The Belkan war: alternative story

by Vergeltern

It did not take great mans to begin wars nor to end then. But to turn the tide of one they are required. This is an alternate history for the Belkan war. Follow an other sixth Unit of Ustio, a different Galm team, as their actions will turn the tide in a twisted, but maybe better way. This story is rated T, but can content some M rated chapter with some depicted violent scenes.

6. Chapter 3: Operation Choker One

Valais Air Base, Ustio, 20/04/1995, 9:00, Weather: Little cloud coverage, low risk of snow.

Iskanda was a bit frustrated. Since almost a week she knew they were working on her X-29A and they had not authorized her to see it. How did she know? Well, fixing, melting and welding composites and ceramics had quite a different flagrance than the one you would obtain by melting and welding metals and alloys such as Duraluminium. She could even hear the noise of the sewing tools, along with the sparks they produced. She was now wondering if they would succeed or not. But a knock on the door of the room she was still sharing with Pixy attracted her attention, while she was reading some scientific magazine about the fall of Ulysses. Mens had already shattered the earth with their boundaries and their wars for centuries, and now space itself wanted to play a bit in the shattering game.

" Frau Rayien, Herr Steller fragt ihnen (Lady Rayien, Herr Steller is asking for you)." A young maintenance worker was standing in the open door. He seemed exhausted but satisfied.

Reading his identification card, she responded quickly:

" Arnold Razner, I am coming right now." She closed her magazine and put it in a drawer of the little cabinet they gave her to put her stuff in. Of all the solution to reduce the damage, none was deemed to be successful : it was very hard to launch shells or cruise missiles to destroy such small fragments, and the gravity of mars, the Moon and the earth made calculation truly hard. The most viable approach was the Emmerian one: protect the people through giant shelters and give up the cities we could not protect.

" So, is my plane fixed?" She asked as they made their way to the hangar.

" Well, I let Herr Steller judge that." He said, scratching the back of his head, a bit embarrassed not to be able to respond yet.

At her hangar, the smell of burned metals and alloys greeted her. At least, the X-29A was no more a metallic sewer. But there were dramatic changes to the paintjob of the plane: the nose, the forward-swept wings, the back ailerons and the canards were now in a very dark color. They even seemed to absorb light. The belly radar she ordered had been mounted and was also covered by a dark plating. The central fuselage, on the other hand, was not that changed: they kept the traditional paint job of the X-29A: a large dark blue line surrounded by two red line. But the red was a bit darker than usual, almost a bit bloody. While she turned around the plane, she could see that the airbrake behind the cockpit had been replaced by this dark matter. And strangely, the craft had now a twin exhaust port. Steller seemed to be smiling as he was watching the plane too. Even if Iskanda was not a very extrovert kind of person, she decided to show her happiness to him.

" Let me go, I'm a married man." He complained when the merc hugged him.

" Damn, I will have to watch for a jealous wife and the Belkans in the sky now." She took this new threat with humor.

" You should not laugh about it." Steller said while she was rubbing her hand around the strange black matter. It wasn't cold as alloys are. " My wife is the chief cook of the base. If you do not want to have nothing but water and dry bread you should not mess with my work."

" Got it, but what composites did you use to obtain that color?"

" It's a mixture of graphene and new generation ceramics. Less flexible but a bit more resistant to aerodynamic torsion there're on those forward-swept wings. Besides, it adds some stealth to your plane." He repeated a bit was the Sapins explained to him last week.

" And about the avionics I asked, everything is OK?" She tried to process the few change to the former state of her craft - before it was reduced to a sewer-.

" The belly radar is in place, we even put a small screen just above the firing switches to help the lock-on through this one. The twin guns have now an electrical firing system which should reduce the time of reaction, and you can fit all the standard ordnance on your plane: QAAMs, FAEBs or LAGMs." Steller described the few changes they made. He did not have the time to ask her why she wanted a second radar, as the speakers of the base screamed the second after, asking for all flying personals to come for briefing.

Briefing room of Valais Air Base, Ustio, 20/04/1995.

" Since our Erusean Kamerad is finally here, we can begin the briefing. We have received multiple tasks from the chain of command." Koenig began the briefing, as the Axe and Hammer mapping system was getting online.

" The first one is to help the escort of the third fleet against a little Belkan naval strike force. This will be for our carrier-based aircraft only, due to the distance between Valais and the Osean third fleet. You will receive more information once you will be there." The map showed the Osean fleet, which was still waiting for a new carrier to advance. The few that were there, the Buzzard, the Vulture and the Evanessor were almost depleted of their fighters, but still had an impressive naval defense of twelve frigates, ten destroyers, eight cruisers, six Aegis-class and four nuclear-powered attack submarines.

" Aren't your Sea Flankers made for carrier pads only?" Viviane pointed out the difference of carrier-based compatibility.

" The originals are. But the mechanics have already put the necessary systems for your airplanes to be compatible with the Osean carriers. Also, kein problem." Koenig replied.

" You can count on us, Sir." Valentin Kovsky said first, being the senior pilot in the team. The four concerned pilot then headed outside the room, knowing their travel was going to be a tough one: Belka would surely try to intercept them.

" Halo 5 and 7, your airplanes are not carrier compatible, and for this reason you will help protect the Gavilàn squadron while they strike the Belkan-Sapin front line at the south west of Aarlon." Kœnig resumed the briefing.

The screen then showed a portion of the Aare river at the south of the route 171, but this time the river was more on a East-West vector. This allowed the Belkans to create a long line of defense against aerial and ground threats. They had even moved a few ships through a nearby canal, and the surviving CAS fighter of Sapin were no use again Belkan new Aegis class, equipped with two bays of BAWS, one at the stern and one at the bow, each protected by three SPKs and two AA guns. And those one had also been equipped with modernized dual barrel 75-millimeter cannons, capable of firing conventional shells or rockets able to lock on to ground targets and choppers. The Belkans have renamed them TAS for TempestAngreiffSchiffe. The name spoke by itself: they were able to bring by themselves a tempest of fire.

" Hopefully this time we will have all our ground ammo. We will need it." Halo 5 pointed out. 16 UGLBs and 14 SFFSs would not be enough to destroy the three Aegis vessel in the area and the ground troops. But Sapin forces were not thin either: they had the EC665 that could carry some LAGMs instead of their standard XAGMs. And the Espada and Picador team would be sent as their aerial cover.

" It's a joint operation. We do not know every details of the disposition of the Belkans forces there yet, so you will receive information from the Sapin forces. Work with them and the route 171 will finally connect Aarlon with the south of Sapin." Johnson said, as the numbers of the Belkans forces there were only obtained through Oseans satellites that were not perfect.

" Do not worry, Commander. We will make Ustio proud." Halo 7 said as they went out of the briefing room.

" And, what do we have left?" Iskanda asked, fully aware than her X-29A was not carrier capable either.

" Well, the chief of command has ordered you to do some scouting along the former border between Ustio and Belka. You will be monitoring area B7R, which is currently under Belkan control. The area is subject to magnetic interference due to the magnetic geology of this place. A strong Belkan resistance is expected there. Free engagement of Belkans is authorized on sight." Koenig described what many would have considered as a suicidal mission: two plane going against the defensive forces composed of four F-4Es, four MiG-21s, and four F-20As Tigersharks.

" This is promised to be fun." Iskanda gauged, saluting the admiral before leaving the briefing room. Today, she was going to take her X-29A back to the sky. And she was going to need some blood to baptize it a second time…

" So, they finally fixed it?" Pixy guessed, as they went to the hangar. The Griffon has been removed since a week, but during the briefing, the X-29A replaced it, moved from the fixing hangar to theirs.

" Yes. I will just take QAAMs for today, as it's an air-to-air mission only." She said to the maintenance crews, who fastened the said missiles with the standard ones.

" Do not forget the Electronic Pulse Missile, in case we met those forward swept-wing fighters with thermobaric ordnance." Pixy said as he climbed in his F-15C. He had always chosen a mixt of XMAAs and QAAMs, taking eight of the first and six of the second, while her X-29A could only carry six QAAMs with the EPMs.

" I think if we could use them in great number it would be even funnier, but our own aircrafts are not emp-proof, Schade." She commented as she climbed into her fighter.

One minute later, they were both taxiing on the runway, the new engine of the X-29A not making her as fast as the Griffon, it would have been miraculous, but they still could push the plane to around two thousand kilometers per hour.

" Galm 1, Galm 2, altitude restriction cancelled, kept your path on the bearing 330 toward B7R. Good luck up there." Henri wished them as they slowly faded out of Valais Air Base's radars.

Front line on the Aare river, three hundred kilometers South-West of Aarlon, 20/04/1995, 10:30, Weather: little drizzle.

" This is Halo 5, Gavilàn, Espada and Picador squadron, are you here?" Fred asked from his F-15C.

" Got one AWACS around here?" Francis followed, used to their aerial guidance and ability to prevent or at least to diminish the likelihood of surprise air attack by low flying fighters or stealth.

