NA: this is the last chapter following the canon story of Strangereal. After, all will change...
Valais Air Base, Ustio, 19/05/1995, 14:00, Weather: little fog.
Since this operation above Glatisant the base had gone a bit less noisy. With only ten pilots -eight Ustians and the two Claw squadron survivors- the number of flying personals was back to below the number of non-flying ones. Heck, even the personals onboard the AWACS were more numerous.
The Mage survivor had left the day before, with their best wish of luck. He confessed them he had a wife and daughter in Oured but was now worried about his own future. As a merc, Pixy sometimes met Osean, even if he despised most of them. Yet the few he entrusted had explained to him what could happen to the one who failed in the Osean Army : losing your rank for the light failures, and if it was worse, you were signaled as MIA and secretly forced to undergo unethical task and mission. There was no official recognition for those units, with most of them based on far away bases such as Sand Island, a cemented sandbar. The other news they were getting weren't that encouraging either. Not only the X-37s, but any scout plane that Osea or any allied country sent above the Schayne plains were always destroyed. Even the so-called uncatchable SR-71s that were once the pride of Osean intelligence were falling before Belkan defenses. But since the discovery of those F-117Z stealth anti-air platforms, the concern had shifted from energy-based weaponry to those ERAAMs spammers. Furthermore the few data obtained on those new stealth through Belkan prisoners indicated that they could possess some STOL capacities, this further shifting the interest toward a threat that seemed more dangerous for Oseans, as unlike the dagger-shaped drone and the Wesson-UFOs that went unnoticed since the Ustian onslaught on B7R, these F-117Z were something that could be vanquished and destroyed by conventional weaponry.
And now the Allied forces had now only one choice: to send scout to destroy these secondary lines of defense Belka possessed in the Schayne plains. Glatisant and the Hydrian line had maybe fallen, but as Koenig said in a prior briefing, Belka's gate would be way harder to hack than a fifth-point security door. As such, when they were called for briefing, they almost knew what their mission would be.
When they arrived in the briefing room, it was only to find a worried Koenig and a map centered on the Schayne plains. He had all the reasons in the world to be worried. After all, he was sending his forces with not very much data on the enemy they would encounter. But there never was a guarantee of coming back in war after all.
"Belka's second defensive line stretches across the Schayne plains between the Hydrian line we conquered two days ago and the Tauberg district at the North. It's North-West of B7R and at the East of Wesson. This line contains two anti-aircraft sites, with one equipped with an airfield and some squadron of interceptors. Thus, this operation will consist of ground strike and countering the Belkan interceptors. As we are near Wesson, we can expect some Oseans reinforcements. Besides, once the area will be deemed clear of Belkan threat, the allied forces that conquered Lumen will join us to go conquer Tauberg. They have been reinforced after losing some of their squadrons during operation Hell Bound, so we will have a massive armada to escort at the end of your assignment."
"Basically, they're sending us blind?" Pixy pointed out, as blue line representing the allied airborne troops was showing on the screen, on a South-North axis. To say that he was quite doubtful about the certainties of an allied victory today was the understatement of the century.
"In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed are kings." Francis added, showing his irony through some well-used proverb.
"We can see you're back in the field if you are already saying jokes. But back to what you were saying, Larry, we are going in blind. Yet the AWACS radar should be able to track most of the targets in the operational area as they announced some clear weather for today." Johnson commented, agreeing that this operation was the less prudent they ever went through.
"Anyway, be cautious up there, people. Belka has not revealed all of its Wunderwaffen." Koenig ended the briefing.
The Wunderwaffe was a Belkan concept born in the 1940-1950s war against Osea, were it began to be obvious that good fighters and good pilots could not win wars again a foe with numerical and logistical advantage. Pushed to its peak this doctrine could be set up with few words: "a handful of confident mens, and all that opposed them will be swept away". But even back in this era, in spite of the technological advancement Belka managed to obtain in the end of this war, the Belkan were themselves beat by their own concept, as the Wunderwaffe that finished this war was an atomic bomb dropped by an Osean above the main Belkan research center right in the middle of B7R. This was another reason why it was very hard to survive if you bailed out over this area, despite the radiation having dropped since then.
"Do you think Belka could use their RTLSs today?" Iskanda asked to her Belkan wingman, as they were climbing in their planes equipped for multirole missions: 4 FAEBs and six QAAMs for her and 8 UGLBs and 8 XMAA for him.
"It's what I would do if I were them. Look at how one or two of these unit jeopardize the operation Varsity and Hell Bound, and you will understand why Koenig is so worried today. He was maybe in better mood when we had to evacuate Directus, so he's not worrying for nothing I would conclude." Foulke replied, putting his helmet with ease, having maybe more than thousand hours of flight time.
"Then may Sainte Victoire watch our backs for today as we enact this second version of the Battle of Burned Plains." Iskanda emitted this comment with a little laugh.
And ten minutes later, all the aircrafts, followed by the AWACS, were on their way toward the second line of defense of Belka. They learned than a SEAD Yukte unit should met then in the Area, as well as a unit of F-2As from Wesson.
Schayne Plains, Belka, 19/05/1995, 15:30, Weather: little cloud coverage.
On the ground the Tau was meandering in large turns in the Schayne plains. The river was going West from the Kreuzbergsee before fusing with over rivers coming from the now Osean great lakes before flowing to the North toward the city of Tauberg, named after the river itself. Then it would go through the district of the most important city of South Belka: Blumenberg an der Tau. One hundred kilometers before the coastline of the Northern Sea, the Tau joined the Zülten who had gone through Sudentor and they would flow into the sea, going through a bit of now Osean territory for a few kilometers right before it for now the fighter pilots were just looking at its larger meanders while approaching a great lake that furnish half of the Tau's water, the very lake were the Skin Hers army Sainte Victoire was fighting three hundred years ago drowned into. The AWACS radar had already detected a few gunboats and missile boats on its surface, while its coast was guarded by eight SAMs site in the four cardinal point and the four sub-directions. They had few times before the engagement would even begin. Few times to admire a bit the landscape. Landscape comprised of a nice patchwork of small forest, small rivers converging toward the Tau, small fields of what was one of the most rural area of Belka, including vines and corns.
"Just look at the view, Galm 1. There's not so much differences between these countries from up there." Pixy commented the still quiet landscape, who would not stay that silent for long.
"I admit, South Belka has quite a good view to offer. Above all, a very nice view on a lake I will soon go fishing." Iskanda replied, flying as the same level as her wingman, even if her canards were always moving to keep her leveled. It was something necessary to have pitch stability with such an unstable fighter.
"I know dynamite fishing is forbidden, but is there some law about FAEB fishing?" Fred left a little comment, as the X-29A was diving toward the lake.
"Well there's no such law because no one fish using FAEBs." Their AWACS operator retorted, at least satisfied that the pilots were in good mood for now.
This friendly bickering lasted until the X-29A leveled up a bit before the lake, dropping an FAEB in its center. Three gunboats and two missile boats were taken by the sheer explosion, and the other could not land a hit on Iskanda's fighter due to the massive steam emission, hindering their accuracy. Pixy, the Sea Flankers and the two Mirage circled around the lake in a clockwise pattern, while the Halo squad circled in a counterclockwise pattern, with both group dealing quickly with the SAM sites using standard missiles. In the meantime, Iskanda was doing hairpin bends over the lake, evading the missiles of the last boats with ease as she kept destroying them.
"AA artillery of the lake neutralized. Proceed to destroy the airfield. J-35J Draken and Harriers incoming." Their AWACS operator warned them, as the S/VTOL craft were approaching the airspace. There was fifteen of each type.
"Fox 3" Alekseï said as he released a full volley of XMAAs. In total, the volleys of XLAAs, SAAMs and XMAAs the allied forces fired cut by a third the Belkan interceptors, with the J-35J being the main downed, as the Harriers used their VTOL capacities to evade the tracking by landing in the cover of the forest around the Tau's meanders.
