//------------------------------// // Up Alta Fjord // Story: Nearing the Edge // by Eagle //------------------------------// April 20th, 2006 1130 Hours Brumbay Field, Equestria Source “Alright I know it's crowded in here but please try and make space!” Cole shouted as the small briefing room filled with pilots. “Can everyone standing in the back hear me? Good, let's get right to it.” All of the squadron leaders filed in until the seats were filled and the back wall was lined. “Info is still sketchy as it's coming in, but the war is off to a rough start,” he began. “For right now we need to focus on our area. And we have plenty of stuff to keep us occupied.” “On top of all their other operations, the Bloc naval forces are attempting to invade. Now that the Navy's been disabled, they're using their own surface warships to conduct amphibious landings. From the looks of it they're trying to outflank the Papa Line as their ground forces advance to keep the men on the line pinned down,” Cole explained. “There's two battlegroups, one in the north and the other in the south. The northern one is heading our way.” “Do we have anyone that can stop the southern one Captain?” “That's the good news Sir, it already has been,” the Air Force pilot answered. “A Navy sub got the jump on them in transit and torpedoed the flagship. We think it was the battlecruiser Veil; rest of the group turned around after it went down and failed to catch the submarine.” “Hooooo-yah!” one of the Hornet pilots exclaimed in a fit of pride, joined by a chorus of similar chants from the Navy pilots. “Yeah, that still leaves north group for us to deal with,” Cole continued. “Good news is they probably don't think this base is heavily manned, and whatever's here might be dead from the bombing raid. Probably why they picked Brumbay. They won't be expecting serious resistance. “Unfortunately we don’t have an ample reserve of anti-ship missiles. There’s only enough Harpoons for one volley, and even then not enough to fill every Hornet. There’s no doubt the enemy SAG will spearhead the operation so we can’t go around to hit the amphibious ships. Only proposal I have with these limited munitions is to have the Navy planes go up and fire them off, do as much damage as we can. Their air cover is unknown but my squadron can assist the F-14s in escorting them. I’m open to any suggestions from you Navy guys, you’d know better with this, but I can’t think of very much.” "You've got HARMs, we can do some damage with that if it comes down to it," a Growler pilot added. "But getting that close is dangerous and wouldn't do much.... I don't think it'd be worth it." “Yeah, there’s not a lot we can do with so few missiles,” one of the Hornet pilots confirmed. “What about the Strike Eagles?” one of the F-15E pilots asked “I’ve got something for you, Sir, but I don’t know if I could ask it of you and your men.” “The Hell are you talking about?” “We can load your planes up with regular AGMs but to launch them you’d have to get real close. Even at max range you’ll be well within reach of their AA missiles. Even then there’s no guarantee they’d hit or be very effective against the ships. It’s damn-near suicidal.” “Yeah, I don’t like it either. Come up with something better if you can.” “I’m sorry Sir, I can’t think of very much… we don’t have a lot of anti-ship capability. I’m open to suggestions but… I don’t want to leave your men out but I don’t want to get them killed either.” “Is there a way we can get around the enemy AA? Maybe neutralize it first?” “Not that I can see, Sir. We’ll have the Growlers up there but their jamming isn’t going to cut it. We don’t have enough missiles to kill all their warships either,” the Captain went on, stopping to think for a minute. “Maybe we can keep you in reserve. We’ll be focusing on the warships, so when or if the enemy tries to land you’ll be able to hit them. AGM’s should be more effective against landing ships, and especially against amphibious IFVs and landing craft.” “That’s better. I could go for that.” “Thank you, Sir. Are there any further questions? If not then we’re dismissed, let's get with our squads and hash everything out. I’d suggest we meet again before we launch to go over everything.” Hours later the diverse formation of aircraft formed up over their airfield and turned north, heading over the water towards their foes. Far ahead of them was a powerful flotilla of the Royal Griffon Navy, centered around one of their prideful, well-armed juggernauts and covered by a meek patrol of fighters. Well out of visual sight the American E-3 was tracking the formation, relaying information to the jets and attempting to identify the advancing warships. “We’re trying to match the signals now. Patterns are saying it's a battlecruiser, probably the Tiger,” Spyglass warned. “That's bad, those things are based on the Kirovs,” Oscar pointed out. “They have a shit ton of missiles on them.” “Hornets are lining up for volley launch now. Raider and Marauder teams will be in range shortly.” “Alright, let's light up the bandits,” Felix’s commander ordered. “Eagle team, move in to engage. Felix will hit them from range and break them up. Move in and finish off any of the survivors while they're suppressed, understood?” “Eagle One, copies you Felix lead. WILCO, out.” The F-15s struck out towards the Griffon aircraft as the Phoenix missiles flew past them. The MiGs, not expecting such long-range attacks, were quickly disorganized as two of them fell from the sky. The four survivors were dealt with quickly by the Air Force planes, using liberal amounts of AMRAAMs from medium range. As the meager Griffon CAP was swept aside, the Hornet Strike team pushed ever closer to their launch point. The ECM Growlers accompanied them closely, providing what protection they could with their jammers. The formation of Navy planes moved into range of the enemy missiles to better the odds of scoring hits with their own weapons. The Griffon vessels held their fire, continuing to search with