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Chapter 25 - Ghosts of Razgriz

As the demon sleeps, man turns on man

His own blood and madness soon cover the earth

From the depths of despair awaken the Razgriz

Its raven wings ablaze in majestic light

- OFS Kestrel, Kirwin Island -

- December 12th, 2010 1744 hrs -

Despite their previous status as enemies, Czar was greeted well by the crew and operators of the Kestrel, and the pilot responded to it in kind. Handshakes, head nods and smiles were all around as the Yuke got acquainted with those he would be spending his time with.

Grimm found someone else to look up to since, like Cipher and Larry were, Czar was a veteran of his country's air force and a skilled pilot too. Cipher vouched for him, since Czar was Kvant Squadron's flight lead after all. Nagase gave him a firm handshake and a nod, but with a smile that meant she was ready and willing to be friends.

"Good to meet another skilled pilot from the other side. The name's Snow, by the way. Marcus Snow."

"It's good to meet you too, Mister Snow." Czar shook hands with Snow right as Andersen and Pops approached the pilots from the direction of the carrier's island.

Snow let go of Czar's hand right when the admiral stopped a few short footsteps away and Czar turned toward him, the two sharing a brief moment of silence and communicated solely with their eyes.

"What's your name, pilot?" questioned Andersen. "Name and rank, actually."

"Captain Nicolai Reznov, callsign 'Czar', sir."

Nicolai gave the aging admiral a military salute and Andersen's expression warmed up to a smile, Pops smiling too as they saluted one another. Cipher watched with a grin when the two men struck up a friendly conversation, which eventually did include him so he could clarify how they knew one another.

Even when he was Yuktobanian, and everyone knew that, Nicolai fit in well with the general staff and the rest of the pilots like a glove. Crow One and his squadron made sure to introduce themselves to the Yuke as well after they landed too. Their status as mercenaries officially enlisted in Ustio's military astounded Nicolai, since he actually had never heard of such a thing.

"I believe you are owed an explanation. Follow us, we'll bring you up to speed if you will." said Pops, putting a hand on Nicolai's shoulder.

"May I join this as well Pops?" asked Cipher. "To clarify anything, that is."

"Of course. Let's go to my office."

- Avalon Dam, Mund Valley, Central Belka -

- December 14th, 2010, 0300 hs -

Two full squadrons were in the pitch black skies over Avalon, participating in a mock dogfight scenario with one another for total superiority. One squadron flew all grey F-15S/MTDs, the other Su-35s, all grey as well.

"Grabacr Five, turn right at maximum speed in fifteen seconds."

The fighter in question did just that and perfectly dodged an attack run by one of the Su-35 pilots, enabling him to get on his six and flip the tables on him. The entire time a separate fighter jet, completely different then the ones performing the mock fight, watched from above with a keen eye for every little small detail and maneuver.

Like a hawk he pointed out every minor flaw in each pilot, and pointed it out loudly and clearly. He was molding and perfecting these fighter pilots into what they should be, what their birthright enabled them to become.

"Ofnir One, you're looking sloppy. Fix it."

"Yes Doctor…"

He watched them for thirty more minutes straight before he ended the dogfight with but a simple order. They were close to achieving greatness, so close.

- OFS Kestrel, Kirwin Island -

- December 16th, 2010 1050 hrs -

"To think one man like yourself would have almost three lifetimes worth of experience as a fighter pilot." said Nicolai with a head shake. "And each previous life became a legend, too."

Cipher chuckled before taking a sip of his coffee. He and the Yuke were standing side by side on the Kestrel's deck, watching and observing the world around them while sharing small talk.

"From Demon Lord, to Ribbon Fighter, and then back to demon. Or I guess I should say ghost now, since I'm supposed to be dead."

"Quite an eventful life."

Cipher nod his head and smiled, "Just imagine though if the world knew about me and my history. I wouldn't be able to catch a break."

The two pilots shared a laugh between them before Nicolai looked over his shoulder at the island's small air base. The Berkut he had flown from Avalon with the others was still there, with its tasteless grey paint job, waiting to be used again or scrapped in favor of another jet.

"You gonna fly with it?"

"Hm?" Nicolai turned back to Cipher, who was grinning as he motioned to the Berkut after following his gaze.