"Damn, those Harriers pilots were smart. But they have bled their speed by doing so. Let's make them bleed a bit more, but literally this time." Iskanda smirked, following the path of the Tau at full speed, creating little trails over the river.
"Do not let these Ustian mercenaries get all the job done. We can fight too." Claw 1 affirmed, following the rushing Erusean merc. Both bagged some kills on the Harriers, as they were taking off from their cover, even if Galm 1 had double the amount than the Mirage pilot. Of course, he was just armed with GPBs and XAGMs, so this was understandable.
"Typhoon sighted on the runway. Twin witches, your turn." The AWACS suggested, as they still had enough XLAAs to deal with those fighters. Axe and Hammer industries were at least proud of allowing the XLAAs they were producing to lock on taxiing fighters, unlike their Belkan counterparts that considered this not to be chivalrous. But unchivalrous tactics was what made win wars since centuries.
The two F-14Ds closed their geometrical wings and glided at supersonic speed toward their target. The other aircrafts kept diminishing the numbers of Belkan interceptors, without major issues as they had nearly one technological decade of advance on the Drakens. The only with trouble was Claw 3 at one moment, when he chased a Harrier.
He was chasing the Harrier since some seconds, using his overall good low speed mobility that was defining his infiltrator. But at one moment, the pilot of the Harrier went for a very risky move: he pointed his vectored nozzles toward the ground, almost stopping his aircraft in mid-air for some seconds. He almost collided with his pursuer, but as he was above him and the centerline gun pod below the Mirage, the Belkan pilot went out of this unharmed.
Yet it was without taking account some Erusean merc that just chase a Draken that try to shake her by diving quickly. She fooled him by pitching high, then using the created instability to dive quicker than her target. And the unfortunate Belkan pilot was shot by a pair of missiles as he was leveling. It was at this moment, as she was climbing back to the engagement zone that she saw what was happening with Claw 3. He was about to be gunned down by the more mobile Harrier. So, she interrupted her climb, dived back for a bit to end up right below the Harrier. And climb right on him gun blazing, ripping off one of his side vectored nozzles and turning him into a ball of fire.
"Thanks, Galm 1"
"Go help Halo 12 and 14, you will be more useful up there." Iskanda advised him, as Mirages were not proper dogfighters.
"Only three interceptors left." Komyeta one announced, after he shot a Draken after a bit of vertical yo-yo in which the Sea Flanker came out on top, having better stability than the delta winged aircraft.
"That make one." Pixy added, after gunning one Harrier while firing a pair of missiles to a Draken that was attacking him from his two hours. By a sad turn of fate for the two Belkan piloting them their two aircraft collided with each other.
"I am on the last." Iskanda exclaimed joyfully, as she went after an AV-8B.
Again, this Harrier pilot tried to make his pursuer overshoot by using its VTOL capacities. But here the results were quite the opposite to what the other Belkan pilot get with the Mirage. He did end up flying above her. However, it was only to see her climbing vertically at full speed, before Iskanda pull out a head-to-tail maneuver and arrived right over her opponent's cockpit, gunning him like the Belkan ace she encountered over Directus "Herr Guillotin".
"Nice move, Galm 1." A voice with a very strong Yukte accent said.
"Molotok squadron has arrived on the battlefield. Protect them against enemy fighters." The AWACS warned them, as the twelve Su-32s were arriving over the lake, having come right from Directus with a mid-air refueling over Glatisant.
"Hello comrades. We have now an airfield to vanquish." Galm 1 saluted the Yuktes that fought alongside them over Solis Ortus.
"The GHQ report that they would prefer having this runway and the warehouses. Just strip it of its defenses." Their AWACS indicated, restraining a bit the destructive power they were going to use.
Schayne plains, Belka, 19/05/1995, 15:45, Weather: light cloud coverage.
The twin witches had managed to shoot six EF-2000 as they were taxiing but couldn't get the rest. This because a great number of SPKs were set up to protect the other Belkan fighters. And in the same time three BAWS were activated, disturbing greatly the two F-14Ds.
"Activate all anti-air defenses. Set up the SAMs in the area elf (11)." The female commander leading this place ordered. If this lady could have something, it was the respect of her enemies, as her forces were well organized. Not too far to be too stretched, but not too close to be wiped out by high radius explosive armament.
"Help is on the way, Halo squad." Molotok 2 announced, as he fired his LAGMs on the Belkan defenses, followed by his comrades, quickly saturating the SPKs.
" Luchs squadron, griff daran (attack them)!" The base commander ordered, yet with a somewhat posed voice, as the last EF-2000 had taken off. They had a snowy camo making them look like their animal eponymous name. Six were shot down on the ground, but 10 managed to get in the air
"Ver. Attacking now!" Their leader nodded.
Volleys of XLAAs were fired at the allied forces. As they were meant to be efficient against bomber, they weren't that quick at close range. Still, it was enough to take down half of the Molotok squadron. And sadly, no chute was sighted amongst its members.
" Ustian pilots, we need your support." Molotok 4 required, being pursued by two typhoons and barely evading their fire.
" Roger that. Don't move, I'm coming on you." Galm 1 exclaimed, after downing a Typhoon. He had tried to get in her six, but as he did so, she pitched high, entering into a stall that made her arrive in his six. And one QAAM was enough to take down the disengaging Belkan.
Now she was rushing toward the Strike Flanker. She didn't remember if the Molotok squadron saw her doing this maneuver, but he didn't move, using his chaff to disturb the radar of his pursuer. But they were gaining ground by the second, and soon he would have nothing more to do.
"Almost there." She said as she was only two hundred meters away from the Sukhoi. The closest EF-2000 managed to get a hit on his wing, but he was able to recover.
And tilting her aircraft, she went right between his two ailerons. Yet either they foresaw this maneuver, or they heard speaking of this maneuver by Belkan survivors, as they both fired a pair of XLAAs. To evade them, she pitched high, stalling hard, her all plane shaking, before diving toward the ground as their two foes fired a second volley. Both scattered when they saw her arriving from below. However, as she was more mobile than the Typhoons and despite him doing quite sharp turns, it wasn't long before she gunned down her prey.
"Fox 2" The second typhoon fired his missiles on her, which she evaded by rushing on the control tower of the airfield, and barrel-rolling to the left quickly on her approach. The two missiles hit the tower hard, causing some death and wounds inside of it.
Then she pulled out a head-to-tail maneuver, and evading the gun burst by flying downward a bit, before climbing right below the belly of the EF-2000 and firing her gun. Molotok 4 thought for an instant he was saved as he saw the two aircraft pursuing him getting shot down, but as he slowed down after this chase to fire his gun, a high velocity missile launched by the BAWS struck his cockpit. He wasn't the only one to go down: Claw 1 went down by this armament while in a dogfight with a Typhoon, using his infiltrator's low speed mobility to get to the tail of the enemy craft. And the Belkan weaponry took him at this very moment, as he was locking on the EF-2000.
The last BAWS was taken down by a FAEB which also destroyed its close air-to-air defenses. Obviously, she regretted destroying it a bit too late, as it had already caused quite a number of casualties.
" You fought well. Now it's time to leave. Abandon the base." The Oberst issued her last order.
"That's a first. Belkan evacuating instead of making last stands." Pixy commented what seemed to be an unorthodox order to Belkan doctrine.
"They may have their reasons to leave." The AWACS operator guessed, but one of the only things that could lead to such act was that Belka was plotting something, and do not want his soldier to be caught in their fire. This worried him deeply.
And three minutes later, a modified XB-10 Valkyrie and three MiG-31 with the same livery as the Luchs squadron took off, protected by a line of automated SPKs and SAMs. Still, two MiG-31 were downed by the LAGMs of the five Molotok survivors, as a way to get revenge for their fallen comrades.
