Admist the blue skies, a link from the past to future.
The sheltering wings of the protector...

_________________________

19 September, 2004 1345hrs
Newfield Island, North Point

A rang from a phone heard from Chris' pocket. He picks it up and answers the phone call.

"Big Bro!" Gab yelled.

"Ouch." He mumbles while rubbing his ear. "First of all, can you stop shouting at my ear. And second, I'm in the aircraft carrier. What's up?"

"I just miss you." She said with a sad tone. "Its been months since you left... and now I miss you already."

"You know I'll be fine, Gab. Plus its part of our bloodline to dominate the skies, eh?"

"Showoff. It still wonders how James handle your goofy personality."

"Hey, I'm not that kind of person!" He shot back. "Anyways, how's mom and dad?"

"They're alright. Mom keeps praying for your safety, dad said be safe out there before he went to the grocery store."

Chris chuckles. Just then, a pilot came to see him. "Hey Ribbon! Hurry up to the briefing room, boss called us for the meeting."

"Just a few seconds!" Ribbon shouted before returning to the phone call. "Sorry I have to go now, command has called us for the mission today."

"Be careful up there, Big Bro."

"I will. I'll call you when I get back."

"I'm already counting down. Love you."

"Love you, too," He answered, smiling to himself before turning off his phone. He looked at the same pilot who was waiting outside the door, grinning. He knew what it was coming.

"If you thinking Im calling to my girlfriend, you're wrong." Ribbon glares at him. "That is my sister, Alex."

Alex, leader of the Halo Squadron, also Chris' best friend when they both join the ISAF. He's 6'2", a middle age man, taller than him, and has short brown hair, pair of hazel eyes, and well build pilot. Alex chuckles and patted his shoulders. "Yeah I know that cause you are a young adult to date someone. Although I'm still wondering when you get a girlfriend before you die?"

"I don't planning on getting one. I don't want them to feel heartbroken when we have long distance relationship, or I die."

"Wise words coming from a wise man. Now let's go before the command chew our asses."

Ribbon laughs. They made a run towards the briefing room, two other pilots from Halo team have already sitting on the chairs. One of them is Frank, a hot-headed but caring guy aka Halo 2, and Jason, a tough and serious guy as Viper 1.

Jason saw them and scoffed, "Took long enough. You are one minute late."

"Thanks for the statement, Mr. Shades." Alex said the obvious. "Plus, blame Chris for having a voice call with his sister."

"Blame my sister for calling me." Chris shot back, sitting beside Frank. "Alex thought I called my girlfriend with a smug grin on his face."

Frank whistles, "Don't mind him, he just want to show off his lovely wife."

"I will never do that!"

"Settle down." They looked at the man who's entering the door with a crisp white sheet uniform. Standing in front of them is their commanding officer Weaver. His gaze rested on us as they settle themselves. He turn off the light switch and the projector projects light with images and words about their mission.

"Here is the current sitrep and your orders for deployment, effective immediately. Enemy agents destroyed our early warning radar network, allowing several Bear bombers to penetrate our airspace. In fifteen minutes, we expect this bomber formation to strike Allenfort Air Base, and then move on to targets at North Point. Our air defense forces are extremely weak at this point in time. Hence our GHQ is a sitting duck. It is mission critical that you destroy the bombers and neutralize the threat before they get past Newfield Island. Remember, you are the first line of defense for North Point, and the fate of ISAF lies in your hands."

The lights came back on, and Ribbon and Halo team headed to the hangar for their planes. He hadn't taken off of a ship many times, meaning this experience would be an interesting one.

ㅤ

ㅤ

"Sitting Duck"
19 September 2004, 1405hrs
Newfield Island, North Point

ㅤ

ㅤ

On board the carrier, we hopped on our trusty carrier-based planes, with mine F/A-18C. A gray with a tint of a blue color, and an infinity blue ribbon insignia. That's why a lot of my crews and pilots called me Ribbon because of that.

Halo Team took off first; I was soon to follow, shooting off the deck above the deep, sapphire waters towards the bright blue sky, sun shines above us.

