Chapter 10
Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat (Chases my brother with the ax).
September 23, 2010... It was mourning, and a few of the nuggets were called into the briefing room for a special assignment. "We got a little surprise for you. Instead of lounging around the base all day, the three of us are taking you all up for maneuvers practice. We're going to give Mr. Genette here, a firsthand look of what we do in the skies. I expect you all in hangar A in full suit by 1030 hours. Dismissed." said Bartlett, still in his usual seat. The nuggets all left and started to prepare for their sudden orders.
Kei Nagase turned the corner, when she ran into Chopper and Blaze.
"So, why did the he want to see all of you in private? Is he actually going to give us something good to do for a change?" asked Chopper.
"Nothing really, we're supposed to go up to give the journalist some real flying experience up close. It should be easy enough to do." answered Nagase.
"Well don't embarrass yourself up there, or Perault will have your head. Personally, he can have my foot shoved up his fat ass for all I care." said Chopper.
"Just be careful." said Blaze. He was starting to get a reputation for his one-liners since that was all he ever really said. Kei and Chopper both felt it was a good sign from him, like he was becoming more human, unlike back at Hierlarcke, where he hardly said a word. But he was still an enigma to everyone. Nagase was the only one to know of his past, but he still pretty much kept things to himself.
At 1030 hours, the selected nuggets were in Hangar A and ready to take the skies. Bartlett had Genette strapped to the backseat of his F-4, with a nervous look on his face. He had no idea what it felt like to takeoff in one of these machines, and he was sure of what his reaction would be. Bartlett's plane was the first to take off, then the other two lifted off the runway, and then the nuggets. By 1040 hours, all the planes where airborne in tight formation over Cape Landers and stated their maneuvers. While in the backseat, Genette tried to take snapshots of the other planes with his camera, but with the speed of the aircraft and his concentration on not to loose his lunch, he found it very difficult. Thirty minutes later, the squadron would get news that they never expected.
"Heartbreak One, we have an urgent assignment for you and your squad."
"Give me a break! I'm babysittin' nuggets up here!"
"Command Room to Wardig Squadron. We have leakers, aircraft type unknown. Crossing the border to Cape Landers bearing 278 to 302. Captain Bartlett, your flight is the only group close enough to make the intercept."
Bartlett was pissed off. He knew the nuggets were not ready for anything like this. With any luck, this wouldn't be too hard and the nuggets would be back at base with a hell of a story to tell the others. "Baker, Svenson, go trail and stay close. The three of us will go high and engage the bandits. All other aircraft stay low and out of the fight." At that he told his squad to head to specific coordinates that he felt was safe enough away from the action. The nuggets obeyed the order and left the three instructors as the brave knights they were.
The nuggets made their way to the order coordinates where they stayed low, listening to the chatter going on over the radio. Meanwhile, the three other pilots arrived over Cape Landers heading to vector 278-302, with no bandits on radar.
"What the hell! Come in Sand Island. No sign of the enemy, repeat, no sign of the enemy. Over! I don't like this at all." said Captain Bartlett.
Back to the nuggets… "Damn it. A battle is about to happen and all we do is watch it from the sidelines. That just sucks." complained Cavalier.
"Well at least we get to see the Captain in action. Besides, this could just be some trick to impress the journalist. Colonel Perault was talking about showing him what we can do here. We're just here to get it rubbed in our faces." responded Areo in a calm voice.
This didn't feel right to Nagase. She had a bad feeling about this and her fear was about to come true. "Wait, I've got five bogies on radar coming fast to our position. They look like… fighters. Migs." And sure enough, five fully armed Migs were flying straight for their direction. "Enemy fighters on radar. We are cleared to engage, shoot them all down." said one of the Mig pilots.
Then, the Migs dispersed and engaged the rookie pilots. On of the Migs got a lock on one and fired. The missile hit the Osean jet, causing it to explode into a ball of fire. The pilot never ejected.
"Come in Sand Island. This is Edge; we got five fighters attacking us. Mig 31's by the look of them, we need back up now."
Bartlett heard this and cursed himself. He led the nuggets right in front of the enemy's path. The three fighters then turned and headed to the nuggets position at full speed.
"Hold on, we're on our way."
"Captain, do we have permission to fire back?" asked Edge.
"Affirmative, but don't get too engaged. These guys are experienced pilots, try to escape and only engage if you have no other option." responded Bartlett.
"This isn't looking good." said Baker over the intercom.
The nuggets were panicking. This was their first live fighting ever, not any of the bullshit stuff they did back at Hierlarcke. This was the real thing. Edge had a bandit on her tail. She tried to sake him off, but to no avail. She knew it would only be a matter of seconds before he got missile lock on her. But before that happened, the Mig pilot got a missile alert warning and then got his engine blown off by a missile from Bartlett. One down, four to go. "Thank you sir."
"Don't thank me yet, we still have four more of these bastards to deal with."
Svenson got a lock on an enemy from behind and fired his guns. The bullets tore up the enemy's right wing, sending it crashing to the cape. "One more out of here."
Meanwhile, back on Sand Island. Blaze felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't think of what. He decided to go for a walk around the base to clear his mind, and walked outside into the cool sea air. He walked over to the eastern side of the base, hen some tiny lights caught his attention in the distance. He got as far as the sandy beach and focused his eyes on the tiny lights. He then realized what they were and dropped his jaw. He knew a fight was going on when he saw it, and that was just what he was witnessing from afar. "Owe crap, that's not a good sign." Thought Kevin and ran back into the complex.
