"I can't get away! Ejection handle's stuck!"
"There's too many! What's our exit-"
"We're dropping like flies here! We need-"
Jacob made a sharp turn to the right to get away from the Blue Kestrel, only for the Su-37 chasing him as well to pass over him with their guns. As more and more Erusean pilots went down one after another, he felt his flying get sloppier. He was flying an experimental superplane, yet, Jacob still couldn't seem to deal with the Blue Kestrel no matter how hard he tried, no matter how fast he flew, or how quickly he turned. However, to Jacob, that wasn't even the worst part. Down below, he could hear the faint sound of singing, accompanied by the uniform chime of a bell. It reminded him of something important, at least to him, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out what it was. Every time that bell rang out across the city, it was like it mocked him.
Jacob turned upward and rolled onto his side to go right into another turn. He started to loop around, hoping to get behind the Su-37, but just before he was about to get a lock, the Blue Kestrel came up behind Jacob and fired another missile at him. He only narrowly had enough time to break off and deploy countermeasures to get the missile off his tail.
"I can't break off. Someone help-"
"Why are we still here? We have to-"
Jacob was powerless to do anything but watch as the Osean fighters shot down his allies one by one until, eventually, he was the only one left. He didn't have much time to dwell on it, though, as the Su-37 chased him straight up, going higher and higher into the sky. Jacob started to turn back around to get close to the ground when the Blue Kestrel fired two missiles at him. He tried to evade them as best he could, but his efforts were in vain, and both missiles slammed into his plane with a loud crash. Several alerts started blaring in his cockpit, and he could hear the airframe shuddering as he flew. Seeing no other choice, Jacob turned back toward the base and flew away, limping away from the Blue Kestrel yet again. Suddenly, amidst all the warnings going off, he heard another one start going off, a radar lock warning. Jacob looked over his shoulder to see the Blue Kestrel trailing after him. He switched on the afterburner, hoping that would be enough to get away, but he knew it wouldn't put enough distance between the two of them. He was in no position to maneuver, either- not with all the damage his plane had taken already. Jacob closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he realized this was it. He was going to die. He started thinking about everything he had done throughout his life and all the regrets he had. Before he was able to come to terms with his imminent demise, though, the alert stopped. Jacob looked back toward the Blue Kestrel and saw them turning away.
"Huh. Maybe you're not so bad after all," he admitted quietly.
As Jacob continued to fly away from San Salvacion, all he could hear above the alerts blaring in his cockpit was the singing and the bells. However, it was then that it clicked in his mind. He realized what it was that bell reminded him of. Each time he heard the bells ring out throughout the city, it reminded Jacob of one of the interviews from the Belkan War Documentary- the one of Rainer Altman.
"They ring the bells here at dusk to honor the liberation of the capital. It signals peace, but to me, they are the sounds of death." As Jacob heard the quote echo in his mind, he finally realized what Rainer was talking about.
It was at that moment that Jacob realized something. He modeled his entire career after the Demon Lord of the Round Table, but in the end, he found himself relating not to the mercenary himself or even his wingman but rather one of the aces they shot down. For a single, brief moment, it sparked a question Jacob never had to ask before. What if he was fighting on the wrong side of the conflict? Throughout all his time as a mercenary, Jacob had always held the belief that as long as he stuck to his moral compass while he was on the clock, then it didn't matter what side he was on as long as he got paid. There was only one time this belief was called into question, and in the end, he stuck to it. However, the decision wasn't without consequence. In the end, it led to him being forced to shoot down his wingmen. For months, Jacob had to live with the fact that he put a job over the lives of his comrades, and it's been eating him alive ever since it happened. Regardless, he pushed the thought out of his mind and limped back to base.
