Valais Air Base, Ustio, 17/05/1995, 15:00, Weather: medium level of cloud coverage.
It was one of the days were all was average at Valais. The temperature was around an average zero, and the visibility an average level a bit above the necessary limits for a safe take-off. The only unaverage thing was the greater number of pilots, almost higher than non-flying personals for once at this base, all of this due to its position not that far away from the Belkan fortress of Glatisant.
But right now, all pilots were a bit laughing, as they were listening to the broadcast of the Assembly of Nations. Even without knowing the outcome of tomorrow's meeting, they knew they would attack soon. After all, since when did Osea take care of the notices of this useless Assembly of Nations, Pixy wondered.
" This is Ufree Fm, transmitting through our special envoy from the Assembly of Nations." The speaker began its broadcast.
" This is Denis Delacre for Ufree Fm. And here I am, at the Assembly of Nations. The debate has already begun, but don't worry, you won't miss a line here, whenever you're listening at Solis Ortus or in the Valaisian Alps." The special envoy introduced its theme, while a Belkan representative, a fifty-year-old woman was screaming at her Osean colleague " This is outrageous, this is unfair!"
" I am only asking for an inquiry in Belka, to verify that they possess WMDs, and if so to confiscate them." The Osean representative harshly replied.
" Denn you should begin by listing and giving up yours!" The Belkan representative barked, infuriated by Osean sick rhetoric's.
" Damn, Frau Ursula Reutner is quite in good voice today. These politicians must have been opera singer to have such lungs." The Ustian envoy said in a short quiet time, as the Osean was gathering his note to respond quickly.
" My fellow members of the Assembly of Nations, we are speaking of disarming a far-right regime so it cannot arm its own citizens if defeated. Defeated countries often use WMDs as final deterrence without any care for their people. Our goal is humanitarian." The Osean representative began its speech but was cut by a still infuriated Belkan voice.
" Humanitarian? Since when bombing and war is humanitarian?"
" On this point I agree with my distinguished colleague, Osean. Belka has almost better reasons to go to war from this "humanitarian" perspective." The Erusean representative intervened, more than happy to bother and contradict Osea, if it could delay the spreading of their influence on the Usean continent.
" Our goal is to liberate people. To give them freedom and economic prosperity." The Osean representative stated, trying to find more righteous reason than a false humanitarian one.
" Give us economic prosperity? Ich lache! The Mt Schirm crisis was your doings! You left us with nothing more than useless overpriced crawlers, and our economy crawling in recession! You only sought to have economic control by trying to buy our entire land after you put us in recession! Yet we won't bow like those countries of southern Usea!" Frau Reutner retorted even louder than before.
" I have to admit that a commission should be appointed to study this crisis in peacetime, when freedom of movement will have been restored within Belka." The Yukte representative shared his mind, even if it was what he agreed to say to defend the allied intervention, in which they would be taking action.
" Freedom? Because you think Osea has the right to take and give freedom more than us?" She tried to show that the Osean weren't more righteous than Belkans. There were just two countries seeking to annihilate each other.
" We are the Land of Freedom. Freedom of thought, of business..." The Osean representative began to speak but was again violently interrupted by his Belkan counterpart.
" Liberty of business only I believe. Don't try to smart mouth me, Wilson! It's not because you have some fracking Manifest of Destiny in which you wrote that you were some god special envoy that you are!" Reutner finished spitting her venom against those mighty Osean that believed in this pretentious moral high ground.
" Is this what the Assembly of Nations has become? A place for shouting matches between Osea and Belka?" The representative of the Estovakian federal republic interrupted this almost comic show.
" I agree with my fellow colleague and neighbor, this assembly is again stuck by Osean sick trades and Belkan recklessness, when we should be thinking to more serious matter such as how to deal with Ulysses fragments." The Emmerian representative completed this neighboring country.
" Speaking of such, I am sorry to announce that the sixth shot of Stonehenge failed due to some light solar burst that mess with the measurements." San Salvation's representative spoke, definitely putting aside the Belkan-Osean rivalry to talk about Ulysse.
" And until we will have dealt with it, even after your puny war, we will all have a sword of Damocles above our heads. Therefore, such conflict should be put aside." The Erusean representative intervened, backing the Ustian and Sapins who were more for a temporary truce and new elections in Belka. But not Osea neither Belka could accept such dishonoring end. Yet the word ''sword'' caused the beginning of the smirk to appear on Frau Reutner face, but she hid it very well, and that wasn't transmitted on the waves.
And of course, this was less funny to talk about, causing the pilots in the restroom to shut the radio. Some began to dither about the talk, with at one time even Oseans admitting that these concerns about Ulysses were not nothing, and that maybe the assembly of nation should act. Maybe even some Belkans they would meet and very likely kill this afternoon had come to similar conclusions. Yet who could have the wisdom and the technological advancement needed to successfully disrupt the fragments from their trajectory, thus sparing millions of death and decades of chaos for the countries in the foreseen area of impact?
Valais Air Base, Ustio, 17/05/1995, 15:40, Weather: clear.
After minutes of discussion about what happened at the assembly of nation between pilots of different nations, which thus had different mind about its role, meaning or true power. And even if Osea hadn't obtain a clear authorization to invade Belka it wouldn't be that long. Otherwise why would they gather their main pilots and squad leader to brief them about the threats up there at Glatisant?
This time the Axe and Hammer mapping system was centered on the peaks of Mt Ivrea. The mountain plateau in which Mt Ivrea was behind the Belkan city of Lumen, which was considered by many as already won by the allied forces. These small mountains chain was basically linking the great Lakes and B7R, a bit behind Osean and Sapin border with Belka. Still, if on this map it seemed to be a small area it was quite the opposite. Modernized castles, anti-aircraft bunkers, barracks, ramparts and all type of exiting defense against all kind of opponents were running on hundreds of kilometers.
" Osean Intelligence reports that Belka would be developing nuclear arms and Vergeltungswaffe 2(weapon of vengeance), a weapon of mass destruction. The Allied Forces' top brass have decided to send troops across the Hydrian Line to check for nuclear arms and secure resource interests. Centered on the modernized base of Glatisant, the Hydrian Line, Belka's long line of defense, stretches 700 km from Osea's southern border to the border of Sapin. Your mission to all of you and all of your subordinates is to launch an aerial strike on Glatisant to open the door to Belka for our ground troops." Koenig began the briefing, hearing some sarcastic laugh from Larry Foulke when he said the reason why they were doing this. He would have done the same thing, if these top brasses wanted his mindset about this so-called liberator invasion.
