Tauberg Air Base, Belka, 20/04/1995, 13:00, Weather: outcast.
His Sukhoi 47 was now parked on the runway. On his way back from the round table, Kupchenko was pleased to see his pride still standing high above the ground. He had almost a smirk of irony on his face as he realized the allied forces would have to face this - if they managed to take back Ustio and the great Lakes -. A thought unimaginable just a while ago, but which seemed way more plausible since the encounter of this day. He would make them taste the bitter flavor of defeat.
He was a bit angry about his fight. Usually, no one could best him. And today he met defeat for the first time since ages. Of course, it was in some kind of a Belkan DACT, but it didn't change what it was: a defeat. Other defeated men sometimes chose to hide. Kupchenko wasn't planning on this. He would lie in ambush and wait for the good time to make understand this Erusean merc the bitter taste of defeat. Of course, he wasn't immune to failure. And so was her. No warrior ever was. But history, this cruel lady, taught him not to dwell on his failures but to learn from them. It wasn't the first time that history taught him a lesson of life. And it won't be the last time either.
As he walked from his hangar to the HQ, he was joined by his two " Erbe". The first was a tall young Belkan man with black hair cut short and green eyes. TAC name Cipher, however, his real name was Zephyr Sylvester. Unusual name, yet this person was an unusually talented pilot. The other "Erbe" which TAC name was Zveda, bore also an unusual name: Freyja Wilhelm. Both were orphans he met at a particular moment. He always remembered this first encounter, so simple in principle but with so much consequences he didn't imagine them then.
Hoffnung Air Base, Belka, 12/06/1993, 15:30, Weather: high stratus.
Kupchenko was watching the first flight of the cadets in fighter planes. They were flying two-seater F-15Ds for training purposes. It had just a grey painting, nothing to stand out amidst the other training crafts. He had shown interest to some cadets of this year at Hoffnung Air Academy. This one was piloted by the cadet named Zephyr Sylvester. Orphan from unknown origin, tall and slim pilot with green eyes and dark hairs, straight A-student but had shown disrespect for authority, and violence against a wealthier pupil in Gymnasium. This was the data the Base commander agreed to give him.
" I agree, schönen Abflug." A Belkan man in its late forties said. His amical face was completed by a well cut and short white beard.
" It would be an even better take-off if he learned under your oversight, Kellerman." Kupchenko commented. Kellerman was among the few that fully understand him and what he went through. Kellerman's amical face had always caused sympathy among the pilot he met in his long life.
" I'm retiring in July, I'm just here to enjoy the flight." Kellerman rejected with a negative gesture of his hand the idea to train a new Kellerman Grupp a last time. He thought he had earned a well-deserved retirement.
And for a show, they got a show: after the copilot, the instructor nicknamed Huckeblein the Raven explained to the cadet how to land before overshooting in order for the cadet to do the landing properly, something that wasn't foreseen happened. The fighter was beginning its steady path toward the runway when out of the blue the young Belkan tried an Himmelman. Immediately, an angry semi-old Belkan voice - who tried to show authority but hadn't a single bit, from Kupchenko's perspective - screamed on the waves:
" Jagdflieger Zephyr, you're are not in an air show! Cease this madness and land immediately!"
" Ver." The young Belkan let out with great reluctance. Why was he thinking when he pulled this?
The F-15D landed carefully and quickly. This young one had some skills, he had to give him credit for this. Yet he was only receiving complains of his trainer when he should be praised for his maneuver.
" Cadet, I think I will let you repaint every plane with a pencil, this should teach you the respect of discipline and command chain!"
The cadet didn't say a thing. Being raised as an orphan taught him not to respond sometimes. So, another man spoke for him, a man with brown hair and small cold grey eyes. He had a strange smile, yet it was the "to give chills to your spine" kind of smile. This man, which was identified by his uniform as major Anton Kupchenko, Gault leader, seemed cold yet charismatic. And with his cold and charismatic voice, he defended the cadet:
" Leadership depends on information and comprehension. Not so obedience. Sometimes a commander may choose to share details of his plan. Often, he may not. In either case, obedience must be instant and complete. Such automatic response relies on trust between commander and those commanded. And that trust can only be obtained through leadership. I don't think you possess leadership, Huckebein. Because this young man surely doesn't show obedience."
