Chapter Text
Chapter 12 – Ghosts
Three days had passed since Koharu had gone missing during the retreat from Rechlin, and to say those three days had been tumultuous would’ve been an understatement, Asuna thought to herself. During their advance, the Belkans had managed to take Rechlin and Kelstedge airbases from them, before nature had thrown up a snowstorm that was almost impenetrable to anyone but the foolhardiest, as a way of blunting that advance. Unfortunately for them, that had meant that their last known positions had both fell within the Belkan area of operations…
During these three days, Kirito had barely slept, his time spent working with Argo and Lisbeth, the small group trying to work out where she could’ve landed safely on her Hunter’s range. Relations amongst the squadron had been… touchy, to put it politely, when the possibility that they might not find her alive was raised. Despite how heartless she may have felt raising that possibility, she wasn’t a hopeless optimist – she knew that there was a real chance that her friend may actually be dead by now, and she really wasn’t sure how to feel about that.
So, she had kept herself pre-occupied to not have to face that possibility head on. Whilst Kirito, Argo and Lisbeth did their best to track Koharu’s flight path, or anywhere she could’ve landed safely for that matter, Alice, Eugeo and herself had taken the more mundane combat missions that they still needed to perform.
At the same time, their squadron had also grown – a number of the more promising recruits joining the flight roster, alongside the remainder of Solitaire Flight, Archer and Paladin. With their numbers dwindled by the loss of their leader, Paladin had stepped up to take charge of Solitaire until they had confirmation of exactly what had happened to their leader; be they dead or alive.
That had been the second powder keg, as it turned out, and Paladin soon backtracked on that thought, the older man being relegated to the position of Solitaire Four instead – and even then, that was mostly only to fill the numbers - whilst Kureha, the pink haired second in command, took charge of their element. If she was being honest, she wouldn’t be surprised if Paladin didn’t come back, the way at least one of them had been talking…
That bought her to her flight for today – callsign Flash.
A four-ship element led by herself, with Archer – a girl by the name of Sinon, who’d demonstrated superb marksmanship and aptitude with her Arrow’s… rather finicky weapons systems – taking her wing as Flash Two.
Flash Three and Flash Four were two of the promising recruits – a pair of girls by the names of Tiese and Ronye, both flying J35F Drakens, who’d been pivotal in noticing the mystery non-directional beacons that were currently the source of the hunt for Koharu and Solitaire One. Both were clearly skilled, having given the training NPCs a run for their money; Tiese even going so far as to demonstrate the cobra maneuver (although, at least according to her, it hadn’t quite been what she planned to do, but rather an underestimation of just how much lift the Draken’s double delta wing produced, and how much said wing could also function as an airbrake in high-alpha maneuvers…)
In the vein of unexpected surprises, it had come as a surprise to her that they were tasked with an airborne interception mission:
A Belkan resupply convoy was making its way across the Waldreich Mountains, to land at the recently captured Rechlin, which had fallen less than several hours after everyone had left. That convoy would consist of a pair of Antonov An-22 heavy transports, carrying reinforcements from Belka, whilst a flight of Antonov An-12s flew as fuel transports and other mixed cargo uses, being escorted by a series of flights of interceptors that would rendezvous with the aircraft at various stages.
However, thanks to a strike earlier that day by Klein’s flight, the escorts for the third leg would not be present, giving them approximately an hour-long window to bring down the transports – even if they were over unfriendly territory.
Something else had unsettled her about this whole mission too – several aircraft had reported seeing unidentified aircraft in the fog in the prior days. Some Belkan in origin; MIG-17s and MIG-21s, but some distinctively not; at least one member of Fuurinkazen, Issin, had reported seeing a Phantom chasing an old P-80 Shooting Star, neither of which were types that the Belkans had access to.
Hell, the P-80 was positively ancient, so she had no idea what it was doing here, the straight winged fighter having dated back to the mid-1940s! In the real world, it had been the first truly operational US jet fighter!
Still, the “Ghosts of the Mists”, as a number of pilots had christened them, were not their mission. Their mission was to intercept and destroy the resupply convoy, and that was the mission they’d carry out.
“Flash Lead, we’re approaching the intercept point. Arm your weapons and be ready for anything up here. I don’t like our odds if that fourth group of interceptors turns up earlier than reckoned.” Onboard the Lightning, Asuna had taken the time on the ground to ensure the interceptor was set up for such a mission – a pair of Red Tops on the chin pylons, and a full complement of 30mm ammunition for the twin ADEN cannons. Alongside the weapons load, she’d made sure to equip a pair of over wing drop tanks for the flight, just to make sure they had plenty of fuel onboard for the mission…
At 40,000 feet – the efficient cruising altitudes of their aircraft – they’d have fuel a plenty for the 400-mile round trip, but considering how notoriously fuel hungry Wind Fleuret was, well it didn’t hurt to err on the side of caution.
“Flash Two, I’m getting radar returns below us.” Sinon stated, her WF-105 having the most advanced radar system amongst the group, and thus, it had been decided that she would hold back from the attack, to utilise her skills more effectively. It had also meant that she would act as an airborne controller, to vector herself, Tiese and Ronye onto their targets. “Tally, flight of transports. Ten of them, around 20,000ft.”
“Understood, Flash Two. Three, Four, prepare for vectors.”
“Wilco, Lead.”
“Understood, Flight Leader.”
“Aircraft are attempting a turn to three-two-five. Lead, your call.”
