//------------------------------// // Mission 02: Air Raid // Story: Sky Aces: Aerial Combat // by Yellowtail //------------------------------// I sit in the same conference room as yesterday, with Scar, Patch, and Flick. Half-Shield doesn’t go on today’s mission, apparently. The unicorn, who’s name I now know is Joker, clears his throat. “Alright everyone, today’s mission will be a bit different from usual. Given how well you handled yourselves yesterday, and the close proximity of an air base in Griffon Stone, today you shall be raiding an air base. Or, more specifically, you will be performing a bombing run. We need their hangars destroyed, and their bombers trashed. Plain and simple. We refitted you’re aircraft to have UGB’s, or unguided bombs. Good luck.” With that, we’re dismissed and allowed to hurry to our hangars... Western Griffon Stone, 1330 hours. Near a mountain range, large forests and plains fly past us down below. Above us, are clear skies with minimal clouds. Perfect for flying. I still fly near the back, to the left of Flick, or ‘Bugger’ as his TAC says. Since he’s taking Half-Shield’s place, he’s Spades 2. His emblem is rather comical, a fly with a fly swatter and devil horns. Topper flies on the far right, next to Scar. I don’t know why, but I finally notice Scar’s emblem. A wing with a red slash on it. “Alright, does everyone remember what we’re doing?” Scar asks. “Wilco,” Topper responds. “Rodger,” says Bugger. “Affirmative,” I say. “Good,” Scar says simply. “You’re at an ETA of two minutes. Don’t mess up,” Bird’s-Eye says. “... Hey, is that peanut butter?” I quirk an eyebrow as I listen to Bird’s-Eye. “Well, I’m just asking because mine didn’t have any... No, it’s got cheese... Yeah, of course!” “This is Bird’s-Eye, ETA of finishing lunch-time is maybe a couple quick bites,” Bugger says, mocking Bird’s-Eye’s voice. “What- oh! Quiet Bugger! I was a little late, okay?” The AWACS responds. “Besides, I like peanut butter crackers...” I had to resist the urge to laugh, and decide to quickly check my radar. On screen, various dots litter the area. “We’re coming up on the enemy’s air base,” Scar announces. “Good. Make sure they can’t launch any planes Spades Squadron,” Bird’s-Eye says. “If we can get rid of most of the base, we can expect a lower number of air strikes on our boys on the ground.” “Leave it to us, Nutter Butter,” Topper says. I let loose a short laugh, trying to remain in control of my flight path. I can hear a snicker from Bugger, and a single chuckle from Scar. “... Proceed with the mission,” Bird’s-Eye deadpans. We keep flying, relatively silent before some targets pop up on my HUD near the ground. Helicopters, fuel reserves, storage houses, and even some transport planes are out on the open in front of the hangars. “Raise the alarms! Four enemy planes spotted! Get our pilots into the air, quick!” The enemy’s radio chatters. “All right Spades, span out. Let’s see how flat we can make this base,” Scar says. In a snap, we break formation and head towards different parts of the air base. I go straight towards the fuel reserves, which look like big giant metal balls. Air craft can’t fly without fuel. I let loose my machine gun, making the huge containers burst and explode. I think I shot down three. There’s seven more to go. As I turn around, I spot some planes getting on the runway. Better take care of that before it becomes a problem. I come around again, lining up with the runway. The plane is already trying to take off. “Come on! Come on!” A voice yell. I fire my machine gun, taking off the plane’s right wing. “Damn it!” The plane starts tilting to the right, but it slows down enough to sit back down. “You idiot, you’re blocking the runway!” Another enemy berates. I continue my path of destruction, gunning down more fuel reserves. “Damn, I think Grunt just took out more than half the fuel reserves!” Topper says. I fly around again, checking the hangar and see that they’ve dragged the damaged aircraft out of the way. Welp, guess I should make the blockage a bit more permanent. “Okay, we got his plane out of the way, begin preparations for launch,” the radio chatters. I line up with the run way and fire two missiles without locking on. I pull off, and soar into the air to get some space. “What the- No! He took out part of the runway! We can’t launch any planes now!” I turn back towards the hangar, readying to finish the job. I switch to my special weapons, which are unguided bombs. The HUD shows a reticle the lines up with the ground, nearing the hangar. The moment it lines up right, I let two of the bombs go and pull off. I hear two