Chapter 1 – Hope Spot
Cape Aubrey, Federal Republic of Aurelia
October 10th, 2020
1250hrs
It has been ten days since Leasath launched an invasion on Aurelia. It certainly felt a lot longer than that, especially with everything that's happened during that time period, at least for Captain Reyna Cruz of Gryphus Squadron. She still has a hard time coming to terms with the situation, as did pretty much everyone else. The Leasaths struck so quickly and with such efficiency and ferocity, it's as if they had been waiting for a chance to strike for a long time now.
They should have seen it coming. Leasath has been causing trouble along the borders many times already as if they were probing for holes in Aurelia's defenses. Who would've thought that they'll strike so fast after their own civil war had just ended barely a year ago, though? Reyna certainly didn't, and yet it still made perfect sense. Nobody would've expected a sudden attack after a previous conflict had just been resolved, especially with everything that went down in Usea in the meantime as well.
The sudden communications loss resulted from the satellite disaster in the Lighthouse War was the perfect cover for the Leasathians to amass their forces with nobody the wiser. As a result, the Aurelian defenders were caught completely with their pants down (literally, in some cases) and the capital city of Griswall fell within days after the initial attacks.
What was left of the Aurelian military were scattered all over the region, cut off behind enemy lines fighting guerilla warfare against overwhelming odds and hope for the best. The majority of those who were able to regroup was now here at Aubrey Air Force Base. What was once a remote base so far away from the frontlines, Reyna never would have expected it to see the light of battle, is now effectively Aurelia's last hope against Leasath's onslaught.
If this base falls, Leasath wins. Period.
"Make way! Make way!"
Loud shouting echoed through the hall as Reyna stepped out of her room. She turned toward to look at the commotion and saw several medics rushing through and eventually passing her by, all of them carrying stretchers with wounded soldiers on them.
She felt a pit in her stomach once she recognized some of the patches on their uniforms: pilots from Phuku Lagolla Air Base. That base held out the longest against the Leasath Army despite being so close to the capital thanks to an elite experimental air force squadron. For a brief time, they actually gave hope that the Leasathians could be stopped early on. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.
As if the situation couldn't get any worse, when the Leasath Army launched a surprise attack on Port Patterson in the south two days ago, the base commander happened to be there on a meeting with the other high-ranking officers. All of them were either taken prisoner or killed, and thus Aubrey AFB was left without its commanding officer and have to fend for themselves. Heh.
As the medics carry the last group of wounded away to the infirmary, Reyna noticed someone interesting trailing along with them: a young man not much taller than her wearing a khaki uniform and a black cap. In his hand was a grey laptop so Reyna guessed he must be some intelligence officer or some kind, but he looked pretty young, probably even younger than her, and she is already one of the youngest members of the AAF.
"Today's going to be a hell of a day, huh, cap?" Reyna heard a familiar voice spoke up from behind her, prompting her to turn around and saw the speaker: 2nd Lieutenant Rick Carias, her second-in-command of the squadron. Walking alongside him was his best friend, fellow 2nd Lieutenant Roy Carter.
"Falco's down for the count now," Roy added with a grim expression, "So it's only us left…"
Rick smacked on Roy's shoulder to reassure his friend, "Come on, Roy. We still have a lot of allies here, and it's not like the Falcos won't recover. We need to just buy some more time."
"The lieutenant's right. We're not out of this fight just yet," Reyna added in an attempt to keep the morale of her wingmen up. As a squadron leader, it's basically part of her resume. Keeping your cool under pressure was why she got to become one in the first place, "Those Leasaths thought they already pushed us back into a corner by taking Phuku Lagolla. They're gonna let their guards down and won't take us seriously, and then we'll show them why we're the finest pilots in the AAF."
"That's the spirit, cap!" Rick grinned, "See, Roy? Even the captain ain't nervous, so you shouldn't be! We'll kick those Leasath asses out of our backyards before they even realize what hit 'em."
"I suppose you're right…" Roy conceded. Reyna could still see some doubts in his expression, but otherwise, he didn't seem to think too much about it, which Reyna was thankful for. Even if she did a better job of hiding it, she was feeling as nervous as Roy in this regard. After all, for all they know, their squadron could very well be the very last remaining fighting force Aurelia has left. How could anyone not be nervous about this? Well, there's Rick, but nothing ever gets that guy down anyway.
"Where are the others?" Reyna asked about her other three squadronmates, trying to change the topic.
"Uh, Elena's probably helping the medics out in the infirmary, Luis said he was going to help the mechanics out in the hangar, and Leo just went to the cafeteria earlier," Roy answered, seemingly contend that the conversation finally shifted away from what he didn't want to talk about, "We're just about to go get 'em."
"I'll get Elena. I'm going to the infirmary so I'll see her anyway. You guys just check with Luis and Leo and meet us in the briefing room in five minutes," Reyna told them, walking back into her room a grab her green jacket hanging behind the door before coming back out, "We don't know when those Leasathians will get here, but they're definitely on their way, so be ready for anything. We could get orders to sortie anytime now."