“All aircraft, commence the attack on Two’s mark.”
“Two to all aircraft… Fox One.” Asuna watched as the weapons bay on the Arrow opened, and a pair of radar guided AIM-4s dropped away from the plane, the small missile blasting down towards its target of an unlucky Antonov. Knowing the attack was now on, she snapped Wind Fleuret into a half aileron roll, and allowed gravity to do its job in dropping the Lightning down to the desired altitude fast. Knowing how the Lightning picked up speed, she kept a diligent eye on her throttles, her airspeed and her distance to the target, as she descended on them – almost like a shark of the air.
Timing it with the precision one would expect from someone trained for perfection throughout their life, she pulled the Lightning out of its dive some five miles behind the formation, as Sinon’s Falcon collided with one of the An-12s, the wing of the smaller transport sheared clean off, amidst which she worked to achieve a lock on the transports. Seconds passed by, and the missile lock alarm sounded, leaving her with only a single task left… she fired the missile.
The Mach 3 capable Red Top blasted away from the Lightning, covering the distance to the An-22 she’d targeted in short order. Probably less than a second passed, and the proximity fuse detonated the comparatively massive warhead of the Red Top beside the first An-22; razor sharp shrapnel showering the giant and tearing its rear section almost completely from the aircraft.
The now devastated Antonov giant fell into a steep nosedive, from which there was no recovery without the now annihilated tail section. Watching the craft plummet, she saw as the Antaeus was engulfed in flames, and the excessive g-load tore the wings apart. The last glimpse she had of the An-22 was as its fuselage split into three sections, debris, cargo and no doubt people being thrown out into its burning wake as it fell into the mists below… “Flash Lead, one An-22 down.” She confirmed matter of factly, as if she hadn’t possibly claimed the lives of at least 200 people, maybe more, considering the sheer size of the An-22.
It was a consequence of war that people died, Asuna knew that, and she knew she’d already claimed one life at very least, in dogfights with the Belkan Air Force, but this felt different. In those engagements, it had been life or death – only one would fly away alive, and she would ensure that was her!
Against slow, lumbering transport aircraft with no escort whatsoever, it was no life-or-death situation for the fighters – it was a turkey shoot, plain and simple.
As… strange and almost warped as she found Alice’s belief that they were knights of the sky, she could agree with her counterpart that this was far from a sporting fight – it was the equivalent of a duel, where one combatant was given a water pistol, whilst the other received an actual pistol.
The outcome was a dead certainty, whereas one side would simply be dead.
“Flash Three, I have the other one!” The second An-22 banked steeply away from the formation and allowed Asuna to spare a glance at the damage done by Tiese’s attack on the giant. The starboard wing was trailing enough fluid to almost seem as if it were crop-dusting, whilst the numbers three and four engines were windmilling, and the rear doors opened, small dots dropping away from the aircraft as it descended into the mists.
It almost certainly didn’t get far into the mists, as the sky shone orange beneath them; a graveyard for the crews of the transports...
What would’ve been a brief, but solemn moment for Asuna was soon interrupted by her radio crackling to life… “Whatever bombs you keep dropping on us, kindly fuck off!” Someone yelled, completely blindsiding all of Flash Flight. “That last one nearly frigging killed us!”
“Whoever’s there, identify yourselves!”
“Flight Lieutenant Sierra Gabriel of the Osean Naval Squadron VF-24, callsign Solitaire One. 845154.”
Asuna blinked in surprise, completely losing her situational awareness momentarily. “Err, Flash Lead, Tumbleweed.” She called, trying to get her head back in the fight. “Wait, Solitaire One? Is there someone else with you?”
“Identify yourself first.” He stated belligerently.
“Flight Lieutenant Asuna Yuuki, 23rd Fighter Squadron, Osean Air Force.”
“Asuna!” A far more familiar voice came over the frequency – that of her errant comrade.
“Koharu!”
“Err, Flash Lead, was it?” A different male voice asked. “Hi, this is Solitaire Lead here. Could you do us a little bit of a favour, and not drop any more bombs on our heads, please? The last one came awfully close to actually hitting us.”
“Understood, Solitaire Lead. They weren’t bombs though; they were crashing An-22s.” The transmissions fell silent briefly, and Asuna hoped that the second Antonov hadn’t scored a direct hit on wherever their location was…
Thankfully, the radio sprung back to life with Koharu’s voice. “Asuna, can you mark our location?”
“Already on it, Koharu.” She scribbled on the map on her kneeboard with the approximate location. “Where did you even find to land? This is some of the least flat terrain possible!” She asked in disbelief.
“Heh, funny story… but uhh, we found an airbase down here... and some planes.”
“And some people.” Someone else that she didn’t recognise the voice of, chimed in.
“Koharu, can you keep broadcasting on this frequency? I’m going to contact Canaveral to get someone to come and get you.”
“Will do, Asuna, but umm, could you make it quick please? The electrical generator took a hit from one of the crashing planes, and well… we don’t have much time left till we’re out of commission.” Had it not been for her oxygen mask, she would’ve pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Of course, there had to be some complication, didn’t there?
“Flash Lead, Flash Two. We have a situation.” Sinon called. “A flight of Belkan MIG-23s, approaching from the east. Looks like they’re in reheat too.”
“Understood, Sinon. Tiese, Ronye, be on guard.”
“Granite Team, diese Verräter sind in der Nähe. Töte sie alle und zeige ihnen Belkas Macht.” The radio crackled, and a transmission came through, this time in German (or Belkan, she supposed).
