shocking, and awe-inspiring. We were almost dead and then you show up and in 30 seconds the masks are dead and the areas secure." I heard him chuckled "Yeah, they did. It is. To be fair we still love the adrenaline we get doing our job. Well Ma'am you're almost at base so our time together is drawing to a close. Keep in touch, Saber's looking forward to the next opportunity to dance with Rainbow." I chuckled "I believe we're all looking forward to working together again." He chuckled as our comms fell silent. After a couple minutes, "30 seconds" I saw the ground approaching out the side of the Blackhawk. Once it landed, I ripped the door open and followed Jordan(Thermite) out of the chopper as we heard Striker "Broadcasting to all units on the airfield if you look up at the Viper, Saber wants to show off." Everyone looked up and saw Saber doing some stunts as we watched he was a meter or two off the ground before going vertical he climbed quickly before coming to a pause going inverted before completing the loop as he flew low and fast over us missing the blades of our Blackhawk by what looked like inches before climbing pointing the nose down and kicking the helicopter to the side as he spun coming back past everyone skidding the landing skis as he effectively drifted the viper before rising hover and then moving landing next to us as Striker said "Thank you all for coming to our air show, now get back to work ya slackers" I heard some chuckles as the air crews moved back to doing their jobs. We watched with anticipation as the cockpit door opened and two men in black flight suits climbed down as they turned, the shorter of the two men took off his hair. He had longer red hair, with green eyes he wore a broad smile as he extended his hand "Zach "Striker" pierce" I shook his hand "Eliza "Ash" Cohen" as I motioned to thermite "Jordan "Thermite" trace, Sebastien "Buck" Côté, Vicente "Capitao" Souza, Marius "Jager" streicher, and finally Mike "Thatcher" Baker." He smiled as the taller of the two took off his helmet. He had medium length hair with a fade up from the sides, a bear claw design shaved into the left side. He wore suspicion in his (E/C) eyes, searching each of us as he wore a confident smirk "(F/N) "Saber" (L/N)" he rubbed his short trimmed beard as he spoke. Zach spoke "don't mind him, he's pretty anti-social, doesn't trust people much. Too busy working and being serious." He spoke "Zach, shut up. I trust some people, I just like keeping my circle small. Being serious isn't a bad thing, just keep it from being excessive." Zach looked at him "Oh, really? Is that why even the maintenance crew says you're too serious?" I sighed "I like shit to be done right, she's my baby of course I make sure everything's to the letter and we do fun shit all the time. And to the Too Busy Working point, yeah I work a lot but that's because I like the military it gives my life order and structure so for the love of god lay off." I chuckled "Sounds a lot like the operators back at Rainbow talking about me." He sighed "The bastard never quits, he always listens but my god, does he always try to tell me I'm too serious." I heard behind us "Because you are!" He spun "You shut your mouth you cock waffle!" Zach yelled "Make me" as (F/N) ran and tackled him holding him in a headlock "Tap... Tap god damnit!" He tapped "now go make some friends you fuckin delinquent." Zach lazily saluted "yes sir" as he walked off towards the rest of the squad. (F/N) looked at me "sorry about that, gotta keep him in line. You're Eliza, right?" I laughed "yes I am. you're fine, sometimes you have to do it" he nodded slightly as he asked "you want to sit in my seat? See my office?" I looked at him confused "I thought you were cautious about people, why are you allowing this?" He looked at the cockpit "This is the only place I'm truly comfortable, I feel safe when I'm by my baby." I nodded "like when I have my rifle in my hands" he nodded as I asked "can I actually sit in your seat?" He smirked as he climbed up the footholds "come on, it'll be fine. Besides everything's powered off." I followed him up as he tapped my right leg "put this one in first," I did as he said before pausing "Use your handle to pull yourself up, then put your left leg in" I did as he told me "Now just slide in and sit down" I did and felt the snug fitness of the seat, though it was a bit big on me, as (F/N) asked "You want a picture taken?" I nodded with a small smirk as I handed him my phone "gotta be the baddest operator at the base." He chuckled softly "there, what do you think of home?" As he reached in and hit a button, turning on the display, I looked around at the cockpit

"it's really high tech, a lot more buttons and sensors then my work place but it's cozy." He looked "Yeah, she's something." I looked at him "Why do you guys have this? I thought the army uses Apaches?" He nodded "the Marines got the Viper to replace the Cobra, we were supposed to be in the Apache but our class was short one because of an increase in the size of it so the Marines offered us a Viper and to teach us how to fly it. We excelled in the training and they let us keep her. We're the only two people in the Army that fly a Viper."