When Adrian saw Zero returning to the airfield alone, he could feel a growing concern in his gut. It didn't take long for him to spot the plume of smoke trailing behind the mercenary's Skyshard as well, which made him grow even more nervous. More than that, though, he felt himself getting angry at the test pilot. He excelled whenever he went up to do test flights, but when it came to combat missions, he would come back with a damaged plane almost every time. Under normal circumstances, this meant that they'd have to halt development for the Skyshard for another few weeks until the prototype was functional again. However, this time was different. They had spent months working on the Skyshard, and now, it was soon time for the final model to be manufactured. All that remained was the few adjustments that needed to be made based on Zero's most recent flight data, and it would finally be time. That didn't stop Adrian from getting mad at the pilot for damaging yet another prototype, though. He took a deep breath, trying to let out some of his frustration, before tightening his grip on the manilla folder that sat securely in his arms and going down to greet Zero.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were doing this on purpose," Adrian said as he walked up to Zero, who just finished taking off his helmet.
"Do you think I enjoy getting my ass handed to me every time I go on a combat mission?" Zero replied defensively. "The Blue Kestrel is just something else."
"Why is this 'Blue Kestrel' such a challenge for you to overcome?" Adrian asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. "You're flying a top-of-the-line experimental superplane, and they're flying an Su-35. This shouldn't be any contest."
"There's more to winning a dogfight than having a better plane than your opponent. A skilled pilot can easily overcome an opponent that has a better plane than them," Zero explained before pausing and looking away. "And as much as I hate to admit it… I think the Blue Kestrel is probably better than me."
Throughout his time as a pilot, Zero had always been the best of the best, and his record proved that. The fact that this Blue Kestrel seemed to be a better pilot than he was appeared to cut deep. However, Adrian couldn't help but think that there was more to it than that. Something about the expression on the mercenary's face, how he moved, and how he talked seemed off. Adrian couldn't quite put his finger on it at first, but eventually, he thought it almost reminded him of regret. Whatever it was, Adrian didn't like it one bit. Zero seemed to become more and more defiant with each combat mission, and Adrian was beginning to lose his already flimsy trust in the mercenary bit by bit.
Adrion rolled his eyes, shoving past Zero and moving to collect the combat data from the damaged Skyshard. "Perhaps we should re-evaluate your contract, then. Erusea wants nobody but the best testing their planes, and if you're not the best, then we can just find someone who is."
Zero sighed. "I'm telling you, the Blue Kestrel is different," he repeated. "You wouldn't understand unless you were in the cockpit. They're on a level of their own. You won't be able to find anyone that even comes close to matching their skill, but I'm the closest you're gonna get." He finally noticed the folder Adrian was carrying and looked down at it. "What's that, anyway?"
Adrian pushed it into Zero's hands. "Osean Personnel Report on the Blue Kestrel," he said. "I figured you'd want to see it since you're so obsessed with them."
Zero opened the folder and started reading through it. The longer he stayed quiet, the more he began to look more and more intrigued. "Didn't expect them to be a girl," he finally said. "Much less one that young, and her TAC name is Diamond…" he mused.
Adrian rolled his eyes impatiently. "Look, can you obsess over them somewhere else? I've got work to do, and you're blocking my way."
Zero scowled and turned to start walking out of the hangar and over to the base's main building. "Fine, I was planning on getting some sleep anyway," he said, disappearing around the corner without another word.
"I've got three bandits on radar," AWACS reported. "It's them- gotta be."
Jacob let out a heavy sigh as he clutched the control stick of his F-15. "Of course it's them," he muttered to himself as he saw the three other F-15s appear on his HUD.
"You know something, Zero?" Thorn asked in a casual tone as if they were about to strike up a conversation rather than fight a battle to the death. "I thought you actually had a moral compass, you know? I thought that when push came to shove, you knew what the right thing to do would be, and you'd do it. Now, though? Now I can see you're nothing but a petty mercenary, just like all the rest."
"It's called Merc's Honor," Jacob replied. "We have a contract to fulfill, and I'm gonna do just that."
"Merc's Honor is a god damn joke, Zero!" Jinx snapped. "I mean, for Christ's sake, open your eyes. We grew up here, spent our entire lives here, and now you're helping Erusea step all over Voslage as if it meant nothing to you."
