Time for some air-to-air combat action you would see in both Star Wars and Ace Combat. It's one of my favorite things in Star Wars, next to the clones, vehicles and weapons. I am going to try and pull out all the stops for these next two chapters and this time, I think I can safely say that this chapter and the next chapter will be very long.
So, I don't know if any of you have been keeping up to date with Rwby volume 7, but it is really getting good. Spoilers for those who haven't seen it, Tyrian is a confirmed psychopathic killer, Watts faked his death and knows Jacque and best of all, Penny is alive! Hopefully this volume will be better than the last one and we will finally see Jacque and Whitley get their asses kicked.
Onto Reviews
Mpowers045: Did you really think I would have Ahsoka and her kids die right after birth? Do I look like I am the kind of person who would turn a hero into a villain? No, I don't think I am that type of person.
1049: Yes, Robert will go on a Warpath to get his wife and kids back. I can assure you, it's going to be epic but it will not be on the level of Darth Vader when he attacked the Separatist Council, but it will be epic. KABOOM!
Spartan-626: Glad you liked the chapter. I was trying to figure out on how to include Canada in the story aside from a few Canadian characters and I am thankful to say that it went well. As for the wolves, being a dog lover, I figured I'd add some wolves. I can assure you that when Robert meets his kids, it's going to be a touching moment. As for the pup, I am still to trying figure that out. Glad you liked my ending for Grievous.
Now, let's get things started. For those of you who have played the game, there will be a few Ace Combat 7 OST's being used.
Disclaimers are the same as always, please enjoy.
Chapter 43: Air Strike
August 18th 2020 19BBY
Hudson Bay
Canada
0900 hours
Normal point of view
Sitting undisturbed on top of the water of the largest body of salt water in northeastern Canada, a flock of Seagulls quickly flew into the air and narrowly avoided becoming a snack for a great white shark. Having missed the chance for a meal, the shark swam away looking for another meal only to be caught on the bow of a large submarine as it surfaced. The shark, losing the water in its body soon died and fell off the deck of the submarine as four more submarines of the same type surfaced as well. They were flanked dozens of Trade Federation aquatic battleships.
All five submarines were four-hundred and ninety-five meters long and were powered by two nuclear geared/turbo-electric mixed flow pump jets. Each vessel was armed with dozens of VLS's, CIWS and SAM launchers along with two electromagnetic railguns. Completing their arsenal were numerous point-defense laser cannons and several small turbo laser batteries, making each submarine as deadly as the Bismarck and Yamato combined with the Malevolence. Above them was a massive manta-ray shaped aircraft with a larger hanger bay in the center, armed with an array of anti-aircraft cannons, surface-to-air missile launchers, point-defense cannons and small turbo laser turrets on its wings.
Both the aircraft and each of the submarines opened up their missile launchers and launched numerous ballistic missiles towards their targets, the New Republic lines.
Fifty miles outside Kansas City, the New Republic forces and their allies were making the necessary repairs and adjustments to their air and ground forces that were damaged during the pullback from St. Louis as well as tending to the wounded soldiers who weren't tended to before they were forced to pull back from the failed attack on the Mississippi.
During the evacuation, Rainbow managed to rescue every single unit trapped in the city with no loses to their own forces. Despite a few members getting injured during the rescue operations, the international counter-terrorist unit was still able to conduct a few deep reconnaissance missions with the Ghosts, Artyom, Anya, Nikolai, Neyo, Jet, Baccara and Lighting Squadron in order to see if there were any weaknesses in the enemy's newest defensive perimeter.
As for the capital ships of the air forces, the technicians of several Acclamators guided several damaged walkers, cannons and mechs onto the heavy cruisers for repairs while several Venators circled the base from above carrying out their radar picket duty. A tactic taken from the pages of the United States Navy during the battle of Okinawa creating an early warning system against enemy aircraft and the enemy's newest long-range missile strikes.
The Dooku's Retribution, along with the Defender and Ark-Angel were running routine diagnostics on the ships systems under the guidance of Admiral Halberton. The checks on the weapon systems were finished and they were about to run the checks on the hyperdrive when a naval officer ran up to him. "Admiral Halberton! Numerous enemy missiles detected approaching our lines!" A clone naval officer shouted onboard the DR as alarms screamed all across the ship. To his horror, Halberton watched as one of the enemy missiles hit a Venator at station four, destroying the vessel in seconds.
"Order all ships to activate their CIWS defenses! Shoot down those missiles!" Halberton shouted. Another naval officer relayed the orders to the other ships, which immediately began to open fire on the missiles with their point-defense lasers.
Numerous enemy missiles were destroyed in mid-air, but the rest of them exploded in mid-air sending multiple warheads crashing down into both the ground forces being assembled and knocked out a few ships both in the air and on the ground.
"That's the fifth wave of cruise missiles the enemy has launched this week, get me a casualties report!" Barney shouted as he surveyed the scene of destruction. Thankfully none of the cruisers were destroyed, but a lot of the ground forces were in disarray. Tanks, walkers, helicopters, gunships and other armored vehicles were damaged and a lot of soldiers were injured or dead.
"Bastards are getting more and more accurate with every strike. Even if we keep shooting them down, they just keep coming. An attack like this is always followed by an…." Velvet began before air raid sirens screamed all around the FOB. "AIR RAID!" she shouted as friendly anti-aircraft and SAMS started firing away as X-Wings and other aircraft took off the to engage the enemy fighters and bombers. By the time they had reached the location of the enemy air units, a second wave of bombers had arrived along with several squadrons of enemy fighters piloted by several brave or foolish fighter pilots and droid fighters who rammed their fighters into both cruisers, ground emplacements and undamaged vehicles.
(444 starts)
"Gold leader to all fighters, engage the enemy and don't let them cause any more casualties, we have civilians in the area so make sure you don't shoot down the enemy over the civilians!" Anakin said into the commlink as he and Erik climbed to engage a formation of enemy SU-47's. Once they got behind the fighters, both pilots unleashed a torrent of cannon fire, downing two of the attacking aircraft and forcing the others to break formation. "Erik, take the ones of the left, I'll take the ones on the right." Anakin ordered.
