February 15th, 2017, 1020 hours [10:20 AM]

Juan was sitting in the pilots' rest room when the intercom requested his presence at the hangars, but didn't explain why. He went to there and found James, Anthony's mechanic.

"Good afternoon, sir. What is that requires my presence?"

"Well buddy...a shiny new bird arrived with your name on her." James replied.

James had a remote control in his left hand and when he pressed a button, the hangar's underground elevator raised and Juan jaw-dropped with the sight: a Ratliff Aero R-2E, the advanced version of the Wyvernian-built variant of the F-16, the R-2A.

"R-2E, whoa!", he exclaimed. "She's beautiful!"

"I knew you'd like her...Voodoo's bird is here too, but we'll keep that as a surprise, since he's still a little sore about his Raptor.", James said happily.

"Not a problem, man! She has quite a few tweaks, eh!"

"Damn right! The "Thermoglass" single-piece canopy, capable of withstanding higher temperatures, allows faster airspeed. Engine is a slightly improved version of Voodoo's bird, General Propulsion AF311-GP-137, 28,500 lbf of thrust in military power and 37,500 lbf on afterburner. And, of course, the DSI inlet."

"Like the F-35."

"Exactly. Actually, long before the F-35, an F-16 itself was a testbed for this feature!"

"I read about it; they modified a Block 30 example."

"Yep. Now back to your bird...she also has a full glass cockpit like the Advanced Super Hornet and carbon nanotube parts, like your Leoqoon+'s airframe. And, of course, she can also carry some impressive armament like the new AIM-140 Stormbreaker and is even capable of carrying the weapons of your propfan, so commonality is pretty good too!"

"The Leoqoon is a great bird, but more of a "precision attacker", doesn't have a large payload, just less than 2 tons; I think this baby can carry at least 3x more!"

"4, to be exact; tops out at 8 tons."

"Now I can worry less about running out of missiles to destroy all my targets!", Juan laughed.

"Yeah, hehe. Well, pal. I need you to inspect her and then sign these papers."

"Copy that!"

Juan made a detailed inspection of the plane, double-checking every detail, location and part. After signing the papers, James proceeded with the explanation.

"Inside, you got a triple security system for effective access to the aircraft, it requires biometric scanning, fingerprints and voice recognition."

"Is that really necessary? I mean, it's not like someone would come here and steal her, right?"

"You never know!!" *chuckles* "I think they're concerned with technological secrets falling in the wrong hands, in case you crash..."

"Now you're gonna tell me there's an automatic self-destruct command if biometric and fingerprints don't match?"

"Actually...", James chuckled. "...yeah!"

Juan went mute for a second, then laughed. "Seriously!"

"As the saying goes, 3rd time is a charm; if they fail to match, the aircraft's canopy locks, trapping whoever tries to hijack the plane inside...and then exploding in a glorious fireball of C4 and solid thermite, not leaving a single part intact to be recovered. Oh, and one more thing: no 20 mm cannon for this thing; it actually has a laser gun!"

Juan's eyes opened wider. "Holy crap!"

"Yep, that's some hardcore stuff right there! I suggest you read more about it in the manual."

"I will! Well, now...may I take her for a ride?"

"Sure thing! She's already clean and her tanks are full, go for it!"

Juan climbed the side stairs to the cockpit; as soon as he entered, a female voice spoke.

"ID required. Voice recognition, activated. Please insert thumb in the scanner."

"Lt. Juan Stutz.", he said while inserting the thumb in the scanner.

"Checking. Identified. Look at the blue light from the HUD."

A little blue beam came out from the top of the dashboard, scanning Juan's eyes.

"Identified. Cleared access for all systems. Welcome, Lt. Stutz."

"Finally! Now let's take off, baby..."

He started the engine and proceeded to taxi.

"Port Isabel Tower, this is Razyr, at the Terminal Ramp. I've got some new wings and need to see what she can do! Do you have a runway I can taxi for a VFR departure South?"

"Razyr, this is Port Isabel Tower, permission granted on runway 22R, turn left on A and taxi via A."

"Left on A to runway 22R, Razyr."

As soon as he reached the runway, he went on full afterburner and took off like a rocket.

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"Holy shit, the speed!"

