"Do we really have to do this now? In the middle of the night?" Layla groaned as she trudged into the briefing room.
"Better to do it late at night than not at all," Jumper pointed out. "It's good to keep fresh, especially given the circumstances."
Layla sat down, running her fingers through her knotted hair, hoping to at least get some of it straightened. "At the very least, they could've given us a little bit more warning. I was just getting comfortable."
"Just be glad it's an exercise and not another actual air raid," Rod chimed in.
"Don't jinx it," Monk told him, more serious than Layla expected him to be. Moreover, she didn't expect him to be the superstitious type. "In my experience, something happens just about every single time someone says a thing like that."
Bumble leaned further back into his seat, resting his hands on the back of his head. "I dunno how you guys are complaining when we're about to get some more action. I'm practically itchin' to get back up there."
Rod rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Bumble. It's been just over a week since the attack, and you're already going nuts," he said, partly teasing and partly serious.
"For the record, I'm not complaining about the fact that we're doing a training exercise," Layla said, leaning forward in her seat to get closer to the others. "I'm complaining about the fact that we're doing it at…" she squinted to look at the time on the screen at the front of the room. "12:30 in the morning."
"For the record, there's a reason we're doing this so late at night." Taves's voice made everyone jump as it seemed to boom behind them, even when he talked in a completely normal tone. "It's important to get practice with dogfighting at night- especially on a night like tonight when it's too bright for night vision but too dark to see without it- to hone your skills. Fighting in low-visibility conditions will help you get better at spotting targets in normal conditions," he explained as he made his way up to the front of the room and started up the briefing software.
"Sir, I assure you that you don't have to worry about my eyesight. I make a point of eating carrots every day, so I might as well have X-Ray eyes," Layla quipped, smirking before she got elbowed by Jumper.
Taves didn't give any strong reaction to her attempt at humor and instead focused on the screen as he brought up a map of Osea. "As you're all aware, we're going to be doing a training exercise tonight, specifically a mock dogfight. You'll be split into two teams, Gorgon 1 and 2, you'll be on Team Alpha, and Gorgon 3, 4, and 5 will be on Team Bravo," the Brigadier General explained before zooming the map in close to Durant. "Team Bravo, you'll be taking off first. Once you're up, fly west over to the hills outside the city. By that point, Team Alpha will already be up, and you'll all be free to engage on sight." He created two allied units on the screen and dragged them over the AO. "Now, you'll be going up with weapons, but obviously, you won't be using them on each other. To score a 'kill,' you need to get a solid missile lock on your target and hold it for five seconds; after that, they'll be out of the fight. Any questions?"
"I think my only question is why we're not already in the air, sir," Bumble replied with a smirk.
Taves nodded. "That's the spirit. Bumble, you'll be leading Bravo flight. Rod and Singer, you'll be Bravo 2 and 3, respectively."
Layla laughed. "Bumble's leading? God help us," she teased him.
"Go ahead and get set for takeoff, Bravo. Alpha will follow you up shortly."
Layla followed Bumble and Rod out of the briefing room as they began speedwalking down to the hangars. It was deathly quiet with hardly anyone else even up at such a later hour, so naturally, it didn't take long for them to start their usual idle chatter.
"So do you guys think we're gonna get shipped out soon? To Usea, I mean," Bumble asked as they swung right down another corridor.
"I'm sure we will eventually. Personally, I think it'd be a waste of time and resources for us to just sit here doing nothing but training exercises all day long if they weren't planning on us seeing combat in the near future," Layla pointed out, keeping her hands shoved into her pockets.
Rod pushed open the door leading outside with a shrug. "I don't think there's any doubt that we're gonna see combat eventually. It's probably just a matter of when," he speculated. "If I had to guess, I'd say the brass is still jumpy after all the attacks on our ports, so they're keeping us here just in case Erusea tries anything else."
Layla ran a hand through her hair, not really sure what she wanted to say. On the one hand, she wanted to get out there and make Erusea pay for what they did at Durant. On the other hand, though, she knew that she needed to stay here for as long as she possibly could. Her father needed her, even if it was just to be there as he passed on, much as she hated that train of thought, and she wasn't planning on letting him down.
"Dontcha think, Singer?" Bumble asked, nudging her and unintentionally pulling her back from her train of thought.
Layla looked over at him with a confused look and a raised brow. "Huh?"
