Chapter 5
Operation Freedom
Forward Operations Base "Catalina"
"Thanks to your efforts, the frontline has been reopened," Commander Mckay said, having just flown in. "However, the mercenary forces and the Oceanians didn't take this lightly. About a few hours ago, they ambushed the 9th Infantry Regiment as they were attempting to regroup and reconsolidate an offensive along the Northeastern Corridor, which we need to capture the capital of Sydney. We need to have this regiment survive, as this consists of the majority of our manpower needed to conduct our offensive. Vanguard and Aquila, break our troops out of this deadlock, and we'll finally have the manpower to end this conflict once and for all."
X
"Ah, desert sands as far as the eye can see," Meteor said, as the eleven flight formation slid into place. Below them, the desert landscape toiled on for miles. The only indication that there was a battle raging on were the pillars of smoke visible on the horizon.
"Thank God I choose to live in Sawakii rather than this dustball," Peppermint said.
"Whoa," Meteor said. "Did you really get into the Academy by surfing? I didn't know the Federation needed a surfer in their navy, or that they accepted people like that."
"Well, they sort of do," Twister said. "I have been chopping wood for years in Cascadia before joining the Air Force."
Meteor whistled. "Well, we have a woodchopper and a surfer in this group. What about you, Comet? Did you get in by staring at stars all night?"
"No," Katrina said. "I joined because I loved flying, and that Dad had just retired and wanted me to continue his legacy. Now, if you are done flapping your lips, we have to focus on the mission."
"Easy for you to say," Nectar said, "once we rack up more kills than you do in your sorry asses."
"Alamo to Vanguard and Aquila," Alamo said, thankfully interrupting their conversation. "I'm patching you guys into the ground troop's comm frequency. Things are starting to get hectic down there. You are free to engage any hostile signatures starting now."
"This is General Morgan Elizabeth of the Wild Boar Regiment," a new voice joined them. "We were expecting reinforcements at this moment to bail us out of this shitstorm."
"Wild Boar Actual, this is AWACS Alamo. Aquila and Vanguard squadrons are on standby and ready to assist," Alamo said.
"Roger that, Alamo," Elizabeth said. "We'll laze targets as necessary for CAS. Wild Boar Actual out." The comms clicked off, and the targets highlighted by Elizabeth appeared on their HUDs.
"Aquila, Vanguard, we are free-range," Katrina said. "Let's make some scratch."
"Copy, leader," Peppermint said, banking away and unleashing a salvo of MLAGs on a battalion of armored vehicles.
"Aquila Flight, let's go," Meteor said. "Time to show those Vanguard bastards who they are dealing with." The eight-ship flight of Sk.37s peeled off and spread out over a wide area.
"Vanguard 2, I'm with you," Twister said, forming up on Katrina's left. Unlike Vanguard 3, he hadn't bothered to split apart.
"Twister, what is your game-plan?" Katrina asked.
"Overwhelming force," Twister said. "I plan to rush each column as quickly as we can. Heh. Good thing I brought gunpods instead of missiles. You run out of those way too quickly."
"Good thinking," Katrina said, rolling around to avoid a missile. "So, where do we start?"
"There. That tank column next to the artillery," Twister said. "Take them out in one pass."
"Roger," Katrina said.
They lined up and dove in on the unsuspecting troops. Katrina let her gunpods fly, shredding them all in one pass, like Twister had said.
"Whoo!" Katrina said, pulling away from the smoking debris. "Excellent work, Twister!"
"Hah! Same to you, Comet!" Twister said.
They dove in on several more formations, shredding tanks, APCs and the like with each pass.
"I'm out of MLAGs," Peppermint said after a while. "How are you guys doing?"
"We are racking up the score," Meteor said, pulling away from an armored column he just decimated, his URBM pods smoking. "How's your going, Vanguard?"
"Twister and I have knocked out about a dozen columns, for your convenient information," Katrina said, smirking at imagining Meteor's reaction.
"A dozen?" Dodger said. "How is that possible with your non-explosive ammunition?"
"Maybe bringing these gunpods wasn't such a bad idea after all," Katrina said, smirking. "Maybe you can try them out if your ego wasn't so far up your ass." She clicked off the comm before Meteor had a chance to respond.
"Crap," Peppermint said, pulling into formation beside them. "Maybe I should have brought them."
"What's your ammo state?" Katrina asked, nailing a C-RAM with her guns.
"6 MLAAs, my two standards, and a handful of bullets." Peppermint sighed. "I wish I could put these guys to good usage."
