October 7th, 2019

Shilage, eastern Erusea

AIRCRAFT

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

Strider 1/Trigger: F/A-18F Super Hornet

'No friendlies around here.' Trigger said as he and Blaze entered Shilage airspace at a snail's pace. Blaze checked his IFF system. Everything was tagged as unknown. He touched a few buttons on the dashboard and everything was tagged as neutral. The pair proceeded deeper into Shilage airspace. They were going slow to present less of a threat. A pair of fighter-bombers going in at high speed would have been cause for concern. Blaze changed radio frequencies to the international emergency channel, the one that the Eruseans were most likely to be on as well.

'Shilage ATC, Shilage ATC, Razgriz 1 attempting to contact you on emergency channel, do you read, over?' Blaze spoke over open radio. He didn't get a reply at first, but what he did get was a cockpit alarm warning him that he was being tracked by ground-based fire-control radar. Now that's just rude, Blaze thought to himself.

'Razgriz 1, you are in violation of Shilage airspace. Turn back or you will be fired on.' The ATC responded to Blaze's call.

'Negative. I'm requesting a parley with your commander.' Blaze tried to talk his way past getting fired at by ground-based AA.

'Yeah? Which faction do you represent?' The air traffic controller didn't seem convinced by this.

'Osean Defence Forces. Tell Mihaly that Blaze is waiting for him.' Blaze gave the details. There was silence on the other end for a moment and for a few seconds Blaze had thought that the other guy had cut the line on him. Alas, he was proven wrong.

'Razgriz 1, you've been granted landing permissions at our runway. A guard will be waiting to escort you.' The ATC finally gave him landing permissions after a tense few seconds. Blaze peeled away from Trigger and flew onwards towards Shilage Castle. It didn't take long for him to find the improvised runway. It was a long stretch of highway. Aircraft were probably being stored in the tunnel. Blaze lined up the "runway" for a landing approach and slowly brought his Flanker in. His wheels gently kissed the tarmac as Trigger passed overhead. The younger pilot would be keeping overwatch.

As Blaze undid his harness, he saw an unarmed guard coming towards his aircraft. Beyond the guard, he saw Mihaly waiting just inside the entrance to the tunnel. The old man's appearance hadn't changed much since they had last met. Alex popped open the canopy and stepped out. The guard was waiting.

'Welcome to Shilage, sir. Follow me.' The guard directed. Blaze tied his helmet through a loop on his vest and followed the guard. They went to the tunnel where it became apparent that it wasn't just Mihaly standing there. There was also a younger blonde haired man who Blaze assumed was a pilot based off his uniform, the signature OD green one-piece. Nevertheless, Blaze focused his attention on Mihaly.

'Mihaly. You haven't changed much.' Blaze was the first to speak of the two. He then turned his attention to the second pilot. 'I don't believe I've seen you around, mister...?'

'Wit. We met over Farbanti. You shot me down out in the mountains.' Wit mentioned. Blaze remembered. Wit was the pilot who had taken him out of Fabranti.

'Ahh, I remember you. Great flying back there.' Blaze complimented the junior of the three pilots.

'To the point. You were seeking a parley. Shall we discuss?' Mihaly broke into the conversation. Blaze nodded and the group of three took a hike up the tunnel. As they walked through, Blaze saw the aircraft that the Shilage faction had managed to assemble. Two Sol Su-30s, an aircraft of unknown design to Blaze that had the Sol paint scheme, and roughly a dozen aircraft of the F-16C, Harrier and Gripen E types. Good enough to work with for regional air defence, not quite good enough for an offensive.

They went up the tunnel until they came up to a hallway about halfway through. Mihaly led them through this hallway. There was light at the other side. The hallway opened out onto grass near the local river. On this grassland was a small but functional base. They went past the hesco barriers surrounding the base and went to the closest office room that was empty. Mihaly sat down heavily on the closest chair and spun to face Blaze and Wit. Wit separated himself from Blaze and leaned up against the wall behind the Osean. Mihaly opened his hands, indicating that the discussion had now started.

'I see you've taken your leave from the Erusean military structure.' Blaze started the discussion.

'That we have. Taking back our heritage.' Mihaly confirmed that for him.

'I'm here to discuss an alliance. We've both seen what the war is doing to this continent, to infrastructure and to civilians across Usea. I want to end it before the situation gets worse.' Blaze got around to his primary point. Mihaly nodded slowly. He scanned Blaze's face and body language.

'Noble of you. But there's a problem. Do you know how to end the war?' Mihaly poked a hole in Blaze's plan. He stiffened up a little.

'The war started because of public distaste towards the Space Elevator. The Eruseans took it at the start of the war. The Osean Defence Forces already hold all of Erusea's cards, we took Farbanti, destroyed an Arsenal Bird, took out their WMD stock at Sierraplata and destroyed their fleets at Anchorhead and Snider's Top. If we can take it back, we can force peace negotiations with the radicals.' Blaze defended his logic. Mihaly looked behind Blaze at Wit, whose face said it all; he agreed.

