Chapter 31 – Cerberus
December 30, 2010 1449hrs, OFS Kestrel
Blaze: I'm just glad I got to catch up with you after all this time, though I wish it weren't like this.
Shiro: I know what you mean. But maybe when this is all over, we could actually meet up at our usual spot in Oured. You've gotta be eligible for leave by now. Plus I 'm sure the President would like you to stop by the capital at some point. I know Harkin would.
Blaze: I guess so.
Shiro: Anyways, tell me about your new girlfriend.
Blaze: Her name is Kei Nagase. She's just as stubborn as Miranda was and just as dedicated as you are. The three of you would've been great friends.
Shiro: She better not break your heart, or I'll have to beat her up.
Blaze: She's one of us. Besides, you'd seriously beat up one of your fans?
Shiro: I didn't think she'd know about me.
Blaze: Well you are pretty famous all over the world now. Don't you have a concert in Oured on New Year's?
Shiro: Yeah. Are you about to ask me for a favor?
Blaze: More like I'm calling in on one. Or did you forget?
Shiro: LOL, smartass. Yes, I'll hook you up and we can all hang out afterwards. I'd rather be around 'real' people for a change instead of half of these fake celebrities I'm forced to associate myself with.
Blaze: I'm glad to see that you haven't become one of them.
Shiro: I promised you that I wouldn't. Anyways, I've got to get going. My agent needs me to prepare for an interview. I love you, Antonio. I'll tell Buster that you said 'Hi'.
Blaze: I love you too, Naomi. Thank you.
[Disconnected]
Ever since the war started, I haven't been able to get in touch with any of my friends. Harkin managed to arrange an IM date with my closest friend and I was glad to hear from her after all this time. After I logged out of my IM account, I logged onto my account on a stock brokerage website so that I could see if all of my shares in Gründer Industries were sold. With everything that was going on, I figured that it was only a matter of time before their stocks plummeted. When I saw that I was three times richer than I already was, I closed my laptop and placed it back in my USD. Anyways, I got up from my bunk and headed towards the flight deck. Everything was calm again. The three Yuktobanian ships were holding formation with the rest of the 3rd Fleet as we headed back to Port St. Hewlett. The President ordered the fleet to head back so that we could regroup with more of our allies. From there, we would form a new task force to deal with the new threat we faced. We were still a long way from home, but at least we were headed back. However, I was a little scared about the reception me and my team would face once we arrived. I didn't want to go into hiding again because of bigotry and animosity, but none of it mattered as long as I was with Kei. She was on the flight deck as well and she stood beside me so that she could rest her head on my shoulder.
"Why is it that you're always up here in the cold?" she asked.
"I just love the view out here. From my perspective, I don't know what's beyond that horizon, but I know that there's a brighter side over it," I said.
"You're not very good at being poetic, but I know what you mean."
"Yeah, but we're almost there," I said as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder.
We stood together on the flight deck for another few minutes while we talked about our plans after everything was over. I was going to ask the President to officially join the OADF with my rank and service record intact. I was also going to ask if Kei and I could stay together no matter where we were deployed to. Vincent still 'owed me one' and I was hoping that this wasn't too much to ask for. I didn't care if we were assigned to separate squadrons, though I'm sure she would've minded, but I just wanted to be with her. Kei just didn't want to be stationed around McNealy because of her mother. I didn't mind were we were going to be stationed, but I had a feeling that I'd end up somewhere familiar. Anyways, we stood on the flight deck for another few minutes until all available combat pilots were ordered to report to the crew room. My team and the other nine defecting pilots from the other day took our seats while Pops stood at the front. He was waiting for the projector to warmup so that he could fill us in on what was going on.
"We've decoded the disc that the "Major" brought back with her," said Pops.
Alright, what's the Belkan's endgame? Pops went on to tell us that the disc contained the blueprints for a mass retaliation weapon that they called V2. It was more powerful than a couple of the nukes the Belkans used in the last war. The thing that separated V2 from them was that it was a MIRV (Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicle) missile that could hold enough warheads to wipe out half of all the major cities in Yuktobania or Osea. Development of a weapon like this would've taken years to achieve, but the Belkans managed to do it since the end of the war 15 years ago. One thing that eluded me was how they were going to deploy a weapon like V2 when Belka's nuclear capabilities had been disarmed. If they were able to secretly build a WMD like V2, who's to say that they couldn't develop some kind of launch method. My jaw practically hit the floor when Pops told us that the Belkans had completed construction of the SOLG (Strategic Orbital Linear Gun). From what the Nastasya's data told us, the SOLG was an unmanned A-Sat that could fire Nukes from orbit. It was controlled from the ground, but we didn't have the slightest idea of where it was being controlled from. That was until the Andromeda was able to trace Schenze's transmission to the Arkbird when we destroyed it. The transmissions were coming from South Belka or North Osea according to politics. The Andromeda's crew was able to confirm that the transmissions came from an experimental facility that was owned by Gründer Industries and the President of the company turned out to be a member of the Grey Men. I knew it! The facility was actually a cover up for the company's true goal of uniting North and South Belka through the construction of a gigantic tunnel that would be used to smuggle in military supplies and equipment without being detected.
One thing that scared me was what else they were hiding in that tunnel. For all I knew, they had all they needed for an all-out offensive on Osea ready to deploy. And since most of the Osean forces were still in Yuktobania, the Belkans would face lighter resistance which would allow them to penetrate even further before we could stop them. Add the SOLG into the mix and Belkan world domination was a sure thing. I could tell that Pops was nervous about this whole situation because we didn't have the resources to put an end to this. Thirteen combat pilots wouldn't be enough to bring Belka to its knees. We'd need ground support, Special Forces, more air support, and even an AWACS if we were going to stop them. Time was of the essence as well. Pops was pointing out the key points of the facility to us until he began to explain the tunnel that was dug into the side of the mountains.