" This is Espada 2, on my way to provide aerial supremacy for the Ustians. Our ground forces have already engaged with the Belkans forces, but we will need your support to destroy their heavy howitzers and their TAS. And no, our last AWACS was destroyed by the new Belkan anti-air system." One female Sapin voice said from a Rafale paint with yellow and red lines. A J35 Draken was flying nearby with the same camo. Maybe Espada 1. The Espada insignia was a bull pierce by a foil and a dagger, surrounded by flames, with the name of the squadron written in gothic-like white letters. Their squad number was the nine air and Land fighter squadron, 11th tactical fighter squadron. The Picador squadron was 4 grey F-16Cs, known for their great gun accuracy. Their symbol was a target pierce by throwing knives.

" Roger, we can do without it. Beginning joint operation now." Halo five said while diving toward an heavy howitzer. They were more of a giant cannon than anything else. Each of the foot of each cannons was as big as a tank, and the barrel was maybe more than two hundred millimeter in diameter. They were four on the Belkan side of the river, each surrounded by AA guns on their support and on self-propelled vehicles. SAMs opened fire as soon as they saw the Eagles beginning their dive, but it was too late, as two SFFSs of the Strike Eagle had already been dropped.

Sliced by the cloud of shrapnels, the defenses of the howitzer were terminated by the Sapin standard missiles, opening a path for the Ustians. Fred dropped one bomb on each, and then they fired their standard missiles and guns too. The bombs themselves were not enough to destroy the units, but the dents they created in their armor were enough to allow their missiles to trigger inside chain reactions which destroyed the cannons.

But the two next seemed to take this new threat with a bit more care: they had deploy small SPKs. Francis tried to take them with his SFFSs, but the great number of cannons allowed the Belkans to intercept enough shrapnels to prevent the howitzer destruction.

" Damned, does your Rafale come with any SODs or LASMs?" Halo 5 asked to Espada 2.

" Espada 2 to Halo 5, sorry, I am on full air-to-air, I have only XMAAs today." She replied, a bit sorry.

" This is Gavilàn 1. We have LAGMs. Just sent them some missile saturation attack and our strike should be successful." The leader of the EC665s indicated.

" Roger. Beginning saturation attack now!" Espada 1 ordered.

The eight planes quickly regroup themselves in a tight formation, before diving toward the SPKs. Of course, only a few missiles went through the Belkan wall of fire while some bullet hit them. The Ustians did not suffer that much, but Picador 4 was out of commission. But thanks to this distraction, four long range air-to-ground missiles were fired without further notice by the EC665. And their speed made their interception nearly impossible. Only one of them explode in mid-air, and the three other sent shockwaves to the entire area. And the following shockwaves which resulted of the howitzer's destruction finished the few ground-to-air defenses.

Deprived of their aerial support, the few remaining tanks on the Belkan side were quickly bombed by the Ustians, while the APCs and light howitzer were gunned by the Sapins. Picador 4 had successfully retired from the engagement zone. Some Sukhoi 32 Strike Flanker try to sneak through the two aerial units, but the XMAAs of the Rafale and F-16Cs stopped them before they could do any damage to the Sapin ground forces. Yet the Sapins could not go through the bridge: their surface artillery managed to cause some damage to the lighter ships, but the Belkan Aegis were still untouched. They were preventing any tentative of crossing the bridge, as their surface artillery was enough to reduce any Sapin tanks or APC to dust.

" Damned it, does your EC665 have more LAGMs?" Francis asked, as he was avoiding one missile sent by the BAWS.

" No, we have not a very large capacity. But we have some surprise coming for those Aegis." Gavilàn 1 responded. It was just an idea on how to use the 75-millimeter cannons they captured last week, but it could work.

" Roger, Gavilàn. But there are some Belkan fighter incoming, we will have to deal with them first." Espada 1 added, as his radar was showing the Belkan incoming threat: ten F-15Es to deal with the Sapin ground forces, four EA-18Gs Growler for electronic coverage, seven Migalev 29As Fulcrum and eight F-14Ds to regain aerial superiority.

" We have them outnumbered." One Belkan leader said.

" Do not get overconfident. Are the lesson taught by the failures of the Ragnarök and Dschungel squadron not enough?" The leader of the two-tone grey camo Strike Eagle replied.

" Ver. Engaging." The Belkan pilots responded one by one.

" What does this " Ver " even mean?" Picador 3 asked, chasing two F-15Es while avoiding a XMAA from one of the Growlers.

" It's the short term for Verstanden, understand, signor." Halo 7 translated from the Belkan he learned back in Gymnasium.

" Thanks." Picador 3 finished the conversation while firing a pair of XMAAs on the Strike Eagles. One did evade the attack, but they were less mobile than the small F-16C. The little fighter did not take that long to get into firing position, while dodging the fire from two Fulcrum on his fourth and seventh hours.

" I have been punctured. Main engine failure." The Belkan pilot said right before bailing out.

" One by one, they are falling. Fox 3." The female voice of Espada 2 said as she fired her own XMAAs on the Fulcrums, saving Picador 3 some time.

" Increase ECM at level four." The Belkan leader of the jamming aircraft said.

" Ver, Increasing ECM." His wingmen replied. Now the HUD of the allied forces - Sapins and Ustians - was truly becoming crazy. They radar showed nothing but grey.

" Madre de Dios, shot those ECM craft." Picador 2 swore, while avoiding a SAAM from a Strike Eagle.

" I have one in my sight." Espada 2 said, her highly mobile Rafale slowly outmaneuvering the Prowler. But the Belkans pilots had not let their last card: while the copilot dumped flares to disrupt the IR lock, the pilot accelerated, outrunning for some seconds the Rafale which had lost speed to dogfight properly. The Sapin female ace then speed up to catch up with him, and she was joining then quickly. Yet, as she was slowing a little bit to aim her gun at their EA-18G, the Belkan craft pulled out a Pugachev's Cobra at the last moment, avoiding by sheer luck the gunfire.

" Stay with your little dances and let flying to traue menschen, Fraulein !" The Belkan pilot said as he leveled his aircraft right on hers, right before firing his gun. The left missile launcher of the Rafale was disabled, but she could still fight. And she was not going to play nice after this mockery.

" Prepare to die, Estupido Belkan!" She lashed out of anger and hit the afterburners. She outrun them in a matter of seconds, as post-stall maneuvers depleted greatly the speed of the aircraft. She was quickly out of gun range for her followers, but she was not fleeing, only waiting for the moment to strike. Doing a Split-S, she was in the perfect position for a head-on XMAA launch. The Prowler did attack too, but she manage to lose their tracking by inverting her Rafale and diving inverted, while the much sturdier EA-18G was not so lucky and was hit just below the engine, as he tried to climb to lose the missile. The pilot managed to keep the plane stable, but not for long: his destroyed afterburners could not outrun the Sapin craft for long, and soon a 30-millimeter burst sent the engines and the craft itself ablaze.

" Jeez, I already know that Belkan, Ustian and Erusean woman were not someone to be tempered with, but it seemed that we could include Sapins to the list." Halo 5 said, as he was downing another EA-18G with his gun and a F-14D with a pair of standard missiles, which had tried to attack him from his two hours, but it was without taking account the large angle of lock of his F-15C.

" How do you know about Erusean ones, Ustian?" Picador 2 asked while downing a F-14D that tried to make him overshoot by opening its wing, but the F-16C decelerated too, and managed to gun the left wing while it was opening. With the asymmetrical aerial surface, the Belkan F-14D become very unstable, and a single burst on its engine was enough to make it enter a spiral of death toward the ground.

" Well, our last arrived merc is an Erusean female pilot. Great one, a bit crazy and reckless but can fly anything against anyone." Halo 7 described Galm 1.

" This description is good. Maybe I hope we will meet her above the Canal Futuro. I mean, we will surely attack this place, it's the only way in for the naval forces." Espada 2 added while downing the two-last jammer by a combination of gun burst and standard IR-guided missiles.

" Gott Verdammt, we have lost the ECM!" A Belkan cursed, as the allied radar became green again.

" Finally, some fair game." Picador 1 said, before modifying the weapon restriction of his wingmen. " Free fire of Fox 3s, guys."

" Espada 2, Fox 3." The Rafale fired a volley of XMAAs toward the remaining F-14Ds. The ones of the Picador squadron targeted the F-15Es. But the MiG-29As were still numerous and the Aegis vessel had launched their AH-64s, who were beginning to target the Sapin fighters with their air-to-air missiles.

Yet they did not have seen on their radar the low profile of the EC665 who flew right on their six. The nine Belkan choppers were forced to scatter to avoid collision when four of them burst in flames. Three headed back toward the Aegis to obtain cover fire, while two stayed to fight the Gavilàn squadron.

" We are more mobile than them, leader. We can win this." Gavilàn 2 said, as he did a loop to avoid an air-to-air missile, and quickly rotate after his maneuver to fire his gun on the Belkan craft.

" I agree. Target down." The number one said after getting on the six of the Belkan AH-64 by a series of sharp turns. In the meantime, all remaining MiG-29s were down by the allied fighters, either gunned or shot down by long range missile as they tried to retreat.

