Chp. 42: Spearfishing
December 7, 2049
New Rovennti AB
Mistros stepped aside as the screen behind him lit up, revealing the now-familiar digital map that had guided the 87th time and again. He cleared his throat as the central area finally appeared.
"Over the past several days, Osean and Lenish carriers have been raiding several facilities along the coast, including our home here at New Rovennti. Intelligence believes that this is the opening phase of an effort to take total control of the naval aspect of this war. Initial attacks have all but erased the ability to carry out an amphibious landing along Charaki's southern coast. Their ultimate goal would be destroying the carrier and surface battle groups in the area. Yesterday, Erusean submarines and Sotoan patrol aircraft engaged in several small skirmishes with enemy naval forces. Among these were escorts for the Lenish carrier Prince of Newfield. We've been assigned to help in a large-scale strike against her."
The program zoomed in on the aforementioned carrier and separated into a three-view diagram of her. After a minute, it went back to the map and displayed several formations approaching the projected reach of its defenses. The Colonel continued without pause.
"The initial attack will be carried out by unmanned aircraft, which will act primarily as interference and to soak up some of the Lens' ammunition. The center of this morning's attack will be two-fold: sixteen Su-30s and twelve B-08s attacking from four directions. Besides six of our own Nosferatus, another six from the 44th Squadron will be on hand to escort the southwestern attack. Each formation will be accompanied by four ER-211s, which will degrade the enemy's radar capabilities and give the missiles launched a better chance. While not working in direct support of us, two Sotoan Swordfish patrol planes will assist in monitoring the carrier group and the progress of the missile attacks. They'll relay any pertinent information to our E-787. We will be flying ahead of the missile carriers to create an opening, after which we'll defend their ingress from the north and northwest. We'll establish patrol stations as shown here and here, but will retain the flexibility to move them about as needed. Intelligence believes that the Osean carrier Andersen is the closest to the Prince of Newfield. As such, we should expect to encounter F-24C Hellcat IIs in addition to F-35s from the Lenish carrier."
Luukas took that as his cue. He stood up and walked in front of his colleagues while Mistros changed the image once again.
"These two aircraft will constitute our primary opposition, followed by ship-based defenses from the Lenish carrier's escorts. Friendly fighter aircraft, mostly MiG-44s and MiG-35s, may be available but will be tied to their own missions. Both types of hostile aircraft will be armed with long-range missiles: the Osean AIM-152 and Usean Meteor. These weapons possess a substantial range advantage over our AP-13s. Expect them to be used primarily against the bombers and strike aircraft. While we have engaged with F-24s and F-35s before, this will be one of the first times that we engage them in this kind of environment. The Osean Navy places a great deal of emphasis on training for fleet air defense. They'll be supported by a carrier-based E-12 AEW, which does have a chance of detecting the B-08 due to its sheer size…"
Only by then had he realized that he'd added the F-35 in as an afterthought. That single Hellcat still stewed in his brain. In everyone's brain, he imagined. It was hard to get it out, too; he was essentially regurgitating the tactics lectures he'd given many times before. He looked to the Colonel when he felt like he'd done his part, and the man jumped back in with ease.
"Thank you, Major."
The man needed a second to acknowledge his new rank, but he still returned to his seat with some grace. The Colonel continued on with the final details, things that Luukas was already well aware of. Things such as their payload and minute tactics, and the time it'd take for the B-08s to properly deliver their payloads. Luukas noted the time at the edge of his charts with some apprehension. As the Colonel was noting, the enemy ships in the area would be as important as enemy aircraft until the distances had been closed and the bombers had launched their payloads. The Type 32 frigates and Type 83 destroyers each had 48 vertical launch cells at the ready. Estimates from intelligence suggested that they could fire those missiles in one long barrage if they chose to. Realistically, it was unlikely; Luukas tried to rationalize it by thinking of it as one big cluster of SAMs. Ones that the UCAVs sweeping before them would hopefully tempt. Despite that, he was still comforted by the air of confidence as those assigned to the day's mission left to man their jets…
The lead B-08 passed above the scattered clouds at a smooth, steady pace. The Colonel at the controls of the flying wing carefully balanced the throttle settings to get the most from his ERG-2200s. Every so often, he leaned forward in his seat to make sure that the other bomber was there. Each time he was rewarded with the sight of another dark-gray shape pushing through the air.
"Next navigational point in five minutes." A Junior Lieutenant behind him called.
"Are we still getting data from those Ghataks?" He asked, directing his voice at the weapon systems officer.
"They're still transmitting, Colonel. They've just entered the projected detection range of the carrier group's defenses."
"Anything to add to that, Lieutenant Astala?"
"I've detected a single airborne radar source. Appears to be helicopter-based, probably a Merlin AEW." The man across from the navigator replied.
