Sometimes, people try to win wars. Often it ends in disasters. Because they do not see where war is fought. The true war has never been waged by fighters, battleships or soldiers. They are but crude matter, obstacles against which we tested ourselves. The true war is waged in the heart of all living beings, against our own nature, chaos or order, that is what shapes and binds this world together.
So, in order to truly win a war, the first battle we had to fight was against ourselves. Therefore, wars never end. They only change from one battlefield to another.
As the brown-haired thirty-five-year-old man was writing down those lines with a pencil in a simple book, a voice interrupted him in his thoughts, causing him to look up at the thirty-five-years-old dark-haired Yukte mercenary.
"Hey, Pixy what are you writing? Philosophical thoughts on war, again?" He asked.
" A bit. About our future and our past, on what we could become if man's nature were different."
" My former philosophy teacher, a good coworker of mine, would have said: that's a great beginning for a dissertation. And after he would have added with a happy voice: YOU HAVE FOUR HOURS, STUDENTS!"
" Oh, come on, don't go into your old teacher's mood, Herr Thesermeister,'' Larry Foulke argued against the former physics teacher at the university of Octabursk.
The man who was talking with Pixy, which had the strange nickname of "Thesermeister", for master of thesis had a quite strange story. At the beginning of his thirties, this man, Valentin Kovsky, was a brilliant physic teacher in this far away city. Even if he liked his current job at that time, it was not his dreamed one: like many young people, he tried to become a fighter pilot of the glorious Yuktobanian air force. But he was diagnosed with very light hyperopia, and it was enough to send him from the book of flight academy to the ones of applied thermodynamics. He could have stayed teacher a long time, but life is rarely a long and calm river: his older brother Aleksei was forced to leave the army in 1992, due to some covered events in a country at the border of Yuktobania. He was not the only one though: an entire squadron of pilots strangely suffering from PTSD had been given to Belka in total mystery. And this is when his new life truly started: a fellow medicine scientist reported to Valentin of a new laser technique to treat hyperopia, removing what was preventing him from realizing his dream. But the army didn't want him anymore, even with full eyesight. So, with his brother, a former navy pilot, they stole two Sukhoi 33s and fled out of Yuktobania, becoming two mercenaries under the name of Komyeta squadron.
" Eh, do not bother my brother, Solo wing. He may not have your skills but his Su33 had never lost a wing in battle though.'' Aleksei argued, pointing the fundamental difference between Larry and his older brother : while the Belkan had a very aggressive flight style, the Yukte had kept from his day as a physic teacher a very analytic approach of everything, seeing equations and physical relations when others were just seeing a life-or-death situation.
And obviously, the loud arguing of one proud Belkan and two Yuktes had to attract the attention of every other pilot in the underground resting room, which was the eating room as well. Many of the buildings of Valais air base had many underground levels, in order to withstand little bombardment from fighters, but this little concrete armor was nothing for the Belkan refitted BM-335Ns Lindwurm, n for neue, new in Belkan. The attracted pilots were not that numerous though: only 4. In total, there were maybe more cooks in this room than pilots in a fighting state.
" And it's all that remains of the halo squad." Pixy reminded himself, the events of the fall of Directus not very buried into the depth of his mind yet. At Directus, the fifteenth of March 1995, the halo squad was the tallest of Ustian history: ten F-15Cs, ten F-15Es and ten F-14Ds, and only one of each eagle and two Tomcats survived the engagement. But him, he lost more than one half of his wing. If he had just lost that he wouldn't be the bad moody pilot of this last line of defense that the Belkan nicknamed "nutzloses Landebahn" for useless runway, as it was iced almost the entire year, turning every landing into a highly risked figure of ice skating. He had lost his half, his true half, and nothing could change this fact. Not the laugh of the twin witches, nor the Ustian jokes of the two other pilots.
"- Pixy, if this war ends someday, you could write philosophical books. Some essays, but remember, there's no try up there, my young padawan."
This was one of the typical translated jokes of Francis Delaire, a blond-haired and grey-eyed Ustian pilot of the new generation. The Belkan they fought made fun of their names, telling them to "- laissez moi de l'air" (leave us some space) and so they ended up beating the Belkan on jokes. He and his twin brother Frédéric were truly hard to distinct, and only a small scar on his right cheek could help. Thus, with their helmet and masks it was impossible to try to differentiate the twins. They were piloting a F15C and a F15E respectively but were both good in air-to-air and air-to-ground, despite the technical difference between Fred's Eagle and Francis' Strike Eagle.
Both were from the new generation of pilots, the ones that were not former Belkans who left like Pixy did years before. But if Pixy was no more of a laughing guy since his losses, the twin witches, as they were called during flight time, laugh in unison.
" That was a funny one, don't you think Morgana?" The female pilot with the tac code Viviane asked. She was a young lady in her early twenties, with blond hair dressed in a ponytail.
" Well apparently Larry did not find it hi Larry ous, I'm disappointed by his Belkan lack of humor.'' The Ustian female pilot responded, making fun of Pixy's first name, a joke the two girls like to do often. The face of the young blond girl was supplemented by a little unconventional blue lock at the left of his forehead, while the rest of her hair was combed in a left streak.
" I am maybe humorlos (without humor in Belkan), but at least I don't have a last name so laughable it seems your parents attempted laughing school and got the top marks. Recht, Ingertrude and Frédégonde?" He finished his dismantling of their joke, restraining himself not to laugh because of the strange first name pronunciation, added to his Belkan accent.
The results of this strange combination weren't slow to come, and soon all burst out laughing, even the waiters and cooks who were in their cleaning duties after lunch. All seems happy. All? No, there were two girls who were getting a little red on the cheek, signaling their embarrassment. They were ready to burst but from something vastly opposed to laugh: anger.
" What are those names coming from?" Aleksei wondered, trying to pronounce them with his Yuktobanian accent, but it only ended in more laughter.
" I think they are coming from the third dynasty of the archaic period." His brother replied with a solemn and serious voice, trying to mimic a historian studying antediluvian times.
" This is why we ask to be called by our TAC names." Viviane insisted, his ponytail almost undone by her sole anger, while she slammed her fist on the wood table, shaking the glasses and the steel-made jug of water. But there were no risks of breaking them, since they were all in steel or in hard glass that reduced the shattering in case of bombardment.
" Well we can forgive the Yuktes, they did not know. But this is treason, Solo wing." Morgana said as she punched Pixy's shoulder, causing him to let escape a little laughter, not very hurt by this friendly attack.
