Ace Combat 7: A New Beginning
Chapter 2: Back To War?
Disclaimer: All the Ace Combat characters belong to its creators.
Trigger held out his right hand, "Shall we go request permission for the night off, Avie?"
Avril took Trigger's right hand into her left before saying, "Of course, Dumbass."
Suddenly, air raid sirens start going off.
"Getting Bartlett's permission will have to wait!" Trigger said as he let go of Avril's hand. "I need to get airborne now!"
Trigger quickly climbed up the ladder and into the cockpit of his F-22 Raptor, put on his helmet and strapped himself in.
Avril removed the ladder from the plane before Trigger closed the canopy.
"Take care, Trigger!" Avril yelled.
Trigger smiled and gave Avril a thumbs up.
Avril ran away with the ladder before Trigger started up his airplane's engines before throttling up and making his way onto the taxiway.
Trigger's face turned serious as he put on his oxygen mask before asking over the radio, "Long Caster, do you read me?"
"Roger, Strider 1," Long Caster, who was already in his E-767 AWACS, answered. "We have bogeys coming in from the Northwest and heading for the space elevator."
"Do you know how many?" Trigger asked.
"We're detecting nine bogeys," Long Caster replied. "You are to fly up and order them to break away and land before they reach the no-fly zone around the space elevator. If they don't comply, you are authorized to shoot them down."
"Roger," Trigger said with a nod.
Soon after that was said, Trigger reached the end of the taxiway to the runway before taking position on the runway for takeoff.
He then radioed the control tower, "Requesting permission to take off."
"Negative, Spare 15, wait for Spare 2 and the others," Came a familiar male voice.
"Bandog?" Trigger gasped in disbelief. He then asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm the new air traffic controller," Bandog replied. "I came in on the same plane Colonel McKinsey came in on. I was demoted to ATC sometime after what happened over the Waiapolo Mountains."
"Serves you right for killing Full Band," Came the voice of Trigger's wingman, Count, over the radio.
Trigger looked to his left to see three F-15C Eagles taxiing to the runway.
"Count, how many times do I have to tell you that it was an accident?" Bandog demanded in an annoyed tone.
"Bandog! Count!" Trigger yelled. "There's no time for bickering!"
"Spare 15's right, Count," Bandog agreed.
"It's Strider 1 now, Bandog," Trigger corrected.
"You'll always be Spare 15 to me," Bandog countered.
"And I presume I'll always be Spare 2 to you, Bandog?" Count asked as he taxied onto the runway and took position next to Trigger.
"Sure," Bandog replied to Count's question. He then continued. "Spare 15 and 2, you're cleared for takeoff!"
Both Trigger and Count firewalled the throttles of their airplanes, rolled down the runway, and climbed up into the sky.
The other two F-15s taxied onto the runway soon after.
"Strider 3 and 4 you're cleared for takeoff!" Bandog announced.
With that, Jaeger and Húxiān firewalled the throttles of their airplanes, rolled down the runway, and climbed up into the sky before joining Trigger and Count in a finger formation.
Location: Southeast of Anchorhead Bay, Gunther Peninsula
Time: 3:35 pm
Shortly after taking off, the four members of Strider Squadron spotted the unknown aircraft.
"Long Caster, we have visual on the bogeys," Trigger announced. "I'm identifying three Tu-160 Blackjack bombers and six Su-35 Flanker fighters."
"Copy that," Long Caster said.
Trigger then radioed the unknown aircraft, "Attention unknown aircraft, this is Trigger, flight leader of Strider Squadron. You are approaching the no-fly zone around the space elevator. Break away and land or we will open fire."
Suddenly, the bomb bay doors of the Blackjacks opened up and each bomber deployed a cruise missile.
"Cruise missiles fired!" Trigger announced. "And they're heading for the space elevator!"
"Strider Squadron intercept those missiles!" Long Caster ordered. "Keep the colony around the space elevator safe!"
"I'm going after the missiles," Trigger announced. "The rest of you, keep the unknown enemy aircraft busy."
"Righto," Count said.
Trigger broke off from the group to pursue the cruise missiles while the rest of Strider Squadron went after the unknown enemy aircraft.
After breaking formation to pursue the cruise missiles, Trigger opened up his Raptor's internal and external weapons bays, which contained AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles.
"Locking on!" Trigger announced as he locked onto the cruise missiles. "Strider 1, Fox Three!"
