Alright guys, so this has written itself and I know I haven't done anything in a, long...long time, but I wanted to post it and let you guys know about other stuff going on, I am hopefully recovering my muse but towards the end of this month I am leaving for boot camp and will be totally of grid for 8 weeks, then after that I really don't know when I will have time for writing, but I want to get as much of this done as soon as I can for you guys. Thanks, HanShootsFirst


Prologue: When Will You Pick Yourself Up?

"Whah do yeh do wiff a drunnen sailor, whah do yeh do wiff a drunnen sailor earry in teh mor-"

The drunken mans' voice disappeared only to be followed by a thud and a groan. A short man with pale skin and red hair stood over him unsympathetically, "Don't you have a family to take care of you drunken fool?"

The drunkard struggled to his feet and laughed his smile mostly hidden behind his unshaven face, "An' whooo ish tha-"

The small man punched the drunkard in his face causing him to fall to the floor again. The bartender simply ignored the exchange, it was a regular occurrence, the two men routinely went through this. He remembered something about them being brothers, but he couldn't say for sure.

"How about your wife and daughter for starters!" The man yelled.

"Ahhh ffffffuck you!" the drunk spouted loudly enough for the few attendees of the bar to turn their heads, "Whah will eh take teh geh yeh teh lea meh en peash?"

The redheaded man sighed and shook his head looking at the ground where the man layed, "Stop stringing us out, if you don't want to be part of your own family then divorce your wife and leave the country, none of us can stand to see you like this… and I'm tired of saving your ass."

The drunk remained silent on the ground no one around able to see the few tears getting soaked up into his beard.


Chapter I: Invasion of Gracemeria

The high-pitched Doppler sound echoed through Gracemeria Air Force Base as men scrambled to get in the air. A pilot in his late 20's ran across the field and jumped into his F-16 Fighting Falcon with his wife's name painted in red cursive letters with an angel dancing next to it, "Melissa" it read.

The turbine began to spool up and the Pilot quickly began to taxi, frantic voices yelled over the radio in chaos as people tried to get situation reports. The Falcon reached the runway and the control tower came over the radio, "Garuda 1, you are cleared for takeoff."

"Roger that tower Garuda 1 taking off," the Falcon's single engine went from a whine to a roar as the throttle was advanced to full emergency power.

As the wheels lifted off the ground the flaps and gear retracted and AWACS Ghost Eye came over the radio, "Airborne Warning and Control System Ghost Eye to all scrambling aircraft, current situation is still unknown, engage incoming enemy aircraft while we figure out what's going on here."

Garuda 1 was about to find an attack run he could take when Ghost Eye came over the radio again, "Garuda 1, you do not have a wingman, let's see… Shamrock? Shamrock are you alone too? From now on you are Garuda 2."

A young voice came over the radio, "Roger that, Garuda 1 I've got your back, why don't we wait for introductions until after we've protected our capital?"

Garuda 1 chuckled, "Sounds like a plan, follow my lead and we will make it through this just fine."

"Roger that," Shamrock replied and they both banked to the left and dove onto a squadron of B-52's.

"Shamrock, switch to your AMRAAMs and lock up the two closest bombers," Talisman adjusted his Falcon and locked up the furthest bombers.

"Targets locked," Shamrock quickly replied as the bombers continued to get closer.

Garuda 1 checked his radar again, "Launch AMRAAM's" both Falcons jerked slightly as they released two AMRAAM's each and watched the missiles track to the targets. As the missiles reached the target a massive explosion ripped through the air, "Looks like they'd just armed their payload huh Garuda 1?"

The man glanced back and lined up some helicopters with his guns taking both out with a single pass, "Sure looked like it," he responded after his run.

"Garuda 1 this is Ghost Eye, South Eastern part of the city is clear of bomber formations, redirect to," there was a slight pause, "Redirect to the northern edge of the bay and take out the bomber formation there as well."

"Roger that Ghost Eye, how are our other guys holding up out there?" Garuda 1 asked as they puled into a gentle left turn and began to repeat the first attack run.

"We are driving back the enemy forces, several planes are engaged over Gracemeria Base but they have eliminated all of the bombers, those are the last ones we have left take them out and we can push them out of our city."

Shamrock came over the radio as they launched the las of their AMRAAMs, "Sounds like they weren't ready to start a war after all, Ghost Eye, who are we fighting anyway?"

Ghost Eye didn't respond immediately, "We are engaged with the… Estovakian Military?" he almost didn't believe it was true, "All bombers down! Let's push them out of our city!" There were cheers and pilots all formed up on each other preparing to make the last push when it happened.

It seemed like the air itself exploded, "What the hell was that?" Garuda 1 exclaimed through gritted teeth as he pulled a hard turn to avoid the explosion.

There was pure chaos, "Cruise missiles? Were those Cruise Missiles?"

Garuda team leveled out and Ghost Eye came over the radio, "All forces retreat! We are at a huge military disadvantage here!"

Shamrock couldn't believe his ears, "What? We can't give up Gracemeria!?"

Ghost Eye quickly responded, "Listen, it's only temporary, we will retreat to the west regroup then form a counter attack."

Shamrock thought for a second, "Guess we really should get out of here," he said sadly.

Just then Garuda 1's radar warning lit up, "Break!" he yelled, time seemed to slow as he pulled nine G's and saw an enemy SU-33 appear in front of his canopy.

There was an explosion behind Garuda 1 and everything went black. His Falcon spiraled out of control and struck the black and red SU-33 just behind the canopy, killing Garuda 1.

"Ghost Eye! Garuda 1 is down!" Shamrock yelled over the radio, "I repeat, Garuda 1 is down!"

"Dammit!" Ghost Eye exclaimed, "Shamrock, get out of there! It's no use if you're dead too!"

Shamrock gunned the throttle and accelerated away from the battlefield. "Keep headed west Shamrock, we will be back soon."