Disclaimer: Ace Combat does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bandai Namco Entertainment.
Emmerian Forces Base Queensridge, Khesed Island, Republic of Emmeria, Anean Continent, Planet Earth.
September 19th, 2015.
It had only been three weeks, since August 30th, when the Federal Republic of Estovakia launched their invasion of the Republic of Emmeria, capturing the capital Gracemeria, and forced the Emmerian Forces into a retreat, and the feeling of defeat was still thick in the air as ever.
This feeling got even worse, when just a few days ago, on the 15th, San Loma fell after five days of battle, which had ended due to the Estovakians' long-range Nimbus missile strikes (something which was still causing Emmerian intelligence to scratch their heads about, due to their knowledge that there were no places in Estovakia for missile silos and the Estovakians definitely had not brought any ballistic missile submarines. Of course, there were rumours about the Estovakian Aerial Fleet, but statistical analysis stated that the Estovakians did not have the funding or the materials necessary to build or support it), and Emmerian Army units were forced to pull out of the city and make haste in order to join the retreat.
After this disaster (along with subsequent failures of the Operation King & Balloon offensives by Emmerian forces stationed elsewhere around the country to attack advancing Estovakian forces), General Vincent Fraser, Chairman of the Emmerian Joint Forces Staff Council (referred to informally as the Joint Chiefs of Staff), had ordered that all Emmerian forces retreat to Khesed Island.
The fact that the Nimbus missiles had sunk the RES Olympic and her carrier battle group on the 18th of September, may have been a further illustration for the high command that they stood to lose more, if they did not withdraw.
Originally a significant post for Emmerian Forces during the Cold War against Yuktobania (and Estovakia too for that matter, as Estovakia was Soviet aligned), the post-Cold War cutbacks had closed a majority of the army garrisons, naval installations and airbases on Khesed Island.
But now, they were being reopened, to be used once again in Emmeria's most urgent time of need.
One of these bases, Emmerian Forces Base Queensridge, near the town of Queensridge, had been one out of six major airbases on Khesed Island, housing fighters, interceptors and maritime patrol aircraft, but when the base was shut down, it had been converted into a small airport.
And needless to say, the engineers did very good work in getting the base back up and running in such short time.
Today, within the pilot's briefing room, were the pilots of the 4, 5, 15, 35, 207, 325, 491 and 592 Tactical Fighter Squadrons, and most notably, a flight from the 28 Tactical Fighter Squadron (from 8 Wing, Eastern Air Defence Region, based at Emmerian Forces Base Gracemeria), about to be tasked with their latest objectives.
Currently this flight, known as Garuda Team, were consisted of four pilots.
Their flight leader, Captain Philippe-Louis Barbier (known as Talisman), who had joined the Air Force on December 23rd, 2013, and after some years of drifting through squadron after squadron due to government cuts, he was now the firmly established Garuda One.
The number two, Lieutenant Marcus Lampert (known as Shamrock). A born and raised Gracemerian citizen, Shamrock still found it very hard to reconcile that the enemy was occupying his home city, where his wife, Monica, and his 10-year old daughter, Jessica, still lived (as far as he knew).
Garuda Three, Lieutenant Sharon Marie (known as Wishbone). Having lived on a farm seemingly on the outskirts of society in eastern Emmeria, before deciding on a new direction in life by joining the Air Force, Sharon went through her class with flying colours and passed around three years ago.
Garuda Four, Lieutenant Ethan Steele (known as Rabbit). The son of Captain Jean Steele, an Hornet pilot who had been killed in action during the Belkan War when Ethan was four years old, it was evident that Ethan had ambitions reaching toward the skies, and enlisted as an officer cadet in the Royal Military College as soon as he could, graduating only two months ago.
All thoughts were interrupted, when the briefing officer came in, along with a couple of other Air Force personnel and officers.
"Attention!"
Every pilot present shot up from their seats, staying like that until the briefing officer came to the front, telling them to "Please, be seated".
Once everyone had sat back down, there was a call for "Lights!", and the room darkened.
Then the projector displayed images of a series of bridges over a river onto the huge whiteboard, followed by maps of the areas in question.
