Chp. 40: Riders on the Storm
December 3rd, 2049
Just off the Coast of Sotoa
The three guards stared into the thick blanket of fog and rain with an overwhelming sense of boredom. The tallest of the three slowly swiveled a set of mounted binoculars back and forth. Another slung his M94 carbine over his shoulder and fished inside his raincoat for a cigarette.
"What the hell does that idiot Kuraz expect us to spot, anyways?" He muttered.
"Anything that keeps us away from his scrutiny, Tovio. Or the damned Intelligence Staff." His colleague behind the binoculars replied.
"We're aboard a floating fortress equipped with radar, sonar, direct-energy weapons, missiles, and the means to detect everything from a bomber to a salmon."
"Because the enemy knows we have all that, and they will try to outwit us." The third snickered as he accepted a cigarette from the first.
"Oh shut up, Trifun. Don't give me all that chest-thumping machismo. This job is supposed to be nice and simple and we have the tools to keep it that way."
The one manning the thermals, Neno, raised his eyes from them and blinked a few times to get his normal sense of vision back.
"I wonder more about how anyone expects us to see a thing in this overcast. It eventually just becomes a sheet of solid white through the thermal view." He commented.
At the same time, a telephone box nearby began to buzz. Trifun went to it and put the handset to his ear.
"Southwest observation deck." He grunted.
"This is central control, we're picking up increased enemy jamming approaching our area. Do you have a visual on anything?" One of the technicians at the heart of the facility asked.
"Negative; the overcast has severely hampered our thermal binoculars."
"Understood; man your anti-aircraft weaponry and standby."
Trifun looked at the others with out-of-place calmness.
"Enemy jamming; they want us to man our weapons."
The three hurried back into a shelter and helped slide out a seat with a pair of shoulder-launched M03s attached. Tovio got onto the seat while his colleagues opened lockers to the sides with reloads in them. Neno went back to the thermal binoculars to check the area around them. He tilted the device downwards and scanned the ocean. A pair of patrol craft streaked by, heading out towards some unknown threat before the muffled sound of an alarm began to echo from inside the structure. Neno looked back at his colleague, but his attention was taken from that when he saw a flash of light from the top deck. The others looked up as a salvo of M09s lifted off and arced towards the open sea. Neno took the device from its mount and went inside to swap it for a radio as fast as he could.
"Rook 03, checking in. Rook 01, do you read?" He asked.
"We can hear you very clearly, Rook 03. What is your status?" His commanding officer replied.
Neno checked his watch, but figured that if the man wasn't bringing up his reporting in late, then he wasn't late. He looked at a screen relaying what central control saw on the radar as he replied.
"Manned and ready."
"Excellent, standby for updates on the situation."
The world around the three went quiet for a minute, but then there was another salvo of missiles. Then, two explosions had them looking in every possible direction. Tovio started swiveling the missile launcher back and forth in search of what had attacked the platform. Neno couldn't see much on his screen, nor could he do much about that. He was merely getting a relay of what central control saw.
"Do either of you have a visual on anything?" He barked.
"I still can't see a thing in this damned overcast!" Toivo snapped back.
Neno looked up in the direction of the M09 launchers and saw smoke rolling downwards. A bluish beam stretched out towards the horizon; Neno went back to his screen to check for updates.
"We've lost the primary radar, Tovio; you're on your own." He reported.
Tovio cursed him, despite a distinct lack of humor in Neno's tone. Trifun raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes and peered into the clouds. Despite the roar of the ocean below and the ringing in his ears, he could hear jet engines.
"I can hear incoming aircraft! Center-front quadrant!" He yelled to Tovio.
The man leveled the launcher and pointed it due west. The infrared sensors looked long and hard into the abyss until one picked up a small heat source. Tovio kept his sights centered on the hit until it grew "large enough" for him. The IFF interrogator attached to the launcher confirmed that it wasn't transmitting the proper frequency. It wasn't much, but it was enough to use.
"Clear." He warned.
A second later he depressed a button under his thumb and sent a single missile flying. He stayed with the target, anticipating it would drop flares. The second it did and began to maneuver, he followed the cues from his sights to stay with the enemy aircraft. The lasers above fired once more, apparently coordinating with the smaller position. Tovio waited another second, and then fired again. By now his first missile was mere seconds from impact. He forced himself to stay still while Trifun removed the empty tubes and switched them out with new ones. The second he was rearmed, Tovio fired again twice at a second target. He searched for the other as his colleague again reloaded, but he couldn't find it. He saw a silhouette forming on the horizon and aimed at it. This time he waited as the shape grew wings and tailfins. It fired something, probably a missile; that prompted him to shoot back. Meanwhile, one of the lasers engaged the weapon that'd been launched.
