Aeronautica Chapter One
Black Flight
"Black Flight, report to the briefing room. Repeat, Black Flight, report to the briefing room." The dull voice droned through the hull of the cruiser. Wing-Sergeant Samuel Vance grabbed his flight helmet and pressure vest, leaving the room in a hurry, his black eyes shining with the thought of finally seeing some action. He arrived maybe two minutes after the call, the two other members of the flight giving him a nod.
"Wing-Sergeant" The first, Wing-Corporal Sebastian Quast said respectfully, his slightly feminine features as controlled as always. The second, Private Olivia Voldaren, just snorted and looked the other way, her red hair tied in a severe bun.
"You're running late." She said flatly. Vance shrugged.
"I'm never late. I arrive exactly when I intend to." He said with a grin. The doors to the briefing room opened, and the imposing form of Lord General Krosan walked into the room. The three snapped to attention immediately, only for him to wave them down.
"At ease, pilots" He said calmly. "There's no need for that."
Quast and Vance visibly relaxed, but Voldaren allowed showing a bit of disgruntled arrogance at the lack of protocol. If Krosan noticed, he chose not to mention in.
"The mission you are receiving today is top-secret, and you should not inform anyone else under any circumstances, no matter their ranks. Is that understood?"
It was a statement, not a question, but the three nodded anyway. Krosan allowed a growl to emerge from his throat as the holo-display shuddered into existence.
"As you are aware, this fleet has arrived to assist in the war for control of a world known officially known as Maro Seven. The locals call it Bladehold, and as far as records go back it's a relatively peaceful agri-world. Geography is mostly that of fields, with some artic terrain at the poles. The grass here is actually metallic and sharp, hence the nickname." Krosan said in a bored tone, folding his hands behind his back. "About a year ago, a host of Khornate cultists made a power play, and succeeded in gaining control of a large region of the planet in the northern hemisphere. Reinforcements for the cultists arrived, including World Eaters traitor marines."
Quast allowed a shudder to show, while Voldaren remained as emotionless as ever. Vance had to restrain his own fear from showing.
"However, a small group of Knights Inductor Astartes where already in the system, and they helped the local PDF organize a decent resistance to hold the southern hemisphere. This fleet was mobilized to take back the rest of the world."
"We already knew this." Quast protested. "Why tell us again?"
Voldaren slapped the back of his head. "It is standard briefing procedure, you moron. Now shut up and listen." She paused, embarrassed. "Sorry, sir"
"At ease, Private" Krosan said with a chuckle. "Anyway, she's right. Your flight is a member of the 201st Wing of the Imperial Navy, which was mobilized to re-establish air superiority. Your flight was selected especially for this mission. I warn you now; the survival rate is very low. If you wish to refuse, back out now"
Vance grinned. "Well, I can't very well back off now without knowing what it is, can I?" He said brightly. "How about you, Quast? Voldaren?"
"With you until the end, Wing-Sergeant" Quast said with a grin. Voldaren sighed.
"I guess you two will need someone with a brain watching your backs." She grumbled. Krosan grinned.
"The imperium thanks you, pilots. Now, the real briefing begins."
The holo-display of the planet zoomed in on the red line showing the approximate border, showing the only real gap there.
"This is the valley the locals call Kruin Pass. Over the course of the war, it's been the target of most main chaos offenses, due to it being the easiest way through the Krallenhorde Mountains that have dictated the border for so long. Recently, a petty Chaos warlord led a successful attack, and the area is now almost entirely under Chaos control. The warlord received the title of the 'Terror of Kruin Pass', and he has been the target of many failed assassination attempts by the Knights Inductor."
"Astartes being assassins? A little far-fetched, isn't it?" Quast said incredulously. Vance shook his head.
"Space Marines belonging to the Knights Inductor are known for taking the path of least risk but most reward. An assassination of a warlord would plunge the forces into confusion, making the retaking of the pass much easier."
Krosan gave an agreeing nod. "This mission is coded as Black in our records for one reason – you are going to escort a single Vulture gunship down to Kruin Pass, and it is going to provide cover fire for the Knights Inductor kill-team it shall deploy, before leaving."
"Seems fairly standard, even if the ending is unorthodox" Voldaren mused. "There's something else, isn't there?"
