Cloudfall Air Base
Yakutia, Federation Mainland
April 1st, 437 AC
12:07 PM Local Time
"Holy shit, this thing is huge!" Hammer exclaimed as the four pilots laid eyes on the massive Hydra cruiser. "I know they said it'd be big, but I didn't think that it'd be this big."
"Well, at least we know that we'll have some damn good support watching over us," Wires said with a shrug.
Doc scoffed. "Bigger doesn't always mean better," he reminded them. "I'll wait until after I see it in action to make any judgments on it."
"Trust me. I've seen the capabilities this thing has. It'll make our jobs easy," Natalie assured the group. "This mission is gonna be a breeze."
"How do we know we won't be too late, though?" Doc asked. "I mean, they have our capitol. To say we're on the back foot would be the understatement of the year."
"We're not gonna be on the back foot after today. That thing's gonna help us push the Coalition all the way into their own territory," Wires said, gesturing to the Hydra.
Natalie stood up, looking away from the Hydra and down at the other three pilots. "Well, we'll have plenty of time to gawk at it once it's up in the air and going ham on everything," she said with a smirk. "Let's just get to the briefing so we can get up in the air."
Everyone stood up and broke out into a light jog as they made their way into the base and through the halls to the briefing room. They passed by various pilots and other soldiers on their way to the briefing room as well, but even though they were all moving much slower than Natalie and the others were, they didn't slow down. When they arrived, they were among the first ones there, so they sat down and waited for everyone else to slowly file in.
"Is everyone here?" General Myers finally asked, looking around the room. "Let's get started with this briefing, then. We don't have a moment to lose." His eyes drifted to each person sitting in front of him. "Today's the day we finally turn the tide of this war," he announced with a smile spreading across his face. "We have a long road ahead of us, but I know that each and every one of you has what it takes to make the Federation victorious, and this road starts at Allessia." He booted up the briefing software and displayed it on the screen. "Now, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering about the air cruiser that arrived this morning. Long story short: it's an advanced air cruiser made by Icarus Armories called the Hydra, and it'll be the key factor in turning this war around."
"We're putting all of our faith into that thing?" one pilot asked.
"There's no way that thing will be able to turn defeat all of the Coalition and the Concordat," another chimed in. "Hell, we'll be lucky if that behemoth makes it off the ground."
"That's enough!" Myers ordered, raising his voice over the rising murmurs, which quickly fell as soon as he spoke. "You'll all get to see it in action soon enough, but for now, listen up." He turned to the screen as it displayed a model of Allessia. "Our recon has given us a decent idea of where most of the Coalition's ground forces are stationed within the city, so we'll first send in our aircraft with Violet Squadron leading the charge. Once you've reached the city, you'll establish air superiority and clear a space for our ground forces to land and move in to capture the city. Once enemy reinforcements enter the area, we'll bring in the Hydra and lock the city down."
Natalie looked around to gauge the other pilots' reactions around her, and to her surprise, most of them didn't seem very enthused. She didn't understand why they didn't have any faith in the Hydra or Myers. At the same time, though, she also knew that once they saw the Hydra in action, they'd be singing a different tune soon enough.
Myers seemed to notice everyone's hesitation as well, and he quickly spoke up. "Listen to me. I know that we've been fighting losing battle after losing battle, and you're all sick of it. I am, too, believe me. That's exactly why we've got to fight this battle. Many of us lived our entire lives in Allessia, and now it's in the hands of foreigners- not just foreigners, but foreigners who want to destroy the Federation entirely. They don't realize that there won't be any peace in this world without us, so let's fight to prove them wrong. Let's fight to end the fight." Cheers started erupting from the crowd, and Myers silenced them with a wave of his hand. "We all know what needs to be done, so let's do it. Prepare yourselves for the battle that'll change history!"
Allessia
Yakutia, Federation Mainland
April 1st, 437 AC
1:30 PM Local Time
"All aircraft, this is Violet 1," Natalie announced, still feeling weird about being referred to as number one. "We're approaching the city, so stick close to me, and we'll be just fine. How are we looking, Skyline?"
"European Coalition fighters are coming in hot," the AWACS operator reported. "Numbers are small for now, though. It's nothing you can't handle."
"Roger that," Natalie replied. "Violet Squadron, engaging."
Without wasting another second, Natalie flicked on her afterburners and headed straight for the enemy aircraft. Switching to her MLAAs, she set her sights on the flight leading the charge- F/C-15s. As the distance to her target slowly decreased, Natalie kept her finger resting just above the trigger. Even as soon as she had a lock on all four planes, she didn't fire right away. Instead, she waited until there was less than a kilometer between them and fired, breaking right before they could get a solid tone on her. A few seconds later, four beeps sounded off in rapid succession, indicating that all four of her missiles hit the mark.
