Saturday, February 6th - 0600 hours
Berkshire Air Base, England.

The lights went out in the dorm and Mike was plunged into darkness. He could still smell the smoke and sweat from the party thrown that night that had only recently ended. He needed sleep; it was a big day tomorrow he was going to have his 15th mission!


Michael Waters was waiting for his brief. It was 0600 hours on a cold crisp Saturday morning in February. The air was cold and frosty, the ground was hard and slightly glazed over with ice and a thin mist was formed over the horizon. Jay ‘Stormcrow’ walked up to him,
“Mike, the mission’s off for the day, our target is clouded over. We’re gonna re-start tomorrow.” He said
“Thanks Stormy, so it’s 0600 hours tomorrow?” he asked,
“No, 0500 hours, they want an early start” Jay breathed as if that would be impossible,
“0500 hours? Okay thanks Jay” Mike said as he walked off toward his sleeping quarters. He would write to his parents and then go to sleep for a few hours. He would wake up about 1000 hours and then go to see if the mechanics had finished working on ‘Blue Babe’ his harrier, it was named after his girlfriend; she had blue eyes and was his babe. After that he would probably go and meet with his group of friends in the mess hall. Mike walked through the quarters to his room, opened the door, walked in and sat at his table. He picked up a pencil and a piece of paper and started to write.

Dear Mom and Dad,
Hope you’re well, I’ve had a mission postponed, should be going tomorrow, it’ll be the 7th tomorrow, I got a bit of damage on the wing of the Babe yesterday, but the mechanics should have sorted that out by now. How’s it going? Is the dog okay? Hopefully you are all feeling good and well, tell Kirsty I love her, tell all the people back home I’m rooting for us in the baseball. Maybe I’ll be able to bring my helmet back with me, I’ve taken loads of pictures of my harrier and of the scenery from it when I’ve seen some particularly good views like you asked. The weather here is cold but so far it has warmed up later in the day, it’s six thirty at the moment. Keep safe and give my love to grandma, be home soon, before you know I’m gone, 
Your loving son, Mike.

Then he sighed, he was tired, and it was much earlier in the morning than he would have ever thought of back home. He jumped into his bed, and then he slept.

Mike woke up and looked at his watch, it was 7:46, he got up and put some of his casual clothes on, he stretched and walked out of his door. He then headed towards the hangers, it took him about 5 minutes, when he got there he looked around and saw his plane. The deep blue painted one with a picture of a bottle-nosed dolphin with a young lady who looked about 21 on its back. Mike walked over to the nearest mechanic,
“Scuse me? Have you finished work on the ‘Blue Babe’?” he asked
“Yeah, it had a few problems on the left engine and the left wing and that was about it, she’s much better now, we had a few problems with ‘Da Lion’ though.” The mechanic replied, 
“Thanks.” Mike answered, then he walked over to the harrier, and saw a bit of dirt on the eagle, he spat on his sleeve and rubbed the dirt off. Then when he was happy, he walked towards the mess hall.