radar and trying to burn through the jamming to find their targets. The Griffons managed to get a  track on them at roughly the same time the Hornets fired, with each aircraft dropping their Harpoons and turning away. The warships began to erupt with their own missiles, launching them wildly in hopes of catching their attackers and stopping the incoming ordinance. Several missiles did lock on to aircraft, but as they turned away most were able to avoid them. Still, a sole Hornet was struck by a SAM and disintegrated as it flew over the waves to escape, further reducing the already painfully small number of survivors from the Vinson’s Hornets. The Growlers, being hard to track and hit, dallied longer to further guide the missiles in before retiring, with another large volley of missiles catching one of them and bringing the Americans their second loss of the day. The Griffon ships now tried to focus what little time they had left on destroying the Harpoons, but not having expected the threat they were in a poor readiness to do so. Most all of the ASM’s targeting computers selected the Tiger due to its large size as SAMs began to rapidly pick away their numbers. Only two of the Harpoons got through to hit their target. The first struck the upper deck of the Tiger on the bow ahead of the missile cells. The second passed along and struck the side of the hull midway to the stern, exploding and damaging the ship, but striking in such a way that caused no armor penetration and thus no major damage. None of the other Griffon vessels were hit either, with the battlecruiser being the only one to take damage, and none of it critical. “I think we can register two hits on the big guy,” Spyglass informed. “Unlikely they caused much damage. Looks like the formation is turning a bit but no other reaction.” “We’ve done all we can, then,” Cole lamented. “Felix, it might be best to return to base and get everyone ready. I want to stick around with my guys and watch for any other bandits that enter the AO.” “Sounds good, Eagle. Make sure to reduce your distance as their formation closes so you don’t get in missile range. Felix out.” The remaining Navy jets began their return to the airfield as the F-15s remained on guard. For another twelve minutes they observed the Griffon fleet, unable to do anything to it. Cole began to imagine what the upcoming battle would be like, and what they could possibly do. A sudden report from Spyglass put an end to that worry. “All units be advised, the enemy formation’s turn has sharpened considerably! It looks like they're doing a complete one-eighty!” the AWACS called. “They're retreating? Why?” Oscar wondered out loud. “They've got to be redeploying or trying something different. Why would they run?” “Ha! We’ve bluffed them into turning around!” Cole shouted. “They weren't expecting any Navy jets. They must have thought we still had a flattop backing us up!” “That might be it, looks like we got lucky. We’d better head back and keep an eye out for any more. If they think a carrier is in the area they’ll start combing the area like crazy looking for one.” In spite of everything, the remainder of the day passed without incident. The Griffon invasion force continued it’s retreat to safe waters nearer to home. No further Bloc aircraft attempted to venture into the area, reconnaissance or otherwise. It was not known if Cole’s theory was right, if the enemy believed an aircraft carrier to be present near Brumbay, but it was clear that they had been stopped. It was a victory, and nothing could take away from that. It was especially elating for Cole as he relaxed against the side of a hangar, basking in the victory and the afternoon sun. Having been prepared for an exceptionally bloody stand against the Griffon marine force, this development was far better than he could have hoped. There were still plenty of other issues to worry about, but such an important accomplishment of this size gave a good deal of hope to him. It was far more impactful than engaging another bomber formation. “Captain Cole!” Oscar spoke up, approaching from the hangar doors. “Glad I could find you here.” “You needed something, Sir?” “I just wanted to thank you for the help you and your boys provided. We won an important fight today, but… well this is more of a goodbye I guess,” the Tomcat pilot continued. “I got word back from the Enterprise and they’re in need of more pilots and aircraft. Considering her importance as of now, me and the rest of the Navy aircraft are going to be leaving ASAP for Baltimare.” “It was good to have you here, Commander Oscar. God knows we couldn’t have held onto this place without you.” “Just make sure you hang onto it after I’m gone.” “Will do. And I’m glad you got a new home ship.” “Yeah, me too. It’ll take some getting used to but she’s a good ship.” “Well next time I’m up there I’ll give them one for the Vinson!” Cole promised. “Good, and give them ten from me!” Oscar asked, reaching to shake his hand. “You be careful out there.” “Yes Sir, you too,” the Air Force Captain agreed before stopping again. “Oh Sir-I, uh… I’m sorry to ask but it’s a little important to me. I didn’t really think about it until lately. On your flight up here, did you happen to stop at Everfree Air Base? Near Ponyville?” “No, we didn’t.” “Ah, well you… didn’t hear anything about how it was during the first attacks, did you?” “Not much. I heard it got hit hard but was still operational. Local squadrons turned back the enemy raid. Equestrian and American. I heard the Ponies actually fought pretty well there alongside our guys. Bit of a standout from the rest of their units. That help you any?” “Did they? Standouts huh?” Cole mused. “Yes Sir, that tells me what I needed to know. Thank you.” “No problem Captain. Here’s hoping we get through this mess in one piece.” “I hope I can find you again, you take care up there,” said Cole, looking back to the sky as Oscar headed off and left him to his thoughts once more. “Guess you are still kicking up there Dash.”