Rowsdower Air Force Base
On the eve of the Invasion of Prospero…
There was a sense of confidence and courage in the air as Evelyn "Comic" London III took her seat in the Pilot's Ready Room beside the rest of Hitman Team. With the upcoming attack on Prospero, the whole of the Independence Force was buzzing with excitement. Very soon, the war would be over, and the Federation would be kicked out of Cascadia for good. But before they could take Prospero, a few loose ends needed to be tied up, one of which fell to Hitman Team.
Beside the projector, Kaiser finished making final preparations for their briefing. "Is everyone ready? Good, let's begin."
Kaiser brought up the larger strategic map of the theater on the projector, and zoomed in to the region just north of Prospero. "As you all know, Independence Force elements have begun their assault on the outskirts of Prospero, but they've encountered heavy resistance from Federation forces both in the air and on the ground. In particular, they've encountered a priority target they need us to take out."
Kaiser moved aside the slide of the wider theater and added a new slide, a picture taken from the gun camera of an Independence Force fighter. The image showed some kind of 205-Class air battleship, but its wings were heavily reinforced, and the weapons battery it was carrying was immense. Just at a glance, she spotted four turreted railguns, presumably with more on the dorsal structure.
"This is the FVN Trafalgar, the only operational airship that survived our raid on Task Force One in the Kingdom of Sawaiiki." Kaiser explained. "It's been proving to be a massive obstacle for IF ground forces, who are hesitant to advance while it's still in the sky."
Just one airship? Evelyn dismissively thought. Even if it's a battleship, the Independence Force should be able to handle this…
"Cascadian Air Elements report they've been unable to attain a missile lock on this aircraft with any kind of tracking system. Intelligence reports recovered by Ronin Team indicate that this is due to an Electronic Countermeasure System that the Federation is field-testing. As far as we can tell, this is a one-of-a-kind system, as any other examples were sunk during Operation Free Agent."
Damn, the Federation must've put a whole lot of credits into that thing… Evelyn thought.
"Your mission is to destroy the Trafalgar and its escort squadron. You'll set off at 1200, and you'll arrive at the AO by around 1600. As usual, the Circus will handle in-air refueling." Kaiser explained. "If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them."
Diplomat immediately raised his hand. "I've got one. What's the composition of the Traflagar's escort squadron?"
"Eight E-18s, which between them have taken out a dozen IF pilots. You'll have your work cut out for you, but I'm confident you can handle it." Kaiser answered. "Anything else?"
"I've got an idea for how you can take down that airship." Galaxy interjected. "If this airship has its ECM system on board, I might be able to overpower it with my own systems. I'll see what we can do"
Huh, Galaxy being helpful for a change, I'll believe it when I see it… Evelyn thought.
"Good, hopefully that'll make Hitman's job a little easier." Kaiser simply replied. "Now, does anyone else have any questions?"
Nobody spoke up.
"Then that concludes this briefing. Remember, you'll be making history out there, so be sure to smile for the cameras." Kaiser said with a smile. "Good luck everyone."
Diplomat stood to leave, and Evelyn rose to follow him, but she lingered a moment when she noticed that Monarch was staying behind and talking to Prez. "Prez, is the S-15 set to fly?"
Prez sagged her shoulders a bit in disappointment, knowing she wouldn't get to fly on this mission, but dutifully answered. "It is. I'll need to give the engines a once-over, but it should be ready for a mission."
"Good. I'll need a slight variation to my usual loadout, meet me in the Hangar." Monarch said, with a bit more levity than normal in his voice.
Comic smiled and shook her head as she walked off, Monarch and Prez's relationship was the worst kept secret on the base, and it made sense that Monarch would probably sneak in a quick makeout session with Prez before the mission.
