Trades46 here,
Slowing the pace down now since I'm too busy playing Ace Combat 6, but it did give me insight into which direction I can be heading.
Enjoy,
Chapter 8
The Belser squadron soon starts to come into view. Each of them is roughly the size of a Silverhawk fighter, albeit painted with a black & white color scheme with violet highlights on the wings. They resemble traditional atmospheric fighters that are used in Darius and other colonies and less of the typical Belser drones which closer appears to be mechanized aquatic life forms.
The most distinctive marking is the squadron emblem on the vertical fin: '31st Tactical Fighter Wing' with a violet ribbon twirled around a crescent moon.
"Look out, Hammerhead 2!" immediately called his only surviving squad mate.
Almost instantly a barrage of missiles released from Belser fighters smacks into Hammerhead 2, causing a large blue plasma explosion that engulfs the Silverhawk. Luckily, his shields take the damage to keep the Silverhawk afloat. This squadron of drones/fighters aren't joking around.
"Let's take these guys down and get on home guys!" calls Corp. Lance. He is answered by a series of "yeah's" and "let's go's".
I focus my effort on the Belser ship number 14, to which my radar reads 'Ribbon 14'. I didn't know why HQ or Amnelia would assign this callsign to this Belser squad, but it was only maybe for identification purposes.
I try to take him from the right side and fire my Chaser missiles as they locked on. Ribbon 14 immediately performs a 'Kulbit*' maneuver just as my missiles reaches him, making my missiles overshoot his plane and putting me right into his sights. A series of laser bursts hits the side of my fighter as he whizzes by, damaging my shields. I silently curse myself for letting him pull it off.
As the dogfight with the Ribbon squadron continued, it was getting obvious that they're certainly not scouting drones. Whereas drones are only equipped usually with only a weak gun and are slow to maneuver, these 'Ribbons' are outmaneuvering our Silverhawks and are armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry such as laser guns, non-directional energy guns and plasma missiles.
These Ribbons aren't drones; they're the Belser first ever recorded attempt at a full-fledge fighter squadron that can easily outmatched our existing Silverhawk fighters. Even in my much more advanced Next, I have to push incredibly hard to avoid being outmaneuvered. I admit that in all my services of interplanetary wars and civil conflicts I've experienced since I've enlisted in the DDA, these Belser pilots are absolutely top-notch with the best of what Darius has to offer.
We have also no record of witnessing what a Belser citizen actually looks like, but through the canopy of the fighters, we can also tell, for the first time in history, that they resemble humans in shape.
After a few more minutes of dogfighting, I check the rest of the squadrons on our side.
Sundial is down to Lance and another unit after the rest of the squad retreated from heavy damage. Lightning has retreated earlier when Rexton deemed that the Ribbons are too experienced for the trainees to deal with, and will only result in causalities if they didn't leave. Aquila is doing the best they can, but their pilots are now noticeably tired after the battle with the Iron Fossil. The remaining Hammerhead units are not faring any better.
'Amnelia, this is Phoenix leader. I'm calling a retreat; the enemy Ribbon unit is much more powerful than anticipated. Our munitions & and fuel are both running low. We need cover to head back to the DIA.' I call to our AWACS after deciding that things are only going to turn for worse.
"Authorization granted Phoenix 1. Our radar facilities have now returned to full operation. Perimeter AA guns and SAM sites are now online. Keep the enemy busy and slowly return to the perimeter where the ground units will fend them off."
"Aquila squad, start retreating! I'll keep them busy at the back" announces Jean.
"But Major Treizz…" one of the Aquila units asks.
"Don't give me that men, this is an order! I won't be defeated in our skies that easily."
With a resounding shout, Aquila 1 charges back into the Ribbons who are now starting to give chase. Hitting the throttle, all the Sliverhawk fighters shoot in the direction of the DIA airbase as a series of AA guns and SAM missiles fires towards the pursuing Ribbon fighters.
Those Ribbons are extremely persistent. Amidst of all the anti-aircraft fire from the ground, they continue to chase our formations, dodging left and right at incoming projectiles. I decide to 180 my Next back at the Ribbons to help Maj. Jean to taking them out.
I was too late.
As I finish bringing the Next's nose around towards the Ribbon fighters, two of them fired a salvo of missiles at Hammerhead 1 and Hammerhead 2. I didn't need to turn around to know that both Silverhawks were effectively destroyed as they make contact.
Quickly making use of the time I had with my unexpected maneuver, I quickly fire off six missiles at the Belser fighters coming straight at me. Three of my missiles made contact, taking two of them out of commission and enough damage to bug-out the other.
The other bandits probably taken notice of my lethality and quickly broke off from Maj. Jean's fighter to make a beeline towards me. I grit my teeth together as I expect a long drawn out dogfight either until they give up or my fuel deplete first.
Taking on the fighter Ribbon 6, I quickly pull the air brake and roll over to his behind. He noticed my intention and quickly broke to the left, trying to do the same to get behind me. We continue to maneuver around each other, once in a while letting off a missile and a burst of laser fire with little success. I grimaced at the fuel warning indicator which shows I have less than five minutes of after-burning flight left. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to need it.
As I was busy engaging Ribbon 6, another Ribbon fighter engaged with Maj. Jean quickly broke off his tail and strafed my Next on my approach. His laser fire pierced through my already damaged shields and struck my left-wing. A warning siren resounded in my cockpit signalling the failure of my left aileron control, quickly sending my Silverhawk prototype into an uncontrollable roll as I spiral towards the ground at an immense speed. Before I can grasp the seat ejection handle, my planes hits the ground hard.
Everything went black.
When I painfully open my eye again, my vision is extremely blurry. I can make out the glass canopy of my plane shattered and that I've crash landed on a grassy field with my plane leaning on the side, luckily still facing up. My helmet was also split into pieces on the ground with the visor in pieces. I felt a strong pain in the left eye, which is also when I noticed that I can no longer see anything on my left side. I felt my hand going towards my left side of my face, only to see with my other eye that is lots of blood and searing pain. Looking down on my flight suit and cockpit is also marked with blood splatter and glass shards from the canopy.
I soon lose consciousness after, with a distant calling of my name on the horizon.
Notes:
*Another real life evasive maneuver.
Thanks to Ace Combat once again for giving me inspiration to continue writing this thing.
See you next update,
Trades46
