Ace Combat Infinity
Grim Reaper
Chapter 1
Lost Butterfly
Low Earth Orbit, Wernher and Noah Enterprises satellite
The space station was a little boring at times. Camila thought otherwise. Her dream of becoming an astronaut was finally fulfilled after a lot of extensive training, right up till the launch from the Comona Islands in an SSTO and her arrival at this satellite. Though she wasn't here to conduct scientific experiments. She was here on behalf of Wernher and Noah Enterprises to test something called the "Papillon Project." It was not revealed until her second night here, where inside the bowels of the space station, she had assumed control of the chief product of this twisted corporate project: The QFA-44, a highly advanced drone fighter that could control other drones at the same time. But right now, it was being refueled at an airbase in Japan, so she had to wait for the satellite to pass over that region before she could take it out again.
"Kvasir, what day is it?" she asked, addressing the onboard AI system that controlled the various functions of the satellite.
"May 1st, ma'am," Kvasir said. "Current time is 12:41 A.M. U.S. Central. Why today, ma'am?" Camila grimaced. The soothing voice of the AI never failed to put her at ease, but not today. Almost 20 years since the impacts, she thought, floating over to her computer terminal and activating its holographic screen. Once the system had been booted up, she dug through the files until she came upon the history video she watched every once in a while to keep her sane. She selected it, and let Kvasir do the rest.
"It'll be twenty years to the day soon," Kvasir said, projecting a screen with stars and streaks of light in the background. "The day the sky was ripped apart, and countless bolts of light rained down upon us. I think this calls for a little history lesson."
The year 2019 was projected on the center of the screen, and then it began to rewind, eventually settling on the year 1994.
"In 1994, a group of asteroids was discovered taking a long elliptical orbit around the sun. They were created when an unknown asteroid struck the 1986-VG1 Ulysses, and an asteroid in orbit around Jupiter." A model of the Solar System appeared and zoomed in on the Jovian giant. A red line curved towards a small dot in the distance. Multiple red lines emerged from where the asteroids had collided.
"The orbit of these 'Ulysses Asteroids' was on a collision course with Earth with an estimated 10,000 meteors set to strike the surface." A graphic of Earth was displayed, and each of the red lines wrapped around the planet, and their predicted impact zones appeared.
"Since there was no way to divert the orbit of each asteroid, construction began on a vast anti-air railgun network, a last-ditch effort to intercept and destroy the asteroids. A model of the railgun was shown, and Camila knew what she was looking at. Project Space Guard Turret Network, otherwise known as Stonehenge. "They built six facilities. The test unit, Type 0, was built in China; Type 1 was built in America; and then four Type 5 units were built in Australia, Turkey, Namibia, and Argentina." A globe was projected, and it showed the location of each Stonehenge complex. The footage then cut to a newsreel shot from an aircraft which showed the asteroids entering Earth's atmosphere. Camila noticed the layout of the cockpit and pinpointed it as an Su-27 Flanker-B.
"In July 1999, the asteroids began to strike," Kvasir continued. The footage then cut to an amateur shot showing a meteor fragment coming down hard on a populated city. "Thanks to the railgun network, the damage was kept to a bare minimum… only about enough to destroy the entire world order. Never in its existence had mankind experienced such a catastrophe. It became to be called the 'Ulysses Disaster.'" Another globe appeared, and this time, the estimated damage from Ulysses was charted across the globe. Another graph appeared, and this showed the far worse side of the disaster: The impending global financial crisis that followed soon after.
"The near-total loss of infrastructure led to economic chaos…, particularly in the hard-hit Eurasian continent. To avoid total breakdown, the nations of Asia and southern Europe rearranged themselves into regional federations. Military budgets were slashed, and the federations poured most of their money into rebuilding." Another chart was displayed, showing the decrease in military spending and similar reconstruction efforts worldwide. Then another one was shown, showing the decrease in energy sources, another major problem brought out by the disaster.
"The depletion of energy sources brought on by the loss of territory soon proved to be a major problem, one that quickly led to an escalation in disputes over natural resources."
Then, an alarm cut through and wiped away the video. The satellite was beginning to pass over Japan, and Camila shook off the fatigue of the morning. It was time to rumble. Transmissions and sortie orders happened before the satellite completed its orbit every 90 minutes, which meant there was a time delay in the transmission. But not when it was right over a ground relay station. The familiar text was superimposed in the center of the screen, one that Camila always looked forward to:
- MISSION RECEIVED -
SORTIE ORDER
READY FOR LAUNCH
"...We'll continue this later," Kvasir said.
X
Air Base "Hokkaido," Japan
May 1, 2019
"Your name is Reaper?" the guy at the desk asked me. He was looking over my identification card, on which a 24-year-old man stood stoically facing the camera. His brown hair and golden eyes and thin jawline completed the mix. His eyes could see through anything and bore into the soul of anyone he looked at. Yup. That was me. Reaper.