"Yes, ma'am!" Rick and Roy spoke in unison, giving Reyna a quick salute before walking past her toward the exit. Reyna silently sighed in relief. At least that's one thing she got over with, just only about a hundred more to go on.
She put on her jacket and made her way across the corridor to the infirmary, each step she took felt like her feet were weighing her down as if subconsciously trying to stop her from going any further. On one hand, she wanted to go help Elena and the doctors out with the wounded since they probably got their hands full already, but on the other, it meant she had to witness the sorry state the pilots from Phuku Lagolla had been left in. She knew someone close to her who was there, and she was terrified of learning the possible bad news that could await her in that room. Another bad news is the last thing she needed now, not before she has to go on a sortie that might decide the fate of her entire nation.
She was about to head into the room when someone suddenly burst out of the room and almost ran into her.
"Sorry! Coming through!"
The voice belonged to the young man Reyna noticed trailing the medic teams earlier, the grey laptop still hanging close in his hands.
"I need to find Captain Cruz!" He began shouting as he nervously ran through the corridor, causing some other base personnel to stare curiously at him, "Captain Reyna Maristella Cruz of the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron 'Gryphus'. Has anyone seen her?!"
"I'm over here!" Reyna immediately shouted after him. She cringed a little once she heard her middle name spoken out loud. She was always kind of embarrassed about having her full name spoken. It felt like she did something wrong. Not only that, the guy even used the full designation name of her squadron, too. It'd be so much easier to just say 'Gryphus Squadron' and be done with it. Rarely anybody in the Aurelian Air Force even refers to each other by full designation names anymore because they're so mouthful. This guy must be a new meat who still does things by the book.
The young man stopped dead in his tracks before quickly turning around with such urgency, he almost lost his footing. Reyna was afraid he'd fall off for a second, but he managed to recover and paced back before stopping in front of her. Now that Reyna saw his face clearly, she could see that he's definitely a couple of years younger than her at the least. He has a crew-cut brown hair and pearl-green eyes with some freckles on the face. He was standing at about the same height as Reyna, but his small form made him look somewhat shorter than he actually looked.
"I'm sorry for earlier, ma'am! I…" The younger man gave Reyna a quick salute with his empty right hand, his face looked extremely nervous. The poor kid had probably been through a lot today and was barely holding it together at the moment, "Er…Warrant Officer Solano, ma'am! I'm with the 9th Experimental Flight Technology Evaluation Squadron 'Falco' from Phuka Lagolla AFB…"
Geez, what's with this guy and blurting out full names for everything? Reyna thought to herself. It's not that she disliked professionalism, it's just that with everything happening recently, being professional is certainly not among her main concerns right now.
"Slow down, officer. Take a deep breath first," Reyna held her hands up in front of her to permit the junior officer to relax, "Just go over things one by one."
"Uh, yes, ma'am!" The warrant officer announced loudly as he stood at attention, "I must request the 7th TFS's presence at the briefing room now, ma'am. We have an emergency mission!"
Before Reyna had any chance to answer, another person poked her head out of the infirmary room: just the person she was looking for.
"What the hell was all that fuzz!?" 2nd Lieutenant Elena Chase spoke up as soon as she stepped out of the door while giving the young officer an annoyed look.
"Keep ya voice down, kiddo! It's crazy enough in here as it is...those wounded didn't need to hear your….oh," she paused a moment as she noticed just who Solano was talking to, "Morning, Captain! I didn't see you there."
"It's alright, Elena," Reyna greeted her back, giving a light smile as she did so, "This young officer here was just about to inform me about an emergency mission. We're required at the briefing room ASAP."
Elena sighed loudly once she heard the news, "And here I thought I'll have some more time taking care of those poor sods in here. The doctors already have their hands full. Ah, well."
"I'll make requests to enlist more volunteers to help taking care of the wounded!" Officer Solano immediately offered, "I'll do what I can to help, ma'am!"
Elena shot him a frustrated glare as if she was silently warning him to shut the hell up already. Reyna couldn't help but be amused a little at all that. Damn, Elena, give this poor kid a break!
"Look, why don't you go on ahead to the briefing room, officer Solano?" Reyna told the young officer, "I and my wingmen will catch up with you later. Just give us a minute."
Officer Solano glanced back and forth between Reyna and Elena, before coming to the conclusion that maybe he should do as he's told, "Uh, understood, ma'am!"
Reyna nodded a little to permit Solano to go on his ways, and the young officer gave another quick salute before he did so. After that, she turned her attention to Elena, who was also watching the young officer running along the hallway with a half-amused look on her face.
"Jeez, that kid has to get a stick out of his ass or something."
"Give him a break, Elena. His previous base had just been bombed to hell. Those are all his friends in the room that you just walked out of," Reyna replied, her face turning grim again as the reality of the situation returned to her mind, "I guess it must've been pretty bad."
Elena nodded a little, her expression wasn't looking too happy either, "There's only a handful of survivors, captain, and over half of them are wounded. Falco Squadron has lost all but two of their members, and both of them aren't doing too well right now."
