Chp. 20: Pecking Order
October 30, 2049
Over Southern Sotoa
Luukas looked up a second while Captain Janis Raatihone received fuel from the A330. His eyes drifted towards the direction of where Saturn would be in the night sky. Its rings would be at their maximum tilt towards Earth for another night or two, but then they'd begin to recede. His gaze travelled over to the position of Mars, due to become visible later in the month. He considered asking his brother to see about getting his telescope out to him. Perhaps he might just buy a second. Something cheaper than what he had at home. Not as hard a loss if it got banged up. He went from that to looking towards Krill, then at Janis as the man eased his Nosferatu away from the tanker's hose. He returned his thoughts to more pressing matters as the four CFAs were fully refueled and back in formation. They turned to the south and headed for the other half of their force.
"Talos 2-01, turn to Heading 160 Degrees and maintain flight at 7200." Heinonen ordered.
"Copy Talos 1-01."
Luukas acknowledged and eased his fighter to the left before he pulled back on the stick. He looked back at Janis and gave him a signal to loosen up the formation, then looked to Krill and motioned for him to trail 3 kilometers back. The trip to the front line was going to be a quick one at their speed. Luukas brought up his weapons display and selected the trio of KRMs under each wing. As he looked up, he caught sight of two Sotoan Su-30s going past at full tilt. He clenched his jaw but held his tongue while the strike fighters headed for the front lines. The smart would survive and the foolhardy would learn. Two more Su-30s roared by beneath, just off to his right.
"Surya, this is Dvorac, you're cleared to attack your primary target. Be advised that the preliminary bombardment may not have suppressed enemy defenses as intended. Use caution." A controller aboard the local E-787 advised.
"Understood Dvorac, committing to the attack." A Sotoan accent replied. Luukas guessed it to be those four Sukhois.
He switched his radar to air-to-ground mode and ordered his AI to start prioritizing the many radar sources ahead. His foremost concern were two Osean MIM-105 Defender batteries covering the area they'd be operating in. There was also an Osean AWACS, an E-14 "Grandline", orbiting just north of them. For now he and his flight were out of reach behind a shield of friendly fighters on patrol and electronic warfare aircraft bombarding the whole of the border with interference. He checked his GPS once more, then looked back to Krill's aircraft.
"Talos 2-02, close in and transition to holding pattern. Talos 2-03, position yourself parallel to our holding position." He commanded.
Luukas pulled back on the throttles and banked to the right. He circled around and passed Krill on the left as the former was coming towards him.
"Dvorac, this is Talos 1-01, Talos 1 and 2 have reached the holding area for Engagement Zone River and are awaiting targets. What's the current situation?" Heinonen radioed. There was an understandable pause to get that kind of information.
"Talos 1, allied forces have managed to establish a small foothold on the other side of the border and have so far met light resistance. Enemy aircraft have been hammering them, though, and we believe the Chakaris have recovered from the opening bombardment and are establishing defensive positions. I understand your flight is armed with SOPs, Talos?"
"Yes. You have a target for us?"
"Correct. There appears to be a resupply area for enemy helicopters. Stand by for coordinates and be aware of enemy AA at lower altitudes."
Luukas glanced at his radar as the information was passed along. The AI pointed out that there were two emitting sources in the vicinity, identified as search radars. Heinonen assigned Luukas and his flight to carry that out.
"Talos 2-03 and 2-04, engage those search radars by our main target. Likely air defenses vehicles. Talos 2-02, conduct your attack heading north to south and I'll lead off by going west to east."
"Talos 2-02 copies."
"Talos 2-03 copies."
"Talos 2-04 copies."
Janis and Pine pushed ahead to clear the way, and Luukas timed their moves so they'd give the two a decent window to engage. The fighters descended below the clouds and into the fray as the Erusean 18th Mechanized Division crossed the border alongside the Sotoan 7th Infantry Division. The southern extremes of the savannahs offered little terrain for the aircraft to exploit, but it allowed the many tanks of the two units to roam free. Thin tendrils of smoke and the flash of explosions steadily grew apparent as they descended to 5200 Meters. Luukas ejected the external tanks for his wings and switched from his KRMs to his SOP-12 GPS-guided bombs. He fed the data from the 787 into the weapons and looked over to Krill to once more send him off on his own.