“Don’t suppose anyone here speaks Belkan, do they?”
“Flash Lead, I speak German.” Ronye stated, before translating. “I don’t think they’re here for us. They said they’re looking for traitors.”
“Either way, they’re going to run into us too, and probably before whoever they’re looking for.” Sinon thought aloud.
“Asuna to Canaveral squadrons, can anyone here me?”
“ ‘sup, Aa-chan? Thought ya were on a mission?” Argo answered.
“We’ve got a flight of MIG-23s closing on us, and they’re looking for blood.”
“Yer sure they’re MIG-23s? We ne’er even saw one in the beta, let alone now…”
“Variable geometry wings, big nose. Sinon’s sure they’re Floggers.”
“Ya heard their transmissions yet?”
“Yes, they claimed to be, umm… Granite Team.”
“Granite Team?! Aa-chan, pull yer flight out now ‘fore they get there! That is an order!”
“Granite Team… they’re here for us.” A new voice came over the radio. Considerably older, and more annoyed by their presence. “Miss, err, Yuuki, wasn’t it? Apologies, but Granite Team are our fault, and our problem. Your friend has the right idea – fall back.”
“Asuna, this is Kirito. Do not engage them, they are the Belkans’ ace killers. Their whole job is to kill the best of the best, and make sure they’re dead. We fought them once in the beta test, none of us survived long…”
“Flash Lead, we’re awaiting your instructions.”
“Flash Flight, fall back.” She ordered, though begrudgingly. They’d not fought an enemy they couldn’t kill yet… but it did worry her that even Kirito, the most stubborn person she knew, was telling her to retreat. That spoke volumes to how dangerous they were, in her mind…
“Flash Three, you’ve got a missile trail heading towards you!” Sinon shouted from her overwatch position. “Jink left!”
“Oh look, the Osean pigs shooting down defenceless transports too. Let’s see how they do against someone who shoots back…” She didn’t need to see the pilot’s face or even speak the same language to detect the bloodlust in his voice. That was genuinely spine chilling, she thought… they weren’t here to shoot them down, they were here to kill.
“Asuna! Alice and Eugeo are scrambling now, and Solitaire are turning off their CAP. Reinforcements are two minutes away!”
“Asuna, I’m locked up!” Sinon shouted, no doubt throwing her Arrow into a high-G turn to break the lock.
“Everyone, stay defensive!”
“Flash Flight, this is Argo, can ya hear me? Those MIGs, they’re a helluva lot betta in acceleration than anything ya fly… but turnin’ wise, they’re like flyin’ a brick!” Argo explained. “Ya need ta dodge their attacks, an’ counterattack when they go sailin’ past ya!”
“Ronye, I understand!”
“Dodge and counter, it is!”
“One o’ th’ tricks they used against us was ta zip off into thin air, then come back in from ‘nother direction, so watch out for that!” Argo cautioned, as her RWR started blasting. It looked like she was in this fight too now…
Throwing Wind Fleuret into a jinking turn to throw off the radar lock, she reminded herself of Argo’s advice and formulated a plan – drag the MIG into a turning engagement. If her Lightning could hold its own against the MIG-19 and 21, then it could easily keep up with the 23, she reckoned. Still though, these guys were the best of the best, clearly, so hoping for a stupid mistake would be… optimistic, to put it mildly.
She spared a glance behind her and saw another missile trail and the faintest outline of the MIG-23. Given the RWR had ceased, she could only assume it was an IR guided one, and she threw the Lightning into another turn to trash the missile’s lock… only this time, the missile stayed with her, much to her horror.
Now considerably more anxious, she threw the Lightning into a steep climb, before snap rolling inverted and dropping the nose into a steep dive; the maneuver draining the missile of its kinetic energy halfway through the maneuver and causing it to sail past her six o’clock harmlessly.
“Everyone, those IR guided missiles are a lot more agile than ours!”
“Tell me about it!” Sinon shouted, her Arrow being the least agile aircraft out of the four, so it made sense that she would struggle with them the most…
As she rolled out of the dive, she caught a glance of the MIG-23 as it sailed past her. Frantically, she worked to lock up her remaining Red Top on the fast-moving MIG… and the growl of the missile’s seeker told her she’d succeeded. “Flash Lead, Fox Two!”
The short-range Red Top dashed straight forward, and even before the MIG’s pilot could react, was showered in shrapnel from the 31-kilogram warhead on the nose. Smoke and fluid trailed behind the MIG as it slowed down, its engine battered with shrapnel. “Granite Two, I’m hit! Falling back!”
“Flash Lead, confirmed a hit on the MIG.” Asuna stated, pleased with herself. The cheering on the radio was a nice ego boost too, if she was honest. “He’s bugging out.”
“Tiese, mine’s heading back towards you!” Ronye called out as the two Drakens sailed towards each other, head-to-head with both each other, and the MIG-23s chasing them. As the four aircraft came barrelling past each other, she spotted two noticeable bangs – the first looked almost like a collision, whilst the second could have been a radar guided missile finding its mark…
“Tiese, I got a hit on one of them!”
“Asuna, this is Kureha. We’re less than a minute out, paint your targets for us!”
“Help Sinon, she’s going to need it most!”
“Got it. Itsuki, can you help Archer?”
“It will be done.”
“Asuna, do you need assistance?”
“Negative, mine’s bugging out. Tiese and Ronye, though…”
“On it.”
