Airwolf Legacy

1990

Airwolf cut through the Soviet night skies doing a little over Mach One. Hawke had his visor down using the Starlight Amplification System, turning night into day. He guided Airwolf at around fifty feet off the ground only lifting her up for any trees or buildings that came into view on the scope.

“You know String we oughta charge them for mowing their lawns.” Dominic pointed out monitoring all the systems in the back of Airwolf at the EDCC. All the touch screen monitors that Kristien had installed a year previous whilst upgrading all of Airwolf’s systems were busy with Dominic monitoring what he needed to keep an eye on. It was so much quicker just scrolling through what he needed rather than going through the computer and typing commands. Dominic was not a fast typist. His baby was getting very advanced. Kristien had continued the upgrades for over eighteen months. Keeping Airwolf above technological advances and keeping the Airwolf project firmly in the President’s in tray. Dominic had felt that the FIRM, although using Airwolf for missions of importance, had a budget to keep Airwolf in the skies, wished that the FIRM used these kind of resources to find Stringfellow’s brother Saint John who was still MIA in Vietnam for over twenty years. Each day that concluded, meant the odds of finding him alive diminished.

The last time Dominic had a serious talk with Kristien about the arrangement that Hawke had with the FIRM, Kristien calculated the odds of finding Saint John at over one hundred thousand to one. Granted not very good odds, she had told him, but there was still that one chance. Dominic enjoyed his talks with Kristien, usually when Hawke was not present, not because he didn’t want Hawke to hear, but Kristien communicated a lot more easily than Hawke did and never brought any emotion into her conversations, Kristien dealt with qualative and quantative data on a daily basis and could compartmentalise on any subject. Dominic had seen Kristien and Hawke pick up their relationship that six years previous, was dramatically and tragically terminated by Kristien’s kidnapping and ultimately the loss of Hawke’s first born son.

Dominic looked to the front of the cockpit. Hawke had remained silent since losing the FIRM’s female agent thirty minutes previous. Dominic knew better than to try to talk to his young friend, to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, that these things happen, but in Hawke’s cursed life these things always happened no matter how hard he tried for them not to happen and yes, it was his fault, his fault for living. The hard part was that Hawke, on a daily basis not only blamed himself, he wallowed in the guilt of living, the guilt that yet again someone he cared about died. The chore of living for Hawke was just that a chore.

Hawke ignored the old Italians complaint. They had to fly that low. They were flying just south of Moscow. Although the stealth absorption was working he would rather not meet any Russian’s. Not on this trip. Three agents had already died getting the lead briefcase to Airwolf, so the Russian’s knew he was in the neighbourhood. Hawke looked across at the silver briefcase, strapped into the co pilots seat and shook his head knowing what was inside. A biological airborne virus that once released would kill people within five days, with the symptoms only becoming apparent on the fifth day, enough to spread it worldwide, killing the world en masse. Next to the death in a test tube was the vaccine to it. If both sides had it then surely it would not be used. God could only hope.

“You just keep your eyes on those scopes, Dom.” Hawke reminded him. “I’ll send out invoices when I need to.”

“Sure thing String, but come on we are very low on this trip.” Dominic pleaded with Hawke to at least go to fifty feet or so, still below the radar, but at least they would have a little more notice of things coming their way on the ground.

“Dom, they know we are here.” Hawke reminded him, remembering the FIRMs female Agent Andrea “Andi” Collingswood being shot dead as she tried to get into Airwolf. Hawke watched helplessly as Andi opened Airwolf’s port door putting in the briefcase and then having her head shot off as she tried to get into Airwolf. The snipers bullet cut through the gap in the armoured door, one hell of fluke of a shot, but its results were devastating, Andi died instantly. Hawke immediately responded by using Airwolf’s chain guns and canons, reducing everything in front of them to rubble, killing all the soldiers and scientists in the remote laboratory, deep in a Soviet forest. Hawke did not kill people on a whim, he wanted to keep this mission just a simple pick up and delivery, but seeing Andi’s needless graphic death necessitated him to react in a way fitting, deserving of Andi’s vibrant life that was extinguished well before she was due to leave this hard and unforgiving world.