While the pilot were having fun in their restroom, their superiors could not afford such luxury, trying to obtain the more data they could on the current situation of the western front, which was currently stopped by Osea above the Great Lakes area, with most of the fight concentrated in the local major city of Wesson. Osea intended to keep Wesson at all cost, and had assembled a great fluvial fleet there, without taking in count the dozens of SAMs, AA guns and Flaks cannon gathered in the area. And all of this was nothing compared to the heart of the defense network, which was the only thing that kept the western front stable. A state-of-the-art energy-based interception system which said systems should ''send the CIWS and its Belkan counterparts back to the age of spears and arrows'' according to Osean scientists. But today, the thirstiest of mars 1995, at 14:30 hour, Belka had once more proven its strategic, aerial and technological superiority by reducing the system to dust. As they left the communication tower and headed toward the restroom with the data on this sad event, Wesson was falling under Belka's unrivaled wrath, and there the Osean numerical advantage had failed too. The younger of the two men, a blond-haired in its thirties, former Belkan intelligence officer who defected to Ustio for political reasons, was the first to speak as they went to the pilot's restroom.
" I am beginning to fear for the security of our exiled officials here. If Wesson has fallen, when it was judged impregnable, what are our chances here?"
" A good question it is, Lieutenant Philip Johnson. But I think chance is not a variable within this model that our survival is, as Komyeta 1 would say.'' The more aged superior in his fifties with many of his remaining hairs turned gray replied, trying to make some fun of the situation.
" Richtig. That's definitely what Herr Thesermeister would say. I'm looking forward to see what kind of crazy physical theory he will get out of his brain when he will see the new unknown Belkan plane." Johnson added, pointing to one of the harddrives he was carrying.
" Chaos or quantum theory, I presume." His admiral ended, opening the secure door that gave access to the building where his last pilots were resting, and began getting down the stair before the restroom, from which he had an open view of the underground room. The pilots were talking freely and laughing sometimes, quoting funny anecdotes from their lives or battles. Koenig would have wanted not to interrupt this moment of happiness, but as mister philo - the last given nickname to Pixy - would have quoted ''there's no mercy in war. It's a coalition of power.''
" Sorry to interrupt your little common humor show, but I have bad news. Wesson has fallen, and we have some new data to share with all pilots in the briefing room."
Even without a clear order, the laughter ceased, all pilots stood up from their chairs and put them under the table. And all were already mentally preparing for the incoming briefing, who could be their ultimate one, or at least their penultimate.
Briefing room, Valais Air Base, Ustio, 31/03/1995, 14:35, weather: risk of snow
The briefing room was just a little rectangular room at the basement of the control tower. This placement allowed that all available data from the antennas and radars of said control tower was redirected to the briefing room in no time. While he looked at the seven pilots, two women and five men, from very diverse origins, he thought a little about his past career, when he was the respected admiral Wilhelm Koenig of the Belka's six air unit. But the old leader refused the new far-right government that took power within Belka in 1993 and was forced to flee with his wife and son aboard the AWACS commanded by the intelligence officer Johnson. Then he became the leader of Ustio sixth aerial unit, which after the initial losses began recruiting mercenaries.
"- Get some rest, people." He greeted them as the screen was showing the twin yellow mountains logo of Axe and Hammer, the Ustian weapon supplier. They had lost the control of their factories in Directus, Solis Ortus and Aarlon, reducing greatly the weaponry available to the mercenaries and the other soldiers.
Then the video projector showed a map of the Osean continent, centered on Belka. The intelligence officer then zoomed in on the city of Wesson, while showing footage of a burning harbor and ships being set ablaze in the high corner of the screen. But this was not the true reason for this meeting. Something worse had been revealed by Belka, something more than tactical superiority.
" So, as the Belkan propaganda claimed at fourteen hours, Wesson has fallen…" He was about to explain the reason for this quick fall when Pixy cut him.
" Sorry to interrupt you, admiral, but weren't the Osean Death Stars protecting this city?"
" Huh, what are we talking about?" Viviane asked, not being aware of this secret Osean defense system and its funny nickname.
" The Osean army refitted sixteen B-52 Stratofortress with high tech laser, giving them the ability to shot almost every incoming Belkan planes or missiles.'' Koenig explained while pictures of the said bomber were displayed, shooting a full barrage of cruise missiles within seconds.
" So, what happened? Did a farmer take them down with some proton torpedoes right in their exhaust port?"
" No, captain Francis, Belka has not yet developed X-wing." The admiral rolled his eyes at the humorist of the base. Just after he became serious again and said with a little fear in his voice. " But they just created something that could rival this sci-fi fighter."
Next picture was a pair of aircraft with strange forward swept wings and canards, with two big engines separated by a little space that allowed its pilots to have a good backside view. Their paintjob was not meant at all to be stealthy, as they were painted in a golden paintjob on the top and dark gold below the wings. They were escorted by other forward swept-wing aircraft, which were not unknown to all pilots: Sukhoi 47 Berkut, lethal in dogfight due to its incredible maneuverability but quite weak in air-to-ground. The video was short, as the aircraft that took it was shot down by a powerful fifty caliber cannon mounted on those unknowns. But Pixy and all pilots in the room had already recognized the golden insignia representing a sphinx holding a spear on top of some old sarcophagus with two red and black ellipses on the rock, just at the top of the word "Gault''. With no doubt all had recognized the sign of the elite squadron of the eighteenth air division, fifth air unit of Belka, Kupchenko's famous squadron for the almost perfect coordination of their eight Sukhoi 47s.
" Kupchenko scientists' have created this new prototype as a test weapon platform, but he made them turn into those two deadly fighters. Apparently their strategy was simple: use a massive barrage of long range smoke shells to create a cover for those two unknowns while the Gault squadron attacked them with their semi-actives missiles, out of effective range of the laser due to their smaller target profile."
The projector displayed said situation, with the two unknowns piercing through the heavy cloud of artificial smoke. One second after four heavy missiles who looked more like anti-carrier missiles or cruise missiles were shot by each golden unknown. The B-52s tried to intercept them with their lasers, but the missiles flew in erratic patterns, avoiding the deadly lasers. And five seconds later their thermobaric ordnance blew up in the middle of the Osean squadron. The Stratofortresses that were not destroyed by the initial shock were obliterated by the secondary explosion. From the sixteen heavy bombers remained only a big cloud of tiny pieces of metal floating in the air.
" What type of ordnance is that?" Aleksei screamed in surprise, who in his day in the Yuktobanian Navy had already seen big explosions, but they were irrelevant compared to this Armageddon the Belkan created.
" Well the Osean are investigating on it, they don't know even the type of the plane, so knowing its weaponry will take some type." The admiral answered honestly, knowing that even in wartime Osean bureaucracy was a pain in the ass.
