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Legendary Aces

Chapter 7: Front Line

Amidst the eternal waves of time
From a ripple of change shall the storm rise
Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon
Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath

-Briefing-

Colonel Perrault grunted as he started the briefing. "You people are like the plague, you know that? The moment you return to Sand Island, this happens."

A large combined force of Yuktobanian vessels and aircraft has been detected advancing in the ocean directly toward Sand Island from the west.

Our intelligence has confirmed the presence of amphibious assault ships within the oncoming fleet.

We believe the enemy's goal is to conduct a landing operation on Sand Island and capture this base.

Close with the enemy, disrupt landing operations and suppress their naval gunfire directed at our forces ashore.

"Even if this turns into a ground war, I am prepared to fight for this island to the bitter end." The Base Commander said. "As my advance guard, I want you to forget everything else and concentrate on dealing a lethal blow to the incoming enemy invasion fleet. We'll be deploying everything we've got. Launch every aircraft capable of anti-ship combat, regardless of combat experience.

-Blaze-

"Are you out of your mind?" I argued with the Base Commander. "You can't send those nuggets out to this battle! You'll only get them killed!"

"I said send every aircraft," Perrault said. "I don't care how little combat experience they have, send them up."

"Hell no." I kept arguing with him, but it was getting nowhere. Eventually I stormed off and headed toward the hangar. I ran through the other hangars and told the nuggets to stay on the ground until I ordered them to take off, but after I got into the air our idiot Base Commander went over my head and had them launch anyway.

I wasn't happy, and neither was my team. At least we had advance warning on what type of missiles to carry. Instead of our usual long-range air-to-air missiles, the AIM-54C Phoenix , we carried GPBs, specifically the GBU-24 Paveway III. We had four standard missiles and two GPBs each. Hopefully that would be enough...

-Mission Start-
-Blaze-

Sand Island 08'10'19"N 144'32'16"E
1007hrs. 4 October 2010

"This is AWACS Thunderhead. All units, listen carefully."

Chopper couldn't resist, and I had to hold back a giggle myself. "Ahh, I missed that sweet voice. Say, you get that from your mama's side of the family?"

He even got through to Thunderhead for once. I heard a small bit of amusement in his voice. "Cut the chatter. First enemy wave, bearing 280 degrees. You are cleared to engage on sight."

"Roger," I said. "Blaze, engaging."

"It's too risky to bring the nuggets here," Nagase said after she and the others relayed that they were engaging."

We closed in on the first target. Out front were a couple hovercraft. They were simple enough to get rid of. A few holes from gunfire was all it took to send them into the sea.

"I'm with you on that," Chopper said. "You agree, Kid?"

"Does me punching the Base Commander in the face after this mean yes?"

"Seriously. They've got their hands full just keeping their planes in the air."

"Do you all ever get scared, Captain?" One of the rookies asked.

"We're all human," I said. "Nobody is immune to fear."

"I see."

"This is Sand Island Base Defense! Enemy amphibious force intercepted at the coastline!"

"Oh, great. Here we go," Chopper said.

"Enemy ships are firing towards Sand Island. Stop them," Thunderhead ordered. "Enemy assault ships are launching attack helicopters. Shoot them down before they reach Sand Island."

"Our island's the closest thing to the enemy. I guess it makes sense we got attacked first," Chopper said. "Damn, this ain't looking good."

"Thunderhead, can you pinpoint the weakest spot on each enemy ship for us?" I asked.

"What do you mean, specifically?"

"Locations for their guns, fuel, or ammunition for example," I said. "If I can hit such a weak spot with a missile, it might cause a chain reaction that will destroy the entire ship."

"That's clever..." Nagase said.

"I'll get right on it," Thunderhead said. "I'll send the information to your targeting system as I find the appropriate spots on each ship."

"Thanks." Luckily, he had the information for the nearest enemy ship ready within seconds. It was a landing ship and pretty large, but that just meant it had more stores of munitions to exploit. I aimed one of my standard missiles carefully at the target spot on the ship, and as soon as it hit, the entire ship went up in flames.

"It worked!" Chopper said.

"I'm working on more weak points for the rest of the ships," Thunderhead said. "I'll send information for the nearest ships first."

"Good," I said.

"The coastline is under heavy enemy attack!" one of the ground forces on Sand Island called out.

"I know, I know! All units, this is Colonel Perrault at Base Command. Do everything in your power to stop them. If you can't protect this island, what'll we tell our great heroes in the sky?!"

