The wind howled over the gray aircraft carrier as large, black waves collided with the hull in liquid explosions. Jennifer Hawkins never liked the water. However, joining the air force had changed all that. She had been mostly in charge of doing petty air support missions in Europe prior to be shipped to Tehran. Her pilot, Sanders, was looking at the sea, his eyes as dark as the sea before them.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked.

Jen looked down at her yellow-red helmet and thought about it. Was she ready? She always looked forward to a battle, but that was when she was the top predator. The commander had sounded unnaturally grim when describing how their mission wouldn’t be as simple as it had appeared.

“I’m ready to rock.”

Her quiet voice was usually gentle, but in a battle it became deeper and more intimidating.

The jet was already on the runway, its hull as gray as the ominous clouds above. Her pilot took in a deep breath before strapping his helmet on and climbing up the ladder into the cockpit. Jen looked down and carefully lowered her helmet over her light brown hair. She adjusted the mask and climbed in.

After going through the standard pre-flight checks, she gripped her fingers and held her gut in place.

WHOOOSH!

The force of the plane being catapulted off the runway always gave her that fervor of energy. It intoxicated her essence and made Jen want to puke and laugh at the same time. The jet was now in the hands of her co-pilot. They were up against the surge of the ocean and flying with their wingman against the floating behemoth for a ship below.

“Shark 4-6, This is Birdie Watch Over?”

“We read you.” Her pilot said over the com chatter.

“Your destination is a couple miles south of here, be advised, hostile bogies have been detected.”

“Well take care of them.”

With a thrust of the engines, the plane made another dash of speed and headed towards the ominous, dark-grey storm clouds that hid their enemy.

“Crazy eh’ Hawkins?” Sanders contemplated.

“What is it now Sanders?” Hawkins droned.

“I’m just thinking,” Sanders began, “do you ever wonder what it would be like to fly?”

“Well your'e one of the many people who can say that they have flown,” Jen grunted.

“No I don’t mean planes Hawkins, I mean like a bird flying in the sky. To naturally fly. That would be the life for me.”

Hawkins sighed, which came out louder through her mask. Colonel Francis Sanders had always wanted to be a bird. There was a joke back at command that described a jogger’s encounter with him sitting in a tree. When asked if he was spying on his girlfriend, Sanders replied that he was watching birds. The jogger laughed and asked him not to lie when he asked her to come up with him. After some convincing the jogger joined the peculiar man and saw that his binoculars were pointed at a flock of geese flying in formation.

Hawkins always felt the joke was stupid, but even she had to agree that Sanders loved natural fliers too much.

“Shark 4-6, this is Shark 4-2 approaching your right, stand by, my co-pilot just said we may have run into some turbulence.”

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The two jets dissolved into the growing storm, when suddenly the ship’s radar went off the charts.

“What’s going on Lieutenant!” the Commander barked as all the ship’s systems went offline.

The Lieutenant could only stare at the commander wide-eyed.

“Sir…this isn’t the enemy jamming…this is coming from the clouds.”

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“Birdie Watch come in, this is Shark 4-6 over?”

Sanders continued to contact the ship, but neither the ship nor their wingman was responding.

Something weird is going on Hawkins thought. The enemy could have jammed them any second now, but this seemed odd. That and also that they should have past the storm 30 minutes ago.

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The jet came out through the clouds and Joel Walders looked for his wingman.

“Shark 4-6, this is Shark 4-2 over?”

No response.

“I repeat this is Shark 4-2 over?”

The only chatter was now coming from the ship as panicked voices filled Joel’s ears.

“Shark 4-2 do you read me over?” It was coming from the command ship, though the voice seemed more on edge then usual.

“This is Shark 4-2, we read you.”

“Shark 4-2, be advised, we are experiencing slight problems, but cannot contact Shark 4-6 over?”

“Copy, I can’t get them either.”

“Well this storm will pass through soon, they couldn’t have gotten lost.”

“Sir that’s just it.”

Joel was now staring at his radar, his blood running cold.

“What is?”

“There isn’t a **** thing reading on the radar except you and me!”

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The flash of lightning awoke a bitter memory in Hawkins’s mind.  She was back home with her brother and they were watching a storm pass through the dark, forbidding forest of their home in South Dakota.

“You know lighting is dangerous Jenny,” her brother warned, “it can get you killed just like this.”

And he snapped his fingers in a single second.

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“Can anyone read me? This is Shark 4-6!” Sanders was on the verge of pounding his controls.

“Is anyone fu---“

CRASH!!

A bright blue flash shook the plane and all lights went dim. For a moment, silence filled the jet until Sanders spoke up.

“Shoot! Mayday! Mayday! Oh for crying out loud, Hawkins, brace yourself. “

Son of a…was all Hawkins could think of as their once mighty aircraft plummet from the sky like a twig dropped by a bird.

The clouds began to fade.

No they began to brighten.

What? Hawkins pondered with a puzzled expression. Light began to pour out like a slow-moving explosion and before either pilot could utter another word, their aircraft was engulfed.