Hello back, dear readers. We're back in The Will of Revenge. After next two chapters spent in Milky Way, we're returning to Andromeda, where situation is still unchanged, with SoS still gaining ground, although much slower than they anticipated. In the meantime, UTDF prepares for a surprise for Zorzal's forces. What will come out of it? Read and see for yourself.

But before that, reviews.

To Supreme Supra: Thank you as always, my friend.

Okay, with that done, let's get to it.

Chapter 7

July 6, 2166

15:01

Hordgarf, Nordian C.Z., Taurus III

General Klausus Ho Margas was literally sitting on pins and needles. The reason? For over a week, the whole frontline across the entire planet froze. It wasn't caused by any kind of super powerful enemy defense, though. It was all caused by the problems that were mainly caused by the mistakes made by SoS itself. And although Margas was well aware of these mistakes, he would not speak about them loudly. After all, he had a reputation to keep.

From the mistakes, two were the most prominent. First of them was, of course, the fate of Olo Kerrel. Following his unexpected demise, the command over 2nd Armored Legion was taken by his deputy, who was quickly promoted. Of course, this meant that the whole frontline needed some reshuffling.

Second mistake they made, was their belief in the quick end of the war. It was already over a month since the invasion has begun and according to the original plan, by now, they should already celebrate the victory in streets of Sadera. This is why after a while, supplies started running out and fast. They were slowly running out of ammo, food and medical supplies. And although their army was mainly made up of clones, even they needed to receive medical care from time to time.

Realizing these problems, all SoS' forces not only on Taurus III, but also in Flareian System, received a message which stated, that operational pause was declared and all forces are to stop all offensive actions until further notice. Not everyone liked that, but of course, they couldn't argue with an order given by the Emperor himself. This could end very badly, especially for those in higher echelons.

Of course, the air force and the fleet were the only parts of the SoS Armed Forces that were not under the influence of operational pause. Bombers, fighters and ships in the orbit constantly dropped bombs and fired missiles on the enemy infrastructure and their cities. Even from his current position, Margas could see smokes coming out of bombed settlements.

But there was also another thing that the operational pause allowed to do except replenishing losses and resupplying. And the thing was, operational pause was also helpful to the enemy.

By this whole time, enemy was awfully quiet. Scouting parties sent forward always returned with no news. Only enemy air defense was somewhat active, firing at their machines and missiles they launched. Even their fighters didn't take off to intercept their aircraft. Something was really off about this whole situation.

"General."

Margas turned around to see his adjutant standing in the tent.
"What is it?"he asked.
"The recon company have returned."adjutant replied.

"And? What did they find?"

Adjutant seemed to shift his stance and bit his lip. Margas didn't even need to hear what he had to say, but didn't stop him.

"They still didn't find anything."he finally said."Enemy forces are either well hidden, or simply retreated."

"Alright. You can go."Margas said.

Adjutant bowed and left.

Nothing. Once again, nothing. From what he was aware, and from what the intelligence told him, his legion and the brigades accompanying him were facing two enemy brigades. One of them was that Nordian brigade they fought since they landed on the planet. The other was Falmartian armored brigade that joined them later. These two couldn't just disappear like that. They were planning something, something not good. But what?

What he didn't know, was that he was soon to learn.

July 6

18:21

Unified Staff, Leender

Harlen was quickly walking down the corridor leading to the conference room of the staff building. Tim, as always, was by his side. General was feeling a great dose of stress right now, considering what they were about to do.

"This has to work."Harlen said.

"Yes, sir."Tim replied."It's too late to back off now, after all."
"Can't argue with that. It was my idea after all."
"You don't have to worry. We're all with you."
"I hope so."

Whole last week was very important for the whole course of war. Operation: Axer was an idea that Harlen Ordell came up with while looking at the map of the planet and analyzed the situation. It was then when the news about the death of general Kerrel came. Harlen saw this as an opportunity. It was certain, that with the death of such an important enemy commander, there were some things that needed to be done. It was going to take time, so they had time to perfect the plan. Units were relocated, commanders were informed and everything was talked through with the allies. Not to mention that the enemy operational pause was like a miracle for them. They doubted it at the beginning, but after it was confirmed by the intelligence, the gears started moving.

And now, after almost a week, with two days of operational pause to spare, they were almost ready to commence the operation. The only thing needed was confirmation from other C.Z. commanders.

