|
Operation: Hammerblow
“The Yuktobanian force that defended the Bastoc Peninsula is staging a large scale withdrawal from the area. After analyzing
the situation, we have determined that they are pulling back the force to regroup their defence network and strengthen their
capital defences. Yuktobania's southern armies sustained heavy damage during our landing operation and their defensive war
power has weakened considerably. Their withdrawal is currently proceeding under the curtain of a set of electronic jamming
signals. The enemy's air forces consist primarily of transport plane. Pursue these planes, destroy them, and halt their retreat.”
“Hey, Kid, did you take a listen to that song?” Chopper asked as soon as we where over the mission area.
“You mean “Face of the coin”? I LOVED THAT!”
“Yeah, that face of the coin is a great tune huh?”
“Edge, Engaging,”
“Archer, Engaging,”
“Blaze, Engaging,”
“Whops, Chopper engaging!”
I got within visual range of the transport planes, at first, my radar saw only four, and then multiplied into at least twenty.
“Due to current circumstances, we have been forced to set foot on Yuktobania with weapons in hand, however, our true
enemy here is the Yuktobanian military who started this unjust war.”
“Transport Squadron undetected, no problems yet.” One of the Fighters said.
“No stragglers, don’t leave anybody behind.” Another said.
“Unbelievable!” Nagase said in disbelief.
“We gotta bag ALL these planes!” Chopper yelled.
“You think every plane in the area is up and flying?” Archer asked.
“Well, let’s ask them, HEY! How many planes you got there! Man, this is making my cry…”
I targeted one of the many blips, selected my phoenix missiles, and fired.
“Fox on! Fox one!”
The missile went towards the target, closer… closer… NO! The missile reached the target, but didn’t detonate!
“SHIT! THE MISSILE FUCKED UP!” I yelled, but then I noticed something really off, the missile kept going. Normally,
a missile that didn’t go off bounced off the side of the aircraft, but this one kept going.
“What the fuck?” I asked.
“Ah-ha! I think I’ve figured it out!” Archer said
“Report from Bjely. Picking up something on radar.” I heard the Yuke ground troops say.
“there’s WAY too many signatures on radar, Kid, Nagase, how bout you?”
”My radar’s showing strange results as well, something’s going on.”
“Mine too… plus, there was that missile fuck-up earlier…”
“Hey, uhhh… you don’t think-“
“Does the enemy have a tally-ho on us yet?” a member of the fighter squadron said.
“Ah-ha! I think I’ve figured it out!” Archer said
“Well, do share your keen insights, will you please? What’s up?”
“First Lieutenant Chopper, Jammer Aircraft!”
“So, it’s… a trick?”
I mentally kicked myself. DUH! Of course there was a jammer! That’s why my missile went right through the target! I
toggled up another Phoenix, went for visual confirmation and fired! The missile leapt off the rail like a weapon possessed
and hit the transport in the rear. The explosion followed a second later, and then the plane fell out of the sky.
“HOW COULD THIS BE? OUR NEW JAMMING DEVICES WHERE SUPPOSED TO BE PERFACT!”
“Okay, I feel better now, Ghosts aren’t so bad once you’ve figured out the trick behind ‘um!”
“Where are the jammers? They’ve got to be somewhere close. Let’s take care of them first.” Nagase
said.
I looked up, and saw an E-767, flying at around 50000 feet.
“Tally-ho on jammer!” I yelled.
“Don’t let the jamming confuse you, repeat, don’t let the enemies jamming confuse you!” Thunderhead
said, unnecessarily.
I locked onto the jammer’s engines with a heat-seeking missile.
“Fox three!” and the missile left my wings. It hit the engine, spilling fuel into the air before erupting a second
later in the explosion. I dived for the deck, not willing to be inside that fireball, and noticed that the radar had partially
cleared.
“The enemy radar blips disappeared! Several of them at once!” Nagase said.
“DAMMIT! OUR COVER’S BLOWN!”
“Concentrate on shooting down the jammer craft, the transports can wait!”
I then shot down a few more transports, and another E-767.
“Hey, you think it’s going to be that easy?” Chopper asked.
“No, they could have something planned for us.” I replied
“I don’t think so either.”
“We wish to work hand-in-hand, harmoniously, with the citizens of Yuktobania for this operation. I've instructed our
soldiers to follow this wish to the letter. Therefore, I ask you, citizens of Yuktobania: Do not fear us, but rather join
us in…”
The messages from General Howell where getting weaker, and with more static.
“...enemy...jamming waves...interference...”
“This is the 8492nd leader. All 8492nd units proceed as planned.”
“Dammit...even our radios...can't...”
“Heads up!...us!”
“Hey, kid, yo...th...pre...n the Air...?” Chopper asked.
I had no idea what he said, so I decided to humour him.
“Roger that chopper.”
“Yeah, I agr... ...tely Na...Heh...”
“It's...jam...!”
“ECCM!” Thunderhead roared as the jamming receded. “RESTORE COMMUNICATION LINK!”
“The Osean planes are firing on a school packed with civilians! They're at the engineering college!”
“Whoever's violating orders, cease fire immediately!”
“What idiot's doing that?” Chopper demanded
“Attention, units operating in sector Charlie Omega! Attacks on civilians are forbidden!”
“That’s right near us!”
” Hell, that's where we're supposed to be operating. You see those idiots anywhere?”
“I'm no joy. I don't see a thing and my radar's clean, too.”
“This is Edge. I'm not showing any aircraft like that either. Are you sure?”
“Multiple casualties! Get an ambulance over here fast!”
“Dammit! The Osean bastards!”
“This is Thunderhead. Wardog, did you engage in an attack on a civilian facility?”
“That’s a negative, sir!”
“Why would we do that? Weren't you watching from up there?
“Don't break formation. Your primary mission is to escort the transports.”
“So we're just gonna watch them die!”
“That's what I hate about war! No matter who starts it, it always comes to this!”
I just decided to get this mission over with as quickly as possible, and I shot down the remaining planes.
“Last plane confirmed shot down, all enemy transports and jammers in the local airspace have been eliminated. Mission
Complete, Return to Base.”
We got sent to an interrogation committee in the capitol, Oured. We where then separated and interviewed separately.
Eventually, the Yuktobanias must have attacked us, because an alarm sounded.
“We’ve got an emergency here. Our armies are bogged down with the Yuktobanian invasion, so we’re short on
operational aircraft. Unfortunately, as a result, we’re going to have to request that you flying aces take off for us.
So, which mission would you like to take on?”
“What?”
“That’s right; the capitols got more then one attack to deal with right now. How ‘bout we use this to decide?”
He flipped a coin, and it landed on heads.
Next Chapter
|
