Chapter 13
Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Combat, but I do own a car.
October 4, 2010... Blaze is standing on the beach of Sand Island alone. The water sweeps over his feet as it comes to shore, but then recedes and repeats it's never ending bombardment. He contemplates the events over the past few days, what a hell he thought to himself. It was about two weeks since the war began and already major losses have been taken on both sides. Many men have already been killed for reasons unknown to him. All he knew was that he was told that Yuktobania was their enemy and that they must be defeated. That didn't sit well for him or any of his squadron, but they didn't have a choice, whenever battle happened, they were called in to fight. Nothing more, nothing less.
September 30, 2010… The squadron was once again in the air with four planes, but a new member and captain. With Bartlett still missing, headquarters made Blaze the new captain of Wardog squadron because of his impressive leadership in the last two battles. "Don't think I'll be kissing your ass because of this Kev. It just means you're another dumb authority figure that I have zero respect for." joked Chopper a few days ago. Blaze didn't care, it just meant that he had more responsibility and a larger purpose to protect. Grimm joined the squadron and took Blaze's place as the tail man, while Edge and Chopper remained his number one and two wingmen.
They were over the Eaglin Straits now with three battle-ready carriers below them. Wardogs mission was to escort the carriers as the rendezvoused at the straits. "Easies mission in the world." Commented Chopper. Blaze didn't think so. To him, nothing was ever easy and this would be no exception. The squad was given orders to hold over their respected carriers and await clearance to refuel which pissed off Chopper, but brought some humor that help shed light on the so far boring assignment. But that all changed with a few sudden dots on the radar, enemy planes.
It seemed that a number of fighter groups from Yuktobania had arrived and it was their mission to defend the carriers at all cost. Wardog met with each fighter group that seemed to attack from all sides, but thanks to Wardogs efforts and flying skills, as well as the efforts of the naval air force that sprang into action, no carrier was lost. At least not to enemy fighters, Wardog Squadron and Captain Marcus Snow were ahead of the fleet as they mopped up the remaining enemy fighters and were about to head back when the warning lights flashed.
"Enemy missile coming in." screamed a crew of the Buzzard. Heading for their direction was a missile that soon exploded, letting out it's destructive force like a storm. A large flash could be seen by the crew members of the other carriers and the pilots who were fortunately not in the area. All the fighters that were near the Buzzard were falling like smoking flies and the Buzzard started to sink.
"What the hell happened?" screamed Archer.
"I don't know! Everything below 5,000 feet was just annihilated!" responded Swordsman.
"Shit, what the hell is going on?" asked Blaze to himself.
"It was a ballistic missile; it just came out of nowhere… Damn it, another one is coming." said Thunderhead.
"Owe shit, that's not good. Any suggestions?" asked Chopper.
"Yeah, get above 5,000 feet and stay there unless you want to end up a pile of burning steel." Responded Snow.
Chopper couldn't believe what h was hearing, enemies this far inland. Blaze was thinking the same thing, but right now that wasn't on his mind. "You heard him, get above 5,000 feet now. That's a direct order." Ordered Blaze and all of Wardog followed without hesitation.
"10 seconds to impact. 8,7… 3,3,1." Counted Snow. And sure enough there was a nother flash of light and the sounds of people screaming over the radio. When the flash died down, the vulture was going down to the sea floor just like the buzzard, but remarkably the Kestrel was still afloat. At the end of the whole affair, the only survivors where the crew of the Kestrel, Snow, and Wardog. There was no way for the squadron to refuel and were ordered to head straight for Hierlarcke base. The flight there was very quite as hardly a word was spoken. Kevin remained his usual, quite self as he thought of how the Yukes possible knew what they were doing and how they got so far into their country.
At Hierlarcke, they were met by a large number of rookie pilots who were eager to hear the stories of their earlier battles. Apparently, the article Genette wrote about them had made it that far which sort of made the squad instant celebrities. But they also received orders to take these nuggets back to Sand Island to strengthen the defense force. But for now, Chopper gladly told the nuggets of their enemy encounters in front of the fireplace, with Nagase standing next to him looking embarrassed. Grimm took a seat as he tried to rest his weary body and Kevin stood right next to the fireplace taking in Choppers stories and enjoying the short peace he and his squad were now having.
