Chapter 7

Operation Lost Hound

"Y'know, when I said this was going to be a solo mission, I didn't had this in mind," Twister said as they filed into the empty briefing room.

"Yeah," Peppermint said as they sat down. "Wonder what mission could be so important that they have to bring Vanguard of all squadrons to it."

Katrina ignored them and sat down. For the first time, Aquila Squadron wasn't here. Probably they were at the frontlines, where things were the hottest, or probably someone at base heard the fight on the tarmac and had reassigned Aquila somewhere else. At least she didn't have to contend with Meteor's massive ego filling up the sky. That gave her a small smile at least.

"Vanguard, we didn't expect a mission like this, but in the midst of war, the unexpected is likely to come up," Commander McKay said, starting up the briefing software. "Originally, we were going to be pushing through the corridor and towards Sydney, but the offensive has slowed to a halt. Until now." He rubbed his eyes. "Two hours ago, we received a transmission from a lone mercenary fighter heading in our direction. Said they wanted to defect and aid our cause with valuable intel."

"Wait, wait, wait," Katrina said. "We are at war with these low-lives, and now we are going to be escorting one of those dogs here? I thought we had the war in the bag with these fools."

"Apparently not," McKay said. "We have appeared to underestimate the caliber of these mercenaries. Just a few hours ago, an attempt to clear out an air defense corridor in the Marshall Valley failed. We had to pull out of there with our tails between our legs." He rubbed his eyes again.

"Sir, how can we confirm that this mercenary is willing to defect?" Katrina asked Mckay.

"We drilled them with questions, and they were transmitting on our frequency. They haven't engaged any of our patrols, which is fortunate," Mckay said. "However, they have stated they are vulnerable and without munitions. That's where you come in. You will escort them here, and we will dig up any intel that they have."

"And?" Twister said. "I doubt they will lead the other mercenary forces here to drive us back to where we all started."

"We'll have precautions to make sure that they won't," Mckay said.

X

"Vanguard, you are on station," Alamo said. "Contact with the mercenary defector in t-minus 5 minutes."

"Roger that," Katrina said. "Vanguard, establish a perimeter."

"Roger that," Twister said.

"Roger," Peppermint said.

Katrina clicked off and sighed heavily. Just yesterday, Vanguard and Aquila were working together, coordinating a rescue effort for the troops that were so desperately needed. Then that mercenary bitch came and took the life of a fellow squadmate, even though they were in different squadrons. Now they were escorting a defecting mercenary for what? A bunch of captured intel? She sighed again. She hoped that the intel the mercenary gave them was worth it.

A buzz on her comm.

"Vanguard, we have a situation update. The mercenary aircraft is about to cross into this area in 10 seconds. Stand by for a positive ID."

"Roger," Katrina said. Then to her squad, she said, "Alright, Vanguard. Let's go meet our guest."

"3 seconds to contact," Alamo said. "You should be getting a visual ID on the fighter now."

On Katrina's radar, a small radar blip gradually got bigger, until she saw a flash. Then a streak of metal. A small, distinct gray blob became an F/C-16, armed with two heatseekers and strapped down with a pair of conformal fuel tanks. Katrina noticed that the orange and gray swirl camouflage was weathered and looked almost like it belonged in the scrapyard. But that was clever. Disguising a new or rather well-used aircraft as a derelict would attract much less attention from the mercenaries. The mercenary roundel was blotted out with thick white paint. Apparently, the pilot had painted blobs across the tail and wings as if they were in a hurry.

"Alamo, we have contact," Katrina said, swinging her fighter around. "One F/C-16."

"Copy, Vanguard. The bogey has been identified," Alamo said. "Establishing radio contact now."

There was a crackle of static.

"About time," a thickly accented female voice came over the comms. "This intel took me a long time to extract. I hope you are the escort that I had requested."

"Right you are, miss," Twister said. "So just stay with us and keep the vodka safe, will you?"

