Chapter 30 – A New Hope
December 24, 2010 1349hr, Ceres Ocean
Things were looking pretty bright for everyone. President Harling was safely in Oured, Prime Minister Nikanor was out of Yuktobanian custody, and there were no impending signs of danger from Belka. The Andromeda was still intercepting their communications and all they were getting were messages about how what they should do now. However, there was still this lingering bit of concern I had about them. During the war fifteen years ago, Belka bombed their own cities as a final option when they knew the war was a lost cause. If they were still that bent on seeing their plans through, I could only imagine what they might do now. Since there wasn't any real danger to be aware of, I decided that it was better to not worry about it. Everyone was enjoying the peaceful cruise, except for Grimm. He wasn't his usual optimistic-self anymore. I usually saw him sitting at the edge of the flight deck towards the bow, looking out towards the endless blue horizon. He never told me what was bothering him, but I ventured a guess that it had to be about Erica. If that was the case, then I knew how he felt. I walked up to him and took a seat next to him so that my feet were hanging off the edge of the ship.
"You still bummed out about Erica," I asked and he nodded. "Come on, man, you act as if you're never going to see her again."
"I don't mean to seem this gloomy, Sir. It's just that I don't know how much longer it'll be until I see her again."
"I don't think it'll be much longer," I said casually.
"Why do you think so?"
"Well, we've stopped the Belkans from causing Judgment Day on Strangereal; they no longer have the Osean and Yuktobanian government by the balls, and we have their future plans. It'll take some time to crack the encryption on the disk, but we'll get there. Once that's out of the way, we'll all have one final sortie and we're free to retire."
"You see yourself retiring after this, Sir?" asked Grimm.
"Hell no, I still have something I have to do before then."
"What's that?"
I looked at Grimm and gave him a smug look. "I still have to go to the moon."
Grimm chuckled at what I said and we continued to talk to each other for a couple of hours. At 1626hrs, I caught wind something in the distance. The sound of a plane's engines humming was accompanied by the sound of a jet. Grimm noticed how I was acting, but he couldn't hear it. If they were a couple of enemy planes, we would've been ordered to scramble and intercept them. It wasn't long before I felt the Kestrel changing direction. What's going on?
"Now hear this; we've got incoming aircraft inbound towards the Kestrel. Arresting cable crews repot to your stations," said an announcement.
I see. we're turning into the wind. Grimm and I headed towards the back of the ship where we met up with Captain Snow and Kei who were already waiting for us. They didn't know what was going on either and we all just watched the horizon with binoculars. The arresting cable crews were working as quickly as they could to set up, but we still couldn't see the incoming aircraft. Once the arrest cables were set, I could hear the plane's engines growing louder. It wasn't long before Kei spotted an incoming F/A-18F with Osean markings. Its landing gear was down along with its tail hook. Further behind it was a C-2 flying in a holding pattern until the F-18 landed. As soon as it landed, the ground crews quickly moved it out of the way so that the C-2 could land. Were we getting some reinforcements? When the F-18 landed, I noticed that it there was something different about it. The wings' length and width were longer as well as the elevators. The thing that gave it away was when I noticed that the engine nozzles' were pointed downward. This indicated that the Super Hornet had thrust vectoring engines. They made another one? The pilot and his RIO both climbed out of the cockpit and ran over towards us while the ground crew reset the arresting cables. They still had the visors on their flight helmets down so we couldn't see their faces. It wasn't until they were standing in front of us that they decided to say something.
"Hey, Kid, it's great to see you again," said the pilot as he removed his helmet. It turned out to Lt. Colonel Harkin and his RIO turned out to be Michelle.
"It's nice to see you too, Captain," she said and Kei shot a jealous glance at her.
"Did the others come too?!" exclaimed Grimm.
"Relax, Lieutenant, they're coming," said Harkin as he pointed towards the incoming C-2.
We all turned to watch as the C-2 came in to land and stop on the flight deck. The ground crews weren't moving as quickly as before because no other planes were coming in. The C-2 shut off its engines and the doors opened. Grimm was on edge as we waited to see everyone get off the plane. Kyle, Danny and a couple of other people got off first. But as soon as he saw Erica get off, he climbed onto the flight deck and ran towards her. They both embraced each other as tight as they could when they got within each other's reach.
"Ahh, they're finally together again," sighed Michelle.
"You sound relieved," I said.
"She wouldn't stop complaining about how she might not see Hans again," said Michelle.
"Speaking of not seeing each other, what have you guys been up to?" asked Captain Snow.
"Need to know basis, Captain," said Harkin.
"And we don't need," I added in an annoyed tone.
Kei and Snow both rolled their eyes before we all headed over to meet the others from our team. It turns out that they weren't the only thing that the plane brought. The IOSS thought it would be a good idea to treat the entire 3rd Fleet to a good Christmas. The C-2 that arrived was bursting with food and drinks for good meals for the next couple of nights. More helicopters were on their way to rendezvous with the remaining ships so that they could deliver the same supplies to their crews. They were scheduled to arrive later on today. Anyways, we began to help unload the plane and got everything ready just as the rest of the helicopter fleet arrived. With nothing else to do for the day, we all mingled with the others from our team. Erica had managed to get Grimm and Kei gifts and I actually felt left out. She ended up telling me that I'd get my gift by the end of the night. We all continued talking until I saw Harkin looking over the F-18 he arrived in and I went over to talk to him.