Only two?! That painful feeling returned to Reyna once again. Falco Squadron originally had four members, but now they're down to half strength. That is if they could even go back to flying at all with the injuries they sustained.
Seeing the pale look on her squadron leader's face, Elena quickly added, "Don't worry. Your cousin is still alive. Guy's one tough S.O.B., though, so he should be okay."
"Oh, thank God!" Reyna sighed out loud in relief. At least she has one less thing to worry about before whatever important mission that Solano guy was going to put her through, "Thank you for telling me this, Elena. You have no idea how relieved I am right now."
Elena just giggled at her captain's response. That was a softer side she rarely showed when on duty, so she's just glad to see that her squadron leader is still a normal person just like everyone else, "Yeah, well, he won't be getting up and fly anytime soon, though. The doctor just put him to sleep earlier and told me that he shouldn't be disturbed for the time being."
"Good, let him rest up for now," Reyna agreed, "Besides, we've got bigger things to worry about right now. I've told Rick and Roy to go get Luis, so we should head to the briefing room immediately. Wouldn't want to keep that new guy waiting."
"Ugh, I'm already going to hate my next sortie, aren't I?" Elena groaned. Reyna just pat her shoulder playfully in response as they both head toward the briefing room.
1300hrs
To say that the atmosphere in the briefing room was tense would be a big understatement. Usually lively with loud chatting and playful antics, the base personnel were sitting silently in the dark today while nervously waiting for the briefing to begin.
Only Rick, Roy, and their mutual friend 2nd Lieutenant Luis Garcia were doing their usual banters with each other, and even then they were noticeably tamer than usual. The only person who was acting like usual was 2nd Lieutenant Leo Cortes – he didn't really like to talk much, and he always just sulked around in the dark corner of the briefing room every time there's a mission coming up, and nobody really minded him. Reyna and Elena were already in their seats beside each other in front of their friends as they watch officer Solano prepared the briefing. Meanwhile, their WSOs were hanging out in the back forming their own group, quietly trying to finish up the sandwiches in their hands.
Speaking of food, Reyna envied that at least they get to eat something beforehand. An emergency briefing at the usual lunchtime meant most everybody involved didn't get to eat anything, hence the mostly sour mood in the room. Reyna could felt her stomach rumbling from hunger herself. If this was to be her last day alive, couldn't life at least be kind enough to let her go out on a full stomach?
After what felt like forever, Solano finally turned on the projector. The screen displayed a 3D terrain map, which displayed a section of a smaller overhead map of Cape Aubrey in the lower-left corner. The area of operation was not very far from Aubrey City, meaning that their mission would take place near residential areas. Just when Reyna thought things couldn't get any worse.
"Um, okay! Let's begin the briefing," The young officer finally began as he adjusted his uniform into place, "Operator Eugene Solano. I'll be keeping you up to date."
"Good to see you again, kid!" Rick spoke up from behind with a grin on his face, "Been a while since Z2K. How's that birdie lookin' out for ya now?"
Huh? Rick knew this kid? Reyna thought to herself. Eugene looked a bit flustered by the interruption, not knowing whether to reply to Rick or continue his briefing. Fortunately for him, Luis, Reyna's fifth wingman, resolved the situation for him.
"Let the kid do his job, Rick! You two can catch up later," Luis spoke while elbowing Rick lightly in the shoulder. Meanwhile, Elena was shaking her head in annoyance at the whole commotion, "Just keep going, Eugene."
"Ah, alright, sir," Eugene nodded as he tried to compose himself again before continuing, zooming the map in to focus on a group of red arrows.
"We've got the news that an invading Leasath squadron has just taken off from the Puna Plains en route for an attack on our position, Aubrey AFB."
He paused for a moment as he rotated the scene to focus on each red arrow groups: there were four of them, each containing four arrows adding up to sixteen enemy targets in total.
"As you are all aware, the Leasathians have almost wiped out all our military units," Eugene continued as he stopped the scene at the location of the Aubrey Base itself, "From their perspective, this attack is the final nail in our collective coffin. After all, this is the only base that hasn't fallen under their control."
"Well, isn't that cheery?" Hank Keyes, Roy's WSO, spoke up sarcastically, "So even if we somehow win this, we'll still have to take back the entire country all on our own. No pressure at all, huh?"
"Let's just focus on winning today," Carlos Cabrera, Rick's WSO, replied back, "If we can even win today, that is."
"About that, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky," Eugene cut in, sporting a small smile for once after being tense and glooming for so long, which Reyna appreciated. At least the kid is capable of looking on the bright side, "It looks like the enemy has gotten a little overconfident and sent only a small attack force, as you can see on the screen."
"I wouldn't exactly call that 'small'." Luis spoke up, frowning at the projector screen. Always the careful one, that guy, but his comment wasn't entirely without merit. There were several murmuring noises in the room agreeing with him, "Sixteen targets versus only six of us. How many fighters do they have anyway?"
"Oh, I forgot! The enemy squadrons consisted evenly of fighters and bombers," Eugene quickly added, "That means eight fighters and eight bombers each."
