36 replies to this topic

[crave22]

The Aesanian Union had remained silent for days since the massive nuclear attack which claimed millions of innocent civilians. That silence was meant to mislead... Meant to cause Belka to think they had the upper hand.

That was far from the truth, though.


Comberth Harbor
Belka

Silence reigned on the crisp, cool Sunday morning. The waters of Comberth lay still as a gentle breeze stirred from the sea. Birds chirped and leaves rustled, symbolising the arrival of a new day. The sun rose over the waves as dawn broke.

This was the home of the Invincible Fleet. The Aegir Fleet. Belka's prime naval asset. And as the sun rose on that cool, crisp morning, one thing was certain:

Most of that fleet would kiss the bottom of Comberth on this day.


Task Force Fimbulwinter

Task Force Fimbulwinter cut through the waves on this new day, silently cruising towards Comberth. The massive task force began to slow as the aerial complement came within range of the shoreline, and the six carriers of the task force moved into launching positions. Unity, Determination, Loyalty, Nobility, Freedom, and Justice. They were escorted by a healthy number of cruisers and destroyers, and made sure to keep from enemy sight.

The silence of the morning on the ocean was broken, though, when the afterburners of the first sortie roared to life, propelling the point of the spear towards the Belkan homeland. They flew low to the water, almost to the point of skimming the surface to keep from being seen on radar. They gracefully flew into the jaws of the Belkan beast, Comberth Harbor coming into sight slowly. The roar of their engines would be the first thing to give them away as they made their run.

As the first bombs began to fall, the Belkans didn't know what the hell hit them...

((Your turn. I'll post something in PB/Roundhouse when you get on to clear that up. I figure I'll just lose all three SD's and a couple cruisers/destroyers. The Strength takes damage, but is repairable. But I'll just scrap it in favor of a newer class which will make an appearance in CCW2.))

[US Airways]

OOC:I really like the reference in the name

[crave22]

OOC: Thanks. Was wondering if anyone would get that.

[Ash]

OOC: There've been so many AC references in this RPG that it's almost sickening.


Comberth Harbour

Air raid sirens began to sound, and fully two hundred thousand people sprang to life, charging around the docks, trying to get to their ships, or to the many AA positions around the harbour facilities. Not only was there eight million gallons of fuel at this port, but there had been no way to guess they'd head for the single most heavily defended and largest concentration of ships in all of the Free Republic at this time. The Belkan overconfidence had shown itself; they predicted it would be suicide for any attack on the Comberth facilities.

They were taken completely by surprise when cranes, missile boats and supply tugs erupted into flame.

This is Fleet Admiral Kosygin. All men to your ships! We are under attack! I repeat, Comberth Harbour is under attack! All ships to battle stations! Prepare for Anti-Aircraft and Surface combat! Launch fighters! Get everything we have that can fire, and get it pointing somewhere it can shoot these bastards down!"
Kosygin screamed down his radio, his voice resonating on tannoys throughout the faciltiy. Belkan soldiers took up machinegun firing position, AA guns, flak artillery, SAMs...anything that could fire was poised to do so. A number of ZSUs sprang to life, their AA guns breaking the air with their thundercracking firepower. 'Zeus' was an appropriate name.

However, the Aesanians had caught the Aegir Fleet at quite a loss. Berthed along the insides of the river, they were bottlenecked, and were all at anchor.

The first ships to leave port were the Battleship Tanager, along with the cruisers Raven, Kolga and Redemption, the carrier Geofon and the destroyers Taisch, Hern and Malise. These ships charged forward at full speed, the fighters from the carrier launching quickly and streaking in to try and fend off the attacking fighters. The main guns of the ships were just waiting to get into an effective range against the carriers, then the Aesanians would taste fear.

[crave22]

OOC: Agreed. Perhaps we should just make an AC RPG.

