Eva let out a sigh of relief as she sat down in the Fort Grays briefing room. Even though she had only been there a few times, there was a sense of familiarity that came with it, especially being there with the rest of her squadron. This was the first time all of them had been on a proper base in so long, and it made Eva feel strange in a way. It was also her first time going on a mission as a First Lieutenant since Commander Knight decided to give all of Nexus Squadron a promotion.
Rain pitter-pattered against the window, and the occasional flash would be followed by a distant boom. These were definitely not the most optimal flying conditions by any stretch the meaning, but Eva and the others were used to it by now. Besides, based on the way Commander Knight was talking about the previous night, it sounded urgent- too urgent to wait for the weather to clear up for sure.
"Feels weird to be back," Eva finally murmured to Magic. "After all this time, I mean."
Magic nodded in reply. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Still, it's better to be back later than not at all," she pointed out.
"I guess," Eva said with a shrug. "But there's something about all this that just doesn't sit right with me. I can't figure out what it is, though."
Before either of them had a chance to continue the conversation, Commander Knight stepped into the room and quickly moved up to the front. "Alright, everyone. I know this storm isn't ideal, but we don't have a moment to lose, so let's make this quick," he announced as he logged into the briefing software.
The three beeps as the software powered up were all too familiar by now, and as the map of Usea came onto the screen at the front of the room, Eva expected the data of friendly and enemy troops to appear out of sheer habit. But, instead, a series of errors showed up on the screen, and the map stayed blank.
"Since Nexus Squadron only just got here, I'll give a brief explanation of what's been going on these past few days," Knight said, zooming into the eastern half of Usea on the map. "For the past two weeks or so, we've known that Erusea has been planning a fairly significant counterattack here in the east. We just didn't know when it would come or exactly how large the attack would be," he began before he started to manually mark enemy positions on the map. "Three days ago, we got our answer to both of those questions. The attack caught us completely off-guard, and it was more extensive than we thought they were capable of. We've been trying to beat them back to no avail."
"That's how Knocker and Faun died," Clown added somberly. "Trying to fend off this attack."
Knight nodded. "And unfortunately, our boots on the ground haven't been doing well either. The Eruseans have broken through our lines in several locations, and now, our forces are cut off from each other and on the run," he explained as he finished putting down the locations of enemy forces. "And this comms-blackout has only made matters worse. Now, we don't have intel on most of our allies' positions." Knight paused for a moment before adding, "Aside from one group, that is." He zoomed in on an area along the east coast to the north of Fort Grays. "Just before things went dark, we received a communication from the largest group of Osean forces in the area. They said that they've dug in at Expo City, and they're completely surrounded. Needless to say, we need to get them out of there before it's too late."
"How are we gonna get them out?" Vortex asked as he studied the map intently.
"Luckily for us, the Navy sent the landing ship Lune a few weeks after we lost the Vulture, so we'll be sending them to carrier friendly forces to safety. Your job will be to cover them and the friendlies we're getting out," Knight explained as he zoomed in further on Expo City.
"What about our IFF?" Footpad cut in. "How are we supposed to cover them if we can't even tell who's friendly or not?"
Knight nodded to Sky Keeper, who was standing a few feet away, and he stepped forward. "We'll take care of that," the AWACS operator answered. "In order to ID radar contacts, we'll need you all to give us a good picture of them through the infrared cameras on your aircraft. From there, we'll be able to determine if they're friendly or hostile and mark them accordingly on your IFF via datalink."
Boggard let out an exasperated sigh. "That sounds tedious," he muttered.
"Heh, well, unless you've got a better idea, then I think that's all we can do," Charger said with a smirk.
"If there were a better way, we'd be doing it," Knight assured them. "But the situation is less than ideal right now. We don't have any other choice."
Vortex nodded as he stood up. "Well, no point in wasting any more time than we need to," he decided. "We've got allies that need our help, so let's go and give 'em a hand."
"Damn straight," Magic agreed.
Eva looked at the others with a smirk. "Let's go kick some ass and get our boys home."