Mike entered the smoky, loud mess hall and looked around, he spotted his group of friends at the bar section, all of them flew harriers, there was Neo, Jay ‘Stormcrow’ and Chitzkoi, Mike went and sat down with them, they were all talking excitedly,
“Hey guys, what’s going on?” He asked
“You know where they’re sending us tomorrow?” Chitz questioned him
“No clue… where?” he asked again
“The Kremlin!” Neo butted in
“No, they can’t send us to the ruddy Kremlin!” Mike cried, shocked
“They are dude! And quiet down!” laughed Neo,
“Christ, why they sending us there?” Mike asked
“We gotta provide air support for some nighthawk transports!” Jay laughed
“Stormcrow?”
“Yeah?” Jay smiled
“What are you laughing for?” Mike asked
“You got a way to not go?” Jay asked
“Course not!” Mike replied
“Well, it may be our last day with all of us together, drink, drink and be merry guys, it’s only a rumour!” Jay smiled again raising his beer.
“I guess you’re right, apart from the drink thing, it’s eat, drink and be merry dude!” Neo laughed
“What can I tell you? I want to drink!” Jay laughed
“You’re gonna get court-martialled some day Jay, you realise that?” Chitz exclaimed
“Hear hear!” Jay smiled heartily at him, raising his glass, as if it were a toast,
“God, Jay, it’s… 9 ‘o’ clock in the morning and you’re drunk already? A true scouser or what?!” Mike laughed
“If I get drunk now, I can go without a hangover in the morning” Jay smiled
“Strange theory, I’ll get the next round then shall I?” Mike asked
“What a mate!” Jay laughed and snorted into his beer
“I think it’s a coke for you Jay” Mike exclaimed
“Ahh, you don’t mean it, I know you too well” Jay smiled. Mike got up and walked over to the bar with his wallet out
“Three beers and a pin’ o coke please” He smiled, Jay was gonna be very annoyed… Oh well, the barman put the drinks on the bar, Mike picked the drinks up and walked over to his friends,
“One beer for you Chitz” He said giving Chitz a drink “One for you Neo” he said giving one to Neo, “And a Coke for you Jay” He said giving Jay the Coke, they all snorted into their beers except Jay, he looked at Mike like a hurt child,
“You unfair son of a…” he said, smiling, “I don’t believe it. You unfair son of a…” he repeated, then he took a large mouthful of Coke, and swallowed, “It’s just not the same!” he laughed, 
Everyone laughed along with Jay, they spent another ten minutes in the bar, and then they all went down to the hangers,
“You guys know that ‘Desolation’ was destroyed?” Chitz smiled on the way,
“Yeah…” Mike said, trailing off and wondering why Chitz would mention that, what with how upset he’d been when he found out that it wasn’t repairable,
“I got a new bird!” He said
“Really? You aren’t using the pants base one anymore? What did you call it?” Mike asked
“‘RVMECH’ is the new name, it just sorta came to me” Chitz smiled
“My bird, the ‘Ccabal’ is gonna kick some butt tomorrow guys” Neo said
“That sounds cool Chitz, the best one out there” Jay smiled 
“Dang Jay, you are drunk, everyone in this place knows that the Blue Babe has shot most Hind’s down and has also destroyed the most ground targets!” Mike smiled,
“Get your facts right, ‘En4cer’ has the spirit that ‘Blue Babe’ could never have and the same kill count!” Jay laughed, he told the truth about the kill count, but really neither of them cared except a faint pride, Jay had been Mike’s wingman for too long to really have a serious competition with him, only a small bet before each mission, that was only friendly too though. Mike smiled, he sure would miss these guys, Mike would, after the war, stay here in Berkshire, Jay would return to Liverpool, Chitz and Neo would return to the USA, they would never see each other again. Mike would sure miss them, but then was then, and it didn’t seem that it would be too soon. The Commies were winning the war, the Kremlin attack, if it were true, would probably be a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand. Mike looked at his watch, it was already 3:00pm. God, he had to go
“See you later guys, I gotta go phone somebody” he said to the others,
“Aww, gotta go phone the real Blue Babe?” They chorused together, it was something they had done since they had learned of why he had named the bird ‘Blue Babe’.
“You guys are getting so old with that joke, stop it” he smiled, but they had been together too long for him to really care. They were best friends, ever since Mike’s first day.

______________________________________________________________

Sunday, February 7th - 0530 hours
Berkshire Air Base, England.


The morning dawned bright and warm, Mike woke up to the sound of his alarm, he pushed the off button and got up, then he walked over to the toilet and did his business, then shaved, washed his hands, brushed his teeth and washed his face. He walked over to the drawers, picked his best combat blues, put them on and set out towards the mess hall for an early breakfast. As he walked Jay came and joined him,
“Morning Mike, how’s it hanging?” He asked
“You ask that to all male people you meet?” Mike asked
“Yeah…”
“Are you gay?”
“Huh? Hey! That’s not nice; I try to be nice to my fellow pilot and…”
“And I just act like a total invalid and call you gay?” Mike smiled cutting him off
“Yeah” Jay laughed
“Okay, okay sorry then, I’m good, you?” Mike asked
“Long and slightly to the left” Jay laughed, dodging Mike’s fist as Mike sent a soft punch at him for the bad joke. They came to the mess hall and stepped in, saw Chitzkoi and Neo sitting and eating their breakfast, Mike walked up to them,
“Have they started serving the powdered eggs yet?” He asked apprehensively
“Yeah, dude, they suck” Neo answered
“Damn, I’ll skip the eggs then” Mike said and walked to join the slow shuffling queue, when he got to the front he ordered,
“I’ll have sausages, toast and tomatoes,” he said
“No eggs?” the server asked,
“Umm, no thanks” He said, as he heard Jay ordering the same thing, they walked back looking with disgust at their breakfast, they came to the table, sat down and rushed their food. Mike looked at his watch,
“It’s ten to five, let’s go now,” he said to his companions,
“Yeah dude, but those eggs, totally suck,” Neo laughed

