Disclaimer: Ace Combat does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bandai Namco Entertainment.
An Emergency Stopping Lane on the Interstate Highway 65, Oured, Oured District, Oured Peninsular, Osean Federation, Osean Continent, Planet Earth.
March 30th, 1995.
As Lieutenant Peter William Osborne of the Osean Air Force Reserve's 289th Fighter Squadron, walked towards his parked and camouflaged Osean Air Force Reserve General Dynamics F-16C Block 40/42, that was now being uncovered from the camouflage netting by flight mechanics, he took a moment to look out towards the city of Oured, remarking at how eerie it was to see the skyline of Oured like this. All pitch-black and devoid of light, with only the outlines of the tall skyscrapers in the city to make out the skyline.
Usually, the city was sparkling with bright lights that could be seen across Oured Bay in Green County, near Carbonero.
But two days after Belka's opening offensive and invasion, the cities were given orders to conduct blackouts at seven o' clock in the evening. And with good reason, for Belka routinely sent bombers to raid Oured, in an effort to wreck the city and terrorise the populace of the capital.
Continuing onwards to his Viper, which was now fully uncovered and now being given a checkover by the flight mechanics, Peter soon reached the left side of his aircraft and reached the ladder that would take him up to the cockpit.
Climbing up, Peter then put his flight helmet to one side, and manoeuvred himself into position, into the 30 degree inclined seat of his Viper, before finally getting himself comfortable before finally reaching the flight helmet, grabbing it and putting it on him.
Then, up came the crew chief, Staff Sergeant Hector Nichols, who was climbing the ladder and now starting to secure Peter into the seat.
"Hey, Lieutenant. Nice night for a hunt, am I right?"
Peter gave off a smile, "Too right, Staff Sergeant. Just another bunch of rats for this Viper to hunt", before Nichols finished his job and said "You're secure Lieutenant. Have a good one".
Giving the good Staff Sergeant a smile and exchanging a thumbs up as the crew chief went down the ladder and pulled it away, Peter then pressed the button and the frameless bubble canopy closed down over the cockpit, completely sealing the Lieutenant in.
Then, Nichols had the ground crew link up a tow bar to the front landing gear of the F-16, to a aircraft tug, then removed the chocks away from the wheels, before the tug set off and started towing the aircraft into position.
And once Peter's Viper was in position (and the tug disconnected and rushed back into position at the Emergency Stopping Lane), he then got into contact with the air controller, "Control, this is Fang 892, about to commence takeoff".
"Roger that Fang 892. Begin takeoff procedures".
At this, Peter began the procedure for starting up the aircraft, and soon enough, the single General Electric F110-GE-100 engine was purring with power.
Then, with his left hand on the engine throttle and the right hand on the side-stick controller, Peter gently set the throttle forward in order to get his Viper going.
And immediately, as soon as it moved forward, it all became a blurr to Peter as the F-16 started to rocket down the highway at faster speeds, before finally reaching a certain speed in which he was comfortable with, and then pulling back the flight stick, which caused the flaps on his Viper's tailplane to extend upwards, thus enabling the nose to point upwards and thus rocket the aircraft right into the air.
Once in the air, Peter smiled as he felt like he was back where he belonged. Piloting in the air.
Not only was Peter William Osborne a pilot for the Osean Air Force Reserve, but he also flew a Short SC.7 Skyvan for the skydiving company Los Titanes DropZone Services whilst in civilian life, taking up novice and professional skydivers and thrill seekers into the skies for around ten to fifteen minutes of freefall and controlled descent.
Then, the Lieutenant was brought out of his musing when he received a call from the ground and received instructions on where to go, a rendezvous point where he would start his combat air patrol over an assigned sector for around 8 to 11 minutes, before heading onto the next sector, receive a top-up from a Stratotanker and start his next patrol, and again, until he would receive the call to be relieved.
Osea was taking no chances in the defence of Oured, as Osborne manoeuvred his Viper on a heading towards the rendezvous point.
Given that President Carl Best was still within Bright Hill, and that a population of around 4 million still resided in the city, Osea's military chiefs had given Oured the utmost priority in defense, despite Osea's precarious military situation.
Under the overall command of the Osean Air Force Capital District Air Command, there was a layered air defence zone with contributions from the Osean Army Reserve, the Osean Navy and the Osean Air Force Reserve.
Firstly, in the air, there was a mix bag of squadrons providing air defence, and those who supported the air defence effort, providing the first line of defence.
The 206th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, the "Hotdogs", consisted of the F-14C Tomcat, known generally amongst the Osean Air Force as the "Buzzcat", basically a F-14B variant modified for Osean Air Force needs, namely the removal of the Navy probe and drogue refuelling gear in exchange for the Air Force's flying boom refuelling system, the nose-wheel catapult gear and the rear tail-hook, in order to replace the F-106 Delta Dart as an Osean Air Force Aerospace Defence Command interceptor. The Squadron currently had around 15 on call for the city's defence.