"And in that tunnel…" he began, but he was cut off by a loud boom and violent rocking of the Kestrel. I was knocked out of my seat and I held my head because I was so heavily dazed. My ears were ringing as I slowly got up off the ground and looked around the room. "What was that?!"
"The Kestrel just took a missile hit. Enemy unknown," announced the CIC commander over the loud speaker and an alarm began to blare. "We can't identify it in time. Additional missile incoming! Razgriz, launch immediately and gain altitude to escape!"
I quickly shook off my grogginess and tried to account for everyone. Everyone was alright and we ran towards the hangar deck to get our gear. When we got there, we saw that half of the place was on fire. The first missile had detonated on the lower decks, but the explosion tore through a couple upper decks too. We were lucky that our planes were still in one piece and I was even luckier that Rico was still alive.
"This'll probably be the last time this ship launches an aircraft, so go ahead and pick the best plane we got in here!" shouted one of the crew chiefs.
"But our planes don't have catapult hooks!" I shouted.
"Pick whatever you want, we'll catapult it into the sky!" said Rico. "We're going to get you there no matter what, alright?"
"Razgriz, get in your planes and get ready. Ground crews, I want as many Sidewinders and AMRAAMs as you can fit into mine and Captain Nagase's plane and I want as many Sidewinders and AGMs as you can fit on Captain Snow's and Lieutenant Grimm's planes, now!" I ordered and I looked over at Major Egorov and Captain Spears. "I want you guys to load up as much air-to-air and air-to-ground ordinance as you can fit onto your planes. We're going to need your help out there."
"Negative, Captain, we won't be able to help you this time," said Spears. "This ship's going under too fast for us to launch with you. You have to get your team in the air before it's too late!"
"Da (Russian for 'yes'), we won't be much good to you dead, Captain," said Major Egorov.
I was about to say something else, but the second missile impacted the ship and exploded inside part of the hangar as well. I was knocked off my feet and nothing else, but I saw that some more of the Kestrel's crew were caught in the explosion. There was nothing that could be done for them. Damage control was trying desperately to combat the spread of the fire, but an order was issued for everyone who wasn't conducting aircraft launch to abandon the ship immediately. Spears and Egorov ordered their men to follow them off the ship while I got back onto my feet and headed off to get into my plane. The ground crews were working extremely fast to get all of our weapons loaded and they even began to jury-rig catapult hooks onto the nose wheels of our planes. Everything was ready within matter of minutes and we were hoisted up onto the flight deck. I was the last one to be hoisted up and I could feel the ship trembling violently as she took on water.
"Antonio, can you hear me?" asked Rico over the radio.
"Yeah, what's up?" I asked.
"Listen, I've managed to make a few upgrades to your plane specifically. You're able to track up to six air-to-air targets simultaneously and I was able to increase your weapon's load capacity. You can now hold up to six AMRAAMs in the central bay before they have to reload and your gun's rate of fire has been increased as well. I would've tried to give the others the same upgrades, but I didn't have the time."
"Thanks for the update, now get your ass off the ship. I'll see you next time, bro."
All three of my teammates were already hooked on all three of the Kestrel's catapults while I continued to taxi into position. The ground crews were scared because of how fast the ship was sinking. We were listing heavily to the starboard side and sinking rather quickly. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't just as nervous as the ground crews. Kei was the first one to launch, followed by Grimm, and then by Captain Snow. As soon as Snow took off, I began to taxi into position. The aircraft guide was trying to keep himself together, but it was obvious that he was scared. He kept screwing up his hand gestures and one of the crew chiefs had to take over for him. He was just as scared, but he was able to remain calm enough to hook me up the first time. By the time I was hooked up, the Kestrel's bow lowered ten degrees to the front and eleven degrees to the right. It might not have seemed like much, but this was a huge deal. If I didn't have enough speed when I launched, I was going to be thrown straight into the water.
The AB launched me as soon as everyone was out of my and I was pulling back as hard as I could on the stick. My X-02 was headed for the water when it left the flight deck and I almost felt my heart leap out of my chest when I saw my altimeter read seven feet. I could see the ocean water shooting up behind my plane when I looked in my rearview mirror. My plane was shuddering terribly as it slowly began to gain altitude. Once I gained enough speed and altitude, I turned to join the others of my team.
"Aircraft launch confirmed! Catapult crew will now evacuate the ship!"
When my wingmen formed up around me, we started circling the fleet. In the center of the remaining seven ships was a huge plum of dark grey smoke where the Kestrel held position. The bow of the ship was almost completely underwater and was now sinking faster than before. Within minutes, the Kestrel was already halfway under water. Further ahead of YNS (Yuktobanian Naval Ship) Dub, there shot up a large fountain of water.
"Razgriz leader to Andromeda, what was that explosion in the water," I asked.
"We've confirmed that the attacks came from an enemy submarine. Destroyer Dub just took it out," said the Andromeda's CIC commander.
I led the others over the Kestrel's final position one last time to pay our respects to the ship that saved so many people. I remembered how Captain Anderson bellyached to Genette about how he's always lost, but I never really understood what he meant. Whether or not he realized how important his role was in this war, his ship, his fleet, and the men and women who served under him were far more valuable than any other fighting force Osea had deployed, and that was worth saluting. I knew I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Goodbye, Kestrel. And thank you.
"Kid, come in," hailed Harkin over the radio.
"Colonel, it's damn good to hear your voice," I said
"Likewise, I just heard about what happened and I'm glad you all made it, but now it's time for you all to go to work."
"What have you got?"
