[Unknown 1] What's the status of our operations on the Usean continent?

[Unknown 2] The Oseans are gaining a bigger and bigger foothold against the Eruseans-

[1] Our operations, doctor.

[2] Well. Since the loss of our REDEEMER drone, things have gotten out of hand. We've yet to determine its location, and Ghost Squadron was destroyed by the Razgriz over the Roald power plant.

[1] Do you have a plan to recover REDEEMER and to get rid of the Razgriz?

[2] I don't believe it's possible at this stage. We've lost an Arsenal Bird. A good chunk of the fuel source that powers the UCAVs was bombed into the stone age, and as I was saying before the Eruseans are losing ground on every front.

[1] Hmm. This is a problem.

[2] Indeed. I recommend proceeding with development of the Raven drones. I'll discuss further AI development with Mihaly.

[1] Very well. On the topic, do you know Erusea's plan of action?

[2] I'm not privy to any sensitive information released from the war cabinet, so you know what I know.

[1] Very well. Is there anything else you want to bring up while I'm here?

[2] No. Are we done here?

[1] We are. Cutting communications.

[End transcript]

Orca Forward Air Base

The LRSSG was back at full strength. And among them was a freshly-promoted lieutenant. In one of the empty inflatable hangars, Alex and Wiseman were facing Sara. They had their right hands up.

'I, Sara Hunter, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the Osean Federation against all enemies, foreign or domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. And that I will obey the orders of the President of the Osean Federation and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.' She recited the oath.

'First Lieutenant Sara Hunter, step forward.' Alex ordered. She did so. Alex presented her with a small sandwich bag. Inside were three rank slides; first lieutenant bars. Sara took them. The slides appeared to be the same as the ones she already had. The difference was the extra flower-looking symbol. There were two of them on the first lieutenant bars compared to the single flower on the second lieutenant bars.

'Well done, Lieutenant.' Alex congratulated her.

'Thank you, Commander.' Sara took a few seconds to change out the rank slides on the uniform she was wearing. While focusing on changing them, she heard radio chatter followed by Alex answering on his personal radio and walking away from the hangar. Wiseman was following. Scoffing, Sara also left the hangar and headed for the dorm building that the LRSSG occupied.

'What's the deal?' Wiseman asked Alex as they walked through the various hallways to get to the command room.

'He didn't say, but it's urgent.' Alex replied, starting to pace faster and faster.

'Define urgent?' Wiseman asked Alex again. Something had to warrant the usually calm commander speeding up.

'We might have to scramble, urgent.' Alex started jogging, forcing Wiseman to jog as well to keep up. They burst into one of the command rooms a minute later. Long Caster, Grimm and Trigger were already in the room.

'Welcome. We have a problem.' Long Caster greeted them, navigating on the computer console he was at to bring up a high-resolution image on the big screen at the front of the room. It showed a mountainous region, with a small building complex in the middle of the screen. And in the middle of that complex was a long metal tube filled with bad news. An intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. S3 missiles, capable of being fitted with nuclear warheads.

'Oh, that's charming. Is this at Sierraplata?' Alex processed the information quickly and asked.

'It is. And the Eruseans are planning to launch these missiles at the Osean Army garrisons east of the border.' Long Caster explained the situation. Alex rubbed the stubble he had on his chin and sighed. He looked at the images. The silo that the missile was contained in was surrounded by a thick concrete barrier, likely several metres thick to resist attacks by laser-guided bombs. Which meant that their GBU-12s and GBU-24s would probably bounce off the surface of the silos.

'Those silos look like they're going to be a bitch to penetrate.' Trigger pointed out before Alex said it. 'I don't suppose we have five-thousand pound bunker busters lying around?'

'Our GBU-28 stock was put into reserves after the Circum-Pacific War. Last I checked, the last squadron cleared to use them was the 20th Weapons Squadron out of Mayfield.' Grimm said.

'We're not calling up the Aardvarks. They're too vulnerable.' Wiseman dismissed the idea. 'Tim, do we have any bomber squads available in the region?'

'The 9th Bomber Wing is based out of Fort Greys Island.' Trigger suggested. 'Spirits. They have MOPs on hand.'

'Sixty metres of penetration. That's more than enough for any sort of target.' Long Caster stated the penetration capabilities of the GBU-57B Massive Ordnance Penetrator. One of the biggest conventional bombs ever created. The B-2 Spirit was currently the only aircraft in the Osean inventory that were rated to carry them.

