"Sky Keeper to all squadrons, sound off," the AWACS operator ordered.
"This is Warlock. We're in position."
"Mage Squadron is ready to go."
"Gorgon Squadron is in position."
Eva took a deep breath in through her nose. "Kestrel Squadron, standing by."
"We've got the first wave of Free Erusean fighters approaching. You all know what needs to be done, so let's do it," Sky Keeper said. "All callsigns, you're free to engage. Go!"
"All fighters, remember to stick close to me so you can make good use of my plane's IEWS," Eva reminded everyone as enemy fighters gradually began to appear on her HUD. "We need every advantage we can get, no matter how minuscule."
Eva deployed her plane's railgun, which immediately prompted the onboard computer to provide a status update. "Railgun online and operational. System power at… 100 percent. Targeting correction in progress."
Before settling on a specific target, Eva's eyes scanned the moderately-sized group of hostiles headed her way, briefly acknowledging each fighter before eventually settling on an Su-47. Seconds later, the railgun's computer informed her that it had completed its targeting corrections and was ready to fire. A sound like lightning echoed through the sky, and the first kill of the battle had been scored. However, it wasn't long before another Berkut fired a long-range missile at Eva, forcing her into evasive maneuvers since she wasn't close enough to utilize her IEWS against the enemy fighters. The incessant beeping got more and more frequent despite her attempts to evade. Eventually, the missile got too close for comfort, and Eva decided to break its lock with countermeasures. After making a sudden high-G turn back toward the enemy fighters, she realized they were now in range, and just like that, the battle had officially begun.
Eva wasted no time in activating the Skyshard's IEWS as she pushed the throttle all the way forward and pitched up to follow an Su-37. At first, she tried to start landing hits on the plane with her guns, but then she realized that if she dropped her speed slightly, she'd fall just far enough behind to have a perfect shot, which is precisely what she did. After splitting off from the record, Eva turned her attention to a pair of F/A-18s heading right for her. Fortunately for Eva, though, her IEWS prevented them from getting a lock on her and increased the range of her MSTMs. She repeatedly squeezed down on the trigger until she saw all four of the MSTMs she currently had loaded dart out from her plane and crash into the two Super Hornets. Speeding in between the two wrecks, Eva rolled onto her side before completely inverting and looping downward until she centered the nose of her plane with her view of another Su-47 just shy of ten klicks away from her. Her hand reached down for the railgun controls and deployed the gun.
"System power at… 90%. Targeting correction, 0.04 degrees," the computer informed her. Then, seconds later, it corrected itself. "System power at… 100 percent. Ready to fire."
Before the computer even finished with its progress update, Eva fired the railgun right into the Su-47. She didn't even need to see the wreckage fall to the desert below in a fireball to know she hit the shot. Besides, she had more pressing concerns to focus on at the moment, like how the first group of Free Erusean aircraft was quickly dwindling. Six hostile fighters remained, and since Eva's IEWS had just turned off, she decided to join Charger and Zero in chasing down the last Su-37 while the others handled the remaining five. Fortunately, Charger and Zero chased it right into Eva's gunsights, allowing her to let loose a hail of bullets at the Terminator. By the time it broke away, it was already trailing smoke and dropping speed at an alarming rate. It was practically helpless as Charger strafed it one last time before it exploded.
"Alright, so far, so good. Let's keep it up, everyone," Eva encouraged the group.
"You might wanna hold onto that optimism, Diamond," Sky Keeper warned her. "We've got more bandits coming up on the radar. Looks like the rest of their fighters are here."
Any semblance of confidence Eva had moments ago was shattered by the sight that stood in front of her. A massive battalion of fighters, at least double the size of the first group, if not more, was headed straight for them and had already begun fanning out to box them in. Even if a furball were to break out, Eva wasn't sure how long it would last. To say that she and the others were outnumbered would be an understatement of comical proportions. Just as she was about to remark how bleak things looked for them, though, Garth spoke up over the radio.
