ACE COMBAT

The tactical mercenary group known as 'Scarface' was assembled in response to a the recent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Three major air strikes were conducted by the unknown terrorist group after a number of military planes had mysteriously gone missing, but I don't know all that much about that. I was recruited last week by Scarface to pilot an F-15 Eagle along with the rest of the team, but in truth, I'm not at all as experienced as these higher ups seem to think I am. I don't even know how they got my name, it's almost as if someone called in a favor to have my recommendation taken seriously, but I don't know anyone who'd do that for me.

It doesn't matter anyhow, all I know is that these guys have some sort of intel on when and where the next strike is gonna be, and we're going to be there to stop it, supposedly. My name is Al Davidson, 24 years old and military pilot for five years.

Mission 01

"Move out, gentleman," Captain Channing commanded.

The next terrorist attack was expected to be carried out in the next hour, and the Scarface team had been positioned near New York city on a boat, waiting until zero hour to advance on the attackers. None of them knew anything about the breach in the cell, and none of them were meant to care. Intel was none of their business; their only job was to defend their nation against the evil doers before any harm could be done, and to make sure that no one knew they were part of the mercenary unit.

The last of the planes in the first wave were launched and the six planes were on their way to the suspected target. All six planes were the standard F-15s and they would have to make due with the somewhat more difficult maneuverability than what they had been used to in the regular military. These planes were older models because the army had some sort of complications in legalities of the Scarface methods, and the president had to order that Scarface be kept a secret. More things that did not mean anything to these pilots, except that they were to stay out of the real army's way as much as possible, and hope they were not mistaken for being enemies.

"Alright men," Channing radioed in on their frequency. "This is their target," an image showed up on each of the men's screens. "We will intercept them at this point, which is way ahead of where the military unit plans on making their strike," the digital map zoomed out at the tap of Channing's quick typing. "They'll intercept at these coordinates, which means we have a minimal amount of time to get the job finished, and we are not 100 positive that we know how many planes we'll b up against or what kind of weaponry they'll be packing. We need to be ready for anything."

Billman, Racko, Grace, Paullo, and Maris were the pilots in the first wave of the Scarface air team under Captain Channing's supervision. Davidson was left behind with the rest of wave 2, which would not be used in this mission under any circumstances, and left the team on the moody side.

"Captain, I think I have visual up ahead at the current coordinates," Racko typed in the numbers to the screen.

"Alright, all personnel stay close. I'm going in first and I'll need cover fire," Channing coolly slighted his F-15 ahead of the rest. The aircrafts ahead were very familiar to him, and he instantly understood what the team would be up against.

Channing's Eagle locked onto his target and in seconds his missile was launched at the nearest plane up ahead. The pilot of the enemy plane immediately swerved in attempt to get out of the way, but the missile crashed right into the cockpit and the plane fell to the water in pieces while its allies tore apart from each other as they had been trained to do.

All at once, the fighting began as each plane shot wildly at the enemies before them.

"Shit, abort! Abort!" Channing pulled a sharp right, narrowly missing a collision with Maris.

"Alpha team, what is going on?" Commander Ryce's voice could be heard on the intercom. The Scarface team all scattered in different directions now as they attempted to turn completely around and follow their captain back to base.

"These were the wrong coordinates," Channing yelled. "I just shot down a goddamned army plane! We're fighting our allies here!"

"That's impossible, our intel…"

"Your intel is fucking wrong! We're heading back to base, now!"

"You can't do that! These guys think you're with the enemy now, your only chance is to try and shake 'em over the mainland! They can't find us, Channing!" Ryce's words cut through the alpha team like a knife.

"…Aw, shit. Alpha team head to the mainland, it's our only chance to lose them." Channing was evidently very hesitant.

"Cap'n, we can't fight above the city! They're our allies!" Billman voiced.

"And where the hell are the terrorist planes?" Maris barked as he followed the rest of the team upwards sharply, maneuvering the planes backwards slowly to an upside down position and then turning the planes back upright.

"They'll be in the city about now, we have no choice but to try and smoke 'em out!" Channing tried to remain as calm as he could.

