FOURTH PILOT COMIN' IN… JUST READ IT…
ESCORT DUTY
1345, Above Area A9N, Northwest of Africa
23 September 2021
ICTF 206th Tactical Wing Fighter 'Spearhead Squadron'
EXST TYPE: EX-22FER
WEAPONS: ACTIVE
FLAPS: ACTIVE
ENGINES: ACTIVE
It's been two hours since the Spearhead Squadron had rendezvous with the resupply aircraft and currently escorting the civilian airliner in order to assist them to get them out of area A9N. Downtown, Divot and Angel knew the hazard of the area. Area A9N, UN priority 2 or known as 'The Pit' is a just a mere desert to everyone but to military forces, it's a different thing. A9N marks the zone for air combat and only permanent or interim military forces should be flying inside the area. For some reason, civilian airliners had been crossing this territory for a while and this puts them in danger as the recent incident had a civie plane got shot down by a Circulo fighter forces. Therefore, they were tasked with this daring mission with additional help of 4 F/A-18E USN fighters.
But still, one thing bothered them the most.
"Hey, what's that slim looking leg?"
"I dunno… Strikers?"
"They looked old, how old are they?"
"40? 50?"
Those were the words of Witches that got sucked up from the alternate dimension of 1991. Believe it or not, they fought an alien called the Neuroi which they've heard from the Council themselves. Task Force Spearhead couldn't do ANY shit about it, so they have to bring those girls with them. Much to their info, these girls gonna get some 3 days incarceration inside the cell for being Child Soldiers. Just like the one that Globex brought in. For now, they have to endure this torture from the mouths of Child Soldiers.
As they held their steams hearing to the girls' whispers, Janet pops up to the front.
"Hey, are we there yet?" the blondie asked giving a scornful look on them. For Divot and Angel, it's like she wanted to give them a long speech. "You'd better not play any tricks here coz' we don't trust old ladies!"
Hearing those words, Divot couldn't hold back any longer. Her fist tightens as she is quite annoyed with this girl's attitude. Just because she's a captain doesn't mean she has the right to have motor mouth to mock seasoned Witches. Divot could only give a devious grin, emitting dark aura and she wanted to show her powers to them what it feels like to be a sore loser. Before she could do that, Downtown spoke.
"Divot, stand down." Her eyes locked onto her flight lead. "She's just a kid. No heart feelings."
Downtown said with her usual monotonous, dull and emotionless tone. Her eyes were locked onto both skies and the ground as she were cautious of the enemy appearance that pop up out of nowhere to initiate an ambush.
Heeding her words, she gave up. "Whatever DT… you're the boss…"
"Hey, I'm talking here!" Janet barked. "Are we there yet?"
"That's it… I'm gonna shoot her." Angel drew out her Beretta 90Two added with a killing grin. Like Divot, she can't hold back anymore. Those girls had been talking behind them for a while and looking down on them just because they are older.
Downtown only let out a sigh as she knew that Angel won't do such a thing. This whole young vs. old shit stuff didn't bother her at all. Like the two, she's annoyed of the Witches. But still, as a seasoned Witch, those are just barriers to keep you off the trail. As long as she focus and keep her guard up, things will be just fine. The sound of roaring engines occupied the background and the whispering young ladies were mute and her empty eyes glared both the skies and the desert. Just another boring day…
Soon, things changed…
"Heads up ladies! Multiple bandits inbound to your position from vector 236, 5 mikes out and it's fast! Really fast!" Eyeball's words thundered into their radio and he sounded cautious.
Hearing this, Angel and Divot who was constraining their anguish immediately changed.
"Seriously Eyeball? My radar's not picking up anything. Angel, how about you?" Divot shifted her sight towards the Mexican.
"Negative, not a single blip on my radar." Angel remarked supporting Divot's words. "Eyeball, I have no joy on enemy bandits. Probably its…"
"They're here…" Downtown cuts her words instantly gaining her wingmen attentions.
"What?" Divot perplexed giving a glance to her who had the same reaction. "What are you saying DT? There…" Divot paused as something went funny. The holographic projection on her HUD flickered as if it was broken, her radar went crazy turning black. "What the?! My systems' going crazy shit here! Hey, Eyeball!"
