Chapter 2
Homecoming
Washington D.C.
Congresswoman Mina Aino (D-California) stretched as she shut her satchel
and prepared to walk out of the House chamber. Around her, other
representatives were packing their stuff to head home or where ever they
went after the day was recessed. With a heavy sigh, she strode down the
isle, onto the floor, and hung a left toward the chamber exit.
Representative Ian Caldwell joined her as she left.
“Can’t believe they got that through today.” Caldwell was shaking his head.
He was speaking of HB-803, a banking bill that the Republicans had trying to
get out of committee for the past two months. Not much noise had been made
over it because the public wouldn’t like it very much. The Democrats had
hoped it would just die in chambers. They’d miscalculated.
“That’s okay.” Mina shrugged, “President Shepherd won’t sign it anyway.”
“You’d know better than any of us.” Caldwell agreed. Mina and the president
where on good terms. He had been a professor to her in college before
running and winning the presidency. He had prompted her to become a lawyer
and she did so. Afterwards, he had supported her in her campaign for
representative. The support had helped, as she beat an incumbent Republican
for the seat.
“God knows we can’t beat it in the House.” Caldwell shook his head, “Not
unless we make it public and that will be nasty.”
“And since turnabout is fair play...” the freshman congresswoman shrugged.
“Exactly.”
Soon, the two were in the tunnel running between the capitol and the House
of Representatives office building. No sooner had Mina made it to her floor
than her secretary came up to her.
“Ms. Aino, there’s a call for you on line six. They’re on hold.”
“Thanks Sandra,“ Mina nodded, “I’ll take it in my office.” she went into
the small room overlooking the Mall and tapped the button on her speaker
phone. “This is Mina Aino.”
“Mina, hey!” a familiar voice bubbled through the speaker. Instantly, the
blonde picked up the receiver.
“Serena, how are you?”
“I’m doing just fine. I got a new book out. You?”
“I saw.” Mina smiled, “Swear I’m gonna by it when I don’t have any briefs
to read, but otherwise I’m doing fine.”
“They keeping you busy?”
“Like shit! The GOP got us on 803 today.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah.” Mina unnecessarily nodded, “So what’s up?”
“Well, a little bird tells me the Stennis is hitting port next weekend. If
you’re not busy, we could all go see Amy. She’s got leave coming up.”
“I need some time off. I think I will come.”
“Great!”
Next week...
They were an interesting set: a writer, an actress, a cook, an a
congresswoman as they rode along in Serena’s Range Rover to Miramar NAS to
await Amy’s arrival.
Of all of them, Mina was the only one who didn’t remain near LA. Serena had
married Darien and was now a successful journalist who did writing on the
side. Rei had made it big acting and just recently had a new movie out. Lita
had opened a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard which was rated five star. And
Mina had got herself elected to congress. Still, they had managed to stay
best friends.
“I’m telling you, it was the scariest experience of my life.” Rei went on
about some set disaster in a previous movie.
“That’s what happens when you do your own stunts.” Serena chided.
“I know, but still,” Rei threw her hands up, “being ejected from a
speedboat’s pretty scary.”
“Lucky we used to be Sailor Scouts and are used to that sort of thing.”
Lita noted.
“Speaking of which,” the raven-haired actress looked over at Serena, “When
are you and I going to get together and write the screenplay for a Sailor
Scout movie?”
“Actually, I was hoping we could all have some input on it.” the author
shrugged. “So we’d all have to get together. I know that’s not a problem
with you, me, and Lita, but Amy and Mina can’t just head off at the drop of
a hat.”
“Who you gonna get to play me?” Mina asked. Serena and Rei shrugged
simultaneously. A moment later, they were turning into the NAS gates. The
MPs stopped the car and Serena rolled down her window for the usual line of
question.
“Yeah, we’re here to see Lieutenant Amy Anderson. Her wing is coming in
this afternoon.” After checking his list, the MP waved her through. The SUV
rolled along to the parking lot.
Aircraft carriers never come to port with their wings aboard. Instead, the
entire air group is offloaded several miles from shore to land at a nearby
naval air station or airforce base. In this case, that place was Miramar in
San Diego. The local Navy base was Johnny Reb’s home port.