"I'm not sure...it's an odd feeling, really. It feels so much like a jet manufactured by my own country, but it's not at the same time. I still wish I have my Su-57..." replied Nicolai sadly.

"You had one of those Raptor look-alikes?" asked Cipher. "When?"

"When the rest of my squadron received them, of course. I lost it however when I was shot down."

Cipher understood now why Nicolai hadn't been present during the Jilachi campaign with the rest of his squadron, around that time must have been when he discovered the truth and had to flee. All this time he was imprisoned within Belka, without any contact with the outside world.

"I can understand that…"

"You know, my friend...I imagine this is what peace time would feel like."

Cipher glanced at Nicolai, the Yuke pilot sipping on his coffee with a smile. It took a few moments but he realized what he meant and smiled too. Two people from different countries sharing a drink together under the morning sun, it truly was what peace could be like between Yuktobania and Osea.

That singular moment only served to strengthen their resolve to end the war as soon as possible, and return the state of their two countries to one of peace and friendship.

Unfortunately it had to come to an end when Nagase came jogging up to them from the island with important news. The Andromeda had received another anonymous message, just like the one which led them to Harling.

That was enough to catch Cipher's attention, and with a nod from Nicolai they gulped their coffee and hurried with Nagase to the briefing room. They were the last three to walk in and take their seats. Once sitting, James nod his head to Pops and he cleared his throat.

"We've intercepted another mysterious radio transmission. This time it specifies a location within Yuktobania. It's probably...well, this is just a hunch on my part, but I bet that's where the nuclear weapon sent into Yuktobania is located."

Pops pulled out the piece of paper that the Andromeda produced with the transmission information on it; a tiny little sliver with nothing but a few numbers on it that could mean practically anything, but not to Pops.

"It's a set of numbers, but this time it's a radio frequency."

He then turned to James, who stepped forward. "Your next missions is a reconnaissance flight above a canyon in the northern highlands of Yuktobania, the place described in the unidentified radio transmission. The highlands are completely covered by the Yuktobania air defense system, so the only place to fly is within the canyon itself."

James turned to the projector screen, where the area and the canyon itself were shown in relatively good detail, enough for all the pilots to see. Crow Squadron wasn't present, which meant it was just going to be the four of them on this operation, with Larry and Nicolai for the ride. It was the right call, Cipher thought. Too many fighter jets inside of the crowded canyon would be difficult for all parties involved.

"Fly down the canyon and reach the target area, then once you're there, set your radio channel to the directed frequency and begin gathering information." James turned back to them after highlighting their route into the canyon. "You may be engaged by local Yuktobanian forces, and depending on the contents of the transmission, you may also find yourself engaging in other combat as well. You are permitted to fight the enemy as necessary. Dismissed."

Cipher stood up from his chair and walked outside with everyone to get their jets ready to go for the mission. As they did, game plans were being bounced back and forth among the pilots.

"How about this. We'll split up into two flights, Grimm, you're with me, Nagase, you pair with Snow," he then motioned to Larry and Nicolai, "And you two fly top cover above the range of the AA system to provide back-up if necessary."

"Sounds like a solid plan, captain." replied Grimm.

"Leave it to you to come up with all of the plans, Cipher."

Larry grinned as he threw his arm around Cipher and jostled him around a tiny bit playfully, the two friends laughing. Just another day at the office.

- Payavlenie Ravine, Northeastern Yuktobania -

- 29°09'16"N, 095°08'45"E -

- December 16th, 2010 1503 hrs -

"AWACS Eagle Eye to Razgriz, proceed into the canyon and set your radio frequency to 124 megahertz." spoke James when they entered the target area.

Larry and Nicolai bid the four Razgriz pilots one final goodbye before they rose up high into the sky to join James beyond the clouds. Cipher took the lead as usual and as soon as they passed the ravine edges, their left and right now pinks and reds and other desert colors, Cipher switched his radio to the correct frequency.

There was nothing but static at first, but slowly the sound of something that resembled a voice became clearer and clearer until a loud gasp came through completely clear.

"It's true! They've come, fighter jets! I can tell because I'm intercepting enemy alert signals as well, but can you hear this?"

