Author's note: Sorry for the delayed update. I decided to release Chapter 8 as a small one before a more detailed look into the world-building of my universe. We also briefly met a new person. I know I have been introducing new people left, right and centre but the pieces will fall together (if I can write the intended plot correctly lol). Anyways, enjoy and thank you for your continued support!
Van Persie
12/051949 – 11:00
The pilot gripped his helmet as he walked to the airfield. The naval exercise was supposed to commence soon. As he approached the hanger housing his Grumman F-14A Tomcat, he could see a large crowd gathering near the runway. Van Persie rightly assumed that most people would just simply be curious, and they eagerly anticipated something cool. Dawning his olive-green pilot suit, pilot kit and his rose-gold tinted Oliver People's sunglasses, the Dutchman felt like a rockstar. However, his walk was suddenly interrupted by four small girls, presumed to be destroyers. One was carrying a bottle of whiskey and was half asleep. The other was clearly wearing a German uniform of some sort and had a very concerned look on her face as she kept one hand on the more energetic, purple-haired destroyer. The last meanwhile was quite shy and stood behind the German destroyer. The more energetic one reached the pilot, asking for an autograph which he apply obliged. Van Persie saw the large grin forming on her face before she thanked him and ran towards the runway in excitement. Everyone soon followed.
His Weapons and Radar Officer, Yorktown followed suit, clad in the same olive-green pilot suit and sunglasses. She wore a blisteringly large smile as she climbed into the rear seat of the F-14A. The Dutchman already started to complete the final systems check and Yorktown quickly followed suit. Van Persie had given her a very thorough crash course in the basics, but this was her first real mission.
"You feeling good back there Yorktown?" Van Persie inquired.
"Yeah, it's all so surreal," she responded.
"Haha. Close the lid will you?"
"Of course," Yorktown responded and proceeded to close the canopy.
"All right, time to take off the sunglasses and activate HUD display and system-check weapons. We've got AIM-9H Sidewinders, AIM-7F Sparrows and AIM-54A Phoenixes," the Dutchman said.
"Main cannon, missiles, flares and chaff all operational. Helmet on and HUD is activated and working in good order," Yorktown responded.
"All right, we're ready for take-off. Control, request permission to prepare for take-off,"
"Lancer 2-4, request authorized. Good hunting. Out." Control said. The veteran pilot carefully taxied out from the hanger towards the runway. Flanked on both sides, there were massive crowds of curious people. Normal humans and girls alike. Including Overmars, King and the strange Berkely. Once in position, Van Persie pushed the throttle to the maximum. The afterburner-activated streams of fire blasted through the rear as the engines rumbled loudly. The aircraft accelerated forward, racing down the runway until Van Persie pulled the flight stick backwards, launching the eager Tomcat into the clear and bright sky.
The F-14 briefly flew over the entire island of Hawaii before Van Persie cruised towards the area in which the exercise was taking place. It was a section of the vast ocean, near Hawaii and friendly forces. However, the exercise wouldn't start for another hour as there were some maintenance issues with Graf Zeppelin. The pilots found themselves in a unique situation as this was the only private area on the base. Rumours and gossip started to fly around.
"So, lieutenant. I've heard some very saucy rumours~," Yorktown teased.
"Oh have you? What is the nature of these rumours?" Van Persie played on.
"Well, the ladies have been gossiping that you had a very late private dinner with Vittorio Veneto. And some think you two had a one-night stand," Yorktown said, and Van Persie laughed.
"No no no, you got it all wrong. Yes, it's true that it. Just a dinner, nothing more. And no, we did not hook up," Van Persie said, in a somewhat serious but amicable tone. "And there's a second rumour?" he asked.
"You're gunning for Enterprise," Yorktown said with a mischievous smile.
"That is a load of malarkey," Van Persie laughed.
"Well, as her older sister, I feel somewhat deserving to know what goes on in her social life. So, tell me, do you think she's pretty?"
"Yes, she's hot but that's beside the point Yorktown,"
"Jack and Enterprise, sitting on a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G,"
"Shut up Yorktown," Van Persie laughed.
The laughter faded between the two as they began to resume their work duties. Nothing was out of the ordinary until the F-14's radar detected multiple unknown signatures, east, approximately 100 kilometres out. Bewildered, Yorktown engaged the radar suite and it managed to lock on to an unknown target. Almost immediately afterwards, the Dutchman saw a green box surrounding something on his HUD, 98 kilometres away and closing in at a rapid rate.
