1. Callsign Indigo


    Date: 3/2/2024, Categories: Occupations, Author: Gordon_Brail 

    ... launching its first wave of fighters to interdict incoming enemy aircraft, missiles with the ability to sink ships reported in the air over Taiwan. Landon scrambles to the deck with the boys, following his pilot to their bird.

Landon – I told myself not to fall in love with a flyboy. God…they all warned me about your type. Cocky, arrogant, stubborn and hardheaded. It makes me sick to think that eight months have flown by with you in the sky, myself left here, refusing to sleep unless I know you’ve returned. Come back to me. We’ll fly away together.

Love ~Tasha

Petty Officer First Class Tasha Yates stands steady on deck, her heart racing as she does what she does best: let the fighter’s engines scream on deck, catapult ready, signals from the other deck crew for the All Clear before she takes a knee with a thumbs up. She is the final thumbs up, releasing the fighter to the powerful thrust of the catapult as it burns hot off the deck and into the skies.

She releases another…then another. The first wave.

This is bad – really bad. Crews are clamoring on deck and ready to go, everyone scrambling to get them in the air.

Tasha my Sweet – Flying was all I ever wanted to do as a boy, looking up to the skies, praying I could one day turn into a bird…

Landon’s cockpit closes as his wave is up next, a purple scarf under his flight suit. Back in flight school, the only tee shirt he could find for under his flight suit before his first day was purple, earning him the ...
    ... callsign “Indigo” for the rest of his career. He takes a deep breath, communicating with the pilot as the bird begins to move.

Tasha releases the first bird of the second wave, another one taking its place. In the distance, a fighter sortie forms, booming and screaming away as it flies toward the danger. An indigo scarf remains tucked tightly under Tasha’s uniform, one of the matching set she bought for her and Landon back in Honolulu. More than one person has noticed the similarities. No one has been for certain.

Landon Baby – Damn you. I blame you for the end of a childhood dream I once had. A Master Chief like my father, I wanted to strive to be the best. But now that I’ve found you, I only want to be Our best…

The next Hornet’s engines whine as they burn in place, the catapult ready. Tasha remains standing, looking around and eyeing Landon’s bird as it's up next.

“Oh, my God,” she lets out, looking at another deckhand who has the same solemn expression as she. This is bad. Really bad. More birds are lining up to launch without any room on deck for the first wave to land. They’ve launched and should be back. Won’t they be back?

Missiles fly from Seventh Fleet, creating white trails behind them as they point up and forward.

There are streaks of fire in the distant skies west of theRegan. Debris floats in the seas.

Against a full consciousness of reality, Tasha kneels and gives the thumbs up, an empty spot where the last Hornet once was.

Landon’s plane ...
«12345»