Fandom Ace Combat: Rebirth Of Razgriz

[Commissar Darman]

Covering her face from the sudden light Amelia turned to see it was Johan with a flashlight. Turning her comms to the indicated frequency. Listening to Johan, Amelia frowned. "I can take care of myself, you know that. and besides, you and I know that I'm the better dogfighter." Pausing for a second, Amelia smiled. "I do agree on that second part though, Adrian would kill you if I got hurt. same when it comes to your brother and you getting hurt. So how about we both watch other back?" With that, Amelia ended to conversation by switching her comms back to squadron frequencies just in time to hear Charlies order. Looking over at Hammer, Amelia did the roll out signal to alert him of the order and started to proceed out of the hanger with Hammer and Calamity behind her.

Watching as the rest of Manticore lifted off, Amelia attempted to guide her craft onto the runway but suddenly stopped, blocking the hanger entrance. "What the hell?" Adding more thrust, Amelia could feel her her front gear skid. Letting off the throttle, Amelia popped her canopy as the flight crew came scrambling up and with the crew chief carefully maneuvering his way to her front landing gear and walked out holding a wrench. Which he then promptly whacked one of the mechanics over the head. Turning to Amelia he gave her the thumbs up to proceed.

As she finally got to the Runway and lifted off with Hammer and Calamity behind her. As they made their way into the air, the rest of the squadron finally realized they were behind. "Oh haha, Calamity. My craft had some technical difficulties but its sorted now. We are half a mile behind you and gaining."

 

[ChoShadow]

Charlie glanced over his shoulder out his cockpit towards Church's position.

"Church, if you ever make a comment about my age like that again I'm going go have you cleaning the latrines with your tongue." He barked.

Kasumi had to turn off her mic for a moment as she genuinely laughed at the visual which came up. She had a very cute laugh, but she was self conscious about it and always either stifled it or just tried to leave the room before anyone could hear her. Turning off the mic in the air was the easiest way to hide it. Once she'd had her laugh, she flipped her mic back on.

"Oh Ayrl. You just had to take it there didn't you?" She asked, still stifling a few chuckles.

"Zip it Angel. You want to join him?"

Kasumi turned off her mic again as another visual came to mind. Her and Ayrl side by side using their tongues to clean just the latrine floor alone... It just... She couldn't.

"All right nuggets, it's time to change the subject. I heard Angel's mic cut out so I presume she's dying a little inside after my threat. Can't be having our little Angel lose her wings before she even begins her recon flight, after all." He said.

Kasumi was dying by this point. She was easily amused and with the visuals presented and the bad jokes and silly threats being thrown around she was lucky she had an auto-pilot feature in her plane. Otherwise she'd have crashed by now with how badly she was laughing and crying in her seat right now.

LoneSniper87 Commissar Darman Whisker Gyrwulf

 

[SirDerpingtonIV]

Mikel chuckled, shaking his head. "Our brave musketeers will arrive shortly, I am sure." He peered back for a moment, wondering if they were indeed coming. They had been close on the runway after all. The banter between the squad mates caused him to laugh, as a witty response of his own came to mind. "AJ, it can't be below the belt if there's nothing left down there," he commented, a grin stretched across his face as he heard Kasumi's mic cut off. Someone sure was enjoying themselves. As much of the "model pilot" she strived to be, she was almost as isolated as he sometimes. She didn't seem to like people hearing her laugh, although he didn't know why. Laughter was human. After all, and the world certainly needed a lot more humanity.

Charlie's threat seemed solid, but he was sure that any amount of scrubbing was worth telling that joke. The air always made him bold, at least happy enough to bother with such jokes.

 

[Whisker]

A.J. Riley

Inflight - Osean Coastline

Approximately 0830 Hours


"Sorry, Amelia had to apply her make up and as gentlemen we simply could not leave her behind!”

AJ blinked a bead of a sweat from his eyes and then chuckled.

“You realize she’s going to punt you for that one, right?”

And as expected, Dragon Ball was not far behind with one of her world famous (okay, more like squadron famous) caustic remarks.

“Oh ha-ha, Calamity. My craft had some technical difficulties but its sorted now. We are half a mile behind you and gaining.”

“Ha, roger that, Dragon.”

He then switched back to the regular channel they used for their squadron communications just in time to catch the tail end of Mikel’s reply.

“Don’t bother. They’re on their way. Should be high enough for radar contact any second now.”

With most of the squadron now airborne and checked in, AJ took the moment to relax, his seawater eyes leaving the gauges and instead gazing out in front of him to one of the best views a pilot could ask for: clear skies and an unobstructed view of the distant Ceres sound. He exhaled contentedly.

This. This right here was his raison d'être for flying.

Sure, he was more well-known for his circus stunt piloting, loudmouth views, and the ability to ignore criticism like a duck shedding water, but none of it masked his appreciation for the quiet times where he could just glide along as just another point in the formation.