"The experimental facility the data refers to is located in Sudentor, Osea. The Yuktobanian fleet sent the data to all available Yuke squadrons in the hopes that they'll lend you some aid and they're already en route. We haven't been able to get a hold of them so we can't tell you what their intentions are. Osean ground forces are headed there too, but they haven't been told the whole situation either. I managed to get a hold of some old friends of mine and they're going to rendezvous with you once you get there," said Harkin.
"Are they going to try and stop us, Sir?" asked Grimm.
"I can't tell you if they are. Everything is too ambiguous to give you an accurate sitrep of what you'll encounter over there, so stay on your toes. In the meantime, we'll try to get you as much support out there as quickly as we can."
"Roger that, Colonel, and thanks," I replied as I turned towards vector 094.
There was something about the silence of my group that bothered me. We all knew the end was near, but I was scared about what would happen. Would this lead to another war with Belka? We fought so hard to bring peace between Yuktobania and Osea, but I didn't want to fight anymore. You'll never know peace, Castillo!
"We've come a long way in the past four months," said Kei.
"Yeah, I'm surprised it only took me half as long to become famous again," I said in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Kei was giving me an annoyed look. "I'm just kidding. But yeah, I know what you mean."
"Hey, Blaze, did you ever think that we'd be the biggest factor in deciding the outcome of this war?" asked Snow.
"I know I didn't," said Grimm. "I didn't think a reserve pilot like me would end up in a group like this, Sir."
"To be honest, Snow, I knew that the enemy would know my name, but I didn't think it'd be like this," I said. "I thought that we'd see the siege of Cinigrad together, but I'm glad we didn't."
"Me too," said Kei. "But now we have the weight of the world placed on our shoulders."
"It's times like this that I would ask for some divine help," I said.
"You make it seem like you've been through something like this before," said Grimm.
"Situations like this are my forte, Hans, but they're never easy. I'd like to think that's part of the reason we've made it this far."
"That, and you have some kickass wingmen watching your back," said Kei.
"Yeah, that too," I said.
We continued towards our objective and I began to reflect on some things that led up to this point. The Belkans were going to get their revenge, no matter the cost and I wanted to stop them however I could. Even if had to kill all of them, I'd do it just to bring peace back. This scared me and I started to question my humanity again. I wanted to ask what the others were thinking at this point, but I was just as scared of their answers. We continued to fly well into the afternoon at top speed as we headed for Sudentor, but it didn't seem like we were going all that fast. The rain and headwind we encountered really pissed me off when we flew over Hollister because it was only slowing us down. Bad omens always seem to appear at the worst times. It wasn't long after we hit this bad weather that our radios began to pick up some static. I couldn't make it out at first, but it soon became clear as to what was being broadcasted.
"This is President Harling of the Osean Federation. Attention, all Osean and Yuktobanian officers and soldiers currently on the battlefield. Let us put down our guns and come out of the trenches." He finally made it! "The Osean capital of Oured has been freed of the people who took advantage of my absence to usurp control of my country. Once robbed of my freedom and of my ability to do the right thing, I now stand again under the light of the golden sun and I do so with the honorable Yuktobanian Prime Minister Nikanor by my side. We have resolved our terrible and unfortunate differences, and the war is now over."
I almost couldn't believe it and I looked at the others to see them smiling through their oxygen masks. Prime Minister Nikanor had safely made it into Oured and now he and Vincent were clearing things up.
"This is Prime Minister Nikanor, Head of Government for the Union of Yuktobanian Republics. Attention all officers and soldiers of Osea and Yuktobania currently on the battlefield. Please watch as President Harling and I stand shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand. President Harling's words are true. The war is over, but there is still one more battle left to be fought."
"We believe that those who have tried to stir hatred between us are preparing a weapon that could wipe out half of all metropolitan areas in both of our countries. Our forces are in the air as we speak, determined to stop this plan dead in its tracks. Which of our countries will be hit by this machine of destruction? That we do not know," said Vincent.
"However, that is no longer important. No matter which of our countries gets hit, it will be a severe blow to all of us," added Nikanor.
"So I ask you, members of the military, if you see it in your hearts, please utilize the resources available to you to help our brave pilots. Right now they are now flying east to meet the enemy."
We were ten minutes out from Sudentor and I was praying that someone would help us. I didn't want to me and my team to fight and possibly die alone in this imminent battle. There was so much at stake here and I didn't want the hatred of the Oseans and Yukes to be what blinded them into destroying everything.
"To those of you who still dare to hide behind the power of their hateful weapons, bring yourselves out to the light of peace and harmony!" challenged Nikanor.
We heard our radios erupt with cheers and I felt a surge of hope shoot through me. I've seen the end of one war already, but I never thought I'd ever see one end like this. I was going to try my hardest to stop our enemies from launching their plans and I knew my team felt the same. We readied ourselves for whatever happened as we finally arrived over Sudentor. The city was crawling with Osean Military forces and my radar was picking up multiple enemy IFF signatures. This is going to be like the Vladimir Mountains all over again!
"Those are Yuke fighters," warned Grimm.
I armed my AMRAAMs and selected my targets before they got within range. Here we go. We were about to launch our missiles, but the sudden sound of someone whistling The Journey Home threw me off.
"This is the Yuktobanian 703rd Squadron. We heard the President's speech. We will fight with you," said the Yuke flight lead in Russian.
"Razgriz, hold your fire," I ordered.
"What's wrong?" asked Grimm.
"They're going to join us," gasped Kei and we watched as the Yuke circled around us to fall in formation.
"Let us sing that song, too. We're going with you," said an Osean squadron.
"So are we," said another.
