AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, this chapter sure exploded into the longest one of the story arc so far-and it's not even a "boss battle" moment. Still, it's certainly nonstop action, as the NATO forces try and hold off Salem's GRIMM offensive.
More notes at the end.
Poznan-Krezesiny Airbase
Poznan, Republic of Poland
25 August 2001
The last one into the ready room—which turned out to be Oscar Pine—had barely sat before Qrow Branwen slapped his hands together for their attention. "Okay, people, we don't have a lot of time here, so let's not screw around." He nodded at Clover, who reached back and switched off the lights from his seat. Qrow turned on the overhead, showing a map of Poland.
"I got news and most of it's bad." His finger traced a line from Torun to Radom, north to south, along the line of the Vistula River. "Salem hit us with everything we thought she had and then some. Her GRIMM army is across the river in strength. You folks may have noticed that everyone's in MOPP gear outside." He referred to the heavy, bulky chemical warfare gear worn by the ground crews. "Salem hit the ground pounders with sarin nerve gas last night, up and down the line. Casualties are pretty high, especially among the Poles. She doesn't have anything within range of us yet, but Ironwood wanted all ground crews in MOPP anyway."
A murmur went through the pilots. Chemical warfare training was low on the list of prorities for any armed forces, since the primary threat was GRIMM and they didn't use it. Until now. "They weren't ready?" Pyrrha asked.
"Nope. We practice, what, once a year for gas? I don't know if the Poles did at all. Anyway, initial estimates that there's at least five thousand dead. Luckily, the majority of the tank guys got under cover in a hurry, so the line bent but didn't break." Qrow traced a new line with a black marker. It was 30 miles behind the former line along the Vistula. "The Polish 12th Mechanized and the US 1st Armored took the worst of it. We've got two divisions on the way to shore up the line, but right now, those two divisions need air support. They're getting it—but we need to get in the fight."
Ren raised his hand. "Colonel, are we getting any help from the rest of NATO?"
Qrow nodded. "You bet. The Danes should be moving into position later today, the Brits should have some regiments here by tomorrow morning, and we've got additional US Army units coming in tomorrow too. The Czechs are waiting to see if they get hit, but they've pledged units if no threat materializes within 48 hours. The EU Council is debating, but we expect them to pretty much mobilize everyone. But again, right now we're racing against time—and Salem's got the initiative." He gave his half-smile. "And we've got all kinds of air headed our way from the States. The Strike Eagles from Signal got to Ramstein an hour ago, and we've got two squadrons worth of B-52s at Fairford in England. Aviano's sending their F-16s north, and the Sixth Fleet has permission to move into the Aegean. Plus Ironwood's got the word out to spare any Huntsmen and Huntresses we can. The closest bunch besides us is Funky Flight in the Med and Bronze Flight back in the States."
"What about Sun and Coffee?" Blake asked. Yang smirked at her and moved her hands down her abdomen, pantomining Sun Wukong's muscles. Blake rolled her eyes, but her cheeks turned rosy.
"Maybe. The Middle East is still a mess." He started to continue, but Nora's hand went up. "Okay, one more and that's it. Go ahead, Nora."
"The civilians," she pointed out. Qrow thought that made sense; Nora had been a refugee herself, so naturally she would be concerned about them. "What about all the people in that area?"
Qrow sighed. "Yeah, it's a problem. A lot of them are hauling ass to the west, and though you can't blame them, they're clogging the roads and keeping reinforcements from getting to the front—which is of course the reason why air GRIMM have been targeting them. Salem took a page out of ol' Hitler's book—she's using the GRIMM like the Nazis used their Stukas, to scare the bejesus out of everyone. Ironwood's organizing an evacuation with every helicopter he can get his hands on, but again, if you'll let me get to it, that's part of our mission."
"Sorry," Nora apologized.
"No sweat. Robyn's got her Huntresses covering the northern sector around Wroclawek. We're going to go to hell's corner, right here—the line from Strykow to Rawa Mazowiecka." Qrow stumbled a little over the unfamiliar Polish names. "That's where the 1st Armored is really in the shit. Half of us are going to be configured for air-to-air, but some of us are going to have to tote bombs." Most of the pilots groaned at that; no fighter pilot liked to drop bombs. The exceptions were Nora and Elm Ederne, who were ground attack specialists; they were grinning at the chance to do their specialty. "We're going to make this simple, kinda. I'm going to be raid commander and try to keep this from degenerating into a clusterfuck. Ruby Flight, you're groomed for air-to-air." Ruby blew out a breath; she thought for sure someone was going to load her down with bombs. "Norn, you're carrying ground ordnance—Mavericks and rocket pods for Oscar and Ren; Nora, we'll load you with Mavericks, rocket pods, and napalm. Be damned careful about using the latter." She nodded solemnly, remembering the horror her napalm strike had caused at Darvaza. She didn't want to accidentally drop it on friendlies. "Pyrrha, you'll be the exception to this. We want you on top cover as well."
"Very well." Pyrrha didn't sound all that disappointed.
