Ace Combat: The Black Ivory Tower

by JohnnyFrost

Blaze and Nagase are reluctantly drawn back into war after a sudden tragedy and join a reborn Wardog Squadron. Wardog and all of Osea are soon thrust into in a brutal war with a ruthless, avaricious Versua...armed with a weapon of unimaginable power.

10. The Battle of the Ceres Ocean

Chapter 10: The Battle of the Ceres Ocean

"When death happens...you almost never see it coming. But if you do...that's the worst way to die." - Jack Bartlett

Royelle, Yuktobania

November 27, 2016

0800 hrs

Kei Nagase was once intimidated by Polly "the Harpy" Elbe. Now she was just annoyed with her. From now on she was flying David's wing and only that. And if Jackson objected, he was welcome to...well…she wasn't going to say it to his face. The sad thing was that she was stuck with this woman on the last mission talking about her ability to tell the difference between Red Sun vodka and Yellow Wind vodka. The last thing she wanted to hear was her garbage. David had learned quickly. He only talked shop with the professionals like Cormorance Alou and Paulo Scirro. Officer rank differences had long vanished. Everyone in the squadron treated each other like equals now. Why wouldn't they? They were all elite and the toast of the Allied Air Force.

David was dealing with the disappearance of Snow. It was a terrible waste. But unlike David, who was uncertain, Kei knew that Snow knew that his death wouldn't be in vain. He wouldn't have wanted it any other way. David, as his alter ego Jonathan, cleverly brought up the topic in search for some answers. They were all in the briefing room, waiting on Jackson to show up. He was always fashionably late.

"So he was a friend of yours? I'm very sorry." said Paulo.

"He could have bailed out and his systems malfunctioned. We had to train for that." said Cormorance.

"But it's been two days. Surely they would have found him by now." replied David.

"In that freezing sea? There's no way he could have lasted that long." said Lillian.

Even Michael and Andrew were discussing their own issues. They were exchanging tales of dogfighting...mostly they were exaggerated tales and delusions of grandeur. But this one seemed more steeped in reality.

"So I come down like this, and that plane goes like that..." said Michael moving his hands to simulate the movements of the planes.

"No, I would have come up on him...like this. That fight would have lasted a lot shorter." said Andrew, doing the same thing with his hands.

But Kei Nagase had a different trifle. She was dealing with more of these bizarre stories from Polly Elbe. Polly Elbe in many ways was the female Alvin Davenport. The only difference was the content of the bulk of their conversations. Chopper talked about rock music. Polly had a Doctorate in "alcohology"; a term that Kei eloquently gave to her absurd knowledge of drinking.

"So I was in this pub in November City, and my all friends convinced me to do a Mind Racer..." she started. Kei groaned in her inner monologue.

"Whoa...what? Time out. What the...what's a mind racer?" asked a confounded Kei Nagase.

"Oh, it's this thing where you lay on your back with your head hanging off the edge of the bar table and they pour shots of lime vodka down your throat." said Polly. Kei looked at her with a strange look.

"...okay. Good luck with all that..." Kei said stretching her arms out and rolling her eyes. Polly seemed offended.

"What's the matter? You always seem so disinterested in my stories. They crack everyone up and you just sit there with no sense of humor." said Polly.

"Well...Polly. I'm not...I'm not like you obviously. See...I'm not a wino and I don't watch a lot of television or go out to pubs and clubs every chance I get. You're the kind of person who drinks and someone asks you why you're drinking and you say, '...Because it's Tuesday.' I'm just not that kind of woman." said Kei, not trying to be a bitch...but Kei had enough of these stupid stories of Polly and Andrew and Michael getting smashed in some Boston nightclub. She'd heard one too many stories of their nocturnal adventures. Kei was blushful talking to David about those kinds of events in private...much less in public. Polly shook her head in disbelief.

"So you're a moralist? You never want to risk anything. No wonder Jonathan likes you. You're the good girl; not the girl next door." said Polly, almost challenging her. Now Kei was offended. She may have been a quiet, private person my nature. But she was no prude. Now Polly was asking for it.

"Well, I'm not as moralistic you may think." retorted Kei.

"Oh, come on; then what are you? You're so uptight. You, with all due respect, never have anything interesting or funny to contribute anything. We're at war so I'm determined to have some fun with it. It takes my mind off the terrible stuff that goes on. Don't you have something funny or crazy story to tell. Just whisper it to me. We're all family. I'm not saying a thing; my lips are sealed." said Polly. Kei shook her head. Maybe she'd been wrong about Polly. If her inappropriate humor was what got her through war, then maybe Kei shouldn't have been so quick to antagonize and dismiss her. But Kei still was determined to put this Boston "Alcohologist" in her place.

"Okay. You asked for it." said Kei, looking off to make sure David wasn't listening. She spoke softly, "He's going to kill me if he finds out I told you this but…It was about three years ago, we had a major storm that hit our district. We'd lost power for two days. We're in the house and we're sweating, we're hot, and it's miserable outside… We were kinda bored at playing board games for the 34th time. So...I'm looking at him, and he's looking at me…" said Kei a bit sheepish. Polly was all ears now. Kei signaled with her index and middle fingers to "come closer". She spoke even lower.

"Just between us girls...I told Jonathan that I wanted him to..." she began to say right in Polly's ear.

What Kei said next nearly caused Polly's eyes bulge open and jump out of her chair in amazement. She almost dropped the water bottle she held. Hearing something like that would not have surprised her as much if it came from say, Andrew. But to hear something of that nature from this Ava Sosabee, a person she thought was soft and flaky like her husband...Ava had just earned Polly's respect. She shook her head in even greater disbelief. It sounded made up...but it was all too real.

"Whoa...are you kidding me?! You two...my apologies. Good lord. I'll admit, I have some being drunk stories but...wow. If was more of a cynic, that would sound fake but...wow." she said flabbergasted. Suddenly, Lucien Jackson and a few officers entered the room.

"Alright people. Enough of the stupid bar stories. We got a major problem." said a rather harried looking Jackson. He went in front of everyone in the briefing room and took out several portfolios; several officers were flanking him.

"Thank God." Kei said to herself.

"As many of you know, the Versuan Navy is attempting to sweep our forces from the Ceres. Their goal is to gain control of Tiger Naval Base and suppress Murska Air Base. From there, they can threaten the West Coast of Osea. We cannot allow this to happen. Their navy out numbers us about two to one. We're looking at about 112 ships against our 69. We've been weakened by the constant attacks by the Dispater Tower." said Jackson. Jackson had briefed the squadron earlier about this receiver.

"But, we are out of its range..." began another officer.

"...so it can't hurt us." interjected Andrew. Jackson pulled up the screen of a massive, unusual looking ship. David winced. It looked like the Scinfaxi with a battleship mixed in. He looked straight at "Jacks".