explosions, and look over to see the hangar’s entrance blocked by wreckage. The ceiling and roof of the building is gone too. Good. “Good job Grunt! Now, see if you can help your squaddies in other parts of the air base. There are four more hangars!” Bird’s-Eye says. “Woohoo!” Topper yells. “Not bad, not bad at all,” Bugger mentions. I hear another loud explosion, and look over at a different part of the air base to see Scar flying away. “Nice work Scar, three hangars left,” Bird’s-Eye says. “Hey, Grunt! I bet you 5 bits you can’t outperform our Captain!” Topper says. I don’t acknowledge him, only regaining focus towards the mission at hand. I speed towards another runway, which has a pilot about to launch. I quickly aim at the runway as best as I can and fire an unguided bomb. The bomb is much more destructive, creating a crater right in the plane’s path. Luckily, he managed to slow down enough to have a non-violent crash. However, his plane’s nose was still stuck into the dirt. “Shit- these guys aren’t playing!” An enemy says through the radio. I quickly pull up, and try to regain some distance to launch another attack. “This is Helicopter squadron Iron-Fire, we’re coming over to provide support,” an enemy says. “Damn, they’re good! The attack helicopters are fast!” Topper says. I sigh and decide to take them out first. I rotate my plane and turn left, going towards the multiple arrows that popped up on radar. I fire a missile and switch targets before firing again. I hit two of the helicopters, taking them down. I swing around, quickly locking on again before firing two more. I Gun down the last ‘copter, denying any help for the hangar I’m attacking. “Damn, that was fast,” Bugger says. “They took out a squadron of AH’s!” An enemy yells. I fire a couple unguided bombs at the hangar I was aiming at before, destroying it. I pull off again, inspecting my work. “Two- no, three hangars down! Good work everyone! That was all the hangars of the air base! Scar’s already halfway through the rest of the base, help him clean up will ya?” Bird’s-Eye asks. “... Wait, an enemy is coming in fast, an SU-37.” “... I’m gone for half an hour, and this happens?” A new voice asks. “Tch. Predictable.” I look down at the radar to see an enemy plane coming up to Topper. “This should be short work.” “Hey- wait- someone’s on my tail!” Topper yells. “I- I can’t shake them!” I grit my teeth and turn sharply, speeding towards the new pilot. Topper tries to spiral and make the pilot overshoot, but the new pilot simply slows down. “Hmph. Such a simple pilot. Predictable.” I notice that this pilot is labeled on my HUD as ‘Fracture’. I speed up some more, trying to chase down the enemy as he dogfights Topper. “Damn it, someone! Help!” Topper says. “Don’t worry, I’m coming,” Scar says. However, something about that struck a cord within me. “Back off! He’s mine!” I yell, feeling adrenaline go through me. I feel a smile creep up on my face as I get close enough to lock on. “Hm? Another insect?” The enemy’s voice says. I fire my missiles, but he simple rolls out of their way, dodging them. Topper just barely manages to get out of the way as well before the missiles fly past him into the distance. “Hmph. Simple creature, you wish to die? Very well then. Let’s play.” He speeds up, ceasing his chase with Topper and flying towards the mountain side. “Grunt, break off, it’s a trap!” Bugger says. I pay no attention to his words and continue my chase. Scar, on the other hand, follows closely, but he’s nowhere near as close to Fracture as I am. I keep speeding up, slowly catching up to the pilot as we near the mountain side. “Eager pilots like you always have a downfall: you never pay enough attention,” the enemy says in a bored voice. He suddenly descends, and I follow him without thinking. He levels his plane, being at a low altitude and close to the ground. I do the same, locking on and firing some more missiles. He skillfully barrel rolls, keeping his plane from flying too low. “Well now, you may have some more value than I thought little chick, but let’s see if that was just luck.” Suddenly, he pulls up, and I finally notice that we’re heading towards a mountain. I grit my teeth and quickly pull up, just barely managing to avoid crashing into the mountainside. I continue to follow Fracture, who is flying just low enough against the mountain that it would make anyone think twice before trying to follow him. However, I am not just anyone. I only have tunnel vision as I simply try to lock on again. The moment I do, the pilot turns left, leveling off and flying along the side. I groan and turn as well, doing the