Valais Air Base, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 15:30, Weather: light cloud coverage, light risk of snow.
Today the base was more a crazy anthill than anything, with the forklifts of the maintenance crews doing back and forth travel on the snowed tarmac between the supplies and Galm squadron's hangar. The lines they left in the snow had almost something artistic, looking like grey arabesques on a white fabric.
Gone was the silence of those mountains too, with the movements of all those vehicles. And repairing aircraft wasn't quiet either.
But since 15:00 silence was back at the base. Because it was time for the briefing. A briefing where there was as much officers as pilots, as the two aircraft composing the Galm team had been the only ones to be fixed.
The map was centered on Directus, as today was the day of its liberation. Five red dots were symbolizing each battalion of the occupation forces, each on one sector of Directus. There was a first on the south near the railway station. A second a bit further on the Crescere River. A third which comprised both historic center and new center. And two others on the north, forming the rearguard of the Belkan occupation forces.
" The city of Directus is divided in five sectors along the Crescere River. Each sector has been heavily fortified, especially the first one with the railway station." Koenig began the briefing, only to be interrupted by Pixy at the end of his phrase.
" Sir, by heavily fortified, you mean something harder to destroy than the SAMs, Tanks, APCs, Triple As and BAWS we have destroyed so far ?" Pixy asked, expecting the Belkan to be ready for one hell of a fight.
" By heavily fortified I mean you could encounter others RTLSs in the railway station. And I believe that so far it was quite hard to destroy, Solo wing." Koenig retorted, displaying schematics of the Railway Tactical Laser System.
" Sorry admiral." Pixy apologized. He had been so shocked by their encounter with this weapon he almost forget there could be dozens of those in every city Belka was occupying right now.
" Let's resume the briefing. Resistance fighters transmitted that multiple ace squadrons and squadrons of high tech fighters has been sent to Directus. Furthermore the park behind the railway station would be housing an half dozen of BAWS." Koenig displayed this area which was the key to enter in Directus.
" Let me guess, admiral, the Osean CAS squadron cannot operate with those BAWS still online ?" Pixy was trying to figure how they could get there unnoticed by the Belkan net.
" Exactly. And this is why your leader came with some crazy plan which could allow us to destroy the RTLS in the railway station and the BAWS near it." Koenig replied, letting Iskanda explain her crazy idea.
" Thanks. Johnson, display the railway from Solis Ortus to Directus." Iskanda inquired.
The said portion was displayed quickly. Ten kilometers of tunnels and bridges through the mountains. Then forty kilometers in plain sight. The trickiest part was that those railways were modified for the new electric trains. In other words, Iskanda would have to fly between the rail and the catheters.
" I will fly through the tunnels and stay glued to the ground until the railway station. I should get unnoticed if their radar is higher than the station or behind the latter." She explained, and the travel was shown on the screen. Of course, she had forgotten to mention that two kilometers before the railway station began a smaller tunnel who went below the newer parts of Directus.
" Have you lost your mind ?" Was the reaction of Pixy to such a crazy scheme.
" I don't think so. Mine is only already rent to the devil since a few months." She retorted with repartee.
" So, your airplane has been equipped with some forward advanced cams, at the cost of one of your guns. You will have night goggles too." Koenig reported the few adjustments she ordered for her next mission.
" Well, I think I'll just wait with the Osean near Solis Ortus, flying through tunnels for nearly ten kilometers is way too crazy for me." Pixy expressed again his feeling toward the foolishness of this plan. If throwing a FAEB in mid-air was a 9 on ten on the scale of craziness, flying through tunnels should be above the number of particles in the universe at least.
" Gut. We will wait with you, my dear. And if you obtain victory - no wait, you must obtain victory- we will celebrate it in our new airport the Belkans just finished rebuilding in Directus, so you won't have to return here." Koenig ended the briefing, emphasizing the mandatory victory for today.
" I hope multiverses exist." was Iskanda's response when Pixy scaled her plan in matter of craziness. " Because I have ideas way crazier than this one, but i will keep them for later."
Even if it would be an air-to-air and air-to-ground op, she chose to go full air-to-ground, taking 4 LAGMs and 4 static FAEBs. The latter had some multipurpose capabilities, but they would never be as efficient as the MPBMs the Wesson-UFOs carry .And one minute later, after having obtained the take-off authorization from Blaise, along with his best encouragements, they were in the air, heading toward Solis Ortus again. The main difference was that yesterday they were eight instead of two. They hoped that at least the promised Osean CAS squadron would pack some punch, or they would never have the necessary firepower to take back the capital city of Directus.
Solis Ortus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:00, Weather: clear, little cloud coverage.
They arrived quickly where the Osean were waiting with a tanker. Even if they only used a third of their fuel, they still refueled in mid-air, not wanting to run out of fuel over enemy airspace. The promised CAS squadron was made of six Mirage 2000s with a light green two tone camo, featuring a low observable blason made of dark claws. It was kind of rare to see Osean using such planes, their CAS squadron mainly comprised of E4-6B Prowler or A-10A Warthog.
" This is Claw leader to Galm, we were waiting for you. What's the plan ?" The Osean leader asked, a bit impatient.
" Eagle Eye here, displaying foreseen battle plan." The AWACS operator transmitted the plan, which was quite simple by itself : Galm 1 would fly in the tunnels and clear out the long range ground-to-air defenses, then all the other planes would come in to suppress all Belkan occupation Forces within the city and its airspace. Retaking the city without too much damage was crucial. Koenig did not want to liberate a pile of ashes and rubble.
" You gotta be crazy to draw such mad schemes." Claw 5 said, as he saw what Galm 1 was up to.
" Whatever. Fortune favors the bold. Goodbye folks." Iskanda cut short this in-flight briefing, before diving toward the tunnels from where the armored trains came one day ago.
" Roger. Maintain radio silence until you reach Directus." The AWACS imposed.
" It's not like radio would go through the mountains." Iskanda said, switching on her recently added frontal sensor array and putting the night vision goggles they gave her. Immediately all in her field of sight became green, and a few seconds after she finally entered the tunnel, her radio went static.
" This is up to her now. I hope this Sainte Victoire is looking up on her right now." Pixy said, wishing to obtain victory today. In the tunnel, Iskanda was progressing steadily, flying at low speed to keep good maneuverability. It was a well built one, with dopple tracks allowing two trains to go on each directions and few turns hopefully. Sometimes she was outside of the said tunnel for a few seconds, when the railway was crossing valleys before going back in the heart of the mountains. She just had one fear : that a train would enter in it before she went out.
Furthermore, flying with night goggles wasn't very easy. The overall green effect didn't help either. Few times she honestly think she would touch the walls of the tunnel, but she managed to turn right on time. The very short wings of her X-29A helped greatly now. If she was flying a bigger plane, like the F-15C of Pixy, she would have died because of its greater turn rate. Still, she would not fly in the dark forever. And to be precise, the tunnel wasn't all that dark, with at some point lights on emergency hideouts and other signals there were usually in civilian tunnels.
Solis Ortus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:08.
" Still no response. I hope she's right." Pixy said, a bit worry for his leader.