(F/N) POV
She looked at me "do you ever wish you could fly the Apache instead?" I thought it over "At first I did, but I quickly grew to love the Beast, and how maneuverable and controllable she is. A lot of pilots respect us for our abilities, and I'm proud of that. I also think we could top any helicopter you put against us." She seemed surprised "you're really that confident?" I smiled slightly "I'm pretty comfortable with mine and Zach's abilities. We're one of the most successful gunship crews in history and we know our chopper inside and out. We've gotten trained in maintaining her so we help out around it, plus I like to update and upgrade our ordinance so she's pretty unusual for a chopper" she asked "do you like respect? You mentioned it before" I looked down "growing up I didn't get a lot of it, I was always treated like an untrustworthy delinquent so to join the Army and be one of, if not, the best helicopter pilots in the history of the Army and have everyone respect me it's nice to be treated like an equal." She nodded before asking "Now how do I get out of this?" I answered "just do the reverse of watch you did pull yourself out by the handle, left leg then right. I'll be here to catch you if you slip." She gave a short reply of "yessir" as I dropped to the ground and watched her get out as she came down I looked at her "you just sat in the pilot seat of the only Viper the army has. Welcome to the famous few." She smiled "it was extremely cool, thank you for that." I waved her off "no problem, I'm always happy to show her off. If you need to find me I'll probably be here messing with the ordinance trying to figure out how to make a bigger boom, it's been struggling against heavy armor." She nodded as she handed me a piece of paper "here's my number, if you want to be friends.. I think it'd be cool to expand my small circle with one of Jager's heroes." I looked at her "Cautious of people too? You seem like you could have a ton of friends if you wanted to." She sighed "I underestimated your deductive reasoning, yes I do tend to avoid most friendships. I like the small trust worthy group I have but I hope I can add another to it" I chuckled "Yeah, I'll try but missions are pretty constant for us so it might be limited talking." She sighed "well I've got to go debrief so see you later." I nodded "Send Jager over, please" she nodded as she gave a two finger salute "will do, friend." I chuckled as I started the post flight checks and I heard Marius(Jager) behind me "Sir? Eliza said you wanted to see me?" as I turned "Hello there, you said it would be an honor to sit in my seat, still want to?" He nodded with a huge smile as I motioned to the cockpit, "Come on then. You know how to get in right?" He said "yeah, this helicopter is sacred to me." I patted his shoulder "good man, good man." He climbed up and got in as I climbed up and stood on the foot holds "hows it feel?" He looked over "Amazing, simply amazing. I never thought I'd see this helicopter let alone sit in it, she's one in a million. This is a dream come true for me." I grew a half smile as I nodded slightly "good, I'm glad someone loves it as much as me. Getting in her makes my day better everytime." He looked around "She's even more amazing than I imagined her. Her armament is even a step up from the average Viper. You personally upgrade her right?" I smiled, clearly proud of it, "Yeah, I went to college to get an engineering and chemistry degree so I could keep her on the cutting edge." He looked at me "Maybe Eliza and I could help, we both have expertise in demolitions and engineering." I looked at him "maybe, wanna see something cool?" He nodded as I spoke "take off your helmet and give it here." He did so slowly as he ran a hand through his short brown hair as I gave him mine "put it on." He looked at me shocked before putting it on giddy as I flipped down the combat visor "now you see what I see on missions, if you looked at the left side you see my Hellfire and hydra missiles. The heatseekers and the GPS. I've also got an electronic altimeter so I don't have to take my eyes off the target." I saw his eyes searching for everything, as he spoke "this is so much better than mine, but I've been wondering why do you two wear fighter pilot uniforms?" I chuckled "we do a lot of high G maneuvers, we wear these so we can keep the oxygen supply up so we don't black out." He nodded "Well I should probably get to the briefing, Harry might be upset that I'm this late but it's totally worth it." I looked down "I'll walk with you so I can take responsibility for you being late." He looked at me "You sure?" I shrugged "I'm the good one out of me and Zach, command should be forgiving."