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>>2246094
>Wait untill Dredd arrives and tells you where you're going. You can then take the most appropriate load.
WE BACK

Going to wait for another 20 minutes for another person to show up before we continue.

>>2246094
>Wait untill Dredd arrives and tells you where you're going. You can then take the most appropriate load.

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"We'll have to wait for the boss. We don't know enough about what we're going to face out there to make an informed decision." You decided, holding back on your preflight checks for now. While you could run the engines up and keep them running while you waited, you'd just burn fuel and create a hazard for your ground crew. So there was no point in it.

"Alright, should I hold off on keying the weapons computer?" Zeus asked, following what you were doing without even knowing that you had stopped your preflights.

"Run it up on standby for now, but don't run up any weapons barring the sidewinders. We should get them out of the way as soon as possible." You answered, before looking over at the cart of sidewinders. The pair of twin adaptors sat next to them allowing you the option of carrying 4 of the little missiles. A definite advantage in a dogfight.

"I think I know what you're planning, and I disagree with taking the sidewinders." Zeus replied after a couple of seconds thought, just before you called your crew chief over to get the sidewinders loaded.

"Why? We can carry four of the damn things, what's not to like?" You asked your RIO, he hadn't brought up this issue before.

"They cause a lot of drag. Not enough to be an issue in a dogfight, but it will impact our top speed and fuel consumption. As such, our loiter time could be negatively impacted. As we may have to fly practically the length of Japan in order to get into the fight, you ought to consider our load more carefully." Zeus explained, his voice smooth and logical. An uncanny expression of Spock from Star Trek, but only ever one which he used when talking about boring things.

"Why is it so much of an issue with the Sidewinders? We use the twin AMRAAM mounts all of the damn time and we don't have any issues." You retorted, bringing up the only other weapon that you could carry on twin mounts.

"For the twin AMRAAMs and their mounts it's a moot point as they have the same impact as carrying a Phoenix under the wing glove. Once the missiles have been expended the dual AMRAAM mount has more drag and weight than the phoenix mount, but by that point-" Zeus explained the difference in the issue at length, only to be cut off by a shout from below.

"Hey!" Your crew chief yelled up at you, interrupting your RIO. "What do you want us to load you with?"

>Take the 4 sidewinders as standard, you can afford the hit.
>Take 2 agiles, their lower weight and drag will work out better for you in the long run.
>Wait until Dredd arrives and tells you where you're going. You can then take the most appropriate load.

>>2246628
>>Wait until Dredd arrives and tells you where you're going. You can then take the most appropriate load.

>>2246628
>Wait until Dredd arrives and tells you where you're going. You can then take the most appropriate load

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"Don't know yet chief! We're waiting for the boss to tell us what we're going to be doing." You yelled back at your crew chief, who stared back at you for a couple of seconds.

"Fine, we'll get your gun bin loaded now so we don't have to rush as much when you finally decide on your load." Your chief shrugged as he yelled back to you, before gesturing to a couple of his men who were standing by the reloading system for you jet's gun. The massive contraption was designed to reload your jet's ammunition bin by simply running the gun's cycling system in reverse. One of the many benefits of the M61 you supposed.

You waited for a minute or so for your commanding officer to come on the line, the sound of jet engines and sirens outside acting as a constant reminder that there was a war going on as your CO took his damn time to get to his jet. Finally, as your wristwatch struck around 3 minutes since you had arrived to your hanger, your CO's voice broke over the squadron channel.

"Sorry I'm late, what's everybody loaded with?" Dredd asked as soon as he entered the channel, his voice light, a sure sign that he had ran as fast as he could to get to his jet.

"We were hoping you'd tell us. We have multiple attacks inbound from Kamchatka, Vladivostok and the Korean peninsula." Durendal explained, she had been the first pilot to arrive at the hangers, having hitched a ride with Zeus. Both your RIO and the French crew having left you behind.

Dredd was silent for a couple of seconds, deep in thought, but when he spoke his voice was sure and commanding. "We're going to help intercept the attack inbound from Vladivostok. There are at least two tomcat squadrons in Hokkido, plus at least six Vultures that are going to be vectored to help with the intercept. Meanwhile, most of the base's lighter fighters will only have the legs to intercept the flight coming from Korea. That leaves the attack from Vladivostok as our only real choice. Load up with a mix of AMRAAMs and Phoenixes, if you can get an even mix then go for it."

"Understood sir, we'll get right on it." You answered Dredd, before then switching off the squadron channel and yelling down at your crew chief. "Hey! Did the Japs give us the twin AMRAAM mounts back?"

"No! They were meant to be flown over on a Greyhound with the Soviet POWs so that the Chandler wouldn't have to return to port. But from the sounds of it one of their catapults gave out, so the delivery was dropped." Your crew chief yelled back with a slight shrug.

