“Work you piece of crap!”

Rodriguez yelled out the malfunctioning radio that continued to give its pilot problems, regardless of his attempts to compensate its settings. Not long after his initial broadcast for a sitrep, his communication equipment screeched in static defiance, further drowning out any radio chatter he was able to briefly obtain. Rodriguez was clearly in an emergency situation with no chain-of-command to report to; in fact everyone lucky enough to survive the impact was in disarray and with the control tower out of commission, he was left to his own devices in a sky filled with other planes and fighters wanting desperately to land.

Frustration finally overtook him as he punched his radio equipment with rage induced poison coming out of his mouth.

[b][static][/b]...[i]is AWACS Stormfront, I'm taking over traffic control while the tower gets…[/i][b][static][/b][i]...online. Everyone calm down and prioritize! The chain of command is still intact, and commanders will be in touch momentarily. Thu...[/i][b][static][/b][i]...Island avoided a direct hit - the Kinetic Strike hit the ocean a couple of miles off-shore. The resulting tidal...[/i][b][static][/b][i]...concussion caused a lot of damage, but the water is already receding. Once damage crews clear the debris, we should be able to start recovering planes. The civilians are mostly fine - Civil Defence got them to the shelters as soon as the attack began, so we should be looking at low casualties for the civilians. Our casualties on the ground...[/i][b][static][/b][i]...coming in. Now, all pilots pay attention and listen for your orders..."[/i]

Rodriguez blinked as the transmission from Stormfront patched into his radio, giving everyone their orders during this crisis. He could feel his cheek heating up, sensing the embarrassing possibility he had cursed over the radio on all channels. Though he was relieved to get someone’s voice to finally come through despite the fits of static, it still looked unprofessional and all around bad.

[i]"Black Knights, Warrior Three. Spirit, Viper, and Viking; you are all directed to join up wit...[/i][b][static][/b][i]...Black Knights as per your previous briefing - only now, it's at a bit more short notice. Rendezvous with them, and proceed on heading nine-zero for handover to the Stormcloud, which will be coming on station. Further orders will be...[/i][b][static][/b][i]...once you reach the carrier. Thunderbolt One will be there in person to deliver your orders, I've been assured."[/i]

With orders now given to him, Rodriguez quickly refortified himself and took command of his fighter once more with purpose. 
“Roger, Stormfront. Warrior Three, complying. Heading over to Black Knights Squadron now.”

It didn’t take him long to locate the squadron that was combating the invaders what seemed like minutes ago. The squadron was comprised of different aircraft such as a large Su-35, a rather colorful A-10, an intimidating-looking Tornado, and finally an somewhat aged-appearing F-14 leading the pack ahead of the planes.

[i]“Roger, Stormfront. Wilco. Break. Spirit, Viper, Viking: welcome to the Black Knights. Shame it had to be under these circumstances. Your callsigns will be Knights Five through Seven. All aircraft, come onto heading nine-zero and altitude Angels Twenty. Slot into formation, and we'll head for the boat".[/i]

Rodriguez maneuvered his F-16 into the combing fold of the squadron, positioning himself at the wing of the Su-35 that held the position to the wing of the F-14, assuming its pilot was Knight One. “Warrior Three, Spirit. Assuming role as Knight Five. Glad to be on board. Apologies for any static.” he replied just has he formed up with the united squadron that had now welcomed two recently beat-up F-15s into the mix.

It was silent trip toward the [i]Stormcloud[/i] and not surprising considering what everyone had experienced; first a surprise attack by unknown forces and then a Kinetic Strike on top of that as well. Questions were probably boiling over by now, like who were the attackers? What was the purpose of the attack in the first place? A rival PMC? Or probably the most dreading one of all; who the hell has a satellite capable of orbital strikes in their pocket? Eventually they would get their answers soon; Rodriguez left those thoughts alone as he focused on keeping his fighter in air.

Once the carrier came into view, everyone took their positions in line to land on the Stormcloud. Knight One of course had first dibs and landed his F-14 without any issues. Seeing as though the Su-35's wingspan and airframe was undoubtedly larger than anyone else's in the squadron, the pilot of that fighter took the opportunity and landed their plane on the tarmac gracefully. Next were the two F-15s from earlier that begun their landing phase. Considering the battle damage to the fighters, they of course deserved some immediate attention. This only left him and two other planes left. Seeing as though he was further ahead, he took his turn and entered the carrier's landing corridor.

This part felt very familiar to him; during the war before Allied forces pushed deep into Korea and Russia, Rodriguez commonly operated on carriers for a good few years before his station shifted to an airbase on land for the wide duration of the conflict. With directions given by the control tower, his F-16 dropped altitude with the landing gear and tailhook already deployed and the flaps and brakes extended. With everything else appearing ready and okay, Rodriguez brought the plane's nose up and controlled the throttle, watching the carrier's tarmac drawing closer and closer until it was underneath him. As he planned it, the tailhook snagged hold of the first arresting gear wire without any issues aside from the sudden halt of momentum naturally pushing forward in his seat.

To make way for additional planes, the carrier crews quickly got his fighter taxied out of the runway and into one of the vacant corners on the deck. With the current situation at hand, Rodriguez couldn't help but feel sorry for the deck hands working their butts off as they got all the personnel and fighters quickly sorted and organised based on their individual conditions and mission priorities. Eventually, the F-16 powered down completely as Rodriguez unfastened himself from the planes safety restraints and climbed out of his fighter. He stretched back and joints out when he finally touched the deck with his boots after being in the air for several hours; it was good of course to finally move around freely. Getting his bearings figured out of the deck, he made his past the every busy personnel, especially the senior staff who pointed him the direction to his compatriots once they saw him.

He soon found three of the squadron's pilots grouped up together with one of them giving a salute to which Rodriguez assumed that the other two were piloting the F-14 and thus determined that one of them was Knight One. Going by names given by the staff, he was reporting to Scott Valentine and St. Helen Carter to which he was able to associate the names with the face of the two pilots he begun to approach. Coming up behind the third man in the party, he the finally presented himself.

"Knight One I assume?" Rodriguez asked before saluting the pilots. "Rodriguez Hefferman; callsign Spirit reporting in. I'm afraid the circumstances of our meeting here were not under the best of terms."