Chapter Five - part ten

   James spent a good three hours waiting for the summons he knew would be coming. He spent part of that time talking with Jeremy about things. Jeremy was probably more troubled than James about the possible reasons for Sang being there when he left. There were many possible reasons and few good ones. James had heard rumors that Sang had managed to convince his superiors that they would need better jets and an elite group of pilots if they were to face the American F/A-48's in combat again. It seemed that was likely true. General Sang had admitted training some of the pilots that James would be training soon. He had also hinted at new jets. The only thing that was even remotely good about any of this was the concern Sang showed. He was clearly concerned about the new training program. James just wasn't sure why. Was he actually worried it would be a failure? Maybe even more important, who was he worried would fail and at what? When the summons from Holt finally came; James could only hope he would get some answers; along with the reprimand for his behavior.

   Brigadier General Holt did have a few choice words to say to James when he returned to her office. She also had a lot to discuss with him too. General Sang had slipped into the country with help from some people he knew from other nations who had connections with people in the United States. It was very unlikely that his visit would ever be discovered; not unless it was intentionally leaked. Most of those involved would be in nearly as much trouble for helping Sang slip in as he would be for coming. Sang had shared a lot of information with Holt that could be considered treasonous. He had managed to convince his leaders that they had to have better jets and better pilots; that numbers alone wouldn't be enough. They had given Sang the task of picking and training the pilots. The jets were still a question mark. Sang had admitted that they had made improvements, but he hadn't been more specific than that. He had told Holt that the pilots and jets would both be arriving soon. The purpose being to scare the Americans much as the Americans had hoped to scare the Chinese. According to Sang it was being cleared with Washington even as he spoke. James had listened to Holt as she told him what she knew. They had talked about possible problems and solutions long into the evening. She had finally agreed that James would be the one who would have to deal with whatever was coming.

   The planes and pilots that would soon be showing up were the best China had available to fly against the F/A-48's according to Sang. The most troubling thing was that the pilots were in fact from China itself. General Sang said that the days of hands off control were over in the ROCAF. China had been content to allow the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan to remain independent in the eyes of most people while that had been beneficial. Those days seemed to be coming to an end though. The world economy was a mess and didn't show any sign of a recovery in the immediate future. The population problem inside mainland China was worse than it was in Taiwan, but it was becoming bad on Taiwan too. The struggling world economy was making life very hard everywhere. China had begun taking over what was still doing well in Taiwan in an effort to use that income to help them keep the mainland people satisfied and the nation stable. The result was that Taiwan, which had been doing better, was being pulled down to the same place that the mainland economy was in. The resulting problems could only be handled by military force and in Taiwan it took even more force to quiet things, because the people still thought they were free of China's control. China was now providing most of that force and they weren't trying to hide it any longer.

   It was just over three more weeks before the additional pilots showed up. They did bring the new jets with them. Those jets soon proved to be improved in many ways. They were faster and more maneuverable. They also had more advanced weapons targeting and controls. At first the new pilots showed the same attitudes the first ROCAF pilots had shown. They were very confident and eager to show up the American's. They managed to win a lot of engagements and they did a decent job of completing missions too. These pilots were more likely to stick with the mission until it was completed, but they did still deviate from it when a good enough opportunity was available to make the American's look bad. James and the pilots from Squadron 21 were hard pressed by the new planes and pilots. The F-35's were still able to make it a real fight, but they could be overpowered much easier even without a numbers advantage now. In time though James learned what the new jets could do and what the pilots would do. Once he knew those things everything began to turn around once again. James had used the F/A-48's to learn what the new J-35 jets could actually do. Those new jets were a big step ahead of the J-33, but they still had weak points that could be used against them.

   As the training continued James began to use those weak points and even build on them. All of the ROCAF pilots in the class were soon well aware of the limitations they had. They were also aware of the fact that in any battle they might lose. Day by day James worked to teach the pilots, both his and those ROCAF pilots he was charged with instructing the most important lesson of all. That was to learn that war wasn't some exciting adventure filled with fun and thrills. James wanted them all to learn what he had learned so well; that war was a deadly and horrible waste. He wasn't always sure he was succeeding, but he was doing all he could. As the training advanced James saw things changing. His pilots were much more focused, but less eager too. They had been more concerned with winning at first, but now the goal was simply to complete the missions and get home. The results were shocking to many people who didn't understand what the training was really doing for the pilots. The Gamblers of Squadron 21 had become far better pilots. It was rare that any of them were 'shot down' now. They seemed to be able to out fly not only the J-35, but even the F/A-48 flights coming in on rotations had problems with them now. All of the F-35's the Gamblers flew now had a new message painted on them too. It read simply 'Never alone'.

   Those two words seemed to be doing more to help and to hurt than anything else that had been done. They had only recently appeared and when they did all the other pilots had asked what they meant. That was where the trouble had started. Christianity was a major problem to the Chinese. They saw all Christians as a trouble spot and had been trying very hard to drive them completely out of China. The ROCAF pilots thought it was a joke at first, but soon began to learn that it wasn't a joke. Major Samantha Clark had been the first to put it on her plane. She had become almost impossible to beat after talking with James. She made it very clear that she truly believed those words. She had been pushy and even mouthy before. Now she was neither. In fact she was one of the calmest of all the pilots in 21. She was also very easy going and laid back when pushed about her new belief. She flew just as calmly and just as confidently too, no matter what was said or done. Next to James she had earned more kills than any other pilot during training in the squadron. It wasn't because she went looking for kills though. The ROCAF pilots came looking to 'kill' her and died trying. Most of the pilots in Squadron 21 had taken to saying a short prayer together before each mission too. It was a sore point for the ROCAF pilots and a strong point for 21. None of this had been part of James plans for training, but it was a part of life in 21 now.