They all walked towards the briefing room, laughing and joking between themselves. When they got to the briefing room they all got seats at the front of the room, it wasn’t too long before the Wing Commander came to give them all their brief,
“I’m sure you have all heard the rumour that we are going to send an attack on the Kremlin, I’m sorry to say that this is true.” The wing-co started “We have been given a specific task, to destroy any base defences, then to make sure all the nighthawks land safely, and that all the para-troopers land safely. Now I’m sure you all want to know what the actual task is, Special Agent Tanya is to storm the Kremlin with 4 navy SEALS and 15 normal GI troops. They will attempt to capture Romonov and will force surrender,” He said. “And all you should find an envelope with your specific tasks in them, please take a minute to review them with your wingmen now.” Their was a shuffling as everyone went to grab their envelope, Mike and Jay looked at theirs, their task was to hover by the actual Kremlin and take out any air threats… He looked at Chitzkoi, whose wingman was Neo,
“What do you gotta do?” He asked
“We are to eliminate any air threats around the Kremlin” Chitzkoi said
“Us too!” Jay laughed
“Would all pilots please go and kit up and wait in their birds” Said the wing commander.

Mike was in the Blue Babe and was listening to the Comm signal, waiting for his turn to take flight,
“Would Blue Babe please take flight, and proceed at 15,000 feet and at low speeds until joined by En4cer” That was him! Mike started up the bird and used the jump jet and began to ascend to 15,000 feet and headed on course at low speeds, then he heard on the radio Jay’s clearance
“En4cer, proceed to 15,000 feet and join the Blue Babe”
He saw Jay come up level with him, and then switched over to the personal Comm channel
“Hey, En4cer, we are to proceed at full throttle to waypoint A and then follow further commands” Then they headed off from the base in southeastern England. Mike enjoyed the view, light clouds, the clouds were west thank God, Mike and the rest of the Harriers were heading east, he looked through the right side glass panel, and sure enough Jay was there. Jay was making a perfect speed match to Mike,
“En4cer, we are on our personal line and I’m bored… How did Liverpool do in their last match?”
Mike knew Jay would smile at this, they weren’t actually allowed to use this except to transmit personal orders, but the line wasn’t monitored so they could talk anyway.
“We won two to nil actually!” Jay laughed over the Comm
“Cool, looks like clouds at six ‘o’ clock” Mike said
“Yeah, but it’s 6:30 now, so we’re a little late!” Jay joked, Mike smiled at the poor attempt at a joke, it was a running joke in their air base ‘Commie at 12:00, oh well, it’s only 10, we can wait.’ It stopped being funny after a while… 
“Wanna hear a joke then,” Jay asked
“Go on…” Mike groaned
“Okay, there’s an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman, and they all work on the top of a building, as builders. It comes to lunch break and they all open their sandwiches. The Englishman bites into his, EUCH its Cheese and Cucumber again, the Scotsman opens his, and YUK he has Cheese and Cucumber again, and it’s the same with the Irishman. So they all make a vow, if they get Cheese and Cucumber again, they’ll jump off of the building. So it comes to the next day and they all get cheese and cucumber again, so they write a reason why on a piece of paper and jump. Later next day, the police are interviewing the wives, The Englishman’s wife is crying, she feels really guilty, why hadn’t she made chicken? The Scotsman’s wife is the same, why hadn’t she made ham? The Irishman’s wife just looks annoyed, ‘I don’t feel guilty. He made his own sandwiches!” Jay laughed
“That’s meant to be funny? Sheesh, that was crap Jay… your jokes are getting worse every time man!” Mike sighed

______________________________________________________________

Sunday, February 7th - 0700 hours
Somewhere over Moscow, Russia.


After what seemed like an eternity it Mike, they entered Moscow the weird thing was that they had come under no resistance along the way. Mike saw a flak cannon, he dived, machine guns blazing, with Jay coming along too, the cannon had traced Mike, took aim and shot, it got one hit on Mike, slashing into the metal shell of the Harrier, giving Mike a jolt, then… BOOM! No more flak cannon, Mike was surprised, they had gotten strong these days… All over the sky, Harriers were diving with their guns blazing destroying flak cannons, the air itself was full of flak, Mike strained to see through all of it, he squinted and searched the ground.

“Crap!” he yelled as his wing was hit by flak, it did no permanent damage though, just scraped the shell again. Mike strained again to see the Kremlin and scanned the ground… then there it was!
“I can see the Kremlin” Mike said excitedly
“Well bully for you Mike, I’m sorry to tell you, but we got company, Hind Chopper at 1 ‘o’ clock” came the reply, Mike looked slightly to the right and saw it, and he went to pursue it. He flew towards it at top speeds, guns blazing. Then shot through the metal framework, in return, the Hind let rip with it’s cannon, tearing through the metal flesh of the Blue Babe, it ripped through the side and hit Mike’s picture of his family on the dash.
“Dammit!” he yelled, he fired in vain, missing the hind by centimetres then rocketed past it and saw it turn around and fire two sidewinder missiles at him; he thought what to do. First he had to go, full throttle.
“Jay, hey, help me out here, I got a couple of sidewinders here, take care of em”
“Copy that”

