It was no secret that soon, the attack on Directus would take place, the final blow that would signal Ustio's liberation and victory for the Allied forces in the war. The day after the capture of Solis Ortus, the Lieutenant General in charge of planning and briefing the missions ordered all pilots of the 6th Air Division into the briefing room.

"Preparations to liberate Directus are now complete." He said. "I will now brief you on the Ustio 6th Air Division's role in regaining control of the capital."

All the pilots listened eagerly, barely restraining from jumping out to their fighters and taking off there and then. Even Cipher, who was usually relaxed and calm, leaned forward in his chair. As the Intelligence Officer spoke, the briefing map showed the location of Directus along a large meandering river.

"Directus is divided into five administrative wards centring on the River Crescere. Powerful weapons have been placed in each ward, comprising the Belkan army's Ustio-branch headquarters. This battle will determine our fate, as the annihilation of all enemy forces will mean liberation for the nation of Ustio. The enemy forces are primarily comprised of ground troops, but we have received information that, while not yet confirmed, there is also a squadron of hi-tech enemy fighters."

This should be interesting. Cipher thought.

"Your orders are to destroy the Belkan forces and liberate Directus." The officer informed. His voice grew serious. "We can't afford to lose."

He dismissed them, and the flight leads had difficulty restraining their flights and making sure that pre-flight checks were conducted. Galm Team were the first up as per usual, with a loadout of four AIM-120 AMRAAMs and six AIM-9 Sidewinders. Fenrir and Lancer's Fighting Falcons had two AIM-9 sidewinder missiles and six AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles while the mighty A-10 attackers had enough bombs and rockets between them to virtually take out every enemy tank in Directus.

Cipher was confident they could do this. The twenty-six aircraft flight turned towards the capital.

The sun was beginning to set as the Ustio 6th Air Division entered Directus airspace. It was about five in the evening, and the sun cast a yellow-orange glow over the city. Here, just outside the occupied capital, the three squadrons split up to achieve their respective objectives. Cipher and Foulke stayed with Hunter to

"Begin operation." AWACS Eagle Eye said. "Release five sectors under Belkan control."

"Cipher, let's do this right." Foulke said. "The battle's going in our favour!"

"Roger that." Cipher replied. "Galm One, engaging enemy fighters." He pulled up as the flights headed towards the first district. A lone Typhoon fighter had caught his interest.

"Hunter One to all Hunter units." The A-10 flight leader said. "Begin your attack run. Let's show the Belkan Army how we roll!"

Cipher noted the change in the Belkan Typhoon's direction towards the A-10 squadron. "Hunter, heads up. You've got fighters incoming."

"Roger that, do your thing Galm Team." Hunter One replied.

"Galm Two, fox two!" Foulke fired a sidewinder at the fourth-generation fighter attempting to engage the ground-attack aircraft they were covering. The Belkan pilot abandoned his attack run to evade the missile. "Missile off target!"

"Galm One, missile launch!" Cipher tried his luck at 'killing' the advanced fighter and succeeded in blowing the delta wing to bits. "Splash one!"

"Good shot Cipher!" Foulke congratulated.

"Look out, more fighters!" Hunter Three informed.

The ten fighters were over the first ward now. Anti-aircraft fire erupted from numerous AA guns and APCs situated in front of halls, banks and small office blocks. Hunter split up and strafed the ground in small bursts of depleted uranium shells. Meanwhile, the mercenary team climbed to meet the incoming fighter.

"Just one?" Cipher questioned as it passed between them at high speed. He and Foulke broke away to dodge a pair of AMRAAMs fired at them.

"Target is one F-15." Foulke reported.

"Negative! This is no Eagle!" Cipher disputed. "It's too manoeuvrable!"

The fighter had pulled round with agility unmatched by anything Cipher had fought. It was already harassing Foulke with gunfire, so Cipher engaged. It had the wings and outline of the Eagle he flew, but it had foreplanes and thrust-vectoring nozzles.

"Do me a favour and miss!" Foulke shouted at the inbound missile fired at him, which complied.

"Radar lock…" Cipher's radar identified the target. But before he could fire, the F-15 STOL/MTD aircraft broke away and attempted to escape the lock. Somehow, the mercenary stayed behind the enemy fighter.