The four Scouts piled from the Range Rover and began following the trickle
of people here to greet loved ones. They soon found themselves standing
around the tarmac looking out over the runways.
“How will we know it’s her?” Rei asked.
Lita looked at a list she had borrowed from someone. “Well, she said look
for a chess knight on the tail. Her plane is number 106. That will be in
grey on the nose.”
“Looks like her squadron is one of the last to come in.” Serena said,
looking over Lita’s arm. “Pukin’ Dogs, Tomcatters, Wildcats, Roadrunners,
and the Gauntlets all come in before her group.”
“Look!” Mina pointed, “There’s the first one now.” and the four friends
watched a Tomcat with a blue vomiting griffin on the tail roll in for final
approach. It landed smoothly and wasted not time taxiing to its designated
place on the tarmac. As the pilot and RIO climbed out, two women and one
six-year old boy ran out to greet them.
The tarmac was mostly empty when the first Gunslinger bird set down. Not
long afterward, number 106 made an appearance and glided down to touch the
runway with a graceful squeal of the tires. The airbrake slid up Amy
Anderson’s Hornet came to a stop next to the appropriate taxiway.
“That’s her.” Serena jolted from the now waning crowd and scampered across
the concrete just as Amy was coming down from her cockpit. “Amy!”
“Serena?!” the blue-haired aviator was surprised as the blonde pounced and
hugged her friend. “Guys, oh my God.” and she exchanged embraces with her
friends. “How have you guys been? I haven’t heard from any of you since I
left port seven months ago.”
“I know, but we can’t hold you entirely responsible for that.” Rei said.
“This is a nice ride you’ve got here.” Lita said, rubbing her hands across
the side of the fighter. Amy nodded and smiled, seeing the jealousy in her
brunette friend’s eyes.
“Okay, so, now what?” Rei asked.
“Well,” Amy shrugged, “there’s a C-2 Greyhound bringing our bags and stuff,
so we gotta wait. But while we’re at it, I can introduce you to some of my
squadronmates.”
“Hey, maybe someone will recognize Rei!” Serena giggled.
“Funny.” the Japanese woman glared.
“Well it’s not my fault fans aren’t swarming around you.”
“Shut up!”
“It sure is empty here.” Rei said, looking around the apartment Amy was
renting. She was referring less to the amount of material things that to the
loneliness the apartment conveyed. There was a layer of dust over each piece
of furniture, making them seem unused. The place was lit only by the
sunlight peeking in through the blinds.
“Is there enough space for us all?” Serena asked.
“Yeah.” Amy nodded. “Someone can stay in my room with me, two can stay in
the small guest room, and someone can sleep here on the futon.” At the
mention of the futon, three sets of eyes immediately went to Lita.
“What?” the brunette looked at them innocently. Upon realizing what they
were staring at her about, she smirked. “Homophobes.”
“And I’m not staying with Serena, either.” Rei stated rather jokingly. This
earned a swat from the meatball-head.
“Oh, come on you guys,” Amy shook her head as she booted up her computer,
“Be nice to eachother for once. After all, it has been nearly a year since
we were all able to get together.”
“Yeah.” Mina agreed, “It’s time you and Serena start getting along.”
“So says the politician.” Serena and Rei giggled in unison.
“You voted for me.” Mina smiled, knowing that they both had cast their
ballots in her favor.
“What’s that?” Lita asked as Amy inserted the first of two black tapes into
her VCR. Without word, the aviator turned on the TV and hit play. The five
friends were rewarded with the picture of an F/A-18 gliding to a rough
landing on the Stennis’s deck. Along the bottom of the screen there were a
number of measurements such as feet per second and knots. After the jet
stopped, small number popped up in the upper left corner. In this case, that
number was a three. A moment later, the picture was replaced by graph
showing the descent of the aircraft.
“Ooh,” Amy mumbled to herself, taking notes, “384 fett per second. That’s
why I only got a ‘fair’ on that one.”
“Amy, what is this?” Lita asked again.
