Unstoppable Fury

A grand armada of the largest Elodian battlefleet since World War Two glistens below us. Twelve destroyers, four cruisers, one battlecruiser, and even a carrier. There are five Mozakan destroyers trailing along as well. This is basically our entire navy. Well, discounting the missile-torpedo boats, but those aren't designed for expeditionary stuff.

"This is AWACS Pendragon! Paladin Four, do you read me?" I can audibly hear Arnold, our AWACS commander take a sip of coffee from his mug.

"Read you loud and clear Pendragon."

The plane I'm on is a naval interceptor, but we have more of these than our carrier has room for planes, so riding on it I am, despite my terrestrial air force status. The interceptor can carry as much ordinance as the naval strike fighters, which zip towards the target at a blistering speed.

"You're in charge of assaulting the heavy munitions factory. Paladin One, Two, and Three will maintain cover. Five, Six, and Seven, you all follow Four!"

"Roger. Count on us, Pendragon." I say. My RIO chuckles from the rear seat. His name is Jake, and though this is my first time meeting him, he's a fun guy. We all have RIOs. They weren't originally a part of our team, but we have backseaters now.

"That all you want to say, Alex?" 

"Ah, shut it. It's best to keep things snappy."

We're a proper military formation now. We still do streams and uploads occasionally, but never in-flight anymore. I'm thinking about taking this account and starting a gaming channel after the war. Hopefully that's not a death flag on my end!

"Alright team!" Boomerang One, the leader of the operation, shouts. "Paladin Squadron to the East, Gladiator Squadron to the center, and we'll take the west! Take out your forks, because we're eating good tonight! Pendragon, tell the bombers to leave something for us, you hear?" Beneath us, I can see a volley of cruise missiles streaking below us, headed straight for the munitions facility. They are gone from my sight almost as soon as I spot them, but I can see them on my radar until they disappear. That's our target.

"To all friendly fighters, you should be in range!"

"Roger!" The radar shows the glow of a ruined ammunition depot just before us. I look around our formation, as the first air to ground missiles begin to fly out towards the harbor.

"Missile away! We won't have to worry about any pesky SAM sites today!" Gladiator One shouts.

It's go time.

Dozens of missiles streak out, destroying anti-air emplacements and warehouses. As I pull the throttle of my plane up, I can faintly see the explosions from a distance. The targets aren't just disappearing from my radar. Now, I can see the blaze.

Three Novemian submarines, a hit but standing Novemian barracks, and the munitions warehouses that aren't a flaming wreck yet. Good targets, good targets.

"Paladin One, this is Paladin Four, going on an attack run." I turn my head halfway around. "Jake, we ready?"

"Copy that Paladin Four." Paladin One says. "Permission granted. Give them hell!"

"Bombs lined up." Jake already has the weapons loaded, so I pull the throttle up even higher.

"Awesome. Hope you don't mind some Gs."

"Lovely, I need a workout."

My interceptor-turned-strike fighter zips towards the submarines, which the bombers and the other missiles have missed. There are Novemian sailors scrambling to get the thing working, but I won't let that happen. As anti-air fire begins to cloud my vision, I focus my attention onto the radar instead. The anti air missiles might be gone, but looks like I still have to worry about guns.

"Going in! Jake!"

"Roger!" A bomb drops from my craft as it slams onto the decks of the submarine, completely destroying it.

"Alex has just scored a bomb kill!" Paladin Two, Percy announces. "That's another one for Paladin!"

"Focus on taking out the SAMs Paladin Two, we'll tally the scores later. I hope our RIOs can count our kills." Paladin One responds.

"Oh shit, more missiles? Thought we got them all." Paladin Five says.

"No, there's some more beyond the mountain," her RIO responds. "Though frankly, I don't see the point of taking those out."

"Get more kills, duh." I hear Boomerang Three say, interrupting our conversation.

Novemian AA lights up once more. This time, it's the autocannons firing thousands of tracer rounds into the sky like some holiday celebration. 

They're firing blind.

"Boomerang One, splash one!" There's a joyous chuckle from Boomerang Team as they watch the AA guns below them burn. One by one, they slowly disappear from radar.

This isn't even a fight. It's a goddamn massacre, and this time, we're the ones on top.

"This is Gladiator One, taking helos!" Several Novemian helicopters take off, but Gladiator Team makes quick work of them. They too are gone before I can say anything.

"This is your friendly neighborhood AWACS Pendragon, reminding everyone that there is a hangar near Paladin Team, and there are several fighters taking off from the runway." Our AWACs says.

"Tch. Those dinosaurs barely count as fighter. Jake, lock the lead!" I don't even bother changing direction. The missile will know where it is.

"Aye aye." The missile practically walks into the fighter. It goes down in a massive explosion, taking out a second fighter taking off just behind it. "Haha, did you see that? Splash two bandits!" I see Paladin Three strafing the runway as he finishes off my leftovers.

"Holy shit Alex, you just got two kills with one missile!" Boomerang One says.

"All thanks to Jake here. Jake, would you like to say something for this momentous occasion?"

"Of course Mr. Pilot sir. To celebrate, I have three bombs lined up on those munitions storage houses that I think would make for good parking lots.

"Lovely." I zip towards the target, and watch as the bombs fall. I only see the explosions through my radar, but it's glorious, even from the black and white screen. I can feel the shockwave through my canopy as the plane rattles. I grin.

"Oh man, that's gotta hurt." Paladin Two says.

"Alex, you're racking it up! Leave some for the rest of us, will ya?" Boomerang Three says.

"First come, first serve!" Jake says from my back seat. "If you want kills Will, tell Tariq to handle the radar better!"