Miser scoffed. "You three really need to get off your high horses. Do you honestly think you're so honorable for breaking your contract?"
"Shut the hell up, Miser," Watcher growled. "At least we stand for something other than a paycheck, and Zero, the fact that Miser is the only one on your side here should tell you that you're in the wrong here," he insisted.
Jacob gritted his teeth. Deep down, deeper than he cared to admit, he knew they were right, but he had come too far and put too much on the line. Simply put, it was too late for him to turn back now.
He exhaled heavily. "For what it's worth… I'm sorry," he muttered as he flew toward them at full speed.
Miser followed close behind, and before long, the two sides clashed against each other. Jacob turned to follow after Thorn, firing two standard missiles at him as he pitched up. Thorn deployed countermeasures and jerked his plane to the left, rolling to invert his plane and pitching down and into a loop in one fluid motion. Jacob was about to try and cut him off when Jinx came up behind him. She fired a missile of her own at him, accompanied by a machine-gun burst. Jacob deployed countermeasures to defeat the missile, but he wasn't able to break off in time before a few of the rounds Jinx fired hit his plane.
'Dammit,' he thought to himself. 'We're outnumbered.' He looked over at Miser, who was twisting and turning with Watcher. 'I've gotta end this here and now, or we won't last much longer.'
Jacob pushed his throttle as far forward as it would go, trying to put some distance between himself and the two pilots chasing him. He only barely managed to get enough space between them to turn around and fire a standard missile at each of them. Both missed, but Jacob's intention wasn't to hit them. As Jinx and Thorn turned away to evade the missiles he fired at them, Jacob flew off in the opposite direction again. This time, when he turned around, he had all three pilots in his sights. He switched to his 4AAMs, but hesitated once he had a solid lock on all of them. He knew he had to do it, but he didn't have the strength to. The last thing he remembered seeing was three missiles shoot out from under his wings before he shot up from his bed, panting in a cold sweat.
Several days had passed since Adrian's argument with Zero, and he had spent a great deal of time during those few days thinking on it. At first, he wasn't sure if what he planned to do would even work, and if it did, whether it was warranted or not. As he continued to dwell on it, though, he knew he had to. In the end, it boiled down to taking a risk he didn't want to take, and as far as Adrian could tell, there was no downside to it, so he saw it as a win-win. As he stepped into the control room, Adrian quickly saw a young woman in a lab coat running up to him. That tag on her coat read, "Doctor Lillian Stanton." Doctor Stanton was Adrian's pupil. She was remarkably dedicated to her work and had all kinds of brilliant ideas. Adrian was proud to see how far she'd come, especially considering Project Skyshard would be completely different if not for her.
"Sir, we've finally finished making changes to the design based on the most recent flight data," Doctor Stanton reported. "We're finally ready to get the first Skyshard built," she said with a grin.
Adrian nodded. "Good, because I have an essential task for you, and I can't trust anyone else to do it," he told her in a low voice.
The look on Doctor Stanton's voice turned to a more serious one. "What is it?"
"The job is two-fold. First, I need you to call in a request for more Skyshard pilots, specifically from the Erusean Air Force. Four should do. Next, I want you to fly out to the factory where they're building the Skyshards and request that they build an additional four planes in addition to the first one," Adrian explained.
"Is this about the mercenary?" Doctor Stanton asked.
Adrian nodded. "Something about him isn't sitting right with me. It could just be a hunch, but I'd rather be prepared for any possible scenario."
Doctor Stanton looked up at him and nodded. "Don't worry, sir. You can count on me," she told him with a look of determination.
Adrian smiled. "I know you can. Now, you'd better get going. The sooner this gets done, the better."
As Doctor Stanton left, Adrian turned his attention to the window that gave a clear view of the tiny, concealed airfield below. With Osea now on the offensive, they were in enemy territory, but he wasn't worried. In fact, he was actually rather excited because slowly but surely, his plans were finally falling into place, and once they did, he knew the course of the whole war would change in Erusea's favor.