Chp. 45: The Iron Heart

December 10, 2049

200 Miles Northwest of Kharmata

Captain Joanna Richmond looked at her watch, then out to the portlights at the bow of the OFS Gordan Shepherd (DDG-231). The sea was particularly rough today, almost as if Neptune or Poseidon had grown tired of all the noise above his head. Richmond felt perfectly calm, even as the Zumwalt-class destroyer's bow dipped down, then disappeared for an instant in the seaspray. She simply reached out and gripped the railing ahead of her to roll with the ship's movement.

"Conn, CIC reports that the Triton has detected multiple surface combatants. Bearing 355, 210 Miles! Profile matches that of two Stitonosa-class frigates. Both are currently in passive mode" A sailor announced from behind. Using the Fafnir to guide them Richmond assumed.

"Standby to activate radar, signal to the Rodgers and the Diggs to see if they've gotten the same info. Are cells 1 through 20 still good to go?" She replied.

"Yes ma'am!"

Richmond turned around and hurried to her station on the bridge. She switched the screen to her charts and zoomed out until she saw what the MQ-4 was beaming to her ship. Two ships were heading in a southeasterly direction, using the ubiquitous zig-zag pattern to watch the seas beyond. Given how the ships were staggered, the Osean captain assumed she was aimed at ships screening ahead of the Invictus. Somewhere between the two groups of ships, there was supposed to be a handful of fighters on patrol. According to the Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO), there was an E-04 on patrol. Richmond checked the magazine display before she switched back to the charts.

"Message from HMS Dartford, ma'am!" The Chief of the Boat called.

"What's it say, Chief?" She replied.

"They've received the same info from the Triton and added the following: three salvos for the honor of His Majesty!"

The Officer of the Deck grinned, an expression that Richmond shared, and she gave the order to power up the ship's radars. The two frigates sailing parallel to her did the same, while two more to the rear assumed an air defense posture. Information from the drone above the Erusean fleet was automatically fed into their computers and used to get a quicker lock.

"The Triton has detected a third contact! Bearing 003, 270 Miles. Type appears to be a Barakuda-class destroyer." The sailor from earlier announced.

Richmond grabbed her handset and raised the Combat Information Center,

"CIC, Conn, target that third surface contact and launch!"

Her Executive Officer replied with a confident "yes ma'am" and relayed the order. The ship's computers automatically redistributed the missiles between the three and exchanged the same info with the frigates. The only human input was when a button was pressed. Twenty RGM-151C Glaives erupted from their launch cells and screamed high into the air before nosing down and leveling out at wavetop level. To their east a trio of Type 83 Destroyers, accompanied by twice as many Type 26 Frigates, launched the same kind of salvo. At the same time, several Osean and Lenish submarines finished the attack before they would slip back into the depths. All of it was just the first wave, too…

"The Glaives have entered their terminal phase. Skull 2, you're cleared to proceed with Ace 1. Howl and Wolf report they're on schedule."

"Skull 2-1 copies all, break, Ace 1-1 execute now." Jed replied.

The EA-11 snapped to the left and rose towards the scattered clouds. Jed gave Annie the signal to loosen up the formation and lowered his visor. He switched to the four HARMs he was carrying, and with the Erusean ships on full alert their radars were transmitting loud and clear. Jed also ditched his external tanks before he swung to the right and nosed up. He reluctantly turned on his radar while Annie fell back and nosed up to keep him covered. Today there was at least a reason: The Daredevils were pulling double duty. Losses had to be covered. Almost instantly, he picked up a pair of F-03s orbiting between the frigates. Their escorts from VF-168 weren't too far behind, so the F-03s split to engage both sets of threats. Annie immediately switched back to her primary mission and selected her HARMs. The two VF-34 jets came down as the Lenish and Osean anti-ship missiles entered engagement range for the Eruseans. Jed kept himself steady as he watched dozens of winking lights appear on the horizon. None of them were meant for him, at least for a few seconds. The EW bird supporting the two launched the two decoys to buy a few more.

"Tsun-Tsun, just picked up another pair of bandits moving into our AO. Heads up." He reported as the RWR let out a new chirp.

"Copy…okay I see them." Annie replied, more focused on her target.

The HARMs, being as smart as they were, were quick to burn through the jamming from the ships. The Wallflower and Lava Lamp radars provided a nice, juicy target for the missiles. Jed weaved and deployed chaff, but the ships started up their second salvo. Two missiles were inbound for each Hellcat. Jed clenched his teeth and broke to the right, then changed altitude and came back to the left. He went into a partial barrel roll so he was pointed towards the nearest radar source.

