Towing along a motley crew of twenty F-16Cs, F-16Ds and F-15Cs, Wardog Squadron left Heierlark for a seven hour trip back to Sand Island. This time, Ash had bought a music player from Heierlark's on-base shopping centre as entertainment for the trip back home. The pilots they were bringing home were a mix of pilots with time in the fleet that had been stationed at Heierlark, as well as a small group of pilots who were new to the fleet, totalling two additional squadrons. Welcome numbers for the hideously undermanned Fifth Wing.
Even with full internal tanks and three drop tanks per aircraft, they were going to have to make a stop at McNealy Air Force Base to refuel before flying the final leg over the ocean to Sand Island.
Ash got to watch the local scenery change from a frozen wasteland, to frozen tundra, to tundra, to grasslands, to forests, to a city, to the mountains, to more forest, to grassland again, to farmland as they made the trip back home.
McNealy Air Force Base was the largest OADF base in the Cape Landers region, serving as the headquarters of West Aerial Theatre Command, the 3rd Bomber Wing, the 55th Pararescue Regiment and the western branch of the OADF's Minuteman ICBM force.
"McNealy, this is Wardog Squadron, entering your ADIZ from the east, over." Ash rang in with McNealy AFB's air traffic control centre to inform them of the formation's presence.
"Wardog Squadron, McNealy Control, acknowledged. Wait, out." Somebody on the ground acknowledged their presence in McNealy's air defence identification zone. Ash frowned. The first part of McNealy's response was normal, but the wait out command was unusual. Something was happening either on the ground or somewhere near the base.
"Wardog, light up radar." Ash ordered, turning on their Mudhen's radar and panning the radar's transceiver to look for aircraft. She got a hit on a duo of aircraft south-west of McNealy which the IFF system identified as F-15Cs.
"I've got friendly Eagles and a tanker on my scope." Grimm reported his findings.
"Same." Chopper concurred.
"Wardog Squadron, McNealy, aircraft, fuel and munitions state, over." McNealy control requested a general status update from the airborne squadrons.
"Grimm, Scythe Squadron, fuel status?" Ash asked her Viper wingman and Viper escorts. She could extrapolate the fuel status of her Mudhen brethren by looking at her own fuel status.
"Not enough for a fight." Captain Riley Kidd, callsign Cowboy and the squadron leader of Scythe Squadron, reported.
"McNealy, Wardog, state as follows. Twenty-four aircraft flight of Eagles, Mudhens and Vipers. Fuel status red. Weapons status black." Ash reported their status.
"Acknowledged. Wardog, vector 250 to Runway Four Right, taxi to FARP station for refuelling and rearming." McNealy Control instructed. "We believe a Yuktobanian assault on Bassette Space Centre is imminent."
"Basset?" Kitagawa asked.
"Wardog acknowledges all. Approaching runway four right from the east." Ash indicated to the control centre. "Everyone, turn to 250 for McNealy. We're getting sent into a fight."
"Oh, cool." Grimm said.
Ash figured there was a sense of urgency considering the Yuktobanians might have been about to launch an attack south-east of McNealy. That sense of urgency increased massively when Ash spotted a smoke trail wafting upwards from a burning hangar on the base. The controller hadn't mentioned anything about an attack. Regardless of whatever the local situation was, Ash brought her Mudhen down in a smooth landing and rolled over to the Fuel, Ammo and Repair Post that had been established in between two of the runways. They were stopped by the ground crews, fuel hoses were connected and missile carts carrying enough AIM-120s and AIM-9s to arm a third-rate air force were brought over.
"Here we go." Kitagawa mused once the fuel hose was connected. "Sorry, what and where is Bassett?"
"It's an OSA launch facility." Ash answered. "On the coast, twenty minutes south-west of here. Civilian rocket launches, mass driver, the whole ten yards."
"Gotcha." Kitagawa seemed to understand. "So… what do the Yukes want with it?"
"Not sure." Ash admitted. "Find out in a bit."
Proving the idea that sweating more in peace led to bleeding less in war, the McNealy ground crews had half the formation armed, fueled and ready to go in under ten minutes. Wardog Squadron and Scythe Squadron were going out, with the other half of the formation being kept in reserve. They would be accompanied by a flight of four F-22 Raptors, with an E-3 Sentry AWACS providing long-range sensor information.