"AWACS here. Callsign SkyEye. Do you read?"

"I read you loud and clear," I replied. The others followed suit. James, A.k.a. SkyEye, and I became friends since high school days. And we both took pilot school, with him choose to be an AWACS operator. A smart guy indeed, but there is a tendency that he will acts like a mother of he gets mad. Trust me, you don't want to get on his bad side.

"Good. Your callsign is Mobius One. We'll refer to you by this name at all times. You are now under my command. Six bombers on vector three-sixty confirmed. Continue north to intercept."

"Oh thank you for reminding me again of my callsign. I almost have a brain damage, probably forgetting who I am today." I said. Alex and Frank laugh as my friend warned me to watch my sass. Like hell I will.

"Man if we were on the ground, I can give you a hi five." Alex said.

Hitting the thrust, I shot forward, quickly outdistancing my allies. I could see the specks of the bombers far off in the distance. I wanted to get to them first before they could damage the entire area. However, I see some fighters as their escort and bodyguards. I'll let Halo team take them down, if I don't have time.

"Today's my birthday!" SkyEye announced. "A victory sure would be nice."

"Oh shit!" I screamed in my mind, "I forgot to bought a present for him! Ahhhh!"

"Now that you mentioned it, its time for us to sing a happy birthday song for you!" Frank offered.

"There's no way I'm singing with you guys..." Jason mumbles.

"Oh c'mon Jason. No need to be stubbon." Alex said. "But I don't have such beautiful voice like Ariana Grande."

"But the off-key makes it all that more entertaining," I pointed out.

"Hmm... you're right. On the count of three everybody: one... two... three! Happy birthday to you!"

We all joined in. I'm pretty sure some people on the ground came onto the radio just to join in. I enjoyed the image of SkyEye blushing in my mind because I knew for a fact he was thoroughly embarrassed.

"God this is e-embarassing." Yep. He's blushing.

"That's what you get for telling us your birthday, bro." I shook my head and focus on our mission. I hit the throttle to fly faster and pass by Halo Team. Once near the bomber, I line up behind and lock on the target.

"Fox 2, Fox 2!" Two missiles launched from my plane's wings, and both landed a hit.

"A bomber's been hit!" an enemy shouted frantically. I didn't expect to hear their transmission.

"There's our welcoming party!" another one responded, sounding much more relaxed about the situation.

"Let your escorts handle them," another added. Part of me wanted to respond to their chatter, but I rather not. Maybe next time.

"I flew dangerously close behind the next bomber, sending two missiles at it, and then shooting forward to go to the next, knowing my former target would be unable to escape.

"Gray Two's been hit!" An Erusian exclaimed. "Hurry! Eject!"

"Damn, Ribbon. Look at you, started to kick their butts earlier than us." Alex praised.

"If you and the rest of Halo squadron want to take care of the fighters, that'd be wonderful."

"Oh, yeah, you take the easy job 'cause you're lazy" he joked. I saw him chase after the escort fighters to break them off from bombers.

'Good. Now things went easy.' I went to the second bomber that's about to descend to the area, immediately launched a pair of missiles before it could drop some payloads.

"Mobius 1 shot down a Bear." SkyEye announced.

"I couldn't bear the thought of losing this battle on your birthday, so I'm doing everything I can to win it for you, bro." I told him, smirking at my pun and wondering if anyone else caught. In fact, somebody did and they're laughing.

SkyEye groans, "Stop it, please."

"No." I chuckled, doing a loop and turn to chase three more bombers and fighters. I saw Alex and his team pick up the Erusean pilots one-by-one. If there's one Bear left and plenty of fighters, I'll help them. There's no way I will shot bombers only.

"This is Gray One! Damn it, we still have a payload to deliver," a bomber growled.

"He's mine!" One roared. "I'm on his tail!"

I went head-on with the remaining bombers. I swear I could see the pilots in one of the seats. Angel zoomed overhead of me, then dipped down, going after a fighter coming from below.

"Where are the escort fighters?" an enemy demanded.