same. Dust and rocks are thrown off by the sheer wind of his jet, but they don’t manage to reach me as I keep wavering and trying to aim at the plane. Once I feel lined up, I start firing the machine gun. I don’t know if it’s close enough to hit, but I keep adjusting my aim as I fire. finally, I seem some sparks flash off the aircraft the pilot’s flying. “Huh? You’re still following me?... Did you scratch my plane?” The pilot asks in an open channel. I growl to myself as I put the plane into full throttle, speeding up even more. I keep firing my machine gun, but now the pilot goes up and down the mountain side, avoiding the bullets. He’s also going faster. He gives a small chuckle, before turning left again, down the mountain. “You’re rather good at keeping pace with me in this cat and mouse game, but I’m afraid playtime will be over soon,” he says. I turns left, trying to keep my speed up as I try to follow him. He moves left and right, swerving and doing barrel rolls as he dodges my bullets and missiles. As I get even more frustrated, he suddenly slows down and pulls up, revealing the foot of the mountain. I give a yell and quickly pull up, leveling my plane just before it touched the ground. I silently sigh in relief, but now I notice that Fracture’s behind me, and he’s got a missile lock. “The game is over, little mouse,” he says, firing two missiles at me. I deploy some flares and try to fly faster, but the pilot keeps up, staying close to my tail. “Oh don’t worry, if you let the missiles hit you just right, it doesn’t hurt too much,” the enemy taunts, firing more missiles. I pull up into the sky, making the missiles miss. I try to look behind myself to see the aircraft, but he’s still too close to me to see him. “I admit, you are much more fun than I anticipated,” he says. I growl to myself again as I just barely manage to dodge more missiles. “Damn, look at them go,” Bugger says. “I didn’t think the kid had it in him.” “I’d hate to be him, that’s for sure,” Topper says. “I’m no match for that guy...” I go into a spiral, trying to make Fracture overshoot me. However, it doesn’t work, he merely fires his machine gun at me. A couple bullets get me, but not enough to take me down. “This is starting to become boring, so I’ll kill you off now. Pray to your goddess before you die, will you? Tell her I said hi,” mocks the enemy, firing two missiles. I panic, look at my speed. A high-g turn will kill me, since I’m too slow to pull it off. However, turning wouldn’t prove useful since the radar indicates the missiles being too close for me to do that anyway. I keep panicking and decide to try a high-g turn and hope for the best. I slow down, pull up with all my might, and hope for the best. “What the-“ I feel a slight motion sickness as my plane suddenly turns much quicker than I anticipated, and I see the ground before the missiles pass me. Before I know what’s going on, Fracture’s in front of me, struggling to do a high-g turn as my missiles lock on. On instinct, I fire two missiles quickly, and they both hit their mark. The aircraft bursts into flames, and starts going down. “No way! A post-stall maneuver!?” Bugger says. “Oh shit,” Fracture says. “Heheh, it appears you’ve bested me. It seems my over confidence was my downfall. Very well, I enjoyed this game, little mouse.” With that, his radio goes to static as the aircraft explodes. “The aircraft is down! I repeat, the aircraft is down!” Bird’s-Eye says. “Hmph,” Scar says. I pay no attention to him as I try to regain control of my breathing. “... Good job Spades Squadron, it looks like you managed to wipe out most of the base, courtesy of Spades 1 and 2,” Bird’s-Eye says. “Return to base.” “... Hey Nutter Butter, will we get any snacks when we get back?” Bugger asks. A groan is heard as Topper and I give a quick laugh. With that, we return to a formation, and fly west, in the direction of Equestria... Equestrian Air Base, 1900 hours. We all sit in the conference room from earlier today, ready for debriefing. Joke walks in, clearing his throat. “The attack on the air base was a success. Fuel and air vehicles were destroyed, along with various buildings and runways. Thus, the base is inoperable,” he says. He looks up and stares at me. I can see he’s conflicted between saying something and holding his tongue. “... That’s all for now. Everyone, except Scar, is dismissed.” With that, Flik, Patch, and I quickly get up and shuffle out the door. “Trooper, we gotta talk,” Flik says, stopping me. I turn to look at him, who looks serious. Patch comes up, looking excited. “Bro! How did you know how to do that thing!?” Patch