"Not so fast, Mr. Fisch. This picture was taken by a Sotoan recon craft. Their flagship is the VRS Ajax; the Ajax is equipped with multiple AA stations, SAMs, anti-ship missiles out the wazoo, battleship cannons...the works. Here's the kicker: the Ajax is actually equipped with an X-9A module."

Everyone was dead silent...almost. Alou was visibly angry. Not again, he thought. Those bastards can't drop a dime onto their poorest, but the Navy gets lighting rods. Great.

"The enemy has also managed to get a hold of those strange missiles that were fired at Mr. Sosabee's contingent several days ago. AWACS have given a call sign for it. If you hear 'Osiris Inbound', you move your ass." said Jackson. He then pulled up a screen indicating some kind of naval order of battle on the large computer screen.

"We only just found this out and thank God we did. Needless to say, it's the primary target of our attack. You're going to be supporting an attack on this craft. It's going to be a madhouse up there; Howell's sending the entire Allied Wing from our base. We're not asking you to destroy it. We just need you to help the Navy guys punch a hole in their fighter cover and flak so planes from the OFS Corona can attack it proper." said Jackson.

"What about the X-9? Do we have to...just weave through the lightning bolts? What are you, nuts?" said David, doing his best impression of Chopper. Kei let out a chuckle.

"Good point; glad you brought it up. With the weather hampering operations over the past two days, we had just enough time to put these special ECM pods on your craft. It won't help that much, but it's something. They broadcast a special signal to counter and block the ones from the X-9 on the Ajax. The thing is...to our advantage, this unit is independently operated. Intelligence has confirmed that it was a slightly different X-9 project developed by the Verusan Navy guys to their specs. The Tower can't tell it what to do." said Jackson.

"This is the reason you were brought into this unit. Now it's time to earn your money's worth." said Jackson with a smile on his face. "We're calling this Operation Juno Tide; expect heavy aerial and naval resistance. We expect the planes of most of their aces will be there, so stay sharp. Understood?" said Jackson. He was met with nods and the grumbling of approval.

"Then let me make this perfectly clear ladies and gentleman. If we lose this battle...the war is over for us. This is not some enemy that's going to roll over and die. They will give you everything you can handle. We have to do the same." said Jackson coldly.

David rolled his eyes. Did he not think they knew that? Did Jackson forget who he was dealing with? David always brought everything he had…and so did everyone in the squadron as well.

Caste van Alde

Clavis, Verusa

November 27, 2016

0840 hrs

William Masson was stunned at the reports his generals were giving him. They were a mixed bag of the incredibly optimistic to rather grim. The ground troops were being pushed back, the air force had lost air superiority over Southern Yuktobania but the Navy had torn through all opposition and was approaching the last obstacle before it could lay claim to the Ceres. That was where the balance of the war would be decided: the dividing line between the Ceres and Pacific. But it wasn't the opposing reports that gave him scares...it was the reports of the resurgence of the Southern Alliance.

In the beginning, Southern Versua was ruled by a large collection of Mujara, or warlords. The Mujara were fierce opponent of the North, who favored a more fascist regime. Extreme left versus extreme right; it was not a harmonious relationship. The Mujara's culture was often compared to the culture of the Northampton, North Point's or Boston, Osea's fiercely independent and intra-trusting ethnic culture. They protected their own, often violently, and were rather territorial. They were divided, yet united. This culture was unacceptable under Masson's vision. Masson wasted no time in doing everything he could to annihilate the old-school tribal mentality. The Southern Alliance grew out of their old mind set. Masson had lost more men putting down the rebellions from the Southern Alliance than actual offensive operations against the Communists and the former country of Clavis. And now they were back...

"Why was I not informed sooner of this?!" Masson said angrily holding up the resistance propaganda flyer. Surrounding him in the castle conference room were Generals Ignis, Percival, Rossi, along with Portia Masson and Dr. Zerran Makin and Doctor Zorba. He slammed it on the table.

"Well, the pilots at Vastos found it; your son in law to be exact. But for whatever reason, the pilots didn't send it through the proper channels until now. We're still trying to figure out where the lag took place, but better late than never." said Ignis.

"You wanted to investigate it yourself." Zorba interjected.

"No..." Ignis denied. Percival laughed. He knew exactly why. This was once Ignis' duty when he was a part of the old Orchid Division before it was shut down.

"I think yes, yes. I'd have no problem with it Dimitri. Problem is...it's not your job anymore." said Percival.

"I'd admit that sometimes I find myself longing for the old days but..." said Ignis sadly. Ignis was now in command of the Special Projects Division. It was a great promotion, but Ignis often missed the thrills of the fun, old days of espionage and spy work.

"Regardless. How is the battle shaping up in the fleet?" Masson asked.

"I have the Admiral's report. Weather has been an issue the past two days. We have approximately 112 combined ships to their 69. This will be a rout. As you know, we put one of our modules on Hildegarde's flagship. The only problem is that we can't control it from our tower because it's a different design that Zorba and General Ignis worked on together. We didn't have time to properly calibrate it to our tower. It's a gamble but I trust Admiral Aurelius will use it wisely." said Percival.

"Don't be so overconfident. We can't afford a loss now. There's no mistake we outnumber them...but as we've seen they fight well with their backs against the corner." Masson said.

"Commander Daydenko probably knows that without saying. However, the test went well." said Ignis.

"What was the purpose of that attack anyway? Sending them all alone like that?!" said Portia, rather upset.

"I wanted to test our new AIM-900X Bursting Star Missiles. They were a success...albeit a rather costly one at that." said Ignis.

"I've never heard of those. Why wasn't I informed of this project?" Portia said.

"I would have...but the problem is...it's not your job anymore." said Ignis repeating Percival's words. Portia looked steamed. Ignis and Portia never really got along. But then again, Portia never really got along with anyone. She was tapped to be the next ruler should something happen to Masson. But Lord Masson was a healthy for a man in his lower to mid fifties.

"Zing." said Percival.

"Usually, we don't share the results from our laboratories with non-cleared personnel but..." began Ignis.

"You mean the Demogorgon Facility?" Masson replied. The Demogorgon was only known to select few people. Rossi winced a bit. It was the first time he'd ever heard that name. And yet, it brought up so many dark memories of the old war; things he could not remember without shuttering.

"It's more than a facility. Anyway, what do you plan to do about the combat losses in the 1st Wing?" said Ignis to General Rossi. Rossi never liked to get into the squabbles on the inside of the ruling class. He kept to himself and did just fine.

"I'm moving Mephisto up along with the 4th and 18th Squadrons to support Hildegarde's attack on the Allied Fleet. I'm pulling Rahab back, but Bel and Hecate will be unable to participate. There was a major accident San Lorana. The airfield's in flames. It was a chemical..."

Suddenly, a single soldier burst into the chambers.