"I'm on the leader." Galm 1 said, as she hit the burners in the hope of catching those fleeing Belkans.
Yet the leader's MiG-31, which was piloted by none other than the base commander herself, had been modified for defensive purposes while sacrificing a bit of its speed. And to be honest Iskanda was quite surprised when it launched a pair of XLAAs backward.
"You cannot run forever!" She shouted at her enemy that just launched a full volley of XLAAs, successfully disrupting the lock of the two F-15Cs in the sixth Unit.
"Ich brauche es nicht. Aber du wirst. (I won't need to. But you'll)" The MiG-31 pilot retorted, launching a final XLAAs volleys, definitively outrunning the slower X-29A. Furthermore, without those defensive missiles, its drag decreased, and it joined up with the Valkyrie containing the last Belkan survivors of this very automated base.
"Abtrennung" A Belkan onboard the XB-10 announced. This word was always associated with one thing Iskanda considered to be utterly annoying: drones.
And she was right: from the bomb-bay of the Valkyrie fell this backward swept wing dagger-shaped drone. It was her third encounter with that unknown type. Henceforth she knew what its flaws were, and quickly set in motion some schemes to bring it down.
" Galm 2, Halo 5, XMAA barrage on the UAV." She ordered, and only ''Fox 3s'' were their response.
The UAV had to resort to his forward mounted SPK to destroy those four missiles fired from long range, and that were slightly quicker than the X-29A on their final phase. The four missiles burst almost two hundred meters before their designated target. Yet all of this was just a mere ruse. The X-29A only slowed down to arrive at the good speed and with the good angle. And as she was arriving on its left, she expanded her airbrakes suddenly, pulling a hairpin bend that make her arrive on the drone's nine hours. Added a good twenty round and one sassy one-liner and it was torn into pieces despite its small size making it harder to aim.
"Try to guide the rocket another time, Hal."
"These drones have apparent weaknesses. I still don't understand why they aren't mass-produced for swarm attack, at least that way they would be efficient." Valentin analyzed this flawed drone that was maybe overengineered a bit, with two active defense system and two bays for defensive missiles. It was a good shepherd, but one that would end up eaten by the hunting wolfpack each time it was used.
"Belkan strategy, even their Wunderwaffen concept doesn't cope with drones." Koenig added, furnishing his own old Belkan point of view on UCAVs.
"We have no choice but to let their survivors run. Besides, the radar showed some MiG-29As incoming with some jammers into the mix, as well as some defensive structures between here and the second major base of the Schayne plains." Their AWACS operator indicated, as three grey area on their radar were moving toward them, and some gunboat were sighted in the meanders of the Tau river.
" Molotok and Claw survivors: engage with the ground forces. Sixth Unit, the fighters are up to you." Koenig assigned his forces, slightly chilled by the current state of the battle.
"Roger. Let's put some torque on those Fulcrums." Fred said, arming his last SAAMs on the Belkan MiG-29As with light green two-tone camo. Some grey EA-18Gs were the ones responsible of the current jamming.
"There's something wrong. Belka should send more fighters." Pixy found weird that in spite of the importance of this battle, his Homeland was not fully committed today.
"Yeah, don't be afraid." Iskanda commented, counting less than twenty aircraft, jammers and interceptors alike.
And as the planes rushed at each other's, Belka didn't seem to send more reinforcements. What are they plotting, Galm 1 mused, but she couldn't think that well during dogfights. Maybe if she could, she would have understood what was involved here.
Schayne plains, Belka, 19/05/1995, 16:00, Weather: light cloud coverage.
Now all were in range of each other's. The twelve MiG-29As and four Growlers outnumbering the allied fighters squadron by two to one, as well as the fluvial defenses of the Belkan army in this area against the six remaining Yukte and Osean strike crafts.
" Galm 1, engaging." She said as she rushed toward the enemy formation, almost laughing when the Belkan crafts try to take her out with SAAMs but failed.
An EA-18G fired his XMAAs on her at some point, but it didn't help a single bit: she evaded them by a single barrel-roll to the left. Then she fired back her standard missiles on the Growler. Which in spite of the jamming locked easily on the said plane, as they use IR sensors for close range. The jamming intensity decreased a bit after this aircraft exploded in mid-air, thus making the MiG-29As popping up from time to time on their radar.
Pixy went for the same target, but gunned it down from above, like a bird of prey hunting some dove. The powerful gun was enough to cut the right wing right on the folding line, and one XLAA from Halo 12 put him out of misery. But both Galm team members put themselves in harm's way as they were now in the inside of the Belkan flight, and still jammed.
Two Fulcrums quickly ganged up behind Iskanda, and began peppering her with their standard missiles, that she avoided by flying in an erratic streak of sharp turns. But she knew all those turns were diminishing her speed, despite having a highly mobile fighter. So, she did the opposite thing her opponents were expected: she extended her airbrakes while flying tilted, almost slamming herself on the Fulcrums in the process. Luckily, they both dispersed themselves, and this allow her to have a plain field of sight when she leveled her aircraft. Then she took advantage of her tuned engine and quickly got in the six of one of her pursuers. She gunned it down with chill-spinning ease, and in the same time she fired a pair of missiles on the second Fulcrums that was almost out of her firing arcs.
Pixy ended up pursued too, but he preferred using the sheer speed of his fighter than doing crazy maneuvers. He outran his opponents at a fast pace, before executing an Himmelman, this putting him in the perfect position to retaliate, that he did by firing his gun at the cockpit of his left pursuer, and a pair of missiles at the one at his right.
"Only nine aircrafts remaining." The AWACS operator indicated after Halo 7 managed to kill another jammer with a well-aimed SAAMs.
"Make that six." Halo 12 said as she fired her XLAAs, with only three missiles finding their mark due to the last jammer still flying.
She destroyed it with the help of her sister-in-arms in the second F-14D, rushing toward it and with both firing one missile on the jammer that were barely evaded. But it was only to extend their geometrical wings the second they were behind this Growler, with both of them getting in his six and firing again one missile each. This time he was unable to evade and went down. The jamming ceased, only to reveal two Fulcrums trailing them. However, they didn't last long, as the two Ustian planes that were already deep into Belkan formation shot them down.
"Four planes remaining. Finish them." The AWACS announced, and it was quickly done. Two more MiG-29As were shot down by a pair of XMAAs of Komyeta 2, and the two others by Halo 5 and seven indirectly. Indirectly because as the F-15C and F-15E engaged them head-on with missiles, they forced them to do evasive maneuvers, and those evasive maneuvers made them land right into Galm team's crosshairs, as the latter were climbing back to the engagement zone. Both last MiG-29As were gunned from below, and no chute was sighted from those very heavily damaged fighters.
In the meantime, the GPBs and LAGMs of the allied attackers had made quick work of the SAM sites, AA guns and gunboats spread around the nearby meanders. Now they only had one main target in the North-West, an anti-air base behind a hill. Besides their radar sighted no BAWS into the area this time. This mission would be history soon.
Schayne plains, Belka, 19/05/1995, 16:15, Weather: light cloud coverage.
The fifteen planes were already at the hill. Some Tanks and AA guns were guarding it, but they didn't last long to the GPBs of the Super Tomcats and UGLBs of the F-15Cs. Yet they were met by an helluva amount of high explosive shells from the Belkan flak.
"Fly low until sky is clear. There's nothing to conquer here. Destroy all." The AWACS operator transmitted. The warehouses were only full of ground-to-air missiles and such. They had to utterly destroy them if they didn't want that a lone shoulder-mounted SAM opening fire when the allied transports would fly above the Schayne plains.
"Roger. Dropping all." Pixy nodded, and without any mercy began his bombing run.
