0930, 15 May, 2019
Fort Grays Airbase, Fort Grays Island, Southeast Usea
First Lieutenant Colt 'Trigger' Smith
As I taxied to the runway I could see the chaos that had engulfed the base. SPAAs were getting into position to defend the airbase as ground officers were rushing to ready the last F-16s for launch. Over the radio I could hear the panic that had engulfed the base. "Radar site still silent" One of the ground officer exclaimed.
"Scramble! Get those birds in the sky! We're sitting ducks!" A second ordered.
"What's happening?" Another asked
"Bombers incoming! Don't know how many!" Replied the second officer.
As I looked across the base, I could see ground crews directing aircraft towards the runway and smoke rising from several points on the island, one near the location of the aircraft carrier Ablatross. Let's just hope the damage looks worse than it is.
"Let's clear that runway. We don't got all day here." I look towards the runway. An F-18, the last of Golem squadron, was taking off and went airborne a few moments before control radioed me.
"Mage squadron, head to runway." Unlike the ground officers and probably many others, the control was relatively calm despite the situation base was in."Golem squadron takeoff. Linked to Sky Keeper. Hurry Mage Squadron"
"This is Trigger." I answered. "I hear you loud and clear, preparing to take off." After Clown went airborne I aligned my plane with the center of the runway as the control tower radioed me back.
"Trigger, your call sign is Mage 2. Verify and read back."
"Wilco, control. Call sign verified." I responded whilst inspecting my instruments one last time before I would take off. My instructor from flight school introduced me to the habit of personally attending and inspecting your aircraft. "Your aircraft is the symbol of your career," He would say. "always keep your aircraft in good condition and treat it well. Treat it roughly or be careless with it and it would give you a lot of trouble at the worst time imaginable." Following his motto I was able to avoid many incidents that would have happened had I not noticed a marker not moving or a control not responding... no thanks to my ground crew.
"Mage 2, cleared for takeoff. Situation is tight. It's a hell of a welcoming party, but we have faith in you. Good luck. Golem Squadron and your wingman are airborne. Take off and form up with Mage 1."
"Roger that." I responded. "Finishing last minute checks then taking off."
"Control, do me a favor and get that bird in the air ASAP." The flight lead of Golem Squadron, Knocker, ordered, his tone embedded with mild annoyance.
"Hear that? "Golem Squadron and your wingmen are airborne. Take off and form up with Mage 1." The controller said. "Mage 2 altitude is restricted."
"Roger that" I said as I increased my engine throttle and, once enough speed was acquired, took off at a shallow climb of 10-degrees, the acceleration bracing me against the seat. As I flew above the harbor I got a view of the situation. The aircraft carrier Albatross that was docked in the harbor had smoke rising from it's bow catapults, and several more black plumes were dotted about the harbor. Not good. I switched my radio to my squadron's frequency as I flew through some of the carrier's smog.
"The carrier… Whoa! Looks like the harbor's taken a lot of damage" Golem 2, also known as Brownie, reported.
"Can't have anymore casualties. Time to stop the bullshit." Announced Knocker. "Mage 2, form up with Mage 1. All aircraft, let's do this. Golem squadron, it's go time."
"Roger that." Replied, Brownie.
"Golem 4 understood." Said Footpad, climbing at a steep 30° angle to form up with the rest of Golem squadron.
"This is the AWCS Sky Keeper." Our AWACS announced. "Take down all unidentified bombers. They don't have many escorts. They hit our radars hard in the last attack. Expect the worst and stay sharp."
"Roger" Replied Knocker." Golems, you heard him, time to take down those bombers, we cannot let them have another run at our base."
"Okay, here we go. Looks like some bombers have been located. It's show time Trigger, let's see if you can handle the spotlight." Clown advised me. "You're a good pilot… or so I told 'em. I had to fill an empty spot so play along."
"Yes sir." I said as I formed up with him.
We didn't have to wait too long, only a few minutes, before my HUD reported a bomber at low altitude directly ahead of us.
"Sir, enemy bomber spotted, low altitude at our twelve o'clock." I reported. Based on it's airframe it was a Tu-95, or 'Bear' as the Oseans like to call it. "Requesting permission to engage."
"Sure Trigger. Show us what you've got."
As I got into position I selected an AIM-120 AMMRAM, choosing to save my heat seekers for the more maneuverable escorts. Even though this bomber doesn't have any, I'm sure there are others that do. The missile sped into the target's tail destroying the rear half of the bomber and leaving the remnant to fall until it exploded in mid air.
