CHAPTER HAS RECENTLY BEEN UPDATED EXTENSIVELY:
Including: Additional Content, fixed spelling errors, fixed grammar errors, fixed several author's mistakes
Author's Foreward: I do not own any part of the Ace Combat series, including characters, locations, and events. All rights go to Namco and Project Aces, and kudos to them for making such a great game.
Please note that this is a much longer chapter than my previous one. You have been forewarned, dear reader.
McNealy Air Force Base (AFB), Osean Federation: September 27th, 2010
The pilots sitting in the briefing room were stunned. Shocked into silence. The only time it was ever quieter at McNealy AFB was before it was paved down into runways, hangars, and barracks. It simply couldn't be happening, and yet it was.
" Sir," one of the fighter jockeys began uneasily, shifting his weight in his chair as he tried to find the comfort that wouldn't come, " Are … are you sure?"
" Goddamnit, why wouldn't I be?" the colonel roared back, his features darkened from the light cast by the display in back of him. The shadow only served to make the sharp lines and features of his silhouette stand out even more, presenting a rather terrifying portrait to any nugget.
" At twelve-hundred today," the officer continued, " The Union of Yuktobanian Republics unexpectedly declared war upon us. As if a former ally turning against us wasn't bad enough, they've also launched an offensive at almost the same hour," he explained, the gaggle of pilots still looking on as if this were some nightmare their bodies refused to drag them out of.
One of them questioned back, " Colonel Willards, did any of our perimeter defenses catch the opposing forces' approach?"
Ruefully, Willards shook his head, " Unfortunately, Captain Ekken, no. They were reading friendly Eye-Eff-Eff* signatures, right up until the point where they fired. Seems High Command didn't deem it necessary to let our boys know that we aren't chummy with the Yukes anymore."
A few nervous chuckles circulated the room, before being hushed as the display in back of the CO* flashed from the news report of the opening of hostilities to a site that made more than a few gasp.
" This," the Colonel continued without missing a beat, as if such atrocities were normal to him, " Is our naval port at Saint Hewlett."
The picture behind the man showed a city on fire, a bay burning as oil and flame licked at the shoreline. The Yukes, it seemed, didn't know how to discriminate from a military target and a civilian one.
" It is currently one of the Yukes' targets due to the fact that the aircraft carrier, Kestrel, is there. Now, if you boys and girls did your homework back in Arr-Oh-Tee-See* or however the Hell you made it here, you should recognize the name."
" Sir," Diego Autan chimed in, " Oh-Eff-Ess* Kestrel is the centerpiece of the Third Fleet. It served during the Belkan War, fifteen years ago in support of Operation Costner, and helped hasten the war's end."
" Hmm, well one of you isn't completely ignorant of our nation's history, it seems," the officer mused, before nodding in agreement, " Well, you heard the man: the Kestrel is the flagship of the Third Osean Naval Fleet, and I'll be damned if we lose that carrier on opening day. However, we've got a lot to deal with right now, and little reinforcements to spare …"
As the colonel went on with the rest of the briefing, Diego turned back towards Peter, still anxious, still unusually peppy.
" Where do you think we're getting sent, boss?"
" I dunno," the captain replied coolly, running a hand through his dark hair: a sign of contemplation, frustration, or both. In this case, it was certainly the latter.
" Well, either way, looks like we're in for some chop," added Cassandra, " Yuktobania is probably the only nation in the world that could stand up to us militarily … They've got the planes and the ships to go toe-to-toe."
" Forget it," dismissed a blonde-haired boy who looked like he would've been better off in the Osean Army than crammed into an ejector seat, so stocky he was, " They struck like cowards, no honor, the whole lot of those Yuke bastards. Only the weak sneak up on someone like that."
" Weak, maybe," Peter commented, before casting the young man a challenging smirk, " The clever, too. They caught us off-guard, who cares how they did it? This is a very real situation we have to deal with. Once we get up there, honor, pride, it doesn't matter at all. You got that, Dirk?" he leveled his eyes at him, their ice blue glare sending a chill down Dirk Ewan's spine.
