Disclaimer: I do not own the rights Ace Combat. Nor do I own the rights to any plane that is brought into the story, with the exception of originals.
Chapter 1: Omega Squadron Takes Flight! Battle at Sunset!
High above a mountainous and forested area, along a sunset lit sky. A group of 6 shapes appeared over the horizon, seemingly cruising along without so much as a speck of care. As they got farther and farther away from the horizon line, their shapes became defined and known.
Four fighter escort, consisting of two Su-27 Flankers, and a pair of F-5 Tiger E s. The last plane was their leader. A J 35 Draken. They were surrounding a C-17 Globemaster in a diamond shaped formation, with the Draken taking the forward position. The Su-27s, were painted in the colors of the setting sun, starting with the brightest color and gradually fading down the backside of the aircraft. The F-5s were painted deep purple with red stripes on the wings. An emblem marked their nationality. A pair of flying fish circling a red spot in the middle of a white rectangle, the mark of the country of Kugatan.
Captain Genma Tairo, the Draken's pilot, looked outward from behind his craft through his helmet display and oxygen mask. He looked around in his seat, taking his head around to both the left and the right. He sighed; forgetting that the other pilots around him heard his exasperation over the comm-link. The pilot of the Flanker to his right spoke up at hearing his superior's distress. "Itching for a fight as always, eh captain?" "Don't you ever remember to use call signs, Kuro 1?" "Sorry sir."
The already weary captain put a hand to his head, shaking it in annoyance to his right wingman's attitude. He and his wingman fought with one another constantly back at base. "It makes me wonder why someone hasn't killed him yet in combat." The only answer that came to mind was this. He was just that good. "Sorry guys, I just haven't fought in a good fight for years." His left wingman spoke up from his F-5. "You're not the only one Taurus; I want to fight an enemy too."
The other two also gave their statements of agreement. They hadn't had a good dogfight in years and all of them were thirsty for the taste of battle.
"Well as long as we got most of this country in our hands-" Said the second Flanker's pilot. "I'm afraid we're not gonna see battle for awhile." "I hear that! What I would give for a nice dogfight!" The second F-5's pilot said nothing, everyone knew full well he shared the same sentiments. "Well as long as it stays that way. Let's enjoy our flight." Communication was silent afterward.
However, the pilots were all but alone in the sky….
High above the unaware squadron two jets stalked the group like hawks stalking prey. The first of them had clipped delta wings and trapezoidal vertical stabilizers, an F-22 Raptor. The other was similar to the Raptor, but it sported a single engine and it's wings and ailerons were slightly trapezoidal, and its vertical stabilizers were more of a swept back design and placed at an angle, an F-35 Lightening II. The F-22's paint scheme was anything but boring to look at. It was black with blood red tiger stripes that covered the sides of frontal intakes and the front and back of its wings, as well as down its back. A bright red Omega was imprinted to both sides of the craft's vertical stabilizers.
The F-35's scheme was of similar taste. The body was navy blue with green triangular stripes running down to the wings from the top of the frontal intake. Two more inhabited the wings as well. A large Sigma was painted to the vertical stabilizers. Both pilots and their crafts were silent with the reasonable exception of the roar of their engines and the howling of the wind…A voice then broke their silence as swift as a roadrunner. "Omega Squadron, you have permission to engage, I repeat, permission to engage has been given!" "Roger that!" "Heard that one!" The two pilots replied quickly. The F-22's pilot gave his wingman the A-OK sign before making his callsign known along with his wingman's.
"Omega-1, prepared to engage!" "Maverick-1, ready to fight!" Then both fighters pushed down their elongated noses and began their dive to battle. The F-22 crossed the path of Maverick-1's Lightening II as they swooped in on their targets. "Let's roast some Iron Eagle!" Maverick-1 shouted excitedly over the comm. "Couldn't be said better!" was Omega-1's reply. The two eager pilots were itching and ready to pounce.
Their arrival on the enemy's radars could not have been a more welcome development. "Bogey in on our sixes!" "What?! Scatter and prepare to engage!" "Roger!" The Flankers, Tigers, and Draken promptly did so. All of them made wide banking turns into the reverse direction of their scheduled flight path…just in time to meet the newcomer. The F-22 came screaming toward the second of the Tiger II's, spitting out a short burst of gunfire onto it before overshooting and moving onto the C-17.
