Valais Air Base, Ustio, 24/04/1995, 10:00, Weather: high stratus.
It was one of the days during which the entire valley could be seen from the bottom of the runway. For four days they had this freezing fog, and finally it was gone. But the weather was still freezing cold: the mountains surrounding the base were still covered in snow, and it would not melt until June at least. Of course, this change of weather meant that now any scout aircraft could see their base and its building from kilometers away, but since the last operation, Belka was on the defensive. Quite the opposite of their military doctrine, very Blitzkrieg-oriented.
Of course, the briefing room was a bit quieter, as the twin witches and Komyeta squadron weren't there. Still, they were surely receiving an identical briefing on the Osean carriers they were now stationed on. This time, the map was centered on a vital key in this war : Futuro canal, witch on its southern part was leading to the ocean that surrounded this continent while the northern section led to a small sea where a good third of the Belkan fleet was gathered, as the two other thirds were in the northern sea.
" The Ustio, Sapin and Osean coalition forces are now ready to launch a joint campaign. The collective strategic military force of the three armies will be referred to as the "Allied Forces". This campaign will be called "Offensive Campaign No. 4101". The objective of this operation is to secure a sea transit lane for the Allied Forces. To secure this channel, the Belkan forces occupying the Futuro Canal must be cleared out. Offensive Campaign No. 4101 will be comprised of the following three operations." Koenig began the briefing, as a long blue line was drawn through the fifteen-kilometer-long canal
"First, there is "Operation Gelnikos". This is an air-to-air/surface operation, whose objective is to wipe out Belka's air squadron, port facilities and surface weapons, among them BAWS and anti-ship cannons." He resumed to explain the operation, as the potential threats were recalled on small screens, with their estimated numbers and capacities.
" Next is "Operation Round Hammer". This is also an air-to-surface operation, whose objective is to wipe out the Belkan fleet led by the Njoldr supercarrier gathered in the North of the canal, its port facilities and surface weapons" Johnson displayed the estimated escort fleet of the Belkan ship. It was a huge one: 1 battleship, 4 TempestAngreiffSchiffe, 4 cruisers, a small dozens of destroyers and the same amount of frigates.
" And the last part of this Campaign is called "Operation Costner". This is an escort mission whose objective is to protect the naval vessels in Osea's 3rd fleet, including its state-of-the-art aircraft carrier, which the Osean top brass just decided that a full-scale war was a good trial voyage. Fierce resistance by Belkan forces is expected in all three operations." Kœnig ended, letting his sarcasm express without restrain. The Oseans could have just rearmed one of their aircraft-carriers instead of bringing a new.
" Does they know it need only one well-aimed heavy anti-ship missile to go down?" Pixy recalled, sharing the inner point of view of his commander.
" Well, maybe, as they gave it quite a lot of escort, and instead of getting new planes for the other three carriers, they set up on them dozens of SAMs and AA guns. It will be OK for them before or after the canal. But inside it would be very dangerous, as it's only one hundred meter wide. A single ship sunk in a bad angle and the whole operation could be jeopardized." Koenig summarized the whole point that could end up this very costly operation in mere seconds.
" I don't want to criticize Osean tactics, but how will we have enough ammo to take part in three different operations? I mean, I know I could try to land on their carrier, but it's a bit too risky even for my standards." Iskanda asked the question that was in everyone's mind.
" The Oseans have planned to take control of a small military airfield in the South East of the Futuro canal. To help with this the Gavilàn squadron and the Espada team have been sent by Sapin. You have already cooperated with them, Halo squad. I hope you'll get along just fine. Besides, the AWACS is coming with you." Koenig responded while zooming in on some runway at the East of the southern port facilities.
" Damned, we will have Vati watching our back." Fred dropped, trying to best the mood of the other pilot.
" Of course, Vati always watch the Frischling." Koenig replied with repartee, which caused some of the pilots to let some laugh.
This briefing was short. Yet the oncoming operation was going to be very long. First, they would have to travel from Valais to the fleet at the South of Futuro canal. But now they were just picking their weaponry, still adding two EPMs in the case of the unforeseen presence of one Wesson-UFO. Still, their ammo was very air-to-ground oriented : FAEBs for Iskanda's X-29A, UGBLs for the F-15Cs and half GPBs half SFFSs for Fred's F-15E, as the first often come in handy when dealing with light to medium ship without too much interceptions capacities, while the second were good to saturate enemy defenses.
The subject of those Wesson-UFOs they encountered over B7R was present in everyone's mind. Oseans satellites tracked them to the border and the Glatislant complexes, but couldn't track them further, as the satellites were suddenly destroyed by some kind of energy-based weaponry. This kind of events was common in war, but Osea had already lost 25% of their satellites. The remaining ones could always compensate for this loss, but now the whole Osean intelligence was slowly losing its capacities. And in modern warfare, identifying clearly the threat your soldiers were engaging was vital. Failures in this task could lead to tremendous events, or even catastrophes.
" Galm 1, you're clear for take-off." The control tower indicated.
" Roger, lift off." Her twin exhaust fully opened, and their thrust propelled her high in the sky.
And the three other fighters took off, followed by the E-767. Their bearing was simple: 225, the South West of Belka. "This day was going to be a very long one." Iskanda mused. Maybe they could rest a few minutes when their plane would be rearmed and refueled on the captured runway, but for now this thought was just a hope.
20 miles to the South of Futuro canal, 24/04/1995, 11:30.
Komyeta 1 and 2 have been launched at 11:00 for patrol duties. And now they were waiting for the remains of the sixth Ustian Unit to get here to begin the whole operation. If Iskanda manage to best Kupchenko as she announced, her presence would be helpful for this battle.
A few minutes later, the four aircraft formation finally appeared on their radar, heading for the tankers Osea had sent to refuel them. Iskanda was slowly approaching from the probe, while Pixy, who was more used to this exercise, was already connected.
" So, Milady what can your personal waiter give you? Tea or coffee?" The technician of the tanker jokingly asked.
" Well, some good mint tea would be good. It's said to be good against boredom, and my plane is getting bored when I'm not shooting something." She replied with a small laugh, just after she connected with the probe.
" Roger. Good luck for today. If you survived drinks are on me on your way back to Ustio." The technician wished her, as she disconnected and dived toward the see, with little contrails creating on the tip of her wing as she dived.
" Do not worry. I've survived B7R so this whole operation should be nothing more a walk in the park." She retorted as they were making their approach to the South of Futuro canal.
They weren't the only one to go. Over members of the Halo squad had join them, along with some Osean F/A-18Cs and EA-6B Prowlers armed with LAGM instead of their usual jamming pod for CAS, respectively in two-tone light grey and dark brown camo. The Komyeta squadron quickly joined the nearly twenty aircraft squadron. As they were entering the zone of operation, they could even see the EC-665s and EC-685s taking off, who would take action in the taking of the airfield they planned to refuel and rearm in it.
South of Futuro canal, Belka, 24/04/1995, 11:35, Weather: light cloud coverage.
Even if she was gliding toward the Belkan forces at low altitude, she could see the dozen of J35J Draken that was heading toward their group. It was not a serious threat for the fighters, but it was enough to endanger the Prowlers. Yet for an unknown reason the Belkan fighters decided to stay over the harbor facilities.
