Aces High: War Torn

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

Bombs?

Already on her way to Valais, Luisa was between the base and the ordnance. Her lone Sidewinder would be of no use, and she wasn't about to use it with friendly aircraft likely trailing those munitions. She would have to use her 27mm cannon.

Fortunately, her lower altitude meant the arcing trajectory would clear her fellow pilots. She pulled back on the HOTAS, the Gripen's forward canards sharpening the turn and her g-suit immediately squeezing her blood into her chest and head to keep her from blacking out.

The horizon gave way to the sky, then the sky turned into the mountains and valleys she had been flying in moments before.

She didn't bother to roll over, righting herself, she simply sighted on the nearest bomb and fired the cannon while inverted, the tracers guiding her aim across its path.

The cannon mounted under the left side of her fuselage was hammering out rounds quickly, the HUD counting off her limited supply.

Were those flashes?

A heartbeat later, the bomb she'd aimed for detonated in mid-air. Finally, she rolled over, but she wasn't in position to acquire the rest.

She had taken one out, the other five would have to be up to Grave, in her Eagle, and the F-22.

"Good luck, you guys."

 

[The Rahzgriz]

Calibur was almost in a state of freefall, but the Gs he was kicking out his Raptor was pushing up against the back of his seat. His vantage point show him Grave and her path of interception. She was close, but not close enough. But out of nowhere, one of the six missiles exploded into nothing. A third jet had taken it out, a Gripen. Whoever it was, they did a nice job, but could not take out the remaining five.

Gently pushing the stick in the direction he wanted the fighter to go, Calibur quickly began sighting the missiles for his machine gun. Firing short controlled bursts, he took out a second missile. But those left were closing fast, and his bullets would run out soon. Letting off the trigger, he armed an two AMRAAM. Locking-on was difficult. The fighter was starting to shake a bit and the speed made it hard to track them. As soon as he heard the target locked, he fired off both of them.

They trailed after their targets. Their chase took them along a crurved path, and eventually they made contact. By now he was starting to get too low, and not enough time was left to target the remaining ones. So, letting off a final stream of bullets, he detonated a fourth missile and screamed through the fireball.

Calibur: "Take out the last one, Miranda."

Pulling hard on his stick, the fighter fought gravity and momentum to pull up. It was tough. Not even his suit was meant for this.

 

[Katamari Roller]

Miranda grumbled in the radio. Even if watching the missiles explode one after the other lifted her hope a bit, the pressure her body was subject to barely let her breath. Her whole body was being pushed against the seat.

Cr... crap... She couldn't even grit her teeth. The missile was coming closer and closer, but that was only because her F-15 was slowly moving towards its path. She would have only one chance to do it, and then the missile would get out of range, and a missile fired from the front by the other squadrons would probably not hit the target.

The display marked time until lock-on.

3... 2... 1...ZERO! Pushing the trigger, two AMRAAMs unlatched, fell, and activated, shrieking towards their target. Grave, trying to stay in exactly the same route the missile followed, noticed she was losing to the flying bomb. Only the missiles could catch it now. Slowing down, Miranda climbed to avoid the smoke trail the flying bomb left behind. Her heart sank when she saw Valais air base right in front of her, with the bomb still flying towards it.

The missiles were impossible to see, hidden in the smoke trail. What if the bomb's wake unbalanced them, deflecting their course? Come on, come on, come on...

*KRWAMMPPP*

The bomb suddenly lost altitude, a black smoke trail following it... and then exploded in an incredibly wide ball of fire and smoke. It had not hit the base. The AMRAAMs' shraphnel must have hit the engine, igniting the fuel. And thankfully, the last bomb was not a nuclear weapon.

With her Eagle quiet and flying smoothly, Miranda sighed as she leaned forwards, an instinctive need to free herself from her seat. She almost grinned.

"Wind Read, this is Grave. All bombs destroyed..."

