Chapter One - part eleven

  James was finally summoned once again. He had no idea of where he was going or what it was about. He just knew he was going. He walked into a large room to find he wasn't alone. All three of the other pilots still being held for debriefing were there, but they weren't the only ones. The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Air Force were both seated in front of them. A good dozen high ranking officers, none with less than two stars, from several nations were also seated with them. James had a feeling that he was about to find out just how bad things were and just how much trouble they were all in. One of the men seated there was General Davis. Once James was in place he saluted and took a seat next to the other three facing, for lack of a better word, the 'court'. Once he was seated the Secretary of Defense stood up and moved around the table to stand directly in front of James. James had a distinct feeling he was about to become the center of attention.

   James was right. The Secretary spoke without hesitation. "So this is 1st Lt. James Andrew Cooper. I must say I was expecting a young man, but he almost looks like he should still be in high school. Tell me Lt. Cooper how is it that someone so young can become involved in so much controversy? First you earn your call name at the Academy, 'Ironman', for running the Ironman with another cadet in your arms. Then you show up on your first active duty deployment and end up in a dogfight involving two other nations. How did you manage such a feat?" James hesitated just a second and started to speak, but was cut off as the Secretary continued. "Don't answer. Young man, I have spent the last four hours listening to these three, first individually and then as a group. The story never changed. Major Hawks and Captain Cooper, your wife, were forced to defend themselves when attacked. That defense very likely did take them into unfriendly airspace, but not until after the fight was already going on. The big issue seems to be who was at fault for what followed. Next I looked at the senior officer involved, Lt. Colonel Wilson. He has a reputation as an outstanding pilot and a great leader, but he also has a tendency to take extreme risks to carry out his missions." He paused for a moment before continuing.

   "You were his wingman, so I guess I have to excuse you for becoming involved in this fight. You followed him in and you did a remarkable job at first. However, when he went down you continued to take some very large risks. In fact I am told you did some flying that many people say couldn't be done. Up until he went down you were following orders exactly. You were only disabling the enemy jets, not destroying them, but after your wing man went down those orders seemed to go down with him. You immediately engaged again and destroyed two Iranian jets in a matter of seconds. Then you turned your efforts against a ground force you weren't equipped to fight and put yourself in great danger from anti-aircraft missiles. Somehow you managed to out fly two missiles and all but eliminate the enemy on the ground, but even that wasn't enough. I am told you next directly engaged five more fighters in a head on battle. You destroyed two of those immediately and a third as they were about to do the same to you."

   The Secretary paused again to shake his head. Then he continued yet again. "In one short air battle you have become the first true American Ace in several decades. Perhaps even more amazing is the fact that you are alive to tell the story. And that brings us to your lovely wife.” He stepped over in front of Sarah. "You I can at least understand being involved in all of this, you were following orders and being a 'good soldier', until your husband decided to play hero again. Then being the devoted wife, that I am sure you are, you turned back to stand with him. That was very heroic, but even more foolish. You disobeyed direct orders and not only engaged enemy planes again, but you did so with deadly force by blasting the last remaining threats to your husband right out of the air without warning." Shaking his head again he moved on to Lt. Colonel Wilson. "Of course neither of these young, inexperienced, pilots would have been put in a position to do what they did, if you hadn't disregarded common sense and inserted yourself into this mess. And trust me; this has become a world class mess." He stopped and returned to his seat. Then looking at them he spoke in a much softer tone. "I hate cleaning up messes, especially those made by other people."

   Next was the Secretary of the Air Force. This man was a politician and had no military background. He spoke without getting up. "I believe Secretary Parker has summed it up rather nicely. The four of you have managed be a part of the biggest mess I have ever seen. Frankly, I am amazed that four highly trained officers in the United States Air Force could be responsible for such a huge mess. However, it has become clear to me that the four of you alone are responsible for taking us to the very brink of world war. That said; you also seem to be the same people who managed to pull us back from the edge. By your foolish actions, foolish to the point of being insane, you have done what we have been unable to do for years. You have made the United States Air Force feared to the point that nobody wants to get close to us again." He shook his head and turned his attention to General Davis and General Adams, who were seated together. General Adams was commander of the European forces. "I must say you all have some very convincing supporters. These two men have not only backed all of you, but also have recommended all of you for commendations. I thought they were as insane as you, but after reviewing the action reports I have to admit they may be right. As foolish as what all of you did was... it was also extremely heroic. Major Hawks, Captain Cooper I have approved your commendations. You did nothing wrong to start this mess. You were doing exactly what you were told to do when you were attacked without warning or reason. While I am not pleased that you disobeyed orders and returned to the battle Captain Cooper; I honestly can find no good reason to punish you for that. You not only were returning to aid your fellows, you were returning to aid your husband. Your actions weren't completely beyond the expectations we have for our fighter pilots. You did save lives and planes." Then he turned his attention to the remaining two pilots.

   "I must admit that I struggled with what to do about you Lt. Colonel Wilson. I could be very upset over your decision to rush in where fools would fear to go, but the result is hard to dispute. You did your duty by attempting to secure the safety of a fellow pilot and also an extremely sensitive piece of equipment. I have little doubt that had you not arrived when you did, we would have been facing a much more difficult situation. We would likely have been forced to allow Iran to gain access to some technology that has changed the balance of power or in order to prevent that... destroy it and our own people with it. I was more reluctant to approve your commendation Lt. Colonel, but the truth is we do owe you a debt." Only then did he turn his attention to James. Shaking his head he spoke directly to James. "You, young man, you worry me almost as much as everything that has happened here. I don't know how or why, but you seem to have the ability to put yourself right in the middle of the biggest problems in my Air Force. You also seem to have the ability to draw others in with you." He looked over at Sarah as he said those words. Looking back at James he sighed as he spoke. "I think I would sleep better if I just dismissed you from the Air Force, but I can't do that. You are, for better or worse, a hero. You may take some very foolish risks, but you seem to do them for very good reasons. Also Lt. Colonel Wilson has told me that you took out two jets before he even hit the ground after ejecting. He says you are as good a pilot as he has ever seen and that we would be fools to let you go. That may be so, but you still trouble me. In spite of that, I am still considering his recommendation that you receive the Air Force Cross. What you did was foolish almost beyond belief, but it saved lives and prevented the possible loss of valuable technology." That seemed to be the end of his comments.

  The Secretary of Defense stood up and spoke again. "At this time you are all cleared of any and all possible responsibility for these actions and at this time are immediately returned to active duty. General Adams, I leave these four in your hands. I suggest you and General Davis find a safe place to send them, until this all cools down... say five or six more years!" With that everyone except the two four star generals and their aids left the room. James and the others had stood and saluted as they left. They were still standing at attention when General Adams stepped up to them. He spoke very softly. "This has been a hell of a long week for all of us." He paused for a moment. "But if not for four fools who grew up to be fighter pilots, I think this week our world might have actually become Hell. General Davis, you see to the Cooper 'twins' and I will deal with the other two. Major Hawks, Lt. Colonel Wilson come with me." He turned and walked out with them at his heels. That left Sarah and James to face her 'Uncle Bill' alone.

   He said nothing for a while. Then shaking his head he grinned and gave Sarah a huge hug before he spoke at all. Then he all he said was. "Come with me." They followed him down the hallway and into another large meeting room. They found Senator Davis waiting for them. The next few hours they spent learning just what a mess everything had been. Sarah had actually been in more trouble than James for a couple of days. Only her dad being who he was had averted her being charged with disobeying orders. It seemed that King Mitab of Saudi Arabia knew and respected Senator Davis. When he learned that Sarah was his daughter and that James was her husband he had rescinded all his demands and actually wanted to give the pair of them recognition as hero's. The next big surprise was that they were both getting a month of leave. They would spend a week of it with the Saudi King, as his guests, and then they would get to fly home in the King's private jet for the remaining three weeks.

   That night when they were finally alone for the first time since this had all started. James and Sarah talked about everything that had happened. They now knew that only James had been recommended for the Air Force Cross. The rest of them had all been approved for the Distinguished Flying Cross. James hadn't been officially approved, but her dad said it was a done deal. They talked about a lot of things that night, but there was one thing they both agreed on. The both agreed they had been more fools than heroes, no matter what anyone else said. But at least they were fools in love with each other. That was something they could hang onto no matter what happened... loving each other. Maybe even more importantly they both prayed together. They thanked God for delivering them from the battle and from the consequences of that battle. They also each acknowledged that without their faith in God they wouldn't have been able to do what they had done. They might be getting medals for what they had done, but it was God who was the real hero. It was God who had won the battle.