" I know you want to protect that fleet behind us, Galm 1. I have learned to read your intentions." Pixy said, as the fleet behind them was waiting for the surface weapons to be destroyed to begin their advance.
" I won't stop unless this sea is turned red by the blood of Belkans." She replied with some sick joy kind of laugh.
The justification to this illogical choice by the Belkans came thirty seconds later, when the F/A-18Cs equipped with SODs tried to fire their missiles, but a few seconds after they released them the radar went grey.
" Warning, heavy ECMs!" The AWACS warned them, but too late. Having lost their guidance, some of the SOD slammed into the sea, while others were shot down by either the local SPKs or the numerous Belkan fighters.
" Try to track the position of the jammers, and we should launch a coordinate saturation attack while you Ustians cover us." The leader of the Prowlers said, as the overall allied strike force was closing on the facilities on the eastern coast of Futuro canal.
" This is Eagle Eye, displaying jammers. But long-range cams indicate it's highly fortified, so maybe one attack will not be enough to destroy them."
" We won't let you destroy them. This is our ocean, Oseans!" A F-20A Tigershark pilot said, as he managed to get behind a F/A-18C, using low flying and their jamming.
" From where is he coming?" Asked the very pilot of the soon-to-be-shot Hornet. He couldn't see a thing on his radar, and his thermal sensors have been set for ground duties, not to track low flying crafts.
The Osean tried to go in passive radar in order to find the source of the Belkan craft if they tried to lock them. The thing was Belkan resorted to "Schräge Musik", a tactic that was born in the second Osean-Belkan war, as the first onboard radar appeared, and were usually positioned at the front of the craft. They would climb from behind the enemy craft after bypassing them, then unleash a deadly burst of cannons or machine guns on the rear belly of the enemy craft. Even a A-10A, the most armored fighter ever, couldn't resist to such attack if it was properly made. And as gun kill did not require radar, the Oseans only saw them too late, as they were attacked.
" I'm hit! Going down." The very pilot of the Hornet said, while his aircraft was torn off by a Tigershark.
" Go feed meinen Bruder Hai below, you dumb Osean." The Belkan which downed him said, before accelerating toward the leader of the Prowler unit.
He was joined in his attack by two other F-20As. If the Ustians were lucky thanks to their more agile fighters and didn't suffer anything but a few hits on the left wing of Morgana's F-14D, but it was nothing she couldn't recover, as she extended them to their max, making her pursuer overshoot her, and downing him with a pair of standard missiles, the Oseans suffered massive casualties. From the six Prowler and six Hornets only a few of them survived and only by the skin of their teeth. Among them two Prowler were pursued by three Tigersharks. Yet their fate wasn't sealed.
Iskanda, which had the luck to see her attacker coming thanks to her belly radar, waited for almost the last second before pulling her head-to-tail-like maneuver. She went a few instants in red sight but was able to evade the "Schräge Musik'' of the Belkan Draken by barrel-rolling. Just after they crossed their path, she extended her airbrakes fully, which caused the "structural integrity alarm" to blare and her whole plane to vibrate as she was stalling, but she was used to recovering stalls with such an unstable aircraft. The J35J tried to flee by hitting the burner but was damaged by a SAAM of Fred's F-15E, and as it was slowed, the X-29As performed a good Schräge Symphony on him. The bullets went through the turbine of his engine, and he exploded five second later. But as Iskanda was climbing after doing some zig zag to avoid the blast of the downed aircraft, she saw the two threatened EA-6Bs and instantly dived toward them.
" Damned, we are going to be toasted soon if nothing happened." The co-pilot of one pursued Prowler said, as he was dumping chaff and flares to disrupt the Belkan locks, but they couldn't outrun the fighter in their jammer/CAS airplane.
" Well I don't know if toast with shark fins are good, but I can always try." A vengeful Iskanda said, dashing right on the two threatened EA-6Bs.
" Hurry then, miss." Another Osean pilot screamed, as his co-pilot dumped flares a bit too late, and some shrapnels resulting from the collision of a QAAM and a pair of standard missiles hit them hard. They lost stability for one second, along with a bit of their alarm missile system.
" Just keep flying straight. I'm coming in. PC max." She ordered, as she pushed the throttle stick to its peak. She was pushed back by the G-forces, but those G-forces were almost something she liked to feel, even if they induced little sufferance.
" What is she gonna do?" A lightly scared Prowler pilot wondered, as he saw the X-29A coming in hot head-on on his craft, without making any maneuver to circumvent them.
" Oh, don't worry Pal, I had the chills the first time she pulled that, but I survived in the end" Fred ensured them, remembering the crazy maneuver this Erusean merc pulled against those YF-23s.
" Ok then." The Osean accepted his unknown fate. The X-29A didn't slow a single bit. It just tilted on the roll axis, on a ninety-degree angle. Last time she did that it was at medium altitude in the Valaisian Alps. But doing so at sea level was way more difficult, as the air right above the sea was filled with light turbulences. And at full speed, she passed through the two-plane formation, keeping her plane tilted, with her tail gliding just a few inches below the wing of the plane at her right.
" What was that?" The Osean co-pilot gasped, amazed by the sheer craziness this merc possessed to pull out such maneuver.
And then she quickly dispatched two of the pursuing planes by gun bursts, killing the one at her one o'clock before doing a semi barrel-roll to avoid a pair of missiles fired head on. Arriving still in a ninety-degree angle relative to horizon, but inverted, she just had to curve her path a bit to have the second F-20A in her sight and fire. Then she leveled her plane, and still without squeezing the exhaust, she passed below the last Tigershark, as a pair of QAAMs was leaving the pylons of the latter, only to hit the water. The Belkan pilot had believed for a time his QAAMs would be successful, but before he realized his mistake, he only had the time to take a glimpse at this X-29A's trajectory, as it slowed down to perform an Himmelman. And this time, he took a full Schräge Symphony from above instead of below like usual.
" Good, thank you very much Galm 1." The two Osean survivors congratulated her, as she passed above them to engage other fighters.
The remaining fighters to shot down were no more a very numerous forces though. As she was saving those Prowlers, the combined efforts of the other sixth Unit members permitted to save two F/A-18Cs and one more Prowler. A few minutes after, the dogfight had ended, with each member bagging two or three kill among the nearly twenty Belkan interceptors.
" Sky is clear on thermal sensors. CAS planes and Hornets, we have tracked the jamming signal. However, you can just lock onto them, not their defenses around." Eagle Eye indicated, and the four jammers, two on each side of the canals were displayed on the HUD of every pilots still alive of the strike force.
" Roger. Any plane who has cluster weapon or rockets, fired them on our mark." The Osean leader of the CAS plane suggested.
The sixth Unit pilots agreed with this suggestion quickly, and in a few seconds two strike forces were constituted. On one hand three Prowler and one F-15E, and on the other hand the two Su-33 and the two surviving Hornets. Ten seconds later, a helluva number of rockets, SFFSs, LAGMs and LASMs hit the enemy position. If the jammers were not destroyed in the first attack, it knocked out enough defenses to silence them permanently on the second pass.
