Back to this story, I'll need to learn how to budget my time between all the stories I'm writing.
Stonehenge Attacks
Shinji was standing at attention inside a room. In front of him were 4 Admirals of the ISAF Navy, and two Generals of the Airforce. Shinji stood beside Seer, and down the line stood Touji, Kensuke, Thomas and Glenn. Shinji couldn't help but wonderâwhat in the name of God was going on?
One of the Admirals stood up slowly and began to speak to the 6 young men. "It has been decided that a new fighter group is to be made, and this group has to be the best of all squadrons that exist. Gentlemen, you six are that new fighter groupâyou will be given each a new plane that has just passed the testing stages. That plane is the X-02, don't take this plane lightly as it is one of the best planes that exists today, next to the plane you all encountered in your last mission."
Shinji cringed at the memory, but then a screen came on with schematics of an airplane and then the admiral continued "This plane has two main thrusters in its back. It is a single seated plane. And the wings, as you can see, move back as a normal plane would and then are bent forward. At a certain increase in speed, the parts of the wing that are bent forward will bend back into the rest of the wings. This will also trigger that the rudders on the back of the plane will flatten to the body of the plane. The planes wings will seem diamond shaped and it's turning will be dependant on the flaps that cover the two thrusters. Any questions?" The admiral waited for a response, after a brief moment of silence he continued"
"You won't get a mission todayâactually you're going to be relaxing today, and celebrating, but don't overdo it, tomorrow our next mission begins, and it will be our most difficult yet. Lt. Colonel Reins?"
Seer immediately answered back with the normal "Sir!" to which the Admiral continued "You will be leading this Squadron" "Thank you, Sir!"
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The newly appointed squadron of X-02 fighter Pilots, were now at a bar near the port where the aircraft carrier was now stationed. They were all drinking alongside the squadrons that were led by Nagassi and Shamrock, along with the other pilots in the squadrons left by Seer, Shinji, and Kensuke.
Shinji stood up all of a sudden and began to speak "Tomorrow we have one of our most important missions to date, as the Admiral saidâand very soon, we will be attacking the enemy capital. I certainly hope that all of us live long enough to see the end of this war"
Shinji sat down after nod or two from the rest of the people there, Seer then stood up "Well, now that I have nothing to say, because Shinji stole my speech" the pilots laughed as Shinji bowed "All I have to say is, let's take it easy today and celebrate, and know that if any of us goes down in the battleââif won't be in vain, we won't let any of your deaths go in vainânow let's not think about the warâlet's drink!"
The party went on for a little while longer before each of them called it quits with only a few near their limit in alcohol. The rest of the team went to their quarters to review their studies on their airplanes. They only had a couple of hours to learn how to use the plane and then they would be sent into the air.
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"Good morning" Said the admiral inside the briefing room.
"I certainly hope you had a good celebration! Now that your loose, it's time that we prepared for our next mission" The screen behind the Admiral suddenly lit up and a map of a large piece of land could be seen. "This is the natural fortress that cuts off the shortest route to the capital. Our troops need to get through here, but there are too many dangers. There are plane reinforcements and a large number of enemy SAM's and AA guns, in short we need to level the ground and mountains of enemy objects."
"I am also sad to say, that this fortress is inside of Stonehenge's range. As soon as we give you the signal, you must lower your altitude to less than 2000 feet, know that the mountains are much taller than that so don't catch yourself in a spot where you'll regret attacking. This mission will be timed, after the mission's time is up, a group of Class-A Blackjack B-22s will fly out and bomb the three mountains. Your mission is to destroy anything you can find in order to make things easier for those enemy bombers. SAM's and Reinforcement planes will be your main objective. Once the bases have been leveled, we'll begin to send the troops by chopper to their next location"
The Admiral then walked away and a woman immediately stood up "Our new squadron will be led by Seer Reins, and they will be named Strike squadron" the woman then named the rest of the squadrons. "That is all, you have 30 minutes to debrief your wingmen, if necessary, then you'll move out"
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In the air and armed with their weaponry, the Strike squadron led the other squadrons towards the area of battle. "Strike Lead to all squadronsâ.report in!"
