AIRCRAFT
Werewolf 2/Melody: Rafale M F4.2
Werewolf 4/Vampire: Rafale M F4.2
'Think they see us?' Melody asked her wingman.
'They definitely can see Lightning Keep.' Ben replied after checking his sensor array. The approaching fighters didn't have their radars lit and didn't have the support of an AWACS, while Melody and Vampire were data-linked with both the Verusan Navy's NAVSAT network and the radar sweeps from Lightning Keep.
'Oath.' Melody agreed. The two Rafale M pilots approached the incoming fighters at high speed. Ben was uncomfortable with the situation. Even if he and Melody got the drop on the Yukes, they were still outnumbered three to one, a tricky situation even for experienced pilots. Eventually the pair got close enough to get an identification on the six fighters, thirty five kilometres out from the coast.
'Bogies identified as MiG-29Ks.' Ben called out this information.
'Yukes for sure.' That was enough to confirm the identity of the approaching fighters for Melody. 'Dropping to MIL.'
'Dropping.' Ben and Mel went from full afterburner to normal military power, or about the most thrust that their twin M88-3 turbofans could produce without running in afterburner. The Yuktobanian fighters were still unaware of the Verusans about to drop right on top of them. The two Verusan pilots dropped altitude rapidly to get below and behind the Yukes. They then popped up and started to trail the Fulcrums. Ben dropped his HMD and activated his helm's night vision. Green light covered the skies as six MiG-29Ks moved towards Verusan territory. The Rafales followed for a while without revealing their presence.
'Keep on their tail. Make sure they don't breach our airspace.' Lightning Keep ordered.
'Roger, wilco.' Mel answered. The Yukes didn't change direction or drop speed even as they got close to Verusan airspace. Ben accelerated some to get better eyes on the payload that the Fulcrums were carrying. Large cylinder-shaped objects occupied the centre pylons of all six aircraft.
'Air-to-ground loadout. These guys are on a mission.' Ben reported what he saw.
'Ah jesus christ.' Mel muttered. The prognosis wasn't promising.
Mike-26 Control Centre, Kalassa, Yuktobania
'Vampire Squadron, status?' In a ground command centre deep inside Yuktobania, Andrew got to listen as air traffic controllers and other military officers were micromanaging troop movements. Of particular interest to him was a group of fighters approaching King's Point.
'Darkstar, Vampire 1, the Verusans don't seem to be awake. Time to target, three minutes.' Vampire 1 answered to that squadron's controlling group. Andrew heard this and was wary. He knew from previous data gained on the Verusans that they did not slack around when it came to border control.
'Wait what the hell?' Vampire 1 said something. Andrew leaned in. Something was happening. 'Darkstar, we're being trailed by two Rafales.'
'Yuktobanian aircraft in the vicinity of King's Point, I see you're beelining straight for our base with bombs.' The voice of an unknown, probably the lead pilot of the two Rafales that had been scrambled, blared over the open channel down in the control bunker.
'Unknown callsign, dunno what you're thinking of, we're in international waters on a training exercise.' Vampire 1 replied to the unknown.
Ben rolled his eyes listening to what the Yuke pilot had just stated.
'I don't buy it.' He said to Melody. The latter sighed.
'Right, so it's just coincidental that we've been tracking you for the past ten minutes on a dead bearing from your carrier to our base with those weapons onboard?' Melody called the Yuke squadron leader's bluff. She didn't get a quick reply. 'You're not giving me much of a choice here. Change your bearing to 1-6-0 and move away from Verusan airspace.'
There was a discussion between the air traffic controllers and army advisors. Andrew listened, not saying anything. When one of the advisors looked to him as to defer a question, Andrew shrugged.
'I'm here strictly to observe.' Andrew said. The advisor nodded and looked back to the discussion.
'Vampire Squadron, push on until the Verusans obtain a weapon lock.' Darkstar ordered.
'Affirm. All Vampire callsigns, push on.' Vampire 1 ordered his squadron.
Ben tapped his fingers across the side of the joystick as he waited for something to happen. The Fulcrums hadn't replied and were still on their original bearing at the same speed.
'Fuck me sideways.' Mel said, frustrated. 'Vamps, back off, lock these guys up but don't engage just yet.'
Ben didn't need to be told twice, popping the airbrake and backing off from the Fulcrums. Mel pulled off to his right. Once she was out of the way, Ben cycled to his Meteor radar-guided missiles, turned on his radar and locked onto the squad leader. A second later as predicted, the leader went evasive and dived to avoid copping a potential missile.
'Verusan aircraft, break off, we're leaving!' The Fulcrum leader was suddenly very quick to protest over the radio. Ben chuckled to himself and made sure that the Fulcrums had changed their bearing and were firmly leaving before hitting the master safe switch. He watched his shared sensor panel as the Yuke MiG-29s returned to their carrier.
'Lightning Keep, I'd call that a mission well done.' Mel happily reported to the AWACS, potentially having just averted an attack on King's Point.
'Hold that thought, Werewolf,' Lightning Keep cut her off. 'A friendly frigate just reported that a Yuktobanian landing group is attempting to enter our territorial waters. You're the closest group to intercept.'
'Call me a pessimist, but we're two aircraft with four Harpoons. What are we meant to do?' Ben asked. He knew he was right. Even with lucky shots the chances of him and Mel being able to take on an amphibious ready group alone were abysmally low.
'Two alert 5 squadrons are on their way from Tyrone to assist, we just need you to provide a deterrent until they're on staton.' Lightning Keep reassured the pair. Ben was apprehensive. Melody was not.