" My respect, Major Kupchenko, but this Dummkopf has risked my and his life doing this crazy maneuver." Huckebein pointed the cadet which was still silent like the dead.
" There's no genius without craziness. For me this Himmelman was greatly executed, for a first time I mean, cadet Sylvester."
" Danke Major." The timid voice of the young Belkan pilot said, astonished that this high-ranked officer was standing out for him. He heard the trainer grunted as he was moving toward the other cadets. Two other F-15Ds landed just after, yet without any crazy maneuvers in their flight.
The second batch of cadet was a bit less mixed, as one female pilot, which name was Freyja Wilhelm, manage to do a Split-S as she was going to land. Still, his instructor showed nothing but a little sigh of embarrassment. If the top brass thought they could let trainees do what they want, they were wrong, the trainer thought for himself. He came from a notorious Belkan family, yet never managed to graduate high enough to get out of this base. Once he went to B7R but was shot down by some tuned MiG-31 assisted by a F-15C. The irony was that Gault squadron was there too, but as everyone in the vicinity was flying on his own, even between officials, and for this he did not receive any help. And for this Huckebein bore a solid grudge toward Kupchenko.
But one other cadet, some typical blond-haired Belkan named Robert Zahlner, did try to pull out something to impress the gallery. Yet he failed, and it was only because of the good reflexes of his instructor that he didn't enter into a spin. Spin that would have been deadly at this altitude.
" Not everyone has the skill to fight from scratch. War is a game of skill, mind against mind, yet when the skill lacked, the result is often a mind filled with resentment and jealousy toward the ones that possess that particular skill." Kupchenko commented this poor performance, emphasizing "resentment''.
" Your way of thinking, my dear, I don't know if it come from your Yukte origin, but I always find it quite tactical, even when you're not planning tactics." Kellerman added, before resuming to what he was about to say about this pilot. " Still, everyone can become a good pilot if they have a well-oriented mind."
" You're right. Weiterentwicklung ist immer erreichbar (improvement is always reachable)."
The two high-ranking officers kept talking for a while, before leaving the small tribunes from where they had observed these flights. Yet if Kellerman's direction was the control tower for a little debriefing with the four instructors of the cadets that flew today, Kupchenko's was toward these new flight protegees. It wasn't long before he found them right outside their hangar where they waited for the training to end. And the little group of five cadets seemed to be entangled in some kind of unkind talks.
" I could have done this Himmelman too, Ziphir. Whatever you succeeded in today, you won't become anything. You and Freyja have no one to back you up." Robert said with a voice filled with condescendence.
" We prefer to learn to fly than to harass, and to fight than to let weak parents corrupt." Freyja retorted harshly to the wealthy cadet, which can be deduced from the high costly watch he was wearing. Yet as she retorted she pushed the cadet backward, and he badly felt due to the unforeseen strength of the Belkan girl.
" Hey, Major, couldn't you tell these two future eternal zweite Lieutenants to give me the respect my family deserve?" The cadet dared to issue an order to Kupchenko, as he was rising from the ground. On his right hand where he had hit the ground was now a pretty nasty wound.
This Robert cadet was referring to Erich Hillenbrand, a young pilot, which parents were simple factory workers, that had reached this rank, and was happy from this achievement. Besides, Hillenbrand was now Schnee leader, and everyone respected him now despite his origin. And what Kupchenko hated most was this kind of guy who put their lineage and wealth above their true skills.
" Some people have skills, and still work their skills to perfect them. Other haven't yet work hard to gain the skills they strive for. There's a last category: those who try to buy the skills their minds lack. However, skills is not something that you can just pay for. Acquiring skills is something that require patience and will. And if someone can forbid those who had skills for showing them, those who doesn't possess it usually show complete and bitter failure, especially if they belong to the third category." Kupchenko give this cryptic answer, who could have been a great way to begin some dissertation, before resuming to a harsher answer, pushing aside the charism in his voice to have only the cold part.
" Next time you try to buy someone's silence; I will make sure you are sent to the Valaisian Alps for one or two months. Usually snow cooled even the worst minds our country had produced. Dismissed. No briefing, no fly for two week and no food for one day, it seemed a fair punishment."