"Skull 2-1, Magnum-Magnum!" He barked.

He rolled upright and went nearly vertical as the M10s meant for him angled down for the kill. He deployed chaff and pulled back, now trying to keep the Erusean ship from getting a second shot. In a way, he felt comforted that the frigate had taken a second to engage him and Annie. That meant fewer missiles to engage the incoming Glaives. Annie turned towards him as she left one of the missiles behind and was working on losing the second one. She moved towards the anti-ship missiles to crowd up the sky, then nosed up and pulled an Immelmann. She pushed up the throttles and moved from the core of the fight while Jed stayed low and circled around to face the nearest frigate for another shot. He pulled up as the ship started a second salvo of missiles; a third was arriving from the destroyer beyond the horizon. He kept the throttles pinned forward and let his HARMs sniff out its radars. His systems collectively picked out new airborne contacts at the edge of his radar.

"Arrow Lead, Ah've got a hit on four new contacts. Looks like they're coming from the northeast. Bagman, can y'all confirm?" He radioed.

"Bagman copies all. Multiple contacts at multiple altitudes inbound. Heading 004, 170 Miles out. Closest contacts are at Angels 6." Their E-12 replied.

"Arrows 1-5 and 1-6 are on it. Howl, how far out are you?" The CAP lead chimed in.

"Arrow this is Howl Lead, we're inbound with Wolf at this time. Estimate another two minutes, maybe three."

Jed snuck in a magnum call as he launched his remaining HARMs at the destroyer. Annie lobbed hers in the same direction, though by now it was something of a moot point. The Erusean ship had survived much of the barrage thrown its way. Its smaller counterparts, however, weren't so lucky. Jed rationalized that at least the ship wouldn't be able to shield the Farbanti now. With his anti-radiation missiles gone, he switched to his secondary role of supporting the CAP. The second half of that effort was on station a second later; on time as they were supposed to be. From her F-35's cockpit, Naomi started lining up targets for her opening salvo. One of the EA-11s from the Navy fired off its two AMRAAMs at the new bandits.

"Howl be advised, looks like those new bandits are Fulcrums. Watch out for additional Basilisks from the north and east." Jed reported.

It all but confirmed that the Varuna was in this fight. Naomi decided to split her long-range weapons between the Basilisks and the Fulcrums. Jed and Annie stayed low to face the forward-most MiGs, snapping to the left and right at random to keep tabs on the Eruseans.

"Skull, watch out for Howl's shots from behind. We're gonna ripple some AMRAAMs off any second!" Giselle barked.

"Thanks for the heads up, Howl." Annie replied as she watched her radar zero in on "her" Fulcrum.

"Additional bandit trying to bracket us, he's mine!" Jed called.

Jed snapped to the right, then came around so he could keep both Fulcrums in his view. Annie tilted slightly towards him and launched her AMRAAMs at almost the same time that Jed did. The two Oseans dropped a string of chaff as the Fulcrums up high launched a barrage of Astras. Jed hit the gas and ascended, feeling his adrenaline in overdrive. He broke in just about every direction possible, releasing a single canister of chaff with each move until the Astra's vision was filled with them. Jed was, by now, high above the MiG and the missile it'd fired. His AMRAAMs were right on top of the Sotoans. He turned towards the farthest bandit just in time to see a flash. A streak of smoke raced away from it and slowly, slowly towards the water. As he turned to roll over onto the second MiG, it nosed up violently and lobbed an Archer at him. The move nearly caused the MiG to stall, but Jed wasn't in a position to capitalize on that.

"Howl, what's yer position?" He asked, hoping the F-35s were.

"Splitting to engage. Howl 3-1 and 3-2 are bound for you and Skull 2-2." Giselle radioed.

Jed switched to flares and used the MiG's sluggish pace to at least get some space. He dumped some speed as well and left flares where he was a second ago. Naomi spotted the countermeasures and switched to her Sidewinders. She looked towards the senior pilot, who gave her the signal to press. Naomi stayed high and fast until she was between the Sotoan and the sun.

"Skull 2-1 heads up, I'm above you and that bandit." She announced.

"Gotcha. Okay get ready to keep him boxed."