Although Hawke was a Nam veteran he would never get used to people being killed, especially females and one’s who had been on a few Airwolf missions. Being at the EDCC Dominic missed the graphic details of Andi’s head exploding down the side of Airwolf. Hawke did not trust people easily so having Andi come on a few missions helped Hawke keep his paranoiac nature at bay, however this came with a huge price tag, Hawke allowed himself to get close to Andi. They spoke about her family, she was to be married at the end of the year, he younger sister was graduating that summer and was going to design college and she was going to design Andi’s wedding dress, Andi’s father to had over come cancer and he was going to be very proud walking his eldest daughter down the aisle. So now the Collingswood family would be all severely affected forever.

One thing for sure, someone knew they were there.

The radar scope in Airwolf came to life.

“You know those invoices?” Dominic said bringing Hawke’s mind back to the job in hand. “Some of them are return to sender.”

“Damn it.” Hawke muttered under his breath, he released the turbos. “What ‘s coming?”

“Radar is saying MIG 14s, armed and heading our way five miles, twelve o clock.” Dominic read off the screen. “They are arming.”

“Give me combat mode.” Hawke requested.

Dominic pressed the buttons and the ADF pod deployed underneath and the sponsons on the wings deployed the chain guns and canons. “Combat mode.”

Hawke was not in the mood for a dog fight. “Give me falcons Dom.”

“You got it.” Dominic quickly pressed the buttons for the long ranged air to air missiles realising that Hawke was not in the mood for taking anything on.

Using the TADS Hawke sent two falcons on their way to the intercepting MIG’s not even looking if they were going to hit. The night sky lit up like the fourth of July by two explosions, igniting the MIGs, sending debris scattering for a five mile radius.

“Well that sorted them.” Dominic said pleased that they were again by themselves.

Airwolf’s radar blipped into action again.

“Now what?” Hawke moaned.

“We got six TU 36 gunships, ten o clock, fifteen miles and closing.” Dominic read the screen. “Looks like they are heading for the debris field.”

Hawke sighed heavily. “I haven’t got time for this.” Hawke pulled back the cyclic and pressed the turbo’s making Airwolf go into a power climb. They levelled off at sixty five thousand feet. “Anything?”

Dominic checked all the monitors. “No nothing, those TU 36 gunships are still on their course, no one saw us.”

“Dom, program the Autopilot once we are out of Soviet air space, we’ll head straight to Kristien’s.” Hawke told him.

“We’re not taking the cargo to Archangel?” Dominic queried.

“Tell him he can come and fetch it.” Hawke replied quietly.

“Hey, you okay?” Dominic asked, concerned for the change of plans.

Hawke closed his eyes and sighed heavily. “Yeah, I just want to be with Kristien a little earlier that’s all.”

“What about the State Dinner? You know the Lady there with Air Force One and all?” Dominic said.

“The hangar is secure, only Kristie and I have access.” Hawke replied not really caring about anything more than getting to Kristien, to hold her, to be comforted by her. Just holding her released a unique peace that both of them generated when they touched physically. How he needed that peace now.

“Well if you’re sure.” Dominic shrugged not quite working out why Hawke wanted to change plans making Airwolf sit in a hangar where the President would be landing with Air Force One. Now there was some irony in that. It was the President that had ordered every agency in the States to find and recover Airwolf. Boy would he be pissed to know that he would be less than fifty feet from Airwolf when he landed on Kristien’s estate.

“Dom, the last place anyone would be looking for the Lady is Kristien’s estate.” Hawke replied slightly irritated. No one from the Secret Service had dared to let anyone outside Kristien’s estate know that she regularly had Airwolf arrive and she had continued to upgrade the helicopter. They all valued their lives too much, as Kristien pointed out the dungeons that were below the grand Elizabethan house were part of the original castle which fell into disrepair around the fourteen hundreds, maybe they needed occupying for a long term experiment to see if they really were impenetrable. News also of Kristien’s execution on the Black Wolf Co Pilot, had really circulated around the estate amongst the Agents, one single shot to the head. Kristien had already been trained in arms before the Secret Service came, they had only developed her knowledge of the Martial Arts and helped her with more defence techniques. They knew she was good but what they didn’t know that she was deadly.

“Well okay then, let’s hope that Air Force One doesn’t take a fancy to our Lady and produce baby Airwolves, I really don’t know how we would explain that.” Dominic chuckled at the thought of baby Airwolves.

Hawke ignored the light hearted attempt of a joke from his friend and concentrated on thinking about Kristien, making a connection to her to help him through this painful flight back to her.