“Sir, this is Granite Three. More enemy reinforcements are closing… a lot of them. At least a dozen aircraft…”
“Schisse. Granite Team, fall back and cover Two. Vendetta, are you in position?”
“Hm, what a group of cowards.” Itsuki commented, clearly annoyed by them running away. “Still though, where exactly did those radar signatures come from? They aren’t ours…”
“Blacksmith to Flash Lead, figured you guys could do with some backup… no one said it had to physically be there though.” Lisbeth joked, as she finally caught a glimpse of the aircraft approaching… an old P-2 Neptune, with Kirito and Argo in tow, in their Phantom.
“Liz, I have no idea what you did, but you may have just saved the day there.” Asuna admitted.
“Eh, just spoofed their radar signals. Nothing too fancy if the British could do it...”
“I resent that remark!” Solitaire Lead called from the ground, clearly insulted. The smattering of laughter clearly helped to lighten the mood though, so she wasn’t complaining there.
“Blacksmith, you are aware you spoofed ours too?” Itsuki asked.
“Ah, uhh, sorry about that. Still working out the kinks in this thing… wait, the ones off your three o’clock?”
“Indeed… why?”
“They’re actually there. That wasn’t me.” Lisbeth answered, concern in her voice.
“I see them! A pair of MIG-17s… they’re, erm, very colourful.” Sinon stated, and Asuna caught a glance of the two swept wing fighters zoom climbing out of the mists. She wasn’t kidding about the colourful bit – one of them was black, with a red and orange markings across its nose and wings, whilst the other was bright pink! Not even Desert Pink, but bright pink!
“Hello new friends! We’re here to help kill the Belkans!” The pilot of the black fighter called out enthusiastically… too enthusiastically. Especially at the “kill the Belkans” part. “Aww, they’ve ran off! Come back and fight us now, you little bit-”
“Pito!” The other pilot sighed. “Osean aircraft, please do not shoot – we are friendly!”
“So friendly, we gave your missing lambs food and shelter!” The pilot apparently known as Pito commented in a jovial tone, though she was sure there was some kind of subtext she wasn’t aware of.
“On that note… that voice just…” Kureha thought aloud. “Nah, must’ve been hearing things – I could’ve sworn that sounded like Jet.”
“Hey ‘Reha. We’re not dead. None of us are…”
“You mean neither, right?” Zeliska asked, confusion in her voice.
“Nope, he meant none.” Koharu answered, with what sounded like a little bit of annoyance at being forgotten…
“Ko-chan!” Argo exclaimed, her voice crackling on the frequency.
“Huh, it really is one of those days, after all…” Liz laughed. “Wait, where the heck are you? We’ve just spent three days looking for anything, and got nothing…”
“Seriously, did no one notice the massive runway sticking out of the mountain?” Solitaire Lead – err, Jet even, she supposed - asked, clearly in disbelief. “It’s the size of Tracy Island! Hardly small!”
Lisbeth laughed awkwardly, as if to change the subject. “Uhh, how are we going to get you out of there though?”
“Leave that one to us, young lady.” The older voice said. “We’ve still got fuel, but we’re pretty much out of ammunition. Whatever’s still in the planes is it for us.”
“Wait, I’m picking up something…” Liz muttered, as if she wasn’t sure of what she’d seen. “Oh fuck-All aircraft descend to mountain height, now!”
“What’s going on?”
“I’m picking up a pair of aircraft on radar, they’ve just fired a ton of missiles in our direction!”
“Granite Team, wait until the airburst has scattered the pigs… then slaughter them.” She heard a horrified gasp over the radio from Ronye, a sound that caught everyone’s attention.
“Ronye?”
“They weren’t retreating at all! Those missiles are… airburst missiles?” The younger girl asked in confusion.
“All aircraft, dive now!”
Out of instinct, Asuna pushed Wind Fleuret over into a dive, fighting back the negative-Gs as she pushed the plane below the peaks. She wasn’t exactly sure what an airburst missile would do to them, but it would almost certainly be an unpleasant experience for anyone caught in the blast.
The first missile streaked into view, and Asuna caught a momentary glimpse of it – small, stubby and probably unguided, based on the parabolic trajectory it took, like the unguided rockets they used.
That was the only glimpse she caught of them, before the world around her shone again.
Not orange, as she’d witnessed at Rhinemartial, but a brilliant white light like a nuclear…
Oh no.
Those airburst missiles were nuclear tipped.
“All aircraft, respond!”
“Blacksmith, I read you Asuna.”
“Kureha, yeah, I’m still alive. Only barely though, what even was that!”
“I believe the airburst weapons are small nuclear devices.” Itsuki responded, his Crusader looking worse for wear, its paint stained with radioactive material from the draft of the blast.
“The Vendetta system…” The older man stated again, though this time with far more apprehension in his voice.
“That was just a myth though, sir?” A different woman came over the radio, probably older than them, but younger than the man she was talking to. “Wasn’t it?” The certainty of her earlier claim fading as the realisation set in… that was no myth.
“All pilots, this is Commander Bercouli of the Rectan Liberation Air Force. I accept this isn’t your fight, but we need to destroy the weapons platforms launching those missiles, and we’re in no shape for that fight. Our last fighters have scrambled, but I doubt they’ll be able to do much…”
“Understood Sir. This is Flash Lead to all Osean fighters, we need to cover the Rectan fighters, and destroy the missile platforms. Sinon, anything on your radar?”