Qrow nodded to Clover, who got to his feet. "Aces, we're going for a mix. Harriet, Marrow, you're air-to-air. Me and Vine will be riding dirty with GBUs, with the guys on the ground lasing targets for us." Vine inclined his head; "riding dirty" meant adding underwing pylons to their F-35s, negating its stealth characteristics for more ordnance. "Elm, we're borrowing an A-10 from Spangdahlem. You did an exchange tour with the 81st last year; think you still remember how to fly a Warthog?"
Elm's eyes lit up. "Oh, most definitely."
"Superb. We'll load you with Mavericks and GBUs."
"Team Thunder Thighs!" Nora cheered, and everyone started laughing.
"I thought thunder thighs was an insult," Blake said.
"Ask Ren's ribs!" Nora returned, and Ren actually blushed.
Penny stood up. "Sir? What about me?"
"Glad you asked," Clover said. "You're coming too, but not as a missile boat. The air situation is confused; if you volley fire AMRAAMs in there, you're going to catch some friendlies too. Your ground crew is fitting out your B-1 with an ALU. Let's see if you can blind the GRIMM."
"ALU?" Ruby asked.
Penny looked at Clover, who gave her a nod. "Airborne Laser Unit," she explained. "I can actually melt GRIMM with it…assuming they hold still long enough. We tested it out…my, um, predecessor and I, anyway. It works…well, in testing, anyhow." She looked a little nervous. "But if nothing else, I can take out their visual sensors."
Clover got back to his seat, and Qrow switched off the overhead. "Okay. Expect some of the biggest threats we've seen since Beacon. There's GRIMM everywhere. Going to be a lot of ground fire, both bad guy and friendly, and the Army isn't being too specific on what they shoot at. Let's give them some breathing room anyhow, and cover the helos in getting the civvies out. Weather looks good; just high clouds. Nice pleasant summer day, other than the stupid GRIMM." He explained tanker tracks, where the KC-135 tankers would be, far behind the lines, callsigns, and safe bailout zones. With the FEBA—the Forward Edge of the Battle Area—only 75 miles away, they wouldn't need drop tanks.
"Any questions?"
Yang raised a hand. "Uncle Qrow, can I request a transfer?" she joked.
"Sure," Qrow replied. "The Army can use helicopter pilots." Yang made gagging noises.
Clover was the one to clap his hands together. "All right, people! Let's go do it to them before they do it to us!"
Ruby walked towards Crescent Rose. She wanted to talk to Oscar, but Pyrrha had held back Norn Flight to talk to them—probably about tactics, Ruby mused. Since Ruby Flight was doing the usual combat air patrol, there really wasn't any reason to brief her flight, beyond what had already been said. They knew what they were doing. She trailed behind them. Yang was joking with Blake, who was trying to look stoic and failing miserably. Weiss seemed a bit preoccupied., so Ruby lengthened her stride to catch up.
Before she could reach Weiss, Penny came running up to her and fell in beside her. "Hi, Ruby!"
"Hey, Penny." Ruby smiled at her. "You ready for this?" Ironwood had been holding Penny and her B-1 back over the past few days, keeping her in reserve.
"I think so." She held up her hands; they were trembling slightly. "Ruby, do you ever get scared?"
Good question, Ruby thought. She'd watched people die at Beacon—including the first Penny—and faced her own death so many times that it wasn't worth thinking about. Yet Ruby never seriously considered that she would be get killed, that there would be a grave next to her mother's on that hill at her father's house. Getting killed happened to other people. "Sure."
"You sure don't show it." Penny looked at her boots. "I feel like I need to pee. Except that I already did. Three times."
"You'll be okay," Ruby reassured her. "We'll cover you. Keep the GRIMM off your butt."
"Thanks, Ruby."
"Sorry we haven't had any time to hang out," Ruby said awkwardly.
"It's okay. You've been busy with operations, and…" Penny dropped her voice "…and your sexual relationship with Ensign Pine."
Ruby went as red as her F-16's trim. "What the hell? How did you know?"
Penny shrugged. "It seemed rather obvious to me, Ruby." She sighed. "I too would like a boyfriend, but I suppose that is not something that will happen to me."
"Can you…um…you know…" Ruby couldn't look at Penny.
Penny laughed, loud enough that the rest of Ruby Flight looked back at her. "I'm fully functional, Ruby. What a silly question! I'm a clone, not a robot." Penny gave it some thought. "Though I don't think I can have children. I'll have to ask my father about that." They reached the B-1. Penny gathered Ruby into a hug. "Good luck, Ruby."
Ruby had never been so happy to change subjects. Asking about a clone's sex life was not something she'd ever thought she'd discuss. "Good luck, Penny." Penny waved and dashed over to the converted bomber.
"What was that all about?" Weiss asked.
"Um…Penny can apparently have sex," Ruby murmured.
"Everyone but me," Weiss groused, and resumed walking towards her aircraft.
Blake stopped in front of the CF-18. "Yang, I don't know about this." She patted the nose of the fighter. "I mean, I flew Bugs for a few months, before they sent me to Pax River…"
"C'mon, Blakey. It's a fighter. What do you need to know?" Yang looked at the Hornet. It had been flown over from Sollingen in western Germany during the night, and promptly assigned to Blake. Though integrated into the USAF, the former Canadian fighter squadrons still maintained their own separate equipment types. "It's like riding a bike. You never forget how."