The first sortie ripped through the cold air, smoke filling the skies as flames leaped from the surface. Bombs fell continuously as the fighters fought on, no matter the cost.The second sortie began to come in quickly, targeting the outbound group of ships which were tasked to search for the Union carriers and intercepting their fighter compliment long enough for the first Tomahawk strike to be shot off from the carriers' battleship escort. In all, the Belkan AA fire appeared to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience to the massive swarm of aircraft bearing down on the harbor. The best part was they probably didn't even know how many carriers were present.

Casualties were high, but spirits even higher. A taste for revenge was on the lips of every Aesanian pilot in the sky, and they wanted more than just a taste. They wanted the entire thing. Both Belkan and Aesanian blood would be spilled. But the Belkan blood would have a much sweeter taste...

The beginning of the end had finally come...

[Ash]

"The battleship Tanager made it out of the harbour!" came a cry over the radio. "The Geofon was not so fortunate. Her fighters are fully fuelled, they'll provide a nasty kick in the ass. Scinfaxi, can you target a relatively Belkan-free area of sky?"

"Confirmed, Admiral." came a stone-cold voice over the radio.

"Then don't waste time confirming it! Just do it!"


Without delay, two missile erupted from the ocean, flying at a forty-degree angle towards a large, wide formation of Aesanian fighters, burst-detonating. Those things were as lethal as Stonehenge against fighters.

[US Airways]

OOC:What's AC?

[Pyth]

OOC: Ace Combat. Semi-realistic combat flight simulation series. Belka's in it, this sort of crap happened in it.

[Ash]

OOC: Heh, Belka, Yuktobania, ISAF, Razgriz Squadron, Stonehenge, Excalibur, the Aegir Fleet (and many of its participants), Mobius Squadron, Wardog Squadron...My Belka is mostly Yuke culture mixed with Belkan and Erusean bloodlust and armies, with an ISAF space programme. Crave is basically Osea with a bigger defence budget.


IC:

"This is Galm Squadron," came a voice over an intercom. Controllers on the ground couldn't see the source. They were transmitting from quite some way away. ", we are moving to intercept these Aesanian scum. They'll pay in blood for any ship or facility that gets damaged here."

[Torn]

OOC: So we're basically playing Ace Combat - The RPG? .

[MSpencer]

OOC: Well I'm not.
Hey Ash: Bring it, damnit. Get those tanks moving.

[crave22]

IC:

"This is Galm Squadron," came a voice over an intercom. Controllers on the ground couldn't see the source. They were transmitting from quite some way away. ", we are moving to intercept these Aesanian scum. They'll pay in blood for any ship or facility that gets damaged here."

OOC: You sonofabitch! I was gonna throw Solo-Wing and Cipher at you sometime later in the battle! Graaaah! Does anyone have Mobius claimed? Or you know what, I'll go with Espada. Yeah, Espada. Even though that chick pisses me off.

IC comes when I am awake and coherent.

[Ash]

OOC: One of my ships is called Mobius. I actually think I bagsied it a while ago. I plan to use it when Belka goes down the plughole...remember those F-22s I stole off Ali? There ya go. New Mobius Squadron

[crave22]

"And there they are...", Captain Jean Ploskon said with a sly smile on his face. "Two confirmed launches from those coordinates. Take us in, and get a fish in each tube. We aren't passing this up."

Three Virginia-class submarines had accompanied the Comberth task force with a simple objective: Infiltrate the harbor, and hunt down the Scinfaxi. They made their way to the harbor entrance, silently skimming at a safe depth as they watched the SONAR nervously for signs of enemy sub activity. The last known position of the Scinfaxi was marked, made to stand out as if it were holy evidence of God's own existence.

********************

The pilots above, however, were not so pleased at the news of a Scinfaxi missile launch, and instead began the climb always associated with such a launch. As they climbed, however, the lead carrier in the theatre came over the radio.

"Do not climb, REPEAT: Do not climb."
"What the hell, Skipper?! Do you want us to die out here?"
"Not quite... Just continue your assault, and ignore the Scinfaxi unless it surfaces."
"Whatever you say..."

The Aesanians had learned what happens when unprotected from a Scinfaxi's missiles... And they had come prepared this time. On the carrier Justice, Captain Nicholas Anderson picked up his satellite phone, already tuned to a frequency vital to the mission.

