Chapter-VII

Sky High

11,000m above the City of Kvalna

It was just after 2 in the morning as United Airlines Flight 7734 was in the final stages of its long journey from Vostokvakia Y.A Gagarin to JFK International Airport. It was a long-haul voyage; because Zhougguonese airspace was strictly off-limits, the flight had to be made westward, over the Arctic, with a refueling stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, instead of simply flying east. Soon they would begin making their descent for landing. Seated in the pilot's seat was Captain John Lovell. To his right was seated First Officer Lenny Wilson. Just behind them, the chair of their Flight Engineer, Mike Ronalds, was empty; Min had decided to step out momentarily and take a final bathroom break before landing.

"I wonder what's taking him so long," muttered Lenny, "c'mon, dinner wasn't that bad!"

"I've had better," shrugged John, "back when I first joined, they actually used to put some thought and care into what they served; you know, actually took pride in their work. This was when we still had the onboard smoking lounges too. Now, it's all just cutting corners."

John chuckled as Lenny teased their absent flight engineer Mike. The kid had a point though - the inflight meals had really gone downhill over the years. He fondly recalled his early piloting days, when airlines took pride in pampering their passengers. Ah well, times changed. At least the sights from up here never got old.

Lenny glanced at his watch. "What's taking Mike so long in the head? We'll be starting descent soon."

"Give him a break, the coffee's awful today," John said. "Maybe he's dealing with the aftermath."

"Ugh, too much information Captain!" Lenny laughed.

John grinned and sipped his tea. The old ways were still best in the air.

Just then the bathroom door banged open and Mike rushed in, frantically buttoning his uniform.

"Sorry gents, got caught up reading the safety cards," Mike said breathlessly as he plopped into his seat.

"Those are real page-turners," John deadpanned.

Mike rolled his eyes and reached for the intercom. "Galley, we gonna need some Alka-Seltzer up here stat for these comedians!"

Lenny snorted as John shook his head in amusement. Good old Mike, always playing the straight man. He was grateful for the moment of levity before the tense landing ahead.

Thomas Paine settled into his first class seat, exhausted but satisfied after the momentous events in Vostokvakia. The first joint Concordia-Vostokvakian astronaut exchange - a small step perhaps, but an important milestone toward possible future cooperation in space.

As the stewardess came by with coffee and tea service, Paine smiled at the lighthearted banter he overheard from the cockpit. It seemed even the flight crew were in good spirits after the successful mission.

Of course, challenges remained. The Vostokvakians drove a hard bargain, wary of giving too much away even in joint ventures. But Paine felt progress had been made, seeds of trust planted on both sides. The stars called to all mankind equally, regardless of earthly divisions.

The aircraft hit some mild turbulence, jostling Paine from his thoughts. He glanced out the window into the endless night sky beyond. Somewhere out there, the next giant leap awaited them all.

With care, wisdom and good faith, humanity might just reach it together, rather than alone. Paine sipped his coffee, dreaming of stepping onto another world hand in hand with Vostokvakian cosmonauts. If today's small steps could someday make that a reality, it was progress enough for now.

Flight Lieutenant Karla Braun.

Somwhere near Rorke Continent?

Karla frowned as her Valkyrie's systems glitched again - something wasscrambling their electronics after re-entry. She'd ended up well off course from her squadron, with only her co-pilot Soren left aboard. At least she could still fly in atmosphere, though worse was the apparent communications blackout with the fleet.

"This is Mikael, do you copy Braun?" her squadron leader's voice suddenly crackled through, equally off-track it seemed. She quickly confirmed her situation.

"Some kind of localized warp anomaly during descent perhaps?" Karla suggested. But the cause was less pressing than their mission - seek and destroy enemy aircraft with what forces they had left.

Soren spoke up from the cockpit behind her. "Large contact spotted, bearing one-zero-zero clicks." Karla checked her auspex, marking the faint trace.

"I see it - moving to intercept." At least her primary weapons still worked, she noted with satisfaction.

"Go get them lieutenant," Mikael said. "No matter what foul xenos trickery brought us here, the Emperor's justice cannot be denied."

Karla grinned fiercely under her respirator mask. "With pleasure sir. Consider them ashes."

She kicked the engines to full throttle, relishing the coming hunt. An enemy was an enemy, wherever they met. And her Valkyrie still had fangs.

"Ready lascannons and acquire target lock," she told Skiff. "Let's remind these savages why they should fear the sky."

The blips converged rapidly on her display. Miri's eyes narrowed, focusing in the darkness. "Come into my sights, heretic..." she muttered. "Come and die."

VVS Air Base at Vyazma,

Karlovey Matusz, Vostokvakian SFSR, SKRV.

2AM

1990.

Chaos reigned at Vyazma airbase as alarms blared. Alien invaders were attacking cities across Vostokvakia, slaughtering civilians in the streets. Concordia was also under assault by the mysterious enemy, confirming the extraterrestrial threat. And now radar showed another unidentified contact inbound towards Vyazma.