The allied aircraft following Natalie all dove into the fight, and before long, a full-fledged furball was raging on above Allessia. The Coalition had undoubtedly brought a lot of firepower with them, and it seemed as if they didn't intend on giving up the city without a fight. However, they lacked the conviction that Natalie and the others had, which put them at a disadvantage. The remaining Federation forces knew that if they failed here, it was all over for them, so they were fighting tooth and nail to turn the tide, and it showed in the way they flew.
"All aircraft, be advised: air cruisers are taking off from the port," Skyline warned. "You might wanna take 'em out before they deal too much damage."
"Wilco, Violet Squadron will take care of them," Natalie responded. "Scythe Squadron, head down to the city and start clearing out defenses on the north side," she quickly ordered as she and the others turned to engage the rising air cruisers. "We need to make sure we have a clear LZ for the ground forces."
"Understood, Scythe Squadron engaging ground targets," Scythe 1 replied.
Turning her attention back to the Coalition cruisers, Natalie felt a bit of relief in seeing that there were only three of them. "Alright, everyone split up. The sooner we're done with these, the better."
"Boy, you really fit right into this whole squadron leader thing, aren't you, Winter?" Hammer asked in a lighthearted tone.
"Heh, I told her she would," Wires said with a chuckle. "Maybe you oughta take my advice more often, eh, Winter?"
Natalie rolled her eyes, even though he couldn't see. "Yeah, yeah, you're a genius," she shot back in a sarcastic yet lighthearted tone. "You can rub it in my face when we get back."
Natalie pitched ever-so-slightly up to get above the Arcion cruiser that had just reached cruising altitude. Not wasting any time, it charged up both of its railguns and fired them straight at her. Natalie narrowly dodged them and dove down to the Arcion, firing standard missiles at the railguns and passing over it with machine guns, taking out its CIWS. The SAM launchers aboard the cruiser quickly locked onto her and fired as she continued to fly in the opposite direction. She kept her eyes on her radar, waiting for the two missiles to get closer before pitching straight up and looping around, heading back over to the Arcion. An MLAA salvo took out all of the remaining defenses as she passed over it again, leaving it totally defenseless as she came around one last time to finish it off with machine guns.
"That's one down for me," Natalie reported. "How are you guys doing?"
"Wires and I took out the Littoria," Doc responded. "Hammer?"
"Yeah, yeah," Hammer said dismissively. "Sure, I'm the last one. Laugh it up." He fired a pair of standard missiles at the 205-class he was engaging to finish it off.
With the air cruisers out of commission, Natalie and the rest of Violet Squadron circled back over to the furball in the sky, which was gradually beginning to get less chaotic. Since she was coming in at a decent angle, Natalie decided to let off another MLAA salvo. She shot off four missiles and turned after another Coalition fighter that she wasn't able to lock on to. Only one of her MLAAs hit their target, but she also managed to chase down the fifth fighter and take it out with standard missiles.
"Skyline, this is Scythe 1. We've taken out most of the enemy ground defenses on the north side of the city," the pilot reported. "It should be clear for our guys to come in."
"Copy that. Remain in the area and provide CAS for the ground troops once they land," Skyline ordered. "Broadsword Squadron, allied transports are entering the AO. Pull out and give them some cover until they land. Violet Squadron, Halberd Squadron, continue to establish air superiority. The Hydra will move in once you clear the area."
"Understood, Skyline," Natalie replied. "Shouldn't be too much longer until the skies are ours, so keep them on standby."
Natalie whipped her head down to look at her radar at the sudden sound of a missile alert going off. She immediately turned to the left to try and shake it off, but the missile persisted. She continued to try and maneuver and shake it off, but when it got too close for her liking, she decided to just deploy countermeasures and loop around. After spotting the SK.27 that continued to chase after her, Natalie dove down and looped back around. She had a narrow window to go after them with guns, but it was all she needed to bring it down. After that, she and the others continued to twist and turn through the sky, taking out bandits one by one until, finally, there were none left.
"Skyline, this is Violet 1. We have air superiority over Allessia," Natalie announced. "Time to send in the big guns," she added with a smirk. Natalie was admittedly excited to see the Hydra in action, perhaps because she knew what it was capable of.
"They're already on the way, Winter," Skyline replied. "Meanwhile, allied ground forces have landed and are beginning their assault on the city. I'll keep you guys posted."
With the skies clear of hostiles, the Federation pilots all turned their attention to the Coalition defenses within the city. With four fighter squadrons and additional ground forces, the enemies inside Allessia didn't stand much of a chance. It took only a few minutes for them to get entirely wiped out. As they flew around the city one more time to check for any more enemies they might've missed, Natalie wondered why they didn't just do this sooner. However, it wasn't long before she got her answer.