The U.S. army pilots were too quick, and before the Scarface team could recover from their maneuvering, they were upon them.

"I can't sha…" Paullo was the first to be hit directly with a missile from behind. The plane exploded immediately on impact and there was no rescuing the already dead pilot.

"He's on me! Captain!" Maris screamed at the top of his lungs as the small firing from behind caught up with him and he was sent spiraling downward into the water below. The straggling plane of the U.S. fighter planes sent down a missile at the sitting duck to make sure he was dead, and again, a pilot was needlessly killed in the confusion.

"Almost there!" Channing yelled as they neared the mainland. "Head for the tallest skyscrapers and get to the target, it's our only hope."

The four remaining Scarface planes followed these instructions closely, doing their best to try and outmaneuver their shadows along the way.

"Shit, I'm going too fast!" Billman cried as he narrowly missed each building infront of him, each plane had split into its own paths in pursuit of their destination, blindly scraping through the maze of buildings around them.

"Steady!" Channing said over the intercom, but the word was meant for his own sake.

"Ahhh!" Billman crashed stupidly into the windows of a tall skyscraper, exploding on impact.

"Damnit!" Channing saw another one of his men go off the radar.

Grace and Racko moved swiftly through the maze of buildings, not knowing that they were so close to each other until the last second when they both took fast corners and plowed directly into one another.

"Channing, what the hell is going on out there!?" Ryce exclaimed.

"We're sitting ducks out here! I'm almost at the target, just a few seconds more…"

Channing knew deep down that either the enemies had been there already and had launched their attack, or the U.S. figher pilots knew his destination, aligning his team with the terrorists and had rushed to the target to take him down. Unfortunately, his instincts were correct, and two U.S. planes could now be seen up ahead coming towards him.

The missile was launched from the first oncoming plane, and all was slow motion as it raced through the air and slammed directly into Channing himself.

"Channing…Channing!" Ryce screamed into the mic. "Goddamnit, where the hell is the enemy!?"

The enemy never came to the location, and the U.S. army was content in thinking they had vanquished the threat. Scarface's Alpha team had been completely wiped out, and the real terrorists made their strike in another city at the exact time they were supposed to be in New York. Thus, the intel Scarface had been relying on was proven false, and the fourth official terrorist attack was a success.

Had I been there, I have no doubt in my mind I would have died too. We were given faulty intel and apparently so had the army. That day, it was the White House in Washington D.C. that had been hit by the air strike team, and the president was killed in the attack. Suddenly, I was not liking my new position in Scarface, and all seemed hopeless.

Mission 02

"Alright, Omega team, we can't fuck this one up. I can't guarantee our intel is right this time, either. It's coming from the same place, different man. It doesn't seem like the breach in the cell was very well done, and one of the guys was killed. The other one assures us that he's got the next location right for sure," Ryce was not as comforting as he'd hoped as he spoke into the intercom.

"He means we'll be fine, men," Captain Rogers joked over com.

"Just stick to the plan," Ryce ignored him. "Heavy clouds today, you're going to be using them for cover. These babies can climb to 65,000 feet, you're going to 55,000."

"What do we do in case this goes to hell like last time?" Vilks, one of the fighter pilots asked intrusively.

"Listen to your commander and captain," Wilson, a spunky female pilot snapped.

"Smart girl," Rogers smiled to himself. "Move out, team."

The planes all launched from the deck and followed Rogers' plane as it ascended high into the clouds, reaching 50,000 feet in less than a minute at 2,200 mph. It was indeed a very cloudy day and it would provide for some much needed cover in order to surprise the enemy.

"The supposed target is the Hampton Roads Naval Base in Virginia. There are going to be a lot of U.S. planes in the air in defense of the base, and I mean a LOT more than in the last mission. Do not come within 10 miles of the base or their sensors will spot you and they will not hesitate to shoot you down. I don't care how high you are or ho much coverage you think you have, we need to get these guys before they can make their strike. We have to assume that the enemy is carrying heavy weapons, so you need to stay out of their sight as well and out of their way when you shoot them down. I'll give the signal to abort when the time comes," Ryce finished briefing them.