"That's not too bad," Elena said, "The only real threats are the fighters. As long as we take 'em out fast, those bombers are easy pickings for us."
"Their fighters only outnumber us by two. This won't take very long." Ian Santos, Leo's WSO, spoke in agreement.
"They seem to have only a pair of fighters guarding each bomber group anyway," Jonas Taggard, Luis's WSO, added as he observed the screen, "That means the other groups would be too far away to help when we attack each one of them. That'll make things even easier for us."
"Not only that, we also have the terrain advantage," Paula Diaz, Elena's WSO, spoke as she pointed at the mountainous terrain displayed on the screen, "We can use those mountains there to avoid detection while we circle around and attack them from the back. They won't see us coming."
"Correct. That's the plan, ma'am," Eugene nodded in approval, "Gryphus Squadron will fly low and circle around the mountains to avoid enemy radar. That should give you the drop on the enemy. If everything goes well, we should be able to get the upper hand on the Leasathian forces in the area."
"Um, are we forgetting something important?" Zoe Alvarez, Reyna's WSO, cut in with a concerned expression on her face, "Are we sure that…whatever annihilated Phuku Lagolla and shot down Falco Squadron won't be there again?"
An uncomfortable silence filled the briefing room once again. Reyna could see some pilots nodding in agreement with her, and even Eugene started showing doubts in his face as well. After all, he would be the one person who was there when Falco Squadron was blown out of the sky by some…something.
"We…have no info on that," Eugene admitted, his eyes narrowing down as he tried to avoid everyone's gaze on him, "All we have at this moment are what we're seeing on the screen. We don't know if the Leasathians have any other surprise in store for us."
Reyna, who up to now had been observing the briefing quietly, decided that she needed to say something to bring morale back. She never liked having to do rousing speeches, but because she's the most senior-ranking personnel in the room right now, she had no choice but to do something to prep the others up. Silently cursing her base commander for not being there, she forced herself to stand up before turning around to face her fellow pilots. It's not what she liked to do, but it's the right thing to do.
"Come on, guys. We're Aurelian pilots!" Reyna began, trying to keep her voice calm and collected as much as she could, "I don't know what's waiting for us out there today, but what I do know is that if we don't do anything, then our country is lost, period. Everyone you love, everything you cherish, they would be left at the mercy of those Leasathians if we don't make our stand here today. Well, it'd be a cold day in hell before I let that happen!"
Reyna observed around the room and, to her joy, she actually saw her fellow pilots nodding in agreement with her, the grim expressions on their faces earlier were gradually turning into smiles of determination. Rick was even sporting a big grin on his face. Even Leo – as stoic the guy usually is, was smiling a little at her as well.
Holy hell, this is actually working. Reyna thought to herself, couldn't help but feeling a bit proud at herself for pulling this of.
"So I say we go out there and show those bastards what we're made of," Reyna continued, raising her voice a bit to rouse her friends a bit more, "Send them a message that it's about time they regret messing with us, because this is our home and they have no business to be doing anything they want in it. They thought they had pushed us back into the corner. Well, let's show them that our claws are still sharp, shall we? Let's go kick their asses!"
"Hell yeah!" Rick was the one who shouted out first, and the rest of the pilots immediately followed suit. For a while, the atmosphere in the briefing room actually reverted back to like how it usually was before the invasion, with cheerful and determined smiles on everyone's faces, ready to make the Gryphus name proud every time they're about to go on a sortie.
As the cheering died down a little, Reyna settled herself back into her chair with a contented smile on her face. She could see Eugene staring at her admiringly, he didn't even realize that he didn't finish his briefing yet.
"Officer Solano, if you may?" Reyna teased him a little, nodding at the bewildered young officer to permit him to continue in a friendly way, "Everyone is eager to get into the air now, you know?"
"Ah, I'm sorry, ma'am!" Eugene quickly replied back before composing himself once again, the sheer nervousness caused Rick and Roy to chuckle a little, but he didn't really mind it, "One final thing. During combat, my codename would be Crux. I will keep you up to date on the battle situation, so please pay attention to your radio!"
"Acknowledged," Reyna confirmed, giving another smile at Eugene in encouragement, "I put my trust in you to be our eyes and ears in the sky, officer, so do your best, okay?"
"Roger that, ma'am!" Eugene spoke confidently for once, noticeably looking elated at the chance to prove himself to his new squadron. He turned to face the determined pilots in the room once again before taking command, "Gryphus Squadron, please protect this base and destroy the enemy bombers. Let's pay back the Leasathian forces with at least one defeat. Prepare to launch immediately!"
"Hooah!" Everyone cried out in unison before making their way to the hangars.
1400hrs
It didn't take very long until Gryphus Squadron got their birds into the air, the infuriating part was waiting for the enemy to arrive. Turned out those B-52Hs were slower flyers than Reyna thought. Now she really regretted not grabbing something to eat before the sortie. Ah well, at least the bombers being slow flyers would make her job easier, so she supposes she shouldn't complain.