“One aircraft at fifty miles and sixty thousand feet. I’m not sure the Arrow can reach it with its weapons system, Asuna.”
“Same here, ma’am. Our Drakens took a few hits, and we’d be down to guns at that altitude.”
“Understood. Flash Flight, protect the Rectan aircraft.”
“Ma’am?”
“I’m going after the launch platform. Solitaire Flight?”
“We’ll cover you, Asuna.” Kureha replied. “Solitaire Flight, these bastards want a fight, right? I think that’s the least we owe them for their little present…”
“Oh indeed, let us show how gracious we are as hosts…” Asuna didn’t know Itsuki particularly well, but she could sense the bloodlust in his words there, and for once, she didn’t blame him one bit.
“Never thought I’d agree with Smiley back there, but let’s show them what our hospitality looks like!”
Asuna pushed the throttles on Wind Fleuret to full thrust – past the afterburner gate, and the twin Avons spooled into life, a pair of bright orange flames trailing behind the Lightning as she was pushed back into her seat.
If Sinon was right, then her target was at 60,000 feet – practically the altitude limit for the Lightning, though she could push the Lightning up to 70,000 feet in a zoom climb, though she had no doubts that Wind Fleuret, already a handful at lower altitudes, would be nothing short of uncontrollable at such an altitude – but it was circling, which gave her a thought; if she could set up an attack pass from behind the missile carrier, she could use the twin ADENs to force it down to a lower altitude, or to break off its attack.
If she could do that, once it dropped, it’d be game over for the missileer – whatever it was, was a large aircraft, and it stood no chance in a straight fight against at least ten aircraft… all of whom were rather angry that they’d only narrowly avoided being at ground zero of a nuclear airburst.
“I’ve got it in sight – looks like a Vulcan bomber?”
“Luckily, it’s one of the prototypes then. No real aiming system, so to speak. Just fire the rockets in the vicinity of the target, and hope they hit something.”
“Still nuclear missiles, they don’t need to hit the target…”
“Then we need to make sure it can’t fire anymore of them.” Asuna stated, as she pulled Wind Fleuret into a stern chase position. Coming from behind and below, she figured she’d would need to place a heavy burst onto the launch platform to disable it, and if she could, force it to break away.
If not, then 30mm fire was hopefully enough to kill the platform.
“Granite Team, this is Vendetta, we have a fighter coming for us. We need hel-” The tracer shells ripped into the underside of the Vulcan, and a trail of smoke began to pour out from its number one and two engines.
Smoke that soon became fire, as the Vulcan entered a steep banking dive. For an aircraft named after the Roman god of fire, the attacker lived up to its name, a roaring inferno consuming the rear of the plane as it plummeted back to earth. “Flash Lead, target is on fire. It’s going down.”
Cheering came over the radio from all members of the unlikely group, and for once, Asuna didn’t feel the usual guilt she’d had over killing the crew – being nuked tended to have that effect on people, she figured.
That cheering was short lived however, as Liz called out to the group. “All aircraft, looks like the escort have come to party. Sixteen MIGs, heading straight for us.”
“Don’t they ever just give up?! They’ve lost today!” Tiese shouted, clearly frustrated with how this day was going.
“No chance, missy. These guys don’t know the meaning of the words give up… literally, there’s no word in Belkan for it.”
“Solitaire Lead, this is Solitaire One. Hope you’ve still got your weapons onboard, ‘cause we’re a little short today!”
“Good to have you idiots back!”
“Eh, it’s better than her wringing our necks, I suppose.”
“Just wait till we land…”
“Alice, Eugeo, where the hell are you guys? We could do with all the help we can get here!” Kirito called out, and she caught a glance of something in the distance, a new swarm of aircraft, and definitely not the Belkans!
“Sorry, sorry, we got caught in an aerial traffic jam... we did bring reinforcements though.” Asuna figured that, if this had been a movie, that would’ve been the moment the camera panned around to show the entirety of Samurai and Twilight Flights, both armed to the teeth, and raring for a fight.
“Samurai Lead, don’t start without us!”
“Twilight Two, remember the bet? Dinner’s on them if we win!”
“Yuuki, this is a mission, not a game…” Ran told her, though she was certain that Yuuki had just laughed it off.
“This is Blacksmith to all allied aircraft. IFF frequency for Rectan aircraft is being updated… now! And just in time too, more Belkan aircraft, another twenty-four of them!”
“Black Blade Lead to all aircraft… engage!”
/-/
The air battle above the mountains was nothing short of chaos, Alice had realised.
She had committed a cardinal sin of aerial warfare almost immediately – she had lost track of Eugeo shortly after the merge, but there was no time to think about that now, as she found herself flying in an almost bizarre formation; herself chasing a MIG-21, whilst another had turned up on her tail, itself chased by an Ocean Blue F-8…
“Blade Five, you’ve got one on your tail!” She heard Klein call, before a MIG-21 exploded behind her. “Not anymore though! Samurai Lead, splash one MIG!”
“Much obliged, Samurai Lead.” With the unwelcome visitor dealt with, she was able to focus on getting a lock from her Magic heat-seeker. The growling in her headset told her it was ready and that she was in the envelope to fire, and so she did. The missile dropped from the rail, and before she could say what was going on, slammed into the port wing of the MIG, shearing it clean off the aircraft, and sending the MIG crashing to earth. “Alice, splash one MIG-21.”