Luukas broke off to the right and made a long turn back towards the resupply area, dropping chaff when another radar somewhere out there took notice of him. He then dove down to 3000 Meters, increasing the throttles carefully so as to avoid rushing in while Janis and Riku were attacking those defenses. He selected his EOTS for one of his displays and spotted the shapes of AMZ-26 Badgers. Four of them, at least, and they all were air defenses variants.
"Wraith, Pine be aware that those are Badgers near the target. I have a visual on four of them." He called.
"I have the same number. Committing to the attack at this time." Janis replied quickly.
Luukas brought his CFA even closer to the ground, opting for speed and low altitude to defend himself. He nosed up at the last second and pressed the weapons release until his AI informed him all four bombs were away.
"Talos 2-01, bombs off!" He announced.
Immediately, Luukas pulled away and went into an increasingly steep ascent. He looked back over both shoulders, then broke in the opposite direction as a previously undetected AMZ fired two missiles at him.
"Talos 2-02 be advised that there's another Badger down there." He grunted.
"Copy I see his missiles. Talos 2-03?" Krill replied.
"Negative visual at this time, request you pass its coordinates." Janis said, also fighting the forces of gravity.
Luukas commanded his AI to transmit his current position so his comrade would have a better idea of where the launcher was. At the same time, he reversed course and deployed two strings of flares. He reversed again and looked back towards the missiles. He caught the AMZ firing two more in a different direction. He switched to his KRMs and told his AI to try and home in on the launcher's search radar. At the same time, he snaked back and forth violently a few times to trip up the missiles. On the final "forth", he pulled hard and increased the throttles to fight the losses in momentum. He looked back one final time and saw the ASRAAMs going outside his turn. They kept going and going until he was behind their path of travel.
"Does anyone have a clear shot against that Badger?" He demanded.
"Talos 2-03 and 2-04 are maneuvering to engage. Be advised that the target is moving to a new position.
"Talos 2, is anyone able to provide damage assessment of that resupply area?" AWACS asked. Luukas felt his temper flare a bit.
"Negative Dvorac, we do not have a damage assessment at this time." He reported brusquely.
"All Talos 2 aircraft be advised that there is a second undetected Badger down there. Be advised that there is a second Badger down there." Janis relayed.
"Move to higher altitude if possible. Does anyone have a clear shot at them?"
"Talos 2-04 has both...Moles away, Moles away." Riku announced.
Luukas glanced down at his EOTS's display and zoomed out. He saw the missiles impact and went behind Riku as he came off target. Krill came back into view far off to his right. Luukas checked his radar for signatures on the ground as the nearest air defense radar looked in his direction. It quickly faded as friendly ER-211s caught it. Luukas looked back towards the resupply area as the four jets circled in wait.
"Dvorac, target appears to have been neutralized. Talos 2 is requesting new targets." Luukas radioed.
"Talos 2 standby." The AWACS replied.
"Copy...Talos 1 what's your status?"
"Follow Dvorac, Lynx. I'll call for you if the need arises." Heinonen replied. His smile felt quite obvious, even over the airwaves.
"Talos 2 be advised you have hostile radar contacts at Heading 172...Degrees, Distance 267 Kilometers, Altitude is at...appear to be attacking...sites." Dvorac started before it was drowned out by some static.
The radar picture faltered a few seconds, then straightened out and went through the same process again. Luukas switched to air-to-air mode and kept calm. The CFA's radar was good at resisting even Osean jamming devices; it just needed a minute to establish its pace. Once the radar was taking longer to be shaken up, he keyed his radio.
"Talos 2 to flight, report." He demanded.
"Jamming is interfering with the radar picture." Janis communicated over a few calls.
"Give it a minute to switch frequencies enough times. Dvorac, pass enemy aircraft's positions via datalink. All Talos 2 aircraft, engage enemy aircraft as soon as possible."
