City of IF

[sparta12]

Virtual
(Character view 1)
Chapter 1: Virtual life and reality

“This is Lieutenant Commander Jack Art report in guys,” He asked over the radio as he flew the F4U fighter across the simulated map of the pacific-ocean. “Roger that this is Petty Flight Officer Matthew Barrel, reporting in.” Jack heard crackling through his radio. As soon after the new pilot had reported in Jack was bombarded with acknowledgements from his squadron “Copy that guys. Form up on my wing and follow waypoints,” he ordered as he looked about his canopy, searching for his wingmen.

There it was in the distance. He could see it as clear as day.
“White flight cover us as we drop the eggs. Everyone else is to change flaps to combat and get ready to drop our eggs on these bastards,” Jack ordered as he flipped the switches in his cockpit so the flaps would lower

“Copy that, sir,” his wingmen acknowledged. As they got closer to the Japanese airfield he could see several dots approaching his squadron while six fighters had broken off to try and divert them. As Jack scanned the sky while aiming his plane for the enemy takeoff strip where he could see some of the Japanese fighters still on the ground
“Now isn’t that just sad,” he heard 1st Class Aviation officer Anne Johnson say to him over the radio.

“Tell me about it… Oh this is pathetic. Now they’re scrambling their fighters!” he answered back. Then he saw it. Two friendly Beaufighters were escorting a B-17 coming in from the west
“All F4U’s break off and attack fighters immediately there are friendly bombers on approach over!” Art shouted to his squadron, immediately he pulled up and banked to right in order to engage the Japanese fighters. He switched channels so he could communicate with the bombers on approach
“This is Delta squadron any friendly bombers in my vicinity please respond!” he asked over the radios as his fighter came closer to the enemy fighters
“Roger that Delta squadron this is Flying Betty over,” a B-17 pilot responded
“What the hell are you doing here this is our operation!” he informed the bomber pilot
“Uh copy that but we’re scouting the area for our fighter squadron. And if you don’t mind we will be bombing the area now,” Jack heard the bomber pilot. He shook his head for a few moments
“Fine. Just get ready to eat a machine gun sandwich because there are more fighters taking off because of you,” he answered and finally broke off communications with the bomber.

The F4U flew through the enemy squadron suddenly found a target in his crosshairs. He pressed the trigger on his joystick, releasing a short burst of fire that set his enemy’s engine on fire
“Nice shot Iron man!” he heard Matthew Barrel call him by his Call-Sign as the enemy fighter started to plunge while the pilot jumped out.

Suddenly his cockpit was shaking and several thuds were impacting on his F4U
“Oh shit! I got one on my tail!” he shouted in realisation as the Ki-47 fighter came into his sight while he scanned the sky. He started pulling manoeuvres to avoid any more damage to his fighter
“Anyone help me I cant shake him!” he reported once more to is squadron as he felt another shockwave of a machine gun bullet smacking his tail. As he gained altitude he could see friendly and enemy fighters crossing the bow of his fighter. Suddenly the engine stalled and the fighter turned around

“Fucking world war two fighters cant do shit!” he yelled. As the fighter faced the Ki-47 Jack thought that he would be facing certain death when he saw a stream of bullets hammer into the Japanese fighter and explode in the sky. He saw a friendly F4U flying right through the fiery wreckage in the blue sky
“Thanks!” he shouted over the radio to whoever had saved his ass.

And now the arduous task of pulling this sucker out of the stall Art thought as he battled the joystick for control of the plane. Come on you mother come on! He yelled out in rage as he slowly gained control of the plane. Finally he yanked on the joystick, the fighter levelled out and the Lieutenant commander was back into the dogfight
“Dropping bombs!” the “Flying Betty” reported over the radio
“Roger that flying betty. Return to base with your escort now,” Jack ordered the Flying Fortress as an A6M Sea plane came into his crosshairs. He pressed the trigger quickly before it could escape his crosshairs and luckily the bullet smashed into the plane’s body and the pilot banked left to engage but before it could turn to fire Jack was already on his tail. As the plane got in front of the middle dot around a big circle on his screen he held the trigger, releasing a six second burst of fire upon his foe. The bullets impacted on the fighter’s rudder and tore it completely off of the fighter plane causing the plane to shake uncontrollably but the pilot still had aileron control of the plane. The pilot would have no choice but to land back at his base but that was not part of the code however some of these pilot were willing to disobey their code so they could survive. But the plane didn’t lower its altitude so it could land. Instead the fighter stayed in the fight and fired upon his squadron and the sea plane was trying to find a target but a ten second burst of fire made the A20M sea plane go into a spin, plummeting towards the ocean without it’s tail. Suddenly all the enemy fighters were out of sight

“Is that it? That wasn’t a squadron was it?” Jack asked as he levelled out.
“No doesn’t look like it… Suppose we drop the bomb on these suckers now sir?” Senior Flight Officer Mark Vowels replied over the radio.
“Might as well. What are our numbers anyway?” Art asked as he lowered his altitude.
“We lost three fighters sir,” Anne Jackson reported as she lined up her fighter behind Jack’s
“ Roger that. Stay on the lookout for fighters. White flight if I report or if you see any fighters, break off and cover us,” Jack ordered. Damn… Looks like I’ve got a fuel leak he thought to himself as he stared at his engine. He could see a line of what looked like gas exiting the engine of his F4U. Suddenly the remaining AA guns turned to the fighters and laid down a base of fire on the single column of Allied fighters. Small clouds of flak exploded outside his fighter.

