You finally arrive to Hawaii, after the ANM launched that cybernetic attack to the USA and invaded Hawaii islands the president ordered to send the Aircraft carrier USS Armstrong. The first place to launch an attack and establish a base was Hawaii Island itself, that one didn't have many tanks, planes or soldiers. Most of the ANM crew is established in Kauai island, you calculate that after a successful liberation of the three first islands you will have a rough time in the air, you have 2000 flight-hours recorded in your harrier, the most difficult plane in existence said by many experts due to its capability to stay suspended in mid-air, after intensive training, complex stunts, combat simulations, and rescue missions the officers in charge transferred you to a sophisticated unit.

After the attacks your unit immediately joined the USS Armstrong, your four teammates know how to do their job following their orders, even though you are more of the "think outside the box" guy, not only you got in trouble several times for disobeying orders, the ones in charge of your actions were pleased with your results so they couldn't be mad at you. They knew that you would make a difference in this conflict and quickly balance the war in their favor.

You were assigned to Colonel Talbot’s command, an experienced and respected member of the USMC. He was waiting in the base established in Hilo, Hawaii; once the five of you arrived; you were heading to a reunion to receive your briefing. You leave the USS Armstrong and head to the base.

Scramble

Hilo Airbase, Hawaii
27th April. 14.00

“Eagle Three to Eagle Nest, we are inbound from the USS Armstrong to the forward base at Hilo.”

“Pilots, this is Colonel Talbot. Welcome to Hawaii, people. Eagle One, take up an alert position on the runway; all other pilots take up standby positions and report for briefing.”

You sigh, now you have to stay there, you don’t think the base would need protection, after all, the ANM wouldn’t launch an attack right now. It would be a suicide mission; there are many soldiers around here to bring any plane down, so you recline your seat and rest a little.

“Sir, I’m reading four inbound bogeys, two miles out.”

“Alert station! Get to cover people!” The Colonel says.

SHIT! You start up the Harrier’s engine. The alarm sound as the MiG21s drop several bombs in the base. It was a surprise attack, and they got you with your guard down. You check your aircraft, thank goodness nothing happened to it, not even a scratch, and unfortunately the base had a few casualties. One of the reserve planes the Eagle Squad had was destroyed. Now this is a bad situation, without many support of the government, your squad was responsible for everything that happens in Hawaii; you had to take care of your harrier, because if it was destroyed, you couldn’t get in another one so easily, they cost millions of dollars, thanks to the Martial Law, the USS Armstrong had a rationed crew, mostly consisting in engineers and intelligence, but plenty of ammo and missiles. You need to take this seriously; the ANM looks dangerous by just attacking recklessly like this.

MUSIC

“Eagle One! Immediate launch! Bring those fighters down godamnit!

You snap back into reality, and see two MiG21s in front of you turning right. You quickly take off. You switch to the AIM-9 Sidewinder Missiles, they are exclusive for air-to-air combat, but you need to get closer to them because they have a known short range.
The HUD starts beeping; you have one of their planes at a point blank. And the legend LOCKED shows up, you release a missile and…

“TARGET DESTROYED!” The Auto Navigation system says with a female voice, you chase the second plane and send him down with another missile, the other ones show up in your radar, you find them and destroy one of them. You spot several ANM trucks, but they seem to be heading to another place, you ignore the trucks and turn back to find the last fighter, he’s heading to the base again, you keep up with him and quickly put behind him, he’s moving too much and you can’t lock him with the Sidewinders; so you change to your Vultures rockets, unlike the Sidewinders, they can’t lock on an enemy, so you have to take your aim and fire where you think your enemy will be. You take your time and shoot at his left side. It’s a successful hit, you guessed his route and took him down, you return to the base as quickly as possible to see if someone else is injured.

“HOVER MODE SELECTED” The AutoNav says. The famous capability of the harrier, you could land anywhere and quicker thanks to it. You place the harrier on the runway and jump off to check out the control mission, you find Colonel Talbot and ask him if he and his crew are alright.

“We’re fine son, thanks; you managed to kill those bastards in a record time, they didn’t manage to come back and attack us again. I see why the USMC sent you over here even though you had an interesting brief, it said that you were reckless and disobedient, but one of the best pilots ever. No wonder why you managed to get to fly a harrier. Do not think this will be easy at all! We don’t know what the ANM can do afterwards, but we are sure as hell that we won’t underestimate them. Understood!?”

“Yes sir!!!” You and the rest of the crew answer Colonel Talbot, the crew begins repairing the damages the ANM made to the base while you catch up with the rest of the team, they give you your briefing of the next mission, and you were selected to do it tomorrow.

