It was time.
Cipher put down the book on Belkan Aces and headed for the briefing room. It was four days after the two mercenaries had played in the Round Table against the defending squadrons and Grun Team, an ace squadron consisting of four F-18 Hornets. He'd made sure to record those kills, along with the ace Tiger from his first mission, the XB-70 from his patrol and the Mirage from his second mission.
The room was more crowded than usual, with more pilots getting involved in the latest mission. If you would call eight pilots a crowd.
"Okay, people listen up!" The officer silenced the group. "The Ustio and Osean coalition forces are to launch a joint campaign. The collective strategic military force of the two armies will be referred to as the 'Allied Forces.' The campaign will be called 'Offensive Campaign No. 4101'.
The map showed the Futuro Canal, which acted as a "border" of sorts, as it separated Oured Bay of the Atlantic Ocean and the Aurick Bay of the Anfang Sea.
"The objective of this operation is to secure a sea transit lane for the Allied Forces." The Intelligence Officer explained. "To secure this channel, the Belkan forces occupying the Futuro Canal must be cleared out. You will be given a choice of missions in this joint operation."
The map outlined three areas, codenamed GELNIKOS, ROUND HAMMER and COSTNER.
"Offensive Campaign No. 4101 will be comprised of the following three air missions. First, there is 'Operation Gelnikos.' This is an air-to-air/air-to-surface operation, whose objective is to wipe out Belka's air squadron, port facilities and surface weapons. Next is 'Operation Round Hammer.' This is an air-to-surface operation, whose objective is to wipe out the Belkan fleet, its port facilities and surface weapons. And the last mission is called 'Operation Costner.' This is an escort mission whose objective is to protect the naval vessels in Osea's 3rd Naval Fleet, including its state-of-the-art aircraft carrier, which will be making a trial voyage."
"Fierce resistance by Belkan forces is expected in all three missions. Choose carefully which one you wish to participate in." He finished.
"Hunter Squadron will participate in 'Operation Round Hammer.'" Hunter One's flight lead said.
"Lancer Squadron will undertake 'Operation Gelnikos." The leader of a second F-20 Tigershark squadron said.
"What about Crow Team?" Foulke asked.
"They are taking part in base defence in case of a surprise attack." The officer answered.
Cipher felt all eyes on him. But he felt no pressure; his mind was already made up. Since the Eagle was an air to air fighter, it made perfect sense that they took part in an air to air mission.
"Operation Costner." He announced. "Galm Team will take part in defending the allied fleet."
"It is decided then." The officer continued. "Operation Gelnikos will take place first, followed by Round Hammer then Costner. Good luck."
Cipher stood and left, heading towards his aircraft. A group of mechanics looked up as he came over.
"What do you need?" One asked.
"Missiles, load her up for air-to-air." Cipher replied. "Same for my wingman."
He watched as the outdated F-1 attackers followed by a group of F-20 Tigersharks taxied and took off one by one. He shook his head and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Fouke asked.
"If those guys survive," He gestured to the distant black shapes. "I will be seriously impressed."
Foulke looked over to where his flight lead looked. "Yeah." He replied. "But they've come a long way."
"Captain," A mechanic called. "Your aircraft are ready."
Cipher looked over. The F-15C was armed with almost the same load-out as he'd had during his first mission into the Round Table. He groaned as he anticipated the uncomfortable ride that was going to trouble him.
Futuro Canal was the name given to a thin, long stretch of water flowing through a desert plain. Cipher looked down and saw the port attacked in Operation Gelnikos. Most of the facilities were on fire, fuel tanks smashed and ships sunk. Lancer had done their job well. He even noticed the wreckage of a few fighters. Looking into the horizon ahead, he saw several small explosions.
"Operation Round Hammer is complete." AWACS Eagle Eye said. "Begin Operation Costner."
This was the signal Cipher had been waiting for. He released his drop tank and gently dived towards the Osean Fleet below, pulling up and flying low over the carrier, noticing a couple of fighters preparing for take-off. He formed up behind the last destroyers and flew as slow as the Eagle would allow him, with Foulke on his wing.
"This is Commander Weeker on the Kestrel." The commanding officer of the carrier radioed in. "Everyone listen in but keep working. We'll sail straight through the canal and let our flyboys take care of the attackers. Let's go!"
Cipher checked his powerful radar. He spotted blips coming in from both sides. "This is Galm One, enemy aircraft on radar." He reported.
"Don't let them sink the Kestrel!" A pilot said.
"There's the counter-attack signal." An Ustio pilot said. "I've been waiting a long time for this."
