Killing Spree

On the briefing before the next mission five pilots were present: commander Wheeler, spotting fresh major shoulder straps, Martinson, Alexis, Kate and Lily.

"Congratulations with your promotion, Boss!", Alexis greeted the commander.

"Same here, captain Gruel", Alex took a box from his table and presented it to Alexis, "it was in discussions since our regiment got the guards status, but now they finally arrived".

Alexis opened the box and saw two extra stars inside.

"We will celebrate later, but do not forget to add them on your shoulder straps. For now let’s discuss our mission", Alex opened the map and showed an area in the west part of Benevolent City province. "We are considering attack at this point during the upcoming operation, so I want to check the patrol intensity and overall air defence there. Also, I want to try a new battle tactics. We called it «stand»", he took a piece of paper with a tactical scheme, showing four crafts. "It is not my personal invention, we came up with idea with a few other aces, and I made some improvements. Lets try it on todays mission and see how it works".

…They entered the hunt zone: Wheeler on his «Airviper» at the bottom centre while other two pairs took left and right flanks above him, each second of the pair keeping itself at a decent distance behind and above the pair leader.

"Seven enemies on the horizon, get ready!", Alex informed the wing and accelerated a bit. "I will take the leader, you take care of everyone else".

He shortened the distance to draw the enemy attention and launched a barrage of icicles in the enemy leaders direction. The enemy tried to attack him from the angle instead of going straight ahead, but Wheeler also turned his aircraft right, then dived even lower when he was close to an enemy, then went up again, trying to turn and attack from above. His opponent noticed but did not have enough time to turn, so he tried to go up and rise the distance between them. But Alex was relentless and was shooting him with one icicle barrage after another.

Meanwhile, other other six «Jac-9» tried to attack the remaining group. This time Kate led the left flank and Alexis led the right one. The enemies dived from below and unleashed a barrage of wind blades at them. Both pilots just dodged the fire for some time, but once the enemy fighters got close, they just dived down and scattered, while their opponents got bombarded by a fireball barrage from Martinson’s craft and ice boulders from Lily’s. One fighter on Martinson’s flank got direct hit in the right engine, lost control and crushed, the other two scattered to avoid the collision. Lily was only able to damage two aircrafts' wings but it was enough to scare the enemy. One of them started flying in the direction of the nearby base. He probably sustained enough damage to avoid further fight. At the same time, the two remaining allied fighters were able to turn and attack from behind pushing the enemies to flee from the pursuit.

Alex was still pursuing the enemy leader. It tried to dodge the attacks, but commander Wheeler was very precise with his aim and fast with his casting. This time he sacrificed switching to more appropriate spells to keep the enemy under almost constant fire. Using the already formed ice spell again and again, while keeping the aim, was a bit taxing mentally but effective. The enemy already sustained damage to his wings and tail and was slowly losing momentum. His dodging became quite wonky, so the next barrage managed to get into his right engine, enchanted ice shards exploded and froze it. The fighter started to lose heigh, while Alex continued to bombard it with new icicle storms. The craft could not stabilise and crashed.

As soon as the leader was dealed with, remaining enemies decided to turn to the nearby base and flee instead of continuing the combat.

"What a pity, I hoped to also get a kill today", Lily was clearly disappointed.

"Do not worry, we will get more chances. At the moment we are just doing combat reconnaissance", Kate reassured her.

"That's enough intel for today, lets go back for now", major Wheeler turned his craft and the others followed.  "The new formation seems to be somehow effective, but I am sure we can do better'.

"Drink! Drink! Drink!", Lily and Martinson were pretty enthusiastic, encouraging their superiors. Two glasses of vodka were on the table near Alexis and Wheeler, fresh stars were at the bottom of each.

"Damn, I hate this ritual, but such is the tradition", Alex breathed out and emptied the glass in one gulp.

"Same here, Boss", Alexis did the same and tried to grab a piece of rye bread with a slice of salo nearby, but was stopped by Kate.

"Don't snack! That's the tradition".

"Damn you all with your traditions", Gruel coughed but then laughed.

"Preparation took longer today, but we have a land support now", Alex showed them a magical radar station and two infantry vehicles hiding in the forest. "This guys should send us intel regarding enemy positions. Seems like two «Jac-9» and one «Jac-7» are out there. Lets surprise them and try some new manoeuvres".

They scattered and attacked the enemy patrol from a few angles. Despite being caught by surprise, enemy pilots managed to survive the sudden attack from the clouds with pretty minimal damage.

"Good reaction, but lets see how you can avoid this", Wheeler followed the enemy leader, going up and down in spiral.

He called this manoeuvre «speed swing». The enemy tried to avoid wind blast barrages, but Alex aimed at him with a great accuracy and his motion made aiming easier. The damage sustained accumulated, fighter armour got dented in a bunch of places, wings and tail lost several pieces. The craft started to lose heigh. When the barrage stopped… only to launch again shortly. While the enemy pilot tried to stabilise his plane, Alex changed the incarnation and melted his wing with a large magic fire blast, nullifying any chance to avoid the crash.

"That’s what, the fifth one already? You are on a killing spree, commander", Alexis congratulated his superior. "Mine got away, unfortunately".

"I aim for ten this month. The sky is a limit".

"I am still pursuing mine", it was Lily, "but he is fleeing to the forest".

The enemy craft was flying above the forest at the opposite direction from them with Lily on his tail. Suddenly, she lowered her speed.

"Trying to trick me, heh? Radar crew reported that there are a few vehicles hidden there. Look like mobile air defence ones. A pity, but lets go back".  

"Lets go".