Chapter One - part ten

   The problem was that they were now down and alone in disputed territory. There was no doubt that they were in Turkey. The question was who was actually in control. As soon as Sarah was out of her plane she ran towards where James had crash landed his. He was still getting out when she arrived.  She threw her arms around him and burst into tears.  When she finally stopped crying, she stepped back and hit him in the chest with her fist. "You are an idiot and a fool! No sensible pilot would ever directly engage five F-22's alone! Even in a perfect plane that would be the act of a fool! BUT NO, you have a plane with half it weapons gone, no landing gear, losing fuel and you still tackle them... HEAD ON!!! James Andrew Cooper, I could have shot you down myself!"James stood there rubbing his chest and grinning as she continued to yell at him. "Well what do you have to say for yourself?"

   He just grinned and very softly replied to her question. "Ma'am, I was just following orders, Ma'am."  Then he added just as softly. "That is more than you can say for yourself." His grin became laughter at the stunned look on her face. Then he wrapped her in his arms and whispered. "Orders or not, I am sure glad you showed up. It was getting real lonely up there." Sarah began to laugh with him and then taking his arm she started walking towards the NATO position as she spoke. "I was very happy to see you too... even if you did scare me more than I have ever been scared before. Let's go see how big a mess we are in and if anyone is coming to get our rears out of it."

  James and Sarah made it to the position the NATO unit had secured. James got another real shock. Corporal Matthews was in fact Tony Matthews, his old friend from school. Tony recognized James first and swore as he stood up. "Hell fire!! Andy Cooper, is that you?" James stopped dead in his tracks and stared back at Tony before bursting into laughter and running forward. "Tony, man if I had known it was you I would have let you get yourself out of this mess!" The pair laughed and joked for a moment until Sarah reached them. James quickly introduced Sarah. "Tony, this is Captain Sarah Cooper, my wife." Tony had been about to give a salute when he heard that. He stopped short, but did manage to finish the required salute. Then he looked over at James and shook his head as he spoke. "I thought I was joking when I teased you about fringe benefits, but I guess I wasn't." James turned red, but before he could say anything Tony turned and spoke to Sarah. "No offense ma'am. I mean Andy is a great guy, but I never dreamed he was good enough to marry someone as beautiful as you who can fly a fighter too!" They didn't get a chance to say anything more.

   They came under fire again and had to take cover. The fighting wasn't finished after all. They spent the next six hours exchanging small arms fire with whoever was out there. Everything in the rest of the region had suddenly been changed in the space of just a few minutes. Air Force commanders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Incirlik, Turkey had ordered planes into the air to secure the area surrounding those downed F/A-48's. NATO was rushing troops and equipment there as well. The jets arrived within a short time, but they couldn't do a lot to help them with the ground forces. Those forces were too close and too scattered to make a decent target. Tony and James had soon proven to be the best defense they had against them, one of them would fire to draw return fire. The other would wait and watch until they spotted someone returning fire. One shot from either of them would usually end the return fire by eliminating the shooter. After four times at it the return fire stopped completely. Only an occasional shot was fired to keep them pinned down. Finally relief arrived and the entire area was secured both on the ground and in the air. Sarah was able to refuel and take off from the road the next morning. The other two planes had to be partially disassembled and hauled away. They also had to gather up the pieces from the destroyed plane. That took a few more days. Those days were spent in debriefings for all of the people involved.

   Those days had been long and very difficult for the pilots. They were all kept isolated and allowed to speak with nobody outside the debriefings. Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey were all in a state of turmoil. The Saudi King was furious that his demands had been ignored. Turkey was accusing Iraq and especially Iran of acts of war. Syria wasn't a lot worse than it had been except they were threatening to kick NATO out now. Finally the debriefings seemed to be over, but all of the pilots were still being held in isolation at Incirlik. Another week passed. By now they weren't really sure of what was going on in the world outside. They weren't allowed much news and nobody could talk to them. James was beginning to wonder if he had been a part of starting the next world war.  He had worried a lot about that for a while until he was reading in a bible. It wasn't his Bible. It was a New Life version, but he was glad to have it. It gave him the only real comfort he could find. He was reading Luke chapter 21 when he found the answer to his concerns about starting a war, Luke 21:9 to be exact. It said, "When you hear of wars and fighting in different places, do not be afraid. These things have to happen first, but it is not yet the end."

   Simple words, but they gave James comfort. He had done what he had been sent there to do. He had followed his orders. He had completed his mission. They all had. True enough, Sarah had disobeyed her orders to return, but without her help what might have happened? James prayed and gave thanks for Tony coming to the aid of Major Hawks. He gave thanks for Lt. Colonel Wilson surviving and getting picked up by friendly civilians in the area.  He gave thanks for Sarah's courage and determination which had saved his life. Maybe they had almost started a major war, possibly even a world war. That didn't matter in the end though. They had done their duty and James knew they couldn't have done anything else. It might be the end of his career, but somehow he didn't think this would be the end of the world. It might be a great tragedy for the world, but it wouldn't be the end of it.

Chapter One - part nine

   Sarah could keep her safe for only a little longer, before she would have to refuel. They had scrambled cover jets and they should be there in minutes, but no amount of jets could save the plane or Major Hawks from a ground attack that was determined. She could take the jet out, but that would still leave Major Hawks helpless. The real problem was that she was down in sight of the Iraqi border. She was in Turkey, but she was in a section where control was very questionable. It was only a few minutes before it became obvious that this wasn't over. Two different military forces were rushing towards her landing spot. The closest one appeared to be a small NATO patrol, but the other larger force couldn't be identified. It was a race to see who would get there and who they actually were. The NATO force refused to break radio silence. They could be captured vehicles being used by the very rebels that had shot down the jet.

   Relief surged when the NATO vehicles came into sight of the jet and an American voice came over the radio. "This is Corporal Matthews with the U.S. 3rd Army, assigned to NATO. We have you in sight 'Lady Hawk' and are moving to secure your location." They barely had a chance to pull up around her jet when the first rocket hit one of their vehicles. The larger force still wasn't there, but apparently some rebels were on the ground in the immediate area. Sarah reacted with a quick burst from her pulse cannons, but she had no way to verify any of that burst had hit anything other than the ground. That single rocket had put everyone into the ditches and under cover. Sarah soon had bigger problems though. Five more jets had just crossed into Turkey from Iran and were rushing towards her position. They wasted no time at all making their intentions known.

   "This is the Iranian Air Force, Major Nadal speaking. You are to leave the area at once or you will be considered hostile. You forces have provoked and fired upon our planes causing damage to several. We are here to prevent you from removing a pilot who has landed in our territory and who will be taken into custody by our forces which are about to arrive. Withdraw your aircraft or you will be fired upon." Sarah radioed in on a secure channel for orders regarding the demand from Major Nadal. After just a moment she was ordered to withdraw and let the NATO forces secure the situation. They all heard the orders given to Corporal Matthews to secure the plane and Major Hawks until relief arrived. They also knew that might be impossible without air support. That was coming, but could it get there in time?

   Before they had a chance to find out more orders were given. Those jets were to break off and return to Saudi air space immediately. The Iranians were threatening to declare war against Saudi Arabia if they didn't make the U.S. withdraw. That was when Lt. Colonel Wilson sent a secure text to James. It was two very direct texts. "We have a pilot down. Ironman, let's take a run over and see if we can be of assistance." He told the F-35's to go on back before heading towards the new situation with James on his wing. He didn't ask for permission or wait for orders. James was glad that he didn't, because they both knew this would be over before that happened. In fact they were almost back across Turkey and approaching the problem area before anyone figured out they had broken off from the F-35's. That brought an immediate response when they did figure it out.

   "Sam the Man, you are not cleared for your current course. Return to base and await further orders." Lt. Colonel Wilson didn't reply. Any broadcast, even on a secure channel would make it easier to locate them.  He intended to get in close and if possible discourage the Iranians. The next radio message was a little less direct. "Sam the Man, you have a go for support only, no offensive actions authorized. Ironman, you are to stay on his wing, but don't engage unless engaged first." At least they had now been authorized to go. It could get real sticky if the Iranians decided to press things though. They were still out a good distance when it hit the fan. The ground forces moving in were a combination of Iranian troops and rebels from Turkey. They were heavily armed and wasted no time demanding the surrender of Major Hawks and the plane to them. Corporal Matthews refused and the result was an immediate fire fight. He was out manned and out gunned, so it wasn't going to last very long without help. They were forced to withdraw further from the plane to have any real chance of holding off the assault.

