Salem wasn't expecting to see this universe again, and neither was Winter. Either way, both appreciated the chance to see more of Strangereal.
As the screen came to life, classical music, similar to the deeper orchestral music they heard in the trailer, began to play.
[Ace Combat 5 OST: Razgriz]
A drop of blood slowly fell from an unseen surface as Albert Genette began to narrate. The blood landed on a dark surface, revealed to be a map of the world of Strangereal. The red stain of blood then expanded, forming the shape of a country called "Belka", and as Genette continued, the stain of crimson land continued to grow, representing the violence the nation's ambitions wrought.
"15 years ago, there was a war. Well... war's broken out here plenty of times before. They've tried to invade the southlands through the northern valley time and time again. Luck was never on their side though, and their victories didn't last long."
"Plenty of times before"? Winter said, puzzled. "He makes it sound like war is common in this world."
James just mentally slapped the Belkans. It's one thing if you lose an initial engagement, but doing the same thing regardless of the losses was the social definition of insanity.
The map showed the ice shelves of Antarctica, the countries of Osea, Usea, Belka, Sapin, and Wellow in the Eastern Hemisphere. Towards the west were the lands of Sotoa, Verusa, and Anea. Between all these lands were the waters: the Pacific Ocean between Verusa and Osea, the Atlantic between Osea and Usea, the Arctic Ocean to the far north, the Ceres Sea between the Arctic and the Pacific, and the Razgriz Straits to the northwest.
"Wow, that's a lot of countries." said Yang.
"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "Despite being a small part of the globe, this continent's probably bigger than all of Remnant combined!"
Ozpin and Salem silently memorized the map as it unfolded before them. It was a special thing to see the lands of a foreign world and besides, they'd probably need to know the geography whenever they see this world in the future. Everyone else in the audience found the map equally intriguing.
The blood stain that emanated from Belka stopped, landlocked by the Gebe desert, Waldreich Mountains, and the mountainous Heierlark region. This gave way to a modern, holographic map showing the area as modern-Belka, with the notable cities of Heierlark, Dinshark, Wesson, Dilectus, Cor, Hons, Rutherford, and Sudentor marked by yellow points. However, as fast as it appeared, Belka began to shrink as they lost their imperialism driven wars. First Dilectus became independent, and then the red receded from Rutherford, Heirlark, and Wesson. Dinshark, while still in Belka, lost it's prominence and the name disappeared from the map. Finally, the land Dilectus was then split, with the country of Ratio(southeast of Belka) gaining land and the half closer to the defeated nation becoming Ustio, with Dilectus as its capital. The land containing Mons and some from the former Belkan Dilectus region became Recta, to the east of Belka and with Cor as it's capitol. The land Mons inhabited extended toward the now smaller Belka, becoming the country of Gebet.
"Hmm, If I remember correctly, Sudentor, or Südtor, means "Southern Gate." Weiss pointed out.
"Really?" Winter asked. "How did you learn that?"
"It's just something I picked up after studying Pre-Great War language in History Class."
"They didn't realize that times had changed. Facing one defeat after another, losing territory and watching their nation dwindle, they built up their industrial strength to unprecedented heights and used it to wage one final battle against the world."
The advances of the belligerent nation during the 1995 Belkan War were shown, their warpath traced by orange arrows. They headed west into Osea, attacking Wesson and Rutherford in the south. They also moved south and east on their eastern front, taking over half of Ustio, later advancing into Sapin. Images of Tomcats, soldiers, and Warthogs followed, illustrating the conflict, and the resistance to the Belkan's aims.
"That was 15 years ago."
"So despite living in an era of peace, they were too proud to just settle for what they already had? That's a dangerous way of thinking." Jaune said.
"Well, the narrator did say that their nation was dwindling." Pyrrha gently countered, trying to play Devil's Advocate while not entirely justifying the Belkans. "It's possible they were facing an erasure of their culture."
"But still, they just lost more territory because of their ambitions, and worse, lives. If they couldn't expand past their neighbors, trying to fight the world is an even worse idea."
Blue arrows representing the Allied Forces appeared on the map. Counter offensives from Recta and Ratio in the east, as well as from Osea from Belka's south and west began. Osean and Sapinese counteroffensives in the south penetrated deep into the territory Belka had stolen. Gradually, Belka was forced back into it's own borders. Then, it was shown that the Belkans had lost over half their country to the Allied Forces(Osea had annexed Southern and Northern Belka), leaving Sudentor as the last stand.
"They fought ferociously, but were utterly defeated."
"Their expansion stretched their resources while the Allies concentrated their own at the front." James thought. "If they had stuck to one small country at a time they might have won.
A blanket of white spread out from the middle of the screen like petals on a flower, fading to show footage of a large wave mushroom clouds rise in the distance with the date "6 June 1995" on the bottom left.
"The Belkans then committed the unthinkable- they used nuclear weapons on their own soil. Seeing this tragedy unfold before their own eyes, the victorious countries vowed to throw down their weapons. "
"Uh, what's a nuclear weapon?" Ruby asked.