"Copy that, Skywalker." Erik responded and broke off after his pair of 47's. Both aircraft were downed in the manner of seconds before Erik picked out a new target, an enemy TU-95 heavy bomber. "Target locked. Fox 1!" the bounty hunter and husband said and fired a Proton Torpedo at the bomber which exploded in mid-air, its pieces landing in a field.
Erik then got behind another enemy bomber, but rather than fire a torpedo, he jinxed his craft to the right pulling a one-hundred-eighty-degree turn getting on the bombers three o'clock and fired his cannons downing another bomber. As he looked to see his kill fall to the ground, cannon fire flew past his canopy at an alarming rate as his astromech beeped in alarm. An enemy MIG-31 was hot on his tail and trying to riddle him with bullet holes. Quickly, Erik pushed his fighter to full speed and started to out run the enemy fighter who started to gain on him.
The enemy fighter was slightly faster than the X-Wing, but the X-Wing was more heavily armed than the Russian interceptor and had shielding which when activated, can also increase the ships speed. Despite the advantages, the MIG-31 quickly started to close the distance on Erik while its pilot prepared to fire a missile. The pilot didn't get a chance to fire before it was riddled with cannon shells from Jean-Pierre's Mirage 2000 which was flanked by Shinn's F-20, Maya's SU-37, Powell's F-15C, Vito's MIG-35 and Harris's Typhoon along with the X-Wings of Strider Squadron. "Kamikaze's, missiles, bombers, what's next, UAV fighters?" Harris joked over radio as he downed another MIG-31 with one of his Typhoons AIM-9's just before the fighter could launch its missiles at several parked tanks near the runway. The enemy fighter slammed into the ground just inches from the runway as several dozen single-engine fighter planes took off to join the fight. They were the F-16C and the F-2A.
Built by the General Dynamics company and introduced in 1978, the F-16C is a single seat multi-role fighter plane used by the US air force. The aircraft featured a unique fly-by-wire system which replaced the old manual flight controls used by older aircraft like the F-86 Saber. Nicknamed both the Fighting Falcon and Viper, the F-16 is armed with eleven hard-points and the same internal M61 20mm cannon. Its top speed is Mach 2.
Its Japanese counterpart the Mitsubishi F-2A, nicknamed the Viper Zero featured the same armaments and speed but was also equipped with an AESA phased antenna radar like the Typhoon and SU-57. Like the F15J, the F-2A was equipped with a second 20mm cannon after the attack in the middle east, the same thing applied to the F16C.
While they were slower than the F15C, both aircraft made up for it by being able to carry bombs both unguided and laser guided. However, due to the situation both aircraft were launched with only six missiles while both their cannons were fully loaded with all the ammo they could carry.
As several of the fighters began to take off, they were shot down before they could even leave the runway. Looking to the source of the shooter as she pulled up early to avoid crashing into the wreck of an F16C, Nishi Ririko a twenty-one-year-old JASDF Airman 1st class with blue eyes and brown hair quickly climbed up with the rest of her flight to engage the enemy.
Her callsign was 'Slipstream' and she was one of the newest pilots of the JASDF, but unlike Shinn, she joined once she graduated from the University of Tokushima the previous year. She needed a way to provide for herself and decided to join the JASDF as a fighter pilot. She had only a few weeks of training when the separatists launched their attack and she lost contact with her cousin, Shino Kuribayashi during the evacuation of Tokyo.
When the Republic arrived to liberate their planet, she resumed her training and by the time of the American invasion, had flown several combat missions ranging from close-air-support and interception missions and had scored seven kills.
"Slipstream to Pixy, you've got two Droids on your tail!" she called out over the radio flying through the flaming remains of a friendly F-22 that had just been shot down. Climbing to five thousand feet, she pulled back on the stick and quickly maneuvered behind one of the enemy fighters. Once she was in range, she pulled the trigger and fired her cannons. A quick three second burst of 20mm explosive rounds turned the droid into scrap metal before she fired one of her missiles at the second droid, sending that one down to join its companion.
"Thanks for the save, Slipstream. But we're not out of the woods yet!" Nathan said over the radio before the two banked away from each other quickly returned to battle.
Despite being outnumbered, the brave pilots of both the New Republic and Earth fighter pilots continued to duke it out with the enemy forces in an effort to save their friends on the ground. More enemy ballistic missiles were fired from an unknown location and killed numerous pilots before the could even shoot the missiles down.
The whole battle lasted for no more than an hour and a half and by the time the enemy had retreated, more than half of the Accalamators were either damaged or destroyed from Kamikaze's and the enemy missiles. As for the cruisers, four Venators were destroyed with only a handful of survivors that managed to escape in the escape pods or the fighters onboard the ships. Only Dooku's Retribution was undamaged.
As for those on the ground, casualties were high and numerous vehicles were destroyed. They may have driven off the enemy attack force, but they lost a lot of good men and women.
(End Song)
No sooner had she seen the damage, Barriss quickly ordered as many medical personal as she could gather and began to tend to the wounded with Sheila and the volunteers from Alderaan set to work at once. While she may be a strong-willed woman who had seen the horrors of war, the destruction and devastation she was seeing made her want to vomit. Numerous soldiers and non-combatants lay dead on the ground, many of whom were blown to pieces while many of the wounded had lost a limb or two from the steel rain.
As she began to tend to the injured, she noticed a thrown teddy bear and picked up, only to look to her horror that its former owner was dead, pinned under some fallen ruble. Seeing a dead child, made her remember one of the atrocities she had seen back in Republic controlled space during one of the earliest battles of the war in the outer rim. Seeing this sight, caused her breathing to increase rapidly and she began to see things that weren't there. She saw her daughter in the place of the dead child along with Erik and everyone else she held dear and it was starting to affect her.