To the gargantuan amount of flak fire and SAMs that had welcome them they responded by an equivalent gargantuan number of rockets, unguided and guided bombs, sub-munitions and thermobaric ordnance. The plains were set ablaze, which messed up with the thermal sensors of the SAMs that survived the initial onslaught. The quick fighters were dispatching them one by one when they were not engulfed by the flames bursting of burning warehouses and containers.
"Where is the commander? What should we do?" A Belkan SAM servant asked, getting more and more desperate as their number of casualties was getting higher.
"Either's dead or he flew." Another artillery servant said, before dying due to the heavy gun the Su-32s were equipped with.
"Ihn habe ich nicht seit diesem Morgen gesehen. Er musste fliehen. (I haven't seen him since this morning. He must have fled) A third Belkan said, apparently quite angered by his commander's behavior.
"Feigling." The first one said, right before his SAM detected some kind of strange target: some kind of bomb that was hovering right beside him. Two second later he was turned into vapors and light.
"I agree your commander is a coward. Yet he will survive this day." Galm 1 pointed out, climbing after having dropped her last FAEB on some SAMs.
"Almost 90% of the Belkan defensive network is already destroyed. Keep up the good work people." The AWACS operator indicated, as the last red point on his monitor were disappearing one by one.
"So only 10% remaining. We can win this." Halo 7 added with confidence.
"I see you've worked your math, my dear humorist friend." Thesermeister said, while firing his last rockets on some containers, reducing them to a pile of rubble.
But some new unknown just added itself to the equation just now, under the form of a distress signal:
" This is Rattlesnake 3, I'm pursued by Berkuts. I won't hold much longer."
"Galm team, Halo 5 and 7, you're the fastest here. Go help him." Their AWACS operator ordered.
Schayne plains, Belka, 19/05/1995, 16:25, Weather: light cloud coverage.
A single F-2A Viper with a snake-like camo was trailed by 6 Berkuts with a black camo and a yellow nose. He had managed to outrun them for some time, but it was only at the expense of all of his wingmen. They were eight at the beginning and now he was alone, with only one volley of flares remaining. And flares weren't that efficient against SAAMs for obvious reasons, making his evasive maneuvers even harder than they already were.
"Don't worry, we are coming in." Halo 7 ensured the unlucky Osean, while firing two SAAMs on the Berkuts. But with their insane mobility it was very easy for them to lose the semi-active missiles. Yet this distraction was all that needed the Galm team and Halo 5 to come closer to the Su-47s.
"Krähe Schaft, griff diese alliierten Jagdflugzeug an. (Crow team attack these allied fighters)" Their Belkan leader ordered, and they left the pursuit of this useless target to attack a more potent adversary.
"Beware not to lose your cheese to some smarter enemies." Halo 5 said, as the F-2A was now out of range of the Su-47's SAAMs.
The X-29A went for a gap between two fighters in the Krähe team, flying tilted to avoid their gun fire. Then she executed a head-to-tail maneuver and fired one QAAMs on each of the two fighters that had just began to turn toward her. On the other hand, the two F-15Cs were targeted by three Su-47s, and while they were hit by some bullets, they managed to shoot two of them by using their last QAAMs. The third one succeeded in evading the high velocity missile, but this had bled his speed, and he fell to the last SAAM of Halo 7.
There was now only one Su-47, pursued by four allied fighters. The Belkan leader could keep pace with the sturdier Eagles, but the X-29A was giving him quite a lot of trouble. He could see it gaining ground with each turn she took tighter than him.
"I'm on the leader." She said as he stalled after a streak of sharp turns in which she managed to keep her speed thanks to her tuned engine. And as he was kicking his afterburners too late, she fired her gun on his cockpit, putting an end to his misery.
" It was close. If I made it to the end, drinks are on me this evening." The Osean pilot sighed, finally authorizing himself to feel some relief.
" Then I hope you'll made it." Halo 5 wished.
"Anyway, the Molotok squadron just finished the Belkan defense network. Go to the south of the area and rendezvous with the allied transports." Koenig informed them, as a huge number of blue dots was coming on their radar from the South-East and the South-West, respectively coming from Lumen and Directus, and from Wesson.
Schayne plains, Belka, 19/05/1995, 16:35, Weather: light cloud coverage.
Saying the Osean and Yukte transport armada was huge was the understatement of the century. It wasn't huge, it was gigantic: ten AC-130 followed by twenty C-5 Galaxy, twenty C-130 Globemaster and eight An-225. The escort squadron was more numerous than they ever saw, with fighters of various types in light or dark grey, sandy brown or grey blue two-tone camos : the Javelin squad of ten F-16C, the Paladin of ten F/A-18Cs, the Gargoyle flight of ten F-15E, the Spear squadron of twelve F-15C, the Dagger squad comprised of battle-hardened mercenary of Recta of thirteen J35J Draken, as well as the Foil squadron comprised of defectors from the Federation of Fato piloting fourteen F-14Ds along with from Yuktobania the red star squadron of 8 MiG-31 and the Zvarya squad of 12 Su-27s. And to all this they could add the Ustian pilots, and the survivors of the Molotok squadron and almost defunct Claw and Rattlesnake squadron.
From this perspective, and two thousand meters above this gigantic airborne armada, this mission seemed to be over soon. Iskanda had never seen such a massive engagement of aerial forces. If Lumen had fallen to this, there was almost no wonders that Tauberg would fall quite quickly.
"I feel like I'm queuing at some drive-in of the outskirt of Oured. I regret the simple Ustian restaurants." Iskanda said, as her HUD and radar were showing nothing but blue. If a SAM just appeared right now, she wouldn't even notice it before it fired.
"Actually, I know an Ustian restaurant with a drive-in in Oured." An Osean from the Gargoyle flight intervened.
"Yeah, That's the only good place to eat near the airbase." A Fatoan from the Foil squadron shared his mind on the low-level of Osean food for exiled pilots.
"Hem, we just need one standby exercise to be sure everything is fine, and once you'll have crossed the Schayne plains this mission will be a success." The AWACS operator transmitted. Even if he wasn't the only AWACS in the area for now, as the Yukte deployed a couple of A-50 Mainstay for covering the ground and the E-767 "Bogey Drop" of Osea.
" Roger. Spooky one to ten on standby." All pilots of AC-130s said.
"Andromeda flight one to twenty on standby." The pilots of the C-5 Galaxies indicated.
"First and second airborne battalion on stand-by." The pilots of the C-130s added.
"Galm 1 and 2 on standby." Iskanda said with a slightly nonchalant voice, already getting bored of this purely formal exercise. It was another good reason to be a merc: evade those puny rules.
"Halo squad up and running." Fred announced, not willing to use numbers to count since it would remind them of all the losses that they suffered above Directus.
"Komyeta 1 and 2 on standby." Thesermeister added, as they leveled on the same altitude than the Molotok squadron, having become good friends since the operation over Solis Ortus.
"Claw 3 ready." The sole survivor spoke.
"Rattlesnake 3 on standby." The first Osean fighter pilot confirmed its readiness, even if he had just escaped death a few minutes ago.
"Javelin one to ten on standby." The leader joyfully indicated, having had no casualties over Wesson and Lumen, and intending to keep it that way.
"Paladin one to ten on standby." Their leader said.
"Gargoyle flight ready to fight." Their leader affirmed, and this time it was a female voice for once.
"Spear squadron ready to charge." Their leader said, eager to engage any Belkan they would find on their way as they had suffered quite some casualties over Wesson, unlike Javelin squad.
"Dagger 1 tot 13 op standby." The Gebetan-Rectan mercenary leader indicated, with a strong local accent.
"Foil squadron up and running." The Fatoan renegade said, hoping their engagement here would not lead to Belkan retaliation against their homeland.
"Red star one to eight on stand-by." The Yukte squad indicated.
"Zvarya one to twelve on stand-by." The final Yukte message came.