"A nuclear weapon," Penny began to explain. "...or "nuke" for short, is a theoretical weapon first devised by Mantlite scientists that would use a destructive force created by the theoretical process of nuclear fusion which is created via fission, the splitting of an atom, or a combination of fission and fusion, the combination of two atoms of differing sizes. The resulting explosion would be able to reach 5.6 miles and be felt by many more. The effects would include a powerful shockwave produced by the blast, extreme thermal radiation that instantly vaporizes anything closest to the explosion site, and residual radiation in the form of radioactive, snow-like fallout.
The audience was surprised by the concept of such a weapon, even more so that Mantle(before it became Atlas) had considered creating and using them. The only thing they could compare such a blast to was when Oscar destroyed the Monstra, and even that energy was somewhat reduced.
A flock of seagulls flying on a bright, clear day appeared onscreen. The scene faded to a beautiful view of an airbase on an island.
"The world was once again at peace. And thanks to them, it seemed it would last forever. On a distant island, far away from civilization, the protectors of the peace take to the skies."
"The protectors of the peace..." It had a nice sound to it. Despite the serene environment, the audience knew it was usually peacekeepers who witnessed the most devastation first-hand.
As soon as those words were said, an F-4G Phantom II Wild Weasel flew past the camera and into the distance.
"Whoa. Nice transition." Yang said.
The camera switched viewpoints to another kind of plane in the air. A set of coordinates appeared onscreen: Cape Landeres, 0532'17"N 15216'02"E, 1109hrs. Sep 23, 2010. Bartlett could be heard announcing distress in the radio.
Bartlett: "Red alert!"
Genette: "I was in the sky, trying to get the training team in my viewfinder from the rear seat of the lead plane. My pilot in the front seat was howling at the earth below."
The view switched to show the instruments in Bartlett's plane. On his radar were the names "Edge", "Cavalier", "Barney", "Jive", "Aero", "Mostang", "Svenson", "Baker", and finally the leader himself, Bartlett(or as he was shown on radar, "Heartbreak One"). The view then switched to Genette's backseat footage of Bartlett in the plane.
Bartlett: "Gimme a break! I'm babysittin' nuggets up here!"
Winter analyzed what she was seeing. Obviously the names on the radar were the pilot's teammates' TAC names(commonly known as callsigns). The flight lead was Heartbreak One, though she did have to admit it was a rather strange callsign and was born no doubt out of some personal history.
"I wonder what kind of craft those are?" Weiss said. The others in the seats felt the same, the weapons-nut Ruby especially.
"Me too." Winter internally agreed.
From a brief glimpse at the radar, the viewing switched to Genette's footage of four the intruding planes. A zoom-in revealed them to be Mig-29A Fulcrums. A squadron of ten intruding planes in total appeared on radar. Command responded to Bartlett.
Command Room: "Command Room to Wardog Squadron, we have leakers, aircraft type unknown. Crossing the border at Cape Landers, bearing 278 to 302. Captain Bartlett, your flight is the only group close enough to make the intercept."
Bartlett was seen in his fighter, helmet and visor obscuring the audience's view of his face.
Bartlett: "Baker, Svenson, go trail and stay close. The three of us will go high and engage the bandits. All other aircraft stay low and out of the fight."
Ironwood analyzed the situation. Unknown hostile craft attacking a group of rookies with help from only three(he assumed it was three based on the Captain's order) more experienced instructors. It looked like a difficult situation to him, but not one that was impossible to get out of unscathed. That however, relied on how skilled the engaging defenders were. The other, more experienced minds like Ozpin, Salem and TRQ knew this too.
Heartbreak 1 and the others(all in F-5 Tiger IIs) got into position. In the back seat, Genette looked on, a look of nausea and nervousness visible on his face as Bartlett's plane rolled through the air. The four Tiger IIs got into position.
Genette: "The world turned upside-down, and my stomach turned inside out."
The radar was shown again, revealing the mix of planes that resulted from the intercept and dogfight before fading out. Bartlett came into view striding on a military installation, hangers visible in the distance. The words "Sand Island Air Force Base 1352hrs" appeared onscreen.
"Alright, looks like they got out okay." Qrow mumbled. While the Captain and the journalist were visibly fine, he could tell by Bartlett's demeanor that they had some losses.
"Sorry 'bout this." The Captain apologized to the journalist.
Genette: "The Captain's apology to me seemed misplaced. One instructor had survived the fight but crashed on landing. The other one was killed in action high up in the clouds. It wasn't his fault that the unidentified aircraft fired on us without warning."
Genette walked alongside the soldier, bag in hand.
"Nor was it his fault that the low altitude area where he sent his trainees was directly in front of the enemy."
The view panned up to towards the sunny blue sky.
"Eight people died because the Command Room had misplaced some zeroes."
"What!" Winter exclaimed. "How the hell does that happen?!"