" How about your surprise for the TempestAngreiffSchiffe?" Halo 7 asked, as he was trying with his brother and Espada 1 to take the SPKs of one but succeeded only in taking two cannons while all three planes suffered nasty hits.

" The EC865 Anacondas have already made their delivery. Let use the power of the past again their creators." Gavilàn 1 cryptically said.

" What are the EC865s?" Picador 1 asked, only to receive like all the allies a quick description of those craft: they had the twin rotor like conventional transport chopper, but with the stealth frame looking a bit like the Tiger. But their front cockpit was an elongated one, looking like the front of some very high-speed train, to maximize air flow. Yet if the overall shape of the craft was a bit like these high speed trains they copied the aerodynamic design from, the sides were not very smooth, but irregular, curved into some vertical wave manner, which make the black ceramics looked like some black snake skin. Still, they weren't just simple transport either, as two rocket pods revealed in a concealed front bay, along with two gun pods on each side housing a SPK, giving them a bit of cover against shoulder-mounted SAMs. Successful reengineering of Belkan technology would be Belka's downfall someday, Fred thought, as he saw these new generation choppers.

And what they had delivered did not stay a mystery for long either. The chopper had just landed for some dozens of seconds and seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

" You may fire when ready, Renegado 1" Gavilàn 2 ordered.

" Ver. Firing now." Renegado 1 said. From three areas just behind each Belkan Aegis came a first volley of 75-millimeter shells, quickly followed by other numerous volleys, as the anti-recoil system of this old canon allowed a very high firing rate.

" Was passiert? Gib mir eine Schadenmeldung." (Give me a damage report) A Belkan captain shouted to his servants as the ship he commended tilted under the fire. Indeed, the three Aegis were oriented with the surface weaponry toward the Sapins forces, not the other way. So they were pretty much defenseless against those 75 millimeter cannons.

" Es ist nicht gut. SPKs sind nicht mehr verfügbar!" (SPKs are no longer online) A servant screamed in terror as the shockwaves had disabled the cannons, leaving the BAWS bays vulnerable to aerial attacks.

" Schließt (close) the BAWS Bays! Now!" A Belkan captain ordered, but the damage was already done.

" Was wartest du daran, (What are you waiting for) Karl, Schließt die BAWS?" A Belkan lieutenant said to a artillery servants, who was trying desperately to close the bays.

" Das Konsole funktioniert nicht mehr (it does not work anymore). Gott Verdammt!" The Belkan servants cursed. But as all those Belkan were cursing and complaining, the Ustians and Sapin squadron attacked the vulnerable Aegis.

Halo 5 and 7 attack the middle one, the Espada squadron the one to the East and the Picador squadron the one at the West of the battlefield. The Ustian crafts dive cautiously toward the BAWS, making sure than at least one of their bombs explode inside. For the Espada team, they dive from an almost vertical angle of attack, and fire everything in the bays, even their remaining SAAMs and XMAAs. The warheads were not armed, but they still detonated on impact.

But the Picador squadron was met with further resistance: one missile boat had survived the initial onslaught and manage to hit hard Picador 3 and make the two other turn away. He could not move that much from his projected bombing run, and the few AA guns still alive on the Aegis hit him again as he tried to flee.

" Sorry guys. May Sancta Victoria welcome me and look on you." Picador three solemnly said, before aiming his F-16C on the BAWS Bays. The impact was terrific, it nearly cut the Aegis in half.

" Ah, Madre de Dios. Until the end he will have remained a believer." Espada 1 commented the action of Picador 3 as the Aegis were all burning.

" He fell as a warrior. He would not have like to be considered as a martyr." Picador 1 added, a bit more compassionate than the other Sapin leader.

Even if the Picador squadron had suffered two losses, the Belkan line of defense was only burning ships, burning barrels and retreating tanks which were currently attacked by all the ground forces of Sapin : a few Gazelles had joined the Gavilàn squadron and were enjoying the chase, as the Belkan forces were pinned down by the precise shots of their new artillery forces, composed of twelve 75 millimeter cannons - they had produced eight pieces since last week, along with the four EC865 needed to transport them.

" This is the Commandant Weeker aboard the Kestrel. Thanks for pinning those Belkan fighters and Aegis here. The naval forces have well advanced." An Osean voiced said over the waves.

" So, we were just decoys? Damn weak Oseans." Halo 5 swore, as he was turning back to Valais Air Base with his brother, after saying his respect for the fallen Sapins. He was a bit bitter that this operation was just a mere distraction, but sometimes war were not just heroic frontal charges.

" I hope we won't meet any of those new Aegis vessels in Canal Futuro, or it could be our caìda (doom)." Espada 2 wished, as they were going back to their respective Air Base in Sapin.

Thirty kilometers at the South East of B7R, Ustio, 20/04/1995, 11:15, Weather: Thick cloud coverage, little chance of rain

They had flown at a relatively low speed, in order to reduce the probability of being heard by soldiers on ground or even a lone patrolling chopper, as they were flying at low altitude below the cloud coverage. The Belkan AWACS could not see them and they were low enough to avoid ground radar, but the AA artillery servants were not deaf: any plane was still noisy. So, they had to fly in subsonic, to reduce their profile even more.

" So, how is this famous area B7R?" Galm 1 asked to her wingmen, as they were getting closer to said area.

" Belkan priority one area B7R, also known as the round table. This antediluvian impact crater was a great site for Belkan DACT until the war broke out. You could engage everyone in the vicinity without consequences, even between Belkan mercs and Belkan officials. Officials who manage to stay alive were rewarded as honorably knight, they even had some little ceremony on the ground." Pixy began to describe the sector, which caused a bit of nostalgia to come to his mind.

" And mercs cannot have the title I suppose?"

" Nope. For us there's only one ultimate rule: to survive. Yet if you were hurt enough but manage to retreat safely it was still counted as a victory."

" This is going to be fun. The two of us against the whole Belkan Air Force." She maniacally laughed, before hitting the burners to arrive first in B7R.

Area B7R, Ustio, 20/04/1995, 11:20, Weather: high stratus.

" Damned, what is wrong with my compass? It can't stop turning!" Iskanda said, thinking that everything has been fixed on her craft.

" That's normal, Galm 1. Magnetic raw materials made this kind of navigation system useless around here. But you can still deduce direction from sun and times." The AWACS explained.

" And for this same reason electromagnetic locked missiles can be fooled very easily when flying close to the ground." Pixy added.

" Roger that." She acknowledged this strange physical fact.

However, even below one kilometer, they were soon discovered by the squadron of for dark grey F-4Es at the South East of B7R. The Fishbed were patrolling the South-West, and the Tigersharks the East-Southeast.

" What is wrong with the IFF? I only see two aircraft on radar." One Belkan said, almost frustrated that the allied forces sent such a few forces.

" They know nothing about the round table. Let teach them the respect of Belkan propriety first." Another Belkan pilot said.

The four F-4Es hit the burners and went straight head-on toward the Galm team. They fired their SAAMs as soon as they were in range, but the F-15C and the X-29A evaded them with ease, before resuming their own head-on attack. In perfect synchronization, Pixy and Iskanda downed two on the center of the formation, before extending their air brakes and going for a gun kill on the two external Ghosts. Pixy manage to get his first as he was way faster than his opponent, while Iskanda had to chase her opponent a bit. Still, her craft rendered even more unstable by the new materials turn like he did not take into account air resistance, and she outmaneuvered the Belkan craft in seconds before pulling the trigger. The F-4E exploded as she fired her twin guns at his engine.

" Verdammt mercs." A Belkan piloting a Fishbed swore as he saw the demise of his comrades.

" Pixy, you take the MiG 21s, I am on the Tigersharks. I am a little hungry today, and I think a aileron shark soup will be nice to eat." She ordered to her wingmen, trying to diffuse her lust of blood through a bit of humor.

" As you wish, Frau Deadpool." He followed the order, going right on the twelve of those Fishbed. His fight was a short one: he dispatched one craft with his gun and one with a pair of missiles, and then inverted his fighter to launch a pair of QAAMs. In this position, they were a bit faster, he had noticed that since a long time. Why was a question to asked to Thesermeister maybe. But it was efficient despite the little temporarily headache it created, as his four opponents were downed.

Her flight was a bit more unstable, yet with some kind of artistic-like manners. She went straight for the F-20As, evading their missiles by tilting her aircraft and flying with a ninety-degree angle relative to horizon. One or two times, they tried to shoot her down with their SAAMs but she managed to evade their fire. The missile alert was red all the time, as the stall one too, but she closed the gap, nevertheless. She then avoided a pair of two standards missiles sent by one at the center right of their formation, and as she was oriented on the one hour of the Belkan she fired her guns at him. She dealt with the second the same way. And before the two others could fire their SAAMs again, she had dived toward the ground. One of the Tigershark was beginning to tilt toward her when she inverted her flight path and climb at high speed toward him. He did fire a pair of missiles, but she barrel-rolled while climbing and the salvo was avoided. She gunned him quickly before resuming her climb, going beyond the altitudes of the last F-20A. He tried to run by hitting the afterburners, but it was time for her to show the use of having a second radar below her plane : as she climbed vertically, the belly radar was facing and locked on the last F-20A. And while leveling her plane she fired a QAAM. The missile climbed a bit before going right on the Belkan craft in a parabolic maneuver.