" So, we are all screwed up if they come here, even if Osea dispatches us reinforcements that will never come.'' Pixy said with a dark cynic voice.
"- That's the spirit. But someone had called us yesterday from Erusea, and it's the second raison for this briefing."
The rooms remains silent for a few minutes, with the only source of noise being the projector and the lead pencil of Valentin Kovsky scratching on a little draft book, writing formulas on the paper, strange mixture of figures, old letters and mathematical symbol that he was maybe the only in the room to understand. As he was the only one that was doing something, it attracted the attention of Francis, who left his chair to have a look at the incomprehensible formulas that were spreading on the paper.
" What is this? Old archaic Verusan?" He tried to describe his astonishment in front of the strange series of calculations.
" No, just the quantity of momentum diffusion, that's elementary particle physics." The Yukte former teacher replied, being currently blocked on a streak of nonlinear equations.
" What's the point of all of this nonsense abstract physics for us? I don't think even your brother understands you right now." Pixy asked, not knowing where all those formulae could lead them.
" Figuring the ordinance of those unknowns… It's not octogen, it did not match the radius..." The Yukte said to himself, as the missile has not a very big warhead for the massive blast it produced.
" Well speaking of radius, the Osean scientist thought having figured that it had to be some nuclear warhead, but there was no radiation after the fire." Johnson added to the mixt the few data the Osean send them about these tragic losses.
" I don't think it's a nuclear bomb, clean or dirty. Kupchenko is maybe a crazy proud Belkan but he surely knows that nuclear powered missiles are not very effective in air-to-air." Pixy said, shrugging as he was talking about a theory that seemed to be truly too crazy -even for him- this time.
" Yeah, and it did not match with the little strange flash between the primary and the secondary detonation." Koenig noticed, having seen the tape so many times today he knew every second of it.
This word, ''flash'' caused Valentin to enter a state of perplexity, pointing his greyish eyes at the roof while thinking, trying to finally figure the origin of the flash, that seems to be like some kind of pulse.
" I did think my entire life this molecule to be nothing but schematics. So Kupchenko's scientists did not just create this beast of an aircraft, they did manage to synthetize hypersthene." The Yukte dropped, as if his scientific expectancies were all destroyed by this single fact.
" Well at least it has a better name than me." Ingertrude said, who never liked her name in her whole life and wanted nothing but to be called by her TAC name Viviane.
" Nice name, but what does it teach us about those unknowns' ordnance?" Koenig brought back the conversation to a more serious level.
" Well as I stated it was just a theoretical molecule until now. But it's a quite stable explosive matter, the only thing that can detonate it is an electric pulse at a very precise frequency."
" So, if I follow this crazy mind of you, brother, we could remotely detonate it with EMPs?" Aleksei tried to sum up the data on the not any more mysterious ordnance.
" Well it's good news. I will transmit this to our exiled engineers in bunker three, maybe they can create some countermeasures to this new threat." Koenig concluded, and was about to end the briefing when out of nowhere came a message from the control tower.
" Control tower to briefing room, we have a call for the admiral from an unknown person who claimed to be an Erusean friend of yours. Should I put him in line?" The radio operator of the base asked politely. He was an old sixty-years-old Ustian named Henri Blaise who was just the president of the local radio-telegraphist society, and was engaged at this post due to his certain knowledge of this field (and also the fact that the former operator was killed in the control tower of the Directus Air Base).
" We have almost finished the debriefing of today's news so kein (no) problem." Koenig accepted the call, using without realizing it a Belkan word, but it was hard for many Belkan not to insert their vocab into a conversation.
The map of the Great Lakes was replaced by another layout that depicted a man at the same age than Koenig, yet with a bit more wrinkles. There was also a great difference in uniform between the two mens: while Koenig kept his old grey green uniform, just changing the insignia, the other totally hid his Belkan origin behind a naval blue uniform, but of simple first lieutenant.
" Hi Koenig, how are you? And Hello to all the others that are crazy enough to follow this man" The Erusean instructor asked with a friendly tone, waving to the pilots behind Koenig, who was standing in front of the computer cam.
" Gut Maxi. It seems you have some news for me."
" Well I hope you remember our old rafting spot in Fato, you know the one who began just after this polygonal-shaped old fortress." The so-called Maxi said, like he was trying to pass on a coded message that just him and Koenig could understand.
" It's sad that's now this site has another use, but the forest before is still beautiful as always, with a little river not that sinuous." Koenig said, knowing what the Fatoan did to this three-hundred-year-old fortress, violating the memory of those who fight there in order to maintain peace and security back then.
" I know one person who's gonna do some rafting in a few dozens of minutes, it would be a shame not to send some of those young ones I see behind you to participate there."
" Of course, my dear, the more the merrier. See you soon, old Pal." Koenig waved at the Erusean while the conversation stopped leaving the pilots a little reluctant about the next thing that would happen.
The first one to react was Herr Thesermeister, who had almost the whole thing figured out, as this Fatoan fortress was not fully unknown to him.
" So, does all of this mean we are going to break Fatoan air sovereignty to save a new recruit?" Valentin exposed his analysis, ready to leave his chair to get to his plane in no time.
" Always right in your analysis Thesermeister. All pilots, you're going to Fato right now. Briefing about the current situation will be in route." Koenig agreed with the Yukte, knowing that with the Belkan still occupied on the western front they had little to no chance to know for the Ustian op and send here an attack squadron before their own squadron came back.
" And what about the ammo and fuel? Morgana asked, already standing in the direction of the exit door.
" Since we are on Scharlachniveau of alert at all time your planes are always ready to go in your respective hangars." Johnson replied, clearing the situation while tapping in the Axe and Hammer software to figure the optimal way.
" What does this Scharlachniveau even mean?" Aleksei asked while running on the runway to his airplane, not understanding the almost transparent Belkan word.
" Crimson level of alert, Aleksei. The maximal one." Pixy traduced on their way to their hangars.
Valais Air base, 31/03/1995, 15:00, Weather: risk of snow
The seven aircraft were already in the air. Being on the verge of constant annihilation meant that all pilots, mercs and Ustians, could be sent in the air at any time of the day or of the night. From the canopy of his F-15C with black and red wings and the Galm demonic beast kind of insignia Pixy looked at the strange mixture of airplanes that comprise the Ustian six air unit. At that moment, they were the only ones left to fight against the proud Belkans for the survival of Ustio, with some old SA342 Gazelles and a few AA guns to defend the base.
" Valais air base to all aircraft, flight restriction cancelled, continue your flight path toward Gebet and Recta." The operator announced, before another voice replaced him to do the in-flight briefing.