Lt. Anya Zhalkova, 16th Air Army, 28th Fighter Aviation Regiment, 314th Fighter Squadron., jogged out onto the tarmac. Up ahead, the ground crew were already warming up her MiG-29G or as she affectionately called it "The Flying Girlfriend." She took a moment to adjust her helmet, set her breather mask in the "open" position for take-off, and then fastened his seatbelts. She also took a moment to flex the wing flaps, rudder, intake ramps, and afterburner nozzles. Everything checked out. She motioned for the ground crew, and they stood back. The open canopy was pulled down sideways and closed.

Within moments, the Mikoyan MiG-29 had taxied out of its position, accelerated to take-off, and was in the air, rapidly climbing. Within minutes, she was joined by her fellow pilots, Lieutenants Vronska and Bobrova.

"This is Gadyvka-5, standing by, over," spoke Sokolov.

Several hundred kilometers away, there was a lonely AWACS aircraft patrolling the Sea of Satsuma. An old Tupolev Tu-114 that was due to be placed out of service in the favour of the newer and more modern Beriev A-50 codenamed "Mainstay" by the OFN, this old plane had the critical job of detecting pesky Connie Spy planes and Submarine launched nuclear missiles.

"Gadyvka Flight, this is Sokol" the voice on the radio. "Flight, we have clear conformation, I repeat. Clear conformation that bogey is hostile. We have unidentified signal at 41.826100 / 133.826769, heading on a bearing 128 degrees, at approximately 1,100 km/h. Altitude: difficult to determine. Origin: unknown. Believed to be an attack craft of sorts in connection with the ongoing attacks on Beijing and the Gregureyon DMZ."

"Tak tochno," replied Anya, "affirmative. Moving to intercept unidentified Bogey. Over."

"We will keep you notified of its position," replied Sokol, "PS note: signal has now altered course, bearing 94 degrees. Current heading..."

Eastern Coastline of Rorke Continent(?),

Newly discovered Planet Nova Arcadia, Nova Arcadia System.

Karla stared at the large aerocraft as she approached it. For some reason it oddly hadn't noticed them, not that she minded. Sometimes it was better to have an easy target. Soren peeked from his seat, "Damn, that thing's ugly and beautiful at the same time, and who in their right mind put two propellers on 4 points. These idiots are savages."

Karla snickered from her seat. It was true. The aircraft was beautiful and ugly at the same time. Not only was it long and lumbering. But its engines had the loudest sound she had ever heard. It sounded like a swarm of knacker jackers, mutated hornets native to her homeworld. And what was the purpose of that large rotating dish? It was bigger than most dishes the Imperium used. Also, the big red star symbol that it had on its tail showed up very clearly on auspex despite how dark it was outside did not match any of the briefings they had been given beforehand. It felt almost bad to destroy this thing, it looked harmless. But orders were orders, and she was following them. She began to power up the twin frontal laser cannons of the Valkyrie.

Karla's lascannon speared the lumbering prop plane, bisecting it instantly in a blaze of light. "Target destroyed," Soren confirmed needlessly. Oddly primitive for a rebel craft, but the Imperium would not falter.

"Next target acquired," Soren added, marking a new blip on auspex. "Large aircraft, 11 clicks rear, south at altitude."

Karla adjusted course, surprised their attack hadn't raised a response. Were these backward savages truly so oblivious? She wouldn't complain about easier prey.

"They'll learn to fear the Emperor's wrath soon enough," she told Soren, accelerating to attack speed. The Valkyrie was crippled without its rockets, but still a force to be reckoned with in atmosphere.

"Sokol is down. I repeat: Sokol is down!"

"Blyat'," Bobrova cursed loudly over the radio waves.

"Hostility confirmed officially then," replied Zhalkova. Well, she thought, I suppose the Tu-126s are now officially retired from service for good. And they sure as hell went out of service in spectacular fashion, with a bang…

"Where is target currently ground control?" asked Vronska.

" Gadyvka Flight this is ground control," the radio buzzed loudly, "ground radar is tracking hostile target heading away from Sokol's last reported position, bearing 175 degrees west. Note: on current trajectory, it appears to be leaving for international airspace to the Xianjong Region in Zhouggo ."

"Permission to pursue," Anya asked though there was a bit of tension in her voice.

"You kidding me?" Bobrova complained, "it's the goddamn Maoists problem now!"

"Permission granted, Flight," said the radio, in spite of Bobrova's complaining. There was a brief pause of utter silence in which the only sound was the rumble of turbofans. "New orders from high command: any and all enemy aircraft are to intercepted - captured if possible, destroyed if necessary. Please try to herd target back onto our airspace, so that ground defenses may disable it. We are contacting PLAAF right now to coordinate."

"Tak tochno," she replied, "well, you heard them ladies. vput!"

"So we're inviting Maoists to the party?" grunted Bobrova in a disappointed tone before she applied thrust.

Zhalkova pushed her left hand forward on the throttles, gunning the twin Klimov RD-33 jet engines forward at full afterburner, the flight racing to catch up with their target.