The missile raced straight towards the shape, which maneuvered and deployed flares. He tracked the attacking aircraft until he saw a flash. Immediately he fired another missile, which caught the damaged plane as it tried to break off its attack. The Oseans aren't going to have it easy while Tovio Aalto is on duty! He thought…
"Bishop 33 is hit, Bishop 33 is hit and down."
Jed simply acknowledged the loss in his head and kept pushing forward. He looked at the platforms as they burned while the picture he was getting from the E-12 showed two R-103s moving to establish top cover for the damaged positions. He activated his radar and cleared his throat to give Annie instructions.
"Tsun-Tsun, take that trailing Delph. We'll get 'em before they can establish a station. Y'all will switch to lead after our first pass until we can get reoriented." He explained.
"Understood." She replied quickly.
Jed thought he felt the need to ask what was wrong, but his RWR stopped that quickly. He looked at his radar as he turned it on and dumped his tanks; an A-100 in the area had caught wind of them. The two F-24s slowed and swung their noses towards the sky where the enemy drones were heading. The Erusean aircraft rolled over into a dive to meet the Oseans head-on, which bought them less than a second or two of time. Jed watched as the lead R-103 sailed right into his forward quarter and fired a single AMRAAM.
"Skull 210, Fox 3."
The missile dropped off and raced ahead, and Jed was pulling back and away from the enemy aircraft already. Annie's missile raced just to his left and the plane it came from was right with him. Annie passed on the right and took the lead for the moment. Jed looked back and saw the drones were already black splotches against the clouds. He felt the shockwave rattle him a bit, and it just revved his adrenaline flowmore.
"Got 'em both; nice shootin, Tsun-Tsun." He commented.
"I've got another pair of bandits closing from my two high. Go inverted and split; bracket them." She ordered.
Jed rolled and pulled away from Annie while she turned towards a pair of MiG-44s winged over to act on their radar track. Jed spotted them on his radar alongside two more R-103s leaving a CAP station further northeast. He turned on his EOTS with the hope it would give him a better view.
"Additional bandits moving in from 008, About 50 Miles out. More Delphs by the looks of it." He radioed as he picked one of the MiGs.
"Skulls 2-1 and 2-2 are on 'em. Bishop 2, request you push up so we can keep the numbers in our favor." Conman replied.
"Copy Skull, I'm pushing Bishops 13 and 14 your way."
"Slayer, how far out is the second wave?"
"About five minutes, Skull."
Jed kept that in mind as he tried to get a lock before his opponent did. The MiG had been maneuvering and maneuvering hard, but suddenly transitioned into a sprint to get close. Jed dropped a little chaff to delay him and snaked to the left for a second. The Sotoan nosed up, then came down to find Jed aimed at him. The MiG responded with two AA-12s, judging by the flashes the Osean saw through the thermals. He broke hard left until the missiles had turned to get back on him, then reversed to try and slip out of their view. He had to look out for Annie as much as he did the missiles bearing down on him. He peered straight up for a second to see if there might be a break in the clouds; it was solid overcast all around. He nosed up and caught a view of the missiles as they passed by overhead. His RWR told him that the MiG was already trying for another shot.
"Tsun-Tsun, what's your position?" He asked as he turned towards the threat..
"Bandit is dragging me to my left…I have you at my ten o'clock and moving away from me." She replied.
"Good."
"Bronco, heads up; those R-103s are trying to close ranks with the MiGs. Check fire to the northwest." Conman advised.
"Gotcha Lead…"
Jed was slightly more distracted with the MiG as the two turned towards one-another. Jed looked at the image his EOTS saw and centered his HMD in that direction. The Sidewinder got a tone almost immediately.
"Skull 210, Fox 2." He announced.
Immediately, Jed turned in the other direction and dropped flares and chaff to foil the Sotoan. The camera stayed glued to the MiG as it naturally moved to shake the missile, which prompted Jed to turn back towards the MiG and ready another AIM-9.
"Skull, Bishops 13 and 14 have entered the fight proper. We'll try and stay low; ambush those bandits from down here." Francince's voice outlined.
"Careful Zippy; stuff's as thick as my Aunt Irina's stew." Jed replied.
