Chapter 3

Rescue

Air Base "Trinity," Georgia

"Right now, we've got a hostage-rescue operation taking place at a Wernher facility in Area R2M, southwestern Iyuli," Goodfellow said, as the briefing software finished loading. The map zoomed in on the most southern part of the special economic zone. An aerial map of the area was shown. "It's being led by a team of regular military forces. The terror group we're up against is likely to stage a large-scale counterattack." The map shifted, and arrows representing our squadron swooped through the canyon, taking out enemy installations. "You'll be providing close-air support, going in ahead of our commando forces to destroy surveillance sites," Goodfellow instructed. "You'll also be responsible for striking the hostiles around the facility to ensure a smooth approach for our commandos. Once we've secured the nine Greymen hostages held in the central facility, we'll need you to back up the commandos as they pull out of the area." Photos of the elite appeared on the screen. "On this op, you'll be working alongside a UNAF tactical fighter squadron, the 'Ridgebacks,'" Goodfellow said with disdain.

On the screen, the crest of the Ridgebacks was shown: a dog in the center of a white background, surrounded by two red stripes and multiple stars. All of that was suspended in a shield, and the squadron's name appeared at the bottom. Two portraits appeared. The first showed a man with dead-set eyes looking at the camera. His tacname, Slash, appeared above his photo. The second showed a pretty-looking woman, her face a lot more relaxed than Slash's. Her tacname, Edge, appeared above her photo as well.

"Unlike you guys, they're about as elite as a force as you can get," Goodfellow said, an uncharacteristic sharpness to his voice. "If we don't rack up more kills than they do, it's gonna impact my bottom line, and thus, yours. Dismissed."

"What was Goodfellow so tense about?" I asked as we headed down to the hangars.

"The Ridgebacks?" Omega said, a hint of disdain also in his voice. "Some people in the official military don't see mercenaries as military assets. More like expandable units." He winced. "But we'll show these bastards who the real pilots are!"

I arrived at my hangar, and saw that my F-16 had been prepped. In lieu of the standard air-to-air loadout, two of the hardpoints had been filled with SDBs (Small Diameter Bombs, a handy alternative to GBUs) and air-to-ground missiles, while still retaining two AMRAAMs and two Sidewinders. A centerline tank was attached to compensate for the long flight.

"Here you go," I heard a voice behind me say. I turned and saw Avril standing behind me, holding my helmet in my hand. "How'd you like the new look?"

"It's pretty awesome," I said, as she tossed my helmet over. I caught it and saw that it had been shined while having a Grim Reaper logo painted in a corner. "Nice shine," I said, putting my helmet on and looking at the canopy. It had been shined to the point that I could see my own reflection clearly.

"I buffed up the canopy with a nice shine, so you can really see the sky," she said, as I lowered myself into the cockpit and began the system checks.

"Hey, Reaper?" I looked at her. "When you get back, tell me what the color of the sky is."

I gave Avril a thumbs-up as I lowered the canopy and prepared to taxi out of the hangar. She gave me a thumbs-up as well before the canopy closed and shut me out from the world.

I took a deep breath, calming myself down as I launched into the air, the air base shrinking from sight. The landing gear retracted with a sharp clunk, as we set forward on our mission.

X

After a short flight, we reached the canyon leading into Iyuli. Goodfellow had instructed us to lower our altitude so that our wings grazed the tops of the cliff face.

"Bone Arrows," he said, "we are now commencing the hostage rescue operation."

"This is Lieutenant Bertz, Marine FAC, callsign Sea Goblin," a new voice joined us on the comms. Up ahead, I could make out the shape of two CH-47 Chinook helicopters and two CH-53 Sea Stallions. They were escorted by 4 F/A-18F Super Hornets and 6 F-16C Fighting Falcons. Must be one hell of a rescue force. "I'm currently flying en route to our goal point. We've got no defense against anti-air fire. Requesting you subdue all hostile forces in our path. I'll be counting on you, Pirates."

"You heard him," Goodfellow said, as the first targets appeared on my HUD. "The commando forces are en route. Support the commandos until they reach the suspected holding point for the hostages. First up, destroy any and all enemy installations in their flight path. Time to get to work!"

"Roger," I said. "Bone Arrow 4, engaging!"

"Bone Arrow 1, engaging," Viper said, peeling off and hitting a pair of enemy gunboats.

"Bone Arrow 2, engaging!" Omega called.

