The cold October air was still in the early morning. The pink and orange light from the sunrise fell onto the sands of the Roca Roja Desert below. Much like the skies above, the desert was engulfed by an eerie silence. However, it didn't last for very long. A low rumbling began to get louder and louder, shaking the ground until a flight of 16 fighter jets flew overhead. Leading the formation was an XFA-30 with blue wingtips and a kestrel on the tail.
"Sky Keeper, we're approaching the airfield," Eva informed the AWACS operator. "We should be there in a few minutes."
"Roger that, Kestrel 1," Sky Keeper replied. "You should start seeing hostiles on your radars shortly. In the meantime, I'll start trying to patch us into the Eruseans' comm channel."
Eva took a deep breath looked back at the planes following her in. "Alright, remember: all we've gotta do is take out the Free Eruseans attacking this base, and hopefully, the Eruseans will join us in taking out Arsenal Bird Freedom. Should be simple."
"Simplicity is sometimes toughest to master," Magic replied dryly. "Something we've seemed to learn over and over again over the last few months."
"Something I still don't understand is how the Eruseans managed to push this far east in their attack before the satellites went down," Brownie chimed in. "I thought we were taking their capital."
"We were," Clown said. "In fact, that's probably why they were able to take so much ground so quickly: we had our forces spread too thin, and a majority of them were out west on the front lines."
"Well, at least now it's working in our favor," Lucky pointed out. "It just means we have more people to call upon to help us deal with this threat."
"Let's just hope that it'll be enough," Poet muttered. "I mean, with how formidable that thing looked, I don't know if we'll be able to do this even with the extra numbers."
"We will," Eva insisted. "We don't have a choice but to succeed, so that's exactly what we're gonna do." Even as she spoke those words, however, she didn't know how truthful they were. Even she had her doubts about their ability to win this fight, even with the Skyshard at their disposal. All she knew was that Vortex wouldn't have hesitated to fight this battle, even if it was on his own, so that's what she was going to do.
Suddenly, a new voice came over the radio. "This is Commander Dupont to all Erusean forces. Remember, not one step back," he ordered. "For all we know, we could be the last ones defending our countrymen from the tyranny of these fascists, so we need to fight to keep them safe. And if that means taking these bastards down with our last breath, then so be it. The odds may be stacked against us, but that's nothing that can stop us. No surrender!"
"Let me help even the odds, then," Sky Keeper chimed in. "This is the AWACS Sky Keeper from the Fort Grays Island Air Base Squadron. I'm patching you into our datalink so you can see the friendly aircraft approaching from bearing 160."
"Oseans? What the hell are you doing here?" Dupont demanded. "And more importantly, why are you helping us?"
"We'll explain after this battle. For now, focus on the Free Eruseans," Sky Keeper answered. "Our fighters will be engaging in a moment."
"This is Arion 1," a new voice said. "We've got a visual on the Osean fighters," she reported. "Wait a minute, is that… the Blue Kestrel? They're flying some weird plane I've never seen before. What the hell is it?"
"Something that'll help turn the tide in our favor," Eva answered. "What's the situation?"
"Enemy air power is limited, but they're sending shitloads of ground vehicles from all over the place. We only have two squadrons up here, so we've been rushing all over to keep our ground forces from getting overrun," Arion 1 explained. "Right now, my squadron and I are going deal with a large group of tanks coming in from due north. Admittedly, we could use a bit of help."
Eva looked around at the battlefield unfolding before her and saw a flight of four Su-35s, sporting a familiar livery made up of several tones of gray. They were heading directly north toward two tank companies engaged with Erusean ground forces below. As Eva looked back at the planes following her in, she thought about who to direct where before finally replying to Arion 1's report. "Alright, Gorgon and Mage, go help Norn Squadron deal with those tanks. Where's your other fighter squadron?"
"Norn 1 here," an older man introduced himself. "We're trying to provide CAS for our forces on the west side, but we've got fighters buzzing all over the place. Mind lending a hand?"
"Centaur, you go help them out with the ground forces," Eva ordered. "Kestrel Squadron'll deal with the fighters." She tightened her grip on the Skyshard's control stick before murmuring to herself, "Time to see what this thing can do."
As Eva watched the two F-15Cs move to assist the squadron of six Su-37s, she began turning her attention to the hostile fighters scattered throughout the AO. Her first target was a Rafale who had just noticed her and the others and turned to engage. After a split second spent trying to remember where everything was, Eva pushed a button on the side of her control stick to deploy the Skyshard's railgun.