He then fired three AMRAAM missiles at the cruise missiles.
Despite the speed of the cruise missiles, Trigger's AMRAAMs caught up and destroyed them just before they could even get close enough to the space elevator to cause any damage.
"Cruise missiles destroyed," Trigger thought. "Now, to go help the others."
He then turned his airplane around to rejoin the other Strider Squadron members.
After Trigger broke formation to pursue the cruise missiles, the remaining three planes of Strider Squadron locked onto the enemy aircraft.
"Strider 2, fox three!" Count shouted as he fired four AMRAAMs.
"Strider 3, fox three!" Jaeger shouted as he fired four AMRAAMs.
"Strider 4, fox three!" Húxiān shouted as she fired four AMRAAMs
The enemy planes took evasive action, but two Blackjacks and three Flankers were blown out of the sky by the AMRAAMs.
The surviving Flankers and Blackjack turned around and started flying away from the space elevator. But just as they did, a flight of four AMRAMM missiles flew up to the airplanes from behind and blew them out of the sky.
"No one attacks the space elevator and gets away with it!" Trigger said as he flew over the falling aircraft debris.
"Nice one, Trigger!" Húxiān commented.
"Did you take care of the cruise missiles?" Count asked.
"He took care of them," Long Caster answered. "Nice job!"
"I knew those improved AMRAMMs could keep up with even the fastest cruise missiles," Trigger said.
"Thank goodness they work," Long Caster said. "Now, return to base."
"Roger," Trigger acknowledged before he and the three other members of Strider Squadron flew back to base.
Location: Briefing Room, Selatapura Air Force Base
Time: 3:45 pm
The members of Strider Squadron and Avril were sitting in the briefing room, waiting to be debriefed. Even though she didn't take part in the mission, Avril decided to join them for the debriefing nonetheless.
Just then, the briefing officer and General Bartlett walked in.
Those sitting down stood up.
"At ease," Bartlett said.
The members of Strider Squadron and Avril sat back down.
The briefing officer then spoke, "Thanks to your efforts, the space elevator was saved from destruction. This was the first time since the end of the Lighthouse War that any attacks against the space elevator have been made. We don't know who the attacker is yet. But we do have a feeling this was the doing of either Erusean radicals or one of the groups of Eruseans that broke off to assert their independence."
"Regardless of who the attackers were," Bartlett spoke up. "There will be an investigation to find out who was responsible for the attack on the space elevator. In the meantime, all members of Strider Squadron will have to remain on the base and be ready in case any more attacks against the space elevator are made. That'll be all." He then saluted. "Dismissed."
Soon, the members of Strider Squadron and Avril got up from their seats and walked out of the briefing room.
Location: Avril's Hanger, Selatapura Air Force Base
Time: 5:00 pm
Avril was inside the right air intake of Trigger's F-22 with a lit flashlight and inspecting the fan blades of the airplane's right engine. It's been over an hour since the debriefing and since then, at the insistence of Avril, both she and Trigger were thoroughly inspecting the latter's airplane.
"The fan blades of your right engine look good," Avril spoke, noticing no fan blade cracks. "How about the left engine?"
"No fan blade cracks in the left engine," Trigger answered as he climbed out of the left air intake holding a lit flashlight.
Avril climbed out of the right air intake and said, "I'd say your plane looks good for another sortie or two."
Both Trigger and Avril then turned off their flashlights, sat them down on nearby tables, walked up to each other in front of the airplane, smiled, and took each other's hands.
"So, now that we are done inspecting my plane, what shall we do now?" Trigger asked.
Just then, Trigger and Avril notice a Caucasian woman with blonde hair and blue eyes walk up to them.
"Hey, Rosa," Avril said with a wave and recognizing the woman.
"Hey, Avril," Rosa said with a wave. "It's nice to see you again."
"It's nice to see you again too," Avril commented as she and Trigger let go of each other's hands.
Rosa then turned to Trigger, "And you must be Three Strikes. Avril has told me about you and I saw you in action over Tyler Island and at the space elevator. I even read that article about you in GAZE Magazine."
"I am Three Strikes," Trigger said with a nod. "But you can call me, Trigger."
"It's an honor to meet you, Trigger," Rosa commented.
"Not that I'm complaining but, what are you doing here?" Trigger asked.
