Obligatory Disclaimer - I own nothing and all characters mentioned are fictitious and not meant to represent any one person in the modern world, nor their viewpoints. This story does not reflect the morals and opinions of the Department of Defense, and all branches therein.
Dramatis Personae:
Sky Eye - Thomas "Sky Eye" Salvatore – AWACS for the Independent State Allied Forces (ISAF), the last AWACS ISAF has after the disaster that was the Stonehenge raid. Rank: First Lieutenant (1stLT.)
Mobius 1 - Johann "Florida Man" Reale (Pronounced: Ree-Al-EE) - Our Primary Point of View for the story, once a Captain in the USAF, nowa 2nd Lieutenant until his probation period ends. Rank: Second Lieutenant (2ndLT.)
Halo 2 – Tobias "Toaster" Trainer – A young nugget in ISAF, joined up with the retreating allied forces from Comberth, claims to be 18, in reality, a 17-year-old firebrand. Rank: Senior Airman (E-4)
Viper 9 – Kai "Marker" White – Another nugget in ISAF, just under 19 years old, was a trainee at Rigley Air Base and barely escaped its capture in an old F-4 Phantom II. Rank: First Lieutenant (1stLT.)
Colonel Brey – Allenfort AB's base commander. Rank: Colonel (Col.)
Sergeant Ramirez – ISAF Marine, one of Reale's escorts. Rank: Sergeant (Sgt)
Corporal Getty – ISAF Marine, one of Reale's escorts. Rank Corporal (Cpl)
Major Rand – ISAF Intelligence Officer, and briefer. Rank: Major (Maj)
General Howell – ISAF's commanding general, mastermind of the evacuation of the GHQ to North Point. Rank: Major General (Gen)
Other persons of note will be added as the story progresses.
Chapter 5 – Battle over Newfield
September 19th, 2004 – 1350 hrs. - West of Newfield Island, Usea
Johann was up in the sky, he was performing basic combat maneuvers over one of ISAFs carriers, the 'Fort Grace'. With him up in the air were Marker and Toaster, who, over the past few days, he had been friendly with. They had just gone through a mock dogfight, the result of it being a close victory for Reale, though, he had 'taken' severe damage. Johann was not impressed with the Phantom he was now flying in, at least it wasn't an early model of the platform, without guns and shitty missiles. He knew that if things went wrong while on a mission he might get knocked out of the sky. For him, his big advantage was the Phantom's top speed of nearly 1500 miles an hour, with it, he could quickly thrust away from dangerous situations.
Another advantage to him afforded by the Phantom was that of its carrying capacity. If he were to partake in an air-to-ground mission he could load up on 12, 250-pound bombs, with three Sidewinder AIM-9X missiles. Alternatively, for an air-to-air mission, he could load up on 5 Sidewinders and 4 AIM-7M Sparrow missiles, used in medium-range combat. He could also go with any combination of missiles and bombs in the case of a variety of mission parameters. His disadvantage was that the damn plane was too heavy, in his old plane, he could pull rings around an opponent. With the Phantom he couldn't do that, rolling was an advantage, you could roll the damn thing so many times before it destabilized. For the dogfight he was just in, his barrel roll kept him alive, that, and Kai's inability to fire his gun at the right time.
He was about to turn towards Newfield and Allenfort when the carrier below radioed him and his fellows in, "Lieutenant Marker we have an emergency, take you and your flight and land immediately for a briefing on the Fort Grace." Since Reale was on probation, he was, for all intents and purposes, a Second Lieutenant. As for Toaster, he was promoted after the action on the 13th to Senior Airman, or E-4, Kai was also promoted to First Lieutenant for his actions. So, when in the air, Johann was subordinate to pretty much everyone.