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

Luisa couldn't contain herself. She had watched the Raptor gun down, then fire missiles at the bombs, taking all but one out. Her heart had stuck in her throat when she saw the last one still falling.

If not for Grave coming in and finishing it off...

"Wow," said into her mic as her Gripen eased into formation off the black fighter. "That was some topnotch shooting, Grave!"

She idly wondered about the Raptor pilot, but it seemed like he wasn't the talkative type.

 

[The Rahzgriz]

It hurt. Oh, did it hurt. But he managed to pull out of his fall before he buried himself in his own grave. As he slowed down and ascended, he felt as if he had a hang over only a college frat bot could have. But, thankfully, it wore much quicker than any hang over would. Calibur shook it off as he met up with both Miranda and the Gripen. Though he did not say anything, he nodded his approval to Miranda. Though it may not have Calibur's approval, but more Asriel's.

There was cheers and applause as the three planes touched down. Even the landed Avenger squadron gave them a thumbs up. Even if they were not all that familiar with the Gripen, they still whooped for whoever it was. Once Calibur taxied to a stop, he slumped forward a little in his seat. At first his crew began to panic and hurry. But a deep breath later he was back sitting up. A quick nod calmed down his crew, and they went about their business. His cockpit was opened and he sort of staggered out. In fact, he had to take a seat at the bottom of the ladder.

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

Luisa was unaccustomed to the praise and slumped down a bit into her cockpit as she taxied to her assigned hangar, following the prompts by the ground crew. She spared a look at the Raptor pilot. Calibur, I think they called him, she remembered, finally noticing that he was, in fact, a male. She couldn't make out his face as she moved farther away and the ground crewman was impatiently waving her into the revetment.

Once her Saab was tucked away, she shut down all of her plane's systems, almost forgetting to safety the cannon. Never used it much, she thought, looking at the ammo counter. This was the most rounds I've spent since, well, ever.

She unhooked from her cockpit, then unslatched her canopy, swinging it up and away to the left. She waited for the ladder and climbed down, past her crew chief, who was going to go over her Gripen's instruments. She made sure to pat the man on the back as she descended, smiling at the disinterested grunt. He was old enough to be her grandfather, whom she had never known, and nowhere near as lecherous as her estranged father. The grizzled, veteran crew chief made her feel comfortable when she came back from each mission and she was grateful for the peace of mind.

Luisa removed her helmet and shook her head, her sweaty mop of hair whipping back and forth across her face. The first time she'd done that, which seemed so long ago, she'd been teased, likened to a wet dog shaking itself dry. The smile on her face faded when she remembered that the friends who had said that were all dead.

She wiped a gloved hand across her face and replaced the smile. She still enjoyed flying and though this was a mercenary operation, letting the psychologist know something was wrong could still end up getting her pulled from flight status.

Luisa headed to the revetment's opening, clipping her helmet to her survival vest. She looked for the big, black Eagle and, locating it, headed for the hangar where Grave would be.

 

[Katamari Roller]

It felt wonderful to have ground under the landing gears. The ground crew checked un-strapped and checked the systems as Miranda relaxed on the seat. She felt like her spirit was still landing, something that happened to her often, being one to favour fast combat.

Climbing out of the cockpit slowly, she sat on the in-takes of her Eagle. The enemy was hell-bent on destroying Valais, but just how much? She had never heard of such a weapon as flying bombs with such powerful warheads.

Miranda sighed, rubbing her eyes. It was not worth worrying about that. The commanders would figure that out. For now, what she really, really needed, was to have something to eat. Her stomach felt like a cat ready to pounce.

She patted her F-15's surface. It was a good war horse, even if the newer models were supposedly better. This one had good radar, was one of the most far-reaching airplanes in the base, and what was more important, it had a pilot that understood how far it could go and knew how to pilot it. Pegasus, they had called it. Apparently, she was getting a reputation among the enemy, but that was probably because her fighter was one of the easiest to recognize. Not that she wasn't skilled enough to be a threat, of course.