But the peace was soon over as they took the rookies up with them and guided them to each base to refuel since none of the nuggets had ever practiced midair refueling. But, by some chance or act of God or just being at the wrong place at the wrong time, they had an interesting stay at McNealy Air Base. Enemy Yuke forces were attempting to take out the mass driver that was to launch the new laser cannon to the now descending Arkbird, and Wardog was the only Osean force, close enough to do anything about it. They went up, met the enemy, and were able to protect the mass driver long enough for the laser to launch. The launch was an overall success thanks to the actions of Wardog Squadron, but no rest would come to them as they refueled and went u once again with the nuggets as they now headed for Sand Island.
October 4, 2010, 10:07a.m… It appeared that the Yukes were attempting t take Sand Island with a full frontline amphibian assault. This would also be the first real battle the nuggets would experience. Blaze, Edge, and Chopper agreed that this mission maybe a bit too extreme for the rookies and tried to protest the decision, but to no avail. Wardog went up with three brand new F-18 Hornets and the nuggets as they met the ships head-on. Before any fighting began though, a nugget named Fredrick Reinhart, callsign Lancer, asked Blaze if he ever got scared in battle. This question actually humored him a little, since he expected the nugget to be scared. But Blaze truthfully answered the question saying "Yeah, we all do." This seemed to give Fredrick some new confidence in himself as the Wardogs accelerated to meet the enemy first. The strategy they cooked up was simple, take out as many enemies ahead as possible to make it easier for the nuggets. It all probably would have worked if it wasn't for the sudden surprise of the Yuke underwater carrier, Scinfaxi. But it was countered by the sudden interference of the Arkbird which shot down two ballistic missiles with a laser of blue light which sort of captivated the Osean pilots. All except for Blaze, which though it was another obstacle to fly around, and its accuracy made Blaze like it even less.
The overall battle seemed to be going well for Osea as the fighters took out a number of helicopters, hovercraft, and some ships, but that all changed in a sudden heartbeat. The Scinfaxi fired several ballistic missiles, and to everyone's worst fear, the Arkbird couldn't take them all out. One was going to hit.
"Al fighters pull up now, above 5,000 feet." Ordered Blaze.
"Lets go kids, come on." Urged Chopper.
"Nuggets, you got to pull up." Order Nagase.
But the rookies couldn't get that kind of altitude and were all killed when the missile burst. The screams of the young pilots could be heard on the radio, similar to those on the carriers a few days ago. Blaze gritted his teeth in rage, but then controlled himself immediately. He knew the success of their defense was to destroy the Scinfaxi.
"Wardog, this battle will be pointless unless we take out that sub. Disperse and locate the carrier and destroy it." Ordered Blaze over the intercom, which was agreed by the other squadron pilots. But the orders weren't necessary as the Arkbird picked up the Scinfaxi on radar and fired upon it.
"The Scinfaxi is surfacing." Said Edge. And through the surface it rose like a great beast. Sending out it's aircraft to do battle while preparing the next wave of ballistic missiles. Wardog meet the planes had on, with Blaze putting all of his attention on the sub and firing the LASM's. During their attacks, Wardog also had to climb altitude to avoid the ballistics and then continued their assault. And through the constant strikes and dodging, Blaze delivered the blow that gave the Arkbird the shot to destroy the monster, thus brining the sub to the bottom of the Ceres Ocean.
Wardog squadron returned with a huge celebration at the base with wine and whisky. But before the fun could really begin, each man and woman held up their drink and gave a moment of silence to the ones lost thanks to the Scinfaxi monster, and the party picked up once again.
During the party, Kevin was able to slip out unnoticed and headed to the beach were he stood on the sand, allowing the water to wash over his feet. Staring into the infinite ocean, at the enemy that was now Yuktobania, wondering to himself in peace. A stone brushed by his foot and he picked it up and threw it, skipping the water until its momentum ended and it sank below the water.
"What a hell that we ended up in." said Kevin in a voice below a whisper. Unknown to him, his wingman, Kei Nagase, was watching him from a distance. Wondering what he was thinking. Was it about the war, or the young men who had just died, or was it just a habit of his to be alone from everyone. She then turned around and returned to the party, leaving Kevin in his peace. Telling herself that this was normal to him.