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There was a pounding on the mobile home door. “GET UP! THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!” The voice is that of Dr. Kisoda, the mysterious woman from Area 51.
Hisone and the others shot awake. A quick glance at the clock confirms the ungodly hour of three in the morning. “What’s happening?!” Hisone yelped.
“THERE IS AN ONGOING OTF EMERGENCY,” Kisoda continues, her military voice only slightly muffled by the door. “GET YOUR FLIGHT SUITS ON AND GET TO YOUR AIRCRAFT NOW! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!”
The dragon pilots may be young girls by American standards, but they were all trained with the standards of the JSDF. Within two minutes, all five of them were fully dressed in their flight suits and rushing out the door into the chilly desert night air. Dr. Kisoda had already started walking towards the hangar, and was about a hundred meters ahead of them.
She called out orders to the girls as they ran past her. “You will be briefed on your mission once you are in the air! And keep the radios quiet, we have no time for chitchat. Understand?”
“Hai!” came a chorus of agreement from the girls as they jogged past.
“What could the point of this mission be?” Lilikos wondered to herself, her mumbling unheard by the others as they all rushed to the hangar. “The higher ups probably want to see how we perform under stress and sleep deprivation. Probably.”
The dragon pilots’ helmets were all lined up on a table by the door, and all the dragons were already fitted with their flight armor. Lilikos snatched up her helmet and shoved it over her head as she continued running over to her dragon Akemi. She slipped past the radar disk he wore on his head to be discreetly swallowed by the enormous gentle beast. She activated her helmet’s flight control systems as she felt Akemi’s body distort around her, transforming into an E-2 Early Warning Aircraft.
Lilikos activated her helmet just in time to catch a glimpse of Edjerha’s legs disappearing down Ace’s throat as the male dragon pilots burst into the hangar, cramming their helmets down over their heads and rushing over to their dragons to be swallowed.
Vicker approached Harry with no hesitation for once, and surprisingly didn’t emit an undignified yelp as he was snatched up. The dragon also refrained from his characteristic slurp afterwards, somehow sensing the urgency of the situation. He instead assumed foxtrot configuration immediately and followed Masotan, Norma and Futomomo who were already rolling out the hangar doors.
“Hey girl, how do I look?” Thumper, now wearing a new ridiculous pink suit of particularly appetizing material, approached Erika with a tentative smile. “Don’t I just look delicious?”
Akemi rolls out of the hangar before Lilikos can see if the new suit works, but she notices Nao standing off to the side, so she’s confident that Erika will be joining the other dragons in the air shortly, with one pilot or another.
The other dragons are already lifting off, taking priority on all the runways. “That must mean this mission is important,” Lilikos ponders. “I wonder what that lady meant by an OTF emergency.” The insides of Akemi’s stomach rumble as the dragon takes off down the runway, lifting off into the predawn sky.
Lilikos watches from the air as Erika starts to taxi towards the runway. Flight Leader Kakiyasu comes on the radio. “Dragon pilots. There has been a grave mistake. A rogue OTF is flying west-southwest towards Las Vegas airspace. The pilot is barely able to keep the dragon in foxtrot configuration, and we’ve since lost contact with him. Your mission is to steer the dragon away from civilian eyes and use your OTFs to ground it. Capturing the dragon is optimal but if it comes down to it, killing the dragon is better than letting a civilian see it. I don’t think I have to say this, but obviously this is a mission of utmost secrecy and priority. You are to tell no one of this. Understood?”
A chorus of affirmatives echo over the airwaves.
“Good.” Kakiyasu continues. “The dragon in question takes the form of an American made SR-71 Blackbird. The Blackbird is a spy plane developed for reconnaissance and scientific research during the 1950’s. Its body is designed to minimize its radar signature, similar to the stealth fighters you’ve faced so far in Red Flag missions.” Lilikos silently noted to herself that she would have to use some of the new firmware updates to her helmet’s flight systems.
Dr. Kisoda took over the radio. “The Blackbird is designed to operate at speeds in excess of Mach 3, so fast that conventional weapons like guns and missiles had to be sacrificed in exchange for speed. However, this is a dragon we’re talking about, so it’s far from unarmed.”
