Okhada Air Base
Asean Republic, Pacific Ocean
April 24th, 437 AC
8:05 AM Local Time
Everyone woke up early in the morning, and after that, they went to work. They decided that they were going to arrive at Normandy early to make a good impression on their employers, and considering how much they were getting paid, they all agreed that a good first impression would go a long way.
The part of the base that Paladin was assigned was in a state that they liked to call "organized chaos." People were running all over the place, carrying who knows what to who knows where and making all sorts of noise in the process. What made it "organized," though, was that everyone knew what they had to do and where they had to be. From the outside, it looked like chaos, but on the inside, it was a surprisingly efficient system, especially during moving days like this one.
Jay and Eagle had just finished getting the last of their belongings out of their room and started fast-walking down to the hangars to load everything onto Varonis's transports. Along the way, they ran into Cyborg and Stallion, who were doing the same thing as them. Only, Cyborg traveled lightest out of anyone in Paladin, so he didn't have much on him.
"Well, today's the day," Cyborg said as he and Stallion started walking alongside Jay and Eagle. "You two ready?"
Jay sighed. "About as much as I can be," he muttered. In truth, he was still as nervous as ever, but he wasn't going to let that show.
"I'm just not excited to cross over so many time zones in one trip," Eagle admitted with a shrug. "Gonna seriously screw up my sleep schedule."
"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you travel around the world," Cyborg pointed out. "Personally, I'm excited for the change in scenery. It's been months since we first arrived here, and while I don't mind a vacation to the Pacific, I can only stand it for so long."
"Y'know, I was actually gonna suggest a vacation after our contract was done," Stallion chimed in. "But then we got roped right into another one."
Cyborg chuckled. "Don't worry, Stallion. I think we'll all have earned a vacation after this job," he assured the AWACS operator. "Not to mention, we'll all have a ton of money to spend on it."
"Heh, I'm gonna hold you to that, boss," Jay said, giving him a light jab on the shoulder. "If we end up renting anything other than an entire resort all to ourselves, I'll be severely disappointed," he added jokingly.
A few moments later, the four men found themselves in Varonis's hangar, where just over a dozen men and women were moving all sorts of things from a large pile into the two transport planes. Jay and the others walked up to the men managing the large pile and presented their bags to them.
"Are we almost ready?" Cyborg asked as he helped the men get their things settled.
"Yep, by my estimate, I'd say we should probably be ready to live within the next half hour," one of the men answered with a nod.
Cyborg gave them a thumbs up. "Good to hear, we'll be getting ready for take-off, so I trust you can all take it from here?"
"You don't have to worry about a thing, boss," the man assured him. "We've got it covered."
Without another word, the four pilots turned around and made their way out of the hangar. Stallion, giving a brief farewell to the other three, split in the direction of the hangar his plane was in while Jay, Eagle, and Cyborg went to their hangar. For a moment, Jay was caught off-guard by the sight of his and Nyx's new F/F-18, like he was expecting to see the F/E-4 he had been using for months. However, it was still a welcome change all the same. The new Super Hornet, along with the other Templar members' planes, were all painted with the same livery: a light gray, almost white, base color with dark red running down the top of the fuselage along with a diagonal line of the same color down the wings. Finally, both vertical stabilizers were painted black with a red stripe running across the top. Jay also decided to change up his emblem on the new plane, opting for a samurai helmet rather than a katana. He was about to question where Nyx was, but, as if on cue, she and Tux came into the hangar together.
"Well, this is it," she said as she walked up to Jay. "You ready to finally get out of here?"
"Normally, I would be, but when we're jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, that tends to make me a little less excited," Jay replied dryly.
"You know somethin'? You worry too much, Samurai," Nyx told him as she climbed up into her seat. "When we all work together, we're basically unstoppable. I mean, just look at what we did here," she pointed out, putting her helmet on as she went through her pre-flight checks.
Jay shrugged as he followed his WSO's lead and sat down in the cockpit. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to find out now, won't we? I admire your optimism, though," he told her, not wanting a repeat of their conversation from the night they first took the job. "How are we looking?"
"Good to go," Nyx reported, giving Jay a thumbs up from the backseat. "Ready for an entire day of flying straight and doing absolutely nothing," she mumbled.
"Ah, come on, Nyx," Jay said, waving his hand dismissively. "We were gonna have to do it eventually, so we might as well just rip off the bandage now." He looked over his shoulder at the three planes behind him. "How about the rest of you? Are you guys ready to go?"
"I've been ready, Samurai," Jolt reported. "Mustang and I were both here for ages before the rest of you showed up."
Eagle snickered. "Yeah, you two need all the time you can get because god knows you can't just get ready to leave in a normal amount of time like the rest of us."