" Crystal, sir," he replied. He may have been younger than the rest of the squadron, but he had been flying with Peter Ekken long enough to know not to test him.
" Good. What matters is getting home alive, and no matter where we go, you stick to me, and we're all coming home. Hua?*"
" Hua, Cap'n," came the reply from all three of them.
" Panther Squadron!" called the colonel at that moment, after the four were done having their private conversation. They popped out of their seats and sliced the air with their sharp salutes, all standing at perfect attention.
" Sir, yes sir!" they chorused, jitters and anxiety grabbing hold of every one of them, whether they showed or admitted it, or tried to deny it to the best of their abilities.
" You're being sent to Saint Hewlett. Double-time, to your fighters, you have top priority for take-off clearance. Good luck, and good hunting."
" Sir, thank you sir!"
Port of St. Hewlett, Osean Federation: ~2 hours later
" All wings, report in."
" Panther Two, standing by."
" Panther Three, all systems are go."
" Panther Four, on your mark, Lead."
The four fighters cut through the clouds and blue as they raced with all haste towards the port. No one knew just how much destruction had already been inflicted on the port, or the status of the Kestrel, but that didn't stop the four fighters of Panther Squadron from flying with their throttle fully open all the way from McNealy. Their blue-and-grey F-20A Tigersharks blended in well with the bleak sky surrounding them, although Peter remarked to himself that radar didn't necessarily care what color a fighter was.
" We're coming up on the port now," Captain Ekken informed his Flight, " Disengage fuel drop tanks. Set your flaps for high maneuverability and maintain visual scanning."
" Tigress, copy," Cassandra confirmed.
" Jackal, copy," Diego adjusted the various controls of his craft as he reported in.
" Cougar, copy," came the call back from Dirk, flying trail for the entire squadron.
" Leopard, this is Tigress," Panther 3 hailed her Flight Lead, " Allied fighters approaching Saint Hewlett, vector one-niner-zero."
" Roger, Three. Everyone, open up your comm channels to all friendly sources. We're going to get calls for help from all over, so stay frosty and keep your head on a swivel."
The fighter jets continued to near the harbor, when the friendly squadron that Cassandra Lunae had picked out finally came into contact with them.
" Panther Squadron, this is Wardog Squadron, do you read?"
" Confirmed, Wardog. SitRep?*?
" Enemy fighters inbound from two-eight-zero, AWACS is reporting two waves. We're flying one short here as well."
" Copy that, Wardog. We'll take trail and cover your flight. Pick off the first wave, we'll hang high and grab the second."
" Sound plan, let's do it."
Peter could only grin under his breath mask, " On your mark."
As soon as the seven planes entered the area of the port, all Hell broke loose. Peter looked down towards the large bay just in time to see a fireball erupt from the waves, static and chatter cluttering his radio. The bay had been hit hard just before they arrived, and the first wave was rounding around for a second assault.
" The tanker next to us just exploded!" cried out a frantic voice from one of the vessels below, " Where's the fireboat? It's spreading to our ship, help us!"
The pilots of Panther Squadron, while watching on in horror, could do nothing to help the poor souls trapped aboard the burning wreckage. Rather, they had to make sure that not a single other ship suffered the same fate.
" Wardog Lead, Blaze, we're waiting on you," Captain Ekken informed the leader of the 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron based on Sand Island.
" Starting our approach now. Intruders inbound, their heading straight for the port."
" I see it, I see it, Panther Squadron, hold tight."
" We're just going to sit here and watch the harbor burn?!" came a defiant and rage-fueled response.
" Panther Four, can it! We let Wardog clear the way first, then we bag as many as we can, now shut up and hold tight!"
" Yes, sir," the defeated reply crackled through his headset. Peter knew that Dirk was itching to let loose, and the Captain also knew that, given the chance, Dirk could probably take on half the Yuke fighters in the area, given enough ammo, but he needed to keep him restrained at the moment. When the time was right, he would let the hunter loose, but for now he had to be patient.