Dr. Kisoda’s voice began issuing commands. “The rogue OTF hasn’t flown for decades, and it is overjoyed to be in the air again. This intense emotion has overwhelmed her pilot, to the point where he’s barely able to keep the dragon in Foxtrot configuration. The goal is to intercept the OTF, lead her out of civilian eyeshot, then continue to distract her there until she tires herself out. Masotan is the fastest of our dragons, so he will be the one to intercept the rogue OTF and lead it to the others. Being the second fastest, Norma will accompany Masotan in case things go wrong.”
“Hisone.” Kakiyasu’s voice.
“Y-yes?” Masotan’s pilot replied
“The plan to handle this situation relies on you and your flight skills. Do you think you can do it?”
“Yes, Flight Leader Kakiyasu!”
“Then get to it.”
“Hai!”
The radio goes silent for several moments. Lilikos monitors Erika’s progress on her radar. Once the last dragon is in the air, she officially starts the mission.
Lilikos’s quiet monotone voice sounded out over the airwaves. “This is AWACS Jimmy, all craft report in.”
“T-this is Hisone, standing by.” Hisone’s voice was no more shaky than could be expected.
“This is Penguin, standing by.” Elle’s characteristically serious.
“This is Morris, standing by.” Hitomi’s soft voice sounded.
“This is Edge, standing by.” Edjerha’s voice.
“This is Crumpet, standing by.” Vicker reported.
“Hah! I knew you’d come around to that name eventually!” Hisone giggled.
“Shut it!” Vicker retorted.
“This is Maus, standing by.” Kleiner reported in, eager to stifle their argument.
“Just so we all know,” Lilikos radioed. “Who’s there with you Maus?”
“This is Thumper here,” the larger german voiced. “The suit worked perfectly.”
“Hisone, Penguin, head northeast to intercept the bandit, I’ll follow at a distance for radar support.” Lilikos’ voice became louder and more enunciated. She could feel her confident ‘command’ persona taking over as she began issuing orders. “The rest of you, head northwest. We’ll engage the OTF over Homey Airport.”
As the planes began to separate, Morris came on the radio. “Edge, we might be in the air for a long time. Futomomo could carry Ace on his back on the way over, to save the strain on his wing.”
Edge reluctantly agreed after only a moment’s hesitation. “But only so that we can all get there faster.” She stipulated.
‘Command’ Lilikos, always evaluating those under her command, nodded to herself. Ace, having only one turboprop for propulsion, would slow down the group without help, and Fotomomo could easily take the weight.
Ace carefully approached Futomomo from above. Once the two were within a few feet of each other and the smaller dragon was fully hidden from the city below, Ace assumed hotel form and flattened himself to the fuselage of the larger plane with a clattering of metal plates. A piece of the metal paneling that made up Futomomo’s disguise popped open in front of Ace's nose. “Grab on!” Morris’ voice sang.
“Got it.” Edge replied as Ace grabbed on with his teeth. The metal crimped under his jaws, but the damage was fairly negligible.
Satisfied that the other OTFs were on their way, Lilikos moved Akemi to follow Masotan and Norma east to the Nevada/Utah border.
‘Command’ Lilikos completely takes over now, monitoring radio chatter and checking the radar while Akemi scans the skies with his superior sight and hearing. The other OTFs are trying their best to spot the rogue dragon too, but it will really come down to Lilikos.
*two hours pass*
“Hisone to Jimmy, bogey dope.”
Lilikos’s voice remained calm, but the other Japanese D-pai could tell she was getting annoyed. “For the tenth time, Hisone, it’s just more civilian aircraft. If there’s something there, I’ll tell you.”
“Sorry,” Hisone replied.
“We should’ve seen the bandit by now, at the speeds they’re traveling at.” Lilikos admitted.
“If this OTF has been grounded for decades, then it probably isn’t used to its own speed, and won’t get here as soon.” Elle sounded, ever rational. “That’ll make our job easier, for sure.”
“I’m just worried we might have missed it.” Hisone said. “I mean, we’re trying to intercept a supersonic, painted black, stealth aircraft at night!”
“We need to be very vigilant.” Lilikos agreed. “If the OTF gets past us, it could speed right out over the pacific ocean. With an impaired pilot, it could get lost and drown.”
“Ohhh,” Hisone whined. “That sounds so horrible!”
Just then a new voice came over the radio. There were no words, just the sound of a grown man’s big open-mouthed guffawing laugh. Lilikos pressed her dragon’s insides to activate her radio. “Unknown aircraft, identify yourself.”