Miranda's sweat cooled down on her body and under her clothes, the chilly afternoon wind hinting at the ones that would blow over the base when it was evening. She definitely didn't want to be on the runway when that happened, and saw some of the ground crew get their jackets.

"Hey guys, take good care of him. Oh, and give the engines a thorough check, I might have given them a good work-out back there."

Grabbing her helmet, Miranda slung it over her shoulder and walked out of the hangar, nodding at the waving from Tom, one of the Avenger squadron's pilots. Looking again to the front, she noticed a young woman walking towards her. A tanned, long-legged, cheerful-looking woman. Miranda wondered briefly how much time she had spent in this base...

Stopping on her tracks, Miranda let her arm holding the helmet hang loose of her body, waiting for her to speak up.

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

Luisa waited unnoticed by the hangar down as the Eagle taxied in. Why am I here, waiting for her? She continued to observe as the pilot opened the canopy and crouched on an intake.

Why am I so interested in her?

She started walking towards the pilot as soon as Grave's feet touched the tarmac. She waved a greeting, a smile on her face. As she closed the distance, Luisa extended a slim hand.

"Hello, Grave," she said cheerfully. "Snow Angel, the Gripen?"

"Anyways, my name is Sta. Vianna, Luisa Sta. Vianna."

"Um, this may sound a little forward," Luisa said, feeling her cheeks redden. "But you mind if I join you for some lunch?"

Her green eyes met Grave's icy blues and Luisa suddenly felt even more uncomfortable. What am I, some sort of closet rugmuncher?

 

[Katamari Roller]

Miranda shook Luisa's hand gently with a 'eh, whatever' expression. She was a bit surprised to notice Luisa blushing. What was the problem? Just a handshake, that was, right?

"Miranda Santos. Nice to meet you." She replied in a matter-of-factly way. Miranda was not one for making friends. "And if you wanna..."

She shrugged, and walked off towards the living quarters installations where the mess hall was. Miranda felt tired, the lack of food and rest making themselves apparent to her. Even as she walked, though, she couldn't help looking sideways at the F-4s taking off together with two F-15s, not even turning her head. Probably a bombing mission against enemy positions, what with the F-4s being armed with napalm. The fighter-bombers screamed past, and away into the sky.

The kitchen was a comfortable, warm place, which was accomodated in an hangar-like structure. Miranda saw the tables almost empty but for some groups that apparently had been flying up to not too long ago. Probably patrols and miscellanious mission goers.

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

The non-committal response was hardly what Luisa had expected. She stared blankly at Miranda, following the pilot's retreating back after she shrugs.

She shakes her head, clearing her mind and heads to the base commander's office first, dropping off her after-action report. One aircraft, armament, fuel and pilot for a half-dozen tanks, she reflected. It just wasn't worth it.

She reconsidered as she heard the thunderous roar of the outgoing aircraft.

With the air defense vehicles taken out, that column I hit is vulnerable, she thought, watching the paired Phantoms and Eagles taking off. She detested the casualties that were going to result because of her actions, but nonetheless, she was glad of the thought the outbound crews stood a better chance of making it back alive.

Neither F-15 was black, so she correctly assumed Miranda "Grave" Santos was still at the mess hall. Curiously, the thought made her heart begin to race.

She ran back there and spotted the tough blonde easily in the sparsely occuppied room. Grabbing a couple of coney dogs and a Coke, she slipped into the seat opposite, trying desperately to keep a goofy smile off her face.

Why the hell am I so happy to see her?

 

[The Rahzgriz]

After sitting for a few minutes, Calibur's head stopped feeling like it was going through the spin cycle. His crew was concerned about him, but knew to not ask about it unless he collapsed completely to the ground. Groggily standing up, he trodded back into the hangar building while undoing his helmet strap with one hand. By the time he had slipped it off his head, Asriel was feeling normal again. He was feeling himself once more. When he was not in that helmet or in that fighter, he felt completely different. Asriel felt faraway form the combat, and if he knew nothing about flying that Raptor.