"How many bogeys do you read Yorktown?" Van Persie asked.
"Five Lieutenant," Yorktown responded. "Radioing command," she added.
"Good to see you taking the initiative. Keep at it," Van Persie commented before banking the jet towards the approaching unknowns.
"Gold Eagle Actual, this is Lancer 2-4, we have spotted five bogies closing in from the east, how copy? Over,"
"Lancer 2-4, this is Gold Eagle Actual," Overmars started, "proceed with the training exercise, the ships are rolling out as we speak,"
"Interrogative Gold Eagle Actual, do we have friendly assets in the area to confirm this isn't going to be another Pearl Harbor?"
"Negatory Lancer 2-4, our logistical supply is already strained as it is. We can't afford to send units to recon. Continue with the exercise. Over and out." Overmars finished.
"What the fuck are you thinking Overmars?" Van Persie shouted. "Useless piece of shit." Slumping forth, Van Persie couldn't believe what he just heard from Overmars. Nevertheless, Van Persie had no other choice but to commit to the exercise. He visually saw multiple ships sortieing the port. Enterprise had manifested her carrier and was already in position. Van Persie lowered and deployed the airbrake for a moment, losing speed before sweeping the F-14's wings forward, gracefully flying over the designated area.
A few minutes had passed and all of the ships were in position with Van Persie circling the skies. Yorktown kept an eye on the radar system and were now approximately 50 kilometres away. The exercise's start time would be in two minutes and counting. Van Persie was slightly worried as he wasn't a commander. Sure, he could dogfight and was a good pilot but he lacked the tactical skills his former squad leader, Rapier, excelled at. Van Persie, however, possessed a usually keen overall strategic awareness.
"Exercise is a go!" Overmars announced on all radios.
"Form up and immediately deploy air wings Graf!" Van Persie ordered.
"Yes, launching air-superiority squadrons commander!" The seasoned German carrier responded. Hood had also deployed two scout planes which raced ahead. So far, all was calm.
"Uhm, Lieutenant?" Yorktown said in a worrying tone. "The RWR (radar warning receiver) is lighting up like a Christmas tree!"
"Fuck," Van Persie muttered.
"Gold Eagle Actual, this is Lancer 2-4. Unknown aircraft have confirmed to have a radar lock on us. Requesting permission to engage?" Yorktown radioed. However, no response.
"What the fuck is he doing?" Van Persie furiously said.
"Lancer 2-4," a voice rang out across the communications band. "This is Commander Petraeus. Those unknown aircraft are Siren jets. You have direct authority from Nimitz, Eisenhower and Zhukov to neutralize the incoming hostiles,"
"Commander Petraeus, this is Lancer 2-4. With pleasure," Van Persie directly responded.
"Happy hunting Sabre."
The F-14's afterburners soared to life and its wings swept back before Van Persie jolted the flight stick and the F-14 raced upwards, reaching over 6000 metres before levelling. The Tomcat acquired a radar lock on one bandit, before firing one AIM-54A Phoenix. The large missile was suddenly awakened from its slumber and accelerated ahead, leaving a faint trace of mist before disappearing from Van Persie's eyes. Despite the Tomcat using a missile, Van Persie understood that wisdom cube technology replenished the aircraft's armament. The Dutchman didn't quite grasp the concept but chalked it up to the otherworldly properties of wisdom cubes. However, Yorktown explained to the confused pilot, that there were cooldowns after 10 missile launches. (Author's note: it's Azur Lane, I didn't want this story to be too realistic/expect a more Ace Combat style with real elements). The F-14 fired off four more AIM-54As. Yorktown closely monitored the missiles and the radar, noting they were now 30 kilometres away. The F-14 sat at roughly 7000 metres above sea level and Van Persie continued to fly aggressively, directly charging into battle.
"Confirmed one bandit destroyed!" Yorktown enthusiastically announced.
They were now 20 kilometres away but the F-14 was at least 3000 metres higher, giving the Tomcat a much greater advantage in an aerial engagement. The Tomcat fired another salvo of AIM-54As and was ready to dive on the completely outmatched prey.
"Lancer 2-4, Petraeus here, RTO immediately, several more Sirens jets and bombers approaching the base!" he quickly ordered.