Sighing to yourself, you considered your options. Your lack of dual racks really hamstringed you as it stopped you from taking out an equal number of both AMRAAMs and Phoenixes. As such you would have to choose between greater mid-range firepower with more AMRAAMs, or greater long-range firepower with more phoenixes. Alternately, you could instead carry a bunch of AMRAAMs and completely forgo the bulky Phoenixes. But if you did that then you would have no long range firepower.

>CONT

>>2247164

>Take option 1 (x2 Agiles OR x4 sidewinders, x4 AMRAAMs, x2 Phoenixes)
>Take option 2 (x2 Agiles OR x4 sidewinders, x2 AMRAAMs, x4 Phoenixes)
>Take as many AMRAAMs as you can (x2 Agiles OR x4 sidewinders, x6 AMRAAMs)
>Make a new load (you have the following options: either x1 Agiles or x2 sidewinders on hardpoints 1A and 8A | x1 Agiles, x1 sidewinders, x1 AMRAAMs or x1 phoenixes on hardpoints 1B and 8B | x1 AMRAAM or x1 Phoenix on hardpoints 3,4,5 and 6)

>>2247173
>Take option 1, 4x sidewinders

>>2247173
>>Take option 1, 4x sidewinders

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"We'll take four sidewinders on the twin racks. A pair of Phoenixes under stations one and eight and four AMRAAMs between the nacelles." You barked down to your crew chief, who nodded and began to distribute your orders between the ground crew. You closed the canopy and continued on with your preflights, the sound from outside the cockpit being reduced, but not completely blocked out.

A few minutes later, your ground crew was done, and your chief gave you the signal to start your engines. Less than a minute later, you began to taxi your jet out of the hanger. You F-14's massive jet engines giving out a deafening scream, even though they were only running at less than 10% power. Still, this scream was eclipsed by the veritable roar of the F-12 that you were forced to taxi behind. The giant interceptor's wheels almost straddling the taxiway as it made it's way towards the runway. The aircraft's weapons stowed internally so that they wouldn't affect it as it cruised around at mach 3. You sat and waited at the edge of the taxiway as the F-12 and it's buddy in front of it were given the runway in front of you. The strategic interceptors pausing for only a few seconds to crank their engines up to full power, before beginning their takeoffs. Unlike your tomcat however, these big and heavy aircraft needed almost all of the runway in order to take off. The massive aircraft needing almost all of the runway before they began to take off. And they had scarcely cleared 500 feet when the ATC controller ordered you and Kay onto the runway. You were told to wait for 20 seconds before taking off, just enough time for the Vultures to get out of your way.

Soon enough, you were waiting for the rest of your squadmates at 20,000 feet off the deck. Only yourself and the French were waiting up here, with other aircraft immediately heading towards their intercepts at speed. Everything from old F-4s that had spent decades in service, to new F-16s that had just rolled off the production line. Right now, you had a bit of time to simply talk with whoever, before you all raced off into the fight.

>Talk with Zeus.
>Talk with Weiss.
>Talk with another squadmate (who?)
>Keep quiet until you enter the fight.
>Other (Write in)

>>2247499
>Talk with Zeus.

>F-12
Hold on, what the fuck is that-
>YF-12
what

>>2247499
>Talk with Zeus.

>>2247549

One of the semi-unintended consequences of a world without nuclear weapons. ICMBs were never really developed, so bombers were never phased out in favour of ICBMs. As such, the XB-70 and the YF-12 didn't go the way of the dodo.

>>2247499
>Talk with Zeus.

"So, anything that I should know about?" You asked your RIO as you entered a gentle pylon turn above the airbase, keeping you from straying too far from the base as you waited for your squadron to join you.

"Not really, spare parts are coming in as scheduled. The computers are all up to date and there are no major problems with the bird." Zeus answered your question before you could specify that you wanted to know about the jet. His voice sounding a bit too distant.

"You didn't even know what I was going to ask you." You pointed out jokingly, trying to lighten the air a bit.

"I'm good at guessing." Zeus answered calmly, his voice not even changing slightly as you looked down at your display.

"Not this time. I was going to ask about your family." You changed the subject, trying to supplant your previous topic with one that as close to your RIO. Trying to show your crewmate that you cared for more than just the state of the jet that you were both riding in.

"They're fine, I guess." Zeus answered simply, his voice sounding a bit more distant.

>Ask him why he isn't talking, this doesn't seem like him.
>Leave it, if he isn't in the mood then you can always talk to someone else (Weiss, other squadmate [who?])

>>2247690
>Ask him why he isn't talking, this doesn't seem like him.