" For those who didn't make some tourism there or in Directus, I'll describe briefly the five main zones of the Hydrian Line. First is area Gate at the South-East, you will be coming right on it. It's a heptagonal shaped castle, with great amount of weaponry nearby, on its towers or within it and at the top of its walls. Second is the area Wall, comprised mainly of the main control tower surrounded by smaller tower fit with lots of anti-aircraft weaponry, while on the nearby mountainside you can expect quite a number of AA bunkers. Third is area Caste to the South-West, this time an octagonal castle built on another peak, with two main towers on each side of it and a large defensive wall on which dozens of AA guns, SPKs or SAMs could be set on. Fourth is area Garden at the North-West, the logistical center of the Hydrian line, it was former fields that allowed the Fortress to sustain itself, and now it's filled with warehouses and bunkers. And finally, the fifth area of the Twin Barbican at the North-East, it's another AA heavy defense with two twin towers and lots of smaller ones surrounding them. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend in any case to fly too close to them."
" Now you can realize that the door of Belka will be harder to hack than a fifth-point security door. In all probability, this will be an extended operation, and you will not be the only one taking action in it. Osean and Yukte strikers, jammers and bombers will also take action to destroy the heaviest fortified defenses, and you will have to defend them from the Belkan defensive squadrons, mainly multirole or strike fighters such as MiG-29As and F-15Es. Yet as you will be far from here, you may have to refuel in mid-air first and even come here to rearm, as overshoots may be necessary for clean landing here. Understood? Now dismissed, and good luck up there, people." Koenig finally ended his briefing. How many lives would the allied lose today was a good question. But the answer would always be a great number, whenever they went out as victors or victims.
" Damn, that's going to be one hell of a fight." An Osean pilot admitted, as the cluster of pilots was spreading toward their hangars.
" This war already put me through hell and heaven anyway. Just our op in B7R was in the middle of it." Iskanda commented as she joined Pixy in the hangar.
" Well, Belkan hospitality wird wie verrückt verbrennen (it will burn like hell)." Pixy replied, agreeing with Koenig that this fight was going to be a tough and long one, while they were picking solely air-to-ground weaponry, with UGLBs for him and a mix of four LAGMs and four FAEBs for his leader.
Valais Air Base, Ustio, 17/05/1995, 15:45, Weather: clear but with medium risk of snow.
Some aircraft were in the air, other taxiing to the runway, other on the runway. And soon it was the turn of the Galm team:
" Galm 1, Galm 2, clear for take-off." The control tower operator Henri Blaise announced.
" Roger, lifting off." The two pilots responded in unison, before following the long line of plane that were taking off. Of course, their jet wash was a bit bothering, and the massive trails such a massive formation taking off was creating too, but they manage to go to the sky without major issues. They even had the time to overrun some slower Hornets before Blaise gave them the second clearance:
" Galm 1 and 2, maintain altitude and course toward bearing 300. Good luck"
" That's nice to see all those airplanes taking off." Iskanda observed, as the final two brand-new Su-33 provided by Yuktobania to the Komyeta team were taking off.
" I agree, Nice aerial ballet from the AWACS's cams." Francis said, onboard the AWACS due to his wounds. He truly hoped he could fight in the next operation, as his wound was healing quite quickly.
Area Gate, Mt Ivrea, Belka, 17/05/1995, 16:30, Weather: thick cloud coverage.
They were all approaching from the valley that was linking the Sapins and Ustian plains to the Glatisant, maybe taking the same path Sainte Victoire took four centuries ago. A squadron of Tornado Gr4 had joined them. Their callsign was Fenrir. They were mercs rent by Gebet and Recta to Osea. It was the only way for those two defeated countries to help in this war.
On their approach, they saw the allied assault force sent to take the city of Lumen. The formation was a typical Osean one: a flight of ten B-1s to suppress early defensive systems, followed by twelve C-5s and eight AC-130s to drop and support airborne units, and then choppers flights comprised of AH-64s and CH-17s for the Oseans, with some Mi-24s and Ka-52s for the Yukte. They were escorted by more than sixty aircraft. Maybe if Lumen fall quickly some B-1s or strike fighters could come help them. Or others could be in route right now.
But right now, the Galm, Halo, Komyeta and Claw team were launching themselves on its first line of defense, while the Falchion squad was a bit behind. Flying at very low altitude, they could see the old walls at the feet of the first peak of the Mt Ivrea, were the heptagonal shaped castle was standing proudly like a doigt d'honneur to the allied forces.
" Nuclear inspection. Es ist die größten Witze dieses Jahrhunderts (it's the biggest joke of the century)." Pixy said with a shit-ton of sarcasm, while destroying a SAM that had come out of hiding.
" Yeah, the Osean could have thought of something better. But they are Oseans." Iskanda added, firing her guns on a SAM that was first hidden behind some wall and try to fire at them from their six hours.
Two other SAMs and AA guns sites were dispatched by the Komyeta and Halo team respectively. Then as they climb toward the fortress, they saw tunnels on the mountainside. And from all tunnels were approaching others AA batteries. Yet a barrage of long-range missile from the Hornets cleaned them temporarily
" Fire a missile in the hole." An Osean pilot -Falchion 4 to be precise- suggested, as other vehicles were coming to reinforce those points.
" Galm 1, roger that." She agreed, even if she would have rather done something funnier with those tunnels. With one missile she destroyed one of them. Pixy dispatched another easily, and the two others were by two GPBs from the twin witches.
The Falchion squad climbed too, reaching the altitude of the wall of the heptagonal shaped castle. A volley of air-to-ground missile struck the defense standing at the wall's feet. Yet some Hornet took some hits from the Glatislant upper defenses. And soon the announce they were afraid to hear finally came:
" BAWS launch detected. A full dozen of them. Fenrir squad, activate ECM and be ready for evasive maneuvers." The AWACS operator warned the least mobile planes.
