RC: Sorry it took longer for me to update this time. My life was consumed by the Syria Crisis for a brief moment and it was all I could think about until it was over.
To Nguyen: Thank you again. I didn't realize that the MiG-21's range with an external fuel tank would allow it to reach to Spratlys. I also need to rework that into my math on the Chinese copied version, the J-7. Thank you again very much and I am really interested in hearing your opinion on my new chapter.
"Family isn't always a matter of blood. Sometimes, it's something we build."
―Stacks, Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero
CHAPTER SEVEN: "Sounds Fun"
Frost was walking through a field of white powder. As she walked further down the field she realized that she was not wearing any military attire, but instead had her teenage civilian clothes, which included short jean shorts, sneakers, and a white shirt with a yellow jacket. She reached up to stroke her hair and saw that it was cut the same way she had it in her teenage years. The right side of her head was shaved entirely while the rest of her hair was grown long and put to her opposite side, just the same as the pop singer Cher Lloyd at the time whom she had idolized.
As Frost walked through the white powder she looked up in the sky and saw the sun was high. As she looked around she saw that there was nothing to be seen except the white powder on the ground, which was piled up in mounds just like a desert. She reached down and grabbed a handful of the powder. It was then that she realized it wasn't necessarily powder she was walking through. Her eyes glazed over with a sense of disillusionment as she looked at the substance. She knew exactly what it was.
Just then the mound of white powder she was standing on became incredibly unstable and started to twist in the form of a whirlpool that was sucking her down into it. Frost struggled all she could and immediately tried to push against the waves of powder drawing her in. A feeling of utter despair and hopeless took her over. Try as she might her struggles were useless. She fell into the whirlpool and was pulled down under to a dark place.
Date: December 20, 2016
Time: 0330 hours, 3:30 A.M. (Philippine Time)
Location: Island of Palawan, Philippines
Frost woke up in her bed startled. She sat up and looked over at her alarm clock to find that she had woken up at approximately 0330, three and a half hours before the morning brief. She decided to try going back to sleep, but quickly found that sleep eluded her. After trying for an hour to be at rest she eventually gave up and decided that it would be better to just go to the gym on base and work out.
The ex-Royal Air Force pilot adorned her workout clothes, which consisted of a simple black T-shirt with "RAF" written on the back of it, black spandex pants, and white running shoes. She proceeded straight to the gym. When she entered she thought it would be empty at this hour. To her surprise there was another person in the gym that was just in the process of finishing up his own workout: Krylov.
The exiled pilot was wearing a traditional Telnyashka, a white tank top shirt with blue horizontal stripes that had long been the symbol of the Russian military. He also had on a simple pair of military-issue cargo pants and wore his heavy black boots. The British woman assumed that his Su-47 was down for maintenance after his ops earlier in the day and he had taken the opportunity to push some iron. As the sweat soaked through his shirt she could see the various tattoos and ugly scars that littered his body. His skin, filled with ink and covered in scar tissue, looked less like that of a human and more like that of an abused, monstrous creature.
At first, Frost could feel a strong sense of hatred and disgust jolt into her mind at the sight of him. However, she remembered that what the FSB had done to him was something she personally would not wish on anyone. She also remembered that she had been unaware of how he had lost his lover in Sudan until only recently, which was also something she would not wish on anyone. Aside from that, Frost knew that she and her comrades could find themselves having to trust him with their lives on future missions, a thought that put terror into all of their minds. In that moment her hatred relented and she decided instead to try reaching out to him. In truth, she thought the gesture was insane, just as she doubted she would establish even the most remote of relationships with him. Even so, it was still worth a try.
Krylov grabbed his water bottle and towel before he started walking towards the exit, which was right behind Frost. He saw her, but merely took a mental note of the fact that she was there and did not say anything as he walked right by her. Frost broke the silence. "Um… Krylov."
To this, Krylov stopped and turned partially toward her, not fully facing her but looking directly at her with his grayish-blue eyes.
