MOLE
1300Z
TAC name Trigger
Morgan Squadron
Operation ANTEBELLUM
430 knots, 35,000 feet.
Trigger leveled off and turned on his autopilot. He checked, and double checked his systems. He made sure his radar was off, as he did not want to be the reason they were discovered. He looked up. The sky was a perfect blue today, almost perfect conditions that any pilot would dream of having.
There was no need to worry about air traffic, as his squadron would be the only people flying about right now… probably…
"Heads up Trigger, coming rigghhhht behind ya~~"
A SU-57 suddenly appeared on Trigger's right side before moving slightly forward, assuming command of the formation. From the design of the pilot's helmet, Trigger could see that it was Garland, whose distinctive helmet design gave way to who he was; a dullahan.
Two more SU-57s came by Trigger's 3 and 5 o'clock respectively, joining behind Garland. Their respective pilots waved back, whom Trigger assumed were Jason and Jerome. Finally, to Trigger's six was the white SU-57 of Hina that he spotted earlier in the ground joining up the formation.
Shaped like an arrow, the new Morgan squadron was complete, flying alongside each other towards Waypoint Alpha.
"Good moooorning Ladies and Gentleman! This is your ever lovely captain Garland Franks speaking."
"(Sigh) Here he goes again~~", Hina mumbles over the radio.
"As you can see, we have a lovely blue sky ahead of us, devoid of bad weather, with a temperature of 28 degrees celsius. Our flight time will take us a good 2 hours, so sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight. As you can see on your left…"
Garland's babble made Trigger chuckle slightly. He could see why Garland's squad mates respect him the way they do. He could also tell that Garland really cared for his squad mates, which was what he initially did with Strider Squadron. When Strider Squadron disassembled, Trigger couldn't help but feel heartbroken, even more so when all the members left the Air Force.
They left him behind to pick up the scraps, where now he was back in the number 2 position in a new squadron. He didn't mind that he finally got to follow orders and under new leadership, but having people that he finally connected with leaving his life was something he never wanted to experience again.
The heartbreak was too much to endure. Sure, Trigger had Brownie's parents to go back to, but with her death, they were not the same people who raised him. They never called him. They never spoke to him again. Last he heard is that both of them were admitted to a psychiatric hospital. The death of Brownie was too much…
"And that's it for the Special Region review! If you have any questions, just ask your friendly neighborhood pilot, and he'll be happy to respond!" Garland finished.
"Jeez, always with the tourism quips Garland. Can't see nothing but flatlands and mountains." Jason annoyingly said.
"Oh shut up Jason. This beats the city view any day! I always wanted to live in the countryside, and this is my chance to do so." Jerome shot back.
"You boys are always so loud, always voicing your opinions too. I think you should learn when to shut up and focus. Looks like Trigger got that part down well." Hina retorted.
"Got any questions, Trigger my boy?" Garland asked, "I can tell you anything you want to know! I've been here for half a year now, so I got the basics of this place down already!"
"The land is very green."
"Simple, but a great observation Trigger! You seem to know your colors very well!"
Trigger couldn't help but roll his eyes, then let out a sigh. "Don't you think we should all be focusing on this mission captain, this new force might be more deadly than they seem…"
A few seconds went by before Garland turned his radio on again to speak, "That is true, I haven't seen an attack this bad ever since I came here, but lighten up! We should take the time to get to know each other better! Right now, we've got time to kill, no?"
"Trigger's right Garland, it was never this bad since I was here. We still don't know anything about this new force. They could be on par or even be more technologically advanced than us", Hina said with a worrying tone.
"How bad could it be Hina? We've got five state of the art stealth aircraft, not to mention we've got the infamous Three Strikes with us! With us five, we could probably bring the Empire to its knees! Make them beg for mercy! Who knows, maybe the new force as well" Jason said, with Jerome voicing his agreement.
((Don't underestimate the Empire. They're a more potent force than you think they are))
Sidewinder
The squadron had finally caught up to Sidewinder's radar zone, where she was able to communicate with them. Hearing Sidewinder's voice made Trigger slightly relieved, as listening in to his squad mates conversation was making him slightly crazy.
He also swore that he could have seen both Jason and Jerome do a double take when Sidewinder came on the radio, which made him laugh out loud into his mask.