While we wait for more votes, I'm gonna call tonight's run here, we'll restart the thread the day after tomorrow at around the same time. If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to ask them and I'll answer them as soon as I am able. Unfortunately, I have just started a new job, and due to the fluid nature of my shifts, I don't know when I will have time to run, so we may end up having a slower burn thread, with me posting only 1 update per night on some days, but over a week long period to make up for the lack of available days that I have to run.

>>2247690
>>Ask him why he isn't talking, this doesn't seem like him.

>>2247707
Sounds like you're having a grand time over there. Best of luck.

>>2247690
>>Ask him why he isn't talking, this doesn't seem like him.

"You seem a bit quiet back there buddy, are you sure everything's alright?" You asked your friend, looking up a the rear facing mirrors as you did. For his part however, Zeus just continued to stab away at his control panel.

"I'm fine, I'm just worn out. The whole shit show at the start of the day really sapped it out of me, the paperwork after that just drove the nail into the coffin." Zeus explained before then sighing to himself, letting some of his tiredness seep into his voice. "And trying to juggle around all of these systems without any idea of what we're facing is tiring work. Mostly I'm just working off muscle memory."

"You gonna rack out as soon as we get back?" You asked Zeus, though you already knew his answer.

"You fucking know it. I'm surprised that you aren't tired." Zeus answered, yawning for effect at the end of his first sentence.

"That's because unlike you lazy ass RIOs, us pilots have to stay awake on long patrols. As such, we're much better at staying awake." A small smirk began to creep across your face as you spoke, though there was no way for anyone to see it with the oxygen mask affixed in place.

"And because you spent most of our first cruise paranoid as fuck." Zeus also supplied, only for him to take it back a few seconds later when you didn't respond. "I'm sorry, that was out of line."

"Don't worry about it, it's water under the bridge as far as I care. And in spite of everything, it was a fun cruise all things considered." You shrugged, while you doubted that Zeus would be able to see your shoulders from around the massive ejector seat, you never knew for sure. You had never sat in an RIO's seat after all.

"Yokota tower to Freelancer two-one and Freelancer three-two. Be advised that the rest of your squadron will be delayed due to a fuel leak on one of the taxi ways. You'll have to wait for a few minutes." The tower controller radioed you, rudely interjecting into your conversation with the bad news.

"Understood tower, myself and three-two may have to hit up a tanker prior to engaging the inbound Soivets to make up for fuel burned loitering. Are there any tankers available along our route out?" You asked the tower controller, if you were guessing right, it could take between 1 and 10 minutes to clean up a fuel leak, though that depended entirely on how severe the spill was.

"Understood, we can vector a pair of Skyhawks with buddy refuelling systems to you. They'll wait for you just before you go feet wet." The tower controller returned after a few seconds.

"Thanks tower, Freelancer two-one out." You made sure that you were disconnected from your link to the tower, before sighing over the internal channel. "We're delayed again. Fucking typical."

"Bet you that it's the Vultures again, damn things leak fuel everywhere when they're not going supersonic." Zeus offered, but you wouldn't take him up on it. It as a suckers bet after all. "What about you, how are you doing?"

>Write in, how do you feel?

>>2252668
>"Things have been going awfully well, all things considered. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop on us."

>>2252668
I still cannot shake Zeus' remark about me being paranoid...

"Things have been going awfully well, all things considered. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop on us." You answered his question as you looked down towards the runway. You could see that aircraft were moving towards the runway, so hopefully you didn't have time to wait.

"If the shoe is going to drop, it's going to happen soon. The reds have only been ramping up their attacks, something's got to be brewing." Zeus remarked, looking back up into your rear facing mirror, you could see him fiddling with something at the bottom of your seat.

"Yeah, and we have a good idea of what that thing is. Though the biggest question right now is where they're going to hit." You continued the conversation, you knew that Zeus was still listen in spite of rooting around for something.

"My money's on an invasion from Korea." Zeus bet as he reclined back into his seat, his bounty in hand. One of the Japanese magazines that he tended to read.

"That's a sucker's bet and you know it." You pointed out as your RIO began to open up his magazine.

"Not really, they could invade Hokkido via Kamchatka. And they already have facilities in the area to move units across the Bering Sea." Zeus pointed out as he looked down at his magazine, reading whatever was inside while still talking with you.

"The Alaska front is a distraction and you know it. Those supply routes won't have been developed enough to support an invasion of Japan." You replied with an unseen frown. You had assumed that Zeus would have picked up that there was no point in making a solid supply line if the units at the front were terrible.

"If the Alaskan front is a distraction, then why have the Soviets deployed Fitters, Flankers and more modern equipment there?" Zeus asked rhetorically, looking up and staring into the rear facing mirror that you were looking at him through.