"Well, you are about to," Alamo said. "I have detected 10 bogeys on radar. They appear to be bombers trying to hammer our regrouped forces. I have sent their ID data. Shoot these bastards down."
10 additional contacts appeared on Katrina's HUD. Identifying six I/A-52s among them, Katrina also highlighted a quartet of F/E-15 Strike Eagles inbound.
"Heads up, everyone," Katrina said, punching her afterburner. "They brought multiroles to the mix."
"Aw, hell," Dodger said. "A little Strike Eagle is like a fly to me. Why should this be any different?"
"Because multiroles can still kick your ass if they have air-to-air ordinance," Peppermint said. "And if you get too cocky."
"Hey! Who said anything about being cocky?" Dodger huffed. "Fine, fine. Aquila 4, engaging."
"Oh no, you don't!" Katrina said, mashing her finger down on the trigger. Two MLAAs detached from her plane and flew towards two I/A-52s. They both hit, and the two bombers spiraled down to Earth in flames. A second later, Twister took down a pair of Strike Eagles with his standards. Aquila claimed similar numbers, with them taking down two I/A-52s and a Strike Eagle.
"Nice work, Vanguard," Alamo said. "And Aquila." Katrina could clearly hear him bite back a smirk.
"Really?" Nectar said as she evaded a missile launched by the remaining Strike Eagle. "You are siding with Vanguard? I thought you were a Federation AWACS, not a one-sider!"
"Well, technically, I'm Vanguard's AWACS, and I was assigned to this squadron by a superior. So you better watch your mouth, Aquila 2, before I switch your IFF to hostile," Alamo said smoothly.
Katrina looped behind one of the last I/A-52s and filled it full of lead. Two of the engines popped, and the wing broke from under the intense stress of being rocked with bullets. The bomber plummeted down as Katrina took aim at the last F/E-15 and fired her two standard missiles. The Strike Eagle tried to evade by popping flares, but one of the missiles hit the Eagle right in the engines. As the Eagle spiraled down to the ground, the canopy shot off and the pilots ejected. Katrina flew past the parachutes, locking on to the remaining bombers and firing another pair of MLAAs. They impacted the 2 remaining I/A-52s and sent them down to Earth in smoke.
"All bombers down," Alamo said. "Good work, Aquila and Vanguard."
"Thank God," Elizabeth said. "We're alive." Katrina heard someone in the background cheering. "Thanks, Vanguard. You saved our asses up there."
"No need to thank us, General," Alamo said. "You are welcome. It was our duty, afterall."
"Hey!" Meteor said. "What about us?"
"Don't worry, Meteor," Alamo said. "I'm sure your contribution will be acknowledged sometime soon."
"Copy that," Meteor said, barely concealing his rage. "How are we looking, Alamo?"
"The picture is clean across the board, and… Hold it. One additional contact on radar." A blip appeared on Katrina's radar and was gradually approaching them at high speed.
"What is it?" she asked, pulling her fighter on an intercept vector. However, before she could get within range to fire, a missile alert rang out in her headset.
"Vanguard 1, missile!" Alamo called. "Missile!"
Katrina pulled her fighter up and popped the AOA Limiter and the flares simultaneously. The pair of long-range missiles vanished from sight, and so did the missile alert.
"Alamo, what the hell are we dealing with?" Peppermint said, diving to avoid the bandit as it blew past him all of a sudden. "This guy is unlike the others that we have encountered!"
"I'm trying to access this guy's records, hold on!" Alamo said. Katrina could hear frantic typing as Alamo attempted to pull whatever record he had out of his data storage bins. "Aha!" he finally said. "I've got this guy's records. Let's have a look-see…"
Katrina dodged a pair of missiles fired by the unknown craft as it came into view: An Sk.30, with a blue and white woodland camouflage arranged in swirling patterns and with gray stripes that ran the length of the aircraft.
"The guy that you are fighting is a person on dispatch from the Mercenary Cabal. An ace. Whew, and I thought yesterday was interesting already."
"On dispatch?" Meteor said, as he launched a pair of missiles at the fighter, only for it to deploy flares and zip away. "I didn't know the Cabal had such elite pilots on tap."
"Only the good pilots had survived this long," Katrina said. "Do you have any air-to-air ordnance left?"
"If that guy hadn't used flares, I would have hit him," Meteor grumbled. "Shit, looks like those were my last missiles as well."