Later
Prospero Airspace
Apparently I was mistaken. Evelyn thought as she looked up their formation at Monarch's F/S-15, along with the seven gunpods it had installed on the weapon pylons. Of course Monarch and Prez would spend their time together on planes…
Evelyn's own F/C-15 was laden with a pair of extra rotary cannons carried within gunpods, which was something of a deviation from what she usually worked with. On a normal day, one cannon was more than enough for her to get the job done. However, when faced with a target as large as an air battleship that might not be vulnerable to their missiles, they needed a backup plan. That plan came in the form of gunpods, because no matter how advanced the Trafalgar's ECM systems were, they couldn't spoof a hail of gunfire.
Still, all three of them were quietly hoping that Galaxy would be able to overpower the ECM systems from a distance. Nobody was looking forward to doing a gun run against an airship with that many weapons, except maybe Monarch, but he was… well, Monarch.
"Hitman Team, listen up!" Galaxy called out to them. "I'm patching a new system through to your HUDs. Sound off once you get the transmission."
"Hitman One, received." Monarch stated.
"Hitman Two, I've got it." Diplomat added.
A new icon appeared on Evelyn's HUD, and she radioed back into Galaxy. "Hitman Three, transmissions received."
"Alright, everything looks good!" Galaxy called out. "All units, MASTERARM on! I'm tagging multiple enemy IFFs! You are weapons free, good hunting!"
"Mic', check the spin on your guns." Monarch dryly ordered, as though reading off a script.
Evelyn did as he instructed and briefly tested her weapons, sure enough, they were working. "We're good!"
"I'm just glad you didn't ask me to mount those things, I don't think I could pull a gun run like that off if I tried." Diplomat nervously commented.
A set of targets appeared on Evelyn's HUD, and when she squinted her eyes, she could just about make out the large shape of the target airship, exactly where it was meant to be.
"Hang on, I'm picking up Federation Comm traffic." Galaxy said. "I'll try to intercept it."
A staticky radio signal came through Evelyn's earpiece, and through it, the male voice of a Federation Pilot. "-don't care what you think! The trap worked! We've got the Crown and his squad coming right at us, we can end this war right here and now!"
"Negative Hotshot, you're not equipped to handle the Crown! Fall back and wait for Crimson-" The Federation Commander began to reply, before being drowned out in static.
"Sounds like they're starting to get scared of us." Diplomat remarked.
Even over the radio, she could tell that her wingman wasn't entirely comfortable with that fact. "With how badly we've kicked their asses, I'm not surprised. I say we own it Dip, these guys don't know what they're in for!"
"Tighten up comms you two!" Galaxy called out.
The distance closed even more, and now she could see the escort squadron flying protectively around the Trafalgar. The E-18s suddenly broke off, and shot towards them with afterburners flaring.
An alarm sounded in Evelyn's cockpit, signaling that the enemy had a lock on her, and moments later, missiles began to streak out from the enemy planes. She replied in kind with a few MLAAs of her own, and began evasive maneuvers.
"Hitman Three, defending!" She called out as she began the first hard maneuver, breathing deeply as she fought through the G's.
"Hitman Two, defending!" Diplomat called out.
Monarch remained silent, but with his manuevers, she knew that he was a target as well. The missiles began to scream in, blasting past them, leaving long trails of smoke as they missed. The final incoming weapon whiffed, and Comic let out a sigh, again, she'd survived.
Meanwhile on the Federation Squadron's side, one of their E-18s was struck by an MLAA, and went careening to the ground in a fireball. It was hard to tell, but she saw no parachute emerge from the wreckage, which she honestly wasn't too heartbroken over. Her enemy had made their choice in career, it wasn't her fault that they were put up against her.
The Federation Pilot "Hotshot" on the other hand, was a different story. "Form up squad! We'll make 'em pay for that."
The range closed even further, and as the battle began to spiral out into an all-too familiar chaotic dogfight, Evelyn got a target lock on another one of the enemy planes and salvoed off a pair of standard infrared missiles at it. Moments later, the targeted plane exploded in a vicious spray of shrapnel and fire, no parachuted pilot emerged.
