Ace Combat: Broken Line (IC/Open)

[Empire of Donner land]

2nd Lieutenant Amabel Allard
"Knot"

It was only a few hours into her reading of magazines left lying around in the lobby on a table by a couch that she heard ruckus, Morena had finally returned from their trip to the Zoo. She kept her self hidden in a fashion magazine, hiding from not only the entire Squadron but those that had been involved in her incident not long ago. Luckily those that stayed and those that had just arrived didn't pay much notice to her.

She was starved from any good reading material, it was purely gossipy tabloids, cringey Teen Girl magazines or an old news paper from over a year ago. She would have preferred a novel, something with story, maybe non-fiction, but for now all she had were those. Her trip to the book store was ended at the confrontation with an old friend, maybe she would go again some time soon but she doubted she would find the time again.

She stayed sitting on the couch for a few minutes reading another tabloid, the stories they made up were almost as entertaining as any other book, almost. She pondered going into the bar, breaking her silence with Morena, a few minutes more and she convinced herself she would. Begrudgingly, regretfully and slowly she got up and put the magazine down on the table. Knot walked around the middle of the lobby and into the Bar, the smell of alcohol strangely wasn't in the air as much as she thought it would have been. Looking to her left she saw four gathering around the pool table beginning their game. She recognized all but one of them, Tula, Angel and Noel. The third woman wasn't Seianese so they couldn't have been from one of the other Squadron's. Outside of the Pool Table Haruna and Yuria sat nearby conversing watching them play. Amabel felt it wise not to attract their attention.

Looking to her right while sitting at the bar, she saw the rest of some of Morena at the Bar or around it. Notably Null and Pearsohn conversing, Pearsohn surprisingly not drunk. This reminded her she would have to return the bottle he had gifted her, she didn't deserve it.

As Morena took to their festivities, Amabel sat silent and listened closely hoping to keep somewhat in touch with what was going on.

[Prosorusiya]

2nd Lieutenant Hanna Tula
Uena Zoo, Seian

"You with Morena Squadron?" A woman asked behind Hanna.

Turning around from the Pandas Hanna studied the speaker for a moment before replying in her Dorusian accent "Uh...yeah. Just joined up. I'm, sorry, do I know you?"

It wasn't long after that another woman approached and said her name as she greeted the pilot, stating she'd gotten lost in the subway.

"Um...ok. How do you know me? Are you in the Squadron? I'm sorry, I literally just joined up last night." Hanna replied.

"I saw you last night at the dining hall... you and your brother flew in with the Black Phantom, right? I try and make a point of knowing all the girls in the squadron as best I can. I'm in Morena Squadron, but in Hangman flight rather than Ghost. Looking forward to flying with you." Nona was blushing a little more, now, this was getting embarrassing. She never thought she'd come off as a bit too social, and yet her she was. She just hoped Hana wasn't upset with her now, it would make things awkward. Well, more awkward anyways.

[Beiarusia]

2nd Lt. Mitsuko Kimura “Angel”
Bar, Jjang Hotel, Ansan

...

Angel nodded her head as Vlad gave her some helpful advice, her eyes darting to follow the cue ball as it slammed into the others with a sharp crack. Predicting angles would be simple enough. She was a fighter pilot after all, knowing how to angle oneself was near second nature. As for form, well, she got a pretty good idea from watching Noel but Vlad, ever helpful, was willing to aid her there as well.

"Spots. You're stripes."

She stepped up, eyeing the table and spying a striped ball, 13, that would be an easy hit into a side pocket. Leaning over the table, maybe too much so that her rear end was out too far, Angel lined up her shot, holding the cue as best she could but feeling that something was off. “Like this?” she asked, waiting to take the shot.

[SaintB]

"Its the same in Osea." Garret replied, "But the WSO is only allowed to take over if there is an issue with the pilot; I'm too much of a control freak to sit backseat is all."

Garret listened to the little story about Bull and nodded, "I'll have to hear it sometime. I'm buying a few rounds for my new ace tonight maybe you could join us in the hotel lobby bar."

Only a couple, Garret had seen too many people in the squadron drinking too much for his liking. With the missions the squadron taking already getting more dangerous after only a week the drinking was becoming more and more frequent than he liked. The contract he was in wasn't ironclad, he could leave and go back to Levant, or somewhere else, if he wanted to and he had spent much of the morning thinking about it while he went about his morning routine.

Later
As Garret entered the bar he already spotted several members of Morena Squadron nursing drinks and conversating with one another. He wasn't surprised to see Angel and Markus among their number since he noticed they seemed to be two of the worst offenders when it came to the drinking problem he was seeing. He took a table in the middle of the room and waved off the first server who approached, telling them to com back in a little while.

Lt. Zach "Knight" Steele, Zoo

Zach nodded. "We just might do that, but don't expect us to drink to much, only time both of us drink heavily is when we are on leave, other wise we are on duty so we limit ourselves to 1 beer a hour, 3 beers a day for the most part." Zach replied to Garret.


Joseph and Zach enjoyed the rest of the trip around the zoo. They went with the others back to the Hotel


2nd Lt. Joseph "Bull" Bridden, 1st Lt. Zach "Knight" Steele


They walked into the bar a little after Garret. They looked around, Zach spotted Garret and walked over to him, Joseph followed behind. Zach looked back at Joseph and smiled. "Hey Garret, mind if we join ya? This is Joseph "Bull" Bridden, my pilot. Joseph this is Garret "Shark" Jones, lead of Flight 2." Zach said.

From his seat at the table he offered up a hand to Joseph, "You can call me Garret or Shark, in the air you can call me Shark or Hangman 1. Nona just made Ace status this morning so I owe her a drink tonight. If you two want to join feel free. I'm not exactly a poor man so I'll buy for yin's too."

[Relikai]

Second Lieutenants Shimazaki Haruna 'Shinden', Kanzaki Yuria 'Reppu'
Hotel Jjang, Ansan

The two pilots saw the break, as Noel started the game with a well placed opener. Neither Haruna nor Yuria were billiard players, but they could appreciate sports and games played all over Seian. They were more of runners and dancers, which explained their lithe and athletic forms, but being a pilot for Yuria, or a librarian staff for Haruna back in Koga, seeing such games were inevitable, and a source of socialization with other personnel.

"Told you her oshiri is nice." Haruna said in Seianese as she subtly motioned to Angel's form, leaning low over the table with her butt sticking out.

"Still not as good as yours." Yuria casually replied in the language, allowing the smaller pilot to toss a roasted peanut her way.

[Kyraina]

Lt. Zach "Knight" Steele, Zoo

Zach nodded. "We just might do that, but don't expect us to drink to much, only time both of us drink heavily is when we are on leave, other wise we are on duty so we limit ourselves to 1 beer a hour, 3 beers a day for the most part." Zach replied to Garret.


Joseph and Zach enjoyed the rest of the trip around the zoo. They went with the others back to the Hotel


2nd Lt. Joseph "Bull" Bridden, 1st Lt. Zach "Knight" Steele


They walked into the bar a little after Garret. They looked around, Zach spotted Garret and walked over to him, Joseph followed behind. Zach looked back at Joseph and smiled. "Hey Garret, mind if we join ya? This is Joseph "Bull" Bridden, my pilot. Joseph this is Garret "Shark" Jones, lead of Flight 2." Zach said.

From his seat at the table he offered up a hand to Joseph, "You can call me Garret or Shark, in the air you can call me Shark or Hangman 1. Nona just made Ace status this morning so I owe her a drink tonight. If you two want to join feel free. I'm not exactly a poor man so I'll buy for yin's too."

2nd Lt Joseph "Bull" Bridden, 1st Lt Zach "Knight" Steele

Joseph took Garret's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Garret, you can call me Joseph, Joe, or Bull, In the I'm Bull or Scarecrow 3 if I remember correctly. I wouldn't mind a drink, it's been along day for me. Flying from North Point, trying to sleep in a cramp cockpit, a nap with some bad memories, and then the Zoo Trip, I could use a drink. Zach I don't know about though, getting a little long in the tooth for this kinda thing though." Joseph said the last part lightheartedly as he took a seat across the table.

Zach shook his head and said "Yeah, It's been a long day that's for sure. What's funny is that Joseph and I have flown several Sorties against Erusea, but we only have 4 splashes between us, all 4 have came when we were A-10 pilots, and 3 of those splashes were Joseph's and 2 of those came in his last Sortie. Yeah I think I will have a drink as well. I will show how long in the tooth I am one of these days Joseph." Zach said as he took a seat next to Joseph and glared at him.

[Independent States of Tula]

2nd Lieutenant Vladimir Tula & 2nd Lieutenant Hanna Tula
Jjang Hotel Bar, Seian

As Angel moved to line up her shot Vladimir found himself staring at her...asset, as she tried to replicate Noel's form.

She came close but was a bit off in a few places, still Vladimir had to catch himself staring when Angel asked "Like this?"

Quickly coming back to reality Vladimir looked over the rest of Angel's form before replying "Hmm...you're almost there, let me just help adjust your form real quick."

With that Vlad approached behind Angel and brought his arms around her to rest them over her own hands, his body very, very close to Angel's.