   They had managed to locate a position that allowed them to hold the plane, but not be out in the open with it. Major Hawks was beginning to think she should have intentionally crashed it when help arrived. A single pass over the area made the Iranians on the ground back off, but that didn't last. The Iranians jets had arrived. They immediately moved to engage Lt. Colonel Wilson and James. The next ten minutes were an all out fight for survival. Those hidden missile launchers opened up and everything went nuts again, both in the air and on the ground. The ground forces made a mad rush to overrun the NATO position, in an attempt at capturing them as well as the plane. That was when Lt. Colonel Wilson broke off his air combat and hit the ground force as hard as he could, but he had nothing left to use other than the pulse cannons and lasers. That left James high above with three of the five Iranians still involved. Two had been damaged and forced to run. He could handle those three for a while, but the missiles were another matter.

   Four missiles fired at him, forcing James to break and run or be destroyed. That left his wing man open to attack, but there had been no choice for either of them. The Iranians wasted no time and suddenly James was alone. The Iranians had severely damaged Lt. Colonel Wilson's jet. He had been forced to eject as it came apart. Things were getting very bad very fast. Two of America's top secret new jets had been taken down and one was about to be captured almost intact. James managed to evade the missiles and quickly returned to the fight. He no longer bothered with orders. They had been ordered to damage any aircraft that did engage with them, but not to destroy any of those aircraft if at all possible. That wasn't possible now. James engaged and proceeded to take out two of the three planes in short order. Lasers could be targeted close enough to just damage a plane without destroying it if you had time for that. The pulse cannons were a whole different matter. James literally blew two of the jets to pieces with sustained burst from both pulse cannons.

   The one remaining Iranian jet was quick to break off and run. That left the ground forces along with that hidden missile launcher. The missiles were short range ground to air, but how many did they have left? James found out on his first pass against the ground units. They loosed two more missiles at close range. James barely had time to react, but react he did. He took his jet straight at the ground. He was aimed directly at the Iranians and rebels who were about to overrun the NATO position and seize the downed jet. He cut it as close as he possibly could, closer than he should have. His undercarriage literally slammed across the heaviest armored vehicle they were using for cover as they advanced. The missiles that were about to hit James hit it instead, that broke the attack. James was still fighting to regain control of a badly damaged plane when he saw that he wouldn't be alone for long. Five more jets were coming in, this time from Iraq.

   James climbed hard and tried to engage them as quickly as possible. He was losing fuel. He had lost one cannon and one laser too. He still had both engines though and he had them wide open. Apparently the Iraqi pilots hadn't expected a single, damaged fighter jet to face them head on. Two of them went down before they could react. One laser and one pulse cannon firing at full power still packed a huge wallop. That still left three jets that were undamaged and far more maneuverable than his damaged jet. They were on him in a matter of seconds. James surprised them when he took one more out directly behind him with another sustained burst. That was the best thing about the pulse cannons and lasers. They were mounted in swivel mounts that gave almost 360 degrees of firing capabilities. He had lost the ones on the bottom when his plane had hit the vehicle, but his top mounts worked fine. The last two jets were locked on him and about to fire when they got a real shock. James wasn't completely alone. Sarah had returned to the fight. She took both jets out before they even knew she was around.

   That was the end of the fighting. The ground forces had been all but wiped out when those missiles hit the armored vehicle and the ammo inside had exploded. The Iranians had lost two jets, had two more severely damaged and one had simply run. The Iraqi loss was even worse. They had seen five of the best jets they had available; a group of five F-22's shot down in just minutes. But while the fighting was over the problems were just beginning. James was losing fuel and flying a plane that had no landing gear available. Sarah was now on his wing, but was flying on fumes. She was also there against direct orders. It was a bad situation, but it was about to get a lot worse. James made a quick decision. He swung back around and prepared for a crash landing close to where Major Hawks had landed. Sarah was no better off. She was all but out of fuel and there was no safe place she could go to land that was close enough for her to make it. She watched James put his plane down and then she followed Major Hawk's path and set her jet down on the same road. They were all down, but they were far from safe.

Chapter One - part eight

   They were just starting to fly back to base when things all seemed to fall apart at once. This time it wasn't actually anything to do with Turkey. This had all happened in Syria. It had started innocently enough. Another of those force missions was being flown. This one was along the Syrian border with Iraq. It had been pretty normal until they got close to the border with Turkey and near Iran. Iran had been pressing things harder and supporting the rebels inside Turkey in that area. Iraq had not been pleased with that. They feared both Iran and Turkey, though for very different reasons. It was doubtful if anyone would ever know exactly what happened, but somebody from the ground inside Turkey launched almost a dozen missiles at the American jets. The jets broke and took evasive action, but that action started a chain reaction among all of the aircraft. What had been a mission designed to help hold the peace suddenly had exploded into an all out dogfight between the older Iraq jets that had been shadowing the new F/A-48's. The problem was that the Iraq planes didn't have to wait to engage. They had engaged and were firing before the United States pilots were allowed to actually defend themselves.

  The dogfight soon brought in an even more unexpected element. The Iranians crossed borders and engaged both the U.S. and the Iraqi planes. It a matter of just a few moments six F/A-48's were engaged with at least twenty enemy aircraft. They were all also still taking missile fire from the ground. It was total chaos in the air. Nobody could get control of the situation fast enough and then it happened. One of the F/A-48's took a hit from a ground launched missile. It didn't get a direct hit, but it was a solid hit. The damage was too severe to allow the jet to stay in the air for very long. Controls were sluggish at best and the plane couldn't turn much at all. It was losing power and going down. That was bad enough, but the worst problem was that it was over Iraq and not likely to make it back into Turkey. The other American pilot's reaction was immediate and devastating. They had been ordered to try to disengage and not to return fire except when absolutely required in order to avoid being shot down. Now with one of them going down they opened up. Four minutes later it was over. Twelve enemy planes had been severely damaged. Two more of the F/A-48's had been hit and would have to leave the area quickly or risk going down. The Iranians and Iraqis had disengaged from the battle and were now running for home. The missile location in Turkey had gone silent, either out of missiles or gone into hiding.

   All of this had happened over the open air radio, because the force patrol always broadcast on open air radio. The world was listening as a pilot was going down and a wingman watched. Sarah was the wingman watching as Major Hawks struggled to get her plane back across the border into Turkey. James had heard the battle and now heard Major Hawks talking as she went down. Major Hawks was calm as she spoke to her unit after the battle was over. "You did a good job up there. I doubt that they will even think of engaging us again without a major reason. Now get those planes home, my wingman has me for now." She got no protest only silence as the two damaged planes broke off and headed for home with their wingmen escorting them. That left just Sarah flying shadow over Major Hawks. Their call names were 'Lady Hawk' and 'Jade Lady', one a play on a name and the other a reference to eye color. "Jade Lady, I am going to try and save my plane. I think I can still land it. I am going for the flatter areas. I think I can get it down on one of those roads, if I can make it over the border. Once I get on the ground inside Turkey I should be safe, the damage seems to be limited to flight control. If I can't make the border then I will nose dive it and eject."

   Sarah replied. "Lady Hawk, I have your wing. Just don't take too much risk. You are worth more than that plane. Let it go and get out if you can't make it down safely." Major Hawks just laughed as a reply. They both knew that she wasn't going to give up her ride. Major Hawks managed to do the impossible. She got her plane down on a long straight stretch of road. It wasn't a smooth landing, but she was down. The problem was her close proximity to the Iraq border and her distance from any friendly forces. The thoughts of an F/A-48 falling into the hands of anyone else, was worse than having it destroyed out right. The battle had consumed what little ammo it had carried and her fuel was almost gone too. Since she hadn't intentionally crashed the plane it was now all but impossible to completely destroy it.

Chapter One - part seven

   The only force left close enough to assist was a small NATO unit many miles away. They started for the facility and ran right into an ambush. They were trapped inside a small town. They were in serious danger of being overrun and captured themselves. Unless they could avoid that and reach the weapons facility it would fall and then most of that region of Turkey would fall as well. If the rebels took the facility they would also have access to enough anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to become a very real threat to any of the main military forces. It would prove nearly impossible for the government to avoid a total civil war.

   That was where the United States became involved. They had been providing air support for the government, but now they were going to try and break the NATO relief force out and help secure the weapons facility too. It was becoming clear that all of this had been a well planned attempt to gain just such footholds all across Turkey. The real goal had been to destabilize the entire government enough for those who favored government by Muslim law to take power. That would be a total disaster for the United States and all of its allies. The jets in Squadron 77 were being spread out to cover a lot of areas all at once. They were broken up in groups of four with four jets sitting on standby, ready to go wherever they were needed as fast as possible. They were all in the air except those four jets when the NATO force drove into that ambush. As soon as they realized that they had been set-up and trapped the NATO commanders called for air support.