"Indigo Squadron on Standby!"
"Zeta Squadron on Standby!"
"Blade Squadron on Standby!"
"Gray Squadron on Standby!"
"Yate Squadron on Standby!"
"All right, get to your assigned quadrants and take out all enemy objects in that location, move out!" The other 5 squadrons split away from Strike squadron. Seer took a look around his cockpit and then checked his radar. "All right boys, our location is due East, we're taking out the airports in the fortress, ignore any and all enemy objects unless they are considered a threat to the current mission or that they are in the vicinity of the airport fortress. If so on both accounts, then engage and clear them out"
After saying his piece, Seer slowly changed his heading and kept his plane on cruising speed. He also lowered his altitude to a level 1500, the other fighters quickly followed. Shinji soon came up on the radio "These planes are pretty good, I've never felt such smooth movement in a plane"
"Yeah, guess we're lucky to get these planes, right Ken?" Touji was the first to respond to Shinji, and Kensuke responded soon after. "The computers on these planes are pretty advanced, although I have to admit, the enemy planes from the last mission must have been more advanced than even these" "With the ability to transform like that? Yeah, those planes must have some good computers"
"I agree with you Glenn, those planes are far more advanced than anything ISAF has ever made" "Hey! Hey!âyou're acting like the fight's over without a battle" Seer interrupted with an agitated voice "Those guys aren't that good, all we need to do is steal a few of their planes and then we'll be home free and on even ground"
"I hear that!" Shinji yelled out with a laugh. Seer chuckled a bit before he looked forward. He saw a large mountain ahead of them and looked up to see Yate Squadron flying much higher and at a faster speed. His radio began to pick up their transmissions. "Look at this place" "They built a baseâright HERE!!?!?" "It explains why the soldiers would have never stood a chance, this place is a natural fortress!"
Seer decided to get things serious as he called out "All right, Yate squadron cut the chatter and increase to attack speed! See if you can surprise those guys with a few good bombing runs!" "Roger that Strike Lead, we're on our way"
Yate Squadrons' F-14s were soon on the move and heading towards the fortress. "Strike squadron, lock and load, increase speed and lets get to that fortress!" The X-02s were soon on the move as well. They raised their altitude to a good 6000 feet. "We're gonna try something new today boys, lets stay together as a group, do your best not to separate."
Sky Eye soon called in order to report "Intel has told us that the airports are mostly for harriers and choppers. These air vehicles are deep into the mountain, drop a few bombs into the vertical caverns in order to destroy the enemy." "Roger that, all fighters, you heard the boss, be sure to take out SAMs in the area before bombing the hangars."
"Does that include us?" Touji asked as they slowly gained altitude. "Don't worry, this area is mostly cleared all ready, we're just going to start scaring them a bitâall right boys, let'em loose, pickle!" the mid-ranged bombs were soon dropped over the hangar that held enemy planes. After a minute, the hangar was filled with a bright orange light, with smoke flowing out of it. The flames consumed many of the fighters there, but the battle was not over yet.
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"Asuka?" Asuka looked behind her to see that her mother, Kyoko, was standing looking at the young woman with a look of worry. "Mom" "Come now, Asuka, what's worrying you?" Asuka turned around again in order to keep looking out the balcony of their house. She was staring at the ocean.
"I'mâjust a bit worried." "And what, young lady, are you worried about?" Asuka smirked a little as she shook her head. "Nothingâabsolutely nothing, I'll just go inside now." "He'll come back you know."
Asuka froze suddenly as she looked to her mother with wide eyes. Kyoko had a look of certainty and was now looking at the ocean beside Asuka "And so will the rest of them, they know better than to die out in that chaos." "It's just" Asuka's eyes began to water as she shook her head and shut her eyes tight "I haven't heard anythingâwhy can't they end the war faster."
"Because there are many things to take into account, after the supposed meteor strike that caused 2nd Impact, that monstrosity, Stonehenge, was created in order to destroy any others. I remember, I was part of the building team" "What!?" Asuka looked at her mother with wide eyes.
Kyoko nodded, "Yes, I was responsible for the creation of Stonehenge, I'm not in jail because I gave the outline of what I built in Stonehenge to ISAF. It seems that what I gave was not enough." Asuka nodded as Kyoko went on.