"First, you want your dominant hand to be about an inch back from where the cue balance's on the wrapped area, you're a bit too far forward there. Otherwise you're doing everything with your non-dominant hand...just make sure the cue rests on your middle finger up there within the circle you form with your fingers." Vladimir stated as he slowly pulled Angel's right hand back with his own until it was in just the right place.

"You're foot placement is perfect right now, but you need to turn your upper body a bit, I'm going to turn my own body with your's alright? Just move your body in the opposite direction of the pressure my body'll put on your back alright?" Again, Vlad moved slowly as he began turning his body, his torso pressing against Angel's back as it turned into the proper shooting position, Angel reacting and moving with Vladimir until she was in the correct turned position.

"You want to keep that turn on your body so it doesn't get in the way of when you're trying to shoot, now while it's also good to lean into the shot to give it power you're a bit too far forward. I'm going to pull back a bit, just come up a little until your back's pressed firmly against my chest, alright?" Vladimir asked before pulled back from his intense lean to a more proper one.

Angel pulled back too, her back coming firmly against Vladimir's firm athletic torso, Vladimir kept himself there a few moment's longer than necessary before letting go of Angel's hands and saying "Alright, perfect, shoot like this and you'll be sinking stripes like crazy."

With that Vladimir finally pulled away from Angel a few steps so she could take her shot. To most women that would've been one of the more blunt ways for a man to show he was more interested in her than just teaching her how to shoot. That much was evident at least to Hanna who had to fight to keep her mouth from dropping open across the table. Looking to her billiards partner Hanna's eyes asked if he'd just seen what she did before she looked back to Angel to see her reaction. Vladimir for his part just smirked as he waited to see if Angel could make the shot after that little effort of his to get her in the right position.

[Pan Asian Amercian Coalition]

2nd Lieutenant Selissa 'Boxer' Murrant
Evening. Jjan Hotel, Ansan International Airport.

The telltale sounds of a bar, the clinking of glasses against another and the cracks of a game of pool barely filtered into the repurposed conference room. At first Selissa merely thought the noises were tricks played on her by some unnoticed hearing damage, but she eventually realized the noise was that the other pilots had arrived and were currently enjoying the bar. It took her a brief moment to summon all of her courage before she was ready to meet her new squadron.

Selissa entered the bar silently, the only indication of her presence the sudden and faint scent of peppermint near the entrance, a scent that slowly drifted towards the billiards table as she passed through most of the squadron unnoticed. She had consciously chosen the pool table, as it was a natural place to get to know a few pilots and would probably be one of the more welcoming places at the bar. Plus she didn't drink, so the pool table was the only other real reason to even come to the bar.

She arrived to the sight of one of the pilots practically laying on one of the others, guessing that he was 'helping' her learn the game by feeling her up, and made a mental note to keep a close eye on that pilot. Taking one last steadying breath as she place her cup down on a nearby table, she approached the group. Just introduce yourself; hey I'm the new pilot, not some spy or something and play a quick game of pool. Then we can finish reading. But first:

"Mind if I play next game?" she asked, surprising herself with the smooth and calm delivery. She quickly congratulated herself mentally at not stuttering and making a fool of her self as she waited for an answer.

[SaintB]

From his seat at the table he offered up a hand to Joseph, "You can call me Garret or Shark, in the air you can call me Shark or Hangman 1. Nona just made Ace status this morning so I owe her a drink tonight. If you two want to join feel free. I'm not exactly a poor man so I'll buy for yin's too."

2nd Lt Joseph "Bull" Bridden, 1st Lt Zach "Knight" Steele

Joseph took Garret's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Garret, you can call me Joseph, Joe, or Bull, In the I'm Bull or Scarecrow 3 if I remember correctly. I wouldn't mind a drink, it's been along day for me. Flying from North Point, trying to sleep in a cramp cockpit, a nap with some bad memories, and then the Zoo Trip, I could use a drink. Zach I don't know about though, getting a little long in the tooth for this kinda thing though." Joseph said the last part lightheartedly as he took a seat across the table.

Zach shook his head and said "Yeah, It's been a long day that's for sure. What's funny is that Joseph and I have flown several Sorties against Erusea, but we only have 4 splashes between us, all 4 have came when we were A-10 pilots, and 3 of those splashes were Joseph's and 2 of those came in his last Sortie. Yeah I think I will have a drink as well. I will show how long in the tooth I am one of these days Joseph." Zach said as he took a seat next to Joseph and glared at him.

"Splashes in a Warthog? Sorry you Northpointers call them Thunderbolts or Twos. I wanna hear about how you did that, I'm assuming with sidewinders?"

Genuine interest tinted his voice; he'd never heard of a 'hog taking down another aircraft but he had witnessed them laying utter waste to whatever was below them. Jones himself was up to twenty and that was just the ones confirmed by others. He had scored at least as many more unconfirmed during the So-So War, most of which he had been paid for because the Sotoans weren't overly concerned with verifying the records of their mercs.

[Beiarusia]

2nd Lt. Mitsuko Kimura “Angel”
Bar, Jjang Hotel, Ansan

Vlad was helpful. Perhaps too helpful, and while most women would recognize the advances Angel was too focused, and too dense, to give it much thought. She didn’t mind how close his body was to hers. Angel was an open sort of person and it would take a lot to make her uncomfortable.

The shot was lined up and, according to Vlad, her form was near perfect. It was only a matter of pulling back the cue and giving the hit just enough power to sink the striped ball into the pocket. Likewise too soft a hit and the ball would putter out too soon. Angel took a moment to gauge how hard she would need to hit, pulling the wooden pool cue back and bringing its blue-powdered tip to the cue ball a few times to get a feel for its weight. Readying her shot, she pulled back and-

"Mind if I play next game?"

Angel had been so focused that the sudden voice startled her, causing the pool cue to slam into the cue ball harder than anticipated, sending it rocketing into the striped ball which bounced against the rim of the table. Needless to say she missed the pocket by a wide margin.

“Damn,” Angel muttered with a frown, standing and holding the pool cue like one would a rifle in a line. She looked over to see who had joined them, instantly brightening at the sight of a new face. Angel was too social to stay mad for long. Glancing over to Vlad she said, “Thanks, but I missed.”

[Kyraina]

2nd Lt Joseph "Bull" Bridden, 1st Lt Zach "Knight" Steele

Joseph took Garret's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Garret, you can call me Joseph, Joe, or Bull, In the I'm Bull or Scarecrow 3 if I remember correctly. I wouldn't mind a drink, it's been along day for me. Flying from North Point, trying to sleep in a cramp cockpit, a nap with some bad memories, and then the Zoo Trip, I could use a drink. Zach I don't know about though, getting a little long in the tooth for this kinda thing though." Joseph said the last part lightheartedly as he took a seat across the table.

Zach shook his head and said "Yeah, It's been a long day that's for sure. What's funny is that Joseph and I have flown several Sorties against Erusea, but we only have 4 splashes between us, all 4 have came when we were A-10 pilots, and 3 of those splashes were Joseph's and 2 of those came in his last Sortie. Yeah I think I will have a drink as well. I will show how long in the tooth I am one of these days Joseph." Zach said as he took a seat next to Joseph and glared at him.

"Splashes in a Warthog? Sorry you Northpointers call them Thunderbolts or Twos. I wanna hear about how you did that, I'm assuming with sidewinders?"

Genuine interest tinted his voice; he'd never heard of a 'hog taking down another aircraft but he had witnessed them laying utter waste to whatever was below them. Jones himself was up to twenty and that was just the ones confirmed by others. He had scored at least as many more unconfirmed during the So-So War, most of which he had been paid for because the Sotoans weren't overly concerned with verifying the records of their mercs.

2nd. Lt Joseph Bridges, 1st Lt Zach Steele

"I call them hogs, I spent some time in the Infantry and fought beside the Usean Infantry who called them Hogs. Two kills were do to winders, my last one was with the GAU-8. I got a bit lucky with that one. The first kill came when I got the call sign of Bull. We flew down to a FCU base then into Amber, from there to the front lines of Erusea vs Amber, and FCU. When we hit the front lines, we had some ground forces getting hammered by Vikings, Mig-17s, A-10s and SU-25s. The enemy planes were taking turns doing assault runs because we didn't have CAP Aircraft in the area, and they were a few seconds behind us. So instead of waiting I flew through were most of the enemy fighters were at and scattered them, Zach and the others said I flew through the enemy flight Like a Bull charging through a fine China Shop, hence the Callsign of Bull. After they scattered, I got behind a SU-25 that was about to make a run on some of our Infantry, and I was out of GAU-8 Range, but in Winder range, so I let one fly, he pulled up and deployed countermeasures, and I let another one fly and it went right up his tail pipe, right after that our CAP arrived and the enemy planes scattered as their CAP was rolled. The Last Two Kills came in North East Usea. We were returning from a Attack Sortie with our Escort of F-15s and F-14s, My dad in charge of the 15s, my fiance in charge of the 14s. We were attacked by 5 flights of 14s with Phoenix long range missiles. Roughly Half of our escort was destroyed in the first Salvo Phoenixes. My Fiance ordered their remaining planes to turn around and attack the aircraft attacking us. Then 3 Flights of Mig-29s then hit the 15s while the 14s from each side were fighting each other. My flight and the other 2 flights of Hogs hit the deck and went into the canyons that cover North East Usea. After we Docked and weaved through the Canyons, Our escorts won or so we thought. As the Enemy Migs, and 14s retreated, 2 14s and 1 EF-111 Raven was flying in to do launch a attack, all while Jamming our E-3 was being. Our escorts from back up on us, and we went for North Point. We only had 3 15s and 2 14s left in our Escort, including my Father and Fiance. The 14s took out our escorts, My father and fiance were killed. We tried to get back to the canyons but the 14s launched the rest of their Phoenixes at us. We all deployed countermeasures and managed to get into the Canyons. One of the flights managed to take out the Raven, but at the cost of their craft. The earlier 14s and Migs came back and started to hunt us. We all managed to get out minus one really bad damaged Hog. So I turned around, headed back into the Canyons, and manage to get a Jump on two 14s that were playing with the Injured Hog with help of the E-3 of course, got one with both my winders, and the other with the GAU-8. Just as the other enemy fighters were about to attack us, A new CAP Arrived and drove off the enemy." Joseph said, he looked down at the table and had to stop several times to compose himself as he talked about the last part, his eyes distance, and his face looked older then his 26 years old.