" Radar is back to normal. All units, resume your initial duties and destroy the surface weapons." The AWACS ordered as they scattered to hunt the tanks, howitzers and their AA artillery who tried to hide amongst the oil tanks or behind containers ship but were easily tracked by the allied forces and destroyed at a quick pace. This operation was going to end well, but if it was a perspective on the Osean losses, they would be high at the end of the battle.
The four final main targets revealed themselves to be four giant howitzers similar to the ones Halo 5 and 7 fought against in Sapin. They were two of them on each side of the canal. And just one of them could wreak havoc into the allied naval forces, if they get in range. The first two on the West side succumb to two waves of LAGMs et LASMs. But they did not go down without causing damage to the allied air forces, due to the great number of tripleAs and SPKs surrounding them. Especially the EA-6Bs which had come dangerously close of the AA artillery suffered heavy hits, forcing them to retreat with black smoke pouring out of their exhausts. The Su-33 which helped saturate the close range guns with their rockets suffered some hits on their engine, but even if they couldn't use their vectored nozzles any more they were still combat-worthy, unlike the two retreating Prowlers, who would have a pretty bad time at landing on their carrier.
" Damned, the CAS plane are out of commission. What are we gonna do mister Eagle Eye?" One of the Osean pilot of Hornets said.
" Well, the Gavilàn squadron is in route to take control of the airfield, and their EC-665s can carry LAGMs. Just make sure to have aerial superiority before they arrived." The AWACS suggested they wait for the Sapin chopper squadron, but the Belkan reinforcements did not seem to agree with them. Their squadron was composed of a dozen F-16Cs in a dark oversea blue camo with rows of white lightnings painted below them.
" Sturm Schaft, let's shoot them down. And after we will avenge the Dschungel squadron by taking down these choppers."
" Ver" his wingmen replied.
And they all launched one or two XMAAs on the allied forces, who avoided them all. The Belkans were not so lucky at avoiding the retaliation of the Hornets XMAAs and the F-14Ds XLAAs, as the loss of jamming added to the AWACS presence was boosting their radar performances. Still, eight of them survived, and they were as murder thirsty as Iskanda now.
" Sturm Schaft, no mercy. If necessary, take them down with you."
" Sturm drei Ver. Attacking Galm 1." The pilot thought his encrypted line was still encrypted to the enemy pilots.
" That's not very strategic, to give your target a warning." Iskanda said and dashed head-on toward her attacker.
" I'm just ritterlich (chivalrous)." He tried to justify his mistake. The two aircraft exchanged a pair of missiles, but without great result, as both of them had small fighters which possessed a slightly low front thermal signature.
He accelerated to get a range for a gun kill faster, but his bursts were only shot for trash, as the X-29A did a little but fast dive before reclimbing just below him.
" Ritterlichkeit only get you killed in battle, du Dummkopf!" Iskanda exclaimed herself, while gunning the Falcon.
" Gott Verdammt, diese Fräulein ist der Teufel (God Damn'it, this woman is the devil) !" The Belkan she had just engaged head-on commented, as he saw her coming for him but avoiding his fire with amazing ease, the X-29A flying tilted and swinging between the XMAAs and the standard missiles the Fighting Falcon fired despite their inefficiency at killing her. He managed to avoid partially a frontal gun attack, but was hit on his right wing, making him nearly enter a stall due to the instability it created. And while recovering, he didn't realize she was already on him and finished him with a pair of missiles.
" Sturm vier, zwei, mit mir. Abschießen diese Söldnerin!" (Thunder 4,3 with me. Shot down this she merc) Their leader ordered, and soon Iskanda was pursued by three Falcons. Pixy tried to help her, but by turning in her direction he flew right toward the bright sun and was blinded for a second. And in one second a F-16C manage to sneak on his six, rendering his tries at helping his leader impossible.
And if the two other F-16Cs where dispatched by the F-14Ds, the battle took a new turn when they saw Typhoons taxiing out of their hangar on the base they were supposed to attack. They hadn't expected EF-2000 on this battlefield, as they were non carrier-compatible aircrafts. So, all fighters but the Galm team hit the burners to take them down before they took off.
If Iskanda was indeed pursued, she was still in good shape and unharmed, flying erratically to avoid the enemy fire, before entering in a climb. She wasn't planning to stall-climb them, but her idea was far funnier.
" Do you think she can outclimb us leader? I mean, she outclimbed Gault 1." Sturm vier pointed out, as they were following her in her climb.
" Don't worry, let her climb a bit before acting." His leader ensured them with a false feeling of confidence.
" Overconfidence. Even Kupchenko fell before me. So Ihr werdet." Iskanda mocked them, as they let her the freedom to outrun them vertically for a few seconds, and thus to execute her vicious plan.
She made her head-to-tail-like maneuver vertically, which was quite painful, as gravity added itself to the G-forces. She ended up falling on their twelve hours from above. They reacted by firing their XMAAs, which were avoided with ease, as firing them vertically had a tendency of slowing them down. As she was getting closer to them at a very quick pace, she fired two unlocked missiles on one, before barrel-rolling to avoid the retaliation of the aircraft in the middle. Luckily, and due to the fact that her standard missiles were on pylons and not fired from bays, her shots hit, and the F-16C was shattered in a million's pieces. She then curved her trajectory in order to end up outside of the firing arc of the F-16C at her right. Her body would not be happy to feel so much G-forces in such a short period of time, but war wasn't made to preserve anybody. She tilted her aircraft at a ninety angle, this positioning her right in front of the right fuselage of her enemies. The whole X-29A was shaken by vibration as she leveled the craft for a bunch of seconds, and during this brief moment she opened fire on the F-16Cs, but the lead craft - the one in the middle - was just barely hit while the right one was set ablaze, the bullet having gone through his fuel tanks and engine.
However, while she internally cursed as she could just see the F-16C resuming his vertical climb, she lost her lift and her plane fall backward to the see, as the rotation on her pitch axis wasn't stop when she had fired. Her whole body crushed by the G-forces, she pushed - this time with some difficulties to even move her arm - the throttle stick to "PC max".
The F-16C resumed his climb for another reason than just to escape. His rudders and flaps have been torn off by the bullets, and now if he tried to move just a single bit, he would end up stalling like this Erusean merc. He thought she was going to meet her end in some geyser of steam and metallic pieces, as he saw her falling backward to the ocean, but her craft seemed to be stuck between the forces of gravity and thrust. Her fall was slowing, and then again, she survived just by the skin of her teeth. He thought for a hopeful moment that she had finally hit the surface and explode, causing a small cloud of steam, but it was just the ablaze fuel of the post-combustion that was causing this little fog.
She had thought too that she would die this time. But no. Her twin engine managed to negate the fall just mere decimeters above the water line, causing the water below her to evaporate. Then thrust finally won over gravity as she dashed toward the sky, catching with the damaged Fighting Falcon in no time.
" Es ist nicht möglich. Wie hat sie diesen Abbruch überwindet?" (It's not possible. How did she recover from this stall?) The Sturm leader freaked out, and let panic take over him. He tried to dive on her to took her down with him, but before he could enact his plan, she had already caught him and sent a pair of missiles.
" Good, Sturm squadron has been defeated. How about those taxiing EF-2000s?" One of the Osean pilot asked, at least a bit impressed by the skills of their new allies.
