>>2315944
>Visit Svetlana, it's been a while since you've visited her.

>>2315944
>Visit Svetlana, it's been a while since you've visited her.

>>2315944
>>Visit Svetlana, it's been a while since you've visited her.

>>2315944
>>Visit Svetlana, it's been a while since you've visited her.

Finishing off your cup noodles quickly, you chased it down with the remains of your glass of water. You walked over to the whiteboard that Dredd had put up in the corner of the room, underneath one of the lights. The bright light illuminating the whiteboard in such a way that it was almost impossible for your eyes not to be drawn to the board when you entered the room, and by extension, whatever had been written on it. Most of the board was taken up by a reminder of your mission today, leaving you a small but noticeable blank section to fill out with your notice. You picked up one of the pens from the small ledge at the bottom of the board, and quickly scribbled out an explanation of where you were going to go. With that done, you put the pen back and left as quietly as possible.

The walk to the base's hospital was a cold one to be sure, this time of year you could just about get away with walking around in nary more than a flight suit and leather jacket. After all, most flight suits were insulated on some level. However, you got more than a few glances as you made your way over. The orange lights given off by the streetlamps cast your chilly trip with a warm glow, a warmth that was barely with you. The hospital was still busy, but still less so than last time you had arrived. Some of the injured and wounded had either been discharged to places off-base. You guessed that most had been shifted into nearby civilian and military hospitals, while others had been loaded up on a medical transport of some kind and taken back to the states. The nurse at the desk gave you a short nod and let you pass with no issues, the guard at Svetlana's door spotted you coming

"Evening sir, here to give Miss Vaikinov a late night visit?" The marine greeted you cordially enough, you guessed that his nature was probably the reason why he was put on guard duty. Better to have a friendly guard who can do his job than an utter douche.

"Nothing lewd I'm afraid. Just here to chat." You pointed out calmly as you arrived in front of the door, and the marine guarding it. The man looked at you and smirked slightly.

"That's what they all say sir. Just keep it down in there, m'kay?" The marine asked jokingly, before he turned and unlocked the door. You just shook your head and quietly entered, spying your wounded wingmate still in her bed. The outdoor streetlamps let in enough light that you could still make your way through the room after the marine just the door. You sat down in a chair that had been left by the bed, and turned on the bedside lamp to it's lowest setting. You waited for a second, before gently shaking your wingmate's shoulder.

"Wu... huh?" Svetlana stirred at your touch, much quicker than you had predicted. The sleepy soviet was restless either due to not being as active as you, or had learned to wake up the moment she felt something touch her in the night. If what she had told you about her time in the fleet, you guessed the latter was more likely.

>CONT

>>2317485

"Easy, easy there Svetlana. It's me, it's Razor." You calmed your friend with a gentle hand to the shoulder as she tried to sit up, in her tired state, she couldn't really fight back much.

"Razor? It is nice to see you, is it morning already? The doctor said he would meet me." Svetlana asked, unable to tell the time due to the bandages that still covered her eyes. You didn't envy her time off for that particular reason.

"It's midnight, going onto one in the morning. Just thought I would come over to say hi." You informed her as she yawned. Further making you wonder just how asleep she had been.

"Oh. Do you have a patrol flight?" Svetlana guessed incorrectly, though you couldn't really fault her for it. She hadn't attended the briefing after all.

"No, we're striking a chemical weapons facility in China. We need to be up early in order to hit them before sunrise." You clarified, bringing her up to speed on your next mission.

"The United Nations facility at Mount Beiwudang?" Svetlana asked another question, this one taking you aback at just how well informed she was.

"Yeah, how did you know?" You replied with a question of your on, turning the tables on your inquisitive friend.

"My father was an engineer on the project before he met my mother." Svetlana paused, before giggling lightly at some memory. "He would never be quiet about it, so please, be thorough when you destroy it."

>Ask Svetlana how she's doing.
>Ask Svetlana what her father said about the facility.
>Ask Svetlana about her family life, does she miss her parents?
>Ask Svetlana something else (write in)
>Other (write in)

>>2317489
>>Ask Svetlana how she's doing

>>2317489
>>Ask Svetlana how she's doing.
>>Ask Svetlana what her father said about the facility.
in that order

>>2317489
>Ask Svetlana how she's doing.
>Ask Svetlana what her father said about the facility.

"So, how are you doing?" You asked your wingmate, you hadn’t seen her since she had woke up in her current predicament. So you wondered just how she was coping with her current situation..

"I'm still a bit sore. But I'm still in one piece." Svetlana gave you a small smile, before it began to fall. "Though I must admit, I don't like being unable to see."

"It will only be a few days." You pointed out, trying to cheer her up.

"And then two months to recover. Even if you only fly one flight per day, you'll perform at least sixty flights before I return. That is a very long period of time for you to be shot down in.” Svetlana lamented, and you could certainly see why she was worried. Given the amount of missiles that were fired at you per mission.

“Well by that time your RIO should have arrived, so you should start reading up on it.” You sidestepped your friend’s worries, before asking a question of your own. “What did your father tell you about the facility?”

“Nothing too useful I’m afraid. He mostly just told the same stories about events that happened during construction, jabbed jokes at his fellow supervisors and said how the base would never be destroyed. He compared it to the great submarine bunkers of the east.” Svetlana explained, a small smile on her face as she remembered back to her childhood.

“So he was one of the UN inspectors?” You asked, while you didn’t understand the logic of allowing the Soviets to look at the construction of the base, you guessed that it was just a part of the unilateral agreement.

“Yes, specifically one of the inspectors that supervised the construction work. He said that the facility was designed to be very hard to destroy with conventional bombs. So if I were you I would bring some specialised, bunker killing bombs.” Svetlana blindly recommended, though you did have to give her credit for almost guessing your load.

“We are. Four two thousand pound bombs split between me and Weiss.” You assured your wingmate, at least telling her your load.

“I think that would work. But I am not sure as I haven't seen any of the plans.” Svetlana shrugged, unable to really review your choice of ordinance for the mission.

Checking the clock on the wall, you till had a bit more time before you had to head to the hanger. You could either spend it here, or try and find Vampire.

>Ask Svetlana about her family life, does she miss her parents?
>Ask Svetlana something else (write in)
>Wait for Vampire, she still owes you an explanation for her current situation.
>Head over to your hanger, you know what the rest of your squadron is carrying, but you still aren't settled on your load.
>Other (write in)

>>2319174
>Ask Svetlana about her family life, does she miss her parents?

"What is your family like?" You asked, now that she had mentioned her father, you decided that you wanted to wanted to find out about her entire family.

“They are nice people. Mother was a nurse in the local hospital, meanwhile father worked for the ministry of construction. You already know about my brother. They were all fairly nice people, though my father was very invested in the party. My brother always looked after me when growing up, ran off a few boys that I liked, but otherwise was a good person.” Svetlana answered, recalling memories of her time back in Russia. Under the iron fist of the communist government.

“In fairness, it’s sort of expected for a brother to try and stop his sister from going out with some shady fucker.” You justified her brother’s actions. And you couldn’t say that you hadn’t done the same when protecting Janice. The memory of a certain Jodie springing to mind.