"Fire when ready."

A bright flash could be seen for miles around as the two ballistic missiles simply disappeared from the sky. Miles high above a white bird of "peace" gently floated in orbit, watching over the battle with a sharp eye and a steady trigger finger.

"Done, Justice. Arkbird awaits further targetting orders."

[Ash]

The bright flash could be seen for miles around, both the Belkans and Aesanians momentarily blinded by it.

"What the fuck was that!? Scinfaxi, report!" the Fleet Admiral yelled down his communcator.

"This is the Scinfaxi. The missiles have been destroyed...those damn Aesanians have brought in the Arkbird."

A grip of fear spread through Comberth harbour. If it could accurately target their missiles, it could easily pick of the ships one by one.

"Get a hold of yourselves! This isn't over yet! Worry about those damn planes, and getting your asses out of the harbour! Scinfaxi, continue move-and-fire manoeuvres. Loose as many missiles as you can in a single launch...they can't hit them all!"


Belkan fighters engaged and intercepted the Aesanians. Sukhois and MiG-31s locked horns with Aesanian Lockheed-Martins and assorted special aircraft. Meanwhile Galm Squadron had also joined the fray. Their fire-patterned Berkuts were instantly recognisable amongst the standard-issue colours. They were as fast as it came, doing bank turns at the very brink of speed where a human will black out, pushing their fighters to their outer limits and flying absolutely masterfully. They particularly dominated the newer fliers amongst the Aesanian forces. Their lesser flying time, and the fact that, logically, they knew these moves were impossible. What they forgot was that Galm Squadron were some of the fittest and toughest men in the Belkan military, trained in aircraft since their early teens. Ever since the Great Union, in fact, Galm Squadron had been the Spartans of the skies. There was almost nothing about their own planes that they did not know. They gave them female names, much as many Marine corps did their rifles.

The lead pilot, callsign Darkwave, had one hell of a tally on the side of his fuselage. That would be getting bigger when he came in to land. His plane, Angelique, was only the best thing that had ever entered his life. He'd never met a plane with such unmatched manoevrability, though he would secretly admit he'd like to give the Aesanian X-02 or FALKEN a run, just to see how well they flew. Even if Angelique was slightly inferior, he could easily match the pilots and outdance them on skill and endurance alone.

"Cain, Odin, Elrahim, this is Darkwave. Break off, follow the Tanager's path. When you come to an Aesanian carrier, I want its runway obliterated. Dodge locks, but do not engage fighters. I want that carrier knocked out."

"Yes, sir."
"Affirmative."
"Complying."

They sounded flat-toned over the radio. Good. That meant they were concentrating. Every one of them could fly the planes with their eyes closed, but even as he watched, they made a tight bank, almost in unision, and sped off with the afterburners to their intended target.



"How are we doing?" the Fleet Admiral asked.

"Many of our ships are still on their moorings, Admiral, others are just starting to move."

"Get them off the moorings. Cruisers to the front. I want full protection against those fighters."

[crave22]

((Thank you for not using their actual callsigns. I can resurrect this fight now.))

"Crow team, launch! We have Belkan fighters confirmed inbound from the Northwest. Intercept them!"
"I was afraid you were gonna say that..."

Four fighters lifted off from the lead carrier, getting into a diamond formation as they moved to intercept the GALM team. Unlike most Aesanian aircraft, their craft were painted in brilliant and unique designs, unlike their 'Dog cousins. Also unlike their 'Dog cousins, they didn't use the Falken. Instead, they used a mix of aircraft. Crow 1, known as Cipher, flew a Wyvern in blue and white colors. Pixy, Crow 2, flew an F-15 with one wing painted red-orange. Crow 3, also known as PJ, flew a Wyvern in a deep navy blue with white stripes. Crow 4, known as Heartbreak One ( ), flew an F-14 in standard Union colors, but with one roundel replaced with a cracked and bleeding heart and crimson stripes running down the fuselage.