Two guards standing at the door leading to the conference room saluted seeing their commanding officer and opened the door. Harlen and Tim went into the room, where they could already see holograms of other commanders. He went past them and stood at the top of the table. He glanced at the and sat down.

"Ladies and gentlemen."he started."I'm grateful to see you."
"Of course we're here."colonel Nira said.
"We wouldn't miss it."colonel Sergus, former deputy and now replacement of Utgar in charge of Nordian forces, said.

"Good."

Harlen took a deep breath.

"Alright. As you know, Operation: Axer is about to commence. However, I'm not going to give any order without your permission. This is a joint effort. We are to decide about it together."

Everyone looked at each other.
"But before you make your decision, I have to tell you something."General Ordell looked at them. Int his eyes, they could see something they couldn't describe."Operation: Axer might as well end up as a complete failure. Not to mention, that the goal of this operation is simple. It's not aimed to force enemy off the planet. It's goal is to slow down their progress and push back their forces as far as possible to undo at least some of their progress. In short, it's basically meant to delay the inevitable. Do you realize that?"

Once more, commanders glanced at each other. They were thinking about what to say. Finally, Sergus was the first to stand up and speak:
"We are well aware of the situation, sir. Late general Utgar died while trying to slow down enemy offensive, but he died a hero nonetheless. And the reason we're in this situation in the first place is the fact the enemy invaded. We have to try our best if we want to at least make the enemy pay dearly for all the suffering they caused to our people. So I say, let the operation commence. Nordian forces are ready."

"I agree. Skandian forces report their readiness."Sigurd said.
"Falmartian forces are ready to proceed."Nira said.
"Australian forces are prepared."Highbar said.

"Araluenian forces are ready."Trik said.

"And forces based in our C.Z. also report readiness."Tim said.

General Harlen Ordell looked at all the commanders and their firm, stone hard expressions. He nodded his head.
"Tim. Transmit the signal."
"Understood, sir."adjutant replied and soon left the conference room.

July 6

18:47

Leender Air Force Base, Leender, Taurus III

Dora sat on an ammo box in the hangar, sharpening a combat knife. Around her, ground crews were preparing the machines for the upcoming mission. Everyone was tense by the last week before the operation, as nobody knew what could happen to undo their preparation effort. Fortunately, enemy ordered an operational pause, what was just an advantage to them. And soon, they were going to get what was coming to them.

Major looked at the rest of her squadron. There were just three others, but it was still good. They were called the Green Squadron by everyone, due to the fact, that all of them were just new recruits that didn't even see a real fight before this. But when she got to them, her rigorous training routine went into action and now, Green Squadron was an actual force to reckoned with, main defenders of Leender and surrounding areas. As of now, they only lost one pilot. Death of lieutenant Ilvels was hard for the other two, but they quickly got it together. Soon, they were given new pilot to replenish the loss.

But after the news Operation: Axer reached her, Dora decided to loosen up a bit. She let the squadron get some R&R by the last week, allowing them to go to the city and have some fun. It might have been careless in many ways, but soldiers needed to be ready and relaxed before the operation. Which didn't mean that they were tense through the whole waiting period.
"And you, sir?"captain Iea, Green 2, asked.
"Huh?"Dora asked, looking away from the knife."Sorry, I was a bit lost in thoughts."

"We asked, what do you think about all this Axer stuff, sir?"lieutenant Nivel, Green 3, asked.

"Hmm."

Major put down the knife and crossed her arms over her chest. Next, she sighed.

"What can I say? Considering our situation, with planet blockaded by enemy fleet and us with limited supplies, this whole undertaking is just a delaying operation. The kind aimed to simply slow the enemy down. So we can prepare better defenses and which would allow our higher ups to design other, more suitable plans. There is a chance we'll manage to actually push back the enemy, as well as give them some losses, but the results are something we just have to await for. Does that reply satisfy you?"

Other three pilots looked at her and then at each other, processing what they just heard. Finally, they nodded their heads.
"Yes, major."lieutenant Berin, Green 4, replied.
"Good."Dora said and restarted sharpening her knife.

They sat in relative silence for the next few minutes, before suddenly, all their communicators came to life with the voice of general Vanelis, commander of the air base:
"This is Vanelis to Green Squadron. We just received a signal from the Unified Staff. ION. I repeat: ION."