"Because the only thing they're facing thus far is the National Guard, whatever we can pull out of storage and a few token Army and Airforce units to hold the line against them. Nothing too hard to defend against with modern equipment, and Alaska provides them a good base for striking the Canadian oil fields." You rationalised, answering his rhetorical question with the implications of the Soviets basing modern units in Alaska. Said implication being a damn turkey shoot.

"The oil fields are the only reason they're there. They can't get past the network of Arrows and Vultures with their bombers, so they need a base for low level attackers. Hence the invasion." Zeus nodded at you as he continued the explanation, now extrapolating it to explain the entire invasion.

>CONT

>>2253398

"Yeah, and the fact that an invasion of the mainland will guarantee a response. Once they lull our command into only sending in out of date equipment, they bring in their modern stuff. Thus causing heavy casualties and forcing our reinforcements to be diverted to keep them contained, and that has further reaching effects." You added on, further putting more reason into the invasion. Which at the start, was considered to be little more than a gamble.

"Alright everybody, listen in. We've been delayed for too long down here, so I'll give you the briefing now." Dredd spoke over the squadron channel, his voice carrying over the internal channel. "Latest intel says that the Soviets are massing a flight of Blinders with limited supporting assets. Most likely to engage missile sites that we have along the coast. The Soviets have apparently sent their Flankers to help with the fight over the Korean Straight, so the worst we'll have to deal with ought to be Floggers and other escort fighters."

"Are we going to try and head out there at top speed, or will we cruise out there?" Ahab asked, interrupting your commander.

"We'll have to get out there at top speed in order to intercept them before they get their missiles off." Dredd clarified, and you didn't need Zeus to tell you that you wouldn't have much fuel to play around with if you did have to sprint out there.

>Tell Dredd that you and Durendal will have almost no loiter time with the current plan. Ask to head out immediately to refuel from a tanker.
>Keep quiet, you won't need to hang around if your just there to lob some BVR missiles.

>>2253402
>Keep quiet, you won't need to hang around if your just there to lob some BVR missiles.
Surely there will be no sudden Su-47 attacks.

>It initially received the NATO reporting name 'Bullshot', which was deemed to be inappropriate
>then 'Beauty', which was deemed to be too complimentary
>and finally the 'Blinder'.
Hah.

>>2253402
>Keep quiet, you won't need to hang around if your just there to lob some BVR missiles.

Shrugging to yourself, you switched back to your channel to the ATC. "Freelancer two-one to Yokota Tower, myself and Frelancer three-two will no longer need that tanker."

"Understood Freelancer, we'll divert them elsewhere. Be advised that when you return you won't have any tanker support, so be careful and leave some fuel for your return." The tower controller replied with a biting tone, you guessed that the stress of having to get so many aircraft into the air in such a short amount of time was getting to him.

"Understood, Freelancer two-one out." You calmly replied, getting yourself out of the conversation before it could get any worse, and instead you switched over to your line to Durendal.

"Freelancer two-one to three-two, we won't have any time to hit the tankers." You informed your loitering squadmate, you had both spent around the same time waiting in the air for your comrades, so you knew that her fuel situation was around the same as yours.

"We had tankers waiting for us?" Drendal asked sounding a bit surprised, which was a bit confusing as you were sure that you had told her.

"Yeah, but we won't have any time to hit them up. So you'll have to reserve some fuel for the flight back." You confirmed, before relaying what the ATC controller had advised you.

"Well, that isn't good. Had I known I would have suggested that we go for a quick refuel." Durendal lamented, her voice still a bit upbeat in spite of the bad news.

"We should have done that, but hey, hindsight's a bitch. Freelancer two-one out." You signed off, disconnecting from the channel with your words passed along.

>Talk to a squadmate (who?)
>Keep quiet until you encounter the enemy

>>2253764
>Keep quiet until you encounter the enemy

>>2253764
>Keep quiet until you encounter the enemy

Instead deciding to keep your strength for ensuring that you would stay awake through the coming battle, you instead decided to keep quiet and just let everybody concentrate with their tasks. Chief among them being forming up into a single cohesive formation. With most of the squadron in the middle of climbing up from takeoff. It didn't take long however, one of the perks of both a helmet mounted display and flying in daylights. You and Durendal had to dive down in order to join the squadron, but soon enough you all took off towards the intercept. All of you hitting your afterburners after a countdown from Dredd so that you could at least keep a loose formation as you sprinted towards the fight. Your path being provided by a network of ground control radars and aircraft control towers.

After around a quarter of an hour, Zeus broke the silence. "Contact! Tally four contacts just entering our radar scope now."

"Any idea what they are?" Dredd asked as a few lights on one of your MFDs popped into life, each light and symbol showed you that a squadmate was data-linking to your aircraft. All of their RIOs were hungry to see what Zeus was currently seeing.

