Part 2: The Rise of the Phoenix
Chapter 12: Birth of Scarface
So here we were, on a private jet the Kalugan Government gracefully paid for us. The situation in the countries west of Yuktobania was looking grim. A terrorist organization recently made their prescence known in the region and the local military can't do anything about it. This is due to the Blood Wars that happened between Yuktobania (on one side) and Kaluga, and Romny on the other. Sotoa was being effected to by this terrorist uprising and the Kalugan Government is asking for our help to take this organization down. Any means necessary.
There were three other pilots with us. John Harvard, an Erusean fighter pilot and Lara Nagase, an Osean pilot. They have both been hired by Kaluga and I was being introduced to them. Erich was a Belkan air force pilot like me, who also left the Belkan air force due to the nuclear attacks. He was blonde with light brown eyes. He flew a yellow Su-37. John has short dark hair; he wore a jean jacket and black pants. Lara had medium length hair and she had dark brown eyes. John never saw a Belkan before and asked me, "Why did Belka have to start that war?"
"I don't know. Blame it on the Rald Party." I said as I saw Lara sat beside me. When she did, I said in a quiet voice, "Hi."
She then responded with the same 'hi' and smiled at me, I did the same back at her. Lara was 26. We didn't know what kind of mess we were getting ourselves into. The base we were heading to was in the Spider Islands, located south west of Sotoa. From my readings, it was supposed to have a hot and humid climate. Something that I wasn't used to, being Belkan and all. I looked out the window of the small plane and saw the island chain of North Point, we were over halfway there.
"Good day to you, pilots of Belka, Osea, and Erusea. You were members of the greatest air forces of the world. Approximately six months ago, our peaceful union of nations has been attacked by an unknown group of joint terrorist and rebel organizations. Due to the recent blood war Yuktobania has waged against us, our combined militaries are no match for the might of these enemy forces. As a representative of the United Verusean Nations, I hereby grant you access to what military surplus we have left to combat these insurgents in order to bring peace back to our union. Each of you will be assigned Su-37s. Good luck and God Speed." said the Kalugan representative with a strong Kalugan accent.
"So who's the leader?" asked John, "I nominate the Belkan."
"Which Belkan, John?" Lara asked, "I think Wolfgang should." She walked towards me and looked me dead in the eyes. "I pray we can trust you."
"Yeah Wolfgang! You're the Phoenix of Belka!" said Erich as he patted my shoulder.
"Wolfgang, we trust you with our lives." said John,
"What should we call our unit?" asked Günter scratching his head.
Now is time to redeem Belka. I promised myself not to lose any of my new wingman. Five of us, we should be able to rip through anything that comes our way. This was true.
"Scarface, we will call the squadron Scarface. Lara, you will fly as Scarface 2; John, you will fly as Scarface 3; Erich, you will fly as Scarface 4; and Günter, you will fly as Scarface 5." I said confidently, "I will fly as Scarface One. Call sign: Phoenix. Lara: Edge, John: Slash, Erich: Aquila, and Günter: Fawks. Any problems?" I asked as they all saluted me. They nodded 'no' and we marched out of the briefing room.
Out on the runway, I met my AWACS officer. He was unlike any other AWACS officer I have ever seen in my life. This guy has long hair, mustache, and beard. He was wearing sunglasses and walked out of his Hawkeye.
"Yo dude. I've volunteered to be your officer. This small plane is good enough for me and the crew. My call sign will be 'Angel Wing." he said as staggered to the barracks.
"That is our officer?" asked Lara. "In the Osean Air force they at least dress decent."
"I suppose so, Lara." I responded. At least he was not a hard ass.
A/N: For a better idea of what the AWACS officer looks like, think of the helicopter pilot from Battlefield Bad Company 2.
Chapter 13: First Sortie
The next day, me and my squad mates were getting briefed by a Sotoan base commander.
"This is an evaluation of you squadron and operational abilities. You should have the margin of surprise. Your target is a set of C-5s and E-767s with fighter escort. Should be an easy mission for you five." said the base commander Lee as he turned a map and showed diagrams of planes over a map of what appeared to be wetlands.
"That's all?" I asked looking at the commander with an amused look on my face.
"Yes Scarface 1. Your AWACS will keep you updated for now." he said, "Dismissed."
Yeah, that ditz. I couldn't believe that I had a pothead for an AWACS officer. That's life I guess.
"Hey Wolfgang." Günter said as he walked towards me. "You need to check out the new emblem for the squadron."
"Why?" I asked.
"We are going to our planes anyway." Günter said as we made our way to the hanger. After he said that I felt stupid.
