Chapter Two - "I've Lost Control"

Chapter 2 – "I've Lost Control"

Flight Deck; USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) 0022hrs Local

"SINS Alignment checks…Scooter…" Scooter had his own backseat checks and did those while Animal was organizing the front office.

"Gotcha, Animal…half-way done my checks."

"Data Link Power Switch – On…; Data Link Mode Switch/CAINS/WPT…: verify parking brake set…" Looking down at his instrument panel, he checked the proper switches and made sure that they were in their proper positions; and then started entering the data that was necessary to properly align his aircraft's internal navigation system to the ships INS in order to make sure that they could rendezvous; making sure that he selected CV (carrier operations), especially since he was launching off a carrier deck.

When all the pre-flight checks were done while parked they proceeded to the taxi checklist. It was tight quarters on the flight deck. Then releasing the brake slightly, but locking the outside wheel on the turn and letting the inner-nose wheel roll at 70 degree deflection, they slowly eased out of their parking space and trundled down to the number one cat. Prior to being hooked up they completed the pre-takeoff checks then the take-off checks. They verified that the TARPS bird was on #3 – the waist cat. It would allow the nugget to match his speed to intercept Animal's aircraft; Animal had briefed them on flight in and outbound and who would be flight lead up to target area and then they would swap positions as they crossed the coastline and went feet-dry and Dollar would take flight lead. While Animal flew combat spread and watched Dollar's six to make sure that it was clear of MiGs.

Animal watched the Plane Captain walk to where he could be seen by Animal and guided him into position giving the signal to hook down. After checking the RATS Advisory Light, he saw the Plane Captain give the raise signal and Animal raised the hook on his F-14.

"Nose wheel steering, cycle off…cycle on…"

They completed the takeoff checklist, hooked their oxygen masks to their helmet hook receivers and tightened it. The oxygen feed was good. The visors were up on their flight helmets…since it was night and Animal and Scooter made sure that they had the correct take-off trim while waiting on hook-up while the blast shield was in place for a Hornet to launch. Evidently, even in the midst of hostilities, one still had to get their qualifications for night traps in. Qualifications never ceased. If you weren't rated for night-carrier landings; your career as a naval aviator would come to a screeching halt. So everybody got their rating quotas in as often as possible to make sure that they were always current. As the blast shield came down after the Hornet was now a speck in the distance as the steam dissipated from the previous launch, Animal kept an eye on the plane captain to make sure that he saw exactly what the plane captain wanted him to do via hand gestures. Hook-up also meant watching the plane captain. It was dark and well, they had to follow every gesture closely to make sure that they didn't make a mistake.

"Throttles - Full Military Power;" The F-14 was hooked into the shuttle…and locked in so it wasn't going anywhere until the catapult was fired, nose-gear compressed so that it had the typical Tomcat crouch on the catapult. Animal went on a visual gaze of his instruments to make sure that everything was good. When he was satisfied that he was ready to launch, he stated. "External Light Master Switch – on" and flicked on his external light to full power – bright and steady. And he could see the reflective on the Plane Captain's vest as he saw the dark form drop into crouch and point down the deck towards the pointy end of the boat. Left hand locked pushing the throttles forward to keep them from getting shoved back from the force of the cat-shot and putting his right hand on the handhold above the HUD. After launch he would drop his hand down to the stick and correct the twenty to twenty-five degree yaw to port and resultant forty degree pitch-up that the Tomcat tended to go into when shot off the carrier; it was just a Tomcat idiosyncrasy. If they could be outside of the aircraft they would see a blue-white afterburner flame licking the blast-shield. Bracing himself, Animal waited for the kic-

His vision caged as the catapult flung him towards the pointy end of the boat. Dropping his hand down as the F-14 cleared the end of the boat and was flung off towards the dark. His vision cleared and even without thinking his hand was already on the stick and instinctively correcting the yaw. "Fast Eagle 104, airborne…" he called out "gear up…gear light off; 200 knots…raising flaps. Just another fine Navy night, gentlemen."

