Offensive Campaign No. 4101: Operation Round Hammer
Ace Combat: Shattered Friendships
Offensive Campaign No. 4101: Operation Round Hammer
Author: Draconis187
Then nothingness was not, nor existence. There was no air then, nor heavens beyond it. Who covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping? Was there then cosmic water, in depths unfathomed?
“Is everypony clear on the mission objectives?” Twilight said to the two flight groups as they reached Operation Round Hammer’s airspace.
“This is Snake. I copy that Eagle Eye,” Snake said as he and Techno crossed into the operation’s airspace, “You ready over there, Techno?”
“Born ready, Snake,” Techno replied with a smirk under his helmet, “Let’s light ‘em up!”
“Rainbow, is your flight ready?” Twilight asked.
“This is Spectrum One, roger that Eagle Eye. This is going to be awesome!” Rainbow replied, “Sound off everypony!”
“This is Spectrum Two. I am ready,” Misty Fly replied.
“This is Spectrum Three. I copy,” Lightning Dust replied curtly.
“No funny business, Dust. Do I make myself clear?” Rainbow warned.
“No need to worry, Dash. I’ll keep the showboating to a minimum,” Dust replied with slight annoyance. The seeming lack of trust between Dash and her was starting to grate her.
The two flights were flying alongside each other while another Squadron was flying in place of the first Crystal squadron from Gelnikos. The planes were four F-16Cs each with an XMAA loadout. The multi-lock function was going to be invaluable as they provided air support to the other squadrons.
“This is Spectrum One, Grabcr you take out the ships while my flight takes out the port facilities on both sides of the canal. Understood?” Rainbow called out to Grabcr.
“Fine,” Snake replied, “Techno, let’s go say hello.”
“Yo ho ho and a barrel of bullets,” Techno replied cheerfully as he switched to his napalm bombs.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“We have incoming!” A Griffon shouted to his compatriots, “Take them out!”
The Griffons had a few flights in the air in preparation of the attack from the Allied Forces. One flight in particular took a fancy to Grabcr.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Grabcr One you have been locked on,” Twilight announced over the radio.
“I got it,” Snake replied calmly as he noticed his HUD change colours and checked his IFF to see what was trying to take him on.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
His pursuer was an F-5E, Gabel One. He was one half of Gabel Squadron and one third of the Winds of Futuro who defended the canal with their planes and their very lives.
“This is Gabel One, I have the target locked one. Firing,” He said monotonously as he pressed down on the trigger, firing a few rounds towards Snake’s F-16XL.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Miss Sparkle. Here are the files on the Winds of Futuro,” One of the AWACS’ crew said as he handed the Princess a thick dossier of paper.
Twilight wasted no time in tearing into it, “Listen Grabcr. You’re going up against Gabel. They are better pilots than the Postler Squadron that Galm fought earlier on. They are notorious for their dedication to taking down a target.”
Twilight flipped through a page, “Their flight lead has a reputation for following his target all the way to their base. He succeeded in bagging the kill and returned with only minor damage to his plane. Use this to your advantage.”
Snake smiled inwardly, “Roger that Eagle Eye. This is one birdy he is going to regret following.”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
As Gabel One fired at Snake, Techno was lining up to attack perpendicular to the two craft. As he levelled his plane at the same altitude with Snake, he kept his hooves near the trigger. He saw the two as they were about to fly past his position.
If Gabel One noticed Techno, he didn’t show it as Techno’s Black Widow opened fire on his plane. The bullets tore through his body and his plane as indiscriminately as hail.
“Damn him!” Heiko Reik said aloud, clutching his right side as pain wracked his body, “These damn ponies are going down, I swear it!”
Gabel Two came from above, diving towards Techno and waiting for the sweet sound of a missile lock. His HUD beeped slowly as his system tried to lock on. Once the two green boxes intersected, the HUD gave a single, continuous beep and making Fredi Starke grin as he depressed the trigger.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Hello there!” Techno said happily as his plane lit up like it was Hearth’s Warming Day, “Looks like you’re not the only popular one Snake! We are both in demand here!”
