by Rick Lakin
“Really?”
“It’s in the Captain’s ready room on the Brilliant.”
“Like a video game?”
“No, ma'am. It's a full simulator, and we have the artificial gravity wired for nine G maneuvers.”
“Nine Gs?” Fifi said.
“Yes, but we won’t be able to do that today. We aren’t wearing G-suits.”
“Actually, we will,” Fifi said. “Our F-52U has an upgraded Holographic Tactile Virtual Reality system on board that includes a G-suit.”
“I wasn’t aware of that capability.”
“It's classified, and we got it for this season,” Fifi said. “What were you doing pulling nine gees?”
“Trying to pull ten,” Jennifer said. “I had a MIG-48 on my six.”
“I’d love to see your system this afternoon.”
“Sure. Sami, can you join us?” Sami popped up to Jennifer’s left. “Meet Captain Boyington. I’ll be flying with her.
“Nice to meetcha,” Sami said. “How may I help you, Jen?”
“The F-52U has HTVR on board eliminating the need for a G-suit.”
“Located,” Sami said. “I’ll work with Ani and implement the upgrade for this afternoon.”
“Thanks, Sami.”
“Enjoy your flight,” Sami said. “Sorry I won’t be up there with you.”
“Sami is a pilot?”
“Sami is my virtual assistant. Ani is our Artificial Navigation Intelligence on Brilliant,” Jennifer said. “Sami was flying the MIG-48.”
“She seems much smarter than Bobcat.”
“She runs on the twin CPUs at Brilliant and HumanAI Corp.”
“Your callsign is Jendroid?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Let’s get you strapped in and up in the air,” Fifi said. “Gunny, give her a hand.”
Ten minutes later, the four Blue Angels were lined up on Runway Two-four Left in a tight V-formation with One in the lead.
“We're cleared for take-off,” Munchkin said. “The winds are ten knots at one-nine-five. That's a slight left crosswind. Check your parking break off, check your trim set, check your nose wheel steering is on. Maneuver straight ahead for a westbound climb out to forty thousand.”
“Fifi copies.”
“Droopy copies.”
“Diamond Half Clear. Let’s go,” Walleye said.
“Let's run 'em up.”
The pilots in Blue Angels Two, Three, and Four, gave a thumbs up.
“Off brakes now. Turbines to Full Military Power,” Munchkin said.
When the last aircraft left the ground, Blue Angels Four said, “Gear.”
The pilots raised their landing gear, and Walleye dropped his nose and shifted left into the slot to form the Blue Angels Diamond.
They passed over Torrey Pines State Beach. “We are feet wet climbing to angels forty. Secure turbines and shift to ramjets. Accelerate to Mach Two.”
After Fifi signaled thumbs up, Jennifer saw her throttles move forward to the firewall and felt the pressure of four G's as the aircraft accelerated.
“We’ve got an op area east of San Clemente Island twenty-five miles out to sea,” Fifi said.
“Why does the Commander go by Munchkin? Is it because he is small?” Jennifer asked.
“His great grandfather was one of the little people in The Wizard of Oz,” Fifi said. “How did you become a part of the Brilliant crew?”
“I'm a brillian, and I read the Brilliant Tech Manual growing up. I got a Tovar Studio internship over the summer. It turns out my grandfather designed StarCruiser Brilliant and runs the studio.”
“Wow. That’s a steep learning curve.”
“I’ve got a pretty good memory.”
“Five and Six have caught up,” Munchkin said. “We’re over the op area. Reduce speed to four hundred knots. Set up for the Diamond Roll Break. Let’s split up and give our Brilliant crew members some stick time. Your operational floor is fifteen thousand feet,”
Two, Three and Four acknowledged.
“Ready, break.”
Fifi rolled right and performed a tight turn and then returned to level flight. “We’re assigned to the Northeast quadrant. Would you like to take control?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jennifer said.
“Right hand on the stick, left hand on the throttle, and feet on the rudder pedals. Ready?” Fifi said.
“Yes.”
“You have the aircraft, Jendroid.”