"Wardog Squadron, departing from Runway Four Left." Ash declared as her and her wingmen rolled up the runway and into the air.
AWACS: DARKSTAR
WARDOG 1 / BLAZE, SAMURAI / F-15E
WARDOG 2 / CHOPPER, ZOOMER / F-15E
WARDOG 3 / EDGE, CORVUS / F-15E
WARDOG 4 / ARCHER / F-16C
SCYTHE 1 / COWBOY / F-16C
SCYTHE 2 / RIP / F-16C
SCYTHE 3 / GUNSLINGER, ROCKET / F-16D
SCYTHE 4 / FISHER / F-16C
SCYTHE 5 / REDCOAT / F-16C
SCYTHE 6 / WRIGHT / F-16C
SCYTHE 7 / TRIGGER, TWINK / F-16D
SCYTHE 8 / INK / F-16C
COYOTE 1 / JACK / F-22A
COYOTE 2 / BALDY / F-22A
COYOTE 3 / REAPER / F-22A
COYOTE 4 / SPONSOR / F-22A
1 October, 2010
Bassett Space Centre
"Task group, situation as follows." AWACS Darkstar, the communications officer onboard the E-3 Sentry providing their eyes and ears for this operation, spoke up. "The team at Bassett Space Centre are preparing to launch an SSTO spacecraft to supply the Arkbird with a weapons package. Yuktobania has caught wind of this and launched an attack against Bassett's mass driver. They're preparing to sortie a second attack, including what we've determined to be bombers and transport aircraft. We are to intercept this second wave before they reach Bassett."
"Coyote Squadron, ack." The Raptor squadron leader, a seasoned veteran going by the callsign 'Jack', acknowledged.
"Wardog Squadron, acknowledged." Blaze acknowledged the mission briefing.
"Scythe Squadron, acknowledged." Cowboy acknowledged the brief.
The Raptors were acting as a forward party ahead of the main body of the formation. Wardog was leading the main formation in a wedge formation, flying at twenty thousand feet. Scythe were below and behind Wardog in a line formation at ten thousand feet. The Viper performed best at lower altitudes because of the size of its wings. The formation flew over Bassett Space Centre.
"Jesus christ, that's a big rail." Grimm commented on the size of the mass driver they were flying over.
"Mag-lev system. It generates enough velocity to push shuttles into a sub-orbital position." Nagase stated. "It needs that height and length to make that velocity."
"That much power generated by magnets… goddamn." Grimm was subtly impressed by the scale of power the structure provided.
"What are they launching from it?" Chopper asked. "Some kind of Rods From God system?"
"They built a laser system for the Arkbird in the wake of Ulysses." Nagase answered. "They're most likely refitting it with that system. It'd be useful against ICBMs."
"In any case, let's make sure it gets there, yeah?" Blaze hijacked the conversation.
"Mmm. We should." Nagase agreed. Blaze looked around, both visually and via sensors, as the formation flew away from Bassett Space Centre heading south-west. Long range ground-based radars had last gotten a hit on a Yuktobanian strike force travelling south-south-west relative to Cape Landers. That had been an hour ago, which meant that the aforementioned strike force should be appearing on radar soon. Blaze kept her eyes peeled for any Yuktobanian aircraft looking to be sneaky.
"BRAA, 240 for 450, Angels 15, flanking east." Darkstar called out a contact south-west of their location a far distance away. "Identified. Eight Candids, four Blackjacks."
Il-76 transports and Tu-160 bombers. Eight transport aircraft seemed like a small number for what effectively amounted to an invasion of the Osean mainland, but the bombers could do some serious damage with the cruise missiles they carried.
"Coyote Squadron is vectoring to intercept." Jack reported. The Raptors pulled away from the body of the formation and climbed, using the sun at their backs as visual obscuration to get close to their enemy. Soon enough, they were out of sight of the Mudhens and Vipers. Blaze tracked their movement via the datalink. In the meantime, she, Wardog and Scythe Squadron closed the distance at a slower pace.
"Darkstar, BRAA, 240 for 350, Angels 20, hot." Darkstar called out new contacts. "Twenty-four Flanker-Hs."
"Su-30s?" Samurai mused. "This ought to be good."