Johann began the maneuver to land on the carrier, being guided by the controller on the ground. He leveled off his plane at 1500 feet, going in a slow descent to the carrier, when he was at 300 feet to the landing he increased his power, in case the arresting cable broke or failed. He landed successfully and was quickly escorted to a briefing room where he found Kai, Toaster, and a few pilots from the Navy. When Reale sat down, a connection was established with Major Rand in Allenfort, and Sky Eye, who was in the air. On the projector, in the upper left corner of the screen the words 'I.S.A.F T. ' followed by 'VERSION.4.03'. A large image of the ISAF triple arrows with ISAF below it appeared, Major Rand began to speak as a map of what Johann had learned was the Usean Continent was shown, everywhere but the Eastern Islands, North Point, and St. Ark on the mainland under the Red of Erusea. "Here is the current sitrep and your orders for deployment, effective immediately." The map showed the radars around Newfield Island and one on North Point, "Enemy agents destroyed our early warning radar network, allowing several Bear bombers to penetrate our airspace." The map zoomed in to show Newfield Island, blue friendlies behind a large group of Erusean red targets, Rand continued his briefing, "In 15 minutes, we expect this bomber formation to strike Allenfort Air Base, and then move on to targets at North Point Our air defense forces are extremely weak at this point in time. Hence our GHQ is a sitting duck."
Sky Eye asked a question then, "Sir, how many planes are we talking about?" Rand answered, and continued the briefing, "6 Bear bombers, with 6 escort fighters, it'll be a tough mission with just you 3 pilots. It is mission critical that you destroy the bombers and neutralize the threat before they get past Newfield Island." Major Rand concluded the briefing with a reminder, "Remember, you are the first line of defense for North Point, and the fate of ISAF lies in your hands, launch."
Johann, Kai, and Tobias left the room to get to their planes. Kai launched first, his Tomcat majestically soaring high into the sky, followed closely by Toaster in his Fulcrum. 2 minutes later, Johann began takeoff procedures, his plane loaded with an air-to-air combat loadout. The beautiful paint job of a navy-blue topcoat with the ISAF arrows on each side of the cockpit, on each side of the vertical stabilizer on the F-4, was his new squadron. It was a figure eight ribbon pointed to the Northwest, the front face blue, the other black. In the background was a picture of this Earth from the North Pole, a plane's contrails crossed the lower section of the ribbon, with an oddly shaped plane rising on the other side of it, with a gray and blue edge on the roundel. Below the insignia was a banner marking his squadron, 'Mobius-118' the 118th Tactical Fighter Squadron Mobius.
The air boss gave the go-ahead to launch, Johann throttled up his plane and launched off the Fort Grace, immediately turning his heading towards Allenfort, and his first combat action. During the short flight, Johann asked a question to his comrades, "So wait, why were we briefed by Rand? I thought he was the intelligence officer, not the briefer?" Toaster chuckled back, "He's both, we're kind of short staffed so Rand has multiple duties to see to." Johann could feel his face color a bit, the heat uncomfortable, even with the aircon in his cockpit, the rest of the trip was uneventful and quiet, each pilot readying himself for the coming fight. When they reached the combat zone, Sky Eye hooked them into his Battlenet and began speaking to Johann, "AWACS here, callsign Sky Eye. Do you read?" Johann clicked his mic in affirmation, "Your callsign is Mobius 1, we'll refer to you by this name at all times. You are now under my command."
Sky Eye ordered Kai and Toaster then, "Viper 9, Halo 2, cleared to engage, deal with the fighter escorts, good luck." He turned his attention to Mobius 1, "Six bombers on vector 360 confirmed. Continue North to intercept, today's my birthday! A victory sure would be nice." Johann replied, "Sure! Would you like a cake with that?" He sped off towards the first group of Bear bombers, Sky Eye's chuckle in his ear. He armed his Sidewinders and Sparrows, ready to take out anyone getting in his way. "Mobius 1, engage." Sky Eye called out when Johann reached the 5-mile marker from the nearest enemy.
Johann checked his radar, he was getting returns on the first two bombers, and two escorts with them. He also saw the IFFs of his allies moving in from the West. He pushed his throttle forward and began targeting the two bombers in front of him. Up high in the sky, Thomas was breaking through the enemies' radio encryption and sharing it with his charges below, "There's our welcoming party, Grey 5, Grey 6, you've got a bandit on your six and two coming in from the West. Blue 4 and 6 deal with the real threat, Blue 3 deal with the tail."