“Aren’t we just?” Snake replied as he banked to avoid Heiko’s rain of gunfire.
“Grabcr, are you alright there? Do you need any help?” Rainbow called out as she tore a fuel depot apart with some precision rocket fire.
“No worries here Spectrum,” Snake replied confidently, “We’re just having ourselves a little fun here. We’ll wrap it up now and take out those ships.”
“Understood Grabcr,” Rainbow replied, smiling inwardly.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“I… will… not… lose to a… damned pony!” Heiko said to himself as his body threatened to black out on him with each passing moment.
“Heiko are you alright?” Fredi asked his flight lead, “You seem to be a little shaky over there. Did you take a hit?”
“By the Shards I’m fine!” Heiko snapped angrily, “Just focus on killing those mercs!”
“Understood Gabel One,” Fredi responded, not convinced of his flight lead’s health.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Snake, it looks like your friend is losing steam,” Techno noted as he fired off a flare to evade the missile Gabel Two fired at him, “Must have been the beans you ate.”
“I tell you that stuff goes right through me,” Snake joked back, “Let’s wrap this up now, Techno. There are still some ships that need burning.”
“I got you,” Techno replied.
Techno and Snake changed course until they were heading directly towards each other. As their planes sped across the sky, Techno turned his plane upside down and pushed the controls forward to keep the plane level. Their pursuers proceeded to follow their example as Gabel Two turned upside down, struggling to keep his plane balanced as it tried to dive prematurely.
As the distance closed in, Snake dove while Techno climbed while his plane was still upside down. Gabel didn’t have time to respond fast enough as the planes went in the opposite direction they thought they were going to go.
The two F-5Es collided with incredible force, erupting in flames while shrapnel flew several hundred feet as the remaining metal tried to fuse with each other as it all plummeted towards the water.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“That’s a confirmed kill for the both of you,” Twilight said happily, “Good work Grabcr. Now get to it!”
“You heard the lady, Techno,” Snake commented as he turned his attention to the Griffon Fleet.
“Well, that’s one more down,” Twilight muttered as she grabbed a stamp from across the plane.
She opened the ‘Winds of Futuro’ file and flipped to Gabel’s section in the file. The stamp made a loud thump as it made its impression, leaving the words: ‘Nullified’ on the squadron’s profile. She flipped one last time to see the third and final pair of highly trained fighters: Schakal.
“And one more to go,” She said thoughtfully as she turned her attention back to the operation.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Sir we lost Gabel!” A Griffon shouted to his Commanding Officer, earning a backhanded slap across the beak.
“I can see that you idiot! That’s another flight from the Winds of Futuro we’ve lost now,” The officer replied coldly, “Patch me through to High Command… immediately!”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“This is Spectrum Strike,” Rainbow Dash said over the radio as she circled around a plume of black smoke coming from another successful bombing run, “The right side of the port has been taken out. We are moving on to the left side now.”
“Understood Spectrum Strike,” Twilight responded, “After you deal with the right side, we can wrap this up.”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
Snake saw his target: the stationed Griffon Fleet. It consisted of a few cruisers and frigates but there was a single, large battleship smack dab in the middle of the fleet.
Gunfire and missile alerts greeted the pair as Techno flew close to the water, creating a jet powered wake in the water as a result. He powered past a frigate, keeping his plane as close to the ship as possible.
He essentially deafened every Griffon on board and almost capsized the frigate as it rocked sideways. As the ship rocked back in the attempt to right itself, Snake fired a single AGM to sink the ship.
The missile collided with the side of the ship as it rocked backwards. The force pushed the ship past its tipping point, causing it to successfully capsize and render it useless. As the ship tipped over, the hole Snake’s missile made began to fill up with water, condemning the ship to a watery grave.
“Great job Grabcr,” Twilight said as she chalked up the kill to the squadron’s record, “Let’s see if you can sink them all.”
“Here that?” Snake began to joke, “We have to get the whole set.”