"BARRISS!" she heard from behind and turned around to see Robert running over to the child's body and checked for a pulse. "The kids still alive! Come on, give me a hand here!" Robert shouted, getting Barriss to snap out of her trance and checked the boy herself for a pulse. Sure enough, the child was still alive but very badly hurt.
"Look, I get it this isn't what war is supposed to be like or what anyone wants to see, but you can't give into the whatever the hell you were seeing. Save as many as you can and pray, they make it through this." Robert said reassuringly as he and Barriss lifted the ruble with the force allowing Boomer to gently grab the kid's shirt and pull them out from the ruble. "Good boy." Robert said to the dog, patting it on the head.
"This isn't war, its murder." Barriss said sadly as the kid came too and looked to Barriss. "You'll be ok." She assured the child and brought them to the triage station. The whole area looked like a MASH unit from the days of the Pacific War during World War 2.
"What kind of weapon could do this?" Barriss asked she handed the child over to another medic who was soon joined by their parents who were both grateful that their child was alive and ashamed that they had unintentionally abandoned their child when the attack came, they even took the teddy bear from Barriss and gave it to their kid.
"It's got to be some kind of air burst weapon. That's the only known weapon that could cause this kind of damage. But those things must have been launched from someplace way further than north of the border." Robert said, clenching his fist at the thought of using a weapon like that. "Take care of the injured, I'm going to check on Breaker." He added before walking towards the DR which had just landed.
Once he got inside the ship, he immediately made his way towards Breakers quarters and found the intelligence trooper working on the data that Grievous had given them before he died. "As much as I hate to admit it, the clankers really out did themselves. Those missiles they launched are really something else." The intelligence clone said impressively.
"Don't admire it for too much longer, we're going to take whatever launched those things out. What have you got?" Robert asked.
"Well you're not going to like Commander. The source of those missiles came Lake Hudson, there long-range missiles so they were able get past our defenses pretty easily. Seems they focused solely on us rather than any of the other staging areas after we pulled back from the Mississippi, you must have done something to really piss them off." Breaker said before he moved from one computer to another, this one showing the schematics of what launched the weapons.
"Seems the clankers built a few new super weapons in secret on earth, might have been done before the invasion. Five submarine aircraft carriers and an aerial one, both are able of launching the same type of burst cruise missile. These things can really do some damage and they can launch carrier and non-carrier-based fighters." Breaker added just as Trap entered his brother's quarters.
"And here I thought those brain bugs were nasty. These…these are worse." The trooper said in shock.
"You think that's bad; you should see a country drop nuclear bombs on their own cities just because they are losing a war. Sure, that's only in a video game, but it's just as bad." Robert said in agreement. "Better bring this to the others." he added.
By the time the three had arrived on the bridge of the DR, they had already shown the weapons to the other generals and their commanders who were either a holographic projection or standing on the bridge in person. "I'd hate to admit, but I have to agree with Breaker. The enemy really outdid themselves. Not only can these things fire from a great distance, but they can cause serious damage to anything they hit. We lost a lot of good people from those missiles." Anakin sighed.
"Unless we take out those missiles, we'll be pushed back to the Rockies and lose all the ground we have gained thus far. People are already starting to return to their homes after being forced out. We can't give up." Obi-Wan said.
"The biggest problem is reaching the location they are using as a firing position. Hudson Bay is who the hell knows how many miles away from us and we don't have enough tanker planes to fuel every…." Robert began before he once again felt Ahsoka's pain.
"FUCK!" he cursed, falling to the ground clutching his chest as if he was stabbed by something. "Damn it, Tarkin must torturing her again. We need to eliminate those things." Robert said struggling to get back to his feet. He soon found himself taking the hand of WAC-47, a member of D-Squad.
"I've got you commander." The pit droid said as Colonel Meebur Gascon, a Zilkin tactical adviser and leader of D-Squad arrived with Gregor. "I think you mean, 'we' got you." The Zilkin said with a small chuckle before R2-KT plugged into the holo-table and focused on Lake Winnipeg. "It appears the Separatists are moving the weapons to this lake as we speak. Its close enough for us to launch an attack on the weapons platforms." The colonel began before he moved the map to an area further down from the lake.
"Unfortunately, we can't get near the lake. The droids have set up an elaborate anti-air defense grid and have radar vehicles. We wouldn't be able to get close to the lake before our fighters are detected. The submarines will dive and the air-cruiser will vacate the area before we can even fire our weapons at it. They also appear to be surrounded by a large group of Trade Federation Battleships which are acting as a defensive perimeter." He added.
"Well that complicates things." Rex said.
"Jammer Aircraft. That's what we can use to get close to the enemy defenses and take them out. Jam their radars and they won't detect us before they destroy them. The Canucks have a few Prowlers, Growlers and Ravens, send them in and jam the enemy radar then we let their CF-18's and CF-5s take them out." Barney stated.
"One problem though, they don't have enough fuel and ammo for their aircraft, not to mention a lot of their aircraft are damaged so there isn't much they can do without supplies. That is, if we don't help them. I recommend we send Strider Squadron, Erik, Fenrir and some HAWX pilots to assist the Canadians in taking out the defenses to the lake before the rest of us arrive later." Robert added. He had a point, the Canadians had only a few operational fighters while the rest of them were in need of repair. "Plus, we do have a lot of fighters just siting ideal. We should send them their way, plus it will give the transports an escort in case of enemy fighters. Can't leave them unprotected." He went on.
David Crenshaw agreed and in a matter of hours all of the aircraft being sent to the Canadians were fueled, armed and ready for the journey. "I'll join all of you by tomorrow at the latest. I got to make some repairs on the Angel." Robert said over the radio/commlink as the flight of fighters and gunships soon took off, followed by several C-130J transport planes carrying the fuel and ammo for the Canadian air force.