Zach put his right hand on Joseph's shoulder and said "I just put a Maverick up a guys tail pipe by accident, as Joseph charged through the mass of enemy attack craft, I started a attack run on a enemy tank column. I launched a Maverick and a enemy SU-25 flew in front of the Maverick, and the Maverick went right up the guys tell pipe."

[SaintB]

"Splashes in a Warthog? Sorry you Northpointers call them Thunderbolts or Twos. I wanna hear about how you did that, I'm assuming with sidewinders?"

Genuine interest tinted his voice; he'd never heard of a 'hog taking down another aircraft but he had witnessed them laying utter waste to whatever was below them. Jones himself was up to twenty and that was just the ones confirmed by others. He had scored at least as many more unconfirmed during the So-So War, most of which he had been paid for because the Sotoans weren't overly concerned with verifying the records of their mercs.

2nd. Lt Joseph Bridges, 1st Lt Zach Steele

"I call them hogs, I spent some time in the Infantry and fought beside the Usean Infantry who called them Hogs. Two kills were do to winders, my last one was with the GAU-8. I got a bit lucky with that one. The first kill came when I got the call sign of Bull. We flew down to a FCU base then into Amber, from there to the front lines of Erusea vs Amber, and FCU. When we hit the front lines, we had some ground forces getting hammered by Vikings, Mig-17s, A-10s and SU-25s. The enemy planes were taking turns doing assault runs because we didn't have CAP Aircraft in the area, and they were a few seconds behind us. So instead of waiting I flew through were most of the enemy fighters were at and scattered them, Zach and the others said I flew through the enemy flight Like a Bull charging through a fine China Shop, hence the Callsign of Bull. After they scattered, I got behind a SU-25 that was about to make a run on some of our Infantry, and I was out of GAU-8 Range, but in Winder range, so I let one fly, he pulled up and deployed countermeasures, and I let another one fly and it went right up his tail pipe, right after that our CAP arrived and the enemy planes scattered as their CAP was rolled. The Last Two Kills came in North East Usea. We were returning from a Attack Sortie with our Escort of F-15s and F-14s, My dad in charge of the 15s, my fiance in charge of the 14s. We were attacked by 5 flights of 14s with Phoenix long range missiles. Roughly Half of our escort was destroyed in the first Salvo Phoenixes. My Fiance ordered their remaining planes to turn around and attack the aircraft attacking us. Then 3 Flights of Mig-29s then hit the 15s while the 14s from each side were fighting each other. My flight and the other 2 flights of Hogs hit the deck and went into the canyons that cover North East Usea. After we Docked and weaved through the Canyons, Our escorts won or so we thought. As the Enemy Migs, and 14s retreated, 2 14s and 1 EF-111 Raven was flying in to do launch a attack, all while Jamming our E-3 was being. Our escorts from back up on us, and we went for North Point. We only had 3 15s and 2 14s left in our Escort, including my Father and Fiance. The 14s took out our escorts, My father and fiance were killed. We tried to get back to the canyons but the 14s launched the rest of their Phoenixes at us. We all deployed countermeasures and managed to get into the Canyons. One of the flights managed to take out the Raven, but at the cost of their craft. The earlier 14s and Migs came back and started to hunt us. We all managed to get out minus one really bad damaged Hog. So I turned around, headed back into the Canyons, and manage to get a Jump on two 14s that were playing with the Injured Hog with help of the E-3 of course, got one with both my winders, and the other with the GAU-8. Just as the other enemy fighters were about to attack us, A new CAP Arrived and drove off the enemy." Joseph said, he looked down at the table and had to stop several times to compose himself as he talked about the last part, his eyes distance, and his face looked older then his 26 years old.

Zach put his right hand on Joseph's shoulder and said "I just put a Maverick up a guys tail pipe by accident, as Joseph charged through the mass of enemy attack craft, I started a attack run on a enemy tank column. I launched a Maverick and a enemy SU-25 flew in front of the Maverick, and the Maverick went right up the guys tell pipe."

Garret sat in stunned silence for a moment, surprised that a fellow pilot had opened up about that so quickly. Its not like most jet jocks were shy or anything but even among alpha personality types like them a story like this wasn't something that most people just opened up about right away. After a moment of silence he finally spoke up, trying to change the subject, "That certainly requires a drink." he said as he waved over a server.

"Me, I have 20 confirmed, and I don't know how many probables or unconfirmed I have... too many is the number I would use."

This war needed to blow over. Bierusia couldn't have had much more steam to keep up the air war after what happened last night and this morning. They had tried using 40 year old interceptors and attackers as air superiority craft this morning - it was either a ploy or they were desperate, "Seems like the woman of the hour does not plan on joining us - nor the rest of Hangman..."

[Kyraina]

2nd. Lt Joseph Bridges, 1st Lt Zach Steele

"I call them hogs, I spent some time in the Infantry and fought beside the Usean Infantry who called them Hogs. Two kills were do to winders, my last one was with the GAU-8. I got a bit lucky with that one. The first kill came when I got the call sign of Bull. We flew down to a FCU base then into Amber, from there to the front lines of Erusea vs Amber, and FCU. When we hit the front lines, we had some ground forces getting hammered by Vikings, Mig-17s, A-10s and SU-25s. The enemy planes were taking turns doing assault runs because we didn't have CAP Aircraft in the area, and they were a few seconds behind us. So instead of waiting I flew through were most of the enemy fighters were at and scattered them, Zach and the others said I flew through the enemy flight Like a Bull charging through a fine China Shop, hence the Callsign of Bull. After they scattered, I got behind a SU-25 that was about to make a run on some of our Infantry, and I was out of GAU-8 Range, but in Winder range, so I let one fly, he pulled up and deployed countermeasures, and I let another one fly and it went right up his tail pipe, right after that our CAP arrived and the enemy planes scattered as their CAP was rolled. The Last Two Kills came in North East Usea. We were returning from a Attack Sortie with our Escort of F-15s and F-14s, My dad in charge of the 15s, my fiance in charge of the 14s. We were attacked by 5 flights of 14s with Phoenix long range missiles. Roughly Half of our escort was destroyed in the first Salvo Phoenixes. My Fiance ordered their remaining planes to turn around and attack the aircraft attacking us. Then 3 Flights of Mig-29s then hit the 15s while the 14s from each side were fighting each other. My flight and the other 2 flights of Hogs hit the deck and went into the canyons that cover North East Usea. After we Docked and weaved through the Canyons, Our escorts won or so we thought. As the Enemy Migs, and 14s retreated, 2 14s and 1 EF-111 Raven was flying in to do launch a attack, all while Jamming our E-3 was being. Our escorts from back up on us, and we went for North Point. We only had 3 15s and 2 14s left in our Escort, including my Father and Fiance. The 14s took out our escorts, My father and fiance were killed. We tried to get back to the canyons but the 14s launched the rest of their Phoenixes at us. We all deployed countermeasures and managed to get into the Canyons. One of the flights managed to take out the Raven, but at the cost of their craft. The earlier 14s and Migs came back and started to hunt us. We all managed to get out minus one really bad damaged Hog. So I turned around, headed back into the Canyons, and manage to get a Jump on two 14s that were playing with the Injured Hog with help of the E-3 of course, got one with both my winders, and the other with the GAU-8. Just as the other enemy fighters were about to attack us, A new CAP Arrived and drove off the enemy." Joseph said, he looked down at the table and had to stop several times to compose himself as he talked about the last part, his eyes distance, and his face looked older then his 26 years old.

Zach put his right hand on Joseph's shoulder and said "I just put a Maverick up a guys tail pipe by accident, as Joseph charged through the mass of enemy attack craft, I started a attack run on a enemy tank column. I launched a Maverick and a enemy SU-25 flew in front of the Maverick, and the Maverick went right up the guys tell pipe."

Garret sat in stunned silence for a moment, surprised that a fellow pilot had opened up about that so quickly. Its not like most jet jocks were shy or anything but even among alpha personality types like them a story like this wasn't something that most people just opened up about right away. After a moment of silence he finally spoke up, trying to change the subject, "That certainly requires a drink." he said as he waved over a server.

"Me, I have 20 confirmed, and I don't know how many probables or unconfirmed I have... too many is the number I would use."

