Ferdinand 6th, 500AP, Somewhere over the Cialtan Sea, 13:00 Hours
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Tony greeted Noah with a smile and invited him to sit down. They hadn't had much time to talk since the voyage began, so Tony was curious to see what Noah wanted to discuss. As they settled onto the couch, Tony wondered if this conversation would bring some excitement to their journey.
"What's up, Stryker?" Tony asked.
"Not much, man not much. Just wanted to swing by with some good news!"
"We're getting new planes?" Tony crossed his fingers in anticipation.
"Soon... hopefully. Yep, F-14 Tomcats just like in the movie we saw together before deploying. I sure as hell CANNOT wait"
"Neither can I...they can pop an airship from 100 miles away and dance with a MiG up close, what more could you want? Don't get me wrong the Phantom's a cool bird but we're flying something without a gun. It also turns like a bus... last I heard, Auras began receiving some new MiGs from Esknar."
Before the conversation could continue. The alert sirens began to blare and the duo quickly leapt from their seats and ran onto the flight deck. They boarded their fighters and immediately ordered the plane captains to turn on the ground power and connect the ground air supply. With the power supply connected the pilots began the startup procedures on their Phantom II's. As the J79 turbojets roared to life they checked the cockpit warning lights and gauges to make sure everything was in the green as well as the flight controls to ensure that everything was good before ground supply was disconnected.
"Brothers... we're ready to taxi!" Carl chuckled.
The two pilots taxied to the catapults and waited for a couple of A-7 Corsairs to launch before it was their turn to line up with the catapult. Once the Corsairs had taken off they confirmed their weights with the green shirt manning the weight board and taxied to the catapults on the bow of the ship. The Phantoms were attached to the shuttle by the green shirts.
"Tower to Solaris 2 you're second in line after Solaris lead."
"Roger that." Tony replied, lowering his sun visor.
The shooter motioned for Noah to prepare for launch. He applied full throttle and was launched off of the deck. Now it was Tony's turn, he did a final check of all his onboard systems and saluted the shooter before applying full afterburner and being launched off of the deck at almost 200 knots.
"Solaris 2, altitude restrictions canceled. Good luck up there."
Once airborne he gently eased back on the stick and gained altitude and then retracted the gear and flaps before joining formation with his brother.
"Good to see you!" Carl joked.
"Yeah, yeah..." Tony chuckled, "Anyway what's going on that they had to sound the damn alarm?
"Perhaps a training exercise?" Noah sighed, "Helluva way to have one right? Quite different from what we went through back home."
"True, True. Anyway how's your family been doing lately?"
"Mom and dad are doing well. My sister is my sister... with all these sorties lately we haven't had much time to talk with her. Are you ever going to confess to Valentina." Noah teased.
"Now you're getting personal...." Tony chuckled and looked at his altimeter, "Anyway what are we supposed to be looking for? It's getting a bit tedious to be escorting radar picket airships away from the fleet. It's always the same shit."
Carl snickered, "I kinda like it...you can toy with them."
"I sure as hell hope those goddamn F-14s aren't a myth... it's bad enough that our Phantoms are starting to fall apart." Noah sighed.
"The controls are a little more sluggish than usual now..." Carl sighed, "Piece of shit.."
"Wanna head back to the Andromeda?" Tony asked.
"Negative, I'm good plus what would you two do without me?"
Two hundred miles later the pilots switched on their radars and began scanning for the bogies. Tony was the first to pick up a single blip on his radar.
"Looks like I've got something. Not sure if he's got a buddy with him, you see anything, Noah?"
"Negative, Tone." Noah replied.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Damn... well it's comin' right at us. Closure speed is at almost a thousand knots. Solaris 3 breaking high. I'm gonna see if this bastard's really alone." Carl said.
"Copy that. This ain’t looking like a typical intercept so be careful." Tony replied.