"Sky Keeper, we've got unidentified bogies inbound from the south!" he informed the AWACS operator. "Wait… I can see them. They look like Flankers."
"Confirmed. They're… Erusean?" Sky Keeper replied, the tone in his voice curving upward with his confusion.
"It's Arion and Norn!" Lucky realized. "You guys came!"
"Couldn't let you guys take all the glory, could we?" Arion 1 replied with a slight chuckle. "We're on station and here to assist."
"Hold on… we've got more aircraft approaching- bearing 250 from the west," Sky Keeper interrupted. "They're Osean! Knight's message came through!"
"This is Nymph Squadron. We're here with Hydra Squadron and Chimera Squadron. We got your message, and we're ready to help however we can," a new voice chimed in. "Oh, before I forget, we brought bombers with us, too- Druid Squadron, and they should be entering the AO shortly."
Eva was practically beaming as she watched all these aircraft- Su-35s, Su-37s, F-35s, F-22s, and F-16s all converge behind the Fort Grays aircraft. "It's all coming together." She could barely speak the words without her eyes getting watery. "We've finally got a chance now, a real chance."
"All aircraft, you already know your mission. You know why we're here and what we have to do. The fate of this continent rests in your hands, and I can only give you one order now: follow the Blue Kestrel!"
Eva looked down at her HUD, scanning all of the information it provided for her. Since her railgun was still charging along with her IEWS, she decided to face the Free Eruseans head-on. Heaving the throttle forward, she felt herself sinking back into the seat of her plane as it lurched forward with a great burst of speed. She already had her sights set on the lead aircraft of the group, a MiG-29, and by the time Eva was speeding past into the center of the Free Erusean formation, she had already landed two direct hits. Moments later, the other allied aircraft were in range, and the fight of their lives had officially begun.
"This is Warlock 1. We've made contact with enemy ground forces," Garth reported. "It doesn't look like there's all that many of them."
"They must've sent most of their ground forces to try and capture our base at Roca Roja," Norn 1 speculated. "It just means that this is all a bit easier for us."
"Well, we're still getting hammered by artillery from somewhere inside the fortress," Garth pointed out. "They're making it impossible to advance, and we can't seem to get a bead on them."
"Not to worry. We'll take care of 'em," Druid 1 assured him. "Preparing for bombing run."
While the B-52s began to pass over the fortress, Eva and the others kept the fighters' attention away from the bombers. As she pulled back on the throttle, Eva made an aggressive turn toward the nearest enemy fighter, and by the time her target noticed, they had already overshot, allowing her to gun them down. It only took a few seconds on her gun for the MiG-21 to go down, allowing her to pull away, looping up and then back down toward a Rafale that was a few hundred meters below her. As Eva descended at an almost 90-degree angle toward the Rafale, she quickly realized she wouldn't have a good enough angle to land a hit on the enemy fighter. However, her IEWS, which had just finished recharging, would change that. A single missile zipped toward the Rafale smashed into it, eventually causing the plane to break in half and allowing Eva to search for other targets.
"This is Warlock 1. We're entering the fortress now," Garth informed everyone. "We'll let you know once we have control of their security hub. Good luck up there, everyone."
"Good luck to you as well," Charger replied. "And godspeed."
"Sky Keeper, do we have a status on Freedom's readiness?" Lucky asked as he twirled around an Su-35 to drop his speed and get behind them.
"I don't have an exact estimate, but it looks like you've still got a few minutes," the AWACS operator reassured them. "Plenty of time to wipe out the remaining Free Erusea fighters at this rate."
"Then let's keep it up," Eva said as she narrowly evaded a missile. "The hard part is still yet to come, so the more bandits we take down now, the easier it'll be when that monster is finally airborne."
"It's hard to keep track of much in this furball," Poet remarked with a grunt. "Every time I've almost got a shot lined up, I need to shake someone off my tail."
"Where are you at?" One of the pilots from Arion Squadron asked. "I'll give you a hand."
"Heh. Oseans and Eruseans, flying together. Who would've thought?" Zero muttered with a smirk.
