LRSSG Task Force

80km west-south-west of Seals Bridge

The mixed fleet had decided to move away from Tyler Island. What had originally just been the naval assets assigned to the LRSSG was now a venerable strike force of a Hubert-class carrier, an Invincible-class carrier, a Kirov-class battlecruiser, three San Antonio-class landing platform docks, three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, six Daring-class destroyers, an Udaloy-class destroyer, an Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate, two ocean-going missile boats and a single modified merchant ship.

While they were a big enough force to ensure that no-one would attempt to attack them, their goal wasn't exactly clear either. They were still out of contact with Osean Military Command and to make things worse all the garrisons they could find were abandoned. Seals Bridge, the Skully Islands and a few bases in the Chopinburg region were all conspicuously empty.

'Seals Bridge wasn't destroyed. The garrison fucked off somewhere.' Trigger was the first to say what the assembled group had all been thinking. He, the LRSSG, the 444th Squadron, the Eruseans represented by Rosa and the Emmerians represented by Talisman were under the deck of the Orca in one of the briefing rooms discussing their plans. A map was spread out over a table along with images taken at the mentioned locations they had been to.

'Fleets don't just disappear without a trace, even without comms.' Bandog wasn't sure he believed that theory.

'Where do you think they went?' Huntsman asked Bandog. The latter shrugged.

'Cormona Islands, Fort Gray Island. For all I know, they could have retreated back to Osea. How do we know we're not the only Oseans left?' Bandog provided his opinion. Across the table, Alex sighed and shook his head. He was uncertain of the situation, something that made him uncomfortable.

'Should we go home?' Fencer suggested. 'It's the only real way we'll get any sense of direction.'

'Yeah, let's drag a bunch of Eruseans across the ocean to a country that hates them. Brilliant idea.' Huxian vehemently disagreed with that suggestion. Snow bit his lip.

'The Space Elevator. That was the cause of the war. Why don't we take it back?' The naval aviator brought up his idea.

'Isn't the Arsenal Bird protecting the space elevator? We can't destroy the damn thing.' Count brought up the nigh-unkillable-by-conventional-means megastructure. Snow bit the other side of his lip. Alex slapped the table in frustration. There was no single plan that everyone agreed with.

'Turn back. Park ourselves in between Tyler Island and the space elevator. I'll fly out and recce the place.' Alex put forward his own plan. He leant forward with intent. 'That thing started the war. I want to see if it can end it.'

Everyone looked at him for a moment. Alex scanned all of their faces. There were a couple of uncertain ones in the crowd. But the others seemed to be confident in Alex's decision.

'If you're okay with this, then there's nothing to discuss. Dismissed.' Alex stated. Everyone started to disperse towards whatever they had been doing before the meeting was called. Only the Erusean commanders stayed around. Alex left the room and headed out towards the catwalks at the stern of the carrier. He was hit by the morning sun when he opened a bulkhead that led outside. Alex moved over to the railing and stood there, observing, thinking. A minute later, the door he had come through opened. He turned his head to check who had arrived. It was Rosa, the princess.

'Ma'am.' Alex greeted her. She didn't reply at first, instead taking up a spot to look out at the ocean. A destroyer was following the carrier from a distance of a couple of kilometres. It was an Osean Burke in the plane guard position. The rest of the fleet was scattered around in battle group formations to protect the capital ships.

'It's nice out here.' Rosa commented after a minute of silence between the two.

'Nice breeze, good sightseeing. If I wasn't a pilot, this is the kind of place I'd like to be.' Alex agreed. Rosa looked at the veteran squad leader. He had his Razgriz Squadron patch on his left shoulder. The princess recognised the symbol.

'I've read that book. A Blue Dove for the Princess?' Rosa asked about the patch. Alex looked at it.

'Yep. The tale of the Demon of Razgriz.' Alex answered. 'Don't let appearances fool you, I've never read it myself.'

Rosa scoffed. 'A military leader, not versed in literature?'

'I'm no general, ma'am-' Alex began to say in reply.

'Please, call me Rosa.' Rosa cut him off with the title thing. Alex nodded.

'Alex. Most people call me Blaze.' Alex returned the courtesy. Rosa looked at his name and rank tag. CMDR A. E. Williams. There was more silence for another minute.

'You don't talk much, Alex.' Rosa attempted to break the ice. Alex shrugged.

'Nothing to talk about.' Alex waved it off. Rosa grunted in acknowledgement.

'What do you think about the space elevator?' Rosa asked. The root cause of the war, she wanted to see what an Osean leader thought of it.

'A friend of mine drafted the plans for its construction. Another friend launched up from it to save the world. And a lot of good men and women have died for it, from my country and yours.' Alex said, becoming bitter as he got to the end of his answer. Rosa winced slightly. While neither were war supporters, the princess was of the view that the Oseans were trying to expand their influence on the Usean continent with it. But from her perspective, it appeared that Alex didn't want anything to do with it.

'I've heard that you Eruseans think the space elevator was us Oseans encroaching on foreign territory.' Alex said, as if he had read Rosa's thoughts. Rosa straightened up.

'I'd be one of them. I legitimately believed that for the longest time. But if there's anything that I've learnt from talking to Oseans, that belief is a lie.' She said it almost poetically. Rosa had a way to make anything sound inspiring. Alex almost found that impressive.

'Personally, I don't blame you for making the assumption. Osea doesn't have a brilliant track record when it comes to geo-politics.'