"Not really, the signature returns are around as large as blinder apiece. But they aren't exact matches. It's weird." Zeus explained as you brought up the picture from your radar scope onto one of your MFDs. And sure enough, it just looked like a few blobs on your screen.

"Jammers?" Ahab suggested, his tone telling you that he had either just woken up, or that he had been up longer than you.

"Possibly, though at this range I can't really make out anything." Zeus replied simply as you though up some possible solutions, and most of them circled around the use of the plane's IRST.

"Neither can I." Mags confirmed, the British RIO confirming that 2 radars wasn't good enough to cut through whatever was making the issue.

>Try for a Phoenix shot anyway, if the radar signature is in any way corresponding to the aircraft itself, you can get some easy kills.
>Wait until you get into IRST range, you can slave all of your BVR missiles to it. However if you waited for that long, your phoenixes would loose their advantage.
>Other (cont)

>>2254389
>Wait until you get into IRST range, you can slave all of your BVR missiles to it. However if you waited for that long, your phoenixes would loose their advantage.
I don't like this.

>>2254389
>Wait until you get into IRST range, you can slave all of your BVR missiles to it. However if you waited for that long, your phoenixes would loose their advantage.

This sounds fishy.
>inb4 it's the soviet version of Operation Bolo
>inb4 surprise SU-35s

>>2254389
>Wait until you get into IRST range, you can slave all of your BVR missiles to it. However if you waited for that long, your phoenixes would loose their advantage

>>2254389
>>Wait until you get into IRST range, you can slave all of your BVR missiles to it. However if you waited for that long, your phoenixes would loose their advantage.

>>2254389
>Wait until you get into IRST range, you can slave all of your BVR missiles to it. However if you waited for that long, your phoenixes would loose their advantage.

"Something seems off here, I think that we should wait until we get into IRST range before we start firing off shots.” You suggested over the radio, while it was unlike you to be so easily spooked, something seemed very off right now.
“Agreed, my radar picture is fucked five ways from Friday. We could try and launch the missiles without a lock, but we'd be pissing into the wind.” Your squadron commander agreed to your suggestion, you weren't sure if it was because he was going to order the same thing or if he was considering something else.
“We're pissing into the wind every time we fire those phoenixes though.” Ahab pointed out, referencing the terrible accuracy of most phoenix missiles.
“And most other times, we have some guidance to ensure that we actually hit something.” Slider counted, the British pilot getting her words into the conversation just before it ended.
As the conversation died down, you counted down the time until you entered IRST range. And after around 5 more minutes of waiting, a few dots began to appear on your IRST’s scope. Your birds advanced fire control computer overlaying the picture onto your radar. The resulting image showing you that at the centre of the radar interference was a large number of planes.
However, it was around that time that your missile warning system screamed into life.
“Missiles incoming! BREAK, BREAK, BREAK!” Dredd called, ordering your squadron to go evasive.
>Try and snap off a few shots before you try and dodge the incoming missiles. You can slave a lock to your IRST to guarantee a lock.
>Go evasive as ordered. There is no point in risking your plane trying to get a few kills.
>Other (write in)

>>2265041
>>Go evasive as ordered. There is no point in risking your plane trying to get a few kills.

>>2265041
>>Go evasive as ordered. There is no point in risking your plane trying to get a few kills.

If het thought we could do that he'd say that

>>2265041
>>Try and snap off a few shots before you try and dodge the incoming missiles. You can slave a lock to your IRST to guarantee a lock

>>2265041
>Go evasive as ordered. There is no point in risking your plane trying to get a few kills.

>>2265041
>>Go evasive as ordered. There is no point in risking your plane trying to get a few kills.

Slamming your stick forwards, you willed your jet to dive as your defensive systems snapped online. While you were sure that your ECM system was powerful enough to cook a turkey if given the time, you knew from the hubris of others that it was never a good idea to leave things like this to chance.

“Any idea what they're shooting at us?” You asked your RIO as you went vertical, the deep blue of the Sea of Japan below filled the front of your canopy as your radar and IRST lost their pictures. Both sensors now pointed so far away from the skies that they saw nothing.

“No damn clue! We need a radar return for that.” Zeus yelled back, the strain in his voice telling you that he was juggling half a dozen things at once. However, whatever he was doing seemed to work. You felt the slight shudder of countermeasures being shot out if the tail of your jet, all of them being caught up and slowed down in the turbulent air behind your jet. A few seconds later, your missile warning system shut off as the incoming missiles either lost track of you or missed completely.

“Flankers! Flankers! Tally six Flankers and six Floggers!” Ahab called out almost as soon as your MAWS shut off, giving your ears no rest.

As you leveled and off, you looked around for the enemy jets. You managed to spot them after a few seconds of looking, 2 separate formations flew towards your scattered unit. One of the larger and deadlier Flankers, and the other of the smaller but no less dangerous Floggers.