The 117th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, the "Wildcats", had around 11 F-15C Eagles, while the 756th Fighter Squadron, the "Leopards", consisted of 9 F-16C Block 30/32s, and the 449th Fighter Squadron, the "Buzzers", were still packing around 19 F-16C Block 25s.
Meanwhile, Peter's squadron, the 827th Fighter Squadron, the "Snakes", were still hanging on by a thread, with around 5 serviceable F-16C Block 40/42s. Originally, they had 21, but due to a combination of combat losses, lack of spare parts necessitating the need to cannibalise two Vipers and mechanical issues grounding some aircraft, the Squadron only had around five F-16s left to defend Oured.
In support, there was the 999th Air Refuelling Squadron, the "Green Tails", from the 17th Air Mobility Wing, consisted of around 7 KC-135D Stratotankers, while the Osean Navy had a detachment of around four E-2C Hawkeyes from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 155, the "Spectres", (who were initially part of the OFS Hubert, but had survived the Hubert's sinking due to being away from the carrier at the time) currently providing airborne early warning duties for Oured's defence, since all of Osea's E-3 Sentries, having taken losses during March 25th, were now either providing airborne early warning duties across North Osea and at the Sapin front (where a proportion of Osean air, ground and marine forces had been completely cut off from Osea).
The second line of defence were from one Thunderbolt class cruiser, the OFS Durendal, and three Gregory Bunson class destroyers, the OFS Norman Parry and William R. McKee, armed with their AEGIS radars, SM-2 missiles, 5-inch naval guns and Phalanx Close-in-Weapons Systems, and two Seahawk helicopters ready on the helipads to pick up any downed pilots in Oured Bay.
Then, the third line of defence, located in the city limits, mainly consisted of radar-controlled M2 Browning/searchlight emplacements, MIM-104 Patriots, MIM-23 Hawks, MIM-72 Chaparrals, M1907 Avengers, M163 and M167 Vulcan Air Defence Systems, M247 Sergeant Yorks, M42 Dusters, FIM-43 Redeyes and FIM-92 Stingers, stationed on the beaches, parks, hills and other strategic high points across Oured.
This set up had taken until the 28th to set up, and since it's implementation, this defence was all that stood between Oured and Belka's bomber forces, consisted of the infamous Belkan developed BM-335 Lindwurm strategic bomber, along with the Il-28 Beagle medium bomber (brought from Yuktobania).
Osborne, then reached the rendezvous point point and started his combat air patrol.
Upon reaching the second rendezvous point, in order to begin a combat air patrol over the next sector, Peter became aware that someone was attempting to contact him on the radio.
"Fang 892, Fang 892, this is Ghost 23. Come in over".
It was one of the two E-2C Hawkeyes in the air currently providing airborne early warning. Flicking a switch, Osborne then responded, "Ghost 23, Ghost 23, this is Fang 892, send traffic, over".
"Incoming bandits, on heading 702, at Angels Nine and climbing. You are to snap North-West to intercept incoming enemy bombers at once".
"Acknowledged, Ghost 23. On my way. Fang 892 onwards to Vector 180, out".
Cutting the transmission, Peter yanked the side-stick to the left and pulled up, in order to head towards the incoming enemy bombers, all the while remembering that his Viper had around 2 AIM-9 Sidewinders, 2 AIM-7 Sparrows, a full load of M61 Vulcan cannon ammunition, and a central fuel tank that would allow him to reach the incoming bombers.
Let's just hope I can make a difference with such a loadout, though Peter as he continued onwards towards the incoming Belkan bombers.
By the time Peter had arrived, he could see that he wasn't the only fighter who had arrived.
Buzzcats, Eagles and Vipers were now enroute to intercept 23 of Belka's infamous BM-335 Lindwurm strategic bombers, which seemed to have no escort fighters currently. But Peter knew better, as this wasn't the first time Belkan fighters were lagging behind 2 minutes behind the bombers.
And soon enough, Peter's radio squawked, with the voice of the most senior fighter pilot in charge, Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Sheridan of the 206th, speaking to every fighter pilot who had arrived from his Buzzcat.
"To all planes, this is Hotdog 306. Target the bombers first and foremost. We must reduce as much of them as we can, in order to help our boys on the ground. All Hotdogs and Wildcats, move in and take down the bombers. Leopards, Buzzers, Snakes, you hang back and provide support".
All voices on the net, including Peter's, replied with a simple WILCO, before Sheridan closed off with, "Right, and the lot of you keep a close eye for those escort fighters".
With this, every Buzzcat, every Eagle and every Viper rushed in to engage, and before long, the Lindwurms were being swamped by fighters.
One of these fighters, Fang 892, piloted by Lieutenant Peter William Osborne, manoeuvred himself through the chaotic mess in order to get to a BM-335 that was a little way off behind from the rest of the bombers that were still keeping in close formation and defending themselves with their tail guns. And soon enough, he levelled himself and got into position.
