Ace Combat 5
The Dragon's Tale
A Pilot's Experience of the Unsung War
I do not own AC5
1.
"All right, listen up nuggets!" the captain's voice was unpleasantly loud this early. Private Drake Draca opened his eyes but closed them quickly, due to the blinding light. He yawned and got out of his bunk rubbing his eyes. "This is going to be your first flight patrol. Just stay close to me. I want you all up in the air in five minutes!" Drake mumbled something like, "yeah yeah," as he got dressed. He was a small man in stature, only 4' 5," and had obsidian hair that tended to stick out in odd directions.
Five minutes later Drake was wide awake as he flew in formation. He had a natural feel for aviation and was itching to get his training over with so he could fly for real. It was boring doing all the drills over and over in this cold land. Not to mention he hated flying the standard issue F-5's they all had.
"Wildcat squad, there is a squadron of bogies in your area, investigate immediately." The voice blaring over the radio broke Drake's revere.
"Dammit not now. Zephyr, Watchman, come with me. Private… Draca was it?" The captain was talking to him.
"That's my name although I'd prefer to be called Crimson Dragon."
"Anyways, I'm putting you in charge of getting you nuggets back to the airfield. We'll take care of the bogies. Can you handle it?"
"Yes sir!" Drake took the lead position as the three planes flew off. This was his time to shine. He directed his fellow nuggets back towards the base in fine orderly fashion. Suddenly his missile warning alarm went off.
"Watch out, you got a missile on your tail!" one of his wingmen warned. Drake swerved and weaved but was unable to lose it. It blew up on his right elevator.
"Ahh, damn I'm hit!" Drake tried to turn his plane. It wasn't too responsive. Checking his radar Drake's heart sunk even lower at the sight of two unfriendly blips on it. One was right on his tail and closing. "Crap, what to do, what to do?" He heard the hum of a machine gun and realized just how close the bandit was to him. Without thinking he pushed the throttle to the stops and rocketed away from his pursuer. However the enemy quickly caught up with him and was threatening to overtake him. In a split second Drake hit the airbrakes and inclined the nose up. The bandit shot out from under him and on instinct Drake mashed the missile release button on his joystick twice. Two missiles homed in and blasted the bandit right in front of his eyes. He watched in disbelief as the wreckage dropped and crashed into the ground.
"That was amazing Drake!" his best friend, Izumi Yunisaki, called over the radio. Drake smiled and checked his radar, the only showings were his wingmen.
"Where'd the other plane go?"
"They bugged out when they saw you blast their friend."
"Splash one then," Drake replied as his heart rate reduced. "How am I looking?"
"Your right elevator is bent and it looks like your fuel's leaking," Izumi called as he checked under Drake's plane. The ECM crackled and Drake turned it up.
"Air tower to wildcat squad, respond."
"Yeah, this is wildcat four, what can I do for you?"
"What happened? We saw two hostile planes near you, now they're gone."
"Uh yeah, I splashed one and the other boogied out."
"you do know you engaged a target without authorization right?"
"I took damage in that skirmish requesting immediate clearance to land," Drake said ignoring the question.
"You are five miles from the base, can it wait?" was his response.
"My elevator doesn't work and I'm leaking fuel goddamn it. I need clearance now so everyone'll get off the flipping strip!" The radio man sighed, "Okay clearance granted." When he got to Heirelark he managed to put his bird down despite the damage. As he got out he was approached by an MP.
"Come with me," he said as he grabbed Drake's shoulder and roughly pushed him toward the offices.
"Hey, what's going on?" Drake asked.
"Commander wants to see you."