"Why did they build another one of these?" I asked. "I thought the design wasn't supposed to be duplicated."
"It was never duplicated. This is the F-18 you and Danny flew together," said Harkin.
"What," I quietly exclaimed. "I thought my bird was scrapped after Operation Bunker Shot."
"Kid, a lot of resources went into the development of yours and Naomi's planes. They were both restored and kept at an IOSS facility in case you needed them."
It felt rather bittersweet to see to see my old F-18 because of all the things I went through with it. The first time I flew it was with the first woman I loved, met Cipher with it, almost shot down Yellow 13 with it, and Danny almost died in it. I bet he wasn't too happy to see this thing. Harkin and I didn't talk about it for much longer before we headed towards the mess hall for chow. Rib eye steak was on the menu tonight and everyone was having a good time. Even though everyone was off duty for the moment, I kept my guard up the whole time in case we had to launch. However, it turned out that there was nothing for us to be worried about. We all went to bed with peace of mind. Kei didn't let me sleep all night because she woke me up at exactly 0000hrs for some reason. She was kneeling down by my bunk and resting her head on the edge. She was gently smiling at me as she handed me a small black box.
"Open it," she whispered.
It took me a second to realize that today was Christmas and I gently smiled at Kei as I took the box from her hands. When I opened it, I saw a black dog tag with our squadron's emblem etched into it. I felt a huge sense of pride come over me when I saw this and I couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you," I said softly as I put it on. I then sat up in my bunk and activated my USD to retrieve Kei's gift. Once I had it, I handed it to her. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart," I said.
Kei opened the box to see the swooping blue dove necklace I bought for her. She smiled and asked me to place it around her neck. As soon as it was on, I gently wrapped my arms around Kei's body and pulled her on top of me so that we could finally go to sleep.
December 25, 2010 1957hr
Dinner on the Kestrel was the best meal I ever had in my life. Baked turkey, mashed potatoes, and fresh baked bread were all that I could ask for in a good meal. I felt kind of bad that my squadron and I got first dibs on the food before anyone else, but they all got a fair share. After we were done eating, my team and I headed towards the crew room because Kyle and Michelle had something they wanted to show us. It turned out that they had a gift for us that they thought would suit all of us. We all took a seat and Lt. Colonel Harkin turned on the TV for us. What caught my attention was that the news was on and it was about the President.
"After nearly two months of absence, President Harling decided to make an appearance at a charity event in Oured today. There is much speculation as to why he hasn't been seen in the capitol ever since he failed to meet with Prime Minister Nikanor in North Point for a peace talk in October. Military reports are surfacing as to why the talks had never happened and it was just released that the Sand Island squadron had a hand in his mysterious disappearance when contact was lost with his transport," said the news reporter. Those bastards! "Hold on…. I'm hearing that some of the records, if not all of them, that are being released are actually false. We will bring you the facts once we've determined them. But for now, let's have a word with President Harling. Mr. President, where exactly have you been since October?"
"I'm currently not at liberty to say due to the sensitivity of everything that's happened. What I will tell you for now is that I haven't been in power since I disappeared," said Vincent.
"But what are you doing out here instead of in the Capitol?"
"I wanted everyone to know that I'm still here so that they'll have no doubt in their mind that I'm really the President of Osea. I've tried numerous ways to reach out to the public, but nothing has gotten through. So now I ask everyone to please…."
We weren't able to hear what the President had to say before the SMPTE color bars appeared on the TV. The Osean government managed to censor out the news broadcast before the public could see anything else. However, the TV suddenly switched back to the news broadcast after a couple of seconds and we heard the President calling for the public's support to get him back into the capitol. People from all over the place began to swarm around and cheer for Vincent. I even recognized some of the people who were there supporting him, especially one very famous Music Star.
"Holy crap," muttered Kei. "Yue Gogulski is there!"
"I didn't know you knew about her," I said.
"Are you kidding? She one of my all-time favorite singers! I've always wanted to see her live. If she's there, she can gather more support for Vincent."
There's no doubt about that. We continued to watch the TV and saw that everyone was walking with the President towards the capitol building. There was nothing that could stop him now. The people I recognized around him were actually members of a security detail that Harkin had managed to put together after I left for college. They were also members of Project Pitbull and there was no way that anyone would be able to lay a finger on the President.
"I'm surprised you actually got all of this to work," I whispered to Harkin.
"I know, right? It was a pain in the ass to get all of this set up," he said.
We continued to watch the TV as the President continued to head towards the Capitol and waited for what happened next. The President continued to march towards the capitol with all of his supporters and I could see a bunch of shady characters trying to reach Vincent, but the undercover security detail took care of them with the help of the local police. Harkin was able to keep in contact with the security force and a total of twenty-eight people were confirmed to be assassins who were targeting the President by the time he reached the capitol building. They were met by a team of security guards who proceeded to do a bunch of security test to prove it was really him. Vice President Appelrouth came out of the building's front door and the look on his face was priceless. He was shocked to see that Vincent was still alive. The look soon vanished when Vincent ran his fist into the VP's face and we all cringed at the sight.