“Yes, and in hindsight he was doing the best for me. But still, at the time I was not very happy about it.” Svetlana giggled slightly as she remembered some distant memory of her childhood.

You couldn’t help but notice how she kept referring to her family in the past tense, and you couldn’t help but wonder why.

>Ask Svetlana why she refers to her family in the past tense.
>Ask Svetlana something else (write in)
>Wait for Vampire, she still owes you an explanation for her current situation.
>Head over to your hanger, you know what the rest of your squadron is carrying, but you still aren't settled on your load.
>Other (write in)

>>2320235
>>Wait for Vampire, she still owes you an explanation for her current situation.

>>2320235
>Wait for Vampire, she still owes you an explanation for her current situation.

Deciding to ignore how Svetlana was referring to her family members in the past tense, you looked back to the clock. If you wanted to find Vampire and talk about what was up with her yesterday, then you’d have to leave now.

“I have to go now, so I’ll leave you to your rest.” You announced, patting Svetlana on the shoulder one last time before you went wheels up.

“Good luck with your mission. Be careful out there.” Svetlana bid you as you stood up to leave, stopping you for a second as you replied.

“Don’t worry, I’m always careful.” You assured to your Russian friend, you were pretty sure that you heard her sigh to herself as you switched off the light, but you didn’t comment on it as you made your way to the door in the poorly lit room. The guard at the door said nothing, and let you on your way with a smile.

The trip back to your barracks was almost the same as the trip out to the hospital, only that you picked up the pace a little bit to try and stave off the cold. You soon arrived at the building and found it a bit more active than before. The sound of running showers as you entered only confirmed that. You entered the rec room to find Vampire in the small kitchenette, leaning over a coffee that she was making.

“Vampire, just the person I wanted to talk to.” You beamed at the German RIO as you approached, a friendly smile on your face.

“I’m going to guess that this is about yesterday.” Vampire looked over her shoulder at you, predicting exactly what you were going to ask her. She waited for you to nod in confirmation, before she sighed and returned to her coffee. “Can we talk about it after the mission? It’s not something that I want to revisit before something so big.”

>”Fine, but no squirming out of it.”
>”No, it’s obvious that this is something serious and I need to be sure if it will affect the mission.”
>Other (write in)

>>2320607
>”Fine, but no squirming out of it.”

>>2320607
>>”Fine, but no squirming out of it.”

>>2320607
>”Fine, but no squirming out of it.”

>“Don’t worry, I’m always careful.”
H-haha, yeah. Definitely.

You narrowed your eyes at the back of the German's head, before then replying. ”Fine, but no squirming out of it.”

“Thank you. I really am sorry that I have to keep putting this off… but it’s not some small matter.” Vampire thanked you, turning to face you with the coffee held in both hands, close to her chest.

“I know, I just want to make sure that you are alright. You aren’t just my wingmate, but you’re my friend too. It’s worrying me.” You assured the German as the part of your mind that you had labelled as ”dickbutt” tried to force your eyes down to stare at the woman’s jugs. Thankfully however, that part of your brain had been starved by your recent professional streak, and as such wasn’t able to exert much influence.

“And you are my friend, make no mistake. But this is more than just some schoolyard drama.” Vampire turned and shook her head at you, before glancing over to the stairs as you both heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs.

“On the other hand, if we carry a pair of paveway threes each, we can carry more air to air missiles. That way we won’t be sitting ducks to enemy aircraft.” You instantly shifted the conversation in an attempt to shield your previous one. And to her credit, Vampire responded almost instantly.

“But the paveways are too small, two thousand pounds of high explosives isn’t much when it comes to breaking into deep enemy facilities. The five thousand pound bombs are much better suited to the mission.” Vampire argued, jumping headfirst into the conversation with gusto.

“Carrying them cuts into our air to air load, more than halving it. And that leaves us and the rest of the flight more vulnerable to enemy fighters.” You argued for your point, making sure to keep your eyes focused on Vampire until the people coming down the stairs made their presence known.

“What’s the matter Razor, not a pound for air to ground?” Zeus asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs, mocking the mantra of the stuck-up F-15 pilots that you had the pleasure of dog fighting back during peacetime training. Ahab and Mags both following him down.

“Zeus, please, I’m not some chair force driver. We’re just debating the merits of upgrading our weapons load for the mission.” You explained with mock offence as the fellow aviators broke up around the room. Zeus heading for the cabinet that held the cup noodles, Zeus made for the fridge while mags just sat down on the couch.

“I mean, if we’re going on a mission that requires you to kill a bunker, why not take the best bunker killing ordnance?” Ahab asked as he retrieved a sandwich from the fridge, one that he had made earlier so that he didn’t have to eat the cup noodles.

>CONT

>>2320874

>”Because contrary to popular belief, there is such thing as overkill. Besides, we need more air-to air missiles to make up for the other aircraft that are lacking AMRAAMs in general.”
>”Good point. After all, we’ll only be carrying them for half the flight in.”

>>2320879
>>”Because contrary to popular belief, there is such thing as overkill. Besides, we need more air-to air missiles to make up for the other aircraft that are lacking AMRAAMs in general.”

>>2320879
>”Good point. After all, we’ll only be carrying them for half the flight in.”
And more importantly, it doesn't hurt to make sure we don't have to make this trip twice.

>>2320879
>”Good point. After all, we’ll only be carrying them for half the flight in.”

>>2320879
>”Good point. After all, we’ll only be carrying them for half the flight in.”

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”Good point. After all, we’ll only be carrying them for half the flight in.” You shrugged at Ahab, making an internal note to tell your crew chief to switch out your load. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Vampire nod in approval.

“Yeah, and we’re more likely to either permanently damage or destroy the facility by dropping those bombs. Five thousand pounds of high explosives isn’t something that can be easily shrugged off.” Vampire concurred, reminding you just how big the weapons you had chose were. You were trading just over half of your air to air load for more than double the explosive weight.

“On the other hand, we’re going to be much more vulnerable to enemy aircraft.” Zeus pointed out, practically repeating your previous concern from when you chose your load in the briefing.

“If things go as expected, we won’t encounter any enemy aircraft. We need to plan for what we know will happen.” You explained to your RIO, turning to face him as the kettle reached the boil. Zeus didn’t look back at you, instead focusing on making his food.

Slowly, the rest of your unit began to trickle down, into the rec room. Zeus and Ahab offering out food and drinks for everybody so that they wouldn’t get hungry during the flight. The last person down, probably after checking everybody’s rooms, was Dredd himself. The squadron leader confirmed that everybody was there before making an announcement from the stairs. His perch allowing him to see everybody below him, and for everybody to see him.

“Alright everybody, listen up. We’ve been shit hot thus-far. We have has the absolute lowest losses of any combat unit in this theatre. Only a handful of other units have suffered no losses, and almost all of those are vulture units. Let’s keep up that record. Don’t get cocky, keep to your roles and don’t die on us.” Dredd announced, pausing to make eye contact with each of you in turn. A small smile on his face. “I’m proud of every one of you. We’re the best in the navy, and everybody knows this. We make the impossible possible. So let’s get out there and get this done.”

