Ace Combat
Heart of the Melting Blood
Written by:
Lone Wolf NEO
Conceived by: Lone Wolf NEO

Author's note: Ace Combat is copyrighted by NAMCO, and Lone Wolf NEO does not own any or all real-life features or whatever facts featured in this story. He does, however, own the copyright to all his original ideas in this fiction. The author would really appreciate it if readers do not plagiaries everything inside this story without his knowledge.

Chapter 1
Flight of Mercy

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Utopian Airways Flight 2112. This is your pilot-on-duty Captain Jonathon Darren and I, along with my co-pilot Captain Barbara Hanna and flight engineer Frederick Lee welcome all of you onboard this airline en route to Magellan City Airport. We are now flying 12,000 feet above sea level, ladies and gentlemen, and the weather outside is pristine clear and it's expected to be a clear day when we arrive at our destination. This flight will take roughly 2 hours and 30 minutes, and we're expected to make a touchdown around two o'clock in the afternoon. Our flight attendants will be preparing lunch in a moment, and please don't be hesitate to contact any of them should you need any in-flight assistance. Again, I, your captain of today, welcome you onboard and please enjoy this flight as much as you can."

True to the pilot's words, the afternoon sky was crystal clear with no visible sign of dark clouds floating around. The prop-driven F.27 Friendship passenger airplane was lazily cruising over the vast stretch of pampas grass below it, flying gracefully as if it was a metallic eagle roaming high over its vast territory. The sight of the Friendship was as breathtaking as it was the only flying object present, had there been anyone adventuring in the isolated region.

"All systems are checked," the flight engineer reported while turning several dials on the control panels off. "Both engines are running fine, and the rate of fuel consumption is on normal level. The onboard communication is working perfectly as well, and there's no abnormality so far."

"So far so good," the co-pilot, a middle-aged woman with brunette hair, uttered and checked the flight instruments before her. "But if I'm allowed to ask something, why the heck we're assigned on this flight? Darren?"

The pilot-on-duty merely chuckled. "Don't ask me, Barbara. Even I had pleaded our boss to have somebody else taking this flight. Only God knows what he was thinking that time," he uttered.

"God? I don't want anything to do with it," the flight engineer joked.

"Shut up, Freddie, you're talking too much," the female pilot snorted.

The friendly conversation continued, even as the Fokker flew past a range of mountains separating the prairie from a manmade lake. There was a slight change of weather as the aircraft flew across the mountain range, but it was undeterred and kept itself level for the rest of the journey.

Then suddenly the tranquillity of the flight was shattered. An unidentified flying object made a speedy pass behind the Fokker, taking the flight crews by surprise. Then another flying object passed over the airplane in such speed it was barely visible.

"Jesus! What the hell is that?" demanded the female pilot as she peeked outside the cockpit.

Captain Darren immediately checked the radar display. A shocked look crossed his face and he turned back to his crews. "We're in deep trouble," he announced.

"What are you talking about?" Just then, the flying objects from earlier made a fast flyby next to the Friendship and the irked Barbara peeked outside the windscreen. "Why our boss didn't tell us there's going to be an air drill in this area?" she screamed.

Captain Darren seized the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen," he spoke through the mouthpiece, "we'd like to inform you that there's turbulence ahead of this airline, and we'll have to fly through it. Please return to your seat and remain seated until further notice. The seatbelt signals will be lit on shortly."

"Turbulence kiss my butt!" Barbara insisted. "You ought to tell them what's actually going on!"

"Captain Hanna, I'd advice you not to jeopardize the passengers," the pilot reminded and glanced at her. "Remember that the policy of Utopian Airways is to have our customers enjoy a hassle-free flight, whatever obstacles we may have to face." Captain Darren, then, looked outside the cockpit and saw the sight of an armed jet flying close to the Friendship. "Especially when it's not an air drill we're dealing with."

Indeed, it was not a regular air-to-air drill. The F.27 propeller aircraft was cornered by seven scarlet red-painted F-20 Tigersharks, and one of the jets was tailing the passenger plane so close that its nose almost touched the tip of the Fokker's tail. It was a tough situation for the flight crews of Flight 2112; every time the Fokker tried to descend to lower altitude, the Tigersharks would fly below them; it could not climb higher as well because the jets would already overtake them, forcing it to fly in straight path. Captain Darren was trying his best to keep everything under control despite urges from his flight crews to let the passengers be informed.