ION was the password that meant the start of Operation: Axer. Short and if enemy was listening to their communications, it would be hard to decipher what it means. All pilots glanced at each other. Dora stood up and sheathed her knife, grabbing the pilot helmet that was laying next to her.

"You heard the man! Man the machines!"
Pilots stood straight up in one, swift motion and saluted.
"Sir, yes, sir!"they exclaimed.

Soon, they were all manning their fighters. Ground crews left the hangar, while four Eurofighter Cyclones started making their way out of the structure. They taxied along the ground towards the runway, doing diagnostics on their instruments. Finally, after a few minutes, they were standing on the runway in a straight line.
"Green 1 to the Tower, requesting permission to take off."Dora said.
"Green 1, this is Tower. Permission granted."the flight controller replied."You are allowed to send as many of the bastards to hell as possible."

"Thank you."Dora replied, smiling slightly.

She pushed the joystick, making the craft slowly accelerate, followed by three others. Machines started slowly taking off, until they finally were in the air, hiding their landing gear and forming a diamond formation.
"Alright, people."Vanelis spoke again."Your orders are simple. You are to join forces with a bomber squadron and their escorts that took off from Helin Air Base and are en route to enemy positions. You have to help them to deliver their payloads to the receiver."

"Understood, general. Wish us luck."Dora replied.
"Of course I do. Good hunting."

General then disconnected.
"Alright, squadron. Report."Dora ordered.
"Green 2, ready."Iea reported.
"Green 3, ready."Nivel reported.
"Green 4, ready."Berin reported.
"Alright, we have to rendezvous with two allied squadrons and help them. Let's go."
"Yes, sir."

With that, the squadron turned in the direction given to them by the flight control.

June 6

21:52

Skies over Nordian C.Z.

Captain Wentris, commander of Su-75 squadron, looked at the instructions of his instruments. The YU-12F radar sweeping the area before the machine didn't detect enemy machines withing the two hundred kilometer range. Officer commanding a squadron escorting one of only three B-44 Phantom atmospheric bombers squadrons they had on the entire planet was actually surprised by so little activity from enemy air forces today. Although advantage they possessed, enemy air force received enormous losses by allies air defense. Theoretically, a clear way leading over SoS' heads should please him. But him, torn by pessimistic thoughts, constantly eyed the radar screen. Lack of enemy air activity was unnerving.

"Six minutes until target, stay vigilant."Short order quickly reached twenty machines accompanying him. Wentris did not want his squadron to suffer losses. In their current situation, each and every piece of equipment was worth it's weight in gold. His group was supposed to reach enemy positions and deliver their cargo in preparation for hell the ground forces were preparing for the enemy. Twenty fighters and fifteen more bombers were flying with the speed of a thousand kilometers per hour towards unsuspecting SoS' lines.

"This is Viper 8."Speaker mounted inside the helmet spoke with the voice of one of his wingmen."Two enemy aircraft, distance: 90 kilometers. Computer classifies them as two dropships."

Dropships were no danger for Su-75s. But for a careless tank or APC crew it could end tragically. Captain noted the information about enemy machines in memory. When whatever AA defense systems they'll find will be turned into scrap, planes will get the tank hunters.

At the same time, lieutenant Sederius Go Deras was in command of squadron of four Erecan KaLs, or more precisely, KaL-S, a special variant invisible for radar. They were flying with the speed of Mach 3. Squadron divided into two pairs was supposed to inflict large losses on approaching enemy formation they have detected.

"Thirty five targets, distance: 200 kilometers, Su-75 fighters and B-44 atmospheric bombers. They're going in a straight line, lt."one of the pilots said.

It was true, he could see it on the visor of his helmet, where information from a radar behind allied lines were showed. Thirty five machines in different order cut through the air. They were approaching Setera and fortified Sons' defensive forces. Lieutenant smiled, the enemy had no idea of approaching Stealth machines.

"150 kilometers to target, arm your missiles."
KaL-S' were equipped with two chambers inside the hull, where they were hiding six O-L air-to-air missiles. Able to hit targets effectively even at the range of 160 kilometers. Perfect for the first strike.

"Lock on the targets. 120 kilometers. Fire!"

Five seconds later, twelve O-L missiles were speeding towards their targets.

"I GOT A LOCK!"In just a second, multiple voices informed captain Wentris the thing he himself was aware. Almost all of his squadron was locked on by enemy missiles."They fired missiles!"