"That was a hell of a right cross," said Harkin.
"I taught him that," said Kei.
"When," I asked.
"I taught him when you went into town with Genette. He was a pretty fast learner."
We all went back to watching the TV and watched as the President gathered everyone for a press conference. It didn't take long for them gather in the conference room and soon, the whole country was aware that President Harling had returned. His first order of business was to fire his entire cabinet and called for the imprisonment of the Vice President and his coconspirators. The IOSS was already aware of everyone who conspired in the President's disappearance and they were already making arrests. The press was already asking questions on what Vincent's next step in the war was going to be, but there wasn't much that he could say about it.
"There are still things that need to be taken care of before I can fully address the issue of the war. The road to recovery is a long one, but we must clear a forest of lies before we can pave the way towards the truth. As of now, I'm ordering all Osean Forces engaging in combat actions against Yuktobania to cease all combat operations. Now if you'll excuse me, there's much work to be done," said Vincent and he left the room.
The press began to shout out questions, but they were never answered. Everyone in the crew room of the Kestrel began to smile at what just happened. The news broadcast ended and we all cheered knowing that the President was back in Oured. We now had one less thing to worry about, but our troubles were still far from over and we knew it. Everyone began to head off to bed and I told Kei that I'd meet up with her after I talked to Harkin about something.
"We're almost there, Kid. This war is almost over," he said.
"How soon will it be until the Prime Minister leave's for Oured?" I asked.
"Maybe a couple of days, I'm not really sure. We still have to convince the people that Yuktobania isn't our enemy before we can get him to Oured safely."
I gave him a slight smile and Harkin patted me on the shoulder as he walked past me. I kept thinking about it while I gradually made my way back towards my quarters and I just decided to let things play out for now. When I got back to my room, I opened the door and caught a glimpse of Kei. On the floor was the open box that Erica had given her and I felt myself blushing uncontrollably when I saw my girlfriend. She was blushing just as hard as I was because she was nervous to be seen like this. I quickly walked out and closed the door behind me to gather my thoughts. Holy crap, what was she wearing? That's… I didn't have much time to think about it any longer before Kei opened the door, pulled me inside, and locked the door behind her.
"Feliz Navidad, baby," she said and jumped on me.
December 29, 2010 1720hrs
The others of my team left the day after Christmas to continue with whatever they were doing. Harkin was still here because he heard that the decryption teams were close to deciphering Nastasya's disk. Other than that, there wasn't really much for us to worry about. That was until I noticed a huge fleet of ships on the horizon when I was up in the Kestrel's control tower. The CIC identified them as the Yuke fleet that I had warned them about. Shit, they found us anyways. I quickly left the tower and ran towards the hangar before the order was given. By the time I got there and met up with Lt Colonel Harkin, the order to man battle stations was finally being given.
"What planes do we have that can carry anti-ship missiles?" I asked.
"Super Hornets, the Rafale, and the F-35," said Harkin. "Take your pick."
I never flew the Rafale before and I couldn't waste time in trying to adapt to it and trying to read French too. I also hated flying the F-35 because it wasn't as effective as some of the other aircraft I've flow (Seriously, I have little to no faith in the F-35). Also, the Yuke fleet would've likely had air support so I had to be ready to deal with them if necessary. The only plane I had any faith in was Harkin's Super Hornet, but I needed a RIO to fly it.
"Take your Hornet, I'll be your RIO," he said.
"Colonel, you…"
"Part of being a pilot involves knowing your plane inside and out. I can fly with you. And besides, now I'll finally be able to see how much of a better pilot Captain Nagase is."
I gave him an annoyed glare before we both ran to get dressed in our flight gear. The others from my team arrived soon afterwards and began to get ready as well. I was going up in my custom F/A-18F Super Hornet while Snow and Grimm chose F-35s. Kei was the only one who chose the Rafale M because she taught herself how to speak French after the gas attack on Bana City. As I was climbing into the cockpit, I heard a series of explosions off in the distance. I quickly tuned into the wideband radio frequency so that I could hear what was going on.
"This is missile destroyer Gumrak of the glorious Yuktobanian Navy. We cannot follow a Fleet Commander willing to sink one of his own ships. We will protect Prime Minister Nikanor. All ship that are with us, change course and follow us."
"Any vessel that does not follow the flagship will be fired upon," said the Yuke Fleet Commander.
Yuktobanian ships are actually defecting?
"Protect those brave defectors, launch fighters," ordered Captain Anderson.
The ground crews didn't waste any time in loading our planes with weapons. Two of my OSDs had Harpoon missiles while another four had AMRAAMs. The two on my wingtips held my sidewinders. Everyone else loaded up on all the weapons they could carry before we were hoisted up onto the flight deck. My team took off before I did and I soon followed them. I didn't know what was going on and all I knew for now was that I had to protect the 3rd Fleet. I figured that we'd get more information in the air since we were so close to the enemy.
"A group of comrades have come to our aid. Protect these brave souls," said Captain Anderson over the radio. Not long after he spoke, the song 'The Journey Home' began to screech through my headset. What is this? "Commence battle! We're not alone!"
Who the hell are we supposed to be attacking?!
"Kestrel CIC here. We'll transmit IFF data for the opposing ships. Don't fire on our allies. Can you do that?"