"Sir, I apologize for interrupting...but there's been an incident in Vastos." he said.

"What?" Masson asked. Masson knew his favorite daughter and his son in law were all at Vastos. He only hoped that nothing had happened to them.

"There was an explosion at the airfield. Your daughter and few others were injured." the soldier said.

"What?!" Masson shouted in total confusion.

"She's alright. She's suffered some shrapnel wounds; easily recoverable. But she'll be grounded for the recoup and..."

"What happened?!" Masson demanded to know.

"We're not sure. Colonel Cero is conducting an investigation." said the nervous soldier. Masson took a minute to breathe. Xalia was okay. Masson did notice something strange about Portia though. Her reaction was...strange. It seemed like repressed disappointment. But then again, Portia was just being Portia.

"All right." said Masson, tight-lipped, "Portia, I'm putting you in charge of investigating this resistance movement. Put me in contact with Aurelius. I want a full status report on the attack. As for you Zorba, I want your next report about a wide range of the Dispater by 1800. Percival, I want to make a full time observation of the battle ahead. I want updated reports every ten minutes once the battle is joined. And get Prime Minister Graysel back here as soon as possible. I need to have a word with him. This meeting is adjourned." ordered Masson. As everyone began to file out of the conference room, Masson walked behind Dr. Makin and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dr. Makin." asked Masson.

"Sir?" said Makin, turning around rapidly.

"With my daughter out...do you think he may get pushed up?" asked Masson, speaking of Makin's son, Zerran Jr.

"I hope. I really hope he does well if he does get slotted in to Mephisto." said Makin. Masson put his hand on his shoulder and walked out. One thing William Masson liked about people like Makin was that, unlike Percival and Morales, they were realists. They didn't get caught up in hopeless optimism.

Makin left with a grave sense of worry. His son was only about twenty one. He was a very young man to be thrown to the wolves so early. But he had confidence in the skills of that legend Baraka Molina.

Vastos, Versua

November 27, 2016

0900 hrs

As long as Xalia could remember, she knew that the one non-luxury she never took for granted was a bed. It sure took the pressure of having to feel those painful burn wounds along her thigh and temple. She couldn't remember how it happened. She was just walking along and BOOM! One of the boxes exploded. A few of the hangars were damaged. But luckily, no one was killed. It may have been some malfunctioning ordinance. But she had plenty of time to think about it while she was on that hospital bed. Baraka was at her bedside, but she felt embarrassed because she knew she was going to be fine.

"She'll be alright. The wounds were relatively minor considering what could have happened if that pillar wasn't in the way." said the doctor.

But, the pain wasn't that bad. It was not debilitating. She could get up and walk. Plus she knew the most important thing: there was a mission coming up and she wasn't going to miss it for the world. She wasn't going to miss flying alongside Baraka again.

"Well, if that's the case...can I get out of here?" she said. It was stupid to say. She knew she was in too much pain to fly...but she was going to tough it out. Sasha would have folded like a lawn chair under pain... but Xalia Masson wasn't going to do it.

"Absolutely not; this kind of flesh injury requires a few days to recover. Don't worry. You'll be back to your old form in a few days." said the doctor trying to reassure her.

"...I guess." said Xalia, almost defeated. She winced a bit, giving it away. Baraka put his hand on her shoulder. Baraka knew he didn't always need Xalia...he just wanted her there. Xalia needed Baraka more than he needed her. She just didn't know it.

"It's too bad I can't hunt your nemesis with you." said Xalia with a pained smile.

"Don't worry. I'll get him for you. We'll get him...we'll get them all." Baraka said. "Nemesis" referred to that demon of a pilot that made mincemeat of Dorian's unit by himself.

"Makes me glad to hear it." said Xalia.

Baraka walked out of the hospital room and was flanked by Sodel Sinora, Iga Horace, and Roni Laserth. They all walked outside the facility in the open morning sun.

"So now what?" said Iga. Iga Horace was a damn good pilot. He, like Xalia, was a rather unselfish pilot as well. It was someone Alex Haari could learn from. Iga was someone everyone could count on to watch their backs as a squadron.

"We got to put someone in on the eighth. I want you to fly my wing today." said Molina. Iga looked surprised.

"Really? I guess I should be honored to fly closer to the legend." he said jokingly.

"You know me...no sense in that talk." replied Baraka.

"But who? Dasto? Makin?" asked Sinora.

"Makin is a good choice. He's a good pilot." said Laserth. Laserth was a good evaluator of talent for the squad. He helped Molina select the reserve pilots.

"He's too young though." said Sinora, a bit cynical.

"He's the same age you were when you first started." Roni replied. Molina needed no more convincing. He saw Zerran talking to Alex some twenty feet away.

"Fine. Zerran!" called out Molina. Like a trained dog, Makin ran over to him.

"Sir?" he asked.

"Xalia's going to be out of commission for a few days so I'm tapping you to fly alongside Captain Laserth." said Molina simply. Makin's eyes lit up. He'd been waiting for this chance for what felt like months.

"Thank you sir! I won't let you down." he said excited. Molina touched him on the shoulder, trying to calm down his jubilation.

"Just remember, I don't want you to impress me. Just put in a solid day's work and you'll come home alive. Don't do anything stupid; and don't you worry about the complicated things...let me do that part." said Baraka. Zerran nodded. The last thing he needed to do was do something stupid. He had his own potential and his father's reputation on the line. It's too bad his mother wasn't alive to see this...

"Sure thing! I'll get ready now." he said. The others began to walk away as someone tapped on his left shoulder. It was Ammon Kaida. Kaida would be going up with the others...but his plane had suffered some damage from that explosion and it wouldn't be fixed in time for the attack. To make him angrier...he had just got back from a mission.

"I heard what happened...and I can take a guess at who was responsible." said Ammon. Ammon had a bit of a different interest in this incident.

"Look, I'm going to into battle without my full squadron available and you want to discuss conspiracy theories? No thank you." said Baraka. Ammon snorted.

"This is not conspiracy. It's a legitimate concern." he replied.

"Look, Ammon...if I may make one word of caution, once you get involved in these rumors and whatnot, you're going to wish that you never got involved. There's a lot of things I know about this conspiracy business that would scare you if you knew the truth; things that not even I can't take to a confessional booth." Baraka said, looking at Ammon in those glassy eyes.

"Whatever." said Ammon. He wasn't buying it. He always knew Baraka knew more than he let on.

"I just got back from a solo reconnaissance mission for Navy intelligence. Now, if I may make one word of caution," said Ammon, mocking Baraka a bit, "...the enemy's response will be vicious. Take care now."

And with that, Ammon walked away. But Baraka wasn't worried. He was more concerned with that Osean pilot. He wanted to take him apart. He wanted to send him a message: Mephisto had the hegemony in the skies...not them.

