Rouen Air Base
Normandy, Europe
May 16th, 437 AC
2:45 PM Local Time
"Alright, everyone. Listen up!" Colonel Verreaux's voice bounced around the walls of the briefing room. "We've got a lot to say and not enough time to say it, so pay attention."
Cyborg stepped forward to stand beside Verreaux. "All battle-ready forces will be making their way to the city of Audessum within the hour. Audessum is one of the biggest trade hubs on the Eurasian continent- possibly in the world after the destruction of Prospero, making its huge port a significant asset for the withdrawal of our airships. The European Coalition has been using this city as something of a staging point for its retreat, making it a lynchpin in the war. If this city falls before we can get our forces out, it will be catastrophic and may even put the fate of the war in jeopardy."
"Needless to say, we cannot let that happen," Verraux continued. "Unfortunately, the Federation forced our hand earlier than anticipated. We believe that they're upping the aggression in their tactics after our mock charge into Scania, which we'll need to use to our favor in the coming weeks, but first, we need to get our forces out of Audessum."
"The city has been under siege for a few days now. The Federation has a solid line just beyond our range, and they've been using that to their total advantage. The battle for air superiority has yet to tip in anyone's favor, but we plan on changing that. We suggest bringing a loadout to accommodate for targets in the air and on the ground." Cyborg brought up the briefing software and displayed a projection of Audessum. "Once our reinforcements arrive, Viking will order a counter artillery barrage to punch a hole in the enemy's line. While they recover lost ground and set up a better defensive perimeter, Ritari will lead the charge from the ground. Knight will lead the squadrons providing direct CAS for the ground forces, while Lion Squadron will lead the battle for air superiority. Finally, Templar Team will be on point, going wherever support is needed to help turn the tide."
As Cyborg finished speaking, Verreaux stood at the center of the room. "Remember, the Federation wants Audessum just as much, if not more, than we want the troops still there. They'll throw everything they have at us if it means they secure this city. Be on your guard. Dismissed."
As everyone began preparing to leave, Cyborg broke into a jog to catch up with the rest of Paladin. "With all these missions the Coalition is planning with us as the lynchpin, we could probably end up asking for more than those cases of gold they offered."
"They're putting an awful lot of faith into this battle going smoothly," Shades pondered aloud.
"That's because it has to," Eagle pointed out. "We'll need every last man and woman we can get our hands on if this plan to beat back the Federation here at Rouen is gonna work."
"Will it, though? Seems to me like they're reaching a bit with this plan," Tux replied before looking over at her flight lead. "What do you think, boss?"
Cyborg was silent for a moment. As the mercenaries stepped into their hangar, he finally answered. "As long as the Coalition has us, and the Federation doesn't have any tricks up its sleeve, it should." He smirked as he prepared to climb up into his plane. "After all, there's a reason they're paying us so much."
Jay was still unconvinced, and he could tell from Cyborg's face that he was too. In fact, he could see a flicker of doubt in everyone's eyes, and he didn't blame them. Ever since they had taken the job, Jay wondered how the European Coalition could've been pushed back as far as they were when just a few months ago, they had the Federation's capital city under their control. There was something they weren't being told, and he had a feeling that sooner or later, it would be revealed. As he climbed into the cockpit of his Super Hornet, though, he just hoped they'd be able to deal with it before it dealt with them.
Audessum
Molainie, Europe
May 16th, 437 AC
5:54 PM Local Time
"Viking to all elements, Longbow's reporting good hits on the enemy's armored column. We are go for Phase 2. Knarr and Faering, move your tanks up to Defensive Line Beta and establish a perimeter. Everyone else use their cover to push forward. It's do or die, so let's not die."
"Ritari Actual copies all. We're jumping now," Gray replied. "Alright, boys, get your asses outta this plane! Jump like those nice ladies from the brothel in Creole are waiting for you at the bottom."
"Stallion, this is Varonis 1. We've dropped our payload, so we're bugging out to help with evac. Good luck, everyone," the lead transport said, already turning toward its exit window.