>Target the Flankers! They're the biggest threat.
>Take out the Floggers! You can't let them take advantage of the move valuable Flankers to get some kills.
>Go around them, the bombers are defenceless!
>Other (write in)

>>2267110
>Target the Flankers! They're the biggest threat.

I'd like to return to our bombers but we don't have enough fuel to keep protecting them. Better take out what we can right now and then assess.

>>2267110
>Target the Flankers! They're the biggest threat.

>>2267110
>Target the Flankers! They're the biggest threat.
Remove Sukhoi (Volume 3)

>>2267110
>Target the Flankers! They're the biggest threat.
Damn, our Phoenixes are pretty much dead weight right now.

Right now, you were at a serious disadvantage. The Soviet fighters were both flying higher than you, which they could trade for speed and energy in a dogfight. On the other hand, you couldn't climb up to intercept them with such little fuel to spare. Usually, you would have the fuel to spare, having flown into the fight after a complete refuel from a waiting tanker. This time however, you had to be far more conservative with your usage, and with the weight of your BVR missiles still stuck to your jet, you would have to burn your lifesaving fuel at an even higher rate in order to even keep up with the flankers in such a brutal dogfight. If you wanted to still have enough fuel to make it back to Japan, you would need to kill those flankers as quickly as possible.

Every cloud has a silver lining however, and your silver lining was that you still had the twin sidewinder mounts, giving 4 of the little devils. And these Soviets had just ran right into range of them.

Pulling our stick back, you nosed your Tomcat up towards the Soviet jets as they made to dive on your scattered comrades. You sacrificed the energy you had gained in your own evasive dive in order to get your nose on target, and to give your sidewinders the best chance of hitting their targets as you locked the leading pair of flankers with but a glance and the press of a button. You crowed a warning twice over the radio as you stabbed the missile launch button twice, there was nobody else around other than your unit, so there was no need to give your callsign. "Fox two! Fox two!"

The two sidewinders lanced off their rails a mere couple of seconds before you pitched down again, trying to push your jet under their formation to make it harder for them to dive on you. The formation broke apart, each fighter diving on one of your comrades, only for one of the leading fighters to catch one of your missiles head on. The fiery explosion forcing his wingmate to break off his attack, dumping flares into his wake to try and loose your missile. He didn't need to however, as your 2nd missile instead sailed straight into the burning carcass of the first plane and exploded, further destroying it.

Half of your heaters fired and only 1 kill to show for it. Not good.

"Break right! RIGHT!" Zeus called out, and your rolled your jet out of the way of a burst of tracer fire from the Flanker that had decided to try his luck at killing you. The enemy jet dived past you, and your tried to roll onto his tail, only for you to break off as one of the Floggers tried to dive on you. You pulled your stick back as hard as you can to slow down as quickly as possible, spoiling the enemy fighter's pass. You brought yourself around on the Flogger that had failed to kill you, but he had already sprinted out of your gun range. So instead, you locked your 3rd sidewinder onto him and fired. The missile leaving fire in it's wake as it screamed at his jet and detonated beneath him, leaving him to fall into the ocean.

>CONT

>>2270701

You weren't that surprised when you saw the canopy be blown away from the stricken jet, and it's pilot ejecting. If your roles were reversed, you would much rather float down into the ocean with a chance to survive, as opposed to slamming into it at well over 100 miles per hour.

Turning back towards the fight, you noticed that the Flankers were faring well enough, though if you were honest, it was mostly because your squadmates were holding back. The Floggers were the real kickers though, they had lost a lot of their number, with 3 more having been blown out of the sky, but the remaining pair were doing real work. Every time one of your squadmates got onto the tail of a Flanker, they would have to break off as a Flogger dived on them. The single engine interceptors weren't nearly able to kill one of the advanced tomcats in a dogfight, but with

>Help kill off the remaining flankers! They are too dangerous to let live!
>Finish off the Floggers! They'e been too much of an inconvenience.
>Hunt down that flanker that got away from you! You don't want him stabbing you in the back.
>The enemy bombers are defenceless! Go and kill them before they fire their missiles.
>Other (write in)

============

We will probably have to start a new thread soon enough, though due to this one being a bit of a failure, it'll be a much longer run than this one.

>>2270713
>The enemy bombers are defenceless! Go and kill them before they fire their missiles.
Those Phoenixes are getting heavy. Let the slavs carry them.

>>2270713
>The enemy bombers are defenseless! Go and kill them before they fire their missiles.