" It looks like everyone is in the air. So, I'll do the briefing now. Look at your map, we will send some data." Koenig said, not knowing if this mission would end in victory or total failure, if the Belkans attacked during flight time.
" Galm 2 here, I'm good." Pixy acknowledged, leveling his aircraft with the two other Eagles. Francis' had a greyish military camo with blue flaps, while his brother had the same camo but with the flaps in brown. They were already the same in the ground, and it was maybe even more difficult to distinguish them in the sky. Both at the roundels from the Ustian air force and their halo squadron, a simple hawk catching a duck in flight in a blue ring, with Fred being the number 5 and Francis the number 7.
" This is Morgana, ready to kick some Belkan asses!" The young Ustian female pilot added. She was in a F-14D with a snowy camo, consisting of white dots on a navy dark blue, dots who were also the mark of the repaired holes from previous missions.
" I don't think Pixy will appreciate this, Morgana." Viviane had a bit of fun, in her Super Tomcat who had the same paintjob, and like the two others Ustian pilots had the Halo and Ustian roundels, with Morgana being the 12 and Viviane the 10. Even if there were now only four survivors of this squadron, they kept their numbers, honoring the fallen members over Directus.
" Could we concentrate a little on the briefing? Or I will give you three nonlinear equations to solve before tomorrow!" Valentin threatened with a friendly tone, knowing that no one liked those equations here with him being the exception. His plane and his brother's were Sukhoi 33s with black wings, dark blue fuselage, white flaps and with little white and light blue comets on their wings, creating a very distinctive paint job from the other Ustian planes.
This unreal threat was followed by ten seconds of silence, which Koenig broke to pursue his briefing.
" Well it seems that this threat works, as nobody's talking now. I will remember it if I must threaten someone. So, the mission is simple: to escort back to base an Erusean pilot who had to leave for some unclear familial reasons, as my contact said. In order to escort this new mercenary, you had to meet him over an old polygonal-shaped fortress at the end of the national natural parc forest of Fato, close to the beginning of the Vardin ravine. It's more likely he will fly in the ravine to stay out of range of their radars. And you will have to fly low, close to a river that go from one point of this forest to the fortress too, in order not to alert the Fatoans.'' The admiral began his briefing and was about to describe the aerial and ground forces of the zone when Viviane intervened.
" Wait, admiral, isn't the Fatoan Federation neutral in this war?" Halo 12 asked, knowing that Fato was not in war with or against Belka, so she thought they would not have to fight today.
" Well I think we have to explain the concept of aggressive neutrality to Frédégonde, right?" Pixy asked, knowing well that this would trigger some reaction from the young lady.
" Repeat my true name one more time and I will show you how aggressive I can be!" Morgana yelled, augmenting her plane thrust to be at the same level as Pixy and to do five second later a doigt d'honneur to him.
" Easy there, young lady, to your anger give in not you must.'' Fred said, hoping to ease a little the already tense situation.
" So as Pixy stated, Fato applies the concept of aggressive neutrality. But there are more likely under Belka's leash who destroyed half of their air force in a fierce attack. Since this battle just after Directus' fall, the Belkans gave them new anti-air defense systems, but only to forbid any allied aircraft to go around Belka to attack the northern industrial heart of our opponents." Johnson explained, showing on their briefing screen the new Belkan anti-air system.
The picture was simple: a big, armored truck, which said roofs of its rear portion looked like the vertical launching system of an aegis. But the bays were way bigger, a bit like a truck designed for housing close range ballistic missiles.
" So, what is the matter with those advanced SAMs?" Aleksei asked, betting that maybe the Belkans added some hypersthene to this defense system. " Thermobaric ordnance like the ones they have used over Wesson?"
" Well, say hello to BAWS." The admiral said, naming the system by its Belkan designation. " For Ballistische Abwehrraketensystem (ballistic system of defense). Every missile is fired to almost supersonic speed and separates later in a small barrage of high-speed air-to-air missiles during its reentry phase. Once it falls from the sky, you will have only a few seconds to avoid them."
The description of the terminal velocity of those missiles was astonishing: almost Mach 4. And they were coming from an altitude of twenty kilometers, so they had plenty of time to lock on any fighter within the range of their tracking system. But hopefully all defenses have weaknesses: the only thing they could pull out against this threat were fast turns at low altitude, which thanks to the missiles' very great inertia would cause them to hit the ground.
" And don't forget they will be also arrays of SAMs, Flaks, AA guns and maybe some jammers and the Belkan equivalent of phalanx close range gun: SPK for SuperPhönixKanon, capable of intercepting even entire volley of rockets if they are in great number." Johnson concluded the presentation of the fortress high tech Belkan defense system.
" So, to make things clear we are doomed? Or does the mercenary coming have some, I don't know, thermobaric ordnance to wipe everything out?" Fred pointed out, not very happy with the status of the ground forces not at their advantage.
" I don't even know what aircraft this merc is flying in, but my contact said it's some kind of prototype so we can hope it will bring some punch in the battlefield." Koenig clarified, trying to reassure those seven pilots heading for an uncertain fate.
Bayes Fortress, Federation of Fato, 31/03/1995, 15:30, Weather: cloudy, risk of rain
The seven aircrafts were approaching at very low altitude, gluing to the small river that became ten kilometers later the long Vardin ravine. They still had nine kilometers to the fortress, and no pilot was in a good mood. Five minute later, at five kilometers, the message they feared to hear on enemy coms finally came:
" Aquilus 1 of the Fatoan Air Guard to Ustian planes, turn around, leave the area and we will not fire." A Fatoan pilot ordered from a F-16C with a light grey on its wing surrounded by a line of white, along with a yellow nose, making the plane look like a true eagle.
" We are just rendezvousing with a merc, you could just let him pass and no one is injured." Herr Thesermeister tried to negotiate, even if the Fatoan were known to be quite headstrong people.
" Just go back to your little skiing station and wait to be annihilated by our new Belkan friends."
" Bayes Fortress is online. Launching BAWS now!" The base commander announced with a sick joy, as the ballistic missiles were fired.
The missile bays were not any more on trucks, but around the fortress central portion, in four massive rectangular bays. The fortress had an octagonal star shape, surrounded by foothills, which had a boomerang kind of shape. On each part of the star there was a line of two SAMs and two AA guns, flanked by flaks. The foothills had an armament of two SAMs and two SPKs, creating an almost impenetrable fortress. After the fortress there was a little canal who was allowing boats to bypass the obstacle that was the Vardin ravine. Canal that was also flanked by two groups of SAMs and a pair of AH-64s which were patrolling over the area.