"Copy that; good work, Varonis," Stallion replied. "Everyone else, time to begin the counter-offensive. All aircraft, you're cleared to commence your assigned missions, and if you don't know what mission you were assigned… tough shit, I guess. Shoulda paid attention at the briefing."
Jay snickered as he reached for the master arm. "Solid copy, Templar Team is engaging," he reported. "Alright, Nyx, what's the call?" he asked his WSO.
"We've got a shitton of Accipiters coming in at angels 20, bearing 040. We oughta smack 'em down before they get too close to our boys," she replied, already marking them on Jay's radar.
"Wilco. Let's go."
As the sea of fighters inbound from Rouen all broke off to complete their assignments, Jay pitched up and lit his burners. Eagle stayed right on his wing, and Mustang and Jolt brought up the rear. Together, the four aircraft sped toward their target. It didn't take long for the Accipiters to detect them, though, and before long, they were head to head. Mustang and Jolt broke left to flank the formation while Eagle stayed with Jay and Nyx to keep their attention. Before long, they were within range of each other, and the fight was on.
Jay sent a pair of MLAAs hurtling toward the cluster of Accipiters and jerked the plane up and onto its side. As the two groups of fighters passed each other, Nyx reported both targets hitting their mark. Meanwhile, Mustang and Jolt had come around behind the bandits and sent a hail of gunfire and bullets toward them, knocking out four more before they had a chance to react.
"Got one coming in behind us, Samurai," Nyx reported, looking over her shoulder at the plane.
"Got it. Keep an eye on 'im. I'll try to shake this guy," Jay replied, already taking evasive maneuvers.
Vapor trails spilled over the Super Hornet's airframe as Jay and Nyx pulled hard to the left. The Accipiter followed with ease, letting loose a missile as soon as it straightened itself out again. As the alarms blared in Jay's ears, he went straight up, dumping flares behind him as he looped back around. He felt his body getting squeezed by the g-forces like he was stuck in a hydraulic press. When he came out of the loop behind the Accipiter, he let out a relieved sigh before gunning down the enemy fighter.
"Six planes left," Nyx reported. "Mustang's got two on his six. Let's help 'im out."
"No need," Mustang chimed in as he turned into a roll, bleeding enough speed to force his pursuers into an overshoot and fire a pair of MLAAs at them.
"Damn, Mustang, that was some hot shit," Jay said, smirking.
"Well, I gotta keep myself sharp after you one-upped all of us with that fight against the Peacekeepers," he replied.
"Heh. Gonna take a bit more than that to top what Samurai pulled off, I think," Eagle said with a chuckle.
"Then I better keep working at it," Mustang said before jerking his plane downward and gunning down another Accipiter.
Nyx laughed as she marked another target for Jay to go after. "Aww that's cute, Mustang. You really think you'd be able to get Templar 1 even if you got Sam' to step down? Everyone knows it would go back to Eagle. I mean, he was one of the founding members of Paladin."
"Wait, really?" Jolt asked. "I don't think I've ever heard that."
"It's true. I met Cyborg and Stallion not long after the Cascadian Conflict. The rest was history," Eagle told the younger pilot.
"He's got the seniority, the experience, and the skill. There's a reason he was originally the leader of Templar Team," Nyx said.
"Bah, he's gotten slow in his old age," Mustang replied dismissively. "I bet I could take old scarface here in a one-on-one- no problem."
"Damn, Mustang, those are fighting words," Jay said, making his amusement at the two pilots going back fourth known.
"Looks like he's getting big for his boots again. I guess I'll just have to whoop his ass in the simulators when we get back," Eagle replied.
As Jay splashed the last Accipiter, he turned back toward the battlefield, and the others formed up on his wing. "Alright, then. We'll make it all official, but let's make sure we get back first. Stallion, how are things looking? Anyone need anything?"
"Lemme answer that question for you, Samurai," Gray chimed in. "Our UAV picked up a Federation depot a few miles away from the front line. It looks like they're mounting up into APCs as we speak. We've already got the drone lasing the depot, so if you could turn it into a crater, that'd be swell."
"Ask and ye shall receive, Ritari Actual. We'll be there in a minute," Jay replied.
