Chapter 18

Crossfire

Operation Cherish

February 10, 432 AC

"Vanguard, I have never expressed how important this operation is," Commander Mckay said as the briefing software finished loading. "Over the course of the past few days, we have noticed many Cascadian armored columns attempting to escape to the border." The map zoomed in on the border between Cascadia and the Federation mainland. "However, those Cascadians had the decency to try it again, this time with a convoy had stopped to rest right here." The convoy was highlighted as Mckay cleared his throat. "Your task is to annihilate this convoy before they make it into Cascadia. We cannot let word of this conflict get to the outside world." They stood up to leave.

"Oh, and one more thing," Mckay said, as Katrina opened the door. "Argonaut is out on another sortie, so your AWACS will be assigned back to regular sorties with you. Good luck."

No one said a word as they went to fetch their things from their quarters. Katrina shot a last glance at her room as she shut the door behind her. If the rumors of the Federation brutalizing civilians were true… Then she wanted to get as far away from this place as possible.

They walked out of the base to find it in a busy state. An I/U-95 Grizzly stormed down the runway and into the sky, followed by a whole squadron of F/C-16s.

"What's with the large strike force?" Peppermint asked, watching the last F/C-16 lift off. Katrina noticed the clusters of UGBS-3s dangling off of its wings.

"That convoy must be of great importance to the Cascadians," Katrina said, dumping her back on the floor of the Eagle's cockpit. "Just get ready, in case." Peppermint nodded, and he dashed to his F/S-15.

Katrina lowered the canopy and started checking the systems of her aircraft.

Battery back up generators…check. Instruments looking good. Fuel pumps are looking good. Canopy locked and pressurized.

A roar sounded outside her canopy, and saw the afterburners of Peppermint's F/S-15 come online. The other aircraft around the base started coming online as the first sorties of the day began. Katrina smiled as a pair of Navy-blue SV-37 Viggens passed her canopy. Towards the end of the base, the 8 Sk.37s of Aquila Squadron started belching flame from their dragon mouths. It was time to add her engines to the growing symphony.

HUD display…on. The various marks on the HUD appeared. Ejection seat armed. Engine APU and fire protection equipment on. Countermeasure release switch unlocked…manual. Pylon power on. Throttle unlocked and on idle nav lights and transponder…on. She found a small button marked "ENGH START," and held it down for a few seconds.

Spooling the furnace.

The twin engines of the Eagle began to sing their familiar tune, growing in volume and intensity as the RPM gauge on her dash slowly climbed. Once the needle was around the 40 mark, the whistling transformed into the idle wail that Katrina knew by heart.

Engine at idle. Gyro power on. AC on. Secondary systems on. IFF and IFF decoder, online. Radar and RWR, online and ready to go. NPP tuned and ready. Missiles loaded and caged. Guns are racked. There was a sharp buzzing noise as the 20mm cannons in her gunpods spun and calibrated themselves. Katrina just smiled. It felt nice to have her usual loadout back.

Finishing things off, Katrina flicked her wheel lights to the taxi preset and dropped her flaps to the takeoff setting. There was a roar as the Sk.37s of Aquila Squadron took off, possibly on another sortie. Her F/S-15 was ready to go.

She got the signal from the ground crews that she was ready to go. She released her brakes and the Eagle rolled out on the taxiway. Peppermint and Twister followed shortly behind. Behind the three of them, the multicolored FC-8 of AWACS Alamo, followed shortly behind.

"Vanguard, this is the tower," the ATC said. "The runway is clear. Go."

Katrina waited for a pair of MG-31s and Sk.57s to take off, and then she mashed down the afterburner and shot down the runway and into the sky, with Twister, Peppermint and Alamo following shortly behind.

"Alright," Alamo said, as they put a few miles between them and the base. "Glad to be back in service with you all, Vanguard. I was gonna miss our number two here."

"I wish you hadn't said that," Peppermint said. "Now that's just going to boost his over inflated ego."

"Hey, are you aware I am listening to everything?" Twister said.

"We're perfectly aware, Twister," Katrina said. "Alamo, where is the task force we are to escort?"

"Right here," Alamo said, highlighting a formation of aircraft. Katrina pulled up alongside them and recognized them as the mass formation she saw launch earlier. A formation of 6 F/C-16s in standard Federation colors surrounded a single I/U-95 Grizzly, its 4 massive contra-rotating props spinning at a dizzying rate.

"This is Troy 1," one of the pilots said. "Glad to have you guys flying with us."

"Pleasure as well," Katrina said. "Who's big baby Huey?"

"This is Iacon 1," an interesting voice said through the comms. "We are green for operation."

"Good," Katrina said, sliding into formation with the rest of Vanguard close behind her. "Good, good, good." She then muted her comms and turned over some thoughts in her mind as they cruised toward their objective. Most importantly, her mind crossed Alamo's warning about the Federation disguising civilian infrastructure as military targets. It seemed a little too obvious that there was nothing of value there, but it seemed a little too obvious to hide an armored column.

She continued to ponder this for a few hours as they cruised above the clouds until a transmission from Alamo interrupted them.

"Alamo here. We are approaching the target area." His FC-8 broke off from the rest of the formation and started to orbit the strike force.

"This is Iacon 1," the pilot of the I/A-95 said, as the bomb bay slowly opened and menacingly, exposing the deadly payload. "We are approaching the target. The traitors to the Federation die today. Long live the Federation!"

Katrina looked down, expecting to see a vast number of Cascadian vehicles, all lined up and awaiting to be taken out by the bomber. However, she saw a quaint little airport in place of the expected armored column. A blue-striped C-8 was at the end of the runway, awaiting takeoff. Her insides froze up as the situation was confirmed for her.

Thinking quickly, she dialed up Alamo as she watched the distance between them and the airport shrink.

"Alamo here," the voice of the squadron said. "What's the situation, Comet?"

"Your suspicions were right," Katrina said, watching the airport grow closer to them. "The Federation is targeting civilians."

A/N: Whew! After exams have ended, I am ready to publish more chapters of Vanguard. Also, quick shoutout to njmksr and ViperLass on and Ao3 for inspiring me to write this story!