" That's one hell of a fortress.'' Pixy described, after he tried to attack a foothill but was forced to withdraw due to the massive amount of AA fire.
Everyone tried to attack, but it was no use in trying to bomb it from high: the SPKs were destroying everything they launched. Even a full barrage of rockets from the two Sukhoi 33s did not harm it. Only one SAM was disabled, whilst the two Sukhois took some bullets. And to make things worse, the quick high-velocity missiles launched by the BAWS were raining like hell on them, forcing them to do constant evasive maneuvers, hunted by the F-16Cs and F/A-18Cs of the Fatoan air guard.
The only advancement made was the destruction of the SAMs surrounding the canal by the F-15E's SFFS, who also destroyed the chopper with the massive amount of shrapnels produced. However, Fred took some bullets while turning the back of his plane to the fortress. But while flying a little above the canal, and therefore over the ravine, he saw some blimps on his radar. An unknown fighter was fighting others in a small portion of the ravine, which said portion looked like some kind of crater where the unknown was encircled by six Sukhoi 27s. He also saw while leaving the area after avoiding two missiles in a hairpin bend that two of them had been quickly shot down.
" This unknown had to be a good mercenary, to get two high-tier aircrafts that fast." He analyzed.
" Halo 7 to base, I've located the mercenary, fighting Flankers in the ravine. At the pace he's destroying them he should join us in no time."
" Komyeta 1 to Halo 7, I agree with you, just saw one Flanker in flames flying out of the ravine before exploding."
" Good. Keep with the evasive maneuvers, maybe he'll be able to reduce the ground threat." Koenig ordered, trying to spare his forces. There was no point in getting a new mercenary through the sacrifices of other pilots.
Bayes Fortress, Federation of Fato, 31/03/1995, 15:45, Weather: cloudy, risk of rain.
The seven pilots were beginning to feel exhausted from all those evasive maneuvers they had to pull out, having almost zero opportunities to return fire. Valentin Sukhoi 33's headed to the ravine, trying to confirm if the unknown foe of the Fatoan fighters was still alive. He did not see any Sukhoi 27s, just a blimp that only forward swept-wing aircraft produced. But that was not a Berkut at all. Maybe the "prototype" Koenig talked about. But while doing this, he flew a little above the ravine, which was covered by SAMs on the top of it. He heard the alarm blaring while he rushed out of the area, but the sound ceased way too early. He should have seen the red "missile incoming" alert on his HUD (head up display). But no. The two SAMs that had locked onto him had been destroyed by missiles coming from the ravine. And a second pair of SAMs that just showed up were destroyed right on the spot, by another pair of missiles coming from the bottom of the ravine, in the reversed way a XAGM would have flown.
" This is Komyeta 1 from the sixth air unit of Ustio to the unknown Erusean mercenary, thanks for the support, you can show yourself, we will escort you to Valais air base." Valentin said, his radar classing the Erusean as an unknown ally for the other Ustian pilots.
" Looks like your sixth air unit needs more help than me right now. Just distract these stupid artillery servants while I come closer." The Erusean nodded with a cold, rude voice. The voice was so emotionless and unnaturally neutral that Valentin could not figure if it were a he or she-mercenary.
" Roger, pull you tricks guys and girls, our new ally needs a distraction." Koenig confirmed the order the Erusean just said.
" Where is this new one? And where's the Geier Squadron that was sent into the ravine?" The base commander asked a radar officer, who was monitoring the entire area.
" Maybe still in the ravine. Or just about to go out of it." The operator reported, seeing nothing but the seven locked Ustian aircrafts that have managed until now to escape the deadly fire of the fortress, along its defensive squadron of eight Fighting Falcons and eight Hornets.
" I'm out of it now, you dummies! PC max!" The Erusean yelled, getting out of the sharped ravine at full speed, feeling smashed by the sudden acceleration, having flown at low speed in the ravine.
With the SAMs that were protecting the canal being destroyed, the forward swept-wing fighter went closer to the fortress quickly, flying just a few meters above the canal. The Erusean pilot could hear nothing but the " Pull up" alert, which was disconnected a second later, as it was hampering the focus of the mercenary. All the other mercenaries were amazed by the crazy rush of this one, going in the hell that the massive gunfire created.
" Shoot him down!" The commander bellowed to the AA servants, who were already busy enough intercepting two full volleys of rockets.
" The BAWS need some time to lock on. Too much for the current velocity of the attacking aircraft. And the external SAMs around the canal have been destroyed." One of the servants complained, trying to adjust his SPK to intercept the fighter, but with the full post combustion activated the turret could not follow the small profile fighter.
The mercenary had managed to cross the wall of fire, while taking some bullets in the composite wings, who had already lost some tiny parts and just arrived at the center of the fortress, between the four BAWS launchers. His finger was about to press the release mechanism of his two last FAEBs, but as a salvo of BAWS were fired, another idea came to the bloodthirsty mind of the pilot. A smile began to grow on the mercenary's lips at the terrific consequences it was going to cause. The prototype fighter tilted to the vertical while firing two missiles and two QAAMs on the ballistic missiles, which triggered an unexpected reaction for the fortress's servants.
" Hold on, their warheads were not locked on anything! They will strike indiscriminately!" A servant screamed, while the high velocity missiles had already begun their half loop toward the ground.
" Intercept them. We cannot sustain their firepower without losing too much of our own." The commander was forced to agree with his worried servants, who seemed to be a little less optimistic since the arrival of the new foe.
The said new foe followed a bit the trajectory of the missiles, going full vertical and without taking care of the increased risk of stalling in this situation, but the single engine aircraft was quickly hit on one of the injections system of the afterburners, and suddenly fall to the ground from less than one kilometer.
While the BAWS warheads were intercepted by the SPKs, the Ustian lost again a bit of the hope they gained seeing this new ally falling to a presumed certain death. All but Valentin, who was busy trying to figure out if the fall of the airplane would give it enough speed, added to the potential thermobaric explosion of the two FAEB that the X-29A was still carrying.
" It seems our new ally needs a little help from our threatened sixth unit, don't you think?" He rhetorically asked the unknown pilot, almost knowing his answer.
" I'm just falling at Mach 0.8, nothing wrong. Any trick I could pull out?" The mercenary responded with a great quantity of sarcasm in his voice.
" Try to level up while dropping your ordnance. The momentum created should be enough to almost externally restart your engine." He gave theoretical advice, hoping it would work.
The mercenary pressed the release device, and the two FAEBs fell toward the ground, preceding his aircraft which pilots tried his maximum to slow it down. But the fall of those two tiny objects was not unnoticed by the fortress' servants, who could only see the two bombs fall right over the BAWS bays.