"Just tell me who the hell we're supposed to attack!" I yelled.
"Alright, the situation here is critical. Neutralize the opposing ships as quickly as you can."
I still had no idea who we were supposed to be attacking, but then everything became clear when I noticed that three of the Yuktobanian ships were speeding ahead of the rest of the fleet.
"Unbelievable!" shouted Grimm. "They're firing at their own ships!"
"I'll support the Yuke fleet coming to our side," said Kei and she dove on the nearest enemy destroyer.
We all dispersed to deal with the enemy ships and I headed in to attack the closest destroyer that was targeting a defecting ship. Harkin locked onto it and I ripped fired two of my harpoon missiles at it. The CIWSs (Close in Weapon Systems) on the destroyer opened fire on them, but they still found their mark on the starboard side hull. The ship blew in half and began to sink while I switched over to my next target.
"Those planes… are you the Razgriz?" asked a Yuke sailor over the radio.
I was caught off guard by the sudden question, but I answered him anyways. "Yeah, we are."
"I knew it! This is the Yuktobanian Destroyer, Chuda. It is an honor to fight alongside you."
"Kestrel, we are joining your fleet," said the Captain of the Gumrak.
"You have my gratitude," said Captain Anderson.
"Attention all Yuktobanian forces engaging the Osean 3rd fleet, this is Razgriz leader. Engaging in this fight is pointless. Any sailors and/or ship that don't want to die here will separate from the fleet or abandon your ship. You have your options. I suggest you choose wisely," I said over the wideband radio.
When I looked down at the Yuktobanian fleet, I could see crew members from all of the ships jumping off the sides to escape the inevitable destruction of their ships. More and more of them began to jump into the water and I began to attack the remaining ships. One by one, the ships of the Yuktobanian fleet began to disappear below the waves of the ocean. I don't know if the sailors who abandoned their ship first were afraid to die, or if they wanted to join forces with Osea. Either way, I was glad that they were alive.
"Look, the battle has just taken a new turn," exclaimed Snow.
"Someone out there understands us. I can't believe it!" said Kei.
"Sorry, my eyes are just tearing up looking at our new fleet," said Grimm.
"Keep it together people," said Harkin. "We still have to cover those ships until they make the rendezvous."
The first of the remaining ships we went after was the aircraft carrier. Kei peeled away to deal with the enemy fighters that managed to takeoff while the rest of us concentrated our fire on the carrier. More Su-33s attempted to takeoff, but Grimm to them out before they could reach an effective maneuvering speed. It took several Harpoon missiles and a strafing run on the carriers control tower to sink the damn ship.
"Allied fleet approaching," announced the Kestrel's CIC.
"Osean ships, you mean?" asked Captain Anderson. Hopefully they'll join us. "Hmm… It's probably a waste of time, but request some support."
"Looks like the Osean fleet have been listening to all of our communications up to now. They're calling us traitors that joined forces with the Yukes."
I dove on one of the remaining three Yuktobanian ships and fired my gun into the bridge before Grimm came in to finish it off. As it started taking on water, I headed in the direction of Osean fleet that had just arrived while the rest of my team finished off the remaining Yuke ships. The Kestrel's CIC was already transmitting the new IFF data and all of the fleet's ships were popping up on my HUD as hostile. Unlike the Yukes, they had top cover and they were already gunning for my team.
"The Osean Fleet turned over to the enemy!" shouted Kei.
It was sad to see our fellow countrymen fighting us out of ignorance and hate. In fact, I thought it was straight up pathetic. I could understand harboring a grudge against an enemy for killing someone's friend or family member and I understood how hard it was for them to let it go. There was no other reason for them to call us traitor. However, being accused of treason was the least of our worries now.
"Those planes flying above us… aren't they the Razgriz?" asked the enemy Osean Fleet Commander.
"The one and only," I growled.
"So you have the nerve to respond?! You'll pay dearly for your crime of treason!"
"You forget who you're talking to, sailor," said Harkin. "Attention all attacking Osean forces, this is Razgriz Air Command. You are hereby ordered to halt your attack. Anyone who does not wish to partake in hostile action is either ordered to separate from the attacking forces or abandon your ship immediately. All Osean planes who don't want to die are ordered to either return to base, or land on the Kestrel."
As I flew over the Osean Fleet, I could see fewer people abandoning their ship than the Yuktobanian sailors did. No sooner did I fly over one of the frigates did a missile lock onto me. Harkin launched a set of flares and I looped back around to begin my attack. The first ship I targeted was the aircraft carrier, Barbet. It was still launching fighter off the deck when I sent two harpoon missiles into the portside hull. The rest of my squadron fell into formation around me to commence an all-out attack on the remaining ships.
"My IFF is inop (inoperable)! They're really shooting at me!" said Grimm.
"Of course they are! They don't know us! We're supposed to be dead," said Snow.
"Kid, we've still got enemy fighters on our tail. We can't deal with the fleet like this," said Harkin.
"Edge, you and I are going to take care of those fighters while Archer and Swordsman finish off those ships," I said and we all split up.