"Teufel, how did she lock onto me? Her radar was pointing toward the sky, not meeeee." The Belkan pilot screamed in horror as he saw the missile closing the distance.

" Galm 2 for Galm 1, there're incoming foes. No ace but three Tornadoes, four F16XL and three X-29A." Her wingmen warned her, as this little squadron broke through the former Ustian border of B7R.

" I'm on the X-29As, free engagement for you." She said, going straight for the three forward swept-wing fighters.

" Roger. Good luck." He wished her. He did not fight that much forward swept-wing fighters, but he knew they could outmaneuver any fighter if handed properly. Even dogfighters such as the Typhoon and the F-14 were underdogs compared to these. So, his first choice was the Gr4s. A volley of SAAMs fired by the F-16XL flew toward him, but he fooled them by diving toward the ground. When climbing, he made sure he did not break the limit of the Ustian B7R and went toward the Tornados at full speed. Two of them fell to a combination of missile and gunfire, and the third went down with a XMAA, as he tried to flee outside the engagement zone but was too slow to outrun the missile.

While he dispatched these three CAS planes, she was going full head-on on the X-29As. Again, she managed to evade the fire of her enemies and retaliated by a pair of missiles and QAAMs, locking successfully the three Belkan craft. Yet they also managed to evade her fire. She then set her aircraft for a dive below the one in the middle of the enemy formation. He tried to gun her head-on but as she was below him, he missed, but only by mere centimeters. Extending her airbrakes at full speed, she decelerated very quickly. She almost entered in a stall, but as she was reaching the stalling point, she pulled as hard as she could. Her plane almost rotated on the pitch axis, and she was very quickly on the six of the Belkan craft but went into redout for a few seconds as she inverted her aircraft back to horizontal. If this maneuver was painful, it offered the advantage of being in a very short time in the six of an enemy after a missed head-on. The Belkan had no time to react before she gunned him down. The two others instantly spread out.

" Gottverdammt, this merc know how to handle a X-29A, i have to give her that." One of the Belkans acknowledged.

" Mein Lieber, flattery will get you nowhere. But thanks anyway." Iskanda replied, a bit surprised that Belkan were respecting her despite her being their foe.

" Schmetterling Manöver! Jetzt!" The other Belkan X-29A pilot said, as they had the advantage of speed for a few seconds, as she had depleted greatly her speed while doing her head-to-tail-like maneuver.

" I wonder that they mean by butterfly maneuver?" Iskanda mentally asked herself, as the two Belkan spread into two opposite direction. She was willing to follow one, but at the same time her radar blared: an enemy F-16XL had locked onto her at close range. It must have come while she was getting out of her redsight.

As she swept from side to side, but still following a linear pattern, she finally understood what they meant by a ''butterfly'' maneuver. The two of them had made a horizontal loop toward her, and were currently coming right on her three and nine hours respectively. The path their afterburners had drawn in the sky look like the wing of a butterfly. And now she had four missiles and four QAAMs lock onto her. She knew she could just outrun the IR tracking of the standard, but not the QAAMs. Those missiles were too fast and too nimble to be disrupted that easily.

So, she decided to do the only maneuver that put her back in safe zone, the same than less than a minute before. This caught the F-16XL's pilot out guard, as he did not see her doing that, not like the X-29As pilot who let a little sigh of fatigue, as they had to break their attack to evade being hit by the lost missiles. "Where had she learned this crazy maneuver?" The X-29A Belkan pilot mused, wondering who could be crazy enough to try this maneuver in the first place.

She was now heading straight toward the F-16XL, who immediately fired a pair of missiles, but she dived without even having the time to invert back her plane. But in this situation, her ''belly radar'' was toward the Falcon. And three second later one of her QAAMs was locked and aimed at the Belkan craft. The high velocity missile struck him right below the delta wing, and the craft exploded a few seconds later.

" Gottverdammt, how does she lock onto him? Ich verstehe nichts?" A Belkan F-16XL pilot said, as he has only seen the scene on his radar.

" Nichts ist was du wirst." (Nothing is what you're going to become.) Pixy replied, firing a final volley of XMAAs toward the F-16XLs. Two of them hit their target, while the fourth Belkan craft managed to evade a direct hit: only the tip of his left wing was blown up. Yet the inflicted damage was enough to diminish the mobility of the plane, and Pixy gunned him down quickly.

Meanwhile, Iskanda quickly handled the last two X-29As. One of them had dived to follow her, but as she dived sooner, she had more speed to move, and when he was just arriving at gun range, she hit the burners, doing a horizontal loop toward him. He did hit the burners to outrun her too, but this was too late, this due to the new dual exhaust engine of Iskanda's X-29A: a dual burst of gun tore his single engine apart. The second did not the same mistake and fired from the farthest range possible a pair of QAAM. Powered by a solid propellant motor, the missile quickly closed the gap between the two craft, reaching a Mach 2 velocity. The two projectiles were closing on her quickly. Too quick to be just evaded. So, she decided to forget safety - since when does she take safety into account? and fire two of her QAAMs on his: the four missiles collide with each other as the Belkan QAAMs were doing a U-turn toward her. She had only two of her QAAMs left, but she had suppressed this threat

" Verdammte!" He swore while firing a pair of standard missiles, which she evaded by a double turn.

" Well it's you who's gonna be damned, Dummkopf!" She retorted, and while tilting her aircraft with a ninety-degree angle relative to the horizon, she almost turned on herself. She then headed on straight toward the last X-29A. And fired her gun as she passed just below him to evade his gunfire. The burst destroyed his left front air intake, and the next second he was engulfed in flames.

" This is Eagle Eye, the last defensive Belkan aircraft is down. Galm team, penetrate B7R." Johnson said, calmly. But he knew Belka wasn't going to let this violation stay unpunished.

" That's weird, this order. For a woman I mean." Iskanda sarcastically commented this order.

" I do not imagine you as a dominant woman, but you have strange hobbies, Frau Deadpool." Pixy said, almost laughing, but he lost his funny attitude when he saw on the long-range radar fighters incoming.

" Pixy, I know I am your flight lead now, but i do not want a report of your love affairs with your previous leader." Iskanda snapped back, and the following ''funny'' conversation was cut off some lines later by the AWACS.

Area B7R, Belka, 20/04/1995, 11:30, Weather: high stratus.

" This is AWACS Eagle Eye. Bogeys closing on B7R. Probably the main force." Johnson interrupted them.

" Retreat is not an option, Galm team." Koenig warned, as the two were violating the naos of Belkan airspace.

" Don't worry, Professor Chen, I will follow your rules." Iskanda replied, hitting the burners.

" I'm sure you were going to say this. This is gonna cost you extra!" Pixy said, hurtling toward the Belkan reinforcements.

Four EF-2000 Typhoon were hurtling toward the airspace, but with an opposite direction. They all had a bright red paint job, removing the little stealth capacities those aircraft possessed. But usually, the one who recognized this squadron would flee, this was enough reason for this highly colored camo. Yet these mercs, who had surely recognized them, did not flee. And they had destroyed all the defensive squadron with relative ease. The four squadron members were cautious, but never afraid: they were aces of the Belkan Air Force, not some scared Frischling. Their squadron emblem was a red and white hawk surrounded by two pairs of red stars, on top of some medieval-like blazon with the Belkan colors and a stylized hawk, and written on a medieval banner, the word "Stolz" -Pride-. The picture in a black and grey circle, with the number of their squadron: 52nd tactical fighter squadron.

" Time to hunt some wild dogs." Their leader, Rot 1 said, while locking on the F-15C. Locking on the other craft did take some time, but this could be justified by the lower altitude of it which augmented magnetic interference.

" These are Typhoons. Watch out, they are known for their long-range capacities." Pixy warned her leader, but now she was no longer focused on her wingmen's speech, but on her foe's.

" Fleischer, it's your name?" She asked just to be sure of the pun she was going to throw.

" Ja, aber wie eine …" He began his response but was cut by Iskanda. How could this low-level she-merc know his name?

" Du hieltst mir für ein Hund! Aber wir sind Wolfen. Und Wolfen ernähren von Rohfleisch, Fleischer (You take us for dog. But we are wolves. And wolves feed on raw flesh)! Your squadron will be enough after this little aileron soup." She roared at him, now fully mad of his insult.

Pixy had only seen her in this state once, when she talked about the almost-matricide she had committed and knew she was something to fear when in this state. ''Rot 1, du irrst so viel heute (you missed big time today),'' He mused in Belkan, staying a bit behind, ready to cover her but not wanting to be hit by some stray bullet she could fire out of anger.

" I am supposed to be scared? Fox 3" Rot 1 reluctantly asked, firing a entire volley of XLAAs on her small fighter.

" Du sollst," She replied in Belkan while evading the poorly locked missiles due to the low altitude magnetic interference, smiling mischievously as the four missiles slammed into the ground.