"Bone Arrow 3, engaging!" Bronco called. "Hey, Jay! Line those fuckers up!"

"You got it!" Jay cried. "Let 'er rip, Bronco!" A single Paveway dropped from Bronco's F-16F and decimated several AA installations nearby.

"Viper to Bone Arrows," Viper said, pulling out of an attack dive on an enemy warehouse. "Keep an eye on your attitude while you're striking your targets."

"Omega, roger," Omega said, destroying two gunboats and a SAM battery.

"Viper, you back up the rookie," Goodfellow instructed.

"Yep," Viper said, casually. He seemed to enjoy this.

"Hey!" I cried, blasting a pair of AA guns and a SAM battery with a well-placed Maverick salvo. "I need no mentoring from an ace! I got this!" I could feel a little bit of my nugget persona leaking out.

"Time for a little mano-a-mano flight training," Viper said, oblivious to what I said. "I call it 'Viper's Ace Seminar 101.' Hey, rookie. You got any air-to-ground special weapons loaded?"

"Yeah," I said, narrowly avoiding a SAM. He was oblivious to the fact that I had both SDBs and Mavericks loaded.

"If you do, try 'em out sometime. They could prove useful," Viper said. He sounded like my flight instructor pointing out my joystick, even though I knew what it was and how to operate it. "If you got 'em, they might as well be useful, eh?"

I groaned and silenced a pair of AA installations and pulled a high-g turn to avoid a SAM.

"Enemy installations in the area destroyed," Goodfellow said. "Proceed to the target point."

"Alright," Viper said, as he nailed several gunboats in the river. "Time for 'Viper's Ace Seminar 102.' Rookie, watch the data on your HUD. Enemies with a dotted-line container around them are blocked by the terrain. You can't hit 'em from where you are. Reposition yourself and attack from that direction. Slow and steady wins the race, and all that."

"Yeah, thanks for the point-out," I bit back sarcastically, nailing an AA gun and a SAM battery from behind a cliff-face.

Meanwhile, Omega and Bronco were making good progress, managing to maul several AA installations and enemy ground forces. The Marines behind us were also making good progress, for being in slow and steady choppers.

"Installations confirmed destroyed," Goodfellow said again. "Proceed to the next objective."

"1 km to destination," Bertz said. I could hear the roar of the chopper's rotors from above him. "We appreciate the help, pirates!"

Suddenly, I noticed a radar contact from behind. "Uhh, guys?" I said as we formed up with each other. "We got company."

"Huh? Radar blip from behind, responding to IFF," Omega said, just as confused. "Allies?"

Suddenly, four distinct aircraft zoomed over our heads. I recognized the distinct forward-swept wings and sharp cockpit design of the ASF-X Shinden II. Apparently, the Ridgebacks had to be high-level UN pilots. But the thing that set them apart was that all of them had a single white line painted along their spines.

"Move," the flight lead said rudely.

"Whoa!" Omega said.

"Edge to Slash," a female voice said through the comm. "The 'pirates' got in ahead of us."

"Yeah. Thanks for the opening act," Slash said, even though these guys just sat behind us and watch us do all the work. "We'll take over from here." Jeez, were these guys full of themselves?

"There they are," Viper said. "I see the single lines on their backs."

"Stupid modern art emblems," Omega said, scoffing at the unusual paint scheme of the Shindens.

"This is the UNF-affiliated AWACS Sky Eye," a new voice cut in. "I'll be directing combat ops for all active aircraft."

"This is Goodfellow. We are now commencing tandem operations," our boss cut in. "Sky Eye will take over command of all Arrows units."

"Roger," I said. "Switching to UNF frequencies."

"All Ridgeback units, ignore these clowns and proceed with your mission as normal," Slash said. Again, further proof that these guys were just full of themselves. And he didn't know that mercenaries had other things to fight for instead of a paycheck. I think that mercenaries were so common these days that everyone associated them with money-hungry killers.

"Destroy your targets before those elite fools can get to them," Goodfellow ordered with a bit of harshness in his voice. "They're gonna take all of our money."

"Roger, Goodfellow," I said, spotting a small defense complex and trashing it with a Maverick salvo.

"Copy that," Omega said cheerily, knocking out an armored battalion stationed near our objective. "Your worst nightmare, huh?"

"It could be worse," I said, nailing another pair of AA guns and swinging around to take care of a gunboat. "We could be sent in as barrier troops or even worse on an unarmed recon mission. These guys won't even bat an eye or add us to their official casualty count."