" Well, they did not have the time to launch many Typhoons. We hit half of them before they could make out to the first runway and gunned down the other half as they were taking off." The calm voice of Thesermeister described the aftermath of this little fight.
" We are happy to see the efficiency of our allies. Gavilàn squadron, release your missiles." The Sapin leader ordered, and four LAGMs were launched toward the Belkan howitzer. They didn't reduce them to rubble instantaneously but a well-aimed FAEB dropped by Iskanda finished the job, the shockwave blowing the big barrels into tiny bits of metal.
" This is captain Weeker onboard the Kestrel. Surface artillery removed. Sent the assault choppers." A semi-old Osean voice ordered.
" Eagle Eye to all planes, cover them while they are cleaning your runway. You'll need it to attack the fleet at the North." The operator transmitted, as the three EC-685s were entering the operation zone. The black irregular shaped of the twin-rotor transport chopper was very noticeable above the sea, and the few SAMs and AAguns that survived went all out to destroy them.
But their efforts were only in vain, as they were picked up by the Allies fighter and destroyed in no time as soon as they left their relative cover. And when even one managed to reach a point where he was at firing range, his shots were trashed by the SPKs mounted on the side of the Sapin chopper. The few Belkan APCs were fleeing or burning, and soon the Osean and Sapin commandos were dropped by the EC-685s. The fighters could do nothing more than just watch, as their weaponry was not precise enough to take down single soldier on the ground.
And five minutes later, all Belkan forces had been silenced. Some Osean C-130 Hercules then landed to deploy their own SAMs and tripleAs on the ground. Another good news was heard, as some of the Allied aircraft were landing to refuel, Iskanda and Pixy among them, as they had a bit overused their exhausts lately, and it always increased fuel consumption: the Espada team had arrived and was being refueled in mid-air.
" So, Que Pasa, Sapins?" Fred asked to the Sapin team they fought alongside them last week.
" Some low flying stealth caught us by surprise. But we manage to shoot down these three YF-23s." Espada 1 answered, as he was connecting his aircraft with the tanker, as he had let his wingmen refuel first.
" These stealth pilots often forget that opening their bays negate stealth in visual range." Espada 2 commented, as her Rafale was moving toward the North of the Futuro canal.
" Good to see you're carrying LASMs today. Ready to send ship to the bottom I guess?" Francis noticed, as he saw their long shape below the Rafale.
" I'm sure I can do the same with my FAEBs." Iskanda affirmed, as she was taking off from the temporary base. Her pause had been very short, and she was only reloaded in missiles and guns, as the Hercules doesn't bring her any more thermobaric ordnance.
" We can find that quick. Who will sunk the greatest number of ships?" Johnson said, even if a Rafale M was way more oriented to air-to-ship tactics than a X-29A, but Galm 1 usually surprised them - most of the time in the good way hopefully-.
" So, you're Galm 1. Nice to meet you." Espada 2 saluted the Erusean merc as the tuned X-29A caught up with her.
" Well, thanks Espada 2. We have a fleet to sink people, let's go and sent them to Neptune." Iskanda tilted her airplane to face the Rafale at her right, before diving toward the canal and leveling at the last second.
" All aircrafts follow Galm 1. Go to the North. Operation Round Hammer is on the way." The AWACS ordered, and all plane lowered their altitude to just above sea level, crossing the canal without any interference. If they crossed the canal this easy, then the Osean third fleet would have no problem, Johnson thinks, as an Osean U2 sent him the picture of the Belkan fleet, confirming the known numbers, but revealing the few ships and more important submarines which were docked right now. They would need to destroy them ASAP, as not a single of their fighters had anti-submarine capacities.
North of Futuro canal, Belka, 24/04/1995, 12:00, Weather: outcast.
The allied forces, reinforced by the Espada team, had now reached the North of the canal, where the Njoldr Belkan supercarrier and its fleet were stationed. Some AA guns and SAMs were set on a bridge, but the GPBs which were carried by the F-14Ds destroyed the anchor point of the cables of the bridge. And as the cables went loose, the bridge started to crumble, and collapsed a few dozen second later, plunging the Belkan artillery into the cold water.
" This canal is the key to Ustio's liberation. Failure is not an option." The AWACS reminded, as the group of fighters was dividing in two halves to attack the naval forces on each side of the canal.
Iskanda and Pixy decided to stick with Espada and Komyeta team and go to the West. The other half went to the East. Four frigates and one submarine were stationed were Iskanda chose to attack. She dropped a FAEB between two frigates, neutralizing their AA guns and setting one of them ablaze. She finished the other with a missile right at sea level. A little time before she attacked, she had saw the Rafale launching one of his massive LASMs. And now it impacted the submarine, tearing it in half. The last frigate was destroyed by Pixy which did a perfect dive bombing, going vertically before leveling quickly, like the Stukas of past times.
" Damned, they are already here? They are in advance on our prediction, but we are still in the margin of error." A Belkan said, before being interrupted by the sound of a strong explosion, as a volley of rockets fired by the Su-33s wreaked havoc among the facilities, setting oil tanks in flames, and many tanks and AA guns which tried to hide among the said facilities were engulfed in bright flames.
" You have made a deadly error, Belkans. Underestimate the strength of us merc." Pixy replied, while gunning an APC which had tried to get some cover behind some tents surrounded by AA guns, which were reduced to shreds by rockets fired by Espada 1's J35J. If they were less spread than the ones the Sea Flankers carried, they packed a little more punch.
The fighters kept bombing the facilities, reducing anything they identified as Belkan to rubble. On the eastern coast of the canal, numerous containers-carriers were now burning, or torn apart by the explosion of the ammo they were carrying. And the oil tanks were just broken cylinder of metal darkened by the flames. Some AA guns were still active, but all the SAMs have been disabled. And only five minutes after the beginning of their bombing, ground victory was achieved.
" Ground troops have been destroyed. Now attack the fleet at the North." The AWACS confirmed the utter destruction of Belkan ground forces in the area. Maybe a tent or a lonely APC could have survived, but there was no more threat to the naval forces when they would occupy the canal.
" Roger, this is Galm team, we are engaging the enemy fleet." Iskanda said, as she turned her way to bearing 0.
" Advanced scout fleet detected. Firing anti-ship missile." An Osean F/A-18C pilot reported, followed by the other Hornet pilot and Espada 2. Two destroyers and one cruiser were sunk, and their escort frigates were bombed by the Ustian F-15Cs.
Yet the main enemy fleet they were about to face was even greater than the last satellite observations had shown. Seven destroyers deployed in an arrow formation were forming its front, while the back was comprised of five cruisers. And in the middle of this, in a lozenge-shaped formation, two Belkan Aegis were flanking a massive dreadnoughts of an unknown type, which featured two separated isle equipped with eight large caliber cannons on two turrets, complemented by AA guns around the main canons, along with SAM and an impressive number of SPKs, but the most surprising part was the flat surface between the two isle, which seemed to hide something. This area of the ship was large enough to fit the new Belkan defense system now known and feared as BAWS. And behind the dreadnought was the Njodr, the pride of the southern Belkan fleet, a 400-meter-long supercarrier with the unique capacity to launch three Hornets at the same time. Indeed, as they approached, they could see that the Hornets were launched at a terrific pace.