“Now where did I put the bottle? Is this like stamp collecting?” Techno replied cheerfully, earning a small laugh from everypony who heard.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“What?” A Griffon said as his superior officer had debriefed him and his squadron, “Sorry, I must be hearing things. You’re saying Gabel lost to a pair of mercenaries?”
“That is correct,” A Griffon clad in a navy blue uniform replied nonchalantly, “You are to clear out the enemy’s air power from Futuro.”
The Griffon rubbed his temples before letting out a sigh, “Fine. Alright you guys, we’re moving out!”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Everypony, we’re finishing up here on the right side of the canal then we’re heading home,” Rainbow called out as another AA met her plane’s rockets.
“Understood Rainbow,” Twilight responded, “Grabcr, you still have the battleship to take care of.”
“Sorry, this one’s giving us some flak, literally,” Snake replied as he veered of his attack again, “Why do they still use that old tech anyway?”
“They still use it all over the world, Grabcr,” Twilight responded matter-of-factly, “They just update the firing mechanisms and tar-”
“It was rhetorical, Eagle Eye,” Snake interjected.
“Sorry,” Twilight replied sheepishly. Her blush was only visible to the crew aboard the AWACS, “Not one word Thunderlane.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” The grey Pegasus replied with a toothy grin.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“They’re coming around again!” One of the Griffons shouted as Grabcr decided to attack simultaneously from two opposite directions.
“Don’t let them get near the ship!” A decorated officer shouted above the last Griffon, “If they sink this battleship we will lose this canal!”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
Snake switched to his XAGM loadout once more as his plane flew towards the ship. The ship was too large for a conventional, direct attack as battleships tend to have far thicker armour than most ships, second only to flagships.
His HUD locked on to the ship’s flak cannons but overestimated his timing and shot past the ship as Techno did the same.
“Techno, I’ll take out the flak and you light ‘em up,” Snake said over the radio as he came around for one last pass at the ship to enact his plan.
“Roger that,” Techno replied as he made sure his plane had selected napalm bombs, “Good thing I read: ‘101 ways to cook chicken.’”
Snake barrelled towards the battleship, trying to avoid the ship’s annoying flak guns. The plane’s systems were trying to lock on to their targets but the constant shifting made it rather challenging. Sadly for the Griffons, Snake ate challenges like this as an after dinner mint.
“Just a little more…” He said as the HUD beeped faster, turning to a single continuous beep as four flak guns were targeted, “Got ya!”
He pressed the trigger out of sheer reflex and the missiles flew from their rails and headed towards their targets.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Incoming!” A Griffon shouted as four smoke trails came towards his position.
He took off into the air after abandoning his flak gun. The missile collided with the gun and detonated the ammo cache nearby, creating a shockwave that knocked the surrounding Griffons across the deck and some fell into the ocean.
The process repeated with three other guns, creating four large holes in the ship’s hull. What the Griffons didn’t see was Techno’s Black Widow coming down towards them, aiming two of his napalm bombs for the holes.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Fire in the hole… s!” Techno joked as he pressed down on thee trigger, releasing one bomb before aiming for another, “Happy birthday! Let me help you light your candle!”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
The two bombs screamed as they fell into the holes. The sheer speed from one of the bombs made it go through a section of the lower deck that got comprised from the earlier explosion before detonating. The other hit the inside of the hull at an angle, ricocheting off it and into the captain’s quarters.
The fire spread fast as Griffons ran or flew about trying to take down Grabcr while trying to put out two fires on two different decks. The crew were split apart as they wrestled with noxious smoke, many were suffering symptoms of smoke inhalation while others were trying to get them to safety.
Griffons were shouting for their comrades as another explosion rocked the ship, knocking Griffons off their feet or out of the air as the rocking motion caused them to hit their heads on the ceiling or the ground. A larger explosion ripped a hole the size of a train engine in the hull on the aft side of the ship. The last thing several Griffons in the bow section saw was the ammo cache catching alight.