It certainly seemed like an unlikely result. The Command Room had the coordinates the unknown craft were approaching from, so why weren't they where they were said to be? Why did the trainees fly into their doom?
Many in the audience were also suspicious. That kind of thing didn't seem like a normal mistake.
The screen moved back to Bartlett and Genette, showing them from the front this time.
"That pilot in the Number Seven was amazing!" He mentioned. "Did you see her fight back?"
"I couldn't bear to watch." Bartlett replied, sternness in his voice.
Stopping, Bartlett turned around to speak to the Number Seven pilot. Genette did to.
Bartlett: "Nagase, you keep flying like that and you'll die real soon!"
"I won't die, Sir." came the reply from the woman standing by the plane marked with the number of a certain MI6 Agent.
Nagase, helmet in hand, raised her left arm to fix her short brown hair, growing slightly messy from the wind.
Genette: "The only surviving trainee's voice was almost a whisper."
"Are you sure? You look like you couldn't hurt a fly." Bartlett shot at her.
Wanting to capture an image of someone who had just been in an historical event, or possibly simply enamored by her beauty, Genette raised his camera. Noticing this, Nagase turned towards the photojournalist, a smile barely coming onto her face.
Yang humphed. "I can't blame him. She's pretty and kicks butt."
Slightly down from her outrage at the Command Room's mistake, Winter raised an eyebrow at Yang's statement. "Really, Ms. Xiao-Long? Is that why you're with Blake here?"
"I mean, yeah. Other than her personality of course." Yang wrapped an arm around Blake. "Now I've got myself a living puzzle. What's not to love?"
Blake groaned in embarrassment while here other two teammates smiled at the golden-haired girl's words.
Genette: "Her face was pale, but she still managed to smile a bit for the camera."
The click of a shutter was heard as the image turned monochrome and still.
"The photo, along with my camera, was confiscated by Base Security. It was as if our little undeclared war never happened."
To drive the point home, two lines forming an "X" appeared over the picture. Zooming out, the screen revealed a roll of film with various pictures, X's on all of the frames. A tower of the base was shown.
"Makes sense..." Oscar thought. "...They wouldn't want any potentially classified material like identities to get out to the enemy so they'd need to clear the pictures first when it's appropriate. But why cover up the battle? People need to know if they're in danger."
Reading the thoughts of his young host, Ozpin agreed, seeing as his protracted war against Salem a symptom of his previous distrust of others, it's become easier to recognize mistakes and anomalies in behavior.
"What?" Emerald quietly questioned herself. "Why not tell people? They should make sure their citizens are informed to protect them."
"You were wondering that too?" Oscar thought?
"Hmm?" Emerald turned her head, slightly surprised, but not entirely that her and Oscar were on the same page. "Oh, yeah. It just doesn't make sense. The soldiers should've been immediately informed and yet, they don't know who the enemy was. It almost feels like..."
"Almost feels like what?"
"Hmm," Emerald brought a hand to her chin. "I don't wanna say until we see more of the situation."
Hearing this, Oscar worried for the people onscreen. They were universes away, but they were still people.
"I came to cover this remote island because I heard that a very unique squadron leader was stationed here. I didn't realize he was this unique though. This badmouthed, good-natured old firebrand could take the greenest of rookies and forge him into a fearsome fighter pilot. ...Of course, that possibility vanished with today's encounter."
Now in a room, Bartlett laid back in his chair with a doleful look on his face. The words Crew Ready Room, 1600hrs appeared onscreen as a few young men and Nagase Grabbed their seats in front their Captain.
"The only crew he had left now were Second Lieutenant Nagase and the few pilots that happened to be on the ground that day."
Bartlett spoke: "I know you don't like this, but we're short on people. Starting tomorrow, all of you nuggets are gonna be sittin' alert. If we launch, stay glued to me up there. Nagase!
Nagase answered immediately. "Sir."
Bartlett: "Your flying Number Two on my wing. Gotta keep an eye on you or who knows what you'll get yourself into."
Nagase stared. While her air of independence could be felt through the very screen itself, she stayed quiet.
"Huh, keeping her by his side might be a good idea." Tai whispered over to qrow(so as to not disturb the other viewers), who leaned over to hear him. "She might accidentally teach him a few things."
Qrow nodded in agreement.
The screen faded to blackness. The words "Shorebirds: 1101hrs. 24 September 2010. Cape Landers." appeared. The words disappeared and gave way to a blue screen in what appeared to be a briefing room. The terms "OSEAN AIR DEFENSE FORCE" and "NORTH OSEA GRUNDER INDUSTRIES" were both visible on the screen's bottom. The reflection of the fat Colonel, Orson Perrault also graced the screen. Perrault logged into the Briefing System under the I.D. "islandking" as he started the briefing. The screen flashed a system made by Grunder Industries as it booted up.
"Time to see what this military can do..." Winter thought.
Perrault: "At ease, people... but don't get too comfortable. It's a grave situation for all of us right now. Let's get this briefing started."