   The last four jets in Squadron 77 took flight. They were the only ones that could go. The others were either getting ready to come in for refueling and re-arming or were engaged where they were. Those last four jets were under the direct command Lt. Colonel Wilson. This time the F/A-48's were heavily armed. They carried four, air to ground rockets each and they had 'bullets' loaded for the pulse cannons. They had both explosive and smoke rounds loaded. The two F-35's had been armed heavily, but were loaded up more for air combat than ground support. Together the four jets could handle anything they were likely to face. It was only a few minutes flight to the battle and once they arrived it took only a moment to see how bad things were. The rebels had managed to get their hands on a couple of the heaviest armored vehicle the Turks had. Those two vehicles were hidden from the NATO forces, but they were still able to pound the NATO forces with heavy rounds. The spotters for them were located on the rooftops of apartments, so the only way to get to them was to risk injuring or killing civilians. It was a perfect trap.

   The tiny town was in a small valley with houses packed too close to allow the large NATO vehicles to use side streets. The one main road had been blocked with carefully planned explosions that took buildings down. The NATO vehicles could have pushed past those, but not without major casualties while they were still under fire. They were holding, but it was only a matter of time until they ran out of ammo or were slowly destroyed by the heavy armor pounding them or the handheld rockets being used by the rebels. Either way would spell disaster. The only good thing here was these rebels didn't seem to have any air support. Some rebel units had small drones that carried rockets. Those drones could give ground troops and air support for the ground troop's lots of trouble. They were hard to spot and could easily bring a jet down or take out a heavy armor unit, without ever being seen before they fired. However, just because you didn't see them didn't mean they weren't there waiting.

    It was an easy decision for Lt. Colonel Wilson. He left the F-35's to fly high cover and try to spot and destroy any possible drones or rocket launch locations. He had James were going in low to take out those heavy armor units that were pounding the NATO units. Then it would be a matter of locating and destroying or discouraging the remaining rebel ground forces. The plan seemed simple enough. They went in and took out the first armored unit easily enough. Two rockets were more than enough to take it out. They swung around to hit the second unit and got a very unwelcome surprise. Four hand fired rockets came streaking up at them from four different locations. They were forced to break and run before they could get a lock and fire on that second unit. It was pure luck that allowed them to evade those rockets. The F-35's had been watching and fired on two of the four positions, but they received fire from two different locations. It was a pitched air and ground battle for nearly half an hour before the rebels simple withdrew. They hadn't been totally beaten, but they would have been if they had remained much longer. The NATO force was weakened, but with continued escort from above they made it in and secured the weapons facility.

Chapter One - part six

   James hadn't been back on his second rotation long when everything started to get very serious. The elections in Turkey were too close, with no clear winners. Nobody had enough power to control things and as a result they quickly lost all control. The nation was suddenly on the verge of open civil war. The United States Air Force, as well as the NATO ground forces had been pulled into their bases within Turkey. Those two forces combined with Turkey's military forces should have been more than a match for the rebel forces. The problem was that the division caused by the election had also divided the military forces of Turkey. Those divided forces took one of two sides. One side wanted America and the U.N. to remain and the other wanted them out. That power struggle was what was going to push things over the edge soon. The military hadn't completely split, but some units had broken off. It was those units along with the constant rebel presence that had become an immediate threat. NATO had several key bases in Turkey that were not large enough to stand alone, but too critical to efforts of regaining any stability to abandon. Those were now constantly under threat of attack.

   A lot of effort was spent in securing those smaller NATO bases, but that proved to be a near catastrophic mistake. Those attacks turned out to be a ploy to pull forces away from the real objective of the main opposition forces. They had been watching and waiting for the right time to strike. They caught the military out of position and pinned a large U.N. relief force in the major city of Izmir. That hadn't been expected. It was a major port and tourist attraction, but it was also critical to controlling the rest of the nation. They had the city basically bottled up and cut off. The rebels had managed to take the port itself while also cutting the main roads and rail routes. The city was still under government control, but it was isolated and couldn't hold for long without removing the road blocks or taking back the port. It being a large and historic city made that very hard to do without major damage to important parts of the city and high civilian casualties.

  Things looked to be turning around enough to restore more control of the city to the ruling government, after only a few very bad days in the city. The problem had been created by the government feeling secure in the strength of its support inside the city. As a major tourist destination the city had been heavily dependent on western influence and money. The majority of people inside Izmir leaned heavily towards keeping relations with the west strong. The belief in that support had caused the withdrawal of most Turkish and many NATO forces from the city to support the smaller more isolated bases in the more anti-western areas of the nation. The weakened U.N. relief forces that remained had been hit suddenly and were overwhelmed. It was only later that it was discovered that those within the military with anti-western feeling had actually manipulated things to keep troops supporting them within the city. The rebel attacks had actually been supported by most of the very Turkish military units left behind in the city to stop them.

    But the biggest mistake wasn't the loss of the city. That could be corrected in time due to the overwhelming support of the people living there. The biggest problem came when the government rushed troops back towards the city. They didn't take the time to think it out and coordinate the troop movements with the U.N. and NATO forces that could aid them with restoring order. They simply loaded up troops and equipment and sent those rushing across the nation towards Izmir. The result was one large Turkish military storage facility was left vulnerable. The rebels were constantly watching for a chance to lay their hands on much needed weapons and this was a huge chance. They hit the facility hard. 

Chapter One - part five

   The weapons were only one of the issues that caused concern for the surrounding nations. Turkey wasn't thrilled with having aircraft inside the borders that were all but invisible to them once airborne. The Turkish military had people working with the American military on some of the best radar and defense systems in the world. They had seen how difficult it was to track an F/A-48 even when it wasn't trying to evade them. If the planes were to actually decide to hide it was almost impossible to keep a lock on the exact location of the plane. They could be tracked, but it was very difficult to do even when you knew where to look and what to look for. The idea of a plane that stealthy and packed with weapons only dreamed of before was frightening, even for the nations allied with them. Many of those nations suddenly wanted to know a lot more about the true capabilities of the F/A-48. That was causing lots of issues both abroad and at home. The biggest issue seemed to be a total disruption within the government of Turkey itself.

   There were three distinct parties currently in power within the government. The one actually in control, though barely, was very pro-western in all of its actions. They wanted and indeed needed the United States to remain involved and be a strong supporter for them. That was the main thing that was holding them in power. The problem was the other two factions had enough power to cause major problems with relative ease if they had a reason. This time they both felt the F/A-48 was a valid reason to cause problems. The stronger of the two lesser parties normally walked a middle ground. They were not as supportive to the west as the ruling party, but they didn't want to go as far towards total Muslim law as the smallest group did. That smallest group wanted to become a nation ruled by Muslim law. They wanted all western influence gone and especially all the American and U.N. forces gone. They wanted them all out of the country once and for all.

  Every week things seemed to be growing worse, until finally a special election was called. That election proved to be the beginning of some major problems inside Turkey. The first two rotations of pilots had come and gone by then, though the length before the first rotation had been extended out to three months. They had also made a decision to not rotate out the other group of pilots that was stationed in Saudi Arabia. They were going to remain on duty the full length of the deployment.  James hadn't gotten a chance to see Sarah for three months, but when his rotation came up he had gone to join her for the month he was off. He had been shocked at how restricted she was, but he had been pleased to see how well received the F/A-48's had been too. The Saudi's seemed to be delighted to have the planes based in their nation. They had opposition within the nation, but the absolute rule of the Saudi King made it very dangerous for anyone actually inside the nation to openly voice that opposition. The King wanted and needed the strength of the American military within his borders to maintain his absolute power.  In fact he had made it known that he would welcome all of the new jets America wanted to base inside his borders.

   James was happy to spend most of his first leave confined on the base with Sarah. They had a place of their own. It was small, but that was fine with them. Sarah was getting more time in the air than James was. Since she didn't get to rotate off she was flying every two to three days. Most of the flying was confined to shipping lane patrols, but she occasionally had to fly longer missions. Those were called force missions. Those took her on a wide sweep of the entire area. They were normally done in groups of four to six planes, but a pair might go alone. The sole purpose was to show everyone in the area that the United States Air Force was present and ready. Those missions often became very tense. The nations they were trying to impress didn't like them at all. Who would like having six jets flying just outside their border that they couldn't track? During the entire flight the pilots were talking on open radio at key points. The sole purpose was to show those nations that we had the ability to strike without warning. Iraq and Iran had both been pushing things recently, but they weren't so eager now. More than once they had pressed the borders in their jets only to suddenly have F/A-48's join them without any warning.

