Chapter 15: Hunting Day
So I'm alive! Hooray! I need to apologize for my absences and lack of any kind of update. I'll explain before we start here so here it goes; before Christmas I always go skiing with some friends and I may have tried to show off some and I may have ended up head first into a tree branch. I ended up with a serious concussion (Remember kids, helmets rock) and ended up missing the start of this semester of school. As of which I am already behind leaving me little time to write. My special Christmas chapter has been… side railed for the time being (I've turned it into a one-shot and haven't thought of an appropriate ending yet) so you guys will have to wait a while on that. In the meantime I was able to adjust this chapter much quicker for all of you. More at the end but anyway, I own nothing but my OCs and the storyline; everything else belongs to their respective companies.
January 2, 1946 0900 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room, Kursk, Orussia
Looking over the battle plans for the following day Vought shook his head, "No, if we're employing that sucker… any and all non-shielded targets will be obliterated. We can't employ any conventional forces here. And that means the witches as well."
"You do know that they are going to kill you when you tell them that right?"
"Tell who what commander?"
The officers turned to the door as Galland and two unknown witches entered; one had an interested and gentle look on her face while the other just had an evil looking smile. Galland nodded towards the battle plan on the wall, "Starting without me as usual Chris? I thought you learned?"
Vought rolled his eyes, "We weren't starting… per say. We have a vague plan but no idea how to implement it yet." He looked to the two newcomers, "My apologies, I'm Col. Cristopher Vought. Welcome to the Borealis."
The darker haired newcomer nodded and smiled, "Доброе утро, сэр. I am Wg Cdr Bronislava Safonov. I am the commanding officer of 503rd JFW, the Typhoon Witches. Thank you for having us."
Galland frowned and nudged the other witch who was currently having a staring contest with Pierce. She turned to the colonel, still not blinking, "Hello, I am Maj Grete Gollob. I command the 505th JFW, the Mirage Witches." She continued to stare at the colonel; her red eyes unblinking. On the other side of the table Lansby shivered and nudged Volkov.
"She's really creepy," he whispered.
Alexei nodded, not taking his eyes off the witches, "да, indeed she is."
Galland, finally fed up with her behavior maneuvered her out of the way. She turned to the two, "Go find the others and relax. I will stay for their plan." She waited for the two witches to leave before turning back to the crew; she rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously. "Sorry about that… forgot how little social interaction Grete gets… she is a bit… different."
Vought finally blinked and looked around, "Hm? Oh don't worry about it; I've dealt with worse. Anyway go ahead and take a seat," he handed her a tablet, "Here's what we're working on so far but we've run into a snag."
Adolfine nodded as she skimmed the document; her eyebrows rising as she looked it over, "You want to use just two aircraft for this attack?"
Ross nodded as he and the colonel sat back down; the three Russians present remained standing. "What we plan on using is extremely destructive; not quite as bad as a nuclear weapon but still pretty bad. Any conventional forces or even the witches are at risk if we use it. Heck even the 302s are going to have issues if they get too close."
She nodded as she looked through the plan again; frowning, "Well I don't see anything wrong so what's the problem?"
Vought frowned as he looked to the screen; Ross gave a small grin and continued, "The plan calls for us to use a dedicated electronic warfare system to distract the Neuroi while a 302 with the package attacks it from above again. The weapon is extremely vulnerable from drop point till detonation so we need little to no opposition to notice till it's too late. Our problem is they aren't going to fall for the ship moving into range again so we need a fighter to distract them. And that is where the problem is."
"Bait; that is what this aircraft is going to be… anyway, what's the problem then?"
Lansby answered for him, "The 302s use a very sophisticated electronic warfare suite, but it's designed for digital systems and up. Against the Neuroi… the way they operate is too old school for the systems to work. We have older systems that will work aboard but," he glanced at the sulking colonel, "We have no means to employ them." As he finished a page caused him to dismiss himself leaving the others to try to come up with a plan.
An hour later they had still yet to come up with a workable plan. Galland looked around, "So none of your ships can use this towed-array?"
Ross shook his head, "Technically everything we have can carry one but they were designed for something with much less maneuverability. The 302s and drones would snap the cable in any turns they made and the Hammer would be a sitting duck."
"So in other words Adolfine we will just need to throw a large number of 302s at them and hope they go for them," Volkov finished from his chair as he continued to spin a pen in his fingers.
Ross glanced at his tablet as it beeped indicating a message; seeing it was from Lansby he opened it and stared at the attachment blankly. He blinked a few times before snorting and looking across the table. Vought raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"Nothing sir just something from Evan."
Vought stared for a minute before sighing, "Whatever, go see what he wants."
Ross nodded and exited the room. Looking down at his tablet again and shook his head as he read the message.
"You've got to be kidding me."
January 2, 1946 1012 Hours- Jumper Bay 2
"Hey what happened to my entert- HOLY SHIT!" Foss jumped in fear and hid behind Huberta as the later just raised an eyebrow and shook her head.
The cause of the Liberion's fear was the appearance of Maj Gollob… directly behind her. Huberta just sighed and turned to the other newcomer, "Good morning ma'am, it's good to see you again."
Bronislava smiled as she looked at her former deputy; she nodded and shook her hand, "Huberta it's good to see you again. Are you doing well?"
Foss backed away from her current deputy and allowed the two witches to catch up as she moved over by Jean, "Hey, Preddy… isn't that the commander of the 505th?"
Jean rolled her eyes as she stopped the maintenance on her striker. "Yes she is… must mean the five-o-five and five-o-three are here to help liberate Moscow. Come to think of it we probably took a lot of pressure off the 505th when we took out the Black Sea hive." She looked around the hanger and sighed before grinning, "Looks like things are going to get a little more crowded around here." She turned back to her striker, "If you're going to hide over here you might as well help with my striker. Hand me that wrench."
On the other side of the hanger Heinrike opened her eyes and blinked; confused for the moment on why she was awake. She jerked in alarm before calming herself after finding Francesca looming over her. "Can I help you with something Ensign?"
Francesca shook her head and grinned, "Nope but I was wondering why you still act like Sanya. We haven't had to do a night mission in a while so why the naps?"
Heinrike stared at her for a moment before looking over to see the newcomers, "A witch with skills such as mine needs to be ready for anything; at any point in time." She looked back at her, "Now my question is, why are you bugging me?" A frown formed on her face as she stared at the young Romagnan.
Francesca twitched with a nervous smile on her face before she ran away screaming for Shirley. Heinrike just sighed and stood up; it was time to do something. Looking around she realized it was about to become a bit more lively and she needed to put her game face back on. A witch of her caliber needed to show she meant business.
January 2, 1946 1037 Hours- Jumper Bay 3
"Alright so let's just assume that this is what we think it is. Can any of us even us it? I mean it is nearly… why is there an engine dismantled on the deck?"
Ross raised his eyebrow at the messy scene as the group stepped around the assorted engine parts. Grant's eyes lit up in recognition as he looked around, "It's one of the engines for the Hammer…"
He and Ross turned to the doctor who raised his hands, "Hey don't look at me like that. It wasn't me."
"Sorry about that, my fault."
The group turned to find a very dirty looking Maj Doglio with a wrench in one hand and a rag in the other. They stared at her in disbelief, "Um what?"
She shrugged as she wiped the oil off her face, "The colonel said I could take a look at your stuff so when I stumbled across this equipment, I couldn't help myself." She looked around at the mess she made and gave them a cheesy grin, "I'll put it back together; don't worry about it."
