Chp. 44: One Yard at a Time
December 9, 2049
OFS Icarus (CVN-62)
The effort to rescue the Prince of Newfield had marched on, with every hour feeling twice as long. That made the pill even harder to swallow when she was felled by a pair of Erusean subs just past midnight on the 8th. With help from Erusea's current propaganda darling, Tanager II. They'd taken everything they could off the stricken carrier before she'd finally succumbed to her wounds. Six of her surviving Lightnings had become "512 NAS, Detachment I"; Jed could still remember the odd buzz of excitement when they'd come aboard. Another reinforcement of the fact that this was an international effort. He could also feel it as he admired the Lenish Lightning as he caught his breath from PT. The man next to him seemed less enthused.
"Mate, you got plenty o' Lightnings on this boat. What makes mine so special?"
Jed stood up and gave an understanding smile to the Lenish pilot, a Lieutenant Commander by the moniker "Grassman".
"The paint scheme. Ah know it's been close to 70 years since y'all went with the all-charcoal livery, but Ah like when they do the throwback scheme. Though the normal scheme, like this one, is nice too." He explained. Grassman shrugged in acceptance.
"Seems like a you thing, mate. You know what's on my mind? The name of this boat."
"What about it?"
"It's named after a myth in which a man flies too close to the sun and falls to his death."
"The carrier doesn't fly, though."
Grassman paused for a second, trying to decipher what exactly Jed's argument was. The junior pilot offered it a second later.
"Therefore the negative aspect of the legend is somewhat muted. We use her name as a way to temper our pride. To know that we cannot fly too close to the sun, lest we fall."
"...Did you make that up?"
"Nope; it's written in Old Likadan on the ship's coat of arms. Excellentia et Humilitas, or "Excellence and Humility" if y'all don't speak the old tongue."
"Excellence and Humility…from a lot who values professional pride so greatly."
"So do y'all, right? It's natural to take pride in what y'all do. In yer unit, its people, and its aircraft."
"True, but we don't have humility in our motto."
"Ironically, my squadron doesn't either. Ours is "No Feat Too Great", though Ah would argue that it reflects that we don't back down."
"Nos non Titubare: We Shall Not Falter."
The two stopped with the dawning realization that maybe they were thinking too hard about things. Jed held out a closed fist to the man, who accepted the fist bump with a more genuine smile.
"Either way, yer part of the team now. Welcome to Carrier Air Wing 8, courtesy of Fighter Squadron 34."
"Yeah, good to still have a place to land."
The two looked back as footfalls approached. Annie came jogging by, ducking and weaving through the maze of jets and equipment.
"That's the second time I've lapped you, Bronco. You told me you ran cross-country." She commented.
Jed rolled his eyes and gave Grassman a polite "excuse me" before bolting off. The man took off in pursuit while his Osean counterpart handily weaved between a pair of Wraiths. He caught Annie as she was rounding the far end of the hanger deck. He wasn't simply content with passing her, though. He naturally had to rub it in.
"Hi Tsun-Tsun…Bye Tsun-Tsun!" He said cheerfully as he ran past.
Annie fixed him with a fierce glare, though only the back of his head saw it. She would freely admit that she wasn't a runner. Songol Kickboxing was her forte; it kept her legs and hips looking as good as they did. Right now, she was tempted to put those legs to use kicking him in the butt. Even if it was a nice butt. She picked up the pace, but Jed was little more than a shape that flashed in and out of the collection of aircraft. Before she knew it, he was passing by again.
"Hi Tsun-Tsun…Bye Tsun-Tsun!" He winked.
"Slow down you dolt before you hurt yourself!" She barked at him.
She finally caught up to him when he stopped at Grassman's Lighting again, looking very confident and satisfied. Annie ignored that, but even her continued look of disdain didn't dissuade him.
"That's why y'all don't poke me that way, Tsun-Tsun." He commented.
Grassman came huffing and puffing up a few seconds later. Jed opened his mouth to ask what was up, but the guy held up a finger to ask for patience.
"Bah, fuckin hate running." He gasped.
He stopped and ran his palms up either side of his head with one last gasp before he looked at Annie.
"Thought I recognized the accent. You that bird who was talking shite about 512? Saying that 714 was better?" He commented.