Animal would head up to Angels 25 and have Dollar line up on his starboard wing crossing under the aircraft to check and make sure that all ordnance was secure and then they would fly welded wing until they hit the coast and feet dry whereupon Dollar would take the lead from that waypoint all the way into the target area. They'd separate to combat spread and accelerate to Mach point nine two. That way they would be able to transit the required area as quickly and as safely as possible. Safely as possible was not really in their cards as they would probably rouse some of these North Koreans and end up possibly being on the receiving end of some anti-aircraft fire and not a few SAM launches as well. Kim Jong Il would probably not like the fact that two American F-14s were traversing North Korean land. In fact the little troll would probably be hopping furious and that made for a comical mental picture.

But less funny was the fact that he would be screaming at the NKPLA and threatening them with dire threats of execution that would make the NKPLA very antsy and that could prove to be a rather detrimental effect on Animal's and Dollar's chances for making it out of North Korea without a few bullet holes in their F-14s tonight. It meant that the North Koreans would have a vested interest in making sure that they put as many holes in the intruding Imperialist aircraft that they possibly could. Even better would be to bring one of them down.

"Feet dry in ten minutes," Scooter informed him.

"Dollar, take the lead…"

"Roger that…"

"Spaz…you ready to roll tape?"

"Roger that…"

"OK…radio silence…now…"

From here on in it was only ICC conversation that would be allowed. Animal could see the dark outline of the coast appear in his HUD and the periphery of his vision…as the F-14 to his starboard side moved up to nose slightly forward…He could see the coast sweep by under his aircraft, "Feet dry…" he commented to his RIO and Dollar would be saying the same to his. If one wasn't keyed up with adrenaline pumping; this would be a beautiful night with the stars out. It was close to new moon and well, luckily for them, to any observer, there were only two dark shapes barely visible in the starlight. I guess this was one of the reasons why they chose tonight to do the TARPS run. He thought to himself.

Scooter called out on the ICC, "Nearing first waypoint…" Animal eased forward slightly to flash his light at the other aircraft. Dollar looked over. Giving the hand-signal for combat spread; he banked his F-14 to port…and split off giving Dollar separation. He figured that Spaz was prepping his TARPS pod to start rolling the camera so that they could take photos of the area. So far no MiGs in the air, which was a good sign; at least with his load-out if they came out to play, he'd be willing to go toe to toe with them, to get the TARPS bird out of there. And the TARPS bird had its own armament. Animal believed in being prepared. About a mile to starboard Spaz had his head in the scope looking over his controls… with the red filter on his flashlight, prepping to start filming the surrounding area around the target.

Animal looked at his airspeed indicator. Mach 0.92…indicated. At least Dollar was holding the speed that they wanted going into the valley. Then all hell broke loose. The sky lit up with tracer fire. "Holy shit…" came Scooter's exclamation from the back seat. "I think we scared some Indians…"

"Shit…" Animal growled as he jinked to avoid getting hit by tracers; for every tracer bullet, there were three that couldn't be seen. "Dollar, tracer fire…crank your speed up and let's get through this shit…"

"Roger…"

Flipping the ICC switch, Animal sarcastically said, "Well, there goes my night…" It looked like the goddamned Fourth of July out there. Airspeed indicator: Mach point nine six. Well, they were going to be screaming through the valley of death tonight, then slapping the foot to key the UHF, calm and collected, dryly told the carrier's Combat Information Center "Fast Eagle 104, Combat, we're taking triple A fire…who the hell thought this was a good idea?"

"Fuck; they dinged us…" Scooter cursed as he saw two bullet holes appear on the starboard wing. But they were unhurt…no fuel or hydraulic fluid leakage.

"Shit." Animal grunted, jinking again as another stream of tracer fire came a little too close for liking "MiGs?"

"Negative…" Scooter's clipped but nervous reply caused Animal's adrenaline to rise further. Then looking over at Dollar he saw dark fluid streaming from the aircraft and his blood froze; "Shit…Dollar. You've been hit, you're bleeding hydraulic fluid." Scooter radioed to Dollar.