They gave her an incredulous stare before looking around.
"Sure…" Grant responded as he rolled his eyes.
Ross shook his head and blinked, "Right… carry on I guess. Anyway Evan, where is it?"
He beckoned towards the edge of the bay, "My guys found it over there. It has Masters' vibe all over it so I have to believe it came from them; they're the only ones working with stuff from the boneyard." He led them over to a fabric covered frame and began to unzip it with Grant's help; Federica watched from behind them. When they finished, a dark green and black shape lay before them under a protective frame, tied to the deck.
"What is that?" She asked.
Grant shook his head in pure amusement before groaning, "What that is, is older than me. This is going to get interesting real fast."
Ross looked to the doctor, "Check the roster; see if there is anybody on this ship knows maintenance… hell see if anyone is old enough to have crewed this thing."
Doglio looked at the commander curiously, "So that is an…"
Ross grinned as he turned to her, "It could be the missing link for the plan. Lansby get this thing out into the light and start checking her over. Grant and I are going to go notify the colonel."
Grant looked up in alarm from his examination, "What when did I get roped into…" Ross's stare cut him off, "Yes sir I understand."
January 2, 1946 1104 Hours- Auxiliary Bay 4
"Commander, Captain, what can I do for you two today?"
The two in question cut their salutes, "Morning sir we were just looking for Col Vought. We were told he was on his way here…"
Sokolov nodded as he leaned back in the chair he was in, "This is true however I believe he is dealing with the arrival of the 503rd and the 505th. Last I checked he was looking for you to help them but he couldn't find you. He's coming after that."
As Ross facepalmed, Grant took a look around the room. Since their arrival, the Russians had claimed the bay as their own storing some of their gear and training here. He had a feeling it was because of the way their people still felt about each other. He couldn't forget that they almost went to war with them a few years ago before the SGC stopped it. Stopping his recollection when he felt eyes on him he noticed that the current group of men, sans the colonel and commander, were watching him. He waved nervously causing them to go back to work. He sighed; there were still some problems.
Everyone turned to the door as Vought finally entered; Ross saluted, "Sir I-"
"Does someone want to explain why there is a bomber being dragged out of bay 3?"
Ross and Grant shared a glance; Ross answered, "Uh… solving the plan's problem?"
January 2, 1946 1116 Hours- Jumper Bay 2
Takei looked up from her book and smiled as she watched her CO walk in. She proceeded to sigh when she saw what state she was in, "I really hope she didn't make too big of a mess." Finally noticing her XO she made her way over.
"Hey Junko, they're pulling something cool out of bay 3. Come on I wanna see it in the light."
The other witches nearby perked up at this statement; none more than Yeager.
"Say what? Something cool? Is it a car?"
She shook her head as everyone crowded around her, "No it's a plane and unlike those 302s, this thing looks like it can actually fly."
Shirley's eyes lit up, "I wanna see it now!" She looked to her CO, "Can we go ma'am?"
The 501st turned to Minna; she smiled and nodded, "Lead the way Major." And with these final words, the four JFWs worth of witches vacated the bay and headed towards the rear of the ship.
January 2, 1946 1136 Hours- Jumper Bay 3
The witches entered the normally silent bay to find it bustling with activity as crewmen cleared the area and the large aircraft had technicians crawling all around it; access panels open as the crew determined its status while a slightly giddy looking Col Vought and the other officers sat back and watched.
Shirley as usual was stunned into silence as she gazed upon the mechanical monster before her. The officers noticed her expression and grinned as it was very similar to the one on their CO's face.
"What is that?"
Vought shook his head before grinning at Junko, "That ladies, is a General Dynamics RF-111 Vampire strike/reconnaissance bomber. This is a variant of the aircraft that got me wanting to join the Air Force." He frowned, "Despite the fact that they retired it back in the 90s…" He shook his head again and grinned, "This bird was designed for precision strike missions behind enemy lines using high speed and terrain following to defeat enemy air defenses and it was damn good at that."
"How fast is it?"
He looked at Shirley as she continued to stare at the jet, "At altitude it was capable of flying at Mach 2.5 and at sea level it could run at Mach 1. Technically speaking though it was only ever really good at being a bomber because even while it could carry air-to-air missiles, it never really did."
"If it was so good why retire it?"
He frowned again as he turned to Gertrude, "The Cold War ended and small nuclear strike aircraft like this were no longer needed. The bombing role was taken over by the B-52, which it was supposed to replace, the B-1B which is basically this but larger, and the B-2 which was stealth. The military could pay millions to keep four of these flying, or the same amount to keep one B-52 flying. The other bombers have 2 to 3 times the range with 3 to 4 times the payload." He turned to Lansby as he walked over, "So what's the scoop Evan?"
Lansby just stared, "I'm an Ancient scientist not a flight engineer. I have no idea why you keep making me do this." He noticed the stares from the officers and coughed, "Anyway according to the engineers, it looks like it's ok to fly. That matches up with the maintenance records we found with her. Now our only issue is finding a crew."
"Wait so none of you guys can fly this thing?"
Vought frowned and turned away causing the witches to laugh. Ross patted him on the shoulder, "Technically speaking the colonel here is probably the only one capable of flying it."
Geena tilted her head, "I thought you were too tall to fly?"
His shoulders slumped, "One of my projects at the academy was the tech orders and flight operations for the dash one one one. As I said it was one of the reasons I joined the USAF. One of my instructors even got me some simulator time so that's about it. The only aircraft I've actually flown are my Cub, the T-38, the V-22, and the 302."
"So what if you can't fly it, you've got us and the 302s to deal with the hives so why even bother?" Marseille asked while adjusting her goggles.
The room got quite while the officers shared looks. Ross nervously looked at them, "You mean the Vice Marshall never told you?"
Mio frowned, "Told us what?"
Vought and Sokolov shared a glance with the latter beckoning him to continue, "Um well… we're not letting the witches near the hive."
"WHAT!" They all yelled simultaneously before the room burst into angry voices.
Meanwhile
"Thanks for joining me for an early lunch Doc; I have no idea where everybody else ran off to." Galland stated as she and Pierce walked through the decks trying to find everybody.
"No problem Adolfine, it was a pleasure. As for everyone… I think someone said something about in here." Frank stated as the two finally reached the door to bay 3.
Opening the door the two were greeted to the sounds of angry witches and the cowering crew. Adolfine blinked a few times before screaming, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"
5 minutes later
"At least she made it in time to calm things down huh sir?" Grant muttered as he looked at Adolfine explaining the plan for the next day.
Vought nodded as he continued staring at the plane. "So I could probably fly it but it would be best if I had someone who knew what they were doing with me. Vitaly, any of your men secretly know how to fly a 40 year old NATO aircraft?"
Vitaly sighed and shrugged, "I'm sorry Chris but I left all those men back home. We didn't have any room for them." He shrugged again when the other men looked at him. They all turned to Lansby as they led a newcomer over.
"Gentlemen, this is one of the civilian techs."
The man nodded, "Good morning gentlemen, my name's Zach Taylor. I was formerly a major in the USAF and retired in 98. The doc here is telling me you want to get this bird in the air."
Vought's expression changed as he looked the older gentlemen over. His graying hair and slightly large stomach gave his age. "You a crewdog Taylor?"
He nodded, "Yes sir I was a -111 crew for 10 years."