Knight looked around at the enthusiasm of the pilots and gave them all a nod of approval. "That's what I want to hear. Now get going. We don't have a moment to lose."
Everyone stood up and gave Knight a salute, something that Eva nearly forgot to do, thanks to being used to it during her time in the 262nd. But as she and the others left the briefing room and started toward the hangars, Eva felt a strange sense of relief, and more than that, she felt confident. She hadn't even seen combat the last time she was here, but now, she had plenty of experience to go off. As Eva looked around at the others, she could tell Lucky was thinking the same thing, or at least, something similar. That's when she knew that even though things looked bad, she could feel that maybe, just maybe, they were going to be alright.
"Incoming fire! Up there on the ridgeline just outside the city!"
"Take cover, and don't lose sight of each other!"
"Are we sure those are hostiles? Didn't McKendrick and his platoon go to scout the enemy's movements?"
"They're Erusean. I can see the emblem on the tanks from here, even in the middle of this goddamn storm."
"Well, we need to do something, or else we won't last much longer."
"Hello? Anyone? We're taking fire! More tanks rolling in from the New Ark Airport. We can't tell if they're friendlies or not."
Amidst all the chaos and confusion, one voice decisively cut through the rest, quieting the others down immediately. "All callsigns who can still hear me, this is Warlock 1. The Eruseans have launched their final offensive. This is it. Do only as your honor compels. Out."
"Captain! Multiple bogies inbound from the southeast. Unsure if friend or foe."
Sky Keeper cleared his throat. "Attention all Osean forces in and around Expo City, this is the AWACS Sky Keeper. The aircraft approaching your AO from bearing 150 are part of the Fort Grays Island Air Base Squadron. They're here to provide air support for you to cover your retreat to the landing ship Lune, which is docking in the city," he announced.
"Allied aircraft? Thank the lord above. This is Captain Garth, callsign Warlock 1. We read you loud and clear, Sky Keeper. The Eruseans are going on the attack, so we'll need all the help we can get."
By that point, everyone in Nexus Squadron had recognized the voice, but Vortex was the one that spoke first. "Wait, Captain Garth? Is that really you?"
Garth chuckled a bit. "Well, I'll be damned if it isn't Rogue 1. What are you guys doing all the way out here? You get sent back to deal with the counterattack too?"
"That's Nexus 1 now," Vortex corrected him. "It's a long story, but we'll tell you all about when we get you and your men out of here," he assured the tank commander.
"Well, as long as you've still got the Blue Kestrel with you, then we just might make it through this in one piece," Garth replied before directing his voice to the boots on the ground. "All right men, you heard 'em. Let's haul ass, and if you see a Flanker with blue wingtips overhead, feel free to thank them when they turn the enemies to scrap a few seconds later!" he bellowed.
"Mage Squadron, sweep through the New Ark Airport and identify all contacts. If you see hostile aircraft, try to neutralize them before they can take off," Sky Keeper ordered. "Nexus Squadron, identify all ground forces within the city, and take them down if they're hostile."
"Mage 1, wilco," Clown replied as the three Super Hornets that made up Mage Squadron veered off toward the airport.
"Nexus 1 copies all," Vortex added. "Let's go."
"Roger that. Nexus 6, engaging." Eva was practically beaming as she spoke those words. She'd wanted to say them for months now, and it felt so good to hear them leave her lips.
Lightning cracked overhead, lighting up the sky and briefly piercing through the thick cloud cover to reveal the incoming sunrise beyond the horizon. Heavy drops of rain incessantly tapped against the canopy of Eva's plane, but by then, she'd tuned it out. However, she was still finding herself getting annoyed by the heavy gusts of wind trying to violently jerk her plane one way or the other.
As the sea of yellow targets scattered throughout the massive city started to appear on Eva's HUD, she looked around and got to work. The six-plane formation split away from one another and started moving toward different parts of the city. Firstly, Eva chose to sweep through the port. She tried her best to center her nose on the closest group of unknown targets, and as she pulled up to weave through the buildings, they were marked as allies at the last second. As she pulled up above the high towers, Eva glanced down at her radar and saw various other contacts throughout the city getting marked by the others. At the moment, they were all allies.