"That's because mercenaries are low-lives," Slash said, taking out an installation with a sweeping pass. "Always down in the dirt, scavenging off of the corpses of whatever you can find. You'll never be as elite like us."

"Then why didn't you clear out those installations on the way in?" Bronco retorted, destroying another installation in a go. "You're one to talk, for being the posterboys of the UNF."

"These Shindens are not heavily armed," Slash said, forming up with another Ridgeback that wasn't Edge's and nailing a pair of gunboats. "We needed your help because top brass said so. I think that was a stupid and reckless decision. We could have undertaken this operation by ourselves if we could."

"Heh. I bet you couldn't risk your fancy toys to clear out the early installations," Bronco said. "You guys are too cautious. You would even have the guts to take out an enemy base if given the chance."

As if to add insult to injury, Viper chose this moment to deliver his next seminar. "'Viper's Ace Seminar 103': Rookie, you got to be hungry. Whether you're 'elite' or not means nothing. You perform in battle, you get to reap the rewards. That's just how we operate. Never let 'em take your prey."

"Let's go, Reaper," Omega said.

"Roger," I said, as I dove on a pair of AA guns and blew them up with a gun burst before a Ridgeback Shinden could get to them. Just then a frantic transmission came through from Sea Goblin.

"This is Lieutenant Bertz of Marine Forward Air Control. We have SAMs stationed in our path. Request fire support!" Bertz yelled through the comm.

"Sky Eye to all units. Secure the helicopters' LZ," Sky Eye ordered.

"Roger, Ridgeback here," Slash said. "Wilco, Sky Eye. Let's go, Ridgebacks."

"Don't let them get that," Omega said, as he dropped a pair of SDBs on a pair of sites and destroyed them.

"SAMs are dangerous," Viper said. "If you see one fire, take evasive action immediately."

"Hurry up!" Bertz yelled. "We're gonna get shot down!"

"How many SAMs do we have?" Omega asked.

"Three in all," Sky Eye said. "Engage and destroy."

"Sorry, pirates," Slash said, sarcastically.

"Whoa, hands-off, man," Omega said, dropping a pair of SDBs on a SAM site and blowing it apart.

"Oh. You're still there?" Slash asked sarcastically, now directed at me. "I figured the 'Grim Reaper' would've been off to his next target by now."

"Yeah? Says the guy who stood back watching us do all of your dirty work," I snapped, firing a Maverick at a SAM site and blowing it up.

"Second enemy SAM site destroyed," Sky Eye said. "One SAM remaining."

"Fox 3!" I called, firing my last Maverick at that SAM site before Slash could perform his dive attack.

"Lucky shot," he muttered, before breaking away. "You won't be so lucky next time."

I chuckled and pulled out of my dive, dropping my last SDBs on a small enemy encampment and destroying them.

"All anti-air missile sites offline," Sky Eye confirmed.

"Thanks for the help!" Bertz called. "Commencing landing!" The sound of rotor blades filled my ears as I saw the choppers begin their landing approach and touched down beside the main building containing the Grey Men.

"All airborne units, watch over your area and destroy the remaining enemy hotspots," Sky Eye ordered.

"Landing complete," Bertz said. "We're going in! Collins, move Bravo Team to the rear."

"Roger!" Collins barked.

"Alpha Team en route," Bertz said. I heard periodic bursts of gunfire as the Marines pushed their way through the building. Meanwhile, Omega dove on a couple of tanks stationed near the building and destroyed them.

"Call 'emselves 'privateers,' huh?" Edge said, snarkily.

"You got anything better besides 'pirates?'" I asked, frantically scanning my radar.

"Curious about the pirates, Edge?" Slash asked.

"Nah," Edge said. "Was just expecting more from them."

"Yep. Just a bunch of irregulars," Slash said, already inflating his oversized ego. "Try not to mess up the pace here, all right?"

"Ugh," Omega groaned. "They beat us in kill count, and now they think they run the place… Maybe I just felt like taking it easy against these wimps, y'know?"

"Omega, don't ease up on me," Viper ordered. "They may be weak, but that doesn't mean you can afford to slack off."

"You just never shut up," Slash muttered. "All Ridgeback units, this might be a cakewalk, but stay focused."

"Omega," I said, scanning my radar, "if you're looking for action, you're gonna get it. Sky Eye, I'm detecting a formation of enemy choppers heading our way, bearing 350."