Bumble rolled his eyes as the three of them pushed into the hangar and started getting ready to take off. "I said this flight exercise is gonna be a piece of cake when it's two on three like this, don't you think?"
Layla smirked and put on her helmet. "Damn straight. Those two won't know what hit 'em," she agreed as she climbed into the cockpit of her Viper, quickly breezing through her pre-flight checks as she and the others got ready for takeoff.
"Alright, you two, we're entering the AO. Keep your eyes open for Monk and Jumper," Bumble warned Rod and Layla.
"Wilco. Let's nail these guys," Layla replied, keeping her eyes glued to the radar.
"Boy, Taves was right about one thing: I can't see shit up here," Rod complained.
Layla kept herself on Bumble's right side- Rod on his left- as the three F-16s lit up the sky with their lights. To say she was paranoid would've been an understatement. She found herself jumping at every little displacement of light her eyes thought they detected, even when there was nothing there at all. Luckily, though, it didn't take long for her squinting through the darkness to pay off as two shapes moved gently along in the distance.
"Tally ho, I see 'em!" Layla called out. "Vector 030, climbing at 15 degrees. I don't think they see us yet."
"Good eye, Singer. Let's go give 'em their money's worth," Bumble said with a smirk, already turning toward them.
"Hold on, hold on. Are you sure we should just rush right in there?" Rod asked. "If they don't see us, we could use that to our advantage."
Layla watched the two F-16s continue to climb. "Let's take 'em by surprise, then- sneak up behind them and shoot them down before they even realize what's happening."
Bravo Flight kept going, closing in as fast as they could without lighting their burners, using every little advantage they could get to keep themselves hidden from Monk and Jumper. As the distance between them lessened, Layla couldn't help but wonder what the two of them were even doing. They weren't exactly trying to keep themselves hidden, but they didn't give any kind of indication that they'd spotted the other three either. Regardless, She followed Bumble and Rod as they closed the last few klicks between them, completely neglecting to look around at anything besides the two planes in front of them.
"What the hell? I've got a lock on me!" Bumble warned. "Those two ain't doing shit. What's goin' on?"
Layla looked around frantically until she spotted another shape in the darkness, heading straight for them at full speed. "Shit! Third bogie heading for us, 090. Break! Break!" Already she was jerking her flight stick to the right, peeling away from the formation.
"What the hell you mean, third bogie?! I thought it was just the two of 'em- goddamn!" Rod yelled as a third F-16 shrieked past, only a few dozen meters above them.
Suddenly, a familiar booming voice came over the radio. "Let that be a lesson, boys and girls: sometimes your intel is flat-out wrong, and you've gotta deal with the consequences."
"Holy shit, it's Taves! We are so screwed," Rod exclaimed.
"Oh hell yeah! Now, this is a dogfight," Bumble cheered.
Layla smirked as she watched Taves circle back around to join up with Monk and Jumper, who were already turning around to face the other three. "This might just be worth getting out of bed in the middle of the night for."
"Rod, Singer, take Monk and Jumper. Taves is mine," Bumble ordered, already lighting his burners and splitting off toward the third F-16 before anyone could argue otherwise.
Layla followed Rod as they went head-to-head with the other three F-16s, which soon became two as Bumble engaged Taves, and they broke off into their dogfight. The distance between them got smaller and smaller until they were finally within range to start locking onto each other. Layla took Jumper, and Rod took Monk, but before either of them got a solid lock, their targets broke off in different directions, Jumper pulling a hard left and climbing higher while Monk dove further to the ground.
"Singer, let's stay on Jumper for now. We can deal with Monk when he comes back around," Rod suggested, already cutting his burner and turning after Jumper.
Layla followed, keeping both Rod and Jumper in her sights but trying to pull the latter right in front of her nose with little success. "Roger, let's give 'im a run for his money. You keep him running- chase him right into my sights."
Layla pulled slightly away from Rod, giving him more space and trying to follow Jumper's path in the hopes that she might cut him off. Instead, he stayed right between Layla and Rod, just barely out of range to get a lock. Layla was about to make a hard turn, opting to force Jumper into her sights, when she noticed Monk coming back around out of the corner of her eye, forcing both her and Rod to break off and evade.
Layla watched Monk fly by and turned after him, lighting her burners to keep up. "I got 'im. I got 'im. You stay after Jumper."