This war needed to blow over. Bierusia couldn't have had much more steam to keep up the air war after what happened last night and this morning. They had tried using 40 year old interceptors and attackers as air superiority craft this morning - it was either a ploy or they were desperate, "Seems like the woman of the hour does not plan on joining us - nor the rest of Hangman..."

2nd Lt Joseph "Bull" Bridden, 1st Lt Zach "Knight" Steele


"Believe me, but I've had plenty of practice talking about it my last couple years in I went through 6 squadrons, before I ended up under Zach's command yet again, He helped straighten me out quite a bit.I have a hard time talking about it, but I'd rather get it out in the air now and not have to worry about it. I learned that the hard way in the Infantry. I hardly talk about what i seen as rifleman. It's easier to coupe with the Losses of my Father and Fiance then my days in the Infantry. Any way 20 kills, so your what a quad Ace then? I'm not really surprised after the day y'all had yesterday." Joseph said as he shook his head and composed himself.

Zach shook his head. "20 kills, I couldn't imagine such a thing was possible, even in a career. I'll have to buy you a drink after our first sortie with y'all. I am surprised, I never known pilots to really miss a chance to get a free drink. It just a little strange to me, and what's with all the shy pilots?" Zach said as he leaned back in his chair.

[Independent States of Tula]

2nd Lieutenant Vladimir Tula & 2nd Lieutenant Hanna Tula
Jjang Hotel Bar, Seian

“Thanks, but I missed.” Angel stated as she looked over to Vladimir after glancing at the new face that had interrupted her shot.

"Hey, it's no big deal, you'll get it next time." Vladimir replied, a lasting smirk from Angel not pushing against his advances, which traditionally meant she was as interested in him as he was here...or at least was playing hard to get since she wasn't making too much notice of his actions.

Hanna for her part just shook her head, she resigned that she'd have to speak with Vladimir again and try to get him to back off, this sort of behavior violated so many clauses of the Dorusian rulebook on etiquette. Failing that she could always ask Angel to distance herself, after all she was an actual member of the Dorusian Air Force, maybe she'd be more willing to listen to reason?

Still, Hanna looked over to her partner, Noel and said "When it's my turn to shoot, do me a favor, and don't try to pull any moves like that. My brother got away with it, but I'm one for following proper military etiquette."

Looking away Hanna noticed two other pilots from Morena, two female Seianese ones, watching the game and she suddenly found her face heating up in embarrassment at her brother's actions.

'This is going to be a long night.' Was all Hanna could think about at that moment.

[Beiarusia]

Capt. Aleksei Tallow “Null”
00:13 September 26, 1992 // Jjang Hotel, Ansan, Seian

Null was still awake. He was in the fourth floor lounge, reading the book that he had yet to finish. Angel was asleep on the couch beside him. Thankfully she had been conservative with her drinking and had drifted off due to general exhaustion rather than from the effects of alcohol. She had gone to bed hours ago but, for one reason or another, couldn’t sleep and had instead sought out the company of Null, the two of them having talked for some time before sleepiness overtook her as it would a child. She seemed comfortable enough where she was so Null hadn’t bothered to wake her.

“You’re up late.”

“Not tired,” Null answered rather plainly, not bothering to look up at Natsuko. He turned to the next page.

Angel’s twin sister was standing with her arms crossed, not yet dressed for bed but having stripped down into something more casual than her fatigues. She was watching her sister. The gentle rise and fall of her chest. The peaceful look on her face. Natsuko could only grin.

The twins had been separated shortly after birth and hadn’t met until a few years back. There was a lot that Natsuko did not know about her sister, though not for lack of trying, and it was safe to assume that Null may well know more about Angel than her own blood relative. An odd situation to be sure. They had made attempts to catch up, to get to know one another like sisters should, twins especially, but their duties to their respective countries had kept them apart. Visits were few and far between and never as long as they should be. It was obvious that this bothered Natsuko even if she wouldn’t outright say it. “Miki hasn’t been too much of a handful has she? She can be a little hard-headed at times.”

“No more than usual. Something wrong?” Null closed his book.

The young woman was taken aback by the sudden question. “No. It’s just-”

“You miss her.”

Natsuko said nothing for a long moment but eventually nodded her head.

Null kept his eyes trained forward. Passive but with a look of slight contemplation. “I think she misses you too, though I doubt she’d admit it. Probably why she acts out like she does.” Could well explain her unbridled love for alcohol in any case but that was only a theory at this point. “You two should take leave after all this is said and done.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“I know I’m right.”

“Yeah. You know, you’re nothing like I expected. Not that it’s bad thing or whatever,” she added in a small fluster. “Miki just sort of made you out as some great pilot, so I kinda expected a hardass but you’re not that bad a person. I’m glad for that. Helps knowing that someone like you is keeping an eye on her and… I should stop talking now.” An uncomfortable pause took root in the air between them as Natsuko went silent. “Do you need help getting her to bed?”

Null shook his head. “Think i can manage.”

“There’s, like, nothing going on between you two, right?”

“No,” he deadpanned.

“Positive?”

“I think I’d know.”

“Yeah, well, I’m off to bed. Night.”

Natsuko hadn’t made it two steps when the elevator opened up with a soft ding that drew both her and Null’s attention. Zeeger and several SAF personnel were quick to rush out and pass the lounge, the mechanic pausing and backtracking after having spied the three pilots already within. He looked out of breath, as if he’d run over from the airport, and his usual carefree expression was now hidden behind a mask of worry. “Null, we have a problem.”

Never a good way to start a conversation.

“We lost contact with the frontline,” Zeeger explained after being told to go on. “Radio isn’t getting through to anybody and the radar is fucked. Our friends here don’t want to start a mass panic just yet, but this is looking awfully similar to what happened up north.”

“Koga.”

Zeeger nodded.

Natsuko looked between the two, confused. “What happened exactly back at Koga?”

“Radar interference just before the base was hit,” Null explained, already standing and shaking Angel rather hard to wake her. She groggily came to and was surprised to see both Natsuko and Zeeger in the lounge so late. “Up. Now.”

Angel yawned. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re going up,” was all Null needed to say.

“Fuck…,” Natsuko muttered as the gravity of the situation hit her. She turned to leave, no doubt to find her own squadron, but paused long enough to add, “Keep Miki outta trouble.”

Zeeger followed after and joined the SAF personnel in rousing the pilots of Morena while Null and Angel headed off to their respective rooms to grab their gear. It took Null only a few minutes to don his flight suit, slipping into his gear with practiced efficiency, and he was back in the hall just as the others were emerging, some confused and others deathly serious. There was no time for a briefing – not that Null knew what was happening – so the words emergency sortie would have to suffice until they were actually airborne. By some good fortune the SAF had commandeered several airport busses. At the very least they wouldn’t have to run over to the airport.

The pilots had only just reached the terminal when the first siren came to life.

“Everyone in the air now!” Null barked.

The words had only just left his mouth when Null was pulled aside by the collar of his flight suit by the Major, the large man having only had the time to grab his hat and to pin his medal to his undershirt. Cocoran was never in a good mood but tonight his was absolutely livid. “I don’t want a repeat of last time, you got that. We’re not getting caught with our pants down twice in a row.” He released his hold. “Don’t fuck this up.”

Null gave the Major a hard look. “Roger that.”

The airport was a hive of activity as Seianese personnel rushed about prepping various aircraft for takeoff. Several SAF J-7’s were already taxiing down the runway, gaining speed and pulling up into a steep climb once airborne. The distant roar of jet engines could be heard as well, though it was difficult to tell if they were friendlies or not.

The answer came soon enough as several MiG’s flew over the airport.

Shouts filled the air as soldiers readied the defenses, quickly getting the AAA online but not before more aircraft had flown pass overhead. Enemy planes were moving to establish air superiority over the runway so as to prevent more planes from taking off. Allied anti-air could make things difficult for the enemy but there was only so much to be done without proper air support. Regardless the AA was now picking targets in a valiant effort to keep the runway open for just a bit longer.

Null was sprinting across the tarmac and towards the hangars with Angel in his wake. Others were already in their planes, readying for takeoff, but some were lagging behind for one reason or another. Haruna and her co-pilot were hurrying along, the two having come to help despite not having a plane on hand, and ahead of them was Kopfjäger yelling for a crew to get his Tornado armed.

The scream of jets as several MiG-21’s rushed in for an attack against the airport, the aircraft twisting into a dive so as to unleash their heavy caliber cannons against whatever they could. Null was quick to grab Angel and Haruna, dragging the two – and Yuria whom Haruna managed to grab as well – to the ground as they all found themselves caught in the crossfire. Allied AA opened up in a thick blanket, tracer rounds tearing into the wings of the lead MiG and forcing it to abandon the attack run, but not before it managed to strafe several vehicles near the hangar housing the Tornado. In less than five seconds it was over.

“You guys all right?” Null asked, picking himself from the ground and offering a hand.

Angel took it. “I’m good. Haruna?”

Null looked over to where Kopfjäger had been standing, finding the man on the ground alongside several others who had been caught in the attack, the blood able to be seen easy enough even from this distance. Cursing to himself Null looked over to Haruna and her co-pilot. “Check the Tornado. If it’s good to fly then get airborne.” He didn’t give them a chance to argue.