"Tally Flankers." Coyote Squadron had visual contact on the Su-30s. "Coyote, weapons free. Jack, fox 3, fox 3, fox 3!"
Coyote Squadron started engaging the enemy fighter screen, much to Blaze's surprise. Once the Raptors initiated the engagement, Blaze pushed the throttle forward and accelerated to Mach 2 to close the distance between herself and the enemy bombers and transports. Chopper and Nagase followed closely behind their flight lead. Grimm tried to keep up, but only having one engine, he started falling behind. Regardless, Blaze, Chopper and Nagase pushed on.
"Jack, splash seven." Jack reported.
"Baldy, splash five."
"Reaper, splash eight."
"Sponsor, splash four."
Blaze pursed her lips. Four Raptors had just wiped out the entire fighter screen of twenty-four Flankers on their own. Nevertheless, they still had the bombers and transports to deal with, so Wardog pressed on.
"Woah!" Sponsor blurted. "Jack, break left!"
"Breaking left- what the fuck?"
"Coyote, what's going on?" Blaze asked as she approached. It sounded like Coyote Squadron was being engaged by something, but what that something was Blaze couldn't tell because it wasn't appearing on her radar.
"Coyote 1, engaged with an unknown aircraft!" Jack reported his situation. "Defending!"
"Baldy, fox 2! Splash one!"
"Two bandits, five o-clock high!"
"Reaper, fox 2."
"Jack, fox 2! Splash one!"
"Splash one."
"Jack, SITREP?!" Blaze needed to know what the fuck she was running headfirst into.
"We've been engaged by a flight of unknown aircraft! Looks like some kind of flying wing!" Jack finally relayed that information to Blaze.
"New contact, sixty, level on the nose." Samurai had spotted what Coyote Squadron were engaging.
"Seen." Blaze spotted it. A single bandit bee-lining for Coyote Squadron's position. "Coyote, fourth bandit hot on your position!"
"I see it. Jack, fox 2!" Jack fired a Sidewinder at the enemy bandit. Judging by the fact that the bandit then disappeared from radar, Blaze assumed that he had gotten it.
"Four more coming in hot, fifty." Reaper spotted more of the same type of aircraft. "We're almost winchester."
"Come to us." Blaze ordered. "We've got missiles out the wazoo."
"Ack, breaking east." Jack stated. Coyote Squadron moved at a fast fucking velocity in Wardog's direction. Blaze acquired the new flight of targets at about sixty kilometres out. Whatever these aircraft were, they were stealthy, able to avoid detection and classification by a Mudhen radar well within its maximum effective range. Blaze acquired a lock on the first two targets.
"Blaze, fox 3, fox 3." Blaze reported as two AMRAAMs went off the rails and down range. Coyote's Raptors and the four unknowns were at the same altitude block as Blaze, but she wasn't worried about a blue-on-blue incident. Unlike older generations of radar-guided missiles or most kinds of infrared-guided missiles, the newer AMRAAMs could automatically detect IFF signals and avoid their sources.
"Chopper, fox 3, fox 3!" Chopper got missiles out.
"Edge, fox 3!" Nagase got missiles out as well.
Blaze's AMRAAMs dived in on the unknown aircraft from the thin air above. Boom, boom. The two targets disappeared from radar.
"Blaze, splash two!" Blaze reported her kills.
"Chopper, splash one!"
"Edge, splash one!" All four unknowns were down. The four Raptors passed in between Wardog's formation at high speed. Wardog Squadron carried on towards the remains of the Yuktobanian strike package. The Tu-160s were approaching at high speed, but the Il-76s were hastily beating a retreat west, away from the Osean mainland. Multiple radar signatures started appearing under the Blackjacks.
"Missile launch!" Samurai called out these new signatures. Blaze selected the dual drop tanks her F-15E was hefting along and ejected them. The cylinder-shaped tanks and their pylons dropped away from the Mudhen. Blaze now had less fuel, but she had a hell of a lot less drag to compensate, resulting in a higher top speed as a result. Blaze pressed the throttle all the way forward.
"Scythe, incoming cruise missiles, intercept as you come across them!" Blaze ordered the F-16C squadron. "Wardog, get after those bombers!"