Annie snorted in amusement. Jed, whose hands were behind his back, clenched his fists. Easy man, he thought to himself, she's a big girl. Yer relationship is also supposed to stay on the down-low.
"She's also the bird who helped defend yer boat." He offered with a smirk.
"Oh don't worry, Bronco. I've heard worse from 512 NAS, and better from 553 NAS." She assured confidently.
"Yeah, and she's hangin' out with you yanks." Grassman added.
"Damn, and here Ah thought we'd established some kinda camaraderie. Just a few minutes ago we were fist-bumping and bonding over the unique balance of pride and humility we must endure."
"Easy come, easy go. Anyways just you wait; 512 NAS will get its day."
The Lenish pilot ran off, leaving Jed feeling genuinely confused.
"Can't tell if he's just busting my balls or what." He commented.
"The blokes at 512 NAS are always like that…" Annie replied. She paused and held her hands up in mock excitement.
"Because ooooh, we were the squadron that sunk the Belkan battleship Riese in 1941. Ooooh, we were the first jet squadron in the Fleet Air Arm! Oooooh, we failed to stop the Tanager at the Battle of Axel Bay in 2004!" She said in sarcastic awe.
Jed looked at the F-35 he'd been admiring, but kept what he'd wanted to say about 512's record to himself. then back at Annie when he felt her eyes on him. She'd gone from mocking rivals to eyeing him smugly.
"What?" He asked.
"I saw you get mad when he started teasing me." She said with a smirk.
"Ah'm inclined to defend the honor of my lady." He mumbled.
She patted him on the arm and smiled. All he could do was cross his arms and try not to blush too hard.
"Have I ever told you just how cute you are sometimes when you get flustered?"
"Ah'm not cute; Ah'm a warrior."
"A cute one."...
"Okay Sharky, looks like the Athena managed to burn through the jamming and get a fix on that rocket artillery. We've got a fourship of Typhoons to the north alongside some Outlaws and Lightnings." Shamu spoke up.
"Copy, feed the coordinates to Brimstones. Wolf 2-2, we've got a fix on our primary targets. Standby for datalink and feed that info to your Brimstones. We'll make two runs; stick to me until I give you the order to execute." Sharky replied, switching from his backseater to his wingman with ease.
"Understood, Sharky; we'll make our run from southeast to northwest." Santosh reported.
"It's yours."
The kid's consistent initiative and skill had earned him the right to make calls like that. It was the greatest feeling any instructor could get. He pushed away the sentimental gunk before it could form and keyed his radio again.
"Wolf 1, Wolf 2 is pushing. Wolf 2-3 and 2-4, stay back and cover us. Save your ordinance for when we move to the main force."
"Wolf 1 copies all, break, Vapor do you have a fix on enemy air defenses?" Kiran responded.
"Two Rajendras just joined that CAR. They should be on your RWR."
Sharky left that situation to the first flight and eased the stick for his F-72 forward. He pushed the throttles up as they descended through the thin clouds and into the fight. The hits on his scope changed tone as they noticed the two faint contacts passing through the clouds. Sharky just went lower and lower with Sandy right on his wing. A Sotoan AWACS well to the north might have spotted them, but the nearest fighters it could send were maybe ten minutes away. They dipped down into a valley, moving in the shadows of an isolated mountain range, until the RWR calmed itself. Sharky looked down at his central display and his weapons display as they curled around the northern edge of the terrain.
"Wolf 2 is in hot!" He declared.
He was greeted by the sight of hundreds of white lines streaking across the sky. Pinaka multiple-launch rocket systems of the Sotoan 7th Infantry Division. Sharky felt a wave of disdain as he looked towards the cityscape they were falling on. His eyes swept back to the left as one of the Akash batteries spotted the low-level threats. The two Sabertooths, though they still had plenty of time, increased their spacing. Shamu made sure all six missiles had their own target before he told his friend to launch.
"All yours, Sharky." He promised with confidence.
"Wolf 2-1, Rifle Dash-6." Sharky announced.
"Wolf 2-2, Rifle Dash-6." Santosh echoed.