The seven Ustian mercenaries and six Mirages climbed vertically over the castle, trailed by an helluva amount of Belkan bullets. Then they all dived on the ten BAWS launchers on the inside, each of them launching two missiles and a bit of their ordnance. Unguided and guided bombs, submunition, rockets and air-to-ground heavy missile were fired in the courtyard of the castle. As they leveled, they all choose a different vector, each targeting one tower with missile and gun that reloaded during their dive, with the Claw squadron finishing the few defenses still standing after this blitzkrieg attack.
In the end, the castle was left striped away of its main aerial defenses for the time, but not a single wall had collapsed. The Belkan would just need some transport chopper to bring new AA guns and the Gate area would be closed again. And if the Ustian only suffered light hits, the BAWS shot down half of the Osean and Gebetan-Rectan squadron. To be fair not all of them were destroyed by the high velocity missiles it produced, with some hitting flying debris of their comrades, this mainly happening for the Gr4s.
" We have some news of Lumen. The B-1s have dealt with the heavier defense. They have enough payload left to turn the towers of this castle into rubble." The AWACS shared this latest intel on the other battle of today.
" By the way, the space observers Osea launched yesterday have sent us the final data they collect on the Wall area. To say things short, not even a LAGM would leave a dent on the main tower's wall. You will have to destroy the anti-aircraft bunkers and the small guns for the Lancers." Francis added from their E-767.
" Roger. It's not like there was almost a good two hundred kilometers between the two areas." Fred said, as they left the castle to the Osean strikers.
Area Wall, Mt Ivrea, Belka, 17/05/1995, 16:50, Weather: thick cloud coverage.
The weather was getting worse and worse, like if even the elements were against then today. It was now raining cats and dogs, and this wasn't making their job easier. The last thing they need was a thunderstorm about Glatisant. Their planes were lightning proof theoretically, but they did not wanted to probe it.
Let alone the weather, the journey between the two zones was quite easy. They only had two SAMs site to clear on their way toward the control tower. The control tower was visible from very far away due to its massive size. Its diameter was maybe bigger than the width of an An-225 main body. It was on a high peak again, surrounded by small towers and old walls, with a plethora of SAMs and AA guns around it. There was tunnels too, but the second they showed up in the area they were closed by small cupola in ferro-concrete. And they were doubting about their armament piercing capacities.
The second thing that spread doubt between their ranks was the wreckage of an entire squadron of B-52s Stratofortress laying shattered one kilometer before the fortress.
" Plane wrecks. The Glatisant must have shot down them here when we try to counter-attack two days before the fall of Wesson." Claw leader described the desolate site that was welcoming them.
" Verdammt, an Ocean of bullet is coming on us." Pixy swore, as the entire AA guns of the tower, the bunkers and the mobiles guns began to fire. The guns of the tower have been set on the old lancet holes of it, enabling it to fire in all vectors.
" I would say more of a tsunami of bullet but you're right Pixy. Try to fly low but higher than the AA bunkers." Iskanda recommended, as she had escaped the fire of the one at the front, and temporarily paralyzed it through a pair of standard missiles on its top walls. A pair of GPBs of Claw 5 finished the building.
" Target destroyed. Just stick with the Galm team and you will made it!" Claw 5 said, following the nimble X-29A as it was flying with a fantastic audacity between the small secondary towers, launching missiles on some SAMs set on top of it, which could not counter-attack as in her posture she was lower than their line of fire.
At least, the Mirage were good infiltrators, and thus made for flying low, and it wasn't difficult either for the mobile aircraft of the Sixth Unit. Yet the F/A-18Cs and the Gebetan crafts were much more endangered. And soon Francis, Phil and Koenig saw with powerlessness the allied crafts getting shot down one by one.
And it kept this way for a good five minutes. Of course, a great number of SAMs and AA guns, with the SPKs protecting them were downed, along with the AA bunkers. Still, the defensive structures were not damaged, and from time to time, AA guns or mobile SAMs would emerge from hidden lifts, making sure they would not reveal where they were coming from.
The losses were counting. And Belka hadn't engaged its defensive squadrons yet. On the other hand, Osea sent a squadron of F-20As Tigershark but they were shot down between the area Gate and Wall. Maybe Belkan stealth plane were already engaged somewhere around here, but the very poor weather conditions reduced greatly the AWACS sensors.
But for three minutes, the pilots were only resorting to evasive maneuvers, circling around the control tower while some try to saturate its powerful SPK network. They had seen the ten B-1s incoming on their radar. And now they were somewhere in the clouds, two or three kilometers away from the main control tower, almost a kilometer higher than the peak.
Yet, as they opened their bombs bay, they revealed their presence a bit more, negating the stealth those clouds provide them. It was at this moment that the Vampir squadron decided to attack for a second time Osean attackers. From ten F-117Zs with a dark two-tone night camo with an emblem being two blooded fangs on the nose of their fighter was fired a volley of ERAAMs (Extreme long-range anti-air missile). Those stealth missile with specific aerodynamics that rendered them nearly silent even if they were going supersonic could literally turn those new Nighthawks Zerstörer into an anti-bomber stealth platform. Hopefully they could only lock at bombers from their extreme range of 10 kilometers, and only fired one at a time
" This is Angel 1, I'm down!" The first B-1 was hit and exploded, followed by all members of this squadron of Osean bombers. Some blew up right in mid-air, with other avoiding direct hit but ending crashing on the mountainside.
And soon it was the turn of the Gr4s to be targeted by the Vampir squadron. Yet the Belkan had to come closer to get proper lock-ons. However, with them being near the Ustian mercenaries, they were on the verge of being spot if they fired a fourth time.
" What are you doing with your plane, Galm 1?" Claw leader asked.
" Trying to get a reading through my secondary radar. It can go into very low frequencies, like the old one of the Griffon." She explained her doing, and five seconds later, as she was going through every frequency possible, a full group of F-117s were spotted by her belly radar. Yet the IFF had trouble identifying them, like if they were another unknown version of the Nighthawk only produced in Belka.
" Transmitting data to all crafts. Hunt and kill them." The AWACS operator ordered, as they linked all radar data together. " Then use your own IR sensor when you will be in range."
" Roger that." Claw leader replied with haste as he was leading the Oseans Hornets which lost their leader to the threat. There was still twelve Hornets and six Mirages at this point.
" We're following you. Seek and destroy!" Halo 10 exclaimed, quickly catching up with the Oseans.