"Railgun online and operational," a computerized voice in her cockpit reported. "System power at… 100 percent. Targeting correction, 0.02 degrees. Ready to fire."
The moment Eva squeezed down on the trigger, she felt the plane shudder as a sound like lightning rang out. The railgun shot sped straight ahead, and a second later, the Rafale it was fired at was gone- replaced by a ball of fire descending toward the sands below. By the time the echoes from the first shot faded, Eva had already retracted the railgun and started racing toward the next closest Free Erusean fighter at full speed.
A second Rafale started turning toward Eva, but since she couldn't get the right angle, she decided to strafe the plane with her machine guns and loop back around. Her target started looping up around in an attempt to get behind her, so she made an aggressive upward turn to cut the Rafale off and finish it off with a second burst from her machine gun. Seconds later, her missile alert began to beep incessantly at her. That's when Eva decided to activate her plane's IEWS. A blue circle surrounded her on the radar, and thanks to the jamming, she was able to easily outmaneuver the missile. Just as she was about to position herself behind the third Rafale, a pair of standard missiles fired by Zero, moving much faster thanks to Eva's IEWS, slammed into the Free Erusean fighter, condemning it to the same fate as the other two. Finally, the last two Rafales in the formation tried to get behind Eva with the hope of shooting her down. Unfortunately for them, however, Eva realized this before they were in a position to fire. As she cut back on the throttle, she threw her plane up, circling around in a kulbit maneuver and firing two pairs of MSTMs just before her plane's IEWS shut down to recharge. While both Rafales exploded, Eva sped up again and flew back toward the others.
"All allies, be advised, we've got another group of hostiles approaching from the northeast," Sky Keeper warned. "It looks like they're trying to outflank us."
"They've been trying to do that this whole damn time. That's nothing new," Arion 1 replied with a scoff. "Either way, we can't deal with that. These tanks have AA and SAMs covering them, so they're a real pain in the ass to deal with."
"Kestrel Squadron will take care of it," Eva offered. "We've taken down most of the enemy fighters in the AO, so that should be one less thing interfering with your mission."
"Guess it's a good thing I decided to come loaded with 8AGMs," Lucky said. "Although, it'd be nice if it didn't stack multiple missile locks onto one target."
"Yeah, pain in the ass to deal with," Magic agreed. "Just gotta fire 'em before they get a chance to lock the same target twice."
"Let's focus, guys. The sooner we get this done, the better," Charger reminded everyone.
"Exactly. We need as much time to prepare for what's ahead as possible," Zero added.
"Then let's speed this up," Eva said as they approached the large group of enemy ground forces.
AA fire shot up at Kestrel Squadron in a sea of tracers, forcing everyone to take evasive action. SAMs sent up missiles shortly after, and Eva made a hard turn to evade. She looked down at her controls to see if the IEWS was ready to be activated again in the hopes that she might be able to negate the SAMs' tracking, but it was still charging, meaning she had to do things the old fashioned way. As Eva's missile alert got faster and faster, she pitched straight up into the air and looped around. When she came back down and around, she could see just how close the missile came to hitting her based on its trail, but since it had already lost its lock, she started flying straight down toward the Free Erusean ground forces. While the AA guns below sent up a hail of tracers in her direction, she returned the favor with her own machine guns. Two anti-air guns went up flames as she pulled up only a hundred meters from the ground. Finally, she launched all four of the MSTMs she had loaded at four different targets, eliminating practically all of the anti-air guns defending the tanks and APCs. With their primary threat out of the way, Lucky and Magic both made a pass, each firing a partial salvo of 8AGMs and eliminating a decent chunk of the formation. After that, it was just a matter of everyone making pass after pass until the ground troops were entirely gone. Although, Eva did end up with most of the kills since her MSTMs allowed her to take out more in a single pass than the others.
Just before Eva was about to announce their success, however, Sky Keeper alerted everyone to a new threat. "All squadrons, be advised, enemy fighters approaching from bearing triple zero, and bombers approaching from bearing 340," he announced. "Engage before they can do any damage to friendly ground forces."
"Centaur Squadron, intercept those bombers ASAP," Eva instructed. "Everyone else, let's beat these fighters back. Their remaining ground units are pulling back, so it looks like this is their last push."
"Good god, we've really almost won. I thought for sure that we'd be done for," Norn 1 murmured. "You don't mess around, Blue Kestrel."