"Enemy bomber confirmed down. Good job Mage 2" Reported Sky Keeper. "There's more bombers out there, intercept them before they reach the base."
"Wilco."
"Trigger, switch your radar. See if you can locate the enemy." Clown instructed as I formed up and leveled my aircraft.
"Roger that" I replied, switching my radar to it's long range mode. On my display I could see a group of blue indicators representing Golem Squadron southwest of my position as well as red indicators representing the enemy force. "Sir, enemies east of our position near Golem." Judging by the way the nearby blue indicators were moving near the bandits, Golem Squadron has already engaged them.
"Yep," He said "and they're just waiting for us to take them out." As we banked our aircraft and headed towards the targets I looked at the sky. It was a nice blue hue, days like these were rare in my hometown of St. Ark.
"Harbor fuel storage is intact." Someone radioed. "It's asking for another round. All escorts form up for another attack. Point is 835." The hell? My radio marked the transmitter as enemy, in flight school I've heard rumors about radios picking up enemy chatter but I only thought it was just that, rumors. I don't even have to change my radio frequency, it just picks it up… strange.
Flying upwards through the clouds I could see Golem Squadron dancing with a Tu-95 and two MiG-21s, albeit at a higher altitude than than the first bomber. They're easy prey, a Fishbed is all but completely obsolete against more modern fighters like my F-16 and a bomber is, well… a bomber.
"Hey Clown." I asked my flight lead.
"Yea Trigger?"
"Mind if I take the bomber?" I said
"Sure, I'll engage the escorts."
I neared the Bear from behind however unlike the last bomber I fired two Sidewinders. "Fox two!" They hit it's tail wings, the explosion ripping them off sending the bomber into an uncontrollable spin before, just like the last one, it too promptly detonated.
"This is Mage 2, bomber has been downed." I said as I banked hard left to avoid crashing into the flaming remains of my recent kill.
"Nice job Trigger." Exclaimed Clown. "Why don't we see if we can assist Golem Squadron with the rest of this group?
"Roger that sir." I responded as I leveled off alongside him at around six thousand meters. Banking right we headed towards the two remaining MiGs which were miraculously still standing their ground against the F-18s of Golem Squadron.
"This is Golem 3, shit; bandit has a lock on me!" Exclaimed Boggard as we broke through some clouds. "I can't shake him off." Scanning for his pursuer I spotted the MiG at a lower altitude staying glued to his tail despite his evasive manufacturing. I waited until I was almost above the MiG before rolling my bird and diving down. I locked on but, because of its close proximity to the ally, flared at it with my cannon when I got closer, forcing it to break it's chase and dive away.
"Phew; thanks for the support Mage 2." He thanked me.
"No problem." I responded.
Leveling out I saw that the enemy had turned around and was attempting a head on. I maneuvered to face the enemy and charged at it, however, it did not fire any missiles when we got into range, instead firing a few rounds of it's cannon and rolling to avoid the rounds I fired as well. His move, while unexpected, did not catch me unprepared, turning hard I tailed him and waited until he leveled out, thinking that he had escaped from me. "Mage 2, Fox 2." I said, firing a missile, I scored my second kill of the day.
I climbed for a few seconds before leveling out as I searched for other targets but could find none.
"Golem and Mage squadron, enemies taken out; good work. Don't let up just yet though, there may be other bombers radar hasn't picked up yet." Advised Skykeeper before I could look for the other enemy. Must've been taken out by a Golem while I was preoccupied.
We flew around for a few minutes until, just like our AWACS predicted, red blips appeared on the map. This time they were North of our position. "Mage 2, targets in range. Pair of bombers North of your position. Engage." He ordered.
"Trigger, stay calm. You're doing good. You've got this." Assured Clown.
"Trigger's doing more than good, he's doing great." Complimented Golem 4. " In fact, I think it was Trigger who took most of the enemies out."
"Yeah," agreed Golem 3 "He has more kills than most of us combined." I stayed silent, I didn't want any attention. If I talked it just would've fueled the fire. Our AWACS reporting my kills doesn't help as well.
"Let's not get too hasty here." Countered Knocker "I know that he's shown some promise, but let's remember, he's still barely gotten his feet wet.
"Yeah, Knockers' right. So don't please don't go treating me like I'm your trump card." I added. Increasing my speed I resumed my search for targets. This time the group, which came North of our position was
"Don't worry, we won't." Clown said to reassure me. "You've got a lot to learn before they could even talk to you like you're one..