'I'll get on the horn to the squad leader. You guys get ready to scramble.' Wiseman ordered. Alex, Grimm and Trigger all left the room heading for the crew ready room and the hangars. A quarter of the way to the hangar bay the trio came across Count.

'You guys are in a hurry.' He commented.

'We're scrambling.' Trigger said as the trio passed. Count stopped in his tracks for a few seconds. A scramble. He had no idea what for.

'Ah, what the hell.' Count ran to catch up to the trio.

Meanwhile

Fort Greys Island Air Force Base

'Chief, we ready?' On a nearby island, Lieutenant-Colonel Marcus Sheep Shepherd asked one of the crew chiefs tending to his aircraft. He was dressed in full flight uniform and had a helmet resting underneath one arm. Sheep, as his squadron called him, was the leader of the 9th Strategic Strike Squadron, part of the OADF's Global Strike Command and more directly part of the 9th Bomber Wing. Greying hair revealed his age. Sheep was a long-time veteran. The Belkan War, the Circum-Pacific War, Sheep had even been part of the covert Osean task force that provided direct support for ISAF during the Continental War.

'Armed, fuelled and ready to go.' Master Sergeant Kyle Powell replied, wearing his oil-covered working uniform. Getting a bomber squadron's armament changed out for a completely different mission than what they were on standby for, on a whim, was a pain in the ass. Especially when it came to using a weapon that had a particular niche and as a result was in low stock.

'Brilliant. We're launching in five, keep up the good work.' Sheep complimented the crew chief and continued to walk over to his B-2. Alongside him was Sheep's pilot, Captain Jordan Kelly.

'So sir, you think we've got this?' Kelly asked, referring to their ability to successfully complete the mission.

'Do we have a choice?' Sheep retaliated with his own question.

'When you put it that way.'

'Exactly. 9th Squadron, mount up!'

September 2, 2019, 1300 Hours

Operation Magic Spear

Sierraplata Missile Range, Sierraplata, Usea

'After we wiped clean Erusea's key frontier defenses and destroyed a selection of their weapons of mass destruction, they've decided it best to activate their small arsenal of IRBMs and launch them at Osean Army and Air Force garrisons just across the border. These things are loaded with god knows what. The silos were readied early this morning.'

'Assuming that the Eruseans reactivated their entire S3 stock, this means they have five missiles in total. Razgriz and Strider, your job is to escort the bombers in so they can drop their earth-penetrating bombs and hit the silos. There's a spell of heavy weather around the region and the area is covered in forests and mountains, so watch yourselves out there.'

While the 9th Bomber Squadron was preparing for takeoff, the LRSSG was already in the air and heading for their target in the middle of the continent.

AIRCRAFT

Razgriz 1/Blaze: Su-33M3 Enhanced Flanker-D

Razgriz 2/Archer: Typhoon FGR.4

Strider 1/Trigger: F-15E Strike Eagle

Strider 2/Count: F-15C Eagle

Silex 1/Sheep: B-2A Spirit

Silex Squadron: B-2A Spirit

The skies over the sea between the eastern island and the mainland were clear and sunny. Blaze found this fitting for the situation. The calm before the storm. The formation pressed on; Blaze and Archer in the lead with Trigger and Count following closely behind in their F-15s. They all possessed full air-to-air loadouts in consideration of the mission. As had been discussed earlier, nothing they were able to carry were capable of denting the missile silos. After some time they went feet dry over the mainland. The sandy eastern beaches rapidly changed into grassland which then gradually turned into mountain hell. At the edge of Blaze's tactical map, six signatures appeared. Friendly ones. The bombers had made it to the meetup point before the fighters had.

'Silex 1, Razgriz 1, coming up on your six.' Blaze called out to the lead bomber.

'Welcome to the long haul. Make yourselves comfortable.' The lead bomber, Silex 1, called out in kind. The LRSSG fell in to protect the six bombers. About halfway through the trip when the combined force was just past the Waiapolo Mountains, Blaze heard the tone of a closed radio connection coming to him. He accepted the call.

'Captain?' It was Grimm who had made the call.

'Hmm?'

'Do you think Chopper could have survived that crash over November City?'

Blaze grit his teeth in discomfort. He didn't want to talk about it.

'I'm no doctor, but I'm a hundred percent certain that no human can survive a terminal velocity fall in a burning Tomcat from two thousand feet.'

'So how-'

'I don't know.' Blaze knew what Grimm was referring to. 'Black magic, adaptive AI, I don't have a fucking clue.'

'There's gotta be some reason how.'

'I'll find an answer. Until then, focus on the mission.' Blaze also didn't want to talk about it.