"He's heading for the transport, both of you go after him!" Genma ordered, indicating Kuro 1 and Kuro 4 were to engage their new combatant. Both pulled back and pulled a half-loop before rolling over…only for the Flanker pilot to get a few bullet holes and almost rammed by the F-35's reckless flying. "What the…! Where'd he come from!?" "Does it really matter? Lets go!" Both the Flanker and Tiger II then blasted off after their adversary with afterburners roaring.
Omega-1 was so focused on his target, the transport aircraft, that he hadn't noticed the two planes coming his way till his wingman pointed it out. "Hey Jared, you got two of them heading your way." The Raptor pilot looked to his radar display and nodded unto himself. "I see' em. Andrew. I see' em." Then he got a missile alert blaring in his ear and showing on his radar shortly after as a reward. Making Jarred exclaim loudly "Ho boy, wild day to be hunting!" The Raptor then climbed up, pulling a half-loop to face the horizon and dived down as it rolled out upright.
"Its dinner time! Today's special is…HOT LEAD!" Jarred then opened fire upon the earlier wounded Flanker as he dived toward the two fighters, and added about twenty more holes to the Flanker to add to it's earlier thirty. The fuel tank ignited and the plane began to glide toward the ground. "Gnaaaaaaa-!" The panicking pilot was cut off as the fuselage exploded brilliantly just as Omega-1 passed over head. "Jacky, No!" The F-5 pilot climbed into the vertical position with afterburners blazing brightly behind him!
The F-22 followed suit as Jared pulled the stick back. Their climb went on for about a minute that seemed stretched into a painstaking ten minutes. It was one second after that the F-22 stalled. Seeing his chance, the Tiger II's pilot dove after him after pushing the nose down toward his enemy, getting ready to fire a missile "Gotcha you jacka-." However, just as he pushed the button that would release the deadly armament, the Raptor pulled up into a loop as the missiles launched, making them lose lock and miss their target.
Since the poor pilot was surprised by Jared's fake stall, he had little time to gather his bearings before the F-22 had lined up with him. Locking onto his target, Omega-1 fired two standard issue missiles from the trapeze launchers inside the craft's internal weapons bay. Both launched straight and true to their intended target and blew him out of the sky. A loud "Heeeeeelp!" Was heard from the pilot as he blew from the fire that caught on his fuel. Jared pulled up out of his dive and leveled his craft off. He looked toward the direction the C-17 had been flying, only to find it had already disappeared over the horizon line. "Damn! We lost the transport…Oh well. Better help Andrew out before he bites off more than he can chew." He then made a wide banking turn to turn around to the battle that lay before him.
Minutes earlier from Omega-1's short battle, Maverick-1, AKA Andrew, had begun his fight between the three fighters that were currently dogging his six o'clock with gunfire. With his adversary's barley hitting, with the exception of the Draken, who had made a few passes but doing minimal damage. "Damn that Draken guy is good! I wonder if hes their leader?" The F-35 pilot then began to execute a Wing Over. Andrew pulled his Lightening II into a steep climb, rolled onto his right wing and completed the tactic by leveling out as he came down. The enemy fighters responded by pulling tight high-G turns that would try and bring their planes back onto his six.
"No way I'm gonna let you guys get me!' He pulled up and executed a Half-Cuban 8 maneuver. Doing a half loop and rotating upright before diving in on the Tiger whom then pulled up slightly to face the F-35 head-on in a game of chicken. The F-5 won out and Andrew veered away as the Tiger II sped under him. He continued on and then performed a banking turn to get around for another attack…just as the Draken faced him. Genma got a lock-on to him, and fired two missiles off at the lone aircraft.
The result was surprising to say the least. As the missiles closed in on him, Andrew made his plane do a three hundred and sixty-degree roll and the missiles promptly sped past their intended target.
The Lightening II shot off a short burst of its Vulcan-class machine gun before diving below the trio of enemies. He then pulled up as he performed yet another half-loop, in hopes of getting on his adversaries' six o'clock for a shot at taking out one of the stubborn jerks… It was not to be. The Draken and its wingmen were in a turn as he came up. It was only now that he had a good look at the leader's plane.