"Listen," the British woman began to say, all the while fighting the knot in her stomach and looking at him with her own concern filled jade green eyes, "I forgive you for everything that you have done to me and my comrades and I would like to be able to trust you."
The Russian cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her. "What do they call you? 'Frost' is it?"
The British pilot nodded and prepared herself. "Yes."
"Well, Frost..." he began in bleak monotone. "I never asked for your forgiveness. And I am not sorry for anything."
Frost merely gave a small nod of her head in understanding. When Krylov saw that she had nothing more to say he turned towards the door and walked out.
When he was gone, Frost let out an exasperated breath, retaining her composure but still feeling as though she had been punched in the gut. She figured it would turn out like this, going by Krylov's personal history and everything that had happened between them up to this point. After all, this was the same man that had shot out her parachute from over her.
Even so, she could not believe anyone could be so cold.
Time: 1200
"The Switch starts now!" Duke shouted to everyone as they were sitting in the mess. The time was now 1200 and everyone was just sitting down to lunch. "I need the Super Hornet and Growler crews to scramble immediately! The Gripen pilots will receive a briefing for their own mission in the briefing room. The Russians are on their way back to land."
The Dark Horse Air Wing crew immediately shifted gears and did as they were ordered. Immediately, Luck, Mozart, Stix, and Duke rushed to the locker room to change into their gear. From there they scrambled over to their Super Hornets in the hangar. They quickly noticed that their Super Hornets each had a loadout that consisted of six AMRAAMs, two Sidwinders, two external fuel tanks, and the centerline IRST modified fuel tank. Each pilot climbed into their jet and went through the startup process.
As they did this Mozart got on the radio. "Duke, the situation must be urgent if we have to skip a briefing for this sortie. What's going on?" he asked.
Duke began to power up his engines and replied, "We're going to the southern Spratly Islands. The two main positions we're responsible for are Barque Canada Reef and Amboyna Cay. Barque Canada is a dual strip of high rocks eighteen miles long with two artificial islands that have military installations in the center. Amboyna Cay is a small island about thirty miles southwest of it. Both are owned by the Vietnamese. There is still some fighting on Amboyna Cay, but the Chinese decided to destroy the artificial islands on Barque Canada. They've immediately started building on top of it with a large barge that is loaded with medium range SAMs."
"We don't exactly have ordinance on our planes to take out those SAMs," Stix said over the radio.
"That's why the Growlers are coming with us. We're also going to meet four Singaporean Strike Eagles on the way there. The mission is simple: The Growlers jam the SAMs, the Strike Eagles take them out and help the Vietnamese ground forces take back Amboyna Cay Island. We provide air cover."
"Sounds fun," Mozart replied.
One by one, each of the Super Hornets moved forward and taxied to the runway. Duke continued to give them a quick brief as they took off. "There is a big naval engagement going on just north of the islands between the Chinese and Vietnamese navies. The Vietnamese ships couldn't afford to pull back from the area so they'll maintain a constant presence there. Our data-links won't match up with theirs so we've been advised to not get involved unless it's absolutely necessary and we can distinguish targets."
The Super Hornet pilots took off and could immediately see that the Growlers were in the process of taxiing onto the runway so they could take off right behind them. They all fell into formation with Duke and he led them to the southern islands.
Frost headed outside to the hangar after the briefing for her next mission. There in the hangar, she found her beautiful JAS-39E Gripen alongside John's. Her wingman had just finished starting up his JAS-39E, and the hangar was filled with the shrill roar of its singular F414 engine. As Frost climbed into the cockpit she shot John a glance as he was busily focused on the displays in his cockpit. From there, as she got to work warming up her Gripen, she got on the radio.
"John, this is Frost," she began, her voice now caring a commanding edge. "You'll be on my wing for most of these ops. I trust we won't have any problems."
John looked at her from his seat and she could see that he had a twisted smile on his face. "None whatsoever 'boss'," he replied simply.
With that response, Frost decided to take a deep breath and remain relaxed as best she could. If she had any one comfort, it was that the Chinese threatened John's life just as much as hers.
