At the same time that Razgriz had been running an attack against a nuclear fusion plant, Strider had gone down south to attack a target closer to Osean forces.

August 22, 2019, 1100 Hours

Operation Black Dart

Black Mesa Chemical Warfare Research Plant, Sierraplata, Usea

'Now that the Erusean's primary form of front-line defense has been destroyed, we suspect they'll fall back to their next resort; Weapons of Mass Destruction.'

'Strider Squadron, you'll be running an operation against a chemical weapons research centre near the Erusean long-range missile bastions at Sierraplata. This facility isn't currently used for weapons production, but we know that it is capable of producing industrial scales of chemical and biological weapons should it be geared to do so.'

'Proceed to the mission area and destroy this site before the Eruseans can start deploying chemical weapons against our forces on the front lines.'

Strider Squadron was in the ready room gearing up before Razgriz Squadron had. They would be the ones going up into the skies first.

'A long range strike and recon trip deep behind Erusean lines to go after weapons of mass destruction. This sounds familiar.' Trigger was musing as the group was kitting up. For the mission Strider had gained Huxian while Cyclops had gained Tailor. Opposite of Trigger, Jaeger shook his head.

'And a tropical depression. Yinshi Valley, anyone?' The older major pointed out what operation this was starting to look like.

'What's next, Mister X?' Huxian asked. Trigger inhaled silently. The last time he had encountered that particular pilot, he had almost ripped the wings off of his F-15E trying to chase him. A fucking F-15E. The conversation ended uncomfortably with the mentioning of the experimental squadron leader. A minute or two after the conversation did end, Strider moved out to their F-35s as Razgriz entered the ready room to kit up.

'Chemical weapons, Trigger, they are nasty.' Blaze said to Trigger as he approached his locker. Blaze had experience dealing with chemical attacks. The Bana City attacks for example.

'I'll take your word for it.' Trigger said to Blaze before leaving the room. Strider's F-35s were positioned on the flight deck. The four went up to them.

AIRCRAFT

Strider 1/Trigger: F-35B Lightning II
Strider 2/Jaeger: F-35B Lightning II

Strider 3/Skald: F-35B Lightning II
Strider 4/Huxian: F-35B Lightning II

Like Razgriz Squadron's leader, Trigger was the first to get off the deck. Huxian was next, followed by Jaeger and Skald. Once everyone was in the air and above the storm, they diverted south-west to approach the target facility. Because the facility was small and they were more likely to encounter air resistance, Strider was running a stealth mix of 1000-pound JDAMs and Sidewinders, all carried in the internal bays. Their target was also closer to the carrier, so there was no need to carry external fuel tanks. The squadron went feet dry half an hour into the flight. There was no opposition to face them. Clear skies all the way to the objective. Trigger frowned. This was the core of Erusea's strategic weapons reserve. He expected more in terms of fighters and ground-based air defence to be opposing Strider.

'Long Caster, Strider 1.' Trigger called the mission commander over long-range radio.

'Send.' Long Caster was quick to reply.

'I need an ELINT report for the Sierraplata region.' Trigger requested. Throughout the war, the OADF and OMDF had been conducting scans of the Erusean's radar and air defence network, which were then compiled in regional reports which were often used in threat briefings for numerous operations. Trigger himself had seen one when briefing for the Artigilo Port operation.

'Sending. You should be getting it in a second.' Long Caster beamed the file to Trigger's computer bank. Trigger checked his large LCD screen. The file was there. Trigger opened it and read what sort of air defences that were known to reside in the area. The list included most of what he expected. SA-10 Gauntlets, SA-22 Greyhounds, the full air-defence net. Yet none of them were active.

'Strider, heads on a swivel. Something isn't right here.' Trigger called out to the squad. Strider increased in speed to get to the area quicker. If the Eruseans knew they were coming, speed would be their best ally. They passed the half-way point shortly after crossing over a mountain valley near to the ocean. Soon after, Strider Squadron entered the AO. The squad had their low probability of intercept radars running, looking for any signs of aircraft and ground-based AA in the area. There was some air movement; on the other side of the region, a squad of Typhoons and MiG-31s were chasing after something that they couldn't detect. The fighters were Erusean judging by their lack of BLUFOR IFF.

'I see hostiles. Trigger, orders?' Skald asked. It was a rhetorical question, they only had eight Sidewinders between all four aircraft. Not enough to deal with all of them.

'Ignore them. We can't fight them anyway.' Trigger ordered. Combined, the squad formed up. Trigger checked his GPS tracking. The targeting data was right on top of the facility. As Strider passed over the drop point, Trigger gave the order.