"You see combat?"
Again he nodded, "El Dorado Canyon and Desert Storm."
Vought looked at him, "You up for a test flight?"
He thought for a moment and looked back to the plane before nodding, "I think so sir. She looks to be in order so we can launch whenever you want to. Just be warned, there's some stuff in that cockpit I've never seen before. I had heard of the RF-111 but I have never actually seen one."
Vought grinned as he shook his hand, "Alright then let's get this thing towed outside and clear a path for it. I get to fulfill a dream here."
Taylor grinned, "Yes sir, just get somebody to find me a flight suit."
January 2, 1946 1404 Hours- Borealis Disembarking Point, Kursk, Orussia
Vought glanced to his left in the cramped cockpit of the fighter-bomber, "How you doing Taylor? You ready to go up?"
His helmeted co-pilot nodded as he looked up from his instruments, "I think so sir, all systems looks good and it looks like they're done clearing a path for us."
He nodded as he went over the checklist for the "Before Engine Start" and confirmed that they were good, "So Taylor, how was it being a wizzo? From what I heard from -111 crews, it got pretty intense."
He shrugged, "No idea sir, I was never a WSO."
Vought snapped his head to the left, "Wait what?"
"I never dropped ordinance; I was an EWO in a Raven."
"Ah…" The Raven, the unarmed electronic warfare variant of the F-111.
"Looks like whatever Sky Masters did to this thing, they took the RF-111 and added… voice command shit. The Vampire is supposed to be a combination of the 111G and the Raven right?"
"Yep"
"Anyway you ready for engine start?"
Vought nodded, "Yep let's get this show on the road," he keyed the foot control, "Borealis, this is Crosshair, requesting permission for engine start."
"Confirmed Crosshair, clear for engine start."
He nodded and reached for the throttle before stopping, "Uhh…"
Taylor looked over, "No power cart, we're going to have to go for a cartridge start."
Outside
The witches watched on as the crew prepped the old aircraft and got it ready to fly. They were stunned when the wings slid forward after it left the interior of the aircraft. Geena and Heinrike stood near Ross and watched in concern as the colonel climbed into the aircraft.
Foss looked at the aircraft, worried, "Is… are they going to be ok? Is that aircraft safe?"
Ross looked down at her, "It's fine, don't worry about it. The colonel might not be a fly boy like Grant and the others but he's a good stick." They both turned back to the plane as a loud 'bang' and a puff of black smoke shot out of the left engine. The engine slowly whined up to operational speed with the second engine soon following suit. The control surfaces began to move as Vought tested it out before the motion stopped.
"Borealis, Crosshair requesting takeoff clearance."
"Crosshair, Borealis, permission granted."
Everyone listened as the whine increased in pitch followed by a tongue of flame from both engines as the afterburners kicked in and the jet started to roll across the bumpy ground; the rugged landing gear bouncing as the Vampire reached rotation speed and launched into the cold January air.
Ross turned and watched as Preddy and Yeager ran back into the other hanger and emerged moments later in their strikers; they roared up and after the slowly climbing bomber. Watching the climbing aircraft and the slightly worried faces of those around them Ross sighed, "I hope to hell he doesn't do anything stupid." The wings slowly started to sweep towards the rear as the colonel began to accelerate.
Major Geena Preddy
Geena looked at the aircraft, concern on her face as she and Yeager flew slightly ahead of the bomber as they looked for any flapping or malfunctions. She looked over at her wingmen, "Yeager you see anything on your side?"
Shirley shook her head, "Nope, it looks all good I think. Anyway why do they want to use this thing? It sounded good on the ground but I mean look at it," Vought had started to sweep the wings back to their intermediate position. "It's slow and not very maneuverable; the Neuroi will have no problem shooting this thing down." To punctuate her statement, she flew in front and stuck out her tongue out at the cockpit.
"Shirley come on, leave those two alone. They are trying."
Shirley rolled her eyes below her goggles before looking over at her, "I'm just playing around ma'am, it won't do any harm. See?"
They both turned back to the bomber as the wings snapped full aft and the aircraft banked over and dove back towards the ground.
Colonel Christopher Vought
His eyes danced across the instruments as he and his systems operator made sure the aircraft was going to continue flying.
"Everything looks good sir and guess what, we didn't blow up. I call that a win in my book."
Vought glanced over to his right at the older man as he grunted, "Problem Taylor?"
He shook his head, "No sir, this cockpit just feels a bit smaller than my time in the force." He checked over the newer systems, "EW systems are in reset, looks like we need to trip a breaker when we land. TFR looks good though I wouldn't want to try it out right now being this your first time up… sir you paying attention?"
Vought shook his head as his eyebrow twitched at Yeager and her tongue. "I don't like subordinates making fun of me." He eyed the wing sweep lever and the throttle, "time to show them who's boss." "Hold on major, things are about to get interesting."
Carver looked over, "Interesting? What do you mean intere…!" He grabbed the hold bar in front of him as the wings snapped back to their full aft position and the plane heeled over to one side and began to plummet towards the ground.
Wallowing around with the wings in the intermediate position and at 60% throttle, the aircraft was operating nowhere near max performance. With the wings full aft and the throttles at 100% the banking bomber lost all lift and nosed over gaining airspeed as it broke 500mph. Reaching 600, the nose leveled off 300 feet above the ground as it began racing away in the opposite direction. The two witches, though stunned, took off in hot pursuit after it.
"Jesus sir, you trying to kill us?"
Vought spared a quick glance at his copilot, "Nope just putting this old bird through it's paces." They passed over the ship with the two witches slowly catching up. "Taylor, get the TFR on, I want to see if it works. Set it to hard ride and let's go have fu-"
"No way in hell we're doing hard ride straight out of the gate like that. I'll do medium but only because the terrain is mostly flat. I'll check for trees." Reaching across the center console Taylor flipped a switch and turned the knob below it till medium was selected. Right above Vought's gauges, a small light labeled "TFR" turned on and the bomber automatically pulled itself closer to the ground.
In the lower nose, a small radar activated and began scanning the ground in front of the racing aircraft; searching the terrain for any hills or rocks. The data was sent to the flight computer and the bomber leveled off at 250 feet; matching the contours of the landscape as it slowly approached Mach 1. The TFR (Terrain Following Radar) was able to help beat enemy air defenses by getting below their effective detection altitude. The faster the aircraft went the lower and more aggressive the flight could get. With hard ride selected, the bomber could get to as low as 200 feet above the ground. At Mach 1 and at night, this was the most dangerous type of flying available. At that speed and height the pilot had moments to react.
Vought glanced into the rear mirror as the separation between them and the witches increased; he grinned and dropped the throttle back into the afterburner range and their airspeed continued to increase before finally breaking the sound barrier. The 40 year old bomber raced across the snowy steppes covering over a mile every 5 seconds and leaving the ladies in the dust.
Major Geena Preddy
Geena braced herself as the shockwave hit them and the two slowed to a hover as the colonel continued to race away; quickly becoming a dot on the horizon. She turned to Yeager and gave her a look, "Really Shirley? You just had to go and taunt him didn't you?"
Shirley sadly nodded at the bombers departing figure; her arm outstretched to it, "Ya but now I kinda want to fly it…"
The two turned around to the distant figure of the ship behind them, "I guess we should head back now huh?"
Preddy nodded, "Yep and then we get to wait for those two to come back. I guess it might actually be useful for tomorrow…"
The two turned back to the ship and slowly began their return.