"Guns guns guns." Cipher sprayed ten rounds into the lower fuselage of the Belkan fighter. Another ten shredded the thrust-vectoring nozzles causing the fighter to pummel to the ground, trailing fire and smoke. "Enemy downed."

"Nice kill." Foulke congratulated.

Meanwhile, the A-10 attackers had made short work of the resistance in the first ward. They had formed up and began to move towards the second.

"Hunter One to Galm Team, more fighters up ahead." The flight lead said. "Work your magic."

"Eagle Eye to Galm One, Ustio civilian resistance has been reported within the city, routing their radio communications through your channel." AWACS Eagle Eye said.

"Roger that." Cipher replied as he climbed with Foulke to meet his prey. Two MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters in formation appeared on his HUD, and the mercenary ace switched to his AMRAAMs. "Fox Three!"

"Evade, evade!" The enemy flight lead cried.

The fighters split, but one missile hit its target blowing it to fragments which rained down on the Belkan Army below. Foulke cut across Cipher's flight path to engage the second, causing the flight lead to swear and jink his aircraft to prevent a collision. "Sorry!" Foulke apologised while he shot down the MiG. Cipher growled in reply.

"I thought they were meant to be our best pilots?" A Belkan asked over his radio.

"Air attacks won't help at this point!" Another yelled.

"The Belkans are running!" Someone cried. The civilian resistance. Cipher banked around in a wide circle at ten thousand feet, looking over the vast area covered by the capital. Hunter was making good progress, but he only counted seven Thunderbolts.

"Hunter One, be advised, I only count seven of your aircraft within the vicinity of this ward." Cipher reported.

"Hunter Two was shot down!" A Hunter pilot that Cipher couldn't name said.

The third ward was without doubt the largest of the five wards. Huge skyscrapers and smaller buildings dominated, while smaller houses filled the gaps. Cipher's radar spied out the AA defences situated in between skyscrapers and the mercenary watched as the Thunderbolts recklessly twisted and navigated the maze while shooting up the AA guns and SAM launchers.

"Way to go, Hunter!" An Ustio pilot yelled. "Smashing up the enemy's firepower!"

"Has anyone seen the commander?" A Belkan Army officer asked over the radio, intercepted by Eagle Eye.

"Belkans get out! Get the hell out of our city!" Someone in the resistance below shouted and was picked up by someone's radio.

"You saw the commander over by the helicopter landing pad?" The officer asked a subordinate.

Cipher clocked this bit of information and scanned the ground for a helicopter. Foulke seemed to get the information too as he swept into a steeper bank to look out for it. "Over there!" He suddenly said.

"Where's 'there'?" Cipher rolled his eyes as he rapidly looked for the helicopter.

"The football stadium!" Foulke corrected himself. Sure enough, Cipher spied a Chinook helicopter taking off.

"The Belkan commander is bugging out, looks like they're running scared!" Eagle Eye said happily.

"Galm One engaging!" Cipher banked and dived towards the fleeing helicopter, riddling it with bullets and causing it to spin out of control with fire shooting from its engine outlet and crash into a large skyscraper, causing a spectacular explosion of glass and bits of metal.

"Bandit down, that's a kill for Galm One!" Foulke said.

"Ring the freedom bell louder!" A civilian resistance member cried down a radio. "Make it heard throughout the city!"

Sure enough, Cipher could hear the loud booming ring, even over the rumble of his twin engines and the explosions from below. It seemed to have an effect on the Ustio military, which gained a burst of morale and began to push the Belkan army back further and further from the capital. The Thunderbolts intensified their seemingly suicidal attack runs on the Belkan Army vehicles and AA defences between skyscrapers and down alleys Cipher wouldn't even think of attempting.

"This is Tank Company Three." An Osean unit reported over the radio. "We're trying to advance but enemy fighters are giving us a hard time. Someone take them out for us!"

"Copy that." Foulke replied as Cipher gave him the order to engage. The flight lead continued to fly around the third ward to keep enemy fighters away as his wingman dived to engage an enemy A-10 attacking the tanks on their way to ward four.

"Allied mercenaries?" The unit commander sounded surprised when Foulke shot down the CAS aircraft. "Well, we owe you one. Thanks."