" I bet she's having fun. But still, I hope this kind of strategy won't be needed any time soon too. Far too much contingencies." Koenig replied from aboard the AWACS.
" Hem, This is the 101st you helped yesterday, remember us?" An Osean voice spoke.
" Of course we do. What's the matter ?" The AWACS operator asked.
" We managed to put some light vehicles on a transport train, and we should be able to help retake Directus." The Osean commander of the unit said.
" Great. I think you can leave right now, I mean, a transport train will not catch up with a fighter any time soon." Koenig agreed to let them follow Iskanda. Still, they would need a good forty minutes to reach the area.
They enjoyed this new change of forces, yet their joy did not last long. An encrypted message from some resistance fighters in Directus put an end to the silence.
" Deciphering message.." The AWACS operator announced, and thirty seconds later it contents was available.
" Damn it, there's an armored train entering the tunnel right now. But Iskanda must be right there now too. Let's hope she would be able to cross his path without being stuck in the tunnel." The worrying intel was revealed.
Tunnel of Solis Ortus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:09.
Her greatest fear of getting stuck in this tunnel was very likely going to happen if she doesn't act soon. She could already see on her radar the train approaching the entrance of the tunnel. And they weren't planning to decelerate. An armored train could withstand being hit by a fighter, but not the other way around. So she speeded up a bit, and locked two LAGMs on the train.
Then she kept flying over the right part of the tunnel, as the Belkan train was coming in the left railway. She was blinded by the sudden explosion which destroy the pilot post of the train, but did not stop its forward motion at all. She was even more blinded by the bright light of the outside with her night goggles that at one point she wondered if she hadn't collided with the train, and if all this brightness she was seeing was only the death pulse of her brain.
No angel or demon welcame her in this brightness. Only the "Pull up" alarm did.
" For once I'm happy to hear you annoying system." She mused, as she was now flying between the railway and the catheters, precisely in the middle of the two-way line to avoid hitting the cables.
Directus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:15, Weather: high stratus.
She was lucky the Belkans did not send any more armored trains. Still, flying in the thin space between the railway and the catheters was not an easy task. Maybe it was even easier to fly in the tunnel, as the current was delivered through the rails there, without the need of catheters. So she was flying in subsonic, the tail of her airplane between the two row of cables. Numerous time there were curves in her path, and she had to turn with a perfect timing, using bow yaw and roll axis. She knew what would happen if she went too fast or too slow. She would hit the conductive cables. And she would not take a little spark. It was not some 10 amperes 230 volts in those cable. More of thousands volts and thousands amperes. No fighter could withstand such electric shock. Even a full shot of a RTLS's main gun would be less destructive. Hopefully for her, no one was on the railway, no other armored train, not a single person on the bridges above it. Maybe the Belkans were restraining civilian transportations and for this reason no one was in the vincinity.
The only lifeforms she saw were some birds in the sky above her. When she finally arrived after ten minutes of intensive flight at the second tunnel, she authorized herself to feel some relief. Because she wouldn't have the time to even sigh when she would be in the clear.
Directus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:25.
The second tunnel allowed her to be unnoticed at least. But she thought she would emerge right on the railway station, after flying below the newest parts of Directus. She was horribly mistaken in her foreseeing of her arrival. She arrived in the open, but the tunnel ended two kilometers before the station. It was meant for the passenger to be in the light when taking their luggage before arrival, and to appreciate the row of majestic trees set up alongside the railway.
The railway station was a massive building made of white stone with great glass doors and a nice glass cupola with a steel structure. It was built over the railway, or maybe they used one pre-existing building and bored the railway through the hill the station was standing on. Before the railway station there was a route connecting the two newest parts of Directus together.
Right now the surprise was definitely over. Reinforcements would need at least a few minutes to arrive, and by reinforcements she meant only Pixy, as his F-15C could match the speed of a MiG-31. Still she would be alone to face the planes above the railway station.
" Ustian fighter sighted. Spinne (spider) squadron, dive and intercept before she reach the station." The commander of one parked RTLS below the station ordered.
" Spinne leader Ver." The leader of a squadron comprised of three Sukhoi 47 replied before diving quickly, hoping to catch this Erusean merc before she could inflict any damage to their forces below the railway station. Those three fighters bore a standard black camo with white nose, however with decals of white webs on the black camo.
" Let's see if our little sparring session of last week with Gault squad was useful." The number 2 said, following his leader alongside the number three.
Unfortunately for Iskanda, the railway was dividing as it came closer to the station, this allowing her three pursuer to come at the same level. She couldn't evade six SAAMs coming from three different angles for long. She only saw one manner of saving her skin here. Yet it was highly hazardous, and she could be destroyed too.
" Nur ein bisschen mehr." (Just a little bit more) Spinne 3 said, having some trouble targeting the X-29A who was doing some horizontal yo-yo maneuver with her tail rudder.
But he never had this little bit more. Because she inverted and fired on the catheters while in a yawing motion. Not all cables were punctured, but their insulators, those small glass discs were utterly destroyed. The belly radar of Iskanda was hit hard by the lightnings born of the insulators, and was shut off by the electric shock. The small screen who was displaying its reading went black, asits fuses blew. Her aircraft was now smelling burned metal as she inverted back. She had lost her belly radar, but it was always better than the fate of the three Sukhois trailing her.
If they were called the Spinne squad, their doom was definitely some twist of fate. The overloaded insulators created some sort of electrical web. And they were too fast to maneuver in time. The three Berkuts exploded in a matter of microsecond, understanding too late why Kupchenko warned them of the unconventional tactics this Erusean might use.
After winning this short battle she finally arrived at the station. Two RTLS were standing there. Oddly they weren't firing on her immediately. Maybe they had some maintenance issue or were hindered by sabotage, she didn't know, and had no time to lose in dithering. She fired one LAGM on each of their central section, and one standard missile shorty after. By luck, their armor was more oriented for anti-air tactics. This meant their lateral armor was weaker. Her LAGMs pierced through enough to allow her missiles to explode inside the RTLSs. And as she went out of the railway station on the other way, she could see both of them explode. The violent explosion didn't seem to shook the building that much.
" Was passiert ?" Shouted the Belkan Sturmbannführer (Major) in charge of the occupation forces in Directus.
" Apparently, an Ustian fighter broke through the network and destroyed the two remaining RTLSs." An officer quickly responded, doing his best to keep his cool.
" Fighters in the Railway Station Area, shoot her down. The BAWS mustn't be destroyed." The Major ordered.
" Oh believe me, they are already doomed." Iskanda spoke over the "Ver" of the Belkan pilots, who were diving toward her yet too late. She had already turned after the railway, seeing a bit the big clock tower with its nose cone in copper which turned green through time. The big clock indicated perfectly the time, visible even from a fighter : 16:26. And now she was right over the park near the station. Eight BAWS were standing in its center, in four pairs around a small fountain. Three AA guns were protecting them, but it was not enough. Furthermore, the BAWS couldn't shot this close without risking to endanger themselves.
In her first run she manage to destroy two BAWS and the AA guns, but not without taking some hits. Nothing serious, but it wasn't helping when she had to avoid a XLAA volley fired from a squadron of F-15S/MTDs in her second run. They had the classic active camo, with white body and black nose, but their stripes where red and yellow instead of red and blue. Luckily, as she fooled them by flying very close to the ground, between the fountain and the BAWS, the lost XLAAs took out three more launchers.