"All right, we are halfway there. Thanks for securing this airspace, Ustians." Andromeda 5 thanked the mercs that just destroyed everything in the vicinity.
Fifty-eight transport planes escorted by nearly one hundred fighters and four electronic warfare planes were ready to take Tauberg. For the airborne troops inside the transports, the city was as won as Lumen, which fell with ease two days before.
Schayne plains, Belka, 19/05/1995, 16:37, Weather: light cloud coverage.
For the pilot of Spooky five, this mission was the easiest ever thought. Their planes were covering the sky like a giant duraluminium cloud, while the jet wash of the huge formation was painting a large white line in the blue sky. Yet at some point he saw something unusual, or that could be a sign of tiredness as he didn't have that many rests since the taking of Lumen. He blinked two or three times, rubbed his eyes, but he was still seeing those broken blueish or pinkish lines in his field of sight.
" I must have ophthalmic migraine. Damn prolonged missions." The pilot complained, as those lines keep growing in number as well as their luminous intensity.
" Dude I don't think so. I'm seeing those broken lines too." His copilot sighted, feeling himself not really safe with those otherworldly kinds of lights.
"Huh, I'm seeing something flashing in the upper atmosphere. Northern lights at this latitude?" Pixy wondered, as he saw those lights that he had seen two days ago above Glatisant.
"Niet Kameraden. There cannot be Northern lights this far from the magnetic pole." Thesermeister gave a simple answer, yet that didn't satisfy him either.
"This is Bogey Drop to Eagle Eye, I'm detecting some magnetic field right in front of spooky five, at the middle of the forefront of the armada." The Osean E-767 began to see some sparks on their radar, like a jammer that was gaining in intensity with each second passing.
"Eagle Eye to Bogey Drop, we are confirming the radar anomaly. But the A-50s aren't detecting any hidden ground-based jamming system." The AWACS operator confirmed, a bit unphased by this situation in which he could not get a glimpse at what was happening.
The broken lines were not alone by now, and the flash at high altitude had gained in intensity. Everyone could see it, even with the bright sun of this day over the Schayne plains. Yet the people could see that those broken lines seemed to be linked to a central blue line, like some tree of light. And soon it wasn't just some scarce broken lines in mid-air: an entire, a gigantic column of air was beginning to turn into a light violet color, with the middle of the column in a very bright turquoise blue or turquoise green relative to the altitude. Soon Herr Thesermeister, and all pilots with a bit of physical knowledge understand what this radar anomaly was: the fourth state of matter, or plasma. The air in front of them was ionizing.
And it wasn't slow. No, it wasn't at all. From scarce broken lines of light ten seconds ago, the column was almost half a kilometer in diameter when the AWACS began to dither about the radar anomaly, and right now it was nearly one kilometer in diameter. Not enough to be as wide as the flying armada, but as the aircraft kept their forward motion, the AC-130s forming the forefront of the aerial armada were soon at only a few hundred meters of this still growing column of light. At some point the buzzing noise of the overheated and electrically overloaded air make it sound like they were in the middle of some insect nest.
They thought sometimes shit could have hit the fan, that sometimes the worst had already happened other Glatisant, or Wesson for the one that witnessed the raid of the Gault squadron and the Wesson-UFOs. But right now, shit was not even hitting the turbofan engine, but the plasmatic turbofan engine. Gigantic lightnings born of the column of plasma struck at the allied transports and fighters indiscriminately with great noise, making the thunder sounding like violent explosion. Furthermore, the forefront units began to be almost engulfed within the ionized cloud. There they would met only the most gruesome forms of death, with the transport exploding due to the heat or the phenomenal static electricity, and for the fighters death was even quicker : parts of the fighters were not just sublimated like the nanosecond pulse laser would do, but simply disintegrated, with the fighters exploding at slightly variable degree of destruction. If the airborne troops just died from the explosion, they saw some bail-outing pilots just being turned into ionized ashes by the column that had engulfed them.
And even the ones that were out of it were often met with heavy electromagnetic interference, making long and medium range radar useless. Or the unluckiest ones had numerical instability compensator failures, sending their aircraft to the ground in uncontrollable spiral of death, in which the downed fighters often hit transports in the process, this further endangering their cargo or simply taking them out with them. The state of the allied formation was just pure panic before this terrific weapon they had no means to fight.
At some point the surviving craft began to retreat, even if the order hadn't been issued officially, with the waves being filled with distress signal and screams of dying pilots or airborne troops. And while beginning to retreat they saw the inner bright blue line at the center of the column vanished. They thought they could authorize themselves some relief as the still huge formation was u-turning. But the Belkan Wunderwaffe that was firing at them wasn't going to let them rest between its firing sequence, and thus increased its power output. Henceforth a second column quickly appeared at the back of the formation in less than five second further contributing to the demise of allied forces. Furthermore, the column seemed to be growing quicker there due to the overheated vapors of their jet wash. It was followed by a third and a fourth one in the center of the formation, where it destroyed dozens of aircrafts with each second passing.
"Damn it, Rattlesnake 3 is down. Guess we won't have drinks this evening." Halo 7 pointed out with a somewhat sad voice
" How long will those columns stay in the air?" Galm 1 rhetorically asked, as she wasn't sure to obtain a response.
"Around a good ten minutes if my estimations based on the minimum ionization voltage of air. Put your radar on maximal intensity, thus you will see which area are just plasma and which aren't." Thesermeister replied, having already given this advice to his brother, and this allowed the two to survive.
"We are transmitting this order to every survivor within formation." Eagle Eye agreed with Thesermeister's physical deductions. Even if the survivors were now only a few dozen fighters and a handful of transport, as more column of plasma had appeared during this few second of chat, expanding the ionized area to a somewhat meander-like pattern, following a bit the long and large meanders of the Tau river.
"All units, the GHQ has ordered the retreat due to Belkan long range laser strike. And we don't know their range right now. Fly south and try to go back to your bases alive." The admiral Koenig admitted with great regret what this mission had turned into : a very, very stinging defeat, which if the loss kept mounting would be more costly in pilots than any battle of the war, and that any air battle of previous wars.
"Well it's about damn time." Pixy expressed his disgust about the Osean top brass that unlike Koenig didn't like to come close to the front lines. He, the Halo and Komyeta squad along with some Osean F-15Cs, Fatoan F-14Ds, Gebetan-Rectan Drakens and Yukte Flankers had survived, but for how long he couldn't know.
And with their radar set to detect the safe zone on their path, they were almost blind to any Belkan fighters that would be crazy enough to fly near these clouds of death. This very low likelihood they were fearing soon happened under the form of one well-known formation for the survivors of Wesson: an eight-plane with two others slightly behind that went through gaps between some plasma columns, and this without any casualties on their side. Yet the two behind quickly climbed at very high altitude to reduce the risk of suffering damage, as the low density at high altitude was de-facto diminishing the plasma's density.
" This is Bogey Drop, we have hostile inco…" The Osean E-767 was shot down before having the time to say anything more. The new air-to-air missile of Belka, the ERAAM had struck once more. Yet this time it wasn't carried by F-117Z that wouldn't last long in this now almost apocalyptical place due to the gigantic column of plasma still standing and being amplified from time to time, when the inner blue line of light inside of the ionized came to life again.
"Haben sie mir vermisst, meine kleine Eruseanerine Freundin? (Did you miss me, my little Erusean friend) A Yukte sounding voice she had already met and burned into her memory spoke.
"Denn come fight me, Kupchenko." She inquired, after seeing some SAAMs wreaking havoc amongst the survivors. The two Mainstay that managed to fly between the column of plasma due to their powerful radar were destroyed in an instant.
" Denn du mag nicht meine schöne Helligen Kolumne?"(So you do not like my beautiful columns of Hell) Gault one rhetorically asked, as he could feel the rage, anger, hatred and despair in her voice.