"They're busy, comrade!" I yelled before lock on the bomber and fire them from behind. I have guts to talk to the enemies like that as much as I wanted. Why? Blame dad who is a Demon Lord that has a knack of shooting his mouth off to the enemies with his so called buddy. Well... even my sister did. Heh, it became part of our bloodline beside being pilots, eh?

There were only two bombers left now, but Halo team seemed to be struggling with the remaining fighters. I saw Frank chase after enemy plane, but it was near my position. I grin as I switched to air-to-air missiles and chase off after the fighter. In few seconds, I destroy the Erusean plane.

"What the hell, Chris! That was mine." Yep, Frank's mad at me. But it was worth it so I laughed.

"You're too slow that's why!" I heard Alex's 'ohhhhh's and Jason chuckes. Huh, never expect him to laugh a bit.

One bomber and three fighters left and were done.

"Target is bombing the city," SkyEye informed gravely. Those damn Eruseans. But I can't blame them, the Ulysses caused this chaos to happen. But I won't let them slide on this. With the flying skills I've learned from my Dad, I chase after two fighters first. The two break apart, so I went after the other one. The pilot tries every maneuver to break off from me, but not good enough. I gun down his engines until it no longer throttles, causes the enemy plane to slowly fall to the surface.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Red Nine! I have no control! Ejecting!" The enemy plane I'd just taken down shot out of his aircraft. I nearly crashed into his parachute or else I be sue for warcrimes. I mean, I don't think they may or may not follow the Geneva Convention... more like a suggestion.

I realize the last bomber is going after the city, so I let Halo team take care of the fighters. Thankfully, I knew the city had long been evacuated, unknown to the enemy. We had a strong military presence there to make it look like it was still operational. Plus we don't want them to hurt civilians or they will pay the price. As I went full throttle towards the bomber, I saw its weapon bay open ready to drop some bombs. I grinned as I fly lower but still aiming at them.

"Fox 2!" A missile launched and went straight towards the bombs causing large explosion, engulfing the entire enemy bomber. I immediately break off before the fire consumes my plane, I don't have insurance if this planes damages so bad you know! I fly around to see if there are some fighters around, turns out Halo team took care of it.

"Good job, Mobius One!" SkyEye complimented.

"There's your birthday gift from us fighter pilots," I said brightly, proud that we'd completed the mission successfully.

"SkyEye, this is Allenfort. Got visual on the downed bombers. Whose kill was that? Make sure to thank him."

"You're welcome!" I answered.

"That's a round-up! Let's go home!" Alex cheered. None of us argued and soon were back on track to land at Base. After few minutes of landing, we went back to the meeing room for debriefing.

"Thanks to your efforts, the enemy bomber strike was averted," Weaver confirmed. "However, our victory will be meaningless should you fail the next mission."

"Wow..." Frank mused. "Thanks for the pep talk, Whiskey. I know I can always count on you for optimism."

"Makes you wonder how we ever got through life without him," I said.

"You're lucky I like you two," he said.

"Nah, you love us." I grinned. "Now if you may excuse me, I'm going to call my sister. She's probably worried about me."

"Man, when you gonna get a girlfriend?"

"Not in my life." I simply said with a smile before leaving the room. That mission was too easy for me, but at least we're able to defend our place. Now we can push back to fight again, except it will get harder as it goes. If it means to end this war, I have to. Right now, I have to call Gab before she cries like a baby.

•=•=•=•=•=•

Present Day

"Excuse me I'm not a baby back then!" Gab shouted.

I scoffed, "May I remind you how much hysterical you are when you call me after that mission."

Gab pouted at me. "What? I'm stating a fact."

"I hate you."

"I love you, too, lil sis."

"Anyways, when is James coming?"

I look at my watch, "probably in less than 10 minutes. He's still busy so I guess we can wait."

"Of course we can." Gab smiles, "at the same time, tell me what the letters says and your story as Mobius 1."

Ah shit, here we go again.

But I can't back down from this, can I? Now that I have a letter to a boy who met my rival ace. "Alright. But first, let's order some drinks."

_________________________

I bet you can guess Alex, Frank, Jason, and Weaver's full names, eh? ヾ(*ゝω・*)ノ