   Tensions had been increasing in the area for years. The arrival of these new jets had shaken everything up once more. The power had been nearly even before, but suddenly it had shifted. The United States had shown itself to be far more dangerous than it had been only a short time before. The United States Navy had been and still was the supreme navy in the world. However the navy had limitations and carriers were much more vulnerable than they had once been. The Air Force had been very close to being matched by the combined forces in the area. No one nation could have stood against the United States, but several united would have been a close match to what America had available in the area. That had changed. The F/A-48 was a force they couldn't come close to matching. They were still untested in actual battles, but they had made an impression just by being there. Now the question was how long it would be before someone did test them in battle.

Chapter One - part four

   It started out with a patrol into Syria as usual. The U.N. was trying to take a shipment of supplies into one of the temporary aid centers. Those convoys had often had problems. Most often it was civilians just trying to survive who caused the trouble. Many of them were afraid to even try and reach an aid center. Getting close to an aid station alone was dangerous, but it also marked the locations of the people willing to seek aid and made them targets later too. There was seldom anything the Air Force could do when that happened. They couldn't fire into crowds of civilians and unless they did there was little for them to do. The U.N. ground forces had to handle the civilian side of things, but this time the civilians weren't alone. This time the convoy got caught in the middle of two sides of the battling groups. One side had taken control of the area only a few days before and they were now trying to exclude those who favored their opposition from any supplies the U.N. provided in an effort to force them out of the area. That had suddenly put the U.N. and the civilians in the middle of a very violent fire fight.

  James wasn't in the air when it started, but both he and Lt. Colonel Wilson were scrambled from standby and on their way in only moments. It took them only a few minutes more to reach the area. As ranking officer on site Lt. Colonel Wilson assumed command immediately. It was a mess down there. Buildings were burning, civilians were pinned down in the middle along with the U.N. relief force and even a couple of the convoy trucks had been destroyed. From high above it was a scene of pure confusion. It had to look worse from the ground. There didn't seem to be much separation at all between the two forces fighting and the U.N. with all of those civilians was right in the middle of the fight. Any attempt to fire on anybody from the air was likely going to affect everybody. Soon Lt. Colonel Wilson opened it up for suggestions as to how to deal with this. The U.N. force was between those groups fighting and couldn't fire either, not without firing directly into the civilians pinned down with them and those actually fighting.

   James had been surveying the scene and had noticed a set of building just beyond and above the U.N. convoy's position. Those building had once been apartments, but were heavily damaged and had been burned out. They were ruins and had been marked off to be leveled at the first opportunity. They were easily visible to everyone involved in the conflict below. James made his suggestion. "Sir, I have a suggestion. How about those collapsing building above their position? What if we go in low and slow to hit them with our pulse cannons. It won't take a lot to bring them down and if we go in at low enough power the sound of those pulses hitting should make a big impression. Then we could come back over and hit the dust cloud and debris with lasers. They can't miss that display and it might be enough to send the fighters running for a deeper hole. I know we are trying to keep things quiet, but they have to find out sometime, and this looks like a good time to me." He remained silent waiting for his answer. That took several minutes, but it finally came. The fighting wasn't easing any at all. In fact it was getting a lot worse. When the answer came, it was simple. "Form up and follow me in. First pass level those building with the cannons. Then swing around and come back in fast and hit it with lasers. Break off in pairs after that and make a sweep over each side of the fight. I want everyone to laze one target as close to the fighters as possible without hitting anyone if possible. We will go east side and you go west on that pass. Then pull up and circle to see what happens."

   They came in as slow as James had ever flown his jet. They came in too low to be seen until they were on top of them and that was when they opened up with the cannons. The firing pattern of four F/A-48's with two pulse cannons each firing at full power was awesome to say the least. The bursts lasted only about five seconds, but combined that was over 300 pulses. The building almost seemed to be vaporized. It had just been turned into gravel in five seconds. There wouldn't have been the sound of explosives or gunfire as people knew them either. It would have started as a sudden hum and then just a sound like giant hammers pounding the building to pieces. When they came back the dust cloud was raising enough to reveal the huge pile of rubble. That rubble suddenly flared into lines of flames as laser fire hit it. There could be no doubt as to what had just been done now. A high speed run and laser shots in the direction of the combatants did the rest. Silence had fallen on the confusion below. The fighting was over. Those fighting had simple broken and run. The civilians and even the U.N. forces were just looking around in stunned silence.

   That had been the beginning. After that several more incidents were used to showcase the awesome new weapons that were now patrolling the region. And though none of those were as big or dramatically done; they were just as effective. One short burst of fire from either the lasers or the pulse cannons was more than enough to discourage most fighting. The people who were fighting still didn't know exactly what they were facing or what it was capable of, but they were wary of finding out. The ghostly image of an F/A-48 in flight just added to the fear. Still they did continue to test them on a regular basis. It seemed that sooner or later they would force the fight enough to make the weapons be fully used. That wasn't the only problem for the new flight of F/A-48's though. It seemed that once they started to make their presence felt, even the allies became wary of them. The world news reports and questions about them didn't help.

Chapter One - part three

   James was nervous about the approach, but apparently Lt. Colonel Wilson wasn't. In fact he added to the suspense and tension when he broke radio silence to James. "So Ironman, are you ready to run? I see a couple of friends coming in from the north." James had seen the pair on his passive systems too. James figured they were part of the squadron they would soon be joining. He hadn't planned on saying anything unless they altered course, because they should have passed out of sight of them. Wilson spoke again when James didn't respond. "Ironman, cat got your tongue?" James shook his head and replied while watching his screen. "Sam the Man, I thought we were supposed to remain radio silent?" He actually heard laughter as a first response, followed by some shocking words. "Sorry, but I need some excitement. I figure on seeing how they react to hearing something that they apparently can't see." James didn't bother replying, because the answer was already showing up on his screens.

  The radios had come alive and the planes were changing course rapidly. The problem was they didn't seem to know exactly where to go. James continued to watch and wait. Finally he spotted them. They were below him and too far back. James smiled as he understood what was going on now. His wingman was baiting them.  That was why he and James had come in so fast and straight. He wanted to use the radio to draw attention. He wanted to see if they could find them if they were looking. A small text popped up on the screen. That was another change from the older fighters. The F/A-48 had a line of sight, low power communication system that allowed them to send encrypted texts between the new jets. The text was short and simple. "Follow me."

   James followed as they whipped up and around before dropping quickly into a new position. They were about to pass directly behind the two jets they had been watching. In effect they were about to pounce on them like a cat on mice. James wasn't sure this was a good idea, but he had made a promise to himself before he started this mission. He would follow his wingman no matter what. Suddenly the two planes spotted them coming in behind them. The reaction was immediate and expected. They split off and ran. James had expected Sam to break radio silence and tell them who they were, but instead he sent a new text. "Let's roll, head for base and stay on my wing." They changed course and accelerated even more. James continued to watch as the pair of jets they had jumped came around and gave chase. It was no contest though. They were steadily falling further behind, but they weren't a concern to James. The six new blips that were charging towards them were. Three minutes tops and they would be on each other. James was beginning to worry.

   Suddenly over an open radio Lt. Colonel Wilson spoke. "Break off Gamblers you have friendly aircraft joining up. This is 'Sam the Man' and 'Ironman' coming in hot. Stand aside and escort us in. Looking for Colonel Heart, are you in the air?" A moment of silence was broken by a female voice coming over the radio. "Sam, you are still a pain in the behind. I figured it was you, but I never thought even you would be stupid enough to risk jumping any of us." James listened as his wingman replied. "No danger at all. I knew anybody flying for you would be too good to shoot first without cause. I just wanted to see what we could do. No insult intended, just needed to know what works and what don't. Doubts and questions kill up here." Another brief silence was followed by a simple. "Amen." Then she spoke to all of them. "You two 'friendly ghosts' form up on my wings, one on each side and we will escort you in." Then she radioed ahead. "Control, we have more 'friendly ghosts' coming in. I repeat we have more 'friendly ghosts' coming in. Look sharp and try to pick them up for escort. I would hate to have them get lost." That last message was sarcastic, but clear. She wanted the other 'friendly ghosts' spotted before they arrived if at all possible.