They were all flying F-4Es. Reyna wished she could've picked something more mobile, but since Aubrey AFB wasn't exactly considered important for the higher-ups, they didn't bother to supply the base with better planes, hence the F-4Es were all they have. At least she and her friends had been flying them for a long time, they were pretty much pros at it now.
They spent about half an hour flying low along the mountainous regions in the southeast part of Cape Aubrey to keep out of the Leasath radar detection. The area themselves contained a naturally occurring electromagnetic field similar to that of the famous 'Round Table' in Belka or the Solo Islands in Ceres Ocean, meaning that it's the perfect location to set up an ambush. Paula wasn't wrong when she said they have a terrain advantage: they've been training in these mountains pretty much since they joined the squadron. To them, stunt flying through the mountains is what they do for warm-ups. This was no trouble at all.
After what felt like forever, they managed to circle around the enemy bomber groups coming from the southwest. Reyna could finally see the first enemy group in front of her: a pair of B-52Hs protected by a couple of F-1s. Shouldn't be too hard to take care of.
She finally raised her plane's altitude. Her wingmen immediately followed suit. Rick and Roy were flying cover on her flanks, and Luis and Elena did the same for them, and Leo hanged around on the very back directly behind Reyna like the loner he was. They were flying in a tight delta formation suitable for a six-wing squadron. Reyna could always trust them to know what they're doing.
"Crux to Gryphus Squadron!" Crux finally broke radio silence after the long trip around the mountains, realizing that the time for stealth was over, "Maintain your present course. Do you see the enemy formation on your radar?"
"This is Gryphus 3, we read you loud and clear, Crux!" Roy confirmed, "We're coming up on the enemy from behind. Just like we planned."
"Gryphus 1 copy," Reyna said, maintaining her plane as she switched her weapon to the SAAM. A large green reticle was then displayed on her HUD, with the first bomber right in the middle of it, "Gryphus Squadron is now in position to attack."
"You can let the escorts go. Just make sure you take out all bombers." Crux advised, "We can't let them get to our base."
"A single fighter is just as much of a threat as the bombers," Luis replied back, flying his plane forward to get within range to engage the F-1 in front of him, "This is Gryphus 4, requesting permission to engage the fighters, Gryphus 1."
"Granted," Reyna confirmed in a cheerful voice, figured that it'd be a good practice for her wingmen, "Gryphus 2, 5, 6, support him. Gryphus 3, you're with me."
"About time, captain!" Elena chirped through as she diverted her plane to assist Luis, "Let's kick ass, Rick!"
"Damn right! We'll show 'em what we've got!" Rick agreed as he followed Luis and Elena to engage the fighters. Reyna could totally picture his signature grin behind the oxygen mask, "After all, they're no match for us Aurelian pilots! Isn't that right, captain?"
"Excuse me, Gryphus 2, Gryphus 6. Please use codenames during the mission!" Crux issued a warning in an annoyed voice, causing Elena to huff impatiently. This guy really couldn't stop being so uptight all the time, huh?
"Gryphus 2, understood," Rick grudgingly replied back, before lowering his voice and addressed his captain, "Jeez, this new guy does everything by the book! Don't you think, Gryphus 1?"
"We can deal with it later. We have a job to do" Reyna reminded him as they're now within the range of firing their missiles at the enemy, and she already achieved a lock-on on the first bomber, "Gryphus Squadron, fire at will!"
Within seconds, all Gryphus members fired out their SAAMs at their targets, which didn't even try to evade at all due to be taken by surprise. Rick and Luis engaged the F-1 on the right, while Leo and Elena did the same with the other on the left. Reyna's SAAM hit straight into the bomber first before Roy's SAAM finished it off for her.
"Aw, Gryphus 5, you stole my kill!" Elena wailed over the radio as Leo's SAAM hit the F-1 before hers did. Leo didn't bother to reply back to her, which somehow amused Reyna a bit.
"Your own fault for not firing quicker, Gryphus 6," Instead of Leo, his WSO Ian replied back in his place.
"You kids should see us pros at work!" Rick announced proudly as his missile struck and downed his target, beating Luis's by a millisecond, "Hey, Gryphus 4, give me a challenge, will ya?"
With the first bomber down, Reyna and Roy moved to engage the next bomber which was flying some distance ahead of them over Aubrey City.
"Wha-? Ho-hold on a second!" Rick spoke up as he flew closer to the bomber.
"What is it, Gryphus 2?" Crux asked.
"You're seeing this, Crux? The city's being bombed!" Rick's panicked voice replied back like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Reyna watched at the city below and saw fires and smokes raised up from multiple locations. She could even saw people running around among the chaos below.
"Unbelievable! There are no military facilities in that city!" Crux cried out after realizing just what the Leasathian bombers did to his countrymen.
"I'll make those bastards pay!" Roy growled as he sped his plane up to engage the bomber in front of him, "This isn't war. It's slaughter!"
"We'll get them together, Gryphus 3," Reyna said. She kept her cool, but deep inside she was boiling with anger herself. These are civilians, goddamnit! They intentionally dropped bombs on innocent people who weren't even fighting in a war. What kind of monsters did this sort of thing?!