After several agonizing minutes, one of the Tigersharks contacted Captain Darren. "Flight 2112, this is the captain of Bohemian Air Force's 31st Squadron," the pilot spoke in a distinguished Belkan accent, "you are flying through this no-fly zone without permission from our superiors. Please follow us and land on our airbase immediately."

"What the hell? I didn't remember anything about asking permission to fly from any superiors!" Barbara's shocked voice could be heard through the intercom. "I demand an explanation from you damned pilots!"

"Flight 2112, please follow us and land on our airbase immediately," the Tigershark pilot continued, "or we'll have to resort to aggression. This is a direct order from our Field Marshall Romanov."

"Jesus! Can anybody out there help us to get through these damned people?" Barbara screamed.

As suddenly as before, the Tigersharks formation broke off and flew to other direction, leaving the Fokker and its bedazzled crews behind. Both the pilots peeked outside the cockpit, trying to see what was going on around them. Then they saw one Tigershark passing several hundreds feet ahead of the Fokker, under pursuit by an F-4X painted in two-tone silver camouflage paint. Captain Darren and Captain Barbara watched in astonishment, as the F-4X overtook the aggressor and shot it down before made an overhead pass, shooting another Tigershark that came toward its way.

"Who or what is that?" screamed the female pilot through her radio. The only answer she got was an intense spray of bullets fired from one of the Tigersharks, and it barely hit the Fokker's tail by a mere inch. Another Tigershark sped above the Fokker and the following turbulence caused it to rock violently on its wings. Captain Darren, being a coolheaded man, took control of the Fokker and dived to lower altitudes in effort to escape the dogfight unharmed. The attempt was easily foreseen by the aggressors, however, and the remaining jets soon pursued the flight, leaving a flight of Phantoms far behind. Already the abrupt manoeuvre triggered chaos in the passenger cabin, and the flight crews were trying their best to keep everything under control.

"Can't you bring this plane faster, John!" demanded the flight engineer.

"Are you crazy, Freddie? This is NOT a fancy aerobatic plane!" Barbara answered.

"But those jets are chasing us, and they might shoot us down anytime!" Frederick insisted.

"Do not worry," Darren calmly spoke, "I'm very certain the saviour we just saw back there will catch up with them." And here he gazed at Barbara and gave her a convincing eyesight. "I'm very sure they will."

The cat-and-mouse chase had an unexpected twist. The Tigersharks decided to challenge the Phantoms again and aborted their attempt to shoot down the Fokker, thinking that the aircrafts were more worthy targets to deal with.

That was their mistake.

The Phantom from earlier appeared behind the aggressors and fired its remaining missiles at the jets. The Tigersharks were taken by surprise yet had no time to evade the oncoming projectiles; two of them were hit by the missiles while one Tigershark took a direct hit by missiles fired by the approaching Phantoms. The last Tigershark fled from the battlefield in fear of facing the fate of its comrades, and the solo F-4X reunited with the three-plane flight.

Several minutes of dead silence passed, and neither radio contact nor verbal word was heard. Neither Captain Darren, his co-pilot nor the flight engineer realized it yet, but the four-plane formation flew toward the Fokker in a loose diamond formation, whilst the pilots of the fighters positioned their aircrafts so that the jets were sandwiching the propeller airplane between their positions.

Then the Fokker received a transmission from the flight of the F-4Xs, and it brought relief to the flight crew. "Flight 2112 of Utopian Airways, this is Captain Anderson of Raider Squadron. We have gotten rid of the bogeys, so you are now safe," a voice spoke through the intercom.

"Did he just say Raider Squadron?" the startled female pilot asked.

"Isn't that the new elite squadron of Osean Air Defence Force?" Freddie asked as well.

"Flight 2112 to Raider Squadron," Captain Darren responded to the intercom, "we highly thank you for saving us. How can we ever pay your deed back?"

"We will be of your escort until you leave this vicinity," the voice replied. "That's all we ask from you."

"Why, yes, we appreciate it," Captain Darren spoke.

Both the pilots, later on, peeked outside the cockpits and saw two of the jets' pilots waving at them. The amazed civilian pilots just waved back at them, and looked at one another. "This is the most unexpected day in our life ever," Captain Darren later spoke.

"Guys? Guys? What's going on?" Frederick's dumbfounded voice startled them. The two pilots glanced at him, said nothing and looked back at the fighter jets that were escorting the flight. "Hey, guys! Can anyone of you tell me what's going on?"

x-x-x-x-x

Several minutes earlier…

"Raider Squadron, this is Golden Eye. All Raiders aircraft, report in."

