Ace Combat - Battle for Equestria

by Lonewolf78

Chapter 11: Two If By Sea

Discord's Palace
30 September 2017
09:00 hours.

Discord had just finished breakfast when his second in command came in to the throne room.

"So is everything set for the attack tonight?" Discord asked.

"Yes. The subs are in position 150 miles off of the coasts. We're just waiting for nightfall," the Minotaur replied.

"Very good. Now what about the other project?"

"We ran into a snag, but almost have it taken care of. It should be ready by next weekend."

"'Should be' doesn't sound that good," Discord said with an unamused look on his face.

"W-well I'm just being cautious. I mean..."

"No that's OK. That's all I need to know."

___________________

Whitemare AFB
11:25 hours.

The squadron was watching TV when Tex showed up.

"OK ponies. Moonstone's holding a meeting in 20 minutes so lunch may have to wait a bit."

"That's odd," replied Glory. "I thought our mission was tomorrow?"

"It's been scrubbed because of whatever it is she's going to talk about," he replied.

"Hmmm. This might be something big", commented Maverick.

The group showed up in the confrence room on time, and the feed started.

"OK here's the situation. We have received intelligence of an impending attack by Discord on both us and the Empire. The only information we have about it is it will come from the sea sometime tonight or tomorrow."

"Like what? Bombers? Missiles?" Ice asked.

"We don't know. We have bases on both coasts on alert. You guys need to be ready to scramble at the first sign of an attack."

"Wouldn't the attacks come from the East?" Sunfire asked.

"More than likely, but we're erring on the side of caution," she replied.

"Roger. We'll get our planes ready," Maverick replied.

"We'll have it set up to where all you have to do is jump in your planes and go," added Tex.

"I still don't know how they can do it", Dahlia said. "Half of their naval fleet including their 2 carriers are on the bottom. And our SOSUS system would pick up any subs."

Maverick spoke up.

"The Griffins did have a sub program going on. They had a dry dock at Rimuldar where they were assembling them at, but my Air Force bombed the crap out of it during our war with them."

"And we bombed it again about 2 months ago, Moonstone replied. Unless they've got another base hidden somewhere."

Maverick thought about it for a moment before speaking again.

"Sub launched cruise missiles is the only thing that it could be. Is the Navy going to have sub hunters out?"

"Yes. In fact the Eclipse's last two Vikings will be arriving at your base shortly and will conduct patrols from there. And they will have Orions out too. With so much water to cover they will be stretched thin though."

"Great. If we get scrambled I'd like to be able to talk to them directly," he replied.

"Roger. I'll contact Larkspur and let her know. And just in case we'll arm each of you with a radar guided Kh-29," she replied, and the feed ended.

_________________

Whitemare AFB
21:10 hours.

The group remained on edge, waiting for the scramble alarm to go off. So far nothing was happening, so they watched TV.

After the silence got to her, Glory finally asked Maverick a different question.

"So what do you think it'll take to end this war?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied. Though we've had some major successes, none of them have really contributed to ending it. The biggest threat is Discord. And as long as us and the Empire are fighting, we won't have the power to really do damage to him. Both sides need to focus on him."

"But how? The hatred and distrust between us just seems to get stronger, especially now that there's been some more incidents involving civilians getting bombed."

"That I don't know," he replied. "Something just seems odd about the whole thing. The circumstances that started the war between us just don't seem to add up."

"Like how?"

"Why did tensions suddenly start to rise between us after we had peace for so long? And why did those bombing incidents happen when they did?"

"Hmmm. Never though of it that way," Glory replied as she looked back at the TV.

Then about 6 minutes later the scramble alarm went off.

"Let's go!" Maverick yelled, and the squadron bolted out of the lounge, got into their flight suits, and ran to their planes, which the ground crews had ready to fire up. A mere 6 minutes after the alarm they were airborne. The two Vikings had already been airborne for a couple of hours, and were somewhere over the ocean.