The F-101 was ready to go when Null and Angel arrived. Null was taking point; Angel would be WSO. Closing the hatch, Null ran through the startup procedure while Angel took care of any pre-flight checks. Not that they could abort should something be wrong. Luckily everything shown green.

Null: << This is Scarecrow One to all flights. Clear the skies over the runway once you’re airborne. We can’t do much if we get shot down on takeoff. If you’re going first, well, keep your head down. >>

Four crimson F-16’s flew overhead.

Jiangshi-Leader: << This is Jiangshi. We got your backs. >>

Ansan ATC: << Runway is clear. Morena is cleared to begin takeoff. >>

“Null….”

He could hear the worry in her voice. “It won’t be like last time.”

Null hoped he was right.

Mission Theme: Skyburn

[Anowa]

Lt. Jason "Tombstone" Cain
Things had gone south faster than Jason was expecting, he was in the hangar storing his F-20, updating his kill tallies from the last sortie when the sirens started to wail.

"Ah, fuck." Jason deftly tossed the paint can and stencil over to the shelves in which various tools and assorted other miscellaneous items were stored. As a few mechanics already in the hangar began to ready the launch rails, Jason began climbing into the cockpit of his craft, he paused when he looked over his craft, the only repairs that were actually done were replacing a good portion of the paneling, the canopy, and the tail. Everything else still looked like a analogue for Swiss cheese. The drone of encroaching aircraft grew louder as a rather panicked Jason hurried to put his helmet on and strap in. He called out of the cockpit for the tech crew to mount a full compliment of sidewinders.

After going over his craft's various displays and controls, the ladder was pulled away and the wounded F-20's engines came alive, the tech crew certainly worked fast when under pressure. Jason made a mental note to give them a hearty thanks when he got back down to the tarmac. With a steady increase of throttle the aircraft pulled out out the hangar as the sounds of cannon burst -either from the AA on site or the aircraft above- reached Jason's ears. With a glance to his left he noticed that there weren't many other planes in sight, almost non in the taxi lane or on the actual runway. It appeared that Jason was the first of Morena to exit his hangar.

The taxi onto the runway was nerve wracking despite the lack of incoming gunfire. The darkness may have had something to do with it, along with the fact that Jason hadn't taken off under duress like this before, he hadn't yet encountered the sinking feeling of vulnerability in his piloting career. Regardless he managed to get off the runway and some distance away from the airport before he'd been targeted.

Much like the way a predator knows when their prey is wounded, a Fishbed approached from Tombstone's left with the full intent of killing the Emmerian national before he could put up a fight. It didn't work for the hostile pilot as Jason rolled and turned to his right, aiming to join the Fishbed as it blew past with an obvious miss of cannon fire.

Tombstone pursued the Bearusian pilot and kept up despite his craft's disability, a lock on and a press of a button and a sidewinder sped forth from his wingtip. The Fishbed popped countermeasures but it was too little too late, the sidewinder had a solid lock at the distance between the two pilots and the missile exploded firmly close to the plane, the light that came from the cockpit moments before a chair rocketed out of the vehicle indicated an ejection and the unnatural flames belching out of the engine signified a disabled plane.

A roll to disengage from the opposing plane's wreckage made Jason aware that his running lights were on, he promptly turned them off to avoid being spotted in the near pitch dark of the sleeping city.

Tombstone: <<Hangman-02, Splash one Fishbed. Make sure you turn off your running lights after you take off people.>>

As he continued looking around the skies for the glow of any engines, Jason was blissfully unaware of the fact he was leaking fuel quite heavily.

---

Kills:
1x MiG 21 Fishbed

[Ubaria]

Captain Noel 'Aguila' Silva
Jjang Hotel

For once Noel had decided to turn in early and get a full nights rest in, but it seemed fate, and the Beiarusian military had other plans in mind, once again the Sapinese Merc was awaking to the sounds of sirens wailing in the night, a repeat of events not too long passed.

"No puedo conseguir unos momentos de descanso?" Noel rattled off irritably to himself in his native tongue and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and started to gear up into his flight suit which was located in the wooden closet. From outside the room came the pounding of multiple booted feet on the carpeted floor, the rest of Morena were already making headway towards the airport, Noel could only hope that that there wasn't a repeat of last time where he was almost knocked out by a stray bomb blast, but they couldn't of made it that far into the city already...could they? There was no time to ponder, or to tame the wild black mess of bedhair, it was straight out the door and down the staircase, through the lobby and out into the parking lot where a bus was idling, a rather flustered airport technician was beckoning everybody in and Noel slid aboard one of the transports.

It didn't take too long to reach the terminal and from there, the hangars where the Mirage had just finished being fitted with the starboard side AiM-9, the ladder was ready and waiting to allow Noel to slide into the cockpit.

"She's been fueled and fitted, minus the drop-tank. You should be good though" One of the Seianese technicians shouted to him from below, Noel put a thumb up in reply and pulled the canopy down and locked it shut. Once the electronics had come online and his engine had spooled up, Noel tuned the radio to Ansan's Air Traffic Control and requested a takeoff.

<<Ansan Tower this is Ghost Lead, requesting takeoff from bay oh-four>>

A pause in transmission, it was likely the control tower was dealing with a lot of incoming chatter.

<<Ghost Lead this is Ansan Tower - Hold one.>>

<<Roger>>

Noel impatiently tapped the dash as he waited for clearance, the Air Traffic Controllers were probably having a literal nightmare trying to make sense of all the confused messages and shouting. Whilst he was waiting, a distant rumbling echoed through the skies, hard to pinpoint at first, but it didn't matter because with a few moments, all hell had been unleashed. A group of MiG-21's descended through the darkness with guns blazing, hoping to hit anything they could but the nearby AA made it hard to maintain course, they peeled off except for the lead element which had been struck, in its death throes it managed to carve through a nearby hangar with its cannon, detonating vehicles and blowing the structure fully open with anyone inside being engulfed in flames.

"Mierda!"

Noel pushed the throttle up and continued his effort to taxi to the runway, before the MiG's claimed him too.

<<Ansan Tower. I can't wait any longer. Proceeding with takeoff>>

<<Copy Ghost Lead. Clear to takeoff from runway eight. Godspeed.>>

A couple minutes later and the Mirage was in the air and all of his fears had been true, not only had the Beiarusians somehow slipped through the radar and ground net, they were in and above Ansan, tracers ripped through the sky as Jiangshi and Tenko fought the initial fighter wave, however the Mirage was powerless on its own against the hostile flights, so Noel sought out the support of his squadmates.


<<Ghost One to Scarecrow One. Do we have a gameplan here?>>

[Tayner]

Jeff Moreau
Joker
Jjang Hotel

Joker was awoken to the sound of pilots yelling, calling for some emergency sortie. He quickly threw on his flight suit before continuing to the terminal with the other pilots on the buses. The scene was frantic, to say the least. MIGs were making strafing runs on the airport, destroying vehicles and buildings left and right. Joker quickly found the volunteer from the last sortie, and his crew chief. "What's the situation?" Joker hollered to the chief.

"Allied planes are trying to get airborne, It's Koga all over again!"

"You were at Koga?" The volunteer questioned.

"Yeah, but this is worse. How is the Viking?" Joker yelled over chaos.

"We patched her up, but we're still arming her." The chief responded.

"Good, gives the fighters some time to get airborne. Get some Sidewinders and some 500 pounders on the Viking."

"You sure, air-to-air missiles on an attack aircraft?" The chief said.

"Well, I'm not going up there with cluster bombs man, they're for defense because I don't think enemy fighters will take kindly to me destroying their tanks. If I'm kicking the hornet's nest, I at least want some bug spray." He said, and with that, the chief ran off to make it so.

[Relikai]

Second Lieutenants Shimazaki Haruna 'Shinden', Kanzaki Yuria 'Reppu'
Ansan International Airport, Ansan

Haruna and Yuria were done watching the billiard game as they returned to their rooms. For once, Haruna looked at the half-finished bottle of wine, before deciding to abstain from drinking every day. Her depression was well controlled, and hidden, especially with Yuria by her side to chase her withdrawn personality away.

Yuria too, took out her mobile and considered calling HQ to enquire on her personal belongings, when everything went to hell. Technicians came running about, armed MPs alerting them about the situation by banging on the doors. Instinctively, Haruna and Yuria forgot that they were pilots without a plane, and dashed towards the trolley, where more vehicles were present to bring the pilots to the airport. The two ladies hopped into a jeep waiting by the foyer, where the driver brought them towards the flight line in near record timing.

"What's the news so far?" Yuria asked the driver, a hand on her head to prevent her long hair from flying all over the place.

"No idea, but not good. Get changed and airborne. That's what the officers said!"

"Right, thanks!"

Dashing along the flight line, the two saw Null and Angel running alongside them when a MiG-21 appeared, it's nose pointed at their general direction. Haruna reached out for her best friend, as someone, whom she'd realise as Null, pulled her down onto the tarmac as well. The bunch of them fell into a heap, as the sound of shells striking the ground informed them of the near miss.

For them, at least, not the pilot of the Tornado.

“You guys all right?”
“I’m good. Haruna?”

"We're good!" Yuria cried out, attempting to stand and help those caught in the fire when -

“Check the Tornado. If it’s good to fly then get airborne.”