"One more thing," Rogers said. "The enemy will also have many more planes than last time, this is a military facility they are aiming to destroy, remember. So heavy weapons, heavy numbers."

The flight to Virginia was not a long one, and they were meant to make their strike before they reached the city outskirts. The team consisted of the six remaining pilots recruited to Scarface: Evans, Wilson, Vilks, Davidson, Hudge, and captain Rogers.

"Keep your eyes peeled, men. I'm descending into the clouds for a better view and I'll let you know when I have a clear visual," Rogers instructed. With that, the five cadets watched as their leader slowly began its descent into the thick blanket of clouds and disappear from their view.

"Hey, isn't this base the largest Naval Base in existence?" Davidson piped.

"Yeah, they build a whole shitload of cool stuff there. My cousin is stationed there, builds some type of special class air carriers" Hudge answered as he straggled behind the team.

"If it's so big then why would they need our asses to cover them?" Evans complained.

"It's precautionary," Wilson had had enough with the pointless chatter.

"Hey, I think I have visual," Vilks declared. "Up ahead, I'm sending the coordinates now at 220 degrees."

"Haha!" Hudge exclaimed. "Let's do…"

KPTKKKSHSHH!

Evans' plane exploded in a flash.

"What the fuck…?" Vilks leaned to the side to see what had happened as the team began to panic.

"The enemy has gotten behind us!" Wilson yelled.

"This is commander Ryce, what's going on out there? One of the planes just went black.

KPTKKKSHSHH!

"Commander! Evans and Hudge just when down!" Wilson cried.

"Descend!, Descend!" Davidson took it upon himself to instruct them.

"Captain Rogers, do you read…? Rogers!" Ryce screamed into the intercom.

"Enemies ahead, they have us trapped!" Vilks informed.

"They headed away from us…" Davidson said to himself, no one seemed to pay attention to his words, but he knew something was terribly wrong.

"I think I can get 'em!" Wilson gained speed and headed for the enemies infront of her. "Cover my rear, I'm going in!"

"Shit," Vilks knew that was going to be the hard part. They couldn't even see the enemy behind them.

"Vilks, you go left, I'm heading a sharp right and we can cut off the team behind us," Davidson yelled as he shifted right through the cover of the clouds.

"Rogers has gone silent, we have to assume his communications have been damaged," Ryce instructed.

"Where's my cover!?" Wilson yelled, she fired on the closest enemy aircraft, signaling to the others that they were being attacked. Locking on to her target, she launched the first of her missiles which was a direct hit and the planes exploded and went down. The enemies all scattered in different directions and before she could choose her next target there were none in clear sight as they had ascended higher into the clouds for cover. "Shit!"

Something whizzed right past Davidson, a little above. He knew instantly that it was the plan that had shot down two of his comrades and he began yet again to turn back around.

"Vilks, I saw him! Turn back!"

"What was it?!" Ryce yelled.

"I couldn't see it in time…" Davidson was barely audible.

"Omega… shhhh…something wrong…shhhh….shhhh, where are you?" Captain Rogers' voice was hidden behind static.

"Rogers! Your team has engaged the enemy, what is your status!?" Ryce picked up the microphone and walked around the room excitedly as his inferiors tapped along on their computers making sure that all connections were being kept properly.

"I'm…above the clouds…shhhhh"

"I can't see 'em," Wilson said.

"Wilson, head above the clouds, your cover fire is back on its way. Regroup and then go back down together," Ryce made his orders clear.

Davidson felt sick to his stomach at this, something was definitely wrong. This order was a very bad idea, he didn't know why, but he knew it was. In a bold move, he slowed his plane down and began a steady ascension back above the clouds. Sure enough, his captain was where he was supposed to be, but going just as slow as Davidson was.

"Can he see me?" he whispered to himself, as he tried to maintain his cover in the clouds.

"Where's my cover fire?" Wilson emerged ahead of Rogers, barely visible to the straggling Davidson.

"I'm right here," Rogers said casually, and immediately he began to fire on her.

Davidson had somehow anticipated the deception, and was firing on his captain at the same time as he rose from his cover.