"Raider 1 on, stand by."

"Raider 2 on, stand by."

"Raider 3 on, stand by."

"Raider 4 on, stand by."

"Raider Squadron to Golden Eyes, all Raiders are on and ready to engage."

"Oh, come on Alley! You know you don't have to be too formal at this time, right?"

"Will you please shut up, Cougar? You're distracting Alley."

"Uh-oh, Edge is angry. I'm so scared."

"Stop it, Cougar! You're disgracing me!"

"What happens to your wingmen, Raider 1? Are they up with something?"

"Nah, don't worry about them, Golden Eye. They're always like that, quarrelling like brother and sister. Heh, I wish I have a little sister to argue with right now."

"Alley!"

"Golden Eye, got anything to report to us right now?"

"We have detected seven Bohemian Air Force's Tigersharks intercepting a F.27 Friendship 10 nautical miles to the southwest of your position. It seems that the airliner's heading to the Magellan City Airport when the interceptors arrived."

"A passenger airplane? What's it doing in this no-fly zone?"

"Do you have any identification of the Fokker, Golden Eye?"

"It's from Utopian Airways, registered under Flight 2112. Raider 1, we've managed to intercept the Tigersharks' intercom with the Fokker, and it seems that the Fokker's forced to follow them to their air base or it'll face the risk of being shot down."

"We read it, Golden Eye."

"What are those Bohemians up to, trying to shoot down the harmless Fokker?"

"I don't know, Edge, but whatever it is we ought to save the Fokker immediately."

"Raider Squadron, you're cleared to engage the aggressors."

"Yahoo! Time to kick some ass!"

Immediately all the four F-4Xs painted in two-tone silver scheme sped their way toward the location of the unfortunate Fokker. As soon as the Phantoms arrived, the aggressors' formation broke off as if realizing their attempt to harm the Fokker had been thwarted, and the Tigersharks were now engaging the newcomers.

"Raider 1, engage!"

"Raider 2, engage!"

"Raider 3, engage!"

"Raider 4, engage."

Immediately the F-4Xs broke away from formation and engaged the aggressors. One of the pilots accelerated, flew ahead of his team-mates and chased a Tigershark trying to shoot down the Fokker. The jet flew so fast that it passed in front of the Fokker almost instantaneously, and it was trying to outrun the pursuing fighter. The pilot of the F-4X, however, knew what he should do and positioned his craft behind the aggressor, taking care not to lose his aim as he did. He brought his finger over the trigger, pressed it and…

"Fox 2, Fox 2."

The two missiles flew away, and the pilot watched them connect. There was a quick flash, a puff of smoke and the Tigershark flew into the ground. The pilot broke away and made a pass over the Fokker's cockpit, before shooting down another Tigershark coming toward his way.

"Down two bogeys!" a voice screamed through the pilot's earpiece. "Hah, I didn't expect to see this nugget doing well on his first try. Nice shot, Lone Wolf!" The pilot just grinned and made haste to his team-mates when one of the remaining Tigersharks chased the Fokker and sprayed bullet at its tail. The gunfire missed and the Tigershark overtook the Fokker, but the turbulence that followed its flight path caused the Fokker to rock on its wing violently.

"Just what are they trying to do!" a female voice screamed through the pilot's earpiece again. "Let me take care of that bandit!"

"Edge, bandit at your six!"

The said F-4X broke made an abrupt climb, causing the pursuing Tigershark to overrun. The pilot executed a hard manoeuvre and was now tailing the aggressor. "Take this!" she screamed and opened fire; it was poorly aimed, and the Tigershark easily evaded it.

"Edge, Cougar, both of you stay by my wings," the leader of the F-16 formation ordered, "Lone Wolf, leave the rest of the bandits to us. You take care of the attacking Tigershark; you better do it fast, or the Fokker won't survive this dogfight long enough."

"Raider 4, engage."

The F-4X broke off and pursued the lone Tigershark, leaving the rest of the aggressors to be dealt with by his team-mates. The chase happened at ridiculously high speed that both the fighter jets left the combat zone and were on their own. Despite the chaotic aerial ballet they were having, the F-4X's pilot managed to glance at the Fokker and saw it being chased by the Tigersharks. It seemed that the aggressors were sidetracked and chased the lone Fokker, ignoring the Phantoms that were left not far behind. The pilot reached for his radio and contacted his team-mates, but in the hesitation the Tigershark managed to get on his tail and volleyed hundreds of bullets at his position. The pilot grumbled and brought his F-4X into a shallow dive, whilst the Tigershark continued firing his tail.