But, of course, he wasn’t allowed to think in peace for long – not with Manticore squadron being in fine form as usual.

“Church, if you ever make a comment about my age like that again I'm going go have you cleaning the latrines with your tongue!”

Ah, Jeez.

There was the blip of a comm shutting down, which he knew immediately could only have been Kasumi. She could probably right-hook the head off a charging rhinoceros if she had a mind to, but that sure as hell didn’t seem to stop her from being shy about her giggles.

He chortled, then grinned at Mikel’s easy retort. Their hermit from Sudentor was unusually fired up today.

“Good point.”

Sounds like Charlie’s going to have the whole damn squadron down in the latrine by the end of the night.

Their irritated Captain was quick to slam down anymore talk on the subject.

“All right nuggets, it's time to change the subject. I heard Angel's mic cut out so I presume she's dying a little inside after my threat. Can't be having our little Angel lose her wings before she even begins her recon flight, after all.”

“Suuuuure, blame it on Angel.”

But with a loud yawn and crack of his jaw, he otherwise complied with the request. Casper or no Casper, it sure looked like it was going to be another quiet, run-of-the-mill recon flight.

Gyrwulf Commissar Darman Hammer Troll SirDerpingtonIV ChoShadow LoneSniper87

 

[LoneSniper87]

"Seems I struck a nerve, sorry Boss." Aryl apologized. He saw Kasumi's mic shut off and he grinned to himself, making people laugh was a good thing to him, and seeing Kasumi go dark means he did his job. "Come on, my jokes aren't that bad, are they?" He asked, scanning the horizon for anything. He kept listening to the conversation which he had accidentally almost talked over a little bit of it, but stopped himself and let them finish.

 

[Commissar Darman]

As she, Hammer, and Calamity caught up with the rest of the Squadron. they took position in the formation. As usual, the group were popping off jokes, which apparently caused Kasumi cut her own mic so on one would hear herself laughing. Sad actually, Kasumi had a beautiful laugh. As the flight seemed to settle in. Amelia remember what Calamity said earlier and realized she still hasn't gotten him for it yet. So she decided that it was time to get a little revenge for his comment and also pull ahead of their little game they've been playing since flight school. Who can can get a "kill" before the other can react. as the rest of the squadron performed their usual banter. Amelia casually settled her craft so that it was in front of Calamity and Commed the radio. "Hey Calamity, guess what?" as soon as she stopped speaking. The nose of her F-14 suddenly pitched up and started to roll starboard. This maneuver, A modified Cobra maneuver. would case Amelia to suddenly bleed speed and cause Calamity to blow past her. As she leveled out from the cobra. Calamity was right in her sight. " Bang Bang." she announced. "You're dead Calamity, that gives me the lead of 23 to 22!"

 

[Hammer Troll]

You're dead Calamity, that gives me the lead of 23 to 22!"

"You just going to take that clambo?" Johan said while watching the Ariel expo unfold before him. chuckling to himself he was enjoying his squadrons banter but he couldn't help a nagging feeling in his gut and the closer they got to target the worse is was getting.

keying his Radio " Hey Skipper,I don't mean to be a downer but I'm getting a bad vibe I can't shake." looking out at the sky it seem almost too perfect of a day

 

[ChoShadow]

Charlie remained relatively silent after the age comment and hearing Kasumi's mic cut out. And then he was asked about the vibe of the flight.

"I don't particularly feel or notice anything Johan. It's probably just your imagination playing games with you since you know what lies beneath the waters ahead. Try to focus forward big guy." He said.

Kasumi had finally gained control of herself and had to chime in as well.

"I'm not feeling anything either except for a bit of apprehension about flying over the Arkbird's resting place." She said.

Charlie nodded to himself.

"Yeah. I think we're all feeling a bit down about having to pass over those waters. Everyone just keep your eyes open and stay in formation. The flight will be over before you know it and we'll be back in the mess hall joking about how jittery we all were." He said.

Hammer Troll Whisker LoneSniper87 Gyrwulf Commissar Darman SirDerpingtonIV

 

[Whisker]

A.J. Riley

Inflight - Osean Coastline

Approximately 0830 Hours



“We’ll be fine if we fly like we always do,” AJ responded as he cruised at level altitude just behind the Captain. “We’ll stay together and if Casper gives us any flak, we’ll bag him and go home.”

Assuming, of course, this isn’t just another wild goose chase the brass is sending us on …

His eyes drifted from the wisps of cloud ahead towards the rear where his comrades were flying almost one on top of the other in a tight V-formation. Johan’s F-4E was at the rear flank, and from his spot at the tip he could only make out the splash of his wing just behind Calamity’s Tomcat.

To be honest, he felt kind of bad for the guy. As their only squadmate with Yuktobanian origins, it would be him more than anyone else that got fucked over if Casper really was poking around the border.

As Charlie spoke up to address some of the nerves, AJ rotated his eyes back to the front where the blue opaque line of the sea was drawing steadily closer on the horizon.