"That's more like champagne for you, lover boy," the female replied, and Katrina could hear a tinge of a French accent in her voice now. "The name's Frost, by the way."

"Frost?" Peppermint said. "Ha! That's coming from someone who is flying a souped-up Viper colored in orange, gray, and white."

"Watch your tongue," Frost said. "I can dogfight like the rest of you. They don't call me the Cold Wind for nothing."

"Pff. Really," scoffed Twister. "The Cold Wind? Kinda ironic for a person flying a jet that spews hot wind. Or should I say afterburner plumes?"

"Don't try me," Frost said, a dangerous leer in her voice.

"Vanguard, focus on the mission," Katrina cut in. "We don't want to strike up a confrontation with the defector so soon."

"Listen to your number 1," Frost said. "She has a point."

"Bless you," snapped Twister. Katrina just chuckled to herself.

They flew in silence for a while, occasionally making small talk with each other. Katrina was starting to think that this was a boring escort mission when a transmission from Alamo made her jump.

"Vanguard, we've got a situation," he said. "I have detected a whole squadron of mercenary fighters inbound, and they are coming in hot." Katrina looked at her long-range radar and saw that Alamo wasn't lying. A large swarm of dots like a massive locust storm was heading in their direction.

"Holy shit," she said. "Vanguard, Frost, we better step on the gas."

"Not advisable," Frost said. "You are talking about Dragur and Vulture Squadrons. The elite of the elite of mercenaries."

"Alamo, are there any reinforcements in the area?" Twister asked.

"Negative," Alamo said. "The closest reinforcements are 2 mikes out."

"Two mikes?" Peppermint cried. "We'd be dead by then! These guys are elite!"

"Let's see how elite they are when we take them on in combat," Katrina said. "Twister, can you protect Frost?"

"Sure thing, Comet," Twister said. "Here's hoping I don't get shot down."

Katrina smiled. "Peppermint, let's go get these queef cakes."

"Roger," Peppermint said.

They both split off from Twister and plowed toward the mercenary forces.

"Alamo, what type of fighters do they have?" Katrina asked, switching on her targeting computers and turning on the Master Arm.

"4 F/C-16s and 6 MG-31s, nothing super-advanced if that's what you are concerned about," Alamo said. "Wait, what is this?"

There was a crackle of static and then a gruff voice game over the radio, which came from the lead F/C-16. "Ah, it's Icicle. Come back to claim your vengeance? I doubt you survived your ejection."

"Wait," Peppermint said. "Is that-"

"Ah. It's the number 3," Dragur 1 said. "Come back for vengeance as well?"

"Peppermint, don't tell me that this is the bastard who-"

"Killed is flight lead?" Dragur 1 said, cackling. "Whoever Icicle was, I hope he was the sad little bitch that he was. And I hope the last thought that went through his pathetic little mind was that his squadron stood there like pathetic little bitches and watched their mentor go down."

"You are one to talk," Katrina said, "considering that you are breaching Federation military channels and establishing a little fantasy kingdom on sovereign Federation soil!"

"Exactly. How did you expect us to gain control of your precious little Feddie territory real quick?" Dragur 1 said.

Curses, Katrina thought. No wonder they are more experienced than we thought.

"Then, what do you want?" Katrina asked.

"Give Frost a safe passage back to us, and we will let you go on your merry way out of this continent. Let us establish a mercenary haven, one free from Federation shits like you."

They were very close now.

"No," Katrina said. "Unless you are willing to die for it."

"Then have it your way," Dragur said, disconnecting.

As soon as the targeting box around Dragur 1's F/C-16 was highlighted in red, Katrina mashed down on the trigger and let a pair of standard missiles loose and rolled violently to the right to avoid a gun burst from Dragur 1. The two missiles she fired were decoyed by Dragur 1's flares. Meanwhile, Peppermint had fired two standards at one of the MG-31s of Vulture Squadron. They didn't doge in time and took the full blast. The remains of the interceptor fell down to the ground as the rest of the fighters broke formation.