"They sent their best fighters to destroy Stonehenge, but something was added that wouldn't allow victory for the ISAF. A new enhancement, a jammer on missiles, this was responsible for the deaths of so many of those pilots. There was also the yellow squadron, all the squadrons could do was destroy one of those cannons. But now, they need to destroy it completely, just so that their on even ground."
Asuka nodded and looked towards the ocean once again before turning around completely and heading towards her room. She was lying down on her bed, and she began to dream. But just before she fell into a deep sleep, she saw her friends. Touji, Kensuke, Shinji and Seer, and even the new guy, Glenn. She saw them, as if it were a picture that they had posed for. After that, she fell into a deep sleep.
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"All fighters! Dive to below 2000 feet! Incoming from Stonehenge, move it now!" Seer and the rest of the Strike Squadron quickly lowered their altitude when they reached the lower plains. "So they finally decided to fire their big guns have they?" Seer said, as the Strike squadron continued to cruise. They all looked towards the sky and waited in silence, when suddenly streaks of light came down and exploded in the sky.
"That's Stonehenge!?" Kensuke yelled, "Those beams could destroy anything, and the long-range radio is pretty messed up now" Shinji began to listen in on the radio.
Krrrâre--atâsquad---âwiped outâkrr Shinji shook his head "I can't get very much from the radio" Kensuke nodded in his cockpit "I'll try to reroute the power in my radio"
Ken Krrr-Fighter on radio, say again, we don't copy!-Krrr
Krrr-Indigo squadrons and Zeta squadron have been wiped out!
"What!? That's Nagissa and Shamrock!" Shinji exclaimed when he heard, Seer's face darkened as he pulled his aircraft back towards the enemy location. "It's our job to avenge them and the pilots under their command, we'll take them all down!"
Strike squadron soon returned to their area of battle, they found that most of the hangars were already completely destroyed. "Sky Eye! We need some more targets" Seer yelled into his com-link as he waited for an answer. "Strike squadron, your new objective is to destroy the well-protected submarine base in the mountains, head to the coordinates now."
It didn't take long for Strike squadron to head in the correct direction. Each of them held their own hunger for revenge. Although they had known those pilots for only a few days, they were comrades and they had a promise to fulfill. Their deaths would not be in vain.
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"Sir! Enemy fighters heading this way, there's six of them" "Prepare to fire all anti-aircraft weaponry, the next rounds from Stonehenge won't take long" "Sir!" The soldier immediately went to fulfill his orders while the commander looked out the window of her outpost.
"We won't let those fighters destroy our submarines" She whispered to herself as she looked out the window. "Why do you fight alongside them sisterâwhy did you do that, Nagissa?"
The lights in her room suddenly began to flash red. "Begin jamming of the long-range communication!" Yelled the commander as she continued to look out her window. The building she stood in was set right beside the entrance to the submarine base. It was completely surrounded by 4 large plateaus, and the only way to enter was straight up or through the narrow and dangerous ravines that were set between each plateau.
The commander smirked as she looked over to her officers, knowing that the fighters coming wouldn't stand a chance. However, instead of glee in the faces of her soldiers, she found horror and fear. "What's going on!?" She yelled out, "T--th-eâour anti-airc--their goneâtheir being blown to pieces one by one!"
She looked up to see some flashes of yellow, and then saw 2 fighters that she had never seen before fly above her. She gritted her teeth and yelled again, "Tell the undercover SAM's to fire immediately!" 'You won't win' She thought next 'you won't win this battle sister'.
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"Seer, you've been locked on! Check left!" Seer didn't need any more encouraging before his plane banked left. He then began to look for the target. "Where was it coming from?" "It must be SAM's, I think their using the greenery to camouflage, I can't pick them up on radar either."
"Sky Eye! What do we do?"
KrrrrâKrrrrâKrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
"What the hell!?" "Our signal must be being jammed, or at least the long-range signal is" Kensuke said as he swiveled his plane over the plateau in order to move away from a radar lock. "Any ideas?" Shinji's head suddenly raised as he spoke into his com-link.