The man struggled to respond between fits of laughter. “This is…Delta pilot…Tyler…I need help.”
Lilikos responded. “This is AWACS callsign Jimmy. We are here to help you, Delta pilot. Assume vector 270. You will be intercepted by another dragon pilot. They will escort you to land.”
“Negative…” Tyler replied “She won’t…follow orders…”
“We are prepared to take care of that. Just keep her in Foxtrot.” Lilikos said. “Hisone, prepare to intercept.”
“Hai!”
The D-pai all turned west, scanning the skies more intensely. Akemi spots the OTF with infrared cameras, relaying the information to his pilot. The SR-71 was comparable in size to Futomomo. It was almost completely flat except for the bulge of the central fuselage and two rather large turbojet engines. The black armor of the plane body was ruffled and bulging, allowing slivers of sky blue scales to peek through. “I see him! Hisone, Penguin, go buster.” Lilikos ordered.
“What does that meEAAA-” Hisone’s voice was interrupted by Masotan’s sudden lurch of speed.
“It means go MAX SPEED HAHAHA!” Tyler radioed.
Lilikos radioed Tyler again. “Tyler, you will see an F-15 in front of you. Follow it.”
“Negative…I can’t steer her at all…” Tyler replied.
“Hisone, go hotel form, get his attention.” Lilikos ordered.
“C-copy!” Hisone replies. Lilikos watches Masotan’s radar signature expand a little bit as the dragon stretches his wings. The deep blue dragon launched a fireball above him, which exploded spectacularly.
“Ohoho, she sees you!” Tyler giggled. A new blip appeared on Lilikos's radar screen as the black stealth aircraft dove down after Masotan.
“Eek-!” Hisone yelped to see the larger dragon barreling down towards her.
“Hisone! Get to the others! Penguin, follow her! I’ll follow as best as I can!” Lilikos shouts into the radio.
Masotan’s armor came back around him with a clunk. Now more aerodynamic, he shot forward towards Homey Airport and the other dragon pilots with the rogue dragon hot on his tail. Norma’s afterburners fired with a screech as the smaller dragon tried to catch up. Soon, Akemi was alone, his turboprops insufficient to keep up with the faster jet aircraft.
Lilikos focused on the radio as the other dragons rapidly disappeared from visual range. “Morris, be advised. We’ve successfully intercepted the bandit. Hisone is on her way to you with the bandit hot on her tail.”
“Copy,” Morris replied in her typical singsong voice. “Edge, prepare to get off!”
“Morris, be advised,” Lilikos continued, “this thing is about as big as Futomomo, maybe bigger. Intercept as planned, but keep your distance in case the dragon lashes out.”
“Copy.” Morris’ reply.
Lilikos turns her focus to the radar screen, the blips of Masotan and the bandit rapidly approaching the other dragons. Norma was falling behind significantly.
“Penguin, break off your pursuit. Save your strength.” Lilikos ordered.
“Copy.” Elle replied. Norma’s radar blip slowed significantly.
Masotan and the OTF maintained their speeds pretty well, save for the occasional loop or sharp turn to make the larger plane lose speed.
Suddenly, the bandit’s radar signature expanded a lot. Its wingspan increased by half, and it doubled in length.
“Hisone! Report!” Lilikos radioed. “What’s going on!”
“Aiiiiiii!” Hisone yelped. “OH MY GOD IT'S SO BIG!!!”
Hisone is too panicked to be useful. “Tyler, what happened!?” Lilikos asked.
“I’m sorry, Jimmy!” With all the laughing, he didn’t sound very sorry. “I couldn’t hold…foxtrot!”
“Morris! You and the others get over here now!” Lilikos shouted into her radio. “Bandit OTF has broken foxtrot! Be advised it is almost double Futomomo’s length now!”
“Copy!” Morris’s voice was suddenly deadly serious. The other dragons broke their holding pattern over Homey Airport to rush east. Ace and Futomomo’s radar blips recombined with surprising efficiency as Erika and Harry outpaced them to reach Masotan as fast as possible.
“Penguin, get over there to relieve Hisone.” Lilikos ordered.
“Hai!” Norma’s afterburner once again screamed into high gear.