"Copy that, you know the drill."
The only man who hadn't spoken was the Weapon Systems Officer. Instead, he was busy taking what his colleagues on either side of him had found and building a clearer picture from it. The EWO had an important update mere seconds after the Sotoan drones had penetrated the perimeter.
"Relay from the AEW, two radar contacts appear to be turning towards the Ghataks. Probably one of the fighter patrols."
"Keep it noted…Rvena Leader to flight, descent to Flight Level 3600. Maintain formation as long as you can. Saand Leader, what is your status?"
"Saand has penetrated the enemy perimeter and is searching for targets." The Sotoan Flankers' leader replied.
The less stealthy Flankers were certainly brave, The Colonel thought. He expected their entrance to stir the hornet's nest; the E-787 guiding them confirmed it.
"Rvena Leader this is Karhu, we've detected multiple air and surface contacts activating their radars. Estimate at least eight enemy aircraft airborne."
An antenna housed in a kite-shaped faring beneath the nose detected the many sources the AEW had located. The Colonel and his crew stayed cool, becoming more and more focused on their individual responsibilities. Word from the E-787 reached Luukas's ears at the same time. He looked away from the Su-30s as they screamed ahead above the waves at Krill and gave him the signal to loosen up. He selected his AP-13s and started bouncing off what the E-787 saw to pick out a first target.
"Talos 2-01 to Talos 2, stay on our side of the corridor for the bombers. Try to keep enemy aircraft from consolidating their defenses. Talos 2-03, take 2-04 and move due west. Sweep low." He radioed.
While Faye and Riku broke towards the ocean. Luukas and Krill turned their noses towards the closest pair of contacts. They'd been trying to skirt the Lens' radar coverage as long as possible, but now they committed fully. Most of the attention remained on the Su-30s as an enemy destroyer launched its first salvo of missiles. The Nosferatus had a lower radar signature from carrying a strictly internal load. As they closed within maximum range, the plane warned him that someone had spotted them. Luukas looked at his RWR panel and saw two fresh contacts.
"Krill, break left and engage those new contacts!" He ordered quickly.
His wingman acknowledged eagerly, throttled back and snapped towards the new threat. Luukas selected the other contact as its radar tried to pick him out of the mid-morning sky. As the Erusean drew closer and closer to a lock, his opponent suddenly maneuvered and dropped a few strings of chaff. Luukas increased his speed and nosed down, then came up to put the two F-35s against the otherwise open sky. One of the bandits put his nose on Luukas while the other broke away. Luukas adjusted to keep them both within his reach, but the second F-35 managed to break his track. Luukas deployed his own countermeasures to buy a few seconds, a few seconds that the first Lightning took to lock and engage. As Luukas turned away, the enemy jet saw him long enough to launch a single Meteor. Luukas stayed on his opponent until he had his own lock.
"Talos 2-01, Arrow Arrow!" He called.
He pulled up and broke towards the other F-35, which had just launched a single Meteor as well. Luukas nosed down in response and increased the throttles ever further. Krill had launched two of his AP-13s, then moved to close ranks against the larger force.
"Faye, have you and Pine spotted any contacts at low level?" Luukas asked through his rough maneuvers.
"Negative, Lynx!" Faye replied readily.
"Close it up and help us balance things out over here."
Lynx didn't wait for their reply, and instead busied himself with the closing missiles. He nosed up, maintaining his speed and dispersing more chaff as the weapons reached their top speeds. The Meteor's "no escape" zone weighed heavily on his mind as the distance closed far more rapidly than any other missile. He kept up his speed and broke towards the closest missile with an animalistic grunt. The missile exploded off his right wing, close enough to scrape the surface of the Nosferatu. Luukas, with no time to listen to his AI's concerns, rolled into the other Meteor. That missilenosed up to try and catch him, but ended up far to the right as it exploded. Luukas reversed again, entire body shuddering under the Gs, and pushed into afterburner. He took stock of the situation in that instant and found one of the F-35s was descending rapidly and moving towards the center of the fleet. That left the remaining F-35, which was still closing and closing fast.
Luukas cocked a brow and turned his countermeasures back to manual; the F-35 hadn't fired another Meteor or tried to get a lock. He took the chance to adjust his speed and get a better position relative to the bandit. The Lenish pilot jinked about as the distances closed, and when they were less than 40 kilometers apart he tried to get a lock again. Luukas followed his jinking, moving the F-35 from one edge of his radar's reach to the other. Suddenly, the enemy jet broke away and nearly rolled inverted. Luukas slowed and stayed high, switching to his AP-11s for a quick shot at the other jet. He worked the rudders and forced the nose down in the direction of the Lenish jet. He could see his second element below, and so could the F-35 as it fired an ASRAAM at them. Luukas throttled back almost completely and jammed the control stick back as hard as he could. Just like that the missile shot was no longer a priority.