"Puddles!" Hotshot cried out in horror. "Not again… I'm not losing anyone else…"
"Just surrender!" Diplomat called out over the radio at him. "You don't have to do this! Power down your weapons and Radar-"
Diplomat was interrupted and cried out in panic as a spray of cannon fire tore holes through his right wing, the culprit E-18 blowing past his MG-29 with a deafening boom. Diplomat was momentarily sent into a roll, but managed to get everything back under control again.
"Dip! Talk to me, Dip!" She cried out.
His voice came through, coughing and wheezing. "Still here! Fuck, that was close!"
She was already turning to engage when Monarch's voice came over the comm. "Mic', cover Dip, I'll take this guy."
She glanced back over at Diplomat, who was starting to fall behind her, and recognized exactly why Monarch didn't want her going after Hotshot. Diplomat was vulnerable, if she left him in the dust, he'd inevitably get picked off by one of the other Federation Fighters swarming around them.
Reluctantly, she eased up on the throttle and fell in along Dip's wing. As much as she wanted to deliver payback, she wanted to keep her Wingman alive more. "Give him hell, Boss."
While she kept any opportunity Feds off of Diplomat, Monarch tangled with the bulk of the squadron, including the plane presumably flown by Hotshot. As usual for Monarch, he was handling them pretty well, always keeping himself in just the right position to avoid being hit. Monarch and Hotshot danced in a hellish dogfight, pulling backbreaking turns and aerodynamically-impossible maneuvers with their AoA limiters.
All the while, Hotshot ranted at Monarch over the radio. "You'll pay for what you've done, Mercenary! Do you even know how many of my pilot's you've killed?! Do you even care?!"
"Hey uh, Monarch? Want me to shut him up?" Galaxy awkwardly asked.
Monarch didn't reply, only continuing to turn again, and again. He whittled down Hotshot's squadron until it was just him left, and while Comic continued to cover for Dip, Monarch began a deadly joust with Hotshot.
"Die Mercenary!" Hotshot spat.
The Federation pilot fired off a pair of missiles at Monarch while he returned the favor with all seven of his gunpods. Hotshot's E-18 was consumed by a cloud of gunfire and exploded into debris, his ejection seat fired, but with all of the lead in the air, it was still unlikely he survived. Comic wasn't paying attention to him however, instead focusing on the two missiles screaming towards Monarch.
Monarch was a hell of a pilot, but nobody was perfect, and Hotshot had managed a pretty good shot before he went down. Evelyn watched with held breath as Monarch popped countermeasures and evaded, but still, both missiles detonated just beneath his F/S-15.
His plane emerged from the ball of fire and smoke looking a lot like Dip's. The wings were torn up by shrapnel, and most of Monarch's gunpods, along with a few of his missiles, were missing.
"...I'm still flying. Bastard got me good, my guns are dead weight." Monarch said, sounding remarkably calm for a man who'd just narrowly avoided exploding. "Hitman Three, take the lead, I need to lose speed or I'll fly apart."
Evelyn's stomach churned at the realization that both of her squadmates were in very rough shape. The fact that neither of them had been injured or killed was nothing short of a miracle. "I copy."
Monarch and Diplomat fell in behind her as they began to close the distance with the Trafalgar. As the air battleship drew nearer, its railguns opened fire, and Hitman Team was forced to take evasive action. Dip and Monarch were sluggish thanks to their damage, but at their range, they were still in little danger.
"Argh... crap, this doesn't look good…" Diplomat remarked.
"Keep it cool, you've got this!" Galaxy told them. "Hitman Team, I'm running the command try and override their ECM systems, see if you can get a missile lock!"
Evelyn turned her nose towards the battleship, tried to get a lock with her MLAA's… nothing. Then she tried her standard infareds… still nothing. "No good, shit!"
"Yeah, mine aren't working either." Diplomat said.