“Alright Akemi, let’s put the turbo in turboprop.” The dragon’s insides rumbled with acknowledgement. The engines shut off, momentarily leaving the airframe to glide on its own. Akemi stretched his fingers, reshaping the propeller blades to a more effective shape. The twin turboprop engines came back on with a roar, spinning much faster than any normal engines could. It wasn’t a huge boost, a turboprop plane could never keep up with a jet one, but it was the best they were going to do.
Lilikos patted her dragon’s insides. “Just like that. Good job.” Akemi grumbled agreeably.
Lilikos turned back to the radar. Masotan’s radar blip was all over the place, trying to avoid a collision with the much larger and faster OTF. As she watched, Masotan shifted to hotel form and performed an almost ninety-degree turn before collapsing back to foxtrot form. Lilikos winced at the thought of the G-forces involved in such a maneuver. Norma still wouldn’t be close enough to engage for another couple minutes.
“Hisone,” Lilikos tried the radio again, “forget about Homey Airport. Assume Hotel form and keep the OTF there.”
“Eeee-aaaaah.” Hisone’s whining was incomprehensible. There were background noises of her being thrashed around her cockpit.
“Hisone, acknowledge!” Lilikos repeated.
“C-copy that,” Hisone stammered. Masotan’s radar blip expanded as he once again displayed his true form. Lilikos watched the two radar blips dance around each other for a few moments before Elle interrupted.
“Jimmy, you’ll want to take a look at this.” Elle came on the airwaves as Norma came within visual range of the rogue OTF. A picture of the rogue dragon appeared in front of Lilikos.
It was a massive, almost sixty-meter-long, flying, reptilian, serpent with a snakelike head and a pair of dragon wings. The lack of feathers marked it as an Amphiptere, as opposed to a Quetzalcoatl like Ace. In addition to the massive wings – upon each of which was mounted a large turbojet engine – the beast also had a dozen or so pairs of smaller fins along its tail, which allowed for incredible maneuverability. The black armor of the aircraft shroud stood out against the sky blue scales of the dragon. The underbelly strangely had no armor pieces at all, suggesting that it must be covered in some other way.
“It must fold in half to assume foxtrot form.” Lilikos pondered to herself. “That would explain how it got bigger all of the sudden.”
“Jimmy, permission to engage?” Elle’s voice broke Lilikos’s concentration.
“Affirmative, Penguin.” She replied. “You are clear to engage. Hisone! Switch out with Penguin!”
Hisone almost giggled with relief. “Copy that, Jimmy.” Masotan led the Amphiptere towards Norma, who assumed hotel form with a shout to grab the beast’s attention before diving below the creature’s massive wings. The sky blue OTF followed after her with a gleeful roar. Masotan, meanwhile, climbed to a safe cruising altitude for a short break.
“Watch your altitude, Penguin.” Lilikos reminded her. “Keep this above the deck.”
“Hai.” Came the short reply.
“Maus, Crumpet, report.” Lilikos ordered.
“Entering visual range now.” Maus replied.
“Bloody hell that thing’s huge.” Vicker’s voice trailed off with incredulity. “How do we take it down again?”
“We give it some good exercise, which will cause it to overheat and land for water.” Lilikos replied.
“What about us overheating?” Vicker’s British accent was becoming thicker as he started to panic a little.
“We switch out when we need to,” Lilikos answered. “That’s why we brought all of us.” A few minutes passed, Norma dipping and dodging to avoid the massive serpent. Lilikos watched on radar, then on visual as she came into range. Norma’s skinny form was graceful as it wove through the sky, sometimes doubling back and narrowly avoiding a collision with the beast pursuing it.
Akemi, having finally caught up with Masotan, loosened into his hotel form and began leading the tired dragon in a circular holding pattern. “Tyler, report.” Lilikos radioed.
“I…huh…I’m doing okay in here,” There was no more laughter, but he was breathing heavily. “Aurora’s focusing her emotions on the chase, not me anymore.”
“Aurora is the OTF’s name?” Lilikos questioned.
“Yes,” Tyler replied. “I still don’t have control of her though. She doesn’t mean you any harm, it’s just her first time out in so long.”
“Copy that,” Lilikos replied. “Maus, Thumper, you’re up. Penguin, prepare to switch out.”
“Copy.” Came Maus’s voice.
“Urgh…copy.” Elle was under serious stress. Norma performed one final loop, turning back towards the approaching German Tornado and disappearing from Aurora’s view momentarily.