Eva's railgun ripped through the airframe of an Su-57 like it was paper, but she was already turning away as another Rafale chased after, letting out a sea of tracers in her direction. A few stray bullets pinged off the Skyshard, but none did any severe damage. Keeping one hand on the throttle and the other on the stick, she shifted both around as her plane twirled through the air, climbing higher into the sky before jerking to the side with a high-G turn. The Rafale, which was still in the middle of its climb, didn't have enough time to react and got hit with a pair of MSTMs. Eva's next target, she decided, was a MiG-21 that looked to be creeping up behind Magic. Just as her IEWS wore off, she fired a pair of MSTMs, which hooked around toward the Fishbed. Unfortunately, only one connected, and it wasn't enough for a kill, but in the pilot's haste to evade, they unwittingly provided Eva with the perfect opportunity to finish the plane off with guns.
Before she even had time to process it, another three fighters had gone down thanks to her- one with missiles and two with guns. The Free Eruseans' numbers were gradually beginning to dwindle, and as she looked around, Eva realized that somehow, they hadn't lost a single ally. When she first took off from the Falcon a few short hours ago, she never would've thought they'd get as far as they have. Now, though, she was determined to make sure everyone pulled through. Soon they'd have air superiority for however long it took for the Free Eruseans to get Freedom up and running, but the fact that they were even making it that far meant Eva had hope to latch onto, and that was all she needed.
"Only 20% of enemy aircraft remaining," Sky Keeper announced. "You're almost there. Just one more push, and you'll have dealt with them all."
"Warlock, what's your status?" Clown asked as he and Lynx caught an Su-57 in a pincer attack.
"We've made it into the main facility. Now, all we've gotta do is make our way through these tunnels and find the security hub. Although, I think that's gonna be a lot easier said than done because the more I look at this map we found, the more I realize it's a big maze," Garth answered. "Don't worry, though. We'll find the place soon enough. Just focus on what you have to do. We'll be ready," he assured the pilots.
"Then let's finish these bastards off," Hydra 1 said.
Eva circled around until she was flying side-by-side with Charger and Zero. Eventually, more and more allied aircraft started to move into formation as well. The last Free Erusean fighters had the same idea, as the remaining pilots all regrouped for one final stand. Both sides came at each other head-on, but because of the sheer numbers the coalition had on their side by that point, they had the advantage. The few bandits that didn't go down during the initial joust ended up getting encircled and overwhelmed within seconds, clearing the skies of all hostiles.
"Well, I'll be damned. We actually pulled it off," Boggard remarked, unable to stifle his laughter at their triumph over the scenario that they all agreed a few hours ago would be certain death for them.
"That was definitely the most intense furball I've ever been in," Arion 1 said.
"We're not done yet," Sky Keeper butted in. "Arsenal Bird Freedom is taking off as we speak. Expect MQ-103s to be on you in a few seconds," he warned.
"This is it," Eva said. "Let the real battle begin."
It didn't take long for a swarm of hostile blips to show up on Eva's radar. The MQ-103s descended on their position like locusts- ready to leave nothing in the air still flying. As the drones finally got within range, the coalition split into various smaller groups to take on all the drones coming at them from different angles, with Eva leading Lucky, Arion Squadron, and a few pilots from Chimera Squadron to hit the drones head-on. Keeping a close eye on her radar, Eva waited for the first drone to slip into range and immediately switched on the Skyshard's IEWS. She sent out a pair of MSTMs toward the first drone, remembering her first fight with them at White Valley and how it took two missiles to bring them down the first time. Thanks to her ESM, though, the drone went down in one hit.
The MQ-103s still retained their maneuverability, though. Even with her missiles being enhanced by IEWS, Eva was struggling to get a good angle on the drones, and even when she did, they would often evade with no effort. By the time her ESM shut down to recharge, she had only shot down three drones. The others had made similar progress, but it was all undone in a second as more UAVs from the Arsenal Bird arrived, marking the behemoth's advent.