January 2, 1946 1530 Hours- Borealis Briefing Room
Vought entered with a permanent grin on his face. Ignoring the looks everyone was giving him he took his seat and waited for someone to say something.
Ross coughed, "Well… I guess we have a plan for tomorrow then huh?"
Galland continued her stare, "Had fun huh Chris."
He nodded; the grin still on his face, "Yes I did Adolfine and yes Matt, the Vampire will be ready for tomorrow. The engineers are looking it over now and are sticking the stores on it as we speak. Lansby is also trying to jerry-rig a shield for it now but it's doubtful."
Galland frowned, "You're going to take an unshielded aircraft into combat with the Neuroi… You do know conventional forces are nothing but target practice for them?"
He nodded, "I understand but I'm not worried. It will be completely safe… technically speaking. We just need to lead them away long enough for the hive to be destroyed. By the time they catch up, the hive should be gone."
She gave him a concerned look, "Why put yourself in harm's way? There must be someone else who can fly that thing."
Sokolov answered for him, "Ma'am, the colonel leads by example; like all leaders like to. He refuses to put one of his people in danger if he is perfectly capable of doing it."
She kept her frown as she turned to the big Russian and sighed before turning back to Vought, "These people depend on you and the witches care for your wellbeing. I don't like you doing this but I'm going to allow it on one condition."
"Oh?"
"Stay safe."
He gave her a serious look before nodding and grinning, "Can do ma'am, meeting adjourned; I need to check on Taylor and finalize our part for tomorrow night."
"What's wrong with Taylor?"
Vought stopped in the doorway and threw Ross a grin, "I don't think he liked my little maneuver I pulled earlier." The door closed behind him as he left leaving Galland with the two others.
She looked to them, "You think he's going to be ok?"
Ross and Sokolov shared a look; Ross turned back to her, "He should be fine."
She sat there nodding as the other two excused themselves leaving her alone with her thoughts. Spinning in the chair she stood and headed for the door, "I hope so."
January 2, 1946 1642 Hours- Borealis Crew Quarters
Grant grunted at the knock on his door; his eyes still fixed on the screen as he continued his task. "Uh… enter…" He continued even after the intruders entered and watched him with interest.
"Wow what's that?"
Grant finally realized had he guest and paused his game as he put down the controller. He turned to find a few of the 501st watching him with interest; none more so than Miyafuji. He leaned back in alarm as the three witches leaned forward to stare at his monitor. Shirley even went as far as pushing him away from the desk as she and Lucchini leaned closer to stare at the pause screen. Yeager turned back to him, "So what's this?"
He blinked a few times at their interest before he remembered what the year was. "Ah right, it's a video game. More specifically…" He went into details of the racing game he was playing and went as far as showing them the plethora of games he had saved to memory. As they looked at the menus, something caught Francesca's eye.
"Hm… MOVIES! Can we watch one? Can we? Please?"
Noticing the same thing the other to witches turned to him and gave him the most pitiful stares they could as if watching a movie was the most important thing in the world. He met their sad, pleading faces with an impassive stare, "Remember Shirley I have a younger sister; that ain't going to work on me."
Shirley frowned and sighed before grinning, "Had to try though. So what do you think, can we see one of your movies?"
Grant rubbed his chin as he thought, "Hm… this could work." With the tension growing again for the hive attack the following night, this could help ease it even a tiny bit. It would also allow the newly added witches a chance to bond with the crew and the others onboard. He looked at them as the three of them patiently waited for an answer; Francesca continued to bounce up and down with a grin on her face. "Sorry ladies but you can't right now. I've got something I've got to go do. Come back later and you can pick anything-" he stopped as he thought about what movies he brought, "well, almost anything."
The three frowned and nodded, "We'll hold you to that then Carl."
Grant nodded at Shirley, "I hope you do. Again I'm sorry."
They managed some smiles as they walked out. The moment the door closed behind them Grant spun in his chair and grabbed his radio, "Col Vought, this is Capt Grant." He waited for a response.
"Yes captain? What's up?"
"I had three witches asking about a movie. I said later but I had a better idea…"
January 2, 1946 1900 Hours- Jumper Bay 2
"Attention all off duty personnel, please report to Jumper Bay 3 at this time. That is all."
The witches all glanced at the speakers curiously. Federica glanced at her XO before turning to Minna. "You think that means us?"
She shrugged, "I guess so… I mean technically speaking we are off duty." She glanced at two witches in particular. "Though I'm not sure if those two count or not."
Doglio joined in looking at the two night witches, "I think they'll be fine. They haven't done anything night related in a while so I guess we go? I wonder though, what do they want everyone in there for…"
Minna shrugged too as she rounded up her group; the others followed suit and soon enough, the four JFWs went deeper into the ship.
Jumper Bay 3
"What do you think aliens, war, comedy? I don't want to confuse them but I want this to be memorable."
Vought looked up as the witches stopped in the doorway in confusion; he turned, "Matt, go tell them what's going on and Vitaly and I will finalize this."
Ross nodded before heading towards the door. Vought turned back to the Russian, "What do you think? I personally think anything WWII is out; too violent for them. At least right now. I've got these as ideas…" He showed him the tablet he had.
Sokolov grabbed the tablet and raised an eyebrow as he browsed the selections. He gave the American an amused glance, "What? Nothing from my homeland? I'm hurt."
Vought groaned, "Whatever, half of my people on this tub can't speak a lick of русский. You expect these ladies to understand it as well?"
"Well they do all speak English pretty well…"
"You know I've always wondered about that but whatever. Do you approve of any of them?"
The Russian colonel ran through the list again in thought before turning and watching the witches get seats. After Grant's radio call, Vought had the crew clear the room for the night so they could all relax a bit before the fight the next day. He was also using it as a way to make the witches forget about him going into combat unshielded in a 40 year old aircraft. The room was now filled with a number of chairs and crates all aimed towards the closed bay door. The bomber was being prepped in the launch bay. Turning back he highlighted his choices and handed the tablet back to Vought, "Here's what I think. Choose from those and I believe they will enjoy it." He left as Pierce walked up.
"You decide yet Chris? I just helped Matt explain what was going on."
Vought handed him the tablet, "I don't want to disappoint them so I had Vitaly narrow it down…"
Pierce glanced at the final four selected and grinned, "Hm… Tron… nah probably a bad idea, The Hunt for Red October… again probably not but inventive from him of all people. Hm…" His grin grew as he viewed the next choice before selecting it, "Here sir I believe this would be perfect for them. A good plot, action, and FX. Plus it's a classic you can't go wrong with it. If you don't mind I'm gonna grab some popcorn and find a seat."
The colonel took the tablet back again as the doctor left. Staring at the selection he gave a small smile as he turned towards the bay door and Lansby as he fiddled with the projector. He looked up, "Alright sir you finally decide? I'm getting bored messing with this th-" he stopped as Vought handed him the tablet and walked toward door before turning and facing the room. Lansby glanced at the selection before nodding approvingly and linking the selection to the projector. He nodded at the colonel as he finished.