And with that, your unit began to make for the hangers. You were all able to flag down a passing deuce and a half and pile into the empty bed. The drive was quiet enough as you went over the briefing in your head. You had already planned out your route in, and your route out. Places you could ditch if necessary and landmarks to follow if you were out on your ass. There was a Sturgeon class submarine off the coast loaded with tomahawk land attack missiles, if one of your aircraft was shot down or if you had to ditch, then the submarine would ensure than nothing could be salvaged by the reds.

You hoped that the submarine would return to port with no missiles expended. You prayed to god that you would all come out of this unscathed.

>CONT

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>>2323124

Soon, the truck dropped you off outside your hanger. You and Zeus climbed out and were met by your crew chief,inside the hanger you could see your weapons laid out for you on racks. Agiles, AMRAAMs and a selection of ground attack bombs. You quickly relayed your load to him, before heading off to the temporary weather shop that had been established between Weiss and Svetlana’s hangers. The former teeming with activity while the latter remained dark and empty, the eagle having been handed off to another unit to replace combat losses. After getting the weather and conditions for the flight out and back, you returned to your hanger, just in time to see the ground crew loading the GBU-28s.

Now, if the rumours were to be believed. The first GBU-28s were actually just the barrels from 8 inch artillery guns, modified into bombs and packed full of explosives. And given their size and apparent weight, you couldn’t help but believe them. Sure, the Agiles and AMRAAMs were heavy, but they could be lifted by a few people. The GBU-28s however, their 4,700 pound weight required a dedicated loading unit. The crews worked on their knees to affix the bombs to not one, but two mounts at the same time. The sheer weight of the devices requiring them to be rigged to a pair of hardpoints each. You occasionally glanced at them as you put on your equipment, before you climbed up and into your jet. The pre-start checks went as normal, and soon you were allowed to taxi out. Your takeoff was sluggish. The sheer load of the well over 10,000 pounds of ordnance, and full fuel tanks pushed your engines hard. And it was only a testament to the designers of this aircraft that you were able to fly so well. You doubted that even the mature B model tomcats could carry this much ordinance.

Soon enough, you were all formed up in a loose wedge formation. And Dredd lead you all out on the first leg of your flight. The airbase below you slowly disappearing into the night as you left off on your mission.

>Talk to a wingmate (who?)
>Talk to Zeus.
>Keep quiet and focus on flying.
>Other (write in)

>>2323129
>Talk to Zeus.
You think this is enough kaboom, Zeus?

"So, think this is enough boon Zeus?" You asked your RIO a few minutes after takeoff, you were sure that at this point, Zeus had finished all of his computer stuff and was just reading something.

"Yeah, definitely enough boom. Though the biggest issue is if we'll be able to use it." Zeus replied calmly, his slightly distracted tone telling you that he was currently engrossed in his favourite past time.

"What's the issue?" You asked curiously, you weren't sure if Zeus had found out an issue, or if he was just worried about the mission.

"In order to mount each bomb, they have to use a special adaptor that connects to two hardpoints rather than one. On the plus side, it reduced hardpoint stress, but on the negative side, we run the risk of the bomb not properly ejecting." Zeus explained simply enough, you scowled at this. Neither he nor your crew chief had told you this before you took off.

"What can we do to avoid that?" You asked a 3rd question, continuously prompting your RIO to explain more about the issue.

"Well we only have one option. I can rig up the original hardpoints to eject the mount a second after the bomb is ejected. We'll loose the mount, but we'll guarantee an ejection regardless of if the adaptor fails. However, if we do that then we'll be loosing the adaptors, which will prevent us from using five thousand pound bombs until replacements get sent over. Additionally, we might run the risk of loosing sensitive equipment. Though I'm not sure on the latter issue." Zeus reported, both giving you the answer to your question and giving you the issues with that answer before you could ask him.

You wondered for a few seconds about the issue, in the grand scheme of things, you doubted that you would really need the mounts in the long term. The only weapons that those mounts could be useful for were either the GBU-28s or air-launched tomahawks. So you wouldn't be loosing much by ditching them to ensure a correct drop. On the other hand however, you didn't know if the mounts themselves contained anything sensitive. The Soviets were able to reverse-engineer the early model Sidewinders after the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, that was one of the lessons that had been drummed into you during advanced flight, along with a few other examples of small pieces of equipment being discarded by careless pilots, only for it to be a bounty for the enemy.

But you had to ask yourself, how much of a

>"Rig the system so that the mount is ejected a second after the bomb is set to release. We have to guarantee that the bombs are dropped on their first pass."
>"Rig up the system as a quick alternative, but keep the system set to eject the bombs normally. We can't just throw these mounts away for no reason."
>"Don't rig the system to eject the mounts. We can't risk them falling into enemy hands, even if they are just adaptors."
>Other (write in)

>>2324142
>>"Rig up the system as a quick alternative, but keep the system set to eject the bombs normally. We can't just throw these mounts away for no reason."

>>2324142
>"Rig up the system as a quick alternative, but keep the system set to eject the bombs normally. We can't just throw these mounts away for no reason."

>how much of a
o shidd

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>>2324336

God damn it, that's just sloppy of me. It's meant to be "But you had to ask yourself, how much of a risk would it be to just ditch the adaptors?"

"Rig up the system as a quick alternative, but keep the system set to eject the bombs normally. We can't just throw these mounts away for no reason." You decided after a few seconds to go for a middle ground option. Not immediately consigning the adaptors in favour of a guaranteed deployment, and not completely closing the door on that option.

"Yeah, we don't know when we'll have to bomb another deep underground base. Those things are just so common after all." Zeus groaned as he got to work, once again living up to his callsign. Zero effort indeed.

"I don't know. Those Lancers have to be bombing something after all." You suggested, probing to see if your RIO had anything more to say.

"And what massive bunker network requires regular strikes from lancers carrying multiple five-thousand pound bombs?" Zeus asked, his tone lingering between confused and annoyed. As if he wanted his question to be rhetorical, but also didn't know if you were right or wrong.

"Fuck if I know." You replied simply, you had no fucking clue what those B-1s were doing. But given the complete lack of chemical weapons being dropped by the Soviets and Chinese, you were pretty safe at guessing that the bombings were staying conventional.

>Talk to a wingmate (who?)
>Keep quiet and focus on flying.
>Other (write in)

>>2324515
>Keep quiet and focus on flying.

>>2324515
>>Keep quiet and focus on flying.

>>2324515
>Keep quiet and focus on flying.

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From there, the rest of the flight out was fairly quiet. With the night being so dark, you were forced to fly practically by instrument. You did have a set of night vision goggles, but you didn’t feel like putting them on. Everybody was using their navigation lights, and at these distances, the chances of accidentally hitting each other was incredibly low. Still, you checked your position in the formation every ten minutes. But aside from that, the flight out to Okinawa was quiet. An occasional check of the fuel gauge allowed you to watch as you fuel began to drop lower and lower, however, due to your much heavier load you were ordered to refuel first. The lights on the KC-130 and the marker light on the refuelling basket made refuelling in the dead of night much easier, but it was still much harder that refuelling in the daytime. You refuelled quickly, waited for everybody else to finish, and then topped off your fuel tanks. Making sure that your fuel tanks were as full as possible before finally leaving the tankers behind.

Almost as soon as you were done, your squadron dived for the ocean. Navigation lights off and NGV’s fixed in position.