File: checking fuel.png (1.79 MB, 1920x1080)

1.79 MB PNG

>>2270713
>Go around them, the bombers are defenceless!
Dammit we have to get rid of the Phoenixes asap. Our fuel is low and they are only hindering us in this dogfight. I hope the bombers are not far away..
>try to gauge when Zeus is not preoccupied and have him perform pic related

Also we are making one mistake after another, aren't we? Next update someone from our squad is getting fucked if they haven't already, I'm calling it (in hopes of reverse-psych you into deciding we are doing better than it seems)

>>2270713
>The enemy bombers are defenceless! Go and kill them before they fire their missiles.
Let's lose some weight.

"So, do you think that those were the bomber's escorts?" You idly asked Zeus as you looked over to the dogfight. The streaking lights of tracers stitched through the sky, the bright tracers looking more like the laser guns from Star Wars. And you didn’t have to wait long before the outline of a MiG-23 was blown to pieces. It’s fuselage being silhouetted for a brief second by the flash of a sidewinder detonating beneath it, only for the jet to be blown into 1000 burning pieces.

"Probably, though there might be some over there." Zeus replied absentmindedly, most likely checking your fuel situation. A quick glance to your fuel gauge lead you to believe that you still had time to spare before you had to head home.

"A risk I'm willing to take. Is their ECM still up?" You asked as you winged over towards where the fighters had came from, and where the massive radar interference was coming from.

"Yes, though if we get closer I can probably figure out which aircraft are carrying the jammers, we can then kill them and open the way for the rest of the unit." Zeus reported, giving you an option that you hadn’t really considered too much. Though that was mostly to do with the fact that you were being shot at.

"Ditch the phoenixes?" You asked as your hand hovered over the switch to eject them. You had hoped to get to use the big and heavy basterds, but with your fuel state so low and your chance to use them gone, they were just dead weight that you could ditch for a precious minute or two of flying time.

"Yeah, I'll set them to self destruct once we're clear of them. Can't let anything fall into Soviet hands." Zeus agreed, before sighing. "Gonna have to amend my report, we need some way to home in on jammers like a damn HARM."

"HARMs can home in on jammers? Do you think-" You asked, pausing for a second to thing, only for said thought to be cut off as you began to say it.

"No, we can't use it against aircraft." Zeus preemptively replied, managing to see where you were going with your train of thought as you regained a picture of the enemy bombers with your IRST.

“Well that sucks, would have loved some way to punch those damn jamming birds out of the air.” You sighed as you looked down at your IRST picture, the few dots that made up the picture gave you no indication about what was actually out there. “Speaking of killing those jamming birds”

“We need to get closer, ideally within visual range. Though it’s up to you if you want to fire off the AMRAAMs now or try for some maddog shots.” Your faithful RIO responded, reminding you that you didn’t actually have to be at optimal range in order to kill with an AMRAAM. Especially if your were killing bombers.

>Get your AMRAAMs off while you’re at range. The lighter you are, the better you are in the long run.
>Hold your AMRAAMs and get closer, you’ll need them if you’re to kill those bombers without getting into range of their tail guns.
>Other (write in)

>>2271540
>Get your AMRAAMs off while you’re at range. The lighter you are, the better you are in the long run
No time to fuck around

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93 KB JPG

>>2271540
>Get your AMRAAMs off while you’re at range. The lighter you are, the better you are in the long run.

>>2271540
>Hold your AMRAAMs and get closer, you’ll need them if you’re to kill those bombers without getting into range of their tail guns.

>>2271540
OP I have been going through archive and have to ask.
First, how is it possible that someone with extensive aircraft knowledge and solid writing has also power level in chinese cartoons?
Second, are you military fanboy or do you have real experience with what you are writing about (inb4 doxxed)?
Third, in ep. 9 there's lot of flak at F/A-18. Why is it so when that airplane eventually replaced Tomcat?
And the final question, how is it possible that your threads have only a few votes on suptg while being clearly superior to many other trash threads which have 20+ votes?

>>2271540
>Get your AMRAAMs off while you’re at range. The lighter you are, the better you are in the long run.

>>2271973
Not the QM, but I'll get the ball rolling on those questions.

1: /ak/ is neither a new nor vanishingly small niche.
3: F-18s are not direct replacements for F-14s. The Tomcat's main job was taking down Soviet bombers, and as that job disappeared, so did the need to keep big maintenance hogs around. In PQ's universe, the bombers didn't disappear, so replacing a big sexy performance-bred Hollywood star with a light multirole that can't carry as much payload as far or as quickly isn't nearly as attractive a choice, especially since the Tomcats are actively being upgraded.
4: Participation is more strongly correlated with a popular author, IP, or premise than with quality.

"IRST will have to do." You decided after a few seconds, before starting to punch a few buttons on your MFDs. The task of setting up each missile to fly along a bearing and then go active at a preset distance was an annoying task to do, but was made much easier by having a system already built in. And that was further simplified by having the option to apply it to all of your missiles with the press of a button. Of course, the downside was the increased chance for multiple missiles to track onto a single target. But that was an issue that you couldn't help.

