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Legendary Aces

Chapter 12: Chain Reaction

The demon soars through dark skies
Fear and death trail its shadow beneath
Until men united wield a hallowed sabre
In final reckoning, the beast is slain

-Gennette-

General Howell, Supreme Commander of the Osean armies deployed to Yuktobania, successfully stormed the enemy beach and established a command center on the spot. The General, who claims to have been given full operational authority by the President, then made the following declaration; "We will march forward and we will not lay down our arms until the Yuktobanian capital has fallen."

Oured
0850hrs. 4 November 2010

Oured, the Osean capital. The winds of war have yet to reach here. The air still smells of peace.

"...but that wasn't us," Nagase said. "By the time we got there, they had already..."

"That's right," Grimm said. "We heard them over the radio. They called themselves the 8492nd Squadron..."

"8492, 8492. Is that all you people have to say? There is no squadron in our military with that number."

"That didn't stop them from calling themselves that," Kye said.

"Dammit! What the hell's going on here?"

Then the alarm sounded.

"We've got an emergency here. Our armies are bogged down with the Yuktobania invasion, so we're short on operational aircraft. Unfortunately, as a result, we're going to have to request that you flying aces take off for us. ...So, which mission would you like to take on? That's right, the capital's got more than one attack to deal with right now. How about we use this to decide?"

He flipped a coin, landing on heads.

-Briefing-

Yuktobanian aircraft have suddenly been detected on radar southwest of Oured. They are flying in the direction of Apito International Airport, located in the area between Oured Bay and the capital.

Apito International is a civilian airport. The enemy's intentions are unknown. Passengers and personnel are currently being evacuated, but the sudden appearance of the enemy has plunged the airport into chaos.

Intercept and engage the invading enemy formation and protect Apito International Airport.

-Mission Start-
-Blaze-

Apito International Airport 04'16'55"S 138'11'48"W
2010hrs. 4 November 2010

"I can't believe we flipped a coin for this mission. This isn't funny, man," Chopper said.

"This is the Airport Control Tower. Emergency Alert! All planes, cancel takeoff clearance! All approaching flights, change course immediately!"

"Change our course? Change it to where?"

"This is Air Ixiom Flight 31. A high-speed aircraft just passed by us six hundred yards away!"

"They're allied fighters taking off on an emergency mission. All flights, be heads up for mid-air collisions!"

"A fighter? I thought the war was over on the west coast."

"Aww, how peaceful this place is. I'm chokin' up here," Chopper said.

By the time the civilians stopped talking over the radio, I had already gunned down three enemy fighters.

"Which squadron was that, do you think?" Grimm asked.

"It's the Capital District Air Defense Squadron." Capital Air Command reported. "The enemy has unleashed chemical weapons in a college town, four hundred miles from the airport. One squadron is on its way there to spread neutralizers. You're the only ones that can defend the airport."

"How could they?" Grimm said.

"So which one's the containment attack? Are they both for real?" Chopper asked. "It sounds like the other side of the coin is bad news, too, huh?"

I remained quiet. He knew the answer to that.

"Tossing a coin to assign us a mission was a dumb idea to begin with." He added.

Three more enemy planes were down.

"I can't attack! I keep thinking about all the people in those houses down below!" Grimm said.

Shit... Why did he have to say that!?

"This is airport control tower. Military transport planes parked on the runway, state your squadron number and callsign."

"This is Capital District Air Command. We haven't deployed any allied military transport planes to civilian airports at this time."

"Wardog, heads up." I said. "Watch for enemies down below."

"Tanks coming out of transport planes!" The control tower reported. "They're firing! It's the enemy! Enemy forces inside the airport!"

I looked below and watched as a few tanks poured out of the enemy transports below.

"Edge, Chopper, Archer, take care of the ground targets," I ordered. "I'll keep the sky clear."

"Roger," Nagase said. "But you called me Edge?"

"It's your callsign," I said.

Nagase didn't respond further, but took lead of the three man team I assigned to attack the enemy ground forces.

"This is the middle of Osea. How can they be attacking here?" Chopper said.

"Look at that transport's wreckage! Did they have helicopters inside that thing, too?" I heard an airport personnel ask.

"How did they sneak in here?" Capital Air Command said. "Never mind, just destroy the tanks and transport planes. Don't let them cause any more damage here."

"It looks like we were tricked," Grimm said.