'Hmm. Once again, noble, but do you have the numbers to make this work?' Mihaly poked another hole at Blaze's plan.

'I've got 16 pilots under my direct command, plus eleven Emmerian Navy fighter pilots and a mercenary. 28 of the world's best. Add to that our carrier fleet and you've got yourself a venerable strike force.' Blaze once again defended his plan.

'Including me, there's only 17 pilots here, and I need to leave enough of them behind to defend Shilage. That won't be enough to take on the forces at the Space Elevator, even with all our experience.' Mihaly then pointed out that Shilage had few military assets, confirming one of Blaze's previous thoughts that they didn't have enough for an offensive.

'Then at least provide us support. We don't have a runway. You do.' Blaze tried to get some kind of assistance.

'Done.' Mihaly said. Blaze blinked, not sure if he had heard that right.

'D-did I hear that right?' Blaze stuttered out. Mihaly stood up and stared Blaze down.

'You came out this far looking for help. The fact that you asked instead of bashing our door down is enough to captivate respect. While I can't provide enough direct support to be of help, we can give you proxy support.' Mihaly explained his reasoning. Blaze was taken aback. Wit standing in the back was impressed.

'Thank you. I'll return to pick up my guys and come back here. I'll come up with a plan by then.' Blaze announced his intentions to return to Shilage with the rest of the LRSSG's air forces. Mihaly smiled, a rarity for the old man. Without any more words, Blaze skipped off towards his Su-33M3. He was fulfilled. Not quite the treaty he had been hoping for, but it was certainly better than what he had been expecting. Blaze was permitted to take off from the improvised runway. Circling in the air around Shilage Castle, Trigger had been waiting.

'How'd it go?' Trigger asked when he saw Blaze rise up from the ground.

'Better than expected. Let's get to the carrier. I'll brief you on the way back.' Blaze explained. They zipped off south-east, in the expected direction of the LRSSG task force.


Back at the task force, Marcus, Jaeger and Count were all sitting in the crew room talking when one of the Orca's chief petty officers entered. His body language conveyed urgency.

'Sir, we've got communications with Osean Fleet Command.' The chief said, out of breath. The three officers all looked at each other for a moment, confused. Marcus was the one to snap the trio out of it. He stood up to follow the chief. Jaeger and Count followed shortly after Marcus and the chief left the room. They all went up a couple of decks to a room below the superstructure, one that was usually a restricted area save for officers and the enlisted who worked in there. The chief opened the door to the comms office and the three pilots entered. They were ushered around a central booth with a lot of monitors and switches to do everything that was needed for encrypted messages. Jaeger, the LRSSG's executive officer, was handed a headset. He put it on and listened.

'Osean command, this is Jaeger, XO of the LRSSG reporting in.' Jaeger reported to the higher-ups.

'Copy, Jaeger. Where's your commanding officer?' The officer on the other end asked. Judging by the amount of echo in the background, the other guy was in a closed room somewhere, probably on a command ship.

'Currently on a mission. He'll be back in a few hours.' Jaeger answered the question.

'Alright. I need you to relay this message to your CO and your squad leaders. On October 31st, at 1500 all the forces we can gather will be launching a major offensive against the Arsenal Bird and the Space Elevator. Oseans, rebelling Eruseans, even ISAF will be involved.'

'Jesus.' Jaeger muttered under his breath. 'The 31st, a major attack. Roger that, I'll relay the information down the chain of command. Is there anything else we should know?'

'We've got reason to believe that the surviving more radical Eruseans are focusing all of their forces around the space elevator. It'll be a big fight. That's all I've got for you.' The other officer didn't have a lot of information, but it was enough for Jaeger. He handed the headset back to one of the commo enlisted and took a step away from the booth. Marcus and Count both tracked him.

'Chief, can you attempt to contact Razgriz 1 or Strider 1?' Jaeger asked the chief that had brought them to the comms deck in the first place. The chief took a seat at the booth and played with a few buttons to get onto a specific radio channel with the correct encryption.


Blaze and Trigger had just left Shilage's airspace when Blaze received a notice that he was being contacted from long-range. Somewhat bewildered, he tapped a button on his helmet.

'This is Razgriz 1. Identify.' Blaze asked.

'Blaze, it's Jaeger. Long-range comms are back up.' Jaeger introduced himself. Now Blaze was actually surprised. The higher ups must have gotten a satellite back into orbit after the ASAT incident.

'I can tell. Has command gotten in touch?' Blaze had guessed that he was being contacted now because regional command had attempted to find their best fighter squadron.

'They have. They've got a battle plan drafted. I'll tell you about it once you get back to the ship.' Jaeger summarised. Oh boy.

'And I'll tell you how the parley went. We should be back in an hour. Razgriz, out.'