"Haven't we all?" Another replied as he broke away to follow the former. Cipher flew in the opposite direction to engage the aircraft coming in from the right hand side of the canal
"Galm Two, cleared to engage." He said, freeing his wingman from the engagement restrictions.
"Roger, focusing all attacks on air targets." Foulke confirmed the order.
Cipher saw three squares on his HUD, confirming the presence of Belkan aircraft. "Three bandits at our twelve low." He said. "Galm Two, we'll fly past and pull onto their tails."
Foulke clicked the mike. The two Eagles shot past the desert camouflaged attacker planes and curved round onto their tails.
"Go for the carrier!" the lead aircraft ordered. "If we sink it, we've won!"
"Fox Three." An AMRAAM dropped from the belly of Foulke's fighter and shot towards the far left Belkan F-1 Kaizen. The outdated attacker exploded, sending scraps of metal scattering across the desert. "Got one."
"Fox Two," A sidewinder, one of four, sent the second Kaizen spiralling to the floor. Cipher grinned and splashed the last using his gun. "That's two for me."
"Dammit!" the Belkan pilot yelled as he was forcefully ejected from his plane.
Cipher checked his radar and IFF to see how Fenrir was doing. To his dismay, the Belkans had shot down all but two of the six-plane Ustio squadron. "Galm Two, lets help Fenrir!" He engaged his afterburners and streaked across the sky with Foulke on his six, barely keeping up. He arrived just in time to see a pair of Su-27 Flankers shoot down the last of the Ustio Tigersharks with a cry from the flight lead.
"Postler One, that's the last of those Ustio fighters." Cipher heard their flight lead report over the intercepted comms.
"Postler Two to Postler One, we have incoming aircraft." The group turned to the incoming Eagles.
At such speed and angles, Cipher knew that a missile shot would be useless. But he flicked a switch on his control stick, looked at the formation ahead and locked onto the lead Flanker. "Galm One, Fox Two!"
"What!?" Foulke sounded surprised. Why was his flight lead making such a rookie mistake?
But it all became clear. The AIM-9X detached itself from the lead Eagle and snapped rapidly upwards with more agility than any normal missile towards its target, which was blown from the skies.
"Postler One! Do you read?" The three planes passed by and turned to get onto each other's tail. The super-manoeuvrability of the Flanker allowed it to turn quicker and Cipher found himself rapidly and violently jinking to avoid an AA-11 Archer short range missile.
"Allied bastards…" The Belkan ace muttered as the missile missed the target. Cipher turned but the more agile, larger fighter stayed planted to the Eagle.
"Galm Team, more aircraft are approaching." AWACS Eagle Eye reported.
"Get those fighters into the air now!" Commander Weeker said to his crew over the radio.
"Galm Two, Fox Four!" Cipher strained to look behind him as the Flanker lost it's wing to 20mm gunfire from Foulke.
"Thanks." Cipher pulled level then banked towards the next wave of enemy fighters.
"Missile point of impact confirmed! We're taking on water! This is it, we're going down." A destroyer captain exclaimed.
Cipher looked down and watched a group of Mirage attackers pulling away from the fleet, now halfway through the canal. As he watched, a missile streaked from an Aegis Class cruiser and shot down one of the planes.
"Red One through Four, we'll engage the fighters. Galm Team, destroy the attackers!" Cipher assumed this was the Osean Maritime Defence Force's Tomcats.
"Galm Team roger." Cipher dived onto the rear of the group of Mirages, Foulke following carefully. The two remaining attackers split, forcing the two man mercenary formation to split too.
"Galm Two fox two!" Cipher saw the plane explode out of the corner of his eye. His target tried desperately to shake off Cipher, but the mercenary was latched onto the rear of the Mirage. Cipher followed the pilot's every move easily. He switched to the intercepted comms.
"He's still at my six! Goddammit someone help me out!" The terrified pilot cried.
"Are you gonna shoot him down?" Foulke asked, amused. "Or just follow him until you both run out of fuel?"
Cipher let loose a torrent of gunfire and destroyed the fighter. "I was having fun." He said. "Apparently, these are meant to be professional pilots. I was just testing him."
"Three o'clock low!" Foulke said suddenly.
Cipher banked and looked. A lone F-1 applied full afterburners and shot towards the fleet. AA fire erupted from the ships like a volcano, and the Kaizen was completely annihilated. But in the last moments of the aircraft's life, it loosened a missile and hit a destroyer.
"We've taken a hit at the bow!" the destroyer's captain reported out over the radio.
"Eagle Eye, are there any more Belkan aircraft in the area?" Foulke asked.