"I know…I know…Stick's getting sluggish…I'm trying to hold her…oh shit…firelight came on…"

Animal asked, "Can you get over that ridge…you've got a fire in your starboard engine…" He could see flames coming out of the TF30 on the right side.

"I'll try…Fast Eagle 114, Combat, Mayday Mayday Mayday; hit right engine; bad engine fire…hydraulic fluid leaking; stick sluggish…I don't think I'm going to make it back…"

"We still got tracer fire…oh FUCK!" Animal had to roll his F-14 to miss a stream of tracer fire "We got a two three off our port side…Son of a bitch…" and three more bullet holes…in the right wing. Damn it…Mason was going to kill him; five bullet holes in poor 104 already.

They were moving over the ridge…when Dollar's panicked radio call came in. "I've lost all control…I've lost control…Eject, eject, eject…" Animal could see the canopy blow off Dollar's F-14; immediately swept away in the slipstream; then both seats fired in sequence: RIO first; then front.

"Fast Eagle 104…Combat…Fast Eagle 114 is down. I repeat Fast Eagle 114 is down. Two good chutes… Orbiting…are you sending Angel?"

The XO's voice came on the horn. "Fast Eagle 104…that's a negative...you are to return to Civic."

"Combat, you're leaving 114 with no cover at all…"

"Fast Eagle 104…You WILL return to Civic…that is all…"

"Roger, Combat…" Animal bit out. "Under…stood…" his clipped tone barely held back his seething anger. Snapping off the UHF he growled over the ICC, "Hit the SAR band. See if we got any emergency beacon indication…"

"Got it…Animal…" A steady beep came over the UHF…there was one; it meant at least one of the emergency beacons had activated. Then another steady beep came over the UHF as well…on a different alternating beep. "Both are down and both active…"

Rage pumping through his blood; Animal made a conscious decision that probably wasn't the best decision that anyone could take. Normally you don't make another pass through the valley you just came out of. But Animal was going to leave that son-of a bitch Zsu-23 with a calling card that they wouldn't forget. Going to practically nape of the earth…which was absolutely dangerous in the dark at over 700knots airspeed…he rolled back into the valley…he could see the dim form of the Zsu-23…tracking…and centered it in his HUD with his twenty mike mike pipper. "All right you son-of-a bitch…see how you like this…" and let loose. Flashes on the sides of the Zsu-23 indicated hits where the twenty mike mike was penetrating the Zsu and then suddenly before it could fire on him, it blew up… "Gotcha; you son of a bitch…" Animal said as he jinked to avoid the now re-surgent triple A fire that was trying to down him, "Fast Eagle 104… Combat, Egressing now… Two good emergency beacons…active…and I got the son-of-a bitch that got him too…inbound…" Animal snapped out as he put the F-14 on the deck and punched the throttles. His poor TF-30s would protest, but fuck it, Buster. God, he hoped that Rabbit wasn't any where near him when he trapped. Come hell or high water he was going to knock that asshole's teeth down his throat. Fuck it, he was going back for Dollar and Spaz and if Rabbit was going to try to stop him, he'd drop the no-load piece of shit XO over the end of the boat…and leave him for the sharks to get indigestion on.

Hill 175, North of Pusan, North Korea 0120hrs.

As the smoking wreckage of Fast Eagle 114 crashed into the mountain side, it exploded leaving a beacon of flame denoting where the wreckage had landed. The two chutes were floating towards the mountainside…It wasn't a big mountain as mountains go, but it was hilly and there was really only one way up the mountain. It was sheer luck that the two chutes landed barely half a mile from each other. Spaz and Dollar were able to rendezvous…both had their Berettas out and both were scared. E&E classes that they had gone through were supposed to have prepared them for this eventuality, but unfortunately; in the dark, in hostile territory and with no friendlies in sight the memories of Survival E&E school were far from their minds. All they thought was I need to get the hell out of here. "Fuck we got no cover…" Spaz said. "I heard the radio call…Animal tried to hold and cover but…No Load Campbell, that dumb-fuck…left us out here…"

"He's coming back, isn't he?" Dollar sounded panicked as he kept looking around expecting North Korean People's Liberation Army to pop out of the trees everywhere. "We need to hide…make it so that we don't attract any attention."