The Osean planes consisted of four F-22s that had been deployed from the mainland to support the Osean Fleet once they got within range to hear our radio communications. They were fading in and out from radar and I couldn't get a lock on with my ARMRAAMs. Kei and I peeled away and the enemy formation broke off to engage us. The super maneuverability of my modified Super Hornet threw off the pilots because they weren't expecting me to perform a Kulbit maneuver in an F-18. Nor did they think that I could pull enough lead on them in such a tight turn to fire my gun into the lead plane's engines. His wingman rolled over into a dive in an attempt to get away, but I easily stuck to him and sent a missile his way. The explosion ripped off the right wing and weakened the rest of the Raptor's airframe so that it broke apart as it fell out of the sky. Kei was weaving through her pursuers' attacks and finally got the first strike in when one of the Raptors dove on her. She saw him coming and broke into his attack. The enemy pilot tried to reverse his turn, thinking that Kei had made a run for it, but she reversed her direction as well. The Raptor took its turn too wide, which allowed Kei to pull inside its turn radius and sever the thing's cockpit from the rest of the plane with her plane. The other Raptor was too eager to get revenge and dove on Kei as well, but she saw him coming. She snap rolled out of the way to avoid his gunfire and dove on him when he over shot. Kei then poured her gun into the plane's engines to render it useless.
"Are they seriously hell bent on stopping us?" I asked.
"We can't let them crush our chance for peace!" shouted Kei
"We'll stop them! Just focus on protecting our fleet," said Harkin. "Kid, more enemy planes are inbound from the west. They're probably Yuke fighters so expect Su-33s."
"Captain, all hostile ships are neutralized. We're on our way to lend you some aid," said Snow.
Grimm and Snow fell into formation with me and Kei as we headed for the new enemy formation. We all looked at each other while the music was still playing and we nodded knowing what we had to do. This was our only chance to begin bringing peace back between Yuktobania and Osea.
The enemy formation broke off in different directions and my team did the same. The lead Su-33 turned after me and I doubled back to go after him. I was slowly gaining on him and I quickly performed a high yo-yo to pull enough lead on him, but he rolled over and dove to get away. Normally, I would've dove after him, but my team was having a hell of a time with their opponents. Kei and I were the only ones who actually stood a chance and it was up to us to clear out most of the fighters.
"On your right, right!" shouted Snow. "Grimm, that's yours!"
"I see him," said Grimm and he rolled over his attacker and turned after him.
Grimm was quick to the trigger and managed to shoot down his attacker before he was able to get away. However, another formation of enemy planes arrived and joined the fray. Two of them latched onto Grimm and Kei moved in to help him out. She was coming up from their eight o' clock low and fired a missile on the trailing plane. Before it could hit its mark, she told Grimm to break left and he executed the maneuver when Kei's first target burst into flames. Now that Grimm was in a sharp left bank, Kei now had to deal with a deflection shot, but I knew she could handle it. Her 30mm cannon shells severed the right wing of the enemy Su-33 and the pilot bailed out. While Kei was helping out Grimm, I was helping out Snow.
"Swordsman, watch your back," I called out.
"Dammit, I got one on my tail and I didn't even see it!" he shouted.
Snow was diving with an enemy Su-33 on his tail and I swung in behind him to clear my wingman's six. He saw me coming and peeled away from Snow to try and shake me off of his tail. The Yuke tried to pull out of the dive and enter a climbing spiral. Harkin locked onto him for me and I let a missile off the rail, but it failed to track when the Yuke launched a set of flares and peeled away into another dive. He was desperate to get away and wasn't paying attention when he made his move. He gave me a clear shot at his engines and I sent just enough rounds into them to make them cut out. After I watched the pilot bail out, my missile warning went off and I looked over my right shoulder to see an Osean F-22 launch a missile at me. I barrel rolled over it and nosed over into a dive to try and get away, but this pilot was well aware of my Hornet's capabilities. The dogfight between me and him didn't last long because Snow came to my rescue at the risk of his own life. He had another Osean F-22 on his tail and he was followed by a Yuktobanian Su-33. Grimm and Kei were caught up in a similar situation, except that Kei was tailing an Osean while being pursued by a Yuke and Grimm was gunning for a Yuke that had sank his teeth into an Osean.
"Archer, help out Swordsman," I ordered.
"But what about these other fighters?" he asked.
"They're still trying to kill each other, Lieutenant. Let them sort each other out and we'll deal with them if they decide to come after us," said Harkin.
Grimm acknowledged him and peeled away to help Snow while I moved in to help Kei. I climbed above her and nosed over into a dive on top of her attacker. The way he was flying made me suspect that he didn't see me, but I was still cautious over the possibility that he saw me coming. When I got within missile range, Kei's attacker broke off and tried to lead me into a rolling scissors. I knew that I wouldn't be able to win this fight because the Yuke would out maneuver me.
"Edge, I'm going to need your help with this guy," I said over the radio and she broke off from her target.