Soon enough, she got a lock on her target: the bomber with the bastards who bombed the city below. She didn't hesitate even for a millisecond to fire her missile. Roy did the same thing.
"Fox one!"
Both Reyna and Roy's missiles fly straight toward the enemy bomber. It tried banking hard right to evade, to no avail. The limited mobility of the B-52H just simply won't allow it to do the necessary maneuvers to evade something as accurate as SAAMs. It was turned into scrap metals shortly after.
"First bomber group down," She said calmly, her voice barely containing the resentment at the disgusting enemies who didn't hesitate to put civilians into danger for no good reason, "Gryphus Squadron, engage the remaining targets. Show no mercy."
In a pretty uncharacteristic move, Leo was the first one to respond to her order, "Gryphus 5, I'm going in. Two more bombers coming right up."
"Whoa, Leo actually talks? This must be my lucky day!" Paula spoke through the radio. She had been trying to talk to Leo for a long while now but could never get anything more than a few short sentences out of him.
"Roger that, Gryphus 5," Reyna made a note of this particularly unusual event. Even she was taken aback a bit by Leo's sudden talkativeness until the beeping warning sound brought her back to reality. The next pair of fighters were alerted to their attack now and they were moving to intercept them.
An F-1 was closing into Reyna from head-on. He had his missile lock on her, but Reyna was way ahead of him.
"Gryphus 1, fox one!"
She launched out a SAAM, taking a gambit that the enemy would rather evade for his dear life than trying to take her on, and she was right. The F-1 pulled down hard to evade her missile, but she already anticipated that. As the enemy leveled himself, Reyna already had him again in her crosshairs. One quick pair of missiles later, and her opponent was history.
"You did it! Good job!" Rick complimented. He and Roy managed to take care of another fighter themselves, while Leo and Elena moved in to attack the bombers.
"Gryphus 5, Gryphus 6, you take care of the bomber on your left," Reyna ordered, "Me and Gryphus 4 will get the one on the right."
"Copy that, Gryphus 1," Elena and Luis replied back in turn, while Ian answered for Leo just like always. Damn it, she could never get this Leo guy even though he's been flying with her for some time already.
The bombers are sitting ducks, as usual. Reyna and Luis fired a SAAM each at the target, and it was Luis's missile that struck the killing blow, gaining him a confirmed kill. Elena and Leo engaged the other bomber and did the same, and it was Elena who gained the kill this time.
"Ha! How's that, Gryphus 5?" Elena shouted triumphantly over the radio, "Now we're even!"
"That was just a slow-moving bomber, amateur!" Ian replied back in a snarky voice, "Try shooting down a real target, then we'll talk!" Elena could only grunt frustratingly back in response.
The next bomber group was split up, with each bomber flying some distance apart of each other and a fighter covering them. Instead of F-1s, the fighters were now F-5Es, which were somewhat more mobile. Shouldn't be too difficult to take on than before, though. Plus, they were now flying over the sea, so at least there was no worry of any potential collateral civilian damage.
"I'm not letting anyone steal this next kill from me!" Elena announced as she engaged the pair on her left, "Watch this!"
Elena fired a SAAM out at the F-5E in front of her. She maintained her flightpath to keep the F-5E in her reticle until the missile connected before she moved in to finish the undefended bomber. A pair of missiles and a quick MG burst from her turned the plane into a fireball in seconds, gaining her two more kills.
"Nice one, Gryphus 6. Almost as good as me!" Roy said as he engaged the other pair on the right, "Gryphus 4, you can get the fighter."
"Heh, don't want some challenge, Gryphus 3?" Luis chuckled, though he complied with Roy's request and engage the remaining F-5E. The opponent seemed to be just an amateur as he didn't even try to evade when Luis fired a pair of normal missiles at him. He just decided to bail out instead.
"Chickened out, huh? Shoulda think twice before invading someone else's country, ya bastard!" Luis spoke mockingly at the opponent pilot, though he left him alone as he parachuted down to the sea below. The strong waves should be enough to decide his fate.
With the fighter out of the way, Roy decided to get up-close-and-person with the bomber. The pilot tried evasive maneuvers as best he could, but he just ended up making himself an easier target for Roy's MG fire. Within seconds, it was shot down out of the sky.
Only one remaining enemy group left. The cape began appearing in Reyna's sight again, and on it was the Aubrey AFB. They almost reached their target now.
"Gryphus Squadron, I can see the remaining bombers from here. They're almost at the base!" Crux reported with concern in his voice, "Shoot them down now!"
Right, right, I'm getting to it, boss! Reyna responded in her mind. Seriously, couldn't this guy take it easy for once in a while?
Reyna observed the last bomber group: they were split into two just like the previous one, but one bomber on her right was flying at a higher altitude than the left one. The two remaining F-5E fighters were also covering for them as well. She had little time to tangle with them if she wanted to take down the bombers before it reached her base.
Despite the seemingly urgent situation, seeing that her wingmen were all doing pretty good jobs earlier, Reyna decided it's time to test her skill a little.