“Hey, Captain. I’ll feel a lot less jittery if I knew you were buying drinks for everyone later.”

Mentioned:

Hammer Troll ChoShadow

Other:

SirDerpingtonIV Gyrwulf LoneSniper87 Commissar Darman

 

[LoneSniper87]

"I understand why this place is so sacred to everyone, hell I don't like this as much as the next pilot, but at the speed were going we won't even realized we passed it." Aryl said, trying to ease everyone's tension. When AJ spoke up about drinks, he instantly jumped on the thought. "Yeah, buy us a few rounds, I'll do your plane maintenance for the next few weeks, well, myself and your dear Angel, maybe the others'll join in." He said.

 

[ChoShadow]

Charlie huffed.

"As sympathetic as I am to this, it's time to focus nuggets." He said.

"We're passing over Sand Island right now and will be in open water in about forty seconds. Everyone stay tight and in formation unless I say otherwise. Got it?" He asked.

"This is Angel. Roger." Kasumi replied.

Time ticked by for the group quite slowly despite the pleasant banter that was going on. It took around an hour to reach their first waypoint, after which they veered slightly North towards the waters where the Arkbird's gravesite was. Another thirty five minutes of flying and they entered the waters proper, and a rather chilling sensation overtook Kasumi as she felt the atmosphere change. It was almost as if the world itself was telling her she shouldn't be here.

She looked down against her better judgement, as part of her wanted to see and pay proper respect to the Arkbird's wreckage. But the Arkbird sank into deep waters so there was no chance of that. Not unless...

"Tally-Ho. Up ahead nuggets. The Arkbird Reclamation Project is underway. This is top secret, so technically you shouldn't even be seeing it. But lucky for you good ol' Charlie here got us special permission to pass through. If you don't want to see the Arkbird's wreckage, don't look down." Charlie called overt the mic.

Up ahead of them were a series of salvage vessels and submarines set up in a circle around the Arkbird's resting place. Bits of destroyed metal could be seen being dragged up, and part of the Arkbird's left wing was visible on the deck of one of the vessels. The rest of the Arkbird was nowhere to be found just yet, but it was clear they were doing their best to salvage as much of the peace bird as they could.

On the decks of the ships some of the crew waved up at the passing pilots, a pleasant gesture for such a secret project and one so grim in nature.

This was part of their history now. An unpleasant part to be sure, given how the Arkbird's purpose was so grossly and brazenly corrupted. But an important part nonetheless.

According to Charlie, the Arkbird's remains would be salvaged and put on display in a special memorial museum to former President Harling's vision of peace, and the part of the Arkbird being used against them omitted from public record. The Arkbird's original purpose as a vessel of peace and unity would be preserved, but it would be done so by altering written history which Kasumi wasn't happy with. But it wasn't her place to argue or try to change it.

Whisker Commissar Darman Hammer Troll LoneSniper87 Gyrwulf

 

[Whisker]

AJ Riley

Inflight - Osean Classified Territory

Approximately 1000 Hours


“Yeah, buy us a few rounds, I'll do your plane maintenance for the next few weeks, well, myself and your dear Angel, maybe the others'll join in.”

“I’m in if you are,” AJ chimed in quickly.

It didn’t seem to be enough to convince Charlie, however, who merely grunted through the radio.

“As sympathetic as I am to this, it's time to focus nuggets.”

Cheapskate …

AJ sighed aloud and let his eyes drift to the front. Much to his surprise, they had somehow passed Shubrick above the clouds and now were progressing feet-wet towards a small blip that seemed to grow larger as their speed gradually increased.

Is that …?

"We're passing over Sand Island right now and will be in open water in about forty seconds. Everyone stay tight and in formation unless I say otherwise. Got it?”

Sand Island. The Sand Island. Home to the Razgriz.

As their jets streaked over the 5 km long island, he glanced down eagerly. A few whisps of cloud obscured his vision, but then it opened just enough for him to glimpse the faded pavement of the runway below.

Must have been one hell of a base to be stationed at back in the day. The weather here is perfect for flying and it’s in a perfect strategic position to deal with any threats to our coastline. Shame it had to go down.

But even he knew there hadn’t been any choice. Their reserves had been hit hard by the two subsequent wars within 15 years. Cuts had to be made somewhere and Sand Island, dealing with a myriad of controversy because of the Razgriz, had been the ideal place to start. The irony was had it been any other war, any other circumstances, the place might have become their rallying point with statues of honor built to honor the five heroes. But hey, he was just a lowly boot, right? What the hell did he know?

The formation entered open waters. Most talk died. It was as if the weight of their reconnaissance mission had finally hit them. Ten minutes passed …. Twenty. Then as they screamed through some unusually thick and soupy dark clouds, Charlie contacted them once more.