Your flight penetrated into Chinese airspace at just a little over 10 meters off the deck. The dark waves beneath swiping at the bellies of your jets, slashing at them with ocean spray. All of your radars were off, you couldn’t risk switching them on until your reached further inland. If you used them now, you ran a risk of being found before the mission had even began. And that was the last thing you wanted. Soon enough, the choppy seas gave way to dark and uninhabited jungles. Your path through it all was long and winding, but it had to be, a direct path would have taken you over towns and villages that would have certainly sounded some sort of alarm. You waited with bated breath, fully anticipated your MAWs to start screaming as you were locked up by an enemy fighter, or SAM battery.

You wouldn’t admit it. But the longer things went, the more paranoid you became.

Soon enough however, your HUD blinked as new information reached it, and a second later 12 boxes flashed into your limited field of vision as VF-21 made contact with the waiting Kate II’s. The large strike aircraft flying as slow as they could with their heavy loads. 6 external fuel tanks under their wings, and a semi-recessed buddy refuelling system under their centre-line. Each tomcat fell in behind one of the Kate’s and extended their refuelling probes. If refuelling from the KC-130s had been hard, then refuelling from the Kates was almost impossible. A single light on the Kate’s drogue, a single light on the Tomcat’s refuelling probe, and having to get the two to meet while watching the terrain through a 60 degree cone. Thankfully however, you had Zeus to helpfully chime in while you were juggling so many things at once.

>CONT

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>>2325912

On reflection however, you guessed that Dredd was right to say that your squadron was one of the best. You doubted that many other pilots would have been able to do all that, and not yell profanities at their annoying RIO.

Refuelling took around a good 5 minutes, and almost as soon as you were done, you detached and formed up with the rest of VF-21, leaving the Japanese pilots to eject some of their external fuel tanks, most of them now empty from satiating the thirst of your powerful jets. As soon as VF-21 broke off towards the looming mountain in the distance, Dredd began to speak.

“Alright people, get ready. We’ve come this far so we can’t fuck it up. We’ll go in as planned, Kay and Kenji first followed by Razor and Weiss, the rest of us last to strafe some of the AA sites.” Dredd announced, before directly addressing you. “Razor, will your flight be dropping both of your bombs in the first pass, or will you only drop one bomb per pass?”

>Drop both bombs in the first pass. Get the ordnance away and get out of their AA network as fast as possible.
>Stagger your bombs, you don’t want to rush this after all.

>>2325913
>>Drop both bombs in the first pass. Get the ordnance away and get out of their AA network as fast as possible.

>>2325913
>>Drop both bombs in the first pass. Get the ordnance away and get out of their AA network as fast as possible.

>>2325913
>Drop both bombs in the first pass. Get the ordnance away and get out of their AA network as fast as possible.

>>2325913
>>Drop both bombs in the first pass. Get the ordnance away and get out of their AA network as fast as possible.

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“We’ll drop all of our ordinance in one pass, though as such we’ll need two more planes to guide in half our bombs.” You replied, telling your squadron commander what you had previously decided with Weiss on the way back to the barracks.

“Myself and Ahab can do that. Slider and Durendal will hold back and keep lookout for enemy fighters. Everybody understand the plan?” Dredd assured you, before pausing for a few more seconds so that everybody could confirm that they remembered their roles.

“Alright, everybody get ready, we only have one shot at this. Do your jobs, and do them safely. We can’t risk anybody going down.” Dredd announced, pausing for a few more seconds for his words to sink in, before speaking once more. “Good luck and godspeed to you all. Kenji, you’re the first one in, call the attack.”

With that, the formation broke apart. Kenji and Kay taking up the lead, with Yourself, Weiss and your two assistants hanging back behind them by a good few hundred meters. Slider and Durendal split up and began to head off in opposite directions, splitting up to search for enemy fighters with their IRST units.

“Three... two... one… MARK!” Kenji spoke the magic words, officially commencing the strike. You watched as a cluster of small, black objects dropped off Kenji and Kay’s aircraft, and instantly pulled up and climbed into the sky. The small TALDs had been modified with a more powerful engine at the cost of loiter time. However, that wasn’t really an option. All that was needed right now was a way to get the enemy’s radar systems online while your jets slipped in.

You watched as the two SEAD armed aircraft lit their afterburners and rocketed off, making best speed towards the entrenched foe. You counted the seconds in your head, waiting exactly 5 seconds before you hit your afterburners and raced after them. You only had a few seconds before then enemy’s AA guns were guaranteed to start firing, and you had to get in, drop your bombs and get out within that window.

The approach had to be performed from the south west, where two ridges formed a loose valley that terminated in the mountain. You rounder the southernmost edge of this impromptu valley and looked up at what you were facing. You couldn’t see much, the range was too great for you to make out much but the lights of the Chinese base, the burning tails of the SEAD aircraft, and the rocket motors from their HARMs. You didn’t know if their were targeting the shorter ranged and more numerous Geckos, or the longer ranged Guideline’s and Gainfuls. You didn’t have time to wonder however, as you looked down at one of your MFD’s in time to see Zeus bring it to bear on the entrance to the facility.

>CONT

>>2326332

Before you, you could just about make out the entrance to the facility. Or what was left of it. The Chinese had apparently wasted no time trying to dig past the entrance, stripping away the mountain in hopes of widening their way in, and making it easier to extract their bounty. However, in their hubris they had actually made it easier for you to get your bombs in. Assuming that you dropped them correctly. However, you had only a few seconds to decide your target and drop your bomb.

>Target the entrance directly, the force of your bomb should be enough to get through.
>Hit just above the entrance, your bomb should be able to penetrate the rock and get past the collapsed section.
>Try and hit further up the mountain, you might be able to punch deeper into the facility and guarantee it's destruction.

>>2326338
>Hit just above the entrance, your bomb should be able to penetrate the rock and get past the collapsed section.

>being in range of AA guns
Fucking hell.

>>2326338
>>Hit just above the entrance, your bomb should be able to penetrate the rock and get past the collapsed section.

"Hit just above the entrance, we need to penetrate as deep as possible." You instructed over the squadron network, relaying your orders to both your wingmate and Dredd’s flight.

“One-One, target lazed.” Dredd returned a second later, his call being echoed a second later by both Ahab and Weiss.

“Release bombs on my mark…” You instructed, specifically talking to Weiss but allowing everybody else to hear. While you couldn’t see the movement of the AA guns, you could practically feel their gaze. “MARK!”

And with that, you tapped the ordnance release button twice. A pair of solid thunks and a light lurch as your aircraft lost a good 9,000lbs worth of weight. The first bomb taking it’s guidance from Dredd’s aircraft, meanwhile the second one was linked directly to your own targeting unit. You couldn’t exactly call it a pod as it was integrated into your aircraft to a much greater degree than a standard podded system. However, it featured all of the bells and whistles of the normal podded system. The pair of bombs fell cleanly away, allowing you to peel away.

“Freelancer two-one, bombs away. Clean separation.” You relaid as your winged over, relying on your targeting unit’s gimbaling range to allow it to continue feeding a target to your bomb. Your nose now pointed over the western face of the mountain.

