A/N: This story is written for entertainment purposes and all characters belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 8: Air Corridor

August 13, 1991

Bir Gigafa Air Base, Sinai Peninsula

0800 Hours

"Today, we will be providing combat air patrol for the incoming reinforcements coming in from Liberion and Karlsland," Andrew was dead focused as Annabelle was giving the day's mission briefing. He along with Yusuke, Nicholai, and Alexa were joined by the Chimera squadron as well as the Orussian witch squadron that arrived the previous day. He stole a glance over to Dina, who was sitting two rows ahead of him to his right. She had a poker face on but Andrew can tell that she had glanced over in their direction as he saw her eyes on them before focusing on the front.

"Liberion's Military Airlift Command will be flying nonstop flights, transporting equipment, men, and supplies to the region. For this mission today, we will be protecting the corridor that is being used to transport supplies directly from Liberion as well as Karlsland Luftwaffe will be flying in their Hercs from Ramstein Air Force Base. While most of these flights will include fighter and witch escorts, they are being stretched thin so we will be taking up the slack when they can't," Annabelle stated. One of the Orussian witches raised her hand.

"Are these the only reinforcements coming in?" The witch asked.

"From my understanding, all the heavier equipment will be arriving via shipping but they are being offloaded in Cairo and it will take time for them to reach the frontlines. For now, mainly infantry and mechanized units are being transported in. Now, moving on to individual assignments," Annabelle flipped through her papers and landed on the right page.

"We will be taking over the escorting in shifts so that we do not tire ourselves as well as protecting their eastern approach on the last leg of their flight. Chimera squadron will take the first shift while Reaper and Red Squadron will be taking over the patrol in the afternoon. There will be chances that we will be joined by either Liberion or Karlsland squadrons but at this moment nothing is certain," Annabelle said. Andrew raised his hand.

"Do we have any idea on the aircraft that are doing the escort?" Andrew asked, wanting to know so that he can expect them rather than be surprised.

"So far, the Liberions are using F-15C Eagles and F-16Cs as their escorts, with some of them being reservists or a part of their Air National Guard. For the Karlslanders, it's a mix of either Tornados or Mig-29s. There is also the chance that Navy F-14 Tomcats, F-18 Hornets, and F-4Ks from both the Liberion and Karlsland navies will be present" Nicholai raised an eyebrow.

"Karlsland uses Fulcrums?" He asked.

"They needed a lightweight fighter to supplement their Tornados as well as replace the Alpha jets they had in service. They chose the Fulcrum over the F-16," Anna replied a hint of pride in her voice.

"In any case, that is all for today in regards to your assignments. Are there any more questions?" Annabelle asked.

"What is enemy opposition?" Yusuke asked.

"It's random. One minute, a drone takes a pot shot at a transport and then an hour later, they swarm in with a dozen fighters. You have to expect anything out there so be sure to choose your loadouts wisely," Annabelle replied. After that, there were some questions on weather patterns and the briefing was adjourned. Andrew and the rest of his pilots stayed back a bit to discuss their game plan.

"So, since you two will be using one of the Fulcrums that the Orussians brought, that means you guys will be using Archer and Alamo missiles right?" Since this is the 1990s, Andrew can not count that they would be armed with AA-12 "Adder" missiles as those have not been invented yet.

"Most likely, how do you want the loadout to be?" Nicholai asked.

"Well, there will be a lot of friendly aircraft in the sky so we are probably going to be under some strict ROEs so I saw we load up on more heat-seekers than semi-active. I would rather avoid nailing one of the heavies. Though, do pack some just in case we need to hit something that is BVR," Andrew noted.

"Agreed, though, you guys will probably have the best bet on hitting them since the Fulcrum we are flying doesn't have the advanced avionics as our old one," Alexa noted. Their old Fulcrum is still currently waiting on additional parts, hence why they will be using the older model but that means they do not have AESA radar or any of the advanced electronics they are used to.