"We're not done yet. Don't jinx it," Eva reminded him. "You never know what Free Erusea has up their sleeves." In this case, Eva and the other Oseans knew precisely what Free Erusea had up their sleeves, and that's what worried her. If they were resorting to using airpower, it was a distinct possibility that they could be using Freedom, so Eva made doubly sure she and everyone else were on their guards.
As Centaur split off to deal with the bombers and their escorts, everyone else moved into formation behind Eva as they approached the extensive group of enemy fighters head-on. Once again, she deployed her railgun and centered it on the Su-33 leading the Free Erusean aircraft. Her Skyshard shuddered as she fired the railgun straight at the Flanker, and the plane went crashing down seconds later. There was a moment of relative quiet that followed, but it was gone just as soon as it set in, as the skies erupted into a full-fledged furball. Eva switched on her IEWS and dove right in. She fired two pairs of MSTMs at a couple of Mirages before curling up and around to follow an F-4 and take it out with her guns. Tracers suddenly started flying past her, and Eva instinctively pulled her plane in the opposite direction to evade them. A persistent missile alert served as an indication that she still had a fighter on her tail, despite her maneuvers. She jerked her plane to the right, much faster than she was used to on account of the Skyshard's increased mobility, and found herself in a perfect position to gun down an unsuspecting Su-33. Once the plane in front of her was down, she deployed her railgun to check on its status.
"System power at… 60%. Targeting correction, 0.04 degrees," the computerized voice reported.
"Centaur 4, check your six!" Centaur 1 warned. "You've got two bandits behind you."
"Hang on, hang on. I've almost got-" The static that cut off Centaur 4's voice was confirmation of his fate.
"Damn… Centaur 4 is lost," Sky Keeper announced regretfully. "Centaur 1, what's your status?"
"These damn escorts are all over me. I can't shake 'em!" Centaur 1 said with a grunt. "I could use some help here."
"Boggard, take Brownie and Lynx and give him a hand," Clown ordered. "Hurry! Light your burners if you have to."
"Wilco," Boggard replied as he, Brownie, and Lynx all broke off from the fight to help the last F-15C.
While Eva kept an eye on Centaur 1's blip on her radar, she pushed her throttle forward and sped toward an F-4. She fired a pair of MSTMs the moment she had a solid lock, but once she quickly realized they were both going to miss, she pitched upward to intercept them, scoring a few hits with her guns. When she reached the same altitude as her target, she rolled around to straighten her plane out and fire a single MSTM at the Phantom to finish it off. The next target she focused on was another Mirage headed straight for her. Moments after her mind recognized and acknowledged it as an enemy fighter, she already centered her nose on it and started flying toward it at full speed. She once again deployed her railgun to check its status.
"System power at… 100%. Ready to fire," the computer said.
Cracking a small smirk, Eva fired a shot before the enemy Mirage even got close enough to start locking onto her. She quickly rolled onto her side and pulled away, only narrowly avoiding a collision with the wreckage tumbling through the sky. Her eyes darted around, observing the battle in front of her until she saw three unsuspecting Mirages around a hundred feet below her. She began diving down without hesitation and activated her plane's IEWS. Once she got a lock on the first plane, they all tried to evade to get away from her, but by that point, it was too late. Four MSTMs and a few short machine gun bursts later, all three planes descended toward the ground in a ball of fire.
"C'mon, you guys. I don't know how much longer I can last by myself here," Centaur 1 pleaded.
"We're almost in range. Just hold on a little longer," Lynx insisted.
"Damn it! I'm hit. I've gotta bail out."
"Mage 2, do you have a visual on Centaur 1?" Sky Keeper asked. "Can you see a chute?" After a worrying amount of time passed without a response, he asked again. "Mage 2, report!" he ordered.
"He bailed out… but- but," Boggard stammered over each attempt to get the words out.
" He had to eject at a weird angle, and the wreckage from his plane fell onto his chute," Lynx finished. "He didn't make it."
"God damn it!" Gorgon 2 shouted. "Those Free Erusean bastards are gonna wish they were never born."
Sky Keeper let out a heavy sigh, burdened by the thoughts of everyone he'd seen go down. "Mage Squadron, finish taking out those bombers. There's only a few enemy aircraft left, so let's make sure their deaths weren't in vain."