However, the F-117Zs had the time to fire a final ERAAMs volley before the allied fighters arrived at XLAA or SAAMs range. Ten Hornets added themselves to the kills of this squadron. Still, their last stand wasn't that long. Tracked by the combined radar of nearly twenty aircraft, volleys of XLAAs, XMAAs and SAAMs were shot at the Vampir squadron. No chute was sighted amongst its members.
" Gott Verdammt, those new Nighthawks were deadly." Fred cursed, as the AWACS was counting their losses.
Twenty F-20As. Ten B-1s. Ten Gr4s and ten Hornets. Fifty aircrafts in total. If ten stealth not made for air-to-air combat could bag so many kills, what could happen if Belka engage stealth meant for combat, Valentin analyzed. He was shock by the likelihood of such massive casualties other Schayne plains in the oncoming weeks, or anytime soon if they went deeper into Belkan territory. Yet both Yuktobania and Osea weren't afraid to engage even hundreds of assets to force Belka into submission. This was the textbook definition of a military superpower.
" This is Eagle Eye, MiG-29As and Belkan F-15Es coming from the North-West." The AWACS announced, as twelve fighters of each type went out of the jammed area Garden. The Fulcrums were spotting grey fuselage with dark grey wings and dark ailerons while the Strike Eagle's had a two-tone night camo with black ailerons.
" Eagle Eye, why can't we see the other area on our radar? We could attack them and then destroyed this tower when we have enough fire power." Halo 7 asked, as they were evading SAAMs volleys launched by the Fulcrums and the Strike Eagle alike. It wasn't that hard with these missiles having low mobility but fired by numerous aircraft allowed their user to keep the allied forces at a distance.
" We can't because those three areas are jammed by blimps. You could destroy them if you had the time and good visibility, but we have not the one nor the other. Henceforth we had to destroy the control tower, as it controls this jamming too." The AWACS operator nodded with the mind of Fred but was sorry that Belka was forcing them to play along their rules even if they were the defenders here.
" These pesky Belkan tacticians are cunning, I have to give them that." Iskanda commented this step in this Belkan counterattack.
They would deal with the Fulcrums and Strike Eagles in due time, she knew it. Yet to catch the quicker way those foes that were firing from long range they would end up behind the control tower, and thus would get caught into massive crossfire. But while approaching the mountainside before this castle, she suddenly saw a massive gap into the cupola of one tunnel. A B-1 must have crashed there with all its payload being powerful enough to leave this dent on this ferro-concrete wall.
" Galm 1 here, I have found a vector of approach. Have fun dealing with the fighters without me." She announced as she slowed down to almost stalling speed, reducing her speed greatly in order to aim the tight gap in the Belkan fortress precisely, and preparing her night goggles.
" I bet she was getting bored and this is why she had to bore her way through Glatisant." Francis said, causing some laugh amongst the AWACS crew.
" Will you ever run out of crazy idea, Frau Deadpool?" Koenig asked after a massive sigh.
" Nope." She replied quickly with a playful voice, which caused her wingmen to sigh too. In spite of their losses, she was taking her tall here.
The tight frame of the X-29A rushed through the gap and thus disappeared from allied radars, this didn't worry her wingmen a single bit as he was getting used to her crazy schemes by now. Yet unlike the one at Solis Ortus this tunnel wasn't empty. She arrived right between two AA guns that were meant to go on the platform before the cupola was closed. She was so quick that she didn't have the time to destroy them. And unlike four days before, she didn't stay unnoticed for long, even before she started gunning the small railway shuttle on her path, which allowed the Belkans to move at a speed great enough to adapt themselves to the outside threats.
" Aircraft flying inside. Close the security doors. Immediately. I prefer to have a shuttle cut in half than a fighter bombing us from the inside." The Belkan Oberst in charge of this area ordered to his subordinates. And in the second following this order, gates began to close, red lights along with a high pitch alarm came to life.
" Ach Quatsch. I'm not planning on getting stuck here." Iskanda said, even if only the Belkans could hear her right now.
Her advanced sensors she kept from her first inside flight had detected three gates. Stepping on the gas and tilting her aircraft at ninety degree, she went through the first gate easily. Yet the two others were closing fast. Too fast for her aircraft current speed. And she knew her LAGMs would not pierce those gates. However, they might stall their motion. Thus, she fired one LAGM and one missile on the second and the third door, with her gun still firing at everything that moved in her path, setting SAMs, tanks or howitzer ablaze.
" Gottverdammt this pilot managed to stall the door, Oberst." A servant in the control tower complained.
" Begin evacuation to the enclave then, use the emergency lifts and lock the main one. Und verschließe diese Schutztüren!" The Oberst chose to live to fight another day instead of making a foolish last stand.
" Even the Ustians?" One officer asked quickly. At this point Iskanda had passed through the second gate, but almost hitting her aileron.
" Natürlich. They are prisoners, not human shields!" The Oberst almost shouted to his subordinates, which was maybe more conditioned by the Rald Partei than he was.
" Ver Oberst Gangl." The officer nodded.
Iskanda's X-29A was at the third gate by now. But if the two first door were closing along a vertical axis; this one was along a horizontal one. So, she tilted her airplane by ninety degree again, but counterclockwise. And ended up flying inverted in a tunnel, having to constantly level her airplane. Furthermore, her radar indicated her than the way up was getting obstructed by a moving lift. She had to arrive before it if she wanted to internally destroy this castle. Kicking the burner, she flew toward the vertical tunnel with a fantastic audacity.
By sheer luck she passed the gate which has restarted its closing motion just in time. If she had the long rear-facing radar of those new Belkan Flankers, the two side of the gate would have caught her by her aircraft's tail. Then on a hunch she fired her third LAGM, only two hundred meters before the vertical tunnel.
Surprisingly her belly radar showed her than the lift had stop its motion. Maybe the blast of her LAGM had activated its emergency brakes. Thus, she could dive into this vertical tunnel with ease. Yet in this second inside flight, she was again happy to be flying such a tiny aircraft, or she wouldn't have been able to fly through this vertical tunnel - the elevator shaft- to be precise.
She didn't have to fly very fast to arrive at the last level were the Belkan arsenal was stored, as gravity was helping her on her way down. Yet if the blast of her LAGM stalled the lift for a time, it fell right behind her. So yes, she had to dive quite fast to be honest, as gravity was accelerating the loose lift too.