"Shit!" Rogers realized what had happened and descended quickly into the clouds once more.

"I've been hit!" Wilson yelled.

"What the hell is going on?!" Ryce was confused as could be, for he could not see the action.

"Davidson's turned on us!" Rogers wailed.

Davidson's stomach turned once more, but he was determined to seek out Rogers through the cloak of white puffiness before him.

Ryce stood in bewilderment as his entire team stopped what they were doing to stare at him, wondering what he would say. "Rogers… what happened to all the static on your end?"

"Fuck," Rogers turned off all communications and descended lower through the clouds.

Davidson saw the slight movement and quickly fumbled around to try and lock on to him, "Gotcha,"

KPTKKKSHSHH!

The missile was a direct hit, but the plane was still in the air. Fire raged from one side as it began to fall from the sky ever so slightly. Rogers struggled in a panic to keep his plane in the air, if he fell any lower either Scarface would see him or his terrorist allies would mistake him for being the enemy.

"Take down Rogers, Omega team!" Ryce ordered. "He's gone silent again,"

Wilson did not have time to think, Rogers had been the one who tried to shoot her down and was clearly behind her somewhere. Time was running out, and she decided it was up to her once again to go ahead with the mission. Descended quickly, she tore through the clouds and immediately spotted the enemy planes flying in different directions. There were three in visibility, no, four.

"Where's Rogers? I never saw him go down," Vilks came down to join her.

"Leave that to Davidson for now, we gotta get these guys," Wilson chose an enemy plane to her left as a target and the air duel began. Vilks chose one of the two visible planes to his right to chase, and fired on him until he could get a lock on him.

Davidson increased his speed, though the clouds still made it hard to see far in front of him. Rogers was still up here, he could tell by the way the clouds were shaped. Deciding that time was against him, he fired blindly ahead in hopes of catching his prey. It was then that black smoke began to escalate ahead of him, and he knew he was hitting his target, although he knew he would not be able to lock onto him again.

Rogers could not put out the fire, it was now or never. He steered downward to avoid the incoming fire from his former cadet and pulled a harsh left in attempt to get out of the line of fire.

Davidson anticipated his move and followed immediately. Once below the clouds, he finally got a clear shot.

"You're going down now, asshole," he locked on and fired another missile.

Rogers saw the incoming missile and kept his plane going hard left, in a quick attempt to avoid it, he pulled right and the missile flew past him.

"Hah, nice try, kid!"

Davidson immediately ascended into the cover of the clouds.

Rogers saw this and realized what had happened, the terrorist planes were headed directly for him and had launched their missiles at him.

"I'm on your side you stupid…!" he pulled up in a desperate attempt to avoid them, but it was too late. Both missiles slammed directly into his cockpit and the plane blew up in a heap of fire.

While this had been going on, Vilks and Wilson had each destroyed an enemy plane and were on to their next targets. Wilson flew in parallel with her next target, and they seemed to be turning in towards one another.

"Chicken's your game, huh?" the sweat poured from her face as she started firing in front of her, hitting nothing but air as the gap between them closed.

Vilks saw this from behind as he chased a fourth plane, "Wilson get outta there!"

"Just a little more…" she kept the plane going left towards her enemy as he continued going right towards her.

"Stop, you're gonna collide with him!" Vilks yelled.

"No, I'm NOT!" Wilson pulled up quickly, skimming the top of the enemy plane badly enough to kill the pilot inside. The collision knocked her spinning uncontrollably and her controls became unresponsive. In seconds she was headed spiraling down towards the ground. "I can't control it!"

Davidson was now close enough to see her plane falling through the sky, and he knew there was nothing he could do for her. "How many enemies left?" he asked.

"They're too far ahead, we can't catch 'em. The rest are up in the clouds somewhere," Vilks stopped watching his comrade free fall to her death as he tried to focus on the mission once more.

Ryce closed his eyes tightly and breathed hard as he though the matter over, "Abort. You're too close, mission over." He turned off the intercom and swore loudly, scaring the staff around him.

Another failure, and this time it was all his fault.