Despite the victory, there was no time to celebrate as an F-80 tore past her canopy, being pursued by a MIG-17 and a slightly dented looking MIG-21; clearly hit by .50 calibre fire, but not downed. Positioning Osmanthius behind the MIG-21, the bigger threat, she opened fire with her twin DEFA cannons – 30mm shells pummelling the lightweight frame of the MIG and forcing it to break away. “Hah! Try picking on someone who can hit as hard as you!” She shouted against her oxygen mask, as the MIG fell away from view, and the -17 decided to break away too, not wanting to meet the same fate as it’s comrade.
Perhaps the Belkans did have some intelligent pilots after all, she thought to herself.
“Abyss Ten, thank you.” The F-80 pilot called in a voice she absolutely recognised. No way could it be her… could it?
“You are welcome, Eydis.” She spoke, but not into her radio. She couldn’t help but feel a smile come across her face, despite the dire situation. One of her best friends, missing since the day they logged in, was alive!
Perhaps today was a day for miracles, after all.
Despite that, they had a job to do, and in the briefest moment of calm between fights, she took a glance at the situation and did something that Eugeo had been trying to get her to do since they were children… stop and think for a second, rather than charge in headfirst.
Behind and below her, she could see a pair of Drakens dragging one of the Granite Team members through the mists and the mountains, whilst a purple tailed MIG-21 charged them head on, its guns firing on the MIG as it passed.
To her starboard, Kirito & Argo had dragged another member of Granite Team into a twisting fight, whilst Asuna chased them both down.
Above her, she watched as a second MIG-21 went toe-to-toe with the third member of Granite Team, almost jousting the ace as they passed…
Around her, aircraft tore past from any and all angles, and she selected her prey; a Delta III interceptor that had joined the fight in the second wave, no doubt.
The Delta III, known in ACES as the Thunder FG.1, was a giant aircraft, far bigger than her Mirage, and far faster too. Although never built, the Delta III was expected to reach Mach 2.5 at a minimum, carrying a pair of Red Hebe missiles – a large semi-active radar guided missile, with a 150-pound warhead, designed to utterly devastate bomber formations – meaning it needed to be both big and powerful.
Unfortunately for the pilot of the Delta III, it also had the turning performance of a battleship and a weapons system designed by Britain in the 1950s, putting it in the same league as Sinon’s Arrow. Unlike the Arrow however, the Thunder did have a gun, and ground attack abilities, only one of which would prove relevant in a dogfight situation.
Even more unfortunately for the pilot, she wasn’t planning to enter a dogfight situation. Instead, she nosed over, and dove for the Thunder at near the speed of sound, readying her remaining Magic for an easy kill…
An attack run that was interrupted as her missile alert began to blare in the cockpit. “Schisse!” she growled, pulling back on the stick to put the Mirage into a tight turn to break lock. Thankfully, the missile fired towards her was an older Atoll, rather than the newer Aphids on the MIG-23s, and it sailed past her harmlessly.
Now out of position for her attack on the Thunder, she spotted another target – a pair of MIG-17s being chased by… a pair of MIG-17s. It really was a good job Lisbeth had updated their IFFs earlier, else the blue-on-blue rate would be unthinkable in this battle, she thought.
Without any warning, the allied MIGs split up, forcing the Belkans to chase one or the other, or to split up. Unsurprisingly, they chose to split up, and she took her chance to engage the Belkan chasing the pink MIG, pulling in behind the hostile MIG. Readying her remaining Magic, she suddenly felt her plane start to vibrate slightly, requiring delicate control inputs to keep the craft stable.
Those control inputs began to become less delicate, and more forceful as the vibrations became worse, until a MIG-17 dashed straight past her nose in a vertical climb from underneath; the other allied MIG, painted in a garish black, orange and red scheme, whilst the hostile MIG simply burst into flames.
For once, Alice was genuinely stunned at how quickly that had happened, and only barely dodged the careening MIG as it passed her by…
“Alice, ya’ve got one on yer nine. MIG-21!” Argo called, and she broke into the path of the MIG, throwing its aim off, and causing it to sail past. On instinct alone, she snapped the Mirage back to the right, and pulled the plane into the tightest turn she’d ever managed, her eyelids feeling heavy as the G-forces pushed her into the seat of her plane, her bodyweight increasing nearly tenfold. She spluttered against the forces, desperately trying to fight not only gravity, but the MIG that had passed her by.
“Hey!” She heard someone call out, her ability to recognise anything really impaired by the G-LOC. “Want to pick on someone?! Try this!”
From her cockpit, she spotted a Hunter coming towards her, whilst the MIG disappeared into a cloud of smoke, fire and shrapnel. A maroon Hunter… now she really did believe in miracles!
“Koharu?” She asked hesitantly as the Hunter formed up beside her, its pilot waving at her.
“Yup! Turns out those tips on dogfighting helped!”
“You have no idea how glad to see you I am right now.” She laughed.
“I’m surprised you can see anything after that turn! Looked like it knocked you out briefly, so I stepped in. Sorry if I took your kill…”
“You have my eternal gratitude for that, so do not worry about “kill stealing”.”
“Blacksmith to allied aircraft, looks like their numbers are dwindling. I only see six more on the scope.”
“Gotcha, Liz. Whoever gets the last ‘un, gets free drinks fer the week!” Argo called out.
“I do not plan to lose then.” She stated bluntly.
“Same here. Flash Flight, we’re winning the bet!” Asuna countered.
“Ya hear that LLENN, free booze for a week!” One of the allied pilots called out. “I’m winning that bet, everyone.”