"In the last two months since Kruin Pass was captured, the area has been turned into something of an airfield. We estimate as many as six Hell Blade-class interceptors and two Hell Talon-class bombers are there, along with three corrupted Sabre anti-air platforms."
Vance's eyes widened. "So that's why you're not just bombing the place. You want to be able to use the airfield."
Krosan nodded. "An established airstrip on the ground for our Lightning interceptors would make their deployment much faster than from the ship. Corrupted or not, an airstrip is an airstrip."
Vance frowned. "Six Hell Blades is a lot of stuff for three Lightning's to worry about. Why not put another flight on this?"
Krosan growled. "They're needed for air superiority missions on the other side of the planet – we were lucky we could spare one flight, especially the best in the wing."
Voldaren shrugged. "We can handle six Blades. Remember that time over Numot? There were four Nightwings that time."
Vance gave a brief shrug, a smile and a nod. "Yeah, I guess that some Hell Blades are nothing compared to that – how long will the Vulture need to deploy the team?"
"Two minutes to disembark, three to make sure they infiltrate successfully." Krosan said crisply. "You should be only a minute away from the target zone before they pick you up on radar."
Vance did some quick calculations. "So, five minutes of covering it, one minute before that and…I'd guess two minutes before the Hell Blades are beyond any assistance and need to withdraw?"
"Eight minutes combat time total." Quast muttered. "That's pretty damn tight, even for us, especially if they've got Sabre platforms."
Voldaren's eyes flickered to Vance. "Have a plan, Sergeant?"
"I think I do." He nodded. "Right, we need to disable those Sabers' first. Quast, that's your job. Pack a pair of Hellstrike missiles, and take them out. Voldaren, you stick tight to the Vulture with one Hellstrike and a Skystrike, be its bodyguard. I'll run interference and diversion with a pair of Skystrikes, and try to take out the Hell Talon's if they get deployed."
Krosan nodded. "I'll leave it up to your expertise here, Sergeant. I'm a footslogger." He said with a grin. "You did damn fine work on Numot, and that was on your own."
Vance inclined his head towards the general. "Thank you, sir. Should we head for the ships?"
Krosan glanced at the clock on the wall. "Mission starts in 30 minutes, you better get the Lightning's armed."
The three pilots of 201st Wing's Black Flight snapped to attention, saluted, and left the briefing room.
**
"This is Black Flight Leader, ETA to hot zone 30 seconds. Flight sound off" Vance said calmly, flicking a few switches on his dashboard. "Black Leader, all engines hot, running at altitude 3,500 feet"
"Black One, standing by." Quast's voice crackled over the commlink. "All engines hot, running at altitude of 4,500 feet."
"Black Two, standing by." Voldaren replied crisply. "All engines hot, running at altitude 4,000 feet at cruising speed"
"Foehammer, standing by" The vulture pilot sent out. "Running at altitude 4,000 feet at maximum speed, all engines hot, warming up the Rocket Pods now"
"Copy that, Black Flight. Entering hostile airspace…now" Vance said, accelerating into a dive to 3,000 feet.
"I've got movement." The vulture weapons operator responded. "Three Hell Blades, coming in fast. Estimated engagement time with you, Black Leader, is twenty seconds."
"I see them." Vance said grimly. "Alright, VIP and two, you hang back for now. One, I need you to skirt over the top and prepare for bombing run."
"Copy that leader." Quast said calmly, as Voldaren and the Vulture banked off to the left. Vance saw the first three of the Hell Blades come zooming towards him, almost in range. Grinning, he brought the Lightning up into a tight spin while gaining altitude, the Hell Blades being forced into a steep climb.
"I thought you guys were meant to be good." He muttered to himself, lowering his throttle and evening out. Two of the Hell Blades overshot and continued rising, while one realized its mistake and leveled out instantly. "It doesn't matter how good your box is, if you can't fly it speed and maneuverability isn't worth jack squat."
The two higher Hell Blades attempted to dive down, their autocannons spitting at him. Vance banked right sharply, firing at the third, which in turn returned fire, its rounds skipping past the plane's wing. Two of Vance's autocannon shots hit it, smashing the cockpit open and destroying an engine. The Hell Blade fell into a dive, smashing into the ground in a fiery explosion. The second was destroyed by a well-placed lascannon blast from Quast's Lightning, which was currently cruising at its maximum altitude – before it required its booster rockets, at any rate.