Combined, the three squadrons pressed forward. At cruising speed they reached the area after an hour and a half of continuous travel. As they reached the corner of the AO, Blaze started to understand what the fuss about weather had meant. The entire area was blanketed by storm clouds.

'Entering the AO. Weather's heavy. Silex, can your GPS system account for weather?' Blaze asked, looking back at the bombers.

'If it can get through a hurricane, it can get through a thunderstorm.' Sheep answered from the middle of the formation. Blaze took his word as the truth and pressed forward.

'Alright, listen up. Erusea has planted some fake silos to throw the bombers off. They're difficult to tell apart from a distance.' Long Caster reported on the situation on the ground. It made sense. With a small amount of missiles, decoys were a good way to hide their true stockpile.

'Oh, this just got interesting.' Count commented.

'Mission stays the same. Strider, ward off enemy fighters. Grimm, time to get wet.' Blaze ordered, giving more thrust to his engines and pushing the stick forward to drop altitude.

'Copy, commander.' Trigger received the orders and dropped at a shallow angle with Count in tow, putting himself above the cloud layer.

'Let's go.' Grimm followed Blaze all the way to the floor, afterburners lit. Blaze shot through the cloud layer at a 50-degree angle. When he could see the floor he had to rapidly pull up to avoid the mountains and valleys. The cloud layer was only a couple of hundred metres above the floor. Successfully recovering, Blaze placed his aircraft as close to the floor as safely possible and moved north-east towards the closest supposed missile silo. He had a LITENING targeting pod and a IRST pod under the nose. He used the IRST pod in visual light mode to observe the rapidly closing missile silo. The verdict was easy to make from the angle he was approaching at. A live silo.

'Silo 1 is a target. Silex, clear to engage.' Blaze cleared the bombers above to drop on the silo. As he passed over the top of Silo 1, he noticed green tracers coming up from the ground. There was a fixed AAA gun firing at him. The HE shells all passed safely in between him and Grimm without hitting either of them. They're alerted, Blaze thought. Which meant that a fighter intercept was likely to follow. Blaze kept going north-east. Much like the radar sites back at the Waiapolo Mountains, the missile silos were roughly organised in an oval around the AO. Grimm was smart enough to turn in the other direction to ID the silos from the other side which would make their job a lot quicker. Blaze flew over the trees and valleys. A fair distance in front of him were a pair of Harriers. VTOL jump jets, the predecessor to the F-35B. Blaze grit his teeth and readied the Sidewinders sitting on his wingtip rails. There was no need for that. Blaze saw missiles shoot through the cloud layer heading for the two Harriers. The two missiles connected with their respective targets and blew both VTOLs out of the air. An F-15C briefly became visible under the cloud layer before climbing back up. Count had his back covered.

In the cockpit, Sheep was using a targeting computer to lock the GPS coordinates of the first target. Captain Kelly brought the Spirit of Mackinson around for a bombing run. Once they were in position and the coordinates were locked, Sheep gave the order for Kelly to hit the button to open the bomb bay doors and drop one of two MOPs. The massive 14-ton bomb quickly gained speed as it fell from a significant height, its fins pointing it in the direction of the silo. By the time it hit the ground it was doing just under the speed of sound at 1,100 kilometres per hour. The bomb hit the silo dead on, broke clean through the thick concrete and metal silo door and went straight down the centreline of the S3 ICBM, completely destroying it, before breaking through the floor of the bottom of the silo and detonating with it's own warhead. The result was a colossal explosion that ripped apart everything inside before venting the brute force of the detonation out of where the silo door would have been in a spectacular flash of white and orange. Smoke started filling the air.

Meanwhile, Grimm was closing on Silo 8. This one was situated in between two hills with minimal infrastructure surrounding it. A Tunguska SPAAG-M air-defence vehicle was protecting it. The gun and missile-armed APC fired a pair of missiles at the approaching Typhoon. Grimm saw the flashes of a missile launch and climbed up to evade them. Laser-guided, the missiles lost their target when Grimm flew into the clouds. Like Blaze he also carried a LITENING targeting pod. He used this in IR mode to see through the clouds and see a black and white image of the ground below. He could see the silo. However, this silo was flush to the ground and wasn't as clear and definite as a proper silo would have been. This one was painted.

'Silo 8 is fake, moving to 7.' Grimm reported, moving away and moving to the next.

The engines of Blaze's Su-33M3 roared as he shot over the ground at extremely high speeds. Mobile air-defence units on the ground were firing their Strela MANPADS at the overhead Flanker. Blaze moved too fast for them to catch up and hit. At the speed that he was going, Blaze arrived within visual range of Silo 2 twenty or so seconds after designating the first one. He quickly checked the IRST's imaging.