"No!" Dragur 1 cried. "You are gonna pay for that, you Federation bastard!"

"Bring it on!" Katrina called. She then activated the AOA Limiter and pulled a sharp 180, getting on the tail of Dragur 1. She then obtained a lock and fired a pair of MLAAs. However, the quick reaction of Dragur 1 surprised her, as he executed a tight turn while he ignited his afterburner, firing flares and chaff into the sky. The missiles streaked past, and Katrina ignited her own afterburners and chased after the F/C-16. Once she had a lock, her missile warning started going off. She looked around for the source of the warning and found out that one of the other F/C-16s had snuck up on her and fired a standard missile. Katrina activated her flares and decoyed the missile. However, the F/C-16 stayed on her tail.

"Uh, Peppermint," she called out. "A little help here, please?"

"COMET, NO!" Peppermint yelled. "Break off! BREAK OFF NOW!"

As soon as he said that, the F/C-16 launched another standard missile. Katrina's eyes widened and imminently popped the AOA Limiter. She soared over the missile and the F/C-16, which had a swirly desert camouflage of various shades of tan. Once she was on the tail, she didn't waste any time mashing down the trigger. Her gunpods roared to life and shredded the Viper, and all that was left was a husk of the aircraft that dropped to earth.

"No wonder that Icicle fell into my trap so easily," Dragur 1 said, and even then Katrina could hear him grinding his teeth. "So obsessed with mercenary kills that he forgot to watch his back."

"Shut up," Katrina said. "Peppermint, Twister, change our frequency. This guy has been using Federation radio calls to spy on us."

"No wonder," Twister muttered. He sounded bored. There was a whine from the radio as her radio frequency changed. "Done. Now the dumbfuck can't spy on us."

"Right," Katrina sounds. "Now let's end this party."

The fighting dragged on, as Katrina managed to get kills on Vulture Squadron. One MG-31 tried to launch its salvo of MLAAs at her, but she took advantage of the aircraft's clumsy maneuverability and climbed up, forcing the aircraft to stall and drop, which she took advantage of and put the aircraft out of its misery with a gun burst. Peppermint on the other hand managed to dispatch two more members of Dragur Squadron with his guns and missiles and managed to cripple one aircraft of Vulture Squadron, forcing it to flee from the battlefield. He then used an MLAA salvo to take out the three other MGs. Now, it was just them and Dragur 1.

Katrina lined up behind the F/C-16 and obtained a lock, snapping off a pair of standard missiles. Those were decoyed by flares, so she went for the guns. Unfortunately, the pilot had to be some superhuman because he managed to shake off some hits.

What's with this guy? Katrina thought as she attempted to get on Dragur 1's six. This guy isn't unlike the other guys I've fought before! I gotta focus!

The fight dragged on for a while until a transmission came through from Alamo.

"Vanguard Flight, disengage. Frost is safely back at base."

Katrina smirked and opened a radio frequency to Dragur 1. "Checkmate, you dumb fuck. Your precious little mercenary is in our custody. You can piss off now."

"Fine," Dragur 1 said, firing off one last salvo with his remaining MLAAs, which Katrina easily dodged. "You win. Next time, you won't come off as lucky." The F/C-16 righted itself and fled, afterburner blazing.

"Thanks, Peppermint," Katrina said, righting her fighter and moving forward to rejoin Twister and Frost.

"You're welcome," Peppermint said. "That's what a team is for, right?"

"Right," Katrina said, still breathing heavily.

"Whew," Alamo said. "That was quite the show."

"And they didn't invite me," Twister said. "How rude."

"Hmm. I am impressed," Frost said. "I just have one complaint."

"Anything," Peppermint said. "This whole war has been nothing but complaints."

"Next time, bring some champagne up here so that flyboy escort lover boy can shut up."

That was the single most satisfying thing Katrina had heard all day.