Four Yuktobanian Su-35s fell into formation around us along with two F-22s and two F-16s. The further we flew the more allies we gained. It was a moving sight. I didn't think that they'd be able to put aside their differences to join our cause. They were all singing The Journey Home as we flew towards our final AO.
Thoughts endless in flight
Day turns to night
Questions you ask your soul
Which way do I go?
How fast is too slow?
The journey has its time, then ends
"This is the Osean First Fighter Wing. I just knocked out the Brigade Commander. We'd also like to help."
"This is the Yuktobanian 172nd Fighter-Bomber Squadron. We love that song, too. We brought an AWACS with us."
"La, la, la. Listen to our beautiful voice!" jeered the Yuke AWACS. "This is AWACS Oka Nieba. That would mean "Sky Eye" in your language ("Eye of the heaven", according to Google Translate). We got a message from your boss. I'll patch it in."
"The SOLG just docked with the last cargo shipment from the mass driver. It may be fully operational soon. The Andromeda has tracked down its transmission link. It's still coming from Schenze. I'll be briefing you, so pay attention," said Pops.
Our main focus was to attack the SOLG's control system that was located inside the tunnel under the Waldreich Mountains. It was the same tunnel that Pops told us about just before the Kestrel sank. We had to gain control of the tunnel entrance controls. Osean ground forces were going to advance on the facility to thin out any enemy positions that could hold up the airborne troops that will then attack the control system entrance. Once the tunnel was open, someone had to fly into the tunnel and destroy the SOLG's control system from the inside. My team had our work cut out for us. We had to provide CAS for all allied forces while maintaining air superiority over the area.
"Gründer Industries has detected your approach and they're asking for help from the warmongers still left in both Osea and Yuktobania. Said they'd hand over the third V1 tactical nuke in exchange. They're hiding the more powerful V2 from them," said Pops. "Now listen, they're gonna be sending out fighter jets."
"Roger that, Pops," I said and everyone in our combined formation dispersed to take out the facilities defenses.
The enemy Oseans, Yuke, and Belkans were going to try everything they could to stop us. I was betting that they'd even continue to fight each other to get the nuke.
"This is the sky that will determine our fate," said Snow.
"We have to win this battle and bring back peace!" said Kei.
"We will," I growled. "I'm sick of all this pointless fighting!"
Grimm, Snow, and the 172nd squadron dove on the facility and began to attack all enemy defenses that were holding up the allied ground forces while me, Kei, and the remaining four fighters began to circle around the surrounding airspace to provide top cover. Explosions echoed throughout the night sky while the resulting flames lite up the area. AA tracers were shooting up like fireworks in an attempt to hit us, but they didn't. It was an amazing sight to see. The Osean tanks were advancing along the roads while the air-to-ground teams took out the facility's pillboxes. Kei and I soon dove in to help them out once Oka Nieba confirmed that there were no enemy aircraft in our immediate area, but he warned us that they were on their way. Kei and I went after the Gun Towers that were sending out SAMs and AA tracers towards our allies, but we made short work of them. Our sidewinders burrowed into the turrets before they exploded and spewed out flames from every opening.
"Alright, there it is. Lock, load and stand by," said one of the Yuke Commando teams. They had just joined the Osean Airborne Unit that was on its way here.
"Razgriz, we need to clear out those AA defenses before those troops arrive. Get on it now," I ordered.
My team acknowledged and dove in to attack the remaining five Gun Towers. I wasn't expecting this to be easy and the hairs on my arms and back of my neck began to stand up when I went in for my attack. Tracers were flying too close for comfort and missiles were coming in from every direction. I managed to get away unscathed when I finally sent my missiles into my target and I quickly turned to attack another tower. This one's fire was more accurate and I couldn't lock onto it quick enough to send a missile towards it, but Grimm managed to capitalize on the situation to send a couple of AGMs into the base of the tower so that it collapsed. The other then swooped in to finish off the others.
"The Razgriz suppressed the AA guns for us. We're landing," said the airborne troops.
"This is the 112th Infantry Battalion. We were preparing to launch into Yuktobania, but the President's words convinced us to change our battle mission. Now commencing attack on the enemy facility."
"All First Fighter Wing units listen up! There go the air assault choppers! We're going in too!"
"First Fighter Wing, be careful when you're headed in there. Oka Nieba just confirmed multiple hits on radar. Enemy fighters are inbound," I warned and the commander acknowledged.
More ground forces had arrived to support the ground operations and more allied aircraft were inbound, but they weren't the only ones. More enemies were showing up and I didn't know if we could hold them off just by ourselves. Enemy fighters were swooping in from every direction and my team and I all headed in to engage them.
"Don't worry about the Yuke fighters! Get the Wardog ghosts! Follow me, we're going to put an end to all wars once and for all!" said Hamilton.
"Whoa, Hamilton's here too," said Grimm in awe.
"Be careful. He was trained by the Grabacr aggressors," said Kei.
"I'll deal with him if he decides to pick a fight," I said. Cipher's student verses Ashley's student, this should be interesting.
"Just shoot down that lead plane and this'll be all over," said one of the enemy Yukes.
"They'll learn soon enough. Our ace can't be shot down," said Grimm confidently.
I took a gander at the ongoing situation. The Osean and Yuke warmongers had finally arrived on station and were fighting battles on two fronts. Neither side wanted the other two to get their hands on the V1 that was promised. They were fighting a losing battle but I doubted that they cared.