When she arrived at the arsenal's level, the elevator shaft turned into a metallic structure. Extending her airbrakes while leveling for a moment that seemed desperately long as the lift was still falling on her, she managed to get through a gap in the metallic structure, and the lift fell where she was ten second later. She was now in a great cave, -artificial or natural she couldn't know- where armament of all sorts and all calibers were piling up. Her altimeter -which she to be honest didn't understand how it could work inside of a building- was showing 1800 meters. While according to allied data this control tower was culminating at 3400 meters. Which meant the elevator shaft was just huge. Even the Osean skyscrapers were tiny things in comparison with this elevator shaft.
But she wasn't here for architectural study... So, she dropped her four static FAEBs, which hovered for a bit in the cave, above the giant howitzer shells and ballistic ammo for the BAWS, having previously set a detonation time of twelve second while circling around the metallic structure of the elevator shaft. It was more than enough time to drop the four, then go back through some gap in the metallic structure and kick the burner in this vertical tunnel.
And as she was at 2.1 kilometers, her FAEBs blow up, setting fire to the whole Belkan arsenal stored here. And now she could see a very bright orange light on her rearview mirror that was brightening by the second: the blast was getting closer and closer, and if she didn't want to end roasted, she would have to escape fast. Crushed by the G-forces on her seat she pushed the afterburners to their peak. She surely would need to resupply after using them so much. Knowing there was a roof on the top of the tower, she fired her last LAGM vertically, and hoped it would detonate on the said roof without endangering her too much.
Area Wall, Mt Ivrea, Belka, 17/05/1995, 17:10, Weather: thick cloud coverage.
As soon as the control tower was evacuated its fire output decreased, allowing the allied planes to circle around it and attack the Belkan fighters in numerical advantage. Hopefully for them the Caravahan squadron had been dispatched to help them, and twelve F-14Ds with a standard navy-blue camo were good to help again twenty-four attackers spamming SAAMs. Four of its members were shot down along with 2 members of Claw squadron. The twin witches had to retreat too, without XLAAs, yet with a good load of Belkan bullets on her wings, tail and ailerons.
But even as they were still finishing the last Belkan craft, all aircraft could see the consequences of Iskanda's inside flight. All ferro-concrete cupola closing the tunnel blew up, with great flames pouring out of them. It was the same everywhere: out of every opening of the fortress bright flames were coming. Pixy and all the sixth Unit began to worry for his leader.
" Come on, Galm 1, respond!" Francis shouted from the AWACS, were a worried operator and admiral were watching the thermal image of area Wall, but the massive inside fire made their efforts to find Iskanda's craft useless.
" I think she had a good probability of survival in her model." Valentin estimated, as flames began to pour from the first level of the control tower. Pixy was now as worried as when he left his first leader to defend his escape.
But five second later, a massive inner explosion sent the roof of the tower into the sky, leaving an opening for his leader's X-29A. She flew vertically for a while, as the massive column of fire was extending out of the tower, followed by a stream of bright overheated rocks. At one point she had smell the smoke even with her OBOGS. Or was it that her aircraft was beginning to burn? She wasn't very sure. In life or death situation like this one she just survived there was no certainty.
" You did it!" Claw 3 congratulated her.
" Well, now the intern geologic structure will fall if my estimations of the Belkan arsenal are good enough." Komyeta 1 commented, as he was leaving quite quickly the airspace right above the mountain.
" Glatisant is going to collapse. All unit, go to the Castle area or refuel for the ones who need it." Their AWACS operator ordered after sighing for a bit, authorizing himself to have some relief after he went hyperventilating due to his worries.
Indeed, it was collapsing. The ground was shattering under the force of the explosive blowing up inside the bored mountain. Flames and burning rocks, overheated metallic and human remains were propelled at great speed into the sky.
" It looks like a volcanic eruption." Pixy described, having seen one while travelling with Laura. It was one on some island at the extreme South-East of the Usean continent. Some Belkan geologist payed them just to take some picture of it. Yet it has been a very dangerous task due to gases, cinder messing with the engine and the eruption itself inducing very powerful turbulences.
And at last, in agony, Glatisant collapsed. The peak of the mountains imploded, before its geologic structure was shattered by the formidable explosion inside of it. The remains of the control towers and all the towers which were on top of the mountains vanished into an ocean of flames, as if they were falling in the crater of an active volcano. All that was left from the proud fortress Sainte Victoire had built nearly four centuries ago was a giant caldera of maybe two kilometer in diameter, or even more, with the munitions and the fuel still burning inside. At least the fire was confined inside the caldera, as the mountain collapsed on itself.
" Great. Now do that thing three more times and we can be sure Glatisant offensive power will definitely be neutralized. This battle will definitely change the look of this place." Pixy commented the crazy scheme of his leader that led to such devastation. Hopefully the Belkan had no nukes stored there.
" Well I won't do that all day. When you smell your own aircraft burning you become a bit more cautious after." Her leader replied, before leaving the battle area to refuel.
" Don't worry Galm 1, we will leave you at least one area for you to shine again." Alekseï responded, as he headed with the main force toward the area Castle.
" Good luck then." She wished them. They would need it, with the two big AA towers there, which weren't as big as the control tower but together could bring quite a lot of firepower. Furthermore, a great number of choppers had been located there. They had little chance of taking down fighter by themselves but having to evade their fire could disturb the fighters and put them in harm's way.
Area Castle, Mt Ivrea, Belka, 17/05/1995, 17:30. Weather; thick cloud coverage.
Going from area Wall to refuel surely took her some time. And in spite of her having a quicker X-29A, this back and forth travel needed by the overuse of her afterburners should have given all the other pilots the time to utterly destroy the Area Castle. Or that's what she was guessing when she arrived on the said area, thinking of seeing just another desolate castle turned into ruins by the allied firepower.
Well of course the Belkan choppers weren't considered as a force to be recon with. And their action was helped by a counterattack of ten MiG-29As, which were shot down at the expense of all remaining Oseans F/A-18Cs and F-14Ds. Now the allied forces had already lost more than sixty aircrafts, with few chutes sighted. Yet having to bail out above this kind of place didn't guarantee survival. But when the Belkan Apaches shot down four of the twelve A-10A that Osea sent as reinforcements as well as some bail-outing pilots, the few bits of reluctance the fighters pilots possessed vanished, and all AH-64s were quickly sent into oblivion.