Excluding the bombers and their escorts, only six targets remained on Eva's radar. The one closest to her was an Su-33 that was turning straight up into the sky to escape Magic's pursuit. Luckily, she was chasing it right into Eva's line of fire, which she quickly took advantage of with two well-times MSTMs. Her next target was an F-4 heading straight for her. The two planes stared each other down as they initiated their joust, but since Eva managed to get several hits in with her gun before they were in range of each other, she ended up being the victor. By that point, the others had taken out most of the remaining Free Erusean fighters, leaving just one left. By the time Eva realized where it was, though, it had already fired a missile at her. Fortunately, she deployed flares at just the right time and threw her plane back into a cobra maneuver. As she straightened her plane out, she quickly deployed her railgun and got a shot on the last fighter at close range. Eva started taking several deep breaths to regain her breath as soon as she confirmed that the area was free of any hostiles.
"Well, I'll be damned," Arion 1 managed to say. "I didn't think we were gonna make it out of that alive."
"You certainly came at just the right time," Commander Dupont agreed. "But that begs the question: why? What is it that you want from us?"
Sky Keeper took a deep breath as he thought about where to begin. "By now, I'm sure you're more than aware of the ever-growing threat Free Erusea poses for both Osea and Erusea," he started. "But as it turns out, the situation is far worse than any of us could've imagined. It turns out, Erusea was building an advanced Arsenal Bird in secret throughout the entire war; Arsenal Bird Freedom," he explained. "It's almost twice the size as the original two and is just as well-armed. Needless to say, we can't let them have such a powerful weapon. That's why we're here, asking you for help."
"…You're not joking," Norn 1 realized. "You're really, genuinely telling the truth."
"I truly wish he wasn't," Lynx chimed in. "I've seen the thing with my own two eyes. Trust me; it's not a pretty sight."
"So where is this thing, then?" Arion 1 asked. "Where would we be going."
"Galar Fortress," Clown said. "It's way up north, in the Altoora Desert."
The Oseans all waited with bated breath for Commander Dupont's response, which would make or break their operation to destroy Arsenal Bird Freedom. Then, he said it. "No."
"No?" Magic echoed, rage boiling up. "What the hell do you mean no? We just risked our asses saving you- hell, two of our pilots died saving you. We came here to warn you about this because we either do this together or not at all, and you're just gonna blow us off?" she demanded.
"I appreciate you helping us- really, I do," Dupont insisted. "It's for that same reason that I can't do this, though. My priority is to keep each of these men and women alive. We've lost too much already," he explained.
"Sir… with all due respect," Zero cut in. "Didn't you say that you'd be willing to take these Free Eruseans down even at the cost of your last breath?" he asked. "Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Nothing's changed," Dupont replied instantly. "But sacrifices mean nothing if the cause they're made for loses in the end. Even with all of us working together, I don't see how we could come out on top if this monster is as formidable as you describe. Once again, I can't thank you enough for your help, but I'm sorry. We just can't return the favor."
Eva felt a mix of fear and dread crawling up her spine. Ever since they took off, she had a feeling in the very back of her mind that this might happen, but she dismissed it as her being pessimistic. Now that it had actually happened, though, she didn't know what to think. All she could say was, "Come on, everyone. Let's head back," in a defeated murmur as they all turned back toward Fort Grays.
As soon as Eva entered the briefing room with the other pilots, she could immediately tell that Commander Knight had received the news judging by how he hunched over his desk. "So… they turned us down…"
"Cowardly bastards," Magic growled as she practically fell into her usual seat. "We do all of that work, and it all ends up being for nothing."
"Less than nothing," Poet reminded her. "Now that Centaur's gone, we're worse off than when we originally left."
"I'm sorry, everyone," Knight said. "I had hoped this would give us a better chance, but now we're doing this more shorthanded than we already were."
"We knew the risks, sir," Clown assured him. "They did too. What matters is that we get this done. They would've wanted us to finish this fight, so that's precisely what we've gotta do."
Knight stood up with a heavy sigh and made his way over to the window. He looked out at the base with a blank stare before finally speaking. "Kestrel and Mage, we're loading your planes up onto the Falcon, so grab anything you need and get ready to leave in a few hours. Gorgon, Warlock is already in the process of loading everyone and everything useful onto all of our transport planes. They'll be leaving soon as well, and you'll be going with them, so be ready." He turned around to face the pilots. "When the day finally arrives, we'll go over the briefing in detail. For now, just know that this is it. It all comes down to this. I wish you all the best of luck and hope to see you back here soon."
Eva stood up and let her gaze drift over each and every pilot sitting in the briefing room with her. They'd been through hell and back together, and sometimes, she felt like the war would never end. Now that the end was finally coming, though, she couldn't help but wish it was under different circumstances- ideally, ones where they had better chances of survival. Regardless, she and the others started heading down to their barracks to grab everything they might need before heading straight into what would soon become either their glorious triumph or certain death.