"I used to fall off my bike a lot," Blake told her.
"It can't be that different from Gambol Shroud." Yang looked over to the hangars. In one of them was Blake's F-14, being frantically repaired by a Navy team flown up from the Sixth Fleet, but it would not be ready for some time.
"Other than not having variable sweep wings, decoys and Phoenixes, I'm sure it's exactly the same." Blake slumped. "Well…I guess it's either this or I stay behind." The thought of waiting back at base while her flight went into combat scared Blake more than taking a somewhat unfamiliar aircraft into battle. She took a deep breath and climbed into the cockpit. As the crew chief helped her strap in, Yang called up, "You can learn to fly it on the way to the FEBA!"
"Not helping, Yang." Blake smiled down at her wingmate and threw her a salute. Yang grinned back, returned the salute, and ran towards Ember Celica.
Clover did a quick preflight, feeling a little ridiculous. He was dressed in his regular flight suit and helmet, while the ground crew around him were in the floppy rubber MOPP suits and gas masks. His F-35 carried pylons for extra Sidewinders; stealth was going be very secondary to this mission.
"Hey, Clover!" Harriet ran over to him. "Hey—just wanted to say thanks for not making me haul bombs. I'm going to try and catch Elm and Vine today." She grinned. "Maybe if I get real lucky, I'll catch you."
Clover shook his head. Harriet stood fourth in the kill tally for Ace Flight, ahead of only Marrow; she had 13 kills, while Elm had 15 and Vine 18. Clover led with 34, second only to Pyrrha in the whole sector, but he had gotten a lot of his victories while in the Pacific. "Don't get kill hungry, Harriet. Just do your job and that's good enough. This isn't a game."
"Whatever." They both turned as Pyrrha jogged up to them. "All set?" Clover asked.
"Yes," Pyrrha replied. "Just wanted to remind Oscar and Ren about ground threats—to always jink and move while coming off a target. We get used to fighting in the air so much, and we forget about the ground dimension. Oscar especially—he's still kind of new to all this."
"He doesn't fly like it. I'll have to remind my guys about that too." They suddenly ran out of things to say. "Well, uh…good luck," he said, feeling even more awkward now.
"You…you too." Pyrrha, on impulse, reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then ran off before she could embarrass herself further. Or him. Clover rubbed his cheek, chuckled, and began climbing aboard his F-35.
He didn't notice Harriet staring at him in shock and anger.
The Forward Edge of the Battle Area
Near Rawa Mazowiecka, Republic of Poland
25 August 2001
"Fire!" Karelia Bighorn-Vlata shouted, looking through her sight.
"On the way!" Lee's voice was hoarse. They all were. The gun breech rocked backwards into the tank. Karelia watched the blur of the shell hit the Sabyr and blow it apart. Sabyrs were the least threatening thing on the battlefield—essentially an armored car with a 23mm cannon and two wire-guided antitank missiles. Their cannon couldn't hurt an Abrams; supposedly their missiles couldn't either, but Karelia had already seen two M1s knocked out by Sabyrs, so apparently this Salem person hadn't gotten that memo. Luckily, they couldn't take a hit; one HEAT shell was more than enough. The problem was, there was a lot of them—and unlike Karelia's crew, the Sabyrs didn't need rest, water, or food.
She had enough time to take a quick swig from her canteen—the water was warm, but wet—before she identified the next threat. "Snowbird 55, Snowbird 68! Five Sabyrs, to the east, three o'clock! I'll take the ones on the right! 55, take the lead; 68, the left!"
"Roger, five Sabyrs, engaging!" Two of her remaining Abrams turned into the threat.
"Heather, swing us around!" She felt the tank move as Redfeather turned, lurched through a line of bushes, and ended up next to a farmhouse. "Designate, Gunner, HEAT, Sabyr!" Karelia yelled. She had done this so many times today she'd lost count.
"Identified! Range 900!" Lee put the laser sight on the Sabyrs. The five of them were dashing across the battlefield in a wedge formation.
"Up!" Lougheed slammed the HEAT shell home and stepped back to clear the recoil. His arms were aching.
"Fire!"
"On the way!" The shell caught the Sabyr on its sloped front, between the two curved missile mounts that gave it its name. The GRIMM slewed to the right and then tumbled before exploding. They repeated the process and another Sabyr was destroyed.
An alarm went off in the tank, indicating a missile was inbound. Redfeather skidded the M1 and ran it behind a farmhouse, which saved them; the missile hit the house and detonated. "Nice one!" Lee yelled.
"Reverse tank!" Karelia ordered, and the M1 went backwards from behind the burning farmhouse, as Lee slewed the turret around to engage another Sabyr. To his surprise, there were none left—all five were now destroyed. Karelia looked out through her vision blocks and saw something else burning. "Snowbird Six, Snowbird 55," her radio crackled. "Snowbird 68 took three missiles. They're gone."