((While you guys were having your audacious fun, I went ahead and mapped out the region better so that you guys could see it in your HUD. The main interest point is the area beneath this mountain))
While she was talking, Trigger's HUD enlarged, now showing a complete map of the area of Waypoint Alpha. He could distinctly see an area that seemed artificial, that did not belong to that specific area. It kind of looked like…
"A base, similar to Avalon", Trigger blurted out.
((Precisely Trigger. That area specifically is called Alnus Hill. Sacred land owned by the Empire. Due to the area being sacred, the Empire dared not to touch the land, but nothing could be said with our situation, since Avalon is also on sacred Empire land, but they attacked us anyway. Still, it doesn't make sense to me. If this 'new force' is occupying Alnus Hill, why haven't the Empire attacked them, but attacked us in the first place?))
"Sidewinder, what does it mean for the land to be sacred?"
((It's a land owned by the gods here))
"Gods? Like mythical beings?"
((No Trigger, real gods. Believe it or not, gods do exist in this world. Unlike your world, these beings are entities that simply exist in this world, and are capable of interacting with people within the Special Region by manipulating factors associated with their area.))
Trigger was stunned. He did not know what to do with that information, even what to think of it. Gods? If gods truly existed in the special region… If Osea did something to piss them off…
((Anyway, from the recon I did, it looks like this new force has already built a base that looks like it's on par with Avalon. I bet the Empire helped them with logistics as well. They've got AA weaponry set up, which I will be marking on your maps. This is still an estimation, so you guys WILL have to get close to get a better picture. The AAs will be our main priority. Remember, as well as a bombing mission, this will ALSO be a recon mission, where we will assess what this new force is like. We'll be arriving to the mission area soon, get ready to descend))
With that instruction, Trigger saw the SU-57 of Garland start a slow descent ahead of him. He set his altitude to 8,000 feet, and the F22 started its slow descent as well. Clouds could be seen in the far distance.
From what Trigger could decipher, the whole area was practically surrounded by cloud cover, which would make it difficult to spot the base. It would also make it more difficult to lock on to targets, as his weapon systems had a hard time locking on in cloud cover.
All 5 planes were closely knit with each other as they entered the clouds. The shaking of the airframe, the water droplets passing by the windshield; it all reminded Trigger of the time when he was protecting Colonel Mckinsey with Count over the mountains of Bulgurdarest. The situation now was eerily similar to what he was doing back then.
Trigger checked his map as his aircraft marker showed him that they were all approaching Waypoint Alpha. Waypoint Alpha came and went, and he now knew they were in unknown territory now. The silence that encompassed the five of them was deafening to say the least, save for the creaking of the airframe from turbulence.
Trigger never felt so anxious in his life. For once, he was headed into the absolute unknown, with only estimations that guided him and his squad members on the thorny path they were flying.
((You guys should get visual soon. Radar on ONLY when fired upon.))
"Roger that!" All five of the squad members said.
As soon as Trigger closed his mouth, the clouds gave way, to reveal a base, massive in size. It was in the formation of a star, unlike Avalon, which resembles more of a military airport. Targets soon popped up on Trigger's HUD, with the signature red TGT next to them. It was then to the right side of the base that made Trigger's heart sink in an instant.
'They've got a runway'
His mind snapped back to reality in an instant when his aircraft was rocked by an explosion in the air. The base below them had begun to fire, the volley of bullets endless in the sky.
Garland yelled on the radio "ALL AIRCRAFT, BREAK."
All five aircraft broke formation in an instant, trying to avoid AA fire at the same time.
"Sidewinder, they've got a runway! We did not get that information during the briefing! We'll expect fighters in the air very soon! We're gonna need support."
((Negative Garland, we need to at least damage them as much as we can. Commence the Operation!))
1500Z
Operation Antebellum: start
Garland cursed over the radio. Trigger knew it was a futile effort, as even if support were to come, it would take them 2 hours to get here. Even so, he started a dive towards the base, making sure the F22 was not struck by the AA fire. He turned his radar on, and flicked his weapons switch to ARM.
"Morgan 2, engaging!"
He activated his XDSBs, which lazed four of the AA weapons for him. One press of the joystick, and the bombs were released.
"Morgan 2, bombs away!"