"Right as of now, the enemy is closing in on the bridges at Bennett, Mackenzie and Fraser, located around 57 miles south southwest of Everett. If they manage to secure those bridges, it means that Estovakian forces will be able to cross over the Longwater River, and close in on our forces still on the mainland. But if we knock out these bridges, we will delay their advance for a number of days, meaning that we'll have more time to get more of our units over the Khesed Crossing, onto Khesed Island, out of harm's way, thus the likelihood of being able to launch a counterattack will increase tenfold".
"The bridge at Bennett, will be taken out by aircraft from the 491st, the 35th and the 592nd, while the bridge at Fraser will be the responsibility of the 207 and 325 Tactical Fighter Squadrons".
"As for the rest, your target will be the bridge at Mackenzie".
The briefing officer than had photography of the bridge at Bennett displayed, before he went over the plan with the 491 and 35 Tactical Fighter Squadrons.
Despite their name, they were bomber squadrons. Equipped with the F-111 Aardvark. Purchased in 1974 to complement Emmeria's fleet of Douglas A-3 Skywarriors (which were now retired due to budget cuts in 2012, that also reduced the Aardvark squadrons down to only five squadrons), the Aardvark may have been ageing, and was on the verge of retirement (with many of it's duties being handed over to the Panavia Tornado), but it was still an effective bomber, able to carry a payload of both unguided bombs, precision-guided bombs and air-to-surface missiles.
Of course, they weren't going alone, as the 592 Tactical Fighter Squadron, equipped with the EMF-118 Hornet, would accompany them as both a fighter escort and suppression of enemy air defences.
The licence-built version of the F/A-18A/B Hornet for Emmeria (which did receive upgrades, up to the standards of the C/D variants of the Hornet) which had been in service with the Republic of Emmeria Air Force since 1983, the EMF-118 Hornet had just been started retirement from service, with the EMF-188 Super Hornet, the Emmerian licence-built version of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, being introduced in it's place, and set to be the Republic of Emmeria Air Force's main combat aircraft for many years (replacing also the F-111 Aardvark), supplemented by the upcoming EF-35 Lightning, Emmeria's variant of the F-35 Lightning, as well as the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft.
But since the start of the war, the casualties and material losses of aircraft had meant that retired Hornets in storage had be brought out, engines turned back on, to fly once again in the service of Emmeria.
After the pilots of the 491st, the 35th and the 592nd were dismissed and sent to their craft, attention was now on the bridge of Fraser, the responsibility of the 207 and 325 Tactical Fighter Squadrons.
The 207 was equipped with the A-10 Thunderbolt while the 325 was equipped with the Panavia Tornado IDS.
The A-10s had been doing interdiction strikes on Estovakian logistical convoys behind enemy lines, as well as providing close air support runs, supporting ground forces against Estovakian armor, while the Panavia Tornado IDS, not only proving it's worth in interdiction strikes, close air support duties, but also reconnaissance and the occasional dogfight with an Estovakian fighter, despite being slated to be replaced by the EF-35 Lightning in the near future (of course, that future was all dependent on whenever Emmeria was going to make it through to the next year).
Then finally, the focus of the briefing came onto the bridge at Mackenzie.
Like the 592, the 4 and 15 Tactical Fighter Squadrons ("Sky Kid" and "Windhover") were equipped with the EMF-118 Hornet, while the 5 Tactical Fighter Squadron ("Stingray") was also equipped with the Panavia Tornado IDS.
Garuda Team, on the other hand, was equipped with the EMF-188 Super Hornet, being one of the very first squadrons to be equipped with the aircraft since it's introduction in 2014. And would be accompanying the attack force to Mackenzie.
The discussion then turned to potential enemy resistance and everybody perked up, intent on paying attention.
And for good reason.
Even before the invasion, Estovakia had always been of concern to Emmeria, right up when Estovakia was aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
And of course, In spite of the Ulysses disaster and the resulting turmoil in the aftermath, along with the following civil war which ended with "the Generals" coming to power, the threat Estovakian military still was ever present in the minds of the Emmerian military and politicians.
The Generals, managed to restore stability and order to the country, as well as rebuild much of Estovakian society nine years of unrest and scall-scale fighting between various armed factions, and seven years of full-scale war between the Lyes United Front and the Eastern Faction.
This included the Estovakian Armed Forces.