Flying at the head of the formation was Crenshaw in his F-22A, one of the many stealth fighters the world was developing. Compared to the F-35, the F-22 was faster than the Lighting, but slower than aircraft like the MIG-31, F15 and old F14 by about a few hundred kilometers. It was also heavily armed. Aside from its 20mm cannon, the Raptor carried an internal weapons bay which could be loaded for both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. In air-to-air missions, the Raptor carried a total of eight missiles, two sidewinders and six AMRAAMS. For air-to-ground missions, it carried two sidewinders, two AMRAAMS and either two thousand-pound bombs or eight two-hundred- and fifty-pound bombs. In addition, the Raptor had four under-wing pylon stations which could carry either a six-hundred-gallon drop tank or additional weapons weighing up to five-thousand pounds.
For Crenshaw, his Raptor was loaded for air-to-air combat, but the loadout was modified. Instead of the usual six AMRAAMS, Crenshaw carried six sidewinders and only two AMRAAMS. This was due to dogfight with several TIE fighters about a month ago. After he had used up his sidewinders, his AMRAAMS were useless when he also ran out of gun ammo, this loadout suited him well. In addition, his Raptor carried both two extra sidewinders and two drop-tanks and his 20mm cannon held twenty-four hundred rounds of ammo. It was going to be a long flight and both he and the pilots flying the X-Wings, ARC-170's and other aircraft that were flying this mission.
By the time they had reached the last leg of their flight, they were over Fargo Minnesota and some of the aircraft were running on fumes. Thankfully, several allied tanker aircraft were waiting for them and refueling began. Just seconds after the refueling process began Crenshaw was soon picking up contacts on his radar. Having already refueled his aircraft, he veered off from the group to investigate. Accompanying him were Slipstream, Pixy, Cipher, Maya, Jean, Erik and Harris along with Striders six through twelve and a few others.
"Keep your heads on a swivel. From what we've been told, a lot of the enemy fighters are droids. They shouldn't be a problem, but don't underestimate them." Crenshaw said over the radio. No sooner had he said that, a missile streaked by his cockpit but it came from below. Looking down, he spotted that dozens of Droid and TIE fighters were heading directly towards them at top speed. "Well here they come. All pilots, engage those fighters. No doubt they may have detected the formation, so don't let them through!" he added, hit his controls and dropped his empty fuel tanks and picked out a target.
(Start Invasion of Gracemeria)
A single enemy TIE fighter was coming straight at him at top speed and was almost in gun range. Lining up his sights, he fired one of his AMRAAMS which destroyed the enemy fighter before he got behind the tail of a Scarab fighter. Flipping to his cannon, Crenshaw quickly closed the distance between himself and the droid fighter and fired. A five second burst of 20mm high-explosive rounds tore through the enemy fighters shields before the fighter itself was reduced to a fireball.
Cannon fire flew past his cockpit and the captain looked behind to see he had picked up a pair of bogeys. Two TIE interceptors had him dead in their sights and the combined fire forced Crenshaw to break hard left, causing the enemy fighters to overshot him. Pulling his stick into his gut, Crenshaw took his fighter into the vertical with the TIE's right on his tail. The interceptors were starfighters and could easily overtake him if his Raptor stalled, but Crenshaw had a plan.
Cutting his speed, he allowed the enemy fighters to fly past him and fired his two-wing mounted AIM-9's which destroyed the two fighters. As the wreckage of the interceptors fell past him towards the ground below, he hit the brakes hard and turned to the right before he gunned his aircrafts Pratt & Whitney engines to full power and fired his cannon at an enemy fighter that was going after Jean. "Many thanks, mon ami." The French pilot said as the HAWX pilot flew past him and pulled up.
As the HAWX pilot flew past him, Jean-Pierre got behind an enemy Tri-Fighter which had just downed an allied MIG-29M and fired his Mirage's cannons. The 30mm cannon was more powerful than the 20, 23 and 27mm cannons used by other aircraft, but Jean's rounds didn't down the enemy fighter in time before it launched a discord missile towards another allied aircraft, an F15C. As the droid fighter disappeared from his scopes, Jean watched in horror as the buzz droids easily cut through the F15's cockpit and swarmed the pilot, cutting them into pieces before the aircraft fell to the ground exploding.
His blood boiling, Jean picked out a group of Tri-fighters and attacked from the right flank, firing his cannons which downed all four enemy fighters. Once he let go of the trigger, he spotted a vulture droid coming at him from the rear. "Voyons comment ils aiment ca." he said in French and released one of his missiles at the droid. The enemy fighter soon became nothing but a falling bits of scrap metal before he made a loop-de-loop and fired another missile at the droid's comrade.
His 27mm cannon roared to life he downed a TIE fighter before he launched a missile at another TIE fighter. "That's how its down lads!" Harris said proudly before he went after another pair of TIES. "Commander, you've got hostiles on your tail." Nishi shouted to the RAF commander. Despite her warning, Harris thought he could outmaneuver the Vultures on his tail, but he failed and was shot down before he could eject.
"BAKA!" Nishi cursed and got behind the commanders' killers and downed one with her 20mms, causing the second Vulture to pull away before it got blasted by Strider 6. As she scanned for a new target, something inside her was off about this. She soon found out why when the transports reported that enemy fighters were heading towards them.
"Slipstream to all pilots, the enemy has targeted the transports. I'm moving to intercept." She called out. No sooner had she turned back towards the direction of the transports; she saw the distance flashes of weapons fire. When she got closer, she barely missed a mid-air collision with the flaming wreckage of one of the gunships. "SHIT!" she cursed again as she watched another gunship fall to the ground.
(End OST)
"Cipher, looks like we walked right into a cluster-fuck." Pixy stated, downing vulture droid with a burst of cannon fire only to witness another gunship fall to the ground below in a fireball. "Damn it. Either the enemy was waiting for us or we got shitty luck and ran into the border patrol." He added, firing his last missile at another droid fighter.
"Nothing we can do about that now. Still, you are right, this a lot of enemies to deal with. We need to wrap this up or else we're going to lose more friendlies than your stock market in 1929." Vito responded over the radio, firing the last of his cannon rounds at a TIE fighter. "That's it. I am out of rounds and missiles." He added as cannon fire flew past his canopy. Looking behind him, he spotted he had picked up a bogey, a tri-fighter.