Dropping massive amounts of FAEBs, the A-10As were obliterating all external defenses. Furthermore, the second tower ceased to fire when their second bombing run was over, and at the same moment Iskanda arrived. Yet she wasn't the only one to arrive in the area. Six Su-32 Strike Flanker with a dark green two-tone camo were entering the airspace, and immediately fired volleys of XMAAs on the Oseans strikers.
" Damned it. Do something, Galm team." An A-10A pilot complained, flying only with one active engine left.
" Almost all our planes are out of long-range anti-air armament." The AWACS operator specified.
But they had plenty of missiles left. And they were far more mobile than the Strike Flankers. Two were shot down by the Komyeta team, and the four others were shot down by the Galm team resorting to gunning one while shooting missile on another one. By luck one of the Flankers hit the second AA towers hard. It was enough to leave a dent in the Belkan defensive structure, and without losing any moment the few A-10A and Mirage pilots exploited it. The Area Rempart was finished in a matter of seconds.
" Area Castle has lost all defensive power. All allied forces, attack the airfield of area Garden." Their AWACS operator ordered.
" Roger that." Claw 2 responded. Even if they were with only two or three GPBs each and three airplanes, they followed the Ustian mercs. Even if there was only one Strike Eagles, the Galm and Komyeta team, along with three A-10As, they would not back down. On the long-range radar, they could saw the Mage squadron coming from their assignment in Wesson. Still, as they arrived late last time, the allied pilots were afraid this squadron would arrive too late again.
Area Garden, Mt Ivrea, Belka, 17:50, 17/05/1995, Weather: thick cloud coverage.
" This is Eagle Eye. Confirming presence of numerous Harrier hidden in this area." The AWACS operator transmitted the data from the X-37s space drones the Osean army deployed to overcome their loss of spy satellites. Thus, their HUD was now displaying the position of the said VTOLs
" We are already coming on them. We have enough ammo to destroy them and their hangar I think." Claw leader assumed, confident in their escorts' abilities.
" Forward SAMs have been deployed! Fire on those invaders." A Belkan servant said.
Indeed, the Garden area was preceded by two small cliffs, with little castles on them, all of them equipped with SAMs and AA guns on their towers. The Galm and Komyeta teams dealt quickly with the latter, before gunning a bit some warehouses. Even if they could not destroy them, every round fired was counting today. Then one of the last Belkan HQ of the area appeared in their eyesight. It was an old Orangery, yet with rows of semi-cylindrical turret where the high glass doors once were. And their combination of SPKs and AA guns made an attack against this target very likely to be costly. So, the Ustian pilots, and later the Claw squadron climb over it, right on the Harriers' airfield.
" Just gun them a bit. VTOL are quite fragile when taking off." Galm 1 suggested, as she was quite low even on missile: less than twenty.
" You're right, this is one of the main hindrances of our F-35Bs. Even if it's rumored than Belka produced a few of them in Hoffnung." Claw 1 agreed while firing his centerline gun pod.
The seven aircraft gunned continuously the Harriers, damaging them before they could take off. The majority weren't destroyed, but their pilots were killed or for the luckiest ones wounded by the enemy gunfire. Few did explode and began to spread small fire. Of course, the bunkers were mostly unarmed, but the rampant fire was beginning to engulf some. But they would need the heavy rockets the A-10As were equipped with, as they already used their FAEBs in the previous area.
When the Warthogs arrived over their target, most of the Harriers were burning in the field behind the Orangery. The few that did manage to take off were outmaneuvered by the more agile fighters, even when they tried to make their pursuer overshoot through their VTOL capacities. And the fighters already had a strategy to saturate the defenses of the latter.
" Beginning rocket fire." One Warthog Osean pilot said, and as he was saying that, he saw the seven remaining allied aircraft dived from high on the turrets.
The volleys of rockets weren't easy to intercept, but this building could deal with them. Yet they weren't the only one to fire on this defensive structure. Standard missiles fell vertically on the Belkan towers, either saturating them or stalling their fire. Still, the few flak guns the Belkan had set up between those turrets were enough of a threat, and this threat become obvious when one Mirage was downed and two other suffered nasty hits. But at least the Belkan structure was crippled.
" Area Garden has lost its defensive capacities. A-10As, kept destroying the bunker in the area. Komyeta squad, Halo 7, you've already suffered quite a lot of damage, escort Claw 1 and 3 to the safety line." Their AWACS operator ordered, seeing that the two Yukte and Ustian had sixty, seventy, and fifty-five percent of damage, respectively.
But as the Osean Warthogs flew over the building, they were shot one by one by pairs of QAAMs. Four Belkan Harriers had managed to take off from a warehouse with its ceiling destroyed by some missile in the first attack run of the fighters.
" Galm 1, engage!"
" They will be terminated quicker than those Terminators." Iskanda exclaimed, ready to slaughter what she considered to be underdogs in every statistic.
" Galm 2, Fox 2." Pixy announced as he fired on one Harrier before gunning the cockpit of the other.
Iskanda went for a similar attack, yet it differed in her strafing run. One Harrier fall to her missiles, before she pulled out a very sharp turn to fire her gun in the nine hours of the last surviving Harrier. His forward vectored nozzles his craft used for take-off burst, and quickly the plane turned into a ball of fire.
" Area Garden is clear of enemy presence." The AWACS operator quickly recalled the results of this quick slaughter, before resuming his notices: " You can now head for the final area. Osea has dispatched the Mage and Zebra squadron to help you there."
" But the X-37s space drones have seen some kind of train getting out of some entrance on a promontory just in front of the twin AA towers." Koenig added, looking to the data those spy planes were transmitting. Soon they would change their orbit in order to get some data for further advances in the Schayne plains.
At this notice, to which the pilot simply nodded by a " roger, will be ready for anything they will throw at us.", they couldn't do nothing but worry a bit. Indeed, since the operation of Solis Ortus, Belkan train had become synonym of their railway tactical laser system they could put on it.
Area Castle, Mt Ivrea, Belka, 17/05/1995, 17:30, Weather: thick cloud coverage.
Two squadron had joined with the allied strike force. The 230th and 450th wing of Osean fighters, respectively named Mage and Zebra squadron. The first was a flight of ten F-15C with a dark grey camo and the second six F-15Es with a grey paintjob and black stripes. Both were full on ammo unlike the Galm team, as they were coming from Lumen where they had rearmed in the recently captured airport of the said city.