“I’ve got the aircraft, Fifi. Altitude twenty-eight thousand, heading zero-four-zero,” Jennifer said. I’m going to do a barrel roll. Would you evaluate?”
“Of course.”
Jennifer looked over the right wing for a reference point and only saw blue-green ocean. She pulled the stick and applied right rudder. As the aircraft went through inverted, she rotated the controls smoothly and returned to base course.
“Wow, you finished eight feet high and overshot by seven degrees. Nearly perfect,” Fifi said. “I performed that maneuver twenty-seven times before I got that close. That was after I reported to the Blue Angels.”
“I can do better, Fifi. The water makes it hard to pick a reference point.”
“Bet a coke you cannot beat what you did before.”
“Done.”
Jennifer performed the maneuver again.
“Omigod. Three and three. I owe you a coke. You could trade your cerulean for our Navy blue.”
“Thanks, I’ll stick with cerulean. My Brilliant goes a bit faster.”
“I guess it does.”
Blue Angels Three was in the southwest quadrant.
“I’ve got the aircraft,” David said.
“Why don’t you try a wingover?” Droopy said. “It’s a simple aerobatic move where you pull the nose up and reverse course. A crop duster would use this maneuver.”
“How about a four-point roll?”
“Or you could do that.” I’ve got to see this. “Artoo is recording. Show your stuff.”
David pulled up his nose and snapped right ninety degrees with left rudder.
“One.”
Ninety more to inverted.
“Two.”
Again, he snapped the aircraft to a vertical left bank.
“Three.”
Finally, David snapped back to level flight.
“Four.”
“Same altitude and heading. Pretty good,” Droopy said. This guy can fly.
In Blue Angels Six, “Got it,” Artoo said. “Chief Pritt will have that on SocNet before we get back to Miramar.”
“David, have you thought about a career as a Naval Aviator?”
“Do you have any aircraft that go eighteen hundred times the speed of light?”
“Not yet, but I’m sure they have something on the drawing board,” Droopy said.
“Gotta have some standards.”
“We’re pretty high and need to turn around. Show me a split-s and give up some altitude.”
“Aye, sir.”
David snapped the Bobcat inverted and pulled a 4G half-loop to reverse course.
Aboard Blue Angels Two, “Bogey approaching at two o’clock low,” Bobcat said. “It’s Munchkin.”
“Jendroid, your crewmate just performed a pristine four-point roll,” Munchkin said. “Can you top that?”
“I know I can count higher, Munch,” Jennifer said.
“You’re clear above and below,” Fifi said.
“Recording,” Munchkin said.
“Executing.”
Jennifer snap-rolled forty-five degrees right.
“One.”
Again, to a vertical right bank.
“Two.”
She kept counting.
“Three…Four.” The aircraft was inverted.
“Five…Six…Seven…Eight.”
“That was a pretty eight-point roll,” Munchkin said. “Fifi is going to be jealous because she is the only member of the team that can pull that off.”
Fifi smiled into her mask. “It�
�s called girl power, Munch.”
21
They punched holes in the sky for fifteen more minutes. “Blue Angels Four and Five are headed back to the barn for some fresh airsick bags,” Munchkin said. “Fifi, please join up with Blue Angels Three at Point Charlie Five,” Munchkin said. “Artoo and I have some extracurriculars planned for the two pilots.”
“Fifi copies.” Over the intercom, “Do you understand what they have in mind?”
“I got this,” Jennifer said. “Bobcat, plot a speed course to Charlie Five. Intercept Blue Angels Three.”
“Turn left to one-nine-five, accelerate to Mach one-point-three for two minutes. Maintain Twenty thousand feet,” Bobcat said. Bobcat, the Aircraft Artificial Intelligence acted in place of the backseater who was called the Radar Intercept Officer or RIO.
“One-nine-five, Angels twenty.” Jennifer shoved the throttles forward and pulled the stick to the left and back.
“Fifi, I don’t want to run into anything. Are we safe?”
“Bobcat has an Automatic Collision Avoidance System,” Fifi said. “Maneuver at will.”
Ninety seconds later.
“Blue Angels Three is at your nine o’clock. Turn right to two-seven-eight, speed four fifty.”
