Hi yall. It's me again. Once again I'd like to the people who are still reading my story and asked to you tell me what you think. I don't feel like rewriting what I don't own other than Ace Combat Zero, just see the previous chapters and don't sue me.
Don't think I have anything else to said for now, but enjoy this long chapter.
Chapter 6: March 25th, 1995
BOOM. I wonder what the hell that is? I sat up in bed; the book on inferiority complexes fell off my bed. I fell asleep reading it last night. While pushing my long hair out of face and trying to straighten it out a little, I slide the privacy curtain aside. I walked over to the window with nothing on, but a long light-blue T-shirt that ended at my knees and underwear underneath.
I place a finger on window shade and bent one down to look out side. I was pouring out side. It was still early and I could barely see the B-52s that were on the opposite side of the tarmac from us. A lot more planes and pilots were being stationed here.
Sleepily and walked to the bathroom and locked the door. I sat down the toilet and… well that's not your business. After I was done with that, I unlocked the door and started to brush my teeth. Paul sleepily walked in wearing a plain white T-shirt and dark blue plaid boxers. He grunted something that vaguely sounded like "Guten morgen" and he started to brush his teeth. We were both tired from all the training for the opening day of the invasion.
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After some time we were fully dressed, groomed, and still sleepy, we walking down the wall to get breakfast. We stumbled our way into the kitchen where Wolfgang was making something in a big pot on the stove. Whatever is was it was brown, thick, and bubbling.
I pick up two cups and filled them with coffee and placed one in front of Paul, who had his head on the table. I took a sip and let out a sigh of pleasure. Feeling more awake I look at Paul and realized he was asleep.
"Paul?"
"Zzzzzz"
I gently shook him, "Hey, Paul, wake up."
"Zzzzzz"
"I'll take care of this" Wolfgang said as set a bowl of what I now recognize as oatmeal. He pulled a spatula from a plan white apron he wore while cooking and whacked Paul with it as he yelled, "HEY! GET UP YOU LAZY ASSHOLE!"
Paul was knocked out of his chair. Slowly, he got up, saw the coffee cup I'd placed in front of him, and he drank it down. He glared at me for laughing at him and he started to eat. Soon the others walked in sleepily and started to eat. Much to my displeasure Krauss turned out to be a morning person, it was too damn early to play '21,000 questions' with him.
"Some they've been workin' us real hard for a while now, eh?" Nobody answered him, we just glared at him, really, it was too early and we were too tired. I swear I saw Sophie slowly reaching for her Korth revolver.
"So when you guys think we'll attack? What do you think it'll be like? You think we'll shoot down any enemies? DO you…" BAM! Krauss's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell forward unconscious. Herr Hauptmann Joseph von Klein was standing where Krauss had been, with his H&K Mk. 23 in hand. He had just knocked out Krauss by hitting him with the grip of the gun and we'd never been so happy to see him.
"I'm just here to tell you, Herr Major, that you're going to support the Kilo Fighter-Bomber Squadron tomorrow and you guys get to rest today" he said to Herr Major von Klugg our squadron leader.
"Tomorrow? You mean the 25th?" Herr Major asked.
"Ja, mein herr. Everyone knows what to do, right?" he said without any trace of emotion.
We all nodded; after all we spent the past week training for the invasion of Ustio. It wasn't a hard assignment, just fly an escort mission and destroy some ground targets. He reached into side his jacket and almost everyone recoiled in fear, but he only pulled out a pad of yellow sticky notes. He pulled a pen out from in between his officer's hat and the side of his head and clicked it. He wrote, 'Invasion tomorrow, you get today off, do not leave base, do not annoy too many people' and he stuck to Krauss's face.
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Paul had some stuff to mail and so did I, so the two us were going to main building on base which housed the postal office. We were walking to the make-shift garage and wearing long hooded rain coats.
"I really wish that you owned a car instead of a motorcycle" I said him because it was raining hard, though the thunder had stopped, the wind had picked up.
The ride to the main building, that served as administration, HQ, main communication, air traffic controller, and meeting build, was not a comfortable ride. We arrived, but I was freezing and rushed inside.
We both went down stairs to the mail room. A Stabsfeldwebel (AN: this is roughly a 1st sergeant/ master sergeant) was sitting at a desk.
"I'd need to send this home." I said handing him my mother's birthday present, now inside a cardboard box.