A holographic map of Strangereal was shown. Yuktobania, which was directly across the ocean from Osea, was notably highlighted in red. As Perrault spoke, the map zoomed in on Cape Landers, a coastal area near Sand Island.
"Another aircraft of unknown origin has entered Osean Federation airspace. We have confirmed the target type as a strategic recon plane flying at very high altitude."
The map zoomed in even further on Cape Landers, showing the details of the mission: Date: 0854hrs. Sep24, 2010. Area: Cape Landers. Cloud Cover: 29%. The expected formation of Bartlett's squadron was shown. They were to fly in a diamond formation with Bartlett/HTEBKONE as the Flight Lead, Nagase/Edge behind him on his left, Chopper on his right, and Blaze at the tail end. An image of the target plane, an SR-71 Blackbird -a stealth aircraft- was shown as well as its projected direction on the map, which shifted, becoming a three-dimensional grid.
"Despite our repeated warnings, it continued to penetrate our ADEZ and was fired upon by Osean Coastal Defense Force SAMs. We believe one of our SAMs damaged the unknown plane but did not destroy it. Radar shows that the aircraft is currently losing altitude, and is attempting to egress feet wet towards the ocean. Intercept the target and force it to land for identification. Do not fire upon this aircraft until further orders are transmitted."
"Hmm, seems simple enough." James mumbled to himself. A routine intercept of a leaker craft, the operation's objective itself wasn't anything too special.
After the briefing finished, the screen faded again, and a series of words appeared onscreen: "Amidst the eternal waves of time/From a ripple of change shall the storm rise/Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon/Behold the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath"
The appearance of these words out of the dark puzzled the audience. They certainly weren't part of what they were just watching. That and the fact that the Razgriz is name-dropped in the nonrhythmic poem just made some of the audience uneasy about the upcoming mission.
"Hmm, odd..." Cinder thought. She had picked up that Salem was interested in the Razgriz, her recent behavior from when they watched the trailer for this universe made it obvious in retrospect. "Perhaps I should keep an eye on Salem..."
[Ace Combat 5 OST: Shorebirds]
The screen returned to normal as it now showed Bartlett, or rather Heartbreak 1, flying his dark-colored Tiger by the coast of the Cape.
"Back to the planes..." Winter observed, "...Let's see how they fair."
Bartlett: "This is Heartbreak 1 of Wardog Squadron, we are approaching the target."
The other planes of Wardog flew in Tigers as well, though theirs were painted in gray camo.
Thunderhead: "This is AWACS, callsign Thunderhead. Roger. Bring the target to the ground. Do not fire at the target. Repeat, do not fire at the target."
The viewing switched to a third-person view of the plane farthest back, Blaze's.
Bartlett: "You got that, nuggets?"
Nagase: "Wardog 2, roger."
Chopper: "Wardog 3, roger."
There was a bit of an awkward silence before Bartlett spoke again.
Bartlett: "...Wardog 4! Hellooo? Can you hear me, Kid? You better be markin' our tail, son!"
Blaze answered "Yes", though the audience couldn't hear it.
Bartlett: "Looks like you're confident, at least. Don't get separated from me."
Chopper: "Man, I'm glad you drew the short straw instead of me!"
Bartlett: "Second Lieutenant Alvin H. Davenport, zip it! You need a nickname, too?"
Chopper: "I respectfully ask to be called "Chopper," Sir. I'm afraid I might not be able to respond to any other moniker."
Bartlett: "Hmm. That does fit you well... I've got a better name for you, but I'll keep it to myself. Okay?"
Chopper: "Aw, cut me some slack, man!"
The audience noted the personalities of the squadron. They were already familiar with Bartlet and and Nagase, the stern-but-protective flight lead and the brave(even if a little reckless) pilot who so far has been a woman of few words. Those who knew her personally thought of Yang when they heard Chopper, though he was more mouthy. They found it really weird that they couldn't hear Blaze's comms.
"Wow, Chopper really reminds me of you Yang." Blake said.
"Huh? How"'
"Well for one, he just has that talkative personality that you had when we first met and still have."
"Hmm, fair point."
"Huh," Oscar sounded. "...why can't we hear Blaze?"
"Oh, well, for some reason I've never been able to hear the voice of the main pilots." Uatu answered. "I don't know why, I, and as a result you all, just can't."
"Huh? That's pretty weird." Roman remarked.
"To fix it, I'll add a Yes-or-No display so see what Blaze says.
"Wait, you can't just add subtitles? People say a lot more than "yes" and "no" in their answers." Roman spoke up.
The Watcher sighed. "I would if I could, but no. We're just gonna have to deal with it."
Bartlett: "Tally-ho, we've got company. Let's go."
Wardog turned to right, putting themselves right behind the Blackbird.
The Blackbird was a large stealth plane by the looks of it with a rocket-like design, long fuselage, two large turbojet engines. The design, while a little on the rougher side, was still sleek to the more militaristic members of the audience.