Vought looked around the room before reaching for his radio, "Serenity…"
"Connected"
He nodded to himself before clearing his throat; his voice echoed through the bay's comm system with the room quieting down as they turned to him. "Everyone, we've been here for nearly 8 months now and we have yet to do anything that can be considered relaxing. With the number of guest currently onboard and the fact that we have an important mission tomorrow night I've decided it's time to take a break… well most of us anyway." He grinned, "anyway to do this I thought, what's better than a movie? Especially a movie our guests have never seen before. I want to personally thank everyone for all the hard work you done so far. You've made me damn proud." He stopped as the crew burst out in cheers; he waited for them to quiet down again before continuing, "Anyway let's get this show on the road then shall we?" He stepped out of the way as the lights dimmed and the projector started up. Making his way to the back wall, he stopped as he noticed Galland waving him over. Shaking his head in amusement he made his way through the chairs to them. "Sorry ladies but I'm needed on the bridge for next wat-"
"No," Galland stated simply but with a look on her face that said 'disagree and die.' She pointed to the seat next to her, "You are sitting and watching; Ross has already volunteered to take your shift."
Vought jumped as Alexei leaned in behind him, "Come мой друг. You need a break anyway."
"Yeah, what he said."
He spun to find Preddy sitting on his opposite side. The person in front of him spun around as well, "Doctor's orders."
"Damn it boxed in… Pierce thought this whole thing out." He watched the extremely pleased look on Pierce's face as he submitted and sat down. The witches cheered around them as the screen went black and the music began to play. He just leaned back and grinned as he watched the movie do it's stuff; the opening credits scrolling across the screen, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…" He watched the witches that could read English explaining what they were seeing to those that couldn't. "This is going to be fun…"
January 2, 1946 2343 Hours- Vought's Quarters
He grinned to himself as he propped his feet on his desk and leaned back in his chair. The movie was a complete success and the witches continued to talk about it even after it finished. When they learned that there were five more movies… they demanded to see them then and there. They only relented when he promised they could see them later. "Ah Star Wars, what would he do without you?"
He fumbled around for a moment attempting to find his tech orders and plans for the operation the next night. He glazed over his route and began calculating his times between checkpoints. As he did so, he laid out the stats on the equipment the -111 would be carrying; the carriage speed and G-limits of them highlighted and circled for him to memorize. He knew Taylor would be completing a similar set along with the operations of the jamming gear they would be bringing.
An hour and a half later he had everything completed and checked them against the exact same thing he did earlier in the day; they matched. Glancing at the clock he took a single shot of whiskey before lying down. "23 hours before I fly into combat… what the hell was I thinking?"
January 3, 1946 2350 Hours- Borealis Bridge, Orussia Airspace
The crew paced the bridge nervously as they waited for the mission to start; the bomber and the single 302 had left 30 minutes before to begin their infiltration of the hive's airspace. Hours earlier the witches and two flights of 302s had to deal with an attack on Kursk. There were no casualties but it showed that the hive knew something was up. The witch groups had been dispatched to form a box outside of the hive's visual range to prevent it from causing any problems for the civilian populace before the core could be destroyed. Sanya and Heinrike were stuck flying in opposite orbits around the perimeter as they searched. On the Borealis, the ship's contingent of witches watched and waited in case they were needed.
Huberta and Geena were on the tactical console when the clock ticked over to midnight. Over the speakers the radio silent bomber finally called in. "Borealis, this is Vapor-1; IP inbound."
The communication technician responded as the ship went to battle stations; Ross took the control chair. "Roger Vapor-1, Claymore reports inbound as well. Clear to maneuver."
"Roger Borealis, going to combat. Keep radio silence."
Everyone turned to Ross as the chair rotated around, "Alright people let's keep this simple and everything will work great. Launch Hydra and Knife flights and set up our CAP." As the crew went to work he turned to the witches, "Everything is wired tight ladies, why don't you go get some sleep. Your shift is over anyway."
The three witches shook their heads, "No can do Matt, we're staying right here till the colonel lands. Until then we're staying on the bridge." Adolfine turned away as she went back to studying the tactical picture the sensors were showing. Geena and Huberta nodded as well before doing the same thing.
The bridge crew stared at the commander till he nodded; that confirmation was all they needed.
Vapor-1, 10,000 feet, 120 miles from Moscow
"System check, fuel?"
"Green"
"Radar"
"In standby… green"
"ECM"
"All in standby, showing good connectivity"
"Roger… you ready for this?"
"Hell no but we might as well start. Whenever you're ready."
Vought looked over the instruments one more time before he painfully adjusted his position; that cockpit was just not designed for someone his height. Glancing over at his copilot in the muted green glow of his night-vision goggles; he was slowly trying to stretch his body as well. Looking at their inertial navigation system he took a guess and nodded, "Alright Taylor, let's do this."
His copilot stopped his stretch and nodded, "Roger that sir; might as well drop our pants." He stomped on the voice command switch, "Deploy towed array."
Outside the aircraft on the innermost left pylon, a boxy fairing acknowledged the command and dropped a small missile shaped device into the slipstream as the bomber cruised towards the hive at 400 mph. Once stabilized, the fairing released it's hold and the device was pulled behind the aircraft. Once hanging 150ft behind, it was stopped and ran a self-test before confirming it was in position.
Taylor gave the colonel a look and stomped on the switch again, "Activate towed array."
Behind the aircraft, the 1ft ALE-55 towed decoy array, normally silent and practically invisible to radar, activated itself in a massive electromagnetic burst; it's radar signature expanding by over 500%. The effect was nearly instantaneous.
(REM "Bad Day")
"Here they come, radar back in standby let's get out of here."
The moment they detected the Neuroi move towards them, the aging bomber rolled inverted and immediately began losing altitude as it began racing in the opposite direction, Vought had to keep an eye on the airspeed though to prevent the decoy from being torn away. The colonel grunted out as the plane began to level out; the G-forces making speech difficult, "…TFR..."
Struggling against the forces in play, Taylor managed to reach across the console and activate the switch and set the mode to hard ride before he was pulled back in his seat. Unbeknownst to them, the hard ride mode on this plane had been replaced with something else Sky Masters had created. Once hard ride was selected, the computer attempted to hook into the GPS network to find its position. Failing to find a single GPS satellite the computer immediately activated a datalink to try and find out terrain data for the area. 300 miles away the Borealis detected the signal and performed a high detail scan of the terrain for 1000 miles in all directions and linked the data to the bomber. Updated with this information, the flight computer received commands and the aircraft was yanked towards the ground.
A normal terrain following system used the radar in the nose to determine the terrain in front of it to match but it had limited range and gave the aircraft's position away. The system developed by Sky Masters used already available terrain data to allow the aircraft to predict the terrain miles ahead of it to allow it to get as low as humanly possible without one squeak from the radar. Called COmputer generated Lowest Altitude, COLA could get an aircraft down lower than normally safe. Over the rolling terrain of the Russian steppes, the plane dropped down to its lowest possible altitude… 50 ft.
Both pilots watched in horror as the altimeter continued to wind down at a blistering rate. Vought reached for the control to cut the TFR off when it finally leveled off; trees winking by just below in the glare of their night vision. The two were stunned, "What the hell?"
"No idea but we don't have time. Release a decoy and tell me where they are."
After climbing slightly to allow a safe launch, a small orange drone dropped off the right pylon and unfolded before racing away perpendicular to the bomber. Moments after launching and transmitting radar and radio signals, the drone was nailed by a lance of ruby light and exploded.
Turning in his seat to try and spot with glowing panels on their attackers, Taylor cried out in alarm as the attack on the drone blinded him, "SHIT that was bright!"
"You alright major?"
"NO I'm not alright!... Give me a sec, SHIT BREAK LEFT!"