Somewhere in the Pacific Osean

November 27, 2016

1220 hrs

Grand Admiral Aurelius Hildegarde was the worst traitor in the history of Sotoa. During its civil conflict of 2008, a mass amount of corruption in the Sotoan military was exposed. In a panic mode, the entire military underwent a "clean house" operation. Hildegarde was exposed when many of the skeletons in his closet were laid bare. Hildegarde had long been planning his coup d'état against the King and the Royal Family. He'd also orchestrated the assassinations of several top Naval brass members. Rather than face arrest for some of the horrifying things he'd done and had done on his watch, he and his 5th Fleet, the largest in the entire world at the time, declared war against the Kingdom. In a bloody civil war, Hildegarde was defeated and fled to Versua in 2009. Hildegarde was soundly beaten, but the cost had been high. Sotoa had been set back ten to twenty years militarily. Hildegarde's philosophy was what impressed Masson the most. He often compared the Admiral to himself. Hildegarde's only weakness was that he was an old school guy; however, he was willing to embrace new concepts. The only problem that Hildegarde had was a lack of carrier fighters. He had three super carriers. The Oseans alone had twelve super carriers.

The light carriers were also a threat. But he'd sunk two of those off Summer's Island with little effort. Now this massive enemy carrier force was blockading the entrance to the Pacific. They probably were not going to commit their entire force...but it would be a sizeable amount. It was going be a classic battle of different combat philosophies. Battleships, carrier support and anti-ship missile support against a massive wave of carrier fighters backed up by those new, damnable ZV9 Long Harpoon missiles the Oseans used. But he had the secret weapon. He had the X-9A Dispater Unit. He had the Star Bursting Missiles. This was going to be rather fun.

"Are our forces in position?" asked the Admiral to his first mate.

"Yes sir." he replied.

"Prepare to spread to wide battle formation." he said.

"Sir." said his main communications officer.

"Have the air forces been made aware of our approach?" asked the Admiral's first mate, Dalton, to the radar operator.

"Yes sir. All available aircraft are being launched. ETA forty minutes." said the operator. Aurelius smiled. One thing that had haunted him for years was what could have been.

"Prepare to launch all carrier aircraft." said another officer.

"X-9 preparation is complete." said an additional officer.

"The readiness is all." said the Admiral with a big smile on his face.

Royelle, Yuktobania

November 27, 2016

1250 hrs

Air raid sirens started. Everyone and their mother came running out of their hangars. And yet, David was paralyzed. He actually found himself looking for that kid. He hoped that Sueltana would show up again. It tore him up to see that kid possibly all alone in this war torn country. He owed it to her to help her. But everyone was urging him towards other affairs.

"It's the big one!" he heard Michael call out.

"Come on! Let's go!" Polly called out.

David finally got into his cockpit...and saw something taped to the instruments panel. It was a piece of paper with Yuke words on it. David, thanks to Kei being a polyglot, had taught him a great deal of Yuke. He looked at the letter and he made the preparations to take off., he turned off his radio and read it aloud.

"...you asked for my name. You weren't like the others I've seen from the west. You seem...strange. Maybe you'll tell me your name. But your friends don't seem all that happy. They seem very worried. They are scared like I was. When I saw you...I wasn't scared. But...everyone around me is getting scared. I think I'm getting scared again...so what's your name? I'll wait for you." - Sueltana Devia

He had a first and a last name. And he had this crudely written letter. It gave him some hope. In the moments after his daughter had died, he felt like dying in that sea. There was no point in living; to hell with life if that was living. But now, for the first time...revenge was replaced by hope. But the hatred was still inside his heart. But the hope was there. As he got into the air, he did something bizarre. He put the plane on auto pilot, took off his gloves, pulled out a pen and wrote-spelling out the words- "Hope" on the fingers on his left hand…and writing "Hate" on the fingers of his right. He put on his gloves again and took the auto pilot off just as Kei flew to his wing. Many tense minutes past as the sky filled with allied craft.

He looked left and Kei blew him a kiss, even with the helmet on. But she'd done it before so it didn't surprise David. He merely returned the favor. Beneath them lied the dividing line between the Ceres and Pacific Ocean. There was a long period of time before either David or Kei spoke. Around them, everyone was chatting among themselves. But they both remained silent. Suddenly, the green radio light came on and everyone's attention was diverted.

"This is AWACS Scion, to all scrambling Allied aircraft. We've received reports that the enemy battle fleet has begun combat with our own ships. Carrier fighters have been launched and are currently engaging the enemy. However, we've received a report of the enemy launching nearly a hundred regular air force aircraft to intercept our fleet's forces. Shoot them down and maintain air superiority over the general area. Everyone is aware of their respective assignments. We expect more usage of their mysterious Dispater weapon so watch your backs. Keep an eye out for radar warping. All units...sound off." the distanced command aircraft said.

"This is Wardog unit. We're all here." said Paulo.

"This is Echo Squadron. All units standing by."

"Voskod Unit on station."

"Mercury Unit, standing by." David heard the rather gregarious Serena Batiste say.

"Ganymede Unit, on station and standing by."

"Greyhound Unit standing by."

"Viper Squadron on station."

"Moya Unit standing by."

"Wisna Unit standing by."

"Europa Squadron present."

Most of the units were only a few planes each. There were only three true and stocked squadrons; counting them and the units all together, only seventy eight aircraft were in the air. The size of the allied contingent was big. It was the largest David had ever been in, even when was Blaze. But it paled in comparison to what the enemy was bringing to the party.

"Roger. All Allied Units present and accounted for. We're ready for battle." said AWACS.

David didn't see it. But up ahead, the enemies were getting handled by the Navy pilots. It wasn't like before. These pilots were hardened, well-trained units. The Versuan Naval Air Force was, in reality, a shell of what the Osean Naval Air Force was. The VAF had launched aircraft to try to clear the skies of enemy aircraft. But much like the Versuans on land, they ran into a buzz saw of Allied planes led by experienced formation leaders like Halo 2.

"This is Halo 2. All aircraft continue the attack." said Howler. David had consulted Howler before over the phone thanks to a connection in the mechanics. There was no sign of Snow...and the "Hate" hand on his body became tighter around the controls. The "Hope" hand became significantly looser.

"Wow...their just dominating these guys. Maybe they don't need help after all." said one of the allied pilots.

"Qa trio...those men have some guts." said Treya, or Serena Batiste.

"Scion here. Additional Air targets are entering the battle space. Right on time. Vector 010, eighty miles."

"This is Red Crown. All allied units turn to intended vector. Don't waste anything on these guys. Move to attack at BVR." said the commanding lead from Greyhound Unit.

They were some 100 miles over the ocean. Beneath them was the endless sea and somewhere out there was the enemy fleet. Scion had indicated in the hustle of action that the enemy was probably using some sort of ECM jamming. Suddenly, wave after wave of missiles began to scream towards them on the radar screen. Part of it was distorted because of the jamming ships, but they could see them.

