Chapter 38: Desert Pirate to Ironman

28 September 2028 – Edwards Air Force Base, Kern County, California

“At least we didn’t have to move far. Only a few blocks.”

“We still had to pack everything, Tom.”

“Um, you’re in the military. Moving’s common.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it!”

“The view’s improved, at least.”

“You call that an improvement? Sabrina asked as she pointed out the window at the desert landscape outside the west fence.

“Well, at least it’s a landscape, not the buildings on the rest of the base...”

“There’s nothing out there for miles!”

“That’s how they build bases,” Tom said with a shrug. “We’re still around other places, at least! It’s not like they sent you to Groom!”

“Can you please stop bringing up that place?”

“When do you have to be at work tomorrow?”

“I should leave here about 0630 tomorrow to gauge the ride and get there a little before 0700.”

“Or sit in their parking lot until you’re ready to go inside.”

“Don’t wanna be late, that’s for sure! Not a good first impression!”

Tommy snorted.

“Like you’ve ever been late for something in your career...”

Sabrina arrived early the next day. The drive to the building took only ten minutes, so she would adjust her departure times accordingly in the future. Reporting in was routine now. It took little time, and soon, she had a new squadron patch ... and an extra one for Tom. Her new squadron’s commanding officer, Arjun Stone, was a curious mix of Indian and Caucasian, which reminded Sabrina of her Aunt Mish and Uncle Mickey’s kids.

“I’m Rocky.” He snorted. “Big surprise. There are other ‘Stones’ in the Air Force, so I’m not sure how I won out there. I see you’re an F-22 pilot, but you’ve had experience with the new F-51s while you were at TPS?”

“Yes, Sir. My group used the Mustang as our primary evaluation tool there.”

“Good enough, Captain. That means you’re the squadron expert when they arrive in about a month. You can teach the rest of us.” The colonel paused. “Now, explain this ’Raikou’ thing to me...”

Sabrina rolled her eyes.

“Basically, Sir, it translates to ‘Goddess of the Shitstorm,’ which ought to tell you what I bring to the table.”

Stone laughed.

“We could stand some excitement here. I think it’ll be fun having you around!”

“Talk to me in a few months, and let me know if you’ve changed your mind, Sir. Anyway, how many Mustangs are we getting?”

“We’ll get four and already have evals planned once the mechanics check them out.”

“What are we looking for, Sir?”

He shrugged.

“Anything that’ll kill pilots and crews down the line, essentially. Not much more to it than that, regardless of the airframe.” Stone shrugged again. “You’ll probably be doing the same tests on the Mustang when they arrive as you did at TPS. Might even be the same tests!”

“It’s still airtime, Sir. I won’t argue that. The ‘Stang’s a good plane. I’m glad they chose it.”

“Both were chosen. They’ve got another unit checking out the Hellcat.”

“They both could be the last human-piloted aircraft in the US arsenal, too, Sir.”

“That’s what they said about the Raptor and Lightning, don’t forget,” Stone snorted.

Rocky showed Sabrina where she’d change since she couldn’t change with the guys. Next was the squadron’s dayroom. This is where she’d spend most of her time on the ground. A huge, painted plywood copy of the squadron patch hung off one wall, though the skull-and-crossbones in the dayroom looked more sinister. Otherwise, the room was no more different than other squadron rooms she’d been in over the years.

The flight line was the final item on today’s list. Rocky asked one of the captains from Sabrina’s flight to show her around. She’d work with the man until his turn to transfer out in two years. Then, she met the mechanics, who kept all their jets in working order. You know, the people who keep things running.

The Warsaw Pact finally turned in on itself in the last quarter of 2028. It was the beginning of the end for the Eastern Bloc. In October, the Hungarians finally got fed up with their government. One hundred twenty thousand people turned out in Budapest and rallied against the communist regime. Not to be outdone, Czechoslovakians rallied two days later. One hundred fifty thousand protested in Prague.

The East Germans tried to show up but only managed eighty thousand in East Berlin. The East German Volksarmee and Volkspolizei opened fire on the crowd. The armed forces killed an estimated two thousand citizens, though the DDR reported only four hundred. A day later, two hundred thousand showed up to rally in East Berlin and protest the killing of their fellow citizens. Two hundred fifty thousand protested the next day in Potsdam. The East German government went wild trying to control its population.

When the Poles looked on with amusement and gathered half a million in Gdansk, the world took actual notice. The Polish workers had lived under Solidarity since the 1980s and used it to hold off the communist higher-ups. It was almost like the workers and the government lived in two separate realities. The workers and their families lived and worked the way that worked for them, while the communist elite lived the way they wanted to.

When seven hundred fifty thousand Poles showed up one day in November 2028, their leaders in Warsaw grew nervous. They’d lived under a growing cloud for five years since the Schönbrunner Wald incident. Solidarity gained even more strength and momentum. The union, centered around the docks of Gdansk for the last fifty years, finally spread across Poland, right up to the borders of the neighboring Warsaw Pact countries.

The people of Poland, tired of living in other people’s shadows as they had for over a century, turned their backs on the communists. They flocked to the Catholic churches – which had never died as they had in other communist countries – and the few remaining synagogues. Neighbors who had been friendly to the surviving Jewish communities – mostly out of their shame at what they allowed to happen during the Nazi occupation – now circled the towns and temples, daring the regime to try to fight them.

By December, thousands of people had streamed across the Austro-Hungarian border. The Hungarian border troops fought to keep up with the flow of emigration and prevent it, while the Austrian border troops struggled to record everyone’s names and guide them to their designated places.

In January 2029, the Inner German border, the line between East and West Germany, failed. East Germans walked past the border with its guard towers, machine guns, and landmines, hoping to find the cousins, parents, and grandparents who had once been spoken of. West Germany’s population swelled overnight as East Germany hemorrhaged.