"That's an impressive technical accomplishment." Thesermeister forced himself to recognize that this time, Belkan Wunderwaffe was finally succeeding.
"I let you choose your rules last time. Now it's my time to choose. And there will be none." Gault one harshly retorted, ignoring the mind of this Yukte physicist, before rushing on his target. He knew she would evade this SAAM, but he could still try.
"Alright. Let's do this." She rushed to the fight at the same time. She managed to barrel-roll out of his guidance for the SAAM and retaliate by her final QAAM. She thought she would have him this time. But no. Flying near an ionized cloud, before enacting a head-to-tail maneuver and then a small stall by pitching high, he fooled the missile and the next second was diving on her.
"I recognize there's something good with this maneuver you showed me last time." Kupchenko calmly said, as both aircraft met, him diving and her climbing, gun blazing, but both were agile enough to evade each other's gun bursts.
"Well thanks you mein Herr. But dead men said no tales." She harshly retorted, before he let her be the pursuer for some time, but only to go back into the main engagement zone where allied forces casualties were mounting while Gault squadron was still ok. There he mercilessly gunned down five Oseans, without taking into account when they try to bail-out, all of it while evading the nimble X-29A that was closing in, but he was giving the pace here. Not her anymore like other B7R.
"I know why you hate those Oseans so much. Ich kann die Vergeltungswille verstehen." (I can understand the will of revenge.) She tried to destabilize him with his dark past, which she wasn't envying at all.
"Oh, so Koenig revealed my past? How they humiliate me after the Oured airshow of 1990 where we showed the first Berkuts to the World and that turned their F-15Cs into third zone fighters? How they paid a bunch of executioners that turned my wife into a horribly blood-stained body that even you would blink at it and make vanish my daughter? Or did he forget to tell you this bloody part of my story?" Anton Kupchenko explained with a furious voice, with the usual coolness and self-control away from him at this moment.
"Maybe he wasn't very precise on this last part." She agreed that Koenig's explanations he gave them after Operation Choker one were lacking some bits here and there. If he was truly meaning that the view of that distorted body could make her blink when few things could startle her, it meant it was really coming straight out of a horror film.
"You showed me what defeat meant. I haven't felt it seit 1990. Aber jetzt du wirst. (But soon you will feel it too.)." He kept explaining, as the two of them had climbed again above the main engagement zone, which they could saw when they tilted their aircraft to execute the sharp turns that they had to resort to evade each other.
"This is Halo 5. I can't shake him." Fred said, as Gault 8 was trailing him. And when he tried to evade his SAAMs by flying near a Helligen Kolumne, it was the time choose by the Belkan laser operators to amplify it. His F-15C was grazed a bit by the overheated plasma, with pieces of it turning into vapors and light, before it exploded and vanish.
"Halo 10 is not responding." Eagle Eye announced with a sad voice, as he saw her get locked by one ERAAM. The heavy missile turned the Super Tomcat into a cloud of tiny metallic particles without letting her any chances of survival.
"Come in, Halo 7. Come in." The AWACS worryingly repeated, but for nothing again : like his brother he tried to evade the fire of Gault squad by flying near a ionized area, but this was ignoring the fact that the Wesson-UFOs that pursued him, piloted by a girl as he could hear her laugh as she was gaining ground, had an EMP-proof cell and IR-guided missile. He lost his engine and radar due to the magnetic pulses in the area while she staid untouched, and as he consequently entered into a stall, she fired her powerful cannon at him, reducing the F-15E to a fuming debris. Halo 12 met the same end, but by the other Wesson-UFOs.
"See your defeat, Erusean." Kupchenko taunted her, as she went inverted to escape his attack, before she executed a small loop to get behind him. But he was already on his twelve by a quick Herbert Manöver, and both had to evade each other's fire again. And now their skills were equal, he had realized it at this moment. The few bits of surprise she possessed over B7R had been nullified.
And by doing her maneuver, she could do nothing but just have a glimpse on her defeated comrades, on the Fatoan and Yukte trying to swarm the less numerous Belkans. However, this futile attempt was halted when a small Helligen Kolumne appeared right where the Gault squad members were a few seconds before, as they all flew to different vectors, evading the allied forces' attacks with their highly mobile Berkuts. The swarm was utterly destroyed, and the few survivors killed relentlessly by the Gault squad members.
At least Iskanda had managed to go a bit South while dueling Kupchenko, this putting a bit further away from the Helligen Kolumne, but she didn't know if it was her achievement or his doings, so she could do nothing but watch allied death piling up.
"Verstehen Sie, Fraulein? It is not hard to bear your own sufferance but seeing the ones we care for being slaughtered without being there to help is rarely bearable." Kupchenko taunted her once more, after having let her overshoot, which she counter by doing an head-to-tail maneuver after diving below him, but he went for a quick dive and evaded her once more but without any major advancement of his own either.
"I will not stand down as your men are killing my brother in arms." She shouted, admitting that he was right. Seeing the Halo squad going down was a causing her great pain. But this great pain and stress filled her veins with adrenaline, making her ignore her own fear of death.
For this very reason, she went for a very foolish maneuver, as they were both aligned for five seconds, with him pursuing her. She pitched high with her aircraft tilted and extended her airbrakes. She managed to fly above him as he pitched down to evade collision. Her left wing almost grazed the tail of the Sukhoi. If it did hit both of them would have been forced to bail-out, and bail-out wasn't a guarantee of survival, especially with those conditions. But as his opponent was a bit puzzled for a second by this very foolish maneuver, he lost a bit of speed as she leveled, and this allow her to fire her gun at his right ailerons. The next second he dived toward the ground, losing his stability.
"Even with this little wound I can always best you." Gault leader proudly assumed the numerical superiority of his fighter other hers. He had almost double the number of instability compensator onboard, and with way better processing capacities.
"Du lost above B7R." She retorted, trying to retain a bit of self-confidence as she was forced to realize that his numerical hardware was better. He was gaining ground. Maybe this was the consequences of the few impacts she took from AA guns a bit sooner.
"There were some ifs. Not today. Guck mal an deinen Verlusten (look at your losses)." He made her see the demise of the Komyeta squad, as she turned North after evading a SAAMs. How he was managing to keep her in his line of fire while dogfighting was unbelievable to her.
"I cannot evade it." The last Fatoan F-14D was hit hard by the high caliber cannon of the Wesson-UFOs. Now he was realizing why his country fell so quickly to the might of Belka. Yet as he lost control, he almost collided with Komyeta 2. This forced the latter to do a vertical climb, and as he climbed, he ended up within the crosshairs of the other Erbe that had just taken down the last Osean transport with one ERAAMs.
"May the civilians I killed over Romney forgive me up there." Alekseï concluded his life, as he saw the powerful missile coming at him despite him still climbing at supersonic speed. This time there was no chute for him.
"In the beginning we are nothing but plasma and energy. I guess it's only a normal fate to end up in plasma and energy." Thesermeister said his last word, as the second Erbe that took down the last Fatoan shattered his two ailerons as he had barely avoided a pair of SAAMs by turning near an ionized area. And he vanished as he lost control.
And Pixy? Well his fate wasn't sealed, but it was near, at least he believed it to be. He could keep up with the slower SAAMs and could outrun the Berkuts, but not the Wesson-UFOs. Especially the one piloted by the one he identified as Cipher. His cannon torn off his right wing, making him a Solo Wing once more. But as he stalled and fell, he had a small window of fire on the forward swept-wing plane. Yet the pilot had enough reflexes to evade most of his gun burst, and only the right engine was hit. Not enough to take the sixth generation down obviously. And Pixy wasn't fight-worthy anymore.
He desperately ran for his life, going into a tight space between two Helligen Kolumne, where his radar indicated that he could went through. He was between the two when he noticed the left one being heated again. Despite having lost his wing and suffering horrible roll instability, he pushed the throttle stick to "PC max". Crushed by the sudden acceleration that brought him at Mach 2.5, he saw the small space behind him becoming overheated plasma once again.