Trigger looked back to make sure the bombs had hit their intended targets, and not a moment later, shockwaves were seen on the ground, meaning that the targets were hit.
Garland grumbled before he yelled "Morgan 1, engaging!"
Jason yelled "Morgan 3, engaging!"
Jerome yelled "Morgan 4, engaging!"
Hina yelled "Morgan 5, engaging!"
"Give them hell guys! Make sure they regret attacking Avalon!" (Morgan 1)
As Trigger was going sky high to make another dive bombing run, he saw all 4 SU-57s dump their XDSBs onto the ground, followed by fire coming from the base. There was still a lot of AA weaponry to take out, as many were still standing and shooting at their aggressors.
Then, what seemed to be little explosions from the ground suddenly turned into white streaks, and with that the white streaks started to follow them, almost as if…
MISSILE, MISSILE
"Missile alert! Evasive maneuvers!" (Morgan 3)
"SHIT! When did they have SAMs?!" (Morgan 5)
"It doesn't matter, out maneuver them! We'll laze them with our onboard camera and bomb them out of existence!" (Morgan 1)
Trigger saw on his HUD that 3 missiles were tracking towards him, to which he did a barrel roll to break the tracking. The beeping got more intense, indicating that the missiles were now closer to his aircraft. With that, he performed a High-G maneuver, the airframe creaking from the stress it was being put under. The maneuver was enough to throw off the tracking of the missiles, and miss their target.
"Sidewinder, they've got SAMs! We'll laze them, but we'll need to rely on you to get a better picture to relay battle information!" (Morgan 2)
((Copy Trigger.))
((Heads up, I'm reading multiple bogeys on my scope. Looks like Garland's intuition was right on the money. They've got fighters.))
New blips appeared on Trigger's scope. F-15Js. Taking off in twos, the enemy aircraft were in the air faster than anticipated.
"Morgan 2 and 5! Deal with the fighters! Morgan 3, 4 and I will deal with the AA guns and SAMs on the ground. Intercept and eliminate with extreme prejudice!" (Morgan 1)
"Roger!" Trigger and Hina both yelled.
With that, the F22 and white SU-57 broke off their bombing runs and locked in with the new F-15Js that climbed up to the sky. The fighters along with Trigger and Hina looked like they were engaged in a dance, who had already intercepted them, trying hard to evade each other all in while trying to shoot the other one down.
A 2v10 battle was nothing to scoff at, but Trigger was confident. After all, his time at the 444th taught him there was always a way, even with worse odds. Following close to a fighter, the trick was to always anticipate the jet's next move. Trigger followed close until his HUD indicated that he was locked on.
"Morgan 2, Fox 2!"
A jolt of the airframe, and the release of a missile could be seen, before following its intended target, followed by an explosion and a trail of flames.
Destroyed
"Splash bandit!" (Morgan 2)
Hina was doing the same, entailing an unsuspecting F-15J. With the Su-57's thrust vectoring, following was an easy task. All the years of studying other nations' fighting style back in the real world had paid off, as she recognized that the fight patterns that the enemy jets were using resembled the ones used in Erusea. Locked on.
"Morgan 5, Fox 2!"
The missile bay opened, with the AIM-9 being released from the jet, following the F-15J, who tried to evade the missile, but to no avail. The missile tracked, and hit its target, ending with a burning crisp of a jet.
Destroyed
"Splash Bandit!" (Morgan 5)
It was now 2v8. Trigger and Hina both got into rhythm, focusing on the other remaining jets. The high Gs they were sustaining weren't bothering them; if they slipped up once, it would mean damage and worse, falling out of the sky. Bailing out was not an option, as they could be captured to be POWs.
One after the other, the F-15Js were dropping like flies. They were capable fighter planes, but against the F22 and SU-57, not so much. At this point, only 3 remained. Like panicked prey, the remaining enemy jets flew in small circles to confuse Trigger and Hina, but it was not enough to deter them.
"3 left, crush them Hina!" (Morgan 2)
"With PLEASURE!" (Morgan 5)
The white SU-57 did a barrel roll, following a panicked F-15J before releasing a missile and shooting it down. A heaping fireball followed by its pilot ejecting. Trigger started following another one, finally locking on.