"Whoa!" Michael yelled.

"They want to play BVR too!" said Cormorance. "Let's give them something to think about!"

Meanwhile...

Baraka was leading the attack, but it was some of the other units had taken it upon themselves to shoot long range missiles at the enemy. He led the large flight, but wasn't in command of it. He was disappointed that Hecate was unable to join them. Adon Mora was a great man to have in this kind of situation. He wasn't a long range fighting man. He was an old school, close in, in-your-face, 'knife fight in a phone booth' kind of pilot. He probably would have sent Zerran to Hecate, but their rosters were full. Still, Baraka still felt the pangs of Xalia's absence. Maybe he was wrong about needing her less.

"They're out there...sixty miles." he said to his men.

"Don't worry Zerran. Just stick to your training." said Horace.

"Yes sir." Makin said.

Suddenly, one of his craft made a visual contact of the Allied aircraft. Recalling his intelligence reports, one of Mephisto's aircraft chimed in.

"It's them again! The one with the dragon emblem is the one you want Commander." said Barus Rothe. Rothe was always good at pointing out specific units, particularly important ones at that. Molina smiled beneath his helmet.

"It's time to put them out of commission!" Molina said.

Some of the ships began to launch anti-air missiles as well. But the Navy pilots were in the middle of their own battle; they were distracting some of the AA fire as puffs of black smoke filled the air above the fleet. Most of the fleet was bunched around

"We've got heavy ECM from several targets in the center group. It's probably where the Ajax is. Take them out or we'll be in trouble when the strike planes arrive. ETA: six minutes."

David had begun his attack when more missile alerts sounded. The ships below had begun locking on to them. Everyone began dodging the first series of missiles that were bearing down on the allied contingent. Everyone began deploying flares, chaff, and just generally tried to get the hell out of each other's way. David had done his own defensive maneuvering and righted his airplane as Kei flew into the slot. Kei could see wakes of the ships below...and the white streams of death trailing the missiles being fired in their direction.

"Where's the Ajax?! I have no visual!" said Cormorance.

"I see her! It's there at point 355 on my nose. She's a beauty...too bad we're going to have to put a hole in her." Lillian said. David couldn't see it very well, but that massive ship was there. It was incredible in scope. It filled the sky with flak and anti-air missiles from it and a lot of the other ships.

"All planes, pick your targets and fire at will." said Paulo, issuing orders.

David then looked up as another wave of anti-air missiles came screaming in...Only to find those damnable red Terminators spread out across the sky. But, he wasn't going to crawl inside of himself. He was going to fight them head on. If they wanted to play that game...David was game. He fired two AMRAAM missiles at a range of about 40 miles then pulled up, a wise maneuver as everyone else thought he was going down. But he was frustrated as the passed by harmlessly. They must have had ECM pods as well. Molina knew it was him; just the way he flew gave it away. He ended up flying right past him.

"Damn. So it's him again after all. Welcome back...I've missed you." said Molina.

"Wow, he's fast. Impressive." said Makin. Makin was almost completely floored by the chaos around him. But he focused on his duties and stayed on the tail of his leader as he'd been taught.

Alex saw the pilot and his wingman perform a rather high-G turn that looked as if they skipped off the side of an invisible wall. Then as everyone turned to engage them, they were gone. They'd performed another set of high-G Turns and they were right behind Mephisto again! Alex could have sworn he seen this before...

"Wait a minute...I've seen that before...but where?" he said out loud.

"Alex, reminisce later! Mephisto 1 to all planes, split by two and engage any craft at will. No one slays the Dragon but me." said Baraka.

Alex said nothing...but he was livid. This was not like Molina. So what he'd found an equal, does that make him better than me...than the rest of us? Alex knew the answer to that question. Hell no. It wasn't the way Mephisto did things. The Commander was singling out that one plane. To hell with Molina's orders, thought Alex.

David could see the red planes there...but he wasn't going to solely face them. There were other planes out there...other planes that needed to be removed. Suddenly, he was being locked up...but what surprised him was who was doing the locking. It was Michael. The lock went off, and Icarus was a bit embarrassed.

"Oh, my fault. I was...whoa! Where that plane come from!?" he shouted. He said that in response to a pair of streaking red planes that passed right by him. It was Alex and he wasn't going to be denied.

"I got you!" he said.

David sent a hand signal to Kei after he said to look left. He only held it for a second, but she saw it and knew what to do. They split a bit and slowed down after avoiding a set of missiles from Mephisto 5's plane. Both of the Mephisto planes zoomed past them and they locked them up and fired Sidewinders in turn. Alex was forced to dodge. He went to full after burner after they'd turned away so he and Sodel Sinora performed high-G turns of their own and were suddenly facing the Wardog pilots.

David knew what to do. He went up, and Alex followed. He was almost in range and he almost fired at a longer range but the man and woman formerly known as Blaze and Edge...fired first.

"No, he's mine Alex! Back off." said Molina. Alex was infuriated. Why was he acting like this?! This wasn't the Baraka Molina he knew. Of course, if he knew what Sodel Sinora knew about Baraka...it wasn't anything unusual after all. It was his old habit before Xalia came along...and old habits die hard. Damn, you arrogant...thought Alex

"Just let him take it; let it go." said Mephisto Six. Alex wasn't going to give in so soon. Damn him, he thought.

The battle over the sea was turning slowly over to the Allied side. The Naval Aircraft from the Osean Carriers were making mincemeat of the lesser-trained, ex-Sotoan/Versuan combined Naval forces.

"Osiris inbound! Another one!" shouted Scion. Everyone in the air battle realized what was coming. The Versuans got their own warning to avoid any fratricide.

"Damn." Molina said, moving towards their fleet's airspace.

Molina heard the warning as the Ajax began to fire several of these bursting, incendiary missiles. He'd only heard a bit about them...but they were powerful weapons for sure. They soon exploded over the sky...downing several aircraft, friendly and enemy. David felt a vibration along his aircraft. He looked to his left and saw a small trail of smoke on his wing. The fact that he only took that amount of damage indicated how lucky he was.

"Are you okay!?" Kei cried to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." David said. David had flown like this before. But David knew one thing about trailing smoke in a plane...one was magnet for ambitious, kill-count hungry enemies. David and Kei Nagase knew that fact all too well. And as if on cue...Molina got hungry. He saw the smoke and went after it. But he may have gotten a bit greedy. Soon, he saw two planes bearing down on him just as David started smoking. As if on cue as well, Paulo had spotted the damaged Dragon, and swooped down with Icarus, who annoyingly kept going off on his own, to counter the attack of Mephisto One.