"I'll take ya word for it, Bronco!"
The MiG he was dueling with was now cornered, stuck between a fast-approaching missile and the jet that'd launched it. Jed locked on, then lost it for a second as the Sotoan deployed flares and turned away from him. He worked the throttles and nosed up, then put his nose on the MiG as it took a hit. He saw a streak of light wash across the wing and turned towards another hit on the RWR that was approaching.
"Bronco, heads up; we're passing by at your eleven high." Annie warned.
"Ah'm gonna stay down, then rejoin y'all on yer right wing. Watch out for Bishop at low level."
Jed nosed down a bit more and detected Francine and her wingman via the datalink. The two F-35s passed a couple thousand feet below him as he banked to the left and nosed up. He selected the next MiG and zoomed his EOTS's view outwards to find Annie. The MiG broke to the right, possibly unaware of him, but as Jed decelerated his RWR told him something was tracking him. More R-103s closing rapidly and tracking him. He dipped down further and hailed Francine and her wingman for help.
"Be advised, we've got additional bandits further back than that. Intermittent, but AWACS seems to believe they're Trishulas." Said wingman reported.
"Copy that Malt, break, Bronco ya got any AMRAAMs left?" Francince added.
"Yeah, going for a shot now." Jed grunted.
Francine and Malt automatically shared what they saw with Jed's F-24. He switched radar modes and selected both the R-103s and the unknowns. The Lenish F-35s appeared off his left wing, skimming the lower part of the fog. The UCAVs split to engage all three jets while the unknowns ascended. Jed stayed with the R-103s while his allies covered him against the other bandits. The two sides weaved and snaked towards one another until someone got a lock.
"Skull 210, Fox 3 Fox 3."
The Delphinuses fired a barrage of AP-13s at the enemy aircraft a second later.
"Zippy and Malt are going right!" Francine declared.
"Bronco is heading high left!" Jed responded.
Jed sucked in a breath and snapped towards the Lightnings as they ducked below him, trailing chaff and flares. Jed set his countermeasures to automatic and reversed towards the R-103s as they split up completely. He ended up head-to-head with one of the enemy aircraft. It accelerated and weaved to his right, still working to counter the AMRAAMs closing in. Jed used the chance to close the distance. He uncaged a Sidewinder as he began to try and outflank the Erusean aircraft. The AMRAAMs reached the final stage of their approach, and the R-103 responded by nosing up and screaming away to the right. As it switched directions, Jed caught sight of an explosion. His EOTS quickly revealed the truth, and the R-103 turned towards him again.
"Tsun-Tsun, what's the status of that other MiG?" He radioed.
"Lost him in the upper clouds. Be advised he might be trying to close in on you." Annie replied.
"Do yah still have him on radar?"
"Stand by."
It wasn't the answer Jed was looking for, but the R-103 remained his foremost concern. The UCAV countied to come at him from directly ahead, pushing its capabilities to the limit. The aircraft made a violent maneuver away from the F-24, then went into afterburner and came back. Jed rolled to the right as hard as he could and james the stick forward to avoid a collision. The R-103 had let loose a single AP-11 at point-blank range. The otherworldly aircraft passed by in a dark gray blur, even rattling the bigger plane. Jed reacted with slight indignance, seeing it as a taunt more than anything. The Erusean in his comfy little trailer had decided to start flaunting that he wasn't feeling a single G. Jed tensed his body as tightly as he could, turning 180 degrees. Besides the Delphinus, the MiG was still on his mind as Annie hadn't given him a solid answer yet.
"Bronco, heads up; that Delph is turning back into our firing envelope! Don't let 'em sucker yah!" Francine warned.
Jed nosed up and groaned as he tried to get out of that envelope as soon as possible. The F-24's speed plummeted, and in his vulnerable state he lost to the urge to hit the transmit button.
"Tsun-Tsun?"
"MiG might be bugging out, still no sign of him!" She replied impatiently.