Things weren't going so well for the nuggets. They just could handle this and were shot down one at a time by the more experienced Mig pilots. To make matters worse, Captain Eric Svenson was shot down and dead by an enemy. "You son of a bitch. I'll make you pay for that." yelled Baker, and launched a missile at the Mig that shot down his friend. The missile hit the fuel line, covering the jet in flames. "That was for Jaguar." But then another MIg got on his six and used his guns which hit the body of Bakers aircraft. But fortunately, the damage wasn't as bad and he could still fly. Bartlett got behind the same Mig and chased it off his wingman's tail which he then shot down, leaving just one enemy plane left.
That particular Mig just shot down Cavalier, leaving just three Osean fighters left. Edge was right above the Mig, witnessing another of her comrades killed by the enemy. She had spent the battle dodging enemy fire and on two occasions, had a missile lock on her warning light. She didn't know why she did it, but she slowed down a little and dropped her altitude to get right behind the enemy jet. Her onboard computer got the missile lock and the plane on her HUD had a red square on it meaning that she had a shot. She hesitated for a split second, then used her thumb to push the button on her joystick, firing the sidewinder which hit its target and trailed smoke. She fired again, once again hitting her target and leaving the aircraft a falling mass of burning metal. Genette had witnessed this from the back of the lead plane and was impressed by the only surviving nugget.
"Sand Island, this is Heartbreak One. All bogies destroyed. Unfortunately, only three planes are coming back. We're on our way to the airstrip now."
"Confirmed Heartbreak One, you have permission to land."
"Hey Baker, can you land with that thing like that?"
"You let me worry about that."
"Heartbreak One, you are ordered to land first."
"Roger that. Hold on Genette, this could be a little rough." Bartlett's plane landed without any problem except a near passed out reporter in the back.
"Edge, you go on ahead and land. I'll stay here and cover you in case we have any more unwanted visitors." said Baker.
Edge again hesitated, but said "Roger that, thank you." And landed her plane as smoothly as Bartlett's
Baker then prepared to land his craft, but it was too wounded to touch the ground safely. "Shit, the landing gear won't come out. Damn it, I can't pull up and my brakes wont work. I'm going to crash, shit." His last words. His plane skidded hard on the runway, and traveled about 200 feet before it stopped. The emergency crews arrived in under a minute, but it was too late. Captain Wally Baker was dead.
"Sorry about this."
"That pilot in the Number Seven was amazing. Did you see her fight back?"
"I couldn't bear to watch. Nagase, you keep flying like that and you'll die real soon!"
"I won't die, Sir." said Nagase in almost a whisper.
"Are you sure? You look like you couldn't hurt a fly."
Nagase had a number of things racing through her mind. The enemy fighters, her fellow nuggets dead, her two instructors dead. She saw that Genette was pointing his camera at her for a snapshot. She was pale with fright from the whole experience, but broke a small smile for him. The truth was that Genette was just as shaken as her. The only difference was that she remained cool under the pressure while he nearly pissed his pants. The only reason he took her picture was so that he could give it to her as a sort of memento of her first air battle, but when he arrived in the hangar with Bartlett, his camera was confiscated by base security for reasons of national security.
When Nagase left the hangar, she was met by both Blaze and Chopper who asked wha happened and if she was okay.
"It was horrible. Their dead, their all dead. Only Bartlett, the journalist and myself came back in one peace. But everyone else was killed in combat. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They weren't suppose to be in our position."
"That's base intelligence for you. They always get it wrong to screw you." said Chopper
"At least you're still alive. It's better than having all of you wiped out. That's what we have to focus on." said Kevin and walked away in silence to pray for the deceased.
"Don't worry about him. When he found out about the battle, he threatened to kick Hamilton's ass if he wasn't told what was going on. He was like an animal in there. I never saw him like that. You would think a demon possessed him or something." said Chopper.
"I know what you mean." Was all Nagase could say at the moment.
At 1600 hours the same day… The remaining nuggets were ordered to the briefing room for a special announcement from Captain Bartlett about the future of the squadron. He was found sitting in his normal seat, staring off into space. He snapped out of his funk and made the following message.
"I know you don't like this, but we're short on people. Starting tomorrow, all of you nuggets are gonna be sittin' alert. If we launch, stay glued to me up there. Nagase!"
She looked up at her Captain, escaping her thoughts on the following events. "Sir."
"You're flying Number Two on my wing. Gotta keep a eye on you or who knows what you'll get yourself into."
Nagase gave him a sort of angry look, but held her tongue.
Chopper whispered to Copperhead "I don't know to be proud of her or feel sorry for her."
"Second Lieutenant Alvin Davenport is it?"
"Uh… yes sir."
"You're gonna fly as my number three wingman up there. Don't get too excited though. Captain Baker told me that you're a kinda joker. So when I tell you to, shut the hell up and keep your wisecracks to yourself."
Chopper was surprised to be told all this. He was more shocked that he got the number three spot in the first place.
"I'm gonna need a fourth man up there in the trail position." He gave the rest of the nuggets a quick, hard look and said, "Blaze that's your spot. It should be a good learning experience for you at least." Kevin just sat there with no expression on his face, like a rock.
"I'm going to need your absolute trust up there as you all need mine. Be ready for anything, both on the ground and in the air. You are dismissed." And the rest of the squad got out of their seats and left the room, while three left with a new sense of purpose.