"Ok, for now just do your best. Once we get the parts that we need, then you guys will be able to do what you normally do," Andrew stated. Everyone nodded and they all exited the room.

"So, does anyone want to bet if we see any action today?" Yusuke asked.

"Are we really doing this here too?" Alexa groaned.

"Oh c'mon, it's not so bad. Who knows, maybe you might win for once and nothing shows up," Yusuke countered.

"Alright, fine. You win," Alexa conceded as the two began making their bets. Andrew just shook his head at the scene and chuckled. He then looked over to Nicholai who still had that solemn look on his face.

"Just give her time. I mean, we did just drop a bombshell on her the other day," Andrew stated.

Nicholai sighed, "I know. It's just…. After so long-"

"Look, she is probably just as confused as you are but these things take time. Besides, I think she was just as shocked when we talked to her as we were, so just give her some space, and eventually, she will come around." Andrew assured. Nicholai simply nodded and the group continued to make their way to the hangar.

Unknown to them, there was someone who was listening in on their conversation, hiding in the hallway. The person turned and went in the opposite direction after they had left their earshot.


Captain Nathan Frost is still getting used to how flying a big transport plane is. Having transferred from flying F-16s to now a big C-141 Starlifter. He, along with the other transports of the 617th Military Airlift Squadron, was on their last leg of their 15-hour flight from Liberion. To him and many other pilots, it felt like just your standard flight but this time was different. Instead of transporting some supplies or men to bases in Europe or Asia, they were now transporting thousands of troops to the Middle East to fight the Neuroi. Some had troops while others contained vehicles ranging from trucks to armored vehicles. Now, it doesn't take a genius to tell you that flying a transport is a lot more boring than flying a jet. It's also big and pretty vulnerable, hence why he was happy about the naval witch escorts from earlier but now they were supposed to link up with escorts coming from the Kingdom.

"Griffon, this is Colt 4-1, we are currently passing Nav point Echo. Heading to Bravo," Colonel Henry Welks, the flight lead, stated over the radio.

"Roger Colt, be advised, escorts are approaching from the south and will escort you the rest of the way. See you all at Bravo," The operator abroad the E-3 Sentry replied.

Bravo was the final approach to Baluza Air Base, where most of the 121st Airborne Division will be offloaded. The airbase was also being used to offload much-needed supplies for the front lines as well as important rear-echelon personnel like mechanics and parts.

"Hey Capt., you know when the Karlsland transports are going to arrive?" First Lieutenant Juan Rodreguez, his co-pilot asked.

"From what I remember, they are close behind us. They are bringing in the 18th Panzergrenadiers and witches from their 511th Heavy Armour Battalion," Nathan replied.

"Well, let's just hope we can get in and out. I kind of don't want to get shot down while carrying troops," Juan commented.

Nathan chuckled and was just about to retort when the RWR started to go off, letting them know that unfriendly radars were tracking them.

"What the fuck!?" Nathan exclaimed.

"Colt 4-1 to flight, break!" Welks yelled over the radio.

"Tell them to hold on back there!" Nathan stated into his boom mike. In the rear, the 168 paratroopers of the 121st began to secure themselves in their seats as a loadmaster yelled to them that there was an emergency happening.

"Dios Mio! How the fuck did these putas get through?" Juan exclaimed as the two did whatever defensive maneuvers they could to try and by doing so, barely avoided a laser beam that was shot at them.

Nathan winced at the blinding light and looked to the left to see a triangular object fly by them.

"Because they are pretending to be Mirages, that's why!" Nathan growled.


"Reaper, we've got bandits! They snuck into the corridor MAC set up for us!"

Anna winced at the panicked shout that went through their radio. She along with Dina and Reaper flight were about to reach their designated CAP when the call had come in.

"Easy there Griffon. Take a deep breath and fill me in on the situation," Anna heard Andrew say over the radio, sounding almost like a father talking to a scared child. While they waited for a response, Andrew reached out to Anna.