She took them all on.
"This is Gryphus 1 to all planes. Stand down for now. Leave this one to me." She said, couldn't help but feel somewhat cocky at what she's about to do.
"Whoa, the Southern Cross is showing off again!" Carlos laughed.
"This should be good." Jonas agreed, "Hey, take pictures for me, Gryphus 4!"
"Uh, you sure this is a good idea?" Zoe asked Reyna from the backseat.
"Have a little faith, Stardust," Reyna chuckled, referring to Zoe by her callsign, "You know how I like to fly."
"Oh, I know, alright…" Zoe sighed, bracing herself for whatever stunt Reyna was trying to pull, "Shouldn't have eaten that sandwich earlier, damn it…"
Reyna observed the scene in front of her: the two F-5Es were now turning around and heading toward her together. The two bombers were speeding up, determined to reach their destination as fast as possible. There could be only one shot to pull this off right, but that's all she needed.
She switched to SAAM again: there were four of them left, more than enough to take care of the enemies. She waited until the two F-5Es flew closer together that they're both within the reticle. She couldn't afford to miss, so she waited until they get close enough to her.
1000 meters…800 meters…600 meters
Both planes had their missiles locked on her now. Not yet…
400 meters
"Gryphus 1, fox one!"
She fired a SAAM out at the first target, then quickly switched to the other and fired out another one. The enemy planes didn't even have a chance to evade before they were both blown out of the sky.
"Yes!" Hank cheered out.
"How about it? Did you get a kill?" Rick asked as if he couldn't register what he had seen yet.
"Of course she got a kill," Zoe replied back in a deadpan tone as if she wasn't surprised by her captain's stunt in the least, "You know these are long-range missiles, right?"
Reyna just chuckled in response as she lined her plane up with the bomber to her left first, which was flying at roughly the same attitude at her. She flew in fast and close, launching a pair of normal missiles and a few gunshots at it, downing it easily.
The only remaining bomber was flying far above her to her right. The base was almost overhead now, so Reyna needed to work fast.
She did a sharp pull up before rolling her plane right – doing a barrel roll upward to reach the same attitude as the bomber. The sudden shift in G-force caused Zoe to shriek out a little, but it got Reyna to where she needed to be. As soon as she leveled her plane, the last enemy was practically dead in front of her. With that, she fired her last two remaining SAAMs at the bomber, destroying it instantly.
Four targets, all downed in less than ten seconds. That's got to be her new personal record.
"This is Crux. All bombers shot down. No remaining enemy planes on the radar," Crux reported with a relieved tone for once, "Mission accomplished, Gryphus Squadron!"
"Hell yeah!" Elena shouted out, "I knew you can do it, captain!"
"Still a showoff as always, huh?" Luis chuckled, "But really, that was awesome, cap!"
"Yee-haw! Take that!" Rick cheered as he did a barrel roll to celebrate the victory before rejoining the formation, "Bagged every last one of 'em! Didn't even break a sweat!"
"That's because the captain did most of the work while you barely do anything, bud!" Roy jokingly replied.
"Hey! I would've gotten more kills if they had sent more out here!" Rick joked back, "Damn, I can't wait to take the fight back to them now. Gryphus 1, what do you say we head to the capital and take her back right now?"
"Heh, maybe tomorrow Gryphus 2," Reyna said with a grin on her face. Things were actually looking up for them for once. Their first victory! And it certainly won't be the last if she could keep her squadron's spirit as high as this, "Excellent work today, Gryphus Squadron. Let's RTB. I'm so hungry I could eat an entire turkey right now."
1413hrs
Eugene let out a big sigh of relief upon seeing all Gryphus Squadron planes safe and sound, the mission complete with no fatalities except some unfortunate civilians in the nearby Aubrey City that he already dispatched rescue choppers that he could spare to assist in the evacuation. Apart from that, things seemed to be looking up so far. He really needed this victory, especially after what happened to Falco Squadron and Phuku Lagolla AFB earlier this morning.
"I'm willing to bet the enemy got scared and run away!" Eugene heard 2nd Lieutenant Rick's cheerful voice spoke over the radio and couldn't help but lightly chuckle at the man's constant lightheartedness. He had his reservations about Gryphus Squadron at first, considering their less-than-professional attitudes toward what was supposed to be a serious mission. It's certainly not what he expected from the supposedly most decorated air force squadron in the country.
Eugene always strived to maintain professionalism in his duties and it's not just because the training academy drilled it into him. He always takes pride in being a capable and dutiful soldier – it has been his ambition since he was very young. Because of this, he had a pretty low tolerance for rule-breakers.
And yet, he couldn't help but cheering along with them, celebrating their first victory and their first step toward reclaiming their homeland. As troublemaking as they are, Eugene supposed he could let this one slide for now. They needed this. He took a quick glance at the various monitors displaying the mission statuses in front of him with a satisfied smile on his face. The Gryphus pilots were returning home now. They made it.
Mission accomplished. No causalities. No enemies left on the radar. Everything looked perfect.