The four Super Hornets and two Growlers soon came within 50 miles of the Barque Canada Reef. As they scanned the area around them they saw that the sky above the reef had two layers of thick clouds, one at 15,000 feet and another less thick layer at 19,000 feet. While they cruised towards the area at 20,000 feet they saw that the sun was bright, the waters below were calm, and the tropical setting would have made the place seem like a nice spot to visit if not for the war. Here at 50 miles distance they were right at the edge of the SAM batteries' maximum effective range.
"This is Wolf One," Steel said as he used his radio callsign. "Jamming the SAMs in fifteen seconds."
The Growlers had the callsigns of Wolf One and Wolf Two. The Super Hornets had the radio callsigns Wasp One through Wasp Four.
"This is Wasp One," Duke said. "Tango Flight is about three-zero miles west of us and waiting for the SAMs to be jammed. They've already released JDAMs. Once the jamming starts they'll go for the enemy on Amboyna Cay."
The other Super Hornet pilots knew that Tango Flight consisted of four Strike Eagles from Singapore, each with the designation of Tango Twenty-One through Tango Twenty-Four. They were armed with JDAM long range glide bombs that had already been dropped from high altitude and were approaching the SAMs. The glide bombs were small so they could get closer without being detected, but at a certain range they would become seen on the enemy radar and if the bombs were to make it they would need to be supported by a jammer. Currently the leader of that Strike Eagle flight was in communication with Duke through an encrypted satellite data-link so that they could coordinate the attack and time it just right.
"Wolf Flight, jamming," Steel called out. The ALQ-99 jamming pods loaded on both Growlers immediately blasted a focused stream of jamming waves at Barque Canada Reef, blinding the SAM batteries.
"Tango's JDAMs will hit the target in six minutes," Duke said over the radio. "Time for us to get in closer."
The Super Hornets and Growlers made their way towards Amboyna Cay. As six minutes went by they closed the distance by several miles and could see the location of the SAM site on their RWR as it still had its radar active and was sending out emissions. Suddenly the radar went silent and the emissions stopped.
Luck turned on his IRST and slaved it to the location of the SAMs, which he could just barely catch a glimpse of under the clouds. He saw two barges that had large missiles installations on them. Both of the barges were on fire. Just then he could see one of the missile warheads detonate as a result of fires spread. The explosion set off a chain reaction that took out other missiles with it and ripped holes in the center of the barges, forcing them to sink down below.
"Wasp Two here, I've got a visual with my IRST. Good kills. They're gone," he confirmed.
It was then that they heard a man over the radio with an accent native to Singapore, "This is Tango Two-One, I'm switching objective to Amboyna Cay," he announced.
"This is Wasp One, we'll watch for bandits," Duke replied.
Duke turned on his radar and scanned 100 miles out beyond the islands. His scan found the ships of the Vietnam People's Navy and the People's Liberation Army Navy engaged in a heavy skirmish that covered an area 40 miles wide and only 29 miles north of Amboyna Cay. He could even see ship-to-ship missiles racing across the sky as each side dealt blow after blow to each other. High above the naval battle was a cloud of UAVs that was obscuring the combat area. These UAVs left a patch of distortion on the radar and it was then that Duke realized the UAVs had been outfitted with their own small jamming kits. Also at that altitude were at least 26 F-16s from Thailand and Singapore that had teamed up to provide air cover for the Vietnamese Navy and had run into heavy resistance from a greater force of J-10 Dragons.
"This could get hairy," Duke said as he watched the fight on his radar. "If any contingent of that force realizes that we're taking the island they might come after us."
As the Super Hornets got closer to Amboyna Cay they could see several explosions erupt on the small patch of land. Luck used his IRST to focus on the Island and saw that there were Vietnamese soldiers at the edge of the island, holed up in a pile of rubble that used to be one of the towns. They were surrounded by a larger force of Chinese infantry and were fighting for their lives.
Luck watched as suddenly a 250 lb SDB bomb fell down and slammed into a part of the Chinese force. He zoomed out on his IRST and could see the F-15SG Strike Eagles providing close air support and dropping bombs into enemy forces to give the outnumbered Vietnamese a chance of survival.