"Roger, Bone Arrow 4," Sky Eye said. "Marking them now."

A formation of 3 Mi-24Ps appeared on my HUD, and I locked two of them up with my AMRAAMs.

"Sorry, Reaper, but these are for me," Slash said, blowing past me.

"Oh, no, you don't!" I said, slamming my finger on the trigger. "Fox 3!" They both shot off the rails of my F-16 and plowed into the two Hinds, causing them to spiral down to the Earth in flames. A single gun burst destroyed the other Hind before Slash could fire a heatseeker at it.

"Not too shabby for irregulars?" I taunted, pulling away from Slash's Shinden as it rejoined the other Ridgebacks. I could hear him grumbling about something.

"Hell yeah, rookie!" Viper said, adding his two cents. "Show those Single Line bozos who they are dealing with!"

Slash just grumbled about something and rejoined his squadron.

"We're inside the target facility," Bertz reported. "Facing light resistance. Moving forward."

"Sky Eye, roger," the AWACS confirmed.

"This is Alpha Team. Approaching target room." A moment of tense silence. "Storming in!" Another moment of silence. I felt my hands tighten as they gripped the controls, hoping that the hostages had been rescued.

"What?" Bertz's shocked tone nearly knocked me out of my seat.

"Lieutenant Bertz, status report, Sky Eye ordered.

"We have no prisoners in sight," Bertz said, and I felt my stomach drop. "Repeat no prisoners! The entire facility is unmanned!"

"So this was all for nothing?" Omega said, just as stunned as I was.

Suddenly, several explosions dotted the sky in front of us. I felt the entire plane wobble as the shockwave passed through it.

"What?!" I called out, and at the same time the AWACS said did so as well. Suddenly, a great ball of fire exploded out from it, and I felt the entire plane nose dive to the ground. I pulled up just as the altimeter warning began to blare.

"Aaargh!" a UNF pilot called out, who was unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast. "I'm hit! I'm bailing out!" A puff of smoke emerged from one of the planes of Javelin Squadron as the pilot and WSO bailed out. However, the other planes weren't as lucky as they had been caught in the blast, destroying them. No chutes were sighted.

"What was that?" Goodfellow demanded.

"What the hell?!" Viper called.

"Javelin Squadron, Saber Squadron, do you copy?" Sky Eye said, frantically trying to establish contact between the two.

"Someone explain what the hell is going on!" Omega demanded.

"Stay in formation!" Slash ordered. "Keep focused on your surroundings!"

"Some kind of high explosive shell?!" Goodfellow theorized.

"That can't be the end of it!" Viper said. "They're gonna hit us again!"

"This is Sky Eye!" our faithful AWACS said. "All units, we've got something flying in at supersonic speed! It's coming at you from long range! Lower your altitude!"

"What's he want us to do, burrow underground?!" Omega yelled.

"Damn it!" Viper spat. "Into the canyon! That's the only way!"

"Commando team, stand by where you are!" Sky Eye ordered. "Anyone at high altitude is an open target! Move it!"

"Arrows, all units! Follow Viper into the canyon!" Goodfellow ordered.

"Ridgebacks, follow me," Slash said in his usual snarky self. "I'll mark out the route."

"Right behind you," Edge said, as another shell detonated. I could feel the shockwave pressing against my canopy as I dived in after Viper. The canyon walls pressed up against my canopy as I swerved left and right, dodging the encroaching walls.

"You'll be open to hostile fire at high altitude," Sky Eye said. "I'm restricting your altitude to 800m."

"All flights at higher altitudes, descend into the canyon now!" Viper called.

"Rookie, stay calm!" Omega called, as he tailed me. "Watch the altimeter on your HUD!"

"Copy that!" I called. "Bronco, how are you holding up?"

"Still holding up just fine," Bronco said. "Jay, you?"

"Never better," she said, grunting as Bronco made a sharp turn.

"We think the previous attack came from a railgun," Sky Eye said. A railgun?! There was only one kind of railgun in the world! That means the terrorists had… oh no. Stonehenge.

"Second way of fire imminent," Sky Eye said, interrupting my train of thought. "All units, proceed through the canyon and escape this airspace."

"Yo, rookie!" Omega called. "Don't fall behind, Viper!"

"20 km to escape line," Sky Eye said, as more shells exploded around us. "Incoming blast! Watch the danger zone on your HUD!"

"Ugh, when are they going to stop?!" Omega cried, as the explosions bloomed all around us.