"I am going to be staying here on the base," Rosa replied. "The colony around the space elevator has been turned over to the IUN."
"How come?" Avril spoke up.
Rosa sighed as she turned to Avril, "I thought I could manage being the leader of a provisional government around the space elevator. But it has become an even greater challenge than I thought. So, the IUN offered to take over for me and I accepted, but on condition that I'd be allowed to visit the refugees every once in a while; they find my presence comforting. The IUN then had General Bartlett set up a place for me here on the base to sleep in and I'll be sleeping in the officer's guest quarters."
"It'll be great to have you on the base with us," Avril commented.
"Avril and I can give you a tour after dinner if you'd like," Trigger offered.
Rosa turned to Trigger, "Thanks, but General Bartlett already gave me a tour." She then looked up at Trigger's plane. "That's a nice plane you have there, Trigger."
Trigger smiled, "Why thank you, Princess Cossette."
"Please, call me Rosa," Rosa said. She then commented. "And it's amazing how you were able to duel Mihaly A. Shilage three times and live. So many have considered him the best of the best."
Trigger sighed as he frowned, "I feel bad for that man. Even though he was responsible for the death of a couple of my friends and partially responsible for the development of those super-advanced drones I had to destroy, I felt remorse after killing him. I mean, he was just an elderly man who wanted to live life while he still could. I felt worse after learning through GAZE that he has two granddaughters who loved him dearly." Trigger sighed, again. "I bet they must hold a grudge against me for killing their grandfather."
Rosa shook her head, "Mihaly's not dead, Trigger."
Trigger was surprised, "He's not dead?"
"No," Rosa said. "And Mihaly's granddaughters hold no grudge against you. They hope to meet you sometime and hope you would meet Mihaly and make peace with him in person."
"Hey, Trigger. Hey, Avril," Came a male voice Trigger and Avril recognized.
Trigger, Avril, and Rosa turned to see a Caucasian man with blonde hair walk up.
"Hey, Count," Trigger waved, recognizing the man.
Count turned to Rosa, "You must be Erusean Princess Cossette."
"I am," Rosa said with a nod. "But you can call me Rosa. You must be Trigger's wingman from Zapland, Count."
"I am," Count said.
Rosa then asked, "Say, why are you called Count?"
"I spread rumors that I came from a noble family," Count replied. "But I was later caught, convicted of fraud, and sent to Zapland."
Just then, a Caucasian woman with black hair and a man with black hair and light-brown skin ran up to Trigger.
"Húxiān. Jaeger. What's up?" Trigger asked, recognizing the two people.
"You gotta see this!" Húxiān replied as she signaled him to follow her and Jaeger. "Quickly!"
Trigger nodded before following Húxiān and Jaeger with Avril, Count, and Rosa following behind.
A few seconds later, the five ran into a hanger right next to Avril's where a few other pilots and mechanics were gathered around a TV.
Trigger looked at the TV screen and it showed the words, 'Breaking News', on the screen.
"This is GAZE News live with Tanner Willis," A male voice from the TV spoke.
The screen changed to show a news anchorman wearing a suit and on the upper-right corner of the screen were Trigger's emblems: the wolf with a revolver clutched in its jaws and the three scratches with claws.
The anchorman spoke, "We've just received word that Kendra Garcia, mother of the Osean fighter pilot, Trevor Garcia, a.k.a. Three Strikes, has won a lawsuit against the Osean government for wrongly convicting her son of killing former Osean president, Vincent Harling. During the Lighthouse War, and while trying to save Harling, Three Strikes shot down a drone near Harling's V-22 Osprey at the exact same time an Erusean F/A-18 Super Hornet, which was secretly converted into a drone and equipped with an Osean Identification Friend or Foe transponder, shot down the Osprey. Soon after Harling was killed, the drone quickly flew away and since Three Strikes was the closest plane with an Osean IFF to Harling's Osprey, he ended up taking the fall for the murder."
"The higherups are idiots for making Trigger the fall guy!" A pilot commented.
"Yeah!" A mechanic agreed.
"Shhhhh!" Trigger said.
"At first, a lot of people believed Three Strikes was the murderer," The anchorman continued. "But it wasn't until a mission on Anchorhead, Erusea after the satellite network went down did the Osean military learn the truth and from defecting Erusean general, Édouard Labarthe before he was killed. When word of Three Strikes' innocence got out, his mother sued the Osean government for wrongly convicting her son. At first, the lawsuit was overturned by the Osean Supreme Court, but after Three Strikes ended the war in Osea's favor, the government decided to grant the Garcia family compensation of 100 million zollers."