" This is Mage leader. I have some kind of train right below me, a bit before these twin towers. Engaging now." The Osean pilot indicated, arming his UGLBs. Yet he was lacking experience against those energy-based weaponry.
" Mage leader, abort bomb run. It's usel…" Galm 1 try to contradict the pilot bomber but was cut in her speech by her very interlocutor.
" You're not in position to give order to us. Beginning bomb run." The pilot harshly retorted for two reasons: he hated mercs, and he knew the pilot she injured at Directus.
" Mage 1, you should maybe reconsider what she said. Ustians have already dealt with RTLSs." Mage 2 intervened and began to leave the bombing run's path with some of his comrades.
" Mage 2, we will see this after we return in Lumen. All Mage aircraft, on me." Their leader ordered, and nothing, not even the emergency notices of the Ustian AWACS could make him change his mind.
Thus, the Osean began their bomb run on the Belkans RTLSs, with a low angle of pitch to drop their payload. Yet they never reached their target. The two RTLSs had open fire with all of their telescope-like turrets. But unlike the one at Solis Ortus, they only possessed light turrets. Even if they would have trouble taking heavier plane if it was the case, this allowed them to have a more numerous fire output. And as the overheated air began to ionize and create small lightnings in the wet air, the Osean strike squadron went right through hell. Only to stay in it obviously. Planes were shattered as their metallic parts were sublimated by the nanosecond pulse laser. Mage leader was one of the first to go down.
" Damn those Oseans. Zebra squadron, use your LAGMs to saturate those defenses like it was intended to." Koenig ordered, his frustration toward the recklessness of his allies could be heard within his voice.
" Zebra 1 Roger, opening fire." The Osean leader announced, as LAGMs left his pylons to be straight up intercepted. Indeed, they had bigger Osean engine than their Belkan and Ustian counterparts, which allowed them to carry more than a dozen of those anti-SAMs site missiles.
" Mage 2, 4 and 7, follow me. The other with Pixy. Prioritize hit and run missile attack, no strafing run." Iskanda inquired, hoping these Oseans who saw their brother in arms foolishly died would listen to reason.
" Mage 2, roger." The Osean quickly nodded.
The first Osean attack was just a rash one based solely on numerical advantage. This one was colder and more methodical. LAGMs rains on the Belkan position, as F-15Cs and X-29A circled around in erratic pattern while firing their missiles. Some other Mage aircraft were downed in the attack as well as one Zebra aircraft, and in total only Mage 2 and 4 were still fight-worthy, but this attack succeeded. Yet the Twin Barbicans were still standing high above the ground, high square tower with dozens of fire outputs.
But they were way thinner than the control tower of the area Wall, according to the X-37s measurements. As such, the AWACS operator quickly saw an opportunity to be exploited:
" Mage and Galm team, you're the only ones agile enough to strike at the Twin Barbicans bases. Mage, you will follow Galm as they guide you through the Belkan AA network." The AWACS operator indicated.
" Pixy, Mage 2 and 4 on me. Fly close and low. Never lose me of your sight or you're dead on the water." Galm 1 said with an imperative tone, as she dived toward the fortress.
They climb a bit from the promontory where the RTLSs once stood, reaching the level of this last Mt Ivrea peak left to conquer. Yet the Twin Barbicans were almost one kilometer later, and highly protected by a dense network of AA guns and SPKs. For the nimble X-29A it wasn't very hard to go through. As a merc, Pixy had an aircraft a bit tuned up, especially in mobility. But for the Oseans it was really hard to go in this kind of trench run. Of course, on their path they destroyed some of the most threatening defenses, but they couldn't destroy all of them.
" Galm 1 is pulling out some crazy stuff." Mage 2 commented as she raised her airbrakes right after a small AA towers to turn hard, then firing on the back of the said tower before making her head-to-tail maneuver to go back in her attack run, this making her even closer to the three Eagles trailing her, who were a bit reluctant to fly so fast in such a tight space.
" Come on, go faster people, you're making me wait." She replied, after doing another hairpin bend to her left, then another head-to-tail maneuver to arrive on the nine hours of a set of two turrets, firing one of her last missiles on it. This time when she leveled, she was really close to them, maybe less than fifty meters.
" Three hundred meters before the Twin Barbicans." The AWACS operator indicated.
" Intensify forward fire power!" The Belkan commander bellowed as he saw the four planes rushing through his last set of defenses, with the X-29A seeming to be untouched by all things his subordinates were firing at her.
" Ver. Verstärken vorwärts Feuerkraft." The servants replied.
As a consequence, the batteries fired more often, ignoring the risk of overheating. And at one point, Mage 4 was hit, and as he tried to level his plane was torn off to pieces. Yet the debris hit one the Twin Barbicans, disturbing its fire a bit, allowing the three allied fighters to come close enough to drop their ordnance. Mage 2 manage to drop three bombs on each tower, while the Galm team fired their last missiles on its base. And as the Twin Barbicans stopped firing for a bit, the Zebra squadron fired a powerful LAGM volley, which cause the two towers to explode into fire and light.
" All offensive power of the Glatisant has been neutralized. All planes, RTB. Mage 2, Zebra squadron, you're coming with us too, a Belkan last stander manage to partially blow up the runway in Lumen.'' The AWACS operator finally announced the end of this prolonged mission, which saw the loss of almost one hundred allied pilots.
" Huh? I just saw some flash at high altitude." Pixy pointed out, as he saw a turquoise blue light a bit to the North. He never saw Northern lights over Schayne plains. The only time he saw it was during a mission at the extreme North of Erusea, in the arctic circle.
" I have seen it too." His leader agreed.
" X-37s have been destroyed. Likely by energy-based weaponry." Francis announced, as the final image the space drone had transmitted was just pure turquoise blue surrounding it.
Valais Air Base, Ustio, 17/05/1995, 18:20, Weather: low freezing fog.
Again, a back travel with only seven comrades including six straight up strangers to this base and the sole survivor of his squadron wasn't very funny. They did meet a lost MiG-29As patrol of eight aircraft, but outside of this encounter that didn't last, with Iskanda and Pixy bagging two kills each, this Osean one, and the last were downed by Zebra squad's SAAMs. They had to refuel in mid-air, and with the vibration amplified by the damage they suffered, it wasn't very easy. Still, they had finally made it to Valais Air Base.