Its fuselage was grass green with a white stripe down the middle and on it's single vertical stabilizer. On it's stabilizer was the imprinted image of a blue bull with the constellation of Taurus blazoned in black within it. The trio of planes was now in his sights again. He then dived down into a turn that would bring him behind his opponents. They began turning as the F-35 came up, and he rolled onto his left wing and turned into them in a lag pursuit, with his nose pointed to his enemy's tailpipes. They continued to turn, knowing that their enemy was behind them. The Kugatanians were ones whom were honor bound in battle. Meaning that being defeated meant death.
It was then that one of the Su-27s veered away from the turn. It was a perfect chance! He immediately rolled over onto his right wing and pursued his potential first kill of the day. When they came out of the turn, the Flanker's pilot began weaving his plane around to avoid missile lock. Unfortunately the computer of the Lightening II continued to track him. When he got a stable lock on the Flanker, he pushed the secondary button on his control stick that opened the weapons bay doors. A QAAM missile was hydraulically launched and it sped of to its target just as Andrew was rained on with bullets, which he quickly pulled away from as the Su-27 was hit and exploded violently.
It was then that a welcome voice sounded in over the communications link. "Did ya miss me Maverick-1. Need a little help?" Was heard as the familiar F-22 swooped in front of the F-35 and positioned itself before shooting off at the trio turned duo of jets in front of his ally, making them scatter. "Good timing. I was wondering if you were going to join me at all." Well I had to crumble a few cookies. They were stale too." "What about the transport?" "No dice." Both pilots looked to one another through their cockpits with in their craft.
"Well, at least we got some action." "Too true my friend! Too true!" They the both shot forward with their afterburners ablaze. The J 35 and the Flanker were now heading there way head on. Jared fired off short bursts of his machinegun at the Draken. The F-35 followed suit with the Flanker and they both scattered away. Andrew sped after the Flanker and Jared gave chase to the Draken.
Genma Tairo was getting annoyed at this. "Its time I shot you two down!" He exclaimed as he continued his loop with the F-22 in pursuit. Omega-1 fired of one missile after getting a lock-on. Only to groan as the J 35 rolled to the side and avoided it. "Man, this guy is already annoying me." "I'm only gonna make it worse." Genma replied. "Who the heck are you anyway? You don't fly like a rookie!" Genma's voice laughed over the comm. "My name…is Taurus." It was then that the Draken made a diagonal turn as Taurus tried to get behind his opponent. Jared however wasn't impressed. It was a basic move. He countered it by pulling off a Cobra maneuver….and continued pulling back till his nose was facing Genma's direction.
The Kulbit maneuver, this development made Taurus sqwuak "What the-! Do you think this is an airshow you fool?!" "Nope, just getting on your nerves. ,heres a hot present for you! Right off the stove!" Jared then once more opened fire on the Draken with its Vulcan. Genma took many hits before making the wise decision to climb upward. The F-22 pilot then pulled back the stick and made his plane dive to gain speed.
Andrew was having a ball of with the Su-27, it was weaving, spin, and barrel rolling all over the place. "Geeze, is this guy on a sugar high or what?!" He however then followed the enemy craft almost perfectly as it executed another barrel roll. He was trying to get on the Flanker's six. "normal tactics might not be so good for this guy…wonder what I could do?" He thought to himself as he saw the Flanker try a Half-Cuban 8 to catch the F-35 pilot off guard. It didn't work, as Maverick-1 shot off a locked on missile, which the Sukhoi pilot nimbly avoided with haste. The Flanker had rolled off and made a dive for lower altitudes. However, as Andrew lined up with him. He opened fire upon the plane with his Vulcan and forced the would-be runaway to pull up.
Andrew followed him quickly and shot off more of his Vulcan in short bursts for the fourth, fifth and sixth times that day. Each burst did little damage to the plane as it passed through his sights quickly. The Sukhoi pilot then did something odd. He executed what seemed to be Wing Over, but as he reached the peak of his turn he pulled back and almost immediately was behind the Lightening II. It was a hailstorm of bullets that woke up Andrew's instincts, which told him to do a climbing turn.