"'Great heroes?'" Grimm said. "What's with him? He's like a completely different man."

"Don't expect that stuff when we get back," Chopper said. "I bet he's got a different script for us."

"Enemy ships are launching hovercraft," Thunderhead reported.

"Already on it, Thunderhead," I said. "I've gunned down four and am about to intercept their choppers."

"Engaging enemy amphibious force!" a ground soldier back on the island said.

"Airborne attack squadron, don't worry about us. We will stand firm and fight to the end!" Perrault said.

"What a tearjerker," Grimm piped in.

"Man, if he needs our help, he should just say so. Of course, not that we have the time."

We downed for choppers and headed to the nearest enemy ship with weak point targets outlined on our HUD. There were two more landing ships and two frigates just waiting to be exploited.

"Chopper, you shoot a missile at the weak point on landing ship in the front. Grimm, get the one in the back. Nagase, take the front frigate, I got the rear."

"Roger."

Four exploded ships later, we turned and intercepted a couple more choppers and raced toward the few hovercraft that managed to launch.

"Missile fired from enemy sub!" Nagase reported.

"What?" Grimm said.

"The Scinfaxi?" I said.

"Get out of there, Grimm! You nuggets, too!" Nagase ordered.

"Climb! Climb! C'mon!" Chopper said.

"You hear me, nuggets? You have to climb!" Nagase repeated.

"Pull up everyone!" Chopper said. "Get your altitude above five thousand feet!"

"Submarine missile launch confirmed!" Thunderhead reported. "Believed to be a burst missile, with multiple warheads that separate in mid-air. Get above five thousand feet and stand by!"

"You nuggets get your asses above ten thousand feet," I said. "Five thousand feet is the minimum, but I don't want any of you taking chances. Get above ten thousand feet or I'll personally plant my foot in your asses when we get back to base."

I heard a bunch of gulping over the radio.

"Yes, ma'am!" one of them said.

"Wait, we're getting a command override from somewhere," Thunderhead said. "'Data link to A-Sat Targeting System'... What is this? Now it's counting down by itself. Nine, eight, seven..."

"Dammit! They're not gonna make it!" Chopper said.

"Four, three, two, one."

A laser beam fell from the sky. I couldn't believe it. The nuggets were saved.

"The sky just lit up!" Grimm said.

"Missile vaporized in midair!" Thunderhead reported.

"What was that? Did you see that, Kid?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah. A laser," I said.

"A beam of light fell from the sky."

"I bet it was..."

"...was that the Arkbird?" Nagase said.

"Missile destroyed by a laser beam fired from orbit altitude. It's the Arkbird. All units, continue engaging the enemy!"

"The missiles all disappeared! What's going on?" A Yuke said.

"What was that?! What happened?!" Another Yuke said.

The Arkbird was successful not only in protecting the nuggets from a burst missile, but also in scrambling the minds of the Yukes. Way to go, Arkbird!

Two destroyers brought up the rear of the enemy fleet. They were bigger targets, so I ordered Chopper and Grimm each to drop a GPB. "Chopper, Grimm, I want you two to drop GPBs. Chopper, drop one on the south destroyer, Grimm take the north. Only use one GPB each. We need to conserve those as long as possible. I have a feeling we'll need them later."

"Roger, Captain," Grimm said as he flew off toward the north destroyed.

Chopper sent one of his bombs at the south destroyer. I watched as it exploded. "Kid, mine's destroyed."

"This is anti-sub patrol plane Blue Hound. Submarine detected by sonobuoy. Sound pattern analysis produces a match with the Scinfaxi."

"Captain, do you think the Arkbird can really avoid hitting us?" Grimm asked as he dropped his bomb on the second destroyer.

"Yeah," I said. "As long as we don't fly between it and a missile, which we shouldn't, we should be fine."

"Yes, it does seem to be highly accurate."

Three more frigates and another big landing ship were a bit north of our position. "Thunderhead, do you have weak point targets for the rest of these ships?"

"I just sent the data to you, Blaze," Thunderhead said.

"Roger, I see it now," I said. "The three frigates are in a nice straight line. Going from west to east, I want Chopper, Grimm, and Nagase, in that order, to fire one missile at the weak point target on those frigates. I'll take the landing ship up ahead."

The munitions the Yukes were carrying were working against them. Four planes were taking out their entire fleet. After the four explosions, we had incoming fighters.

"Head's up, team," I said. "Air to air combat incoming."

"Thunderhead, this is Blue Hound. Detecting sounds from Scinfaxi indicating imminent missile launch."