No enemies left on radar…?
Eugene blinked as he observed the radar screen, his eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. What was supposed to be an empty screen now displayed a small dot at the bottom right corner, and it was quickly approaching the center of the screen.
A blip? But…there's no enemy left!
"Gryphus Squadron, I've got a reading on radar!" He spoke into the radio, "Something's coming at high speed…"
Eugene felt his heart skipping a few beats as the realization finally kicked into him, along with a terrifying déjà vu experience: he had seen something like this earlier, just this morning!
The same mysterious blip on the radar. The same traveling speed. There's no mistaking it.
"It's a missile!" Eugene shouted as loud as he could into the radio. Goddamn his carelessness! He should've noticed this coming sooner!
"What!? Where!?" Rick yelled back in a panic, followed quickly by Elena's concerned voice repeating after him, "Where is it!?"
"Answer me now!" Luis shouted through demandingly, "Eugene!"
Eugene's eyes raced through the screen as he tried to determine where the missile was launched from using the trajectory of the object on his radar. As fast as his hands could move, he enlarged the real-time aerial imagery captured by a UAV at a location south of Cape Aubrey, where the missile was coming from.
What he had seen almost caused him to pass out: the once empty skies over Puna Plains was now occupied by a massive black aircraft that was definitely not there before. The aerial warship suddenly, almost magically, appeared out of thin air.
"The Puna Plains! It's coming from the Puna Plains! Some large aircraft…something!" Eugene trailed off, the shock and fear overcame his ability to form coherent sentences and could only repeating himself uselessly. He was literally seeing a monster of an aircraft in front of him. He didn't know what was going on anymore.
"Hey, it better not be what I think it is!" Roy exclaimed.
Eugene shouted the only thing his mind could think of: "Get out of there now!"
"Where should we go!? Where's it coming from!? How far is it!?" He heard Rick demanded over the radio like a voice from a faraway place, a pang of guilt crossed his mind like a truck hitting into him: Rick wasn't going to make it. Nobody's going to make it.
"Gryphus Squadron, evasive action, now!" Reyna – Gryphus 1 – shouted over the radio. Eugene saw some of the blue arrows on his radar quickly breaking formation, but by then the missile was already right on top of him.
"It's no use! We're too late!"
Suddenly, Eugene heard a thunderous loud noise coming from the outside as the room shook violently – as if it was hit by a sudden earthquake. The radar screen in front of him flickered for a few seconds.
By the time it recovered, four out of six blue arrows that formed up Gryphus Squadron were already gone.
"Gryphus 2! Come in Gryphus 2!" Eugene shouted out to the last person he had contact with, but there was only static. There was nothing left but static, "Gryphus 3!? Gryphus 4!? Anyone!?"
Eugene kept shouting through the radio in vain, even though deep down he realized that there was nothing he could do. Gryphus Squadron was gone.
Gone just like Falco Squadron did. They never stood any chance.
There's no hope left. It's over.
Author's note: And on that note, I've just ended this chapter on probably the darkest cliffhanger so far out of all my stories xD. Well, that's how it played out in the game anyway so I'm only doing what the game gave me, only expanding on it a little more lol. I always find it weird that out of all your wingmen, only Rick and Roy were only given names – even though they never made it past the first mission. Your other wingmen don't get anything but numbers, but they're supposed to fight alongside you through the entire war. Heh.
As you can guess, I'm changing Falco Squadron (from the obscure mobile-based AC game named Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion that's supposed to be the prequel of this game) and decided to do my own thing with them, and I'm going to be expanding their roles a lot more in my story, starting from the next chapter. For one thing, Falco One is Gryphus One's cousin in this, and they will both share the title 'The Southern Cross' together.
Due to this, Eugene Solano's backstory also changed as well, and I won't be adapting from 'Eugene Solano's Memoirs' entirely but there will be similar events happening.
As for Gryphus Squadron, Gryphus 1's surviving wingmen will get a lot of development themselves, as are their WSOs (damn it, why did ACX have to put the two-seater F-4E as the starter plane? It means I have to create WSOs, too!). So look forward to them!
It's also the second time I did an aerial combat scene, and I think it still could use some room from improvements, so feel free to give me constructive advice on how I could improve the dogfighting scenes or anything else. I would be most grateful!
Just in case, this is brief info for my version of Gryphus One. I kind of pictured her to be the female version of Percy Jackson from the book series of the same name by Rick Riordan. ;)
Name: Reyna Maristella Cruz
Age: 22
Height: 173 cm (about 5 feet 7 inches)
Weight: 58 kg (about 128 lbs.)
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green
Blood Type: O
So that's about it! Hopefully, this could tell you more about who my Gryphus One really is. ;)
Special thanks to ACatInASnowball for providing info about the difference between co-pilot and Weapons System Officer (WSO) and the brevity codes regarding each type of missile, Lemmy and UltraBooster for pointing out grammatical mistakes in the story and giving feedbacks. Thank you very much guys!
Thank you again for reading and I hope you're all having a great day my dear readers! Keep safe and healthy!