“Hmm?” the blue-haired woman looked up, “Oh, it’s a recording of all my
traps on this cruise. I get to see what I did wrong or right on each one. I
thought you guys might like to watch.” The next time, the Hornet came down
clean and a five popped onto the screen. “Oh!” Amy turned, “I almost forgot.
Take a look at this.” She double-clicked on an icon on the computer screen.
A moment later, a picture of blue sky and white clouds with a Heads-Up
Display superimposed was projected onto the computer screen. Amy clicked the
play option and the Scouts watched as a diamond formed in a box on the HUD
accompanied by a blaring tone. “Fox three,” they heard Amy’s voice say and a
white streak sailed in at a small black dot in the middle of the box. A
moment later the white trail touched the dot and a firey orange puff
enveloped the speck. “Splash two Fantan.” The horizon twisted vertical and
then began to pour down the screen just before the video shut off.
“Well?” Amy asked, proud.
“What was that?” Serena was wide-eyed.
“That was the final moments of a Chinese Q-5 ‘Fantan,’ brought down by
yours truely.” was the response.
“You shot someone down?” Rei asked in disbelief.
“Way to go, Amy!” Mina cheered.
Rei’s eyebrows drew close. “He ejected didn’t he?”
“Um,” the naval officer’s face went bleak, “No, he didn’t. He didn’t have a
chance to.”
“You killed a guy?” the actress said angrily.
“Well...yeah, I guess I did.” An embaressed smile crept across Amy’s face.
Rei turned away and quickly went to make a choice of bedrooms. Amy followed,
“Rei, he was going to try to blow up my boat.” She didn’t listen, only kept
walking, leaving Amy to stand there, vexxed.
“It’s okay, Ams.” Serena said, “She’ll get over it.”
“Not that I’m too worried.” Amy shrugged, picking up her note pad to watch
her tapes, cool as ice again.
“What was up with you?” Mina asked Rei as the two slept back to back that
night. The actress had managed to get her way about not sleeping with
Serena, though she had only been joking about it. She had been quiet when
they five of them went for dinner, and had not spoken so much as a word to
Amy after the outburst.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” she replied to the congresswoman’s
question.
“I’m supposed to accept that after you blew up at one of my best friends.”
“She’s my freind, too!”
“Not that you’re giving any clues.” Mina smirked.
“If you must know,” Rei said, turning on her back, “It disturbs me that Amy
could brag about taking a life.”
“A kill is a kill.” Mina shrugged.
“But she was almost cocky about it.” Rei pointed out, “She acted like it
was no big deal.”
“Rei, Amy works in a very dangerous field.” the blonde argued, “It’s war.
She’s a warrior. Warriors have to kill people.”
“But does she have to be proud of it?”
“Shooting down another aircraft is a very rare thing, Rei.” Mina answered,
“Even a single air-to-air victory is something to be celebrated.”
“You’re right.” Rei finally admitted, “I guess I shoulda been patting her
on the back for that.”
“That’s not all that’s bugging you, is it?” Mina asked, point blank.
Rei was taken aback, and it took her a second to answer. “Well, um... no,
it’s not.”
“Well?” Mina rolled over to face her.
“It’s just that she’s...” Rei tried to explain, “she’s not the Amy I used
to know.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s so... I don’t know.” Rei shrugged, “She just seems so cocky and
wild. She’s no longer the same quiet, contemplative Amy she used to be. She
gloats about stuff now. She never used to gloat. I swear, she hasn’t been
the same since rescuing that downed pilot.”
Mina considered this, then smirked. “Well, we’ve all changed quite a bit.
We’re all older now and more mature. Lita’s not so boycrazy...”
“Yeah, girlcrazy is more like it.” Rei snorted.
“Serena’s not so ditzy anymore.” Mina continued, ignoring Rei’s comment,
“Neither am I, for that matter. You’re a lot less mystical than you used to
be. Serena says you don’t meditate as often as you used to. Amy’s just
reacting to what she’s been exposed to, I guess.” Rei rolled back on her
side and shut her eyes. “I’ll talk to her in the morning.”