I leveled with Clown behind and above Golem squadron. We flew for a few minutes until our IFF identified the enemies. Two bombers, each with an escort; no surprise there.
"Clown, Trigger; go for the bombers, we've got the escorts," Ordered Knocker.
"Roger that." Responded Clown. "All right, you heard him Trigger."
"Yes sir, engaging bombers." I responded.
Flying closer; I armed my Sidewinders and locked on almost instantly to the duo of bombers and fired four Sidewinders, two for each bomber. "Mage 2, Fox 3!" I watched them fly away until an explosion in the distance confirmed my two kills.
"Target confirmed down. Looking good Mage 2."Skykeeper said. "Take out the remaining fighters."
The escorts were easily disposed of shortly after now that they were hopelessly outnumbered three to one.
"Enemy group down. Nice going Mage squadron." Thanked Skykeeper.
"Mage 2, listen. You're not too shabby but you've got a long way to go kid." Knocker interjected. "I'll give you some pointers back at base, if you can make it in one piece." I stayed silent. After a few seconds Clown radioed me.
"Don't worry Trigger." Clown assured me. "He didn't mean it like that." No one said anything after that, the sound of awkward silent plaguing the radio waves. We didn't have to fly around for long before new enemies were detected by our radar. "Skykeeper this is Mage 1, over. Tally two bandits."
"Copy that. It's a bomber and an escort." He replied. Spotting the enemies on radar I banked right and flew straight towards the targets on full throttle. Clown tried to keep up with me, but struggled, only able to barely trail behind.
"Whoa there trigger." He said, "Settle down." I ignored him, choosing instead to continue on my trajectory towards the targets.
"Mage 2! Maintain your element with Mage 1!" Sternly ordered Knocker. "Do not break off. Mage 1, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Wilco" he responded.
"Golem 2. Let's maintain element." Knocker told Brownie.
"Copy that, Commander. I've got your six covered sir." She replied.
"Righty-o!"
Flying into visual range I spotted the targets. While words would classify them differently, my missiles, thankfully, did not and easily locked onto the bomber. "Mage 2, Fox 3!" The missile sped towards the bomber, and seemed like it was going to hit, but at the last second turned towards the MiG, missing it's target and striking. S&*t, I sweared to myself. Bloody Osean missiles go for anything hotter than a campfire. Turning around I finished the bomber, tearing it's wing off with a well placed burst with my 20mm.
"Golem, Mage. Two new enemy groups" reported Skykeeper. I looked at my radar and saw the two groups. One was located towards the North. It was small and heading directly for our base. The other was much larger and seemed to be more or less like a distraction.
Golem squadron split into two groups, Golem 1 and 2 heading to engage the larger group of aircraft to the South and Golem 3 and 4 intercepting the smaller one to the North. For a few seconds, the radio was filled with silence; it was actually quite peaceful. I might as well enjoy this break in the fighting, who knows, maybe this silence will stay here, maybe I can relax for a bit.
"This is HQ. Attention, all combat groups." Or not, mission chatter is good I guess. Oh well, never should lower my grayed during a battle anyways. We all listened for what he had to say. "Are there any drones verify."
"Drones? Are you kidding me right now?" Knocker hissed. "Jesus! This is the kinda shit that really chaps my ass!" Clown sighed.
"UAVs? I can't tell them apart"
I don't know about drones, didn't see any… I think. Unless of course the planes were drones; I've heard that they were replacing WSOs, so it wouldn't be ridiculous if there were Autonomous planes flying already. I banked my aircraft and sped to assist Knocker and Brownie who were engaging a large enemy group to the South.
"This is Mage 2," I said, "heading to assist Golem 1 and Golem 2, Golem
Entering the fight I locked on to three fighters and fired my remaining AMRAAMs. Unlike the first few groups of enemies, this one seemed to have, better, pilots as each dived into the clouds. One of the fighters, though, wasn't fast enough, the missile turning into a fireball.
I noticed a MiG diving down on me from behind, reducing my throttle I pitched up; bleeding considerable speed and causing my pursuer to overshoot me. Leveling out locked onto the MiG turning it into the perused.
"Bandit has a lock." It dove into a cloud to try and escape, I dove right on with it. When we neared an altitude of 4000 it pulled up and began a 90° climb; I followed closely behind it. After a few seconds it lost speed and I launched a missile just as it stalled.
"Missile, Missile! I can't-" All that was left of the enemy was static and burning metal as the missile destroyed it's intended target. The remnants fell into the clouds and disappeared, not even fire would pierce the cloud cover.