"Lone Wolf, that bogey's trying to scratch your tail! Do something about it!" he heard the female pilot's voice screaming inside his earpiece. In an effort even he never expected to execute, the pilot pressed on the brake hard, bringing the Phantom into an impromptu slowdown that caused the Tigershark to overshoot. He made no hesitation and fired his Vulcan at the Tigershark, and watched the jet getting showered by the 20mm bullets and flew into the ground. He rushed to the Fokker, and saw the Tigersharks flying away from the airliner and charging at his team-mates.

"Just about time those bastards deciding not to harm the Fokker," he heard Cougar snorting in the radio intercom.

"But they're heading toward us!" Edge insisted. "We three won't be enough to face them!"

The pilot said nothing to reply to the intercom; he, instead, flew several hundred feet under the Tigersharks and armed all his remaining missiles. He looked at the aggressors and immediately sprung at their tails, taking the Tigersharks by a complete surprise.

"Fox 2, Fox 2. Fox 1."

All the three missiles flew away from their host and chased the unprepared Tigersharks, along with a missile fired from Edge's position. There were bright flashes and thick puffs of smokes as the guided projectiles connected, and the hit Tigersharks were now nothing more than incinerated scraped metals. The last Tigershark, probably knowing the risk of challenging the Phantoms one on one, fled from combat zone, never to be seen.

"Yahoo! Take that, bandits!" Edge enthusiastically declared.

"Nice shot, Edge," Cougar complemented.

"But not as good as our Lone Wolf," Alley added, even as the solo F-16 returned to their formation. "Five confirmed kills in one sortie; he just made himself an ace today."

"Way to go, Lone Wolf!" Edge shouted.

The Phantoms gathered in a loose diamond formation as they approached the Fokker, and positioned themselves so that the airliner was between their positions. Then Alley made contact with the pilots of the passenger plane. "Flight 2112 of Utopian Airways, this is Captain Anderson of Raider Squadron. We have gotten rid of the bogeys, so you are now safe," he spoke.

"Did he just say Raider Squadron?" the fighter pilots heard the Fokker's female pilot asking.

"Isn't that the new elite squadron of Osean Air Force?" along came another voice asking.

"Flight 2112 to Raider Squadron," the pilot of the Fokker replied, "we highly thank you for saving us. How can we pay your deed back?"

"We will be of your escort until you leave this vicinity," Alley replied. "That's all we ask from you."

"Why, yes, we appreciate it," the pilot of the passenger airplane spoke.

"I bet those pilots will be very surprised to see us," Edge said and waved to the pilots who were looking outside the cockpit. "See? I can see their shocked face right now."

"Aw, Edge has a soft side after all," Cougar teased.

"Stop it, Cougar! Or I'll have to shoot you down," demanded the female fighter pilot.

"Make me," Cougar insisted. "Or should I ask Lone Wolf to pet you instead?"

"Why are you suddenly involving Lone Wolf in this matter, Cougar!" she cried.

The pilot, Lone Wolf, could only shake his head in wonder while listening to the quarrel. He unmasked himself, leaned against his ejection seat and gazed at a picture taped between the CRT displays. It was a picture of him, a man roughly around his age and a young girl standing between them, while a Hornet was parked behind them. He breathed in relief, nodded and turned the radio on as to make contact with his team-mates.

"Lone Wolf! Do something about Cougar!" Edge's voice startled him.

"Aw, look at that. Asking her lovey-dovey boyfriend for help," he heard Cougar teasing her. "I'm so jealous."

"He's not!" he could hear Edge's embarrassed voice replying back. "He's a boy, and he's a friend, but he's not my boyfriend!"

"Aw, yeah right. Then what were you doing with him during the briefing, hmm?" Cougar continued. "You act so close to him like he's your precious treasure. Man, how can I ever understand a woman's mentality on love affair?"

"Don't make me, Cougar!" she replied.

"Edge, Cougar, I advice you not to include personal argument at this time," he later heard Alley's suggestion and the two pilots shouting "NO!" to their leader. He could only shake head and turned off the radio, even as the flight of mercy was heading out of the no-fly zone.