Haruna and Yuria looked at the Multirole plane, and at the mess caused by the strafing attack. It was the only spare plane, and they were the only spare pilots of Morena. Nodding, Yuria grabbed Haruna and dragged her towards the Hangar, where their flight suits were. Yuria passed by the Tornado, and realised that it was almost ready to fly. No time to talk about armament, she'll figure it out once they're ready.

"Socks!" Haruna cried as she saw the kitten pawing against the padded cage. "Oh Socks... Yuria-"

"We can't, don't even think about it. Socks would not survive a flight at all! Haruna, come on!"

"Ye-yes..."

---

Socks

Humans? What's going on? Loud noises, everyone shouting... my ears hurt... please lower down the volume... it's stressful... what's going on? Mommy... where are you? Where are you going?

---

Zipped into their suit and carrying their helmets, Haruna looked at the bandage lying on the ground. Yuria wore a grimace as she moved her injured arm, trying to make sure that she could have adequate function of the limb.

"I'll take the pilot's position." Haruna said as she placed a hand on Yuria's uninjured shoulder.

"Have you flown jets before?" Yuria asked, knowing her friend's track record with aircraft.

"A Thunderstreak. I also flew jets in training remember? I only failed the day before because the J-7 suffered a turbulent spin and I redded-out."

Done with changing, Shinden and Reppu dashed out towards the Tornado, where the flight crew gave them a basic rundown of what's on the plane. The previous owner has a standard loadout prepared for the Tornado, a balanced mix for the multirole plane. It wasn't ideal, but they would have to improvise. Morena doesn't get to choose their battlefields everyday, neither would they ever be prepared for every situation.

"Two Sidewinders, seven ALARM missiles and one Flare and one ECM Pod. I don't know how you'll fare in the sky, but it's not going to change! Take care up there Yuria, I hope we could have done more!"

"Don't worry, we'll handle this." Reppu called to her colleagues. "Take care of yourselves and the kitten, I'll see you when it's over!"

"Reppu... We only have two air-to-air, how can we contribute after we expended them?" Shinden asked.

"Guns, Shinden. For now, secure the airport and do not let them damage the city. This is our home, damn!"

---

Shinden: << Tower, this is Scarecrow Five. Running lights are on. Request clearance to enter Runway via Taxiway 2-A. >>

Ansan ATC << Scarecrow Five, clearance granted. Hot take off and proceed to altitude once you're up. >>

Shinden: << Scarecrow Five Copy. >>

The Tornado's engines whined as the plane taxied out towards the long strip of runway, it's wings fully extended for maximum stability. It was an old plane, but the armaments were modern. Nonetheless, Morena did a good job in maintaining it's durability.

"Targeting radar set, navigational systems on." Reppu said as she observed the electronics in front of her. "Not too much difference from the Fighting Falcon."

"We're going on full afterburners, brace yourself Reppu."

As the Tornado turned to face the length of the runway, Shinden killed off her warning lights as the plane's thrusters ignited with fuel being injected directly into the turbines, sending the machine into a kick as it streaked down the runway.

Shaking and trembling as Shinden controlled the plane from veering off the runway, the pilot gently eased the stick back as the Tornado screamed into the air. Were she not in an open communications line, the silent scream of excitement and exhilaration from the experience would sure be audible.

Shinden: << Scarecrow Five-One to Scarecrow Flight, Scarecrow Five is airborne. Proceeding to initiate Combat Air Patrol along the runway. >>

Reppu: << Scarecrow Five-Two, Scarecrow Flight. Detecting numerous contacts over at Ansan Downtown, as well as the City north. Do we have air assets to provide cover? >>

The question remained unanswered for the moment as Shinden steered the Tornado in an arc, the plane shuddering as it caught onto the tail of a MiG-21. Similar to the plane which claimed the life of the Tornado's pilot, the machine seemed to be more than up to the task on it's quest for revenge.

Realising that it has a bandit on it's tail, the MiG tried to turn from it's attacking run, but the swept wings of the Tornado extended fully as the heavy plane powered closer, with Reppu locking onto their prey's trajectory with the machine gun. Shinden has bled speed from the plane as the jet's nose began to lead the MiG, and the pilot triggered a stream of 27mm shells at the Beiarusian plane, seeing the tracers curve slightly.

Miss, miss, miss, miss, hit, hit, hit, miss, miss.

Nearly Forty five rounds expended as the wing of the MiG-21 came apart, the cannon rounds tearing into the metal and sending the plane spinning into the ground. There was no ejection.

Shinden exhaled, her heartbeat reaching the upper scale as she could hear it beating ba-dum ba-dum-ba-dum ba-dum in her chest, exhaling as the G-Forces pushed her down. Behind, Reppu winced as the pressure suit squeezed her thighs, sending blood to her upper body, including her wounded arm and shoulder.

Shinden: << Scarecrow Five-One to Morena and Ansan, one MiG-Two-One down. Resuming CAP and engaging! >>

---

---

Kills - 1x MiG-21
Weapons Remaining
- 132x 27mm rounds
- 2x Sidewinders
- 7x ALARM
- 1x ECM Pod, 1x Flare Pod.

[Kyraina]

Second Lt. Joseph "Bull" Bridden, 1st Lt. Zach "Knight" Steele

Joseph and Zach had turned in early after having a drink with Garret. Joseph had entered a light sleep that was found in the infantry, and was woken up by the sound of running feet on the carpet. He had a bad feeling so he woke up Zach from his deep and loud snoring sleep.

Joseph was already getting in his flight suit and Zach saw this and immediately got out of bed and got in his flight suit.

Both ran onto the buses and arrived at the Hangers. They ran to the hanger housing the Thud, but Joseph saw a Mig dive towards the ground and make a strafing run. Joseph shoved Zach to the right and to the ground, who rolled to the side, as Joseph dove to his left. The bullets impacted between them. Joseph's head quickly followed the strafing run, and saw a dead pilot and a partly damaged tornado. Both men climbed back to their feet and ran to the hanger and ran a quick glance over the fighter. There were 5 Sidewinders on the outside pylons, with a couple Bullpup Air to ground missiles in the bomb bay.

Joseph and Zach quickly climbed into the cockpits and ran through their pre-flights checks. Upon seeing everything was green they taxied out of the to the run way.

Bull: <<Ansan Control, This is Scarecrow three. Running Lights are on. We are requesting takeoff clearance.>>

<<Scarecrow 3, this is Ansan Control. Cleareance is granted. You have a Hot takeoff. Get altitude and speed once you are in the air.>>

Joseph pushed the throttle all the way forward and the Thud rocketed down the runway and started to pull to the right. Instead of pulling back on the throttle, he forced the yoke to the left and managed to keep the thud going straight and the it quickly climbed into the sky.

"Knight get those Jammers going." Joseph said as he circled the airport and climbed.

He got to the desired altitude and looked around. He saw a Mig-21 go underneath him. He pulled back on the throttle pushed the yoke forward.

"Bull, the Jammers are online." Knight said as he monitored jammer frequencies. Bull nodded.

Bull: <<Scarecrow One this is Scarecrow three-one. Jammer is active. We are engaging now.>>

Bull got the thud behind the Mig-21 and sent 10 round burst at the Mig. 8 of the rounds impacted into the wing and 2 missed, the Mig pulled up and Bull followed the motion. Both planes leveled out and Joseph lined up his sights again. He fire another burst, this time of 40 rounds. 30 of the rounds impacted in the engine and along the fuselage and the Mig rolled over and plummeted to the ground.

Bull: <<Morena, Ansan, This is Scarecrow Three-One. Splash one Mig Two-One. Resuming CAP.>>

Bull hit the throttle and flew in a wide arc and spotted another target but the a loud beeping started to play in his ear.

"Bull, We have a bandit on us." Knight said. "I know that Knight, Find out how he is locking on to us. I'll keep him busy." Bull replied as he put the Thud into a dive. He pulled up and was flying just a 100 feet above the ground. He looked over his shoulder and saw a Mig-29 level out behind him. "Fuck Me," He said silently to himself. He heard the beeping again and cussed again. He put the plane into a climb and leveled the plane out. The Mig followed the Thud and Bull shook his head. "Hold on Knight, I'm gonna do a High G Over the Top Barrel Roll." Bull said as the started to preform the roll. The Mig, far enough back not to be fooled, preformed a High G underneath Barrel roll and the Two Planes to preform rolling scissors.

After a couple rolls Joseph cussed again as the Mig ended up behind them. The Mig got missile lock and launched a missile. Bull manage to do a spilt-s turn and the missile lost lock and missed them.

Bull: <<Morena, This is Scarecrow three-one, we need some help here. I got a bandit on my six and I can't shake him.>>

---

---

Kills: 1x Mig-21
Ammo:
978x 20mm
5x Aim-9
2x AGM-12

[Rupudska]

<<I'm airborne!>>

Shinobu had practically materialized on the base in time for the sirens to go up, looking somewhat disheveled. Not a good look for a pilot, but she had insisted that she was combat ready. And so here she was, in the air with four Sidewinders and two AMRAAMs on her crimson Falcon.

Hound found prey almost immediately. A Fulcrum had strayed from its group above the airport and was strafing the parking lot while waiting for aircraft to escape the Frogfoots and come into its waiting radar lock. Cars and trucks exploded as they burst into flames, or slammed into each other as they tried to avoid the Fulcrum's fire. When people tried to flee the cars, he shot them too.