When the weapons bay opened, the brief change in the F-72's shape gave the Akash its best chance to shoot. Even as Wolf 1, equipped with HARMs, was closing in. As Sharky hit the gas again and deployed countermeasures, one of the SAM batteries in the hills below launched three missiles at them. Shamu grabbed onto his handlebar while Sharky yanked the F-72 to the right. He kept the throttles pinned as he raced towards friendly lines. Santosh charged the battery to try and redirect their attention, but the Pinakas they'd targeted had maybe a dozen Tunguskas standing by. Santosh was forced to break left and go high. He winged over and sped for the hills again as fast as he could. He looked in all directions until he saw the SAMs that'd been launched at his lead.
Sharky looked back as two of the SAMs seemed to have a solid lock. He deployed chaff, flares, and broke to the left. As it took him over friendly troops, he banked left and pushed upwards to bring the missiles away from the guys on the ground. When they were nose up, he turned into them and let their momentum be their undoing. The two missiles passed on harmlessly as the same battery was trying to get another lock. By now, though, Wolf 1 had launched a HARM in its direction. Sharky dove towards the ground and moved behind friendly lines to get a second to think.
"Sandy, you still with us?" Sharky asked as he came around.
"Good to go, Sharky." The pilot replied.
Behind him, Abhay looked towards their targets to see if they'd hit anything. He looked at the central display, then at the smoke rising up into the sky.
"I estimate that we hit eight, maybe nine of the launchers." He reported.
"Wolf 2-3 and 2-4, you're up." Sharky ordered.
He switched to the two AMRAAMs they had and rose up to take the second half's place. Catfish and Soup dipped down and made a wide circle to the east before coming in behind the cover of friendly defenses. Wolf 1 circled above the mountains, waiting for someone to try and get in a cheap shot.
"Wolf 2-3, Rifle Dash-6."
"Wolf 2-4, Rifle Dash-6."
Shamu switched his display to reflect what the Athena was seeing as the second wave of missiles made their approach. To the outside observer, things probably seemed very sterile. Almost unfeeling. Shamu was honestly glad that things were going so smoothly. He switched to the EOTS (after letting Sharky know he was) and scanned for any targets of opportunity. The lightly-wooded countryside below was dotted with potential heat signatures. Shamu had done this long enough to recognize which ones weren't potential targets.
"Wolf 2, we've got a CAS request. Friendly forces report enemy mechanized units moving on the DiTEC industrial complex and are in heavy contact. Standby for relay to Archer 55, how copy?" Vapor spoke up.
"Copy all." Sharky replied quickly.
Wolves 2-3 and 2-4 came off target with shoulder-launched missiles and gunfire following them. Sharky switched to the four GBU-12s they had in the rear section of the bay while Shamu used the GPS to find out where they needed to be. He pointed it out to his pilot, who made sure the rest of his flight had the same info. As they arranged themselves in loose pairs to make their initial pass out of the gate, the RWR detected a fresh source transmitting.
"Wolf 2, Wolf 1 has detected low-level contacts moving in. At least two flights of four, coming in from the northwest. We're moving to engage them. Vapor, can you get a better ID on them?" Kiran added.
Sharky only gave the development a brief listen before he switched to the channel the controller on the ground was supposed to be using.
"Archer 55 this is Wolf 2, flight of four. Have four GBUs and full guns for the section. Where do you need us?" He spoke up.
"Wolf 2 this is Archer 55, we have enemy armor approaching from the west. Ah, they're centered on several Arjuns…firing on our positions, probably screening for IFVs. We need you to thin out their advance, how copy?" A young voice with a Lenish accent reported excitedly.
It was very apparent that his position was under fire, but Sharky remained all business.
"Do you have an idea of the size of the force? Can you laze targets for us?" Sharky pressed.
"Ah standby…"
"Disregard, Archer; we're going to make our runs from north to south. Can you at least give me an estimate on their range from you?"
By now the man's training seemed to have wrested control away from anxiety. The man took a deep breath and paused as he got the info the Osean merc sought.
"I have eyes on two platoons of Arjuns moving in wedge formation towards the outer perimeter. They're about 1500 Meters from friendly positions and closing. Advise you self-laze, but I'll get mine pointed at them."
"Copy that, inform units in that area to check fire to the south. Time on target, fifteen seconds."
Sharky switched frequencies back to his flight.
"Wolf 2-2, fall in behind me and target the northern platoon of tanks. Move fast and break hard."
"Understood, Sharky!" Santosh replied, sounding confident and ready.