'Silex, clear to engage Silo 2.' Blaze reported to the bombers, moving onto Silo 3. Silex 4, flying Spirit of Heirelark, locked in Silo 2's coordinates and dropped a MOP on it. The results on Silo 2 were the same as on Silo 1. The MOP easily penetrated the silo door and destroyed everything inside in a brilliant flash of light and smoke.

In the skies above the cloud layer, Trigger and Count were waiting to pounce on any opportunistic Erusean fighters. They didn't have to wait long. On radar, four fighters appeared coming from the north. Typhoon F.1s, the original air-to-air version. The two Strider Squadron members changed course to engage. Trigger took the first shot with a passively-guided AMRAAM at a range of forty kilometres so that it wouldn't alert their radar warning receivers until it was too late. Count did the same with his own AMRAAMs. Both missiles closed in on the Typhoon formation. Five kilometres to the target, the pair activated the seeker warheads on the two missiles. The two locked on the centre two Typhoons. Trigger saw twin explosions from his position. It was now a 2 on 2 engagement. As before Trigger took the lead, engaging the Typhoon closest to his left. He fired a Sidewinder from headon. It missed as the Typhoon dived and twisted to evade. Exhaling, Trigger dived down after the Typhoon. Despite the Erusean aircraft's maneuverability advantage over the Strike Eagle, Trigger managed to keep it ahead of his nose while trying to score hits with his cannon. After two missed bursts, he managed to clip one of the canards clean off, crippling its stability somewhat. With the Erusean pilot now struggling to keep the aircraft stable, Trigger took a cheap shot with a Sidewinder. The flare capsules on the back of the aircraft didn't save him. The Sidewinder hit the Typhoon directly and made it explode mid-air. Three down. Trigger looked over towards Count. The latter shot down his target as Trigger spotted the two in his peripheral vision. All four fighters were destroyed. Trigger gave himself a high five.

Grimm shot over Silo 7. He didn't have to use his targeting pods to know that this one was a fake.

'7 is a fake, moving to 6.' He announced over the radio. Silos 7 and 6 were in close proximity to each other. Grimm passed over a mountain separating the two, evading SAM fire as he did so. Grimm got eyes on Silo 6 with his targeting pod. This one was real, and its silo door was open. Uh-oh, Grimm said to himself.

'Silo 6 urgent launch!' He called on the radio the moment he saw the exposed tip of the missile in the silo. Luck was on his side for this one. Silex 2, flying the bomber Spirit of Bana, was on a launch approach when Grimm called out Silo 6. As such, a MOP was shortly launched from the B-2's integral bomb bays towards the ground floor. Without the silo door taking the brunt of the impact, this MOP bisected the ICBM sitting in the silo and imbedded itself several metres into the concrete floor before exploding, throwing the remnants of the ICBM out of the silo and breaking down whatever remained. A very close call.

Not close enough.

Blaze was flying over a body of water when his IRST pod started alerting him to an abnormal level of heat directly below him.

'Wha-' Blaze began to speak but was cut off by a tubular-looking thing shooting out of the water with a booster ignited below it. An ICBM. An ignited one. Blaze didn't have time to announce the launch. The ICBM rapidly started to climb; faster than his Su-33 could go in a vertical climb. Thinking quickly on the spot, Blaze popped a Cobra so his nose was pointing up towards the booster stage of the ICBM and fired two AMRAAMs at it. Smaller and lighter, the two missiles shot upwards to catch up with the ICBM. The first detonated before it could collide with the ICBM, destroyed by the shear heat, but the second impacted with the booster stage and detonated. This explosion ripped off most of the engine nozzles of the booster stage which induced instability which flipped the ICBM over which ended up tearing it apart. Fuel and metal spread out over a large area which then caught fire, completely destroying anything that had remained of the missile.

'ICBM launch detected! It's rapidly accelerating!' Long Caster called out. The last ICBM had been launched, and unlike the first launch Blaze was nowhere near close enough to intercept it. That left Trigger and Count to make a local intercept.

Trigger saw the missile and went after it. He went into a shallow dive pointed towards the ICBM and fired four AMRAAMs, each at varying pitches to increase the chances of a hit. The first three missed, all flying underneath the quickly-moving ICBM. The fourth scored a hit, impacting directly on the tip of the missile where the warhead was located. This had consequences. The ICBM was thrown off target and started to disintegrate as G-forces tore apart the structure, but then the warhead detonated in a massive fireball. A nuclear detonation. There was an extremely bright flash as the air around the detonation turned into highly energised plasma. The explosion turned out to be small compared to what most people would have expected, but Trigger physically felt the shockwave as it passed through the air at supersonic speeds. His F-15E shook for a few seconds before settling.