The guy who always freaked out students wherever he went. Even his flight instructors knew not to piss this particular nugget off.
"Yes, that's me," I said. "Been looking for another PMC to join, ever since the last one went out of business."
"Huh," the guy behind the counter said. "Well, Goodfellow has been looking for another member to fill in Bone Arrow Squadron, so you are in good hands there." He reached below the counter and pulled out a flight suit that looked just about right, and a patch bearing my emblem: A Grim Reaper holding a scythe. My personal favorite emblem since flight school.
"Better hurry," the guy continued. "Goodfellow is about to host a briefing in about 2 minutes."
I thanked the guy, changed into my flight suit, and made my way to the briefing room, a small quaint room in the center of the building. The room was almost full save for a seat next to a guy who had a crab emblem on his sleeve.
"Is this seat free?" I asked him, and he looked at me.
"You new around here, mate?" he said. I detected a trace of British in his voice and a little Pakistani.
"Yeah," I said. "Just got done checking in a few minutes ago."
"Well, have a seat then!" he said, gesturing to the seat. "My name's Omega, by the way."
"Reaper," I said., shaking his hand.
"Ah, the Grim Reaper, right?" he said, noticing my emblem: A gray crab in front of a lightning bolt over a black background. "Spooky. And it's not even Halloween yet."
"Quiet," a voice said behind him. "Goodfellow is about to get started."
"Shut up, Bronco," Omega said, gesturing to a stocky man behind him, his black hair cresting down on his face. "You are the one who is usually quiet during a sortie!"
"That's because you are constantly shooting off your mouth rather than your missiles," Bronco said cooly, leaning back in his seat.
"You-" Omega began, but stopped himself and turned around just as a man walked up to the podium.
Goodfellow looked like an average man that you'd find in an office: A small mustache, glasses, and neat hair. But he was the businessman in charge of a PMC.
"Alright. Time to start the briefing," he said, booting up the software. I caught a glimpse of the logo: A vector arrowhead with the text "Arrows Air Defense and Security" beneath it. "We've got a new guy here today, but I'll have to cut the introductions short. My name's Goodfellow, and I'm your rep from the Arrows." The title screen faded and was replaced with a map of the world, alongside a portrait of Goodfellow himself. The photo was replaced with another Arrows logo. "As you know," Goodfellow continued, "Arrows is a mercenary force specializing in aerial warfare. Some people like to call us 'pirates.'" He chuckled, and I couldn't blame him. Pirates, lapdogs, ashseekers, anything negative was commonly associated with mercenaries these days.
"I prefer they call us 'privateers,' at least," Goodfellow continued, and another logo appeared on the screen. "We are being employed by the UN Security Council, after all." Holy shit. This was huge. A mercenary with a binding contract to the UN? No wonder they had such good briefing software. I wondered if they had good aircraft as well. The two logos were wiped from the screen as Goodfellow continued.
"Anyway, the UNSC's Military Staff Committee just sent Arrows a request for deployment." The map zoomed in on Japan. "It was originally going to be an escort mission for the UNF Pacific fleet stationed in Tokyo Bay, but that's changed." The map zoomed even closer to Tokyo.
"We have multiple unknown UAVs flying over Area J4E, Japan's former capital of Tokyo. In other words, right here." The map shifted just as two images of the UAVs were shown. Who could possibly be flying UAVs over a heavily guarded Pacific fleet? Amateurs did that when taking professional photos, but the UN didn't take much interest in seeing photos of their ships posted all over the internet. And these didn't even look like the usual quadcopters owned by civilians. These looked more like military UAVs.
"The UAVs are likely armed," Goodfellow said, bringing me back to the present. "We need them downed before they can reach city limits. This'll be the first sortie for the rookie here, TAC name 'Reaper.'" My logo appeared on the screen. There were several hushed whispers around in the room, but Goodfellow did nothing to stop them. "Omega from the Bone Arrow flight will be supporting you on this mission. Follow his instructions." Omega nudged me and gave me a smile. His portrait along with his emblem (I recognized it as the Cancer Crab after a closer look) appeared on the screen. "I'll be expecting results, you hear? Dismissed."
The briefing room filled with rumblings as the pilots got up and headed over to the hangar bays. "Follow me, rookie!" Omega said, leading me down the hallway and to my hangar. "Here's your war chariot."
In the middle of the hangar bay sat a pretty well-used F-16C Fighting Falcon. I recognized the USAF markings that were partially scratched off. This had to be an older bird, purchased from the USAF once they shelved this particular bird.
"Not too shabby for a first plane," I said, hopping into the cockpit.
