Behind enemy lines (MT, CLOSED, ATTN: Sharfghotten)

[Novacron]

F-34 'Warbird', Call-sign: Destiny-One, Novacron Border with Sharfghotten

The cold wind on her cheek as Flight Lieutenant Sarah Cutler walked out across the tarmac. Her beautiful F-34 'Warbird' was waiting for her. She could see the two large fuel tanks strapped to the underside of the wings, along with the Air to Air Missiles. Based heavily upon the F-15, the Warbird was the most numerous aircraft, in the Federation Airforces inventory. Placing her helmat firmly upon her head as she climbed up the steps and into the cockpit. Quickly running through the pre-flight checks, she was soon ready to go.

Soon enough, she and her wingman; Lieutenant Tom O'Brian, were together at the end of the runway, ready for take-off. They requested clearence from the Tower, and the pair were promptly rocketing down the straight as their powerful engines pushed them into the skies. Quickly gaining altitude they turned away into the night.

Looking down, she could see the lights of the nearby city, as they flew along the border, a standard two-fighter border patrol. It was as they cruised through the air above Novacron that Sarah remembered why she loved flying so much. Silence, save for the roar of her engine as they pushed her acorss the sky. Moving promptly along the waypoints that led the way along their patrol course, that would eventually take them back to the base, Sarah felt on top of the world as she looked up at the moon.

F-34 'Warbird', Call-sign: Destiny-Two, Novacron Border with Sharfghotten

As the two aircraft flew along the border, Tom couldn't help but look affectionatly over at his wingman, wingwomen indeed. He had adored tha hot-shot pilot since the day that had first met in flight training. Sadly however, she was involved with someone else, and Tom didn't feel that it was his place to intrude. So he had held back, and the two had become fast friends. As they flew along the border, Tom found himself looking up at the moon sadly.

[Sharfghotten]

Novacron-Sharfghotten border

In flight control,a radar began its tinny beeping. The operator, leaning back in his swivel chair, zoomed towards that particular screen and hunched himself to examine it, cigarette dangling from his frowning mouth.

"Operator? What is that noise?" Queried the tower commander, strolling over to the console.

"A Nova patrol, sir. They regularly make flights over this area."

"But not inside our borders, operator. Order those planes exterminated. And follow up with a search team to recover the wreckage."

"Yes sir" sighed the operator, reaching for a telephone. It was going to be a long night.

Outside the building, a SAM launcher rotated to find its target. As the offender came into view, the launcher released a pair of missiles to dispatch the enemy. The pair streaked off towards the jet's heat signatures at terrifying speed.

[Novacron]

F-34 'Warbird', Call-sign: Destiny-One, Novacron Border with Sharfghotten

Sarah was jerked back to reality as the SAM warning in her cockpit began it's alarming sound. The HUD all around her on the conopy marked the two incoming missiles with a red warning box. SHe glanced over at Tom's Warbird before beginning emergency evasives
"Watchtower, this is Destiny one, we've been enganged, repeat Sharfghotten SAM's have launched against us" Sarah began as both the planes launched into an amazing pattern of evasive manvours. The SAM's were getting closer and closer. They were homing in on her fighter and were about to hit her fighter when, Tom's jet slid infront of hers and went down in flames. She had just enough time to see him punch out of his fighter, before she joined him spirleing down.

Air Force base Watchtower, Novacron

A young air force Captain ran across the base towards the base commander; Colonel Frank Burns, residence. He knocked on the door and watied a dew minutes before it was opened by the very tired looking COlonel Burns. The Captain quickly explained the situation, the Colonel swore and led the Captain back across to speak with Central.

[Sharfghotten]

"Callsign Kremlin, this is control. We got both of 'em. Pilots ejecteed before the plane's destruction and therefore are your top priority. Find them quickly, Lieutenant."

Callsign Kremlin was a platoon-sized group, made up of twenty soldiers, three STV-75 transport vehicles, two overwatch-pattern (equipped with Night Vision and high-wattage searchlight), and one Command vehicle (fitted with advanced communications). The whole group was led led by Lieutenant Paul Grossman. The Lieutenant leaned against his command-configured STV, absorbing the information he had just recieved. Heavy rain poured from the sky, plastering his field cap to his soaking skull.

"Mount up, everyone!" Shouted the Lieutenant. "We're going hunting!"

Back at the airbase callsign 'Heron', an Mi-24 HIND attack helicopter, awaited its orders.

[Novacron]

Sarah fought back the mounting fear as she took her JSAR from the ejector seat survival pack. The Joint Service Assualt rifle, and the small amount of supplies in her pack were the only things keeping her alive. To make matters worse, it began to rain. She fought back tears as she stood up and began to move through the forest looking for tom, who she wanted to see more than she had ever wanted to see him before. She knew that these natives would be looking for them both, and it was her job to make sure that didn't happen. Gripping onto her JSAR firmly she set off into the night.