"Who are you? Identify yourself." replied Nagase, eyes narrowed.

"A great number of students, intellectuals, and even some soldiers are staging a resistance against the military government of Yuktobania. You can call me Alyosha...that's not my real name, of course. I'm so glad you actually came; it's just like how he said you would!"

"He…?"

Nagase was confused by this other person Alyosha, or whoever it could be that was using the cover name, referred to. Cipher held his suspicions to himself and as they flew slowly deeper into the ravine network, he joined up with Grimm and Nagase with Snow for when they had to split up.

It was a good thing that was their strategy too, since Eagle Eye updated their radars with dozens of enemy units scattered throughout Payavlenie. They might have to split up fully if they wanted to make sure everything was covered.

"We have no time. Let me explain the situation." informed Alyosha seriously. "We've managed to steal a nuclear warhead taken here and have hidden ourselves here so we can disable it for good. There are multiple enemy units spread throughout the canyon and we have Yuke commandos searching everywhere for us. Please protect us as we disable the bomb."

It was like they'd all been punched in the gut. Already they had discovered one of the nuclear devices from Belka, and there were those out there that were unhappy with the state of affairs too.

Their job just got a whole lot easier, and it brought a smile to Cipher's face.

"Roger Alyosha, we'll provide cover." responded Snow. "Just make sure that warhead gets defused!"

"A physics graduate student from Yuktobania Central University is currently dismantling it as we speak." responded Alyosha. From where he was, he was holding the microphone up to his lips while squatting down, the warhead in question behind him illuminated by several lamps so the student working on it could see everything.

Near the ravine's mouth the two groups split off at a fork in the river, the source of the ravine itself after uncounted years of erosion, to take on each side and eliminate enemy forces. Since they couldn't rise above the ravine, their airspeed was kept relatively low and their heads were on a constant swivel.

The enemies they had to face were nothing special either. Helicopters were the main priority, as well as a few gunboats here and there patrolling the river below for any sign of the resistance. Cipher was sure to remind everyone to be prepared for anything though, enemy jets could come out of nowhere from outside the ravine network.

"We're now dismantling the bomb itself." reported Alyosha, being the go between for the pilots and the student. "It's a pretty tiny bomb, maybe a tactical nuke. Hard to believe something like this can wipe out an entire city…"

"You'd be surprised…" Cipher thought to himself. He was sure that Larry, if he were chiming in to their communications, would have thought the same thing or even spoke it out loud.

They continued with the operation relatively smoothly, with the pilots undergoing a few miniature heart attacks because of random, out of the blue moments of terror. Like when the student almost dropped the tool he was working on, or when something inside the bomb did something when it wasn't supposed to.

Despite those brief episodes, Cipher, Snow, Grimm, and Nagase were easily capable of clearing the entire ravine of enemies, even when a couple of jets here and then were called in to try and assist the commandos in their search for the resistance.

Just then James patched himself into them with a mission update, one Cipher saw before hand when he spotted a new group of enemies fast approaching the ravine.

"Eagle Eye to Razgriz. New enemy planes showing up on radar, it's a four man flight. Stay heads up, they don't seem to be your normal Yuke fighters."

The new enemy squadron rapidly arrived at the ravine and dove down into its depths, the lead Su-35 brushing past the surface of the river before returning to his squadron. Cipher wasn't expecting to hear the voices of their newcomers, but when their radio waves crossed over one another he could hear them loud and clear.

"This is Ofnir Two. You sure it's them?" asked the second Su-35 pilot.

"This is Ofnir One, I said that's what I heard. The ghosts of the 'Demons of Razgriz'."

He gave the order to his followers to split up through the ravines to hunt for the Razgriz, completely intending to shoot them down, no questions asked.

Snow narrowed his eyes when he listened to the men talk and soon enough the others had the same thought in their mind. Compared to all of the Yukes they've heard, especially Nicolai, these guys definitely did *not sound Yuktobanian.

Right then Cipher and Grimm turned a corner and came face to face with two of the unknown fighters, and right then Cipher's suspicions were proved correct. All grey Su-35s, the exact same fighter jets he saw parked next to Grabacr's jets in Belka.

"Grimm, evade! These are the aggressors dispatched to Yuktobania by Belka!"