asks. “I’ve never seen a rookie pull off a post-stall maneuver like that before!” “A... a what-maneuver?” I ask in confusion. “A post stall maneuver. It’s when you’re too slow to turn, so you pretty much do a flip or manual air brake while moving th same direction you were going in,” Bugger explains. “I still struggle to be able to accomplish that maneuver.” “What maneuver?” A female voice asks from behind me. I turn to see Half-Shield, in her flight suit, staring at me with a glare. “The post stall maneuver! It was so cool! He was fighting an ace, and then he slowed down and-“ Patch gets interrupted by Half-Shield’s hand going over his mouth. “What? Another ace?” She asks skeptically. Patch nods, being kept silent by her hand. She scoffs, look at me. “Huh, guess you’re competent. Let’s hope your luck holds out,” she says with a bit of venom. With that, she walks away, leaving me and the other two in the middle of the hallway. I glare after her. She’ll be eating those words, I know it. Flik sighs. “Uh, don’t mind her, she’s-“ “Still sore?” I ask sarcastically. “Hey, she thinks you’re trying to replace the last guy, alright. He was pretty special to her,” Flik says defensively. Patch nods, suddenly a lot less energetic. “Yeah, they kinda had a thing going on,” he says. “It’s why she has half a heart on her emblem. The last guy, Star, had the other half of the heart.” I look back in the direction Half-Shield left, now a little less stern. “... I guess that makes sense,” I say. “... Hey, let’s cheer up a bit guys!” Patch says, wrapping an arm around Flik and I’s shoulders, forcing us to move along with him. “We’ve gotta celebrate! Super Trooper here just took out another ace!” “Don’t call me that,” I grunt, struggling to keep up with the excited pegasus’ pace... Scar crosses his arms as Joker punches the bridge of his nose. “I’m struggling to understand,” he starts. “Why was is necessary to just let him go up against another ace? You didn’t step in at all.” “He told me to back off, and I recognized that tone of voice. Half-Sword also had that tone,” Scar says. “I could see how competitive he is, how he wanted to prove himself.” “And you know what, Star was much more experienced than Trooper when he proved himself,” Joker says, sighing. “For Celestia’s sake Scar, Trooper’s still a rookie. He doesn’t have the natural instincts a pegasus or a griffon does! He”s an earth pony! Don’t you see?! You need to keep him on a tighter leash!” Scar scoffs. “A tighter leash? He’s not a dog, he’s a soldier. He’ll follows orders to the letter. However, again, he has a competitive spirit. He’s like Half-Sword in that sense. I just want to see if the similarities will continue,” Scar says, getting up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have reports to write up.” With that, he walks out. Joker, frowns at the captain, shaking his head. “I just don’t want another loss like Star,” he mutters to himself... I silently sip my soda as Patch keeps talking to Flik. “... Let me tell ya, never went to the gym again after a sight like that!” He says, shaking with laughter. “Geez, that’s more horrifying than my grandma,” Flik says, sipping his soda as well. He stops and looks around before gasping. “Yo! Keen!” He yells, throwing his arms up. I look over to see a griffon walking up. He’s about Patch’s height, with brown and white feathers and grey fur. He wears a collared shirt and jeans. His head is covered by a blue cap with a picture of an eagle’s head. He’s grumbling as he walks up. “Damn bet,” he says, pulling out some bits and roughly handing them to Flik and Patch. “About time you remembered, Nutter Butter,” Patch says, nudging the grumpy griffon with an elbow. I look at the griffon, now knowing that this is Bird’s-Eye. “Wait. bird’s-Eye is a griffon?” I ask in surprise. Keen rolls his eyes, sighing. “Yes, a griffon’s allowed to be friendly towards Equestrians you know,” he says sarcastically. “Believe it or not, we’re not all against you ponies.” “No no, it’s not that, it’s just... You weren’t what I was expecting. Most griffons are gruffer sounding than you,” I explain. “Uh Huh,” he says. “We made a bet about whether you’d live or not,” Flik says, chuckling. I deadpan at them and sip my drink. “Nothing against you, just didn’t believe in you,” Keen says, sitting next to me. “Well, I’ve got nowhere to go, so I’ll sit with you guys. Don’t make me regret it.” He waves the bartender over, who serves him a pint of something. He looks over at my drink and sees that I have a soda. “... Isn’t it kind of counter intuitive to be in a bar?” He asks me, sipping his alcohol. “Huh?” I ask. He nods