A/N: Trialling a different style of writing. Gonna see how this goes over a chapter or two.
Also, credit to Zamazenta for a minor bit of inspiration.
POV: Grimm
Grimm, Webber, Hunter and Campbell flew over the cool tropical waters. Flying in a freshly supplied Typhoon, Grimm was constantly monitoring the outside world and his radar display. The place they were going to was often contested by the Eruseans.
'Incoming friendly fighters, this is AWACS Bandog, the base is currently under attack. I would advise holding off until our squad deals with them.' The AWACS hovering over the base reported to them. Grimm checked his radar. Indeed, at the edge of his range he could see enemy fighters and bombers fighting friendly interceptors.
'Let's see if we can help. Squad, head on.' Grimm ordered his squadron to approach the airbase and assist with shooting down the enemy fighters.
July 1st, 2019
Operation High Card
POV: Blaze
'Spare Squadron, you have four friendly fighters approaching the area of operations. Make yourselves targets so that they can shoot down the enemy fighters.' Bandog informed the convict pilots. Sitting on the ground in the cockpit of his original Su-33M3, Blaze heard this as he and a half-dozen convicts were exiting the hangar and preparing to take off. He opened the command radio link.
'Bandog, are these our new advisors?' He asked.
'242nd Squadron fighters. It would appear so.' Bandog answered.
'Rog.' Blaze led the six convicts out onto the taxiway. He was about to take lead when a MiG-29 rushed past him, forcing the commander to stop to not run into him. 'Appreciate the spirit Champ, but try to avoid ramming others off the runway?'
'Sorry, force of habit.' Champ apologised mockingly, earning the laughter of Count, High Roller and the squadron's newest addition. A pilot with three sin lines on his tail. He pushed past the remaining fighters waiting on the taxiway, causing Blaze to stop in a hurry again.
'All flights, watch out for Trigger, he's doing a Champ.' Blaze warned anyone else nearby.
'Woo-hoo! My blood's boilin'!' Champ shouted as he rushed down the runway with afterburners lit and shooting into the sky. Trigger rolled onto the runway in his F-15C and as quickly as he had gotten there rolled down the runway and up into the skies. Blaze, Count, High Roller, Full Band and Tabloid followed closely behind, taking off in pairs within a few seconds of each other. Blaze was the first of the remaining group to get in the sky.
AIRCRAFT
Spare 1/Blaze - Su-33M3 Enhanced Flanker-D
Spare 15/Trigger - F-15C Eagle
Titan 1/Archer - Typhoon FGR.4
Titan 2/Webber - F-15E Strike Eagle
Titan 3/Taipan - F-15E Strike Eagle
Titan 4/Mythic - Typhoon FGR.4
'Oh great, the FCS is locked again. Are we ever going to have fun in these things?' Count complained about the fire control being shut down for the convict aircraft. Blaze, the head advisor, used a Sidewinder to blast away an F-15C that was attempting to go after the aircraft taking off, leaving a smoking wreck flying into the waters surrounding the airfield.
'Prisoners use nothing without supervision. Not even a pencil.' Bandog replied to Count's complaint.
'Hey, we have the goddamn avatar of Razgriz over here watching us.' Trigger commented.
'The murderer has a point. Anyone steps out of line, he could take the offender.' High Roller agreed with Trigger.
'Sounds fair to me.' Blaze thought the idea was good.
'Hmm. Colonel McKinsey?' Bandog called the person ultimately in charge of making the decision.
There was a minute of silence before the jailer answered. 'Commander Williams, if you can silence any betrayals, I will permit convicts to use their weapons.'
'That, I can do.'
'Very well. Bandog, unlock the FCS.' McKinsey ordered the AWACS operator.
'This is a bad idea.' Bandog muttered as he did so.
POV: Trigger
Trigger heard a buzzing sound followed by his HUD displaying his weapons as green instead of red, indicating that they could be used.
'Hey, weapons are free. Orders?' He remarked before asking Blaze.