I then looked at the tail fin of the Su-37 and saw a phoenix emblem. It was shaped in a mirrored 'C' and had a gradient of red to purple. Now I had proof of being called the 'Phoenix of Belka'. Something in which my Great Grandfather was called during the Belkan Osean War of 1910. All five jets had the emblem.
"Scarface, launch." I said as our five planes drove onto the runway in order to lift off.
"Alright dudes and dudette!" said Angle Wing as he flew his E-3 eagle eye outside the mission area. "Two E767s directly ahead along with C-5 as with light fighter escorts."
"Alright Scarface 1, time for orders." said Harvard as he flew beside me.
"Hmmm. Not that many here. Feel free to engage any and all targets." I said as all of our planes flew up to a speed of 1542 mph.
"Five enemy planes entering area. I thought we crushed the Verusean Union Coalition army?" said an enemy AWACS through the mic.
"I thought we did to. This is Stiller breaking off to engage enemy planes." a Mig 31 pilot said.
We then flew at the small formation of planes. I smoked the two E-767s with ease, while Erich and Günter went after the fighter escort. Edge and Slash proceeded to take out the C-5As. Pretty easy mission if I do say so myself.
"Incoming from Eclipse Airbase!" stated Angle Wing. "Seems like one of our last airbases has been compromised. It's located south east of our current position. Our targets are the B-52 bomber force. Along with a C-5b parachute/armor transport brigade plane."
"Are we like the only force capable of engaging them?" asked John. "Doesn't the airbase itself have planes?"
"Nope, they are off trying to destroy the advancing force and some are trying to escort Government Officials to the neutral country of Valga. This is located south of Kaluga. Those officials were nearly caught and killed a couple of days ago bros!"
"Now the real fun begins." I said through the mic as we gathered into formation to engage these bogies.
(End Flashback)
"So Wolfgang. Seems like you have had quite the impression on your squad mates." said Brett. "Buy what really caught my attention was you AWACS officer."
"The first time I met him I called him a long haired pansy. To tell you the truth. I also told him to cut his hair because he looked like a pothead." I said laughing. Brett thought it was funny to and started to laugh.
"How about Lara? How was your relationship with her?" he asked.
"Can't tell you now." I said.
"Erich? Günter? John?" he asked reading down the list of my known squad mates. "I see that another female pilot has had a close relationship with Erich. Lorianna Cantor? Who's she?"
"She came during the Usean Continental Rebellion. Briefly. She learned from Erich, who later joined the Erusean Air force, Lorianna followed him. Not sure what happened to them during the Erusean-ISAF war. John Harvard also joined up with the Erusean air force too. That was like 2001 this happened."
"Alright Mr. Schmidt, continue your story." Brett said.
(A/N: I'm planning on writing biographies on each pilot that is mentioned in this story. May be uploaded within 2 weeks not sure when.)
Chapter 14: Brief Pilot Bio and second mission
A/N: OLT Annette Zweig is used with permission. Credit goes to LaZardo for creating a unique and inspiring character/back-story for Günter and Annette.
"Alright." I said through the mic as me and my squad mates flew in formation towards the south east. "I think I see our allied airbase. Scarface 1 to Sotoan airbase, reply?"
"... [Static]..."
"Sotoan Base! Do you copy?" I replied urgently. Why is this happening?
"Scarface 1!" yelled Günter through the mic, "The base's coms link is down!"
"It appears that they are relying on radar to confirm our IFF." said Lara, "Wolfgang, we need to be careful."
"Hmm, Wolfgang we got a message coming in from our GHQ. Patching it through." said Anglewing.
[Message from HQ: STFS Scarface, the base in which you were assigned has been compromised since the last enemy push. Expect bomber wing of B-52 bombers with TNDF attacker support. Moderate-low fighter support. Scarface, your orders are to shoo down the bombers pronto. If you want your pay.
P.S: Our communication officers at your base airspace are trying their best to fix the comms array.]
"That's just weird." I said through the mic,
(Present Day)
"So what happened next?" asked Genette as he glanced over his paperwork which had he had information on some of the pilots in Scarface:
Name: Lara Nagase
DOB: September 2, 1973
Birthplace: Trinity City, Osea
(Not much I can say for now.)
(Where to find a woman that I believe doesn't exist?)
Name: Günter Heimoroth
DOB: December 16, 1977
Birthplace: Truinich, South Belka
Little is known about Günter Heimoroth other than the fact that he helped a OLT Annette Zweig steal a slide show containing proof of Belkan Rald plans to nuke the South Lands. He then later flew with Annette Zweig in order to try to shoot down the Belkan bombers in charge of dropping the nukes on South Belkan cities/towns. Even though they succeeded, smaller craft managed to break through and drop their loads. It has been confirmed that Günter managed to join up with Schmidt in order to bring down the bombers. It is then later thought that he and Schmidt formed STFS Scarface in order to stop rebellions around the world.
