Chapter 2. Skys of fire.
The sirens of first responders kept Ghost awake during the aftermath that led late into the night. The second that Ghost and Mist landed they rushed to help the clean up of the town. 17 aircraft crashed into the town. Ghost caught rides on whatever was heading in the direction of a downed aircraft. He still couldn't believe it, Yuktobaina actually invaded Erusea and Osea. He saw bodies piled up on the streets. He searched the debris for the Yuktobanian flag, and every single plane carried it.
"Those bastards actually did it" Mist was lost for words everyone was aware of the threats Yuktobania was making towards the IUN for its Involvment in Emmeria but nobody believed they would follow through. However there they stood at the scorched remains of a Yuktobainian fighter. All around them lay something Bodies un exploded missles and bombs. Sombody was walking around with a piece of shrapnell stuck in his left arm.
"We need to avenge what happened here" Ghost said to Mist.
"That's gonna be hard, Anchorhead and Farbanti fell a few hours ago" The voice of Predator interjected.
"How did they push so damn far in" Ghost fumed.
"They had Bombers and fighters en route hours before they declared war" Predator said again.
"You sure as hell seem to have the answer to everything dont you Predator, Look around you!" Mist snapped.
"I see it kid, one day you're going to learn this cuts both ways" Predator shot back.
"Both of you shut up!" Ghost yelled. "Predator who was HQ so stuck up about that they could't help us?"
"That's above your clearance level" Predator responded.
"Fine" Ghost walked away towards a few Erusean national guard members who were rummaging through the wreckage of a SU35.
"We got a live one here!" One of the soldiers yelled. Ghost hurried over to the soldier who was attempting to lift a heavy piece of metal off of what looked like a younger man. Ghost said nothing, he quickly ran over to the soldier and helped him lift allowing the man to get out.
"Thank you" the man said and scurried away.
"Thanks pilot any long the guy woulda probably cooked" the soldier took a breath.
"How bad is the extent of the damage?" Ghost asked.
"We got hit pretty hard luckly only a few of the bombers got their loads off, but the wreckage from the bombers complicates things" the soldier said as he took a deep breath.
"How many civillians" Ghost asked. The soldier looked into Ghost's eyes.
"Over 600, coutless more are burned up, look you boys did all you could up there"
"We didn't do enough" Ghost walked off. Back at the base pilots were blabbering about something in the sky over farbanti. They said it flew almost like something that is super natural as if it knew what its targets were before it entered the combat zone. "Could this be who Predator was so shook about?" Ghost thought to himself. Nobody knew what the situation was. All they knew was that Yuktobania had invaded. Hours later Ghost was laying in his barracks; he was still haunted by the sights he saw in the town. He heard three knocks on his door and went to answer. It was Predator and Mist both in their flight uniforms.
"Weve got a briefing you should probably come to it" Predator said. Ghost quickly threw on his flight suit and joined his squad mates. "Hey Uh i'm sorry about yesterday Ghost" Predator apologized.
"It's okay," Ghost said dryly. Predator stopped and put his hand on Ghosts soldier.
"Look you werent here when the civil war started, That's why I was so wound"
"You mentioned Mister X out there how do you know him"
"Were Erusean that's all you need to know" Predators wingman walked up, he didn't have a callsign they all called him by his last name, Seymour.
"Yeah I bet that gives you all the clearance you need to know everything we dont" Mist said sarcastically.
"Enough let's just get this briefing over with." Ghost said, frustrated. The four walked into the briefing room and all the other squadrons on the base were there. Some were Erusean, others were Osean.
"Your late Phantom" the briefing officer said.
"So what, start the damn breifing" One of the other squadron leaders said.
"As many of you know, Yuktobania has launched a surprise invasion of Usea. Osea has managed to halt the Yuktobanian advance but we dont know for how long, Erusea was not so lucky Farbanti and anchorhead bay were hit hard and Yuktobanian paratroopers are advancing on the city with millions more on the way" The officer took a breath and pointed on a map to the city of Farbanti
"This is the 3 time in 30 years Erusea has been invaded, we can't lose any more people '' Seymour said.