He turned sharply to the right with Grimm, avoiding a pair of missiles fired at them by the enemy. They were able to lose them within the ravine by taking a narrow shortcut, but by then Nagase and Snow had their own run-in and barely avoided being taken out as well.

"Dammit, of all the places...I feel like they're hunting us like animals." Grimm growled.

"What are you talking about Grimm?" questioned Cipher, an evil grin spreading across his lips. "We've faced plenty of Belkan fighter pilots up till now, and last time I checked...we're the demons here, not them."

On their own end the Ofnir pilots were being contacted by retreating commandos or other forces after the Razgriz attack, and all of them were trying to deter the Ofnirs from continuing.

"Ofnir Squadron, flying through the ravine is extremely dangerous."

"Ofnir One to all planes, no obstacles to our flight observed."

"Hey, didn't you hear me? Turn back!"

Ofnir One snarled back at the Yuke, "Shut it. This is our business."

His arrogance proved to be his squadron's downfall, however, since Cipher was able to quickly round up his squadron and attack the Ofnir pilots one by one, overwhelming each Belkan with sheer muscle and numbers.

"Look! The enemy is running down Ofnir!"

"There's only one squadron I know that could shoot down Ofnir…"
A dark cloud of fear settled over the surviving Yuke forces when they realized exactly who they were dealing with; a nightmare they thought had all but disappeared.

"I was thinking the same thing...Razgriz…"

"...You're the Demons of Razgriz?"

Ofnir One, realizing his error, was skeptical even to the end as he was pursued by Cipher and his friends. They didn't respond to his question and as Cipher locked on to Ofnir One and fired a single missile, he growled when the set up left him completely unable to dodge.

"Dammit...they really are the Razgriz…"

Boom went his jet aircraft when it was struck by Cipher's missile, ending the engagement once and for all. Other enemy forces had already evacuated the area as well, the threat they posed enough to halt all search operations for the resistance members Razgriz was protecting.

"All Ofnir fighters shot down." reported Nagase for James. "Looks like the other enemy forces bugged out on us too."

More good news came in from Alyosha and his resistance friends from their hideout in the center of the ravine, a discrete concrete structure and facility complex that they only just now happened upon.

"Okay, we've dismantled the bomb. Did you fend off the enemy forces for us?"

"For now, but at the moment, skies are clear."

"Alright. We're going into the ocean to discard the bomb, piece by piece. Nobody will ever be able to use it as a weapon, so if you can, please protect us until we make it there."

"We will, but what about…"

Alyosha chuckled and they glanced down at the hideout to a concrete dock hangar situated at the water and they were floored when a submarine churned slowly into the lake waters. Their Yuke resistance friend seemed to have been a little general in his description of the strength of their group. A submarine in the hand of students and intellectuals was preposterous.

"There's nothing we can't get our hands on. I told you, we have a lot of allies."

"All right! But who told you that we'd definitely be coming for you?" questioned Snow, asking the question that Cipher, Grimm, and Nagase were wondering themselves.

"I don't know his name...but he left a message with us here for your captain; I'll read it." Alyosha fumbled with a piece of paper on his end. "It says, 'Hey Kid, I hear you're a helluva squad captain now!' Do you get it?"

Cipher's lips widened into a huge grin, as did Grimm's and Snow's while Nagase was so overcome with feelings of joy and relief that she practically hopped in her flight seat from it.

"Yes! Perfectly!"

^^^^Debriefing Message^^^^

Mission accomplished. The information we obtained as well as the physical damage we caused dealt a significant blow to the enemy. Judging by our analysis of the information, there appears to be a highly organized resistance force acting against the Yuktobanian military regime. It is likely the nuclear weapon which Yuktobania acquired was safely dismantled by the resistance. Furthermore, we have identified the Yuke aggressor squadron to be Ofnir Squadron, led by the Belkan ace Michael Heimeroth. They are considered to be highly dangerous and will be treated as such. Shoot them down if spotted as quickly as possible.

- OFS Kestrel, Kirwin Island -

- December 16th, 2020 2230 hrs -

Cipher was alone in his given room on the Kestrel late at night, lounging on the bed on his stomach with a laptop resting in front of him. Seeing Grabacr and Ofnir had spurred an old memory in him of seeing something similar back in 1995, and he wanted to know more about it.