But as she tried to get in position, the four F-15S/MTDs were already in range for their missiles. And another squadron, this time of Typhoon, was closing fast. Not giving to her fear, she chose to go head-on but inverted, this position hindering a bit their lock-on capacities.
" Fox 2" The Belkan squadron said of one voice. This time their missiles barely missed her, hitting trees of the park below instead. Yet her shot was successful. The one at the left was shot down. His airplane exploded in mid-air shortly after, sparing the city of damage.
" Zwei and Drei, keep her down. I will do some guillotine." Their leader ordered.
Yet they didn't have the need to force her to fly low, as she was going for a third strafing run on the three remaining BAWS. One was destroyed quickly by a pair of missile. She was about to strafe the two other when she saw the F-15S/MTD diving for her.
" It will be like crushing some mosquito. They fly nicely but live short." The Belkan judged her fate. He was responsible for the loss of five member of Halo squad.
Yet he forget that mosquito are often more agile than expected. She pulled out an head-to-tail maneuver, interrupting her run before executing a loop toward the Belkan fighter. He was slowly leveling his fighter in order to avoid hitting the ground, but she was faster. He almost managed to level, with the stall alarm blaring when a single gun burst hit him. His vectored nozzles were ruined, and he fell to the ground without any chance to recover. And right on the BAWS, to make matter worse.
A bit taken aback by the loss of their leader, the two Belkan pilots hesitated a little. Yet a little was already enough time for Iskanda to rush on one after her semi-loop. She arrived on his two hours, and even with one gun it was still powerful enough to blow it up in sky high. Then her alarm blared. The last F-15S/MTD had kept his trajectory and fired an XLAA from long range. Evading it was easy for the Erusean merc, before she went for an Himmelman.
" You cannot fight alone against more than forty aircraft." The Belkan try to disturb her with thoughts of failure, but it was not enough to frighten her. This number was not frightening, but more exciting to her ears.
" And you cannot win against a single one." She retorted before diving, targeting a point below his airplane. Two IR-guided missiles flew very close above her as she cross his line of fire. Then she extended her airbrakes, and as her whole airplane was shaken by her stall, she pulled the trigger. The right wing of the Belkan fighter was ripped off.
" And there's only one solo wing." She said, after leveling up her fighter and quickly going on the six hours of the now highly damaged fighter, before ending his misery by one missile.
" I will avenge Fleischer !" The Belkan leader of the squadron composed of eight Typhoon threatened her. They had a camo comprised of a white fuselage and black wingtips, with a balance bearing a dagger and a pair of cuffs on each plate. His squadron quickly armed their XLAAs, but they lost track of her as she flew below the railway station.
" Richter 3 to leader, where did she go ?" One pilot asked, his radar enable to see through the thick stone of the railway station.
" Entscheidung und Umgebung !" (Separate and circle around) The leader shouted.
They all kicked their afterburners, enacting this strategy against low flying or stealth aircrafts. Four remain in the center of the formation, while two group of two went for the side, positioning themselves in the third and nine hours of the merc when she would climb. However she had slowed a bit her speed while flying below the runway. Matter de facto, when she climbed back to the sky, the crafts on the side where crossing their path, and the four in the center were doing a perfectly coordinated Himmelman to be again in firing position.
But Richter leader underestimate the climb rate of the tuned X-29A. He did not believe Kupchenko was bested by this pathetic fleeing merc. So, when she did climb back, they missed their shot by one or two dozen meters. Yet if they only missed to trail her it would have been fine. Indeed they failed in another task: to look for their surrounding.
" Es gibt kein Justiz, nur Vergeltung." (There's no justice, only vengeance) Iskanda said, as the Typhoons began to climb toward her. But for them it was too late. The static FAEBs blew up the entire squadron to smithereens.
The third squadron sent to her encounter, and who witnessed this brutal death, were feed by Vergeltung too. But the five F-14D were so filled by vengeance they did not see a lone F-15C firing a volley of XMAAs from high altitude.
" Thanks Pixy." She said, recognizing her partner on the IFF.
The only surviving Tomcat tried to climb in order to fire his XLAAs on Pixy. But the Eagle was faster than him. And while the XLAAs were quite easy to avoid for the F-15C, only one QAAM was needed to destroy the Tomcat.
" Here I am, your Belkan knight in his shiny duraluminium armor." Pixy broke the radio silence as he leveled his aircraft at the same altitude than his partner.
" Don't take me for a Fraulein in distress." She retorted with disdain.
" Jeez, take it easy Galm 1. You just destroy fifteen aircraft without any support. Now we have to secure the sky for the Claw squadron." He remind her of their first mission objective, which was not besting the longest inside flight in the Guinness Book.
" Eagle Eye to Galm, Claw squadron ETA 10 minutes." The AWACS announced, the attackers flying at their maximal operational speed of two thousand kilometers per hour.
Ustio, Directus, 13/05/1995, 16:35.
They were flying over some older parts of Directus, heading toward the AA guns and SAMs they needed to take out. And squadrons of MiG-29As, F-14Ds, F-15Cs and Sukhoi 27s were waiting for them, one or two squadron above each sector.
Of course the first sector was free of any aerial threats, as its defensive squadron were the Typhoons and the five Tomcats they just destroyed.
" Pixy, there are only APCs left in this area. the Claw squadron should be able to deal with them." Iskanda said, keeping her trajectory toward the second sector.
" I agree. We have no air-to-ground weaponry anyway." Her wingmen responded, following her. The second sector was quite an old one, build around one main road. Four AA guns were set on the said road, while two pairs of SAMs shielded a weapon deposit on the east of the road and a group of Flaks, a tank battalion.
" I'm on the SAMs." She said, after they destroyed the four TripleAs with one missile each. However, the two last were a bit further away than the two first, and for this reason the Galm team took some hits while dealing with them.
" Verdammt, I have holes in my left wing." Pixy swore, as he went on the Flaks, flying tilted in a thin street between some houses.
Some shutters were ripped off by the thrust of his fighter, but this way he was out of reach of the four Flaks canon. Two missiles and a short strafing run were enough to destroy them. Some tanks were hit by the flying debris, but they were still standing.
The weapon deposit were reused tunnel voussoir. She definitely knew she would need something with more explosive charge than her standard missile to destroy them. It was going to be left for Claw squadron GPBs.
" Wo ist diese verdammte X-29A ?" A servant of the SAM unit asked.
" Went to low to be seen. We are on a small cliff in the middle of a citadine forest, remember ?" The Leutnant of this unit responded.
Indeed, when expanding, Ustians -or oriental Belkans in the older history books- had left some pieces of forest in good shape, ensuring a bit of green for the outskirt of Directus. And it was somewhat easy for a mobile fighter to fly in the forest corridors to the SAMs, unnoticed to its servants.
" Ich hörte etwas." (I heard something) Another servant said.
" You only heard the sound of death coming on you." Galm 1 replied, as she flew a bit above the clear where they were, before unleashing her missiles and strafing the remaining SAMs.