"Tally-Ho. Up ahead nuggets. The Arkbird Reclamation Project is underway. This is top secret, so technically you shouldn't even be seeing it. But lucky for you good ol' Charlie here got us special permission to pass through. If you don't want to see the Arkbird's wreckage, don't look down."

The what????

AJ gawped at his Captain’s plane.

“You’re joking.”

The Arkbird Reclamation Project? Surely, that had to be a joke, right? The bird of peace, corrupted by Belkan terrorists and blown to kingdom come by the Razgriz, recovered? He sat there for a moment, wrestling with his own disbelief. Then he looked down and saw them, the fleet of small crafts and submarines that stretched for miles. It was then that Charlie explained that the recovered parts were to be sent for a memorial in a museum with the blackest parts of its history erased.

“A museum? I guess I can live with that,” AJ said when his Captain was finished. “Better than leaving the “Bird of Peace” rusting on the ocean floor.”

At least, this way it could have a shred of dignity still attached to its dubious legacy.

As the clouds began to thicken around them, AJ checked his instrumentation again and frowned.

“Hey, Cap! We’re drawing pretty close to the line. What’s our next waypoint?”

Mentioned: LoneSniper87 ChoShadow

Tags: SirDerpingtonIV Razgriz Gyrwulf Commissar Darman Hammer Troll

 

[LoneSniper87]

"Alright Cap. Now Kas don't brake or I'll need to file a lawsuit, I'm on your six." He responded. They passed over Sand Island relatively quickly, it was too bad they had to shut it down. After the brief thought Charlie said something that nearly made his jaw drop. They are salvaging the Arkbird!? To go put in some museum at that? "So you're telling me they are taking in the Arkbird out of the drink after all this time? Why not earlier?" He said the last part to himself.

While he didn't exactly mind they were doing it, but you would've thought they would have fished it out awhile ago with it still in relatively ok shape. He cut off his mic and sighed, looking down at the large wing on one of the ships. Unlike everyone else, he didn't feel like he was cast under this shadow or connected to this plane. The plane itself was nothing special, you could throw a P-52 or an SR-71 out there and call them the same thing. End of the day they are still just planes. But he saw why everyone thought of this as hallowed ground, but he didn't want to dwell on the past, it only slowed him down.

 

[ChoShadow]

Charlie sat back and listened to the banter going back and forth after he pointed out the Arkbird Reclamation Project, and inwardly he didn't know whether to chuckle or sigh. In the end he did neither. The nuggets all had to deal with it in their own way. History was a powerful thing, and no matter what anyone said the past was part of what made them who they were. If they ran from it or tried to hide from it, they would end up in a very bad way in the future.

When AJ asked what their next waypoint was, Charlie checked his instruments.

"Adding our next waypoint now," he called.

The waypoint popped up on their radar and in their helmet's HUD as being a little over sixty miles to the North riding right along the borderline which was also on their HUD. Their flight path was only 300m away from the line, which was perilously close in political terms. If any foreign vessel or aircraft had been patrolling within line of sight of them it could be interpreted as a potentially hostile act to have been so close. But it was their flight path whether they liked it or not.

"Just a head's up nuggets. Once we hit that waypoint we have another hour of flying North along the border before we begin heading back home." He called.

Kasumi gave an affirmative "Mhmm" on the mic before activating her own mic mute again. She had to take a few minutes to gather herself as she had done exactly what she told herself she wouldn't do: she looked at the Arkbird's wreckage on the vessels. Seeing only a wing and dozens of smaller pieces of wreckage on those vessels had completely broken her heart, and she had been fighting back tears until Charlie said they had another hour of flying North. Now that she knew their course she had to take a few minutes to let it all out and cry.

The Arkbird Reclamation Project was now behind them and beginning to fade into the distance as they continued along their path. Given the rather grim atmosphere which had just befallen everyone due to seeing the Arkbird's wreckage being recovered, it was no wonder that the flight was mostly quiet for the next several minutes before Charlie finally spoke up to break the silence.

"Okay nuggets, how is everyone doing?" He asked.

LoneSniper87 Whisker Commissar Darman Hammer Troll Gyrwulf

 

[Whisker]

AJ Riley
Inflight - Osean Territory
Approximately 1030 Hours

Their planes streaked over the last cluster of boats and proceeded west towards the invisible boundary that divided the airspace of Osea and Yuktobania. Once, when the two countries had been allies against the more aggressive Belkans, the area had been friendly and the line more forgiving as rookie pilots from Murska Air Base and Sand Island conducted their training flights.


But that had all been before everything had gone to shit in the last war.

Now, the two countries seemed to operate under a “good fences make for good neighbors” policy regarding their boundary lines. They would have to be sure to avoid making any mistakes. God only knew they had enough headaches as it was without causing an international shitstorm.

When Charlie uploaded the coordinates to their next waypoint, AJ subtly adjusted his flight path and radioed back to Mikel who was still cruising along at his six.

“Hey, Mikey, I’m cutting back a bit on the throttle here in another couple miles. Be ready to give me some room, mate.”