The final Hell blade swooped around, dodging Vance's autocannon fire, but a sudden string of heavy bolter rounds shredded its right wing, and it went into an uncontrollable spin.
"You can thank us for that later." The Vulture's weapons operator said over the commlink with a laugh. Vance shook his head and glanced at his radar.
"Don't celebrate yet, we're thirty seconds out from the valley. I'm picking up those Hell Talon's now."
Immediately after he said that, a lascannon shot streaked past Vance's cockpit, leaving the pilot blinking the light out of his eyes.
"Yeah, I see them." Voldaren said. "You still want to deal with them?"
"That's the plan, isn't it? You keep an eye out for those last three Hell Blades; I'll deal with the Talons."
The two Hell Talons came rearing up, their twin lascannons spitting another shot at Vance's Lightning. Vance forced the interceptor into a somersault, flicking the 'arm' switch for his first Skystrike missile. He finished the somersault, even as the two Hell Talons split apart and attempted to move around him. Banking to the right, he waited until the Skystrike had a lock on the first, dodging some autocannon shot from the second.
Eventually, the missile locked and fired, streaking after the diving Talon. Vance lowered his thrust into a downwards Immelman turn, ending up beneath the belly of the second Hell Talon and raking it with Autocannon shots until it exploded. Grinning, he turned to go after the rest of his flight.
**
Quast's first Hellstrike Air-To-Ground missile destroyed one of the Sabre platforms without warning, striking from 5,000 feet. Immediately after that, the remaining two saturated the air with heavy stubber fire, panicking cultists running around, the remaining three Hell Blade's scrambling. Whooping, Quast brought his Lightning into a dive, arming the second missile while he spat a few Lascannon rounds at a Hell Blade just beginning to take off, destroying it. The second missile destroyed another platform immediately after, but the third clipped Quast's wing. Cursing, Quast realized he was leaking fuel.
"Black Leader, this is Black One. I'm out of missiles, lascannon charges and I'm leaking fuel, I have to disengage now to get clear." He sent, slightly annoyed that he wouldn't be there for the end of the mission.
Vance's reply came quickly over the commlink. "Get out of there now, Seb. Voldaren and I can handle this for now."
Quast banked around and accelerated, shooting off towards friendly airspace.
**
Voldaren armed her sole Hellstrike missile and blasted the third and final platform back to the warp where it came from.
Well, this is surprisingly easy. She thought, decelerating as the Vulture hovered a few feet off the ground, its heavy bolter spitting at various cultists trying to bring heavy weapons to bear.
Then the other two Hell Blades came out, and Voldaren realized how difficult her situation was. Hell Blades were, unfortunately, faster than a Lightning, but just about as maneuverable. Normally, she'd turn this to her advantage, using their speed against them, but she had to remain close enough to the Vulture to give it cover fire.
The Hell Blades had an entire sky to move in.
Cursing, Voldaren banked down and left, arming her Skystrike missile, firing randomly with her autocannons, hoping to score a hit. The two Blades dodged with ease, their own quad autocannons saturating the air in front of her. Voldaren winced as a few actually slammed into the area around her cockpit, and her eyes widened when she heard the unmistakable 'hiss' of losing air pressure.
"Smeg" She hissed to herself, strapping her oxygen mask on. More complex maneuvers would be impossible without destroying the cockpit now.
The first Hell Blade moved in for the kill, arrogantly slowly. Voldaren's Skystrike missile blew it out of the sky.
The second was more respectful of the Imperial pilot; it flickered from side to side, staying just close enough that its own autocannons were in optimal range while not being close enough that the Vulture could get a rocket pod shot off.
Voldaren's autocannons ran dry, and she switched to her lascannons. She'd take this one out if it killed her; she thought grimly, spitting off one of her three charges at it.
Three lances of energy smashed down from above, impaling the Hell Blade straight through the cockpit. Whooping, Vance pulled out of his dive.
"Okay, Voldaren, please tell me you have ammo left because those were all my lascannon shots and I used up my autocannon rounds last dogfight."
Voldaren checked her ammo count.
"I've got two lascannon charges left."
"Well, smeg. Foehammer, is the mission complete?"
The Vulture flared its engine, its rear door shutting.
"Kill team deployed, Black Leader, ready to leave." It responded, turning around. Voldaren cast a glance at Vance's Lightning from her cockpit.