Disgusting.

Pity the idiot got such tunnel vision that he didn't notice Hound getting right behind him.

<<Hound, guns!>>

The Fulcrum realized too late that it was being tailed, and stupidly pulled up directly into the path of the F-16's Vulcan cannon. Hound had more than a little satisfaction when she watched it burst into flames and crash harmlessly into a grassy area by the parking lot, far from anything else.

<<Morena Three-One, splash one Fulcrum. Who is in charge of evacuation?>>

[Beiarusia]

Capt. Aleksei Tallow “Null”
Ansan International Airport, Ansan, Seian

“Whoa!” Angel yelped as a plane went down just beyond the terminal, the ensuing fireball rising high into the night sky. The impact could be felt even this far out. “Was that one of ours?”

<<Morena Three-One, splash one Fulcrum. Who is in charge of evacuation?>>

“Probably not,” said Null.

Null: << This is Scarecrow One-one to Hound. Don’t worry about who’s doing what. Just keep this airspace clear. >>

Angel peered over the seat to Null. “Evacuation? Is it that bad?”

Null didn’t have an answer.

The Voodoo rolled onto the tarmac while chaos erupted above. A sitting duck should the enemy take notice. Reaching the runway the F-101 was granted clearance and Null wasted no time in getting the plane airborne, his running lights off so as to present less of a target. Pulling into a climb Null gained as much altitude as quickly as he could. No aircraft moved to intercept.

Null: << This is Scarecrow One. We’re airborne. >>

Bull: <<Morena, This is Scarecrow three-one, we need some help here. I got a bandit on my six and I can't shake him.>>

Angel craned her head in search of the Thunderchief, finding it with some ease as its running lights were still on. The shadow of a MiG was closing in from behind. “Got visual. Below and to the right.”

Null nodded as he caught sight of the two planes, banking the Voodoo so as to bring it into an intercept course. It was a poor angle of attack but it would be enough to shake the MiG. Radar-lock came soon enough, and though Null refrained from wasting a missile the enemy plane broke off in an evasive maneuver. Null moved into as short an arch as he could, trying to get behind the MiG, but the enemy pilot had already sighted the Voodoo and the two passed before either could get a lock. The Voodoo was unable to match the MiG’s maneuverability and was soon the one being pursued. Null wasn’t about to jump into a dogfight disadvantaged and made to put distance between him and the enemy plane, using his already fast speed to his advantage as he climbed higher. The MiG attempted to follow but didn’t get far before being cut off but tracer rounds. The plane was bisected just ahead of the tailplane, the pilot bailing as the aircraft fell from the sky.

Tokugawa: << A thank you if you don’t mind. >>

Angel: << Thanks, Naki. >>

Tokugawa: << Yeah, try to be careful up here. >>

The F-15’s of Mononoke were finishing takeoff, Natsuko having been the first of the four to get airborne. More planes were readying to join in after them, including what remained of Morena and the SAF AWACS Kokkuri, the large KJ-1 taxiing along the runway. Helicopters were also taking off from where they were stationed as reports came in of enemy forces within the city.

Civilian: << This is patrol car thirteen. We have reports of soldiers in the Zakiabara District. Can you confirm, over? >>

The sounds of gunfire could be heard over the radio.

Civilian: << Where did they come from!? Dammit, we need all units to- >>

Ally-G: << We have an enemy expeditionary force in the city. Fan out and engage. >>

Enemy cargo planes were passing low over the city, deploying their compliment of paratroopers before circling back to depart the area. To the north a similar action was being taken, the Beiarusian soldiers landing behind allied units and had severed them from the city, attack planes overhead to provide close-air support. More cargo planes were inbound with fighter escorts.

The AWACS was airborne and was now giving much needed information.

Kokkuri: << We are confirming enemy cargo planes delivering soldiers and armor into the city, as well as a bomber formation that is on course for the airport. You need to maintain air superiority. Reinforcements from Park Air Force Base are inbound now. >>

<<Ghost One to Scarecrow One. Do we have a gameplan here?>>

Null: << Take out those transports and bombers before the get over the city. >>

There would be collateral damage but should those planes go down over the city there was no telling how much damage would hit the city. They would have to hit the planes before the crossed over downtown or after they had passed, but by that point there would be little time to stop them from dropping their payload on the airport.

Cocoran: << This is Major Cocoran to all aircraft. Do not allow those bombers to get close to the airport no matter what. That’s not a suggestion but an order. >>

Null could only grit his teeth as he turned into the battle.

[Anowa]

Tombstone maintained a watchful eye over the airport, looking for the jetwash of any hostile craft, Scarecrow three had a spot of trouble, but it was dealt with accordingly by Null. Speaking of...

<<Ghost One to Scarecrow One. Do we have a gameplan here?>>

Null: << Take out those transports and bombers before the get over the city. >>

Jason found the goal of preventing a few Tupolevs from turning Ansan into a crater a good one, and turned North to intercept. The sight of thirty two aircraft on radar stared a hole into his soul. Tombstone hadn't faced that many craft in such a concentrated area before. Hell, prior to signing up with Morena the most he fought in were border skirmishes and the occasional rebel uprising. Both of which he'd be lucky to encounter thirty aircraft in a single sortie, let alone a single formation.

Tombstone: <<Hangman-Two here, I really hope I'm not the only one heading north.>>

Regardless of the response, Jason swallowed his fear, and pushed the throttle of his craft to full, even if he died, he'd do so trying to take something down with him.

[Tayner]

Second Lieutenant Jeff Moreau
Ansan International Airport

"We're ready!" The crew chief hollered to the pilots who were gearing up for the hot take off.

"Alright!" Joker replied as he put his flight helmet on. The two pilots got in the large Viking, and prepared for the sortie.

Joker: << Tower, this is Spider zero-three, permission to enter runway. >>

Ansan ATC: <<Permission granted Spider zero-three, prepare for a hot takeoff. >>

Joker: <<Coppy, Spider zero-three out.

The Viking taxied it's way onto the runway when it was it's turn, and took off into the night sky. The stakes were quite high, and if it was Joker's understanding that his presence would be most useful north of the city where the hostile force was attacking from. This was Joker's second sortie without Gunny, but he couldn't really wait for the more seasoned pilot to heal to start the mission. He looked over to his co-pilot, and nodded to him, and he nodded back. Now was not the time to think about these things, it was time to win a war.

"Alright, we're heading north, make sure the 500 pounders are ready, we're going to bomb as many tanks as we can before one of those fighters gets pissed at us. Copy?" He said to the younger pilot who volunteered to take the empty seat.

"Copy, just don't get us shot up like last sortie." The co-pilot said.

"No promises..." Joker said as he hit the throttle and sped off to the north.

Tombstone: <<Hangman-Two here, I really hope I'm not the only one heading north.>>

Joker: << No worries Hangman-Two, Spider-Three here, I'm headed that way too, over. >>

Joker looked at his radar, and saw the thirty two dots over the horizon, a whole formation coming at Ansan. "I count thirty two bogies in the air, and I see a fuckload of armor on the ground ahead, this is going to get pretty hot, so grab you ass." Joker said to his co-pilot.

At first, the bomber's escorts didn't pay much attention to the Viking, which was a good thing, giving him time to hit enemy armor before being chased off. Joker piloted the Viking over the battlefield, climbing up to get a good look at who would be his prey. He spotted three tanks that were stationery, whatever reason Joker didn't know, but he decided to strike. He brought the Viking into a dive, and leveled out just far enough over the ground to miss the obstacles below. He piloted over the tank in the center, and dropped a 500 pound bomb on it, the explosion twisting the tank into a hulk of scrap metal.

"Was that a hit?" Joker asked his co-pilot who confirmed the kill, and Joker soon made for another pass. The two remaining tanks were moving now, splitting up in an attempt to evade their death from above. Joker, naturally went for the tank that turned right, once again dropping a 500 pound bomb. This time however, the bomb narrowly missed the tank, exploding off of it's front right side, busting it's track. The tank crew quickly evacuated the tank, but it still didn't count as a kill. Joker took another pass at it, using his third 500 pounder to finish off the job, getting the co-pilot to confirm the hit.

Joker looked at his radar, and saw two dots break off the main formation heading his general direction. "We got two bandits moving to engage us, ready up." Joker said as he changed course to the third tank. He gave the Viking everything she had, the aircraft slightly shaking. Once he got close enough he dropped another 500 pounder, this time striking true, destroying the tank. He looked at the radar again to see the two dots still coming at him. He looked up and saw the two escorts, MiG-21s coming right at him. He changed course right at them, and targeted each one with a sidewinder, and fired the missiles.

Joker: << Fox Two, Fox Two. >>

He reported the missile fire to his squadron mates, and turned tail. The missiles were more to keep the MiGs from pursuing him than to actually destroy them, he didn't even bother to look back to see if he hit either one of them. An alarm sounded signaling that he wasn't out of the woods yet. He was locked, and soon being fired at. "Dump flares and chaff!" Joker nearly yelled at his co-pilot. The missile exploded on one of the flares, officialy marking his escape.