Still, the weapon deposit was unarmed. And to make matter worse, a squadron of eight Fulcrum was approaching fast. But on the bright side the Claw squadron was only at one minute from the first sector.
" Kapitän, let's turn those Mirages into real mirages." A Belkan pilot said in his Fulcrum with a light brown camo and grey ailerons.
" Eagle Eye to Galm, take down those Fulcrums. Prevent them to reach SAAMs range on the Mirages." The AWACS operator ordered.
" Right on them. Pixy, weapon free." She turned to engage the enemy squadron.
Pixy did not lose his time and joined with her in an head-on attack. They managed to evade the few SAAMs the Fulcrums fired at them, before killing four of them with gun and missiles head-on. The remnants shattered, with two turning back to get on the six of the Ustian crafts, while two others hit the burners to try to get in SAAMs range.
" Pixy, go take care of those two before they go into SAAMs spam mode on the Mirages. Those two are mine." Galm 1 suggested, her wingmen being equipped with long range weaponry.
" Ver, Kapitänerin." He replied in his mother tongue, before dashing toward the Belkans, bypassing the two who were engaging them head-on.
For one moment the Belkan showed reluctance to follow this one. Yet as Pixy flew in front of Iskanda on this approach, this allow her to get closer, a bit hidden by the bigger shape of his Eagle. The Belkan eventually fired their missiles, but they were shot for trash when Galm 1 did a quick dive below their firing line, and climb back a bit below them. Then she opened fire, taking one with a gun burst and firing her missiles on the other. This one managed to evade a direct hit, but with his cell in critical state he wasn't able to escape her for long, and fell to some gunfire.
Pixy on the other side quickly caught the two Belkans, firing a pair of XMAAs. One managed to evade by pulling a cobra at the last moment, but this left him in a precarious situation, as post-stall maneuvers usually deprived planes of their speed to critical levels. Pixy took advantage of this and was soon in missile range, even if the Fulcrum was now in missile range for the Claw squadron too. But he was far too busy evading the missiles of this tenacious merc to get a proper lock on them. And he was even too distracted to see one Mirage firing a pair of air-to-air missiles head-on.
" Claw 3, gotcha." The Osean pilot said with a happy voice.
" Claw leader to 3, let the merc do their job. And go destroy the ammo storage Galm 1 sighted." The strict leader ordered.
" Well, thanks for the help. But I've to go now, the modernized center of Directus is full of SAMs." Pixy said, leaving the Mirage the second sector, as they had finished dealing with the APCs in the first one.
Directus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:42.
When Pixy arrived on the zone he saw Iskanda flying between some of the few skyscrapers Directus possess. At their feet were three SAMs, difficult to destroy due to the restrained area, rendering evasive maneuver very hard, giving the risk of hitting one nearby building. But she managed to take them down anyway. In the meantime Pixy sighted and destroyed a SAM site and a few tents near a partially finished building.
" And now you need the help of Mirages to shot down two Fulcrums." She mocked him a bit.
" Missile alert !" Her lock-on alarm blared.
Two SAMs launcher were targeting her from the parvis of the massive Sainte Victoire cathedral, pride of Gothic architecture in former South oriental Belka. Just the wooden doors seemed big enough to let a fighter enter in. And the two bell towers in the front were massive too, maybe bigger than the clock tower of the railway station. She dived to lose their shots and then fired two missile at the launchers, but they were intercepted in mid-air by some SPKs surrounding the launchers.
" Damn it. We are not in great number to launch a saturation attack, and i don't think the Mirages are agile enough for one anyway." She cursed the commander of this unit for being smart for once.
" Yeah, we are kinda stuck here." Pixy confirmed. However, as she flew near the flying buttress of the cathedral to evade a missile, an idea came to her mind. It was not as hazardous as firing on catheters, but still with a high risk.
" Pixy, try to distract those launchers. I think I've found a vector of approach." She said, while heading for the back of the cathedral.
" Ver, what are you up to ?" He asked while firing two missiles who were trashed by the Belkan SPKs.
" This." She responded, flying in the tight space between the flying buttress and the wall of the cathedral. At some point she saw some of its stained glass windows. Still with her speed, and above all with her mind focused on not dying by hitting a pillar, she didn't have the time to admire then, but definitely they were quite nice. Definitely this cathedral was worth visiting after the victory - because she only planned victory for today-.
" I don't know if I need to congratulate her or blame her for having such mad schemes." Pixy mused, firing an other pair of missiles after he did a little loop to evade the Belkan fire.
The third time he attacked them, he saw the thin silhouette of the X-29A rushing from the tight space where she had flown, before diving gun blazing on the SAMs and SPKs. This time their attack was carried out successfully, and the four Belkan vehicles destroyed. They were about to go attack the last SAMs sites in the area, which were sighted as priority one target, this set of SAM having longer range and increased accuracy, set up in the cloister of some convent, along with some transport chopper, but a squadron of seven F-15Cs attacked them.
Pixy knew XMAAs would not have great effect on the mobile fighter the Eagle was. After all, he flew this aircraft since almost ten years now. He know everything about it, from its weakness to its strength, while passing by the fuel consumption of its afterburners. So like Iskanda he went head-on, but from above instead of from below. They were painted with a dark navy blue camo and black stripes.
"Chaos shaft, verhaften sie oder die Stadt ist verloren." (Chaos squad, stop them or the city is lost)
" Ver, Sturmbannführer (major)." The leader replied.
They were immediately engaged head-on by the Galm squad. Volleys of QAAMs and XMAAs were fired upon the Ustian crafts, but none find their target. However as they were switching back to standard missiles the two Ustian craft managed to slip through their fire and destroy two of their aircrafts.
" Verdammt Söldner. Du wirst fall unten dem Macht der Chaos." The leader threatened the Galm team, but without much effect on their morale.
" We are the one that are bringing chaos here. Not you." Pixy retorted, but was cut in his line as he had to evade the fire of two Eagle trailing him.
Iskanda on the other side had three F-15C trailing her. She knew she could only outrun them for a few seconds, as they had more powerful engine than hers, but they had lost quite a bit of their speed when turning sharply at 180 degrees to get on her six. She decided to go for an all-out attack. Pulling an head-to-tail maneuver, she was in no time in the twelve of the Belkan leader. She fired her missiles while evading his by a barrel-roll to the left. Then she extended her airbrakes as a F-15C was rushing toward her, doing a sharp ninety degree turn. Arriving right on his nine hours, she gunned him, before chasing the last of her pursuer, who was fleeing at mach 2.
Pixy was heading toward her last pursuer too, but only to escape his. He fired his last two XMAAs at him, and one of them find its mark. Yet the two trailing him were gaining ground, but Iskanda was now turning to engage them.
" Ready for this Pixy ?" She asked, before laughing a bit, as she knew the Belkan couldn't see her coming until too late.
" I'm always ready, buddy." He replied, flying steadily as the X-29A rushed toward him tilted at a ninety degree angle.
" Wohin gehst-du, Söldnerin ?" (Where are you going, she-merc?") The astonished Belkan pilot wondered what this merc was up to.