Combat experience was not lacking, for years of civil war had provided the Estovakian Air Force with plentiful of pilots and officers with this experience.
And the pilots had the aircraft to utilise those skills effectively.
The MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-25s were due to have been replaced with the Soko V-90, the CFA-44 Nosterafu and the MiG-31, augmented with the MiG-29 and Su-27, but with the delays in the Nosterafu program, the Estovakians instead were upgrading their MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-29s to at least bring them on par with the Emmerian Hornets, reckoning that a numerical advantage of heavily upgraded fighters flown by skilled pilots would ensure Estovakian air superiority. But while the replacement program had been replaced with an upgrade program, the Estovakians had at least, replaced the MiG-25 with the MiG-31 in the interceptor role and they had a plentiful of MiG-29s and Su-27s still in service as frontline aircraft.
Soon, the briefing officer was finished with the briefing, and all the pilots were dismissed, heading out to their planes.
Suited up, and strapped into the pilot seat of his Super Hornet, Talisman was waiting for the ground crew to get his aircraft started up.
And below long, the two General Electric F414 turbofan engines were spooled up, and pushing the aircraft forward as Talisman taxied his Super Hornet to the main runway.
Alongside him, following on, were Shamrock, Wishbone and Rabbit, in their Super Hornets.
And when he was ready at the main runway, ready for takeoff, Talisman contacted the Air Traffic Control Tower, "Tower, this is Garuda 1, requesting clearance to takeoff".
A few seconds later and, "Tower to Garuda 1, you are cleared for takeoff".
Pushing the throttle fully forward, the Super Hornet was now rocketing down the runway. Eventually, Talisman pulled up on the stick and the nose of his craft lifted up into the sky.
With Shamrock, Wishbone and Rabbit in formation alongside him, Talisman was resisting the urge to feel comfortable. The Stovies were persistantly sending out fighters, to keep the Emmerian Air Force on their toes, to wear them down in constant aerial combat, so the likelihood of encountering a Stovie fighter was quite high.
Plus, his Super Hornet not only was armed with armaments appropiate to take down the targets, around two AGM-65 Maverick air to ground missiles, two CRV 7 rocket pods fitted with nineteen 70mm unguided, folding-fin rockets and two Mark 84 unguided bombs on the underwing pylons, but he had a full load of 30mm M61 Vulcan ammunition, two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the wing pylons, plus in the centerline pylon directly under his fuselage was a single drop tank that provided Talisman with enough range to make the target and back. If need be, Talisman could drop his tank in order to make his aircraft more manoeuvrable.
And as he looked around for any potential contacts, he was assured by the presence of the EMF-118 Hornets from the 4 Tactical Fighter Squadron (comprised of Stephen "Sky Kid" McCarthy, Terence "Red Baron" Melvin, Garrett "Blue Max" Reid and Jeffrey "Black Eagle" Cruise), the EMF-118 Hornets from the 15 Tactical Fighter Squadron (comprised of Daniel "Windhover" Pollini, Laura "Lanner" Durance, Ryan "Saker" Clarkson and Kevin "Peregrine" Smith), and the Panavia Tornados from the 5 Tactical Fighter Squadron (comprised of Justin "Stingray" Suzuki, Harrison "Whiptail" Williams, Mark "Sawfish" Tremblay and Frederick "Manta Ray" Gagnon) right beside him.
Soon enough, they were within sight of the target.
The bridge at Mackenzie, one of the many crossings over the Longwater River, was a box girder bridge that was about 1,050 ft in length and had around six lanes for road traffic.
The area seemed clear from a distance, but when the attacking planes got closer, they found themselves being 'painted' by SAMs on the ground.
With no time to waste, Garuda Team sped up, heading towards the bridge.
Talisman soon flicked the switch to drop his fuel tank in the centerline pylon of his Super Hornet, before he then instinctively got the display to project the bomb reticle, intent on using his two Mark 84 unguided bombs.
Before long, he managed to get the reticle over where he needed to drop his bombs, and Talisman shouted "Bomb away! Bomb away!" as he felt the two Mark 84s unlatch from the underwing pylons.
The two unguided bombs, were now guided by gravity and aerodynamics as they fell towards the bridge.