My first mission was a disaster. None of us could believe that our own captain could betray us, but it happened. A total of three enemy planes had been shot down that day, and only two of ours remained. I felt ashamed that Rogers was the only plane I managed to shoot down, and Vilks was equally pissed. I wasn't too close with any of the pilots, so it wasn't a major personal loss… but I felt bad that they were killed so needlessly.

The base was able to defend itself in the end, but not well enough to ensure that they wouldn't lose out on millions of dollars worth of equipment. That oughta make tax payers pretty fucking pissed off. One thing did happen to our advantage though. When the terrorists aborted the mission, the military was able to track where they had gone.

Our next mission will be to destroy the enemy's headquarters and eliminate the threat once and for all. This time we are working together with the military, after convincing them we shot a hell of a lot more than three planes down on our last mission… but one thing is clear, this is going to be hell.

Mission 03

"We've got one shot at this," Ryce breathed to himself. The pilots were already on their way to destroy the enemy bases, there were three locations in the city of Atlanta. The military was not at all able to gain permission from the government to be involved in an attack in a U.S. city with local residents at risk, and thus it was all up to Scarface. The military did secretly offer them any available resources for the mission, however, and 10 new pilots were recruited to the team.

The new Alpha team consisted of Captain Davidson and five other pilots, and the Omega team was headed by Captain Vilks and his five cadets. The two teams would coordinate their attacks at the same time, and the resistance was going to be pretty severe.

"Commander, we are nearing the target points," Davidson radioed in.

"Good. Alpha team, you take the first target, it's a large industrial building. Been abandoned a long time, I'm sending the data right now. Omega team, you are responsible for providing cover fire. Once they know we're there, they'll send out a shitload of enemy planes to counter and we need you to shoot them down. This is a nightstrike, and so it will be tough for you to see the enemy in the air from far away. Be careful," Ryce had a way with scaring his teams before a mission.

"Alright, Omega team, spread out," Vilks instructed.

The twelve planes flew through the darkened skies, slowly scattering away from one another as they prepared to make their strike.

"I see the first target, how many innocent casualties are we looking at?" Davidson asked Ryce.

"Hopefully none. But we have to be realistic here, the military wouldn't have relied on us for this if they were sure no casualties would be involved."

"Well doesn't that just make me feel like an angel," Davidson knew this was true. "Alright, lets do this," he headed to the front of his team and readied his missiles. Hesitating only momentarily, he released the first… the second…

They slammed into the giant building with great explosions, but they were not going to be enough to finish the job. A third missile… a fourth… now he had to steer away from the explosion before he flew straight into the wreckage. The explosions from the last two missiles were even bigger, and the building seemed to explode as a whole as it began to fall to the ground. Davidson was pulling a hard right but then realized the building was falling to that side, in a desperate attempt to save his life he pulled up. It was no good, his plane went straight through the hellish fires and took quite a bit of damage along the way. A total miscalculation on his part, but at least he was able to come out alive.

"You okay, Cap'n?" one of the cadets asked.

"I'm okay, the enemy will have been alerted by now. On to the second target," Davidson directed as he typed into his screen to find what the next base looked like. It was an old abandoned warehouse, and it would take some serious looking around to find it.

"Enemy planes up ahead!" Vilks cried. "There's gotta be 10…no wait, 20… shit! I can't even count how many bad guys we got out here!"

"Do your thing, Omega team," Ryce sounded.

Davidson looked around the night skies and realized the plan was not going to work, "Commander, this can't work. There are way too many of them, and we don't even know where the next target is exactly. I'm sending the rest of Alpha team to help shoot down the enemy while I take out the bases myself."

"Fine, Alpha team, save your missiles. We're gonna need them in case Captain Davidson gets himself killed," Ryce breathed his frustration.

The planes met in the air and immediately the chaos began as they all began shooting at one another.

"Stay together, don't make any sudden turns in direction or you'll be mistaken for the enemy," Vilks fired on an oncoming plane.

Davidson searched low through the many buildings for the abandoned warehouse, but it was then that he realized he was being tailed. An enemy planed fired from behind at him from above, the firing missing him and hitting the streets below. "Alpha team, I need backup!"