"Sorry mein frau. Orders are that I have to hold all out going mail until the 26th."
"I understand, but can I leave it here?"
"Of course mien frau." He said politely. I smiled a little at being called 'mein frau' only NCOs (non-commissioned officers, sergeants) call me that and there weren't any in the squadron's quarters.
"Send this too when you can." Paul said dropping a letter on desk. Paul walked over to a row of mailboxes; he pulled out a key and unlocked one of them. He removed a book shaped package 'figures' and a few letters.
"Let's see… junk mail, junk mail, you may have won 1 million marks, and… one from home?" He looked at the last one with surprise. I was curious because Paul said he never gets mail from home. He opened it and scowled. It was a birthday card.
"Aawww, wasn't that nice of them?" I said, really Paul's family can't be a neglectful or forgetful as he said.
"It would have been nicer if they remembered that my birthday is in January" he sighed, "The date on here is one of my sisters' birthday." He looked resigned as though he wasn't expecting much more than this, I thought, 'maybe they are that bad'.
I opened my mailbox and saw a single letter from home. It was from my dad. 'I am proud to have a daughter fight for the glory of Belka.'
"What does you father do?" He was reading my letter from over my shoulder which wasn't for him because he was three inches taller than me.
"He's a business man." I simply state.
"So you're from high society?" he asked with a grin as though he found it funny.
"Ja, and it's not funny." I said crushing the letter.
The grin faded and he said, "I thought you liked your family?"
"Not my dad so much. He never really was very in tuned with what I wanted to do." I said looking at the floor.
"Like being a writer instead of a lawyer or something?" He asked, to which I nodded
An awkward silence fell on us for a while. Paul checked his watch and said, "You wanna get lunch?"
I just nodded.
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"At least the rain stopped." Paul said after lunch and waiting for the rain the stop we started back.
"Ja." I said still pissed.
I sat down in the sidecar like I always do and brooded. Paul started the motorcycle, but didn't head in the direction of our quarters.
"Where are we going?" I asked not really caring.
"Just a just around."
I looked at B-52s, MiG-21s, Panavia Tornado Gr.Mk 1s, and other planes. 'This is scary and… nein! I will not be weak or a coward.' I thought.
"Paul, are you scared?"
"… ja. I guess we all are." He said thoughtfully. That, for some reason made me feel a lot better. Paul stopped the bike and he looked up into the sky, eyes wide in amazement. Huge grey clouds covered almost all the sky with a big break in the clouds just over the base showing a bright orange sky.
"A war starts in about 12 hours from now, it just doesn't seem real" Paul said, "look… forgot about your dad, I don't know what your problem is with him, but it won't tomorrow. I mean, how can't it compared to what we're being asked to do?"
It was a long evening. The evening was follow by a long night before I could sleep. Mieke was asleep in her bed, she seem a little happier after our talk. 'I kind of like talking to her and it's nice to think she'll always be there… wait… I could die… she could die…" Death, I'd never thought much about, but it felt now so huge and overwhelming. Fear poured in on me and I felt so small and weak. For the first time I wish I had a parent or someone to hold me and tell, 'me everything is going to be okay'. I couldn't sleep now, there's too much to…
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A trumpet sounded over the PA system and I sat up suddenly. Mieke must have done the same because I heard and felt her bang her head against my bunk. I'm surprised she's tall enough to hit her head.
We pulled on our cloths, she being in the bathroom of course, our light-grey button shirts, flat grey pants, and flight suits. I pressed the clip release on my Sig P-226, seeing that the clip was fully loaded I pop it back in, pulled the slide bolt, and chambered a round. I locked the safety and placed it in my holster.
We quickly left our room; carrying our flight helmets we entered the common room. Everyone, including von Klein, were sitting or standing around. Static could be heard from the PA. Soon an unfamiliar official sounding voice started giving a speech from HQ.
"Soldiers of the proud Wehrmatch of the Principality of Belka, guten morgen. For years now, Belka suffered. The weak Federalists failed to protect us, failed to protect you from economic collapse, crumpling of law and order, and worst of all they failed to protect Belka from foreign tyranny. Belka has suffered from the weak Federalists, traitorous rebels in the east, foreigners stealing our land, and the embarrassment of being the laughing stock of the world. Today, March 25th, 1995, the world will no longer laugh at the might Belka. Today we show the world they cannot ignore us! Today they will hear our voices, that of a new and great Belkan Empire! FOR BELKA!" The voice had grown louder with each sentence.