"Attention all ground forces; friendly aircraft are getting positive IDs on everything in the city," Sky Keeper announced. "We're sending you the information via datalink."
"Oh shit, we've been firing at friendlies this whole time!"
"Well, we're not dead yet, so let's just get moving to that landing ship. No point in crying over spilled milk."
"Hey, who are those people that just ran across the street?"
"Hold your fire! I think those might've been civies."
"You sure? I could've sworn at least one of them had a gun."
Lucky sighed. "God, what a nightmare this whole situation is," he murmured. "Even after everything that happened, the fighting eventually made its way all the way out here in the east."
"Mhm, it really sucks to see this place get caught up in all this war," Charger agreed as he took a moment to circle around the section of the city he was flying over. "It's a beautiful place."
"All we can do now is try to keep the suffering to a minimum," Vortex told them. "We've got people on the ground who are counting on us, so let's do our best to get them out of here safely."
Eva nodded as she pulled around the city in a wide sideways loop. "Yeah, I just wish it didn't have to come to this."
Suddenly, a missile alert went off in Eva's cockpit. Acting solely on instinct, she pulled her plane straight up before turning off to the left to evade the missile. When she came back around, she looked down at the ground unit that fired at her and flew directly toward it. A few moments later, it turned green, along with the other vehicles directly next to it, to reveal a group of SAM launchers. She only had enough time to destroy one with machine guns before she had to pull up and go straight into a vertical loop so she could dive down on the other two to take them out with standard missiles.
"This is the landing ship Lune. We've got friendly forces boarding as we speak and some more on the way. Wait a second- are those… civilians?"
"They must be trying to get out of the city because of all the fighting," Clown speculated.
"I don't know if we'll have enough space to hold 'em all and our boys. Sky Keeper, please advise."
"If they wanna get out of here, then so be it," Garth cut in before Sky Keeper had a chance to speak. "Get as many of them on as you can, and if push comes to shove, then we can just stay behind."
"What? That's crazy!" Boggard exclaimed. "You guys wouldn't last an hour on your own."
"Maybe not, but they'd live. That's all that matters," was the only reply Garth gave.
"Hey, we've got tanks blocking our road to the landing ship. We could use some help here!"
Eva glanced down at her radar and looked around. It didn't take her long to spot a row of unknown targets sitting in a rigid, unmoving line. "I think I see what you mean. Just hold on," she told them before turning to face the line of three targets. Angling her nose down toward the unknowns, she dove down to ID them before pulling back up and to the side, maneuvering through the buildings as she climbed. Just as she suspected, they were Erusean tanks, so without wasting another moment, she turned back around and made another pass. The moment she was in range, she fired two standard missiles at the first tank and pelted the second with machine guns. The last remaining tank started moving, presumably to find cover, but it wasn't fast enough as Eva came back around and gunned it down.
"It looks like we're making good progress," Poet remarked as he flew directly over a group of friendly ground units. "Shouldn't be too much longer."
"We're starting to get a little cramped, but yes, the landing ship is slowly filling up."
"We're holding down hostiles at the airport, too," Footpad reported. "A few fighters have taken off, but it's nothing we can't handle."
"Good to hear," Sky Keeper replied. "And it looks like we've IDed everyone in the area, too. Just a few more groups to go, and we should have all of them aboard the landing ship. For now, let's just focus on- wait, hold on… new bogies on radar."
"We got a fix on 'em?" Clown asked.
"Negative. They're still few klicks out, though. Mage and Nexus, identify and intercept if they're hostile," Sky Keeper ordered.
Eva spotted the seven yellow air targets and moved in their direction along with the others. There was a brief flicker of panic in her mind as she thought about who it might be. Immediately, her mind went to Rogue Squadron since their fight the night before was still fresh in her mind. Although, she also entertained the possibility that it could be Zero, even though it had been a while since she had last seen them. However, as she and the others got closer, she started to wish she wasn't wrong.