Baltischian region. Ulraznavia.

State of Lettland.

Kampfgeschwrder-211

Gruppe-Osterland.

Nighttime had come over Lettland and yet the futuristic complex far from cities was currently glowing red due to the klaxons and alarms calling for aircraft to scramble. The airbase was called Lielvārde Air Base and it wasn't just home to one bomber wing. It was home to 5. 2 Kampfgeschwaderin, 211th and 312th were armed Arado Ar 700 4 engined bombers, these bombers were extensively modernized and enough of them remained to stick around and at least 4 factories still produced them, even as they were being replaced by newer Steinbacker Sb-129 "Donnergrollen", a copy of Concordia's B-52, B-52 models, the NK-160, a copy of the Vostokvakian Tu-160 "Blackjack", NK-26M, an improved version of Vostokvakia's Tu-22m Backfire and the Junkers 272 and 282 series of bombers built on the backfire concept.

The Stab/KG 51 was armed with 6 engined Arado Ar 560G Tactical Bombers, KG/VII was armed with Junkers Ju-287 and 282s and the final wing, a Heavy Aviation Regiment was armed with NK-26M "Backfin" Bombers, which the Ulraznavians gave the East Ulraznavian designation "Kirov". The Kirov could run at high Mach speeds thanks to its two powerful Karlovey-X Fusion engines without afterburner. This enabled the NK-26 to escape from enemy fighters following the release of its ordnance. A large fuel capacity gave the Kirov excellent range. In-flight refueling extended this making it a true intercontinental weapon. The most innovated feature of the NK-26 was its variable-geometry wings. Like the ones that would appear on the Concordian F-14 Tomcat they gave a plane a combination of short take-off performance, efficient cruising, and good high-speed. These were also used in Junkers' 272 and 282 bombers. Early models suffered maintenance problems with the VG wings, but the problems were corrected in later production runs.

For the Ulraznavian Air Force, the NK-26 was one of their principle long range strategic bombers. The Ulraznavian Navy saw the Kirov as its primary anti-carrier aircraft. In this role the Kirov would carry long range heavy anti-ship missiles. The KX-4 KARP and LS-6 Koenig that the NK-26M could be armed with had one-ton warheads and were radar guided. Soviet anti-carrier operations called for the Kirov's along with the older Ju 231's to fire their missiles from maximum standoff range, over 150 miles away. Their missiles would be guided to the target by Ulraznavian ships in sensor contact with the enemy fleet. However, the NK-26M would also operate interpedently, requiring it to find targets with its own search radar. As a result, the Kirov couldn't fire from so far out. Its missiles could fly from the 150-mile distance, but the search radar was only effective out to a hundred miles most of the time. Multiple regiments of NK-26s would be required to destroy a Concordian or Satsumese carrier group on their own. Also, the farther the Kirov had to fly, the less weapons it could carry.

Currently the tactical bombers were heading off to support various formations currently fighting for their lives in a few sectors. The pilots had maps of their large homeland opened. They had a lot of ground to cover, all regions in West Ulraznavia and East Ulraznavia, but currently.

WEST ULRAZNAVIA

Norden - It refers to Friedenland and Scania of Gottland. It is mountainous while having mineral deposits that cause local magnetic abnormalities.

Low Lands Industrial Region - It refers to Low States. It is one of the vital industrial regions of the Federation.

Unredeemed Ildoa- It refers to Krakozhia. The Republic of Ildoa claimed the area since some of the locals speak the Ildoa language.

Dacia - It refers to a region bordering the of the Federation.

Ostland - It refers to the part of Polonia at the east of the Vistula, essentially all of Polonia.

Belka-Both North and South Belka

Illyria

Bohemia

Some of the pilots were chattering whether this was going to be one for the history books. In an airborne Ar 560G, nicknamed "Mitzi" the crew were excitedly chattering away.

"You think this ones gonna be one for the history books? Like the Great Plague of 1726, it turned our gender ratio into an equal egalitarian one eh." Flugfeldwebel Alois Bechmann asked the pilot on the bomber.

"Will someone tell Bechmann to shut up." The voice of Aryna Hilevič, an East Ulraznavian officer on another bomber snaped over the airwaves.

"Aw c'mon Aryna, I'm just getting in the spirit here!" Bechmann protested. His pilot, Hanz Braudel waved him off.

"Pipe down back there, we got a job to do," he growled. He finished accelerated the bomber forward The other bombers were already lining up, engines rumbling in anticipation. Bechmann gripped his station as the Ar 560G started rolling.

Up and down the flight line, bombers lurched forward, filling the night air with droning thunder. No matter what lay ahead, the might of the Ulraznavian bomber brigades would meet it without faltering.

"Alright Mitzi, let's go make our mark," murmured Bechmann's pilot as their bomber joined the queue. Bechmann nodded silently, adrenaline rising. This war would ask much of them all - but Ulraznavia's wings would not bend nor break.

Tonight heralded their first test.