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Underground Mine, Kauai
5th May, 11.45

Colonel Talbot was right, the ANM still had an ace up the sleeve, you think to yourself, your leg bleeding and your MP5 at your side. The Soviet nuclear warhead was going to explode any moment soon, you and your team managed to free the last Hawaiian Islands that were occupied by the ANM threat, the USA won the war against terror and the heads of the group were arrested or dead, but the isolated units resorted with the scorched-earth policy, they set up the warhead in the city of Lihue, so it could wipe the city off the face of the Earth and make the chain of islands uninhabitable for centuries. Captain Veronica DeLaro, a special-ops spy tracked down a heavily secured crate while she was captured in a train, you remember how you landed on the train and rescued her before it could reach a tunnel…

Now you were the one who needed rescue, you searched for the warhead in the city just a few minutes ago, with the help of a jury-rigged radioactive probe, you found the bomb inside a truck; you activate the hover mode and landed next to it. You barely managed to get the bomb in your harrier so the crew in the aircraft carrier could defuse it, the clock was ticking, everybody was in risk, but the ANM soldiers didn’t care anymore, you had to respond to their fire with the MP5 you always have in case of emergency, you managed to kill five of the aggressors, but you received three bullets in your right leg.

When you return to your plane, you receive a call from DeLaro that you couldn’t go back to the carrier because it was pretty far and you didn’t have too much time. She told you to get the warhead to an abandoned mine, the shaft was deep enough that if you placed the bomb in the bottom the rock would neutralize the explosion and shield the city, when you arrive you find enemy Sikorsky helicopters, your biggest mistake was to ignore them.

“HOVER …DE SELE…D” The AutoNav managed to say; your harrier was pretty damaged, you quickly descend before the choppers can shoot you missiles, you carry the bomb, it is pretty heavy, your right leg protests in pain with the sudden effort your body was making, you place the bomb and return to your harrier, but the entrance was blocked with heavy rocks, it was the Sikorsky helicopters, they kept shooting at the entrance with missiles, they recognized your harrier, all the frustrated ANM plans by you and your harrier came to their mind, if you managed to eliminate their last plan, they managed to eliminate you.

“NO… NO… NOOOOOOO!!!!” you scream. “GODAMNIT, FUCKING CHOPPERS, THEY TRAPPED ME IN HERE, I SHOULD’VE BLASTED THEM DOWN!” you had two minutes left of life. You called back to the headquarters with the radio and talked to the Colonel and DeLaro, the closest people you’ve worked with, telling that the people on the islands were safe now, but you wouldn’t see them again, you asked them if they could send your family a love message and an apology, you would never come back.

“Don’t worry about it son, you saved civilians and our valorous crew, Captain Veronica and me. You are a true hero.” Colonel Talbot says to you. “We’ll miss you, cheer up, you are totally getting schools and libraries named after you.” You let a small chuckle come out your lips. DeLaro says that she will give your family the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart, so they can preserve your memory and the valorous act you made. “We’ll see each other in the afterlife, just wait for me champ.” DeLaro sends you a kiss through the radio.

The bomb is ticking… 3… 2… 1…

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You open your eyes… You are in a field… An apple field….It’s over… You get up… HNNNG… your leg hurts… WHAT? You are supposed to be dead, you can’t feel pain if you are already dead, you examine your body, the bullet wounds are there, you are still bleeding… Damn, what happened? You see a giant shade behind you, you turn and see your harrier, how is it even possible? You also notice the MP5 you were carrying, and then you pick it up. You wonder what happened. Was that really a nuclear warhead? You’ve heard that the Soviets were into secret experiments more than the development of nuclear weapons. This definitely wasn’t a WMD. You suddenly hear voices and try to hide, but you can’t really move after your leg got injured. You fall down… Ouch.

“Ah told ya’ sis… Ah saw a really big gray bird over here”

“Applebloom, Ah’ don’t have time for this, Ah’ need those apples bucked by the end of the day and you sure are wastin mah' time… WOAH NELLY.”

That accent… doesn't sound Hawaiian… what kind of name is Applebloom?

“EEEEK SIS!!! What is that thing?!!

They see you lying down next to the plane… are those… horses? TALKING HORSES?!

“Ah’m not sure sugarcube, go get Twilight, she might know. Ah’ll handle this… HEY YOU…erhm… THING!!! YOU ARE IN PRIVATE PROPERTY!!! IF YOU DON'T GET OUTTA HERE AH’M GETTING YOU OUT WITH BUCKY MCGILLICUTTY AND KICKS MCGEE PRINTED IN YER FACE.”

What kind of threat is that? You are very tired… to deal with this whole thing…

“I won’t hurt you… erhm…horse… I just arrived here, I can’t move… my leg is injured and I’m losing a lot of blood, please help me out!”

“HORSE?! Ah’m an earth pony, stranger! Mind ya’ manners!”

“Sorry… Pony… I’m a human being, I’m sorry I appeared right in the middle of your field… I don't know where I am… I… My leg hurts… I was shot… That gray thing is my plane… ughh…” You faint, the last thing you manage to see is your plane, and you are getting carried by the orange pony.

“Don’t worry stranger, Ah’ll take care of you for a while. Hang on a second.”

To be continued…