“Freelancer two-two, bombs away. Clean separation.” Weiss echoed your call, confirming that in spite of Zeus’s worries, the mounts had performed admirably. In spite of this being their first combat outing.

>Escape as quickly as possible, you can leave the damage assessment to the satellites.
>Go in for another pass, you need to do a damage assessment.

>>2326897
>Escape as quickly as possible, you can leave the damage assessment to the satellites.
It's not as if there's much more we can do to it without another set of big screw-off bombs. Time to hope they aren't dumb enough to chase us out.

>>2326897
>Escape as quickly as possible, you can leave the damage assessment to the satellites.

>>2326897
>Escape as quickly as possible, you can leave the damage assessment to the satellites.

>>2326897
>>Escape as quickly as possible, you can leave the damage assessment to the satellites.

>>2326897
>>Escape as quickly as possible, you can leave the damage assessment to the satellites.

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29 KB JPG

"Freelancer Two-one, calling egress. All ordnance expended, let's get out of here." You called as you watched the bombs slam into the side of the mountain through the picture from the targeting unit. 4 black objects slamming into the rock and burying themselves.

“One-one copies, lead the way Razor.” Dredd replied as you broke over the mountain, catching a glimpse of an AA position as you went. The small shapes of the gun’s crew racing to their position as your jets rocketed overhead. You pulled your stick back and rolled your jet over at the same time, pulling your jet to leave the same way you had entered.

“Keep low on egress, we have destroyed the enemy’s short range SAM systems, but their medium and long range systems are still active. Keep low to avoid entering their sights.” Kenji advised as you re-oriented your plane, his warning prompted you to dive deeper into the impromptu canyon. You held your breath as tracers stitched the skies in front of you, but they were wild and with no real direction. The Chinese gunners having rushed their shots. And less than 30 seconds after entering the canyon and beginning the attack, you escaped the enemy’s gunsights.

A few minutes later, you met back up with the Kate II’s. The Japanese intruders having not even fired a shot, yet, their stores were more empty than when you had last seen them. All of their empty tanks having been dropped the moment you had left. Leaving them with 4 600 gallon tanks each. And by the time your squadron had finished tanking up from them, that number was halved. As the spent tanks dropped away however, you were left with the choice of where exactly you wanted to be in the formation.

>Take point, lead the formation out.
>Stay in the middle of the formation.
>Hang back, keep up the rear.

>>2328550
>Take point, lead the formation out.

>>2328550
>>Take point, lead the formation out.

"I'll take point. Unless anyone else wants to?” You decided, letting your squadmates confirm that you had the position before you took it. You knew exactly what being at the front meant. You would be the only plane with it’s radar on, allowing the other aircraft behind you to see the terrain. And allowing you to look out for enemy fighters that might be hunting you. And for 30 tense minutes, you lead the composite flight out of enemy territory

“Contact! Six bandits direct south of us, headed south. Looks like a patrol.” Zeus called out, the moment the blips showed up on your radar.

“Can you peg the aircraft?” Dredd asked as soon as Zeus was finished speaking, even though his jet was data-linked to yours, Zeus had the first pic of the data.

“Floggers, definitely. They haven’t seen us.” Zeus replied after a couple of seconds, most likely having waited for your aircraft’s computer to do the work for him.

“Do you think that the base didn’t get an alarm out?” Kay asked, the American woman’s voice having changed from it’s normal jovial tone to one that you would almost peg as scared.

“Maybe, but there are a number of other explanations. They might not have got the message out, or they might already be searching for us.” Dredd answered as your flight passed over a small lake, a solitary house on the lake sat with its lights on.

“What can you do about them?” One of the Japanese pilots asked, his worried tone telling you that he was less than pleased with the idea of being spotted by a flight of enemy fighters. While the Kate II’s were derived from the F-14’s predecessor, the F-111B, they shared the Aardvark’s maneuverability. Or rather, it’s lack of maneuverability.

“We can let them go, they’ll live for now but may come back to try and kill us if we get found out by another flight. Or we can try and shoot them down, however if any of them survive then they could send out a warning that they are under fire. Even then, when they go down the Chinese will get suspicious, and they will send another flight to snoop around for them.” Ahab answered before you, telling the Japanese pilot the dilemma you had to call on.

>”Take them out.”
>”Let them pass.”

>>2329010
>”Let them pass.”
Shh.

>>2329010
>>”Let them pass.”

>>2329010
>”Let them pass.”

>>2329010
>>”Let them pass.”

>>2329010
>”Let them pass.”

Remember Snake, this is a sneaking mission.

>>2329010
>>”Let them pass.”

”Let them pass.” You decided, not wanting to risk being found out this early into your escape.

“And who put you in charge? Lieutenant-” A Japanese pilot spoke up, his offended rant being shut down after only a few seconds.

“If I did not trust his judgement then he wouldn’t be on point. We’re not engaging.” Dredd interrupted, leaving the Japanese pilot to stew in silence. This silence kept up for another 15 minutes, but as you crossed the halfway mark in your trip out, Zeus spoke up again.

“Contact, large group of hostiles inbound from Shanghi. They’re searching for us.” Zeus called out, his voice on edge but still contained.

“What does it consist of?” You asked, waiting for him to read out the foes that you would face.

“Four Flankers, four Floggers. Mixed group with AWACs support. They will intercept us within two minutes.” Zeus explained, this was not good. If the AWACs spotted you then it would broadcast your exact location to every fighter and SAM battery in the area. Assuming that their radar was able to see through the ground clutter.

“Damn. We’ll just have to take them out. I want-” Dredd decided, before himself being cut off.

“No, you and your squadron can go and get yourselves killed. I shall lead my squadron out and follow the plan!” The Japanese pilot spoke up again, his forceful tone telling you that he was done with following your lead.

“You’re a fucking idiot.” Ahab stated very flatly, like a father who had just seen his son do something stupid. “You won’t survive if you get spotted.”

“I would much rather take that risk than run head first into enemy fire.” The Japanese commander replied rather simply, his mind made up.

>Attack them as one. You shouldn’t split your forces.
>Split up for the battle. You’ll lead the attack.
>Split up for the battle. You’ll lead the escape.

>>2330927
>Attack them as one. You shouldn’t split your forces.
And make sure to call the Japanese commander a dishonorable coward as we go to cover his retreat.

>>2330927
>Attack them as one. You shouldn’t split your forces.
Like quicksand. Some of these nips are so desperate to escape that they only dig themselves deeper.

>>2330927
>>Attack them as one. You shouldn’t split your forces.

"The moment we split our forces, we’re damned. Once we engage the enemy fighters, they will know that we’re here. Once they know, they will send as many fighters as they can to scour the area for us.” You explained to the Japanese pilot, however he just scoffed at your statement.

“No, they will scour the area looking for you. My squadron shall be fine.” The Japanese pilot insisted, still believing that he could escape with his men.

“Ever heard of look down, shoot down radar? Obviously fucking not as you seem to think that you’ll be fine. They will start shooting at you the moment they spike you on radar.”

“And what can your squadron do to stop them?” The Japanese pilot now changed tactics, trying to prove that your squadron couldn't defend him and his men.

“One minute!” Zeus called out, reminding you that you didn’t have time to waste.