"Uhhh, Sky Keeper… I don't think these are fighters," Vortex said. "These are-"
"Cruise missiles!" Charger finished for him. "And it looks like we've got more coming in too."
"Shit," Sky Keeper cursed under his breath. "Nexus Squadron, Mage Squadron, I'm updating your IFF. Don't let a single one of those missiles hit the city."
"We won't be able to do anything if whoever's launching these doesn't get taken care of," Clown pointed out, already hitting his afterburners to intercept.
Sky Keeper was quiet for a moment before finally speaking up. "Warlock Squadron, I'm sending you the location of the launch site. Take them out! You're the only ones that are close enough to get them."
"Say no more, Sky Keeper. We're already rolling," Garth assured the AWACS operator.
Eva readied a salvo of 6AAMs for the first group of cruise missiles right as a third group showed up on radar. Unfortunately, one of her missiles didn't lock on in time, so only five were fired. Luckily, she was still close enough to finish the last two off with standard missiles. With the first seven cruise missiles out of the way, Eva turned back around, only to see another salvo had been launched.
"We can't keep this up for much longer!" Magic exclaimed. "We're gonna get overrun pretty soon."
"Who the hell is launching these things anyway?" Eva asked, turning to get behind the missiles closest to the city.
"I don't know," Sky Keeper answered with a frantic voice. "I'm not recognizing this IFF signature. It's not Osean or Erusean."
"Who else could it be?" Footpad cut in.
"We can't focus on that right now. Just stay on these missiles, and don't let one get to the city," Vortex ordered.
"Just hold on up there!" Garth insisted. "We're almost to the launch site."
Eva silently thanked herself for choosing to sortie with 6AAMs and managing to keep them throughout the mission. It would at least make it easy for her to fire a single salvo and get the last cruise missile with machine guns, but the longer it carried on, the more hopeless Eva felt. Even if she could take out one salvo in a relatively short amount of time, another one would get launched by the time she was done, leaving her with less ammo to deal with the new threat.
"Hey, one salvo slipped past us! It's headed for the city!" Boggard called out.
Eva frantically looked around until she spotted the group of seven cruise missiles getting increasingly farther away. "I've got it!" she announced, already turning toward them and pushing the throttle as far forward as it could go. Even with afterburners, she was only barely closing the gap between them. Her heart raced as she eventually flew as fast as the Su-35 would allow her.
"We've neutralized the launch site," Garth reported. "It's all on you, Blue Kestrel."
Finally, she was in range to fire another burst of 6AAMs. Six plumes of smoke shot out from underneath her wings, and a few moments later, six small explosions followed suit, leaving just one cruise missile left. She tried to hit it with a standard missile, but she wasn't close enough. Only a few hundred meters separated her from a solid lock, but at the same time, there wasn't much time left until the cruise missile found its target. Finally, just as it began its descent, Eva launched two standard missiles and a hail of machine-gun fire. Another small explosion went off moments before it hit a skyscraper, and the last cruise missile was no more.
"Cruise missile down," Eva reported, breathing heavily. "And not one damn second too soon." She turned around and started flying back to regroup with the others.
"We clear to RTB, Sky Keeper?" Charger asked before getting only silence as a result.
"Uh… Sky Keeper?" Footpad asked, hoping for a different result than Charger's attempt. "You good?"
"What the hell?" were the first words that came out of the AWACS operator's mouth. "We've got more incoming. Five bogies," he informed the pilots. "They're from a different bearing than before, though- this time from 230."
"You think they're friendlies?" Clown asked.
"Only one way to find out," Magic pointed out as they all flew toward the incoming bogies.
"Hold on, that lead plane," Lucky said. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Holy shit, it's Zero!" Poet exclaimed.
"Zero?" Boggard echoed. "Who the hell's Zero?"
"The bastard that wiped out half of Meteor Squadron in Farbanti using an experimental fighter," Eva answered, already feeling her grip on the control stick tighten. "We've fought him a few times before, and to make matters worse, he's nothing but a damn merc."