"Lunar one to control what's the status?"

"Lunar squadron this is Guardian One. We have multiple cruise missiles inbound from the West 129 miles out. Projected targets are Las Pegasus and Tall Tale, plus other locations further inland in between. We've received word of more attacks from along the East coast too."

"Damn them. Our base could be one of those targets," Sunfire said.

"More than likely it is. Let's book it out there," Maverick said as they gunned their throttles.

15 minutes later they had them on radar 25 miles out.

"The first one is now 78 miles from Las Pegasus," Guardian One said.

"Roger I'm picking up 2 on my radar," replied Maverick.

"Roger... Correction we're picking up 3.. no 5... no we're picking up 6 now! They just keep coming!" Guardian was starting to sound scared.

"Are all of them headed for Las Pegasus?" Maverick asked.

"No, some are heading for Tall Tale and in between also."

"It has to be subs," replied Ice.

"Yes", he replied. "Guardian where are the the sub hunters?"

"They're about 21 miles South of you heading for where we think the missiles came from."

"Roger. Let us know if they find something." Maverick then talked to the squadron.

"OK let's light em' up. Long range first." And with that each pilot picked a missile and fired their long range R-77M's. Unfortunately only 2 were able to hit.

"Looks like we have to get up close and personal," Glory said.

"Yes. Let's get behind them," replied Maverick, and they turned around and waited for the missiles to pass, then gunned it to keep up with them.

"Fox one," Dahlia said as she fired a radar guided, scoring a kill. Then Maverick got one, and soon two more had been downed.

"Guardian One to all planes: First wave destroyed. But we're picking up a second wave of 4 inbound."

"Damn, we'll run out of missiles," Sunfire said. The squadron was now 73 miles West of Las Pegasus when they intercepted the 2nd wave. The squadron switched to cannon fire to save their missiles, and soon had them destroyed.

"Status report Guardian," Maverick asked.

"Lunar One we have 4 more inbound," the AWACS replied.

"Roger. How's the Empire doing?"

"They've been getting the ones aimed at them, but we've received word one has hit Tall Tale."

"Damn that son of a bitch," Glory yelled. We've gotta' get them!"

65 miles from the coast they started engaging the last four. Soon they had them downed."

"Guardian one to all planes, scope is clear for now. Remain on station though."

"Roger," replied maverick. Then something streaked right by Glory.

"What was that?" she said. Suddenly she had a blip on her radar in front of her.

"GUYS STEALTH CRUISE MISSILE!"

"WHAT?" Ice yelled. Soon him and the rest had it on their radars too.

Lunar One to Guardian enemy is attacking with stealth cruise missiles."

"What? Are you sure?" he replied. Just then Sunfire got a lock on it and fired a missile. When it hit the explosion was huge.

"Oh god they've got huge warheads," Dahlia said.

"OK guys let's do this," Maverick said. "Ice, Dahlia, turn around now and head back West. When I say turn, head back East, and me and you two will turn West. This way we won't miss one while we're turning."

"Great idea Mav'!" replied Glory. The trick worked, and soon they shot down another. Again the explosion was large.

They were now 47 miles from the coast,. and as Maverick made his turn he caught a faint blip on his radar. It was 15 miles away heading Northeast.

"Guardian One does the Empire know about these?" Maverick asked.

"They haven't said anything," he replied.

"We'll they've got one heading for them, and based on it's course Tall Tale is the target."

"They'll be wiped out!" Dahlia yelled.

Maverick though hard about it for a minute.

"Guardian One I am engaging the missile."

The radio went silent for a moment.

"Roger Lunar One," he replied.

"Good luck Mav'" Glory said, and he gunned it North.

No sooner than he caught up to it he got contacted by an Empire squadron.

"Unidentified aircraft you are entering Solar Empire airspace. Turn around now!" the squadron leader said.