He went up diagonally left and the Su-27 mimicked his move to keep up with him. The F-35 then went into a series of barrel rolls that were so swift, the Flanker had trouble keeping a stable lock on him at all. When the F-35 stopped for a few seconds. That was the chance that the pilot had been looking for. He jammed his finger to the trigger button in an attempt to finally shoot down his adversary…It was all for naught. The F-35 quickly climbed and then performed a half-loop, which the Flanker kept up with. Andrew then practically threw the stick forward to make his Lightening II climb while upside down. The Flanker also mimicked him once more…
However, when the Flanker completed the half-loop…The enemy was gone! Where he had gone he didn't know. He looked around frantically. Not even thinking about looking to his radar…a fatal mistake. A missile alert screamed in his ear and startled him into panic as a single QAAM missile dashed up his tailpipe and blew the fighter to oblivion. Maverick one whooped as he watched the fiery wreck speedily crash into the ground. "That was the best shot I made all day! Two kills for me!" He then veered right as he headed for the now distance battle between his ally and the enemy squadron's leader.
Taurus nearly choked as he saw his last friendly fighter was shot down. He was amazed. These two managed to take out his entire squadron themselves. They also had plenty of firepower left to finish him as well.. By now, the F-22 had sustained substantial damage. The wings had bullet holes and even a in the plane's armor near the cockpit.
By all rights his plane should have been crashing down into the ground by now, and Jared knew it. He was just damned lucky today. He sighed as he rubbed where his forehead would be if the helmet had not been obstructing his path. "Gary is going to kill me for this." He groaned at the thought of his tech manager chewing him out for bringing back the plane a flying mess. "Sounds like its pretty bad, eh Omega-1?" "You have no idea." Replied the weary and worn out pilot."I do now that I can see ya there."
Andrew's F-35 now came into view on Jared's left. He was speeding at the J 35 and loosing a barrage of bullets at him, in hopes of shooting him down. He failed in that, and veered off as Taurus went after him. The F-22 quickly went into a Half-Cuban 8 to give chase as well. Trying to stay on the wildly swerving Draken's six of whom was trying to keep up with the weaving of the Lightening II. As soon as the targeting recticle got sight of the J 35. He opened fire in hopes of shooting down the enemy, to no avail.
The nimble Draken quickly veered away, after which both the pilots went after him in a heartbeat. Both of them began taking turns firing of their Vulcan at Taurus' plane. Both of them were doing substantial damage. The Draken was beginning to smoke now from the damage. Genma knew his plane could not take much more abuse. While Kugatanians also put their honor on the line as well as their life. Even they knew when to give up. The Draken did a banking turn to the right and then kept on with it until he was pointed towards his home base.
"You may have won this round, you lousy Utarians, but I'll be back to fight another day!!" It was then that he lit his afterburners and sped off as quickly as possible. The F-35's afterburners lit up as well. Hoping to give chase. "Come back here!!" Maverick-1 exclaimed. "Let him go bro. Let him go." "Ah, but-" "No buts. As your squadron leader, I order you not to give chase." Was Jared's terse reply. They then watched as the J 35 got smaller and smaller till it disappeared over the horizon line.
Then Jared decided to report in to his home base. "This is Omega-1, This is Omega-1. Do you copy Dalleus Tower?" It was a short silence before another familiar voice came over the communications link.. "This is Dalleus Tower, You reporting in Omega 1?" "Sure am. We missed getting the target transport and the escort squadron's leader. However, I confirm four kills, four of the five aircraft fighter escort has been shot down. Three by me, the other one is my brother's handiwork." There was another short silence as the voice on the other end seemed to be thinking. Then it spoke up once more. "Very well then, Omega Squadron. Return to base and land. You've done a good days work despite the losses. You deserve it." "Thank you, sir." Was the reply of both pilots. Then Jared looked to his brother in the F-35 Lightening II from his Raptor. "Well, Andrew my friend. Let's head home and get some rest." "Yeah, I need one after this." Then they climbed up till they were above the clouds. It had just turned to night, and both of them were pretty weary from their fight. They went into supercruise mode, their jets going past Mach 1.5, it was then that they flew straight and true to the Northeast. To home base in the USU. The United States of Utaria.
Note, there are some references to movies and video games and in this fiction. For example. The Sigma-symbol on the F-35 and his callsign being Maverick-1 are reference to the MegaMan X series. You need to look hard to find these reference so don't be scared to ask what they are. Another example is Genma's statement "What the-! Do you think this is an airshow you fool?!" is a reference to that the Kulbit maneuver is usually used during airshows and not commonly used in combat. Well, till next time people! As a repeat. I do not own Ace Combat and most of the planes in this story. I DO however own rights to my characters and any planes I make up for this fic that Namco hasn't. Have a nice day!