'Was that a nuke?' Count asked. He had no experience with nuclear weapons.

'Yep. And it's a good thing that Trigger got it. Christ knows what sort of damage that would have done to the Army garrisons.' Long Caster answered. Blaze and Grimm joined on Strider Squadron followed shortly by Silex Squadron. Blaze took the lead.

'Long Caster, what's the radioactivity prediction on that detonation?' Blaze asked. Radiation was always a pain in the ass.

'The airstream should push it out into the ocean. There's nothing but mountains all that way.' Long Caster replied. Blaze released a sigh of relief. Neither side would have liked more civilian casualties than there had already been in the war.

'Roger. LRSSG, Silex, mission complete, return to base.' Blaze ordered. The ten aircraft all turned south-east and headed back for their bases.

Orca Forward Air Base, Usea

While Blaze, Grimm, Trigger and Count were on the way back to base, 1st Lieutenant Sara Hunter found herself in the gym giving everything she had to beat the shit out of a punching punches were quick, hit hard and were vicious overall. Sweat ran down her brow. She went for a rapid combo of straight punches at abdomen level. The force she put into the bag ended up knocking the bag off its hook and sending it flying to the floor. Sara was breathing heavily. She put her ungloved hands by her side.

'Keep punching that thing and we might end up needing another bag.' A woman said from somewhere behind Sara. She turned around. Huxian was standing nearby, leaning against a metal support beam. Sara shook her head in amusement.

'Need to get practise in somehow.' Sara retorted. Huxian chuckled and took steps toward the younger lieutenant. Once she was within arm's reach, Huxian suddenly released a right hook at Sara. The latter reacted extremely quickly. Sara blocked the blow with her left forearm and moving as quick as a rattlesnake swept Huxian's legs out from under her with a kick. As quickly as it had happened, Sara suddenly had Huxian restrained on the ground. Huxian looked around herself in confusion for a second. She didn't believe how quickly Sara had knocked her down. Sara stood up and helped Huxian to her feet. The latter brushed herself off.

'Point taken.' She said, trying to suppress laughter from what had just happened.

Elsewhere on the base, in the mess hall, Commander Marcus Snow was eating the contents of an MRE pack; meatballs in marinara sauce with a bottle of water. He was the only person in the room save for the support personnel. That changed a minute later when Wiseman entered the mess hall looking for something to eat. He grabbed a pack from the box at the front of the room, a bottle of water and turned for a table which was when he saw the naval aviator sitting there. Wiseman walked over to Snow.

'The newest member of the team.' He greeted the commander.

'That's me.' Snow returned the greeting. 'So, how'd the scramble go?'

'Mission success, if by a close margin. Strider and Razgriz are returning to base as we speak.' Wiseman answered, opening his MRE pack. Shredded barbeque beef, Snow deducted by the writing on the package.

'Close margin? Did the Eruseans launch?'

'Two missiles. Nuclear armed. Your squad lead is a good pilot.'

'Well, that's an understatement.' Snow ate a meatball in one bite. The two ate in silence for 30 seconds before the silence was broken by Wiseman.

'So, you're a commander in the naval reserves. How did you get into all this mess?' Wiseman was asking about how Snow had gotten here.

'Okay, so I came back from a week-long dive in the Pacific. I get home, and I've got 80 or so missed calls from the Department of Defence. Apparently a war broke out while I was at sea and three quarters of our carrier fleet was put out of service. I get called in as a CAG on the old carrier Hubert and sent out to the Spring Sea. Do a bunch of intercepts, and then join the fleet assault on Farbanti. Problem is, our carriers were either destroyed or dispersed. From there me and Alex found our way to an ISAF base and then back to Osean territory. I got put on as air wing commander of Task Force Outcome. We were at Stonehenge before Dragon's Breath. After that, I joined you guys.' Snow explained. It was a long story. Wiseman nodded when Snow was finished.

'Salvage diver?' Wiseman asked.

'Yeah. Diving's always been a hobby of mine.'

'Fair enough. You served in the Circum-Pacific War?'

'Belkan War and Circum-Pacific War. Served on the old Kestrel.'

'How old are you?'

'43.'

'Oh jeez. You started young.'

'That I did.' Snow took a second to call back to his old service. 'That I did.'