"Everyone, break, evade and protect the Phantoms!"Wentris ordered.

Captain pulled the joysticks and put the plane in a candle position. He was being tracked by SoS' missile, but the speed at which death was incoming didn't leave a lot of time to think. If except pulling the machine up he won't use on-board systems to lose it, in forty seconds he'll disappear in a fireball. He turned tightly left by pulling the joysticks. At the same time, he turned on the jammer tasked with confusing the missiles. New data flowing from the SoS aircraft to the missiles held it on target, though. Squadron leader could see the formation completely breaking apart. Bombers spread out and slowed down to get away from evading fighters. Missile still chased Wenttris, who knew releasing flares won't make any difference. It was radar guided and he just had to hope jammer will work. When missiles gets in range of just twenty meters behind the fighter, captain will have only few seconds to work. Yes, it worked! Confused by the white noise, missile lost it's target and exploded, raining burning pieces on the ground. From twelve targeted machines, eight disappeared from radar in bright lights.

"This is Viper 1, report!"Wentris ordered and few seconds later, twelve remaining fighters reported readiness to continue fighting.

"They locked on me again! More missiles!"Scream almost stunned the captain. Only then he realized that several triangles appeared on the radar before disappearing. Captain already knew what was he dealing with. Enemy had access to Stealth tech.

"This is Viper 1, we encountered hard enemy resistance. We can't target the enemy. They may posses Stealth aircraft. We need sup…"

Wentris didn't finish. SoS' missile exploded right where wing connected to the hull. Fuel, which oxidized, few seconds later ended the life of Soutlandian Royal Air Force officer.

"To all Basilisks, our job here is done, return to base. Rest will have easier job."lieutenant Deras said.

He had reasons to be pleased. From twenty four missiles launched, fifteen hit their mark. That was probably the most successful mission he ever performed. Who knew, maybe Emperor himself would reward him for it? He just had to live and see.

But it was certain, that some kind of support for the bombers was already approaching. But that didn't matter. He already gave the info about approaching enemy air forces tot he command. As of now, around seventy allied fighters were already taking off to intercept them.

"Enemy isn't running, fighters and bombers are still approaching our lines…"one of pilots noticed.

Lieutenant's suspicions were confirmed. But as he said, it didn't matter. He just hoped, that allied forces will manage to take out the enemy before their bombers reach their lines.

Major Therrin Olter, pilot of B-44 Phantom, could not believe what he saw. Within just three minutes, twenty escort fighters turned into five. Although these losses, command didn't call-off the retreat. The assurance of approaching support didn't make him feel better. Invisible death could still be hiding within the dark of taurusian night. For fifteen bombers, the target was Setera and Sons of Sadera positions around it.

"All Couriers, ETA: thirteen minutes."

Systems mounted in the bombers informed about the situation in the skies up-to-date. The screen showed spectra of almost forty aircraft. According to the command, reinforcements should arrive within fifteen minutes. Except that, fifteen F-86 bomber-fighters were assigned from a different target. This meant that they will perform the air raid with the escort of not twenty, but five fighters.

"Lios, contact the higher ups and ask them when will the support arrive. If we go there alone, we'll be sitting ducks. Where is that goddamn AWACS?!"Major tilted his head, still looking at the dashboard. Warning systems and such worked correctly. But after last few minutes, he would rather keep an eye on it.

"On it!"Communication officer was doing something with the communication system and had a short discussion."Fourteen minutes and we'll have support of thirty fighters and an AWACS."
Major Olter nodded his head. That was enough, maybe they won't be sitting ducks. He was sure that the rest of the voyage and the drop will not be without losses.

"ETA: eight minutes. Check your payload and get ready to drop."
The machine's hull was filled with thirty six ninety kilogram bombs. The staff designing the operation plan resigned from precise strikes. They decided to perform a carpet bombing strategy, of course evading the civilian areas. From the first day of war, they had complete and absolute order to not strike at civilian areas, even when enemy forces were detected in them. This of course allowed the SoS to do what they pleased by simply placing their artillery in the towns and villages. Much to the nerve of UTDF command.

Dropping as many bombs as possible on enemy heads was meant to sow confusion and make enemy morale as much as possible. Plan was actually pretty good, they just had to eliminate enemy air defense. Anti-fighter defense was a priority of the same level.

