Pre-chapter notes:

Me: *plays HoI4* Right, I wonder how long it will take for this war to end (nationalist china vs ussr btw)

Game: *USSR Capitulates* *China annexes Caucuses, Stalingrad, Vladivostok, etc* *China puppets Russia*

Me: MUAHAHAHAHA! I GROW STRONGAAAAAAAH! *closes game*

Me: right, maybe i should work on that backlog of fanfics I need to finish...

Writer's Block: Hello, Karl. We meet again.

Me: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!

Chapter 25: End of the Beginning

Fortress Przemyśl had ascended to an altitude of around 10,000 meters by the time Erica managed to get close, and some of the data on her helmet's heads up display presented a number of concerns for the young witch.

First, the striker unit's energy readouts had entered the yellow zone, meaning that she could, eventually, run out of shots for her beam weaponry. Second, the oxygen levels in the unit's tank switched its source from the main tank to the reserve tank. Third, the amount of propellant for the thrusters had become dodgy at best.

In short, Erica did not have much time.

"Fuck it," she muttered. "Let's go!"

Erica then gunned the thrusters as hard as they could before rocketing straight at the Fortress. While the main batteries had been silenced, a number of the tertiary anti-aircraft emplacements still remained active, some of them managing to lock on to Erica as she approached. Tracer fire suddenly began to spray in the witch's direction from a number of Phalanx and Pantsir-ME CIWS turrets, forcing Erica to dodge or block the incoming shells and shrapnel fragments with her shield.

A single shot from one of the beam weapons took care of those nuisances. Another shot blasted a nice hole in the fortresses outer wall, just big enough to let Erica in.

Suddenly, a transmission crackled through her helmet's integrated communications system.

"Lieutenant!" Admiral Barns called. "Still alive!?"

"Y-yes sir!" Erica replied. "I'm about to enter the fortress now!"

"Good! We'll send you a map of the inside layout, but we can't exactly navigate you from here! You'll have to do that on your own!"

"Understood, sir!"

"Good luck!"

The transmission then cut off, leaving Erica with herself and her weaponry.

A notification popped up in her helmet, subsequently opening up into a map of the facility. Erica then took a deep breath.

"Alright," said she. "Here goes."

XXXXX

Beams, missiles, and anti-aircraft shells continued to zip across the air as the fortress's UAVs engaged the combined might of UEC, Federation, and Allied forces. The Allies, despite their wholly obsolete equipment, managed to hold their own against the hostile UAVs while UEC forces suffered from a lack of fuel and munitions. In the UEC's place, Federation forces moved to augment the losses of their former adversary, prioritizing the safety of their comrades descending to the surface over their former leader's lost cause.

The 20mm Vulcan on one of the UAVs shredded an Allied forces' MC 202 Folgore before it too found itself shred apart by a MiG-23-V variable fighter's 23mm gun-pod. Within the cockpit of the transformable MiG, Andrew winced as the VF vibrated from both the gun-pod's recoil and the machine's unique design choices (equipped with only a single jet engine compared to the twin engine design of other variable fighters).

Andrew then switched the MiG back into its fighter mode, reminiscent of a standard MiG-23 in both aesthetics and performance, before gunning it towards the fortress. Something flashed in his head, however, forcing him to take evasive action against a threat he couldn't identify.

Then the fortress fired a beam from one of its surviving high-output beam cannons, quickly bisecting two of the UEC ships and rendering another immobile. A number of aircraft in the air, friend and foe alike, also found themselves vaporized by the beam. Andrew clicked his tongue in annoyance before flying through the gap in enemy defenses that had just been created. Both he and the rest of the UEC forces, and the Federation forces for that matter, had become quite used to scenes of outright death and destruction, so the event that just happened only came across as a minor nuisance.

He did feel that the deaths incurred by this battle were completely unnecessary, however.

The MiG-23-V then clapped back into its humanoid form before stomping an UAV out of the sky. A sudden beam flew past the MiG, forcing Andrew to switch his attention to the new foe.

Twenty Kirov Flight Types, armed with beam weaponry, began firing in the direction of UEC and Federation units within Andrew's vicinity. Some of the UEC aircraft managed to escape the barrage of particle beams while those remaining did not. The Red Baron and his temporary ride quickly moved in to aid the survivors, including a number of UEC F-2 and Federation MiG 1.44 fighters.