"There should still be something we can do," Nagase replied.

More enemy fighters appeared on my radar. Not giving it a second thought, I flew out to intercept them, alone. Four against one was normally bad odds, but I was able to take all of them out in less than a minute.

"When we passed over the airport just a moment ago, everything was fine..." Grimm said as he fired a missile at a tank.

"Just keep going," Nagase said. "We have to defend the airport."

"AER Flight 301, ABS Flight 417, landing clearance canceled. Abort your landing." The Airport Control Tower ordered.

"The air's full of civilian planes! We have to be careful using our missiles!" Grimm said.

"This is Flight 417. We've been holding pattern for hours. We're on emergency fuel."

"It's too dangerous. I can't give you clearance to land right now."

"Tell that to my fuel tank. Can't you help us land here?"

"This is OWA 783. We're running out of fuel, too."

"Are you listening?! This is war here! The freight terminal's getting shot at! Dammit! This is a civilian airport!"

"Then again, we did sorta do the same thing to them, over in their country," Chopper said.

"So this is their retaliation for that? Why do people have to be so stupid?!" Nagase added.

"Because humanity can't live with only one wrong," I said. "They feel they must commit another wrong in retribution for the first wrong. That's all. Revenge. They don't understand that two wrongs don't make a right."

"We got word that the enemy Special Forces unit that gassed the college town is headed for the airport. Stay heads up," Capital Air command reported.

"Dammit! Damn those dirty Yukes!" the Airport Control Tower cried.

"Well, if that's what it is, then where did all these fighters come from?" Chopper asked. "Even if they could refuel in the air, fly all the way here and get through our defenses to destroy our capital, there's not nearly enough of them to occupy the entire country. These guys are on a suicide mission and they know it. They must really hate us, or else they wouldn't have gone this far."

"Or maybe they are being manipulated," I said.

"What do you mean?" Nagase asked.

"It's just a hunch, but we'll talk about it later," I said. "I just took out the last of the enemy planes, how about you guys and the ground targets?"

"We're all clear," Grimm said.

"Enemy forces annihilated. Airport control tower, what do you say?" Capital Air Command said.

"Affirmative. Enemy defeat confirmed. Give our thanks to your aces up there."

"Roger. Operation complete."

-Post Mission-

The enemy forces that tried to capture Apito International Airport have been destroyed. Hopefully, we'll find out how they managed to infiltrate the airport after we complete our investigation.

Additionally, the effects of the chemical attack on the college town of Bana are currently subsiding, thanks to the neutralizing agent that was spread. The group that carried out the chemical attack are all but confirmed to be a Yuktobanian Special Forces commando unit. They were planning to link up with the main force at the airport, but they aborted their plan and slipped away upon hearing that their main force was defeated.

The Yuktobanians have defiled our soil. Worse, they tried to destroy a civilian airport. We've got to defeat them, no matter the cost. We'll be sending you back to the front lines of the Yuktobanian mainland.

If you all really are innocent, then I hope you can prove it out there on the battlefield.

-Blaze-

Sand Island
2100hrs 5 November 2010

I'm not sure why I was in the bathroom again, glaring at myself in the mirror. It seemed to become a nightly habit.

I never said anything. I just stood there, gazing into the reflection. I untied my hair and took in my image.

Could Yuktobania really be behind this war? I had an eerie feeling that there was something we didn't know. Perhaps it was time to get ahold of an old contact.

Who was my old contact?

Someone believed to be dead.

I knew she was alive. How did I know? I was told by someone I trust.

Just after my father died, she came to me and gave me a message. She wanted me to know that she was still there... that she still watched over me.

Would she know what is going on with this war? Could she help me with my... state of mind?

I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and called the number. On the other end was the same voice I remembered from my childhood. She wouldn't let me speak until she secured the line. We couldn't have somebody listening in after all. The person I was calling was supposed to be dead.

Allison gave me the message and the number to call if I ever needed it.

Once she told me I could speak, I greeted her. "Mom..."

I had called my supposedly dead mother, Layla Bartlett, Demon Lord of the Round Table.

She officially died a few years after the Belkan War, but her grave remained empty. The fact that she still lived was a huge secret. Allison broke orders to tell me. Knowing my mother was still there after my father died was a huge relief.

"I..." I fought back tears as I spoke. "Everything feels wrong."