"Jam… crackling… ference… crackling mul… mies…. Up… B cup… ladies… pizza… chimp…"
Eyeball's voice mixed in with disturbing radio crackling. It was like one of those scary movies and recordings.
"Eyeball! Say again! We can't hear you!" Angel yelled repeatedly fixing her frequencies. "Damn it! We've just lost Eyeball!" Angel grinded her teeth in anxiety. She knew this won't go well if they ever cross The Pit.
Just as things are already bad, it went straight off to worst.
"Heads up! Multiple bandits inbound from vector 120! It's coming in fast!" Talon 1 alerted.
Everyone had their eyes locked onto a swarm of dots reflecting the lights from the airframe. Right in their sight, 7 aircrafts entered the zone. Judging by the size, they knew it would be a second rate aircraft. But underestimating their enemies means death, so they always keep up in mind that you don't ever take enemies lightly.
"Missile! They've just launched missiles!" Talon 2 who was a female pilot yelled and the sound of her warning signal played repeatedly at the background.
Multiple trailing of white smoke slices the sky as it reaches them.
Downtown, Angel and Divot had their eyes widened being not able to track the incoming missile.
"SHIT! INCOMING MISSILE! BREAK!" Talon 3 exclaimed in fear.
It was too late, the missile reached them. The loud deafening sound thundered the sky, gulf of flames covered them and several planes passed by checking their destruction. Soon, the thick black smoke faded into thin air what the enemies would expect a falling debris of giant Airbus A380. Instead, the plane remained intact and stayed afloat.
"Shit, that was close!" Divot exclaimed.
"Hey, what the hell just happened?!" Janet flew onto their position demanding the current sitrep. But instead, her eyes widened when she caught something in her sight. A giant blue shield – that is… spinning slowly rather than fast paced like theirs. It was big enough to cover the entire squadron from being vaporized by the Neuroi.
"Janet!" her wingmen exclaimed coming onto her position but ended up froze like their commander.
"What is that?! A shield?!"
"It's big!"
The exclaiming continues and their voices getting louder every seconds. The trio lowered their shields as it disappears. Multiple fighters trailed into the sight with their roaring engines thundered the sky. It seems that they are not finished yet.
"Talon 1, take on the fighters! We'll cover the package!" Downtown ordered instantly.
"Copy that Spearhead 1, engage and pursue enemy aircraft. Talon 1 to all, you're clear to engage."
"Roger, intercepting enemy aircraft."
"WILCO, now that's what I wanna hear!"
4 F/A-18E soon breaks off from their formation and rolled off to play with their toys. The Hornets swiftly thundered off with their afterburners kicking through the sky.
"What are we gonna do DT?" Divot looked at her.
"Our priority is to protect the aircraft and get the hell out of this sky!" Downtown replied. A sign of boredom could be heard through her tone. It seems that she's not quite intrigue with the current tide of the battle.
"Hold it right there lady! Did you forget about the jammers? They're bugging our system and we're blind here not even knowing where we're going." Angels retorted. "If we want to get the hell out of here alive, we need to shut those jammers!" again, their warning signals wailed into their ears again. "Wha?!" she tilted her head forward and the IFF marked another wave of MiG-23MLD on their radar. "We got bandits inbound! They're coming for the plane!"
"We're going for it!" Janet declared kicking off to the skies along with the Grizzly girls.
"What the?! GET BACK!" Divot yelled hysterically. Too bad the young girls had already out of their distance. "Fucking girls, they have no idea what the hell they're dealing with."
As she felt deeply hurt by the Grizzly squadron's actions which would lead to their death, Downtown had different thoughts.
"Let them be… We'll protect the plane."
Divot gazed at her with disbelief, "Wha-?!"
"This is going to be interesting…" Downtown smiled but not that wide enough to cover her entire face. Her face was rather intrigued by it. Angel and Divot went silent seeing her current state. Why, because she's emitting dark aura. She locked her eyes onto the Grizzlies as they flew towards the swarm of MiG-23MLDs. "Show me what you got girls…"
"FOX 2!" the missile raced off through the sky and leaves a trail of white smoke. The missile impacted blowing up the plane into pieces. "Bandit down!" Clara chimed in excitement after scoring her kill.