"Fox three! Fox three!" You crowed over the squadron radio network as you released each missile one by one. The various call outs of other missile launches, enemy manoeuvres, requests for support and other such things masking your voice in the radio. Regardless, with each missile launched, you gained back a minute more flight time. And that in and of itself was a good thing.

"How's our fuel situation?" You asked Zeus as the last AMRAAM disappeared out of view.

"At our current rate, we'll arrive back at Yokota with a bit to spare. But we still don't want to get involved in a protracted dogfight." Zeus explained as you looked down at your fuel gauge, you were hovering at somewhere around 55% of your maximum fuel load. "We'll be in visual range of the Soviet formation in around a minute or so, but from what I can see, they have three jamming birds. One large and high power one in the middle of the formation, two smaller ones on the flanks."

"What planes am I looking for?" You asked as your jet pushed past the sound barrier, hitting it's most efficient stride as you cruised towards the bomber formation.

"The small ones will be Blinders, the larger one in the middle of the formation will probably be a Badger or something." Zeus advised as you checked your IRST scope again. And sure enough, you spotted a pair signatures falling away from the formation. Both were likely aircraft that you had destroyed. A 3rd heat signature was apparently breaking off from the formation at trying to escape, one of your AMRAAMs must have damaged him that left you with 11 enemy bombers remaining.

It took less than a minute to reach the bomber formation, you and the Soivets were approaching each other at speed after all. However, in amongst the formation you spotted something that you had never seen before.

"That isn't a badger..." You remarked as you spotter the centrepiece of the formation. A single, white bomber. It's massive form resembling a slightly scaled up B-1 Lancer with it's wings spread wide to keep it aloft.

As you made for the formation -your tomcat approaching like a lion charging a heard of buffalo- the white bird broke off from it's older and smaller counterparts, the mystery aircraft turning to leave before it could enter your gunsights. No doubt the crew inside valued their plane over the good few blinders that it had flown alongside.

>CONT

>>2272685

"One of the jamming birds is trying to run!" Zeus called out, connecting the dots for you. That large white bird was the massive jammer that had been such a pain in the ass for you and your unit the moment you entered radar range.

>Kill the remaining jamming planes, once they're dead your comrades can kill the bombers.
>Those bombers are loaded for bear! You have to kill them as quickly as you can.
>That white plane must be important! Chase it down and kill it.
>Other (write in)

>>2271973

1. Well, I have liked planes since a young age, so much of the background knowledge came first. A lot of the stuff pertaining to the assorted jets and bombers came from background research I did for the quest. Though the power level comes with the site, pretty hard to be just /k/ here for long.

2. Fanboy I'm afraid, not for lack of trying though. Unfortunately I failed the medical exam, so I can't get into the military unless shit goes south.

3. Much as >>2272101 said, the Super Hornet isn't a direct F-14 replacement. The only reason it actually replaced the F-14 was due to a mix of a diminishing mission, a greater focus on strike and multirole capabilities and politics turning against the 'cat. In the PQ universe though, the Super Hornet was meant to be a low-cost alternative to the Tomcat. Essentially filling in a role similar to the General Dynamics F-16AT, which was meant to be a low cost alternative to the ATF project. However with reduced cost comes with reduced capability, hence why the Hornet was the weakest proposal.

4. Once again, as >>2272101 says, participation is strongly related to either being popular or having a popular premise. If I wanted to have 20+ votes, I could just run some pure anime quest with all of the easy waifus and smut out the wazoo. And while I would rake in people who want to self insert as the MC dicking their waifu, I would also fucking despise myself for it. Because I don't aspire to make a story like that, I don't want to make my name for writing shit like that. I want to write a good story, not some horrible fanwank with a self insert character. And sure, some people may not like Pilot Quest as it is, but I frankly don't care as long as I have a good and active playerbase to call my own.

====================

Also, new thread after this one as we are at page 10 and this isn't going to be over soon.

>>2272689
>>Kill the remaining jamming planes, once they're dead your comrades can kill the bombers.

>>2272689
>Kill the remaining jamming planes, once they're dead your comrades can kill the bombers.
It's time to write reports on weird slav things again, isn't it? How much data on the white bird can we actually record?

>>2272689
>>Kill the remaining jamming planes, once they're dead your comrades can kill the bombers.

>>2272689
>What's the status of our flight and enemy fighters? Listen to the chatter or have them report one by one.

>>2272691
Thanks for the answers.

>>2272689
>Kill the remaining jamming planes, once they're dead your comrades can kill the bombers.

>>2272689
>Kill the remaining jamming planes, once they're dead your comrades can kill the bombers.

New thread:

>>2275247
>>2275247
>>2275247