" Lead, this is Three, I've got enemies inbound from two-eight-zero, moving much faster, I think they're fighter jets."
Just as 'Leopard' was about to respond, a ship from below almost echoed his sentiments as a crew member blurted out, " Nobody saw them coming?!" causing him to grin wryly. That was the real question: how did this massive attack slip right through their defense network, and no one raised a single alarm?
Another explosion rocked the bay, catching the pilots' attention. Their ears were filled with more cries and pleas for help, Diego Autan feeling his chest tighten as he watched on in horror.
" The fireboat got caught in the explosion. Two … no, three ships are burning now!" a voice screamed, the static accompanied with the screams and cries of the dying.
Diego couldn't take it: the noise was unbearable, to listen to men and women suffer, be burned alive, and drown in a metal casket ... This was his first battle. In fact, this was Panther Squadron's first battle overall: none of them had seen war, had witnessed the ravage landscape that sat below them.
So lost in his thoughts, it took an alarm to shake him back into reality, just as Panther Two's warning lights started to flash.
" Damnit, this is Jackal, enemy's got a fix on me!"
" Panthers, disperse!"
All of the fighters heeded their captain's word, breaking and pulling hard maneuvers to shake whatever fighters had managed to creep up on them.
" Incoming MiGs, here we go!" a random pilot called out, and indeed Peter saw that his fellow Osean's eyes weren't lying: two flights of MiG-29s were ingressing rapidly, before peeling off and advancing towards the fleet. Their erratic flight patterns were intent on distracting the defending pilots and confusing the AA fire below. Peter wouldn't have any of it.
" Panthers, turn and engage the enemy fighters! We've got to give Wardog cover!"
More frantic calls over the communications equipment came in at full volume as the four wings prepared to turn and burn with the Yuktobanian fighters.
" Protect the Kestrel at all costs!" declared an unknown Captain, his own vessel in the thick of the fighting as he tried to pull out of the harbor and into the larger bay. His smaller frigate was being picked apart by two A-6s, and his guns weren't able to zero in on them. Just as they passed by, the vessel's SAM got off a shot, the missile taking down one of the Intruders. As the crew was celebrating the small victory, the ship lurched suddenly, tossing several sailors overboard as an explosion ripped into the starboard bow. Water began to seep into the hull quickly, the mariners rushing to try and patch up the leak just as another missile struck the same spot. The warship was swallowed by the bay in seconds, trapping all hands aboard in a watery tomb.
Cassandra was watching the terrible sight, and happened to spy the two MiGs that had gotten in the killing shot on the small warship. Her trained eyes followed their flightpath right towards a larger vessel, and she immediately dived to intercept them, hailing her Captain as she did.
" Lead, two fighters headed for that cruiser."
" Confirmed, Three. I'll take the leader, you nab the other one."
" Roger. Let's clean some house."
The two Osean jets tore off after the enemy MiGs, intent on blowing them away before they opened fire. Cassandra was able to get a lock on the Element's wingman first, waiting until she was just a little closer before tapping the firing stud on the top of her flight stick. A heat-seeking missile broke away from her wing and ignited its rocket, racing forward to meet with the Yuktobanian fighter. As the two metal objects collided, fire engulfed the space where the MiG-29A was, its splintered fuselage splashing into the water below. The other MiG continued to race for the cruiser, Peter hot on his tail, just as another message came through his communication's channel.
" It's time for our AEGIS ship to live up to its name," proclaimed an officer aboard the AA Cruiser Excalibur, moments before her deck became alive with guns and missile fire, peppering the area in a deadly hailstorm of bullets and explosions to try and take out the Yuke fighter and whatever accomplices he had around the ship. Seeing the massive amount of flak and missile fire coming from the warship, Peter's eyes widened as the world seemed to slow. Snapping his stick to the right and applying full left rudder instinctively, 'Leopard' barrel-rolled over the MiG in front of him, just as its fuel-line was struck with deadly fire. The fighter became a fireball, and if Peter had not reacted, he would've crashed head-on into the inferno. Blessing his luck, he immediately righted himself out, pulling up and high to try and re-organize the situation.