"Fuck!" Karelia shouted. She'd started the day with 14 tanks. Now she was down to half that. "Snowbirds, check in—"
"Identified, two Centinels, range 1200!" Lee sang out. The Centinels' main gun was actually not a threat to the Abrams' armor, but it could take out a track, and they were armored enough to resist a HEAT round.
Karelia put her eyes to the sight. "Gunner, Sabot, Centinel!"
Lougheed opened the ammo door, withdrew one of the pointed Sabot rounds, and loaded it, puffing with exertion. "Up! Five Sabot, seven HEAT left!"
Shit, Karelia thought, I need to keep track of that, and our fuel—and fight my team. She was rapidly getting too busy. She opened her mouth to order Lee to shoot, when suddenly the Centinel exploded right in her sight. A second later, the other did as well. She stared, mystified for a moment, until two AH-64 Apaches swept over the tank and began engaging other GRIMM. "Hot damn, air cav! About time!"
"Yeah, no shit. Get some, Apache drivers!" Lee leaned back in his seat for a second and wiped his face. "Goddamn, Cap."
Karelia ignored him, switching to her team net to try and get some organization out of the chaos as the Apaches did their work. She brought what was left of Task Force Snowbird back into a line; she'd lost her mechanized infantry platoon earlier, when they had been pulled out to the north. Now she had her seven tanks and one ITV, a M113 armored personnel carrier equipped with a TOW antitank missile launcher. Her other ITV had gotten blown apart by a Goliath. With a minute to herself, she radioed her company commander. "Snowbird Six to Zulu Six. We're holding at Phase Line—" she paused, checking the map in her lap "—Phase Line California." Uh oh, Karelia mused, that's the last phase line on the map. They had lost all the others. Lodz and division headquarters were less than ten miles behind them.
"Snowbird Six, this is Zulu Six. Understand. Hold position. Mark your lines—we've got air coming in."
"Cap!" Redfeather shouted before Karelia could acknowledge. "One of the Apaches just got hit!" She stuck her head up to look out the vision block, cursed, and undogged the hatch before opening it. Fresh, if smoky air came into the turret, which smelled like cordite and sweat. Hoping there wasn't enemy snipers around—GRIMM weren't snipers, but nothing was certain anymore—Karelia stuck her head out. The Apache was on fire, swinging its tail boom around crazily in a spin as the pilot tried to autorotate. The attack helicopter hit the ground hard, its landing gear crumpling, but it didn't turn over. The rotors spun to a slow halt, and Karelia saw the canopy begin to open. "Heather, get us over there!" She switched back to the team net. "Snowbirds from Snowbird Six! Hold position, mark your lines and cover me!"
The Abrams lurched forward, covering the distance rapidly and reminding Karelia to ask Heather about the fuel again. Just as quickly, she forgot as the Abrams slid to a halt on the mud—it had been a wheatfield, but tanks and GRIMM had turned it into a field of mud—and saw the pilot trying to free the gunner. She spotted movement and turned in that direction, then dropped down into the turret, not bothering to close the hatch. "Designate, Gunner, HEAT! Sabyr!" As Lee shouted back that he'd identified the target, Karelia ordered Redfeather to keep the tank in between the GRIMM and the downed Apache.
"Sabot up!" Lougheed reminded her.
There was no time to eject the Sabot shell and load HEAT; the sabot was overkill, but it would do. "Fire!" she yelled.
"On the way!" The sabot actually went straight through the Sabyr and smashed through a line of trees, but the GRIMM shuddered and stopped, burning.
Karelia got back out of the turret. The pilot had gotten the gunner out and were hobbling towards the tank. "Identified, three Sabyrs, range 2000!" Lee reported.
"Snowbird Six from 55! Mark position! Air coming in!" The tank commander of Snowbird 55 sounded frantic.
"Son of a bitch!" Karelia reached into the turret, found a smoke grenade, and tossed it as far as she could. The grenade popped and red smoke curled out. She quickly glanced behind to see colored smoke behind her—purple colored smoke. "Oh shit!" She leaned across the turret as she saw hands appear on the bustle rack; the helicopter crew was trying to climb aboard. "Get down! Get down!"
The skies were clear, but hidden behind the smoke of burning tanks, GRIMM, houses, and people. Karelia saw the A-10 surge out of the smoke, the gatling gun in the nose pointed directly at her.
Nora had initially wanted to use her Mavericks, but with the smoke, she didn't trust the laser-guided missile; besides, using the gun was a lot more fun. She blew through the smoke, saw the M1 slide into her sights, and pulled back the stick a little. There was a line of three Sabyrs not much further up. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty!" she crowed and pulled the trigger, moving the stick left and right. She held the trigger a second longer than she was supposed to and Magnhild groaned as its airspeed fell off almost to a stall, but two of the Sabyrs exploded; the third slewed out of line and retreated. She pulled off the target, jinking to avoid any return fire, then rolled back in for another run. There were no targets to be seen, so she rocked her wings as she swept over the line of tanks. She couldn't hear their cheers.
"Charlie Delta, Norn Four," she radioed. "Two Sabyrs destroyed. Grid square 544-400 clear." Man, that was easy, she thought. Wonder how everyone else is doing?