"Tariq's doing fine. It's the pilot that needs to step up!" I say as I dive in towards an enemy helicopter.

"Locked on, missiles rea- oh." I fire my guns at the helicopter, shredding it to pieces.

"I'm not wasting precious taxpayer money on a heli. Missiles are expensive, Jake!" Jake chuckles from the backseat.

"Holy shit you all." Pendragon says from the back. I look back at the harbor. It's a graveyard. The armory isn't doing much better either.

"Alex, you're our top earner today!" Boomerang One says. "Please, do tell us. What contributes to your great success on the battlefield?"

"Heh, I fight for the princess and our great nation. That's all I need." I grin and sit back, watching the glow of the Novemian munitions factory. Oh man, popping ammunition crates is fun.

***

"Bandit radar tags, all across the board!" Our AWACS commander said.
"Hey, isn't that the same squadron as last time?" Paladin Two says. "They're flashing the same IFF!"

It's clearly Novemian, but there's something different about them. This is too familiar. Suddenly, my radar starts flashing. I'm spiked. 

"Paladin Four, you've got a missile on you! Break, break!" I dump chaff and flares - no time to see what type of missile it is as I break hard.
"Shit shit shit shit shit!"

I almost fucking blacked out for a second there, but I had enough muscle instinct to keep the craft flying. Noticing that my speed is low, I push the throttle back up.

"I'm spiked!" Gladiator Three shouts. "I can't shake it!"

"Jam, jam!" Pendragon shouts.

"It's tight on me! I can't-" The radio from Gladiator Three goes silent. We've lost him.

"Our bombers aren't fully out of the AO yet! Gladiator, withdraw! Paladin and Boomerang, engage hostiles! These are the Life Guards!"

"Roger! On it!" I do what I do best and fly out to meet the Novemians head on.

"Oh boy, there he goes again!" Paladin One shouts. "Paladin Team, let's not let Paladin Four do all the work this time!"

"We're right behind you Paladin Team! Come on, let's show these bastards what the Boomerangs are!"

"We're still on the table, we need support! Paladin, we need-" Gladiator Four disappears from radar, and their radio goes silent. 

The planes expertly move in unison, and launch a volley of missiles at Boomerang Two. Boomerang Two erupts into fire.

"This is Paladin Four. Moving in to avenge Boomerang Two." I use the commotion to slip under and closer to the Novemians. Then I sharply turn up to meet them from the underside.

"Fox two! Alex, watch out!" Paladin Five says as a missile zips past me and towards the Novemian plane. It misses, but it's hasty evasion has slowed the plane down. I fire my own missile, and it impacts straight into the enemy plane. One hostile down.

"Hey, did someone from Paladin Team just shoot down a Life Guard member?" There's some noise. I can't tell what's going on.
"That was Paladin Four, he just took out a Life Guard pilot!" Boomerang One shouts.

The radio crackles once more, and an unfamiliar voice comes onto the line. He speaks with a slight Novemian accent, but I can tell he knows our language very well.
"Which dog just shot down our pilot?"

"Hey, what the hell?" Boomerang Three asks. "Who is that?"

"Someone's broadcasting on open coms!" Pendragon says. "It's the enemy!"

I myself flip to open coms. Something tells me this is my chance to say something.

"Go fuck yourselves, Novemian bastards! There's more where that came from!"

"Alex! Don't provoke them-" Pendragon shouts, but I'm already zipping towards another hostile. 

"I need support, we're cut off!" Boomerang Five breaks hard, but the missile is hot on his tail. It explodes just behind him, and the fragments rip his plane apart.

"Dammit!" I fire my last remaining air to air missile out at the enemy pilot. 

"Alex, at this distance? Jesus, fox two, 55 degrees south!" Jake says from the back.

I'm close. Any closer and I would be switching to guns. The missile directly hits. The Novemian plane practically disintegrates. Then, I'm spiked again.

"All squadrons, we've got company!" Dozens of missiles shower down on us. They're fast. Dumb, but fast. I fire chaff and flares then break hard.

"You'll pay for that." The Novemian voice says. "You're that pilot from before, aren't you?"

I ignore him and turn my plane to face the enemy hostiles now bearing down on us. More missiles. I chaff and break my plane by zipping upwards. Great, now I'm running low on chaff. 

"This is Boomerang One, Fox One!" 

"This is Gladiator One, we're getting out of CAS zone! I repeat - oh shit!"

Before Gladiator One can be shot out of the sky, I dive in on the enemy plane. Boom and zoom, dive down and gunfire. But that doesn't work, so I'm now banking hard left in order to get on his tail. I maneuver too far. But that doesn't matter, my gun's on him. I fire.

The pilot ejects before the rounds impact.

"Damn you." The mysterious Life Guard pilot from the radio says. "All remaining Life Guards, form up on element. The cowards ran away, but our enemies are bloodied. Quasar Team, you chase the-"

"Hey, we can still hear you you know!" Paladin Three says into open comms. There's a crackle as the radio cuts.

"I'm intercepting a message." Pendragon says. "Novemian HQ tells Life Guards to retreat from the airspace. All squads, pull back to sector D. I think the enemy is retreating." 

I can only imagine the heated argument between HQ and the Life Guard leader, but they all sharply turn up and fly away, into the clouds.

"This is our chance! All squads, bombers are out of the AO! It's time for us to leave before anything nasty happens. Let's go. Paladin Four, that includes you too."

"Yes sir." I say as I lean back, the insides of my gloves coated in sweat. I'm now aware of just how tired I am after all that. "I think I've had enough flying for today." 

Still, there's a strange euphoria, a mix of panic and joy, still fluttering about in my chest.