The Fulcrum completed its recovery and blind launched another Astra at the navy fighter. Jed turned head-on for an instant and ducked to his right. The Astra seemed to teleport to a closer position from the move, but all he felt was the shockwave as he came back towards the MiG. The two jets passed by within a few miles of each other and each turned to get behind the other. Jed clenched his teeth and took a gamble on trading speed for position. He let out a long moan as he pushed himself through the high-G move. The "unmanned" MiG did the same, but only after its pilot realized what the Osean was doing. Jed craned his neck to give his HMD a better look at the MiG as it left the fight to face down the incoming Lightning. The MiG launched a second Archer to keep Naomi occupied. Guy was just tossing missiles all over Jed thought.

Jed leveled out and pushed the throttles up to regain some momentum while Naomi throttled back to use some of hers. He rolled inverted and nosed back into the fight, slowing so he would end up with the MiG ahead of him. The Sotoan pulled away while Naomi was pointed away from him and nosed up. Jed worked his Hellcat's stick to keep the bandit almost directly ahead. He clenched his teeth as hard as he could while the F-24 "bottomed out" in its dive and slowly started to rise again. The Fulcrum was practically in his face; without a second of thought he switched to his cannon and let off a long burst. Things were so close he nearly opened his mouth to roar in anger at the Fulcrum. Instead, his shots quickly fell below the bandit and he used that chance to pass under the other jet.

"Bronco, maintain current altitude for a second. I'm coming in on the bandit from his five high." Naomi radioed.

Jed looked back at the MiG, then towards his fellow flyer as she was descending in a long turn. As soon as she was behind him, too, he broke to the right and came around to double-team the MiG.

"Skull 2-2, what's yer status? Where's Howl 3-1?" He radioed.

"Skull 2-2 and Howl 3-1 are engaged offensive with two bandits to your west. Be advised that Wolf is past the fleet's outer perimeter and moving through our AO at low altitude." Annie explained, pausing between breaths and Gs.

"Noted."

Sharky would've recognized the voices above…if he'd been on the same frequency. He wouldn't have said anything, anyways. His whole being was focused on the ships beyond the horizon. He kept his F-72 in afterburner and kept his nose pointed towards the nearest radar source to minimize his cross-section. He glanced up towards the dogfight as it swirled about, ASRAAMs still at the ready in case one of the Sotoans or Eruseans noticed the shapes at low level. There was only a single ship between them and their target, and unfortunately it was the Tanager II. As they left the air engagements behind, the warship was able to separate them better from the aircraft above.

"Ace, can you do anything else about that ship? She's starting to zero in on us." He radioed.

"Doin' all we can, Wolf." The lead EA-11 replied.

Sharky decided that giving the cruiser a wide berth was the best idea. Santosh stayed with him as they banked to the right and tried to go even lower. The RWR's tune changed to warn them that the Erusean ship had a clearer view of the four jets.

"Shamu, how far we got to our launch point?" He asked.

"Still got another twenty seconds." He replied.

Every second closer was a godsend, but twenty seconds was still an eternity. Sharky switched to the four NSMs in the center bay and set his thumb against the countermeasures switch in anticipation. Shamu considered giving the Tanager two missiles for a second, but decided against it. Other flights, some bigger and some smaller, were swarming the fleet. Two or three would be aimed at the ship. He checked his displays again as they reached the ten-second mark. All of a sudden, the Triton's guidance cut out.

"Shit!" Shamu barked, loud enough that his pilot heard it.

"What happened?" Sharky asked.

"We just lost connection with the Triton; I'm not getting any new info from it."

"Is it an issue on our end?"

"Wolf 3-2, you still receiving info from Viceroy?"

"Negative, Wolf 3-1. No new information."

"Okay, looks like Viceroy is either down or unable to transmit."

"Fucking wish it was us, fuck! Then I could kick these stupid controls." Shamu interjected.

Sharky understood his anger; he was just as angry. All that time and effort put into planning this mission. Now wasted because somehow, somewhere things had gone awry.

"Forget it, Shamu. Activate the radar! All Wolf 3 aircraft, Wolf 3-1 is activating its radar. Piggyback off of us." He spoke up.

The move had predictable results but Sharky and Shamu remained focused on the task at hand. Even as the Tanager got a clear fix on their aircraft, Shamu picked out the shape of the Erusean carrier in the distance and made sure their warload still had the proper information. He noted something in the corner of his central display as well: Wolf 3-2 had activated their radar. They were sharing information with the lead F-72.

"Wolf 3-2, be advised that you're transmitting! Power down, now!" He radioed, almost scolding the two.

"We're having issues with the datalink, Wolf 3-1. We're going to radar to get a good shot." Abhay replied quickly.