"I've got him!" a cadet yelled. It was then Davidson saw the F-15 behind his attacker, holding his fire until he was sure he had a clear shot. Smart move. The cadet locked onto his target and fired a missile at him before he could destroy Davidson's already damaged plane.

"Thanks, nice shot, cadet," Davidson could now see the warehouse ahead. He flew the plane a little higher now, getting ready to lock on target when he realized there were weapons being fired from it. He began to pull up as hard as he could, releasing the missiles as he did it and hoping they would find the target well enough to destroy it.

Vilks shot down a second plane, "Davidson, what's your status?"

"I'm on the search for the third target, how are we doing?"

Ryce took this chance to cut in, "We've lost five planes already, you have to hurry."

"Shit, how many have we shot down ourselves?"

"Enough," Vilks blinked the sweat from his eyes.

Davidson was high in the air once more, the next target seemed to be a jumbled figure. "What is this?"

"It's a piece of land," Ryce explained. "We're not sure which one of those buildings is the actual target, so you are required to destroy it all."

"I only have 2 missiles left, it isn't going to be enough. I need one of my cadets to finish the job," Davidson reported.

"You have three left,"

"Williams," Davidson called.

"Yes, sir?"

"Get to these coordinates fast, I'll have Lawson and Bulls provide cover for you. You and I have to finish the job,"

"Affirmative."

Vilks saw another one of his men go down, things were not going well anymore. He only had two other pilots and himself in the sky against what seemed to be twelve planes. "We're getting creamed up here,"

"Lead them out away from the base," a cadet suggested.

"They ain't gonna budge," Vilks knew. "Ascend to higher space, we need to divert their attention and that seems to be the only way to go."

The three airplanes ascended higher, and only a few enemy units followed.

"Davidson, we got problems. The enemy planes aren't coming for us, our only option now is to cover you down there,"

"Yeah, I figured that would happen. Try and hurry, we're almost there," Davidson could now see the next target. Seven enemy planes hovered over the land in waiting. "Alright Alpha team, protect Williams at all costs."

The three planes moved ahead of Williams to defend him.

"This is suicide!" One of the cadets wailed, in that split second, she ascended quickly to try and get out of the line of fire, abandoning her comrades out of fear.

"Get back here!" Davidson yelled. It was no use, her plane flew high over the base and was an easy target for the enemy to shoot down with their defense weaponry. Two direct hits on the plane exploded the plane into flames.

"Fire!" Davidson yelled, blindly sending his last two missiles in front of them. The explosions provided cover for them as they slipped through the defenses and made their final assault.

"We're here!" Vilks said as he fire downward at the enemy planes, diverting their attention from the alpha team.

Enemy missiles redirected their attention to the skies at the omega team, and avoiding collision became nearly impossible. The three planes swerved and fired, but the base was defended better than they had expected.

"Son of a bitch!" Vilks cried as he watched his team members explode into oblivion. There was nothing he could do now, the enemy fire had damaged his controls and there was no way he could pull out of the way in time. Accepting his fate, he fired continuously as his plane flew directly into the base, causing a massive explosion and sinking two enemy planes in the fires.

"Now, Williams!" Davidson screamed as he ascended out of the way.

Williams sent out all his missiles, one by one into the enemy base, blindly and hopefully. The missiles made such great explosions that it was too hard to see what was going on.

Davidson, Williams, and the other cadet pulled up hard and made their escape, leaving the enemy in the ensuing chaos below.

"Mission Complete!" Ryce jumped up and squealed.

"Lets get the hell outta here, now!" Davidson led his remaining team members away from the city and high into the night skies.

The final mission was considered a success, but we lost a lot of pilots. The terrorist threat is far from over, but we finally dealt them a major blow and stopped their continuous attacks for a while. Now what needs to be done is they need to find out who is behind these attacks, and figure out a way to end their operations for good.

All the stolen planes have been destroyed now, and the air strikes will finally end. When they find out who it is that made these orders, you can bet that I'll be there to put an end to their lives as well.

Al Davidson

THE END