Then he returned to gazing out ahead as the green-grey waves of the Ceres whooshed past down below. He was sorely tempted to drop his altitude a bit as well to get a better view but thought better of his impulse when Charlie checked in once more as their range dropped to forty miles.

“Okay nuggets, how is everyone doing?"

“Still clockin’ a hundred percent here, Boss,” AJ assured him. He didn’t earn the moniker Wildcat for being a delicate soul, after all. As much as the Arkbird's graveyard had put a damper on things, it wasn't going to rattle him from what he had to do.

Mentioned: ChoShadow SirDerpingtonIV
Other: Razgriz Commissar Darman Gyrwulf Hammer Troll

 

[ChoShadow]

Charlie nodded.

"Good, because I think we have company." He said.

Charlie looked at his radar as the faintest outline of something on the edge of it blipped for just a moment before disappearing. He looked out to the West to see if he couldn't spot what it was with his eyes, but there wasn't anything there.

The radar blipped again, and again he saw something on the edge of it before it disappeared.

"... Everyone, tighten up the formation and stand by for further orders." He said.

Kasumi had been watching the radar as well and did as ordered right away. She gripped the stick a bit tighter as she felt a shiver run down her spine. The inner thoughts of "what if this is an attack" were bone chilling and she felt a bead of sweat drip down her neck.

"Weapons safe everyone. I don't want any itchy trigger fingers here." Charlie ordered.

Kasumi ensured her weapons were on safe and continued to fly in her slot in formation.

Minutes ticked by before the radar blipped again, but this time there was a definitive triangular shape which appeared on it and it stayed there. Charlie continued to watch it and looked out towards the horizon, but he still couldn't see anything.

The blip suddenly disappeared from his radar, and Charlie calmed down.

A malfunction? He thought.

"... Did anyone else pick that up on radar?" He asked.

"This is Kasumi. I picked it up as well. It's gone now, whatever it was." She replied.

"Hmm."

A malfunction in my plane shouldn't affect their planes too. Just what the Hell was that? He thought.

Another couple of minutes passed, but still nothing happened before Charlie heaved a sigh.

"Okay nuggets. Stand down. It must have been a glitch in our systems. I'll talk to the maintenance crew when we get back."

However no sooner had Charlie said those words when the faint sound of engine roaring could be heard off to the West. Charlie's head shot to the left and finally he could see them. Fighter jets, and a lot of them. All of them were painted to color match with the ocean and were flying very low, just just far enough away not to create a wake. That's how they tricked the radar. Color matching and their planes must have been modified with the same kind of radar absorbent material used in the F-22's production. Couple that with flying in low and it let them slip right up on the group.

Charlie's HUD began flashing with the radar lock warning, and he instinctively readied himself for combat.

"Everyone break formation and weapons free!" Charlie shouted.

Kasumi nearly suffered a panic attack seeing her own missile lock warning flash on her HUD, but she quickly gained control of herself and switched her weapon safety off and broke away from the group by flying up to higher altitude. Flying so low to the water was more comforting for her, but right now she couldn't afford the lack of moveable space. She needed more freedom to maneuver.

LoneSniper87 Whisker Razgriz

 

[LoneSniper87]

Aryl nodded, making sure his weapons were on safety before tightening up behind Kasumi. He flipped his mic back on. "Roger that." He said, glancing around. The blips came and went, and paranoia grew as they described it as a 'malfunction'.Then the planes appeared to the west and everyone scattered, Aryl banking low and hard to the east before rising up again to avoid the missle lock. "Kasumi I'm riding up on your 3, two bogeys 12 o'clock low, let's take them!" He said, riding up next to her and switiching to target lock.

 

[Whisker]

AJ Riley
Inflight - Osean Border
Approximately 1030 Hours

It was his Captain’s voice that pulled his head (literally) out of the clouds and back into the cockpit.

“Good, because I think we have company.”

AJ snapped his gaze away from the cloud formations wooshing past his canopy and back onto the radar. Sure enough, there was a hit – a faint echo somewhere off towards their nine o’ clock just as Charlie said. His eyes widened slightly.

“You’re shitting me,” he said exasperatedly while angling his head around in search for a visual on the target. “I looked away for two seconds …”

Then he winced at the admission. If this had been back in Hierlark, he would have been treated to an hour and a half rant at least about how he had the attention span of a gnat on LSD, and how he was going to get the squadron killed, and all the usual criticisms about his flying style just to round up the whole ball of wax. But they weren’t out on a training run anymore. With the first burst of that echo, this had become the real thing. AJ knew it and so did everyone else as the chatter died at once.

“... Everyone, tighten up the formation and stand by for further orders.”

“AJ, Roger!”

He applied gentle pressure to the side-stick until he was just under the Captain’s left-wing. This brought him so close to Kasumi’s plane that he could actually see her through the canopy. If she saw him, she gave no indication; she was probably as engrossed in the radars as everyone else was.