“We’ve fought these guys multiple times, on the same footing, and haven’t suffered a single loss. Our jammers are much better than theirs.” You replied, and after waiting for a couple of seconds for the Japanese officer to speak. “If you run, you’ll only damn yourself and your men.”

“Fine, we will follow your lead.” The Japanese pilot finally relented, allowing you to finally get on with the task on engaging the enemy before they found you.

“Zeus, lock up the enemy fighters, one AMRAAM a piece.” You ordered as you began to amass the missiles you had at your disposal. You’d mostly be firing missiles from Dredd, Ahab, Slider and Durendal’s planes as they had missiles to spare. 2 missiles from each plane in the first volley.

“Can’t lock them right now, else we’ll loose terrain mapping. We can key them off the IRST, but then we can’t provide mid-course updates to the missiles.” Zeus explained, giving you yet another decision to consider. If you kept the radar mapping the terrain in front of you, your missiles would be less accurate. And with your limited number of AMRAAMs available, you really couldn’t afford to waste missiles for cleanup. However, if you used the radar to provide mid-course targeting to the AMRAAMs, you would lose track of the ground. While you would have the best chance of killing the enemy fighters in the first volley of missiles, the risk of someone accidentally slamming into the ground would be much higher.

>Lock the fighters regardless, you need to make sure that these missiles hit their damn targets.
>Use the IRST, there’s a greater chance of missing the enemy fighters, but at least you’ll be able to see the ground.
>Other (write in)

>>2331352
>Use the IRST, there’s a greater chance of missing the enemy fighters, but at least you’ll be able to see the ground.

>>2331352
>Use the IRST, there’s a greater chance of missing the enemy fighters, but at least you’ll be able to see the ground.

>>2331352
>>Other (write in)
whats the risks involved with popping off the deck long enough to get locks and launch before popping back down when the missiles go terminal?

>>2331352
>>Use the IRST, there’s a greater chance of missing the enemy fighters, but at least you’ll be able to see the ground.

>>2331352
>>Use the IRST, there’s a greater chance of missing the enemy fighters, but at least you’ll be able to see the ground.
we are primarily a gunfighter given how much we just toss our missiles and run in

"We'll use the IRST. Keep the radar in its current mode." You decided, you couldn’t risk one of planes that relied on you slamming into the ground.

"Alright, your shot now." Zeus decided, keying the missiles to your trigger. Your weapons screen coming online and showing off the missiles you had access to. 2 missiles each from Dredd and the rest of the CAP fighters.

"Freelancer two-one, engaging." You announced, before hitting the trigger. Each missile lancing off their carrying aircraft as you pressed the trigger.

The Soviet flight -or Chinese flight, you couldn’t really tell what kind of commie they were- didn’t have much time to react. While they had been searching for you, they must have expected to get the drop on you, not the other way around. As such, the enemy fighters were completely unaware of the missiles that were streaking towards them until the missiles themselves went active. Which was probably for the best as if they had known that the missiles were incoming then they could easily have evaded them. However, with their warning coming so late, they had no real time to evade. You watched as a number of the enemy fighters dropped off the radar, leaving only 2 survivors. A Flogger and a Flanker.

“Zeus, I need more-” You began, only for for your RIO to interrupt you as the two remaining enemy fighters began to go evasive.

“Two more AMRAAMs on your trigger. Got another two ready just in case.” Zeus announced as your screen flicked again, showing two more missiles on your trigger.

You didn’t bother to respond, or even call out that you were firing, you instead just fired. The two missiles activating their seekers almost immediately to track the manoeuvring fighters. And the enemy fighters saw them coming. The Flogger pilot tried to climb to evade the incoming missile, only to be speared by it. Meanwhile, the Flanker pilot tried to jam the missile off him as he tried a series of turns. And to his credit he did avoid a direct hit. But from his sudden dive after the missile’s detonation, it must have damaged something important. You had to mark that as a kill. Or at the very least that the Flanker pilot wasn’t going to follow you.

>Go after the AWACs! It’s defenceless!
>Keep to the plan! You have to escape!
>Other (write in)

>>2333191
>Go after the AWACs! It’s defenceless!
How far away is it, actually?

>>2333191
>>Keep to the plan! You have to escape!
Tactical advance in the direction of friendly bases

>>2333191
>Keep to the plan! You have to escape!

>>2333191
>>Keep to the plan! You have to escape!

>>2333191
>Go after the AWACs! It’s defenceless!
If we can make a comfortable BVR shot, I'd say go for it.

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“Let’s pick up the pace people!” You ordered, switching your display back to showing the terrain in front of you.

“One of them got away, aren’t we going after him?” Slider asked, the British pilot baying for another kill.

“No. Hopefully he’ll stay away.” Ahab replied for you as you lead the flight deeper into the terrain, a silent prayer on your lips that the AWACS couldn't cut through the ground clutter.

The rest of the flight out to the coast was made at breakneck speed. None of you could afford to take this carefully anymore. It was only a matter of time until another patrol found you. As such, with afterburners alight, your jets screamed over the jungles and villages in your way. Thatch roofs and branches being kicked up in the wake of your thunderous passing. Your eyes darted between looking at your screens, and actually seeing where you were going. The flight continued on, as you exchanged secrecy for speed. Soon, you reached

“We’re spiked! They’re behind us!” Ishmael, Ahab’s RIO, called out before Zeus could. You switched one of your displays to show your directional RWR. And sure enough, you were being spiked. The enemy fighters were coming from your south-west, roughly from Fuzhou.

“How far out?” Dredd asked, his commanding tone telling you that he had just taken command back.

“They’ll be at missile range in range in one minute! Assuming that-” Ishmael began hurredly, his panicked explanation being cut off halfway through.

“They’re using Alamos. If they’re using Adders then we have far less time.” Zeus finished, his cool and calm voice was far more reassuring than Ishmael’s panicked jabbering.

>Wait for Dredd to decide, he’s it now.
>Run the gauntlet! You can’t run the risk of running out of fuel so far from Okinawa.
>Stand and fight! You’ll be slaughtered if you run.
>Other (write in)

>>2335966
>Wait for Dredd to decide, he’s it now.

>image
That very specific cat sure does.

>>2335966
>>Wait for Dredd to decide, he’s it now.

>>2335966
>>Wait for Dredd to decide, he’s it now.

“We don’t have a choice. We have to engage them.” Dredd decided after a second of thought, but before you could turn to engage, an annoying voice cut across the channel.

“Fight them on your own. I will not risk my squadron.” The Japanese pilot from before proclaimed, before his flight ignited their afterburners and made to escape at top speed.

“Damn it, you fool! Get back in formation!” Dredd barked at his Japanese counterpart, who simply disconnected from the channel with a resounding click. As you watched the Japanese attackers flee, you considered flicking over to your agiles and blowing their leader out of the sky for his cowardice. However, you weren’t some commie commissar, as such you instead let them go.

“What are we facing?” Dredd grunted his question, his disgruntled tone telling you that he had been considering the exact same thing.