"I wonder if I'm schizophrenic...?"

A random thought spoken aloud. But it seemed valid at the time. It's validity was quickly shaken off and Asriel tossed his helmet into his locker. Standing at his rather empty locker, he wondered the same thing he always wondered after a flight like that. Why was he doing this? He had no vendetta gainst anyone for a death of kind. Or at least a death he cared about. His family had long abandoned him before the war. The guy who had raised him, and taught him to fly, was more like a teacher than a father figure.

"Some food should settle my head."

Cutting off his thoughts with a sigh. Asriel walked towards the mess hall. There he found Miranda, and whom he assumed to be the Gripen's pilot. Another woman. Her expression and her gaze towards Miranda made him raise an eyebrow, but nothing more. Taking a seat next to Miranda, and through a smile to both of them.

"Good shot, Miranda. And what is your name?"

 

[Katamari Roller]

Miranda decided for a hamburger and a Coke, as well as some fries. And a cigarette, of course. Something to calm her nerves. Something to distract her.

"Was nothing." Miranda decided to let Luisa introduce herself as she started hawking at the fries, one by one. Truth be told, Miranda was a bit envious of Calibur. Nailing four of those missiles was no easy task. Of course, she could have done it as well as Asriel did, but most probably not with machineguns.

Then again, what retard uses machineguns to bring down missiles? That only gets shraphnel into your air-intakes and into your engine. I bet his ground crew is grumbling, trying to figure out why his engine is not turning back on...

Sitting with her torso sideways, she glanced at Luisa, taking a drag and exhaling, the smoke reminding her of the smoke trails left behind by her AMRAAMs.

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

"Luisa," she replied, returning the smile. Unlike most people, Luisa enjoyed her coneys with a knife and fork, cutting the chilli-drenched hot dog into manageable pieces, rather than risking making a mess of herself. She swallowed before adding, "And you are?"

She recognized the man's build and style of flight suit, but she wanted to be sure. As Miranda exhaled smoke, Luisa caught herself from impolitely waving her hand. Instead, she commented on the unhealthy aspect of the habit.

"Those things'll kill you, you know."

 

[Katamari Roller]

"Not if the missiles get me first." Miranda chuckled humourlessly before taking a good bite out of her hamburger. It tasted pretty good, if the ketchup hid a bit the taste of the meat.

 

[The Rahzgriz]

"Name's Asriel. And Miranda, here..."

He jerked a thumb towards her.

"Got a point. Smokin's the least of your worries when guys are trying to blast you to smithereens."

Luisa seemed like a nice girl. At least a different kind than Miranda was. He had not seen her around before, she may have been new to the base. Then again, she appeared familiar with the surroundings, and he has been described as oblivious occasionally. As he thought about it, he munched on his food a bit. It was not great, he could have gone for a nice restaurant meal, but it was sufficient.

"Are you new here or somethin', Luisa? I don't think I remember seeing you before."

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

"Oh, Miranda and I have met already," Luisa replied, then backpedaled. "Well, you see, I got her name in the hangar."

Embarassed, she stuffed another bite of her coney into her mouth. It was pretty good, though she didn't like the onions much. She washed down the mouthful with a sip of the Coke.

"Well, I was originally stationed down south. I got here," she says, her voice trailing off as she checks her watch then tries to do the math. "Let's see, three days is 72 hours, so... about two days ago?"

"So yeah," Luisa responds. "I'm pretty new."

"They've got me assigned to ground support, though the Gripen doesn't really have the range for lond-distance missions, so it's not like I can carry a lot of ordnance. Basically I'm supposed to soften up the target for heavier payloads."

"My wingman was telling me..."

She stopped talking.

Sniffled, wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

She took another bite and regained her composure.