"Pixy, take my wing. PJ, take wing with Heartbreak."
"Copy that, Cipher.", came the response from Solo-Wing. The others soon entered the new formation, and soon entered range to spar with the ace Belkan pilots.
"Hi, boys!", came a cheerful greeting over the Belkans' radio frequency. "Wanna dance?"

They quickly switched back to their squadron frequency.

"We have to keep them away from the carriers for as long as possible, or else we lose a home. Either we pick 'em off or the AA does, and right now kills don't matter. Besides... I dunno if I still have room on my fuselage."

The Crow squadron fighters began to dance around the Belkans, challenging them to a fight before they decided to make the first move.

It was the Demon Lord's turn to have fun...

**********************

Meanwhile, the Arkbird had been swatting missiles from the sky left and right, with only a few getting through. And by the time they did manage to get through, most Aesanian fighters had climbed to a higher altitude to dogfight. Bombs continued to fall, but from a much higher altitude, making their effectiveness questionable. A swarm of such bombs could still pack a punch, though, even when dropped blindly.

The hunt for the Scinfaxi also went into full swing, the submarines of the Aesanian task force moving silently through the harbor, marking the Scinfaxi's position each time it fired. They began to develop a tracking pattern, hoping she would double back occasionally to keep from being blown out of the water from above.

And that was when they would strike.

***********************

"Firing barrage!", came the shout from the weapons operator on one of the battleship escorts. Three Tomahawk cruise missiles rattled off in relatively quick succession, their targets programmed as port facilities and the local Belkan airfield. Meanwhile, escort cruisers began to take locks on the GALM team, hoping to scare them away from the carriers if Crow failed to do so.

What the Belkans would find when they finally reached the carriers, though, was a fairly large obstacle in taking out the carriers. Task Force Fimbulwinter had split up into three groups before their assault, hence the namesake which described a destructive winter coming in from all directions. Two carriers per group, they were spread out enough to effectively distribute the anti-air web. Whatever came in would have a hell of a time getting to the carriers, not to mention getting past Crow.

The battle appeared to be going well, despite staggering casualties. Hundreds of pilots had been lost so far, with hundreds more destined to lose their lives for the Union. It was a sweet taste of revenge, but at a high price in life. Every time a pilot was confirmed dead, the klaxons on the ships of TF Fimbulwinter would silence for exactly three seconds, a sign of reverence for their sacrifice. Their sacrifice only added more fuel to the fire, though. Yet another Aesanian soul to avenge.

[Ash]

((OOC: Hundreds of pilots? You sure? AFAIK each CARRIER only has about fifty or so planes which would be equipped to engage in this fight...so basically i've already won ))

The Galm fighters saw the enemy coming. Whoever they were. The Galbs knew that they weren't their regular common-or-garden daisy-pushers. These were serious contenders.

"Tally-ho on some decent fliers. Interesting. I didn't know the Aesanians had any. Attack formation trident."

The three of them broke off in a triad, one going straight vertical while the other two went directly left and right of their current heading. The speed at which this was accomplished was unreal, and the way they'd done it made it look like they were the Red Arrows on display.

They fanned out like this for a way, and then rolled themselves over, and banked back in, converging on the original ship. One, Cain, was now twenty-five thousand feet up, easily far enough away to evade a missile if one came. The other two were twenty-five thousand feet away (although not up), and so were also able to evade.

Cain fired one of his two long range antiship missiles. Then his other. And then immediately swung round at breakneck pace and fled the area.
"Fox one."

The other two came in from the flanks, loosing their missiles at the carrier, and crossing eachother's flightpath. One had flipped so as he was almost totally upside-down, and they crossed within twenty feet of one another, so much so that they both felt eachother's sonic boom as they scythed through the air past eachother. They had done this so many times before.

"I almost feel bad about this. Come on, brothers, back to where the real action is. Keep an eye on those pilots. Let's see if we can lead them into an ambush."
It was true to say that there was no such thing as a middling pilot. You were either an ace, or a target. Galm were aces. As were Solo-Wing. But judging from their individualism there was as good a chance as any they weren't quite so at home with working as a unit as Galm were; they were almost as one.