Taking off his goggles to rub his eyes Taylor noticed the increasing brightness of a charging laser from one of their attackers. His sudden order got Vought throw the bomber into a hard left turn while the array broadcasted a stronger signal.
The special night type Neuroi leading the chase fired it's beam again right on target and expected to see a brilliant explosion as most human aircraft did when hit. It bleated in confusion as its senses told it the beam hit the ground and the alien craft was still flying. It was even more confused when the target broke in two and began flying in opposite directions. Unsure of what to do the alien directed some of it's brethren to chase the target charging back towards the hive while it continued the chase of the one running away.
Glancing out the rear of the cockpit Taylor sighed as he witnessed a few of the red lights chasing them turn to follow the other MALD (Miniature Air-Launched Decoy). He eyed the few remaining lights as they tried to find them. "They got the first one but the second managed to distract them. I reckon we've got another 30 seconds before they regain us so if we're going to do it, do it now."
Vought nodded as he climbed again until he felt the bomb bay rumble open and a jerk followed by a second as the payloads dropped free. Once he saw them pull away, he allowed the computer to pull the plane back to the altitude it wanted to be at. "Check the switches on the array, make sure it's off."
"Check, array is in standby."
The two checked their gauges again before Vought nodded to Taylor. He sighed, "Understood radar in transmit… down… picking up 4 groups heading north… must be chasing the decoy and shit… 6 groups coming our way with more on the edge. BREAK RIGHT, chaff, flares!"
Unable to detect how the aliens locked onto something, Lansby had jerry-rigged the MAWS (Missile Approach Warning System) to detect a charging laser. The system screeched a warning and the bomber threw itself into a tight turn; the decoy trying to make itself look like a much larger target than the smaller aircraft. To add to the confusion they ejected a few flares and a cloud of chaff.
The high speed type Neuroi had been vectored to the fleeing bomber by the night type and was racing towards the unsuspecting aircraft at twice it's speed. Finding it's quarry, the Neuroi charged it's weapon and took aim; it froze in confusion as a larger target appeared behind the aircraft. Unable to see very well in the dark unlike the night type, it targeted the larger return and started to fire as an even larger and extremely bright target appeared directly in its flight path. Bleating in surprise the Neuroi attempted to maneuver around it and wound up careening into the ground at two times the speed of sound. It's destruction lit up the night sky and briefly highlighted the fleeing aircraft.
"Jesus… I think we just caused that sucker to crash…"
The two were silent for a moment as they realized how close to dying they were. They both snorted before laughing together and quickly stopped as they checked their rear before turning and heading towards their next checkpoint. The bomber accelerated till they were pushing the limits of the array.
The night type was getting annoyed. This craft wasn't like those that had attack the other hives and it was nothing like those creatures that they could never seem to destroy. For whatever reason, they couldn't touch this machine. It paused its chase momentarily as it learned that the others had shot down the small machine launched earlier. They were now regrouping to chase the other machine but another night type detected yet another target approaching the top of the hive and the hive wanted this one gone first. It was being given the majority of units to eliminate it so after quickly finding it again, the night type began to vector more units to the machine.
Checkpoint 2
"Standby, standby… radar down. Looks like they will have a visual on us in the next 20 seconds. Array transmitting, notch right."
Vought swung the bomber to the right as the Neuroi passed right over them. Taylor spun in his seat attempting to find them, "Shit Tally, 6-o-clock high. He's coming down the ramp BREAK RIGHT!"
The plane skid across the sky with the TFR blaring a warning that they were no longer in level flight; Taylor punched out more chaff and flares before Vought brought it into another hard turn trying to throw off their attackers. Beams of light stabbed down all around them like red rain. They both knew it was a lot of luck holding them together and they were slowly running out of it.
"Shit, shit, shit, they just keep coming. You think we got them all tied up here- BREAK LEFT!"
Borealis
Everyone gasped in horror as the data block that was the F-111 winked out on the tactical display. They were all stunned into silence and pain as they realized what that meant. Huberta and Geena cried silently while Galland tried to keep a straight face and console them as the rest of the crew silently mourned the loss of their leader. Sokolov turned to the commander, "It appears commander that you are now in charge. Did Chris manage to distract them long enough?"
Lansby sadly studied the display, shook his head before answering for him, "No… he didn't. I'm sorry gentlemen; I didn't try hard enough to protect them. I'll think up a way to get Claymore in sa- Hang on… data block is back up! I'm getting speed and velocity data from them; they're still alive! They must have lost electrical power for a second."
There was another moment of silence before the crew took a collective sigh; Ross shook his head. He looked to Galland as she wiped the tears off her face; a cocky grin taking its place as she stared at him, "What? I knew he was fine. He's going to get it though when he gets back here."
He nodded as he breathed a sigh of relief, "Damn it sir that was too damn close."He glanced at the still tearing witches as they went back to the displays, "These ladies are going to murder you when you get back." He looked to Lansby, "Continue to monitor them as they approach checkpoint 3. Let Claymore know."
Vapor-1
"…We're not dead… we're not dead… WE'RE NOT DEAD!"
Vought rolled his eyes wearily as Taylor continued to hug himself and mumble the same thing over and over again.
The single wing shaped Neuroi attacked from the front and had dived down to kill them. They had both watched in horror as the ruby beam streaked towards them and in that final moment both had closed their eyes expecting to die painlessly. When nothing happened but the lights going out and a small jerk, they were both stunned to find themselves still very much alive. The same could not be said for the array though; the beam had vaporized the entire thing leaving nothing but the fiber-optic cable. The sudden loss of the array had shorted out some of the electronics and put the ECM gear in a reset when it tripped the cockpit breaker which Taylor promptly reset. The lights remained dark along with the radio and the fuel management system; the fuel now had to be manually shifted.
Taylor yanked out a flashlight from his flight suit as he checked the gauges while Vought attempted to see any trees. "We're still flying sir. ECM will be up in a minute. Same with the radar. I think we may have lost them for the time being."
Vought mumbled a reply as he tried to slow his heart rate. That was way too close for him… where had that bogey come from?
The night type rumbled in displeasure as it realized the target was still flying. It hit something but apparently that wasn't the machine. Checking on the others, it realized that the target approaching from above was getting a little too close for comfort so as much as it wanted to destroy this thing, protecting the hive was the priority. It commanded the other pursuers back to the hive; they would finish this thing off later.
"Radar back in standby… shit, as much as I hate to say this, they are bugging out back to the hive and we're still 3 minutes from the final checkpoint."
The colonel grimaced, "How long till they intercept Claymore?"
The flashlight turned back on as Taylor pulled out a calculator, "Uh… 2 minutes 50 seconds give or take a few."
Realizing the array was gone Vought shoved the throttle to its stops; the bomber accelerated to Mach 1 as it arrowed towards the next checkpoint. "Find me a shorter route."
"Already done."
The command bars on Vought's HUD swung him to the right getting him to bank over and followed after it. They needed to get back in range and hope the system was still functioning or the plan was going to fail.
Claymore
The pilot of the 302 gripped the control stick nervously as he watched his LADAR paint more and more targets; all heading directly towards him. Breaking radio silence he called out, "Borealis this is Claymore. I've got bogeys inbound, orders?"
The moment the 302 had launched, he had climbed into orbit and had dropped back down directly over the hive in a spiral. Slowly moving the stick around he realized he'd have to ditch the weapon if he was engaged; it sapped most of his speed and maneuverability.