Ah damn, I’m doing it again!

Giving his head a rough shake as well as a clap to bolster his concentration, AJ returned his gaze to the radar only to find … the blip was gone!

What in the fuck?

“Uh, did anyone else see that or was it just me?”

If those mechanics turned out to be slacking on his baby’s maintenance …

“... Did anyone else pick that up on radar?”

“This is Kasumi. I picked it up as well. It's gone now, whatever it was.”

Relieved to see that it wasn’t just him, AJ exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Yeah. Yeah, I saw it here, too.”

There were some dark clouds behind them in the direction of the ARP, but it was all blue skies and smooth sailing out in front. The chances of it being a weather-related screw up were virtually slim to none … So where could the positive have come from?

The closer they got to the border, the more it became a mystery.

Finally, as they drew within 10 miles, Charlie gave them the all-clear.

"Okay, nuggets. Stand down. It must have been a glitch in our systems. I'll talk to the maintenance crew when we get back."

“Yeah, go ahead and --- What the hell?”

There was a glint of light hit by the sun at his nine o’clock. AJ whipped his head around in time to catch a split-second visual of a formation closing on them at low-altitude and high-speed.

And the hell of it was, his radar was still clean as a whistle!

Those tricky bastards …

“This is Wildcat. Visual hit on multiple high-speed bogeys inbound at 270! Angels 1, maybe less.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than his HUD flashed up a missile alert warning.

"Everyone break formation and weapons free!"

AJ immediately jinked left and spiraled loose from the pack, his F-16 spitting sharp contrails as he aggressively dropped speed and swerved up in high-arc to outpace the missile pursuing at his six. When the beep-beep-beep of his HUD dropped to indicate the missile had gone wide, he whistled lowly and then upped his altitude again. He needed to get higher. At Angels five, he could break through their formation and make his play from above and box the bandits in low where they would be most disadvantaged in terms of speed and maneuverability. There was no hope of radar masking from above with them being as low as they were, but at the very least if he moved fast there would be no need for subtility.

But there was also something bugging him … And then he remembered.

“Manticore 2, engaging. Windshear, what's your location?”

Forgetting about the bandits, he began scanning the battle zone for his wingman, more than just a little aware he was suddenly flying alone out here. With as many bandits as there were, he couldn't afford to do that much longer.

ChoShadow Razgriz SirDerpingtonIV Commissar Darman (if you're still in)

 

[Commissar Darman]

Amelia stayed in close formation with the pack. Ever since they flew over the Arkbird, She remained unusually quiet. The Arkbird was once a beautiful piece of engineering and seeing it like that was sad. As they flew, Amelia watched at her radar barely picked something up but disappeared almost immediately. Quickly scanning the area, Amelia couldn't see anything around her. Apparently everyone else saw it. So it must have been there. As she continued to scan. All hell seemed to break loose.

"Everyone break formation and weapons free!"

Obeying orders, Amelia banked right and increased throttle as her craft started to scream at her. Someone was shooting missiles at her. "OH you're fucking kidding me!" She cursed as her craft dumped flares. Taking a quick glances behind her. Amelia noticed the Missiles taking the bait. taking this time, Amelia proceeded to gain altitude and saw Wildcat seemed to be alone. " Manticore 2, Manticore 5 here. Falling in behind you." Pulling her craft behind AJ. Amelia matched his moves.

 

[SirDerpingtonIV]

Mikel eyed the cresting ocean waves below, eyes moving along the endless blue expanse, feeling himself at ease. He loved soaring over the ocean, it helped him relax. Well, just flying in general was good enough for that. The words of his squadron mates drew out a frown from him. "Could it be..." he whispered into the mic unintentionally, spotting the ships below, and the ruined aircraft that was the Arkbird, being raised from the ocean. Seeing it filled him with dread, and he shook his head. He didn't know the intention of such action, but something just felt wrong about raising the craft from the ocean's grasp.

Unlike the others, Mikel was silent. He did not expres his discomfort through the microphone. He simply didn't want to draw attention to himself now. Not like this, with the Arkbird. It too, had been tainted by the filthy of Sudentor, another blight on his name that he would never be able to escape. He heard his flight mate's request and nodded, "All good, I'll give you some room," he replied, waiting a few moments before easing up on the throttle, his plane slowing. He saw a blip on the radar and looked down, eyes narrowing. He had just had it checked, there was no possible way t could be going haywire again. But everyone else was having the same issue... his eyes scanned the horizon, warily. As annoying as tech failures were, tha-the flight lead's barking in his ear drew him back in. His eyes scanned the sky for a threat as they were informed they were under attack. He dove down and slowed, seeing Amelia soar past, avoiding a missile. He prepared his weapons. "Still need that room?" He asked into the mic, chuckling as he turned the aircraft in a steady curve, pulling away from the squadron, keepin his eyes open, looking for an opening in the enemy formation.

