"Never thought I would have to be their operations officer after that incident." Said Fowell quitely to himself as he stood in the briefing room booting up the system for briefings. Nearly after 2 months of declaring war, Argaria had been on the defence at all moments. Not once they could launch an attack or counter attack. All because of the dammed thing. Naga.
He cursed to himself about the inhumane and cruel ways that were used by the Fazins in the war. Not taking any soldiers prisoners, leaving civilians on the streets and using places like hospitals as defence/hostage zones. He despised all of it. But he couldn't say anything. 98% of the country was lost in just those 2 months. And now a squadron of bombers were approaching the last land that still belonged to Argaria. Iverns, a northern part of Argaira that most mountains were, and also their last line of defence. And they were right in it. The air force had no suitable or capable pilots for the mission. Without a choice. The 4 pilots that shot down the 'civilian planes' were recalled.
"Bloody pricks. Only calling us up when we REALLY are needed. Might as well not do so and let Aragria fall to Fazince. Their officers might be less stubborn and blockhead like." Said Byron as he suited up for the mission with his squadron mates. "Damn right." Added Grendall as he put on his boots while Rodwell
refused to comment. And Anderson commented: "Heh, better then being stuck with the ground units waiting to get bombed at any moment. You rather stick with the suspension?" as he ushered them towards the briefing room, refusing to make eye contact with Richard. And they all stood in an awkward silence until he decided to break the ice.
"Lets put whats in the past in the past. We have greater things at stake now. Right?" The officer said as no one replied. He went on with the briefing. "About 20 minutes ago, a few bomber squadrons have been spotted by our scouts on lookout, likely B-52 Stratofortresses. As of the current situation, this is the final nail in the coffin for us should we lose Iverns. It is the only remaining piece of land we have left after all. Objectives of your deployment are simple, destroy all enemy bombers before they can do harm to us. If even one bomber gets through, we are done for. My code name for the mission is the same as before- Vulture. That is... all. Dismissed." Ended the young officer as the squadron prepared for deployment. "Same shite mistakes as last time..." Said Anderson as they got towards the hangar.
"Hang on, I didn't even realise or ask, what planes are we gonna use?" Asked Rodwell as he realised they didn't know what planes they were getting. "We'll see soon enough." Said Grendall as he opened the hangar gates and revealed their planes. "Eh, could be worse." Said Byron as the 4 F-18s stood in front of them. "Looks like they did repaint our squadron markings and insignia on them though. That makes me hate them less by 1%." He said again as they got in their planes. "Enough talking Lightning 4. Squad, roll out." Ordered Anderson as the planes moved out one by one, shooting up into the clear afternoon skies. Where war would be waged up above soon enough. "
The 4 planes started climbing to combat altitude and got into attack formation. "Remember, no wasting ammo. We don't have much." Reminded Anderson as they started to approach the bomber squadrons. "Vulture to Lightning Squadron, do you see the enemy formation on your radar?" Asked Fowell as soon as they reached combat distance. "Rog, we see them Vulture." He replied towards the officer. "All units engage." The commander ordered as the defence of Iverns began. "Raider 1-1, we've got hostiles on our 12." Said one of the members on board the bomber to the lead flight as the 4 planes approached the first wave of bombers. "What? They still have an air force and planes? No matter. We'll destroy their base. Must be just some rookie pilots." Replied the flight lead in a mocking tone. "Raider 1-1 to all Raiders we have encountered light resistance of 4 enemy planes. Repeat we have encountered 4 enemy planes. Likely their last line of defence." Said 1-1 as all the other planes approached the airspace.
"Firing." Said Byron as the missiles striked the first B-52 and blew up. "Light em up." Anderson said as the assault on the bombers began. The B-52s stood little chance against the Multirole jets, especially without flares, as the first and second squads were destroyed without much fuss. "Raider 1-1 this is Raider 3-1 and 4-1, what is the situation over?" Asked another flight lead to the downed as they approached the base, unaware of what was going on or happened. "Enemy Jets ahead! Looks like Raider 1-1 and 2-1s squadrons were eliminated!" Shouted the spotter on one of the B-52s. "Shit, we're sitting ducks out here! We should have asked for escorts!" Said another member. "Not even breaking a sweat here." Commented Grendall cockily as the 20MM cannon and missiles took out the the bombers. "That's most of them downed. One more Vulture?" Questioned 2-Rodwell to Fowell. "Yes, one more squadron on radar. This is the last one." The officer replied as the 5 blips approached the squadron.
"I see them." Byron said as the squadron approached the last bombers. "Easy targets." As they laid waste to them. "Mission accomplished! Good Job Lightning Squadron. Return to base." Said Vulture as the planes turned back to Iverns Air Field. "Not half bad for some people who haven't flown a plane in 2 months huh?" Asked Rodwell. "Didn't even break a sweat." Added Grendall. "All right, all right. Just head back to base for debrief Vulture out." Said the officer as he turned off comms and readied himself for the debriefing.
As the 4 Hornets lined up and landed, the 4 pilots got out of their planes and into the base, with what little personal the air force and army had left congratulating and celebrating with them for their small moment of victory and glory.