[Sharfghotten]

The three APC's made light work of the uneven terrain with their eight wheels, bumping over rocks and fallen trees like they were pebbles and twigs. The searchlights fired off beams of light far into the distance, searching for the downed pilots.

"Sir, there's something big and white up ahead. Looks like one of the ejector chutes."

The Lieutenant listened with interest, and ordered one squad to disembark and search. He saw them fanning out across the site, examining every inch of the wreck. His comm piece crackled- the rain was playing havoc with their signal quality.

"Sir? There's no-one here anymore" the voice of the sergant floated into his ears. "But there was. There's what looks like a weapon lock on the floor, and we can see footprints leading into the trees."

"Excellent work. Everyone out!" ordered theLieutenant. "We're following those tracks."

Back at base, callsign Heron's pilot slurped tea in the cockpit. No sooner had he set the thermos down than the radio crackled into life.

"Callsign Heron, tracks located. We are at position Zulu sixty-three, heading North. Provide air cover, over."

"Callsign Heron reads. Dusting off." the pilot shouted, over the roar of the rotors spinning to life. Within a minute, the HIND was up in the air and flying into the distance.

[Novacron]

A short distance east of the first ejector chute, Sarah was sat, her knees drawn into her chest, sitting in a ditch in the ground. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks. This hadn't been what she had signed up for when she joined the Air Force. She heard a creak to her left and grabbed her JSAR and leveled it that direction.
"Flash!" She said softly in the silent night, she waited for the responce.
"Thunder" Came the reply.
Sarah sighed a breath of relief as Tom emerged from the darkness and sat down next to ger.
"How're you holding up?" He asked softly. Sarah didn't respond and instead pulled him into a fierce hug.

[Sharfghotten]

The HIND arrived with the search group, adding its own searchlight to the effort. Trees and rocks were stripped of shadows as the party advanced, looking for the two Novas.

"Heron, do you have a visual? Over."

"Negative Kremlin, will alert when we have a confirmed visual, over."

The Sharf forces continued their search. Nowhere was left untouched.

[Novacron]

"We need to get moving" Tom said softly "The Forest gets thicker the further east we go, if we get in far enough, it'll be almost impossible to find us, the Air force will contact us when it's safe to do so"
Sarah nodded and the two pilots disappeared into the darkness. Hearts racing as they passed like ghosts through the cold and the rain. Keeping a careful eye and ear out for any signs of pursuit

Sarah followed Tom silently through the tress. The heavy rain, although an assesst to them in their evasion of the hostile forces, it did little for her mood. Less than an hour ago she had been on top of the world. Now, she was as far below it as one could possibly go. She took some comfort in the weapon she held in her hand. The JSAR-B, carbine variant of the rifle being issued to all Federation personnel. Perfect to fit in a ejector seat survival bag. A formidable weapon in the right hands. The other thing she took comfort in was the figure a few feet ahead of her.

Department of Defence, Novacron City

The main meeting room where the ranking members of all the services met to discuss sitautions was abuzz with activity. As news of the crisis had come in, the various officers had been summoned to the meeting to decide what to do. It had been decided that sending further air units across the border would only escalate the situation. Instead it was decided that a Black Beret team would be deplyoed. The Black Berets were the elite of the Federation armed forces. They were silent and efficiant killers, capable of carrying out any mission assigned to them. More than capable of finding a pair of lost pilots, and killing anyone who got in their way.

UH-80 'Pathfinder', Fort Shadow

The Helicoptor took off from the headquarters of FEDSF, Federation Special Forces. On-board, a four man fireteam of the renowned Black Beret's checked their weapons. It was a long flight to the drop sight, but it payed to be ready. As the flight began, the soldiers settled into their seats and began to go over Intelligence reports. Squad Leader; Captain Tom Halloran, looked out the portside hatch. He knew what it was like to be behind enemy lines, even more so alone. He hoped that the pilots were together, there was nothing worese than being alone in a dangerous situation.

[Sharfghotten]

"Comrade Lieutenant!" Shouted one of the men above the roar of the rain, the rising wind almost snatching his voice away. Lieutenant Grossman made his way to where the private was kneeling in the mud. In front of him were two sets of tracks.

"Follow these!" shouted Paul. "Do not lose them!" He spoke both to his men on the ground and the helicopter ahead. "Heron, proceed in the direction of these tracks and search for any signs of life."

"That's a roger, Kremlin" reported the HIND, swerving off into the darkness.