Increasing his RD-33MK afterburning turbofan engines to full power, Vasilievich tried to make a break for friendly lines. By now they had crossed the border and were less than several miles away from Winnipeg. The last thing he wanted to do was end up getting shot down.
His fighters top speed was Mach 2.0 and from the data he read, the Tri-fighter was slower in the atmosphere compared to its speed in space. He thought he had the lead, but he was wrong as the enemy droid fighter got closer and closer to him. "Chyort. Mudak must be upgraded for greater speeds to deal with our aircraft. He's running me down. I don't think I can make it." He said, almost panicking.
Cannon rounds hit his fighter, but its airframe was holding strong. Even so he couldn't hold on for much longer. Then as if fate intervened, his attacker was blasted out of the sky. Craning his neck back, the Russian pilot saw that Anakin had saved his life from not only the attacking Tri-fighter but several other fighters that were now starting to retreat after reinforcements had arrived.
"Das Vidania comrade Skywalker." Ryabatsev said.
"Sorry we're late. We ran into some old friends." Anakin replied before he and Vito returned to the rest of the formation and soon arrived at the Winnipeg airport. They were soon joined by Robert, Red Squadron, Black Squadron, Hellcat Squadron, Shadow Squadron, Blade Squadron and Bravo Squadron. Phase one was complete, now it was time to begin phase two.
Erik's point of view
August 19th
1000 hours
We may had taken some loses on the way to our objective, but now we were finally going to 'get the ball roll' as the people of Earth say. Sitting in the cockpit of my X-Wing, I looked to both sides and saw the jammer and stealth aircraft that were taking part in this plan.
Growlers and Ravens. Electronic warfare versions of the F/A-18 Hornets and F-111 Aardvark fighter and fighter-bombers. Both required a crew of two, a pilot and an electronic warfare officer. Because they were designed to deal with electronic warfare all of the weapons they originally carried were replaced with detection pods to counter enemy radar, fuel tanks so they could stay in the air longer and other equipment to jam enemy radars.
The only weapon they had was their speed. The Growlers top speed was Mach 1.8 and the Ravens was Mach 2.2. However, the growlers could carry missiles if they had to engage enemy aircraft or anti-air defenses, but it was only limited to two. So, it was up to us to deal with the enemy forces.
Thankfully, the number of fighters we had with us outnumbered the amount of jammer aircraft and we had a few stealth fighters. The F22, F35 and SU-57 which unlike the Ravens and Growlers, carried both weapons and anti-radar electronic equipment. This made them perfect for breaking into enemy airspace and take out both fortifications and enemies before being detected on radar.
Along with the weapons carried by the X-Wings I was leading, we had enough firepower to clear a path to the enemy weapons, which Robert had named, Devastator, Menasor, Bruticus, Abominus, Ruination and Galvatronus. Named after some devastating Decepiticon combiners from the Transformers series.
Odd names, but it was the names he choose to designate the enemy weapons. He would have joined us up in the air, but Angel was in need of some repairs and he wasn't exactly one-hundred percent ready to assist in the fight. This was in large part to someone torturing Ahsoka as a way to get to him and probably cause him to slip up and get killed in battle. My gut was screaming Tarkin, that man had no honor as would do anything, not just for power but to kill his enemy.
"Commander Valcara. We are approaching the target area now." One of the pilots of the Lightings said. I soon ordered the rest of the strike team to arm their missiles. The SU-57s each carried four air-to-ground missiles, the Raptors carried eight two-hundred- and fifty-pound guided bombs and the Lightnings carried six of the AGM-88 AARGM on its external pylons along with a few air-to-air missiles for the event we encountered enemy aircraft.
"All pilots, we are approaching the target location. Jammer aircraft, begin jamming the enemies' radar and radar-guided weapon systems. Once the systems are jammed all stealth aircraft will commence attack on the enemy instillations and defenses. Remember, if we miss even one of them then we'll lose a lot more pilots when we attack the subs and carrier." I said over the radio/commlink.
The rest of the formation confirmed my orders and pitched their noses down to the ground. We were at five-thousand feet and the enemy still hadn't detected us yet. The jammer aircraft and the stealth capabilities of the Raptors, Lightings and Felon's were working well. Still, we couldn't risk getting over confident and get ourselves killed.
My astromech beeped that we were in range and I rocked my wings. This was the signal for the stealth aircraft to attack. As the fighter planes went in for the attack, I locked my S-Foils into attack position followed by the rest of my squadron just as the enemy began to deploy fighters. "Enemy fighters coming in at point six, dead ahead. All pilots, engage the fighters and keep them away from the Stealth Fighters. Jam their communications." I ordered.
(Start Stonehenge Defense)
No sooner had I given those orders, the stealth aircraft had launched several of their air-to-ground missiles, taking out a few radar vehicles and anti-air defenses. The plan was working and the rest of us began to engage the enemy fighters.
One of the enemy fighters was coming right at me. Even from a distance I could tell it was an enemy SU-33, well that was mainly because it wasn't transmitting the same IFF as the rest of the squadron. Its 30mm cannon was roaring like an animal before it was even in effective gun range. Thankfully, I was in range and fired my own cannons.
My four cannons roared to life and each shot hit the target which then started to trail smoke and fall to the ground, the pilot didn't even eject. I then spotted a group of Vultures trailing behind a friendly F-35 which was making another attack run on the enemy defenses. I quickly rushed to the aid of the pilot and unleashed a torrent of laser cannon fire taking out two of the droid fighters while the other two broke off, only to be quickly downed by one of the N1 fighters of Bravo Squadron.
The pilot of the Earth jet soon fired two more of its air-to-ground missiles and took both a radar vehicle and anti-aircraft gun. As the fighter pulled up from its run, it was suddenly hit by cannon fire from the right before it exploded in mid-air.