“Two groups, one is a mix of floggers and fishbeds, the other one is a full flight of fulcrums. Eight aircraft in the first flight, six in the second. The first flight is splitting apart. The fishbeds are heading for us at supersonic speed while the floggers are trying to get missile shots, they’re having issues with our jammers. The fulcrums are still inbound, but I’m not sure if they are heading after us or the Japs.” Zeus quickly explained as VF-21 turned towards the foe, every last one of you mindful of the fuel you had left to play with. All in all, you had 34 missiles to spread between 14 enemy aircraft. So that was a bit of encouragement.

“We’ll have to divide them up. Call out your targets before you engage.” Dredd ordered as the squadron drifted apart, gaining separation to evade from incoming missiles.

>Intercept the fishbeds! You’re lighter and better suited to the dogfight.
>Kill the fulcrums! They can easily turn on the Kate II’s.
>Take out the fulcrums! You shouldn’t waste your ordnance on the small fry.

>>2339495
>>Take out the fulcrums! You shouldn’t waste your ordnance on the small fry.

>>2339495
>Take out the fulcrums! You shouldn’t waste your ordnance on the small fry.
I'm guessing one of these choices is supposed to be the floggers.

>>2339495
>Take out the fulcrums! You shouldn’t waste your ordnance on the small fry.

>>2339495
>>Take out the fulcrums! You shouldn’t waste your ordnance on the small fry.

>>2339495
>>Take out the fulcrums! You shouldn’t waste your ordnance on the small fry.

"Freelancer two-one, engaging the fulcrums." You claimed the more valuable targets for yourself. Leaving the fishbeds and floggers to the rest of your squadron.

"Freelancer three-one, we'll soften them up for you." Slider intruded on your hunt as a pair of AMRAAMs lanced from Dredd’s aircraft. Two more joining it from Ahab’s aircraft a second later.

“Hungry for kills Slider?” You asked your unwanted assistant over a direct link, not wanting to clog up the main squadron channel.

“Gotta take every chance I can. You've got enough under your belt anyways.” Slider answered jovially, before continuing with the matter at hand. “We’ll fire a pair of AMRAAMs at them, before helping Kenji and Kay.”

“Understood. Give ‘em hell.” You replied as Kay and Kenji turned towards the enemy, and the fighters that they were about to slaughter.

“You too Razor. Fox three.” Slider returned the wishes, before firing off a pair of missiles from her own stocks. These missiles were soon joined by another pair from Durendal. The two fighters then broke off to join the two under-armed SEAD fighters. This was probably overkill. While the MiGs would have the numerical advantage over Kay and Kenji, a pair of echo-cats on their own would be more than a match, 4 fighters on the other hand was overkill.

“Alright, this should be a cakewalk.” You stated as you watched the missiles lance towards the Soviet fighters. However, your RWR began to scream, followed by your MAWS as the enemy fighters fired at you. 6 missiles tracked towards you, split evenly between you and Weiss.

You didn’t need to call that you were going evasive, out of the corner of your eye, you could see Weiss drop countermeasures and break off from you. And you did the same, breaking hard to the left, headed south east at supersonic speed. Your radar craned to the limits of it’s already impressive field of vision in order to adequately track the missiles as they came towards you. And one by one, the missiles fell out of your radar view as you slipped away from them. Either by reaching their no escape zone or by spoofing them with countermeasures. As soon as your MAWS shut off, you turned back towards the enemy jets..

“Given how they just wasted their first volley of missiles yeah, I'd agree.” Zeus replied from just behind you, seemingly unaffected by the strain of the manoeuvres. “Should we fire back?”

“Negative. Slider and Durendal just sent four AMRAAMs at them. We can clean up with our guns and Agiles.” You paused for a second, before adding. “Besides, all of this running has me worn out. I need to kill some shit.”

“Figured as much.” Zeus sighed as 2 contacts disappeared from radar scope. Netting 2 kills for Slider and Durendal. A 3rd began to lag behind the formation, but was still coming.

>CONT

>>2342728

You and Weiss were a good 50 kilometres apart, and the enemy squadron was 60 kilometres away and closing. You could easily cover the distance before they fired off another volley, but then you would be fighting 4 enemy fighters on your own. And unlike the fishbeds and floggers, the fulcrums you were facing were modern aircraft.

>Charge the fulcrums! You can’t let them fire off another volley!
>Link up with Weiss! It’s suicide to go in alone!
>Other (write in)

File: knock it off zeus.gif (1.43 MB, 500x281)

1.43 MB GIF

>>2342761
>Link up with Weiss! It’s suicide to go in alone!
Have a gif I saved a month ago and forgot about until now!

>>2342761
>>Link up with Weiss! It’s suicide to go in alone!

>>2342761
>Link up with Weiss! It’s suicide to go in alone!
Time to dive into the fireworks!

File: 1517392230519.png (1.79 MB, 1920x1080)

1.79 MB PNG

“Weiss, we need to regroup.” You decided as you turned around, your nose passing over the enemy squadron, or what remained of it. A cloud of debris and a pair of burning signature descending from the formation telling of their recent losses.

“Are you sure that is wise? They will have more chances to engage us at range.” Weiss asked doubtfully, your wingmate still compiled with your order however. You watched as her IFF began to close on you.

“I would much rather that they fire off a few more missed shots that us trickling into their gunsights.” You reasoned, looking down at your fuel gauge. You still had enough fuel to dance, but only if you were brutally quick.

“Caution from you? Today is just full of surprises.” Weiss asked rhetorically, a hint of smugness in her voice just a few seconds before your MAWS screamed again. More missiles were inbound.

“Yeah, not being suicidal is so unlike me.” You stated, your flat and sarcastic tone remaining level as you pulled your jet into a climb to escape the incoming missiles.

You like to think that the lack of response from your wingmate was her focusing on not getting shot down as you both evaded the incoming salvo of missiles. But the rational side of you doubted that. Severely.

You climbed for a good few thousand feet, the cockpit cooling significantly as you ploughed higher and higher into the sky. Your board flashed warnings as your starved your jets in the thin atmosphere, however after a few more seconds of climbing, your MAWS finally shutting off as you escaped the missiles that has been sent after you. You swiftly cut your engines and swung your wings forwards with flaps down, biting into the thin atmosphere to slow down swiftly.

All that was left now was to decide how you wanted to play this…

>Dive in from above! Use your energy advantage to break their formation!
>Link up with Weiss! Here comes trouble, make it double!
>Other (write in)

>>2343482
>Dive in from above! Use your energy advantage to break their formation!
Two in touch are easier to coordinate than four disoriented.

>>2343482
>Dive in from above! Use your energy advantage to break their formation!

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98 KB JPG

>>2343482
>Dive in from above! Use your energy advantage to break their formation!

“Fuck this, push on those fuckers!” You spat over the radio, all thoughts of rendezvousing with Weiss going out of the window.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Weiss responded as you pushed your aircraft to supersonic speeds. The engines howled in spite of the thin air as you entered a shallow descent towards the Soviet built aircraft. The enemy formation did not break apart to properly face you and Weiss. Instead maintaining their heading and altitude.

You didn’t know whether they were new or stupid. You assumed the former.

You quickly brought your jet in, the enemy pilots apparently thought that you were no threat. After all, to their radars, they were facing a pair of F-14s who's only parlour trick was the ability to carry AMRAAMs. And they weren't much help in close. To an outside observer, they we sure to win. They had the numbers and the better aircraft, and they seemed to buy into that perception.