But those wonders came to late. When he understand what was going on they both switched to QAAMs. But she was too fast even for this armament, and their missiles were shot for trash. Yet Iskanda's were successful, as she fired before diving inverted to escape the QAAMs. Two missile struck Chaos 5, while Chaos 4 was hit by gun fire on his left engine as she climbed back. He try to flee, but was met by one missile from his front - as Pixy pulled up an Himmelman after Iskanda crossed his path- and one from the back as Galm leader did a quick loop toward him after a small climb. The fighter only plummeted for two second before exploding.
" Gott Verdammt, Stadt ist Verloren. Bereit den Hubschrauber !" (Ready the chopper.) The Sturmbannführer of Directus shouted, fleeing from his office in the occupied convent to the heliport in its cloister.
" The Belkan commander is running scared, apparently." Pixy commented, as the CH-47 took off, on a vector to the North.
" Abweichler (renegade) firing." A Belkan SAM commander went rogue as the Belkan commander was fleeing.
Three missiles from the SAMs positioned on the roof of the convent struck the chopper, which exploded immediately. Some gun fire was heard on the radio, along with Belkan insults and screams of woundeds. Tracers fired between the convent and the outside of it were seen. But all of this infighting didn't last. Then a voice was heard, surprisingly with an Ustian accent :
" Abweichler to Galm, the former South Oriental Belkan artillery group will joined with the Ustians."
" Hervin, is that you ? I know you were alive." Koenig welcomed his former brother of arms.
He knew he couldn't flee at the time of the change of government, but he never was a great supporter of the Rald Partei. After all he was from Ustio, geographically speaking.
" Ich bin froh du bist hier heute. Beginning long range fire on the Belkan reinforcements. I take full responsibility of us joining the sixth Ustian Unit." Hervin said, the SAMs turning toward the Belkan fighters in the North.
The green target were now labelled as "frnd" for friendly unit, and their color turned blue. They would not take many fighters down, but they would ease the work of the Ustian fighters. And at this very moments, the Osean troops which were coming through the railway had made it to the center of Directus. They had managed to slip through the first and second sector almost unarmed thanks to the preventive suppression of Belkan position by Claw squadron.
Resistance fighters armed with recent or older weapon began firing on the scattered Belkan forces, while the bells of Saint Victoire were rung at full force.
" What are doing those civilians ? And stop me those bells.. argh." A Belkan officer who was seeing the scene from the northern area was shot down by the Lüger of some resistance fighter, as he was peeking outside his tank. The tank was overwhelmed and his crew slaughtered, even if this fight cost some lives. But it was war, and all Ustians wanted to liberate their capital.
" We gotta take the city! We have to take things into our own hands!" A resistance team leader claimed, and a few second later, as the Claw squadron were approaching a light column of Belkan vehicles stationed in an highway between modernized city center and the northern sectors, the tanks, APCs and trucks were hit by some projectile, ever Molotov cocktails or more explosive one, maybe some dynamite. The Claw Squadron just flew above the burning trucks and damaged tanks, finishing the latter with their guns to avoid hitting resistance fighters.
" Let's take back our city. Ring the bell of freedom harder!" Another resistance member shouted through the radio of a retaken Belkan tank.
" That's a sound I like to hear." Iskanda commented the loud sound of all the bells in the twin bell towers of Sainte Victoire being rung along the bells of all the others smaller churches in the city.
" Finish the Belkan troops in the North, Galm team. Resistance fighters and some Osean commandos are approaching the airport as we speak, we will land there after the victory." The AWACS announced, confident in the fate of this battle.
A last push of four Belkan Su-32s with sandy camo was the last major Belkan offensive action of the battle, heading for the convent where the Abweichler unit was, firing some LAGMs on its advanced SAMs who had already shot down six F-14Ds in the northern sector, while five others Tomcats were shot down by the Galm team.
" Abweichler to Galm, we need help, now." Hervin shouted, not wanting to die when he was finally doing what he wanted to do : protecting the land of his forefathers.
" I'll take care of them. Pixy, finish the last SAMs over the Technical Museum." Galm 1 ordered, preparing her static FAEB.
" Roger, viel Glück." Pixy nodded, heading toward the big metallic structure which housed some famous old Belkan technologies, mainly military ones.
" Schnell, Fraulein." Hervin repeated his call for help, seeing the four CAS aircraft slowly heading toward his position.
The X-29A was rushing toward his opponents, flying in a straight line, on PC max. And soon she reached the four CAS plane, before bypassing them, but not without letting them something to have fun with. Fun from her point of view of course.
" Bereit Bewaffnung. Verstört den Abweichler." (Ready weaponry, kill the Renegade) The leader of the four plane squadron ordered, but before he could even lock to the convent, his whole squadron was destroyed in a bright explosion.
" Es ist ein Wunder. Danke Galm." Hervin congratulated the Erusean pilot, who was already heading to where her wingmen was fighting.
But his fight was even shorter than her leader's. When he arrived over the museum he witnessed one amazing scene. Three of the four SAMs on its parking had been taken out by what looked like tank fire, along with two Belkan APCs. But as he got closer his radar tagged a tank unknown for the modern database. However Larry recognized it instantly : a Tiger II, this model being used in the second major conflict of this century between Osea and Belka, between the 1940's and the 1950's.
"What the hell are those resistance fighters doing ?" Pixy thought, not very ready to see this kind of armament be used on actual battlefield rather than in historical movies. On the other side maybe they just copied the Belkan who reused 75 millimeters cannons. Still, this tank model was like in the war it was designed : very vulnerable to air strikes. Two F-14Ds try to attack it with their GPBs, but Pixy was faster to react, and quickly shot both fighters with QAAMs.
" Hey, thanks above." Some resistance member said.
" Let me asked one thing, Oberst. Why do we thought it was a good idea to retreat on the roof on the museum ? And why does half of the old weaponry it housed are still usable after almost one century ?" A soldier entrenched in some metallic staircase above the roof of the museum rhetorically asked to his commanding officer. He couldn't appreciate the irony of this moment, as their modern troop carrier were crushed by a fifty year old tank and nearly hundred years old mauser rifles were firing from other emergency staircases similar on the one they were entrenched in.
" Belkan Qualität I guess. And the fact that they are often used for getting data for some war movies and games." The Oberst replied, ducked to evaded the high caliber round mauser fired.
" This is Brønsted to Galm. We have something to neutralise them, but we need air superiority, otherwise those Su-27s will trash our attempt." A Ustian voice said.
" This call was coming from a nearby university, the one of technology or chemistry maybe. Help them." The AWACS ordered, as the area to sanitize was set up on their radar.
" Always like chemistry. So much fun in blowing up things. Let's take care of the Flankers !" Galm 1 exclaimed herself, rushing toward the Belkan fighters in greyish two-tone camo with slightly whiter wings.
Yet they couldn't have foreseen the advancement Belkan scientist managed to create for those six fighters, maybe inspired by Iskanda's use of a belly radar to expand lock-on radius. This time however they had taken the advancement to a next level, well above Herr Steller skills.
" They have a rear facing radar !" Galm 2 realized when he saw one Flanker he was pursuing firing a SAAM, before it went backward toward him. He managed to evade it by barrel-rolling, but this gave his target time to be outside of missile range, and he had no more XMAAs. Hopefully they were not firing QAAMs backward, he thought.
