Newly Born Vampires

Posted on Thu Jul 7th, 2011 @ 1:37pm by Lieutenant James Holbridge
Edited on on Fri Jul 8th, 2011 @ 12:08pm

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Tags: Captain Smith

Holbridge swept into his new squadron ready room, causing the assembled pilots to snap to attention. Jim grinned in spite of himself as he came to the podium. This was his first meeting with his new squadron and he was going to make an impression on them, whether they liked it or not.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, I am Captain Jim Holbridge, call-sign Longshot. While we are in squadron bays and in public you will address me as "captain" or "sir", if ever I get out of line, "Mr. Holbridge" will be allowed shortly followed by the death of the dumb bastard that says it. We were designated the 154th Fighter Squadron, that bullshit is gone. We are now and forevermore The 154th Aggressor Squadron, The "Vampires." That is how I want you to fly, eat, sleep, shit, fight, fuck, and drink! Whether you are blasting away at ten bogies or drinking shots with the boys, you will be a team. If one man falls another takes his place, and so on and so forth. YOu are now all a team, a family.

"I have looked at all of your jackets and I can tell all of you that with a little molding and shaping and honing, you sorry bastards will be the hottest fighter jocks in the Corps. As of today, we are transitioning to the Redemption-class Mark III variant. This is the same model I flew in when I came here. She has 20% more thrust, giving her a top speed of Warp 5.75, and is more heavily armed than her step-sisters. I have it on good authority that Fighter Command has authorized all 24 of you knuckleheads to have your own ship. Before that we will go through the NATOPS manual (OOC: The Navigational Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization) and reacquaint ourselves with the rules and regs cuz I guarantee you that sometime during this tour of duty you all are gonna bend the regs into pretzels!" Holbridge smiled, and saw his fliers do the same. He had them now. Rules were meant to be broken by aviators.

"Okay, first thing's first; nuggets, you will be paired with a senior aviator today. The schedule has been downloaded to you....." a flashing light on Jim's lectern caught Jim's eye. Jimm recognized it as the message light and toggled it. Prepare for BARCAP flight operations at 0600, the message read. Wow, not even a week in the saddle and we get a deployment! No qualifications, no readiness drills, no nothin! Jim smiled. "Change of plans boys, no NATOPS review. BY order of Task Force 38's CO, we have been ordered to prepare for flight operations, specifically BARCAP runs. Element leaders, I will have some information for you as soon as I get it it. In the meantime, let's get motivated! Vampires, dismissed!"

The aviators left the briefing room, leaving Jim to wonder what in the hell was going on. Ours is not to reason why, but I have to know something to tell my guys, he thought.

"Holbridge to Captain Smith, Can I have a word with you?" Jim said tapping his commbadge.