Phase Line Oregon, FEBA
Near Lowicz, Republic of Poland
25 August 2001
Blake wondered to herself why she kept getting low during combat. It was stupid: her F-18 had no business below 10,000 feet, since her job today was to kill aerial GRIMM, not get into range of ground fire. And yet, here she was.
"Blake, check six!" Ruby exclaimed. "There's two Ursa on your tail!"
"No shit!" Blake yelled back. She'd dropped down to cover Elm Ederne making a gun run, only to have the two Ursai pop up from nowhere and fasten themselves onto her tail. Her RWR was beeping for her attention, helpfully letting her know that the GRIMM were seconds away from a lock-on.. Luckily, the layout of the Hornet was not that much different than her modified F-14, at least when it came to the buttons on the stick and throttle: she punched off flares behind her. A quick look in the mirrors set into the canopy bow: the Ursai were actually too close for their missiles, but their heavy cannon would do the trick of killing her just as easily.
That's it! Blake suddenly chopped the throttle back and opened her speedbrake. The F-18 seemed to stop in midair as it shed airspeed; the Ursai's computer brains didn't realize their enemy's movement until they were already past. Blake pushed the throttle back forward, one finger already switching to guns as the second Ursai seemed to fill her gunsight. Unlike on the Tomcat, the M61 Vulcan 20mm gatling cannon was directly in front of her on the Hornet, and gun gases flew back across the canopy as she opened fire. The shells sparkled as they hit the Ursai, and flames streamed behind it as Blake climbed to avoid a collision. In her peripheral vision, she saw the GRIMM hit a line of trees and explode. The other curved off to the left and then came back around to reengage Blake, who was still climbing. Oscar had just made a rocket run on some Sabyrs when he spotted the Ursa, switched from air-to-ground to air-to-air, and fired two Sidewinders. The Ursa disintegrated. "You're clear, Blake!" he called out.
"Blake, Ruby! No, you're not!" Ruby had been in a circle, trying to engage the Ursai, but now she spotted a new threat. "Beowolf, six o'clock high!" Ruby took her finger off the mike button and let loose a few of Taiyang's best curses, because she was out of position to engage them as well. Blake rolled and dived as the Beowolves roared in, wrongly assuming she was attacking the Goliath, which was inexorably stomping towards a line of Bradley armored personnel carriers behind a copse of trees. A missile snaked out from one of them and hit the Goliath in the front of the turret, but the walking tank shrugged off the hit.
"Blake, Marrow. I'm on your Beowolf." As Blake pulled up, her shadow nipping at her heels as she barely cleared the treeline with the GRIMM in pursuit, the F-35 dropped in behind the Beowolf. Ruby saw another Beowolf zoom across the battlefied to intercept Marrow, and yelled a warning as she reversed her turn. Not even La Crosse or Beacon had been this confused. The AWACS were overwhelmed and could only break in occasionally, as there were simply too many contacts to track and too many pilots and ground personnel trying to talk to each other.
Marrow spotted the other Beowolf, but was determined to kill the GRIMM before its comrade killed him. "Blake, break left!" His Sidewinder was growling, but he couldn't be sure which aircraft the missile's seeker head was looking at. The Hornet snapped away, and Marrow fired. "Marrow, Fox Two!" The Beowolf tumbled into a fireball, even as Marrow snapped the stick to the right, knowing he was a fraction too slow as the RWR screamed with the sound of a missile lock.
"Weiss, Fox Two!" The screaming ceased as the Beowolf was destroyed. Marrow watched, astounded, as the Typhoon swept past, above him: Weiss had fired her IRIS off-boresight, Myrtenaster not even pointed at the GRIMM. "Splash two."
"Thanks, Weiss!" Marrow breathed, then sighed. He adjusted himself a little; it was distracting to fly when one's tail was wagging.
In all the confusion of the sudden air battle, the GRIMM had ignored Elm's A-10, which was so low she was flying around trees and skimming over farmhouses. She spotted the Goliath, vaulted a little hill, and fired two Mavericks. Both missiles hit the side of the GRIMM, where the armor was thinner. It rocked with the hit and almost toppled over. Elm quickly switched to guns and fired, but cursed: her shells sailed past as she climbed away; she'd fired a fraction too late. The smaller turrets on the Goliath followed her and opened fire, bullets tracking towards the Warthog.
Yang had been in the same spot as Ruby, trying to get into position for a shot on the Ursai on Blake and then the Beowolves, but had been caught on the periphery of the fight. She was coming in when she saw the Goliath firing on Elm. The machineguns on the GRIMM were designed for antipersonnel and could not do much damage to the A-10, but Yang had slept through that class of Professor Oobleck's. In an effort to save Elm, she dived on the Goliath and opened fire with her own gun, mainly to distract the GRIMM rather than destroy it: her 20 millimeter shells were not likely to do much to the heavily armored Goliath.
But by pure luck, Yang's shells found the holes in the armor made by Elm's Mavericks, then by equally pure luck, found the Goliath's main gun magazine. The GRIMM vanished in a towering explosion—right in front of Yang.