[Novacron]

As they reached the thicker trees the two pilots began basic track-covering techniques. Despite being bumped and brused, they would begin to mix up the tracks, they came to a stream and waded across, walked further down and climbed out a much different point. It wasn't long before they came upon a more rocky ground. Here tracking would be all but impossible. Realising this advantage the two pilots sped up. Ahead they could see a cave. Making sure they weren't leaving any hints, they ducked into the cave and disappeared into the darkness.

[Sharfghotten]

The helicopter's spotlight swept across the dense forest, looking for anything that might betray the two pilots. But after a good 40 minutes, Heron had still come up with nothing.

"Kremlin this is Heron. No signs so far, out."

Lieutenant Grossman swore under his breath.

"Get back to base Heron. We'll revise our strategy tomorrow morning.
"And that goes for all you, as well" The lieutenant turned. "Everyone back to base. Tomorrow morning we'll get them."

[Novacron]

The two pilots huddled together at the back of their cave. They'd set up their portable field cookers, both to provide them with a warm meal, and to dry their clouthing, the tunnel itself preventing the light from being seen from the outeside.. CUrrently wearing only the spare clouths in the bottom of their survival bags it was frightfully cold. Which is perhaps why they were cuddleing close to each other as they munched on Ration Packed Pasta and meat. They could hear the rain outside of the cave, hopefully washing away their footprints, making escape easier.

They had soon finished their food and were discussing precisely why they had been shot down. The Navigation system had clearly indicated that they were in Federation Airspace. That being said, there was the flash message the previous morning of a glitch in the Eagle Eye system. That didn't explain why they weren't challenged first though.

It was as they finished their food that their radios buzzed into life. It was central, on a secure channel so that the enemy wouldn't be able to listen in, or trace, the transmission.
"Destiny Destiny, Overlord, Come in, Over"
"Overlord, this is Destiny, boy is it good to hear your voice sir" Sarah said as she recognised the voice of Air Force General Anderson.
"What's your situation?" Anderson asked
"We're handling it sir, we've got hostile patrols searching for us, all indications are that they found our landing sites and spread out from there"
"US...so you're both there, that's good news, OK Lieutenant, we're deploying a Black Beret team tomorrow morning, they'll meet up with you at Rally Point Alpha, it's on your maps as a potential Shoot-down RV point, RV time is 1100hrs tomorrow morning, Good Luck, Overlod out.

The two pilots slumped. Unsure what was worse, that they had been shot down, or that they were being rescued by the Black Berets. With little else to do, they got into an argument over who was to sleep first.
"You first, I insist" Tom said firmly, gently pushing her shouldor down so she would lie dow.
Sarah muttered but complied.
"The truth is, I don't think i could cope if something where to happen to you" He said softly. Sarah looked up at him in the dim light of their fire thoughtfully.
"I feel the same way" She eventually replied.
"Look, I know what's going on between you and Chief Knox" HE said suddenly.
"I think everyone did" Sarah replied.
"It's just, sometimes, I'd have given anything to change places with him"
Sarah lay back as she looked at him intently, flattered, she knew that things were over back home..
"Look, I don't meant o put you on the spot, I respect what you've got going and.." Tom began before being cut off my Sarah as she gently sat up and brought her lips, to his.

[Sharfghotten]

9:32 AM, local time

A new day. The rain had let up, the clouds had parted, and the sun was beaming down.

Along the border, a movement was growing. Through the open grain fields that made up much of the borderlands, lines of infantry and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles strung themselves out, probing every blade of grass for the invaders. Overhead, Mi-18 helicopters loaded with infantrymen scoured the area.

Lieutenant Grossman sat in the transport compartment of Callsign Heron from the previous day. He was determined that his quarry would not escape him.

[Novacron]

Downed Pilots

The two pilots packed up their gear and moved out. It was dangerous moving in the light, but they had no choice, lest they be caught in their cave. Besides, they had a RV to get to. Walking back to back, their JSARs held high as they scanned for any hostile threat. They knew that the Black Berets would be en-route, and it was up to them to be in position.

Novacron Defence Sector Charlie Lima, AKA: Sharfghotten Border

Colonel Connor Tigh, the Commanding Officer of the Easy Battalion of the 1st Fast Assault Regiment. His Battalion, an Air Cavalry Battalion had been ordered to stand-up along the border. All along the border, UH-80 'Pathfinder' helos, packed full with soldiers were patroling a two mile block inwards. Looking out from the transport compartment of the Helo, he could see, not only the rest of the Battalion, but Gunships from the 21st Gunship Squadrons. Currently, the rest of the Regiment were on-base, meaning that the Battalion would have to hold off any hostile attack for at least an hour whilst the rest of the Regiment moved out.