"Confirmed, flagging the bogies as hostile," Sky Keeper informed everyone. "Warlock, withdraw from the AO, and get to the landing ship. Mage Squadron, stay with them and cover their retreat," he ordered. "Nexus Squadron, engage the enemy fighters and keep them occupied while the others get out."
"With pleasure," Eva responded as she watched Zero's IFF signature appear on her HUD along with two Su-37s on either side of him. "Let's finish this once and for all."
A moment later, the battle exploded. Eva hit the burners and went straight for Zero, firing a full salvo of 6AAMs solely at them. They all missed, but in order to evade, the mercenary had to pitch up and pull around, allowing Eva to slip behind them. As she trailed the experimental fighter, waiting for the perfect shot, she couldn't help but think about how nice it would be for this battle to be over with right away. The sooner he was dead, the better. However, once the thought crossed her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if that was even what she wanted anymore.
Lightning ripped through the clouds, briefly shedding some more light on the battlefield before it was gone just as fast as it appeared. However, by that point, the thunderstorm was just noise to Eva- noise that she tuned out. The only thing on her mind was the target in front of her. She mimicked every turn he made and tried to get as close as she could, but by the time she was ready to fire, he was already turning away. To make matters worse, Eva was quickly losing speed, whereas Zero seemed to be doing just fine. Letting out an annoyed sigh, she pulled away from Zero to put some distance between them. Luckily, Vortex picked up right where she left off as she took a shot at one of the other fighters, even if it didn't have much chance of hitting.
"God damn, these escorts are good," Charger remarked as he twisted and turned to get one of the Su-37s off his tail. "I can't seem to get a clear shot on the pricks."
"Just hold on, Charger. I'll get 'em off your back in just a second," Poet assured his wingman as he tried to get close to the one he was chasing.
With enough distance between herself and Zero, Eva turned around and tried to take another shot at him. This time, she only shot a single 6AAM at him, but it still missed. Regardless, it allowed Vortex to get a few hits on the mercenary with his machine guns. Suddenly, Zero jerked the plane up and into a kulbit, putting himself behind Vortex and firing two missiles. Luckily, Vortex managed to deploy countermeasures in time and pull away. Zero looked like he was about to follow after him, but he didn't get the chance as Eva came in behind him to fire two standard missiles. She tried to drop her speed to keep herself from overshooting, but it was too late. Zero fired another missile at her, and she pulled straight up before looping around much tighter than the missile could.
"Yes, got one!" Magic exclaimed.
"Same here," Poet added. "Just two more, and then Zero's all that's left. Alright, Charger, I'll be over to help in just a second."
"Diamond, how you holding up?" Lucky asked as he tried to get behind the Su-37 he was dealing with.
Eva's initial response a distressed grunt as she jerked her control stick to the right. She pulled back on the throttle and spun around, only barely missing an opportunity to go guns on Zero. "Been better," she finally admitted. "Bastard's persistent. I'll give him that." He was also far more maneuverable than she was. Zero had managed to get behind her and shoot a pair of missiles at her. Eva's fingers were launching countermeasures before she even realized it, and she jerked her plane to pull away, but the mercenary stayed on her tail.
"Gah, shit!" Poet exclaimed, pulling away from the Su-37 that just got several solid hits on him. "I'm hit."
"Hang on. I'll keep the bastard off you," Charger promised. "For now, just get the hell out."
Poet sighed. "Right, I'm backing out," he announced.
"Sky Keeper, Nexus 3 has taken damage and is withdrawing," Vortex informed the AWACS operator.
"Roger that, the rest of you stay safe," Sky Keeper responded.
"Look, we need to end this, now," Vortex said. "This is getting too dangerous, and I don't want any of us getting shot down."
Suddenly, Eva got an idea. "Vortex, I'll keep Zero on my tail. You take him out once you get the chance," she said as she pulled up and looped around, evading another of Zero's missiles.
"Diamond…" Vortex said hesitantly.