" I agree, you should." Pixy added, trying to warn his compatriot of his now inevitable fate.

Another volley of XLAAs followed but again she evaded them with ease. But after evading them she was now in range for her air-to-air ordnance. She went head-on for the four-plane formation and launched two missiles on Rot 4. He tried to flee but the missiles impacted just below his exhaust, and he was down.

As she crossed path with the Belkan squadron, she instantly made a quick U-turn. The leader accelerated to engage Galm 2, leaving his two wingmen against Galm 1. And they pulled a quick Himmelman, attacking her from her ten and two hours.

" Rot zwei, Fox 3!" He fired an XLAA volley, followed by his comrade. But the two attacks failed, when Iskanda inverted her plane and dive inverted toward the ground. And in the meantime, she locked the two EF-2000 through her secondary radar. Her last two QAAMs destroyed the two red fighters. They did try to evade, but the QAAMs were quicker than them.

" Sei Verdammt, du gnadenlose Söldnerin (be damned, you merciless she-merc)! Unlike you mercenaries I'm fighting for a real cause and proud of it." The leader screamed, while U-turning toward her.

" This pride will be your downfall; Rot 1" Pixy commented the saying of this Belkan who dared to think he had a moral high ground.

Pixy arrived in range then. Yet the leader managed to evade his missiles and even one QAAM. And Fleischer went head-on for this merc that dared to defy them. They exchanged a pair of missiles, who were evaded by a barrel-roll to the left, and the two were out of gun range in doing so.

" There's no pride in defending some far-right dictatorship. There's only in fighting for the ones who cannot." Iskanda retorted with a harsh voice, dashing toward this prideful Belkan. From her point of view, she had the moral high ground.

And if Rot 1 was trying to evade a gun engagement, Iskanda did the opposite: tilting her aircraft at ninety degree and extending her airbrake, she was on his nine hours when they crossed. And the Belkan craft was hit on all the fuselage. Iskanda even heard some scream of pain on the radio, but she did not care for a disrespectful proud Belkan at all. As the EF-2000 was going out of control in a stall, engine ablaze, she finished the craft with a pair of missiles.

" Enemy craft vaporized. Their captain, apparently." Pixy said, as the Typhoon was literally disintegrated.

" This is Eagle Eye, nice showdown, but I'm afraid it's only the beginning. I have two other waves of Belkan fighter incoming." Their AWACS operator said, but did not lose his cool, as he had thought they would have trouble dealing with the Rot squadron, but it was nothing for the two of them.

" Apparently, we are going against Gripen now." Pixy described the oncoming squadron.

Four grey Gripen C with an indigo-blue horizontal Line were incoming. Her emblem was a blue Heron, the eponymous nickname of their leader, known for his combat agility. He had downed fifth generation aircraft with ease, even three F-22As over Wesson when he supported the Gault squadron. Their blazon was completed by a medieval metallic helmet decorated with pinkish feathers. Squad number was 51st tactical fighter squadron.

They came into two group of two, each firing a XMAA on the Ustian crafts. Spreading out, the six Unit retaliated with a missile head-on on each Gripens, but they were shot for trash. The Ustian crafts intended to turn around after crossing the Belkan fighters' path, but the two opposite group fired other XMAAs on them, and after evading those XMAAs a second time, they found themselves pursued by two Gripens. Pixy managed to get in the six hours of his pursuers, but one of them hit the brakes and get behind him. Pixy then fired a pair of missiles on the Gripen in front of him, but he evaded them by a quick series of sharp turns. But by doing those, the Belkan pilot greatly depleted his speed. Hitting the burners and going right at Mach 2.5, Pixy managed to catch up and even outrun him by flying below his plane. Resuming his path, Pixy pulled out an Himmelman, and gunned the Belkan plane while barrel-rolling to evade a pair of missile.

" This man truly know how to fly an Eagle." Indigo 4 said, who was still pursuing Pixy, and going below the later, did a Split-S to get in the six of the Belkan merc, who again had a hard time evading the attack of the yet relatively slower but way more nimble smaller aircraft.

In the meantime, Iskanda had evaded more than three pairs of missiles and little volleys of XMAAs. And blue Heron, the leader managed to get a little gun score on her right wing. She lost control of the roll axis for some seconds but succeeded in leveling her aircraft anyway. But to score this hit, they have had to be at close range. At a range close enough to do some crazy maneuver, but it could work. Tilting her aircraft at ninety degree on the roll axis, and extending her airbrakes, she decelerated very quickly, and as laws of dynamic applied to her pursuers, she passed through the two Gripen Cs. They did spread out a little, fearing to be hit by this crazy Erusean merc.

" Was ist das?" (What's up?) Indigo 2 bellowed, before being seriously hit, as Iskanda had fired her twin guns on him while launching a pair of missiles on the Blue Heron.

" Gottverdammt, Blue Heron is down." Indigo 4 swore, seeing his leader bail-out at the last second, right after Pixy had evade his XMAAs for the second time, as he managed to lock him after the previous Himmelman of Galm 2.

But Pixy hit the burners again, but instead went for a Split-S and fired a pair of missiles still inverted, evading in the process a pair of missiles. Still, only one missile hit the Gripen, but if was enough to cripple it. And the F-15C was fast to get in his six and to gun him down.

" I'm beginning to take my tall here. Anything incoming on the long-range radar, Eagle Eye?" Iskanda asked with a mischievous voice, the thrill of the battle had surpassed the anger born of Rot 1's insults.

" I have 4 F/A-18Cs on my scanners. The Grün squadron." Johnson said, as 4 Hornets with a pale green two-tone camo entered the engagement zone.

" Grün 1 to all unit, unlock the ejection seat." Their leader ordered. He was supposed to carry LASMs and en route for a refueler and then to attack the remains of the allied naval forces, and now he was forced to carry XMAAs because two mercs decide to violate B7R. He was known as ''the owl" and it was a green owl that was pictured on their blazon, looking toward the enemy with her eyes surrounded by aggressive red arcs. A small F/A-18C and four orange stars were on the top of their squadron insignia, with their squad number: 108th for first air Unit 8th tactical squadron.

Using his unusual eye accuracy which earned him the nickname of owl, he quickly analyzed her aircraft: an unstable one, with now few ammos remaining. He knew he could win - Yet too many had already thought that today-.

" You're careful. I hope they are unlocked now." Iskanda said, before firing five second later a pair of missiles on one of the 4 F/A-18Cs, before hitting the deck to avoid a volley of six standard missiles locked onto her.

" Wichserin! Time to mind some serious business!" Grün 1 cursed at the Erusean merc, who was now in his six after a streak of sharp turns. He hit the deck, trying to get rid of her, but she was more tenacious than any fighter pilot he ever met.

" Take that, sucker!" She retorted while firing a pair of missiles on him. But he dumped some flares, and the IR-locked missiles were fooled with ease.

" I hate flares. So unnerving." Pixy commented, as he was pursuing another hornet which fooled his missiles with a bunch of flares.

So Iskanda decided to go for a gun kill. She was on ''PC max'' and each turn was a sufferance for her whole body due to G-forces, but she was closing on the Hornet. She could see the distance being reduced slowly on her HUD. But at five hundred meters, the third Hornet decided to go for a head-on attack, blocking her path. He was quickly gunned down by the twin guns of the X-29A but manage to get a hit on her left canards. The small metallic part was hopefully not rip off, but the asymmetrical distortion of her canards made the aircraft even more unstable.

This give to Grün leader the time to outrun her a bit, but in the meantime, Pixy had shot down his opponent after a short chase. And as Grün leader fired a volley of XMAAs toward his leader, he fired a pair of missiles, popping out from a stratus through which he quickly decreased his altitude. The F/A-18C had to turn hard to evade the second missile: he had dumped some flares which fooled the first, but not the second as Pixy did not launched them simultaneously but one after the other. And this disrupted the lock of Grün 1's XMAAs, which were evaded with ease by the agile X-29A.

" HQ, we need reinforcements here!" The leader admitted heartsick, as the X-29A and the F-15C were pursuing him now. He felt a gun burst hit his left engine, and two second later a greater burst tore the right exhaust into pieces, followed by two missiles. He did not understand what went wrong when he engaged her. But if he was correct, the expected reinforcements would take her of her, of this Belkan merc and even of the traitors aboard their AWACS.

" This is Eagle Eye, I wish I could say ''mission accomplished, RTB" but this is not over yet." Johnson commented, as he saw a big grey area moving on his radar monitor. A jammer aircraft. But it wasn't the Schnee Squadron. They used a EA-18G. This signal was a bit more powerful.

Area B7R, Belka, 20/04/1995, 11:45, Weather: high stratus.

" I have seen for two seconds an EA-6B Prowler. But not what he's hiding." Pixy said, trying to change his radar frequency a bit to overcome the jamming, but the radar jammer was more powerful.

" I confirm the Prowler. But I have recognized something that gave me the chills last time I fought it." Iskanda added, she had seen the spot the first time on the archaic old radar of the Griffon, but it was definitely burned in her memory for good.