"No joy Galaxy." Monarch reported. "We'll just have to get close enough that we don't need the guidance systems."
"Against that much firepower?!" Diplomat demanded, barely dodging another railgun slug. "Monarch, look at your plane, that's suicide!"
"You're right, I can't move fast enough to avoid the turning rate of their railguns… but Mic' can." Monarch explained his thinking. "Mic', if you can use your guns to take out the weapons on that battleship, Dip and I can come in and finish the job."
Nervously, she eyes the Federation battleship, which was growing closer by the second. Normally she'd be all for a challenge, but against firepower like that, she was inclined to side with Dip's school of thinking.
"If you can't do it, we'll pull back." Monarch said, as if sensing her hesitation. There was no judgment in his voice, but no encouragement either.
Galaxy, however, made it very clear what his opinion was. "The boss is gonna be pissed if we come back with our tails between our legs…"
"I'm with Monarch here Mic'." Diplomat pitched in. "This airship isn't worth killing yourself over!"
She took a long, deep breath as she weighed up her choice. Again, she ran a brief test on her gunpods, and was satisfied to see them spinning correctly.
Shit, I'm really about to do this… She thought, making her decision. "I'm going in! Cover me!"
Even though she couldn't actually see Monarch, she could still somehow sense the nod of respect he gave her. "We'll try and draw their fire. Pull out if it looks too hairy, good luck."
"Shit! Really Mic'?" Dip demanded. "Okay…"
While Monarch and Diplomat began to swarm around the Trafalgar like angry bees, drawing missiles and CIWS and railgun fire away from her, she lined up her run perfectly from a distance and pushed her afterburners as far as they would go. Her speed climbed higher, and higher, until she was going just about as fast as her F/C-15 could safely fly.
Her teammates were doing good work, but one of the railguns saw her coming in and took aim. Since she was forced to fly along a more-or-less straight axis, her maneuvering options were limited, but she had one. Thinking fast, she performed a deft roll and gasped in terror as the railgun slug passed mere millimeters from her canopy window. Any closer, and it would've ripped her out of her flight seat in chunks.
But now the railgun was forced to recharge, and she was in range with her own guns. She put her finger on the trigger and opened up with her primary cannon and both gunpods, spitting over a thousand rounds into the cluster of weapons that made up the ship's armament. Fires broke out and explosions shook the ship, but as she pulled away, it continued to fly. She performed a wider roll as she widened the distance, narrowly avoiding a hail of CIWS fire.
"Now! Its guns are out, take it down!" Monarch ordered.
Monarch and Diplomat pounced on the crippled trafalgar with everything they had. Cannons mostly, but Monarch managed to dumbfire a couple of MLAAs into it as well. Not content to be left out, Evelyn turned around and let loose with a long burst from her guns on the Trafalgar's port wing. All of the supporting arms along the structure were torn apart, and she watched with great satisfaction as the wing was shorn off completely.
She let out a triumphant cheer as the Trafalgar fell to the ground in flames, firing off lifeboats as it fell apart.
"Oh thank the Dust; you had me really worried there Mic'!" Diplomat said.
"Of course I'm okay, I had that all under control." She said, drastically exaggerating the truth.
"Great shooting Comic!" Galaxy happily praised her. "Hey Monarch, you sure you're not worried about her gunning for your spot?"
Monarch was silent for a few moments as the squadron formed up again, with him once again in the lead. "...I don't mind the competition."
Galaxy laughed. "Hitman Team, RTB!"
Author's Notes: This is the last chapter for this story I have planned, unless I get any more ideas (or if you give me some good suggestions) then this will likely be the end of the story here.
Originally, Diplomat was gonna be the POV character for this chapter, but after I watched this absolutely hilarious video where Comic's voice actress (The excellent Mikell Dover) read a few fan comics, I decided she deserved her own hero moment. After all, just like Dip, she's been our loyal wingman throughout the whole game.
Here's to you Comic, you can be my wingman any day!