Yeah, you'll get used to it," Omega said. "I'll be joining you up there in my Typhoon soon. See ya." He left.
A Typhoon, I thought, closing the cockpit and beginning to go through the preflight checklist. Not too shabby for a mercenary pilot or this PMC. The crew members in the hangar began loading up my Falcon with today's mission in mind: Two AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, and six AIM-120D AMRAAM missiles. The innermost pylons, usually reserved for external fuel tanks, served this purpose to mount extra ordinance. A good bit of work went into this bird to modify it for us in this PMC. Once they were done, I powered on the engine and eased it onto the runway. The other mercenaries were already in the air, and I saw an F-16F Fighting Falcon emerge from its hangar and it joined us on the runway as well. I caught a glimpse of a mustang and a swallow on the vertical stabilizer.
"Hey, rookie," a new voice came over the comm. "My name's Bronco. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Bronco," I said.
"Hey! What about me?" a female voice cut in.
"And that's my WSO, Jay," Bronco said. "But don't say 'Nyaa!' around her. She'll claw your eyes out."
"Shut up and get the plane rolling, Bronco," Jay muttered.
I chuckled to myself and eased the plane onto the runway. "Bone Arrow 4, the runway is clear. Go now," the ATC ordered. I opened up the throttle and the F-16C shot down the runway, its afterburner blazing. I then pulled up on the stick and eased the fighter into the sky. It never got old, seeing the town and the base below shrink to the size of toys. I retracted the landing gear a few moments later and watched as Omega and Bronco formed up on me.
The flight to Tokyo was pretty short, but it still felt a little boring. On the way there, it started to snow. Odd. It was still months away from wintertime here, with the southern hemisphere's backward seasons. But the snow was too dirty to be the white powdery substance I grew up with in California. At least until Omega pointed it out for me.
"Lot of meteor dust in the air again today," he said. "Hard to believe it's already 20 years, huh? And the sky's still full of that junk."
"Yeah," I said, noticing the huge Ulysees crater down below. I shuddered at the thought of living in that city. In some places, these giant craters have been turned into tourist attractions, where people could see the impacts that scarred the Earth. No wonder Japan had to relocate its capital. "I wouldn't call this place safe anymore."
Suddenly, another voice joined us on our comms. "This is the JASDF-309 Squadron," a male voice said. All business. "Requesting affiliation."
"This is Omega from Arrows' Bone Arrow Squadron, working under independent UN command. We're here on operational support," Omega said. I was surprised by how smoothly he said that.
"The Pirates, huh?" the JASDF pilot said, chuckling to himself. "HQ told us to expect you. Good luck out there."
"Yeah, you too," I said, before cutting the comms.
"Goodfellow to all Bone Arrows," Goodfellow said. "We will now commence mission operations. Engage any enemy craft you come across."
"Omega, affirmative," Omega said, just as a few blips came across on my radar. "Bandits on our twelve. Probably surveillance UAVs."
I flicked my 'MASTER ARM' switch to 'On' and uncaged all of my missiles. Here we go, I thought. Better not disappoint them. "Bone Arrow 4, also affirmative," I said. "Let's go, Omega."
"Roger," Omega said.
"Bone Arrow 3, roger. Master Arm is on," Bronco said. "Jay, give me the targets."
"Targets are all painted," Jay said. Damn, she worked fast. "Line 'em up, Bronco."
"Cleared to engage," Goodfellow said.
"Righto," I said, locking on to the first UAV and firing a Sidewinder. The lightly armored target exploded upon contact with the explosive warhead. I quickly switched to the second one and fired another Sidewinder, reducing that drone to debris.
"Keep yourself together, rookie," Omega said, chuckling. "These drones aren't even armed."
"Yeah, but I'll take Goodfellow's word for it," I said.
"All enemy UAVs down," Goodfellow said.
"Well, that was-" I began, but then new contacts appeared.
"All units, we've got new bandits approaching," Goodfellow said. "Use your long-range search to get to their location. Switch to your wide-range battle map." I did, and in doing so, located the drone over a tall office building. As soon as the drone was up close, I let loose with my gun, shredding the drone to pieces.
"Another enemy flight approaching," Goodfellow said.
"More of them?!" Omega cried.
"Be careful," Goodfellow warned. "A few of the bandits have anti-air ordnance on them."
"Really?" I said, forming up with Bronco and Omega. "Where are these guys coming from?"
"Beats me," Bronco said, letting loose with a pair of AMRAAMs. They both impacted two of the UAVs and disintegrated them. I took care of the remaining one with a quick cannon burst. Another UAV that slipped past us tried to get on my six, but I pulled a high-g maneuver and was behind it before its computers could register it.
"Whoa, is that a Quox?!" one of the JASDF said.
"What's a Quox?" I asked, gunning the drone down.