The squadron of fulcrums waited for you to make the first move, and you didn’t want to disappoint, so you gently brought your tomcat to intercept their static formation. Your slow and methodical moves being made on purpose to imitate the more sluggish A and B model aircraft, you would only drop the act when you entered knife-fighting distance. The formation however seemed to wise up at this point, with half of the formation nosing up towards you while the other pair of aircraft angled towards Durendal. Soon enough, you saw the little dots of the enemy aircraft silhouetted in the first light of the morning, and your fire control computer shrieked a second later as it gained a firing solution on the 2 fulcrums. The enemy fighters having just entered range of your agiles.

You waited for a couple of seconds to give the missile some room to play with, before locking up the aircraft on the left hand side of pair. Your missile being released a second later.

It was fairly obvious now that these pilots were now, so much so that you felt slightly bad for them. Both aircraft broke off from their attacks a second after the missile was loosed. Both fighters dumping flares as they evaded the solitary missile. The right-hand aircraft performing some hybrid between a kubilt and a barrel roll, dumping flares all of the way around. A flashy maneuver to be sure, but a useless one as all it did was waste countermeasures and airspeed. Both of which were all too finite in a dogfight. He got away with his trick by virtue of not having the agile locked onto him. His more sensible wingmate however suffered for but a second. The missile tracking straight and true, turning the jet into a barrage of burning shrapnel. You passed the enemy fighter as he fired to turn towards where you had came from, having been forced to take a wide turn at full thrust to recover his airspeed as quickly as possible. By the time he returned to the heading he had been flying on before, you were already halfway behind him.

>CONT

>>2346556

He wasn’t completely blind, he saw you trying to slide onto his tail, and he made you work for your prize. But you would not be denied, and you soon latched onto him well enough to place your killing blow. Your guns pipper passed over the back of his aircraft’s arched fuselage, and the cockpit it contained. Yet you held your fire for a scant second, just long enough for your pipper to drop lower, over his aircraft’s engines and tail. You fired at those instead. The SAPHEI rounds tore into the tail of his fighter with ease, blowing apart the valuable parts of the engines, tearing his tail controls apart, and setting his aviation fuel alight. The pilot ejected too soon, as if he went for the handle as soon as you were on his tail for more than a second. You had been firing for less than a second when his canopy was blown away. The pilot narrowly escaping as his fuel tanks went up. He would live, and hopefully he would be able to learn from this chance meeting, and subsequent slaughter.

“Freelancer two-two, all fighters down. How are you-” Weiss began to ask you, only to be shouted over.

“Americans! We require aid!” The Japanese commander suddenly cut into the squadron channel. His voice panicked. “We are being intercepted by enemy fighters! You must help!”

>Assist your squadron. The Japs made their own problem, they can deal with it themselves.
>Assist the Japanese. You can't leave them to die just because their CO made a bad call.
>Other (write in)

>>2346557
>>Assist your squadron. The Japs made their own problem, they can deal with it themselves.

>>2346557
>Assist your squadron. The Japs made their own problem, they can deal with it themselves.

>>2346557
>>Assist the Japanese. You can't leave them to die just because their CO made a bad call.

>>2346557
>Assist the Japanese. You can't leave them to die just because their CO made a bad call.

>>2346557
>Assist the Japanese. You can't leave them to die just because their CO made a bad call.

>>2346557
>>Assist the Japanese. You can't leave them to die just because their CO made a bad call.
Try not to save the CO if possible

>>2348931
We can save him last, and then say nothing as he silently stews in his own shame.

"Freelancer two-one, moving to support you. What are you facing?" You answered the call, turning your fighter towards the Japanese flight. A cold worry coursing through your body as you wondered if you had somehow let a flight through.

"We do not know, but out radar warning systems are reporting that we are being targeted from behind us." The Japanese officer replied quickly as your radar swooped over the Japanese squadron, confirming that there were no unidentified contacts mixed in with them.

"Zeus?" You asked your trusty RIO as you turned your nose around to track the sky, you had to find the enemy in order to kill them.

"Foxbats. Four of them. We can push for an intercept, but we'll have to get moving on full afterburners just to reach AMRAAM range before they fire off their missiles." Zeus replied after a few seconds, the contacts popping up outside of your radar picture, they must have been detected by one of your other squadmates.

"Well, we'd better get going then." You decided, putting yourself onto a rough intercept course and pushing your engines as hard as they would go. You still had a bit of time before the MiG’s entered missile range, you just hoped that it was enough time for you to lob your missiles at them. At their current speed, you could get away with proximity detonation. The sheer air speed was so great that a severe enough scratch would rip the aircraft apart.

"Got a lock on the Foxbats. Give me a second to make it solid enough for a lock." Zeus stated simply, telling you exactly what you needed to know to complete the mission.

"Missiles in the air!" Weiss called out a second later, the number of radar contacts jumping up as the missiles separated from their launching aircraft. 8 missiles in the air as the aircraft fired their first volleys.

"Got a lock!" Zeus called out, your missile lock tone activating instantly to tell you that your selected AMRAAMs were ready and waiting to be released. Now that you were able to use your radars in full, your missiles were almost guaranteed to hit.

"Freelancer two-one, fox three!" You called out immediately, your two AMRAAMs dropping off their rails and lancing out towards the enemy formation. The enemy formation took no evasive action, aside from activating their ECM jammers and dropping chaff into their wake. All things that had little effect on the flight path of the missiles as they received mid-course guidance from your jet’s superior radar. You kept the link up for as long as possible, before letting the seeker do its job. You waited for a few more seconds, before watching the radar scope as the group of fighters simply broke apart into a cloud of supersonic shrapnel. Some parts larger, some parts smaller. Either way, the radar signals from the fighter jets shut down.

>CONT

>>2353171

"Splash two, splash all. Missiles have lost their track." Zeus announced a second after the carnage erupted on your screen. You chopped your throttle and switched off your afterburners, making sure that you didn’t burn off all of your fuel.

"Countermeasures have been successful. The missiles are no longer following us." The Japanese commander stated, his tone having returned to it's normal, stick-up-the-ass tone. You waited for a few seconds for him to say thanks, only for another pilot to speak.

"Thank you." One of the other pilots thanked you after a few seconds, speaking the words that his commander seemed reluctant to utter.

“No problem. We’ve gotta look after each other afterall.” You answered the thankful pilot in your friendliest tone possible as all of the aircraft flew to Okinawa. The entire operation having proceeded without a hitch.

Or at the very least, with no losses.

---------------------------------------

I’m gonna call the thread here. If ya’ll probably have noticed, my posting has been very slow. As such, I’m gonna take the weekend to a week off from running so I can get my mojo back. I’m not performing as best as I can be, and this is completely unfair on you guys, as such. Hopefully this will work, if not then I will have to look into something more drastic to rekindle my QM’ing spirit.

Anyways, if you you have any questions then do feel free to ask them while the thread is still up. If I don't manage to answer you question before the thread falls off the board then I'll answer it either on my twitter account or next week.

>>2353173
>more drastic
...Blood magic?

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>>2353173
Hope you can get some energy back. Thanks for the thread, and see you soon, boss!