The next explosion dwarfed the others as a large portion of the battleship erupted in flame and gunpowder. The ship rocked violently backwards before several sections began to take in water. Many Griffons still moving sought to evacuate, pulling as many wounded comrades with them as several were in no flying shape. The battleship groaned as Grabcr began to circle around, watching as the ship began to sink at a slowly increasing pace.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“This is Grabcr, fleet destroyed. I repeat: the fleet has been destroyed,” Snake said as Grabcr got into formation for the return trip to Cadence’s Heart.
“Understood, the fleet is already through the mouth of the canal. Costner will be commencing by the time you land,” Twilight responded.
Twilight sat back in her chair and sighed, “So much death. Celestia told me to expect it but I still wasn’t pre-” Twilight was cut off as the AWACS’ radar picked up something, “Grabcr! We have an incoming squadron headed your way at high speed! We can not authorise you to return at this time until you take them out!”
“Understood Eagle Eye,” Snake replied as Grabcr turned around to intercept, “Looks like we’re not done yet, my friend.”
“Yeah, they really can’t get enough of us can they?” Techno replied grimly as he checked his IFF.
“Somepony get me this squadron’s files!” Twilight shouted as the two squadrons flew to meet each other in the battle that would soon ensue between them, “Now!”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“We’re too late,” Grun One said monotonously as his flight of F/A-18C Hornets, “They’ve sent us a welcome wagon. Let’s greet them shall we?”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“Princess Sparkle!” A Pegasus cried out as he handed Twilight a far thicker dossier than the last one, “I’m afraid I have bad news.”
Twilight didn’t wait to hear what the Pegasus had to say as she wrenched the dossier out of his hooves. As she read, her eyes widened in shock, “Uh, oh. Grabcr listen up! The squadron is the 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Grun. They are from the 10th Air Division and one of the infamous Knights of the Round Table. They are known to be a very flexible squadron, proceed with caution.”
“Understood. They’re a little far from B7R aren’t they?” Snake replied, slightly confused.
“Regardless, Snake you should not treat them lightly,” Twilight warned, “These are ace pilots, some of the best the Griffons have to offer.”
“Got it,” Snake replied once more before looking at Techno’s plane, “Looks like Galm doesn’t get to have all the fun, does it?”
The six planes met in a collision of gunfire as the Hornets tried to gun their opponents down. Snake and Techno broke formation to dodge it and retaliated with their own bullets. Any and all support was already too far away to be of use, leaving Grabcr to fend for themselves.
The four Hornets broke off and began to chase Grabcr across the skies. The pair had to fight a fresh group of aces while Grabcr had exerted themselves to a degree over the course of the relatively short operation. Grun Two was chasing Techno as he chased Grun Four.
Grun One seemed to be trying to fly up Snake’s exhaust as he tried to get a lock-on against Grun Three. Snake veered wildly to the right as Grun One got a missile lock and fired without hesitation. The missile missed but Snake lost his target as a result.
Techno had to change priorities as Grun Two fired a few bullets, scrapping past his plane’s wings and almost taking a piece of his canopy with it. The Widow’s low flying profile at least made him a smaller target.
As the dogfight continued, missile alerts screamed at both sides, all of which missed completely while bullets pelted each other but caused minimal damage at best.
“These guys are good!” Snake shouted as he pulled back on his controls, making his plane climb higher into the air, “Now I know why they are Knights of the Round Table.”
Snake’s plane hit the afterburners and climbed as fast as it possibly could with Grun Two and Three hot on his tail. The two Hornets took turns to play about with Snake as he tried to get away in order to turn the situation around even if it was for a brief moment.
Snake saw bullets fly past him as he silently wondered how Galm was able to deal with pilots like these. Playing a gamble he cut all power to the engines and deployed the speed brakes. Grun Two and Three flew past Snake and were about to veer off to get another pass at him but Snake heard the sweet sound of a missile lock from his systems.
With the trigger pressed, the missile flew from its home on Snake’s wing and sped towards Grun Three. The missile hit home, sending green and tan coloured burning metal flying across the sky. With a grin he turned his plane around, aiming for the water below as the engines powered back up.