   They were already on the ground before the first of the other ghosts arrived. Only one set was spotted before reaching the point where they were to radio in. That was because they came in low and slow enough to be seen from the ground. The sightings were called in by civilians who had seen them. The base as a whole was excited with the arrival of the new flight of F/A-48's, but only a few people on the base knew exactly how they had arrived. The next three days were spent getting to know the base and allowing their ground crews to arrive. They were now officially attached to Squadron 77, fondly known as the 'Gamblers'. It would probably be several years before the entire squadron became F/A-48's. Until then they would be a combined squadron; flying together when and where they could. The current deployment mission was control of Turkish air space primary and ground support secondary. Since the older F-35's weren't able to stay up for as long or keep up with the new F/A-48's a new plan had been developed. Normally they kept four planes airborne during the day and two at night. Now there would be four up at all times. Each pair of F/A-48's was being paired up with four of the older F-35's. Since the F-35 had less than half the flight time available before refueling of the F/A-48's, they would only put two F-35's up at a time with two F/A-48's. The result would be four planes in the air constantly. In addition to that, the two F-35's that were up next would be standing at the ready along with two F/A-48's to go up if needed. That would drastically change the way situations were being handled now.

   The F-35's had been top dog in the air for a long time, but that had suddenly changed. The new F/A-48's could easily outperform them now and do it almost unseen. The F/A-48's were true stealth jets. The coating that covered them made them all but invisible to radar and they also made them hard to see if they were moving fast. It was something to do with light reflection and refraction, but it literally did make them seem almost like ghosts. There were no clear images of them when they were airborne, everything was blurred and seemed almost transparent. They also left less of a heat signature. Unless you were looking right at the engine exhausts they had very low heat emissions. The current plan was to keep space between the two pairs of planes in the air. The F-35's would make it a point to be visible, but the F/A-48's would try to remain hidden as much as possible. Things hadn't been terrible in Turkey, but they weren't great either. Most of the trouble was actually happening in Syria, but the problems in Turkey were steadily increasing too.

   The first couple of days the patrol flights seemed to be relatively quiet, almost too quiet. The word was out that something was up. It was hard to hide a jet taking off, no matter how stealthy it was. Add that to the fact that the fighters seemed to be taking off in different groupings as well as on different schedules and it was obvious that something had changed. The Turkish military was aware that the new fighters had arrived after a few days, but that was the extent of their knowledge. Nobody except the pilots and the ground crews were allowed anywhere close to them. The F/A-48's were kept secured from sight when not in the air. That was enough to make people talk and speculate as to what was being hidden. The first full week had been peaceful and calm, but the second week started with a bang.

Chapter One - part two

    The day finally arrived for them to leave. Even that was as secretive as possible. The deployment plan was simple. They left at various times during the day and even into the night. They left in pairs with each pair flying a different route to start and one that gave the impression they were just doing more training. The pairs eventually linked up well out over the Atlantic, with four planes in each group. They did some more training with a midair refueling while waiting for all the planes to get in the air on the extended schedule. That was one thing that worked out to give James and Sarah a little extra time together. Since each flight had ten planes in it and each branch of the service had two flights they had one group of four planes that had a pair of planes from each flight in the group. It had been arranged so that James and Sarah were in those pairs. Since they were all headed to the same general area for deployment it allowed them to travel together most of the way.

    Once all those pairs had joined up in groups of four over the Atlantic they started across the Atlantic. Each four plane group had another midair refueling after crossing the Atlantic and just before heading across the Mediterranean. Once over the Mediterranean they all formed up into their flights for the first time. All twenty planes from each branch of service formed up together. Then each set of ten planes in a flight would separate and head to the home base of those flights. A squadron of F-35's would already be there waiting for them to arrive either at an air base or on a carrier. One flight of navy planes was heading to a carrier in the Mediterranean while the other flight was heading to one in the Arabian Sea. The current Air Force fighter squadron size was only 16 planes. That was about to be changed with the addition of ten new F/A-48's to a squadron stationed at the base in Turkey and the other ten to a squadron stationed in Saudi Arabia. It would be the first time in decades that any fighter squadron was so large.

   Once the flights formed up and split off for the separate destinations things took on a new and much more serious feeling. The trip across had been a long one, but it had been relatively casual. That was over now. As they split off each leader of the two flights began to instruct and remind the other pilots in those flights of just where they were headed next. James listened attentively to his wingman, because Lt. Colonel Wilson was also the flight commander. They had all heard this stuff before, but suddenly it was real. They would soon be flying into Turkish air space. Even that simple act was going to be a test for these planes. They weren't scheduled for arrival. In fact only the General in command of the air base and the commander of the squadron they were about to join knew they were coming at all. They were literally flying their first mission into a combat zone with the new F/A-48's. That mission was to see just how good the planes were at staying hidden. Were they good enough to slip in undetected, even by their base systems, the 'best in the world', defenses and planes? That was the mission challenge they faced today.

   The flights broke up into pairs again before they entered Turkish air space. In fact they broke up well before coming near any land. Some had dropped down low and some had gone high in addition to a few staying at cruise altitude. The odd man in each group of five joined up with each other to form the final pair and they came in at standard cruise speed and altitude. The idea was to see which worked the best or not at all when trying to remain unnoticed. The F/A-48 was the most stealth capable fighter ever built. It had proven itself hard to locate when you were looking for it, but how hard would it be if you weren't even expecting it? Lt. Colonel Wilson was the lead going in. He and James would be going straight in with no real effort to avoid detection other than avoiding contacts they picked up on their passive systems. There were always Turkish, American, and NATO jets patrolling in the air over Turkey now. They had no more of an idea of where those jets were patrolling than the jets did of them arriving. It would be very easy to fly right into a patrol of friendly aircraft that would see them as uninvited and likely unfriendly.

   The F/A-48 was designed to do just this, penetrate all defenses unseen, so it could perform its mission and then retreat while remaining hidden. These new jets were built to be stealthy, silent, and deadly. They were also built for speed and were very maneuverable considering they were considerably larger than most fighters. That added size was due to two things. The larger redundant engines were the first of those things. They could fly and maneuver with very little reduction in combat capability under only one engine. In fact they normally used only one engine to fly. The second engine was literally a backup except when the plane was being operated at the very peak of its combat capabilities. The second reason for the increase in size was to allow more range and/or more arms payload capacity. These jets had been designed to out fly anything in the air. They weren't only as fast as any fighter flying, but nearly as maneuverable as most other modern fighters. The additional fuel capacity designed in allowed them to have a range that rivaled many of the mid-range and even a few of the large bombers in the world too.

   That added range was possible, because when operating as strictly a fighter or light ground support the F/A-48 depended primarily on two totally new types of weapons. The first was a pair of dual lasers. Actually there were four separate lasers, but they were tied into pairs. Each pair could be locked and fired at separate targets simultaneously. Using overlapping but alternating pulses from each laser in the pair allowed a longer sustained beam, up to 30 seconds of an almost continuous beam could be fired by a pair like that. They could also be locked and fired with both lasers on a sustained beam too. That would double the power of the beam, but it reduced the length of fire to about ten seconds. That was still long enough to easily penetrate all but the very heaviest of armored vehicles. The cycle time between firing either as paired or dual lasers was only a few seconds. The lasers stayed locked on target regardless of the plane's flight path once they were locked and fired too. The placement of these lasers in the jets allowed almost a complete sphere of fire around the plane. It was all but impossible for anything to get close without being within reach of the lasers. The effective range was several miles, but after that long range was reached the power dropped drastically.

   The second new weapon was something that was still considered by the world to be on the drawing boards at best and complete science fiction to most.  They were designed along the same basic idea as the larger 'rail guns' that were being used by the Navy and even to a smaller extent the Army to fire projectiles. These didn't operate exactly the same way though. These fired pulses of, for lack of a better term, 'energy waves'. Each jet had a pair of the large 'pulse cannons'. They were exactly what they were called pulse cannons. They fired the pulses of energy at a rate of 8 per second or almost 500 pulses a minute. Those energy wave pulses alone could be very destructive. They could tear men and materials apart with only the energy in them, but the thing that made these even more deadly was their ability to carry 'bullets' too. Similar to a rail gun; they could be used to propel the 'bullets' instead of using another propellant. The bullets could be simple lead projectiles or they could be packages. Those packages could carry anything that could be put inside them, explosives, gases, chemicals, powders, or flammables. The bullets actually rode inside the 'energy pulse', so it had no effect on the pulse or the 'bullet'. There was a limit to the number of 'bullets' the plane could carry, but the two pulse cannons, much like the lasers could be fired almost indefinitely. As long as the jet had fuel and power, they could all be fired. That power was generated directly from the engines. That second engine could fully power all the weapons while the first handled all the maneuvering and power needed to fly.