"Faye, Pine, watch out for Talos 2-01 above you!" He warned.
"Copy that, Lynx!" Faye replied.
The two jets split in opposite directions but stayed low, relying on their flares until Luukas could give them some space. He pushed his throttles forward and looked back in search of the F-35. He spotted the enemy aircraft coming around and diving. As Luukas came around, it became clear that the Su-30s had joined the fight. His radar showed at least five bandits swirling through the sky with the attackers. He saw Krill's CFA down low and nudged his way towards the friendly jet.
"Talos this is Karhu, additional bandits just appeared on radar. Estimate at least 12 of them coming from Heading 309. They're 430 kilometers and closing fast." The AEW spoke up.
"Understood…Rvena, how far from your launch point are you?" Maestros replied.
"We've got three-to-four minutes at this point, Talos." The Colonel said.
"Talos 2, Talos 1 is pushing from its current station to assist. Stay focused on those F-35s for the time being. Saand, how long can you assist?"
"We've got plenty of time on station, Talos."
Luukas acknowledged as one of the bandits engaged him and Krill. The two jets carefully reversed into one-another and deployed a cloud of chaff. Luukas came back to the left to get his own shot while Krill extended to help force the F-35 towards his lead. The Lightning pulled up and rocketed away, entering a hard bank to the right almost effortlessly. Luukas checked where the Meteor coming at him was and found it was well below him, heading for the ocean. Krill was already turning towards the fleeing bandit.
"Watch out Krill, he's trying to draw us closer to one of the carrier's escorts." Luukas warned.
"Copy, I almost have him." Krill assured calmly.
Luukas reluctantly accepted the new "admirer" according to the RWR and pushed to support Krill as the man fired a pair of AP-13s at the Lenish fighter. As soon as he did, he rolled to the left and began to ascend. Luukas went in the opposite direction, but it didn't matter to the Type 83. Luukas tried diving for the deck, but the F-35 had used the chance to circle around and pursue the two CFAs as they fled. Luukas hailed Krill to stay close to him and turned towards the center of the growing furball. One that had fewer Flankers than before. Another four F-35s had entered the fray as well, but that wasn't what caught his immediate attention. The sound of a radar trying to lock him up alerted him to a new threat. He looked in its direction, but couldn't see anything.
"Karhu, how far are those 12 bandits?" He asked.
"They've just split into two groups. You have four bandits heading your way now, Talos."
"Copy."
The closer F-35 rolled down at the Eruseans and fired a single ASRAAM at Krill. The man broke to the right and separated from Luukas once more while the senior pilot throttled back and tried to come around for a counter shot. He adjusted his head to get the enemy aircraft in his HMD's sights. The charcoal-blue strike fighter snapped towards him, but Luukas took the shot regardless.
"Talos 2-01, Dagger!"
The missile took up the chase with seconds to spare at most. It arced at a sharp angle and exploded near the back of the F-35. Luukas reversed to avoid getting hit by his own shrapnel. He could feel a small rattling from the shockwave, but his systems didn't have anything new to alert him about. He reversed to confirm his kill and find Krill, and found himself above an Su-30 going down in flames. Nearby was another CFA fleeing an explosion, with ugly smudges dotting its camouflage.
"Talos 2-03 has been hit, repeat Talos 2-03 has been hit." Faye grunted.
"How bad?" Luukas asked as he leveled out to cover the wounded machine.
"The system is telling me that my tail fins are damaged."
"Turn south as soon as you can, Faye. Head south."
As he instructed the man on an escape route, that radar from earlier got a solid lock on his jet. He stuck close to Faye to make sure the imminent missile shot would come after him. He even played stupid for a few seconds to further entice the enemy plane. Faye nosed down towards the waves while Luukas broke hard left and started coming around to engage. Krill went vertical and nearly did a backflip to get his nose on a pair of F-24s. Luukas widened his turn to make sure the AMRAAMs were still following. When he saw them in the distance, he broke hard right, then reversed almost immediately. He pushed up the throttles and dove towards the ground. The Osean fighters had split, with one going nose-to-nose with Krill. Luukas reversed again and selected his remaining AP-13s. Krill, with a single AP-11 left, fell back and let his lead take up the fight. Their AMRAAMs were heading off in a completely different direction now. Luukas tried to keep moving towards the edge of "his" Hellcat's radar sweep until he could get a proper shot. The F-24 seemed to be preoccupied by both the CFA and a pair of Su-30s trying to get in close.
"Saand, be advised that Talso is trying to get a shot at the bandit you're approaching. Watch for shots from your nine or ten o'clock." He warned.
