“The IV Armored Corps tightens the noose on the Ruwelt Bulge! A double pincer assault from the North and South of the Ruwelt Bulge has been formed by spearhead elements of the IV Armored Corps, already three kilometers deep from the south and a kilometer deep from the north. Putschist forces have now reportedly stopped their offensive on the City of Ruwelt, as Löwes and LSS Mechs from both sides fight for supremacy over the fields. However, Putschist forces have now pushed twelve kilometers deep toward Halia itself, with the frontlines now no more than eight kilometers away from the Royal Capital. The situation is clear, either Her Majesty’s gambit to stop them from taking Ruwelt succeeds, or Halia will fall.”
- ROCN News
+++
North Allas Ocean
Strike Force 7
ONS Rebenslof
The briefing room was darkly lit. Captain Ray Schlatt of CVW-3, laid down the details of the upcoming mission on the airmen that were gathered for it. Almost everyone in CVW-3, every pilot, was here. Albert and Captain Vogel watched from behind, arms crossed in silence, alongside almost a dozen of the various officers that ran the Rebenslof on a day-to-day basis.
“We’d be striking hard, fast, and most of all, stealthily.” Declared Captain Schlatt. “They have stealth, but we can make our own stealth. While it would be inferior and tedious to execute, this would be our only way to defeat those Phantoms. But gentlemen, we all know you can do it. Any questions?”
One of the airmen, a pilot of a Zapper from VFA-18, raised his hand.
“Sir, are we arming ourselves with anti-ship missiles? Or are we really just going to try to take down their Phantoms.”
“Astute question, Lieutenant Carv.” Captain Schlatt said. “No, you and this entire air wing will not be conducting any of the sort. This, gentlemen, is more of a suppression mission. Again, the Matriarch is not our target, but her planes. Remember, Halia and the Queen need us. We cannot dally around for a month’s long cat-and-mouse game.”
Another pilot raised his hand.
“Sir, do we know where the Matriarch is?”
“No, but we do know where they would send their planes. To the direction where we shot their Phantoms down. Next.”
“Sir! Are we not getting AMATA-80s?”
“Unless you fancy trying to catch a Phantom with a ridiculously low radar cross section using a radar-guided missile, be my guest. Yes, but only two. You will rely on your infrared homing missiles. Next.”
“Sir, do we get medals?”
“Shoot down enough, and yes. Next.”
“Sir! Why’d those morons rebel? I get that women suck ass, but the entire fleet is up against them.”
“Ask them, not me. Next.”
“Sir! Will a woman find me worthy after this? Last time, I did some sick maneuvers.”
“Don’t kid yourself. She’s not gonna see your half-braindead maneuvers. Next.”
“Sir! Do we get chocolates after this?”
“Now you’re all just messing with me, you skinheads.” Captain Schlatt said. The room broke into a laughing fit, that even Albert and Captain Vogel laughed along. Soon, however, when Albert finally moved forward, the room turned back to serious. He faced the group of pilots with a neutral expression.
“You’d all get chocolates, just make sure you all come back.” He said, and they were silent. “Trust yourself. Your plane. And your guts. We’ll win this.”
He paused, looking around as they kept their silence. With a nod, he said his last words lowly. “Glory to Orland.”
“For the Queen!” They responded, just as the lights reopened and they all vacated the room in a rush.
+++
Albert gave a final watch as the planes of CVW-3 lined up for the flight deck one by one, and took off one by one. Each plane was launched with much fanfare, as crews and marines cheered them on. On their port side, just a few kilometers away, the hull of the ONS Curaisser, the Rebenslof’s sister ship, and the second carrier of the 2nd Fleet, lumbered forward just as the two reunited. There were almost eight Gallant-Class DDGs that escorted the two carriers, with the ONS Rolentz, the Rebenslof’s escort CG (Guided-Missile Cruiser), and the ONS Fulda, the Cuirasser’s escort CG also meandering behind the 2nd Fleet.
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Thus, it was clear to Albert that the 2nd Fleet, as a whole, could reliably defend itself should an attack come through. Commodore Emmanuelle Hart of the Cuirasser’s strike force (Strike Force 6) also informed him that he had six new LF-20 Phantoms on board. Three had already been assigned for CAP (Combat-Air-Patrol) around the fleet’s perimeter, and another three were launched earlier to join VFA-18. The LF-20 after all could share its sensor readings to the rest of the fleet, alongside allied aircraft. Thus, the plan was improved nearly three-fold, as now, they would have both their AWACS and three Phantoms that could do a sneaky scouting and guidance job for the rest of CVW-3.
“Well, there they go.” Captain Schlatt said, sipping his coffee as the last Zapper of VFA-13 took off. “They’ll do well, sir. You look shifty over there.”
“Am I?”
“Seems that way, ever since we headed back to Orland.”
Albert shook his head as he laughed. “Then I’m not nervous about this battle. I know we’ll win. What I don’t know is if we’ll get there in time. She’s been holed up in that siege for months.”
“Well, I’m sure your sister would do well,” Schlatt said. “All the boys heard of the IV Armored Corps stopping them at Ruwelt. They said it was the Queen’s work.”
“I’m not so sure of that. Amelie’s not a military woman.” Albert replied. “But, she sure does surround herself with fine officers.”
“Well, I suppose it’s one of her merits.”
Soon, they were back on the bridge. The CIC continuously sent them updates about the situation of the air sortie. It only took twenty minutes before the first radar pings appeared on their interfaces. A friendly Phantom made first contact, all while VFA-24 continued their burn straight to the east, before heading north. VFA-13 and 18 moved west to Orland before they burned north. All while VAQ-4 moved straight north, their electronic warfare suits prepared for the engagement.