Somewhere, hidden among the other's, was Shadow-One.

[Sharfghotten]

9:57 AM local time

"Comrade lieutenant, enemy helicopters have mobilised. There's a lot of them."

Only a few miles away, Grossman could see the Novan helicopters patrolling their airspace. He was almost tempted to order them shot out of the sky, but he did not want the blame of another war to fall on his shoulders. So he left it.

"Just keep looking for those pilots, comrade pilot."

On the ground, the mostly inexperienced infantrymen were growing restless. One of them observed a slight movement in the woods to his flank.

"Halt!" he called out. The shape did nothing of the sort, bounding away into the trees.

The private opened fire, and was soon joined by his comrades. The BMP-2's added their guns into the fusilade, convinced they had their prey in their grip. The shape fell. One of the men went to investigate.

Lying in the shadow of a pine tree, blood spilling from innumerable holes in its flanks, was a female doe, her legs twitching in final death throes.

[Novacron]

UH-80, Designation Easy-One

As the clock slowly passed ten O'Clock, Tigh stood up in the compartment and walked to the pilots section. He sat in the side seat and took the microphone.
"Ghost One, this is Easy Actual, what is your status?"
"Easy Actual, this is Ghost One, we're locked and loaded and ready to go" Captain Halloran replied over the radio.
"Good to hear it, we're going to deploy a few platoons along the border, to make it look like we're setting up defensive postions, your bird will join them, you'll then cross the border and rescue our people, Hooah?"
"Hooah Sir, we'll see you back at the base after the mision, Ghost One out"

Tigh turned and watched as twenty UH-80's detached from the formation and heaed for the border. A few hundred metres they touched down just long enough for Alpha Squadron's soldiers to disembark and spread out along this particular part of the border. 245 soldiers took up defensve postions and began to report intelligence on troops movements back to the Intelligence Unit back at Fort Easy. The last helo to touch down deposited the Black Berets. As the rest of the troops settled down for the watch, the Black Berets crossed the border.

[Sharfghotten]

Callsign Heron

The Mi-24 helicopter was becoming a regular sight in the Sharfghotten skyline, making frequent flyovers of the ground troopers, busy painstakingly combing every inch of soil between Sharfghotten and Novacron. The Mi-18's had taken to playing pre-recorded messages from on-board megaphone systems.

Rogue pilots, you can not escape! Your hiding only increases our resolve. Present yourselves to us, and you will survive. Try to run, and we will find and kill you. The choice is yours.

[Novacron]

The Black Berets crawled, extremly slowly through an area of high grass along the border. Making sure to take as much time as was neeed to ensure that they weren't spotted. The grass stretched to the tree line. All they had to do was get there without being detected by the enemy. Each soldier gripped their weapons close as they stealthly crossed the border and headed to the tree line.

[Sharfghotten]

The Sharfghotten ground forces came to the edge of a wide expanse of tall grass, much of it reaching to their stomachs and higher.

"Don't stray across the border" hissed the Sergant. "We don't need to give them an excuse."

The soldiers and vehicles began slowly marching through the grass.

[Novacron]

The Black Berets remained deadly still. Now all the could do was hope that the enemy didn't step directly on them. If it looked like they were going to, the soldier would pull them to the ground, cover their mouths and slit their throats, silent and deadly killers the Black Berets could do that. They hoped that the enemy would get furhter way before they noticed their loss. For now however, all they could do was lie very, very still.

[Sharfghotten]

A BMP-1 slowly trundled towards the stock-still black beret's location, flanked by a pair of very bored looking troopers. They held their assault rifles loosely, mainly depending upon the gun slings looped over their necks. But bored as they were, it was unlikely they would fail to notice tripping over a prone figure in the grass.

The BMP however would be less likely to notice. 13.2 tonnes of heavy metal was rolling towards the berets in the grass on a pair of spiked, all terrain treads.

[Novacron]

The Black Berets swore. And promptly cralwed as quickly, but still as stealthly as possibe out of the way of the BMP. They then turned their attention to two troopers on either side. Ready to end their lives in a flash.

[Sharfghotten]

The BMP passed on, unknowing of the black berets that had only narrowly missed being crushed by its treads.

One soldier stepped over the black berets. His left foot, in the lead, cleared. His right brought itself into step, catching on a loose equipment tag on the beret's back.

"Shit!" gasped the trooper, losing his footing and flailing headfirst into the grass.

"Christ, man!" snapped his companion, stopping and turning around. "You're holding up the line, let's go."

[Novacron]

The Black Berets heart raced. His silenced weapon ready to down the man if he realised that he had tripped over a person. The two soliders on the other side ahd the other soldier in their sights as well. It had come down to it, this was the defineing moment.