Kei was not going to let anyone get close to her husband's plane. She'd been in this type of situation before...and she knew exactly what to do. David dove low as Mephisto One closed in. She rolled left, right into his gun sights. Molina fired one missile at him...and one at her. Kei countered by releasing flares and slowed to let him pass. Sure enough, the missiles missed and she was able to fire an off-bore sight AIM-9X Sidewinder right at Mephisto One. The Terminators flashed past her...and were forced to back off because of Kei's attack. But this time...Mephisto One was not lucky enough to escape. The missile exploded early, a rare tendency...but it was enough to slightly damage his plane. Normally, he would have used flares to avoid it...but Kei manually guided it very well.

"Take that you bastard." she said out loud. She'd returned the Versuans' favor in kind.

Polly saw the results as well, and she was happy. Ava was no longer some fruity, liberal prude. She was a cold-blooded killer for sure now. She wasn't afraid to take a walk on the wild side from time to time. She and her husband had risen above the soft, fruitcakes Polly once said; they were worthy of respect. If only she knew...

"Go, go Ava! Go, you crazy girl!" Polly shouted.

Kei let out an exasperated sigh. However, Molina cursed; he'd been foolish. He was making stupid mistakes. This wasn't like him! He had to get his men back together to make a concerted attack. Problem was...the Wardog unit was making life hell for Mephisto in other ways. Iga Horace had Paulo Scirro all over him. Makin cursed as he made an over-calculation in his flight path, sending him off course. Now his flight lead was in danger!

"Damn! Hang...what! He's all over me!" said Makin said.

Now Makin was in serious trouble as he had Cormorance Alou over him. And Alou was the official "Wardog's Death Incarnate". So Makin was going to be a dead man...and soon. But then...something truly bizarre happened. Near them, Michael saw an enemy plane that was an easy kill. However, it was all over Andrew...who was also suffering damage from those bursting missiles. With his own initiative, Michael charged to the rescue...but without Paulo's consent. Makin crossed down to avoid the attack...at the same angle as Michael Sacshenronde climbed up. They were both going too fast and too hard.

"I got you, red bastard!" he said. "Jacks! Hang on! I'm coming!"

"Michael! Return to formation! Icarus!" shouted Paulo.

"I got you now...!" Michael yelled.

Michael never saw it coming. Makin didn't either. Their backs were turned to each other, and that was a disaster. For both men, their desire to prove themselves came to a screeching halt in one final fatal event. Cormorance saw it all. He had to do everything he could to avoid the collision. Plane collisions were extremely rare. But Zerran Makin and Michael Sacshenronde had done just that. It was a freak accident mostly. But both had done something rather...ill-advised in the process; it was a double fatal decision.

"Did you see that?!" Cormorance yelled to the others.

"Man...Michael's gone!" said Andrew. Andrew knew Michael well for a short time...and now he was gone. He wasn't a guy to get sad about many things...but this was it.

David...wasn't sure how to feel. He didn't know Michael well. All he knew was that Michael was a Belkan born, showboating kind of pilot. He had family obviously, and they would be sad he was gone. But Michael was no friend of David or Kei. Michael never seemed to truly get along with anyone...even with the other rogues like Andrew Fisch and Polly Elbe. Then again, he always spent those down times bragging about how he was everyone else's superior. He was a good pilot, but not that good. Cormorance knew all too well.

As for Makin...his loss was more tragic. He was the son of an important government figure. He knew little about his father, Makin Sr. Unlike many of the higher ups, he was not involved with a lot of side, shadowy organizations like Orchid. His wife had died from mysterious circumstances a few years prior. But knowing the higher ups...there was probably more too it than that. Now he had to deliver bad news. But no one had the time to be sad. There was a battle going on. And the battle was not going well for the Versuans.

As Wardog and Mephisto traded blows, the Versuan Naval Squadron had been wiped out by the well-trained, vengeful Navy pilots. They were tired of being beaten at every turn prior to this battle. The armada had already sunk a number of allied ships...now they had a chance for revenge. The Versuans had lost almost ten ships...including the benefit of their ECM fleet.

The Osean Navy had prepared well. Admiral Chance, the commander of the Osean fleet, was not going to respond to any attacks with an offensive. He was going to make the Versuans come to them. They were launching their more advanced anti-ship missiles at a furious pace as the air squadrons held air superiority. Now the Navy planes could assist the regular air force. But the time for optimism was a bit early...everyone had forgotten about one critical thing...until now.

"This is Scion. The Naval Forces have finished off the last of the enemy Naval units. There's a lot of confusion over the radio waves. Wait...there's an interference at 348. Scion to all Naval Craft, begin evasive maneuvers." said the AWACS. That only meant one thing: Dispater Inbound.

"Set ECM Specials to Red!" said Paulo, preparing for a possible strike.

Kei frantically tried to set her switch on. David tried to get out of the zone, but it wasn't necessary. He looked to the left and saw Kei, but he also saw a wave of purplish flighting erupting around the central area. But it didn't seem as powerful as he'd seen this weapon capable of before. A flood of allied communications nearly blew up the radios.

"Damn! They got the Odyssey!" said one of the allied pilots.

"It's got very limited range." said Lillian, a strange time for observation.

"This is the Tigra! We've been hit by a anti missile! Evacuating the ship!" said the allied ship.

"Togos launching Harpoon!" said another ships.

"This is Scion. The enemy ship presence is weakening. We're getting reports from the allied bombers."

Now the Versuans were getting desperate. The allied air squadrons had tied up their air fleet. Now they had bombers coming in.

"This is Liberty One. We're on route to the central battle group." said the strike leader.

"We've got interference at all points at 101. All craft evacuate the area!" said Scion.

They were firing it again. David and Kei still stuck together. They were going to stay alive together or be electrified together. Cormorance barely avoided another series of electrical blasts. Polly had rolled her aircraft to avoid one, only to see them below her forcing her to thread a tight needle through the mass of lighting.

"Damn! Echo's Three's gone!" said one of the allied planes.

"I can't find Moya Seven! Where did he go!?" said one Yuke pilot in his broken accent.

"Scion here. We're getting information from Allied command. The firing created a delay for the weapon. The bombers need to get in there and hit that craft before the weapon recharges!"

"How long?!" Paulo shouted.

"Approximately four minutes!" said Scion.

Aboard the Ajax

November 27, 2016

0100 hrs

The Ajax and her fleet were in trouble. Apparently, they had the allies figured wrong. They assumed that the enemy would block the channel all together and make an offensive push...just as Aurelius wanted. He'd gambled on a proper battle plan where a plausible allied strategy would be used. Not anymore. They'd stayed out of the attacking range and countered with relentless anti-ship missile attacks. The fighters were never to engage the enemy ships. They were there solely to sweep the air of the Versuan planes.

"Status report!" Aurelius demanded.

"We've lost twelve ships to their five! We've lost all planes from the Azeir, Tanage, and Corsair." said the radar operator.