"Oh shit!" Yang ducked down behind the instrument panel out of instinct. The F-23 flew through the explosion—she had no time to dodge—and rocked as it hit something. Yang climbed out of the fireball and checked her instrument panel. No warning lights were on, but she saw that part of her windscreen was starred where a fragment had hit it. The heat of the explosion had melted the yellow paint off her nose.
Elm hammerheaded around and saw the GRIMM's legs fall in four separate directions. "Well, so much for that. Qrow, Elm: are we clear here?"
Far above the battle, Qrow circled his F-117, invisible to both friend and foe. With the AWACS trying to coordinate so much, he had decided to act as a mini-AWACS and vector his squadron where they were needed. He checked a list of callsigns on his kneepad. "Qrow to Delta Fox. I've got two Warthogs with plenty of playtime. Where do you need them?" There was no answer. "Delta Fox, Qrow. Come up on channel five."
It was Pyrrha who answered. "Qrow, Pyrrha. Skies are clear at LZ Torrance, but I do have two Goliaths moving towards the LZ from the northeast. I am covering four Blackhawks evacing civilans."
Qrow checked his map for the location of Landing Zone Torrance. It wasn't far off. "Elm, Qrow. Head southwest to LZ Torrance; engage Goliaths. I'll see if I can get a FAC to you." Elm acknowledged and began heading in that direction. "Ruby, cover Elm. The rest of you, let's hold high and see what else turns up. Qrow, Nora, come up."
"Qrow, Delta Fox." It was the ground FAC, somewhere below. Qrow felt sorry for him; the ground FACs had to cover a lot of ground in a hurry, so it was likely that he was talking to some poor bastard in an unarmored HMMWV. "Sorry about the delay; it's getting pretty sporty. I'm at LZ Poway. Norn Four is working on some Centinels here. I don't have anyone at LZ Torrance."
"Roger, Delta Fox. Break. Haisla, Qrow—I am assuming FAC at LZ Torrance." Qrow hoped his message would get through to the AWACS.
"Qrow, Haisla, roger that."
Qrow nosed over the Nighthawk and dived from 25,000 feet to a much lower level. He saw the helicopters making their way in towards the cleared landing zone, where there were numerous civilian vehicles parked haphazardly—refugees who had packed up and fled from the GRIMM invasion, and been stopped here for rescue so as not to block the roadways to Lodz. The Goliaths were still two miles off, but they were clearly heading in the direction of the landing zone, either attacted by the presence of helicopters, or the large number of civilians; Qrow wondered if Salem programmed them to specifically cause terror. He flew over the top of the two Goliaths, which towered above the woods around the LZ; he was too high for them to notice. "Elm, Qrow. You still have your GBUs?"
"Roger."
"Okay. Let's use those. I don't trust your Mavs to do the job."
"Wilco." Elm, who had been heading towards the LZ at fairly low level to avoid GRIMM detection, climbed and circled, gaining altitude and a little distance. Ruby climbed as well, sweeping the area east of the LZ for flying GRIMM, while Pyrrha did the same to the west. "Elm, in position. Laser on."
Qrow circled around himself, and switched on the F-117's laser designator. The normal F-117 only carried a laser designator for its own bombs; Qrow's modified Nighthawk had an extended nose with an actual radar, but although he rarely dropped bombs, he could still use the sensor. He pointed it at the lead Goliath. "Target one illuminated."
"Elm, spot," she called out. Her two GBU-16 bombs had picked up Qrow's laser. "Paveway." She hit the pickle button, dropping one of the bombs.
The GBU-16 was essentially a thousand-pound bomb mated to a laser seeker on the nose and modified fins on the rear. Once the seeker sensed Qrow's laser, it would follow the invisible beam to its target, the fins making any adjustments in the glidepath, although it wasn't powered. The GBU fell, adjusted slightly, and struck the first Goliath at the junction of the turret and the hull. The explosion blew the turret a thousand feet in the air; the GRIMM sagged in on itself and collapsed.
"Shift laser to target two," Qrow said.
"Elm, spot. Paveway." She dropped her second GBU. This one was even more accurate, hitting the Goliath right on top of the turret. The GRIMM exploded and fell over into a smoking ruin.
"Elm, Qrow. Right on the money. 100 percent BDA."
Elm resumed heading towards LZ Torrance. "Kind of boring, Qrow, but I'll take my kills where I can get them."
"Qrow, Ruby. Tally-ho on third Goliath, bearing zero-nine-zero, course two-zero-one. He's heading towards the LZ. Range, ah, about four miles."
"Roger. Pyrrha, Qrow—tell the helos to hold short. We got another one."
Ruby flew over the Goliath. It ignored her, but as she looked closer, there was something different about this one. It looked bigger, a little more squat, with a longer gun and two missile launchers along with the smaller antipersonnel turrets. "Qrow, Ruby. This Goliath looks weird. I think it's bigger than a normal one. More weapons."
"Ruby, Qrow, say again?" Qrow wasn't sure about what he had just heard.
"Ruby, Harriet. Let me get its attention." Harriet had shot down two Beowolves, but much to her frustration, the skies were annoyingly clear in their operations area. She still wanted to shoot something, and if no GRIMM were going to show their face in the air, she'd settle for something on the ground, though it wouldn't count for her score. Deep down, Harriet knew that she just wanted to take out her rage on something; both the USAF and the RAF would frown on her punching Pyrrha Nikos.