"Jesus Christ. That thing is massive," one of the pilots from Hydra remarked.
"Freedom's here, folks," Eva announced, breaking off from the drone she was pursuing. "Warlock, it's now or never!"
"Go ahead and get into position, Kestrel 1. We're doing one last sweep of the security hub," Garth replied. "We'll be ready by the time you make your approach."
"Good luck, Diamond. Stay safe, and come out of there in one piece," Lucky said.
"I'd ask the same of you," Eva replied, smirking to try and hide the terror she was feeling at the thought of what she was about to attempt.
Missiles spewed out from the Arsenal Bird, and the lasers under the wings came to life, pulsing as they let out one shot after another in the direction of four different planes. Meanwhile, Eva split off from the drones and the fighting, dropping to only 300 meters off the ground and speeding toward the fortress. Sky Keeper marked an entry point on her radar, and as she took one more deep breath, she lined herself up and pulled back to half-throttle. The second she entered the tunnel, she felt as if the walls were closing in around her. All Eva could think about was how she was one sudden move away from an untimely death, but the thought of all her wingmen up above counting on her kept Eva on the course. Eva squeezed down on the control stick and pulled the throttle back to 40% as she approached the first turn. She didn't dare reduce her speed any more than that so that she wouldn't stall, but she also wanted to make sure she didn't smash nose-first into the tunnel wall.
As steadily as she could manage, Eva rolled her plane ever so slightly and shifted to the right, waiting for the tunnel to straighten out again before she did the same to her plane. The next turn was to the left, and it was just as eventful as the first. However, Eva didn't have nearly enough time between turns the next time around, as another left turn awaited her almost immediately.
"You're doing good," Eva murmured to herself. "You're doing good. You're almost there."
After making a slight adjustment, Eva made one right turn, followed by another. What awaited her after she made the second turn was a long corridor stretching straight out in front of her. Situated at the center of the tunnel, halfway between Eva and the next turn, was the one target currently on her radar: the central power distribution unit. Within the next minute, she would either have just pulled off her most impressive stunt yet, or she'd be dead. The only way she could know for sure which fate awaited her was to speed up, waiting until she heard the sound of a solid missile lock to pull the trigger.
Even though one of the most significant battles of the Lighthouse War was raging on, the air felt quiet. Even as Arsenal Bird Freedom's railgun cracked through the sky, it too faded, bringing back what felt like the world's loudest silence. The pilots kept their eyes on the fortress whenever they got the chance. Suddenly, one of the pilots drew everyone's attention to Freedom. Its shields started to crumble like spring ice, and a moment later, someone called out to look at the fortress. Eva's Skyshard sped out, pitching up into the sky and drawing sharp contrails as she climbed higher and higher at full speed. Cheers erupted from all the pilots, but the loudest ones came from Kestrel Squadron.
"You did it! I knew you would!" Lucky cheered.
"Nice goin' kid," Charger added. "Vortex'd be proud."
"We're not done yet," Magic reminded them. "We've still got all these drones and the Arsenal Bird to take care of."
"She's right," Eva agreed. "The hard part is last, so let's not get distracted. All aircraft hit this thing with every ounce of firepower you've got, but don't let the drones knock you sideways either. If they get in your way, shoot 'em down."
As if on cue, Eva shot down another pair of MQ-103s as she turned to face Freedom. To her surprise, the others had managed to take down a fair amount of drones while she was in the tunnels. By her estimate, only two-thirds of the 103s were still flying, but that was still a sizable amount. She shot down another drone with her railgun whilst evading the two on her tail, and a few moments later, she was finally within range of the Arsenal Bird. The massive aircraft launched another volley of anti-air missiles that scattered in all different directions as they chased after numerous pilots, including Eva. Inverting her plane, Eva pulled back on the control stick, causing her to loop downward and pull underneath the Arsenal Bird. The lasers underneath the wings tried to hit her with everything they had, but she narrowly managed to avoid their fire and take one of them out before speeding in front of the mighty Arsenal Bird. However, she was still far from safe. A loud noise, gradually increasing in frequency, caught Eva's attention, and the moment she looked over her shoulder, she realized what it was. Freedom's railgun was charging up a shot, and as she looked down at her radar, she quickly determined that she was its target. Switching on the afterburners, she picked up as much speed as she could, shooting down a pair of MQ-103s before looping up and back around to get behind the Arsenal Bird and away from the railgun's range, forcing it to fire a blank shot into the sky.