Soon the planes entered the merge and Solaris Squadron were able to acquire a visual on their mystery bandits. They were a flight of two MiG-23s. The latest that Auras had to offer. These planes were far ahead of the MiG-19s and MiG-21s. They were armed with a set infrared and radar guided missiles just like the Phantoms.
"Shit there's two of them! They're Floggers!" Tony exclaimed as he turned to engage.
“They’re armed too!” Noah added, “They’re not here to mess around!”
Tony locked onto the first Flogger to try and scare him away. The move worked and the Flanker eventually bugged out but the other one remained on Carl' tail.
"Control! The second Flogger has a lock on me do I have permission to engage!?"
"Negative, Solaris 1 you are forbidden to fire unless fired upon."
"Goddammit..." Tony growled as he closed onto the Flanker's six, "I'm gonna scare this guy off... just hang in there, Carl! I bet this guy doesn’t even have the balls to fire."
The Flogger continued to trail behind Carl, effortlessly matching the maneuvers of the more sluggish Phantom. The pilot then switched to his gun and fired a short burst from his 23mm cannon. The rounds sheered off the wing and the Phantom plummeted into the sea below which unfortunately proved Tony wrong.
"Saviola!, my wingman I repeat my wingman is down!" Noah shouted over the radio
"Do you see a chute?" The controller replied.
"N-Negative..." Noah said, "Are we cleared to engage?"
"You are cleared to engage... splash the bandits."
Tony was too close for a missile shot and switched to the ventral mounted MK.4 gun pod. The Flogger began to toy with him by performing a series of aggressive maneuvers, when he acquired a solution he fired a short burst from the gun. The gun unfortunately jammed under the G forces leaving Tony only with his air to air missiles.
"SHIT!" Tony shouted, punching the glareshield.
With the gunpod now worthless, he had no choice but to jettison it and try to stay on the Flogger's six as it continued to outmaneuver him. Tony and Noah both formed an element and dueled with the MiGs until they were able to splash them with their Sidewinders. Even with a pair of successful kills under their belts, the duo still felt like failures after losing Carl.
"Burn in hell, you bastard." Tony sighed as he leveled off and removed his oxygen mask, "Control this is Solaris 2... bandit is down. Heading back to the ship."
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16:00 Hours
"Solaris 1 you are two miles out, check hook." The landing signal officer said.
"Hook is down." Noah replied as he landed.
Tony lined up with the pitching flight deck and flared to land. Two miles out he lowered the flaps further and adjusted the throttle accordingly to keep the Phantom from stalling.
"Solaris 2 you're a bit too high, cut back the power a little."
"Solaris 2, copy that."
Tony cut back the throttle a bit to keep the plane within the correct airspeed. Concentrating was quite difficult to say the least after what he had just experienced earlier. He took a few deep breaths and was now three quarters of a mile from the airship.
"three quarter mile, call the ball." The LSO ordered.
"I have the ball."
"Roger that."
Finally, Tony trapped onto the deck, catching the third wire and increased the throttle for a few seconds before throttling back to idle and folding the wings. He retracted the hook and taxied to the parking area. After shutting down he disembarked from his plane and was met with his plane captain.
"Ensign, Martinez, Ensign Stryner! The Captain needs to see you both in his office ASAP... he doesn't sound happy."
"Great..." Tony replied as he reluctantly made his way to the Commander's office.
"You wanted to see us, Commander Kogan?" Tony asked, standing at attention. His heart still beating from the dogfight earlier.
"At ease, Martinez..."
"Yes, sir."
"So you and Stryker intercepted two MiG-23s? Good Gods...that's a shocker. They're fairly new and no one has seen one up close yet which is why your gun camera footage will be going to the joint chiefs. Then the King will decide the best course of action.."
"What about Carl?" Tony asked, "Whether or not he's alive we can't just leave him out there."
"I've already sent out a rescue helicopter... I can't guarantee his survival since you claim that you didn't spot a chute when he was shot down."