"Herr Solo Wing might survive today. You do too." Anton Kupchenko commented the doing of her wingman that just escape a horrible death.
"There's no point for me to survive if it's not with you out of the equation." Iskanda retorted, doing a quick dive followed by a small loop to become the pursuer once more.
"Abtöten ist einfach, leben ist hart." He replied calmly, before pitching high and then using his airbrakes, flying above her before falling a bit behind, this giving him a perfect firing solution on her afterburners. They were torn by Belkan bullets and the bright pinkish flames vanish to let only black smoke.
"FEIGLING !" She bellowed, as he left the engagement zone to the North, leaving a very irritated Erusean mercenary with nothing that a very bitter taste of defeat.
" This is Eagle Eye; we have set up a refueling point above the former Wall area on Mt Ivrea." There AWACS operator indicated, as their fuel level were quite low after this heated dogfight.
"We will be back, Kupchenko!" She shouted at the retreating Gault squadron, which now had an open sky, as the Helligen Kolumne had vanished in the air.
"And I'm counting on it." He mused, having perfectly executed this first move in the only puzzle that was worth solving to him: the complete and utter destruction of the allied forces.
Somewhere between area Garden and Area Wall, Mt Ivrea, Belka, 19/05/1995, 17:00, Weather: heavy cloud coverage.
The still burning wall area was fairly visible, lighting the caldera in a diffused orange light. On their way to the Glatisant, they saw the occupied Garden area. Dozens of Osean and Yukte assault and transport choppers were landed there, coming from the taken city of Lumen. They knew they would not move in a while with the terrific energy-based artillery Belka was using now.
At least their AWACS was safe. Only because they didn't push to far at the beginning of the escort, and thus had the time to turn back when the Osean E-767 hadn't. They had already set up some refueling point, yet they would notice soon it wasn't very conventional mid-air refueling. But as they were ready to explain to their forces, they were interrupted by the voice of Gault one. How he was transmitting was not a mystery if they had a constellation of reflector satellites.
" I think your Eagle Eye hadn't an eagle eyesight. Or he would have notice something above him." He announced, smirking in his Su-47 cockpit, hundreds of kilometers away from them, but holding their life in his hand.
An Helligen Kolumne began to grow at the left of the E-767. Both pilot and copilot tried to turn the best they could, using every flight control surfaces: flaps, ailerons, even the spoilers. But the AWACS was too slow and had a turning radius too great to evade entirely the Belkan Wunderwaffe. As such the left wingtips grazed the ionized area and was utterly melt. The fuel in it exploded right away, shaking the plane hard, and it now the E-767 engulfed in black smoke was falling toward the North of the Wall area.
"Everyone, abandon ship." Koenig ordered, as he left his seat with haste to grab a chute.
"But sir, we are at 7.5 kilometers and we haven't the time to get into stratospheric gear?" Johnson pointed out, only to be interrupted by a very, very worried Admiral that pushed the emergency door above the left wing.
"I prefer to suffer hypoxia or hypothermia than hyperthermia because we fell into plasma. Now jump oder I throw you out of the plane, Phil!" His admiral harshly retorted, despite the fear of dying that was slowly freezing his veins, and the cold external temperature wasn't helping.
" You may fire when ready, commander." Kupchenko sealed the fate of their AWACS. The lose E-767 flew right into a growing Helligen Kolumne, and was disintegrated as the area turn pinkish, highlighting the black clouds that were covering Mt Ivrea.
" They are gone." Pixy could just say, as the Helligen Kolumne began to vanish. No one could survive the wrath of such weaponry.
" This is Espada squad, we are here to refuel you. Sending our position." The Sapin voice they already heard above Futuro canal spoke.
"Did you bring a tanker?" Iskanda asked, now with her neutral voice back, unable to feel anything after witnessing such death while being so powerless against the Belkan Wunderwaffe.
" I am the tanker." Espada 2 replied, as their position was now on their HUD. It was over the valley that joined the Wall and Gate area.
"What? I don't understand?" Iskanda wondered how they would refuel.
"I get it. It's quite dangerous but compared to flying between two Helligen Kolumne it's nothing." Pixy now understood what Espada 2's Rafale M was equipped with, and as such why its cross section was bigger than the standard Rafale Ms.
Glatisant, Belka, 19/05/1995, 17:10, Weather: heavy cloud.
Iskanda was now seeing the Sapin craft. Pixy had agreed to let her refuel first, as her X-29A hadn't as much fuel capacity than his F-15C. Besides refueling with a broken wing and thus terrific roll instability would be a tremendous exercise. The Rafale M was bearing four tanks in place of his usual LASMs or SODs, along with a boom for air refueling. In other time she would just have some receptacle for the Rafale Ms of the Sapin Navy, but the X-29A and F-15C hadn't the same refueling system than the Rafales.
" Basically, instead of going to the pump I'm just syphoning you." Iskanda shared her mind on this unorthodox method for mid-air refueling, trying to best her mood a bit.
" Let's say I'm letting you feed on a jerrican." Espada 2 replied and was about to laugh but didn't laugh at all when she saw a massive light coming from the Garden area. The Belkan strike had surely utterly destroyed the parked allied choppers there.
" If mid-air refueling is aiming at a needle, this one is going through the eye of the needle." Iskanda kept moving forward, having to do with the low visibility.
" A bit higher... now yaw a bit… left… a bit right… that's it. You're connected." Vasquez announced confidently as the X-29A was linked to her boom, after spending nearly a minute guiding her as she was looking at Galm 1's craft through some added cam.
"I thought I was going to end up out of fuel over Glatisant. It was hot." Iskanda said, rubbing her now sweated foreskin due to the stress she just felt.
Five minutes later her tanks were refueled, with enough fuel to go back to Valais. Pixy was still wondering if he could maybe land in Lumen or Directus, which had way bigger runway than Valais Air Base, and thus would be easy for him to land.
"I think this answer your thoughts about refueling here or later." Espada 1 said, as a streak of blue lights flashed at the South-East, were Lumen was positioned.
"If they can hit Lumen with that, I doubt Directus is safe. I will have to refuel now." Pixy agreed, crestfallen that all the transports and fighters landed on their airports were surely being taken out by the Belkan long range Wunderwaffe.
" But how will you maintain your course with one wing missing?" Espada 2 asked, quite worried that the refueling would end badly.
" I will support him. That's what wing mates are for, supporting each other, right?" Iskanda promised, leveling right on Pixy's craft.
"I wouldn't trust anyone to do this. But I guess since you're the only ones that survived Belkan Helligen Kolumne you can do it." Espada 1 expressed his concerns about their scheme.
The X-29A went a bit below the Eagle, and the next second, Iskanda's left wing was pushing on what was left of Pixy's right wing, allowing him to have a bit of stability for some time. Yet keeping the pace decimeters by decimeters to move forward until the Rafale M, and with two aircraft with disparate thrust to weight ratio was going to be as hard as flying into the Glatisant to say the least. At more than one instant they thought one would stall and send the two of them spiraling toward the ground and ultimately to their death.
But in the end, they succeeded. And Pixy manage to connect to the Rafale M's boom, even if all three aircraft were dramatically vibrating.
" This is it. Aircraft refueled. You have to head to Valais Air Base." Espada 2 transmitted them, while disconnecting her aircraft and going for a South vector.
"I guess Kupchenko's Wunderwaffe melted the new Directus International Airport?" Iskanda rhetorically asked, expecting such move from this guy. That's what she would do in the first place.
" You're right. Everything that was on the ground, the warehouses are just melted metals now." Espada 1 confirmed, as the X-29A and F-15C were cautiously separating themselves and going on a more Eastern-oriented route.
" I hope there was not too much Ustian casualties there." Pixy wished these strikes could be at least not a civilian bloodshed.