"Confirmed missile hit on the Corsair! It's sinking!" said one of the officers.

Aurelius cursed. But he still had his aces in the hole. He turned to the X-9A liaison operator.

"What's the Dispater status!?" he yelled.

"Three minutes to recharge!" the tech said.

"Can we go to defensive mode!? They've got our fighters tied up now! Those bombers will be here any second!" said the Admiral.

"Sir, we'll be eighty percent capacity in one minute!" the tech officer said.

"We can't fire at eighty percent!" Dalton said. Dalton knew the secrets of the weapon like Aurelius, but he didn't know that the defensive measures could be used at eighty percent or more.

"We'll have to try! We're getting manhandled here! We've got to buy the fleet more time!" said Aurelius. Suddenly, the entire ship rocked with an explosion. Alarms blared and shouts pierced the air with sound. As soon as the shaking stopped, Aurelius got off the floor.

"Damage report!" he ordered.

"We've been hit by a sub-launched missile! Damage at twelve percent! Fire control teams are into the breach! Friendly subs engaging allied subs!" said one of the officers.

"What sector!?" asked Dalton.

"It hit the 5th Deck! But the Dis apparatus has not been damaged." replied the officer.

Aurelius breathed a sigh of relief. He still had that weapon. Now he had to use it in a way he hadn't intended.

"Prepare the Dispater for defensive mode. Continue to fire at the enemy craft. Keep up the pressure! Get on the radio and request reinforcements." the Admiral ordered.

"Enemy planes approaching port at 270!" said the radar operator.

"Eighty seven percent...preparing to open Protection Cone in three...two...one! Ignition!" said the X-9A operator.

Over the Pacific-Ceres Divide

November 27, 2016

0101 hrs

David saw the slow moving A-6s speed into the battle. Flak and other craft were spilling around them. Some of the navy planes had tried to distract the AA, but they were not being bought by the enemy. Still, despite a few losses, they pressed on, dropping their bombs...onto a cone of purplish death. David was stunned...and everyone else was as well.

"What the...hell was that?!" shouted Treya, who was still hanging around the battle.

"I don't know. Good grief...I've never seen it do that!" said Cato, flying on her wing.

Suddenly, the cone expanded almost like a bursting balloon in the air, several A-6s were destroyed instantly.

"Liberty Squadron's dropping like flies!" said Paulo shouted. One after another, the A-6s fell. Beneath them was a whirlwind of flak, burning ships, screaming missiles.

"I'm hit! I'm going..." said one unfortunate craft.

"No response from Liberty Seven! Liberty Eight damaged!" said another.

"I had no idea it could that!" Kei said. Kei noticed more of the red planes after them and told David about them. They turned back into Mephisto. For Mephisto, things were not looking well. The battle conditions were deteriorating fast. They had not expected this much resistance. The naval planes had been absolutely useless. Now the enemy planes were turning into the Verusan's own formation! Things were getting bad. It was bad enough that Makin was gone just like that. But now, the Navy was in trouble. But they could still win...until...

"This is Scion! We're detecting more abnormal shifts in radar; even more than originally detected. I've never seen anything like this...we're talking extreme wavelength changes! Radar is completely warping. Command has ordered a temporary withdrawal." said the AWACS.

"What's going on!?" Polly said. She looked around and saw her radar was doing all kinds of strange things. It was moving left and right, targets were in the wrong place.

"What the...? What the hell?!" shouted Kei said, looking back and forth, eyes bulging in total shock. Her telemetry was going crazy. It was all her electronics, not just the radar. It was even more than when they first experienced the enemy's special weapon. Wardog was experiencing something almost paranormal given the circumstances. But for Mephisto, this was extremely odd. When a usage of the Dispater was ordered, the friendly planes were ordered to evacuate the general area. But this was the first time they'd experienced the same affects the Allies did!

"There's some kind of problem! My radar's going haywire!" Alex shouted.

"Let's get out of here! I've got a bad feeling about this!" Molina shouted.

"This is Red Crown! All aircraft withdraw from the center, now!"

"What's going on down there?!" Molina asked.

Aboard the Ajax

November 27, 2016

0104 hrs

Hildegarde knew things were going south really fast. His naval attack had all but deteriorated. They'd inflicted plenty of damage...but it was quickly going downhill. Suddenly, the air all around him began to smell of a strange ozone scent. He barely heard his own officer speak.

"What?! Repeat that!" ordered Aurelius.

"There's some kind of malfunction with the Dis apparatus! It's going haywire!" said the X-9 operator.

"Shut it down! Now!" Aurelius ordered.

"I can't! The cooling units are shutting down! It's overheating!" the tech said.

"Shut them down manually!" ordered Dalton.

"We've got water entering Deck 5! We're trying to close it off!" said the emergency dispatch officer.

"Do everything you can to close off the central areas! If that water makes it to the Dis chamber...!" Aurelius ordered.

"Do we abandon ship?" Dalton said. He could see the writing on the wall. Aurelius was a realist. They were losing ships to the allied attacks as they were shooting from a longer range than Aurelius anticipated. The Admiral had made a terrible mistake; mistakes that were going to get his men killed. But he wasn't going to stop trying.

"No...We can control the water leakage. We only have to shut down the Dispater controls." said Aurelius.

Another violent vibration shook everyone off their feet. A large piece of debris fell on the Commander. Dalton was crushed underneath the weight of it. He was dead. Some of the other crew was injured.

"Medic! Get a medic on the horn!" one officer cried.

"Damn! Sir! We've got an overload in the main chamber! We can't stop the reaction!" said the Dispater operator. There was another large vibration.

"Explosion in the main chamber! We're taking on more water! We can't stop the back flow!" said the emergency dispatch officer. The Ajax was listing at this point. Aurelius tried to save what was left. He clutched on to a railing.

"Abandon ship! I repeat, all crew members abandon ship!" Aurelius ordered over the PA system.

But, he knew that it was too late. Like abandoning ship will help...none of us will survive this, he thought. But he didn't stop trying. As the crew left the bridge, he crawled for the main radio and located the

"Ajax Command to Central Command. Our mission has failed. So long." he said sadly.

Hildegarde didn't see it, but he knew. Water began to fill the room as the Dis cannon began to explode, triggering a massive blast. Hildegarde's only regret was that he never accomplished his true goal. He could only think about what could have been had he not made the mistakes of the past. He knew the reason this happened, but it was nothing he or anyone else could truly control. That was what hurt most of all. He felt nothing as the world exploded around him consuming him in electricity and flame.

What happened next, no one could predict. The Ajax exploded in more than just a simple blast in the ocean. It should have rocked the world. Because the Ajax's explosion took with it not just itself...but many ships and planes. The screams of the shocked and the dying filled the airwaves.

"Good God! Did you see that?!" said Treya. Serena Batiste had seen a lot in a short time since the war started...but nothing like this.