Thirty minutes in, Ajax One and Six tracked eight faint radar pings headed toward the location of VFA-24. Albert gave the order for their bait squadron to sound the noise. He smiled as the faint, almost disappearing pings that he assumed to be the enemy Phantoms moved to intercept VFA-24. He looked to his side, as Captain Schlatt nodded to him.
“Sir, I’m giving the order for our attack squadrons to intercept.”
“Send VAQ-4 to support VFA-24 immediately. Let’s try to jam their missile’s active radar guidance. Also, call in the three Phantoms to support VFA-24 too.”
“On it.”
More faint contacts appeared from the north as if attracted by VFA-24’s radar emissions. They must be assuming that the location of the Rebenslof’s air wing was near his bait squadron, all while nearly eight of their Phantoms presented their red hot exhausts for the jaws of VFA-13 and 18. He gave himself a sip of his coffee as another stream of calm radio transmissions came from VFA-18. Missile locks.
“Well, they fell for the bait.” Captain Schlatt said. “There’s no coming back from this.”
“Another group of them are not presenting their exhausts on our squadrons,” Albert said, looking at the contact coming from the north. “Even if we take down this group, this group would still swing down to take down VFA-13 and VFA-18. Delay it.”
“VFA-24 will be at risk.”
“And that would be better than risking the entire air wing. Delay the assault run. Continue baiting them.”
+++
The six Zappers of VFA-24 sped toward the east. Unlike the rest of CVW-3, they were flying high, which meant the enemy easily detected them. However, until now, no actual missile launches were detected from the faint contacts hot on their tails. Nearby, VAQ-4 and its twelve electronic warfare aircraft already scattered themselves, their powerful jamming pods spreading severe interference on much of the radar spectrum, preventing proper target acquisition both for VFA-24’s missiles and the enemy’s, most likely, active radar-guided anti-air missiles.
Almost eight Phantoms, tasked with clearing “hostile aircraft” within the southern vicinity of the ONS Matriarch, burned east, following hot on the tails of the Rebenslof’s VFA-24. They were colored grey, without much identification markings. The LF-20 Phantom, a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) capable stealth aircraft, was designed precisely for carrier operations. They were new, and advanced, and were touted as the new king of the skies, as no nation aside from Orland had them.
And even Orland had a few of them. Not even a thousand, and only a few hundred combat-capable airframes, with their pilots still in training. Thus, the deployment of Phantoms wasn’t an easily done affair at the moment, for both sides. The loss of a few Phantoms meant the loss of not just nearly a hundred million Orlish blancs, but of a pilot capable of flying a Phantom, which was in short supply.
Thus, they were being cautious. They held off their missiles from firing, as they could detect the severe interference around the battlespace, which indicated an organized hostile presence. As such, they merely kept up with VFA-24’s tail, neither firing, nor retreating. But then, their AWACS spotted multiple contacts approaching from their west, merely twenty-five kilometers away. Panic ensued in the Putschist squadron, and they immediately broke off from their attack run.
But, already, multiple launches were detected from the Royalist squadrons. The interference intensified on targeted frequencies, disabling proper comms and target acquisition for the Putschist Phantoms. They tried switching their frequencies, one after another, all while running with Royalist heat-seeking missiles chasing them at their six. Many frequencies were unclogged, as VAQ-4 began focusing at single frequencies, but it would only last a few moments, which left only cut and garbled transmissions from the group of Phantoms.
Just then, a transmission from the Matriarch was received. General retreat.
+++
“They fired off their missiles.” Captain Schlatt commented. “And, they’re turning around.”
“Seems like they got spooked. Our missiles are still hot on their tails though.” Albert said, watching his squadrons run back south as the enemy contacts flew north. Much of their IR-seeking missiles have already begun missing. The enemy was probably deploying flares. Ajax One only confirmed three direct hits, but that seemed to be enough for the enemy to call off the attack.
“They probably think we have a lot of Phantoms too,” Schlatt said. “I would also order a retreat if that was the case.”
“I agree. No sensible commander would let himself lose too many stealth-capable aircraft. We caught them with their pants down.”
“We got lucky. Well, we did set it up well, but we still got lucky. Our bluff worked.” Captain Schlatt laughed. “We have an opening to the Grand Duchy sir. No need to be too shifty this time. A few more days and our Zappers will be above the Royal Capital.”
“Hopefully, the next time we meet the Matriarch, we have our own Phantoms,” Albert said, settling down in his seat. He would not press on any significant attack. This battle already sufficiently achieved his strategic goals. Keep them off the Rebenslof while they sailed toward the Royal Capital. It would be too dangerous to attack now, after all. They already drove them off, even when they didn’t exactly fully destroy it, or its squadrons. The loss of those Phantoms should prompt them to retreat to safer seas to replenish their lost aircraft.
In other words, another victory for him. He would have already fully celebrated it, but one of the Zappers from VFA-24 was struck by an enemy missile. He shook his head in disappointment. Not even a simple battle to suppress the enemy would leave him without casualties. At the very least, VAQ-4 did their job well at interfering with their missiles. Lucky him, they didn’t attack him head-on. Had they done that, VFA-13 and VFA-18 would never have gotten their target locks. Nor would VAQ-4 prevent the launching of their heat-seeking missiles if they got close.
But, that didn’t happen. And so, he took another sip of his coffee to calm himself.
I still lost one Zapper though. But then, another one went down, just as the last of the enemy’s missile barrage passed through VFA-24, ending their attack run. Scratch that. Two down. Two down for three of theirs.
Truly, no battle could be won without losses.