" But they wounded me!" He tried to retort one last time, before Kupchenko definitely lost his cool and yelled at the cadet, something he did very rarely.
" Halt die Fresse, deine Meinung ist nutzlos. Zwei Tag ohne Nahrung. Jetzt raus!" Kupchenko was now angry, and this little pretentious cadet would suffer from it. This meeting with those two who assumed to speak against the authority someone try to create even when he had none was something that made the journey from Tauberg almost worthy.
Of course, the punishment wasn't fully applied by the base commander. Robert was just grounded a week, yet for Freyja and Zephyr it was a full month. Kupchenko hated to yield some authority to a subordinate when it wasn't necessary, and even more when the latter wasn't helping through position he possessed or skill Kupchenko could lack. Still, as he explained to his chief of research back at Tauberg, those two pilots could be worthy for his new program.
However, if this first encounter was solely due to randomness, the second one was well planned. But this second encounter would have consequences for the months and even years to come, especially for the city of Hoffnung.
Hoffnung Air Base, Belka, 22/10/1993, 23:00, Weather: little night fog.
He was now waiting for them in their hangar, with a two-seater F-15D ready to take off, with full ground and air ammo. They would have to choose soon. The situation they had been put into through a streak of random events had already caused disastrous consequences for their career. They were now considered as Verrätern (traitors) by their commander, even if they do what was right. But what is right for a single soldier or pilot on the battlefield is always relative. They relied on ethics to choose rather than military protocol, yet sometimes these protocols were turned irrelevant by the circumstances of the fight. This time the Belkan high command closed his eyes too much on the great scale consequences, which could have been way more disastrous than three KIA (killed in action).
And five minutes later they arrived in the hangar, looking breathless. They were a bit surprised to see the Major waiting for them, arm crossed, like he was just waiting for them and not ready to alarm the entire base of their escape. Because if all that had happened before was not his doing, his presence and their arrival at this point were part of a plan already set one week before this day.
" Werden Sie uns verhaften (are you going to arrest us)?" A reluctant Zephyr said.
" Nicht im Entferntesten. (Not in the least)" Kupchenko shrugged at this possibility that would give him nothing.
" Was denn?" (Then what?) Freyja asked, wondering why a high-ranking officer was risking the said rank by talking with convicts.
" You see, cadet Freyja, Battle plans cannot include every contingency. And today those very contingencies are up to your choice. Do you chose to run out of Belka and be free, but with the possibility that every day you would see eight Black and Red MiG-31s coming to shot you down without mercy, or you can choose another path." Kupchenko responded, fully aware of the abilities of Zubov's flying assassin team.
" And what's the other choice?" Freyja asked again, curious.
" I suppose you heard of the confederation of Belkan counties that lasted almost one century and a half. I am trying to recreate this old alliance, but on a slightly bigger scale. And I need mens and women on my side when I will act." Kupchenko explained, referring to a time when Belkans were not considered evils and Osean the good guys who would give money to save countries from the very recessions their traders created.
" You want pawns." Zephyr retorted a bit harshly.
" Warfare can be compared to chess, it's true. Yet you won't be pawns. Pawns are the ones I will manipulate in due time. You would be more knights than pawns. Knights in a new shiny armor of composites instead of mere Duraluminium." Kupchenko corrected Zephyr, hoping to make them join him today.
" That's promising." Freyja commented, with her arm now laying on her side. Kupchenko's proposition had cooled her worried mind. In her mind she had already accepted this path.
" Gut. Mein Schaft (Good. My squad) will try to intercept after you destroy the intercepting capacities of Hoffnung Air Base. If you wanna join me, fly to the Kreuzbergsee. There you will bail-out and your plane will be destroyed."
They did not respond, still a bit reluctant to agree on the order he gave them. Still, no one on this base tried to help them or prove their innocence.
" Bis halb Mitnacht, meine jungen Freunde. (To 23:30, my young friends.)" Then Kupchenko get out of their hangar, wishing them good luck in Belkan (viel Glück) on his way out.
The choice was not difficult to do. They couldn't understand the tactician that Kupchenko was, nor the tactics he had foreseen for them. Yet they did not have the foolishness to resist the will of this tactician.