"Negative. Galm Team, standby until the fleet is out of the canal." The AWACS ordered.
"Roger that." Cipher curved towards the rear of the fleet. Suddenly, the Osean ships opened fire on the mercenary team with their AA guns, narrowly missing their targets.
"Friendly fire! Friendly Fire!" Cipher yelled as he snapped away. Foulke had jinked in the opposite direction.
"Hold your fire, they're friendly aircraft!" someone shouted. The gunfire ceased.
Cipher and Foulke cautiously formed back up at the fleet's rear. Cipher kept an eye on his powerful radar, looking for any signs of Belkan activity.
"This is Commander Weeker, my fleet has reached the halfway point." The Kestrel's commander said.
"Galm Team, enemy aircraft on radar heading towards the left side of the canal." AWACS Eagle Eye said. "Intercept them."
"Roger that." Cipher and Foulke turned in unison in the direction of the aircraft that threatened the fleet. Cipher armed his three remaining AMRAAMs as he closed in on the targets.
"More aircraft approaching from the other side!" Eagle Eye said.
"Osean aircraft, engage!" Cipher quickly ordered.
"You heard the mercenary!" Red One passed on the order.
"Roger that leader, I'm goin' in!" Red Two whooped as the F-14D Super Tomcat squadron engaged the fighters."
Three squares popped up on Cipher's HUD. The medium range missiles locked on and Cipher fired. Just before they hit, they disengaged and ignored the targets.
"Dammit, ECM's!" Cipher muttered. "Tornadoes." The swing-wing strike airplanes and the air-superiority fighters passed each other. The Eagles easily swung round onto the tails of the less manoeuvrable attackers.
"Damn, I have a bandit on my six!" Red Three cried over the radio. "Need backup!"
Cipher ignored the cry for help and used his guns against the two-seat attackers with more success than the AMRAAMs. One Tornado was shredded by the volley of Cipher and Foulke's guns. The other two swept their wings back, dropped their fuel tanks and tried to outrun the mercenaries.
"They're pulling away!" Cipher cursed.
"Fox Two!" Foulke fired.
The attackers ignored the sidewinder and instead launched their loadout of two AGM-65 Maverick missiles each. The four air-to-surface weapons shot off towards the fleet and the aircraft peeled away to the right in a slow arc. The sidewinder's engine burned out and the projectile tumbled to the floor.
Cipher saw four explosions. He sighed with relief as he noticed that the Kestrel had suffered no hits. Two of her destroyer escorts, however, hadn't fared so well.
"All hands, abandon this ship!" One cried as the vessel threatened to capsize.
The second destroyer had been completely blown apart by three of the four missiles. She sank without a trace.
"This is Red One, all fighters down." The leader of the Tomcat squadron radioed in.
"This is Commander Weeker on the Kestrel." The aircraft carrier's captain said. "My fleet has managed to pass through the canal."
Cipher could hear the crew on the bridge cheering and shouting behind the captain.
"We've suffered some losses, but nothing too serious. Thanks to the gentlemen for providing air support." He finished.
Cipher and Foulke turned in unison away from the fleet. Their job here was done, but the complete loss of Fenrir was nothing to celebrate.
"Operation Coster was a succeeded, contributing to the overall success of Offensive Campaign No.4101." The intelligence officer said when the two mercenaries had entered the briefing room. "This will make your next operation a whole lot easier."
"What about Fenrir?" Foulke asked.
The officer put his notes down and turned off the screen. "An SAR operation is underway to find them." He explained. "They should be back soon. Now, I think you'll be happy to know that now we have secured these supply routes, Osea has offered to fly in aircraft to replace the out-of-date aircraft we are operating currently."
"Sweet!" Cipher grinned. "What have you got?"
"Hunter Squadron will replace their F-1's for A-10 Thunderbolt attackers." The officer sat in a chair and took off his hat. "Fenrir and Lancer should be getting F-16 Fighting Falcons."
"That sounds good." Cipher said as Foulke nodded in approval. "How many of each?"
"At least eight of each aircraft." The officer replied. "Obviously, we want more to act as replacements or planes for new pilots but we'll have to see what Osea can spare." He sighed. "At least for now, we'll have a decent arsenal of aircraft to strike back at Belka and liberate our country."
"What's the next strike?" Foulke asked.
"We're looking into the possibility of retaking Solis Ortus, the mountain town just southwest of Directus." He said. "It can be used as a staging ground for our assault on our capital."
Cipher and Foulke stood. The Officer replaced his hat on his head and opened the door for them.
"You two are slowly becoming heroes." He said. "Keep it up; Ustio needs you more than you think…"