"Claymore, Borealis, maintain speed and course. Vapor is still in play."
He hesitated, "… Roger that Borealis, IP inbound." Ignoring the approaching threats, the pilot checked his switches and pulled up his attack route on his HUD. Once it was up he took one last look at his threat display and sighed before beginning his attack run.
Vapor-1
"Come on, come on, anything yet? We've got 20 seconds before they get within weapons range of Claymore."
"Nothing yet… hang on, I'm getting something… JSOWs responding. I'm getting connection lights from both of them."
Vought sighed again in relief; lady luck was still with them. "Activate the "screamers" and let's go home."
The two missiles launched earlier in the night were a pair of AGM-154 JSOW (Joint Stand-off Weapon) which were small cruise missiles that could carry a large variety of munitions that could fit any type of situation. For this mission they carried no explosives at all, instead they carried a very special type of payload. From a series of weapons dubbed "disruptors," the "screamers" were powerful jammers and radar emitters that could blanket jam an entire battlefield or in this case, make it seem like two entire air wings were attacking from two different directions. Once activated one of the "screamers" had gone high while the other went low; in fact, the high "screamer" had been given an flight path quite similar to the one used by Knife flight on the previous hive.
Almost instantly, the Neuroi charging towards Claymore turned and frantically broke into two groups; each headed towards a JSOW. Vought and Taylor high-fived and breathed deeply that their job was successful. Their job now was to continue perpendicular to the hive to make sure the Neuroi had another target in case the JSOWs were destroyed. From what they had calculated, the enemy would be far too late to stop anything now.
The night type was confused at the hive's orders. It wanted them to break off their attack on the single attacker which they had seen and engage the groups of attackers that had apparently appeared out of nowhere. It had tried to convince the hive otherwise but was ignored; it wanted the large number of attackers gone. By the time the night type had decided to go after the single target, it had already broken off and was returning to its base. Realizing the hive might have been right, it searched the airspace for the machine that had evaded it earlier. Finally detecting it yet again, it dove on it; determined to destroy it once and for all.
Knowing what was about to happen, Vought and Taylor pulled the curtains usually reserved for protection from the flash from a nuclear weapon and pulled darkened goggles over their eyes. They prayed the TFR would continue to function because without light, it was almost impossible to see.
"Detonation in 25 seconds. You ever see one of these blow before?"
"Nope you?"
"Nope, should be pretty interesting though. Watch the throttles; I'm worried we might get a flame out or something."
"Roger, you just keep us out of the trees and we'll be good."
Vought chuckled, "Can do major, can do." He checked his stopwatch, "five, four, three, two, one, ze-"
A beam of ruby light stabbed down from just above them as a massive thunderclap and flash of light enveloped everything.
Claymore
Dropping his payload Claymore booked it back to the ship. His job was done; he carried no other weapons. Glancing back he could see the outline of the weapon as it fell unmolested.
Dropped a mile above the hive, the massive weapon began to collect atmospheric data as it fell; it's onboard computer calculating the optimum time for detonation. Dubbed by everyone the Mother of All Bombs, the GBU-43/B MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast) was the US military's most destructive non-nuclear weapon. Weighing in at 22,600 lbs, it was the single heaviest weapon carried by modern military aircraft; normally carried by a C-130, it was the single heaviest item ever carried by a 302 besides a Stargate. It had taken months for the crew to build it.
The 30ft long bomb stabilized itself and moments before impact, the bomb detonated and a second sun was born. With an explosive equivalent of 11 tons of TNT, the shockwave and heat crushed the hive before the over pressure wave shattered it into bits; the cloud being blown away instantly. Across the airspace around it, Neuroi shattered as their creator was destroyed. As predicted, the JSOWs survived the onslaught and were eventually destroyed by the shockwave.
Borealis
"Borealis, this is Claymore, hive destroyed, I repeat hive destroyed. RTB at this time"
The crew burst into cheers with a repeat of radio calls going out to the airborne witch units; they too were on their way back. Ross sighed in relief, "Nicely done Claymore. Once again we couldn't have done it without you."
"Thanks sir. Are you in contact with Vapor? I just lost their transponder."
The bridge went silent again as they all turned to Lansby; he turned back towards the display and began manipulating it. "We lost the transponder about the time the bomb blew…"
Galland put a hand on Geena's shoulder as the later dropped her head. She looked up at her as she spoke, "We just lost the signal again right Evan?"
"I… I don't know."
They all crowded around the comms station as the technician attempted to contact them.
"Vapor-1 this is Haywire please respond," using the unofficial nickname for the ship. He waited, "Vapor-1 this is Haywire please respond."
"Vapor-1 this is Haywire please respond." By this time the rest of the ship's witches had crowded onto the bridge. They were all shocked and dejected as the radio calls went unanswered.
Ross turned to Pierce as he entered the bridge, "We lost contact with the colonel…"
The doctor sighed and looked at the witches, "Well shit… what now?"
Matt looked back to the tactical display, "We're vectoring Claymore to see if he can find the capsule but that's a lot of ground to cover… we might need to vector," he looked at the display, "The 504th to help."
Pierce sighed as the dejected commander walked over and grabbed the radio and began to repeat the message. "Damn it Chris I told you to take it easy. Why the hell do you need to throw yourself in dangerous situations? Now we're all going to pay for it."
"Chris this is Matt, respond."
"Chris respond"
The radio calls continued for another five minutes before Ross put the radio down sadly. "Recall the 504th and Claymore."
The technician began to relay the message and stopped. He blinked a few times and hit a switch, "Please repeat."
"zzzzaliszzzhiszzzzzperzzz"
Everyone was silent as Lansby pushed the tech away and began to fiddle with the console, "Please repeat again."
"I'llzzzsayzzzzagainzzzzthis is Vapor. We're a little extra crispy but I think we'll be ok."
"Vapor this is Haywire, you've got a few very worried people back here."
The crew took another collective sigh before they began to cheer almost drowning out his response; he chuckled, "Sorry Haywire things got hairy for a minute there. Uh we're going to need a long strip of dirt to put this thing down on; we're a little banged up."
They cleared a path as Ross and Sokolov made their way to the map as they began to search for a landing spot for a 78,000lb bomber with unknown damage. As they searched for a spot Lansby got someone to vector Claymore to him to start a visual inspection. Getting the same transmission the 504th diverted again to escort the crippled aircraft back to safety.
10 Minutes Later
"Oh boy that is one tough bird. Gentile, Godfrey, form up on his right; Larrazabel, with me on the left. Everyone else find a spot and get ready to grab them if they fall out of the sky."
Takei looked to her right at the damaged aircraft. The wings were swung about halfway; damage to the right wing root prevented it from moving any further forward. The right engine wasn't working and occasionally shot out a black cloud. The intake was blackened and charred along with the top portion of the fuselage. She noticed for the first time that the top portion of the fuselage was covered in a silver colored material that had a very large burn mark on it. Occasionally the bomber would wobble as a cross-breeze hit the shredded vertical stabilizer.
"Sir, what happened?" She watched as the pilot turned to look at her.
"Uh…"
Just Prior to Detonation
"Ze-" Vought was blinded through his goggles as the beam smacked the bomber. The suicidal night type fired in anger at the elusive bomber and to make sure that it succeeded, it angled itself to crash into whatever was left. The instant before impact however, it vanished in a burst of shards as the hive died. The impact and thermal load from the hit knocked the electrical systems offline again and the shards from the destroyed attacker were sucked into the right engine intake. The remains shelled the engine and caused it to burst into flames as the hot exhaust gases were trapped in the no longer flowing exhaust section.