"Roger, Harriet—holding high to the south." Ruby wasn't sure why Harriet wanted to strafe it, since it was highly unlikely her cannon would damage it. Then again, Yang had blown one up.
"Harriet's in east to west." Harriet pushed up the F-35 to full power; running clean, she was now both stealthy and fast. The trees flashed by below her as she came in at five hundred feet. She made sure she was switched to guns, and as the Goliath came into view, opened fire. She grinned as she saw strikes; even if she wasn't hurting the monster GRIMM, it sure made her feel better. She climbed away.
Ruby watched as the F-35 flashed over the Goliath, then saw the small turrets begin to track, then return fire. She noticed the guns weren't machineguns. "Oh shit! Harriet, break right!"
Harriet might not have liked Ruby overmuch, but she didn't question the order. It saved her life. The hailstorm of cannon fire reached out for the F-35. Four shells found their mark, tearing into the left wing and tail. "Harriet's hit!" Ruby called out.
Harriet continued her climb. "I'm hit," she confirmed. She checked the throttle and stick, which responded. "Think I can make it."
"Harriet, Ruby—I don't see any fire."
"Thanks—no fire. I can make it." Harriet turned west; the controls were a little mushy, but she wasn't going to eject if she had to.
"Qrow, Ruby," Ruby radioed her uncle. "This Goliath is a lot heavier armed than the others. I think it's got heavier armor, too."
"Roger, Ruby. Classify target as Megagoliath." Qrow didn't know what else to call it. He wondered why he and Ruby always ended up being the pilots to find new GRIMM. "Elm, you want to take a crack at it?"
"Qrow, Elm. Roger."
Pyrrha checked the helicopters, which were orbiting out of range, then flew over to where the newly-minted Megagoliath was. "Ruby, Pyrrha. Let's distract it. Either side."
Ruby wanted to refuse; being bait for a gigantic GRIMM seemed a good way to find her way to that hill next to her mother. Pyrrha was right, though: if the GRIMM was distracted, it might not notice Elm until it was too late. "Roger." Ruby looped around, opening the range, and then flew in at the same altitude Harriet had, north of the Megagoliath; Pyrrha flew in a little higher, to the south. "We're in, east to west."
"Elm's in." Elm positioned her A-10 high, then dived on the GRIMM from above.
Ruby's F-16 and Pyrrha's F-22 rocketed in on either side of the Megagoliath. Turrets swiveled to engage, became confused as to which aircraft was the bigger threat, then stopped rotating as the drone's computer reset itself and didn't engage either one. Abruptly, it detected a new threat, but as the turrets rotated upwards, Elm was already firing. Besides the gun, she emptied two rocket pods into the top of the GRIMM, where the armor should be thin. Then she hauled back on the stick, gritting her teeth against the G-forces that pressed even her impressive frame into the seat. She twisted around to avoid the return fire, felt a cannon shell hit the side of the cockpit, but the A-10 kept flying: the titanium "bathtub" around the pilot had saved her. Once out of range, she came back around to assess the damage, expecting to see the GRIMM burning and stopped. Instead, except for some smoke where her rockets had hit, the Megagoliath kept inexorably walking forward. "God, I didn't even dent it!" In her confusion, Elm forgot to use proper radio protocol.
Ruby came back around as well. "Qrow, Ruby, how do we stop this thing?"
Qrow orbited above them and dipped the wing to look down. He considered calling in Clover or Vine, who might still have GBUs left, but the Megagoliath was now stomping its way through a treeline; it would be in range of the civilians in two minutes or less—Clover and Vine were well to the south, and wouldn't be here in time.
"Qrow, Penny. Can I help?" Qrow looked out the canopy of his aircraft and saw the B-1, higher than he was, wings outstretched.
"Penny, Qrow. Yeah, come on down—maybe we can fry its sensors."
"Qrow, Ruby! Wait one, I've got a better idea." Ruby circled the GRIMM once, to confirm what she was planning. "Penny, this is Ruby! Once you're in position, lase its right front leg. Repeat, right front leg!"
"Roger, Ruby. Interrogative: why the leg?"
"Penny, you ever see The Empire Strikes Back?"
"Ruby, Penny—negative; I've never seen Star Trek."
Ruby closed her eyes for a second; if they lived through this, she was going to sit Penny down in front of a television for six hours. "Penny, trust me."
"Roger." Penny did not have to descend much; she extended out to the west before coming in, to ensure maximum time for the laser. She checked her instruments, checked her throttle settings, then grabbed the stick with her left hand, and used a trackball with her right to get the laser set on the right course. "Penny, spot!" She locked the laser on, then pressed the trigger on her stick.
Ruby half-expected some Death Star laser beam of doom to shoot out of the bottom of the B-1, but instead, she could barely see a faint cone of green light, where the laser ionized the air; probably anyone without silver eyes wouldn't even see that. Where the cone hit the leg, however, was a different story: the leg began to glow red, then yellow. It's working! Ruby exulted: she'd guessed that, however better armored the Megagoliath was, its legs were still the most vulnerable spot. Since they were such narrow targets, doctrine was to simply aim for center mass, but clearly Salem had read that doctrine before she had built this monster.
