Airspace above Cape Aubrey
7th September 2020
1400hrs
The six F/A-24A fighter jets raced across the Aurelian pampas, barely clearing the ground beneath. The arrowhead-shaped aircraft cut through the air, a model that excelled at high-speed strikes. Each bore a two-tone paintjob: a steely-grey throughout the body, and a lighter grey on the leading edges of each wing and the two frontal canards, as well as its nose. Their tails were adorned with a caricature of a condor, but only the lead aircraft had the bird of prey hold a distinctive shape in its mouth- the constellation of the Southern Cross.
Within the cockpit of the lead aircraft, its pilot keyed his radio.
"Gryphus One to Crux, requesting BRAA."
Several tense moments passed in silence.
"Crux to Gryphus Squadron." their ground controller replied, with some hesitation.
"There are three groups. First group is bearing zero six zero for twenty at angels five. Do you have a visual on the enemy bombers?"
The pilots squinted their eyes for several moments, before catching a glimpse of several dots moving across the sky. B-52 Stratofortress bombers, a model well capable of intercontinental flights and bombing bases- like theirs, back to the stone age. Escorting them were F-20C Tigersharks, a lightweight multirole fighter that made up the backbone of the Leasathian Air Force.
"Positive ID, bombers and escorts. We're coming up on their rear, as planned."
One of the pilots wolf-whistled.
"Yeehaw! Let's fuck them up, Captain!" Gryphus Two whooped.
"Excuse me, Gryphus Two, please use proper callsigns and TAC names during the mission." Crux replied, in mild admonishment.
"Yeah sure whatever, Solano." Gryphus Three retorted.
"All Gryphus elements, stay focused." their leader interrupted. "On my mark, climb to angels five and engage at will. Do not let any of these assholes get through to Cape Aubrey."
Several moments later, the whole squadron kicked into afterburner, ascending to five thousand feet. The browns and greens of the grasslands gave way to an expansive view of Cape Aubrey, and of the vast Pacific Ocean that lay beyond.
"They have not detected us?" Gryphus Five queried suspiciously.
"Must have been expecting us to intercept them from the front so they're all scanning ahead." Gryphus Four replied. "We're coming up behind them just like we planned."
Then came the moment of reckoning.
"All planes, you're cleared hot. Engage!" Gryphus One commanded.
AIM-120 AMRAAMs shot off the wings of each F/A-24, the missiles finding their marks before their targets even had time to react. The first group of bombers and their escort fighters went down in flames, fiery metal hulks careening through the sky before vaporising on contact with the ground.
"Second group, right off your nose, for fifteen miles." Crux interrupted, "You can let the escorts go, just focus on destroying all bombers."
His suggestions were swiftly ignored as another wave of air to air missiles went rocketing into the air. Up ahead, the bombers of the second group duck and dove, dropping chaff in vain to decoy the missiles, before they too were inevitably downed. The F-20s made a beeline for the ocean's surface, hoping to outrun the missiles in denser air.
"Gryphus Two here, I see some escorts making a run for it. Permission to break off and run em down?"
Their squadron leader took a moment to assess the situation- fuel state, weapons, enemy position.
"Granted. Take Three and Four with you. Five, Six, on me."
The two trailing planes of the formation formed up on either side of Gryphus One.
"Gryphus Five here, formed up on your 8 o' clock."
"Six, on your 5 o' clock."
Gryphus One momentarily craned his head over, checking on their newest squadron member, who had transferred into the squadron just two months before the outbreak of war.
"You doing alright, Gryphus Six? Seems like you have most of your weapons left."
A lady's voice answered, collected and calm.
"Yeah, I'm good to go. Where's the last group?"
Up ahead, two F-20s from the final air element peeled off their charges, heading straight for the Aurelian defenders. Radar warning tones went off in the Aurelians' cockpits, and Gryphus One and Five broke to either side, counter-firing as they anticipated the Leasathian missiles.
"Gryphus Six, get the bombers. We'll handle things here." Gryphus One heaved, turning hard to dodge the incoming fire.
"Not if I can't help it, sir!"
On her cockpit's touchscreen Multi-Functional Display, Gryphus Six pressed on the two closest airborne contacts and fired, one after another.
"Fox three times two on your pursuers."
Faced with another volley of Aurelian missiles, the F-20s hounding the two lead F/A-24s dove down, pushing them off the Aurelians.