Jennifer pulled back on the throttles, turned right and bled speed as she approached the other aircraft on his left.
“Jendroid, this is a lot different when you add in the g-forces. This is fun,” David said.
“Told ya you needed to try the sim on Brilliant.”
“Are you two ready for some simulated air combat?” Fifi said.
They acknowledged.
“Arm the targeting lasers. Your pilots will evaluate hits.”
“Bobcat, Arm targeting lasers for air combat practice,” Jennifer said.
“Your lasers are armed. Your display is configured for Air Combat Maneuvering. Your hard floor is fifteen thousand feet.”
“Have fun, jendroid,” Fifi said.
“Alert,” Bobcat said. “Bandits approaching at four o’clock high range five miles, Mach 2.3. Blue Angels One and Six are squawking as adversaries.”
“StarPilot, join up on my right wing.”
“StarPilot copies.”
Jennifer looked over her right wing to see David approaching. “Let’s get some air under us.”
Jennifer shoved the throttle to the firewall and pulled to the vertical. The Bobcat’s three-to-one thrust-to-weight ratio pushed her back into her seat with a five G force.
“Munchkin is level at forty thousand feet. Artoo is climbing to pursue,” Bobcat said.
Sneaky bastard, Jennifer thought. Artoo will bleed our altitude and Munch will clean up.
“StarPilot, I'll level out westbound at Angels seventy-eight,” Jennifer said. “Establish a Combat Spread at eighty. I'm the bait; you're the hook.”
“StarPilot,” David acknowledged.
Jennifer completed the Immelmann roll. David continued his climb and then leveled out a mile beyond her right wing.
“Artoo is coming up your tail at two miles. He’ll lock lasers at one-half mile,” Bobcat said.
“StarPilot, ready left turn and take your shot.”
“StarPilot.”
“One mile,” Bobcat said.
“Execute.”
On Blue Angels Three, Droopy was shaking his head in amazement. “Your partner knows her tactics.
“She does,” David replied as he heard Jennifer give the order to execute the turn. He rolled one-hundred-twenty degrees left and pulled back into the turn. He saw Jennifer doing the same. And then he saw Artoo come into his gunsights and heard the tone indicating laser lock.
On Blue Angels Six, Gotcha, pretty girl, Artoo thought. When heard tone, he squeezed the trigger.
Jennifer heard the warning, snapped right, and pulled.
Missed, Artoo thought. He snapped right directly into David’s sights.
“Warning: Laser lock.”
What the hell?
David triggered his lasers. “Hit,” Bobcat Three said. “Blue Angels Six is disabled.
“Congrats, StarPilot. I’m headed to the barn,” said Artoo
On Blue Angels Two, “Munchkin at your ten o’clock,” Jennifer turned left to decrease the angle. So did Munchkin.
Munchkin heard tone. Gotcha, jendroid, Munchkin thought. He pulled the trigger.
Jennifer heard, “Laser lock.” Immediately after, “Warning: Damage to right aileron. Turning capability decreased by sixty percent.”
Ouch, she thought. As Munchkin passed her on the left, she saw him continue his turn.
“Munchkin on your belly, David,” she said. She pulled her throttles back and began a slow descent.
“You done good, Jendroid, but it’s not over,” Fifi said.
“Stay with me, Fifi,” Jennifer replied.
Gotcha, StarPilot, thought Munchkin. He heard tone and triggered.
Two seconds after David yelled, “Yeah,” he heard Jennifer’s warning. He rolled one-eighty and pulled. “Laser lock.” David continued his roll and turned toward the deck. “Warning: Simulated damage to aircraft. Your weapons are disabled,” Bobcat said.
“Very good day’s work,” said Droopy. “Artoo splashed three bad guys in the last conflict and Munchkin is an ace. But your partner is damaged. She’ll have a bad day.”
“She has tricks, Droop,” David said. “She told me that she would get Munchkin today.”
“That’s overconfidence.”
“That’s money,” David said. “She has this vision thing.”
“No way. She’s damaged. A lame duck.”