"This is Saand 11, thank you for the warning." One of the Flankers (he presumed) replied.
Luukas didn't acknowledge right away. The F-24 turned back towards him, close to getting a lock-on again.
"Talos 2-01, Arrow!"
The Sotoan jets fired a missile each as well, which Luukas used to get even closer to his opponent. The F-24 was deploying countermeasures every second, jumping about the sky in every direction. The other F-24 had hooked around, forcing the Su-30s to break off and defend themselves. Luukas stayed with the first Hellcat, Krill right behind him and Faye gaining more and more distance by the second.
"Pine, what's your position?" Luukas asked.
"I'm covering Faye until he can get far enough south." The young pilot replied.
Luukas acknowledged as the AP-13 closed the final meters to its target. The F-24 had twisted and thrashed about, but it wasn't enough to get clear of all of the missiles coming at it. Luukas wasn't sure whether it was an Astra or his AP-13 that did the Osean in, but it didn't matter to Luukas as he pulled away. Krill swung back to his left and stayed loosely on his wing as they turned towards the center of the furball.
"Talos 2-03, what's your position?" He asked.
"I think I'm far enough away from the fighting. Thank you, Lynx." His comrade replied.
"See you back at base, Faye."
Luukas chose his heatseekers again and singled out a pair of F-24s circling around a pair of CFAs. He let Krill loose and nosed up to arc into the fight from above.
"Friendly aircraft engaged with two Osean F-24s, Talos 2-01 and 2-02 are inbound to assist. Keep an eye out above and from the west." He radioed.
"Copy that Talos." An unfamiliar voice replied.
Luukas rolled inverted and lined up with one of the Hellcats as it fired a Sidewinder point-blank at one of the Nosferatus. Luukas switched to his cannon and fired to draw the Hellcat off his ally. The Osean fighter banked to the right and Luukas pulled back on the stick even harder to stay with the enemy jet. The Gs felt like they were trying to squeeze his insides out of him, but he grunted, groaned and cursed through the sensation until he was through it. The F-24 was turning left and slowing, so Luukas went to the outside and tried to gain back some energy. They circled around, where it was revealed that one of the Nosferatus had been hit. Luukas gave the jet a quick glance as it went down in flames to fuel his drive.
"Roc 1-01 is down, repeat Roc 1-01 is down." The other Nosferatu radioed.
The F-24 rolled into a dive towards the downed plane, where Krill was waiting for him. The Hellcat responded by firing a second Sidewinder at the Erusean jet head-on, then breaking left. Krill snapped to his right, and Luukas let him take up the chase for a second so he could get more energy. He searched for the other F-24 as the speedometer climbed once more, then turned to help his wingman when he found it occupied by the other Nosferatu.
"Krill, I'm closing from behind. If that bandit tries anything, I'll keep him boxed in." He assured.
The enemy Hellcat banked down again and dove even closer to the water. This time he aimed himself towards one of the Lenish destroyers still engaged in the battle. Krill stuck with the Hellcat until the warship's presence swayed him otherwise. He pulled away while Luukas slowed and opted for his last AP-13. He glanced at his fuel, then his watch. They would need to pull away soon, but the bombers would, or rather should, be near their firing point by now. He started calculating his exit as the F-24 reversed and twisted in random directions, deploying countermeasures to increase its chances. As Luukas wondered if the Osean would try to head for the ship again, he spotted a shape high above. It was the shape of an F-35; Luukas turned and let his radar select that bandit instead. Krill stayed with the F-24 as it drew them closer to the Lenish jet. He launched the second he had a solid lock.
"Talos 2-02, Dagger!"
Krill closed with the F-24 as soon as he'd launched while Luukas kept the F-35 busy. He used his last AP-13 on the enemy aircraft, then dove to rejoin his wingman.
"Krill, we need to start formulating a way out of here. What does your fuel state look like?" He radioed as the Gs once again piled on.
"It's starting to get lower than I would like. I would suggest that we level out just above the water and head in the same direction as Faye did."
"Very wise. Pine, what's your status?"
"I've fallen in with Talos 1." The young man answered.
"Talos 2, if you're low on weapons and fuel you may withdraw. Rvena should be at their launch point any second now." Maestro added.
The two CFAs continued their dive, leaving their opponents preoccupied by their missiles. Once again, Luukas endured the forces of gravity to get himself where he wanted to be. The ocean came rushing up and his systems began to chide him for how fast he was losing altitude. He worked the throttles and leveled out as soon as he could. The CFA went up a few dozen meters and settled into flight with the seafoam practically lapping and its underside. High above, two-dozen KR-190 anti-ship missiles were screaming towards the surface. Despite the work the Sotoans had done, they still had a respectable gauntlet to brave.