"Right then," Andrew muttered, transforming his variable MiG back into a fighter as he did so. "This show is almost over, and the curtains need to be closed."

He gunned the thrusters on the MiG as hard as they allowed him, rocketing Andrew towards the formation of Kirov AIUs.

"I'm the one that's going to close those curtains," said he, firing a number of bursts from the MiG's gun-pod in the process. The enemy soon returned fire, beams narrowly missing the MiG before Andrew fired a burst of multi-lock missiles. All the missiles struck their targets, destroying or neutralizing eleven of the twenty Kirovs.

"So…!"

The MiG then snapped back into its humanoid form, drawing its heat knife before tackling one of the Kirovs in midair. Andrew subsequently raised the knife as it began to glow, ready to be plunged straight into the Kirov's cockpit.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

XXXXX

Within the fortress, Erica rocketed past the numerous automated defense systems inside, managing to weave through a vast and complicated network of turrets, bulkheads, and unmanned security drones in the process. As she approached the location of the main reactor, she found her path not only blocked by more bulkheads, but also a number of unmanned Kirov AIUs.

The machines immediately began to open fire on Erica, forcing her to dodge the beams and take cover around a nearby corner.

Erica took a breath before checking the readouts on her helmet again.

"Oxygen reserve is half empty," she muttered. "Weapon energy is in the red zone, and I'm running low on propellant…"

She sighed before readying her beam weapon for what was to come.

"Oh well," said she. "Guess I'll have to improvise."

Erica then jumped out from behind cover, melting a nice clean hole in the Kirovs in front of her before pressing on to her new waypoint on her heads up display's map.

"Right," she muttered. "To the armory we go."

The thrusters on the striker unit immediately gunned themselves further, propelling Erica even faster through the halls.

Left.

Right.

Another left.

Punch another hole in another bulkhead.

This pattern continued for some time until Erica, now quite exhausted, arrived at the armory. She immediately busted the door open and walked inside.

Pressed for time, she only took the bare minimum of ordinance she thought she needed to get the job done before heading straight back out into the fray again.

Two grenade launchers, some LAWs, and a pair of PKMs should do the trick.

XXXXX

Another beam vaporized another portion of both air and ground forces engaged in combat as Andrew finished dispatching the last Kirov Flight Type he had been facing. By this point Andrew's breathing became erratic and a little on the faster side. Perhaps pushing his wounded body this far finally began to take a toll on him.

"But…" he managed, shredding apart another UAV as he did so. "I'm not done yet…!"

Andrew once again gunned the thrusters of his, now overworked, MiG-23-V and proceeded to scream towards the fortress again in fighter form. He knocked a few more enemy machines from the side in the meantime, expending the remainder of his multi-lock missiles in the process. A Katyusha Flight Type, an unmanned one at that, then charged Andrew's MiG with machine guns blazing before the MiG transformed and quickly dispatched the AIU with its knife.

Andrew honestly missed the YF-38(r) Krasnyy Pulya's beam sabres and extra ammunition storage.

In fact, the MiG he flew reminded him more of the VF-35(t) he flew all those days ago. This thought process made sense, since the 35(t) came to be as a result of a Czech upgrade program for captured MiG-23-V variable fighters.

Andrew had no time to enjoy remembering the past, however, as he successfully managed to dodge a shot from the fortress's particle cannon, again, through a stroke of luck.

Luck, huh?

Right around this time, Andrew noticed that someone, perhaps the MiG's previous owner, had painted the right shoulder of the machine red. How appropriate.

"Alright," Andrew muttered, snapping the MiG back into fighter mode in the process. "Looks like I need to silence that particle cannon first."

XXXXX

"Scheisse, the oxygen!"

Upon hearing the alarm blaring in her helmet, Erica purged both the main and reserve oxygen tanks she carried and also tore of the oxygen mask fitted over her nose and mouth. Now that both tanks had run empty, they only served as dead weight and that wouldn't do. She continued to push on regardless, managing to punch through yet another automated defense line as she did so.

An unmanned Kirov AIU fired a beam in Erica's direction, forcing her to deploy her shield in response. While she managed to block the hit, and destroy the AIU seconds later, Erica could already feel her shield weakening. She knew she would run out of magical energy soon, meaning she could only rely on the striker's remaining propellant and onboard control system to keep her going.