Many people found the speech exhilarating and were cheering, I was confused. I knew countries like Ocea were taking advantage of Belka, they did take some of the western territories, and we got the raw end of many deals, but it some of it seemed extreme. Oh well, too late to stop now. Looking around I saw that most everyone was rallied by the speech, but Mieke looked like she was going to be sick from anxiety, one of the pilots in C flight who looked confused like I was, and von Klein who was in a corner looking unimpressed by the speech, but I saw something like an angry fire in eyes. He was also holding his pipe tighter then necessary.
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"Blau Squadron, B flight, please stand by. Over." An air traffic control said. Freiman, Krauss, Mieke, and I were lining up on the runway 02. It was a big runway, large enough for a 4 plane flight to launch simultaneously. "Blau 05, I copy. Over."
I could see A flight in the stance, having launch before us, and I could C flight on the taxiway behind us. "Blau Squadron, B flight, you are clear for launch. Good luck. Over"
"Rodger and danke tower. Blau 05, Blue Raven, launching."
"Blau 06, Question Mark, launching."
"Blau 07, Grey Wolf, launching.
"Blau 08, Tempest, launching.".
We were raced down the runway gaining speed rapidly. Once we reached about 150 mph we started to climb. 'So far, so good' I thought.
"This is Blue Raven, were climbing to 8,000 ft, do a final check, and we'll assemble up with the others up there. Over"
"Jawohl." We all answered.
"Sehr gut."
At about 8,000 ft I pulled behind Mieke to look over her plane while Freiman did the same for Krauss. I could see the four hardpoints (AN: also known as a pylons), two holding three sidewinder each, the other holding one Hydra 70 multi-rocket pod each (AN: I don't think that's the right name, but it's a cylinder that fires several unguided missiles). Her droppable fuel tank under the MiG seemed to be secure.
"Your plane looks fine Tempest. Over." I said satisfied her plane was safe. She rolled under me to check my plane.
After a few seconds she said, "Everything seems fine Grey Wolf. Over." She pulled back into formation
"This is Blau Leader, all Blau flights form up on me." Said Herr Major von Klugg.
We were now flying in a finger four with Frieman in front, me to his right and slightly behind him, Krauss on his left and level with me, and Mieke on my right and slightly behind me.
(AN: this is the standard finger four formation created by German pilots during World War II and quickly adopted by other nations after the war. Before many people flew in formations of 3 or 5 planes. Basically the most experienced pilot is flight lead and is in front. The second most experienced pilot flies to the side of the flight lead. Then the wingmen for these two pilots fly on opposite sides of the formation and a little behind their wing leaders. This makes a sort of V. It's a very common formation, especially in NATO.)
I could see A flight on our left and C flight on our right. 1,000 ft blow was Kilo Squadron and 800 ft above was von Klein who was joining us for the opening day of fighting. He angled his plane so he could move to the side and see us at the side time. This showed me an insignia of a man in a dark brown trench coat, a grayish-blue Greek fishermen's hat cocked over his eyes, and dark pants. The man was also holding a shepherd's staff in his left hand and a Winchester 1898 trench shotgun in his right and the barrel resting on his shoulder. 'Nice to think he's watching over us' I thought.
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We were almost at the border. I could feel the tension building. Along the way I'd seen numerous other squadrons flying in various directions. The magnitude of what was happening and the fact it was about to start for me was making me shake a little. Every other minute I checked to my right to make sure Mieke was still there. She was still there of course, but I kept checking anyways.
"Achtung! This is AWACS Looking Glass. Kilo and Blau Squadrons you will be operating under me today. Enemy activity has been low as of now; they seem not to realize that they are under attack. Kilo, engage enemy border guard unit to allow our ground forces to advance via the highway below, Blau, support is you can, but your main mission is to provide fighter cover. Over."
"Jawohl, Looking Glass. Kilo engaging. Out." Said Kilo leader.
"Blau engaging. Out" said our leader.
"B flight, go clean. Over" Freiman ordered.
"Jawohl." We said dropping our external tanks.