Rei found Amy on the beach her apartment complex overlooked. She was
standing there in bathing suit and khakis, watching something through her
binoculars. Rei could barely make out the grey dash on the horizon that must
have been Amy’s point of interest. As if to answer her question about what
it was, a pair of A-6 Intruders recently taken off from Miramar streaked
overhead. Rei watched them until they were a pair of specks in the distance
before approching her friend.
“Whutcha looking at?” she asked.
Amy handed her the binoculars and Rei turned them on the distant carrier.
“USS Ronald Reagan is putting to sea today.” the pilot answered, “CVN-76,
most advanced carrier in the fleet. She was just launched four years ago.”
“Wow.” Rei said in mock interest. She could now see the pair of Intruders
approaching. “Hey, I wanted to appologize for last night. I said some really
way harsh things to you. I didn’t mean it.”
“Oh, I knew that.” Amy smiled, taking back the binoculars to give the
carrier a last glance, “A lot of people get upset when we tell them that the
guy we shot down is dead. A lot of folks assume that a pilot can always
eject from his aircraft. In many cases, he has the chance to do so, but
there are some when he does not. It’s just dangerous work, Rei. Perhaps even
more dangerous than being a groundpounder or in a tank.
“Rei, I am the front line in a war. I’m one of the first ones in.” For the
first time, the pilot looked at her friend, “The first question our
president asks when a problem arises is ‘where’s the closest carrier?’ It’s
war, Rei. In war, people get killed.”
The actress was taken aback. “What’s happened to you?”
“You wouldn’t understand.” Amy shook her head, “Not unless you’ve
experienced it first hand.” Rei left it at that. Later that day, she
completely forgot the incedent as the friends went out to have fun.
Los Angeles, a week later...
“So?” Luna asked as Serena came with her bags, “How was she?”
“Amy?” Serena smiled at the black cat, “Our Amy is doing wonderful. I think
the Navy is good for her.”
“I still think she should have stayed on course to be a doctor.”
“Why?”
“That’s what she wanted to be in the first place. She had been working so
hard on it. Now she’s tear-assing around like there’s no tomorrow. I half
expected her to be tired of this pilot crap by now.”
“No.” Serena corrected, “It’s not what she wanted! It’s what her mother
wanted for her. She kept saying she’d be a doctor so that her mother
wouldn’t be dissapointed in her and think she’d turn out like her father.”
“That man is a kook.” Luna nodded, “But still, she should have listened...”
“No, Luna, she should have done as she pleased. Amy was miserable preparing
herself for med school anyway. You could see it in her eyes. She was
breaking under the stress.”
“Oh, right, like six-months-in-six-months-out is any better for her.” Luna
rolled her red eyes, “I’m sure she’s just like every other sailor, a sex toy
in every port. Why doesn’t she see Greg anymore anyway?”
“Because he’s doing SatInt for CIA.”
“What?” Luna had no idea what she meant.
“It means Satelite Intelligence,” a male voice said, “Or satelite photo
interpretation.” Darien smiled at his wife as he strode into the livingroom.
“How was Amy.”
“Like a wild mare.” Serena shrugged, “She’s itching to be back out to sea
again.”
“Well, you know Amy,” the man smiled, “Always dedicated to her work.”
“Speaking of which,” Serena smiled, “Don’t we have work to do on a little
project?” She leaned in and kissed him.
“What ‘little project’ would that be?” Darien smiled innocently. Serena
kissed him again before grabbing his hands an leading him away.
“I don’t appreciate having to sleep on the couch!” Luna called after them,
but it was no use.
Miramar NAS...
“He’s at your ten o’clock, two-three miles.”
“Roger, Spyglass.” Mercury said, switching her radar mode to Beyond Visual
Range, “Contact Fulcrums, two ship formation.” she thumbed a switch on her
throttle control and the eight AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles armed themselves.
“Locked up. Dodger, I got the leader, you take his wingman.”
“Roger that.”
The two pilots called out “fox three” simultaneously. After a moment,
Mercury reported “splash one fulcrum.”
“Splash two fulcrum.” came her wingman’s report. As the two pilots vectored
in on their next waypoint, there was a beeping noise coming through
Mercury’s system.
“Dodger, you getting that?”