"Copy commander," Yorktown responded. Without flinching, Van Persie once again fired another salvo of AIM-54As before completing a 180-degree turn and then throttling the afterburner. The Azur Lane base was 60 kilometres from the F-14 whereas the fresh wave was 100 kilometres out. This time it was a whole squadron, totalling 14 jets. No matter for the F-14 as Van Persie and Yorktown simply acquired radar locks and fired a salvo of AIM-54As before having to wait a few minutes to fire off another round. The F-14 was now approaching close to 1300 km/h, hoping to rush back to the base.
"Yorktown, check coms with all main channels, the base must be scrambling," Van Persie ordered.
"Right away Lieutenant," Yorktown responded. "All channels are buzzing of an attack and are mobilizing all personnel. The girls apart of the training exercise are trying to find the Siren carriers,"
"They won't find the carriers," Van Persie cynically said.
"Uhm, Lieutenant?" Yorktown pondered.
"I need to confirm my suspicions first, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark," Van Persie cryptically responded.
A gruelling six minutes passed and the F-14 flew over the Azur Lane base, at an altitude of 7000 metres, close to 8000. The enemy jets were only ten kilometres away and thus Van Persie switched to AIM-7Fs. The F-14 was nearly invincible since it held the weapons, speed and more importantly, the altitude advantage. Van Persie could literally rain fire from the sky and nothing currently in the Siren or Azur Lane inventory could stop him. Making him quite literally, the most dangerous person in the world. And indeed, he did rain fire. Van Persie toggled the ACM module of the radar suite, meaning that the pilot's helmet displayed a small rectangular square, allowing the pilot to simply lock on to targets by looking in that direction. The F-14's nose dipped downwards and as soon as the radar locked on, he fired a sparrow missile.
"One target destroyed!" Yorktown said. Pulling back on the throttle and deploying airbrakes, the F-14 fired two more salvos of AIM-7Fs before the F-14 reached the same altitude as the enemy jets. Both missiles destroyed their targets despite the enemy jets performing evasive manoeuvres. Only two left.
However, one of the Siren jets looked up and fired a swarm of accurate machine gun and cannon rounds, forcing Van Persie to retract the airbrakes and throttling the afterburner before banking right. Yorktown's visions started to fuzz lightly and her brain and skull were being hammered by some unknown force. She slouched over and held her head, trying to cope with the bizarre feeling. Whereas Van Persie and all-well trained pilots could sustain the gravitational force accompanied by flying. As the F-14 was turning right, Van Persie suddenly pulled the flight stick back, climbing back up. The combat flaps were deployed and the wings were swept out. The F-14 performed an upside-down turn, crashing back down. One of the enemy jets overshot the F-14 as it was banking, and turned around to engage with the F-14 but Van Persie successfully energy trapped the hopeless jet. He fired an AIM-9H Sidewinder missile which easily found and destroyed the jet. One left to go.
The last enemy jet managed to get the jump on the F-14 as the Tomcat levelled at 2000 metres. It crashed from up above onto the F-14 but missed its gun run as Van Persie manoeuvred the jet from harm's way.
"Rookie mistake," remarked the Dutchman as the last enemy Siren jet completely overshot the F-14 and now was at a lower altitude. As it soared downwards, it flew until the jet was dangerously close to the ground, only 100 metres above the tallest buildings of the Azur Lane complex. The F-14 raced downwards too, almost catching the last jet with a malicious mouthful of the M61A1 20mm cannon. The two jets were less than one kilometre apart as the F-14 relentlessly chased the evading jet, firing small bursts of cannon when the opportunity came. Despite the obvious warnings and danger, many base personnel, including large swaths of ship-girls rushed out to see the dogfight overhead. The general consensus was amazement at Van Persie's flying and combat ability and the absolute beast that was the F-14 Tomcat. The enemy jet banked left and tried to climb but this was the fatal error as the F-14's extremely manoeuvrable frame easily caught up. Van Persie fired a large burst of rounds which chopped through the Siren jet's wings like a chainsaw.
Cheers from Van Persie echoed throughout the cockpit as Van Persie qualified to be an 'ace of aces', successfully downing ten Siren jets in a single engagement.
"WOHOOOO!" Van Persie shouted, throwing a fist in the air. "HOW DOES IT FEEL YORKTOWN TO BE THE QUEEN OF THE SKIES!" He shouted. Over, Yorktown did not respond. "Yorktown?" Van Persie said worryingly as he checked back on his fellow officer. He discovered Yorktown to be slightly slouched forwards, but completely unconscious due to the high G turns Van Persie pulled. He immediately contacted the base for medics to be at the airfield as soon as he got the all-clear from Commander Petraeus.