'Engage fighters and bombers. Keep them away from the airfield.' Blaze answered, all the while going after a small group of MiG-29s. Satisfied, Trigger began his counter-attack on the enemy. His first group of targets was a pair of Tu-95s being escorted by F-15Js. Using AMRAAMs he made the three escorting F-15s disappear and followed up very quickly with Sidewinders directed at the vulnerable bombers. They made spectacular explosions with full loads of fuel and weapons.
An F-15C in a blue splinter camo instead of the typical Erusean forest blobs struck at him with missiles. Trigger heard the warning through the RWR and tightly turned to evade. He squeezed his core as he turned to ward off the effects of over-g-ing. The missile couldn't turn hard enough to keep up and missed. The attacking F-15 shot over his head. Trigger turned to give chase, becoming the attacker. Preferring not to use his missiles in a dogfight, he used his cannon to attack the Erusean. The first burst missed, but the second one caught the canopy of the F-15, breaking through it and killing the pilot. Without anyone at the controls, it spiralled out of control and hit the ground shortly after, exploding.
'I think that was the squadron leader. Good job, Trigger.' Blaze complimented the new guy on shooting down the enemy ace.
'Guy moves quick. Must be good at what he's in here for.' Full Band. Trigger paid no mind to what had just been said about him and instead continued to intercept individual enemy fighters. F-15s, MiG-29s, Su-33s, whatever he could get his fangs on, he shot down without mercy.
'Hey Trigger, keep an eye on your head count. We can compare later. Heh.' Count.
'My money's on Trigger.' Blaze commented. 'Speaking of head count. Three new groups, north, west and east. Intercept.'
Trigger went after the group to the north, four bombers with eight escorts at a considerably higher altitude than the other two groups. A black Su-33 joined him in the climb. Blaze.
'I've got the bombers.' Trigger said to him.
'I'll distract the escorts.' Blaze boosted forward and blind-fired a missile through the middle of the formation to catch the attention of the escorting fighters. They took the bait and dived after the single Su-33. This allowed Trigger to slip past, release a wave of AMRAAMs at the now-defenceless bombers, pick off the one straggler that the fourth missile missed and dived back down to help Blaze destroy the escorts. There was no need for the last part. By the time Trigger went back down to help, Blaze had already destroyed seven of the escorts and was in the process of shooting down the last man when Trigger regained sight on him. Trigger whistled to himself and banked to go hit the other groups that the other convicts were intercepting. The western group was being picked apart by the better convict pilots, Count, Champ and Tabloid. However, the east group was largely unopposed.
'Bombers are passing over the airfield. Eliminate them!' Bandog pointed this out.
Trigger didn't have to be told twice, and at standoff range loosed off AMRAAMs to destroy the bombers from long range. This worked for the Tu-160s and Tu-95s in the group. However, the F-15E fighter bombers could evade them, prompting the two to get in close and destroy them once the dedicated bombers were downed. Trigger got there first in the faster but less agile F-15, using his cannon to destroy one that got in the way. Blaze followed shortly behind, some of the random Spare pilots also coming along to assist. An F-16 deftly got in the middle of the engagement and shot down one F-15E. The latter's wingman intercepted the F-16.
'Keystone, bandit on your tail, evade!' Blaze said to the convict.
'Trying to, bastard's stubborn.' Keystone replied quickly, undertaking every manner of maneuver to get the fighter off his tail. None of them were working. Before the F-15 could get a solid lock and shoot down Keystone, Trigger dashed in and sent a Sidewinder at close range up the tailpipe of the F-15, destroying it. Keystone could be heard audibly letting out a breath.
'Cheers for the assist.' Keystone flew away from the centre of the engagement to go hit up some stragglers.
POV: Grimm
'Friendly squadron has wiped out most of the enemy forces. For a bunch of criminals, I'm impressed.' Huntsman was amused.
'444 Squadron, this is the 242nd, we're entering your airspace.' Grimm reported to the controller on the ground.
'There's still a handful of targets in the skies. Huntsman, Fox 3.' Huntsman locked with AMRAAMs and fired at an Su-33. His missile hit and tore the fighter in two. Grimm and Mythic moved in to get closer to the action. Not enough time. By the time they were over the airfield, the attackers had been wiped down to the last man. The convict pilots flew around doing fancy maneuvers. Two pilots of the 20 or so were more disciplined, flying on steady paths. Spare 1 and Spare 15 according to their IFF. Spare 1 was flying a black and flames Su-33.