He pulled up Google and frowned a tiny bit, wondering where to start. Cipher decided to just browse general history of the Belkan War and look for anything he could use to narrow down his search. He was sure that vast swaths, or probably all, of the information pertaining to the Belkan War was declassified and allowed to be viewed by the public, so it had to be somewhere.

"Ah, here it is...operations held during the Belkan War…" he murmured. He delved deeper into the history, searching specifically for the Belkans involved since he knew that would be where his answers would be hiding.

Cipher went through document after document until he came to one that brought a grin to his face. Battle Axe, the operation where he got his nickname from.

"Ah, memories...I still find it surprising that Pops was there too, and that I shot him down!" Cipher laughed to himself. "And Bartlett too. But anyways…"

He entered the document and started scanning the words and passages for anything he could find, something that rang a bell. Unlike everything before, he actually found it. Now he remembered why the names seemed so familiar, they were there.

"Grabacr and Ofnir...before the squadrons, it was their callsign. Ashley and Michael, they were there in B7R that day."

Cipher stroked his chin, satisfied he was able to answer that question. But another question concerning recent events popped into his head; the Raptors over Avalon, how the hell did they end up there?

The simplest way he could think of to figure that out was to consults the OADF's records and go through it pilot by pilot, and look for any discrepancies.

"Okay, here we go...no, no, not that one...nope…"

Cipher went down the list, page after page, seeing names he didn't care about. He stopped and smirked a little at two names he knew rather well, Joshua Bristow and Anthony Palmer.

Osean pilots from the Belkan War that defected to the AWWNB; Cipher fought both of them over B7R when he was on his way to Avalon with PJ to stop the V2 launch. Both were skilled squad leaders and aces on their own, but he was victorious in the end.

"I know what happened to Bristow, he got axed, but I wonder...whatever happened to Palmer after that interview documentary?" Cipher thought to himself.

He decided to not dwell on it too long and continued looking, skipping through several more pages of faces and names he hardly recognized until he stopped again. There were eight pilots in a row that all had the same designation next to their names.

"MIA, MIA...all eight of them. When did they enlist…" Cipher clicked on the flight lead for more information, but didn't find anything super meaningful when he started reading.

The lead pilot enlisted in the OADF in the early 2000s, and after that it was just the usual military spiel about what happened to the pilot to have them be listed as missing in action. When he went to the other pilots of the squadron, it was the same thing. That was the strange part. Word for word, sentence for sentence, the reason why they were MIA was literally the exact same thing.

Suddenly someone knocked on his door and Cipher jumped, his thoughts momentarily jumbled by the surprise. He grumbled a tiny bit and went to the door to open it, but found Larry standing outside with a frown.

"Larry? What're you doing here? I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"I don't know...couldn't sleep, I guess." Larry shoved his hands into his pockets. "Just been getting this odd feeling ever since Avalon."

"Come look at this then, I was thinking the same thing."

Larry was pulled inside by Cipher, who then grabbed his laptop by the base and went back to him, holding it up so they could both look at the screen.

"Look at this."

"Uh, what is this?"

"Pilot records for the OADF. But look, here, eight pilots. All of them enlisted around the same time, in the early 2000s."

Larry was confused. He asked, "Yeah? What's important about them?"

Cipher showed him each person's description, why they were missing in action as well as the exact similarities between each one. From that Larry was finally invested in what Cipher was trying to get across and the pair sat down next to one another on Cipher's bed, staring at the screen.

"You know where I'm going with this, right?"

"The fighters over Avalon, right? The Raptors?"

Cipher nod his head. "Exactly."

"Do you think the Grey Men have reactivated Avalon for something, and...that they might have more operatives within the OADF then we previously thought?"

"Who knows...anything is on the table right now."

Their discussion ended there and Larry left with that, Cipher closing the door and returning to his desk to look for a few more minutes before he closed it up and set it down. He needed to rest, that was enough theory crafting for now.

As he laid his head on the pillows though, the same question he'd been thinking ever since the Grey Men's existence was discovered came back to haunt him. Could they be the successors of the AWWNB?