3 First Step

"Name's Clown, you're one of the rookies that transferred right?," said the man standing in front of me. Before I could respond, he quickly pointed to a jeep being loaded up with soldiers. "Lets get to the armory and suit up. All pilots are deploying ASAP." I jumped to my and ran to the jeep. I jumped on top and held on for dear life as the jeep speedily drove across the runway. The jeep stopped in front of a large building next to a group of hangars.

I followed Clown inside and walked into a locker room with equipment lining the walls. I looked around and wondering where I would get my stuff from. Clown noticed my panic and tossed me some keys. "I know that you didn't get time to get registered yet, so here, borrow my keys and find a locker without a name." I walked down the aisle and stopped next to a locker with no name on it. The locker was at the end of the row next to a locker with the name: TRIGGER. I unlocked the locker and looked inside. There was an olive drab suit, a pistol and ammunition, and a helmet. I slipped into the suit and grabbed the helmet. I walked back to Clown as he finished zipping up his suit. He grabbed his helmet and jogged out of the room. I followed behind as he made his way to the three hangars sitting next to the building.

We stopped in front of the first hangar and Clown said, "Quick tour, that's the command center." He pointed to the building we just came out of. "And these are the three hangars for Mage Squadron. This is mine, yours is the one at the end." I nodded and ran to the third hangar. I opened a small door and saw an F-16 with a small team of men pulling up a small ladder to the plane. I didn't notice the grin plastered on my face as I stared at the pinnacle of modern technology. I snapped out of my daze when the soldiers asked if I was ready. I stepped up the ladder and sat in the pilot's seat.

"Okay, now what," I said, panicking a little because I wasn't trained to be a pilot.

I noticed that I was still holding on to my helmet, so I put it on and flipped down the visor. The visor added a light tint to my view, and it felt like wearing sunglasses. The hangar doors slowly opened as I looked around the cramped space for a button that says "On". As I was looking around, I noticed a small blue screen floating on top of the turned-off screens in front of me.

[CHOOSE AIRCRAFT?] [YES] [NO]

I clicked [YES] and all the small switches and buttons disappeared. An Xbox controller appeared in my hands, while the the screens in the cockpit turned on. Outside the plane, a symbol ,that resembled the wing of an angel, appeared on the wings. Another screen popped up in the same place and said:

[SORTIE?] [YES] [NO]

I looked outside and saw that the small crew standing off to side saluting to me. I awkwardly saluted back and pressed [YES]. The quiet of the hangar was replaced with the roar of an engine. I slowly pressed down on the right trigger and the plane slowly rolled out into the chaotic base. As the plane exited the hangar, I looked towards the other hangars and saw two other F-16s sitting outside their hangars. I saw the helmeted figure look towards me and pointed to their ear. I looked back to the screens in front of me and saw another blue screen that said:

[LISTENING FOR NEARBY SIGNALS]

All of a sudden my ears filled with people talking and ordering around the base to handle the situation. I winced as the sudden crowd yelling in my ear gave me a light headache. I looked around and saw a screen that said [RADIO]. I pressed the button and the random chatter quieted down and I clearly heard the voice of Clown talking. "-oger that Golem 1. Hey, new guy what's your name?" I thought for a moment then responded, "Frost, my name is Frost." I heard Clown respond, "Cool name, meet your other wingman. His name's Trigger." Chills went up my back after hearing that name again. "Let's watch each others backs and do our best." I replied. I saw Trigger nod in his cockpit. Trigger was going to say something but was cutoff by the air traffic controller. "Radar sites still silent." After hearing the ATC, I decided to stay silent also and listen to what was going on.

On the left, Clown was starting to taxi to the runway and Trigger followed him. I lightly pressed down the right trigger and followed after them down the tarmac. In the silence, I heard the quiet yelling of soldiers in the radio. "Scramble! Get those birds in the sky! We're sitting ducks!...What happening?...Bombers incoming, don't know how many!... Let's clear that runway, we don't got all day here..." I stopped listening to the random chatter when I head the ATC again. "Mage Squadron head to runway. Golem Squadron takeoff. Linked to Sky Keeper." The three F-16s rolled down a road next to the runway as another squadron took off on the runway. There was a short period of silence as we neared the end of the runway. Once we reached the end of the runway, Clown stopped and me and Trigger stopped too.

I heard the short static of a radio about to speak then heard the voice of ATC in the radio,"Trigger, your call sign is Mage 2. Verify and read back." There was a short pause before I heard a new voice talk in the radio. "Mage 2, roger." I was stunned for a second hearing the voice I've never heard before. I came back to reality when I heard the ATC start to talk again. "Frost, your call sign is Mage 3. Verify and read back." I said back in the radio, "Mage 3, roger." I started to get excited and thought, 'this is it, I'm to fly a jet!' Then I heard ATC speak once again, "Mage 1, cleared for takeoff." Clown taxied onto the runway and turned on his afterburners. He left me and Trigger on the runway and flew away. The ATC spoke again, "Mage 2, cleared for takeoff." Trigger rolled onto the runway and turned on his afterburners, leaving a starry-eyed Frost sitting on the side. Finally I heard the ATC speak one more time. "Mage 3, cleared for takeoff."