I broke off from my target and dove to try and get away. The Yuke chased me without hesitation and I was doing my best to try and shake him. Every maneuver I did drew him closer, but I wasn't able to counter maneuver him in time for me to face a new formation of enemy planes that were inbound towards our location. Harkin's breathing became heavier with each passing second and I could tell that he was getting nervous, but he didn't know that Kei was coming to our aid. When my attacker thought that he had me dead to rights, Kei fired a missile and blew him to hell. The Osean plane that she broke off from was coming after her and Kei quickly broke away to escape. I turned around so that I could help her out. Kei was too far out of range for me to get a lock on her pursuer with a sidewinder but Harkin was able to lock him up with an AMRAAM. I let the missile loose and continued to speed towards my wingman so that I could help her. The enemy pilot deflected to the right in order to avoid the missile and rolled over into a dive to try and get away. Kei saw what happened and dove after the guy with me on her wing. We stuck with the Osean pilot through every twist and turn as he desperately tried to escape. Kei was closing in on the kill but I switched over to the wideband radio channel to listen to him panic.
"I can't get him off me!" he yelled.
"Head back to your base and live to fight another day," I said over the radio.
The Osean pilot hesitated and didn't make a move as he thought about what I had said. "I'd rather die then turn my back on my country."
"Then so be it," muttered Kei and fired her gun into the F-22's fuselage.
"These idiots, can't they see that they're being used?!" exclaimed Snow.
"There's nothing we can do about it. They've made their choice and now they're going to have to face the consequences," said Harkin.
"This makes me sick, dammit," said Grimm
"Kid, Kestrel CIC has confirmation on another formation of bandits headed our way. I don't think they're here to make nice," warned Harkin.
I looked at my radar and confirmed the new formation's heading. Grimm and Snow had joined me and Kei as we headed towards them. But when I looked at their heading again, I saw that they had reversed their direction and were now heading away from us. I guess they knew they couldn't win and decided not to risk a fight with us. Everything seemed calm now and I undid my oxygen mask as I leaned back in my seat. The song was still playing over the radio and I began to calm down as well. I looked over at everyone in my group and I could see that they were looking down at the fleet. When they looked back at me, they were all smiling gently. The sight of Yuktobanian and Osean ships was amazing. We were finally able to get people to join us.
"This is the Captain of the carrier Kestrel. To all the brave souls that have survived, I congratulate you," said Captain Anderson. "Our journey is almost at an end. But we must not waver in our resolve to fight, to reclaim peace between the two nations."
"Amen to that," I muttered and I banked to head back to the Kestrel with the others of my team.
1923hrs OFS Kestrel
When we got back onto the ship, we were all surprised that a total of nine Yuke and Osean pilots had decided to go AWOL and join our cause. The entire fleet was conducting rescue operations of all of the Osean and Yuktobanian sailors that were stranded out in the water after the battle. All of them were brought onto the Kestrel so that we could determine who was willing to join our cause, or if they wanted to continue fighting this meaningless war. Apart from that, we also found out that there was a lot of infighting going on among the crews of the three Yuktobanian ships that joined our fleet. As much as the people who didn't want to join our cause rebelled, most of them decided to help us in the end. Those that refused to do so were going to be held in the Kestrel's brig until the fleet's Captains decided what they should do with them. More and more enemy Osean and Yuktobanian sailors were being gathered on the Kestrel's flight deck and they all sat there in cold, wet uniforms. I was helping out with bringing them on board. There were still a lot more sailors that needed our help and we worked well into the evening to make sure that they were all accounted for. A total of one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one people were rescued and only two hundred and eighteen of them wanted to join us. When everyone was aboard, I was looking over the people who wanted us dead. They all glared at me and I could only look back at them and wonder why they hated us so much. I couldn't bear to look at them because they were so pitiful.
"I hope you and those other demons burn in hell, you Razgriz bastards," shouted one of the Yukes in Russian as I turned away. I froze in my tracks and turned my head slightly.
"What did I ever do to you?" I asked in the same language.
"You killed of my sister! You mercilessly killed her when you attacked her college," he shouted.
"And you killed my friends today!" shouted another Yuke.
"You murdered everyone in the fleet!"
More of the Yuke sailors began to join the commotion and the armed guards that were watching over them raised their weapons in case they had to shoot someone. Just when things seemed like they were going to get out of control, one of the guards hit one of the prisoners in the gut with the butt of his rifle when he got too close. More of the POWs began to stand and protest my actions and I could tell that the guards were getting closer to the edge. If the POWs didn't calm down soon, they were going to riot and then we'd have no choice but to kill them. One of the prisoners started to advance towards me and the closest guard stood next to me like he was going to protect me. I lowered his gun and told him to let the POW through. As soon as the POW was close enough he hit me in the jaw that as hard as he could. I staggered back a little and he hit me again. He wouldn't stop and I wouldn't block his attacks. I wasn't going to stop him from taking out his frustration on me. The guards and my team tried to stop him, but I wouldn't let them. The Yuke POW hit me a total of forty-three times before I could see that he was growing tired. When he tried to hit me again, I grabbed his wrist and looked at him. He thought that I was going to retaliate, but I just pushed him away.
"You can hit me all you want, and you can even kill me, but it won't bring your friends back," I growled. The Yuke continued to glare at me and I looked back at him and every other POW. They all looked at me the same way and they thought that I was going to kill the guy. "You've all made your choice to fight for a shit cause. We warned you to surrender and join us or retreat, but you all decided to try and fight us out of spite and hate. You and your allies could've easily have saved your lives, but you didn't. How dare you accuse us of murder when you were given the chance to live," I yelled.