Oka Nieba confirmed that there were multiple fighters inbound and that they'd be on top of us within a matter of minutes. Kei and I turned to engage them and we confirmed that Osean F-22s and Yuke Su-37s were the targets. There were a total of twelve of them and they were all fighting each other as they closed in on the facility. We both climbed above the enemy fighters and then dove on them when we were high enough. They weren't paying attention to us as we locked onto them and fired our sidewinders at four of our new targets. They didn't know where the attack was coming from and they all fell out of the sky in flames. The remaining enemy fighters regrouped with their allies and began to search for me and Kei as we dove for the deck and sped away from them. A minute passed by before the Oseans and Yukes began to gun for each other again. I circled back around with Kei and climbed up to meet the enemy planes again. They still didn't know that where we were attacking from when I fired a sidewinder into another enemy fighter and Kei managed to shoot down three of them with a salvo of AMRAAMs.
The remaining four fighters had finally spotted us as we continued to climb past them. Kei and I broke off in different directions as we turned back and dove on our enemies and we saw that they had broken off in multiple directions to box us in. One of my attackers was coming in from ten o' clock high and another coming from seven o' clock low. I turned and dove away between both of them so that they couldn't get a shot off on me. Kei was in a similar situation where her attackers tried to box her in with differences in altitude. Anyways, one of our attackers would follow us while the other circled above. My attacker was trying to force me into a position where his wingman could effectively attack me, but they didn't know that we were luring them into a trap. Kei was open to attack from her enemy from overhead and she evaded both of her attackers so that they had to regroup to chase her again. She then broke hard right towards me after I dodged an attack that left me open. I wasn't able to dodge the attack from my overhead attacker, but I wasn't too worried about it. He was too eager to shoot me down that he didn't see Kei coming. After the Su-37 bit the dust, Kei's attackers had gotten back on her six and I barrel rolled over my pursuer to clear off Kei's tail. I was able to fill one plane up with enough lead to make the pilot bail out, but I couldn't get the other guy off of her before my final attacker got back on my tail. We both began to weave around the sky while our attackers tried to shoot us down. It wasn't until Kei climbed up to cross my flight path that I broke left to avoid an attack. When she did, her attacker flew in front to me and I was able to fire my gun into the Su-37's cockpit. I saw the fighter beginning to Dutch roll and nose over towards the ground before I rolled away to continue evading my attacker. The chase didn't last long because Kei came to my rescue soon after I cleared her six. After we were clear, we headed back over the experimental facility.
"This is the 112th infantry Battalion. We've arrived at the entrance to the control facility."
"Okay, landing stations! We'll take the facility from the roof!"
"The 1st Airborne Battalion has captured the roof of the control facility."
Now we're making progress.
"Dammit, looks like we really did open the gates of hell. How could we have come to this?" growled Hamilton over the radio. "It's them… They've dragged us all into this… The Wardog ghosts, the Ghost of Razgriz!"
"Yeah, let's get 'em!"
"Get those bastards," shouted the warmongers.
They'll just die like the rest. The remaining Osean and Yuke warmonger aircraft regrouped into a single squadron and began an all-out attack on our allied forces. More of our allies were on the way, but a sudden flash of light and a loud explosion from the direction they were coming from erased them from existence.
"What the hell was that?! Did they set off a nuke?!" I asked.
"Air attack," shouted one of the Osean soldiers. "It's not from a plane!"
"The SOLG is attacking!" advised Oka Nieba.
Another Nuke went off soon afterwards and I was distracted to the point where I didn't even realize that I was being shot at from every direction until my left wing took a hit from a Yuke 30mm canon. Not only that, the rest of my team was tangled up in a massive fur ball where we had at least eight enemies gunning for us at once. Our allies had taken a serious toll and there weren't that many allied planes left.
"This is Oka Nieba. Listen up, everyone in the choir. The enemies are all going after Razgriz at once."
"We'll protect them," said an allied Osean.
"We're with you," said an allied Yuke
I saw more allied planes streak towards us and dive into the fur ball. They were all flying F-15Cs and they knew how to use them. I couldn't say that their flying was on par with the rest of us, but they were able to outfly the warmongers. Other than that, I was able to bag a few enemies for myself and my team. It wasn't enough to stop our remaining allies from being shot down though. I took in the situation to see who was causing the most problems for us. That's when I saw a very familiar black MiG-1.44 weaving through any attack that came towards it. Green… I headed for the MiG and latched onto its tail when it broke hard right to dive away from an allied Yuke's attack. At first, I didn't think he saw me, but the MiG pulled a Cobra Turn in the middle of the dive, causing me to overshoot.
"I got you right where I want you, Castillo," growled Hamilton.
He knows who Green is… "Don't get too comfortable back there. You'll be a burning hole in the ground soon enough," I replied back as I began my evasive maneuvers.
Hamilton was good and there were certain point in our fight where I knew I couldn't shake him even with the most complex counter maneuvers I've learned and developed myself. Some of them left me open to attack that I was fortunate enough to have missed. No, that's not it. His aim just sucks. I continued to try and shake Hamilton off me, but he wouldn't let up. He kept sending missiles and bullets my way in an attempt to shoot me down, but he was missing me by some pretty wide margins.
"So tell me, Hamilton, who is he?" I asked.
"Who's who?" he asked like he didn't care if he gave me an answer.
"Who's the fucker who flew that plane before you?"
"What's it to you?"
"I've been meaning to kill him ever since last month," I growled.
Hamilton began to laugh as he launched another salvo of missiles at me that I evaded. "I almost forgot that he killed your dumbass wingman. If I had it my way, I would've demoted him two ranks instead of promoting him. I wish I could've seen the look on his parents' faces when you told them he was dead," mocked Hamilton.