Soon, however, Erica managed to find the central reactor room and leveled her beam weapon at the bulkhead in the way. She immediately melted a hole in the bulkhead before flying inside, but suddenly began to lose control of her altitude and balance. The striker's control system kicked in, however, and eventually Erica managed to regain control.

No more magical energy, it seemed, and coincidentally, her beam weapon also ran out of energy as well.

Erica then discarded the useless weapon before reaching for one of the LAWs she picked up from the armory.

Then more turrets appeared.

XXXXX

"AAAAAAAAAAAGH-*static*"

"Jesus fucking Christ! That cannon just wiped out all of Seventh Squadron!"

"HELP US! THE FIRE'S SPREADING TO THE AMMO RACK AND-*static*"

Andrew clicked his tongue in distress at the chaotic nature of the transmissions flying left and right through the airwaves. By now, the Allies now accounted for the vast majority of friendly forces in the area, as they had the most military strength in terms of numbers compared to the Federation and UEC anyway. Consequently, they also suffered the most casualties.

The Fortress's particle cannon fired again, this time completely destroying one of the Allied Essex-class aircraft carries and bisecting one of the Richelieu-class battleships down below.

Tracers zipped across the sky as Andrew's MiG-23-V screamed towards the particle cannon. He could feel the strain of the engine as it tried to continuously propel the heavy variable fighter at high speed on its own. Andrew did not panic, however, for he knew the engine could take this strain and still bring home alive. Sure the mechanic will yell at him, but it could be fixed.

As Andrew approached the cannon, a number of CIWS turrets popped up from the armored wall of the fortress and sprayed shells in his direction. The MiG gracefully maneuvered around the streaks of enemy fire before shredding a number of the defenses apart with its gun-pod. Then a pair of Sosna-R missiles launched from the fortress, heading in Andrew's direction. His MiG, however, snapped into batteroid mode before engaging the missiles with its head-mounted armament. A spray of 14.5mm bullets knocked the two missiles from the sky as Andrew shredded the launchers with his gun-pod.

He then pressed on, returning to fighter mode in the process.

As the MiG continued flying, evading and sometimes neutralizing threats in the process, the sensors soon picked up the signature of the particle gun. Andrew then took a deep breath before locking on to the cannon, which, as if noticing the MiG's approach, rotated to face him.

No matter, now he had a clean shot down the barrel.

Andrew smiled as the MiG's onboard control system notified him of the readiness of the MiG's remaining missiles to fire.

With just the push of the trigger, two R-73 air-to-air missiles rocketed forward and soared toward their intended target. Just as the two missiles flew down the particle cannon's barrel, Andrew broke the MiG off from its original course.

"Right," said he, breathing a sigh of relief in the process. "That's done."

XXXXX

"… Is that all of them?"

Erica panted from exhaustion as she dropped one of her, now empty, PKMs. While she did manage to get a few great shots into the reactor, the automated defense system still made things extremely difficult, forcing her to use some of her remaining ordinance to neutralize it.

Now, however, all the LAWs she picked up, as well as one of the PKMs, were empty.

At least she still had the grenade launchers. That counted for something. Erica then reached for both aforementioned grenade launchers before leveling them at the reactor's control system.

"This will end it all…" she muttered. Scenes from the past flashed past her vision as time seemed to slow down. Her first time in the Luftwaffe. The time she joined the 501st. The time the UEC showed up.

The time she met him.

Erica could not help but smile a little.

She then rapidly pulled the triggers on both launchers before dropping them, gunning herself out of the room soon after.

The plan behind this was simple; by destroying the control system in the reactor room, the reactor itself would be forced to shut down. If in an overloaded state, the fortress would then automatically ascend as high as it could above the atmosphere in order to reduce the damage done by a possible meltdown.

Suddenly, as if the fortress wanted to give the one which defeated it one last middle finger, the corridors began to collapse. Furthermore, additional defensive turrets began to show themselves in areas that remained intact.

Something, or someone, clearly wanted her dead.

With no other choice, Erica leveled her PKM at the turrets before charging forward, guns blazing.

"I promised that I would be okay," she muttered to herself. "I can't break that promise, so GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

XXXXX

"Initiation of Fortress' Emergency Protocols confirmed," a transmission said. "Looks like the Lieutenant did it!"

A smile slowly crept across Andrew's face as the cheers and whistles of other soldiers echoed over the comms, soon followed by the appearance of two familiar aircraft.