I watched as Panavia Tornado Gr.Mk 1, armed with cluster bombs or conventional bombs under the fuselage and AGM-65 Mavericks under their wings, descend onto the likely unsuspecting Ustians. We pulled behind A flight, forming a line of two planes followed by two more.
"Blau Leader here, once we get to the river break up and engage at will. Do not use your sidewinders and try to save your guns for hostile fighters. Over"
We were descending into a valley, with a decent sized river in the middle. The river is in Ustio and I saw a border gate below us with a highway leading across the river into the mountains. On the other side of the river, along the highway denying the Belkan Heer access to this route, was a small army base that was our target. We were angling towards the base while Kilo squadron moving low parallel to the highway. The others were breaking off on in odd directions looking for targets. I saw a small explosion on bridge and realized that our tanks and Ustian tanks were fighting there.
"Tempest, there hostile tanks blockading our tanks. Tally Oh on their armour." I said.
"Jawohl, Grey Wolf." Mieke said as we moved heading north along the river in on a company of old Leopard 1s. (It should be noted that as a former part of Belka, Ustio may use some of the same equipment, at least in my mind) A few more seconds. "Firing" (Anyone know the code word for firing an unguided missile/rocket?) I pressed the a button on my stick to fire a burst from multi-rocket pod. Three rockets flew from the Hydra 70s, I immediately broke right to let Mieke have a shot.
"Grey Wolf! Hostile AA on the northeast side of the bridge!" She was right and I felt my heart stop. A Bofors 40 mm L/70 was in a clearing on the Ustian side of the bridge. I started to descent and then pulled up into a helix while a small burst came at me, but too low and missed. Mieke broke off from the tanks and fired two rockets at the AA gun.
"Scratch an AA. You're clear Grey Wolf." Said sounding just as relieved as I felt.
"Danke, Tempest. Were making a second past, so form up. Over." We wheeled around now facing south. I destroyed a Leopard 1 and badly damaged a M113 Garvin APC. Mieke had taken out an L/70 AA gun and so I was thinking this was going well.
"Space out a little so you can fire too." I told her.
"Jawohl." Mieke said firmly, it sounded like some confidence was returning to her.
I fired off four rockets, moved to the side a little, and fire three more rockets. I saw two tanks, an APC, and a few various vehicles I couldn't identify blow up. I did a rough estimate of the number rockets I had left. 'I fire 3 on the first pass and 7 on the second, that's 10 out of 14 70mm rockets' I calculated, 'I've got 4 rockets, 400 23mm rounds, and 6 sidewinder air to air missiles. I should be okay.'
"Tempest, how's your ammo?"
"Winchester on rockets. Full on everything else."
"Okay I still got a few…"
"Looking Glass here" a voice interrupted, "Bandits detected. 5 flights in ladder position coming low along the river, vector 355. ETA 3 minutes. Over" (that means 5 flights, one flight following the next, roughly heading north, vector 360/0 is north, 090 is west, 180 south, 270 east)
"Understood. A flight will engage head on, B flight will make the same approach above us, and C flight will break off and engage from the east. Over" Order
"B flight, jawohl." Freiman said.
"C flight, jawohl." Herr Hauptmann Anne Kautz, C flight leader.
"AWACS bogey dope. " I requested. (bogey dope is a request for info on a target or threat)
"Bandits identified as Ustion Air Force planes, they appear to be F-5E Tiger II or F-20A Tigersharks. Speed is 670 knots, altitude is 1,100 ft."
"Shepherd here" said a familiar voice, but for once he didn't sound weary or tired. He sounded alert and very much awake; maybe even a little more alive than normal. "That will be the Ustian 43rd Interceptor Squadron. They operate out of a small air strip south us here. Five flights eh? That's their entire squadron, they fly Tigersharks and use M39 20mm cannons and AIM-9 sidewinders. Everyone understand?"
"Ja and danke Hauptmann." Said Looking Glass.
I follow Hauptmann Freiman, with Mieke and Krauss trailing, and Hauptmann von Klein past us in a steep climb. Leveling off at 2,000 ft I could see the bandits, but only seemed to have noticed A flight and I could see C flight circling low behind the bandits.
"Tally oh on those bandits." Order Freiman. He rolled right and dived down. We followed. Freiman and Krauss moved in on the second flight and Mieke and I moved in on the third flight. A beeping tone sounded and two green target symbols circled around on my HUD. They merged and turned red on the flight lead and a loud solid tone rang through my cockpit.