"I suppose that means we're all ready then," Jay presumed with a shrug. "Templar Team, let's get moving."
One by one, they all rolled onto the runway and shot forward until they had enough speed to lift off the ground. Jay had mixed feelings about leaving the Asean Republic behind. Obviously, like the rest, he was eager to move on to different pastures. At the same time, though, he was still concerned about their fate now that they took this job, but he refused to let that get in the way of his work, especially now that so many people depended on him. Once all of Templar Team was airborne, they circled around the base until everyone else was up before they all changed their heading straight to the east as they moved on to bigger and better things.
Lewis Desert
Dustlands, North America
April 24th, 437 AC
2:43 PM Local Time
"Knight Team, you're up," Stallion ordered. "Take point and keep us covered. Any willing Templar planes, you can form up with them if you want, or you can just switch off. You've already done your share."
Jay looked over his shoulder. "Whaddya say, Nyx? Should we stay with 'em?" he asked.
Nyx responded with an uninterested shrug. "Might as well, considering there's nothing else to do."
Jay couldn't help but let out a yawn. "Yeah, I feel you there. Still, I think we're only a few hours away from the halfway point. After that, we can stop to rest and refuel and get on our way," he said as he followed Knight Team into formation.
"Hey, Samurai," Tux greeted him as he came up behind her SK.27. "You joining us for the rest of our leg of the trip?"
"Well, putting aside how bored Nyx and I are, we thought you'd appreciate our company," he replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Shades chuckled a bit. "Guess we're gonna get to make you an honorary Knight 4," he quipped.
"Oh, come on, Shades. You know if Samurai and Nyx joined Knight, they'd take your spot," Cyborg chimed in.
"Now that just sounds like favoritism to me," Shades said in a jesting voice. "I think we should take this to human resources."
"We're mercs. We don't have a human resources department," Tux reminded him with a grin.
"Cut the chatter Knight Team," Stallion jumped in. "I've got incoming radar contacts from bearing 340. They're flashing mercenary IFFs."
"Attention to all aircraft moving at heading 090. This is the Scarab Mercenary Corps," a man said over the radio. "Land immediately and surrender all of your belongings to us," he ordered.
"Scarab, this is Knight 1, leader of the Paladin Mercenary Corps," Cyborg introduced himself. "We have no quarrel with you. We're just passing through," he assured the mercenary.
"I think you misunderstand the situation. If you don't land immediately and surrender all of your belongings to us, we will open fire. If I were you, I'd think about complying," the Scarab pilot threatened.
"All Paladin aircraft, we've got interceptors coming up behind us with more fighters in tow," Stallion informed everyone. "Weapons free. You're cleared to engage. Knight Team, take point and keep the bandits off us. Templar, stay with the rest and take care of any stragglers."
"Samurai, Nyx, you two coming with us?" Cyborg asked as he turned toward the incoming hostiles.
Jay scoffed, already turning to follow the others. "As if you even have to ask. Eagle, you've got the lead. Keep the others outta trouble."
"Will do. Happy hunting, you two," Eagle replied.
Mustang groaned. "Aw, come on, how come they get to go with?" he protested
"Because they volunteered to go with Knight," Eagle pointed out.
Mustang let out an annoyed sigh but didn't say anything else after. As Jay, Nyx, and the rest of Knight Team slowly got closer to the incoming hostiles, the bandits started showing up on the HUD bit by bit. Eventually, they had eyes on eight MG-31s moving toward them at full speed.
"Hey, boss, are we clear to be taking out other mercs this close to Cascadia?" Tux asked hesitantly. "I mean, the last thing we want is to piss off the wrong people."
"Well, it's not exactly like we have much of a choice in the matter," Stallion pointed out before Cyborg could say the same thing. "Besides, based on what I'm looking at here, I don't think many people will miss these guys. It seems like Scarab is less of a mercenary corps and more of a band of sky pirates," he explained.
"Sky pirates," Shades echoed the words with a snicker. "What a joke."
"I wouldn't discount them that quickly, Knight 2," Stallion warned him. "According to the files I'm reading, these guys are pretty well-equipped."
"Roger that, we'll keep our guard up," Cyborg assured the AWACS operator. "Knight Team, engaging."
"Good thing we packed a full air-to-air loadout, eh, Nyx?" Jay asked, looking over his shoulder at his WSO.
Nyx smirked. "I'm getting the SAAs ready now. Let's see what this baby can do."
"Heh, you read my mind," Jay replied. "Not gonna lie, it feels damn good to finally get out of that F/E-4."
Without another word, Jay turned his attention to the incoming bandits. He centered the circle on his HUD on the MG-31 on the edge of the formation and waited until he was in range, which didn't take long. The missile shot out from under the Super Hornet's wing and left a trail of smoke behind as it sought out its target. The MG-31 tried to evade it, but it couldn't maneuver fast enough and exploded mid-air.