" Intercept them! If they trigger any inner explosion we are doomed!" The commander shouted, seeing the two bombs getting closer by the seconds.
" We are trying, but those BAWS this Erusean made target us are keeping our SPKs busy!" A servant retorted, letting one of the BAWS's warheads destroy a SAMs to get a hit on the bombs.
But it did not explode. It only triggered the fragmentation mechanism of the ordnance, spraying fuel all over the fortress while the Erusean had managed to bypass the anti-aircraft fire and leveled his aircraft, two second before the second bomb finally exploded.
The merc felt again a big rush forward, as the blast pushed the prototype for almost a half kilometer. Some parts already damaged were cut by the shock. But the effect expected by Herr Thesermeister happened: the formidable thrust caused the parts of the reactor stuck by the Fatoan bullets to move, restarting it.
" You were right. I am fly-worthy again, but fight-worthy no more." The pilot was happy for a second to survive, as all the over allied aircraft dived on the enemy fortress once the dust released by the explosion fell.
" Valais air base to Ustian sixth unit, finish this fortress and those Fatoan fighters, and then head back to Ustio." Koenig announced satisfied, hoping that no more Belkan surprise will infringe this operation.
" Galm 2, dropping all!"
" Halo 12, GPBs incoming!" Morgana said, followed by her wingmate in the other F-14D.
" Halo 5, I've got some iron headed gifts for them!" Fred added, as the four bombs he had left fell right on the almost disabled fortress, destroying what was remaining of the BAWS bays. The final shots were two volleys of rockets launched by the Sukhoi 33s, which finally triggered an intern explosion, sending their rockets through the holes left by the BAWS. From the fierce fortress only remained the two-hundred-years-old-walls, but now empty from life.
" Halo 7 to Valais, I've taken some nasty hits. I will escort the Erusean back to base, it's better for my survival."
" Well my aircraft has more holes in it than a piece of your Ustian cheese, so for once I'm ok with letting some kills get away." The Erusean agreed with the same neutral voice used at the beginning of the fight.
" Well, watch and learn, air tourist." Galm 2 said while turning to face four Fighting Falcons. He sent two QAAMs, then two missiles on one, before finishing the last head-on with his gun, and all with no injuries.
Then the Erusean looked to see the others pilots' fight style, after having put the stolen prototype on the way to the Valaisian Alps.
Fred, who just paired with Komyeta 2, went head on to a six F/A-18Cs formation. They evaded the SAAMs of their opponents doing scissors maneuvers before crossing each other's path to flank in a few seconds the six Fatoans. Then they both launched two missiles, each of them aimed at the cockpit of their opponents and gunned down the two remaining aircraft who vainly tried to outrun the Ustians, using their afterburners but it was too late.
On the other hand, while Pixy quickly gunned two MiG-31s who just arrived, having to prolong the fire of his gun due to the armor of the Foxhound, the "Twin Witches" were not that conventional. The new pilot thought for a time that the prototype's radar was failing to track them because of the bullets it took a few minutes ago, but they were just flying through a cumulonimbus. The one thing every instructor would tell not to do. And they went out a few seconds later five hundred meters higher, falling almost covered in ice on a group of four Hornets, firing their missiles on their foe's wings. Some of their opponents had their wings cut off by their Tomcats' fire. But unlike the Solo wing, they did not manage to overcome their losses.
And finally, the Erusean had a look on Herr Thesermeister's strategy. He was not in fancy maneuvers at all. Just following his foes very close, taking advantage of his plane thrust like against his final opponent, a lonely F-16C. He forced the Fatoan to go higher, firing below the one-reactor aircraft. He knew his opponent technical weakness: a maximal incidence angle five degree below the one of his Sea Flanker. He saw the angle slowly increase, twenty, thirty then forced the F-16C to pull up, firing a straight missile one inch below the Falcon's belly. But while doing so, the Fatoan aircraft entered a deadly stall. And he was not able to evade a pair of missiles three seconds later.
Even if reinforcements were arriving from other Fatoan bases, they had lost their fire support. " It's going to be ok" Halo 7 thought, as they crossed the Fatoan border, with their allies following them eighty kilometers further.
Valaisian Alps, Ustio, 31/03/1995, 16:00, Weather: clear, but risk of quick change.
Francis was almost satisfied. Despite having taken some considerable damage, he was on the final way to Ustio. And the six others had downed another sixteen aircraft formation while they crossed the Fatoan border, composed of MiG-21s and F-5Es, which were no great challenge for the Ustian pilots.
But five second ago, he just saw three blimps on his radar. He knew it was not hundred percent responding, but he began to worry about the safety of the Erusean he was escorting and his. Trying to confirm this unknown threat, he asked the Erusean pilot, hoping he would identify the threat.
" Hey, Erusean, I've got bogeys on my radars, but nothing clear. Can you confirm their IFF (identification Friend Foe)?"
" Negative, my radar is more a duraluminium sieve than anything right now. It's a chance I've just a little cut on the shoulder." The mercenary responded, trying to look in his back to see any threats, but with the constant cloud coverage over Valais it was no use. The pilot had quite some blood on his flight suit, but hopefully it was not his.
" Did you get seriously hurt?" Halo 7 inquired, worried to escort a wounded pilot. He had already seen his fair share of pilots crashing on the alignment of pylons bearing semi-automated AA defenses before the short runway of the base, some due to internal bleeding caused by shockwaves they thought that they managed to survive.
" Ich nicht, aber du wirst schon!" (me not, but you'll be soon) A female voice with a deep Belkan accent added while firing a pair of missiles from its internal bay, revealing for a moment her position.
Francis used his last flares and managed to overcome the tracking capacity while flying low to the mountain, but he knew this would not go the easy way. He had identified the aircraft as five YF-23s with a two-tone pale pink and grey camo with black ailerons. These pilots were known to never leave a survivor in their engagement, even at the risk of their safety, but their almost ignorance of fear made them very deadly. Their emblem was a woman in armor, holding a spear, and plunging the said spear into a broken pair of rings.
" Witwemacher 5 to 1, we can destroy Valais Air Base right now and deal with those aircraft later." Another Belkan pilot argued while opening his bomb bay in the perspective of a future run.
" Nein, fünf. If we attack now those two planes will be able to lock on us. Zwei und drei, get this Strike Eagle, we are taking the Erusean plane."
" Roger." The squadron answered.