"Clara! You got a bandit at your 6!" Mary interceded.
"What?!" she jerked off as 23mm rounds rained upon her from behind. "Damn it! Shake it off!" Clara boosted into the clouds but the plane didn't stopped trailing kept firing another barrage of leads onto her. She rolled off turning left and makes tight turns but her opponent was feisty as it kept her in his sights. "DAMN IT! JUST SHOOT HIM DOWN!"
BOOM! The MiG's engine exploded leaving the airframe untouched by the flames. The plane spins out of control and fell off from the sky in disarray. Clara watched in perplexed mixing in relieve as she nearly got herself being shot down.
"Damn, that was close…"
"Get a grip idiot! We're still in a battle!" Janet barked causing Clara nearly deafened by her pitch. "Let those old hags know that we're something!" Confidence boost within Clara, she glanced at the trio in a mocking look. "Fox 2! Fox 2!" the missile trailed off into the air destroying the enemies' instantly. "Target down!"
"We got another wave. 3 bandits inbound! Shit, they're firing at me!"
Janet scanned the clouds looking for her comrades. Her eyes rolled around the air looking for any sign of Jamie. But something entered her sight, multiple trails of tracer rounds flying punching through the clouds. As she expected, two of her comrades flew out being tailed by three MiG-23s like a game of cat and mouse.
"Jamie, Alex. We have you on our HUD and…" Again, something had caught her sight again. Deep in the clouds, she saw 2 shining reflections in the horizon. "What is that?" she muttered narrowing her eyes. Her eyes focused even more. Then, a bell rings into her head. "Clara, Mary. Go and help those 2, I need to do something!" she blasted off from the sky away from them.
"Wait!" Clara paused but she had already left. She glanced at Mary who responded with a shrug taking it as she doesn't mind about it. "Alright let's go!" The two sped up towards their comrades seeing them being tailed and evading the attacks with their manoeuvres and deflecting it with their shields. "Going guns!" Clara drew out her M240 and begins to spray 7.62 NATO rounds onto the sky.
"About time!" Jamie said annoyingly.
"Shut up and keep firing girl!" Alex retorted demanding the tomboy to drop the subject. The brown haired girl made a high G turn facing towards her opponent's belly. "Gotcha! FOX 2!" her last missile flew off into sky trailing the MiG. But the pilot was perceptive, chaffs and flares were sent off and her missile lost its track in the air. "Damn it…" she drew her M16A2 rifle and begins to set her range closer. She aimed down the sight and squeezed the trigger.
The MiG rattles around the sky; her bullets didn't even manage to land on the airframe. The plane's agile turning and rolling made her shots turning sloppy.
"Hey, if you're doing it all alone it'll be hard for you to kill it! Let me take care of this!" Clara radioed.
Alex nodded, "Go for it!" she aimed down again and focus her power into her rifle. Using her bullet stabilization, she rapidly fire onto the MiGs airframe. Luckily, she managed to punch through the plane's airframe. Squeezing the trigger till the end, the plane finally breaks free but not even a single smoke can be seen. As the plane made the side turn breaking free from her sight, she smiled. "GO CLARA!"
In a high velocity, Clara uses her afterburner. "IRON LADY COMES THROUGH!" she sped up like a comet and her fist begins to cover in heat. She speeds up and rammed through the plane's fuselage. It didn't explode but the plane breaks into two. She applied her flaps and circled the air, "Woo! That was one of a hell flying!" the sound of excitement hints within her tone.
"Hey, we still have a problem! Help us over here!" Mary barked and the sound of gunshot could be heard through the radio.
The remaining two planes flew around blazing the skies with their guns. The Witches tries to counter their attacks but the pilots are much more capable than they are. They could only dodge and flew off into higher altitude to gain upper hand but nothing could be done to stop these planes.
"Damn, it's pesky!" Mary rained another round but none of them hits the planes.
"Need some help?" Janet's voices break into the zone. Once again, the smiles could be seen onto their faces. "Get out of the zone girls, I got this one!"
"You heard the woman! Let's go!" the Grizzlies instantly left the zone leaving the fighters to trail their six. However, they left the zone because they knew what Janet's plan was and it's gonna be bad.