Just then Duke's worst fears were confirmed. He watched on radar as a portion of the drone cloud broke off and started heading toward the island. "Wasp One to Wolf One, we got drones incoming," Duke called out.
"Wolf One, jamming," Steel replied as he immediately blasted jamming waves at the incoming drone force, making them lose their connections and turn around to head back to their landing strips in China. However, as the drones turned back Duke could see that several radar contacts were not turning around. These contacts were manned aircraft.
Luck slaved his IRST at them and could see that they were J-10 Dragons. They could see eight Dragons racing toward them from 39 miles away and closing the distance. "Wasp Two to all, we've got eight bandits. Dragons closing in from the north at angle one-eight, mach one-point-five."
The fact that the Growlers were still jamming that area, meant that the J-10s were slightly blind because they were flying through jamming waves, but this wouldn't last long especially as the distance decreased.
"Wasp One, Wasp Two, let's take 'em out," Duke said as he immediately locked onto the first four, "Wasp flight engaging. Wasp One, Fox Three, Fox Three," he said he fired four AMRAAMs at the first flight.
"Wasp Two, Fox Three," Luck called out as he locked onto the second flight and fired four AMRAAMs of his own.
They watched as the eight AMRAAMs streaked off into the horizon and started to close the distance in seconds. As Luck watched through his IRST he swore he could have seen several small objects drop from the wings of the J-10s. Suddenly the contacts on the radar doubled, causing great alarm to go through the minds of the allied pilots.
It was then that Luck decided to slave his IRST to focus on these tiny objects. He watch as wings unfolded from them and they began to move about on their own. Luck immediately realized that they were copied versions of MALD (miniature-air-launched-drone). They were tiny drones with a direct jam-resistant connection to their launch aircraft and were sending out signals that made them look like J-10s on radar. Duke had his IRST on and could see the same thing. What was even worse was that each Chinese fighter had dropped two drones from under their wings, tripling the targets on the radar. All of them looked the same, making the drones indistinguishable from the real deal fighters.
The Dark Horse pilots watched as their CAG's response to the changed situation was classic. "Wasp Flight, Wolf Flight, network all radars, kill everything."
They immediately networked their radars and their remaining AMRAAM missiles. Each EA-18G Growler had two AMRAAMs loaded as well so they were included in the network. With the targets now at 25 miles away their networked radars and AIM-120s were each directed at a different individual target so as not to waste two missiles on the same target.
All the Dark Horse pilots released multiple calls of "Fox Three! Fox Three!" as they unleashed the full load of their AMRAAMs at the enemy targets.
Streak after streak of missile shot off into the horizon and went directly for its own individual target. The J-10s released chaff and flare in an attempt to confuse the AMRAAMs. Within a matter of seconds the Dark Horses watched as several small flashes from explosions littered the sky in the distance. Each hot orange flash was the detonation of a 40 pound explosive warhead carried by the AMRAAM missile. There were several hits and a few misses as some of the AMRAAMs flew through the formation without hitting anything. Since all of the targets looked like J-10s on the radar it was difficult to get a good damage assessment of their shots. The debris left of both destroyed aircraft and destroyed drones was falling out of the sky and creating an even larger cluster on the radar that made it difficult to see.
The enemy force was now 15 miles away and closing to within visual range. Almost instinctively they all hit the jettison button to dump their external fuel tanks and allow them freedom to maneuver should they need to engage in a dogfight.
Luck immediately began looking through the contacts with his IRST, manually jumping from heat signature to heat signature to see if he could spot any fighters. Each time he looked at them he saw drone after drone. Just then he finally spotted a J-10 falling out of control, its wing was taken off and the engine in flames. Luck could see the canopy burst open as the pilot ejected.
Suddenly missile warning alarms went off their cockpits. They were receiving an enemy radar lock from ahead, meaning that the J-10s had closed the distance to a point where the jammers were no longer effective at blinding them. Missile launch warning alarms soon followed as their RWR detected several missiles coming at them from head on. The Growler pilots quickly went into hard turns away from the area and kicked in full afterburner to get away while releasing chaff and flare. The Super Hornet pilots also punched out chaff and flare and broke formation in evasive maneuvers as the missiles closed in.