"Arkbird, we'll send the data over as soon as we detect the missile. We're counting on you."

There was a formation of two planes headed our way. "Two of us per one of them."

"Missile away from enemy sub," Blue Hound said.

"Locked on! Begin data link!" Thunderhead said.

I ignored the burst missile warning and continued after my target. They were F-18s. "One Super Hornet down."

"Two down," Grimm called. He got the kill on the second plane.

"Good shot, Grimm," Nagase congratulated.

"Arkbird firing laser," Thunderhead reported. "Missile destroyed! We did it!"

"What was that light?" a Yuke asked.

"They shot that from outer space?" another said.

"I'm gonna make it! I'm gonna get out of this alive, I know it!" one of our rookies said.

"This was what they launched that day?!" a Yuke said.

"Don't panic. We haven't lost yet."

"Rookies, I have an eerie feeling," I said. "Get your planes high. I can't help but feel something bad is coming. I want all of you above ten thousand, no excuses. You are done fighting in this mission. Watch from high in the sky."

Thankfully, the rookies all listened to me this time. They would be safe for now at least.

"Oh, no! They're launching more missiles! Number three, number four, number five..." Blue Hound reported.

"There's too many!" Grimm said.

"C'mon, Arkbird! Use your lasers!" Nagase said.

"Climb, kids!" Chopper said. "Go, go, go!"

"Wait, they are already up there!" Nagase said.

"You three get up there, too," I ordered. "I'll join you as soon as I fire this missile..."

"Did that attack really come from a submarine?" a rookie asked.

"Missile vaporized in midair!" Thunderhead reported.

"They're coming! They're still coming!" Chopper said.

"Everyone get higher up," I said. "I'm flying up myself."

"Ten seconds to impact. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, impact... now!"

I watched as several large explosions went off below. This is bad. Even with the Arkbird, we're gonna have trouble if they keep launching this many missiles.

"We can't deal with the enemy fleet like this," Thunderhead said. "We have no choice. Just weave through the missiles and continue attack the ships!"

"Oh, yeah, just weave through the missiles? What are you, nuts?" Chopper said.

"It actually sounds like fun," I said.

Three more frigates were further back. I was surprised that they were so far from the main fleet. "Chopper, take the north one, Grimm, southeast one, I got the southwest one. Nagase, fly cover, there's a single bandit in the area."

"Roger, Blaze," Nagase said. "Move quick for these kills, there's a squadron of four planes coming up at us from the south, and two more ships, probably frigates."

"Roger," I said.

"Blue hound, this is Arkbird. Requesting sonobuoy data link."

"Stand by. We're dropping a new sonobuoy."

Three frigates were soon on their way to a watery grave, as well as the single bandit Nagase took care of. The enemy squadron didn't last long either. We had them down in under a minute and headed for the remaining two ships.

"Nagase, Grimm, these are on you. That should leave us all one standard missile left each, Nagase and me with two GPBs each, and Grimm and Chopper with one GPB each."

"Right," Chopper said.

After they took care of the last two frigates, we circled back toward the island.

"Blue hound, this is Arkbird. Is that sonobuoy data available yet?"

"Roger, we're sending it now. What are you going to do?"

"Countdown to firing, five, four, three, two, one..."

Another laser fired from orbit, but this time into the sea.

"The Arkbird shot a laser into the ocean!" Blue Hound reported. "Explosion in the water! It damaged the submerged Scinfaxi! Picking up sounds of main ballast blow. The Scinfaxi's surfacing!"

"It's huge..." Nagase said.

"Looks like it's lost diving ability. It's floating like a cork. All units, commence attack," Thunderhead ordered.

"The Scinfaxi's surfacing! It appears to be damaged!" a Yuke reported.

"Aircraft launching from enemy submarine," Blue Hound said.

"Roger, Blue Hound, stand by. Wardog, engage the enemy aircraft if you see an opportunity." Thunderhead said.

"On it, but first..." I said. I swift my weapons to my secondary armaments. I had two GPB left. "Let's give the Arkbird a little help. Chopper and Grimm should have one left each and Nagase should have both of hers. Drop one each on the Scinfaxi. Now!"

I watched at our bombs tore up the top of the Scinfaxi. We didn't manage to cause any of its burst missiles to explode, though.

"Arkbird firing laser," Thunderhead reported.

"Direct hit!" Blue Hound said. "It ripped a massive hole! The sub appears to have lost the ability to launch additional aircraft."