"Enemy resistance is finished in ward three." Hunter One said. "Moving on to ward four."

Cipher clicked the mike to show he understood, and broke away from his vulture-like circling onto a new heading towards the next area, with his wingman on his wing. The precision between the two mercenaries during such manoeuvres was almost good enough to rival a dedicated air display team.

The final two wards were tiny compared to the third, and were close enough for Cipher to consider a single ward. "Two more, two o'clock." Foulke reported the positioning of incoming enemy fighters. "Make that three."

"Seen." Cipher acknowledged the call as he spied the three shapes speeding towards them.

The last remaining Belkan air resistance came in the form of a single F-14 Tomcat fighter and two smaller flanking MiG-29 fighters. As the mercenaries watched, four long range Phoenix missiles dropped from the belly of the Tomcat and shot out towards the Ustio attackers, who broke and popped flares to avoid the incoming projectiles. But three missiles found their target, reducing Hunter to half strength.

"Hunter One's down!"

"Hunter Six, eject!"

"Hunter Four is going down!"

Cipher growled. "Galm Two, engage the Fulcrums. That aluminium cloud is mine!"

Both mercenaries turned to attack. Cipher switched to AMRAAM missiles and fired a single projectile before selecting his sidewinders again. The medium ranged missile succeeded in forcing the Tomcat to break away, allowing Cipher to let off his second short-range missile of the battle. It missed as the F-14 sluggishly rolled away.

"Fox Three…" Foulke reported a missile launch as he engaged his targets.

Cipher went for the simple option. He increased throttle whilst matching the slow rolls and banks of the heavy fighter in his sights, and switched to the 20mm cannon. He loosened a long burst of twenty five rounds towards the enemy, and as anticipated, it was enough to tear one of the variable-geometry wings off. He banked away as the pilots ejected.

"How you doing, Galm Two?" He asked his wingman while he banked back to the borders of the city.

"Both bandits are down." Foulke gave the sitrep.

The mercenaries continued their orbit of the wards, watching the skies as Hunter Squadron, the Allied Forces and the civilian resistance finished off the remaining Belkan Army units.

"All units…" A Belkan commander ordered over the sounds of gunfire and explosions. "Group together and open up an escape route!"

"The Belkan Army…" Cipher heard a lieutenant in the background before the radio cut out. "…we've been defeated?"

"We've got our city back!" A civilian yelled.

Cipher and Foulke banked across the ward and flew high over ward three. Cipher looked across the entire city and wondered what it was like to have a nation to belong to. A capital to be proud of. A flag to fight under.

"Directus is under Allied control!" Eagle Eye congratulated.

"They've got a reason to fight." Foulke said calmly. "This battle's over. Buddy, let's go home."

"Warning!" Eagle Eye said suddenly a few seconds later. "Radar shows two additional craft approaching."

"What, now?!" Foulke asked, confused.

Cipher looked at his radar and sure enough, two blips were approaching at high speed from the east. He turned onto that vector, and Foulke came about under his wing.

"Let's take care of them!" He growled.

Cipher could see the aircraft against the yellow-orange glow of the sunset. They split and banked in a wide parabola to cut across each other's flight path, which reminded Cipher of something he'd see in an airshow.

"They're faster than anything we've come across." Eagle Eye warned. "Commence intercept."

"Looks like they won't let us head back to base until we shoot them down." Foulke muttered.

"Gelb One to Gelb Two, break and engage at will." A calm Belkan said. "You are cleared to engage all aircraft, but priority goes to the mercenaries."

"Roger!" Gelb Two replied.

Cipher switched to his last remaining AMRAAM, but the targets were just out of range. "Foulke, use your AMRAAMs." He ordered.

"Copy that."

Cipher's radar locked on with a high pitched beeping. He fired the missile, but the angle was bad and the enemy interceptor easily dodged it. Foulke's four missiles didn't have any effect either. The two pairs passed at high speed, but Cipher was able to catch a glimpse of the fighters.

They were Sukhoi Su-37 Terminator fighters, the fifth member of the Flanker family and the best air to air fighter around. They were painted in large irregular blocks of green, creamy white and brown, with yellow bands around the wingtips.