"Wait, these Hornets are not like mine." An Osean pilot said, as his radar was tagging them as Growlers.
" It's because the Njoldr is carrying F/A-18Es refitted for carrier purposes. According to intel they do not possess the strong jamming capacities, but they had enhanced targeting for both air-to-air and air-to-see." The other Osean Hornet pilot justified this little radar issue.
" Well, watch out for those "Super Hornets" kind of and for BAWS launch." The AWACS warned, as the bays of the Belkan TempestAngreiffSchiffe were opening, followed by the three on the dreadnought, revealing themselves to the pilots.
" Roger." The pilots responded, and had to slow their approach, making numerous maneuvers to avoid the oncoming missiles.
" This is the Thunderhawk squadron of the eight Osean Unit. We were supposed to be deployed next month, but it seems you need some fire support here." The leader of eight F-35Cs with a two-tone dark blue paint job said, as they were coming through the canal. Their additional fire was enough to send to the bottom five of the seven destroyers, and damage two cruiser and one TempestAngreiffSchiffe.
Yet it come with a great cost: six of them were shot down, along with one of the surviving Osean Hornet, and the J35J Draken and the Su-33s were retreating, having suffered heavy damage trying to fire their rockets to saturate the Belkan defenses, but they only managed to take down a BAWS on the dreadnought. And the destroyed systems were closed immediately, sealing the nascent fire onboard the Belkan ship.
And the two others were shot down by the over numerous Belkan Growlers in a pale blue camo with yellow stripes among their wings and fuselage. This remind Pixy of the tattoo of the warrior hornet on Iskanda's neck. And they were as agile and painful to shot down as warrior Hornets were. Furthermore, their very emblem was composed of three oversized blue Hornets piercing a sparrow with harpoons. Even if Francis managed to drop a GPB on the carrier deck, damaging its catapults, the Belkan naval operators had managed to launch an impressive number of twenty-four of those "Super Hornets".
" Damn, those pesky Hornets are swarming us." Pixy said, evading another nth attack from multiple angles, without having the time to retaliate. This time he managed to launch a pair of missiles to a cruiser while diving to evade some XMAAs, but the modified F/A-18Es were closing on him at each second that passed. Iskanda wasn't lucky either for once, having downed only three of them but at the cost of some gun hits on her right engine, which reduced the capacities of her afterburners. Vasquez, Espada 2, tried to launch her LASMs while evading, but she didn't have the time to get proper lock, and ended up firing two missiles for trash.
" It's going to take hours." Johnson mused, as he saw the two fighting forces entangled in fierce dogfight, with the Belkan forces outnumbering the allied forces. From times to times some Osean F-14Ds and F-4ES arrived by little groups of 4 or 6 fighters, only to be torn off by the Belkan fighters or the powerful anti-air batteries of the remaining two cruiser, one TAS ship and of course the dreadnoughts surrounding the carrier. The Belkan naval forces were surely diminished but were still too much of a threat for the third fleet which did not possessed any heavier ship than their Osean Aegis-class destroyers.
Now there were only seven Allied fighters, with Francis having to retreat after a painful dive-bomb on the cruiser. He managed to drop two of his UGBLs and two missiles on the enemy ship but was badly hit on its wing and ailerons. He almost crash landed when landing on the temporary base, his front tire pierced by Belkan lead. And there were still eighteen Belkan F/A-18Es, outnumbering the allied by almost three to one, forcing the allied to do evasive maneuvers and tried to find openings in the fierce Belkan defensive net of SPKs and BAWS.
" I've got an idea." Iskanda shared with the other pilots, as she pulled a head-to-tail-like maneuver to send to trash some XMAAs but couldn't retaliate as another Belkan craft attack them from her eight hours.
" What kind of idea?" the only Osean pilot left asked.
" The I do not think it will work but in the end it can work kind of idea?" Pixy guessed, knowing Iskanda not to be a tactician, still some of her tactics ended up pretty well.
" Yeah, this kind of stuff. Try to be followed by as many enemy craft as possible. Then follow me." She cleared her plan up, however not giving all the details to confuse a bit the Belkans, if they listened to their radio for once.
" Do what she proposed, we're kind of stuck here." Eagle Eye agreed to the almost unknown strategy, and this due to the fact that Osean numbers didn't seem to work against Belkan advanced fighters.
Iskanda begin her run toward the waypoint on her HUD, getting tracked by three F/A-18Es. On her way toward it, she began typing at her onboard computer, trying to change one very important parameter of her current armament to her idea. An idea that came through her mind, as she thought about her previous engagement above B7R.
And fifteen second later, the entire allied strike force - or what was left of it to be more precise- were climbing close to her, with almost a good dozen F/A-18Es on their tail. Then she decided to strike.
" Beginning primary ignition." She let this cryptic signal, even if she wasn't talking about a laser but a earthlier weapon. She pulled out a head-to-tail maneuver, and dive toward the enemy formation about 1km lower than her, and then readied the release mechanism. She went through the enemy formation while slowing down a bit, then did a second head-to-tail maneuver and as she was climbing again, she pressed the release mechanism, in the middle of this vertical loop, before dashing toward the sea at full speed.
But as her plan was going to work perfectly, the last Osean F/A-18C was struck by an XMAA and fall into a spin, exactly five seconds after Iskanda.
" I'm hit. But I think I can reco..." His voice was cut like almost all the Belkan voices as the two FAEBs Iskanda dropped just exploded in mid-air
Sadly for the Osean seven seconds was the time she set for her dropped FAEBs to explode. And they explode perfectly, catching a great number of their pursuers in their blasts, and the one that survived it were damaged enough to be taken down easily by the Ustian crafts. Yet FAEBs were blind weapon and they blindly reduced to dust not only eleven F/A-18Es, but sadly an Osean F/A-18C. A blue on blue.
" Was passiert? Report, jetzt!" The captain of the dreadnought, and chief of this fleet asked, as the sky was set ablaze. He had seen the propaganda image of the thermobaric explosion above Wesson, so he understood quickly what was happening. However, the how was a mystery for a few more seconds.
" Galm 1, Blue on Blue." The Kestrel CIC informed, as the dust of the twelve aircraft was now dispersed by the wind.
" What have you done, Galm?" Johnson asked with a worried voice, shocked by the horrific incident.
" I… kind of set my bomb to mimic the MPBMs the Wesson-UFOs are carrying. I couldn't foresee this pilot would be hit and fall into the blast radius!" She stammered before ending up almost screaming. For her point of view, she wasn't responsible of his death. But if sometimes the pilots on the battlefield have a more restrained point of view on the operation than the commanding officer, sometimes it could be the other way around.
" End justify means, Weeker." Pixy argued for his leader, as he was downing a very damaged Growler, which had been punctured on all its right wing and fuselage.
" This is not the time to treat this incident. I take responsibility for the action of my pilots, Weeker." The stern voice of Koenig cut the talk and reminded all of them that this very incident did not end the operation, only shortened it.
" We shall see, admiral Koenig. We shall see." Weeker replied with a harsh voice, not willing to admit the inferiority of his pilots toward the Belkans and the Ustian mercs.
