Ch 3 open war
Sand Island base
September 27, 2010
"Blaze, get up." Bartlett said, shaking the pilot.
"What's going on?" Blaze asked.
"Pops just informed me your plane is here." Bartlett said.
Then Blaze snapped wide open.
"Oh right." Blaze said, standing up and heading to the hanger.
Entering inside, Pops walked up to Blaze.
"I must say, you have quite a tastes in combat planes." Pops said.
"Let me see her." Blaze said.
Pops pulled off the tarp and Blaze saw his aircraft: A Yuktobanian Su-37 Terminator. It was one of the most advanced combat planes on the planet, and extremely maneuverable. In the right hands, it could even beat the Osean F-22.
"Beautiful. Just like old times." Blaze said to himself, walking towards it.
"Just like old times?" Bartlett asked, walking inside the hanger, a .45 pistol in his hand.
"Bartlett?" Pops asked.
"Cape Landers. You fought those pilots like a pro. How'd you learn all of that?" Bartlett asked.
"Can't get out of this, can I…"
"Spill it." Bartlett said.
"Okay. Heard of the Usean Continental war? Stonhenge?"
Briefing Room
Same day
Blaze sat with the pilots and waited for the briefing to begin.
"A ship of unknown origin has been detected approaching Sand Island base. The ship has launched UAVs." The briefer said, the projector screen filling with new images.
"The UAVs will return to the ship for retrieval after completing their spy operations. You are to halt this operation by intercepting those recon drones before they can be recovered. Do not attack the ship until further orders. Dismissed."
Sand Island airfield
"Guys, you got new planes." Pops said, flagging the pilots down.
"New planes?" Chopper asked.
"JAS-39 Gripens." Pops said.
"Like the sound of that." Chopper said.
The 4 pilots took to the air and headed towards the UAVs. Bartlett in his F-4, Blaze in his Su-37, everyone else in their Gripens. For Blaze, it was heaven. He was sitting in the aircraft that made yellow squadron famous. Or infamous depending on who you talked to.
"Wardog, this is thunderhead. UAVs returning to spy vessel. Shoot them down before they get back to their ship." Thunderhead said.
"Sure thing. You got that gang?" Bartlett asks.
"This is going to be a piece of cake." Chopper said.
"There's always a catch." Blaze answered.
Gideon knew that the UAVs were slower and had no weapons to counter their jets, but they also be more maneuverable. Gideon felt that they should blow the boat to pieces after they destroyed the UAVs. It seemed that Osea wanted her soldiers to fight with restrictions placed on them. Erusea gave their pilots free reign of the battle.
Blaze locked onto a UAV and shredded it with his cannons, and watched as the rest of the UAVs were quickly shot down by the rest of the squadron.
"I'm glad no-one's in these drones. Aren't you?" Chopper asked.
"Me too." Blaze said in a monotone sound; he didn't feel like talking in the middle of a fight. Great way to die.
"These may be drones, but you have to be ready for anything." Bartlett said, his mind going back to what Blaze told him.
"Don't tell anyone. I could be killed because of it."
"Don't worry. Me and Pops have your back."
"Warning, multiple bogies inbound!" Thunderhead warned.
"Same attack axis as before?" Bartlett asked.
Blaze sighed in annoyance. Farbanti had better anti-air defenses when they were hit by ISAF, at the very end of the war. They paid the ISAF forces pay dearly in blood to get the city. What were the outer defenses doing? Blaze knew that Osea downsized their military after the Belkan war, but this was ridiculous!
"We better abort. Follow me." Bartlett said.
The 4 pilots made a break for it, but Blaze had a gut feeling. He pulled the control stick in his stomach hard, and performed a Kulbilt and saw a MiG-29 Fulcrum chase down Chopper.
"Help me out here!" Chopper shouted, as his enemy chased him down, firing his guns.
Blaze increased speed and regained the initiative. Feeling the roar of the engines a serene feeling went through him. He closed the distance with the MiG and sprayed the aircraft with his guns, destroying it.
"Thanks a lot, kid." Chopper said.
"Next time, keep your head on a swivel." Blaze advised, as he headed to Bartlett and Nagase, who were currently engaged with the remaining 3 MiGs. Blaze fired a missile and blew one of the MiGs to pieces.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Bartlett asked, surprised by the quick kill.
"Nice shot, blaze!" Nagase said.
Blaze didn't respond, but threw his supermaneuverable jet into another hard maneuver. The Terminator pitched upwards and backwards to an extreme angle of attack, and blaze pulled the trigger, firing another missile. The missile headed towards a much surprised MiG-29; the pilot not expecting his enemy to do that.
"Enemy squadron has commenced counter attack." A thick accent said over the radio. Gideon knew the AWACs was transmitting intercepted comms to the four pilots. Good in theory, not so good in practice. Gideon remembered ISAF pilots would freak out screaming 'It's yellow squadron!' as if the devil himself had arrived. From their perspectives, yellow squadron was the devil himself. It worked both ways as most of the enemy pilots seemed to target Chopper because he talked so much.
"Do not pursue the enemy across the border into Osean territory. Concentrate your attack on the straggling aircraft." An enemy pilot said, as he chased after Chopper, getting shot down by Blaze.
"Idiot." Blaze muttered, wondering why the enemy would attack without the backup of his squadron.
"You splashed an enemy without permission to engage? What are you thinking wardog?!" yelled Thunderhead in fury. Gideon was severely tempted to shoot down Thunderhead and blame it on the enemy attackers. It seemed that Thunderhead wasn't on their side at all.
Nagase trailed an enemy MiG and shredded it to pieces with her guns.
"Splash 2." Nagase said.
"Picture clear, all hostile aircraft destroyed." Thunderhead said.
The missile alarms were still going off, warning of an attack.
"Warning still in effect. Keep your head on a swivel." Thunderhead cautioned.
Blaze scanned the horizon, looking for more airborne threats, then scanned the seas below him. He looked at the ship below him and realized the threat. Bartlett spoke his mind.
"Watch out Nagase, their below us too!"
Blaze pointed his plane at the ship and pulled the trigger, sending a missile towards the ship. But the missile wasn't wired for air to ship operations, and the missile flew right into the sea, missing the ship.
"Shit." Blaze said, knowing he was another target. While Blaze dumped chaffs and flares to ward away any incoming missiles, the ship fired a missile in response, aimed at Nagase.
Nagase twisted and turned, trying anything to throw off the missile. Just when it would hit her, Bartlett came to her rescue. The missile tracked onto his heat signatures and trailed him. Bartlett barrel rolled the Phantom just as the missile struck his wingtip.
"Captain!" gasped Nagase in shock.
"Save the waterworks!" Bartlett said. "I'm going to bail out here, we can replace these things. It's getting the crew back that counts."
Bartlett ejected from his Phantom, watching it crash into the water.
Blaze circled over, hoping to stay with the captain when Thunderhead called with cruel news.
"Wardog squadron! Return to base immediately!" Thunderhead shouted.
"What do you mean?" Nagase asked.
"The rescue chopper isn't here yet." Chopper said.
"The enemy has declared war on us! Head back to base to refuel and rearm." Thunderhead said.
"Copy. Wardog heading to base." Blaze said.
"You're not going to leave the captain behind are you?" Chopper asked.
"If you want to stay behind and join Bartlett, be my guest." Blaze replied, heading back to base. Chopper and Nagase had no choice but to follow.
"We should have bombed that ship the second we arrived." Blaze muttered.