"On your six!" Chopper was right behind Blaze. The Blackjacks were turning away from the battlefield, and they were almost as fast as the Mudhen in a drag race, so Blaze endeavoured to close the distance as much as she could while the Blackjacks were executing their turns. They were within seventy kilometres. Close enough.
"Blaze, fox 3, fox 3!"
"Chopper, fox 3, fox 3!"
"Edge, fox 3!"
Six missiles for four aircraft. Blaze continued to close the distance. The Blackjacks were getting up to their post-Mach 2 maximum speed. However, it wasn't specifically the Blackjacks that Blaze was now after, it was the Il-76 transports that the Blackjacks had been accompanying. They were three hundred kilometres away moving at a snail's pace compared to the Mudhens.
"I'm going for the transports." Blaze let her wingmen know.
"Copy." Chopper acknowledged.
The missiles caught up to and connected with the Blackjacks, exploding once their proximity fuzes triggered. Three of the four Blackjacks exploded spectacularly or came apart mid-air, their fuel lines catching fire or their control surfaces coming apart at Mach speed and ripping the aircraft apart in the resulting uncontrolled tumble, but the fourth and final Blackjack survived a direct hit and didn't shred itself apart in an uncontrolled dive. Blaze flew past the final Blackjack, noticed it was smoking but remained controllable, figured it was no longer a threat and moved on. The Candids were next. Once she had closed the distance between herself and the transports to ninety kilometres, Blaze readied the last of her AMRAAMs.
"Blaze, four times fox 3!" Blaze slewed the radar on target, selected four of the eight Candids and fired.
"Chopper, fox 3!"
"Edge, fox 3!"
"Archer, how are those cruise missiles?" Blaze asked her Viper flying wingman.
"Getting there." Archer replied calmly. Blaze took that as a good sign, looked forward and tracked her AMRAAMs onto their targets eighty kilometres ahead. The Il-76 was a much smaller aircraft than the Tu-160, but its saving grace was the distribution of its engines. Unfortunately, that was not enough to save them from copping AMRAAM hits. With such a massive radar return, there was zero chance in hell that the Candids were throwing off the AMRAAMs via chaff. Eight booms in rapid succession brought all eight Candids down, as well as the eight airborne armoured vehicles and four hundred troops embarked in them.
"Splash four. All transports have been splashed." Blaze called the downing of all eight transports.
"Darkstar, inform Bassett that they have incoming!" Cowboy reported. "Some of the missiles got through!"
Fortunately, two MIM-104D Patriot batteries had been deployed to the space centre precisely for this eventuality. The four Blackjacks had fired forty-eight cruise missiles. The Vipers of Scythe Squadron had intercepted thirty-eight of those missiles, leaving ten for the Patriots to intercept and destroy. Targeting the missiles via a datalink provided by AWACS Darkstar, the Patriots started firing missiles once the incoming projectiles entered a one hundred and fifty kilometre radius of the first battery. Travelling at Mach 3, the interceptors closed the distance rapidly, two interceptors for each cruise missile to maximise the chance of a kill. The skies over the ocean went black with clouds of shrapnel as each Kh-55SE was slammed with a PAC-2 interceptor. All ten missiles were successfully intercepted.
Despite the fact that they had been at afterburner for the majority of the engagement, Blaze, Chopper and Nagase still had enough fuel to make it back to Sand Island. McNealy freed them from their obligation to assist in defending Bassett Space Centre. With their Heierlark crew tight in tow behind, Wardog Squadron landed at Sand Island after a two-day absence. The new folk were assigned new hangars, conspicuously away from the flight line that Sand Island's reduced complement had been using for the past fifteen years. When Wardog Squadron pulled into their flight line, they noticed that the F-15Cs of Fencer Squadron, the other Air Force group that had been assisting in protecting the Kestrel and Crow from the botched operation, were occupying the hangars that Vampire Squadron used to fill. Grimm winced when he saw that the remains of Captain Hayley's Viper had still not been removed.
The docking of the weapons package with the Arkbird was broadcasted on every Osean news network in the following hours. Nagase was right, the Arkbird was being re-equipped with a laser weapon system that was intended to be used for anti-ballistic missile defence should the worst happen between Osea and Yuktobania.
Ash, Wolf, Chopper, Pops and Grimm cheered the docking on with excitement.
Nagase and Kitagawa, however, watched with mute horror.