"All bombs ready to drop."A voice of one of crew members filled the major's ears. The sergeant responsible for the weaponry state seemed really calm. Nothing strange, spending a day accompanied by several tons of bombs could really toughen a man.

"Five minutes until target, watch your jets. I don't want any Son to jump on our asses and shoot off half a plane."

Major could see a red glow in front of him. The ground forces of first wave have already launched their attack. Smudges visible in the dark sky showed that missile artillery was hard at work. Constant explosions and flames flying into the sky marked the night with fiery, pulsating points. Entire eight hundred kilometer section of the frontline was burning. Almost all allied forces fighting on the northern hemisphere of Taurus III were pushing with full force on the makeshift SoS' defensive line.

"Lower your altitude to three thousand meters. Speed eight hundred kilometers per hour. Two and a half minutes until target."
Major noticed, that not all SoS' air defenses were active. Intelligence reported that enemy AA was dense and would literally cover the sky in fire. But instead, there were just sporadic plasma and kinetic fire flying past, fired blindly. Although that, it was still terrifying for every pilot of a slow moving machine to fly in such situations.

"We're over the target. Drop the payload!"

"Understood, payload free."sergeant said again. Clear jerk of the plane indicated that they freed the over nine tons cargo. Major thought, that he would do anything to not be on the ground right now.

"All Couriers, report about delivering the packages!"
"We're hit! This is Courier 8, I repeat, Courier 8 is falling!"said the voice drowned out by the sound of engines.

Major looked to his left. A craft that was a kilometer away suddenly lit up like a star. Machine was falling for a while, before it finally exploded, tearing it apart into thousands of burning pieces.

"We have to go! Fighters can't manage to cover us!"Voice of the second pilot broke through the constant rumbling. Only after a while major realized, that the sound was coming from the AA fire hitting the plane's hull.

"To all Couriers! Return to base! Climb to six thousand meters! We're coming home."He lightly tilted the machine to the left and started a wide turn. Leaving the range of missiles and other AA systems was the only way of safely returning to base."When will this support come?!"
"Only three minutes. Let's better get out of there, or they'll tear us apart like sharks do dolphins."Comms officer already contacted the HQ, wanting to raise the morale with his own message.
"This is Courier 4, enemy is locking onto us! Holy shit! Missile in the air, evading!"

Major Olter watched in awe as one of the aircraft breaks formation and lifts up over the other escaping machines. Few seconds later the missile hit it's mark. Surface-to-air missile explosion torn off a wing from the powerful machine. Without ability to steer, machine started spinning and falling towards the ground. Major was able to see as it crashes into the ground, spraying flames in all directions.

"Status report."he ordered.

Rumbling almost stopped, they almost left the AA range. Fighters time after time lowered their altitude to destroy enemy positions with air-to-surface missiles or unguided bombs.

"Courier 14, we're hit, slight tilt to the left. Engines are at eighty percent power. We should make it."

"Courier 11, only AA guns hits. No bigger damage."
"All Couriers, I hope it's everything for today."major sighed.

He really hoped that the possible fire will be focused on the fighters. Through the cameras outside the bomber, Olter observed his destructive work. Moving away from the drop point, he could see a river of fire along the enemy lines. Earth looked like the lowest rings of hell. Major was surprised by fierce resistance of the Sons. It turned out, that they were not as unprepared as expected. He still could see the fires symbolizing destroyed UTDF aicraft.

"Hello Couriers, the cavalry has arrived."Dora said, trying to sound like a chamberlain."You did well, we're gonna cover your return. Command just informed us about unexpectedly strong activity of enemy air force."

"This is Courier 1, good to hear you, we thought you'll never come."major Olter said happily.

"You're not gonna die with us, you can trust the Green Squadron. We are accompanied by A-98 Glaz AWACS, we're scanning everything in a thousand kilometers radius."

"Understood, we have two downed bombers and several damaged. One of the remaining escort fighters also reports damage."

"You got your asses kicked well, they should have sent AWACS with you from the start."
"I think it wouldn't give much, we were attacked by Stealth fighters. Fighters seen them on radars only for a second or two, when hey opened their missiles bay."

"Nobody reported this to us. Early warning might not detect them from secure distance."

Dora suddenly became more nervous. Cyclones might have had a chance in fight with the so called KaLs SoS was using, but it would be harder with Stealth equipped machines. There was one squadron of Stealth HAL Cheetahs on Taurus, but they were operating in a different part of the planet, on Falmartian side. Such escort certainly would be something.