“Yeah, we’re locked up, and...” The beeping became more insistant, “Adder
inbound, dropping chaff!” The two Hornets broke hard, brakes out and
afterburners on. The air sparkled behind them as thousands of tiny shards of
metal were flung into their wake. With the sudden break turn, the G-meter on
Amy’s HUD shot up to 6.8 and her vision blurred for a moment. The beeping
stopped and she rolled starboard, standing on the rudder pedal just in case.
“Gunsliger 115, report.” Nothing, “Gunslinger 115, come in, please.” Still
nothing. “Spyglass, where the hell did those shots come from?”
“Two Flankers at your nine o’clock, angels eight-point-five. They must have
been hugging the terrain. We didn’t see them.”
“Roger, rolling in now.” she got a lock on the lead Su-27 and fired. The
missile scored and she turnd her attention to the second, which was just now
lighting her up again for another shot. Once again, the insistant beeping
came to her ears. “This is Gunslinger 106, I’m engaged defensive Adder!” She
broke hard, jamming the throttle forward and spilling chaff behind her. As
her vision began to fade, there was a bright flash. Amy let up on the stick.
She’d been had.
“Gunslinger 106, Spyglass. You are down. Exercise is over. Return to base.”
“Roger, RTB.” she replied, forming up with the two “Flankers,” a pair of
F/A-18s painted to simulate the top aircraft of the Russian Air Force. She
sighed heavily to herself. Red Team had beat them again.
“Oh, come on, Amy,” Dutch said, trying to get her to relax, “Your where up
there 2-1 against more experienced pilots. So you lost, no biggie. You ain’t
supposed to win all the time.”
“Ain’t ain’t a word.” she chided, “It ain’t in the dictionary, so you ain’t
gonna use it. But it still bugs me that I lost my wingman. I mean, I’m just
not an effective flight leader.”
“Sure you are, Merc.” Robinson patted her on the back, “You’re a smart
cookie. You just need practice.”
“This from a guy who can do advanced trig faster than he can get an
erection?” Amy looked over her shoulder, smiling. “Oh well, I’ll just try
again tomorrow.”
CIA Headquarters
Langley, Virginia
Two months later...
Greg Masters bent over the table, pulling his magnifying glass down. The
pictures had just come in from an SQ-12 satalite after a pass over the Kuril
Islands. The main concerns were the islands of Shinshiri and Urup. Not more
than four months ago, Japan and Russian had gotten physical about these two
in particular. Russian had decided to pull back just last week, but several
divisions of troops had refused to leave. The satelite photos might give a
clue as to why.
Running his hands through his brown hair, Greg moved the magnifying glass a
few inches and squinted. Nothing. He tossed the photo aside and put another
one underneath.
This one was of the Russian airbase at Malka on Shinshiri. Last he had
known, it was still under Russian control. On the tarmac, he could see the
rows of MiG-29s and Su-27s that respecitvely made up squadrons 300 and 500
of the Russian 7th Red Banner Air Force. Aside from revealing part of the
Russian rebels’ air arm, the photo was useless.
He slid yet another photograph underneath the magnifying glass. As he
peered at it, he saw a strange pattern. There were eight black circles or
disks arranged in two rows. Each disk was surrounded by a cleared area away
from which a dirt path led. These convirged into one larger road that led
down the mountain away from the sight. On this road, there was a series of
rectangular blots that looked like ants.
“Wait.” he said to himself, “Those aren’t little dirt paths. Those are
roads, and the rectangles are trucks.” He shot up in revalation. For a breif
moment, he was in panic. What to do, what to do? Phone, got to get to a
phone!
He snatched the reciever of the STU-6 Secure Telephone Unit off the wall.
“Okay, cool, Greg, cool.” he crossed his fingers and chanted, “India,
Pakistan, North Korea, China,” then let his breath out. He had been calm
when he’d discovered a similar attribute to each of the countries he had
just listed. This was just intel, he reminded himself. When he was calm, he
dialed the four digit code to the Office of the Intelligence Directorate.
“Yeah, I need to get a hold of the DDI.” Greg said calmly, though he was
sweating, “Yes, tell him it’s urgent.”