Mike saw Jay pull out of rank and pursue the missiles. Mike increased the throttle to its fullest. He sped due south, missiles bearing right down his throat…

Jay pursued the missiles and tried to get a lock on them, the problem was, the sidewinders kept bobbing and weaving, making it hard to get a lock on them. Jay was starting to get the pattern and managed to get a lock on the first one. He fired a missile at it, and it caught it in a large, black, metal filled explosion, Jay flew through the black smoke created by the collision of the two missiles. Jay knew he couldn’t lock the second sidewinder…

Mike was starting to get anxious, he trusted Jay, but this wasn’t working, he needed other help, Mike switched his signal to general
“Blue Babe to RVMECH? Do you copy me?” he asked
“This is RVMECH, to Blue Babe, I copy you”
“I got trouble, a sidewinder on my tail, my wingman, En4cer, is having trouble, can you give me a hand?”
“Yeah, we can Blue Babe, over”
Mike felt relieved; he knew that all of his friends together would think of something… His only worry was that they would think of it too late. But as soon as he thought that, he saw Chitzkoi send a missile through from the RVMECH. It hit the sidewinder and they collided and sent another black cloud of smoke towards the trio behind Mike…
“Thanks guys” he called over the Comm “Thanks loads”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” came Chitzkoi’s reply
“Aww Shucks mister, twern’t nuthin” that was Jay, Mike smiled, and then went to pursue the hind that had attacked him. He gained on it… Got it in his sights… And fired… A HIT! The hind started to fall… Then spin, in a tight spin it plunged, a thousand feet, towards the ground, cannon still blazing pathetically. Then Mike knew no more, he was so happy with his victory that he didn’t notice the flak, seeming to hang before him, a piece of burning hot metal smashed through his windscreen, and severed his neck… The last thing he heard was Jay over the Comm.
“Mike… Turn you idiot! The flak… TURN DAMMIT!”
Then Mike died…

Jay was almost in tears; he had seen Mike’s neck severed; now he had to continue the mission… alone… No time to mourn up here. Jay was gonna turn back, this would never work, the Kremlin was too well protected
“Chitzkoi?” He called over the Comm
“What?”
“Mike is down”
“Damn, you serious?”
“Why would I joke about this?”
“Oh crap, I’m turning back, this is a death trap!”
“I’m with you Chitzkoi… oh dammit!”
“What?”
“I got a sidewinder on my tail”
“I’ll get it for you”
Chitzkoi targeted the sidewinder and fired… Oh… no! It missed the sidewinder, and hit Jay’s wing!
“I’m gonna dive bomb into the Kremlin”
“I’m sorry!”
“You tried”
“I’m sorry”
“Forget it, maybe I’ll see Mike”
“I’m sorry”
Jay turned the Comm off and dived towards the Kremlin, he was diving at such an angle, that if he tried to pull out, the bird would break apart, 
“Bye En4cer, you’ve been good to me, but we all gotta go some time” he murmured to the plane. Then he crashed, right into the room Romonov was hiding from the assault force in the Kremlin, killing him and many of his top personnel.

Neo was seriously considering suicide after seeing Mike and Jay die… He couldn’t imagine life at the base without them, he looked to his left and saw the Kremlin, waiting to be destroyed, and he took aim, and emptied his missile bays into it. As they struck the whole building erupted in a red, white smoke, metal and brickwork jumping a hundred feet into the air, filling Neo with anger, if it had been that easy, why did Mike and Jay have to die? Neo looked forward again. There was a Hind chopper; he flew towards it, guns blazing. The hind too opened fire, the white yellow flashing hypnotising him. The cannon ripped through the harrier, creating hundreds and hundreds of holes in the side of it, ripping into Neo’s chest and arm. Neo was about to fly past it, but realising he was about to die anyway… He veered into it, destroying both birds… both pilots…

Chitzkoi had seen all of the friends he had known for over five years die in front of his eyes. The only people he cared about, the only people he trusted die because of a mindless war caused by a mindless maniac. He saw no other way out; he looked to the battle below him. The GIs were battling against swarms of conscripts. Most of Allied squads were losing Chitzkoi sent the RVMECH down… down… down into a large group of conscripts… Chitzkoi’s his last sight… was many Soviet conscripts… looking up at him… with fear in their eyes… running cowardly for cover…

That evening, Soviet forces declared unconditional surrender to Allied forces, little did anyone alive know, they owed the entire victory, to four friends… Four friends and their Harriers, who gave their lives, to serve their country… 

THE END...

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