I turned to the direction of the shots and spotted a formation of Hyena Fighter/Bombers had managed to get the drop on us and had already taken out a few other stealth aircraft before we even knew they were nearby. Other pilots were calling over radio and commlink that they were also being engaged by new contacts, some of whom were also shot down by these fighters. As for the Electronic Warfare aircraft, they were still jamming the enemy's radars but that still didn't explain why the enemy was able to pick up the stealth fighters. At first, I thought it was because the droids were getting lucky, but then I realized that the enemy was using the same tactics that Trench used when dealing with stealth ship, but applying it to Earth Technology.
"All stealth fighters, the enemy is tracking your movements, forget about circling for another attack run. Go after all anti-air defenses and radar vehicles!" I shouted into the commlink, downing four Hyena's with a burst of cannon fire. I didn't get them all in time as I watched an SU-57 spiral out of control and slam into the ground below.
"Damn it!" I cursed and decided to give my pilots new orders. "All pilots, this is General Valacara! Go after the targets with the stealth fighters. No point in sticking to the plan, they must have figured out that we would try a plan like this. Let the stealth fighters attack first and take out any targets they missed!" I shouted positioning myself behind a group of TIE Interceptors that had slowed down enough to attack a few Lightings.
A burst from my cannons reduced the fighters to bits of debris allowing the Lightings to finish their run before more of my squad mates followed suit and took out more enemy emplacements. "General, we are Winchester on air-to-ground missiles. We don't have many targets left so we're going to give the jammer craft an escort back to base." One of the Lighting pilots said over the radio.
I would have responded but the pilot was soon shot down by an enemy MIG-31. A coward's tactic going after a retreating enemy. Clearly, these pilots had no honor and I was going to make them pay. I got behind the enemy MIG, acquired a lock and fired a few concussion missiles which slammed into the enemy jet and turned it into a falling wreck.
Another enemy MIG flew past me at top speed and again I acquired a lock and fire another salvo of missiles at the MIG, but this one deployed several chaff and flares which caused my missiles to go after them instead of the aircraft. Knowing the craft had these countermeasures, I instead decided to use my cannons on the fighter. This time, I downed the fighter with a quick burst which then exploded in mid-air. By the time I released the trigger, the rest of the formation had completed their objectives and we began to make a break for friendly lines.
(End song)
We arrived back at the airport and we're greeted by Skywalker, Koon and Robert. "Something tells me things didn't go exactly as planned." Anakin said bluntly.
"You could say that." I answered, exiting out of my fighter as flight crews and maintance personal began to make the repairs and rearm all the craft that made it back while I debriefed the others on what had happened.
"Damn it, I screwed up. I should have known the enemy would have been prepared for such a tactic. Its my fault and I would bet the enemy is already well aware of our plan." Robert stated, clenching his fist in anger.
"Hey," I said putting my hand on his shoulder. "You can't predict everything the enemy is going to plan. They had a lot of time to study up on your planet's stealth aircraft and plan for such a tactic. You can't always prepare for everything the enemy throws at us." I added.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, that doesn't mean we can't exactly adapt to this situation. Now that we know the enemy is able to detect our stealth aircraft, we can use that to our advantage." Robert said in agreement.
"So, are we to continue with the plan?" Plo asked.
"Damn right. Obi-Wan already called. The enemy missile strikes are getting more and more accurate. They've already started moving all non-combat personal further away from the base but they can't hold out much longer." He said with confidence.
I smiled. It was time for us to take out the enemy's newest weapon.
Normal point of view
August 20th
1200 hours
As mid-day began to subside, the quite area was soon shattered by the noise of hundreds of aircraft and starfighters ranging from the Y-Wing and ARC-170 to the F15C and SU-35. Each of the fighters waited to be refueled by allied tanker aircraft while those that had already refueled and waited for the others to be finished up.
Leading the massive formation of fighters was Anakin in his Eta-2 interceptor, Plo Koon in the Blade of Dorin, Erik and Garven in their X-Wings and Robert in the Azure Angel. Following them were Maya in her SU-37, Vito in his MIG-35, Shinn in his F-20, Nathan in his F15C, Jean in his Mirage and Nishi in her F2. Following them were a formation of fighter bombers which included the F15E's, Y-Wings and another member of the family of the Sukhoi aircraft family.
The SU-34, nicknamed the Fullback was a twin-engine two-seater fighter bomber was like the rest of its brothers, based on the SU-27 and entered service in 2014, roughly six years ago before the present day. Powered by two Saturn AL-31FM1 afterburning turbofan engines, the Fullback had a top speed of Mach 1.8, just like the F/A-18 but was a bit faster.
The fighter-bomber was armed with twelve hardpoints which could carry bombs and missiles. It was also armed with the same GSh-30-1 30mm cannon used by the other versions and the MIG-29. Normally the cannon was usually loaded with one-hundred and eighty rounds, but these aircraft were loaded with extra ammunition giving them a total of eight-hundred rounds.
All of the SU-34s carried two air-to-air missiles and either ten air-to-ground missiles, radar guided, laser guided and tv guided bombs. Since they carried only two missiles, the Fullbacks were given a different set of orders: target the enemy naval vessels and eliminate them before returning to base. No dogfighting for them.
"All pilots, we are approaching the AO. Keep your heads on a swivel. Tanker aircraft, get yourselves back to base, can't risk having you guys get shot down now, can we? Strike Eagles, Fullbacks, maintain a safe distance until we have confirmation on the targets. Once you see them, let us clear a path to the enemy vessels." Robert said over the commlink as the formation got closer and closer to the lake. As the formation neared the target area, the tanker aircraft quickly turned around and headed back to the airport as their mission was completed.
No sooner had the tanker aircraft turned around, Garven flew alongside Robert who was checking his fighter's systems for any sign of issues with the systems of the fighter. Despite being fixed up physically, several of the primary systems were malfunctioning, including the blood hound launcher. Without his own burst missile, the battle was going to be a bit more difficult without the use of his special missiles, leaving him only with the proton torpedoes/concussion missiles.
"Everything ok, Commander? Your birds looking a little battered up. Probably worse than anything Skywalker has flown." Garven said over the commlink.