" Not this backward swept-wing UAV?" Pixy rhetorically asked, even if the answer was obvious.

" I am sorry to agree with her, the In Visual Range Thermal Camera had identified two of them. They are even a threat for our AWACS, you need to shoot them down ASAP!" Johnson implied, projecting the picture of their position on their radar.

" Well. Just to be sure, Galm 2, weapon check."

" No more QAAMs nor XMAAs, only standard missiles and guns, plus the EPMs." Pixy described the state of his ammo. And his number of missiles remaining was only fifteen.

" Same here. Just some missiles and gun ammo." She checked her weaponry and cursed the probability of presence of the Belkan craft with thermobaric ordnance which forced her to have these EPMs instead of two more QAAMs.

" Hans had failed to shoot down this Erusean merc last time." A Belkan voiced said, as he identified Galm 1.

" Ja, aber she survived and in a Nord 1500 Griffon. Do we have luck to take her down if she's into a modified X-29A who had already shot down half of three aces squadron?" Another Belkan said, a bit less confident in the abilities of those UAVs.

" It's the only rule here, and I will stick to it, dummies. So, I'll survive no matter what." Galm 1 replied while firing a pair of missiles to the drone, which was painted with a grey camo and its wing in a bright orange. The EA-6B had the same paint job. Yet nothing happened, as they were intercepted by a forward mounted SPK.

" Damned it, they can intercept from the front." Pixy noticed a bit late after an unsuccessful head-on attack. But attacking from behind ended in a failure too, as the drone was housing a rear mounted SPK between its twin engine.

" Forget the UAVs, shot the command aircraft." The AWACS operator suggested, as their attempts where unsuccessful from every angle.

" Roger." The two Ustian pilot said, and both fired a pair of missiles to the Growler, knowing due do its powerful armor than one pair wasn't enough.

But again, their attack failed, as the drones fired Interception missiles on theirs. These Interception missiles were shot from a small bay, which represented a weak point in these drones they could exploit if they managed to strike them from below.

" Freaking UAVs. I hate them. Pixy, saturation attack on the one to my left." Iskanda ordered, just after their unsuccessful attack.

" I'm on it. Feuer." Pixy replied, and both fired missiles at its twelve and six hours. They knew they would likely be intercepted, but during the time lapse necessary to destroy their projectile, the UAVs operator would be distracted by their fire.

The X-29A hit the deck just after releasing a second pair, followed by Pixy. But it was just to climb back the second later and sent a gun burst right on the inner bays of the UAV, which exploded shortly after. The saturation attack had worked, but it was very ammo-depleting. Now their missile count was below five for each Ustian pilot.

" They are vulnerable. Hard to destroy but not undefeatable."

" I told the professor that two UAVs wasn't enough." One Belkan operator complained.

" Ja, aber there were only two of them ready and operational." Another Belkan operator said.

As they were complaining of their lack of hardware, the two Ustian had manage to get in the six of the second drone, but its SPK was preventing them from gunning it. Even without needing to say it, they know what they had to do: another saturation attack.

" Galm 2, let's give him hell!" Iskanda ordered, and four missiles left their pylons to go strike the UAV. They were shot for trash, but this rendered the drone blind to their advance for some time, a weakness they understand from the last UAV they downed.

Pixy fired one more pair of missiles, only for them to be intercepted, yet all this diversion had been enough time for Iskanda to approach the UAV from the left. She outrun him, before extending her airbrakes, and launching two missiles on its three hours. And due to the closeness of the two aircrafts, the UAV did not have the time to intercept them successfully. They struck right in its weapon bay, and it exploded right away.

" These unnerving UAV are down. Now it's up to this EA-6B to go down with them." Johnson observed, as the Growler tried to open fire with its missiles and the few QAAMs it carried, but they were easily avoided by the way more agile Ustian fighters.

" Galm 1, Fox 2." Iskanda said, as she attacked the now defenseless EA-6B from its two hours.

" Galm 2, firing Fox 2!" Pixy added, launching his last two missiles on the already badly damaged Growler. He attacked it from above, and the two missiles exploded the cockpit in a million glass pieces. The three operator and the pilot were instantly vaporized.

" Finally, man had triumphed over machine, again." Johnson congratulated the two pilots of their flying skills.

" UAVs cannot surpass us. Even Künstlich Intelligenz lack the creativity of man." Pixy commented, as the remains of the Growler were falling to the ground.

" Hum, guys, I think our trouble is not over yet. I've got three bogies, on supersonic approach." Iskanda interrupted this highly technical conversation.

" Gottverdammt, they never know when to recognize defeat, can't they?" Pixy cursed, a bit tired of this prolonged dogfight which seemed to never end. Besides, they were only with gun ammo and the EPMs now.

" I have one Berkut and two unknown incoming on my scanners. Be ready for anything." Johnson described what it was seeing on his monitor. However, he had a bad feeling about these two unknowns. The forwards swept wing fighters which carries thermobaric ordnance hadn't been seen since Wesson.

Outskirt of B7R, Belka, 20/04/1995, 11:55 Weather: high stratus.

One Sukhoi 47 with a greyish three tone paint job among its body and the wingtips and rudder painted with gold and white lines and a black radome along with the two Wesson-UFOs - as the Osean had named them - were approaching B7R. Initially, like many pilots who were disturbed of their operations, they were supposed to go on an anti-ship mission against a new Osean supercarrier. Yet because of the skills of the merc the sixth Ustian Unit hired, they were forced to finish this first battle over B7R. But for him, the losses of these UAV was not such a bad thing: he had always been opposed to this project.

If his project and his protegees survived this engagement, it would still be a victory anyway.

" Meister, are we authorized to engage with MPBMs?" A young Belkan voice asked from the Wesson-UFO at his right.

" Clear to engage, meine Erbe (heir). But be ready for anything, these mercs tend to be tricky."

The two Wesson-UFOs hit the burners, temporarily outrunning the slightly slower Su-47. They had already downed Osea's Death Star. What could stop them?

Area B7R, Belka, 20/04/1995, 12:00, Weather: high stratus.

Iskanda was beginning to feel two things, usually not linked: to be bored and hungry. And the pressure of the anti-g suit was not very comfortable to bear for such a great amount of time. This mission should have ended for at least twenty minutes, and yet Belka was still sending reinforcements. Still, if they sent two much reinforcements, they would end up without a single round of ammo.

" Wesson-UFOs sighted! Be ready for EPMs launch!" Johnson said, as the IVRTC recognize the two now unanimously feared aircrafts.

" Roger that, AWACS. Galm 2, put your EPMs on standby." Iskanda quickly decided, as the two Wesson-UFOs were now at six kilometers head-on.

" Galm 2 Ver, EPMs on standby."

And one minute later, Gault 9, the first ''Erbe'' had a lock on the two Ustian mercs. He simply pushed a switch and the heavy Hypersthene-powered Multi-Purpose Burst Missile was fired, followed by one other and the two others of the second ''Erbe''. Equipped with a powerful liquid propellant engine, the two missiles broke the sound barrier just ten second after being fired. Until now, these missiles have been unstoppable, with Osean pilot calling them ''The Gates of Hell'' as they could engulf even little squadron in their five hundred meters blast radius. But the order their foe issued the next minute was quite strange and let them a little puzzled for some time.

" Galm 1, firing EPMs! Now!" She fired the counter missiles against this thermobaric ordnance. Now her finger was clenched on the remote detonation switch, as they had to detonate the pulse really close to the enemy Hypersthene-powered MPBMs.

They let the eight missiles slowly close the gap between the two formations for ten seconds, before activating the devices. Four bright blue electronic pulse appeared over B7R. But the blue electronic blasts did not light the sky for long, as the Hypersthene-powered missiles exploded right away. It was like they were seeing a small nuke detonate in mid-air. The brightness of the sheer explosion ignited the sky for almost ten seconds before it dissipated. The shockwaves made them stall for a bunch of seconds, but they quickly recovered from it, and resumed their path toward the three Belkan fighters.

" Was passiert?" (What's happened?) A young Belkan voice said, with the pilot to which this voice belongs frowning in astonishment as their attack was trashed by just two mercs.

" Ich weiß nichts (I don't know)." A young Belkan female voice added with the same level of astonishment filling her right now.

" Ich kann erklären (I can explain): We have broken your little toys. Thesermeister was smarter than you, Kupchenko!" Iskanda interrupted them, having identified the Gault insignia on the Su-47 as they crossed their path. And they were now engaged in a fierce dogfight with the two of them circling around, as the Berkut and the X-29A possessed similar turn rate

Pixy on the other hand was not in better state either: he managed to land a slight gun hit on the right engine of one of those Wesson-UFOs, but the enemy pilot extended his airbrakes to rejoin with the other behind Pixy. He was currently fiercely chased by two super-mobile forward swept-wing fighters with vectored thrusters and was evading their high caliber cannons just by the skin of his teeth.