"Fox Two" One of my sidewinders flew off the rack, but I realized too late that at this angle they could easily avoid it. To my shock the Tigershark moved into the path of my missile, probably trying to engage me. I saw his left wing get ripped off and his plane fall like a rock.
"Grey Wolf, Splash One."
The flight lead's wingman was now engaging me at full afterburner. I heard a buzzing and the word 'warning' appeared on my HUD; he was trying to get a lock on me. 'At his and my combine speed though he should come in gun range soon.' I though. He did get in gun range before he could get a lock on me. He fired a burst of 20 mm, but I rolled under the tracers and fired my 23mm which ripped through the bottom of his plane and I saw him go past me. Looking behind me briefly I saw the pilot eject.
"Splash Two." I said with excitement in my voice, two planes and not a scratch. The third and forth plane were now closing on us.
"I can I have a shot?" Mieke asked.
"Sure." I rolled over behind her giving her the lead. "I'm on your right now, fire when ready."
"Fox Two, Fox Two." Mieke said firing two missiles. She nailed the one in the nose destroying it completely, the second missile didn't explode and tore a small piece off the other planes tail.
"Tempest, Splash One, Shack on a target." The other plane flew away and escaped the battle. I looked down river and stared as von Klein came behind the next flight. He swung in behind them, jinked right firing a burst of 23 mm destroying three of the planes, then reversed his turn, and destroyed the fourth with a missile. I happen so fast the I wonder if I imagined it.
"Tempest did you see what Shepherd just did?" I asked still shocked.
"Ja, I did" she said sounding just as shocked as me.
"Picture clear. All bandits down or retreating." Looking Glass said happily.
"This is Kilo leader, Winchester on all ordinance. Enemy barrack and facilities are burning. All and all I say mission complete. All Kilo planes RTB."
"This is the 11th Panzer Battalion, bridge secure and were advancing into Ustio. We'll reclaim it as part of the Fatherland again. Danke for the support. We should be okay for now. Over and out."
"Blau Leader here, I think our job is done. Well rendezvous with a tanker craft, then head home."
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I popped off my mask and removed my helmet. I took a deep breath, waited for my hands to stop shaking, and the open my canopy.
Once on the tarmac I felt my knee buckle, walking felt so weird after being in the air for so long. I staggered my way to Mieke's plane. She wasn't doing much better than me and was leading on her plane for support. Her face was covered with sweat and her hair matted to her face. Judging by the looked she gave me, I wasn't looking much better and I could feel my clothes sticking to my body.
She took a few steps towards me, wobbled, and started to fall forward, but I caught her under her arms first.
She looked up at me and I said jokingly, "good thing you aren't that heavy."
She smiled nervously or maybe devilishly because adrenaline was still running through her body. "I think I need a shower" stood up and wrinkle her nose, "and so do you."
"How can you tell? You were an arms length away from me at the least." I said mockingly as though I was offended. I couldn't care less I was still happy we were both still alive.
We were walking back. Paul didn't really stick that much, but I was happy we both survived. Even though we only known each other for a month I couldn't imagine my life with out him reading in a corner near me or walking with me pretending to listen to me. Or those moments rare moment when he showed he could be compassionate. He was a good friend, but then again I haven't had a lot of friend to compare him to.
Herr Hauptmann von Klein walked pasted us with his pipe in his mouth. He took it out and said, "good flying today, but don't get cocky. You not superman."
He looked at us for a moment and slowly said, "Did you both see a town when the squadron refueled?"
"Was it on a mountain slope, surrounded by coal mines, and looked like it was bombed a long time ago? It looked like a hellhole."
He gave a cold bark of a laugh. "That's a pretty good description actually. That was the hellhole that once upon a time I called… home." He nodded, put the pipe back in his mouth, and walk back to his office lie nothing happened.
"Right then, I shower first." Paul said after several minutes.
"Oh sure, but… HEY! I should shower first!"
"Why?"
"Cause I'm a lady."
"So? I out rank you."
And so it went on like that. It was nice to still be here, but will we both still be here next time? I looked up at the sky and felt so small.
Okay I know that was long, but I couldn't stop writing and I didn't want to put off their first battle. Hope ya'll liked it and please review.
Respectfully
J. H. Kamiya