"Well that doesn't excuse all the other soldiers, sailors, and pilots you killed," shouted another one of the Yuke POWs. More and more of them began to cause commotion. Most of the Osean POWs were still sitting down because they didn't speak Russian and they had no idea what was going on. I wanted to fire a couple of shot off into the air so that I could make them settle down, but then that probably would've made the other guards shoot the prisoners on instinct. I needed another way to shut these guys up and fast. Luckily for me, the Yuke who punched me before tried to hit me again and I countered by grabbing him, throwing him to the ground, and breaking his arm. The crowd quickly fell silent as I turned to glare at everyone else.
"Do you dumb sons-of-bitches know what we're fighting for anymore?! Do you even know why your country even declared war on Osean in the first place?!" I yelled and everyone began to look at each other because they knew I had raised a good point. "None of you had a real reason to fight until the war continued to drag on. All of you had lost friends and family at some point because you don't know why you were told to hate Osea! We've all been tricked into hating each other and we've been played this whole time! I refused to be a puppet for someone else's personal gain and I sure as shit won't let it happen again! As for the rest of you, you're more ignorant than I thought if you continue to fight me for the sole purpose of hating us! I hate you all too, but I put that shit aside so that I could look at the bigger picture and now I can see that all of this hate is meaningless."
"What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean by the bigger picture?" asked one of the Yukes.
Oh, and now they want to listen.
"He's talking about the real reason this war is raging on." I turned around to see Nastasya walking up behind me with Harkin and Captain Bartlett in tow.
"What does he mean then?" asked another Yuke.
"If any of you are curious as to what we're talking about, you must first put aside any animosity towards the Oseans that you have. Otherwise, telling you what's really going on would be pointless. For those of you who can do that follow me to the front of the ship."
As Nastasya turned to walk away, the Yuke POWs began to quietly talk among themselves until one of them got up and headed over to join her. Not long after he got up, a couple more got up to follow them as well. Soon, more than eighty percent of the Yuke POWs had gotten up to hear Nastasya tell them what was going on.
"What were you saying to them, Sir?" asked Grimm.
I had forgotten that he and Captain Snow didn't speak Russian and I filled them in on what I told them and what Nastasya was talking to them about. This brought up the question as to what were we going to say to the Osean POWs.
"Let me take care of this," said Captain Bartlett. "I have ways to deal with stubborn people."
"I thought you were shy around strangers," I joked to which he glared at me. "Alright, alright, do your thing."
My team and I stood by the Kestrel's island and watched as Captain Bartlett screamed at all of the Osean POWs to stand in formation. He had to manhandle a number of them because they thought this was some kind of joke and I actually got a kick out of it. All of the Oseans had a look of fear in their eyes as Captain Bartlett had them standing at attention and cussed everyone out. The ten minutes of shouting seemed a lot longer than it actually lasted, but then he began to level with everyone and told them about the real reason as to why the 3rd Fleet took in the Yuktobanian ships. He didn't let any of them know that Belka was behind any of this and he used President Harling's cease fire order as a reason for them to stop fighting. He even told the POWs that he'd personally tie weights to whoever disobeyed the order and throw them back into the ocean. And after what he did to them, they knew that he wasn't kidding. Everything had finally settled down and Nastasya and Bartlett had gotten the majority of their fellow countrymen to make nice with the others. Those who were too stubborn to listen were thrown into the brig. Our new allies were divided among the ships on the condition that each country keeps their people aboard their country's vessel with the exception of the Yuke pilots that had landed on the Kestrel. It wasn't so much as a trust issue as it was a security one.
As the day went on, the ships Captains all met aboard the Kestrel to discuss what our next course of action was. After Captain Anderson told them about the encoded disk that Nastasya had brought, they all decided that they would wait until it was decoded before they could decide on what they should do. In the meantime, the three Yuktobanian ships that joined us, decided that they'd join the 3rd Fleet with the Kestrel as the Flag Ship. That's what Harkin told me anyways as we waited on the flight deck for the ground crews finished refueling the F-18 Harkin brought with him and Captain Bartlett's F-14.
"What happens next, Sir?" I asked.
"Well depending on what's on that disk, we'll find a way to quickly counter the threat and put an end to this war. Assuming that the next mission the IOSS has to undertake involves the Razgriz, I'm willing to bet that it'll be your last one of the war," said Harkin.
"I sure hope so," I muttered.
"I still think you should retire after this."
"I know."
Harkin patted me on the shoulder as we turned to walk towards his plane. I didn't say anything to him as we continued to walk. Captain Bartlett was taxiing onto the catapult and I was kind of shocked to see Nastasya sitting in the back seat. I thought we needed her to explain the information she took. Harkin then told me that the information would be relayed to her and then she'd contact us once she could explain it if that's what it took. Since Pops was still commanding the entire air operation, it was ultimately his decision on how he was going to act on it. Anyways, Harkin got in the F-18 he came in and taxied towards the next available catapult. I was soon joined by, Kei, Grimm, and Snow and we all watched as our superiors took off to head back to Osea.
"There they go again," muttered Kei.
"Do you think that Captain Anderson was right when he said that our journey was almost at an end?" asked Grimm.
"I believe him," said Kei. "If those Yuke ships could spread the word to the rest of their country, we could gain more support."
"It could happen," said Snow. "I mean, look at the support we have already."