towards my drink and I roll my eyes. “No, I just don’t like alcohol. Most of it is too bitter for me,” I say. Patch and Keen both blink in unison before slowly turning to look at me. “... What?” I ask. Patch snickers as Keen simply shakes his head. “Oh, don’t get me started, Nutter Butter,” I say, making Patch and Flik laugh out loud as Keen spits out his drink. He looks at me sharply, opening his beak to say something, only to close it and grumble as he sips his beverage. I smile contently, sipping my soda as Patch and Flik continue talking with Keen about stuff. “So, how was everyone else’s patrol going today?” Patch asks. Keen sighs. “Apparently, boring. They all bellyache about it, but I know they hope it continues. There’s talk about a bombing run some of our forces might do, but it hasn’t been confirmed,” Keen says. He scoffs, leaning in towards us. “There’s also a rumor going around that Equestria’s building a secret weapon.” “Oh? Do tell my good man,” Patch says, putting on a fake Canterlot accent. “Yeah, don’t keep any details,” Flik says. “Well, there’s talk about some mercenaries Equestria has hired. They’ve got a pilot that’s flown for a Equestria before, his TAC name’s Fallen Star,” Keen says. “Some of our boys out west are saying that these mercenaries are trying out some sort of experimental aircraft, courtesy of Hippogriffia’s eggheads!” “That’s some spices detail right there,” Patch jokes, sipping his drink. Suddenly, the door to the bar bursts open, and some laughing pegasi walk in. All of them have blue jackets, with feathers poking out the collar. Keen, Flik, and Patch groan at the same time as the group walks in, talking and laughing with each other. “Oh great, the Scorpio Squadron,” Flik says. “Trooper, try to ignore them.” I give him a confused look. “They’re big shots around here.” “More like big snots,” Keen mutters, sipping his drink. “‘Ey barkeep, we need a round for my boys! We scared off some bandits who were too wimpy to face us!” One pegasus, a dark blue guy with slick dark-yellow hair, calls. The barkeep gives a huff, clearly not happy with this group. “I don’t understand, why haven’t we seen them until now?” I ask. “They were off on a long range strike mission in enemy territory,” Keen says. “They’re gone for days, and sometimes weeks. They don’t particularly like us.” I give an even more confused look before noticing a pegasus with a jacket walk up to us. “Oh look, it’s the not-spy,” he says, snickering. Keen huffs, silently sipping his drink. The leader of the group, wearing a leather jacket with a pair of goggles over his head, grabs the pegasus’ should. “Lay off, they’re not worth our time. Those freaks can’t be worth our time if they don’t do what we do,” he says. The pegasus looks like he wants to argue, but sighs and goes with his leader. I take another look, realizing he has black fur and dark red hair. On the back of his jacket, is a picture of a scorpion’s tail curling around an eagle eye. I grimace at the group and return my attention to my own. “... The only reason we’re freaks to them, is because of how different our team is. We’re just misfits to them,” Flik says, with a bit of anger in his voice. “Yeah. I’m only ever assigned to you guys since you’re the only ones who’ll take me,” Keen tells me. “Changelings aren’t in such a positive light either,” Flik says. “It’s one of the reasons that you were assigned to this group.” “Uh, what about Patch?” I ask. “He seems normal.” “Well, he’s a bit of a slow learner, no offense pal,” Flik explains. “Oh, none taken,” he says. I hum. “Okay, what about Scar then?” I ask. Keen gives a whistle, shaking his head. “He shouldn’t even be in the air, according to his medical reports,” he says. “He used to be a respectable ace. He was thought to be unstoppable at one point,” Keen explains, looking like he was talking about a dream. His expression melts into a sort of sadness however. “He was shot down at one point by some enemy mercenaries, and it costed him his wings, literally. However, he shows no weariness while flying. The only thing he showed, was pain for something else.” “What was it?” I ask, curiosity getting the better of me. “We don’t know,” Patch says. I blink in surprise. “However, after all’s said and done, he’s still a damn good pilot! I’ll follow him to the end!” He raises his glass, to whphich the other two follow suit, nodding. “Hell yeah,” Flik says, before downing his drink. I look at my own drink, in thought of Scar. I wonder, exactly how good is he? Could I even begin to be like him? As I ponder these thoughts, I try to enjoy the company of my fellow pilots and AWACS...