"the Ocean Federation has…—space elevator…" my radio crackled. The voice was female, at least I think it was; the static prevented me from hearing any more. What was it going on about the Space Elevator? I thought to myself. Guess I'll have to wait and see when I get back to base.
I leveled off high above the clouds and saw that the fighters were momentarily distracted leaving the bombers unescorted and vulnerable. Toggling my afterburners I dived on the formation of bombers, scoring two kills with my cannon. I turned and went in for another pass and approached the rest from behind, using my remaining missiles to take care of them.
After I recovered from my dive I checked my radar for any enemies that were still handing, thankfully it was clean of targets.
"To Golem and Mage. Job well done. All bombers are down." Thanked Skykeeper. "Our radar shows no sign of bandits. You're in the clear.
"Yea!" Shouted Footpad. "They didn't stand against us."
"Trigger, are you ok?" Asked Clown. "You've been awfully quiet this mission."
"Yea, I'm fine." I responded. "I'm ok, just…exhausted. Never thought I would see action on my first day."
"You did good, Mage 2." Clown "Flight commander, looks like he's got what it takes. He's certainly shown us that."
"Let's slow down." Retorted Knocker. "It's just on sortie."
"You gotta admit though, he did pretty good." Countered Boggard.
"I know he did well, but he's still just a hatchling. Listen Mage 2, don't try to be a hero. I want you to make it back in one piece, you hear?"
"Yeah, I gotta side with the bossman on this." Agreed Golem 2.
"Yes sir." I responded. I can't disagree with him, a big ego can be just as deadly as any missile or bullet. Also, I don't want to gamble my life to see whether or not I'm the next Ribbon Fighter, the chances of that happening are pretty slim.
"Golem Squadron, this is HQ. Did you confirm any drones?" Our HQ radioed.
"What's the deal with all the drones?" Knocker asked, irritated.
A few seconds of silence passed before we were contacted again. "Golem 1, return to base and report for debriefing." No one said anything after that, for a few moments we all flew in peaceful silence back to base.
"…beautiful emerald south sea water at Gunther Bay…" There it is again, I thought to myself, when I get back I should tell the mechanics about this problem. The last thing I need is for my radio to blare out heavy metal while I'm in a fight. My radio continued picking up on the strange station "I am Princes Rosa Cossette D'Elise of the Kingdom of Eursea…" It seemed like it was the last of the mysterious channel, I never heard much more than static for the remainder of the flight back to base.
The landings went, normal, err… as normal as military landings should be at least. With Golem Squadron being the bigger of the two it got to land before Clown and I. After my aircraft was stored back into it's hanger I made my way to the briefing room and took a seat in the first row, in front of the main projector screen.
"Mind if I sit here?" I looked to my left, it was Clown.
"No ones stopping you." I said. "Go right ahead."He sat down, looking around I saw Golem Squadron congregated together in a corner.
"Don't mind them, they usually sit together during every debrief." I looked at him "Just don't try to sit with them, trust me." I just nodded in response.
The room darkened as a map of the Fort Grays and it's island was projected as the briefing officer stepped to the front of the room.
"We are currently assessing the damage to the base." He began. "We have confirmed that the aircraft carrier Albatross was sunk. We know that the attacking bogeys were Erusean." Gasps could be heard across the room as a picture of a MiG with a camouflage pattern and a roundel of the Erusean Air Force was projected onscreen. "The damage is severe. Many wars are lost by failing to recover from the opening blows. That means successfully retaliating was very important. You may have turned the tides of battle here. You have our thanks. Dismissed."
The room filled with the sound of chatter as everyone left, no doubt discussing the events of today. Even I couldn't think about anything else. The Erusians, why did they attack us? If our base took this much damage, I can't even imagine the amount of attacks other bases closer to Erusea got.
I went to the cafeteria and got food, a burger, medium rare, some wings, a fruit cup, and water. Sitting down I saw that one of the was showing OBC, an Osean news channel. A small group of personnel were huddling around it, no doubt listening to what the announcer was saying. I started eating just as a map of Usea was shown.
Hey guys, I hope you've enjoyed the story. It is actually my first one, it is inspired by Yellow Ace (by TheGamerMarine76) and The Unlucky Ones (by WriterwithThreePencil). Make sure to check them out as they are truly great works of art. I am open to suggestions and feedback would be greatly appreciated. This took me roughly two months to write as it was an activity I did in my free time, uploads will be random and sometimes there will be long breaks between them.
Thank you for reading, catch you all later.