Luukas reluctantly kept his AGMs and switched to the two AP-11s he had. He and Krill nosed up and gained a few hundred meters of altitude while their radars zeroed in on the enemy aircraft. According to the AI, they were F-35s. The vaunted Osean fighter, able to do it all. Jack of all trades, master of none Luukas thought with a flicker of a smile. They raised altitude again as two pairs of CFAs from another squadron entered the fray to attack a nearby Chakari formation. The nearest contacts on radar started to descend. Luukas figured out quickly that they were going for the other CFAs. He increased throttles and put his nose on the F-35s, hoping to become the more tempting target. There were four so far, moving in pairs, and two of them nosed up and aimed for him and his wingman. The AI reported that they were painting him with their radars.
"Dvorac, Talos 2 requests permission to eject remaining AGMs and defend Roc 1." He radioed.
"Permission granted, Talos 2. We're tasking Vaisala 4 to assist." The AWACS replied.
"Understood...Talos 2-02, eject your AGMs and break left!"
"Copy 2-01!"
Luukas pushed a button on his control stick and banked right, deploying chaff and flares to slow down the Osean radars. He reversed course and increased his speed, trying to get in range before they could fire on him. Nonetheless, they had plenty of space to get him before he could get them. Each F-35 fired two AMRAAMs at each Erusean; Luukas dropped more chaff and ascended to get more room. The lead F-35 turned to follow him and increased speed, so Luukas turned into the attack and went wide. The Osean remained fixed on him as his AMRAAMs drew ever closer to the Nosferatu.
"Talos 2-03 and 2-04, eject remaining AGMs and engage those bandits at Heading 177 Degrees." He radioed between breaths.
Luukas spotted the enemy missiles as their rocket motors burned out. They were aimed to intercept him as he was coming out of his latest turn. The pilot drew in a deep breath, then rolled and dove down. His vision deteriorated rapidly, then went back to normal as he adjusted from the sudden maneuver. He rolled upright once more and saw the AMRAAMs going through the sky where he should've been. Luukas made a soft left and accelerated, searching for the F-35 he'd claimed. The enemy fighter was at the edge of his view and growing closer. Luukas stayed in his turn until the F-35 was in his forward quarter. The two went head-to-head for a few seconds as they each tried to get some kind of advantage first. Luukas, knowing the risks, pushed the throttles forward even more to close the distance.
The Osean blinked first and broke to the right, prompting Luukas to follow. It turned out to be a feint; the F-35 was reversing as Luukas was coming out of his turn. Luukas pushed the stick forward and went down as the F-35 came charging at him. He kept his plane tilted to the right so the Osean would stay in view. The "Lightning II", as it was nicknamed, rolled over and slowed considerably, trying to place the Erusean fighter at a good angle for its remaining missiles. Luukas dropped flares and looked back at the F-35. It ended up diving behind him and continuing downwards. Nimble thing, he observed, and the pilot at the controls seemed to be as aggressive as he'd figured. He kept up his speed and grabbed all the space he could before the other jet was coming out of its dive.
The two fighters turned towards one-another again and Luukas centered the jet in his HMD's reticule. He waited just long enough to get inside the proper arc, then pushed the launch button.
"Talos 2-01, Dagger away." He reported cautiously.
The F-35 deployed flares and turned away immediately. Luukas ascended and kept the Osean in his field of view as long as possible. He throttled back and made a move for the Osean's six, and the F-35 dropped more flares and turned into the attack. Luukas let out a breath and adjusted his grip on the controls. He told himself to stay cool and let the Osean make a mistake as he turned back to re-engage the enemy fighter. He caught the F-35 as it was pitching up into a high yo-yo. Luukas quickly switched to his cannon and shot off a quick burst at the Osean, just missing and passing by the enemy aircraft at increasing speed. As he came around, the F-35 turned right and sped up to avoid stalling, allowing him to roll in and attack. His AI alerted him to a new radar source at the same time that Dvorac made an announcement.
"Talos be advised that we're picking up intermittent contacts at Heading 165 Degrees. Currently somewhere around 190 Kilometers, altitude between 7000 and 7500."
"Talos 2, Vaisala 4-01 and 4-02 are engaging those contacts. Check fire on that heading." A new voice replied.
"Copy Vaisala 4, good hunting!" Luukas breathed as he rolled in on his opponent from above.