" Sir, I have a message from Yuktobania. They announced at 12:00 at the Assembly of Nations that they would join the allied forces. And they have sent an Antonov 225 armed with heavy anti-ship missile." A forty-year-old officer by the name of Anderson said.
" Finally, some good news. Shoot down the remaining Belkan fighters, and then we will be able to cross this canal."
" Roger." the Ustian pilots responded, still a bit silent after the incident.
All pilots could see the massive aerial shape of the An-225, Belkan like Ustians. The Belkans dashed toward the transport, reaching a velocity of Mach 2, a speed way further the limitation of the common F/A-18E. Only Pixy's and Francis' Eagle could catch up with them, and they only had the time to shoot down one each before a volley of XLAAs destroyed the last two Belkan attackers. Apparently the Yukte craft didn't come here alone but was escorted by three MiG-31s Foxhound.
" Lei parla Oseani?" Pixy asked, as they joined the escort of Foxhounds which had a two-tone grey camo on the upper part of their Migalevs with a white under part, and all of them had red five branch stars on each wing, along with the Yukte roundels.
" Da. We are the Red Star squadron. Protecting a Matr bomb." Red Star 1 answered, revealing what was the long missile attached below the Antonov's belly.
" What's a Matr bomb?" Iskanda wondered, hoping they wouldn't resort to the use of nuclear torpedoes to end this naval fight.
" Just the biggest classic thermobaric ordnance without hypersthene. Almost as powerful as a ten-kilogram nuke." Their AWACS cleared out the doubt about the nature of this weapon.
The massive missile was ignited as they arrived at fifteen kilometers away from the Belkan fleet. It flew close to the water, quickly reaching a hypersonic speed thanks to its cryogenic liquid propellant engine. The Belkan knew that they did not have any chance to intercept such a massive missile, even with the BAWS. So, the order issued was simple: evacuation.
" That's weird, Belkan ships have released a great number of escape pods." Their AWACS transmitted, as small ships were projected by all ships, ensuring them a quick evacuation before this enemy they couldn't fight.
" That's a first, Belkan evacuating. Next time they are going to surrender without us having to even threaten them if it kept that way." Pixy nodded how unorthodox and opposed to Belkan pride this maneuver was.
Yet not all personnel have been evacuated on the dreadnought. The captain and a few officers were readying their last stand. The Matr bomb wouldn't spare them, and not leave them any chance to survive the explosion. But some Osean ships would not survive either.
" We can consider operation Round Hammer as a pyrrhic success. All aircrafts, fall back and protect the third fleet as they cross Futuro canal." The AWACS indicated, fully counting their high number of disabled aircraft and even higher number of destroyed allied forces - more than thirty in total-.
" All aircraft, begin operation Costner." Weeker ordered.
Middle of Futuro canal, Belkan water, 24/04/1995, 12:10, Weather: outcast.
They all see the bright flash as the Matr bomb exploded. Of course, it was a "clean" thermobaric bomb, but the area of damage and the light it produced make them think more to an atomic explosion. The four remaining ships of the Belkan southern fleet vanished in a giant geyser of water and metallic parts. However, the Belkan teams that chose to stay on the dreadnought had the time to launch their final onslaught against the allied naval forces. And soon it became visible to everyone in the vicinity.
" This is Eagle Eye; we have a hypersonic anti-ship missile incoming on the fleet. Estimated time of impact with the Kestrel, thirty seconds." Johnson announced, and all ships began firing their anti-air missiles to destroy this threat. But the Belkan missile dropped a huge cloud of flares, and the anti-air missiles of the Osean Aegis were shot for trash.
And as it accelerated, the front of the missile began to glow with a light electric violet color, as the air friction was ionizing the air around the missile. The MiG-31s obviously rushed, trying to intercept the missile, but the sparks born of the plasma created by the hypersonic missile disrupted their XLAAs, when they were not simply destroyed in mid-air. Pushing their engines to their peaks, they tried to gun it, but the ionized air coupled to the steam pouring out of the missiles' engine almost created an artificial thunder. Thus, their gun fire triggered the nascent thunder, and then two of the three MiG-31 were sent ablaze by the lightnings, while the third lost control and managed to crash land in the coast line.
Obviously the Aegis sent again a volley of long range anti-air missiles, but either their tracking was disrupted by the growing plasma bubble around the missile, or even if they reached the plasma, the lightnings born of it were so strong they either destroyed or even disintegrated the powerless projectiles.
" I'm trying with EPMs." Pixy said, launching two of his electromagnetic pulse missiles as the missile was halfway to the Kestrel, guessing that something creating electricity could be affected by magnetic pulses. However, Pixy could not know that plasma had some very specific electromagnetic properties.
The well-aimed pulse weaponry was activated at just mere meters of the hypersonic Belkan missile. The plasma surrounding the missile change a bit in color, glowing from a light purple to a very pale bright blue, but nothing happened. The missile was continuing its inexorable path toward the Osean fleet.
" Warum es funktioniert nicht?" Pixy gasped, as the EPMs seemed to leave the Belkan missile unarmed.
"Plasma has a skin effect on high frequency electromagnetic waves. For this very reason it negates almost all weapon based on electromagnetic waves." Thesermeister explained, as he was coming back from repairs.
" Does your skin effect affect mechanical shockwaves?" Iskanda curiously asked, as she was on a course to cross path with the missile.
" Well, no. Here the air turned into plasma should be dense enough to conduct the shockwave without too much dispersion. Why are you asking this, Galm 1?" Valentin didn't understand the whereabouts of this physical problematic.
" Gut. So now I'm warning your guys, Weeker. Destroyer of the advanced fleet, stop your advance." Iskanda tried to reduce the damage she knew she was going to cause.
" Negative. You're not in position to issue order to an Osean ship, merc!" The captain responded bluntly, not willing to stop their charge toward Belkan territory.
" Verdammt iron-headed Oseans. You won't say i did not warned you this time." She exclaimed, angry at the stubborn Osean officer, as she dived, on a path anticipating the one of the hypersonic Belkan missile. And dropped two FAEBs again, hoping that their powerful shockwaves would destroy the said Belkan missile. She then climbed out as fast as her half-destroyed exhaust allowed, waiting for five seconds as the hypersonic missile was closing on the area where her thermobaric ordnance was already dispatching its highly volatile fuel it contained: chlorine trifluoride.
"What is she doing? Close all ports. Immedia…." The voice of the commander of the destroyer was cut, not by the explosion of the FAEBs, which only neutralized their batteries without destroying the whole ship, as some officers decided to slow down their ship to reduce the damage, following reason rather than protocol.
What cut his voice was the explosion of the hypersonic missile, as the powerful twin shockwaves went through the plasma that surrounded it, making the explosion of the latter FAEBs look like a wet firecracker in comparison. The whole advanced fleet, comprised of the said destroyer, one frigate, one Aegis and one cruiser was annihilated by the initial explosion of the thermobaric Hypersthene warheads contained in the hypersonic missile. And the subsequent secondary explosion caused a shockwave powerful enough to neutralize the engine of the nearest ship, in this very case two cruiser preceding the Evanessor where AA guns and SAMs have been set, as the carrier was no more capable of launching plane. The mobile artillery pieces set on the carrier were pushed off the deck, with some colliding between each other or with the isle, and some falling into the water, or worse, right into the following ships, a pair of Aegis.