"We have to get the hell out of here as fast as possible."As if to confirm her thought, major Olter's voice sounded in her radio
Next minutes of flight lasted with no interruptions. Formation that consisted of surviving bombers with escorts, Green Squadron and fifteen F-86s that joined them was coming back deep into the allied-controlled territory.

"This is Lantern, we detect several echoes in range of two hundred and fifty to two hundred kilometers North of us. They're flying low, appearing and disappearing. Speed: two thousand three hundred kilometers per hours, fighters. We'll be in range of their missiles within eight minutes."AWACS' radar operators reported.
"Understood. Bombers, continue your return to base, we'll deal with the bandits."
"See you on the ground, major."Radar operator tried to stay calm at all costs. If a battle ensues, not every machine accompanying the bombers will return to base.
"Get major and his men home safely."Dora said and turned her machine to face the approaching attackers.

July 6

22:26

Few kilometers away

Air armada consisting of over seventy machines was speeding on an altitude of just eighty meters. Low height was supposed to protect them from being detected by enemy radars. Several times fighters got dangerously close to the treetops, to violently turn up. Sons machines then appeared on enemy early warning systems for few seconds, only to suddenly disappear from the screens after flying lower. The core of the formation consisted of the newest machines that were recently supplied to Sons of Sadera by one of Dominion's races. Already tested in battle, the Ri-Shi space superiority fighters with the power of fifty machines led the other fighters towards UTDF bombers escaping the battle.

"They should be four hundred leagues before us."wingman of major Olenius that commanded the two Ri-Shi squadrons reported, confirming his commander's suspicions.

"Keep radio silence, in five minutes, we climb to one thousand and increase speed to two thousand one hundred."major said, cutting off all the possible chatter.

All conversation between pilots could lead to premature detection by UTDF radars belonging to machines patrolling the sky over the SoS' lines.

Meanwhile, UTDF fighters once more turned towards the frontline. Ground, overwhelmed by conflagration and destruction, shook and screamed from explosions tearing it apart. It looked like an armageddon from the skies. Several kilometers deep Sons' line of defense looked like gap spewing large gushes of lava. Avalanche of steel and people clashed in a deadly battle for every inch of the ground. UTDF attacks many times fell apart due to surprisingly strong enemy defenses. None of the sides could allow defeat. Fate of the entire Taurus III was about to be decided on a section from Setera to Hordgarf.

"We have seventy kilometers to SoS' lines, we're constantly observing movements of enemy aircraft. Distance from your formation: one hundred forty kilometers."Constant connection between the fighter wing and A-98 circling two hundred kilometers South made the coordination that much easier."There is over fifty of them, we'll mark the targets for you."

"Understood."Dora said."All Greens and Cobras, enemy is approaching us, with strength of over fifty machines. Arm missiles, Glaz will mark the targets for us. First salvo from the distance of ninety kilometers.

Dashboards of SoS' machines suddenly lit up.

"They are targeting us, they probably have early warning system somewhere. They have lower numbers than us, but…"This time, major's wingman didn't withstand it and contacted his commander.

"You're right, we have almost thirty enemy machines in front of us. Warning! We're climbing to one thousand, speed two thousand one hundred."

Exactly at the same time when major tilted his joysticks, the maneuver was repeated by sixty nine other fighters. Regiment of fifty Ri-Shi, supported by KaLs and Oion-4s climbed to the altitude of a thousand leagues in just a few seconds.

"Activate targeting systems. Look for targets, first salvo from two hundred leagues!"

"To all Cobras and Greens! You have seventy enemy machines in front of you! Radar didn't detect them all, we can see numerous yet unknown types of craft. Their structure confirms some kind of space superiority fighters, partially Stealth. Do not engage, turn back!"operator aboard A-98 said frantically.

"This is Green 1, can we count on any other type of support?"Dora asked, seemingly unmoved by such news.

She was actually waiting for it.

"Twelve more Cylcones from Pallingham Air Base. They will arrive in four minutes"
"Better than nothing."Iea said.
"True."Dora agreed."Alright then, mark the targets for us, we'll stop them."
"This is madness, there are too many of them!"

"Mark them, Green 1, signing off."