The yo-yo maneuver had proven to be the mistake he needed. Sticking with his cannon, Luukas put his CFA in a shallow dive and fired again. He saw sparks cluster near the back of the F-35 and pulled his nose up to take another shot. He ran more bullets along the left wing and front half of the Osean fighter until it began to slow. He pushed up the throttles and came back as the enemy fighter went into a lazy roll, trailing heavy amounts of smoke. It leveled out, for a second, then began to lose pieces of itself. Luukas kept climbing and passed over the defeated F-35, heading for Krill's last known position. As he did, he spotted movement and turned to meet a possible threat. Instead he was met with Janis's aircraft, distinguishable by the snow hare drawn on the nose, flash by in pursuit of another F-35. Luukas checked Krill's position, then radioed him.
"Talos 2-02, what's your status?" He called.
"Engaged offensive, single bandit. One of the NASAMS sites keeps trying to ping me but he won't get a chance." Krill assured with a chuckle.
"Copy, I'm moving to support Janis."
"Understood."
"Ah, apologies Lynx. Engaged with enemy air defenses." Riku added sheepishly.
"I thought I told you to eject AGMs!"
"Still had my bombs, Talos 2-01."
Right Luukas thought with mild embarrassment. He simply acknowledged and came around on Janis's left as the F-35 tried to break in that direction. The F-35 dropped flares and stayed committed to its turn, passing below Luukas as he was trying to corner it. He looked over his shoulder and kept turning until he was facing the same direction. The F-35 was accelerating and climbing, but Luukas couldn't fully grasp what the Osean was playing at. The twin-engined CFAs easily managed to keep pace, but every time they got a leg up on the enemy aircraft it did something new and unpredictable. Luukas looked down at his GPS as they were being taken further south. Janis was aware of it as he tried to get around the F-35 and force him to head back north. Luukas slowed and perched himself up so he could help if the enemy aircraft went right. Suddenly, the F-35 dumped its speed. Luukas rolled right and went into a loop as it dove for the ground.
"Surya 01 has been hit and is losing altitude. Enemy aircraft at long range!" One of the Sotoan jets called.
Luukas paid it little mind once their AWACS responded, but then Talos 2-03's back half exploded without warning. Seconds after the explosion, the canopy blew off and Janis separated from his plane. Luukas looked down at his displays for some sign of a radar or missile alert, then dumped four cans of chaff.
"Dvorac, Dvorac Talos 2-03 is down. I see his chute, under attack by an unknown source. Do you have anything on your radar?" He breathed through the sudden uptick in Gs.
"Nothing new at this time, standby." The AWACS replied.
"Vaisala 4 are those the contacts you're engaging?" Krill asked.
"Negative Talos 2! New contacts, new contacts." The lead Wyvern replied.
"Can anyone see them?" Dvorac asked.
Luukas threw his gaze all around, referring back to his AI for any kind of warning. The MIM-105s? No, He thought, they would've gotten some kind of warning. He would've seen the missile coming from below. It had to be the F-28s, either the ones the Wyverns were engaging or new ones. Thinking fast, Luukas pushed closer to the F-35. He figured that the Oseans would be too afraid of friendly fire if he was right on one of their own. They'd either have to close in or break off. He put his nose on the F-35 and increased the throttles. The F-35 broke left, then bled speed. Luukas broke into his move to keep close, but his speed turned against him. He dove and deployed several canisters of chaff to defend against the enemy aircraft near and far. The F-35 twisted back his way and fired an AIM-9 at him. Luukas, who was now in a dive, switched to flares and pulled back on the stick. He felt his entire body grow heavier and heavier as the Gs rocketed up.
"Vaisala 4...Vaisala 4, Talos 2-02...Talos 2-01 engaged...defensive, two bandits. Request..." He grunted and groaned over the radio.