"All aircraft, be advised," Skyline suddenly warned. "Coalition air reinforcements coming in hot, and there's a damn lot of them too."
"Holy shit!" One of the pilots from Halberd Squadron exclaimed. "That's gotta be at least two whole strike fleets, probably more. There's no way we'll be able to take that out on our own."
"Good thing you won't have to," a new man's voice chimed in. "This is Admiral Bowers, callsign: Hydra 1. We're entering the AO now, so you can just sit back and watch the fireworks." Natalie started grinning from ear to ear. "You don't have to tell me twice. All aircraft break off from the incoming reinforcements. Let the Hydra take care of 'em," she ordered as she pulled up and away from the city.
"All batteries, prepare for BML launch on my mark," Bowers ordered. "We're gonna take as many of these guys out in a single salvo as possible."
What happened next, not even Natalie was prepared for. As soon as they were in range, the Hydra unleashed a full salvo of missiles from all twelve BMLs at once. At first, they all followed the same path, but as they got closer to their targets, they all spread out, turning the sky white with their missile trails. Everyone waited for the smoke to clear with bated breath, and when it did, they could hardly believe their eyes. Every single air cruiser had either completely exploded or fallen to the ground. All that remained was a few fighters that burned toward the Hydra at max speed. They fired missiles, but the massive cruiser's ECM sent them off in different directions before picking the remaining fighters out of the sky with its railguns.
"Jesus Christ…" was all Natalie could say. She had seen the blueprints with her own eyes, but even that wasn't enough to prepare her for the sheer power of this goliath of a superweapon.
"Well, I'll be damned," Skyline said.
"Tell me about it," Doc chimed in.
"What? No, not the Hydra. We've got one last group of Coalition fighters inbound," Skyline reported. "It's Rune Squadron."
As soon as the word 'Rune' registered in Natalie's brain, she instinctively tightened her grip on the control stick and throttled toward the last hostile radar contacts in the area. She never thought that she'd be able to have a chance to make them pay, but now that they were here, there was no way in hell she was going to let them go.
"Hydra, this is Violet 1. Stand down," she ordered. "We'll take care of these bastards. You three with me?" she asked the other three.
"I'm right behind you, Winter. Let's do this," Wires assured her.
"Same here," Hammer agreed. "I'd say it's time for a little payback."
"We'll make 'em pay for what they did to Cap," Doc chimed in.
A crooked smile spread across Natalie's face as she got closer to the incoming hostiles. "Good. Violet Squadron, engage!"
There were five planes in total- all SK.37s, but Natalie didn't let the fact that they were outnumbered stop her from flying straight at the lead plane. She fired a pair of standard missiles and deployed countermeasures, not even attempting to evade the missiles they shot at her. As soon as they flew past each other, Natalie pitched straight up and looped around to go at them again. She went for a quick machine gun burst, scoring a few hits and quickly breaking right before they could get a solid lock on her.
After taking a brief moment to look around and see how the others were doing, Natalie rolled her plane onto its side and looped back around. She heard the missile alert start to go off again, but she ignored it for a moment as she tried to get a good angle on the SK.37 she just hit. Natalie almost had a perfect shot after a bit of effort, but she had to evade the missile coming for her just before it hit, breaking her lock. She twisted and followed after her target, finally getting a solid tone and releasing two standard missiles.
"That's right, you bastard!" she sneered as both missiles found their target, destroying the lead plane. "How does it feel!?" She couldn't help but laugh as she watched the first Rune Squadron plane fall to the ground in a fireball. After all, they probably celebrated when they shot down Cap and the others, so why shouldn't she do the same?
"You good there, Winter?" Doc asked hesitantly. "Cause you're starting to sound like you're going off the deep end a bit," he said bluntly.
"Oh, I'm so much better than good, Doc," Natalie answered, still smirking as she turned to engage another of the SK.37s.
By the time Natalie fully engaged the second plane, the others had finished up with their targets, so they grouped up and took out the last one together. She felt an immense wave of catharsis as she watched the final plane responsible for Cap's death explode mid-air. It felt like a tremendous wave had finally been taken off her shoulders- like she could finally breathe again.
"And that's the price you pay for crossing Violet Squadron," she finally said.
"Good stuff, Violet Squadron," Skyline chimed in. "Coalition forces around Allessia are all pulling back, and the city is ours."
"Man looks like that Hydra really did come in clutch," one of the pilots from Scythe said.
"With that thing behind us, we'll be winning this war in no time," another one agreed.
"We'll be going on the offensive soon enough," Skyline assured them. "For now, though, you're cleared to land at the airport. Let's rest up before we finally turn the tide."