And thirty minute later, as the Gault squadron was patrolling not far from Hoffnung, they get this message from central commandment.
" This is Hoffnung Air Base to Gault Squadron. Two pilots have gone rogue and bombed our SAMs, Flaks and shot down our interceptors as they were taxiing. They are flying just above the Löre river. Hunt them down ASAP."
" This is Gault 1, Ver. ETA: ten minutes."
" This is Gault eight to leader. They will be out of the Hoffnung airspace at this point." One of his pilots said with a thick Sapin accent, Fernando Perez. Even if he was not the only non-Belkan of his squadron, he was the one which his accent made him stand out from the squadron. He was tasked with the long-range radar target finder, as he had a engineer diploma in this the field of telecommunication applied to aeronautic - almost everyone in Gault Squadron had an engineer diploma -. And as everyone in this squadron, he knew what was going on today.
" Sorgst nicht, acht (don't worry, eight) We will catch up if they stay in subsonic to keep low profile." Gault number two said. He was a true Belkan named Franz Speidel. Second in command, he often helped Kupchenko's efforts to coordinate such a big squadron.
" Gut. Ich will diese Verrätern Tot (Good. I want those traitors dead)!" The base commander of HAB said, as he was watching the firefighters slowly extinguishing the flames that were born of the few UGLBs the rogue F-15D dropped.
Kreuzbergsee, Belka, 22/10/1993, 00:20, Weather: thick night fog.
The semi-cold night surrounded the area with a thick cloud of condensed water. If it was not icing the glasses of the F-15D thanks to the efficient de-icing system, it limited their visibility. If they were not at midnight but at midday, they could have seen the lake of Kreuzbergsee, in a small cuvette between four old and eroded mountains. Millennia ago, there was a glacier there, in the ice age. Not it was just a nice touristic spot for all water sports, as some nice streams were carved through the mountainous terrain. There were the source of many rivers of Belka, including the Tau who run through Tauberg and the Schayne Plains, the Löre through Hoffnung before going into Fato and the Zülten which run through Sudentor, going through a pass in the Waldreich Mountains, and then to the Northern see.
There was no big castle in the area like the medieval one with square walls at Stier, near the Waldreich Mountains. Instead there was just the remains of one old tower that was now used as a support for local radio antenna.
But even with their low visibility they could see eight Su-47 with a three-tone grey camo and their trademark gold line on the leading edge of their wings. The Gault squadron. They obeyed him. They inverted their plane and bailed-out just over the lake. In this position it was particularly painful to be ejected and fall into a cold lake in October, but always better than shot down.
" They must have something wrong with their plane. It is just flying straight, almost non-harmonic. Strange for rogues." Gault 5 commented, trying to make the pursuit more realistic. This man, Egon Strauss, had some particular background: born in a composer family, he was not very attracted by classic music or modern one, but way more by "Schräge Musik".
" Don't worry, it won't be a problem. Gault 1, Feuer Fox 1s." Kupchenko fired two SAAMs toward the almost static F-15D. It exploded right on impact.
" No chute. They are dead." Perez added, as they pass above the shattered parts of the fighter.
" Gut." The BAH commander enjoyed this news.
But of course, the only thing they could have died from today was hypothermia, as the lake was pretty cold in this season. They slowly saw the Sukhois moving out to the south west, toward Tauberg. And soon after they were picked up by some Belkan CH-17. It brought them to their new place where they would receive new names: Cipher for the boy, as Fernando had the tendency to inverse the e and y in Zephyr, and Zveda for Freyja. Kupchenko initially chose Zvezda for Hope in his grandfather's language, but she reduced it to Zveda, as it was easier to pronounce.
If they thought it would be a piece of cake to integrate the unit and moreover the project of Kupchenko, they were wrong. For weeks they had to go through a seemingly inhuman applied physics and air combat training schedule. Flying was great for them, as it meant being trained by none other than Gault team members, and even after some time doing little sparring session with them. However, their applied physics and engineering science part were led by a scientist named Hellenseite, and this guy was as merciful and tactical in his way of teaching these fields as Kupchenko's way of flying
But all of this was necessary. Kupchenko could not rely on their fighting skills alone. For him, they needed to understand how the engineer thinks and the process of aircraft conception to be able to master said aircraft. Kupchenko himself had an equivalent of an engineer diploma in aeronautical physics too, yet with a great major in project management. And today, it was with Karl Hellenseite that he was going to discuss the somewhat victory he obtained this morning.