"I can't believe this, those planes are simple compared to Atlas tech and yet, leagues faster." Winter thought. "Niether Atlas' Dropships nor the Mantas can compare in speed."
Bartlett: "You're forbidden to fire until I give permission, understand?"
Once again, Blaze answered "Yes", accompanied by a lack of voice(rectified by Uatu's display).
Bartlett: "Good boy. All right, Where's Motormouth Chopper?"
Chopper: "Wha?...That's your name for me?"
Some in the audience snickered at the loudmouth's nickname.
"Motormouth huh? That's gotta suck. Hehe." Yang said.
Bartlett: "You've got a knack for comic dialogue. You mind sending the surrender request for me?"
The Blackbird could seen in the distance as Wardog closed in, eventually flying meters away from the intruder.
Chopper: "Oh no, please, age before beauty."
Bartlett: "I'm real shy around strangers, you know..."
Chopper proceeded to make contact as the Blackbird yawed to the right, Wardog turning in kind.
Chopper: "Sheesh. Testing, testing...Attention, unidentified aircraft. Set your course for our beacon immediately."
Bartlett: "Good."
Chopper: "Uh...we will direct you to the nearest airfield. Lower your gear if you understand."
"Not too much going on." Ren observed. "Other than the unusual chattiness of the pilots, things seem to be going normal."
But before the Blackbird could respond with anything, and just as things seemed to be going smoothly, the situation soon turned for the worse.
AWACS Thunderhead: "Warning! We have four high-speed bogeys inbound. Approaching unknown aircraft bearing 280, altitude 6,000! Hold your fire until further orders!"
Ren's eyebrows arced up and he brought a hand to his face, gliding it through his hair with a look that said "Nevermind".
Wardog, listening to AWACS' orders, stayed with the Blackbird. Blaze however, sped towards the north, to confront the enemy, but whether he was going to use violence or attempt a solo interception was unknown to everyone.
Bartlett: "Crossing the pond to fly cover for their spy plane, huh? Now their's a fighter pilot worth his wings. Enemy inbound bearing 280! Head on. You're not to fire until I say it's okay, got me?"
Blaze: "Yes."
Bartlett:"Good boy."
"He's getting out of formation? They do need cover, but that still isn't smart for a rookie to do it." Winter thought.
Blaze approached the unidentified craft, flying over and past them before yawing to the left, positioning himself behind them as they approached Wardog and the Blackbird.
Chopper: "Heads up! They're firing on us!"
Through the clouds, the audience could see faint light from a number of missiles, though just exactly how many were fired was unknown except that it was more than two. This immediately caused the situation to devolve a furball.
"It could've been just an aggressive step into their territory that could've been pushed out," Pyrrha noted. "...but now that the enemy's attacking, they'll have no choice but to defend themselves."
"Mhm." Jaune nodded in agreement. Ren observed the situation as well. Nora was just happy to see some action though.
AWACS Thunderhead: "Wardog Squadron, weapons safe! Hold your fire until further orders!"
"What?" Pyrrha was surprised at the decision. "Why?"
Ren answered. "It seems that the officials are still trying to avoid potential war with the enemy even though they're being attacked, which has basically already started it."
Winter personally disagreed with the decision of the AWACS. Their airspace was violated and they were being fired upon. They had a right to protect themselves. Ironwood himself was silently disproving as well.
Chopper: "Oh, come on! Those aren't blanks they're firing out there!"
Bartlett: "Shut your mouth and fire back!"
"Finally, someone who's responsible for his soldiers." Ironwood muttered.
[Ace combat 5 OST: Open War]
As soon as Bartlett said that, Blaze, yawing left, fired two missiles at a MiG-21bis Fishbed going right. Completing his turn, Blaze could see Edge chasing a Fishbed in front of him. Chopper was heading his way on his left side, following the Blackbird as Blaze and HTEBKONE -who was behind him- engaged the enemy.
AWACS Thunderhead: "Captain Bartlett, this is Thunderhead. You are violating direct orders!"
Bartlett: "Shove it! I'm not gonna watch any more of my pilots die!"
Those in the audience that cared agreed with the sentiment.
Nagase: "Edge, engaging!"
Edge tried to gun down the Fishbed she was tailing. After the short burst of fire, Blaze fired two missiles at the target, missing as he yawed to the right to face two other enemies, missile alerts flashing all the while.
Bartlett: "We're gonna shoot them all down kid." Bartlett said to Nagase.
Flying between his two targets, Blaze fired two missiles, each hitting and downing the plane that was quickly approaching his ten o'clock. As the one on his right flew past, Blaze did a modified Immelmann turn towards the upper right. Afterwards he quickly repositioned, yawing left to chase the Fishbed that had unfortunately crossed his sights. As he followed the enemy plane, HTEBKONE and Chopper could be seen approaching. Edge, on Blaze's left, repositioned to engage the last Fishbed that was flying in front of Blaze like his fallen friend, only this time, to the left.
Chopper: "You mind if I grab this kill? I will, you know."
Bartlett: "Go ahead."