Flames dotted the entire harbor as the furball intensified, more and more fighters and attackers joining the battle as more ships of the 3rd Osean Fleet tried to escape, their decks either on fire themselves or unleashing hell upon the skies.
" Captain! Fighter on your six!"
So distracted was Peter with the world below that he didn't even realize the warning sirens and lights going off in his cockpit.
Damn rookie mistake, he admonished himself, immediately punching his throttle forward to try and outrun the MiG. Alas, the fighter was keeping trail with him rather well, forcing Peter to begin to push himself a lot farther than he thought he'd wind up going.
In a turn that put a decent amount of stress on the airframe, Panther Lead pulled back on his flight stick and tilted it slightly to his left. Just as he was about to go fully vertical, he slammed down on his left rudder and rolled his fighter further to the left. The 'tweaked' Immelmann turn* helped whip him around quickly, and allowed him to see that the Yuktobanian aggressor had been marking him too closely to replicate the maneuver. Another hard bank, this time to his right, and Peter was right behind the MiG-29.
" Leopard, Fox Two, Fox Two,"
The heat-seeking missile detached from the Osean fighter before rocketing off towards its target. The Yuktobanian tried desperately to avoid it, but eventually held one turn a bit too long. The projectile shredded through the plane's thrusters before exploding, and inferno engulfing the rear half of the fighter and ripping it from the fuselage. In two pieces, the MiG fell to the Earth.
" Nice shot, Captain," Cassandra complimented, noting also that Wardog was doing a damn decent job of moping up the A-6 Intruders that were flying low and slow to take a shot at the carrier. It seemed the Kestrel noticed it too.
" Thanks, everyone. We request your cover until we break out of the port."
" Panther Squadron, copy. We'll do our best."
Their best, however, just didn't seem good enough. More and more Yuktobanian planes were slipping through the gaps in their defenses, and ships dotted all along the bay were igniting into bonfires on the calm waters. However, the Yuktobanians were taking their fair share of damage as well, only further serving to turn the port city into a raging inferno of metal slag.
" The entire gulf is in flames!" gasped Wardog Two, Kei 'Edge' Nagase, as she and a fellow Sand Island pilot raced across the tip of the water to gun down another fighter. Such a surprise attack, not to mention the stress she was bearing after what had just happened to Bartlett, her former Captain ... It was enough to bring her close to cracking.
" Man, what happened here? This is worse than I imagined…" agreed a voice that caused Diego to perk up a bit while dodging another batch of cannon fire and snap-rolling to his right to get a lock on another MiG.
" Chopper? Chopper, is that you?"
" Get out, Jackal?! I can't believe you actually made it into a squadron!"
" You two can catch up later," Lieutenant Nagase admonished them, pitching her fighter up in pursuit of another Intruder, " Stay focused, stay sharp."
Still, Diego couldn't help but grin for the next few seconds. At least his friend was alive, and that was something he could cling onto.
" Four, this is Three: I've picked one up, can you tag 'em?"
" I've got you in visuals, Tigress, maintain current flight path."
" I hope you know what you're doing, Cougar …"
It took every ounce of Dirk's willpower to repress his smirk to just a smirk.
" Don't I always?"
Too busy to yell at her wingman, Cassandra could only continue to jink her fighter violently to try and deny her opponent a clear shot.
" Damnit, he's closing, he's closing, Dirk, where the Hell are you??"
As if she had been praying to a deity, the blip on her radar that had been in hot pursuit not even more than a second ago was suddenly silenced. Forming up at her right, Dirk was just cocky enough to give her a small wag of his wings in show of his victory.
" Cool it, Four," Peter advised upon seeing the show-boating, still grinning at the display of aerial marksmanship, " Waste your energy on splashing more bandits, not showing off."
" With pleasure, Captain," came the satisfied reply.
Another new broadcast came through to all Osean forces within St. Hewlett as the dogfights continued to rage above, the Kestrel's own fighters beginning to slowly join the battle.