Pretty soon, Shamrock, Wishbone and Rabbit were also dropping their bombs, after Talisman's two bombs struck true in the middle of the bridge.
The two explosions caused two massive craters to form (causing concrete to be expelled into the air, as well as fall into the river below), as well as cracks to start forming near the craters (slowly of course), compromising the bridge structures.
The bridge would be on a pathway to collapse if left there, but there were more Mark 84 bombs falling. Around four of them (for Shamrock had used both two of his, while Wishbone and Rabbit used only one).
And they, like Talisman's bombs, hit true on other areas of the bridge, forming more craters.
"Good effect on target!"
Soon after that declaration, the whole area lit up with SAMs and triple-A firing right at them.
Talisman was soon manoeuvring his Super Hornet wildly, and launching flares, as were his wingmen.
And while they were trying to stay airborne and undamaged, Sky Kid, Windhover and Stingray were coming into view of the bridge.
But when Shamrock came on the air, with an announcement that Estovakian forces were closing in on the bridge, in the direction from where the anti-air fire was coming from, Sky Kid, Windhover and Stingray lead their wingmen over there and went on the attack, using all ordnance at their disposal to take on the Estovakian SAMs and triple-A emplacements as well as the Estovakian infantry and armour closing in on the bridge.
So while Sky Kid, Windhover and Stingray rushed in, Wishbone and Rabbit took one look of the bridge.
Even though there were six craters on the bridge, it was still standing, and the craters could easily be covered over with some bridging equipment.
And it was not anywhere closer to being destroyed.
Wishbone and Rabbit decided that they would quickly do the deathblow to the bridge, so that they would get the mission accomplished.
Circling around, they got their last bombs ready and began a run on their targets.
Selecting two box girders at certain points on the bridge, in order to collapse it into the river, Wishbone and Rabbit managed to keep their nerve, even as anti-air lit up the sky above the bridge, and drop their ordnance on their targets.
Before long, the two unguided Mark 84s struck the girders (one in the very middle of the bridge, and one right close to the eastern riverside, where the Estovakian advance was coming from.
Despite the amount of concrete on the girders, the explosive power simply obliterated them.
And without them, the bridge started to fall into the river.
Wishbone made the call.
"This is Garuda Three, the bridge is in the river! I repeat, the bridge is in the river!"
Talisman took immediate action. "Roger that, Garuda Three! All planes, this is Garuda One. We've done our job here. Mission complete. Returning to base".
As Talisman manoeuvred his craft on a heading back for Queensridge, Shamrock, Wishbone and Rabbit went back on his wing, while the other planes were soon breaking off their attack on the Estovakian forces inbound on the bridge and heading back to Queensridge themselves.
With the collapse of the bridge at Mackenzie, in addition to the later confirmed collapse of the bridges at Bennett and Fraser, the Estovakian forces were essentially faced with the fact that they would have to spend previous days trying to find another way to cross over the Longwater River, in the hope of destroying as many Emmerian forces on the mainland before they got across to Khesed Island.
But with this delay, that meant that the Emmerians would have all the time they need, to get their forces to Khesed Island, where they would fortify and hold out against an impeding Estovakian assault, and hopefully, begin the counterstrike to retake their country.
Apologies for the long delay everyone!
Here's a little taste of an potential Ace Combat 6 fanfic that I have planned.
Since in my version of the Strangereal universe, Emmeria is based of Canada, basically, the Emmerian version of the Hornet is the same as the CF-18 Hornet.
So I've equipped Garuda Team with what I imagine, would be the Canadian variant of the Super Hornet.
At this moment in time, the Royal Canadian Air Force has not acquired the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (even though I think they were quite close to doing so at one point), but there are talks ongoing, I believe, for a mix of Super Hornets and EA-18 Growlers for RCAF service.
The Soko V-90 is based of the proposed Novi Avion aircraft that was in the works for service in the 90s and early 2000s, with the intent on replacing the MiG-21 in the SFR Yugoslavia Air Force, before the Yugoslav Wars broke out.
And anyone pondering about the use of Soviet, well, Soviet means council, and was also used as a means of identifying the state of the Soviet Union and it's citizens (just as Russia and the Russians were also used) so I see no reason why Strangereal should not have Soviet in it.
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review and see you next time!