"Seer! I'll take Kensuke and Thomas, and we'll try to get a signal out while taking the attention of the SAM's. You take Touji and Glenn, and take care of that Submarine base" "Now, you're thinking like a leader!" Seer said "All right, that's the plan, let's move quick before they really take us down."Seer then led his two fighters into one of the ravines of the mountainous terrain. "Take out their fuel buildings in order to start the chaos, then we'll go after the main building."
"Copy that!"
"Roger"
"There are the fuel cells, open fire! Fox 2!"
"Fox 2!"
"There they go!"
The missiles from the three planes hit easily and destroyed three of the large tanks of oil and fuel. The fourth blew up on it's own from the intense heat generated.
"Strike lead, there are two submarine entrances" "Yeah! But there's only one main building, now make a quick leftâ.target up ahead, sweet lock! Fox 2!"
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As the commander looked at the mayhem and the missiles heading straight towards her, she gave a few final thoughts. 'I seeâthese pilots will be legends very soon, and their incredible battle will be with the yellow squadron'.
Two of the three missiles exploded on the door of the submarine base and made the entrance begin it's crumble.
As the final missile headed towards her building,
A soldier yelled out "Missile contact in 3 seconds!"
she whispered "Nagassi,"
2
"are you waiting for me?"
1
"Or shall I wait for you?"
0
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The explosion of the building was the sign that the entire battle was hopeless for the Eurasians. The command building being destroyed, disconnected all communication between the building and the rest of the territory. The retreat was sounded, making planes and helicopters begin to fly away from the ISAF fighters. A few passed over the space between the 4 plateaus.
Seers eyes widened as he followed them. "Captain! Wait! Their retreating! Let them go!" Shinji yelled as he saw his good friend fly towards danger that could cost him his life. Shinji immediately turned his plane to follow his friend, when he saw a large amount of missiles fire out from the ground.
"Sh!!" Seer pulled up immediately and kept turning and turning on the seemingly endless barrage of missiles. Finally, after much timing and movement, Seer was able to pull out and was away from the area of SAM missiles. Seer was breathing heavily and had his eyes closed.
"Seer! Dive now! Stonehenge barrage in 5 seconds!" Seer's eyes widened as he suddenly put his plane into a straight dive. His heart pounded and there were beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His eyes were wide with determination and fright as he continued to dive at incredible speeds.
And thenââthe barrage came.
The shots of light coming from Stonehenge reached it's area of target, and the shockwave hit the Seer's plane hard. Seers plane lost a complete wing from the shockwave and his engines died. As his plane continued to freefall and spin at the same time, images of his parents and family came across his mind. He lightly smiled as he thought of them, but then another image came across his mind. An image so powerful, every fiber in his being screamed as he pulled the ejection straps. The image of Asuka Langley Soyhru crying in front of a graveâhis grave.
"NO! I will not die now!!!"
Seer was soon away from his doomed plane and was floating to the ground, but the shockwave of the last attack was not completely gone. Seer continue to fall at a fast rate, and the parachute soon ripped and made Seer hit the ground hard, knocking him out cold.
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The events that continued after that were a blur to both Seer and Shinji. After Seer was picked up, they found that he had a broken arm, and was in no condition to fly a plane for a while.
Shinji knew that his friend would be incredibly distraught about that. Now, it was possible that the war would end with him in the bed. He would never agree to that, he would find a way to get back into the battle no matter what it would cost.
After that, time simply passed slowly in the rest of that day. Until Shinji heard the words that would change his life for some time, "1st Liutenant Shinji, you have been promoted to Captain, and you will now lead the Strike squadron for the next few missions, until it is decided whether or not, that Seer is able to lead ever again."
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Next time:
Hey, this is Seer. Yeah I know, broken arm, not able to fight. Anyhow, you'll see me pretty pissed off and then you'll see two missions being led by Shinji at the same time. It seems that a group of infiltrating soldiers may have found the weapons necessary to turn the tides against the Eurasians. But their taking so long to decide whether or not to use that, then by the time we use it, I'll be leading a squadron again. No really, I'm not kidding. Anyways, see the next chapter and review for our dear author.