"Red 46, suggest you and Red 9 get on Wolf's wing."

"Roger," Anna replied. She turned to Dina and signaled her to follow her. Dina nodded and the two got into formation with Andrew and Nicholai.

"Reaper 2-1, the enemy contacts seemed to be Neuroified Mirages. They must have used their old IFF transmitters to show them as friendly," A different voice called out, a lot calmer than the previous person.

"Roger. How many of the bastards are there?" Andrew asked.

"We count six bogies. Also, we have some more escorts from the Midway and Von Braun but it will be another eight minutes before they arrive," Andrew cursed under his breath. He was told in the briefing that the Liberion carrier Midway and Karlsland carrier Von Braun would be arriving on station to assist in maintaining some sort of air superiority.

But eight minutes was a long time.

"Roger, we will try to hold them off until then," Andrew reported back and then switched back to Anna.

"Red 46, we are still new to this world, so is there anything you can tell me about these Neurofied aircraft," Andrew asked.

"They are just normal fighters that the Neuroi assimilated into their ranks. This way, they can retain their drones and fighters to defend key positions. They are even capable of taking destroyed or damaged aircraft and repairing them," Anna replied.

Andrew shivered and asked, "What about in terms of weapons?"

"Since they are aircraft, they are only limited to the number of pylons that are on the fighter. However, the guns are replaced by their lasers so there is that to keep in mind," Anna replied.

"Well, at least we have some wiggle room. Kendo, can you try and see if you can separate the Mirages from the heavies," Andrew asked.

"Trying here but they are intermingled with the transport. I can't get a clear shot on any of them," Yusuke replied, pressing some buttons and dials to see if he can separate the Mirages from the transports.

"I say we just charge in and engage with our heat seekers. There is no way to get a clear picture and our missiles could hit a heavy by accident," Nicholai chimed in.

"I agree with Reaper 2-2. We can not risk it with long-range attacks," Anna chimed in as well.

Andrew mulled it over for a bit and then relented, "All right then. We are going to get in close. Break on my signal." He then accelerated. The two fighters and witches increased speed to rush towards the transports in danger.

"Colt 4-1, this is Reaper 2-1. We are going to have to get in close to engage those Mirages. Just sit tight and the cavalry will be there in no time," Andrew called out to the transports.

"Roger that! Just get here quick!" Came a response.

Meanwhile, Dina took a deep breath and exhaled as she got her Saiga shotgun ready. She was equipped with 4 Archer missiles and 2 Alamo missiles. She tapped her glasses and saw that she could see the transports as well as the Mirages. As expected, they seemed to be intermingled with the transport, making a long-range shot close to impossible without hitting one of the transports by mistake.

She saw the Tomcat increase its thrust and accelerate, its wings sweeping back. The four increased their speed to get to the transport faster. Meanwhile, Nathan was doing his best to make sure that the Starlifter can avoid most of the lasers that were flying by his aircraft. The only thing that he can do is slow down just enough that the Mirage can fly past him.

"Starhawk is on fire! She's going down!"

Nathan looked to his left to see another Starlifter plunging to the ground, its left wing on fire. Nathan had to stay focused though and forced his eyes back to the front.

"Colt 4 Actual, this is Reaper 2-1. Be advised that we can not use our long-range missiles, don't want to risk hitting any of you. So we are coming in close so just hang in there!

"Roger that Reaper!" Colt 4-1 replied. The group was closing in on heat-seeker range now.

"Everyone, break now!"

On command, the two fighters and witches broke off from formation. Nicholai announced that he was ascending. The nose of the fighter raised a bit and then he lowered the throttle to level the fighter. This also meant that it put him in front of one of the Mirages. From what Nicholai saw, it looked just like your normal Mirage but instead, it was black with hexagons on it and spots of red. His RWR began to go off, indicating that he was within its missile range. He saw that a missile dropped from its pylon, most likely an R.550 Magic heat-seeking missile. Nicholai broke left and popped flares. He then conducted a rolling ascent to see if he can get behind the fighter and launch a missile of his own. The magic took the flares and exploded behind him. The Mirage flew past him and even with his helmet on, he can hear the mechanical howl of the Neuroi. He maneuvered his fighter to the left to get behind the Mirage. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a transport plummeting to the ground with a wing missing. Nicholai hoped that transport was carrying supplies….