"Look out!" Cato shouted.

Francis Marele was a young guy, looking forward to going home once the war had ended. But in an instant, his life was over. He was zapped by one of the errant bolts, one that had missed Treya, but hit poor Cato head on.

"Francis! Francis! Cato!" Serena yelled. But to no avail. Cato was gone. Treya was sick inside. All her "boys" were gone now. Marele had a fiancée too; they were planning a family. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for her to keep living to have her husband and her children happy she was alive...and more people who hadn't had a chance at a full life would die before her. It was, in a twisted way, not fair. In an instant, she didn't want to live...to hell with living for another battle if this was living. If living was dodging an attack that no one could stop...then what was the point. She almost started crying.

"All craft evasive manu..." said a doomed allied pilot.

"Vixen eject! Halo 3 eject now! Halo 6!? Respond! All Halo units check in!" said Halo 2.

"The flight lead's gone! Everyone..." said a doomed Versuan pilot.

"Carezo Leader gone! Confirm our chain of command!" said another Versuan pilot.

A massive blast of purplish electricity and concussion sunk many of Versua's ships. The wave of destruction claimed more than that. Allied and Versuan ships were destroyed or heavily damaged. The Allied ships fared better...but only just. The central sea was filled with the plumes of smoking piles of sinking rubble.

"What the hell happened?" Baraka asked himself. He couldn't believe what he just witnessed and barely survived.

"The Navy! It's been destroyed!" said one of the other pilots.

There was nothing but plumes. For Baraka Molina, and those precious few pilots who'd survived...the plumes represented more than just defeat in the moment. It was their world going up in flames. The massive, impressive fleet had been reduced to just a few untouched ships in the span of a few seconds. And yet, no man in that squadron knew the truth behind what had really just happened.

As for Blaze, or Jonathan...or Dragon...then again...it didn't matter who he called himself at the time.

Michael's sudden loss came as an immediate shock. However, the enemy had been destroyed. It was almost laughable that they had been destroyed by their own weapons. David didn't realize it immediately, but the hand of "Hope" tightened slightly and "Hate" lost its grip. It didn't make much sense at the time, but it was some twisted logic that made some sense in a twisted world. He was flanked by Kei

"We did it. We're alive." said Kei...almost breathless in her voice. She was exhausted; her body ached from constant strain on her body. She realized she wasn't as spry and energetic anymore. She and her husband were only respectively twenty eight and thirty nine days from her thirtieth birthdays.

"The enemy is withdrawing. We're checking the reports from our fleet...but it looks like we've won this battle...albeit a hollow one." said Scion. It didn't seem like hollow victory. Some were thinking in relative to the size of each side's navy. The Oseans had lost two super carriers, and eighteen other ships. The Versuans had lost 81 ships. Most of the combat losses on both sides were from the wildcat electrical blast from the exploding Ajax. The Oseans were lucky. Had they closed to battle the Versuans...their losses would have been much heavier. But no one was expecting such a result.

"Dragon, go to UHF secure, channel 3." said Kei. The pilots formerly known as Edge and Blaze long had a system for changing to secure channels. To change to Channel One, they would go to Three; Three was Five, Five was Seven, Seven they'd go to Nine. Twelve would be Four and so on.

"Thanks for saving my ass." David said having changed the channel over.

"No problem. No, it's my job. It's a nice fleshy protuberance of yours. It'd be a shame to let it go to waste." said Kei barely holding back her laughter.

David cracked up with laughter. He felt a bit strange laughing at it though...it didn't seem right for some reason. But he laughed anyway. It felt uncomfortable at first with all that had happened. It was something to take the mind off their daughter's death. Now, it felt good to finally stick it to the enemy they'd been goaded into fighting. It seemed fitting that their own weaponry would lead to their defeat. Now the tide of the war had finally changed. He then almost forgot. He took out Sueltana's crudely letter. It gave him hope every time he saw it. Now he was going to find the girl who'd warmed his heart in the face of all this fear and inner despair.

But there was one major event no one noticed until after the fact. Not only was there loss of ships and personnel, but to no one's immediate knowledge, a massive improvised tsunami had been created. The unprecedented wildcat blast from the X-9A had created so much electrical interference it struck a light fault line causing the tsunami and killing all sea life with in twenty mile radius. The tsunami hit areas of Southern Osea, and Yuktobania, and even parts of Versua. The loss of life would be high.

Dispater Tower

November 27, 2016

0110 hrs

General Percival was in total shock. In an instant, a majority of their mighty navy had been dispatched to the bottom of the sea. He'd received the report from Aurelius, as he went down with his ship. But, that wasn't quite the statement to make about it. It was more along the lines of being blown up with his ship. But it was a sobering account to say the least. He shook his head at what had just occurred. But Makin was despair. He'd watched the whole battle through "Zerran-Cam" a special camera set up, with Molina's permission, to monitor the battle through his son's aircraft. But when the camera went dead...he knew that his son was gone. He had no time to eject.

"My son is dead. It should...why...how..." said Makin, sitting in his chair almost to the point of tears. Percival didn't have any kids, and he viewed women as inferior beings...so he wouldn't have known what it was like to have a child. But Percival wasn't a completely soulless person unlike a certain icy woman who remained nameless.

For Makin, his son was all he had left. He sacrificed so much to be a part of Masson's inner circle. His friends, his wife all had to fall by the wayside. Now, the only thing he had left was gone. All that tragedy and heartbreak...all the horrible things he did for Masson was for naught now; all due to one event. He should have seen it coming; he should have known it was a contingency he should have known...Zerran was a scientist for God's sake! But the sanguine nature Makin had about his son ended up hurting him more than it could have possibly have.

"I know. I'm sorry. It was a freak accident as far we can tell. He collided with a plane; it couldn't be helped." said Percival.

"I understand. I...wish it could have been different but...I need to be alone right now." said Makin getting out of his chair.

"No, I understand. Take your time." replied Percival. As Makin began to walk away, he turned back to his old friend.

"What about you?" Makin said concerned. Percival knew he and Zorba and Ignis were all going to take some serious heat for this foul up.

Percival was not one for dramatic pauses. But even he had to take into account what he had witnessed. It was a major accident from the X-9A; a weapon that both men had helped to develop. Percival was also one who, many a time to his detriment, always managed to avoid taking the heat for most mistakes he made. Percival never took all the heat for a mistake as a principle. That was how Percival managed to stay alive in the chaotic, Big Brother like years of the past. He never trusted anyone save Makin or Morales. He'd seen too many people pay with their lives for mistakes made. He'd be damned if he was going to take the heat. But this time...he felt he owed it to Makin. Anyone else...he'd make excuses for or shift the blame; not this time.

"...I'll apologize to Masson myself." Percival said.

Next: Chapter 11: The Bird and The Looking Glass