Chapter Two

Phase One

Black Four

Somewhere off the coast of Erusea

After silently staring at the target on her radar for what felt like an eternity, Second Lieutenant Penelope finally got the message she was waiting for.

"Black Four, the time is now. Execute."

"Copy, EAC. Black Four, fox three."

With a single press of the red button on her joystick, the R-37 missile detached from the central station of her SU-35 then shot ahead before going up on its ballistic trajectory.

Its target was the Osean E2-D Hawkeye providing AEW for the Kestrel ll CSG one hundred and fourteen miles away.

With her part of the job complete, Penelope cranked hard to the left and commenced her high-speed dash back to base.

Kickbacks One and Two

Ninety-Nine miles north of the Kestrel ll CSG

"Kickback One, this is Swordfish. You have an armada of seventy bandits heading your way from vector zero, three zero at twenty-thousand feet. The formation consists of F-4s, Mig-29s, and MQ-99s. We've confirmed they're heading for the strike group."

"This is Kickback One, we're moving to intercept and engage. Kickback Two, let's go," Captain Elliot said.

"Roger, boss," Kickback Two replied.

"Swordfish to Kickback One. We've just vectored the other patrols to your position and Kestrel ll is scrambling the alert five Super Hornets.

"Tell the Hornets they can take their sweet time getting here. We'll have these bandits running back to momma before you know it."

"Good hunting, Kickback One."

Between his squadron's F-14s and the Phoenix missiles they were packing, Captain Elliot didn't see any reason why they would have an issue defending the fleet, especially against the cheap toys they were about to face.

"I got the bandits on radar, sir. One-Hundred and ninety-five miles and closing," Elliot's RIO, Lieutenant Commander Doyle said.

"How many Fulcrums and Phantoms do you see?"

"Twenty of each, sir."

"We'll start off with them first. Kickback Two take the Phantoms I'll take the Fulcrums."

"Roger, my AIM-54s are ready to fly."

"Same here, Two. Prepare to engage on my order."

"Standing by."

Upon reaching the one-hundred and fifty-mile mark, Elliot gave the order.

"Fox three, fox three," Elliot shouted then he and his wingman launched all their AIM-54s and watched as they sped off towards their targets. More Phoenix's streaked by them as six more Tomcats joined up with them.

"Great timing guys."

"Roger, Kickback One. The Super Hornets are booking it and will be with us in approximately seven minutes," Kickback Three said.

"This is Kickback Five, those Rhinos should've stayed on the deck. Tomcats are the kings of fleet air defense. Always have and always will."

Captain Elliot considered it a pity that the rest of the Osean Navy didn't see it that way. There were only two Tomcat squadrons left in the naval air force. The Kickbacks, and the Gargoyles. Once this war was over, the plan by the brass called for switching them over to either the Super Hornets or the F-35Cs.

Just when it looked like the Phoenix's were about to hit their marks, half of the bandits disappeared from Doyle's screen, and out of the eighteen missiles fired. Only seven scored a kill.

"What just happened?" Kickback Two Shouted.

"Half of the enemy formation just vanished. That's what happened."

"Did we just waste half of our missiles on fake contacts?" Kickback Five asked with dread in his voice.

"Pipe down everyone. Doyle, check-in with Swordfish."

"I just lost their datalink sir, but I'll still try to contact them. Swordfish, this is Kickback One, half of the bandits just faded from our screen and we splashed six drones. Are you picking up any additional contacts?"

A few seconds passed without a single peep.

"Swordfish, respond. Swordfish, respond.

As fear and confusion overtook the squadron more trouble was creeping up behind them.

From the cockpit of his black and white painted SU-57 Felon, Orca One smiled as he and his wingman got close enough to get the Tomcats within the no-escape zone of their K-77s.

"Au Revoir Oseans."

Four missiles dropped from their ventral bays and streaked towards the Tomcats. Missile alerts went off in the cockpits but it was too late for evasive maneuvers. The Tomcats were turned into fireballs and not a single parachute was seen.

The four Super Hornets launched from the Kestrel Two never made it to the Tomcats. They were picked off by another group of Felons.

With the rest of the airwing attacking Farbanti, there were no more planes to send up.

Somewhere near Farbanti

As a fierce air battle raged over the city, a convoy of fifty trucks drove out of a hidden tunnel and arrayed themselves along the coastline. Once everyone was in position, the drivers raised their quad-packed Exocet launchers into firing position.

"Command, Group One is in position," the driver of the lead truck reported.

"Copy, Group One. We're awaiting confirmation from Group Two."

Ten miles away from Group One, another group of fifty trucks rolled into position. Instead of Exocets, this group was packing P-800 Oniks missiles.

"Group Two leader to Command, we are in position and ready to launch."

"Copy that. All mobile battery units…fire."

The trucks launched their missiles then proceeded to disperse. Some of them went back into the tunnels while the rest sped over the open terrain.

As the missiles flew over the water, they were joined by a large high-flying salvo of KH-101 cruise missiles fired from a twelve-ship of TU-160s that was loitering twenty miles away.

EAC stands for Erusean Air Command.

AEW stands for Airborne Early Warning.

CSG stands for Carrier Strike Group.