"I have him locked on!" Alexa yelled from her seat, having acquired a lock on the Mirage.

The Mirage sensed this, it popped flares of its own and began to dive to get away from Nicholai. Nicholai, however, was not going to let this one get away. He accelerated and dived as well. While the Mirage hoped that it would gain enough speed to get away from the Fulcrum, it did not know that this Fulcrum was more advanced and could keep up with it easily.

Nicholai heard the constant humming of the missile lock and announced, " Reaper 2-2, Fox 2!"

He pressed the trigger and a single Archer missile streaked towards the Mirage. It popped its flares and briefly shut off its engines to reduce its heat signature. This tactic failed as the Archer did not fall for the flares and hit the Mirage in its engine. The fighter exploded with parts of the fighter heading towards the ground.

Meanwhile, Andrew was trying to angle his Tomcat to engage another Mirage.

"Kendo, talk to me!" Andrew yelled as he continued to be behind the Mirage as it made a hard right.

"These things must have some sort of stealth to them. I can't get a solid radar lock," Yusuke stated as he tried to lock onto the fighter. Andrew grunted as he adjusted his speed and continued to chase the fighter. To his right and within his eyesight, he saw a Starlifter trailing smoke with one of its engines no longer functioning.

"Colt 4-1, how many of you are still up?" Andrew asked over the radio.

"Colt 4-4 just went down. We still got four birds, one heavily damaged. We are just about to exit the fight now," In the briefing, there were supposed to be seven transports. Damnit, they lost three.

"Reaper 2-1. Be advised that Karlsland transports are now entering the AO," Griffon reported.

"Are you fucking with me? Tell them to take another route! This one is too hot," Andrew replied.

"Negative, they do not have enough fuel to divert from their planned course. However, we have one witch squadron from the Von Braun and two witch squadrons from the Midway are on their way to assist. ETA is 5 mikes,"

"Shit, at this rate, we might be done if this bastard just plays along," Andrew muttered as he stayed on the Mirage. It then let out a howl and did a barrel row to ascend to a higher altitude. Andrew kept on it and finally heard the words he wanted to hear.

"Got a missile lock!" Yusuke yelled from his seat.

"And not a moment too soon! Reaper 2-1, Fox 2!" Andrew pressed the trigger and watched as the Sidewinder streak towards the Mirage. He then watched in horror as the Mirage dumped flares and made a hard left. The Sidewinder took the flares and exploded.

"Oh fuck it, we are gunning this bastard," Andrew growled. Just as he was about to increase his speed, a voice called out.

"Sorry about this Reaper 2-1, but this one is mine," Soon Andrew saw an Archer missile fly by him and head towards the MIrage. It tried to evade but the missile struck its left-wing, causing it to tumble towards the ground. Andrew turned to look in the direction from which the missile came from and saw Anna get on his wing, who smiled and waved.

"Well, never thought I would get a kill stolen by a girl flying through the sky armed to the teeth," Andrew muttered to himself.

"Kendo, how many are still around?" Andrew asked.

"I only see 3 more… and those must be the Karlsland transport coming in now," Yusuke replied, looking at the radar and seeing the mass of blips entering the AO. Sure enough, another voice called out over the radio.

"This is Stork 1, we are entering into the AO. I understand that there are Neuroi around," The voice asked in a heavy German accent.

"This is Reaper 2-1, that is correct. There are only 3 left so continue on your route, we will handle it," Andrew replied. Then Griffon came on with some bad news.

"All aircraft, we have incoming bogeys from the East. Count fifteen, identified as drones."