Monk climbed high and broke left, forcing Layla to follow at a lower altitude, so he didn't get away from her. As she turned after him, she tried to climb even with him, but Monk wasn't having any of it. He had the altitude advantage, and he was dead set on keeping it. Suddenly, he broke out of the endless circle he and Layla had with a hard right turn. It cost him most of his speed, but he recovered it with a dive down to Layla's level. Before she even realized what had happened, they were facing head-on. Just like before, neither of them had enough time to score a kill on the other, but as Layla began turning back around to face him again, she looked over her shoulder to see Monk making a remarkably aggressive loop to get behind her.
Now that she was on the defensive, Layla yanked the stick back hard and to the left, breaking the lock Monk had on her. After that, it was more of the same dance; Monk kept her turning until he locked on for one or two seconds, and Layla shook him off before he could get the kill. No matter what she tried, though, she couldn't get her squadron leader off her tail.
"God damn, he's good," Layla murmured. "Rod, can you gimme a hand here? I can't get Monk off my ass."
Rod's initial reply was a grunt. "Shit, sorry, Singer. I've got my hands full at the moment."
Layla looked around, trying to find Bumble and Taves, but she couldn't find them anywhere. "How 'bout you, Bumble? Can you help a girl out?"
At first, Layla was greeted with nothing but silence. She continued looking for Bumble without any results. Finally, she made a hard turn and saw Taves chasing after him just as he responded. "If I could just shake Taves off, I would."
Layla started zigzagging in the general direction of Bumble and Taves. "Bumble, start heading toward me. I'll clear your tail, and you clear mine." She looked over her shoulder to check if Monk was following her before diving toward the ground at full speed. "C'mon, Monk. I'm gonna take you on a ride," she murmured to herself.
Layla's altitude dropped lower and lower until she was flying between the hills. Conversely, her speed kept climbing as she managed to put more distance between herself and and Monk. Although, that's not to say he wasn't following her as closely as he could. The gap between them narrowed as Monk started picking up speed, but Layla kept going, weaving between the hills in the hope she might throw him off until she was close enough to Bumble and Taves.
"Alright, Bumble, ya ready? I'm coming your way."
Bumble decided then would be a perfect time to start imitating a sports commentator. "Well, folks, it's the bottom of the ninth- bases loaded." Layla finally saw the two F-16s appear in the darkness, flying at just about the same altitude she and Monk were at. "He steps up to home plate and points right to the stands. That's right, folks- looks like we're looking at a grand slam here." The four planes gradually got closer and closer. "Here comes the pitch!" Bumble and Layla broke apart as they shrieked past, and he already started turning to get behind Monk. "And it's gone, sports fans! It's outta here!"
Layla mimicked the maneuver Monk used to get on her six and started closing in on Taves's tail. "Alright, old man. Let's see whatcha got!"
Taves lit his burners, and Layla followed suit, rolling onto her side to mimic his right turn. Following him was no small feat, though. This time, it was Layla's turn to follow as Taves dove down to the ground, dodging the hills as he sped through. She'd occasionally have him in her sights long enough to start locking on, but she couldn't hold it long enough for a kill. The longer this game of cat and mouse continued, though, the more Layla felt like she was being strung along. Sure enough, Taves cut back on the throttle and pulled his nose up and around into a diagonal loop, but Layla wasn't keen on getting put on the defensive just yet. Instead, she pulled up as hard as she could to face Taves head-on and pass right by him. Layla turned low into a circle while Taves went high, giving her just the speed she needed to put him in her sights.
Layla's heartbeat started shooting up as she began timing her lock. "One… two… three… four… and five! Taves is down!" she cheered, pulling away from his plane as he straightened out. "Alright, you two. Let's finish this."
"Ah, dammit!" Rod cursed. "I'm out. Jumper got me," he reported, pulling away from the dogfight. "Hang in there, Bumble."
"Dunno how long I'll be able to hold on in a two on one," Bumble replied. "Shit, they're already locking onto me! Hurry up, Singer."
"Hang on, hang on. I'm almost there," Layla assured him as she lit her burners and started climbing up to join the fight. All she could do, however, was watch as the two F-16s ran Bumble down and knocked him out. As Bumble started pulling away, Layla straightened herself out and tried to brace herself for the fight she had ahead of her.
Before either side could get within range of the other, though, a blaring alert cut through everyone's radio. "Break! Break! All aircraft, be advised; we've got bogies sighted over the city. Return to Durant immediately!"