" Just gun it Pixy." His leader suggested as she just did it. The semi-active missile lost his guidance while she kept firing her gun on the engine, setting the enemy craft ablaze.
" They are only delaying the obvious." Pixy said, having recover from the surprise of those backward fired SAAMs. And he went back to the fireball, attacking a Flanker from the side. He hit him with his gun, but the Flanker was still flying after this attack. However the delay for the doom of the Belkan pilot wasn't long : in a matter of second Pixy was on his six, and as his rear-facing radar was hit by the bullets Galm 2 fired at him, he couldn't retaliate and was shot down quickly by a pair of missiles.
His leader just didn't take this update into consideration. She was pursuing two Su-27s, who decided to retaliate. But evading SAAMs was easy. Evading a high mobile fighter was not easy for them, even if she was almost on the verge of stalling every five seconds she pursued them. Still, with only one gun she managed to get a good gun kill on the left one, and the right one tried to evade her missile by a Cobra, but this put him in arm's way. He underestimated her airbrakes, and while she extended them to keep him in her crosshairs she pulled the trigger.
" Galm team, only two target remaining." The AWACS operator sighted, as the two Sukhoi-27 were beginning to flee. They were maybe proud Belkans, but sometimes survival was getting above pride. Wasn't "to survive" the only rule to follow anyway ?
" This will be dealt quickly." Pixy acknowledged as he kicked the burner, catching up with the Su-27 in no time.
The much quicker F-15C was now in the sixth of the Belkan fighter, and scored a gun kill on one Belkan fighter. However, the second one went from a Cobra, hoping to reciprocate the kill of this merc. But he never had the time to achieve this kill, as a tuned X-29A gunned him right after he leveled on the Belkan merc. The buffed up engine of the prototype was definitely outclassing more potent fighter, but it would never be as efficient as the F-15C's. Flying over Mach 2 was now only memory aboard the Griffon for Iskanda.
" Eagle Eye to Brønsted, sky is clear. Launch whatever you're up to dislodge those last Belkan remnants." Johnson confirmed Galm team's victory.
" Brønsted Ver." The resistant member, and eminent professor of chemistry agreed with some other members to enact the gruesome tactic.
" Was bereiten diese Widerstanden ?" The Belkan Oberst wondered, before seeing a little squadron of quadcopters taking off and heading toward his position.
During this time, the Claw squadron had closed toward the newly rebuilt airport. But despite the resistance fighters and the Osean commandos, the local Belkan defense were fighting to their last breath. And from semi-destroyed C-130 which were supposed to retreat with some assets in Belka went out a bunch of SAMs and Triple As which began to wreak havoc among the Osean squadron.
" Eagle Eye to Galm, Claw need some SEAD. Head to the airport, Brønsted is taking care off those remnants." Johnson ordered, seeing on his long range radar the new three lane airport covered by small red dots.
" Galm 2, roger that. Nothing more incoming, or any surprise ?" Pixy wondered, as they left the area. The quadcopters were halfway to the museum.
Directus International Airport, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:50, Weather: high cumulus.
They were halfway to the airport when they heard some screams of pain at the radio. Belkan screams. The quadcopters had finally made their way to the last remnants of Belkan troopers. One Belkan tried to shoot down one, but exposed himself in doing so, and was gunned down by a resistance member. But maybe his fate was better than the one of his comrades.
" Argh, Aber es brennt, wie verrückt." (it burn like hell) The Belkan Oberst shouted, hit by some translucent liquid, after the quadcopter opened a small bay to drop glass chemical flasks. For him, it seemed like they put burning coal where his skin was hit by the sprayed chemicals, when the flasks hit the ground hard. He was the less hit, but was still suffering like hell. Other were unconscious due to the pain, or having breathed some of the brown gas this mysterious chemical began to produce when burning their skin, suit, or the metallic walls of their shelter.
Severely burned, the few Belkan quickly chose to surrender. They weren't hazmat troops meant to fight chemical warfare.
" What did you use, Brønsted ?" Koenig wondered, seeing in high definition the brown cloud around the last Belkan entrenchment.
" I think I know what it is." Iskanda intervened, as she was getting over the airport. The Belkan rebuilt it with great care, as it was their base for launching their Bm-335Ns into Osea or Sapin. But now the three lanes were bordered solely by SAMs and AA guns, rendering all landing impossible. Pixy and her dived, while she was trying to remind some chemistry she study back at Farbanti.
" So was war's ?" (what was it ?) The admiral recalled, his knowledge in chemistry being a bit too old for now.
" Brønsted is the name of some scientist who worked on acids. I will take a shot and say it's nitric acid, the easiest to manufacture." She explained while shooting her missiles on a pair of SAMs. The two exploded, but some of their crew had the time to go out before the explosion, and began firing at her with shoulder-mounted SAMs. Climbing before doing a split-S, she gunned them while they were reloading after some missed shots, while her Admiral was a bit taken aback by the fact their own citizen used chemical weaponry on the Belkans. He wouldn't have been surprised to see Belkans using them, but the other way around was quite unusual.
" This is Brønsted to sixth Unit, you're right, we used nitric acid." The resistance member acknowledged, fully knowing how painful it should have been for this Belkan soldier. Being burned by acids and then poisoned by diazote, this brown cloud.
"Aren't chemicals banned by the last North Point convention ?" Johnson asked, as frightened as his superior to see their forces using this.
" Well, it banned the use of sub-munitions, and as far as I know, the static FAEBs your merc are using are submunition weaponry." The resistance member retorted, knowing that more than often conventions became obsolete in wartime.
" We will see this issue later. How is the cleaning of the airport going ?" Koenig asked to his mercs, seeing the red dots disappearing one after the other.
" Gut und schnell." Pixy quickly responded, as he was gunning the last AA guns. Their was still some Flaks cannons, but the low flying Mirage dealt with them in no time after the close range anti-air weaponry was destroyed, using their last XAGMs in order not to damage the runways.
Directus International Airport, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 16:50, Weather: high cumulus.
The cleaning of the airport did not take much time, as there was only few assets which survived the initial onslaught on the taxiing C-130. Overwhelmed Belkan forces were quickly destroyed without causing a single loss to the allied forces. The few which tried to retreat back to the airport were caught off guard by resistance members and Osean commandos. But Belkans weren't ready to just give up this airport they had to rebuilt after the Ustians blew up everything in it, from the runway to the fuel storage. Yet the newly rebuilt airport was equipped with Belkan phase modulation radar able to detect stealth, in case Osea try to bomb them with their B-2As. And soon those new radars spotted an aerial threat.
" Directus International Airport to Eagle Eye, we have stealth incoming. Apparently F-117As with a forward guard of YF-23s."
" These new generation Belkan radar are quite impressive. Galm team, focus on the Black Widows, Claw team, try to take out the Nighthawks." The AWACS ordered, guessing that even if these Mirage were no high-tier dogfighters, they could at least take F-117A if they managed to lock on to them.
" Roger, engaging the YF-23s." Galm 1 and 2 responded with an uniform voice.