"Oh come on man! Give us a break," Yusuke exclaimed. It was then that Dina's voice came over the radio.

"I will handle the new contacts,"

"Wait, by yourself?!" Andrew asked. He craned his next around and saw her begin to speed towards the new bogies.

"She needs backup," Yusuke stated but then he noticed that Nicholai had turned to follow Dina to the new contacts.

"Well, there is her backup. C'mon, let's clean up the rest of these bastards and see if they need any help once we are done," Andrew replied as he turned his Tomcat to engage another Mirage.


Dina grit her teeth as she lowered her speed to drastically force herself back, enduring a lot of negative Gs to allow one of the Neuroi drones to overshoot her. Once it was within a good distance, she let loose with her shotgun and blasted the drone into pieces. Having emptied her mag on the drone, she ejected the mag and inserted a new one. Not long after she chambered a new shell, lasers were whizzing past her. She craned her head to see that a drone was on her tail. She increased her speed and then dived towards the earth to get away from the drone but it stayed on her.

"Damnit!" Dina cursed as she twirled around and fired at the drone. It barrel-rolled to avoid the rounds and continued to fire on her. It then started to emanate a larger beam and then fired a more concentrated laser at her, forcing her to bring up her shield to deflect the beam.

As she was focused on that, she heard in her headset a beeping sound. She glanced over her shoulder to see another drone heading towards her, a missile is seen on one of its weapon pylons. Since she was focused on this drone, she can't handle this new one since if she released her shield, the laser will most likely hit one of her striker units.

Just as she was trying to figure out a way to engage the new contact, the new drone immediately broke off its attack and made a hard left. Dina watched as tracers went after it and a familiar Fulcrum chased after it.

"Red 9, this is Reaper 2-2. I will handle the other contacts, you worry about dealing with that drone," Dina heard Nicholai tell her over the radio.

"I don't need your-"

"Ради любви к Богу, заткнись!" Dina recoiled a bit from the yell, "You can't do this alone so just take my help and don't be stubborn!" Dina frowned at this since it felt like he was treating her like a child but the way he said it, the emotion behind it reminded her of another voice from her childhood….

'Father…' Dina thought for a moment before finally wearing a determined expression. With one hand to keep her shield up, she used her left hand to reach for her Saiga and began to fire. The shotgun shells hit the area where the laser was being emitted. They took off chunks from the drone and soon the drone disintegrated into white particles.

Satisfied with the kill, she turned her head to look for Nicholai. She found him, firing a missile at the drone he was chasing. The missile hit its wing, causing the drone to spiral towards the Earth.

"Looks like there is only one more left," Nicholai said over the radio. Dina took a look at her radar and saw that there was only one drone left. As she was about to head off to fight it, she stopped and thought about it.

"Reaper 2-2, can you get on my wing? Let's take that thing on together," Dina asked over the radio.

"Right behind you Red 9," Dina let a small smile form as she and Nicholai raced towards the last contact.


It can not feel any type of emotion or feelings, but if one were to give it an emotion: It would surprise.

It was a solid plan: use the captured human fighters as the first wave to draw out any fighters and then the drones would swoop in and take out the transports and escape before the escorts knew what was happening.

What they didn't expect was that the fighters that engaged them would be a lot more skilled than others that the Neuroi has faced. Normally, the humans would launch their long-range semi-active missiles at them and once they can determine how many had survived, they would then engage with their heat seekers, allowing any remaining drones to engage the now unprotected transports.

This time, they were lucky in engaging the transports first but it was also a mistake as now as it finds itself being the only surviving drone and now can detect that a fighter and a witch were about to engage it.

As it was debating whether to retreat, now that its mission was a failure, it received a message directly from the Hive.

"Engage enemy contacts. Must observe enemy reaction and equipment. Activate Protocol Omega."

Acknowledging the new order, it headed towards the humans as it began to activate protocol Omega.


"I have the contact. Locking on… what the hell?" Alexa stated. Nicholai looked over his shoulder at that statement.