"Blast it out of the water!" Thunderhead ordered.

"Nagase!" I said.

"Right," she said.

We dropped our remaining two GPBs on the Scinfaxi and pulled up hard. Our bombs exploded, and this time caused a chain reaction. We watched from a safe distance as the burst missiles still inside exploded. It made one hell of a splash and sent out a huge shockwave.

"How's the forces back at the base?" I asked.

"I just received a report from Sand Island." They've cleared out the enemy forces there as well," Thunderhead reported.

"Good," I said.

I didn't know about the others... but I was ready to land and take a load off. That was one stressful mission!

-Post Mission-

The Arkbird was successfully employed over the forward edge of the battle area. The enemy amphibious force attacking Sand Island was repelled and their invasion plan halted. The underwater carrier Scinfaxi, a lethal enemy threat, was engaged and destroyed by the superior firepower of the Arkbird. Having lost the support of the Scinfaxi, the remaining Yuktobanian forces retreated.

Furthermore, we are requesting reinforcements from Central Command to replace our squadron members lost in combat.

-Chopper-

Sand Island
1925hrs 4 October 2010

The rookies managed to survive the battle. They were really excited to have been part of taking down the Scinfaxi, even though they didn't really do anything. We let them have their bit of fun, though. Everyone needed it especially after that battle.

Sand Island
0800hrs 5 October 2010

I slept soundly that night and woke up at a half decent time the morning after. I found Nagase laying on the couch in the Crew Room with her book. Grimm was making coffee, but Kid was nowhere to be seen.

I asked Grimm and Nagase, but they weren't sure where to find her until we heard somebody practicing with her sword outside. I ran outside to greet her and almost lost an inch of my hair.

"Oh hey, Chopper," she said as she kept swinging her sword. "What's up?"

"That's my line." I said. "Will you be careful with that thing?"

"Oh, please," she stabbed at me a few times, intentionally missing me each time, then slashed toward me, missing me by only a few inches. "I'm not a novice. I've been doing this since I was a kid."

"I see..."

"So hey, you remember the other day when I mentioned something about my Violin?"

"Yeah."

"I want you to come listen to me play tonight. It's at eighteen hundred in the Crew Room. I'm going to be playing a few different things, including the piece I finished the other day and a few classical pieces."

"Classical? You know I'm more of a rock'n'roll guy."

"Oh, come on. I'll play some stuff you'll wanna hear, too."

"Like what?"

"You gotta come to find out! I promise you'll like it. I've heard you listening to a few of these songs on your radio."

"All right. I was gonna come anyway, but that just makes it better."

"I'll see you then! Now, shoo. I have two hundred more sets to do."

"Two... hundred?" I was amazed...

"Yeah. That's light, by the way. Before the war started I was doing five hundred every morning."

"You are crazy, Kid."

"Aren't I? By the way, Nagase is going to play with me. She'll be playing piano accompaniments."

-Mobius-

Sand Island
1030hrs 5 October 2010

As soon as I returned to Sand Island, I made a quick trip by the Base Commander's office before heading to visit with Wardog.

"Ah, the flight instructor sent to babysit the Wardog nuggets while the Captain's away," Perrault said. "What can I do ya for?"

I took out my identification. "At the moment, only the Wardog pilots and now you are aware of my identity. My cover will remain intact after this conversation."

He looked over my identification. "I thought you looked familiar. Your eyes are different and your hair is longer."

"I let my hair grow out and I'm wearing contacts," I said. "Now to business. About those new pilots that were transferred here recently. I know you ordered them into battle yesterday."

"Yeah, we needed every able fighter."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes-"

I glared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You risked their lives for nothing," I said. "They can barely fly and they don't know how to refuel in midair, yet you think it was a good idea to send them into battle? The only thing you did was send easy targets for the enemy to shoot at."

He stood up, hands on his desk. "I will not have my decisions questioned by-"

I gave him a cold glare as I stopped him. "A Brigadier General is speaking to you, Colonel. You will sit down and listen."

He gritted his teeth and reluctantly listened. "Very well."

"Those rookies are alive because Wardog told them where to fly and how important it was to do so. At the very least, it's a good thing they can follow orders. They'd be dead thanks to you otherwise."

I sighed and continued glaring at him. He stayed quiet.

"I'll make this very clear. Those rookies will not be flying a combat mission until I or Wardog Leader approves it."

"But we need every able-"

"Lieutenant Akari alone is enough," I said as I headed for the door. "Take my word for it. You'll see the proof soon enough."