"Um... So... Where are you guys from? How'd you end up here?"

 

[Katamari Roller]

Miranda swallowed the mouthful of hamburger she had, and stared at the rest of it. Sighing deeply, she took another drag. She whispered to herself "eh, why the hell not."

She took her cigarette off her mouth, and stared with empty eyes at the burning amber on its end. "I was in the 12th Interceptor squadron, Ustio National Air Force. So, when the Belkans came, I was in first line of battle. Everything went to hell fairly quickly from there."

Taking another deep, long drag, Miranda set the cigarette down nervously and quickly took a sip of coke. Whenever she remembered the battle, she couldn't help getting anxious, and trying to do as much as she could. Her fingers tapped on the table fairly fast.

"Have you ever charged into a wall of fire? It was so thick that either you hit smoke, or you hit bullets. And there was no way we could match that firepower. Luckily for me, in the excitement of aiming the missiles, I forgot to drop the extra fuel tanks. And here I am now. The only survivor out of ten squadrons."

The silence that followed was awkward, but Miranda couldn't give a damn about it. She just took another bite out of her hamburger. Suddenly, somehow, an association between ketchup and blood took shape in her mind. It was so vivid she almost felt she had bitten a person, and froze. But her reason dictated otherwise. She still washed the meat down with a liberal draught of coke, though.

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

"I'd heard the scattered radio transmissions from those first engagements," Luisa said, her green eyes conveying sympathy.

"I'm sorry, Miranda..."

She wasn't sure why it was that she was apologizing. It always seemed so damned hollow when she heard the line in movies and it sounded just as cliche now.

Luisa took another bite of her coney and looked at Asriel.

"And you? You must've been pretty good before the war to earn an F-22."

 

[The Rahzgriz]

Asriel knew from the moment a single tear had risen from Luisa's eye that this conversation was about to turn into a war story discussion. That was not to say he was upset about this turn. On one hand, it was a little depressing and always brought up bad memories for most people. On the other, it allowed those same people to let some of the feelings out and could help them cope. But between Luisa's emotions and Miranda's subdued anxiety attack, this was going to focus heavily on the former hand.

"And you? You must've been pretty good before the war to earn an F-22."

He was surprised, though he should not have been. It was eventually going to get to him. It was probably her assumption that he was "good" that struck a chord in him. "Talented" would have been a better adjective. "Good" did not sound right for him.

"I guess you could say that. The contractor I used to work with gave it to me. He said he figured it'd be the only thing that could keep up with me..."

His skill in the sky - No. Calibur's skill in a fighter was too much for most fighters. So the PMC had decided to get him a state-of-the-art craft just for him. He said that with that jet he could "Gun down an entire air force in a single sortie." That quote always felt ironic. Being so light-hearted about killing so many nameless people always left a bad taste in his mouth. But, nonetheless, Calibur kept shooting down pilots.

"No wonder they called me the Anean Demon..."

He whispered to himself outloud. But quickly shut himself.

 

[Katamari Roller]

Anean Demon? Miranda tried to remember what that meant, but... it was nothing specific. Just rumours that were the usual about supernatural beings. For some reason, pilots were specially superstitious about that kind of thing, some airplanes that, painted in a strange fashion, darted around destroying everything in their path.

That was not what interested Miranda. She knew Asriel was skilled, or lucky, or both. What she was really interested in, was...

"So..." Miranda stopped her tapping forcibly, knowing it would start again as soon as she was distracted. "... a contractor? This isn't the first time you are a mercenary, then? Or were you a test pilot?"

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

Contractor? "Given" to him?

Luisa was surprised by this information. I know things were bad, but mercenaries? It was ironic, considering that she was now a mercenary herself.

But if Ustio can pay for mercenaries, then we must have a viable government to pay for it. And if we've government, then I'm still a military pilot.

She mulled it over while Miranda continued to question Asriel.

Luisa completely missed the "Anean Demon" comment.