In the cockpit Vought and Taylor fought to keep the plane from falling out of the sky. To make matters worse, the loss of electrical systems again and the dead engine finally killed the TFR system and the bomber began to climb slowly; quickly reaching it's stall point from the lack of thrust as Vought wrestled with the controls.
"SHIT Fire, engine 2, guard -1."
While Taylor covered the good throttle with his hand, Vought reached over and flipped the extinguisher switch. A few seconds passed before the fire light went out and the two quickly went to the next problem. Finally getting the nose to start dropping, Vought started to swing the wings forward and stopped when they both heard a crunching noise followed by a vibration at the mid-point in the sweep. Continuing to fight with the controls the two pilots eyed the ejection handles as the aircraft continued to fall. After what felt like an eternity, the bomber was flying low and slow but it was level and it was still flying.
"…Holy shit, we're still alive."
"…You can say that again. What's still working; can we call the ship for help?"
"Radios are fried my friend as in cooked. Besides with only one engine we're going to lose them anyway real soon when the generator on engine 1 overheats."
"Shit so we have no way to contact them? What about the transponder?"
"Dead, it went out the window with the radios. You ok sir?"
"Yeah I'm fine. How about you?"
"I've been better but it isn't anything some vodka won't solve." Taylor turned in his chair to see scorching on the canopy behind them. "How the hell did we survive a beam hit? That laser should have carved right through us."
Vought thought for a moment; he yanked off his oxygen mask and took a deep breath, "You can thank Lansby for that one."
Taylor followed suit, "What did he do? Did it have anything to do with that silver stuff?"
"Yes it did, that silver stuff is the exact same material that coats Armstrong Space Station."
He blinked in surprise, "Silver Tower's anti-laser coating? That stuff actually works?"
"Apparently; Lansby couldn't get a shield to work in that amount of time so he thought the next best thing was to coat the whole plane in it. Turns out he couldn't put it on the wings cause it screwed up their aerodynamics."
"So we basically were saved… by paint?"
"Yep," Vought grinned tiredly as he rubbed his eyes; it was really early in the morning and despite sleeping before they launched, he was dead tired. Another sleepless night for him… Pierce was going to murder him. His eyes darted across the darkened instruments again as he brought the plane back to level flight; another gauge caught his eye, "Taylor, you seeing that?"
"Confirmed, we're losing fuel from the right body tank… those shards look so fragile… yet hard as steel. Must have gone out the side of the turbine when the engine blew."
He shined the flashlight around the cockpit, "Alright sir, we're level at 2,000. With one engine I suggest climbing a bit in case we lose the other. Uh… swing right bearing 271, let's go see if we can find the ship."
Vought nodded as the crippled bomber swung around and slowly began to climb to a safer altitude. Attempting to swing the wings further forward again he immediately stopped as the bomber began to vibrate. He shared a look with his copilot, "Hm…"
"…I like the wings where they are don't you?"
"Yeah they're great where they are right now."
The two remained silent for a while as the miles between them and their rendezvous point shrank.
"So any idea on how to contact them? We lost the transponder so they might be trying to find us right about now…"
"Uh… Oh, the emergency radio! Um… where the hell is it?" Taylor started to turn around as he attempted to reach around the back of his seat. Cursing, he turned around again and began searching under the seat. Minutes later he grunted in triumph and pulled out an orange radio.
"Great now try to get a hold of them. We're gonna need a little help landing like this."
Present
"Uh how about we explain that when we land?"
She nodded, "Alright then sir, please let us escort you to a safe place to land." Takei watched him nod before he grabbed the portable radio again.
"Thanks captain, that would be great." The plane wobbled in the air for a moment before it recovered… much slower than before. "Sooner would be better than later, we just lost our hydraulics."
11 Minutes Later
Everyone held their breath as the wounded bomber made a mid-sweep, no flaps, no hydraulics, no airbrake, one engine landing on rough terrain. Coming in fast the F-111 bounced hard on it's gear and tilted precariously before recovering; barely. It came down again and this time stuck as the airspeed bled off. The brakes squealed as the colonel stomped on the pedals and tried to bring the careening aircraft to a stop. Approaching the end of the improvised runway, the bomber finally stopped as the nose pushed its way into a snow drift. The final engine wound down as the emergency crews rushed the plane.
Just minutes before, the ship had found the flattest terrain it could and as quickly as possible, the energy turrets had melted away the snow before the witches and Jumpers left the ship with flashlights and flares to mark then boundaries of this desolate piece of ground.
Everyone exhaled in relief as the canopy doors swung open and both members of the crew were helped down while another crewman sprayed the damaged engine again to make sure the fire was out.
Ross shook his head as the two dazed pilots made their way over. He stopped and took a step back along with everyone else as Galland and the witches made their way out of the crowd and towards them. Vought stared at her with a look of shear dread on his face as they approached. "Well maybe we should just let Galland grill him for us."
Vought gave them all a nervous chuckle as they got closer and his head darted to the left as Taylor took a few generous steps back. By the time he looked back, he was surrounded; he eyed the emotionally and physically tired witches as they glared at him, "…L-ladies…" He gulped when Galland forced Barkhorn to the front of the group; glowing as she stomped towards him. "Oh SHI-" He was jumped.
Seven minutes later the witches stomped past Ross and the other crewmen as they headed back to get some sleep; some angry and some content looks on their faces as they left. Making his way over Ross squatted down next to their defeated leader as he lied prone on the ground groaning. Reaching down he grabbed his hand and helped yank him back to his feet as they both stood. Vought had a few bruises on his face and his flightsuit was a mess. His hair was disheveled and by the look of it, he appeared to have been electrically shocked.
"Well sir, you've gone and done it again."
The colonel shook his head as the other men crowded around the two of them. He gave Pierce a look, "I don't like you looking at me like that Doc."
Pierce continued to stare, "Well I don't think you're in any condition to argue. What the hell were you thinking?" He and the others turned to Taylor as he tried to make himself scarce, "And what were you thinking as well?"
Taylor stood there nervously unsure of how to respond before sighing and chuckling, "I honestly have no clue what the hell we just did but I do know this; that was the most excitement I've had in years." He paused as Vought began to fumble for something in his flightsuit, the proverbial light bulb lit above his head. "Now if you gentlemen will excuse me, I'm going to pass out on my bed." With that said, the ex-crewdog turned and left as the remaining officers turned back towards the colonel.
Ross sighed, "What are you doing sir?"
(A-Team Theme Song)
Vought grunted triumphantly as he found what he was looking for, "Something I've always wanted to do Matt, something I've always wanted to do." Taking the cigar from his pocket he grinned at the others as he shoved it in the corner of his mouth; the others groaning in understanding.
"I love it when a plan comes together."
And that ladies and gentlemen is it. I'm back in action and I will be finishing this story so don't you dare worry about it. Unfortunately my update schedule is going to be very random due to my classes this semester so I will try to update my page to keep you guys in the loop. We're getting close to the end of this first arc and as we get closer, I may or may not give hints towards what the next crossover will be. Again, I'm sorry everyone for no contact whatsoever but I promise that I will try to better with it now. Till next time everyone; Ghostrider21 back in action.