I led Hamilton into a high speed rolling scissors in the hopes of getting him to predict my next move, but he still wouldn't loosen up. Shit, if he could actually shoot worth a damn, I'd be dead by now. I had to find some way of bringing my sights on the asshole if I was going to shoot him down, but there was no way that I could shoot him down while he was behind me….or could I? If Harkin could do it, there's no way I couldn't. I pulled into a climb and began to claw for altitude while I began to weave through all of Hamilton's attacks. I needed altitude if I was going to pull this off. One thing I could've tried was to make Hamilton stall by pushing the service ceiling of our planes, but we were both on equal terms when it came to that. Anyways, we were both at thirty thousand feet when I finally leveled off and hit the afterburners to speed away from Hamilton. My Wyvern had a speed and acceleration advantage over his MiG and I was easily pulling away from him as I flew straight, but this gave him the opening he needed to get a perfect missile shot on me. When he fired one at me, I waited until it was almost 200 meters away before I deployed my flares and began my counter attack. We were going well over Mach 1 and I was 600 meters ahead of Hamilton. Here we go! I snapped the stick back and began to execute the sharpest Kulbit maneuver I've ever pulled, but I only held it until my plane was upside down and facing Hamilton. From here, I turned right side up and began to quickly line Hamilton up in my sights. Since I was now flying backwards and decelerating at such a high rate with Hamilton quickly approaching me, I only had a couple seconds to line him up, but there wasn't enough time even with my heightened reflexes. I was only able to line up his air intake and fire a short volley of 25mm rounds into his right engine before I had to nose over into a dive before I stalled. It didn't do that much damage, but getting a punch in felt good.
"What the hell?!" exclaimed Hamilton.
"Do I have your attention now?" I asked as I turned to reengage him.
"I'll be the one who kills you and your friends, Castillo!"
"We'll see about that."
Hamilton and I turned back towards each other and performed a knife's edge pass. From there, we pulled into a climbing rolling scissors in a desperate attempt to gain the advantage over each other, but we were in another stalemate. Hamilton wasn't flying as effectively before. The damage to his plane wasn't enough to hinder its performance, but the psychological effect of me hitting him was making him lose his nerve. That was all I needed to gain the upper hand. When we reached the peak of our maneuver, Hamilton stalled first and I latched onto his tail as he dove to try and escape. He wasn't making it easy for me to lock onto him as he dove back into the fur ball. Every plane took notice of us and some of them began to shoot us down. Hamilton shot down any allied plane that got in his way while I evaded every attack that anyone attempted on me. I was out for Hamilton's blood and I wasn't going to stop until I had it. Hamilton had just evaded an attacker that was coming in from his two o' clock high by rolling over him and I decided that now I should make my move. I closed the gap between us and was trailing Hamilton's MiG by about 200 meters. I had him dead in my sights, but he rolled under me and spoiled my shot. I quickly mimicked his maneuver and drew closer to him by fifty meters, but I couldn't line him up. I'm too close. Hamilton then attempted to roll over me and again, I followed his example and drew even closer. We both knew that he was going to get behind me with the next move he made and I had no choice but to overshoot him if I was going to keep control of my plane.
Hamilton leveled off and pulled a Cobra maneuver while I sped ahead of him. I knew that there was one maneuver that I could use to counter him and I wasted no time in executing it. I snapped the stick back and cut the throttle, forcing my Wyvern into a near stall. From there, I loosened the pressure on the stick and kicked the rudder over. I suddenly reapplied full throttle which violently swung the nose of my plane around into an almost horizontal flat spin that made me come even closer to stalling, but Hamilton overshot me when he tried to suddenly catch up. My X-02 slid around behind him and I waited to pick up enough speed so that I didn't make the same mistake I did the last time I performed this maneuver five years ago. Hamilton was stunned by my maneuver that he allowed me to line him up and fire a long stream of bullets into his plane. My 25mm slugs tore into his already damaged right engine and right wing, causing them to trail fire and smoke. Hamilton was still had control of his plane and he tried to escape again. I would've cut him loose because I didn't think he'd be able to stay in the air much longer, but I've learned from my previous mistakes that I should've just finished him off. But before I could line him up again, an ally called for me to break left to avoid an enemy that was coming in from my eight o' clock high. I evaded my attacker and shot him down with my high G barrel roll, but Hamilton managed to escape in that short amount of time.
"Damn you Wardog ghosts! I'm not through yet!" growled Hamilton.
"Save it, you're done," I said.
"Was that Blaze?" asked Kei in astonishment.
"Amazing," cheered Grimm." It's just… I can't even describe it, just unbelievable!"
"He's the one, no doubt. The ace of aces!" said Snow.
"Focus people, we still have a sky full of hostiles," I said and began to engage the next enemy fighter that crossed my path.
As we continued to engage the enemy, I began to think about what was to come when the ground forces opened the tunnel. I had to go into the tunnel and destroy the SOLG's control system. What scared me was that I thought I could end up dying in there since I'd only have enough time to go in once. We couldn't send anyone in through the other side because the SOLG would've intercepted anyone who tried to fly towards the other end of the tunnel. If we wanted to send someone in through the other end, they'd have to penetrate Belkan airspace and dodge a ton of AA defenses and interceptors.
"Man, that's a big tunnel," said one of the Marines who captured the facility.
"Alright, we're opening the tunnel entrance, said another.
I looked over towards the mountains and saw the tunnel gates opening. In my mind though, it felt like they were actually the gates of hell. I've already flown through my fair share of narrow spaces, but this was going to be the most hazardous flight I'd ever go through. Someone was more than likely going to try and stop me. While I was thinking about all of this, Oka Nieba sent the data I needed to identify and destroy the target. Once he confirmed the opening of the tunnel, he asked if I was ready.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," I said nervously as I turned towards the tunnel and began to lower my altitude. The warmongers saw what I was doing and they all began to head for me. My missile warning was going off like crazy and tracers came close to hitting me as I narrowly evaded their attacks. "Razgriz, cover me!"