"What is it?"

"There is a sudden electronic spike from the contact…..it's hampering our electronics," Alexa replied as she tried to work with the radar and electronics to try and fix the issue.

"Jamming?"

"I believe so but something that even we haven't seen before," Nicholai groaned as he refocused on the incoming enemy contact. As they got closer, the Neuroi then suddenly accelerated towards them at a faster speed than before.

"What they-" Nicholai couldn't finish his sentence as it flew past them, giving Nicholai a good view of the Neuroi. Like what they faced before, it was colored black but something was different. Instead of short squat wings and a small body that made it look like the Quox drones, this one had a more elongated body with swept forward wings. On the front, it had red dots that would mean that part was the head and those red eyes were glowing.

It flew past them and then climbed. Nicholai followed it and looked up. He saw that it climbed and then stopped and then began to fall towards them. He then saw a red light emitting from its body.

Nicholai made a hard right, just a bright red beam fired at the location where his plane was only moments ago.

Dina also broke away as this new Neuroi dived and then corrected itself and then began to chase after Nicholai.

"Reaper 2-2, it's on you. I am coming in to help," Dina stated over the radio as she applied max thrust and went to assist Nicholai, trying to come up with a plan.

"Roger that," Nicholai stated as he tried to get the Neuroi off his tail. However, this one was more skilled than the others as it easily stayed on Nicholai and then fired a missile at him from an internal weapons bay.

Nicholai cursed as he deployed both chaff and flares and then did a barrel roll and dived. The missile took the chaff, forcing the Neuroi to dive after him.

"Reaper 2-2, when I say so, turn left," Nicholai heard Dina tell him. Nicholai then saw her below him and then saw her angle up and headed straight to him.

"Is she…" Alexa started but didn't finish as she knew exactly what Dina was planning on doing.

"We just have to trust her," Nicholai stated as he continued to dive while at the same time, having to deal with laser beams passing by his aircraft, trying to shoot him down.

Nicholai felt like it was minutes as they both quickly began to converge on each other. Just as he was about to say something, Dina yelled over the radio, "NOW!"

With a grunt, he banked hard left, doing his best to fight the Gs that was hitting his body and broke off. Just in time as Dina blazed past him, firing her Saiga on full auto.

The Neuroi was caught off from this and could not avoid Dina in time. Its body was raked with shotgun shells and soon it took hits all over its body and left-wing. Just as Dina was about to get away from it, she saw out of the corner of her eye a core. Not wanting to let this slip by, she turned over, pulled a Makarov pistol that was tucked away behind her, and aimed at the core. She shot at it 4 times before the core was destroyed, resulting in the Neuroi vanishing into white particles.

As these particles drifted below, Dina let out a breath she was holding. She also felt her heart pounding in her chest as she thought that her tactic would not work.

"Red 9, you ok over there?" Dina heard Andrew's voice over the radio. She looked around and saw that the Tomcat was now off the wing of the Fulcrum, probably checking to see if there are any damage that needed attention.

"I am fine, Reaper 2-1," Dina replied, calming down. She then took out a pack of cigarettes from her breast pocket, put one in her mouth, and then took out her lighter and light it.

"Well, looks like 2-2 is ok as well and I am not seeing anything else on radar. Skies are clear," Andrew reported. Dina nodded and let out a puff, feeling the stress leave her. She then heard the AWACs over the radio.

"Reaper and Red flight, escorts from the Midway and Von Braun have entered the AO and will take over CAP. Missions complete, RTB"


Before the Neuroi died, it was able to send information regarding the engagement as well as its assessment of the humans that it engaged back to the Hive.

It had no idea that the information it sent would impact another group of humans on the other side of the continent.

Well, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I took some inspiration from other fanfics that had similar missions as well as some game missions like in Ace Combat and Project Wingman. In the next chapter, we will see an old face, as well as the task force, will finally officially work side by side with the Fuso and Liberion Navy. If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me. See you all next time.