Erika shifted to hotel form and spouted twin ribbons of rainbow flames from her two heads. The flames weren’t directed at Aurora and they weren’t particularly hot, but they were bright and got the larger dragon’s attention. Erika proceeded to lead the larger dragon around in a circle, distracting it with flashes of color, sometimes diving through a blast of her own flames to escape the Amphiptere’s lunging advances. Norma meanwhile began slowly climbing to join Masotan and Akemi in their holding pattern.
“Penguin, report.” Lilikos radioed. “Are you okay in there?”
“That was pretty rough…I almost blacked out a couple times.” Elle groaned. “I can go another round if I have to.”
“You might have to.” Lilikos informed her. “Crumpet, you’re next after Maus. Be ready.”
“Aye.” Harry began to approach the pair of dueling dragons as Morris and Edge joined the other dragons in their holding pattern.
“We’re here!” Morris’s voice was once again lilted with song. “My, that dragon certainly is big.”
Ace detached from Futomomo’s back to fly alongside Akemi as the larger dragon folded his wings and shifted into hotel configuration. “I wonder if he’s related to Ace at all.” Edge pondered.
“It’s possible.” Hisone panted. I don’t know of any other dragons who have no legs, except for maybe lord Mitatsu, but he looks nothing like this.”
“That’s about as much high stress flying as we can take!” Thumper’s voice sounded out. “We need to switch out!” Erika’s inexperience in modern dogfighting was proving to be a difficult obstacle and her movements were becoming sloppy. Each near miss with Aurora’s gaping jaws was becoming nearer and nearer.
“Copy that!” Vicker commanded Harry to engage Aurora, startling the larger dragon with a mighty roar as Erika disappeared with a final flash of blinding fire. Aurora gleefully changed targets, curling in on herself to chase the new dragon.
Harry may have been a dragon, but his armor was built to imitate a less maneuverable ground attack aircraft. This combined with his chunkily built frame meant he couldn’t evade Aurora for long. At the last second before collision, the smaller dragon spun, allowing Aurora to ram his underbelly, using his strong legs to stop the serpent from firmly gripping him with her powerful jaws. The two dragons struggled against each other, scratching paint and denting metal.
Inside Harry’s stomach, Vicker fiddled with the augmented-reality dial that controlled his dragon’s transformations. He selected the plates that covered the torso, and the corresponding section of armor clunked back into place, connecting the vents that redirect the plane’s exhaust while in hovering mode.
“Harry, throttle up!” Vicker commanded. Harry obliged, the hot exhaust from his engines being redirected right in Aurora’s face. The larger dragon yelled in surprise, breaking off her pursuit. Harry used the opportunity to disengage, gaining some distance before turning back to engage Aurora again.
Aurora had also turned back to fly at Harry, but this time she was much more subdued. As the dragons closed the distance, Aurora tilted her head curiously at the British dragon.
“You like that, huh?” Vicker chuckled. “Well check this out.” The rest of Harry’s armor closed up around him, and he started hovering in place. Aurora crooed at the stationary aircraft, confused as to how the other dragon was staying airborne.
Tyler got on the radio “She’s calmed down now, I think I could make her land.”
“Acknowledged.” Lilikos replied. “Crumpet, lead Aurora to the Homey Airport.”
“Copy that,” Vicker replied. Harry resumed forward flight, turning away from the rising sun to lead the team home. The other dragons followed. Masotan, Norma, and Erika were all panting as they flew, yet Aurora somehow wasn’t outwardly tired.
“That was some good flying.” Flight Leader Kakiyasu’s voice sounded over the radio. “And some quick thinking. Well done, all of you.” Kakiyasu then spoke to Lilikos alone. “Especially you, Lilikos. This was your first time commanding a force this large against an enemy this unpredictable. You handled it well. Good job.”
“Thank you sir,” Lilikos replied.
Dr. Kisoda got on the air now. “All craft return to base. Land at Homey Airport. Your OTFs will be refueled and you will be given breakfast and a briefing on today’s Red Flag mission.”
“Oh man, can’t we get a break?” Hisone complained.
“No rest for the wicked, I guess.” Thumper chuckled. “We’ll be ready, though, right Maus?”
“Ya,” Maus replied.
Lilikos patted the inside of Akemi’s stomach. That’s right. Whatever the day brings, whatever the mission, they’d be ready. The Early Warning Aircraft that was secretly a dragon, and the shy little girl who was secretly a Commander.