"All available planes cover Razgriz Leader!" ordered one of my allies
"Orion 2, intercept those fighters," shouted another.
"I've got me hands full!"
"I've got you covered, lead! Get in there!"
An allied F-22 sent a salvo of missiles towards my attackers, but only three of them hit. More enemy fighters were headed for me and every available allied plane was trying to come to my rescue. They had suffered heavy casualties and I wasn't sure how much longer they could hold out. The tunnel entrance was quickly coming up and I was almost sure that I wasn't going to make it. There were three Su-35s in my rearview mirror and they were only getting closer. What really worried me was if they were going to stick with me through this whole tunnel run. When I finally did enter the tunnel, I knew those three Flankers were going to follow me in. I was prepared to fly through this rat's nest at full speed to shake off my attackers, but that fear was short lived. All three of them suddenly erupted into flames and my three main wingmen fell into formation behind me.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" I asked.
"You didn't think we'd let you run the gauntlet alone, did you?" asked Snow.
"Guys, this is insane! We'll crash if we screw up!" exclaimed Grimm.
"We'll just have to stay glued to the Captain," said Kei.
"Who's attacking the secondary core?" I asked.
"A separate plane going in through the other side," asked Snow. "How many pilots have we got that can even do something like that?"
"I know one…" muttered Kei.
I know a few…
"Enemy plane flying in from the rear!" advised Grimm. "It's Hamilton! Damn, he is good."
"You aren't getting away, Wardog! You're going to fly straight to your deaths!" Hamilton growled.
Shit… We had barely made it a quarter of a mile inside of the tunnel and already things seemed dim. Sure, things could've been worse, but I hated the fact that this was happening. God, was flying through the ravines of Faith Park, Payevlenie Ravine, a couple of caves on some remote islands, and into the depths of Megalith not enough for you?! Ugh, I wish Chopper were here to make some stupid movie reference right now so that he could distract me a little.
"Shut the hell up!" I snapped at Hamilton and we all continued to fly through the tunnel.
The Marine who commented on the tunnel's size wasn't lying when he said it was big. The railroad tracks were larger than normal and it didn't go in a straight line. My team and I had plenty of room so that we could all stay in formation while we headed towards our objective, but we couldn't turn around. The only good thing about this tunnel was that it was well lit.
"This is Heartbreak One. I'm right in front of you guys, Kid," said Bartlett.
"You're alive, Bartlett?" said Hamilton in shock.
"You know, you've always been too damn serious Hamilton," said Bartlett.
"I'm going to take the Belkan nuke and terrify both sides into ending this foolish war. Don't get in my way!"
"The problem with you is that you can't tell the difference between friend and foe. Terror is not your friend!"
I wanted to ask Hamilton what his actions would accomplish, but I knew it was pointless. This whole fight was pointless. The war was already over and the only thing going on right now was between peacekeepers and a group of dumbasses who didn't know what they were fighting for. This irritated me to the point where I applied more throttle to my plane and sped down the tunnel. I was only using my pitch and rudder to navigate my way down the tunnel and my team stuck by me through every turn. Hamilton couldn't keep up because of the damage I had inflicted to his plane during our fight. I was surprised that the son-of-a-bitch was still in the air at all. This didn't stop him from firing his missiles and gun at us, but he still couldn't hit anything. Even though Grimm didn't say anything, I could tell that he was more nervous out of all of us because he was the closest target Hamilton had. I needed to get him out of danger, but the target ID of the SOLG's core suddenly appeared on my HUD and it was quickly coming up.
"Four miles to go," advised Kei. "Approaching target, you only have one chance to attack. I know you can do it, Captain."
I was about to ask why she was only depending on me to destroy the core, but then I remembered that the targeting data was only sent to me. I was the only one who was supposed to make this run while the others covered me. Moreover, I wasn't sure if I alone could destroy the core. I only had two missiles that could target the damn thing and I wasn't sure that it'd be enough. This'll work. I can do it. We had just come out of another turn and were approaching one of the tunnel gates that was just starting to open. From that point on, it was a straight shot towards the SOLG's core. It was located in a gigantic chamber where the tunnel branched off in two directions. However, one of the tunnel's gates was sealed while the other was open. Anyways, it was just before I entered the chamber that I acquired a lock on the core and fired my missiles. They hit their mark, but I didn't know if I destroyed the target. Out of desperation, I began to fire my gun at it and blindly launched all six of my AMRAAMs. All of them hit the core and I fired two more sidewinders once they had reloaded. I couldn't confirm that the target had been destroyed, but the rumbling within the tunnel and Kei's confirmation was all I needed to breathe easy for now. Now to get the hell out of here… I applied the afterburner to my plane and sped down the only tunnel that was open.
"This is heartbreak One, I destroyed the system core on my end."
"This is Archer; Captain Bartlett is approaching at high speed from our twelve o' clock! Is he going to…?"
"…We gotta do it," said Kei.
I was worried that Bartlett might slam into one of us when he flew by, but then Hamilton gave me something else to worry about. He couldn't get a solid lock on us because my team and I were flying so close together and he was shooting his gun wildly in an attempt to hit us.
"You're not leaving this tunnel alive," shouted Hamilton.
"I'm going to ask you one last time before I force you into the ground. Who is the motherfucker who killed Lt. Colonel Alvin Davenport?" I asked, but he didn't reply at all. "So be it."
I ordered everyone to go ahead of me while I took over the trail position. Hamilton was focused on me more than anything and he noticed how I was purposely falling behind the rest of my team. There still wasn't any way that I could shoot him down, but there were plenty of things I could've done to make him crash. I had to wait until Captain Bartlett passed us and he was coming in fast.