"Morgan 2, Fo…"
Out of nowhere, a blue blaze of light streaked by Trigger's aircraft, forcing him to break off. The force of the streak was enough to knock the F22 sideways. The streak reminded Trigger of a weapon that he all knew too well, before more were being shot at him.
'SHIT that was too close' Trigger thought as he maneuvered his aircraft to avoid the streaks.
Trigger attempted to pinpoint where the streaks of light were coming from, and saw that one was coming from the ground, while the rest were coming from the air. He was stunned. The only thing that could shoot something that fast were…
"They have railguns!" (Morgan 2)
"What?! How?!" (Morgan 5)
"Trigger, Hina! We've got several enemy reinforcements incoming! It's the empire! They've got soldiers on dragons and they're using magic!" (Morgan 1)
"This is Morgan 3, I've managed to get a hit on more AA guns, but I've taken a hit from one of the projectiles! They're strong, my damage is at 70%, but I can keep fighting!"
"Negative Morgan 3, we cannot lose you, as well as the plane. Return to base, we'll keep dealing with this mess." (Morgan 1)
"Arghhhhh, FINE! I'm RTB, egress." (Morgan 3)
"Sidewinder, I need a picture update!" (Morgan 1)
((Not good, I cannot mark the dragons as targets for some reason. You'll need to visually shoot them down.))
Trigger cursed, then performed a high-G maneuver to see what he was dealing with. He had never seen dragons before, but he assumed that the creatures flying about in the air were said dragons. He could distinctly see people riding them on their back, and they were carrying what seemed to be staff.
'One, two, three, ten, fifty, seventy, there's way too fucking many!'
More creatures were starting to enter the area. With that, more streaks were starting to fill up the sky, combined with AA fire and missiles. Trigger did his best to avoid the streaks, but doing that meant taking fire from the artillery and missiles that were also being fired at him.
MISSILE, MISSILE
Trigger could hear the dings of the airframe getting hit by AA fire. His HUD told him that his aircraft damage was at 33% now. The trouble was avoiding all the fire that was coming at him, and trying to avoid the streaks, as those were the most deadly out of all of the fire coming at him.
He could see Hina doing her best as well, but the amount of fire coming at all of them was too much. The streaks coming from the ground seemed like it was coming from one source, but it was the most dangerous, as it was firing at a very fast rate.
The main problem was shooting down the dragons. Unlike jet aircraft, they moved at a slower rate, and since there was no target acquisition, it meant using guns and getting very close to them, which was almost an impossible task due to their riders shooting projectiles.
All of this did not matter to Trigger. If shooting them down was the way to complete their objective, he was all for it. He positioned his jet towards a dragon, streaks flying past his jet, then gave it his best shot.
"Morgan 2, guns, guns, guns!"
The F22's 20mm gun made a whizzing sound, followed by a signature brrrt, showering a sea of bullets on its unfortunate target. The dragon, now in pieces along with its rider, fell to the ground.
The rest noticed this, and were spreading out in the air, making themselves harder to hit. Trigger found it harder to follow the dragons now, as he focused on all his power to defend himself.
"それらを撃ち落とす!"
Trigger did a double take. Sure, he could hear his squad mates voices coming from his radio, but the voice he just heard came beside him. He looked to his left. The personal radio that he always kept with him during his time at Strider squadron now was projecting voices. He could tell it was nihongo as he always heard Huxian using that language when talking with her family.
The question was, why now? He did not have time to think about it however, as the frequency of streaks coming after him was increasing. He performed maneuver after maneuver to avoid them. He checked his rear left to see if anyone was following him, then his rear right. What he saw next almost made him have a heart attack.
A human. Sitting on his wing. Trigger couldn't believe what he was seeing.
'What the fuck?!'
She had jet black hair, sporting a red hair piece that was shaped like cat ears, and seemed to be wearing what was a black dress. What shocked him was what she was holding; a huge ax, twice her size. There was no way a girl her size was able to hold it, hell, there was no way a human girl would be sitting on a fighter jet wing while it was flying in the air.
The girl looked over at Trigger, gave a slight smile, then stood up. She jumped off his wing and flew off, never to be seen again. Trigger remembered back to what Sidewinder had said, about how there were gods existing in this world.
Was he just visited by one? What was her intent? Why was she holding that ax? A million thoughts rushed through Trigger's mind, but the voice of Jerome blaring through his helmet brought him back to reality.