The six intact aircraft were too far to catch them on time. Even if they catch them up, the Ustian would find nothing but wreckages and a destroyed base. They will not even make their way to Osea, it was too far. " The perfect situation" the leader laughed maniacally, seeing as her and two other YF-23s were converging on the forward swept-wing aircraft, on the verge of destruction. But she did not know how wrong she was.
" Hurry, if you force them to follow you, they will have our anti-air guns firing when you reach the base." Francis gave a desperate order, ready to sacrifice himself.
" Martyrs do not win wars, Halo 7. Nor runners or goners. Survivors do. Do not move a bit, I'll take care of the ones following you." The Erusean harshly responded, bringing a bit of hope to Halo 7 and the crews back in Valais, who were still silent on the waves.
" But you have no more radar and missiles! It's suicidal!" The Ustian did not want to have his life saved by another sacrifice.
" Do not move. I've got my guns, and my skills, ready to get some kills!" The Erusean retorted with a joyful voice, as the thrill of near-death experience was the only thing in which this pilot could find some pleasure, while evading a pair of QAAMs by mere inches, thanking for once that the very badly damaged wings of his fighter was giving his plane a smaller target profile.
Then the forward swept-wing fighter began to get some speed, this made Francis wondering what this mercenary was going to do. He thought for a second the Erusean was going to flee, but no. At the limit of craziness, the mercenary made a quick Himmelman, flying straight into the three Widows which scattered to evade collision with such a damaged fighter. However, when Francis saw the fighter going full head-on toward him, this worried him a bit. He did not understand what the strategy of this pilot from another continent was.
" Do. Not. Move." The Erusean bellowed, as his aircraft was at top speed, but without post combustion it was not very high.
Then the damaged plane executed a maneuver no one was expecting: tilting around the roll axis, it was now flying perpendicular to the horizon line. And it passed at top speed between the two ailerons of the F-15E, arriving right on the two attacking aircrafts. No one was expecting the Erusean to come at such an angle, and the number two fell, gunned down by a powerful twin gun. The number three had no time to turn around before he was already in the Erusean line of fire. He tried to flee but engaged the afterburners too late and was quickly gunned down. The two aircraft crashed on the mountain, causing a bit of fear in the heart of the number 4 and 5.
" That was unexpected. But efficient. I just freaked out when I saw you flying through my ailerons." Halo 7 described, trying to calm his erratic breath.
" When in danger, always take the worst way." The Erusean smirked, this pilot loving too much the thrill of the near-death experience to play safe.
" Attack the base! I will take care of this Erusean future wreckage!" The leader blared, turning to engage the Erusean.
" Witwemacher 4 to leader, beginning bomb run." He indicated, feeling safer because the only aircraft who was fighting them would be busy for a long time if he survived.
But he forgot one thing: SAAMs did not consider stealth if properly aimed and guided. And Francis had still two of his. Unfortunately, they saw the two missiles launched from the Strike Eagle too late. They could just destroy the automated guns on some metallic pillars before the runway. But while they were avoiding Halo 7's missiles, they did not climb enough to get off range of the six AA guns that were targeting them. At the precise moment they turned to evade the fox 1s, they were welcomed with close anti-aircraft fire.
" No!" The number fifth screamed, as his aircraft collided with the snowy mountain after being riddled with holes.
The female Belkan leader, enraged by her losses, went full head-on against the Erusean mercenary. But the Erusean flew below her line of fire, avoiding the fierce attack. However, taking advantage of her opponent's loss of maneuverability, the Belkan leader was in the X-29A's six hours in no time. The forward swept-wing fighter outran her a few seconds, as she had lost a great part of her speed turning that sharply.
Then, as she was slowly shortening the distance between the two fighters, the Erusean dived suddenly, but almost at stalling speed. The Belkan pilot thought it was going to fall to the ground after such a foolish dive, but the outcome caught her utterly off-guard : the wreckage had rolled around its pitch axis almost instantaneously, causing some red out for the Erusean who winced due to the intense g-forces, but still managed to pull the trigger, sending a dual burst right into the air-to-air missile bays of the YF-23. The leader did not have the time to eject that her weaponry exploded inside her plane. Despite having just recovered from great sufferance and a "master caution" alarm for structural integrity, the Erusean managed to roll his X-29A, leveling it again.
" His landing is going to be a tough one" Francis thought, as he saw the plane losing parts while flying toward the runway.
Valais air base, Ustio, 31/03/1995, 16:30, Weather: fall of snow.
As soon as Pixy landed at last, snow began to fall. In his hangar, he could see the great amount of damage the Erusean had survived. The forward swept-wing fighter had not lost an entire wing, but almost a third of each. The frontal radar had been destroyed by the SPKs, along with the afterburners. It was a miracle the X-29A did not rip apart doing the crazy maneuvers Francis described. Blaise even said it was so badly damaged its pilot had to do a belly landing as the gears were unresponsive, and even if they had been responsive, the tires were surely destroyed, or riddled with Fatoan and Belkan lead. This aircraft would not be able to fly for a long time. After exiting his hangar, he quickly went to the restroom, hoping to warm himself a bit with some Glühwein, the only authorized alcohol in the base.
" Hey, did you even see the Erusean after his landing?" He asked the pilots in the room. Francis had surely seen something, but for some raisons he decided for a time to keep his mouth shut.
" I did." A member of the cleaning staff who was playing some poker with the Halo squad said, with some restraint in his voice.
" Then what? It's a guy or a girl?" Pixy resumed his interrogation, trying to learn something about his soon-to-be next wingman. If this person wasn't, they will not have put the damaged fighter in his hangar.
" It's a killer. A very cold-hearted one.'' The brown-haired man identified as Max responded, trying to put to the back of his memory what he saw.
" And killers don't have gender?"
" This person… I thought he had a red flight suit. But no. He was just covered in blood, but did not care at all about that, like it was normal to be covered in blood like this person was. According to the medics, they identified more than ten different blood types. No one dared to ask him any question after they saw him in this state." He added while throwing his card on the table, turned unstable by the sight of such an amount of blood.
" So, have we recruited Deadpool?" Fred joked, trying to cheer up Max.
" Well, I'll let you to your poker game. Where did this pilot go?" Pixy finally asked, ready to leave to clear this new merc's mysterious identity.
" To your bedroom in your hangar. Koenig was too busy responding to Oseans complaining that we violate Fato's air sovereignty and so-called neutrality." Valentin replied, while trying to figure who was going to win the poker game, according to probability.
" I don't care what those manipulative traders are thinking. Good night guys and girls." Pixy left the restroom, going back to his hangar.
The snow had stopped its fall. But the crews on the ground would have to clean the entire runway. They could put salt on it, it was no use. Snow was not something Pixy disliked at first. But if he had to live here until his death by some Belkan prototype, he would maybe come to dislike it.