"We've gotta take out these defenses first. Otherwise, we won't be able to get close enough to do any damage to this thing," Zero said as he pulled away from the lasers.
After quickly looking around at all the allied planes surrounding her, Eva got to work. "Alright, everyone split up. Hydra, Chimera, Mage, and Norn focus on the UAVs. Nymph, Gorgon, and Arion take out those missile launchers. Kestrel, we'll deal with the lasers, and after that, we'll help the others with the drones. Once the defenses are all down, we'll hit the propellors at the same time and bring this thing down once and for all."
"What about the railgun?" Lynx asked.
"As long as we stay behind the Arsenal Bird, it won't be able to hit us," Eva reminded him. "If you have to move in front of it, make it quick and run like hell if it tries to hit you."
With only three lasers remaining on the Arsenal Bird, Eva decided the best course of attack was to come at it from the side that she had already destroyed one laser on, while everyone else came at it from the other end. Her thumb glided down the control stick and found its way onto the button to activate IEWS, making everyone else's job easier. As gradually as she could manage, Eva dropped her altitude until she was below Freedom. The laser opened fire immediately, but by that point, she was already moving too fast. A pair of MSTMs was all it took to knock it out and turn sharply away so that she didn't hit the others as they did the same.
"Pulse laser cannons confirmed destroyed," Sky Keeper announced. "And 50% of Freedom's missile launchers are offline. Good work, everyone. Keep up the attack."
Turning her attention to the remains of the furball, Eva managed to fire a few more missiles before her IEWS shut off to recharge. Two of the three missiles she fired hit, so she turned to chase after the one drone that evaded her attack. She twisted her plane one way and then the other, getting several small hits on the MQ-103 with her guns, but not enough to bring it down. Finally, as it tried to loop around and get behind her, Eva dropped her speed and threw the Skyshard into a kulbit, getting behind the drone with ease and finishing it off with a single missile. As the MQ-103s lost their numbers advantage bit by bit, it became that much easier to take them all down. Slowly but surely, the drones fell from the sky like shooting stars, and as Eva gunned down the one in front of her, she realized that it was the last of the drones. They had done what was unthinkable to them a few hours ago- they achieved total air superiority.
"Alright, everyone, this is it," Eva announced. "Get into to position. We're gonna hit every single one of these propellors with all we've got."
Eva was too caught up in the moment to get a proper count of how many planes were flying on either side of her, but there had to have been at least 40. All of them were waiting for her command, and the moment she gave the word, the sky between them and Arsenal Bird Freedom was blanketed by missile trails. Explosions echoed through the smoke, and as it slowly cleared, they saw their handiwork: all of the propellors had been destroyed. Amidst their celebration, however, they almost didn't hear the voice of Lynx.
"Guys, the central propellors are moving again!" he called out. "That thing's still airborne."
"What the hell? How is that even possible?" Poet asked. "Sky Keeper, you got any ideas for us?"
"Hold on; I'm patching in David and Pierre. Give me a moment," the AWACS operator replied.
"Everyone, listen up," Pierre ordered. "Those propellors are made of a special metal alloy. Standard weaponry won't be able to destroy them. Look for latches near the propellors. If you destroy those, you should be able to reveal the APS unit and blow the whole thing up."
"I'm not seeing any latches," Clown said, getting as close to Freedom's main propellors as he could.
Suddenly, an idea popped into Eva's head. "I think I might have a way to bring this thing down, but it also might not do anything."
"Diamond, what exactly are you scheming at?" Lucky asked in a hesitant tone.