"I agree," said a voice with a Russian accent. We all turned around to see the six Yuktobanian pilots who had joined us. They all looked like they were seasoned veterans and I was actually intimidated by the sight of them. The man that led them was a Major and he was accompanied by two Captains, two Senior Lieutenant, and a Junior Lieutenant. "However, you should be glad that you didn't have to fight against me and my men, Captain. You would've lost to us within a matter of minutes."
"If that's what helps you sleep better at night, Major," said Snow.
"Ha, you wouldn't have stood a chance against Major Egorov," said one of the Captains.
"Look, I'm not trying to have a pissing contest with you guys right now. Let's just be glad we didn't have to kill each other," I said and everyone nodded in agreement.
"I agree," said Egorov. "How about we talk more over dinner?"
We all headed towards the mess hall and talked about what we knew about the war so far. The defecting Osean pilots joined us too and all of them had a hard time believing that Belka had any involvement. Their skepticism wasn't eased even after I told them about the Arkbird's destruction and all of the other things we did. Captain Spears, one of the Osean pilots, told us that he knew we weren't dead. First Lieutenants Handley and Hardrict went on to tell us about how they refused to believe that we betrayed Osean when the brass branded us as traitors. The Yuke pilots on the other hand told us that they were relieved when they heard that we were dead. Major Egorov was the only one who was disappointed about our death because he really wanted to fight against us. Captains Krupin and Orlov weren't looking forward to the day they had to fight us and neither were Senior Lieutenant Volkov and Barkov, and Junior Lieutenant Petrov. The only reason they were here was because they trusted the judgment of Major Egorov and the only reason he was here was because he was honor bound to serve under Prime Minister Nikanor. Whatever the reason they were here, I was just glad that we now had some more allies. The more we talked to them, the more we came to realize that that we were no different from each other. We were brothers. We were all the same. We were fighting each other not for ourselves, but for someone else's ideals. War always stemmed from the bitterness of old men in suits and they would spread it to others who were dumb enough to follow. From there, they would use the media to spread fear onto the citizens who would then turn to their government for protection. This was exactly what Vice President Appelrouth tried doing in November City. The guy who took over for the Prime Minister in Yuktobania tried doing the same thing. But unlike Appelrouth, he attracted more support for the war.
"So, what do you plan on doing when this war is over?" asked Captain Spears.
"I'm going to retire," said Captain Snow. "The first thing I'm going to do is take my wife to bed and then take my family to Macon for vacation. What about you, Nagase?"
"I'm going for a night on the town. I'm talking about a shopping spree, a day at the spa, and a meal at a fancy restaurant," she said.
"I'm gonna Visit Captain Davenport's family again. They deserve to know what really happened to us, and to Chopper," said Grimm and we all nodded. "What about you, Captain Spears?"
"I'm going to become an instructor over at McNealy. With the way some of these kids are flying these days, they need someone to kick their asses into shape. I bet you'd probably want to join me, eh Captain," said Spears towards me.
"Not really, I have a bunch of traveling that I'll have to do when this is over," I said.
"What do you mean?" asked Kei.
"There are a bunch of people's graves I need to shit on and a hell of a lot more people I need to apologize to. Even after all that's happened, I can't forgive myself for all the things we've done in this war," I said.
"But you didn't know that you were being used by your superiors," said Senior Lieutenant Volkov.
"Regardless if we knew about it or not, we're still responsible for their deaths." I wanted to drone on about how I still harbored the guilt of those that I've killed. Doing so would remind the others of the same things they've done and I couldn't let that happen. Even though none of them would admit it if I asked them, I could tell that they had a lot of regrets about what they've done in this war. I could see the sorrow and fatigue behind their smiles. When I looked at everyone, they just gazed at me like I was going to continue with what I was going to say. "Anyways, the first thing I'm going to do is take a shower. A long, hot shower," I said.
"Now that, I can appreciate," said Captain Spears. "But what are you going to do after the war?"
"I don't really know. Even after all this time, I've never really given it much thought. I might just stay in the military."
"I thought you wanted to go to the moon, Sir," said Grimm.
"If that's the case, then he should join me in working at Basset," said Kei.
"Well, there's an idea," I said and I went back to eating.
I did want to go to space, but it only seemed like a dream with the way my life was going. My life expectancy was getting shorter and shorter with each day that the war dragged on. Despite everything that we've done in this war, I don't regret the time I've spent with my friends. We only had each other to rely on this entire time and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to fly with. After all of this was over, I was going to have them over for dinner along with our RIOs.
Sorry this chapter took so long, but I'm getting bogged down with school and I spent a lot of time trying to unlock the eighth mission in Ace Combat Infinity. And after I saw the last couple of cut scenes, I developed a whole new idea about another story I could write. Depending on how everything plays out in the end, I'll decide if that story will be a continuation of Antonio's adventures. Speaking of which, does anyone know how the game is going to continue? Like is it going to be updated with a mission 9 or is there going to be a new game? Also, for those of you who've played the campaign in Ace Combat Infinity and Assault Horizon, is Bishop supposed to be Slash or Viper? I'd like to know and it doesn't say anything about what happened to Bishop after Assault Horizon or anything about Slash and Viper's real names in Acepedia. Also, is there any concrete proof that proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that PJ is dead?