"The S-37A? I've never heard of it."
"Not surprising. It's an experimental that was fitted for combat. It was supposed to be Sukhoi's proof of concept for a supersonic, FSW, stealthy fighter. It worked perfectly, but the Erusians didn't want to spend the money on it after building Stonehenge and building their military up. The war hasn't been cheap either, and they are perfectly happy with the forces they have. Sukhoi came to ISAF, but they can't manufacture any more of these babies. You know what the Erusians did."
"Took over every last aircraft manufacturing plant, except for the few that are in ISAF-controlled territory."
"Right. Anyway, they think that they'll be able to build replacement parts and crank out SU-35s. Don't get shot down in this baby, you won't be getting another."
Not gonna happen, thought Shinji, strangely confident.
"So, Ayanami, what about you?"
Rei looked around the hangar for a few seconds before her eyes settled on a strange-looking F-15. "What is that?" she asked, pointing.
"Eh? Oh, that's the ACTIVE. It's an F-15E with better engines, limited vectored thrust, big manoeuvring canards, better avionics, and an active radar disruption system. The ordnance is better too."
"Another prototype, Ms. Ibuki?"
"More like a test bed for all those technologies I just rattled off."
Rei looked intrigued. "How does it perform?"
"Why don't you two try them out and find out?" asked a purple-haired woman as she walked from the single AWACS in the hangar. "Misato Katsuragi, callsign SkyEye. I'm your CO."
Shinji looked over from the S-37A's cockpit, which he had just climbed into. "Hi, I'm…"
"Shinji Ikari, Mobius 1. And Rei Ayanami, Mobius 2. I know all about your profiles."
"What?"
"You didn't think you got in here by chance, did you? Mobius Squadron is a special experiment. We're taking our most promising pilots and putting them into as many and as varied combat situations as possible." She said all of this with a big smile on her face.
"You are trying to create super-aces, correct, Ms. Katsuragi?" divined Rei.
"In essence. Oh yeah, one little thing. In Mobius, you are your first name, or your callsign, nothing else. So you two had better call me Misato or SkyEye. Now, how about a little test flight?"
"Sure."
"Oh, this thing is a dream to fly! What do you think of the ACTIVE, Mobius 2?"
"It is a surprisingly powerful and manoeuvrable craft, Mobius 1. I did not think it possible to achieve such performance with the F-15's airframe. I must admit though, I am somewhat jealous of your S-37A."
"She is a beaut, isn't she?
"Indeed. And your skills are quite…"
"SkyEye here. Sorry to interrupt, but we've got trouble! Six TU-86 Bears are closing in on Allenfort AFB with fighter escort. Our best projections are that they will bomb the city outside of Allenfort, then the base, and finally, right on to North Point. At the moment, our air defences are virtually at nil. Therefore, GHQ is a sitting duck. Halo 10 and Viper 9 are in the air at the moment. I'll vector them in to assist, but that's all I can give you. Kill the bombers. Everything else is just gravy. Intercept is heading 199, south-southwest."
"Roger. Mobius Flight breaking off to intercept." Rei's ACTIVE fell in on Shinji's right wing tip as he levelled out and ruddered over to heading 199. "On my mark, we book it for the bombers."
"Roger."
"Mark!"
The engines roared and the fighters shot across the sky, riding tongues of flame.
"Halo 10, Viper 9, this is Mobius 1. I am taking tactical command of the situation. Form up on me, Four Fingers Right," ordered Shinji as he and Rei cut off their afterburners. A Eurofighter and an F-22A joined the formation.
"Halo 10 here," proclaimed a haughty female voice, "What's the plan, Mobius 1?"
"Viper 9, Halo 10, you two are to shoot down the Bears while Mobius Flight take down the fighters. By the book."
"That's not doctrine."
"Yes it is, Halo 10, now can it! We're approaching the enemy formation. Break off and hit your targets." Shinji shoved his throttle for ward. "Mobius 1, engage!"
Rei was hardly a second behind him. "Mobius 2, engage."
Jousting time, thought Shinji as he streaked in at the rather pitiful fighter pair that was challenging him. A pair of F-5Es. He targeted the leader and let off a bit on the throttle. "Mobius 2, break and take your own targets. I've got these two." A quick glance in his right mirror revealed that Rei was following his order. Shinji focused his attention back on the two light fighters approaching him on a perfect reciprocal course.
LOCK!
Shinji pushed the thumb button on his stick, and sent one missile streaking away, before retargeting and pushing the button again. Both missiles flew straight and true, reaching their targets just two seconds before Shinji flew between the two gutted fuselages. (A/N: In real life, missiles are how they're supposed to be if they actually hit the target. i.e.: 'one shot, one kill'.)
The first missile had flow right into the Tiger's right air intake before exploding, ripping the tiny fighter in half. The other missile had slammed into the Erusian fighter right between the F-5E's dual guns, actually making it into the cockpit before going boom. No ejections there.
Rei launched a pair of AIM-120 multi-target missiles at the pair of Mig-21s that decided to 'menace' her. The advanced weapons performed as advertised, swatting the vintage fighters out of the sky.
Only two enemy fighters were left, a pair of F-15Cs. "Mobius 2, assist the others. I'll take care of these two." Shinji rolled his plane and peeled off to take on the two air-superiority fighters. Shinji smiled evilly and switched his missiles over to his second bay. Shinji repeated his trick with the F-5Es. The F-15 pilots were obviously better, and would've dodged the missiles, had they not been QMAAMs. Shinji smirked and `burnered back towards the Bears. Those Eagles were as good as dead. QMAAMs weren't called 'death missiles' for nothing.
Shinji targeted the last turboprop and plugged a pair of AAMs into it, just to be sure. The warheads snapped off the bomber's swept-back wings, sending the big bomber falling towards the ground in three pieces. Shinji sighed and relaxed.
"MOBIUS 1, BANDIT ON YOUR TAIL! GET OUT OF THERE!"
Shinji immediately barrel-rolled his plane out of the line of fire. A pair of dumb-fired missiles, a hailstorm of 20mm slugs, and one full-throttle F-15C flew through the space he had occupied. Shinji completed the roll and laced the F-15 with copious 37mm cannon fire. The McDonald Douglas-made fighter went down in flames. "Thanks, Mobius 2."
"This is Allenfort. Got a visual on that downed attack force. Whose kills were those? Make sure to thank them!"
Well, that's chapter number two. Hope you like it, especially the action. By the way, burnered means to fly with afterburners engaged. I heard a military pilot my father knows use it once. And finally, a big thank you to my pre-reader, Ishagu.
So! Next time on Wings of the Protector: Shinji and Rei meet Halo 10 and Viper 9 and go to the bar with them to celebrate their victory. Alcohol loosens tongues and the pilots find out a little more about each other. How will this affect them? And what of the anti-military gang that hangs out in the bar. It's all coming up next on Wings of the Protector: Meetings, booze, brawls, and reasons!