Unfortunately for Chopper, two of Blaze's missiles took his chance for a kill away from him.
Winter admired the movement and speed of the craft on-screen. "Wow, for vehicles that are nowhere near Remnant-levels of sophisticated, all of those planes are faster and more mobile in most ways to our own."
"Yeah," Weiss agreed. "Though they don't look too much like anything other than hunks of junk compared to our craft. But, I guess that's what happens when you build a vehicle with the expectation of putting it through aerial combat and compare it to ours which, to be honest, are more like flying taxis and artillery than ships capable of skirmishing."
AWACS Thunderhead: "Wardog Squadron, weapons safe! Hold your fire until further orders!"
"That same order..." Ironwood thought. "They were attacked first, they should have the responsibility to defend themselves."
Nagase: "Turning to engage bandits."
Chopper whistled a "Whew!" in impression.
As Blaze approached, the Fishbed changed direction towards the right so that it was moving directly away from the pilot on it's tail to into a climb. This didn't work however, as Blaze soon silenced it with two missiles.
Bartlett: "Looks like we can hold our own out here. You guys fly better than I thought."
Enemy Squadron: "Flight of four fighters inbound. Eliminate them at once."
The action apparently wasn't over. Just as the last plane for the Blackbird's cover squadron went down, an additional four Fishbeds approached flying in finger-four formation. In the distance, the Blackbird changed course to approached it's friends as Blaze went to confront them.
"He knows they're after him so he's trying to lead them into his backup." Raven observed. "It's not a bad strategy, but it's sacrificial at this point."
Bartlett: "Don't let him get away. Aim straight!"
Heeding Captain Jack's words as he and Chopper chased the Blackbird, Blaze lowered the nose of his Tiger to correct as he closed in head-on towards the unknown enemy, firing two missiles that promptly destroyed their flight lead.
"Yep, good call." Qrow complemented. As an experienced fighter, Qrow knew that sometimes in an unpredictable situation, the best way to be unpredictable to opponents was to sometimes be straight forward. In this case, going head-on instead of trying to pincer or out-maneuver the enemy.
AWACS Thunderhead: "Hold your fire."
Chopper: "My only regret...is not being able to fly with a captain with a sunnier disposition.
Yang was starting to like Chopper a bit. His humor in dangerous situations was like hers. "Okay, I think I'm starting to really see why he reminded you of me Blake, hehe. This guy's great."
Blaze yawed right to face the enemy again. The Fishbeds all yawed left to varying degrees from Blaze's perspective: the leftmost plane turned to engage Blaze head-on, facing his 6:30. The middle Fishbed was heading towards his seven o'clock. The last was flying left to nine o'clock. Flying past the first two, Blaze positioned himself behind the rightmost Fishbed and fired two missiles, bagging it for the ocean below.
Some in the audience winced at the hit.
AWACS Thunderhead: "Wardog, I ordered weapons safe for all aircraft. Follow orders and hold your fire."
"He just doesn't get it does he? It's way too late for that now." Blake bemoaned the AWAC's efforts to get the squadron to stop.
Chopper: "What's he flying around here for? Trying to start a war or something?"
AWACS Thunderhead: "Do not fire at the target. Repeat, do not fire at the target."
Blaze turned his attention to the leftmost plane. As he closed in, the pilot yawed right in a retreat attempt. His effort was for naught though, as while he tried to get away, Blaze sprayed the aircraft from top to bottom and finished it off with a single missile.
AWACS Thunderhead: "Enemy recon plane down."
Blaze then made a hard right turn, firing two missiles and destroying the last enemy.
Bartlett: "Aww, what a shame. Too tired to party?"
"Man..." Jaune admired. "Even though they were outnumbered, that was a total wipe for the enemy."
To the surprise of the audience, Blaze then looped upwards and rolled right-side-up, heading away from Wardog and the Blackbird and towards another wave of planes; four more Fishbeds and a Hawk with the name Gigantor next to it.
"Blaze certainly has initiative. Though it is a bit dangerous since he's taking himself away from the group." Weiss observed. "Also, why is there a name next to that plane?"
"Perhaps he's a soldier of status?" Blake theorized. "Either way, if that plane's special enough to be named, they might have trouble."
Chopper: "Whoa! Those guys are really mad now!"
Bartlett: "Good, good. Nicely done, Chopper. We're still in this. You might get another serving soon."
Firing two missiles, Blaze downed the Fishbed second to leftmost from his perspective. Flying over the now-reduced Fishbed formation, Blaze sped towards Gigantor as the Fishbeds headed for Wardog Squadron. Blaze flew below the enemy craft in order to avoid being shot down. As the Hawk flew above him, Blaze looped upwards again.
Bartlett: "I'll show 'em who's in command of this outfit. Just leave it to me."