(Note to self: Where to find Günter in world?)
Name: Wolfgang Schmidt
DOB: 6 June, 1968
Birthplace: Sudentor, Belka (North Osea)
Wolfgang Schmidt, born to Wolfgang Schmidt Senior, was a member of the Belkan Air force during the Belkan War. Even though he claims to have fought in only a few battles, I have reason to believe that he has possibly fought in many more battles than what he had said. During my interview with him, he claims his favorite airplane was the SU-37 Flanker. I have yet to finish my investigation on him and his missions but I will try to. There's still a bit of a mystery to who he is. And why he created STFS Scarface. I also checked the Belkan Census Bureau; a being by the name of Wolfgang Schmidt Sr. is nonexistent. If that's the case, then who is Wolfgang's father? I may or may not find out but a continued interview with him is a must in order to find out more about an interesting man, and an interesting squadron to say the least.
(Note to self: Even harder to find then Günter?)
Tanya Schmidt
DOB: 24 May, 1996
Birthplace: Port St. Ark
The daughter of Wolfgang. She is exactly like her father. Only met her twice. Attends local elementary school.
Lorianna Cantor
DOB September 15, 1980
Farbanti, Erusea
Not much is known about her. She did, however, flew alongside Yellow 13 before and during the Usean Continental war. Believed to be dead. After talks with Wolfgang, her death has been confirmed due to being shot down during Op. Stonehammer. After her being shot down, 13 was emotionally hurt but still vowed to never give up to engage Mobius One and to avenge his 'Girl.'
The date on the top left corner was 2005 the month and date was erased to show only the year for a reason that Thompson forgot.
"We engaged them; the bombers were just flying in a straight line. The pests tried to fly circles around us and we managed to pick them off with ease. The fast Su-37 was more than a match for those puny planes." I replied scratching my head.
"Ah, but what of the jamming you encountered?" Thompson asked,
"A Sotoan commando unit found the device and blew it up. Angelwing also helped 'sort' things out." I replied I showed him a copy of the map of the mission area."Oddly enough is located in the center of our airfield.
(Flashback)
"Alright Scarface, break…. NOW!" I said through the mic. We were headed north east towards the bombers. I was leading the squadron. I kept my speed up around 800 mph and armed my secondary missiles.
"Why are they flying so low?" Gunther asked.
"I dunno. Maybe they don't expect us." David said as he broke off and flew to a higher altitude. I kept my altitude and so did Lara.
"Skies appear to be clear, commence Operation Shambala." A enemy bomber pilot said through the mic. "What's this? Enemies? Fighters take care of them."
"There's a lot of radar interference. I think that C-5 has a jammer onboard." Angelwing said as he tried to do his magic. "Wolfgang, you need to destroy 'em."
"The Jamming appears to be doing some good. They appear to be confused." Said the enemy transport pilot, "Escorts, take them out."
I flew in a straight line towards them and the TNDFs shot missiles at me. I was never going to try to do that again. "Wolfgang! Are you ok?" Lara said, she was worried about me.
"Yes." I said as I turned my plane around to pursue him.
"His on my tail!"
C'mon get a target lock… got it! I then shot a missile at him and he lost his wing, just like I did to Pixy. This time, he ejected and the plane spiraled into the ground. "Splash one bandit!"
Another one decided to get on my tale. I then used the airbrake to slow up and he flew right past me. He tried to got out of my line of sight and before he did, I launched a QAAM.
"TNDFs are out of the sky!" Anglewing said.
"This is Lorianna, the C-5 is out of the sky." Lorianna said as she circled the falling C-5a.
"The AV-8s are coming. Do what's necessary to take them down." The bomber leader said as the B-52s got in a straight line. "We are only 20 miles away from the target.
"Lorianna and David go after those AVs. We will handle the '52s."
Targetting these big bastards was pretty fun. They shot back and grazed our planes and they got a couple of missiles shoved up their ass.
"Mission Complete." Anglewing said, "Good work."
"This is the airbase commander. Good work up there. However, your work is only beginning. Good to have you aboard, Scarface."
"Thanks." I replied.
"Thanks!" happily exclaimed Gunther.
"That was good flying Lorianna. I know who I'm going to watch over." said David as he flew close to Lorianna Cantor.
"I will never let anything happen to you." she said as they flew together.
"Hey Slash, you didn't talk much." I said.
"It's nothing. We're just misfits. People from different countries." He said, "However. I'm glad to have met you all."
(Present)
"Interesting to say the least. It seems like your squadron got along." Said Gennette as he continued to write.
"Yes we did."
"Next part of the story? We will do tomorrow." Gennete said as he packed his stuff.
"Yes."
"Bye."
"Bye."