Iskanda did not land a single bullet on Kupchenko's Su-47. He was an ace, she had to give him credit for his flying skill which seemed to be equal with hers. With unbearable ease, he kept outturning her, despite her pulling every trick against him. Even outrunning him and doing her head-to-tail-like maneuver did not work, as he evaded her bullets by a simple double turn. If she had a little mobility edge due to the instability of her new wings, the numeric hardware of the Berkut compensate better his instability than hers, allowing shorter time of response. Of course, it was not instantaneous response like these neuronal links that were numerous in sci-fi, but this added to optic fiber instead of electronic commands meant that this modified Sukhoi was more agile than her X-29A in the end.

This dogfight lasted five minutes before she became the pursued, with Kupchenko trailing her close. She had really hard time keeping her plane away from Kupchenko's line of fire: he was firing everything he had: guns, missiles and SAAMs. Yet if the plane had almost instantaneous response, the bay still needed little time to open, this giving the X-29A a little edge to evade its fire, even if it had almost lost all its weaponry. As she evaded a pair of SAAMs, with Gault 1 managing to keep the lock for ten seconds which look like an eternity, she realized a fact: she needed to find a way to win this fight quickly. She and Pixy did not have a single missile left, and her gun was going to run dry shortly if Kupchenko kept evading her attacks.

" Herr Kupchenko, I am sorry for trashing your highly advanced Hypersthene-powered MPBMs, but I am tired of fighting for 40 minutes. Any idea on how to end this prolonged dogfight?" She asked to the enemy ace, while evading a very close gun burst.

" It's surprising that Erusean she-merc speak my language." The soft and charismatic voice with a strong Yukte accent of Anton Kupchenko spoke, while he stopped pulling the trigger. " I am open to do some DACT again you. Belkan chivalrous traditions imposed that the first arrived on the battlefield dictate the rule of engagement."

" What? Are you serious, Meister?" Erbe 2 said, a bit surprised that their mentor was accepting to duel honorably a simple Erusean merc.

" Dead serious, Zveda." He replied at his subordinate, this time with a still charismatic voice, yet one marked with the tone of a commandant which expected anything he said to be treated as an order.

" Beware, Kupchenko, dead mens tell no tales." Pixy warned him.

" So, Frau Galm ein, was haben Sie entscheiden? (What did you decide) Gault 1 asked, still turning around the X-29A.

" These are my conditions: we will begin by flying in opposite direction for five second. Then, victory conditions are only one lock, no time limit.'' Iskanda explained, breaking the chase.

" Gut. And if I lock you, I can fire?" Kupchenko let her precise this point, positioning himself in starting position.

" There's an if." She replied indirectly to his question, her voice filled with sarcasm as she rejected the probability of this event.

" DACT begin in 5 seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Engage!" Johnson said, putting all his faith into this crazy Erusean. If she was locked, she would be dead, and Kupchenko would then kill every allied in the area, even without the threat of the Hypersthene their AWACS was in reach of those Wesson-UFOs.

" Make Belka proud, Meister." The male Belkan voice said.

" Do not worry, Cipher. There's nothing I can't overcome." Kupchenko replied, using the nickname this pilot received after his doings at Hoffnung.

" Yet impossible is not Ustian." Iskanda retorted, while heading toward his opponent after they had flown straight for five second. Kupchenko did the same, and they crossed their path, yet too quickly for any of the two to lock the other.

Iskanda did her head-to-tail-like maneuver while Kupchenko pulled out a hairpin turn, yet her post-stall maneuver was faster than his, and he dived to avoid being locked.

" Von wem haben Sie diese erstaunlichen Manöver gelernt, Fräulein?" (who taught you this amazing maneuver, Milady?) Kupchenko said, as he was climbing, quickly followed by the X-29A.

" Niemand. Ich schaffe es." she retorted, following him. However, as the little square on the HUD moved toward the Su-47 to lock him, the Berkut open its landing flaps, making her overshoot. But it was not enough to be behind her. Gault 1 ended up being at the same level than her, climbing toward the freed Azur.

The two of them kept climbing for quite a long time. At some point, one of them alternatively tried to level up to gain the precious lock, with Iskanda using her head-to-tail-like maneuver to evade or try to lock, and Kupchenko having a preference for streaks of sharp turns. Pixy and the two Belkans were watching them from below, both squadron hoping their respective leader would win.

Pixy could see both leaders trying all that physics allowed a plane to do, yet no one had the edge. From his plane, they look like a couple of dancers, dangerously close to each other, entangled into a morbid kind of waltz. The two pairs of exhaust seemed like two fireflies pursuing each other, as they kept climbing toward the dark blue skies of the stratosphere.

" I must warn you, Galm 1 and Gault 1, you are approaching the limit of altitude for your engines. You're not flying the Griffon this time, Galm 1." Eagle Eye informed the two pilots.

Iskanda heard it and came to realize she was near the twenty-kilometer barrier. For how long she had climbed, she couldn't tell: in this kind of fierce dogfight, a second was a minute, a minute a entire day, and days seems eternal. Yet both pilots kept climbing to the fringe of their engine's capabilities, knowing that the first to dive would be the one pursued, and both wanted to end as pursuer in this fight.

But when the Berkut reach twenty-two kilometer, it entered into a stall. A stall that became a spin. Kupchenko had overestimated the tuned engine of his Su-47 and was surprised by the fact that this X-29A bore a twin engine instead of the standard single exhaust engine. And this engine allowed Iskanda to climb five hundred meters more until she dived, yet in a voluntary spin instead of an accidental one.

And for all the dive Iskanda tried to catch up with Kupchenko, as he was descending toward the peak of the central crater that made the round table itself. At some point wind and water erosion had sculpted some pillars out of the cliffs surrounding the limits of the crater, while flattening it surface into a hemispheric one. From the air, this giant natural sculpture looked like some kind of round table. Only the central peak was left, with the edge of the cliff creating a very short ravine. This is where he was heading, where his overall better mobility should give him the edge on this - he hated to admit that someone could be or even think to be his equal - Erusean crazy woman. All he had to was to evade her lock, which this spin allowed easily, and to go out of the said spin.

Iskanda had almost reach Mach 2 while diving, yet the Su-47 had better high-speed mobility than her aircraft. There was a technological gap of twenty years Herr Steller had tried to reduce, but even with his adjustment and her skill this Kupchenko guy had the advantage. But she was wondering where he was heading, and above all, how he would go out of this spin.

She had the response thirty-five second later, as he activated an anti-spin parachute. She tried to lock on him while he was decelerating, but her radar decided for some reason to lock onto the parachute first. She was arriving quick in this ravine area. Too quick. Yet as she was extending her airbrakes to its peak a red light which came to live, just below the small screen where her belly radar was displayed. It said, "emergency airbrakes". She shrugged, thinking that Steller should have mentioned this, but hoped it would work.

Four small metallic part extended of the fuselage just before the exhausts. And both planes ended up flying at low speed in the ravine Kupchenko had foreseen to end this dogfight into. He could already see the X-29A laying burned in the ravine, joining some other planes wreckage and dead corpses no one would look for.

However, he forgot that his and this merc's skill could be modeled as two asymptotes, with Galm one's asymptote having reached and maybe gone further than his. He flew very low in the ravine, sometime having to tilt his aircraft to avoid fallen rock or some kind of natural bridges erosion had created. And she followed him, slowly but surely catching up with him. And fifteen second later, as he flew other a portion of the ravine that was a bit deeper than the rest of it, the unthinkable happened.

She had pursued him for almost a minute in this very narrow ravine, with the small square of lock trying desperately to lock onto the Sukhoi. The lock-on system kept beeping as it was following the thermal signature of the Su-47's engine, yet Iskanda did not heard the beep anymore. Nor the "Pull up" message that her radio was repeating every five second as she was close to the slopes of the ravine by mere decimeters sometimes. The only noise she was hearing now was the foolish and erratic beatings of her heart. She had the feeling to be running for a marathon as she was flying in this narrow space. But despite her body showing sign of fatigue, she couldn't allow Kupchenko to win this. And as she saw the ravine getting a bit deeper below Kupchenko's craft only ten meters in front of her, she knew what to do.

The two Belkan, Pixy and the AWACS operators did not share his coolness. Pixy was looking to an old photo of Laura and himself he had kept aboard his F-15C, wondering if his leader was defeated today, would he be shot down then and join Laura in death? The two Belkan ''Erben'' were a bit with the same spirit: everything they had achieved and could achieve in the future was dependent of Kupchenko's will. If he disappeared the truth would appear, yet sometimes truth could do more harm than small lies. Johnson was looking on an old photography too: one of his sister, a blond Belkan in her forties with two brown-haired daughters. He hadn't been able to communicate with the three of them since they had to leave Directus and being in a possible near-death scenario was not reassuring.

Iskanda knew she had only one chance. If she failed, she would end up locked in no time, and then destroyed in the next second. Yet failure was something she did not know at this point: she had had some little hits, almost being defeated twice in this war, but facing victory and defeat was a common thing for warrior. So, she inverted her plane, facing the bottom of the ravine, and accelerate below Kupchenko's Su-47.

" Was machst-du, mein kleines eruseanerine Freundin?" (What are you doing, my little Erusean Friend?) Kupchenko wondered, as he saw her getting below his plane. Yet if she did that she would have to climb after, as the ravine was losing its deepness a few dozen meter further. And he would be in a perfect position to lock her and then slaughter her plane in no time.