Munchkin turned hard right and dove for the deck to approach Jendroid from beneath. Let’s finish this. He centered Blue Angels Two in his gun sight at three miles.
On Blue Angels Two, “Munchkin on your six at three miles.” She leveled out at twenty-five thousand feet.
“Bobcat, on my mark, activate vertical thrust at forty percent,” Jennifer said.
“Ready,” came the acknowledgment. “Two miles.”
“Flaps down. Deploy air brakes. Activate the turbine.”
No way, Fifi thought.
What the hell is she doing? Munchkin thought.
“One mile,” Bobcat said.
“Deploy thrusters,” Jennifer said while pulling the stick back to the stops.
Omigod. Munchkin pushed his stick forward to avoid the collision as he saw Blue Angels Two pitch up beyond vertical.
“Secure thrusters and brakes. Flaps up.” She shoved the throttle forward to the firewall, threw the stick to the forward limit. “Trigger lasers on tone.”
Blue Angels Two pitched forward to nose down and found Munchkin in her gunsights. She heard tone and saw the laser trail.
“Damn,” Munchkin said.
“Warning: Simulated aircraft damage. Weapons unavailable.”
“You got 'im,” Fifi shouted.
“Splash the Munchkin,” Jennifer said.
“Score one for the girls,” Fifi said. “Seriously? Pugachev’s Cobra? I saw a MIG do that at the Paris Airshow. No one has ever done that in combat.”
“Jendroid, let’s head back to Miramar,” Munchkin said.
“I’ll be your wingman, sir,” Jennifer replied.
“No, ma’am, I’ll be yours. Congratulations on your victory.”
Artoo, Droopy, and StarPilot exited their aircraft and were standing with the crowd on the flight line as the two remaining Blue Angels passed Miramar eastbound.
“Why the hell is Two in the lead, Droopy?” Bill asked.
“I think she Cobra’ed his ass,” Ryan said.
On board Blue Angels Two, “Miramar, Jendroid, requesting a flyby.”
“Negative, Jendroid, the pattern is full,” Miramar replied.
Munchkin remained locked on Jennifer’s wing as she turned, descended to two hundred feet, and accelerated to four-hundred-fifty knots. They flew directly over the flight line.
Everyone on the flight
line ducked as the two jets screamed over. “Who does she think she is? Some kind of Maverick?” Bill said.
“That’s my girlfriend, Artoo,” David said. “She’s First Officer of StarCruiser Brilliant.”
22
After the C-130 landed, Jeff and Kalinda thanked the crew and walked to the F-52 hangar for lunch.
As they reached Tayla and Riley, Kalinda asked, “Where's my sister?”
Just then, two Blue Angels at two hundred feet screamed over the flight line. Jeff ducked, and Kalinda laughed. “That's strange. Why is two in the lead?” Jeff asked.
“Jennifer's flying Blue Angels Two,” Tayla said. “She's mavericky.” She looked at the ten-year-old standing next to Kalinda. “And who are you?”
“Sorry. Tayla and Riley, this is my friend Jeff Rodriguez. I met him on a tour, and we rode Fat Albert together.”
“Nice to meet you. Riley, you’re the Engineer on Brilliant and Tayla, you’re the Communicator. You’re playing Ayiiia, too?”
“Correct, fanboi,” Tayla said.
Kalinda acted offended when she teased Jeff. “Jeff is a brillian. He’s read the Brilliant Tech Manual, he knows martial arts, and he knows how to surf.”
“Does he know how to kiss?” Riley said. Jeff turned red, Kalinda looked puzzled, and Tayla slugged Riley on the arm.
Kalinda is seriously crushing, Tayla thought.
Kalinda took Riley aside. “Riley, may I ask the captain a favor?” Kalinda said. “I’d like to bring Jeff along this afternoon.”
Riley smiled. “It might be too crowded, but you can ask.”
Kalinda was not hearing no for an answer and smiled as she returned to Jeff’s side.
Jennifer and David walked up. She looked surprised at Kalinda’s plus one and the body language between the two kids.
“Didn’t you tell me that Hoclarth women mate at the age of ten?” Jennifer said.
The four turned quickly. Riley and Tayla started giggling.