" This is the Port Captain. All ships leave port immediately! Ships nearest to the exit first!"
" I don't care if we take hull damage, we're clearing out of here any way we can," a grimly-determined captain informed his crew. His ship was already on fire, not to mention almost a quarter of his sailors were either wounded or dead. What more did he have to fight for than the possibility of escape? His hopes of at least saving his men and women vanished as a bomb fell directly through the bridge, taking out the Captain and most of the commanding crew just from the impact. When the explosive went off, it cracked the vessel's spine. Mercifully, most of the crew were killed by the internal explosions, rather than being dragged down into the depths.
" Escape the port and take evasive action. No mistakes!" demanded a female officer who spoke like she bore the weight of the world. Indeed, with all the mayhem and carnage surrounding the entire city, it was hard not to feel heavier, to feel the burden of death weighing one down. Peter certainly felt it, even as he continued to engage fighter after fighter. G-forces notwithstanding, he could feel himself finding it harder to breathe, an invisible boot crushing his chest. There was so much needless death all around: not a single space he could look where war hadn't touched it …
" This is the aircraft carrier Kestrel, approaching port exit."
" Roger, Kestrel," the Port Captain noted, before transmitting to all other ships, " The Kestrel takes top priority! That barge over there, move it! I know you want outta here, but open up a path. That carrier's valuable!"
" All friendly fighters, this is AWACS Thunderhead," a new voice came through the radio, " More fighters inbound, they're headed straight for the Kestrel. Intercept, immediately!"
A round of affirmatives came rolling back as Wardog, Panther, and the fighters of VF Alpha-206, the Kestrel's squadron, tore off out of the bay to bring down the Yukes before they came into firing range.
" Wardog, Intruders at our ten o'clock low," Peter informed 'Blaze', the leader of the Wardog outfit, once they had gotten closer.
" Confirmed. Wardog, engage."
As the three fighters spread out to intercept the carrier-based attack planes, 'Leopard' picked up a new signal. A fast signal. Swearing under his breath, he abandoned an attack run he had set up on another Intruder and instead climbed, turning once again away from the bay, his squadron in full pursuit.
" Captain?" inquired Diego, unsure of his leader's motives, yet following just as he had been told.
" More enemy fighters inbound," he informed his squad, " Leave the attack planes to Wardog, we've got to keep them safe."
His throttle punched forward, Peter roared off to meet the incoming MiGs head-on, his wingmen spreading out to cover as much area as possible to intercept the aggressors.
" Missile impact six-hundred feet off port bow!" the radio operator of the Kestrel screamed, causing the Panthers to panic. The Yukes were zeroing in on the carrier: it was only a matter of time, now.
" Switching to semi-active radar guided missiles," 'Leopard' updated the other Panthers, to which all of them caught on quick enough and switched to the longer-range missiles. The distance was closing rapidly between the two flights, and Wardog was still an easy target as they flew at slower speeds to nab the Intruders.
Finally, good tone* came through and Peter's HUD* showed a solid lock.
" Fox One!"
Four missiles fired from four fighters streaked through the sky, their trails like a giant snake, slithering towards their prey with venom in their bite. It was then, just as the ordnance was away, that Peter saw the MiGs pitch down and begin to descend rapidly.
" Panthers, adjust course, keep them locked on!"
The Yuke fighters were increasing their speed as they dived, while the Osean Squadron was forced to make sure that they maintained tone to score a hit, angling their noses down with the yellow-painted jets.
Finally, they were rewarded with four blossoms of orange and red, the debris littering the ocean along with the rest of the destroyed fighters and capsized ships of St. Hewlett.
" This is Wardog, thanks for keeping them off our backs, Panthers, first and second waves of Intruders are down."
As if that wasn't good news enough, the Kestrel's radio operator enlightened the weary Osean pilots to the most stellar information of the entire day.
" The Kestrel has cleared the harbor! I repeat, the Kestrel is in open waters! Bon Voyage guys!"