Like in the Leoqoon+, Juan's R-2E has an AUX port for his iPod in the dashboard, so he plugged it in and put a proper song to play.

"Hooyah!"

The R-2E is a very responsive machine and though it isn't as sharp on tight turns as Juan's propfan, it has longer range, heavier payload and, needless to say, is much faster!

"This is great! The cockpit is a lot easier to understand, too! I think I'll ask Mr. Ebinger to update the Leoqoon's cockpit to this spec..."

He went on to perform maneuvers and test the aircraft's limits. Barrel roll, circle, Immelman turn, Split S, pitchback, wingover, low yo-yo, high yo-yo, flat and rolling scissors...everything he could try, he did; and the aircraft performed flawlessly, as expected.

"Man...I think I've got a new favorite with this beauty!"

After about 30 minutes of flight, Juan headed back to the base. Leaving the aircraft under James' care, he was walking away when looked back at the aircraft, shining.

"You and I are gonna get along pretty well, my dear...", he smiled. In the pilots' recreational room, he found Anthony and Kim, playing chess.

"Checkmate! It looks like I have defeated the legendary Voodoo.", Kim says happily.

"*chuckles* Well, chess has never really been my thing...hold on a sec there's Juan, let's go and chat with him."

Anthony and Kim walk up to Juan and greet him.

"How was the new bird buddy?" Anthony says as he shakes Juan's hand.

"A blast! I need to fly her more, but the little I already have was enough to take my heart...", he says, chuckling, as if in love with a beautiful girl. "But I guess it'll be just a matter of time until something REALLY interesting happens...", he grins.

"Well buddy, it sounds like you had a hell of a time! The Ruvanians are gonna have a hard time dealing with you now that you've got a jet!" Anthony said.

"Once Voodoo over here gets a new bird assigned to him, we look forward to seeing you in the sky!", Kim said with a smile.

"Oooh, I'm sure he'll be back in the air in no time!" Juan chuckles.

"Oh, he sure will...he sure will." Kim said, with a wink.

Through the intercom, General Celuchu called the trio into his quarters, he had some very important news to share with them. When they entered the quarters, they stood at attention and saluted General Celuchu.

"*salutes back* At ease, pilots.", he then sits on his chair. "You three are a shining beacon of hope for your countries and your comrades...you have gone above and beyond to keep the WePAC nations safe from the tyranny of the Ruvanian war machine. Because of your great achievements, the leaders of the WePAC nations have given you three an opportunity of a lifetime."

The trio stared at the general with a shocked look.

"General if I may speak freely..", Anthony requested.

"Go ahead, son."

"We're just three pilots fighting in a big war...how did the King of Kesalia, President of Wyvernia and Empress of Prosperia even recognize us?"

"Exactly. I mean, even if I'm kinda close with Mr. Ebinger, who's close to President Anderson, that doesn't make me close to him.", Juan added, with arms crossed.

"And I did escort Empress Selena's private jet to a meeting, but that was about it. Other than that, I don't know her." Kim replied with a shrug.

The General took a sip of his coffee and smiled.

"Let's just say you three are very well known by your comrades. It has gotten to the point that the word has travelled all the way to the WePAC leaders."

"Well...we're just doing our job! Heheheh", Juan jokes.

"Which brings me to my point...you three pilots have been given the honor of having your own squadron: the 117th Tactical Fighter Squadron, the "Boomslangs". Make us proud, ladies and gentlemen!" The general said with a smile.

"Wait...Boomslangs? Really?! Oh I'll. Be. Damned. Ain't this just THE perfect name!", Juan said happily.

"Why, man?", Anthony asked, curious.

"You see...boomslang is the name of a species of venomous snake, found mainly in Southern Wyvernia...it means "tree snake" in our ancient tribes' language. Now...Kim's entire squadron flies the F-16XL...a pretty good variant, thank goodness they mass-produced it. And I just got my R-2E...which is, in essence, a very modified and improved...F-16. And...the F-16 is mainly known by its nickname, which happens to be..."Viper". See the connection?"

"AH yeah yeah! I see what you mean...the name has a nice ring to it.", Anthony replied, causing Juan to laugh.

"Dude...you'll see...soon enough."