"I don't know what I'm gonna tell his mom... the weather was just so hazy I couldn't get a clear view of whether or not he had managed to eject. Everything just happened so fast. Next thing I knew the bastard was shooting at him." Noah added.
"Look... just go and get some rest. You'll be able to take your leave when the ship docks back at port."
Hours had passed but the news wasn't good when the search and rescue teams returned. The wreckage of Carl's plane had been located but there was no sign of his body. Carl was declared MIA. Over the next six three months Tony and Noah would watch as hope for Carl's return dwindled as as his family gave up hope and came to terms that they would be burying their son.
The leave came and went and Tony was called in to Port St Isabel for a briefing aboard the Andromeda. After he arrived, he still had some time to kill so he made his way to the Andromeda's hangar bay. Among the A-6 Intruders, A-7 Corsairs and S-3 Vikings, he finally found the aircraft that were assigned to his squadron. It still the F-4N Phantom II but at least these had been overhauled. The crew chief could be heard swearing as he tried to solve a hydraulic leak on one of the geriatric fighters.
Oliver, the squadron crew chief crawled out from the air intake and surprised the young pilot. The crew chief was around Tony's age, in his early twenties. He was of average height but he had an athletic build given his occupation. He also spoke with a very posh accent.
"So, Tony! Are you ready to say your prayers before taking to the skies in this piece of rubbish?" He asked as he wiped some grime off of his face.
Tony sighed as he looked up at the freshly repainted F-4, "They overhauled them but I have a feeling that was just some body filler and a repaint."
Oliver nodded, "The Tomcat were delayed because two other squadrons were given priority."
"So in otherwords, we're getting screwed?"
"Essentially." Oliver chuckled.
"Before I forget!" Dennis raised his arm, remembering something that he had overheard from the higher-ups, "Three new recruits are joining VF-302. A pair of Holstaurs from the A-3 squadron. They're around your age too so I wouldn't be surprised if she has yet to see combat..." Dennis chuckled, "One of them is kinda cheery and the other likes to keep to herself...and the third one well let's just say she's pretty high status."
"So they assigned them to our squadron which flies fighter jets?" Tony sighed and rubbed his forehead anticipating what he would be dealing with.
"Yep! They completed her transition training a couple of weeks back and is now Tomcat-qualified. They rocked their carrier trials and BFM exercises when they went up against the instructors!"
"That doesn't mean much if she hasn't seen combat... but I'll hold my judgment. Anyway, I gotta get going, Dennis. I'll see you around."
When Tony arrived at the ready room his squad mates were enjoying some coffee and bagels before the start of the briefing. After what felt like an eternity, the commander finally arrived and everyone stood at attention until they were instructed to take their seats so the swearing in could begin. Valentina and Bella arrived in their dress white uniforms. The two girls felt awkward in the uniforms as they were not used to wearing a military dress uniform with black dress shoes. The sisters saluted the officers and raised their right hands, swearing that they would protect the Wyvernia against all threats both foreign and domestic.
The third officer had a distant and aloof demeanor, contrasting with her striking appearance - a petite elf with blonde hair and piercing emerald eyes. Although she possessed a moderate amount of curves, she did not exude the same level of allure as Valentina or Bella.
Kogan began the briefing, "Okay listen up. The situation at hand is bleak at best. The Legion of Auras had begun an offensive on our forward operating base on Chelsea Island. Our forces are fighting back to defend the outpost but if they don't receive reinforcements then the island will fall. We also have reason to believe that Esknar is supplying Auras with weapons and training which makes things all the more challenging." Commander Kogan sighed, "Lastly, I would like to introduce you all to VF-302's newest members...Valentina and Bella Morosini and Princess Alysia Celuchu."
The pilots were initially taken aback by the unexpected presence of the Morosini sisters and Alysia, who hailed from such prestigious backgrounds. However, their surprise quickly turned into curiosity as they realized that these new squadmates had their distinct reasons for joining them on this mission, suggesting that they were more than just their social statuses.