Tauberg, Belka, 20/04/1995, 13:00.
Kupchenko saw his pupils joining with the members of the Gault team, on the ground this day. With their hypersthene stock depleted, they couldn't do such raid like the one on Wesson. And with the great losses these mercs inflicted on the Belkan Air Force in this area, the whole air force was locked in a defensive role. His "Erbe" were even a bit sad as they explained to their brothers in arms the fight between Gault 1 and Galm 1, after a short debriefing in which he informed them that until further notice they would stay in their defensive area.
He couldn't help but feel sorry for them. He made a gamble and lost this one. Yet he still considered that this fight was as much a victory as a defeat. Even if he lost to this Erusean merc, his project won over the UCAVs. Of course, he could understand their sadness: for a simple pilot - even with a somewhat good level of skills and knowledge luggage - they only see the victory as their survival and the defeat of the enemy in this mission or in a set of missions. For him, victory was to achieve a goal, different of many involved in his war. But since when were goals achieved by a straightforward way. They seldom are so. Or just never were.
Still, this time they deserved to know. Even if he hadn't found the reason for this lock that shouldn't have worked in the first place. He could not respond much when Gault 8, Fernando Perez, asked with his worried sapin voice:
" Ma qué pasa in B7R, Señor Kupchenko?"
" Una Eruseanerine. But how she got that lock is a mystery to me currently." Kupchenko replied, before a Belkan scientist in white lab coat spoke out. He had little metallic rectangular glasses which gave him a strict gaze, but he had a left side hair parting was pretty much negating the seriousness his glasses created.
" It is not a mystery anymore, my friend. She used a secondary belly radar. Unconventional, but an easy way to extend the lock-on radius and angle of her plane." The scientist, whose name was labelled on his lab coat as Hellenseite, explained. If Kupchenko was the military tactician of their project, he was the scientific headmaster.
" Do you have any more intel on her tuned X-29A?" Kupchenko quickly followed, hoping to identify his enemy better. Identifying the enemy could be a pretty challenging task sometimes.
" I have. But this mere restroom is not the place for scientific explanations. If you may follow me." the scientist headed out the rest room on the upper level of a small building. There, they could see the pride of Kupchenko's Pendragon project.
" Mein Schaft und Erbe, sorgen sich nicht über meine Niederlage von heute (My team and heir, don't worry for my defeat of today). Of course, I regret this defeat over B7R, but we as warriors all know regrets sometimes. Yet they never defined me. We will succeed in the accomplishment of our task." Kupchenko tried to inspire his pilots, and from the smile that raised of the formerly sadden face he could say it had worked.
" You really know how to inspire people, my fellow tactician." Hellenseite agreed with the inner thoughts of Kupchenko, as they were walking through white alleys. From there they could see halls of different size, where most of the experiments of their mutual Pendragon project were done.
" I do. As a tactician they are all under my responsibility. They all trust me with their lives. What kind of leader would I be if I wasn't ready to put mine on the line?" Kupchenko confirmed, as they entered the "Meinungsausbildungsraum" or room where Hellenseite often exposed his crazy ideas to Kupchenko. One five-meter large blackboard composed of two one point five meter high slidable part, giving a total surface of roughly fifteen square meter of display. The other pieces of furniture in the room where a small desk and a few chairs.
" Ah, I always find your attachment to blackboard instead of video projector quite poetic, mein Lieber Karl"
" Everyone has is way of expressing arts. For your mens it's through Schräge Musik. For me it's through my design." He caught a few chalks and began drawing an X-29A with amazing speed, being used to draw all of its design on blackboard. It wasn't in perspective, but the three-view way of display was enough to show all sides of the craft.
Of course, anyone could take a picture of it. But in this era, espionage was more through computer-based technology than through real agent. Besides, Hellenseite had always authorized only two people to ever enter this room - himself and Kupchenko -. Every plan was transmitted by taking pictures of parts of the blackboard, and sent to their respective team than would study them and then produced blueprints for their parts by themselves. Despite being unorthodox, this method was a great way to reduce leaks.