In total, the worse had been avoided yet it was very far from the best scenario, as the majority of the Osean craft the Kestrel launched were either annihilated by the shockwave or by collision, pushed like chips of wood in a flash flood. Even the ones that were taxiing on the Kestrel runway fell into the see, or for the case of one, collide with the base of the central isle, shaking all the personnel on it. And as they were violently put out of their emplacements, they broke the catapults systems which caused the steam used to pressurize the said catapults to pour at the bridge.
Shipwise, only the advanced fleet along with the escort of a disabled carrier had been sunk. The Buzzard, Vulture and most importantly the brand-new supercarrier Kestrel were unharmed. Still, the ears of Iskanda weren't unharmed for long, as Weeker screamed furiously to the pilot which both saved and destroyed his fleet at the same time, right after getting back on his feet, having stumbled due to the collision of one of their Hornet with the isle.
" GALM 1, YOU ARE LUCKY YOU AREN'T ONE OF MY PILOTS. OR YOU WOULD BE SHOT AT DAWN IMMEDIATELY!"
" HALT DIE FRESSE (SHUT THE F* UP), I DON'T HEAR MYSELF SCREAMING ANY MORE! BESIDES IT'S TWELVE O'CLOCK AND I THINK SHARKS ARE HUNGRY TODAY!" Iskanda screamed back to the top of her lungs, before activating for some seconds her oxygen mask as screaming so hard almost emptied her lungs.
" YOU CAUSE A FREAKING DISASTER!" Weeker snapped back, almost deafening the Osean officers around him.
" Yes, Sir I agree she did, but if she didn't intercept this missile through this high costly method, the Kestrel would have been sunk and the Campaign number 4101 ended up in a far worse disaster for the allied forces." The officer identified as Anderson counter-argued against his own chain of command.
" Anderson, don't defend this mercenary scum if you want to keep your rank." Another officer told him, as Weeker was too busy yelling at the Erusean merc to pay attention to his own men.
"Like Galm 1 said, HALT DIE FRESSE Weeker. They are my pilots, not yours. And you are still standing on your ship because of their achievements, not yours!" Koenig retorted with an angry voice, not supporting to hear his pilots being threatened when they should -of course they should be blamed for the loss they cost - rather be thanked for the far worse disaster she managed to reduce, as this Anderson officer said.
" I'm sorry to interrupt this very funny shouting match, but the fleet is stuck due to the wreckage that did not sink yet, and we have Belkan anti-ship fighters incoming." Their AWACS informed them, as waves of Belkan F-1s, Tornado Gr4s and some Mirage 2000Ds were approaching from the north of the canal. And thanks to this damned missile they had lost their only interceptors. Still, they had two F-14Ds, two Sukhoi 33s -they had just been repaired - two F-15Cs, one F-15E, one Rafale M and one advanced X-29A piloted by a now very angry Erusean merc, it could be enough.
North section of Futuro canal, Belka, 24/04/1995, 12:15, Weather, outcast.
The firsts to attack were two waves of four F-1s, coming from their two and ten hours, with a group of four Mirage 2000Ds coming at the front. The fleet was barely beginning to resume its forward motion, as a few wrecked ships were blocking its path. The Ustian fighters divided in three groups to take them down, with the AWACS picking the members:
" The Eagles, bearing 320. Galm 1, twin witches, bearing 060. Komyeta squadron, Espada 2, attack those Mirage coming head-on!"
" Roger. They're going to bite the dust." Halo 12 said, as her F-14D was accelerating with its wing closed.
The refitted X-29A was a bit faster than the Super Tomcats and arrived at gun range when they were only at missile range. Iskanda gunned down one F-1s, before turning hard to get in the six of one other. While doing this, the two Tomcats had already damaged the two other Kaizens and opened their wing after bypassing them to quickly get in their six and finished them with their guns.
The F-15s had no problem dealing with their F-1s either. Even if the latter managed to avoid their fire and retaliated with QAAMs which were evaded by the much more agile fighters. But once they crossed their path, Pixy had no trouble gunning one from behind while launching two missiles on one other, using the wide radar range of his Eagle. The two halo squad members get their kills quickly, but Fred's SAAMs were not quick enough to catch one F-1 in time, allowing him to launch two LASMs toward the stuck fleet. But the loss itself was a thrust of double-edged sword: the neutralized Aegis vessels were destroyed but their destruction freed the third fleet of the last wreckage in their way.
The Mirage were dealt through two XMAA volleys fired with a little delay between them by the Sea Flankers and Espada 2's Rafale. One tried to avoid them by diving and rushing toward the Osean fleet, hoping the Komyeta squadron wasn't going to risk new blue on blue. And the Osean Aegis surrounding the Kestrel shot him down after he only had the time to drop two GPBs on a destroyer, neutralizing its anti-air batteries.
" Other wave inbound. This time it's Tornado Gr4s and F-2s!" The AWACS announced, as the fleet was now at two third of the canal.
" I'm not letting any more death today." Iskanda affirmed sternly, as she dashed toward the F-2s.
The said F-2s launched some XMAAs at her, but she evaded them by flying at near sea level, with the missiles slamming the canal or its coast. Then she pulled out an Himmelman to get to their altitude, before tilting her aircraft to lock through her belly radar and fire two missiles at one while gunning another. This time it was the Kovsky brothers that were with her, and while the slightly more agile -than the Kaizens they previously encountered - F-2s manage to evade most of the XMAAs launched at them head on, the one which were damaged were finished without any mercy by the gunfire of Iskanda or Vasquez, even when they were already going in flames.
On the other hand, the Eagles and the Tomcats did a good job at shooting down the Tornados. Even if they were eight of them and they all have their jamming pod online they were quickly gunned down. Still it was tiring for pilots to fight while jammed, as they could only rely on their missile alarm to find their opponent. And all of them at the exception of Pixy suffered nasty hits due to the powerful guns of the Gr4s, as the Belkan version of them had an overall better mobility that allowed them to dogfight with their geometric wing fully extended, putting them on an almost equal foot with the other geometric wing aircraft they were currently fighting, the Tomcats.
But after all of those attackers were down, the silence was back on the waves. It was even a bit too quiet after all this battle and destruction. Still the silence did not last that much, as a distress signal was sent by the landed forces on the south of the canal, where they took the runway. The Sapin choppers had retreated to the mainland after their task successfully completed, leaving the AH-64 launched by the Aegis as scouts to watch the runway.
" This is Navajo 1. We are attacked by Nighthawks. We haven't seen them due to their stealth. Please Hur…" and the voice was interrupted by a QAAM launched by a F-117A that he thought he had avoided by barrel-rolling, but the missile came back at him and struck the Apache right on the cockpit.
" Damn, they are going to destroy all the supplies." Their AWACS could do nothing but see the destruction of the landed Hercules on the ground as the Ustian and Sapin craft were charging toward those stealths.
" These Belkan are quite smart. They knew this hypersonic missile attack would be a major distraction." Pixy conceded to his former compatriots.
" This is the Sergeant Bertz. Losses on the ground are huge. Eighty percent of the landed troops are already lost." An APC operator indicated, as the defensive gun of their vehicle was trying to repel the attackers, but without being powerful enough to take those weakly armored fighters down.