“Shit my wing’s hit!” Matthew Barrel shouted over the radio “Still got control of my plane!” he added. As soon as Jack was over the airfield
“Bombs away!” And so he dropped the 500-pound bomb and pulled away.
“Hey Matthews your flying too low pull up!” the voice of Manuel Seal crackled over the radio but it was too late.
Matthews had dropped his bomb but was at a very low altitude. He pulled up but the explosion had launched debris into the air and the debris had torn apart his rudder making the fighter immediately impact into the landing strip.

Jack stared from his cockpit as the flaming wreckage of Matthews plane slid across the enemy airfield. Luckily his cockpit was still intact as the wreckage travelled down the airfield and once it stopped the plane didn’t disintegrate. Instead the plane was lying there and a small black dot came out of the flaming wreckage that looked as though he was on fire, while the simulated Japanese ground forces scrambled to the pilots position.

“Ah shit, ah shit!” he screamed as he rolled on the grass of the enemy airfield. His legs and his left arm were on fire. Once the fires were extinguished the virtual pain was disabled and Matthew pulled out his Colt 45, making the Japanese soldiers stopped in their tracks to aim their rifles. Matthew quickly shot several rounds, taking down three guards when a rifle round struck his arm. He would be captured now. “Disconnect!”

The friendly fighters continued to raid the airfield and once they had finished they began their short trip back to base. “
“That was strange… That was barely a squadron of fighters. Not even that,”
Anne Jackson said over the radio.
“ Yeah… That doesn’t make sense. Keep an eye out though, I think Echelon Squadron is up to some new tricks,” Jack answered, nervously watching his fuel meter. Then they saw it. The rest of the enemy squadron appeared from the east while the others came from the North, behind them.

“Oh shit… Ambush! I want all flights except green to engage. Green flight is to continue to base!” Jack ordered his squadron.
“Jack you’ve got a fuel leak! You should go with green flight!” Anne suggested to him.
“Negative. I wouldn’t make it back to base. I’ll just fight these guys and eject when my fuels out.” Jack demanded as he aimed his plane at a Ki-46. He followed the plane and once it came into view he pressed the trigger and didn’t let go. He watched as his target blazed it’s guns wildly back at him and tore up his plane. Several bullets exiting Jack’s F4U soared through the air and entered the Japanese fighter engine, causing the gas to ignite but it doing it so violently it practically evaporated the cockpit. And leaving nothing more than tail of a plane that was plummeting into the pacific. Suddenly his plane was being bombarded with bullets but miraculously the F4U managed to survive the wave of bullets but the plane was leaking too much gas that he would have to resort to gliding in a matter of minutes. Though Jack was eager and he continued to fight the enemy squadron

“Mayday, mayday I’m going down!” a voice crackled over the radios. Every few seconds there were members of his squadron and the enemy squadron reporting that they were losing control and plummeting into the deep depths of the ocean.
“I got a fighter on my ass! Someone help!” Manuel asked over the radio.
“ Shit I got two of these bastards on me!” Anne yelled over the radio. Jack couldn’t find his squadron members. He turned his fighter around as quickly as he could and released several bursts of fire on the surrounding fighters when he ran out of ammo and fuel. Not to mention there was a Ki-46 tailing him Freaking Figures! He thought to himself but there was only one course of action “I’m out guys!” he told his squadron as he slammed his fist on the panic button.

Everything went green for a few moments as he disconnected from Virtual reality and into reality. The first thing he saw was a holographic screen and felt a tingly feeling in the back of his neck as a thin plug was automatically pulled out of his neck, away from the microchip implanted in his spinal chord. Once the holographic screen was pulled back he left the room and entered his quarters of the Battle Cruiser “Freedom” to write up the battle report of the simulation that he had been in for apparently two and a half hours. As he wrote up his report he reviewed a tape of the simulation, he was trying to spot a fault of his in the simulation for a full half hour before he got back to typing up his report. That was up until he saw crewmembers of the “Freedom” running up and down the hall “What the hell is going on?” he asked. Suddenly the holographic screen switched on:


RED ALERT:
Ship Status: 75% and damaged from Explosion in Deck 3.
Thruster 1: 68% and damaged from Boragnian missile.
Thruster 2: 98% and damaged from Boragnian missile.
Thruster 3: 100% And functioning nominally
Thruster 4: 60% and damaged from Boragnian missile
Thruster 5: 100% and functioning nominally
Thruster 6: 100% and functioning nominally
Thruster 7: 98% and damaged from Boragnian fighter
Thruster 8: 99% and damaged from Boragnian fighter
Engine: 100%
Hyperspace Engine: 100%
*********************************************
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING NUCLEAR MISSILES
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING BORAGNIAN FIGHTERS
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING BORAGNIAN CRUISERS
PROXIMITY WARNING: INCOMING BORAGNIAN BOMBERS


Jack sat there in his seat staring at the screen endlessly on the repeating message when another window popped up:

NEW MESSAGE DELIVERED FROM ADMIRAL MAGNUS:
All fighters are to report in at the hangar bays to fight off the enemy attack.
Lets give them hell.

Right then he jumped out of his seat and sprinted out of his quarters, racing for the elevator so he could take down the real-life threat.


To Be Continued…