Catching sight if HTEBKONE being chased by two Fishbeds, Blaze continued downwards, transitioning from a correcting left roll into a left yaw as he caught sight of Gigantor. Gigantor's Hawk had a graphite gray body with a slightly darker gray shape on the wings. While not too flashy, it was certainly a unique-looking plane. Needless to say though, That unique-looking plane was reduced to scrap as Blaze destroyed it with two missiles as three Fishbeds flying above him; one trying to take him out with it's gun while another tried to hit him with a missile, though perhaps they were just trying to force him out of the way as they made their way towards Chopper.
"Ooh, that's a coo-(Gigantor gets shot down) Er, it was a cool plane." Ruby said, a little disappointed that such an interesting-looking plane was taken out so fast.
"Well, there goes that "special" pilot." Yang said.
Winter agreed. "I honestly expected more. What I didn't get was why the body of the craft was so different from its comrades. That would never pass military regulation."
"Perhaps its just how this world's militaries work when it comes to some pilots?" Weiss said.
"Perhaps, but I don't like it. It's too nonstandard."
Chopper: "I feel like I'm the only one being targeted."
Bartlett: "You talk too much, that's why. You're the only one they hear. Enemy kill confirmed. I gotta say, that was impressive."
Ironwood noticed that statement.
"Don't tell me they're talking on an open channel." He said to himself with frustration. "They're good in a fight, but communications? How stupid are they?"
Taking a wide left yaw and then pointing himself right, Blaze positioned himself behind two Fishbeds. Quickly, he downed the one to the left as he began chasing the one to the right, which had just begun to climb.
Bartlett: "That's another good shot."
Just as Bartlett finished that sentence, Blaze fired two missiles, destroying the aircraft.
"And that's two more good shots!" Yang added. The action was pretty exciting, even if one side was getting decimated, and she just felt the need to point out the timing.
Bartlett: "Heartbreak One to all planes. Is everything functioning normally?"
Blaze: "Yes."
Bartlett: "Good. Let's go. Heartbreak One, Fox Two!"
After taking a hard left, Blaze spotted the last Fishbed being chased by Heartbreak One, who fired a missile at it that hit, causing the pilot to try to retreat. Blaze however, now in between Bartlett and the intruding craft, finished the job with one more missile, clearing the sky of all threats. Despite the absence of enemies however, a foreign transmission was still picked up by Blaze as he and Bartlett went to rejoin Wardog Squadron in intercepting the Blackbird which was nowhere in sight.
"Of course they're gone. And at the cost of all those lives too." Qrow said. "Whatever they were there for, I think the scuffle made it not worthwhile."
Enemy Squadron: "We're in enemy territory. Be careful."
"Too late for that." Tai added. "Way too late."
AWACS Thunderhead: "All unknown bogey aircraft destroyed."
Bartlett: "This is your captain. Can you hear my voice?"
Blaze: "Yes."
Bartlett: "Good, looks like we can all hear each other."
Edge and Chopper flew past slowly, turning around to rejoin the formation.
Bartlett: "You all alive? All right. Nice work, nuggets. Wardog 4, you still following us? Well, to commemorate the fact that we all made it out of that battle alive, I'm gonna let you keep your nickname. From now on, I'm gonna call you "Kid" no matter what. Got it? Good."
"His nickname's "Kid"? That still kinda sucks considering how he helped." Oscar said.
"At least it ain't motormouth. It ain't cool, but it could've been worse." Emerald added. She was definitely right.
The screen faded to black and faded into the briefing room.
Briefing Officer: "-Emergency transmission from Central."
The transmission read: "To all Sand Island Personnel: 1. All information regarding today's hostile encounter is to be classified. 2. Captain Jack Bartlett is to report to headquarters immediately. Sep. 24 2010. Order E0111207. Osean Air Defense Force Central Command." The briefing ended and the screen once again flashed back, only to come back to life.
"Makes sense... This business with those unknowns is bound to be messy." Winter observed.
"I just hope they don't go too hard on him. What happened wasn't his fault." Ruby added.
A flock of seagulls against a dusk sky appeared and Genette's voice was heard.
Genette: "The whole affair with the unidentified aircraft was covered up. There was even a rumor going around that it was actually a UFO."
"You can't be serious?" Winter exclaimed. The incident had happened not even a day ago and people were saying it was aliens?
A flying disk graced the bottom of the screen for a moment before it was shown being caught by a black Labrador Retriever who returned the frisbee to Alvin Davenport, AKA Chopper.
"Aw, doggy!" Ruby loved the sight of the dog on the screen. "Man, he's starting to remind me of Zwei..."
"Hey..." Yang interjected. "... don't worry sis. We just gotta let that baldy fix everything and you'll be able to spoil Zwei all you want."
"Officially, the world was still at peace. Having witnessed the battle myself, I wasn't allowed to leave the island."
"Man that's some bad luck. It's like he's always at the wrong place at the wrong time" Jaune was sympathetic to Genette. "It's not like he chose to be in the middle of a battle, much less two."
"Why do they even bother reprimanding me anymore?" Bartlett asked. Though sounding sarcastic, the question likely was serious in some way. "I know I'm gonna be stuck at Captain forever."
