1831hrs September 19, 2005
Over the skies of Farbanti, Floyd Allster and a few of his fellow defectors from the Erusian Army took to the skies in a V-22 helicopter in an attempt to escape the besieged city, the air battle and the ground battle behind them.
1833hrs September 19, 2005
"Gemini 1, six bandits closing in on the city. Looks like the Kreuz squadron making their final stand. Engage. And eliminate them. You can end this war." That went without saying. Kira Hibiki, callsign Gemini 1, flew full speed to engage the last six threats to the Usean continent. What appeared to be crazy maneuvering to the ground troops was like the back of her hand to her. Eventually, five of the six bandits were shot down, leaving the Supreme Commander, only known as 'La Creusette'. Each of the two aces made attempts to strike at the other. But neither presented the chance to the other. Their maneuvers were constantly trumped. La Creusette eventually abandoned the pursuit in favor of another target.
"Kira! Can you hear me?!"
"Floyd?" Kira realized possibly moments too late that Floyd's V-22 was La Creusette's new target. She was powerless to stop the missile that was headed for the chopper in front of her. As if it happened before her own eyes, she saw Floyd's body thrown from the helicopter to his grave. Her eyes were locked onto the wrecked vehicle. ISAF Tank Commander and previous defector Lance Klijn unsuccessfully tried to contact Floyd's group.
"Allster! Allster, do you copy? Do you copy?"
"Floyd!" Kira lost focus on the task at hand. Her craft slowed to normal flight while she sobbed and dwelled on what could have turned out differently. Then, she saw La Creusette approach her. The dogfight began again. Kira took a couple of machine gun rounds before she turned out of La Creusette's path. The two circled and wove around one another gracefully. Their dance was a sight to behold. The dance ended with both aces, side by side, executing the famed Pugachyov cobra. La Creusette pitched her bird down so that it was parallel to the ground, but no sign of Kira, who continued turning, completing a Frolov Chakra. Now Kira was behind La Creusette. With no delay, she fired two missiles at La Creusette. La Creusette was not fast enough to react and fell to Gemini 1. She struggled to eject.
"Come on, eject!" The canopy would not open. La Creusette was trapped in her fallen bird and was consumed by the sea. Kira's nightmare had ended in triumph.
"Tango 8 here, we're in control of the Erusian Headquarters!"
"Gemini 1 has eliminated the six bandits. We now have air superiority over Farbanti." With nothing left, the Erusians surrendered at their capital.
Author's note: In no way do I own any of the copyrighted material used to write this story. In no way is any part of this story supposed to be accurate. Most names and callsigns were changed. I wrote this story as an alternate universe back in July and wanted to share it with the community.