The GRIMM seemed to sense that it was in danger. The main turret came around and aimed at Penny, despite the fact that she was two miles away, and opened fire. The shells exploded short of the B-1; Penny ignored it and kept the leg lased. It was now glowing orange, and Ruby could see molten metal begin to stream down the leg.
"Penny, laser terminate." She'd moved out of the angle where the laser turret below the B-1 could stay on target.
"Penny, Qrow, come back around." Qrow had figured out what Ruby was up to. Then he saw it as well. "Penny, wait one!"
The Megagoliath took one long stride forward—and the right front leg, weakened to the point of not being able to hold up the weight of armored hull and turret, suddenly snapped. The Megagoliath was now doomed by simple gravity. It took another hesitant step, then stumbled and fell forward on its forward hull, hitting the ground with a thump audible to the helicopter crews. It then fell on its side. The computer, sensing that there was no recovering from this, set off a self-destruct mechanism that blew the Megagoliath to pieces, which a shockwave that knocked people off their feet.
"Penny, Ruby! That got him!" Ruby curved around the mushroom cloud of smoke and flame that rose into the air.
"I see it, Wedge, good work," Pyrrha quipped. Penny didn't respond; she didn't get the reference, but Ruby, Qrow and Elm did, and all three got a needed laugh out of it.
"Bullhead 76, Qrow," Qrow radioed the helicopters. "LZ Torrance is clear. Begin evac."
Poznan-Krezesiny Airbase
Poznan, Republic of Poland
25 August 2001
Weiss raised the canopy and leaned back in the seat. She looked at the clock. They'd been gone only two hours; it felt like six. She'd managed to down a Beringal, adding to her score, and strafed a Sabyr that was menacing an infantry platoon. It didn't seem like much, but the stress of dodging ground fire, flying back and forth to react to threats…she was exhausted.
Her crew chief stopped on the ladder. "Hauptmann Schnee?"
"I'm fine, Jung," Weiss answered in German. "Just…just tired." She unstrapped with Jung's help, tried to pull herself out of the cockpit by grabbing the canopy bow, and sagged back. The crew chief helped her up a second time, and this time she was able to climb down to the ground. She leaned against Myrtenaster, stripped off her helmet, and wiped the sweat off her face. She didn't need a mirror to know that her hair was a mess. She watched as Ruby walked out of her hardstand to meet Oscar, quickly looked around to make sure Yang wasn't looking—she wasn't; Yang was describing blowing up the Goliath with her hands to Blake—and gave Oscar a quick kiss. Weiss closed her eyes and sighed, then pushed herself off the Typhoon's nose, signed the paperwork returning the aircraft to her ground crew, and walked out of the revetment. She needed food and sleep, in that order.
"Hauptmann Schnee! I mean, Weiss!" Weiss turned and saw Marrow Amin running towards her. His black hair stuck out at wild angles, matted with as much sweat as hers, and his tail was wagging. He brought himself up short at the sour expression on her face. "Uh, sorry, Hauptmann. Didn't mean to sound so familiar."
Weiss gave him a tired smile; she was too exhausted to argue, and his tail wasn't the only thing that reminded Weiss of a puppy. Damn his eyes…literally, she thought. "That's all right, Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"
"Nothing! Just wanted to say thanks for saving me from that Beowulf!" He blew out a breath. "I thought he had me. I wanted to shoot the other one off Blake's tail first, but I thought—well, anyhow, thanks." He stuck out a hand. "I mean, let me buy you dinner or something. Or lunch. Whatever the cafeteria is serving right now." Marrow abruptly realized he might have taken it too far. He was a Faunus; she was a Schnee, and the two didn't exactly get along, to say nothing about her higher rank and much greater experience.
"Sure, sounds great." Weiss' smile widened and on impulse, she stuck out her arm. Marrow hesitated, stunned for a moment, then slipped his arm through hers. Together, they walked towards the equipment room.
What sorcery is this? Slushpuppy ship? Well, maybe. Normally, I'm a rather big White Knight guy, but since Jaune is dead, that's not an option. (Thank goodness for "Love Hurts," where I can indulge my White Knight shipping.) And we have the return of Weiss' crew chief, Jung Freud, based on the character of the same name from the classic anime Gunbuster.
A couple of quick notes. Oscar switching from air-to-ground to air-to-air really is that quick in a F-18; two pilots did it in Operation Desert Storm, shooting down two MiGs and then bombing their assigned target. It proved the F/A-18 concept. The airborne laser really did exist, though it was attached to a 747 and used a lot more power than the B-1 could probably supply, but Rule of Cool here, and it allows Penny to have her laser. And it could indeed melt through metal: the ABL concept was to hit ascending ICBMs with laser beams that would detonate their fuel supply. The YAL-1 747 ABL was cancelled by the USAF in 2014 and the aircraft scrapped, though. And yes, Penny and Ruby's exchange about The Empire Strikes Back is kind of an homage to both Civil War and Armageddon. Guess Pietro needs to introduce Penny to some sci-fi...