"Uh… if I told you, I doubt you'd agree, so I'm just gonna do it anyway and hope I don't die." Without waiting for any sort of reply, she switched on her afterburners and sped in front of the Arsenal Bird, putting as much distance between it and her as possible.
"Diamond, what are you-" Magic cut herself off as she came up with the answer to her own question. "Oh my god. No, you're not. Please tell me you're not gonna joust the Arsenal Bird."
Eva circled around to face Freedom head-on. "Uh… ok, then I won't." If she was going to die trying to attempt this, she wanted to at least spend her last few moments in a lighthearted mood.
Freedom's railgun lit up as it began to charge its shot. Eva deployed her railgun as well, but she didn't want to take the shot just yet. She wanted to be as close as she possibly could before letting her one chance go. Both aircraft got closer and closer to each other, and neither of them changed course. Then, in the same second that Freedom took its shot, Eva pressed down on the trigger as hard as she could before jerking away. She could see the railgun's trail scream by as she evaded within only a few meters of getting hit. Meanwhile, her shot pierced right through Freedom's armor. A series of explosions started from the center of the Arsenal Bird and worked its way out to both wingtips, and the mighty beast fell to the desert in a great fire, eclipsing the rising sun.
"We did it!" One of the Osean pilots cheered. "We won!"
"I'll be damned. I wasn't sure if we were gonna make it out of there in one piece," Clown remarked.
"That'll teach those fascists to think twice before pulling something like that again!" Arion 1 cheered.
Eva's heart was still racing. She couldn't take her eyes off of Freedom's wreckage as it finally crashed into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and sand. "I- I can't believe it. After all that time, it's finally over." She wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry, but she ended up doing both. "We did it."
"It took six damn months, but we finally ended this damn war," Poet murmured. "I- it's hard to wrap my head around."
"We've had our ups and downs, but we pulled through," Magic chimed in. "I'll be honest; I was beginning to doubt that we ever would."
"Well, when we're being led by the best damn pilot I've ever met, I know we'll come out on top," Lucky added with a smirk.
"Agreed. Diamond, we owe this victory to you," Zero agreed. "So thank you… for everything."
Eva could still barely control her breathing. "We did this… all of us. I wouldn't have made it without you, so don't give me all the credit." She looked out over the desert, covered by a pinkish hue from the sunrise. "For now, though, let's go home."
"We've got tanker aircraft on standby so we can refuel," Hydra 1 offered. "We'll tell them to meet us on the way to Fort Grays."
"Break! Break! All squadrons be advised; we've got three bandits inbound from bearing 000, straight from the north," Sky Keeper warned. "They're coming in fast- really fast!"
Eva turned to face the direction in question, and almost immediately, she began to get a bad feeling about what awaited them. Suddenly, three lights appeared in the distance, like stars that had yet to fade away along with the night sky. Her HUD glitched and flickered, similarly to how it had when the satellites went out. Before Eva or anyone else had a chance to say anything, though, the three lights emitted a loud crack that was all too familiar to her- it was the sound of the Arclight, the railgun on the Skyshard. She instinctively pulled away, trying to evade the incoming shots, and as they split the sky into pieces, the sound of three explosions soon followed. Eva looked over her shoulder, knowing precisely what sight awaited her; three planes had been shot down- Lynx, Arion 3, and Nymph 1.
"I've got a confirmed ID on the bandits. Th- they're Skyshards!" Sky Keeper realized.
Eva squinted to get a good look at the planes. As they approached, she finally saw what she wished she wouldn't have. All three Skyshards bore the same base livery as the one she was flying, but in addition to that, they all had orange markings painted onto the left side of their planes- a color that was only amplified by the light of the rising sun over the desert that was once more about to become a heated battlefield. She reached for her radio, trying to warn the others of the threat they were about to face, but before she got the chance, the sound of a familiar woman's voice, one Eva hoped she'd never hear again, came over the radio, broadcasting on all frequencies.
"Well, Diamond … I think it's time I finally kept my promise," Magnum snarled.