Luck watched as one missile shot right by him and missed. Mozart went into a hard right turn that took him low and away from the formation. Duke went hard left before pulling into a split-S that caused the missile to lose its lock.
Just then he looked down at Stix, who had followed Mozart, and was able to see the missile fly close behind her before detonating and releasing a blast of heat and shrapnel. The blast grazed her engine nozzles and rear tail fins, ripping them up. The explosion pushed Stix tail away with tremendous force and caused her to go into a rapidly descending hard spin. Stix could feel her head slam against the side of her cockpit with immense G-forces as the computers fought to get control for her. She could have swore heard a crunching sound right next her head and she blacked out for a second before she realized she was in the spin. Panic began to eat at the edges of her mind as she hoped she could get out of it to fight back.
Duke looked forward and saw that there were five J-10s in full afterburner and closing the distance to a merge. As the Dragons flew over them Luck watched as one of the J-10s went into a dive after Stix to finish her off. Mozart immediately went to intercept it and defend his wingman. This left Duke and Luck alone with four J-10s higher up. Both Super Hornet pilots selected their AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles.
When the J-10s merged they were moving extremely fast at 500 knots. Their high speed took them well past Luck and Duke.
"Luck, I'll go vertical, you lean them," Duke shouted on the radio before he went into full afterburner and pulled into a climb.
Luck turned into the enemy and looked up in his cockpit just in time to see two J-10s pull into a climb while the other two went into a hard turn against him. At that moment Luck realized that the Chinese bandits were pulling the same maneuver that he and Duke were trying to use against them.
Fortunately, the Super Hornet had the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile with a helmet-directed sight. Luck merely had to look at them from his canopy to acquire a lock on one of the enemy fighters. He received a tone and a reticle appeared on his helmet mounted display. "Fox Two!" he called out as he fired his AIM-9X. The heat-seeking missile's engine ignited and sent it off his wingtip and tearing into the sky towards the J-10.
The pilot of the Dragon punched out flares, but the missile didn't go for them. It slammed into the rear fuselage and detonated, ripping the back of the aircraft apart. The Chinese warplane became engulfed in flames and spiraled out of control. The pilot pulled the ejection handles and he was released from the wreck.
With the first fighter down Luck called out, "Splash one!" as he crossed paths with the second J-10 and immediately went into a flat scissors with it. It was then that he looked up and noticed that Duke had rolled on his side right before he crossed with the two higher J-10s. This move made it seem like he was going to engage in a flat scissors with them. When they overshot the J-10s went into a hard turn with the expectation that the enemy CAG would turn into them. Instead, Duke suddenly pulled into a hard dive after the J-10 that was turning against Luck. "Fox Two!" he called out as he fired a Sidewinder.
Luck could see the Sidewinder streak off Duke's wingtip and slam into the J-10 that he was in the flat scissors with. A bright hot flash of light appeared at the point of impact. The right wing flew off wildly and the Dragon went into an uncontrollable spiral. Now that Luck was freed from the scissor he immediately pulled up to cover Duke's tail as the remaining two Dragons pulled into a dive after Duke.
As Luck was pulling into his climb it took him straight toward the other Super Hornet. He and his CAG passed each other nearly head on as Duke's dive took him to a lower altitude than his subordinate. This move was completely instinctive to both of them and allowed both American pilots to cover each other's backs. With his second AIM-9X already selected, Luck locked onto one of the two J-10s diving after Duke. He fired the moment he heard a tone. At a nearly head on angle the entire flight path of the missile lasted less than a second before it reached its target. His Sidewinder missile went directly into the intake of the J-10 before detonating inside the aircraft. The Dragon's fuselage was immediately torn in half, with the front of the warplane spiraling out of control and the rear engulfed entirely in flames. "Splash Two!"