“That’s one down Grabcr, keep it up!” Twilight exclaimed happily. Just the one kill lifted her spirits considerably.
“Don’t congratulate us yet we still have a long way to go!” Snake replied as he flew towards Techno’s location as Grun One and Four tried to gun down his Black Widow.
Snake fired off a few rounds into Grun Four as Grun One broke off his attack. The bullets made several indentations in the Hornet’s fuselage but Snake didn’t manage to hit the canopy or cause any noticeable damage. What neither pilot knew was that Snake did manage to puncture a small hole in the Hornet’s combustion chamber.
As the two pilots continued to fly, the hole began to gradually expand and the Hornet was slowly losing power. As it was becoming more lethargic in its movements Snake decided to wait for the sound of a missile lock. The HUD soon answered him as two green boxes intersected each other and turned deep crimson.
The missile Snake fired didn’t need to take out Grun Four as the hole became too large and the plane spontaneously detonated, sending shards of metal flying and making the missile fly past harmlessly.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
“We lost Three and Four?” Grun One asked himself incredulously, “How can we be losing to two mercenaries?!”
<----> ---- ---- <---->
Techno began to chase Grun Two as Snake took on Grun One. Snake was battling as Grun One did a very decent job of keeping his missile lock off his Hornet.
“Let’s wrap this us Techno. There’s one hell of a celebration waiting for us all once this is over,” Snake said as he tried to gun Grun One down but his target slowed down and instead of overshooting the Hornet, Snake pulled up and climbed.
Snake brought his plane around full circle as Grun One and he were flying towards one another once more. Both pilots had a missile lock on the other as they wanted to see just who was going to fire first. The two planes banked in opposite directions but Grun One failed to notice Techno had stopped pursuing Grun Two to take him out.
Techno unloaded a barrage of bullets upon Grun One, tearing the back of the Hornet apart. Ailerons had their control rods broken, the stabilisers were akin to swiss cheese and the Hornet lost almost all control as it plummeted towards the ground.
Grun Two was now outnumbered as Grabcr had been at the start of the dogfight. He didn’t stand a ghost of a chance this time as Techno’s Widow constantly faded from radar and Snake always seemed to be on his tail feathers.
In the end it was Techno who sealed the Griffon’s fate, ploughing a missile into the canopy with the same precision that brought down the battleship.
The AWACS went alight with cheers, Twilight even kissed Thunderlane on the cheek.
“Does this count as treason?” Thunderlane asked with a raised eyebrow.
Twilight said nothing and blushed furiously as she returned to her seat.
<----> ---- ---- <---->
In the Cadence’s Heart, the bridge also flew into cheers as Spectrum Strike had joined the group inside the diminutive room.
Pinkamena rolled her eyes, “That was it? Please, call me when there is a real complication. I’m going back to my Eagle.”
At that moment Cipher appeared in the bridge, looking rather lost as Pinkamena looked bored.
“Mission accomplished,” The sound of Snake’s voice came over the radio, “It’s your turn Solace.”
Solace nodded his head as he, his flight and Hurricane turned to leave, “Got it, we’re leaving now. Captain…”
Barricade gave a curt nod before shouting into a microphone, “Listen up everypony! We are commencing with Operation Costner! Get to your stations, we are leaving immediately!”
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...I'm trying to finish up some homework I've got for a Summer course I'm taking and you decide to update...And now I really want to play Ace Combat (any of them!)...Thanks...
2661938 lol
I always seem to have the worst sense of timing.
Fun fact is that I actually got the idea to use the F-16XL from the book series by Mack Maloney called Wingman, where the main character converted his F-16 into an XL when it sustained heavy damage. That was the series that made me love the XL, it was modified with multiple M61's and additional missile stations, it was pretty badass.
And this was a great chapter can not wait for part 3.
2662143 Glad you liked it.
I just hoped to have gotten Snake and Techno down right as this was their first chapter. A welcome change of pace to just being Galm.
2662151
They were just fine, maybe a little too much joking, but when it got down to it they got serious which is right on.
2662172 Ok, I'll remember that for next time.