His whole body seemed like it was going to be crushed by the time he was out of the maneuver. Luukas gasped for as much air as he could and twisted from side to side, frantically trying to spot the AIM-9, the F-35, anything really. He saw the missile as it was following him through his turn. Luukas took another gulp of oxygen and made a sudden right. More flares, then more chaff he thought. He also took the opportunity to drag the fight back up north, where the rest of the flight was. That turn pushed the AIM-9 outside his path and, as it tried to hook back into him, made it miss. Luukas spotted the launching aircraft and pushed the throttles forward. Keep dragging the F-35 north, and keep the F-28s from picking him off. The RWR briefly chirped up for a second, and categorized the threat as another aircraft. He dropped a single canister of chaff this time and started plotting to get the advantage over the F-35.
He tilted slightly left and eased the throttles back a few centimeters. The Osean fighter went inside his turn and he cut hard left across the enemy aircraft's nose. As the F-35 turned to follow, it went to the outside. Luukas nosed up, cut the throttles further, and went into a barrel roll. The F-35 ended up just slightly ahead of him; it turned left, trying to go south again. Luukas extended to get some room and turned to follow. He kept his nose pointed so he was leading the F-35 instead of trailing, hopefully negating its flares quickly. In the distance, he saw another shape growing into being. His RWR told him it was another airborne contact. He could see a second, though it was nothing more than a small dot. He got a lock on the F-35 as it went into afterburner and fired his remaining AP-11.
"Talos 2-01, Dagger away." He reported.
Luukas immediately took that as a sign to gather the remains of his flight and leave. He broke left, liberally trailing chaff behind him, and steadily increased his throttles.
"Talos 2-01 to flight, Talos 2 is down to cannon. All other aircraft say weapons status if able." He commanded.
"Talos 2-02 is at the same state, moving to your position." Krill replied.
"Talos 2-04 still has both AP-11s. Do you require assistance, Talos 2-01?" Riku added.
"Close up if you can, we need to avoid getting spread out by the Oseans. Talos 1-01, Vaisala 4 are you able to assist?"
"Talos 2-01, 1-01 and 1-02 are inbound to assist at this time. We've got two intermittent contacts heading your way. Looks like they're Osean F-28s. Be advised, they're practically on top of you." Heinonen warned.
Luukas looked back in search of the aircraft the Oseans had christened "Enforcer", and saw a missile racing his way. He dropped what few flares he had left and turned into the attack, completely forgetting about the F-35. As he turned he spotted one of the shapes, now a couple hundred meters above him. Despite the glare of the morning sun, he could make out its trapezoid-esque wings and canted tailfins. It was cloaked in a mix of dark greys, reminiscent of the F-22 (it almost looked like one). Luukas reversed hard and dove down with one goal in mind: escape. He caught Heinonen and Yak heading for the F-28 at top speed. He looked back in search of the other bandit but couldn't spot him. Luukas dove down as low as he dared and leveled out as he started picking up radar sources on the ground. With his external stores gone he was harder to detect, but not as good as if he were in a clean configuration.
"Talos 1-02, keep his wingman at bay." Heinonen radioed.
"Copy Talos, 1-01! Vaisala 4, can you commit anybody to engage from long range?" Yak replied.
"Vaisala 4-05 and 4-06 are inbound to engage, stay clear!" A new voice spoke up.
"Copy, moving to rejoin Talos 2."
Luukas snaked back and forth over a few kilometers as his RWR began to alert him he'd been detected once more. As he came left, he crossed over the frontlines, drawing the attention of an entire battery of mobile anti-aircraft guns. Luukas nosed up, then went to full afterburner to get away from the Osean fighters. He spotted two more contacts ahead and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they were Sotoan Su-42s. He went to the left and started upwards. When he looked back again his tail was clear.
"Dvorac, Talos 2-01 is down to cannon and requesting permission to exit combat space." He radioed.
"Permission granted, Talos 2-01." The AWACS replied almost immediately.
Riku and Krill fell in far behind and moved to catch up with the lead pilot before he crossed the border, as his wingman slid into view, the two checked one-another's aircraft to search for damage. Luukas's AI was telling the truth when it showed the CFA-44 was in good shape. Luukas let out a long sigh and leaned forward to stretch.
"Talos 2-01, did you get that other F-35?" Krill spoke up.
"Unknown Talos 2-02." He replied as he lifted his visor.
Right now he was more concerned with getting to safety. Privately, Luukas admitted that he felt like he'd just encountered an apex predator. He wanted to face it again, but on more equal terms.