"Black Leader, I'm losing atmosphere, I can't return to the cruiser like this." She reported. Vance's reply came over the commlink a second later.
"Okay, there's some fields to the south, set down there and I'll bring down some support. Not leaving you to die, Voldaren."
"Thank you, Wing-Sergeant." Voldaren said, allowing gratitude to seep into her voice. "Just don't take too long."
Voldaren's Lightning was received by the end of the day, and the three pilots once again found themselves in the briefing room, this time for debriefing. This time, though, they had company.
"Well, that went surprisingly well." The vulture weapons operator said happily, grinning at the pilots. "I don't think we were introduced properly – I'm Private Alexander Olik."
"Navy Pilot Bouchard Mendez" The pilot of the vulture said calmly. Vance gave him a nod.
"I'm Wing-Sergeant Vance; this is Wing-Corporal Quast and Private Voldaren."
Quast waved, while Voldaren just sat there and continued looking serious. At that moment, General Krosan walked into the briefing room.
"Sorry I'm late, Gentlemen, Voldaren." The aging General grunted, sitting in his chair. "Now, on to the debriefing. About an hour ago, I received word that the Knights Inductor kill team successfully killed the mutated warlord known as the 'Terror of Kruin Pass'. After this, I moved in my forces and the valley – along with the airstrip – has been captured with minimal casualties. Already fortifications are being deployed. I'm going to post your squadron there as part of an ongoing mission to establish air superiority over the Krallenhorde mountain region. Do you have any questions?"
Mendez raised his hand into the air. "What about us – we're not Black Flight."
Krosan raised an eyebrow, and Vance shook his head.
"Not happening sir. I'm afraid I'll have to refuse – I cannot have some fresh-faced Vulture crew hanging around with us!"
Krosan scowled at Vance. "Wing-Sergeant, your flight has been understrength since Numot. I've allowed it to continue – stuck out my own NECK so the admiral would allow it to continue – purely because of how well you three work together. However, it can't last any longer – this is a WAR, not a bunch of scouting missions, or interceptions in a void."
Vance scowled and sank into his seat, glaring at the General. "Permission to supervise the repairs on our Lightning's, sir"
"Permission granted, Wing Sergeant."
Vance walked out of the briefing room, Voldaren following him. Mendez glanced at Quast.
"What's up with the Sarge?"
Quast sighed. "He's got problems after what happened on Numot."
"What happened on Numot?" Olik asked, genuinely curious. Quast shrugged.
"I guess you've got a right to know, don't they general?"
"Correct, son. I've got an army to organize, so you go ahead and use this room."
Krosan walked out of the briefing room, and Quast stood up and activated the holo-display, searching back for the records of Numot.
"Ah, here we are."
He brought the planet up – almost entirely oceans, with the only real land being mountains rising up from the sea. "This is Numot. An Ork 'waagh' attacked it, and the 201st wing was diverted to fight. The lack of significant landmass meant this was almost entirely up to the navy. Black Flight entered the war over strength, with five Lightning's, ten Thunderhawk's and five Aquila landers for supplies."
"And you went from that to three Lightning's? What happened?" Mendez asked nervously. Quast gave him a grin.
"What do you think happened? We flew."
TO BE CONTINUED
**
A/N: So, my first foray into W40k in a while – I blame my temporary detachment from the game. However, I recently got back in after a few games of Deathwatch and Aeronautica Imperialis, which…caused this to happen.
Disclaimer: Most names in this chapter belong to/are inspired by/heavily based up properties from Wizards of the Coast Inc. Aeronautica Imperialis belongs to Forge World. Warhammer 40,000 belongs to Games Workshop LLC. The Call-Sign 'Foehammer' belongs to Bungie Inc. and Microsoft. Black Flight was the name of a Canadian flight in N#10 Squadron from WW1. Any other resemblances to people living or dead are purely accidental. The Knights Inductor (AKA 'Reasonable Marines') are a product of /tg/. Please for the love of *Insert religious belief here* don't sue me. Any Top Gun refrences you find are most likely accidental, if accidental means 'Sorry, I couldn't help myself'. If you are still reading this, the Angry Marines don't like people who can't let people wright fanfiction, you #$%! Piece of !#%T!% !#%&^$# %!^ of a !%!$#%^. They know where you live, and they are coming for you.