Sharky felt a faint smirk cross his face as he rolled inverted and dove for the ground. He leveled out just below the clouds and switched the countermeasures to automatic mode. The RWR began to warn him of Tunguskas scattered across the advance. He watched for launches while Shamu centered the EOTS's laser on one of the lead tanks. At the same time, one of the Sotoan AA vehicles launched a pair of missiles at the jets.
"Target is painted and your button is hot." He announced.
"Wolf 2-1, bomb away." Sharky replied.
Sharky pulled to the right as a second Tunguska launched a salvo of missiles at them. Santosh was right behind with his own bomb. The two made a sharp turn, then broke in random directions. Shamu's lips puckered as he watched the camera straining to stay on its target. Sharky had to leave the rest to fate as the barrage of missiles grew closer and the gunfire intensified. He kept his nose up and his throttles forward, passing through the clouds. As the missiles followed, he broke hard left and made a steep dive to shake them off.
"Sandy, once you've gotten rid of those missiles, form up on me for a second run." He breathed.
His wingman clicked his mic twice as he was distracted with trying to stay conscious. Sharky looked around for his wingman as they climbed higher, to the point that SA-21s far from the frontlines could see them. Sharky switched the countermeasures back to manual and rolled back towards earth.
"Wolf 2-2, what's your status?" He repeated.
There were another two clicks, and Sharky could feel something was wrong. On a hunch, he switched his radar to air-to-air mode and pointed west. He spotted Santosh almost immediately, intermingling with several of the enemy aircraft from earlier. From what he could tell, they were Su-42s. The slower attack aircraft had turned their numbers and maneuverability against the bigger, faster Sabertooth. Shamu noted they seemed to be using a wagon wheel to defend themselves against the fighter.
"Wolf 2-2, respond." Sharky demanded.
"Wolf 2-2, engaged neutral." Santosh managed quickly.
"Copy…we're coming in from above. Wolf 2-3, you still with 2-4?"
"Affirmative."
"Keep hitting those tanks. Contact Archer 55 for additional help. Vapor, do you have any additional aircraft on station to assist?"
"Copy, we're committing two additional flights to assist. Check fire to the southeast at low level."
At the same time, Sharky and Shamu had come down on the circling Flatfoots. It gave Santosh the chance he needed to escape. Some of the attack jets took the chance to try and slip away. Sharky didn't care; he wasn't here to dogfight. Still, he turned after them and readied his AMRAAMs. As he did, a signal that'd been on his RWR turned its attention to him. Shamu responded by selecting the target instead of a second Su-42. Santosh joined his leader to engage.
"Wolf 2-2, make sure those two other Flatfoots stay away." Sharky replied as he got a lock.
"Copy, Lead."
As he pulled away, another enemy fighter turned their attention to the offending F-72s. Sharky ducked to the right, in the direction of friendly forces, and hit the gas. Help was almost immediately there as two Tempests passed by to the south. Sharky turned in that direction and slipped behind them while Shamu switched things back to air-to-ground.
"Wolf 2-3, we're reengaging the armor near the DiTEC complex. What's the situation over there?" He asked.
"Got at least a battalion rolling in on it. Looks like they're trying to surround the place and bypass it. Got multiple flights of A-17s inbound to assist, but no clue how well it will work." Catfish explained.
"Take anything we can get, keep hitting 'em until you're Winchester." Sharky replied. He switched a screen to watch the EOTS as he switched to the intercom.
"Shamu, see anything particularly valuable down there?"
"Ah, the Athena is showing a cluster of vehicles at the following coordinates. Could be some level of HQ. Wolf 2-2?"
"I see it. I would assume the same." A-Jo confirmed.
"Archer 55 be advised, we have a possible fix on a hostile HQ. Might be coordinating the guys trying to surround you. If you can hold, we'll take it out." Sharky radioed.
"Go for it! Be advised that Archer 55 and friendly units are moving back. Friendly forces advancing to meet us."
A sense of unease had returned to the FAC's voice; Sharky was glad he was at least trying to remain calm. The two F-72s reorganized away from the firestorm of AA fire and moved north above the smoldering remains of the Sotoan's artillery. Sharky only looked in the direction of the industrial park because he was on the lookout for anything coming his way. Otherwise it was like watching a wildfire close in on a house, and there were a great number of houses beyond this one.