“Argo, did you have to rile everyone up?” Alice wasn’t privy to what was happening in the Phantom cockpit, but she could just imagine Argo grinning at the escapades she was about to cause…
“Hey, lover boy! I’m winning this one!”
“Sure you are, Eydis. Sure you are. Sierra, we still got any Sparrows?”
“Plenty, cap.”
“Oh good. You know what to do then…”
In the distance, a pair of MIG-19s exploded without even attempting to evade the missiles fired at them. From another position, the colourful MIG-17 dove on a retreating MIG-17, the cannon hits sending the MIG into a death dive.
“Show off.” She just knew Eydis was rolling her eyes at the display. “You weren’t that cocky last night…”
“L-last… n-night?” She had once said it was impossible for a human’s vocal range to enter that required to irritate dogs. Kureha was currently doing her best attempt to prove her wrong with her shrieking…
“Yeah, we’re getting strangled when we land.” One of the allied pilots sighed, resigning both crew to their fate.
“So, uhh, who did get the last one?”
“I think that would be me.” From below her, she finally regained a visual on Eugeo, his Mirage looking a little less polished than before and somewhat covered in soot, whilst a MIG-21 fell away ahead of him, sans its left wing.
“Well then, I think the drinks are on all of us tonight.”
/-/
The return to Canaveral was nothing short of victorious for all members of the 23rd Fighter Squadron; not only had they achieved their two primary missions in destroying the transport flight and finding the missing pilots, but they’d engaged and defeated the Belkan Air Force’s ace killers, fought and defeated an entire battalion of aircraft, and destroyed one of the Belkan superweapons in the form of the Vendetta… all with nary a scratch to themselves.
Idly, Alice wondered if this was what it felt like to be an overachiever, because if so… it felt remarkable!
“Alice, are you there?”
“Oh, yes. I was just thinking about things.” She answered.
“I’m not going mad, but one of those pilots, the Rectan ones, that sounded like…” He looked around at the flight line, and more specifically, to the pair of Shooting Stars that were now taxiing in.
“She did, yes. She even flew like her too…”
“I’ll take your word for that one, Alice.” He smiled, and the pair began to walk over to the parked jets.
She had seen Shooting Stars before, mostly in museums or as warbirds, but to see one up close, and one that had fought in lopsided battles… and won those battles, not least when it had been flown by one of her best friends? It was an odd feeling indeed.
As the pilot of “Abyss Ten” got out, Alice looked to Eugeo, who, despite his usual calm demeanour, was currently in a minor degree of shock. “It-it can’t be… can it?”
“I would say it is.” She responded with a smile. “Eydis!”
The pilot of “Abyss Ten” turned round, and went wide eyed briefly, before running over to them. “Alice! Eugeo! It’s actually you!” With no warning, both were drawn into the tightest hug they’d ever received (itself an achievement, given Eydis was prone to bearhugging them in normal circumstances…), and fought for oxygen as their friend refused to let go…
“Eydis, you’re kind of… ack!” Eugeo fought his toughest battle yet – not being starved of oxygen by a weepy Eydis!
“We are glad to see you… but would you… guh!”
“I thought you were both dead! I was terrified it was just me, and-” She could feel Eydis almost sobbing against her flight suit, though whether they were tears of joy or sadness, she really could not tell right now… “I was so relieved when I got told you guys lived!”
“Yeah, we’re still here.”
“Indeed, Eydis.”
Finally, Eydis let go… if only to wipe her eyes so as she could see again. “Heh, never thought it’d be you two coming to my rescue back there!” She laughed. “Even got the whole ace custom aircraft!”
“They are not that customised!” Alice defended. She was one to talk – her Shooting Star was painted with a black and grey nose as well!
“Aren’t they? What’s with the matching blue markings then… and the gold paint?” Eydis teased.
“I… I simply like the colour gold. That is all!”
“Didn’t say anything about the matching markings though… oh!” Eydis gave a knowing smirk as she looked both of them over. “You two finally admitted it then!”
“Admitted what?” Alice blinked in confusion, trying to understand her friend’s comment.
“Eydis! Nothing like that happened! Nothing!” Eugeo, on the other hand, was far less confused and stammered as he tried his hardest to dissuade Eydis of her ideas…
“Aww…” Eydis looked disappointed by whatever Eugeo was trying to get through to her, before giving a cheerful smile. “Still, means I get my shot!”
Oh, that was what she meant, Alice realised.
“Eydis…” She smiled sweetly.
“Err, Alice?” Eydis asked, a worried look on her face.
“I don’t think your “lover boy” would be too impressed if he heard you talking like that…” Despite what she led people to believe, she wasn’t entirely clueless socially, just rather awkward. She understood the theory of socialising, it was merely putting it into practice where she fell down. Unfortunately for Eydis, she’d had 15 years of experience in handling the girl, and knew exactly how to trigger a response from her…
Perfectly, as it turned out. Eydis blushed furiously and looked away from the pair. “Yuh-you heard that, huh?”
“Oh, I did. I would be happy to meet this man, just to tell him what to expect… and what to fear, should he not stack up.”
The fact that both Eydis and Eugeo gulped and shuddered simultaneously told her exactly what they were thinking… and for those wondering, she did indeed know she was terrifying sometimes.
/-/
That evening at Canaveral was a strange experience for Kureha.
After the week she’d had, she really did feel like unwinding – constant battles for an entire week, losing two of her best friends, only for them to return to save the day a few days later with a ragtag group of pilots, and dealing with the politicking that went along with such warfare had drained any energy she had, and she was exceptionally thankful that they had been given an extra few days ashore to steady their nerves again.