"Blame the enemy. The Angel got hit with a bit of debris during the attack in St. Louis. A few systems are down, but they aren't important systems." Robert answered, just as his targeting computer faded out for a second and returned shortly later. "Ok, maybe a few systems are important but at least this thing can still dogfight." He added.
"I told you I did my best with fixing the Angel. I guess I didn't do a good enough job." Anakin said as he flew up alongside Garven.
"Hey, I'm not blaming the workmanship. If anything, its because of those damn droids. They attacked without warning and a bit of what was left of them did a number on the Angel. Kind of wish it was made from Gundamium Alloy." Robert said, trying to ease Anakin's feelings as a mechanic and fighter pilot.
"Don't worry about it. When this mission is over, you may want to have me upgrade some of the Angels systems." Anakin responded. Robert was about to say something when both R2, R4 and Garven's own Astromech, R5-K6 beeped in worry.
"Heads up boys, companies coming." Robert said as the formation flew over the lake and spotted the target he designated Abominus came into view as it started to launch its entire complement of fighters while the Trade Federation Battleships below them launched all of their own fighters. "No sign of the subs. Maybe they need…." He began to say before he watched the other targets come to surface. The second they did, the missile tubes opened up and launched a few missiles. "Scratch what I was about to say! Enemy missiles incoming, take evasive action!" Robert shouted and broke hard left to avoid being skewered by a missile.
The other pilots took the same action, but not all of them were lucky to avoid the missiles and were shot down. Few pilots were able to eject and when they reached the ground activated their homing beacons so that rescue crews would find them.
"Strike Eagles, Y-Wings, Fullbacks. Attack the enemy subs. Wolf Pack, give them some support. Remember, once you use up your air-to-ground weapons return to base so make them count and don't forget about your cannons." He ordered and raised his shields to full power as Red Squad formed up behind him.
"Red Squad. We'll take out Abominus. Lock S-Foils in attack position and arm your cannons. Hunting season has officially started." He said. R4 beeped in worry as he once again was picking up some trouble with the fighter. "Don't worry buddy. If things go as planned, this should be done sooner than expected." He assured his droid companion, but he wasn't so sure himself. Nonetheless, he had a job to do and he was going to complete it.
(Start Battle of Farbanti)
The Angels engines roared with life as Robert fired a burst of cannon fire at an incoming enemy aircraft. A five second burst turned the enemy fighter, an SU-47 into a ball of fire before it exploded in mid-air. "Splash one." He shouted before he pitched his nose up and got behind a group of Vulture droids that were making an attack on several Fullbacks. "Targets locked. Fox Four!"
Four proton Torpedoes streaked towards the droid fighters, destroying them and allowing the Fullbacks to drop their bombs and fire their missiles at their target: Ruination. The weapons did knock out several enemy defenses, but the subs remained intact. "Holy Shit! Not even a scratch on those beasts. Something tells me its going to take a few more passes to sink them!" he shouted, weaving between the volleys of anti-aircraft fire coming from the ships below.
"They must have some tough armor. No wonder the enemy had these things hidden away." Maverick said over the commlink as he down an enemy SU-35 with his cannons. Once his target was down, he soon found himself right in front of the airborne carrier's hanger bay and flew right through it, much to the surprised of the droids. As the clone turned around, he spotted a squadron of F/A-18C's attempt to take out one of the TF Battleships, only to be shot down by the droid fighters that were in walker mode on the ships acting as anti-aircraft batteries. "Clankers are really giving the others a headache." He added and dived down towards one of the battleships and fired two torpedoes at his target along with his cannons. His shots hit the battleship and sent it to the bottom of the lake.
"Maverick to all pilots. Attack the enemy battleships as if you are doing a dive-bomber run. Clankers won't be able to get you if you attack from high above. Don't forget to pull up so to avoid a watery death." He instructed, pulling up from his run and quickly climbed back up to take out the airborne carrier.
"Copy that Red 2. Wolf Leader to Wolf Pack, continue to provide cover for the bombers." Plo ordered his men and downed four Tri-Fighters that were on the tail of a group of Strike Eagles and within missile range. "Striker squadron, what is your status?" Plo asked as he flew along side the Strike Eagles.
"We've used up all of our AGMs and have only four air-to-air missiles left. Some of the squadron is badly damaged. I'm sending them back to base now." The flight leader said urgently. No sooner had he said that, two of the Strike Eagles broke formation and began to gain altitude, climbing to engage several TIE fighters that were going after their damaged squad mates. The enemy fighters were downed by the Strike Eagles 20mm cannons, but once their targets were downed one of the Strike Eagles was shot down by an enemy Tri-Fighter while the other one tried to outrun a discord missile that was fired by the same Tri-Fighter.
Try as they might, the Strike Eagle couldn't out run the enemy missile and once it got close to the fighter detonated and spilled Buzz Droids onto the aircraft which cut its way into the cockpit and killed the crew. "Batards!" Jean shouted in anger and fired one of his four remaining missiles at the droid fighter, avenging the crew of the downed fighter before Shinn, Powell, Vito, Maya and Nishi formed up on his wing.
(End Song)
By this time, all of the TF battleships were sunk, but the enemy submarines and airborne carrier were still intact. Then as if they were facing off against a demon, the submarines launched their burst missiles. "Merde! Jean to all pilots, the enemy had launched their burst missiles. Seems they are determined to wipe us out with one blow." He shouted urgently.
(Start Hrimfaxi)
"All pilots, climb to five-thousand feet!" Erik shouted frantically and started to climb with the rest of his squadron. The rest of the pilots did the same thing quickly climbed to the altitude called out by Barriss's husband. He and his squadron soon arrived at the designated altitude along with the Anakin, Plo, Robert, Garven and the others.
Not all the pilots were so lucky. Several pilots weren't able to make it to five-thousand feet and when the missiles detonated, dozens of aircraft starfighter and plane were wiped off the radar and they weren't even able to eject. "I don't think we can take these things out. We've already lost too many pilots. We need to retreat!" Anakin called out.