"Sure, do my job for me," Nyx muttered as she marked it on Jay's radar.
Jay chuckled. "What are you complaining about? It's basically free money for you."
"Everything's basically free money when I'm flying with you," she countered. "But at least most of the time I get to do something instead of just twiddling my thumbs."
Jay shrugged. "You can always just keep an eye on our tail," he suggested.
Nyx muttered something that Jay couldn't hear and locked their targeting to Ritari's laser. With that, Templar Team turned toward the depot and got set to attack. Jay and Jolt attacked first, firing STDMs at the ground targets on the outskirts of the depot. By the time they passed over, anything left standing was all gathered at the center of the depot, giving Eagle and Mustang just the opening they needed to drop some bombs on it and finish them off.
Gray whistled over the radio. "God damn, Templar, I watched that lightshow through my rangefinders. That was beautiful. Thanks for the fire support."
"Happy to help, Gray. You need anything else, just let us know," Jay told him as he lead his wingman back around toward the front line. "Alright, Stallion, what's our status?"
"Evacuations are going smoothly. Varonis is completely loaded and already headed back to Rouen, and we've got our airships taking off as we speak," the AWACS operator reported.
"I would've thought the Federation would've sent airships given the value of this port," Tux mused as she and Shades engaged a group of tanks near the front lines.
"Never look a gift horse in the mouth, Knight 3," Cyborg told her. "The less we have to go up against the Federation's airships, the better."
"I'd hold onto that optimism for a little while longer, boss," Stallion interrupted. "I've got three Federation cruisers on my sensors, but they're still a ways out. Also, I'm not sure if something's wrong with the radar or these cruisers are really close together. I'll get back to you on that."
"Are there any other reinforcements coming with those cruisers?" Jay asked, fearing the possibility of fighting Natalie again.
"Well… there's two groups of enemy fighters coming in from either side, but they're also pretty far out still. Looks like they're trying to flank us. I'll let you all know once they enter the AO." Stallion replied.
"Good man, Stallion. Keep it up," Cyborg praised him. "As for the rest of us, we've still got a job to do. Let's get everyone out of here."
"Hey, uh, Samurai. Would you… possibly be willing to give us a hand with these fighters?" Alt asked.
"Sacré bleu, we don't need their help, Lion 2," Wolf told her exasperatedly.
"W- well, sir. It would, y'know, go a lot faster with them helping us," the anxious young pilot defended herself.
Jay smirked at the exchange, ignoring the remarks from the grouchy flight lead and turning to engage the bandits over the city. "Wilco, Lion 2. Templar Team is engaging."
Wolf made some annoyed remark that Jay chose to ignore as he pitched up to climb high enough to join the fight above them. There was already a decently-sized furball raging on over the city, but going by numbers, it looked to be slipping ever so slightly into the Coalition's favor. Jay and the rest of Templar Team tipped the scales even more in their favor as he launched a salvo of MLAAs at a cluster of enemy fighters, knocking them all out. As he entered STDM range, Nyx pointed out an MG-29 going after a Coalition pilot that he quickly maneuvered behind with ease and shot down. Of course, it wasn't more than a few seconds later that an F/E-18 starting going after him, forcing him onto the defensive.
"Where's he at, Nyx?" Jay asked, looking over his shoulder as he tried to find the Super Hornet on his tail.
"God damn this guy is like right behind us, Sam'. You seriously gotta shake 'im," Nyx told her pilot. "Or just do something to keep him from riding our ass like some dickhead during rush hour."
Tracers flew past the cokpit, missing by only a few inches as Jay heaved his Super Hornet to the right, pulling away from their pursuer as hard as he could. The bandit tried firing a missile as they slipped away, but Jay popped flares just in time to bait it away, leaving him free to pull back around and take out the bandit with guns. As he circled back around to confirm his kill, he swooped down to join Alt in taking down a pair of SK.27s. He was just about to launch two MLAAs at them when suddenly, they broke off and started turning away as if they meant to exfil.
"What the hell? Are the Feds running?" Shades asked.