The MiG fighters watches the young Witches leave the combat area and decided to tail them. From above, death rained upon them. Janet dives in a high speed surpassing of that normal velocity reaching 700 Mph as she levelled her nose towards the two remaining fighters. Approaching her targets, she aimed down her M240 towards one of the MiGs' engine.
She squeezed the trigger firmly and rained multiple of rounds onto engine. The MiG's engine burst in flames blowing its engine apart along with its airframe. The MiG spun out of the air trailing in black smoke as it kisses the ground. Janet set her eyes onto the next MiG. Her eyepiece had the plane locked. It's now or never.
"Fox 2!" the missile raced off into the clouds. The MiG wavering as it tries to deflect the missile. However, the missile impacted burning it into million pieces. Janet watches as the plane fell, she can see a parachute flying in the air assuming that the pilot had safely ejected. "Grizzlies, all targets have been shot down. Let's return to our formation…"
Off they went back to the airliner in their formation. As soonest they got there, the Talon team had already regrouped and one of the Hornets were trailing in smoke probably in the last dogfighting. As they pass the trios, grins were all over their faces mocking the trios. A hint of pride could be seen on the Witches as their eyes tell everything.
But for the trios, they could only give a loud sigh. Soon, Eyeball resounded again after the long silence.
"Spearhead! Come in! Do you read me?!"
"Eyeball, Spearhead 1. Lima Charlie, jammers have been destroyed and there is no interference over the line." Downtown replied monotonously.
"Destroyed? How did you destroy it?"
"Not us…" Angel added. "Those underage Witches destroyed the jammers."
A pause and a gasped could be heard. "What are you thinking?! Letting those girls to fight?! Are you insane?!" he barked. Eyeball sounded so pissed off.
"Hey chill out, it's not like we wanted to let them fight! They're the ones who go on their own!" Divot retorted remarking his statements.
"You… Hold it; we have multiple bandits coming in! It's… small… probably a group of sorcerers… Wait, what's going on?!" Eyeball panicked and the sound of the staffs inside the AWACS filled the background.
Angel's glanced at her flight lead in worries, "What's going on?! What happened, Eyeball?!"
"We're being override! Someone just hacked our system! Fuck, now it's showing Galaga and voyeur porn videos! We have no control over the system anymore! Hold it, our frequency had just been piggy banked!"
"They're using our frequency?!" Divot exclaimed in surprise.
"I'm impressed with you Spearheads… Looks like we've underestimated you…" out of nowhere, a voice of a man echoed through their radio.
"What the hell?! Who is this?!"
"Hey, what gives?!" Divot yelled as she is surprise to hear a stranger's voice talking through their frequency.
"DT…" Angel called and the dull flight lead tilted her head towards her. She gestured towards the tab that was strapped at their forearm.
Without questioning any further, Downtown heeds her word. Looking at her tab, the screen had a word with a big ass font blinking red and white repeatedly written 'SYSTEM OVERRIDE'. Although she showed her usual dull face, deep in her heart this is quite surprising. Looks like the enemy had penetrated their electronic systems as well.
"I reckoned those girls behind you are from the other dimension." Those words struck their mind, their eyes widened. "Nice dogfighting skills, too bad they were too young to die in the middle of nowhere. Let's see if they're really good… dealing with their own kinds..." the call ended and the override disappeared from their tab.
"Warning! Inbound sorcerers from vector 120! It's heading your way!"
"Where?!" Angel scanned around the skies cautiously.
"They're here…" Downtown muttered taking the spotlight. Her eyes narrowed as she focused towards the blank sky. She tapped her tab changing her calibrations. "Looks like they're welcoming us with warm hands…" the GAU-X drops off from the back and went into her hand.
Far into the sky, a formation of 15 sorcerers approaches them. Armed with state of the art EXSTs ranging from EST-33H to EX-35FER and customized with exquisite weaponry. The roaring of their engine loudened as they approach the escorts. The sound of death and fear called as if it could shake entire normal squadron to abandon the battlefield.
As Downtown gazed onto the squadron, she smiled. A hint of excitement and thrills takes over.
SORRY FOR THE SHORTNESS