Spaz looked Dollar in the eye. "I don't know… buddy…I don't know…can only pray that they come back. We need to think calm…get a hold of yourself…we'll get through this…" He tried to sound calm so that Dollar would calm down; but inside his guts were twisted in fear and he felt like throwing up.

"You got any ideas on what we can do to set up some shelter…to get out of the line of sight of anybody hostile?" Dollar asked. "We need to find cover…"

Spaz nodded, covering his face with dark camouflage face-paint; "any convenient bushes that we can find, we need to make sure that we can manage to find cover in to keep us out of the line of fire. You got yours?" he noted holding up his camo face paint pack. "Combat makeup…" he grinned, his teeth white against his now black brown and green face then continued to apply it to any exposed skin, neck, hands…

Dollar pulled out his and started liberally applying the stuff to his face and neck and any exposed skin. "How many rounds you got?"

"Three clips…"

"Three here too…God I hope we don't have need of using them, cause that's gonna bring unwanted attention. You got anything in that parachute pack that came with the ejection seat?" Dollar muttered as he went through the pack "extra flares…secondary emergency beacon…thank god for that…our ones in the seat are on right now and I don't know how long they're going to last…"

"Roughly about eleven hrs…who ever gets to us first." Spaz replied, "We gotta bury our chutes…they're too noticeable."

They started digging a hole with whatever they could find…when it was deep enough they gathered up the chutes and buried them. At least, now that they were buried, the bright colors of the chutes wouldn't attract the attention of the North Koreans…then when they finished covering up the fabric, they needed to look for someplace to hide. "Let's find cover…" Spaz prompted and they tracked up the hill farther to see if they could find a convenient grove of bushes that could offer them enough coverage to hide themselves until rescue came…or they died of exposure. Spaz wasn't about to give himself up. He'd put a bullet in his own head if that was the case. He looked over at Dollar. The boy was scared. First cruise and this happens to him. Hope he'll get over this and go on to have a fine Navy career if he managed to survive this. He looked at his emergency beacon's clock…the strap of his aviator's watch had snapped in the force of the ejection and it was probably lying somewhere in the valley in a field somewhere, god knows where after it had fallen from 2500 feet AGL after it left his wrist. It was probably all busted up. 0155, 5 more hours till sunrise and they needed to find cover.

Fast Eagle 104, 20 miles Angels 20, 0215 Local

Animal was still enraged over 45 minutes later as he saw the carrier in sight…as he turned into Marshal Point he was letting down to orbit at Angels 15 until the carrier could put him down.

"One Zero Four, Three Two Five for One Zero, Angels One Five, 7.2"

As he hit the Marshal Point he radioed "One Zero Four, Marshal Angels One Five…"

"Roger, One Zero Four, Case II, CV-1 approach, altimeter One Zero, marshal mom's Three Two Five Angels One Zero, expected approach time One Zero, approach button One Zero "

"One Zero Four Commencing State six point eight, Altimeter One Zero"

"Approach One Zero Four Say your state."

As Animal levelled at 5,000 feet, he radioed in, "One Zero Four, Platform 10 miles, Angels Five, State six point two."

Approach, USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), 0219 Local

The CAG turned to DCAG. "Shit, he's practically on vapour…I'll be surprised if he doesn't flame out in the wire…"

The Approach Controller called out, "Eight miles, ACLS lock-on, call your needles"

Radio crackled, "Needles centered…"

Approach called again, "Roger One Zero Four, Needles centered, Fly Mode II"

DCAG turned to CAG and stated with no reservation, "He's good, He'll make it; he's not top of the greenie board for nothing. He's flying clean to conserve fuel…He'll dirty up closer in"

"Approach, Fast Eagle One Zero Four; three miles astern, hook down, gear down…" DCAG looked over at CAG and grinned. CAG shook his head.