The five YF-23s had a ghost livery, which give give them some low visibility, while the four F-117As spotted desert camouflage, which was quite hard to see as they were coming aligned with the sun, hindering all pilots vision. Their armament was simple: QAAMs for the Black Widow to destroy all airborne allies, and LAGMs for the Nighthawk.
" Our army did not spend almost three weeks rebuilding this airfield so you could just take it back and use it whatever you want !" The leader of the YF-23s squadron shouted. At first his original assignment was just to escort those F-117As, refuel here and then destroyed the airborne troops stationed at Solis Ortus.
" Well, this is Ustian territory know. Let's hope Sainte Victoire is watching us today." Iskanda exclaimed, rushing toward the five stealth fighters.
The five YF-23s were above the two Ustian aircrafts. Still, the Black Widows were slightly slower than the two mercs. They fired QAAMs on the low flying Galm team, but they were shot for trash, as the mercs were truly flying very low, over some forest in the outskirt of Directus.
Then Pixy and Iskanda climbed behind them, but even at half altitude they were already targeted by the Widows again, which either did Split-Ss or Himmelmans to turn back at them. Barely evading their fire by inches, the two mercs kept climbing, before separating to pull a loop outward the Belkan formation, respectively arriving in the six hours of the aircrafts which fired at their external side just a few seconds ago. And they returned fire on their attackers, but as they were too focused on evading the gunfire and missiles of the Galm team, they were distracted in their respective twelve hours and one hit the other as he was evading a missile by barrel-rolling.
" Damned chicky merc." The leader swore, before separating himself from the three aircraft formation by diving as the Galm team was attacking them head on. However his two wingmen had less luck and were gunned down as they attempted to do the same maneuver.
He was trying to arrive in Galm team's six hours with this looping, but he did not saw the small X-29A almost rolling on itself in a head-to-tail maneuver, and as he had locked his QAAMs on the F-15C, and as the bay was opening to fire, he was locked by Galm 1. Two missile coming from his one hour ruined his reactors. His aircraft plummeted and he barely escape death by bailing out at the last second.
Claw squadron dealt even quicker with the Nighthawks, as they had numeric advantage. For once they had the only strength Osea possessed on their side. Four Mirages came head-on on the F-117As, while two were circumventing them. The well trained Belkan pilots managed to avoid some fire and fired back, resulting in one Mirage pilot having to bail out after the two squadron crossed each other's path. However this came at a high cost : two F-117As were shot down in this pass, before the five remaining Osean crafts got on their six hours and reduced them to smithereens with overwhelming firepower. No chute was sighted from the disintegrated stealth attackers.
Outskirt of Directus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 17:15, Weather : high cumulus.
All bells were rung at full force, while happy Osean pilots and Ustian mercs were flying over the cheering crowd. All Belkan forces had been overrun, with heavily wounded from the chemical attack being transferred to a nearby hospital, as nitric acid causes three and fourth degree burns They thought the battle was over. But it was not the mind of two Belkan pilots, the twin cormorants. Flying Su-37 Terminators with a livery comprised of a three tone green camo with grey nose and yellow stripes on their wings, they were both eager to engage and defeat those two mercs. Their blason was a yellow cormorant with flight goggles, surrounded by grass, in a yellow and then white circle, with their squadron number being the 23rd TFS (Tactical Fighter Squadron) -aka the Gelb squad-. If they succeeded, and they thought they could only succeed, it would be a devastating blow for the allied morale. Climbing above the low altitude limit of the Ustian AWACS, they made themselves visible to the allied forces, going on at full throttle.
Directus, Ustio, 13/05/1995, 17:15, Weather : high cumulus.
" Incoming long range missiles. All units in the air, brake immediately." The AWACS transmitted, as the two Su-37 unleashed a volley of XLAAs on the Claw and Galm squadron.
For the fast and agile Galm team fighters, it wasn't that hard to evade. However the Claw team weren't that lucky. All Mirages went down, and the ones that weren't due to the first volley falls when the Su-37s came at QAAM range.
"They're faster than anything we've come across." Eagle Eye commented the incredible speed of the two Sukhoi 37 Terminators, one of the best aircraft ever designed, outclassed only by new generation aircrafts like the Wesson-UFOs.
" It looks like we have to take those last two to end this, leader." Pixy guessed, as the two squadron were engaging each other head on, only to shot missile for trash.
" I'm on the leader." Iskanda claimed, as she manage to get on the six of Gelb 1 after the initial onslaught.
However those Su-37s housed a very nasty surprise for both Ustian mercs. Iskanda was slowly approaching the highly mobile fighter, which was doing everything he could do to shake her off, but she was still holding tight. And finally the lock she sought desperately came. But then she was locked too.
" Warning, inbound missile, missile." The AWACS operator exclaimed, as the Sukhoi fired a QAAMs which was redirected backward through a rear facing radar.
Iskanda banked right while diving, before executing a streak of quick turns. She managed to loose the missile, but her target was lost. And Pixy's fate wasn't better : as he pull out a great barrel-roll to the left to evade some backward fired QAAMs, the Sukhoi pulled a Cobra, and manage to land hits on the Eagle's right wing and ailerons.
" You have holes in your right wing, Pixy !" Johnson sighted, a bit worried about the safety of their pilots right now, especially Pixy which suffered hit on both wings
" Just a scratch, Eagle Eye." Pixy nodded, now on the defensive, the Eagle and the Terminator circling in front of the cathedral, with the highly advanced Belkan fighter gaining ground quickly.
" I cannot fail now. I didn't plan to come back in a coffin." Iskanda thought, while analyzing her opponents to find an opening to exploit. And when she saw the flying buttress of the cathedral she knew what to do.
" Pixy, kept circling, I have found a vector of approach." She said, while heading toward the tight space. The enemy leader was trailing her, but was a bit reluctant to follow her. He tried to fire a QAAM through a space between two flying buttresses, but it didn't connect and exploded on the cathedral, destroying one stained glass window but not damaging the global structure.
" I see you coming, leader." Pixy nodded, remembering what she did the last time she said that line, but instead of circling tried to leave the engagement zone a bit.
Of course Gelb 2 caught up with him in no time. But obviously Pixy wasn't trying to run, but to put the enemy fighter in harm's way. He pulled a Split-S, grazing the cathedral's parvis when climbing back. The Sukhoi went for a Herbert Manöver (J-turn), getting back in the six of Pixy and diving on the climbing Eagle like a bird of prey. While the two were climbing, Pixy set his bearing toward a point a bit above the left front of the cathedral, near the first flying buttress.
" Ich halte dir." (I got you) Gelb 2 announced proudly, as Galm 2 was now climbing right over the cathedral.
Yet Gelb 2 did not watch were the enemy leader was. It was his greatest mistake. Because as she went out of this improvised tunnel she was right on his tail, as he was climbing toward Pixy. She fired, and her gun ripped apart the rear-facing radar. Still, the Belkan just passed right in front of her for a glimpse, having given her a very short window of opportunity. Her shot was almost pure luck.
" Gelb 2 to one, lost rück radar." He signaled, while the said leader was again trailing Iskanda.