"Come on! It almost worked with Magnum before the satellites went down," she insisted. "You said it yourself; we've gotta end this now. Besides, he's already on my tail anyway."
"Just promise me you'll be careful," Vortex ordered.
Eva nodded. "I will. I'll be careful," she promised him.
"Then go for it," Vortex said.
Without another word, Eva started slowing her maneuvers by just a bit. It didn't take long for Zero to notice and slip behind her. He first tried to go for guns on Eva, but she pulled away- only not as much as she usually would. Her heart raced as she heard the radar lock warning in her cockpit beeped at her nonstop. Either she was going to die, or he was. Regardless, it was all going to end.
"Right, I'm behind him," Vortex told Eva. "Just keep him steady for me."
The only verbal acknowledgment Eva could get out was a simple, "Copy." She was devoting too much of her brainpower to her flying to say anything else. She could feel herself getting short of breath, but she didn't have time to worry about that. If she took her mind off flying for even a moment, she might die. In order to give Vortex the best shot possible, she had to put herself at the most significant risk, but that was a risk she decided was worth it. Making one last turn, Eva straightened herself out and flew in a straight line. She was just about to call out to Vortex, telling him to take the shot, but another flash of lightning filled the sky. On its own, this didn't concern her. What did, however, was what followed it.
"What the hell? Did I just get zapped?" There was a layer of fear in Vortex's voice that Eva hadn't heard before. "No!" Whatever else he had to say was cut off by static.
Fearing the worst, Eva looked over her shoulder to check on her squadron leader. Once she did, though, she wished she hadn't. She looked on, mortified as the Su-37 behind Zero's plane, or what was left of it, fell toward the ground in a heap of fire.
"VORTEX!" Eva wasn't even sure if that was her voice or someone else's, or maybe it was everyone simultaneously. Either way, it didn't matter. What did matter was what nobody wanted to admit: Vortex was dead.
Eva felt her world slow down to a grinding halt. She could've sworn she might've heard someone calling out to her, but at that moment, all that she could see was herself and the flames of Vortex's plane, rising up from the ground. By that point, any breath she once had was gone, and she was now panting to try and keep some air in her lungs.
'He's gone,' she thought. 'I served him up to them on a silver god damn platter, and now he's gone. It's all my fault.' All she could think about was that moment when she first saw him go down as it replayed in her mind over and over again.
Her body shook, and her ears started to recognize another muffled sound that they were too overwhelmed to try and process. It was only at that point did she finally notice the tears that had seemingly been streaming down her face since she realized what had happened.
'Who was it that shot him down?' she thought. 'Was it Zero? But he was behind Zero.' For a moment, it didn't even register in her brain that the other two Su-37s were still there. 'It had to be one of them. I'll make them pay.'
As she started to gradually come back to her senses, she squeezed the control stick so hard that when she yanked it, it very nearly flew out of its socket. But as she tried to turn away, nothing happened. Then, slowly, the sounds around her started to become less muffled, and she could hear it. Voices were calling out to her. It was her squadron, all of them.
"Eva!" The desperate cry that came from Lucky was what made her finally snap back to reality. "Eva, bail out already!"
Eva looked around, and everything started to make sense. The back of her plane was on fire, and her wings were covered in bullet holes. Then she heard the mechanical voice in her cockpit giving her the same advice as Lucky as she fell toward the ground. That's when the adrenaline took over. Before she even realized it, Eva's hands had already pulled up the ejection handle, and the canopy came off. Heavy rain pelted her face as her ejection seat launched her up into the air, accompanied by a clap of thunder. The heavy winds from the storm were already tossing her around like a ragdoll, and she almost didn't deploy her parachute. All Eva could do was watch the blue wingtips of her Su-35 disappear beneath the treeline, followed by a loud boom and a pillar of smoke. The wind carried her in all different directions as if various people were trying to win her in a game of tug-of-war. Still, there was one direction that she went regardless of where the wind pulled her: down- down toward the forest outside the city as she thought about the death of her squadron leader.