Joker: <<Spider-Three here, scratch three tanks, over.>>

---

Kills: x3 tanks
Remaining ordinance: x4 500lbs bombs

[Kassaran]

Lieutenant Markus 'Pops' Pearsohn
Hangman 3, Callsign 'Praeses'
The Battle of Ansan, Ansan, Seian

The sound of several heavy slams on his door frame into the hotel room had Pearsohn sitting upright in bed and service pistol levelled at the door as in stumbled a rather beleaguered and panicked Seianese soldier. all around the hotel, he could hear the sounds of doors flying open and various footsteps hurrying about and understanding the urgency of the event as the Sieanese soldier attempted to explain to the old Sotoan the matter, the pilot cut him off with his own fluid speech in Sieanese," I understand, get to the next room!"

The young man was gone in a few seconds and throwing himself out of the bed, he looked at the floor where he'd only a few hours earlier been lying down and broken at the behest of his own mind's traumatic memories. He'd still no clue why something like that had come back to him now, but it had to mean something. Boots slipping on easily and years of practice practically flying into his flight suit had him down and out of the hotel in near record time as he took the stairs down. He might have been up a dozen and a half floors or so, but the elevator being called to all of the floors would have been to no use to him.

By the time he'd reached the bottom, his legs were beginning to feel the strain of what he'd just pushed them through, but it didn't matter, years of disciplining his own body to take the punishment meant he could keep going without worry his muscles would fail him. They hadn't yet and they wouldn't now. Giant buses seemed to line up along the roadside, chartered and commissioned into action on the behalf of Morena and all of the other various pilots present in the hotel, he was on the first bus out and within ten minutes of waking up he was at the airport. It was soon enough.

---

Anton
Серый Ведьма (Seryy Ved'ma) Night Club
The Battle of Ansan, Downtown Ansan, Seian

From even within the layers of thick concrete and bricks lined with mortar, the din now beginning to occur outside could be heard within the nightclub as the music fell silent and every patron in the club looked up towards the ceiling in an expression of shock and confusion. Were those, explosions?

"Anton! Beiarusians! They're attacking the city! They're landing troops inside the limits and their making for the airport! Our escape route is cut off and they'll be on top of us any second!" The sounds of Anton's native dialect coming through had the old man sitting straighter in his seat than ever before as a hard, cold, and surprisingly impassive look stole the joy he'd been experiencing only moments before away. Before him, the breathless guard whom had been posted up outside appeared to be on the verge of a panic as did every one of the other degenerates in the room, but in spite of it all the large man in the fine clothes simply did nothing but slowly look down at the table before him.

"How many?"

"What?"

Anton was up on his feet, pinning the bouncer to the wall with his forearm as a gun seemed to produce itself from somewhere within Anton's sleeve and spring into his hand, the pistol appeared small with respect to the size of the man holding it, but in reality it was still quite large. The old Arm's Dealer still had quite a large amount of tricks up his sleeve, and in his early days after the raid, he'd taken to adding this one to the literal and metaphorical expression. He slowly repeated his question again," How many of them are out there? The Beiarusian soldiers?"

"I-I don't know, we could only see the transports flying in over the city and their parachutes. We think there was a tank even, but we don't know for sure, some gangsters came to us from the local groups, they want to know what to do..."

"And what did you tell them?" the gun was still leveled at the man's head, but at least Anton had stopped smashing it into the panicked bouncer's cheek as he spoke, allowing a little bit more breathing room for the henchman to answer.

"I told them to hold outside, Martinez is watching them."

"Good, rejoin Martinez and tell those men to bring whatever friends they have here. We're leaving. Everyone! Pack your shite and get outta my club! We got Beiarusians dropping from above and the bastards are heading this way as we speak!" Anton, quickly holstering the small side arm back within his sleeve, he let the man go and addressed the rest of the club. Bursting into a frenzied excitement as the premise of an impending attack seemed inevitable, a small hand at Anton's shoulder had the giant of a Yuke looking over his shoulder to see a familiar face," Satoru?"

"Sir, if I may? If we're leaving, I have a request."

"Name it and if it is within my power I'll grant you that favor. It's the least I can do." Leaning over as the small Seianese man (at least in respects to Anton) beckoned him lower so as to whisper into his ear his plea.

---

Lieutenant Markus 'Pops' Pearsohn
Hangman 3, Callsign 'Praeses'
The Battle of Ansan, Ansan, Seian

"Shit! What do you mean she isn't ready?!" The pilot ducked his helmetted head low as he passed beneath his Mirage's starboard wing, the sounds of various jet engines and the rattle of cannon-fire and missile explosions rattled the hangar space, shaking even into Praeses' own bones. A hand gliding across the smooth surface the fighter-interceptor's wing, he turned and looked out across the airfield as he watched yet another few aircraft burst into flames and as a fuel tank seemed to erupt into flames. The resounding boom a few seconds later told him it wasn't just a bad dream he was witnessing either, no, this was a fucking nightmare.

"We haven't gotten the targeting computer online and most of her factory settings aren't going to be enough, not to mention but the damned Aurellians ain't keen on sharing a damned proper manual written in Osean so we're stuck trying to decrypt this fucking thing and set it through basic diagnostics! Long-story short is you can get airborne, but you won't be shooting at anyone. Hell, it'd be another four minutes to get any missiles loaded on her rails at this point!" Another explosion just on the other side of the hangar punctuated the urgency of the current situation as Pearsohn cursed the ground and slammed a gloved fist into the side of a tool-chest, the dull-pain of slamming into it half-force didn't seem to resound with him as the adrenaline was still pumping strong. then the sound of a helicopter passing over the hangar had him looking at the quickly fading silhouette of a element of two small helicopters loaded with what appeared to be weapons pods entering the city.

"Just work on securing the plane, I got an idea! You!" Pointing at a nearby technician as he made his way out of the hangar, he pointed in the direction of the city and quickly began yelling in Seianese," Where are the helicopters!? I'm going to help push those fuckers back!"

" Other side of this hangar! there's about four of them still being fueled, but one of the pilot-transports for them got hit in an earlier attack, we don't have pilots-"

"Well now you do! Get me there! Now!"

The fear in the young man's eyes was quickly replaced by a determined look as he got to his feet, finished cowering in fear behind the small crate he'd found and began to run towards the side of the hangar. It didn't take them more than thirty seconds to round the corner, but what Pearsohn saw managed to give him a little hope as three OH-6's sat, engines idling and waiting for their pilots. They were already prepped for ah ot takeoff and running for the open door of one, he suddenly heard a voice behind him and gun press up against the back of his helmet," Stop or I shoot! Who are you and what are you doing?!"

"I'm Hangman 3 of Morena and I'm commandeering this chopper because my plane isn't combat-capable, are you going to keep that thing levelled at the back of my head or are you going to let me do my damned job?"

He didn't have to wait more than a second after stating he was in Morena before the Seianese man was quickly shouting an apology and opening the distance from the man. Turning to look over his shoulder as he closed the door to the Cayuse, Pearsohn gave a slight salute-and-a-wave to one of the crew chiefs turning around and looking quite confusedly at the man now taking off in his helicopter. Attempting to run to the chopper, waving his hands and apparently shouting rather angrily, Pearsohn went over his pre-flight checks quickly before the door opened once more and the angry crew-chief was berating him with a torrent of questions.

"I'm with Morena, now tell me if this bird is fueled and ready for combat or not dammit! We don't have all da-" The sudden sound of a jet engine, screaming across the night sky just beyond the hangars had them both looking in that direction as a massive explosion went off, another craft slamming into the ground.

The crew chief simply nodded, gave the thumbs up upon understanding the situation and slammed the door to the Cayuse shut, opening the distance in much the same manner as before as Pearsohn began to run over the radios. The sounds of several pilots screaming in Seianese and Beiarusian told him where the open combat comms were, but not the ATC frequency, then he hit it.

<<Hangman 3, Callsign Praeses reporting to Tower, requesting hot takeoff permission. I'm in a Cayuse behind Hangar 15, moving for the city, over.>>

<<Tower for Hangma- Praeses. Permission granted, watch altitudes 50-100, metric. Enemy fighters moving to stra- oh god! Get out! Everyone get o->>

Casting a look over his shoulder as the line went dead, he could see the glow of two engines disappearing into the night sky as the tower's windows blew out and debris mixed with burning corpses flew out from the force of the blast. Rockets were always a good tool to use on lightly-armored targets like light vehicles, but they were the best to use on key infrastructure lacking proper armor like Aircraft Traffic Control Towers.

"Shit, alright, I got this. I got this- I got this..." Pulling back on the stick, it was just like riding a bike as the memory of how to control the small craft came back to his mind, the pods strapped to either side appeared to be miniguns firing rifle-caliber munitions, deadly against everything but medium armor and above. Smoke and flames obscured most of his vision of the battle erupting over the airfield and the Ansan's bay, but he didn't care, that wasn't where he was heading as he pivoted the helicopter in place and then nosed it forward, watching the airport quickly slip by and flipping over radio frequencies, he found the squadron's own secured line.

<<Hangman 3 for Hangman Lead, my Mirage wasn't ready for combat, I've commandeered a Cayuse and am now pressing for the Downtown to support boots on the ground. I've got two gun pods and I think I've got the general idea of how to fly this thing, flew a few a couple years back. How copy?>>