"You're not even Erusean, why do you care? The leader of a squadron called Streaker squadron his callsign was Zeke. Seymours face turned beat red in anger.
"Becuase regardless of your allegiance we are fighting for the same cause!" Ghost snapped, tired of the endless bickering.
"Ghost is right, that's why IUN and Erusean forces will cover the evacuation of Farbanti, Expect heavy air presance as well as medium ground units, we have one shot at getting as many civillians out of Farbanti as we can, Lift off in 3 hours, grab some chow and sleep give me an amen damnit" The officer finished.
"Amen" the entire briefroom said in unison. Ghost walked over to Seymour who was consulting Predator.
"Hey Seymour you good brother?" Ghost asks.
"That Sapinian scum bag dosnt know anything about nations, or borders!" Seymour fumed.
"I know it wouldn't be nice if they just disappeared?" Zeke taunted walking by the three.
"Uncalled for Zeke," Ghost shouted back.
"Uncalled for?" Zeke said "He is fighting for a nation that controls his people" Zeke said back.
"I wouldn't expect you to know what loyalty is, you're a step up from a mercenary" Seymour insulted.
"My loyalty is to the orginization that freed me from a dictator!" Zeke shot back steping closer to Seymour in a threatening pose.
"Both of you knock it off!" Ghost yelled sternly getting in between the two pilots. "If we would have shown this fight the Yuktobanians wouldn't have made it into Farbanti to begin with" Ghost finished a stern look on his face.
"Your right" Zeke said walking away visibly shooken. Ghost followed and walked off towards his squadron's quarters. There were only two members in Phantom squadron, Ghost and Mist. Mist was sitting on the sofa and was sound asleep. Ghost looked at her, she was so tame and calm as she lay. Ghost looked away and exited the room. The 3 hours leading to take off were uneventful, everyone was tense and everyone was ready, for most of these pilots this was their first combat sortie. At last the moment of take off came and Ghost and Mist led the take off followed by streaker squadron and hunter squadron after them.
"This is AWACS guard dog linking with you Phantom squadron" The voice of AWACS guard dog came into the comms radio. He sounded younger and had a little bit of an accent.
"Good evening guard dog, how do you do?" Mist asked.
"Awfully, food up here is awful i've pretty much been stitched to a tanker for the past couple of hours"
"Do we have any heavy hitters in the AO that can assist us?" Zeke asked, tuning into the conversation.
"No that's the scary thing, I havnt't been able to reach the LRSSG and Trigger, Stray squadrons last known contact was a few weeks ago"
"Damn it that makes this all the more scary, Predator you know he's active again?" Zeke asked.
"Yeah, they confirmed he's active," Predator responded.
"Again who is he?" Ghost asked.
"So youve never heard the storys?" Guard dog asked curiously.
"No," Mist responded.
"Back in the first war with Erusea there was a Pilot that appeard hosstile to both Erusean and Osean IFF, He was almost like a cereal killer" Guard dog paused.
"Only when Yuktobania attacked Osea was when we got a name, they called him the Demon ace, His squadron name is devil 1" Zeke picked up. "He targeted highly renowned squadrons and took them down easily. He never got to Razgriz."
"He kept going until Mihaly put him down like the psychotic dog he was, he stayed down when he relized there was a pilot doing his job for him" Seymour.
"You guys knew Mister X personally didn't you?" Mist asked.
"No comment" Seymour and Predator both said.
"Your approaching Farbanti air-space now" Gaurd dog stated. Ghost looked out of his cockpit window, the city was on fire, Yukobanian landing shipping closing in from the coast. Ghost could make out squadrons upon squadrons of SU35s and other Yuktobanian aircraft soared high over the city.
"Holy hell Ghost you seeing this?" Mist asked, she was as shocked as he was. Ghost said nothing. He switched down his visor and saw the IFF light up like a christmas tree.
"Weapons free ladies and gentlemen" Guard dog gave the order and Ghost and Mist separated from the main group to engage.