"Hey there, W.O," Alex said as he leveled his fighter alongside Andrew's MiG. "Looks like your princess did it."

Andrew, his smile still clearly visible, scoffed at his former commanding officer's remark.

"She still needs to get out of there," he replied. "My mission, at the very least, isn't over until then."

Then, ignoring Alex's complaints, the MiG rocketed forward towards the fortress's east wall. Amy in her VF-0 soon leveled herself next to her squadron leader.

"Does he even have a plan…?" the female pilot wondered, to which Alex replied with a small chuckle.

"He'll think of something," said he. "I'm more worried about his wounds."

After a brief moment of silence, Alex gunned the engines of his SV-51 in an attempt to pursue Andrew.

"Fuck it," said he. "Let's give him a hand."

Amy smiled in response.

"Right behind you sir."

XXXXX

"Almost… there…!"

Erica rushed forward through the dense curtain of lead, beams, and missiles thrown at her, all the while spraying bullets from her PKM. While she could tell that the exit was not far away, she also noticed the heads up display in her helmet start to fail. To make things worse, unmanned AIUs trailed behind her, firing shots from whatever weapons they happened to be equipped with.

The PKM let out a light click, followed by nothing.

"Damn…!"

Erica chucked the now empty machine gun out of her way before continuing down the hallway.

Left.

Right.

Up.

Down.

Another right.

Finally, Erica noticed the streak of light emitting from the hole she made earlier in order to enter the fortress. She prepared to bust as fast as she could out from her exit, before being stopped by the appearance of an unmanned Katyusha AIU. The AIU, armed with nothing but its fixed weaponry, fired at the witch with its pair of head mounted KPVs. 14.5mm bullets sprayed themselves in Erica's direction, forcing her to take evasive action and find another way out.

One of the bullets struck her helmet, causing it to be thrown off of Erica's head.

"Ack!"

Erica felt some drips of some sort of liquid, possibly blood, dripping down the right side of her face. She paid no attention to it, however, as she had more important priorities.

"Oh no," she muttered. "Not like this. This isn't how all of this ends…!"

Then the thrusters began to fail.

XXXXX

"Erica!?"

Something flashed in Andrew's mind as he shredded apart another unmanned machine. His MiG, its engine now screaming from the strain of extended combat, diverted its attention to the fortress wall. Andrew leveled the MiG's gun-pod at the wall before calling his former squad mates.

"Captain Bell!" said he. "Could you focus all the ordinance you have on this marker!?"

Alex's SV-51 soon arrived along with Amy and her VF-0.

"Sure thing, kid!" Alex replied. "When should we fire?"

"On my mark!" Andrew replied, before closing his eyes.

Full concentration. He could not miss this shot.

Breath in.

Breath out.

"C'mon…" he muttered. "Where are you…?"

A period of tense silence soon followed.

Then…

"There!" Andrew exclaimed. "FEUER!"

All three aircraft suddenly and simultaneously fired on a small section of the fortress's outer wall, missiles and shells shredding the already weakened armor to shreds. A series of explosions soon followed as a number of unmanned AIUs inside exploded, before being sucked out of the hallway as it depressurized.

Amidst the debris, Andrew noticed a single figure thrown out of the depressurized hallway.

"!"

The MiG immediately transformed into fighter mode before diving after Erica, herself unable to gain altitude due to lack of propellant for her strikers.

She would have purged the useless dead weight herself, if not for the complete exhaustion settling into her body. As she fell, her vision slowly began to blur but she still managed to notice the MiG descending after her.

Erica saw the machine fly beneath her before snapping into batteroid mode, followed by the opening of the cockpit.

A familiar person extended his hand out to her, a worried but also relieved look on his face.

As she pulled herself into Andrew's arms, a smile slowly crept across her face. Her vision continued to blur.

"Sup," she managed to say. "It's over."

Author's notes: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! RED SHOULDERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Hey y'all, it's Karl the Arty! I'm not dead yet and neither is this fic!

However, I have to say that this is actually the end. Next chapter will be the epilogue.

It's been a long ride and I hope you enjoyed it.

Speaking of ending, remember how I said that this story would conclude during my time in high school?

Well I'm in college now. Shit.

Regardless, thank you guys for sticking around for so long! Stay tuned for the epilogue, btw!

Cheers!

-SPSH Karl