"High-performance drone," the pilot said. "They are manufactured by Japan for use in the regular forces. I don't know any outside operators besides the United States and the JASDF."
"Whatever they are, they are a lot more agile than the last guys," Omega said. "Might just a resemblance to the other variant."
"All UAVs destroyed," Goodfellow said. "Good work."
Suddenly, more radar blips appeared. "Guess you spoke too soon, Goodfellow," I said, pulling my F-16C around to engage the bandits.
"More radar blips? What the hell?" Omega commented.
"Calm down and we'll take them out just like the rest," Bronco said.
"Enemy UAVs approaching!" a new voice joined us. "Open CIWS fire!" Tracers exploded from the cruiser in the harbor below, and the UAVs danced around it like angry hornets.
"Enemy UAVs are attacking urban areas," Goodfellow updated us. "They're striking the coastline from Shinagawa to Kawasaki."
"Damage report!" Omega called out.
"There's an evacuation order out for the coastal areas," another JASDF pilot told us, just as I caught a glimpse of the UAVs.
"They're the same armed versions we just ran into!" Omega cried, just as we blew past them.
"All units, eliminate them before there's any more damage!" Goodfellow ordered.
"Roger," I said. I pulled around and locked two of the three up with my AMRAAMs. Trying to conserve ammo. I let both of them loose and they destroyed two of them. A Sidewinder from Bronco finished the last one off.
"All enemy UAVs down," Goodfellow said. "No further enemy presence in this airspace."
I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God.
"This is JASDF-309," the first pilot we ran into said. "Thanks for your support."
"This is the captain of the UNF cruiser USS Anzio," the captain of the cruiser said. "We thank you for your support as well."
"Glad to be of service!" Omega said, sounding unusually chipper.
"I'm getting the latest damage report now," Goodfellow said. "Looks like they didn't reach the evac zones. Not too shabby, Reaper."
"Thanks, Goodfellow," I said. "And not too bad for my first ever sortie with you guys."
"These things-Quox craft. Why would they be striking Tokyo?" Omega asked, falling into formation with me and Bronco.
"I'll get the UNF to brief me on the UAVs later," Goodfellow said. "All units, cleared to return home. Expect a bonus."
"Yeehaw!" Bronco cried. "Excellent work out there, Reaper! Drinks are on me when we get home!"
"As long as you don't end up blackout drunk again," Jay said. "Remember last time you challenged Omega to a drinking contest?"
"Sheesh, don't spoil the fun, Jay," Bronco said. "Bone Arrows, on me. Let's head back to base and see what the boss has to offer."
X
"This is believed to be a terrorist attack carried out by armed forces from the Iyuli region," Goodfellow said, after we had landed back at base. Right away, I felt bells going off in my head.
Iyuli. Why did it sound so familiar?
"They've also caused extensive damage to Tokyo. The naval fleet was also attacked, so the UNF generals are all furious right now." He scratched his head before continuing. "The UAV they used is an upgraded version of the MQ-90 Quox, a Japanese-made UAV that has also been deployed in the Americas. It may be unmanned, but it's still a very powerful bomber. It's equipped with an aggressive aerodynamic design and a new type of semi-automatic control system." No wonder that JASDF pilot was shocked to see Quoxes of all aircraft operating in Japanese airspace. "The UNSC says it's a Wernher Noah product. Apparently, the control system's a top-secret design that they stole. Werhner denies everything, of course. Navigation would normally use a system that relies on an improved GPS satellite tech, but this craft uses a different relay system for its operations."
Wernher Noah. Wernher. Noah. Again, why did this all sound familiar? I need to catch up on some history when this was over.
"We also caught an unknown fighter craft flying at high altitude over the area." An image taken by a ground station appeared on the screen. It was far too blurry to make anything out, but I caught a distinct delta-wing design and two small things sticking out from the front of the plane like canards.
"The UN's going to raid and inspect Wernher's facilities in Iyuli and the other special zones shorty. Wernher Noah is the biggest company in its field. Normally, the UN doesn't like doing anything to make them angry. Now, though, I guess they don't have much of a choice," Goodfellow concluded. "However, I have to congratulate you for stopping the attack on the UNF fleet. Get some rest, and expect to be redeployed shortly. Dismissed."
The pilots filed out of the room, with Bronco and Jay heading to the bar to mix up some drinks for the pilots. Only I remained, staring at the image of the unknown fighter.
"Hey, buddy. You alright?" It was Omega. Guess he decided to remain behind too.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I said.
"Good job today," he said, smiling at me. "You fly like that, and you'll end up as our number one in no time soon!" He then glanced at the picture of the unknown fighter. "That's a pretty high-spec craft. Don't you think we'll be encountering it soon?"
"Maybe," I said, staring at it even harder. Something told me that this was going to be a lot more than what I had originally anticipated.