Major Dora Hiedel armed AGM-090 air-to-air missile, capable of hitting targets from a hundred kilometers. But firing them from the range of just ten kilometers less increased the chance of hitting the target by many percent.
"All Greens and Cobras, salvo from ninety kilometers."

"They are one hundred and ten kilometers away from you. Targets marked, you can open fire."radar operator said, again appearing on the frequency.

Fighters speeding towards each other drastically decreased the distance.

"They fired missiles!"one of Cobras didn't withstand the tension.

"Wait! Not yet, not yet…fire!"Dora ordered.

At this moment, fifty eight AGM-090 missiles dropped from the pylons and shot forward at the speed of mach 5. Both Sons' and UTDF missiles needed just few minutes to make the distance between both formations.
"Evade! Activate jamming!"

Exactly one hundred forty SoS' missiles cut the sky in the direction of Taurusian fighters. The statistics were not in favor of United Taurusian Defense Force Air Force. Almost five missiles per machine didn't give a large area to maneuver. UTDF's formation spread out into numerous single points, trying at all costs to escape from the chasing SoS missiles. Ironically, thanks to the use of radar hidden inside mushroom-like aluminum edging on A-98, defenders had equally strong chances of scoring a hit as Sons. Now, the result of battle depended on the skill of pilots and determination of one side.

"Flares, drop flares!"

Sons pilots screamed through each other, trying to escape precisely directed UTDF missiles.

"Javelin 30! They marked me with infrared, flares won't shake them off!"
"Javelin 1, I'm hit, ejecting!"
"Why are they so precise?!"
"Missile lost, good work."
"This is Saber, all squadrons, report your casualties. Job's not done yet."major Olenius said after escaping a missile.

Avalanche of reports fell on him within seconds. It seemed, that they underestimated the enemy. Together, the formation lost twenty three machines. Time has come for a bloody revenge. Sons' missiles already started ramming into the sheathing of F-86s approaching from the front. Radar screen showed destruction after destruction. Enemy formation was thinned out very much, but didn't stop fighting. Scattered formation again formed into compact wedge shape, rushing towards Sons. From forty seven machines, twenty seven prepared to open fire once more.

"This is Javelin 6, twelve enemy fighters approaching from the East! Distance, two hundred and forty leagues! They appear to be Eurofighter Cyclones!"

"No problem, Javelin 6, Serpents are taking them, continue the attack."
Several KaLs from Serpent Squadron broke formation. Main line of attach still consisted of forty machines.

"Second salvo, fire!"
The distance that decreased to fifty kilometers resembled old battles from Napoleonic Wars. A bit of luck or amazing abilities could save a pilot from a missile that was speeding towards him or her.

"One more salvo and we're falling back. Lock on targets and fire at will."Dora ordered.

She miraculously survived the last skirmish and now, she gathered the scattered formation for one last charge. She armed two last AGM-090s and pressed the button on her joystick. Forty missiles threw out gushes of flame, cutting through the air with a whistle.

"All fighters, fall back!"
Major was well aware of crushing advantage the enemy had. Getting out alive from this fight was a miracle. Wasting good pilots was the last thing everyone wanted. She titled the aircraft left and pushed the joysticks forward. Increased thrust jerked the plane, which turned tightly and set course for their mother base. SoS' missiles still decreased distance between them and fleeing remains of UTDF air forces. Formation scattered once more and the battle turned into a series of chases and duels. Several dozen missiles didn't let go of their targets and accelerated, exploding just centimeters from their wings. Sheathings cut by chippings didn't withstand it and fell apart midair. Some pilots ejected, others were not as lucky. They died in burning wrecks of their machines, falling without control towards enemy land. From twenty nine machines, six survived. None of Green Squadron pilots died, but for Dora, it wasn't anything to be happy about, considering what happened to the Cobras. At least, she could be happy that second salvo destroyed fourteen more enemy machines.

"We've lost contact with the twelve Cyclones, they were probably all destroyed."Radar operator, still in the ether, was well aware, that the air battle was supposed to look completely different.
"How many craft did this take down?"Dora asked.
"Seven."

"At least, they didn't go out quietly."
"You made it, come back."
These were the worst words an officer leading a formation to battle could hear. Although so many battles she fought, she never lost so many pilots at once, both in the Resistance military and in Sharkline. She led twenty nine pilots to battle, she came back with six. Radar operator's words sounded like the sickest of jokes.

XXX

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