"At this rate, we'll all get shot down!" (Morgan 4)
"Damage report, all of you! I'm at 57%!" (Morgan 1)
"33%!" (Morgan 2)
"87%!" (Morgan 4)
"50%!" (Morgan 5)
"Sidewinder! We've taken severe damage! We've managed to hit most of the SAMs and AA fire, but dealing with these dragons is too much! Their riders have too much firepower, we need a new course of action!" (Morgan 1)
((All Aircraft! Retreat Order Omega! Get out of the AO immediately! We cannot lose any one of you!))
"All Morgan units! Fence out, fence out!" (Morgan 1)
Trigger didn't need to ask twice. He pulled on his joystick, and pushing his throttles to the max, gunned it for the sky above. The F22's engines screamed, trying to get the plane as fast as possible and high as possible. It did not take long before Trigger entered the clouds above. He still climbed, faster and faster, until he reached 36,000 feet.
There, he leveled off, and took in a deep breath. In all his years of flying, there was no sense of panic until today. Today was the day that Trigger had the odds stacked against him. Until the arrival of the dragons, taking down the base would have been an easy feat for the squadron.
Hell, he could have done it himself if he had the time, but the streaks flying at him were way too much. The dragons and their riders were like mini flying railguns, and with their slow speed, were very hard to hit. It did not take long until Garland and the rest joined him in formation.
"Is everyone ok?" (Morgan 1)
"Fine Garland." (Morgan 2)
"More or less…, I've got enough fuel to return, but my plane has sustained way too much damage." (Morgan 4)
"I'm ok, but I did not expect them to mount that much of a resistance…" (Morgan 5)
((I have to apologize, it's my fault that I was not able to get the best picture. I just did not expect them to amount that much of a defensive, ESPECIALLY with those dragons. They've definitely got new weaponry, but even I can't start to explain how they were that powerful from the get go…))
"It's fine Sidewinder. If anything, we all were too cocky from the start. I just did not expect projectiles of that caliber to fire at us. They're basically flying railguns. Is there a reason why you could not put targets on them?"
((I don't have an explanation, but I bet it's to do with the magic that surrounds them. The interference surrounding them was too great. I'll need to report this and get a system update. RTB, all of you. We'll debrief once you guys land on the ground.))
What followed was silence on the way back to the base. With the extra quiet time, Trigger had the time to think.
'Who exactly is this force anyway? How do they have THAT much firepower? How is the empire that powerful? I thought they were inferior to us… Who the FUCK was that girl sitting on my wing? That shouldn't be possible…'
Trigger just came up with more questions with no answers to them. He knew he would have to ask Eric while in the debrief, but the thing that scared him the most was the girl. Sure, fighting other forces, supernatural or not, was up in Trigger's forte, but that event was just straight up not possible.
He knew he needed to grill Eric on what this force exactly was, and why Osea was so poised on fighting them in the first place…
1630Z
Operation Antebellum: Mission Complete
Meanwhile...
September 21, 2013
1630Z
Itami Youji
Alnus Hill, Special Region
"Try and put out those fires!"
"Damage Report!"
"I need assistance over here! We've got some wounded!"
Youji was running around frantically, trying to help whoever he could. The attack on the base was just an unexpected one. They've been doing bombing campaigns against the enemy force that the empire had told them about, but he did not expect them to attack so soon, albeit with aircraft.
'That was a F22… and those 4 other planes, I've never seen their kind before…"
His thoughts were interrupted by a woman who was running up to him.
"Itami-san! I've managed to find most of the personnel from the Third Recon unit. We're all fine and we're prepared to follow your orders!"
"Good work Kuribayashi. Take Kurokawa and the others and help with the fires. I'll check up on Yanagida and ask him what to do."
"ROJÁ!"
All 11 members did a salute before breaking off to help the other soldiers put out the fires. Youji then ran towards the heart of the base. As he was running, he spotted someone he knew. He walked up to her and said immediately, "You did an amazing job, I don't know how you do it."
"I could have gotten more. They did so much damage to this base I call home. I should have been more accurate."
"Don't say that Lelei. You know better than anyone the reason why we were so well defended was because of your magic. The soldiers in the air did their part too, but you were the best!"