As Luck continued his climb he shot above the wreckage and the remaining J-10, which was still pursing Duke in a high speed dive. The moment Luck went over the enemy he selected his gun and nosed over into a dive of his own to chase after the Chinese adversary.
The Dragon fired a heat-seeking PL-8 missile at Duke, who released flares in response and then pulled a maneuver that Luck thought was impossible. Within the span of three seconds, Duke switched off the angle of attack and G-load limiters that were built into his computers, snapped the nose of his Super Hornet up toward the horizon so that he was now falling instead of diving, went idle on the throttle, and then jerked the exact finite amount of rudder to slowly steer his nose around without losing control of the plane. The heat-seeking missile went for the flares since Duke's engine signature was lowered from the decreased power output. It detonated harmlessly away from him. With the broad underside of Duke's aircraft taking the air head on as it fell gracefully he was quickly slowed down, resulting in the J-10 coming right alongside him as both warplanes were rapidly decreasing in altitude. As Duke slowly steered his nose around he selected his gun and brought its firing line right into the Chinese fighter's flight path. He pulled the trigger and released a clean stream of precise 20mm rounds that ripped into his opponent's fuselage.
The Dragon buckled under the multiple impacts of the semi-armor-piercing-high-explosive-incendiary rounds. Each round released a high-heat explosion with a dense armor piercing tungsten core that punched a hole straight through the entire body of the warbird and came ripping out the other side. Shrapnel ate away at the J-10 and struck the pilot, killing him at his controls. The J-10 began to disintegrate in flames as its dive turned into an out of control tumble.
Duke increased throttle and adjusted his flight path to regain his lost energy. "Splash Two."
Luck decided to not wait for Duke to recover and instead immediately went back to check on Mozart and Stix. "Wasp Three, this is Two, where are you?"
Much to his relief the voice of his Canadian friend replied back, "This is Wasp Three, I'm at angle two a few miles north of you. I killed the bandit that went after Wasp Four, but we've got a problem…"
Upon hearing those words Luck's gut sank. He feared the worst had happened to Stix and a deep dark felling of despair began to threateningly scratch the surface of his mind. He went full afterburner and pulled into a hard dive towards the north. He was relieved to find two Super Hornets at low altitude, but noticed that one of them was smoking.
Mozart then said, "Four's damaged and she's leaking fuel."
Luck immediately went to 2,000 feet and joined up in formation right next to them. He noticed that Stix had her right engine shut off because of the damage. The remaining engine was less damaged but was leaving a trail of smoke behind. There was a stream of fluids leaking out from the underside of the Super Hornet. "Wasp Four, this is Two, what's your status?"
When Stix got back on the radio she sounded somewhat weak and this worried her wingmates. "Two, Four here, I'm losing fuel pretty fast. I don't know if I can make it back to base. My head really hurts for some reason."
Luck decided to move a little closer to her Super Hornet to look at Stix directly. He could see that the right side of her helmet had been cracked, likely from receiving a heavy hit. There was a small stream of blood he could see slipping down her neck and into her flight suit.
Duke suddenly appeared above them and fell into formation in front of the group, assuming the lead position. "I just talked to Tango Flight. They've completely decimated the Chinese forces on the Island and the Vietnamese are almost done taking it over. Mission's complete. We'll RTB and see what the situation is from here."
The CAG then turned course for their home air base. As he did this he said, "I want Four in the number two spot." Meaning he wanted Stix to be on his wing instead of Luck. This position meant that Luck and Mozart would be behind her in the number three and four spots of the formation. It would make it easier for them to monitor her for any new problems that might occur as they flew back.
Each of the Super Hornet pilots felt a sense of accomplishment at the success of the mission but they were all extremely worried for Stix, either that her aircraft would breakdown in mid-flight or that she would simply run out of fuel before they could make it back. With high hopes they climbed to cruising altitude and held a steady flight path to Palawan Air Base.
RC: Please let me know if there was any part of the fight that was difficult to understand and I will go back and try to reword it so that it is easier for you all. I am really interested in your opinions. As always, mores reviews means a sooner update!