There was no time to argue as the two jets got a clear shot and the Tanager II fired half a dozen M10s. The radio was a confusing mix of "Brusier" calls and orders to break. The F-72s scrambled in whatever direction the rest of their flight wasn't going, filling the sky with countermeasures while their missiles charged ahead. Sharky kept his nose almost straight up as he raced to get altitude and room to maneuver. The move also let him know which missiles in particular were meant for him. He was surprised to see only one.

"Shamu, what's the status of our ASMs?" He asked.

"Standby, searching for that SAM." His friend groaned.

Sharky tried to see if he could spot the NSMs as he looked around. Shamu called out one of the SAMs as well as their wingman. Sharky looked in that direction as he left behind a fresh can of chaff.

"Wolf 3-2, bring it towards me." He managed through the Gs crushing his body.

Sharky rolled away from the missiles to bait them, then broke towards them and dove to get them to nose over. The salvo descended on the scattered formation, and Sharky avoided the missile aimed at him. Only to pay witness to the rest of his flight's struggles.

"Wolf 3-3, Wolf 3-3 you're too low. Too low you're too lo-"

"Wolf 3-4's been hit, Wolf 3-4's been hit! It's a fireball!"

"Wolf 3-4, calm down! Look for chutes!"

"I don't see any, 3-2! No…no visual on chutes. No vis-"

Shamu looked around the second the Gs subsided and saw two black splotches in the sky. He drew in a tense breath and looked for their wingman. He spotted the jet at the same time that the Tanager fired another four missiles at them. Santosh was trailing smoke, but he was still moving and moving fast.

"Wolf 3-2, can you keep it stable?" He asked.

"Trying." Santosh snapped.

"Wolf 3-2, come around and stay low. Stick to Heading 180 as much as you can." Sharky added.

"Copy…Sharky, I think A-Jo is unconscious."

"Won't matter if you can't get out and get to safety. Keep moving."

All the while, Sharky spread chaff about the sky to distract the M10s. The EA-11 had moved closer to the cruiser to draw her attention while the CAP was moving to put up a proper barrier between the missiles and the strike aircraft. Thinking ahead, Sharky directed his attention to his GPS in search of the nearest friendly airfield. He switched to the CAP frequency as the missiles ceased to be a threat, thanks to the proverbial storm of noise they faced.

"Bagman, Bagman this is Wolf 3-1. Repeat, Wolf 3-1. Wolf 3-3 and 3-4 are down, Wolf 3-2 is hit and hit bad. I need a tanker on standby and the nearest runway." He said, injecting all the calmness he had into his words.

"Copy that Wolf, keep on your current heading. We've got a tanker outta Kharmata moving to tank another part of the strike. Callsign is Cochese 17; join up with them if you can. Your best bet after that is RAF Kenton."

"Copy, Cochese 17 on current heading."

Shamu took the chance to check on the missiles they'd launched and saw that fourteen of them were still airborne. Information from the F-72s' sensors were still being transmitted to help the weapons get to their target. With the press of a few buttons, he activated the infrared camera on one of the missiles launched from his jet.

The missile knows where it is at all times.

What was usually the start of a lighthearted joke amongst military enthusiasts online was also the shortest way to describe the computers inside the NSM. The air-launched variant of the Naval Strike Missile was as smart as they came. The formation of NSMs spread out as they reached top speed: just below Mach 1. Their smaller radar signature became an even greater challenge to the Tanager II and the remaining ships working desperately to defend the Farbanti. Shamu's eyes flicked between the camera and the display tracking their progress. The Tanager's attention had been redirected by attacks on it from Lenish F-35s. He watched the infrared camera until the distance was too great for the connection to stay strong.

The missiles managed to get around the Tanager and aimed directly at their target. A single frigate trailing the carrier was the last obstacle. However, the Tanager's crew seemed to think that they might have a chance to sandwich the NSMs between them and the smaller combatant. They fired another salvo of a dozen missiles, mindful that they weren't the only threats bound for the carrier. The F-03s still available moved to assist while their ship began to maneuver violently. First one, then two NSMs reached the end of their journey. Then another and then two more. They kept coming, though, buying or stealing every extra second they could. From the north, the south, and all points in-between. Farbanti turned hard again, deploying chaff. Now the fight came down to close-in systems; Farbanti's starboard-side DEWs came into play alongside her electronic warfare system. From his rear cockpit, Shamu watched as the seconds to impact ticked down. Another two missiles were destroyed, then another two. His eyes strained as he focused on the remaining missiles. They crossed within 100 feet of the Farbanti, then 500 feet. He tried to visualize where they were aimed as they crossed the 100-foot threshold. Then impact.