The fighter was drawn in less than three minutes, during which they only heard the chalks sliding on the blackboard, with all the updates Hellenseite had deduced from all the pictures sent to him as Kupchenko was coming back from B7R. He even had the time to draw on the second part of the blackboard the EPM Ustian pilots used, making the lower part slide to put the modified X-29A in the now upper part of the blackboard.
Looking at the black part of this schematics, Kupchenko could recognize all the changes. The twin exhaust engine, the black canards and forward-swept wings, the belly radar. All these contingencies that had changed his well-planned battle-plan were now displayed. And new weaknesses to exploit would soon appear.
" I admit the maintenance crews in Valais must have worked hard on this one, considering the amount of damage her fighter suffered over Bayes." Hellenseite recognized the work of his adversaries.
" I do too. But I cannot allow myself to become complacent toward this merc. Any idea on how to bypass this threat, my crazy scientific Freund?" Kupchenko asked, and this put Karl Hellenseite in deep thoughts for a few seconds.
" Natürlich du kannst von oben angreifen. (Of course, you can attack from above)" The scientist quickly analyzed.
" She's got way too much reflexes to surprise her with some high ground tactics. But we are not going to meet again until some weeks, and this time I would be the one to choose my conditions." Kupchenko countered the idea of Hellenseite. There was a squadron stationed in Directus that love to do that. He was wondering how she would take them down.
" So, you imply Ustio will go this far. I wish them good luck to get a victory above Directus."
" All beings strive for victory. For mercs in B7R, survival is there motus operandi, their goal that once achieved define victory. For blind politicians who decided wars for polls or such thing, victory is just a mere advantage one can bring to a bargaining table. To a warrior, victory is driving an enemy from the field of battle or bringing him to surrender. Sometimes victory is greater than the warrior could ever hope for. Sometimes it is more than he is able to hear. And for this last reason my Erbe cannot consider today's fight as a victory yet. But for me it is." Kupchenko gave what was a cryptic answer for most people, but for Hellenseite it was crystal clear: their goal was reachable.
" I agree, the defeat of the UCAV project is our greatest victory since Wesson. " The scientist replied quickly. Unlike Kupchenko, he wasn't the inspirational kind of tactician, but more of the calculative one. And this operation was definitely resulting positively.
" Still, Luck won't be enough for what this Erusean merc will face next. And even if I don't shoot her down, there're still two way of destroying an enemy: kill or destroy her infallible reputation of victorious merc. Soon like all she will taste the bitter taste of Niederlage (defeat)." Kupchenko let a small laugh after this declaration, some cynic one that could give shivers to any warrior's spine. But not to Hellenseite, as he joined his laugh.
" Besides, the Merlin project has entered his launching phase. And if I can see that this Thesermeister manage to outsmart me with the counter he contributed to create against the MPBMs, there's no way they could dare, just dare think they would find any counter-measures against this new project." Karl added, knowing too well the devastating effect this new component of the Pendragon project will cause to any allied unit. And sometimes there are weapon you cannot counter but just run and watch desperately your allies dying in vain.
So, when the two mens came back from their little tactical talks, they offered a toast to all of their pilots, celebrating this new step of their secret project. They had maybe conceded a victory to the allied forces, but war was not over. And even if all contingencies went against him, he had now found something to say to those contingencies: "there's an if". The same phrase Galm 1 said as they began clashing with each other. But now Kupchenko would be the one choosing the factors, not the Ustians, not the Sapins, not even the Oseans who humiliated him long ago. All would taste defeat. And in the end, he would have his revenge, he finally thought as he emptied his glass of Radler, contemplating his achievement in this place.
End of Chapter. Well, I wanted to give a bit more depth to a character we have only some carving on some rock to express his mind. I suppose some will find the references to some aces here and there in this chapter, and to some tactician outside of Strangereal Galaxy. I didn't include Zephyr and Freyja's escape because it will be worth a full chapter someday, even if this one is shorter than usual, but without any air combat it's hard to fill it. Feel free to review, like, comment (yeah I know for this website comment and review are the same thing but whatever) and subscribe.
Minor grammatical errors fixed on 31/07/2019, and some more on the 11/1/20, including the designation of the twin-seater F-15D.