" Anyway, see you again, signor and signora mercenarios." The Sapin leader cut the talk to evade being tracked by the Belkan Wunderwaffe.
And now only two lone mercenaries were making their way back to Valais. If Kupchenko wanted to make them taste the bitter flavor of defeat, everyone could agree he succeeded in his schemes. More than one hundred allied pilots had died today.
Valais Air Base, Ustio, 19/05/1995, 17:40, Weather: freezing fog.
Even the weather over Valais was unfriendly to them today. But at least being that far, and under heavy lead-colored cloud could maybe protect them a bit from the Belkan long range laser strike. To be honest Iskanda had never figured out that laser could be used for creating those Helligen Kolumne. Has someone talk to her about evading laser strikes, she would have expected having to dodge beams of light falling from the sky. But there were big disparities between some sci-fi space battle station and real life. However, she had found this real-life version of laser strikes to be way more frightening than anything she was ever submitted to.
" Galm team, you are clear to land. Iskanda first, Pixy, we are preparing the safety net for you." Henri Blaise welcome the two sole survivors of the Ustian sixth Unit.
" It's not like we are the only ones coming back." Iskanda went full-on sarcastic as a way to best her mood a bit.
Her landing was a tough one, but not as much as Pixy's. He thought he wouldn't need the safety net and began to descend toward the runway, but his lost right wing betrayed him at low altitude, due to the turbulences in mountain air currents. Thus, his aircraft almost crash-landed if it wasn't for the net of cables that caught him on time. It was a crestfallen mercenary that exited the cockpit, telling the mechanics to paint the new wing in red too.
"It was a nightmare. We lost so many people today." He thought, realizing that he would surely need more than one life to live with the burden of the survivors.
The debriefing was made in an almost funeral aura. Both were quiet as tomb as an Osean major did the debriefing. Iskanda instantaneously recognized the major Perrault she had met four days before in Directus. He had managed to flee Directus International Airport before the attack with the Abweichler and some high-ranking Belkan pilots as POW, having assumed they could know something about the Belkan Wunderwaffe. For him it was strange to use this Axe and Hammer software, and as such he only used the mapping system to display the Schayne plains, and not the three-dimensional projection of the mission advancement Johnson would usually display after the mission. But maybe they needed the AWACS data to use it, and as such it was understandable why it wasn't available right now.
" First objectives of destroying the Belkan second line of defense have been reached. However, the Belkan laser artillery caused tremendous amounts of allied casualties. There is no way we can see this as even a pyrrhic victory. It is only a disaster."
Then he zoomed out and using a bit of the few functionalities he could understand in this software, he drew a circle centered around Tauberg. This circle was large enough to include Lumen, Directus, Wesson and the majority of the great Lakes, Sudentor, Hoffnung, Anfang, Mund, Blumenberg, some parts of Gebet, Recta and Fato but without major cities there. Almost one thousand kilometers of diameter. Hopefully Valais Air Base was out of it, apparently.
"Furthermore, the Belkan didn't stop their strikes to our only airborne armada." Perrault kept explaining the gargantuan amount of losses the Belkan had inflicted today. " The occupied Airport of Lumen, the International Airport of Directus, the newly re-established base of Wesson and the Yukte-Osean fifth fleet along with the entire squadron of twenty A-325s Sea Cossacks -a seaplane transport developed from the An-225 and made for amphibious operations- that were parked in the great Lakes have all suffered heavy damage. The entire fleet is lost, with the Lion and Minsk Battleship, and five aircraft carriers. Loss are mounting to more than one thousand pilots on all fronts and maybe more than ten thousand military losses, if we considered both sailors and soldiers. Almost a fifth of our navy and a sixth of our aerial power are out of the equation in matter of assets. Civilian losses are not to be enumerated, as those strikes have been focused solely on military targets." He ended up the briefing, having almost become deadpan due to the huge - no, gargantuan was definitively a better fitting name- number of losses the allied forces suffered today. All transports had been halted, and they had retreated all military assets to the bases of Futuro canal and inner Osean bases.
"But Herr Abweichler has some intel to share about the strikes we suffered. This has already been transmitted to all allied bases, squadron and carriers."
"Danke to let me intervene. What struck the allied forces today was a chemical laser built under the codename "Excalibur". It was intended to be an ICBM counter, but it seems the Belkan have modified it since. It's the main achievement of project Pendragon led by Sturmbannführer Anton Kupchenko, along with the ADFX-01 Morgans -the true designation of what you keep calling "Wesson-UFOs". But I honestly don't know much about the project that any other Belkan soldier. I cannot give any more intel about it for this reason." Hervin explained the Belkan Wunderwaffe that attacked today with deadly and dreadful results.
" As such we have brought some prisoners here. Maybe you can help interrogate them a bit, mercenary Rayien, since you already showed some intimidation tactics." Orson proposed, not really gifted in these ways. After all he was just supposed to be an Osean consultant sent in Directus to help with the Ustian lack of high-ranking officials.
" I think I will accept this offer. Tomorrow afternoon seemed a good time to me, and I have already thought about this likelihood on my way back. In the end they will realize they should have let me kill them above Directus." She agreed to help question those Belkans, her lips turned into a distorted mad happy smile that could mean her last assumption was dead serious.
"I will just remind you that torture is forbidden here." The Osean recalled, afraid of what this merc would use to make the Belkan talk.
"Of course. See you tomorrow." She finished this conversation and headed with Pixy to the restroom. There they intended to drown their sorrow and pain into alcohol and were joined by the Abweichler as he thought Koenig had surely died today but the waiters refused to serve them after the third beer.
"To the Ustian martyrs. Since they thought over the Schayne plains, I guess they are now marching alongside Sainte Victoire." Hervin solemnly raised a glass of water since they stop providing them with alcohol.
"Martyrs never win wars by themselves, but they usually inspired other in their will of Victory." Pixy commented, trying to detach himself from his grief by a bit of philosophical flights.
"They never won wars solely. But survivors do. And us, the Ustian who survived will!" Iskanda raised her glass too, trying to feel a bit more confident. This feeling had vanished from her since they had to shamefully retreat from the Schayne plains.
At least the radio speaker provided them with a bit of laugh:
" This is Ufree Fm broadcasting from Directus International Airport, where firefighters are still containing the fire." The special envoy began his speech, and was interrupted by another speaker that found good to laugh about this:
" Damned it, Belkans. Next time you organize an international sound and light spectacle, warn us."
The following night wasn't very good for both mercs. Both had nightmares where they were seeing their killed brother in arms coming back to life under the form of heavily burned body that make look like Darth Vader only got a few sunburns in comparison. Suffering from insomnia due to the apocalyptical conditions they survived today, Iskanda began thinking to more and more mad schemes to make talk the Belkans. It would not be extraordinary question like in the middle-age, but something quite close. They would suffer like Kupchenko made her mentally suffered today.
End of chapter.
Maybe the Belkan bases will seemed not that hard to destroy, but they were merely a trap. I sometimes found weird that the name for this mission is Operation dynamo, which is the name for the marine evacuation of Dunkerque, while it spotted more common event with the 1915 Gallipoli naval campaign for example. By the way, the idiom "Helligen Kolumne" is a reference to some revolutionary unit that fought during the Vendean counter-revolution during the 1789-1799 revolution, under The Terror, and with deadly and dreadful results...
So yeah Excalibur struck hard. And I try to make the laser strike more realistic, physically speaking, as a giant laser would ionize the air undoubtedly. Why it didn't strike earlier? There were not as much concentrated troops as there was now. Eagle Eye is gone, but are they truly dead? Will our Heroes prevail? (Are they even Heroes to begin with?). Those are question for now and way later.
Bis nächst mal, Readers, and feel free to review, favor, express your mind on this modified dynamo operation.
21/1/20 : fixing some grammatical mistakes…