Not that anyone else seemed to need it, as they were all too busy in the bar celebrating everyone’s return, and the victory over the Belkans at what was now being called Area B4E, which meant she was alone on the tarmac, watching the stars above her.
Maybe she was strange in that way, everyone having a celebration, and here she was, stargazing. Not that she minded that, the peace and quiet was welcome for a bit, especially as she wrestled with her feelings.
Jet and Sierra were her best friends, sure, but the fact they’d not even bothered to try and message her to tell her they weren’t dead left a sour taste in her mouth. Not to mention Jet coming back with a girl on his arm practically!
She knew they weren’t dating, and she knew that was her fault – she’d called their night they spent together a mistake, and whilst Jet was a bit dense, he’d read it as most people would read that statement; that it had been a bad idea, and that being friends worked better. She wouldn’t blame him for that, but there had to be someone to blame for it!
Unfortunately, that someone was herself. There was nothing new there, she supposed. Just one more saga of her messing things up for everyone…
“Oh! Erm, sorry, I was just looking for the…”
“Eydis, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, you’re Jet’s no.2, right? He told me all about you!” She beamed. God, did he have to find a girl this cheerful? She was going to get cavities talking to her! Not to mention pretty! Damn it, was this what being jealous felt like, she wondered. If it was, it was a horrible feeling!
“All good I hope?”
“He told me how good a friend you are, and that…”
“And that what…” She asked pointedly, dreading the answer.
“He regrets messing up your friendship.”
She sighed. “It wasn’t his fault, not really. I know he blames himself, but he does that for everything. If I wasn’t so bad at communicating, we wouldn’t be in this mess…”
“There’s still time, you know?”
“Maybe. The bar’s that a way, by the way.” She pointed towards the base bar, a pointed way of telling her that she wanted to be alone tonight, and most certainly not talking to her friend’s new girlfriend! No matter how nice she was!
“Oh, just a quick thing… I don’t think Alice will kill your friend, she’s honestly a nice girl, just a bit… err, intense, sometimes!”
Kureha stood there in abject confusion. What the heck was that girl on about? She was right, Alice was certainly a different breed of pilot – she reminded her of stories of chivalrous knights of the air in that regard – but why was Alice in such a position to want to kill any of… oh.
“Michael, you idiot!” She thought to herself, before someone sat down besides her. The man of the hour, she thought bitterly…
“So, I take it you’re still pissed off?”
“Go away.” She answered coldly.
“Yeah, that’s fair.” He admitted. “Zel’s already given me the nth degree over it, so I know I fucked up…”
“Worst thing is, you didn’t do anything wrong, not really.” She said bitterly. “You did exactly what you should’ve done in that situation… you moved on.”
“Oh, it’s about Eydis. I meant the disappearing and not telling you we were safe bit.”
“Oh. That.”
“Yeah, that. We did try, we tried to send a radio message out to you guys. Hell, we nearly collided with an F-8 doing that.”
“Yeah, we heard. You all started a rumour going round, you know… the Ghosts of the Mists. Dead pilots flying around their last known location…”
“Oops.” He looked away guiltily. “In our defence, we didn’t intend to do that.”
“I figured that part. Just, not even a text message to say you were alive… I never gave up believing in you. Either of you.”
“Thanks, and for what it’s worth, as a group, we tried to send a message. Koharu tried to send, err, what’s-her-name… Asuna, a message. Didn’t go through. We kind of assumed that would be the same for all of us. That was why we resorted to the radio message.”
“Got through in the end though. Not to mention finding everyone there – especially her. I’d have thought Goldilocks back there would be forever indebted to you for that. Not trying to kill you.”
“Goldilocks?” He asked, trying to work out what she meant. “Wait, did you say trying to kill me?!”
“Oh yeah, you slept with her best friend. I think she’s mad.” She told him matter of factly. Some might have said it was a rather large understatement to say that someone threatening to kill someone was “a bit mad”, in the same way as falling from a cliff was “a bit of a drop”, but she was sticking with the description…
“I mean, I didn’t, but sure. I can see how you got that impression from what Eydis said.”
“I’m not even gonna ask what happened instead, you know.” She laughed. It was absolutely his style to end up in this situation, so she should’ve expected it. Still, even if he was no longer on the market, as it were, it didn’t stop her being his friend, she supposed.
Did it feel a lot like a consolation prize? Yes.
Did she know he needed all the friends he could get? Also yes.
“Just one thing before you go, and I say this as your best friend… don’t you dare break that girl’s heart. Else it won’t be Alice you have to answer to, it’ll be me… and you’ve seen me angry.”
“Eep.” He gulped, and she burst into laughter.
“Oh, that look was priceless. Shame I didn’t have a camera!” He rolled his eyes and smiled, before they both looked in through the window of the bar to the unfolding scene of Eydis challenging Alice to what could only described as a contest to finish a tray of shots first… “You really do pick them, don’t you?” She laughed under her breath as Eydis went through shots faster than the guns on her plane… “I mean, I talked to her earlier. If she were any sweeter, I’d have cavities! Still, she deserves to be happy, and if that’s with you, then I’m happy for you both. Now go and stop her from drinking the squadron under!”
“Yes, ma’am!” He made a saluting gesture before he made to head off. “Oh, and ‘Reha? You were a brilliant captain, by the way.”