Inside Toaster's Mig, the young pilot was arming his missiles. He was in an air-to-air loadout, with 4 Sidewinders and 2 Sparrow missiles. He banked his plane to the left, moving head-on to the two planes heading towards him and Marker, who was above Toaster, gaining advantage. Marker was also arming his missiles, his Tomcat loaded with 4 Sparrows and 4 Sidewinders, two per pylon. With Sky Eye's tactical net, the two pilots locked onto the enemy planes, two F-5 Tigers. The dogfight began then, the F-5s climbing high to escape the missile lock, Toaster zooming ahead as a distraction, and Kai climbing to meet them. Sensing the moment, one of the Tigers dived for Toaster, who began to Pitchback out of the way. The other Tiger was forced to level off having lost its ability to climb any higher without stalling, and Kai scored his first kill of the day with a Sparrow, calling out "Viper 9 Splash one" to Sky Eye. Meanwhile, with a rolling climb to the right, Toaster managed to jink the missile heading towards him and get behind the Tiger. He lined up his piper and scored a clean hit through the fuselage, the enemy pilot ejecting before the plane exploded dramatically. He could hear the panic in the Erusean comms then, "Shit, Blue group follow me, we've got to deal with those two golden-arms. Bombers, continue onward to the target."
Four Tigers headed towards Kai and Toaster, who broke to the left and sped away to Allenfort, hoping to use the AA coverage to even the odds. Johann, meanwhile, had gotten target lock on the two bombers in front of him and pressed the launch button, two Sparrows dropping down and sailing towards the bear bombers. They tried to jink it with flares, but the Sparrows found their mark and tore off the tail ends of the bombers, which fell to Earth. Mobius 1 called out his kills and sped off to the next two bombers, repeating his tactic. Sky Eye called out then, "Targets are bombing the city, Mobius 1, you have to stop them at all costs!" Johann dropped his other two Sparrows and raced for the last two bombers. He checked his radar, Kai and Toaster were still locked up with 2 Tigers, one had been destroyed by Toaster, and the other one, the leader by the sounds of things, was headed towards Reale.
"Blue 1 to Grey, that tail is catching up quickly, I'll try to stop him, but you must destroy the airbase." Reale got tone and fired his sidewinders into the bombers, which exploded spectacularly, the lead bomber panicking into his mic. "Mayday, mayday, this is Grey 1. We're hit, can't maintain altitude. Eject! Eject!" Mobius 1 turned towards the Tiger, climbing slightly. Thomas spoke into the radio then, "Good job Mobius 1, now deal with those fighters!" Johann clicked his mic again and began to dance with the enemy. His opponent was skilled, every time Johann was about to gain lock on the fighter, the Tiger rolled erratically, breaking the lock. It got to a point where he swore in frustration, "Just fucking take it you damn bastard!" He was startled when the man spoke back to him, "Perhaps you shouldn't be so predictable then, wouldn't it be a shame for your comrades if your incompetence got them killed." The Tiger fired a missile towards Toaster, he tried to jink it, but the Mig lost a lot of momentum in the turn fight he was just a part of. The missile hit him, and his left wing broke away in a flash, he leveled off and called out, "Halo 2 hit, I'm disengaging."
Johann was pissed at his failure, everything seemed to slow then, his opponent began to do a climbing loop. He pulled back on his stick hard and sprayed the area ahead of the Tiger with gunshots, his aim was true, and the cockpit of the Tiger was painted red. The plane fell to the ground and exploded a few seconds later, Johann already turning to help out the now out-numbered Kai. At that moment, Kai fired off his gun and scored a fair hit on one of the Tigers, but in doing so, he felt his engine die from the other Tiger's cannon. Johann sped toward the fight, he targeted the wounded Tiger and blew it out of the sky with a Sidewinder. The last Tiger tried to egress out of the combat zone, but Kai was fired up from adrenaline and poured his cannon into the back of it, resulting in a massive explosion.
Johann called over to Sky Eye, "So, how's that for a birthday present?" The comms were filled with laughter, the stress and guilt leaving Reale gradually. Colonel Brey interjected then, "Sky Eye this is Allenfort, got visual on the downed bombers. Whose kill was that? Be sure to thank him. Toaster cleared to land." The last part of the statement was lost on Kai, he was shaking his nerves out from the near-death experience he just had. Though he wasn't conscious of it, he turned his plane to land back at Allenfort.