But he never had the time to enact this perfect strategy, as Iskanda began tilting her plane on the pitch axis a bit, trying to orient her belly radar toward Kupchenko's craft. On her little screen, she saw the square locking on Kupchenko's air intakes. And then for Kupchenko, the unthinkable happened: his lock-on alarm blared, as his opponent screamed joyfully " Verschlossen!". Right after, she climbed just in front of his gun, laughing maniacally out of mad joy.

Kupchenko was taken aback: how did she manage to lock him in such a position? He had no choice but to agree that as a warrior, he had finally experimented both victory and defeat. Yet he would not cease to serve.

" Ich anerkenne dein Sieger (I recognized your victory). Gault squadron, cease the operation and withdraw from B7R."

" Zveda, Ver."

" Erbe ein, Ver." The pilot which was now identified as Cipher said.

" Auf Wiedersehen, Fraulein. Ich hoffe wir werden uns wiedersehen, Söldnerin. (Goodbye Milady. I ho will meet again)" Kupchenko said goodbye to this merc who had revealed to be a worthy opponent.

" Bye Gault 1. Next time i won't forget to keep some ammo to shoot you down." She hoped their paths would cross other times too.

" Well, I had some fears when I lost visual as you entered in this ravine, but in the end, you survived… And won." Pixy congratulated his flight leader. He wouldn't had been able to do the same level of flying she had to pull out against Gault 1. A battle of ace was for aces and between aces, after all.

" This is the commandant Weeker onboard the Osean carrier Kestrel. The naval forces had advanced well today. Your support would be rewarded." The message was diffused on all allied waves, but its content did not please much the pilots of Ustio's sixth Unit.

" Damn Osean weaklings! Are we just some decoys?" Iskanda intervened, not liking the idea that this whole operation which could have cost her life was just to protect the Osean fleet that couldn't deal with anti-ship squadron such as Grün squadron.

" I hate to admit, but us merc would always be treated as such by Oseans. The mercs Osea hired only care for money, they don't want idealist ones like you and me." Pixy agreed with Iskanda's disapproval.

" Whatever, this operation is over and successful. Galm team, RTB." Eagle Eye announced, and the two fighters turn to the South-West of B7R, its Ustian part before the war, still chatting about the way Osea disposed of them, complaining that even this Kupchenko guy had a better appreciation of them than their very allies.

Valais Air Base, Ustio, 20/04/1995, 13:00, Weather: freezing fog.

The back travel was a short one, as they didn't bump into any Belkan squadron on their way toward Valais. From the skies they could see the crews on the ground melting the few ice patches that had formed on the runway, using short-range flamethrowers. And these reddish fires were all they could see of the base along with the guiding lights on the runway, as all was engulfed into the fog.

" That's strange, seeing this ballet of flamethrowers." Iskanda observed, as the ice patches were vaporized.

" At least if some Belkan Kommandos arrived here we would welcome them warmly." Pixy joked, waiting a bit that the final ice patches were finally evaporated.

" This is Base control; you are clear to land." Henri calm voice indicated, satisfied to see both of them coming back alive.

The two pilots pulled down their gears and landed together. The runway wasn't large; however, it was large enough for two fighters or the following AWACS. The three airplanes landed quickly, not wanting to be surprised by new ice patches. And as they went out of their hangar, they could see new ice patches already forming from the condensation of the water from their exhaust gas, adding a bit more water to the one in aerial suspension from the freezing fog. A high-altitude plane wouldn't have been able to see through the fog even. And they could only see the base buildings, but not the mountains behind it, and of course not the valley either. They carefully walked toward the briefing room, yet not carefully enough to prevent one thing from happening.

" Gott Verdammt." Iskanda yelled, as she slipped on a small ice patch.

" I got you." Her wingmen said, as he prevented her from falling to the ground. It would be ironic: coming back unharmed from the round table and be hurt by falling due to some ice patch.

Hopefully, the weather control had foreseen an increase in temperature for the next week. These icing fog could happen very often and very often it was appearing completely out of the blue, but despite these horrific conditions this base needed to be up and running all day and all night of the year. The briefing room was quiet, as the Komyeta and Halo squadron hadn't come back of their respective missions yet.

" Well, central command was very satisfied about how you ended the Rot, Grün and Indigo squadrons. Downing an entire squadron of typhoon isn't an easy job." Koenig summarize the aftermath of their mission but forget the two last squadrons they encounter. Then he shut down the Axe and Hammer software, to open another one, a simple picture display system.

" But central command has no real concern about UCAVs and Wesson-UFOs i guess?" Iskanda interrupted him, as Koenig was about to say something on these last two squadrons.

" They aren't counted as official squadrons. Furthermore, we don't even know their designation. Belka anti-spy system is still very efficient, that's something they can be proud of." Koenig said, while displaying the dagger shaped drone with backward-swept wing.

" And Osea did not recognize the existence of these UCAVs, as none of their satellite still existing was able to track them." Johnson added, while replacing the picture of the UCAV by one of the Osean continent, which showed the circular area of satellite surveillance, but many of them were set as " data link loss". Yet Osea did not know what was destroying their satellites. Some had transmitted a bright flash before they disappear, but it was not enough information to theorize anything on some anti-satellite armament.

" But what I'm about to reveal is from my past career in the Belkan Air Force. You both need to know your enemy a bit more." Koenig began a long explanation which was interrupted at 13:30 when they went to eat, and at 14:30 when the Halo squadron - only the 5 and 7 come back - landed.

Concerning Halo 12 and 10, and Komyeta squadron, they were now located on the new super-carrier of Osea. Yet they couldn't say their localization or the name of the ship, even to their Ustian leaders. The only thing they could say was how boring this escort mission had turned.

" So, you met no one?" Iskanda asked on the live video conversation, still in the briefing room.

" A little squadron of MiG 29 and F-14Ds on our way, but not a single bomber, fighter, ship or submarine from Belka." Valentin described the state of the operation, at some hundreds of kilometers from the Futuro canal.

" You provide us some good distractions, guys." Alekseï added, a bit bored of the lack of enemy in the vicinity to shot down.

" And Iskanda survived a duel with Kupchenko!" Pixy announced, with a happy voice.

" Yeah, this guy knew how to fly a Berkut. Besides, your idea for countering these Hypersthene thermobaric ordnance worked. Congratulations for Thesermeister!" She raised a Belkan beer they had opened to celebrate her victory.

" Save us some for when we came back?" Halo 12 asked, hoping the next operation - above Futuro canal - would be with the rest of the sixth Unit. If they come there, victory would be achievable.

" Don't worry, we have something better in reserve for the reconquest of Directus. I will not authorize you to rest until we take it back." Koenig inquired, willing to retake the capital he had to leave due to the lack of reinforcements Osea promised but who came too late.

Then the pilots talked about the Belkan they had faced that day: the one whose squadron was responsible of Laura's death and was known as Ashley Bernitz, aka Grabacr 1. Yet she took eight Sukhoi-47 of his twelve aircraft squadron down with her. Maybe some civilian would have recorded the fight, Pixy guessed. And maybe he could see her last fight in which he couldn't help her.

Yet, another subject come on the table: of course, they talked about the few data Koenig had patched them about Kupchenko and his Erben. Of course, now they could finally get why he hated Osean that much but did not bear any grudge toward over allies such as Sapin, Ustio or Yuktobania, his grandfather's homeland. Kupchenko's father had been an ace in the 1950's. However, his mother was a mystery for even high ranking Belkan officials.

And the final talk was about what halo 5 and 7 heard from this sentenced to death Sapin, about this ''Sancta Victoria''.

" So, do you know anything about this legendary woman?" Fred asked to his comrade, especially Pixy.

" I don't. But Laura sometimes refers to her before engaging great aces, asking "Sankt Victoria" to look upon her. Furthermore, the main cathedral of Directus is named "Basilique Sainte Victoire"." Pixy explained the few he knew about this woman.

" So, maybe we will learn a bit more about her doings when we take back Directus." Fred guessed.

" Good. Now we have some tourism planned after the victory." Iskanda said, trying to map in her mind the city the Ustians described : an semi old semi modern city, with entire quarter of medieval and Sainte Victoire, the cathedral in Flamboyant Gothic, along with other Gothic-style and classic church, some little medieval castle on her outskirt, and two new quarter, yet in some kind of modernized medieval-looking small building made of stone, not just skyscrapers like Oured in full glass and concrete. Directus was not a city which spread vertically but more horizontally.

End of chapter. Yet of course I prolonged B7R engagement. Always found that mission too quick. Yet having multiple aces squadron allow you not to have this "Quatsch" (Quatsch bullshit in German) of aces that survived multiple death, thing that I hated in ACJA…And Yeah, Cipher is on the other side… But what does side even mean? (you have three hours to expatiate on this)

Feel free to like, review, favorite, share your mind on my writing.

09/06/19: minor grammatical corrections. some more on 30/07/19 as well as on7/1/20.