"All fighters with low ordnance, withdraw," Katrina ordered. "Anyone who still has missiles, stay with me. We're taking this bastard down."
Most of Aquila Squadron and Peppermint separated and turned out of the airspace. Only Nectar, Katrina, and Twister remained.
"What is your ammo state?" Katrina asked, as they closed in on the Sk.30.
"I only have 1 standard left," Nectar said, jettisoning her empty URBM pods.
"2 MLAAS and 2 standards," Twister said.
Katrina looked at her display. She fared a little better compared to the rest. A pair of standards and three MLAAS remained, alongside her smoking gunpods. She nodded. This will have to do.
"Alright then," she said. "Let's take him down."
The distance shrunk until they were right on top of each other. Katrina made the first draw, by firing all of her gunpods in quick bursts to preserve her ammo. Several shots made contact, but most of them went wide by incredibly thin margins.
Next up was Twister. He attempted a similar gun run, but managed to get one hit in before the pilot sensed danger and jerked the Sk.30 away from them and dove. Nectar was quick on the draw with her last missile, which flew toward the pilot, but it was decoyed with flares.
"Jeez, just who is this guy?" Alamo said. "I've heard about elite mercenary pilots before, but this one's fighting really hard. It's almost like he's…different somehow."
"Don't worry," Twister said. "We're gonna kick his ass soon." Suddenly, the tables turned rapidly. Twister got behind the plane and was about to fire when the aircraft sharply pulled upwards, courtesy of its AOA Limiter and fired a missile at Nectar. She didn't see it coming and took it head-on, only looking up at the last moment. A surprised gasp escaped her lips.
Katrina barely had time to shout a warning before an explosion consumed the Sk.37. A few moments later, a smoking wreck tumbled toward the ground. There wasn't a parachute.
"NO!" Alamo shouted. "Aquila 2! Aquila 2 do you copy?!"
"She's gone!" Twister said. "There isn't a chute, goddamnit!"
Katrina gritted her teeth, letting her rage seep through. That merc had just killed one of her squadmates, even though they were in different squadrons. All for a paycheck.
"Comet! What the hell are gonna do about this bastard?!" Twister asked angrily, getting on the tail of the fighter and spraying it with lead.
"We'll make him burn in hell with the rest of that mercenary scum!" Katrina roared, uncaging her missile and getting a solid lock. She mashed the trigger angrily and the missile flew out from under her wing.
"Vanguard 1, Fox 2!" Alamo shouted. This time, the damn merc didn't see it coming. The missile impacted the engines of the Flanker in a massive fireball. The craft was still aloft, however, so Katrina came in close to finish it off with guns. She lined up the piper with the cockpit, hoping to put the pilot through the same painful experience like he delivered to Nectar.
"Vanguard 1, cease fire!"
The order came so suddenly. Katrina felt like she was having inner turmoil as she lined the piper up with the aircraft.
"What?!" she barked. "I'm about to get that damn mercenary for what he did to Aquila 2!"
"I repeat, cease fire and withdraw from the combat space! That is an order, Vanguard 1!" Alamo repeated, a layer of danger and hesitation in his voice. "If you go any further, you'll run out of fuel and end up like her!"
Katrina turned her head back to the damn Sk.30 that was causing her so much trouble, bug off into the distance.
"Fuck!" she spat, slamming her fist into the side of the cockpit, leaving a small dent. When she finally calmed down, she checked her fuel gauge. It was not looking good. It was ticking closer and closer towards the small E with every passing second.
"Do we have any tankers on standby?" she asked, her voice deadly calm.
"Y-yeah, we do," Alamo said, apparently still fazed by her sudden outburst. "Giving you the vector now."
As she pulled away from the battle that had raged over the sands a while ago, she couldn't help but feel guilty of the death of Aquila 2. She wondered what fury she would face by Meteor when he found out that his squadmate was dead. She pushed those thoughts aside and scanned the exterior of Twister's aircraft. Aside from a few pockmarks that came from the Sk.30, there was no damage whatsoever.
"Hey. Are you alright?" Twister asked. Apparently, he was trying to help her out of her stupor.
"Yeah, I'm alright," she replied, rubbing her eyes. It had been a long battle, and an even longer day.
"You didn't sound alright," Twister said. "I mean, when you freaked out, whew, that must be some real nightmare fuel you are packing there."
"Yeah," Katrina said, chuckling. "Nightmare fuel." She shut off the comms and watched the desert landscape below fly past the two Eagles as they headed home, relieved that they could, like the troops below, live to fight another day.