Cyborg went toward the remaining hostiles head-on, quickly accelerating to full speed as he went right past them, taking out the lead plane in the process. Shades and Tux split off from the formation and went after one of the other Foxhounds. Shades flew around, acting as bait for unsuspecting merc while Tux got behind them and took them out. They did this same song and dance with another plane and were planning to do it with a third one, but Cyborg came back around and took it out before they had a chance to do it.
Meanwhile, Jay turned into a perfect angle on the MG-31 he was chasing thanks to Nyx's guidance. He hit it with a single STDM before finishing it off with a quick burst from his machine guns. After a brief glance at his radar, Jay pushed the throttle forward and put some distance between himself and the last two hostiles before making a sharp turn to face them and fire a pair of MLAAs. The first hit its mark, sending the plane spiraling down to the desert below as it caught fire, but the second got out turned by its target and missed entirely. Luckily, in its haste to evade the missile, the MG-31 found itself in a perfect position for Jay to take out with machine guns.
Shades let out a slight chuckle. "Jeez, you two. Save some for us."
"Don't worry. You'll have your share of action by the time this is done," Stallion assured him. "Look like the majority of their fighters are here. They're coming from the same bearing as before."
Jay looked down at his radar and saw no more than twelve fighters, mostly F/C-15s accompanied by an FC-8, heading their way. Not wanting to waste any time, Jay faced the incoming hostiles and waited for Nyx to fire a pair of SAAs at two fighters. It was challenging to keep both fighters inside the circle, but once the first one went down, it became much easier to get the second. The rest all split away once they saw their comrades get shot down, and Knight Team turned to follow them. Jay set his sights on his next target, another F/C-15 that was a few hundred meters below him in altitude. He knew that if he fired a missile, it would most likely miss due to the angle they were approaching at, so instead, he chose to get in close and gun them down. Before Jay had a chance to look for his next target, a missile alert grabbed his attention.
"Nyx, where is it?" Jay asked, already turning to evade.
"Jink right!" she ordered.
Jay did as Nyx instructed and watched as the missile on their tail flew right by. Before their pursuer got a chance to fire another missile, Jay yanked back on the control stick and looped around. By the time they were about to get behind the F/C-15, though, it had already turned away. Jay opted to turn away and go after another target rather than follow the first one, which ended up being a wise decision, as Jay and Nyx were able to fire an MLAA salvo that took out four fighters. Once the smoke cleared, Jay spotted another F/C-15 trailing smoke. All it took was a short machine gun burst to take them out.
"Heads up, the last few Scarab aircraft are here," Stallion advised Knight Team. "One Anura and four transports."
"An Anura?" Tux echoed. "Shit, I guess you weren't lying about them being well-equipped."
"Nyx and I can take care of 'em if you want," Jay offered as he twisted and turned to finish off another fighter.
"I'll get 'em," Shades quickly jumped in. "Tux, you want a piece of the action?"
Tux chuckled. "As if you even have to ask, Shades. I'll keep you covered."
"Well, boss. It looks like you and I are finishing off the rest of the fighters," Jay said as he watched Shades and Tux break off.
"There's only six left, so I suppose that's three for each of us," Cyborg figured while he made a hard right turn to evade a missile. "I mean, we've gone up against worse odds," he added with a grin.
"Aw, come on, are you sure you don't want any help?" Mustang chimed in. "It'd only take us a second to get there."
"Don't you worry, Mustang. You boys'll have all the action you could hope for and more," Cyborg assured him.
Jay looked around, briefly ignoring the missile alert going off in his cockpit before turning to get behind the closest enemy fighter he could see. The missile on his tail lost its lock while Jay made his maneuvers, and Jay took out the F/C-15 with two STDMs. He made a sharp turn to get away from the explosion and saw a second bandit turning up and away from him. Jay kept his eyes locked on his target as he turned and centered the plane with his view. Since there was enough distance between him and the bandit, Jay decided to fire another SAA to take it out in one hit. With only one target left for him, Jay turned to see the last F/C-15 heading straight for him. Both planes went at each other with their guns, but Jay and Nyx were the ones that came out of it still flying.
"That everything, Stallion?" Cyborg asked as he started heading back to join the others.
"Yep, picture clean," Stallion answered. "Good work out there, Knight Team. We've still got a ways to go before we make it to our resupply point, so I suggest we get moving. This little excursion is gonna make things tighter than I'd like them in terms of fuel."
Jay smiled as he turned around to look at Nyx. "Corners like a dream, eh, Nyx?" he asked.
"Damn straight, just like the last one," she answered with a similar smile on her face. "Now, let's get going. I wanna hurry up and land already."