'Erusea's the same. The 1998 coup and the Continental War…'

'Just goes to show that no one state is perfect.' Alex managed to find some meaning in the conversation. Rosa chuckled softly in agreement. The two had found equal footing.

'Most of our surviving armed forces want the war to end.' Rosa mentioned seemingly out of nowhere. Alex said nothing but listened. Rosa continued. 'Before I left the mainland, there were reports of a bunch of historic nations splitting off from Erusea and forming their own factions. Even our top aces joined one of these factions.'

Alex looked at Rosa. She returned the gaze. 'Mihaly?' He asked.

'You'll find him at Shilage. It's his ancestral home, I doubt he'd leave it undefended.' Rosa gave Alex some vital information. His face lit up with purpose. Alex rapidly tapped the catwalk railing with his hands before turning around and storming off towards the other side of the ship. He opened the bulkhead door and went inside, but before he left, Alex turned his head to the princess.

'Rosa. Thank you.' Alex thanked Rosa before leaving, not giving her a chance to reply within earshot of the commander. She sighed and walked back inside.

'You're welcome.' Rosa whispered to herself.


Cormona Space Centre, the Cormona Islands

'Launch, T-minus ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five-'

'Thanks for permitting us to use your launch station.' The Osean fleet commander thanked the senior officer present at the island.

'Don't mention it.' Rear Admiral Nathan Wilde, better known by his callsign Mobius 1 or the Ribbon Fighter, dismissed the comment from the other admiral. Of all the places that Erusea hadn't attacked at the start of the war, Cormona Space Centre, a military base owned and staffed by ISAF personnel, was one of them. And for good reason. There was nothing of strategic value located there. ISAF weren't a threat to Erusea, Cormona hadn't been used for the good part of a decade and there was nothing save for a couple of C-130s based there. That assumption was going to cost the Erusean Radicals dearly.

On the old launch pad, a Delta IV rocket roared up into the sky, the sound ripping through the air as it boosted upwards. Mobius, his escort, the mission control staff and the Osean commanders watched from the nearby mission control centre as the rocket climbed. At the very top of the rocket was its payload; a military-grade communications satellite. One armed with encryption keys for long-range radio traffic. This was the second satellite that the station had launched. Another one had been launched late in the night the previous day, an IFF satellite. While the reach was certainly less than what it would have been with a full network, it was better than nothing. Once the two were both settled in a geosynchronous orbit above Usea, the allies would have their comms back, and plans could be made.

As the satellite made its way into the depths of space, Mobius decided to exit the mission control centre. He was met outside by Belkan ace and mercenary Cipher.

'So, does this mean we're fighting with the Oseans?' Cipher asked as he joined Mobius on his walk away from the MCC. Mobius put his hands into his pockets.

'Yeah.'


OFS Orca

Later on, Alex, Trigger and Jaeger were all below the deck in the officer's mess. Alex was telling them his plan based on the information Rosa had given him.

'Oh boy, this is a bad fucking idea.' Trigger was open about his opinion on the mission. Alex, the mission planner, agreed with Trigger. His plan was to fly out from the carriers with Trigger in tow, make speed for Shilage Castle and parley with the occupiers to make some sort of treaty so they could combine forces in the interest of ending the war. That was the theory, anyway.

'Shilage's supported by the Voslagian Air Force. I can't imagine they have much in terms of defence, but I can guarantee they have more than two fighters.' Jaeger brought up some military history. Alex wasn't overly worried about any other resistance. What he was worried about was Mihaly and his squadron of aces. That, or Shilage ground troopers could arrest or kill him on the ground.

'It's a dice roll. Either we get Erusea's best pilots, or you're going to need a third commander.' Alex conceded the risks. If this went sideways, Alex was as good as dead. He was confident that Trigger would at least survive.

'And what if you die out there? What happens to the rest of us?' Jaeger was the devil's advocate here. Alex shrugged.

'You're the XO, you'd take command. Marcus would take my spot as Razgriz Leader.' Alex was straight to the point. He looked over at Trigger.

'Trigger, I'm not forcing you to follow me to Shilage. There's a good chance we'll get into a clusterfuck over there.'

Trigger looked at Alex and put his hands on the table, leaning forward. 'Sir, with all due respect, your survival rate would be much higher with me as a backup.' He was in the mission with the unit commander. Alex smiled in approval.

'Grab your kit and get to the deck. We'll be going in thirty mikes.'


25 minutes later

Avril got to watch the deck crew from the Orca attach a line to an Su-33M3 and shuffle it over moving seas over to the other carrier. The aircraft's pilot, Blaze, had opted to use his main aircraft which needed a CATOBAR carrier to operate from the ocean. Her best friend, Trigger, would be using one of the Emmerian carrier aircraft in lieu of his F-35B, as his main aircraft, the F-22, wasn't carrier-capable.

The Flanker slowly got winched across the water to the otherside. Anyone out of the know would have been confused by such a small motor and cable carrying a big fighter aircraft. Once the Su-33 was on the other carrier, Avril left the flight deck and went down to the hangar, where her expertise was best needed.


From the bow of the Orca, Grimm and Mythic both saw two aircraft ready up on the forward catapults of the Silverfish. One the distinctive black and red of a Razgriz aircraft with the flames on the canopy indicating it was Blaze. The other was a bog-standard Super Hornet, but any Erusean would be afraid of the three strikes on the tail. The two fighters launched; first Blaze. Trigger followed shortly behind.

The two squad leaders quickly gained altitude and within a minute disappeared from view.