"One Zero Four, We have you sighted, three quarters of a mile call the ball…"

"One Zero Four, Tomcat Ball, Two Point Six…Coupled"

"One Zero Four, You're green…all the way in, Fly the ball…"

Just as the Tomcat crossed the fantail, the LSO could see the engines flame out…as the Tomcat slammed into the three…wire…and was yanked to a stop…"Holy shit…" came the call from the LSO. Nobody bothered upbraiding him for that call.

CAG looked over at DCAG, "Best goddamned piece of stick-work, I've ever seen. Flamed out in the wire…got a three-wire…and a green. Shit…I don't know whether to crow about him to the heavens or scream at him for nearly losing an F-14."and then keyed the 1-MC "NOW HEAR THIS…NOW HEAR THIS…CLEAR THE WIRE…CLEAR THE WIRE…RESUME FLIGHT OPS!" Deck crew were already moving to get Fast Eagle 104 out of the arresting wires…and clear it for the next aircraft to trap.

The hatch to the CAG Bridge abruptly slammed open and the XO of VF-41 came in…his eyes bugging out, "Nakamura defied my orders and risked my squadron's aircraft. I told him to egress and he hung around to wait for the beacon to come in and then went after the triple A. I want him up on charges for endangering a vital piece of military equipment."

CAG turned around and pigeonholed the VF-41's XO. "You can try to Article 15 him but I doubt it'll get much traction, Campbell. If I were you, I'd stay out of his way." As he saw Animal snap off his nomex flying gloves and CAG could see the anger and frustration coming off the young naval aviator. Animal was one of his best aviators in the air wing and to see him this angry…and frustrated; CAG knew that there was something fishy. "You said he hung around for the beacons? We lost a bird…to Triple A. And those beacons went off, didn't they…and you didn't call an Angel to go in and get them?"

"The area is crawling with NKPLA. Any rescue mission is suicidal." Campbell stuttered as he looked at the CAG who looked back at him as if he were the lowest piece of reeking filth that he'd ever seen.

"Animal…you can't go up there mad like that, you're going to get roasted by the CAG…if you beak off at him like this!" Scooter's voice was heard in the corridor.

"I left those guys to die out there on Campbell's orders. I don't give a flying fuck. I want that Angel flight and I'm going to fucking well get it!" The poor hatch slammed open for the second time in ten minutes. Commander David Campbell paled (They didn't call him Rabbit for nothing – CAG was sure that Rabbit had peed his pants) as he saw just how enraged the thirty six year old lieutenant commander was. He could practically see the flames coming off the top of his head and he could barely hold the rage back as he growled, "CAG, sir… If there's an Angel flight going out to retrieve Spaz and Dollar, I want in on it, sir. With all due respect sir…I left them behind…on orders." His eyes went over to Campbell fixing him with a death-stare, "I'm not leaving them behind to die…even if I have to break every goddamned rule in the book…to get it done, sir…"

The poor hatch didn't get any rest…at all… "WHO'S THE MEALY MOUTHED SON OF A BITCH WHO LEFT TWO OF MY AVIATORS OUT THERE TO DIE?!" Rear Admiral (upper half) James Elwood Pointer came barrelling in. If the hatch had a brain it would have been concussed by now.

Animal stepped forward and James Pointer looked at him in disbelief, "I did, sir…On Commander Campbell's orders…I'm asking CAG for an Angel Flight to go rescue them and I will personally be on that flight." James Pointer looked over at Campbell with an unreadable expression.

"Campbell, I wanna talk to you in my office…" Pointer growled ominously. "Get this brave man" he looked over at Animal and then at the CAG… "his Angel flight and make it happen…"

As Campbell walked past Animal, he hissed, "I'm gonna have your oak leafs for this…Nakamura…you're gonna be busted down to a permanent lieutenant…"

"Be my guest, sir…" Animal hissed back. "I'd like to see you try…"