"Denn du bist tot." Pixy announced, while pulling a vertical Himmelman and diving on the Terminator. Both aircraft fired their missiles immediately. Despite Pixy's craft being the furthest damaged, he evade both his opponent's missiles, while one of his struck the left wing of the Belkan fighter. Gelb 2 had to level to maintain his craft' stability, but was now leaving the engagement, hoping his leader could cover him.
But he never had the time. Using his miraculously still untouched airbrake, Pixy managed to halt his fall quickly, and was the pursuer now. And if the rear-facing radar only take direct fire from the X-29A, the debris caused by the impact damaged his vectored nozzles. The F-15C was in his six in no time, and while he managed to evade a missile by pulling a Cobra, this put him in harm's way. He was stuck in mid-air as his vectored nozzles did not respond, and Pixy capitalized this opening by firing a final missile on the tail of the Sukhoi 37. The Belkan craft which was ablaze and losing altitude almost hit him, but the Belkan merc managed to evade the wreckage in time.
"Gelb 2, eject, now !" Gelb leader shouted, while he was still fiercely jousting with Galm leader. He made sure he was keeping his distance, firing QAAMs each time Galm 1 was in gun range.
Like the Claw squadron, Gelb 2 managed to bail out safely, but the burst push him toward the cathedral. And his parachute went stuck in a gargoyle, setting him in the perfect place to see his leader's horrific demise.
Galm 1 pulled a great horizontal loop toward the cathedral front, while Gelb 1 enact an Himmelman toward his opponent. He knew that this kind of enemy was far too dangerous to be left alive, even if he had to take her down with him. Her, on the other side, had already planned how she would end him. She was going to terminate this Terminator.
The two aircraft flew for an aerial joust, head-on. Gelb 1 fired two missile but a barrel-roll to the left was enough for Iskanda to fool them. She was just setting her static FAEBs to a shorter detonation delay.
" Stirb, verdammt Söldnerin !" Gelb 1 shouted, getting in gun range.
But again, she evaded his fire, through a partial barrel-roll to the right. Partial because she stopped the roll of her aircraft to make sure she would pass between his ailerons. But why barrel-rolling, she tossed three things: two static FAEBs, and one sassy one-liner :
" Hasta la vista."
" Was…" Gelb 1 began to speak before being obliterated. The two static FAEBs just exploded, and his aircraft was caught between the two shockwaves. The double detonation was so intense that nothing, not a single piece of metallic wreckage hit the ground when the clouds vanished.
And all of this, Gelb 2 saw it, his parachute still stuck on the gargoyle. He even felt the warmth and the strength of these static FAEBs.
" He won't come back." Pixy added, as he leveled his aircraft next to his leader. He was sure she was on the verge of getting in "mad-laugh-because-i-like-killing-people" mode. And indeed she start laughing like when she recalled her past.
" That was a funny line, Pixy. Trying to become an humorist after this war, aren't you ?" Koenig said, while the AWACS's radar was doing a final check on the area. When it showed nothing but their allies and an A-400M bringing their stuff from Valais, he authorized himself some relief.
When Iskanda landed on the airport five minutes later, she had stopped her mad laugh, but for all of them, this horrific -or magnificent for Iskanda- image of Gelb 1's demise was burned into their memory for ever, especially for his wingmen.
Directus International Airport, Ustio, 17:30, 13/05/1995, Weather : high cumulus.
Their debriefing was quite a happy one, and not a quiet one. Even on their way to the airport control tower for this briefing they met a crowd of Ustians, congratulating them for giving their freedom back. And in the said room, they were numerous too : all the other pilots grounded had come to celebrate, among them Halo 5 with his leg still in a caster, some resistance members, including one in a lab coat -maybe the one with the "Brønsted" surname-, the commander of this SAM unit, now designed as "Der Abweichler", some Osean commandos, the members of Claw squadron -which miraculously survived their brief engagement with the Gelb squadron-, and obviously the Galm team.
" Belka's Ustio-branch headquarters has either fallen, or joined us. The joint action of our citizens in the resistance, our mens and our allies has liberated Directus." Koenig solemnly announced, with full confidence in his voice.
" This is a turning point in the war, a day to sight with a black stone." Johnson added, with a wide smile on his face. He was eager to meet his sister again to know what happened to her during the occupation.
Then some civilian in white coat entered, yet it wasn't a chemistry lab coat. But a one used in winemaking.
" The people of Directus wanted to thank all of you for you bravery. So we bring some Zäckermann, a local sparkling wine. Perfect, I'd say, for celebrating an occasion such as this. And to remember this day, we give to each of you brave folks some vintage bottle of Chateau Boloise 1993. It's a hard-to-find Cabernet. Perfect to remind this special date." The winemaker introduced the gift from Ustio to its liberators.
Some minute after, all were taking sips from this sparkling wine a bit sweeter than Champagne, while chatting about the future, the past, and enjoying the present. Pixy was asking to the resistance members if they knew some people who record the last stand of his former flight leader. The Brønsted guy was talking physics with Thesermeister and Osean commandos with the Halo Squadron. Johnson left quite early when he finally got his sister on the phone. And Koenig was introducing Hervin to Iskanda. The rogue Belkan was a bit taller than her, with white hairs and grey eyes.
" So you're Herr Abweichler ?"
" My real name is Friedrich von Hervin, miss Deadpool." He replied with repartee, having learned her nickname from some resistance members.
" Hervin is like me, an idealist who just wanted to protect his people. Maybe if there were a bit more idealist persons amongst the military there would be a bit less wars." Koenig added, wishing it could become true in the future, not wanting this continent to be a wasteland.
" And this von particle, you're a noble I guess ?" Iskanda asked. For her, she found that his impeccable brushed hairs and the signet ring with two tower he was wearing on the left ring finger indicated some nobility.
" My parents were Margraven of the chateau Beauloise, Marquess if you prefer. Ruined by Osean traders." He agreed with Iskanda's analysis.
" I see."
" But I do not have an utter hate of all Oseans, a bit like Herr Kupchenko. The thing I hate is their system which strive for economic and political dominance because of their so-called liberalism. But we are not here to speak about politics, are we ?" He stated his mind about their most powerful allies, outside Yuktobannia.
" I agree, we shouldn't be talking about politics when we have a victory to celebrate." Koenig nodded, rising his glass to celebrate once more this victory.
" This day is something to celebrate, Prosit." Iskanda raised her glass too.
" Speaking of celebration, I think there will be something organized in the days ahead." Koenig said after emptying his glass.
" You mean, receiving some shiny tiny peace of metal ? That would be new to me at least." Iskanda intervened, hoping to get something more than just money for this day.
This day was definitely a day that would be remembered. Almost all territories Belkan occupied were free now. The true war was beginning now. Yet does true victory exist in war ?
Well, as some Osean journalist said (Brett Thompson), the true nature of the war is beginning now. But who will be the victim, the aggressor, the villain, the heroes ? Do heroes even exist ? (You have 4 hours, Student !) (Don't worry, just kidding the bac of philosophy is over by now). So obviously this battle is a bit harder than the original. But I recognize Gelb team is quite hard to destroy in ace… As usual, feel free to comment, subscribe, follow..
2/08 (my birthday): some grammatical mistakes fixed