"Missile defeated." Gryphus Five said. "I'm recommit on the left guy. Six, get after those bombers!"
Gryphus Six upped her throttles in response, shunting her jet into afterburner. In no time, she blew past the preoccupied Leasathian escorts and got in range of the B-52s.
"Fox Three, Fox Three. Eat this, cabrónes."
Once again, the missiles ripped the bombers apart, but not before they had dumped their entire payload. Unable to strike their target, the Leasathians had exacted terrible vengeance on their enemies, the bombs falling directly onto the harbour of Port Aubrey.
"By the gods, they've bombed the port!" Gryphus Four exclaimed.
The Aurelian Air Force's clean victory over the Leasathian strike force had come at a heavy price, with fires spreading throughout the sleepy harbour town. For several moments, the squadron sat in silence, anger and fear welling in their hearts as their heartlands burned.
"Gryphus One to Crux, confirm picture is clean?"
The young mission controller took a moment to re-check his radar and infra-red scopes, running his hand through his russet hair.
"Confirmed, no hostiles remaining. You are cleared to return to base."
"Negative, Crux." Gryphus Three growled. "I say we arm and fuel up, and kick these fuckers out of Griswall right now."
"Three, cool it. Let's go get some rest, we'll get them when the time is right."
Back in the rear of the formation, Gryphus Six sat in silence. She had shot down two bombers and a fighter on her first ever combat sortie, yet she derived no joy from her kills. As she came off her adrenaline-fuelled combat high, she stared at the burning port and let her mind wander.
It had been almost two weeks to the day that their northeastern neighbours had struck. Despite the best efforts of the Aurelian defenders, the resistance quickly crumbled under Leasath's blitz, and it took a mere ten days for ninety-five per-cent of their territory to fall, including and especially the vast oil and mineral resource hub of Terminus Island. Intelligence being filtered from the top brass suggested the Leasathians were in possession of a superweapon known only as 'Gleipnir', a weapons platform capable of launching devastating airburst missiles. Why they had eschewed this superweapon in favour of a conventional bombing raid on their base was beyond her.
She was about to be proven spectacularly wrong.
"Hang on, RWR contacts...unknown?!" Gryphus Two exclaimed.
"Mine too, what's going on?!"
"Crux to all Gryphus planes! Missile approaching you at high speed! Thirty miles off your 5 o'clock!"
"What! Where is it! Answer me now, Eugene!"
Eugene 'Crux' Solano was on the verge of panic as he flipped through his sensors. The radar and infra-red signature of the missile, and its velocity meant only one thing.
"Fifteen miles! It's an SWBM! Get out of there, now!"
Several of the pilots looked back, and watched in apoplectic horror as a large contrail streaked across the sky.
"All planes! Break! Break now!" Gryphus One shouted.
"It's no use, we're too late!"
Twenty miles away, the radar room of Aubrey Air Base was filled with a brilliant flash of blue and white. Moments later came the shockwave, rattling Crux and his fellow operators in their seats. Several windows shattered, and ceiling lights swayed and flickered.
"My god." someone breathed.
Crux balled his fist and pounded his desk, racked with terror.
"Gryphus Squadron! Come in!"
His calls were met with radio static.
"Gryphus One! Gryphus Three! A-anyone!"
The crew of the Gleipnir looked upon their handiwork with ghoulish satisfaction.
"All Aurelian fighters are gone from radar, our scopes are clear." the radar operator stated.
The Captain of the vessel, Flight Colonel Tomasz Veracruz, peered into the distance, his steely eyes assessing the situation.
"We have them on the backfoot, Captain sir." a pilot stated. "Should we finish the job?"
After a quick consultation with the craft's weapons system operators, Veracruz replied,
"Negative, Lieutenant. That was the last of our Helios missiles, and the Tyrfing is not cleared for service yet."
He sighed.
"We'll have to let our ground forces finish the job. Set a course for home."
The enormous flying fortress seemed to turn on a dime as it headed due Southeast, and then seemed to vanish into thin air. However, its vanishing act did not go entirely unnoticed. From a significantly higher altitude, a sleek diamond-shaped jet watched as the airborne cruiser disappeared visually and off radar. Aided by its own low-observable technology, the jet had gone entirely undetected by both sides, and it was just as well because it belonged to neither. Sending out a quick report, the pilot of the diamond aircraft banked north and headed into waters unknown, leaving behind a nation in its death throes.