The blue haired girl looked at Youji. With always being emotionless, Youji was surprised when he saw that she had a sad expression on her face.
"We will recover from this Lelei. We'll make sure the enemy force will never be able to stand up again after what they've done to us."
Youji patted her head, with which Lelei complied. Having been in the Special Region for a month now, Youji did not expect he would be in a situation like this. He never would have imagined being in a war, nor being directly in the front lines.
All his training in the JSDF amounted to this moment, but actually being at war with someone? It was something he thought he would never get to experience. Knowing that he needed to head over to Yanagida, he told Lelei to rest up, and ran to meet his superior.
"How were we caught off guard? We barely managed to call the empire on time to help us! If they were not able to come, we would have been decimated!"
Youji came to a brief stop before seeing Yanagida being reprimanded by the general.
"If it were not for your suggestion on bringing in our Type-03 SAMs and building that runway, we would have been toast! I would have assumed we would be attacked since we've been attacking the enemy for the last 2 weeks, but they had stealth aircraft. STEALTH! The empire told us this force was on par with our defense forces! We've already asked the United States for so much, we cannot possibly ask them for more resources as it is. They're getting desperate in coming in themselves and poaching the Special Region for themselves. If the US finds out the real reason why we are here…"
"Sir!"
Youji decided that now was the best time to interrupt the general. After all, he needed to give a report after returning from his recon of the Special Region.
"We've returned from our recon and have started to help the personnel with the damage of the base. I have much to discuss with you, but for now I am here to help with repairing the base!"
"Good work Itami-dono. I'll expect your report soon. For now, help others. Both of you are dismissed."
"Rojá!"
With that, Youji and Yanagida both left the presence of the General.
"Thanks Youji, you saved my skin back there."
"What was going on? The general was totally chewing you out there…"
"It was with the information that I provided a week before. I've managed to get in contact with someone who had information on the enemy, but just didn't expect the enemy to show up with that much firepower."
"I've heard. You shouldn't trust that source that much. Look what happened to us today…"
"Anyway, what about you? What happened with the recon?"
"We managed to help more villagers and receive more refugees. That fire dragon is still on the loose, but we managed to pick up a strange person along the way. An elf girl…"
"Elf? These kind exist over here? I thought that magic was the most bizarre thing… We've done research on magic here, and we're starting to get the sense of how it works, but elves…"
While Yanagida was lost in thought, Youji looked up to the sky again, knowing that they aggravated something that they were vastly unprepared for. Sure, with the empire's help and their growing understanding of the magic system, they were able to drive the enemy back. But he knew they would be back, and with more anger than what they experienced today.
1630Z
TAC Name Trigger
Avalon Air Force Base
"Morgan 2, captured ILS for Runway 28."
"Roger Trigger, you're cleared to land 28."
The F22's wheels made contact with the earth below, before coming to a complete stop and turning off the runway. For all the action that happened today, the flight back was anticlimactic, with nothing spoken between the squad members.
Trigger taxied his aircraft to his designated hanger, and shut off his engines. With the sound of the battery shutting down, Trigger took off his helmet, and opened the canopy. He was completely frustrated that he couldn't do anything, let alone take down the base completely.
It was the same feeling after letting Mihaly go at Farbanti after the man shot down Wiseman. Trigger knew that they were vastly underprepared at attacking the enemy so fast. With the little amount of intel they had, it was expected, but he did not understand WHY they had to attack now. Garland, who had arrived earlier than Trigger, came up to him.
"Hey, are you ok?"
"Fine I guess, but I just don't like how we were defeated just like that. Why did we have to go in the first place?"
"I know you're frustrated, but all your questions will be answered soon enough. I know we shouldn't have gone, but it was necessary to at least send them a warning for attacking us."
Trigger felt even more frustrated. He was about to grill Garland into why Osea even bothered to stay in the Special Region if its inhabitants hated them, before two more people came up right behind them.
"Trigger, Garland. We've got our debriefing. Come to Hangar 08."
"Alright Hina, Jerome. Come on Trigger, let's go."
With that, the 4 of them headed out, leaving their aircraft behind for the mechanics to work on. Trigger knew that there was more going on behind the scenes than he knew, but he headed to the debriefing room, ready to grill Eric on who this new enemy was, and why they were so underprepared in destroying the enemy's base.