"Wow, Trigger, you're now a millionaire!" Húxiān said in excitement.
Just then, the personal emblems of Trigger on the screen changed to show the logo of the International Space Elevator with the word, 'ATTACKED!' underneath it.
"In other news," The anchorman continued. "Several hours ago, the space elevator was attacked by unknown aircraft. Fortunately, Strider Squadron, lead by none other than, Three Strikes, was able to intercept and destroy the aircraft and the cruise missiles the aircraft fired at the space elevator. So far, no one knows who the attackers were. However, many believe the attack was the doing of either Erusean radicals or one of the Erusean groups that broke off to become their own independent state. As of now, the investigation to find out who's responsible for the attack continues. More news coming up after these message…"
An Osean pilot muted the TV.
"Okay, how come they didn't mention this story before the one about the lawsuit?" Count asked. "Isn't an act of war more important to mention before mentioning a lawsuit?"
"They must've made a mistake in the news story lineup," Húxiān speculated.
"I guess that could be it," Count said.
Trigger soon remembered something, turned to Avril and spoke, "Say, Avie, since we have to remain on the base and therefore can't go out to dinner at that bistro, wanna go have a drink at the bar on the base after dinner instead?"
Avril turned to Trigger and nodded, "That sounds good."
Count soon remembered something and spoke up, "Say, Trigger, I have nothing going on tonight, mind if I join you and Avril for dinner and a drink?"
"We don't mind at all," Trigger said as he turned to his wingman.
"Feel free to join us tonight," Avril added as she turned to Count.
Rosa thought for a moment, looked at Avril, and asked, "Say, Avril, mind if I join you three and we could make it a double date? You and Trigger and me and Count?"
"Rosa, are you asking me out?" Count asked he turned to the Erusean Princess.
Rosa turned to Count, "Yes, I would like to get to know you more."
Count smiled, "You know, I like to get to know you more too."
"Then it's a double date," Avril spoke. "Now, let's go have dinner in the mess hall."
Trigger looked at the other pilots and mechanics, "We'll see you guys later."
"We'll see you four later as well," Jaeger waved.
"You four have fun on your double date," Húxiān added.
With that, Trigger and Avril walked off hand-in-hand with Count and Rosa following behind.
After Trigger, Avril, Count, and Rosa walked off a pilot spoke, "I wonder how their double date will go."
A mechanic giggled and turned to the pilot, "Say, Terrance, do you think Count may end up becoming the prince of Erusea at some point after tonight?"
"I highly doubt it, Jere," Terrance replied to the pilot's question.
Jere turned to the other pilots and mechanics, "Anyone up for betting that Count and Rosa will start a relationship and/or Count will become prince of Erusea?"
"I bet 20 zollars they won't start a relationship!" A pilot called out.
"I bet 40 they will!" Another pilot spoke.
"I bet 60 Count will become the prince of Erusea!" A mechanic spoke.
"I bet 80 he won't!" Terrance spoke.
Jere nodded, "Okay, Mason, Wilson, Cook, and Terrance have placed their bets."
"I bet 2 zollars Count will embarrass himself during the double date!" Another mechanic spoke up.
Everyone turned to the mechanic with confused looks on their faces.
"What?" The mechanic asked, noticing everyone looking at him.
"Oh, Joker," Jere groaned as rolled his eyes. He then turned to Jaeger. "What about you, Jaeger? How much are you gonna bet?"
Jaeger shook his head, "I'm not making any bets whatsoever; I don't wanna set any bad examples for my son. If you guys wanna make bets, kindly leave me out of it."
Jaeger then walked away from the group.
Jere turned to Húxiān, "So, Húxiān, How much are you gonna bet?"
Húxiān turned to Jere, "I don't feel like betting on any of my friends."
She then walked away from the group.
But soon after Húxiān walked away, Jere looked at the other pilots and mechanics who haven't made bets yet.
"How much do the others bet?" Jere asked.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Trigger has saved the day once again. And he, Avril, Count, and Rosa will be going on a double date.
Now, it seems the pilots and mechanics have decided to make bets on Count and Rosa.
Who attacked the space elevator?
You'll find out.