When he entered the small two room prefabricate that they had added to his hangar that allowed him to go on sortie ASAP, he nodded the blooded fingerprint. They would probably stay forever on the white handle, as blood was really hard to clean.
There, he saw this black-haired person, who seemed asleep on the lower bunk of his two-stage bed, where his former flight leader -and lover- slept. The body on the red duvet was slim and athletic, but with some powerful arms and legs. Pixy would not want to fight with this guy. But another thing caught his eyes: tattoos. This person was a true tattoo lover, but he apparently chose them with a good artistic mind. On the back of his left leg there was a lightning which seems to cut a heart in half, with sparks of electricity and drops of blood all around it. On the lower part of his back he could see the beginning of a reaper emblem, whose scythe seemed to cut a Sukhoi 27 Flanker in half, but the end was masked by a black underpants, the only thing this pilot was currently wearing, despite the cold temperature of seventeen Celsius in the room, due to the lack of isolation here. The two other tattoos were a big one that spread on the upper part of his back, representing some kind of winged witch, whose staff was more a spear, which was embedded into the corpse of a black vulture, and an open crimson red rose which had in its center a pair of twin daggers instead of the stamens on her left shoulder. The only thing that puzzled him was a little fabric band below the shoulder line, turned translucid through time, maybe it was there to cover some wounds. But while Pixy stared at the tattoos who must have been hurtful for the slightly tanned skin of this person, he put himself between the heating system of the small prefabricate, and the sudden cold wake the sleeping merc, who without even turning could feel Pixy's glare.
" I know I'm a bit of a tattoo fan. Not very good for conventional soldiers, but who cares when you become a merc?" The Erusean said while stretching a bit on the bed, revealing partially another tattoo on the neck, representing a blue warrior wasp who had caught a spider in its own web and was holding it in her mandibles.
" I don't know how you manage to support the cold almost naked. I'm happy to meet the Erusean pilot for whom we have risked our lives today." Pixy tried to share a bit of happiness, even if he thought not being able to feel some since his loss.
" Well, people are always happy to be alive." The pilot said, before turning to face Pixy.
This guy had a simple face with just a little scar closed to his left eye to break its regularity. Pixy resumed the analysis of the new pilot, finding that his upper naked torso seemed a bit flattened, even if it was muscular. The fine fabric layer was tense, he did not see the point of this person in flattening his torso, but he understood what this person was hiding when Pixy finally looked closer at the face of this one. It was not a he, but a she. And she apparently tried to hide her femininity under this fabric band. As he realized this fact, he turned away to not look at the not very covered woman, considering this to be impolite. But his sudden change in his glance did not stay unnoticed.
" What? For what there's to see you should not be embarrassed."
" Shouldn't you be the embarrassed one?" he rhetorically asked, not understanding the reason for hiding her identity, merc were not usually concerned about who they were or their look.
" I know, some people could consider me an androgyne, I just had to live as a boy for the last three years, so I did hide my femininity." She responded honestly, but not ready to talk about her violent and bloody past."
" Well, you don't have to now. So, I prefer if you wear this instead of nothing." He implied, giving her one of the spare flight suits of his lover. The flight suit was not only composed of a simple anti-g suit and a thin undercoat to help support the wearing of the anti-g suit, but of a thick polar oversuit they had to wear due to the intense cold that could get down here, minus thirty was the coldest temperature ever observed.
She took it, but quickly realized who it belonged thanks to the flower flagrance it exhaled, and the Galm 1 insignia.
" Was it the one of your former flight lead?" She guessed quickly.
" Ja, es war (it was). And I will not lose another flight lead." He hoped, remembering in a flash the last sight of her F-15C as she rushed to save Pixy's life to the price of hers.
" Sorry, it will take me awhile to go back to wearing female clothes. But sometimes males' clothes are a bit better fitted for piloting than female ones. And the other reason I was just wearing this boxer until now was that my clothes had too much blood on it, and I do not want to spread it everywhere, so I let them to the cleaning staff." She tried to share a bit of compassion, but the neutral grave voice she learned and got used to speaking rendered her try useless, as it was too neutral to show any feeling, bad or good. She learned so much to detach herself from emotions that she could only feel them when they were at their peaks, when she was under high-pressure in flight-time.
" Well, my former flight lead used to borrow some of my sweats, I agree with your point about clothes at some point. I suppose one day you will tell us where you come from, miss Deadpool." Pixy said while sitting on one of the only two chairs in his room, still looking at the Erusean pilot.
" My name is Iskanda, Iskanda Rayien. Happy to meet the famous Solo Wing." She added after laughing a bit from the nickname he gave her, giving him her hand to shake, used to this masculine attitude instead of kissing to welcome like women usually do.
After having shaken their hands, the conversation took other turns, Pixy informing her of the state of both the front lines and her fighter. She was maybe more worried about the becoming of her fighter than the front lines. He also described all the new things he learned today: hypersthene, BAWS and those new forward swept-wing experimental fighters. He let her sleep while he went to the restroom for the evening meal, as she was very tired from her long flight from Farbanti to Valais.
When he returned after twenty, he was a bit relieved she was not awake. Because, if his presentation of Iskanda to the other pilots went very well, the chief of the maintenance crews, Lukas Steller was in a very bad mood. She would not be happy to meet Herr Steller tomorrow. But tomorrow will be a day of Wende (change).
End of chapter.
Well, it's my first one. I hope you will like it, and if you don't that's not grave, I'm open to any constructive suggestions.
Sorry if I wait to tell who this Erusean was, I just wanted to add some suspense. And I did try adding the non-neutrality of Gebet, Recta and Facto (in the game we don't have a clue about them, not an ace from there or some people to shoot down from there). Regarding Wesson, the English version of the ace records speak only of a defense mechanism when the French version clearly used the term laser. I know that in universe the mountains are named Tyrann, but I preferred to rename them after the Valaisian Alps of Switzerland, I did not check if there was an air base there... Koenig was the name of a general in the Free French Forces in WW2. For the shape of this stellar kind of fortress of Bayes, I took inspiration from the Vauban's in France, who are very nice to see from the sky (I let you try to seek where Bayes come from). And for Herr Thesermeister, if I made him say some scientific thingies, it only derives from my formation. And herstellen in German means to manufacture.
PS: I will add some Belkan uh sorry German sometimes, which I find normal to have some, as Belka is an equivalent of Germany (but I will add the translation, don't worry)
And Bis nächst mal, Reap… oups Readers.
14/11 and 01/12/2019 and 29/12/2020: some corrections...