'Drop, drop, drop.' The weapon bay doors of the four F-35s opened and out of each of them dropped out GBU-32 GPS-guided JDAMs. Similar to the Paveway series of laser guided bombs, JDAMs were also a precision weapon. Eight one-thousand pound bombs spun towards the GPS coordinates of the chemical facility. Against an unarmoured target, the effect was as expected. The bombs impacted in a long line and exploded collectively, ripping the building apart in a large cloud of gravel and dirt. Trigger watched the scene through his targeting pod. After the dust cleared, all he could see was jumbled together pieces of rubble. The strike had blown the facility to pieces.

'Jesus christ. The Eruseans are gone.' Jaeger pointed out while Trigger watched the JDAMs destroy their target. The latter looked at his surroundings, and then his radar. Jaeger was right. The Typhoons and MiG-31s that were chasing their unseen target had all disappeared. Trigger looked at his surroundings again. What the fu-

A black, grey and white aircraft shot by Strider's formation. Trigger had to bank to one side to avoid a head-on collision with the aircraft that had suddenly appeared. He looked off his shoulder. Looking at the shape and size of the aircraft, Trigger identified it as an Su-57. But there were a few out of place things on the Felon. It had additional vents on the wings and body that were raised. This Felon also seemed to be more maneuverable than a normal Su-57. It pulled an extremely tight 180 turn and was now trailing the Osean F-35s.

'Do we use Felons?' Huxian asked. The OADF had yet to procure the 5th-generation fighter aircraft. Trigger tried his hand at air maneuvering to get behind it. No use. The Felon pilot had the skills to match Trigger move for move.

Sitting in the cockpit of the Su-57, Grimnar checked his watch while tailing the four F-35s that had shown up out of nowhere. 12PM. The lead fighter had tried to get him off their tails. Grimnar denied the attempts.

'High Watcher, who am I looking at?' Grimnar asked his AWACS. He saw the three strikes on the tail of the lead fighter and recalled something about that marking on the Erusean air threat board.

'Osean Air Force fighter squadron, the Striders. Leader callsign is Trigger, I'll see if I can dig up a file. Wait one.' High Watcher reported. Grimnar scoffed. He opened a radio channel on an open frequency.

'Strider Squadron, state mission intention and port of origin.' Grimnar said. He trailed Trigger while waiting for a response.

Trigger frantically looked at his radio and at the Su-57 still behind him. Everything he had tried, the guy had countered with ease. Whoever he was, he didn't want the Oseans anywhere behind him.

'Unmarked aircraft, what are your affiliations?' Trigger tried the diplomatic option, changing radio frequencies quickly so he could communicate to his squad. 'Strider, return to the carrier.'

'I asked first.' Trigger noticed that the man had a grizzled voice. An old man?

'How do I know if you're a friendly?' Trigger retorted.

'You'd be dead if I wasn't.' The unknown man counter-retorted. Trigger gulped. He gave in to the pilot's demands.

'Destruction of a chemical weapons plant. An Osean aircraft carrier.' Trigger answered. The Felon stayed behind them for a couple of seconds.

'Interesting.' The pilot of the Felon said to himself before breaking loose and started flying north-east away from them. Trigger tracked the Su-57 with his sharp eyesight to make sure the fighter went away before electing to complete the mission and return home.

'Jesus. Who was that?' Jaeger asked as Strider Squadron crossed feet wet to return to the carrier.

'You see his tail? No markings. Probably a merc.' Trigger answered.

'Goddamn mercs getting all the good shit.' Skald complained. Trigger scoffed. He did have a point. Trigger then sighed. He accepted the fact that the merc had made Strider's job a lot easier and continued to return to the carrier. Half an hour later they found the Orca and her escorting warships. The carrier strike group had remained in roughly the same area from when they had left. Trigger did circles around the ship while waiting for everyone else to land. The BLUFOR tracker in his aircraft indicated that Razgriz Squadron was also returning. Everyone else was down. Trigger came in for his landing approach, landing on the stern of the vessel. He disembarked his F-35 as the first member of Razgriz landed on the deck. The rest followed. Blaze was the last one to land; Trigger knew this because of the flaming nose art on his F-35. Blaze was pulled over to the side of the deck where he got out. Trigger waited for him over at the superstructure.

'Mission success?' Trigger asked the commander.

'Mission success. You?' Alex asked the captain.

'Mission success.' Trigger answered. The two entered the superstructure.