 

[ChoShadow]

Charlie had broken free from the group shortly before the first missiles flew by just barely missing their targets. It was nothing short of luck that they all managed to avoid the first barrage given how close it had been for some of them. Charlie was proud of his nuggets, but this was no time for pride. They had a battle to fight.

Bullets flew right and left and skimmed across the surface of his wings. Thankfully none of them penetrated the material, but they left some lovely scratches which would need some buffing or replacement of the plating later on.

"Jackass." Charlie muttered.

He had two on his tail and things were not going well as far as he could see. It was everything most of the nuggets could do just to avoid a missile lock, let alone return fire. Many of them had done well in training and in simulations, but this was not training nor a simulation. This was real. Real adrenaline. Real life and death. Real hearts beating practically out of their chests. Real panic. Real sweaty hands on the stick. Everything.

The nuggets would be lucky to make it out alive today against the enemy given the numbers and planes which Charlie was able to make out amongst the enemy's lineup which was quite varied.

He saw at least 2 SU-37's, 2 Su-33's, 3 F-14D's, 2 Typhoons, 3 F-18C's, and a lone F-22 with a rather unique marking on the nose as it raced past his plane.

The Raptor's marking was some kind of symbol. It looked like an infinity symbol, a sideways figure 8. But there was more to it. Something else behind the infinity mark which looked like the Omega symbol was barely visible, but it was there. Omega and Infinity. Quite the symbolic combination.

There was no communication from the enemy, and the Raptor seemed content to just fly in and around the action instead of taking part which was a godsend given the specs on that plane and the apparent skill of the pilot. Easily an Ace given how simple it was for them to maneuver through the battlefield without taking a single stray bullet to their plane.

As for the rest, they had strong planes. But if Charlie and his nuggets kept their heads on a swivel and stuck together then there was a chance they'd come out of this alive.

Kasumi, meanwhile, was having a hard time getting one of the Typhoons off her tail. The Typhoon pilot was keeping her moving and darting all over the place to avoid that missile lock so she didn't have time to help anyone else. She could only pray that she either found an opening to help someone or someone would clear her six for her so she could be of some use. But right now it was a losing battle. They were outnumbered 12 to 9 with that Raptor still cruising through watching it all go down.

They'd need a miracle to come out of this alive.

But that miracle couldn't come soon enough as Kasumi heard an explosion ring out not far away. When she looked over to see it, she saw a familiar plane go up in flames bursting apart due to the explosion of a missile impact right in the center of the plane's back just behind the cockpit.

... It was Johan's plane.

Whisker LoneSniper87 Commissar Darman SirDerpingtonIV Razgriz

((Sorry for my delay))

 

[Whisker]

AJ Riley

Inflight – Osean Border

1050 Hours



“Still need that room?”

Beep! Beep! Beep!

His craft screamed at him as a missile targeted him from above. There was no time to turn his head to glance at his six o’ clock, or even respond to Mikel.

It was life and death now – his life and his death – and one mistake up here could mean the end of everything. Not just for him, but for any one of his comrades as well.

AJ had never been so nervous.

Applying hard pressure on the stick, he inverted his plane into a push over and dropped altitude to pick up speed. The missile was hard on his tail and seemed to be relentless in its pursuit of him. No matter where he jinked, bitchin’ betty just refused to shut up!

When he neared 2,000 feet, AJ pulled up sharply and popped a trail of flares. It silenced the missile alerts – just for a second or two – and he was finally able to sneak a quick peak behind.

His blood ran cold as he picked up not one, not two, but three planes descending from the clouds to meet him.

Goddammit! These guys are all over my ass here!

“This is Wildcat. I’m … Ah fuck!”

BZZZZZZZZZZT! BZZZZZZZZZZT!

A bullet slammed hard into his tail and then another. His F-16 shuddered violently under the impact. Cursing under his breath, he pulled a sharp split-S and tried to reverse his craft around to shake the pursuers. It worked … but only enough for him to catch a glimpse of the last plane hunting him.

An F-18C – not a plane he needed to get into any low-altitude mix up with in a Viper.

He went to afterburners and made a break for the clouds again. As he ascended, he caught a glint of light close by out of the corner of his eye. He gripped the stick, ready to pull away, but before he could do so the craft hailed him.

“Manticore 2, Manticore 5 here. Falling in behind you.”

Oh, hell yes!

“Copy that, Dragon. I’m bringing you one hell of a party. See if you can spook’em. That goes for you too, Mikey – lend us a hand here for a second if you can. I’ll lead and try and get you an angle.”

But would that be enough? Judging by the radar, they were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned in-terms of firepower; they were traveling light and ill-equipped for air-superiority fights. The planes the enemy – whoever the hell they were – were flying in were faster, better equipped, and more advantageous than their own.

That didn’t mean he was going to go down without putting up one hell of a fight.