   Those new lasers and pulse cannons were what made the biggest difference in the planes, but they weren't the only things. The stealth technology and the new avionics added to the advantage. These avionics didn't depend on computers or software as much. They depended more on the pilot.  Not even a magnetic pulse could totally disable the plane. It could greatly limit its ability, but not bring it down. The official weapons list for the F/A-48 also included a pair of 20mm revolving cannons with 5000 rounds of ammo each and the standard multiple payload capability of all modern fighters. It didn't mention either of the two new weapons though. Those were strictly classified, as was the range and speed of the F/A-48. The range under normal load and cruise speed was in excess of 2500 miles. The top speed was over 2500 mph. That range could be extended by many thousands of miles without outside tanks, if the plane carried no extra arms and used the extra tanks that could be easily added inside the body where the extra weapons would have been. It was still very deadly with only the lasers and pulse cannons for weapons. And with that much range it could stay in the air far longer than any other fighter without refueling. It all looked great on paper and had tested great on simulators. It had even looked better in the actual field tests and training, but now it was time for the real test. Now they were flying them into an active combat zone almost totally unannounced. They would soon see how it worked in the real world.

Chapter One - part one

             Chapter One

             Hero's or Fools

   The two weeks of leave passed very quickly for them. Sarah's folks had been the first stop for them. That had gone far better than James had thought it might.  They had an advantage over a lot of parents about to see their only child go into a combat zone. As a senator her dad knew a lot more about their current situation. That was both good and bad. They knew where Sarah and James would be going which was more than most people would know. The actual location of the deployment was classified. Most people would only know they were in the Europe/Middle East area. It was hoped that it would be weeks before word of the actual locations and numbers of the F/A-48's would be known for sure. Senator Davis knew all of that and he knew the risks, but he also knew who she was serving under. He even knew a lot about who her wingman was too. Major Hawks was an outstanding pilot and had seen numerous deployments with lots of combat. That experience should prove to be of great benefit to Sarah. It was unlikely that Major Hawks would let her get into anything too serious without her knowing about it first. There would still be risk, but it would be a lot less with an experienced pilot in charge. They were less thrilled with where James was heading.

   They didn't say it, but it was clear that they were very concerned about him being based in Turkey. That nation was close to collapsing and nobody was certain of who would be in charge if it did. The U.N. peace-keeping force was struggling to keep any kind of order and they depended largely on the United States Air Force for what little they had. More troops were being committed, but they were under U.N. control. The Air Force was responsible for only the air space over Turkey and securing the air base itself. All other actions were under control of the U.N. peacekeepers and the NATO forces. That meant the squadron being sent to Turkey might end up under indirect command of people outside the Air Force during actual combat situations. The only saving grace was Lt. Colonel Wilson. He was a highly decorated pilot and had spent a lot of time doing the final approval and testing of the F/A-48. He not only had experience with combat and the area, he also had more experience than any other pilot being deployed in the F/A-48. That seemed to make a difference to the in-laws, but it was easy to see they were still concerned about his deployment.

   After a quiet week they made the trip to Virginia. That drive had been a long one for them. They had talked about all of the things that hadn't been said as well as what had been said by her folks. It was going to be a lot harder when they reached his folks. They hadn't been able to disclose much about what they were doing during training and now they would be able to say even less about the coming deployment. While her folks knew a lot, because her family had clearance and knew what was going on... James didn't have that with his family. They only knew he was training to fly jets. They didn't know what kind or where. They hadn't even known where they were for the first part of his training. Only after they actually got to start flying the F/A-48 could James and Sarah tell them where they were stationed. Even then they could say little more than that. It was very hard on his family not knowing the details during training. They could only imagine how it would be on them now that he was heading into an active area. They would know they were being deployed, but they couldn't know exactly where or what he might be facing.

   When they arrived they were greeted by the entire family. They had decided to spend Christmas week with his folks. They had spent last year with hers. It was a very happy week, but also a very sad week. It wasn't easy for James or Sarah to not be able to answer questions. All they could say was they were being deployed. They couldn't say where. They couldn't even say for how long. All of their personal correspondence was going to be handled by the Pentagon. Even phone calls were to be relayed by the Pentagon. That alone was enough to cause real concern and worry for everyone. James didn't like secrets, but he understood the need for these. The new F/A-48 had been the talk of the world military for a while, but very little was actually known about them. The Air Force wanted it kept that way for as long as possible. Beyond the actual pilots and ground crews, only a handful of officers, the President, and five Senators actually knew what the F/A-48's were capable of doing. The less people knew about the jets the better. The more of a threat and a surprise the new planes would be the first time they saw action too.

  James spent as much time as he could with his folks and the rest of the family. Sarah gave him all the space she could. They would have a couple of weeks to be together before they actually deployed. After that even they wouldn't be certain of where or what the other was doing all of the time. As bad as his family was it was harder in some ways for James with his friends. When he couldn't answer questions it often caused hurt feelings, but he really couldn't even explain why he didn't answer. It was a very long tough week in some ways. In other ways, James thought it might have been the fastest week of his life. Either way it was soon over and they headed back. His folks drove them to the airport. James had left his truck with his folks and Sarah had left her mustang with her folks. Even they weren't sure exactly when they would be back or where they would be headed first. This way they had the means to travel at either place. The goodbyes had been short and filled with tears, but it was soon done.  Now it was time for them to focus on one thing only, their mission.

    Once they arrived back on base they had a couple of weeks of final training before being deployed. This time the training was different for each of them. James had to learn specifically how to deal with the situation in Turkey, while Sarah spent her time learning about dealing with things in Saudi Arabia. That was even more complicated for her, since she was a woman. As long as she stayed on the base in Saudi Arabia it wasn't too bad, but even there she faced restrictions that her male counterparts didn't have to deal with. If she left the base the whole world changed for her. There were places she was simple forbidden from going. There were things that she was forbidden to do as well. Almost nothing was the same for her as for the men who served in the same position. James had it a bit easier, but being a Christian complicated his own life. He couldn't be as open or outspoken about his faith. He didn't have to totally hide it, but off base it would be better if he did. They studied hard and tried to get it all down. A mistake could easily put not only them, but others in great danger. At least they still got to spend their nights alone together. In a few days even that was going to be a thing of the past for them. At the moment their deployment was for 12 months, but it might easily be extended. They tried to make the most of what time they had left. If they weren't directly involved in training or preparations to deploy they were together. Neither of them looked forward to the time apart. But both of them were excited to be going into the middle of things. That had been the driving force behind both of them for years; the desire to go where they could make a difference.

Title Page and Introduction for Book Two in my series

 One Man,

     One God...                                  

           

                       Written by

     Randy Birrer 

           Introduction                                                                              

    This is the story of one man's faith in God and the power that faith in God gives him to change his destiny. 'One Man, One God...' is the second book in a series that follows the life of one man as he follows the Lord. It is based on one possible future for the United States, possibly the most powerful nation to have ever existed on the earth. It tells the story of what happens when one man decides he must stand up for his faith in God and his nation no matter what the cost might be to himself or his family. It is the story of James Andrew Cooper and his struggle to stand firm in his faith in God while making a real difference in not only his future, but eventually the future of his nation.

    James has watched the nation he loves slowly evolving into a nation he can no longer believe in. James has now seen firsthand the changes that are taking place behind the scenes in his nation and the world. Major changes have occurred within the people and government of his great nation and indeed all over the world. Those changes have been shaking the very foundations of freedom that his nation was built upon. Those changes have slowly taken those precious freedoms from the people of his nation. As a young Christian man, with a strong faith in God, James made the decision that he must do something to try and change the course of his nation before it is too late. His ultimate decision to stand up for his belief in God and what he believes his nation was meant to be; might indeed change the course of his nation. That, in turn, may change the future of the world itself.

   James Andrew Cooper was born in the rural countryside of Virginia. He grew up as the only son in a large family with seven older sisters. James, fondly known as Andy to those he grew up with, had been taught to fear God and obey His commandments from birth. He had spent the first eighteen years of his life growing up and working on the family farm. Upon graduating from public school as the valedictorian of his class, Andy had to make a decision about what to do with the rest of his life. In the first book 'One Man...' our story began with what caused him to make the decision which would indeed change his life forever. It was the first of many decisions that would alter not only his future, but the future of his nation.

    Now in this second book we will continue to follow this young man as begins his career as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. James is no longer a young boy just beginning his life as an adult. He is now an officer about to be deployed into a part of the world that is in turmoil. He will soon be separated from everything that he has known. He will even be separated from his new wife. Once more James will be forced to choose what path he will follow. His faith will be tested time and again as he follows the path the Lord has set before him; a path that only the Lord knows the destination of.

    Nobody knows what the future holds for us, nobody except God. These books are about one very possible future for our nation and world. While they are only fictional stories, I hope they will make us stop and think about what our future may look like. Perhaps they may help us to decide if it might indeed be time for each of us to start acting with faith in God in order to change our own future... and perhaps even the future of our entire world as well. 