"We need to go. Now," Wolf insisted. "There's no way they'd just give up Audessum. They must be regrouping for a counterattack."
"What? We can't just abandon the city? If we have a chance to hold it we need to take it," Mustang insisted.
"There is no holding Audessum. This city was doomed to fall from the beginning. That's why we're here, merc," Wolf spat. "To get as many people out of the city as possible, or did you forget.
"Listen you self-righteous prick-" Nyx began before getting cut off by the sound of missile alerts.
"Where the shit did all these missiles come from!?" Tux asked as she, along with everyone else, took evasive action. "I can't see anything on the radar but missiles."
"Stallion, what's going on?" Cyborg asked.
"All aircraft break now! It's those cruisers from earlier," Stallion warned. "It looks like they're some new advanced model!"
"Dammit! Of course they're here. We need to leave," Wolf repeated himself.
"You guys knew about these things!?" Jay demanded.
"Of course we knew about the sole reason that the Federation has us on the back foot. I'm honestly surprised you hadn't run into them sooner," the older pilot retorted.
"You knew about these things the whole god damn time and didn't think once to tell us!?" Mustang snapped.
"Listen, we can bicker later. Right now, we need to get everyone out of the AO as fast as possible," Stallion insisted. "Enemy aircraft are flanking to cut us off, we need to keep our exit window open. All fighters equipped for air-to-air, engage those planes to buy us some time."
Jay watched as a massive shape pierced through the clouds, and an enormous air cruiser appeared. Railguns popped off toward the retreating fighters, catching one or two Coalition pilots as they flew, and another salvo of burst missiles shot out from above and beneath the massive cruiser. As Jay pulled the stick with all his might to evade the missiles, he briefly thought about going after the cruiser, but after his last fight with the Peacekeepers, he didn't want to put Nyx through something like that again.
"Dammit, that last missile hit me," Tux reported. "I should be fine for now, but I could use some cover."
"Hang in there, Tux. I'm making my way over to you now," Cyborg assured her, already lighting his burners to close the gap.
"Might wanna hurry," she said with a grunt. "I've got bandits closing in on me."
Jay and Nyx were already deep into the fight. They had already splashed four fighters and were closing in on a fifth, but it felt like they could only do so much. The calls for help didn't stop coming, and for every one that they answered, another three would sound off.
"Come on! Just a little more," Jay grunted as he gunned down an F/C-15.
"That Samurai merc is taking on multiple bandits," one of the Coalition pilots said. "Now's our chance to make a break for it."
"Heard he took on the Peacekeepers and won," another said. "If anyone can buy us time, it's him."
"You can gossip once you're home safe," Jay ordered. "Get out of the AO while you have the chance."
"You don't have to tell me twice," the first pilot said.
"Knight 3, what's your status?" Cyborg asked. "I'm almost there."
"I took another hit, but I might be able to keep it steady 'till we're out of here," she reported. Alarms blared in the background of her radio, and suddenly there was a loud crash. "Shit, nope! Just lost my tail. I've gotta punch out!" There was a second of static, and then her radio went silent.
"Ritari Actual, come in! We need immediate search and rescue for Knight 3. How copy?" Cyborg ordered. A moment of agonizing quiet went by. "Ritari Actual, come in."
The first thing everyone heard was the sound of gunfire. "Sorry, boss. That cruiser is raising hell down here on the ground, too. We can't do anything aside from stay alive. We'll try to get Tux as soon as we can, but for now, we're going radio silent. Good luck."
"God dammit!" Stallion cursed. "We can't do any more. All aircraft, withdraw immediately."
Jay launched his last salvo of MLAAs, taking down another pair of bandits and then a third with his guns. He could see it- the other end of this mass of enemy planes. All that stood between him and living another day was just a couple fighters, and the way he fought reflected that. Any Federation pilot standing between him and his exit window didn't stand a chance. They all fell within a minute, and as soon as he was home free, he pushed the throttle as far forward as it could go, shooting his Super Hornet forward as he and the other pilots that survived limped back to Rouen, while the massive air cruiser covered Audessum, sitting above it like a dragon guarding its bounty.