" This is Eagle Eye, one Osean satellite has been deployed to track the stealth. You should get locks a bit easier." Johnson informed this little change to the odds. Even if it changed nothing for the desperate forces on the ground.
" Finally, at XMAAs range! Fox 3!" Komyeta 2 exclaimed while firing four of them, with each finding its mark on a Nighthawk. Still they were a good dozen of them remaining. And the Komyeta squadron were the only equipped with multi target air-to-air missile for this mission after they reloaded following the end of operation Round Hammer, and it was the last of his ordnance.
" You may have stealth; you're always be flying bricks." Pixy fired one missile on a F-117A which tried to evade but end up in a stall and two other missiles struck him down.
" And do not try evasive maneuvers, you look like arrhythmic blind deaf comatose dancers." Espada 2 sent them a perfidious retort, as too often Belkan pilots considered her a little dancer.
" That was mean, Espada 2. But well-aimed." Halo 5 acknowledged her talk.
Iskanda had already gunned three of them. And know she tried to gun one while firing two missiles at another Nighthawk. Each of them tried to evade at max speed by barrel-rolling, but one barrel-rolled clockwise and the other counter-clockwise, and both of them collided over a burning C-130.
" Great. Two bird with one stone." She mischievously laughed, as all Nighthawks were going down in flames.
This little attack was a severe loss for Osea. Two units of marines and their vehicles, including SAMs and tripleAs had been almost utterly destroyed. And for Yuktobania too, as the An-225 which landed here after his delivery was reduced to dust by a LAGM fired by one of the attackers. History would look at this battle with a puzzled mind, trying to figure why the decisive victory Osean command had planned didn't occur. The response was simple: the slow destruction of their satellite network reduced their capacities of identifying the Belkan forces. And despite their decline in intel sources, Osea hadn't launch any scout or spy craft than the U2 they launched today. They gambled all on their numeric advantage. And almost lost everything.
Only the Kestrel and its support fleet had made into the North of the canal, with two useless carrier trailing them - the Buzzard and the Vulture, with only the two damaged Growler and a few stuck F/A-18Cs being the survivors of their fighter complement, as the Kestrel would need a few days to be operational again. Their escort was only of seven frigates, three destroyers and three cruisers, and two Aegis vessels. And all personnel on board were now praying that the Belkans wouldn't launch another raid with the Wesson-UFOs.
" I was planning to thank our guardian angels above us at the beginning, but as we only got exterminator angels up there I won't." Weeker complained once again of the aftermath of the hypersonic missile attack.
" You're such a weakling, weaker." Iskanda only mused but didn't say it, not willing to put her admiral at odds with the Osean top brasses even more.
" Ustian sixth Unit, RTB. You can return to your base, Vasquez, your leader was picked up by the Gavilàn squadron on their way back." Eagle Eye announced the end of this prolonged mission.
" OK. You pulled some crazy stuff today, Galm 1." Espada 2 admitted, finding that using thermobaric ordnance was a thing only crazy mens like Anton Kupchenko would try.
" Yeah, and in the end we survived. One point for the lady with crazy ideas." Iskanda went ironic, making fun of her own craziness, ending in some mad laugh.
" Guess Sancta Victoria was looking upon you, exterminator angel." Vasquez sum up Iskanda's luck through this almost mystic assumption, as she separated from the Ustian sixth unit to go back to her Sapin base.
" Maybe. Guess they must find our aerial battle funny if they sit on clouds up there." Galm 1 replied, turning the almost mystical assumption into a joke that made laugh all the sixth Ustian unit, even the AWACS operator.
Valais Air Base, Ustio, 24/04/1995, 13:00, Weather: light cloud coverage, medium risk of snow.
The sixth unit was finally back at the base. After refueling above Sapin with some of the A-400Ms the factory in Aarlon had produced, their flight was quite a quiet one, only interrupted at the end by the authorization message of the control tower to land. They all landed precociously, as almost all of them had taken few hits from gun fire, fearing that their tires or their landing gears could be damaged.
Iskanda wasn't in a very good mood as they entered the briefing room for the debriefing. Sure, the Kestrel survived. But the loss in Osean pilots were greater than the loss the allied forces inflicted to Belkan forces. And this Weeker guy wasn't someone she would like to collaborate with in the future, nor his pilots.
" Despite the losses the hypersonic missile attack inflicted, the third fleet has made through the canal thanks for your undeniable support. Right now, two squadron of F/A-18Cs have been brought from their mainland to compensate for the Osean lack of fighters. Rest and eat people, I know there're not only the sharks that are hungry."
" Yes, sir. And good luck in your talks with the Osean chiefs of command." Iskanda wished him, as the losses should have pissed these guys a lot.
" I hope they will not shun us for your actions. Anyway, go get some food and sleep, people, you're barely standing up." He dismissed the pilots, who for many haven't eat since 8:00 and it was now 13:10.
" You wouldn't have been able to act better today, Iskanda." Pixy said her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
" Thanks Pixy. They will accept in time maybe. But forgive? Never, Oseans are as vindictive as Belkans are proud." She rolled her eyes while saying that, knowing that acceptance never equal forgiveness in this crude world they were fighting in.
" Then they are just stupid. If you didn't act today their entire fleet would have been destroyed." Fred argued, thinking about the massive blast of the hypersonic missile. If it had detonated at the center of the fleet, the two explosion and the massive number of fragments propelled at crazy speeds would have destroyed all of it.
" However, Kupchenko's scientist have now found a method to shield their Hypersthene warheads from EMPs." Thesermeister admitted that he did not best them for long.
" But we have noticed today they are vulnerable to shockwaves. And it's always much simpler to create shockwaves than electromagnetic pulses." Viviane pointed out, as the shockwaves of FAEBs had been enough to trigger the explosion of the hypersonic missiles.
" And I'm sure Kupchenko would be almost proud to know he inspired others to use thermobaric ordnance from a plane, as an air-to-air armament." Alekseï added, finding all of this a bit ironic.
" Well, I hope he didn't put some copyright stuff on this usage. And next time I will try to warn a bit more." Iskanda replied, trying to best her mood.
" There's no try, my young friends. Tun es oder tun es nicht." Pixy said jokingly, and finally the pilots allowed themselves to relax a bit and laughed from his clumsy joke.
The food was greatly welcome, even if it was just tagliatelle with minced meat and tomato sauce, as all pilots were starving after this long flight almost uninterrupted. While eating, they shared their thoughts about the possible next operation, with the liberation of Directus and the attack on the Glatislant being the ones with the greatest likelihood to happen. However, in both cases they had few intel due to the loss of Osean satellites. But in both cases, they know they could expect to see BAWS and hi-tech fighters outclassing them or their allies by one or two decades of technical advancement.
End of chapter. I try to summarize the three operations we can choose between in the game, while adding some guy whose story is linked to the Kestrel. By the way, I have learned some time ago that Kestrel was one of the proposed names for the JSF program -now the F-35 lightning. Maybe it would have been a cooler name, what do you think, people?
Anyway, feel free to comment, review, subscribe, and follow me or my story...
01/08/2019: some grammatical mistakes fixed.
12/1/20: some other corrections...