" I will have to land on that short ski slope?" The Osean asked, as he saw the two Ustian mercs lowering their gears.
" Oh, stop being some scared Frischling. Think to the men piloting the E-767 and then you'll have the right to be afraid." Iskanda retorted, as she was engaging her aircraft in the axis of the pylons preceding the runway.
" Mage 2 you're clear to land." Blaise announced to the Osean pilot who was much more used to the large runways of Wesson and Oured.
" Damned it, that's hard." The Osean said, after he touched the ground and almost slide on the recently melt ice. He tried to slow his motion but lost his cool when he realized he touch the ground with a greater velocity than the two mercs who landed at the verge of stalling. Thus, the emergency net was raised, and he was trapped in it like a fly in a spider's net. The 5 other Osean Eagle run into similar trouble to land.
After he was pulled out of his fighter, Ustian mechanics oriented him toward the briefing room. On his way there, he saw the E-767 landing without the need of the safety net. If even that kind of pilot could best them, the thirty-years-old Osean pilot had now reason to doubt of his training. Almost frozen in this climate unknown to him -he refused to do the skiing class as a kid-, he was almost a bit too much warmed by the heating system of the said briefing room. The logo of the Ustian weapon manufacturer welcome him, as an old Belkan voice he heard on the radio three days before was doing the debriefing, belonging to a man his superior had shown only disrespect for his point of view : admiral Koenig of the Ustian sixth Unit.
" The operation was a success. Glatisant has fallen as well as Lumen. The Allied Forces have broken through the Hydrian Line, bringing the battle to Belka. However, as all of you have noticed it, the X-37s space drones Osea has dispatched were shot down by an unknown energy-based weaponry. We are currently investigating this incident right now, but I have no further data on it." The admiral explained the last intel on this loss, which meant than theses X-37s weren't a good long-term solution.
" And the doctors said Halo 5 will be able to join us for the next op." The AWACS operator announced, which caused some cheering among the Ustian pilots.
Then all pilots, which were quite tired now, left for the restroom. The Osean pilot followed the motion of the people, after the admiral indicated him that he was going to stay due to the damage his aircraft sustained and a snowstorm incoming, with the latter wishing him good luck when he would have to discuss his behavior with his superiors. At least with the survivor of Claw and Zebra squadron he wasn't the only Osean in the vicinity.
For the Osean pilot with his almond eyes and slightly yellow tanned skin, this base was the opposite of all he grew up with in his country, and to a greater extent of his origin country, somewhere to the North-East of Verusa. People were drinking, chatting, and not just these energetic drinks most Osean people like, but this Belkan beverage known as Glühwein.
" Hey, don't stay in the open, you're causing drafts." A Belkan voice said, the voice of this merc he had identified by his red wing in the air.
" Yeah, come have a drink, you will have all the time to mourn your head-strong leader later." An Erusean voice speak, belonging to a merc to be sure, as she wasn't wearing a flight suit but a blood red and dark blue leather outfit. But it seemed that even his Osean comrades were a bit less strict here, having trade their uniforms for civilian clothes to ease their rest.
" Second Lieutenant Kizuko Takako. I'm pleased to meet you." The Osean shook the hand this she-merc was offering him and was a bit surprised by her strength. But after all, if she could pull high-G maneuvers without apparently batting an eye she surely had some strength.
" I think I will just stick with Kizu. You did well out there." The Galm leader judged his flying while taking a sip of hot wine.
" Compared to you I fly poorly. How did you learn to fly without any fear and such foresight?" The Osean asked after taking a seat.
" In Erusea I choose to have one more matter than in Osea or Belka." She began a slightly cryptic answer.
" Which one, indoors flying?" Pixy tried to deduce, as she was almost at ease when doing so.
" Nope, Solo Wing. White water sports, like rafting, canyoning, kayak and such. It's very good to teach you foresight, how to read the currents and the tide of a battle." She finally gave her answer, which was like with many things about her, quite surprising to say the least.
" That's unexpected. I never did such sports. But I understand your point." The Osean pilot replied, a bit downcast, having set his expectation to a somewhat crazier level, as he learned the achievement of this Erusean mercenary.
" Now I understand your cold resilience. Water in that kind of spot is usually quite cold." Pixy sighted, finally getting where this love of cold shower came from.
" I wish you good luck dealing with your top brass about your behavior of today. I mean, I'm a controversial subject since my doing at the Futuro canal." Iskanda shared a bit of empathy toward this unlucky Osean.
" Guess I'll end on Sand island. This is where they send all people that fail to comply." He advocated, crestfallen. Unlike this merc, he didn't have the luck to be backed by a fair leader. He would only be judged by unfair and greedy leaders.
This talk was for a while the main topic, with Pixy displaying what he saw once on this very island. Almost build runway and almost build base to say the least. It was the last place all pilots want to go. At least in Belka if you fail there wasn't much to complain: surviving was still considered as a minor victory. And if you fail too much and had to run, the Schwarze squadron would always take care of you. Plain and simple death arriving at three thousand kilometers per hour was the fate for Belkan deserters.
Another great topic was this energy-based weaponry that shot down those X-37s. If they saw a RTLS downing an An-225, they doubt it was the case here, as the latter aircraft was shot down at low altitude, while the drone was in space. If Belka had now the mean to get space supremacy, it would be disastrous for Osean intel or even some rumored space weaponry. But what kind of facility could have enough energy to achieve such results: in total Osea lost twelve X-37s and quite a great number of intel satellites - more than their rockets could launch-? And would they meet this energy-based weaponry on oncoming mission such as an assault on the Schayne plains?
Well, end of chapter. Like in the Futuro canal, I buffed up a bit Belkan defenses. But I buffed up the attacking forces too. Yet it's always better to fight at home, isn't it?
And about the volcanic eruption kind of thing, I have only one thing to say: Damnit Nagase, this is how volcanic eruption look like! (Yeah because I never saw one in ac5). And Yeah, I made the assumption there're active volcanoes in Strangereal. I try to do a bit of politics with this debate, I bet it's what it could look like (#Belkadidnothingwrong).
Anyways, there are some named antagonist and protagonist… Maybe they will come back later, or their name can make you deduce something for their respective future...
As always, reap.. huh readers, feel free to follow, comment, subscribe...
16/1/20: some grammatical fixing.