At the base of the cloud-layer, he let off the afterburner and brought his craft steadily around in Mikel’s direction. The plan wasn’t necessarily to merge and regroup, but rather to use hit it and quit it tactics to avoid giving the enemy easy locks.

If we can just make’em split for even a second, then we can try and regroup with Church and Kas –

AJ’s thought escaped him as an explosion rang out below. He twisted in his seat in time to see a plane – an F-4 with a sword on the nose – spewing and belching smoke from the cockpit. It was rapidly losing altitude and spiraling towards the ocean below.

There was no chute.

Oh, Jesus H. Christ …

AJ squeezed his eyes shut tight only to reopen them again a second later.

“Hey, Cap.” His voice sounded a lot steadier than he felt. “Please, for the love of god, tell me there’s at least an alert team standin’ by.”

Mentioned: ChoShadow Commissar Darman LoneSniper87 SirDerpingtonIV Razgriz (Actually everyone).

 

[ChoShadow]

Charlie was still mentally reeling from having lost one of his nuggets already when A.J. asked him if there was some kind of alert team standing by.

"... Afraid not A.J. We're on our own out here." He replied softly.

It didn't take long for Charlie's surprise to give way to anger.

He gripped the stick a bit harder and his hand trembled a moment as he raced to shake off his pursuers. Dipping and dodging this way and that, he managed to roll and shake them both before banking hard against the plane which took down Johan. He pulled the trigger and held it down releasing a hail of bullets across the cockpit. The plane lurched as the cockpit turned red, and the plane went down just as quickly as Johan's did crashing into the water below.

Charlie's plane zipped around and leveled out as the two pursuers from earlier came around on his tail again, but this time he had a plan.

"A.J., bring your pursuers right onto my nose. We're doing that maneuver." He growled.

Whisker ("That" maneuver is pretty obvious by Charlie's choice of words, but bring A.J. straight towards Charlie's plane putting them nose to nose. As they get closer A.J. will open fire directly above Charlie's cockpit at his pursuers and Charlie will fire his under A.J.'s plane at those pursuing him. I figured this would be a maneuver A.J. came up with during training that was more a joke than anything else, but which stuck as an idea for a potential last resort move to ditch unshakable foes.)

 

[Whisker]

AJ Riley

Inflight – Osean Border

1050 Hours


"Afraid not A.J. We're on our own out here,” came his Captain’s terse reply.

His voice calm, deadpan even, but AJ could sense the gathering frustration. Perhaps, with the loss of Johan, they all felt it more than ever. But there was no time to discuss it here. The enemy was still relentless in their pursuit, even with the mustered defense of Amelia and her F-14A. He hadn’t checked in on her since seeing Johan’s plane go down, but he was pretty damn anxious about letting her fly without cover for long.

Keeping her plane in the air for as long as possible was the least he could do to honor the guy’s memory.

As he continued directing his F-16 towards Mikel’s, he saw another explosion off to his left. His insides turned to ice water again. Had they lost ANOTHER plane to the enemy?! Then the plane responsible for the splash pulled up and turned in a high-arc in his direction. To his great relief, he recognized Charlie’s phantom streaking towards him.

“Good kill, boss,” he said with a grin.

It slipped moments later when he saw two bandits climbing hard on Charlie’s tail. AJ altered his course immediately and rushed to his aid.

"A.J., bring your pursuers right onto my nose. We're doing that maneuver."

It took him a few seconds to catch on to what he was talking about. Then he smiled again.

“Guess now’s the time.”

He directed his gaze down to the radar where Amelia was still tracking.

“You still copy? We’re going for that play. If one of those shitheads manages to slip past, feel free to knock them down.”

Hitting his afterburners to give the F-14 a bit of room behind him, he turned his plane again in a long arc until he reached the same altitude as Charlie. They had maybe a two miles clearance, but at the speed they were going they would pass each other in seconds. He used the time to switch from missiles to guns.

“Time to show’em our claws, baby.”

Just like old times.

In training, it had been a joke – a circus stunt to dive bomb the rest of the group and see how close he could bring his plane before diverting off. Never once did he think Charlie would actually let him try it out here …

“Pass in seven seconds. Amelia, standby for contact. And Mikey, I’m handin’ you the baton next.”

Mentioned: ChoShadow Commissar Darman SirDerpingtonIV

 

[LoneSniper87]

As Aryl pulled up next to Kasumi he saw the two planes behind her. "Kas split left for me, I'm taking one of your bogeys off for you." He said, then splitting right as one of the planes jetted for him. His plane shuttered violently as he saw part of his right wing torn into, but nothing important was hit. "Damn!" He said. An explosion came from nowhere, and he risked a glance over to see one of thier own dip into the ocean. All of his shakiness hardened then to steel as he pulled up sharply, dropping speed as his pursuer sped past him, and he dropped back down and lit up the enemy with a hailstorm of bullets, forcing the plane down into the ocean. "That was for Johan, you bitch." He muttered, then angled his plane back over to help Kasumi.