'Which ship reported the breach?' Mel asked, looking on her sensor panel for the reported Yuktobanian ships.
'The Broadsword. Battleaxe-class.' Lightning Keep verified.
'Ah yeah I see it. Werewolf is inbound on burner. C'mon Vamps.' Mel ordered her subordinate. Ben followed his flight lead, pushing his engines into afterburner for the second time that morning. They quickly exceeded the sound barrier and were on the move towards their friendly ship. Ben checked his tactical display and saw that the frigate in question, the VNS Broadsword, was attempting all means of getting the Yuktobanians to pull out without firing a shot. However, that could change at any moment and even with the afterburners kicking them towards the Broadsword, Ben and Melody were still at least five minutes away. They moved in a straight line towards the commotion. When they got to just within visual range of the ships, Melody attempted to contact the Verusan frigate.
'Broadsword, Broadsword, this is Werewolf Squadron on station to assist, over.' She called over the air-to-surface net.
'Werewolf Squadron, we hear you. I've got a tank landing ship and two destroyers attempting to push my area of responsibility and they're not backing down.' The commanding officer of the Broadsword replied and reported the situation. Ben saw this happening on his sensor panel. Broadsword was currently situated on the line separating international waters from Verusan territorial waters. The three Yuktobanian ships were a few hundred metres away on the international side of things, but they were on a bearing that would take them into Verusan waters. The ships of both sides were moving at 20 knots south-west.
'We've got eyes on. Want us to give them a quick buzz running east to west?' Mel asked. Ben grinned with the thought of roaring over the ships at max speed at low altitude.
'If you wouldn't mind. Try not to crash into them, or god forbid us.' The frigate's CO joked, earning a chuckle out of Mel.
'Vamps, let's get on their port side and dash west over them. Set altitude at 100 feet.' Mel ordered.
'Cutting it a little close don't you think?' Ben said. 100 feet was a fair distance off the water, but the conning towers of the ships could potentially reach that high.
'We can break off if it is. Let's go.' The two Rafale pilots pulled out to sea to line up with the Yuktobanian ships. Once they were on a set bearing both aircraft rapidly accelerated towards them with their afterburners lit. Ben broke the sound barrier quickly followed by Melody. They were spotted early on by the radar of the destroyer closer to them. A moment later, Ben's radar warning receiver spiked.
'Uh-oh, they're tracking me.' Ben reported this to his flight lead.
'Yup they're locking me in too.' Melody was also being lit up by the destroyer's fire control radar.
'They won't launch SAMs-' The sudden tone change from an occasional beeping to a very rapid chirping proved Ben wrong. Yes. Yes they would. 'Werewolf 4 taking fire!'
'What?!' Lightning Keep didn't believe what he was hearing. With a SAM coming his way, Ben pulled up out of formation to evade it.
'Vampire, EVADE!' Melody shouted in his ear. WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING, Ben wanted to yell back as he squeezed his abdomen to overcome the strain of pulling Gs. Afterburners still lit and having gained a couple thousand feet of altitude, Ben had maneuvered out of the seeker cone of the SAM that had been fired at him. Down below, Melody was safe and she was still on her original approach towards the apparently aggressive destroyer.
'I'm good.' Ben called out, his throat dry. 'They've also dropped their fire control lock.'
'Yeah cool.' Melody's voice was quiet. She rapidly slowed down her approach and flew over the Yuktobanian amphibious group at low speed. None of the CIWS mounts on any of the three ships locked onto or engaged her. 'Yuktobanian warship 1571, this is Versuan Navy fighter Werewolf 2, with all due respect, what the FUCK?!' Melody was particularly loud with the expletive. There were a few seconds of silence from whoever was the radio operator on the Sovremenny-class destroyer.
'Werewolf 2, this is destroyer Gumrak, my sincerest apologies. Your approach caused a… situation, in our CIC.' The radio operator, an old man, probably the ship's executive officer or commanding officer, dismissed the call. 'We've deactivated our air detection radars, and will make steam to leave your waters.'
'Good fuckin' riddance.' Melody muttered under her breath on the squadron net that only Ben and Lightning Keep could hear. 'Understood, Gumrak. Werewolf 2, out.'
As the Gumrak's commanding officer had promised, the three Yuktobanian ships had shut down their radar systems and changed their bearings to move out to open waters. Broadsword, the two Rafale pilots on the scene and two additional Rafale squadrons that had been scrambled to assist sticked around for ten minutes to make sure that the ships were actually leaving.
'Werewolf Squadron, report your fuel status.' Lightning Keep asked of the two original pilots in the air after a long stretch of silence. Ben looked down to check, and noticed that one of his hands was trembling. Not enough to be a nuisance, but enough to be noticeable. He properly checked the gauge.
'I've got about 15 minutes of playtime here.' Ben guessed.
'Yeah I'm about the same, Lightning Keep.' Melody had around the same fuel level as Ben did.
'Roger. RTB, refuel and grab a coffee or something. I get the feeling we haven't gotten through the thick of the night yet.' Lightning Keep ordered, adding his suspicions to the end of the order.
'Ack, wilco. C'mon Vamps, let's get us some AVGAS and you an omelette.' Melody joked with Ben to lighten the mood. Ben noticed that the trembling in his hand was getting slowly worse. Nerves.
'Amen to that. Trailing you.' Ben replied and the two Rafales changed their bearing back towards King's Point Naval Air Station. Halfway back to base, Ben tried to hold his hand flat and steady. He couldn't to save his life.