Winter raised an eyebrow at that. It wasn't unheard of for a person to be kept at a certain rank due to internal bias, but such things were improper. For Bartlett's situation however, it seems that the stagnation was ignored or at least looked systemically approved of in a way, which made her critical, if not a bit suspicious at Osea's military operation.
Bartlett and Genette conversed in front of a partly-open hanger with a C-1 Trader inside. An older balding man with black hair around the outside of his head worked on the plane. Out of his regular military uniform, Bartlett now wore a white tank-top, green cargo pants and black boot. Genette himself a gray t-shirt under a black vest, green pants and black boots. After a pause following Bartlett's question, Genette spoke.
"Who do you think's covering up the battle?"
Bartlett didn't know. He only had the information already available to himself which was reflected in his answer to Genette. "Listen... The only thing across that ocean is Murska Air Base. That's Yuktobanian territory."
Genette wore a face of both puzzlement and worry. "But haven't we been allies with the Yukes since the war 15 years ago?" he questioned.
"Yeah." Bartlett answered. "That's why we got people working their asses off trying to confirm what the hell's going on over there. I bet they've got hotlines ringing off the hook somewhere upstairs." he added. "The government doesn't wanna get the public riled up with all this, you know?"
""15 years ago"..." Blake repeated. "That's a very short time for allies to become enemies. Something must've happened. Something related to those two air incursions."
"Yeah. That's what I was thinking" Weiss agreed. "The whole situation is just weird."
As Bartlett said that last sentence, the screen focused on the balding mechanic. Rather than admiring his work, he seemed to be listening closely to Jack and Albert's conversation.
"But it doesn't matter." Bartlett continued. "Soldiers like us are too stupid to think for ourselves so we just gotta keep our mouths shut when they tell us too. I feel kinda bad for you, actually."
"It's all right." Genette responded. "I get to be with you guys."
"Captain's probably hating this more than everybody." A voice spoke from behind Genette.
"Hm?" Genette vocalized, turning around. The mechanic, wearing a dark blue outfit befitting of his profession with a patch on the left of his shirt and the patch of the OADF's Fifth Fighter Wing, walked towards his bench with a smile and a kind appearance.
"I don't know why, but I like this guy." Ruby said. "He seems nice."
"While I have to agree that he seems to have a nice air about him, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover Ruby." Weiss advised. "That's how we let a worm like Cinder pass into Beacon."
Cinder, hearing her name, decided to ride on the mention.
"That's right little girl, you wouldn't wanna invite any wolves into the sheep pen, now would you?
Ruby responded by throwing some popcorn she had on-hand at Cinder, some of the white foodstuffs landing in her hair. This of course prompted a few smirks and chuckles from the others and a low growl from Cinder as she turned around, ready to exit her chair before she was stopped by Salem.
"Now now,..." Salem interjected. "... play nice Cinder."
Still a little heated, Cinder sat back down in her seat.
"Fine."
"He used to have a lady friend over in Yuktobania." The older man said.
A vague smile of reminiscing crept up Bartlett's face. "Ahh, that's just an old war wound now." The final image that the audience saw was Bartlett's Tiger II. The screen viewed in on the emblem by the 003 on the plane; an Ace of Hearts playing card from the red set with a broken half-red-half-white heart with a knife going through it diagonally from the top-right. The screen lingered on this image before going black.
"Hmph..." Raven scoffed. "The foreshadowing's obvious."
"What're you thinking Rae?" Qrow asked.
"War's gonna break out, and someone's gonna suspect the Captain of treason, resulting in him having to flee for his life."
"Y'know what... Yeah, I can see that."
"I just wanna know who in their right mind would be trying to start a war." The older Xiao Long wondered.
"Either way, those planes were certainly something." Winter said. She admired the unique forms of the jets she had seen. Sitting in her seat, Salem hummed quietly to herself. She hadn't gotten what she wanted to see, but that was alright. "In due time." she told herself. After all, it was too early looking into that universe to see its more radical elements. For now, she will just have to bide the time, and keep Cinder from running her mouth and starting fights.
"Okay then, with that done, who's next?" The Watcher asked.
Normally Ruby would've given the remote to one of her friends besides her, but that thought process was interrupted by Nora enthusiastically and loudly shouting "ME! ME!", which made Ruby toss it to her.
"Thanks Ruby!" The ginger said in gratitude.
"Eh, no biggie." Ruby said back.
"Yeah, thanks Ruby." Blake said under her breath, rubbing one of her ears.
"Okay, Ms. Valkyrie, what shall you have us watch? What world beyond worlds?" Uatu wondered.
Flashback
Nora stood in the middle of the exhibit, an organized mess of people, weapons and intimidating-though-sometimes-silly-looking people. But perhaps the best part of the attraction she was was a certain clown-themed ice cream truck with guns on it.
Present
With this memory in her mind, Nora smiled deviously. The next universe was gonna be a "blast".
Next Chapter: Twisted Metal: Drivers and Wishes