"Second wave of hostile fire detected," Sky Eye said, as the explosions dissipated. "I'm sending over the estimated point of landing and blast zone to all units. Get out of the blast zone before my countdown hits zero." Then a second later, "Five, four, three, two, one… impact!"

Explosions bloomed all around us, and I fought the F-16 as it attempted to nose dive into the ground, but it recovered faster than usual. Viper's MiG-21 below past the canyon face, and I, Omega, and Bronco followed close behind.

"You are now clear of the airspace," Sky Eye said. I looked down at my GPS and saw that we had just passed into Georgian airspace. "Enemy fire has subsided. Removing altitude restrictions." I breathed a sigh of relief as I pulled up beyond the canyon lip.

"Whew!" Omega called from behind. "Not gonna deal with THAT again!"

"Arrows, all units report," Goodfellow ordered. "Rookie, you still alive?"

"Alive and kicking, Goodfellow," I said.

"Bone Arrow flight fully accounted for," Viper said.

"What in the hell was that?!" Omega said.

"I don't know, but when I hear 'railgun,' only one thing comes to mind." So, he had the same hunch that I did, and it wasn't pretty.

"Yeah," Viper said.

"We would've been out quicker if these pests could actually keep formation," Slash said. So, he had the decency to take credit for our victory, and then whine when we couldn't keep a straight line?

"You're one to talk if you kept flapping your gums instead of your missiles," I snapped back. Slash wisely chose not to respond.

"Slash to Ridgebacks, we're going home."

"Roger," Edge said. "See ya, pirates."

"All business, huh?" Omega said, watching the formation of Shindens break off and fly away.

"Viper, sounds like you got a good pupil there," Goodfellow said.

"Copy that," Viper said. "Better get 'Viper's Ace Seminar 104' ready. It's gonna be a lot tougher than the last three."

"Bone Arrow flight, RTB," Sky Eye ordered.

X

As soon as we landed, we left our planes in a hurry. I, however, wanted to stay behind to inspect my F-16C. It was burnt in some places where the shells from the railgun had hit, but otherwise, it was in optimal condition. When Avril saw it, however, she went livid.

"Do you know how long it took me to build this thing?!" she screeched. "And how close you came to wrecking it?!"

"Close?" I cried. "The shell's shockwave must have left it more damaged than I thought!"

"Well, you better keep returning this plane to me in one piece, mister," Avril said, leveling a finger at me. "I didn't tear these wings off of an F-2 for nothing." Now that I looked closer, the wings were more in line with what the F-2 Zero had, because of the extra 2 hardpoints. Looks like she did do a fair bit of custom work into this plane as well.

"Huh," I said. "No wonder you take pride in your creation." Avril smiled at me.

"Sound like someone here knows where their head belongs," she teased. I shook my head and sighed.

"I better go," I said. "Goodfellow wants a debrief right about now."

I waved Avril goodbye and settled in the briefing room right around the same time Goodfellow walked up.

"The terrorist groups were apparently planning to commandeer an anti-air railgun in Turkey. We were too late to stop them, and now it's in the hands of the enemy," he said, rubbing his eyes. "They're using Menhir-3, a geosynchronous satellite, to aim the gun. Due to the Comprehensive Space Warfare Ban Treaty, we're not allowed to touch it." A schematic of the satellite appeared, along with the treaty entry. It made sense. When the Stonehenge railguns were first activated, the gun's aiming was limited by the computer technology of its time, so the space agencies of the world launched guidance satellites to help speed up the aiming process and hopefully prevent worldwide calamity.

"Luckily, the gun can only fire extreme close-range SS ordnance, which gives it the shortest range we can hope for. Let me be clear, though, that it's "extreme close-range" only in astronomical terms. What's more, its power is overwhelming. It can cover a 4 million foot radius, which means we've essentially lost air superiority in Eastern Europe and the western Middle East." A projection of the world was shown, and a red circle appeared, blotting out most of the Middle East and Southeastern Europe. I gulped.

"We also have a confirmed SSTO launch from the West Indies a few days back," Goodfellow said, yawning. "That presents the possibility that Wernher's satellites have been seized by the terrorists." A dead silence landed in the room.

"To comprehend our losses of Javelin and Sabre Squadrons, the UN has sent a PMC force to rendezvous with us. However, they will not be due for a few days due to them finishing another contract, so we'll have to make do with what we have," Goodfellow said. "Until then, get some rest. Dismissed."