Wonder who that might be, Grimm thought to himself before contacting to check. 'Blaze, Archer.'
'Hi, I'm Blaze, welcome to Jackass.' Blaze was quick to answer. He was indeed Alex Williams. 'All Spare elements, hostiles eliminated, return to base.' Blaze ordered his squadron.
POV: Blaze
'Who's the new guy with the three sin lines?' Blaze asked the base commander. Aside from the takeoff fiasco on the ground, he didn't seem any different from a regular Air Force pilot, and he certainly had skill.
'Who, Trigger? Our newest murderer.' McKinsey replied. The Spare pilots were talking in the background but he didn't pay mind to what the topic was.
'We have other murderers in the unit and they don't have three strikes.'
'Well, he's also been convicted of identity fraud and disobeying orders, but that's another story.' Bandog answered before McKinsey could.
'Fair enough. Guy's got promise, I can say that at least.'
'They're prisoners, nothing more.'
Blaze rolled his eyes and did a few circles around the airfield while waiting for Spare Squadron to land. After 15 minutes of formation flying with Grimm and his crew, Blaze came in to land. There was a light bounce as his landing gear hit the ground. He went around the taxiway, Grimm, Webber, Campbell and Hunter following behind in their aircraft. They parked in the hardened aircraft shelter adjacent to the main hangar. Everyone dismounted their aircraft and went to the nearby ready room.
'I see you brought your squadron with you.' Alex said to Grimm as they walked. 'What happened?'
'Erusean experimental fighter squadron found us. The result wasn't pretty.' He answered, helmet in hand.
'Mihaly?' Alex asked. He had encountered the ace Erusean before. He wondered if Grimm had as well.
'Yep.'
'Shit.' The five entered the ready room so they could get out of their gear and into working uniforms. Alex's locker was next to where Webber's was allocated. Alex recognised the latter.
'Captain Webber?' Alex asked the man.
'That's me, captain.' Webber turned to face the Razgriz uber-ace. 'And please, call me Michael.'
'Alex. I read about your exploits in southern Yuktobania, Michael. Stuff of legends.' Alex complimented the older Air Force captain.
Michael laughed. 'I think you're several magnitudes above me, but thanks.'
POV: Trigger
Back in the hangar, Eric 'Trigger' Kovac was escorted away from the rest of the other pilots. The latter were being directed back to the prisoners block. Trigger noticed that he was being escorted to another place in the hangar.
'Where am I going?' He asked the guard a metre or two behind him.
'Command hears you have a history in maintenance of aircraft. You're going to the mechanic's block.' The guard replied, sneering. They went through a cutout door in the larger sliding door that led to where they were going. Inside this new room was a messy collection of decommissioned aircraft and spare parts. Roughly in the middle of it was a single woman, about Trigger's age, working on a fire-damaged A-10C.
'Avril!' The guard barked. 'You've got a new mechanic friend. Make use of him.' The guard pushed Trigger forward and left, shutting and locking the door the two had come through. Trigger looked at the door for a second with a look of disdain, shook his head and approached the woman.
'Oh great.' Avril muttered quietly.
'You do not look like military material.' Trigger commented on Avril's appearance, also noting the metal brace on one of her legs. An injury?
'I'm not, but it doesn't matter. I'm here all the same.' Avril answered without looking at her new assistant.
'Fair point.' Trigger looked at the wings of the A-10. They were peppered with bullet holes and black charring. He looked around the hangar. There was another A-10 towards the door leading onto the taxiway that was in even worse condition. However, it's wings appeared to be intact.
'What are you working on right now?' He asked while walking to the more damaged A-10. Avril frowned and looked at Trigger. He's actually willing to be helpful?
'Replacing the steel tub in the cockpit.' Avril answered.
'I'll swap out the wings and see if I can replace the hydraulic lines. That thing isn't flying without them.' Trigger looked for the closest set of power tools and a lift. Avril raised her eyebrows and grinned.
Yep, he's willing to help.