"Terminators!" He heard Foulke mutter. "Cipher, expect the unexpected. This kind of enemy makes me nervous."

Both teams turned to get on each other's tail. But the move was easily won by the super-manoeuvrable Belkan aircraft and Cipher found himself diving sharply and popping flares to counter a missile shot. He pulled a sharp turn, startling the Belkan on his six who continued the dive, allowing Cipher to get on his tail.

"Hang in there Galm Two!" He encouraged his wingman.

"I can't shake him!" Cipher could hear the stress in the usually calm Foulke.

Cipher knew he had seconds until the Terminator broke away from him. He let off two sidewinders in close succession followed by a burst of gunfire. The Su-37 twisted, broke the dive sharply and let off flares, avoiding both missiles. But Cipher saw the thin stream of black smoke from where the bullets had found their mark, and the lack of the port elevator.

"I know Cipher and Pixy can get the job done!" Eagle Eye said.

The terminator Cipher was engaged with was trying to get back onto the Ustio mercenary's tail, but wasn't as manoeuvrable as before. Cipher was easily able to block the attempt with a high-g turn, and settle in the enemy's six.

"Fox Two!" The fourth of Cipher's loadout of such missiles streaked towards the Su-37 which tore apart the left stabiliser, the left engine and caused the right engine to spew fire and debris.

"Gelb Two, I'm hit!"

"Eject Gelb Two!" Gelb One advised. "It's sometimes better to admit defeat than trying to win."

The younger wingman complied, and the wreck tumbled to the ground below.

Cipher pulled back up to 10,000 feet and rapidly jerked his head around to search for the enemy fighter chasing his wingman. He reached up and snapped the polarised visor down to shield his eyes from the glaring rays of the dying sun.

"Talk to me Pixy." He asked.

"He's still behind me." Foulke replied, his calm voice returning.

"Where are you?"

"Five thousand feet and diving. I'm over ward three!" Foulke gave his location, his voice strained against high g's.

Cipher turned his jet in that direction, temporarily surprised by how much he had displaced from the area. Within seconds, Foulke and Gelb One appeared on his HUD.

The situation wasn't good. The terminator matched Foulke's every move, and there was nothing the famous mercenary could do to turn the tables. But there was one thing that the Belkan ace hadn't anticipated.

Cipher.

Out of AMRAAMs and with just two Sidewinders left on his wing pylons, he engaged. "Galm One engaging!" he said as he latched onto the rear of the enemy fighter and his radar began to lock a sidewinder onto the thrust-vectoring nozzles. Suddenly, the Su-37 slammed on his airbrakes, pulled his nose up and shot over Cipher's Eagle onto his six.

"Jesus Christ!" Cipher swore as he now jinked hard right to avoid a spray of deadly gunfire.

"Hang tight Cipher!" Foulke urged. "I'm coming around!"

The mercenary ace rolled, dived and pulled sharp turns, but the terminator stayed with him. Cipher felt the adrenaline rising within his body, and grinned. Despite the possibility of a painful fiery death, he was actually beginning to enjoy this. Finally, he had met someone who was almost as good as he. Almost.

"Galm Two Fox Two!"

Torn between abandoning Cipher and being blown to bits, Gelb One took the latter option. However, it was too late. The missile tore straight through the engines and blew up in the centre of the fighter, obliterating the Belkan ace and spreading shards of metal across the sky.

"That's a kill!" Eagle Eye reported.

Cipher and Foulke formed up. Cipher was breathing heavily, and sweat made his hands feel slippery inside his white flight gloves. He opened his visor as the sun dropped below the horizon.

"Galm Team, return to base." Eagle Eye ordered.

Cipher whistled as he slowly banked his jet around to the new heading with Foulke on his wing. "That was some dogfight."

"I tell you what, that was the first time I can remember when I actually thought about where my ejector handle was!" Foulke replied with a laugh.

Cipher's radar picked up the location of the Ustio squadrons, and altered his heading and airspeed to catch up with them. Both squadrons had taken moderate losses, but the excitement and happiness was clear in their voices. Their nation was free.

Ustio was liberated.


And that concludes Part One of my Ace Combat Zero story. Story is continued in Ace Combat Zero: Counterstrike.