Elsewhere, the battle was significantly more chaotic. Several ships were already in flames, and one, the cruiser Kolga, had half-sunk, but hit the edge of a silt rut. It wouldn't go fully down, and was now tightening the bottleneck on the harbour. It would now be even harder for the fleet to leave.

However, submarines Beowulf Pi and Beowulf Nu were free of their pens, and were making their way forward. Behind them was the Scinfaxi.

Of course, the Belkans paid no homage to their dead until after it was over. They took full advantage of any lull in the shooting, and their less-able pilots gave it their all, desperately trying to break out of the furball and clean up their six, or to defend their skies and their glorious fleet from the enemy.

"I can't believe they caught us napping like this," one captain said, to which another replied,
"Well, they should have made good on it. They didn't press their advantage. We have to push forward and punish them! They don't deserve punishment for being here...we are at war, after all. They deserve punishment for not beating us!"

((OOC: Before you go killing her, let me get her to open water ))

[crave22]

((OOC: Don't worry, I didn't plan on killing her until I was given the okay, if at all. And the hundreds thing was more a figure of speech. But with six carriers, the numbers are still pretty high.))

The Crow pilots flew in their dual formations skillfully, performing maneuvers seen before only from the Galm team in this battle. The Fourth Tactical Fighter Squadron moved swiftly in unison, falling in one by one and chasing down the offending Belkan aces. As the missiles struck the carrier Unity, her fire crew immediately dispatched to extinguish the flames they caused, and contained the damage so the flight deck was still operational.

"Tally-ho on some decent fliers. Interesting. I didn't know the Aesanians had any. Attack formation trident.", crackled over the radio from the Belkan aces.
"Yeah... We're decent. Then again, I really don't care what you think. Dead men's words hold no meaning, after all.", Pixy said with a grin on his face, not visible through his mask. He swiveled around in his Eagle, taking up a position just below one of the Belkans and loosing two Slammers.

"Fox two, fox two."

He twisted around in a maneuver unimaginable for an F-15 Eagle, bringing himself out of range for a counter-strike from the craft he had targeted. Pixy and Cipher worked as one to chisel the Galm pilots away from the carriers, as Heartbreak and PJ twisted and turned about each other, dancing in the sky as they evaded any possible Belkan target locks while spitting off a few missiles of their own.

"Listen, boys... You can go home now if you like. I think it's time we big kids had the playground for a while."

[Ash]

The Belkan aces broke and crossed one another's flightpaths, Cain doing a Pugachev Cobra manoevre, literally leaping the plane over the missile. He allowed it to stall just long enough to face the other way, before loosing his gun at the oncoming Aesanians, banging the thrusters on in a dazzling display of avionics.

The other two were slightly less flashy, but they were enjoying this game of cat-and-mouse. When they got back to the rest of Galm, there'd be egg on these Aesanians' faces.

"And a cocky bastard amongst them to boot. Ha ha ha! I like you, sport..." Cain quipped, performing a quadruple barrel roll before turning around to catch the Aesanians' six, "tell me, Sonny Jim, what's your name? Maybe if we both make it through the war alive, we go for drink, eh?"

[crave22]

"You can call me Pixy. And my buddy here is the Demon Lord. I'm not exactly sure if we'll be able to share a drink at the end of the war, though. Even if you survive the crash, you'd probably be pretty pissed at me. Perfectly understandable, really."

Crow squadron continued with an intricate maneuver, twisting about in a way to wedge themselves free and juke out of the Belkan crosshairs. Pixy and Cipher hit their rudder hard left, while Heartbreak and PJ hit hard right, eventually forming up behind the Belkans while flying in the opposite direction, then flipping and performing a roll to get behind them in a firing position. Of course the Belkans wouldn't stay in the crosshairs more than a millisecond or two, so they felt it was useless to waste their gun ammo, instead opting to attempt and force the Belkans uncomfortably close by flying on the outside of their formation, gradually pushing inwards in a pincer move from each side. It was risky, though, and very few pilots braved such a maneuver.