"I'll be passing you head on at full speed, alright? Break right on the count of three," said Bartlett and I could see him hauling ass towards us. "Okay, one, two, three," he counted down. My team and I began to hug the right side of the tunnel and Captain Bartlett let out a howl of excitement as soon as we passed each other. When I saw him speed out of view in my rearview mirror, explosions began to shoot out from the sides of the tunnel.
"Let's pick up the pace people! I refuse to die underground," I said as we entered another large chamber.
"The shutters are closing," said Kei as she led us down the only open tunnel.
"We gotta hurry, we'll be trapped inside," said Grimm.
"The enemy planes that came after Bartlett are still in the tunnel," said Snow.
Even though we're being attacked from both sides, this should work! An enemy Su-47 appeared on my HUD and I armed my AMRAAMs in preparation to shoot him down. I let a missile off the rail as soon as I had a clear shot. The enemy plane didn't have any way to evade it and veered into the side of the tunnel once my missile tore off his wing. Hamilton narrowly managed to dodge it and fired another missile at me, but it missed. We continued down the tunnel for a little longer until we ran into two more enemy fighters. In front of them was a pair of gantry cranes that were 2 different heights. If I didn't have to factor in the closure rate of the enemy planes, I would've certainly been able to make them slam into Hamilton. But since I was too distracted to make those calculations in time, I had to SWAG (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess) it. I fired two more AMRAAMs to shoot down the incoming fighters and saw them slam into their targets just before they passed over the cranes. I avoided both of them by flying over the shorter crane and diving under the taller one. When I looked in my rear view mirror, one of the destroyed planes hit the ground and cart wheeled up into the air while the other hit one of the cranes and slammed into the wall. I watched as Hamilton evaded the first wreckage, but he couldn't get out of the way of the second one. A large piece of debris stuck his already damaged right wing, causing it to tear off. Hamilton lost control of his bird and he ended speeding into the taller crane. Hamilton tried to crash land his plane under the crane, but it ended up sheering off his plane's canopy, taking Hamilton's head with it. The rest of the MiG slammed into the ground and I couldn't help but flip the bird as I continued to fly away.
"This is just insane, from start to finish!" shouted Grimm.
"Yep," said Snow." But when we do finish this, it's gonna be for good."
Knowing my luck, I highly doubt that. The shutters were still closing on us and I noticed that I had fallen behind the others significantly. I had less time and less room to make it through the shutters before they closed completely. My team had entered the final stretch of the tunnel while I was still passing through the last chamber. When I entered the last section of the tunnel, I barely made it through because the shutter had just about closed and the one ahead of me was still in the process of closing from the left. I had just managed to squeeze through that one as well and I gave my Wyvern all the power I could to its engines so that I could make it out of the tunnel. The last shutter was closer to closing than the others and I saw my team reach the exit safely. Explosions were still going off behind me and they were only getting closer. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't scared. I was so scared in fact, that I almost started to cry when I felt the bottom of my plane graze the ground so that I could pass under the final shutter. That was the final obstacle I had to face before I reached the end of the tunnel and escaped the final explosion.
I was gasping for air as I continued to claw for altitude and took my position as the lead plane of my formation. Everyone noticed how heavily I was breathing, but I could tell that they were just as shaken up as I was. I lifted up my visor and took off my oxygen mask as I leaned back in my seat. Everyone else followed my example so that we could catch our breath. It was finally over. The longest enclosed flight I've ever undertook was over and we managed to save the world. We were out of radio range from Oka Nieba and our other allied forces, so we couldn't radio them to tell them that the SOLG's control system had been cut off.
"Where's Hamilton," asked Kei suddenly.
"He's dead," I said. "Hit by a ricocheting plane."
I heard Grimm breathe a sigh of relief before he began to speak. "So where do we go now?"
"We have to head back towards the fight and get in contact with everyone," I said.
"Do you think the fighting's stopped by now?" asked Snow.
"I sure as hell hope so," I said and led the others into a left bank towards the south. It didn't take us long before Oka Nieba came over the radio, asking for a sitrep. "This is Razgriz Leader; we've confirmed the destruction of the SOLG's core and are headed back towards Sudentor. How are thing's looking over there?"
"All allied forces are mopping up the remaining enemies now. Things are settling down as we speak, but you're not done yet. You're ordered to take vector 180 towards Oured where your boss is waiting for you," said Oka Nieba.
I acknowledged him and began our flight back towards Oured. The sky had finally cleared up and I could clearly see the night sky. Everything was calm, but I wanted to get out of the air ASAP and I was sure the others felt the same. After everything that happened today, I just wanted to relax a little. No one really said anything as we continued to fly south, but I could sense the mood amongst us. We had finally ended the war and peace had finally returned between Yuktobania and Osea. There were still some tough roads ahead of us, but that was something to worry about for another time. And until that time came, I wanted to relax and live a little. I wish you could see this, Chopper. I wish you could've been there.
"What do you think Chopper would've said about today?" I asked curiously.
"Ha, he'd probably talk some shit about Hamilton and about how he was going to date the next woman who recognized him as one of the Razgriz," said Kei.
"He'd more than likely brag to every woman he ran into about how he 'saved' the world," chuckled Grimm and we all laughed about it.
The mood seemed to lighten a little as we continued to talk about our friend. Soon after, we began to talk about our RIOs. We still had no idea about what they were up to, but they knew that we were still alive. I just wanted to see everyone again. We deserved that much at least. Hell, if I could've had it my way, I would've hung up my wings for a month and enjoyed solid ground beneath my feet for a while. Better yet, I would've liked the feeling of me lying down on a soft bed for a long, long time. That, and a hot meal and shower too. I'm sure the others felt that way too because we all increased our throttle to reach Oured sooner.