The End

 This isn't really the end! It is just the end of book one in this series of books. I will start posting the second book sometime next week. I hope you have enjoyed reading these posts and will continue to read the next book as it is posted. I don't seem to have a lot of followers, but I have people from several nations so I will keep posting.

Eplilogue

                                 Epilogue   

    For James it seemed like a lifetime had passed since he had made that decision to leave everything that he knew behind and go towards a new and different future. It had only been a few short years ago, but already his life and future had changed in ways that he sometimes found hard to believe... and yet he knew in his heart that this was only the beginning of his journey. So James spent some of his quiet time with the Lord each day pondering what the future might now hold in store for him. James knew that God was in control, but he still wondered about what the future held in store for him personally. What would be asked of him now?  Had he done all the things that God wanted him to do by simply standing firm in his faith at the Academy? Was it possible that those small changes on the Hill were all that God needed from him or was there more to be done?

     As the day approached for them to depart to their new duty assignments James often found the biggest question was simply, what was next? Though he heard no immediate answer; James knew that God did indeed have the answers to his questions. And he knew that in due time God would reveal the answers to all of those questions too. For now all that James could be certain of was that he must go and do what was asked of him by his commanders. Until God was ready to show him something more that was his only duty. The world had changed for James during the few short years he had been away from his home, but somehow the reason he had left home hadn't changed at all. He still felt that he had a duty towards his nation and his God.

    James had heard the command to go when he had been struggling to decide about what his future should be after high school. James knew that he must go once more. He had obeyed that first simple command to go. He had gone to the Academy. Now in spite of all that had happened to him, all that had changed for him and his future, that simple message still hadn't changed. God had told him to go and it would soon be time for him to do that again. It would be time to go into another new and different world. A world where the God James knew and loved was often condemned; a world where those who followed God were cast out and even killed. James would be going into a world where faith and religion had been causing great conflicts for centuries. While James was eager to go; he was also concerned about what he might be facing once he was there.

   Would his faith become a burden he couldn't carry? Would he be asked to hide his faith? Could he do that if he was asked? He had so many questions and so few answers. Then there was also another concern for him; one that had only recently been added to his life. That was Sarah, his wife. She was going into the same new world with him. She would be facing the same changes and challenges that he had ahead of him. But in many ways it would be even more difficult for her, simply because she was a woman. James knew only a little about what was expected and even that little was enough to make him worry. It had been hard leaving behind his family and friends to go to the Academy. Now he was going to not only leave his wife behind for a time; he would have to let her go into an unknown world alone too. It was one thing to face the unknown, but James was finding it much more difficult to let someone he loved face it without him. No matter how much he wanted to trust God it was hard to let go of someone that you loved and let God take over protecting them for you.

    In the end James came to understand that all of his concerns didn't really matter at all. James had known the truth all along, but it was hard to stay focused on that truth in a world filled with complications and distractions from that truth. The truth was that God was in control of everything. God always had been and always would be. That was the simple truth of it all. The only concern that should matter was to be obedient to God. God would take care of everything if we would simply obey God without question. God had sent James to the Academy and that had brought James to this place in his life. Maybe James didn't know what the future held for him, but God did know. That was all James needed to know and truly believe. As long as he could hold onto his faith in God, James could do whatever he had to do. No matter where James was deployed God would be there too. Once James worked all of those thoughts out in his mind and heart he found the peace that he had been seeking. James would go where he was told to go and do what he was called to do by his commanders for his nation... and leave everything else in God's hands, because God was in control.

Chapter Nine - part seven

   Three months of class room training was followed by six months of simulator training and a few flights in special trainer jets. They weren't F/A-48's, but they handled much the same way. After the first nine months of training the class size had been reduced down to fifty students. All but one of those cut had been older pilots. Almost half of them had requested they be returned to their former squadrons, rather than being cut. The new F/A-48 wasn't for them. They simply couldn't or didn't want to make the adjustment to the new avionics and combat control systems. The new systems were all far more dependent on the pilot than the older systems. It was just too much of a change from old habits for them to be comfortable with them. The fifty that were left consisted of 27 Navy pilots and 23 Air Force pilots. All of the young untrained pilots were still hanging in there. In fact most were near the top of the class on scores in both the class room work and the simulators. James and Sarah were both in the top ten up to this point. The next nine months would be spent learning to actually fly the new F/A-48. They would start with the planes used during the testing. They weren't exactly like the fully combat ready planes. They would proceed on to the actual new planes after that. They would spend four months training with the Air Force and four months with the Navy in those new fully completed jets. Then the top forty pilots would be assigned planes and spend the final month flying with their new wingman and becoming a combat ready unit. Those fighters would be deployed in ten plane flights that would be attached to existing squadrons of the older F-35's.

   During this stage of the training it quickly became clear that younger untrained pilots adapted faster to the F/A-48, but the best older pilots still remained the best overall pilots. James and Sarah were both doing very well in the new jets. Sarah had a slight edge on the actual flying, but James was among the best at balancing combat control and flying. There were very few pilots who could match his skill at controlling the combat situations both on the ground and in the air, while flying his plane near the limits of it performance too. That skill was very likely going to send him into one of the most active combat zones in the world, despite his lack of actual combat experience. Sarah would probably be close by, but not in the same flight or squadron. That was to be expected. The Air Force had decided on one more major change since the training had begun. They planned to start a rotation of pilots in the heavy combat squadrons. The plan was simple. They would station two pilots with each plane in the worst zones and then rotate the pilots on and off duty on a regular schedule. The current method was to deploy military units for 12 to 18 months at a time with very little leave time during that deployment. After each deployment the squadron would then be rotated out for a year to allow the airmen and pilots to get a break.

   That had worked for a while, but it was beginning to cause problems that actually affected squadron performance. It was too hard on men and on the older planes to stay out that long. The new regular rotation had been suggested by the pilots in the squadrons. They could get a break from the stress while still maintaining the edge they had to have. The longer deployments made it harder to maintain peak performance and the longer breaks made it hard to regain that edge when they were deployed again. They believed that these shorter rotations would help them stay more focused and efficient. There were also the reductions in planes to be dealt with. The military was facing more large cuts again. This was despite more demands being put on them to cover more active areas in the world. It was straining every part of the force to find the equipment and men to keep force strengths adequate around the world without having people and equipment pushed beyond reasonable limits.

   There was already a new class in training and they would be ready to step into the rotation by the time it came up. That would allow more pilots to be fully trained and ready as the new F/A-48's arrived. The exact rotation schedule would be adjusted to find the best schedule, but it looked like a short six weeks on followed by four weeks off would be the new schedule. That was for pilots only. The ground crews would have longer rotations and unfortunately the planes still had to remain for the full deployment. It wasn't perfect, but maybe it would be better than what had been done. The last of the training was the hardest part of it and they had three more drop from the program. They were all Air Force pilots. They simply didn't like the carrier landing requirement. That left only enough pilots for the planes the Air Force would have for the first deployment. It had been a tough 18 months, but Sarah and James had made it all the way. Together they had captured a dream, now they had to go live that dream.

   They had known for a while that the two flights would be deployed in two separate areas, but they had also known they would be in the same general area. Both flights were being assigned to the always volatile Middle East region. Things had been getting steadily worse there for years. Iran had taken control of Afghanistan years ago and was trying to keep the pot stirred in the rest of the region. Iraq and Turkey were the real problems areas now though. There were still American bases in Turkey, but it had been in an undeclared civil war for over a decade now. The U.N. was trying to keep the peace, but that peace was almost laughable. Turkey had three major divisions fighting for power within it. Iraq had two divisions struggling inside its borders as well. But in spite of that both nations were heavily involved in Syria which had been in constant chaos for as long as James could remember and still was. James had been paired up as the wingman for Lt. Colonel Wilson. They would be going to the U.N. base in Turkey. Sarah had been paired with Major Hawks and they were headed to a base in Saudi Arabia. That effectively put them on opposite sides of the same area of conflict.

   They wouldn't be likely get to see each other much, but there was a chance they might be flying in the same general airspace at the same time. It would also make it easier for them to stay in touch and see each other on their limited leaves too. Since they were going to be deployed together they should be on a similar rotation as well. It was almost too good to be true. They were released for two weeks of leave after completion of their training. That would give everyone time to get ready for deployment. James and Sarah still didn't have much in the way of personal stuff to worry with, so it was easier for them. They packed things away in storage and then spent a week with each set of parents before it was time to go back. After that neither of them was sure how long it would be before they saw each other again. They had spent a little over 18 months together, but now it was time to see how long they could stand being apart.