Francine and Malt launched an ASRAAM each at the R-103, which gave Jed desperately needed time to get back some speed. As he struggled to maintain consciousness, the plane warned him of someone trying to get a lock on him. He forced his gaze to the scope to see what it was and started deploying countermeasures almost continuously. The Hellcat's nose swung down towards the sea and precious airflow went through the intakes. Jed lit the afterburners and pulled back from the very edge of an uncontrollable stall. The plane's computers and avionics kicked into action to make sure he couldn't screw up the recovery. He searched in the direction of the threat and saw a flash. The cockpit became filled with a string of words that he would be wise not to repeat to his mother and he pinned the throttles forward. The plane fell like a rock for a second before he turned into the attacker. Before he could fully do so, he felt an explosion rock him. It forced his head forward for a second; he pulled it back and wrenched the stick into his gut. The nose lifted up, but he fell another thousand feet. The water faded in almost instantaneously, but he leveled off before he could get too good a view. His eyes switched between the displays and the world around him as he eased back on the throttle and tried to get reoriented as soon as he could.
"Bishop. Yah get that Delph?' He asked.
"Copy, bandit down." Malt replied.
"Bandit down, Bishop is moving to trap that Flatpack." Francine added.
The offending aircraft was nowhere to be seen, but his RWR seemed to have a good idea. It was hard to tell; the rear receivers appeared to have been damaged. He came around as fast as he dared. Finally, the aircraft gave him a complete readout of what had been damaged. He still had his controls, and the ability to dance with the remaining bandits. One of them appeared on his radar: it was the other MiG. He pulled back on the stick further and turned to face him. The Sotoan jet fired off an Archer, then pulled hard to lead the Osean. Jed went for his flares, but nothing happened. He looked back as he turned to defend to see if it was just a sensor malfunction. To his dismay, nothing was coming from the back of his plane. Then, several popped out, followed by a larger object. It was one of the countermeasures canisters.
"Shit…Skull 2-5 has lost countermeasures. Repeat, Bronco has lost countermeasures." He admitted.
"Copy that Bronco, stay evasive. Bug out if you can." Annie replied.
Jed really didn't want to, but that didn't last long as the AA-11 passed by underneath him. He braced, but the missile didn't explode. Jed nosed up to get above and behind the MiG. Annie passed by to his right while Francine and Malt went long to box the Flatpack in. The MiG hit the gas to try and escape the trap, but Annie wasn't about to let him escape.
"Skull 208, Fox 2." She growled.
Jed lit his burners again for good measure, and Annie let loose a second AIM-9 against the MiG. She kept her nose on the bandit as it tried to escape to the city. Francine and Malt went left to shield against other threats while she turned to the right to rejoin Jed.
"Skull Lead, Skull 2-5 has suffered damage to RWR and lost countermeasures. I'm gonna escort him west to a tanker and check for any additional damage." She reported.
"Understood Tsun-Tsun, turn to Heading 202 to meet Firebird. There should be a tanker in that sector, callsign Hellion 2-2." Conman replied.
"Thanks Lead."
Jed stayed low and fast as he left the area, with Annie on overwatch. Francine and Malt were covering their six, helping Conman and Less isolate the Trishulas. He wasn't one to run away, but he knew sometimes it just wasn't your day…
It wasn't Wolfe's day, either. He looked over his plane like a kid who'd gotten his favorite toy taken away. Jed was next to him, getting a chance to examine the damage up close. His bear of a Plane Captain sighed and dragged his helmet off his head.
"Always told yah to be careful, sur!" He grumbled through his mustache. His accent always seemed to thicken when he was mad.
"Ah was; Eruseans decided to get reckless. Had a Delph that decided to go Kamikaze on our asses." Jed replied.
"Rusies, always th Rusies! Look, sur, they can always take th blame, yah know?"
"They always do because they're the ones who're shootin' at us. Them and the Sotoans."
The Petty Officer had more to say, but Jed looked him in the eye.
"Y'all can bitch me out over it, Wolfe, or y'all can get her fixed. We're lookin' to kick the Erusean Navy so hard in the nuts they'll never wanna leave port again. Ah refuse to miss out on that."
Wolfe stopped and crossed his arms. He tapped the toe of his boot against the deck beneath them and started mumbling.
"Gonna need new stuff fast…Hurley might get sum my stash after all…" He mused.
"How soon?"
Wolfe looked at the younger man, who seemed to be showing a worry that he'd be stuck aboard the ship while things went on. He was aware who the kid's old man was, and it didn't take a genius to see why he looked how he did.
"Tomorrow afternoon at best, sir. Y'all owe me replacement stock for what I gotta trade with Hurley over in the AIMD." He figured. Jed obtained himself quickly, then held out a hand to the man.
"Name yer poison and y'all will get it, Wolfe. Ah know people." He promised. Wolfe gave a small smile and accepted the gesture.
"Let yah know tomorrow, sir."