 

[The Rahzgriz]

"Both, actually."

He leaned his back over his chair and reminiced.

"We were based in Anea. While the country itself had managed to stay out of a lot of what had been goi' on, there was still money to be made as PMC's. Other countries paid us for all sorts of jobs, including weapon and fighter testing."

Though the testing itself was end-stage stuff. The actual battle testing to be exact. They would pay them for a job and then add extra if they used their new weapons and reported the data. It was the safest thing to do, for both the mercenaries and the enemy. Sometimes the weapon would not work or malfunctioned. Other times it did way more than what was expected. That was where Asriel decided to leave.

"But after a prototype shrapnel bomb overshot its target and detonated over a nearby town..... "

He was the one who shot it. Asriel still vividly remembered seeing the town's clocktower being shredded while civilians ran for their lives. He and Calibur saw it, but Calibur thought nothing of it, and continued as if nothing happened. The paying company actually seemed pleased, and said the targeting bug was no issue. But Asriel could not take such things, and left.

".... I quit them, and here I am."

 

[Katamari Roller]

A shraphnel bomb, huh... In a swift move, Miranda crushed the exhausted cigarette's tip against the table, extinguishing it. And I wonder... who fired it? She took a sip of her coke, before taking another bit of her almost finished hamburger.

Then again, who am I to judge, huh? I kill people. Even if I only shoot at fighters, one or two probably fell on civilians' houses... on my people... Miranda sighed to herself. At times, she was sure her conscience was dead. Other times, she wished it most certainly was.

But Miranda still had a few questions to herself. Why was Luisa still flying? She could have sold her Gripen at a good price, and she didn't look like a real fighter pilot herself. As for Asriel, he could have just sold his own fighter and managed quite nicely. F-22s were not exactly common. The Terminators she had downed herself in the morning were quite the rarity, truth be told.

So, why were the three of them still letting blood flow through their hands?

Nevermind. I don't care. Finishing her hamburger, Miranda washed it down with what was left of her coke. He flies because of shame. She flies because of undecisiveness. I fly because of a debt. And that's it. Rule number 1 in the battlefield... survive. Screw everything else.

Getting up, Miranda pulled her flight suit's zipper down, and fished around in her pants' pockets for a cigarette. Pulling the lighter and the cig out of the packet, she lit it, and then put the lighter and the packet back in place. "Well, nice talking to ya, but... I'm grabbing a shower. See ya whenever."

Turning around, Miranda exhaled nervously. Her right hand trembled as she walked away. Closing it into a fist, she felt her nails dig into her flesh. The sudden image of Pegasus 3 going down in flames assaulted her mind, just as the screeching of an old Mig-21's landing gear assaulted her senses. Miranda sped up to her quarters. She needed that shower desperately. And then some music... that should calm her, as usual...

 

[Kaskasero_Kunai]

Luisa pulled her t-shirt collar a bit, tilting her head down and sniffing. "Sounds like a good idea, Miranda."

She finished off her coney and Coke and got up, intending to...

To what, follow Miranda into the showers?

She looked at Miranda's back and then at Asriel.

Might as well, she thought. Better than just standing here, undecided.

At least she knew where everything was on the base.

 

[The Rahzgriz]

The awkward silence that followed his explanation was another to-be-expected situation. He continued staring up at the ceiling while they conteplated their lives for a moment. When he heard her chair scoot back, he lifted his head to find Miranda leaving. She looked just as anxious as ever. Asriel nodded Miranda a goodbye before eyeing Luisa. Seeing something in her eyes that spoke words, he smirked.

"Go get her, Luisa."

He winked and watched her run off after her. Staying behind at the table, Asriel thought about what just happened. Through the brevity and ambiguity of their stories, they could interpet a lot of each other. For the moment, he could only think about how Luisa looked at Miranda. Asriel thought he had figured it out. Seemed kind of obvious. But he could be wrong.

"Maybe..... Probably....."