"This is Maverick of the NLR Air Force, I'm behind a stealth LoD cruise missile that is heading for Tall Tale. Discord is using them in this attack!" he replied.

"What? Unbelievable. What a bunch of bullshit," the Empire pilot mocked him.

"It's not bullshit we've taken out two so far."

"Whatever, we have you on radar now so here we come!"

"Maybe this will convince you," Maverick fired on and destroyed the missile. The explosion could be seen from Tall Tale.

"Does that look like bullshit to you?" Maverick said as he turned around.

"Stormcloud One to all aircraft they're shooting stealth cruise missiles at us too! Watch out!" the Empire squadron commander said to the others.

Soon Maverick was back with the others, who had shot down another stealth and 2 more regular ones.

"Where's Sunfire?" he asked.

"Chasing after one that got through," replied Ice.

Then the radio crackled to life.

"Guardian One to Lunar squadron: The Navy has located the source of the missiles. 5 subs 75 miles out. The Vikings will use depth bombs to try and get them to surface for you to attack. Hydra squadron will take over guarding against missiles."

"Roger," replied Maverick. Sunfire where are you?"

About that time she had caught up to the last stealth missile and shot it down, a mere 6 miles from the coast.

"I got the last one," she replied. "I'm heading that way now."

A while later they had closed to within 15 miles of the subs when the sub hunters contacted them.

"Lunar squadron this is Swordfish squadron. We've got 2 Echos' and 3 Oscars. We sank one and forced 3 more up before running out of bombs. They're yours."

"Roger Swordfish," replied Maverick.

"So where the hell did they get guided missile subs?" Ice asked.

"The Griffins," replied Maverick. We bombed a few at the same time we got the dry dock. Either they rebuilt those or had more hidden somewhere. Their cruise missile program wasn't coming along that good though, so I guess Discord got them on track."

"We'll we're gonna' send them down to Pony Jones' locker once and for all," replied Glory.

"Glory, me, you and Ice will take the first shots. Dahlia you finish them off if one misses. And hopefully Sunfire will be here by then." And they armed their missiles. 3 minutes later they were within range.

"Fire!" The 3 launched their missiles. Maverick and Ice's hit. Dahlia fired at the one Glory's missed and got it. Two of the subs exploded and began to sink. The third was still floating as the missile hit the conning tower instead of the center. The glow from the fires illuminated numerous life rafts in the water. After being forced to surface by the depth bombs the crews began evacuating.

"Lunar One to Swordfish, there's gonna' be a lot of prisoners to pick up down there," Maverick said.

"Roger Lunar, The Pacific and her group are on the way. We're tracking the one that got away, and they'll get them also. Thanks for the help."

"No problem." replied Maverick. "What about the one still floating though?"

"I wouldn't worry about..." Just then a missile hit it and finished it off.

"Guess I got the last shot in," Sunfire said.

"About time," replied Glory.

"Guardian One is the scope clear?"

"Yes, you can return to base. Great work."

"What's the status of the East coast?" Glory asked.

"Not good. There's still missile launches going on there, and Syskaia Air Force Base has been hit. No word on casualties or damage yet. The Sea Demon and Moonshadow have been successful in launching air attacks on the subs there though."

"Damn," she replied.

As the squadron returned, they wondered about the attack.

"So were they targeting the military or civilians in this attack?" Dahlia asked.

"I'm thinking both. Discord was out to cause major damage this time," replied Maverick.

"Why? What did the civilians do to him? If he kills everypony they're not exactly usefull to him."

"Who knows. Maybe it's just the type of chaos he likes to see."

"We've gotta' end this war," Glory said. "Maybe your act of kindness to the Empire will change something Spade."

"I doubt it," he replied.

Comments

[Silverstein]

Stealth cruise missiles? That is creative.

Silver out!

[Lonewolf78]

1587909

Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C

Creative but possible.

[Enceledus]

MOAR!
gifsforum.com/images/image/moar/grand/for_thel_love_of_god_more.jpg