After the three pilots and Sky Eye had landed, they were surrounded by Allenfort's ground crews. Kai was given a proper soaking, he had earned his 5th kill today, marking him as an Ace, though he wasn't feeling proud of it. Corporal Getty came over then and escorted the pilots and AWACS to the briefing room. Major Rand was waiting for them, he congratulated Kai and debriefed the trio. "Thanks to your efforts, the enemy bomber strike was averted, however, our victory will be meaningless should you fail the next mission." He turned to Toaster, "Given the damage to your plane, you won't be flying for a while, but your plane will be fixed and will not be scrapped. Reale, stay here a moment, the rest of you are dismissed."
When the others had left, Rand spoke in a hushed voice, "Before the battle ended, we intercepted a transmission from that pilot Kai gunned down. I won't go into detail, but that pilot mentioned your skill in wiping out the bombers and the escorts, you have our thanks for saving Allenfort and much of Newfield City from destruction. Keep this up and probation will end in no time, one more thing." The Major looked around to make sure they were alone, "Keep close to Kai the next couple of days, I think that last fight is having an adverse effect on him." With that Johann was dismissed and left to rejoin his comrades and celebrate Thomas' birthday.
September 21st, 2004 – 1723 hrs – San Salvacion, Usea
The city had been occupied for well over a year at this point, having fallen to the enemy rapidly in the opening days of the war. The people were known to be peaceful, despite the long history of conflicts occurring in the country. With the occupation came strict measures put upon the people, a curfew, rationing, loss of technology and ways of communication, among others. The city itself was divided by its Old Towne and New City highway, a beautiful lake was the primary tourist attraction, and many of the oldest families kept lakeside property on the other side of it. Inside the New City, many of the skyscrapers were turned into logistic bases for Erusea, the nearby airport a perfect staging area for large scale movement of equipment and personnel.
The Old Towne was known for its beautiful architecture, which has long been compared to a mix of Emmerian and Sapinish construction, and amazing bars. All that remained after the Erusean occupation, however, were the bars. All other businesses were heavily regulated, and you were required to have a pass to move around after the evening curfew. The occupation forces would crowd these bars almost every night they had leave, and, surprisingly, pay generously. It was a typical night inside one of these bars, the Sky Kid café, Pub & Restaurant. The occupation forces were melancholy, drinking away their pay, the barkeep and his family attending to their needs, a little boy playing the harmonica for tips. A couple cars pulled up and a group of jolly men and women went inside the bar, kicking out the regulars and taking over the booths on the wall.
Two of the group split off from their comrades and sat against the corner, the man tuning a guitar, the woman watching his six. In the center of the group a boisterous, bald man began announcing the kills of the squadron. "Well lads and ladies, looks like almost all of you have earned your ace wings today, now for our leaders count. Our Yellow 13 bagged some more kills today, upping his total to 67 kills." The squadron, Yellow Squadron, all turned to the man who was playing a tune with the boy, and though they wanted to toast him, they all knew his wingman, the beautiful, and dangerous Yellow 4 would intercede. After the song was finished, 13 stood up and beckoned his team to him. He began to speak then, "You all have done really well these past few weeks, but ego gets you killed."
He showed them a letter he received yesterday from Farbanti, it was a condolence letter denoting the loss of his friend Richoux. "Our former Yellow 3, now taken up by you Michael, was killed the other day, escorting some of our bombers on a mission to destroy Allenfort." His squadron spent a moment in silence for their dead comrade before one of the younger members asked a question, "Ducos, who took him down so that we can find this pilot and shoot him down?" 13, Ducos, gave the young pilot the stink eye, he would prefer to go by 13 when they weren't in a friendly area, and though the bar was reputed to be the best serving for the occupiers, one could never be sure. "My contact with command hasn't been able to figure out who shot him down, except that it is a new squadron, or pilot, we aren't really sure." He continued, "From now on, I'll be taking you out to practice defense maneuvers every morning we have the day off, that means tomorrow morning. So, I expect you all back at the airfield at morning muster." With that, he and his ever-faithful companion left the bar and headed back to the commandeered highway tunnel turned airfield.