"No way we are retreating! If these things are still intact, we won't make it across the Mississippi. We need to destroy them now!" Robert shouted to Ahsoka's former master and dived down towards the airborne carrier. Quickly, he locked all his remaining torpedoes at the airborne cruisers engines and each projectile slammed into the carrier's engines. The damage the missiles inflicted upon the craft caused a chain reaction within the engines that spread across the carrier and the whole thing then fell to the lake.
"Out of missiles but one of the carriers is down for good. We can do this!" Robert said encouraging the rest of the pilots.
There was a long silence before Maverick spoke up. "I'm with you commander. You've been there for us when we needed it, now its time for me to be there for you!" Maverick declared and dived down towards one of the Submarines, his cannons roaring to life before he launched his remaining Torpedoes. His shots scored a hit on the submarine and as if by magic, the submarine exploded and sunk to the bottom. "Wow. Think I must have it this things reactor or something." He stated, pulling up from his attack run.
"You hit something all right. I'm sending the data to all pilots. Focus your firepower on the area Maverick hit. Blast those scrapheaps out of the water!" Robert shouted and went after several enemy fighters.
The remaining Strike Eagles and Fullbacks dived down towards the submarines and dropped their ordnance directly on target, sinking another submarine. Three were left and this time, the enemy anti-air defense were roaring to life in an effort to stop the attacking aircraft.
Another Submarine was sent to the bottom of the lake leaving only the targets designated as Bruticus and Devastator remaining. The enemy subs then launched another pair of burst missiles and forced the pilots to once again climb to five-thousand feet and avoided being shot out of the sky. "Two to go. Sink these bastards and we can get out of here!" Powell shouted, firing his last missile at a Vulture droid. "Winchester on missiles." He stated.
The remaining Strike Eagles and Fullbacks dropped their remaining weapons on the enemy subs and sunk one of them, but the last one was still alive and kicking. Thinking quickly, one of the Fullback pilots fired his air-to-air missiles at the submarine, hitting the reactor. The other Fullback pilots did the same and the missiles hit the target. At last, the remaining enemy submarine had been sunk and the mission was over.
(End song)
"Nice work people, mission complete time to RTB." Robert said and took the lead of the formation and headed back for Winnipeg. When they returned, aircraft crews began to work on repairing the damaged aircraft that could still fly while the damaged unflyable ones were loaded onto flat trucks which were then fastened down tight before being taken over to the railway that was close by to the airport and loaded onto flatbeds connected behind the Royal Hudson Class Locomotive No 2860, The Canadian Pacific 2317 and 2816 locomotives along with a GE Diesel locomotives coupled behind the steam engines.
Since the aircraft loaded onto the flatbeds were damaged and the roads were no doubt blocked off by enemy vehicles, trains were the only way to get these aircraft back to friendly lines. All available pilots and aircraft were assigned to protect the train and its cargo. Once the cars were loaded, the trains were about to leave when a transmission from Nick Rye was intercepted. "This is Nick Rye, Hope County Airforce. We're under attack by enemy forces and we need back up. Any Jedi out their please respond. I say again, we need…."
"Sounds like your Nick needs some help." Robert said and turned to Anakin. "Permission to take Red Squadron and give them some help?" Robert asked.
"Permission granted. Just come back in one piece." Anakin responded and Robert climbed into the cockpit of the Angel. His fighter wasn't reloaded with missiles and several systems were still acting up, but seeing as he didn't need to reload his cannons with ammo he could still fight.
Just as Red Squad was about to take off, Garven asked if he could join them and Robert agreed. Hours later, the squadron was directly over Hope County but had yet to make contact with Nick or any other pilots. "You sure this is the location?" Maverick asked as they flew past the remains of a statue.
"Yeah, this is the place. I'd never forget…" Robert began before Reds six through twelve were suddenly shot down from behind. "Bogey on our six!" Robert shouted, franticly looking back to see if the others had ejected. They didn't and the rest of his squadron were shot down leaving only him, Maverick and Garven left.
"I got a tally on the bogey. It's a Rouge-Class Starfighter. Its right on me." Maverick said, trying to get away from the enemy fighter which for some reason didn't fire at all. Thinking he had the edge; Maverick cut his speed and allowed the Rouge-Class fighter to overshot him and prepared to fire his cannons. That's when it happened.
Maverick fired a quick burst from his cannons, only to have the enemy fighter suddenly pull a loop and as soon it was over head fired its own cannons into Mavericks fighter, killing the last member of Red Squadron. "Maverick! NO!" Robert shouted and gunned his engines towards the enemy fighter.
"You will not survive." The pilot of the fighter spoke before it fired its cannons at Garven's X-Wing and hit its engines. Thankfully, Garven was able to find a place to land so he could try and make repairs, but Robert was left alone to deal with the enemy fighter. Thinking he could outrun the enemy fighter; Robert increased his engines to full speed. He wanted to avenge his squad mates, but he was in no position to fight, especially with his fighter's shields were down along with navigation and long-range communication.
Cannon fire peppered the rear of his ship and he started to lose altitude. No sooner had he did, he began to feel Ahsoka's pain yet again and didn't see the ground coming up fast. Crashing into the ground hard, the Angel skidded for a few feet before it came to a stop. The enemy fighter circled around the crash sight before it turned away, leaving Robert sitting in the cockpit of his fighter before he blacked out shortly afterwards.
First part of my Top Gun arc is completed. Next part, the results of the Poll I put up will be answered. So, should I have Garven fly the F15C or make it so he still flies his X-Wing? Once again, I killed off several OC's, war isn't as black and white as I thought long ago when I first took an interest in the subject.
Anyone want to take a guess as to who shot Robert down? I can tell you this much, it wasn't Tarkin or Bane.
In case anyone is wondering. I based the enemy submarines and airborne aircraft carrier off the P 1112 Aigaion and Alicorn from Ace Combat Six and Seven. And the songs I used were from Ace Combat 7, Ace Combat 6 and Ace Combat 5. Anyways, please read and review and I wish you all a happy holiday.