" Alright, we did it!" Diego cheered, forming back up with the rest of the squadron as they flew over the Kestrel, watching it as if angels from above. However, Peter could only sigh, cancelling the celebration short.
" The Kestrel still has to make it out of the bay, and into the Ceres Sea. This is just the beginning, and the enemy still has a ton of reinforcements to throw at us."
He shook his head, though he knew none of his wingmen could see him.
" It's not over yet …"
Author's Afternote:
Seeing as I'm not sure how familiar some people are with aerial combat and military related terms, I will do my best to define a few of them that I use per-chapter. Words, acrynoms, and phrases that will be defined in my afternotes will be marked with an asterisk (*).
IFF or Eye-Eff-Eff: First off, let me point out that I never have characters speak letters or numbers. They will always pronounce them out, as in " Aeh, Bee, See," and " One, two, three," not "ABC," and "123." Now that that is settled, IFF is a 3 letter acrynom for Identification Friend or Foe. In laymen's terms, a fighter jet's IFF will point out which targets are marked as hostile, and which as friendly, as designated by Command.
CO: This is a military abbreviation for Commissioned Officer. In the military, there are Commissioned officers (COs) and Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs). Any rank Second Lieutenant and above is a Commissioned Officer. An example of an NCO would be a Sergeant.
ROTC or Arr-Oh-Tee-See: This acrynom stands for Reserve Officer Training Corps. This is a program where, while a person is still a student within a University, then can train and commission as an Officer within the Armed Forces. While most people do accept the commission at the end of training, some use ROTC as a lesson in discipline and to help branch out into other aspects of education. Seeing as all fighter pilots must be officers (at least a Second Lieutenant, the lowest Commissioned Officer rank), some people consider the quickest way to start flying is to go through ROTC, whereupon one will graduate as a Second Lieutenant.
OFS or Oh-Eff-Ess: This 3 letter acrynom stands for Osean Federation Ship, as in OFS Kestrel. It is used similarly to USN or HMS.
Hua: This is the United States Air Force's rallying call. Much like the Army has, " Hoorah!" and the Marines have " Oorah!", the Air Force uses " Hua!" or " Airpower!" While this can be shouted to promote emphasis, almost like a modern day war cry, it can also be used to ask an affirmative and to give an affirmative, as in asking, " Yes?" and giving back the answer, " Yes."
SitRep: This is short for Situational Report. A SitRep is a brief summary of the current tactical situation: how large is the enemy, what are they using, their location, basically major information that must be known to conduct combat operations in an area. It can also be used as ... well, a brief summary, for a force not directly involved in a battle so they can decide how best to aid their forces.
Tone: In the world of aerial combat, Tone is exactly that: a tone, or note, that is sounded in the cockpit when a fighter pilot gets a good lock on an enemy target. Having "good tone" pretty much means you are almost guaranteed to hit your target with most types of modern missiles.
HUD: Short for Heads-Up Display, this is usually a liquid-crystal computer display that is either fixed looking out the front of the cockpit or attached directly to the pilot's helmet. The HUD gives the pilot important information without having to search for it and possibly become distracted. Such information can include, but is not limited to, current speed, current direction, projected path, current pitch, an "aritifical horizon" for determining current roll, armament type and quantity, targeting systems, and altitude, just to name a few.
Also, to all those who are huge Ace Combat afficionados, I actually went back and played the mission "Narrow Margin" specifically to get the dialogue and radio chatter that goes on while you're flying. I figured if I was going to do this, I might as well do it right. Almost all of the dialogue present in this chapter, save for any interactions with the Panthers and maybe a few lines, is heard within the game. Just my little way of keeping this authentic and in-line with the game. Please note that this is not me ripping material from the game simply due to no creativity, but because of the fact that I want to continuously show that Panther Squadron is "there" at every major engagement Wardog Squadron is. Adding the radio chatter to the background is simply my way of authenticating it, not to mention I've always had a thing for the "frantic radio chatter" you always hear in most combat flight simulator games and dogfighting movies.