At first, he attempted to acquire a lock with the Sidewinders, but he noticed that when he attempted to gain missile lock, the missile reticle just 'bounced off' the Lindwurm, for a lack of a better term, which meant this BM-335 had electronic countermeasures switched on, more specifically Infrared Jammers.
Worse, the BM-335's cockpit controlled Mauser BK-27 rotary cannon aimed right for him and opened fire.
Diving, Peter switched to his guns, and began rising to align his aircraft in order to fire.
And once he got a bead on the BM-335's Nachtigal radar fuselage, under the Lindwurm's central fuselage, he pulled the trigger and shouted, "Guns, Guns, Guns!", as a burst of 30 rounds struck the underbelly of the Lindwurm.
Then, turning to the left slightly, Peter fired another burst, striking one of the four enormous turbofans.
With the aircraft smoking in one engine, and significantly damaged in it's underbelly, Peter then switched to missiles, and was elevated when he noticed that the electronic countermeasures on the Lindwurm were not working, allowing him to target the bomber with a missile.
Soon enough, he then acquired the target and launched one Sidewinder, announcing "Fox Two", just as the missile left his wingtip and tracked the bomber via the infrared signature of the massive bomber.
When the Sidewinder got close enough, the warhead within it detonated and the resulting explosion wrecked the rear tail massively, ripping off chunks of the airframe and exposing the interior to the outside.
But despite this, the Lindwurm kept it's course and the tail gun still tracked and opened fired on targets that came within range.
Peter then switched over to his Sparrows, and began aligning his aircraft, in order to fire the missile, as unlike the Sidewinder, this missile required the aircraft to point it's nose directly at the target.
Keeping a close eye at the Heads-up display showing the massive circle, Peter then got a lock on, and flicked a switch, enabling the Sparrow to drop from the underslung wing pylon on the left and rocket towards the bomber.
"Fox One!"
The Sparrow then closed in and before long, slammed right under the left wing of the bomber and with a wing now on fire, the Lindwurm was now starting to rapidly plummet.
With that out of the way, Peter scanned ahead of him, to see some more bombers in play, and much of his fellow fighter pilots still in action and shooting down BM-335s one by one, with one bomber going down and another following.
But as Peter continued scanning, his right eye caught something, a flicker of movement and he turned his head towards it, to see MiG-29s and F-4 Phantoms on approach, high above the whole action.
Damn, the escort fighters...
And just as soon as he saw them barrel-rolling down to meet the Osean fighters, Peter then spoke through the net to all surviving fighters to spread the word.
"Alert, alert, alert, all fighters, this is Fang 892! I have visual on incoming fighters, Fulcrums and Phantoms, coming right down now!"
The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Sheridan came right through and calmly responded, "Roger that, Fang 892, I see them. All Wildcats and Buzzers, peel off and engage. The rest, continue on with the rest of the bombers".
However, Peter would not get a chance to go after more Lindwurms, as alarms blared right through his cockpit, warning him that a Belkan fighter pilot now had missile lock on him directly.
And soon afterwards, he could hear the alarm warning him, that the Belkan had fired his missile, which was coming straight for him.
Oh, no..., thought Lieutenant Peter William Osborne, as he was beginning to think that his luck had just run out.
And thus, this idea came about, I think, of when I read up about highway strips, and at the same time, the US Interstate Highway System.
Even though it's an urban myth that one out of every five miles of the Interstate Highway System is designed to be straight and flat in order to allow it to be usable for aircraft in times of war, this still served as inspiration for the idea that I had, that during the Belkan War, Osea would use it's highways as highway strips for it's aircraft.
In case anyone is wondering what Los Titanes is, it's my idea of what a Strangereal equivalent of Los Angeles is, since Los Angeles means 'The Angels', and Los Titanes in Spanish means The Titans, so there you go. A Strangereal equivalent of Los Angeles.
The Thunderbolt class cruiser is what I reckon, to be the Strangereal equivalent of the Ticonderoga class cruiser, and that the Durendal is named after the legendary sword, given that in Ace Combat 5, we see a Ticonderoga class cruiser named the Excalibur.
As for the Gregory Bunson class destroyers, well, they're the Strangereal equivalent of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer basically.
As for the Osean Air Force having a F-14 variant, this was based of a proposal by Grumman for an interceptor version of the F-14B in response for the US Air Force's Improved Manned Interceptor Program that was meant to acquire a replacement for the F-106 Delta Dart as an Aerospace Defence Command interceptor in the 70s. However, this plan was scrapped in 1974, so the US Air Force did not acquire an F-14.
But that didn't stop me from the idea that in the Strangereal world, the Osean Air Force did acquire an F-14, hence the F-14C "Buzzcat" in this fic.
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!
(Update 11/5/18: Changed the name of the Nash class destroyers to the Gregory Bunson class destroyers, as I felt that the Gregory Bunson was a more appropriate name for a destroyer class like Arleigh Burke)